Nathan Laan

Remoting Article

2007-03-16T22:24:00.000-06:00

While looking for a solution to a .NET Remoting issue I am working on, I found this article. It contains some interesting commentary related to the use of .NET Remoting.

Microsoft Zune Feature Request

2007-01-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

A Microsoft .NET API for the Zune.

Allow us to leverage the .NET Framework to create desktop apps able to interact with the Zune. Give us access to creating, editing, and deleting playlists, and adding, removing, or otherwise syncing music. I could understand if there was no support for DRM equipped music, but that wouldn't be a big deal for me (hey, I live in Canada and can't even buy from the Zune Marketplace yet :-) ).

For me, this would be a killer feature. It would allow me to fill in some of the gaps in the Zune software, such as podcast support. In fact, the first thing I would do is grab the source for one of the open source .NET feed readers (like RSSConnect, which, granted, is not as good as other feed readers like FeedReader) and add in Zune support.

Annoying Zune Flaw

2007-01-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

According to this page, it is possible to view pictures while listening to music, and then press the back button and return to the Now Playing screen. However, this isn't what happens.

Navigate to and play a music track, or start a playlist on your Zune (you know, those 4 other people in the world that actually have them :-p ).
Hold the back button for a few seconds to return to the main screen, or press it repeatedly until you return there.
At this point, if you press the back button again, you will return to the Now Playing screen.
However, if you instead navigate to and view a picture, you will no longer be able to get back to the Now Playing screen by pressing the back button. If you follow the instructions in the page linked to above, you will return first to the main screen, and then back to the image you were just viewing.
If you really want to return to the Now Playing screen, the only way I have found to make it work is to navigate to the main screen and then wait about 10 seconds. At that point, the UI will switch to the Now Playing screen.
What's interesting is that at this point, if you now follow the instructions without first viewing a picture, it works, and you will return to the Now Playing screen.

What gives? Is this how it "should" work? It seems inconsistent, and, the first time it happened, it was very annoying, because I didn't know how to get back to the Now Playing screen. Honestly, I think they should fix this by just having a "Now Playing" (or "now playing" ;-) ) option on the main screen.

Apple iPhone

2007-01-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Check out the Apple iPhone.

It's certainly an interesting device. It probably won't be my next phone though, for several reasons:

$499 - $599 with a two year contract is a pretty high price point, even considering what it all includes. This, of course, assumes that it is available in Canada to begin with, which I have not yet seen any information on.
Supposedly it does not have a user-replaceable battery. Apple does not have the best history when it comes to battery life in portable devices. I've had many problems with iPods in the past, and this makes me wary.
Supposedly you cannot sync via Bluetooth or Wifi. That's really funny considering all the hardcore Mac fans have been slamming the Zune for it's lack of the same feature.

I guess we'll have to wait for some more official reviews, or perhaps even for the release of the iPhone in July before we'll know more. I suspect that Apple will sell quite a bit of these. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be buying one, at least for this first release.

Disclaimer: I own a Zune and frequently use Microsoft technology. I've also owned many Macs and iPods in the past, and been a Mac developer before too :-)

Too busy for books? Read them by e-mail.

2007-01-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailylit.com/

I've been using this site for a few days now, and it works great. It's perfect for people who have a busy schedule, and want to fit reading into their day in small chunks (say over lunch break). This site was also just on digg a few days ago.

Rise of the Silver Surfer

2006-12-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer/

June 15 2007.

...I am your father

2006-12-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashland/295777390/

Zoom in. The detail is awesome.

Cringley's $700 Billion Christmas Wish List

2006-12-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061222_001373.html

I don't always agree with what Robert Cringley says, but I found the article he wrote today quite interesting. I'd never even heard of NII before, but somehow the fact that they wasted $200 Billion dollars doesn't really surprise me :-p

Anyway, it's an interesting article on what could have been done instead of spending the money on NII and going to war in Iraq. I'm all for alternative fuel sources, and better energy efficiency in general. It's why I drive a small hatchback car :-)

Transformers Trailer

2006-12-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Gg9EBBpqo

This looks like it is going to be good.

SearchMash

2006-12-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

AJAX search from Google.
http://www.searchmash.com/

Nintendo "Mission in Snowdriftland"

2006-12-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Mission in Snowdriftland. This is a lot of fun. A little tricky with the keyboard controls though.

Windows Vista Second Impressions

2006-12-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

Things that are good.

The new user interface in Windows Vista has made me more productive. The Start menu is better organized, and programs can be accessed faster. The new Windows Explorer interface is absolutely fantastic, making directories faster to navigate and find.
The new directory structure is a really good improvement over what was available in previous versions of Windows. It just makes more sense, and I have a feeling that it will work a lot better for more novice computer users.

Things that could be better

Windows Mobility Center is useful and handy for laptop computers, especially Tablet PCs, but it could be more useful. It would also be great if there was a global shortcut key to bring this up.

Things that are not so good.

In general, I am finding the Control Panel to be overly complex. The settings are not always grouped together where I intuitively expect them to be.
This is specific to my laptop, but there are not yet drivers available for the hardware buttons on my screen (the Tablet PC buttons), on the keyboard (volume up/down/mute), or for the fingerprint ID scanner. I didn't realize how much I used these buttons, and I really miss being able to log in using my fingerprint.
I have not yet figured out how to turn the on-screen keyboard off on the login screen. This might be related to Tablet PC functionality.

Windows Vista First Impressions

2006-11-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post from a brand new installation of Windows Vista Ultimate on my Tablet PC. It absolutely rocks. I'm discovering dozens of cool things every minute. Call me a Microsoft shill, but I love it. Still playing with the Tablet PC features, and I need to install Office and Visual Studio yet.

The shocking aspect for me is how fast it is. My Tablet PC, an IBM X41 is fairly old, and only packing an Intel Pentium M 1.5, 1.5GB of RAM, an integrated 915 graphics chip, and a 5400RPM disk drive (the same speed and size as most MP3 players). I'm really really impressed with how snappy the UI is (although it's not AERO because of the integrated graphics) how responsive the disk access is (much faster than with the previous installation of Tablet PC 2005), as well as application loading (several programs I use for work load in about half the time).

The only downside, my Zune software won't install. I was already expecting that based on the various stories going around the internet, but I was somehow hoping that Microsoft had released a patch. Hopefully soon...

ExtremeTech Zune Review

2006-11-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

There is an extremely (haha) thorough review of the Zune over at ExtremeTech. I've been using my Zune for a few days now, and I'd basically agree with everything they have to say. The introduction to their review is also a fairly interesting social commentary. I would post my own review, but they did a better job of it than I could have :-)

Google Calendar

2006-04-13T07:39:00.000-06:00

http://www.google.com/calendar

It's BETA of course :-p

Google Analytics. Oh, and I'm back!

2006-04-05T10:44:00.000-06:00

So I have a Google Analytics invite, and I'm going to be checking that out over the next little while.

Oh, I'm back from my trip to Banff too, so there should be more posts showing up soon...

Google Mars

2006-03-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/mars/

Software You Might Enjoy

2006-03-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Here are links to lists of software you might enjoy.

Ultimate Exception Handling!

2006-03-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=97484233&size=o

No Apple DVR for you!

2006-03-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Read the iLounge Article. That makes so much sense. There's no way for Apple to monetize a DVR.

Messenger BETA Exposed!

2006-03-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the new UI for MSN Messenger 8.0 BETA. It's one annoyance (as always) is the advertising along the bottom of the main window. However, as you can see in the screenshots below, this BETA version has a new feature called the "Video Carousel that can (and by default does) replace the advertising. This new feature is basically a set of videos provided from MSN Video, and it is somewhat better than advertising, as sometimes the videos are actually interesting. Now if only this part of the window could be turned into a more generic RSS Feed Reader/Agregator. Or if we could just turn it off altogether :-)

UPDATE: Sorry, the images above are dithered pretty badly. Should have used JPEGs

Games as Social Experiments

2006-03-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

It's an MMOP. As in Massive Multiplayer Online Pong.
http://pong.flash-gear.com/

I've seen other versions of these games before (a drawing one, and a pacman-type one), and they're really interesting to watch. There's always a group of players trying to win, and a group of players trying to lose, perhaps with the intent of "destroying" the gaming experience for the rest of the players.

It's fun to play and to watch. Of course, if you just watch, you run the risk of falling into the group of players (inadvertantly) trying to lose. :-)

New Version of MSN Messenger Beta

2006-03-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

A new version of MSN Messenger BETA came out yesterday. It is much much improved over the previous BETA version. I'll post some screen caps later.

The I.T. Crowd

2006-02-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Episode 1 - Yesterday's Jam

Episode 2 - Calamity Jen

Episode 3 - 50/50

Episode 4 - The Red Door

Episode 5 - The Haunting Of Bill Crouse

Microsoft Impresses - Virtual Earth Street Level

2006-02-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

http://preview.local.live.com/
Wow. That's some pretty incredible tech going on. According to Scoble's post, there are some 10 million images for San Francisco - what a dababase indeed! I can't even imagine how long it must have taken them to assemble all of the images.