Hello.

Just got back from a trip to Carlisle Castle with the lads! It's a must-see if you're in the area. Learned a lot about its history in the conflicts between England and Scotland, which got me thinking about the potential impact of Brexit on Scotland's future, especially given Carlisle's proximity. I've included a few photos of the castle to give you a taste of what to expect.

This blog post reflects on the Brexit situation, expressing the author's dismay and belief that history will judge everyone involved. It points to nationalism, self-interest, colonial hubris, and the involvement of certain public figures as contributing factors to the mess. The tone is frustrated and critical.

As a UK resident with a Google AdSense account, I'm holding onto my earnings until the dollar-to-pound exchange rate improves. My first payout was disappointing, especially after a year of work. I believe UK advertisers are also being shortchanged due to the exchange rate. Unless Google implements an exchange rate program that gives UK advertising better visibility, we're not getting a fair deal. For now, I've suspended my ads and will hold onto any future AdSense earnings.

UK Amazon Marketplace sellers can now easily link to a searchable, indexed list of their products. Just append your Seller ID (e.g., A30C94ZTNLBKQM) to http://www.kinlan.co.uk/amazon/uk/SellerID. Currently, this only supports up to 20 products and is UK-specific, but US support is coming soon.

I've partnered with Shopzilla UK! If you're looking for laptops or price comparisons in the UK, check out their link at the top right of this page.

I've added Amazon affiliate links to relevant books on my blog posts, hoping to provide useful recommendations and earn a small commission. So far, I've had one referral. I'd love to hear your feedback: Do you find these book recommendations helpful? Would you consider purchasing a recommended book? What factors influence your book-buying decisions? Is it clear which links go to the UK Amazon site versus the US site? Recent stats suggest a low conversion rate for affiliate links (around 0.24%), so I'm evaluating whether the effort is worthwhile given the advertising benefit to Amazon.

This post addresses the Google search query "c# convert date from uk to usa." It provides a C# code snippet using CultureInfo and DateTime to convert a date string formatted according to UK conventions into a US date format. The code takes the date string from a textbox, parses it using the UK culture settings (en-GB), and then formats the resulting DateTime object according to US culture settings (en-US) before outputting it to another textbox.

I'm consistently impressed by Yahoo's web service team and their responsiveness to users. In contrast, Amazon's web service support is practically non-existent. My simple question about UK support for the TextStream parameter in AWS has gone unanswered for ages, and I know I'm not alone. Amazon, please step up your game!

Google Desktop Beta 2 is slowing down my computer significantly, affecting web browsing, IE7 tabbed browsing, and Blogger's editor. It also hogs CPU and makes Outlook integration and IMAP usage very slow. While the What's Hot widget and Gmail integration are nice, the lack of UK news and email ordering issues are disappointing. I plan to uninstall it soon.

I believe retailers need to embrace open APIs to their product catalogs and ordering systems to reach a wider audience. While I agree with Robert Scoble's view on the transformative potential of developer APIs in retail, I'm concerned about the slow pace of change. Costly per-call charges for APIs like eBay's hinder experimentation and development, especially for independent developers like myself. It's also difficult to find retailers who openly offer APIs. Amazon's free access model is a good example of how APIs can drive revenue. Are there any UK retailers offering cool, accessible web services?

I'm exploring different web services, particularly for UK retailers like Tesco, Asda, or Virgin. I've tried Amazon's, which is decent, and Yahoo's, which I like. Ebay's looks interesting, but I'd rather not pay. I'm also looking at Alexa's and Google's. It's tough finding good resources on this, especially for UK retailers. I'd love to see APIs from companies like Tescos, Asda, Dixons, and others. If you know of any good web services, especially in the UK retail space, please share!