Not all was gloom and blackness this XMas. Among the new things in our lives, several of them rocked*:

• Our new HP MediaServer running Windows Home Server is awesome. As a Microsoft employee, I got a killer deal on this server appliance, but knowing what I now know, I’d have paid full price — a whopping $550. In fact, I recently sunk another $200 into it for a memory upgrade and a 750GB HD, bringing it up to 1.25TB.
  
  WHS keeps all the computers in my house automatically backed up, keeps shared folders duplicated across multiple HDs which can be added via the slide-out drawers in the front of the unit (no muss, no fuss) and serves it all up over the web securely. Plus, it’s platform for add-ins, so, for example, if I want offsite storage of everything on the WHS box in case of catastrophe, I can get KeepValue for a flat $100 year.

• My youngest’s new Zune 2 is the best MP3 player I’ve ever touched. We got the 4GB version, which is tiny, but still comes with amazing video playback, an FM radio and very intuitive controls. (I know I’m unusual in this regard, but when I first touched the iPod, I had no idea how to make it work and the manual didn’t help.)
  
  The client software is also a joy to use. The look and feel is unique and simple. Both the client and Zune UIs make me hope that those guys actually are building a phone. I want it.
  
  Plus, we got a pair of the Altec-Lansing Zune speaker dock from woot.com for $40 and they sound great, worked instantly and come with the cutest remote control. Very nice package.

• I can’t wait to put my new portable Bosch 10″ Table Saw with Gravity Rise Stand to use (thanks, Babe!). I’ve been remodeling my homes for years, doing as much of it myself as I have time for, but was missing a saw to do straight rips. I’m all set now!

• My brother-in-law got Rock Band for his family and it *rocks*, especially the tone feedback on the microphone. (I love to sing, which you’ll know if you’re ever trapped in a car with me and Bohemian Rhapsody comes on the radio : )

• My youngest also got a pair of the Killer Rabbit Slippers, which Chris picked up for me when he and his wife went to Spamalot. I’d covet my son’s new slippers except I love the Goofy loafer Slippers I stole from him years ago. : )

What did Santa bring you this year? Anything you’d recommend or want to steer folks away from?

*Yes, I know I’m a Microsoft employee and biased. Feel free to take what I say with as much salt as your heart can take. : )

I brought my son a Sidekick Slide cell phone for XMas this year and I’ve come to the conclusion that it sucks, or at least the way T-Mobile sells it sucks.

When I purchased it, the T-Mobile salesman offered me unlimited data and text messages for an additional $20/month on that line. The phone was an upgrade on our existing family plan, which already has 3000 minutes/month and unlimited text messaging and I don’t really need my son surfing the interweb during class, so I declined. He never mentioned that the phone wouldn’t actually work without this extra money, or I never would’ve purchased it.

Then, XMas morning rolls around, my son is super-excited and plugs his SIM card into his new phone, turns it on and is greeted with the activation screen. This lasted for hours. Eventually, he found the magic key combination and was able to use the phone, but when it crashed, it lost all his contacts and pictures. Plus, the battery life sucked, lasting maybe four hours between charges. The boy swears it’s because it’s still trying to activate in the background.

Finally, we called T-Mobile “customer care.” If I wanted to use the “full capabilities” of the phone, like save f-ing contacts, we pay the $20/month. The contacts are saved “on the network” *only*. That sucks. This was a $200 phone subsidized with a 2-year extension to the contract and it can’t store f-ing phone numbers?!?

I was about ready to cram the phone back up the T-Mobile salesman’s…. well, I would’ve returned it, but the boy was so enamored, he committed to ponying up the dough from his allowance.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that even though we now have the “Sidekick feature” package, that the battery life is *still* going to suck… Keep your fingers crossed.

P.S. I can’t tell you how much my son loves this phone…

Interested? Drop Doug a line.

The form factor is cool, the OS is fine (although I'd prefer Windows) but the chicklet keyboard is worthless. I can literally type faster on my t-mobile dash smartphone. Anyone want an OLPC laptop PC for $200 + shipping?

In 2006, I purchased an XBOX 360 bundle from CostCo for about $550, including the console, a game and two wireless controllers.

In April of 2007, my 360 caught the “red ring of death” (“Ring around the rosy, pockets full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!“), at which point I brought it back to CostCo and exchanged it for the bundle they had available at the time, which was $475. They refunded me the difference!

Net return: $75 in one year on an initial investment of $550.

Earlier this month, my new 360 also caught the plague and I returned it again to CostCo, where the holiday bundle now costs $400.

Net return: $75 in 7 months on an initial investment of $475 in 58% of the time from the last return of this amount.

If this continues, at this rate I’ll have made my original investment back in another 9 months, at which point I’ll have had the use of an XBOX 360 for 28 months for the opportunity cost of the original $550, which is approximately $50 at 7% over two years after taxes, $1.80/month or 6 cents/day.

What a deal! : )

P.S. The moral of the story: buy your electronics at CostCo.

Yesterday I got an email from a fellow named Corrado Cavalli to whom I sent a free copy of Programming WPF. When he received it and read through it, he posted a note on his web site, which of course, I went to read.

Now, Corrado lives in San Pellegrino Terme, Bergamo Italy, so his blog is in Italian. That didn’t stop me from reading it in English using Google’s language translation page.

Then, just to be “cheeky” as my Australian friends say, I composed simple responses in English and translated them to Italian before posting them, you know, pretending I’m smart and international and such like. : )

To be somewhat confident I wasn’t asking him for improper knowledge of his dog, I did the Italian to English translation on the translated text and rearranged my English it bit when it wasn’t quite right.

All in all, I’d say it worked out pretty well, although I did get some flowers from his dog the other day…

This is hilarious!

The nice folks at Lab 49 are throwing a contest for WPF programmers.

The goal: take the financial data they provide and build a kick-ass WPF app around it.

The grand prize:

• a trip for two to the MS Financial Services Developer Conference in NYC
• the “Ultimate WPF Developer’s Machine”
• an XBox 360 Elite (plus games!)
• a Zune
• a profile in WindowsFS magazine
• a copy of Expression Studio, Visual Studio 2008 and Windows Vista Ultimate
• a WPF Team signed t-shirt
• <whew>!

Final submission is 2/29/08, but there are other prizes for early submission (by 2/14/08).

The judges (Charles Petzold, Rob Relyea, Josh Smith and yours truly) will be looking for “your use of WPF, innovative display of financial data, the quality of your code, performance, appearance, and overall functionality.”

I’m a bit of a financial nut, so I’m very much looking forward to the results of this contest. Dazzle us!