Welcome to Bruno's Space: Technology Stuff...

Dev Fishing for Photos on Spaces...

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:04:22 GMT

Many of you that know me, also know that I rarely post entries about what's going on with Spaces. Typically, I manage another blog at http://spacesplatform.spaces.live.com where I will occasionally post some info about how to do things programmatically using Spaces APIs, Feeds, and Gadgets. However, Joe Healy (AKA "The DevFish") recently posted a blog entry about programmatically retrieving photos from your space using RSS, and graciously supplied a link to my space. So, I thought I should post something that might help augment the cool stuff that Joe is evangelizing to the dev folks down in the land of the "hanging chads", sunny south Florida.

First off, I am really excited to see Joe driving folks to Spaces. This service has some really great things to offer, and it's only getting better. So, thanks for that Joe. As I elluded to, I work on developing APIs and other developer integration vectors for Spaces. We came out this year at Mix07 and started talking about basic ways to integrate with our service, but quite honestly, we are barely scratching the surface at the moment. However, that doesn't mean you can't do some cool stuff now. Here are a few things that are currently available...

Scott Lovegrove, for example, recently developed a cool aspx page handler that aggregates the comments from your Space. He made his project available on CodePlex for other devs to party on...

There are also a number of other Spaces related projects on CodePlex:

Gadgets: http://www.codeplex.com/WLSGadgets

Maps: http://www.codeplex.com/spacesmaps

Live Writer photo plugin: http://www.codeplex.com/WLSPhoto

Beyond that, there are over 750 gadgets available in the Windows Live Gallery that people have built already... and that is not including Vista side bar gadgets that use Spaces RSS feeds...

So, if you happen to be stopping by after reading Joe's post and are interested in jumping on the Spaces bandwagon... send me a message or leave me a comment if you have any questions about getting started.

Connectivity retro fit...

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:32:38 GMT

Today began the connectivity retro fit in our house... Phone and Internet today, TV tomorrow. As was to be expected, no change like this goes off without a hitch. So far, the isues have been minor, but one in particular I thought worthy of sharing. To set the stage for you, I should mention that networking is not my strongest skill... far from it in fact. So when I started to replace my cable modem with my DSL modem, I immediately noticed some issues. For starters, they sent me a modem that also functions as a router which of course establishes an immediate incompatibility with my wireless router. Afterall, you can't have two DHCP servers connected to each other right... especially when both are set to dish out the same IP ranges. A quick investigation on the telco provider's website, and the modem companies website turned up nada... so I was basically on my own. A couple of failed attempts and a 60 minute stress break later, I had it figured out.

Basically, if you want to get a similar configuration up and running, you will need to start by disabling DHCP on the modem/router. Then, you have to reconfigure the wireless router to connect using PPPoE (once you have connected the modem to the router via ethernet). So, the DSL modem gets itself connected to the Internet (after you supply the right credentials) and the Wireless router connects itself to the Internet via the PPPoE connection to the modem. So, now I am back in business. I learned a couple of things along the way, and realized (again) that I really need to get a good book on networking. If you know a good book that covers the idiosyncrasies of networking, please do leave me a comment with the title. :-)

Tomorrow... TV.

Cable out... Satellite in.

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:45:42 GMT

By the end of the week, I should have a new phone, Internet, and TV provider. You have probably realized from reading this, once I get my mind set on something... it's on. As it turned out, I was able to get a much better deal through the phone company for all three services than I had with cable. I am not sure how I will feel about satellite TV... after living with cable for so long, in a way, I am a bit nervous. I have read that the Dish Network has won awards for customer satisfaction. I think that is more than I can say for the cable companies out there. At least with Satellite I can get TV if the power goes out again! We shall see... stay tuned. No pun intended.

Cable is not what it's cracked up to be...

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:23:10 GMT

I have been thinking more and more lately about switching away from cable. Currently, I am running cable TV, Internet, and Phone. I have always been a cable TV guy, and I have been using cable Internet for going on 6 years now. The phone service is something new, but I think I am finally at my wits end with all of it. Although, there is this part of me that is nervous about going into a contractual agreement with a satellite provider, the one good thing is... the price doesn't change. So, what put me over the edge you ask? Well, here's the situation.

I started out paying about $88 a month for digital cable, "high speed" Internet, and VOIP phone service. Over the first 6 months, my phone service suffered from a 75% success rate. While it was great getting unlimited domestic local and long distance for ~$30 a month, if you can't actually talk to people successfully, then you really aren't benefiting from the service. Then there is Internet... "high speed" as they call it. At a whopping ~145Kb/S download speed, surfing the net is almost as fast as watching paint dry. I mean, they talk about "powerboost"... what does that get me, 160Kb/S?? Cable TV is about the only technically sturdy leg on this three-legged stool. But after 6 months, they jacked up the price on me... from $88 to $158. It was barely a deal at $88... for $158, I am going to start shopping.

So this week, I will start exploring DSL and Satellite. At this point, I am just seeking a stable, reliable, and useful service at a reasonable price. Now don't get me wrong, $88 is a steal. I am much more likely to be in the $150 range for these services combined... Let's hope I can find something that just works well, and isn't full of surprises like cable. More to come...

Fun with JPEGs on the fly...

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 06:28:47 GMT

This is a site that I pass by from time to time when I want to fool around... if you have ever driven down a country road in the south, you are likely to see a church with a lighted sign out front delivering a message to the community about some upcoming events, etc. It's kind of fun to think about what it would be like to be the guy that decides what to put on the sign.... Check it out, the link is in my favorites... go make your own.

VOIP... cool... but...

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 03:20:30 GMT

So when we moved into our new place I got to thinking about the usual standard services: phone, tv, internet, etc. The reason I call them standard is because in today's day and age... they are, well, standard for those who can afford them... and affording them can be challenging. I decided to go with a bundle package from a provider whose name I will leave out <explanation later>. Its a good deal really, digital cable, internet (really fast too), and VOIP phone for about $80 a month. Back in Florida I was getting raked over the coals for just a telephone at nearly $70 a month... forget about Internet, Tv and the other stuff. So this seemed like a good deal.

Admittedly, I am usually not what the marketers would call an early adopter per se. I do adopt fairly early, but usually after its pretty commercial, so I know the support is in place. That said, I am now on my 2nd service call in two weeks with the VOIP phone. When it works, it rocks... but if they have some infrastructure problem, your a*s is in the breeze. Naturally, this happens... most people just take for granted that stuff over the "wires" just works all the time. Truth is, there is some network guy somewhere sweating bullets while he is swapping out a critical backbone router that his company was too cheap to fail over. Hence, I believe this must be the problem. I mean, things go out... lines get cut by construction, etc... but clearly the problems I am having are IP traffic related. When the voices crackle on the other end, and sound robotic... you just know there is some router or switch somewhere that is dropping packets... well, at least that's how techies think about the problem.

So, to sum up... VOIP... cheap, cool, but requires a good deal of patience still. Maybe if this keeps up, I will try another provider...

<explanation>... The reason I prefer to leave out vendor names from my gripes is because I don't believe this is a forum to form an opinion on a particular vendor... crap happens and there is always someone with a better mousetrap. Besides, in this case they kicked me back a credit. :-) </explanation>

Strangers in the night... exchanging WiFi...

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 06:48:07 GMT

Just a quick shout out to the person who is currently supplying me with hijacked WiFi.... you are definitely soothing my need for connectivity, but damn.... secure that network dude! What can you say... apartment living has its benefits! I actually have my choice of 5 unsecured networks right now... and I am thinking there must be some techies in this complex not paying a red cent for internet...

At any rate... thanks for the free ride.

It's good to see PDA's at work...

Wed, 17 May 2006 03:33:22 GMT

So the moving company sent a representative to my house today to estimate the weight and packaging needs of the relocation. Amazingly enough, the guy took care of the whole thing on his HP PDA running what else but Windows Mobile. It's good to see companies embracing the power of mobile computing...