2026-01-26

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Last week I spent a few days in Cambridge, UK for the Redgate Company Kickoff. I landed at 1130a Monday and flew away at 1215p Thursday. I wish I could say it was my shortest trip to the UK, but I think it’s the 4th or 5th shortest.

Almost the entire company converged in the UK for the event. We haven’t done this in the past, with separate kickoffs in different regions in the past. This time I saw friends and colleagues from Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, the US, and likely somewhere else.

In fact we split this into two days. Day 1 (shown above) was Sales and Marketing with Day 2 being the Engineering, Product, and other groups. I was only there for Day 1. Day 2 was at the Redgate office with some meetings and our marketing group getting together. Plus a few breaks.

Monday was a whirlwind, though we managed to get two Simple Talks podcasts recorded. Look for them coming soon. Tuesday was a very early start for someone that had been up Sat/Sun in Denver at 530a, and now needed a 600am GMT wakeup. It was very dark as we headed to Bletchley Park. I think I look way more tired than Pat.

The kickoff was great. It felt more organized, and we are looking to focus more on things that help our customers find success as well as finding the customers that we can help rather than every customer out there. I like that we constantly talk about helping our customers as we look to grow the company.

I walked around, talking tech, business, life, and Redgate with colleagues a bit at our break and saw a bit of the museum, but honestly I couldn’t focus. I was too caught up in what we didn’t do well last year and where we’re going. I managed a couple shots in the museum (Bombe below), but gave up quickly and went to find other Redgaters to talk to.

I wasn’t sure if it was worth taking everyone to Bletchley, but as we talked about our plans and then things customers want, the theme made more sense. We certainly know security is important, and maybe becoming more important, to many customers. Interesting tie ins as a few of our upper management people had relatives or family friends who had worked there during WWII.

I was up to late on Tue and Wednesday. Tue with my warrior daughter who was spending two weeks touring universities in Europe. It was great to have her come through Cambridge and us catch up for a few hours.

Wednesday was talks from Marketing in our office. The whole group was there and I led an AMA with the Advocates on various topics. It was interesting and always informative as I only lightly know how marketing works.

Dinner was with our team and then a late night chatting over beers with various others. I finally made it up to my room only to get a message from my wife. I called her and she asked me why I was up so late. It was 2am!

A short chat and then a very short night as I have a 7am car to the airport. Fortunately I managed to sleep on the plane.

I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to bring the whole company together (its’s $$$), but afterwards I think it was. I’m glad we did and I’m looking forward to 2026.

The post Looking Back at the Redgate 2026 Company Kickoff appeared first on SQLServerCentral.

What is Budget Bytes?

• Real costs, tallied live – At the end of each episode, we show you exactly what it cost to build and run.
• Authentic development – Speakers show their actual process, including mistakes and debugging (because that’s real life).
• Practical patterns – Learn new tools, APIs, design patterns, and processes you can apply immediately.
• Replicable solutions – Every demo, you can look at the GitHub repository so you can deploy it yourself!

What You’ll Learn

Each episode is packed with practical takeaways:

• New tools and technologies – From Microsoft Foundry to Copilot Studio to Model Context Protocol
• Real-world design patterns – See how experienced developers architect cost-effective solutions
• Hands-on deployment – Every solution can be deployed to your own Azure subscription
• Continuous learning – Each episode links to Microsoft Learn modules for deeper dives
• New to Azure SQL? – Get started by learning through real use cases in each episode, and get inspired to apply them to your own ideas!

The Season Lineup

Tune in

Watch the trailer here: Build Powerful AI Apps for under $25!

The post Introducing Budget Bytes: Build Powerful AI Apps for Under $25 appeared first on Azure SQL Devs’ Corner.

Originally built as part of America’s bicentennial festivities in 1976, the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts hits the big 5-0 this year.

In celebration of both the anniversary milestone and America’s 250th anniversary, the beloved open-air music venue has four major celebratory performances in 2026: a world premiere concert, two epic ballet performances and a commemorative concert.

Also on deck: a brand-new mural to greet concertgoers, and the Highmark Mann’s regular slate of performances.

Along with live events, the venue has created a designated space on its website for Mann Moments, featuring artist stories from the past 50 years and an interactive timeline of key events.

Expedia Group is laying off employees, according to posts online from impacted workers.

Program managers and engineers in the Seattle region and other locations are among those affected. It’s not clear exactly how many employees are impacted by the cuts. We’ve reached out to the company for more details.

The latest reductions add to a series of workforce cuts at the travel company over the past two years.

The company went through a round of layoffs last year, reportedly impacting about 3% of its workforce, and had separate layoffs in 2025.

Expedia had 16,500 employees across nearly 50 countries at the end of 2024, according to its most recent annual filing.

Expedia reported revenue growth of 9% to $4.4 billion in the third quarter of last year, while adjusted net income grew 19% year-over-year. Gross bookings were up 12% to $30.7 billion. In the earnings release, CEO Ariane Gorin called out “an improved demand environment, disciplined execution and tangible progress on our strategic priorities.” The company increased its full-year guidance.

On an earnings call with analysts, Gorin described AI as a “step function” opportunity to boost team efficiency and effectiveness over time. “We’re already seeing the benefits in our product, technology, and customer service teams — from enhancing developer productivity to improving resolution speed on servicing, to highlight just a couple of examples,” she said.

Expedia is scheduled to report its fourth quarter earnings Feb. 12. The company’s stock is up more than 40% over the past six months and its market capitalization is above $33 billion.

Expedia Group includes brands such as Vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, and Hotels.com in addition to the flagship Expedia.com.

Expedia, which has a major campus in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood, is one of the region’s largest tech employers. Fellow Seattle tech giant Amazon is reportedly preparing for another round of corporate layoffs this week.