SQL Server 2008 – First Look (Spatial Data)

Technorati Tags: SQL Server,Spatial Data,.NET

As I start exploring the latest version of SQL Server, one of the major head turners in SQL Server 2008 is the ability to store Spatial Data.

Spatial Data enables us to store and retrieve location based information in the SQL database. An example of that would be to show a user pizza joints in a 5 KM radius from his address. If you have downloaded the SQL Server 2008 training kit, you will find samples and demo of how to use spatial Data. There is also a presentation on Spatial data in the kit.

Spatial Data in SQL Server is based on the standards defined by the Open geospatial Consortium and supports two key data types; Geography and Geometry. Both these data types are also CLR data types enabling complete compatibility for use in .NET code.

Though Spatial Data sounds very useful in terms of storing location based preferences or queries, it takes time getting used to something like this. I am still trying to get my heads around how to store and retrieve data on Spatial Data Types. You can find more information on Spatial Data types in the below links.

SQL Server Spatial Data Technology Center

Whitepaper: Delivering Location Intelligence with Spatial Data

Whitepaper: What's New for XML in SQL Server 2008

Whitepaper: Managing Unstructured Data with SQL Server 2008

MSDN Webcast: Building Spatial Applications with SQL Server 2008, Event ID: 1032353123

How to: Managing multiple blogs with Windows Live Writer

A couple of people have asked me how I manage and maintain my blog posts on both Windows Spaces and blogspot, so predictably, I thought I will blog that myself.

I use Windows Live Writer to write my blogs. The tool is quite useful. Once you install the software, you get the option to configure your blogs. If you do not set all the accounts the first time, don’t worry, you can always access it from Tools –> Accounts. You get the following dialog.

As you can see, I have both my accounts configured. To add an account click add and the rest of it pretty self explanatory. Once you have added the account, you should be able to see the accounts you have added under the Blogs menu.

 

The Live Writer tool also loads the themes you have configured which helps you see exactly how your blog will look. The tick needless to say indicates the current blog you are writing to. Once you are finished writing the blog, publish the blog, go to the blogs menu select the other blogs you want to publish it to and click publish again. As easy as that!!!

I have not tested the software in Windows 7 yet. I will do that pretty soon and post my results here!! So keep visiting. Happy Blogging.

Pergola – High Altitude Dining

I had heard about the high-altitude Pergola at Hotel Accord about 6 months earlier, so when I had to choose a restaurant to treat my wife for my anniversary the choice was very much made.

I made a booking for two a day earlier. I did not know how busy the restaurant was during weekdays but just wanted to play safe. Pergola is on the thirteenth floor of Hotel Accord. It opens out to an amazing view of the Chennai city. We were at the hotel at about 8 o clock. I think we were just the second or third guest for the evening at that time but the place soon filled up.

We got a good seat. I was hoping they would have a TV so I can follow the T20 game that was on but that was not to be and so, for 5 minutes, we were looking at Chennai and identifying places we knew. Pothys was very much there and so were the floodlights of the M.A. Chidambaram stadium at Chepauk which was wonderful. We could see the infamous Chennai Traffic on Anna Salai. I have been to the Zafraan Exotica in Hyderabad and Pergola ran Zafraan very close on ambience if not better. The service was very prompt. We were handed a drinks\appetisers menu. A Mongolian Barbeque was on but we chose not to get too adventurous. We picked an appetiser that was made of Sesame Corn and a  sweetie Mary mocktail to go along with it. The appetiser took about 10 minutes to arrive which wasn’t too bad. At first, it smelled like our traditional Paruppu Vadai but the similarities ended there. The taste was very good and the sauce that went along only ameliorated the taste.

Then came the main course. The only disappointing thing was the variety of the vegetarian fare that you could have along with rice. It was limited to only 2, infact. One had mushrooms so we chose Murungai Elai Masiyal more out of force than by choice. We also ordered an Aloo Nazakat along with the naan bread. Again, the main course did not take too long. About 20 minutes waiting time roughly. We were glad we chose Murungal Elai Masiyal because it was absolutely scrumptious. It was mixed along with lentils and was the right dish to go with the rice. We were glad we took the waiter’s suggestions. We thoroughly enjoyed the sumptuous main course.

By the time we got to the desserts our expectations were running very high. If anything was a let down, it were the desserts. We opted for a Chocolate Fudge fixation but sadly the fixation was very short lived. I just wish Pergola spruces up their desserts menu. We finished our dinner at about 10. On the whole it was a memorable dining experience and I will definitely recommend Pergola. It is not too heavy on the pocket. It cost us 900/head but remember, this was a vegetarian fare without drinks. I would say it will be about 1500/head. Though, definitely not a candidate for casual dining, a dinner at Pergola is worth the time and the money for one of those special days.

Technorati Tags: Review,Restaurant,Pergola,Chennai,Hotel

All-in-One Chat Client

Recently, I came across a download list for Windows at www.cnet.com. One of the applications listed there was Pidgin, an IM Client that lets you chat on multiple protocols like Yahoo, Google, AIM and MSN. I have been using Pidgin for about a week now and have found it really useful. So here goes a quick and dirty review of Pidgin.

The download and installation experience was  very smooth. Once you install the software you then have to configure the accounts you will use Pidgin with. Of course, you can add more protocols later if you want.

One of the biggest advantages that I have seen of Pidgin is that it is very lightweight and does not take long to load. That means that Pidgin has to do away with niceties such as video and audio conversation. Having said that, one of the features I have taken a liking to is new mail notification. Pidgin will notify you of any new mails if you turn the option on.

The other nice feature of Pidgin is that it neatly organises your groups from different chat clients. So if you have a group called “Friends”  in both gtalk and AIM, it will show up in one group under Pidgin. Pidgin, by default supports tabbed chatting. Though it is very convenient, sometimes, you can miss out when a new message comes in. Luckily, the customization options in Pidgin is quite exhaustive. If you go to preferences you can see a whole host of options.

For the want-all freaks who are not satisfied with the default features that Pidgin provides there is something in for you too; Plug-ins. Pidgin comes with a set of plug-ins, so you can include whatever you think adds “jazz” to your client. I have not quite started playing with them yet so I will hold my comments and suggestions. Pidgin is open source so you can also develop your own plug-ins. I will leave it at that for a start. As I said, I am still playing around with this so do feel free to leave me comments on Pidgin or anything else that you have come across.