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  • TechEd 2012: Office, SharePoint And More Office

    - by Tim Murphy
    I haven’t spent any time looking at Office 365 up to this point.  I met Donovan Follette on the flight down from Chicago.  I also got to spend some time discussing the product offerings with him at the TechExpo and that sealed my decision to attend this session. The main actor of his presentation is the BCS – Business Connectivity Services. He explained that while this feature has existed in on-site SharePoint it is a valuable new addition to Office 365 SharePoint Online.  If you aren’t familiar with the BCS, it allows you to leverage non-SharePoint enterprise data source from SharePoint.  The greatest benefactor is the end users who can leverage the data using a variety of Office products and more.  The one thing I haven’t shaken my skepticism of is the use of SharePoint Designer which Donovan used to create a WCF service.  It is mostly my tendency to try to create solutions that can be managed through the whole application life cycle.  It the past migrating through test environments has been near impossible with anything other than content created by SharePiont Designer. There is a lot of end user power here.  The biggest consideration I think you need to examine when reaching from you enterprise LOB data stores out to an online service and back is that you are going to take a performance hit.  This means that you have to be very aware of how you configure these integrated self serve solutions.  As a rule make sure you are using the right tool for the right situation. I appreciated that he showed both no code and code solutions for the consumer of the LOB data.  I came out of this session much better informed about the possibilities around this product. del.icio.us Tags: Office 365,SharePoint Online,TechEd,TechEd 2012

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  • Desktop icons disappears when Nautilus is launched, until next boot

    - by Santosh
    What happens: When I log in into my Ubuntu everything is normal, I have some icons on my desktop and I can see them at this point of time. As soon as I click on the explorer (nautilus) on the Launcher bar, everything goes (disappers) and never comes. No matter how many time you click on the launcher, you can't open nautilus. I tried opening nautilus from the terminal, get the following: santosh@santosh:~$ nautilus Initializing nautilus-gdu extension ** (nautilus:2158): DEBUG: SyncDaemon already running, initializing SyncdaemonDaemon object Initializing nautilus-open-terminal extension (nautilus:2158): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_action_set_visible: assertion `GTK_IS_ACTION (action)' failed (nautilus:2158): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_action_set_visible: assertion `GTK_IS_ACTION (action)' failed Segmentation fault I suspect on "Segmentation fault" on the last line, whats that? I was amazed when I run this command in sudo.: santosh@santosh:~$ sudo nautilus Initializing nautilus-gdu extension ** (nautilus:2216): DEBUG: Syncdaemon not running, waiting for it to start in NameOwnerChanged Initializing nautilus-open-terminal extension (nautilus:2216): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_action_set_visible: assertion `GTK_IS_ACTION (action)' failed (nautilus:2216): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_action_set_visible: assertion `GTK_IS_ACTION (action)' failed Nautilus-Share-Message: Called "net usershare info" but it failed: 'net usershare' returned error 255: net usershare: cannot open usershare directory /var/lib/samba/usershares. Error No such file or directory Please ask your system administrator to enable user sharing. As soon as I type sudo nautilus and hit enter, nautilus starts and the desktop background changes (to the default which ubuntu has). Don't know why but at this point as soon as I click on Desktop (from the left pane) then nautilus closes. Did anyone has same issue? I am corrently working with commandline to do my work and its a big pain. Additional Information: Another thing I have noticed that when I want to open the location of PDF file I am reading in document viewer (by clicking the folder icon). It gives error "Could not open the containing folder" and "Failed to execute child process "nautilus" (Permission denied)". Any idea?                

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  • High CPU usage compared to WinXP. Common aps and actions use 100% CPU cycles

    - by Jopower
    I'm running Lubunto 14.04.1 LTS. PC is a 2004 HP ze4200 laptop: 1.8 ghz Celeron M with 1 gb RAM and 80 gb drive. Was running fine on WinXP SP3 and I cleaned the drive off to test Lubuntu 14 LTS. No anti-virus is installed yet. I enabled the CPU resource monitor to see how various programs drag the OS. Using Firefox 31 online right now, I see doing basic functions like openning a new tab and scrolling down a page are using 100% CPU time, ocassionally for 10-30 seconds. In fact some pretty basic aps like Leafnote hit 100% for a second. Wordpad never did that. Lubuntu Software Center locks things up at 100% for 10 seconds. Just typing here shows a 60-80% spike every character. Running the mouse around the screen for 10 seconds results in a sustained 100% load during that time. Right now, if I let the PC rest just idling Firefox and not doing anything with it, CPU use bounces from 20-40% all by itself. WinXP idles at 2-10% and it's considered not good for it to be above 20%... something odd must be happening. Sure, XP will give similar higher CPU cycles with program use, but it's not locking and slogging like this. Lubuntu is supposed to be a light OS and by memory usage it is and I'm happy since this is an old PC maxed for memory upgrades. However, being used to doing some tuning and wary of abnormalities going on in the background, the CPU use indicates things going on that I want to know about and perhaps apply a tweek or two. Recommendations are appreciated. And this 300 point "new tags" restriction bites!

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  • Use a Crayon to Enhance Engraved Lettering on Electronics

    - by ETC
    Whether you’re making a new electronics project or trying to add definition to an old piece, you can use a simple crayon to make etched logos and text pop. At RedToRope, the DIY and project blog of electrical engineering student and tinkering James Williamson, James shares how he used a crayon and a little heat to make the lettering and symbols on his electronics project really pop. It’s an old trick I’ve used many times over the years with firearms but had never thought to use with engraved text on electronics or other devices. You rub the wax into the crevices of the etching, heat the object to melt and level the wax, and then give it a final cleanup buff. Hit up the link below to see the final results of his project as well as all the steps he went through to make the final product look so professional. Laser Engraved, Wax Filled, High Contrast Panels for Electronics Projects [RedToRope via Hacked Gadgets] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC 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) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Make Efficient Use of Tab Bar Space by Customizing Tab Width in Firefox See the Geeky Work Done Behind the Scenes to Add Sounds to Movies [Video] Use a Crayon to Enhance Engraved Lettering on Electronics Adult Swim Brings Their Programming Lineup to iOS Devices Feel the Chill of the South Atlantic with the Antarctica Theme for Windows 7 Seas0nPass Now Offers Untethered Apple TV Jailbreaking

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  • Turn a Green Laser into a Microscope Projector [Science]

    - by ETC
    No need to settle for squinting over a microscope, hack a green laser and a cheap webcam lens into a projector. Check out the video below to see the projector in action. Over at Hackteria, user Dusjagr shares a clever tutorial on how to hack a laser and some odd parts into a projector intended for microscopic subjects. With a strong enough light source, a properly spaced lens assembly, and a slide or petri dish filled with something of interest, you can create microscope projector. Curious how it would work and what the results would look like? Check out this demonstration video: That wiggling creature you see in the video is a nematode from a sample of pond water. For more information on building your own laser-scope projector, hit up the link below. DIY Laser Microscope [Hackteria via Make] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? 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 Awesome 10 Meter Curved Touchscreen at the University of Groningen [Video] TV Antenna Helper Makes HDTV Antenna Calibration a Snap Turn a Green Laser into a Microscope Projector [Science] The Open Road Awaits [Wallpaper] N64oid Brings N64 Emulation to Android Devices Super-Charge GIMP’s Image Editing Capabilities with G’MIC [Cross-Platform]

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  • Part 2&ndash;Load Testing In The Cloud

    - by Tarun Arora
    Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig.  What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect.  Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect.  Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96   You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud   In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template                   Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post         The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine.                   We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>             Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them.       osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5.       Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine.                       EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain.       DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section.       Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish       Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’.       As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below.       From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate        In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location.                                Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file.       Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>          Okay let’s look at them one at a time,       Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access.       AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above.       AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well.       AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today.       Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions.       Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first        Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file.        Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray.                         Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well)   Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint).       Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below        Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot.        Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files        IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information.         Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window.       Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time.             In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role.       Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step.      So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished!         Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save.      Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN.       Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise).        In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you.        Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue.        And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller       Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here,         VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III.   Share this post : CodeProject

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  • GRUB2 prompt instead of BURG boot screen after mistake during BURG installation

    - by Tomas Lycken
    I just installed BURG, but during the installation I made a mistake: after the package was installed, I got to some command-line based GUI for configuration, where I forgot to mark my (only) hard disk as the boot device before I hit OK. I tried to reinstall (apt-get purge burg && apt-get autoremove followed by apt-get install burg) but I wasn't able to get to the same screen again (I didn't find the GUI). When I now start my computer, I am taken to a GRUB2 prompt and no BURG (or GRUB2) boot menu is shown. Since I don't know any GRUB commands and I am helpless. How do I reinstall GRUB/BURG correctly? Update: I rebooted my computer, and got a BURG prompt (which appears to be the same thing as a GRUB prompt, but if there's a difference I wouldn't know it...). I have booted from a Live USB, but I don't know what to do next. The text above has been updated to reflect this new situation - for the original text, please see the previous versions of this post. (No answers were posted when this was edited...)

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  • SQL Developer: Describe versus Ctrl+Click to Open Database Objects

    - by thatjeffsmith
    In yesterday’s post I talked about you could use SQL Developer’s Describe (SHIFT+F4) to open a PL/SQL Package at your cursor. You might get an error if you try to describe this… If you actually try to describe the package as you see it in the above screenshot, you’ll get an error: Doh! I neglected to say in yesterday’s post that I was highlighting the package name before I hit SHIFT+F4. This works just fine, but it will work even better in our next release as we’ve fixed this issue. Until then, you can also try the Ctrl+Hover with your mouse. For PL/SQL calls you can open the source immediately based on what you’re hovering over with your mouse cursor. You could try this with “dbms_output.put_line(” too Ctrl+Click, It’s not just for PL/SQL If you don’t like the floating describe windows you get when you do a SHIFT+F4 on a database object, the ctrl+click will work too. Instead of opening a normal ‘hover’ panel, you’ll be taken directly to the object editor for that table, view, etc. Go ahead and try it right now. Paste this into your worksheet, then ctrl+click with your mouse over the table name: select * from scott.emp And now you know, the rest of the story.

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  • Keyboard locking up in Visual Studio 2010, Part 2

    - by Jim Wang
    Last week I posted about looking into the keyboard locking up issue in Visual Studio.  So far it looks like not a lot of people have replied to provide concrete repro steps, which confirms my suspicion that this is somewhat of a random issue. So at this point, I have a couple of choices.  I can either wait for somebody in the community to provide a repro of the problem that I can reliably run into, or I can do the work myself. I’m going to do both, so while I’m waiting for more possible bug reports, I’m going to write a tool that models the behavior of a typical Visual Studio user and use that to hopefully isolate the problem. I’ve chosen to go with this path since given the information in the bug reports, it seems people hit the issue with many different configurations in many different scenarios.  This means that me sitting down without any solid repro steps is likely not going to be a good use of time.  Instead, I’m going to go with a model-based testing approach where I will define a series of actions that a user in VS can do, and then proceed to run my model.  I’ll let you guys know how this works out for isolating bugs :) I’m using an internal tool for the model engine and AutoIt for the UI automation (I want something lightweight for a one-off).  One of the challenges will be getting feedback: AutoIt is great at driving, but not so great at understanding what success and failure means.

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  • Read All The Books from Skyrim on Your Ebook Reader

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re a fan of the wildly popular RPG game Skyrim, you’ve undoubtedly discovered the books sprinkled throughout the Empire. This collection brings them all together for out-of-game reading. Blogger and Skyrim fan Capaneus enjoyed reading the in-game books so much (found on the shelves of homes and otherwise scattered throughout the virtual world) that he did a little digging in the game files to turn up the source of the books. It turns out he didn’t have to dig too deeply, the files are stored as text documents (and if you have a copy of the game installed right now you could easily open them up yourself). He took those text files and carefully formatted them as MOBI and EPUB files, well suited for use on an ebook reader or tablet. Hit up the link below to grab a copy for your own perusal. While we can’t see this lasting long in the age of copyright enforcement and litigation we’d like to think the company behind Skyrim will see the utility of sharing the books (existing Skyrim owners will enjoy it and the curious will likely be inspired to buy the game). Dovahkiin Gutenberg [Capane.us via The Unofficial Apple Weblog] How to Use Offline Files in Windows to Cache Your Networked Files Offline How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To HTG Explains: When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers?

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  • Complex knowledge management system with CRM..written internally

    - by JonH
    We've all heard of salesforce and sugarcrm and the likes of systems like this. Unfortunately at my workplace we have been asked to write a similiar system (rather then license or purchase). Basically the database is fairly large. Think of modules such as: Corporate groups, customers, programs, projects, sub projects, and issue management. In simple terms a corporate group has one to many customers. A program has one or more projects. A project has one or more sub projects. And an issue can be created on many sub projects. Of course the system is a bit more complex but instead of listing every single module I think its best to keep it simple. In any event, the system in its current state has only two resources to be working on it (basically we have to do it all: CSS, database, jquery, asp.net and C#). We've started off well by defining the UI master and footer pages that way we can reuse those across all of our pages. Now comes the hard part. The system will have about 4k end users with say 5-10% being concurrent users. We are wondering if it makes sense to cache our database data (For say 5-10 minutes) rather then continously hit our database. The reason being is some of these pages may have 5-10 search filters associated with the page. Imagine every time a selection is made from a search box how many database hits. Also some of these search fields cascade so selecting for instance an initial drop down may cascade several drop down boxes under them. Is it wrong to cache because I am not finding too many articles on whether it is a good idea or not. Remember the system is similiar to say a CRM system where we manage our various customers, projects, sub projects, issues, etc.

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  • LastPass Now Monitors Your Accounts for Security Breaches

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Staying on top of security breaches and how they may or may not affect you is time consuming. Sentry, a new and free addition to the LastPass password management tool, automates the process and notifies you of breaches. In response to all the recent and unfortunate high-profile security breaches LastPass has rolled out Sentry–a tool that monitors breach lists to notify you if your email appears in a list of breached accounts. The lists are supplied by PwnedList, a massive database of security breach data, and securely indexed against your accounts within the LastPass system. If there is a security breach and your email is on the list, you’ll receive an automated email notice indicating which website was compromised and that your email address was one of the positive matches from the breach list. LastPass Sentry is a free feature and, as of yesterday, is automatically activated on all Free, Premium, and Enterprise level accounts. Hit up the link below to read the official announcement. Introducing LastPass Sentry [The LastPass Blog] How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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  • Emacs: methods for debugging python

    - by Tom Willis
    I use emacs for all my code edit needs. Typically, I will use M-x compile to run my test runner which I would say gets me about 70% of what I need to do to keep the code on track however lately I've been wondering how it might be possible to use M-x pdb on occasions where it would be nice to hit a breakpoint and inspect things. In my googling I've found some things that suggest that this is useful/possible. However I have not managed to get it working in a way that I fully understand. I don't know if it's the combination of buildout + appengine that might be making it more difficult but when I try to do something like M-x pdb Run pdb (like this): /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/bin/python /Users/twillis/bin/pdb /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/bin/devappserver /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/parts/hydrant-app/ Where .../bin/python is the interpreter buildout makes with the path set for all the eggs. ~/bin/pdb is a simple script to call into pdb.main using the current python interpreter HellooKitty:hydrant twillis$ cat ~/bin/pdb #! /usr/bin/env python if __name__ == "__main__": import sys sys.version_info import pdb pdb.main() HellooKitty:hydrant twillis$ .../bin/devappserver is the dev_appserver script that the buildout recipe makes for gae project and .../parts/hydrant-app is the path to the app.yaml I am first presented with a prompt Current directory is /Users/twillis/bin/ C-c C-f Nothing happens but HellooKitty:hydrant twillis$ ps aux | grep pdb twillis 469 100.0 1.6 168488 67188 s002 Rs+ 1:03PM 0:52.19 /usr/local/bin/python2.5 /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/bin/python /Users/twillis/bin/pdb /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/bin/devappserver /Users/twillis/projects/hydrant/parts/hydrant-app/ twillis 477 0.0 0.0 2435120 420 s000 R+ 1:05PM 0:00.00 grep pdb HellooKitty:hydrant twillis$ something is happening C-x [space] will report that a breakpoint has been set. But I can't manage to get get things going. It feels like I am missing something obvious here. Am I? So, is interactive debugging in emacs worthwhile? is interactive debugging a google appengine app possible? Any suggestions on how I might get this working?

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  • What are Web runtime environments and programming languages

    - by Bradly Spicer
    I've been looking into the details behind these two different categories: Web runtime environments Web application programming languages I believe I have the correct information and have phrased it correctly but I am unsure. I have been searching for a while but only find snippets of information or what I can see as useless information (I could be wrong). Here are my descriptions so far: Web runtime environments - A Run-time environment implements part of the core behaviour of any computer language and allows it to be modified via an API or embedded domain-specific language. A web runtime environment is similar except it uses web based languages such as Java-script which utilises the core behaviour a computer language. Another example of a Run-time environment web language is JsLibs which is a standable JavaScript development runtime environment for using JavaScript as a general all round scripting language. JavaScript is often used to create responsive interfaces which improve the user experience and provide dynamic functionality without having to wait for the server to react and direct to another page. Web application programming languages - A web application program language is something that mimics a traditional desktop application within a web page. For example, using PHP you can create forms and tables which use a database similar to that of Microsoft Excel. Some of the other languages for web application programming are: Ajax Perl Ruby Here are some of the resources used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application_development http://code.google.com/p/jslibs/ I would like some confirmation that the descriptions I have created are correct as I am still slightly unsure as to whether I have hit the nail on the head.

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  • Stupid Geek Tricks: Change Your IP Address From the Command Line in Linux

    - by Taylor Gibb
    Almost everybody can figure out how to change their IP address using an interface, but did you know you can set your network card’s IP address using a simple command from the command line? Changing Your IP From the Command Line in Linux Note: This will work on all Debian based Linux Distro’s. To get started type ifconfig into the terminal and hit enter, take note of the name of the interface that you want to change the settings for. To change the settings, you also use the ifconfig command, this time with a few parameters: sudo ifconfig eth0   192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 That’s about all all you need to do to change your IP, of course the above command assumes a few things: The interface that you want to change the IP for is eth0 The IP you want to give the interface is 192.168.0.1 The Subnet Mask you want to set for the interface is 255.255.255.0 If you run ifconfig again you will see that your interface has now taken on the new settings you assigned to it. If you wondering how to change the Default Gateway, you can use the route command. sudo route add default gw 192.168.0.253 eth0 Will set your Default Gateway on the eth0 interface to 192.168.0.253. To see your new setting, you will need to display the routing table. route -n That’s all there is to it. How to Play Classic Arcade Games On Your PC How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8

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  • BUILD 2013 Session&ndash;Testing Your C# Base Windows Store Apps

    - by Tim Murphy
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/06/27/build-2013-sessionndashtesting-your-c-base-windows-store-apps.aspx Testing an application is not what most people consider fun and the number of situation that need to be tested seems to grow exponentially when building mobile apps.  That is why I found the topic of this session interesting.  When I found out that the speaker, Francis Cheung, was from the Patterns and Practices group I knew I was in the right place.  I have admired that team since I first met Ron Jacobs around 2001.  So what did Francis have to offer? He started off in a rather confusing who’s on first fashion.  It seems that one of his tester was originally supposed to give the talk, but then it was decided that it would be better to have someone who does development present a testing topic.  This didn’t hinder the content of the talk in the least.  He broke the process down in a logical manner that would be straight forward to understand if not implement. Francis hit the main areas we usually think of such as tombstoning, network connectivity and asynchronous code, but he approached them with tools they we may not have thought of until now.  He relied heavily on Fiddler to intercept and change the behavior of network requests. Then there are the areas you might not normal think to check.  This includes localization, accessibility and updating client code to a new version.  These are important aspects of your app that can severely impact how customers feel about your app.  Take the time to view this session and get a new appreciation for testing and where it fits in your development lifecycle. del.icio.us Tags: BUILD 2013,Testing,C#,Windows Store Apps,Fiddler

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  • What You Said: Your Favorite Co-Op Games

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    While competitive gaming is fun, reader response to this week’s Ask the Readers question shows that good old beat-the-bad-guys-together cooperative gaming is as popular as ever. Read on to see what your fellow readers are playing. By far the most popular nomination for favorite co-op game was an outright classic: 1987′s smash hit Contra. Originally released as an arcade game, it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. Contra was groundbreaking for the time as it featured simultaneous play for the two players–you and a friend could play side by side without waiting to take your turn. Clearly that kind of side-by-side play resonated with readers. RJ writes: When my fiance and I played and beat Contra on the NES. I knew she was the one and we got married and its been great. That’s no small feat; Contra was voted “Toughest Game to Beat” by IGN.com readers. Even readers who had moved on to newer games still recall Contra fondly; Jami writes: The Gears of War trilogy on 360 is my favorite co-op currently, although I do have fond memories of bonding with my brother playing some co-op Contra on the NES. HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference How To Troubleshoot Internet Connection Problems

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  • The Strange History of the Honeywell Kitchen Computer

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    In 1969 the Honeywell corporation released a $10,000 kitchen computer that weighed 100 pounds, was as big as a table, and required advanced programming skills to use. Shockingly, they failed to sell a single one. Read on to be dumbfounded by how ahead of (and out of touch with) its time the Honeywell Kitchen Computer was. Wired delves into the history of the device, including how difficult it was to use: Now try to imagine all that in late 1960s kitchen. A full H316 system wouldn’t have fit in most kitchens, says design historian Paul Atkinson of Britain’s Sheffield Halam University. Plus, it would have looked entirely out of place. The thought that an average person, like a housewife, could have used it to streamline chores like cooking or bookkeeping was ridiculous, even if she aced the two-week programming course included in the $10,600 price tag. If the lady of the house wanted to build her family’s dinner around broccoli, she’d have to code in the green veggie as 0001101000. The kitchen computer would then suggest foods to pair with broccoli from its database by “speaking” its recommendations as a series of flashing lights. Think of a primitive version of KITT, without the sexy voice. Hit up the link below for the full article. How To Use USB Drives With the Nexus 7 and Other Android Devices Why Does 64-Bit Windows Need a Separate “Program Files (x86)” Folder? Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It

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  • Facebook like button for a Facebook feed item

    - by jverdeyen
    Here is what I do: When the admin of a website i'm creating adds a new 'news' item to his website, it directly posts the same item on the Facebook 'fanpage' of the website. This is done by an Facebook app with the permissions to post an item on the Facebook fanpage. So far so good. I'm getting the new post id from the facebook graph. Here is what I want to achieve: I'm adding a 'like' button on the original website, but when this is clicked it should be referenced to the same post item on the facebook page. So if someone likes the news post on the website he should also like the referencing facebook feed post. Which is exactly the same. Can this be done? I've been playing around with the href etc of the like button, without any success. When I hit the like button it likes the url given, but is doesn't recognizes that this is a feed post. Any idea? Thx in advance.

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  • How will technological singularity affect programmers?

    - by Amir Rezaei
    I'm one of the believers that think that we will hit the technological singularity sooner or later. Then the question is if any profession will be unaffected by changes that will come. In the end it will be we programmers that will implement the first self-aware AI. How will technological singularity affect us programmer? What is your professional opinion regarding technological singularity? EDIT: By self-aware I refer to an entity that questions and seek answers, able to analyze and solve problem. Artificial neural network is branch in mathematics/statistics with many widely used algorithms. The algorithms are applied where recognition of data is needed. For example hidden Markov model is used for voice recognition. Another well-known area is business intelligence and data mining. Today algorithms are self-learning. That is a bit of AI what many never think of. Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. Link to Ref.

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  • Using JavaScript for basic HTML layout

    - by Slobaum
    I've been doing HTML layout as well as programming for many years and I'm seeing a growing issue recently. Folks who primarily do HTML layout are becoming increasingly more comfortable using JavaScript to solve basic page layout problems. Rather than consider what HTML is capable of doing (to hit their target browsers), they're slapping on bloated JS frameworks that "fix" fairly basic problems. Let's get this out of the way right here: I find this practice annoying and often inconsiderate of those with special accessibility needs. Unfortunately, when you try to tell these folks that what they're doing isn't semantic, ideal, or possibly even a good idea, they always counter with the same old arguments: "JavaScript has a market saturation of 98%, we don't care about the other 2%." or "Who doesn't have JavaScript enabled these days?" or simply "We don't care about those users." I find that remarkably short-sighted. I would really like the opinion of the community at large. What do you think, am I holding too fast to a dying ideal? I am willing to accept that, but would like to be given good arguments as to why I should disregard 2%+ of my user base (among others). Is JavaScript's prevalence a good excuse to use a programmatic language to do basic layout, thus mucking up your behavior and layout? jQuery and similar "behavior" based frameworks are blurring the lines, especially for those who don't realize the difference. Honestly (and probably most importantly), I would like some "argument ammo" to use against these folks when the "it's the right way to do it" argument is unacceptable. Can you cite sources outlining your stance, please? Thanks everybody, please be civil :)

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  • Fix Google Reader Lag by Blocking Google Plus Button

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Chrome: Many Google Reader fans have noticed, since the upgrades last month, that the service is unbearably slow. Speed things up by blocking the Google Plus button. Ever since the upgrade from the old Google Reader interface to the new integrated-with-Google-Plus interface, many Google Reader users were reporting a painfully long lag between reading entries in Reader. Previously hitting a keyboard shortcut or arrow button to move you through the new stories was instant with no noticeable lag. After the upgrade a lag of 3-5 seconds per individual story became common (we experienced this annoying lag around the How-To Geek office immediately after the upgrade). One of the theories was that the addition of the Google Plus button to every article was causing memory issues. Geeks Are Sexy tested the theory by blocking this address: plusone.google.com/u/0/_/+1/fastbutton using AdBlock. While people were reporting great success with that move (and you may find it works great too) we didn’t have any luck. What did work for us was installing Chromeblock and, while visiting reader.google.com, clicking on the ChromeBlock toolbar button and blocking Google +1. After that the 3-5 second lag vanished and browsing articles was as snappy as it had been. Hit up the link below to grab a copy of Chromeblock. Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Tablet: the How-To Geek Review HTG Explains: How Hackers Take Over Web Sites with SQL Injection / DDoS Use Your Android Phone to Comparison Shop: 4 Scanner Apps Reviewed

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  • Writing the correct value in the depth buffer when using ray-casting

    - by hidayat
    I am doing a ray-casting in a 3d texture until I hit a correct value. I am doing the ray-casting in a cube and the cube corners are already in world coordinates so I don't have to multiply the vertices with the modelviewmatrix to get the correct position. Vertex shader world_coordinate_ = gl_Vertex; Fragment shader vec3 direction = (world_coordinate_.xyz - cameraPosition_); direction = normalize(direction); for (float k = 0.0; k < steps; k += 1.0) { .... pos += direction*delta_step; float thisLum = texture3D(texture3_, pos).r; if(thisLum > surface_) ... } Everything works as expected, what I now want is to sample the correct value to the depth buffer. The value that is now written to the depth buffer is the cube coordinate. But I want the value of pos in the 3d texture to be written. So lets say the cube is placed 10 away from origin in -z and the size is 10*10*10. My solution that does not work correctly is this: pos *= 10; pos.z += 10; pos.z *= -1; vec4 depth_vec = gl_ProjectionMatrix * vec4(pos.xyz, 1.0); float depth = ((depth_vec.z / depth_vec.w) + 1.0) * 0.5; gl_FragDepth = depth;

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  • Seas0nPass Now Offers Untethered Apple TV Jailbreaking

    - by ETC
    If you’d been holding off jailbreaking your Apple TV because you wanted an untethered jailbreak, Seas0nPass just updated and now offers the tether-free action you crave. Untethered jailbreaking means you’ll never have to retether your jailbroken device to activate the jailbreak again. Install XBMC or FireCore’s aTV Flash for expanded functionality. Seas0nPass is a free download, hit up the link below to read more and grab a copy. Seas0nPass Cuts the Cord [FireCore via The Unofficial Apple Weblog] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC 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) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Seas0nPass Now Offers Untethered Apple TV Jailbreaking Never Call Me at Work [Humorous Star Wars Video] Add an Image Properties Listing to the Context Menu in Chrome and Iron Add an Easy to View Notification Badge to Tabs in Firefox SpellBook Parks Bookmarklets in Chrome’s Context Menu Drag2Up Brings Multi-Source Drag and Drop Uploading to Firefox

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  • Tell me what&rsquo;s wrong! &ndash; An XNA sample demonstrating exception handling and reporting in

    - by George Clingerman
    I’ve always enjoyed using Nick Gravelyn’s exception handling in all of my games. You’re always going to encounter those unhandled exception that your players are going to ferret out and having a method to display them rather than just crashing to the dashboard is definitely more of an elegant solution. But the other day I got to thinking…what if we could do more? What if instead of just displaying the error, we could encourage the players to send us the error. So I started playing with that an expanding upon Nick’s sample code to see what I could come up with. I got close to what I envisioned, but unfortunately there were some limitations to just what the XNA API could do. In my head I was picturing the players hitting “Send Message” and a 360 message would just be sent to the XBLIG developer. Unfortunately, you can only send messages in an XNA game to someone you’re currently in a network session with. Since I didn’t want to have a 360 server running all the time, virally connecting to players just to get error messages, I did the next best thing and just open up a 360 message and encourage them to manually enter the gamertag. Maybe someday we’ll be able to do that a little better, but this works for now. In the sample, players can hit the “A” button or key to generate in an exception. If the debugger is not attached, then the Exception message screen will be shown explaining what has happened and giving the player a chance to send a 360 message to the gamertag provided or maybe even just send an email. Nick’s code has been changed just a bit. It now accepts any PlayerIndex (no longer hard coded to just PlayerIndex.One) and it no longer uses a MessageBox to get the users selection. The code has also been modified so that it works both for the 360 and for the PC. Check out “Tell me what’s wrong!” and let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions. I really do appreciate the feedback.

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