greg hughes - dot net

Scott and I sat down over lunch today and he (once again) proved his l33t development skills, all while teaching me some new stuff... In the end, we had the new RSS Feed to dasBlog Content Converter to show for our (primarily his) efforts.

From Scott's site:

Greg Hughes once had a LiveJournal Blog and the only remnant of his blog was an RSS Feed/Archive.  Now that he runs dasBlog he wanted to move his old content forward into dasBlog.  So, we googled a bit and couldn't find a tool that would take an RSS (2.0) feed as input and put the entries into dasBlog.

So we made one over lunch, and here it is: RSStoDasBlog.zip (219.29 KB)

RSStoDasBlog.exe MyRssFile.xml "C:\documents and settings\whatever\dasblog\content"

Use it like this by pointing it to the RSS file and your (local) dasBlog content folder.  It will create all the needed dayentry.xml files for you to upload to your remote blog.  It will also (I think) take an http:// url to an RSS file and could be used to (possible as a service?) steal RSS and mirror them in dasBlog.  Thanks to Jerry (Chris) Maguire's RSS Framework that showed up first in Google and saved me the time of running XSD.exe on an RSS XML schema. Apparently he has even newer stuff on his site.  It's got a few more moving parts than I think it needs to, but it did the job with a few changes that I marked with my initials; SDH.

Thanks to Scott both for teaching me and for helping me get the content migrated over. I'm a lame IT-management-type of guy, not a coder, but it was truly fun to learn a little something and to find that I was able to follow what he was showing me. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Scott's probably the best technical speaker/teacher I have ever met. I'm lucky to work with a number of really creative people that also happen to be really, really smart.

Speaking of really creative and smart people, Travis is now a MSDBA in addition to being a MCSD - which is both very cool and a big deal (not mention quite an accomplishment). Not many have the MCSD certification, and even fewer have both. Congrats, Trav!

There's a pretty sudden and major uptick on our mail servers - and apparently on the mail servers of others - of instances of the Zafi worm/virus attepting to propagate itself. It's particularly pervasive, and while the payload does not appear destructive, it could quickly become a cleanup nightmare, including the possibility of disabling AV software and running in its place. If ever there was a justification for a really good email antivirus product, this is one.

From Panda Software's virus encyclopedia:

Brief Description

Zafi.B is a worm that looks for directories in which antivirus programs are installed. If successful, Zafi.B overwrites the executable files with copies of itself. By doing so, the user will be unprotected against the attack of other malware. So whenever users run the antivirus, they will be running the Zafi.B without noticing. In addition, Zafi.B searches for certain processes, such as the Windows Registry Editor, the Task Manager, etc. If successful, Zafi.B ends them. Zafi.B spreads via e-mail in a message with variable characterics that can be written in different languages, and through peer to peer file sharing programs (P2P).

Visible Symptoms

Zafi.B is easy to recognize once it has affected the computer, as it attempts to open any of the web sites stored in the following path of the Windows Registry every time it is executed: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ TypedURLs

See:

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=39333 

on CA's web site for info about the worm and how to remove.

Also see:

http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?idvirus=48433 

on Panda's web site for further info.

Chris Pratley asks: How do you use OneNote? From his weblog site:

"Although we have several different ways to collect information about how OneNote is used, I am always interested to hear how people use it. And this forum provides an opportunity for a dialog that our other data collection systems don’t really provide. So, let's hear it. How do you use OneNote? How is your notebook organized? What do you do with it? Would you prefer a different type of organization, or even a different concept for OneNote besides a tabbed notebook?"

He goes on to describe how he uses it, how he organizes his OneNote notebooks, and then lists some of the things he doesn't relaly like about his organizational method and its use.

Chris is asking for real-world feedback here. If you're a user of OneNote, take the time to describe for him and his readers - via a comment on his blog entry - how you use the program in your daily life. He wants to hear from others, so this is your chance!

Have been trolling the web for nifty SharePoint stuff and have come up with some interesting items worth looking into. I don't post nearly enough about SharePoint here (and I even have a category for it), so here goes a few nuggets of what I think is pretty cool stuff:

SPS 2003 Document library TreeView
A simple treeview renderer for document library in SharePoint 2003. Make navigation/visualization of your more complex document libraries a little more familar.

Building Custom Alert Result Channels in SharePoint Portal Server 2003
This definitely fits in the "cool" department. Toast alerts from SharePoint Portal - would be even niftier in the Messenger (MS/MSN) interface.

SQL Server Reporting Services Webparts for SharePoint
Display business data mined and munged with SQL Reporting Services on a SharePoint site/portal. Hello, biz intelligence - is that you?

Workflow Lite for SharePoint RC1
Display business data mined and munged with SQL Reporting Services on a SharePoint site/portal. Hello, biz intelligence - is that you?

Sharing Bookmarks, Wikis, and the Zen of SharePoint
Says Jonathan Hardwick: "But first you've got understand the Zen of SharePoint, which is this: it's SQL, but without the agonizing relational pain. Yup, under the hood beats good ol' SQL Server. That means SharePoint is all about lists." He also found a past article I wrote dreaming about wikis and SharePoint truly coming together. Anyone game???

Looks like pretty much all the free blogs at weblogs.com (about 3000 of them) are gone. Userland's apparently not especially interested in hosting free sites (they're a commercial enterprise after all), and Dave Winer, who really got the free thing going back in the day, has actually been buying servers himself recently and moving the sites over. But the weblogs.com migration and hosting is much more difficult than can be handled by Dave for free, so he's had to pull the plug. Performance problems and other issues (DNS nightmares for sub-domains, for example) have not been manageable, so the other evening, Dave posted this entry, recorded this audioblog entry, and decided he had to turn off the free service. So, he did. People who have sites hosted there can post a comment on this page with the URL of their site, and Dave promises to send the contents of all requested sites on July 1st. For complete information, listen to the audio entry. Dave explains it all there.

"This is not a company here, this is a person"
Dave Winer has provided, or through Userland has been involved in providing, a free service for many years. Unfortunately, he's faced with a difficult personal health situation and had to make a decision. It would have been much better if there was some reasonable period during which people could have downloaded their own information, but we're past that point now. Dave's a somewhat controversial (to some) and outspoken guy, but he's human like the rest of us, and hey - four years of free hosting... Regardless of the situation today, he's got to take care of himself, and IMO he deserves the community's gratitude for all the years of good and free blogging service (I even had one set up for a while back in the beginning). For my part, I wish him well and hope his heath improves and that he's able to focus better on the more important aspects of his life. As nice as it is to do for others, one must take care of one's self first in order to be available to others. Dave's done a lot for the community in the past, and regardless of the present situation, we can at least tell him thank you:

    Hey Dave - Thanks! (and good luck)

For some reason, over the past few days several people have asked me if I know what to do with an American flag that is in a fixed position on a pole (like the kind that you'd attach to your porch, for example) during a time when the flag is to be flown at half-staff. I understand why they're asking the question - I was wondering the same thing myself last week. I am just not so sure why they're asking me.

Anyhow, I did some research, and it turns out there is a correct and acceptable way to fly those flags:

For flags that can't be lowered, such as those on many homes, the American Legion says attaching a black ribbon or streamer to the top of the flag is an acceptable alternative. The ribbon should be the same width as a stripe on the flag and the same length as the flag.

If the flag is hanging on a wall, make three black bows from the same material and place one bow at each of the mounting points.

Totally non-technical, but for now completely relevant to many. So, there you go.

New security features will be introduced in Windows XP SP2 this summer that will affect Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls, file downloads, pop-up windows, and more. As a result, depending on the types of technology you've employed on your Web site, it's possible your site won't play well with the enhanced security of SP2.

So, Microsoft has released a white paper that explains the potential problem areas and how to make sure your site will work well with the updated software. You can get the info here.

NOTE: Since SP2 is available as a pre-release download for beta testers and in a preview version, now is a good time for companies with large, important Web sites to do some controlled testing and make sure they've got any kinks worked out. People in business with IT departments should definitely check in with your IT department before you download the service pack, because it introduces a number of changes that a) may break certain functionality on your computer in the beta version, and b) are not quite ready for prime time, but are ready to be tested in a controlled environment. Your IT people will almost certainly want to put some controls around the installation of the test software, such as installing it in a lab environment or similar.

Here are a couple of links to information about Windows XP SP2 and its impact on other programs and servers:

• How to Make Your Web Site Work with Windows XP Service Pack 2
• Windows XP SP2 Information for IT Professionals on Microsoft TechNet
• FAQ: How Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Affects SQL Server and MSDE
• The New Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Service Pack 2
• New Networking Features in Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2
• Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
• Windows XP Service Pack 2: Security Information for Developers

Now's the time to get ready, and for all those web-development businesses out there (the few that have survived) to prepare their big fast-push marketing campaign and make some extra cash this fall fixing sites for people who don't know what they have, and can't for the life of them figure out why end users are complaining about their suddenly-broken Web sites.

This has got to be one of the most amazingly perfect examples of what's truly wrong with our world today.

PostmodernPets.com sells really-freakin' expensive pet crap for tons of money. German designer Phillip Plein has designed all kinds of cool stuff, apparently including dog bed that sells for - now get this -  a mere $1650.00!

Straight from the "uh-yeah-right" department (and the company info page of their web site):

"After browsing through our selection of products, we think that design-addicts that do not currently have pets may change their mind, and will soon discover what wonderful joys that these loveable companions can bring to life. And even if you don't purchase any products from our site, we hope our website will deepen your appreciation of postmodern design and your appreciation of pets and the fun and humor that both can bring to your life."

Riiiiiight...

A friend turned me on to a program last week called BlogJet. It's a nifty little program that allows you to post to and maintain content on a web log. Any one of a number of blog software apps are supported, including:

Blogger  b2  BlogHarbor  Blogware  DasBlog  DeadJournal  LiveJournal  Lockergnome.net

MovableType  pMachine  Squarespace  TypePad  .Text  WordPress Blogger API MetaWeblog API

So pretty much anyone should be able to take advantage of it. I use it with my dasBlog server, and I am taking advantage of the fact that it can FTP pictures (EDIT: See below) to my server at the time I post the entries. It even logs me in and allows me to edit past posts by downloading them from the server for me, and will also download my posting categories and let me assign them in the program before I publish a new or edited post. In addition, it includes a simple audio recorder, and with it one can make audio recordings with the microphone and instantly post them with a link in the blog entry.

The WYSIWYG editor includes spell checking and a library of high-color emoticons/smilies  that it will automatically upload when if and when you use them in a post. On top of all that, since I use FeedDemon, I get the added benefit of making BlogJet my default blogging tool in that program, which means fast and easy blogging from my RSS reader, as well as from within IE ("BlogJet This!").

EDIT: Jim Blizzard decided to give BlogJet a try, too. He had to do some futzing around to get the FTP uploads to work, and I thought I should point out that I also had some issues getting the FTP portion of the program to behave as I expeced it to, but it's worth the extra effort. Perhaps they'll make some additional improvements in that area in future versions (First suggestion: let me choose active or passive FTP mode in the account wizard; Second suggestion: while it's cool to be able to load and choose from my blog categories on a new post, unfortunately existing posts that I load from history don't load with the category info intact, which gets confusing and messy. )

My back has started to feel a lot better, off and on, over the past couple of days. I am not sure how long the relief will last, but I figure I will enjoy it while I can.

In that vain, I jumped on my motorcycle this evening (was a bit chilly!) and rode into town to return an Xbox game (RalliSport Challenge 2 - lots of fun). I've stayed off the motorcycle since my last spinal injections, to let my back heal and all that, but it actually feels pretty good to ride the bike and flex my lower back a bit. No long distances, and I will still take it easy, but it was a fun ride.

I think that beyond the physical stretching, the freedom one experiences on a motorcycle ride is something I need right now, as well. I've been feeling a little of that isolated-no-matter-where-I-am stuff, so it's good to finally be able to get back on there, even if just for a little while, and get out of my head.

Here's to hoping the weather warms up, and the back pain stays away.

Sprint PCS has a new set of TV commercials out making fun of the run-around method of mobile phone billing. Obviously, the practice of micro-billing applies to other industries, as well, but I'm not bringing this up to rant about billing practices.

I'm mentioning this because these are some of the funniest and most effective commercials I've seen in a while.

“Oh, Ben! Wow... You know that you went over your Macaroni minutes last month?”

Heh. I laugh every time I see these ads. The look on that kid's face cracks me up. Someone at Sprint PCS needs to take a victory bow - good job. Effective and memorable advertising.

Oh, and the rate plan idea they're advertising - changing your plan month-to-month to give you the best plan based on your actual usage - is a cool idea, too. Hey AT&T Wireless - pay attention! :-P

Open-Source and Linux OS aficionados of the greater Portland metro area, rejoice! It appears that Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, is moving to Portland after his kids finish school in California next week.

He'll be overseeing the Open Source Development Labs in Beaverton.

OSDL - home to Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux - is dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux in the enterprise.

Very cool.

Microsoft has published online chapters from the SharePoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit, which was just released in book form. Good chapters here it appears, and the printed book of course comes with a companion CD-ROM, which includes a fully searchable eBook along with tools, scripts, and other useful items for SharePoint developers and implementers.

One example of useful tools (I was told the other day by a Microsoft employee who works on SharePoint in the field) is a tool to deal with ghost files. Avner Kashtan just posted about that exact problem. Hopefully the resource kit will provide him and everyone else dealing with WSS and Portal Server beyond an out-of-the-box implementation with the documentation and tools that SharePoint technologies have been sorely in need of since they hit the market a few years ago.

Also, Bill Simser, a SharePoint MVP in Alberta, Canada, is looking for ideas to create some SharePoint apps that he will release to the community. Nice to get ideas from the people who might use the code.

The final release of Windows Media Player 10 was done on September 2, 2004. Click here for more.

I recently posted about the Windows Media Player 10 technical beta release. Since I have seen a rather large number of search engine referrals from people looking for ways to uninstall the software (it may not be very friendly in that area, but what can you expect from a tech beta...) I thought I would post a quick update. As far as my experience with uninstalling, I was able to do a system restore and successfully revert back to WMP9 (some have said this did not work for them - but that was not my experience). As far as I can tell, system restore is the only real way to roll back from Win Media 10 (Click Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools-System Restore. Note that you need to restore to a point *before* the one where that shows you installed Media Player 10.)

Note: Judging by the number of search referrers from Google and Yahoo that point to this entry with “uninstall windows media player 10” in the referrer address, here is a starting point that hopefully will help - but the linked pages are not my advice, and I make no warranty of any kind: Support Newsgroups at Microsoft for Windows Media Player 10 Beta Thread: Uninstalling 10 to 9 Thread: Can't use/uninstall WMP10 Who would have thought my web log entry would be first on Google for that phrase? Crazy... And a quick (not quite as helpful) note to people who installed and are having problems: This is beta software, blatantly labeled as such, so a bug-free experience should be the exception, not the rule. In other words, no surprise whatsoever that it's glitchy. That said, please use the newsgroup link above and post your issues with helpful and descriptive language. Remember the newsgroups are for getting help and reporting problems, so don't flame, but be complete in the info you provide. For a list of the information you should provide, look here. Help make the next version better - earn your whining privilege.

Lots of opinions out there about the interface changes and - surprise surprise - lots of people whining about why the beta release isn't perfect. My opinion is that the interface changes are a step in the right direction. It's just easier to use.

Hmmmmm, a very cool new “keyboard” is out (well, or maybe not out since it shows to be out-of-stock, but it’s at least available to buy).  The Virtual Keyboard, to be exact. From the product description:

The Virtual Laser Keyboard leverages the power of laser and infrared technology and projects a full-size keyboard onto any flat surface. Compatible with Palm handhelds with Palm Universal Connector, iPAQ Pocket PCs h19/22/38/39/41/43/5000 series, Sony Clie handhelds and desktop and laptop PCs. As you type on the laser projection; it analyzes what you're typing by the coordinates of that location.

Unlike many small snap-on keyboards for PDAs, the Virtual Laser Keyboard provides a full-size QWERTY keyboard. It is also smaller and more convenient to use than the folding-type keyboards made by some manufacturers and similar to them in functionality.

There are no mechanical moving parts whatsoever in the Virtual Laser Keyboard. It provides a projected image that is the perfect portable input device for PDAs. It's similar in responsiveness to regular keyboards, but extremely futuristic looking.

(via ComputerZen)