Check this awesome game out. IE required…Firefox didn’t seem to work. :-(

Looks like Dan is at it again…

via Gunnar Wolf: Dan Kaminsky shortly describes a way to generate more than one file with the same MD5 hash, and links to a paper explaining it further. Dan is always writing up useful tools and I’ve been a fan ever since Paketto Keiretsu was released.

He is also an excellent presenter. I was at Defcon when he announced Paketto, as well as when he announced ActiveX Encapsulation and OzymanDNS (SSH Tunneling through DNS?!) and all three times I sat there with my jaw on the grubby floor while he held me captivated. Very passionate about what he does and that much is obvious when he speaks. This guy does things with TCP/IP that it was not intended to do and nobody ever imagined that it could do.

error C2664: FormatMessageA : Cannot convert parameter from LPWSTR to LPSTR

I was getting this error on a brand new project to take over a user’s session in Windows (w00t!) in which I was reusing code. Turns out it was a Unicode problem - after adding UNICODE to the Preprocessor Definitions in the project properties (Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocesser), the project compiled with no errors.

It’s little things like these that is probably common sense for most c++ users, but when I switch between PERL, PHP, C++, and WMI on an almost-daily basis I tend to forget.

I’m in San Fran this week with a nice corner room. There have been some nice sunrises over the oceanbay:

     

I also went to Aqua last night - a fabulous restaurant. The service was exceptional - very knowledgeable wait staff, but not pretentious at all. Food…excellent! Wine list…extensive!

Update: Sunrises over the ocean? On the west coast?? Get with it, D…

Something to remember for the next time I paint my room.

No Need to Click Here - I’m just claiming my feed at Feedster

I like computers because it is fun very very fun. I like being a computter manger. I is very very fun. I don’t mind missing resess I like it. –Sept 21, 1988

That was me, at the age of eight writing about how I liked being the computer manager at school ([sic]). See…even back then I knew I wanted to be a sys admin. ;o)

Google has a Desktop Search tool and Microsoft recently acquired a Desktop Search tool. Both search files. Both search email. However, Google’s is integrated into the browser and Microsoft’s is integrated into an email client. There are two downfalls to the latter approach

1. That email client is Microsoft Outlook, which is not a free application. This could severely limit the desktop search tools acceptance. Google’s solution uses a free client and it is application-independent to boot! Google brought web services to the desktop! (I’ve always had a problem with web services, in that you have to be connected to the web to use them…I frequently work offline)
2. The majority of my time on the computer is spent in my browser, not in my email client. This convenience factor is important in the acceptance of an application. Further, I execute numerous searches a day and almost always have a Google query window/tab open - that makes it all the easier to execute the search across my desktop.

While it may be common sense, Google has made a smart move by integrating its desktop search tool into the browser. Even though I almost always have both open, I am usually more active in my browser and it is more natural to use that interface for searching. In my mind, I usually only go into my email client when I need to read or respond to email. Other than that, it sits in the background. This, Microsoft, is why I have not installed Lookout and find it more convenient to use my browser to search my email. This also means that I’m not going to want to open another application to search my desktop unless it is technically superior to my current solution. This is also why I chose to install Google Desktop - I was frustrated with not being able to search word and excel files, and I have an enormous amount of knowledge (not all my own ;)) stored in those and Adobe pdf files. Despite some potential security concerns, thank you Google for adding some convenience to my local search. Microsoft (and others…Scoble ponders whether Yahoo is up to something - wonder what their interface coughbrowsercough would be), you have some work to do.

One note: Lookout probably won’t be the end product as can be assumed by some rumors floating around about MSN’s desktop search. Even if the new solution is a toolbar, it’s still limited to Microsoft products…not good enough! Why? I don’t use Windows Explorer (too limited, thank you Servant Salamander), and I don’t want a deskbar on my already limited laptop’s screen real estate. A tray icon might work, but I already have enough of those. From the Neowin article, Microsoft sounds like they might be taking the right direction with respect to context-based searches from as many places as possible.

OK, I’m done for now.

Just wanted to take a minute and say Happy Thanksgiving! It was nice to be home and see family I don’t get to see too often seeing as how I live in the middle of the country.

Hope yours was enjoyable!

Thank you, Paul for finally providing a good source of information about the .NET Compact Framework. Ever since I got my new Audiovox SMT5600, I’ve been wanting to work on some apps for it (i.e. better call history and an ntp client) but haven’t been able to find very good resources. This should get me going - gotta love vacation!