Tamir Khason – Just code

Action required: Smart Client development present and future

Are you in Israel 11-February evening? Are you smart client developer and think, like me, that “cloud thingy” is just like Playboy girl, whom you never know what surprises might be waiting for you underneath? If so, you are invited to attend “Smart Client development present and future” session,  will take part in Yad leBanim house in Ness Ziona (9, Habanim str., Ness Ziona).

 
© Apple store at iMall in Tampa Bay, FL (by Nick Starr)

What we’ll speak about? Net 3 hours of smart client development, which includes WPF for infotainment, WPF for Line-Of-Business, WPF for weak netbooks, running Windows 7 Ultimate. DirectX bridge to enhance user experience. Future of .NET framework, including aspects oriented and modular, yet strong type programming, that you can already use today with some tricks, will be explained. We’ll speak with odd devices, by using some build-in core interfaces from next generation device framework. And much-much more.

Everything is possible 11th February evening, even tits, which will be shown during this session. So it worth to attend. Number of places is limited, so first registered – first served.

See you there

Register to attend “Smart client development present and future” >> (RSVP at Facebook)

Did you know, that 11th February is traditional founding date of Japan at 660BC. Also first session of US senate was opened to the public at 1794. While in 1916, Emma Goldman was arrested for lecturing on birth control and at 1953 Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Israel (1964 the same thing was done by the Republic of China with France). It going to be interesting evening

January 26th, 2009 · Comments (8)

My favorite gadget arrived…

If you’re smoking, you know how it to flight more, then two hours when you cannot smoke. Also, you know hw it feels when outside is cold or rainy, but you should come outside to smoke. When you’re in pub with friends and a pint of good beer, but you cannot satisfy with your drink, when each 10 minutes you need to go outside to smoke. This why, I ordered electronic cigarette, that so far become my favorite gadget.

It’s absolutely perfect device. It produce odorless warm smoke and filled with real nicotine. It much healthier, then real cigarette, while you have a feeling of real smoke. And the most important thing, that you can smoke it in all places, where smoking prohibited.

The pack  contains of two rechargeable batteries, charger, inhaler and nicotine cartridges. All you have to do it so mount cartridge and start smoking

It feels like regular cigarette, tastes like regular cigarette, smells (for smoker, not for all around) like regular cigarette, but it is not regular cigarette, thus you can smoke whenever you want and where ever you want.

Absolutely incredible and very useful gadget. Happy smoking and thanks to Gamucci for such innovation. Now I can smoke during 12 hours flight to MVP summit.

January 20th, 2009 · Comments (3)

Microsoft Tag vs. QR tag

One of Microsoft’s announcements on CES09 was Microsoft Tag. Do you remember last try of Microsoft to create mobile barcodes on Live platform? I remember it. So why Windows Live Barcode was deprecated, while Microsoft creates new one? What the key difference between Quick Response approach, barely adopted by industry and new colorful MS stuff? Let’s try to understand differences and approximate future fail or success on this technology.

Key differences:

• The only information contains inside MS Tag is ID, which should be used to fetch all relevant information from tag server while QR contains all necessary information and can be used offline. Both technologies have it own advantages and disadvantages. From one hand, you can manage and fix results all the time, from the other hand, what happen with fraud and offline usage?
• MS Tag using High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) technology, which makes able to encode more information into relatively small area. Also because of small amount of information, errors can be handled easily for MS Tag. For encode 1 byte we need 8 symbols in QR codes, while in MS Tag only 4.
• MS Tag using thee base colors (CMYK) while QR only two (BW), thus in offset print MS Tag is much more sensitive to the quality of color plates. From other hand, if I my approximation is right, MS Tag can be printed in gray palette too, due to the fact, that it uses color differences, rather then color codes for decoding. Also it seemed, that hardware used for four barcodes will be more expensive, than similar hardware for two colors.
• Because of the fact, that QR is mature technology (first ISS was presented in October 1997), there are huge amount of devices, supports it natively, while MS Tag is rather new. From other hand, http://gettag.mobi/ provides WM,J2ME, IPhone, Blackberry and Symbian native clients for reading MS Tags. So it seemed, that very soon (if Microsoft will not abandon it again) this will be distributed de-facto.
• QR Code® is registered trademark of Denso Wave Inc, which makes this technology problematic for future enhancements, also HCCB, used for MS Tag is licensed by Microsoft, however as far as I understand from their IPL site, it can be used as far as remains under MS patent agreement. But maybe an appliance of this technology is protected.

Bottom line – I’m very skeptic with MS Tags, however let’s give it a chance and see whether MS Tag will become another Semacode, ShotCode, PDF417, Dot Code, Aztec Code, etc. or become Barcode technology we see every day everywhere…

Meanwhile, you can create your own MS Tag, download free reader for your mobile device from http://gettag.mobi and decide whether you like it or not. For me, this technology is cool, but the code itself is very ugly

Be good people and have a nice day.

January 9th, 2009 · Comments (27)

Common phrases used by developers

One of my partners (who is PM in global company) sent me his list of common phrases used by his developers. I also added some of phrases, commonly used by my developers. Here the list:

• It works on my machine
• That’s weird!
• But this was running before…
• Some minor stuff has to be fixed
• This must be a hardware problem
• Someone tinkered with incoming data
• But I didn’t touch that module
• I’m almost finished
• That’s will be done quickly
• You can’t test everything.
• It’s impossible that it will affect the other module
• I remember that I fixed this bug already
• Documentation is being written
• This is not my program
• I had lots of unexpected troubles
• But the specification was always changing
• I thought I found the bug
• This change will be done in 5 minutes
• I’m waiting for the others so I can test
• Aside from the fact it is not working, what is your impression?
• That’s not a bug – it’s a feature! (by dotmad)
• It works as coded (by Joseph Cooney)
• Sorry, my code is compiling. I will get back to you in a few hours (by David)

I’m inviting you to contribute your phrases in comments and if the phrase will be really interesting, I’ll update it in the post (with like to your blog/site)

So, let’s start creating ultimate developer’s phrases list.

January 5th, 2009 · Comments (19)

New version of Hebrew and Arabic support for Silverlight was released

Please notice, that new version (RC1) of Bidi support for Silverlight was released. What’s new in this release?

• Initial version of bidi DataGrid
• Listbox, CheckBox, RadioButton, DatePicker, Tab and TabItem controls were added (tnx to Yasser Makram and Emad from Santeon)
• There are some changes in nBidi algorithm by Itai Bar-Haim
• Button and ToggleButton base fixes + valid default templates for all controls
• Some performance and stability issues.

So, be sure, that you have the latest release and take a part of tests, which were also updated to new version.

Great thank to all contributors for huge united work done. If you want to take a part in development drop me a note.

Download latest release (RC1) of bidirectional text support for Microsoft Silverlight >>

January 4th, 2009 · Comments (7)

USB FM radio library was published on CodePlex

I just published a part of my latest project – dynamic library to work with FM receivers on CodePlex under MS-PL. So, feel free do download, test and use it.

Note, that this release is preliminary and has a lot of bugs. Also, RDS is not fully implements as well as recording capabilities with Direct Sound.

I’m keep working to provide WPF UI for this library to “productize” it.

So, what are you waiting for? Download and Spear the word with this news! This is the first and only fully managed library (as far as I know) to work with RDS, TMC and FM data. Also, there are not a lot of information about HID usage as FM receiver in managed code.

Download latest release of USBFM.DLL >>

January 2nd, 2009 · Comments (10)

Asus R50A UMPC review

So, I got new branded Asus R50A UMPC for test. This ultra mobile machine with 5.6″ WSVGA (1024×768) screen, based on Intel US15W chipset, comes with Intel Atom Z520 (1.33 Ghz, 533Mhz) processor, 1Gb of RAM and 20GB SSD. Also it has 3.5G mobile unit, integrated 802.11b/g network card and GPS. First impression was very cool. Slick design, big screen build in fingerprint reader.

What in the box? Power adapter (110/220V), compact keyboard, bunch of cables, extra stilus and handling strap.

What else this machine has? Microcard reader, three mini-usb sockets, one regular USB and camera. Looks like pretty fine machine, but not for €1K+ price tag. But who cares when we buy real good gadget? However, my euphoria disappears during 6 minutes startup (this was not first startup – first took more, then 15 minutes).

It was preinstalled with Windows Vista SP1 Ultimate (for this tiny machine) aside with huge amount of Asus junkware, so it was was even unable even to calculate Vista experience score

Also it has no drivers for strange device, named “Mini Card” (with factory branded Asus OS installation)

Well, it’s probably because I’m still not connected to internet… Let’s connect office WiFi… Err… It has some troubles with wireless network discovery – 2 bars for 12 feet distance from access point (my W500 has all 5) and no other networks (with 4 and less bars on another machine). Let’s connect it. Hm, “unable to connect”… Weird. Leave it by now. This is multimedia device, so, probably, video will play better? Well, it failed also with playback of Windows sample movie. So maybe it has great battery life? Not really. Without doing anything new 2 cells, 2600mAh battery enough for less, then two hours (with vista battery saver it extended to 3, while this device does not support aero interface).

But the final accord was this one (one again – this is branded Asus installation):

Bottom line: 0/5. I paid $360 for my wife’s pink Acer Aspire One and got much better computer (it even has camera).

The only thing remains enigma for me is why, the hell, this piece of crap costs more, then €1,000?

Have a nice day and be good people – do not buy this machine!

November 12th, 2008 · Comments (8)

Consultants for charity

As you, probably, know, I left consulting field. However, it does not mean, that I quit helping developers community with client application development. Also, every day I’m getting between 50 and 300 emails with questions (I’m trying to answer all of those) and sometimes proposals for consulting. Currently I’m refusing all those, because I do not want to engage to it. However, there are too much people, who really need professional developers help and there are very few good development consultants in our area. Thus I decided to keep consulting, but this time only for charity.

© ColorBlind photographers

How does it work?

1. You want me to help you with your development.
2. I have free time for it.
3. We decide together about the fee.
4. You get consulting and you are happy with it.
5. I tell you what charity organization to transfer all amount, you should pay (except TBL, if there are).
6. You transfer it.
7. We made the world a bit better!

To clarify things:

1. It’s not charity foundation – you will transfer the money directly to organization, that need it
2. I’m not doing it for free – I feel, that finally I’m able to do something really big for those, who need it

So, if you are one of those, who want me to consult, contact me via this form or Twitter.

If you’re good consultant and want to join me, contact me via this form or Twitter and we’ll make the world better together.

I still had no chance to speak with my ex-engagement manager, however I believe, that he will not have a problem with this kind of payment to me. If so (and you have open PO in Microsoft Israel with him), you’ll be able to use it.

Spear the world with this news! Post in your blogs, twitters, facebook, any other community stuff or just join me

November 12th, 2008 · Comments (9)

Programming for Windows 7

Well, Windows 7 is going to be released by the end of next year. This is great news, because it seemed, that Microsoft finally understand how to get the best of Windows Vista and make it to work not only on monster machines.

It even works on new brandy my wife’s pinky machine. And if it works there and my wife is happy with it, this OS going to be very impressive.

But from the other hand, we, as developers should be ready today to developer Windows 7 ready application (by the way, Vista Battery Saver works for Windows 7 as well as for Windows Vista, in spite of the fact, that power management in Windows 7 was improved dramatically). So let’s start!

First thing we need is to read big Windows 7 Developer Guide. This document will explain most of new features for developers to build applications right. What is includes?

Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 3.0

Basically, Windows 7 works with Vista drivers, however, hibernation, power management, networking, PREfast will work much better. You also will have new WMI access for reliability monitors and ACPI.

Management and deployment

By default Windows 7 uses PowerShell 2.0 and Windows Installer. For PowerShell it includes enhanced cmdlets to manage Active Directory, IIS, etc. For Windows Installer, you finally can build “chainers” by yourself (the same approach, used for latest deployment of Microsoft products such as Silverlight, Visual Studio 2008 SP1 etc.) Also, you can get advantage by using Windows Filtering Platform (Firewall) and User Account Control (UAC) from inside your application by using new APIs.

Performance

The most significant change in Windows 7 for end-user point of view is improved performance. Windows 7 kernel is much smaller, that kernel of Windows Vista. Also it uses specific patterns to decrease background activities on low power, based on system triggers. New user-mode and kernel-mode APIs are used by Windows Drivers Foundation much more efficiently. Also system services are much smarter. For example, DCIA starts only when you connect new hardware. After drivers were installed the service shuts down. The same approach used by domain join, GP changes, new IP fetching etc. Windows 7 knows to run and stop services, based on system events, which decreases average work load and enhances whole system performance.

Multi-touch gestures and Interia API and used interface in general

Yes, you can use this API for your applications. Finally we can have more, then just mouse. And it is not only about multiple mouse devices. We can use single finder panning, raw touch input data, internal multitouch ink recognition, which is also supports math. Also it uses build-in MathML export feature.

There are a lot of other enhancements, such as smart bars, windows’ stacking, gadget desktop (it does not eat battery as external process anymore), system ribbon menu integration. etc

Graphics

Direct 11, new Direct2D, DirectWrite (we can turn text anti-aliasing for small fonts, hurrah!), improved WIC, DX/GDI interoperability on system level with automatic fallback for weak hardware (yes, you should not be worry about it anymore). Also new video and audio format support with human readable interfaces. Yes, no more DirectDraw hacks. We can use new high level interfaces such as MFPlay to manage playbacks, Source Reader for decoding, Sink Writer for transcoders and re-coding compressions.

Web and communication

WCF is inside, as well as distributed routing table for peer-to-peer operations. BranchCache – new technology to reduce WAN traffic and latency.

Also Windows 7 is compatible with OpenSearch (I told, that Microsoft does not know to build search engines). Sharepoint integration and environment sensors platform, that can be used either for desktop and web applications.

There are much more features, that makes Windows 7 to pretend to be very good operation system. If you want to learn more about all those Windows 7 new features, I highly advice you to download and read this document. It includes most of new features of new OS with explanations and screenshots to make your learn and understand what can your future application do with all those new features.

Have a nice day and be good people.

BTW, if you have PDC version of Windows 7 and want to unlock it for using of some cool features, introduced during keynotes, it worth to visit here and learn how to

Download Windows 7 Developer Guide and start programming.

November 8th, 2008 · Comments (5)

Issues, you reported were fixed

Hi, folks. And thank you for reporting issues with WpfPerf Performance Profiling tool. Now it was fixed, so, download and use new and fixed version.

Keep reporting, as you can see, you have the power to change!

Imaginary by Malcolm Dare

October 10th, 2008 · Comments (3)