MCP Security Framework - June 2025 Updates
MCP Security, Authentication, Authorization, Best Practices, updated June 2025
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development
LLMs get their own OWASP Top 10
An updated list for 2025 of risks and mitigations for LLM applications
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
M4 Mac, Ollama, and Mandelbrot Sets
Local AI/LLM goodness for Developers
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 28, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 26, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 19, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Reducing Shady ChatGPT Code Suggestions with Custom Instructions
Old frameworks, unsafe ciphers, and code that will not compile - a set of Custom Instructions that helps.
AI Tools: Is it Ethical? Legal?
Is using AI coding tools cheating? The legal answer is unknown, so here are both arguments.
Flutter on Raspberry Pi — Fall 2022
The parts, the steps, and the verdict - Flutter has arrived for regular use on the Raspberry Pi.
The Case for Flutter — Mobile Meta Apps
The handful of apps you should be able to build in any mobile framework - and how to grade the result.
The Case for Flutter — Mobile-Oriented Architecture
Mobile is not just a smaller desktop. A framework for saying why a mobile feature is actually good.
The Case for Flutter
After a talk, an app in the stores, and a lot of notes - why I have grown to really like Flutter.
Flutter Talk Links
The handout links from my Introduction to Flutter talk at THAT Conference 2018.
Fun with Application Security - Beer City Code Conference 2017 - RECAP
Slides from my application security session at Beer City Code in Grand Rapids.
Why I make a fuss over the release of Visual Studio 2010
My kids asked why I was acting like it was Christmas. Here is the short answer for non-programmers.
What is hypervideo anyway?
What hypertext did for text, hypervideo does for video - and I first tried it on laserdisc in 1992.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Full Solution
The finished fractal kata - full source, a live demo, and how the pieces fit together.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: The MessageBus
Part three of the fractal kata - wiring up a MessageBus so the controls stop knowing about each other.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Automating the Transforms
Part two of the fractal kata - encapsulating an IFS transform and driving the iterations from code.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals with TransformGroup and MessageBus
A code kata for practice, not production - IFS fractals in Silverlight, starting with the transforms.
CodeMash Apps for iPhone
CodeMash opened up its schedule as web services and let the community build the apps.
Programming for Today’s Kids
Every computer used to come with BASIC. Here is what has finally replaced it for kids.
Post Interesting Links to Blog 07/30/2009
Links saved from Diigo - a possible output caching option for ASP.NET MVC.
Silverlight 101 Presentation and Files from .NET University West Michigan 2009
Slides, code, and references from the Silverlight 101 session at West Michigan .NET University.
What is CodeMash?
Explaining the conference behind all those confusing tweets my friends keep asking about.
MVC Beta – Non-GAC implementation
Referencing the MVC beta DLLs locally, and the one property that makes it actually work.
Silverlight IRL #2 – Fast Data Access w/ NHibernate
Wiring up WCF services and NHibernate models behind a Silverlight app, in five steps.
Reason #458 People Don’t Like Computers
Search results that found plenty and showed me none, then asked if I was satisfied.
Silverlight Proof-of-Concept – Top 10 Questions to Be Answered
Ten things we have to prove before betting a multi-million dollar business on Silverlight.
How I Got Started in Software Development
First program at 11 on a Commodore PET, and the librarian who let me disappear for the afternoon.
MVC Tips and Tricks from WMDoDN 08
Slides and code from my Day of .NET talk, with detailed posts on the demos to follow.
Draft of HTML 5 Hints at a Brave New Web
Native audio and video, real page structure, and the long-overdue death of the frame.
Tribot Sumo Test #1 – WallBot
A LEGO sumo robot built in one sitting - mostly a wall, with one sensor peeking through.
PC ProSchools of Grand Rapids
A Microsoft training facility in Grand Rapids I had never heard of, and a tour I did not expect.
Programming WPF: Books: Chris Sells,Ian Griffiths
The best single book on WPF, and the last of my seven WPF books I expect to buy.
Passed a Microsoft test – last minute 2007 goal achieved!
Passed 70-536 in the last week of the year, plus ten things on the exam that surprised me.
Bug or a Feature
The right cartoon at exactly the wrong time of year, while trying to ship software.
Now we’re talking!! ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview
MVC, Entity Framework, and Astoria all in one preview - the highlights from my perspective.
Bug vs. Feature
When life gives you lemons, file it as a feature.
VS2008 on Vista x64
How to get Visual Studio 2008 installed on 64-bit Vista without leaving the box in a bad state.
Visual Studio 2008 plug-ins (warning Silverlight 1.1)
Install notes for VS2008, which add-ins survived the move, and why to wait on Silverlight 1.1.
Visual Studio 2008 Ships
Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 are out - start your downloaders.
Day of .NET Ann Arbor
A great Saturday in Ann Arbor, and a good reason to help start one in Grand Rapids.
Show and Tell #2 – Community College Computer Course
Learning to program on a green-screen terminal, and taking the same class twice for the lab time.
Microsoft Open Source Projects
Open Source and Microsoft are not opposites - nine CodePlex projects I have actually used.
Sharpen the Saw for Developers
Scott Hanselman’s ideas for keeping developers current - book libraries, brown bags, and Nerd Dinners.
64-bit Vista Oddness
A few gotchas worth knowing about before you move to a 64-bit version of Vista.
Laptop vs. Desktop for Development
Going back to a desktop after years on a laptop - the pros and cons of each for development.
Genealogy made easy
A Genealogy app called Family.Show using WPF
thinking
Don’t Get Cut by Hanlon’s Razor
Hanlon’s Razor tells us not to assume malice. Dreyfus, Dunning, and Kruger guide us towards what to assume instead.
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 18, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
The Seven Stages of Job Satisfaction
The mental stages job seekers go through over time, and the main factors that influence movement and decisions.
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 26, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 19, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Laborer, Craftsman, and Artist
Thirty years of software labor and craftsmanship - and why artistry has been the elusive one.
AI Tools: Is it Ethical? Legal?
Is using AI coding tools cheating? The legal answer is unknown, so here are both arguments.
The critical value of the in-person “rock tumbler” for polishing products and people
Remote, in-person, or hybrid - what the whiteboard and the napkin still do that cameras cannot.
Mueller “Netyksho” Indictment — an InfoSec Perspective
Not a political post - a fascinating read on spearphishing and being careful what you click.
Password guidelines from NIST preview major changes
The draft NIST guidelines finally admit what everyone already does with their passwords.
QR Codes and URL Shorteners – Beware
You would never click that URL. So why do you scan the code that hides it?
Thought-Ending Cliches
The phrases we reach for when we want a conversation to stop, and why they deserve a name.
EBook Innovations Needed
Four things my Nook still cannot do, that someone with time and resources really should build.
Lessons Learned: Craftsmen and artists of all types have a lot in common
Ten things I learned at a writers conference that apply just as well to building software.
Toastmasters for Techies
A new Toastmasters group in Grand Rapids, and the five things that got me in the door.
Candyland, LCR, and Warstorm
Three games that seem fun until you start thinking about them - and why that matters for kids.
Book Review: Think and Make It Happen
Some genuinely useful ideas, but not the one book that solves everything. Two or three stars.
One Month of No Fast Food or Drive Thru
One month without a drive thru, made public so someone will ridicule me if I slip.
Evaluating the iPad: Consumer vs. Creator vs. Cross Platform
A lifelong Apple fan works out why the iPad announcement left him underwhelmed.
Confusion and FUD around Silverlight PDC Announcements
Two Silverlight rumors from the PDC, each with a smidgeon of truth and a lot of FUD.
Continuous Learning Lessons from Leaf Blowing
Teaching my daughter to run a leaf blower, and everything corporate training would have done instead.
Where does all the money for schools go?
Everyone says what they would cut first. Nobody explains where the per-student money goes now.
NECC 2009 Themes
Skimming the NECC program for the themes that never change, and the ones missing in 2009.
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
Gladwell links the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Korean plane crashes - and makes it work.
2009 Reading List – Already out of control
Eleven books arrived in one week, six of them due back soon. Anyone want to read along?
2008 Retrospective
A Shuttle launch, two puppies, an ankle fusion, and the least hi-tech gadget of the year.
Lessons from Keynote #2 – Steve Jobs
The iPhone 3G was the headline, but 42% of the WWDC sessions told the real story.
Lessons from Keynote #1: Bill Gates
Bill Gates’ last keynote as chairman, and what actually mattered in it.
A few coming privacy / personal information services
Two services that feel inevitable after a week of handing my card details to gas pumps.
Lost English word – "delight" (and other vacation tangents)
When did anyone last say something delighted them? A word that kept coming up on vacation.
First Amazon non-DRM music purchase
My first DRM-free album, after losing too much music to iTunes limbo.
2008 Goals – Take 2
More goals for 2008 - foosball, the user group, staying debt-free, and shipping something in WPF.
2008 Goals – Take 1
Goals for the year, starting with learning a new language - and I think I will do both kinds.
2007’s Resolutions in Review
Looking back at 2007, starting with the year I turned the car radio off.
New Scientist: The Santa Delusion
An article on Santa that got stuck in my head, and the social angle nobody argues about.
N.J. Orders HIV Testing For Pregnant Women – washingtonpost.com
Doing the math on 230,000 mandated tests, and what that money could buy instead.
Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed
Seven skills from Bill Gates that read a lot like the questions we use to interview new team members.
Survey: Few believe a good education is necessary
Fewer than a third of Michigan residents think a good education is essential. Rant on.
The Joy of Tech comic… laughter is the best tech support.
Crossing the digital divide means nothing without the educational change to go with it.
Oxford Word Of The Year: Locavore
Locavore takes Word of the Year - and a good idea gets the name it needed to catch on.
Made in America: By Robots
A t-shirt that says a lot in three words, especially if you grew up near Detroit.
My next car – ideas? Electric? Alternative Energy?
No purchase imminent, but thinking through electric and alternative energy for the next car.
Celebrating space: it’s 50 years since Sputnik
Fifty years since Sputnik - both a long time and a remarkably short one.
Michigan Legislature Bills RSS Feed
An RSS feed of what the Michigan Legislature is actually working on this week.
Habits of Highly Effective Brains
Ten habits for keeping your brain in working order - and I can testify first-hand that they work.
Sharpen the Saw for Developers
Scott Hanselman’s ideas for keeping developers current - book libraries, brown bags, and Nerd Dinners.
Unskilled and Unaware of It
How knowing less about a skill or topic gives the impression that you know much more than you really do.
The Dreyfus Model of Skills Acquisition
The skill levels people go through - from Advanced Beginner, to Competent, to Expert, and Master.
family
Remembering Cal Van Dyke
Stories about a friend, colleague, and genuinely good man, written down while they are fresh.
“As Is” — This Old House, Day 0
Two words I never expected to sign on a house offer, and what the inspection turned up.
This Old House
I accidentally bought a 97-year-old house, and want to keep track of what we are getting into.
Circle with Disney
A small box that budgets, filters, and enforces screen time. There is no filter for stupid.
Ninja, Master Chief, Snow Speeder–Travel Around The World
Three geocaching travel bugs, 34,639 miles, and a few countries I did not expect.
Maker Faire Detroit 2011
A science fair times a thousand, with some state fair and Star Trek convention mixed in.
Candyland, LCR, and Warstorm
Three games that seem fun until you start thinking about them - and why that matters for kids.
How I broke my arm and will now set off every metal detector
Ice under snow at the end of the driveway, and my first attempt at typing in four days.
Continuous Learning Lessons from Leaf Blowing
Teaching my daughter to run a leaf blower, and everything corporate training would have done instead.
Success in drying out waterlogged Laptop
A drink went into the laptop and it survived. Here is exactly what I did, step by step.
Why I am voting for Nessie
Full disclosure - I am 50% Scottish. Here are my five reasons for this ArtPrize vote.
Homemade Kubb Set Plans and Report
Building a Kubb set from dimensional lumber, with plans and a report from the yard.
Marie Catrib’s Restaurant Review
A Valentine’s lunch date in East Grand Rapids, at a place sourcing food from a scooter trip away.
2008 Retrospective
A Shuttle launch, two puppies, an ankle fusion, and the least hi-tech gadget of the year.
West Michigan FIRST Robotics Regional Competition
A Saturday in the pits at the FIRST Robotics regional, plus my first YouTube video.
Florida Gem #2 – Honeymoon Island / Caladesi Island
Two Florida state parks with almost nobody on them, and the three reasons why.
Lunar Eclipse 2008
Clear skies, a reasonable hour, and a red moon I had forgotten was that dramatic.
First "’Bots on the Rock" Meeting a Success!
Eleven kids, six robots, three laptops, and one minefield rescue on the first night.
Shuttle Launch Experience
Seeing STS-122 leave the pad in person, and the Kennedy Space Center tour the day before.
Florida Photos
A slideshow of photos from the Florida trip.
Vacation Update
Coco Beach, terrible bandwidth, and T-minus two days to a Shuttle launch.
Lost English word – "delight" (and other vacation tangents)
When did anyone last say something delighted them? A word that kept coming up on vacation.
Missing You
A rough trip down, and then a view of the pool that makes it hard to complain.
Shuttle Launch Passes Arrived!
The passes came through for the February 7th launch, along with security rules that make the TSA look relaxed.
Astronomy "Craft"?
A string of beads that teaches the real spacing of the solar system - and where Pluto went.
Tribot Sumo Test #1 – WallBot
A LEGO sumo robot built in one sitting - mostly a wall, with one sensor peeking through.
Mousetrap Cars – Any advice?
Seven Cub Scouts, no mousetraps yet, and no practical experience. Advice welcome.
Celestron – LCD Digital Microscope (LDM)
A home microscope that is neither a plastic toy nor a CSI prop. Maybe this is the compromise.
New Scientist: The Santa Delusion
An article on Santa that got stuck in my head, and the social angle nobody argues about.
Florida Freeze
Plan a trip to Florida and watch the record cold move in right behind you.
Heading "South" – Any Ideas?
Three weeks out, driving south from Michigan, and still no plan. Ideas welcome.
15,000 digital pictures (& counting)
Fifteen thousand photos and no good backup story left. How is everyone else handling this?
Surprise Hit – Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker
The surprise hit of Christmas - a goofy ball that makes a quart of ice cream if you play with it.
Merry Christmas
Wishing everyone a safe and blessed Christmas.
First Lego League Regional Robotics Competition
A Saturday at the FIRST Lego League regional, where the robot is only a quarter of the score.
MapQuest, Google Maps, Virtual Earth, Yahoo? Anyone?
Every mapping site will route between two points. I want to know how far six hours gets me.
Bowling for Junior Achievement
Bowling for Junior Achievement, which reaches 60,000 West Michigan students a year.
Howtoons: The Possibilities Are Endless!
A comic book that gets kids building things - and makes the case for why that matters.
Show and Tell #5: Cub Scouts – Then and Now
Cub Scout books from 1962 and 2004 side by side - how little changed, and what actually did.
Birthday Stuff – new Nano
A birthday iPod Nano 3G - shorter, wider, thinner, and with a screen you have to see in person.
Show and Tell #3: International Pen Pals
Signing up for ten pen pals in the early 80s, and how many of them actually wrote back.
Crazy Canadian Dime
A Canadian dime I could not read, and what it took to figure out what was on it.
Show and Tell #2 – Community College Computer Course
Learning to program on a green-screen terminal, and taking the same class twice for the lab time.
Show and Tell #1: Life’s Experiments (1981)
A floppy diskette from 1981, and a story that probably no one remembers but me.
More Crystals
A month of growing alum crystals, and what looks like a pocket full of diamonds.
Howtoons – The Infamous Marshmallow Shooter
Five PVC marshmallow shooters built in ten minutes, at about $1.60 each.
Wal-mart Telescopes
A computer-controlled Meade scope in a backpack, on a Wal-mart shelf right next to the candles.
First Dangerous Crystal
The first crystal out of the Dangerous Book experiment - a 1cm pyramid, almost perfectly clear.
Mr. McGroovy’s Box Rivets
Rivets made for cardboard, so the box fort finally outlasts the duct tape.
Collection/Addiction #2: Games
Five tubs of board games, and the hard job of deciding which ones to keep.
Remaining Collection/Addiction #1: Books
Thirty years of collecting books, and every excuse I used along the way.
Not Moving Sale
Doing the math on moving in a terrible housing market, and deciding to stay put.
Crystal Experiment – Take 1
Growing alum crystals on a string with the kids - and learning some patience along the way.
Water Weenies and Crystals
Latex tubing, surgical clamps, and a supply of Aluminum Sulfate - summer projects with the kids.
fun
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
M4 Mac, Ollama, and Mandelbrot Sets
Local AI/LLM goodness for Developers
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 26, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Ninja, Master Chief, Snow Speeder–Travel Around The World
Three geocaching travel bugs, 34,639 miles, and a few countries I did not expect.
Why I am voting for Nessie
Full disclosure - I am 50% Scottish. Here are my five reasons for this ArtPrize vote.
Marie Catrib’s Restaurant Review
A Valentine’s lunch date in East Grand Rapids, at a place sourcing food from a scooter trip away.
Another reason I love Woot.
A shipping delay notice with an actual sense of humor, which is rare in retail.
Someone had to do it!
One of those personalized Flash videos everyone was passing around in 2008.
Reason #458 People Don’t Like Computers
Search results that found plenty and showed me none, then asked if I was satisfied.
April issue of EGM reveals Bungie’s next project: Lego Halo – Joystiq
A very good April Fools gag - and a reminder that LEGO Halo would actually be great.
This can’t be a real picture … can it?
A live surge protector, a pool, and a pair of flip-flops. Surely this is staged.
Florida Freeze
Plan a trip to Florida and watch the record cold move in right behind you.
My Chumby
My geek present this year - a little WiFi touch screen that pulls down widgets all day.
Surprise Hit – Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker
The surprise hit of Christmas - a goofy ball that makes a quart of ice cream if you play with it.
Bug or a Feature
The right cartoon at exactly the wrong time of year, while trying to ship software.
The Bible According To Google Earth
What the Garden of Eden, the Ark, and the Red Sea might have looked like from orbit.
Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day – Saturday 12/8
Not quite Talk Like a Pirate Day, but there are some very good ideas here.
Blizzard Warning!! FOR HAWAII!!
Now that is something you do not hear every day.
Cool Tool: Tourist Remover
Take a few photos of the same thing and let the software delete everyone who wandered through.
Bug vs. Feature
When life gives you lemons, file it as a feature.
6Gb of memory – Now What?!?
Six gigabytes of RAM for $50, and the strange pressure of having more machine than I need.
The Joy of Tech comic… laughter is the best tech support.
Crossing the digital divide means nothing without the educational change to go with it.
Health Care
A Dave Barry quote that sums up at least one side of the health care debate.
Pet Peeve #26
A Black Friday price drop on Vista Home Basic, and three things about that tag that bothered me.
Oxford Word Of The Year: Locavore
Locavore takes Word of the Year - and a good idea gets the name it needed to catch on.
Chuck Norris Political Ad
Chuck Norris finally has some fun with his own Facts, in a surprisingly creative ad.
Useless data – but interesting
How many mouse clicks does one person add to the world in a month? I measured mine.
If You’re Happy and You Know It…
Some days you just need a little laugh, even the geek kind.
Any good new fall TV?
Down to two shows I watch regularly, and looking for something worth adding this fall.
Statetris – USA
Tetris meets the fifty states - and a good example of something a plain web page could not do.
Show and Tell #3: International Pen Pals
Signing up for ten pen pals in the early 80s, and how many of them actually wrote back.
Crazy Canadian Dime
A Canadian dime I could not read, and what it took to figure out what was on it.
Howtoons – The Infamous Marshmallow Shooter
Five PVC marshmallow shooters built in ten minutes, at about $1.60 each.
Mr. McGroovy’s Box Rivets
Rivets made for cardboard, so the box fort finally outlasts the duct tape.
Quad-Core Laptop
Admitting I was wrong - a quad-core laptop is coming, for $10,000 and almost no battery life.
Pessimistic Shipping Dates
A book shipped from 159 miles away with a two-month delivery estimate. Yes, I did the math.
Water Weenies and Crystals
Latex tubing, surgical clamps, and a supply of Aluminum Sulfate - summer projects with the kids.
Wii Physics – Measure your 0-60 time with a Wiimote
The Wii remote as a cheap 3-axis accelerometer - measuring G forces and your 0-60 time.
microsoft
Windows 8 Fatal Flaw – ARM Tablets only in Unmanaged Environments?
Forget the Start menu argument - ARM tablets that cannot join a domain is the real problem.
Silverlight Certification Test – Passed
Passing MCTS 70-506, and what is worth reviewing even after years of real Silverlight work.
TalkTimer app for WP7
Green, yellow, red - building a Windows Phone timer app for our Toastmasters meetings.
Why I make a fuss over the release of Visual Studio 2010
My kids asked why I was acting like it was Christmas. Here is the short answer for non-programmers.
Mouse Mischief: Multiple Mouse Support in PowerPoint with the MultiPoint Mouse SDK
Multiple mice in one PowerPoint, no programming required - a Saturday morning worth spending.
What I Learned at the Silverlight Partner Summit 2009
Notes from Redmond, starting with why community is the only way this learning actually sticks.
Confusion and FUD around Silverlight PDC Announcements
Two Silverlight rumors from the PDC, each with a smidgeon of truth and a lot of FUD.
Kodu Review and First Impressions
A visual programming language you drive with an XBox controller - and all three kids are hooked.
Windows 7 Makes Vista Look Like “New Coke” – Tips and Impressions
Windows 7 on both my machines, and why so much of what I like is really disappointment with Vista.
MVC Beta – Non-GAC implementation
Referencing the MVC beta DLLs locally, and the one property that makes it actually work.
Silverlight IRL #2 – Fast Data Access w/ NHibernate
Wiring up WCF services and NHibernate models behind a Silverlight app, in five steps.
Silverlight IRL – Requests
After a year of real Silverlight work in health care, here is my wish list for the next version.
Silverlight Proof-of-Concept – Top 10 Questions to Be Answered
Ten things we have to prove before betting a multi-million dollar business on Silverlight.
Lessons from Keynote #1: Bill Gates
Bill Gates’ last keynote as chairman, and what actually mattered in it.
Community Clips
Screen capture with narration that uploads itself - and a test of whether I can write a post in ten minutes.
MVC Tips and Tricks from WMDoDN 08
Slides and code from my Day of .NET talk, with detailed posts on the demos to follow.
Cool Tools – ZoomIt v1.8
A free utility that does three things and does them very well - and saves every presentation I give.
Microsoft, Nokia Put Silverlight On Mobile Devices
Silverlight is coming to Nokia S60 and Series 40 phones. So how do I get started?
Microsoft DreamSpark
Thousands of dollars of professional development tools, free, as long as you are a student.
Silverlight wins the Gold at the 2008 Olympic Games
NBC will stream 3,000 hours of the Olympics on Silverlight - a bold line in the sand.
Programming WPF: Books: Chris Sells,Ian Griffiths
The best single book on WPF, and the last of my seven WPF books I expect to buy.
Return of the Heathkit HERO – now with Visual Studio
The Heathkit HERO I used in high school is coming back - this time programmed in Visual Studio.
Passed a Microsoft test – last minute 2007 goal achieved!
Passed 70-536 in the last week of the year, plus ten things on the exam that surprised me.
BlogEngine.NET 1.3 released
Upgrading the blog to 1.3, and the one place SQL Server 2000 made me work for it.
Now we’re talking!! ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview
MVC, Entity Framework, and Astoria all in one preview - the highlights from my perspective.
MS Math Add-In for Word 2007
You thought spell check was cool - Word 2007 will now simplify, graph, and solve for x.
Silverlight 2.0
Silverlight 2.0 delivers just about everything people were asking for - starting with real controls.
VS2008 on Vista x64
How to get Visual Studio 2008 installed on 64-bit Vista without leaving the box in a bad state.
Visual Studio 2008 plug-ins (warning Silverlight 1.1)
Install notes for VS2008, which add-ins survived the move, and why to wait on Silverlight 1.1.
Visual Studio 2008 Ships
Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 are out - start your downloaders.
Day of .NET Ann Arbor
A great Saturday in Ann Arbor, and a good reason to help start one in Grand Rapids.
BlogEngine.NET 1.2
Upgraded the blog over lunch, and it was relatively painless. Now to get back into the code.
Useful Microsoft Word Feature
Type =rand(x,y) in Word and get real filler text instead of mashing the keyboard.
Silverlight 1.0 Released
Silverlight 1.0 ships for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux - let’s see where developers take it.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta
Vista SP1 is coming - so do you upgrade now, wait until spring, or run the beta?
Microsoft Open Source Projects
Open Source and Microsoft are not opposites - nine CodePlex projects I have actually used.
Tafiti (beta)
A Silverlight search concept from Microsoft that lets you shelve and stack your results.
64-bit Vista Oddness
A few gotchas worth knowing about before you move to a 64-bit version of Vista.
Turn On Channel 8
Microsoft’s new community site for students who want to code, connect, and create.
Genealogy made easy
A Genealogy app called Family.Show using WPF
education
What is hypervideo anyway?
What hypertext did for text, hypervideo does for video - and I first tried it on laserdisc in 1992.
Mouse Mischief: Multiple Mouse Support in PowerPoint with the MultiPoint Mouse SDK
Multiple mice in one PowerPoint, no programming required - a Saturday morning worth spending.
Continuous Learning Lessons from Leaf Blowing
Teaching my daughter to run a leaf blower, and everything corporate training would have done instead.
Where does all the money for schools go?
Everyone says what they would cut first. Nobody explains where the per-student money goes now.
Programming for Today’s Kids
Every computer used to come with BASIC. Here is what has finally replaced it for kids.
Kodu Review and First Impressions
A visual programming language you drive with an XBox controller - and all three kids are hooked.
Dell Latitude 2100 “kidbook” – Detailed First Impressions and Tips
Not a netbook but a kidbook - a laptop actually designed for daily use by kids in schools.
NECC 2009 Themes
Skimming the NECC program for the themes that never change, and the ones missing in 2009.
What would make a good/great Netbook?
Where One Laptop per Child missed, and what I would actually want in a Netbook for my kids.
How I Got Started in Software Development
First program at 11 on a Commodore PET, and the librarian who let me disappear for the afternoon.
West Michigan FIRST Robotics Regional Competition
A Saturday in the pits at the FIRST Robotics regional, plus my first YouTube video.
First "’Bots on the Rock" Meeting a Success!
Eleven kids, six robots, three laptops, and one minefield rescue on the first night.
Microsoft DreamSpark
Thousands of dollars of professional development tools, free, as long as you are a student.
Astronomy "Craft"?
A string of beads that teaches the real spacing of the solar system - and where Pluto went.
Mousetrap Cars – Any advice?
Seven Cub Scouts, no mousetraps yet, and no practical experience. Advice welcome.
PC ProSchools of Grand Rapids
A Microsoft training facility in Grand Rapids I had never heard of, and a tour I did not expect.
Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed
Seven skills from Bill Gates that read a lot like the questions we use to interview new team members.
First Lego League Regional Robotics Competition
A Saturday at the FIRST Lego League regional, where the robot is only a quarter of the score.
MS Math Add-In for Word 2007
You thought spell check was cool - Word 2007 will now simplify, graph, and solve for x.
Survey: Few believe a good education is necessary
Fewer than a third of Michigan residents think a good education is essential. Rant on.
The Joy of Tech comic… laughter is the best tech support.
Crossing the digital divide means nothing without the educational change to go with it.
Science Museum – Launchpad Online – Launchball
A little Tetris, a little Lego, and some physical science - a nicely addicting puzzle game.
Bowling for Junior Achievement
Bowling for Junior Achievement, which reaches 60,000 West Michigan students a year.
Solar Decathlon 2007 – LTU: ALOeTERRA
Twenty university teams building solar houses on the National Mall - including the only one from Michigan.
UC Berkley launches YouTube channel
Berkeley puts full courses on YouTube, free - and puts them everywhere you already watch video.
Show and Tell #5: Cub Scouts – Then and Now
Cub Scout books from 1962 and 2004 side by side - how little changed, and what actually did.
Statetris – USA
Tetris meets the fifty states - and a good example of something a plain web page could not do.
Show and Tell #2 – Community College Computer Course
Learning to program on a green-screen terminal, and taking the same class twice for the lab time.
Turn On Channel 8
Microsoft’s new community site for students who want to code, connect, and create.
jobs
Don’t Get Cut by Hanlon’s Razor
Hanlon’s Razor tells us not to assume malice. Dreyfus, Dunning, and Kruger guide us towards what to assume instead.
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 18, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
The Seven Stages of Job Satisfaction
The mental stages job seekers go through over time, and the main factors that influence movement and decisions.
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 28, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Laborer, Craftsman, and Artist
Thirty years of software labor and craftsmanship - and why artistry has been the elusive one.
The critical value of the in-person “rock tumbler” for polishing products and people
Remote, in-person, or hybrid - what the whiteboard and the napkin still do that cameras cannot.
Silverlight Certification Test – Passed
Passing MCTS 70-506, and what is worth reviewing even after years of real Silverlight work.
Toastmasters for Techies
A new Toastmasters group in Grand Rapids, and the five things that got me in the door.
How I Got Started in Software Development
First program at 11 on a Commodore PET, and the librarian who let me disappear for the afternoon.
Computer Handyman and Plumber
Home servers and media boxes are arriving faster than the people who can set them up.
2008 Goals – Take 2
More goals for 2008 - foosball, the user group, staying debt-free, and shipping something in WPF.
2008 Goals – Take 1
Goals for the year, starting with learning a new language - and I think I will do both kinds.
PC ProSchools of Grand Rapids
A Microsoft training facility in Grand Rapids I had never heard of, and a tour I did not expect.
Passed a Microsoft test – last minute 2007 goal achieved!
Passed 70-536 in the last week of the year, plus ten things on the exam that surprised me.
Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed
Seven skills from Bill Gates that read a lot like the questions we use to interview new team members.
Made in America: By Robots
A t-shirt that says a lot in three words, especially if you grew up near Detroit.
If you have to work in a cube …
If I have to work in a cube, I want one like this - separate from the house and steps from fresh air.
Sharpen the Saw for Developers
Scott Hanselman’s ideas for keeping developers current - book libraries, brown bags, and Nerd Dinners.
Unskilled and Unaware of It
How knowing less about a skill or topic gives the impression that you know much more than you really do.
The Dreyfus Model of Skills Acquisition
The skill levels people go through - from Advanced Beginner, to Competent, to Expert, and Master.
tech
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
M4 Mac, Ollama, and Mandelbrot Sets
Local AI/LLM goodness for Developers
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 28, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Circle with Disney
A small box that budgets, filters, and enforces screen time. There is no filter for stupid.
Tech Trends and Netbooks
Notes from Keith Brophy’s tenth Tech Trends night, starting with the buzzword bingo card.
Community Clips
Screen capture with narration that uploads itself - and a test of whether I can write a post in ten minutes.
Cool Tools: Window Clippings
Screen capture that knows you want the window, and cleans up whatever Aero let bleed through.
Cool Tools – ZoomIt v1.8
A free utility that does three things and does them very well - and saves every presentation I give.
Why I like Twitter
I thought Twitter was a waste of time. Six months later, here is why I actually use it.
First Amazon non-DRM music purchase
My first DRM-free album, after losing too much music to iTunes limbo.
Computer Handyman and Plumber
Home servers and media boxes are arriving faster than the people who can set them up.
15,000 digital pictures (& counting)
Fifteen thousand photos and no good backup story left. How is everyone else handling this?
Cool Tool: Tourist Remover
Take a few photos of the same thing and let the software delete everyone who wandered through.
MapQuest, Google Maps, Virtual Earth, Yahoo? Anyone?
Every mapping site will route between two points. I want to know how far six hours gets me.
My next car – ideas? Electric? Alternative Energy?
No purchase imminent, but thinking through electric and alternative energy for the next car.
"WIRED Science" on PBS
The most interesting, intelligent, and still entertaining science show on TV right now.
Google Reader: Trends
The Trends page in Google Reader knows exactly how many of those 9,564 items I really read.
Useful Microsoft Word Feature
Type =rand(x,y) in Word and get real filler text instead of mashing the keyboard.
Michigan Legislature Bills RSS Feed
An RSS feed of what the Michigan Legislature is actually working on this week.
Google Earth – No, Google Universe …
Google Earth flipped inside out, so you can explore the night sky most of us can no longer see.
science
Maker Faire Detroit 2011
A science fair times a thousand, with some state fair and Star Trek convention mixed in.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Full Solution
The finished fractal kata - full source, a live demo, and how the pieces fit together.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Automating the Transforms
Part two of the fractal kata - encapsulating an IFS transform and driving the iterations from code.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals with TransformGroup and MessageBus
A code kata for practice, not production - IFS fractals in Silverlight, starting with the transforms.
Lunar Eclipse 2008
Clear skies, a reasonable hour, and a red moon I had forgotten was that dramatic.
Shuttle Launch Experience
Seeing STS-122 leave the pad in person, and the Kennedy Space Center tour the day before.
Mousetrap Cars – Any advice?
Seven Cub Scouts, no mousetraps yet, and no practical experience. Advice welcome.
Celestron – LCD Digital Microscope (LDM)
A home microscope that is neither a plastic toy nor a CSI prop. Maybe this is the compromise.
MS Math Add-In for Word 2007
You thought spell check was cool - Word 2007 will now simplify, graph, and solve for x.
Science Museum – Launchpad Online – Launchball
A little Tetris, a little Lego, and some physical science - a nicely addicting puzzle game.
Useless data – but interesting
How many mouse clicks does one person add to the world in a month? I measured mine.
Howtoons: The Possibilities Are Endless!
A comic book that gets kids building things - and makes the case for why that matters.
"WIRED Science" on PBS
The most interesting, intelligent, and still entertaining science show on TV right now.
Solar Decathlon 2007 – LTU: ALOeTERRA
Twenty university teams building solar houses on the National Mall - including the only one from Michigan.
UC Berkley launches YouTube channel
Berkeley puts full courses on YouTube, free - and puts them everywhere you already watch video.
Celebrating space: it’s 50 years since Sputnik
Fifty years since Sputnik - both a long time and a remarkably short one.
Show and Tell #1: Life’s Experiments (1981)
A floppy diskette from 1981, and a story that probably no one remembers but me.
More Crystals
A month of growing alum crystals, and what looks like a pocket full of diamonds.
Howtoons – The Infamous Marshmallow Shooter
Five PVC marshmallow shooters built in ten minutes, at about $1.60 each.
First Dangerous Crystal
The first crystal out of the Dangerous Book experiment - a 1cm pyramid, almost perfectly clear.
Google Earth – No, Google Universe …
Google Earth flipped inside out, so you can explore the night sky most of us can no longer see.
Germany Exploring The Moon Too
NASA, China, and now Germany - the Moon is about to be a very busy place.
Crystal Experiment – Take 1
Growing alum crystals on a string with the kids - and learning some patience along the way.
Wii Physics – Measure your 0-60 time with a Wiimote
The Wii remote as a cheap 3-axis accelerometer - measuring G forces and your 0-60 time.
presentations
Flutter Talk Links
The handout links from my Introduction to Flutter talk at THAT Conference 2018.
Fun with Application Security - Beer City Code Conference 2017 - RECAP
Slides from my application security session at Beer City Code in Grand Rapids.
Quit Bowling, and Start Digging Ditches – WCAGLS Day 1
Two lines from Seth Godin and Steven Furtick that I am still thinking about days later.
TalkTimer app for WP7
Green, yellow, red - building a Windows Phone timer app for our Toastmasters meetings.
Toastmasters for Techies
A new Toastmasters group in Grand Rapids, and the five things that got me in the door.
Mouse Mischief: Multiple Mouse Support in PowerPoint with the MultiPoint Mouse SDK
Multiple mice in one PowerPoint, no programming required - a Saturday morning worth spending.
CodeMash Apps for iPhone
CodeMash opened up its schedule as web services and let the community build the apps.
What I Learned at the Silverlight Partner Summit 2009
Notes from Redmond, starting with why community is the only way this learning actually sticks.
NECC 2009 Themes
Skimming the NECC program for the themes that never change, and the ones missing in 2009.
Silverlight 101 Presentation and Files from .NET University West Michigan 2009
Slides, code, and references from the Silverlight 101 session at West Michigan .NET University.
Tech Trends and Netbooks
Notes from Keith Brophy’s tenth Tech Trends night, starting with the buzzword bingo card.
What is CodeMash?
Explaining the conference behind all those confusing tweets my friends keep asking about.
Silverlight IRL – Requests
After a year of real Silverlight work in health care, here is my wish list for the next version.
Lessons from Keynote #2 – Steve Jobs
The iPhone 3G was the headline, but 42% of the WWDC sessions told the real story.
Lessons from Keynote #1: Bill Gates
Bill Gates’ last keynote as chairman, and what actually mattered in it.
Community Clips
Screen capture with narration that uploads itself - and a test of whether I can write a post in ten minutes.
MVC Tips and Tricks from WMDoDN 08
Slides and code from my Day of .NET talk, with detailed posts on the demos to follow.
Day 1 – Festival of Faith and Writing 08
My fourth Festival of Faith and Writing, a Chabon keynote, and why I keep coming back.
Cool Tools: Window Clippings
Screen capture that knows you want the window, and cleans up whatever Aero let bleed through.
Cool Tools – ZoomIt v1.8
A free utility that does three things and does them very well - and saves every presentation I give.
Day of .NET Ann Arbor
A great Saturday in Ann Arbor, and a good reason to help start one in Grand Rapids.
hardware
Flutter on Raspberry Pi — Fall 2022
The parts, the steps, and the verdict - Flutter has arrived for regular use on the Raspberry Pi.
Nook Simple Touch Reader – First Month
A month on the Nook Simple Touch, including what a typical reading day actually looks like.
iPad Hands-On Impressions
Twelve iPads on a table at lunch. I did not buy one, but it is a milestone at $499.
Evaluating the iPad: Consumer vs. Creator vs. Cross Platform
A lifelong Apple fan works out why the iPad announcement left him underwhelmed.
Success in drying out waterlogged Laptop
A drink went into the laptop and it survived. Here is exactly what I did, step by step.
Brother Color Laser Printer HL-4040CDN
A color laser for the house at $279, and why that is no longer overkill.
Dell Latitude 2100 “kidbook” – Detailed First Impressions and Tips
Not a netbook but a kidbook - a laptop actually designed for daily use by kids in schools.
Windows 7 Makes Vista Look Like “New Coke” – Tips and Impressions
Windows 7 on both my machines, and why so much of what I like is really disappointment with Vista.
Tech Trends and Netbooks
Notes from Keith Brophy’s tenth Tech Trends night, starting with the buzzword bingo card.
What would make a good/great Netbook?
Where One Laptop per Child missed, and what I would actually want in a Netbook for my kids.
Blogging Drought – Cheap Computer – ‘Bots on the Rock
Sickness in the house, a robotics club race coming up, and my fast computer is now just normal.
Celestron – LCD Digital Microscope (LDM)
A home microscope that is neither a plastic toy nor a CSI prop. Maybe this is the compromise.
15,000 digital pictures (& counting)
Fifteen thousand photos and no good backup story left. How is everyone else handling this?
Return of the Heathkit HERO – now with Visual Studio
The Heathkit HERO I used in high school is coming back - this time programmed in Visual Studio.
My Chumby
My geek present this year - a little WiFi touch screen that pulls down widgets all day.
6Gb of memory – Now What?!?
Six gigabytes of RAM for $50, and the strange pressure of having more machine than I need.
Birthday Stuff – new Nano
A birthday iPod Nano 3G - shorter, wider, thinner, and with a screen you have to see in person.
Wal-mart Telescopes
A computer-controlled Meade scope in a backpack, on a Wal-mart shelf right next to the candles.
Quad-Core Laptop
Admitting I was wrong - a quad-core laptop is coming, for $10,000 and almost no battery life.
Laptop vs. Desktop for Development
Going back to a desktop after years on a laptop - the pros and cons of each for development.
silverlight
Silverlight Certification Test – Passed
Passing MCTS 70-506, and what is worth reviewing even after years of real Silverlight work.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Full Solution
The finished fractal kata - full source, a live demo, and how the pieces fit together.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: The MessageBus
Part three of the fractal kata - wiring up a MessageBus so the controls stop knowing about each other.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals: Automating the Transforms
Part two of the fractal kata - encapsulating an IFS transform and driving the iterations from code.
Silverlight Kata: IFS Fractals with TransformGroup and MessageBus
A code kata for practice, not production - IFS fractals in Silverlight, starting with the transforms.
What I Learned at the Silverlight Partner Summit 2009
Notes from Redmond, starting with why community is the only way this learning actually sticks.
Confusion and FUD around Silverlight PDC Announcements
Two Silverlight rumors from the PDC, each with a smidgeon of truth and a lot of FUD.
Silverlight 101 Presentation and Files from .NET University West Michigan 2009
Slides, code, and references from the Silverlight 101 session at West Michigan .NET University.
ImplicitStyleManager – Hidden Gem in the Silverlight Toolkit November 2008
The Toolkit’s quiet best feature - theming a whole Silverlight app without touching every control.
Silverlight IRL #2 – Fast Data Access w/ NHibernate
Wiring up WCF services and NHibernate models behind a Silverlight app, in five steps.
Silverlight IRL – Requests
After a year of real Silverlight work in health care, here is my wish list for the next version.
Silverlight Proof-of-Concept – Top 10 Questions to Be Answered
Ten things we have to prove before betting a multi-million dollar business on Silverlight.
Microsoft, Nokia Put Silverlight On Mobile Devices
Silverlight is coming to Nokia S60 and Series 40 phones. So how do I get started?
Silverlight wins the Gold at the 2008 Olympic Games
NBC will stream 3,000 hours of the Olympics on Silverlight - a bold line in the sand.
Silverlight 2.0
Silverlight 2.0 delivers just about everything people were asking for - starting with real controls.
Visual Studio 2008 plug-ins (warning Silverlight 1.1)
Install notes for VS2008, which add-ins survived the move, and why to wait on Silverlight 1.1.
Silverlight 1.0 Released
Silverlight 1.0 ships for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux - let’s see where developers take it.
Tafiti (beta)
A Silverlight search concept from Microsoft that lets you shelve and stack your results.
inspiration
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 26, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Remembering Cal Van Dyke
Stories about a friend, colleague, and genuinely good man, written down while they are fresh.
Quit Bowling, and Start Digging Ditches – WCAGLS Day 1
Two lines from Seth Godin and Steven Furtick that I am still thinking about days later.
Maker Faire Detroit 2011
A science fair times a thousand, with some state fair and Star Trek convention mixed in.
Losing 70 pounds
Seventy pounds in seventeen weeks - the what, the why, and where we go from here.
Lessons Learned: Craftsmen and artists of all types have a lot in common
Ten things I learned at a writers conference that apply just as well to building software.
Why I make a fuss over the release of Visual Studio 2010
My kids asked why I was acting like it was Christmas. Here is the short answer for non-programmers.
Fearless by Max Lucado
A well-timed book against the spirit of fear running through nearly every headline.
Day 1 – Festival of Faith and Writing 08
My fourth Festival of Faith and Writing, a Chabon keynote, and why I keep coming back.
2008 Goals – Take 2
More goals for 2008 - foosball, the user group, staying debt-free, and shipping something in WPF.
2008 Goals – Take 1
Goals for the year, starting with learning a new language - and I think I will do both kinds.
2007’s Resolutions in Review
Looking back at 2007, starting with the year I turned the car radio off.
Habits of Highly Effective Brains
Ten habits for keeping your brain in working order - and I can testify first-hand that they work.
security
MCP Security Framework - June 2025 Updates
MCP Security, Authentication, Authorization, Best Practices, updated June 2025
LLMs get their own OWASP Top 10
An updated list for 2025 of risks and mitigations for LLM applications
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 26, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Reducing Shady ChatGPT Code Suggestions with Custom Instructions
Old frameworks, unsafe ciphers, and code that will not compile - a set of Custom Instructions that helps.
Mueller “Netyksho” Indictment — an InfoSec Perspective
Not a political post - a fascinating read on spearphishing and being careful what you click.
Fun with Application Security - Beer City Code Conference 2017 - RECAP
Slides from my application security session at Beer City Code in Grand Rapids.
Password guidelines from NIST preview major changes
The draft NIST guidelines finally admit what everyone already does with their passwords.
QR Codes and URL Shorteners – Beware
You would never click that URL. So why do you scan the code that hides it?
Circle with Disney
A small box that budgets, filters, and enforces screen time. There is no filter for stupid.
Windows 8 Fatal Flaw – ARM Tablets only in Unmanaged Environments?
Forget the Start menu argument - ARM tablets that cannot join a domain is the real problem.
A few coming privacy / personal information services
Two services that feel inevitable after a week of handing my card details to gas pumps.
general
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 4, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 28, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 21, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 14, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 12, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 5, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Post Interesting Links to Blog 12/08/2009
Links saved from Diigo - the college football bowl schedule.
Post Interesting Links to Blog 07/31/2009
Links saved from Diigo - the GR Social Marketing group and tomorrow’s meetup.
Post Interesting Links to Blog 07/28/2009
Links saved from Diigo - a good source of free vector clip art.
Post Interesting Links to Blog 06/30/2009
Links saved from Diigo - netbooks landing in school districts, and SMS polling for presentations.
ai
MCP Security Framework - June 2025 Updates
MCP Security, Authentication, Authorization, Best Practices, updated June 2025
LLMs get their own OWASP Top 10
An updated list for 2025 of risks and mitigations for LLM applications
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 18, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
M4 Mac, Ollama, and Mandelbrot Sets
Local AI/LLM goodness for Developers
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 23, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 19, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
Reducing Shady ChatGPT Code Suggestions with Custom Instructions
Old frameworks, unsafe ciphers, and code that will not compile - a set of Custom Instructions that helps.
Laborer, Craftsman, and Artist
Thirty years of software labor and craftsmanship - and why artistry has been the elusive one.
AI Tools: Is it Ethical? Legal?
Is using AI coding tools cheating? The legal answer is unknown, so here are both arguments.
mobile
The Case for Flutter — Mobile Meta Apps
The handful of apps you should be able to build in any mobile framework - and how to grade the result.
The Case for Flutter — Mobile-Oriented Architecture
Mobile is not just a smaller desktop. A framework for saying why a mobile feature is actually good.
The Case for Flutter
After a talk, an app in the stores, and a lot of notes - why I have grown to really like Flutter.
Windows 8 Fatal Flaw – ARM Tablets only in Unmanaged Environments?
Forget the Start menu argument - ARM tablets that cannot join a domain is the real problem.
TalkTimer app for WP7
Green, yellow, red - building a Windows Phone timer app for our Toastmasters meetings.
iPad Hands-On Impressions
Twelve iPads on a table at lunch. I did not buy one, but it is a milestone at $499.
Evaluating the iPad: Consumer vs. Creator vs. Cross Platform
A lifelong Apple fan works out why the iPad announcement left him underwhelmed.
CodeMash Apps for iPhone
CodeMash opened up its schedule as web services and let the community build the apps.
Lessons from Keynote #2 – Steve Jobs
The iPhone 3G was the headline, but 42% of the WWDC sessions told the real story.
Microsoft, Nokia Put Silverlight On Mobile Devices
Silverlight is coming to Nokia S60 and Series 40 phones. So how do I get started?
Post from the Road
Speaking a blog post into a phone and having it post itself - just to see if it works.
design
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 25, 2024
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ImplicitStyleManager – Hidden Gem in the Silverlight Toolkit November 2008
The Toolkit’s quiet best feature - theming a whole Silverlight app without touching every control.
Solar Decathlon 2007 – LTU: ALOeTERRA
Twenty university teams building solar houses on the National Mall - including the only one from Michigan.
If you have to work in a cube …
If I have to work in a cube, I want one like this - separate from the house and steps from fresh air.
games
Ninja, Master Chief, Snow Speeder–Travel Around The World
Three geocaching travel bugs, 34,639 miles, and a few countries I did not expect.
Candyland, LCR, and Warstorm
Three games that seem fun until you start thinking about them - and why that matters for kids.
Post Interesting Links to Blog 11/27/2009
Links saved from Diigo - Catan Portable Edition.
Programming for Today’s Kids
Every computer used to come with BASIC. Here is what has finally replaced it for kids.
Kodu Review and First Impressions
A visual programming language you drive with an XBox controller - and all three kids are hooked.
Homemade Kubb Set Plans and Report
Building a Kubb set from dimensional lumber, with plans and a report from the yard.
April issue of EGM reveals Bungie’s next project: Lego Halo – Joystiq
A very good April Fools gag - and a reminder that LEGO Halo would actually be great.
Microsoft DreamSpark
Thousands of dollars of professional development tools, free, as long as you are a student.
Science Museum – Launchpad Online – Launchball
A little Tetris, a little Lego, and some physical science - a nicely addicting puzzle game.
Statetris – USA
Tetris meets the fifty states - and a good example of something a plain web page could not do.
Collection/Addiction #2: Games
Five tubs of board games, and the hard job of deciding which ones to keep.
ui
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
iPad Hands-On Impressions
Twelve iPads on a table at lunch. I did not buy one, but it is a milestone at $499.
What is hypervideo anyway?
What hypertext did for text, hypervideo does for video - and I first tried it on laserdisc in 1992.
ImplicitStyleManager – Hidden Gem in the Silverlight Toolkit November 2008
The Toolkit’s quiet best feature - theming a whole Silverlight app without touching every control.
Reason #458 People Don’t Like Computers
Search results that found plenty and showed me none, then asked if I was satisfied.
Draft of HTML 5 Hints at a Brave New Web
Native audio and video, real page structure, and the long-overdue death of the frame.
Silverlight 2.0
Silverlight 2.0 delivers just about everything people were asking for - starting with real controls.
Tafiti (beta)
A Silverlight search concept from Microsoft that lets you shelve and stack your results.
Genealogy made easy
A Genealogy app called Family.Show using WPF
books
EBook Innovations Needed
Four things my Nook still cannot do, that someone with time and resources really should build.
Nook Simple Touch Reader – First Month
A month on the Nook Simple Touch, including what a typical reading day actually looks like.
Book Review: Think and Make It Happen
Some genuinely useful ideas, but not the one book that solves everything. Two or three stars.
Fearless by Max Lucado
A well-timed book against the spirit of fear running through nearly every headline.
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
Gladwell links the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Korean plane crashes - and makes it work.
2009 Reading List – Already out of control
Eleven books arrived in one week, six of them due back soon. Anyone want to read along?
Day 1 – Festival of Faith and Writing 08
My fourth Festival of Faith and Writing, a Chabon keynote, and why I keep coming back.
Programming WPF: Books: Chris Sells,Ian Griffiths
The best single book on WPF, and the last of my seven WPF books I expect to buy.
Howtoons: The Possibilities Are Endless!
A comic book that gets kids building things - and makes the case for why that matters.
Remaining Collection/Addiction #1: Books
Thirty years of collecting books, and every excuse I used along the way.
leadership
Don’t Get Cut by Hanlon’s Razor
Hanlon’s Razor tells us not to assume malice. Dreyfus, Dunning, and Kruger guide us towards what to assume instead.
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 9, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 16, 2024
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The critical value of the in-person “rock tumbler” for polishing products and people
Remote, in-person, or hybrid - what the whiteboard and the napkin still do that cameras cannot.
Remembering Cal Van Dyke
Stories about a friend, colleague, and genuinely good man, written down while they are fresh.
Quit Bowling, and Start Digging Ditches – WCAGLS Day 1
Two lines from Seth Godin and Steven Furtick that I am still thinking about days later.
space
Lunar Eclipse 2008
Clear skies, a reasonable hour, and a red moon I had forgotten was that dramatic.
Shuttle Launch Experience
Seeing STS-122 leave the pad in person, and the Kennedy Space Center tour the day before.
Vacation Update
Coco Beach, terrible bandwidth, and T-minus two days to a Shuttle launch.
Shuttle Launch Passes Arrived!
The passes came through for the February 7th launch, along with security rules that make the TSA look relaxed.
Astronomy "Craft"?
A string of beads that teaches the real spacing of the solar system - and where Pluto went.
Celebrating space: it’s 50 years since Sputnik
Fifty years since Sputnik - both a long time and a remarkably short one.
Wal-mart Telescopes
A computer-controlled Meade scope in a backpack, on a Wal-mart shelf right next to the candles.
Google Earth – No, Google Universe …
Google Earth flipped inside out, so you can explore the night sky most of us can no longer see.
Germany Exploring The Moon Too
NASA, China, and now Germany - the Moon is about to be a very busy place.
home
“It is well” — This Old House, Day 6
City sewer but no city water - three tanks in the basement and pipes like a steam ship.
“As Is” — This Old House, Day 0
Two words I never expected to sign on a house offer, and what the inspection turned up.
This Old House
I accidentally bought a 97-year-old house, and want to keep track of what we are getting into.
“Knob and Tube”
Ceramic knobs, ceramic tubes, two conductors, and three days of electricians in a 1923 house.
Brother Color Laser Printer HL-4040CDN
A color laser for the house at $279, and why that is no longer overkill.
Homemade Kubb Set Plans and Report
Building a Kubb set from dimensional lumber, with plans and a report from the yard.
Retire Fire Extinguishers
You cannot just throw an expired fire extinguisher away. Here is what you do instead.
Computer Handyman and Plumber
Home servers and media boxes are arriving faster than the people who can set them up.
Not Moving Sale
Doing the math on moving in a terrible housing market, and deciding to stay put.
art
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, September 30, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, August 12, 2024
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Lessons Learned: Craftsmen and artists of all types have a lot in common
Ten things I learned at a writers conference that apply just as well to building software.
Why I am voting for Nessie
Full disclosure - I am 50% Scottish. Here are my five reasons for this ArtPrize vote.
World Animal Day – boston.com
Narwhals in Arctic Bay - a photo so strange I could not tell whether it was real.
The Bible According To Google Earth
What the Garden of Eden, the Ark, and the Red Sea might have looked like from orbit.
blog
Rebooting the blog in WordPress
Back to blogging after a hosting disaster, this time on WordPress - and here is why.
Blogging Drought – Cheap Computer – ‘Bots on the Rock
Sickness in the house, a robotics club race coming up, and my fast computer is now just normal.
Why I like Twitter
I thought Twitter was a waste of time. Six months later, here is why I actually use it.
BlogEngine.NET 1.3 released
Upgrading the blog to 1.3, and the one place SQL Server 2000 made me work for it.
Google Reader: Trends
The Trends page in Google Reader knows exactly how many of those 9,564 items I really read.
BlogEngine.NET 1.2
Upgraded the blog over lunch, and it was relatively painless. Now to get back into the code.
Post from the Road
Speaking a blog post into a phone and having it post itself - just to see if it works.
Starting fresh
Time to move to a new blog platform - BlogEngine.NET
health
Losing 70 pounds
Seventy pounds in seventeen weeks - the what, the why, and where we go from here.
One Month of No Fast Food or Drive Thru
One month without a drive thru, made public so someone will ridicule me if I slip.
How I broke my arm and will now set off every metal detector
Ice under snow at the end of the driveway, and my first attempt at typing in four days.
N.J. Orders HIV Testing For Pregnant Women – washingtonpost.com
Doing the math on 230,000 mandated tests, and what that money could buy instead.
Health Care
A Dave Barry quote that sums up at least one side of the health care debate.
Walking pneumonia
When that cough isn’t just a cough - and why I am glad I went to the doctor.
Habits of Highly Effective Brains
Ten habits for keeping your brain in working order - and I can testify first-hand that they work.
robotics
West Michigan FIRST Robotics Regional Competition
A Saturday in the pits at the FIRST Robotics regional, plus my first YouTube video.
Blogging Drought – Cheap Computer – ‘Bots on the Rock
Sickness in the house, a robotics club race coming up, and my fast computer is now just normal.
First "’Bots on the Rock" Meeting a Success!
Eleven kids, six robots, three laptops, and one minefield rescue on the first night.
Tribot Sumo Test #1 – WallBot
A LEGO sumo robot built in one sitting - mostly a wall, with one sensor peeking through.
Return of the Heathkit HERO – now with Visual Studio
The Heathkit HERO I used in high school is coming back - this time programmed in Visual Studio.
First Lego League Regional Robotics Competition
A Saturday at the FIRST Lego League regional, where the robot is only a quarter of the score.
Made in America: By Robots
A t-shirt that says a lot in three words, especially if you grew up near Detroit.
eink
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, December 2, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
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Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, October 7, 2024
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EBook Innovations Needed
Four things my Nook still cannot do, that someone with time and resources really should build.
Nook Simple Touch Reader – First Month
A month on the Nook Simple Touch, including what a typical reading day actually looks like.
flutter
Flutter on Raspberry Pi — Fall 2022
The parts, the steps, and the verdict - Flutter has arrived for regular use on the Raspberry Pi.
The Case for Flutter — Mobile Meta Apps
The handful of apps you should be able to build in any mobile framework - and how to grade the result.
The Case for Flutter — Mobile-Oriented Architecture
Mobile is not just a smaller desktop. A framework for saying why a mobile feature is actually good.
The Case for Flutter
After a talk, an app in the stores, and a lot of notes - why I have grown to really like Flutter.
Flutter Talk Links
The handout links from my Introduction to Flutter talk at THAT Conference 2018.
nature
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
What is new and interesting in the world of tech, design, and leadership?
New Top Bird in the yard:Dark-eyed Junco
A new bird visitor that winters in Michigan - the Junco
World Animal Day – boston.com
Narwhals in Arctic Bay - a photo so strange I could not tell whether it was real.
Florida Gem #2 – Honeymoon Island / Caladesi Island
Two Florida state parks with almost nobody on them, and the three reasons why.
popular
The Seven Stages of Job Satisfaction
The mental stages job seekers go through over time, and the main factors that influence movement and decisions.
Unskilled and Unaware of It
How knowing less about a skill or topic gives the impression that you know much more than you really do.
The Dreyfus Model of Skills Acquisition
The skill levels people go through - from Advanced Beginner, to Competent, to Expert, and Master.
physics
Water Weenies and Crystals
Latex tubing, surgical clamps, and a supply of Aluminum Sulfate - summer projects with the kids.
Wii Physics – Measure your 0-60 time with a Wiimote
The Wii remote as a cheap 3-axis accelerometer - measuring G forces and your 0-60 time.
birds
New Top Bird in the yard:Dark-eyed Junco
A new bird visitor that winters in Michigan - the Junco
ebikes
Interesting Links for the Week of Monday, November 11, 2024
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