I was having a discussion with a colleague about SVN version control on windows and he seemed certain that you HAD to install the Apache web server. I was certain that you did not... but I felt compelled to investigate. I was right (native SVN will work on port 3690), but many of the available installations included Apache. However through DAV and such there are some definite benefits to using Apache. Here's some docs on how to do it (either way you may go):

Without Apache: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001093.html (you might still need the Apache binaries to set the passwd/htpasswd)
The straight binaries: http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=91
One Click setup: http://svn1clicksetup.tigris.org/
Nice overview: http://willperone.net/Code/svnserver.php
VisualSVN Prepackage: http://www.visualsvn.com/server/

I came across a Gaurdian.U.K. article by Tom Hodgkinson from early 2008 with a particularly well discussed view of the issues with Facebook (and by extension, other social network applications). While this article specifically discusses Facebook, I think the points made, when generalized, are applicable to all of the social nets. Hodgkinson takes many of the significant problems with social applications (privacy, interpersonal issues, behavioral issues, politics, and economics) and succinctly lays it all out in an easy to read, cynical, but light way -- all with fine British grammar and spelling.

The article definitely gave me some comfort (and further motivation) in my rationale for not having a presence on/in these applications. Really good read. Here's a snippet and as always a copy is archived after the jump.

... And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn't it rather disconnect us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while chained to my desk? A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our workstations.

Facebook appeals to a kind of vanity and self-importance in us, too...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook
(more...)

I have recently been doing quite a bit of windows mobile development -- primarily GPS and Radio Interface layer (RIL) coding. This is to further my research on resource availability related to cloud computing. I'll post a paper shortly. Anyway I was have trouble getting the VS cellular emulator to work. Found a link to help. Credit goes to Scott Savage. His blog can be found here:
http://www.scottsavage.net/2009/02/com-17-is-used-please-verify-in-cellular-emulator/

As usual I post a copy for archival purposes.

When starting the Cellular Emulator included in the Windows Mobile 6 SDK I received an error “Com17 is used please verify”. This is a particularly annoying error because it completely prevents the program from even starting. Where is the setting to manually select a COM port?

Anyway I managed to stumble upon a solution on the MSDN FORUM and I am reposting it here so other people find it a bit more easily:

Disabling modem devices in Device Manager

1. Open Device Manager and disable any Bluetooth, Modem or other devices that use a COM port (see picture to the right)
2. Open a new command prompt and execute the following commands:

   “C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Tools\Cellular Emulator\InstallXPVCom.exe” UnInstall
   “C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Tools\Cellular Emulator\InstallXPVCom.exe” Install

3. Start the Cellular Emulator
4. Re-enable any devices you disabled

The best part about this fix is that it is permanent. No need to disable the devices every time you start the Cellular Emulator, it remembers how to make everything work properly. Why couldn’t it do that in the first place?

UPDATE: A FAR SIMPLER SOLUTION:
If someone is still in trouble with this, I've just solved my problem by simply doing this :

- Open Regedit
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xpvcom\history\group
- Double-Click on the entry named '6', the one with a value equal to 'COM17< -->COM27'
- Clear the value so that you still have the entry named 6 but data is empty
- Start Cellular Emulator

Not sure if its a real pic... but WOW.

There is a lot of talk here in the U.S. about the pending collapse of the of our economy. While bad news breeds bad news, there is a bit bit of Internet lore regarding survival skills in such conditions. It was written by someone with a nick of Ferfel. He writes about what it was/is like in Argentina after their currency collapsed in (1999-) 2001. Now that the first world is facing similar issues, his writing is getting quite a bit of traction.

Here is a link to a PDF of his (now) famous articles:
http://www.smrussell.net/blog/Surviving_Argentina_Collapse.pdf

and his Blog Site: http://ferfal.blogspot.com/

Yesterday you said tomorrow.

Just do it.
-- Nike

Students should not come to school to absorb information from the teacher,
They should come to confirm their own ideas

--Toshihide Maskowa

intitle:index.of + "extension" + "filename" -htm -html -php -asp -aspx

Nuff' said

Recently I have been interested in how to get the media's attention and low and behold... lifehack posts an article. I found it quite interesting -- see it here:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-pitch-successfully.html

archived after the jump
(more...)

I read a good piece on the demise of Wall Street (while I personally think it will be back... just in another form). Provides some great insight into the way things coalesced around missing moral conscience and greed. Read it from the source:

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom

Archived after the jump

(more...)