DAM as in Digital Asset Management.  One of my hobbies that I have had great interest in since high school has been photography.  I have always enjoyed the whole experience:  taking pictures, developing, printing and sharing.  In fact, I really wanted to create my own darkroom in my house just before digital photography became available.

I have been evaluating the following products for quite some time:

• Google's Picasa2
• Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 2006
• iMatch Image Management
• iView Media Pro3 (Microsoft Elements)

Others that I have researched but did not try were the following:

• Adobe LightRoom (beta)
• Adobe Photoshop Elements

 

It is truly amazing how some of the products do a few things very nice but fall short in some other aspect that makes it very frustrating. 

Some of the key things that I looked at were:

• Ease of use
• UI--Is it clunky?  It is elegant and simple?  Is is overwhelming?
• Speed--Do I need water cooling or a 486?
• Extensibility--Can you script?  Does it support plugins? 
• How well does it play with others?--Does it use standard IPTC or EXIF?  Does have a proprietary format or backend database?  Where does it store its data?
• Tagging and Organization:  Does it support hierarchical tagging?  What about GEO Tagging? 
• Offline Capabilities
• Unwanted upselling?  Does "encourage" you to use their vendor for printing or web hosting of the pictures?
• Does it support RAW?
• Workflow:  Does it support multiuser?  how do you import the pictures?
• Cost

Some of the things that were really low on my list were:

• Photo editing
• CD/DVD editing
• Picture sharing

I will starting posting a writeup on these.

Decided to try out Carbonite based on Omar's recommendation.  Seems like a great program & cheap.

I was looking around in the log (C:\Program Files\Carbonite\Carbonite Backup\data\Carbonite.log).  There are a lot of interesting messages and metrics there.  The funniest one that I saw was this:

"BackupThread: Backup for backup changes delayed due to backup delay."

Not sure if it is an obvious statement or conflicting...still pondering.

ActionPack--A very Rail-ish DAL generator for .NET has been released on CodePlex.  It is definitely one of the cooling things I have seen in the code-generation world.  One thing that stands out about it is that no actually code is generated...just the binaries.  It relies on the 2.0 framework. 

I know one of the most painful gaps of bridging .NET and SQL is nullable types.  I am currently using the Nullable Types project on SourceForge with a few customizations.  I will be interested how this addresses null values.

As I was posting my last post with Microsoft Writer, I got a spell checker error:

 

 

I would think they would get that word in the dictionary.

Just got finished upgrading dasBlog to version 1.9.  The 2 most prevalent changes are the following

1. RSD support:  Really Simple Discover which allows blogging applications to auto configure...very cool.
2. MetaWeblog.newMediaObject:  which allows attachments, images, etc. to be automatically uploaded during a post. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the newMediaObject API to work with Microsoft Writer.  I see the method in the API but Writer chokes on it.  But according to Omar, it should work.

 

v1.9 was just released last night...so maybe their will be some config tuning.

Thursday night, I installed the beta Office 07 on my laptop.  Still a little bumpy, still trying to get it running right.  Anyways, I was very interested in what new "tagging" features or equivalent that Outlook 2007 might have.  Initially, I was a little disappointed but still evaluating it.  I read a few people's impressions on this topic and came across the whole "Getting Things Done" approach.  I am very interested in this topic and will research more about it. 

While visiting 43Folders.com , I came upon ThanksNo.com. 

Hi. The person who sent you this link is a friend who likes you a lot but who wants you to respect their email address, their privacy, and their time.

Chances are, this person asked you to visit this page because you did one of these things:

• Forwarded a funny story, a virus warning, or a photo that you enjoyed
• Sent email to lots of people using the “To:” line (instead of the “BCC:” line), thereby exposing your friend's email address to strangers
• CC’d your friend unnecessarily on something you had sent primarily to someone else

In any case, you might want to go back and have another look at the email they’re replying to. They asked you to visit here because, while they love getting one-on-one, personal messages from you, they really don’t want to receive more messages like the one you just sent. Cool?

You’re not a bad person, and no one hates you, but it would be valuable to learn the very personal preferences of your friends, family members, and co-workers before including them in unrequested email or choosing to expose their private address to people they don’t know.

Thanks for understanding, and if this same thing ever happens to you, feel free to reply to an email you don’t want by pasting this in

The basic message is don't forward me crap...I have enough to read and do.

I sent one these messages a few years ago to friend.  It got to the point where I stopped reading his email because it was just forwarded crap.  One time, he sent me some important message...like he's visiting or something.  I didn't read it until after the time had past.

I shared this site with my wife.  She is definitely a vicitim of this topic.  Sometimes, she is a recursive victim.  She wanted to add:  please don't forward me anything that you received from someone else and I was also copied on.  For example, her grandma will forward some email to her and her mom (not BCC'd).  Her mom then forwards it again to her without taking the time to read the initial distribution list.

Regardless, I did enjoy the footer with respect to the warranty of the site:

It is provided in the hope it will be useful, but it is offered on an as-is basis and without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

I wrote a vb.net program a few months ago that leverages CookComputing.com's XML-RPC library.  I just upgraded to using Framework 2.0.  The upgrade wizard did an ok job with the migrate.  It did find a few items but it wasn't too bad.  My biggest offending issue was some background threads that were not updating form elements via invoking on the main thread.  I knew about this issue but I was just lazy...and this was utility for me.  However, it forced me to make it threadsafe...which I think is a good thing. 

After fixing up my code, it wouldn't run when calling a REST API.  I used an interfaced approach with the API call.  When I called to generate the proxy, I got very non-descript error message.  Did some quick research and found that there is known bug with the framework 2.0 and the library as to how it uses reflection not marked as Public.

From CookComputing.com:

In May I reported to the MSN Product Feedback Center a problem with .NET 2.0 beta 2 which broke existing XML-RPC.NET applications. The bug report was later marked as fixed, in particular "This bug will be fixed in RTM milestone.". Unfortunately the problem still exists in the release version of .NET 2.0.

Therefore any applications which create a XML-RPC.NET proxy based on an interface which is not declared as public will fail on the call to XmlRpcProxyGen.Create.

I just recently changed my domain registar from Dotster.com to GoDaddy.com.  I did this mainly because Dotster started to charge for the DNS manager...$10 per year.  During the transfer, I got this email from Dotster:

We’d like to encourage you to stay by offering you reduced account pricing. If you choose to take advantage of this offer and cancel your transfer, we will permanently reduce your registration, renewal, and transfer pricing. Your new pricing will include $8.95 registrations and renewals along with $7.75 transfer pricing. We DO NOT charge an ICANN fee, as most other registrars do. The new pricing applies to the following TLD’s - .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, and .us. Just click on “renew domains” below to take advantage of this offer and cancel your transfer. The new pricing will apply to all future registrations and renewals as well, and is effective immediately.

This actually frustrated me even more.  So in order to get the cheaper rate, you have to threaten them to leave.  That's is not a business model that I want to be a part of.  If they can offer that rate, then it should be the normal rate.

A couple months ago, I remember playing Google Earth and thought it was ok but more or less just forgot about it.  Last week, I decided to give it another look and found it amazing.  I think the reason why I gave it a second look because I wanted to compare it the new Microsoft local.live.com.

Its "fly to location" feature is quite awesome and enchants my 3 year old son who is totally into maps.  The community feature is pretty neat, as well.  People can "pushpin" points of interest and share.  These can be turned on and show right up in the map.  

I was looking at some burning oil fields in Iraq and it made me think about the "time" issue with satellite images.  It would be interesting to be able to compare a region overtime.  This could be interesting for a number of reasons:

• aforementioned Iraq
• Stadiums or buildings as they are being built
• before/after of New Orleans
• suburbs growth
  

Today, my Firefox was automatically updated to 1.5.01.  It is refreshing how simple and painless it is.

It did say that one of my extensions X-Ray was not compatible was was disabled.

I think Apple and Real need to learn some lessons from FireFox.

The award for Windows XP on an Intel Mac Content is now at $9569.  Supposedly,  this guy got it working.  However, he did use Vista stuff to help boot.  I would say that is legit but I am not the judge.

Initial impression:  looks nice and is very intuitive.  However, wish the Send To Blog was not locked in to Blogger.com.

Also, no Firefox support yet.

ABC News: Google Toolbar 4 (beta)

Yesterday, I got my 1098 for my mortgage and decided to do my taxes.  I typically do them early…mainly, because I typically get a refund.  My taxes are very simple and easy to do. 

 

The first year that I did my taxes, I did them manually.  It wasn't that bad but I wouldn't do them that way every again.  Ever other year, I have always used TurboTax.  Each year, the software got incrementally better. 

 

This year, I used H&R's TaxCut.  The day after Thanksgiving, Staples ran a special where if you purchased TaxCut + State for $30, you got Microsoft Money 2006 Deluxe for free and also a free shredder.  I couldn't pass up this deal so I gave TaxCut a chance.  I figured it doesn't really matter and all of these packages are about the same and after I used it once I would never use it again.

 

I soon found out how immature the product it was.  I also found it confusing the message that H&R was sending.  It seems like they were always encouraging you to complete your taxes using the application and then bring them into one of their regional offices.  I guess I am using the application so that I can just get them done.  If I wanted someone to do them for me, I would bother with the program.

 

 

Also, I was constantly getting lost in the app.  Usually in a "next, next, finished" application, you can hit back and go back 1 step.  Actually, this one would take back to the previous section or somewhere else.  Also, they had "sub" screens that sometimes only available by hitting "begin" instead of "next" ….kinda unpredictable. 

 

It prompted me to update the program multiple times in the same session.  I found this irritating.  I did the update right away and it worked.  But then it said, I need to download a patch for Money 2006 separately.  Considered these were bundled, I found this disturbing.  Why couldn't this update automatically happen within Money or Taxcut.  It instructed me to go to the website.  I finally found the link by searching their FAQ's.

 

Something else peculiar was this warnings that it found on my taxes.  It didn't like my FICA and SS withholdings.  It said that they were too low and should be a specific % of your wages.  I did the math my self and my values were a penny below.

 

When I finished, I was very surprised that no save as PDF option was available.  I guess I took this for granted.  When it printed the returns, it would print directly to your printer instead of giving you the print dialog box.  In order for me to print to Acrobat, I had to change my default printer.  Finally, they give you the optional of printing supporting documentation.  The forms spanned pages and layout and page breaks were all messed up.

 

At least it's over and I am getting a refund.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find in my email yesterday:

As part of the acquisition, we are announcing the discontinuation of the FolderShare subscription services. You will be receiving a refund for your subscription at a pro-rated amount. Changes will go into effect early November; FolderShare subscribers will be refunded the pro-rated subscription fee in the week of Nov 7th.

It seems others are pleased, as well.

DIdn't realize this...but FolderShare is now free.  This comes about 2 or 3 weeks after I upgraded to ther Personal edition for $50/year.  But I am not bitter, because now I know I can get more friends and family using it for its convenience.

Here is the background on the acquisition.  Pasted from <https://www.foldershare.com/info/company/aboutUs.php?>

 

Microsoft Acquires FolderShare, a File-Synchronization Technology Provider

Deal aligns with Windows Live goal of connecting customers to the people and information that matter most to them.

REDMOND, Wash. - Nov 3, 2005 - Microsoft Corp. today announced it has acquired FolderShareTM, a leading service in the emerging space of file synchronization and remote access technology that helps customers access information across multiple devices. FolderShare customers will continue to be able to enjoy the service at http://www.foldershare.com. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Launched in 2002 and owned and operated by Austin, Texas-based ByteTaxi Inc., the award-winning FolderShare service saves customers the hassle of sending large files via e-mail, burning them to CDs or DVDs and mailing them, or uploading them to a Web site. Instead, it allows customers to sync important information, making it well suited for personal or small-business use. The FolderShare service also enables private, remote access to customers' own files from any Web browser.

"Our mission for Windows LiveTM is to enable customers to easily find the information, pursue the interests and deepen the relationships that enrich their lives," said Blake Irving, corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform group at Microsoft. "I'm thrilled with the acquisition of FolderShare and the opportunity to offer this technology with Windows Live software and services. FolderShare technology will help customers access their information anytime, anywhere and on multiple devices, unifying their overall experience."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

One of my recent favorite utilities just got acquired.  Microsoft just bought FolderShare.  This deal happened nearly immediately after the heals of Microsoft's accouncement of  http://www.Live.com and the company's future strategy.

I found this very surprising because Microsoft already bought Groove.  Groove seems more aligned with "corporate" and "development" cultures needing P2P.  In contrast, FolderShare is simple "personal" P2P client.  FolderShare has developed a very simple, stable and fast utitity to keep folders in sync. 

I have always believed that Microsoft has been the great "integrator" with the history of good software and hardware.  If you think about Microsoft's catalog of products, they were all acquired, integrated and upgraded.  Some good examples are Excel, SQL Server and Internet Explorer.  However, I do have some mixed feelings about this.  I guess I fear that it will turn into some more complicated or bloated than it really needs to be.  A timely example of this is Microsoft Max.  It's Microsoft's recent attempt at an online/P2P photo album.  It requires both a Passport and a 54 MB download.  Overall, it's not very Grandma friendly.  In contrast, I share my photo's of my kids with Grandma and Grandpa via FolderShare and the built in Photo Screen saver.  FolderShare's download in 646kb in start contrast and will run on any version of Windows greater than Win98.  Take a look at the system requirements of Microsoft Max.  My favorite note is "Beverage and snack. The installation may take a while."