Lee Messenger
Personal Ramblings & Blogfodder Testing Zone

Use ASP.NET instead of PHP

Well most people that know me, know I am a BIG ASP.NET fan and I'm always trying to convert people to use it from php and other open source languages.  I find people won't even try it because its owned and run by the evil 'Microsoft', which is really stupid but thats up to them.

Anyway I was sent this video of a php developer that moved to ASP.NET VB for 3 days and was really pleased with what he found.. Have a look

Streaming Radio 1 On Winamp

Got annoyed trying to find the URL's for listening to Radio 1 & 2 on WinAmp so am posting them here so I don't forget them

Radio 1
mms://wmlive-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/radio1/radio1_nb_e1s1

Radio 2
mms://wmlive-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/radio2/radio2_nb_e1s1

Radio 3
mms://wmlive-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/radio3/radio3_nb_e1s1

Radio 4
mms://wmlive-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/radio4/radio4_nb_e1s1

Video On Demand Stuff

I've been looking into making a Video On Demand platform, sort of like the new IPlayer..  But make it skinnable so I could sell it on to new clients - While I was doing a bit of investigation, I came across so many acronyms which I had no clue about.. After a few headaches I found this great list

ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a technology used to convert an existing telephone network into a broadband network. ADSL typically delivers 500Kb/s - 1Mb/s, but up to 6Mb/s is possible.

Broadband TV
TV services delivered over broadband networks - basically the same as IPTV.

Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
Also known as PVR (Personal Video Recorder), a DVR is a Set Top Box that contains hard disk storage to allow a viewer to record content. Usually the DVR can be programmed in advance to record programmes in the future and set to always record particular series. In some cases DVRs have intelligent features so they can be set to record content of a particular genre favoured by the user or containing particular actors, for example.

DTH
DTH means Direct to Home and refers to satellite TV services where a viewer must have a satellite dish and receiver installed at their home to watch the service.

Finally Launched Best Car Finder

Well I finally launched Best Car Finder (http://www.bestcarfinder.co.uk) - Its a great, slick looking site that offers great deals on car leasing and contract hire.  I'm going to start looking into marketing it in the next few weeks.  I have just had a press release whipped up, and I'll use this to get some buzz going soon (Press Release Below)

LAUNCH OF BRAND NEW WEBSITE FOR CAR LEASING AND CONTRACT HIRE IN THE UK

Best Car Finder, the UK's leading car leasing company, has announced the launched of its new website, http://www.bestcarfinder.co.uk . This new site is dedicated to delivering low cost car leasing and contract hire in the UK for both business and personal use.

The company has designed its new look to inspire its customer base into making the right choice in vehicle and finance for them. This innovative approach ensures that, through their impartial advice, every customer will find the right vehicle and the right finance method for them.

Best Car Finder boasts a combined staff experience of over 50 years in the automotive and leasing industry. Car leasing and contract hire in the UK is now easier thanks to their trusted relationships with top manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, VW, Jaguar and Honda (a full list is available at www.bestcarfinder.co.uk) .

Easy ASP.NET 2.0 UK Date Formating

When I first started coding in ASP.NET for some really stupid reason my nemesis was always formating dates, trying to get them to to display how I wanted them to and also in a UK format (Day first, Month then Year).

After some hunting I found out how easy it actually is using the built in .ToString() method...  Below is an example function that will return any date in the UK format

Function: Just pass in a date (You can use now() or whatever you like)