One of the benefits of working alone or in a small shop is the freedom to be an early adopter.  I'm not the bleeding edge type, but I certainly keep an eye out for new technologies and try to apply them in real world situations.  Typically this starts first with HappyFish.  (Side note: Every developer should have at least one pet project for experimentation and learning.)  For whatever reason I was slow to respond to LINQ.  I have since embraced it and am still surprised at how easily I can express my intent through LINQ.  Sure, at first the syntax feels like reaching around your back to scratch your navel, but there is a lot of power to be had.

My focus lately has been on SQL Server Data Services (SSDS) and ASP.Net MVC.  SSDS is a cloud based data service similar to what is currently available through Amazon Simple Storage Service program. While overall Amazon's offering is a more complete cloud computing solution, SSDS is focused on an infinitely scalable off site data storage solution.  This would be comparable specifically to Amazon's Simple DB, which like SSDS is in private beta.  I signed up for both but still have not gotten into Amazon's program so I cannot offer a comparison.  However, I really like what I've seen with SSDS so far.  Here are some related links for getting familiar with SSDS:

• MSDN section related to SSDS
• Intro to SSDS Video from Tech Ed 2008 (OakLeaf Systems has many related articles.)
• For those with access to the beta be sure to check out Mike Amundsen's examples.
• Dave Robinson's article "Data Services" in the July 2008 issue of MSDN Magazine.
• Roger Jenning's article "Test-Drive SQL Server Data Services" in the July 2008 issue of Visual Studio Magazine.

The ASP.Net MVC framework is my other focus lately.  From the official site:

"ASP.NET MVC provides a framework that enables you to easily implement the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern for Web applications."

Some argue that the code behind page model of ASP.Net represents the MVC pattern, but this is a more complete synthesis of the idea.  The separation of concerns - that is - one part being responsible for a single task - achieved via the framework makes it easier to test and maintain the code.  In fact, when you create an MVC project a testing project is created along side.  Preview 4 was released July 16 and is available for download from the CodePlex site.  Here are some related links:

• The official site has some introductory videos by Scott Hanselman that are good.
• Scott Guthrie of course has many related posts.
• Rob Conery has a good reference list of UI Helpers. UPDATE: I found this link late last night and after looking at it more closely I think it's pretty stale.
• Nikhil Kothari has an article about ajax in the context of MVC.

The thing to keep in mind with both SSDS and MVC is that both projects are under development and are evolving quickly.  Some of these links will probably be stale in a week or so.  Still, I wanted to put them out there for early adopters like myself or others who may just need a push to get started.  Remember - adopt early, adopt often.