Frank La Vigne

Del.icio.us Links for 5/14/2008

Frank — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:33:00 GMT

Greg Schechter's Blog : A Series on GPU-based Effects for WPF
Here's the Scoop: San Francisco to Turn Dog Poop Into Biofuel
CoD 4 Techno Mix
Song with only Call of Duty 4 gunfire sounds effects as the music.

That Says It All

Frank — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:32:00 GMT

Vikram Madan draws another cartoon that pretty much sums it all up.

Technorati Tags: Humor,Tablet PC,UMPC,Battery Life,Wizard of Oz

WPF Cream?

Frank — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:35:00 GMT

By now, you've likely heard of Silverlight Cream, a daily digest of all that's new and exciting in the Silverlight world.

Rob Relyea has started something similar for WPF and Silverlight.

Today's post is chock full of information.

Technorati Tags: WPF,Silverlight,Rob Relyea

VS 2008 Service Pack 1 News

Frank — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:21:00 GMT

Scott Guthrie posted a plethora of information on the upcoming Service Pack 1 release for Visual Studio 2008.

There's a lot of content in the post.

So read it several times to make sure you digest it all. ;)

Here are the WPF highlights, some of which were announced at MIX08 (emphasis added):

WPF Performance Improvements
.NET 3.5 SP1 includes several significant performance optimizations and improvements to WPF. Some of the specific graphics improvements include:
- Smoother animations
- Hardware accelerated rendering of Blur and DropShadow Bitmap Effects
- Text Rendering speed improvements - especially with VisualBrish and 3D scenes
- 2D graphics improvements - especially with z-index scenarios
- A new WriteableBitmap class that enables real-time and tear-free bitmap updates. This enables custom "paint"-style applications, data visualizations, charts and graphs that optionally bypass the default WPF 2D graphics APIs.
- Layered window performance improvements
WPF Data Improvements
.NET 3.5 SP1 includes several data binding and editing improvements to WPF. These include:
- StringFormat support within {{ Binding }} expressions to enable easy formatting of bound values
- New alternating rows support within controls derived from ItemsControl, which makes it easier to set alternating properties on rows (for example: alternating background colors)
- Better handling and conversion support for null values in editable controls
- Item-level validation that applies validation rules to an entire bound item
- MultiSelector support to handle multi-selection and bulk editing scenarios
- IEditableCollectionView support to interface data controls to data sources and enable editing/adding/removing items in a transactional way
- Performance improvements when binding to IEnumerable data sources
WPF Extensible Shader Effects
.NET 3.5 SP1 adds support in WPF for a new shader effects architecture and API that allows extremely expressive visual effects to be created and applied to any control or element within WPF. These shader effects support blending multiple input compositions together. What makes them particularly powerful is that WPF executes effects (including custom effects you build yourself) using the GPU - giving you fully hardware accelerated graphics performance. Like almost everything in WPF, you can also use WPF databinding and animation on the properties of an effect (allowing them to be fully integrated into an experience).
WPF Interoperability with Direct3D
.NET 3.5 SP1 adds support to efficiently integrate Direct3D directly into WPF. This gives you more direct access to the hardware and to take full advantage of the Direct3D API within WPF applications. You will be able to treat Direct3D content just like an image within an application, as well as use Direct3D content as textures on WPF controls.
VS 2008 for WPF Improvements
VS 2008 SP1 includes several significant improvements for WPF projects and the WPF designer. These include:
- Several performance improvements
- Events tab support within the property browser
- Ability to sort properties alphabetically in the property browser
- Margin snaplines which makes form layout much quicker
- Better designer support for TabControl, Expander, and grid computing
- Code initiated refactoring now updates your XAML (including both control declarations and event declarations in XAML)
- Go to Definition and Find All References now support things declared in XAML
The debugger has also been updated in SP1 so that runtime errors in XAML markup (for example: referencing styles, datasources and/or other objects that don't exist)

The more I work with WPF (it's been over a year now) , the more I love it.

I can't imagine how I worked with Windows Forms for so long. ;)

Speaking of WinForms, WinForms gets new controls in SP1:

Vector shapes (Line, Rectangle, Oval)
Printing controls
DataRepeater controls

Previously, I had heard that WinForms 2.0 was it for the technology and there was to be no new developments in the technology.

Has that changed? Or did these controls already exists?

The screen shot implies that these controls were part of a VB control package.

Technorati Tags: WPF,Visual Studio 2008,VS 2008 SP1,Scott Guthrie,WinForms

Del.icio.us Links for 5/12/2008

Frank — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:56:00 GMT

Coding Horror: XML: The Angle Bracket Tax
The post makes some interesting points, but XML's upside is still greater than its downsides. Plus, there's always ZIP compression to get rid of the bloat.
'Pirates' maker to turn 'BioShock' into film - Games - msnbc.com
Flow Diagram for Silverlight Cross-Domain Policy Checks

Del.icio.us Links for 5/9/2008

Frank — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:01:00 GMT

A Home Worth $2 Billion (Even in This Market)

Frank — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:23:00 GMT

Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, is putting the finishing touches on his new $2 billion home.

"Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively," the report said. "Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing 2 billion dollars."

It's good to be king.

[found via Guy Kawasaki's Twitter feed]

Technorati Tags: Mukesh Ambani,Mumbai,Real Estate

Making Your WPF Applications Speak

Frank — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:16:00 GMT

It's amazingly easy to add speech synthesis to WPF applications.

WPF's speech synthesis capabilities are often lost in the rich feature set of the platform.

Last year, I wrote a blog post about Speech Synthesis in WPF.

I thought it would be cool to write an Extension Method that encapsulates speech synthesis functionality, so that speaking would be as simple as

   1: string sayThis;   2: sayThis.Speak();

The code to make this possible is this simple.

   1: public static void Speak (this string text)   2: {   3:     SpeechSynthesizer synthesizer = new SpeechSynthesizer();   4:     5:     synthesizer.SpeakAsync(text);   6: }

Be sure to add a reference to System.Speech and add the appropriate using statement.

   1: using System.Speech.Synthesis;

Now if only Speech Synthesis existed in Silverlight. ;)

Technorati Tags: Speech Synthesis,WPF,Extension Methods

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

Frank — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:48:00 GMT

What if 24 took place in 1994?

This YouTube video definitively answers that question:

[hat tip to Scott Lock for sending this my way]

Technorati Tags: 24,Humor,Technology,1994,AOL

Del.icio.us Links for 5/7/2008

Frank — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:39:00 GMT

Some days you need Okami, not GTA IV - Video Games - Man Zero - MLive.com
Microsoft to sell TV shows for the Zune - Gadgets- msnbc.com
Finally!
Are we closer to a 'Matrix'-style world? - Frontiers- msnbc.com
You have to wonder if the program that runs the Matrix is actually GTA 7

New Deep Zoom Composer Update Available

Frank — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:37:00 GMT

The Expression team has released an update to Deep Zoom Composer.

Among the improvements (see screen shot):

Better Exporting

Improved Design Experience

Better Collection Exports

Better Help Experience

[found via Shawn Wildermuth]

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Deep Zoom

Blog Posts This Month

Frank — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:26:00 GMT

Given that I'm getting married later this month, the wedding.exe process is taking up more and more of my mental CPU.

It's quite amazing how much time (and money) organizing and executing a wedding can consume.

Here are some interesting statistics on the Wedding Industry:

The average budget for a wedding is estimated to be $20,000.
about $40 BILLION is spent on weddings every year in the U.S.
There are a few people around who believe this number is as high as $70 BILLION a year.

Think it's about romance?

Think again.

It's actually all about the Benjamins.

Technorati Tags: Wedding,Benjamins,Marriage

Del.icio.us Links for 5/3/2008

Frank — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:41:00 GMT

First Look at Popfly Game Creator Alpha

Frank — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:16:00 GMT

Adam Nathan and Suzanne Hansen discuss the Popfly Game Creator in this Channel9 interview.

Popfly Game Creator Alpha is available today, and it's a brand new tool for building 2D games in Silverlight that requires zero programming to build games.
How easy is it to build games? Well in this interview Adam Nathan builds three games from scratch including
- A Space invaders clone (3:15 - 23:55)
- A 2D car game that plays like "snake" (23:55 - 37:51)
- A 2D side scroller with a Ninja fighting rocket chickens (37:51- 55:04)

Hmm, I've got some ideas what do to with this technology.

Grand Theft Schnauzer, perhaps?

Or how about the Wedding Planning Marathon?

Players would have to gather wedding items (invites, flowers, etc) while dodging well-meaning, unsolicited advice.

[found via Alvin Ashcroft's Twitter feed]

Technorati Tags: Popfly,Silverlight,Casual Games,Game Development,Adam Nathan,Suzanne Hansen

Less Than a Month to Go

Frank — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:01:00 GMT

Holy Cow!

Less than a month to go until the wedding.

Technorati Tags: Wedding

Del.icio.us Links for 4/30/2008

Frank — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:02:00 GMT

Grand Theft Auto IV: Mini-Site: Bean Machine - GTA4.TV
GTA games have always included some social satire in them. GTA IV is no exception and takes on Starbucks.
Grand Theft Auto IV cheats, tips and secrets - Telegraph
Critics slam 'GTA IV' without test drive | Geek Gestalt - A blog by Daniel Terdiman - CNET News.com
Everyone has an opinion on GTA IV.

Strange Spam Behavior

Frank — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:43:00 GMT

In the past two days, I've gotten well over 200 "Mail Returned" errors to email addresses I've never sent emails to.

Each one of these emails has an attachment, which I'm sure contains a virus payload.

Anyone else seeing this?

Technorati Tags: Spam,Email,Security

More Silverlight Mobile Deep Thoughts

Frank — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:17:00 GMT

Previously, I posted a list of questions about Silverlight Mobile.

Here's one more I thought of since then: accessibility.

Accessibility comes to Silverlight in version 2, but is missing in 1.0.

That's a issue for a lot of people, but it could pose significant trouble for Silverlight Mobile.

Without the tab stops, focus, etc, how will Silverlight apps work on phones without touch screens?

This wouldn't necessarily be a show stopper, but it ought to make UI designers think very carefully about Silverlight 1.0 app design.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Silverlight Mobile

Del.icio.us Links for 4/24/2008

Frank — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:38:00 GMT

The first Starbucks recession - The Curious Capitalist - Justin Fox - Economy - Markets - Business - TIME
I go to Starbucks more often than I should, but today, after dropping $50 into my gas tank. I decided that I could make coffee myself for a lot less.
Truemors :: Cashing in Gold Teeth
Crazy
MiniMage Never Stops Talking Tech: Forget Wishing on a Star; Tweet!

Can You Break a Billion?

Frank — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:07:00 GMT

A $603 million fine? Ouch.

But this cartoon puts it into perspective.

On another note, I wonder if the EU would ever fine a company like SAP for having a monopoly/large market share on ERP software?

Technorati Tags: Bill Gates,Humor,European Union

Silverlight DevCamp Coming to Seattle

Frank — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:22:00 GMT

Kurt Brockett announces the newest city on the Silverlight DevCamp list: Seattle.

Get your Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend 2.5 March/April/May/June installs all squared away because come June 13th you want to be ready to rock for SilverlightDevCampSeattle!
We’ve set the date and gotten some interweb logistics setup and now it’s up to YOU as the community to help make this event rock. In BarCamp style this event is for you, by you. I’m here to help keep all our ducks in a row but it’s up to the attendees to make great sessions and up to hopefully some willing sponsors to help grease the wheels.
Email us at silverlightdevcamp@live.com if you’d like to help out and be sure to sign up on upcoming, participate on barcamp and most importantly bust out MSPaint and Expression Blend and do us up a proper SilverlightDevCamp Seattle Logo.

Hmm, I think I have some ideas for a logo. :)

I do have the Silverlight DevCamp banner and I'm excited to see it continue its cross-country journey.

You know I do have unused plane tickets to Seattle that I was going to use to go to the MVP Summit. ;)

[found via Walt Ritscher]

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Silverlight DevCamp,Seattle,Kurt Brockett

CapArea.NET Silverlight Meeting Recap

Frank — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:17:00 GMT

Pete Brown gave a great presentation last night on Silverlight at the CapArea.NET User Group.

Turnout was great and the crowd got really involved.

It's always nice to see people's eyes light up when they discover what Silverlight can do.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Pete Brown

Del.icio.us Links for 4/23/2008

Frank — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:11:00 GMT

Mobile banking gaining traction among younger customers - Yahoo! News
The mobile revolution is coming.
HD enthusiasts crying foul over cable TV's crunched signals - Yahoo! News
Thankfully, I have FiOS.
The market's worst is yet to come - MSN Money
US deep in debt and still digging - MSN Money
Hackers learn to download streaming Netflix movies - Download Squad
DRM really stands for Doesn't Really Matter.

Del.icio.us Links for 4/22/2008

Frank — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:04:00 GMT

Del.icio.us Links for 4/21/2008

Frank — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:14:00 GMT

Designer WPF » Blog Archive » How Do I Make a ListView or a ScrollViewer Left Handed?
Inked: A Passion for Ink - MSN Video
This is a cool show, even though they're not talking about the Ink I usually work with.