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• CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server

  - by The Geek

  Overview CloudBerry Online Backup version 1.5 is a front end application for Amazon S3 storage for backing up your Windows Home Server data. It makes backing up your essential data to Amazon S3 an easy process in the event the disaster strikes. Installation You install the Cloudberry Addin as you do for any addins for Windows Home Server. On a PC on your network, browse to the shared folders on your server and open the Add-Ins folder and copy over WHS_CloudBerryOnlineBackupSetup_v1.5.0.81S3o.msi (link below), then close out of the folder. Next launch the Windows Home Server Console, click Settings, then Add-Ins. Click on the Available tab and click the Install button. It installs very quickly, and when you get the Installation Succeeded dialog click OK. You will lose connection through the Console, just click OK, then reconnect. After reconnecting, you’ll see CloudBerry Backup has been installed, and you can begin using it. You can setup a backup plan right away or find out what’s new with version 1.5. Amazon S3 Account If you don’t already have an Amazon S3 account, you’ll be prompted to create a new one. Click on the Create an account hyperlink, which takes you to the Amazon S3 page where you can sign up. After reviewing the functionality of Amazon S3, click on the Sign Up for Amazon S3 button. Enter in your contact information and accept the Amazon Web Services Customer Agreement. You’re then shown their pricing for storage plans. The amount of storage space you use will depend on your needs. It’s relatively cheap for smaller amounts of data. Just keep in mind the more data you store and download, the more S3 is going to cost. Note: Amazon S3 is introducing Reduced Redundancy Storage which will lower the cost of the data stored on S3. CloudBerry 1.5 will support this new feature. You can find out more about this new pricing structure. Note: Keep in mind that after you first sign up for an Amazon S3 account, it can take up to 24 hours to be authorized. In fact, you may want to sign up for the S3 account before installing the Add-In. After you sign up for your S3 Account, you’ll be given access credentials which you can enter in and create a Storage Bucket name. Features & Use CloudBerry is wizard driven, straight-forward and easy to use. Here we take a look at creating a backup plan. To begin, click on the Setup Backup Plan button to kick off the wizard. Select your backup mode based on the amount of features you want. In our example we’re going to select Advanced Mode as it offers more features than Simple Mode. Select your backup storage account or create a new one. You can select a default account by checking Use currently selected account as default. Now you can go through and select the files and folders you want to backup from your home server. Check the box Show physical drives to get more of a selection of files and folders. This also allows you to backup files from your data drive as well. It has full support for drive extenders so you can backup your shares as well. The cool thing about Cloudberry is it allows you to drill down specific files and folders unlike other WHS backup utilities. Next you can use advanced filters to specify files and/or folders to skip if you want. There are compression and encryption options as well. This will save storage space, bandwidth, and keep your data secure. Purge Options allow you to customize options for getting rid of older files. You can also select the option to delete files from the S3 service that have been deleted locally. Be careful with this option however, as you won’t be able to restore files if you delete them locally. You have some nice scheduling options from running backups manually, specific date and time, or recurring daily, weekly or monthly. Receive email notifications in all cases or when a backup fails. This is a good option so you know if things were successful or something failed, and you need to back it up manually. Email notifications… Give your plan a name… Then if the summary page looks good you can continue, or still go back at this point if something doesn’t look correct and needs adjusting. That’s it! You’re ready to go, and you have an option to start your first backup right away. After you’ve created a backup plan, you can go in and edit, delete, view history, or restore files. Restoring Files using CloudBerry To restore data from your backups kick off the Restore Wizard and select the backup to restore from. You can select the last backup, a specific point in time, or manually browse through the files. Browse through the directory and select the files you need to restore. Choose the destination to restore the files to. You can select from the original location, a specific location, to overwrite existing files, or set the location as the default for future restores. If the files are encrypted, enter in the correct passwords. If the summary looks good, click on Next to start the restore process. You’ll be shown a progress bar at the bottom of the screen while the files are restored. After the process has completed, close out of the Restore Wizard. In this example we restored a couple of music files to the desktop of Windows Home Server… But as shown above you can save them to the original location, other network locations, or WHS shared folders. This can make it a lot easier to keep track of files you’ve restored. You can also access different options for CloudBerry by clicking Settings in WHS Console then CloudBerry Backup. Here you can set up a new storage account, check for updates, app options, Diagnostics, and send feedback. Under Options there are several settings you can tweak to get the best experience for your WHS backups. CloudBerry Web Interface Another nice feature is the CloudBerry Web Interface so you can access your data from anywhere you have an Internet connection. To check it out in WHS Console, click on the Backup Web Interface link…you’ll probably want to bookmark the link in your favorite browser. Note: This feature is still in beta and at the time of this review, the Web Interface wasn’t up and running so we weren’t able to test it out. Performance The Cloudberry app works very well through the Windows Home Server Console. The amount of time it takes to backup or restore your data will depend on the speed of your Internet connection and size of the files. In our tests, backing up 1GB of data to the Amazon S3 account took around an hour, but we were running it on a DSL with limited upload speeds so your mileage will vary. Product Support In our experience, the team at CloudBerry offered great support in a timely manner when contacting them. You can fill out a help request through a form on their website and they also have a community forum. Conclusion We were very pleased with CloudBerry Online Backup for WHS. It’s wizard driven interface makes it extremely easy to use, and offers comprehensive backup choices for your Amazon S3 account. CloudBerry will only backup files that have been modified, so if files haven’t been changed, they won’t be backed up again.They offer a free 15 day trial and is $29.99 after that for a full license. Once you buy the app you own it, and charges to your S3 account will vary depending on the amount of data you upload. If you’re looking for an effective and easy to use front end application to backup your Windows Home Server data to your Amazon S3 account, CloudBerry is a recommended affordable choice. Download CloudBerry for Windows Home Server Sign Up For Amazon S3 Account Rating Installation: 9 Ease of Use: 8 Features: 8 Performance: 8 Product Support: 8 Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Restore Files from Backups on Windows Home ServerGMedia Blog: Setting Up a Windows Home ServerBackup Windows Home Server Folders to an External Hard DriveBackup Your Windows Home Server Off-Site with Asus WebstorageRemove a Network Computer from Windows Home Server 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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• Free .NET Training at DevCare in Dallas...

  - by [email protected]

  Come take an early look at the debugging experience in VS 2010 this Friday (3/25/2010) at TekFocus in Dallas, at the InfoMart, at 9 AM: In this session, we’ll … Dive deep into the new IntelliTrace (formerly, historical debugging) feature, which enables you to step back in time within your debugging session and inspect or re-execute code, without having to restart your application See how to manage large numbers of breakpoints with labeling, searching and filtering Extend “data tips” by adding comments, notes and strategically “pinning” these resources to maintain their visibility throughout your session Demonstrate “collaborative debugging,“ by debugging a portion of an application and then exporting breakpoints and labeled data tips, so that others can leverage your effort, without having to start over Leverage these new debugging features in applications built in earlier versions of the .NET Framework through the MultiTargeting features available in VS 2010 You’ll walk-away with a clear understanding of how you can use this upcoming technology to vastly increase your productivity and build better software.Register to attend ==>  http://www.dallasdevcares.com/upcoming-sessions/ DevCares is a monthly series of FREE half-day events sponsored by TekFocus and Microsoft. Targeted specifically at developers, the content is presented by experts on a variety of .NET topics. These briefings include expert testimonials, working demos and sample code designed to help you get the most out of application development with .NET. Events are held on the last Friday of each month at the TekFocus offices in the Infomart near downtown Dallas.TekFocus is a full-service technology training provider with a core business delivering Microsoft-certified technical training and product skills enhancements to customers worldwide    

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• How Star Wars Changed the World [Infographic]

  - by ETC

  The Star Wars film franchise has had an enormous impact on the world of film, gaming, and special effects. Check out this interesting infographic to see how Star Wars has impacted the world. Created by Michelle Devereau, the “How Star Wars Changed the World” infographic is a massive under taking of charting and cross-referencing. It does an excellent job highlighting the impact the Star Wars films have had on film, television, gaming, and the surrounding technologies. At minimum you’ll nail down some new trivia (I learned, for example, that famed puppeteer and voice actor Frank Oz was the man behind Yoda), even better you’ll have an appreciate for what a sweeping effect Star Wars has had. For readers behind finicky firewalls, click here to view a local mirror of the image. How Star Wars Changed the World [Daily Infographic] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) Reclaim Vertical UI Space by Moving Your Tabs to the Side in Firefox Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles – An Awesome Game for Linux and Windows How Star Wars Changed the World [Infographic] Tabs Visual Manager Adds Thumbnailed Tab Switching to Chrome Daisies and Rye Swaying in the Summer Wind Wallpaper Read On Phone Pushes Data from Your Desktop to the Appropriate Android App

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• Friday Fun: Omega Crisis

  - by Mysticgeek

  Friday is here once again and it’s time to play a fun flash game on company time. Today we take a look at the space shooter Omega Crisis. Omega Crisis At the start of the game you’re given the basic story of the game, defending the space outpost, and instructions on how to play. Controls are easy, just target the enemy and use the left mouse button to fire. After each level you’re shown the results and how many Tech Points you’ve earned. The more Tech Points you earn, you have a better chance of upgrading your weapons and base defense before the next level.   You can also go into Manage Mode by hitting the Space bar, and select gunners and other types of weapons to help defend the outpost. Choose your mission from the timeline after successfully completing a mission. You can also use A,W,D,S to move around the map and see exactly where the enemy ships are coming from. This makes it easier to destroy them before they get too close to your base. This game is a lot of fun and is similar to different “Desktop Defense” type games. If you’re looking for a fun way to waste the afternoon, and not look at TPS reports, Omega Crisis can get you though until the whistle blows. Play Omega Crisis Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Friday Fun: Portal, the Flash VersionFriday Fun: Play Bubble QuodFriday Fun: Gravitee 2Friday Fun: Wake Up the BoxFriday Fun: Compulse 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 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Tech Fanboys Field Guide Check these Awesome Chrome Add-ons iFixit Offers Gadget Repair Manuals Online Vista style sidebar for Windows 7 Create Nice Charts With These Web Based Tools Track Daily Goals With 42Goals

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• Productivity Tips

  - by Brian T. Jackett

  A few months ago during my first end of year review at Microsoft I was doing an assessment of my year.  One of my personal goals to come out of this reflection was to improve my personal productivity.  While I hear many people say “I wish I had more hours in the day so that I could get more done” I feel like that is the wrong approach.  There is an inherent assumption that you are being productive with your time that you already have and thus more time would allow you to be as productive given more time.    Instead of wishing I could add more hours to the day I’ve begun adopting a number of processes or behavior changes in my personal life to make better use of my time with the goal of improving productivity.  The areas of focus are as follows: Focus Processes Tools Personal health Email Note: A number of these topics have spawned from reading Scott Hanselman’s blog posts on productivity, reading of David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, and discussions with friends and coworkers who had great insights into this topic.   Focus Pre-reading / viewing: Overcome your work addiction Millennials paralyzed by choice Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (Scott Hanselman video)    I highly recommend Scott Hanselman’s video above and this post before continuing with this article.  It is well worth the 40+ mins price of admission for the video and couple minutes for article.  One key takeaway for me was listing out my activities in an average week and realizing which ones held little or no value to me.  We all have a finite amount of time to work each day.  Do you know how much time and effort you spend on various aspects of your life (family, friends, religion, work, personal happiness, etc.)?  Do your actions and commitments reflect your priorities?    The biggest time consumers with little value for me were time spent on social media services (Twitter and Facebook), playing an MMO video game, and watching TV.  I still check up on Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft internal chat forums, and other services to keep contact with others but I’ve reduced that time significantly.  As for TV I’ve cut the cord and no longer subscribe to cable TV.  Instead I use Netflix, RedBox, and over the air channels but again with reduced time consumption.  With the time I’ve freed up I’m back to working out 2-3 times a week and reading 4 nights a week (both of which I had been neglecting previously).  I’ll mention a few tools for helping measure your time in the Tools section.   Processes    Do not multi-task.  I’ll say it again.  Do not multi-task.  There is no such thing as multi tasking.  The human brain is optimized to work on one thing at a time.  When you are “multi-tasking” you are really doing 2 or more things at less than 100%, usually by a wide margin.  I take pride in my work and when I’m doing something less than 100% the results typically degrade rapidly.    Now there are some ways of bending the rules of physics for this one.  There is the notion of getting a double amount of work done in the same timeframe.  Some examples would be listening to podcasts / watching a movie while working out, using a treadmill as your work desk, or reading while in the bathroom.    Personally I’ve found good results in combining one task that does not require focus (making dinner, playing certain video games, working out) and one task that does (watching a movie, listening to podcasts).  I believe this is related to me being a visual and kinesthetic (using my hands or actually doing it) learner.  I’m terrible with auditory learning.  My fiance and I joke that sometimes we talk and talk to each other but never really hear each other.   Goals / Tasks    Goals can give us direction in life and a sense of accomplishment when we complete them.  Goals can also overwhelm us and give us a sense of failure when we don’t complete them.  I propose that you shift your perspective and not dwell on all of the things that you haven’t gotten done, but focus instead on regularly setting measureable goals that are within reason of accomplishing.    At the end of each time frame have a retrospective to review your progress.  Do not feel guilty about what you did not accomplish.  Feel proud of what you did accomplish and readjust your goals for the next time frame to more attainable goals.  Here is a sample schedule I’ve seen proposed by some.  I have not consistently set goals for each timeframe, but I do typically set 3 small goals a day (this blog post is #2 for today). Each day set 3 small goals Each week set 3 medium goals Each month set 1 large goal Each year set 2 very large goals   Tools    Tools are an extension of our human body.  They help us extend beyond what we can physically and mentally do.  Below are some tools I use almost daily or have found useful as of late. Disclaimer: I am not getting endorsed to promote any of these products.  I just happen to like them and find them useful. Instapaper – Save internet links for reading later.  There are many tools like this but I’ve found this to be a great one.  There is even a “read it later” JavaScript button you can add to your browser so when you navigate to a site it will then add this to your list. Stacks for Instapaper – A Windows Phone 7 app for reading my Instapaper articles on the go.  It does require a subscription to Instapaper (nominal $3 every three months) but is easily worth the cost.  Alternatively you can set up your Kindle to sync with Instapaper easily but I haven’t done so. SlapDash Podcast – Apps for Windows Phone and  Windows 8 (possibly other platforms) to sync podcast viewing / listening across multiple devices.  Now that I have my Surface RT device (which I love) this is making my consumption easier to manage. Feed Reader – Simple Windows 8 app for quickly catching up on my RSS feeds.  I used to have hundreds of unread items all the time.  Now I’m down to 20-50 regularly and it is much easier and faster to consume on my Surface RT.  There is also a free version (which I use) and I can’t see much different between the free and paid versions currently. Rescue Time – Have you ever wondered how much time you’ve spent on websites vs. email vs. “doing work”?  This service tracks your computer actions and then lets you report on them.  This can help you quantitatively identify areas where your actions are not in line with your priorities. PowerShell – Windows automation tool.  It is now built into every client and server OS.  This tool has saved me days (and I mean the full 24 hrs worth) of time and effort in the past year alone.  If you haven’t started learning PowerShell and you administrating any Windows OS or server product you need to start today. Various blogging tools – I wrote a post a couple years ago called How I Blog about my blogging process and tools used.  Almost all of it still applies today.   Personal Health    Some of these may be common sense or debatable, but I’ve found them to help prioritize my daily activities. Get plenty of sleep on a regular basis.  Sacrificing sleep too many nights a week negatively impacts your cognition, attitude, and overall health. Exercise at least three days.  Exercise could be lifting weights, taking the stairs up multiple flights of stairs, walking for 20 mins, or a number of other "non-traditional” activities.  I find that regular exercise helps with sleep and improves my overall attitude. Eat a well balanced diet.  Too much sugar, caffeine, junk food, etc. are not good for your body.  This is not a matter of losing weight but taking care of your body and helping you perform at your peak potential.   Email    Email can be one of the biggest time consumers (i.e. waster) if you aren’t careful. Time box your email usage.  Set a meeting invite for yourself if necessary to limit how much time you spend checking email. Use rules to prioritize your email.  Email from external customers, my manager, or include me directly on the To line go into my inbox.  Everything else goes a level down and I have 30+ rules to further sort it, mostly distribution lists. Use keyboard shortcuts (when available).  I use Outlook for my primary email and am constantly hitting Alt + S to send, Ctrl + 1 for my inbox, Ctrl + 2 for my calendar, Space / Tab / Shift + Tab to mark items as read, and a number of other useful commands.  Learn them and you’ll see your speed getting through emails increase. Keep emails short.  No one Few people like reading through long emails.  The first line should state exactly why you are sending the email followed by a 3-4 lines to support it.  Anything longer might be better suited as a phone call or in person discussion.   Conclusion    In this post I walked through various tips and tricks I’ve found for improving personal productivity.  It is a mix of re-focusing on the things that matter, using tools to assist in your efforts, and cutting out actions that are not aligned with your priorities.  I originally had a whole section on keyboard shortcuts, but with my recent purchase of the Surface RT I’m finding that touch gestures have replaced numerous keyboard commands that I used to need.  I see a big future in touch enabled devices.  Hopefully some of these tips help you out.  If you have any tools, tips, or ideas you would like to share feel free to add in the comments section.         -Frog Out   Links Scott Hanselman Productivity posts http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CategoryView.aspx?category=Productivity Overcome your work addiction http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2012/05/overcome-your-work-addiction.html?awid=5512355740280659420-3271   Millennials paralyzed by choice http://priyaparker.com/blog/millennials-paralyzed-by-choice   Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (video) http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ItsNotWhatYouReadItsWhatYouIgnoreVideoOfScottHanselmansPersonalProductivityTips.aspx   Cutting the cord – Jeff Blankenburg http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/2011/04/06/cutting-the-cord/   Building a sitting standing desk – Eric Harlan http://www.ericharlan.com/Everything_Else/building-a-sitting-standing-desk-a229.html   Instapaper http://www.instapaper.com/u   Stacks for Instapaper http://www.stacksforinstapaper.com/   Slapdash Podcast Windows Phone -  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/slapdash-podcasts/90e8b121-080b-e011-9264-00237de2db9e Windows 8 - http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/slapdash-podcasts/0c62e66a-f2e4-4403-af88-3430a821741e/m/ROW   Feed Reader http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/feed-reader/d03199c9-8e08-469a-bda1-7963099840cc/m/ROW   Rescue Time http://www.rescuetime.com/   PowerShell Script Center http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/bb410849.aspx

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• Does LearnDevNow offers a useful subscription for .NET related training : with video and text reference material?

  - by user766926

  Does LearnDevNow offers a useful subscription for .NET video and text reference training material or to learn .NET? I could not find a review of www.learnnowonline.com/learndevnow I've been doing research about places that offer .NET / ASP.NET / C# / LINQ / SQL / JQuery video training that provide excellent material for developers. Kind of like a Lynda.com for back end development. However, I have not find one place that offers quality material that is easily accessible for the user, and that is priced competitive. This is what I'm looking for: Online Video tutorials with free future updates (videos that can be accessed on any device ie: android portable devices, mac / ipad, linux machines) Printable courseware (ie PDFs so that you can take notes, print if necessary, and read in a tablet in case you don;t have internet access) labs, and easy to access code Pre/Post Assessments/Exams for each training to keep track of your progress and what you have learned/skills. (Appdev used to offer this but it was way too expensive (thousands for each training ie 1k for each. I paid about five thousand at Appdev, and now I regret that purchase), and after a few years/months the training became obsolete - outdated) I looked at learnnowonline.com/learndevnow but it seems that their courseware / text reference material can only be accessed online, and don't know if their videos work in all mobile devices, and browsers (Safari, Chrome, IE, Opera, Firefox) Also, it seems Appdev not longer exist and now is called " AppDev is now LearnNowPlus : www.learnnowonline.com/appdev That site not longer offers prices. I tried to find reviews but could not find any. Does anyone know, or can share a review about some of these type of online training service providers? I would appreciate your feedback on this, and if you can share your past experiences with their service or similar/better services that would even be better. Thanks.

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• Mr Flibble: As Seen Through a Lens, Darkly

  - by Phil Factor

  One of the rewarding things about getting involved with Simple-Talk has been in meeting and working with some pretty daunting talents. I’d like to say that Dom Reed’s talents are at the end of the visible spectrum, but then there is Richard, who pops up on national radio occasionally, presenting intellectual programs, Andrew, master of the ukulele, with his pioneering local history work, and Tony with marathon running and his past as a university lecturer. However, Dom, who is Red Gate’s head of creative design and who did the preliminary design work for Simple-Talk, has taken the art photography to an extreme that was impossible before Photoshop. He’s not the first person to take a photograph of himself every day for two years, but he is definitely the first to weave the results into a frightening narrative that veers from comedy to pathos, using all the arts of Photoshop to create a fictional character, Mr Flibble.   Have a look at some of the Flickr pages. Uncle Spike The B-Men – Woolverine The 2011 BoyZ iN Sink reunion tour turned out to be their last Error 404 – Flibble not found Mr Flibble is not a normal type of alter-ego. We generally prefer to choose bronze age warriors of impossibly magnificent physique and stamina; superheroes who bestride the world, scorning the forces of evil and anarchy in a series noble and righteous quests. Not so Dom, whose Mr Flibble is vulnerable, and laid low by an addiction to toxic substances. His work has gained an international cult following and is used as course material by several courses in photography. Although his work was for a while ignored by the more conventional world of ‘art’ photography they became famous through the internet. His photos have received well over a million views on Flickr. It was definitely time to turn this work into a book, because the whole sequence of images has its maximum effect when seen in sequence. He has a Kickstarter project page, one of the first following the recent UK launch of the crowdfunding platform. The publication of the book should be a major event and the £45 I shall divvy up will be one of the securest investments I shall ever make. The local news in Cambridge picked up on the project and I can quote from the report by the excellent Cabume website , the source of Tech news from the ‘Cambridge cluster’ Put really simply Mr Flibble likes to dress up and take pictures of himself. One of the benefits of a split personality, however is that Mr Flibble is supported in his endeavour by Reed’s top notch photography skills, supreme mastery of Photoshop and unflinching dedication to the cause. The duo have collaborated to take a picture every day for the past 730-plus days. It is not a big surprise that neither Mr Flibble nor Reed watches any TV: In addition to his full-time role at Cambridge software house,Red Gate Software as head of creativity and the two to five hours a day he spends taking the Mr Flibble shots, Reed also helps organise the . And now Reed is using Kickstarter to see if the world is ready for a Mr Flibble coffee table book. Judging by the early response it is. At the time of writing, just a few days after it went live, ‘I Drink Lead Paint: An absurd photography book by Mr Flibble’ had raised £1,545 of the £10,000 target it needs to raise by the Friday 30 November deadline from 37 backers. Following the standard Kickstarter template, Reed is offering a series of rewards based on the amount pledged, ranging from a Mr Flibble desktop wallpaper for pledges of £5 or more to a signed copy of the book for pledges of £45 or more, right up to a starring role in the book for £1,500. Mr Flibble is unquestionably one of the more deranged Kickstarter hopefuls, but don’t think for a second that he doesn’t have a firm grasp on the challenges he faces on the road to immortalisation on 150 gsm stock. Under the section ‘risks and challenges’ on his Kickstarter page his statement begins: “An angry horde of telepathic iguanas discover the world’s last remaining stock of vintage lead paint and hold me to ransom. Gosh how I love to guzzle lead paint. Anyway… faced with such brazen bravado, I cower at the thought of taking on their combined might and die a sad and lonely Flibble deprived of my one and only true liquid love.” At which point, Reed manages to wrestle away the keyboard, giving him the opportunity to present slightly more cogent analysis of the obstacles the project must still overcome. We asked Reed a few questions about Mr Flibble’s Kickstarter adventure and felt that his responses were worth publishing in full: Firstly, how did you manage it – holding down a full time job and also conceiving and executing these ideas on a daily basis? I employed a small team of ferocious gerbils to feed me ideas on a daily basis. Whilst most of their ideas were incomprehensibly rubbish and usually revolved around food, just occasionally they’d give me an idea like my B-Men series. As a backup plan though, I found that the best way to generate ideas was to actually start taking photos. If I were to stand in front of the camera, pull a silly face, place a vegetable on my head or something else equally stupid, the resulting photo of that would typically spark an idea when I came to look at it. Sitting around idly trying to think of an idea was doomed to result in no ideas. I admit that I really struggled with time. I’m proud that I never missed a day, but it was definitely hard when you were late from work, tired or doing something socially on the same day. I don’t watch TV, which I guess really helps, because I’d frequently be spending 2-5 hours taking and processing the photos every day. Are there any overlaps between software development and creative thinking? Software is an inherently creative business and the speed that it moves ensures you always have to find solutions to new things. Everyone in the team needs to be a problem solver. Has it helped me specifically with my photography? Probably. Working within teams that continually need to figure out new stuff keeps the brain feisty I suppose, and I guess I’m continually exposed to a lot of possible sources of inspiration. How specifically will this Kickstarter project allow you to test the commercial appeal of your work and do you plan to get the book into shops? It’s taken a while to be confident saying it, but I know that people like the work that I do. I’ve had well over a million views of my pictures, many humbling comments and I know I’ve garnered some loyal fans out there who anticipate my next photo. For me, this Kickstarter is about seeing if there’s worth to my work beyond just making people smile. In an online world where there’s an abundance of freely available content, can you hope to receive anything from what you do, or would people just move onto the next piece of content if you happen to ask for some support? A book has been the single-most requested thing that people have asked me to produce and it’s something that I feel would showcase my work well. It’s just hard to convince people in the publishing industry just now to take any kind of risk – they’ve been hit hard. If I can show that people would like my work enough to buy a book, then it sends a pretty clear picture that publishers might hear, or it gives me the confidence enough to invest in myself a bit more – hard to do when you’re riddled with self-doubt! I’d love to see my work in the shops, yes. I could see it being the thing that someone flips through idly as they’re Christmas shopping and recognizing that it’d be just the perfect gift for their difficult to buy for friend or relative. That said, working in the software industry means I’m clearly aware of how I could use technology to distribute my work, but I can’t deny that there’s something very appealing to having a physical thing to hold in your hands. If the project is successful is there a chance that it could become a full-time job? At the moment that seems like a distant dream, as should this be successful, there are many more steps I’d need to take to reach any kind of business viability. Kickstarter seems exactly that – a way for people to help kick start me into something that could take off. If people like my work and want me to succeed with it, then taking a look at my Kickstarter page (and hopefully pledging a bit of support) would make my elbows blush considerably. So there is is. An opportunity to open the wallet just a bit to ensure that one of the more unusual talents sees the light in the format it deserves.  

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• Java Spotlight Episode 97: Shaun Smith on JPA and EclipseLink

  - by Roger Brinkley

  Interview with Java Champion Shaun Smith on JPA and EclipseLink. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link:  Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News Project Jigsaw: Late for the train: The Q&A JDK 8 Milestone schedule The Coming M2M Revolution: Critical Issues for End-to-End Software and Systems Development JSR 355 passed the JCP EC Final Approval Ballot on 13 August 2012 Vote for GlassFish t-shirt design GlassFish on Openshift JFokus 2012 Call for Papers is open Who do you want to hear in the 100 JavaSpotlight feature interview Events Sep 3-6, Herbstcampus, Nuremberg, Germany Sep 10-15, IMTS 2012 Conference,  Chicago Sep 12,  The Coming M2M Revolution: Critical Issues for End-to-End Software and Systems Development,  Webinar Sep 30-Oct 4, JavaONE, San Francisco Oct 3-4, Java Embedded @ JavaONE, San Francisco Oct 15-17, JAX London Oct 30-Nov 1, Arm TechCon, Santa Clara Oct 22-23, Freescale Technology Forum - Japan, Tokyo Nov 2-3, JMagreb, Morocco Nov 13-17, Devoxx, Belgium Feature InterviewShaun Smith is a Principal Product Manager for Oracle TopLink and an active member of the Eclipse community. He's Ecosystem Development Lead for the Eclipse Persistence Services Project (EclipseLink) and a committer on the Eclipse EMF Teneo and Dali Java Persistence Tools projects. He’s currently involved with the development of JPA persistence for OSGi and Oracle TopLink Grid, which integrates Oracle Coherence with Oracle TopLink to provide JPA on the grid. Mail Bag What’s Cool James Gosling and GlassFish (youtube video) Every time I see a piece of C code I need to port, my heart dies a little. Then I port it to 1/4 as much Java, and feel better. Tweet by Charles Nutter #JavaFX 2.2 is really looking like a great alternative to Flex. SceneBuilder + NetBeans 7.2 = Flash Builder replacement. Tweet by Danny Kopping

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• Jailbreak Your Kindle for Dead Simple Screensaver Customization

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re less than delighted with the default screensaver pack on the Kindle relief is just a simple hack and a reboot away. Read on to learn how to apply a painless jailbreak to your Kindle and create custom screensavers. Unlike jailbreaking other devices like the iPad and Android devices—which usually includes deep mucking about in the guts of your devices and the potential, however remote, for catastrophic bricking—jailbreaking the Kindle is not only extremely safe but Amazon, by releasing the Kindle sourcecode, has practically approved the process with a wink and a nod. Installing the jailbreak and the screensaver hack to replace the default screensavers is so simple we promise you’ll spend 1000% more time messing around making fun screensaver images than you will actually installing the hack. The default screensaver pack for the Amazon Kindle is a collection of 23 images that include portraits of famous authors, woodcarvings from centuries past, blueprints, book reliefs, and other suitably literature-oriented subjects. If you’re not a big fan of the pack—and we don’t blame you if, despite Emily Dickinson being your favorite single lady, you want to mix things up—it’s extremely simple to replace the default screen saver pack with as many custom images as your Kindle can hold. This hack works on every Kindle except the first generation; we’ll be demonstrating it on the brand new Kindle 3 with accompanying notes to direct users with older Kindles. 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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• Ada and 'The Book'

  - by Phil Factor

  The long friendship between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace created one of the most exciting and mysterious of collaborations ever to have resulted in a technological breakthrough. The fireworks that created by the collision of two prodigious mathematical and creative talents resulted in an invention, the Analytical Engine, which went on to change society fundamentally. However, beyond that, we just don't know what the bulk of their collaborative work was about:;  it was done in strictest secrecy. Even the known outcome of their friendship, the first programmable computer, was shrouded in mystery. At the time, nobody, except close friends and family, had any idea of Ada Byron's contribution to the invention of the ‘Engine’, and how to program it. Her great insight was published in August 1843, under the initials AAL, standing for Ada Augusta Lovelace, her title then being the Countess of Lovelace. It was contained in a lengthy ‘note’ to her translation of a publication that remains the best description of Babbage's amazing Analytical Engine. The secret identity of the person behind those enigmatic initials was finally revealed by Prince de Polignac who, seventy years later, wrote to Ada's daughter to seek confirmation that her mother had, indeed, been the author of the brilliant sentences that described so accurately how Babbage's mechanical computer could be programmed with punch-cards. L.F. Menabrea's paper on the Analytical Engine first appeared in the 'Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve' in October 1842, and Ada translated it anonymously for Taylor's 'Scientific Memoirs'. Charles Babbage was surprised that she had not written an original paper as she already knew a surprising amount about the way the machine worked. He persuaded her to at least write some explanatory notes. These notes ended up extending to four times the length of the original article and represented the first published account of how a machine could be programmed to perform any calculation. Her example of programming the Bernoulli sequence would have worked on the Analytical engine had the device’s construction been completed, and gave Ada an unassailable claim to have invented the art of programming. What was the reason for Ada's secrecy? She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, who was probably the best known celebrity of the age, so she was already famous. She was a senior aristocrat, with titles, a fortune in money and vast estates in the Midlands. She had political influence, and was the cousin of Lord Melbourne, who was the Prime Minister at that time. She was friendly with the young Queen Victoria. Her mathematical activities were a pastime, and not one that would be considered by others to be in keeping with her roles and responsibilities. You wouldn't dare to dream up a fictional heroine like Ada. She was dazzlingly beautiful and talented. She could speak several languages fluently, and play some musical instruments with professional skill. Contemporary accounts refer to her being 'accomplished in science, art and literature'. On top of that, she was a brilliant mathematician, a talent inherited from her mother, Annabella Milbanke. In her mother's circle of literary and scientific friends was Charles Babbage, and Ada's friendship with him dates from her teenage zest for Mathematics. She was one of the first people he'd ever met who understood what he had attempted to achieve with the 'Difference Engine', and with whom he could converse as intellectual equals. He arranged for her to have an education from the most talented academics in the country. Ada melted the heart of the cantankerous genius to the point that he became a faithful and loyal father-figure to her. She was one of the very few who could grasp the principles of the later, and very different, ‘Analytical Engine’ which was designed from the start to tackle a variety of tasks. Sadly, Ada Byron's life ended less than a decade after completing the work that assured her long-term fame, in November 1852. She was dying of cancer, her gambling habits had caused her to run up huge debts, she'd had more than one affairs, and she was being blackmailed. Her brilliant but unempathic mother was nursing her in her final illness, destroying her personal letters and records, and repaying her debts. Her husband was distraught but helpless. Charles Babbage, however, maintained his steadfast paternalistic friendship to the end. She appointed her loyal friend to be her executor. For years, she and Babbage had been working together on a secret project, known only as 'The Book'. We have a clue to what it was in a letter written by her nine years earlier, on 11th August 1843. It was a joint project by herself and Lord Lovelace, her husband, and was intended to involve Babbage's 'undivided energies'. It involved 'consulting your Engine' (it required Babbage’s computer). The letter gives no hint about the project except for the high-minded nature of its purpose, and its highly mathematical nature.  From then on, the surviving correspondence between the two gives only veiled references to 'The Book'. There isn't much, since Babbage later destroyed any letters that could have damaged her reputation within the Establishment. 'I cannot spare the book today, which I am very sorry for. At the moment I want it for constant reference, but I think you can have it tomorrow' (Oct 1844)  And 'I will send you the book directly, and you can say, when you receive it, how long you will want to keep it'. (Nov 1844)  The two of them were obviously intent on the work: She writes, four years later, 'I have an engagement for Wednesday which will prevent me from attending to your wishes about the book' (Dec 1848). This was something that they both needed to work on, but could not do in parallel: 'I will send the book on Tuesday, and it can be left with you till Friday' (11 Feb 1849). After six years work, it had been so well-handled that it was beginning to fall apart: 'Don't forget the new cover you promised for the book. The poor book is very shabby and wants one' (20 Sept 1849). So what was going on? The word 'book' was not a code-word: it was a real book, probably a 'printer's blank', plain paper, but properly bound so printers and publishers could show off how the published work might look. The hints from the correspondence are of advanced mathematics. It is obvious that the book was travelling between them, back and forth, each one working on it for less than a week before passing it back. Ada and her husband were certainly involved in gambling large sums of money on the horses, and so most biographers have concluded that the three of them were trying to calculate the mathematical odds on the horses. This theory has three large problems. Firstly, Ada's original letter proposing the project refers to its high-minded nature. Babbage was temperamentally opposed to gambling and would scarcely have given so much time to the project, even though he was devoted to Ada. Secondly, Babbage would have very soon have realized the hopelessness of trying to beat the bookies. This sort of betting never attracts his type of intellectual background. The third problem is that any work on calculating the odds on horses would not need a well-thumbed book to pass back and forth between them; they would have not had to work in series. The original project was instigated by Ada, along with her husband, William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace. Charles Babbage was invited to join the project after the couple had come up with the idea. What could William have contributed? One might assume that William was a Bertie Wooster character, addicted only to the joys of the turf, but this was far from the truth. He was a scientist, a Cambridge graduate who was later elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. After Eton, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. On graduation, he entered the diplomatic service and acted as secretary under Lord Nugent, who was Lord Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. William was very friendly with Babbage too, able to discuss scientific matters on equal terms. He was a capable engineer who invented a process for bending large timbers by the application of steam heat. He delivered a paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849, and received praise from the great engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As well as being Lord Lieutenant of the County of Surrey for most of Victoria's reign, he had time for a string of scientific and engineering achievements. Whatever the project was, it is unlikely that William was a junior partner. After Ada's death, the project disappeared. Then, two years later, Babbage, through one of his occasional outbursts of temper, demonstrated that he was able to decrypt one of the most powerful of secret codes, Vigenère's autokey cipher.  All contemporary diplomatic and military messages used a variant of this cipher. Babbage had made three important discoveries, namely, the mathematical law of this cipher, the principle of the key periodicity, and the technique of the symmetry of position. The technique is now known as the Kasiski examination, also called the Kasiski test, but Babbage got there first. At one time, he listed amongst his future projects, the writing of a book 'The Philosophy of Decyphering', but it never came to anything. This discovery was going to change the course of history, since it was used to decipher the Russians’ military dispatches in the Crimean war. Babbage himself played a role during the Crimean War as a cryptographical adviser to his friend, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort of the Admiralty. This is as much as we can be certain about in trying to make sense of the bulk of the time that Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked together. Nine years of intensive work, involving the 'Engine' and a great deal of mathematics and research seems to have been lost: or has it? I've argued in the past http://www.simple-talk.com/community/blogs/philfactor/archive/2008/06/13/59614.aspx that the cracking of the Vigenère autokey cipher, was a fundamental motive behind the British Government's support and funding of the 'Difference Engine'. The Duke of Wellington, whose understanding of the military significance of being able to read enemy dispatches, was the most steadfast advocate of the project. If the three friends were actually doing the work of cracking codes by mathematical techniques that used the techniques of key periodicity, and symmetry of position (the use of a book being passed quickly to and fro is very suggestive), intending to then use the 'Engine' to do the routine cracking of each dispatch, then this is a rather different story. The project was Ada and William's idea. (William had served in the diplomatic service and would be familiar with the use of codes). This makes Ada Lovelace the initiator of a project which, by giving both Britain, and probably the USA, a diplomatic and military advantage in the second part of the Nineteenth century, changed world history. Ada would never have wanted any credit for cracking the cipher, and developing the method that rendered all contemporary military and diplomatic ciphering techniques nugatory; quite the reverse. And it is clear from the gaps in the record of the letters between the collaborators that the evidence was destroyed, probably on her request by her irascible but intensely honorable executor, Charles Babbage. Charles Babbage toyed with the idea of going public, but the Crimean war put an end to that. The British Government had a valuable secret, and intended to keep it that way. Ada and Charles had quite often discussed possible moneymaking projects that would fund the development of the Analytic Engine, the first programmable computer, but their secret work was never in the running as a potential cash cow. I suspect that the British Government was, even then, working on the concealment of a discovery whose value to the nation depended on it remaining so. The success of code-breaking in the Crimean war, and the American Civil war, led to the British and Americans  subsequently giving much more weight and funding to the science of decryption. Paradoxically, this makes Ada's contribution even closer to the creation of Colossus, the first digital computer, at Bletchley Park, specifically to crack the Nazi’s secret codes.

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• SQLAuthority News – Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 Reference Guide

  - by pinaldave

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg605238.aspx I am very excited that Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 reference guide has been announced. As a consultant I have always enjoyed working with Fast Track Data Warehouse project as it truly expresses the potential of the SQL Server Engine. Here is few details of the enhancement of the Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 reference architecture. The SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse initiative provides a basic methodology and concrete examples for the deployment of balanced hardware and database configuration for a data warehousing workload. Balance is measured across the key components of a SQL Server installation; storage, server, application settings, and configuration settings for each component are evaluated. Description Note FTDW 3.0 Architecture Basic component architecture for FT 3.0 based systems. New Memory Guidelines Minimum and maximum tested memory configurations by server socket count. Additional Startup Options Notes for T-834 and setting for Lock Pages in Memory. Storage Configuration RAID1+0 now standard (RAID1 was used in FT 2.0). Evaluating Fragmentation Query provided for evaluating logical fragmentation. Loading Data Additional options for CI table loads. MCR Additional detail and explanation of FTDW MCR Rating. Read white paper on fast track data warehousing. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)   Filed under: Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• Five Point Partners Reviews Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0

  - by caroline.yu

  Oracle recently provided Five Point Partners, Research and Analysis Division's Warren B. Causey and Bart Thielbar a one-hour briefing of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0. Based on that briefing, Warren and Bart provided an evaluation of the new software. The review notes that this is the first major rewrite of a mobile system. Oracle Utilities has made numerous updates in structure, architecture and functionality to the software that should well-position Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 for the current utility market. Additionally, the reviewers noted that one of the most significant improvements in the new version of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management is that it has moved to the same Java technical stack of other Oracle Utilities products. Utilities can deploy the software in multiple environments including Linux, Unix and Windows. This will simplify integration with existing Oracle products, as well as with other systems, thus potentially lowering cost of installation and ownership for utilities. Overall, Warren and Bart note that Oracle Utilities now has an impressive, state-of-the-art mobile workforce management system that utilities can readily deploy in a bundle with other Oracle solutions, or use as a stand-alone system with relatively easy integration to other utility systems. They state that Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 should significantly strengthen Oracle's competitive position in the mobile workforce management solution space. To take a look at the full review, click here.

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• SSIS – Delete all files except for the most recent one

  - by jorg

  Quite often one or more sources for a data warehouse consist of flat files. Most of the times these files are delivered as a zip file with a date in the file name, for example FinanceDataExport_20100528.zip Currently I work at a project that does a full load into the data warehouse every night. A zip file with some flat files in it is dropped in a directory on a daily basis. Sometimes there are multiple zip files in the directory, this can happen because the ETL failed or somebody puts a new zip file in the directory manually. Because the ETL isn’t incremental only the most recent file needs to be loaded. To implement this I used the simple code below; it checks which file is the most recent and deletes all other files. Note: In a previous blog post I wrote about unzipping zip files within SSIS, you might also find this useful: SSIS – Unpack a ZIP file with the Script Task Public Sub Main() 'Use this piece of code to loop through a set of files in a directory 'and delete all files except for the most recent one based on a date in the filename. 'File name example: 'DataExport_20100413.zip Dim rootDirectory As New DirectoryInfo(Dts.Variables("DirectoryFromSsisVariable").Value.ToString) Dim mostRecentFile As String = "" Dim currentFileDate As Integer Dim mostRecentFileDate As Integer = 0 'Check which file is the most recent For Each fi As FileInfo In rootDirectory.GetFiles("*.zip") currentFileDate = CInt(Left(Right(fi.Name, 12), 8)) 'Get date from current filename (based on a file that ends with: YYYYMMDD.zip) If currentFileDate > mostRecentFileDate Then mostRecentFileDate = currentFileDate mostRecentFile = fi.Name End If Next 'Delete all files except the most recent one For Each fi As FileInfo In rootDirectory.GetFiles("*.zip") If fi.Name <> mostRecentFile Then File.Delete(rootDirectory.ToString + "\" + fi.Name) End If Next Dts.TaskResult = ScriptResults.Success End Sub Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Writing algorithm on 2D data set in plain english

  - by Alexandre P. Levasseur

  I have started an introductory Java class and the material is absolutely horrendous and I have to get excellent grades to be accepted into the master's degree, hence my very beginner question: In my assignment I have to write algorithms (no pseudo-code yet) to solve a board game (Sudoku). Essentially, the notes say that an algorithm is specification of the input(s), the output(s) and the treatments applied to the input to get the output. My question lies on the wording of algorithms because I could probably code it but I can't seem to put it on paper in a coherent way. The game has a 9x9 board and one of the algorithms to write has to find the solution by looking at 3 squares (either horizontal or vertical) and see if one of the three sub-squares match the number you are looking for. If none match then the number you are looking to place is in one of the other 2 set of 3 sub-squares (see image to get a better idea). I really can't get my head around how to formulate the solution into the terms described above or maybe it's just too simple, here's what I was thinking: Input: A 2-dimensional set of data of size 9 by 9 to be solved and a number to search for. Ouput: A 2-dimensional set of data of size 9 by 9 either solved or partially solved. Treatment: Scan each set of 3x9 and 9x3 squares. For each line or column of a 3x3 square check if the number matches a line (or column). If it does then move to the next line (or column). If not then proceed to the next 3x3 square in the same line (or column). Rinse and repeat. Does that make sense as an algorithm written in plain english ? I'm not looking for an answer to the algorithm per se but rather on the formulation of algorithms in plain english.

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• What’s new in SQL Prompt 6.3?

  - by Tom Crossman

  This post describes some of the improvements we’ve made in the latest version of SQL Prompt. Code suggestions In recent months, the focus of the SQL Prompt development team has been to remove annoyances and improve code suggestions. Here’s just a few of the improvements to code suggestions we’ve made in SQL Prompt 6.3: The suggestions box is no longer shown when there are no suggestions Suggestions are now shown if you continue to type a half-completed word More suggestions for new SQL Server 2014 syntax Improvements to partial match suggestions Improved suggestion ordering As well as improving suggestions, we’ve also added some new features. Select in Object Explorer You can now use SQL Prompt to select an object in the Object Explorer from a query window. This is useful because many SSMS features are available from an object’s Object Explorer context menu (eg select top 1000 rows, design, script as). To select an object in the Object Explorer, place the cursor over the object you want to select and press Ctrl + F12: Here’s a short video of the feature in action. $SELECTIONSTART$ and $SELECTIONEND$ placeholders You can now use $SELECTIONSTART$ and $SELECTIONEND$ placeholders in your snippet code. The code between these placeholders is selected when you insert the snippet. For example, the following snippet: $SELECTIONSTART$SELECT TOP 100 * FROM Table1$SELECTIONEND$ is inserted as: You can then press F5 to run the selected snippet code. For the full list of snippet placeholders you can use, see the documentation. Highlighting matching parentheses If your cursor is next to an opening or closing parenthesis in a query, SQL Prompt now automatically highlights the matching parenthesis: You can then use the SSMS and Visual Studio shortcut Ctrl + ] to move between parentheses. More improvements Those are just a few of the improvements in SQL Prompt 6.3. For the full list of features and bug fixes, see the release notes.

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• Trust: A New Line of Business

  - by ruth.donohue

  What do you think are the key factors in building and maintaining your company's reputation... Innovation? Price? Surprisingly, according to the recent 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, survey respondents in the US valued transparency of business practices as well as company trustworthiness as the two most important factors influencing corporate reputation. What is trust? It's the confidence in a company's ability to do what is right for all its stakeholders -- shareholders, customers, employees, and the broader society at large -- and not just shareholders. Trust is an increasingly important component to maintaining your company's reputation and brand, and Western countries have seen an increase in global trust. Global businesses headquartered in the United States in particular have seen an 18 point boost to 54 percent in global trust. Whether this uptick represents the start of a new trend or a mere blip in the barometer remains to be seen. The Edelman report notes that the increase is "tenuous" as people expect companies to return to "business as usual" after the economy rebounds. This warning underscores the need for companies to continue engaging in open and frequent communications and business practices with its stakeholders across multiple channels and view trust as a "new line of business" to cultivate.

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• Announcing the latest update to Oracle VM Server for x86 2.2 Release

  - by Honglin Su

  More and more customers have discovered that Oracle delivers more value with Oracle VM compared with other server virtualization solutions, and we've seen the momentum that customers succeed with Oracle VM and leading partners support Oracle VM. Recently, Oracle VM server for x86 with Windows PV Drivers passed Microsoft SVVP requirements for Windows servers, which provides customers more confidence to deploy Microsoft Windows guest OS onto Oracle VM server for x86. Today I'm pleased to announce the Oracle VM server for x86 2.2.2 release. See the new features introduced in the 2.2.2 release. Expand the guest OS support to include Oracle Linux 6.x and Oracle Solaris 11 Express OS. For a complete list of guest OS support, please refer to the Oracle VM server x86 release note. The VMPInfo system information and cluster troubleshooting utility is provided with this release. Additional information on VMPInfo is also available in the following My Oracle Support Notes: 1263293.1 Post-installation check list for new Oracle VM Server 1290587.1 Performing Site Reviews and Cluster Troubleshooting with VMPInfo A new storage repository option to provide NFS mount options when creating a storage repository. For more information on this new parameter, see Oracle VM Server User Guide "Adding a Storage Repository". Updated OCFS2 cluster file system, libdhcp, device drivers. See details and additional enhancements at Oracle VM Server User Guide: New Features in Release 2.2.2. The Oracle VM Server for x86 ISO image is available for download at Oracle's E-Delivery site. If you've subscribed to Oracle's Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN), you can simply run up2date command to update the server. Please refer to Oracle VM Upgrade Guide: Upgrading Oracle VM Server. There's no change to Oracle VM Manager, which remains at 2.2.0 with the patch 2.2-16. If you have any questions about Oracle VM Serer for x86, you may post your questions at OTN discussion forum; or purchase support for Oracle Unbreakable Linux and Oracle VM. For Oracle's x86 systems, Oracle VM support as well Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris support are included in the Oracle Premier Support for Systems. For more information about Oracle's virtualization, visit oracle.com/virtualization.

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• Ask the Readers: Which Web Browser Do You Use?

  - by Mysticgeek

  Yesterday we looked at the Browser Ballot Screen, which offers 12 different browsers as alternatives to IE for European Windows users. This got us thinking about this weeks question. What browser do you use for your daily web navigation?   Yesterday we showed you the Browser Ballot Screen which was introduced in March to Windows users in Europe. While it offers the choice of the most well known browsers on the market, there are some obscure choices as well. This got us thinking about what web browser(s) you use at home, in the office, or even on your mobile devices. Some people might have a favorite browser they use at home but are required to use IE at work due to proprietary applications the company uses. Also, if you use an operating system other than Windows, you might favor Safari, Firefox, Konqueror..etc. What web browser do you use? Leave a comment and join in the discussion! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Mysticgeek Blog: A Look at Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on Windows XPSet the Default Browser on Ubuntu From the Command LineAnnouncing the How-To Geek ForumsHow-To Geek Bounty: $103.24(Paid!) for Active Desktop for VistaA Few Things I’ve Learned from Writing at How-To Geek 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 Explore Google Public Data Visually The Ultimate Excel Cheatsheet Convert the Quick Launch Bar into a Super Application Launcher Automate Tasks in Linux with Crontab Discover New Bundled Feeds in Google Reader Play Music in Chrome by Simply Dragging a File

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• Keep Oracle VM 3 Up to Date

  - by Honglin Su

  More and more customers turn to Oracle VM 3 to virtualize their enterprise applications. Oracle VM support subscription is an integrated part of their successes. Customers enjoy the benefit of the industry-leading global support 24x7 for their server virtualization implementation, and receive access to patches, fixes, and updates via Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). For customers running Oracle systems, Oracle VM support is included in Oracle Premium Support for Systems at no extra cost, and customers receive comprehensive systems coverage that includes single point accountability for Oracle server and storage hardware; integrated software (for example, firmware); and operating system software (Oracle Solaris, Oracle Linux, and Oracle VM). To run a successful virtualization infrastructure, it's important to keep Oracle VM 3 environment up to date by leveraging Oracle VM support resources.  Oracle VM Server Updates: You can easily upgrade Oracle VM Server using a Yum repository. You can download the latest server patch updates from ULN. To receive notification on the software update delivered to Oracle ULN for Oracle VM, you can sign up here. For information on setting up an Oracle VM Server Yum repository and using Oracle VM Manager to perform the upgrade of Oracle VM Servers, see Updating and Upgrading Oracle VM Servers in the Oracle VM User's Guide .  Oracle VM Manager Updates: Get the download instructions at OTN, and apply latest Oracle VM Manager patch. Be sure to review the patch README before you apply the patches. Support customers have access to extremely valuable knowledge notes from My Oracle Support. They are the first to receive useful tips to help address issues in Oracle VM deployments. For example, Upgrade to Oracle VM 3.1.1 using Yum Repository may cause network configuration scripts to be renamed causing network failure after reboot (Doc ID 1464126.1) Oracle VM server reboots after network becomes unresponsive due to deep C-State power management setting (Doc ID 1440197.1) For more information about Oracle's virtualization, visit oracle.com/virtualization.

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• Silverlight Cream for November 21, 2011 -- #1171

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Colin Eberhardt, Sumit Dutta, Morten Nielsen, Jesse Liberty, Jeff Blankenburg(-2-), Brian Noyes, and Tony Champion. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "PV Basics : Client-side Collections" Tony Champion WP7: "Pushpin Clustering with the Windows Phone 7 Bing Map control" Colin Eberhardt Shoutouts: Michael Palermo's latest Desert Mountain Developers is up Michael Washington's latest Visual Studio #LightSwitch Daily is up From SilverlightCream.com: Pushpin Clustering with the Windows Phone 7 Bing Map control Colin Eberhardt is back discussing Pushpins for a BingMaps app on WP7 and provides a utility class that clusters pushpins, allowing you to render 1000s of pins on an app ... all the explanation and all the code Part 22 - Windows Phone 7 - Tile Push Notification Part 22 in Sumit Dutta's WP7 series is about Tile Push Notification... nice tutorial with all the code listed Correctly displaying your current location Morten Nielsen demonstrates formatting the information from the GPS on your WP7 into something intelligible and useful Spiking the Pomodoro Timer Jesse Liberty put up a quick and dirty version of a Pomodoro timer for WP7.1 to explore the technical challenges of the Full Stack Phase 2 he's cranking up 31 Days of Mango | Day #11: Network Jeff Blankenburg's Number 10 in his 31 Days quest of WP7.1 is about the NetworkInformation namespace which gives you all sorts of info on the user's device network connection availability, type, etc. 31 Days of Mango | Day #11: Live Tiles Jeff Blankenburg takes off on Live Tiles for Day 11... big topic for a 1 day post, but he takes off on it... updating and Live Tiles too Working with Prism 4 Part 2: MVVM Basics and Commands Brian Noyes has part 2 of his Prism/MVVM series up at SilverlightShow... very nice tutorial on the basics of getting a view and viewmodel up, and setting up an ICommand to launch an Edit View... plus the code to peruse. PV Basics : Client-side Collections Tony Champion is startig a series on Silverlight 5 and Pivot Viewer... First up is some basics in dealing with the control in SL5 and talking about Client-side Collections... great informative tutorial and all the code Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Professional Windows Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4

  - by Chris Williams

  In 24 short days*, my (along with the awesome George W. Clingerman) first book will be released:   Professional Windows Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4 (or as we like to call it, that damned 550 page monstrosity that nearly killed us) Weighing in at 552 pages and featuring a foreward by the legendary James Silva (Ska Studios, creator of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, I MAED A GAME W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1, and more...) this book gives thorough coverage of XNA 4.0 as it relates to Windows Phone 7. The book is written in a light, conversational tone, which means (unlike some books) you won't be compelled to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spork after reading the first few pages. At least, that’s the intent. If you do feel compelled to engage in some feats of eye-gouging sporkage, we (the authors of this book) would like to point out that we are not responsible and that seeking the help of a mental health professional might be advised. (We’re not qualified to dispense medical advice either.) The book is structured to introduce relevant material first, with code snippets and samples of how to use various phone features and XNA concepts, with helpful side notes along the way. After you've been exposed to a few chapters worth of concepts, you get the chance to bring them together by building a game that leverages those features. This book contains THREE (3!) complete games, including: Drive & Dodge (a racing game), Poker Dice (roll dice to make poker hand combinations) and Picture Puzzle (take a photo and turn it into a jigsaw puzzle.) Writing this book has been an incredible experience, and we hope reading it will be equally informative for all of you. We’re also happy to announce there will be a Kindle edition available, along with various other electronic media. Get your copy from Wiley.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and anywhere else awesome books are sold. *more or less… some sites list the publication date as early march, but the official street date is 2/21/2011

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• Generate webservice proxy using oracle ant tasks

  - by adrian.muraru

  Proxy generation tends to be very slow when done using jdeveloper wizard and even more this time increases when jdeveloper is started over a remote desktop connection. So here's step-by-step howto that can be used to generate webservice proxy from your *nix shell Create a dir in your scratch area : e.g. /tmp/<username>/genproxy Get build.xml file attached, save it in the dir above and change the properties defined in it to match your ws endpoint. More specifically you need to edit: proxy.wsdl - the path (either locally or URL) where WSDL file can be accessed from proxy.handler - the handler class proxy.package - the class package where the proxy will be generated Start a new shell session (out of the ADE view if you're using one) and set the environment needed for proxy generation using ant and Oracle WebServicesAssembler genProxy [1] $ setenv ORACLE_HOME /opt/jdev_local/10.1.3/ $ setenv PATH $ORACLE_HOME/ant/bin:$PATH Note that the above env setup is needed even if you already have ORACLE_HOME set and ant utiliy available in your PATH. That way you'll be sure the proxy will be generated using the same libraries your jdeveloper is using in its wizard Generate proxy $ cd /tmp/<username>/genproxy $ ant genproxy And voila, the proxy files should be available in ./src directory. Notes: [1] More information about genProxy can be found at : http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B32110_01/web.1013/b28974/wsassemble.htm#CHDJJIEI [2] In my case this method is much faster then using the jdeveloper wizard (15secs compared to 25minutes) [3] There is one minor drawback though, the jdeveloper .proxy configuration file is not generated. -Adrian

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• Java Spotlight Episode 77: Donald Smith on the OpenJDK and Java

  - by Roger Brinkley

  Tweet An interview with Donald Smith about Java and OpenJDK. Joining us this week on the Java All Star Developer Panel are Dalibor Topic, Java Free and Open Source Software Ambassador and Arun Gupta, Java EE Guy. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link:  Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News Jersey 2.0 Milestone 2 available Oracle distribution of Eclipse (OEPE) now supports GlassFish 3.1.2 Oracle Linux 6 is now part of the certification matrix for 3.1.2 3rd part of Spring -> Java EE 6 article series published Joe Darcy - Repeating annotations in the works JEP 152: Crypto Operations with Network HSMs JEP 153: Launch JavaFX Applications OpenJDK bug database: Status update OpenJDK Governing Board 2012 Election: Results jtreg update March 2012 Take Two: Comparing JVMs on ARM/Linux The OpenJDK group at Oracle is growing App bundler project now open Events April 4-5, JavaOne Japan, Tokyo, Japan April 11, Cleveland JUG, Cleveland, OH April 12, GreenJUG, Greenville, SC April 17-18, JavaOne Russia, Moscow Russia April 18–20, Devoxx France, Paris, France April 17-20, GIDS, Bangalore April 21, Java Summit, Chennai April 26, Mix-IT, Lyon, France, May 3-4, JavaOne India, Hyderabad, India May 5, Bangalore, Pune, ?? - JUG outreach May 7, OTN Developer Day, Mumbai May 8, OTN Developer Day, Delhi Feature InterviewDonald Smith, MBA, MSc, is Director of Product Management for Oracle. He brings worldwide enterprise software experience, ranging from small "dot-com" through Fortune 500 companies. Donald speaks regularly about Java, open source, community development, business models, business integration and software development politics at conferences and events worldwide including Java One, Oracle World, Sun Tech Days, Evans Developer Relations Conference, OOPSLA, JAOO, Server Side Symposium, Colorado Software Summit and others. Prior to returning to Oracle, Donald was Director of Ecosystem Development for the Eclipse Foundation, an independent not-for-profit foundation supporting the Eclipse open source community. Mail Bag What’s Cool OpenJDK 7 port to Haiku JEP 154: Remove Serialization Goto for the Java Programming Language

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• Ground Control by David Baum

  - by JuergenKress

  As cloud computing moves out of the early-adopter phase, organizations are carefully evaluating how to get to the cloud. They are examining standard methods for developing, integrating, deploying, and scaling their cloud applications, and after weighing their choices, they are choosing to develop and deploy cloud applications based on Oracle Cloud Application Foundation, part of Oracle Fusion Middleware. Oracle WebLogic Server is the flagship software product of Oracle Cloud Application Foundation. Oracle WebLogic Server is optimized to run on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, the integrated hardware and software platform for the Oracle Cloud Application Foundation family. Many companies, including Reliance Commercial Finance, are adopting this middleware infrastructure to enable private cloud computing and its convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. “Cloud computing has become an extremely critical design factor for us,” says Shashi Kumar Ravulapaty, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Reliance Commercial Finance. “It’s one of our main focus areas. Oracle Exalogic, especially in combination with Oracle WebLogic, is a perfect fit for rapidly provisioning capacity in a private cloud infrastructure.” Reliance Commercial Finance provides loans to tens of thousands of customers throughout India. With more than 1,500 employees accessing the company’s core business applications every day, the company was having trouble processing more than 6,000 daily transactions with its legacy infrastructure, especially at the end of each month when hundreds of concurrent users need to access the company’s loan processing and approval applications. Read the complete article here. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• Java Spotlight Episode 113: John Ceccarelli on Netbeans @JCeccarelli1

  - by Roger Brinkley

  Interview with John Ceccarelli on Netbeans. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link:  Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News JCP Star Spec Leads 2012 Nominations open now until 31 December Java EE 7 Survey Results JavaFX for Tablets Survey JavaFX Scene Builder - Developer Preview Release Oracle JDK 7u10 released with new security features jtreg update, December 2012 Food For Tests: 7u12 Build b05, 8 b68 Preview Builds + Builds with Lambda & Type Annotation Support Developer Preview of Java SE 8 (with JavaFX) for ARM Project Nashorn: The Vote Is In Events Dec 20, 9:30am JCP Spec Lead Call December on Developing a TCK Jan 15-16, JCP EC Face to Face Meeting, West Coast USA Jan 14-17, IOUG, Redwood Shores Jan 29-31, Distributech,  San Diego Feb 2-3 FOSDEM, Brussels Feb 4-6 Jfokus, Sweden Feature Interview John Jullion-Ceccarelli is the head of engineering for the NetBeans open source project and for the VisualVM Java profiler. John started with Sun Microsystems in 2001 as a technical writer and has since held a variety of positions including technical publications manager, engineering manager, and NetBeans IDE 6.9 Release Boss. He recently relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area after 13 years living in Prague, the Czech Republic. What’s Cool Glassfish is 3 years old Arduino/Raspberry-Pi/JavaFX mash-up by Jose Pereda Early Access of Drombler FX for building modular JavaFX applications with OSGi and Maven Eclipse Modeling Framework Support coming for e(fx)clipse 8003562: Provide a command-line tool to find static dependencies Duke’s Choice Awards Winners LAD - includes JCP EC Member TOTVS London Java Community and SouJava jointly win JCP member of the year

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