Recently, my WiFi router would stop working intermittently.

This was the fancy, new router which was built for performance. My wife and I are both geeks and our son is a young geek in training, who hates waiting for Sesame Street to stream.

A few weeks after replacing the old router, I was disheartened to see the new one breaking down so quickly. I began to ponder running fiber optic cables through the house.

Then I noticed two things: all my wired devices worked perfectly all the time and that this happened around the same time the new neighbors moved in. Were they the problem?

I started doing some troubleshooting and found out that there’s a simple command line utility to check for Wifi networks and their frequencies.  It’s built right into Windows, so you don’t have to buy anything.

Here it is: netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid

Run that from a command prompt and you’ll see al the wireless networks within range along with some metadata about each one.

Turns out that there was a Wifi network on the same frequency as ours. I changed our WiFi router to another frequency and suddenly, everything became reliable again.

What surprises me is that we have this problem where we live, given that homes around here are fairly spread out.

I wonder what folks in more densely packed areas do. There’s only a finite number of WiFi channels/frequencies. So, what do you do when they’re all in use? 

Once you create a Bit.ly link, you can’t change it – ever. A bit.ly url is written in virtual stone and can never be altered.

What if you wanted to great a short url at a moving target?

Not too long ago, some tracking URLs for work changed.

This was a problem, since I created catchy short URLs with bit.ly, shared them out and even printed up cards with those URLs.

Although I do understand their reasoning, I was not happy with the “never change” model of bit.ly.

This got me thinking about writing my own URL redirector and during an extended layover in an airport, I had the chance to write one. Keep in mind, this code is simple and not intended to be a bit.ly replacement. There is no tracking of URLs clicked or any kind of reporting.  I also hard coded the URLs rather than loading them from a configuration file, since these links will change annually or semi-annually and I only had a four hour layover.

Redirecting Links

The nice thing about bit.ly is that you can take a long link like http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200090962 and turn it into something short and meaningful like: http://bit.ly/Win8Tools

I liked that feature and wanted to emulate that. Remember, I’m hard coding these links and will rarely have more than five or six at one time.

The first thing was to add a custom route in my Global.asax.cs file:

        public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

            routes.MapRoute(
                "Default", // Route name
                "{urlCode}", // URL with parameters
                new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", urlCode = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
            );
        }

The above code adds a “greedy" route that will take over every request that comes in, which passes the first parameter into my Index method in my Home controller.

        public ActionResult Index(string urlCode)
        {
            string destinationUri = DetermineUri(urlCode);

            Response.Redirect(destinationUri);
            ViewBag.Message = destinationUri;

            return View();
        }

In my case, I’m deploying this to it’s own directory onto FranksWorld.com and I don’t mind if the route takes over everything. In fact, that’s what I want it to do.

Given a set of constants:

        public const string AZURE_SDK = "http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200083057";
        public const string AZURE_FREE_TRIAL = "http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200083060";
        public const string PHONE_SDK = "http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200083063";
        public const string WEB_MATRIX = "http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200083066";

I parse the parameter like this:

        private string ExtractLink(string lowerCaseUrlCode)
        {
            string defaultLink = "http://www.franksworld.com/";

            if (lowerCaseUrlCode.Contains("matrix"))
            {
                return WEB_MATRIX;
            }

            if (lowerCaseUrlCode.Contains("90"))
            {
                return AZURE_FREE_TRIAL;
            }

            if (lowerCaseUrlCode.Contains("azure"))
            {
                return AZURE_SDK;
            }

            if (lowerCaseUrlCode.Contains("phone"))
            {
                return PHONE_SDK;
            }

            return defaultLink;
        }

So all of these point to my WebMatrix link.

• http://www.franksworld.com/Go/TryWebMatrixItsFree
• http://www.franksworld.com/Go/WhatIsWebMatrix
• http://www.franksworld.com/Go/Matrix
• http://www.franksworld.com/Go/WhatInTheWorldIsWebMatrix

If the links change, just change the destination link in the constants. I was about to drop that into the web.config file, but that’s when my flight started boarding.

If you’re thinking about Open Government data (or writing a Windows 8 app that uses open data), then here are seven more sites to add to your list of data sources.

1. POPVOX
   POPVOX tracks all of the bills in Congress, and how members vote. If you sign up and give your information, the site will track how your representative and senators vote on bills.
   
2. OpenCongress
   Here’s a fantastic tool for paying attention to Congress, despite its editorializing, OpenCongress also lets you follow the money trails by industry sector
   
3. Poligraft
   Give Poligraft the text to an article, press release or blog post, and it will provide an "enhanced view" of the people, organizations and their relationships. For example, enter the URL to a political story, and it will filter the story for points of influence, campaign donations and individuals referenced in the story.
4. OpenSecrets.org
   The OpenSecrets.org site is a treasure trove of information for tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics.
   
5. MuckRock
   Ever thought about filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request? The folks over at MuckRock have. In fact, they've filed more than 1,000 requests and received more than 30,000 pages of government documents.
   
6. Federal Register
   Want to see what executive orders are coming from the White House, or rules being proposed by federal agencies? Then you'll want to take a look at the Federal Register. The U.S. government posts notices, proposed rules, rules taking effect and "significant documents" for public inspection.
   
7. Follow the Money
   Finding out who's spending what, and how.
   

[found via ReadWriteWeb]

I love infographics,but their popularity and proliferation has led to the creation of watered down creations.

How do you know a bad infographic? ReadWriteWeb has come up with a list of Six Reasons Why Most Infographics don’t cut it.

To save you time, here’s the list:

1. Doesn’t Visualize Data
2. Too Company Specific or Promotional
3. Ugly Graphics
4. Too Short or Too Long
5. Requires Flash
6. Doesn’t Cite Sources

Read the whole article for insight into each bullet point.

In case you haven’t heard, SkyDrive’s free storage limit is changing to 7GB from the current 25GB.

If you’re already using SkyDrive, you can keep your 25GB, but only if you claim the loyalty reward.

• 1. Go to skydrive.live.com
• 2. Login to your Hotmail or Live account
• 3. You’ll see the following message (circled below)
• 4. Click on the link in the message
• 5. Select “Free Upgrade”

A Windows Phone 7 makes a cameo appearance in the music video for “We Are Young.”

The Pew Center on the States launched the Voting Information Project (VIP) initiative in 2008 to become the 21st century transmission line between election offices and voters. VIP answers voters’ most common questions -- things like “where do I vote?”, “who is on my ballot?”, and “how do I navigate the voting process?” The project makes official information available in places where voters are looking for it, whether online or on their mobile devices.

Now, in this hot-button election year, Microsoft has partnered with Pew to host a VIP Hackathon and invites you to roll up your sleeves to help make a difference. On April 30, 2012, join Pew, Microsoft, the Sunlight Foundation, and many others to unleash the potential of this amazing and timely collection of civic data.

What tools do you need to be a better citizen? What app would get your friends out to the voting booth? What data would benefit your local board of elections? Come mash, hack, and mind meld with other civic hackers and problem-solve these and other exciting questions.

For more information on the Voting Information Project, head here . Itching to get started? Register now!

[found via Public Sector Developer Weblog]

All the buzz around the app economy so far has been focused on consumer facing apps. Here’s a thought provoking look at the app economy from the point of view of small businesses in the form of an infographic.

[found via AllTop]

After a while using Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8, it’s easy to get frustrated at other UI paradigms on other platforms.

To capture this frustration, I created a little meme.

Tomorrow is the Metro Accelerator Lab in Chevy Chase. You can register here: http://aka.ms/MetroLabCC.

This event is your chance to sit down with Windows 8 Metro app experts to help take your idea from concept to a workable prototype.  You do the code, we do the coaching.

Here are some other things I’d like to clear up about the event.

MC Hammer will not be there,

but DevHammer will be

Miami-based rapper Pitbull (aka Mr. 305) will not be there.

However, Maryland-based developer evangelist Frank (aka Mr. 301), will be there.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

See you at Chevy Chase!

Security breaches get a lot of press. This infographic takes a closer look into the state of IT security.

[found via AllTop]

Thursday, April 19th @ 7PM at 2300 Wilson

Follow us on Twitter => @SilverlightDC

Creating Windows 8 Metro Apps in JavaScript/HTML5

Frank La Vigne
Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 7:00 PM

Where: 2300 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA [map]

Everything web developers must know to build Metro style apps.
Learn how you can use your web skills to build Windows 8 Metro style apps. In this session you’ll discover how to harness the rich capabilities of Windows 8 through JavaScript and Windows Runtime.

You will learn about navigation, user experience patterns and controls, inherent async design, and the seamless integration with the operating system that will let you create great Metro style apps.

Go ahead and download the tools and you can play along too http://frnk.us/Win8Tools

If you ask nicely, Frank will event tell you the secret URL to get into the Windows Store early!

Speaker Bio:

Frank now works for Microsoft as a Public Sector Developer Evangelist and Windows 8 champ. He blogs regularly at www.FranksWorld.com.

Frank La Vigne has been hooked on software development since he was 12 when he got his own Commodore 64 computer.

Since then, he's worked as developer for financial firms on Wall Street and in Europe. He has worked on various Tablet PC solutions and building advanced user experiences in Silverlight and WPF. He lives in the suburbs of Washington, DC. He founded the CapArea.NET User Group Silverlight Special Interest Group. His Silverlight 4 was the first Silverlight 4 book on the market.

Think about this puzzle for a moment.

The real question is: what happens when you pig out on Angry Birds candy? Does the universe implode?

Someone sent me this over IM and it’s too good not to share.

In my last post about the Metro Accelerator Lab in Chevy Chase next week, I didn’t notice how out of place the choice of stock photo was.

Of all the options available, this was the best one? Seriously?

How about this:

Chevy Chase. Get it?

Do you have an app idea? Are you working on an app and you’ve hit a wall, then come to the Metro Accelerator lab next week at the Chevy Chase Microsoft office.

Seating is limited, so register now.

Please join us for a special, event that you simply don't want to miss – the Metro Accelerator Lab. This is your chance to dig deeper into the latest versions of Windows (code name: Windows 8) and Windows Phone and gain all the knowledge you need to immediately start (or finish) building beautiful, fluid and immersive Metro style Windows and Windows Phone applications.

In this FREE, three-day developer event, you’ll get expert help building, testing and deploying your Metro style apps, as well as guidance on how to make money in the Marketplace. Experience step-by-step advice from Microsoft and community experts and one-on-one technical assistance. Come for an hour, or all three days. Bring that app you've been tinkering with, or a new idea that you're eager to build and we’ll help you get well on your way to releasing that killer app to the world.

We'll also help you understand the steps needed to get your Windows 8 Metro style app into the Windows Store.

We’ll have Windows Slate and Windows Phone devices available on site so you can see exactly how your app will run. And of course, there’s always a chance we’ll have a few to give away during the course of the event.

Agenda (subject to change)

• 9:00am: Arrival and Registration
• 9:30am - 1:00pm: Open Lab; 1:1 Meetings
• 1:00pm - 3:00pm: App Pitches & Giveaways
• 5:00pm: Closing Remarks/Event Ends

Seating is limited and registration is not guaranteed. Secure your spot today!

Prerequisites

You must bring a laptop/notebook computer for development loaded with these prerequisites:

• Windows Phone SDK
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview
• Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8

Register at http://aka.ms/MetroLabCC.

An interesting report and infographic from Gyro about the “@ Work State of Mind.”

[found via AllTop]