Mike Swanson's Blog : Personal

My Windows 7 Beta 1 Experience

mswanson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:02:09 GMT

As mentioned in a recent post about My Windows 7 Theme Pack, I’ve been running Beta 1 (build 7000) for awhile now, and I love it!

Windows 7 feels nimble, it doesn’t get in my way, and it lets me access and organize my work using some very natural conventions. In earlier versions, I’ve always known that I can right-click on the taskbar and select Tile Vertically to arrange my applications. But guess what? I very rarely did it. However, in Windows 7, a simple drag of the window to the right or left edge of the screen performs this task much more naturally. And once I learned that I can use Windows + Right/Left Arrow as a keyboard shortcut, well…I find myself using this all the time.

Most of the improvements—for me—are along the same lines. It’s as if Windows 7 gets out of my way while at the same time exposing the tasks that I need to perform in fresh and friendly ways. I right-clicked an ISO file the other day to see if I had my DVD burning software installed only to find that Windows 7 has a “Burn disc image” option built-in. How cool is that?

I’ve also found myself using the taskbar full-screen preview feature to “glance” at other windows without actually switching to them. How often are you in an application like Microsoft Word when you need to refer to some data on a web page or in an Excel spreadsheet? Normally, I’d have to switch to the application, look at the data, then switch back. In Windows 7, I simply hover over the thumbnail on the taskbar, see a full-screen preview of the window, and when I move the mouse away from the thumbnail, I’m back in Word. Effortless.

It’s all of these little flourishes that make the overall experience so much better. For a more comprehensive review of Windows 7, check out Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite.

I’m running Windows 7 on my desktop machine at home, my desktop at work, and my primary laptop. Across all three of these machines, I’ve had a chance to install and use lot of software. While I haven’t exhaustively tested all of the applications, I have been using them with no significant issues. I thought I’d pass along the list for those who are curious (I linked to the lesser-known applications for reference):

Adobe Illustrator CS3 & CS4 (32- and 64-bit)
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2
Adobe Photoshop CS3 & CS4
Adobe Reader 8 & 9
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: World at War
Crayon Physics Deluxe
CuteFTP Home 8
DxO Optics Pro 5.3.2

Expression Blend 2
Expression Web 2
Far Cry 2
Focus Magic 3.02
HP Photosmart Pro B9180
Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000
Nero 8 (I mostly use Nero Burning ROM and Nero Vision)
Nikon Scan 4.0.2
Noise Ninja 2.3.2

Office 2007 SP1
Portrait Professional
PureText 2.0
QuickTime 7 Pro
SilverFast Ai 6.6
Tableau Desktop 4.1.3
TiVo Desktop 2.7
Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Windows Home Server Connector
Zune

The only real issues I’ve had relate to the two scanners at home:

Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000 ED – A great negative and slide scanner, but this older product doesn’t have a 64-bit driver. This is the only reason I’m not currently running 64-bit Windows 7 at home. Fortunately, the 32-bit driver works perfectly.
Epson Perfection V700 Photo – The scanner works fine when using a USB 2.0 connection, but it will not work when using IEEE 1394 (FireWire). The IEEE 1394 connection works fine with Windows Vista, and this is the only thing I’ve found that is compatible with Vista but not with Windows 7. I’ve notified the Windows team so they can investigate.

Overall, Windows 7 is a joy to use. If you want to give it a spin, you have until Feburary 10th to download the beta.

Enjoy!

My Windows 7 Theme Pack

mswanson — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:10:17 GMT

I've been running the Windows 7 beta for awhile now, and I'm in love! If you're relatively technical and want to take the new OS for a spin, the good news is that we've extended the beta download period until February 10, 2009. Once you have it installed, it's worth reading Tim Sneath's fantastic list of 30 Windows 7 secrets. I'm running Windows 7 on my Dell XPS desktop machine at home and on my Dell laptop at work. Even with the beta version, everything runs very smoothly and I feel a lot more productive. Plus, it's just a joy to use.

Windows 7 introduces theme packs, which are .cab files that contain all of the necessary assets to implement a theme, including sound files and images. You can find a bunch of theme packs on the Windows 7 site, and Paul Thurrott covers the basics and includes his own theme packs in his article, Windows 7 Feature Focus: Styles and Desktop Slide Shows.

As an experiment, I've created a theme pack based on my wallpaper images. It contains 20 hand-picked, nature-themed macro photos that I've taken over the years. The desktop images are configured to shuffle randomly every 30 minutes. Otherwise, the theme uses the default Windows 7 color and sound schemes.

Download: Mike Swanson Macros Theme Pack for Windows 7 (8.59MB)

As always, comments and feedback are welcome. Drop me a note if you decide to create your own.

My Decision Matrix

mswanson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:24:00 GMT

Have you ever had to make a decision with too many options or factors to consider all at once? Or perhaps you’d like to be more objective about your choices. Or maybe you need to document your decision to make it more defensible later on (“your honor, this chart shows why Grape Nehi is clearly superior to Orange”). Whatever the reason, you may find that a simple decision matrix is all you need.

I’ve been using various forms of my decision matrix to make both personal and professional decisions for as long as I can remember. In recent years, I discovered that my method is very similar to portions of a Kepner-Tregoe Matrix (“KT Matrix”). If you’re interested in a much deeper understanding of their techniques, I wholeheartedly recommend The New Rational Manager by Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. Tregoe. It’s a fantastic book.

Anyway, I’ve found myself using my decision matrix in more and more situations recently, and people have started asking for copies of the spreadsheet. I re-formatted it a bit, added some simple instructions, and I’ve been e-mailing it to anyone who asks. I’m sure someone with more spreadsheet skills could improve what I’ve created, and if anyone would like me to share their improved version, please contact me directly.

To use the decision matrix, I recommend the following steps (whether you’re doing this alone or with a group). By the way, you’ll get the most objective decisions by writing down your results on paper or a whiteboard before entering them into the spreadsheet. If you use the spreadsheet, it’s too easy to see the options jockeying for position.

Of the options you’re considering, decide which attributes can be used to help make a decision. You can include as many attributes as necessary. For example, if you’re considering multiple vendors, you might use attributes like Cost, Reliability, Company Size, Expertise, Process Familiarity, etc. If you’re doing this as a group, make sure everyone agrees what the attribute means. It’s often helpful to include a few more words, like: “Process Familiarity – how well does the vendor understand the way we do things at our company?”
For each attribute, assign a relative weight that is greater than zero. In my decision matrix, the range of numbers doesn’t matter; it’s the relationship between those numbers that matters. For example, if Cost is assigned a weight of 8 and Expertise is assigned a 4, you’re saying that Cost is twice as important as Expertise in your decision. Naturally, lower weights are less important than higher weights, and it’s okay if multiple attributes share the same weight. In that case, you’re saying that those attributes will be treated equally. In group situations, the discussion about the relative importance of these attributes can be very enlightening, and it’s a fantastic way to build consensus.
While this step is optional, I find it extremely useful. I like to “test” the weights by turning them into sentences. And if I’m in a group, we test these sentences aloud. I’ll say something like: “So, we’re saying that it’s three times as important to work with a large Company Size than it is to receive a low Cost?” Or: “Reliability is really only half as important as Expertise?” For anything that sounds wrong, this is a great opportunity to adjust the relative weights.
List all of your options. In the example I’ve been using, this would be the vendor names. Then, for each attribute, assign a score from 0-100 to each option. I highly recommend scoring all options for an attribute before moving to the next attribute, because it’s much easier to imagine the attribute, then score each option relative to one another. Of course, if you don’t know all of your options yet, this can’t be done (for example, if you’re using this technique to interview candidates for employment, you may need to score each attribute for the candidate while on the phone). Scores don’t have to be perfect, and 0 can mean bad/low confidence/not applicable/failure/etc., while 100 can mean great/high confidence/guaranteed/etc.
Enter your results into the spreadsheet. Here’s an example decision matrix that my wife and I used to select a lot of land years ago:

Add the attributes as columns. In this example, attributes are listed in columns B through H. If you need to insert new columns, be sure to update the formulas in row 10 and in the Score column. I don’t like that this step requires manual manipulation of the formulas, and I’m hoping that someone can improve the spreadsheet to make this step easier and more maintainable. Then, add the relative weights from step 2 above the appropriate attributes in row 9. Last, add all of your options and scores from step 4.

And you’re done! If everything worked correctly, the best option (according to your attributes, weights, and scores) should be the option with the highest overall score in the last column. Often, there are additional factors that can’t easily be included with attributes alone, so the final decision maker should really use this data as good advice. Perhaps best of all, you have a defensible document that summarizes which attributes of your decision were important, how they relate to each other, and how each option was scored.

Download my Decision Matrix Excel spreadsheet (21.5KB), and start making objective, defensible decisions!

Obscure DVD Recommendations

mswanson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:34:40 GMT

Okay, "obscure" may be exaggerating a bit; perhaps "less well known" is a better way to describe these DVD picks. Like Helvetica: The Documentary, these aren't your typical Saturday night popcorn popping blockbusters. But if you have an interest in any of these subjects, they're worth checking out.

First up is the excellent and extremely comprehensive, BBS: The Documentary by Jason Scott. It took Jason three years and over 200 interviews to assemble the material on the three DVDs included in this package. There's over five-and-a-half hours of content covering topics like the beginning of bulletin board systems, sysops and users, Fidonet, the ANSI Art Scene, hacking, phreaking, anarchy, cracking, and the legal battle over data compression between PKWARE and SEA.

Not only did I used to write bulletin board software (for the Atari 800 and Commodore 64), but I ran a few BBS's in my time. If you grew up in this era, or if you've ever been curious about communication systems that pre-date the internet, you'll appreciate this amazing work. Be sure to check out Jason's www.textfiles.com, and sign-up to be informed about his next project, Get Lamp, a documentary about the history of text adventures (xyzzy, baby!).

Second on my list is TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball. TILT tells the story of Williams Electronic Games and their attempt to save the industry by creating Pinball 2000. The one hour documentary includes numerous interviews, clever graphics, and some old promotional video. You can just imagine an arcade owner receiving a VHS tape from Williams describing this revolutionary new pinball platform! The over three hours of extras included on this two disc set are almost better than the film: from the design of a pinball machine, to a tour of the former Williams pinball factory, to footage of a few unreleased machines. Me? I was a video game addict. But I pumped enough quarters into the occasional pinball machine to enjoy this DVD set. Recommended.

Next up is Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear, 2nd Edition, one of many titles from The Teaching Company. While I've been interested in the DVDs from this company for a long time, I've never been able to convince myself to spend the money. However, they're in the middle of an "up to 70% off" sale, and that's just the excuse I needed. This particular course contains 24 half hour lectures across four DVDs. Boldly, they claim that this course can teach calculus to someone with a basic understanding of math, and they explain all of the formulas using plain English. As a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft (and PDC2008 Content Owner), I'm always interested in seeing how others convey complex topics. They're picky about their professors, and I'm sure that helps. I've watched about half of the lectures so far, and I'm impressed. Sure, the instruction is a bit dry, but considering the topic, they've done a really good job.

Last, but not least, is an older title called REVOLUTION OS, an 85-minute film that tells the story of the creation of GNU/Linux and the beginning of the Open Source movement. It's been a couple of years since I watched this film, but I remember learning quite a bit. The second disc has over 70 minutes of additional interviews with people like Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Bruce Perens, and Rob Malda (of Slashdot fame). As an interesting side note, I used to work for one of the companies that Rob worked for in Holland, Michigan...in the same department. Small world. Anyway, the film provided some good perspective, and for that, I appreciate it.

Are there other relatively obscure or unknown films like this that I'm missing? I'd love some good recommendations!

How I Make My Wallpaper Images

mswanson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:23:00 GMT

I’ve put this one off for way too long. For everyone who has sent me e-mail over the years asking how I create my wallpaper images, I’ve finally taken the time to write down my thoughts, techniques, workflow, tips, and tricks. Wow…I never realized how many steps I go through! I’m sure that I forgot a few things, and I’d be happy to revise the article with more detail. Please leave feedback, and tell me what you think.

While I was at it, I added 16 new wallpaper images to the collection. You can thank Bellevue Botanical Garden and the beautiful weather we’ve been having here in the Pacific Northwest. My favorite of the new batch, though, is easily Leaf 62 which was taken in our own back yard. Enjoy!

Internet Sharing with the Samsung BlackJack and Windows Vista

mswanson — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:42:00 GMT

I was waiting for a flight out of Orange County Airport earlier this week, and after I fired up my laptop, I couldn't find any publicly available wireless networks. So, I decided to try using my Samsung BlackJack (SGH-i607) for internet connectivity, because I had remembered reading about the feature awhile back. I tried to get things working for about 10 minutes before I had to give up. I'm not a cell phone expert, but I can usually mind meld with devices and figure them out within a short period of time. Not this time.

So last night, I dug in. After a few hours following forum threads across hundreds of posts, reading technical support notes, downloading drivers, and playing with configurations, I finally figured out how to properly set up and use the internet sharing feature with Windows Vista via Bluetooth. I thought I'd document the procedure here so that others don't have to go through the same painful process.

As mentioned, I have a Samsung BlackJack (SGH-i607) phone that I upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.0 a month or so ago, and I'm running Windows Vista SP1 on a Dell XPS M1330 laptop. My service is AT&T (formerly Cingular), and I have an unlimited data plan (update: Blake Handler notes in the feedback to this post that an unlimited data plan may not cover the "tethering" feature I describe here, so it's worth checking the details of your account to avoid any surprises). The following instructions are based on these devices and software versions, so your mileage may vary if you're using something slightly different.

Update Your Connection Profile
On your BlackJack, go to Start/Settings/Connections/GPRS/AT&T IMS. It should say Connects to: The Internet, and most likely, Access Point: ims.cingular. Change Access Point to be isp.cingular (all lower case). Both User name and Password should be blank. Change the Authentication Type to be CHAP. Both Primary DNS and Secondary DNS should be 0.0.0.0 and IP address should be blank. Press Done two times to return to the Connections screen.
Activate Bluetooth and Make Your Device Visible
Choose Bluetooth, then Bluetooth again. Click Menu, then Turn On Visibility. Choosing this option will automatically enable Bluetooth and make the device visible. Exit the menu and click Done four times to return to the startup screen.
Establish a Connection Between the Phone and Your PC
In Vista, choose Start/Control Panel/Network and Internet/Network and Sharing Center/Setup a connection or network. Choose Connect to a Bluetooth personal area network (PAN), then click Next. Click the Add... button to launch the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard. Check the box next to My device is set up and ready to be found, then click Next. After a few moments of searching, your device should show up, likely titled SGH-i607 (unless you've changed its name). Select the new device, then click Next. When asked about a passkey, choose Use the passkey found in the documentation and enter 0000 (four zeros), then click Next. On your BlackJack, you will be asked to confirm the connection, so select Yes. When asked for the passcode, enter 0000 (four zeros), then select Next. You should receive an Info screen stating that Your Smartphone has connected with your machine name. Click OK. Then, enter a display name for your device (or simply leave it as its default), and click Next. On the Services screen, click Done. On the PC, you should see a Completing the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard. Click Finish.
Configure Internet Sharing
On your BlackJack, select Start/Applications/File Explorer. From the My Documents folder, select Up, then scroll down and select the Windows folder, then scroll way down and select Internet Sharing (follow the steps later on to create a handy shortcut for Internet Sharing). Change PC Connection to Bluetooth PAN, and ensure that Network Connection is set to AT&T IMS. Select Connect.
Connect to the Internet
On the PC, make sure the SGH-i607 is selected, and click Connect. If everything goes according to plan, the status on your BlackJack should say Connected, and you should have internet access on your laptop. To disconnect, simply select Disconnect on your phone. Or, on the PC, right-click the small Bluetooth icon in the notification area, select Join a Personal Area Network, select the SGH-i607 device and choose Disconnect.

I'm sure Bluetooth uses up more battery power, so it's probably a good idea to disable Bluetooth when you're not using it. Select Start/Settings/Connections/Wireless Manager, then select the Bluetooth option.

To create a shortcut for Internet Sharing and make life easier the next time you want to use the internet, connect your Blackjack to the PC using the USB cable. I don't know of any way to do this without involving the PC. On your PC, click Start/Computer, then look for your SGH-i607 device, and double-click it. Double-click the root folder (indicated by a backslash), and look for a folder called Windows. If you can't see the folder, select the Organize menu, then Folder and Search Options. Click the View tab, and uncheck the option that says Hide protected operating system filed (Recommended). You'll receive a warning; select Yes, then click OK. When you can see the Windows folder, double-click it, then scroll down and right-click on Internet Sharing.lnk. Choose Copy from the drop-down menu. Find the Start Menu folder (probably by scrolling up) and double-click it. Right-click anywhere on a blank area, and choose Paste from the drop-down menu. On my phone, I had to turn it off and restart before I could find the new Internet Sharing icon under the Start menu.

Whew! Hope you made it through all of that! Fortunately, after you've gone through these steps once, you only need to perform steps 4 and 5 to connect to the internet. If you find any problems with these steps, or if you have any recommendations that have worked well, please leave feedback.

Over One Million Wallpaper Visitors

mswanson — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:04:02 GMT

I watched the stats for my wallpaper page tick past one million a few days ago. Wow! If you'd have told me when I posted my first macro photo years ago that it'd be the most popular page on my blog (by a long shot), I wouldn't have believed it. I haven't actually added up the individual downloads, but it would easily exceed one million, since I get a lot of direct links from other sites. I average a little over 4GB downloaded each day. Interestingly, more people download the widescreen versions of my wallpaper than the standard ones. I wouldn't have expected that.

I receive a request almost every other day from someone who wants to use one or more of my photos for a project. I almost always say "yes," because I really enjoy seeing how the photos are featured. All I ask for is credit for the photo, a link back to my wallpaper page, and a sample or photo of the finished project. Over the years, my photos have been used: as wallpaper for Windows Vista, as a backdrop for a concert, in car brochures, in magazines, as large glass panels in a Japanese architecture firm, as a background for plasma displays in universities, in annual reports, and many others. It's quite inspiring.

So, to commemorate the occasion, I've just added 10 new photos for your enjoyment. Most of them should feel like spring, except maybe the deep blue image. It's the only photo I liked from a series that involved food coloring.

On to the next million!

Donkey Kong at MIX08: Behind the Scenes

mswanson — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:39:02 GMT

In the two weeks since our MIX08 event in Las Vegas, I've been asked many times about Steve Wiebe's attempt to re-claim the Donkey Kong world record at our TAO attendee party on March 5th, 2008. So, I thought I'd document what happened "behind the scenes" for those of you who may be curious.

The story really began back in September, 2007 when a few of us at Microsoft had dinner with Steve at a local restaurant here in Washington. We're all fans of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, and our only motives were to eat some good food and meet Steve Wiebe. It honestly didn't go any deeper than that.

Some time passed, and as we started to think about entertainment for our MIX08 event, Steve's name came up again. I was a member of our MIX08 core team (the group of people who organized and ran MIX08), and we reasoned that our audience—which consists of a lot of people who grew up playing classic arcade games—would love the opportunity to play some classic games and meet a true master. Due to space constraints at TAO, we eventually dropped the idea of renting a club-full of games but stuck with the record-breaking attempt.

I asked Steve if he'd be interested in participating, and after coordinating the time off with his school district (he's a teacher), he said yes. Steve then put me in touch with Ed Cunningham (leftmost in the photo), the producer of The King of Kong. In addition to being an all around great guy, Ed knew a lot about what it would take to make this an official world record attempt...more on that later. Ed also suggested that we screen the movie at MIX08 so that anyone who hadn't seen the film would understand who Steve was and what he was trying to do. He offered to help us coordinate and also put me in touch with Walter Day, the founder of Twin Galaxies.

I love Walter. The first time I talked to him on the phone, I had a smile on my face from ear-to-ear. When I started to explain what a Microsoft Technical Evangelist does, Walter actually gave me one of the best descriptions I'd ever heard! And most people have no idea what we do as Evangelists at Microsoft...even after I try to explain it to them. He's poetic in his phrasing and articulate in his speech. For our event, though, he was not only the official referee, but he helped me coordinate the intricate process of staging an official world record Donkey Kong attempt.

According to Walter (and Ed and Steve), the release of the movie and its ever-increasing popularity has raised the bar for what it takes to stage a record-breaking attempt for Donkey Kong. To start with, I needed to find a Donkey Kong printed circuit board (PCB) that I could have validated as authentic and unmodified. As luck would have it, we have a vintage Donkey Kong arcade machine in our building on the Microsoft campus. Unfortunately, the cabinet is locked, and despite my many attempts, I could never find the owner of the machine.

Walter put me in touch with Jeff Kulczycki (maker of D2K: Jumpman Returns) as one of two people who are trusted by Twin Galaxies to validate Donkey Kong boards. Thankfully, Jeff had an extra PCB he was willing to rent to us for Steve's attempt. To mitigate the risk of the board being damaged during shipment, Jeff also located and purchased a second PCB. Both of the boards were tested and validated by Jeff before being sealed and shipped directly to Walter Day at The Venetian Hotel (where they were kept sealed in The Venetian's secure area until Walter's arrival in Las Vegas).

To maintain a chain of custody, around 11:00am on the morning of March 5th, we had a camera crew film Walter as he signed for and accepted the two packages from The Venetian. The crew kept filming as he carried the packages to TAO and unsealed the first of the two PCBs. We had coordinated with a local arcade rental company to deliver an original Donkey Kong cabinet (along with two other related machines for attendees). Walter observed as one of the technicians removed the PCB from the original Donkey Kong cabinet and replaced it with the validated board.

After verifying that the machine worked properly, it was sealed and guarded by security personnel as the lighting and audio/video equipment were set up. A professional-quality video camera was mounted on a tripod behind and to the right of where Steve would sit. This camera would not only be used to record every moment of Steve's record-breaking attempt, but it would also send a live feed to the large monitors positioned in the club so that everyone could watch him play.

Steve arrived early in the afternoon to go through a technical check. We needed to make sure that the game was performing correctly, that the joystick and buttons were operating properly, and that the video and audio feeds were functioning. After playing some warm-up games, Steve left the club to put on a darker shirt (his white t-shirt was reflecting off the glass and interfering with the video image). Throughout the technical check, Steve's wife, Nicole, and their two kids came to visit too.

When Steve returned around 5:00pm, he started his first game. We wanted to give him as many opportunities as possible to beat the high score, and since the official party was from 6:00pm - 10:00pm, starting at 5:00pm gave him an additional hour. According to Steve, he had scored over one million points the prior weekend while practicing in his garage. Walter sat next to Steve and tracked his pace against prior attempts.

Though I didn't note the actual scores myself, Twin Galaxies reports that Steve reached 929,800 points on his first attempt. While not enough to re-claim the world record, this was the sixth time that someone has reached the kill screen at an event like this. It was great to see in person. After a short break, Steve played a second game and scored 579,300 points. I played a lot of Donkey Kong when I was young, and I have to tell you...it was amazing to watch Steve do what he does. I almost couldn't look at the screen, because my instincts were telling me that there was no way to get out of many of the situations he found himself in (or rather, put himself in). Perhaps most impressive of all, he looked just as calm, cool, and collected in the loud nightclub as he did in the movie. He is truly a professional.

Overall, Steve put on a very impressive performance. We had a huge crowd, and everyone seemed to have fun. If Steve would have beaten the record, we would have filmed the removal of the PCB and shipped it back to Jeff Kulczycki for re-validation (according to the rules). As it turned out, however, we didn't have to do that. As an additional "thanks" to Steve for participating in our event, we gave the second validated Donkey Kong PCB to him for his own use.

I've published some photos from the party. Some were taken by our MIX08 event photographer, some were taken by Robert Hess, a 20+ year Microsoft employee, and the third set was taken by Andrew Laidlaw who was gracious enough to let me host his images. There's also a video of the Q&A session that followed the movie screening and a short video interview with Steve and Walter.

There are three other questions that I've heard, and I'll respond to them here for completeness:

Why are you playing a Nintendo game at a Microsoft event? Honestly, this thought never crossed my mind until someone asked it at MIX08. It's simple, really. We grew up on classic arcade games too, and we figured that our attendees would love it.
What about Billy Mitchell's hot sauce? Yes, it's true that Billy Mitchell sent a case of his hot sauce to the event (you can see the bottles in some of the photos). The bottles have a limited edition label titled "Steve Wiebe Attempts Donkey Kong World Record March 5, 2008" along with various Billy quotes. Depending on who you talk to, this is either 1) a way to honor Steve's attempt, or 2) the "long arm" that is talked about in the movie. Regardless, even Billy would agree that this was Steve's event, so we didn't make mention of the sauce that evening.
What affect will the new rules have on the Donkey Kong world record? Well, I can tell you that it took more effort to pull this off than I had originally anticipated. If it takes this level of effort each time someone thinks they may break the current Donkey Kong world record, I can tell you that the opportunities for this to happen will be greatly diminished.

In closing, I'd like to thank Steve and Nicole Wiebe (and their two kids), Ed Cunningham, Walter Day, Jeff Kulczycki, and New Line Cinema for helping to make this event a success.

Helvetica: The Documentary

mswanson — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 07:47:44 GMT

I ran across Jeff Atwood's blog post, Typography: Where Engineers and Designers Meet, about a week ago. Like Jeff, I've been interested in fonts and typography for a long time. As a matter of fact, I used to create bitmap fonts for the TI-99/4a, Commodore 64, and Atari 400/800. I'm sure if I dug through enough boxes I could find a pile of old graph paper with 8 pixel x 8 pixel character sets on them! Those were the days. :-)

Until Jeff's post, I hadn't heard about the Helvetica film by Gary Hustwit. I immediately ordered the DVD (it's only $20), it arrived a few days later, and I watched it this morning. What a great movie! It was obvious from the moment I pressed play that this was made by someone who is passionate about the subject. From the beautiful photography to the perfect music, this film reflects the cleanliness and simplicity that is Helvetica. You do not have to be a font geek to appreciate this documentary.

The film traces the history of the typeface from the 1950s when it was known as Neue Haas Grotesk. Through fascinating interviews with industry luminaries and designers, we hear how Helvetica has influenced graphic design and typography over the years. Along the way, we also discover how pervasive it really is. I particularly enjoyed the balance of perspectives (some like Helvetica, some despise it, and many are apathetic). I also found the insights into design and the creative process to be very inspirational.

If you decide to buy the DVD, be sure to watch the extras. The feature itself is around 80 minutes long, and the extras run for over 95 minutes! Here are some of the topics that are touched on: Pencil vs. mouse; How technology has affected type design; The reader’s awareness of typefaces; Helvetica and the Macintosh; Helvetica and branding; “Mean” Modernists; Music packaging; One typeface is not enough; Designing for an audience; Approach to design; The value of good design; The Simple typeface. The extras are almost like watching a bonus movie.

As a Microsoft employee, my ears perk up whenever I hear our company name mentioned (which is quite often). So, I particularly enjoyed listening to comments from Erik Spiekermann about our Arial typeface where he calls us "big bullies," says that we're "baddies," explains why he "won't go near a Microsoft product," calls us despicable, and adds that we're "mean bastards." I'm not here to argue with Erik, because frankly, I don't have enough context, but I appreciate his passion!

If you have any interest at all in typography, this is easily worth $20. Highly recommended.

What Do I Do? Top sites, MIX08, and PDC08.

mswanson — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:57:00 GMT

A few days ago, I received the following e-mail:

Help me out here. I've been reading your blog off and on for years and I can't figure out what it is you do. Your obviously involved with the PDC and MIX conferences, you send a lifesize cardboard cutout of yourself as your resume, you've made a plug-in for Illustrator and a converter for Flash files (which rock BTW), you take amazing photos, you implement seam carving in your "spare time", you write Tivo gadgets, you taught me about continuous integration with your orb article, your article on code review was mandatory reading in one of my classes, you read quite an collection of books, you seem to be pretty good at design considering you claim to be a geek, you build small arcade machines, you counted to a freakin' million, you worked with Tom Skerrit, you write music, you build medical software, and who knows what else. Don't worry, I'm not stalking you. :) I just read through your old posts cuz I couldn't remember all of this! Just what the hell do you do at MS?

Yes, I'll admit to being a bit disturbed until I found out that this person had read through my old posts. Whew! It's strange to have your history read back to you. But, it's a very fair question, and it made me realize that my blog may provide a distorted perspective on the work I do. So, to set the record straight, let me try to explain my job at Microsoft.

For context, I work in Developer and Platform Evangelism, commonly referred to as DPE. My office is in building 18 on our main campus in Redmond, Washington. I've been in DPE for the past three years, and prior to that, I was a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) for five years working out of our Michigan office. I've been working with computers for over 30 years now.

In my current role at Microsoft, it's easiest to categorize my work into three buckets. Note that—like almost any job at Microsoft—the things I do can change many times during the course of a year, but these three are accurate now:

I manage a group of Technical Evangelists and Program Managers to run a program we call Web GO. A primary goal of the Web GO program is to engage with top consumer-facing web sites to help them adopt our new products and technologies. In DPE, we focus most of our efforts on leading edge technology...usually stuff that hasn't shipped yet. As you probably know, it's a risk to work with anything this early on in a product lifecycle, and our job is to do what we can to make early adoption as easy as possible. Along the way, we get a lot of real-world feedback from our customers, and that feedback helps to shape our products and (hopefully) make them more relevant to a wider set of scenarios and usage patterns.

At the end of our engagement with a customer, we capture what we call evidence. Evidence is the story we tell about the customer and how our products and technologies helped them achieve a positive result. Sometimes this positive result is lower costs, sometimes it's faster time-to-market, sometimes it's how the new technology enables a scenario that couldn't easily be achieved before. Often, it's a combination of these. We create the evidence as a written case study, perhaps a video (like this one featuring yours truly), and occasionally a customer standing on stage at one of our big events.
I own and oversee many aspects of our upcoming MIX08 conference in Las Vegas, and I'm a member of the core team. You may find it interesting that there isn't an official MIX or PDC "events team" in Microsoft. Both of these events are owned by DPE, and we enlist a volunteer army to pull them off. Most of the folks that work on these conferences have another primary role in DPE if you can believe it (I jokingly refer to it as the "Microsoft 120% Rule").

Keynote partners - I'm responsible for helping to identify the customer and partner projects we have on stage at MIX08, and I work with the primary account representatives inside Microsoft to make sure that everything stays on-track. I also help to find projects that align with the overall themes of the conference. There's a lot of timing that goes into this, and as you can probably imagine, there are a lot more partners than we have slots, so selecting the right set of projects is critical.
The Signal - I co-host our weekly MIX08-related podcast along with Thomas Lewis. We provide a behind-the-scenes look at the event, and we interview speakers, staff, and other notables. Yes, we produce the whole thing.
Show Off - Like The Signal, I also work on this one with Thomas. The goal is to find cool projects that get people excited about technology/design and feature them at the Show Off event. This is a blast, and if you have anything that would inspire other developers or designers, please submit a video! Thomas and I will present the best of them the second evening of MIX08.
????? - Unfortunately, I can't talk about this one yet, but it has to do with the evening of day 0 (the day before the keynote) and something we're doing at the attendee party the following night. You're going to love it!
Then, there are activities that I oversee. That means that I don't do any of the actual work, but I provide guidance and make sure things are moving forward. I work very closely with owners for each of these activities, and frankly, they deserve all of the credit.

The Sandbox - owned by Hans Hugli and Glenn Podany, this is the MIX version of hands-on labs. Plus, there's an online component called Sandbox in the Sky that allows attendees to easily publish their work out on the 'net. This year we've also added technology that makes it easy to take the labs home with you. I can't wait to see how well it works.
Open Space - this is a mash-up of what used to be known as Open Mic and MIX Chat, and it's being driven by Drew Robbins and Jason Olson. Think of this as an area where you can meet other experts, including speakers, to chat about design and development topics. Self-proclaimed experts can also schedule their own mini-sessions to talk about whatever interests them. There will be a projector, lots of whiteboards, and couches. They'll also have video cameras on-hand to make it easy to record the content and publish it on the internet for all to see.
Session recordings - I had this role for PDC05 and MIX06, and the amazingly capable Brian Keller had it for MIX07 and is driving it again this year. The goal is to record every session we present and make it available online within 24 hours for anyone (not just attendees). Brian has some cool upgrades to the experience this year that I hope everyone will love.
Bits - David Tesar is responsible for wrangling the bits for the various products and technologies we talk about at MIX08. This means that he figures out which builds of which products will be available by the conference and works with the teams to get them onto DVDs and CDs we can hand out to attendees.

I am the Content Owner and a member of the core team for this year's Professional Developers Conference: PDC08. I've only just started this role, and my job is to drive the theme, tracks, sessions, and overall direction of the content. This is a heavy duty job, and it will likely consume most of my time as we get closer to October. The content direction that is set will naturally flow to almost every aspect of the event. I hope to be able to post frequently about the work I'm doing related to PDC08. I also look forward to your suggestions and feedback.

There you have it. Those are the three areas where I focus my time and attention at Microsoft. Interestingly, very few of my blog posts relate to my day job. I have an insatiable passion for technology, and I spend a lot of my spare time on hobbies like photography, writing little programs, reading about topics that interest me, and relating old stories (like counting to one million).

So, I guess the overall theme of this blog—if there is one—is me. I have a diverse set of interests, and I hope you'll continue to indulge me for another four years!

Return of The Spider King

mswanson — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:02:00 GMT

As many long-time readers may recall, I've been trying to foist blogging onto my friend and colleague, Thomas Lewis, for nearly three years. He's endured my chiding both online and in person; thank goodness he's one of those guys who can take my constant nagging.

A couple of weeks ago, Thomas stated that he had a surprise for me and asked if I wanted to hear it then or at some point in the future. I appreciate a good surprise, so I told him that he could tell me when he was ready...turns out that time was today at lunch. He played it very well. I was sure he was about to tell me that his wife is pregnant, he had won the lottery, or that small bunnies had attacked him with sticks last night (don't ask). After drawing out the suspense for what seemed like a few minutes, he revealed that the Spider King has returned!

Now, I personally believe that blogging isn't for everyone and that it should never be forced or required. But, I know a few people who have such interesting perspectives or such insightful thoughts that it'd be a shame if those perspectives and thoughts couldn't be shared more broadly. Thomas is one of those guys. I'm thrilled that he'll be posting about his unique views on Microsoft, Apple, technology, his pets, his wonderful wife, wine, the iPhone, heavy metal, internet standards, and whatever else inspires him. No matter what he chooses to write, I'm sure it will add value to the world.

So, without further ado, head on over to The Spider King and check out his first couple of posts. I've received a lot of e-mail in the past about what it means to be a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft, and Thomas' post about 7 Tips To Become a Microsoft Technical Evangelist is a great start. He's a good guy to work for too, so be sure to check out the open position on his team.

Last, since Thomas ended his first post with a Dune quote, I thought I'd close with the same: He who controls the Spice Girls, controls the universe! Muwhaha!

TiVo Gadget v1.0.2 Enables Video Download

mswanson — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 06:59:17 GMT

I made a very minor update to my TiVo Now Playing gadget that allows you to download recorded shows to your computer. While viewing the show details window, simply click on the title to begin the download. Because the video files are protected, you'll be prompted for a user name and password. The user name is always tivo, and the password is your media access key (check the Remember my password checkbox if you get tired of re-entering this information). If you need help configuring your gadget or finding your media access key, be sure to read my earlier TiVo Gadget for Vista post. Download the TiVo Now Playing v1.0.2 gadget (182KB).

TiVo Gadget for Vista

mswanson — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:57:00 GMT

For awhile, I've wanted to try my hands at writing a gadget for the Windows Sidebar in Vista, but I could never come up with a project idea that was small enough to accomplish and useful enough to justify. Since we recently added two TiVo HD units to our home network, I thought it'd be handy to expose their Now Playing lists. I knew the data was available over our home network, because the TiVo Desktop software displays a lot of it. Turns out, the TiVo Developer Resources section of their site contains just enough to get going.

Without going into too many details, recent versions of the TiVo software on certain units (TiVo HD and TiVo Series3 HD, I think) contain a small web server that can be issued requests. These requests are passed via the query string and return their results as XML. For example, our downstairs TiVo unit has an IP address of 192.168.1.104 (you can find the IP address of your TiVo by navigating to Messages & Settings, then Settings, then Phone & Network). If I open my web browser and navigate to https://192.168.1.104/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer, I'll receive an XML response that includes information like the title of the unit and a URL to obtain the current Now Playing list.

If you try this same request with your own TiVo (using the correct IP address, of course), you will first run into a security certificate warning. If you decide to continue, you'll then be asked for credentials. The user name is always tivo, and the password is your media access key. Your media access key can be found in the right column by logging in to your TiVo account online or by navigating to Messages & Settings, then Account & System Information, then Media Access Key on your TiVo. For a more "friendly" Now Playing list, you can also navigate to https://192.168.1.104/nowplaying/index.html using a similar procedure.

When I started writing the TiVo gadget, I could not successfully complete an XMLHttpRequest for the XML data because of the certificate warning (which I couldn't see, since this was all happening behind the scenes of the gadget). I soon figured out that the actual certificate is issued to the service number of the TiVo unit, but since the requests are being made to an IP address instead, the mismatch causes the warning. It's kind of like saying that I trust Mike Swanson, but I don't trust Swanson, Mike (same person, but represented differently). Ideally, then, I would want to issue my request to the service number of the TiVo so that the certificate would match.

On most networks, you can reach a machine by its IP address and its name; that's because the machine shares its name on the network. Unfortunately, the TiVo doesn't share its name (the service number) on the network like other devices. To resolve this issue requires a few steps, and if you decide to download and try the TiVo Now Playing gadget, you'll need to perform them:

In Vista, click the Windows Start menu, then navigate to All Programs, Accessories, then right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. From the command prompt, type:

notepad %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

You need to add a new line at the bottom of the HOSTS file that associates your TiVo IP address with its service number (you can find the service number on your TiVo by navigating to Messages & Settings, then Account & System Information, then System Information). For example:

192.168.1.104 123-0000-4567-7f7f

Choose File/Save in Notepad. Then, File/Exit. Then close the command prompt window.
Open IE7, pull down the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click on the Security tab, then Trusted sites. Click the Sites button, and where it says Add this website to the zone, type https://123-0000-4567-7f7f, but use your service number instead. Click Add, then Close, then OK.
Still in IE7, navigate to https://123-0000-4567-7f7f/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryContainer (but with your service number). When you receive the certificate warning, select Continue to this website (not recommended). Provide your user name and password as described in the post above and select OK. Right-click anywhere on the page (which should now contain some XML data), then choose Properties. Click the Certificates button, then Install Certificate... When the Certificate Import Wizard appears, click Next, then choose Place all certificates in the following store. Click the Browse... button, and choose Trusted Root Certification Authorities. Click OK, then choose Next. Click Finish, then Yes to confirm the certificate. You should receive a message stating that the import was successful. Click OK three times to close the dialog boxes.

Whew! Sorry that you had to go through all of that, but I'm not aware of any other method (short of possibly installing a custom ActiveX control) to get around this certificate issue. TiVo could solve the issue by broadcasting its service name on the network. Perhaps they'll do that in a future version of their software.

Assuming you've made it this far, you can download the TiVo Now Playing v1.0.1 gadget (182KB) and install it on your Windows Sidebar. Click the little "wrench" icon to configure the gadget. Enter your service number in TiVo address(es), and your Media access key. If you have more than one TiVo on your home network, you can enter multiple service numbers separated by semicolons. Note that all TiVos in a single household share the same media access key, so you only need to enter one of those.

This post is already rather long, so I'll quickly summarize the current gadget features:

Configure Folders if you want shows from the same series to be grouped together (like Kitchen Nightmares in the screenshot).
When the gadget notices a new recording, it will ding (if you have sound enabled).
If you configure more than one TiVo, click the friendly name of the unit (like Downstairs in the screenshot) to switch to the next unit.
Click the name of the show to see its description. The details flyout will contain more data in a future version...just didn't have time to add it for the first release.
Your settings will survive a gadget removal/add thanks to Todd Northrop's handy Settings Manager for Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets.
When the gadget refreshes its data, it will close any groups that are open. While not technically a bug, it is annoying, and I hope to improve this later.

I'm sure there's more I could say, and I'll probably say it in a future post. Please enjoy the gadget, and pass along any comments, suggestions, or questions via e-mail or by leaving feedback.

Update: If you downloaded version 1.0 of the gadget and you're not seeing any of your programs listed, please try version 1.0.1. Hopefully, this will fix the issue.

MOO, Blurb, Wallhogs, and Zenfolio

mswanson — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:17:00 GMT

Can't say I ever expected to type that post title! I take a lot of digital photos, and I thought I'd share some creative resources I've discovered on the 'net either by recommendation or my own research. They offer unique services, and the quality of these four products is very high.

Let's start with MOO. My colleague in crime, good friend, and non-blogger, Thomas Lewis, showed me his set of MOO MiniCards a couple of months back, and I instantly fell in love with them. MOO MiniCards are half the size of a normal business card, are printed on thick coated paper, and can be completely customized. Their online tool makes it very easy to upload and crop your digital photos (up to 100 of them!). You can add six lines of text on the flip side, and no matter where you ship them in the world, it only costs $4.99. So, for around $25 total, you can have 100 custom cards delivered to your doorstep in about a week or two (by Royal Mail...how cool is that?). They're fun to give out and a great way to direct friends and family to your e-mail addresses, online blog site, photo site...whatever. Click the photo to see 12 of the 60+ designs my wife and I created. I have to give props to MOO for their spirited attitude. It shows on their web site and in the e-mails you'll begin to receive from Little MOO, their friendly Print Robot. Don't ask...just order some.

If you've ever wanted to create your own coffee table book but didn't know where to go or how to get started, you need to check out Blurb. David Shadle, a colleague with an office across the hall, pointed me to Blurb after he had seen samples of their books at a design show. Not only is the process simple, but you can order as few as a single copy for very reasonable prices. You start by downloading their free BookSmart software, choosing a book size and format (images, text and images, text only, etc.), then add your photos to the pre-built page templates. The templates have been assembled by professional designers, so it's difficult to end up with a book that doesn't look top-notch. When you're done, the book is uploaded to Blurb, and a week or so later, it arrives in the mail. My first book (pictured) is a 26-page large format landscape (13x11 inches) hardcover. The quality is impressive, and because they have a printing facility in the Seattle area, they arrive quickly. I've since reordered five additional copies for gifts and created a second, smaller book. Impressive stuff.

But what if you want your digital photo to be six feet wide and something you can stick to your wall? Enter Wallhogs. I found Wallhogs while looking for a method to create a "photo backdrop" for an Italian-themed office party we threw this past Friday. There seem to be many sites that will create large posters, but Wallhogs is unique in that they create self-adhesive, vinyl prints that won't damage your walls and can be easily removed and re-stuck somewhere else. You can get them in many sizes, but since I wanted people to be able to sit in front of it for photos (Thomas Lewis in the example photo), I ordered the 6 foot by 4 foot version. I was worried that the 8-megapixel images from my Canon Rebel XT (350D) wouldn't be big enough for a print this size, but the quality was fantastic. Almost everyone at the party wanted to know where to get them. I'll leave it up on the wall for awhile if you happen to wander near my office in building 18. I'd like to thank Greg at Wallhogs for making it possible for us to receive the print in a very short timeframe. Oh...I had a second one made of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and it turned out great too.

Last, but certainly not least, I've always wanted a way to archive and display my massive photo collection online. I needed something that I could point to with a custom domain, had an easy-to-use interface, offered unlimited storage, didn't display advertisements, and provided a straightforward and professional method of browsing all my files. I spent a lot of time reading reviews and crawling the photography forums at Digital Photography Review (an excellent site, by the way). For the prosumer and professional crowd, three sites were favorably mentioned many times: Phanfare, SmugMug, and Zenfolio. After reviewing these sites, I chose Zenfolio, because the quality of the photo browsing experience is polished, the photo management interface is very snappy and well designed, their documentation is top-notch, the site is a pleasure to use, and they have a web API that lets you easily interact with their system. And, like many other sites, you can password-protect select galleries and allow visitors to order their own prints. It's rare that I'm completely satisfied with a web-based application of any complexity, but Zenfolio continues to surprise me. I'll add that I have some friends with Phanfare and SmugMug sites who are also very happy with their services.

So there you have it...four (hopefully) unique and inspirational ideas for your digital photos. All of these are fun to work with and would make excellent gifts. Do you know about a cool site that I missed? If so, please add it to the feedback or send me an e-mail.

Dinner with Steve Wiebe (of The King of Kong fame)

mswanson — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:25:29 GMT

This past Thursday evening, Ray Winninger, Jennifer Ritzinger, Arthur Yasinski, and I met Steve Wiebe for dinner at Pomegranate in Redmond, Washington. If you're not familiar with Steve, he's featured in the recent documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. My wife and I saw the movie a few weeks back at Big Picture in Redmond and loved it. Even if you're not a fan of classic video games, this is a great movie (don't take my word for it).

Immediately after the movie, I told my wife that I'd love to find Steve and take him to dinner (he lives in the area). He seemed like a great guy in The King of Kong, and although I don't hold any current records, I have held a few in the distant past, and I figured he'd be fun to spend some time with.

I happened to mention the movie to Arthur at lunch one day, and it turns out that he lives just down the street from Steve...and has seen him playing Donkey Kong in his garage many times! :-) With Arthur's help, I was in touch with Steve's wife, Nicole, a few e-mails later, and it wasn't long after that that we had set a dinner date.

Fast forward to dinner. Let me start by saying that Steve Wiebe is exactly as he is portrayed in the movie. He's polite, considerate, very likable, smart, and respectful of everyone he talks about. Steve was a mechanical engineer at Boeing where he worked on landing gear, and he's currently teaching seventh grade math in the area. We spent almost three hours talking and enjoying a great dinner. Among many "behind the scenes" stories, here are a few other tidbits from the evening:

Steve has liked Donkey Kong since his younger years, and they had a machine at his fraternity in college. The first time he reached the kill screen, he thought the machine was defective. Only later did he learn that this is the last screen in the game.
Steve doesn't play Donkey Kong while school is in session. I'm very impressed at his self-control!
Steve was aware of the Galaga bug that causes the enemies to stop firing for the rest of the game, but he didn't know the details. As a huge Galaga fan myself (remember my post, Make Your Own Mini-Galaga?), I was thrilled to add a little video game knowledge to the conversation.

As a side note, before dinner, Ray, Jennifer, Arthur, and I decided to try our hands at Donkey Kong to see who could get the highest score (we have a machine in the office). If anything, it would give us an appreciation of Steve's amazing achievement of 1,049,100. After a couple of rounds, I happened to get the high score of 26,600...and that was on a machine that gives you six lives! Pretty sad.

Thank you to Steve for saying "yes" to dinner. It was a fun evening!