Andy Pennell's Blog
See me blather about software development, Gadgets, Technology, Fatherhood, plus anything else that gets me going.
Need Two Camera Baby Monitor
I am pleased to announce that early next year there will be a new member of the Pennell family. This...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 10/18/2005
What am I working on? iHD, that's what
So what have I been working on that I haven't been able to blog about? iHD, that's what! Its the...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 09/27/2005
Places where software should never fail: Your Dentists
There are certain places where software should never fail. Obvious ones like aircraft, missile...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 09/22/2005
Shock! Horror! Microsoft release usable keyboards!
Many of us at Microsoft have hated our own keyboards for a number of years. I personally am a...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 09/06/2005
Video Players for Kids
Our 2.x-year-old is a video-lover, and it keeps the peace. Some folks won't agree, but hey: it works...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/28/2005
Failures on IDirect3DDevice9::ColorFill
I am only a few months into DirectX programming, but this one just burned me so I thought I would...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/24/2005
My Vonage Story
A few months ago we switched at home to Vonage VOIP, and we’re loving it. Even without dumping...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/04/2005
Good Places to Eat with Toddlers #2: Redhook Brewery
Redhook's pub, Forecasters, has a casual attitude and admit minors, so it makes a great family...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/31/2005
Where is the Windows BMP Format defined?
You'd think this would be simple: on MSDN surely. Even Google has trouble finding any microsoft.com...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/20/2005
Good places to eat with toddlers: #1, Pagliacci Pizza, Bridle Trails
Eating out with toddlers (and babies) is a challenge: you want some decent food, but you dont want...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/15/2005
New blog category: Fatherhood
As it is difficult for me to blog about my work for the moment, I decided to blog about something...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/15/2005
Updated NoStepInto article for Whidbey
I have updated the post at https://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2004/02/06/69004.aspx to...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 05/27/2005
Moving on from the Debugger Team
Here is a (slightly redacted) email I sent to the C# team recently: I have accepted a dev position...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 03/08/2005
Windows XP Bluetooth Rant: One Year Later
In my blog from a year ago I ranted about the poor state of bluetooth in Windows at the time, and...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 02/28/2005
Does anyone use dbgclr? Or even know what it is?
My third blog entry in a row which is a question, and its becease we really want your input on these...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 02/21/2005
We want to cut Crashdump support : will you let us?
See Scott's blog for why we want to cut "classic" W2K crashdump from the VS2005 Whidbey debugger. If...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 01/19/2005
The Da Vinci Code: Fantasy Movie Cast
Here my wife and I are in Mexico having a super-relaxing holiday, and we both just finished The Da...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 01/09/2005
DVDs in 1080i, from a network share: Nirvana
I have moved this posting regarding the beta 2.0 software for the Roku HD1000 to my personal web...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 12/30/2004
Viewsonic V150p Airpanel Smart Display Review
A have posted a full review of the Viewsonic V150p Airpanel Smart Display on my web site and this is...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 12/29/2004
C# Edit and Continue is here!
Finally we have announced C# Edit and Continue, the 2nd most requested feature in all of VS...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 10/15/2004
Pointer to new debugger blog and Update
Mike Stall has a new blog which will be of interest to low-level folks wanting to know how the CLR...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 09/30/2004
Halo 2: Will it impact Microsoft Productivity?
The "Official Xbox Magazine" says in the October issue that 8,000 Microsoft employees are...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/31/2004
Windows XP SP2 and the Visual Studio Debugger
Oh what fun XP SP2 was for the debugger team! The firewall defaulting to On obviously completely...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/20/2004
Magic Tricks with DLL Forwarders
Thought I would share a DLL trick we used in the VS 2003 debugger that illustrates how a DLL with no...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/11/2004
Shocking news: Google can't find something
We have a little known feature in the debugger so I wanted to see where, if anywhere, it is...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 08/04/2004
Please use the new Visual Studio Feedback Center: it rocks
Until recently, there were various methods of sending us, the Visual Studio team, feedback. However,...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/29/2004
Confessions of a Technical Masochist
At coffee today with my team I was ranting about Memory Sticks. It was pointed out to me that every...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/15/2004
Developer Job Opening: Visual Studio Debugger
We have a developer position open on the debugger team, you can read more about it at...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 07/12/2004
Debugger Goodies in VS 2005 Beta 1
Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1 is announced at last! Previously known as Whidbey (and internally it will...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/29/2004
How Software Development has changed in 20 or so Years
A conversation with a workmate made me think back to my early programming days, and how things have...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/28/2004
Debugger Window Menu Items: Where should they be?
The VS debugger since 7.0 has put most debugger windows on the Debug menu, under the Windows...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/17/2004
Visual Studio Key Bindings : why do we do change them?
Every new release of Visual Studio comes with changed key bindings. Excuse me, “better”...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/17/2004
Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?
I want to get a new 4-handset cordless phone, ideally 5.8GHz, but as far as I can tell, none of them...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/16/2004
Roku HD1000 Review
Here is the place to discuss anything about my review of the Roku HD1000 HDTV media player.
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/11/2004
Visual Studio Breakpoint Helper
I have created a prototype Breakpoint Helper that deals with the most common issues that Visual...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 06/04/2004
TiVo for HDTV: At Last!
I have just posted a full review of my brand-new new Hughes HR10-DVR250 HD TiVo on my ControlAV...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 05/05/2004
An Ode for Programmers (apologies to Monty Python)
From a long lost t-shirt. Think Monty Python & the Holy Grail: We're programmers of the Round...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 04/08/2004
Other Related Bloggers
If you visit here you will find other C# team members who blog. Other debugger team blogs are:...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 04/01/2004
Quick way to open files in Visual Studio IDE
In 7.0 and later you can simply and quickly open files by going to the Find combo in the toolbar,...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 03/03/2004
Wireless Networking Troubles (aka I want those three days back)
This is the story of a wireless networking problem I had at home, what it was, the clues I missed,...
Author: Andy-Pennell Date: 02/28/2004