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pretention

This is the blog of Matt Hargett (matt >at< use >dot< net). My homepage is here .

  • smewch*

    Web Log:

    Posted on 2008-06-01 by matt:

    attempts to rip/watch bluray movies in ubuntu hardy

    I hit a dead end trying to watch BluRay discs under hardy, but here's some links and the issues I had.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-04-22 by matt:

    gotchas with ubuntu hardy release candidate

    A couple of disappointing aspects of Hardy that do not appear to be getting fixed before release.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-04-14 by matt:

    heads up for potential XBox 360 buyers

    A friend of mine just returned his XBox360 and got a PS3 instead. Why?

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-04-13 by matt:

    recent drops in DishHD audio and video quality

    Some weird artifacts, robot voices...

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-03-24 by matt:

    Matt's Bargain Basement Summer Of Code

    Some small things I would like to fund, if anyone is interested. It only counts if it is approved by a source/package maintainer and/or included in Ubuntu's repository. Inclusion in the upstream repository would also be nice. Note the dependencies between some of these.

    The units here are in EUR, by the way. Please contact me via email at matt<>use!net if you are interested.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-03-06 by matt:

    a standard set of refactoring steps for C and C++

    While working on a large C++ project with another consultant, I started trying to codify some iterative steps for what we have been doing.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-03-06 by matt:

    using Visual Studio 2003 SP1 with the XDK

    I am familiar enough with VS2003 to know that SP1 is a necessity. Unfortunately, the XDK will only install on a naked VS2003. Here's how I worked around it.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-02-03 by matt:

    bypassing the visual studio 2003 upgrade check

    Many moons ago, I had my Visual Studio 2002 CDs and was able to use my VS 2003 upgrade. Those CDs are long gone and I had to cheat a bit.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-01-28 by matt:

    xbox game reviews for 2007

    Geoff and I played a number of great XBox games this year, many of which were really good and $2-$10 at the local Gamestop. I've added a number rating by reader request.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-01-24 by matt:

    oh, it's moving..

    amusing work snippet

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-01-22 by matt:

    HOWTO: skype 2.0 under kubuntu with an HP pavilion web cam

    Skype 2.0 is working with the web cam integrated in my HP laptop! under KUbuntu Gutsy, even! This was enough of a chore I wanted to document it for the search engines.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2008-01-14 by matt:

    tech predictions for 2008

    A few tech predictions for 2008..

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-11-13 by matt:

    thoughts on the November 2007 xbox360 backward compatibility update

    More of a mixed bag than other updates, but welcome nonetheless.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: geoff )

    Posted on 2007-10-29 by matt:

    what I'm watching on TV

    The TV shows I'm enjoying right now, am not interested in, and am disappointed by.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-09-20 by matt:

    what programming language are you?

    An amusing quiz with a surprising result.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-09-14 by matt:

    my book is out!

    The book project I worked on for about a year is now available.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-08-27 by matt:

    my xbox360 xmas wish

    My wish(es) for the rumored Xbox360 Ultimate Edition.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-08-27 by matt:

    javascript fun fact: sticking the wrong things into style properties will silently fail (almost)

    Some major head scratching with my pair this week when a style.height assignment in JavaScript just wasn't taking hold.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-08-16 by matt:

    more iframe JsUnit testing suckage

    Yet another way IFRAMEs can get in the way of doing JsUnit tests..

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-07-31 by matt:

    2003 time capsule: clusterable, fault-injecting virtual machines

    In 2003, I spec'd out a full product design and implementation plan for a fault-injecting virtual machine to automatically find exploitable bugs in a highly scalable fashion with little to no false positives. Here are my thoughts 4 years later now that similar ideas are being made public.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-07-28 by matt:

    book review: Secure Programming with Static Analysis

    Fortify, a commercial vendor of static analysis tools, has produced a book on static analysis. Is it just a long-winded advertisement and extended manual for their tools? Read on to find my opinion.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-07-25 by matt:

    usage of top.location can screw up Selenium tests

    If a web app has code to try and break out of an iframe, it will be difficult to test in Selenium.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-07-20 by matt:

    should you upgrade to JUnit 4.x?

    I did an internal talk recently about JUnit 3.8 versus JUnit 4.3. Here's some notes and the verdict.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-30 by matt:

    rant on java's generics

    Sun had better get their act together, and I don't mean by putting out yet another refactoring IDE or slowly interpreting scripting languages.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-27 by matt:

    analyzing Ruby 1.9's bytecode

    Some of my initial thoughts on how to approach binary code analysis for Ruby 2.0 and its x86 JIT.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-27 by matt:

    C#/CLR question: does the readonly keyword help the JIT at all?

    After scouring books and blogs, I can't find a real answer to this question: does the readonly keyword in C# help the JIT optimize better at all?

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-25 by matt:

    mysql fun fact: you don't need tolower(), and indexing slows substring criteria

    On MySQL 5.1, substring matches are case-insensitive, so tolower() does nothing except slow things down. Further, if you are doing substring searches and you index the columns searched against, the query will be twice as slow.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-12 by matt:

    javascript fun fact: "" == 0 == false

    A quick fun fact about JavaScript I learned last week.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-06-05 by matt:

    PlayStation3 gets "upscaling"

    A software update to the PS3 gives its PS1 and PS2 emulation upscaling and filtering. In short, it's totally bogus and not anything approaching the 360's real upscaling.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-05-21 by matt:

    hardware review: Creative Labs X-Mod

    Creative Labs has a new product called the XMod

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-05-17 by matt:

    book review: Professional Rootkits

    My professional acquaintance, Ric Veiler, has written the best book on writing Rootkits I have read.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-05-14 by matt:

    hybrid gas mileage revised

    The EPA has revised their gas mileage measurement process, bringing hybrid MPG estimates down quite a bit. It doesn't match up with my experience, though.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-03-25 by matt:

    updating my KUbuntu 6.10 (Edgy) to 7.04 (Feisty) beta

    Unlike the upgrade from 6.06 to 6.10, I had some significant issues during this KUbuntu upgrade.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-03-23 by matt:

    xbox game review: Obscure

    We beat ObsCure a few months ago, here's my take on this neat adventure-horror game.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-03-22 by matt:

    dear microsoft, please do better.

    The new XBox 360 revision is disappointing to me, at best

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-03-14 by matt:

    hex editing xbox games to upgrade their resolution to (at least) 480p

    Holding onto your XBox until the 360 is worthwhile? Here's how to squeeze some extra high definition out of your existing XBox games!

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-03-10 by matt:

    integrating QA and testing roles in eXtreme Programming, part 1

    My opinions on integrating QA into XP and possibly other agile processes.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-02-06 by matt:

    concert review: Of Montreal at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco

    Geoff and I saw 'Of Montreal', an up and coming band, in San Francisco the other night.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-02-01 by matt:

    more bug finding with google code search

    Some javascript-oriented regexps to help find cross-site scripting bugs.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-01-11 by matt:

    poem: You Are Dreaming

    This came to me while walking the dog this morning.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-01-10 by matt:

    refactoring with courage

    I've been working in a strict eXtreme Programming team on a client site, which is very nice. Here's some condensed observations and lessons from the last 2 weeks, with a focus on the JavaScript aspects of our work.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2007-01-02 by matt:

    automated code analysis audience prep (updated)

    Our classes on finding exploitable bugs with automated code analysis are in demand. We'll be teaching it again, as well as doing talks, at various points during the year. For people attending some or all of these things, here's some reading to prepare you.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-18 by matt:

    narcissistic nerd archaeology, part 1

    While moving, we started getting stuff off of old ZIP disks so we could toss them. One amusing find.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-18 by matt:

    album review: Duran Duran, "Astronaut"

    Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big fan of Duran Duran. Here's I think of their last album, Astronaut, which was recorded with the re-united original band members.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-12 by matt:

    simple tests with Gimpel's online PC-Lint analysis

    Gimpel, makers of PC-Lint, have a nifty web form where you can submit a chunk of code and see the PC-Lint output. I decided to see what its limits are by running some of the bugreport test cases through.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-12 by matt:

    album review: Weird Al Yankovic, "Straight Outta Lynwood"

    Finally an artist and record company understands that providing more value in the physical product is the way to get people to buy it. The album's pretty good, too!

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-11 by matt:

    finding buffer iteration bugs with google's new code search

    There's been a couple of articles and blog posts about finding bugs with google's new code search. Here's some interesting queries and results around one of my favorites: buffer iteration bugs.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-05 by matt:

    most browsers can't print web pages

    I found what appears to be a simple page that only one browser thus far can print correctly.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-04 by matt:

    initial impression of findbugs

    findbugs is a binary static analysis tool for Java bytecode binaries. I used it on my project for the last few days, here are some initial impressions.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-02 by matt:

    xbox game review: grabbed by the ghoulies

    Geoff and I beat Grabbed by the Ghoulies for XBox a few days ago. Read on for the review.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-02 by matt:

    quoted in an article on Mono (updated)

    I was quoted in an article about Mono usage in the enterprise. Here are some additional thoughts and clarifications that weren't printed.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-02 by matt:

    using the Refactoring book

    Refactoring is a great book and reference, but it can be intimidating to approach. Here's my recommendation.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-10-02 by matt:

    Zune vs iPod, why I don't care

    Why the music player dick-fight between Apple and Microsoft still doesn't matter to me.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-09-22 by matt:

    Playing XBox games on XBox360

    Emulation, shmemulation. Why wait for Microsoft to perfect XBox emulation?

    [Read More]     (Discussion: miah )

    Posted on 2006-09-18 by matt:

    observations from re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter Years 1 & 2

    Getting a bit more from a stone in the nth re-reading of the Harry Potter books. This may be spoilers for some people, so don't read unless you've read all the books so far. Also, it might not make sense unless you have ;)

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-08-03 by matt:

    bugreport project to be released under GPLv3 at defcon

    Luis and I gave the proof-of-concept code from our BlackHat class to the students. We'll be releasing it to the public at Defcon.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-23 by matt:

    funding PCSX2 on the XBox

    I want to play a PlayStation 2 game on my XBox. I'm funding some open source development to make that happen.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: omin0us )

    Posted on 2006-07-23 by matt:

    The Stickiness of the Stack emulation

    Luis made a blog post explaining some difficulty he was having in evolving the design the code he's working on for the class. While I can't give him incredibly direct information, here are some general tips.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-18 by matt:

    TDD parsing the x86 opcode mod R/M byte, part 1

    The mod R/M (modRM) byte in x86 is a hairy proposition thanks to inconsistencies, undocumented things, and bit-level hackery. How do we deal with it in a TDD fashion?

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-17 by matt:

    I am the Slime

    I found an article mentioning one of my favorite Frank Zappa songs that I wanted to share.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-15 by matt:

    getting a C# 2.0-compiled NUnit running under mono

    Mono's built-in NUnit can't deal with C# 2.0-compiled binaries. I need this functionality for the Linux and MacOS users in my class. Here's how I went about fixing this.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-14 by matt:

    One-look TDD guides

    I found some great, simple one-sheet TDD guides.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-09 by matt:

    I Heart New York City

    Geoff and I are in NYC spending the weekend with our friend Celeste. An accoint of our Saturday night follows.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: strick )

    Posted on 2006-07-07 by matt:

    imeem job over, looking for new work

    My current eXtreme Programming Lead job is over and I'm now looking for work.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-04 by matt:

    Zappa Plays Zappa in Los Angeles

    Geoff and I were in Los Angeles (his hometown) to see his family. We also saw the 'Zappa Plays Zappa' concert. A brief review follows.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-07-03 by matt:

    test list to unit tests to drive implementation

    In a previous post, I talked about making a test list. People have emailed me saying they don't see the path from the test list to an implementation. Here's the next step.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-06-28 by matt:

    How TDD related to Inversion of Control and Dependency Injection

    In a private email discussion, a friend asked about my thoughts on how TDD and IOC/DI relate. Here's that email, edited, with additional commentary.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-06-19 by matt:

    nextgen consoles opinion: the PlayStation 3

    Initial thoughts and current opinions on next-gen consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBox360, and Sony's Playstation 3.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-06-19 by matt:

    investment in open source companies

    I read an article on VC investment in open source companies and posted a comment on the article I'm reproducing here.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-06-13 by matt:

    making a test list to drive features

    I have delegated code-related things in my BlackHat class to an old friend. I am going to help drive the development with tests, and here is what I came up with at the dog park on Sunday.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-06-12 by matt:

    working with kubuntu

    I settled on KUbuntu 6.06 as my new linux distro for my laptop. Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly things about it so far.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-05-18 by matt:

    switching my linux distro

    I've been using gentoo for a couple years now on my laptop (a Dell Inspiron 600m), and while I'm not incredibly unhappy other than things mentioned in previous posts, I think I should try some other distros. Today, I tried KUbuntu 6.0 Flight 7 (http://kubuntu.org), SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 beta 10 (aka SLED10 -- acquired privately), and Fedora Core 5 (http://fedora.redhat.com).

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-05-11 by matt:

    making karaoke from your CDs, part 1

    How to use Cool Edit Pro/Adobe Audition to take obscure songs you like and make them into CDs you can take to karaoke!

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-04-30 by matt:

    Google Summer of Code suggestions

    Google's Summer of Code, an aboslutely wonderful program, pays students to work on open source projects over their summer vacations. Here's some ideas on how it can improve over last year.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: matt )

    Posted on 2006-04-24 by matt:

    NUnitForms, continuous integration, and modal dialogs

    A landmine to watch out for when using NUnitForms with continuous integration environments like CruiseControl.NET, Draco.NET, etc.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: robmyers )

    Posted on 2006-03-06 by matt:

    subscribing to this blog via RSS

    Use this link to subscribe to my blog via RSS: http://wiki.yak.net/535.weblog_rss

    Posted on 2006-03-06 by matt:

    a test suite for code analysis

    The static analysis market is not innovating fast enough, and I think I know what can be done to help things along.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-03-06 by matt:

    what I need from a linux distro right now

    Gentoo just isn't what it used to be, so I'm looking to switch to another distro soon. Here's my checklist and initial thoughts.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-02-21 by matt:

    xbox game reviews for 2005

    Geoff and I beat Prince of Persia for XBox this weekend, and I figured I'd give it a little review along with the other games we finished in the last year in reverse order of completion.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: bryan )

    Posted on 2006-02-13 by matt:

    on the road to NUnitAsp supporting JavaScript

    NUnitAsp doesn't support JavaScript or AJAX-like things, but HttpUnit does. I gotta fix that..

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-02-13 by matt:

    best software magazine I have read

    Better Software magazine is probably the best software-related magazine I have read to date.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-01-24 by matt:

    new job @ imeem

    I started my new job last Monday as an XP Lead at imeem.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2006-01-12 by matt:

    Test-Driven Development from the Trenches

    I have an article in the January issue of Software Test & Performance magazine on the Test-Driven and Extreme Programming aspects of developing BugScan.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2005-12-23 by matt:

    Pair Programming is Radioactive

    I never expected I would need to remove Pair Programming from my resume.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: robmyers )

    Posted on 2005-12-23 by matt:

    Showtime's Masters of Horror

    If Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series didn't grab you at first, watch the "Homecoming" episode.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2005-12-21 by matt:

    HttpUnit issues with OpenRico

    Ran into some issues with HttpUnit and JWebUnit while on a job in Miami last week. Here's how to mostly work around them.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2005-11-03 by matt:

    all linux projects should be using valgrind

    A call to action for Firefox, Thunderbird, and other projects: USE VALGRIND AND FIX THE BUGS IT REPORTS.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2005-09-21 by matt:

    GO SEE HELLBENT

    A slasher movie like any other, except that all the people are gay.

    [Read More]     (Discussion: matt )

    Posted on 2005-08-11 by matt:

    linuxworld san francisco 2005

    went to linux world today (wednesday)

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    QA nightmare story #1

    sweet whiskey jesus, how did I survive that fuqn place?

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    knowledge is not wisdom and love is not music

    Reviews of some albums I listened to recently, switching to Mozilla, and gearing up for BugScan.next

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    the linux experience 2 years later, and infoworld

    Geoff got a new Athlon64 machine and we tried putting Linux on it. God help us.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    VS.NET is winking at me..

    Figuring out the Reflection and Debugging APIs took a year off my life, at least.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    the west wing and separate but equal

    All the queers to the back of the bus.

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    around the world, across the nation, and up your street...

    Sundance, Blackhat, and Bowie in LA..

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-09-03 by burddell:

    agile XP MO TDD

    The journey to making agile development work for me..

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-08-28 by matt:

    QA nightmare story #2

    Static schmatic analysis, runtime funtime paralysis

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-08-28 by matt:

    who the fuq is the half blood prince?

    who the fuq is the half blood prince?

    [Read More]

    Posted on 2004-08-28 by matt:

    the missing 10 minutes of the azkaban movie

    "Harry Potter 3", as my ticket called it needed 10 more minutes to be perfect.

    [Read More]


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