March 3, 2008
I’ve replaced the previous canned website design with my own design created around a picture I took of the surf at sunset on Sanibel Island. My goal was to create a simple and clean look based on something I did myself.
Here is what I did:
I to took the original picture and cropped it down to size for the header. Here is the original shot:
I then created the logo header (ericdaugherty.com image). I added a gradient using two colors that I picked from the header image.
March 2, 2008
I’m ready for spring. Hopefully today will be the last chance to catch a shot like this…
February 17, 2008
As winter drags on, a semi-warm sunny day is a priceless commodity.
Today was one of those days, with the temperatures nudging 32 degrees and a cloudless sky.
I took advantage and went for a walk through the forest preserve near my home with my family. It was a great opportunity to get some shots with our new camera, and some much needed fresh air and sunshine. I’ll spare you the endless family pictures, but here are a couple of nature shots.
February 16, 2008
I still don’t ‘get’ Twitter, but I did subscribe to Merlin Mann’s Twitter RSS feed, and I have to say, I’m enjoying it. Here is today’s:
“Every time you sniff and say somebody has “too much free time,” the part of you that used to love making things for pure joy dies a little.”
Some of my recent favorites:
“SEO advice that doesn’t begin with “1. Don’t rely on horseshit tricks” is – well, frankly – very probably horseshit.”
February 2, 2008
A new version of Java Email Server (JES) is available.
The new version is mostly a cleanup release. However, this release does fix a major issue introduced in version 1.5 that caused issues when used without a default SMTP server.
You can download the new update from the JES homepage:
February 2, 2008
Microsoft + Yahoo = ???
I have to admit, it is really hard not to look at this very skeptically. First, Microsoft is offering a 62% premium on the current stock price. That seems like an awful lot to pay. And I don’t care who you are, 46 Billion is a lot.
Second, I just don’t see the synergies. Now, from a purely functional perspective there is some value. Obviously Yahoo! has a significant user base and presence. They also do several things pretty well (Flickr, Email, Search, Finance Portal, etc.). But this isn’t a way to leapfrog Google. Assuming they don’t lose any market share during the integration, the combined (worldwide) search market share is still only 16% compared to Google’s 62%!
January 19, 2008
I’ve covered the History of JES, as well as the JES 2.0 branch. This post will cover the current status and future of JES.
In short JES is in maintenance mode. I have no plans to make any significant changes to the JES code base. As I outlined in my first post in this series, I believe JES fits a niche as a very simple and easy to use email server, and the best way to keep it simple is avoid adding features.
January 19, 2008
I released a new version of my iTunes Export utility.
iTunes Export exports your iTunes playlists as M3U or WPL files, allowing you to setup playlists in iTunes and use them with other software or devices.
This release adds Zune support. iTunes Export will now export ZPL files. Thanks to Thanks to Jeff Donnici as usual for his continued contributions.
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/
Don’t be afraid to suggest new features or bug fixes (eric@ericdaugherty.com).
January 16, 2008
In my first post of this series, I discussed the history of JES. In this post, I’m going to outline my ill-fated 2.0 branch.
As with many of my projects, the JES 2.0 branch started as a way to explore a shiny new hammer (a new API/tool/framework, etc.). In this case, the shiny new hammer was JMX. I thought it would be neat if you could drop in a mail server to a container such as JBoss, and utilize some of the ‘built in goodies’ of JMX to manage the server and make updates. One of the drawbacks of how I built JES was that you had to restart it to accomplish many configuration changes. I had thought about a lot of ways to attack the ‘restart shortcoming’ of JES and I decided it was time to branch off onto a new release track. I decided I should write a modular code base that could be wrapped in many different deployment containers (Standalone, JBoss, etc.).
January 16, 2008
By popular demand (hey, one guy requested it), I figured I should blog a little bit about some of the open source projects I’ve worked on and give some history, status, and future goals.
I will start with my Java Email Server (JES) project. This post will focus the history of the server. In the future I’ll blog about my failed JES 2.0 adventure (and my JBoss foray), and a bit more about the current status and where I see it going.