Smartwombat Blog

Sing of getting older aka computer games nostalgia

Do you remember pong or donkey kong or wizards of war? Then read this article and see what the kids are thinking about those games today. This is really a sign of getting older and I mean a serious one. I played lot of these games and I still think they were all awesome and much cooler than most of today's big hits.

Donkey Kong is "lame." Tetris is "boring." Space Invaders "needs a superbomb or something." And why play Pong when it's more fun to "jump up and down on one foot"? Hey, save your irate letters--we didn't say this stuff. The nostalgia-nuking commentary is from EGM's November 2003 issue, in which we had kids of the PlayStation generation playtest classic games from the '70s and '80s. Mortified gaming grown-ups wrote in to call it blasphemy--and call these outspoken scamps a name that rhymes with "brittle truckers."

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3137498

Office Programming

Office programming is my newly found hobby in the realm of bit world. So I am planning to look at these articles in this relatively quiet week:

Creating an Office 2003 Research Service Using the Amazon Web Service API

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dno2k3ta/html/OfficeCreateAnAmazonResearchService.asp

Search for books at Amazon.com using the Amazon.com research service, then include the results returned in your sheet or document, without leaving your Office 2003 application. The sample solution shows you how to implement a custom research service.

Build Your Own Research Library with Office 2003 and the Google Web Service API

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnofftalk/html/office03062003.asp

Chris Kunicki discusses how to build a research library, a cool new feature of Microsoft Office 2003 that allows the easy research of external resources from within Office.

Steve Pavlina cancels his book

It is really petty but it is really cool to see how faster you can progress when you do something entirely different with reusing your skills:

"...I missed something else too. And that is just how much leverage I’ve gained from all the marketing, sales, and business knowledge I picked up in the course of running my software business. I dont have to re-learn all of this information again for my speaking career; I can simply apply it immediately. For example, I was able to build this web site’s traffic to 500+ visitors/day in just two months. But it was years before I reached that level with my first web site (of course, I started that original site back in 1995 when there were a lot fewer people online). Similarly, I didn’t have to re-learn HTML or PHP or MySQL to launch this new site. So my big mistake was thinking that my new business would be built at the same pace as my first business. But things are progressing much faster than expected. Although there are some similarities, overall the shareware business model just doesn’t adapt to the speaking business. Imagine what you could do in the shareware industry if you could develop new products in days instead of months. Plus you don’t have to worry about any serious bugs, and you don’t need to do any tech support. Of course, speaking has its own challenges, but some of the things that take a really long time in software development just aren’t present at all in public speaking…"

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/index.php?p=41

Writing a successful Press Release

This link may come handy, if you are into writing Press Release.

http://www.microisv.com/archives/2004/12/12/prsuccess/

Cool Google tip

Google.com will let you see how many of your site's pages are listed on the search engine. Phil Davies, chief executive officer of TIAS.com, an online mall for antique dealers and a Web-site provider, recommends checking once a week. Type your site address into the Google search box followed immediately by " -adfg" -- for example: "TIAS.com -adfg." (Note the blank space after the site name and before the dash.)

"This allows me to see on a daily basis how many pages Google has indexed for me. Right now, it's about half a million," says Mr. Davies, who's based in Garden City, N.Y. "But I can check competitors' sites, too. You need to check this . . . to see how things are fluctuating on Google."

http://www.startupjournal.com/columnists/smallbusinessreport/20041217-connolly.html?mod=RSS_Startup_Journal&

Google suggest dissected…

If you would like to know more about how Google Suggest works.

http://serversideguy.blogspot.com/2004/12/google-suggest-dissected.html

Outlook script for blocking .TEXT spam

I am into Outlook scripting lately myself, so this is I was quite happy to find that Roy Osherove constructed a VB Script for filtering out blogspam.

A highly primitive solution for fighting .Text blog spam - an outlook script

http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/12/15/316091.aspx

BillG FAQ

Microsoft just published a FAQ detailing some questions and answers from BillG.
Some of the questions are:

• How do you spend your time?
• What do you think is more important to your success, raw intelligence or hard work?
• Please explain the secret of your success.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/c/0/0c020894-1f95-408c-a571-1b5033c75bbc/billg_faq.doc

Another interesting news is that he joins the Berkshire's board:

"Bill Gates joined the board of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment company yesterday, formalizing the relationship between two bridge buddies who happen to be the richest men in the world.

Buffett is considered a major influence on Gates' business philosophy and spoke out against the U.S. antitrust case against Microsof"

Seattle Times - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002119851_gates15.html

Mobile apps for tracking your weight

"...most popular dieting brands are now weighing in with calorie counters and nutritional guides designed for personal digital assistants and combination PDA-mobile phones. Just in time for the season of bountiful temptation.

Weight Watchers International released a program this week for Palm-based gadgets that works hand-in-hand with the company's online services. It helps record a dieting disciple's progress, eliminates the need for carrying a weekly logbook and shrinks the 25,000-item food database that normally fits into a two-inch-thick reference book into a pocketable gizmo…"

Wired - http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,66007,00.html

MSDN Search goes BETA

Not paying attention (reading blogs) for a couple of days and I missed the revolution :) MSN Search is now in Beta.

http://beta.toolbar.msn.com/  - Download it from here

The MSN Deskbar is a hidden gem in the new MSN Search

More MSN Toolbar Suite reactions from blogosphere - from Scoble.

The Desktop Search battle continues - yawn? Inside MSN Desktop Search - from Scott Hanselman

Ventuz a managed DirectX application

This application seems to be a 3D authoring tool written in .NET. At least this is my understanding. I think there is no demo to download yet so I need to wait some time to check it out:

"...VENTUZ is real-time.

VENTUZ is a real time presentation program. It translates DirectX commands into an intuitive Graphical User Interface. VENTUZ is completely coded in .NET managed and runs on standard Windows XP workstations.

It is designed to author 2D and 3D content of any kind. Its main goal is to make production of real time motion graphics as easy as drag and drop.

With an industry standard animation editor, logic editors for non linear animations, and a wide variety of presets and wizards, VENTUZ guarantees seamless integration of 3D, video, images, sounds and external data sources with complete flexibility and interactivity.

VENTUZ can communicate with every device that has been installed on your system. Every possible input device can control your presentation.

VENTUZ gives you the freedom to create amazing and powerful interactive real time presentations. Let VENTUZ show you what your graphic card can do to enhance your presentation…"

http://www.ventuz.com/products/tour.aspx

TheCodeRoom

This is really cool a TV show for programmers:

"...Inside an intercity warehouse sits a desk, a laptop, and a few partially charged batteries. Three attendees are taken to The Code Room by host Jessi Knapp, following a free developer seminar and asked to complete a complex software challenge. With limited battery power, they must achieve the impossible – design and develop an ecommerce website in just a few hours. This professionally produced & directed 30-minute TV show highlights the social, teaming, and technical challenges faced when attempting to complete a software development project of this magnitude…"

http://www.thecoderoom.com/

How to track down managed memory leak.

How to track managed memory leak, also how to use windbg and sos extension for managed debugging in 7 easy steps.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ricom/archive/2004/12/10/279612.aspx

Second Longhorn PDC in 2005

I think I really need to be there :-)

Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) has set a date for a second Longhorn-themed Professional Developers Conference (PDC). The event will be held in September 2005, almost two years after the company first detailed the Windows XP successor at the 2003 PDC.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/12/08/HNlonghornconf_1.html

Gyro Bob

My favorite food is gyros and I was dreaming to start a gyros business some day too, so this is an interesting story for me at least:

"...It was a "drunken lark" in 1990 that set Bob Tanner of Cortland on an 11-year journey. Bob and his friend Jeff Stosik, a New York City hot dog vendor, were doing the bar scene in downtown Kent when they decided to get some post - drinking sustenance. The two stumbled over to an alley where a man was selling gyros for two bucks. They each bought one and began chowing down as they meandered up Franklin Avenue. "These are horrible!" Bob told Jeff, and they tossed the barely eaten gyros in a garbage can outside the Loft.

Jeff suggested Bob fix the problem by starting his own gyro stand…"

http://www.burr.kent.edu/archives/2001/fall/gyrobob.html

SharpDevelop book is now available for download

The authors of "Dissecting a C# Application: Inside SharpDevelop" and Apress made this book downloadable for free. If you are interested how SharpDevelop structured read this book then…

Download it from here - http://www.apress.com/free/index.html

Random morning news

Gaming Traffic May Pose Major Problems For ISPs

Halo II launch quadruples Microsoft Xbox Live traffic, points out potential lack of broadband network QoS.

From <http://www.networkingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=55300023>

Electronic Arts promises workplace change

Electronic Arts, the computer game giant accused of punishing work hours, sent a memo to employees this week admitting a problem and promising workplace reforms.

From <http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+promises+workplace+change/2100-1022_3-5476714.html?tag=nefd.top>

Faster Python Grabs Programmers

The new version of Python includes a new module that allows system administrators to use small Python programs instead of shell scripts, said Michael McLay, a consultant who is the resident Python expert for the nonprofit Center of Open Source and Government.

From <http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/38673.html>

MSNBC - Brain wave technology could change lives

It looks like a simple video game, but look closer and you can see that Scott Hamel is moving colored squares on the screen without touching any controls. He's not even moving at all. It's his brain waves that control the computer cursor.

From <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6661974/>

createdigitalmusic.com

http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/ If you are into making music on your computers or just want to learn a bit about it than you must visit this site. You can find here product reviews, FAQs and tutorials as well.

The z buffer

If you are interested developing games or you are into managed directx for some reason then this site called thezbuffer is highly recommended.
http://www.thezbuffer.com/

2004 weblog awards

http://2004weblogawards.com/

Is this like Oscar for the blogs? Anyway, go and vote. Really interested what will be the outcome of this voting.