David's Blog

Here is an iPhone window display in an AT&T store in Boston. The display is running on a Mac…that crashed.

That’s a Mac kernel panic, which is like a BSOD, except it doesn’t give you any information about why your computer locked up.

Here’s a Mac kernel panic caught on video…

This one is interesting…a Mac guy talking about working on a Mac…

I thought Macs didn’t crash! Where would I get that idea? Hmm…

Also, next time you visit an Apple Store, notice that they have no cash registers! Instead, employee’s have a wireless checkout device…that runs Windows.

Technorati Tags: Mac, BSOD, Crash, Kernel Panic

Posted on November 12, 2008 10:57 PM | Permalink| Comments (3)

At PDC last week, Microsoft revealed some major UI changes in the follow-on to Vista, Windows 7.

I watched two videos today that demo'ed the redesigned Taskbar and Explorer.

There is a lot to like. If you are interested in this stuff, definitely check out the videos.

WinSuperSite also has an overview of both the Taskbar and Explorer. The photos don't do the UI justice...you need to see the demo videos to appreciate the changes.

Things I liked about the new Taskbar:

• Quick Launch Bar, Running App's, Application Notification, Toolbars (like Windows Media Player) all integrated into a single UI with large icons
• Can rearrange order of icons
• Jump Lists: without opening an app, you can pick the recent files or perform common tasks (like continue a playlist in Media Player)
• When you hover on an app that is running, you get thumbnails of *all* the open documents for that app (not just one like Vista). If the app uses tabs (like web browsers), you can see complete views of each tab (see above photo of 3 tabs of IE).
• Peek: When you mouse over one of the thumbnails, the actual window on your desktop becomes visible and all other windows fade away. This is better than other app switchers because the size and location of the app are unchanged and thus more quickly identifiable.
• Thumbnails can have custom controls. For example, Media Player has play/fast forward/rewind buttons that you can press without switching to Media player (replaces functionality of the Media Player Toolbar)
• App's can change their Icons for notification. For example, prior to Windows 7, Outlook used a notification icon in the bottom right to indicate a new mail message. With Windows 7, the Outlook icon for the running app can show the new mail icon.
• Windows 7 icons are larger than Vista icons, yet take up less space because no text is shown.
• Progress bars are integrated into the app icon...no need to keep track of an extra window dedicated to a progress bar
• No "classic" Taskbar...this *will* be the Taskbar for Windows 7

Things I like about the new Explorer:

• Search (in the upper-right corner) still uses properties (like "tag:SIGGRAPH" or "name:*.jpg"). Most people don't know about using properties for search. With Windows 7, a *super* slick UI helps you choose properties and shows you how to type the search directly as text (see the demo video for picking a date range)
• Libraries: Libraries are a collection of locations with a common data type. For example, if you add a 2nd hard drive for video storage, you just add the 2nd hard drive to the "Video Library" and both hard drives appear as one in Explorer's views of the video library and search results. Libraries looks like the way Windows will move away from drive letters finally.
• Search results highlight the matching content (both in filename or file contents).
• Order of search results is more logical with filename matches before file content matches.

PDC has a *ton* of information on upcoming software from Microsoft and all of the presentations are available online here.

Technorati Tags: PDC 2008, Windows 7, Taskbar, Explorer

Posted on November 3, 2008 11:29 PM | Permalink| Comments (7)

Yesterday I ran into a photo that I've had for over a year that was corrupt...half the picture was missing...

What to do?

Use "Previous Versions," a new feature in Vista.

How? Just right click on a file/folder, choose "Properties"  and then click on the "Previous Versions" tab...

Previous Versions found a backed up copy of my picture. I clicked on "Restore..." and got this dialog...

I choose the last option "Copy, but keep both files" so I could compare the files after the restore.

It worked! I got my file back. And I didn't have to switch to the backup/restore utility to get it...I did this all from Explorer.

I run a nightly backup, which is how Previous Versions rescued my file. If you haven't run a backup, then Previous Versions uses "Shadow Copies" of your files. Shadow Copies are done daily and at "restore points." It looks like backups reset shadow copies, so I don't have any.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Previous Versions, Shadow Copy, Backup

Posted on September 21, 2008 8:52 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

The guys behind the Mojave Experiment have updated the site to address some of the biggest concerns. New to the site are interviews with the guys that ran the experiment, the demos they showed, and the hardware they used.

There is also a new web site called the "Windows Vista Compatibility Center" that lists hardware and software that will and won't work with Vista. Very helpful!

Here is a good interview with the guy that thought up the Mojave Experiment, David Webster. Expect the Mojave Experiment to move from the web to TV soon to reach a larger audience.

Also, the new Seinfeld Vista ads should hit TV Sept 4th.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Mojave Experiment

Posted on August 28, 2008 12:10 AM | Permalink| Comments (4)

This is pretty interesting...an ad campaign by Microsoft to combat the uninformed opinion that Vista is crap.

It basically echoes what I run into constantly: the people that have the strongest opinions against Vista have never used it.

Click this link to watch the "Mojave Experiment."

The fact page is worth checking out, too.

Don't be an iSheep...use your brain.

Technorati Tags: Vista, Mojave Experiment

Posted on July 29, 2008 9:13 AM | Permalink| Comments (20)

The Resource Monitor is a new tool for Vista that helps track down performance issues.

To start the Resource Monitor...

1. Right click on an empty part of the taskbar and select "Task Manager" (or press Ctrl-Shift-Esc)
2. Select the "Performance" tab
3. Click the "Resource Monitor..." button at the bottom right

Resource Monitor tracks your CPU and memory like Task Manger does. But, it also tracks disk and network activity.

If any of the charts are pegged, click on it to get more detailed information.

I sort by the following columns to see who is responsible for the resource use:

• CPU: CPU column
• Disk: Either the Read or Write column
• Network: Total column
• Memory: Hard Faults

I found this tool *very* helpful...I will be using it more in the future.

Technorati Tags: Vista, Resource Monitor

Posted on July 29, 2008 1:01 AM | Permalink| Comments (3)

Apple fanboys believe their beloved Mac is impervious to viruses. The commercial above certainly seems to make that point.

I thought of this ad when I learned about a new exploit discovered this week for the Mac. It is a Trojan horse that can be bundled with a downloadable Mac application. The Trojan will install a keystroke logger and give someone remote access to your Mac.

The part that *really* caught my attention was the discussion of what Apple should do to protect its users from harmful software:

MAKE MAC SECURITY MORE LIKE WINDOWS VISTA

The author suggests 5 things that can be done to make the Mac more secure against these attacks...all 5 are already done in Vista.

Cupertino, start your photocopiers!

Just like to stir up the nest every once in a while. :)

Technorati Tags: Mac, Trojan horse, PC, Vista, Security

Posted on June 26, 2008 12:31 AM | Permalink| Comments (10)

I got a new laptop last week. It is a Lenovo IdeaPad 110. Lenovo was previously IBM's laptop division responsible for ThinkPads.

The main reason I went with this one is how light/small it is and it still has a good keyboard. It weighs less than 2.5 pounds and easily fits in my backpack.

I am writing this from a restaurant. I have been running with the extended battery (comes with a regular and extended standard). I've been here for more than 2 hours and my battery indicator says I can go for another hour. I haven't done any tweaking to conserve power, so I could probably go longer. With the settings I have on now, the computer is very responsive and the screen is nice and bright.

I am using my AT&T Tilt's Bluetooth connection for Internet access.

It has a very unique/engaging look...which is very important around here when you have to do battle with all the Apple-fanboys.

The face recognition (via integrated web cam) login works surprisingly well, as long as the light is decent. At first I thought this would be a gimmick, but I rarely type my password anymore. As soon as I sit in front of my laptop, it logs me in. You also have the option to use your face for Internet passwords, which is very handy.

I got my laptop from J&R. I bought it for $1999, which was $100 more than what you get if you order from Lenovo directly. Currently, you can't configure the laptop. However, the version from J&R has integrated Bluetooth and 3GB of RAM (Lenovo's site is selling 2GB of RAM with no Bluetooth). Bluetooth is critical for me because I expect to use it for my Internet connection and I don't want to deal with add-on cards. The extra RAM is nice, but I don't actually need it for what I'm doing

So far, I love it.

I plan on using it for email, Internet, blogging, and a C# project I've been planning for a while.

Here is a video to get an idea of what it looks like. It definitely draws attention.

Posted on June 14, 2008 9:06 PM | Permalink| Comments (8)

Resizing a partition used to require PartitionMagic...but no more! Vista has shrinking/growing partitions built into "Disk Management."

I bought a new laptop this past week and it came with the hard drive broken up into a C: drive and a D: drive. I *hate* multiple drive letters, so I deleted D: and extended C: to take up the extra space using Disk Management. Works great!

To bring up Disk Management:

Start->Control Panel->Search->partition->Create and format hard disk partitions

Right click on a drive letter and you should see two new menu options in Vista:

• Extend Volume (if you have unallocated space)
• Shrink Volume

This is the dialog box you get with Shrink Volume...

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Disk Management

Posted on June 11, 2008 12:05 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Vista has a *much* improved search engine over XP. As soon as you create a new file, it is instantly indexed and ready for fast searching.

I found an interesting setting for search called "use natural language search", which is off by default.

You can find it via Start->Control Panel->Appearance and Personalization->Folder Options->Search->Use natural language search.

Sadly, there is no documentation on this page for what exactly natural language search (NLS) is.

This page explains it (about mid-way down).

Basically, NLS applies all your search terms to any possible property without explicitly indicating the property. NLS also does not require capitalization of boolean filters like "AND", "NOT", and "OR."

Here are a couple of example searches without and with natural language search:

The documentation says this about NLS...

Even with natural language search turned on, you can continue to use the Search box in exactly the same way. If you want to use Boolean filters or introduce filters with colons and parentheses, you can. In addition, you can use all the same properties to fine-tune your searches. The difference is that you can enter searches in a more casual way. Here are some examples:

• email today
• documents 2006
• author Susan
• pictures vacation

Note Some searches might give more results than you expect. For example, if you search for "email today" you will see all messages sent today as well as any messages with the word "today" in the contents.

Let me give some background before I tell you why the above lines are highlighted red.

I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out why Vista's search could not find a file I have in my documents folder called "music to get.txt." Other files in the same directory could be found, but this one was problematic. I tried rebuilding the search database several times and narrowing the searchable directories down to just one folder with "music to get.txt".

It didn't matter...Vista's search could not find the file.

Then, I happened to turn *off* NLS today and guess what? Vista easily can find "music to get.txt"!

The issue appears related to the spaces in the filename. If NLS is turned on, then I have to search for:

"music to get"

...instead of...

music to get

NLS would not even match...

music

...I had to start with a quote to get a matching file...

"music

Those lines in red above are *LIES*!!!

you can continue to use the Search box in exactly the same way.

With NLS on, you must remember to put a filename in quotes if it contains a space. I didn't have to do that with NLS off.

The difference is that you can enter searches in a more casual way

I don't considering having to add quotes to my search more casual than not using them at all.

Some searches might give more results than you expect

And in the case of filenames with spaces, some searches won't give you *any* results when they should.

My advice:

TURN OFF NATURAL LANGUAGE SEARCH!

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Search, Natural Language Search

Posted on May 27, 2008 12:00 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I finished my first audiobook last week: Freakonomics.

I downloaded "Freakonomics: Revised Edition (Unabridged)" from iTunes for $21.95. The audiobook is about 7 hours long.

I started listening to Freakonomics on my iPod for my walk to/from work.

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking read/listen.

Probably the most memorable topic was about the dramatic drop in crime (40% drop in homicides) in the early 90's and its connection to legalized abortion. It's a touchy subject, but handled in a factual manner without choosing sides in the abortion debate.

Other topics were about what parenting techniques work and which ones don't:

• Reading to your child every night (doesn't help)
• Letting your child watch TV (doesn't hurt)
• Stay at home moms (doesn't help)

The findings are that kids do well when their parents do well, independent of how the child is raised. It's who you *are* as parents that is important, not what you *do* as parents.

Another question the book tackles...which is safer: a house with a gun or a house with a pool? The answer: a child is 100 times more likely to die at a house that has a pool than one with a gun present.

I recommend both Freakonomics and the medium of audiobooks.

I already finished another audiobook, Stephen King's "The Gingerbread Girl (Unabridged)." It was a short listen (about 2 hours) and kept me entertained.

My next audiobook is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

Technorati Tags: Freakonomics, Audiobooks

Posted on May 26, 2008 12:48 PM | Permalink| Comments (16)

The newest version of PowerShell came out a couple of weeks ago. You can get it here.

The command name tab completion now works (it didn't in CTP1) in the Graphical Windows PowerShell...which is the main reason I stayed away from CTP1.

There is a really cool new feature in CTP2's... Out-GridView.

Out-GridView takes console table data and displays it in a GUI that has these features:

• Search (lines that don't match are removed as you type)
• Sort by columns
• Group by columns
• Filtering

Here's what it looks like when I asked for a list of running services by typing "get-service | out-gridview"...

I like that *way* better than the traditional/non-interactive console output that looks like this...

Filtering is very helpful for getting to the data you want. Here it is in action:

I'm *really* excited about Graphical Windows PowerShell.

With this release, I'm going to start using it as my standard shell on my home PC and once the final version comes out, I'll probably start using it at work. This is software that will make you more efficient the better you know how to use it. Start learning it now!

Highly recommended!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell

Posted on May 18, 2008 10:55 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I tried to update to SP1 last week via Windows Update, but I kept getting an error:

Some Updates were not installed

Failed: 1 update

Error(s) found:

Code 80070246

I tried using Dell support, but none of their suggestions worked and they told me I should work with Microsoft and gave me an 800 number.

My brother pointed me to this article that says Microsoft is giving free support to anybody having problems with installing SP1. I could have used the 800 number Dell gave me, but I prefer email, so I used this support page suggested by the article.

Microsoft had me run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe). It is supposed to repair system files.

To run SFC.exe...

1. Start->All Programs->Accessories
2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator"
3. At the command prompt, type "sfc /scannow"

When I ran it, the scan quit before it reached 100% with an error...

Microsoft then suggested I do the following:

Given this situation, I suggest we continue the following steps to troubleshooting:

1. Click "Start", click "All Programs", click "Accessories", right-click "Command Prompt", and then click "Run as administrator". 
2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click "Continue". 

3. Input the following commands in the DOS Prompt window and press ENTER at the end of each line:
REG   ADD   HKLM\COMPONENTS   /V   STORECORRUPTTIMESTAMP   /T   REG_SZ   /D   "0"   /F
REG   DELETE    HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\CHECKSUR\
Note: You can copy the above commands, right click in the opened command window, and then choose Paste. Press ENTER and you will receive a message "The operation completed successfully". You may receive an error message indicating that the related registry key does not exist. Please continue to perform the remaining steps.
4. Please download and run CheckSUR tool from the link below according to your System Type:
CheckSUR tool for Windows Vista 32-bit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/0/4/504c8468-9e77-4331-9327-1dba0b43ccd1/Windows6.0-KB947821-x86.msu
CheckSUR tool for Windows Vista 64-bit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/e/b/4eb4efa7-a893-4fb7-aac7-2db2003972d5/Windows6.0-KB947821-x64.msu
5. Double click on the downloaded file to run the CheckSUR tool and restart the computer to check the results.

Can we install SP1 now?

After I did these steps...I was able to install SP1!

I tried running sfc.exe again, and it now completes successfully...

I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful Microsoft was. When I initially submitted my request for help, I got a response the next morning. I went on vacation and could not try their suggestions for a few days. I got an email everyday asking how things were going and what my status was.

I'm not sure what caused my system to be non-SP1 friendly, but all is well now.

*UPDATE 1/3/08*

Here is more information about CheckSUR (the tool that fixed my problem). From the link...

What is CheckSUR?

System resources, such as file data, registry data, and even in-memory data, can develop inconsistencies during the lifetime of the operating system. These inconsistencies may be caused by various hardware failures or by software issues. In some cases, these inconsistencies can affect the Windows Servicing Store, and they can cause a Windows Vista update to fail. When the update fails, it blocks the user from installing updates and service packs. CheckSUR addresses this issue.
When Windows Update detects inconsistencies that are related to system servicing in system files or in the registry, Windows Update offers CheckSUR as an available update package. The package titles are as follows:

• Update for Windows Vista (KB947821)
• Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB947821)

Note This Windows Update or Automatic Update package will only be offered if such inconsistencies have been detected on the system. CheckSUR should run automatically after it has been installed from Windows Update.

What does CheckSUR do?

Currently, CheckSUR verifies the integrity of the following resources that can affect Windows Update in Windows Vista:

• Files that are located under the following directories:
• %systemroot%\Servicing\Packages
• %systemroot%\WinSxS\Manifests
• Registry data under the following registry subkeys:
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Schema
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing

Note This list may be updated at any time.

When CheckSUR detects incorrect manifests, files, or registry data, CheckSUR may replace the incorrect data with a corrected version.

Technorati Tags: Vista, SP1, SFC

Posted on April 2, 2008 8:23 AM | Permalink| Comments (5)

I registered for SIGGRAPH 2008 this morning. This year it will be in Los Angeles August 11-15.

Registration opened yesterday. Register before July 4th for the best rates. Become a SIGGRAPH member and save $50.

One notable difference this year: no Electronic Theater viewing day selection in the registration. I actually can't find any mention of the ET. The closest was this quote about Computer Animation Festival changes:

Computer Animation Festival
For SIGGRAPH 2008, the festival has adopted a new format. Each day of the conference, it presents competition screenings, showcase screenings, and panel discussions with filmmakers, instructors, and artists involved in the creative process. The traditional Animation Theaters will not be available for SIGGRAPH 2008.

I hope this doesn't signal an end to the ET...it is one of my favorite parts of SIGGRAPH.

Sounds like several things have changed (or at least changed names).

Here's a list of future SIGGRAPH's...

This will be my 12th SIGGRAPH in a row! It never gets old!

Technorati Tags: SIGGRAPH, registration

Posted on March 18, 2008 9:46 AM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I noticed a co-worker had some cool Mac-effects on his Windows box. He was using ObjectDock, a free utility.

I've tried it on my work XP box and my home Vista box, and it works equally well in both OS's.

Above is a screen shot of my current Vista desktop. I turned off the Windows taskbar and I'm using ObjectDock exclusively now.

It's definitely fun to play with.

The one thing I wish it could do is show the taskbar notifications AND open windows. The property page only lets you do windows OR system tray (notification area)...not both:

As a work around, I added a system tray dock at the top of my screen. You can see it "hidden" in the top photo and expanded below. It will suffice, but I'd like to have all this in the same dock at the bottom of the screen. The ability to add extra docks is part of ObjectDock Plus, which cost $20.

Technorati Tags: Taskbar, Stardock, ObjectDock

Posted on March 15, 2008 12:36 PM | Permalink| Comments (3)

Here is some cool new UI research from Microsoft Research for tablet computing called "InkSeine" (rhymes with "insane"). Very cool stuff! Makes me want a tablet PC!

Technorati Tags: InkSeine, Microsoft Research, Tablet PC

Posted on February 12, 2008 11:46 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I noticed that my boot up time had increased significantly and I didn't know why. I don't reboot very often, so it's not a big deal, but I was curious what was slowing things down.

Until recently, I could boot Vista in 28 seconds. Now it is taking me about 85 seconds to boot.

Shutdown was taking longer as well.

Vista tracks your systems performance and will generate errors and warnings when something is not performing as it should. To see what your status is, go to:

Start->Control Panel->System and Maintenance->Performance Information and Tools->Advanced tools->View performance details in Event Log

Sure enough, I had critical and warning performance events in my boot up...

I did a search on "Event 100" and found this post that suggested it could be an external USB hard drive issue.

I unplugged my external hard drive and rebooted.

My boot time dropped back to 28 seconds!

In searching the net for this issue, I noticed many references to Western Digital My Book's, which is exactly what I have. I wondered if this was an external USB hard drive issue or a *Western Digital* external USB hard drive issue.

So I plugged in my older/smaller capacity Maxtor external USB hard drive and rebooted.

My boot time stayed at 28 seconds. I checked the event log and I was no longer getting critical or warning performance events at boot up.

It looks like this is a Western Digital external USB hard drive issue.

I ordered a new 750 GB Maxtor external USB hard drive today to replace the Western Digital.

My advice to you: stay away from the Western Digital external USB hard drives!

Technorati Tags: Vista, Boot Time, Performance, Western Digital, Maxtor, My Book

Posted on February 9, 2008 5:42 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Merlin Mann stopped by today to give us his "Inbox Zero" talk about controlling high volumes of email.

I picked up some useful tips:

• Don't use your inbox as a "to do" list...it is only for unread mail.
• Your inbox should be empty most of the time. Leaving email in your inbox slows down your ability to process new email and forces you to revisit old email over and over.
• When you have email in your inbox, you should go through it quickly and do one of the following:
  • Delete it
  • Delegate it - forward to someone that can handle the email, then remove/archive the email
  • Respond, then remove/archive the email
  • Defer (move it to a folder for things you don't have time to figure out an action for just yet, but will later)
  • Do what the email asks now, then remove/archive the email
• Turn off email notifications...they just stop you from being productive by interrupting your current work.
• Check your email less frequently: You will process 20 new emails at once more quickly than 1 new email 20 different times.

I am doing this both for my work and home email. I moved all my email out of my inbox into a "To Do Email" folder (a "defer" folder). I have empty inboxes now!

Merlin is a great, entertaining speaker. I highly recommend this program. It should be required viewing...you will spend less time in email and more time doing what you want after you watch this.

This 1 hour video is the same talk we got today, but this was recorded from Merlin's visit to Google:

Technorati Tags: Merlin Mann, email, Inbox Zero

Posted on February 7, 2008 12:19 AM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I bought my first laptop (a Dell Inspiron 8000) back in 2001. I'm ready for a new one and I think I found it.

It is the Lenovo IdeaPad U110. Lenovo is the same company that makes IBM ThinkPads. It was introduced at CES this week and should be available in April.

What I like about it:

• Light: Less than 3 pounds. My old laptop weighed more than 9 pounds.
• Small: Less than an inch thick...should be able to fit it in my backpack.
• Sturdy: No moving parts when combined with a SSD.
• Nice keyboard for its small size.
• Runs Vista Ultimate
• Has a dual core processor
• Built-in web cam that does face recognition (instead of typing passwords)
• 2 GB of RAM
• Looks cool with the red cover
• Less than $2,000

My new phone can act as a 3G high speed modem (5-10 Mbit/s) via bluetooth. I should be able to hop on the Internet anywhere my cell phone works with faster Internet access than I have at home...without connecting the laptop to anything!

I figure I will mostly use this for web surfing, email, blogging, and programming.

Here is a video review of the IdeaPad U110.

Technorati Tags: Lenovo, IdeaPad, U110

Posted on January 9, 2008 10:34 PM | Permalink| Comments (6)

Linux/Unix (and Mac since OS X) have always had much better shells than Windows. But that is about to change.

Windows PowerShell 2.0 looks very impressive. It should make the Linux/Mac/Unix world scramble to come up with something that matches the features of PowerShell 2.0.

The feature I'm most excited about is called the "Graphical PowerShell." It is pictured above and replaces the pathetic "Command Prompt"...

You can see from the top picture that the Graphical PowerShell is broken into three parts.

1. The top part is used to store scripts. It has syntax highlighting and debugging (set breakpoints).
2. The middle section is output from the above scripts or from the interactive console.
3. The bottom section is what most shells look like. This is where you can interactively type in commands.

One of the things that drove me *nuts* about Windows' Command Prompt was that you could not select a multi-line command. Selection worked in screen space, which is terrible!

For example, below I wrote a command that I want to copy. Because selection is in screen space, the best I can select is 'more *.cpp | find' instead of the whole command 'more *.cpp | find "include"'.

Graphical PowerShell doesn't have this problem. You can select by line now (finally!)...

You can also resize the window which doesn't work very well with Command Prompt.

The PowerShell command language itself is well thought out and very consistent. All commands are made up of verb-noun pairs like Set-Location, Copy-Item, Write-Output, etc. (with aliases that work as shortcuts). It looks to be very competitive with all the other shells out there in terms of shell features.

Passing data between commands in Unix/Mac/Linux involves sending text from one to command to another (like "more junk.txt | grep lenihan"). PowerShell passes *objects* between commands.

This article shows a quick example of the power of passing objects instead of just text. A list of directories is passed to a move command. If this were done with text, the text would need to be formatted in such a way that the move command would recognized the text as file names (like removing the date information). PowerShell already knows what type an object is so you can skip any of this formatting! Very nice!

PowerShell 1.0 is out now. It still uses the old Command Prompt for input/output. The Graphical PowerShell (replacement for Command Prompt) is part of PowerShell 2.0, which is available in alpha right now.

I can't wait for PowerShell to replace the Command Prompt in Windows!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell, Command Prompt, Windows

Posted on January 8, 2008 11:15 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I love natural user interfaces like this...very cool.

Technorati Tags: User Interface, Crayon Physics, Tablet PC

Posted on November 20, 2007 9:47 PM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I love studying well done/efficient UI's. Here are some great articles on UI I recently read:

• Visualizing Fitts's Law
• Bruce Tognazzini's quiz on Fitts's Law
• Bruce Tognazzini's "First Principles of Interaction Design"

Technorati Tags: Fitts's Law, Bruce Tognazzini, Tog, UI, User Interface

Posted on October 19, 2007 1:29 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Just learned about this one today.

Windows Vista supports both hard links and symbolic links. The command line option to do this is called "mklink." It doesn't appear that the GUI (explorer) supports creating symbolic/hard links. Once they are created, the GUI can modify and delete the symbolic/hard links.

A symbolic/hard link is similar to a Windows shortcut, but more powerful. A symbolic/hard link acts just like the file/directory it points to. If you are writing an application that will open a file, you don't a have to do anything special to read a symbolic/hard link...just read the file normally. A shortcut is just a text file with information about the file/directory it points to. In Windows, shortcuts work effectively as symbolic links. From the command line, they don't.

For example, you have a text file named "happy.txt" with a shortcut called "happy.txt - Shortcut.lnk" If you double-click on the shortcut, Windows will open happy.txt as you would expect. From the command line, type "more happy.txt - Shortcut.lnk" and you will see the contents of the shortcut and not the contents of original file happy.txt. If you tried the same thing with a hard/symbolic link, you would get the contents of happy.txt in each case.

Probably not that interesting to Windows users, but *very* interesting to people bringing software over from the UNIX world where symbolic/hard links are commonly used. Now that it is a standard part of the console on Windows, I would expect more people (especially software developers) to start using it.

This article has a couple of nice pictures that describes the difference between hard links and symbolic links. Basically, a hard link points directly at the data and a symbolic link points at the filename that points at the data. It's a subtle difference. This website does a nice job of comparing the two types of links. A symbolic link can exist when the data has been removed, a hard link can't. You can use a symbolic link on your hard drive to point to a file on your USB flash drive. If you remove the USB flash drive, the symbolic link will point to nothing until you return the USB flash drive. You can't make a hard link from your hard drive to a USB flash drive.

Windows has actually had hard link support since Windows 2000, but it was only available through an API call (CreateHardLink), had no command line option, and it only worked on NTFS. Back in 2000, most systems used FAT, so hard links were of little value.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Hard Link, Symbolic Link, Shortcut, mklink

Posted on September 19, 2007 10:34 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I spend much of my time editing text in Visual Studio. I love their text editor...but Visual Studio is too big to load just to edit an occasional text file. For that, I use Notepad or Wordpad.

I ran into an issue where I needed to look at a specific line number in a text file. Visual Studio lets you jump to a line number, but Notepad/Wordpad don't.

I could load Visual Studio and then jump to the line number...but I decided to look for a Notepad replacement...and I found a great one!

It's called Notepad++. It is *exactly* what I was looking for...a free editor that gives you all the functionality of Visual Studio in a text editor that loads very quickly.

Things that I like about Notepad++:

• Line numbers/go to line number
• Free
• Quick to load
• Bookmarks
• Ctrl-F3 Search (searches for the word under the cursor without opening a dialog box)
• Uses the same keyboard shortcuts that Visual Studio uses
• Regular Expression Searches
• Tabbed Document Interface
• Syntax highlighting for C++, HTML, XML, Python, Lua, JavaScript, C# (and many others)
• Support for Windows, UNIX, and Mac line ending
• Macro recording/playback
• Plug-in Support
• Spell Check
• Alt-Left Mouse Button select (great for selecting a single column of text)

You can download Notepad++ (npp) here. I used npp.4.2.2.Installer.exe.

Highly recommended!

Technorati Tags: Notepad++, Wordpad, Notepad, Visual Studio, Review

Posted on September 9, 2007 12:05 PM | Permalink| Comments (5)

I'm changing the way I buy music...I'm abandoning downloading music (which I've been doing for about 6 years) and going back to buying CD's. It seems a bit backwards, but it has a lot of advantages.

I have a requirement that my music is in MP3 format...I have several devices I use (computers, iPod, car system, Xbox 360, phone) and MP3 is the only format that works in all places.

Most importantly, look at the work involved in getting music into your library.

For downloaded music...

1. Burn downloaded track onto a CD
2. Rip track from CD back onto computer so it is in MP3 form
3. Update artist, song, album, genre tag information
4. Rename the MP3 using ARTIST-SONG.mp3 format
5. Create artist and album folders and move MP3 into correct location
6. Add album art

For CD's...

1. Rip track from CD

The number of steps involved with downloaded music has kept me from buying music.

Today I wanted to buy a few songs and I tried to find a place that would download MP3's, with album art, correct file names, and tag information...but I couldn't find any.

So I decided to go to amazon.com and buy CD's.

There are other advantages to using CD's over buying downloadable music...

1. CD is used as your backup in case you have data loss
2. CD quality is better than what you get from downloaded music
3. The selection of music on CD *far* exceeds what you can download

Now for the disadvantages...

1. Cost...you can't easily buy a single song on CD...you usually must buy an album. The songs I want will probably cost more than a $1/song.
2. Instant gratification...I can't have the music I want now, I will have to wait until next week when it is delivered

I think switching back to CD's is the right answer...I'd be interested in hearing of better ways of dealing with this. Post away in the comments section if you have any ideas.

Technorati Tags: Buying Music, Compact Disc, Download Music, MP3

Posted on July 14, 2007 4:15 PM | Permalink| Comments (10)