If the default calculator included with Windows doesn't cut it for you, and you need more muscle than Power Calculator packs, then Microsoft Calculator Plus just might be for you. This  Calculator replacement offers all the classic functionality plus quite a few new tools. Great little tool for your laptop to use when Google Calculator isn't an option.

Note: For those that don't like the look, just go to "View > Classic View" to go to the more traditional style.

The WWW is dying - no, not the web itself, but the ubiquitous WWW prefix on many domains. While there have been efforts to encourage developers to move away from the use of this prefix for some time, this movement seems to be gaining ground.

Matt Mullenweg of WordPress fame has released a plug-in to automatically remove the WWW prefix. While this isn’t earth shattering news, it does show a trend away from the traditional prefixes to a simpler model. A change that I certainly welcome.

From the day this site went online it’s removed the WWW if used, providing a single, optimized URL for all pages. Now that methods to implement such functionality are becoming so simple, I expect it will become even more common as bloggers adopt a single URL model (hopefully the non-WWW form).

It's been 3 weeks, 450 man-hours and 6,880 lines of code, and it's done.

Working as a developer for a call center, I often see some interesting and rather challenging projects. The latest is no different. One of our largest clients (a major bank) asked us to develop an application to assist in processing credit card applications.

While the original request seemed simple, the final specification though was far less simple. A highly dynamic, intelligent, and multi-language application was needed. It’s been close to three months since development started, and 3 weeks since the current major update was started.

Weighing in at 22,880 lines - this is a rather large application, highly dynamic, fault tolerant, and has complete multi-lingual support.  Built in VB.NET and based on the .NET Framework 2.0, this is the largest .NET application I’ve seen though to production.

Not only was this one of the larger .NET applications I've worked on, this is also the first project I've worked on using a Pair Programming methodology. I joined the project about 1/4th into the initial development, and since then I’ve been working extensively with Laura to complete the project.

After reading about the methods used by High Moon Studios, Laura and I decided to attempt pair programming. In March when this project was first mentioned, we decided this would be the ideal project to go forward with this experiment.

To ease development, I acquired an HP desktop (with a few upgrades) and Laura provided a pair of keyboards and mice for use as a development workstation. With two developers at a single computer, the boost in productivity is remarkable. While I always believed that pair programming could not add significantly to productivity, the quality and speed of development of this project proved me wrong.

With nearly 23,000 lines of fully optimized code, and early testing showing remarkably few bugs, the short development timeframe makes this a remarkable project. When this project started I wouldn’t have dared to dream we could achieve so much, so quickly.

Looking back at the progress made, I'm now a believer that that pair programming is the way to go. While I still have many reservations about the concepts of Extreme Programming, at least this aspect is a good idea.

Could it really be? Rumors are flying that tomorrow (Tuesday) Google will open a beta for a new spreadsheet tool. This is quite a move, and one that will certainly turn up the heat on the Microsoft - Google rivalry.

Google Spreadsheet will have support the the Excel file format, a move that seems to be setting a direct course for competing with the ever popular Microsoft Office suite. When combined with the launch of Calendar and the acquisition of Writely, Google seems to have an eye of the market now controlled by Office.

Reports are that at 9AM, EDT Google Labs will be linking to the new application and allowing a limited number of sign-ups. 

There are hundreds of guides on how to get more traffic directed to your blog, and most are wrong. Seth Godin recently posted on this topic, and I have to disagree with most of his points. While there are a few basically good ideas, there are many more that I just don't see holding up.

Here's what I look for in the blogs I visit:

• Writer is an expert in the field. If the writer seems to have only a passing knowledge of the subject, I typically don't return.
• Articles are of a reasonable length. If the articles are too short they don't contain enough information to be of use, on the other hand if they are too long, they require too much of a time investment. I've found that 600-1,000 words typically works out well for most items.
• Don't write about things nobody cares about. Many people are tempted to write about things that nobody else cares about, if it won't benefit the bulk of your readers, then it's probably not worth writing about.
• Keep to a single, basic topic. I look for blogs that follow topics I'm interested in, the further it strays from what I care about; the less likely I'll come back. For me, I care about technology, not the writer's local news, the more news posts, the less the odds of me coming back.
• Keep is site simple and useful. If the site is too complex, it distracts from the quality of the work being published. The site should have a simple theme and not be overload with useless links or icons.
• Be transparent. I like blogs were the writer exposes a bit of herself, don't be afraid to post your name or who you work for. The more information authors posts about themselves the more credibility they have.
• The site can't be an ad-farm. I'm not a fan of ads, but I understand high traffic sites are expensive to run. If the site looks like its only purpose is making money from ads, I won't stick around. In most cases, if there are any banner ads, or more than two text ads, I'll probably lose interest. Ad locations and colors should be carefully selected, if done properly, they add value, if done carelessly, they will kill reader loyalty.

This is by no means a formula to get millions of hits, just my view on what I look for, and the rules I try to follow. Each blog is different, and the readers of the topic you are writing about will determine what works and what doesn't. Just try to make sure you're writing about what people care about.

Focus on your readers, not your traffic. If you focus on providing a great resource for people, the high-quality traffic will follow. People matter more than the numbers, that's what all bloggers need to stay focused on.

Taking a rather extended lunch break today, I went to the Blue Hole waterfall near Elizabethton in east Tennessee. What a sight!

I know my policy is to avoid blogging about things not related to the IT/Software Development industry, but this sight is certainly worth breaking the policy. If you like waterfalls, or just 'getting away" this is a great place to go. If you'd like to see more, I've uploaded a few pictures to my Flickr page.

Speaking of Flickr, in a previous life I worked as a photographer and as such I've built up quite a collection, over the next few weeks I'll be scanning parts of my collection and uploading them. They cover a wide range of topics, so odds are you'll find something you like. Just as a note, I've added a link to my Flickr page in the "Sites" list as "My Photos" on the left panel.

Somehow, this story sounds familiar. A total of 243,000 credit card numbers stolen, that many more potential victims. Yet, they are far from alone, just a few weeks ago, data (including social security numbers) for 26 million vets was stolen. This is becoming an ugly trend.

No matter how many reminders, it seems the message never makes it through. There is no shortage of products that would have made both of these stories much less important, but it both cases there was no real attempt to protect the data. If the data had been encrypted, it's likely that there would be no real risk to the public. But that wasn't the case.

Due to bad and poorly enforced policies, laziness, and a lack of understanding, millions are at risk. Small mistakes can have a massive impact, when dealing with private data, take every possible measure to ensure it stays private.

The WordPress team has released 2.0.3 of the massively popular blogging software. The primary reason is a security fix, but also includes a few performance tweaks. The install process was fairly painless thanks to the work of Mark Jaquith, using the provided patch reduced the total upgrade time to under an hour.

For the average WordPress user that doesn't have any modified files, the install should take only a couple minutes. It's a very simple process, if you haven't updated, you should. 

Update: More Details