Back in January, I admitted my addiction to Fresca.
That was the last day I had a sip of that "distinctively crisp, moderately smooth, intriguingly citrus, totally refreshing soda".
Today, 62 days later, I can say I haven’t been tempted to have revert back to my old ways.
I am feeling a bit better but I must admit I do crave it every now and then.
I think I can continue my Fresca free lifestyle.
11 months ago, I became a Unified Communictions user and I really, really liked it.
I even had a cool little USB phone which let me do calls and had a glowly light which showed my Communicator status.
It was really cool.
Then I packed my bags and moved to Redmond. This put me into a queue of 1,000s of others who were all waiting to join the fun.
I waited. The team back in Australia got cool phones and I still waited.
Well this week I finally was welcomed back to the Unified Communications fold.
My account was enabled for Unified Communications (UC) Telephony.
This included a technician setting up my UC desk telephone (also known as the Tanjay telephone) on my desk. The phone has the formal name of Polycom’s CX700 IP Phone For Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 but I still call it Tanjay. Reminds me of a boy I went to school with.
And the quick start guide promises a phone which connects like no other.
And so far it has lived up to the promise.
I’m working through a backlog of email at the moment (1018 unread emails currently in my inbox) and spotted this one recently. Nice to see some coverage on Aussie startups. We all know that innovation is alive and well in Australia
-----Original Message----- From: consulting @ sharmavishal.com Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 4:20 AM To: Frank Arrigo Subject: (frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger) : Aussie Startups Carnival 2008 Results Importance: High Hi Frank - I would like to bring it to your attention that we have recently covered 31 aussie startups. Results are publishes as well. If you know there are any other new ventures in IT/Media/Telecom then we would like to cover at our portal http://startups.sharmavishal.com/2008/03/results.html Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries.:) Vishal
-----Original Message----- From: consulting @ sharmavishal.com Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 4:20 AM To: Frank Arrigo Subject: (frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger) : Aussie Startups Carnival 2008 Results Importance: High
Hi Frank - I would like to bring it to your attention that we have recently covered 31 aussie startups. Results are publishes as well. If you know there are any other new ventures in IT/Media/Telecom then we would like to cover at our portal
http://startups.sharmavishal.com/2008/03/results.html
Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries.:)
Vishal
Now, I know the email mentions “31 aussie starutps” but the article only lists 24, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. I hope those 7 haven’t gone bust already. Or maybe they have been acquired?
**UPDATE** I was asked to fix up some typos in the email
In my last post about browsers, Jeremy left a comment about Win2k
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:19 PM by Offbeatmammal # re: Upgrade from IE 6 … please Frank - how many are using Win2K? A point was raised in my comments that there's still too many folks stuck on Win2K!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:19 PM by Offbeatmammal
Frank - how many are using Win2K? A point was raised in my comments that there's still too many folks stuck on Win2K!
Well, since you asked, we may as well look at the spread of all OS
“Unknown” has me beat.
What is surprising is that HALF of the readers are still on Windows XP!
Jeremy has a new post Are you still using IE6? which made me go an look at the current browser stats of visitors to my blog and it was interesting
13% of visitors are using IE6!
So, I’m going to get behind this campaign too
Long time readers of this blog would know that I am am a passionate Australian Football (AFL) fan, and one-eyed St Kilda Supporter!!
This past weekend saw the start of the 2008 season, so I feel it's appropriate to share my learnings of how to follow the game from the other side of the world.
First off, television coverage.
I have DirecTV and on channel 615 (for an extra $15 a month), there is Setanta Sports
Formerly known as the Victorian Football League, and commonly known as the AFL, it is the Australian national competition in the sport of Australian Rules Football. The AFL is the most popular professional sporting league in Australia. These matches are followed by a series of final matches that culminate in the two best teams playing for the premiership in the AFL Grand Final, the best attended domestic club championship event in the world.
Setanta Sports will be broadcasting at least two LIVE events each week, along with at least one highlight show.
So, I got to watch my game this weekend. w00t
Next, is online coverage. I split this into two buckets : Web & Mobile Web.
Web
All the usual suspects - a mixture of traditional media and fans
Mobile Web
It's a rather sad tale to tell
I open up http://wap.afl.com.au and get
Now, I find it an amusing error result. At the top I see "Free to Browse" and in the middle I'm told to call Telstra. When I do contact Telstra, I am told that this is only available to customers of their network. I try to explain that I am no longer based in Australia.
Anyways, at the bottom of the page is a link to BigPond Sport.
Which leads me to a mobile portal page for BIgpond, *not* Bigpond Sport
And the Sport's section has an AFL link
Which gives is this handy dandy little site
With News, Fixtures, Results, Ladders etc
For news, I also have Foxsports
and ABC Mobile
And to be honest, that's about it. Haven't found any other good mobile sites. (IMHO the state of Australian mobile friendly sites is pretty poor.)
I would love to know of others. Leave me a link in the comments.
Oh and Carn the Saints!
I got the following email over night
From: Schnubert von Turkleberry Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 4:57 AM To: Frank Arrigo Subject: I'm a down under .NET tiger Hi Frank, I'm a big fan of yours and wanted to let you know about my blog. http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/ I'm a stunt tiger - living mainly in Sydney these days. In my spare time I study .NET http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/02/02/getting-up-to-speed-on-net/ And I'll likely be at the MVP Summit (Will you be there - If so, can I get a photo with you?) http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/23/party-with-palermo-schnubbs/ Plus I've been lucky enough to catch up with the Channel 9 guy http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/01/heroes-happen-at-schnubbs/ Oh, and I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/24/schnubbs-and-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/ You can subscribe to my blog here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheAdventuresOfSchnubbs Lots of tiger hugs, Schnubbs (PS My buddy Craig Bailey sends his regards too)
From: Schnubert von Turkleberry Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 4:57 AM To: Frank Arrigo Subject: I'm a down under .NET tiger
Hi Frank, I'm a big fan of yours and wanted to let you know about my blog. http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/
I'm a stunt tiger - living mainly in Sydney these days.
In my spare time I study .NET http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/02/02/getting-up-to-speed-on-net/
And I'll likely be at the MVP Summit (Will you be there - If so, can I get a photo with you?) http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/23/party-with-palermo-schnubbs/
Plus I've been lucky enough to catch up with the Channel 9 guy http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/01/heroes-happen-at-schnubbs/
Oh, and I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer http://www.schnubbs.com/blog/2008/03/24/schnubbs-and-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/
You can subscribe to my blog here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheAdventuresOfSchnubbs
Lots of tiger hugs, Schnubbs (PS My buddy Craig Bailey sends his regards too)
Hi Schnubbs - I am now a big fan of you too.
Keep Learning the Framework
Keep the babes happy too.
Looking forward to seeing you in my town soon