the finger-keyboard synapse - January 2005 Archives

January 2005

BitWise 1.0.4 Beta 2 released (14:57) - At long last, BitWise 1.0.4 Beta 2 has been released, our first release of the new year. More information is available on our Alpha/Beta page. A logical question might be when the final release of 1.0.4 will be made. The answer to that question depends on a variety of factors related to timing of other events, as well as the reports we get about the beta version. Three possible dates are February 17th, February 28th, or March 17th. As a...

Whose blog is this? (22:09) - Things are busy getting ready for the 1.0.4 Beta 2 release on Monday, so in the meantime I have a question. When you think of this blog, how do you think of it? Do you think of it as my personal blog, a blog mostly about BitWise, a blog about technology, etc? What kinds of posts in this blog are the most interesting? Please be honest! Why do I ask? There are good reasons that I'd like answers to these... | 4 Comments

Six Apart, Google, Yahoo and MSN fight comment spam (21:01) - As I've lamented here several times, comment spam is a problem. It's encouraging to see steps being taken by major players to combat comment spamming, using an HTML "nofollow" tag that tells search engines not to consider those links. Spammers have traditionally benefited by having links to their sites appear in numerous blogs, and without the search engines indexing and counting those links, the motivation to "publish" the comment spam is, theoretically, diminished. Hopefully it works half as well in...

More joyous platform differences (18:56) - As I've mentioned a few times recently, the file transfer manager in the next version has a slider that allows you to control the bandwidth used by file transfers. It's a vertical slider that sits on the right side of the manager, with "fast" at the top and "slow" at the bottom, which is fairly intuitive. Imagine my surprise when I realized that vertical sliders on OS X orient themselves with the low value at the opposite end of the...

1.0.4 Beta 2 coming soon (17:07) - The splitter windows are now operational on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. If you'll allow me (you will? Thanks!) I'd like to offer up some good advice for fellow programmers dealing with resizing on gtk: resizing may not occur until idle time if you programatically change the size of a window. You have been warned. Consider this scenario: you have a window whose size and position is saved, as is the position of the "sash" of the splitter window.... | 1 Comments

MSN Bropia.A worm spreads without user intervention (16:20) - A scary report for anyone who uses MSN: a new worm called Bropia.A is in the wild and can spread to you via MSN Messenger just by having an MSN Messenger window open. The payload is to install a trojan program called "Rbot" which can open a backdoor in your system and has features that collect keystrokes, relay spam and collect other information about your system. It also can disable your right-click context menus and adjust your sound mixer settings,... | 1 Comments

File tranfers and resizing on steroids (22:09) - It's official: the impressive changes in version 1.0.4 definitely did not stop with Beta 1. Due out "soon," Beta 2 will offer a 50-100% increase in file transfer speeds over LANs using a combination of powerful new preferences. 1) On-the-fly file compression when sending files must be explicitly enabled; since most files sent these days are already compressed, trying to compress them again slows down the process by consuming a lot of CPU time without reducing the amount of data...

To steal focus or not to steal focus, that is the question (22:24) - Sometimes you can't win for losing. Honestly. If new windows pop up in front of other windows, some people get ticked off. If new windows don't come to the front, some other people get ticked off. How in the world are we supposed to choose a default behavior? I caught wind today of someone who was very angry that the chat window stole focus away from their game, and they uninstalled BitWise because "Trillian never did this so I'm using... | 4 Comments

Surveys starting up, results coming in! (14:35) - The active user survey is now running completely automated, sending the survey link to online active users (according to our definition of active) at regular intervals. The user survey for users who stopped using BitWise are being sent a link via email, but these are still being done manually until the backlog of slightly old accounts can be processed. Pro Groups have also begun to receive their own special survey. Thanks to those of you who have already filled out... | 2 Comments

Someone at Apple was listening after all! (23:04) - I like Apple. I'm not a Mac addict, or even an everyday user, but I like the Apple platform. What I have not liked is their computer selection. Let's say I wanted to buy an Apple, but I already had a nice LCD monitor and other peripherals. My only choice was to spend at least $1500 on a G5. An eMac comes with a built-in 17" CRT (takes up way too much space) and the iMac with its 17" widescreen... | 1 Comments

The great whiteboard corruption mystery (20:02) - First off, if you haven't checked out the forums recently, 2005 has started with a posting deluge and there's lots of interesting discussions and ideas to read! On to the main point: there's a mystery afoot and we need your help to solve it! There have been a few reports, both in the forums and to us directly, about whiteboards becoming garbled up after extended usage. Unfortunately, there hasn't yet been any reliable way to reproduce this behavior, nor are...

Mass Add Feature added to Pro Group Web Services (11:23) - Pro Groups now have another great business-oriented feature available to them for managing contacts and contact lists. A common issue that arises when setting up a Pro Group is that most users should have most other group members on their contact list. What a manual entry nightmare! Now after creating your Pro Group's users, adding everyone to everyone's list is a snap! With the "Mass Add" feature, a Group can easily add contacts in bulk. I'll let the screenshot speak... | 7 Comments

Voice over IP can't be regulated by states (20:12) - I have received many links and news article from BitWise users regarding the current court cases involving Voice over IP (VOIP) software and whether or not the states can regulate VOIP. Last week, in an appeal, VOIP has been ruled a data service and cannot be regulated by the states. Unfortunately, it's not over yet as some states want to appeal to the Supreme Court. Link The two-page decision was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth...

User surveys up for testing (11:22) - Before Christmas, I ran a series of blog posts with possible survey questions for a survey that we're putting together to learn more about our users and how we can better serve them. I am pleased to announce that these surveys have been constructed and are ready for testing! There are two surveys, one for active users and one for users who fall inactive. The purpose of the testing is not to collect meaningful information, but rather to find any...

Kevin's little Grammy ceremony (09:56) - Happy New Year! To kick off the new year, I thought I'd have my own little mini Grammy ceremony celebrating some of my favorite music from 2004. They are a bit over the top, but why not start the new year in a grand way, eh? Best New Artist: Howie Day. While technically Howie made his first album in 2002, it wasn't until late in 2004 that he was discovered by much of a mainstream audience thanks to his song... | 1 Comments