It seems one of the biggest voids in Windows Live Writer has finally been filled - Search & Replace has arrived! Waldek Mastykarz recently left me a comment to let me know that he was tired of waiting for the WLW team to add Search & Replace, so he took it upon himself to build a Search & Replace plugin, complete with... Regular Expressions! Sometimes I just miss the Replace functionality which in my opinion is a must-have of each content editor - even the Notepad proves it. If I’m not wrong the Live Writer...

Windows Live Writer has been out of beta for a while now with all of the normal buzz and blogging that we’ve come to expect from the community of users following this sweet little application. However, I’ve not seen read anything about one of nicest new features - the markup generated by WLW is now XHTML compliant! Enabling XHTML compliance As far as I can tell, WLW won’t just magically start building XHTML markup... you need to tell it to do so. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do. Open the Weblog Settings dialog via Weblog -> Edit...

As a geek there is only one thing I love as much as shiny gadgets - pictures of shiny gadgets I have yet to acquire! It should come as no surprise that Jeff and Scott’s recent posts about building the Ultimate Developer Rig have triggered a fair amount of geek envy among the community. Want it, want it, gotta' have it! In attempt to curb my desires to go out and build a new rig, or buy in the case of the MBP I’ve lusting for, I’ve decided to post a little geek pr0n of my own. Be...

Tonight I wasted several hours troubleshooting hardware/driver issues with my development box - a fully loaded Dell OptiPlex GX620. I've been fighting with this particular machine since the day I got it. Recently it's been freezing up, the USB controllers malfunction at random times, it hangs during boot (before the OS even starts loading), and all kinds of other fun stuff. I've already upgraded the BIOS to the latest available version, released back in December 2006, and applied all relevant firmware and chipset driver updates. Oh, and I'm running Vista Ultimate 32-bit... though I had the same hardware issues...

After reading Jeff's post about advertising on your blog and why it's so deliciously evil I thought I'd look into a few of the ad services he mentioned. Hey, I'll take a few extra bucks if you want to shill your stuff on my blog... and then I'll knock your product anyhow. I'm a huge fan of spite! But I digress. I was checking out some of Text Link Ads' free tools and I came across the Blog Juice Calculator. As best I can tell this is nothing more than a tool, and I use that term loosely, to judge the...

I recently talked about using my iPod Shuffle to cache my system's pagefile by making use of Vista's new ReadyBoost technology. As Scott noted in the comments, there is some worry about wearing out flash memory due to the high number of writes required to cache such an I/O intensive file. In a follow up comment I mentioned that Microsoft is apparently aware of such concerns and they have attempted to address them by being smart about how and when we do our writes to the device. Well that's all well and good, but I don't want to speed up...

Not too long ago I was reading up on some of the cool new features Inside the Windows Kernel (part 2) and I got pretty excited about one new feature in particular - ReadyBoost. So when I upgraded to Vista (about a month ago now) one of the first things I tried was plugging an extra 1GB Flash drive into various USB ports - so I could use the drive to Speed up my system. Speed up my system? Apparently when you plug a new USB device into a PC running Vista there is a new option at the bottom of...

It's that time of the year again... time for the 4th annual Cincinnati Code Camp, brought to you by the Cinci .NET Users Group and the Dayton .NET Devs Group. In case you couldn't tell by the title of this post, I'll be there and you should be too! It doesn't look like there are any official I'll be there badges (a.k.a. - Blog Bling) for Code Camp... so maybe I'll have to hit-up Jon and see if he can whip something together for the event. Tags: codecamp cincinnati dayton

Just a quick post to announce that I will be attending CodeMash 2007! What is CodeMash? I knew you were going to ask that... so let me give you the lowdown. CodeMash is a techie conference/event aimed at software development types. Nothing to unusual about that - there are tons of software related conferences held each year. However, what is different about CodeMash is that it doesn't just target a specific platform, vendor, paradigm, language, etc... There are still sessions that cover each of those topics (and way more), but the sessions are organized into tracks. Each track has...

Extra, Extra... read all about it! The latest version of Subtext just hit the streets! OK, so it took me a LOT longer than I promised, but I finally found a few spare cycles and was able to tease out the remaining show stopper bugs for Subtext 1.9.3. Most of those bugs had to do with the implementation of BlogML 2.0 and how we handle attachments when writing/reading a BlogML file. But fear not, I was able to work it all out. :) Now, on to the release notes: New Features BlogML 2.0 Support Subtext now has fully integrated support...

Recently I stumbled across a Dave Donaldson's post about a new Desktop Theme based on Microsoft's new Zune player. The new theme is for Windows XP and as Dave mentions, it doesn't require any of third-party software to use it... just a quick .msi install and you're ready to roll! Oh-So Pertty! I downloaded, installed, and started using the Zune Style theme and I now I can't get enough of it. This theme as a lot of little extras that I've not seen in some of the other themes. For example, the top of all windows seem to have a nice sharp...

Microsoft's integrated Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is an essential tool in my developer's utility belt... and is one tool that I think every developer/computer geek should keep close at hand. For the uninitiated, a Remote Desktop Connection allows you to log into a Microsoft Windows OS installed on a remote computer (i.e. - not the one you're sitting at) and use it just like you were sitting at it. You have full mouse & keyboard functionality, and you even seen the full UI on your local monitor. What's it for? At home I use Remote Desktop connections to log...

This just in... any of you geeks out there using the following application stack: Mozilla's Firefox web browser coComment's Firefox Extension Gmail [w/ web interface] Beware! I'm not 100% clear on all of the details, but it seems like our friends at Google may have gone and one something evil... unintentionally I'm sure. It seems that they have made some updates to the GMail web interface. This is usually a good thing as we get more eye-candy and cool functionality. But in this case, it seems to be interfering with coComment's Firefox extension -- or rather, the extension seems to be interfering with GMail. I...

As many of my cohortshave already mentioned, I am proud to announce [on stevenharman.net] that subText v1.0 (code named Nautilus) has been released. I would also like to thank all of those who have contributed to this project, whether it be submitting patches, testing, or just feedback... it is much appreciated. I also want to make special mention of the subText Project Team - great job guys! Now, on to the real business... here's a look at some of the sweetness that subText v1.0 is packing: Installation Check out the installation guide on our project site for a walkthrough of the installation....

This is the craziest thing I've seen in while... and I want one! It appears to be a touch screen that accepts input from multiple points at once. In this video demonstration you can see at least 8 unique points being tracked. It looks as though some software has even been written to utilize all of the inputs. Unfortunately it looks at though the whole system appears is still in the research stage at this point, but it certainly does evoke images of the Minority Report interface. Image is copywrite of Jeff Han.

News.com.com is reporting that VMware (makers of the popular virtualization products VMware Workstation, GSX Server, and ESX Server) is expected to announce early next week that they will be releasing the GSX Server software for FREE! This is awesome news for those of us who are interested being able to run multiple servers/OSs on a single box. I've been wanting to do this for a while now... a few of my plans are to: Test drive some of the latest Linux distros. Have a true Test Server for developing subText on. This...

In this highly connected world, its hard to be a part of the Internet community and not use some form of instant messaging (IM) system. Today there are a host of different IM protocols and clients... from the highly popular and feature [over]packed MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo! Messenger, etc... or maybe you're a fan of the old skool and bare-bones IRC protocol, or perhaps even the grand-daddy of them all UNIX "talk". Most of my family and college friends are on AIM, the guys from subText (and some other Microsofties I know) are on MSN...

Its been a while since I took my first steps into the wild world of software engineering, but only recently did I finally start down the Test Driven Development path. I have always been a proponent of Extreme Programming but seeing as the majority of my experience, prior to joining the subText Project Team, is from the corporate world, I'd never had the opportunity to truly implement many of the practices in my daily design/development work. I'm not saying that _the corporate world_ doesn't believe in EP and/or TDD, just that our shop doesn't follow these techniques. Anyhow, I finally...

I just read an interesting article by Shaun Walker, of DotNetNuke fame, in which he talks about Open Source software written for the Windows platform and the lack of respect it gets in the Open Source community.  FTFA: "It's hard being an open source project on the Microsoft platform. Because no matter how hard you try to exemplify true open source ideals, you will not get any respect from the non-Microsoft community."Shaun also gives the Open Source Definition's (OSD) 10 Commandments defining the values that the Open Source Initiative was founded on. Yet, even though DNN and other OSS projects for Windows (like subText) adhere...

So, I've blogged before about how I'm now working with the subText Project and how we've been doing a lot of work under the hood in preparation for the version 1.0 release, and how one of the things that I've been working on is an Upgrade framework. We've recently decided that we need to refactor/redesign the Import process we originally had in mind, and now we're playing with two different approaches. One approach is to implement BlogML in subText. The other is to use the Provider Model to leverage an existing blog engine's (i.e.- dotText, dasBlog, etc...) and subText's built-in...

OK, so its been quite a while since my last post... almost 4 months it looks like. I don't really have any excuses other than, I've been lazy. Well, thatch not entirely true... its more like I've been BUSY! I mean, summer happened, and that naturally means tons of stuff to do. So, since my last post: Poultry Days.Country Concert.Plenty of time at the pool.Beaz's Bachelor Party.I got involved with the subText project.Beaz & Lisa's wedding.Carli & I moved down to German Village.Bertke's Bachelor Party.And, of course there is that whole work thing.Anyhow, like I was saying......

Well, I guess I can now consider myself to be in the ranks of the 'trendy'... I’ve finally got one of those sexy little music boxes (complete with white ear-buds) to call my own. Yes, that’s right, I’m now a proud owner of my very own iPod. My girlfriend got me the 1GB iPod Shuffle for my b-day, how sweet is that! I’ve been playing with her 4GB Mini since Santa brought it to her for Christmas and I love it. So, when I started playing around with my new Shuffle I just assumed it would work just like...

As a Software Engineer, I'm always looking for tools to help me perform my job more quickly, efficiently, and effectively. So when I began my search for a new text editor (my 'officially supported' options at work are Notepad, Wordpad, and Textpad), all I really knew was that what I had, wasn't good enough. I wanted something that offered the following: Syntax highlighting for [at least] SQL, XML, HTML, and JavaScript. Auto-Completion for [at least] the above languages. Editing of multiple files at the same time (in just one window... my TaskBar is full enough as it...

I know I'm a few days late reporting this... but I feel its still worth mentioning. Community Server version 1.0 has been released! You can get the binaries here, and the source is available here. The CS.org forums are already filling up with all kinds of support from the community and the folks at Telligent. I'm still not 100% sold on the whole CS solution... mainly due to some of the licensing terms (my comments here) and uncertain migration tools (which are getting better all the time). I haven't had much of a chance to...

Google has quietly announced that they have started to index (allowing you to search) previously aired content from some of the major TV networks. They aren't actually indexing the video, but rather the closed captioning text of the videos. So you can just type in your search terms (like apprentice) or you can get more specific (like title:family guy). The results won't provide any direct links to the actual video, but will give the transcript, still images of the show, and a link to get more info (including future air times). Right now the content is...

I'm sure anyone who has their own Blog, or has even come across someone else's Blog, would agree that comment spam can be quit a nuisance. Google has recently announced their idea for how to prevent such abuse. Google's idea is to add a new attribute to "any [hyper]link that a user can create on your site automatically." Google claims that when their spiders see hyperlinks with the attribute (which takes the form rel="nofollow"), they won't give any credit to the links when they rank their search results. The thinking is this will eliminate the benefit the spammer would gain...

While the Blog phenomena is several years old, it was only about a month ago (around Christmas) that I began my venture into world of Weblogs. I came across .Text pretty early on because it was one of the few Blog engines that supported some of my basic requirements:A FREE (as in beer and speech), open source project preferably based on ASP.NET, and more specifically on C#. Most of my past experience was with JAVA, C/C++, php, and VB (standard asp)... I wanted to learn more about .NET and I figured what better way that to use it!I...

It seems that recently discovered GMail vulnerability has been fixed. From the article: "GMail messages are vulnerable to interception. An attacker has only to transmit malformed test messages to himself, and information left over in memory, from previous messages destined for other people, will appear with the test messages, in the attacker's inbox. Sometimes, this information may include usernames and passwords... Do you use GMail? Are you communications private? Should they be? Well, here's what we figured out about the issue, that may or may not help you - or perhaps GMail, if...

As I mentioned earlier, there is currently (.Text 0.95) a known issue with the way .Text implements the MetaWeblog API editpost() method. I discovered this bug while trying to use the w.bloggar desktop publishing tool to edit some posts to my blog (which is obviously run on the .Text engine). After some searching, I quickly found that ScottW had already released a patch for the issued (095_TempFix), but it was only available in assembly form. This meant just copying the new patched dll's over the old ones. This is a problem for anyone who modifies the...

It looks like Marcelo has finally made a public release of w.bloggar v4.00 (download it here).  I plan on upgrading (from v3.03.0165) as soon as I get home!  Some of the new updates (as listed in the change log) I'm most looking forward to are: ADDED....: Support to Multiple Categories to blogs that uses metaWeblog API; ADDED....: New supported tools: Nucleus 3.0, Wordpress, SquareSpace, b2evolution, Blog:CMS, UBlog, .Text, BlogWare and Xaraya; ADDED....: Option to toggle the XHTML compliance to the tags; ADDED....: Now is possible to ping not only Weblogs.com but Technorati, blo.gs...

Wired is running at article about The Shadow Internet, the culture behind the Peer-to-Peer (p2p) file swapping networks which are changing how the entertainment industry does business. "They start with a single stolen file and pump out bootleg games and movies by the millions. Inside the pirate networks that are terrorizing the entertainment business." From the industry insiders, to the distributors, and on to the public... a complete look at how music, movies, games, and more are pushed out to the next major distribution channels, the p2p networks. These upper levels of these "dark nets" are hidden...

Well, it looks like we've made it through yet another year! I rang in the New Year in The Nasty Natti (Cincinnati) with a few friends at The Pavilion (I'll be posting the pictures soon). It was one of those all-you-can-eat-and-DRINK deals! So for about $50 a person we got all the beverages we could handle, and we tried our best to get our moneys worth! A good time was had by all. How did you celebrate NYE 2004? Leave me some feedback and let me know! I was doing a little Googling this morning and I came across...

Hey, hey... I've got 10 Gmail invites, who wants 'em? Well, I've got 10 as of approx. 12:15pm on Wednesday night... and the Buckeyes just won the Alamo Bowl, by the way! If you want a GMail account, just shoot me an email.

So, I ran into several issues while trying to get .Text set up on my server(s). To start, I wanted a single Blog, that would be hosted on Box1 (Win2k Server w/IIS 5.0) and would use a database on Box2 (Win2k3 Server w/ MS SQL Server 2000). Issues I encountered: Server Error in '/blog' Application The problem was with the Web.Config Configuration File. The comments at the very top of the file need to be removed, or moved inside the <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ...

In true /. style, this is my obligitory first post! I have .Text up and running on my 'test' site, and I'm just trying to learn a little about it and decide if I really want to go w/it for my site. I LOVE that its Open Source, but it seems that the project is dying due to the main developer moving to the community server : blogs. The CS:blogs project is also supposed to be open source, but it is maintained by telligent systems and so far they've been pretty quiet about the whole thing, which is too...