May 2004 - Posts

catching up
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PostedSunday, May 30, 2004 7:20 PM by Nino

Hello Gentle Readers (all three of you):

I've been catching up on things (and getting well).  My bout of bronchitis I contracted earlier this year apparantly never went away completely, and decided to return three weeks ago (ugh!).  joy. A second round of antibiotics fixed that.  Next, I spent the majority of last week doing knowledge transfer as before I rolled out from the client. That has been my longest assignment to date (ten months).  It was a good ten months I spent in Cleveland, working with some good people, and working through some challenging situations.  Now, it's time for a little breather.  I have not been informed about my next assignment (yet), so I'm going to slide in some training and some vacation (and a bit more blogging).  (oh, and today was spent catching up on blogs)

-Nino

OpenNETCF SDF v1.1 is out
PostedTuesday, May 18, 2004 7:27 AM by Nino

The wizards at OpenNETCF.org have released v1.1 of their Smart Device Framework.  Get it.

 

Grr.  Thought I posted this last night via BlogJet, but apparantly not..

AtomicLava (aka, the real moblog post)
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PostedSaturday, May 15, 2004 12:49 AM by Nino

I'm sure many of you have heard of AtomicLava, a new "Moblogging community for Windows Cellphones", which is currently in beta.  I decide to send a note and ask to join the beta.. and what do you know, I'm in!  note: Every e-mail I received from these fine folks was thrown in my Junk e-mail folder by Hotmail - good thing I check that. (my junk setting is 'enhanced').

I point my pIE browser to the URL I was given (points to a .cab), and pull down the client app. It downloads and installs, and through it I easily set up a new account, although I need to wait for confirmation before I can use it.  I receive my confirmation soon enough, and off I go. 

I'll write more after I use it a bit more, but for now you can see my trusty guard-cat in one of his finer moments here.

Nino

Moblog + T-Mo rant (ok, mostly ranting)
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PostedSaturday, May 15, 2004 12:37 AM by Nino

A while ago, I figured I would set up a moblog.  So I did, but I just never got into it (as you can clearly see).  I would use the lame excuse that MMS is not working (which is true, but there are other ways to get a photo to textamerica), and leave it at that.

Let me rant a moment on that...  a few months ago I switch my T-Mobile data plan from the wonderful "Unlimited" plan to the even spiffier "Unlimited w/VPN" (note: this was a zero-cost change).  Swell (other than to make this switch, T-Mo has to 'turn off' my "unlimited" data service and then turn on my "unlimited vpn" data service; so, I was without data service for twenty-four hours - sorry folks, but I don't get this.  Maybe some enlightened person could tell me why it takes twenty-four hours for this to happen - T-Mo couldn't).

Shortly after I make this switch is when I get the moblog itch.  Fine.  I go to the T-Mo site and look up the MMS settings.  I create the appropriate entries in my E200 and .... nothing.  No moblogging for me.  After about a day or so, I ping a co-worker who has MMS working.  He verifies my MMS settings and says he heard that if you get the VPN plan, your MMS capability gets hosed and it needs 'reset'.  OK, one phone call and it will be fixed....

I call T-Mo... *sigh*.   I get shuffled around to different people, people spaz when I say I'm not using a T-Mo phone, etc, etc, but no one can concretely tell me if MMS is properly configured for my account [from a backend perspective] - which is all I want to know.  How difficult is this?!?! 

So, this issue is still pending a resolution because a) this is a low priority item for me b) I've been too busy to call and c) I'm not looking forward to another hour of talking to T-Mo.  But, (yep, poor way to start a sentence) I feel a bit better that I've vented even though I have really gained nothing and do not expect to. 

Note: Other than this, I am quite happy with T-Mobile and have no issues with my service.

The Mobile Minute 55
PostedSaturday, May 15, 2004 12:01 AM by Nino

Here it is, a lightly raining Friday evening, about 67F and what to do but blog? :-)   (that and my throat still hurts like hell).  I spent several hours on the phone (yeah, that helped the throat) debugging a client issue with a few of my co-workers.  I really enjoy working with those guys (TomB & GregM); they're good people, and wicked smart, too.   OK, enough praise for one evening <g>, off to the links..

Nino

Implementing Features
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PostedThursday, May 13, 2004 11:31 AM by Nino
Raymond and KC both have some excellent posts about thinking through and implementing features.
The Mobile Minute 54
PostedWednesday, May 12, 2004 4:56 PM by Nino

Not too much to say today.. I think I have a touch of the flu..

Nino

sick
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PostedWednesday, May 12, 2004 8:45 AM by Nino
headache. sore throat. upset stomach. sinus trouble.  ick - it sucks to be sick.
Cicada spam - oh joy.
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PostedMonday, May 10, 2004 12:29 PM by Nino

I received the following e-mail this afternoon (verbatim, minus my e-mail addy).  I particularly like the line “Their primary nutrition source is human children.  “  I realize that this is all in good fun; however, I'm certain that *someone* will believe this...

From: Megan@Cicadaville.com [mailto:Megan@Cicadaville.com]
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 1:42 PM
To: <removed>
Subject: Cicadas Kill - Save Yourself.

 

The deadly and vicious Cicadas are about to invade Cincinnati and we are pleased to announce Cincinnati's most comprehensive information source about Cicadas, Cicadaville.com.  

Cicadas are deadly and vicious killers armed with
lethal venom and flesh-eating bacteria.  Their primary nutrition source is human children.  Our mission at Cicadaville.com is to reveal the deadly truth about Cicadas so you can protect yourself and your family from these vicious predators.  Most of the information about cicadas in the media is false.  Our award-winning team of senior research professionals at Cicadaville.com has spent almost 50 years assembling the greatest body of cicada research on earth.  Rest assured we have uncovered all of the truths about these vicious killers. 

So take the first step toward saving yourself and your family by checking out our website.

Thank you.

 

To unsubscribe please respond to this email.

Thank you.

 

The Mobile Minute 53
PostedWednesday, May 05, 2004 11:06 AM by Nino

The sun is shining again in Cleveland, Ohio today; that's a GoodThing(tm) :-)  

-Nino


Insight into the WSJ's Walt Mossberg
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PostedWednesday, May 05, 2004 10:23 AM by Nino

For those of you who are readers of the WSJ (and the weekly Personal Technology column at that), Wired has an article about the column's writer, the oft-controversial Walt Mossberg

..and on a side note, I love the WSJ - what a great periodical!  I subscribe to the online version as the paper subscription wouldn't do me much good since I am generally not home.  I'll grant that reading the WSJ online is just not the same, but.. it still offers a wealth of information.

-Nino

How will WinXP SP2 affect SQL Server?
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PostedWednesday, May 05, 2004 10:04 AM by Nino

Found this ditty today:

MSDN Webcast: SQL Server and Windows XP SP2 - Level 300   


Description: SQL Server 7.0, SQL Server 2000, MSDE 1.0 and MSDE 2000 all run on the Windows XP operating system. These services will be affected by Service Pack 2. This webcast examines what the Windows XP SP2 changes do to SQL Server, MSDE, Reporting Services and Analysis Services, as well as how to enable listening on the various network protocols, and when you don't need to make any changes. This session will discuss each network library, how to enable protocols based both on the new Windows Firewall control panel applet and via the netsh command line utility.

 

The Mobile Minute 52
PostedTuesday, May 04, 2004 5:34 AM by Nino

Good Morning from Cleveland!  I had a nice walk from the hotel to work this morning; it is sunny with blue skies and a brisk 40F. :-)  It is certainly nice to see sun and blue sky; too much gray lately - and it rained a good bit of the weekend in Cincinnati.

Reflector add-in blues (and gosh darn it, I read the readme)
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PostedMonday, May 03, 2004 3:06 PM by Nino

So now that I am getting back into .NET programming full-time (..been doing VB6 since August ('nuff said) with just a bit of NETCF on the side), I see v4.0 of Reflector and a new version of the VS.NET add-in.  I decide to install the add-in (have not installed it prior), and get less than desired results.

Note: I am running as non-admin. Installing the add-in throws the following (which makes sense for a non-admin):

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ManagedAddIns is denied.
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.Win32Error(Int32 errorCode, String str)
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.CreateSubKey(String subkey)
   at MutantDesign.ManagedAddIns.ManagedAddInsRegistry.get_Current()
   at MutantDesign.ManagedAddIns.ManagedAddInInstaller.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.AssemblyInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)
   at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.TransactedInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)

So I run the /uninstall for good measure and turn to my Admin cmd window.  The install completes normally this time, and all appears well until I open the Add-In Manager in VS.NET (ran as myself).  No Reflector add-in. Hmm.  I immediately fire up devenv.exe as admin - looky there, a Reflector add-in is listed.  Ah, ok.. it seems to be profile based..hmm.  I fire up RegMon (as admin - it won't run otherwise) and see the following when I run devenv.exe as admin (but not as non-admin):

4.95684005 devenv.exe:1848 EnumerateKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Addins NOMORE  
4.95686156 devenv.exe:1848 CloseKey HKLM\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Addins SUCCESS Key: 0xE325CC80 
4.95691268 devenv.exe:1848 OpenKey HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Addins SUCCESS Key: 0xE325CC80 
4.95692972 devenv.exe:1848 EnumerateKey HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Addins SUCCESS Name: Reflector.ManagedAddIn.Connect 
4.95696408 devenv.exe:1848 OpenKey HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Addins\Reflector.ManagedAddIn.Connect SUCCESS Key:

Spiffy!  Now, here's my question:   What step did I miss when installing Jamie's o-so-nifty add-in?  I think I know the answer....

MPx220
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PostedMonday, May 03, 2004 8:44 AM by Nino

It seems as though the Moto UK folks are more direct than the Moto USA folks.  Are the UK folks accurate, or just bluffing?  Who knows?!?  (and no one in the US is telling if they do)

-Nino

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