Putting the Fun Back In Programming

I know that I'm no longer untainted because I work in the big house, but I just don't get this. Do developers really want to build the same thing over and over, project to project, app to app or do they want to spend their time building cool, new stuff …

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Unit of measurement elected head of standards board

Sometimes I forget that the world is also a place of delightful whimsy. (Via Ben Hyde) via [Exploration Through Example]

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p dir="ltr"> Words can't express my delight. I used to count the smoots every day as I rode the Harvard Bridge to get to Community Boating.

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Enabling SSL On Your Server For Free

I have never really understood the machinations that you have to go through to enable SSL, but Scot Gellock has posted a script to simplify part of it, i.e. getting the certificate. And he does it with freely available tools, which is always a nice bonus.  via [Marquee de …

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Blog Ecosystems: Java vs .NET

I read a lot of Java related blogs and a lot of MS related blogs, but very few of the Java blogs are by Sun folks.. ..If I'm looking for thought leadership from the community, in the Java community, I'm looking towards the non Sun bloggers -- these are the folks …

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Why hasn't Tivo taken off

Mark Canter asks "why hasn't Tivo taken off?"

It hasn't taken off because the acquisition and implementation cost are too high for most people. Look at the rats nest of wires behind most AV systems and you'll see just what I mean.

Also, most people are scared of technology. Seriously …

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You can lead a programmer to .NET, but you can't make them code

Jason Haley asks: What do you do with people who are still putting off learning .NET?

From my standpoint, you keep improving .NET until they start getting the message that .NET is +the+ platform of the future.

via [Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

But what constitutes "improvement" in a programming platform …
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CAPTCHAS Defeated By Distributed Yanking

Man's (and woman's) ability to solve problems. via [Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet]

The problem: CAPTCHAs (those visual problems used to defeat registration 'bots). The CACM reports that defeat requires advancing the state-of-the-art of Artificial Intelligence.

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p dir="ltr"> The solution: "Solve this CAPTCHA for us and we'll show …

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Hobbyist programmers matter: A Lot

Rory sez Microsoft shouldn't cater to hobbyist programmers. Scoble disagrees. I'm really ticked off because I just wrote a column on this, so I can't post that for four weeks, but here are some points...

Hobbyist programmers matter a lot. According to Microsoft, there are 7,000,000 hobbyist programmers …

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AT&T 2256 Cordless Phone not recommended

This is a 2.4GHz cordless answering system with 2 handsets, available for about \$100. We tried it out for 2 days and are returning it. It has a terrible hiss. I don't know if it's the spread spectrum technology, interference with my WiFi, or just the phone, but its …

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