Jeff’s Brain Dump

Blog Client- Windows Live Writer

Posted by Jeff August 14, 2006

I’m posting using Live Writer - a free blog client from MS. Download link is direct to an MSI installer file, which made my jaw drop. I declined installing the Live toolbar — whatever that is. The editor is really WYSYWIG - not just styled HTML, but shows the blog template too. Setup is easy - give it URL, username and password. It discovered my Wordpress blog without incident.

It supports categories but not Technorati tags - an essential feature. I suppose I can post as a draft, then add tags and publish from Wordpress, but that’s clumbsy. Maybe someone will do a plugin There is a plugin for Technorati tags.
Does it beat Performancing? Time will tell if it’s good enough to leave Firefox and launch another app. I doubt it.

An image, dragged from the file system. Let’s see if it works–

Image is from a t-shirt I’m working on. We can expect lots of terror going into the midterm elections. Orwell was ahead of his time — or did he write the blueprint?

JavaBlogs Search Needs Work

Posted by Jeff August 14, 2006

I recently did plugins to search Scroogle and JavaBlogs. But JavaBlogs search is less useful than I thought.

A search for Eclipse turns up 10,665 results. Those results seem random - from different times and blogs. What would be more useful? More recent results. Also a ranking.. is there anything like google’s pagerank? Ah, yes, the read count.
Ranking results by recency and read count would give much more useful results.

What do you think?

Firefox Search plugins — Scroogle, PythonDocs, JavaBlogs

Posted by Jeff August 11, 2006

Here are search plugins for JavaBlogs, Python documentation, or Scroogle. They install in the search box at the top of the Firefox window:

Click to install:

JavaBlogs: search javablogs.com

Python Docs : search python.org/doc

Scroogle : Google results without the cookies or search records.

To uninstall search engines, use SearchPluginHacks.  To right-click on text and invoke a search engine, I like SearchWith.

What your searches say about you

Posted by Jeff August 11, 2006

AOL has leaked a bunch of customer search data, and Rod points to an excruciating example, “Anonymous” User 711391.  Scary–  Essentially a longitudinal search history of the (wife? family?) providing an XRay view of marital woes and medical conditions.

Scroogle scrapes Google, while deidentifying your searches.   Although Google stood up to the feds, searches are still going into a database somewhere.  Default search providers and search traffic are a big deal.  Google search is default in Firefox, so it’s the path of least resistance.  I want to make Scroogle my default.

Windows installer for Nosy

Posted by Jeff August 09, 2006

I’ve done a Windows installer for Nosy. Nosy automatically runs tests when your code changes. Screencast Details
The NSI script language is powerful yet clunky, SuperPiMP™ technology notwithstanding. But it does the job.

Dump SWT Containments to text

Posted by Jeff August 07, 2006

I was having layout problems and needed to see know the size and dimensions of my widgets, so I whipped this up. Containment hierarchies are shown with indented text, so you get results like this–
Shell ‘MyWindow’ @154,203  size 400,400 GridLayout
   Composite @5,5  size 382,356 GridLayout
      Composite @5,5  size 372,346 GridLayout
         Button ‘Button1′ @5,5  size 362,336

Code is here.
This is probably reinventing the wheel. If you know a better tool (a la DOM inspector), please post a link to it.

Chris Messina on BarCamp

Posted by Jeff August 05, 2006

Chris Messina, creator of the BarCamp concept, explains it to a french journalist -

- Basically an open source conference
- Everyone is a participant
- Intensely local: local flavor
- BarCamp is a “communitymark”, can be used by anyone.
- Typical Fri night-Sun afternoon
- Sometimes people camp out.
- Serves a need: people connecting offline. Low cost, emphasis on participation.
- In opposition to traditional audience/lecture model
- Community will often emerge after Barcamp.. not just about the event, but what happens after.
- Initially Geeks in Silicon Valley - spread via wiki, flickr, blogs, IM. Early adopters used. Kept cost low.
- Future: wider, more diverse from the original. SWDev needs to go through reniassance - we’re more diverse, interdisciplinary.
- Build your own event: don’t have to wait for one. Interdisciplinary. Example: Winecamp. Geeks+Nonprofits - neither comfortable, no power/WIFI. Didn’t have things to make them feel “normal”.
- CaseCamp: Marketing. GodCamp: Universal Unitariants.. MashupCamp.. etc.
- Main idea: those who show up make a difference in the event.
- Barcamp has no pretension - everyone who comes is equally qualified to speak.
- Don’t really believe in experts anymore - “if you’re not providing value as a gatekeeper, get out of my way.”
- Useful: catalyzing conversation, new ideas, bringing out participiation. Accelerate knowledge-building and creation.

I should be better about keeping in touch with folks I met at BarCampBoston…

Movie - Little Miss Sunshine

Posted by Jeff August 04, 2006

Great movie - haven’t laughed this hard since 40 Year Old Virgin. See it if you get the chance.

Python and “the Nod”

Posted by Jeff August 04, 2006

Kathy Sierra writes about “The Nod” - the acknowledgement of another person’s good taste in making the same choices as you.

What does this have to do with programming languages? Programmers care deeply about language choice — How do python developers recognize each other?  There should be an obvious signifier - like a laptop sticker. The guy on the train might be a MOT (Member of the Tribe), too.

I’ve looked around on cafepress and see a few, but they’re the old logo. I want a sticker with the new logo.

Dealing with offscreen Windows

Posted by Jeff August 03, 2006

Windoze trick ahead, Mac/Ubuntu users commence giggling… now –

Ever have a window disappear on you? This happens to me a lot because I run a laptop intermittently connected to an external monitor.

Many programs don’t check windows against screen geometry when restoring position. Gobby is one of them.

Here’s the workaround:

• Do whatever should bring the window front.
• Type Alt-Space bar, then M. This invokes the system menu and the Move command
• Use the arrow keys to move the window.  If you see an outline appear from the side of the screen, you’ve got it. Hit Return to use that position