Brian Hartsock's Blog

One of my coworkers, Mike Dellanoce, just started his own blog (after 2 years of coaxing from me). I encourage you all to subscribe.

It’s been a little over a week since I installed Windows 7. I tried the upgrade route, failed, and re-formatted the whole machine (every now and again you need to give your PC a good scrubbing). The real question is, what software did I put on the machine?

• Chrome – Chrome is the new Firefox. It is fast, and the UI is just phenomenal. What sucks about it? Extensibility, which leads to…
• Firefox – Developers still need Firefox. There are so many awesome tools out there, you need Firefox to develop.
• Flash – The web doesn’t work without Flash anymore. Enough said.
• 7zip – One archive utility to rule them all. Works with every file type and integrates with Explorer.
• Zune – The Zune app is my new music player. With a Zune pass, I get access to all the music I want. Plus, it doubles as a screen saver the UI is so cool looking.
• Skype – It’s how you video chat over the web.
• SnagIt – This puppy from Techsmith allows me to capture my screen in a bunch of different ways. If you want to be a pro-blogger (which I do, and I realize I am not), you need this.
• Windows Live Writer – Nice desktop app that integrates with my Wordpress blog. I like having it on the desktop for the sole purpose it is faster and has an awesome editor/preview mode.
• Visual Studio 2008 – The de-facto .NET IDE.
• Visual Studio 2010 Beta – I need to see what my future looks like. I haven’t decided yet.
• OpenOffice – Free office. MS Office 2007 is pretty awesome, but for a developer like me, I don’t really need it.
• JungleDisk Desktop – Last but not least, JungleDisk is my harddrive. I backup all my data to the cloud, and with the new version I am going to sync my data between machines.

To give credit where credit is due, I was inspired to do this by Hanselman’s post on the same topic (also, you have to check out his tool list).

The Harmony One is easily the best buy of the past 6 months for me (even though someone bought it for me). For anyone with more than 1 home theater device, get this remote. Since I bought this remote, I have lost all my other remotes, and it is a good thing.

It is a universal remote that focuses more on user actions that devices and inputs. For example, you can create a Watch TV action that turns on the TV, Receiver, and cable box together, and sets everything to the right input. Very simple and easy to use.

But enough of my gushing over the device…let’s get objective/subjective.

Why is it sweet?

On the instructions, it warns you that setup will probably take about 30 minutes of the remote. It was exactly 30 minutes for me to get everything working. After this configuration, I haven’t had to update anything in 3 months.

I like it because it just works. I press Watch TV or Watch DVD and all my devices get turned on and set to the right inputs. But, what’s even better is the Help button, which tries to fix any problems, in case you accidentally pointed the remote at your toaster instead of your TV. I probably use the help button once a week, and every other time everything works perfectly anyways.

And don’t let me forget, it has a beautiful design. From the body to the touch screen, its sweet (for some reason I felt dirty saying that).

But these are all tangent to the real reason this remote is amazing. My girlfriend doesn’t call me asking how to watch a DVD on the XBOX anymore. You don’t have to play the role of tech support for your home theater.

Any bad thoughts?

None. My only word of warning would be this remote is for making things work, not adjusting the rotary girder of your Killer Audio Receiver 3000. Very detailed settings like independent speaker volumes and such may be hidden in menus or non-existent.

My laptop recently got re-imaged. On login, my eyes started to bleed, almost. I realized a tool I use everyday was not in my list of Tools, ClearType tuner.

This XP Powertoy helps make text more readable by using ClearType technology. I know nothing about the technology itself, except that I love it.

“A picture is worth 1000 words”

Most blogs that I read integrate media, specifically pictures, into their posts. A video can be avoided. Text can be skimmed. But pictures can’t be overlooked. Good pictures draw you into an article, or website, and add to the story the author is trying to tell you.

Last week, I posted a setup guide for NHaml with nearly 25 screen shots. Surprisingly, I was able to grab all the screenshots, cropped and everything, in about 15 minutes. Using the old school method of Print-Screen + Paint would have taken at least twice as long, and looked half as good.

Paying money for a screenshot utility seems ridiculous, but after playing around with it for a few days, I had to buy Snagit. I only used about 1% of its features, and that 1% is good enough to warrant spending the money. If you want to create media rich blog posts, I would highly recommend it. Even though the example is a little ridiculous, it shows how effortless creating great looking graphics with Snagit.