http://mattie.net/blog Blog on software development, philosophy, and general geekery. Thu, 31 May 2007 15:02:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Here's a silly video I created for a contest at work:     http://youdeliver.citrix.com/Play/tabid/79/pid/1112/Default.aspx Feel free to vote for it, because the top submissions get an iPhone.  Tools used: Second Life Sony Vegas I must have spent 15-20 hours on that video, primarily on sound effects. While working on this, I discovered that sound effects ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2007/05/31/using-second-life-to-create-movies In my ongoing quest to mimic Photoshop tutorials in Paint.NET, I decided to take another run at one. This time it was for creating an "out-of-bounds" picture in Photoshop where something seems to step outside of a picture. Here's what I was able to accomplish with Paint.NET:   http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2007/01/23/out-of-bounds-with-paintnet Over on digg recently I also saw a tutorial for creating a fake software box using Photoshop. I don't use Photoshop, but I do use Paint.NET. So I decided to try the same thing using that tool, which is one of my favorite free tools. There are a few features ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2007/01/20/eventscripts-software-box Over on digg, I saw a very Mattie-like script for GreaseMonkey/Firefox-- it's used to eliminate extra exclamation points on webpages. Using this, now I never have to look at web sites with painful exclamations. This is a comforting thought. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2007/01/20/im-not-the-biggest-fan-of-exclamation-points It seems there are a lot of things in this world that you ignore for years. Yet, once you discover them, they come full force and you aren't able to ignore it at all anymore. This happened to me while listening to Soul Coughing one day. (Stop reading if you don't ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2007/01/15/why-i-cant-listen-to-soul-coughing-anymore So, the .NET CLR is moving to XBox 360? I'm not sure what I think about that. What do you think about it? http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2006/03/20/in-which-mattie-links-a-discussion-on-the-net-clr-on-xbox-360 Using the Socratic method, it seems that you can teach third-graders to do binary arithmetic. Very neat. (Thanks to digg for the link.) http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2006/01/21/in-which-mattie-links-a-binary-teaching-exercise My friends couldn't stop talking about this today. Heh. News to me. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2006/01/15/23 PureText is a simple little tool that could save me hours of my life. I searched for it today before I began to write such a tool for the third time. Here's a summary by the author (the guy who writes DependencyWalker): PureText is basically equivalent to opening Notepad, doing ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2006/01/04/in-which-mattie-links-the-puretext-clipboard-tool Microsoft acquired FolderShare and made it free. If you use multiple computers, you'll surely like this. It's a painless way to keep specific folders on your machines synchronized. In addition, you can share the directory with invited friends if you want. It doesn't have the deadbolt-security feeling of GoToMyPC. ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/11/14/in-which-mattie-recommends-foldershare I must admit, I think I'm addicted to Sony Vegas. No, Vegas has nothing to do with gambling. Vegas has everything to do with digital video editing. I had heard great things about Adobe Premiere and the state of digital video editing, but the mid-range software is far better than ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/11/07/in-which-mattie-mentions-a-potential-new-addiction-to-sony-vegas I'm creating this post from the blog editor provided in the pre-release version of Flock, a new browser that promises to revolutionize everything. I'm not sure if it will do so, but it looks pretty snazzy so far. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/10/19/in-which-mattie-tests-out-posting-from-flock If you're looking for something to make you say 'Wow' today, take a look at Goowy. The email interface is beautiful, and it's all highly interactive. Even if AJAX turns out not to work wonderfully for online Office tools, this shows that Flash has a lot of promise. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/10/05/in-which-mattie-links-an-on-line-flash-desktop I just might have to buy a copy of c-jump some day. I'm not sure how useful it would be in teaching people to program, though. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/09/20/in-which-mattie-links-a-software-programming-board-game At the PDC, whenever a session is too full, they have overflow rooms where they beam the presentation and a video of the speaker. This is a wonderful idea and it's very useful for people who would miss their favorite session otherwise. It's almost as good as being there since ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/09/16/in-which-mattie-mentions-the-pdc-trick Today is the first day of PDC 2005. I'm here in Los Angeles with thousands of other developers listening to Microsoft's encouragement to develop on their new platforms. I'm taking some detailed notes with the free copy of OneNote they gave us. Kinda handy, but I'm not totally sold yet. Highlights ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/09/13/in-which-mattie-discusses-pdc-2005-day-1 I spent nine of the last twenty-four hours playing Cashflow 101. If you're unfamiliar with it, this is the educational game based on Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of financial books. The game definitely helps put certain things in perspective, but makes some of the investment options too easy. ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/08/26/in-which-mattie-discusses-a-financial-game Ever since I first started playing with WMI, I've been meaning to delve into it more. It seems like a very handy interface for manipulating and querying Windows machines. I just ran across the WMI Code Creator tool from Microsoft. This fellow will generate example code in C#/VB.NET/VBScript for all ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/08/22/in-which-mattie-links-microsofts-wmi-code-creator Earlier today I was thinking of writing a utility that monitors what applications you use regularly and lists them for others to see. Part of that would involve providing short descriptions and frequency of use into a socially-linked database. Well, part of that is already here. Take a look at MyProgs.Net. ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/08/16/in-which-mattie-links-social-linking-software-website A fellow put up a search engine for 100+ million lines of open source C/C++ code. I'm not certain how practical or useful such a site is, but it's certainly interesting to me. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/08/08/in-which-mattie-links-a-cc-search-engine Tired of commenting your code? Well, this customizable utility could do it for you. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/08/02/in-which-mattie-links-a-fictional-code-commenter In a translation I have of Seneca the Younger's letters, I found myself laughing at a note by the translator. Seneca has one letter in which he rants about writers who waste time on rumors and superfluous knowledge. The last line below represents the translator's footnote from the letter: ... To ... http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/07/30/in-which-mattie-admires-a-translators-intentional-omission A fellow by the name of Alexander Leon has put together some fairly compelling Mario Brothers flash movies. With a soundtrack and plot, even. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/07/29/in-which-mattie-links-independent-video-game-flash-movies Mark Russonivich posted a neat little description of how to kill all but the 'System' and 'csrss.exe' processes on Windows: Running Windows with No Services (This will not be useful for anyone who wants their machine to be usable.) http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/07/28/in-which-mattie-links-an-interesting-process-killing-article As you can probably see, I've installed WordPress and am testing it out as a blogging mechanism. Theoretically, it will work. It certainly looks nice. http://mattie.net/blog/index.php/2005/07/18/1st-post