Session variables allow you to store global data for use across your website.  This data can be used for several applications, whether it be just displaying it on a page, or using it for comparison against data stored in a database.  There are a couple of ways to store session variables in C#.  In a specified action (like a button click or page load) use this code:

Session["variable name"] = source of variable;

For example, if you were storing a username typed into textbox1, you would use:

Session["username"] = TextBox1.Text;

An alternative way to perform the same action (where textbox1 is textboxt1’s id) is:

Session["username"] = Request["TextBox1"];

By default, these session variables are stored by the browser for 20 minutes.  This time interval can be altered in your web.config file.  If you wish to clear these variables manually you can do so with this code:

Session["variable name"] = null;

How to show / unhide file extensions in Windows Vista:

Click Start and Click Documents (or open up any directory explorer window).  In the top left hand corner of this window, click the Organize icon.  Now, click Folder and Search Options.

Click the View tab in this window.  Locate and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option.  Click Apply and Ok.

How to show / unhide file extensions in Windows XP:

As in Vista, open up a directory (Windows Explorer).  Click Tools > Folder Options.  Click the View tab.  Finally, uncheck the Hide extensions for known files types option.

Hate using Verizon’s ring tone shopping platform to search for and then pay premium costs for 10 seconds of a song you already own?  With all of the limitations that Verizon places on their phones’ software you’ll be suprised to know just how easy it is to create a your own custom ringtone, using MP3 files you already have.  Lets get started.

What you will need:  iTunes, an MP3, a Verizon phone (that can accept picture messages).

Open up iTunes and goto Edit > Preferences and you will be greeted with this screen:

Click Import Settings.

On the next screen make sure your options are set to Import Using: MP3 Encoder and Setting: Custom…  when you select “Custom…” yet another option window will appear.  Match your settings to look like mine, specifically those in red.

Just click Ok a couple of times and you are ready to make your MP3s Verizon ringtone compatible.

Now, track down the MP3 that you want to make into a ringtone.  Right click the file in iTunes and click Get Info.  Click the Options tab.  Here, you can choose the start and end time of your ringtone.  You want to keep this fairly short.  Once you’ve figured this out, hit Ok again.

Right click the track in iTunes and click Create MP3 Version.  This will create what appears to be an exact copy of the original file.  But, by right clicking the MP3s in iTunes and clicking Get Info you can find the shorter file, which will be your ringtone.  This window will also display the directory that your converted MP3 what spit out to. If you are doing this in Windows, just right click the info window and select Display in Windows Explorer to go directly to that directory.

Once the directory is open, you will need to right click the file rename the file extension from .mp3 to .midi (or .mid) depending on your phone.  If your not sure, try both and one will be rejected by your phone.  If your computer is not displaying file extensions, find out how here.

Finally, just open up your favorite email account and compose a piece of mail as you normally would.  Attach the ringtone .mid or .midi file, and send it to YOURNUMBER@VZWPIX.COM so like 5551114444@vzwpix.com.

In a few seconds, your phone will receive what appears to be a picture message.  When you open it, you can choose to save or simply set the received file as your ringtone.  Enjoy!

As a graduating computer science student, I have seen my fair share of web 2.0 applications with promises  larger than their venture capital.  A good deal of these services have disappeared all together or proven to be downright useless.  Below is a collection of some of my favorite and most used productivity tools online.

Dropbox - Do you really think the ladies are digging the USB memory stick on your keychain?   Absolutely not, so ditch it and get an account on Dropbox.  Dropbox allows you to store, sync, and share your files online securely.

Facebook Coursefeed Application - Ok, I’m not sure how many other colleges use the abortion of a course organization service known as “Blackboard” but I’ve had to deal with it for five years.  This archaic service is as user friendly as a pitbull.  I found that the coursefeed application for Facebook makes Blackboard slightly less tortuous, re-organizing Blackboard’s mess into a more intuitive interface.  Better yet, coursefeed allows you to set up alerts to email you whenever content is added by professors, allowing you to stay ontop of those pesky biology quizes.

Remember The Milk - An oldie but a goody, remember the milk is a to-do list on steroids.  Best of all, its available not only through the RTM website, but also on Google calendar, Google gears, Twitter, Blackberry, and as a Gmail widget and iPhone app.

Google Forms - For me, Google docs was love at first sight… until I was introduced to Google forms, Google doc’s hotter, younger sister.  Forget sharing spreadsheets to collect data from large groups of people.  Google forms allows you to place forms in your emails, the users input will automatically populate a dynamic spreadsheet that you can access later.

Dimdim - So you want to host a web conference?  Well guess what, Webex and Gotomeeting want your money.  Dimdim might not have the best name, but its a great alternative, and best of all free.  It offers all the features you would expect from a web conferencing service: synched live presentations, whiteboards, and pages with the ability to share video and audio at the same time.

Using Firefox’s bookmark tagging feature, you can quickly and easily attach one or more keywords of your choice to a specific URL.  Once this is done, you can simply begin typing one of your assigned keywords or “tags” into the address bar and Firefox will hunt down and shortcut you to the Bookmarked URL.  Check out the images below for a more detailed tutorial.

First, simply bookmark the page by going to Bookmarks > Bookmark this page.  Or Simply press Ctrl + D.  You will be presented with this box:

Simply fill in the Tags text box with keywords of your choice separated by commas and press Done.  Now, simply begin typing in one or more of your tags into Firefox’s address bar and let the browser do the rest:

I’ve compiled a list of sites to find and download beautiful, high resolution desktop wallpapers.  This list includes several dual monitor and three monitor wallpapers.

http://www.mandolux.com/

http://www.caedes.net/

http://www.socwall.com/

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/

http://www.dualscreenwallpaper.com/

http://www.deviantart.com/

Check em’ out.

If you haven’t checked out Termanology by now, do it, he defines hip hop as it should be.  He has released a slew of mixtapes and an army of original tracks.  Recently signed to Nature Sounds, his first LP, Politics as Usual is set for a Septeber 30th, 2008 release.  Although he is known to talk most about his Lawrence roots, I remember Term from Haverhill High.  Before he caught the attention of The Source, XXL, Scratch, DJ Premiere, B.E.T, and now MTV, he caught my attention… at Haverhill High’s 2001 talent show.

After sitting through the usual singing, dancing, and overall average talent show performances, I read on the schedule that a hip hop act was to perform, not expecting much, Term and Ed Rock blew me away.  At the time the pair went by the name S.T.R.E.E.T (Speaking Through Raw Epilogue Ed Rock & Term), now the monicer has been shortened to St., and the crew has expanded, recently putting out a great hip hop album with some catchy tracks. 

During the show, Ed Rock & Term’s crew were running up and down the aisles trying to hustle a three track mixtape (really 9, but that includes instrumentals, raw versions, and radio versions of each track).  After hearing them perform I dropped the $5 and popped it in the deck on the way home and was again, impressed.  Now with only a few weeks until Politics As Usual is released, a song from the HHS mixtape played while my iPod was on shuffle… and I realized how great these tracks still are, by far trumping most hip hop tracks released since 2001.  Still, Term, Ed Rock, and the entire St. Squad has managed to focus their talents and get even better. 

By the way, I’d love to see Ed Rock get some more attention, his flow and overall lyrical style is something to behold.  I even think his style might be more appealing than Term’s to a commercial audience.

Just to give you a taste, here is a track from the original $5, 2001 S.T.R.E.E.T mixtape, entitled “Heat”.

“I’ll leave you motha fuckas on defibulators when I see ice and pull out blades like figure skaters”, genius.

You may have heard that internet super-stud Bo Burnham has released his first 6 track EP on iTunes. But I bet you didn’t know that he was signed to the same record label that has been pressing albums for big shots like Dane Cook, Mitch Hedberg and Norm Macdonald.  Well now you do.  Bo Burnham is  Stephen Lynch on steroids… and heroin.  His puns will leave you in tears, and with the backing of Comedy Central, his influence will be even further reaching.  Let the Summer of Bo Fo Sho begin.

Happy belated birthday to former (and present in my heart) WWF heavyweight champion of the world, comic book writer, and true American patriot, The Ultimate Warrior. 49 years ago on June 16, The Warrior’s mother’s birth canal received a gorilla press drop, and introduced to the world one of the greatest human beings ever to walk God’s green earth. Although he has been somewhat out of the spotlight for the past few years, the Warrior has kept a blog and even posts videos from time to time when he isn’t busy teaching the world that queering doesn’t make the world work.

Although Vince McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania was quite the promotional vehicle, I believe The Ultimate Warrior has trumped him with his recent contest to spread the news of his return to the squared circle on June 25th in Barcelona, Spain. On his latest video blog, Warrior offers sweat drenched, used workout tank tops off of his own back to a few lucky fans. All you have to do, is submit an inspirational comment to the Warrior’s website, and it better fucking be good. Remember, this is the same guy who beat the shit out of Hulk Hogan in his prime. Check out the video, but you will have to wait through a solid 2 minutes and 47 seconds of Warrior’s bicep workout and a modern day pose down before he speaks but it is well worth it.

Even the soundtrack is epic… In fact, cancel the 2009 Academy awards and give all of the awards to the Warrior right now.

Best Actor: Ultimate Warrior

Best Supporting Actor: Ultimate Warrior’s Massive Pythons

Best Actress: Any man who dare stand next to the Warrior.

You think Barack Obama is an inspirational speaker? Ultimate Warrior for president… of the Universe. Rest assure his platform will not be one of “change” but instead, one of death, destruction and clotheslines. Here is a tidbit of Warrior’s awe inspiring rederick in case you missed it:

“I wear these white tank tops for a couple reasons, I’ll give you one of them today. Cause it reminds me of a time when I was a young kid, and it was the only kind of tank top, athletic top you could get. And the only protein performance enhancement you had was the milk in the refrigerator and busting you your ass and busting balls inside the gym.”

In related news, the Iron Sheik is still awaiting a response to his open challenge to The Ultimate Warrior.

Ok, so the XM Sirius merger has been sitting on the FCC fence since February 2007 largely due to lobbyist bullshit, and an undeniable conflict of interest on the part of several powers that be who are ultimately making the decision and who also have their feet wet in competing markets ie: Terrestrial radio. But wait, according to several of these decision makers, terrestrial radio isn’t a competitor of satelite radio. And oh yah, they don’t consider any other of the countless platforms of audio entertainment delivery to be competition either (mp3 players, computers, hd radio, cds, 8-track players, whatever).

If the merger is truly creating a monopoly, that means that it will be effectively eliminating all forms of competition. So why are terrestrial radio lobbyists setting standards and attempting to squash this merger if they aren’t in direct competition with satellite radio?

Well the DOJ finally approved the merger in March 08 (it took this professional panel 14 months to “investigate” the cause, and make sure the merger wouldn’t lessen competition or harm consumers).

Today, FCC chief Kevin Martin recommended the OK of the deal. Huh? But wait, theres more, the FCC is only giving this OK under certain conditions. I expected some of these, but the one that bothers me most, is the one that was formulated by the broadcasting communications expert himself Jesse Jackson a few months back: 24 of the XM-Sirius channels will be reserved for non-commercial and minority programming.  Its not like Sirius doesn’t already have a gay channel or anything.