Gears of War certificate expiry a reminder to developers: always timestamp signed code

By tim, on January 30th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Users of the PC version of Gears of War have been unable to run the game since yesterday (29th January 2009). If they try, they get a message:

You cannot run the game with modified executable code

Joe Graf from Epic has acknowledged the problem:

We have been notified of the issue and are

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January 30th, 2009 | Category: microsoft, security, software, software development, windows | Leave a comment

Hands On with Office Live Workspace beta

By tim, on January 29th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

I was asked today: how can I share documents with a remote worker? This is a two-person business. There are a zillion and one solutions these days, but all have downsides.

Set up a server and VPN: fine when it works, but what to do when it fails? Backup? Maintenance and patching?

Google Docs:

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January 29th, 2009 | Category: cloud computing, internet, microsoft, windows | One comment

Adobe Flex community at odds over Fx prefix, lack of collaboration

By tim, on January 28th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Some members of the community around Adobe’s open source Flex SDK are fuming at a decision made by Adobe back in October 2008, to prefix the new skinnable components in the forthcoming “Gumbo” release with Fx. This means you can disambiguate old and new components such as Button without relying on namespaces. On the

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January 28th, 2009 | Category: adobe, flash, software development | One comment

More RSS madness from Microsoft – this time it’s Live Mail

By tim, on January 28th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Once upon a time I was enthusiastic about the “common feed list” in Windows. I thought there was all sorts of potential for sharing and synchronizing content across the network. When it was introduced, Microsoft called it the Windows RSS Platform, though it gets installed as part of IE7.

What’s curious is that even

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January 28th, 2009 | Category: blogging, internet, microsoft, windows | Leave a comment

Comparing digital snaps on a new camera and one five years old

By tim, on January 28th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

I purchased a Canon IXUS 400 in November 2003. Good camera (for my purposes); but the battery life has dwindled to the point of nuisance and I figured it was time to replace it. I bought a near-equivalent, the IXUS 80IS, for around half the price the 400 cost 5 years ago. I especially

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January 28th, 2009 | Category: multimedia, salesforce.com | 2 comments

Microsoft showing Silverlight 3 at Mix09

By tim, on January 27th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Looks like Mix09 (March 18-20) is the stage where Microsoft will reveal details of Silverlight 3 (is it really 3 already?). On the session list is:

What’s new in Silverlight 3 (Joe Stegman)

What’s new in Silverlight 3 media (Larry Olson)

Deep Dive into Silverlight graphics – come hear about the Silverlight 3 rendering

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January 27th, 2009 | Category: microsoft, silverlight, software development, web authoring | Leave a comment

Why are web sites still storing passwords? Monster, USAJobs blunder highlights the risks

By tim, on January 26th, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Sophos informs us that job sites Monster and USAJobs (an official US Job site) have been hacked. Messages on Monster and USAJobs confirm this. I’d like to draw attention to the fact that passwords were stolen:

We recently learned our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account data were taken, including Monster

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January 26th, 2009 | Category: security, software development, web authoring | 4 comments

Microsoft Expression Web causes PHP error

By tim, on January 23rd, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

I ran into a strange and surprising PHP error today. I’m working on a little PHP application which has a login page. The login script calls session_start() to start or resume a PHP session. It was working OK so I decided to decorate the page a little (I was working in Eclipse). I like

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January 23rd, 2009 | Category: adobe, eclipse, microsoft, php, web authoring, windows | 3 comments

Office Ribbon in Silverlight – amazing stuff from divelements SandRibbon

By tim, on January 22nd, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

I blinked when I tried the live demo of SandRibbon for Silverlight, from divelements. It looks remarkably like Office 2007:

The control is in beta, and promises:

All the commonly-used functionality of the Office 2007 UI is made available for you to use with this product, and most of the less common

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January 22nd, 2009 | Category: cloud computing, internet, microsoft, silverlight, software development | One comment

DRM-protected epub a good buy?

By tim, on January 22nd, 2009 Follow tim on Twitter

Someone considering a Sony Reader from Waterstones (a UK bookseller) asked me what I thought.

I haven’t tried the Sony Reader yet – it would be an interesting thing to review and I’ve heard good reports of its usability and readability. The snag for me would be that I’m already device-laden when out and

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January 22nd, 2009 | Category: adobe, drm, microsoft, sony | Leave a comment
 
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