greg hughes - dot net
Note that the contents of this site represent my own thoughts and opinions, not those of anyone else - like my employer - or even my dog for that matter. Besides, the dog would post things that make sense. I don't.
 Saturday, June 25, 2005
What is WeatherBug? As a piece of software, it puts the weather on your desktop. It’s live, updating every two seconds. NOAA doesn’t do this – they update every 15 minutes at best. As a company and a bunch of people, here is how they describe themselves:
“WeatherBug is the ultimate geek-ified company. We are about creating cool and fun technology, teaching children, and saving lives.”
RSS weather feeds accessible by ZIP code will be available in July – that will be cool. They will also be shipping WeatherBug for the Mac.
Controversy – because what would a good conference be without it? Lots of discussion here at Gnomedex about the presentation in which this company is being highlighted. About how WeatherBug used to have spy/adware, but that was a long time ago, and now it doesn’t – Seriously. It doesn’t. Also, the fact that I am writing about their product at all (actually I am mostly interested in the 2–second differentiator) is exactly what some people are complaining about here, because Steve Rubel (according to some of the crowd) used this presentation as a vehicle to do PR for one of his clients. So what. Decent example of PR, short time to fill, interesting info.
Whatever. Heh. I still like the every-two-second data update thing. That’s sweet. 
If you live around Portland, Oregon or somewhere kinda-sorta nearby so you can get here, and if you're interested in coding, put the PDX Code Camp event on your calendar. It's free, but you need to register so they can plan for you to be there.
What is Code Camp?
Code Camp is a new type of community event where developers talk with—and learn from—fellow developers. All are welcome to attend and speak. Code Camps have been wildly successful, and we’re going to bring that success to Portland.
An original Code Camp organizer, Thom Robbins, wrote a six-point manifesto: Code Camps are (1) by and for the developer community; (2) always free; (3) community developed material; (4) no fluff – only code; (5) community ownership; and (6) never occur during working hours.
What can I expect at the Portland Code Camp?
Two full days of talking about code with fellow developers, on the scenic Reed College campus. Sessions will range from informal “chalk talks” to presentations. There will be a mix of presenters, some experienced folks, for some it may be their first opportunity to speak in public. And we are expecting to see people from throughout the Pacific Northwest region.
To create a little structure, we’ve proposed a variety of one- and two-day tracks including Hobbyists, Mobile and Tablet PC, Architecture and Patterns, Databases, Web Development, Client Development, Games Development, Tools, Methodology, XML and Web, and “Alternative Lifestyles” (Ruby on Rails, Python, Squeak, etc.)
Watch this site for more details and schedule as we firm things up.
Microsoft's released a new build of their Microsoft Antispyware beta software. Several improvements are included. The expiration date for the beta software is also extended through the end of the year. Download here.
From the MS web site description:
In this second beta refresh (Build 1.0.614), we’ve made other enhancements to the detection and removal capabilities, including improved Winsock LSP removal capabilities and support for long descriptions of categorized software. In addition, we have also extended the Windows AntiSpyware beta expiration date to December 31, 2005.
Existing users of the beta (Builds 1.0.501 and 1.0.509) will receive a software update that extends the expiration date and includes the enhancements to the detection and removal capabilities. The second beta refresh is also available for download through this site.
Microsoft’s announcement yesterday about support for RSS built into Longhorn has been followed up with the posting of the actual specification.
Overview
The Simple List Extensions are designed as extensions to existing feed formats to make exposing ordered lists of items easier and more accessible to users.
The term “list,” as used in this document describes an ordered collection of items with similar properties. For example, a photo album may be described as a “list of photos.”
And it’s licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, which is cool.
Phillip Torrone (often known simply as “pt”) is a geek’s geek. He’s been showing various hacks and stuff between presentations here at the Gnomedex conference.
 This guy could do a conference on his own if he wanted to. He’s funny, likable and has lots of fun ideas. I like the hands-on kind of things, the practical stuff. Not that all of it’s actually practical or anything, but even if it’s just goofing around, it’s nifty.
He’s done a few 15–minute demos showing all the stuff you can do with a hacked Playstation Portable. He showed how you can modify a eBook reader with new firmware to break the bad DRM they put on it back in the day, so it can be a usable device today. He even has an old-skoool analog phone (with a mechanical bell and all) that has GSM phone guts built in, and there’s more to come.
But hey – you don’t have to be here to see this cool stuff. You can see pt’s stuff in/on Make: magazine (an O’Reilly thing), and there’s a Make:blog site, as well. I am subscribed to both. Highly recommended. If pt is publishing, it’s cool and fun. You should go there.
Check it out: [Magazine (subscribe) | Podcast | Blog]
Friday, June 24, 2005
Dean Hachamovitch of Microsoft is presenting here right now. They are showing Internet Explorer 7 for the first time in public.
Longhorn <3 RSS. They are betting big on RSS. Throughout Windows, RSS is there. For end users as well as developers. They've done some extensions.
Syndication is powerful and amazing, Dean says. Microsoft has figured that out. Nowadays RSS feeds are everywhere. Microsoft is working to get on the train.
First "Browse," then "Search." Now, "Subscribe."
On Build 5087 of Longhorn, first IE7 public view. If there's a feed on a page, IE7 let's you click an orange button to preview the feed, and then you can parse through it for content using search.
One button is used to either bookmark a page or subscribe to a feed - depends on context of what your viewing.
Search RSS results in MSN search. Nice.
By the way, this build of IE7 is nice and clean. Not too shiny. But IE7 is a bit of an aside in this presentation - its all about the RSS extensions.
Common feed lists: Sync your aggregator's feed list with the system list.
Platform: Goal is to take care of a lot of the complexity in the platform to simplify it for both the developer and the end user.
RSS entended - calendars. For each event, create an item and enclose an icalendar item (.ics file). Subscribe and you've got a calendar set up in outlook that you can view side-by-side. The idea here is to provide a common feed list at the platform level, and making every application aware and capable of consuming. Apps can understand and deal with RSS feeds. ICS files are understood universally by calendaring apps - its not just for Outlook.
Another example: Photoblogs. Provide the platform plumbing to allow consumption of the content - title, text, image enclosure. They made a screen saver slide show using this, which captions each image in a rotation. The platform handles things like handling the network traffic, parsing and subscribing.
Lists: Microsoft's approach to lists is one where I have different types of lists where the list type has class-a meaning. Extentions to RSS allow a publisher to define a feed specifically as a list, and to describe the data in that feed.
Example: Wish list at an online store. Amanon wish lists with RSS feeds. I want to subscribe to it. If I do that, and the list changes (like the list owner removes items, re-orders thems, etc), RSS today can't handle that. The new extention (one tag) allows the needed functionality.
Using namespace extensions you can add metadata (like EXIF, book info, etc). But how do you know what to do with that new data once you have it?
If a content publisher declares certain item types appear in a list, I should be able to filter and sort on certain data. Simple controls allow the web service to define how the data is experienced. This is a little hard to understand, until you realize all the content manipulation is all on the client, and you can munge the list any way you want as a developer.
I think its obvious how this will work into, say, SharePoint. That will be cool.
And the Simple List Extensions specification, which extends RSS 2.0 will be open and licensed under a Creative Commons license. Anyone can use it anywhere. Nice.
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/ for more, and today at noon the spec will be available to view.
Code will be in developers' hands at PDC 2005.
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Thursday, June 23, 2005
I have a dog that's such a spaz he can't even remember how to play fetch. I have a cat that apparently thinks she's a dog. She plays fetch incessantly with this stupid play mouse. I throw it, she runs, she gets it, she brings it back drops in in front of me, and stares at me til I throw it again. She gets all upset if I don't.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It never stops.
What a weirdo.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
I'll be heading up to Seattle on Thursday (one of my favorite cities and a quick 2.5 hour drive from my place) where I'll be catching up with all sorts of friends and people I have not seen for some time at Gnomedex 5.0, a confluence of geeks from around the world.
Email me if you'll be there and want to meet/catch up - greg@greghughes.net - or call me on my cell - 503-970-1753. I'm arriving Thursday afternoon at around 4 or so.
It's going to be quite a get-together this year - the schedule looks like the makings of a great show, and I hear there are some as-yet unannounced things that should gain some attention. 
I'll be blogging some of the fun stuff that happens there. With so many interesting and cool people from so many interesting and cool places/companies, I'll have to fill this weblog up just to be able to remember it all when it's over with.
 Interesting Gnomedex link of the day: Podcasting ROBOT to be released at Gnomedex
Heh. Cool if real, funny even if not.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
My friend and coworker Scott Hanselman has updated his Ultimate Developer and Power User Tools List for 2005. All techies and geeks (especially developers) should check it out:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2005UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolList.aspx
Scott's list is close to famous, and for good reason. He's quite the ultimate power user. I sometimes stand over his shoulder to watch him work (he tells me he's twice as productive when I watch, is that weird or what? Heh...), and so I get to see him use all these tools in terific ways now and then.
Head on over and see what I mean.
One of these days I am going to publish my list of IT and security tools. It is a completely different list, but still interesting and useful.
Hmmm... Anyone know of a good blog posting tool for the Blackberry that would interface MT/Blogger APIs using the GPRS connnection? That would definitely make my list. Emailing this entry from a 737 (on the ground, so don't start with me) is cool, but a richer interface would be nice.
I'm in the Bay Area, flew down here yesterday to surprise my dad for Fathers Day. Yes, it worked - he was suspicious I think, but he was surprised.
I've had calls today from a number of my "other" kids, and that's truly made my day. I'm lucky to have all these great people in my life. I'm not worthy. But I'm grateful.
Oh, and here are some links for dads and their kids, for your amusement and entertainment. Dads, use these to amaze your kids - they'll make you a "cool" dad, for sure.
Gnomedex starts this Thursday evening in Seattle, and it promises to be a great time. Chris and Ponzi are wearing themselves thin getting ready. Lots of cool stuff planned.
Big announcements and a confluence of super-smart people. Gonna be a good one. Definitely not a snorer...
Be there and be square, as they say.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Darn it all! I'm wishing I was in Ohio this weekend. Why? Because this weekend is the Duct Tape Festival and it's taking place in Avon, Ohio.
Everything duct tape. I mean, what could be better than that???
Check it out at http://www.ducttapefestival.com
© Copyright 2009 Greg Hughes 
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