Glavs Blog : Personal

Advanced Options Screen

Glav — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:27:22 GMT

Here is a screen shot of the only available options screen for my audio device on Vista. It just happens to be an "Advanced" options screen. Hate to see the simplified one....

RSS Feeds in Outlook 2007 - Part 2. Bye bye Outlook

Glav — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:08:57 GMT

The other day, I posted about my issues with Outlook 2007 and its handling of my RSS feeds. I tried a number of things to fix it, the latest effort being to export all my feeds, delete all of them from Outlook, then re-import. Didn't work, dates were still all wrong.

I have to say I am very disappointed. I enjoyed the convenience of having my feeds in Outook, but it seems that the "Really Simple Syndication" (RSS) format, is not simple enough for Outlook and so it decides to mangle the dates. Its simple issues like this that I feel really detract from products and date handling is not a new thing.

At any rate, I gave up and have decided to give Jetbrains Omea reader a whirl. I looked at Google reader but it felt clunky and I don't like to online experience, even with the ability take it offline. I'd rather go offline from the start.

So far so good. Nice UI, good searching. NOW I have some catching up to do with all my missed blog posts.

XBox 360 120Gb Hard Disk

Glav — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:46:04 GMT

So I got me a 120Gb hard disk for my XBox 360 for my birthday a few days ago. Its pretty sweet and came with a transfer cable and software to migrate all my stuff from the 20Gb unit to my 120Gb unit. It feels quite a bit faster too. The demo's I have all seem to load a lot faster.

Nice. Now I can download to my hearts content and not have to continually clean up the drive.

I thoroughly recommend the unit.

I also got a new game called Overlord. Awesome fun. I get to command a horde of evil minions to do my bidding. Its a blast.

Replacement XBox360 for me

Glav — Thu, 03 May 2007 05:53:29 GMT

I blogged just recently about my 360 getting the red ring of death after only a year and 1 month of operation. I purchased an extended warranty agreement with the retailer for on the spot replacement of the unit for 2 years from the date of purchase. So luckily, I now have a brand new Xbox360 to replace the dead one. The same hard drive was moved to the new unit so I don't lose anything which is good.

The concerning part of this is that the sales rep of the retailer that they are getting a huge amount of 360's returned because of this same problem, and usually a little after the warranty period has expired.

I really hope Microsoft hasn't skimped on the quality as this would eventually be a really bad thing for them, even if initially gaining marketshare. I guess I'll know more in a little over a year to see if my latest XBox replacement dies like all my others.

The moral of this story?

If you are considering purchasing an XBox 360, make sure you purchase an extended warrnty if the retailer provides that option. IT only cost m an extra $85 and was well worth it. If your retailer doesn't offer that, I'd be inclined to go to a different retailer.

3 out of 3 Xbox units die

Glav — Tue, 01 May 2007 11:32:33 GMT

Just awesome. I have owned 3 Xbox units in my time. Every single unit has died a little after a year of operation. My first original XBox console died around 1 year and 2 months after I bought it. My second original XBox console died another year and a bit after purchasing it.

Now, my XBox 360 has died, 1 year and 1 month after I purchased it. Just freaking awesome.

Luckily, I purchased an extended service agreement with this unit (with the retailer, not Microsoft) where I get a brand new one if -anything- goes wrong with it in within 2 years of purchase. So I am off to swap out this unit (and kick some heads if I dont get a new one).

I have to say, I am super disappointed and quite annoyed. The XBox 360 may have gnarly graphics, great integration and expandability, but the reliability sucks big time. I treated this unit like a baby. Well ventilated location, very stable area, no bumps or hits, all pristine stuff. In fact, I was using the unit happily not more than 1 hour ago. Turned it on after a bit, red ring of light (read: death) and the E 74 error. If it wasn't for the fact that I had this extended service agreement to get another XBox, there is no way I would be getting another Xbox 360, thats for sure. I might make my money from working wth Microsoft stuff and the software I work with is great, but I'll be stuffed if I am endorsing this piece of hardware any further. 3 out of 3 units dying is a good enough statistic for me and I have spent thousands of dollars over the years putting these consoles to the test.

Interestingly, I have a butchered original XBox unit that is still working. This was a unit I got working from my 2 original Xbox units which were both dead.

Website update with AJAX, WPF Password Manager, and Web Client Factory

Glav — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 08:32:22 GMT

Couple of things in this post. Firstly (and long overdue), I have updated my personal website to get rid of the Atlas CTP functionality and replace that with ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 features. There is not much actually a few update panels, and the inclusion of an AJAX Control toolkit control, the Accordion on the front page to help with useability and screen real estate. Here is a screen shot of the new layout:

With the website update comes an update to a way old application that I wrote many years ago as a kind of plaything, hack, whatever to test out cryptography streams and play with some windows forms features. This is the old Password Manager and is a .Net V1.1 app where only 1 encrypted file is used for storage, and allows easy merging (I used to have my lists on different systems and liked to merge them at later times). Anyways, it was really poorly written and not meant for much else, however it has been somewhat popular with around 1000 downloads (yeah not that much, but more than 1...)

The new version of the Password Manager I have developed is now available. It is fully .Net V2, and works fine under Vista. It is a much better written product than the first one, uses AES encryption and my very popular SecureString textbox control so that all passwords are held securely in memory. In addition, it is quite modular so that the engine is quite separate from the user interface. Currently it is supplied with a windows forms interface (the main one) but is also supplied with a very basic but functional WPF interface just to prove it's easy to wack a new UI on top of the main password engine. A screen shot of the supplied WPF interface is below (and yes, its very yellow.....)

It also comes with unit tests and all source code ofcourse.

Finally, as a lead in to my next post, I have been playing with the Web Client Factory lately, and I have to say I am impressed. In a previous post, I talked a little about how the MVP/MVC pattern is a little overused, and kind of hinted that a lot of web based implementations are not good. Well, the Web Client Factory uses the MVP pattern extensively, and is quite a lean, clean and very nice implementation of it. I a going to go further into detail on this in a later post and how to go about start using the PageFlow component.

Doug Reilly

Glav — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 05:36:33 GMT

Doug Reilly passed away today. I met him only a few times and he was a good guy. Fellow MVP, ASPInsider, and lover of technology. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

http://blog.programmingasp.net/

Xmas gift

Glav — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:45:14 GMT

A lot of people donate to charities and have their preferred way of trying to make a difference. One of the ways I try and do so is via WorldVision. We have been sponsoring a child for about the last 5 years and have found it a very rewarding experience. Its great to see the progress they are making and be able to swap letters and find out all about their life and culture.

Given that Christmas is fast approaching, there is usually extra incentive to purchase that little bit extra to make this period a little better for those in a less fortunate position than ourselves. This year I have chosen to buy a goat for a community in Myanmar and Africa. You can do things like buying a yak, sponsoring Eye surgery in Zambia, buying a cow, school supplies, immunisation and a myriad of other much needed items. If you don’t sponsor a child (and I would encourage you to do so), perhaps you can increase your karma this Christmas and think about purchasing one of these gifts for someone who desperately needs it.

Blowing my own Trumpet

Glav — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 11:13:00 GMT

On a completely non technical note, but something I am pretty happy with is managing to finaly pass my 4th degree black belt grading in Budo Jitsu just yesterday. Its a fairly long grading thats goes for around 4-5 months. At 3rd dan and above, its very technical, with me (and my training partner) having to hold 3 seminars, organise the material, know it inside out and be able to demonstrate it, market the seminars and a whole bunch of stuff for the 4 months. Then on the last month, we have some time to prepare a short demonstration of all the techniques, with some imprompt demonstration of favourite techniques thrown in.

Its certainly long, and I am glad to finally have gotten through it.