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• MSDN article on jQuery Mobile

  - by Wallym

  My article on jQuery Mobile has been published.  Please check it out.There’s no doubt about it. Wherever developers look and whoever they talk to, mobile is at the top of the list. Talk to a C-level executive, and the conversation turns to mobile, and the question “How do I get me some of that?” comes up. Talk to other developers, and they tell you they’re targeting mobile devices. Mobile has become a big deal as smartphones have taken hold in the consumer marketplace.In the years leading up to the current focus on mobile applications and devices, Web developers have been adding more and more client-side functionality to their applications. You can see this in the use of client-side JavaScript libraries like jQuery.With the growth of the market for mobile devices, the ability to create applications that run across platforms is very important for developers and for businesses that are trying to keep their expenses in check. There are a set of applications, mostly in the area of content consumption (think Amazon.com), that run well in a mobile Web browser. Unfortunately, there are differences between Web browsers on various mobile devices. The goal of the recently introduced jQuery Mobile (jQM) library is to provide cross-browser support to allow developers to build applications that can run across the various mobile Web browsers and provide the same—or at least a very similar—user interface.The jQuery Mobile library was introduced in an alpha release in the fall of 2010 and released to manufacturing in November 2011. At the time of this writing, the current version of jQuery Mobile is 1.1.1. By the time you read this, jQuery Mobile will almost certainly have reached version 1.2.0. The library has been embraced by Microsoft, Adobe and other companies for mobile Web development. In August 2011, jQM had 32 percent market share compared with other mobile JavaScript frameworks such as iWebKit and jQTouch. This market share is impressive given that it started from zero little more than 12 months ago, and the 1.0 release is the first officially supported release.

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• Own a KINECT for MS-XBOX before anyone does

  Following is the announced by Richik Nandi from Microsoft team. Dear Customer, We believe that our privileged customers shouldn't have to wait for good things. So, here's a special offer exclusively for you. Be one of the first in India to own and experience Kinect for XBOX 360, few days before it is even launched in stores. Introducing the new Kinect for XBOX 360®. Kinect needs no controllers. You are the controller. Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways without using a controller. The sensor recognizes your face, eyes and body movements to deliver a superb gaming experience. Easy to use and great fun, Kinect gets everyone off the couch. See a ball? Kick it. Want to join a friend in the fun? Simply jump in. Imagine controlling movies and music with the wave of a hand or the sound of your voice! Kinect is all about fun for you and your family. And the best part is Kinect works with every Xbox 360®. There are two options you can choose from: •  Kinect sensor + 4GB Xbox 360 bundle + Kinect Adventures game at Rs 22,990/-and get Dance Central game worth Rs 1999 from Redington, 20% discount voucher from Starwood on food and beverages, T-shirt from PUMA and a Kinect adventure live card absolutely free using your unique promo code : XbTXXZl2Sb •  Kinect Sensor at Rs 9,500/-and get 20% discount voucher from Starwood on food and beverages, T-shirt from PUMA and a Kinect adventure live card absolutely free using your unique promo code : lDg6o8SuYh We want you to own your Kinect before the official launch. The promotion closes by 10th November. To know more about Kinect click here. To book your Kinect PRE-ORDER now! Enter your details along with the above mentioned promo code to avail of the free gifts offer. We will have your Kinect delivered by 19th November 2010. Enjoy being the controller. Enjoy the Kinect. span.fullpost {display:none;}

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• Maybe VS2010 needs Repairing

  - by wisecarver

  OK..So John Papa, Nasir Aziz and myself are trying to help Victor Gaudioso figure out why he can’t see the ADO.NET Entity Data Model template in Visual Studio 2010. At first I thought maybe he was using the Pro version and this was one of those oddities. (After all I’m using the Ultimate version and I also see this template in the Express version.) Nope..Vic was also using VS2010 Ultimate. Believe me Vic is a Silverlight and WPF genius and knows his way around in VS. He was working with the latest...(read more)

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• EF 4 Pluralization Update

  - by Ken Cox [MVP]

  I previously wrote about playing with EF 4’s PluralizationService class . Now that OrcsWeb is running ASP.NET 4, you can play with my little pluralization page and its WCF service online. The source code (such as it is!) can be downloaded from the MSDN Code Gallery here: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PluralizationService BTW, one annoyance is that the WDSL still includes the default namespace:  namespace="http://tempuri.org/" I swatted a couple of these instances, but if you know...(read more)

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• The Glitch [Video]

  - by Asian Angel

  Things are fine in Video Game Land until one day when a soldier encounters an unusual phenomena…his weapon is partially buried in the pavement and undergoing extreme shifting movements. Can Mario and friends save Video Game Land from the Malevolent Glitch or is it game over for everyone?! The Glitch [via Geeks are Sexy] How to Access Your Router If You Forget the Password Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor

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• How to Set Up Your Enterprise Social Organization?

  - by Richard Lefebvre

  By Mike Stiles on Dec 04, 2012 The rush for business organizations to establish, grow, and adopt social was driven out of necessity and inevitability. The result, however, was a sudden, booming social presence creating touch points with customers, partners and influencers, but without any corporate social organization or structure in place to effectively manage it. Even today, many business leaders remain uncertain as to how to corral this social media thing so that it makes sense for their enterprise. Imagine their panic when they hear one of the most beneficial approaches to corporate use of social involves giving up at least some hierarchical control and empowering employees to publicly engage customers. And beyond that, they should also be empowered, regardless of their corporate status, to engage and collaborate internally, spurring “off the grid” innovation. An HBR blog points out that traditionally, enterprise organizations function from the top down, and employees work end-to-end, structured around business processes. But the social enterprise opens up structures that up to now have not exactly been embraced by turf-protecting executives and managers. The blog asks, “What if leaders could create a future where customers, associates and suppliers are no longer seen as objects in the system but as valued sources of innovation, ideas and energy?” What if indeed? The social enterprise activates internal resources without the usual obsession with position. It is the dawn of mass collaboration. That does not, however, mean this mass collaboration has to lead to uncontrolled chaos. In an extended interview with Oracle, Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang and Oracle SVP Reggie Bradford paint a complete picture of today’s social enterprise, including internal organizational structures Altimeter Group has seen emerge. One sign of a mature social enterprise is the establishing of a social Center of Excellence (CoE), which serves as a hub for high-level social strategy, training and education, research, measurement and accountability, and vendor selection. This CoE is led by a corporate Social Strategist, most likely from a Marketing or Corporate Communications background. Reporting to them are the Community Managers, the front lines of customer interaction and engagement; business unit liaisons that coordinate the enterprise; and social media campaign/product managers, social analysts, and developers. With content rising as the defining factor for social success, Altimeter also sees a Content Strategist position emerging. Across the enterprise, Altimeter has seen 5 organizational patterns. Watching the video will give you the pros and cons of each. Decentralized - Anyone can do anything at any time on any social channel. Centralized – One central groups controls all social communication for the company. Hub and Spoke – A centralized group, but business units can operate their own social under the hub’s guidance and execution. Most enterprises are using this model. Dandelion – Each business unit develops their own social strategy & staff, has its own ability to deploy, and its own ability to engage under the central policies of the CoE. Honeycomb – Every employee can do social, but as opposed to the decentralized model, it’s coordinated and monitored on one platform. The average enterprise has a whopping 178 social accounts, nearly ¼ of which are usually semi-idle and need to be scrapped. The last thing any C-suite needs is to cope with fragmented technologies, solutions and platforms. It’s neither scalable nor strategic. The prepared, effective social enterprise has a technology partner that can quickly and holistically integrate emerging platforms and technologies, such that whatever internal social command structure you’ve set up can continue efficiently executing strategy without skipping a beat. @mikestiles

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• Water Balloons In Slow Motion [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  As part of our ongoing campaign to prove that everything looks better in slow motion, we present to you: ultra slow motion footage of rippling water balloons. [via Boing Boing] HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows? Java is Insecure and Awful, It’s Time to Disable It, and Here’s How

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• MVP in 2010

  - by Fabrice Marguerie

  Microsoft has just named me an MVP for the seventh time in a row!More .NET adventures with me expected in 2010...

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• Speaking at BizSpark Bootcamp in Skopje, Macedonia

  - by hajan

  Tuesday, 15 November 2011, I will be speaking at BizSpark Bootcamp event that will be held at M6 Training Centre in Skopje, Macedonia. I will speak on topic 'Cloud Computing – Windows Azure' and will be also part of the Q&A panel discussion. You can find more details HERE. If you are near Skopje and available to attend the event, please follow the instructions at the link provided above. Regards, Hajan

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• Free online Windows AzureConf this Wednesday

  - by ScottGu

  This Wednesday, November 14th, we’ll be hosting Windows AzureConf – a free online event for and by the Windows Azure community.  It will be streamed online from 8:30am->5:00 PM PST via Channel 9, and you can watch it all for free. I’ll be kicking off the event with a Windows Azure overview in the morning (a great way to learn more about Windows Azure if you haven’t used it yet!), and following my talk the rest of the day will be full of excellent presentations from members of the Windows Azure community.  You can ask questions from them live and I think you’ll find the day an excellent way to learn more about Windows Azure – as well as hear directly from developers building solutions on it today. Click here to learn more about the event and register for free to watch it live.  Hope to see you there! Scott P.S. We will also make the presentations available for download after the event in case you miss them. 

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• Undocumented Gmail Search Operator Ferrets Out Large Email Attachments

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re looking for a way to quickly find large email attachments in your Gmail account, this undocumented search operator makes it simple to zero in on the hulking attachments hiding out in your inbox. To use the search operator simply plug in “size:” and some value to narrow your search to only emails that size or larger. In the screenshot above we searched for “size:20000000″ to search for files roughly 20MB or larger (if you want to be extremely precise, a true 20MB search would be “size:20971520″). If you’re looking to clean up your Gmail account this is a nearly zero-effort way to find the biggest space hogs–in our case, we found an email packed with massive PDF files from a 5 year old project that we were more than happy to purge. Finding Large Attachments in Google Mail/Gmail [via gHacks] 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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• Uploading.to Uploads Files to Multiple File Hosts Simultaneously

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re looking to quickly share a file across a variety of file hosting services, Uploading.to makes it a cinch to share up to 10 files across 14 hosts. The upload process is simple. Visit Uploading.to, select your files, check the hosts you want to share the file across (by default all 14 are checked), add a description to the collection, and hit the Upload button. Uploading.to will upload your file to the various hosts; during the process you’ll see which hosts are confirmed and which have failed. We had 2 failures among the 14 hosts which still left the file mirrored across a sizable 12 host spread–not bad at all. When you’re ready to share the file hit the Copy Link button at the bottom of the screen and share it with your friends. They’ll be directed to Uploading.to and will be able to select from any of the hosts the file was successfully mirrored across. Uploading.to is a free service and requires no registration. Uploading.to [via Addictive Tips] HTG Explains: Do You Really Need to Defrag Your PC? Use Amazon’s Barcode Scanner to Easily Buy Anything from Your Phone How To Migrate Windows 7 to a Solid State Drive

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• Xoom Giveaway Courtesy of the Complete Android Guide [Giveaway]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re an Android fan and looking to score an Android 3.0 tablet, you can enter to win a Xoom tablet courtesy of the Complete Android Guide. What do you need to do? Per their official rules: Contribute content to the site. To do so: Sign up (via the Register link in the top-right corner). Email android ‘at’ completeguides ‘dot’ net and request contributor access to this site. Write a killer tutorial, reference or chapter for the book.  Buy the book, in paperback or ebook form.  The deadline is March 31, the winner will be drawn in in April. Note: The link to the officials rules appears defunct, we’ll update shortly when the URL is fixed. Xoom Drawing @ Complete Android Guide [Complete Guides] How To Make a Youtube Video Into an Animated GIFHTG Explains: What Are Character Encodings and How Do They Differ?How To Make Disposable Sleeves for Your In-Ear Monitors

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• Evernote for Android Updates with New Features and Updated Widget

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Android: Evernote for Android now features enhanced sharing, tighter Skitch integration, and a brand new homescreen widget. With this update you can now share entire notebooks directly from your Android phone, edit and annotate images with Skitch, and use the Evernote widget regardless of where you have Evernote installed–the previous version of Evernote’s widget would only function if Evernote was installed on the main memory instead of the SD card. You can read more about the new release here or hit up the link below to grab a copy from the Android Market. Evernote [Android Market] How to Make the Kindle Fire Silk Browser *Actually* Fast! Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Tablet: the How-To Geek Review HTG Explains: How Hackers Take Over Web Sites with SQL Injection / DDoS

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• Welcome to Gotham High [Video]

  - by Asian Angel

  Goodbye Metropolis, hello insane asylum. That is the state of life for young Harley Quinn now that she has moved to Gotham. With only two high schools to choose between, her parents have decided to send her to Gotham High where life is anything but dull! Note: Video contains some language that may be considered inappropriate. Gotham High (2013) Dark Knight Batman PARODY! [via Neatorama] Why Does 64-Bit Windows Need a Separate “Program Files (x86)” Folder? Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows

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• OpenWorld 2012—Is Almost Here!

  - by Scott McNeil

  With OpenWorld fast approaching, I thought I would take this opportunity to look at some of the “must see” database manageability activities and sessions happening this year. Here's a quick run down: Oracle Database Manageability: Download all the details for sessions, hands-on-labs, and demos (PDF) Keynotes: Sunday, September 30 Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together: Why It’s A Different Approach Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle Monday, October 1 Shift Complexity Hosted by Mark Hurd, President, Oracle Andrew Mendelsohn, Senior Vice President, Database Server Technologies, Oracle IOUG SIG Sunday: Database Performance Tuning: Getting the Best out of Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c (session ID# CON6511) Oracle DEMOgrounds: Floor plan – Moscone South Automatic Application and SQL Tuning Automatic Performance Diagnostics Complete Database Lifecycle Management Data Masking and Data Subsetting Database Testing with Oracle Real Application Testing Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Overview Oracle Exadata Management Hands-on-Labs: Database Performance Testing, Data Masking, and Subsetting (session ID# HOL10720) Database Performance Tuning Hands-on Lab (session ID# HOL10393) Sessions: What’s Next for Oracle Database? (session ID# GEN8259) Building and Managing a Private Oracle Database Cloud (session ID# GEN11421) Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Manage Your Own Private Cloud (session ID# GEN11423) Extreme Database Management with the Latest Generation of Database Technology (session ID# CON9547) Oracle OpenWorld Music Festival New this year is Oracle’s first annual Oracle OpenWorld Musical Festival, featuring some of today's breakthrough musicians from around the country and the world. It's five nights of back-to-back performances in the heart of San Francisco—free to registered attendees. See the lineup Not Heading to OpenWorld—Watch it Live! Stay Connected: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Linkedin | Newsletter Download the Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control12c Mobile app

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• Forget Black Friday: Today is Update Your Parents’ Browser Day

  - by The Geek

  Hopefully you aren’t reading this after a long night of sitting in the cold, fighting with other people to acquire a device that will be out of date in a month. Instead of shopping, it’s time to give the gift of less sucktacular browsers. Over at The Atlantic, they proposed that today be Update Your Parents’ Browser Day, and at How-To Geek, we couldn’t agree more, especially since many of you are probably over at your relatives right now, recovering from eating too much of their food. It’s time to upgrade your parents’ browser, and while you’re at it, make sure that they have anti-virus installed too. Want to be really awesome? Setup CCleaner to run on a schedule, and if they are using Windows XP, setup an automated defrag job. Might be a good time to setup CrossLoop or TeamViewer or some type of remote desktop application so you can easily gain control at a future date when you get that inevitable phone call. 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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• Cross-Platform Mobile Development With Mono for Android and MonoTouch

  - by Wallym

  Many years ago, in fact pre-Java, I remember a hallway discussion about the desire to write a single application that could easily run across various platforms. At the time, we were only worried about writing applications on Windows 3.1 and Mac OS 7.x. There were many discussions about windows, user interface concepts, and specifically a rather long discussion as to whether Mac users would accept a Mac application that didn't have balloon help. Thankfully, the marketplace answered this question for us with the Windows API winning the battle.A similar set of questions is currently going on in the mobile world. Unfortunately, at this point in time, there is currently no winning API and none currently in sight. What's a developer to do? Here are some questions that developers have (and there are many more):How can mobile developers target Android and the iPhone with the same code?How can .NET developers share their code across Android, iPhone and other platforms?How can developers give applications the look and feel of the specific platform and still allow as much code as possible to be shared?Mobile devices share many common features, such as cameras, accelerometers, and address books. How can we take advantage of them in a platform independent way and still give the users the look of every other application running on their platform?In this article, we'll look at some solutions to these cross-platform and code-sharing questions between Mono for Android, MonoTouch and the .NET Framework available to developers. 

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• DC Comics Identifies Krypton on the Star Map

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  This week Action Comics Superman #14 hits the stands and DC comics reveals the actual location of Kyrpton, delivered by none other than beloved astrophysicist Neil Tyson. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy reports on the resolution of fans’ long standing curiosity about the location of Krypton: Well, that’s about to change. DC comics is releasing a new book this week – Action Comics Superman #14 – that finally reveals the answer to this stellar question. And they picked a special guest to reveal it: my old friend Neil Tyson. Actually, Neil did more than just appear in the comic: he was approached by DC to find a good star to fit the story. Red supergiants don’t work; they explode as supernovae when they are too young to have an advanced civilization rise on any orbiting planets. Red giants aren’t a great fit either; they can be old, but none is at the right distance to match the storyline. It would have to be a red dwarf: there are lots of them, they can be very old, and some are close enough to fit the plot. I won’t keep you in suspense: the star is LHS 2520, a red dwarf in the southern constellation of Corvus (at the center of the picture here). It’s an M3.5 dwarf, meaning it has about a quarter of the Sun’s mass, a third its diameter, roughly half the Sun’s temperature, and a luminosity of a mere 1% of our Sun’s. It’s only 27 light years away – very close on the scale of the galaxy – but such a dim bulb you need a telescope to see it at all (for any astronomers out there, the coordinates are RA: 12h 10m 5.77s, Dec: -15° 4m 17.9 s). 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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• Silverlight Tour in Montreal this summer

  - by pluginbaby

  Get an awesome Silverlight training this Summer! The Silverlight Tour has a new class in Montreal, and provide top Silverlight 4 content!!! >> This course will be taught in English << What: Silverlight training When: July 19-22 (4 days) Where: Montreal, Qc Registration/info: http://www.runatserver.com/SilverlightTraining.aspx   Also note that we offer a free license of Telerik's RadControls for Silverlight to every attendee ($999 value)!! For more information on RadControls, visit: http://www.telerik.com/products/silverlight.aspx.      Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Silverlight training

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• Score Awesome Games on the Cheap with Humble Indie Bundle 6

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  It’s the Humble Indie Bundle time of year again; score six great games at a name-your-own-price including acclaimed action-RPG Torchlight. The Humble Indie Bundle combines games from independent development houses into a big promotional pack where gamers can name their own price and choose how much of that price goes towards the developers or gaming-related charities. Included in this bundle are: Dustforce, Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight, and Vessel. Torchlight 2, the followup to the wildly popular Torchlight, is set for release in a scant two days–now is the perfect time to pick up a copy of Torchlight on the cheap and get yourself up to speed. The Humble Indie Bundle is cross-platform and DRM-free. Grab a copy and enjoy it on your Windows, Mac, or Linux machine without any registration hassles. The Humble Indie Bundle 6 How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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• Reverse Search Images Easily with the TinEye Client for Windows

  - by Asian Angel

  Are you a frequent user of TinEye and would like to integrate it into your favorite Windows system? Then get ready to enjoy Context Menu and App Window goodness with the TinEye Client for Windows. After you have downloaded the zip file, unzip it and run the setup file inside. Once the installation process has finished you will be asked if you would like to launch TinEye Client immediately or not. If not then you can access it later using the new shortcut added to the Start Menu. We chose to let the program launch automatically…this is what the main window looks like. For our test we decided to access the client via the Context Menu using a picture of Doc Brown’s DeLorean in hover conversion mode. HTG Explains: Understanding Routers, Switches, and Network Hardware How to Use Offline Files in Windows to Cache Your Networked Files Offline How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To

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• Now Live: New Java Enterprise Edition 6 Certification Exams

  - by Paul Sorensen

  The new Java Enterprise Edition 6 (EE6) exams are being released into production, effective today (February 21, 2011). If you participated in the beta exams, we appreciate your patience in awaiting your beta scores (there were some initial technical difficulties with these exams that delayed beta review and scoring). While most of the production exams are currently available and most of the beta scores have been mailed, they are not 100% completed. We expect all production exams to be available and all scores to be mailed tentatively by March 31, 2010. We appreciate your patience in receiving your beta scores as we work through some issues that have delayed the release of beta scores for two of these exams. Beta candidates can expect to receive their printed score reports in the mail from Prometric. Please allow 5 business days from the 'date mailed' below to receive your score report. If you have not received it within 5 business days, please contact Prometric. EXAM  PRODUCTIONDATE BETA SCOREMAILED Loading...CX-311-093 Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer Certified Expert ExamJanuary 12, 2011February 4, 2011CX-311-094 Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Java Persistence API Developer Certified Expert ExamFebruary 1, 2011February 11, 2011CX-311-232 Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Web Services Developer Certified Expert ExamFebruary 8, 2011by March 31, 2011tentative*CX-311-085 Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 JavaServer Pages and Servlet Developer Certified Expert Examby March 31, 2011tentative*by March 31, 2011tentative* *Dates are subject to change without notice.Register now at prometric.com/oracle.QUICK LINKSHelp with beta exam score reportOracle Certified Professional, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 JavaServer Pages and Servlet DeveloperOracle Certified Professional, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Enterprise JavaBeans DeveloperOracle Certified Professional, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Java Persistence API DeveloperOracle Certified Professional, Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 Web Services Developer

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• My Code Kata–A Solution Kata

  - by Glav

  There are many developers and coders out there who like to do code Kata’s to keep their coding ability up to scratch and to practice their skills. I think it is a good idea. While I like the concept, I find them dead boring and of minimal purpose. Yes, they serve to hone your skills but that’s about it. They are often quite abstract, in that they usually focus on a small problem set requiring specific solutions. It is fair enough as that is how they are designed but again, I find them quite boring. What I personally like to do is go for something a little larger and a little more fun. It takes a little more time and is not as easily executed as a kata though, but it services the same purposes from a practice perspective and allows me to continue to solve some problems that are not directly part of the initial goal. This means I can cover a broader learning range and have a bit more fun. If I am lucky, sometimes they even end up being useful tools. With that in mind, I thought I’d share my current ‘kata’. It is not really a code kata as it is too big. I prefer to think of it as a ‘solution kata’. The code is on bitbucket here. What I wanted to do was create a kind of simplistic virtual world where I can create a player, or a class, stuff it into the world, and see if it survives, and can navigate its way to the exit. Requirements were pretty simple: Must be able to define a map to describe the world using simple X,Y co-ordinates. Z co-ordinates as well if you feel like getting clever. Should have the concept of entrances, exists, solid blocks, and potentially other materials (again if you want to get clever). A coder should be able to easily write a class which will act as an inhabitant of the world. An inhabitant will receive stimulus from the world in the form of surrounding environment and be able to make a decision on action which it passes back to the ‘world’ for processing. At a minimum, an inhabitant will have sight and speed characteristics which determine how far they can ‘see’ in the world, and how fast they can move. Coders who write a really bad ‘inhabitant’ should not adversely affect the rest of world. Should allow multiple inhabitants in the world. So that was the solution I set out to act as a practice solution and a little bit of fun. It had some interesting problems to solve and I figured, if it turned out ok, I could potentially use this as a ‘developer test’ for interviews. Ask a potential coder to write a class for an inhabitant. Show the coder the map they will navigate, but also mention that we will use their code to navigate a map they have not yet seen and a little more complex. I have been playing with solution for a short time now and have it working in basic concepts. Below is a screen shot using a very basic console visualiser that shows the map, boundaries, blocks, entrance, exit and players/inhabitants. The yellow asterisks ‘*’ are the players, green ‘O’ the entrance, purple ‘^’ the exit, maroon/browny ‘#’ are solid blocks. The players can move around at different speeds, knock into each others, and make directional movement decisions based on what they see and who is around them. It has been quite fun to write and it is also quite fun to develop different players to inject into the world. The code below shows a really simple implementation of an inhabitant that can work out what to do based on stimulus from the world. It is pretty simple and just tries to move in some direction if there is nothing blocking the path. public class TestPlayer:LivingEntity { public TestPlayer() { Name = "Beta Boy"; LifeKey = Guid.NewGuid(); } public override ActionResult DecideActionToPerform(EcoDev.Core.Common.Actions.ActionContext actionContext) { try { var action = new MovementAction(); // move forward if we can if (actionContext.Position.ForwardFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.ForwardFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Forward; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.LeftFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.LeftFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Left; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.RearFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.RearFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Back; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.RightFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.RightFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Right; return action; } } return action; } catch (Exception ex) { World.WriteDebugInformation("Player: "+ Name, string.Format("Player Generated exception: {0}",ex.Message)); throw ex; } } private bool CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(MapBlock block) { if (block == null || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowEntry || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowExit || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowPotentialEntry) { return true; } return false; } } It is simple and it seems to work well. The world implementation itself decides the stimulus context that is passed to he inhabitant to make an action decision. All movement is carried out on separate threads and timed appropriately to be as fair as possible and to cater for additional skills such as speed, and eventually maybe stamina, strength, with actions like fighting. It is pretty fun to make up random maps and see how your inhabitant does. You can download the code from here. Along the way I have played with parallel extensions to make the compute intensive stuff spread across all cores, had to heavily factor in visibility of methods and properties so design of classes was paramount, work out movement algorithms that play fairly in the world and properly favour the players with higher abilities, as well as a host of other issues. So that is my ‘solution kata’. If I keep going with it, I may develop a web interface for it where people can upload assemblies and watch their player within a web browser visualiser and maybe even a map designer. What do you do to keep the fires burning?

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• Square Reader Modified to Record Off Old Reel-to-Reel Tape [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  The Square Reader is a tiny magnetic credit card reader that has taken the mobile payment industry by storm. This clever hack dumps the credit card reading in favor of snagging the audio from old music reels. Evan Long was curious about whether the through-the-headphones interface of the Square Reader could be used to read audio data off old magnetic recordings. With a very small modification (he had to bend a metal tab inside the reader to allow the audio tape to slide through more easily) he was able to listen to and record audio off old reels. Watch the video above to see it in action or hit up the link below to read more about his project. iPod Meets Reel [via Make] HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me? HTG Explains: How Windows 8′s Secure Boot Feature Works & What It Means for Linux Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization

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