Testing the Facebook Like WLW Addin

This is a test... of the WLW add-in mentioned here, Windows Live Writer Facebook “Like” Plug-in

Hey, that's me! RadioTFS is back, with a new site and a new co-host...

RadioTFS - 33 // TFS Power Tools, Local Workspaces and Greg Joins the Show

"In this episode we celebrate the reboot of the Radio TFS podcast with a new co-host as Greg Duncan joins Mickey, Paul and Martin to talk about the latest release of the TFS Power Tools, updates to the Azure hosted instance of TFS 11 at tfspreview.com and delve into the Local Workspace feature coming up in TFS 11.

Links from the show:

...

..."

Yeah! Not only do we get a new, nice and clean RadioTFS web site (built by Martin over a weekend with Web Matrix), but we get a new show... and a new co-host! Yep, I'll be helping out on the show too... :)

Build your own SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket! (well model rocket... and coming soon... but still!)

socaltech.com - SpaceX: Build Your Own Falcon 9 Rocket

"Fans of Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm of Elon Musk, have been riding high this week, with the approval of its NASA launch mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for February. Plus, the firm has also just been tapped by new space startup Stratolaunch--backed by Microsoft billionaire Paul G. Allen--to help power that company's own space efforts. However, what might make fans of the company the happiest, is the firm said today that anyone can now build their own, Falcon 9 Rocket--albeit, as a 1:88 scale model--in the next few weeks, via a Falcon 9/Dragon model kit. SpaceX said the model kits are currently in production, and allow anyone to build and fly their own, 1:88 scale model of the Space X Falcon 9 with the Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX explained the kits will allow anyone to launch their own Falcon 9, and includes dual parachutes to return the actual, launch-able rocket back to Earth." [GD: Story leached in full]

Amazon - COMING SOON! - SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon Flying Model Rocket Kit

Product Features

• Molded nose cone, tail and transparent fins
• Large full-color body wrap sticker
• Dual parachute recovery
• Finished model stands 58 cm (22.8 in) tall
• Made in the USA!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 4 x 23 inches ; 12 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces

...

On December 8, 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to launch, fly, and recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket delivered the Dragon spacecraft to orbit where it circled the Earth at speeds greater than 7,600 meters per second (17,000 miles per hour). After nearly two orbits, Dragon fired its thrusters to begin reentry and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 3 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds after liftoff. Now you can build and fly your own 1:88 scale model of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft. With molded nose and tail, and full color stickers for body and nose, the impressive finished model stands a big 58 cm (22.8 in) tall. No painting required! The kit includes molded transparent fins for flight, which can be removed for display. Dual parachutes return the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft separately to Earth.

REQUIRED FOR ASSEMBLY (not included): Scissors, adhesive tape, white glue, epoxy glue (5-minute type), coffee stirrers or similar to mix and apply epoxy, sheet of printer paper (either A4 or 8.5 x 11 in).

REQUIRED FOR FLIGHT (not included): Model rocket engines (recommended A8-3, B6-4, C6-5), engine igniters, flame proof recovery wadding, launch system.

Designed by SpaceX, and tooled and manufactured in California. Build and fly your own model of America's newest private space transportation system - from SpaceX!

..."

I SO want my own Falcon 9! I mean, who wouldn't?  :P

Best of all it's made local too!

"Windows Phone Toolkit In Depth" 2nd edition, free Windows Phone 7.1(5) PDF now available

Windows Phone Geek - New FREE e-book: Windows Phone Toolkit In Depth 2nd edition

"We are pleased to announce that we have just released our new FREE e-book "Windows Phone Toolkit In Depth" 2nd edition by Boryana Miloshevska.

• 250 Pages
• Publish Date: 15 Dec 2011
• Includes all controls from the Windows Phone Toolkit Nov 2011!
• 22 Chapters!
• Full Source Code
• Based on Windows Phone 7.1 (aka 7.5) Mango!

..."

A snap from the PDF;

And a snip from the Introduction;

Who is this book for?

The target audience of this book is anyone who is interested in Silverlight for Windows Phone development. It covers all controls from the Microsoft Windows Phone Toolkit - Nov 2011 (7.1 SDK).

This book contains all the information necessary to get you started with the Windows Phone Toolkit. It is suitable for both beginners and advanced developers.

Before you begin you will need to have a basic understanding of:

• Silverlight principles
• Windows Phone principles
• C# programming

What this book covers?

The book covers “in depth” all controls from the Microsoft Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit including:
o AutoCompleteBox
o ContextMenu
o DatePicker
o DateTimeConverters
o ExpanderView
o Gestures
o HeaderedItemsControl
o HubTile
o ListPicker
o LocalizedResources
o LockablePivot
o LoopingSelector
o LongListSelector
o MultiselectList
o Page Transitions
o PerformanceProgressbar
o PhoneTextBox
o WrapPanel
o TiltEffect
o TimePicker
o ToggleSwitch

Furthermore the first two chapters make a quick introduction to the main concepts related to Silverlight and Windows Phone application development and how to get started using external libraries like the “Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit”.

..."

If you're new to Windows Phone 7 Dev, this looks like one of those must have eBooks...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
The Blue Book gets Mango'd! Rob Miles' "Windows Phone Programming in C#" Blue Book updated for Windows Phone 7.1(5) And so do the lab's and demo's too!
“Windows Phone Programming in C#,” the Curriculum (think “Stuff to help teach Windows Phone Dev… Code, Demo’s, Pptx’s, Labs, 152 page eBook, etc”)
“Silverlight for Windows Phone” free 157 page eBook

Windows Phone 7.1(5) "Controls and Toolkits" cheat sheet
Cheating at Tiles...with the Windows Phone 7.1 Live Tile cheat sheet

c-jump the Geek Dad's gift for their [future] Geek Kids?

ThinkGeek - c-Jump Computer Programming Board Game

What if we told you that you could learn the basics of computer programming by skiing or snowboarding down a mountain? Nope, you don't have to put on your snow pants. Or your hat. And really, you look silly in those goggles. All you need to do is pull out your copy of c-jump and start playing!

In c-jump, to win the race down the mountain, you must think like a computer programmer! Designed for middle school aged geeklings (or older geeks new to programming), c-jump teaches basic programming language commands like "if", "else", and "switch" and also introduce variable "x" concept. By moving around the board, entering loops, branching under conditional and switch statements, players get an understanding of how computer programs work while having fun.

Product Specifications

• For Ages 11 and Up
• Learn the basics of programming with this fun board game
• Players: 2-4
• Play Time: About 30 minutes
• Mechanic: Dice rolling, point to point movement, roll & move
• Race down the mountain by thinking like a programmer
• Teaches middle school geeklings basic programming commands
• Learn things like if, else, and switch and the variable x concept
• Move around the board, enter loops, branch under conditional and switch statements

..."

"... geeklings..." LOL

Currently out of stock though... :(

(via Dominic Finn - Programming Board Game -> gizmodo.co.uk - Some Poor Kid’s Getting a Board Game About Programming This Christmas)

Copy Path Path... An easier, more configurable, flexible Explorer Shell Extension to copy a file's path (oh and x86/x64 and source available too!)

CodePlex - Path Copy Copy

"A Windows Explorer add-on that adds a contextual menu item on all files and folders allowing the user to copy the path in various formats. Idea copied from "Path Copy".
Works on Windows XP or later, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

The extension has a modular architecture where each menu item in the sub-menu is actually a Plugin.

Custom plugins are supported using COM - plugin developers should check out the Documentation section for details.

..."

On XP I've used ClipPath for years (since 2004!) but when I moved to Win7 x64 I've been just been using the baked in Shift-Right Click "Copy as Path." And while that works, there's the remembering to hold the shift (which I always forget), the fact that it puts quotes around the path and there's no options or means to configure it (that I know of).

So when I saw this I knew I had to give it a try...

Not only is it free, but the source is available (and you don't have to download it from CNET's Download.com :|   )

v9 installed with no problems and as soon as I fired up Explorer, the option was right there. No fuss, no muss and just works...

And if this doesn't give me enough options, well... lol

 

Related Past Post XRef:
ClipPath

The prefect rebuttal to microwave popcorn at work? The MDF-200 Automatic Mini Donut Factory!

Winextra - Heaven has arrived in the shape of that automatic mini donut maker you always wanted

Never again, never to line up in those endless coffee line-ups just to get your daily fix of sugary goodness. What a dream to have. To be able to have an endless supply of mini donuts to lord over your cubicle mates as they crumple to the ground in amazement at your awesomeness. It couldn’t get any better eh.

Well, wait no longer my friend because you to can now fire up your very own automatic mini donut maker and let the goodness flow forth like a never ending river of sprinkles and chocolate topping. Thanks to the good people at Nostalgia Electrics you can own the very first Automatic Mini Donut Maker on your office building floor.

Magically you can form, fry, and drain those minuscule doughy bits of goodness in just a minute and make up to 30 donuts per batch. Here’s what you get in the package from heaven:

..."

Nostalgia Electrics MDF-200 Automatic Mini Donut Factory

Product Dimensions: 25 x 9.2 x 16.2 inches ; 11.5 pounds

Product Features

• Makes up to 30 donuts per batch
• Dough dispensing mechanism creates the perfect sized mini donut
• Stainless steel spatulas turn and delivers donuts to the dispensing chute
• Includes drip tray to change oil after each use
• Safety guard lids keeps hands away from hot oil

The Mini Donut Factory automatically forms, fries and drains delicious mini donuts in approximately 90 seconds. After the donuts are finished, simply put in a bag, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, or cocoa powder. A few shakes and you're ready to enjoy warm

..."

How awesome is that? Imaging firing this bad boy up the next time "that person" pops popcorn at work (and doesn't offer to share)! MUHAHAHAHA

Okay, maybe that's a little overkill for a cube, but if you have an office...!  :P

IE 6/7/8 XP/Vista/Win7 VHD's Refreshed

Microsoft Downloads - Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image

Windows Virtual PC VHDs for testing websites with different Internet Explorer versions [Last Updated: 12/14/11]

Version: 4.3
Date Published: 12/14/2011

Language: English

In order to help web designers and web developers test their websites in older versions of Internet Explorer, we've provided the following VHD with Windows set up with the specified version of Internet Explorer. The images are patched with the latest security updates and are otherwise clean installs of the operating system with very few modifications.
This download page contains different VPC images, depending on what you want to test. These images are specifically designed to run on Microsoft Virtual PC, and may or may not work in other hosting environments.

Due to the size of the Windows 7 and Windows Vista VHDs, it is split across several files, you'll need to download all files for that version of the Internet Explorer and uncompress them to the same directory to unpack the VHD file.

The password to login to all of these images is Password1 and the username will be present when you first login.

*Note: You may be required to activate the OS as the product key has been deactivated. This is the expected behavior. The VHDs will not pass genuine validation. Immediately after you start the Windows 7 or Windows Vista images they will request to be activated. You can cancel the request and it will login to the desktop. You can activate up to two “rearms” (type slmgr –rearm at the command prompt) which will extend the trial for another 30 days each time OR simply shutdown the VPC image and discard the changes you’ve made from undo disks to reset the image back to its initial state. By doing either of these methods, you can technically have a base image which never expires although you will never be able to permanently save any changes on these images for longer than 90 days.

Windows XP Image

• Filename: Windows_XP_IE6.exe
• Contains: Windows XP SP3 with IE6 VHD file and was fully patched to December 2011. This image also contains the install files for IE7 and IE8. If you want to have separate base XP images for IE7 and IE8, you can copy the VHD, rename it, and install the other desired version of IE.
• Expires: This image will shutdown and become completely unusable on April 4, 2012.

Windows Vista Image

• Contains: Windows Vista SP2 with IE7 VHD file and was patched through March 2011. The install files for IE8 and IE9 are also available for install on the image.
• Filenames: Windows_Vista_IE7.part01.exe, Windows_Vista_IE7.part02.rar, Windows_Vista_IE7.part03.rar, Windows_Vista_IE7.part04.rar, Windows_Vista_IE7.part05.rar, Windows_Vista_IE7.part06.rar, Windows_Vista_IE7.part07.rar
• Expires: See *Note above

Windows 7 IE8 Image

• Contains: Windows 7 SP1 with IE8 VHD file and was patched through March 2011. The install files for IE9 are also available for install on the image.
• Filenames: Windows_7_IE8.part01.exe, Windows_7_IE8.part02.rar, Windows_7_IE8.part03.rar, Windows_7_IE8.part04.rar
• Expires: See *Note above

Windows 7 IE9 + Tools Image

• Contains: Windows 7 SP1 with IE9 VHD file and was patched through March 2011. This image also has the ACT Toolkit 5.6, IECTT, and Expression Super Preview software installed.
• Filenames: Windows_7_IE9.part01.exe, Windows_7_IE9.part02.rar, Windows_7_IE9.part03.rar, Windows_7_IE9.part04.rar, Windows_7_IE9.part05.rar, Windows_7_IE9.part06.rar, Windows_7_IE9.part07.rar
• Expires: See *Note above

Here's the direct download URL's;

http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE8.part01.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE8.part02.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE8.part03.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE8.part04.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part01.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part02.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part03.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part04.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part05.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part06.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_7_IE9.part07.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part01.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part02.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part03.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part04.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part05.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part06.rar

http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_XP_IE6.exe

This is one of those things where if you need it, you really need it and these VHD's can save you hours of admin/setup/etc. I also think it's interesting that the Win7/IE9 version includes Expression Preview... That's a nice touch (but also one that's been there for a bit, since the last refresh at least)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
IE VPC's Refreshed. Get your WinXP/IE6, Vista/IE7/8/9, Win7/IE8/9 VHD's here...
Play with IE8 RC1 the safe and easy way – via the Internet Explorer Compatibility Images (VPC VHD)
The Internet Explorer Compatibility Images (VPC VHD) updated – Now with a IE8 Beta 2 VHD (and expire dates of 01/09)
The IE8 VPC - IE8 the easy way
WinXP IE6 & WinXP IE7 VPC Images
WinXP SP2 IE6 VPC Image Refreshed
WinXP SP2 IE6 VPC Image

A short round-up of PowerShell Quick Reference Guides & Cheat Sheets

jonoble.com - PowerShell Quick Reference Guides and Cheat Sheets

"For a good couple of years after I first started working with PowerShell, I had a couple of quick reference guides and this cheat sheet pinned to the wall next to my desk and it saved me checking the online help numerous times. Having them practically in my sight line all the time definitely made me more productive.

Now that PowerShell covers so many areas, we need more cheat sheets. Thankfully the PowerShell community is very obliging, so there are now a bunch of them covering different products. I'll update this post as I find more - if you find any I've missed, please let me know in the comments.

..."

Ahh... I needed that...

It's been a long time since I've blogged about a cheat sheet and was having withdrawal symptoms. Better now... :P

US Federal Government Budget "Challenges" InfoGraphic

USA.gov - Image description: This chart illustrates the...

"This chart illustrates the federal government’s budget challenges. The budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 was $1.3 trillion. This is the third largest shortfall in the past 40 years.

View a larger version of this image.

Infographic courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office

..."

In a word... ouch...

Three Apache Hadoop On Windows TechNet Wiki Articles - Home page to FAQ to FTP...

TechNet Articles - Apache Hadoop On Windows

This article contains links to information about using Apache Hadoop on Windows, or with other Microsoft technologies. It also provides a brief overview of Hadoop as well as overview information for the Hadoop offerings provided by Microsoft.

Table of Contents

Topics	Content Types
Hadoop Overview	How To
Hadoop on Windows Overview	Code Examples
Apache Hadoop on Windows Server	Videos
Apache Hadoop on Windows Azure	Audio
Elastic Map Reduce on Windows Azure
Learning Hadoop
General
Hadoop on Windows
Hadoop Best Practices
Managing Hadoop
Developing with Hadoop
Using Hadoop with other BI Technologies

...

Hadoop Overview

Apache Hadoop is an open source software framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using a simple programming model. It consists of two primary components: Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) – a reliable and distributed data storage and MapReduce – a parallel and distributed processing system.

HDFS is the primary distributed storage used by Hadoop applications. As you load data into a Hadoop cluster, HDFS splits up the data into blocks/chunks and creates multiple replicas of blocks and distributes them across the nodes of the cluster to enable reliable and extremely rapid computations.

Hadoop MapReduce is a software framework for writing applications that rapidly process vast amounts of data in parallel on a large cluster of compute nodes. A MapReduce job usually splits the input data-set into independent chunks which are processed by the map tasks in a completely parallel manner. The framework sorts the outputs of the maps, which are then input to the reduce tasks. Typically both the input and the output of the job are stored in a file-system. The framework takes care of scheduling tasks, monitoring them and re-executes the failed tasks.

Some of the main advantages of the Hadoop are that it can process vast amounts of data, hundreds of terabytes to even petabytes quickly and efficiently, process both structured and non-structured data, perform the processing where the data is rather than moving the data to the processing, and detect and handle failures by design.

There are two other technologies that are related to Hadoop: Hive and Pig. Hive is a data warehouse system for Hadoop that facilitates easy data summarization, ad-hoc queries, and the analysis of large datasets stored in Hadoop compatible file systems such as HDFS. Hive provides a mechanism to project structure onto this data and query the data using a SQL-like language called HiveQL. At the same time this language also allows traditional map/reduce programmers to plug in their custom mappers and reducers when it is inconvenient or inefficient to express this logic in HiveQL.

Apache Pig is a platform for analyzing large data sets that consists of a high-level language for expressing data analysis programs, coupled with infrastructure for evaluating these programs. The salient property of Pig programs is that their structure is amenable to substantial parallelization, which in turns enables them to handle very large data sets.

...

Hadoop on Windows

The links in this section provide information on deploying Apache Hadoop to Microsoft Windows Platforms.

Link	Description
Getting Started with Apache Hadoop for Windows	An overview of the Getting Started Guides currently available.
Getting Started Deploying an On-Premise Apache Hadoop Cluster.	A walkthrough for deploying Apache Hadoop to a set of servers that you manage.
Getting Started with the Windows Azure Deployment of Apache Hadoop for Windows	A walkthrough for deploying Apache Hadoop compute instances on your Windows Azure Subscription.
Getting Started using a Windows Azure Deployment of Hadoop on the Elastic Map Reduce Portal.	A walkthrough for provisioning a temporary Apache Hadoop cluster using the Elastic Map Reduce Portal (EMR) Portal.

..."

TechNet Articles - Apache Hadoop Based Services for Windows Azure How To and FAQ Guide

This content is a work in progress for the benefit of the Hadoop Community.

Please feel free to contribute to this wiki page based on your expertise and experience with Hadoop.

For asking questions, please use the Yahoo Group, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hadooponazurectp/

How-Tos

1. Setup your Hadoop on Azure cluster
2. How to run a job on Hadoop on Azure
3. Interactive Console
   1. Tasks with the Interactive JavaScript Console
      • How to run Pig-Latin jobs from the Interactive javaScript Console
      • How to create and run a JavaScript Map Reduce Job
   2. Tasks with Hive on the Interactive Console
4. Remote Desktop
   1. Using the Hadoop command shell
   2. View the Job Tracker
   3. View HDFS
5. Open Ports
   1. How to connect Excel to Hadoop on Azure via HiveODBC
   2. How to FTP data to Hadoop on Azure
6. Manage Data
   1. Import Data From Data market
   2. Setup ASV - use your Windows Azure Blob Store account
   3. Setup S3 - use your AMazon S3 account

..."

TechNet Articles - How To FTP Data To Hadoop on Windows Azure

How To FTP Data To Hadoop on Windows Azure

The Apache Hadoop distribution for Windows includes a FTP server that operates directly on the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). The FTPS protocol is used for secure transfers. FTP communication is wire efficient and especially suited for transferring large data set. The steps below describe how to use the FTP server.

1. Log into the portal on http://www.hadooponazure.com/ .
2. Click the Open Ports tile to access the FTP server port configuration.
3. ...

..."

While I'm not Hadoop'ing yet, when I saw these I knew I wanted to grab them for future reference....

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Big day for Big Data... Hadoop coming to Windows Azure, Windows Server and SQL Server
Hadoop for the SQL Server DBA...
Do you Hadoop? Angel has your links, news and resources round-up...
Microsoft SQL Server Connector for Apache Hadoop RTW

Decals you won't be afraid of using on your Legos... Adding reusable awesome to your Legos with BrickStix!

BrickStix

BrickStix Cling Decals for LEGO®, MEGA BLOKS® and Other Plastic Bricks

BrickStix Clings and Mod Stickers are designed to keep kids (and adults) creating beyond the brick. BrickStix, decals for LEGO®, MEGA BLOKS® and other plastic bricks, are reusable, removable and restickable cling decals. You can add a watchdog to your city, stick an alien aboard your spaceship or put a dent in a car. Change your BrickStix as often as you change your mind. Mods are removable and repositionable stickers. They go on easy and can be removed just as quick. No sticky mess...Mods won't leave ick on your brick. You can create a zombie apocalypse or a WWII mission. No matter which Stix you choose, we've got your bricks covered. Give your creations life!

BrickStix - BrickStix Clings

BrickStix - Mod Stickers

I don't know about you, but I always hated putting decals on my Legos. I'd never get them straight and since they were permanent, it made reuse of the pieces harder and it use just such a commitment! lol

These seem to be the perfect compromise. You get the cool and complete look a decal can give your models, yet you don't have to make that commitment. :)

And there's zombie decals too!

(via Winextra - BrickStix: Taking your LEGO to the next level)

What is a MD5? SHA-1? What are these hash things anyway?

Pluto Scarab — Hash Functions

A hash function maps a bit vector onto another, usually shorter, bit vector. The result is uniformly distributed, which means that for an input vector chosen at random, each out bit is equally likely to be 0 or 1 and is not correlated with the other bits (unless the size of the range is not a power of 2 in which case the high bits will show correlations).

Typically, m > n and this is why hash functions are called compression functions in some applications. Because the function is non-invertible, it means that not all m-bit input vectors can be losslessly compressed by the same function, or even by different functions if you count the bits required to indicate which compression function is to be used.

Table of Contents

1. Hash function basics
2. Anatomy of a hash function
3. Mixing, and Strict Avalanche Condition
4. Search for the perfect mixing function
5. Evaluating hash functions
6. Evaluation of FNV
7. Evaluation of Jenkins' hash
8. Evaluation of CRC32
9. Evaluation of SHA-1
10. Use of S-Boxes in Hash Functions
11. References

Hash functions are functions that map a bit vector to another bit vector, usually shorter than the original vector and usually of fixed length for a particular function.

There are three primary uses for hash functions:

1. Fast table lookup
2. Message digests
3. Encryption

...

..."

Some great stuff to make you the life of the holiday party... :|

Well okay... In any case, I've been asked in the past what a MD5/SHA-1/Hash "is" and how they worked and didn't have a site in my magic bag to quickly share. Now I do... :)

(via Jason Haley - Interesting Finds: December 11, 2011)

"Building Multiple TargetFramework Version Libraries" - One code base, multiple targeted .Net Versions, lots of lessons learned...

MSDN Code Gallery - Building Multiple TargetFramework Version Libraries

Imagine you want to create a library that supports different versions of .NET. Of course there are multiple ways to do this but this is the technique that I have adopted for my CodePlex projects.

My Requirements Are

• Build for .NET 4.0.0, .NET 4.0.1 and in the future .NET 4.5
• Have one set of source files for all releases
• Works well with MSBuild keeping each version separate in obj and bin folders
• Works well with tools like Resharper, StyleCop etc.
• Handles version specific app.config / web.config files
• Target framework and build configuration are easy to see in Windows Explorer file properties with debug builds

...

..."

The number of lessons learned covered in the article makes it a great resource if you need to target different .Net Framework versions...

Adding an ApplicationBar to your WinPhone 7.1(5) app - A side by side comparison of doing it with Visual Studio vs Expression Blend

DZone Windows Phone 7 Microzone - Visual Studio vs. Expression Blend - Adding an ApplicationBar

"Many applications have an AppBar. The ApplicationBar on Windows Phone is the equivalent of a menu bar and / or toolbar for desktop applications. It can include IconButtons and MenuItems.

The namespace Microsoft.Phone.Shell defines the AppBar.

I’ll get started right away with a new project in Visual Studio.

All I want to do is add an AppBar with four icon buttons and seven menu items. There are a few steps that I need to take:

...

With Expression Blend I don’t have to do all this, because of the better UX (User eXperience) when creating an ApplicationBar.

In the ‘Object and Timeline’ panel right-click the ‘PhoneApplicationPage’ and click “Add ApplicationBar”.

...

..."

I liked how this article compared doing a pretty common thing in WP7 app dev side-by-side in Visual Studio and Expression Blend.