video codecs
Playing video on a computer has always been a crapshoot. You must have the correct video codec installed, the same video codec that the clip was encoded with. If you don’t, the video won’t play. You’ll have to find, download, and install the proper codec first. It’
usability
The standard login form is everywhere. It’s unavoidable. And it’s a giant pain in the butt. As much as we see login forms every day, you’d think we would have mastered them by now. Unfortunately, we haven’t. Here’s what I’ve observed users doing, over
communication skills
As software developers, we’re great at communicating with computers. But we’re typically not so great at communicating with other people. Esther Schindler’s recent interview with Steve McConnell illustrates how this aspect of our personality tends to work against us: Marketers, sales staff, and upper management all tend
blogging
You might read a post on this blog and decide I’m full of crap. That’s fine. I often am full of crap. I encourage you to leave a comment explaining why you feel this way. And, while you’re at it, feel free to point out any errors
programming languages
Eric Lippert is one of my favorite Microsoft bloggers. He’s one of those people who reminds you that Microsoft, despite all its problems, still employs a lot of incredibly thoughtful, near-genius programmers. Take a look at his greatest hits: * How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a
programming languages
In an earlier post on the philosophy of code comments, I noted that the best kind of comments are the ones you don’t need. Allow me to clarify that point. You should first strive to make your code as simple as possible to understand without relying on comments as
hardware
I recently had a noisy fan failure in my ASUS Vento 3600 case. The particular fan that failed was the 80mm fan in the front panel, which is responsible for circulating air by the hard drives in the front of the case. I disconnected it while I considered my options.
video technology
Next generation DVD formats promise a huge jump in resolution, from the 720 x 480 of standard DVD to the 1920 x 1080 of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Additional resolution is always welcome, of course. But it’s not free. You’ll have to purchase a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, and
video playback
Now that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are starting to enter the market in earnest, I thought I’d revisit HD video playback on the PC. I’m seriously considering buying one of the $199 Xbox 360 HD-DVD kits and retrofitting it into my Home Theater PC. I’ll start by comparing
gaming
I couldn’t resist. In the innocent era of 8-bit arcades, you made characters female by adding a cute little pixelated red bow. Just like in Ms. Sawhorse Detective.
lcd
After revisiting my ongoing three monitor obsession recently, I was compelled to upgrade my current mongrel mix of varying LCD monitor brands and sizes. I settled on three 20" Samsung 204B panels. Standardizing on a single type of monitor in a multiple monitor configuration has obvious advantages in color
database management
When I ask development teams whether their database is under version control, I usually get blank stares. The database is a critical part of your application. If you deploy version 2.0 of your application against version 1.0 of your database, what do you get? A broken application. And