.Net Developer's Journal has a great
interview with Rob Howard this month, check it out. You can download the whole current issue
here. I guess you have to give an email address to download it, but it's worth it.
Looks like we haven't heard the last of the nasty JPEG / GDI+ problem from last week. According to Computerworld, last week was just the tip of the iceberg. If you haven't patched yet, read this. Ok, now that you're scared, head over to the MS page for this security bulletin. Thanks to Patrick Hynds for pointing out the newest chapter in this security horror story. If you haven't subscribed to Partick's blog, what are you waiting for? It's full of great news and information you might want to know if you're responsible for security, or if you just want to keep your PC somewhat safe in this cyber-wasteland. It's a sad day when the hackers start going after us through our porn! I also noticed Computerworld has a XML (RSS) feed for security bulletins. <subscribed>
Here's a great little ditty sure to be stuck in your head for days: Banana / Osaka phone and the Re dub: Badger phone.
Here is the best one yet, Kittys on Fish, but the whole site is pretty cool, http://www.rathergood.com. Check out the “kitten” links on the left (they are not offensive, violent or crude, just funny).
And more Flash fun, the classic, Fishbar! They get wayyyyy better toward the later episodes, but all are click worthy. According to the page, just close any ads that open up, they are all safe. I have the originals and they have the ads in them too. Enjoy
There's a big brouhaha over this whole JPEG / GDI+ security flaw. Here is the technet article. I suggest you take a quick look at the article, it looks like it's a little more serious than it sounds. Here is a link to the CNET article (via Patrick Hynds). A quick excerpt from the article lists the affected Microsoft applications:
Affected Software:
Office Users Note Office XP Service Pack 2 and Office XP Service Pack 3 are both vulnerable to this issue. However the security update for Office XP Service Pack 2 is only provided as part of the Office XP administrative security update. For more information, see the Security Update Information section. Office 2003 Service Pack 1, Visio 2003 Service Pack 1, and Project 2003 Service Pack 1 contain an updated version of the affected component and are not affected. Customers that have installed these service packs do not need to install the available security updates for these products.
MSN 9 Users Note MSN 9 distributes Picture It! Express version 9 and Picture It! Library. You have the option to install these programs when you install MSN 9. You should install the Picture It! version 9 update only if you installed Picture It! Express version 9 or Picture It! Library when you installed MSN 9.
Affected Components:
Non-Affected Software
Non-Affected Components:
Note The non-affected versions of Windows do not natively contain the vulnerable component. However, the vulnerable component is installed on these non-affected operating systems when you install any of the software programs or components that are listed in the Affected Software and Affected Components sections of this bulletin. See the FAQ section of this bulletin for more information.
From Think Geek:
Sometimes it's fun to turn stuff off and on. But doing it everyday can get pretty tiresome and old. The Mini Power Minder can help. It has two built-in outlets - one that connects to your PC and the other to your peripherals (via a power strip). The Mini Power Minder also connects to your PC via a USB cable.
When you shutdown your PC the USB cable will no longer have power, letting the Mini Power Minder know to shutdown power to the secondary outlet. If you have your peripherals connected to this outlet they will be turned off along with your PC. The same process works when you power-up your PC.
Check out the url for more information.
Another great issue of MSDN mag is out and ready for download. For those that haven't figured it out yet, you can always get to and read or download MSDN magazine by navigating to http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/YY/MM/ where YY is the 2 digit year and MM is, um, let me think.. oh yeah, the 2 digit month. From these pages you can download the code in a .EXE and the whole magazine in a .CHM. If that isn't great enough, you can always take the .CHMs and push them through Chm2PDF and you'll have neat little .PDFs to take with you and read wherever. I prefer the search function of the .CHMs, and at the end of the year, I roll all the .CHMs into one big .CHM, giving an even easier search that hits a whole year. Download it today.
::NOTE::
If you navigate to the current issue through the links and menus off MSDN.MICROSOFT.COM, you will end up at http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/, you'll need to add the /issues/04/10 to get the page where the download links are!
Well it's about time the New Englanders got a chance to have one of these shindigs! According to DonXML, Jason Haley has been cool enough to set up a little Blogger Dinner to be held between days at Code Camp II in Waltham. From Don's blog :
Code Camp II Blogger Dinner
Jason Haley was gracious enough to help setup a Blogger Dinner that will be held right after the Saturday activities at Code Camp II.
Date: Saturday, October 16, 2004
Time: 9:00pm - 11:00pm (or whenever they throw us out)
Place: Lobby Bar in Westin, Waltham, MA (its the big hotel you see on the highway exit 27 on 128)
I’ll be there, along with Scott Watermasysk, Kent Tegels and Jason Bock (and we are all coming in from out of town). Some of the locals that will be at Code Camp II include Sam Gentile, Robert Hurlbut, Chris Bowen, Thom Robbins, and Chris Pels. Everyone is welcome to come hang out.
Great news, looking forward to seeing everyone there!!!
<edit> Make sure if you're going to the dinner, and you're a GWB, let everyone know, it'll be cool to be able to put a few more faces to names!!! </edit>
Looks like all the Whidbey information on MSDN has been moved to a new MSDN site.
The site looks great, and easier to navigate than the original one. You can navigate to the topic you need easily by using http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/<namespace>.aspx. Sweet. The came naming convention works for properties and methods as well. Kudos to the MSDN team for putting this together, great work, great site!
Great news! Looks like Carl and Rory will have Mark Miller on DotNetRocks! This Friday!!! Info from franklins.net below:
The next show will be broadcast on Friday, September 10th at 9PM Eastern Time. Our guest will be Mark Miller, author of (among many other things) CodeRush, a productivity add-in for VS.NET that you can't live without! Mark is Chief Architect for the IDE Tools Division of DeveloperExpress
If you've never used CodeRush, check it out, download the demo today. This has to be be one of the all time best things to happen to Visual Studio, .net and development in general. DotNetRocks is worth it enough to check out ANY week, but this is just like the Coleman's Creamy Seafood Sauce on the Bennet Opie Pickled Walnuts. huh (confused? read here.) . Make sure you tune in!!!