Andrew Pollack's Blog

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  1. 09/28/2005I want one button publishing from the editor of my choice, to the web server of my choice.I want one button publishing from the editor of my choice, to the web server of my choice. All the talk of standards, of service based sites, and content driven applications hasn’t gotten me there at all. I’m not talking here, of using my Notes client to ......
  2. 09/27/2005The economics of hosting have changed, time to take advantage. You should try it.After nearly 20 years of hosting one or more servers of one kind or another in my home, I'm moving my servers to ServerBeach. Many of you know that I have a pretty extensive network setup here, with a professional grade firewall, standby power generation, ......
  3. 09/27/2005Site is moving -- should be faster, could be some minor interruptionI'm making some important infrastructure changes here this week. This server will be hosted on a high speed machine at a tier 1 provider. Within a week or two, I'll also have a hot standby in place. This is to accommodates a need for increased reliability ......
  4. 09/26/2005Ok -- my turn to post a questionnaire thing.This was forwarded to me by Lt. Gordon Murphy. He's on our fire department as well, serving on the Chebeague Island fire museum (yes, the NEW truck is 1980, before that they're a pair of 1973's). The idea here, is you're supposed to forward this to a ......
  5. 09/23/2005Engine 1 - Soon to be retired and replaced with a newer modelI'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but one of the exciting changes due in the spring of next year is the arrival of a replacement for our venerable Engine 1. The current truck is a 1984 Ford chassis customized for fire service by FMC. It still runs ......
  6. 09/22/2005Open Office is nice, but don't count it unseating Microsoft from the Desktop so soonDon’t count on Open Office with IBM Workplace killing Microsoft Office any time soon. I like both products, and I’d love to see Microsoft take it on the chin now and again; but the marketplace has done what it does best – and it has sent Microsoft ......
  7. 09/22/2005Its live! NCT Simple Signon -- Take control of your Authenticated AccessAnnouncing NCT Simple Signon -- Integration without Aggravation If you've ever wanted to accept a user onto your Lotus Domino based web site with credentials from another server, or with a cookie you assigned the last time they visited, our newest product ......
  8. 09/21/2005Sneak Preview -- NCT Simple Signon Documentation. Trial downloads to be released within 24-48 hours.NCT Simple Signon provides an easy to manage, secure and reliable way to accept credentials from nearly any other application, and to pass credentials for users authenticated by your server to other sites. Integration without Aggravation The whole idea of ......
  9. 09/21/2005So what does it mean to be an officer in an all volunteer fire department? My brother sent me an email asking what exactly this means. We're not paid much, its not the military, so what the difference? I thought I'd write up a partial explanation here for those who probably have the same question. Keep in mind that according to ......
  10. 09/20/2005I have a new nameTechnically speaking, its not a name but a call sign. Tomorrow morning an official email will go out indicating my change from the radio number 339 to the new call sign "Car 31" -- which indicates that I've been given the position of Lieutenant on ......
  11. 09/20/2005Convergence * Updated -- Even more convergence!Do things in your life seem to happen all at once? Convergence is a strange thing. Today I have two important meetings. They are unconnected. Both related to activities that I’ve been working toward for quite a while. I chose the date for neither. Yes ......
  12. 09/19/2005What's yer pirate name?I don't usually do this stuff, but this one looked fun. Mad Roger KiddGet your own pirate name from ......
  13. 09/19/2005Everyone go give big congrats to NotesDawg.....or he'll kick your ......
  14. 09/19/2005Shape the next version of Notes! Sign up to do usability studies early!Main TopicSubject: Help Us Find End-users for usability testing of the next version! [Comment] By Mary Beth Raven/Westford/IBM on Mon, Sep 19, 2005 at 11:40 AM. Categories: Applications, Calendar & Scheduling (Applications\Design), Community, Customer ......
  15. 09/19/2005So many ideas, so little time, and the radical personality shifts of 12 year olds.Do you have periods in your work life or home life were you have so many ideas you'd like to take forward and no time at all to finish them? My list right now is longer than its ever been, and it shows no sign of getting shorter. I think I've got at least ......
  16. 09/14/2005Some thoughts after looking at the new Office 12 -- and surprise, Outlook is the odd man out.Like so many of you, I took a look at Scobble's video of the new user interface on Office 12 -- beta supposedly due out this fall. My first thought, is Scobble -- for the love of God buy a tripod. Moving beyond that, here's my first impression.... Its ......
  17. 09/13/2005A strongly worded warning -- What do you think?As I get ready to release NCT Simple Signon into the wild, I have some concern over allowing a sample agent to come with it that will log on virtually anyone under virtually any name if they know the syntax of the command. ......
  18. 09/13/2005Making sense of eBay’s purchase of Skype, and its inherent dangerAside from the pressure for any large tech company to be in all the hot tech areas, there is a very important fit for Skype with eBay. At first glance, this looks like late 90’s internet boom craziness. eBay and Skype would seem to have little in common. ......
  19. 09/12/2005Two Bright Sparks in Software Development, means one great backup toolI've wanted a good backup software tool for a long time. Most of them are either too expensive, too complicated, or both. I've been really pleased with SyncBackSE from 2BrightSparks Pte Ltd. I read about it this month in CPU Magazine, and figured I'd give ......
  20. 09/08/2005I'll bet they didn't stop this one to search for illegal immigrationMexico sends first ever aid convoy to U.S. Food, supplies, doctors come north in gesture fraught with symbolism, irony http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9248064/ LAREDO, Texas - A Mexican army convoy crossed into the United States on Thursday to bring aid to ......
  21. 09/06/2005High fuel costs this winter mean extra challenges for firefightersHere in the northeast, home heating is a big challenge. The way some of you in the south struggle to keep the electricity bills down and still keep the house cool in the summer, we fight cold all winter with home heating oil or LP gas fired furnaces. Fuel ......
  22. 09/03/2005Visual Studio .NET -- a Thanks to Gary Devendorf -- and a RANT about "DotFuscator" from PreEmptive SolutionsWith some excellent help from Gary Devendorf, I've released the beta version of my first stand-alone (Non Notes) workstation application in something like 15 years. Its nothing most readers of this blog would be all that interested in, as it detects ......
  23. 08/31/2005...highlights and circles and items to do, these are a few of my favorite things....A few new features in D7 mail that I like. Follow-ups that are as simple as right-click to manage, automatic highlighting of mail you need to look at based on recipient (in this case, from my wife), and the little blue circle that indicates if you're the ......
  24. 08/28/2005NCT Scanner Monitor is almost in beta -- I have a feeling this is going to go over well.Yes, Domino is part of this solution, but just one part. Its my first time in probably 15 years building a commercial product that's not specifically targeted to Lotus Notes or Domino customers. This is the front end piece to be used on-site. I hope to ......
  25. 08/25/2005Help me understand how IBM, Microsoft, or anyone else will make money on Instant Messaging.Google is in the mix now with their own IM client -- including voice traffic. Why? Why not? Its easy now. All you need is plenty of bandwidth and some big servers. Pretty much all the connection protocols, encoders (CODECS), and so on are available now as ......
  26. 08/22/2005Some thoughts on Eclipse/Java vs VS.netI should start by saying that I know comparing VS.net with Java/Eclipse is ignoring the choice of which language I'm using in VS.net. IMO, it doesn't matter that much because the nature of .net is such that the object models you work with are largely the ......
  27. 08/19/2005Back from under my bomb shelter. Heavy coding this week; oh, and here are some phone behaviors really that annoy me.Well, I've spent the entire week getting deeper and deeper into Digital Signal Processing. What a complex arena this is. I've actually had to go and buy a book on Calculus to understand much of the documentation. It was either that or call Richard and ......
  28. 08/07/2005Lets get this straight -- HBO is a studio, and a broadcaster, but they are not a network.Look, I really enjoy HBO. The series work they do is everything they claim it to be -- groundbreaking, intelligent, well written, well acted, and fabulously shot. They sweep the awards every year. That said, its hardly in the same category as an actual ......
  29. 08/06/2005Sherman, to the wayback machine.....I've been cleaning out the basement all day today. Like archeology, as you dig deeper into piles of garbage you go back further in time. Some of its pretty scary stuff, though I haven't come across evidence of human sacrifice yet. Can you believe I used ......
  30. 08/05/2005I gotta get me one of these! ......
  31. 08/04/2005Cumberland Fire Acadamy - The ExplorersIf I've been a bit quiet this week, its because I've been helping out with this years Fire Academy. Each year, our "Explorer" post invites several other town posts over and we host a 5 day long "Fire Academy" for the kids. "Explorers" are kids between the ......
  32. 08/03/2005Busy night on the fire department last WednesdayAs promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view) here's the story from last Wednesday's big storm and fire. To set things up a bit, it had been hot here for several days -- temperatures in the 90's ( 32+ Celsius) and humid. The weather report ......
  33. 08/01/2005Odd googles for JulyWell, I get around 1000 google hits each month right now, which isn't much but it works well for me since clearly less than 1% are would I'd called "odd ball". The rest all have something to do with my site, my products, my company, or firefighting. For ......
  34. 07/31/2005Early Neal Stephenson re-released -- and its goodWhile I don't read at the rate of Duffbert (few do), I do read quite a bit of both fiction and I've finished the second of two books I picked up just before the trip to Las Vegas. The books, titled "Interface" and "The Cobweb" are re-released under the ......
  35. 07/31/2005Pluto isn't a planet; Domino Doesn't Scale; and other stupid things people have said.From reading this article about the confirmed discovery of another large mass orbiting our sun, further than Pluto and having more mass, I'm reminded of a really stupid presentation given at a Lotusphere BP day a few years back in which a prominent person ......
  36. 07/27/2005Big storm this afternoon.Six lightening strikes, 1 house fire, 1 down power lines -- 7 hours. I'm going to bed now. More details ......
  37. 07/27/2005Theory confirmed -- there is indeed a detectable, tangible link between Gab and Tim Davis which prevents them being separated.Its long been rumored that Gab and Tim cannot remain separated for any great length of time. The reason for that is now a bit closer as we have found a device which can clearly detect and be impacted by that very link. This is 100% true. While on our road ......
  38. 07/25/2005A shame, but it looks like Dr. Ambuj Goyal is moving from Lotus to Information Management (DB2)According to SearchDomino.com, Dr. Goyal is moving to become the General Manager of Information Management. Its no secret that I've been very impressed with Dr. Goyal's work at Lotus. I give him a lot of credit for bringing a bunch of different ideas on ......
  39. 07/24/2005Post Advisor Conference Road Trip (with pictures) with Rocky, Gab, Tim, and some childrenSorry for being so quiet this last week -- I've been speaking at Advisor then running off on a road trip. Here are pictures from the trip. Rocky brought two of his kids, and I brought one of mine. Gab and Tim were along as well, but no pictures here of ......
  40. 07/17/2005Harry Potter and the Dell Inspiron 8200 CD PlayerOn the way to advisor I picked up the new HP book on CD since the preordered books would not get to the house until after we'd left. Of course, this is for Coryn, my daughter who's traveling with me. Not for me, of course. No, surely not. Anyway.... I'm ......
  41. 07/14/2005Software Eval Key Question -- Am I being too strict this time?This time around, with NCT Compliance Search the license key problem is a little different. With a product like NCT Search I'm happy to give away full functionality for 30 days -- and extend that for people who ask. Its the kind of tool that really isn't ......
  42. 07/14/2005Help me set the price for a new NCT Product -- NCT Auto Login for Domino will debut later this monthYour parent company has a website with a secure area for your customers and distributors. Its run by the parent company I.T. center in B.F.E. You've put together a private site in Domino that is specific to the products made by your division in Cool City. ......
  43. 07/13/2005Results I can use! Add this search plug in to your Firefox and avoid pages of price comparison sites in the results!I mentioned that I'd like to be able to search Google and not have a full page of aggregation sites like nextag and pricegrabber show up. These are annoying. Well, I got exactly what I wanted. Thanks to a tip from Peter Leugner, I got what I wanted. ......
  44. 07/12/2005NCT Compliance Search v1.0 Release Date is Friday! Check out this quoteAt long last, with several copies in production `pre-release` use, I will be letting NCT Compliance Search 1.0 out into the public. The key difference between `Compliance Search` and nearly any other search product, is that normally a search tool isn't ......
  45. 07/12/2005My advisor schedule for next week is busier than I have ever been at one conferenceThis year, asside from more sessions than I've ever done at a conference (7 hours plus a lunch) I'm traveling with my 10 year old Daughter, Coryn. Rocky is bringing a couple of his Rock-etts with him, and we're all going to have some fun after the show ......
  46. 07/12/2005Firefox add-in extension that I'd really like to seeI want a "search" bar for firefox that calls google search, but automatically appends api commands to exclude a list of sites (particularly nextag, epinions, dealtime, pricegrabber, and that ilk that fills up the damn screen when you're searching for a ......
  47. 07/12/2005Will I see you at Advisor in VegasI'd like to meet as many of you who read this blog as I can. If you're going to be in Vegas at the Advisor show next week, give me a heads up by email or post here. I'll be leaving after lunch on Wednesday, so catch me before ......
  48. 07/07/2005The Great city of London -- triumphant even in tragedy -- is in our hearts today.Not 24 hours after gleefully and rightly winning the right to host the 2012 Olympics, London is beset once again by cowardly criminals who kill women and children in the name of a belief system twisted by callous, power crazed leaders. I have many good ......
  49. 07/07/2005Are you a wardriver? This guy may go to prison for it.The courts have repeatedly found that if you can pull a signal off the air without decrypting it, you can use it. If this guy had a wireless rig setup in his house and did not have a password requirement or anything preventing access, I wonder if that can ......
  50. 07/07/2005Digital Signal Processing, FFT, and CalculusFor that last two days I've been working out how to pull the 'current' dominant sound frequency (or tone) out of a digital audio stream. This is done using something called a "Fourier Transform". This is a complex algorithm based on some pretty heavy duty ......
  51. 07/04/2005Once more into the telephony breach, dear friends...In 1993 I used Phone Notes with a Natural Microsystems 4 port voice card to create a voice interactive sales tool for company here called "The Maine Idea". At the same time I set up my own office voicemail system with the same Remark product. Its been 12 ......
  52. 07/02/2005Speaking of movies -- help me understand.........zombie flicks. There's a key bit of logic I don't understand. Even with the best of the movies where attention has actually been paid to the cause (usually a virus from a lab) and thought has gone into the consequences, I don't get why the zombies ......
  53. 07/02/2005Who was in charge of packing the cooler?I took a couple of hours off today and saw "War of the Worlds" -- the new one. In the classic film, the premise was much simpler. The space badguys come down in spaceships protected by a lot of rock and land hard on the ground. The rock breaks open and ......
  54. 07/02/2005I would expect, given the wide range of topics I rant about, to get some really oddball Google hits....Would you believe that out of 1,300+ google hits in June, there are none I would consider really oddball or funny? 99% of them are directly related to the topics I favor most on this site -- that is to say IBM Lotus Domino and related technologies, or ......
  55. 06/21/2005Inserting pass through html onto a form with LotusScript, designed to used in the NOTES CLIENT.If you create a form for Notes 6, and put a field on the form where the field and surrounding text is marked "pass through html", and you use the form property to render pass through html in Notes..... It doesn't work. You see the html that you put in the ......
  56. 06/21/2005Some code I used to save time with creation of an ugly backward compatibility hackI had to create a form to be used by R5 clients and part of the form had to display a variable number of urls, with an image used for the bullet. The data had to be written from a COM call outside Notes, and the form stored with the mail send. Ugliness ......
  57. 06/21/2005Want to know what New England firefighting is like? Check out the Discovery Channel's new show ......
  58. 06/21/2005FX's RESCUE-ME starts up again tonightRescue-Me! Starts again tonight on the FX network. The show stars Dennis Leary as a New York truckie (firefighter assigned to a ladder company) dealing with the issues related to 911, a drinking problem, and an overdeveloped sense of sarcasm. It is one of ......
  59. 06/14/2005Insanely cool surreal nightmare of a film -- what a great surpriseI'm watching the end now, of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" and I'm so pleasantly surprised by it. It isn't at all what I thought it would be. The film jumps around, more focused on the idea than anything else. In some ways, I'm reminded of Pi (the ......
  60. 06/12/2005RIT gets real, Summer comes to Maine, Lightning strikes at a bad time, and prepping for Las VegasSorry for not writing sooner, its been a busy week. Aside from the regular client stuff, I've been working with Gab on our combined admin basics jump start for Vegas. I'm really looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun. Had a good meeting in ......
  61. 06/03/2005THEM! Where did great, simple, fun movies like this go?Here's the description: "Scientists must defeat a horde of giant ants--before they conquer the world! With Edmund Gwenn and bit player Leonard Nimoy." People go missing in a small desert town in Nevada. After a bit, a print is identified by scientists (a ......
  62. 05/29/2005The great cable & adapter changeoverAs someone who still travels a good deal on business and used to travel a great deal my backpack/briefcase/computer bag is a wonder of modern packing. I carry such an array of cables, adapters, wires, and such as to be able to connect to, repair, display ......
  63. 05/28/2005Stupid article in Wired Magazine about supposedly new firefighting techniquesWired is carrying an article this month on a technique for using less water in a more deliberate way they call "3-D" firefighting. The method involves using thermal imaging cameras to see the heat patterns in the room, then using just enough water in ......
  64. 05/28/2005Am I getting older and yet more cynical or is the media getting more and more transparent?I'm an admitted information junkie. I read print versions of Wired, CPU, and Scientific American -- all cover to cover -- and can never resist a good article from Goggle News, which is my home page. I keep up with SlashDot (aka /.) and a dozen or so blogs ......
  65. 05/27/2005RESCUE ME -- season 2 starts June 21Rescue Me, the FX Network's firefighter show is due to start its second season on June 21st. If you haven't seen it, you should. This isn't typical overproduced garbage, instead its a riotous and irreverent comedy-drama that you'll think is over the top ......
  66. 05/26/2005The new chips are here! The new chips are here!Do you need to go faster? For only $1,150 at ZipZoomFly (one of my favorite haunts) they're now offering the newest Intel P4. If you remember what I wrote earlier about why Hyperthreading rocks, you'll understand why I love this new toy..... Intel Pentium ......
  67. 05/26/2005Running your Domino server on a consumer home network DSL or CABLE system? Bad news on the way...(updated)Information Week, and a bunch of others, are carrying an article that references a renewed FTC (Federal Trade Commission) effort to get consumer carriers worldwide to stop allowing SMTP traffic outbound to anything other than their own mail relay servers. ......
  68. 05/26/2005Selected pictures from Monday night's fireHere are a few selected pictures to go with the story from Monday night... Click on a thumbnail to see the picture in more detail. ......
  69. 05/24/2005What the hell is middleware, and why would anyone want to but something with that name?Of all the product categories and names out there, what the hell kind of name is “Middleware”? Would you ever buy something called “Middleware”? Is it attractive? What does a name like this promise? Will it make you stronger, wealthier, better looking, ......
  70. 05/24/2005A big night tonight on the fire department -- fortunately no serious injuriesIts 1:17 am and I'm just back from a long evening on Engine 1. I'm eating dinner and blogging to calm down a bit before going to sleep so forgive me if I ramble a bit. At 17:06 my fire pager went off, striking a "desk box" (a significant incident) for a ......
  71. 05/21/2005Throwing Clay, Java, and Developments at the Fire StationI have to finally admit that my new modeling clay is Java. I still don't buy into J2EE for building most applications, and I don't see the value in making standards an obsession for work being done within the application itself -- but having gotten ......
  72. 05/20/2005A stop in New York, a strange perspective on accents, and Revenge of the ReviewOn my way to Fort Lee, New Jersey for this weekend's Penumbra meeting, I stopped at the Palisades Center to wait out the traffic on the parkway. Its a huge shopping mall in the worst sense of all such things. This massive windowless, featureless, block ......
  73. 05/18/2005off to New Jersey -- as my friend Volker says, "See you on the other side"....Off for a fun filled weekend business meeting with my fellow Penumbra members in New Jersey. Yes, I know you'd think a bunch of bright people could pick a nice spot. Ah well. At least its driving distance. The new car should make it in one tank -- and I ......
  74. 05/17/2005Rabbits down holesSometimes you chase the rabbit too far down the hole. In my never ending quest for high performance, I built an in memory index that works very much like a sorted view column in that its very quick to find an entry, and even support partial matches -- in ......
  75. 05/14/2005High Performance Threadsafe Access to DataThis document started out a quick blog entry, about two and a half hours ago. Its become one of the most detailed performance explanations I’ve ever put down in writing. If you have the patience to sit and read it, I’d appreciate any feedback you have. ......
  76. 05/10/2005The de-buzzification of AJAXEveryone's talking about AJAX now. The level of attention this is getting is more indicative of the herd mentality of JavaScript UI programmers than it is of anything particularly amazing about the technology. Apparently, everyone has spent so much time ......
  77. 05/10/2005Its HAPPY DANCE TIME in Redmond, WA.....I'm sure you've heard this story already... "A pair of unpatched vulnerabilities in Mozilla's Firefox Web browser -- rated as "extremely critical" by one security firm -- could allow an attacker to take control of a PC simply by getting a user to visit a ......
  78. 05/09/2005Running with the "Lotus Domino/Workplace Consulting Business" theme under discussion on so many blogs right now.....Well, Carl, Ed, and a bunch of others are asking about the consulting business. This stems from seeing a few people leave private consulting and head for jobs in big firms of late. I suppose its a valuable question, but I think concerns are overblown. ......
  79. 05/04/2005Incremental progress on a big project - and learning to like JavaAt what point are you comfortable with a new programming language? Like all modern languages, Java needs to be approached in three distinct areas. The environment in which it runs, the lexical syntax and common practices associated with using it, and the ......
  80. 05/02/2005Bad ATM Software -- Someone should be VERY embarrassed at KEY Bank.Last week, the Key Bank in Yarmouth, Maine had their ATM upgraded. Same old hardware, but clearly new software -- and some kind of headphone jack -- for the blind maybe. Now, first I have to ask what the hell a blind person would be doing in the driver's ......
  81. 05/02/2005Intuit (Quickbooks) wasted 2 hours of my day today, by screwing up my software just to advertise to me!I hate these people. My poor accounting skills have left me little choice by to use their software or become hopeless tangled in my own finances. That said, I've never seen a product cause me to have to spend so much of my time looking at advertisements ......
  82. 04/29/2005More on the generic server -- and some code.....So I've finished two big pieces of the "current projects" list. Now I have a full blown DNS client that lets me pick a dns server and request any kind of data from it. That means I can do reverse lookups, pointer lookups, ownership checks, and real time ......
  83. 04/27/2005The Generic ServerSometimes a lot of the things you want to do start to all have some core things in common. Recently, several of my pet projects (those nobody is as yet paying for) have all but cried out for back end server functionality. I've been needing something that ......
  84. 04/22/2005Alan Lepofsky points out a few great hidden hints in his Tables blog entry...I learned at least three things that if I knew, I'd long since forgotten. In particular, check out his "Extra HintS" part at the end of the story. Nice job Alan. Its also nice to see Alan finding his own style and space on the web. This is the first time ......
  85. 04/22/2005The case for using on disk compression for your Notes Data directoryI did some very extensive testing & reviews back in the 90's when Stacker and its ilk were on the market. Microsoft bought out much of that technology and its now pat of the operating system. You can select a folder, a file, or a drive and elect to ......
  86. 04/21/2005IBM Travelstar drives are not waterproof. Aka: What not to do when starting a presentation...Well, I'm back from Munich and a great time was had, I must say. The H&T people outdid themselves with this show. It was their most well organized and run to date. I did have one problem. It was kind of a big one. 3 minutes into my first session, "Domino ......
  87. 04/17/2005Hello from H&T Verlags Conferenz in Munich!Hello all! I've been busy working on things like a hueristic anti-spam engine and a service provider application, but I wanted to say hello to you from Munich -- one of my favorite cities. Special thanks to B.G. who picked up Rocky and I, along with his ......
  88. 04/08/2005Does your company really think you're valuable?Business Week is running a big story about IBM's Sam Palmisano finding a new vision for IBM. The idea is that you won't just use IBM to get your I.T. project done. No, a company will be able to outsource everything but its "core business" to some kind of ......
  89. 04/06/2005Crack found in space shuttle tankI didn't have a lot of time to read this, but I came across a Google News headline titled "Crack Found in Shuttle Tank". Now, I'm sure I'll have more time to go back and read this, but in the mean time I must say that I'm very angry. The very last thing ......
  90. 04/05/2005The media in general is conspiring to scare the hell out of me.Lets get something really clear. The only calming factor I've had, which I've been able to count on, as a father with three girls -- one rapidly approaching teenhood, and another one not at all far enough behind -- is that regardless of what teenaged boys ......
  91. 03/30/2005(Another) Review of TeamStudio's new LotusScript class browserRather than a simple announcement, I've decided to give an early review of Team Studio's new object browser tool. It fills a big gap by providing a fairly good object browser to use with your LotusScript agents and classes. Its not perfect, but it is ......
  92. 03/28/2005So, why re-invent the wheel?One of you sent me an email asking how the code I wrote was different from simply using: import java.net.*; InetAddress addr = InetAddress.getByName("www.yahoo.com"); System.out.println("IP Address = " + addr.getHostAddress()); I have to admit, its not ......
  93. 03/25/2005DNS Lookup from LotusScript anyone?I've written some code and I'm thinking of making it available as a toolkit in a compiled script library. Using LotusScript with ls2j and a java object I created, you can easily pass in a name server and host name and get back the ip address of the host ......
  94. 03/24/2005Creating a single outbound SMTP server for your Domino DomainI get more questions about smtp routing than anything else. Here's some notes taken from a recent presentation I gave at LotusSphere 2005 that should help you resolve some of the problems. The idea here, is not to have all your Domino servers routing mail ......
  95. 03/23/2005Geekfest -- what does your home office look like?I originally posted this in response to Bill's question here Lots of people have a home office. Lots are geeks. Are you up to the challenge? What does your geekworld look like? My office is a few hunderd square feet of space off the kitchen area, with ......
  96. 03/23/2005Does Bank One really think sending me deceptively written marketing will make me a customer?Like all of you, I get credit card offers almost daily in the postal mail. I've noticed a trend though. I can almost guess the card vendor based on the type and level of deception they used to get you to open it. I've had one recently that was ......
  97. 03/23/2005Well -- Customer's data restored, my own server upgrade done, and I'm back to blogging. What a week. A customer managed to destroy about 50 gigs of data and found out their backups were 90 days out of date -- that took some real effort to clean up. Then I had my own server to upgrade. If you notice this site moving a bit faster, its gone ......
  98. 03/17/2005Did you know that using Java Agents is inherently multi-threaded? I nearly cooked my processor finding out....I discovered something interesting yesterday. I'd written some code for a project I'm working on dealing with spam management. The code examines native mime, parses and pulls out target URL's and does some things with them. This means a huge amount of ......
  99. 03/17/2005My darn desktop6.ndk crashed.....gr...If you, like me, have hundreds of database icons on your desktop and haven't got a good backup of your desktop6.ndk file -- make one. It is immensely frustrating to have to re-create that hierarchy. It brings me back to thinking about a solution that uses ......
  100. 03/12/2005Got Snow? Take a look at these pictures ......
  101. 03/10/2005Microsoft buying Groove - good for SOHO, good for Microsoft, irrelevant to IBM strategy.The truth is, Microsoft needs Groove, and Groove needs Microsoft. Microsoft needs inspiration and direction to make their play in the so-called “groupware” or “collaboration” space more complete. Groove needs backing, and a compelling suite of surrounding ......
  102. 03/04/2005How much investment do you make in your clients....when they'll never know?Its Friday night, and I'm waiting for Battlestar Galactica to start on SciFi (we already know I'm a geek) and trying to come up with something interesting that's not too contrived to put on this blog. After all, you people have been patiently reading ......
  103. 03/02/2005What a difference a week makes. Here's pictures of the latest additional foot of snowIts a good thing there was SOME sublimation between the last storm and this one or we'd be just burried.... ......
  104. 02/22/2005Verizon DSL -- 3 days of frustration for 4 days of connectionI ordered Verizon DSL for the condo we're staying at in Florida. Ordered in plenty of time with an activation date the 14th of February. Of course, when I arrived it didn't work. The DSL modem synced up fine with the CO (so it wasn't a line issue) but no ......
  105. 02/22/2005Ah, warm, calm, and relaxed at last. New car, and pics from the sand in FloridaIts sure been a stressful couple of weeks, but at long last I've got space to take a breath. First, I replaced the old car with the Pacifica (dealer pictures, not mine) shown at the end of this email. I went to a dealer I've known for years who's always ......
  106. 02/11/2005So, what's your favorite new-car comparison site? There's a really important reason I ask....Last night, about 5 hours after I backed into the garage, the Durango went up in flames. At 4am, the smoke detectors noted the haze and set the alarm off, and everyone got quickly out of the house. I then went back in and grabbed an extinguisher and put out (mostly) the car fire in the garage. Then, I went and got another extinguisher and used half of that to get it more out. Finally, I found a way into the garage from outside. and after pulling the manual release on the door was able to open it and let ......
  107. 02/09/2005Thanks, Rocky! What a great mug!Rocky just sent me one of these by mail. It came out really great! I'd never considered usign Cafe Press, but I think I'll check into it now. They really did a nice job. The picture barely does it justice -- the image comes out just ......
  108. 02/04/2005Lungs for George - Please help. * Updated Address for NTAFIn all the years I've been participating in the Lotus Domino community, I've never asked for a contribution or charitable donation to be made for any particular cause, though I've seen it done once or twice. Please forgive me if you find this an inappropriate posting to this space, but the matter is quite important. A short distance from the small town where I am, as many of you know, a volunteer firefighter is another volunteer named George Carman. George is a regular guy who chooses to donate his time ......
  109. 02/04/2005Topping my the list of people who don't get it.... John Dickinson at Messaging PipelineIn this article, an author goes out of his way to project a positive image for a colleague with one heck of an image problem. John spends four of the first five paragraphs in a story (which any first year journalism student knows are supposed to represent ......
  110. 01/30/2005Pictures from Lotusphere 2005 ......
  111. 01/30/2005Major software vendor uses update process to disable features, force upgradeAccording to this article, Intuit Software has disabled some working functionality in its QuickBooks 2002 software in order to push users to upgrade to newer versions. I'm a user of their 2003 product, and I was a user of many previous versions. I've ......
  112. 01/30/2005Great minds think alikeThis image was taken (with permission) from the screen of an IBM employee's laptop. It shows the Notes Icon that's been used for a discussion database around integration of Lotus Domino with IBM Workplace Rich ......
  113. 01/28/2005"Data from the used underwear were downloaded each day to a computer"How can you not drop everything, and go read a story that has quotes like this? Apparently "Each participant wore a special, high-tech set of underwear, which were rigged with sensors and data loggers originally designed to monitor jet fighter motion. The ......
  114. 01/27/2005How will Workplace Rich Client and Workplace Designer play for the Lotus faithful, and what about ISVs?Here at Lotusphere, some of the real news is that Workplace Rich Client and Workplace Designer are going to be very popular tools with the Domino crowd and also with the traditional I.T. shops who prefer central control. That's a pretty big change by ......
  115. 01/26/2005What does a background mean?What should the backdrop for the new IBM Workplace Rich Client look like? I mean, if you’re not working on anything, or if the things you’re working on don’t fill the space. Personally, I’d like it to be transparent. If it’s over your Win32 desktop for ......
  116. 01/25/2005how do you rate vendors at trade shows?My own rating scale runs from "I gotta get me one of these" -- Will Smith's line from Independance Day, to "Coyote Bad" -- where you'd be willing to gnaw your arm off at the elbow to escape the handshake trap of the sales ......
  117. 01/25/2005Lotusphere, Monday -- opening session, and my first twoSome random 1am thoughts from the day... Lotusphere for me this year, is the best in a very long time -- maybe ever. Attendance is up, and people are here buying products and consulting time. I've picked up more business this so far than all previous ......
  118. 01/24/2005Notes from Lotusphere, Arrival to Sunday NightHi all – it’s been a terrific time so far, and just getting started. First, let me say that I’m so honored by the people who have come up to me and said “Hey, Andrew, I read you!” It’s so amazing to me that you take time out of your day to read my ......
  119. 01/21/2005I've established my Lotusphere Base CampI've made it to the Swan, and am establishing base camp. The weather is good now, I hope to make the ascent for the summit before it turns to storms. More later. For now, its time to lay in provisions in the form of a cheap cooler, ice, beer, soda, and 25 ......
  120. 01/20/2005C.U.L.T. Shirt Prize Announced!That's right, we're stepping it up this year. Instead of the traditional $100 handed out, we're going to hand one person a brand new Creative Labs "Zen" Extra 30gb MP3 Player! So, are you going to let your geek flag fly on Wednesday ......
  121. 01/20/2005Another failure of Free Trade Agreements - Stock up on your HP printer consumables now...I picked this story up from Slashdot -- The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HP plans to start using DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies to region code printer cartridges. Why? The fall of the U.S. Dollar makes them cheaper for folks in ......
  122. 01/19/2005This just in -- New information about Workplace Designer!Special thanks to Brandon Smith, Chris Reckling, and others who helped make it possible to get special permission to publish the following. Please keep in mind, it was written two days after I got the information, but permission to publish was held until ......
  123. 01/19/2005Great new tiny wifi router, access point, bridge from DLINKJust got this one in. Its about the size of my business card, but range is pretty good. It does all things you would expect in a wifi router, or in a wifi access point, or in a wifi client (bridge). The thing is, it does all three. Even more, you switch ......
  124. 01/19/2005If you see me at Lotusphere, say hiIn keeping with others' comments in various fora over the last few days, I just wanted to extend this invitation. If you see me, say hi. I'd be happy to introduce you to those around me. This may be security guards ejecting me from a business partner rep ......
  125. 01/17/2005Feedback requested -- BP108 - Admin Zero to Hero in 60 MinutesI've just finished the presentation for this session. They've got me scheduled to deliver it twice next week. The first time, I'm in a room set up for nearly 700 people, but at the same time as "What's new in Domino 7", "What's new in the Domino Designer ......
  126. 01/12/2005Geeze, I sure hope those t-shirts don't need any more revisions...Or that Adobe has a big sale on this software really ......
  127. 01/12/2005Taking apart the Radicati predictions 1 by 1Well, the Radicati (don't say Microsoft bought and paid for too loud) Group has predictions out again. Lets take a look at them shall we? 1 We [Radicati] expect IBM Lotus Notes/Domino to continue losing market share to MS Exchange and other players. Q4 ......
  128. 01/10/2005A professional rubber band counter!It goes to show you just how careful you need to be when raising children. This note came home with my 5 year old today.... ......
  129. 01/08/2005Child labor implicated in the production of C.U.L.T. shirts for 2005! An anonymous tip totally unrelated to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the AARP, the Democrats, the Republicans, or Microsoft today reported that child labor has been used to produce materials related to this year's CULT 2005 T-Shirts. The CULT (Certified ......
  130. 01/08/2005A good little link-checker for your site, and its freeI've just set up a new linux based machine which will host a few partitions for me. Among them, will soon be this server, 'www.thenorth.com' -- which will run on the new parition "IDHL/thenorth". As I start moving stuff over to it, I need to check for ......
  131. 01/07/2005Lotusphere 2005 draws near.... the C.U.L.T. shirts draw nearer....Perhaps these will be of interest to some of you. The spy cam in effect... ......
  132. 01/06/2005Wow, I've been busy. Here's a meaty tech post, about the intermittent time-out issue some of us have seen in Domino/Notes communicationSorry I haven't been posting. I'm working on some new things here, and have been REALLY busy on client work. BTW: I am aware of at least one IBM person working on this problem. As a courtesy, I will not mention the person's name as they are not a frequent ......
  133. 12/22/2004Big Fish -- Remembering those larger than life peopleLast night I watched one of those movies that critics and viewers both are completely split on -- I loved it. http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/big_fish/ The movie is the story of a man, who not content with the banalities of every day life ......
  134. 12/20/2004Congrats to John HeadHearty congrats to John Head, who has gone back and now finished his degree. John is now a man of letters. Excellent work, John. I'm glad someone has the patience for it. ......
  135. 12/20/2004Wow -- O.C.R. that really works WELL. A great new printer/scanner that fits my need perfectly.My new Epson CX6600 printer/scanner came with the usual assortment of utilities and photo tools. Normally, I wouldn't look twice at them but for some reason I did this time. I'm impressed. The tools are outstanding, as is the printer. You may have noticed ......
  136. 12/20/2004So really, rather than being defective, apparently I am a "Hunter living in a Farmer's World"I've been reading a fantastic book by Thom Hartman called "Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception". Originally written with the central metaphor describing the traits of the person who as this "disorder" as Hunter/Gatherer living in society ......
  137. 12/17/2004 Updated -- I've released my first truly hybrid .NET / Domino production application today* Updated * I've talked before about the power of hybrid applications. This one, out in the wild tonight gives the ease of use associated with native applications combined with security and flexibility of the back end Domino system. A professional quality ......
  138. 12/17/2004Of careless peopleTwo men set out on a long, late tripof coffee or tea, barely a sip. Dark night, long road, one sleeps in his seatthe other one too, lets slumber creep. Yours truly at last laying down to restmuch undone, the place a mess. Alas our travelers have failed to ......
  139. 12/10/2004Have you reviewed your telecom costs lately?In the course of about 2 hours, I've cut my telecom bills by more than $200 a month starting next week and gotten a whole ton of better services. First, at Verizon Wireless I'm turning of Barb's old cell that's now out of contract and she's not using. ......
  140. 12/09/2004Preview the new site....Any feedback would be welcome...well, most would anyway. I hope to make it live tomorrow. ......
  141. 12/08/2004What I'm not hearing talked about, in IBM's sale of its PC business...So IBM is selling its PC business. Its in all the press, so you can read the details there. What I don't see much mention of is one of the biggest reasons why this is happening. Another business partner pointed out that the outsourced firm in Korea which ......
  142. 12/08/2004Delivering 2 sessions at LotusSphere 2005 in January! They're going to be fun.Well, they've allowed me back in this year. I'm really looking forward to delivering this new one. I think we'll have a lot of fun. If you have any ideas you'd like to see me incorporate, please let me know. Since this is a best practices track, I think ......
  143. 12/04/2004A few site notes....A few site notes -- Look for updates and additions in several of the side bar items. I've finally gotten around to updating ......
  144. 12/04/2004Tomorrow is R.I.T. "Final" DayWith all the training for the R.I.T. I finally finish tomorrow. We're doing a joint exercise with Yarmouth -- the next town over. It should be fun. My 11 year old daughter will be along to take pictures so maybe some will end up here. Don't expect ......
  145. 12/03/2004Do you "Skype" ? I do now. What a wonderful way to waste time!Much better than chatting with a keyboard. Skype ( http://www.skype.com ) lets you use your speakers and microphone (assuming you have one) on your PC or laptop (most laptops have them built in) to have a real telephone like conversation with another ......
  146. 11/26/2004Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving -- making one of the dumbest American-Centric statements I've ever heardOk. I watched this show with my kids last night. It started off with a statement by Linus (no, not Torvalds) about how important the holiday is. He actually declared that "these early American's were the first to declare a holiday to be thankful". ......
  147. 11/20/2004Announcing NCT Compliance SearchIn Q.A. testing now is the first in a series of NCT Search 3.0 products. Compliance search differs from a regular search in a key way. It is designed not to sort results and give you the top most likely useful information -- it is designed to give you ALL ......
  148. 11/20/2004Watch this space! I have seen what's coming, and it rocks!I've got a document in being reviewed for NDA stuff and awaiting permission to post -- so keep an eye on this space. Soon I can tell you why I finally think Lotus Workplace may be a place I could write code, make money, and build the kinds of solutions ......
  149. 11/19/2004A favorite (sneaky) Domino technique I've never come across beforeI've been using "notesAgent.runOnServer()" for a long time -- and It ALMOST does what I want. I have always wanted it to detach from the current process so the client doesn't have to sit and wait for it. I wanted to do it without any API calls too. Well, ......
  150. 11/14/2004Dutch Violence against Muslims Continues On Volker Weber's blog in response to a topic posted just following the election I had be vehemently deriding some of the comments I'd seen by people there and in the European press about the choices we made in our elections here in the U.S. The most ......
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