I recently wrote a lengthy post over on my blog that outlines a namespace problem when WCF serializes complex types that live in a different XML namespace than the Web service itself and a work-around provided by Dino Chiesa.

But here was one that knew exactly what my gaming passion was and followed up with exactly the information I needed to make a purchasing decision right there. Right then.

"Pre-order your copy of Halo 3 today ... just announced ... available in 3 versions. Regular! Collectors!! And Legendary!!!"

Sign me up for Halo 3 Legendary Edition with Halo Spartan Mjolnir Mark VI Helmet right now! I don't even know where I'm going to put that thing. It's huge.

Why was this effective? Game Stop understands my customer profile. They've paid attention to my buying habits. They delivered a marketing message that was tuned exactly to what I needed to hear to make a decision.

I stopped in at my local Game Stop tonight (which, conveniently enough is in the same parking lot as Home Depot, so I was able to mask my trip to "the dealer" under the guise of needing pluming supplies to fix a leaky bathroom sink. Heck, I even took the kids with me. Bonus points for giving my wife a break!)

I was charged only a modest fee for my pre-order. Seemed reasonable enough. Then I had the sense to ask how much, exactly, is the Legendary Edition. "$100 bucks," the cute girl behind the counter informed me. Did I even flinch? Nope. Heck, we even traded XBOX Live gamer tags.

Kudos to Game Stop for running an effective telemarketing campaign that got me to buy not one but two high-end game packages from them. I also pre-ordered Gears of War which is available next Tuesday. Go buy it and look for me online. My gamertag is kevinha.

Got a successful telemarketing story? Share it with me here.

In this week’s edition of HanselMinutes on identity, Scott Hanselman and Carl Franklin chat about information cards and Windows CardSpace. Scott gives me mention for the work I did to enable information cards and Windows CardSpace on www.casadehambone.com.

There's some great content about how information cards can (and I believe will) change the way we manage identity overall. Go check it out.

Due to the dependence in my current build on Microsoft.IdentityModel.TokenProcessor, you will require .NET Framework 3.0 and Visual Studio 2005 with the Visual Studio 2005 Web Application Projects add-on installed in order to open and build the project after applying the patch. Furthermore, you must run this instance of DasBlog as an ASP.NET 2.0 application.

A version of Microsoft.IdentityModel.TokenProcessor that works with .NET Framework 1.1 is forthcoming. As my implementation of information card support in this patch is provider driven, a .NET Framework 1.1-compatible TokenProcessor can be dropped in and the project returned to Visual Studio 2003 and ASP.NET 1.1.

Previously, I validated your email address in your self-issued card. An email was sent to your email address asking you to click a link to activate your account.

Currently, I'll take whatever claims you provide in your self-issued card and sign you on directly with no need to perform email address validation and no account created for you. In short, your information card acts as form fill mechanism for comments.

What do you think of this model?

I really liked how sxcore and sandbox.netfx3.com are handling their info card login. Sxcore specifically has a nice way of using a GET to kick off the process which eliminates the need to have a separate form element on the web page for the information card activator.

In addition to cleaning up the code, I

• Eliminated the "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items" warning by having Login.aspx fire off a GET to a handler that is 100% secure
• Activate the CardSpace UI from a separate dedicated handler page; the result is no CardSpace UI popping up if you attempt to anything else from the login page other than sign in with an info card
• Properly handle cases where you cancel submission of your info card and/or your browser does not have support for information cards
• Implemented a unique identifier for the click back handler that verifies your email address
• Automatically approve comments from information card users, even if comment moderation is enabled
• Turned off caching of the start page to accurately display the logged in state of normal users

What started as a simple project to Windows CardSpace-enable the DasBlog admin account has yielded a ton of key learning and design that you'll have to consider when adding support to your own site for information cards. The technology itself is cake ... the devil is in the details. Fortunately, I captured all of those details and decision points along the way and will be starting a series of blog posts on each one soon.