Greg's Cool [Insert Clever Name] of the Day: 10/08/2006

Saturday, October 14, 2006

ExControls Version 1.0 - "Round" UI Controls

The Code Project - ExControls Version 1.0

"...

The ExControls library uses round rectangle effects to render the controls as show in the screenshots in the beginning of the article. The following controls have been implemented:

LabelEntry
TextEntry
ComboBoxEntry
ListBoxEntry
DateTimePickerEntry
LinkLabelEntry
MaskedEditEntry
MonthCalendarEntry
PictureBoxEntry
RoundCornerPanel
RoundRectForm
ExLabel
ExTextBox

..."

I'm currently in a "I hate my UI's. They are all FUBLY [FUnctional But ugLY]..." phase. So I'm keyed on UI libraries/controls/etc that I can include in my OSS projects.

Now I don't like inundate my users with TOO much glitz, but a little never hurts. I want a "that looks cool" initial reaction and "it doesn't make me want to poke my own eyes out" long term usage feedback (i.e. "less is more," etc).

Anyway, these controls look interesting and with judicious use might help...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Top10Traders.Com - Play Money, Real Stocks, Stock Trading Game

Top10Traders.com

Barry Robbins emailed me, suggesting I take a quick look at his Top10Traders.com stock market game... What brought me to post on it, where I've not on other emails?

First, the email was from Barry directly. And it looked to be written directly by him and not some marketing email blast firm. So I checked out the site...

It looks to be a labor of love by Barry. There very little advertising (just one adsence tower) and a very clean and simple design.

What I liked is that it's real stocks you buy and sell. So if you've also wondered what owning MSFT would do for you, well here's your chance. Or if you think Jim Cramer is a stock god or .dot bomb, now you can get $100k to prove or disprove him... Or if you always wanted to get into stocks but were afraid, this game might help you get over that.

Here's the blurb from the About page.

"Create an account at Top10Traders.com and you have $100,000 in 'play' money to invest in the stock market.

On the first day of each month, at 12:01 am, a monthly return is calculated for each account. The accounts with a monthly return in the top 10% are listed in the box on the top left of this page. The owners of these accounts will have their posts displayed on the main page as well. Anyone can enter posts to discuss their stock picks and where they think the market is going (or anything else you might feel like discussing). You can buy and sell stocks, long and short, at any time. Outside of market hours, the trades will be listed as pending until the market opens.

Start trading!"

We'll see how my MSFT, NDE and GOOG stocks do for me... ;)

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Virtual PC 2007 Beta Download

Virtual PC Guy's WebLog - Virtual PC 2007 Beta now available!

"Good news - the Virtual PC 2007 Beta is now available. You can sign up for it here: https://connect.microsoft.com/programdetails.aspx?ProgramDetailsID=874.

...

There are also a plethora of bug fixes. Some notable ones include:

...
Virtual PC now supports greater than 2.2GB ISO images

..."

2.2GB+ ISO support!

LOL... Like I say, sometimes it's the little things that end up being big things... ;)

(via Geeking Microsoft - Virtual PC 2007 Beta Now Available)

"The Developer Highway Code - The drive for safer coding"

To build software that meets your security objectives, you must integrate security activities into your software development lifecycle. This handbook captures and summarises the key security engineering activities that should be an integral part of your software development processes.

These security engineering activities have been developed by Microsoft patterns & practices to build on, refine and extend core lifecycle activities with a set of security-specific activities. These include identifying security objectives, applying design guidelines for security, threat modelling, security architecture and design reviews, security code reviews and security deployment reviews.

Download the PDF (4.8mb)"

From the PDF:

"...

Part I: Securing Engineering
This part presents an overview of key security engineering activities that should be an integral part of your application development lifecycle.

Module 1: Integrating Security into the Lifecycle
Module 2: Security Objectives
Module 3: Web Application Security Design Guidelines
Module 4: Threat Modelling
Module 5: Security Architecture and Design Review
Module 6: Security Code Review
Module 7: Security Deployment Review

Part II: Checklists and Question Lists
This part includes question lists and checklists to help you design, build and deploy software that meets your security objectives.
.NET Framework 1.1 Checklists
• Checklist: Web Application Architecture and Design
• Security Checklist: .NET Framework 1.1
• Security Checklist: ADO.NET 1.1
• Security Checklist: ASP.NET 1.1
• Security Checklist: Enterprise Services (.NET Framework 1.1)
• Security Checklist: Remoting (.NET Framework 1.1)
• Security Checklist: Web Services (.NET Framework 1.1)
• Security Checklist: Network Security
• Security Checklist: Web Server (IIS 5.1)
• Security Checklist: Database Server (SQL Server 2000)
.NET Framework 2.0 Checklists
• Security Checklist: ASP.NET version 2.0
• Security Checklist: .NET Framework version 2.0
• Security Checklist: ADO.NET 2.0

Question Lists for Conducting Security Code Reviews
• .NET Framework 2.0 Question List
• ASP.NET 2.0 Question List

What's New for Security in the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

..."

This is high level (with lots of color and pictures) 147 page PDF from MSDN UK.

While not technical or detailed (which it doesn't pretend to be, stating very clearly in the intro that "This handbook is a quick reference for developers that summarises the key security engineering activities ..."), it's an interesting quick read.

(via Gang Of Rocking Objects (GRO) - Developer Highway Code - The drive for safer coding)

Windows Longhorn Server - Remote Programs

MSTerminalServices.org - An Introduction to Terminal Services Remote Programs (Part 1)

"When you think of a Terminal Services session, you probably think of a thin client environment in which all of a user’s applications run on a terminal server, and the user’s PC simply acts as a dumb terminal. Although this has traditionally been the case with the Windows Terminal Services, Windows Longhorn Server will offer a new type of Terminal Service session called Terminal Services Remote Programs. Longhorn Server will continue to offer the type of Terminal Server environment that you are already used to, but you will now have the option of using Terminal Services Remote Programs to create a sort of hybrid user environment in which some applications are installed locally and other applications transparently run on a terminal server. Applications running on a Terminal Server provide the illusion of running locally. In this article, I will introduce you to this new Terminal Service environment.

..."

This looks like an interesting addition to Terminal Services...

Yeah, we've had something like it with Citrix for a while, but it's cool to see it being baked into Windows.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

"An Introduction to Programming Robots with Microsoft Robotics Studio"

DevX.Com - An Introduction to Programming Robots with Microsoft Robotics Studio

"Earlier this year, Microsoft released a Community Technical Preview (CTP) of its robot-programming SDK, called "Microsoft Robotics Studio," the result of work done by one of the groups emerging from Microsoft Research. Robotics Studio provides a high-level generic interface for programming a wide range of robots using a distributed model. The utility of this approach is apparent by the fact that both hobbyists controlling robotic kits or toy robots and serious roboticists controlling large and complicated robots can use the same SDK. This article presents an overview of Robotics Studio, and then shows you how to use the SDK to program the iRobot Roomba vacuum robot.

..."

Yes, you read that right, this article will talks about using the Robotics Studio to program your Roomba...

I might have to buy a Roomba just because of that... :)

2,000th Post...

According to my Blogger Dashboard, this will be my 2,000th post...

And yep, you guessed it, it's time for another "what have I learned" post. ;)

What I've Learned in my the last 2,000 Blog Posts:

#1 You have to do it because you want to do it.

Yes, I know I say that every time, but it's as true now as it has ever been.

#2 Always check your post in a browser.

While blog clients (Live Writer, Post2Blog, IMHO, BlogJet, etc) are all great tools, you still need to verify how your post really looks.

#2a Always subscribe to your web feeds.

If you offer a web feed (if you're not... well... um... that's bad), subscribe to it. If you offer two, subscribe to them both. If you offer a feedburner feed, subscribe to that too. All to often I've found what looks good in a post doesn't look all that great in a Feed Reader. This will also help you verify your blog host doesn't hose your feeds (which I've also seen way too much...).

#3 It's your blog, don't be afraid to be in control.

Personally I see my blog as a window into my house, where I've left the curtain open so you can watch my TV. But remember, it's MY TV and MY house and I hold the remote...

#4 Once you've published, it is forever outside your control.
#4a Information lives forever

I work in the Electronic Data Discovery field, and I'm here to tell you, data is never dead.

#5 Don't be afraid to take blog breaks

Blog burnout is real and every blogger faces it. Even if you're blogging because you like to, you'll still reach a point where its pain outweighs its pleasure.

Don't be afraid to take a blog break. Take a week, two, month off. If you really like blogging you'll be drawn back and you'll find the fun again... If not, then maybe it wasn't meant to be.

It is nice to post that you're taking a break. That way people won't think you fell of the end of the earth or something...

#6 Don't apologize for taking an informal blog break

"I'm sorry I haven't posted..." Don't apologize, just post... ;)
(But thank you for being polite :)

#7 Don't expect comments or feedback

People lurk. I do it, you do it, we all do it. It's natural.

If you're drive to post is fueled by comments, you're going to run out of gas quickly... Google for the recent studies on blog participation (one has been talked about in recent days), and you'll see comments and feedback are VERY rare. Don't let it discourage you.

If you want to see if there's interest in your posts, do "ego searches" on Technorati, Del.icio.us, Digg, Google, etc. You may be surprised at who is referring to you and your posts. And you'll may also find other bloggers with interests like yours...

#8 In Flame Wars no one wins and everyone looses...
#8a Never post or comment what you wouldn't want your mom/dad, wife/husband/partner or kids to read.
#8b If you wouldn't say it in person, don't post it
#8c Apologize/acknowledge if you're wrong and accept apologizes/acknowledgments with kindness and grace
#8d If you break it, fix it
#8f Be polite. Please and Thank You never hurts

Basic kindergarten rules for better living and blogging.

Well that's enough for now...

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read, commented, referred/linked and emailed. I'm glad you've found what I've posted interesting enough to spend a few seconds of your life on and I hope you continue too. If not, well that's cool too. ;)

Monday, October 09, 2006

WLW Related Post Plugin v1.0 Now Available on CodePlex

My WLW Related Post CodePlex project is now live, the code checked in and v1.0 released...

Vista Features That Didn't Make It In...

Shell Blog - Features that didn't make the cut

"...Mimesweeper

As you may know from my previous blog entry, we have taken flack in the past for Minesweeper and the use of mines. Although we don't have land mines in the USA, in many countries they are experienced in daily life, and not something to make light of in a video game.

So, for Vista we wanted to replace mines with something that people also wanted to avoid finding. Thus we came up with the concept of Mimesweeper:

In Mimesweeper, you uncover street intersections on a black and white striped grid in which several mimes are hidden. Just like wandering around Paris, the goal is to figure out where all of the mimes are without actually encountering one.

Unfortunately, beta feedback revealed a tremendous amount of controversy over the use of mimes. Although we do not have many mimes in the USA, apparently there are many countries where running into a mime is common occurrence and not something to make light of in a video game.

In the end, we pulled the concept and replaced it with a garden of flowers.

..."

LMAO...

RegMon to RegFile Utility from Jon Galloway...

Jon Galloway - [Tool] RegmonToRegfile - Record and playback registry changes

"I just released a new tool on tools.veloc-it.com: RegmonToRegfile.

It's easier to explain what you can do with RegmonToRegfile than to explain what it is. RegmonToRegfile works with Regmon (a free tool from SysInternals) to record and playback the registry changes that another program or installation makes. For example, I used it to create the registry files for the IE7 Standalone launcher I've been distributing. I recorded the registry entries when I installed, ran, and uninstalled IE7 and saved the logs, then ran RegmonToRegfile to convert then to regfiles.

Regmon is an excellent tool that monitors what other programs do with the Windows registry. It saves everything that happens to a log file, but doesn't include the option to export to a registry (.reg) file. RegmonToRegfile reads Regmon logs and translates them into .reg files.

..."

I can see where this could come in real handy... Nice work Jon.

Update #1 10/9/2006 @ 12:20pm PDT:

The coolest part? He's released the C# 2 source under the BSD license... And he's also using the very cool FileHelpers assembly. Nice...

Related Past Post XRef:
FileHelpers 1.6.0 Released

USB to IDE/SATA Bridge

Granite - USB 2.0 to SATA / IDE Bridge Adapters

"The Granite™ USB 2.0 HIGH-SPEED Bridge Adapter allows any 2.5", 3.5" or 5.25" SATA or IDE Drive to quickly be attached to any computer. This is the perfect tool to duplicate, copy, backup, or transfer large amount of data from one drive to another. Easy to take to any location and universal enough to work with any system.

The complete kit includes a Dual Output Drive Power Supply and all the Auxiliary Cables needed to connect any type of SATA or IDE device.

USB 2.0 Hi-Speed & USB 1.0
480 Mbit/s Data Transfer
Switched Dual Output Power
ATA 6 Large Drive Support
One Year Warranty"

Oh man I could use this, and it's only $40... I have about a billion old drives laying around the house that I'd like to see what' was on them, but haven't wanted to deal with setup/install/etc...

In a perfect world, it would have a read-only switch on it, but since I only need it for home use, I can live without it.

(via x(perts)64 - Cool new tool/toy)

"Compressible Bitmap Using In-Memory Image Compressing Technique"

The Code Project - Compressible Bitmap Using In-Memory Image Compressing Technique

"The System.Drawing.Bitmap really provides a convenient way for us to create, save, process pictures of many types. However there is one problem with this class that may not be noticed by many programmers, that is it takes a lot of memory resources. For a non-indexed RGB picture of size 1280 by 1024, it will take up 1280 * 1024 * 3 = 3,932,160 = about 4 MB memory. Not so scary, since you have 1G memory on your work station? What if you somehow have to load a thousand picture of that size into memory at the same time? It will eat up all your physical memory plus virtual memory and then still complains you don't have enough memory. I'm sure it's not an imaginary scenario because I encountered the exact problem while writing my application. And I'm sure someone would ask: "why would you want to load so many pictures into memory? you can always load them when they are needed." Unfortunately this doesn't work because loading from disk is too expensive for my application to afford. So I came up with this compromising solution, which takes less loading time than loading form disk and takes less memory than storing the plain BITMAP (with the capital BITMAP, I mean the one that stores RGB values in memory).

..."

This is interesting and an idea/concept I might be able to use.

Cool Windows Mobile Homescreens

Jason Langridge's WebLog - MR Mobile! - Cool Homescreens for your Windows Mobile Device!

"Tired of the homescreen on your device.. check out the Homescreens HERE by kleinweder.ch...

That's pretty cool... Now all I need is a Windows Mobile device...
(Santa IM'ed me and said he saw the Treo 700w on my list and would do what he could to get me one for Christmas... ;)

Provider Explorer in PowerShell Analyzer

Karl Prosser - Klumsy Geek - Provider Explorer in PowerShell Analyzer

"well you've seen the tab in powershell analyzer for along time, but it has always been empty, well now that has changed. I've implemented about half of what i want to do with it, but here is a screenshot so far...

Damn him! (JK!) I was thinking of building the same thing... It just seems so natural to build a GUI on top of/for the very cool PS Providers. I'll be watching this...

I've also been thinking of building some providers, just cause they're pretty darn cool... An INI provider? An XML provider? An SOAP/XML Provider? Web Page Provider (for web/screen scrapping)? A provider that hooks to a database?Think about mounting one of these and then being able to use the normal PS nav commands to move around and/or change them... I think that would be pretty nifty.

Source: Karl Prosser - Klumsy Geek » Provider Explorer in PowerShell Analyzer

Sunday, October 08, 2006

WLW Related Post Plugin - Preview Part 3

List Management Day went well... There's now a simple Feed/Post Source (i.e. OPML) management in the plugin. I've been testing it with my OPML file and it performs well.

It supports adding and deleting of groups and feeds, drag-n-drop organization, has pretty bitmaps, etc.

One issue I ran into was the the My.Blog OPML implement seems to require that all feeds be in a group. Since I didn't feel like dealing with that, I built in a requirement that all feeds be in a group. For example, if you add a new feed, but don't have one selected, a "Subscriptions" group gets auto-magically created and the feed put there.

The normal setup will include a default OPML file (with my blog in it ;), but you can easily select another.

In any case, it's pretty darn close to beta release'able, so once I get the word from work & CodePlex I'll post it...