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June 2004 - Posts

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:33 PM

Picture Frame Project - Live at Devcon...

I now have all the code for the second stage of the picture frame project complete (thanks to some remote UI code from Chris Gray)... I was asked to provide a demo of how to build the Picture Frame using Windows CE 5.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2003 during
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:34 AM

We-Dig now open for business...

We-Dig is now open for business - sounds like a gardening club, right ? - wrong, this is the Windows Embedded Developer Interest Group - click here to get to the site.So what's this all about ? - check out the mission statement....Our Mission...The Windows
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:28 AM

Geek Breakfast at Devcon...

Surprisingly we had some folks turn up at the Devcon Geek Breakfast this morning, every seat at Starbucks was full... (actually, there weren't any seats, so we ended up just sitting on the floor)... Conversations covered everything from weather in San
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:16 AM

It's Sumo Time !

Yes folks, here at the Windows Embedded Developers Conference we're getting ready for the Sumobot competition, teams have been working on their code over the last couple of days - it will be interesting to see how well the search and destroy algorithms
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Monday, June 28, 2004 8:05 AM

Geek Breakfast - Find the Starbucks...

The convention center in San Diego is huge, large enough for two Starbucks stores, if you are planning on coming to the Geek breakfast on Wednesday morning then you will want to find the Starbucks that's closest to the Windows Embedded Devcon - there
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Monday, June 28, 2004 7:58 AM

IDG News - Windows CE 5.0 Microsoft to allow changes to Source

We're in San Diego at the Windows Embedded Developers conference - this is my 3rd time in San Diego, I really like this place - today is the pre-conference tutorial for Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded, the overview sessions are being delivered
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Friday, June 25, 2004 1:19 PM

Embedded Software Development Conference - August San Jose.

I'm going to be presenting at the Embedded Software Development Conference in San Jose, August 17-19, check out the web site by clicking the image below.There will also be an appearance by Doug Boling, giving a talk about debugging Windows CE and
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, June 25, 2004 8:30 AM

Bill Gates to start blogging...

According to the Seattle Times Bill Gates could start his own blog "very soon" - here's a link to the article.- Mike 
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Thursday, June 24, 2004 4:41 PM

Packing for Devcon...

the Windows Embedded Devcon is next week in San Diego (as if you didn't know)... so I need to pack for the week, what do I need to take...Laptop + Power SupplyPocket PC Phone Edition + Power SupplyBluetooth Headset + Power SupplyDigital Video Recorder
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 24, 2004 2:28 PM

Channel 9 - Why does Microsoft have so many Operating Systems...

yep, yet another excellent video on the Channel 9 web site - this time Robert Scoble is asking why we have so many operating systems - check out the video here.- Mike      BTW, is it just me, or does my office look a little
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 24, 2004 8:39 AM

Microsoft and Open Source...

Interesting read on the SeattlePI news site about Microsoft releasing more code to Open Source.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 8:09 PM

Channel 9 is at it again... the next Embedded Video is now live...

You may have already seen the tour of the Embedded lab on MSDN's Channel 9 site, and now the "Build a Windows CE 5.0 O/S image in 10 minutes" video is live - click here to check it out...- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 5:52 PM

How much is a Windows CE License ?

One of my colleagues found this on the Windowsfordevices web site... (actually it's on the home page, so it's not too hard to find...) - How much is a Windows CE Operating System License ? - click the image below to find out... - there's a link to a
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 1:33 PM

Geek Breakfast @ Devcon ?

Devcon is next week in San Diego, there's already a ton of delegate stuff going on, the welcome reception (Tuesday Evening), Ultimate Architect and delegate party (Wednesday Evening), and the show closes on Thursday - so I guess most people are flying
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 12:31 PM

Ultimate Architect III - Are you Game ?

  Are You The Ultimate Architect?Click here to register (limit is 20 teams of two -- first come, first served).-->Click here to register and join the competition!  * You must be fully registered for the Windows Embedded DevCon prior to
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 10:35 AM

Mobile & Embedded Devices Powered by the Body ?

Interesting article on news.com about how the human body might be used as a carrier for charging devices or carrying data between devices.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 8:38 AM

Tour of Windows Embedded Lab

if you think that Windows CE is only running in Pocket PC and Smartphone, think again !!!The Scoble dropped by our Embedded lab a couple of weeks ago (for some reason he couldn't take the MS-Shuttle bus with his camera gear, so needed to walk from
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 9:30 AM

.NET Compact Framework CE Picture Frame application - GotDotNet Project.

I'm ready to document the 2nd step in the Windows CE Picture Frame project - this is where we remove the Windows CE Image Viewer application and replace this with a .NET Compact Framework application that pulls files from a share exposed on the CE device.Today
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 7:21 AM

Connected Home ?

I saw this article on news.com which discusses connected homes and a new working group, the "Digital Living Network Alliance" which has formed to get TV's, PVR's, HiFi, Camera's, PC's to all play nicely together, according to the report, less than 6 percent
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, June 18, 2004 8:58 PM

Other Windows CE Picture Frame Projects

Looks like some of the readers already have a Windows CE based Picture Frame - check out the following thanks to Bart Meeuwissen from Delem for sending the photo's and the following description...The size of the display is 10.4 inch, the processor is
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Friday, June 18, 2004 8:43 PM

Talking of cool projects...

Check this out - it's a media player devices based on a VIA motherboard...http://weblogs.asp.net/mikhailarkhipov/archive/2004/05/16/132870.aspxLet me know if you've built any interesting "home" projects, I'd like to post any links or photo's on this blog.-
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Friday, June 18, 2004 4:36 PM

Happy Birthday from the team...

It must be my Birthday or somthing - check out the cake (with candle) from the team...- Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, June 18, 2004 3:38 PM

IT'S MIKEY'S BIRTHDAY....

I just locked Mike in the lab for a few minutes so I could post to his blog while he wasn't looking....Join me and the rest of his fan club in wishing him a VERY HAPPY 67th BIRTHDAY!  OK...he's not 67 yet, but close.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!!!I
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 10:03 AM

Windows CE 5.0, getting close...

We must be getting close to shipping Windows CE 5.0, how do I know this? - because the coffee cart is showing up during the week, and everyone is working late (or Latte?) in the office to close down bugs...Working late getting the product ready to ship
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 9:25 PM

Application Developer or O/S Developer ?

Just bringing a set of comments up to the main blog...There's an interesting discussion going on against the "Is Linux Fat" post, someone (no-name) posted the following...Microsoft solutions empower Microsoft. Opensource solutions empower the developer.
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 10:37 AM

Windows CE Stream Driver Wizard...

In one of the videos we recorded for WinHEC 2004 we wanted to show how to write a custom Windows CE Stream Driver and then write a custom TUX (CE Test Kit) test to test out the driver, I've received a number of e-mails from people asking for a copy of
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Sunday, June 13, 2004 9:58 PM

Picture Frame - Time Thumbnail Broken...

There's nothing worse than a broken thumbnail !I forgot to add thumbnail image for the Picture Frame time screen - click here to get the full image.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Sunday, June 13, 2004 9:52 PM

Picture Frame Project - Compact Framework Application.

After deciding that it would be useful to replace the Windows CE Image Viewer application with a .NET Compact Framework application I've been hard at work coding up the application which will act as the shell for the Windows CE 5.0 Picture Frame.There
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Sunday, June 13, 2004 6:04 PM

From the Scoble's Blog... - Expression 3 - Cool, Free Graphic Design Software for Windows...

Just found this on Scobles Blog - Expression 3 - free downloadable Graphics Design Software - this does look quite cool... - the download is a Beta Release.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Sunday, June 13, 2004 6:01 PM

Question: What do you want to know...

Here's a question for you...Assuming you know absolutely nothing about Windows CE 5.0 or Windows XP Embedded SP2, what would you want to know about these products? - Are you interested in:technologies - if so, what ?partner programshow to buylicensing
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Sunday, June 13, 2004 10:22 AM

RFID Video over at Sun...

It's interesting to see how RFID is picking up - I watch some of the Sun blogs, and found this entry this morning - there's a link to a video (.rm - about 3MB) which gives a walkthrough of RFID technologies - http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MartinHardee/20040611#rfid_caught_on_film-
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Saturday, June 12, 2004 11:57 AM

SOAP Server found in Microsoft Bathroom...

posted by mikehall | 10 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 4:53 PM

Smart Device Application Development for Whidbey

Looks like there's a newsgroup for native device development using Whidbey - http://blogs.msdn.com/Amit_Chopra/archive/2004/06/11/153641.aspx- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 4:30 PM

Linux Getting Fat ? - Too hard to resist...

Mike Lorengo posted a comment about Linux working quite nicely on a PII 450 with 128MB (I assume RAM) and a couple of links for me to go and check out (thanks Mike for sending the links!).The first link I clicked had images of the Linux Penguin, and guess
posted by mikehall | 10 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 2:47 PM

Is Linux getting fat ?

Interesting look at Linux on osnews.com - the author of this paper compares the current Linux distributions to I find the following extracts really interesting...Recently, a friend of mine expressed an interest in running Linux on his machine. Sick and
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 1:30 PM

Missing a Smiley...

for some reason the spoilt by technology posting was missing a smiley - since it's Friday afternoon and we have the weekend to look forward to, it's only appropriate that I post the smiley here... - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 1:09 PM

Spoilt by Technology ?

I was driving to work this morning listening to a local radio station, one of the tunes being played reminded me of something I had heard a few days earlier - I wanted to listen to that song again, since this is "live" radio I had no choice but to listen
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 12:53 PM

Embedded Devices - Designed for "real people" ?

This article talks about Dieter Rams (legendary designer from Braun)  shelving system, designed and released in the early 1960's, I also think all the points discussed in this article could also be applied to embedded devices design.How
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, June 11, 2004 8:40 AM

Riddickulous ?

The chronicles of Riddick are now playing at theaters - it's interesting to see some of the write up's about this movie - this is after all just a movie, and movies should entertain you, right ? - ok, so the movie is full of special effects and isn't
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Thursday, June 10, 2004 10:50 PM

Picture Frame Step 2 - Image Viewer, Internet Explorer, or .NET Compact Framework ?

I'm now working on step 2 of the Windows CE 5.0 Picture Frame project, in this step of the project we create a file share on the Windows CE device which we can drop images into, since we don't know when new images will arrive (or be removed) we need
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:09 PM

Picture Frame Video now LIVE on Channel 9...

At Last... the MSDN Channel 9 Windows CE Picture Frame project is now live, go see the video here Here's how the Picture frame will look when you have the first step up and running... Enjoy... as always, comments and questions are welcome, either
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 09, 2004 11:52 AM

MS-Studios - Picture Frames everywhere...

I recorded a ton of content for Windows CE 5.0 at MS-Studios yesterday - while grabbing a quick bite of lunch I noticed an electronic picture frame in the same room - so decided to take a look... On closer inspection it turns out this was a shuttle
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Monday, June 07, 2004 6:50 PM

CE Picture Frame - Recording Video Tomorrow...

I'm spending all day Tuesday at the Microsoft Recording Studios, recording Windows CE technical videos, should be great fun! - I needed to drop one of the videos I was hoping to record because I've not finished coding up the demo yet (yep, I'm a total
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Sunday, June 06, 2004 9:03 AM

Has Atlantis been found ?

German scientists believe they've found the remains of the lost city of Atlantis - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3766863.stm - Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Saturday, June 05, 2004 7:22 PM

Windows Mobile Team Blog - Moving from eVB -> VB.NET

There's a post over on the Windows Mobile Team Blog about moving from eVB to VB.NET - could be useful... http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2004/06/05/149295.aspx - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Saturday, June 05, 2004 6:21 PM

POS - Reboot...

I purchased a book from Barnes and Noble today, I needed to wait in line before getting to the checkout because the point of sale device has stopped scanning credit cards - the guy behind the counter appologised to everyone and said that the point of
posted by mikehall | 10 Comments
Saturday, June 05, 2004 4:31 PM

First Step of the Windows CE 5.0 Picture Frame Project...

I've completed the first step of the Picture Frame project, I used Windows CE 5.0 to create an Internet Appliance platform based on the Emulator target, I added support for the Image Viewer application, and removed support for .NET Compact Framework and
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:19 PM

MSDN Channel 9 - "Windows CE" Picture Frame Project

Watch out for the Windows CE Picture Frame Project, coming soon to MSDN Channel 9 “Citizen Engineers” All you will need to complete the Windows CE Picture Frame Project is your existing PC running Windows 2000 or Windows XP - there will
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, June 04, 2004 11:51 AM

MSDN Channel 9 - Citizen Engineer Forum, now live !

jeffsand has just created the Citizen Engineer Forum on MSDN's Channel 9 site - looks like this is going to be an interesting place for 'engineers' to discuss hardware and software projects - perhaps the first interesting project for discussion will be
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Friday, June 04, 2004 10:02 AM

CE or XPE - Part II

just following up on one of the comments posted back to my CE or XPE question... Embedded developers can choose either Windows CE or Windows XP Embedded (or other O/S's) for their embedded devices, if we look just at the Windows Embedded offerings, developers
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:57 PM

Solving Rubik's cube using Lego...

Now this is neat !!! - who would have thought you could do that with Lego !   - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 03, 2004 1:15 PM

CE or XPE - Do you know how to Decide ?

So here's a question for you... do you really understand the differences between Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded ? How do you make a decision about the operating system to use in your embedded device, which comes first, hardware/processsor decision,
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Thursday, June 03, 2004 1:02 PM

Devcon - Hands on labs...

Devcon is inching (or centermeting [if there is such a word]) closer, which means there's a ton of work going on building and testing hands on lab content, we get the “Master PC's” tomorrow to start testing lab content, one of the PC's is
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 9:45 AM

June 21st date set for first private space flight

Very cool - the first private company making a bid to get a craft into space (329,000ft) twice in two weeks is set for June 21st, keep an eye on the news... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3770919.stm - Mike
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 9:13 AM

Handheld PC and Sony stops shipping PDA's outside of Japan.

Remember the first Handheld PC's running Windows CE 1.0, through to the H/PC running Windows CE 3.0 ? - these were small, lightweight devices, the progress in processor design from companies like Transmeta now means that the size of the H/PC Windows CE
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Wednesday, June 02, 2004 7:38 AM

Hubble to get serviced by Robots by 2007.

Apparently, shuttle missions to service Hubble are too dangerous, it looks like NASA are wanting to have robots do the work instead. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3769445.stm
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 9:58 PM

Mars Rover... The problem explained...

Interesting blog showing what happened to the Mars rover, and how this was corrected - http://www.jroller.net/page/arjunram/20040222#debugging_across_the_universe1 - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 3:43 PM

This months Windows CE "Get Embedded" Article is now live...

This months Windows CE “Get Embedded” article is now live, this month Steve Maillet takes a look at Windows CE in Headless systems - http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnembedded/html/embedded052504.asp - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:34 PM

Increase of online news reading...

Interesting report on the BBC news site about the increase in online viewing of news reports - it's also interesting to see that overall sales of newspapers world-wide has also increased, with China topping the consumption charts - although online viewing
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:19 PM

API of the Day...

I'm getting “Quote of the Day” sent to my SPOT watch, which is kinda neat... so I thought it might be good to start an “API of the day” on the blog... So here's today's API (submitted by Matt Young) SetStretchBltMode( ) - New
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 12:26 PM

Windows CE & XPE Books...

Just found this on WindowsForDevices.com - http://www.windowsfordevices.com/articles/AT8980639129.html A helpful list of books for Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded development... - Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 12:23 PM

Watching paint dry... (no, really watching paint dry)...

why ? - http://www.uktvstyle.co.uk/WhatsOn/WatchingPaintDry.cfm - Mike
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 12:01 PM

WindowsForDevices has an RSS feed...

if you want to keep upto date with the latest news headlines around Windows Embedded Technologies then go get the RSS feed from http://www.windowsfordevices.com/backend/index.html - Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments