Answer My Query

If you are coming to this series of posts for the first time you might check out my introductory post for a little context.

NOTE: this project is one I created and as it turns out this has now become it’s introductory post.

The SpecificationExtensions.[MSTest | NUnit | Xunit] are a set of NuGet packages that add C# fluent specification extensions to your test project. I first blogged about this in early 2009 and have had a set of these that I take with me for every project I work on.

There are a number of other options out there for specification extensions, but since I first created my original set, I haven’t used anything else (although I should as I might be able to learn a little from each).

The Extended WPF Toolkit started with three controls and a vision.  It has grown into a feature packed control suite with over 30 controls.  Some of which do not even exist in other third party component vendors.  It has been featured at Open Source Fest at MIX11, discussed on .NET Rocks, covered by the Coding4fun blog twice, and it is the first download on the WindowsClient.net download page.  Telerik even uses it in their OpenAccess ORM Free Edition.  With over 65K downloads and over 1.1 million page views in under 2 years, the Extended WPF Toolkit has grown into an essential tool for any developer to have in their toolbox.  Not bad for a project written by a single person with a fulltime job.  I feel a great deal of accomplishment and pride in the success of the Extended WPF Toolkit.

In case you missed it, I am the new Product Manager of the XAML line-up for Infragistics.  Obviously this is a conflict of interest.  I cannot keep my toolkit and work for Infragistics.  By now you must be wondering the future of the Extended WPF Toolkit.  Will it have the same fate as Microsoft’s WPF Toolkit?  Will it die and rot?  Not on my watch!  To ensure the continuing success of my toolkit, I will be handing control of the Extended WPF Toolkit over to Xceed.  This transfer of ownership it a great benefit to the Extended WPF Toolkit.  Xceed has the time and resources to continue development and support of the toolkit well into the future.  This is a great gesture by Xceed and show of commitment they have made to the WPF community.

I would like to thank the community for all of its support in making the Extended WPF Toolkit what it is today. 

As I was sitting on the ferry commuting to Google’s Sydney office this morning, two thoughts occurred to me. First, Australia is beautiful. If you’ve never been here, you really should visit. And second, it’s amazing how productive I can be with just my Android phone and an Internet connection. I was responding to email, reading news articles, and editing documents—just like I do at the office. Only the view was better!

We want to give everyone the chance to be productive no matter where they are, so today we’re releasing a new update to the Google Docs app for Android. We've brought the collaborative experience from Google Docs on the desktop to your Android device. You'll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.

We also updated the interface to make it easier to work with your documents on the go. For example, you can pinch to zoom and focus on a specific paragraph or see the whole document at a glance. We also added rich text formatting so you can do things like create a quick bullet list, add color to your documents, or just bold something important. Watch the new Google Docs app in action:



If you want to hear about the latest Docs news or send us feedback on the new app, visit Google Docs on Google+.

Gotta run—I’ve got another ferry to catch!

Posted by: By Vadim Gerasimov, Software Engineer

As I was sitting on the ferry commuting to Google’s Sydney office this morning, two thoughts occurred to me. First, Australia is beautiful. If you’ve never been here, you really should visit. And second, it’s amazing how productive I can be with just my Android phone and an Internet connection. I was responding to email, reading news articles, and editing documents—just like I do at the office. Only the view was better!

We want to give everyone the chance to be productive no matter where they are, so today we’re releasing a new update to the Google Docs app for Android. We've brought the collaborative experience from Google Docs on the desktop to your Android device. You'll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.

We also updated the interface to make it easier to work with your documents on the go. For example, you can pinch to zoom and focus on a specific paragraph or see the whole document at a glance. We also added rich text formatting so you can do things like create a quick bullet list, add color to your documents, or just bold something important. Watch the new Google Docs app in action:



If you want to hear about the latest Docs news or send us feedback on the new app, visit Google Docs on Google+.

Gotta run—I’ve got another ferry to catch!

Posted by: By Vadim Gerasimov, Software Engineer

IBM has won a place on a global research project to develop an integrated environmental monitoring system to help oil and gas companies minimise the environmental impact of their operations. 

IBM developers and a team from its Oil and Gas Centre of Excellence in Norway are collaborating with Statoil, Kongsberg Group and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) on developing the solution. The system will apply streaming analytics to measure, process and analyse live physical, biological and chemical data generated by sensors and cameras attached around an offshore installation. The system will be able to predict and prevent issues before they occur. 

Oil and gas companies use different environmental monitoring methods, but there are currently no integrated solutions that enable physical, biological and chemical data to be measured during actual operations. The idea is that by integrating environmental monitoring into day-to-day operations it will be possible for oil and gas companies to more rapidly respond to anticipated conditions, such as shutting down production at an installation, or ceasing construction activity during environmentally sensitive periods.

According to Statoil, environmental monitoring is essential for the company to achieve its target of zero harmful discharges.  The three-year research project will demonstrate whether Statoil succeeds in taking environmental monitoring from being a separate task to become an integrated part of daily production – ‘a quantum leap for offshore environmental monitoring’.

 

Well, it’s obviously a good thing to try to minimise the environmental damage from offshore drilling. Much better if we didn’t drill offshore at all, though. 

I’m a little bemused by Statoil’s target of ‘zero harmful discharges’. How does that work for an oil company?