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• Streaming desktop with avconv - severe sound issues

  - by Tommy Brunn

  I'm trying to do some live streaming in Ubuntu 12.10, but I'm having some problems with audio. More specifically, the quality is complete garbage and it's at least 10 seconds out of sync with the video. I'm using an excellent guide found here to set up my loopback devices so that I can combine the desktop audio with the microphone input. It seems to work, as I'm able to stream both audio and video to Twitch.tv. But, as I said, the audio quality is terrible. The microphone audio is very, very low, but if I increase it, I get a horrible garbled sound that is absolutely unbearable. Nothing like that is present during VoIP calls or when recording sound alone with the sound recorder, so it's not an issue with the microphone itself. The entire audio stream is also delayed about 10-15 seconds compared to the video stream. I put together an imgur album of my settings. Here is some example output from when I'm streaming: avconv version 0.8.4-6:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the Libav developers built on Nov 6 2012 16:51:11 with gcc 4.7.2 [x11grab @ 0x162fd80] device: :0.0+570,262 -> display: :0.0 x: 570 y: 262 width: 1280 height: 720 [x11grab @ 0x162fd80] shared memory extension found [x11grab @ 0x162fd80] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate Input #0, x11grab, from ':0.0+570,262': Duration: N/A, start: 1353181686.735113, bitrate: 884736 kb/s Stream #0.0: Video: rawvideo, bgra, 1280x720, 884736 kb/s, 30 tbr, 1000k tbn, 30 tbc [alsa @ 0x163fce0] capture with some ALSA plugins, especially dsnoop, may hang. [alsa @ 0x163fce0] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate Input #1, alsa, from 'pulse': Duration: N/A, start: 1353181686.773841, bitrate: N/A Stream #1.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s Incompatible pixel format 'bgra' for codec 'libx264', auto-selecting format 'yuv420p' [buffer @ 0x1641ec0] w:1280 h:720 pixfmt:bgra [scale @ 0x1642480] w:1280 h:720 fmt:bgra -> w:852 h:480 fmt:yuv420p flags:0x4 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] VBV maxrate unspecified, assuming CBR [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 FastShuffle SSE4.2 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] profile Main, level 3.1 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] 264 - core 123 r2189 35cf912 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2012 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=2 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x1:0x111 me=hex subme=6 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=0 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=4 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=0 open_gop=1 weightp=1 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=30 rc=cbr mbtree=1 bitrate=712 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 vbv_maxrate=712 vbv_bufsize=512 nal_hrd=none ip_ratio=1.25 aq=1:1.00 Output #0, flv, to 'rtmp://live.justin.tv/app/live_23011330_Pt1plSRM0z5WVNJ0QmCHvTPmpUnfC4': Metadata: encoder : Lavf53.21.0 Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 852x480, q=-1--1, 712 kb/s, 1k tbn, 30 tbc Stream #0.1: Audio: libmp3lame, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 712 kb/s Stream mapping: Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo -> libx264) Stream #1:0 -> #0:1 (pcm_s16le -> libmp3lame) Press ctrl-c to stop encoding frame= 17 fps= 0 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=10000000000.00 bitrate= 0.0kbitframe= 32 fps= 31 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=10000000000.00 bitrate= 0.0kbitframe= 40 fps= 23 q=29.0 size= 44kB time=0.03 bitrate=13786.2kbits/s dup=frame= 47 fps= 21 q=31.0 size= 93kB time=2.73 bitrate= 277.7kbits/s dup=0frame= 62 fps= 23 q=29.0 size= 160kB time=3.23 bitrate= 406.2kbits/s dup=0frame= 77 fps= 24 q=23.0 size= 209kB time=3.71 bitrate= 462.5kbits/s dup=0frame= 92 fps= 25 q=20.0 size= 267kB time=4.91 bitrate= 445.2kbits/s dup=0frame= 107 fps= 25 q=20.0 size= 318kB time=5.41 bitrate= 482.1kbits/s dup=0frame= 123 fps= 26 q=18.0 size= 368kB time=5.96 bitrate= 505.7kbits/s dup=0frame= 139 fps= 26 q=16.0 size= 419kB time=6.48 bitrate= 529.7kbits/s dup=0frame= 155 fps= 27 q=15.0 size= 473kB time=7.00 bitrate= 553.6kbits/s dup=0frame= 170 fps= 27 q=14.0 size= 525kB time=7.52 bitrate= 571.7kbits/s dup=0 frame= 180 fps= 25 q=-1.0 Lsize= 652kB time=7.97 bitrate= 670.0kbits/s dup=0 drop=32 //Here I stop the streaming video:531kB audio:112kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.345945% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] frame I:1 Avg QP:30.43 size: 39748 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] frame P:45 Avg QP:11.37 size: 11110 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] frame B:134 Avg QP:15.93 size: 27 [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] consecutive B-frames: 0.6% 0.0% 1.7% 97.8% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] mb I I16..4: 7.3% 0.0% 92.7% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] mb P I16..4: 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% P16..4: 49.1% 1.2% 2.1% 0.0% 0.0% skip:47.4% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] mb B I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% B16..8: 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% direct: 0.0% skip:99.9% L0:42.5% L1:56.9% BI: 0.6% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 82.3% 87.4% 71.9% inter: 7.1% 8.4% 7.0% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] i16 v,h,dc,p: 27% 29% 16% 28% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 22% 21% 14% 8% 8% 8% 7% 5% 7% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] i8c dc,h,v,p: 47% 22% 20% 11% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] ref P L0: 96.4% 3.6% [libx264 @ 0x165ae80] kb/s:474.19 Received signal 2: terminating. Any ideas on how I can resolve this? The video delay is perfectly acceptable, so I wouldn't think that it's a network issue that's causing the delay in the audio. Any help would be appreciated.

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• Jesse Liberty at the Montreal User Group, take 3

  This is our last attempt to get Jesse Liberty at the Montreal User Group (and there wont be any take 4 as this is the very last meeting of the season), so we cross fingers that everything will be fine this time! RunAtServer Consulting is the proud sponsor of this event. What: Silverlight 4, MVVM and Test-Driven Development When: June 16, 2010 at 6:15pm. Where: Microsoft Montreal office at 2000 McGill College, 4th floor, Montreal, QC, H3A 3H3. Price: Free for members of the User...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Jesse Liberty at the Montreal User Group, take 3

  - by pluginbaby

  This is our last attempt to get Jesse Liberty at the Montreal User Group (and there won’t be any take 4 as this is the very last meeting of the season), so we cross fingers that everything will be fine this time! RunAtServer Consulting is the proud sponsor of this event. What: Silverlight 4, MVVM and Test-Driven Development When: June 16, 2010 at 6:15pm. Where: Microsoft Montreal office at 2000 McGill College, 4th floor, Montreal, QC, H3A 3H3. Price: Free for members of the User Group, 5$ for anyone else.

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• gnome-shell failed to launch when dual monitor detected, nvidia card

  - by Terry Hu

  I installed a clean precise. I like gnome-shell so I installed it. It worked well with single monitor. But It does not work well when I go to office, plug my external monitor onto my laptop. I am using nvidia driver. Another colleague is using the same laptop, he can work well with dual monitors. His laptop is ATI graphic card. When I plug my extended monitor cable, I choose GNOME, but actually it goes to gnome 2 classic desktop environment, not GNOME 3. When I disconnect the extended monitor, restart X, I can login with GNOME3. Do I have to choose between GNOME3 and extended monitor? It's a hard choose.

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• How can a large company foster excellence in its engineers?

  - by Joshiatto

  I am tasked with improving the skills (quality & speed) of engineers in my company. Here are some ideas: Pair Programming TDD Automated Check-in Policies Talks given by experts Awards for coding excellence Encourage competition among engineers to contribute to GitHub Publish standards and practices docs on the intranet site "Gamification" of engineering. Somehow make becoming badasses into a game they will enjoy playing Training Showcase github checkins on screens around the office Add an "engineer of the month" to the intranet home page How can I drive traffic to the intranet home page? What crazy futuristic idea would drive engineers to go to the page every day to see who of their peers are making more money than them (inferred via recognition) and then go off and improve their skills and productivity to see their standings improve on the home page??? Or any ideas just to foster collaboration and love for their jobs so they start taking more pride in their work?? Don't take my ideas as symptomatic of our org. I take full responsibility for not knowing the right way to do this.

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• Recycle Old Hardware into a Showcase Table

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you have a plethora of old hardware laying around, especially motherboard and expansion cards, this obsolete-hardware-to-table hack is just the ticket for your office or geek cave. The table’s design is simple. They took a regular coffee table, affixed old mother boards to it and then, over the motherboards and elevated by acrylic standoffs, they put a heavy sheet of acrylic to serve as the table top. You could replicate the design with any sort of old hardware that is interesting to look at: memory modules your company is sending off to be recycled, old digital cameras, mechanisms from peripherals headed for the scrap heap, etc. Hit up the link below to see more photos of the table. Circuit Table [Chris Harrison] How to Make and Install an Electric Outlet in a Cabinet or DeskHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is CompromisedHow to Clean Your Filthy Keyboard in the Dishwasher (Without Ruining it)

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• Website Access...DNS, ISP, issue?

  - by sublet

  This isn't so much a code issue as it might be an issue with my ISP. For some reason when I visit a site very often, like one I manage or write stories on, it will just stop pulling data down after a while. It's very random when it happens, but probably happens once a week. If effects everyone who is accessing the site from this connection, and I can access other sites no problem. Also, if I go outside the office back home, which is right down the street, and access the site it is fine. I'm using Comcast in both locations. It's almost as if I have a limit on requests to each site and have hit my limit so it blocks the site for a while. Anybody have any clue what this might be?

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• Preview - Profit, May 2010

  - by Aaron Lazenby

  Whew! Last Friday, we put the finishing touches on the May 2010 edition of Profit, Oracle's quarterly business and technology journal. The issue will be back from the printer and live on the website in mid-April. Here's a preview: 0 0 0 Turning Crisis into OpportunityDuring the depths of the financial crisis, San Francisco California-based Wells Fargo &Company launched a bold acquisition of Wachovia Bank--one of the largest financial services mergers in history. Learn how Oracle software helped Wells Fargo CFO Howard Atkins prepare his office for the merger--and assisted with the integration of the companies once the deal was done.Building on SuccessGlobal construction firm Hill International takes project management to new heightswith Oracle's Primavera solutions.?Product Management, In Black and whiteCatch up with Zebra Technologies to see how Oracle's Agile applications connectwith an existing Oracle E-Business Suite system. A Perfect MatchLearn how technology makes good medicine in this interview with National MarrowDonor Program CIO Michael Jones. The IT Ties the BindHow information systems are help­ing manage knowledge workers in a post-9-to-5work world.I'll post a link to the new edition once it's live. Hope you enjoy!

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• Exchange 2013 goes RTM!

  - by marc dekeyser

  Exchange 2013 has been signed off and is now RTM! Hoozaaa!!   From the Exchange team blog: Today we reached an important milestone in the development of the new Exchange. Moments ago, the Exchange engineering team signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build. This milestone means the coding and testing phase of the project is complete and we are now focused on releasing the new Exchange via multiple distribution channels to our business customers. General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013. We have a number of programs that provide business customers with early access so they can begin testing, piloting and adopting Exchange within their organizations: We will begin rolling out new capabilities to Office 365 Enterprise customers in our next service updates, starting in November through general availability. Volume Licensing customers with Software Assurance will be able to download Exchange Server 2013 through the Volume Licensing Service Center by mid-November. These products will be available on the Volume Licensing price list on December 1. Read more…

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• Neuberger Berman Defines CRM Strategy In Asset Management

  - by michael.seback

  Neuberger Berman Defines Front Office Strategy for the New Firm Neuberger Berman is a majority employee-owned independent asset management firm with a heritage dating back to 1939. It provides a range of investment options, wealth planning services, and advice to meet individual needs. It also offers a broad range of financial capabilities and specializes in developing innovative and customized investment solutions for institutions. ... "The Insight team's analysis was critical to helping us assess the strengths and weaknesses of our Siebel implementation. It helped us to come up with our strategic plan for using customer relationship management and business intelligence capabilities." - Roxana Feldmann, Senior Vice President Technology ...Read more.

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• Grub Boot Error After Ubuntu Update

  - by Anna

  I've installed Ubuntu 10.04 with dual boot to Windows XP. I put it on auto-update. It was updating grub et al and after a restart all it says is; error:no such device: <hex number> With a grub rescue prompt. I'm in panic mode right now as it's my mother's office computer and it might have some serious repercussions for her tomorrow. What should I do? Update: It appears that the partition structure has been corrupted since it only displays (hd0) on ls

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• Version Control & Build Systems free Headspring on 5/18

  Headspring is putting on another free workshop at the Austin Microsoft office.  This one will be led by Senior Consultant, Eric Anderson.  Here are the details: Headspring Presents: Version Control and Build Systems for Growing Teams a workshop by Eric Anderson on: Does your team run into frequent conflicts with source control? Has your build system become a broken window with little hope of repair? Do you struggle to deploy minor changes and bug fixes while keeping the system stable?...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• What defines good developer culture? [closed]

  - by Sven

  We are a team of 6 people developing applications for mobile devices (Android & iOS). In our company, which consists of many teams responsible for "classic" software development, business intelligence, virtualization, hardware, etc., we are kind of a small startup because we were the first to use agile methods like Scrum and we are open to new technologies and methods. Also our team is pretty young with me being the oldest with 30 years. We would like to further raise productivity and motivation and thus are currently collecting points which make up a good developer/hacker culture and which may be improved in our team/company. This can be points that we can either improve ourselves or have to pass on to management. I would like to know what in your opinion defines good, modern developer culture? What does developer culture consists of? For example is it clearly defined career opportunities geeky office benefits like trips to extraordinary conferences like WWDC or Google I/O ...

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• Microsoft Discontinuing Windows Home Server

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  As part of their ongoing push to simplify their product lineups, Microsoft is discontinuing their popular small office/home server platform Windows Home Server. On to see the new alternative for small volume users. Although, in the context of the simplification push, it shouldn’t seem surprising, many people were in fact surprised by Microsoft’s move to drop the extremely popular and economical WHS platform. Now, instead of dropping $99 on a copy of WHS to build their simple home servers users will find themselves on the first tier of the new Windows Server 2012 pricing ladder: a copy of Essentials for $425. There is one version below Essentials, Foundation, but it’s currently OEM only. Hit up the link below to see the new features and pricing structure of Windows Server 2012. Windows Server 2012 [via RedmondPie] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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• What You Said: Your Tech Spring Cleaning Routines

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Earlier this week we asked you to share your tech spring cleaning routine; now we’re back to highlight your tips, tricks, and techniques. What tools rule the spring cleaning roost? Compressed air and microfiber cloths are the tools of choice by a wide margin. D^Angelo highlights the software and physicals tools he uses: Backup all the important stuff just to be safe (c:/, my documents, desktop, drivers) Cleaning the dust with some office depot compressed air, avoiding spinning the fans. Use a brush for that small places (fans, memory, capacitors, etc). Use some dielectric spray on the motherboard. If the pc turned on without problems its time to use ccleaner, Check if there is a toolbar installed or another unusual software that I don’t want. Run my antivirus software or malwarebytes; some defraggler maybe. Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage Reader Request: How To Repair Blurry Photos HTG Explains: What Can You Find in an Email Header?

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• Guidance on building an au pair-to-family networking site.

  - by Philip Kidd

  I'm building a website for an au pair agency business that will connect au pairs to families around Europe. I know nothing about website building, HTML etc. so I'm using a wysiwyg editer (weebly). How I would like the site to function: Families upload their information into profiles Au pairs do the same families can view a limited part of an au pairs' profile until they pay a deposit After deposit is payed, all au pairs' profile information becomes open to families Families can order au pairs and confirm their order with another payment payment must be made before 'order' is confirmed By 'order' I mean full communications become open between the family and the au pair they have 'ordered' as well as travel information being sent to another agency the site needs to be linked with a bank account (e.g paypal) and another agency, who will look after the flight bookings etc. A website already exists for this business however it just contains information on the business and application forms - if the site becomes fully automated it will relieve a lot of strain on administration in the office (dealing with applications, travel information etc.)

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• What is the justification for Python's power operator associating to the right?

  - by Pieter Müller

  I am writing code to parse mathematical expression strings, and noticed that the order in which chained power operators are evaluated in Python differs from the order in Excel. From http://docs.python.org/reference/expressions.html: "Thus, in an unparenthesized sequence of power and unary operators, the operators are evaluated from right to left (this does not constrain the evaluation order for the operands): -1*2 results in -1."* This means that, in Python: 2**2**3 is evaluated as 2**(2**3) = 2**8 = 256 In Excel, it works the other way around: 2^2^3 is evaluated as (2^2)^3 = 4^3 = 64 I now have to choose an implementation for my own parser. The Excel order is easier to implement, as it mirrors the evaluation order of multiplication. I asked some people around the office what their gut feel was for the evaluation of 2^2^3 and got mixed responses. Does anybody know of any good reasons or conciderations in favour of the Python implementation? And if you don't have an answer, please comment with the result you get from gut feel - 64 or 256?

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• Soda Cans Exploding Under the Stress of High Voltage [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  In an effort to start your Monday off in true Mad Scientist style, we bring you soda cans being decimated by thousands of volts in a “Thumper”. What is a thumper, you ask? During office hours, it’s a high-voltage testing unit most often used to stress test electric cables. In the off hours, however, the electrical engineering geeks over at The Geek Group like to shove anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of volts through unsuspecting objects to see what happens. In this installation they’re shooting high voltage through a variety of soft drink cans with an end result that sounds and looks like a cannon loaded with Mountain Dew. [via Hacked Gadgets] HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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• How can I force X to start in a computer without a monitor?

  - by Javier Rivera

  I have I computer that have no monitor attached. When I boot it X fails to start because there is no monitor detected. If I boot it with a monitor attached and after X is started I remove the monitor everything works fine. Details and Background: This computer is a kind of hardware consolidation server. It's only purpose is to run two Virtual Box VM's that run Windows XP and some important but seldom used (once or twice a month) programs. For a couple of time it has been lying in a corner with an old monitor attached to it and working great. But space in the office was getting scarce and I moved the computer to the server room. There is no monitor attached to it there (no space), and sometimes the computer is rebooted. When it boots without monitor X is not started, the vms don't start and I get called to solve the problem.

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• Speaking in St. Louis on June 14th

  - by Bill Graziano

  I’m going back to speak in St. Louis next month.  I didn’t make it last year and I’m looking forward to it.  You can find additional details on the St. Louis SQL Server user group web site.  The meeting will be held at the Microsoft office and I’ll be speaking at 1PM. I’ll be speaking on the procedure cache.  As people get better and better tuning queries this is the next major piece to understand.  We’ll talk about how and when query plans are reused.  The most common issue I see around odd query plans are stored procedures that use one query plan but the queries run completely different when you extract the SQL and hard code the parameters.  That’s just one of the common issues that I’ll address. There will be a second speaker after I’m done, then a short vendor presentation and a drawing for a netbook.

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• Address Is Approximate: A Brilliant Stop Motion and Street View Mashup [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  In this moving and brilliantly executed stop motion film, a small toy takes a voyage across the world without leaving the desk he lives on. Address is Approximate, a short stop motion film by Tom Jenkins, is a moving little film that combines Google Street View, stop motion, a collection of small desktop toys, and very clever use of office objects to great effect. [via GeekDad] How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To HTG Explains: When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers? How to Make the Kindle Fire Silk Browser *Actually* Fast!

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• Clint Edmonson Talks Season of Launch | AJI Report #11

  - by Jeff Julian

  We are back in the office for another installment of AJI Report where we talk with Clint Edmonson of Microsoft about their Season of Launch events. We get into Windows Azure, Windows 8, and Visual Studio 2012 and how developers and decision makers can learn more about the new products. Clint is an amazing resource for the Central Region and is very responsive if you have questions about products or integration. Clint makes a great offer to help you with your applications during the Hackathon events coming up. Listen to the Show Site: Not So Trivial Twitter: @ClintEd

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• Proposal for a new position at work

  - by Seth P.

  I have an idea at work for a new Product Manager position at our office. I work with several developers, and it would be helpful to have someone working in a type of "Scrum Master" capacity, dividing out assignments and making sure they get complete. This position does not currently exist, however I feel that I have enough evidence to indicate that it be very helpful for our business. What is the best way to present this proposal to my boss? Is there a specific template that you know of for new position? It should be able to describe the qualification for the position, their responsibilities, and what metrics we would use to measure them. Thanks. UPDATE++++ With Anna's suggestion, I gave more details about this specific position. However, I would ideally like the most generic way to present a new position to my boss.

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• February OTN Member Offers

  - by Cassandra Clark

  This month we have a lot of NEW book discounts and another from Oracle Store. See full list below or go right to OTN Member Discount Page to get codes. Books Discounts - Apress Offers - 25% off eBooks bought @ apress.com. Book of the Month - Pro Oracle Database 11g Administration. Pearson - 35% off and free shipping in US C# 4.0 Unleashed Multicore Application Programming Oracle Press - 40% off and sample chapters of following titles. Oracle Streams 11g Data Replication JavaFX, A Beginner's Guide Oracle CRM on Demand Embedded Analytics Oracle CRM On Demand Combined Analyses Packt Publishing - 20% off print and 45% off ebook of below Oracle APEX titles. Oracle APEX 4.0 Cookbook Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS Oracle Application Express 3.2 - The Essentials and More Oracle Application Express Forms Converter Manning - 40% off all formats of books below: • The Joy of Clojure • Specification by Example  Manning is also offering a book excerpt and 42% off all formats of the following titles: • Portlets in Action • Tuscany SCA in Action                                                                   Oracle Store - OTN Member Exclusive: 15% off Oracle Open Office Enterprise Edition at Oracle Store To get discount codes please visit the OTN Member Discount Page.

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• To Bit or Not To Bit

  - by Johnm

  'Twas a long day of troubleshooting and firefighting and now, with most of the office vacant, you face a blank scripting window to create a new table in his database. Many questions circle your mind like dirty water gurgling down the bathtub drain: "How normalized should this table be?", "Should I use an identity column?", "NVarchar or Varchar?", "Should this column be NULLABLE?", "I wonder what apple blue cheese bacon cheesecake tastes like?" Well, there are times when the mind goes it's own direction. A Bit About Bit At some point during your table creation efforts you will encounter the decision of whether to use the bit data type for a column. The bit data type is an integer data type that recognizes only the values of 1, 0 and NULL as valid. This data type is often utilized to store yes/no or true/false values. An example of its use would be a column called [IsGasoline] which would be intended to contain the value of 1 if the row's subject (a car) had a gasoline engine and a 0 if the subject did not have a gasoline engine. The bit data type can even be found in some of the system tables of SQL Server. For example, the sysssispackages table in the msdb database which contains SQL Server Integration Services Package information for the packages stored in SQL Server. This table contains a column called [IsEncrypted]. A value of 1 indicates that the package has been encrypted while the value of 0 indicates that it is not. I have learned that the most effective way to disperse the crowd that surrounds the office coffee machine is to engage into SQL Server debates. The bit data type has been one of the most reoccurring, as well as the most enjoyable, of these topics. It contains a practical side and a philosophical side. Practical Consideration This data type certainly has its place and is a valuable option for database design; but it is often used in situations where the answer is really not a pure true/false response. In addition, true/false values are not very informative or scalable. Let's use the previously noted [IsGasoline] column for illustration. While on the surface it appears to be a rather simple question when evaluating a car: "Does the car have a gasoline engine?" If the person entering data is entering a row for a Jeep Liberty, the response would be a 1 since it has a gasoline engine. If the person is entering data is entering a row for a Chevrolet Volt, the response would be a 0 since it is an electric engine. What happens when a person is entering a row for the gasoline/electric hybrid Toyota Prius? Would one person's conclusion be consistent with another person's conclusion? The argument could be made that the current intent for the database is to be used only for pure gasoline and pure electric engines; but this is where the scalability issue comes into play. With the use of a bit data type a database modification and data conversion would be required if the business decided to take on hybrid engines. Whereas, alternatively, if the int data type were used as a foreign key to a reference table containing the engine type options, the change to include the hybrid option would only require an entry into the reference table. Philosophical Consideration Since the bit data type is often used for true/false or yes/no data (also called Boolean) it presents a philosophical conundrum of what to do about the allowance of the NULL value. The inclusion of NULL in a true/false or yes/no response simply violates the logical principle of bivalence which states that "every proposition is either true or false". If NULL is not true, then it must be false. The mathematical laws of Boolean logic support this concept by stating that the only valid values of this scenario are 1 and 0. There is another way to look at this conundrum: NULL is also considered to be the absence of a response. In other words, it is the equivalent to "undecided". Anyone who watches the news can tell you that polls always include an "undecided" option. This could be considered a valid option in the world of yes/no/dunno. Through out all of these considerations I have discovered one absolute certainty: When you have found a person, or group of persons, who are willing to entertain a philosophical debate of the bit data type, you have found some true friends.

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