Andrej Tozon's blog

Wow! When I installed Lookout a couple of months ago I thought it was great having all of my emails indexed for instant access. And now comes this great tool from Google. First, it installs as its own web server running on port 4664. After that, it indexes some of your office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Email (Outlook, Outlook Express), temporary internet pages and AOL IM conversations. It even integrates into your common Google search page (http://www.google.com/) by adding the Desktop option on the page and including your desktop hits among the web results. Searching speed is just amazing. Very useful also for searching for the files you know you once downloaded from the web but cant remember which folder you have put them in :) As this is a beta product, I am sure they will add indexing support for even more file types in the future. Cant wait.

Other news Im excited about: Looks like Visual Studio 2005 is going to support C# Edit and Continue feature after all. Yes!

Gulosity... Synaesthesia... Schlimazel... Words like these mean anything to you? Sure, youve heard them, you have some vague idea of their meaning, but youd rather not go throwing them at people just like that Subscribe to one of the Word of the Day RSS feeds out there, just to be sure of what youre talking about. Expand your vocabulary. And knowledge.

1. http://wordsmith.org/words/, RSS

2. http://education.yahoo.com/college/wotd, RSS

3. http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/, RSS

I've got four (4) GMail invites to give away.

If you'd like to have one, leave a comment with a valid e-mail address and I'll send it to you. 

Every now and then I browse through my Amazon wish list and pick a few items I’d like to have. Three books made it to the latest package that arrived earlier this week: 

·        Steve McConnell's Code Complete (2nd ed.),  After reading so many positive reviews about this book I decided on getting a copy

·        Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light, a classic Sci-Fi novel, was also recommended to me

·        Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Baigent, Lincoln, Leigh). This one has been on my list for quite some time now. I’ve first heard the story behind Rennes-Le-Chateau about 5 years ago and took immediate interest in it. This book is considered one of the best on the subject

As a developer, I naturally started with Code Complete :). To find out more about this book, go see this interview with the author on MSDN TV. 

Microsoft released the RTM version of Windows XP SP2, which will be available through Windows update/Automatic updates service in the next few days. Because of the size (about 265 MB), you might also consider downloading the package through the TechNet XP2 Site or MSDN Subscriber Downloads.

I guess the most obvious changes you'll notice after installing SP2 will be the new Windows Security Center, improved Firewall and handy pop-up blocker. However, the SP2 focuses on stronger security and better manageability. Microsoft sees it as an essential security update, making this package a required install.

Check out the dotMSN Class Library, written in C#, which lets you use the MSN Messenger Service in your own applications. Provided example shows you its basic features, which include (taken from the site):

·        Connecting / disconnecting with the MSN Messenger service
MSNP8 protocol

·        File transfer

·        Fires events when contact go online or offline or change status

·        Automatically synchronizes contact lists and keeps contact data up to date

·        Create/Remove contactgroups

·        Convenient enumerating through contacts in different lists

·        Request or receive conversations

·        Multiple users in one conversation

·        Send messages

·        Received messages include information about font, charset, color, decoration

·        Privacy settings of the contactlist owner

·        Provides hotmail inbox status

·        Error handling

Related: Microsoft releases beta version of web based MSN Messenger – runs in your web browser, no need for client install… Cool!

Yesterday the net started buzzing... Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1 is released... Express family of VS 2005 products is introduced... MSDN Product Feedback Center is launched... All this revealed on TechEd Europe in Amsterdam.
The Express products are, as it says, »lightweight, easy-to-use, easy-to-learn tools for hobbyists, enthusiasts, and novices who want to build dynamic Windows applications and Web sites.« They are supposedly going to sell very cheap. The family includes VB, C#, C++, J#, WebDev and SQL Server express products.

While waiting to get my hands on its big brother, I gave a C# Express a try. It looks nice, feels good and the included RSS ScreenSaver Starter Kit really puts an extra touch to the package.