It's a bit crazy in my world right now, between work and recovery from surgery. I'll never get around to blogging my own thoughts about all these cool things that caught my eye, so here you go - a bunch of random, cool links gathered from other blogs since the first of the year. See something you like? Then you go blog about it and let me know.

1. How I Made Four Minutes About Podcasting (from: Lisa Williams)
2. Super-size the boss
3. Need a Job ? (from: Mark Cuban)
4. Lovin' it a little too much
5. PC Based Mobile Registry Editor
6. Firefox Pomposity
7. Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams
8. BitTorrent Podcasting How-To Video
9. Prepping for Windows Server 2003 SP1....
10. BizTalk Server virtual labs available online
11. MCE in the car
12. oregon blogging map
13. PhoneThemes.com - This is gonna be huge
14. Metroblogging Bangkok: Phuket Disaster Relief: Day 2
15. The Motorola MPx goes on sale in Brunei
16. Niveus Pocket Remote - Wi-Fi Pocket PC MCE 2005 Controller Application
17. Robotics Alive Series: Monkey Head!
18. View your desktop as a list
19. New Media Center Universal Remotes at CES
20. Talk to your PocketPC Phone
21. More security audio resources
22. Wowee Robosapien V2 and Robosapien Dinosaur
23. What IS a security vulnerability, anyway?
24. Tinstall sounds cool
25. Vonage F-1000 Wi-Fi Handset
26. Media Center 2005 Wiki
27. Visual Studio 2005 CTP - December 2004 - DVD (English)

If you’re someone who needs or wants to learn more about InfoPath (an addition to the Office suite in the 2003 version) and building some really cool XML forms, you’re in luck.

“Create dynamic interactive forms in an advanced XML forms editor that feature strong validation with built-in business rules and use them to collect, re-purpose, and present data throughout the organization. Use existing data schemas, Web services, and XML data to create solutions without complex data mapping. Use point-and-click integration with back-end systems and take advantage of "silent" deployments and version upgrades via simple centralized management.”

A series of recent webcasts, Understanding InfoPath, is available now for on-demand viewing. Titles include:

Best Practices for Designing InfoPath Forms
Level 200 - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Presented by Scott Roberts, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

User Roles in InfoPath 2003
Level 200 - Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Presented by Josh Bertsch, Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Building Advanced Dynamic Solutions in InfoPath 2003
Level 200 - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Jun Jin, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Business Logic in InfoPath 2003
Level 300 - Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Yuet (Emily) Ching and Prachi Bora, Software Test Engineers, Microsoft Corporation

Using Managed Code and Visual Studio to Build Solutions
Level 300 - Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Presented by Willson Raj David, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

InfoPath in End-to-End Enterprise Solutions: Integrating InfoPath with Siebel and SAP
Level 300 - Monday, November 2, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Hagen Green, Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Digital Signatures in InfoPath 2003
Level 300 - Monday, November 15, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Mihaela Cristina Cris, Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Creating Custom Controls for InfoPath SP1
Level 400 - Monday, November 29, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Andrew Ma, Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Programming Workflow into InfoPath Solutions: Using InfoPath with BizTalk Server 2004 and Human Workflow Services
Level 400 - Monday, December 6, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Rick Severson, Software Test Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

Database Connectivity in InfoPath Through ADO.NET DataSet Support
Level 400 - Monday, December 14, 2004 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Presented by Mikhail Vassiliev, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation

I know he didn't mean to (so I won't act all flattered or smug or anything), but Robert Scoble just sort of summed up the better part of my topic/category list for this-here-blog of mine, over on his blog...

I thought it would be interesting to compare his list of cool upcoming topics for the future to what's categorized or searchable right now on my site. So, I did just that and have added the links, below. Not a bad start, and it points out to me where I am falling shorter than I had realized in my content. Hey Robert, thanks for the copy.

“For the next 18 months, where are the business opportunities going to lie? Tablet PC. Bigtime. Windows Media Center. Gonna be a big deal. SmartPhones. Wanna watch how fast the Motorola MPX220 sells when it's released in the next few months? Xbox Live. You only need to say one number and everyone knows exactly the Xbox thing I'm talking about: "2." Visual Studio 2005. Tons of stuff coming there. MSN has a whole raft of things up their sleeves. And we haven't even started talking about BizTalk, SharePoint, Exchange, SQL Server, 64-bit Windows, SBS, CRM, LiveMeeting, and OneNote, among other things.”

It also gives me a gut-check on my existing blog categories. Here they are, with the ones that apply to this posting checked:

AudioBlogging	Blogging	Humor	IT Security
Mobile	Movies	Office 2003	OneNote
Personal Stories	Random Stuff	RSS Stuff	SharePoint
Tablet PC	Tech	Things that Suck	Windows Media Technology

Starting in October and running into mid-December, MSDN will have a whole slew of Infopath webcasts going on. One of Office 2003's best kept secrets (and that is not necessarily a good thing), this program provides a powerful front end to designing, creating and using XML forms.

Title	Presenter	Date	Time
Best Practices for Designing InfoPath Forms	Scott Roberts	Tuesday, October 05, 2004	9:00 AM-10:30 AM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259531&Culture=en-US
User Roles in InfoPath 2003	Josh Bertsch	Tuesday, October 12, 2004	9:00 AM-10:30 AM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259537&Culture=en-US
Building Advanced Dynamic Solutions in InfoPath 2003	Jun Jin	Tuesday, October 19, 2004	9:00 AM-10:30 AM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259110&Culture=en-US
Business Logic in InfoPath 2003	Yuet (Emily) Ching and Prachi Bora	Tuesday, October 26, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259112&Culture=en-US
Using Managed Code and Visual Studio to Build Solutions	Willson Raj David	Tuesday, November 02, 2004	1:00 PM-2:00 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259539&Culture=en-US
InfoPath in End-to-End Enterprise Solutions: Integrating InfoPath with Siebel and SAP	Hagen Green	Monday, November 08, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259542&Culture=en-US
Digital Signatures in InfoPath 2003	Mihaela Cristina Cris	Monday, November 15, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259544&Culture=en-US
Creating Custom Controls for InfoPath SP-1	Andrew Ma	Monday, November 29, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259546&Culture=en-US
Programming Workflow into InfoPath Solutions: Using InfoPath with BizTalk Server 2004 and Human Workflow Services	Rick Severson	Monday, December 06, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259548&Culture=en-US
Database Connectivity in InfoPath Through ADO.NET DataSet Support	Mikhail Vassiliev	Tuesday, December 14, 2004	11:00 AM-12:30 PM
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=1032259550&Culture=en-US

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC–07:00) until Oct 31, and Pacific Standard Time (UTC–08:00) on and after Oct 31st.

I was catching up on blog reading and noticed Jim Blizzard points to Infopath training now available on MSDN. Very cool. I need this. For those who don't know, Infopath is basically an Office 2003 app that allows you to create and use XML forms - it's a pretty powerful front end. Sharepoint 2003 supports it, too, as do a few workflow tools that are offered by third-party channel partners.

He also points to a day-log session on April 21 in Portland being put on by Microsoft called “BizTalk Server 2004: Developing the Integrated Enterprise.” Registered.

I've never attended a Portland Nerd Dinner before, but as much blog reading as I am doing by the participants, and since I am sure Scott will be going (he's tried to get me to go before), I might just stop in and see what its about.