Alivad.Com

No movement yet on my order with Integrated Wireless …

Date: 23 Mar 2007
Status: NOT SHIPPED
Items: 1 x Nabaztag/tag (Nabaztag)

Brilliant – http://compsci.ca/blog/full-xna-source-code-samples/

I’ve been interested to check out Microsoft’s new XNA game studio express. The main thing that has stopped me at the moment is that it only targets Visual C# Express – not any higher version of Visual Studio, like the Professional or Team Suite versions. The XNA team blogs explain why this is so, and so the design decisions they had to make can be appreciated.

I’ve already got Visual Studio 6, 2003 and 2005 on my laptop – but in order to get XNA game studio working, I’ll be installing C# Express tonight.

More useful links -

• The Nabaztag web services API
• Akyra’s brilliant Nabaztag control app
• Setting up a new Nabaztag

Earlier, I had expressed my wish for the Nabaztag to be available here, and happily, it finally is. Local distributors are now listed at www.nabaztag.com.au. I’ve ordered one from IW Distribution’s online store and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Now to work out how to program it! Here’s some early links which look useful – www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/investigating_the_nabaztag_wif.html and www.nabaztalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=332&p=1.

There must be enormous potential for a WiFi device that can communicate via voice, sound, colours and motions. What apps would you like to see on a Nabaztag?

Brilliant stuff – I definitely have to visit some of these!

Oh my! I’ve been tagged by Andrew Coates. (And before I begin, I have to express my sincere gratitude to Andrew for all he has done for the Newcastle Coder’s Group. He, and Adam Cogan, have been terrific.)

Andrew’s challenge, along with those who brought it to him, is to list five interesting facts about the particular blogger which others may not know. This helps add personality to a blog, discerning it further from a traditional news outlet.

Here goes …

1. I have degrees in Computer Science and Theology.
2. I was born in Singleton – at the time, a small regional township but now with its own Wikipedia entry!
3. I spent a year working as the Asia-Pacific troubleshooter for an international software company. The day I began with that company I flew over to Portugal for five weeks of getting to speed with their software. I then spent much of the year in Singapore and China. Not bad for a boy from Singleton!
4. Most people know I write for APC magazine, PCPP, the Australian, DevX, the PowerBuilder and Java Developer’s Journal, the Newcastle Herald and other publications. What may not be known is that I was first published when I was 16, and still in High School, back in 1988. I wrote for the Commodore Magazine for a couple of years. This was not, as you might think now, a car mag but was devoted to the humble Commodore 64! It was a Gareth Powell publication. It ceased but while at University I continued to write Commodore 64/128 pieces for Compute! and Compute!’s Gazette – two well-known American publications which are also long gone.
5. I founded a programmer’s user group in Newcastle, along with colleagues Peter Drew and Adam Van Dyck. The Newcastle Coder’s Group meets monthly and has a strong membership.

Now who to pass the torch onto? Let me get back to you on this …

Earlier, I wrote about a configuration issue I had where WordPress would display the wrong URL for next/prev page links – although it generated the correct URL for category links.

I had trouble persuading people on the WordPress forums, mailing lists and on their Trac site that this was a bug. I was really quite surprised even by some of the hostility I got. Happily, Westi took this on, and I look forward to a permanent resolution soon.

Using his knowledge of the WordPress PHP templates, I found where the problem is: the template function get_pagenum_link uses PHP _SERVER functions to query the web site’s path. This is a flaw as I had believed; the code should properly be using the blog URI as specified in the option settings.

I have made a temporary fix myself in my own instance of WordPress but I look forward to a permanent resolution being included in the release WordPress code itself.

Good news – Microsoft’s offer of a free TechNet Plus Direct subscription when purchasing exam insurance has now been extended until the end of April.

This is a genuine offer; I received my free TechNet Plus Direct subscription after taking an exam in January.

WordPress is a great app; there’s no doubt about it. But getting support is like getting blood out of a stone