January 2006
Tuesday 31 January
- Feet to the Fire Radio - Archive Available (15:37) - I am pleased to announce that the archive of my appearance on Feet to the Fire from Sunday evening is available! Download the Feet to the Fire BitWise segment with host James Arthur Jancik, the "Black Knight" of Talk Radio. Also, check out the Feet to the Fire site! The clip is in 24k MP3Pro format and is backwards-compatible with standard mp3 players. The file size is just over 4MB and runs about 24 minutes. Comments about the appearance are...
Monday 30 January
- January was different, February will be exciting (10:13) - It's been fairly calm on the BitWise front lately, save the transition to the BitWise DocuWiki. January always seem to be a different kind of month, and I don't know why. Technically it's just like any other month, but for some reason, there's always something unusual going on in January. I'll have more to say about some of the "behind-the-scenes" things that went on during January in a few weeks, but for now, I'll just tell you that there will...
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Friday 27 January
- Feet to the Fire Radio - this Sunday! (19:55) - I will be appearing on Feet to the Fire radio Sunday evening from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Eastern (5:30 to 6:00 p.m. Pacific). This show is broadcast via the Internet at http://www.feet2fire.com. I spoke with the host the other day, and while it initially seems like an odd match for us, the audience of this show should intersects with individuals who are likely to be interested in BitWise. If nothing else, it will be a fun experience and a low-stress...
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Wednesday 25 January
- Documentation moved to the DocuWiki (17:55) - I am pleased to announce that the official BitWise documentation has made the transition to the DocuWiki. The DocuWiki features many new articles, more information, and better organization than the existing documentation. All current (old?) documentation links will automatically forward to the correct DocuWiki page. If you haven't checked out the DocuWiki yet, take a look; we're confident that you will be pleasantly surprised: http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/ Please note that the Tips & Tricks forum has been removed since the Tips &...
Monday 23 January
- "It looks good, but it's horrible" (20:20) - Knowing that Bitwise is a part of the larger IM world, users frequently forward articles or reviews to me. However, I particularly like hearing what our users think of some of the other messengers' new versions. I'd like to share this really informal review that I received the other day about MSN 8: Ugh.. I just an invitation for MSN 8 live beta... it looks good, but its horrible. My contact list just filled up with 50 contacts that I...
Friday 20 January
- Blocked! (12:48) - The next time someone says to you, "BitWise, I've never heard of that, it must be really small or really new," you can inform them that not only is BitWise almost 4 years old, but that it's big enough that Comvigo's IM Lock Professional software blocks it along with all the other messengers that they have heard of. Yes, as twisted as it is, I'm happy that IM blocking software is blocking BitWise. Good software does its job, and if...
Tuesday 17 January
- Celebrating freedom by doing... taxes (19:13) - I understand it's only natural for people to ask, "How was your weekend" or "what did you do special over the 3-day weekend?" In my case, however, I wish I had something better to say about my 3-day weekend. The calmness of the long weekend gave me a great opportunity to do... taxes! No, not my personal taxes, corporate taxes. Curse my Accounting degree! (I was a double-major in college.) The next time I start a business, I'm going into...
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Sunday 15 January
- I've been replaced (on the site, anyway)! (14:28) - In November, we replaced the front page montage with an image that showed me using an old tin can "phone" with a witty caption. While this was an improvement over the jumbled montage that preceded it, it still seemed that it wasn't really saying much. It made a statement of what BitWIse was not, but it didn't really help say what BitWise is. After a lot of searching and thought, it became apparent that there's no image that just says...
Thursday 12 January
- Microsoft takes a page from the BitWise playbook (09:25) - One of the aspects of BitWise that surprises (impresses?) many users is that all three "versions" of BitWise - Personal, Plus and Professional - are all bundled in the same executable. Then, the various features are activated by the server when you log in. I was therefore very interested to see that Microsoft is doing something similar with Vista. From the news article at CRN: Having a master Windows Vista operating system means customers that buy PCs preloaded with one...
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Monday 9 January
- Wiki Gems (10:07) - A few people have asked me about the things even long-term users can learn from the wiki. There are a couple of articles that contain features that many users probably do not know: Tip: Searching your contact list Extended away message There is also more information than ever about how TCP Punching and UDP Punching work. Enjoy!...
Saturday 7 January
- Unveiling the BitWise DocuWiki (15:25) - A couple of weeks ago, I announced the upcoming BitWise DocuWiki. Now, we are ready to unveil it at http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/. There is tons of information contained in the DocuWiki, and even long-time BitWise users will find ways to use BitWise that they didn't know before. Remember that the DocuWiki will become the official documentation in the near future. The old documentation will be removed and the new Docs link in the navigation bar will be updated. We are very excited...
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Wednesday 4 January
- Leaping in all the wrong ways? (16:58) - Back in 1998, I assembled my first custom computer from parts that I selected. I remember being both overwhelmed and excited by the number of choices that I had for all the different components, but by far one of the biggest choices I remember debating was the motheboard. On top of that, I had to decide between an Intel or an AMD processor (Cyrix was still around but I knew better than that). In the end, the price-performance ratio won...
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Monday 2 January
- Hot, sweaty and writhing in bed to ring in the New Year (09:51) - Get your head out of the gutter! I'm talking about how I got to ring in the New Year with a nasty Strep Throat infection. I spent most of Saturday with chills, nausea and fatigue, and then spent the night tossing and turning and not sleeping well. I spent Sunday morning looking for open Urgent Care facilities in this little corner of Ohio (on New Year's day!). The doctor thought Strep almost right away, and was so concerned about the...
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