General

How to use your Zune as a portable hard drive

Murray Gordon — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:44:00 GMT

How to moves files back and forth from your Zune

I was getting irritated this morning with some of the limitations of my Zune device and came across this great blog. I found it very helpful for moving and backing up my media files. What I'm referring to is a registry hack. Very simple and works great.

Here's the original blog url by Adam Pash (http://www.lifehacker.com/software/zune/use-your-zune-as-a-portable-hard-drive-217010.php)

Here the registry hack

Make sure your Zune is not plugged in and your Zune software isn't running
Open regedit by going to the start menu and selecting "run". Then Type regedt32 and hit "OK"
Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\
Search for "PortableDeviceNameSpace". This should be contained in the Vid_####&Pid_####\########_-_########_-_########_-_########\Device Parameters within the above ...\USB\ The ##'s listed here will be numbers and letters specific to your Zune
Change the following values:
1. EnableLegacySupport to 1
2. PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell to 0
3. ShowInShell to 1
Plug in your Zune, and make sure the Zune Software starts up.
At this point you can open up "My Computer" and browse your device, though it does NOT show up as a drive letter.

Now you have a 30GB portable harddrive/media player. Very handy.

Remember to backup the above-mentioned registry keys before making any modifications or editing.

How-To Copy from the Zune

After the hack, you should be able to copy, transfer or download (or upload) files, musics, videos, songs and etc from Zune to your PC by drag and drop or copy and paste, just like when you're using an external portable hard disk. You will still be able to synchronize or sync through Zune Software too (this is still the way to copy files to Zune, see below).

Why can't I copy Copy to the Zune?

You can perform task to delete the files on Zune directly after patching. However, you cannot copy or transfer the files onto Zune directly. If you try to upload or send a file to Zune directly via My Computer or Windows Explorer, you will see this error message dialog: "Cannot Copy File - could not be placed on the device. You do not have permission to create this item." It will look something like this:

How-To Copy to the Zune

To copy or transfer or upload files to the Zune, you have the use the following trick. Either you sync your files to the Zune by using Zune software, or you can sync large file, and half way into the process, shut down the Zune software. In this case, the relationship between PC and Zune player will always stay in 'sync' mode, and you can now copy or transfer over as much files as you want.

Here's how:

First, start Zune and initiate a long transfer

Kill the zune process in Process Explorer, if you have it, or Task Manager

Now you can copy files to your Zune using Windows Explorer. (notice I copied a Word 2007 doc called iPhone.docx to the Zune).

You can continue to copy files over, until you open Zune player again and the sync is stopped or completed.

References:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/12/24/enable-copy-and-transfer-of-data-with-zune-to-use-as-portable-hard-disk/
http://phaleux.com/?p=8
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/zune/use-your-zune-as-a-portable-hard-drive-217010.php)

How to Send SMS Messages to Cell Phones

Murray Gordon — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:22:00 GMT

Here’s how to send email reminders to your cellphone using one of the 6 most popular cellular phone carriers:

T-Mobile:

phonenumber

tmomail.net

Virgin Mobile:

phonenumber

vmobl.com

Cingular:

phonenumber

cingularme.com

Sprint:

phonenumber

messaging.sprintpcs.com

Verizon:

phonenumber

vtext.com

Nextel:

phonenumber

messaging.nextel.com

phonenumber

your 10 digit phone number

If you don't know the phone carrier for the cell phone number you are attempting to call, you can try this universal service, Teleflip.com, that now provides this service. To use teleflip just email the SMS message to the following email address:

1112223333@teleflip.com

Just replace 1112223333 with the number that you want to receive the SMS message.

With this service, you no longer have to remember the complex email format that each individual cell company uses. Remember that many cellphone users are charged for incoming SMS messages... so be polite.

Another great upgrade to BlogJet...

Murray Gordon — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 03:05:00 GMT

I’m blogging about how great the blogging tool I’m using to create this blog with is to use to blog…

BlogJet has come out with another great upgrade.

Here’s the list of features:

Add images to your blogs using services like Flickr.

You can easily record your voice to your blogs

Add movies to your blogs using services like Flickr and UTube.

Great thumnailing features for your images so you can easily reduce the size of visible images and allow users to see the full image, if they need it.

Automatic posting of your attachments and images to your ftp or server that serves those files to users.

Full support for tagging!

Check the full list of features at the BlogJet website.

Cool auto-replace features that allow you to type “murray” and have it automatically fill in Murray. Very nice feature!

Another great feature is the indenting feature. Here’s a little example:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Simultaneous posting to multiple blogs. Great feature that allows you to post the same blog to all your blogs.

Finally, a clean looking and easy to use interface.

Another great tool from the guys at CodingRobots.com

Check it out. It’s worth it. I love it!

Purchase
BlogJet ($39.95)
BlogJet Family Pack ($69.95)

Upgrade
BlogJet (Upgrade ($19.95)
BlogJet Family Pack Upgrade ($34.95)

Thanks,
Murray

Tags: BlogJet, Murray, Cool+Blog

We, as a species

Murray Gordon — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:21:00 GMT

Are doomed: <http://www.neatorama.com/2007/01/22/ergopod-500-surf-the-internet-in-bed/>

Command Line Pointers for Windows Explorer

Murray Gordon — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:47:00 GMT

I compiled some pointers on calling Windows Explorer from the command line.

Command Line Pointers for Windows Explorer.

Thoughts on Bug Priority Levels

Murray Gordon — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:26:00 GMT

Bug Priority Levels:

Priority 1

If any of the cases true, then it’s a Priority 1 Otherwise, it’s a Priority 2

The tool hangs or crashes
Memory Leaks in working process/GC Handles
Data loss of any kind
Urgent issue that must be fixed right away (could be because of client priority/request)

Priority 2

If any of the cases true, then it’s a Priority 2 Otherwise, it’s a Priority 3

When a functionality or feature is broken, results or behavior contradicts with logically expected results and there is no work around available
Missing functionality
Bad user experience or interface issue
Poor performance with unacceptable response times

Priority 3

If any of the cases true, then it’s a Priority 3 Otherwise, it’s a Priority 4

When a functionality or feature is broken, results or behavior contradicts with logically expected results and there is a work around available.
Bug does not cause a bad user experience.
Bug does not block a good number of other test Cases

Priority 4

Cosmetic
Future item – something we’ve agreed needs to be done, but is of lowest priority

Priority 5

Suggestion/Question
Use if you are unsure if item is a bug or an enhancement
Items we have not agreed to do as yet – evaluation is required

If anyone has different thoughts on this, please let me know.

Thanks,

Murray

AJAX - the what, the why, atlas, and the future

Murray Gordon — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:36:00 GMT

AJAX

Though it’s simply a combination of relatively mature technologies, AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is emerging as a popular industry solution that allows developers to combine existing web technologies to create highly interactive and responsive web interfaces. AJAX as a technology has been around for quite some time, it is the name that is new. Microsoft’s Outlook Web Access is a good example of the technology in use, before it had a name. The name AJAX was coined by Adaptive Path in early 2005 (here's the original content on AJAX http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php). This simple acronym, combined with the highly visible implementation of the technology by Google (maps.google.com), has put a spotlight on AJAX. Also known as Out-Of-Band Callback, Asynchronous Callbacks or Load-On-Demand, AJAX can be a powerful tool in any Web developer’s arsenal.

The basic idea of AJAX is to open up a new line of communication between the client and server, where data can be transferred asynchronously, usually as XML. Since the data transfer is asynchronous, the UI on the page does not have to ‘wait’ for the transfer to complete. This allows the end user to continue to use the page as normal, while bytes are being transferred in the background. The combination of the client-side power of JavaScript and the structured data capabilities of XML give Web developers the ability to communicate with a Web server without having to incur the expense of a complete page postback.

Once the response is received by the browser, the developer is free to use and manipulate the data as needed. A frequent example of this is using client-side JavaScript to combine the XML results returned by the web server with DHTML to alter what the end user sees in the browser.

Why AJAX is Important

In today’s Internet world, speed is a key ingredient to building a successful presentation layer of your application. In addition, Web applications are becoming more complex, and in many cases require loading large amounts of data. Because AJAX allows you to split up your page into smaller portions of information that can be loaded and manipulated separately (without the need to reload the entire Webpage) end users are seamlessly receiving larger amounts of information and more robust pages. This is important because it provides the end user with a more familiar Windows – like, rich experience, without the very noticeable interruptions caused by postbacks.

“Atlas”

It has become common knowledge in Web development that the most powerful tool for creating rich behaviors in a Web Application is JavaScript. Since the first Infragistics release for ASP.NET back in 2002, JavaScript has been used in combination with CSS, to provide the full featured client-side functionality found in the Infragistics tools. Microsoft’s client-side framework, code named “Atlas”, not only provides a solid foundation for creating rich client-side behaviors but also simplifies AJAX programming in general.

When talking about AJAX programming, there are generally two concepts that can be employed. One concept is to use a container or wrapper, which will turn a normal PostBack into an AJAX Callback. The wrapper is used to provide generic AJAX behaviors to any control which is placed inside of it. Wrappers are perfect for scenarios where a group of controls require to be updated as a unit. Wrappers are also used in instances where a control itself does not have AJAX capabilities. In “Atlas”, the UpdatePanel is a wrapper, making it ideal for use in the scenarios described above.

In certain instances it also makes sense to build AJAX functionality directly into a specific control, instead of using a wrapper. An example of this is a LoadOnDemand feature such as that seen in the Infragistics WebTree, or WebGrid. In a load on demand scenario it is not necessary to update the entire control, as we are only interested in getting the ‘missing’ data. To best serve this scenario, the control will automatically request only the missing data, inserting it directly into the existing HTML. This technique allows you to leverage AJAX behaviors simply by setting properties on the control at design-time. With AJAX functionality built into the control at the feature level, you end up all of the benefits of AJAX, without having to write a single line of JavaScript. We like to refer to this technique as “No Touch Ajax”. For .net developers, there are libraries that exist that make AJAX easier and more intuitive. Check out ajaxpro.info for an XMLHttpRequest wrapper that allows you to pass actual .net objects instead of raw xml between client and server. Atlas also allows cross domain calls, that is how Where's Tim talks to weatherbug, yahoo traffic, flickr and all the other web API's.

Future Impacts

The sudden popularity of AJAX in the developer community has made it clear that this technology is ready for mainstream use. Each day, another clever use of this asynchronous communication pops up.

I hope you find this information helpful. AJAX is an exciting technology and worth the research from any .NET web developer.

Thanks,
Murray

p.s. Thanks to Tony Lombardo, from Infragistics for this awesome content. If you want to see the original article please check out the following link http://www.infragistics.com/resource/Technologies/AJAX/Default.aspx. I removed I lot of the Infragistics specific jargon. Also added Tim Hibbards comments and links to specific explanations of the technologies.

References:

Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org)
Infragistics WebSite (http://www.infragistics.com/resource/Technologies/AJAX/Default.aspx)
Ayman Farouk's Blog (http://geekswithblogs.net/aymanfm/archive/2006/02/04/68194.aspx)
Microsoft's Atlas Website (http://atlas.asp.net/Default.aspx?tabid=47)
Adaptive Path (http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php)

Snippet Compiler - Awesome Tool! - must have for any .NET Developer

Murray Gordon — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 16:27:00 GMT

Awesome Tool!

A must have for any .NET Developer!

Snippet Compiler has been out for over 9 months. Great for providing example code to another developers.

Very handy situations where you are quickly typing up a small amount of c# code and just want to do a quick compile to make sure it is syntactically correct.

Shown below is a look at its UI. You can use it to compile small snippets of console, winforms, and ASP.NET applications. Of course, it is not intended for full fledge application development - just code snippets.

It’s free and as light as notepad .

Download it here.

You unzip the file to the default directory it expects to create (“SnippetCompiler2DotNet2”).

Copy that dir to your “program files” dir. Run the exe.

You can create shortcuts for the app within the exe, in the tools

He has two versions of the tool. 2.0.8.3 for .NET 2.0 | 2.0.7.1 for .NET 1.1. So whether you're still in .NET 1.1 or a 2.0 developer you're covered.

Thanks to Jeff Key for provided such a stellar tool.

Murray Gordon
President, GC.NUG

www.gcnug.org

Great link for "Mashup" creation tools

Murray Gordon — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:14:00 GMT

8 mashup creation tools

If you are not sure what a “Mashup”, then here’s my little definition.

Mashups are lightweight and agile in two important ways. They rely on services that live on the WS-Lite end of the tolerance continuum, where recombination seems almost effortless. And they rely on AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) techniques to make deployment of responsive and richly interactive interfaces seem almost effortless.

Enjoy the tools. I know they made my lunch break exciting

More on MOM

Murray Gordon — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:37:00 GMT

What MOM Can Do for You:

•	Essential Tools for MOM Administration The MOM 2005 Resource Kit was recently refreshed and some handy new tools were added. Here's a quick overview of some of the best utilities that will help you get a lot more out of MOM.
•	Unlocking the Mystery of WMI Events in MOM Virtually every noteworthy Windows event generates a WMI event. Find out how you can monitor WMI events with MOM to provide an even more powerful solution for systems management.
•	Integrating MOM into Your Existing Infrastructure A solid monitoring solution must be highly available and it must integrate with existing systems. From fault tolerance to connectors, here's what you need to know for planning a MOM deployment that meets both of these requirements.
•	Monitoring Security Events with MOM Looking for ways to maintain regulatory compliance? Learn how you can use MOM Management Packs to monitor security events and report data as required by HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley.