For our American readers puzzled by the above expression, and number two in our series on "What on earth did the British guy just say" - first digest this link and then return here...

One of my pet peeves is people who send huge attachments via e-mail. Thanks for helping my Outlook grind to a halt and clogging up my inbox buddy! Not only does sending whopping files as e-mail attachments bug me, it's just not a very good idea full stop - you can read why here.

So for a while now I've been extolling the virtues of using alternatives methods to sending large e-mail attachments - and my favourite of those alternatives is YouSendIt.

In a nutshell, with YouSendIt you upload your file to their secure servers for free via a web page, they send an e-mail to your chosen recipient with your brief message and a link to download the attachment, the recipient then chooses to download the attachment or not - quick, simple, no fuss, no muss - and a darn site more reliable than sending that 20mb file via e-mail!

YouSendIt already provide a free plug-in for Outlook to make the whole process even simpler - just write your e-mail as normal, attach your file as normal and send as normal - YouSendIt then strips the attachment out, uploads it securely without any intervention, and sends the e-mail with a link for the recipient to download if they choose.

They've also now provided a Desktop plug-in called YouSendIt Express (similar to your context sensitive "Sent To..." menu) that allows you to upload files directly from your computer. Right-click the file, click "YouSendIt" and voila!

So now there is really no excuse for sending large files by e-mail is there? Of course people will continue to do it, but if like me, this continues to annoy the hell out of you in the same way as junk mail through your letterbox and spam in your inbox - how about firing the offending sender a reply containing a link to this blog article (http://tinyurl.com/578n4r) - hopefully they'll get the message. :-)

One of the huge benefits of being a Microsoft Small Business Specialist qualified partner is the fact you are given access to Working-Day 4-hour Response Managed Newsgroups (or "Online Technical Communities" as they are now known) where you can post technical queries of a Break-Fix nature (no Consultancy questions I'm afraid - that's what your local user group and peers are there for!) to a threaded newsgroup and get a fast response to those issues from Microsoft MVP's.

As a rule of thumb, any technical issue that I've worked on for more than an hour, or I'm getting in any way frustrated with, I will look for a second opinion on - this might be by asking colleagues, peers, or in many cases, posting a message to the Managed Newsgroups asking for direction. It's pointless banging your head against a wall when there are resources to help you climb over that wall instead!

Access to the Online Technical Communities is simple. Visit the Microsoft Partner Portal - go to the "Support and Security" tab, then under "Online Assisted Support" view the "Online Technical Community" page. Or simply visit https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/supportsecurity/technicalsupport/onlinesupport/40047250

Access to the Newsgroups is easy enough through a Web Interface - but for those old-skool who prefer to read their newsgroups via NNTP using Outlook Express or a similar newsgroup reader, this is possible too.

That said, whilst the Help Pages on the Partner Portal tell you NNTP access is possible, the instructions they give are truly vague - so in the spirit of making life easier for my peers (and to be honest, for the next time I need to setup a Workstation with NNTP access myself and have forgotten how to...) here's how you do it:-

1. Visit https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/40029086 and log in with your SBSC affiliated Live.com ID.
2. Make a note of the latest security code for access to the Managed Newsgroups.
3. Click the "Enter the Community" button and follow the sign-up instructions if necessary.
4. Once logged in, update your Profile by clicking the icon in the top right hand corner.
5. Visit https://members.microsoft.com/communities/nntpmgmt/default.aspx and follow the prompts to create yourself a NNTP newsgroup username and password. You can use this URL in future to reset your password if lost (although if you're in the habit of losing passwords then why aren't you using KeePass?)
6. Fire up Outlook Express and add privatenews.microsoft.com as a new NNTP server, telling OE that you want to logon to this server using the credentials privatenews\yourID and password.
7. Let Outlook Express download the latest newsgroups - voila, you're ready to rock'n'roll!

The SBSC Managed Newsgroups are named "microsoft.private.sbsc." - so use these groups for postings questions and don't get confused by the microsoft.directaccess groups also listed with similar titles - whilst these are monitored by MVP's, they don't have the same 4-hour SBSC response time.

So next time you're getting frustrated with an Microsoft Product related issue - why not consider using some of the free Support options you have available to you?

BBC News On-Line reports that thousands of unsafe Mobile Phone, Portable Device and Console charging power packs are being sold in the UK, tests showing these chargers can overheat or cause electrocution.

Now normally I take these sorts of reports with a pinch of salt - the high cost of original replacements parts, especially in the area of Inkjet Printers - often makes me think the Manufacturers issue warnings about using "unbranded" items is just a way of them protecting their profits.

However, always being one with an eye for a bargain, I've purchased a number of Mobile Phone Chargers and Spare Batteries from eBay over the past 18 months - all coming from Far Eastern sellers - and every time I've been disappointed with the performance or reliability of the purchases.

In each case, the Mobile Phone batteries I've bought have had ridiculously short life-spans or capacity for holding charge, and the chargers I've bought seem to charge at a much slower rate than the branded chargers, plus have got incredibly hot to the touch.

Therefore the report from BBC just confirms what I've come to realise - that you get what you pay for, and I sure as hell don't want to save money only to give myself an electric shock or worse! As they say, "Being Dead is bad for business".

If you're looking to waste half an hour of your Friday (or more!) with some silly gaming, then go take a look at Server Quest from Microsoft. It's there to promote a Technet Plus subscription (you have got a Technet Plus subscription, right?) from Microsoft and is presented in the style of an old 80's 8-bit computer game such as Skool Daze. For a retro gamer like myself (who am I kidding - I practically still live in the 1980's...) it's great fun!

I've used many Social Networking sites over the past 18 months - sites such as Facebook and MySpace (and boy, has that site died a death for the 18+ crowd!) but purely on a personal level. Then, over the past few months, I've noticed a trend with more and more people who I know through my business life, not just my personal life, using these same tools to keep in touch.

So I wasn't surprised when one of the things I picked up at WWPC is the value of Social Networking for business - especially small businesses. Not only did I meet a load of folk who already knew me (through this very blog) but I met many more folk who I've now connected with via Social Networking tools and am learning from - just by reading their blogs and following their updates!

I blog, I use Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo (and please, if you haven't connected with me on any of those sites - feel free to ask) - but one of the tools I've held off using up until now is Twitter.

What is Twitter? Twitter is like mini-blogging - regular, short (140 characters or less) and concise updates. I've never seen the value in it personally, but over the past few months have watched Vijay (who is probably the most "turned on" Web 2.0 user I know), Vlad and Texas Matt Tweet (To use Twitter is to Tweet, not Twit as I assumed...) and it's not only a great way of keeping up to date with what your peers are doing, but also provides some interesting links to follow and thoughts to process.

So I've set myself a Twitter account up and will now be tweeting from http://twitter.com/tubblog.

Any Twitters I should be following? Feel free to leave a comment and enlighten me.

I'm back in the UK from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, and although suffering a little from a screwed up body clock (my working hours Monday consisted of 2am-5am, 1pm-7pm) I'm slowly getting back to work and putting ideas garnered in Houston into action.

One of the e-mails waiting in my inbox was from a friend the other day who asked:-

"A colleague mentioned AVG Free Edition won't be available after the end of this month. Is this true? And where do I get legal free bad ass virus checkers if this is the case."

The answer is a definite "NO" - AVG Free Edition is not going to be withdrawn!

The confusion here may arise over the fact that users of AVG Free v7 users need to upgrade to AVG Free v8 to continue to receive updates in some situations, but AVG v8 Free remains... well... free!

AVG v8 Free Edition is a free Anti-Virus solution strictly for Home and Non-Commercial Use only. If you're using it in a business, then you'll need to buy a licensed copy of one of AVG's other products - but they are very reasonably priced and an excellent choice for Anti-Virus protection if budget is tight.

So why upgrade to a paid-for edition of AVG if you're a home user? Well, the free edition is quite literally basic protection from Viruses. If you use a Web-Based E-Mail solution (Hotmail, Yahoo, Google Mail, etc) and just do the occasional web-browsing, then AVG Free is for you. If you download your e-mails for reading off-line, need more advanced control over your AV settings, or are a gamer, then I'd recommend investing in a paid-for version of one of AVG's solutions as they offer features you'll benefit from.

You can continue to download AVG Free Edition - and long may that continue!

EDIT - I wrote this entry last Friday, but before setting off on my 14 hour flight back to blighty from Texas I neglected to post it on-line! Whoops!

The final day of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference has now finished, but what a day!

I missed the opening Keynotes at the Toyota Centre due to assisting with a client site outage back home in the UK, so didn't get to see Kevin Turner, Allison Watson or Guest Speaker - Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus speak in person. Gutted! I'll catch up on this via the Microsoft Digital WPC site shortly though.

I did attend the UK Regional Keynote though with Gordon Frazer and Scott Dodds. This was an excellent session with both men speaking about their views on the UK Partner program and how Microsoft can work to engage with their British partners more effectively. The session ended with a Question and Answer from the audience, which included some very direct questioning over the lack of financial incentives for partners to sell Microsoft licenses - both Frazer and Dodds admitting the current system was difficult to work with, but that Microsoft Licensing as a whole was an almost Gordian knot which took time to address. Overall, a positive keynote that left you feeling good about being a UK Partner to Microsoft - and that's really what these keynotes should be giving those in attendance.

I skipped the Microsoft provided lunch to meet up with my man Texas Matt and his friend Dean, so we could hit a local eaterie and have a final Mexican meal whilst we debated Politics across the Atlantic. Somehow I don't think my US-bashing Environmental rant went down well with two men who own trucks the size of small Elephants (and that weigh twice as much) but they humoured my green diatribe whilst restraining themselves from physically attacking me - bless them. Huge thanks to my old friend Matt and his family for making me feel welcome during my stay - make sure to check out Matt's blog!

The afternoon session saw me listen to "More Money through Higher-Value Transactions with SMB Customers" - which concentrated on Microsoft Licensing opportunities for Partners. Now Licensing, especially Microsoft Licensing, is not a subject which appeals to most - but this was a session with a difference - hosted by Microsoft Licensing Guru Eric Ligman. If you've never read Eric's blog, I strongly encourage you to do so - even with it's US focus it is essential reading for everyone. I met Eric earlier in the week after reading his blog for the longest time, and he proved to be an engaging speaker in this session - believe it or not I actually came out of this session with some exciting ideas about how I can do more with Microsoft Licensing! No, I'm not being facetious - I actually found myself furiously scribbling notes about Software Assurance, Open Value Licensing and more. Yes, I know I'm an uber-geek for being turned on by licensing - but blame Mr. Ligman for making the session so interesting! :-)

The final session I was less enamoured with. "Microsoft Software + Service Strategy - Offer Customers Flexible Choices". Now Software + Service has been hammered into us as Partners all week at WWPC - every Keynote, every session, every conversation with a Microsoft employee has featured Software + Service. I'm afraid this session was uninspiring and dull. Perhaps that sums up Software + Service for me! <grin> I won't go into depth on the reaction to Microsoft's Software + Service Strategy, as many much more experienced and business savvy individuals such as Vijay, Vlad, Karl and others have already discussed this in depth. My own opinion? Microsoft had no choice but to offer this type of service given the competition from Google, etc. Do I no longer trust Microsoft as a Partner because they are marketing to my clients directly? I trust Microsoft as a Partner as much as I ever did! Will my clients use Software + Service? Maybe - maybe not. The reality is that they'll pick whatever solution they feel works best for them - be it on-premise, hosted by Google, or whatever! Does this offer clients more choice? Yes! Does it make life more complicated for me? Probably! Do I see clients moving to a hosted solution in droves and thus cutting me out of the loop? Well we've been working with Microsoft on Office Live for a year or more now and I've not seen a significant shift in favour of a hosted solution there. Honestly? I'm fairly non-plussed about the whole situation and don't understand the furore from certain other Microsoft partners. Maybe I'm not bright enough to appreciate the complexities of the argument, or maybe I'm just too busy concentrating on growing my business and adapting to the market to notice. Either way, what comes will come.

To close the day, nearly all 10,000 attendees of the Conference made their way to the nearby Minute Maid Park, home to the Houston Astros Baseball Team, for the Conference Farewell Party. Wow! Microsoft sure know how to throw a party! The Park was rammed and was buzzing with tons of foods from different corners of the world, drinks aplenty, live entertainment including a  Karaoke Bar, Live Bands and Fireworks, XBox 360 and Classic Gaming Consoles - and just a fantastic atmosphere in general. I know I had a fabulous time and every one I met seemed to be having fun too. Just a fantastic evening and close to a brilliant week.

This was my first Worldwide Partner Conference, and my first ever IT Conference outside of the UK, and I've to say it was an incredible event. Microsoft are to be commended for organising the event so well, with a ton of fascinating Keynotes, Break-Out Sessions, Hands on Labs, Shuttle Buses to and from hotels, and all the other logistic difficulties they handled so very well. But the real value for me was meeting so many of the individuals worldwide I've previously only spoken to via telephone, e-mail and Instant Messenger, plus being introduced to many many more folk I'm glad I met. I was made to feel so welcome by people who only knew me by name, had read my blog or read my articles - it really gave me a warm glow and I got a real sense of what the Small Business Specialist "Community" is all about. I've come away from the Conference with a ton of notes and ideas to work on when I return to the UK - I'm excited and looking forward to working through them!

Thanks to everyone I met, and look forward to seeing you again next year! :-)

After last nights UK Regional Party, I was today feeling more than a little fragile.

The thought of going with a fuzzy head to sit and listen to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer scream at me in his own unique style did not fill me with excitement, and so I skipped the Keynote to recuperate. I understand a few others from the party went a step further and missed most of the day - I sympathise. Alcohol is an evil evil beast. I caught up with Mr. Ballmer's words over at Microsoft's Digital WPC site, which by the way, is an excellent site if you couldn't make the trip to Texas - containing all the keynotes and more.

I took the opportunity to walk off my hangover with a stroll through the huge Vendor Expo that is also going on at WWPC - hundreds of suppliers of hardware, software and services in attendance. Every stall was giving away swag, so my rucksack was bulging by the end of the day!

During a conversation with someone at the HP stall, I learnt details of HP's new online backup service "Upline". Apparently, Upline is a service HP have acquired and re-branded - it's an on-line backup service (nothing exciting there) but does have some great features such as the ability to easily securely share files with external recipients (hopefully cutting down on the ridiculous habit some clients have of trying to e-mail every file externally - whatever the size) an easy to use Web Interface for users to restore their own files, and fairly competitive pricing. Downsides? The service is currently US and Canada only. Personally, I'm happy with AhSay via OwnWebNow for Netlink IT's own clients off-site backup, but I could see the Uptime being useful for Home Users and Small Offices without any IT experience on-hand.

I also had an opportunity to get a proper look at Connectwise and TigerPaw, the Practice management tools that many favour. I've been researching PSA tools for a few weeks now, listening to opinions and reviews from many sources - so it was good to meet the folks behind the tools in person. Whilst even the TigerPaw staff readily admitted AutoTask GO would be a better fit for me (and I always admire companies that will openly let you know their product isn't a fit for you - I'm more inclined to re-visit these folk at a later date when they are a fit for me) I'd always dismissed Connectwise as being "too big" for Netlink IT's low requirements, but Erick Simpson grabbed me on the shoulder while I was the Connectwise stand and implored me to give the system a second look - who am I to argue with Mr. Managed Services?

Plenty more stalls I've not had an opportunity to visit, am hoping to do so on the last day of WWPC - Thursday.

If I've not mentioned it already though, the keynotes, the break-outs, the Hands-on-labs and even the parties are not the best bit of a WWPC. The best bit, by far, is meeting folks you'd only exchanged e-mails and IM's with before, making new friends and exchanging ideas, hints and suggestions .  The WWPC allows you to meet people who have been where you are in the development of your own business, those people who are experiencing the same challenges as you right now, and even those who ask you for advice as they are treading ground you've already experienced. I've found myself coming away from several of these meetings with great advice, almost literally buzzing about the possibilities of implementing suggestions when I return to the UK.

The evening saw yet more parties as Microsoft hired three nightclubs and plied it's partners with litres of free alcohol, but I took the cowardly corporate decision to head back to the hotel to catch up on some work and more importantly, some much needed sleep. Considering my intake of alcohol on Tuesday night had been truly heroic, I'm not too ashamed of this - but also considering the fact that self-confessed "old man" Vijay carried on partying hard with me on Tuesday night and is out again tonight partying, maybe I should feel a little guilty for being a lightweight... :-)

One of the challenges of attending the WWPC is the fact that it's so huge, so vast, with so many things to see and people to meet, that you can go crazy trying to fit everything in. The day starts early at 0830 and "officially" finishes around 1800 - but then there is a party every evening and so you find yourself going to bed late and getting up early every day.

Tuesday's Keynote was "Exploring Microsoft's Vision, Strategy and Solutions" with Stephen Elop, Andrew Lees, Allison Watson and Brad Brooks of Microsoft. Erick Simpson has a good write-up of the event over at his blog - go take a look!

The theme of my own day was "Windows Mobile". One of the things I'm hearing again and again from speakers at WPC is that SMB Consultants should be looking to specialise, and so I'm investigating whether Mobile Solutions could be that speciality for me.

The first Break-Out session I attended was Andrew Lees on "Why Windows Mobile Should Be A Part Of Your Business". The new Windows Mobile 6.1 system was being demonstrated here. As well as a bunch of bug-fixes and improvements, I really liked the Automatic Configuration feature when used alongside Microsoft Exchange 2007. In a nutshell, to set-up a new Activesync configuration, the end-user need only drop his e-mail address onto his Mobile device. The device then contacts the relevant Exchange 2007 server (and thanks to a AutoConfig DNS entry) and then configures the Mobile device for synchronisation. This should prove a real benefit when setting up Mobile devices as you could easily talk the end-user through this process over the 'phone.

Other new features that caught my attention were the ability to force Security Policies on the Mobile device, the much easier centralised management of devices - including remote wipe, for if a device gets stolen or lost, and the threaded SMS messages feature - ala Apples iPhone.

I then moved onto Laura Johnson presenting "Mobility, Productivity and Customer Connectivity for Your SMB Customers - Today and Tomorrow". As well as talking more about Windows Mobile 6.1, many of the new features of SBS 2008 were shown - including the updated Remote Web Workplace features.

Another area of specialisation that I've considered is the growing CRM market. Netlink IT recently rolled out our first (non-Microsoft) CRM deployment to a multi-national client, and I can now see further potential opportunities as a result of our experiences there.

So I attended "Business Solutions to Help SMBs improve their Performance and Productivity" which had a large amount of SBS 2008 content, but concentrated on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and had two partners talking enthusiastically about how they had seen their businesses grow as a result of providing CRM solutions to clients. Plenty of food for thought.

Finally, still on the CRM theme - "Customer Acquisition and Retention: Solutions to Find, Grow and Retain Customers" was a stand-out session for me. David Lees of South-Africa spoke of how at a trip to last years WPC, he was struck by the opportunity he saw in the CRM area. Returning home from WPC, he left his existing business partnership providing IT Generalist services, and struck out on his own providing CRM installations. David enthusiastically spoke of how he'd done zero marketing, as other IT generalist partners had brought him in to speak to their clients directly as a partner, and as we know, referrals are a lot stronger candidates to turn into closures than any other method of attracting business.

I was really inspired by David's story and found myself making frantic notes with ideas for future reference!

The "official" day came to a close and we were then treated to drinks, dinner and live music courtesy of Bryan Lubeck at the EBS 2008 Launch Party.

It was then off to to the infamous UK Regional Party. I'd already been tapped up by a few non-UK individuals to try and get them into the event, as the party has an infamous history of being the wildest at WPC. I can see why! The evening had a 1950's USA theme, with roller-skating waitresses, Elvis impersonators, and all manner of wigs! The free beer was flowing very very freely, and we tried our hand at 50's dancing, Hula Hoop and much more besides.

Frankly, I won't go into the whole evening as it degenerated into the sort of insane shenanigans that only a free bar can guarantee - but when I rolled in at 3am, I was not only pretty jolly, but plain pretty as well - as you can see!

I'll leave you with this photograph, which just about sums up the night. Thankfully this blog isn't as respected as Dave Overton's own blog, and never will be with photos like this. This is how I repay the guy for being so kind to me when he wrote about me recently...

For shame! :-)

Monday was Day One "proper" of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, TX. I've got to give it to Microsoft - they are well organised, as booking into the hotel I was provided with all the information I needed about the next few days, and shuttle buses were put on to ferry us to and from the Hilton Garden Inn hotel where I stayed near the famous Houston Galleria, downtown to the George R. Brown Convention Centre.

The Convention Centre itself is just huge - I understand there is about 10,000 attendees over the next four days - that's a lot of folks in one building!

After meeting and greeting a few of the folks I met yesterday, and being introduced to many more still, the Small and Medium Business Track that I was a part of kicked off with Andrea Russell, Community Development Manager at Microsoft, introducing Michael Risse, Vice President of Small and Midsize Business for Microsoft - delivering his Executive Keynote. Vijay has a good look at what Michael and Andrea had to say.

We were then treated to a Special Guest Speaker, Peter  Hillary, Adventurer and Philanthropist, and son of Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the Summit of Mount Everest. Peter has scaled Everest himself, and he proved an amazing storyteller - providing a really entertaining and inspiring hour of talk and video footage.

Break-out sessions were scheduled throughout the day, and the first one I attended was Stuart Crawford (IT Matters - Canada) talking about "Goal Setting for Business Success". Stuart had a few problems with his Microphone, but soldiered on and delivered a great session. Whilst I've heard much of the advice given in these sorts of motivational sessions, it is always great to see it delivered in a new way and Stuart helped re-inforce these ideas for me.

After a great lunch in the "Yellow Table" area reserved for SBSC'ers, I sat in on Vijay (UK SBSC PAL), David Lees (South African SBSC PAL) and Mark Crall (US SBSC PAL) talking about "Proactive Community Membership". This is the first time I've seen David and Mark speak, and they are both very obviously passionate about the value of community - which is great to see. Vijay called me out of the audience at one point to talk about how SBSC had helped me grow Netlink IT from a one-man-band to Microsoft Certified Partner, and there were plenty of questions and ideas from the audience on how the SBSC program can be improved further.

Finally, I sat in on Arlin Sorensen of HTG's session on "Solution Selling Creates Greater Revenue and Closes Deals Faster". Much like Karl Palachuk, Gareth Brown and Dave Overton, I'm learning that when Arlin Sorensen speaks about business - it pays to listen. Arlin delivered his overview of how to systematically deliver solutions to clients and grow your business - and is a charismatic and interesting speaker. I'm looking forward to being a part of HTG 11 and hearing more from Arlin.

The day's talks then closed with Michael Risse of Microsoft taking questions from the audience and wrapping up the day, inviting us all to drinks and nibbles in the Reception area. A s the beer flowed, the camera came out a

A really nice dinner (Indian food! Yum!) was then laid on for us as we chatted to some SBSC partners from New York about the challenges they face in their region. We then bowled off to the UK Reception Party at Lucky's Irish Bar, just around the corner from the Convention Centre. At both venues, the Free beer flowed and I pounced on yet more reluctant people people were literally queuing up to have their photograph taken to  appear on Tubblog!

Who am I to disappoint these good people?

Sunday was the final day before the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference began the following day - but there was plenty to keep me occupied on the "pre-day"!

After going to George R. Brown Convention Centre to register, I bumped into Matt Mackowizc of Ambition Mission to talk about his new book a little, and also saw Dave Sobel (who's excellent blog series on Virtualisation you should be reading) who will be the Facilitator of the new HTG 11 group to open in the UK.

After bidding a farewell to my chauffeur, Matt (but seriously, thanks mate - appreciate everything!) I met up with Vijay, Hilton Travis (from Australia) and David Lees (South Africa) for lunch at the nearby Grove. We were soon joined by Chris Rue and Beatrice Multzer.

Whilst Vijay, Hilton and David left to hit a day's worth of SBSC PAL meetings - I "strolled" over to the Holiday Inn Express, 2 blocks away from the Grove, to join my first HTG ALL meet-up. Crawling would be a better description than strolling - it was so hot and sticky! I can now see why you rarely see people walking along in Texas!

What is HTG? It's the Heartland Technology Group, founded by Arlin Sorenson. It's a peer group (and there are now 10+ such groups across the USA and Canada) of business owners who exchange ideas, help each other set goals, and set each other accountable for meeting those goals. My own take is that it's like a local user group taken to the next level and beyond. I've been invited to join the new HTG 11 group which will be based in the UK, and I'm very excited about the possibilities that opens up.

The meeting outlined the vision for expanding HTG (or HTG 2.0) and how it would be accomplished. Being in a room full of business owners who were passionate about doing well was really motivating, and I'm looking forward to being involved in HTG as a worldwide group.

Many of the HTG group including Dave Sobel and Erick Simpson then moved on to other pressing matters - beer! We stopped off at Cyclone Anaya's Mexican Kitchen (Cyclone being a former Lucha Libre Wrestler, the Kitchen was themed with old Wrestling bits) where I explained my love of Pro-Wrestling and was promptly ridiculed for it. ****kers. Talking of British expressions, Erick and Armen were most amused by the phrase "Pissed as a Newt". Those crazy yanks!

Day One "proper" of WPC to follow!

Day three in the USA - Heat - 29c - Number of Donuts consumed = a lot.

The day started with a typical American Breakfast - Donuts, Milkshake, and some type of hot-dog bun filled with melted cheese, sausage and Jalapeno's. Breakfast of kings!

We did a bit of shopping in the monolithic sized Walmart Supermarket they have here. I wisely invested in a pair of cargo shorts and a loose fitting T-Shirt to cope with the Texas heat a little better.

The afternoon was then spent geeking out whilst playing computer games, watching DVD's and drinking beer. We caught up on the Ric Flair Documentary, and cried like babies. We then watched the season finale of BBC's Doctor Who, and cried like babies. Yes, we're real tough guys.

The evening was spent in the company of Matt's friends as we geared up to watch the UFC PPV. Plenty of beer was consumed, and I found out what "Buffalo Wings" are and how messy it can be to eat them. Tasty though!

So, the last day of my "holiday" - as something resembling work begins tomorrow! The pre-day for WWPC starts so I'm expecting my day to be full of meeting people, going to pre-WWPC meetings, and maybe even squeezing a beer or two in the name of "networking".

Day 2 in the USA. Number of Donuts eaten = 3. Number of different variety's of Margaritas consumed = 4. Number of Quesadillas eaten = 12.

Yesterday was 4th July - American Independence Day - so naturally like any good holiday day, it rained, really really hard, here in Houston, TX. Like most things they do here in the States, even the rain was bigger and nastier than anything I've seen before - it was instantly flood time!

Early in the day I realised I'd left my UK/US plug adaptor at home and I needed to charge up my arsenal of electronic devices - so we headed up to Fry's - a local Electronic store - to see if we could source one. To call Fry's an Electronic store is like calling an Skyscraper a fairly tall building - this place was HUGE! It had literally everything! Now we've got PC World and Curry's in the UK - which are certainly handy to visit, but it always breaks my heart when I need to pop out to urgently source a USB Cable I know I could buy on-line for £0.89, but have to slap down £14.99 for the privilege of buying it from PC World. When can we have a Fry's in the UK? Everything was reasonably priced, including cables, and they even sold circuit boards, capacitors and other ultra-geeky stuff!

From an early part of the day we spotted lots of local parties - but we headed into Houston itself to visit Matt's wife Stephanie's work place which is located on Floor 7 of a high-rise office block. This gave the perfect unobstructed view of downtime Houston where we sat and watched the barrage of Fireworks across the City. Really impressive stuff, and we had a good time. After debating the USA's Independence from the evil British (I can forgive a country for wanting to be independent, but I can't forgive that terrible waste of tea when the Colonials dumped it into the river - especially as it's so hard to now buy PG Tips here in the US as a result!) I sat lamenting the loss of the British Empire, waving a five pound note to uphold the Queens Honour whilst concocting my own British Celebration Day - Subjugation Day!

I suspect it may not take off as a National Holiday though, but we'll see.

I'm here in Houston, TX for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference starting next Monday - having arrived a few days earlier to spend some time with another ex-pat, my good buddy Redditch Texas Matt. I'll be blogging each day through my trip - so you can both marvel and laugh at just how bloody British I really can be when abroad.

Arriving at Birmingham International at 6am, the long-suffering and yawning GG bade me a fond farewell as I went to join the queue to check-in. I say "went to join", as I treated myself to a Business First class ticket to the States and so Continental Airlines Concierge quickly identified me as a posh-type and took me straight to the check-in desk. This is the life!

I was then whisked through Security thanks to the VIP lane (I could get used to this) and went to relax in the private Airport Lounge where I did some work and caught up on some blog posts.

Although Mick is looking after the office (Kelly is in Las Vegas on holiday too!) - I'm going to attempt to do as much work remotely as I can to keep things ticking over. I've never loved Outlook-via-HTTP, SBS Remote Web Workplace and LogMeIn as much as I do now - I can do virtually everything I could do in the office, but from the other side of the world! The time difference in the USA is -6 hours, but Mick is suitably covering the morning rush, and I'm mopping up the issues in the afternoon, as I wake up in the US.

My flight to Texas included a change at Newark, NY. The flight from Birmingham to Newark was brilliant - I've never flown 1st Class before but it turns something that can be a chore and stressful into a relaxing and enjoyable trip. As well as having a huge reclinable chair with tons of leg-room, I managed to catch-up on two movies using the VOD (Video-on-Demand) during the trip, plus read the complimentary newspapers, did some e-mail off-line, ate a three-course meal, drank a bottle of nice wine and was generally pampered by the flight attendants. Lovely!

Sadly my experience of the connecting flight from Newark, outside New York, to Houston, Texas was not quite as pleasant.

The airport was rammed as everybody and his mother tried to get home for the July 4th Independence Day celebrations. The much lauded US Customer Service values went out of the window for sarcastic and snide comments from anybody (Me - "Excuse me, where can I go to check-in?" Airport Office - "Wherever the hell you need to be" - cheers dude!) and everybody. There was queue jumping, pushing and shoving and when I finally got on-board the plane, the Air Conditioning had broken down so it was sweltering, and families were arguing with single passengers over seating because they wanted Ma and Pa to "sit together". I plugged in my iPod and sat in cramped conditions listening to Ricky Gervais for the next 3 hours, pretending I was somewhere nicer.

I even resorted to reading the in-flight magazine -  which included an advertisement for the most bizarre item I've ever seen. PupStep. Stairs. To your bed. For your Cat or Dog to climb. No, really...

Thankfully I soon was indeed soon somewhere nicer - I've never been so glad to arrive at an airport as when we touched down in Houston!

There seemed to be some problem with the local weather when I stepped outside, as they'd left the heating on full blast - 34c in the afternoon they said. Ouch. Best not to complain though, I'm sure they'll get it sorted for me soon enough.

Whilst quietly marvelling at the fact every American seems to drive a gas guzzling Tank-sized vehicle (I promised myself I'd ignore my Green Beliefs for the next few days and not make any complaints) and there seems to be no discernable motorway etiquette system here, we headed back to Pearland where Matt lives - some 30 minutes from downtown Houston.

The evening was taken up with a fabulous dinner at a local Mexican eaterie with Matt and his family, washed down by some weak pale liquid the locals oddly refer to as "beer", but with another much more agreeable drink called a "Margarita" afterwards. We then retired back to Chez Matt to sit in front of his giant screen Television and watch some traditional American TV... Gordon Ramsey's "Kitchen Nightmares" on BBC America!

Finally succumbing to jet-lag, I crashed out at around 9pm EST and slept through until 7am this morning when I fired the laptop up and did some work remotely.

It's now 4th July, American Independance Day, and this evening will be spent at a high-rise office block in downtown Houston watching the fireworks across the City and celebrating the Colonials escape from our evil Sith-like British oppression!

I shall no doubt get suitable drunk and lament the fall of the British Empire with my host and fellow Brit Matt!

Happy 4th July! :-)

Andy has already mentioned iGizmo - the new free Web-Based Technology magazine available on-line.

A few weeks into my own subscription, iGizmo gets a big thumbs up! I've read "on-line" magazines before, and they can be a clumsy attempt at transferring the printed page to the web. iGizmo takes the concept a step further and exploits some of the potential of the web - and so includes videos, URL links and more. It's reviews are light-weight, but the content is bang up-to date and it's a fun 15 minute read each week.

What effect will this sort of on-line magazine have on the printed press? Well I can see it making a nasty dent in the buying figures from the casual magazine buyer at the newsagents, but for now - just like the e-book - I can't see it replacing the printed word.

Had an interesting scenario with an old Line of Business application for a client yesterday.

It was an old system that relied on Floppy Disks for Backups. The client was aware (due to my constant nagging!) that Floppy Disks weren't to be trusted as a backup medium, and so had purchased a couple of USB Key-Disks to store the backups onto instead.

Fooling the system into thinking a USB disk was a Floppy was fairly simple, but where the system fell over was in the fact it didn't overwrite the last backup... it simply threw a hissy-fit and crashed out!

Obviously, the client could manually delete the previous backup - but I looked for an automated solution.

The result? A small batch file that creates a folder within a sub-folder with that days date, with the batch-file set to "autorun" each and every time the USB Key Disk is inserted for the clients convenience.

Batch File:-

set dd=%date:~0,2%
set mm=%date:~3,2%
set yyyy=%date:~6,4%
mkdir "PayrollBackup\%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%"
move pay-data* "Backup\%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%"

Autorun File:-

[autorun]
open=Update.bat
action=Ready USB Disk for Backup
label=Backup

I don't get many chances to write scripts nowadays, even very basic ones, so this was a good chance for me to get geeky. :-)