Corner of Seven

Found on http://www.makinggoodsoftware.com/

As everyone is quite aware, Apple’s release of their tablet, now known as the iPad, was announced yesterday.  With their own System-on-a-chip processor, near-10″ screen, and storage sizes ranging from 16-64 GiB, these pieces of technology are impressive at their price point, even for a non-macHead.

However, the overwhelming response to the announcement yesterday was that of its name: “iPad.” Throughout the afternoon, the 2nd-highest trending topic on twitter was ‘iTampon,’ a not-so-subtle play on the name. Many jokes set in along the same lines:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/alissa-walker/designerati/apple-ipad-name-not-winning-women

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/the-ipads-name-makes-some-women-cringe/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094304575029603030082186.html?mod=WSJ_Small+Business_sections_management

This led people to question: “Who in their right mind would use this name?  Especially considering this MADtv Clip?”

Others: “Were there NO women on Apple’s naming board?”

Personally, I think Apple knew EXACTLY what they were doing.  It thrives off of the idea that “any publicity is good publicity.” Everyone now has the name iPad stuck in their mind, even if it was because they heard it in a joke somewhere.  They know what the device is, and they knew about the MADtv sketch.  As these things get passed around more and more, it will create more interest in the actual device.

On top of that, Apple’s fans are the some of the most extreme technology followers, even worse than Stallman, et. al. in the GNU/Linux world. These people, who would buy the device anyway, coupled with the tech world, who is actually impressed with the functionality, makes me think that even with the interesting choice of name, they’ve still got a hit on their hands.

Let’s assume for the sake of presenting this, that you have a copy of SQL server Express 2008, and Visual Studio 2008. Not that this is the only system you can run DNN on, but the only one I’ve ever tried doing this with. Once finished, we will have an instance of DNN running, and the default compiled module, with a LINQ Data Access Layer added in Part 3. Thanks to Mitchel Sellers for his description on how to build DNN modules here: http://www.mitchelsellers.com/blogs/articletype/articleview/articleid/179/developing-a-c-wap-module-in-dnn.aspx .

1. Get a copy of DNN. We can’t really use it without getting it, now can we? From this page, pull down the Visual Studio starter kit. After installing, you should be able to build DNN sites and projects from Visual Studio.
2. Create a new Web Site project. Open up Visual Studio, and create a new Web Site project (WSP). Make sure that ‘Visual Basic’ is chosen as the language (don’t worry, you won’t have to write much VB), and choose ‘DotNetNuke Web Application Framework’ as the project type. Give it a place to live, and verify that everything looks right:
3. Build. The site comes ready to go out-of-the-box, so either hit ‘Start without Debugging’ from the ‘Debug’ menu (thanks VS), or press Ctrl+F5. After building, a browser window will pop up, and you will be face-to-face with the DotNetNuke Installation Wizard: Click on the “Auto” option to have the site automatically set up a SQL Server database file, and default administrator and host user credentials. NOTE: If you don’t have the “Auto” option selectable, because of a SQL Server error (it’d show up in red on the bottom of the screen), something’s up with your sql server install. Either hand configure your server (outside the scope of this tutorial), or fix SQL Server (also outside of the scope of this tutorial).
4. Open a new instance of Visual Studio. There might be a better way around this, but I haven’t found it yet. The instance holding our web site project needs to stay up, so we keep the web site running.
5. Create a new Compiled Module Project. In our new instance of VS, go to ‘File -> New -> Project…’ Pick your preferred language (I’m going with C#), and under ‘Project Types:’, select “Web.” In the ‘Templates:’ window, under My Templates, select DotNetNuke Compiled Module. Give the module a meaningful name. IMPORTANT! Follow these next steps TO THE LETTER, or this doesn’t work. Make the project’s location point to the DesktopModules folder inside our web site, and DESELECT the checkbox that says ‘Create Directory for Solution’. It should look something like this: Finally, Create the solution by pressing “OK”.
6. Run the database script. One of the files created along with the rest of the Compiled module project (or WAP project) is ‘xx.xx.xx.xx.sqlprovider’, where the xx represents a version number. This script generates the SQL tables and stored procedures for handling the new module. We need to run this so our Data Access Layer has something to access. In the web site, log on as host, with the default username and password ‘host’ and ‘dnnhost’. Once logged in, go to the host menu, and find SQL. Copy the contents of the sqlprovider file, and paste them into the text box. Important: check the box below the text box that says “run as script.” This allows DNN to replace generic pieces in the script with their specific counterparts provided by DNN. Run the script by pressing ‘Execute.’
7. Install the module. In the website, go to host->Module Definitions. From here, at the bottom of the page, there should be a link that says ‘Create New Module’. Click that, and this menu pops up: in the Dropdown, select ‘Manifest’, and the page will reload, with more options. Under Module folder, select your module, and the page refreshes again. a modulename.dnn file should be in the ‘resource’ dropdown. Hit ‘create module’ to put the module into your website.

Hope that this helped anyone needing it.

After reading this post on LifeHacker, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I should start doing something like this.  I mean, it works for Jerry Seinfeld, it can’t be all that bad.

Basically, as described on the link above, the idea is that you keep a daily calendar of all the specific goals you want to accomplish.  Every time you do something related to a goal,  mark off the day on the calendar.  Once you have a few days consecutively, that is a chain.  The object of this motivational strategy: Don’t Break the Chain. Seems like a simple enough thing.

In the spirit of bringing in new ideas in order to make things work, I’m going to use a modified schedule, but the chain still takes effect.  Different days for me will be devoted to different goals/tasks.  Mondays and Thursdays I tackle some Ruby code, so I can stay fresh and learn about some of the newer developments that I’ve missed, having been out of the Ruby loop for a while.  Tuesdays and Saturdays are devoted to Corner of Seven.  That’s right, you might actually see more blog posts. In addition, I’m looking at building new and experimental pieces onto the domain, including rails and Java webapps, and playing around with php and python, so I can apply these to the blog, and keep the site as a form of digital portfolio.  All of my things will be up here, so it makes it more centralized.

Motorola Droid

Finally, the big hurdle in my calendar, and what is to be the biggest chain – Android.  I’ve been looking at the mobile phone operating system for a while now, but haven’t had the drive to fully enter in and create things for it.  That is, until I saw (and afterwards, held) one of these.So, starting today, once a day I will try to do something new in terms of Android development, in an effort to increase my skill and knowledge in the mobile OS.  Hopefully we’ll get to see some neat little apps come out of this “Don’t break the chain” mentality.  Hope you’re along for the ride – I guess we’ll see come every Tuesday and Sunday.

Cheers for now.

I’ve found a place to work, and it’s right around where home is.  I’m currently working as a contractor on the Rock Island Arsenal, as a contractor through a company based in Virgina called Sysorex.  Essentially, I’m reviewing and cleaning up code written for a transportation system.  Outside of that, Rhythmbox EQ has found a more permanent home over at Google Code: Check it out here to see it in all it’s new, shiny, google-fied glory.

Outside of that news, not much new going on here.  I’m single again, as Laura has decided she no longer feels anything for me.  I’m still a bit pissed off about the whole thing… it doesn’t seem like she’s losing much out of the arrangement (her parents never really liked me anyway, to the point of her dad saying that he wouldn’t come if we got married), where it’s been the second time I’ve contemplated giving her a ring.  Hooray for putting too much emotional attachment on something that doesn’t work.  But, in the process of that recovery, I’ve found a fantastic music group and group of friends that I couldn’t have ever imagined.  Toting the name I Fight Dragons, their music is part rock band, part 8-bit NES game, all crazy fun and awesome rolled together.  I suggest heading over to theSixtyOne and listening to them.  I’ve gone to one of their concerts, and am planning on going to another one at the end of this week. I’ve also made lego figurines of their 8-bit caricatures; some of the results of that:

Packy - Guitar, NES

Dave - Drums

Bill - Plays what I refer to as the "Octo-pod"

Laura - Vocals and Controllers

There are two more of the band members, Brian and Hari.  I didn’t forget them, I just ran out of legos.

I do need to get on here and put up some more things on occasion; I just don’t always have something to talk about, and so things get lost in the process.  I was humbled when I realized this comic was talking about me: http://xkcd.com/621/.

Have a good day, and I’ll catch you guys on the wire sometime.

Update: Today RBEQ 1.3 was released.  Find it on the google code page.

Yes, a month plus later than expected, RBEQ version 1.1 is out.

Updates since the last release:

• The window for the equalizer no longer wrests control away from Rhythmbox itself.  This makes it easier to change the EQ and play with volume and songs to get things working optimally.
• Added GConf hooks to allow persistent states for the equalizer between sessions.  Most requested feature from the previous release.
• Full base-code rewrite, much cleaner to work with and understand.

Next up, adding a load-save functionality to the EQ so that you can swap settings on the fly.

As always, the download is located here, and the install instructions are the same.

Download from http://rbeq.googlecode.com

Installation instructions:

• Open a terminal, and enter this:

tar -xvzf rbeq-1.3.tar.gz -C ~/.gnome2

• That’s it!  You’re set.

Hope that this release is as popular as the last.

Chris

Hey guys -

I know I don’t update this much, but I figured that I’d say something real quick about the job hunt.  I applied for Mailtrust, an email hosting company in Blacksburg, VA a couple of weeks ago.  On Monday, I received an email stating that they have met their hiring quota for the quarter, and that they’d start opening up hiring again in a couple months.  So, bust.  My current aspiration is with a trading company called IMC, at their branch office located in Chicago.  I’m still waiting on a response from them, so we’ll see what happens.  I’d really like to know that I’ve found something before the end of the school year, which is approaching quickly.  I’ve got about 2 weeks left with all of my studies, and then I’m off for the real world.  Yikes.

Take care, all.

Well, I’ve gotten myself a way to make money this year – I’m working on some research for one of my professors. We’re designing a knowledge base/data mining tool for HIV research, and we’ll be using a product called protege (http://protege.stanford.edu) to handle the similarities in the data and the operations on them. I’ve got a brief ontology ready up here, at This OWLDoc link. Let me know what you think.

Caught this on Neatorama the other day, and I figured I’d share it – probably one of the coolest uses of a microwave tower I’ve seen in a long time.

Merry Christmas, guys and gals.