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• Xubuntu 13.10 64bit - Slow and buggy "log out" process?

  - by MrKatSwordfish

  I'm a Windows convert who has done only a little bit of dabbling in Ubuntu in the past (back in Dapper Drake a few years back). A lot has changes since then, and I've been yearning to jump back into linux again! So, having just bought a new SSD, I felt that this would be as good of a time as any to set up a dual-boot system again. I've messed around with Ubuntu 13.10 a bit, and while Unity has its issues, I think that it still needs some time to develop. I looked into XFCE and liked it a lot, so I went with Xubuntu. I've installed Xubuntu, and for the most part it's running smoothly and it a pleasure to work with. The customization is great and the minimalistic look and feel is really nice! But here's my problem, whenever I select the "Log Out" option from either the application menu, or the user profiles menu, my PC comes to a crawl, and the dialog box with all the options (shut down, restart, log out, etc.) takes maybe a minute or more to appear. I click the log out button, my PC is brought to a snail's pace, and I have to wait for what seems like an eternity for the logout options to appear! If i try to open something else (even a terminal window) while it's loading the logout options, that other program won't finish loading until the logout screen finally appears. Keep in mind, this is a pretty much vanilla install of Xubuntu 13.10 64bit, on a PC with an intel i7, an SSD, 6gb DDR3 RAM, and a new AMD 7770 gpu (drivers haven't been installed yet, though). Everything else runs fast, most applications open near-instantly! It must be an issue with how the logout options screen initializes or something, but I'm not sure exactly how I can fix it.. Edit - Extra Info: This problem is very consistent when using the "Log Out" buttons in Xubuntu. However, I've found that I'm able to reboot and shutdown much more quickly by going through the "Switch User" screen, and using the reboot or shutdown buttons on that screen. I'm nearly certain that it has something to do with the little Log Out options screen that appears when I select Log Out from the menu, and not the actual process of shutting down.. So what should I do? I really like XFCE so far, and I've never tried a non-ubuntu based distro before, but should I just switch to something else? Is there any known fix for this issue? Are there any work-arounds for logging out/shutting down/rebooting via the terminal so that I can avoid this irritating bug? Is there any that I can monitor the progress of the log out via terminal, allowing me to see which parts are causing the slow-down? What is the best way to report this bug to someone?

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• XNA Notes 009

  - by George Clingerman

  This past week the MVPs (myself included) were on Microsoft campus for the MVP summit. So I apologize in advance if you did something cool or heard of something cool happening with XNA and XBLIGs and it’s not in my notes. I did my best to stay on top of things, but honestly this community is fast and furious with what it’s doing and creating. I really can’t keep up and that’s fantastic! But here’s what I *did* notice while I was there on Microsoft Campus (and I did make sure to point out to the XNA team several of these very cool happenings while I had their ears). Time Critical XNA News: The XNA team wants you to know that Dream Build Play registration is now open! http://blogs.msdn.com/b/xna/archive/2011/02/28/registration-now-open-for-dream-build-play-2011-challenge.aspx Join the XNA-UK create on March 24, 2011 at the Microsoft Tech Days Conference http://xna-uk.net/blogs/darkgenesis/archive/2011/02/27/join-the-xna-uk-crew-at-the-microsoft-tech-days-conference-on-24th-march-2011.aspx XNA Team: Shawn Hargreaves shares one of the coolest things that’s happened in the XNA community http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/03/02/xbox-indies-pivot-view.aspx Nick Gravelyn continues his unique marketing/work prioritization strategy as he tries to get to 5,000 Pixel Man users before he makes Pixel Man 2 (and he’s almost there!) http://nickgravelyn.com/pixelman2/ XNA MVPs: A lot of the XNA MVPs were at the Microsoft MVP Summit 2011. Due to NDAs, most things can’t be shared, but I’m sure if you’re curious you could ask them about the general vibe and feeling they got from the team and the future of XNA/XBLIG and more. Catalin Zima and team release the free WP7 game Chickens Can Dream http://twitter.com/CatalinZima/statuses/41174062923390976 http://www.amusedsloth.com/2011/02/chickens-can-dream-is-live/ Charles Humphrey (NemoKrad) posts his March talk source and PowerPoint http://xna-uk.net/blogs/randomchaos/archive/2011/03/04/march-2011-talk-post-processing-framework.aspx XNA Developers: Michael B. McLaughlin posts about ANTS Memory Profile and creates a CheckMemoryAllocationGame sample (extremely useful if you’re looking to see how much memory some operation allocates!) http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/02/28/ants-memory-profiler-7.0-review.aspx http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/03/01/checkmemoryallocationgame-sample.aspx Andy Schatz (2009 IGF winner for Monaco) talking XNA at GDC 2011 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33313/GDC_2011_Andy_Schatz_Ill_Make_My_Last_Game_When_I_Die.php Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG): Clover: A Curious Tale by BinaryTweed is coming as a Deal of the Week during St. Patricks Day http://majornelson.com/archive/2011/03/03/comingsoontothexboxlivemarketplacemarchthird.aspx Ska Studios away at GDC but still very post happy as always http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/03/02/swamped-picture-pack/ http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/02/28/the-february-showcase/ http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/02/25/good-morning-gato-51-smelling-the-roses/ Just Press Start interviews Matthew Mikuszewski of Darkwind Media about Blocks Indie http://justpressstart.net/?p=516 Gamergeddon Xbox Indie Game Round Up - February 27th http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/02/27/xbox-indie-game-round-up-february-27th/ http://www.gamergeddon.com/category/xbox-360/indie-games/ GameMarx does a round up of all the Xbox Live Indie Game podcasts that are currently available http://www.gamemarx.com/news/2011/02/27/xbox-live-indie-game-podcasts.aspx GameMarx episode 11 http://www.gamemarx.com/video/the-show/26/ep-11-february-25-2011.aspx In perhaps what I feel is the most exciting news I’ve heard all week, Michael C. Neel (ViNull of GameMarx fame) re-launch XboxIndies.com! http://www.gamemarx.com/news/2011/03/01/the-relaunch-of-xboxindies-com.aspx http://xboxindies.com/ Armless Octopus shares a little of what they heard from Luke Schneider of Radiangames during his GDC 2011 talk http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/03/02/gdc-2011-luke-schneider-offers-insight-into-radiangames-success/ VVGindiecast Episode 1 with guests Derek Strickland(Mr_Deeke), Kris Steele(Kriswd40 from FunInfused Games) and Dave Voyles(From armlessoctopus.com) http://vvgtv.com/2011/02/25/vvgindiecast-xblig-podcast/ If you’re doing Xbox LIVE Indie Game Reviews get in touch with XboxIndies.com to get into their aggregated feed http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/76931/467189.aspx#467189 B.U.T.T.O.N and Flotilla represented XNA very well at the Independent Games Festival (are there any more games entered that were created using XNA? Stand up and be heard!) http://www.igf.com/php-bin/entry2011.php?id=374 Armless Ocotopus interview at GDC 2011 with Soulcaster creator Ian Stocker http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/03/04/gdc-2011-interview-with-soulcaster-creator-ian-stocker/ MommysBestGames gets a nod in the DarkBasic newsletter where it features the Explosionade Editor (just do a search for Explosionade to get to the interesting bits!) http://www.thegamecreators.com/pages/newsletters/newsletter_issue_98.html You may be hearing the cries of FortressCraft (coming soon to XBLIG) being so wrong for stealing the idea from MineCraft. But did you know the the game MineCraft started from was an XNA game called Infiniminer? XNA is getting it’s fingers into EVERYTHING! http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Infiniminer XNA Development: TorqueX is NOT dead thanks to the tremendous efforts of the XNA Community working on the CEV (special thanks to @PinoEire for all his hard work on making that happen!) http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/20878 http://torquecev.com/ Dave Henry has posted XNA 3.x adding platformer start kit to the network game state management on his new site http://twitter.com/#!/mort8088/status/43407715908853760 http://mort8088.com/2011/03/03/xna-3-x-adding-platformer-starter-kit-to-network-game-state-management/ Mark Bamford releases XNAViewer 4.0, great for running XNA games inside of a Windows Form (for building level editors, etc.) http://twitter.com/#!/xzodia04/status/43466830412660736 http://xnaviewer.codeplex.com/ Unit testing an XNA game with Resharper and NUnit http://smnbss.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/planetx-unit-testing-an-xna-game-with-resharper-and-nunit-wp7-xbox-xna/ XNA for Silverlight developers: Part 5 - Input (touch + gestures) http://ht.ly/1bxwUE Mike McLaughlin shares a link he stumbled across for those looking to understand vector and matrix math http://twitter.com/#!/mikebmcl/status/42587074725036032 http://chortle.ccsu.edu/VectorLessons/vectorIndex.html DigitalRune Resources Pooling in XNA (Part 1) http://www.digitalrune.com/Support/Blog/tabid/719/EntryId/84/DigitalRune-Helper-Library-Resource-Pooling-in-XNA-Part-1.aspx JohnK “bobthecbuilder” released a new SunBurn Update that lowers the requirements for Windows Games http://twitter.com/#!/bobthecbuilder/status/43457306578522112 http://www.synapsegaming.com/blogs/johnk/archive/2011/03/03/sunburn-update-windows-redistributable.aspx Quick update on the Indiefreaks Game Framework v0.4 development status http://indiefreaks.com/2011/03/04/quick-update-on-igf-v0-4-development/

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• SQL SERVER – Signal Wait Time Introduction with Simple Example – Wait Type – Day 2 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  In this post, let’s delve a bit more in depth regarding wait stats. The very first question: when do the wait stats occur? Here is the simple answer. When SQL Server is executing any task, and if for any reason it has to wait for resources to execute the task, this wait is recorded by SQL Server with the reason for the delay. Later on we can analyze these wait stats to understand the reason the task was delayed and maybe we can eliminate the wait for SQL Server. It is not always possible to remove the wait type 100%, but there are few suggestions that can help. Before we continue learning about wait types and wait stats, we need to understand three important milestones of the query life-cycle. Running - a query which is being executed on a CPU is called a running query. This query is responsible for CPU time. Runnable – a query which is ready to execute and waiting for its turn to run is called a runnable query. This query is responsible for Signal Wait time. (In other words, the query is ready to run but CPU is servicing another query). Suspended – a query which is waiting due to any reason (to know the reason, we are learning wait stats) to be converted to runnable is suspended query. This query is responsible for wait time. (In other words, this is the time we are trying to reduce). In simple words, query execution time is a summation of the query Executing CPU Time (Running) + Query Wait Time (Suspended) + Query Signal Wait Time (Runnable). Again, it may be possible a query goes to all these stats multiple times. Let us try to understand the whole thing with a simple analogy of a taxi and a passenger. Two friends, Tom and Danny, go to the mall together. When they leave the mall, they decide to take a taxi. Tom and Danny both stand in the line waiting for their turn to get into the taxi. This is the Signal Wait Time as they are ready to get into the taxi but the taxis are currently serving other customer and they have to wait for their turn. In other word they are in a runnable state. Now when it is their turn to get into the taxi, the taxi driver informs them he does not take credit cards and only cash is accepted. Neither Tom nor Danny have enough cash, they both cannot get into the vehicle. Tom waits outside in the queue and Danny goes to ATM to fetch the cash. During this time the taxi cannot wait, they have to let other passengers get into the taxi. As Tom and Danny both are outside in the queue, this is the Query Wait Time and they are in the suspended state. They cannot do anything till they get the cash. Once Danny gets the cash, they are both standing in the line again, creating one more Signal Wait Time. This time when their turn comes they can pay the taxi driver in cash and reach their destination. The time taken for the taxi to get from the mall to the destination is running time (CPU time) and the taxi is running. I hope this analogy is bit clear with the wait stats. You can check the Signalwait stats using following query of Glenn Berry. -- Signal Waits for instance SELECT CAST(100.0 * SUM(signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%signal (cpu) waits], CAST(100.0 * SUM(wait_time_ms - signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%resource waits] FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats OPTION (RECOMPILE); Higher the Signal wait stats are not good for the system. Very high value indicates CPU pressure. In my experience, when systems are running smooth and without any glitch the Signal wait stat is lower than 20%. Again, this number can be debated (and it is from my experience and is not documented anywhere). In other words, lower is better and higher is not good for the system. In future articles we will discuss in detail the various wait types and wait stats and their resolution. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• Using DEBUG Mode in Oracle SQL Developer to Log SQL

  - by thatjeffsmith

  Curious how we’re getting the data you see in SQL Developer when you click on something? While many of the dialogs provide a ‘SQL’ panel that shows you the SQL ABOUT to be generated, I’d rather see the SQL AS it’s executed. True, you could set a TRACE or fire up a Monitor Sessions report, but both of those solutions leave me hungry for more. Did you know that SQL Developer has a ‘debug’ mode? It slows the tool down a bit and spits out a lot of information you don’t care about, but it ALSO shows you ALL the SQL that is sent to the database, as you click around the tool! See ALL the SQL that SQL Developer sends to the database on your behalf Enable DEBUG Mode When you see the splash screen as SQL Developer fires up, frantically hit Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, SELECT, Start. Wait, wrong game. No, all you need to do is go to your SQL Developer directory and navigate down to the ‘bin’ directory. In that directory, find the ‘sqldeveloper.conf’ file. Install Directory - sqldeveloper - bin - sqldeveloper.conf Open it with a text editor. Find this line IncludeConfFile sqldeveloper-nondebug.conf And replace it with this line IncludeConfFile sqldeveloper-debug.conf Save the file. Start up SQL Developer. Observe the Logging Page – Log Panel for the SQL There’s going to be more than just SQL here. You’ll actually see a LOT of other information. If you’re having general problems with the tool and you want to see the nitty-gritty of what’s going on, then this is a good place to satisfy your curiosity and might help us diagnose your issue if you post to the forums or open a ticket with My Oracle Support. You’ll find ‘INFO’ entries that look a little something like this - This is the query used to populate your Tables list in the connection tree. You can double-click on the sql text and get a pop-up window that’s much easier to read. See all that typing we’re saving you? I don’t recommend running in DEBUG mode all the time. Capturing this information and displaying it is more expensive than not doing so. And it provides a lot of information you don’t normally need to see. But when you DO want to know what’s going on and why, this is an excellent way of getting that information. When you’re ready to go back to ‘normal’ mode, just close SQL Developer, go back to your .conf file, and add the ‘nondebug’ bit back.

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• SQL SERVER – Single Wait Time Introduction with Simple Example – Wait Type – Day 2 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  In this post, let’s delve a bit more in depth regarding wait stats. The very first question: when do the wait stats occur? Here is the simple answer. When SQL Server is executing any task, and if for any reason it has to wait for resources to execute the task, this wait is recorded by SQL Server with the reason for the delay. Later on we can analyze these wait stats to understand the reason the task was delayed and maybe we can eliminate the wait for SQL Server. It is not always possible to remove the wait type 100%, but there are few suggestions that can help. Before we continue learning about wait types and wait stats, we need to understand three important milestones of the query life-cycle. Running - a query which is being executed on a CPU is called a running query. This query is responsible for CPU time. Runnable – a query which is ready to execute and waiting for its turn to run is called a runnable query. This query is responsible for Single Wait time. (In other words, the query is ready to run but CPU is servicing another query). Suspended – a query which is waiting due to any reason (to know the reason, we are learning wait stats) to be converted to runnable is suspended query. This query is responsible for wait time. (In other words, this is the time we are trying to reduce). In simple words, query execution time is a summation of the query Executing CPU Time (Running) + Query Wait Time (Suspended) + Query Single Wait Time (Runnable). Again, it may be possible a query goes to all these stats multiple times. Let us try to understand the whole thing with a simple analogy of a taxi and a passenger. Two friends, Tom and Danny, go to the mall together. When they leave the mall, they decide to take a taxi. Tom and Danny both stand in the line waiting for their turn to get into the taxi. This is the Signal Wait Time as they are ready to get into the taxi but the taxis are currently serving other customer and they have to wait for their turn. In other word they are in a runnable state. Now when it is their turn to get into the taxi, the taxi driver informs them he does not take credit cards and only cash is accepted. Neither Tom nor Danny have enough cash, they both cannot get into the vehicle. Tom waits outside in the queue and Danny goes to ATM to fetch the cash. During this time the taxi cannot wait, they have to let other passengers get into the taxi. As Tom and Danny both are outside in the queue, this is the Query Wait Time and they are in the suspended state. They cannot do anything till they get the cash. Once Danny gets the cash, they are both standing in the line again, creating one more Single Wait Time. This time when their turn comes they can pay the taxi driver in cash and reach their destination. The time taken for the taxi to get from the mall to the destination is running time (CPU time) and the taxi is running. I hope this analogy is bit clear with the wait stats. You can check the single wait stats using following query of Glenn Berry. -- Signal Waits for instance SELECT CAST(100.0 * SUM(signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%signal (cpu) waits], CAST(100.0 * SUM(wait_time_ms - signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%resource waits] FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats OPTION (RECOMPILE); Higher the single wait stats are not good for the system. Very high value indicates CPU pressure. In my experience, when systems are running smooth and without any glitch the single wait stat is lower than 20%. Again, this number can be debated (and it is from my experience and is not documented anywhere). In other words, lower is better and higher is not good for the system. In future articles we will discuss in detail the various wait types and wait stats and their resolution. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• Ask the Readers: Do You Use the Command Line?

  - by Asian Angel

  Most people have heard of it but not everyone is familiar or comfortable with how to use this bastion of geekdom. This week we would like to know if you use the command line or not. The command line…the bastion of ultimate geekery in many peoples’ eyes. You often hear people referring to doing things using the command line, so there must be something to it, right? For some people using the command line is the best, most efficient, and easiest way to do things on their systems. These are the people that many of us wish we were like. Next you have those who are proficient at using the command line but do not rely on it for everything they do on their systems. Then there are people who know how to perform some tasks or hacks using the command line but may not be as comfortable or knowledgeable as they wish to be using it. Moving on you find those who are interested in learning how to use the command line and just need a small push to get started.  Perhaps you feel too intimidated to learn it and just need the right opportunity to come along. And maybe you do not care one way or the other so long as you get done what you want to do on your system. Or you may prefer to simply use a graphical interface since that is quicker and easier for you (along with being familiar). You can find the whole range of people when it comes to using the command line… This week we would like to know if you use the command line or not. What command line category do you fit into? Power user? Casual usage? Totally lost? Let us know in the comments! How-To Geek Polls require Javascript. Please Click Here to View the Poll. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7 Happy Snow Bears Theme for Chrome and Iron [Holiday] Download Full Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Game for Free Scorched Cometary Planet Wallpaper Quick Fix: Add the RSS Button Back to the Firefox Awesome Bar Dropbox Desktop Client 1.0.0 RC for Windows, Linux, and Mac Released

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• Watch YouTube in Windows 7 Media Center

  - by Mysticgeek

  Have you been looking for a way to watch your favorite viral videos from YouTube and Dailymotion from the couch? Today we take a look at an easy to use plugin which allows you to watch streaming video in Windows 7 Media Center. Install Macrotube The first thing we need to do is download and install the plugin called Macrotube (link below) following the defaults through the install wizard. After it’s installed, open Windows 7 Media Center and you’ll find Macrotube in the main menu. Currently there are three services available…YouTube, Dailymotion, and MSN Soapbox. Just select the service where you want to check out some videos. You can browse through different subjects or categories… Or you can search the the service by typing in what you’re looking for…with your remote or keyboard. There is the ability to drill down you search content by date, rating, views, and relevance. There are a few settings available such as the language beta, auto updates, and appearance. Now just kick back and browse through the different services and watch what you want from the comfort of your couch or on your computer. Conclusion This neat project is still in development and the developer is continuing to add changes through updates. It only works with Windows 7 Media Player, but there is a 32 & 64-bit version. Sometimes we experiences certain videos that wouldn’t play and it did crash a few times, but that is to be expected with a work in progress. But overall, this is a cool plugin that will allow you to watch your favorite online content from WMC. Download Macrotube and get more details and troubleshooting help fro the GreenButton forum Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Integrate Hulu Desktop and Windows Media Center in Windows 7Automatically Start Windows 7 Media Center in Live TV ModeWatch TV Programming Without a TV Tuner In Window 7 Media CenterAutomatically Mount and View ISO files in Windows 7 Media Center TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 NachoFoto Searches Images in Real-time Office 2010 Product Guides Google Maps Place marks – Pizza, Guns or Strip Clubs Monitor Applications With Kiwi LocPDF is a Visual PDF Search Tool Download Free iPad Wallpapers at iPad Decor

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• Desktop Fun: Merry Christmas Fonts

  - by Asian Angel

  Christmas will soon be here and there are lots of cards, invitations, gift tags, photos, and more to prepare beforehand. To help you get ready we have gathered together a great collection of fun holiday fonts to help turn those ordinary looking holiday items into extraordinary looking ones. Note: To manage the fonts on your Windows 7, Vista, & XP systems see our article here. Oldchristmas Download Holly Download Christmas Flakes *includes two font types Download Frosty Download Kingthings Christmas Download Candy Time Download BodieMF Holly Download Snowfall Download Snowflake Letters Download Hultog Snowdrift Download AlphaShapes Xmas Trees Download Christmas Tree Download PF Wreath Download Snowy Caps Download PF Snowman *includes three font types Note: Shown in all capital letters here. Download BJF Holly Bells Download Christbaumkugeln Download Xmas Lights Download XmasDings *includes 62 individual characters Note: This group represents A – Z in all capital letters. Note: This group represents A – Z in all lower case letters. Note: This group represents the numbers 0 – 9. Download WWFlakes *includes 62 individual characters Note: This group represents A – Z in all capital letters. Note: This group represents A – Z in all lower case letters. Note: This group represents the numbers 0 – 9. Download For Christmas Card creating fun and a great way to use your new fonts see our MS Word Christmas Card project series here. Design and Print Your Own Christmas Cards in MS Word, Part 1 Design and Print Your Own Christmas Cards in MS Word, Part 2: How to Print Want more great ways to customize your computer? Then be certain to look through our Desktop Fun section. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography Happy Snow Bears Theme for Chrome and Iron [Holiday] Download Full Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Game for Free Scorched Cometary Planet Wallpaper Quick Fix: Add the RSS Button Back to the Firefox Awesome Bar Dropbox Desktop Client 1.0.0 RC for Windows, Linux, and Mac Released Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper

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• Display System Information on Your Desktop with Desktop Info

  - by Asian Angel

  Do you like to monitor your system but do not want a complicated app to do it with? If you love simplicity and easy configuration then join us as we look at Desktop Info. Desktop Info in Action Desktop Info comes in a zip file format so you will need to unzip the app, place it into an appropriate “Program Files Folder”, and create a shortcut. Do NOT delete the “Read Me File”…this will be extremely useful to you when you make changes to the “Configuration File”. Once you have everything set up you are ready to start Desktop Info up. This is the default layout and set of listings displayed when you start Desktop Info up for the first time. The font colors will be a mix of colors as seen here and the font size will perhaps be a bit small but those are very easy to change if desired. You can access the “Context Menu” directly over the “information area”…so no need to look for it in the “System Tray”. Notice that you can easily access that important “Read Me File” from here… The full contents of the configuration file (.ini file) are displayed here so that you can see exactly what kind of information can be displayed using the default listings. The first section is “Options”…you will most likely want to increase the font size while you are here. Then “Items”… If you are unhappy with any of the font colors in the “information area” this is where you can make the changes. You can turn information display items on or off here. And finally “Files, Registry, & Event Logs”. Here is our displayed information after a few tweaks in the configuration file. Very nice. Conclusion If you have been looking for a system information app that is simple and easy to set up then you should definitely give Desktop Info a try. Links Download Desktop Info Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Ask the Readers: What are Your Computer’s Hardware Specs?Allow Remote Control To Your Desktop On UbuntuHow To Get Detailed Information About Your PCGet CPU / System Load Average on Ubuntu LinuxEnable Remote Desktop (VNC) on Kubuntu TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Test Drive Windows 7 Online Download Wallpapers From National Geographic Site Spyware Blaster v4.3 Yes, it’s Patch Tuesday Generate Stunning Tag Clouds With Tagxedo Install, Remove and HIDE Fonts in Windows 7

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• Database model for keeping track of likes/shares/comments on blog posts over time

  - by gage

  My goal is to keep track of the popular posts on different blog sites based on social network activity at any given time. The goal is not to simply get the most popular now, but instead find posts that are popular compared to other posts on the same blog. For example, I follow a tech blog, a sports blog, and a gossip blog. The tech blog gets waaay more readership than the other two blogs, so in raw numbers every post on the tech blog will always out number views on the other two. So lets say the average tech blog post gets 500 facebook likes and the other two get an average of 50 likes per post. Then when there is a sports blog post that has 200 fb likes and a gossip blog post with 300 while the tech blog posts today have 500 likes I want to highlight the sports and gossip blog posts (more likes than average vs tech blog with more # of likes but just average for the blog) The approach I am thinking of taking is to make an entry in a database for each blog post. Every x minutes (say every 15 minutes) I will check how many likes/shares/comments an entry has received on all the social networks (facebook, twitter, google+, linkeIn). So over time there will be a history of likes for each blog post, i.e post 1234 after 15 min: 10 fb likes, 4 tweets, 6 g+ after 30 min: 15 fb likes, 15 tweets, 10 g+ ... ... after 48 hours: 200 fb likes, 25 tweets, 15 g+ By keeping a history like this for each blog post I can know the average number of likes/shares/tweets at any give time interval. So for example the average number of fb likes for all blog posts 48hrs after posting is 50, and a particular post has 200 I can mark that as a popular post and feature/highlight it. A consideration in the design is to be able to easily query the values (likes/shares) for a specific time-frame, i.e. fb likes after 30min or tweets after 24 hrs in-order to compute averages with which to compare against (or should averages be stored in it's own table?) If this approach is flawed or could use improvement please let me know, but it is not my main question. My main question is what should a database scheme for storing this info look like? Assuming that the above approach is taken I am trying to figure out what a database schema for storing the likes over time would look like. I am brand new to databases, in doing some basic reading I see that it is advisable to make a 3NF database. I have come up with the following possible schema. Schema 1 DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id ( primary key(pk) ) url title Table: Social Activity activity_id (pk) url (fk) type (i.e. facebook,twitter,g+) value timestamp This was my initial instinct (base on my very limited db knowledge). As far as I under stand this schema would be 3NF? I searched for designs of similar database model, and found this question on stackoverflow, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11216080/data-structure-for-storing-height-and-weight-etc-over-time-for-multiple-users . The scenario in that question is similar (recording weight/height of users overtime). Taking the accepted answer for that question and applying it to my model results in something like: Schema 2 (same as above, but break down the social activity into 2 tables) DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id (pk) url title Table: Social Measurement measurement_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp Table: Social stat stat_id (pk) measurement_id (fk) type (i.e. facebook,twitter,g+) value The advantage I see in schema 2 is that I will likely want to access all the values for a given time, i.e. when making a measurement at 30min after a post is published I will simultaneous check number of fb likes, fb shares, fb comments, tweets, g+, linkedIn. So with this schema it may be easier get get all stats for a measurement_id corresponding to a certain time, i.e. all social stats for post 1234 at time x. Another thought I had is since it doesn't make sense to compare number of fb likes with number of tweets or g+ shares, maybe it makes sense to separate each social measurement into it's own table? Schema 3 DB Popular Posts Table: Post post_id (pk) url title Table: fb_likes fb_like_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: fb_shares fb_shares_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: tweets tweets__id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value Table: google_plus google_plus_id (pk) post_id (fk) timestamp value As you can see I am generally lost/unsure of what approach to take. I'm sure this typical type of database problem (storing measurements overtime, i.e temperature statistic) that must have a common solution. Is there a design pattern/model for this, does it have a name? I tried searching for "database periodic data collection" or "database measurements over time" but didn't find anything specific. What would be an appropriate model to solve the needs of this problem?

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• Using BPEL Performance Statistics to Diagnose Performance Bottlenecks

  - by fip

  Tuning performance of Oracle SOA 11G applications could be challenging. Because SOA is a platform for you to build composite applications that connect many applications and "services", when the overall performance is slow, the bottlenecks could be anywhere in the system: the applications/services that SOA connects to, the infrastructure database, or the SOA server itself.How to quickly identify the bottleneck becomes crucial in tuning the overall performance. Fortunately, the BPEL engine in Oracle SOA 11G (and 10G, for that matter) collects BPEL Engine Performance Statistics, which show the latencies of low level BPEL engine activities. The BPEL engine performance statistics can make it a bit easier for you to identify the performance bottleneck. Although the BPEL engine performance statistics are always available, the access to and interpretation of them are somewhat obscure in the early and current (PS5) 11G versions. This blog attempts to offer instructions that help you to enable, retrieve and interpret the performance statistics, before the future versions provides a more pleasant user experience. Overview of BPEL Engine Performance Statistics  SOA BPEL has a feature of collecting some performance statistics and store them in memory. One MBean attribute, StatLastN, configures the size of the memory buffer to store the statistics. This memory buffer is a "moving window", in a way that old statistics will be flushed out by the new if the amount of data exceeds the buffer size. Since the buffer size is limited by StatLastN, impacts of statistics collection on performance is minimal. By default StatLastN=-1, which means no collection of performance data. Once the statistics are collected in the memory buffer, they can be retrieved via another MBean oracle.as.soainfra.bpel:Location=[Server Name],name=BPELEngine,type=BPELEngine.> My friend in Oracle SOA development wrote this simple 'bpelstat' web app that looks up and retrieves the performance data from the MBean and displays it in a human readable form. It does not have beautiful UI but it is fairly useful. Although in Oracle SOA 11.1.1.5 onwards the same statistics can be viewed via a more elegant UI under "request break down" at EM -> SOA Infrastructure -> Service Engines -> BPEL -> Statistics, some unsophisticated minds like mine may still prefer the simplicity of the 'bpelstat' JSP. One thing that simple JSP does do well is that you can save the page and send it to someone to further analyze Follows are the instructions of how to install and invoke the BPEL statistic JSP. My friend in SOA Development will soon blog about interpreting the statistics. Stay tuned. Step1: Enable BPEL Engine Statistics for Each SOA Servers via Enterprise Manager First st you need to set the StatLastN to some number as a way to enable the collection of BPEL Engine Performance Statistics EM Console -> soa-infra(Server Name) -> SOA Infrastructure -> SOA Administration -> BPEL Properties Click on "More BPEL Configuration Properties" Click on attribute "StatLastN", set its value to some integer number. Typically you want to set it 1000 or more. Step 2: Download and Deploy bpelstat.war File to Admin Server, Note: the WAR file contains a JSP that does NOT have any security restriction. You do NOT want to keep in your production server for a long time as it is a security hazard. Deactivate the war once you are done. Download the bpelstat.war to your local PC At WebLogic Console, Go to Deployments -> Install Click on the "upload your file(s)" Click the "Browse" button to upload the deployment to Admin Server Accept the uploaded file as the path, click next Check the default option "Install this deployment as an application" Check "AdminServer" as the target server Finish the rest of the deployment with default settings Console -> Deployments Check the box next to "bpelstat" application Click on the "Start" button. It will change the state of the app from "prepared" to "active" Step 3: Invoke the BPEL Statistic Tool The BPELStat tool merely call the MBean of BPEL server and collects and display the in-memory performance statics. You usually want to do that after some peak loads. Go to http://<admin-server-host>:<admin-server-port>/bpelstat Enter the correct admin hostname, port, username and password Enter the SOA Server Name from which you want to collect the performance statistics. For example, SOA_MS1, etc. Click Submit Keep doing the same for all SOA servers. Step 3: Interpret the BPEL Engine Statistics You will see a few categories of BPEL Statistics from the JSP Page. First it starts with the overall latency of BPEL processes, grouped by synchronous and asynchronous processes. Then it provides the further break down of the measurements through the life time of a BPEL request, which is called the "request break down". 1. Overall latency of BPEL processes The top of the page shows that the elapse time of executing the synchronous process TestSyncBPELProcess from the composite TestComposite averages at about 1543.21ms, while the elapse time of executing the asynchronous process TestAsyncBPELProcess from the composite TestComposite2 averages at about 1765.43ms. The maximum and minimum latency were also shown. Synchronous process statistics <statistics>     <stats key="default/TestComposite!2.0.2-ScopedJMSOSB*soa_bfba2527-a9ba-41a7-95c5-87e49c32f4ff/TestSyncBPELProcess" min="1234" max="4567" average="1543.21" count="1000">     </stats> </statistics> Asynchronous process statistics <statistics>     <stats key="default/TestComposite2!2.0.2-ScopedJMSOSB*soa_bfba2527-a9ba-41a7-95c5-87e49c32f4ff/TestAsyncBPELProcess" min="2234" max="3234" average="1765.43" count="1000">     </stats> </statistics> 2. Request break down Under the overall latency categorized by synchronous and asynchronous processes is the "Request breakdown". Organized by statistic keys, the Request breakdown gives finer grain performance statistics through the life time of the BPEL requests.It uses indention to show the hierarchy of the statistics. Request breakdown <statistics>     <stats key="eng-composite-request" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="0">         <stats key="eng-single-request" min="22" max="606" average="258.43" count="277">             <stats key="populate-context" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="248"> Please note that in SOA 11.1.1.6, the statistics under Request breakdown is aggregated together cross all the BPEL processes based on statistic keys. It does not differentiate between BPEL processes. If two BPEL processes happen to have the statistic that share same statistic key, the statistics from two BPEL processes will be aggregated together. Keep this in mind when we go through more details below. 2.1 BPEL process activity latencies A very useful measurement in the Request Breakdown is the performance statistics of the BPEL activities you put in your BPEL processes: Assign, Invoke, Receive, etc. The names of the measurement in the JSP page directly come from the names to assign to each BPEL activity. These measurements are under the statistic key "actual-perform" Example 1:  Follows is the measurement for BPEL activity "AssignInvokeCreditProvider_Input", which looks like the Assign activity in a BPEL process that assign an input variable before passing it to the invocation:                                <stats key="AssignInvokeCreditProvider_Input" min="1" max="8" average="1.9" count="153">                                     <stats key="sensor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="1" average="0.0" count="306">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="sensor-send-variable-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="monitor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306">                                     </stats>                                 </stats> Note: because as previously mentioned that the statistics cross all BPEL processes are aggregated together based on statistic keys, if two BPEL processes happen to name their Invoke activity the same name, they will show up at one measurement (i.e. statistic key). Example 2: Follows is the measurement of BPEL activity called "InvokeCreditProvider". You can not only see that by average it takes 3.31ms to finish this call (pretty fast) but also you can see from the further break down that most of this 3.31 ms was spent on the "invoke-service".                                  <stats key="InvokeCreditProvider" min="1" max="13" average="3.31" count="153">                                     <stats key="initiate-correlation-set-again" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="invoke-service" min="1" max="13" average="3.08" count="153">                                         <stats key="prep-call" min="0" max="1" average="0.04" count="153">                                         </stats>                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="initiate-correlation-set" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="sensor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="sensor-send-variable-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="monitor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306">                                     </stats>                                     <stats key="update-audit-trail" min="0" max="2" average="0.03" count="153">                                     </stats>                                 </stats> 2.2 BPEL engine activity latency Another type of measurements under Request breakdown are the latencies of underlying system level engine activities. These activities are not directly tied to a particular BPEL process or process activity, but they are critical factors in the overall engine performance. These activities include the latency of saving asynchronous requests to database, and latency of process dehydration. My friend Malkit Bhasin is working on providing more information on interpreting the statistics on engine activities on his blog (https://blogs.oracle.com/malkit/). I will update this blog once the information becomes available. Update on 2012-10-02: My friend Malkit Bhasin has published the detail interpretation of the BPEL service engine statistics at his blog http://malkit.blogspot.com/2012/09/oracle-bpel-engine-soa-suite.html.

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• Slides of my HOL on MySQL Cluster

  - by user13819847

  Hi!Thanks everyone who attended my hands-on lab on MySQL Cluster at MySQL Connect last Saturday.The following are the links for the slides, the HOL instructions, and the code examples.I'll try to summarize my HOL below.Aim of the HOL was to help attendees to familiarize with MySQL Cluster. In particular, by learning: the basics of MySQL Cluster Architecture the basics of MySQL Cluster Configuration and Administration how to start a new Cluster for evaluation purposes and how to connect to it We started by introducing MySQL Cluster. MySQL Cluster is a proven technology that today is successfully servicing the most performance-intensive workloads. MySQL Cluster is deployed across telecom networks and is powering mission-critical web applications. Without trading off use of commodity hardware, transactional consistency and use of complex queries, MySQL Cluster provides: Web Scalability (web-scale performance on both reads and writes) Carrier Grade Availability (99.999%) Developer Agility (freedom to use SQL or NoSQL access methods) MySQL Cluster implements: an Auto-Sharding, Multi-Master, Shared-nothing Architecture, where independent nodes can scale horizontally on commodity hardware with no shared disks, no shared memory, no single point of failure In the architecture of MySQL Cluster it is possible to find three types of nodes: management nodes: responsible for reading the configuration files, maintaining logs, and providing an interface to the administration of the entire cluster data nodes: where data and indexes are stored api nodes: provide the external connectivity (e.g. the NDB engine of the MySQL Server, APIs, Connectors) MySQL Cluster is recommended in the situations where: it is crucial to reduce service downtime, because this produces a heavy impact on business sharding the database to scale write performance higly impacts development of application (in MySQL Cluster the sharding is automatic and transparent to the application) there are real time needs there are unpredictable scalability demands it is important to have data-access flexibility (SQL & NoSQL) MySQL Cluster is available in two Editions: Community Edition (Open Source, freely downloadable from mysql.com) Carrier Grade Edition (Commercial Edition, can be downloaded from eDelivery for evaluation purposes) MySQL Carrier Grade Edition adds on the top of the Community Edition: Commercial Extensions (MySQL Cluster Manager, MySQL Enterprise Monitor, MySQL Cluster Installer) Oracle's Premium Support Services (largest team of MySQL experts backed by MySQL developers, forward compatible hot fixes, multi-language support, and more) We concluded talking about the MySQL Cluster vision: MySQL Cluster is the default database for anyone deploying rapidly evolving, realtime transactional services at web-scale, where downtime is simply not an option. From a practical point of view the HOL's steps were: MySQL Cluster installation start & monitoring of the MySQL Cluster processes client connection to the Management Server and to an SQL Node connection using the NoSQL NDB API and the Connector J In the hope that this blog post can help you get started with MySQL Cluster, I take the opportunity to thank you for the questions you made both during the HOL and at the MySQL Cluster booth. Slides are also on SlideShares: Santo Leto - MySQL Connect 2012 - Getting Started with Mysql Cluster Happy Clustering!

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• Oracle Open World 2012: SQL Developer Recap

  - by thatjeffsmith

  Last week was the ‘big show’ in San Francisco. I was very happy to meet many of you in person. And many of you had questions – lots of questions! We had full or overflowing rooms for our sessions and hands-on-labs. The SQL Developer ‘booths’ were also slammed several times. So exciting to see so many of YOU excited about SQL Developer. It’s very cool to hear the stories of our tools saving you and your organizations so much time (and money!) Instead of doing a Day 0 – Day 9 recap, I thought I’d share with you the questions that I heard more than once. And just for giggles, I’ll throw in some answers as well So in no particular order… What’s the difference between Oracle SQL Developer & Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler? Mathematically speaking – two words. But as far as the actual modeling features go, there’s no difference between the two applications. The same ‘code’ or features as it pertains to data modeling and design are in both tools. However, in SQL Developer you have all of the OTHER features fighting for real estate in the UI. So I have a general rule of thumb – if you spend MOST of your time in the database, use SQL Developer. And if you spend most of your time in the data model, run the separate and dedicated program, Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler. Here’s a couple of screenshots to drive home the UI point: Oracle SQL Developer Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler running INSIDE of SQL Developer. Notice how the Modeler menu items fold under the file menu? Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler Easier to navigate and manipulate your models with the stand alone modeler. Just no worksheet to run your ad-hoc queries, etc. Don’t forget you can disable the Data Modeler inside of SQL Developer via the Extensions preference page. How can I model my table partitions? Partitioning is defined via the Physical model. So after you have finished your relational model, you need to generate a physical model. Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler Physical Model and Partitioning Open the properties for your physical model table. Enable the ‘partitioned’ property. Once you do so, the ‘Partitioning’ page will activate. Lots and lots of partitioning support and options here But what about Interval Partitioning? An extension of range partitioning in 11gR2, we don’t currently support this partitioning scheme in SQL Developer. But we’re working on it! Can SQL Developer ignore column order when comparing models? Yes! After you start a model compare, one of your options is to disregard the order of an attribute or column definition. Tell SQL Developer you don’t care when your column shows up, just as long as it DOES show up. Wow, you got a lot of questions around modeling! Is that normal? Yes! While we appreciate that many folks inherit their applications and associated designs, new applications are being ‘born’ every day. Since both of our tools are free for anyone to design their new Oracle applications with, we attract a fair amount of attention I want to do a Hands On Lab. How do I get your software and instructional guides? Go here. Download VirtualBox. Then download the VB image. Import the appliance. Start it. Connect oracle/oracle on the OEL VM. Click on ‘Start Here’ in the desktop. Follow the instructions. If you need help, ask away! You went too fast in your Tips & Tricks session. Do you have cliff notes? Yes! And you’re SO close to finding them! Just go to my SQL Developer resources page. All of my tips are documented on this blog somewhere. I’ve indexed the most popular ones on the resource page. You can use the Search dialog on the right to find the rest. Or just send me a comment or question, and I’ll do my best to answer them as they come in.

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• Desktop Fun: Abstract Icon Packs

  - by Asian Angel

  Do you prefer a more unique, artistic, or alternative look for your desktop setup? Then you will definitely want to have a look through our Abstract Icon Packs collection. Just set your imagination loose and enjoy the wonderful desktops that these icon packs can inspire for you. Note: To customize the icon setup on your Windows 7 & Vista systems see our article here. Using Windows XP? We have you covered here. Sneak Preview For this week’s preview desktop we created an Alien Desert Planet theme using the Abstract Symbol Icons pack shown below. Note: The original, unmodified version of this wallpaper can be found here. Here is a closer look at the icons we used for our new theme… The Icon Packs Match-stick-play Icons *.ico format only Download Abstract Symbol Icons *.ico format only Download Allomantic Metals *.ico format only Download Mutated Snowflake Icon Set *.ico format only Download Shades of Geometry *.ico format only Download Starry Objects Icons *.ico format only Download New Sin – Abstract Human Icons *.ico, .png, and .psd format Note: While most of the icons in this pack look similar at first glance, there are differences when viewed at a larger size. Download Mysterious Icons *.ico format only Download Alien Icons *.ico format only Download Beads Icons *.ico format only Download Magic Flowers Icons *.ico format only Download Circle Shapes Icons *.ico format only Download geometric doc icons *.png format only Download alumina *.png format only Download Citiscape dockicons *.png format only Download Wanting more great icon sets to look through? Be certain to visit our Desktop Fun section for more icon goodness! Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? HTG Explains: Why Does Photo Paper Improve Print Quality? Add Falling Snow to Webpages with the Snowfall Extension for Opera [Browser Fun] Automatically Keep Up With the Latest Releases from Mozilla Labs in Firefox 4.0 A Look Back at 2010 Through Infographics Monitor the Weather with the Weather Forecast Extension for Opera Orbiting at the Edge of the Atmosphere Wallpaper Simon’s Cat Explores the Christmas Tree! [Video]

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• Use Advanced Font Ligatures in Office 2010

  - by Matthew Guay

  Fonts can help your documents stand out and be easier to read, and Office 2010 helps you take your fonts even further with support for OpenType ligatures, stylistic sets, and more.  Here’s a quick look at these new font features in Office 2010. Introduction Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft has made an effort to support more advanced font features across their products.  Windows 7 includes support for advanced OpenType font features and laid the groundwork for advanced font support in programs with the new DirectWrite subsystem.  It also includes the new font Gabriola, which includes an incredible number of beautiful stylistic sets and ligatures. Now, with the upcoming release of Office 2010, Microsoft is bringing advanced typographical features to the Office programs we love.  This includes support for OpenType ligatures, stylistic sets, number forms, contextual alternative characters, and more.  These new features are available in Word, Outlook, and Publisher 2010, and work the same on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Please note that Windows does include several OpenType fonts that include these advanced features.  Calibri, Cambria, Constantia, and Corbel all include multiple number forms, while Consolas, Palatino Linotype, and Gabriola (Windows 7 only) include all the OpenType features.  And, of course, these new features will work great with any other OpenType fonts you have that contain advanced ligatures, stylistic sets, and number forms. Using advanced typography in Word To use the new font features, open a new document, select an OpenType font, and enter some text.  Here we have Word 2010 in Windows 7 with some random text in the Gabriola font.  Click the arrow on the bottom of the Font section of the ribbon to open the font properties. Alternately, select the text and click Font. Now, click on the Advanced tab to see the OpenType features. You can change the ligatures setting… Choose Proportional or Tabular number spacing… And even select Lining or Old-style number forms. Here’s a comparison of Lining and Old-style number forms in Word 2010 with the Calibri font. Finally, you can choose various Stylistic sets for your font.  The dialog always shows 20 styles, whether or not your font includes that many.  Most include only 1 or 2; Gabriola includes 6. Here’s lorem ipsum text, using the Gabriola font with Stylistic set 6. Impressive, huh?  The font ligatures change based on context, so they will automatically change as you are typing.  Watch the transition as we typed the word Microsoft in Word with Gabriola stylistic set 6. Here’s another example, showing the fi and tt ligatures in Calibri. These effects work great in Word 2010 in XP, too. And, since Outlook uses Word as it’s editing engine, you can use the same options in Outlook 2010.  Note that these font effects may not show up the same if the recipient’s email client doesn’t support advanced OpenType typography.  It will, of course, display perfectly if the recipient is using Outlook 2010. Using advanced typography in Publisher 2010 Publisher 2010 includes the same advanced font features.  This is especially nice for those using Publisher for professional layout and design.  Simply insert a text box, enter some text, select it, and click the arrow on the bottom of the font box as in Word to open the font properties. This font options dialog is actually more advanced than Word’s font options.  You can preview your font changes on sample text right in the properties box.  You can also choose to add or remove a swash from your characters.   Conclusion Advanced typographical effects are a welcome addition to Word and Publisher 2010, and they are very impressive when coupled with modern fonts such as Gabriola.  From designing elegant headers to using old-style numbers, these features are very useful and fun. Do you have a favorite OpenType font that includes advanced typographical features?  Let us know in the comments! More Reading Advances in typography in Windows 7 – Engineering 7 Blog New features in Microsoft Word 2010 Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Change the Default Font in Excel 2007Ask the Readers: Do You Use a Laptop, Desktop, or Both?Keep Websites From Using Tiny Fonts in SafariAdd or Remove Apps from the Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 SuiteFriday Fun: Desktop Tower Defense Pro TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional SpeedyFox Claims to Speed up your Firefox Beware Hover Kitties Test Drive Mobile Phones Online With TryPhone Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, 3/23/10 New Stinger from McAfee Helps Remove ‘FakeAlert’ Threats Google Apps Marketplace: Tools & Services For Google Apps Users

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• Rob Blackwell on interoperability and Azure

  - by Eric Nelson

  At QCon in March we had a sample Azure application implemented in both Java and Ruby to demonstrate that the Windows Azure Platform is not just about .NET. The following is an interesting interview with Rob Blackwell, the R&D director of the partner who implemented the application. UK Interoperability Team Interviews Rob Blackwell, R&D Director at Active Web Solutions. Is Microsoft taking interoperability seriously? Yes. In the past, I think Microsoft has, quite rightly come in for criticism, but architects and developers should look at this again. The Interoperability Bridges site (http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/ ) shows a wide range of projects that allow interoperability from Java, Ruby and PHP for example. The Windows Azure platform has been architected with interoperable APIs in mind. It's straightforward to access the various storage facilities from just about any language or platform. Azure compute is capable of running more than just C# applications! Why is interoperability important to you? My company provides consultancy and bespoke development services. We're a Microsoft Gold Partner, but we live in the real world where companies have a mix of technologies provided by a variety of vendors. When developing an enterprise software solution, you rarely have a completely blank canvas. We often see integration scenarios where we need to exchange data with legacy systems. It's not unusual to see modern Silverlight applications being built on top of Java or Mainframe based back ends. Could you give us some examples of where interoperability has been important for your projects? We developed an innovative Sea Safety system for the RNLI Lifeboats here in the UK. Commercial Fishing is one of the most dangerous professions and we helped developed the MOB Guardian System which uses satellite technology and man overboard devices to raise the alarm when a fisherman gets into trouble. The solution is implemented in .NET running on Windows, but without interoperable standards, it would have been impossible to communicate with the satellite gateway technology. For more information, please see the case study: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000005892 More recently, we were asked to build a web site to accompany the QCon 2010 conference in London to help demonstrate and promote interoperability. We built the site using Java and Restlet and hosted it in Windows Azure Compute. The site accepts feedback from visitors and all the data is stored in Windows Azure Storage. We also ported the application to Ruby on Rails for demonstration purposes. Visitors to the stand were surprised that this was even possible. Why should Java developers be interested in Windows Azure? Windows Azure Storage consists of Blobs, Queues and Tables. The storage is scalable, durable, secure and cost-effective. Using the WindowsAzure4j library, it's easy to use, and takes just a few lines of code. If you are writing an application with large data storage requirements, or you want an offsite backup, it makes a lot of sense. Running Java applications in Azure Compute is straightforward with tools like the Tomcat Solution Accelerator (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/winazuretomcat )and AzureRunMe (http://azurerunme.codeplex.com/ ). The Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus can also be used to connect heterogeneous systems running on different networks and in different data centres. How can The Service Bus be considered an interoperability solution? I think that the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus is one of Microsoft’s best kept secrets. Think of it as “a globally scalable application plumbing kit in the sky”. If you have used Enterprise Service Buses before, you’ll be familiar with the concept. Applications can connect to the service bus to securely exchange data – these can be point to point or multicast links. With the AppFabric Service Bus, the applications can exist anywhere that has access to the Internet and the connections can traverse firewalls. This makes it easy to extend or scale your application or reach out to other networks and technologies. For example, let’s say you have a SQL Server database running on premises and you want to expose the data to a Java application running in the cloud. You could set up a point to point Service Bus connection and use JDBC. Traditionally this would have been difficult or impossible without punching holes in firewalls and compromising security. Rob Blackwell is R&D Director at Active Web Solutions, www.aws.net , a Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in leading edge software solutions. He is an occasional writer and conference speaker and blogs at www.robblackwell.org.uk Related Links: UK Azure Online Community – join today. UK Windows Azure Site Start working with Windows Azure

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• [MISC GEEKERY] Lucid Lynx to Come Loaded with Ubuntu One Music Store

  - by Vivek

  Ubuntu 10.04 (code name Lucid Lynx) will come loaded with the Ubuntu One music store. Rhythmbox will have the Ubuntu One music store integrated in it. It’ll also allow users to download purchased music to their local machine. Ubuntu One Music Store Users will be able to access Ubuntu One music store from the sidebar of Rhythmbox. The music store is a web page that opens in the Rhythmbox player. There are albums listed on the home page of the Ubuntu One music store page. Ubuntu One music store is powered by 7digital, which is a leading digital B2B media delivery company based in London and operating globally. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has partnered with 7digital to bring the music store to it’s users, integrating it with Rhythmbox and it’s cloud storage service UbuntuOne which was launched last year. The home screen of the Ubuntu One music store displays popular albums and functionality to browse and search. You can search for Artists, Tracks, Albums, or a combination of all three. Users will also be able to browse the store alphabetically, or based on different music genres. Once you select a specific artist, all their available albums are arranged in a grid. Once an album is selected, you’ll will be able to download specific songs or the whole album. You’ll also be allowed to preview different songs for 60 seconds. You’ll be able to buy tracks using a credit card or with PayPal. The purchased tracks will be visible under Library \ Purchased from Ubuntu One. The downloaded tracks are also synced with your UbuntuOne account. This means that you’ll be able to access your tracks from any where on the web. The default UbuntuOne account comes with 2 GB free storage, however, you can also purchase additional space if you need it.   All the music is in mp3 format which is not supported by default in Ubuntu. However, you can get mp3 playback functionality using GStreamer multimedia framework. Conclusion All in all the Ubuntu One music store is a positive move to enhance the user experience and also increase the popularity of Canonical in bringing Ubuntu closer to regular users. This would also provide Canonical to make some revenue in collaboration with 7digital. Ubuntu One Music Store Wiki Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install GIMP 2.7.1 on Lucid Lynx using PPAExaile 0.3.0 is a Music Player for UbuntuHow to install Spotify in Ubuntu 9.10 using WineAdding extra Repositories on UbuntuSpeed Up Amarok With Large Music Collections TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Open Multiple Links At One Go NachoFoto Searches Images in Real-time Office 2010 Product Guides Google Maps Place marks – Pizza, Guns or Strip Clubs Monitor Applications With Kiwi LocPDF is a Visual PDF Search Tool

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• Stackify Aims to Put More ‘Dev’ in ‘DevOps’

  - by Matt Watson

  Originally published on VisualStudioMagazine.com on 8/22/2012 by Keith Ward.The Kansas City-based startup wants to make it easier for developers to examine the network stack and find problems in code.The first part of “DevOps” is “Dev”. But according to Matt Watson, Devs aren’t connected enough with Ops, and it’s time that changed.He founded the startup company Stackify earlier this year to do something about it. Stackify gives developers unprecedented access to the IT side of the equation, Watson says, without putting additional burden on the system and network administrators who ultimately ensure the health of the environment.“We need a product designed for developers, with the goal of getting them more involved in operations and app support. Now, there’s next to nothing designed for developers,” Watson says. Stackify allows developers to search the network stack to troubleshoot problems in their software that might otherwise take days of coordination between development and IT teams to solve.Stackify allows developers to search log files, configuration files, databases and other infrastructure to locate errors. A key to this is that the developers are normally granted read-only access, soothing admin fears that developers will upload bad code to their servers.Implementation starts with data collection on the servers. Among the information gleaned is application discovery, server monitoring, file access, and other data collection, according to Stackify’s Web site. Watson confirmed that Stackify works seamlessly with virtualized environments as well.Although the data collection software must be installed on Windows servers, it can monitor both Windows and Linux servers. Once collection’s finished, developers have the kind of information they need, without causing heartburn for the IT staff.Stackify is a 100 percent cloud-based service. The company uses Windows Azure for hosting, a decision Watson’s happy with. With Azure, he says, “It’s nice to have all the dev tools like cache and table storage.” Although there have been a few glitches here and there with the service, it’s run very smoothly for the most part, he adds.Stackify is currently in a closed beta, with a public release scheduled for October. Watson says that pricing is expected to be $25 per month, per server, with volume discounts available. He adds that the target audience is companies with at least five developers.Watson founded Stackify after selling his last company, VinSolutions, to AutoTrader.com for “close to $150 million”, according to press accounts. Watson has since  founded the Watson Technology Group, which focuses on angel investing.About the Author: Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.

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• Edit ePub eBooks with Your Favorite HTML Editor

  - by Matthew Guay

  ePub eBooks are increasingly popular today, but often they’ve been made by converting other file formats. Here’s how you can edit ePub books to remove irregularities and make them better for reading on your devices. ePub’s are actually a zip file containing images, XHTML files with your text, and more with the .epub extension. You can make them better by editing the XHTML files directly.  Code gurus can edit the code directly, but even if you’ve never edited HTML, you can still quickly make changes with a WYSIWYG editor. Extract the Files from your ePub eBook As mentioned before, ePub files are actually renamed zip files.  So first let’s get all of the files in your ePub eBook accessible.  Find an eBook you want to edit and then change the file extension to .zip. If you don’t see the file extensions, click Organize in the menu bar and select Folder and search options. Select the View tab, and then uncheck the box beside Hide extensions for known file types.  Click Ok, and then change the file type as above. Windows will warn you about changing the file type; click Yes to proceed. Now you can browse the files of the ePub file.  Notice that it contains mostly HTML or XHTML files and images.  Click Extract all files to save them all in a folder so you can easily edit them. Alternately, you can open the ePub file directly in your favorite file archival program such as 7-zip.  Browse to the location of your ePub file, double-click it, and it’ll automatically open even if you don’t change the file extension to zip.  Now you can extract the folder, or extract individual files as before.   Edit Your eBook in KompoZer The actual ebook contents are stored in HTML or XHTML files.  These may be stored on the top folder of you ePub file’s directory, or they may be stored in \OEBPS\text in the file. To change the contents of your eBook, you’ll want to edit these files.  Often there may be separate files for each chapter, so you may have to use trial and error to find the one you need to edit.  You could edit them by hand in Windows using Notepad if you don’t have an HTML editor installed. A better option would be to use an HTML editor.  Here we’ll use the free KompoZer program to edit the files just like we’d edit a document in Word. Download KompoZer (link below), and unzip the files.  Then open the new folder and launch kompozer.exe; you don’t even need to install it.  In fact, you could even store KompoZer on a flash drive so you could edit HTML files from any computer. In KompoZer, open the HTML or XHTML file from your eBook that you want to edit. Now you can edit the file just like you would edit a document in Word.  Remove extra and unneeded text, make titles stand out, correct misspellings … anything you want!  This is especially helpful if your ePub file was created by converting a PDF as these often have many small errors. Or, if you’d rather edit the code itself, select the Source tab and edit as you wish. When you’re done making the changes, make sure to save the file in the same location with the same file name. Recreate Your Edited ePub eBook Once you’ve made all the changes you wanted, it’s time to turn this folder of files back into ePub.  Make sure you change the name of the folder if it still has the same name as the original ePub or zip file so you don’t mix them up or have trouble with overwriting the old files. Zip the folder using Windows Explorer or your favorite archival utility.  If you are using another archival program, make sure to compress it as a zip folder; other compression methods will render the ePub unreadable by your eReader app. Now change the file extension again, this time back to .epub. Now you can read your eBook with your changes in your favorite reader program or app on your mobile device. Conclusion Whether you need to remove an odd, misplaced character or need to do fine editing, using an HTML editor is a great way to make your ePub eBooks look just like you want.  Also, with an editor like KompoZer it’s not even difficult. Download KompoZer Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Change the Default Editor From Nano on Ubuntu LinuxConvert a PDF eBook to ePub Format for Your iPad, iPhone, or eReaderRead Mobi eBooks on Kindle for PCEdit Your Firefox Bookmarks Easier with Flat Bookmark EditorChange the Default Editor for Batch Files in Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips HippoRemote Pro 2.2 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server XPS file format & XPS Viewer Explained Microsoft Office Web Apps Guide Know if Someone Accessed Your Facebook Account Shop for Music with Windows Media Player 12 Access Free Documentaries at BBC Documentaries Rent Cameras In Bulk At CameraRenter

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• Sixeyed.Caching available now on NuGet and GitHub!

  - by Elton Stoneman

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/EltonStoneman/archive/2013/10/22/sixeyed.caching-available-now-on-nuget-and-github.aspxThe good guys at Pluralsight have okayed me to publish my caching framework (as seen in Caching in the .NET Stack: Inside-Out) as an open-source library, and it’s out now. You can get it here: Sixeyed.Caching source code on GitHub, and here: Sixeyed.Caching package v1.0.0 on NuGet. If you haven’t seen the course, there’s a preview here on YouTube: In-Process and Out-of-Process Caches, which gives a good flavour. The library is a wrapper around various cache providers, including the .NET MemoryCache, AppFabric cache, and  memcached*. All the wrappers inherit from a base class which gives you a set of common functionality against all the cache implementations: •    inherits OutputCacheProvider, so you can use your chosen cache provider as an ASP.NET output cache; •    serialization and encryption, so you can configure whether you want your cache items serialized (XML, JSON or binary) and encrypted; •    instrumentation, you can optionally use performance counters to monitor cache attempts and hits, at a low level. The framework wraps up different caches into an ICache interface, and it lets you use a provider directly like this: Cache.Memory.Get<RefData>(refDataKey); - or with configuration to use the default cache provider: Cache.Default.Get<RefData>(refDataKey); The library uses Unity’s interception framework to implement AOP caching, which you can use by flagging methods with the [Cache] attribute: [Cache] public RefData GetItem(string refDataKey) - and you can be more specific on the required cache behaviour: [Cache(CacheType=CacheType.Memory, Days=1] public RefData GetItem(string refDataKey) - or really specific: [Cache(CacheType=CacheType.Disk, SerializationFormat=SerializationFormat.Json, Hours=2, Minutes=59)] public RefData GetItem(string refDataKey) Provided you get instances of classes with cacheable methods from the container, the attributed method results will be cached, and repeated calls will be fetched from the cache. You can also set a bunch of cache defaults in application config, like whether to use encryption and instrumentation, and whether the cache system is enabled at all: <sixeyed.caching enabled="true"> <performanceCounters instrumentCacheTotalCounts="true" instrumentCacheTargetCounts="true" categoryNamePrefix ="Sixeyed.Caching.Tests"/> <encryption enabled="true" key="1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef" iv="1234567890abcdef"/> <!-- key must be 32 characters, IV must be 16 characters--> </sixeyed.caching> For AOP and methods flagged with the cache attribute, you can override the compile-time cache settings at runtime with more config (keyed by the class and method name): <sixeyed.caching enabled="true"> <targets> <target keyPrefix="MethodLevelCachingStub.GetRandomIntCacheConfiguredInternal" enabled="false"/> <target keyPrefix="MethodLevelCachingStub.GetRandomIntCacheExpiresConfiguredInternal" seconds="1"/> </targets> It’s released under the MIT license, so you can use it freely in your own apps and modify as required. I’ll be adding more content to the GitHub wiki, which will be the main source of documentation, but for now there’s an FAQ to get you started. * - in the course the framework library also wraps NCache Express, but there's no public redistributable library that I can find, so it's not in Sixeyed.Caching.

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• Installing SharePoint 2013 on Windows 2012- standalone installation

  - by sreejukg

  In this article, I am going to share my experience while installing SharePoint 2013 on Windows 2012. This was the first time I tried SharePoint 2013. So I thought sharing the same will benefit somebody who would like to install SharePoint 2013 as a standalone installation. Standalone installation is meant for evaluation/development purposes. For production environments, you need to follow the best practices and create required service accounts. Microsoft has published the deployment guide for SharePoint 2013, you can download this from the below link. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30384 Since this is for development environment, I am not going to create any service account, I logged in to Windows 2012 as an administrator and just placed my installation DVD on the drive. When I run the setup from the DVD, the below splash screen appears. This reflects the new UI changes happening with all Microsoft based applications; the interface matches the metro style applications (Windows 8 style). As you can see the options are same as that of the SharePoint 2010 installation screen. Click on the “install software prerequisites” link to get all the prerequisites get installed. You need a valid internet connection to do this. Clicking on the install software prerequisites will bring the following dialog. Click Next, you will see the terms and conditions. Select I accept check box and click Next. The installation will start immediately. For any reason, if you stop the installation and start it later, the product preparation tool will check whether a particular component is installed and if yes, then the installation of that particular component will be skipped. If you do not have internet connection, you will face the download error as follows. At any point of failure, the error log will be available for you to review. If all OK, you will reach the below dialog, this means some components will be installed once the PC is rebooted. Be noted that the clicking on finish will not ask you for further confirmation. So make sure to save all your work before clicking on finish button. Once the server is restarted, the product preparation tool will start automatically and you will see the following dialog. Now go to the SharePoint 2013 splash page and click on “Install SharePoint Server” link. You need to enter the product key here. Enter the product key as you received and click continue. Select the Checkbox for the license agreement and click on continue button. Now you need to select the installation type. Select Stand-alone and click on “Install Now” button. A dialog will pop up that updates you with the process and progress. The installation took around 15-20 minutes with 2 GB or Ram installed in the server, seems fair. Once the installation is over, you will see the following Dialog. Make sure you select the Run the products and configuration wizard. If you miss to select the check box, you can find the products and configuration wizard from the start tiles. The products and configuration wizard will start. If you get any dialog saying some of the services will be stopped, you just accept it. Since we selected standalone installation, it will not ask for any user input, as it already knows the database to be configured. Once the configuration is over without any problems you will see the configuration successful message. Also you can find the link to central administration on the Start Screen.     Troubleshooting During my first setup process, I got the below error. System.ArgumentException: The SDDL string contains an invalid sid or a sid that cannot be translated. Parameter name: sddlForm at System.Security.AccessControl.RawSecurityDescriptor.BinaryFormFromSddlForm(String sddlForm) at System.Security.AccessControl.RawSecurityDescriptor..ctor(String sddlForm) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Win32.SPNetApi32.CreateShareSecurityDescriptor(String[] readNames, String[] changeNames, String[] fullControlNames, String& sddl) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Win32.SPNetApi32.CreateFileShare(String name, String description, String path) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServer.CreateFileShare(String name, String description, String path) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.AnalyticsAdministration.CreateAnalyticsUNCShare(String dirParentLocation, String shareName) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.AnalyticsAdministration.ProvisionAnalyticsShare(SearchServiceApplication serviceApplication) ………………………………………… ………………………………………… The configuration wizard displayed the error as below. The error occurred in step 8 of the configuration wizard and by the time the central administration is already provisioned. So from the start, I was able to open the central administration website, but the search service application was showing as error. I found a good blog that specifies the reason for error. http://kbdump.com/sharepoint2013-standalone-config-error-create-sample-data/ The workaround specified in the blog works fine. I think SharePoint must be provisioning Search using the Network Service account, so instead of giving permission to everyone, you could try giving permission to Network Service account(I didn’t try this yet, buy you could try and post your feedback here). In production environment you will have specific accounts that have access rights as recommended by Microsoft guidelines. Installation of SharePoint 2013 is pretty straight forward. Hope you enjoyed the article!

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• System locking up with suspicious messages about hard disk

  - by Chris Conway

  My system has started behaving strangely, intermittently locking up. I see messages like the following in syslog: Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078156] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078163] ata3.00: irq_stat 0x40000000 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078167] sr 2:0:0:0: CDB: Test Unit Ready: 00 00 00 00 00 00 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078182] ata3.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078184] res 50/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x1 (device error) Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.078188] ata3.00: status: { DRDY } Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080887] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080890] ata3.00: irq_stat 0x40000000 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080893] sr 2:0:0:0: CDB: Test Unit Ready: 00 00 00 00 00 00 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080905] ata3.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080906] res 50/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x1 (device error) Nov 18 22:22:00 claypool kernel: [ 3428.080910] ata3.00: status: { DRDY } And then this: Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000798] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000804] ata1.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000814] ata1.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000815] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout) Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000819] ata1.00: status: { DRDY } Nov 18 23:13:56 claypool kernel: [ 6544.000825] ata1: hard resetting link Nov 18 23:14:01 claypool kernel: [ 6549.360324] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0) Nov 18 23:14:06 claypool kernel: [ 6554.008091] ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) Nov 18 23:14:06 claypool kernel: [ 6554.008103] ata1: hard resetting link Nov 18 23:14:11 claypool kernel: [ 6559.372246] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0) Nov 18 23:14:16 claypool kernel: [ 6564.020228] ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) Nov 18 23:14:16 claypool kernel: [ 6564.020235] ata1: hard resetting link Nov 18 23:14:21 claypool kernel: [ 6569.380109] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0) Nov 18 23:14:31 claypool kernel: [ 6579.460243] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300) Nov 18 23:14:31 claypool kernel: [ 6579.486595] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 Nov 18 23:14:31 claypool kernel: [ 6579.486601] ata1.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x4 Nov 18 23:14:31 claypool kernel: [ 6579.486939] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0 Nov 18 23:14:31 claypool kernel: [ 6579.486952] ata1: EH complete Nov 18 23:17:01 claypool CRON[3910]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Nov 18 23:17:01 claypool CRON[3908]: (CRON) error (grandchild #3910 failed with exit status 1) Nov 18 23:17:01 claypool postfix/sendmail[3925]: fatal: open /etc/postfix/main.cf: No such file or directory Nov 18 23:17:01 claypool CRON[3908]: (root) MAIL (mailed 1 byte of output; but got status 0x004b, #012) Nov 18 23:39:01 claypool CRON[4200]: (root) CMD ( [ -x /usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime ] && [ -d /var/lib/php5 ] && find /var/lib/php5/ -type f -cmin +$(/usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime) -print0 | xargs -n 200 -r -0 rm) There are no messages marked after 23:39. When I next tried to use the machine, it would not return from the screensaver (blank screen), nor switch to another terminal, and I had to hard reboot it. [UPDATE] The output of smartctl is here. I had trouble getting this, because / is being mounted read-only (?!), which prevents most applications from running. Also, it may not be related, but I have the following worrying messages in dmesg: [ 10.084596] k8temp 0000:00:18.3: Temperature readouts might be wrong - check erratum #141 [ 10.098477] i2c i2c-0: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x600 [ 10.098483] ACPI: resource nForce2_smbus [io 0x0700-0x073f] conflicts with ACPI region SM00 [??? 0x00000700-0x0000073f flags 0x30] [ 10.098486] ACPI: This conflict may cause random problems and system instability [ 10.098487] ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver [ 10.098509] i2c i2c-1: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x700 [ 10.112570] Linux agpgart interface v0.103 [ 10.155329] atk: Resources not safely usable due to acpi_enforce_resources kernel parameter [ 10.161506] it87: Found IT8712F chip at 0x290, revision 8 [ 10.161517] it87: VID is disabled (pins used for GPIO) [ 10.161527] it87: in3 is VCC (+5V) [ 10.161528] it87: in7 is VCCH (+5V Stand-By) [ 10.161560] ACPI: resource it87 [io 0x0295-0x0296] conflicts with ACPI region ECRE [??? 0x00000290-0x000002af flags 0x45] [ 10.161562] ACPI: This conflict may cause random problems and system instability [ 10.161564] ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver [UPDATE 2] I swapped in a new SATA cable, per Phil's suggestion. The current output of smartctl is here, if it helps. [UPDATE 3] I don't think the cable fixed it. The system hasn't locked up yet, but my media player crashed a few minutes ago and I have the following in the syslog: Nov 20 16:07:17 claypool kernel: [ 2294.400033] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0) Nov 20 16:07:47 claypool kernel: [ 2324.084581] ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) Nov 20 16:07:47 claypool kernel: [ 2324.084588] ata1: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps Nov 20 16:07:47 claypool kernel: [ 2324.084592] ata1: hard resetting link I get the following response from smartctl: $ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda [sudo] password for chris: sudo: Can't open /var/lib/sudo/chris/0: Read-only file system smartctl 5.40 2010-03-16 r3077 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net Device: /0:0:0:0 Version: scsiModePageOffset: response length too short, resp_len=47 offset=50 bd_len=46 >> Terminate command early due to bad response to IEC mode page A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.

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• Accessing JMX for Oracle WebLogic 11g

  - by Anthony Shorten

  In Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4, we use the latest Oracle WebLogic release (11g). The instructions below illustrate a way of allowing a console like jconsole to remotely monitor and manage Oracle WebLogic using the JMX Mbeans. Typically management of Oracle WebLogic is done from Oracle Enterprise Manager or the Oracle Weblogic console application but you can also use JMX. To access the JMX capability for Oracle WebLogic 11g, for an Oracle Utilities Application Framework based product, using a JMX console (such as jconsole) the following process needs to be performed: Enable the JMX Management Server in the Oracle WebLogic console at splapp - Configuration - General - Advanced Settings option. Enable both Compatibility Mbean Server Enabled and Management EJB Enabled (this enables the legacy and new JMX interface). Save the changes This change will require a restart. In the startup of the Oracle WebLogic server in the $SPLSYSTEMLOGS/myserver.log (or %SPLESYSTEMLOGS%\myserver.log on Windows) you will see the BEA-149512 message indicating the Mbean servers have been started. The message will indicate the JMX URL that can be used to access the JMX Mbeans. The URL is in the format: service:jmx:iiop://host:port/jndi/mbeanserver where: host - Oracle WebLogic host name port - Oracle WebLogic port number mbeanserver - Mbean Server to access. Valid Values: weblogic.management.mbeanservers.runtime weblogic.management.mbeanservers.edit weblogic.management.mbeanservers.domainruntime For illustrative purposes we will use the domainruntime Mbean. Ensure that you execute the splenviron[.sh] utility to set the appropriate environment variables for the desired environment. Execute the following jconsole command to initiate the connection to the JMX Mbean server Windows: jconsole -J-Djava.class.path=%JAVA_HOME%\lib\jconsole.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\wljmxclient.jar -J-Djmx.remote.protocol.provider.pkgs=weblogic.management.remote Linux/Unix jconsole -J-Djava.class.path=$JAVA_HOME/lib/jconsole.jar;$WL_HOME/server/lib/wljmxclient.jar -J-Djmx.remote.protocol.provider.pkgs=weblogic.management.remote You will see a New Connection Dialog. Specify the URL from the previous steps into the Remote process (i.,e. service:jmx:iiop...). The credentials are the credentials specified for the Oracle WebLogic console. You are now able to view the JMX classes available. Here is an example from my demonstration machine: Refer to the Oracle WebLogic Mbean documentation to understand the output.

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• Friday Fun: Factory Balls – Christmas Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  Your weekend is almost here, but until the work day is over we have another fun holiday game for you. This week your job is to correctly decorate/paint the ornaments that go on the Christmas tree. Simple you say? Maybe, but maybe not! Factory Balls – Christmas Edition The object of the game is to correctly decorate/paint each Christmas ornament exactly as shown in the “sample image” provided for each level. What starts off as simple will quickly have you working to figure out the correct combination or sequence to complete each ornament. Are you ready? The first level serves as a tutorial to help you become comfortable with how to decorate/paint the ornaments. To move an ornament to a paint bucket or cover part of it with one of the helper items simply drag the ornament towards that area. The ornament will automatically move back to its’ starting position when the action is complete. First, a nice coat of red paint followed by covering the middle area with a horizontal belt. Once the belt is on move the ornament to the bucket of yellow paint. Next, you will need to remove the belt, so move the ornament back to the belt’s original position. One ornament finished! As soon as you complete decorating/painting an ornament, you move on to the next level and will be shown the next “sample Image” in the upper right corner. Starting with a coat of orange paint sounds good… Pop the little serrated edge cap on top… Add some blue paint… Almost have it… Place the large serrated edge cap on top… Another dip in the orange paint… And the second ornament is finished. Level three looks a little bit tougher…just work out your pattern of helper items & colors and you will definitely get it! Have fun decorating/painting those ornaments! Note: Starting with level four you will need to start using a combination of two helper items combined at times to properly complete the ornaments. Play Factory Balls – Christmas Edition Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Exploring the Jungle Ruins Wallpaper Protect Your Privacy When Browsing with Chrome and Iron Browser Free Shipping Day is Friday, December 17, 2010 – National Free Shipping Day Find an Applicable Quote for Any Programming Situation Winter Theme for Windows 7 from Microsoft Score Free In-Flight Wi-Fi Courtesy of Google Chrome

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• Add Notes to Zoho Notebook in Firefox

  - by Asian Angel

  As you browse the web during the day, you probably find items that catch your interest and would like to save. The Zoho Notebook Helper extension for Firefox provides an easy way to add those items to your Zoho account. Using Zoho Notebook Helper Using the extension is easy and straightforward. Highlight the text, images, and links that you want to save, right click and select Add to Zoho Notebook. Note: It is recommended that you leave your status bar visible while using the extension. You can choose to add the selection to a new or pre-existing notebook or page. We created a new page for our example. Once your selection has been added to your account, you can see how nicely the formatting is retained. Notice the link at the top of the note…clicking on it will open the original webpage in a new tab if clicked on. The notebook mini pane can also pop out into a separate window if needed. You can resize the new external window as desired and send it back to your browser when ready. You can see an even better view of how well the formatting with regard to images, etc. is retained here. A quick look inside our notebook account and the notes that were just added. A second example added to our notebook account using a newly created page. As you build up the number of notebooks and pages, you can easily navigate between them using the drop-down menu in the mini pane’s upper right corner. Two new sets of notes each with their own page displaying nicely in our online account. The ease of use makes this a must-have extension for Zoho fans. Keep in mind that the extension will be temporarily disabled if you have your online account open in a tab. Conclusion Zoho Office doesn’t get much love compared to other online office solutions like Google Docs, or the new Microsoft Web Apps. However, if you are a Zoho user, the Zoho Notebook Helper extension makes it very easy to add those notes, links, and images to your online account for later reference. Links Install the Zoho Notebook Helper extension (Zoho Website) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Get Organized with AM-Notebook LiteAdd Notes to Google Notebook from ChromeGeek Reviews: Manage And Organize Notes With EvernoteAdd Sticky Notes to Any Page with Internote for FirefoxCreate Notes Inside (and Outside) of Firefox TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup Sculptris 1.0, 3D Drawing app AceStock, a Tiny Desktop Quote Monitor Gmail Button Addon (Firefox) Hyperwords addon (Firefox) Backup Outlook 2010 Daily Motivator (Firefox)

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