August 2008 - Posts

• Hugs

  I saw this video on CodeSqueeze earlier today. Way too good not to share on a Friday. The video was produced by DevShop, which is a software project tracking application. DevShop looks interesting. Anyone have any experience with it? Posted to Code and tagged as funny , video , devshop-project-management Similar Posts Enhancing Desktop Computing with the Cloud Unfuddle == BaseCamp For Developers The Best ISAPI Filter Posted Aug 29 2008, 07:53 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• Disqus and Graffiti

  I set up Disqus on my blog about two weeks ago. So far I have been very happy with the service and pleasantly surprised with some features I did not know exists. Disqus, pronounced "discuss", is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. The Disqus comment system can be plugged into any website, blog, or application. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community. Disqus is a free service to the general public with absolutely no inline advertisements. There are some nice features like threading, bi-directional email, and spam blocking. These are great, but the real clincher is an effortless instant community. For the average blogger, getting users to sign up for comments and create profiles is not an option. Users simply do not have the time to register on every blog. This is where Disqus really shines. Users can create their own accounts on Diqus and use that account on the 30,000 or so (and growing) blogs using the service. (note: Users can still make anonymous comments as well.) I have had a couple people ask me how to do this in Graffiti, so I figured I would do a quick write up. There are just a couple steps: Sign up for a new account on Disqus and create a new website. Click the link for “generic code”. In your Graffiti control panel, navigate to your “Personalize” page (Graffiti-Admin > Presentation > Themes > YOUR_THEME). In your post.view file, remove the existing comment rendering code and replace it with the JavaScript from step one from the generic code page above. In your index.view file, find the $macros function for building a comment link and change the fragment from “comment” to “disqus_thread”. In your layout.view file add the JavaScript from step three in the generic code page. That should be it assuming you are using one of the standard Graffiti themes. If you are like me and have been happily using Graffiti for while now, you will already have comments that you don’t want to hide. To get around this, I went to the posts page in my graffiti admin and looked up the PosId ofmy most recently written post (in my case it was 143). With this information, in step three from above instead of removing the comment list and form from my post.view, I wrapped it in an if statement like this: #if($post.Id > 143) [Your Existing Comment Code] #else [Your Diqus Code] #end That should be it. As part of Graffiti 2.0 I am hoping we can make this kind of update more easy to package up (it could be done today, but it would be theme specific which isn’t quite generic enough). Posted to Code and tagged as disqus , graffiti Similar Posts Quick Tips For ASP.Net - Part One ASP.Net Quick Tips - Web.config Setting Up Velocity (Distributed Cache) Posted Aug 28 2008, 09:02 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• My MBP – Bye Bye Luster

  I have been using my MBP for work and play for about 9 months. While it is still a technical work of art, the luster is starting to where off. While I still love my Mac for consumer (web, photos, videos) tasks and highly enjoy many available applications (EverNote, Skitch, 1Password, Textmate, Fusion) everyday the urge to go back to a PC increases (especially considering Dell’s recent releases [1]). This is not a definitive list, but here are some of my biggest gripes: Office – Mac Office, especially Entourage, is a joke. In all fairness, I am not sure you can blame Apple for this one. However, since there are no viable alternatives it is what it is. I don’t think there is much incentive for Apple and Microsoft to solve this problem, but if you need to work with Exchange and have spent years working in Office for Windows you will find yourself very frustrated. Size – 5 pounds for a 15.4 inch laptop is great, but I would really prefer something with the MBP power in a 12 to 14 inch case (in other words, no the Air will not fit the bill). Battery – I am lucky to get 3 hours on OS X and when I boot into Vista I don’t think I am getting an hour. Again, not sure if the latter is an Apple or Microsoft issue, but it is still annoying. Dell just recently announced Latitudes (with extension) can get 19 hours. Even if it only gets 10, can you imagine taking your laptop home for the night or on an overnight business trip without needing a power cord? Display – For a visual company, 1440 x 900 is silly. I bought an Inspiron seven years ago which had a resolution of 1600x1200. I know I can use an external display, but lets get with the time. Effort – this is the hardest one to explain and measure, but in a nutshell, I simply find myself working harder through out the day to do things that would be easier on a PC. Again, probably not Apple’s fault, but it does start to where on you after a while. What’s Next? Although the battery is dreadful, Vista x64 SP1 has been very solid to use via Boot Camp. As I mentioned before, I still love the consumer side of things, so I won’t be abandoning OS X anytime soon, but I do see myself picking up a Latitude for business use in future and acquiring a MacBook or iMac for non-work tasks. [1] Disclaimer: Dell is a client of Telligent. Posted to Technology and tagged as mac , pc , vista , os-x , apple Similar Posts Installing Vista 64bit on a MacBook Pro What Software do I use on the Mac? Life on a Mac - the Grass is Greener Posted Aug 27 2008, 09:44 AM by Simpable Filed under: Technology

• PureText

  PureText is one of the first tools I always find myself missing as soon as I set up a new Windows box. Have you ever copied some text from a web page or a document and then wanted to paste it as simple text into another application without getting all the formatting from the original source? PureText makes this simple by adding a new Windows hot-key (default is WINDOWS+V) that allows you to paste text to any application without formatting. Loosely translated, it makes it possible to copy and paste from Office into tools like Windows Live Writer and web based WYSIWGY editors. Why you still need something like this in 2008 is beyond me, but I am glad that it exists. Posted to Software and tagged as easy-things , windows Similar Posts What Software do I use on the Mac? Enhancing Desktop Computing with the Cloud ASP.Net Quick Tips - Web.config Posted Aug 21 2008, 11:34 AM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Senior Developer Position(s)

  I just wrote about a SharePoint opening on the Telligent product team and you might be saying yourself, “Self, I am a great developer, I am just not interested in SharePoint, I wonder if Telligent has anything for me?”. Generally, it is not a good idea to talk to yourself, but in this case, it could work out nicely. In addition to the open SharePoint position, there are quite a few opening on both the Community Server and Evolution[1] teams. Here is a list of some of the skills we are looking for (note, you don’t need to have experience with all of them, but knowing a couple of them really well is required). ASP.Net C# WCF and MSMQ Ajax/Javascript Unit Testing Flash SQL Server (developer expertise) Oracle (developer expertise) Active Directory, LDAP, and/or SAML Microsoft Presence Server REST Memecache CSS, HTML, Photoshop/Fireworks Ideal candidates will be local to Dallas Texas (or willing to relocate). However, if you are a rock star and like your current dwelling, these positions can all be telecommuted. You must also be a US citizen and/or capable of working in the US without sponsorship. Recruiters need not apply. If you are interested, please send your resume, summary of skills, and salary requirements to scottw@telligent.com. [1] Community Server for the intranet. Posted to Code and tagged as telligent Similar Posts SharePoint Developer II SharePoint Developer Changing for Simplicity Posted Aug 21 2008, 09:18 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• SharePoint Developer II

  We (Telligent) previously announced our intentions to enable Community Server and SharePoint to play very nicely on the intranet (definitely friends with major benefits). We will soon be releasing V1 of this work (part of Community Server Evolution), but it is already very apparent that we are just scratching the surface and we would LOVE to do more. However, to do that, we need your help. We are looking to add another really smart[1] SharePoint developer to the team. Ideal candidates will have a good understanding and lots of previous experience developing (not just deployments) with SharePoint 2007. This is not your typical hack crap together on the intranet to make some C-level executive happy type position. You will be challenged to make the entire SharePoint user experience better. Other requirements: You must be a U.S. Citizen Dallas Texas candidates preferred, but this could be a telecommuting position for the right candidate. Experience writing testable code in SharePoint If you are interested, please send your resume, a summary of experiences, and salary requirements to scottw@telligent.com. [1] If you don’t have SharePoint experience, but really want to dive head first into it, lets us know. We might be able to make something happen for you. Posted to Code and tagged as telligent Similar Posts SharePoint Developer ASP.Net Quick Tips - Web.config Changing for Simplicity Posted Aug 21 2008, 08:56 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• LINQ in Action

  I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) LINQ in Action a couple of months ago and find myself constantly referring back to it. Most people seem to immediately assume that LINQ is just LINQ to SQL, which means they either immediately love it or hate it. This is a shame because LINQ is so much more and regardless of your thoughts on LINQ to SQL, LINQ is a tool that once understood will change how you write code (in a very good way). If you have not had a chance to really experiment with LINQ yet, I highly recommend checking out LINQ in Action (Official book site). Posted to Code and tagged as linq , books Similar Posts FriendFeed Quick Tips For ASP.Net - Part One Changing for Simplicity Posted Aug 18 2008, 10:53 AM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• SAML Contractor

  If you have prior experience coding against SAML please ping me at scottw@telligent.com with your past experiences and rate details. We are looking for someone to help finish up some product work we are doing and could really use someone who has been there before. This is likely a short term gig, but it could lead to a lot more work in the future for the right candidate. Posted to Code and tagged as telligent Similar Posts Changing for Simplicity Why Twitter? ASP.Net Quick Tips - Web.config Posted Aug 15 2008, 04:27 PM by Simpable Filed under: Code

• Great Pandora Applications

  Recently I started to use/listen to Pandora quite a bit. Initially, I had just listened via a browser, but over the last couple of weeks I have come across a couple tools that enhance the Pandora experience without a browser. First, if you are not familiar with Pandora. With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you. Tools OpenPandora – This is a very nice (free) application which sits in your windows task bar.  It has a slew of nice additional features such as Windows Messenger integration. PandoraJam – A commercial (cheap $15) application for OS X. Notable features in streaming to Airport Express, growl integration, a recording option (doubt this is legal :), and some Mac style. iPhone – The Pandora iPhone application gives iTunes remote a serious run for most useful iPhone application to date. It is very simple, but does the job surprising well over 3g. If you have any other suggestions, be sure to leave them in the comments. Posted to Software and tagged as pandora , os-x , mac , iphone , windows Similar Posts What Software do I use on the Mac? Enhancing Desktop Computing with the Cloud iPhone vs. BlackBerry Posted Aug 15 2008, 08:38 AM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Amazon Green

  I received an email this morning from Amazon announcing their new "Amazon Green" initiative. Help shoppers discover the benefits of going Green. Amazon.com has launched Amazon Green, a cross-category program that includes a list of products that customers have selected as the best green products offered by Amazon.com and a place for customers to discover Amazon's entire green product selection. One the surface, even though it is clearly a sales ploy, I love to see them putting energy behind helping the environment. In addition, the social aspect asking users to vote on which "green products you wish everyone had" is a very nice touch. However, irony here is hard to overlook. As someone who has made a lot of Amazon purchases over the years it is hard for me to take them very serious here. They still routinely use huge boxes and plastic filler packs for small orders. Even my Kindle arrived in a huge box. So while I think it is a nice concept, if Amazon really want to show a commitment to the environment, I hope they eventually start from with in.   Posted to Business and tagged as amazon , green Similar Posts iPhone vs. BlackBerry Changing for Simplicity Mavericks at Work Posted Aug 13 2008, 07:01 AM by Simpable Filed under: Business

• Free Graffiti Themes

  Dana Coffey has been posting some nice looking free Graffiti CMS blog themes. I've converted a few free Wordpress themes for use in Graffiti CMS.  I'm offerring them here for download.  Note, that I left the original designer's credit in the footer of each.  Please leave those credits in tact if you use the themes.  I'd love it if you'd place a link back to my site as well in the footer, but I won't yell if you choose not to do so. Posted to Software and tagged as graffiti , themes Similar Posts Graffiti Links Life on a Mac - Five Months Later FriendFeed Posted Aug 11 2008, 02:34 PM by Simpable Filed under: Software

• Installing Vista 64bit on a MacBook Pro

  This week, I found myself needing a Windows computer with an x64 OS. The only hardware I have at home which is x64 (64bit) capable is my MacBook Pro, so I decided to rebuild my Boot Camp partition with Vista x64 w/SP1. While MacBook Pro's are x64 capable, the process for setting it up is not as simple as running an installer. I had to do quite a bit of Googling and forum/blog reading to get it working. Hopefully the notes below will make it much easier for others to setup and install. 1. Create big(ger) your Boot Camp partition. This sounds like a no brainer, but I know quite a few people who opted for 30 GB partitions only to find themselves almost out of disk space very quickly. I am not sure why, but Vista is a huge install. I have a 200 GB drive and wanted to dedicate 60 to 70 GB's to my Vista partition. The Boot Camp utility kept failing to create the partition because it said it could not move enough file even with nearly 130 GB's of free space (I moved things like iTunes to a USB drive). In a bit of desperation, I gave the machine a quick reboot and ran the utility one last time and it worked. I am not sure if/what the reboot did or if it will work on your computer, but it seemed to help me. 2. Make a usable install disk. I will spare you most of the tech details, but in a nutshell if you are using a DVD/ISO you downloaded from MSDN with Vista x64 you will likely need to follow the steps outlined here otherwise you will not be able to choose the version of Vista to install. 3. BootCamp Drivers. This was by far the most frustrating part. While x64 Vista will install on MBP's, Apple has only officially released drivers for Mac Pro's. As you will see in the next step, there seems to be a validity to this, but they could make life easier for a lot of folks if they just posted them. To make things worse, Apple did recently (April) release a set of drivers to the public which specifically work with x64 Vista. However, they were only released as an update to the Mac Pro drivers. Thankfully (although I doubt legally) the Boot Camp drivers were posted to RapidShare as a four part download (1, 2, 3, 4). RapidShare is insanely slow (on purpose) and annoying as hell to use, but it works. It will take about an hour to download the drivers, but unfortunately without them you cannot proceed. After you download the drivers put them on a USB drive or burn them to a CD and install them on your MBP. Once you have them installed, you can download the updated set from Apple and install them as well. You should now see Vista recognizes things like iSight. 4. Wifi Drivers. I did not find others online with this issue, but for me, even with the updated Boot Camp drivers, my wifi card was not working. After not having much success finding a fix I decided to plug the MBP directly into my router and let Vista attempt to fix the driver which it somehow did (seriously, I was shocked, but it worked!). 5. Video Drivers. My MBP has an NVIDIA 256 MB video card. Vista was able to supply its own video driver which seemed to work OK, but did not support Areo. I could live without Areo, but the exerpiece just did not feel right; besides I was now getting a crappy Windows Experience Index score. I tried to download official x64 drivers from NVIDIA, but for whatever reason they would not install. So a bit more Googling around led me to LaptopVideo2Go. WARNING: I hate installing/modifying things where I do not know why. It is dangerous and something you should avoid. For me, my BootCamp partition is a throw away, so it OK if it goes poof. I downloaded the latest x64 NVIDIA drivers, installed them, and again got an error message. It turns out, I was not following the full instructions. Also listed on the download page is an updated ini file which convinces the drivers to install. A quick reboot later and everything was great. So far things have been going really well. Using x64 I have full access to all 4 GB's of memory and the machine/Vista seem really fast. Other notes: While Vista was installing it found and let me use my Apple Bluetooth keyboard. This was not expect and very cool. Unfortunately, once I installed the actual Bluetooth drivers the keyboard stopped working until I did a discovery. I wonder if this is a security issue? I deactivated system restore and found it cleared up a ton of space. I did use ImgBurn as the article suggests and I was quite happy with it. It does a great job burning DVD's. Posted to Software and tagged as apple , mac , vista , x64 Similar Posts iPhone vs. BlackBerry What Software do I use on the Mac? ASP.Net Quick Tips - Web.config Posted Aug 04 2008, 06:39 AM by Simpable Filed under: Software