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• How do you notice that the batteries of you wireless mouse are dying out?

  - by hkBattousai

  I have a Logitech M705 wireless mouse. I'm first time using a wireless mouse, so I don't have much experience with the hardware features and behavior. It is rated that it runs for 3 years with the same batteries. I think this "3 year" rating is calculated for a very low usage and activity; like 2 hours a day. I'm using it for about 12 hours a day, so I expect it to run out of batteries in a much shorter time in my case. I have been using it for about half a year. Recently (for the last two weeks), it started to make some peculiar behavior when clicking and drafging objects. - When I click something, it sometimes double click it. - When I drag something from one place to another (or selecting some text), it sometimes drops the object in the halfway (when selecting text, the text which had selected up to that time becomes unselected and it starts to select the rest of the text from that moment), but it goes on being in the "left-button-pressed" state. It is like, the pressed button switches to "unpressed" state for a moment, then returns back to the "pressed" state. When one of these faults occur, it occurs several times sequentially. There is no problem in pointer movement, scrolling or right-clicking. Since the batteries last for a very long time for this device, I don't expect it to stop working in an instance. I expect it to give these kind of syndromes of a time period. My question is; Is this how batteries run out for a wireless mouse? Or, is this another kind of hardware/software problem?

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• Difficult to point-and-click target with Apple Magic Trackpad?

  - by Andrew Swift

  My Magic Trackpad is great for most things involving dragging and gestures, but for simple point-and-click use it is starting to get really annoying. For example, my bank has a numeric code that I need to enter from a visual grid on the screen, by clicking on the six numbers in order. To do this is quite difficult with the Magic Trackpad. Idea 1: it is because when you start dragging on the touchpad, there is a brief delay before the mouse starts to move. The delay might be enough to screw up my anticipation of where the cursor is going to go. Idea 2: it may have to do with the cursor acceleration. If I move it a little, the cursor moves a little. If I move it a lot, it goes much faster. I have tried various settings in the preference pane, and although the cursor does move more or less quickly, it doesn't seem any more or less easy to hit a given target. As I am writing this post, I tried a brief experiment -- I chose a spot on the page (the bracket in the superuser logo) and tried to move the cursor there in one quick movement. It's extremely difficult, even though I've been using Macs and touchpads since 1999. There is something about the behavior of the trackpad that is making it impossible for me to learn how to accurately predict where the cursor will end up. Does anyone else have this problem?

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• How to play 24 fps video smoothly on a 60Hz display? (or which player supports frame interpolation?)

  - by netvope

  I use mpc-hc to play videos on Win7 x64. With the default settings (#1), video playback is great most of the time. But for panning shots, playback is not smooth. I stepped through the video frame by frame and found that the panning movement is smooth (e.g. each frame shifts horizontally by 10 pixels), so the problem is how the 23.976 fps video is interpolated to 60Hz. The judder looks like what would be caused by a "2:3 pulldown", where the frames are played unevenly like: frame 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, etc (#2) Using "optimal renderer settings" (#3) instead of the default disables the Aero theme and causes tearing. Setting my LCD display to 50Hz may have improved the judder slightly (but I can't really tell). My display does not support 24Hz or 48Hz, and forcing them in the Nvidia control panel gives blurry screen. I've tried other video players (VLC and KMPlayer), the ReClock Directshow Filter, video files from different sources (#4), turning on/off DXVA, and a computer with a different GPU, but the judder in the playback is similar. None of them solved the problem. So, how can I play 23.976 or 24 fps video smoothly on a 60Hz display? I think a video player could make the video smoother by doing linear interpolation, such as: 1. 100% frame 1 2. 60% frame 1 + 40% frame 2 3. 20% frame 1 + 80% frame 2 4. 80% frame 2 + 20% frame 3 5. 40% frame 2 + 60% frame 3 6. 100% frame 3 7. 60% frame 3 + 40% frame 4 .. etc Can any existing video player do this? Footnotes: (#1) Video renderer: EVR Custom Pres. (#2) This example converts a 24 fps video into 30 fps (#3) View Renderer settings Reset Reset to optimal renderer settings (#4) The files I have are all H.264 mkv files, but I don't think the file format/encoding matters.

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• mouse pointer moving on its own

  - by PA

  After two months of working correctly, I am experiencing an strange and very annoying problem. My mouse pointer is moving on its own. If I move the mouse to the left, as soon as I stop the movement, the pointer runs again to the far right. This makes the mouse totally unusable. The mouse device is an optical USB mouse. It is not a problem with the mouse itself. I have tried with another mouse, same problem. (both mice are OK, I have tried both mice on my laptop, both worked perfectly) Have tried different surfaces, too. Same problem. System is Windows XP Pro SP3. Computer is a desktop PC two months old. I suspected it could be a problem with the mouse driver. But both mice are from different brand, so I suppose they use different drivers. What else can I try? any suggestion?

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• Flash AS3 Mysterious Blinking MovieClip

  - by Ben

  This is the strangest problem I've faced in flash so far. I have no idea what's causing it. I can provide a .swf if someone wants to actually see it, but I'll describe it as best I can. I'm creating bullets for a tank object to shoot. The tank is a child of the document class. The way I am creating the bullet is: var bullet:Bullet = new Bullet(); (parent as MovieClip).addChild(bullet); The bullet itself simply moves itself in a direction using code like this.x += 5; The problem is the bullets will trace for their creation and destruction at the correct times, however the bullet is sometimes not visible until half way across the screen, sometimes not at all, and sometimes for the whole traversal. Oddly removing the timer I have on bullet creation seems to solve this. The timer is implemented as such: if(shot_timer == 0) { shoot(); // This contains the aforementioned bullet creation method shot_timer = 10; My enter frame handler for the tank object controls the timer and decrements it every frame if it is greater than zero. Can anyone suggest why this could be happening? EDIT: As requested, full code: Bullet.as package { import flash.display.MovieClip; import flash.events.Event; public class Bullet extends MovieClip { public var facing:int; private var speed:int; public function Bullet():void { trace("created"); speed = 10; addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,addedHandler); } private function addedHandler(e:Event):void { addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,enterFrameHandler); removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,addedHandler); } private function enterFrameHandler(e:Event):void { //0 - up, 1 - left, 2 - down, 3 - right if(this.x > 720 || this.x < 0 || this.y < 0 || this.y > 480) { removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,enterFrameHandler); trace("destroyed"); (parent as MovieClip).removeChild(this); return; } switch(facing) { case 0: this.y -= speed; break; case 1: this.x -= speed; break; case 2: this.y += speed; break; case 3: this.x += speed; break; } } } } Tank.as: package { import flash.display.MovieClip; import flash.events.KeyboardEvent; import flash.events.Event; import flash.ui.Keyboard; public class Tank extends MovieClip { private var right:Boolean = false; private var left:Boolean = false; private var up:Boolean = false; private var down:Boolean = false; private var facing:int = 0; //0 - up, 1 - left, 2 - down, 3 - right private var horAllowed:Boolean = true; private var vertAllowed:Boolean = true; private const GRID_SIZE:int = 100; private var shooting:Boolean = false; private var shot_timer:int = 0; private var speed:int = 2; public function Tank():void { addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,stageAddHandler); addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, enterFrameHandler); } private function stageAddHandler(e:Event):void { stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,checkKeys); stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,keyUps); removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,stageAddHandler); } public function checkKeys(event:KeyboardEvent):void { if(event.keyCode == 32) { //trace("Spacebar is down"); shooting = true; } if(event.keyCode == 39) { //trace("Right key is down"); right = true; } if(event.keyCode == 38) { //trace("Up key is down"); // lol up = true; } if(event.keyCode == 37) { //trace("Left key is down"); left = true; } if(event.keyCode == 40) { //trace("Down key is down"); down = true; } } public function keyUps(event:KeyboardEvent):void { if(event.keyCode == 32) { event.keyCode = 0; shooting = false; //trace("Spacebar is not down"); } if(event.keyCode == 39) { event.keyCode = 0; right = false; //trace("Right key is not down"); } if(event.keyCode == 38) { event.keyCode = 0; up = false; //trace("Up key is not down"); } if(event.keyCode == 37) { event.keyCode = 0; left = false; //trace("Left key is not down"); } if(event.keyCode == 40) { event.keyCode = 0; down = false; //trace("Down key is not down") // O.o } } public function checkDirectionPermissions(): void { if(this.y % GRID_SIZE < 5 || GRID_SIZE - this.y % GRID_SIZE < 5) { horAllowed = true; } else { horAllowed = false; } if(this.x % GRID_SIZE < 5 || GRID_SIZE - this.x % GRID_SIZE < 5) { vertAllowed = true; } else { vertAllowed = false; } if(!horAllowed && !vertAllowed) { realign(); } } public function realign():void { if(!horAllowed) { if(this.x % GRID_SIZE < GRID_SIZE / 2) { this.x -= this.x % GRID_SIZE; } else { this.x += (GRID_SIZE - this.x % GRID_SIZE); } } if(!vertAllowed) { if(this.y % GRID_SIZE < GRID_SIZE / 2) { this.y -= this.y % GRID_SIZE; } else { this.y += (GRID_SIZE - this.y % GRID_SIZE); } } } public function enterFrameHandler(Event):void { //trace(shot_timer); if(shot_timer > 0) { shot_timer--; } movement(); firing(); } public function firing():void { if(shooting) { if(shot_timer == 0) { shoot(); shot_timer = 10; } } } public function shoot():void { var bullet = new Bullet(); bullet.facing = facing; //0 - up, 1 - left, 2 - down, 3 - right switch(facing) { case 0: bullet.x = this.x; bullet.y = this.y - this.height / 2; break; case 1: bullet.x = this.x - this.width / 2; bullet.y = this.y; break; case 2: bullet.x = this.x; bullet.y = this.y + this.height / 2; break; case 3: bullet.x = this.x + this.width / 2; bullet.y = this.y; break; } (parent as MovieClip).addChild(bullet); } public function movement():void { //0 - up, 1 - left, 2 - down, 3 - right checkDirectionPermissions(); if(horAllowed) { if(right) { orient(3); realign(); this.x += speed; } if(left) { orient(1); realign(); this.x -= speed; } } if(vertAllowed) { if(up) { orient(0); realign(); this.y -= speed; } if(down) { orient(2); realign(); this.y += speed; } } } public function orient(dest:int):void { //trace("facing: " + facing); //trace("dest: " + dest); var angle = facing - dest; this.rotation += (90 * angle); facing = dest; } } }

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• Difficult to point-and-click target with Apple Magic Trackpad?

  - by Andrew Swift

  My Magic Trackpad is great for most things involving dragging and gestures, but for simple point-and-click use it is starting to get really annoying. For example, my bank has a numeric code that I need to enter from a visual grid on the screen, by clicking on the six numbers in order. To do this is quite difficult with the Magic Trackpad. Idea 1: it is because when you start dragging on the touchpad, there is a brief delay before the mouse starts to move. The delay might be enough to screw up my anticipation of where the cursor is going to go. Idea 2: it may have to do with the cursor acceleration. If I move it a little, the cursor moves a little. If I move it a lot, it goes much faster. I have tried various settings in the preference pane, and although the cursor does move more or less quickly, it doesn't seem any more or less easy to hit a given target. As I am writing this post, I tried a brief experiment -- I chose a spot on the page (the bracket in the superuser logo) and tried to move the cursor there in one quick movement. It's extremely difficult, even though I've been using Macs and touchpads since 1999. There is something about the behavior of the trackpad that is making it impossible for me to learn how to accurately predict where the cursor will end up. Does anyone else have this problem?

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• Advice on resizing 1280*720 for web audiences.

  - by jamiethompson90

  Forgive my spelling, I'm posting this from my mobile. I've recently decided to record videos to help teach a visual language. My camera likes to boast it can record in 1280; its a cheap camera about £75 so the quality isn't amazing. But its okay. Anyways, it has some other settings for lower res, but I figure might as well record in a larger size in case the need arises for a bigger source file in the future. I've been looking at jw player to play the converted files (mp4 to flv I think). What do you think a good size would be to convert to? I want to to look nice and clear remembering it is a visual language so lip patterns, facial expressions, body movement, fingers etc are all important, sound is not that important but I would like to have a choice to toggle captions. Thanks for any help, any advice apreciated, first time I have done a video project! P.s. If anyones interested its BSL. Jamie

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• Moving a lot of small files between servers using rsync

  - by Adirael

  Hello guys, I'm moving a lot of files (about 2 millions) between two servers on different locations using rsync over ssh, it seems to work fine but I just realised I'm losing some files on the process. I got server 1, with the original data, and server 2, with the copy. Server 1 runs CentOS 5 and Server 2 runs on Ubuntu 10. I'm doing the transfer on the Server's 2 command line like this: rsync -e ssh -avzn usr@server1:/remote/path /local/path The first file movement I did using tar, but I didn't though of piping it through ssh and it failed cause the disk on server 1 was almost full, so I transfered it anyways (it was about 200GB) and got about 80% of the files. Then I piped another tar with the rest of the files (they're in folders, I got 100 folders with about 30 subfolders each, with files inside) and now I got everything on server 2. I wanted to be sure, so I my two options are getting the md5sum of all the files and check them or running an rsync on server 2 against server 1, that's what I did. It got some missing stuff and now it says there's nothing more to do (DRY RUN). But I got at least two files that are missing inside a subfolder. I ran that same rsync on that folder, but still dry run. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks, and sorry for the wall of text.

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• addEventListener() isn't detecting KEY_UP nor KEY_DOWN

  - by Zirenth

  My full code is import flash.events.KeyboardEvent; import flash.events.Event; //init some variables var speedX = 0; var speedY = 0; msg.visible = false; var curLevel = 2; var level = new Array(); var flagVar; var won = false; //Adding level platforms for(var i = 0; i < numChildren; i++) { if(getChildAt(i) is platform) { level.push(getChildAt(i).getRect(this)); } if(getChildAt(i) is flag) { flagVar = getChildAt(i).getRect(this); } } //Checking key presses var kUp = false; var kDown = false; var kLeft = false; var kRight = false; var kSpace = false; stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, kD); stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, kU); function kD(k:KeyboardEvent) { trace("Key down - " + k.keyCode); if(k.keyCode == 32) { kSpace = true; } if(k.keyCode == 37 ) { kLeft = true; } if(k.keyCode == 38) { kUp = true; } if(k.keyCode == 39) { kRight = true; } } function kU(k:KeyboardEvent) { trace("Key up - " + k.keyCode); if(k.keyCode == 32) { kSpace = false; } if(k.keyCode == 37) { kLeft = false; } if(k.keyCode == 38) { kUp = false; } if(k.keyCode == 39) { kRight = false; } } addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, loopAround); function loopAround(e:Event) { //horizontal movement if(kLeft) { speedX = -10; } else if(kRight) { speedX = 10; } else { speedX *= 0.5; } player.x += speedX; //horizontal collision checks for(var i = 0; i < level.length; i++) { if(player.getRect(this).intersects(level[i])) { if(speedX > 0) { player.x = level[i].left - player.width; } if(speedX < 0) { player.x = level[i].right; } speedX = 0; } } //vertical movement speedY += 1; player.y += speedY; var jumpable = false; //Vertical collision for(i = 0; i < level.length; i++) { if(player.getRect(this).intersects(level[i])) { if(speedY > 0) { player.y = level[i].top - player.height; speedY = 0; jumpable = true; } if(speedY < 0) { player.y = level[i].bottom; speedY *= -0.5; } } } //JUMP! if((kUp || kSpace) && jumpable) { speedY=-20; } //Moving camera and other this.x = -player.x + (stage.stageWidth/2); this.y = -player.y + (stage.stageHeight/2); msg.x = player.x - (msg.width/2); msg.y = player.y - (msg.height/2); //Checking win if(player.getRect(this).intersects(flagVar)) { msg.visible = true; won = true; } //Check for next level request if(kSpace && won) { curLevel++; gotoAndStop(curLevel); won = false; } } The section in question is //Checking key presses var kUp = false; var kDown = false; var kLeft = false; var kRight = false; var kSpace = false; stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, kD); stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, kU); function kD(k:KeyboardEvent) { trace("Key down - " + k.keyCode); if(k.keyCode == 32) { kSpace = true; } if(k.keyCode == 37 ) { kLeft = true; } if(k.keyCode == 38) { kUp = true; } if(k.keyCode == 39) { kRight = true; } } function kU(k:KeyboardEvent) { trace("Key up - " + k.keyCode); if(k.keyCode == 32) { kSpace = false; } if(k.keyCode == 37) { kLeft = false; } if(k.keyCode == 38) { kUp = false; } if(k.keyCode == 39) { kRight = false; } } This was working fine last night, but today I moved it to a new keyframe and now it's not working. I'm not getting any errors (even if I debug). It just won't move the character or even show up in output. I'm still quite new to as3, so I don't really know what to do. Thanks in advance. Edit: After playing with it a bit, I've found out that the reason it's not working is due to the menu. The menu has a single button and two text elements, which are fine. The code that I'm using on the menu is this: import flash.events.MouseEvent; stop(); var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); format.size = 26; format.bold = true; playGameButton.setStyle("textFormat", format); stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, playGame); function playGame(e:MouseEvent) { if(e.target.name == "playGameButton") { gotoAndStop(2); } } If I use just gotoAndStop(2); it works fine, but with everything else it just goes to the second frame, and nothing else works after that. Edit #2: I've narrowed it down even farther to the if statement itself. if(e.target == playGameButton) if(e.target.name == "playGameButton") Both of those don't work. If I just remove the if statement all together it works perfectly fine.

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• Windows 7 mouse multi selection on windows explorer with CTRL and point to select / single click to open

  - by bortao

  This is something that have annoyed me since i changed to Windows 7. I don't do double click for a long time now since windows introduced 1 click selection (Folder Options Click items as follows Single click to open an item). The problem is, when i click Control and hover over the items, they select/deselect automatically every small amount of mouse movement i make. What i want is to select/deselect the items only when i enter/exit them. So to deselect an item im hovering, i have to move the mouse out of it, and then back in. I'm using Intellimouse Explorer official drivers. (edit) Here's another related annoyance: When you are hovering something and move the mouse inside other item (Holding Ctrl) The new item may or may not be selected. If you continue moving the mouse it gets selected/deselected as you move. (more edit) I have found that the parameter HKCU\Control Panel\Mouse\MouseHoverHeight / MouseHoverWidth have some influence here. If it's set to 2, the item select/deselect really quickly as you move the mouse. When set to larger numbers, its slower. But setting to 20 or 200 don't seem to be much different.

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• Some Portions of Computer Running Slow (Specifically Graphics)

  - by Mike Gates

  I noticed that a few things are running slow today on my Windows 7 laptop. Specifically, they are: Opening and closing windows takes several seconds for the animation to complete. Windows media player opens fine, but the movies are very laggy MMORPG's, such as RuneScape, are extremely laggy When waking my computer from sleep mode, after entering my password, my desktop takes about 3 seconds to fade in Other than those, everything runs at a normal speed. Things I've done that maybe contributed to this problem: Changed the graphics processor (by plugging in/unplugging the charger) [however, no matter how I change the graphics, I'm still getting this lagginess] Installed AdBlock, a Firefox addon [I recently removed it, and I'm still experiencing this problem] Went into Advanced System Settings, Clicked Settings, and unchecked a few visual things (such as the animation for opening and closing windows) [sure, this got rid of the opening/closing windows lag, but I like that little animation - plus that leaves all the other lag problems I'm experiencing] So, does anyone have any ideas/fixes? If so, please respond. Thank you. Some Other Information: I'm on a HP Pavillion dv7 laptop, 4285 Entertainment PC, with: intel CORE i5 inside, ATI Mobility Radeon Premium Graphics, Microsoft DirectX11 Opening and closing of windows: Defined as opening a program (i.e. Firefox) or closing it by hitting the X in the upper-right hand corner. Lately, the animation for opening and closing windows (which is simply either growing from the icon from the taskbar to fill the screen, or shrinking from the screen down towards the icon on the toolbar.) This problem also occurs for minimizing/maximizing windows. Very laggy movies: defined as .avi movie files saved to My Documents which skips several frames per second and seemingly slows down the movie as a whole Extremely laggy games: I tried RuneScape today, and movement in the game was at least 10x slower than it ever has been, even when playing on the lowest detail/graphics Desktop taking 3 seconds to fade in after sleep: in this scenario, I had no other programs running visibly. The computer generally fades to black from the password screen to the desktop in about 1 second, normally. However, it is now taking 3 or more seconds.

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• How to decouple development server from Internet?

  - by intoxicated.roamer

  I am working in a small set-up where there are 4 developers (might grow to 6 or 8 in cuople of years). I want to set-up an environment in which developers get an internet access but can not share any data from the company on internet. I have thought of the following plan: Set-up a centralized git server (Debian). The server will have an internet access. A developer will only have git account on that server, and won't have any other account on it. Do not give internet access to developer's individual machine (Windows XP/Windows 7). Run a virtual machine (any multi-user OS) on the centralized server (the same one on which git is hosted). Developer will have an account on this virtual machine. He/she can access internet via this virtual machine. Any data-movement between this virtual machine and underlying server, as well as any of the developer's machine, is prohibited. All developers require USB port on their local machine, so that they can burn their code into a microcontroller. This port will be made available only to associated software that dumps the code in a microcontroller (MPLAB in current case). All other softwares will be prohibited from accessing the port. As more developers get added, providing internet support for them will become difficult with this plan as it will slow down the virtual machine running on the server. Can anyone suggest an alternative ? Are there any obvious flaws in the above plan ? Some key details of the server are as below: 1) OS:Debian 2) RAM: 8GB 3) CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220v2 4C/4T

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• A Guided Tour of Complexity

  - by JoshReuben

  I just re-read Complexity – A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell , protégé of Douglas Hofstadter ( author of “Gödel, Escher, Bach”) http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-Mitchell/dp/0199798109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339744329&sr=8-1 here are some notes and links:   Evolved from Cybernetics, General Systems Theory, Synergetics some interesting transdisciplinary fields to investigate: Chaos Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory – small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible. System Dynamics / Cybernetics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Dynamics – study of how feedback changes system behavior Network Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory – leverage Graph Theory to analyze symmetric  / asymmetric relations between discrete objects Algebraic Topology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_topology – leverage abstract algebra to analyze topological spaces There are limits to deterministic systems & to computation. Chaos Theory definitely applies to training an ANN (artificial neural network) – different weights will emerge depending upon the random selection of the training set. In recursive Non-Linear systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_system – output is not directly inferable from input. E.g. a Logistic map: Xt+1 = R Xt(1-Xt) Different types of bifurcations, attractor states and oscillations may occur – e.g. a Lorenz Attractor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_system Feigenbaum Constants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feigenbaum_constants express ratios in a bifurcation diagram for a non-linear map – the convergent limit of R (the rate of period-doubling bifurcations) is 4.6692016 Maxwell’s Demon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon - the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty – the universe (and thus information) tends towards entropy. While any computation can theoretically be done without expending energy, with finite memory, the act of erasing memory is permanent and increases entropy. Life & thought is a counter-example to the universe’s tendency towards entropy. Leo Szilard and later Claude Shannon came up with the Information Theory of Entropy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(information_theory) whereby Shannon entropy quantifies the expected value of a message’s information in bits in order to determine channel capacity and leverage Coding Theory (compression analysis). Ludwig Boltzmann came up with Statistical Mechanics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_mechanics – whereby our Newtonian perception of continuous reality is a probabilistic and statistical aggregate of many discrete quantum microstates. This is relevant for Quantum Information Theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_information and the Physics of Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_information. Hilbert’s Problems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_problems pondered whether mathematics is complete, consistent, and decidable (the Decision Problem – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entscheidungsproblem – is there always an algorithm that can determine whether a statement is true).  Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems  proved that mathematics cannot be both complete and consistent (e.g. “This statement is not provable”). Turing through the use of Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine symbol processors that can prove mathematical statements) and Universal Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Turing_machine Turing Machines that can emulate other any Turing Machine via accepting programs as well as data as input symbols) that computation is limited by demonstrating the Halting Problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem (is is not possible to know when a program will complete – you cannot build an infinite loop detector). You may be used to thinking of 1 / 2 / 3 dimensional systems, but Fractal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal systems are defined by self-similarity & have non-integer Hausdorff Dimensions !!!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fractals_by_Hausdorff_dimension – the fractal dimension quantifies the number of copies of a self similar object at each level of detail – eg Koch Snowflake - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_snowflake Definitions of complexity: size, Shannon entropy, Algorithmic Information Content (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_information_theory - size of shortest program that can generate a description of an object) Logical depth (amount of info processed), thermodynamic depth (resources required). Complexity is statistical and fractal. John Von Neumann’s other machine was the Self-Reproducing Automaton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine  . Cellular Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton are alternative form of Universal Turing machine to traditional Von Neumann machines where grid cells are locally synchronized with their neighbors according to a rule. Conway’s Game of Life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life demonstrates various emergent constructs such as “Glider Guns” and “Spaceships”. Cellular Automatons are not practical because logical ops require a large number of cells – wasteful & inefficient. There are no compilers or general program languages available for Cellular Automatons (as far as I am aware). Random Boolean Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_network are extensions of cellular automata where nodes are connected at random (not to spatial neighbors) and each node has its own rule –> they demonstrate the emergence of complex  & self organized behavior. Stephen Wolfram’s (creator of Mathematica, so give him the benefit of the doubt) New Kind of Science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Kind_of_Science proposes the universe may be a discrete Finite State Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite-state_machine whereby reality emerges from simple rules. I am 2/3 through this book. It is feasible that the universe is quantum discrete at the plank scale and that it computes itself – Digital Physics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics – a simulated reality? Anyway, all behavior is supposedly derived from simple algorithmic rules & falls into 4 patterns: uniform , nested / cyclical, random (Rule 30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_30) & mixed (Rule 110 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110 localized structures – it is this that is interesting). interaction between colliding propagating signal inputs is then information processing. Wolfram proposes the Principle of Computational Equivalence - http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofComputationalEquivalence.html - all processes that are not obviously simple can be viewed as computations of equivalent sophistication. Meaning in information may emerge from analogy & conceptual slippages – see the CopyCat program: http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/rgoldsto/courses/concepts/copycat.pdf Scale Free Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-free_network have a distribution governed by a Power Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law - much more common than Normal Distribution). They are characterized by hubs (resilience to random deletion of nodes), heterogeneity of degree values, self similarity, & small world structure. They grow via preferential attachment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_attachment – tipping points triggered by positive feedback loops. 2 theories of cascading system failures in complex systems are Self-Organized Criticality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organized_criticality and Highly Optimized Tolerance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_optimized_tolerance. Computational Mechanics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_mechanics – use of computational methods to study phenomena governed by the principles of mechanics. This book is a great intuition pump, but does not cover the more mathematical subject of Computational Complexity Theory – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory I am currently reading this book on this subject: http://www.amazon.com/Computational-Complexity-Christos-H-Papadimitriou/dp/0201530821/ref=pd_sim_b_1   stay tuned for that review!

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• Is RTD Stateless or Stateful?

  - by [email protected]

  Yes.   A stateless service is one where each request is an independent transaction that can be processed by any of the servers in a cluster.  A stateful service is one where state is kept in a server's memory from transaction to transaction, thus necessitating the proper routing of requests to the right server. The main advantage of stateless systems is simplicity of design. The main advantage of stateful systems is performance. I'm often asked whether RTD is a stateless or stateful service, so I wanted to clarify this issue in depth so that RTD's architecture will be properly understood. The short answer is: "RTD can be configured as a stateless or stateful service." The performance difference between stateless and stateful systems can be very significant, and while in a call center implementation it may be reasonable to use a pure stateless configuration, a web implementation that produces thousands of requests per second is practically impossible with a stateless configuration. RTD's performance is orders of magnitude better than most competing systems. RTD was architected from the ground up to achieve this performance. Features like automatic and dynamic compression of prediction models, automatic translation of metadata to machine code, lack of interpreted languages, and separation of model building from decisioning contribute to achieving this performance level. Because  of this focus on performance we decided to have RTD's default configuration work in a stateful manner. By being stateful RTD requests are typically handled in a few milliseconds when repeated requests come to the same session. Now, those readers that have participated in implementations of RTD know that RTD's architecture is also focused on reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with features like automatic model building, automatic time windows, automatic maintenance of database tables, automatic evaluation of data mining models, automatic management of models partitioned by channel, geography, etcetera, and hot swapping of configurations. How do you reconcile the need for a low TCO and the need for performance? How do you get the performance of a stateful system with the simplicity of a stateless system? The answer is that you make the system behave like a stateless system to the exterior, but you let it automatically take advantage of situations where being stateful is better. For example, one of the advantages of stateless systems is that you can route a message to any server in a cluster, without worrying about sending it to the same server that was handling the session in previous messages. With an RTD stateful configuration you can still route the message to any server in the cluster, so from the point of view of the configuration of other systems, it is the same as a stateless service. The difference though comes in performance, because if the message arrives to the right server, RTD can serve it without any external access to the session's state, thus tremendously reducing processing time. In typical implementations it is not rare to have high percentages of messages routed directly to the right server, while those that are not, are easily handled by forwarding the messages to the right server. This architecture usually provides the best of both worlds with performance and simplicity of configuration.   Configuring RTD as a pure stateless service A pure stateless configuration requires session data to be persisted at the end of handling each and every message and reloading that data at the beginning of handling any new message. This is of course, the root of the inefficiency of these configurations. This is also the reason why many "stateless" implementations actually do keep state to take advantage of a request coming back to the same server. Nevertheless, if the implementation requires a pure stateless decision service, this is easy to configure in RTD. The way to do it is: Mark every Integration Point to Close the session at the end of processing the message In the Session entity persist the session data on closing the session In the session entity check if a persisted version exists and load it An excellent solution for persisting the session data is Oracle Coherence, which provides a high performance, distributed cache that minimizes the performance impact of persisting and reloading the session. Alternatively, the session can be persisted to a local database. An interesting feature of the RTD stateless configuration is that it can cope with serializing concurrent requests for the same session. For example, if a web page produces two requests to the decision service, these requests could come concurrently to the decision services and be handled by different servers. Most stateless implementation would have the two requests step onto each other when saving the state, or fail one of the messages. When properly configured, RTD will make one message wait for the other before processing.   A Word on Context Using the context of a customer interaction typically significantly increases lift. For example, offer success in a call center could double if the context of the call is taken into account. For this reason, it is important to utilize the contextual information in decision making. To make the contextual information available throughout a session it needs to be persisted. When there is a well defined owner for the information then there is no problem because in case of a session restart, the information can be easily retrieved. If there is no official owner of the information, then RTD can be configured to persist this information.   Once again, RTD provides flexibility to ensure high performance when it is adequate to allow for some loss of state in the rare cases of server failure. For example, in a heavy use web site that serves 1000 pages per second the navigation history may be stored in the in memory session. In such sites it is typical that there is no OLTP that stores all the navigation events, therefore if an RTD server were to fail, it would be possible for the navigation to that point to be lost (note that a new session would be immediately established in one of the other servers). In most cases the loss of this navigation information would be acceptable as it would happen rarely. If it is desired to save this information, RTD would persist it every time the visitor navigates to a new page. Note that this practice is preferred whether RTD is configured in a stateless or stateful manner.  

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• Add Your Gmail Account to Outlook 2010 Using IMAP

  - by Mysticgeek

  If you’re upgrading from Outlook 2003 to 2010, you might want to use IMAP with your Gmail account to synchronize mail across multiple machines. Using our guide, you will be able to start using it in no time. Enable IMAP in Gmail First log into your Gmail account and open the Settings panel. Click on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and verify IMAP is enabled and save changes. Next open Outlook 2010, click on the File tab to access the Backstage view. Click on Account Settings and Add and remove accounts or change existing connection settings. In the Account Settings window click on the New button. Enter in your name, email address, and password twice then click Next. Outlook will configure the email server settings, the amount of time it takes will vary. Provided everything goes correctly, the configuration will be successful and you can begin using your account. Manually Configure IMAP Settings If the above instructions don’t work, then we’ll need to manually configure the settings. Again, go into Auto Account Setup and select Manually configure server settings or additional server types and click Next.   Select Internet E-mail – Connect to POP or IMAP server to send and receive e-mail messages. Now we need to manually enter in our settings similar to the following. Under the Server Information section verify the following. Account Type: IMAP Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com Note: If you have a Google Apps account make sure to put the full email address ([email protected]) in the Your Name and User Name fields. Note: If you live outside of the US you might need to use imap.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com Next, we need to click on the More Settings button… In the Internet E-mail Settings screen that pops up, click on the Outgoing Server tab, and check the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication. Also select the radio button next to Use same settings as my incoming mail server. In the same window click on the Advanced tab and verify the following. Incoming server: 993 Incoming server encrypted connection: SSL Outgoing server encrypted connection TLS Outgoing server: 587 Note: You will need to change the Outgoing server encrypted connection first, otherwise it will default back to port 25. Also, if TLS doesn’t work, we were able to successfully use Auto. Click OK when finished. Now we want to test the settings, before continuing on…it’s just easier that way incase something was entered incorrectly. To make sure the settings are tested, check the box Test Account Settings by clicking the Next button. If you’ve entered everything in correctly, both tasks will be completed successfully and you can close out of the window. and begin using your account via Outlook 2010. You’ll get a final congratulations message you can close out of… And begin using your account via Outlook 2010. Conclusion Using IMAP allows you to synchronize email across multiple machines and devices. The IMAP feature in Gmail is free to use, and this should get you started using it with Outlook 2010. If you’re still using 2007 or just upgraded to it, check out our guide on how to use Gmail IMAP in Outlook 2007. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Your Gmail To Windows Live MailForce Outlook 2007 to Download Complete IMAP ItemsUse Gmail IMAP in Microsoft Outlook 2007Prevent Outlook with Gmail IMAP from Showing Duplicate Tasks in the To-Do BarSetting up Gmail IMAP Support for Windows Vista Mail TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam Boot Windows Faster With Boot Performance Diagnostics Create Ringtones For Your Android Phone With RingDroid Enhance Your Laptop’s Battery Life With These Tips Easily Search Food Recipes With Recipe Chimp

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• Set the Windows Explorer Startup Folder in Windows 7

  - by Mysticgeek

  When you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar in Windows 7, it defaults to the Libraries view. Today we take a look at changing the target path to allow you to customize which location opens by default. When you click on the Windows Explorer icon on the Windows 7 Taskbar, it’s set to open to the Libraries view by default. You might not use the Libraries feature, or want to set it to a different location that is more commonly used. Set Windows Explorer Startup Location To change the default startup location for the Windows Explorer Taskbar icon, if you have no Explorer screens open, hold down the Shift key, right-click the Explorer icon, and select Properties. Or if you have Windows open, right-click on the Explorer icon to bring up the Jumplist, then right-click on Windows Explorer and select Properties. Windows Explorer Properties opens up and you’ll want to click on the Shortcut tab so we can change the Target.   A common place you might want it to default to is your Documents folder. So to do that we need to enter the following into the Target field. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}   Now when you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar it defaults to My Documents… If you use the Start Menu to access Windows Explorer, open the Start Menu and go to All Programs \ Accessories and right-click on Windows Explorer then select Properties. Change the target path to where you want it to go. In this example we want Windows Explorer to open up to My Computer so we entered the following in the Target field. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} When click on the Explorer icon in the Start Menu it defaults to My Computer… You can set it to open to various locations. For instance if you wanted to mess with someone at work, you could enter the following and Explorer will always open to the Recycle Bin. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} Conclusion Here we showed you a couple of commonly used locations that you might want Windows Explorer to open to instead of Libraries. You can set it to other locations if you know the GUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) for the object or location you want it to default to. For more on using GUIDs check out The Geek’s article on how to enable the secret “How-To Geek” mode in Windows 7. Actually it’s just a play on the so-called “God Mode” for Windows, but there is some good information, and a list of some locations you might want to have Windows Explorer open to. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Make Explorer Show Window Titles in Windows VistaDisable Explorer Breadcrumbs in Windows VistaStill Useful in Vista: Startup Control PanelStop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows VistaHotkey for Creating New Folder in Windows Explorer TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam Boot Windows Faster With Boot Performance Diagnostics Create Ringtones For Your Android Phone With RingDroid Enhance Your Laptop’s Battery Life With These Tips

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• Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Power Tool Extensions

  - by ScottGu

  Last month I blogged about the Extension Manager that is built-into VS 2010 – as well as about a cool VS 2010 PowerCommands extension that provides some extra features for Visual Studio.  The Visual Studio 2010 Extension Manager provides an easy way for developers to quickly find and install extensions and plugins that enhance the built-in functionality to VS 2010. New VS 2010 Productivity Power Tools Release Earlier this week Jason Zander announced the availability of a new VS 2010 Productivity Power Tools release that includes a bunch of great new VS 2010 extensions that provide a bunch of cool new functionality for you to take advantage of.  You can download and install the release for free here.  Some of the code editor improvements it provides include: Entire Line Highlighting: Makes it easier to track cursor location within the editor Entire Line Selection: Triple Clicking a line in the code editor now selects the entire line (like with MS Word) Code Block Movement: Use Alt+Up/Down Arrow now moves selected code blocks up/down in the editor Consistent Tabs vs. Spaces: Ensure consistent tab vs. space usage across your projects Colorized Parameters: It is now easier to see/identify method parameters Column Guide: You can now add vertical column guidelines to help with text alignment and sizes Align assignments: Makes it easier to line-up multiple variable assignments within your code HTML Clipboard Support: Copy/paste code from VS into an HTML buffer (useful for blogging!) Ctrl + Click Go to Definition: You can now hold down the Ctrl key and click a type to go to its definition It also includes several tab management improvements for managing document tabs within the IDE: Show Close Button in Tab Well: Shows a close button in document well for the active tab (like VS 2008 did) Colored Tabs: You can now select the color of each document tab by project or by regex Pinned Tabs: Enables you to pin tabs to keep them always visible and available Vertical Tabs: You can now show document tabs vertically to fit more tabs than normal Remove Tabs by Usage Order: Better behavior when adding new tabs and one needs to be hidden for space reasons Sort Tabs by Project: Tabs can be sorted by project they belong to, keeping them grouped together Sort Tabs Alphabetically: Tabs can be sorted alphabetically And last – but not least – it includes a new and improved “Add Reference” dialog: This new Add Reference dialog caches assembly information – which means it loads within a second or two (note: the very first time it still loads assembly data – but it then caches it and makes it fast afterwards). The new Add Reference dialog also now includes searching support – making it easier to find the assembly you are looking for. You can read more about all of the above improvements in Jason’s blog post about the release. New Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Release Earlier this week we also shipped a new feature pack that adds additional modeling and code visualization features to VS 2010 Ultimate.  You can download it here. The Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack includes a bunch of great new capabilities including: Web Site Visualization: New support for generating a DGML visualization for ASP.NET projects C/C++ Native Code Visualization: New support for generating DGML diagrams for C/C++ projects Generate Code from UML Class Diagrams: You can now generate code from your UML diagrams Create UML Class Diagrams from Code: Create UML diagrams from existing code bases Import UML from XML: Import UML class, sequence, and use case elements from XMI 2.1 files Custom Validation Layer Rules: Write custom code to create, modify, and validate layer diagrams Jason’s blog post covers more about these features as well. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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• Add Windows 7’s AeroSnap Feature to Vista and XP

  - by Asian Angel

  Are you using Windows Vista or XP and want that Windows 7 AeroSnap goodness on your own system? Then join us as we look at AeroSnap for Windows Vista and XP. Note: Requires .NET Framework 2.0 or higher (link provided at bottom of article). Setup What exactly does AeroSnap do you might ask…here is a quote directly from the website: “AeroSnap is a simple but powerful application that allows you to resize, arrange or maximize your desktop windows with just drag’n'drop. Simply drag a window to a side of your desktop to snap it or drag it to the top to maximize. When you drag it back to the last position, the last window size will be restored.” As soon as you have finished installing AeroSnap and started it for the first time the only item that will be visible is the “System Tray Icon”. Before going any further you should take a moment to view and make any desired adjustments in the “Options”. Note: AeroSnap works with multiple monitors. You may want to have AeroSnap start with Windows each time but the really nice setting to enable here is the “Snap Preview”. If you are using AeroSnap on Vista and have Aero enabled this will really be nice. The second portion may be of interest for those who would like to enable the keyboard shortcut function. One point worth noting about this screen is that the highest number of pixels from the screen’s edge that you can set AeroSnap for is 20 pixels. AeroSnap in Action AeroSnap is extremely easy to use…just grab the top of an app window and drag it to the left, right, or top of your screen. Since we installed this on Windows Vista we made certain to enable the “Snap Preview” in the “Options”.  We started off with dragging our Firefox 3.7 window towards the left…once we got close to the edge of the screen you can see that the left half of the screen temporarily “shaded over”. Note: The “Snap Preview” displays on the left and right movements but not the top movement. Releasing Firefox snapped it right into the “shaded over” part of the screen. The great thing about AeroSnap is that it is really easy to return the app window to it former size…all that you have to do is simply click on and grab the top portion of the app window. Moving Firefox towards the top of our screen and… It quickly snaps into filling the screen. One thing that we did notice is that the window did not “Maximize” as per the function for the button in the upper right corner. Dragging towards the right side now… And snap! Tucked in all nice and neat… You can minimize the app windows to the Taskbar and they will return to their previous “snap area” when “maximized” again. Conclusion If you have been wanting to add Windows 7’s AeroSnap goodness to your Vista and XP systems then you should definitely give this app a try. AeroSnap is very easy to set up and operate… Links Download AeroSnap for Windows Vista & XP Download the .NET Framework Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Windows 7 or Vista System RestoreRoundup: 16 Tweaks to Windows Vista Look & FeelSelect Files using Check Boxes in Windows VistaSpeed up Your Windows Vista Computer with ReadyBoostHow-To Geek Bounty: $103.24(Paid!) for Active Desktop for Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Add a Custom Title in IE using Spybot or Spyware Blaster When You Need to Hail a Taxi in NYC Live Map of Marine Traffic NoSquint Remembers Site Specific Zoom Levels (Firefox) New Firefox release 3.6.3 fixes 1 Critical bug Dark Side of the Moon (8-bit)

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• Manage Your WordPress Blog Comments from Your Windows Desktop

  - by Matthew Guay

  Are you never more than a few steps away from your PC and want to keep up with comments on your blog?  Then here’s how you can stay on top of your WordPress comments right from your desktop. Wp-comment-notifier is a small free app for Windows that lets you easily view, approve, reply to, and delete comments from your WordPress blog.  Whether you have a free WordPress.com blog or are running WordPress on your own server, this tool can keep you connected to your comments.  Unfortunately it only lets you manage comments at one blog, so if manage multiple WordPress-powered sites you may find this a downside.  Otherwise, it works great and helps you stay on top of the conversation at your blog. Get notified with wp-comment-notifier Download the wp-comment-notifier (link below) and install as usual. Run it once it’s installed.  Enter your blog address, username, and password when prompted. Wp-comment-notifier will automatically setup your account and download recent comments. Finally, enter your blog’s name, and click Finish. Review Comments with wp-comment-notifier You can now review your comments directly by double-clicking the new WordPress icon in your system tray.  The window has 3 tabs…comments, pending, and spam.  Select a comment to reply, edit, spam, or delete it directly from your desktop. If you select Edit, then you can edit the HTML of the comment (including links) directly from within the notifier. You can approve or permanently delete any spam messages that are caught by your blog’s spam filter. Whenever new comments come in, you’ll see a tray popup letting you know how many comments are waiting to be approved or are in the spam folder.  Click the popup to open the editor. Now, you can directly approve that pending comment without going to your WordPress admin page.  When you’re done, just press Enter on your Keyboard to post the reply. Or, if you want to reply to the comment, click the reply link and enter your comment in the entry box at the bottom. If you ever want to double-check if there’s any new comments, just right-click on the tray icon and select refresh. Finally, you can change the settings from the Configuration link in the tray button or by clicking the gear button on the bottom of the review window.  You can change how often it checks for new comments, not to start the notifier at system startup, and edit your account information. Conclusion Whether you’re managing your personal blog or administer a site with millions of hits per day, staying on top of the conversation is one of the best ways to build and maintain your audience.  With wp-comment-notifier, you can be sure that you’re always in control of your blogs comments.  This app is especially useful if you review all comments before allowing them to be published. Download wp-comment-notifier Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How-To Geek SoftwareHow-To Geek Software: WordPress Comment Moderation NotifierSave Time Commenting with Pre-Fill Comments Greasemonkey ScriptAdd Social Bookmarking (Digg This!) Links to your Wordpress BlogTools to Help Post Content On Your WordPress Blog TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Error Goblin Explains Windows Error Codes Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam Boot Windows Faster With Boot Performance Diagnostics Create Ringtones For Your Android Phone With RingDroid

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• Databases in Source Control

  - by Grant Fritchey

  I’ve been working as a database professional for quite a long time. But originally, I was a developer. And I loved being a developer. There was this constant feedback loop of a job well done, your code compiled and it ran. Every time this happened successfully, you’d check it into source control. These days you have to add another step; the code passed all the tests, unit, line, regression, qa, whatever, then into source control it goes. As a matter of fact, when I first made the jump from developer to DBA/database developer/database professional, source control was the one thing I couldn’t believe was missing from the DBA toolbox. Come to find out, source control was only the beginning of what was missing from your standard DBAs set of skills. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not disrespecting the DBA. They’re focused where they should be, on your production data. But there has to be a method for developing applications that include databases and the database side of that development and deployment process has long been lacking. This lack of development and deployment methodologies is a part of what has given rise to some of the wackier implementations of Object Relational Mapping tools, the NoSQL movement, and some of the other foul cursing that is directed towards databases, DBAs, and database development by application developers. Some of that is well earned. A lot isn’t. But it is a fact that database professionals, in general, do not have as sophisticated a model for managing development and deployment as application developers do. We could charge out and start trying to come up with our own standards and methods. I’m sure people have done exactly that. However, I’m lazy, and not terribly bright. Rather than try to invent a whole new process, I’m going to look to my developer roots and choose instead to emulate the developers. They’re sitting over there across the hall from me working with SCRUM/Agile/Waterfall/Object Driven/Feature Driven/Test Driven development processes that they’ve been polishing for years. What if I just started working on database development the same way they work on code development? Win! Ah, but now I have to have a mechanism for treating my database like application code. First, I need a method for getting it into source control. That’s where Red Gate’s SQL Source Control comes into the picture. SQL Source Control works within SQL Server Management Studio to connect your database objects up to the source control system of your choice. Right out of the box SQL Source Control can link to TFS, SVN or Vault. With a little work you can connect it to Git or just about any other source control system. With the ability to get my database into source control, a lot of possibilities for more direct integration with the application development teams open up.

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• Upgrade Office 2003 to 2010 on XP or Run them Side by Side

  - by Mysticgeek

  If you’re still running XP, currently have Office 2003 installed on your machine, and skipped Office 2007, you might want to upgrade to Office 2010. In this guide we will show you the upgrade process or how to run them side by side. In this example we are upgrading from Office 2003 Standard to Office Professional Plus 2010 RTM (Final) on XP Professional. System Requirements To run Office 2010 on your XP machine you have to make sure you have Service Pack 3 and Microsoft Silverlight installed (links below). Or you can just install them through Windows Update. Recommended Hardware 1GHZ CPU or higher 512 MB of RAM or higher 1024×768 Resolution or higher DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with 64 MB of memory or higher Installing Office 2010 Simply kick off the Office Professional Plus 2010 installation. Enter in your product key… Agree to the EULA…   Select the Customize button… Setup will detect Office 2003 and allow you to remove all applications, keep them, or select only the ones you want to keep. In this example we’re going to remove Excel and PowerPoint, and keep Outlook and Word 2003. Next, click the Installation Options tab and select Office programs you want to install. Since we’re keeping Outlook 2003 and don’t want to use Outlook 2010, we’re making sure not to install Outlook 2010. However, we want to run Word 2003 and 2010 on the same machine. After you’ve made your selections click the Upgrade button. The installation begins and you’re shown the progress. The amount of time it takes to install will vary between systems. Installation is complete and you can close out of the installer. Now when you go into the Start menu under Microsoft Office, you’ll see both versions of the Office apps available. Here is a shot of Word 2003 and 2010 running together on our XP machine.   Conclusion If you’re moving from Office 2003 to 2010, this allows you to install both versions side by side. It gives you a chance to learn 2010 features, and still work in the familiar 2003 environment when you need to get things done quickly. If you’re having problems installing Office 2010 make sure to check out our article on how to fix problems upgrading Office 2010 beta to RTM (Final) release. Also, if you were using Office 2007 and are currently using the 2010 beta, we have a guide on how to switch back to Office 2007 after the 2010 beta ends. Links XP Service Pack 3 Microsoft Silverlight Details on Office 2010 System Requirements Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Word/Excel 97-2003 Documents Back to the "New" Context Menu After Installing Office 2007Make Word 2007 Always Save in Word 2003 FormatMake Excel 2007 Always Save in Excel 2003 FormatRemove Office 2010 Beta and Reinstall Office 2007How to Find Office 2003 Commands in Office 2010 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Enable or Disable the Task Manager Using TaskMgrED Explorer++ is a Worthy Windows Explorer Alternative Error Goblin Explains Windows Error Codes Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam

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• Inside Red Gate - Exercises in Leanness

  - by simonc

  There's a new movement rumbling around Red Gate Towers - the Lean Startup. At its core is the idea that you don't have to be in a company with single-digit employees to be an entrepreneur; you simply have to (being blunt) not know what you should be doing. Specifically, you accept that you don't know everything you need to know in order to create a useful, successful & profitable product. This is something that Red Gate has had problems with in the past; we've created products that weren't aimed at the correct market, or didn't solve the problem the user had (although they solved the problem we thought the users had, or the problem the users thought they had). As a result, these products weren't as successful as they could have been. The ideas at the core of the Lean Startup help to combat this tendency to build large, well-engineered products that solve the wrong problem. You need to actually test your hypotheses about what the users and the market needs, rather than just running a project based on those untested assumptions. Furthermore, these tests need to be done as fast as possible (on the order of a week) so that, if necessary, you can change the direction of the project without wasting effort going down a dead end. Over time, as more tests are done and more hypotheses are confirmed or refuted, the project moves towards something that solves users' actual problems. However, re-aligning the development teams that operate within Red Gate along these lines does itself have some issues; we've got very good at doing large, monolithic releases, with a feature set decided well in advance. Currently it takes about 2 weeks to do install & release testing before a release; this is clearly not practicable for a team doing weekly, or even daily releases. There's also many infrastructure issues to be solved; in our source control, build system, release mechanism, support pages & documentation, licensing system, update system, and download pages. All these need modifications to allow the fast releases necessary for each experiment. Not only do we have to change our infrastructure, we have to change our mindset. Doing daily releases means each release won't get nearly as much testing as 'standard' releases. As a team, we have to be prepared that there will be releases that have bugs and issues with them; not only do we have to be prepared to change direction with every experiment we do, but we have to be ready to fix any bugs that are reported very quickly as well. The SmartAssembly team is spearheading this move towards leanness within the company, using Feature Usage Reporting (FUR). We think this is a cracking feature that will really help developers learn how people use their products, but we need to confirm this hypothesis. So, over the next few weeks, we'll be running a variety of experiments on SmartAssembly to either confirm or refute our hypotheses concerning how people use SmartAssembly and apply FUR to their own products. In the rest of this series, I'll be documenting how the experiments we perform get on, and our experiences with applying the Lean Startup model to a mature product like SmartAssembly. Cross posted from Simple Talk.

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• Inside Red Gate - Exercises in Leanness

  - by Simon Cooper

  There's a new movement rumbling around Red Gate Towers - the Lean Startup. At its core is the idea that you don't have to be in a company with single-digit employees to be an entrepreneur; you simply have to (being blunt) not know what you should be doing. Specifically, you accept that you don't know everything you need to know in order to create a useful, successful & profitable product. This is something that Red Gate has had problems with in the past; we've created products that weren't aimed at the correct market, or didn't solve the problem the user had (although they solved the problem we thought the users had, or the problem the users thought they had). As a result, these products weren't as successful as they could have been. The ideas at the core of the Lean Startup help to combat this tendency to build large, well-engineered products that solve the wrong problem. You need to actually test your hypotheses about what the users and the market needs, rather than just running a project based on those untested assumptions. Furthermore, these tests need to be done as fast as possible (on the order of a week) so that, if necessary, you can change the direction of the project without wasting effort going down a dead end. Over time, as more tests are done and more hypotheses are confirmed or refuted, the project moves towards something that solves users' actual problems. However, re-aligning the development teams that operate within Red Gate along these lines does itself have some issues; we've got very good at doing large, monolithic releases, with a feature set decided well in advance. Currently it takes about 2 weeks to do install & release testing before a release; this is clearly not practicable for a team doing weekly, or even daily releases. There's also many infrastructure issues to be solved; in our source control, build system, release mechanism, support pages & documentation, licensing system, update system, and download pages. All these need modifications to allow the fast releases necessary for each experiment. Not only do we have to change our infrastructure, we have to change our mindset. Doing daily releases means each release won't get nearly as much testing as 'standard' releases. As a team, we have to be prepared that there will be releases that have bugs and issues with them; not only do we have to be prepared to change direction with every experiment we do, but we have to be ready to fix any bugs that are reported very quickly as well. The SmartAssembly team is spearheading this move towards leanness within the company, using Feature Usage Reporting (FUR). We think this is a cracking feature that will really help developers learn how people use their products, but we need to confirm this hypothesis. So, over the next few weeks, we'll be running a variety of experiments on SmartAssembly to either confirm or refute our hypotheses concerning how people use SmartAssembly and apply FUR to their own products. In the rest of this series, I'll be documenting how the experiments we perform get on, and our experiences with applying the Lean Startup model to a mature product like SmartAssembly.

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• Oracle Big Data Software Downloads

  - by Mike.Hallett(at)Oracle-BI&EPM

  Companies have been making business decisions for decades based on transactional data stored in relational databases. Beyond that critical data, is a potential treasure trove of less structured data: weblogs, social media, email, sensors, and photographs that can be mined for useful information. Oracle offers a broad integrated portfolio of products to help you acquire and organize these diverse data sources and analyze them alongside your existing data to find new insights and capitalize on hidden relationships. Oracle Big Data Connectors Downloads here, includes: Oracle SQL Connector for Hadoop Distributed File System Release 2.1.0 Oracle Loader for Hadoop Release 2.1.0 Oracle Data Integrator Companion 11g Oracle R Connector for Hadoop v 2.1 Oracle Big Data Documentation The Oracle Big Data solution offers an integrated portfolio of products to help you organize and analyze your diverse data sources alongside your existing data to find new insights and capitalize on hidden relationships. Oracle Big Data, Release 2.2.0 - E41604_01 zip (27.4 MB) Integrated Software and Big Data Connectors User's Guide HTML PDF Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Application Adapter for Hadoop Apache Hadoop is designed to handle and process data that is typically from data sources that are non-relational and data volumes that are beyond what is handled by relational databases. Typical processing in Hadoop includes data validation and transformations that are programmed as MapReduce jobs. Designing and implementing a MapReduce job usually requires expert programming knowledge. However, when you use Oracle Data Integrator with the Application Adapter for Hadoop, you do not need to write MapReduce jobs. Oracle Data Integrator uses Hive and the Hive Query Language (HiveQL), a SQL-like language for implementing MapReduce jobs. Employing familiar and easy-to-use tools and pre-configured knowledge modules (KMs), the application adapter provides the following capabilities: Loading data into Hadoop from the local file system and HDFS Performing validation and transformation of data within Hadoop Loading processed data from Hadoop to an Oracle database for further processing and generating reports Oracle Database Loader for Hadoop Oracle Loader for Hadoop is an efficient and high-performance loader for fast movement of data from a Hadoop cluster into a table in an Oracle database. It pre-partitions the data if necessary and transforms it into a database-ready format. Oracle Loader for Hadoop is a Java MapReduce application that balances the data across reducers to help maximize performance. Oracle R Connector for Hadoop Oracle R Connector for Hadoop is a collection of R packages that provide: Interfaces to work with Hive tables, the Apache Hadoop compute infrastructure, the local R environment, and Oracle database tables Predictive analytic techniques, written in R or Java as Hadoop MapReduce jobs, that can be applied to data in HDFS files You install and load this package as you would any other R package. Using simple R functions, you can perform tasks such as: Access and transform HDFS data using a Hive-enabled transparency layer Use the R language for writing mappers and reducers Copy data between R memory, the local file system, HDFS, Hive, and Oracle databases Schedule R programs to execute as Hadoop MapReduce jobs and return the results to any of those locations Oracle SQL Connector for Hadoop Distributed File System Using Oracle SQL Connector for HDFS, you can use an Oracle Database to access and analyze data residing in Hadoop in these formats: Data Pump files in HDFS Delimited text files in HDFS Hive tables For other file formats, such as JSON files, you can stage the input in Hive tables before using Oracle SQL Connector for HDFS. Oracle SQL Connector for HDFS uses external tables to provide Oracle Database with read access to Hive tables, and to delimited text files and Data Pump files in HDFS. Related Documentation Cloudera's Distribution Including Apache Hadoop Library HTML Oracle R Enterprise HTML Oracle NoSQL Database HTML Recent Blog Posts Big Data Appliance vs. DIY Price Comparison Big Data: Architecture Overview Big Data: Achieve the Impossible in Real-Time Big Data: Vertical Behavioral Analytics Big Data: In-Memory MapReduce Flume and Hive for Log Analytics Building Workflows in Oozie

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• Oracle at The Forrester Customer Intelligence and Marketing Leadership Forums

  - by Christie Flanagan

  The Forrester Customer Intelligence Forum and the Forrester Marketing Leadership Forums will soon be here.  This year’s events will be co-located on April 18-19 at the J.W. Marriott at the L.A. Live entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles.  Last year’s Marketing Forum was quite memorable for me.  You see, while Forrester analysts and business marketers were busy mingling over at the Marriott, another marketing powerhouse was taking up residence a few feet away at The Staples Center.  That’s right folks. Lada Gaga was coming to town.  And, as I came to learn, it made perfect sense for Lady Gaga and her legions of fans to be sharing a small patch of downtown L.A. with marketing leaders from all over the world.  After all, whether you like Lady Gaga or not, what pop star in recent memory has done more to build herself into a brand and to create an engaging, social and interactive customer experience for her Little Monsters?  While Lady Gaga won’t be back in town for this year’s Forrester events, there are still plenty of compelling reasons to make the trip out to Los Angeles.   The theme for The Forrester Customer Intelligence and Marketing Leadership Forums this year is “From Cool To Critical: Creating Engagement In The Age Of The Customer” and will tackle the important questions about how marketers can survive and thrive in the age of the empowered customer: •    How can you assess consumer uptake of new innovations?•    How do you build deep customer knowledge to drive competitive advantage?•    How do you drive deep, personalized customer engagement?•    What is more valuable — eyeballs or engagement?•    How do business customers engage in new media types?•    How can you tie social data to corporate data?•    Who should lead the movement to customer obsession?•    How should you shift your planning and measurement approaches to accommodate more data and a higher signal-to-noise ratio?•    What role does technology play in customizing and synchronizing marketing efforts across channels?As a platinum sponsor of the event, there will be a numbers of ways to interact with Oracle while you’re attending the Forums.  Here are some of the highlights:Oracle Speaking SessionThursday, April 19, 9:15am – 9:55amMaximize Customer Engagement and Retention with Integrated Marketing & LoyaltyMelissa Boxer, Vice President, Oracle CRM Marketing & LoyaltyCustomers expect to interact with your company, brand and products in more ways than ever before.   New devices and channels, such as mobile, social and web, are creating radical shifts in the customer buying process and the ways your company can reach and communicate with existing and potential customers. While Marketing's objectives (attract, convert, retain) remain fundamentally the same, your approach and tools must adapt quickly to succeed in this more complex, cross-channel world. Hear how leading brands are using Oracle's integrated marketing and loyalty solutions to maximize customer engagement and retention through better planning, execution, and measurement of synchronized cross-channel marketing initiatives.Solution ShowcaseWednesday, April 1810:20am – 11:50am 12:30pm – 1:30pm2:55pm – 3:40pmThursday, April 199:55am – 10:40am12:00pm – 1:00pmSolution Showcase & Networking ReceptionWednesday, April 185:10pm – 6:20pmBe sure to follow the #webcenter hashtag for updates on these events.  And for a more considered perspective on what Lady Gaga can teach businesses about branding and customer experience, check out Denise Lee Yohn’s post, Lessons from Lady Gaga from the Brand as Business Bites blog.

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