Friday Links #42
14 Mar 2009Nikhil Kothari’s Weblog : Specialized Layout Panels for Silverlight - An overview of some layout panels in Silverlight.FX: XGrid, FormPanel, HStackPanel, VStackPanel and TilePanel - specialized for simplifying layout.
My Silverlight 3 Wish List - I think I am exercising the framework pretty hard, and Microsoft can only make the framework better with this list.
InfoQ: Anders Hejlsbeg on the C# 4.0 and 5.0 - In a Channel 9 video, Erik Meijer and Anders Hejlsbeg discuss the future of C#. First up was a discussion about dynamic types and co/contra-variant interfaces, both of which are still planned for C# 4.
| [3 Tools To Manage Windows Processes Better | MakeUseOf.com](http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-tools-to-manage-processes-better-windows/) - Windows Task Manager is the obvious solution that comes to mind which allows you to achieve this. However there are some software that provide additional functionality that is not offered by Windows Task Manager. |
John Robbins’ Blog : SOSEX v2: Better Than Ever – This must have SOSEX extension, makes your .NET debugging with WinDBG easier than ever.
| [Slashdot | Wolfram Promises Computing That Answers Questions](http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/08/2155216&from=rss) - Computer scientist Stephen Wolfram feels that he has put together at least the initial version of a computer that actually answers factual questions, a la Star Trek’s ship computers. |
Free VMware ESXi: Bare Metal Hypervisor with Live Migration – VMware - Run all your production applications at near-native performance on the next-generation OS-independent VMware hypervisor, now available for free. VMware ESXi has the same functionality and performance as VMware ESX but with a 32 MB disk footprint.
Visualizing a Trillion: Just How Big That Number Is? - For people who can visualize one million dollars, the comparison made on CNN should give you an idea about a trillion - “if you start spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spend a trillion dollars”.
100 Million Lines of Code in Your Car - An article by IEEE indicates that a premium-class automobile “contains close to 100 million lines of software code.” The software executes on 70-100 microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked throughout the body of your car. Even low-end cars have 30-50 ECUs embedded in the body, doors, dash, roof, trunk, seats, etc. Software controls just about everything from your brakes to the volume of your radio.
Silverlight Sneak Peek: Building line-of-business with Silverlight - Video with Robert Hess and Brad Abrams where Brad shows some some sneak preview of some feature enhancements.
Download Silverlight Spy : First Floor Software – Nice tool for exploring the visual layout of a Silverlight application. The first time we fired it up at work we discovered “an issue” with our program. Great tool.
| [The Office Made of Cardboard | Smarterware](http://smarterware.org/890/the-office-made-entirely-of-cardboard) - The desks, chairs, shelves, cubicles, and from the photos, even steps and a small loft is constructed entirely of brown cardboard, which invites lots of cool drawings. |
| [10 Unique YouTube Channels You Should Watch | MakeUseOf.com](http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-unique-youtube-channels-you-should-watch/) – Unique and fun list of video channels. |
CodeProject: CodeBox. Free source code and programming help – Color syntax highlighting WPF textbox control that does use the rich text box control for better performance.
Is IE8 the end of the line for Internet Explorer? – Please Lord, make it so…
Ancient Greek Sayings – My favorite quote, “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”
Google Voice – Google reveals it plans for VOIP using technology from recently acquired GrandCentral.
MIT breakthrough promises lighter, fast-charging batteries – Lots of news traffic about charging lithium batteries in seconds, not hours.
Delay’s Blog : Controls are like diapers: you don’t want a leaky one – Actually, two articles on how to use WinDbg and WeakEventListeners to avoid resource leaks in .NET programs.
Conversion: PDF-to-Word Web Tool Open to All - PDF-to-Word, the free, surprisingly accurate conversion tool we’ve previously demonstrated, moves out of closed beta and is open to all.
Amazanian – Search engine specifically for searching Amazon.com. Results are more comprehensive and compact resulting in less paging.
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Pick of the Week
JZip - Freeware version that competes openly with WinZip. I like the folder view. Based on 7-zip engine and has been solid for me. If you have a few dollars to donate, these guys are worth your nickel.