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What is Tasktime?  It is software that will allow you to track time spent on a given task.  It sits idlely in the taskbar.  The data is stored in XML format so you can import it into any data source or use the existing XSLT file to get a basic report on it.

I updated Tasktime because I was working on a project in .NET that required XML processing (I was experimenting with different solutions) and because it was long over due. Yes this is a very simple app, in fact I made it even simplier. One thing I didn’t like about Tasktime 2.0 is that it stored data in the registry. Tasktime 3.0 uses only it’s own XML document. Another thing I did with 3.0 is embed all the resource files into the Tasktime.exe. So now Tasktime is USB key safe.

Tasktime 3.0 was part of my experiment with working with XML files in a Dataset. Now I prefer to use the XML data objects built into .NET that I used in my next project. Which I will post later.

Tastime 3.0 also makes use of resource files. If you want to see examples of embedding XML, XSLT or Icon files check out the source code.

#Region ” Resource File Functions ”

Public Shared Function GetEmbeddedIcon(ByVal strName As String) As Icon
‘The following is one line, broken down for formating reasons.
Return New Icon( _
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream( _
strName))
End Function

Public Shared Function GetEmbeddedXSL(ByVal strName As String) As Xml.XmlTextReader
‘The following is one line, broken down for formating reasons.
Return New Xml.XmlTextReader( _
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly._
GetManifestResourceStream( _
strName))
End Function

#End Region

Potential Updates:
• Write back to a database, possibly through a web service.
• Included report is plain, would like to allow users to use their own XSLT file.

You can download Tasktime 3.0 at sourceforge.net or get the files here.

Tasktime Binaries
Tasktime Source

Notepad++ - Notepad++ is a free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

Paint.NET 2.0 - image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003.

eMule - one of the biggest and most reliable peer-to-peer file sharing clients around the world.

BitTorrent - peer-to-peer cooperative file distribution.

jHymn - Removes DRM from iTunes music files. This is not a method of pirating music. It allows you to play iTunes files on devices not supported by Apple.

Audacity - Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.

iPodder - iPodder is the premier Podcasting application, allowing users to capture and listen to Internet audio programs anytime, anywhere.

Thunderbird - Thunderbird makes emailing safer, faster, and easier than ever before with the industry’s best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, built-in RSS reader, quick search, and much more.

jDoom - The Doomsday Engine is an enhanced Doom source port for the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms.

Duke Nukem 3-D - Duke3d_w32 is a port of Duke3d to the Win32 platform.

Today Google released Google Talk or GTalk for short. On the surface it would appear the it is another “me too” IM service without any significant features. In fact there are no interesting features to speak of, every one of it’s functions is already emulated better in another application. And a instant messenger client is only as good as the number of people using it. Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger beat Google Talk hands down on that.

What really is new about Google Talk is the fact that system is built on non-proprietary technology. While MSN, Yahoo, and AIM have been promising interoperability for years, they have been fighting to keep others off their network. And while the other messengers are clogged with ads and bloatware of features, GTalk is very simple and ad free. Also Google is inviting people to create clients for their Google Talk network. At the heart Google is running Jabber, an open source messaging server. And a number of IM clients already work with Jabber (and thus Google Talk). The Voice feature only works with the Google Talk client however.

This is seen as a way for Google to eventually move into full Voice over IP. Perhaps eventually even rivaling Skype.

Another good reason to welcome Google Talk is because when Google released GMail just over a year ago, it caused competitors to scramble to offer new features and services. Gone are the days of 10MB or 25MB of storage space for your email. You can thank Google for that. I can’t wait to see what Yahoo, MSN, and AIM will do to try to keep their users from fleeing to Google Talk. Perhaps they will take Google up on their offer and design their clients to work directly with Google Talk. Then we will finally have the interoperability among networks they have been promising for years.

Ever have trouble getting your Internet Explorer-specific Web applications to work with Mozilla? This article covers common issues associated with migrating applications to the open source Mozilla-based browser.

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Imagine using your iPod and a regular old microphone to record studio-quality audio. Or sitting on a commuter train and playing Othello, Pong, Tetris, or Asteroids. All this and more is possible when you install Linux on your third-generation or earlier iPod. Best of all, one soft reset, and you’re back in Apple’s iPod operating system, listening to your tunes.

This has been around for a while, but this is the best article I have seen on the subject. And honestly, this is just cool.

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The other day I was commenting how Gmail did not have a mobile client. Then after reading through the Gmail hacks article in Make Vol. 1. I noticed there is user created Gmail wap site, not endorsed by Google of course. All you have to do is download Gmail Mobile from sourceforge.net and install it on your web server. One capable of PHP.

Don’t have a web server or you can’t run PHP? Well if you trust giving your password out to someone else you could use GmailWireless.com. Also not endorsed by Google.

I tested this out on my Vizaweb account and Sprint Sanyo 8100 phone. Works like a charm.

Found these excellent suggestions for speeding up Firefox. And they actually work!

1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining

network.http.proxy.pipelining

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to 0 (zero). This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.

I apologize, I setup a new site and didn’t move over the OpenDoubleListBox files. I didn’t even realize it until I received an email today. Thanks for the reminder Noah.

Current files for the OpenDoubleListBox:
DoubleListBox Example Project
OpenDoubleListBox binary
OpenDoubleListBox Source Code

If you don’t know, the OpenDoubleListBox is a open source implementation of a .NET server control for a double list box . Written in C#. See an image here.

I have also received several requests for additional functionality. I hope to be releasing a new version when I get the time. You can read more about the control at ASP.NET.

Nvu - Web site authoring system.

Waste - Encrypted Collaboration Tool

Firefox - Replace Internet Explorer for all your browsing needs

Filezilla - FTP client and server

Ethereal - network protocal analyzer (aka Packet sniffer)

The GIMP - Graphics tool, ala Photoshop. 2.0 is improved, but the interface still takes some getting used to.

PuTTY - Telnet/SSH Client

OpenOffice - A free productivity suite compatible with all major office suites.

PDFCreator - Creates PDFs from any Windows program.

Xchat - Multi-platform Open Source IRC client

MSDN Magazine had a good article on a number of .NET developer tools; all free, some open source. Check out the article here. I personally use half of this tools already.