Archive for November, 2008

The VSTS 2008 TFS Power Tools made their October Release (yes, in November) ... and it’s packed full of yummy goodness.

• A Windows Shell Extension (think Tortoise SVN)
• A new tfpt command: searchcs for searching checkins/date/user/path/comments, etc.
• Support for shelvesets in the tfpt command-line app.
• PowerShell Cmdlets with pipeline support (just starting, but there’s 17 cmdlets already)

• Team Members support: start Chat/phone/video calls through Communicator or Live Messenger (you can write plugins for others), see pending changes, get notifications on Checkins, etc.

I think you can see that some of this will work with CodePlex, and some wont, but I’m most interested in the shell extension and PowerShell cmdlets! I wonder if they should implement a PSProvider…

There’s an article on TechCrunch about ...How You Build A Great iPhone App which epitomizes the negative feelings I have about Apple fans.

Smule has done it again. The company behind the ingenious lighter app that took the iPhone by storm a few months ago has launched Ocarina, a networked musical instrument … perfectly executed ... by being first to market with this app, Smule has safeguarded itself against the competition …

So, uhm … an Ocarina. Really? From the company that brought you … the ingenious lighter app. Really? Ingenious? I can’t begin to express my disdain for the twits that hold up cellphones at concerts … installing an app to make it look like a lighter just shows that you planned ahead of time to be a twit.

A networked Ocarina. Have you ever heard an Ocarina? I’m not saying that there’s no such thing as hauntingly beautiful ocarina tunes — I’ve heard professional players in Costa Rica — but the probability of the few people who have that skill owning an iPhone and sitting around playing tunes on it so you can listen is vanishingly small, and if you listen to anyone else, it sounds like a tribal version of a child’s recorder. You know, if they created a way to tip from the iPhone over that network, I bet you could get some of the buskers online… look for players in Central and South America

If you don’t like what you’re listening to, you can hit the “next” button to start playing a new song (you’ll probably be using this button often, as many of the people playing are awful).

Yeah. Sounds great. The worst thing is, I’m pretty sure the TechCrunch guys speak truthfully from experience when they mention “the competition” ... those iPhone app store developers are so ingenious.