HTTP/1.1 200 OK X-totalblogs: 116958 X-rootblog: http://wordpress.com/ X-created-on: 2006-01-30 12:58:34 Content-type: text/xml;charset=utf-8 Content-Length: 89654 Server: LiteSpeed Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:12:05 GMT Connection: close dateCreated20060311T19:06:30 userid84842 postid40 descriptionOk. I'm a few days away from finishing my RSS Client. So far the features are: <ul> <li>Add/Remove Feeds</li> <li>Check/View Feeds (auto update every x mins)</li> <li>View Posts, mark posts with a flag (important, etc)</li> <li>Assign your own categories to posts</li> <li>Virtual views of posts based on post category and your categories</li> <li>Grab the comments from posts &amp; post a comment directly from the client</li> <li>Auto add your comments to CoComment</li> <li>Import/Export to OPML</li> <li>OPML navigation</li> <li>Search for Posts/Authors/URLs/categories/tags via technorati, etc</li> <li>Submit Posts to your Blogs (WYSIWYG, Images, Etc)</li> <li>Standard Blog Management (Posts/Categories/etc)</li> <li>POP Email to RSS - So you can view your email as an RSS Feed</li> <li>Skinable and define your own templates for layouts of Posts/comments/etc</li> </ul> Anything else you want to see in it? Oh - for those of you on the move - it's a smart client application - so it's aware of when it's connected to the network and will act accordingly. titleRSS Client - What do you want? linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/11/rss-client-what-do-you-want/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/11/rss-client-what-do-you-want/ categories WordPress Development .NET Visual Studio mt_excerptOk. I'm a few days away from finishing my RSS Client. So far the features are: Add/Remove Feeds Check/View Feeds (auto update every x mins) View Posts, mark posts with a flag (important, etc) Assign your own categories to posts Virtual views of posts based on post category and your categories Grab the comments from posts & post a comment directly from the client Auto add your comments to CoComment Import/Export to OPML OPML navigation Search for Posts/Authors/URLs/categories/tags via technorati, etc Submit Posts to your Blogs (WYSIWYG, Images, Etc) Standard Blog Management (Posts/Categories/etc) POP Email to RSS - So you can view your email as an RSS Feed Skinable and define your own templates for layouts of Posts/comments/etc Anything else you want to see in it? Oh - for those of you on the move - it's a smart client application - so it's aware of when it's connected to the network and will act accordingly. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060309T12:11:05 userid84842 postid39 description<table> <tr> <td>It's a nice looking device, and if affordable and performant - would go down well.    I'm kinda diappointed with how it's just another device (in addition to all the others) that you have.  It would be great if more focus was put on getting things to interoperate. I've a mobile phone that I carry for voice, data, contacts - why can't  the origami use the contacts on my mobile phone (without having to sync them).  Can I video conf using the origami as the device - and it route via my mobile? I've a bluetooth headset that I use with my phone - can the origami take control of the bluetooth device when it needs to (simply without having to un-pair and re-pair the headset with the mobile/origami). Contact management is a big deal - Outlook (on my home machine) is the master respository for my contacts (email/phone numbers/web addresses/etc) - is there going to be an intelligent solution to what goes where? My mobile can provide GPS (depending on the operator) - so I can origami use the info from the mobile? My mobile has t-Flash - it's a good medium for storage (1GB storage) - but if there isn't going to be a simple way to use it from origami (via the phone without having to plug/unplug/switch) etc - then it's a PIA.  Likewise - I'd rather have a USB device that I can plug the origami into that will give me decent graphics (the graphics capabilities on the origami look great) - but I wanna offload intensive graphics work onto the USB device (which will drive my monitor) - wouldn't this mean the origami device does less of the grunt work? How hot swap batteries? Even better - how about USB batteries - that I can plug in to extend the battery life! If I have the origami - why not let that charge my mobile? That way - I can just have spare batteries for the origami - and feel I'm always covered. All in all - it looks exciting.</td> </tr> </table> titleOrigami.. linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/09/origami/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/09/origami/ categories Microsoft Development Origami Wireless Technology mt_excerptIt's a nice looking device, and if affordable and performant - would go down well. I'm kinda diappointed with how it's just another device (in addition to all the others) that you have. It would be great if more focus was put on getting things to interoperate. I've a mobile phone that I carry for voice, data, contacts - why can't the origami use the contacts on my mobile phone (without having to sync them). Can I video conf using the origami as the device - and it route via my mobile? I've a bluetooth headset that I use with my phone - can the origami take control of the bluetooth device when it needs to (simply without having to un-pair and re-pair the headset with the mobile/origami). Contact management is a big deal - Outlook (on my home machine) is the master respository for my contacts (email/phone numbers/web addresses/etc) - is there going to be an intelligent solution to what goes where? My mobile can provide GPS (depending on the operator) - so I can origami use the info from the mobile? My mobile has t-Flash - it's a good medium for storage (1GB storage) - but if there isn't going to be a simple way to use it from origami (via the phone without having to plug/unplug/switch) etc - then it's a PIA. Likewise - I'd rather have a USB device that I can plug the origami into that will give me decent graphics (the graphics capabilities on the origami look great) - but I wanna offload intensive graphics work onto the USB device (which will drive my monitor) - wouldn't this mean the origami device does less of the grunt work? How hot swap batteries? Even better - how about USB batteries - that I can plug in to extend the battery life! If I have the origami - why not let that charge my mobile? That way - I can just have spare batteries for the origami - and feel I'm always covered. All in all - it looks exciting. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060309T07:14:42 userid84842 postid38 descriptionHumm.  With the new admin pages under SSL the feedback doesn't appear to work and the graph on the Dashboard Stats page has gone south - now being a bar graph labelled Region A and Region B - and showing years 2003, 2004 &amp; 2005 (this blog has only been up and running since 2006). I find myself getting messages from IE saying that the pages contain secure and non-secure elements (mixed mode) and an invalid name on the SSL certificate when visiting <a href="http://wordpress.com/blog/2006/03/08/secure-blogging/">http://wordpress.com/blog/2006/03/08/secure-blogging/</a> and logging in.  The SSL cert *.wordpress.com won't be valid for Wordpress.com - because there is no child domain. Finally - pingbacks/trackbacks don't appear to function any more...   titleSecure Admin Problems at Wordpress linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/09/secure-admin-at-wordpress/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/09/secure-admin-at-wordpress/ categories WordPress mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060305T13:16:17 userid84842 postid37 descriptionThe Enterprise Library for .NET 2.0 installs ok although building the Enterprise Library will fail as it won't have permission to the target directory unless you are logged in as an Administrator. To get around this (you'll need to have set or know the Administrators password): <ul> <li>Drop to the cmd prompt (WinKey + R cmd)</li> <li>runas /noprofile /user:\Administrator \BuildLibrary.bat</li> <ul> <li>I prefer to deal with any errors in realtime so I use: "runas /noprofile /user:\Administrator cmd" and then navigate to the directory and run the batch command.</li> </ul> <li>(Enter the Administrators password)</li> </ul> titleMS Enterprise Enterprise Library 2.0 linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/ms-enterprise-enterprise-library-20/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/ms-enterprise-enterprise-library-20/ categories Microsoft Development Vista .NET Visual Studio x64 Compatible Applications mt_excerptThe Enterprise Library for .NET 2.0 installs ok although building the Enterprise Library will fail as it won't have permission to the target directory unless you are logged in as an Administrator. To get around this (you'll need to have set or know the Administrators password) and.... mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060305T12:52:43 userid84842 postid36 descriptionOffice 2003 installs ok without any problems. The Office update <a href="http://office.microsoft.com" target="_blank">site</a> however doesn't check and install updates - even with office.microsoft.com in the Trusted Sites.  I believe it's a problem with an unsigned cab file that's downloaded that checks the installed product and any applied updates against what's available. Manually downloading updates from the Office Catalog site - works although it's a long winded process. titleOffice 2003 linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/office-2003/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/office-2003/ categories Microsoft Vista Compatible Applications mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060305T12:49:04 userid84842 postid35 descriptionThe Logitech SetPoint software (2.47.864) for x64 installs only when you set Compatibility to Windows 2003 SP1 and run tthe setup as Administrator. Apart from that - it runs like a dream. titleLogitech SetPoint x64 linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/logitech-setpoint-vista/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/logitech-setpoint-vista/ categories Microsoft Vista Compatible Applications mt_excerptThe Logitech SetPoint software (2.47.864) for x64 installs only when you set Compatibility to Windows 2003 SP1 and run tthe setup as Administrator. Apart from that - it runs like a dream. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060304T21:05:53 userid84842 postid34 descriptionSuch a cool text based editor and Runs happily with Windows Vista and can be found <a href="https://dasher.wordpress.com/wp-admin/www.ultraedit.com" target="_blank">here</a> titleUltraEdit Studio 2005 linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/ueedit-vista/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/ueedit-vista/ categories Microsoft Vista Compatible Applications mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060304T21:01:19 userid84842 postid33 descriptionO&amp;O defrag Pro Version 8 works happily on Windows Vista 5308 - although I've not tried a boot time defrag yet....     titleOO Defrag Version 8 on Vista linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/oodefrag-vista/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/oodefrag-vista/ categories Microsoft Vista Compatible Applications mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060304T20:57:32 userid84842 postid32 descriptionNote: I haven't yet checked this on other Vista builds! When installing Visual Studio 2005 -- it's best to install Visual Studio BEFORE you add/remove programs.  Things can get messed up really quickly if you don't (hence todays Vista reinstall).  The .NET Framework 2 comes preinstalled with the OS and if something else you have installed touches the framework in any way or installs a previous version of the framework - Visual Studio just won't install. I had a whole host of problems getting VS 2005 installed and it turned out that another app had installed the 1.1 NET Framework.  As .NET 2 was installed by the OS - I wasn't able to reinstall or update it. I have noticed some differences between Vista Business and Vista Ultimate (such as how the sidebar gadget operated) - weird because the media was the same - only the license key differed.   titleVista - Visual Studio 2005 Install Tip linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/vista-visual-studio-install/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/04/vista-visual-studio-install/ categories Microsoft Vista .NET Visual Studio x64 mt_excerptWhen installing Visual Studio 2005 -- it's best to install Visual Studio BEFORE you add/remove programs. Things can get messed up really quickly if you don't (hence todays Vista reinstall). The .NET Framework 2 comes preinstalled with the OS and if something else you have installed touches the framework in any way or installs a previous version of the framework - Visual Studio just won't install. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060301T21:02:13 userid84842 postid31 descriptionWe're currently looking for sponsors help with funding for the translation project.  With funding we'll be able to have something available for the market in 18 months - but our current funding level is stalling development.  The amount of computing power needed for the system is much more than we currently have. We currently need a new processing hub server - our current 4GB server isn't up to scratch with the AI engine and we need something has at least 32 GB of memory - with our current projections showing that 48 GB is the optimum for the engine.  These things don't come cheap but every little helps... If you'd like to help, then drop me a comment or email <a href="mailto:david.ashwood@inspiredthinking.co.uk">david.ashwood{at}inspiredthinking.co.uk</a>. If you're a hardware vendor and like to help - it would be swell.. titleSponsors/Funding... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/sponsor-needed/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/sponsor-needed/ categories Research Development NLP &#038; MT mt_excerptWe're currently looking for sponsors help with funding for the translation project. With funding we'll be able to have something available for the market in 18 months - but our current funding level is stalling development. The amount of computing power needed for the system is much more than we currently have. We currently need a new processing hub server - our current 4GB server isn't up to scratch with the AI engine and we need something has at least 32 GB of memory - with our current projections showing that 48 GB is the optimum for the engine. These things don't come cheap but every little helps... If you'd like to help, then drop me a comment or email david.ashwood{at}inspiredthinking.co.uk. If you're a hardware vendor and like to help - it would be swell.. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060301T18:35:02 userid84842 postid30 descriptionIf you're playing about with, umm, testing Vista - watch out for the ATI control desk.  It'll hose your install and turn it into an uncontrollable gibbering wreck with no chance of recovery... titleATI Catalyst for Vista... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/ati-control-desk-vista-beta/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/ati-control-desk-vista-beta/ categories Microsoft Vista mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060228T23:31:21 userid84842 postid29 descriptionTook the plung today and installed the x64 version of Windows Vista (build 5308)  on my machine.  I had a spare 3 GB of disk space that I thought would be enough..  10 mins later I was running Acronis disk manager from CD (nobody appears to have Partition management software for Windows XP Pro x64) to steal some space from another partiton.  I needed a  min of 11 GB of disk space to install Vista. After a relatively painless install process (damn machine wanted to boot from the DVD each time) - I was up and running.  My initial impression: Hubba hubba hubba!!! Nice look, great feel - and felt a little lost.  Everything has changed.  It took about 15 mins to find my bearings - and altering my mind map of how to navigate the OS.  Windows popped up as smooth as silk sheets with a hot redhead. However quite quickly I was having problems.  Network problems... I installed the network drivers from Intel (who fantastically have a simple single install for all their x64 drivers - so you don't have to worry about finding the right download) as Windows didn't ship them with the Beta.  A quick test - update the system clock against time.windows.com - all was looking good. Happy - I tried the internet (taking a few mins to admire IE 7 - there isn't a general beta for XP Pro x64)... And it all came crashing down..  No internet access with IE..  Damn Weird...  The time updated ok - and dropping to the cmd prompt (which took a little figuring) found I could ping good old cisco (who actually respond to pings). Humm... IP was running, DNS was ok.  So why wasn't IE displaying any websites. Looking around - nothing obvious struck me.  The new networking interfaces confused me much at first - wonderful colours and layout - but nothing that helped much in working out what the problem was.  There are 2 troubleshooting wizards - one for networking and another in IE that are supposed to help track down problems.  None did anything much apart from look pretty.  (I'll find out if I'm allowed to post some screen shots - they are worth a look). After an hour of hunting around- and using a spare machine to surf for mesages that might indicate where the problem might be - I found a short post on Google Newgroups from somebody who had a similar problem.  Theirs disappeared after upgrading their router.  Taking a look at the - always reliable - NetGear DG832 found that I had uPNP running and Trends Security Services enabled on the router.  Turning off the uPNP and rebooting the router and Vista didn't help..  Turning off the Trend Micro Security Services on the router and trying IE again however fixed my problem. God knows what it was doing to block IE but it fixed my problem. Alora as they say in Italy (anyway)... Since then I have played about a bit - tweaking performance, working out what is what.  A great way to figure out the OS and to loose 6 hours. Before I can do anymore with it - I need to resize some partitions and give vista some more space.  Then it's the great install procces (Office, VS 2005, Infragistcis components - who have some of the best .NET controls <a href="http://www.infragistics.com/" target="_blank">here</a> that save me a bunch of time in dev, and the rest of the tools I depend on while working).  Another 6 hours and I should be able to get back to work.   titleVista installed... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/28/vista-beta-installed/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/28/vista-beta-installed/ categories Microsoft Vista .NET WCF/Indigo mt_excerptTook the plung today and installed the x64 version of Windows Vista (build 5308) on my machine. I had a spare 3 GB of disk space that I thought would be enough.. 10 mins later I was running Acronis disk manager from CD (nobody appears to have Partition management software for Windows XP Pro x64) to steal some space from another partiton. I needed a min of 11 GB of disk space to install Vista. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060227T22:17:23 userid84842 postid28 descriptionA friend stumbled over Paint.Net and sent me the <a href="http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/" target="_blank">link</a>.  Simply: WOW! Includes x64 support! titlePaint.Net linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/27/paintnet/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/27/paintnet/ categories .NET other fluff x64 mt_excerptA friend stumbled over Paint.Net and sent me the link. WoW! mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060227T22:09:16 userid84842 postid27 descriptionIf you're into web services and you develop using Visual Studio - then <a href="http://www.thinktecture.com/Resources/Software/WSContractFirst/default.html" target="_blank">here</a> is a must have tool. Version 0.6 is fresh out of the stalls and it's looking as smooth as an espresso on a monday morning. It's an Addin &amp; common line tool for Visual Studio 2005 for Contract First Web Services.  It helps streamline the development of web services allowing you to focus on what's important - the service you are offering - rather than the technical plumbing of web services. These guys have some cool and handy utils - take a look at their <a href="http://www.thinktecture.com/Resources/Software/Gacutils/default.html" target="_blank">GACUtil</a> - a shell provider for registering assemblies in the GAC.   titleIf you're into Web Services with Visual Studio... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/27/wscf-vs-addin/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/27/wscf-vs-addin/ categories Development .NET Visual Studio mt_excerptIf you're into web services and you develop using Visual Studio - then here is a must have tool. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060226T09:41:31 userid84842 postid26 descriptionDoes anybody know if it's possible with the Hosted WordPress blog (on WordPress.com) to an image thumbnail in the RSS feed? titleImages in RSS with WordPress linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/images-in-rss-with-wordpress/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/images-in-rss-with-wordpress/ categories WordPress Development other fluff mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060226T09:22:13 userid84842 postid25 descriptionThe new approach by Microsoft to produce regular updates to their Customer Technology Previews (CTPs) is much needed.  No longer do we have to wait months (or years) between releases to find code that we have developed left limping along or just plain hosed - a gibbering wreck due to namespace or library changes. There are still changes - but with the frequency of the new drop schedule it's easier to deal with (although with the number of CTP's and SDK's coming out it can be a little overwhelming). With regards to WinFX - Rob Relyea has a cool tool that helps carry the load that can be found <a href="http://robrelyea.com/tools/XamlMigrate/" target="_blank">here</a>.  Daniel Lehenbauer has also updated his 3D tools for WPF against the WinFX Feb CTP which includes his Blender Export tool.  Ths allows you to export 3D images from <a href="http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html" target="_blank">Blender</a> for use within your WinFX applications.  Daniel has some great explanations and demos of using 3D with WinFX - it's worth checking out. titleWinFX CTP's - Monthly changes linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/winfx-ctps-monthly-changes/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/winfx-ctps-monthly-changes/ categories Development .NET Visual Studio WCF/Indigo mt_excerptThe new approach by Microsoft to produce regular updates to their Customer Technology Previews (CTPs) is much needed. No longer do we have to wait months (or years) between releases to find code that we have developed left limping along or just plain hosed - a gibbering wreck due to namespace or library changes... mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060224T19:30:56 userid84842 postid24 descriptionCool beans! PerPixelOpacity allows for non-regular shapes - allowing all sorts of groovy things. Lester (msdn blogger) illustrates how to use it to create an unique splash screen <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/llobo/archive/2006/02/24/538757.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>.   titlePerPixelOpacity makes it into the WPF CTP for Feb linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/24/wpf-perpixelopacity/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/24/wpf-perpixelopacity/ categories Development WCF/Indigo mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060224T18:53:25 userid84842 postid23 description<blockquote>An echo,      or a play on words.           To be chisled out of butter.           A butterfly can change the world,      a hatter, or a nutter?</blockquote> titleA hatter... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/24/poetry/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/24/poetry/ categories Poetry other fluff mt_excerptAn echo, or a play on words. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060223T14:39:53 userid84842 postid22 description<blockquote>I'm vain,      you claim. As I stop and stare,           at my hair. But all I really do,                when I stop, Is make sure my hair,                     is still there.</blockquote> titleVanity.. linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/23/vanity-via-poetry/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/23/vanity-via-poetry/ categories Poetry other fluff mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060222T22:43:03 userid84842 postid21 descriptionDmitryr has released a superb RSS toolkit for generating and consuming feeds available <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/dmitryr/archive/2006/02/21/536552.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> and works with Forms and ASP applications.   titleSuperb RSS Toolkit for .NET by dmitryr linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/asp-net-rss-toolkit/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/asp-net-rss-toolkit/ categories Development .NET Visual Studio mt_excerptSuperb RSS toolkit for use with Windows Forms and ASP.NET. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060222T19:32:43 userid84842 postid20 descriptionWatch out! The WinFX Runtime uninstall tool can knock your Visual Studio install for six.  On one of the test machines we have for WinFX development - the uninstall tool turned Visual Studio 2005 into a gibbering wreck. The machine was running the final version of VS 2005 (press release versions of VS 2005 are also uninstalled by the WinFX uninstall tool) with the Jan WinFX CTP installed. titleWatch out for the WinFX Runtime Uninstall tool linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/winfx-uninstall/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/winfx-uninstall/ categories Microsoft Development .NET Visual Studio WCF/Indigo x64 mt_excerptWatch out for the WinFX Feb Uninstall tool. It can turn Visual Studio 2005 into a gibbering wreck... mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060222T19:02:45 userid84842 postid19 descriptionThe Feb WinFX CTP is available for download from <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/F/A/9FA1D34F-EDE6-4D98-8AA2-0296B2AA6ABE/winfxrc_x64.exe" target="_blank">here</a> (x64) and <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F51C4D96-9AEA-474F-86D3-172BFA3B828B&amp;displaylang=en" target="_blank">here</a> (x86). You'll need to remove previous versions of WinFX before installing - MS have released a tool to make things painless <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AAE7FC63-D405-4E13-909F-E85AA9E66146&amp;displaylang=en" target="_blank">here</a>. Now if I could only get invited to the Vista Feb CTP due out today... titleWinFX Feb CTP (x64 &amp; x86) linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/winfx-feb-ctp/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/22/winfx-feb-ctp/ categories Microsoft Development .NET WCF/Indigo x64 mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060220T11:50:19 userid84842 postid5 description<ul> <li><strong>Co</strong>nceptual <strong>Co</strong>ntextual <strong>T</strong>r<strong>a</strong>nslation (COCOTA) - self learning translation paradigm that translates by building a conceptual framework by inferring contextual relationships between language constructs.</li> <li>The current framework environment is built using loosly coupled modula agents that build a conceptual model of language:</li> <ul> <li>The framework is reflexive - in the sense that agents reflect on concept generation using contextual markers within the text, paragraph, sentence or phrase - and generate a consensus of meaning.</li> <li>Agents have access to the same data repositories (previous historical and temporal concept trees as well as proxied self discovery [via the internet and corpus]) but are given different linguistic and programatic parameters (<em>ala devils advocate</em>).</li> <li>Agents are able to adjust their own working environment (parameters, working set and code base).</li> <li>Proxied information discovery means that requests for information go through a <em>relatively</em> <em>dumb</em> information proxy agent - which searches for information on behalf of the agent. The search conditions and results are cached to improve performance of the system, and to examine the approaches taken by agents to data discovery.</li> <li>Technology:</li> <ul> <li>Modified SOAR (the original SOAR environment: <a title="SOAR" href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/soar" target="_blank">http://sitemaker.umich.edu/soar</a>) in C++</li> <li>.NET (a mixture of C#, VB, Python, LINQ)</li> <li>Platform agnostic Remoting framework for intra agent communication</li> </ul> <li>Stats:</li> <ul> <li>The system isn't tied to any language - it self learns - but testing and development is done using European languages (English, Italian, German, French, Spanish)</li> <li>The current framework is limited to only 100 words - again - the system is able to learn new words and attribute meaning through <em>Cocota (this is purely for performance reasons - I'm working with limited hardware and resources)</em></li> <li>The system translates (languages from the above list) from language A -&gt; language B -&gt; Language C -&gt; Langauge A with, on avg, 95% accuracy in terms of meaning at the final stage. In my mind - this is the only true way to measure the accuracy of the system - if sense and meaning is lost in translation then you have failed.</li> </ul> </ul> </ul>   If you're interested in investing - then more information can be found <a title="Investor Information" href="http://dasher.wordpress.com/investors/" target="_blank">here</a> titleCurrent Research (COCOTA) linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/20/current-research-cocota/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/20/current-research-cocota/ categories Research Development .NET NLP &#038; MT mt_excerptNatural Language Processing and Machine Translation - current work mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060217T14:19:56 userid84842 postid18 descriptionThe H3G network in Italy (aka Three – <a href="http://www.tre.it/">www.tre.it</a>) have some superb offers at the moment.  Their tariffs are superb and clear - vastly so when compared to their competitors (Vodafone/Omnitel and Wind) who have a horrible and overly table of packages, tariffs and calls costs to other networks. So while in Rome yesterday I decided to pop in and check them out in person.  The sales guy was the unusual sales type – listened to the questions (in bad Italian), talked about the options and clearly explained the little questions that you cannot deduce from trawling the web. In the end I decided to sign up to their SuperTuaPiu package and selected the LG 8360 phone.  It’s a cool looking phone (offered in Black and Silver) – feature complete with Camera, Video calling, MP3, WMA, MMS, UTMS, a great bright screen with easy to use software. <strong>First impressions: <em>Superb</em>!</strong>  I’ve been pretty happy for the 24 hours that I’ve had it.  My only gripe is with LG for not providing or having any drivers for Windows XP x64 – which means I can’t plug it into my main machine and use the Sync software.  Digging around on the web shows that many people are having the same problems with Windows XP x64.  Reading around, it turns up that the first line support people at LG don’t realise that LG have written the software – and keep telling people to contact Microsoft! Doah! I’ve dropped LG a message via their contact page on the web explaining the problem and letting them know that MS haven’t actually written the software.  With luck it’ll prompt them into contacting their Dev team and maybe, within the timeframe of Vista, they will release something.  I'm not, however, holding my breath. If anybody knows of some USB drivers for connecting mobiles to Windows XP x64, I’d love to hear about it. titleThree is the Magic Number... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/17/lg-three-tre-x64/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/17/lg-three-tre-x64/ categories other fluff x64 Mobiles mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060215T09:08:17 userid84842 postid17 description<font size="2">Once again, personal choice about how they live their lives is removed from the population. Instead of dealing with the problem - passive smoking - MP's in the UK took the emotive, uninformed, trendy option. It would be good to read until the end of this post if you want to take issue with the fact that the current bill is aimed at dealing with passive smoking. The UK is supposed to be a market driven environment. Do MP's actually know what this means? MP's are supposed to represent the population that voted them in - Business and Voters alike - have they consulted them? And by consulted - I mean something active - like going out to talk to pub, club and restaurant owners and their customers - rather than something passive where they sit in their office and answer secretary screened calls and letters. The problems with allowing smoking in public, confined spaces: <ol> <li>Passive smoking affects workers</li> <li>Passive smoking affects those clients who don't smoke</li> </ol> What are the options available to deal with this problem? Possible solutions: <ol> <li>Allow customers to choose where they visit (and spend their money) - allowing business to respond to a requirement of the free market.</li> <li>Allow businesses to provide a no smoking and smoking zone. Businesses and advertise they have such a zone by government defining what this means. How can government do this? By defining, after consultation with the appropriate scientific community, how many parts per million of tobacco toxins should be present in the air. Such an approach allows businesses to install air purifiers (at a cost to the business) to service their customers who don't smoke. Again - allowing businesses and consumers to exercise their role in the free market.</li> <li>Protecting workers in establishments that offer smoking areas - ok - I admit this one is harder to deal with. There are 2 options that I can think of:</li> <ol> <li>The worker chooses to work there knowing of this problem. I think of this as the stable-hand problem. If you work in a stable because you like horses, the down side is that at some point you're going to be shovelling manure. It's something, in my mind, that is an unpleasant aspect of the job. While it doesn't immediately appear to apply to the specific problem - you can easily extend it to other jobs. There is always going to be a boss that applies stress to their workers (risk of heart attack), car mechanics (car fumes - although what do you know - the solutions item 2 fits the bill in dealing with this), etc</li> <li>The government spends some of the money it gets in taxes from smokers and gives some of it to workers who don't smoke and have to deal with smokers (I know this one goes against a general policy of the government actually using taxes on a product/service/etc to deal with problems on that product/service)</li> </ol> </ol> The above solutions allow the free market to be free. The free market is supposed to be about allowing consumers to have choice isn't it? Allowing businesses to respond to their customers? Why is this a big deal? This is a big deal on many fronts: <ul> <li>As a rule MP's don't respond to the needs and desires of the constituency that voted them in.</li> <li>The government should continue to promote a free market for businesses and consumers. This should mean the exercise of choice. Rather than, in my opinion, the current trend of a free market fleecing, exploiting or confusing consumers.</li> <li>Government role should not include restricting the freedom of choice for those they are supposed to represent. Freedom means that I can make a choice about how I live my life. If I want to eat lots of red meat (risk of bowl cancer), salt on my food (high blood pressure), to drive a sleek black car (risk of accidents at night), drive a motorcycle (again – high – risk of an accident) – then I should be allowed to.</li> </ul> The current bill is about passive smoking – to quote the bill (from the BBC website): <blockquote><em>"The Commons has decided in a free vote to introduce a total ban on smoking in England’s pubs and clubs. MPs decided by a margin of 328 to ban smoking from all pubs. They then voted by 200 to extend this to clubs."</em></blockquote> By defining a criteria that must be met for businesses to advertise a smoking free environment follows similar patterns for Organic food, free range eggs, children’s toys (ala ‘This toy is for children 3 and above’), etc <font face="Courier New" size="2" /></font> titleUK Bans smoking in pubs, bars and restaurant linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/15/uk-bans-smoking/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/15/uk-bans-smoking/ categories other fluff mt_excerptOnce again, personal choice about how they live their lives is removed from the population. Instead of dealing with the problem - passive smoking - MP's took the emotive, uninformed, trendy option. mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060207T14:24:42 userid84842 postid16 descriptionAnja a good friend has joined the blogsphere. She hasn't posted much at the moment but checkout her blog at: <a href="http://prelle.dyndns.org/wordpress/?p=3">http://prelle.dyndns.org/wordpress/?p=3</a> titleA friend linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/07/anja/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/07/anja/ categories other fluff mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060206T23:31:29 userid84842 postid14 descriptionSuperb idea with a great implementation - Track the comments you leave on blogs wherever they may be. Checkout <a title="CoComment Website" href="http://www.cocomment.com" target="_blank">CoComment</a> for more info. titleCoComment.. linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/cocomment-comment-tracker/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/cocomment-comment-tracker/ categories other fluff mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060206T20:31:50 userid84842 postid13 descriptionLike most adHoc implementations - the communication mechanism in the original design wasn't up to scratch.  The communication mechanism has to fulfil the following requirements: <ul> <li><em>intraAgent</em></li> <ul> <li>logical groups of peered agents (ala fully trusted agents - or agents who are friends),</li> </ul> <li><em>interAgent</em></li> <ul> <li>local agents who bias the information exchange with an element of caution (agents who are acquaintances)</li> </ul> <li><em>extraAgent</em></li> <ul> <li>agent communication with that should be treated with caution (agents who are strangers)</li> </ul> <li>Primary Process agent communication</li> <ul> <li>This dialog should be isolated, allowing the Primary to steer agents to some degree, allow information to be extracted about agent performance, direction, decision paths.  Finally agents datasets (both decision paths, data and generated code) should be consumed and integrated with the Primary process (using e-Change).</li> </ul> </ul> In addition: <ul> <li>The communication channel should be clearly defined - using a <a title="PEACE" href="http://staff.newtelligence.net/clemensv/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0339fe35-2328-44be-93e6-f004bd869a84" target="_blank">contract</a> approach</li> <li>The channel should be loose - allowing disconnected processing (agents can be local or remote and defined by the agent instance engine under direction of the Primary Process)</li> <li>The communication channel should allow reflexive discovery - allowing both parties to disover something about the nature of the channel.  The channel in this environment isn't just a conduit - it's also a mechanism to provide directional indicators allowing the agent to discover and explore it's assigned dataset (see above for an overview of the dataset).</li> </ul> With this in mind - it was time for a review and redesign of the mechanism. After some investigation of the options - I've decided to start using part of the Windows Communication Framework.  Initial trails show that it will provide a significant improvement over what is in place at the moment and should allow the system to grow and perform better. titleLook who's talking... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/wcf-cocota-communication/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/wcf-cocota-communication/ categories Research Development .NET WCF/Indigo NLP &#038; MT mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060206T19:42:37 userid84842 postid12 descriptionIt's weird what you find when you're not looking for it. I need to clean up a machine that was an old laptop and currently running SVN for a bunch of projects I am working on with others.  We've decided to use the latest version of Visual Source Safe that comes with Visual Studio 2005 and I hit the web looking for a tool that migrates from SVN to VSS. Google spat out a bunch of links and one of them took me to <a href="http://blogs.geekdojo.net/richard/default.aspx">Richard Lowe's Blog</a> - a quick scan and I spotted an interesting section on <a href="http://blogs.geekdojo.net/richard/archive/category/9.aspx">Complex Adaptive Systems</a>.  While Richard hasn't posted anything recently - it's an interesting topic.  <a href="http://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/current-research-cocota/">CoCoTa</a> a Machine Translation Engine I've been working on implements a decoupled dynamic engine.  Decoupling is an engine mechanism within the CoCoTa framework that enables dynamic code generation.  This allows 2 things: <ol> <li>Reasoning agents are created in the translation and deduction engines (ala <em>mini me</em>)</li> <li>The main engine goes through an <a title="EVOLVE &amp; e-Change" href="http://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/echange-cocota/" target="_blank">e-change</a> cycle - allowing the system to adapt over time</li> </ol>   titleWeird what you find when... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/complex-adaptive-systems-cocota/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/complex-adaptive-systems-cocota/ categories Research Development mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060206T19:32:07 userid84842 postid11 description<strong>Overview</strong>  e-Change is a process within the CoCoTa decoupled dynamic engine that enables the main translation process to evolve - rewriting it's own code and generating optimised libraries based on previous experience. This is implemented for many reasons: <ul> <li>It helps bypass some issues dealing with the <em><a title="General overview of the Utility Problem" href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/jair/pub/volume15/ambite01a-html/node28.html">Utility Problem</a></em></li> <li>It allows the system to rewrite the code generation engine and thus each of the sub-engines &amp; agents that comprise of the system</li> <li>The system self-optimises it's own performance</li> </ul>   titleeChange linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/echange-cocota/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/echange-cocota/ categories Development .NET NLP &#038; MT mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060206T15:56:56 userid84842 postid9 descriptionWhy on earth do you insist on having competitions that allow only submissions from within the US? Here is another: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/events/officialrules_ppc.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/events/officialrules_ppc.mspx</a> Is it because nobody in the US is working with the platform or tools? Is it because they think that the US is the center of the world? It really, really annoys me... Am I the only one? titleWhy, Oh, Microsoft Why.... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/microsoft-us-annoy/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/06/microsoft-us-annoy/ categories Microsoft mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060201T13:18:23 userid84842 postid8 descriptionMS have finally come up with the cards when it comes to supporting the Developer community with a group called <strong><font face="Arial"><a title="Developer Division Customer Product Lifecycle Experience Team" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ddcpxblg/default.aspx">DDCPX</a>.</font></strong> At last a servicing group that is there to help when it doesn't do quite what it says on the label. titleMS Developer Division is Live linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/ddcpx/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/ddcpx/ categories Development mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060201T09:51:19 userid84842 postid7 descriptionHere is an interesting article on <a href="http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/01/30/mesh_networks_and_city_wireless_will_transform_the_internet.htm">Mesh and Wireless networking</a>. Recently in Tuscany we designed and implemented a wireless network to enable a small cluster of homes access to the internet.  Tuscany as you may know is hilly with small fairly remote hilltop homes.  Telecom in Italy isn't great with large costs in bringing services (such as telecom, gas, etc) from the main road to the consumer (the consumer foots the bill btw). With the right equipment you can cover 3 KM with standard wireless and a local neighbour within that distance had a decent telephone line capable of ADSL.  Placing a small router and a special directional antenna there - and another at the cluster of homes - we enabled wireless networking and telephony (VoIP). The implementation cost was 25% of what it would cost to bring a telephone cable from the main road to the house. If you're interested in learning more about what and how we implemented it - drop me an <a title="Drop me an email" href="mailto:wireless@inspiredthinking.co.uk">email</a>.   titleMesh and Wireless Networking linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/mesh-and-wireless-networking/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/mesh-and-wireless-networking/ categories other fluff Wireless Technology mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060201T08:00:00 userid84842 postid6 descriptionIn October I bought a new workstation from Dell Italy with a wizzy Intel 64 bit processor. The base install of the machine came with a localised version of Windows XP and I'm not a fan of these installs.  Being a Native Englazoid - I like to be able to switch langauges when I want.  I guess the Microsoft isolated team environment did it's usual thing and groups working on one development stream didn't talk to another doing something similar.  <strong>Why oh why you cannot install the Windows OS MUI pack on a non English version of Windows! </strong> [small rant]  The OS MUI pack allows you to add different language packs to your Windows - so you can have Windows display OS dialogs in English, Italian, French, etc when you want.  Users on the machine can have their own langauge version when then login - so I can use English and the wench can have Italian - both on the same machine - running side by side. The localised version of Windows is stuck in its default language - so if you can have a localised version of Windows in Italian - the OS dialogs, messages, etc are in Italian.  If you want to have English or German OS messages - you have to buy another version of Windows and install it from scratch. Ok - the MUI pack came out long after the localized version of Windows - but common guys - once it's out there - merge localised version with the MUI and everybody is happy.  Kinda reminds me of the DVD region codes. [/small rant] Anyway - I decided to try out <a title="Microsoft Windows XP x64 Version" href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/default.mspx">Windows XP x64</a>. There is a trial version available from the Microsoft site - which after going through their signup - you can download, burn to CD and install.  The install went without problems - new 64 bit drivers were needed for some of the components - and an hour later I was up and running. Over the past few months I have been working with it - and generally everything has gone well.  The main problem is around drivers - where all drivers need to be 64 bit versions.  Standard 32 bit drivers don't work.  This isn't a problem with hardware devices - it appears that vendors have been quick in getting their act together and pushing stuff out to the end users.  The problems I have encountered have been around standard software vendors making little or no effort to bring out a 64 bit version of their application. Microsoft have done a great job of providing compatability with 32 bit applications - by implementing an abstraction layer between the 32 bit application world and the new 64 bit.  The criminals in their world are the people like Adobe, who, almost 18 months after a 64 bit version of Windows was publically available (not mentioning the 12 months previously that it was available in beta forms) still haven't brought out a 64 bit version of their application.  Now - all in all this isn't a problem. Adobe 7 runs on Windows x64 as a 32 bit application - but the printer driver - which acts like a real printer and hence can be used from any application is a 32 bit app.  Meaning the install borks and any update to adobe borks with an obtuse message. Anti Virus support for Windows x64 isn't great with <a title="Avast AV" href="http://www.avast.com">Avast</a> being one of the few to actually have something. The abstraction layer is all well and good - but I'm disappointed with the lack of general approach to software vendors towards the 64 bit platform - and Microsoft fall into this category. Vendors are happy to generate a bunch of builds for various OS's and OS versions - but they don't appear to be doing much about x64.  The list is long and a sorry story to read: <ul> <li>Microsoft</li> <ul> <li>Their flagship Visual Studio 2005 product doesn't have a native x64 version</li> <li>Office 2003 doesn't have a native x64 version</li> </ul> <li>MySQL has approx 30 builds for various OS's excluding x64</li> <li>Symantec - one of, if not, the largest distributors of Software - doesn't have a x64 versions of AV, Firewall, etc</li> <li>Firefox, Macromedia, Skype, Nero...</li> </ul> Now it isn't as if users aren't asking for it - if you search any of the forums, blogs or newsgroups that many companies are using to <strike>offload</strike>, <em>oops - I mean</em>, <strike>minimise</strike>, umm - that should be, keep in touch and support their users; you'll find people asking for it.  Yet it doesn't appear or the response comes that this is slated for a future release. Thankfully smaller software vendors are more responsive - many actually read what their customers ask for and respond with something in a reasonable - if not rapid - time frame.  Have vendors actually lost so much contact with their customers?!  Is their code base in such a poor, fragile state that recompiling with a few flags that generate an x64 version means their code doesn't compile?!  Or is it that once they have shipped something they just don't care about it anymore - and move on to the next wizzy technology that will enable them to <strike>fleece</strike>, umm, require their customers to upgrade to a new version. You tell me.... titleWindows XP Pro x64 linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/windows-xp-x64/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/02/01/windows-xp-x64/ categories x64 mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060130T14:26:31 userid84842 postid4 descriptionIf any of you are into MUD's - checkout <a title="Realm of Magic" href="https://dasher.wordpress.com/wp-admin/rom.mud.de">rom.mud.de</a> - one of the richest, best developed RPGs out there. Swing by the Temple in Moonglow - ale is on the house. :) titleRealm of Magic linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/01/30/realm-of-magic/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/01/30/realm-of-magic/ categories MUD's mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1 dateCreated20060130T14:23:24 userid84842 postid3 descriptionI'm back with my weblog.... titleBack... linkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/01/30/back/ permaLinkhttp://dasher.wordpress.com/2006/01/30/back/ categories other fluff mt_excerpt mt_text_more mt_allow_comments1 mt_allow_pings1