James Simmonds

Since I released the source code for SendMSN , a utility that lets you send a message to multiple MSN Messenger clients from the command line onto my ProjectDistributor site I've had quite a few requests for just the built version (exe). So I've finally got round to putting a binaries only build up onto ProjectDistributor . I originally wrote this for use in build scripts for instant notification of a failed build but there are many more uses I've heard it being put to - many applications offer a "Run External Command" feature and by using SendMSN they now have an Instant Messenger capability. One such application is mControl - Windows Media Centre 2005 Home Automation application that I've had on trial recently and been really impressed with. It has a rich range of trigger and action functions and SendMSN would fit right to give you instant MSN alerts about security or any other aspect of your home automation installation. As ever, any problems with the ap...

Just watched this on Charlie Owens blog. This is a tour of Windows Vista Media Centre (code name Diamond ). I have to say that I'm mildly impressed but I believe that with "consumer" grade products like this (and by consumer grade I mean ready for Joe Public - no computer science degree required to operate) the proof is in the long term experience with the product; i.e does it become indispensible or did you get frustrated with it because of stability/reliability issues? "Eye-candy" stuff is great but if it forgets to record a TV program it will get the boot! I've been pleased with MCE2005 so working on the assumption this will be a "better" product I hope this will become a truely indispensible integral part of my home. Great video though demonstrating the features and improvements and I can't wait to get some long term experience with it myself. I'm holding off buying a new media centre PC until " Diamond " is released.

Get it here Hopefully this release addresses some of the performance issues numerous people have reported . The release notes which include a complete breakdown of bugs fixed & features is here . Enjoy...I know I will :)

Find out more here ... It's been AJAX'ed up and is looking really nice... " Orb 2.0 is all about MyCasting - Be your own producer:Create channels out of your music, photos, videos, and television. " What's Orb? It allows you to stream your recorded and live TV, music, pictures, videos from your PC to any other IP connected device (PDA, Smartphone, Laptop, another PC)...how cool is that? Very very very cool that's how cool! Check out these posts on it if you've never heard of Orb.... My Orb blog post Scotts Orb blog post

So finally I've got round to buying some new gadgets...and this time its the long awaited attempt at home automation using Z-Wave devices. Why Z-Wave and not X10? Tricky choice...Z-Wave uses RF and a mesh network approach with command confirmation - this is the primary reason for going for Z-Wave - rock solid control. Each Z-Wave module is not only a receiver but a repeater too; this means that the controller sends the command to any module in range and it passes it on to any other modules nearby until the command eventually reaches the intended module and vice-versa for the command confirmation response. By "in range" and "nearby" I mean about 30 metres (100ft) The more modules you have the more resilient and robust the command messaging becomes and the messaging is very quick too. I'd read a lot about X10 and was really impressed by its support for almost anything you want to do; Z-Wave in the UK is poorly supported in terms of variety of modules, currentl...

(via Gizmodo ) OMG....I've seen it all now...indicators for your ears to avoid those little " which way are you going shuffles "... how ridiculous!

11-Dec-2007 Update I've updated this post to fix the broken images and replaced them with inline text for the example xml and accompanying C# code. This post has been by far the most hit on this blog and along with the comments about the missing images I thought it was time to update it! Whilst recreating the examples below I zipped up the working source code and xml file and loaded this onto my Project Distributor site - please download it to get a full working custom configuration to play with! Just click on the CustomConfigExampleSource link on the right hand side, then the "Source" link to get the zip. We are in the process of converting our codebase to .Net 2.0. We've used Enterprise Library to great effect so decided that we should continue with this in the form of the Jan 2006 release which targets 2.0 and I've got the job of porting our Logging, Data Access etc wrappers to EntLib 2.0. ...And so far so good - the EntLib docs aren't bad and the migrati...