The using statement in C#, seems to be quite useful especially to a developer as theoretically, you not have to do anything to release any memory you might have used and the CLR automatically frees up this memory for you. However, over time, I have had so many issues with it and subtle problems (in certain situations) I am starting to avoid it now. ...
My Nerd Test results … hmm …
I have been using the Screen Clipping functionality for years in OneNote (if you don’t know what I am talking about then press the Win + S key – of course you need OneNote installed). It always copied it to OneNote, from where I would copy the image and paste it wherever needed. I did not know until today there is an option where you can select it to go to the clipboard as well. Duh! Why did I not think of checking this out sooner – bets me. ...
As the Large Hadron Collider is switched on today, the Guardian has a story saying that there are many people calling the CERN to find out if the world ends today? Apparently is completely safe and will not be doing anything that has not happened ‘100,000 times over’ in nature since the earth has existed. ...
Crime Mapping for London – cool. EnvMan – easier way of managing environment variables. Hit Me Later – snooze your email – pretty cool idea; not sure of privacy related issues though. SimplyNoise – white noise generator which helps you find the comfort Zen and either work (blocking distractions), aid sleep, soothe migraines, etc. Pushing the limits of Windows - with 2 TB of RAM running on a 64 proc machine – sweet! I wonder what would the size of Minidump will be on that? Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) – allows you to capture and analyse traces and state transitions to help improve the performance of Windows. I personally am quite interesting in making my tablet boot faster. Cuil – new search engine; though Google might be safe (for now). Not sure how it searches but searching for this blog interestingly does pick it up, but also picks up some obscure links such as my Oxford page . London Free School – hmm … weird! {via Karan } AutoCollage 2008 – MSR project which helps celebrate important events and themes. Pick a folder, press a button, and in a few minutes this presents you with a unique memento to print or email to your family and friends. Moonsus – cool laptop bags – is it good enough to make the wife forget the stupid bags ? 😉 Full of Kittens – showing off how to use Silverlight and DeepZoom – if you not sure what you are looking at double click on the image and shift-click to zoom out. Midori – a componentized non-Windows Microsoft OS; quite interesting reading talking about a asynchronous-only architecture that is built for task concurrency and parallel use of local and distributed resources, with a distributed component-based and data-driven application model, and dynamic management of power and other resources.
You must have heard of Chrome by now – the brand spanking new browser from Google. If you think it was the best thing since sliced bread you need to wake up and smell the fish. For me the main deal breaker is the EULA they have for Chrome. As per the EULA anything you use to upload, browse, etc using Chrome you are giving Google the right a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. ...
Shared View from Microsoft - a fast, easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups anytime, anywhere and works across physical boundaries, through firewalls, and down to the smallest details. Switcher - gets Expose (from Mac) on Windows very cool! (you need Vista + Aero) VS.NET 2008 SP1 likely to come later this year adds a lot of new stuff. SMS things (only if you are in the US) SMS411 - helps you send SMS to phone’s on specific carriers in the US. Teleflip - goes a step further and automatically figures out the carrier (also only for the US). TFS Admin - seems to do a few interesting things if you admin TFS (I have not used it first hand so can’t say). Many Books - offers thoughts of free eBooks in many formats for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader. Hadoop - is a framework for running applications on large clusters built of commodity hardware; it is effectively a grid application which under the covers uses a DFS and can supposedly scale up to reliably store and process petabytes. Invisible Computing - research prototype for making small devices part of the seamless computing world. It consists of compact middleware for constructing embedded web services applications and a small component based Real-Time Operating System with TCP/IP networking to make middleware run straight on the metal on several embedded processors. Chumby - seems interesting concept - but I get all that on my phone and will it work in the uk? Delta Copy - robocopy on steroids; this on copies the sectors that have changed. So if you have a 2 gb PST file – only the new sectors are copied instead of the whole file. Note – there as issues with Vista! pptPlex – allows you to present PowerPoint using a zoomable canvas instead of slides – quite interesting. ...
job security image Click to open original image.
You might have heard of Photosynth - it was announced last year; but if you ever wondered what the big deal was about Photosynth (or have not heard of it), then check out this video . Also this is open to all now for free. ...
Someone sure loves XP and their progress bar! {via Karan }
As some of you noticed my blog either looked different for at some point recently or for a while it was not even available and it was all a terrible mess. As you might know I am running this on Community Server 2007 (CS 2007); CS 2008 was released some time back I thought maybe it is about time that I upgrade to that. Now you would think that it should be a painless process – boy how wrong one can be! ...
Testing, testing, can anyone see this?
Guardian has an interesting story on how Bluetooth is being used to track people’s movement in Bath. The concern is that the 10 or so scanners not only pick up your mobile’s ID (which you have set) but can also pick up your Identity via your name. email and phone numbers. So think carefully before switching on your Bluetooth on the mobile! ...
It took a while for me to get around to this but the P2P Code to go along with my MSDN Article “P2P Programming with WCF and .NET v3.5”. I don’t know why this code was not available on MSDN in the first place. Any ways, the can be downloaded from here (456.2 KB). ...
This more than a “Power Pack” and fixes a whole host of issues including the (in)famous data corruption bug . If you have been living in a cave then you can catch up here on what the fuss is all about ? Here are the highlights of the fixes: ...
Search of Forever ZuneThings.co.uk - for those in the UK wanting a Zune + Accessories, etc. Cozi - new way busy families stay organized, manage schedules and coordinate with each other. Browsershots - test your site among a host of browsers and see how it prevails; so how well does my blog do ? Ask the Admin How to hide an airplane factory ? Bill G’s history from MS; and his emails . 😄 Windows 7, not that far off . CooTek - alternative keyboard for Windows Mobile phones. Pandora - free Internet radio but only for the yanks. :sad:👎 Pex (Program Exploration) - a MSR project that from a parameterized unit test automatically produces a traditional unit test suite with high code coverage. Gmap Pedometer - excellent if you are a runner or just want to find out how long your walk is. Thanks to the lovely Meenakshi for this. 😄
I recently got to know that Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw passed away and the ripe age of 94; I am especially sad to hear that - I cannot explain it - might by my army roots. I think fellow Army brats might get it. May he rest in peace! ...
This is not one of the “jokes”, but is one of the “real” ones I got. Maybe about time I got around to installing Firefox 3 then. :)
(c) Science Cartoons
I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own I used to roll the dice Feel the fear in my enemies eyes Listen as the crowd would sing: “Now the old king is dead, long live the king!” One minute I held the key Next the walls were closed on me And I discovered that my castles stand Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand ...
As I said in the last post I have been using Live Mesh for a few weeks now. Since then, Microsoft has released an update to Mesh; those of you who are using it and not updated it yet, I would suggest you do. It will restart the Windows shell once the update is finished, but I would recommend to save your work before you start the update and bounce Windows after that (even though it does not require it). ...
You might have heard of the new “Cloud” service from Microsoft called Live Mesh . You can get more details on the team’s blog and a few videos . While I have the Mesh bits installed for a few weeks I only recently started using it and was very handy when I wanted to get to some information on one of the Wiki’s running at home. ...
Pure coincidence that #13 is posted on Friday the 13th! Goosh - the Unofficial google shell (very cool)! Zamzar - free online file conversion. FlashEarth - switch seamlessly between Google maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Yahoo!, etc. SiteAdvisor.com - McAfee’s free offering that automatically alerts to Web sites that use or have links to spyware, adware, spam and other nasties. Live SysInternals - all of SysInternals on your figertips. e.g. in a DOS prompt enter: dir \\live.sysinternals.com\tools Windows Search 4.0 - new and improved? Only time will tell. TFS does not have any features for gathering requirements, but if this is something you prefer then check out Caliber RM and TeamSpec . Rosario though might have these out of the box - but only time will tell. BizTalk dev tools - it is almost an year old, but still a very cool list of tools if you are using BizTalk. Xobni (mirror of Inbox in case you did not notice), is Outlook add-on which helps you deal with emails better. Office Search Commands - helps you find commands, options, wizards, and galleries in Office 2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint; check this out if you are wondering the rational behind it. ...
Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of people complain about the HTC TyTn (and more so these days with the new iPhone out now). But the phone itself is not bad - but if you are still running Windows Mobile 5 on it then sorry you don’t get the rights to complain - that OS itself has loads of issues. So, if you are like me with a TyTn I would suggest you get on a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM and get some peace of mind. I am running the ‘Diamond Look-alike" Mobile 6.1 ROM and it is rock solid - I highly recommend it. I have been running it for a few days and am very impressed. ...
I currently have a HTC TyTn and was thinking of getting either the new HTC Diamond or the HTC Diamond Pro and was not sure how they stack up size wise; but that is there sizeasy.com come in the picture and help me see what the three of them look like together . ...