February 2005 - Posts

27 February 2005
More Site News -- Decisions Decisions
After some deliberation, I've decided to move my server out of my house and into a co-hosting location; I simply can't afford the bandwidth anymore as my site continues to grow (I never would have thought I'd get anywhere near the amount of traffic I'm getting at this point...the activity light on my router blinks pretty much all day, plus I'm sick of the administration overhead of trying to run 3 boxes, I need to get back down to 2). Any recommendations on good .Net hosting companies? Before I do that, I'll probably go ahead and launch jaysonknight.com, meaning I'll just start redirecting all zerotrilogy.gotdns.com traffic over to jaysonknight.com (right now it's vice versa). I still have lots of tweaking to do the .Text db though to make sure everything is in order (correct URL's, etc). I have also decided not to use CommunityServer 1.0 as the foundation for my new site; there is simply still too much not right with that package (but it looks incredibly promising). Perhaps 1.1, and most... Read More...
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26 February 2005
So, Have You Heard the One...
…about the video game that can order a pizza for you? Ok, it doesn’t actually do it for you, but with merely 6 keystrokes (/pizza) while playing Everquest II, you can have a piping hot pizza delivered to your door without missing a beat of gameplay. Don’t believe me? Check this out . Man I’m glad technology like this didn’t exist while I was in college. Why doesn’t Halo 2 have this feature (nudge nudge to the folks over at Bungie …)? Better yet, how about delivering some fresh sushi (/sushi) to my door during gameplay…I don’t think I’d ever have to leave the house then. I never thought I’d see the day… Read More...
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25 February 2005
Community Server Migration Script -- Announcing CSverter 1.0
Anyone who’s been following this blog lately is aware Robert McLaws and myself have been diligently working on a .Text to Community Server migration utility (thanks again for all your hard work Rob, the wizard looks awesome!). I’m pleased to announce the release of version 1.0 of this tool, you can download it via this link ! Note: This release supercedes my previous releases (the console application), and I have overwritten the zip archive with 1.0 (had to use the previous name, DotTextCS for the archive for links from previous posts, but the new name of the utility itself is CSverter). If for some reason you still need the previous version (for example, if you're a glutton for punishment), let me know and I'll send it to you. This wizard should alleviate many of the headaches some of you guys have been running into, and the process is completely automated now. Have a look at the readme included in the archive, and I highly recommend you read Robert’s release notes before... Read More...
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24 February 2005
Microsoft to Open Up SQL Server Code?
Via CNet (full article here ): Will the software industry's wave of open-source databases spill onto Microsoft's turf? Perhaps. The software giant is considering making the source code for its SQL Server database available to customers, according to Tom Rizzo, director of product management in Microsoft's SQL Server unit. In an interview with CNET News.com, Rizzo said that the company is thinking about including the forthcoming SQL Server 2005 in Microsoft's shared-source program for disclosing product source code to customers. Of course, MS’s definition of “open source” isn’t synonomous with “ free as in beer ”, meaning it’s a peek, but don’t tinker policy. SQL Server has had a pretty good security track record compared with some of their other products *well, sans the slammer worm, I worked in MS PSS at that time…those were some busy days), so I’m guessing that no serious surprises would be found. The MySql/PostGreSql guys will... Read More...
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21 February 2005
Hunter S. Thompson -- RIP
Hunter S. Thompson apparently decided he had enough of his “ gonzo journalism ” lifestyle and decided to take his own life early this morning…what a tragic loss to the journalism community. I guess the irony is that he commited suicide; we all figured that he would have OD’d long before that…and we’ll all miss him. His unique writing style was refreshing; someone we could all wish to live vicariously through…ok, someone I lived vicariously through. RIP. Fear and Loating in Las Vegas ranks in my top 10 movies of all time…great flick, and he will be immortalized in it. Read More...
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21 February 2005
Telligent Systems -- Community Server 1.0 Released
Telligent Systems has finally RTM’d community server (version 1.0). Kudos to the folks over at telligent, good job guys! The migration engine I wrote for .Text to CS works for this release, download my bits here (to be considered alpha quality, it works on my machine ); version 1.0 to be released very soon due to the diligent work of Robert McLaws for making the engine a bit more user friendly (i.e. wrapping a GUI around it and making it actually usable…). Stay tuned. Read More...
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18 February 2005
XBox Live Gamertag -- XStatic9
I finally got around to buying a wireless router for my XBox (which I might add I purchased over 3 years ago at the full 299.95 price…it is now 149.95)… this one if you’re curious. The gamertag I wanted (XStatic) was taken, so I had to settle for XStatic9, and I was a bit peeved that the XBox live subscription service didn’t allow for punctuation in the gamertag handle. It just looks so plain without all the markup I usually do, plus I’m sure I would have eventually found a combination of colons/dashes/whatever to have had XStatic. Oh well. The WAP was a breeze to setup, however the subscription registration process itself is a PITA, mainly due to the lack of keyboard. I had a free 2 month subscription that came with Halo 2, but I was still required to give them my credit card number, no doubt so that when I forget to cancel in 2 months (even though I won’t), they can automatically start billing me. Bleh. So far I’m quite impressed though, only... Read More...
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18 February 2005
Google's GMail Close to Going Live
I received an email from Google stating something to the effect of “You asked us to send you information as to when you can sign up for a GMail account…click this link and you can”, yada yada yada. I was fortunate enough to get an invite several months ago, but I haven’t really used the service as much as I thought I would, but it’s still a great service. So, for what it’s worth it would appear it’s going live relatively soon. Sidenote: I have 50 (!!!) GMail invites, so if you’re one of the 3 people left who doesn’t have an account, ping me with your email address…after I sell it to the highest bidder, I will send you an invitation . Read More...
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17 February 2005
Google Dropping Bloggers? My Take...
I should preface this with “I’m not attempting to spread FUD” as I’m not entirely convinced that it’s true…actually, I’m not convinced at all. But there are some reports in the blogosphere ( here , here , here , and here …among others) all saying the same thing; their Google page ranking has dropped either significantly, or doesn’t exist altogether. In the case of the first link , I believe he’s running into the same issues I did earlier …he has a Google search box, but no Google logo. Google (apparently) doesn’t like that too much, and it’s a total PITA to get reindexed. It has taken me almost a month to get back to number one , but it does eventually happen once you’re back on their good side. But that still doesn’t explain the other folks, of whom none seem to have anything on their site to violate Google’s terms. The reason I’m not buying it is because what vested interest would Google... Read More...
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15 February 2005
Site and Server Upgrades Coming for jayBlog
My server is on the fritz again, and I’m sick of repairing it…so I’m putting it out to pasture (or out of its misery, whichever way you want to look at it). As such, I’ve had to move my site (IIS/SQL Server) back over to my main machine…again. It’s a dance I’m getting somewhat used to, and quite sick of doing. What I didn’t realize is that this would peg IIS on my machine to its limit, and I’ve seen lots of HTTP 403.9 errors (access forbidden, too many users connected…WinXP throttles IIS 5.1 to a dismal number of connections, even with the MetaBase editing tool enabling 250 connections (though I think it pegs out at 40 regardless)). As such I’m installing a Win2k3 VPC as I type this, and will move everything over to that install ASAP. I was going to buy a new laptop, but it looks like I need to buy a new server now, so I should have one within the next couple of weeks. What I’m truly amazed at is how much server you... Read More...
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