The first big milestone for Nukeation Studios' retail effort.

NukeBall Express Edition Beta 1 is now finally available for the public. While not feature complete, NukeBall's powerful NukeWads feature is fully functional in this release.

Y'know what? I can't talk more. I'm just too damned excited. Just head on over to www.nukeball.com and check it out yourself!

Oh, we would really appreciate any feedback you can provide! Just drop us a line at beta [at] nukeation [dot] com.

.NET | Downloads | Geek Stuff | NukeBall | Toys

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I forgot to blog this. We recently did two websites for Jon "AngryCoder" Goodyear (MS RD from Florida).

www.aspsoft.com - his company's site (one of my fave designs ever)

www.email2face.com - a cool little site that lets you find the face of a person from his/her email

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This is a small lizard which has taken to hanging around my window at nights. As the only (big) source of light at night in my neighbourhood, the bugs stalking my window feed Grog (that's what I've named him). Dogs may creep me out, but I like reptiles for some reason.

Now this is quite ironic. A mosquito, found up the hole of an electric mosquito repellent device. The device manufacturer is safe tho, since this guy died there.

Yes, as you can guess one becomes weird when working late nights.

My Insignificant Life | Photography

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For someone who has been certified an incurable obsessive compulsive site revamper, it took me almost a year to update www.digitalexile.net (my art and photography gallery). I had a cool Flash interface ready near the end of last year, but gathering and organizing and sorting my photographs (which I shoot by the dozen every day) and going through all the old paintings was too time consuming.

I was finally able to update the Flash interface with a new theme and add some other cool stuff (like the slide-menu). You can check out the result at http://www.digitalexile.net

Note: I went overboard with the graphics here. A 1024x768 display running on a 32MB AGP is the bare minimum for this baby. I recommend at least 1280x1024 running on a 64MB or 128MB AGP/PCI-E.

Art | My Insignificant Life | Photography

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My article has finally been published on MSDN. Thanks to the nice people at MS for letting me write this!

.NET | Articles | Graphics | Microsoft | Windows Vista | WPF

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...this is crazy!

Purely Idiotic Stuff

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NukeBall's release has been finalized. A short new feature list and release schedule has been posted at the official site.

We are still looking for beta testers. The final feature-complete internal beta will be shipped in 3 weeks.

NukeBall

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We had a 5.5 quake here last night at 11:30. Lasted more than half a minute and came in 3 distinct tremors. This was not like one of those aftershocks. I was actualling rocking back and forth while running down the stairs and out of the house. The house got a few new cracks - superficial thankfully. No damage anywhere has been reported so far and no one has been hurt.

One of my oldest friends, Nikolai, who was at college a few hundred miles away during the first quake in 2001, called me. This was the first "real" quake he had experienced after he moved back here in 2002. He actually had half a mind (like many others) to sleep outside.

I doubt anybody got much sleep last night. There was another tremor at 2am again. A 4.2 tremor was also recorded yesterday evening, about 7 hours before the big one at late night.

After over almost a hundred tremors of various magnitudes, none has unsettled me as much as the one last night. Nasty stuff. I don't know about moving anywhere else, but I sure hope to get the Nukeation office from the 2nd floor to a ground floor office soon!

My Insignificant Life

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No, no - not those Flashers! I mean Macromedia Flash users.

I know many a Flashers have been annoyed (and some downright pissed) at me. One of them actually started yelling at me on Skype. I had to block him!

In any case, yes, I totally acknowledge that I am biased towards Microsoft. If not for them, I'd be a 20-something schmuck with two degrees in computing but still prefering to work at a burger joint. On top of that, I'm a Microsoft Partner (well, technically my company is, but I own my company, so shaddup!) so I've sworn my loyalty to them. But even all that aside, Microsoft provides feature-rich tools that no other competing products can stand up against.

But I think I need to re-address some things I wrote in my "Future of..." post. I wrote about the "three waves" that could potentially crush Flash. While part of me still thinks it to be totally possible, I have come to re-assess some things. Partially, this is because of a couple of discussions I had with a couple of Microsofties (I've stopped naming names. I usually get them in trouble. Sorry about last time, "Mr. X").

The more I dive deeper into WPF, the more I realize it is NOT intended to compete with Flash. Maybe it will compete with Flex. Though, I haven't seen that much adoption of Flex-based apps yet. Maybe Adobe will whip it into shape.

Seriously. If you're one of those people calling Sparkle the "Flash Killer", then I think you oughta give it a shot. It's not really "comfortable" for animation and web purposes as Flash is. And I definetely miss the in-timeline scripting facility Flash provides. You can do that in EID/WPF, but its not as simple.

I would also like to add to my previous post's tirade, that WPF/E is but a small part of WPF which is but a part (well, 1/3 at least) of WinFX. And WinFX - WPF in particular (I can imagine Michele Leroux Bustamante rolling her eyes again) - is going to be what will set Windows apart from Linux and MAC and all.

I don't imagine more than 10% of the industry actively using or trying out WPF at the moment. Y'know, for REAL projects. I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong, of course. But only after using WPF for a real project or two (and I'm not talking simple demo apps, I mean something substantial) will people REALLY appreciate WPF. It sounds good in theory, but it is even better in reality!

Btw, if you haven't noticed, this post does not revolve around a specific point. I'm just ranting. Thank you.

But if you REALLY need me to make some points...

• Flash has an enourmous market cornered that Microsoft does not have a good chance of acquiring.
• Microsoft is smart enough to realize that and is not, in fact, competing with Flash.
• WPF/E is more of a competitor for Macromedia Flex.
• WPF/E will run Flex into the ground. Or Flex will only exist like JSP does with ASP.
• Sparkle DOES NOT have enough flexibility and features required to replace Flash (which was never the point, of course).
• WPF/E is but a part of WPF which is but a part of WinFx. Developers and designers who choose to work under the Microsoft flag best focus on WPF. That's where the gold is.
• WPF will have a bigger impact on "Joe Computer User" than WCF and WWF. Which is totally unrelated to the current topic, but I have to get that in whenever I can for all the years I've spent being labelled "inferior" by developers who consider graphics in the computer world to be sub-standard to code.

Alright, Flashers. Go sleep in peace now. You are no longer under threat.

.NET | Avalon | Microsoft | WPF | WPFE

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Recieved in email from Andy Eick:

Purely Idiotic Stuff

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A while back, Carl wrote about adopting uTorrent and throwing away Azureus. uTorrent was installed along with the PwopCatcher Alpha. Jay Franklin (Carl's brother) wrote in that post's comments about how to let uTorrent pick-up unfinished Azureus downloads.

I finally tried that today. I made a backup of my unfinished downloads (I'm a data-loss veteran. I've been through enough data-loss-hell to last me twenty lifetimes!) and let uTorrent pick 'em up. It took a while for it check the downloads, but as soon as it started the downloads, I was amazed at the massive speed it gave me. Azureus is a bonafide memory hog. And on top of that, for some files I've been trying to download for over a month now, it gave me only 2 or 3 kbps. uTorrent suddenly starts popping 'em at ~12k to ~40k.

While I'm not BitTorrent genius, I'm quite impressed with uTorrent. And its a 150k download!!! Go get PwopCatcher Alpha and let it install uTorrent for you!

Geek Stuff

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www.pwopcatcher.com, the official site for Pwop Production's PWOPCATCHER podcast downloader is now live. A barebone alpha is also available.

The look of the site was done by yours truly. It was modelled after the "BORG" skin that will be the default look of PwopCatcher.

.NET | Geek Stuff | Graphics

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Forgot to mention a new blog I designed a little while ago for Marc Holmes, an Architect Evangelist for Microsoft UK.

Go visit Marc's site at www.marcmywords.org - expect to see some cool things there - and not just coz I designed it. ;)

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I found some nice information on Mike Henderson's blog about the WPF/E features revealed at MIX06 - worth reading.

Avalon | WPF | WPFE

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I just read Andrew Lucking's blog post about my first video on EID, and it kinda inspired me to give my perspective on Flash vs EID.

Let's recount the basic stuff:

What's EID and WPF potential over Flash? Well, can't say much about WPF/E until I actually use it, but taking WPF as a basic example, here are my thoughts:

NOTE: For the purpose of this post, EID and WPF (or at least the features) are the same. If it is in one, its in the other.

• It all comes back to the timeline. In Flash Timeline is God. In EID, Timeline is just another aspect of an object, and there are more than one timelines and each can be ran parallel to other timelines - even of the same object!! In other words, with Flash we're looking at "time" from a normal layman's perspective; with WPF, it's like looking at "time" from Einstein's perspective.
• In Flash, you have to stop the timeline in order to have a static frame, which makes creating a multi-section Flash website quite difficult. It's not difficult per-se, but difficult when you consider the trigger-only-timelines that EID presents. That would make this much easier.
• Creating 3D content in Flash has always been terribly difficult. Shockwave does add 3D support, but its more like VRML on steroids. If you don't know about VRML, it was a 3D web standard pushed in the late 90s. It was terrible!! With inherent and DirectX support for 3D with shaders and crap is actually fantastic! That alone will land a good blow to Flash.
• There's good DOCUMENT support in WPF. This gives you a document-data presentation component that Flash just can't do! This is one of the chief reasons why the Adobe people are gung-ho on integrating PDF and SWF.
• EID comes from a "component and controls, animate it all" point-of-view, while Flash is "all animation, some component... animate components? uhh, ok, you can try...". The WRAP PANEL and other such controls can seriously kick Flash's ass.

You might say: "Whoa! Hold on. WPF/E does not have all this! It's very puny and limited!"

If you're a Flash or non-Microsoft-stuff user, I'll let you go. If you're a Microsoft-user and you said that give yourself a big kick. Without going into the intricacies of numerology, we all know that this is just version 1. All we have to do is wait 2 more versions. Let me explain:

So I've said all the nice things about WPF and put down Flash. Well, that's not the whole story. WPF is severely limited in many ways that Flash isn't. The user base being not the least of it, of course. Right now, WPF is more close to Macromedia FLEX than Flash.

Branden Hall writes in his post titled "The Flash Killer Cometh":

Well, I can't say I disagree with the first part. For the "mythical Interactive Developer" (I might have to adopt that as my title) comment, well, I disagree there.

Mythical Interactive Developers are not, in fact, mythical. I am one myself, and in the last 7 years have trained 4 such people (10 years and 16 people if you want to count VRML in this). We (ahem) are rare, but not nonexistent. And more shall rise. The gates of Oblivion have opened!! Uhh... sorry, wrong topic.

Anyways, let me get back to my point.

If you are not a Microsofter or are very new to the Microsoft world - the REAL Microsoft World that only devs see - you don't know the power of number 3. As I said, again ignoring numerology, that this WPF 1.0. Microsoft ALWAYS strikes gold with Version 3.

Windows 3(.1) was the most popular in the first generation. Windows 98SE was WAY better than 95 or 98. Windows ME was a fluke, so let's forget that. In the third generation we had Windows 2000 and then XP, now we have Vista which will undoubtedly hit the mark.

Visual Studio 6.0 (#3 of II generation) was way better than anything else. Visual Studio 2005 (#3 of the III generation) is already doing great things!

So step back a bit. Look from a larger perspective. Microsoft is only laying the foundation. Bill Buxton said:

There is a new revolution coming. It will come in THREE waves. Here's my prediction for it:

• First Big Wave: We shift from WinForms to a more Web+Vector like platform. We learn the ropes for the upcoming waves. The Mythical Interactive Developer is born and many Flashers flock to the Microsoft banner - mostly because working with WPF will pay a LOT more than Flash does. Microsoft silently keeps working on the final stuff.
• Second Bigger Wave: After a year or more of having WPF out there, Microsoft will have perfect grasp on what's needed, what the public wants, what the designers+developers need. A 2.0 release gives you more power. More people flock under the Microsoft flag. More users keep adopting this technology - even just as runtime. Microsoft silently keeps working on the final stuff.
• Tsunami: The work is done. Microsoft has the perfect blend ready. Flash is either killed or is kept limping behind.

Branden Hall also writes:

I recommend reading the posts in this category in old-to-new order. But let explain in short:

Microsoft is right. WPF is not being primed (solely) as a Flash-killer. It will definetely be a Mac-killer tho. But my point is this: If you think WPF is only for making things pretty you are WAAAAAAAY off.

WPF is about getting the presentation layer of a software done quickly and flexibly. Things that required superior subclassing skills and knowledge can be done by an amateur now. The declarative model makes things much easier. WPF will be a boon for developers. It will solve a LOT of problems.

For record let me make it clear:

Windows Presentation Foundation or Expression Interactive Designer will not make anything extra-graphical or extra-interactive unless designer/developer goes to some lengths to actually make it so! When you DON'T skin a control, it will look just like a normal Windows control does. WPF will solve problems such as creating composite controls, creating resolution-independent applications, allowing better and economical usage of graphics hardware and vector to lower CPU usage that GDI+ does not, and more. This is not an animation package (yet).

No. WinFX/WPF/EID is the next generation of development platform. Of course, it won't take long for it become what ASP.net is for the web. But it will be like ASP.net in many ways. WPF/E will co-exist with Flash, just as ASP.net does with PHP and JSP. Of course, it goes without saying that ASP.net is better than PHP or JSP, and so will be WPF/e (eventually).

With that, and the sun shining in my face at 7:20 in the morning, I bid thee good night.

.NET | Art | Avalon | Geek Stuff | Graphics | Microsoft | Windows Vista | WPF | WPFE

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Here's a first look at NukeControls. This is just a small piece of the whole thing - only 3 controls.

nPanel - a special "header" control
nProgress - a super cool Vista-style progressbar for .NET 2.0 with animation!
nNavigator - bi-directional navigation control

All these controls have 6 or more themes, and some like the nPanel, can be customized.

Click the image above to download a ZIP (175kb) with a VB.NET 2005 project. If you don't have VB.NET 2005, you can just run the EXE in the BIN folder.

This is an alpha build only. Expect a public beta in the coming week or two. If you run this in the IDE, do note that only a handful of events and properties have been exposed for this demo. Some themes will not function as well.

Comments are appreciated. We are also looking for people to beta test the controls suite. Beta testers get a free copy of this product! Contact us at beta [at] nukeation [dot] com.

.NET | Downloads | Graphics | Toys | Windows Vista

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"The Human UX" or "The Human User Experience" is an article I wrote back in mid/late-2005 for MSDN. During the release of Visual Studio 2005, the article got delayed indefinetely. In retrospect, I think this was for the better. Some of my comments will hit harder now that people are using WPF and EID. Some of the references such as the Windows Vista UX Guide have been updated as well.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Brad McCabe (Content Strategist for the Visual Basic website, as well Program Manager among other things) giving me the go-ahead to update the article (it was written in August 2005 - lots of things became outdated). I got an email from Brad today confirming that the article will soon be published!

For a BIG Microsoft fan (and why not, 60% of my life depends on MS!) there couldn't be a greater honor.

The Human UX serves as an interim-design-guideline - bridging the gap between designing for Windows Forms and designing for Windows Presentation Foundation. It focuses more on theory than on actual code so everything will apply to both technologies. Essentially, this article has "usability" at its heart. I hope for it to be a prelude to an article on WPF Design Do's and Don'ts.

The article was originally thought to be a VB article, then expanded to include C# as well. But my inability to cope with too much C# made it difficult to write it that nicely. And what about the guys who do C++ and J#? So at the end I made it platform-agnostic (to borrow a term from Ted Neward's site). Whether you do .NET or Java, GDI+ or WPF, VB or C#, Dogs or Cats, Batman or Superman, Doom or Half-Li... uhh, you get the idea - this will be good reading for you.

.NET | Articles | Windows Vista | WPF

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Heh, I loved that taunt from SACRIFICE (a 2001 RTS from Shiny Entertainment). But this Oblivion is of a different kind.

I've managed to order the Collectors Edition of THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION from Take2's official store, and managed to have it shipped outside the US (which was supposedly not possible for the Collector's Edition). My online check just revealed that the package reached Mumbai, India today and was shipped from there at 7pm local time. At most, and barring any unforeseen circustances Akatosh forbid, the package should reach me within the next 24 hours. It's already been delayed many hours because of "adverse weather conditions" in the US.

The irony of the whole situation is that after spending $70 for just shipping on a $55 game, and even (probably) recieving it soon, I won't be able to play the game for a few days. I'm SO swamped with work that I need to keep two alarm, one to wake up, and one to tell me when it's time to go to bed. Sigh. I'm moving to Mars. I wonder if I can borrow Calvin's wagon.

Games | My Insignificant Life

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I had an extensive argument with a pro-DotNetNuke (DNN) person, and the only reason we didn't end up giving each other a black eye is that Messenger does not support such actions. He said I didn't mix well with DNN because it was also "nuke" and, I quote, "and you believe that this industry is not big enough for the both of you". That is not the case. After calming him (and myself) down, I promised him a good, lucid explanation instead of just badmouthing his favorite CMS (Content Management System).

I've tried every version of DotNetNuke ever since it was first released. Everytime I install it, I end up uninstalling it in a few days and hope the next version is better.

Carl Franklin had suggested that the .NET ROCKS! site be DNN. But I had such a bad experience with DNN at that time that I ended up creating my own CMS based on Carl's tools he had already created.

For the past few weeks, I've been knee-deep in DNN 4 for a client (will post URL when done). This time there is no other choice than DNN since this site has to be easily editable. And DNN is much better than any other .NET based CMS system I've tried so far. Reminds me of the horrible time I had when creating www.idesign.net for Juval Lowy. I ended up replacing 30% to 50% of the ASP.net Portal Starter Kit (1.1) code with my own, including altering the database structure and sprocs. I half-joked Juval that the code was haunted. So when comparing to that, DNN is quite good.

So what am I ranting about? Well, no offense to Shaun Walker and the others who've worked on DNN - really, I do admire this huge and complex app they've built - but at best, DNN is Kaminoan. That is, it's turning out website clones.

I had told Carl during the aforementioned situation that DNN did NOT give pixel-precision. Carl asked Shaun that same question during the DNR episode about DNN just before 4.0's release. Shaun denied that and said that it is in fact possible. I'm sorry, but I beg to differ. Y'see it's "technically" or "theoretically" possible only. Whether you create your own skin or modify the samples, there will always be that 4-block pattern you won't be able to break. There also spacing and positioning issues that happen when you deal in the "edit" stuff that the modules come with.

I'm not so thick that I'm totally unaware that a lot of times such a solution is more than good enough and is quite helpful for many people. I do appreciate that. Heck, if I hated DNN so much, I'd have said no to the aforementioned client.

If you're a designer who knows how to easily achieve pixel-precision in DNN, not only do I bow to your experise, but I would seriously like to learn how. I can't discount the possibility that maybe it's me who had gotten this all wrong.

I can promise you this: if there's one thing I've learnt in my 8+ years of web design and public-reponse studies, it's that a uniquely designed website will always produce better results than a clone site built on a CMS (not neccessarily DNN - could be any other CMS).

A custom solution also doesn't mean you lose all the editablity and managability you get in a CMS. Check out www.tedneward.com - a good 50% of this site is custom CMS-managed stuff. Ted wanted the site to be editable - but only the stuff that he would update frequently - events, articles, news, etc. I custom designed this CMS in less than 5 hours. Using one of the CMS like DNN would have been overkill, and not to mention I'd have lost control over the design.

And different situations need different CMS solutions (I'm going to punch the person who says "But you can make your own modules in DotNetNuke!"). Back in late December 2004, I took the brilliant SQL back-end that Carl had created for DNR, and I created a special CMS for this particular solution (podcast website). Carl had his own management tool to manipulate the back-end. By mid-January 2005, that site was totally objectified and practically became a Content Engine in its own right. The following sites use the same (or partially modified) version of the engine:

www.dotnetrocks.com, http://mondays.pwop.com, www.hanselminutes.com, www.dnrtv.com ... and others I'm not supposed to mention.

This CMS is so highly specialized for this specific purpose, that to create a new site, all you need to do is script a new copy of the database, copy the .NET 2.0 site, and replace the MasterPage with your new design. DnrTV - the latest offering from this engine, was built in less than 3 hours - including testing and recurring revisions to the design.

Bottom line: after many tries, and the currently ongoing adventure in DNN, I don't consider it practical nor do I think I will soon accept another DNN (or any other prefab CMS) project.

DISCLAIMER: Nukeation Studios consists of more than one person, and any comments I've made here reflect only on me and not on my company. That being said, I still won't personally handle a DNN project ever. I'll just hand it to one of the boys or outsource it completely!

.NET | Graphics

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Ignore the earlier post.

I've just updated the site for Carl and INTELLECTUAL HEDONISM now finally fully functional. Do check out what Carl is driving these days.

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I've been wanting to write some articles/tutorials on Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer for a long time, but just can't find the time. I was inspired by Carl Franklin's dnrTV, and I thought why not make them into short 15 minute videos? So here we are with my first attempt at a visual presentation.

In the first part of this series, we will see how easy it is to control timelines and animate controls. We will also see how easy it is to create custom templates for existing controls.

Click the image above to launch the video.

Length / Size: 00:11:59 / 6.74MB

NOTE: Due to technical problems - presumably an issue with Expression Interactive Designer - context menus are not visible in this recording. You can find links to the screenshots of these menus below.

Links: Edit Template Menu | TemplateBinding Menu | Full Source Code*

* Requires March CTP of Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer

Feedback is appreciated. :)

WPF

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Hop on over to Intellectual Hedonism, Carl Franklin's new blog. Carl finally decided to leave weblogs.asp.net/cfranklin and come on over to the dasBlog world.

Carl had some great ideas (and some cool photos). We put our heads together (and forced them apart). I took out my pencils and crayons (and then put them away), picked up my mouse and you can see the result at www.intellectualhedonism.com

Nukeation Studios Blog Design Service scores another cool blog. Get one for yourself today!

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I guess that ring given by Azura really did boost my luck stats! Oblivion will be released tomorrow. And I just got an email from UPS telling me my copy of the Collector's Edition will be delivered on the 25th.

I recommend people interested in the world of game design to read these pages. It's gonna be great! Here's how great it's gonna be: I have put down my lightsaber to pick up the sword. I'm gonna add a gallery on the blog somewhere for the screenshots I will be taking soon!

Games

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It's been a long time since a soundtrack has been this good. Jeremy Soule really captures the essence of fantasy in this masterpiece! Of special note are the tracks "Glory of Cyrodiil" with an addictive flute opening followed by a haunting tune, "Bloodlust" which will be the primary combat sequence music, and the theme for Oblivion "The Reign of the Septims".

"Minstrel's Lament" is the perfect companion music for a scene where you roam the river banks at dusk, or for summer night spent wandering the forests.

"Peace of Akatosh" will probably be the music for the end, when you fulfill your main quest. Akatosh is one of the Gods worshipped by the Imperials. It might also be the music for lost temples or those even the Palace.

Definetely a must-buy for any TES fan. It's fun, energetic, yet non-intrusive - which is, IMHO, perfect for music to listen to while working!

Go listen to some samples at www.directsong.com

5 more days to go for Oblivion.

Games

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I've never been too big of an RPG fan. Whatever interest I do hold for this genre, very much resides for the computer games.

In 2002, my cousin gifted me The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I told him I didn't do well in RPG, but he insisted I play. And he did me a great favor. Since 2002, I have spent over a thousand (1000) hours in Morrowind. Outside of Morrowind, my only other contact with RPG has been Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (www.swkotor.com) and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (www.kotor2.com). And these can't really be called RPG - especially when comparing them to Morrowind. Oh, and another one I played (long ago) was Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo.

Morrowind gave me something I had never seen in a game - freedom! No "system" that told you to follow things in a particular order. It was truly open-ended. Despite what may seem "faults" or insufficient features now, back then the things in Morrowind were literally unique! I hunted, foraged, stole. Anything to stay alive. I worked for many people - from the lowest to the Emperor. I had slain thieves and guards alike with my blade. I challenged - and killed - the mightiest Orc to earn his blade - "Umbra". I communed with people long dead and talked to the only living Dwemer. I fought the Corprus Disease and actually lived to tell of it. I held the fate of the Dunmer in my hands. I fought werewolves and I even became one. And I fulfilled the Neraverine Prophecy and brought hope back to Morrowind.

But more than all that, I had freedom. To sleep under the stars. To travel through green forests, murky swamps, ice tipped peaks, frozen glaciers, caves with filled molten rock, and even throught the heart of the great volcano - Dagoth Ur.

Now, after 4 years of wandering the same old places, I will finally get a new world to wander in. The heart of the Empire of Tamriel - Cyrodiil - Imperial City. Oblivion (www.theelderscrolls.com) - the fourth installment in the Elder Scrolls series is going to be released in 5 days. And I've just paid tons of money to Bethesda Softworks to deliver the game (overseas) within a week. I almost paid for the 2 day delivery, but the rates reminded me that I need food to live, and I need to live to play the game.

I have half a mind to move to the US. These shipping rates are killing me! (And the nice friends who send me stuff!)

But, back to the point, the gates OBLIVION (ie, hell) will open soon and there will be need for one brave individual who will - get this - NOT BE THE CHOSEN ONE (thank god!), but will instead be given the task of finding and protecting the person who is the chosen one - the one who was prophesized. And it will be up to this person to help the Chosen One fulfill the prophecy and save all of Tamriel. I vote for me. I just hope my 3GHz, 2 GIG RAM, 256MB GeForce 6800 rig can handle this game!

Go check out the site, and do watch the videos in the Download section. I promise you will be enchanted by this game.

Games

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I would like to say thanks to Paul Thurrott for the Windows Live Messenger invite. I just LOVE this new messenger. I'd also like to return the favor. I have some invites left ... anyone wants one, just mail me.

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After more than 40 years of work, my father, Mahim Pandhi, has finally retired today on his 60th birthday. He has been the editor of Kutchmitra, the premiere newspaper of Kutch long before I was born. Happy birthday, dad!

My Insignificant Life

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This was taken last night. Roughly 23 hours after the earthquake. What little damage the tremors did to the electrical distribution infrastructure, the storm multiplied it by 10. We just got proper power back. We had 3 blown fuses and a severely damaged cellphone charger.

Tornado (will blog on that later, suffice to say it preceded the quake by 2 days), earthquake, thunder, what's next? Tsunami in the desert? A rain of frogs?

Can you imagine how you sound to your clients to whom you email to apologize for what may seem to them like a lousy excuse - "uh, we had an earthquake, and then a thunderstorm knocked out our power lines."

Btw, later reports state structural damages to several hundred buildings - tho nothing severe. The epicenter was the same place as the previous quake. Just remembering that place makes me shudder. It's near Chobari. I went there in 2001. A (approx.) 200 sq ft wide igneous rock was split into two with a 2 feet wide crack in the middle.

I wonder if I should move to someplace safer. Maybe the north pole.

My Insignificant Life

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We just had an earthquake about half an hour ago measuring 5.2 (some news agencies say 6.2). Moderate communication and power failures have been confirmed. No one has been hurt nor was there any extensive damage. The worst damage is the emotional kind - bringing flashbacks from the big one (7.8 on the Richtor scale) from Jan 2001.

I don't know if any news sites have picked it up yet, except Rediff.com who are quite incorrectly calling it "mild" in their news flash - especially considering they called me up to confirm. Authorities have confirmed that this was NOT an aftershock like the ones felt some time ago, but a quake in of itself and (don't panic) that there will be additional tremors throughout the night. The first tremors were felt at 00:15 and scared the stuffings out of me!

If any of you are reading from Bhuj or anywhere in Gujarat, please be safe - especially in the Old Bhuj area.

And as I write this, more info on Rediff has appeared. I'm definetely gonna complain to the Editor-at-large (Sheela Bhatt) --- its easy for them to take this so lightly. More than a hundred and fifty thousand people were running outside of their houses. This was NOT MILD, dammit! And it was AFTER MIDNIGHT not before midnight. Geez, rediff is getting worse. They're not even mentioning that these tremors lasted for well over half a minute. It's the TIME LENGTH that counts more (often) than the scale of the quake.

MTFBWU

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IMO, in my recent experiences, a large number of people still think of a skinned app as something like Windows Media Player, WinAMP, PowerDVD, the OEM apps that come with digital cameras, Bryce or even PwopCatcher. Skinning CAN be like that, and no doubt MANY people will want that (and need it too). However, skinning can also (and in a more widely needed as well as realistic pov) mean enhancing the existing structures of your WPF application controls.

In certain situations "skinning around the control" rather than "skinning the control" also helps. And if you allow me a moment to be painstakingly irritating, with WPF's super flexible design model, skinning is too narrow a term to really describe what can be done. But back to skinning around the control, let me clarify what I mean by building upon an example I (will) present in The Human UX:

Say we have a button that triggers a purge of a nuclear reactor (if you don't know yet, this is a hypothetical situation). From a typical skinning point of view (STC - Skinnin the control) we might have an urge to paint the control red, put a biohazard or radioactive symbol on it, and add those yellow-black warning stripes around it. Now that's all nice and good, but just PAINTING the control is not really helpful aside from making an idiot go "ooooooh, what does THIS button do?".

Let's build a USABILITY ENHANCEMENT on top of this. For a seriously dangerous function trigger like this button, a good accident deterrent is needed. Let's use a reversed version of the "Your computer will restart in 15 seconds" dialog. We make the button nicely big (say 100px wide and 50px tall). When idle, it says "Purge Reactor" and has an exclamation on either side. When clicked, the text says "Confirm?" and the button starts to pulsate its color. A sm