Laurent Duveau : Geek

Windows 7 and the betta fish ;-)

pluginbaby — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:50:03 GMT

Windows 7 beta comes with this default wallpaper: a fish, but not any kind of fish… it’s a betta fish…

I used to have a tank with several of them, but the point here is MS is making a subtle joke with it.

Did you noticed the 7 bubbles ?

Zune bag loves iPhone

pluginbaby — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:59:17 GMT

Guess what’s inside my Zune bag…

…my iPhone!
The original Zune suede bag is way too small to fit the Zune but I found the perfect fit now!

Fix my CSS, win a Prize!

pluginbaby — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:53:00 GMT

[Update: I have a Winner... contest closed!]

I was told that my blog does not display very well (or not at all) in Opera browser...

Like most of you I don't have time for this, and community server's css are a real mess, so if someone takes time and send me the fixed css I will be happy to send him this DVD of Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition (Full version with licence key) :

So Paul Bidwell was the first to send me a fix:

"/Themes/Blogs/marvin3/style/DynamicStyle.aspx?SectionID=559" Line 156:

#sidebar-a {
width: 200px !important;
}

Change the width to 199px;

Also an img tag was no properly closed... (fool me!)

Simplicity in software

pluginbaby — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:48:36 GMT

An excellent one from http://stuffthathappens.com !!

[MIX08] Steve Ballmer Keynote: Oops he did it again!

pluginbaby — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:22:49 GMT

Technorati Tags: MIX08,ballmer

[Cool Tool] Search Engine helpful searches

pluginbaby — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:27:51 GMT

Did you know that Google provides answers to special searches ?

I have just discovered this one:

Time:

But you also have:

Calculator:

Currency conversion:

Units conversion:

Weather:

You can find the whole list here.

Note: Some of these works also with Live search.

Fun with Windows sounds

pluginbaby — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:00:32 GMT

This crazy guy made a music based on old Windows sounds:

Zune 80GB

pluginbaby — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:52:03 GMT

Can't wait for the new Zune 80 ??

Here is a tutorial on how to boost your Zune 30GB with a 80GB hard drive :
http://www.zunescene.com/80gb-zune/

New Zune soon

pluginbaby — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:38:57 GMT

New Zunes are coming in November!

3 new versions were added to the family : Zune 80GB hard-drive, Zune 4GB and Zune 8GB flash models, respectively named Zune 80, Zune 4 and Zune 8. First generation Zune is now called Zune 30. New design seems cool and comes with new colors, but no white version available (they can't beat an iPod!)

Both hardware and software changes, I can't wait for these especially:

Touch Pad
WiFi sync with your computer !!
Podcast support (audio and videos) !

They rebuilt the software from the ground up (Great!!) but it is still separate from Windows Media Player (Oooh shit!). Why not an upgrade or a pluggin ???

Note that first generation Zunes will get the upgraded interface and software enhancements! That is so nice!!

Earlier this year I wrote Zune: My feedback, so what's new? Now we get wireless sync and podcast support (cool!), still no clock (not a big deal), but I hope it does resume songs now. I am a real music lover (which is 99% of my Zune usage), so for me the most important additions would be :

"Add to now playing list" feature like WMP (current "quick list" feature is totally useless for me, I don't want to edit this list, I want to launch an album immediately, then adding new music's while listening, and I don't want this list to be saved, I want to repeat the whole process with new music every day).
"Recently added" entry added to the songs/genres/artists/albums menu. I have a lot of music, I mean... A LOT. When I sync Zune with my latest albums I would like to easily find them, like in WMP.

Bio, drug and rock'n'roll

pluginbaby — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:07:30 GMT

That was a long long time I wanted to blog about this.... my friend Guy Barrette, Regional Director of Montreal area wrote on his blog a completely amazing and so funny bio !!!!

The funny part is: I am sure too few people noticed it, as nobody really read bios... do you?
You can read it there (and learn that Guy has his own movie) :
http://guy.dotnet-expertise.com/profile.aspx?user=bio

@Guy: I would love to know how many people saw your bio, do you have a counter?

More seriously Guy is a Gold Regional Director and do a really great job for the Montreal .NET community: Montreal Visual Studio Users Group, Visual Studio Talk Show and Code Camp Montréal to name a few.

Microsoft CodeNames

pluginbaby — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:59:50 GMT

Hey, just a quick link I found on Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_codenames

Maybe you already heard about Atlas, Monad, Origami, Avalon, InfoCard or Kahuna... but did you know Springfield (Popfly) ? Sparkle (Blend) or Q (Windows Home Server) ?? Or maybe you don't care ;-) if not, you'll find the whole list of Microsoft Codenames there. While always on the cutting edge of technologies, working most of the time with codenames and beta products, this can be useful when a bit lost among all these names.

Is it friday? gadget update

pluginbaby — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:38:52 GMT

Just a little update on my Is It Friday? incredible gadget for Vista :

Now you have a setting to change your preferred day (what about monday... you love your boss?).
The gadget is now localized in 3 languages, depending on your system's regional settings, it will translate well in english, french and..... french canadian (quebec ostie)!

The new version is available free to download in Windows Live Gallery.

And you, what is your bloody day ?

Is it friday? now in Vista gadget

pluginbaby — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:13:00 GMT

Here is my contribution to the Gadget vs Gadget competition : Is It Friday?

Story: one day Guy Barrette told me that it will be nice to have www.isitfriday.net as a gadget. So here it is! This gadget sits on your Vista Sidebar and notify nicely if today is the day you have been waiting for... friday!

Admit that it is completely useful, now I'm sure to win the competition!

Download it for free on the Windows Live Gallery.

Please read the requirements and note that one of them is "sens of humour"... so don't bother with comments like "Your gadget is a crap, you made it in 15 min." You'll be right, worst than that I made it in 1 hour... and the idea is not even from me!

Update: removed link to www.isitfriday.net as it appears that the website is no more live.

Energize IT 2007 in Toronto, Canada

pluginbaby — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:59:00 GMT

Energize IT 2007 conference will be held in Toronto on June 16th bringing together IT Pros, Developers, Designers, Enthusiasts, IT Managers and anyone else interested in technology.

This is a Saturday and this is free!

An action packed day of innovation, technology, community, and learning. Re-energize your IT career and your IT passion. If you are an IT professional, developer, designer, student or simply a geek at heart, this Saturday June 16, 2007 is dedicated to you! Get your geek on!

For more information on tracks, sessions and registration, visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/technet/energizeit/

Note: You could see me there as I'll be at the Ask The Expert community zone (and you will hear that my english is far better when writting).

Vista system stability index: a new World Record!

pluginbaby — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:26:45 GMT

Look at my System Stability score: 3.15 !!!

I can hear my Vista howling: "Time for a fresh install!"