Thursday, April 30, 2009

Instant Messaging Tools

Wow, I seriously underestimated the number of instant messaging applications out there. I've been using MSN Messenger for a long time (hasn't everyone?) and now I work on Windows Std Server 2003 I can't - the two are incompatible, as is iTunes/WS2k3. So, I went looking for a replacement which might run on WinSrv2k3, and a quick google of "instant messenger comparison" brought me to this neat link:
Having said that, of course, there are plenty of tools, APIs etc out there to let you build your own instant messaging application - including an MSN Messenger app!...

Code and API's for developing with Microsoft's MSN Messenger service, found via:http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_en-GBGB299GB309&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=c%23+msn ...
A number of these utilise the DotMSN API:
Also, dubiously, there is this, which I am just not sure about yet, perhaps it's a goldmine, perhaps a landmine: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-hack-msn-web-cam/

Word Of The Day: Magnanimous

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magnanimous

mag⋅nan⋅i⋅mous   [mag-nan-uh-muhs]

–adjective

1. generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: to be magnanimous toward one's enemies.
2. high-minded; noble: a just and magnanimous ruler.
3. proceeding from or revealing generosity or nobility of mind, character, etc.: a magnanimous gesture of forgiveness.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Reading Code As A Learning Tool

Scott Hanselman has been posting code snippets for a while on:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheWeeklySourceCode41SearchingCodeSharingCodeAndReadingCodeAndComments.aspx

I think this is a pretty good way to get used to other styles, understanding and developing an inate ability to become flexible when required to produce code interfacing with other systems.

Also, as Scott points out, is the Google Code Search, where you can highlight code placed on your own site to the Google search engine: http://www.google.com/codesearch

Someone's Gonna Get It, Links, LifeHacker And Gizmodo

Oops: http://gizmodo.com/5231972/best-buy-sells-customer-a-large-brick-in-place-of-a-macbook-pro-literally

Today's Gizmodo favourites:

Word Of The Day: Erudite

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/erudite

er⋅u⋅dite   [er-yoo-dahyt, er-oo-]

–adjective

characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly: an erudite professor; an erudite commentary

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Splitting Strings in T-SQL

[EDIT] A very good collection of solutions:

From an ex-colleague (with some alteration):

Create Procedure ReturnStringAsTable
(
@REQUEST VARCHAR(500),
@dividingChr VARCHAR(1) = ','
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @CURRENT_TABLE VARCHAR(200);
DECLARE @INDEX_TO INT;
DECLARE @INDEX_FROM INT;

DEClARE @DATASETINDEX TABLE(ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),[NAME] VARCHAR(200))

SET @INDEX_FROM=0;

SET @INDEX_TO= CHARINDEX(@dividingChr,@REQUEST,@INDEX_FROM);
SET @INDEX_TO= CASE WHEN @INDEX_TO <=0 THEN LEN(@REQUEST)+1 ELSE @INDEX_TO end;

WHILE @INDEX_FROM <>
BEGIN

SET @CURRENT_TABLE=RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@REQUEST,@INDEX_FROM,@INDEX_TO-@INDEX_FROM)))
IF LEN(@CURRENT_TABLE)>2
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @DATASETINDEX([NAME]) VALUES(@CURRENT_TABLE);
EXEC ('SELECT * FROM ' + @CURRENT_TABLE)
END

SET @INDEX_FROM = @INDEX_TO+1

SET @INDEX_TO= CHARINDEX(',',@REQUEST,@INDEX_FROM);
SET @INDEX_TO = CASE WHEN @INDEX_TO > @INDEX_FROM THEN @INDEX_TO ELSE LEN(@REQUEST)+1 END;
END

INSERT INTO @DATASETINDEX([NAME]) VALUES('INDEX_TABLE');

SELECT * FROM @DATASETINDEX
END




CREATE FUNCTION Split(
@IDValues as varchar(500),
@Delimeter as varchar(1)
)

RETURNS @tValues TABLE(IDAux INT)

AS

BEGIN

DECLARE @I AS INT, @Aux AS INT
SET @I = 1
SET @Aux = 1

WHILE @I <= LEN(@IDValues)

BEGIN
IF SUBSTRING(@IDValues,@I,1)= @Delimeter
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @tValues (IDAux) VALUES (CAST(SUBSTRING(@IDValues,@Aux,(@I-@Aux))AS INT))

SET @Aux = @i + 1
END

SET @i = @i + 1
END

RETURN

END

GO

--examples with differents delimeters

select * from Split('1058,1059,1060,1062,',',')
select * from Split('1058|1059|1060|1062|','|')
select * from Split('1058;1059;1060;1062;',';')

Capoeira

Swine Flu, Terabyte Holographic Discs And More...

Gizmodo and LifeHacker...

Monday, April 27, 2009

Windows Mobile Video Blogging

I want to be able to stream video direct from my Windows Mobile HTC camera, but until I find (or build) a mobile app to let me do that, I'll have to make do with the ideas in this cool little post:
And an update, it is possible, but only with Nokia and iPhone:
Just discovered service Qik which provides live video streaming apps for a hell of a lot of mobile phones so I signed up, installed and am up and running! A revolution in blogging!

Check out the mobile links for the sites I found!

Nooooo.....

Latest LifeHacker And Gizmodo Links: Anti-Malware, Tetris Buildings And Geekiness

LifeHacker:

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Bill Hicks "Lost" Segment from Letterman

Well, I always mourned the fact that I didn't recognise Bill when he was on The Word, that I never got a chance to see him play or that I returned a CD, received by accident, to Amazon of his live show. Apparently, David Letterman regrets things too; And well he should, as this piece is truly amazing, though much will have been re-used elsewhere - Lettermen finally decided to show Bill's set from his controversially cut show in October, 1993.

I really have never had respect for Letterman, but this raises the bar, though I can never quite get rid of the creeping discomfort I always feel when I see him interview someone, as though his inate Americanism is half a step away from massive, embarressing faux par.

Check Bill's site out here: http://www.billhicks.com/index.html


Rest In Piece and fucking Rock On Bill.

Friday, April 24, 2009

A very cool list...

This little flickr entry lists some amazing uses of google maps and earth, I just had to blog:

Latest LifeHacker Links

Some really awesome links here from LifeHacker today:

Oh God The Horror

What do you do when the virus breaks out and zombies start munching your friend's head? Damned if I know, but fortunately, big brains have been working on the issue - presumably to keep themselves at thir respectable size...
All found via:

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Friday, April 17, 2009

Workstation UnLock

For a long time now, I've been looking for a way to unlock a Windows computer programmatically. I'd like to be able to write a service, for example, which can unlock the machine and log in a user, rather than a session (which has no visible affect on the running screen), but simply logging back in the current user would suffice. Frankly, anything would do. There are many uses for this type of code, but my initial thrust was to develop a bluetooth app for my Windows Mobile device which would log me back into my machine when I walk back into range - a simple device detection app on the host machine; doesn't even have to communicate.

So far, I have been greeted with false starts, low-level C++ code (which, for me, never developed to full-fledged Windows coding) and basically tonnes of code which never claimed to work properly.

So, here I am going to log my efforts and record links to resources which might, probably won't, but might prove useful at some point:

Small Post About MVC

Looks like there's some movement in the ASP.NET MVC market, finally, so lets get some links up:
Some MVC resources:

Friday, April 10, 2009

P2P What I/You Need To Know

Ok, first off: If articles like this http://lifehacker.com/371653/caught-downloading-copyrighted-materialnow-what or this http://gizmodo.com/5066280/almost-half-of-net-traffic-is-not+so+legal-p2p-and-itll-really-take-off-soon scare you, you should probably stop right here, uninstall whatever P2P software you have and signup for online Blockbuster or something (there are better services, not to mention the online ones!) because actually downloading potentially illegal files will scare the socks off you. That's not to say it's scary, difficult or even illegal - if done RIGHT.

Secondly, I'm not advocating sharing illegal files. I pretty much subscribe to this 'manifesto', if you will: http://i.gizmodo.com/5202399/a-pirates-code-of-conduct-for-bittorrent. Personally, I do not intend to break copyright laws, rip-off artists or content producers and I certainly intend to actively help struggling industries, like the British movie industry, because I want movie makers like Simon Pegg and Ricky Gervais to keep me entertained. If the niche, intelligent and truly original creators are supported we will be kept wallowing in Shakespearian quality media for a long time to come!

Having read recently the following articles on LifeHacker and Gizmodo:
I thought it would be appropriate to bone up on some P2P security and best practices. Not that I do P2P, of course. Having said that, it would be nice if the content providers out there were to realise that if they provide customers (ie: potential customers/file-sharers) with what they want they would instantly become loved and extremely rich and probably immediately end the global crisis (new jobs, lots of new customers, new shows - all would be possible tomorrow.)

For starters, on the subject of P2P file sharing, there is the whole security thing, which LifeHacker and Gizmodo have neatly covered in a reader friendly way:
Amongst those articles, you'll find useful links for things such as:
And finally, good information comes in all forms, and on the internet this means the best way to find up-to-date links. I like tagged articles on well circulated sites, for example:

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

More Augmented Reality

Found these links and just need to make sure I can find them again. Some C# code for augmented reality projects, most based on C++ though...

Online File Storage Services

I've been looking for online file storage sites. I intend to expand on this, but for now, here is what I've found:

Big name assumed reliable sites (multi-discipline):

More Gizmodo Favourites

Just some more favourites design to entertain, enlighten and enjoy...
First, the best of the best:
And now the favourites: