I have been going though my list of things to blog and came up with these links that I intended to blog bug hadn't yet.

Backups? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Backups! - If you don't mind a little bit of advertising there is a bunch of humorous content on backups and the importance of doing them at http://www.backuptrauma.com/video/default2.aspx The site is pushing backup to disk which is looking more and more feasible every day with the low cost of disks and their relative speed.

Adobe Illustrator to Avalon/XAML Exporter - Anyone who has seen the programs I write will know that I am graphically challenged. I have never used Adobe Illustrator but the whole idea of converting from that format to XAML intrigues me. You can read a blog announcement or watch a video about how this all works.

Connected Systems Developer Contest - This contest has been running for a while now but there is still time to sign up. With a grand prize of $50,000 USD you can bet that there are a lot of people wracking their brains on what they can do to create the greatest applications using the next generation tools from Microsoft. If you have a good idea go over to http://msdn.microsoft.com/devcompetition and register. Hurry, you only have until August 30 to register your idea. You can get the full list of categories and the official rules from the web site.

ASP.NET 1.1 to 2.0 Upgrade Center - Microsoft has set up an upgrade center for information on upgrading to ASP.NET 2.0. There is a video, answers to questions, and a tutorial avaliable at http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/migration/upgrade/default.aspx.