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1 April 2008

• Exactly on the anniversary of my MVP award, I've just heard from MS that I have been re-awarded as an MVP for Visual C++.

22 February 2008

• MS has just informed me that the Windows SDK area which I am an MVP in, has been retired. Instead now, I'm an MVP for Visual C++. This seems a much more natural fit for me as the moniker "Windows SDK" seemed to imply to me the exclusion of other areas which I am familiar with such as MFC, ATL etc. On other MVP matters, I will be attending the 2008 MVP Global Summit in Seattle in April and hope to put faces to some of the many developer names I'm sure you all know.

1 April 2007

• It may be April Fools day today, but I got an email from Microsoft today, to confirm that I have just been made an MVP (Microsoft Valuable Professional). I was nominated by Phil Webster and Chris Parsons who are both DirectShow/Media Foundation MVPs, a number of weeks ago and today I received the announcement that I am now an MVP for Windows - SDK for 2007. You can check out my MVP profile at https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=42E24F66-A091-4272-9A7D-28F56D9C603E. I'm really thrilled to get the award and I should be getting one of the benefits of the MVP program which is a MSDN subscription in the next few weeks. I'm thinking of setting up some sort of forum or "Ask PJ" section on my web site where you can email me your Windows development related questions and hopefully I should be able to get an answer for you.

19 January 2007

• I'm now a blogger!. You can check out my new blog at http://naughter.spaces.live.com/blog/ or you can subscribe directly to the RSS feed by clicking on the link beside the orange RSS image on the Table of contents on the right hand side of my home page.

20 October 2006

• The book is out! I should be getting my review copies in the next few day. For those who have pre-ordered the book, you should see your orders being fulfilled shortly.
• In my spare time over the last few weeks, I'm been working on a freeware Tuner plug-in for Snapstream Beyond TV which allows you to control a set-top box using a RedRat3 IR device. For people who have visited my web site before, you may well known that I have been using Windows Media Center Edition (and Showshifter before that), but one area which I was disappointed with was it use of MS's proprietary dvr-ms file format. Also it cannot handle multiple channels where the sources are mixed. Another weakness MCE has IMHO is that you cannot stream live TV from the MCE device to another PC (My MCE machine is upstairs next to my Sky+ box but I do most of my TV viewing in my computer room which is downstairs. I do have the TV signal via coax down in the computer room, but the picture is pretty poor, plus the audio is only mono). Before anyone emails me saying "oh yes you can stream from an MCE", AFAIK you can only do this to an Xbox 360 using the Media Center Extender Software, but I'm not really into games and want it streamed to one of my computers and not to a TV. Over the last few weeks I have been playing around with Beyond TV and it addresses all of the shortcomings as I see it with MCE. Recording is done to a standard MPEG2 file and meta data for a recording / show is stored in separate xml file, files can be compressed to DivX and WMV natively, streaming is supported to PC's via their Beyond TV Link software and their multiple tuner architecture is much more flexible compared to MCE. Beyond TV also has a comprehensive SDK for the developer community. Unfortunately the one area where Beyond TV is weak (at least for us Europeans) is EPG support. Fortunately I already use and much prefer DigiGuide which provides a comprehensive PC based EPG. In addition I have installed a customized version of the SnapStream Schedule Plug-in for DigiGuide which allows me to schedule recordings at my main computer downstairs and send the recording request up to the Beyond TV PC upstairs (Changes were made to the digiadd.aspx file included in the Schedule plug-in so that it works correctly with the latest v4.4 of Beyond TV, Let me know if you want a copy of the changes I made). Finally on the Beyond TV machine, I installed my new Tuner plug-in (which will be distributed as a MSI file created using Wix v3). My plug-in will include a sample RedRat database for the Sky+ box but you are free of course to use your own database from the RedRat support pages. Most of the configuration details will be taken care of by the Wix/MSI install but full details on further configuration of the plug-in will be included in the download. The source code for the tuner will also be included in the download, as well as the Wix v3 files to generate the install. The documentation for Wix v3 is sorely lacking at the moment, so you might want to use it as a tutorial for using Wix. Keep an eye on the What's New part of my web site to see when I make it available for download.

11 September 2006

• Rampant have kindly allowed me to host the "Code Depot" for the code which accompanies the book. See this page for the download link. Please note that you are obliged to purchase a copy of the book to use this code.

9 September 2006

• Finally, Good news, I have just received word from the publishers, that my book is at the printers and should be generally available by the end of this month.

13 July 2006

• Unfortunately I have to report that there are ongoing delays with the release of the book. It looks like being available around the end of August now.

30 June 2006

• The publishers are working feverishly on getting the book "Super SQL Server Systems" on the bookshelves. It should be available very very shortly.

17 May 2006

• Unfortunately there are some ongoing delays with the book "Super SQL Server Systems". I have been informed by the publishers that it should be generally available by the end of June. I hope that any one who has pre-ordered the book can hang in there.

23 January 2006

• After some initial delays, the book which I am co-authoring with Joseph Gama is finally making its way through the printing process at the moment. It should be available for distribution to stores by the end of February. If you use some of the code which I provide on my web site, I'd really appreciate you purchasing a copy. You might even pick up some programming tips!!

22 September 2005

• Just completed the final few updates on the book I'm writing. It should be available in the bookstores shortly. If you'd like to get your copy early, check out http://rampant.cc/cart/catalog/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=130

25 June 2005

• Naughter Software is now up and running. We specialize in developing custom applications developed in native mode C/C++ / ATL and MFC. If you have any Windows development projects you would consider me for, please don't hesitate in contacting me to discuss your details.

21 December 2004

• Just to let everyone know that I am co-authoring a book at the moment. The book is called "Super SQL Server Systems" and covers developing Extended Stored Procedures for SQL Server. It includes lots of ready to run C++ code to use with SQL Server. Details are available from www.rampant-books.com/book_2005_2_sql_server_external_procedures.htm. Reserve your copy now!!!.