Paul Wilson has announced version 4.0 of his awesome O/R mapper.

Update: WilsonORMapper v4.0.0.0 (5/26/2005) includes the following:

• Supports "shared inheritance" in the database using type discriminator.
• This is also referred to as "single table with type discriminator".
• Always supported "redundant inheritance" or "one table per concrete type".
• Added support for .NET v2.0 Generics and Nullable Types -- VS 2005 Beta.
• Allows you to initialize you own relation collections, as long as IList.
• Works for all new objects, as well as non-lazy cases for existing objects.
• QueryHelper GetExpression expanded with ComparisonOperators by Paul Welter.
• Also includes nearly complete OPath engine (Longhorn Specs) by Jeff Lanning.
• Added ExecuteScalar and GetDataSet methods to the Transaction class.
• Added defaultNamespace for types that do not include the Namespace.
• Breaking Change: ExecuteCommand/Update/Delete returns int (not bool).
• Bug Fixes: Enum support, ObjectSet indexer, two types with the same name.
• Bug Fixes: Exceptions and Parameter are now marked Serializable also.
• And a special thanks to Jeff Lanning for help with both OPath and Generics.

I am hooked on Yahoo's new music subscription service, Y! Unlimited.

• Access to over 1 million songs, streamed instantly or download as much as you want.
• As you rate music (songs, artists, albums), the music engine begins to suggest new music that matches your tastes.  I've already listened to a ton of great music I would have never taken the risk to buy.
• There are over 120 commercial-free "radio stations".  These are basically streamed play lists that you can play on demand.  Don't like the song currently being played?  Skip to the next one.  Create your own radio station and hear music based on your tastes.
• Tracks are encoded at 192kbps.  They sound great.
• Fill and re-fill your compatible MP3 player as often as you like, just like Napster-to-Go.
• Use your account on up to 3 computers.  Just don't try to use it on more than one computer at the same time.

$4.99 per month (yearly subscription) or $6.99 if you want to pay by the month.  How can you beat that?

Jeffrey Palermo writes a couple of very senior .NET/C# developers are needed at Dell to work on a call-center application.  If you fit the description, or know of anyone who does, he'd appreciate the referral.

I just realized that I've never blogged about ApologetiX.  Shame on me.  They go by the tag, "That Christian Parody Band."  If you like music parodies ala "Weird Al," you're going to love these guys.  Their lyrics are clever, solid and firmly grounded in the Gospel.  What amazes me is how musically talented they are.  The could be the greatest cover band of all time, if they chose to be.  However, they have chosen to use their talents to reach people that might not otherwise ever hear the Gospel.  Give them a listen (requires free registration).  If you see a song you recognize, I guarantee it will bring a smile to your face.

The following is from their FAQ.


Currently listening to "Learn Some Deuteronomy (Live)" from New & Used Hits, parody of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard :)

Terry Storch posted a link to an interesting article, 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website.  Some of the tips deal with usability, but mostly it's about avoiding the common mistakes that turn people off from church.  Great post!

JetBrains has released ReSharper 1.5.1.  There are a couple of new features, but it's mostly bug fixes.  Tim Haines turned me on to this utility a while back, and I'd say it has paid for itself many times over.  And, I've only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to all it's many features.  Anything that saves me time and makes me more efficient is a blessing.  At a mere $149, it's a no-brainer.

Yahoo! has announced an unlimited music subscription service that competes with Napster To Go.  At only $4.99 per month for an annual subscription, this is an amazing deal.  Not only can you access over a million songs, but you can permanently download songs for $.79 each and you get access to over 120 commercial-free radio stations.  Just like Napster To Go, you can download songs to any portable player that supports WMA 10 (Plays-for-Sure).  The service is also integrated with Yahoo! Messenger so you can share music with your friends, although I didn't see any details on whether or not your friends also have to be subscribers.  The subscription service is in Beta and currently only available U.S.-based subscribers.

Frederico released the "Final Candidate" of FCKeditor 2.0 today.  Self-titled "the text editor for the Internet," it is a robust and feature-rich WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) browser-based HTML editor.  FCKeditor, which is named after its creator, Frederico Caldeira Knabben, is an open source project (meaning it's free and the full source code is available), supports the most popular browsers, and integrates with ASP.NET, ASP, PHP, Perl, Java and ColdFusion.

I've been using FCKeditor in my personal ASP.NET projects for the last few months, and it has proved to be a great tool.  It's as every bit as good as some of the commercial HTML editor components I have used.  Highly recommended.

How do some people do it?

I was chatting with Yex yesterday, and we were both lamenting our lack of blog activity as of late.  My motivation to blog seems to come and go.  As Seth Godin said, I think you've got to at least have a "healthy respect" for your own opinions.

I seem to have a hard time blogging about original ideas and real programming, and that's a shame.  I probably have a lot to contribute.  I've been developing applications for more than 10 years, and I've had considerable success.  Yet I still feel intimidated for some reason.  My fear is that the things I would write about would generate reactions like, "EVERYBODY knows that already" or "that is definitely the WRONG way to do that," and look like a fool.

I play the guitar.  I don't think I'm too shabby at it, either.  But, I know there are a million other guitar players out there that can put me to shame.  Maybe 2 million.  Ok, surely no more than 4 million.  The point is, I don't play very often in front of crowds because I have this fear of rejection thing going for me.  Me and the F.O.R. are pretty tight.

So... I don't really know where I'm going with all this.  Maybe I'm fishing for some encouragement or affirmation.  I'll stop wasting your time with my little pity party now... and try real hard to muster up the courage to post some of my very own ideas, no matter how pitifully insignificant and wrong they may be... ;)

Bob Yexley has a great post on Examining Agile Software Development.  It appears to be a great place to start if you want to learn more about Agile development.

However... I'm still trying to build some community momentum for my WAD methodology ;)

The new version has Intellisense statement completion, improved debugging, collapsible code regions, and merge capabilities, among many other great new features.  Check it out!

http://weblogs.asp.net/ericjsmith/archive/2005/05/04/405673.aspx

I just got an e-mail from Apress announcing their new eBookshop service.  You can now purchase any Apress book as an electronic download (which I assume means PDF).  The biggest advantages I see are being able to take a bunch of books with you on your laptop (if you own one), and searching.  The searching capability alone would be awesome.

I think this is a great move for developers, but a very risky move for Apress since eBooks are so easy to "share."  I applaud them for taking the risk, and really hope it works out for them. 

I shouldn't have to tell you how good Apress books are.  I can't vouch for the other subjects they carry, but they've got some of the very best .NET books and authors in the market.

They are running a 50% off sale for the month of May for all eBook purchases.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

But, you know... there's nothing like curling up on the couch with a voluminous 1200-page tome on the obscure intricacies of .NET  ;)

Lifeway has partnered with ChurchStaffing.com to come up with a job search site for organizations and job seekers.  A quick glance revealed there are some IT, design and media positions available.

(via Christian Computing Magazine)

For the last 15 years Christian Computing Magazine has been an invaluable resource to the Christian church, ministry and community on how to apply software, services and technology.  Their goal has always been to show how computers can be used in ministry, and their mission is to help its readers "Apply Tomorrow's Technology to Today's Ministry."

You can now get a free "digital" subscription to Christian Computing Magazine sent to your e-mail address in HTML format.  Simply go to http://ccmag.gospelcom.net/freesub/ and enter your e-mail address!