Will you?

UPDATE: To make it easier to find this entry, I've added a link to it in the right sidebar, right under the links for my books and my classes.

West Michigan .NET User Group in Grand Rapids MI. April 17. Topic: Dee Jay: A Voice-Controlled Juke Box for Windows Vista.

Ann Arbor Day of .NET in Ann Arbor MI. May 5. Topic: Talking with Vista.

West Michigan Day of .NET in Grand Rapids MI. May 5. Topics: Do, Undo, Redo, Do Over: A Generics Command Pattern Implementation; Talking with Vista.

Huntsville New Technology User Group in Huntsville AL. September 11. Topic: Dee Jay: A Voice-Controlled Juke Box for Windows Vista.

Will you?

I'll be speaking on a .NET generic implementation of Undo, Redo, Scripting, and Logging at GANG tonight.

The 21st Century Cocktail Napkin is a talk I presented to the Ann Arbor .NET Developers group on June 14. It's an example of a smart cocktail napkin application built using the Tablet PC API. In a a smart cocktail napkin application, you draw shapes as part of some design you'll share with other readers; but as you draw, the Tablet PC also recognizes and understands what you draw, and creates information behind the drawing. (For an example of a smart cocktail napkin application, you can start here.)

Now, thanks to Camtasia Studio, I have a recording of this presentation. And thanks to YouTube, I can now present it to you on-line:



And you can also download a ZIP file of the slides and the sample code.

Look for more recorded presentations soon. And if you're looking for an easy-to-use UML tool for Tablet PCs, check out Tablet UML.

Ink in 60 Seconds! is a talk I have presented to a number of user groups (some courtesy of INETA). It consists of a number of small little demos of Tablet PC programming, most written in 60 seconds or less.

Now, thanks to Camtasia Studio, I have a recording of this presentation from the Ann Arbor .NET Developers group on June 14, 2006. And thanks to YouTube, I can now present it to you on-line here. And you can also download a ZIP file of the slides and a cleaned-up version of the sample code.

One part of the video may need explanation. Part of the fun of this talk is the deadline: can I write that code in 60 seconds? And if not, I expect the audience to heckle and laugh. But just in case they need encouragement, I wrote a little tool called Egg Timer. When I launch it, it starts a 60-second clock; and if I don't stop it before the clock elapses, it will heckle me. So if you hear a strange computer voice at spots in the video, it means I ran out of time.

And for those who are curious: yes, my car is much better now.

Look for more recorded presentations soon! And if you're looking for an easy-to-use UML tool for Tablet PCs, check out Tablet UML.

Update: Here's an attempt to embed the video in this post:



Update: Fixed the link to the ZIP file. Thank you, )Stéphane Torres.

It looks like I'll be speaking at the Day of .NET in Ann Arbor, MI. And in preparation for that event, the Ann Arbor Computer Society is having a night of Grok Talks on .NET topics, and I was asked to participate. For those who haven't seen them before, a Grok Talk is a quick (ten minutes or less) talk on a small topic, with a focus on demonstrating just a little bit of code or a little technique people can use in their projects. Now normally, I have a bit of Ent in me: ten minutes is scarcely enough time to say good morning. But when I needed to come up with a topic for my Grok Talk and I hadn't enough time to think through it, I said, "Text to speech." And then afterwards, I thought about it, and realized: with Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) 5.1, text-to-speech takes three lines of code. Literally:

ISpVoice mVoice = new SpVoiceClass();
uint uiStream;
mVoice.Speak("Hello, world!", 1, out uiStream);

And one of those lines is a variable declaration! So this topic would take me less than a minute to cover. Whatever would I do with the remaining nine minutes?

So being the Tablet PC guy that I am, I decided to mix in some Ink capabilities as well. So I had a vision of an application that would speak whatever the user writes.

And thus, with some additional thought and design and coding, was born Vox: A text-to-speech application for keyboard and pen; and once I wrote it, I decided to use it as a springboard for discussing Ink and Speech programming under .NET.

Vox is available free to anyone who's interested. I haven't tested it on a non-Tablet PC yet; but it's supposed to work just as well there, because I detect at run time whether the computer has the Tablet PC OS or not, and fall back to non-Tablet mode if not. You can type any message (or write it on a Tablet PC), and Vox will speak the message. It will also remember every message, so that you can repeat a message easily. And it has a user-editable list of Quick Words at the bottom of the form, so that you can tap a word or phrase to say it without writing or typing.

If you like Vox, let me know; and if you would like to learn about the code...

It's a little late to announce this — particularly since the class is full — but it's worth mentioning for future reference. The Richard Hale Shaw Group is presenting our Visual Studio Team System class at the Microsoft Technology Center in Waltham, MA, with me as lead instructor.

We're also trying to find another chance for me to present Ink in 60 Seconds while I'm there.

This is a little late, because I've been doing post travel stuff, and then getting ready for the new VSTS class coming up. To the fine folks in Montreal, I say: Pardonnez-moi, svp, mes amis!

So on Wednesday night in Montreal, I gave my presentation to GUMSNET: Ink in 60 Seconds. Despite my rather hideous attempt to apologize in French for not being able to speak French, they were most gracious hosts. (And darn it! I rehearsed that apology over a dozen times on the trip, until I had it down pat; and then I fell apart when I actually had to give it. Here's what I meant to say: Bon soir, monsieurs! Mon nom est Martin L. Shoemaker, et je ne comprends pas le français. Pardon, si vous plais. Je suis un debutante en français. Mais mon Tablet PC comprend le français!)

I got caught in a lot of Montreal traffic, and also had to fight to find parking in Centre-ville, so I was just a bit late. And then my machine had to reboot. But we finally got rolling, and I started writing little Tablet PC demos, with a 60 second clock running. There were occasional laughs at my expense when I missed the 60 second mark; but on the other hand, many of the demos were done in under 30 seconds. The Tablet PC API is just that powerful. By the time we were done, we were drawing pictures, editing them, erasing them, saving them, loading them, and exporting them as images. We were also drawing shapes that the Tablet PC recognized and identified. We were converting handwriting to text, in both English and French. And we even wrote some text by hand and then had the Tablet PC speak it out loud. We finished with ten ideas for great Tablet PC apps just waiting to be written. I hope that I inspired someone in the audience to go write one.

There was one hang-up in the presentation; and I promised the good folks from GUMSNET that I would blog about it, including what I learned afterward. Late in the presentation — right about the time I tried to do handwriting recognition, when I needed really good ink collection — my wonderful Gateway CX200X Tablet PC started exhibiting dead spots that were strangely reminiscent of the bad old days of Toshiba. The dead zones weren't as consistent, but they were irritating. And they always seemed to be right where I was writing text en français to try to show off the multi-lingual power of the Tablet PC. The audience was forgiving for this, but they did insist on knowing the answer when I learned it. Well, here's what I think I have learned. I noticed that the pen seemed to behave better when I held it at different angles; and then I remembered that when we broke for dinner, I dropped the pen. And as far as I can recall, there were no dead zones before the break, only after. I suspected that maybe I had jammed something in the pen tip; and with a little experimentation, I found that rotating the pen around its axis or relative to the screen could sometimes make the dead zone go away. Suspecting a pen problem rather than a screen problem, I pulled out my spare pen. And I have had no dead zone problems since.

All in all, Montreal was a delightful place to visit, and I hope to return some day when I have a little more time to visit. And the folks at GUMSNET were a great audience. I ran about 40 minutes over time (gee, there's a surprise); and they were all alert and attentive right to the end. We would probably have stayed longer, but the Microsoft employee who was keeping the facility open for us wanted to go home!

Of course, Richard would have my hide if I didn't mention that Ink in 60 Seconds is the opening segment of our Tablet PC Programming Workshop, where you can learn all this and much, much more about building your own Tablet PC applications. In the class, you won't just watch: you'll build a full-featured Tablet PC application yourself, and learn the Tablet PC from the inside. I hope we'll be adding a public Tablet PC class to our schedule first, but you can always bring us to your site.

Ever have a night when you really need to get up early, and yet things keep you up late, and finally it seems like the safest course is just to stay up? Or does that only happen to me? Either way, this is one of those nights. In five-and-a-half hours, my plane leaves Atlanta. I've been away from Sandy and the dogs and our home for four weeks. I am going to be on that plane. And I already learned this week that this hotel's wake-up calls are still pretty unreliable. And while the M200 has pretty good speakers and usually serves as my alarm clock, it's having some problems right now. (Never buy Toshiba. Toshibas are junk.) And this 3500 has had the speakers repaired, but they pretty much suck, and I can barely hear them. (Never buy Toshiba. Toshibas are junk.)

So at this point, the safe way to be sure I'm on that plane is to stay awake until I board, and then sleep on the plane. So to find things to keep me going, I decided to do something I haven't done in a while. It's time for another installment of Seen around the tech blogs.

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Richard Hale Shaw makes an interesting argument against the C# using statement (not the using directive; and thank you, C# team, for that bit of confusing language). I disagree with him; but it will take time and sleep before I can fully explain why. The short preview: he says you can't force people to use your class correctly; I say I can, and I'll show you how, soon.

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Joe Kunk passes along some suggestions on porting MFC code to .NET, including some discussion of tools to automate parts of the port. Since I have a presentation on this topic, I'm going to check out those tools.

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From the Earth to the Moon links to this discussion of where the Apollo capsules are today. Until it shut down, the Michigan Space and Science Center in Jackson was home to the Apollo 9 capsule. (Commander McDivitt was a Jackson-area native.) I used to go there for inspiration whenever I had a spare afternoon. When I think of what those engineers accomplished at a time where the sum total of all the computers at NASA amounted to less memory than I have in my hand, I realize that no job of mine is that tough. It was a sad day when I learned that MSSC had closed. Now I have to go all the way to San Diego to see Apollo 9. Of course, my flight home tomorrow ends in Dayton (I started this trip with INETA meetings in Cincinatti and Dayton), and Apollo 15 is at the Air Force museum there; and later this year I'll be in Huntsville for another INETA presentation, where Apollo 16 is. So I'll get my fixes then. (Bonus: outside of Dayton and on the road toward home is the Neil Armstrong Museum!)

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James Avery is looking to switch blog engines, and wishes he had a decent, easy to use and extend .NET solution. I could be wrong, James, but I think it will be really easy to build your own with ASP.NET 2.0.

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Tablet PC Buzz points out this post by Josh Einstein about fixes that will make Tablet PC components work properly under .NET Framework 2.0. I'm getting a new version of Tablet UML ready, so this was important news to me!

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Space Law Probe has a round-up of reactions to China's manned space launch.

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I don't have James Hudnall under Tech Blogs, because I think of him as a comics guy. His Espers is one of my favorite series. But he's also a computer geek. This week, he posted about the latest story on e-paper, and we drooled over the possible comic book applications.

Marvel has released 40 Years Of The Amazing Spider-Man on CD. I haven't picked it up yet, because I'm afraid someone may get it for me as a gift, and I wouldn't want to spoil that. I really would love to read that collection on a Tablet PC (particularly my new Gateway CX200X Tablet PC, to be ordered next week); but a programmable e-paper comic would be equally cool.

(And I hope that Marvel and DC and others release a lot more of their back stock this way.)

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Mike Swanson shows off the 5 best videos from the PDC. I wish I could've been there, but I was earning the money that will pay for my new Gateway CX200X Tablet PC.

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Matt Propst announces the Formal Cancellation of Grand Valley Programming Competition. That's too bad, but I hope they can pull it off next year. Josh Holmes and I were asked to be judges. One of my oldest programming memories is high school programming competitions at Grand Valley, so this would've been like going full circle.

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And speaking of Josh Holmes, he has a couple of posts on his latest work with Compact Framework and Win CE. Josh is my goto guy on this Windows handheld stuff, and he should be yours, too.

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Sam Gentile posts about a Channel 9 interview with him and Ward Cunningham. Since neither gentleman is shy — especially with their opinions! — it's pretty no-holds-barred.

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And speaking of Robert Scoble (the guy behind Channel 9), he's on a crusade to get Microsoft to focus on blog searching.

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Julie Lerman has a 512MB memory chip for a Toshiba Portege M200. Julie, Julie, Julie... Some day you'll learn: never buy Toshiba. Toshibas are junk.

Look at this Gateway CX200X Tablet PC, Julie. Look at the 14" wide-screen. Isn't it... tempting? Look at that optional 4-year, on-site, parts and labor and accidental damage warranty look... comforting?

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Lora at What Is New posts that the Windows Mobile PC Team (i.e., the Tablet team plus) now has a group blog.

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And speaking of the Windows Mobile PC Team... This is a little belated note (since I just learned of their blog from Lora): they write of the work their people did in helping to support Hurricane Katrina relief. I've already noted the contributions by Best Buy, WalMart, Home Depot, Edward Jones, McDonald's, and others; so it's only fair that I point out that my favorite software company has pledged over $9 million in cash, materials, and support to the relief effort. Thank you, Microsoft.

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Howard Lovy has retired NanoBot. That's too bad, but his new job probably keeps him plenty busy.

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Thom Robbins forwards an announcement of the general availability of the "Project Server Visual Studio Team System Connector" application. "The solution provides guidance for integrating Project Server and Visual Studio Team System. It demonstrates how Project Server and Visual Studio Team System can be integrated together to provide extended value for project and resource managers and guides developers through the process of building and customizing components that link the project management and software development tools. This is a foundation for partners to build applications that can integrate the two server products and provide specialized functionality."

As someone who's more and more excited about process and practices, I'm pleased by this news.

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James Kendrick — a.k.a. jkOnTheRun — links to this Detroit Free Press story about Bill Gates's visit to Ann Arbor. (Oh, sure, Bill... Come to town when I'm three or four states away! OK, I wouldn't have been invited anyway, since his presentation was for students. But still...) I think the story hints at one reason why I suspect for Microsoft's strong support for the Tablet PC: Bill loves his Tablet, and has wanted one for a long time. You don't believe me? He described his vision of the platform in drooling detail way back in The Road Ahead (or maybe it was Business @ the Speed of Thought — I'm on the road, remember, so I don't have my books with me). There are few people who are more fanatical about Tablet PCs than I am, but Bill's clearly one of them. And so I have a sneaking suspicion that, just as Microsoft will always sell a version of Basic so long as Bill's involved, so too will they make sure that somebody's making new Tablet PCs for Bill to play with.

(NOTE: The above is tongue-in-cheek, and I know nothing about Microsoft's internal platform decisions nor the reasons for those decisions. But I do know that it's true that Bill loves his Tablet PCs.)

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And speaking of jkOnTheRun... He links to more proof that Toshibas are junk. And he has a plea:

Let’s help Tracy get her Tablet back. Anyone with a Toshiba horror story about repair or customer service difficulties please chime in here with a comment. Let’s see if a string of unsatisfied customers can get Toshiba’s attention about Tracy’s plight. It’s worth a shot as she has nothing to lose since she is already without her precious.

I'm about to throw some links your way, James, as you asked. But at this point, you may already know my conclusion: never buy Toshiba. Toshibas are junk.

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There! That worked out just about perfectly. I planned to start prepping and packing at 0600, and it's 0553. That gives me just enough time to do a cursory proofread, and then post.

When next you hear from me, I hope to be H*O*M*E! Sandy, I'm on my way!

From The Earth To The Moon reports that Buzz Aldrin has released a children's book on space travel. (They also continue to advertise a deluxe DVD edition of From the Earth to the Moon, the stunning miniseries from Tom Hanks. Drool...)

Dotfuscator and James Avery's book get a mention on Slashdot.

Speaking of books, Bill Wagner reviews Keith Brown's .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security. "As I said at the top of this review, “The .NET Developer’s Guide to Windows Security” should be required reading for every .NET developer."

And speaking of James Avery, he got asked about blogs and RSS in a job interview this week. Hey, James, I hope that doesn't mean you'll take a new job out of town before I show up next month!

Tablet PC Buzz links to this Channel Insider report on unexpectedly high demands for the new ThinkPads, including the new ThinkPad Tablet PCs. "The ThinkPad Tablet has sold so fast since its introduction that Lenovo quickly ran out of stock and is now working to catch up, he said. The product, intended for vertical markets such as health care, has caught on in the mainstream marketplace, he said."

Howard Lovy takes a hiatus from his blogging hiatus to post outtakes from his Wired story on nanomedicine and cancer. These are parts that were cut for space, but they add nice depth to the overall article. I hope Mr. Lovy finds full-time employment soon, so that he can spare more time for blogging on nanotechnology.

Julie Lerman points out The Regulator, a regular expression testing and learning tool. RegEx has always frustrated me, since it seems to be very powerful yet is incredibly poorly documented. And no one seems to be able to recommend a good book on it. Instead, I hear, "Read chapter such-and-such from that O'Reilly book on SED," or something like that. The Regulator looks like a great help. Thanks, Julie! And thanks, Roy Osherove, for writing it. (Julie also experienced a tornado recently. We have a family friend who was trapped when her house was collapsed by a tornado, and I've had tornado-phobia my whole life. A post like Julie's will give me nightmares tonight. Thanks, Julie...)

Chris from PowerBlogs (my blog service provider; and yes, I'm very pleased with the service) reports that reports are working again. That will be good, because I haven't actually seen reports since I signed up. Now lest you think that's a complaint, I entirely understand the reasons why: Chris was away on his honeymoon; and unlike some people I know, he actually stayed away from tech for the duration. (Actually, judging by the timing, Chris was setting up my account somewhere right in the middle of last-minute wedding stuff.) I look forward to checking out the reports.

Sam Gentile posts on the power of blogs. "So what's the message? An investment in reading quality bloggers every day will increase your knowledge and make you a better Developer/Architect/Marketer, and also your own blog could do wonders for your career and exposure."

me: under a microscope (found via Eric Maino) struggles to balance school and work and like. At that age, I thought it would get so much simpler when I could drop school out of the mix. Sorry to tell ya, bud, but it only got more complicated. Keep working on your balancing skills. They'll serve you well.

Mike Swanson posts on the new WinFX, as well as other new stuff. Mike also bucks the trend in ironic, imaginative, and generally silly blog names, with "Michael Swanson's Blog". I respect that.

hack-a-day links to a robotic drum set that would make Herbie Hancock proud. (And if you don't get the allusion, you must not have spent the early 80s letting MTV rot your brain.)

Thom Robbins points out some new Sharepoint application templates. Some day, I'll understand what that means...

Patrick at The Tablet PC in Teaching & Learning asks about a tool for using Ink in IE. A commenter links to IE Ink 2004, which lets you Ink on any Web page and then save a local copy. I'll have to try that out. Patrick also points out a new Tablet PC commercial from Microsoft, aimed at the education market. This ad almost makes me want to go back to college!


UPDATE AND SHAMELESS PLUG: And And since there's Tablet PC information in this post, Richard Hale Shaw would have my hide if I didn't recommend our new Tablet PC BootCamp.