John Lamansky

According to a CNet article:

If it is up to Microsoft, the omnipresent JPEG image format will be replaced by Windows Media Photo.

The software maker detailed the new image format Wednesday at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference here. Windows Media Photo will be supported in Windows Vista and also be made available for Windows XP, Bill Crow, program manager for Windows Media Photo, said in a presentation.

[…]

Typically digital cameras today use 6:1 compression, Crow said. Windows Media Photo should offer better pictures at double that level, he said. “We can do it in half the size of a JPEG file.”

Not only does compression save storage space, which is especially important for devices such as cell phones and digital cameras, a smaller file can also print faster, transfer faster and help conserve battery life on devices, Crow said. “Making a file that is smaller has all kinds of benefits.”

Considering that Microsoft already has the Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video formats, Windows Media Photo seems like a no-brainer addition to the Windows Media format lineup.

But then again, do we really need yet another image format?

Today’s my first day of summer vacation! Yay!

Looks like Microsoft will be considering Atom an “RSS format” in Windows Vista.

From the Windows Vista Developer Center RSS homepage:

Windows Vista will support all common RSS formats, including: RSS 1.0, 2.0 and Atom 0.3. We will support Atom 1.0 when it’s released.

And from the RSS Support in Longhorn article:

RSS, as we use it in this document, refers not to a single format (such as RSS 2.0), but to the general concept of feeds of syndicated content. It should be considered to cover all feed formats that meet the basic criteria of updateable [sic] collections of items.

I do see why Microsoft has chosen to define RSS this way, and at the same time I don’t.

There really isn’t a term that exclusively encapsulates both “RSS” and “Atom.” You could say the word “feed,” though that can include other formats such as OPML.

But don’t you think “feed” is more technically accurate and user-friendly than “RSS” when describing both RSS and Atom?

Cool! McAfee SiteAdvisor has given this site a “green checkmark,” saying “We tested this site and didn’t find any significant problems.” Meaning no spam, no dangerous downloads, no popups, etc.

Of course, I already knew that I didn’t spam or allow popups, but having it verified by McAfee is nice.

So this means that if you aren’t subscribed to the feed, you can subscribe to this blog via email (on the homepage) without any spam worries (hint, hint ;-)).

Who knew you could make games with Visual Studio? MSDN’s Coding4Fun site has an entire section devoted to Game Development!

Until I saw this, I was under the impression that game development could only be achieved using C++ or a “beginning game programmer language” such as Dark Basic.

Looks like I was wrong! If I decide to get into computer game development again, I’ll definitely consider using Visual Basic or Visual C# as a balance between the power of C++ and the ease of use of Dark Basic.

The SuperSite for Windows has just posted screenshots of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP yesterday. I’m really impressed with WMP11’s new method of displaying albums and songs.

I can’t believe it: JohnLamansky.com is listed in the DMOZ, one of the most popular website directories on the Internet!

To tell you the truth, I thought for sure that this blog wouldn’t be listed, since I had submitted my listing more than once (not realizing at the time that that was frowned upon). But despite this, today I was elated to find that about 9 months (!) after my submissions, this blog has been listed! I guess my listing must’ve been assigned to a nice editor.

According to an announcement email from Skype:

Calls to friends and family on Skype have always been free. Now we’ve made calls within the US and Canada to all phones totally free till the end of the year.

Starting from today it doesn’t matter if it’s a Skype-to-Skype call or a call to landline or mobile phone - it’s free as long as you’re calling from within the US or Canada to US or Canadian phone number.

Neat-O!

I do wonder how SkypeOut purchasers are taking this news, though.

According to a blog post on MSDN, Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition will be free permanently!

From the blog post:

We are incredibly excited to announce that effective April 19th, 2006, all Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions including Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual J#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer Express will be free permanently!

Prior to this pricing announcement, Visual Studio Express Editions were promotionally discounted to be free for one year, starting on November 7th, 2005. With this announcement, the promotional discount for Visual Studio Express is now permanent and Express will continue to be free.

The key reason for the pricing change was you. You’ve helped make Visual Studio Express a runaway hit, and we’re proud to announce that in the five months since its launch, Express has been downloaded over 5 million times!

Looks like Yahoo’s Widget Engine (previously known as Konfabulator) is going to get some competition: version 4 of Google Desktop now features Google Gadgets.

Here’s Google’s description of what’s new in version 4:

Want a clock on your desktop? How about a calendar, a WiFi indicator, a TV, or anything else you can dream up? Say hello to Google Gadgets. These interactive mini-applications can be anything from games to search tools to media players, and they can be any shape and size – use a weather globe to show you the latest forecast. We’ve got a lot of ready-made gadgets to get you started, but they’re so easy to create that you can probably figure out how to build your own.

You can also save your gadget content and settings online to protect your info from computer crashes and be able to access it from your other computers by logging into your Google Account with Google Desktop. For instance, you can now ‘synch’ the To Do list on both your laptop and your desktop.

Google Desktop will recommend new gadgets and can also automatically create a personalized Google homepage for you based on the subjects you’re most interested in. For instance, if you’re constantly doing searches on new movies, Google Desktop can automatically recommend a movies gadget to add to your desktop.

We’ve also integrated Google Desktop more fully with the rest of Google. For instance, you can now add Google Gadgets from your personalized homepage into your Sidebar, or anywhere else on your desktop You can also view upcoming birthdays with the orkut gadget, see what’s popular on Google Videos, or access your Google Calendar right from your desktop.

This sounds really cool! I’ll definately consider replacing my trusty Yahoo Widget Engine.

Oh, lookee there… I think I’m still running Google Desktop version 2. Definitely time to upgrade!