Ramblings of a Discombobulated Geek

Blogging from Microsoft Word 2007 Beta 2

2006-05-28T17:42:00.000+05:30

Interesting new feature in Microsoft Word 2007 Beta 2. Hopefully this makes it to my blog!

Missing "Release" configuration option in Visual Studio 2005

2006-03-06T22:16:00.000+05:30

Here is a post that describes why there's no "Release" configuration in Visual Studio 2005 for web projects (i.e. ASP.NET 2.0 projects). Apparently Microsoft did away with this VS.NET 2003 style of web development and now you decide the build configuration by making the setting in the web.config i.e.

or

More at this post:
http://www.developersdex.com/asp/message.asp?p=1116&r=4616579

Ubuntu Shipit - Free Linux anywhere in the world!

2006-02-26T00:29:00.000+05:30

A friend recommended that I place an order for Ubuntu Linux CDs via https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ - apparently Ubuntu offers free shipping on its CDs anywhere in the world - yes you read right. What's more, they'll even do custom builds but you must justify the need. There is a quick registration process (they need to know where to mail out the CDs).

Standard builds support X86, AMD64 / EM64T and Mac. Shipping costs them the same whether you order the smallest or the largest package, so you might as well go the whole hog and help spread Linux cheer to friends and family.

Your shipment contains installers and "live" CDs, so you can try out the software before installing it. Be prepared to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery. Honestly, I can't wait!

Gnome 2.14 - Feature Overview

2006-02-21T14:17:00.000+05:30

In what seems to be a pretty significant update (at least in terms of performance) to the Gnome platform, Gnome is inching forward to its 2.14 stable release. Davyd Madeley, a Gnome hacker, has an interesting one-pager with what you can expect to see from Gnome 2.14 when it is released March 15th.
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Blog by mail

2006-02-20T12:47:00.000+05:30

This is a test for Blogger blog by mail.

Gmail + Gtalk now active

2006-02-11T12:43:00.000+05:30

Google chat got added to my Gmail account this morning. I like the job they've done with integrating contacts into the chat UI. For those who haven't noticed, there's a "standard without chat" option in the footer which lets you remove the gtalk integration if you so desire.

If you want to rename a contact you added via Gmail + GTalk, mouse over the contact's name and click on "contact details", then click edit contact info (since the name is pulled from your contacts list). When you're done editing contact info, click save and the name will update in the GTalk UI.

Gmail spam - what's the world coming to?

2006-02-10T18:39:00.000+05:30

In the past 2 days I have received more spam on Gmail than I received ever since I received an invite about a year ago. One of them even made it to my inbox! I don't see how Gmail can remain immune to spamming as it grows more popular. On the bright side at least I don't have to download the mail to my computer.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview - My $0.02c

2006-02-01T19:33:00.000+05:30

I know you'll find a million sites that give you the lowdown on Microsoft's latest and greatest. So I'm going to spare you all that. Instead, I'll list pros and cons (basically stuff that works well and stuff that doesn't quite cut the mustard) in comparison with Firefox 1.5.

The Good:
1. Seamless upgrade from IE 6 SP1 to IE 7 B2P (Beta 2 Preview). Existing toolbars (Google Toolbar 4.0 Beta installed on IE 6 SP1, works without a hitch on IE 7 B2P)
2. Tabbed browsing (yes, finally)
3. Shortcuts work just like Firefox (Ctrl+T opens a new tab, middle click on tab closes it, middle click on link opens in a new tab).
4. IE 7 uses Firefox's RSS icon (this was well publicized a few months ago on the IE Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/)
5. IE 7 Beta 2 Preview is uninstallable.
6. Anti-phishing built in (I still have to take this for a test-drive)
7. True full-screen (auto-hides the address bar / toolbars tabs etc). Only the status bar remains.
8. Delete Browsing history just like with Firefox 1.5
9. Native browser support for RSS feeds (I need to go further into this)

The not so Good:
1. No themes
2. Limited set of extensions (just the usual google / yahoo / msn toolbars)
3. Zooming works ok, but the corresponding % value does not get updated.
4. Some sites are broken (notably Microsoft's very own http://asp.net/ - the menu is navigation menu is messed up) Update: Looks like this has since been fixed
5. You still get the annoying "click" sound when you click on a link or a page is done loading.
6. When in full-screen mode, pressing Alt+d should ideally pull down the hidden address bar section and set focus on the current text in it, but it does not. You have to take your mouse up there and do the needful.
7. I felt the refresh button was weirdly placed (ofcourse, I know there's always F5)
8. Poor user feedback for being on a secure website (just one obscure, easy to miss lock icon set to the right of the address bar). Firefox makes this more apparent by changing the background color of the address bar.
9. No "Find as you type" - lets hope it makes the cut in future builds / RTM
10. Longer than necessary scrolling on some pages

Not Really Bugs, but Great to have Anyway:
1. No re-ordering of tabs

New Windows "Feature"

2005-11-28T22:24:00.000+05:30

1. Create a file called 'notepad.bat' on your desktop
2. Right-click -> Edit and enter the word 'mspaint' (no quotes)
3. Save and close
4. Open Internet explorer and browse to your favorite site
5. Right-click -> View Source

Do you see what I see?

Introducing IE, the Firefox extension...?

2005-11-26T19:10:00.000+05:30

Want a way to never ever have to leave your Firefox browser and launch IE (yes, even for Windows and office updates and all those IE-only websites)? There is a way thanks to IE Tab. This lightweight Firefox extension will load any IE site by switching engines, and using IE as an embedded browser.

But what really makes the icing on the cake is that it works with Firefox 1.5 RC3 (which I happen to be using right now).

What are you waiting for? Get Firefox!

Interesting links

2005-11-22T09:20:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon these links via Digg (great site by the way):

1. Quake 2 Evolved - Via the website - "Quake II Evolved is a high end graphical update to id Softwares Quake 2. Using advanced effects such as Per Pixel Lighting and Shadowing, Fragment And Vertex Programs, High Resolution textures and models, and an advanced version of the Doom 3 Shader System, Quake II Evolved's goal is a simple one; To take Quake 2, and pump up the detail to tomorrows standards. Quake II Evolved began back in 2002 when two guys, Nicolas Martin Flekenstein, and Gavin Stevens, thought of the idea to add a few nice effects and skins to Quake 2. What began as a small hobby quickly turned into a mammoth project in no time. The process has been a slow but sure one, adding smaller effects like advanced particles and UI's, moving onto larger advances such as a complete per pixel renderer."

2. FlightGear - Via the website - " FlightGear is an open-source project. This means as long as you abide by the terms of the GPL license you may freely download and copy FlightGear. Anyway can have easy and open access to the latest development source code. Being an open-source project, we have made our file formats open and easily accessible. We support standard 3d model formats and much of the simulator configuration is controlled through xml based ascii files. Writing 3rd party extensions for FlightGear (or even directly modifying the FlightGear source code) is straightforward and doesn't require a large amount of reverse engineering. This makes FlightGear an attractive option for use in private, commercial, research, or hobby projects.

FlightGear is known to run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and IRIX platforms allowing the user run on their platform of preference."

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 RC3

2005-11-19T16:22:00.000+05:30

So I decided to bite the bullet and try Mozilla 1.5 RC3, and the good news is I'm not disappointed.

Pros:
- Surfing is noticeably faster in some cases.
- To the perception, pages load faster.
- Broken/incompatible extensions are handled gracefully.
- Imported all settings, bookmarks and currently used theme from my previous Firefox browser (Stipe build 1.0.7 s8v1)
- Its Firefox for cryin' out loud!

Cons:
- Still searching for one ;)

Daemon Tools v 4.0

2005-11-16T14:13:00.000+05:30

If you're in the market for a CD/DVD emulator, I just discovered this absolutely free and amazing piece of software called Daemon Tools.

More information and download link available at http://ww.daemon-tools.cc.

News via http://www.iexbeta.com

Javascript - Handling browser window close

2005-11-13T18:41:00.000+05:30

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/familjones/archive/2004/04/06/10884.aspx

How to keep your laptop battery caliberated...

2005-11-13T14:34:00.000+05:30

I came across this interesting post at http://www.digg.com (think of it as Slashdot minus the crap)

This blogger recounts how he extended the life of his battery by regularly discharging it to 0% and letting it re-charge:
http://warning9.com/mylife/?p=46

Be sure to read the comments section on that page for some more insights.

New Office 12 screenshots

2005-10-13T15:17:00.000+05:30

Activewin has posted screenshots from the latest build of Microsoft Office 12, for your viewing pleasure.

Google Reader (mini review)

2005-10-08T09:05:00.000+05:30

Yet another release from the labs at Google, comes Google Reader, a web-based RSS feed syndicator.

Here are some of the initial issues I noted:

UI feels slow and choppy (especially transition effects - YMMV)
Subscribe button does not always work (I'm still trying to figure out when it does work)
Attempts to subscribe to RSS feeds from sites like theregister.com or theinquirer.net failed. I have already subscribed to 4 feeds (maybe there is a limitation right now)

Here's the good part:

User experience (look and feel) similar to GMail
Same keyboard shortcuts as GMail (what they don't mention is that pressing 'o' opens a feed or feed item to reveal its snippet text)
Conveniently unsubscribe to a feed
Conveniently "Blog This!" (to your Blogger account) or GMail this (self-explanatory)
Label your RSS subscriptions (similar to labeling your mail in GMail)
Export/Import Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML) files
All the usual sorting capabilities

The Germans must be crazy...

2005-10-06T12:50:00.000+05:30

...but wait, everyone already knows that!

One is at a loss for words when one sees works of art (for lack of a better term) like this. A serious drool warning for Sukhoi fanatics is in order.