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sbyte/byte vs. uint/intSo I'm pretty sure this design is on purpose, but I'm still wondering.. Why are all datatypes in C# by default signed (int, long, etc.) and that an unsigned type is being given by sticking a "u" in front (uint, ulong), except for byte? A byte by default is unsigned while sbyte is signed. It breaks consistancy. Theme Hospital to XBOX 360?Recently I've started playing Theme Hospital again (it's an awesome game, probably somewhere in the top 3 of my best games ever). I noticed it still has several small bugs (and one bug which I can't seem to resolve which is probably Vista related where the game hangs). Also, I want to mess around a bit with XNA (framework for developing games for the XBOX 360). So, I figured, why not try to create a port of Theme Hospital? It's a pretty "simple" game (no very advanced graphics or whatever).. and while I was at it, why not add some minor improvements (disclaimer: I haven't written 1 line of code for it yet)? So that's where it gets interesting. Which improvements would you like to see for Theme Hospital? I came up with the following simple additions:
Live.com public bindings projectAt the moment I've started a small project called the "Public Bindings Project" (living in the WindowsLive.Bindings namespace), which is basically a set of free and publically to use bindings for gadgets on Live.com and Windows Live Spaces. Bindings can be applied to objects using the methods in the Web.Bindings namespace/class, and are useful for recycling special UI elements.
I've only finished the spiffy Live button, but I'm in the process of creating several more bindings and then releasing it. The question is, which bindings do you want to see? I would value your input to see which things I should give priority (would you prefer to see a spiffy drop down box, or would you rather have cool check boxes?).
If you are wondering why I am doing this, it is basically because I think the Live.com team has put too little effort in exposing their UI elements to create a unified gadget experience. I've seen a ton of gadgets will all sorts of different UIs. It simply makes my Live.com page really messy. By creating free and easy to use UI bindings, I hope people will start using it to create a more consistant interface for their gadgets. Here's an IdeaSeeing as right now I'm all sleepy, busy with school and coding BOT2K3 I don't really have time to work on some ideas I've had over the past couple of weeks... So I decided to post some of the ideas here, so maybe someone else can take a look at them. Some might involve a bit of hackery, though, so beware.
Messenger Activities:
War Of The Roses ("Rozenkoning") -- A simple 2 vs. 2 board game with a nice twist to how the score is being computed. Unfortunately there is very little information on the internet about it in English (there is more information about it in German (Rosenkönig) and French (Le Rois des Roses) though).
Messenger Add-Ins:
Windows Live Q&A -- A simple plugin that helps the user with searching and askingn questions on Windows Live Q&A. A user should be able to search for questions, if nothing is found let them add the question to Q&A automatically, and perhaps some way to notify buddies that a new question was just posted by the user.
Windows Live Gadgets:
Windows Live Q&A "card" -- A card (much similar to the XBOX GamerCard) with some information about a users profile on Q&A. The users score, latest questions asked and answered.
Screen Estate Saver -- A gadget which allows docking of several gadgets inside of it to save screen estate. I e-mail dead people.Random rant: Don't you hate it when someone sends an e-mail going "hey, how are you, haven't spoken in a long time" and then when you send a reply you never hear back from them again. It's like they are e-mail zombies. Sigh. End of SummitWell.. The summit is over. It was pretty cool, even though I have a bit of mixed feeling about it. Anyway, all of it is under NDA anyway, so whatever we heard we can't disclose or discuss it.
I did get a bit of a clearer picture of what we can and can't do, etc. etc. so on hindsight, some things that I have "disclosed" over the past few months might not have been the smartest thing to do, but IMHO that is part of the "learning" process -- especially when dealing with a lot of grey areas where there are no clear rules to go by.
I'm also kind of in the process of finding a middle way between me being an MVP and being a Microsoft intern. Both have seperate NDAs, which sometimes makes everything more complicated than it should be. I'll figure something out eventually.
We've got a whole day for ourselves tomorrow, and then we're flying out on Saturday. Seattle, Day 2As some of you might know I'm in Seattle at the moment for the MVP Summit 2007. We (me, ZoRoNaX and Jeroen) arrived by plane yesterday. We waited for a couple of others to arrive, only to part again. We took the bus to our hotels (pretty cheap, only $1.25). Jeroen is staying in the Rennesaince (sp?) hotel, while ZoRoNaX and I are sharing a hotel room in the Westin Hotel (on 5th Avenue).
The weather is pretty sucky (rain, obviously.. this is the Seattle area afterall), but thank God it's clearing up a little now (at least it's dry). Today we went sight seeing, etc. First we walked around a bit, got lunch (or brunch, really) and then headed for the Space Needle with the monorail. The view from the SN was pretty good, although the view was limited (it was kind of foggy). After that we walked around the area a bit, and visited the Pascific Science Center (which is pretty cool, by the way).
Tonight we're having dinner with a whole bunch of MVPs and a couple of Microsofties. TV Series (2)I think I'm slowly becoming a TV addict. After my last post about TV series I currently watch I got a couple of suggestions.
First of all, I've finally downloaded and watched House. It rocks, I absolutely love the series, so during my break last week I watched all episodes that were aired up to now. Luckily a new episode today! I can't wait, heh.
I've also started watching Heroes, which is very cool. It's somewhat similar to The 4400, where everyone starts showing super powers. However, I think Heroes is somewhat better because it has some more humour, and has a bit faster storyline.. and hey, just way more awesome super powers ;-)
Besides Heroes and House I've also started watching American Dad. It's pretty good, but I still like Family Guy better (from the same makers) for it's type of humour used. Some also asked why I didn't watch the Simpsons -- Basically because I think the Simpsons is too repetitive. It's nice to watch a couple of episodes, but there isn't really a storyline in it (or not that I know of, anyway) so after a while it's more of the same old same old.
Now to find some series which are being aired on Monday, Friday and Saturday ... (-: Trust scanner drivers on VistaAfter my spectacular success with installing drivers for my parents PCTV card, I figured I'd give it a go for my scanner. Unfortunatly Trust does not offer Vista ready drivers for their scanners yet. I doubt they will.. Or, well, I doubt they will for my scanner -- It's a pretty "old" Compact Scan USB 19200.
Anyway, if you have Vista, and you want to use that scanner, you're out of luck, sort of. It requires a bit of hackery, again, to get it to work. First of all, get the real deal, and not those sissy drivers from the Trust website. I got mine from Driver Guide, which is a pain in the ass, but it'll do.
Update (9/30/08): An additional step is now needed to get the set up to work. Some have complained about it still being "XP-only". There is a reasonably easy work-around available. First, open the start menu and run "regedit". Go to the following path in the treeview: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. In the right hand side you will see various entries, one of them being "ProductName". Double click, and change the value to "Microsoft Windows XP". Remember to change this value back to the original when you are done with installing the drivers!
Now, boot up the program you just downloaded (it should be about 15 megs or so) in WinXP SP2 compatibility mode. Run through the setup. At a certain point you will reach the screen that says "yay it installed" and shows an option to add shortcuts to the start menu. Now, alt+tab out of the installation, and go to "C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Temp\". Select all the files that start with a ~ (you might need to enable the option to view system and hidden files). Copy them, and go to C:\Windows\Temp\. There, paste the files. This is to stop the installation from complaining about not being able to load a DLL. If you do not do this the drivers for the scanner will not work.
Contineu the installation and restart your PC (like the installation suggests). Now, plug in the USB cabel. Vista will find the drivers for the scanner, but it will probably ask you to verify them (because they are drivers for Windows XP, and they are not trusted). Click OK, Yes, I trust them, whatever the thing says. After that you will be able to use the scanner (I recommend you run everything that needs it in compatibility mode, though). |
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