The Dancing Poodle

Very nicely done parody.  Clicky!

I’ve been listening to The Best Damn Tech Show, Period recently, a group of guys sitting around talking about the latest and greatest in technolgy and other nerdy stuff.

Subscribe to the podcast here.

Went to the Microsoft Ready Launch in Sydney yesterday. They had PCs set up for free internet access, and I tried to write a blog from the event, but couldn’t remember my Wordpress login. Oops! One of the banes of the “Do you want Windows to remember this password” dialog box - Windows remembers, I forget!

Anyway, I’ve got to say that Microsoft sure know how to launch a product! It was pretty impressive. A couple things really stood out. Firstly, the focus of Microsoft has changed. I’ve noticed a change in the way they do things, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I understood how. They’ve become more transparent in the way they release products, as was evidenced by the beta and CTP releases of VS2005. Through this, they have been able to get more feedback from development teams before the product is officially launched, and that seems to be a good thing. The other big change in focus has been switching from a developer focus to a development focus. This is a big deal, particularly with the new Visual Studio Team System products begin released. Tasks, buglists and project requirements are now available through Visual Studio, but also through more “managerial” applications, such as Word, Microsoft Project, etc. If Microsoft’s quoted statistic that 70% of bad business decisions are made due to insufficient information, the communication offered through VSTS should go a long way to making that information available. Now, if we’d just talk to each other…

The other thing that stood out for me yesterday was the demo on Smart Client applications. Sort of a mix between web-based and desktop-based applications, they offer the power and GUI experience of a desktop app and the updatability and supportability of a web app. Yes, they only work on Windows platforms running .NET 2.0, but to be honest, that’s not such a bad platform…

This from Gadgetopia: Thought it sums up the situation so far. Particularly liked the comment about…

… attempting to rob a bank and finding that God Himself was in line to deposit His paycheck at the same time.

Certainly Sony are taking a lot of flack from this, and rightly so. There seems to be a movement now to boycott Sony music (and other products) - I’d join in, but I’m afraid that the amount of money I actually spend on Sony music (nil in the last 5 years) probably wouldn’t worry them too much…

In other news, I had a job interview yesterday for a defence company that would involve programming in Ada (among others). Grabbed out my Ada textbook from Uni the night before the interview and brushed up my fading memories of the language. It’s funny - when I learned Ada, I thought it was fantastic! The only other (decent) language I knew at the time was Pascal (upon which Ada is based), so I guess it was a pretty good step-up. Looking back now, comparing it with modern C++ and C#, the feeling is rather different….

Still, if they want to pay me to program in Ada, who am I to complain?

4,000 Days ago, I had just left university and my total Internet experience had been browsing FTP sites and Newsgroups for stuff for my Amiga. Phew…

The E-Mail Time Capsule - What a cool idea! Now, if I just think of anything worth saying to myself in 30 years time… Maybe a reminder to pay the electricity bill?

Glenn asked about a Quality mic & headset. I was just in Thick Dick’s, and saw what he might be after. Glenn, have a look at this. It’s USB 2.0 to boot!

Oh, and they’ve also got give-away copies of the First-Person Demo of F.E.A.R.

I haven’t read all of this yet, but from the look of things, Tanya Anderson may have a valid case. Some examples of her allegations include the following:

When Ms. Andersen contacted Settlement Support Center, she was advised that her personal home computer had been secretly entered by the record companies’ agents, MediaSentry.

The record company plaintiffs employed MediaSentry as their agent to break into Ms. Andersen’s personal computer (and those of tens of thousands of other people) to secretly spy on and steal information or remove files. MediaSentry did not have Ms. Andersen’s permission to inspect, copy, or remove private computer files. If MediaSentry accessed her private computer, it did so illegally and secretly. In fact, Ms. Andersen was unaware that the trespass occurred until well after she was anonymously sued.

Could be an interesting battle…

This has to be the best case-mod I’ve seen! Top effort!

Looks like iTunes has changed their UI theme… and Brushed Metal isn’t happy!

Clicky!