Photosynth is released today which will mean we can all do some crazy things with your photos in a 3d space. I saw photosynth show on ted.com a year or so ago and it has jaw dropping potential.

Basically (from what i Understand) you can upload your pictures and photosynth looks at the images and groups them with other users to create 3d environments from your 2d pictures.

However when I went to install I got the following message:

The Photosynth site is a little overwhelmed

I hope it come up today because I really want to mess around with it.

Great new silverlight site are now becoming a daily occurance, the new Grid Girls website shows how hot silverlight can look:

http://www.singtelrace.com/SingTel-Grid-Girls_Heart-Race.aspx

My favourite thing about running a website is, without a doubt, looking over the Google statistics and seeing the search term that people used to get to my site.

It's fantastic thinking that someone typed in "buy turtles blimp" and managed to find themselves reading one of my stupid stories, can you imagine their disappointment. I just quickly looked over all the search terms used this month, the following are ones that jumped out at me.

• "calories in morrison's spare ribs"
• Check the pack; Don't search the net. I'm guessing 200 per rib.
• "different ways to say asp.net"
• There is only one way A. S. P. DOT net
• "furby island solution"
• I Wasn't even aware there was a furby Island problem
• "i love wotsits"
• Who doesn't. But why would you bother searching this in Google. What did they expect to find? Sounds like someone has a very very dull job.
• "jingoistic "
• I Googled this my self a few months back when I didn't know what it meant. I'm glad too see someone else shares my problems.
• "lyrics to if i knew you were coming i'd a baked a cake"
• I can help with this one. If i knew you were coming i'd have baked a cake, backed a cake, baked a cake, if i knew you were coming I'd have backed a cake. That's it!
• "morrisons newquay this weekend"
• I wonder what was going on at morrisons newquay this weekend. Was it some sort of dogging meeting? I've just realised if it was then the next person to search for it will wind up on this page. If your that person please be sure to comment.

The best thing about this is the more I put these phrases on my website the next person who types in "I Love Wotsits" may very well wind up reading this. By the way If you are that person please comment and let us know just how much you love Wotsits.

Looks as though MSN.com have started displaying Silverlight on their frontpage. It’s about time Silverlight started cropping up on Microsoft's heavy weight sites.

I wonder when we’ll see it on Live.com?

Yesterday I saw the first silverlight website that made me say Wow from a design point rather than just a technology point, the jaw drop was provided by the talented guys over at Klaklak. There new Silverlight Portfolio is Super pretty. See http://www.klaklakgroup.com/.

Also if your still not convinced about silverlight or it's purpose checkout The http://www.nbcolympics.com website. Silverlight has managed to deliver the most watched media event ever. The backbone used to deliver these programmes live is nothing short of ground breaking. Showing scalability that is just not possible with Flash.

With In excess of 8 million downloads per day Silverlight is catching up with adobe quickly with penetration. At last count 40% of the people that visit this site have silverlight installed. It'll be interesting to see how that figure rises in the next few weeks.

If you look at life like a mountain you'll never reach the peak. If you spend each day walking one day you look down and realise your at the top.

Martin Beeby

Effects: SQL Server 2005 SP2

Some of the users on our system today were unable to print from Reporting Services. After they pressed the print Icon selected a printer and then printed, the browser would just hang. It turns out the DLL that handles the client side printing RSClientPrint Class.dll fails if the SQL server has NO COUNT ON set as default.

You can check on your SQL server if this has been set by going to Server> Properties > Connections > and making sure NOCOUNT is unchecked.

If your having this problem either make sure NOCOUNT is unchecked or add  “SET NOCOUNT OFF” to the top of the Stored Procedures used by reporting services.

It’s often the case that I can’t connect to microsoft.com because i’m using IE. IE struggles to load Microsoft.com websites quickly, often hanging for hours on end. However this morning was the first time I’ve never been able to access the Mozilla website in Firefox but could do it in IE.

Thhe website is:  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843

Can other firefox users get access?

Just for anyone that doubt I had an Internet connection in Firefox:

I only just heard that Adriana Alba left the semifinalists. After loving their second album I was gutted to hear she’d packed up and went home to the US. I hope the band continue to make great music despite losing such a talent.

I wanted a Tracy Island! I wanted it bad. I had no idea why, but one thing was for sure my mum knew about it. Coming up to Christmas I dropped hints like they were wet dogs.

At the time there was a great deal of hype around the Tracy island toy, I know I should have been stronger but I just couldn't resist, I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. My mum told me I couldn't have one she said "Martin your twenty three now your not getting a big present anymore" I was gutted. Ok I lied there it was 1992 and I was 10, I think mum and dad couldn't afford it and there was no chance in hell I was going to get one. As I got older and started studying marketing (I know I'm on about BLOODY MARKETING AGAIN - ten people just stopped reading this blog right there) I was fascinated by the way that these companies were able to create such hysteria around their product enough so that It would sell out over and over again… Then I discovered one of the toy industries darkest secrets.

Christmas time is a huge deal for toy manufacturers. They sell more at Christmas than any other time of the year; however January, February and March are huge slumps and difficult times. Companies reduce prices to increase sales put promotions don't really work – marketers have a problem - how can they smooth the slump and make parents pay at Christmas then keep buying through February.

Enter the fake short supply scam. Toy manufactures under supply toys that they market heavily during November and December. They use news channels to promote the fact that all of the toys are sold out everywhere, they make children want them, the toy becomes a must have Christmas present but shock horror you can't buy it anywhere. Parents all over the country make the same promise to their children. "I'll buy you one after Christmas".

Low and behold the shops are stocked full of substitute presents so the parents buy toys at Christmas to pacify their children. Come January the toy manufacturer place a few adverts stating the toy is back in stock and like lambs to the slaughter parents everywhere rush out to buy it, strangely enough this time there's no shortages of the product. I'd suggest this is the biggest example of the power and intelligence of modern marketers. Between the toy manufactures and the people behind the Top Shop/ Kate Moss scam, marketers are day by day forcing shit on us we don't need or want.

It's a beautiful arrangement.

I never did get a Tracy Island, James did (the one with the bar) turns out it was rubbish.