Hardcode
Making it happen
Apple iPhone software
Jan 10th
What it would be really neat is OSX to automatically optimize the interface based on an app’s resources – for example convert the main menu items to icons on the bottom row that pop up full-screen lists corresponding to menu contents. This, coupled with the CPU to be PowerPC or x86 would be nothing short of impressive, giving the possibility to run all existing Mac apps.
On the other hand, existing OSX widgets will surely be able to run.
ASP.NET, Linq, WF, etc tutorial
Jan 6th
In the case you missed it, here’s an excellent tutorial on how to code an website with the absolute latest technologies available from Microsoft. Unfortunately it’s not as clean & simple as you may think – some nasty hacks are present and, guess what, ASP.NET is harshly criticized because of its speed & bandwidth usage.
Stencil shadows approximation
Jan 6th
A pretty much ok approximation for stencil shadows to render
faster is to render the shadow volume of a low-detail model (even the bounding
box). However this will darken the object as it will be in the shadow box – so
you will have to start the volumes from the back faces of the box (so the
object will be lit). There will be no self-shadowing but that’s not really
necessary, the lighting darkens enough.
Another point, this works only with the zpass algorithm and not
with the zfail one.
Ever Wondered What’s This ?
Dec 22nd
Well, I’ve solved the mystery: It’s a ferrite bead and it’s there for reducing / suppressing RF interference. Buy from here if you don’t have one.
Menu Window class
Dec 19th
Did you know that menus are windows actually ? Sometimes (especially when explorer is laggy) you may end up with a modeless visible menu – active on screen but not disappearing when clicking away of it.
Inspecting it with Spy++ reveals that the menu is nothing more than a normal window, having the #32768 (PopupMenu) class:
Microsoft Empower for ISVs
Dec 13th
Here’s a great deal: one MSDN Premium Subscription Media Kit and five user licenses at the membership fee of US$375.
Designed
to help you succeed when developing software on the Microsoft platform,
Empower for ISVs is a one-year membership with an opportunity to renew
for a second year, and it’s only available once per company
to help you succeed when developing software on the Microsoft platform,
Empower for ISVs is a one-year membership with an opportunity to renew
for a second year, and it’s only available once per company
Outlook 2007 reading pane
Dec 12th
Outlook 2007 renders e-mails with Microsoft Word rather than with Internet Explorer – you try using Spy++ to inspect the window class of the reading pane. While for Outlook 2003 it is Internet Explorer_Server, the new version has a _WwG class there.
Not only that, if you select a picture in the reading pane it shows the Word handles – you can even try to rotate it:
Not sure if Word is more secure than Internet Explorer 7 though 
Therion goes classic!
Dec 10th
Oh well, it was incredible! To my knowledge, no gothic band has ever performed along with two choirs, sopranos and a complete orchestra! Although I’m not sure how much the Romanian orchestra did like Therion’s music, they performed excellent!
Here’s a picture, credits go to Flavia:
Symbian send application via Bluetooth
Dec 7th
A very useful application for Symbian-based mobile phones must display a list of install Java apps and let the user send them via Bluetooth to nearby mobile phones. It’s well-known that FExplorer doesn’t allow this. Now I’m pretty sure that it’s the operating system that stops this – I will investigate and eventually start writing it.
