JetBrains releases dotPeek, a new free .NET decompiler

JetBrains has thrown their hat into the .NET decompiler ring with the recent release of dotPeek.  I've been using it for a couple of days now and have found it to be a fully-featured competitor to the standalone .NET Reflector by Red Gate Software.

The standalone version of .NET Reflector is priced at $70, while dotPeek is free.  I wonder if this is going to change anytime soon.  .NET Reflector also has version that adds Visual Studio integration to the basic utility (available for $130) and a Professional edition that adds VS integration and some very useful debugging features (available for $190). Sadly, I have not been able to convince my program manager to buy any licenses for our team.

dotPeek doesn't do anything other than decompile assemblies, but it does that well.  This is good news, since I have really missed having a decompiler available in my daily work.

REVIEW: Sharpie Liquid Pencil

For those of you who know me, I’m a pen geek. I love the feel of a good writing implement. As a result, I was really excited to hear about the new Sharpie Liquid Pencil.

The experience was disappointing. It reminded me of writing with an EraserMate pen from my middle school days. Sharpie did do something better, as a leftie, the EraserMate ink used to get all over my hand as I wrote; I didn’t experience this with the SLP.

There appears to be an uneven flow of liquid graphite, it sometimes feels like you are writing with a pen which is about to run out of ink. The ink rubs off page with a very light touch, which is good for the eraser, but bad for me since I’m a leftie.

This is the first product from Sharpie which I didn’t like writing with.

Inner Circle is a great Facebook application

I am lucky enough to know the developers of a new Facebook application called Inner Circle. This is a great utility that has quickly moved to the top position on my Facebook Applications list.

At first glance, Inner Circle gives you the ability to organize your friends into groups. This is a simple and useful feature that should have been a part of Facebook from the beginning.

Beyond organization, you'll find that Inner Circle adds two features that will completely change how you interact with Facebook: the ability to reply to a friend's status message, and "Shouting" to members of a circle.

• The ability to "reply" to a status message has been my absolute favorite feature. I was laid off earlier this year and one of things I missed the most was the daily banter with members of my team. I admit it, I completely missed the constant mocking. Inner Circle has given me the ability to come home and participate in a mock-fest with my former team - dishing it out and taking it too. Encourage a couple of your friends to install this and you'll see these threads often turn into conversations that have a life of their own. It's a lot of fun.
  
• "Shouting" is another great way of communicating with other friends who have Inner Circle installed - good for a quick question or to broadcast some news. Are you surprised that Francona has Gagne warming up in the bullpen? Shout it out!
  

In addition to this, you can configure the Inner Circle to automatically update whenever you update your blog, digg an article, post a video on YouTube, etc. Basically, anything with an RSS feed can work with Inner Circle.

I've found that Inner Circle gives Facebook a completely different feel. You now have a centralized location to organize and communicate with people you want to stay in touch with, and this encourages me to log into Facebook more often than I probably would without it.

Get it here!