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The Tech Blog of Ben Martens
Oslo in BillG's Keynote
The project I work on, Oslo, was mentioned in BillG's keynote at TechEd. You can see the video clip...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 06/04/2008
Failure to Fail
Here's a quick testing tip: make it as difficult as possible for your test to pass. Otherwise, a...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 06/02/2008
Test Center Spotlight - Rob Straavaldson
I recently had the pleasure of meeting both Michael Hunter (the Braidy Tester) and Rob Straavaldson...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 06/02/2008
Brain Teaser #3 Answer
If you haven't read the question yet, you can read it here. The answer for this lies in the C#...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/13/2008
Brain Teaser #3
This brain teaser also comes courtesy of Simeon Cran. What will the following code output? When you...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/07/2008
Brain Teaser #2 Answer
Have read the question yet? Read it here. The problem is pretty simple if you have 00111 (where all...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/06/2008
Brain Teaser #2
This brain teaser comes courtesy of a co-worker named Simeon Cran. Using C# and no branches, and no...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 04/30/2008
DOSKEY Features
Maybe I'm the last person on the planet to learn about this, but I have new love for my command...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/21/2008
Brain Teaser Answer
There was a lot of extra information in that brain teaser. All you really needed was these two...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/11/2008
Email "Dump Button"
Type type type type, send. AUGH! WAIT! NO! We've all had it happen. You click Send, type Alt-S or...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 01/11/2008
Pulling a Facebook RSS Feed via .NET
I wanted to add my Facebook status to my other blog which is running Community Server 2.0. All I...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 01/03/2008
Web Cam Time Lapse
I've done a couple time lapse videos recently, and I think I'm becoming a bit of a time lapse fan....
Author: Ben Martens Date: 12/21/2007
Macro Defined Custom Outlook Search Folders
I use the built-in Outlook "Sent Directly To Me" search folder as my hot items in Outlook....
Author: Ben Martens Date: 12/12/2007
MSDN Tester Center
The Tester Center team has been hard at work since launch day coming up with new content and adding...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 11/30/2007
Living in Seattle (a.k.a. Win Free Stuff)
I moved 2800 miles to take the job with Microsoft. To some that might fall in the "cons"...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 11/02/2007
Future of Modeling
The Connected Systems Division was featured in Information Week today and they vaguely mentioned my...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/30/2007
More Windows Shortcuts
The last post I made with command line tricks was well-received so I thought I'd post another little...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/30/2007
Extracurriculars Count!
I finished my undergrad about five years ago (Go Purdue!). As I look back at my education and try to...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/24/2007
Two Command Line Tricks
Watching a co-worker type can be a good tool for learning new tricks. I always ask "How did you...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/19/2007
GraphWise
The beta version of GraphWise is now available to the public. A 10,000 foot view of the app is that...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/17/2007
VS: Modules Window
I've worked in various version of Visual Studio just about every day for the past 4 years. Today I...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 10/12/2007
$60 Office for Students!
When I was in school, finding money for pizza was tough, much less for a full copy of Microsoft...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 09/13/2007
1080P From the XBox360?
Whenever a conversation about HD and the 360 comes up, I see a ton of confusion about which outputs...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/31/2007
Microsoft Fame
Sometimes I think we should have geek trading cards. "I'll trade you a Don Box for your Chris Sells...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/29/2007
Could Not Find Backup Devices
That's the error I was presented with on my clean install of Vista today. I had everything set up...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/28/2007
Channel8
Miguel Llopis is an intern on our team this summer. He gave a presentation in our team meeting this...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/14/2007
Default ASP.NET Button
In my previous life as an ASP.NET ninja, I had a request from a client to use the enter button to...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/13/2007
SkyDrive
Windows Live SkyDrive was updated today. It's a place to store 500MB of files for free. I signed up...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 08/09/2007
Installing XP Without a CD
I recently acquired a hand-me-down laptop at work. Since I only have desktops, I was eager to add...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 06/21/2007
Mystery Vista Heads
Stories have been popping up recently about a tiny picture of three people who were embedded into...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 06/14/2007
Surface
The big mystery announcement last night was Microsoft Surface. Where do I sign up to get one? I can...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/30/2007
Office Communicator 2007 Beta
This news is about two months old, but I just found the beta for Office Communicator 2007...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/25/2007
Windows Equivalent?
One of my favorite commands in UNIX is: ^<old>^<new>. It reruns the last command but...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/14/2007
Delayed Environment Variable Expansion
Someone around the office joked that my blog is turning into "Random Batch File Tips and Tricks."...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 05/10/2007
Process Explorer
Are you still using the default Task Manager? That's so 2006. All the cool kids are using Process...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 04/11/2007
The More You Know...
Did you know that in Visual Studio you can pause and drag the yellow arrow around to rerun a portion...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 04/05/2007
Control.DrawToBitmap
Did you know that method existed? I just saw it for the first time in IntelliSense. I did mostly...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 04/02/2007
Deepfish - Mobile Web Browsing
One of my favorite Windows Mobile apps is now available to the public. Go check out Deepfish if you...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/29/2007
Signup Email Security Holes
Here's the scenario: I visit a sparkly new website and create an account. Later I find a welcome...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/12/2007
Path Manipulation in a Batch File
Have you ever typed "help for" at a command line? If you write a lot of batch files, read through it...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/09/2007
So You Want to Add XP to Your Vista Installation (Part 2)
In the first post, I laid out what seemed to be a full plan for installing XP after you install...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/08/2007
TechFest
We're in the middle of TechFest on campus. Since I just started with the company last spring, this...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 03/08/2007
Vista Shortcuts
The less I have to use the mouse the better. It only serves to slow me down. I've memorized hundreds...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 02/14/2007
MSDN User Submitted Content
The new version of MSDN online has a great feature that allows users to add text to existing pages....
Author: Ben Martens Date: 02/06/2007
Sync Your Favorites Folder
I long ago gave up trying to keep my external links synced up across multiple computers. A solution...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 02/01/2007
So You Want to Add XP to your Vista Installation
I'm loving my Vista installation, but there was one piece of custom low level software that wouldn't...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 01/31/2007
Vista Sideshow
One of the most exciting features in Vista for me is Sideshow. You host these small gadgets on your...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 01/19/2007
CES 2007 Highlights
I feel like I need a nap after all the CES coverage. It's going to take a week or two to sift...
Author: Ben Martens Date: 01/08/2007