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A few months back, I came across a tool from Microsoft called PowerToys. Since I’ve been using it and finding it useful, I thought I’d share it with others as well. Microsoft PowerToys is a set of tools for power users of Windows, which sets out to enhance productivity. At the time of writing, the following list describes the current feature set: Color picker - A handy tool that allows you to select colors from any running application, and shows both the HEX and RGB values. FancyZones - This tool allows you to split your screen into several different zones, and drag any applications into specific areas. File Explorer Add-ons - A tool to extend the file explorer with features such as file preview. Image Resizer - If you need to resize one or more images, this is the tool for you. Keyboard Manager - This tool allows you to remap keys for a more productive workflow. PowerRename - This tool allows you to rename files in bulk, which can come in handy if you for instance need to rename a bunch of images. PowerToys Run - This is a shell extension, which allows you to quickly run applications without opening the start menu. Shortcut Guide - Ever wondered what shortcuts you have available? Then this is the tool for you. Just pop it open by pressing the windows button. Video Conference Mute - This tool allows you to do a global mute of microphone and web camera through a shortcut. As you can see, there’s a lot of handy tools. My favorite so far is the FancyZones tool, which is the reason I found this application in the first place. It allows me to set up my screens in a way that I prefer, giving me more options than the default 1 or 2 column choices Windows ships with. I also use the PowerToys Run, although I probably don’t save much compared to the start menu. ...

At the time of writing, it’s been 2 years, 3 months and 25 days since my last blog post. Since that, I have released a book, released the follow-up version, and even a third edition. I have moved four times, including to a new city. I changed my job and joined a startup. I’ve met my significant other, and we just had our first child. TLDR: Worked hard, both with full time job and side projects. A lot of personal changes. Too much going on over too long time. Failed to act on obvious signals that my body was tired. Ended up on sick-leave for a while. Got new perspective on things. Back at full capacity. Work smart, not hard. ...

It’s been a few months since my last post here. The reason for this, is that I’m currently writing a book, which I’m rather excited about. The book I’m writing is about Microsoft Cognitive Services, and is aimed at .NET developers. It aims to provide some introduction to the different APIs. The goal that the reader is able to use the services, for whatever ideas they might have. The book itself is called “Learning Microsoft Cognitive Services”, and will be released by Packt Publishing. ...

Today I decided to do some tinkering with some of the IoT stuff I have laying around. Quite recently I started on another personal project, which I will do quite a bit of work on over the next few months. I decided that it would be good to setup a build server for the project, to be able to build and test the project, so I don’t break anything during development. ...

Today I’m starting a new series of post. Every last Sunday of each month I’ll recommend a new blog. Each blog will be one I often read, and find worthwhile to spend time on. The posts will be kept short and to the point, to let you spend more time exploring the blog in questions yourself. This Sunday I want to recommend Coding with Empathy, written by Pavneet Singh Saund. It is a blog that puts a lot of focus on empathy in software development, and how we as developers can become better by focusing more on empathy and soft skills. ...