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  • Free Team Foundation Service a Boon for Play Projects

    - by Ken Cox [MVP]
    My ‘jump in and sink or swim’ learning style leads me to create dozens of unbillable ‘play’ projects in Visual Studio 2012.  For example, I’m currently learning to customize the powerful auction/fixed price/classifieds software called AuctionWorx Enterprise.  I make stupid mistakes as I grasp a new API and configure projects. It’s frustrating to go down a rat hole and discover the VS IDE’s Undo doesn’t reach back to a working build from the previous weekend. Enter Visual Studio’s Free Team Foundation Service.  Put your play projects into the free source control and check in (or shelve) a snapshot before embarking on something risky. (I already use Discount ASP.NET’s Team Foundation Server hosting for client projects so there’s zero TFS/VS learning curve for me and first class GUI support.) TFS is free right now for teams of five or fewer. I’m not naive enough to expect ‘free’ to last forever. So, it’ll be interesting to see how much Microsoft intends to charge in 2013 for TFS. In the meantime, why not grab some free source code storage? BTW, it’s weird to realize that Microsoft is backing up my junky little playtime code on three physically-distinct servers every day - and taking incremental backups every hour.

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  • Remote Control Holder Mod Stores Tablet Close At Hand

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you spend most of your iPad time lounging on your couch or in bed, this simple IKEA hack will keep your favorite tablet stowed right at your finger tips. IKEA’s inexpensive remote control holder, the $4.99 Flort, is easy to hack from a remote holster into an tablet holder. You simply flip it around, sew up the edge of the back flap, and holster your tablet in it–your tablet fits all the way inside, in the above image the iPad is tucked in semi-precariously to demonstrate it sliding inside. Hit up the link below for step-by-step pictures. Smartest Way to Store Your iPad for $4.99 [IKEAHackers] HTG Explains: When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers? How to Make the Kindle Fire Silk Browser *Actually* Fast! Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Tablet: the How-To Geek Review

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  • Portal Turret Recreation an Amazing Clone of the Original [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Last week Valve, the company behind the Portal series, received a crate containing a stunning replica of the iconic Portal turret sentry. Check out this video to see the turret in action. Valve explains the origin of the crate: On September 13th, 2012, Valve received another mysterious crate from WETA Workshop. Inside was a full-scale, articulated Portal turret, complete with a motion sensor. Once again, WETA Workshop’s gone far, far beyond our expectations to deliver something truly amazing. Thank you, WETA Workshop! If you’re ready to waste a little time geeking out over awesome props, designs, and other special FX goodies, you’ll definitely want to check out WETA’s site. [via Geeks Are Sexy] 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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  • Scientists Demonstrate First-Person Shooter Games Improve Vision

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Need an excuse to log a few more hours playing Call of Duty or Medal of Honor? Scientists demonstrated improved vision in test subjects after daily doses of first-person shooter games. Scientists at McMaster University took subjects who, as the result of surgery correcting congenital cataracts, had less than 20/20 vision. Subjects played Medal of Honor for a total of 40 hours over the course of 4 weeks before having their vision retested. The results? The CBC reports: The participants found improvements in detail, perception of motion and in low contrast settings. In essence, players could now read about one to one-and-a-half more lines on an optometrist’s eye chart. “We were thrilled,” Lewis said. “It’s very exciting to open up a new world of hope for these people.” How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It

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  • Immortal Kombat [Humorous Video]

    - by Asian Angel
    Sometimes the Grim Reaper’s job is quick and simple, but not this time as he comes to claim the soul of an avid gamer. Can they come to an amicable understanding or has this just evolved into Immortal Kombat? Note: Contains what may be considered to be inappropriate imagery just before video credits start. Immortal Kombat [via Dorkly] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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  • Download the Mountain Views from Romania Theme for Windows 7 and 8

    - by Asian Angel
    Are you ready to add some serene and beautiful mountain scenery to your desktop? Then you will definitely want to grab a copy of the Mountain Views from Romania Theme for Windows 7 and 8. The theme comes with five wonderful images from photographer Mihai Despan to add a peaceful mood to your favorite computer. Special Note: The photos in the theme do not contain the black strip shown in the image above. Those were ‘added’ during the image editing process for our post. Uncovering Artists Through Windows Themes – Mihai Despan [7 Tutorials] Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference

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  • Rainy Day Wallpaper Collection for Your iPhone

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    Rainy days are great for staying indoors to read your favorite new book, taking a nap, or even going outside for a quiet walk. Let the rain fall on your iPhone’s screen with the first in our series of Rainy Day Wallpaper collections. Rainy Day Series 1 Note: Click on the pictures to view and download the full-size versions at their individual homepages. The images shown here are in thumbnail format.                     

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  • DIY Carbonator Creates Pop Rocks Like Fizzy Fruit [Science]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’ve ever sat around wishing that scientists would stop wasting time trying to solve pressing global problems and instead genetically engineer a bizarre but delicious hybrid of Pop Rocks candy and wholesome fruit, this mad scientist experiment is for you. Over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories they share a really fun weekend project. Contributor Rich Faulhaber was looking for a way to make eating fruit extra fun and science-infused for his kids. His solution? Build a homemade carbon dioxide injector that infuses fruit with carbonation. Having trouble imagining that? Envision a bowl of strawberries where every strawberry burst into a crazy flurry of strawberry flavor and champagne bubbles every time you bit into it. Fizzy fruit! Hit up the link below to see how he took pretty common parts: a C02 tank from a paint ball gun, a water filter canister from the hardware store, and other cheap and readily available parts (with the exception of the gas regulator which he suggests you shop garage sales and surplus stores to find a deal on), and combined them together to create a C02 fruit infuser. Hit up the link below to read more about his setup and the procedure he uses to infuse fruit with carbonation. The C02inator [Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories via Hack a Day] HTG Explains: What Are Character Encodings and How Do They Differ?How To Make Disposable Sleeves for Your In-Ear MonitorsMacs Don’t Make You Creative! So Why Do Artists Really Love Apple?

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  • Geek Chess: Nixie Tubes as Board Pieces [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    We’ve seen some geeky chessboards in our day, but this board is a masterpiece of geekiness. Check out the video to see the Nixie tubes in action. Courtesy of a tinker named Tony, we find this delightfully analog and geeky chess set. He writes: This developed as a spinoff from the hardware and controllers I’m designing for a range of nixie clocks and watches as a ‘simple’ project that wouldn’t need much software to complete it. All visible parts are made from materials contemporary with Nixie technology and no modern plastics or resins are used anywhere in its’ consruction (other than the electronic components and PCBs). The board and pieces are machined from phenolic resin laminate and assembled using brass fittings. The brown base pieces have been filled and wiped with gold and silver engravers wax, giving a ‘worn gilding’ appearance. The displays are ex-Soviet Nixie gas display tubes, manufactured in the early 1980s. No Chinese LEDs here… How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It?

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  • General Availability of Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1.0

    - by user810030
    We are pleased to announce the General Availability of Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1.0, an integral part of Application Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite. The combination of Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control and the Application Management Suite combines functionality that was available in the standalone Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite and Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite with Oracle’s Real User Experience Insight product and the Configuration & Compliance capabilities to provide the most complete solution for managing Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The features that were available in the standalone management packs are now packaged into the Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in, which is now fully certified with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control. This latest plug-in extends Cloud Control with E-Business Suite specific system management capabilities and features enhanced change management support. This new release offers the following key enhancements: General: Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Base Platform uptake: All components of the management suite are certified with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control. Security: Privilege Delegation: The Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in now extends Enterprise Manager’s privilege delegation through Sudo and PowerBroker to Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in host targets.  Privileges and Roles for Managing Oracle E-Business Suite: This release includes new ready-to-use target and resource privileges to monitor, manage, and perform Change Management functionality.  Cloning: Named Credentials Uptake in Cloning: The Clone module transactions now let users leverage the Named Credential feature introduced in Enterprise Manager 12c, thereby passing all the benefits of Named Credentials features in Enterprise Manager to the Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in users.  Smart Clone improvements: The new and improved Smart Clone UI supports the adding of "pre and post" custom steps to a copy of the ready-to-use cloning deployment procedure. Now a user can pass parameters to the custom steps through the interview screen of the UI as well as pass ready-to-use parameters to the custom steps.  Change Management Enhancements Application Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite provides a centralized view to monitor and orchestrate changes (both functional and technical) across multiple Oracle E-Business Suite systems. In this latest release, it provides even more control and flexibility in managing Oracle E-Business Suite changes. Customization Manager: Support for longer file names: Customization Manager now handles file names up to thirty characters in length.  Patch Manager: Queuing of Patch Manager Runs: This feature allows patch runs to queue up if Patch Manager detects a specific target is in a blackout state.  Multi-node system patching: The patch run interview has been enhanced to allow Enterprise Manager Administrator to choose which nodes adpatch will run on.  New AD Administration Options: The patch run interview has been extended to include AD Administration Options "Relink Application Programs", "Generate Product Jars Files", "Generate Report Files", and "Generate Form Files".  Release Technical Details Product documentation for the plug-in is available on My Oracle Support as note 1434392.1.  The Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in can be accessed in one of the following ways:  Fresh install  Enterprise Manager Store  Oracle Software Delivery Cloud Upgrades  Oracle Technology Network Please refer to the Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite Guide for further details.  Related Software Component Oracle Real User Experience Insight 12.1.0.0.1  Product documentation is available on Oracle Technology Network in the "Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Release 1 (12.1) Documentation" set under the "Associated Document" tab. (http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26370_01/index.htm)  Product may be downloaded individually from Oracle Technology Network software download page for Oracle Enterprise Manager under "Additional Enterprise Manager Downloads." (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/oem/grid-control/downloads/index.html)  Product may also be downloaded individually from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. Select "Oracle Enterprise Manager" product pack, "Oracle Real User Experience Insight 12c Release 1 Media Pack for x8  Collateral Can be accessed on the Application Management Page on Oracle Technology Network

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  • Focus On SOA & BPM for Oracle OpenWorld Now Available

    - by Lionel Dubreuil
    To help our valued customers & partners make the most of time spent at Oracle Openworld, please check out the Focus On Oracle Fusion Middleware documents.  Over the years, we've learned that these provide a great roadmap to must-attend sessions, demos, partner exhibits, and networking events during Oracle OpenWorld. SOA and BPM SOA for Developers BPM In addition to those “Focus On..” documents, session details (speakers, abstracts) can be found in the Content Catalog at: https://oracleus.activeevents.com/connect/search.ww?event=openworld We strongly recommend our customers to attend the following sessions: Service Integration (SOA) & BPM: “Using the Right Tools, Techniques, and Technologies for Integration Projects”  Monday, 10/1/2012; 3:15 PM; Moscone South - 308 BPM Suite: “Oracle Unified Business Process Management Suite 11g Overview and Roadmap” Monday, 10/1/ 2012; 12:15 PM; Moscone South – 308 SOA Suite:“Oracle SOA Suite, the Most Capable Tool for Every Possible Integration Challenge” Monday, 10/1/2012; 10:45 AM; Moscone South - 102 Foundation Pack: “Jump-starting Integration Projects with Oracle AIA Foundation Pack” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Marriott Marquis - Salon 7 Oracle Enterprise Repository: “Gaining Victory over SOA and Application Integration Complexity” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Moscone South - 310 See you in San Francisco! Not attending the show?  Some of the general and key sessions will be available online - so please stay tuned for those announcements as Oracle OpenWorld gets closer.

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  • Focus On SOA & BPM for Oracle OpenWorld Now Available

    - by Lionel Dubreuil
    To help our valued customers & partners make the most of time spent at Oracle Openworld, please check out the Focus On Oracle Fusion Middleware documents.  Over the years, we've learned that these provide a great roadmap to must-attend sessions, demos, partner exhibits, and networking events during Oracle OpenWorld. SOA and BPM SOA for Developers BPM In addition to those “Focus On..” documents, session details (speakers, abstracts) can be found in the Content Catalog at: https://oracleus.activeevents.com/connect/search.ww?event=openworld We strongly recommend our customers to attend the following sessions: Service Integration (SOA) & BPM: “Using the Right Tools, Techniques, and Technologies for Integration Projects”  Monday, 10/1/2012; 3:15 PM; Moscone South - 308 BPM Suite: “Oracle Unified Business Process Management Suite 11g Overview and Roadmap” Monday, 10/1/ 2012; 12:15 PM; Moscone South – 308 SOA Suite:“Oracle SOA Suite, the Most Capable Tool for Every Possible Integration Challenge” Monday, 10/1/2012; 10:45 AM; Moscone South - 102 Foundation Pack: “Jump-starting Integration Projects with Oracle AIA Foundation Pack” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Marriott Marquis - Salon 7 Oracle Enterprise Repository: “Gaining Victory over SOA and Application Integration Complexity” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Moscone South - 310 See you in San Francisco! Not attending the show?  Some of the general and key sessions will be available online - so please stay tuned for those announcements as Oracle OpenWorld gets closer.

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  • Focus On SOA & BPM for Oracle OpenWorld Now Available

    - by Lionel Dubreuil
    To help our valued customers & partners make the most of time spent at Oracle Openworld, please check out the Focus On Oracle Fusion Middleware documents.  Over the years, we've learned that these provide a great roadmap to must-attend sessions, demos, partner exhibits, and networking events during Oracle OpenWorld. SOA and BPM SOA for Developers BPM In addition to those “Focus On..” documents, session details (speakers, abstracts) can be found in the Content Catalog at: https://oracleus.activeevents.com/connect/search.ww?event=openworld We strongly recommend our customers to attend the following sessions: Service Integration (SOA) & BPM: “Using the Right Tools, Techniques, and Technologies for Integration Projects”  Monday, 10/1/2012; 3:15 PM; Moscone South - 308 BPM Suite: “Oracle Unified Business Process Management Suite 11g Overview and Roadmap” Monday, 10/1/ 2012; 12:15 PM; Moscone South – 308 SOA Suite:“Oracle SOA Suite, the Most Capable Tool for Every Possible Integration Challenge” Monday, 10/1/2012; 10:45 AM; Moscone South - 102 Foundation Pack: “Jump-starting Integration Projects with Oracle AIA Foundation Pack” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Marriott Marquis - Salon 7 Oracle Enterprise Repository: “Gaining Victory over SOA and Application Integration Complexity” Tuesday, 10/2/2012; 1:15 PM; Moscone South - 310 See you in San Francisco! Not attending the show?  Some of the general and key sessions will be available online - so please stay tuned for those announcements as Oracle OpenWorld gets closer.

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  • Attunity Oracle CDC Solution for SSIS - Beta

    We in no way work for Attunity but we were asked to test drive a beta version of their Oracle CDC solution for SSIS.  Everybody should know that moving more data than you need to takes too much time and uses resources that may better be employed doing something else.  Change data Capture is a technology that is designed to help you identify only the data that has had something done to it and you can therefore move only what is needed.  Microsoft have implemented this exact functionality into SQL server 2008 and I really like it there.  Attunity though are doing it on Oracle. DISCLAIMER: This is a BETA release and some of the parts are a bit ugly/difficult to work with.  The idea though is definitely right and the product once working does exactly what it says on the tin.  They have always been helpful to me when I have had a problem with the product and if that continues then beta testing pain should be eased somewhat. In due course I am going to be doing some videos around me using the product.  If you use Oracle and SSIS then give it a go. Here is their product description.   Attunity is a Microsoft SQL Server technology partner and the creator of the Microsoft Connectors for Oracle and Teradata, currently available in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. Attunity released a beta version of the Attunity Oracle-CDC for SSIS, a product that integrates continually changing Oracle data into SSIS, efficiently and in real-time. Attunity designed the product and integrated it into SSIS to create the simple creation of change data capture (CDC) solutions, accelerate implementation time, and reduce resources and costs. They also utilize log-based CDC so the solution has minimal impact on the Oracle source system. You can use the product to implement enterprise-class data replication, synchronization, and real-time business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing projects, quickly and efficiently, leveraging their existing SQL Server investments and resource skills. Attunity architected the product specifically for the Microsoft SSIS developer community and the product is available for both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. It offers the following key capabilities: · Log-based, non-intrusive Oracle CDC · Full integration into SSIS and the Business Intelligence Developer Studio · Automatic generation of SSIS packages for CDC as well as full-loads of Oracle data · Filtering of Oracle tables and columns at the source · Monitoring and control of CDC processing Click to learn more and download the beta.

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  • Improve Your Google Search Skills [Infographic]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Don’t limit yourself to just plugging in simple search terms to Google; check out this infographic and learn a search string search or two. You don’t need to limit yourself to searching just for simple strings; Google supports all manner of handy search tricks. If you want to search just HowToGeek.com’s archive of XBMC articles, for example, you can plug in site:howtogeek.com XBMC to search our site. Get More Out of Google [HackCollege via Mashable] 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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  • The Fantastic 4 Meets the Moleman, Parts 1 and 2 [Classic Radio Show from 1975]

    - by Asian Angel
    Are you ready for a Marvel super hero blast from the past? Then sit back and get ready to enjoy twenty-two minutes of classic radio show goodness from 1975 as the Fantastic 4 meets the Moleman! Special Note: Bill Murray plays the part of the Human Torch in this two part episode. You can enjoy more of these classic Fantastic 4 radio episodes by visiting the videos search query page linked below: Fantastic 4 Radio Shows – MrWaltherppk1 [YouTube] 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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  • Extend Oracle Sales Cloud with Oracle Platform as a Service

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    Use these Oracle guided-learning courses to learn how to extend Oracle Sales Cloud with Oracle Platform as a Service (PaaS) services. While this course is focused on using Oracle PaaS infrastructure services, many of the techniques presented are applicable to customers on Software as a Service (SaaS) environments. If you are a consultant embarking on an Oracle Fusion Applications SaaS implementation project or an Independent Solution Vendors (ISVs) looking to integrate a solution with Oracle Sales Cloud, this training is for you!

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  • Five Holiday Gaming Tips for an Active Game Table

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Getting together for the holidays represents a great oppurtunity to introduce new players to the fun of tabletop gaming. Make sure to introduce them right with these five handy tips. Courtesy of GeekDad, we find five tips for introducing new players to the fun of tabletop games old and new over the holidays. Tip number one: 1. Start short. Not everyone is ready for a multi-hour game session right after a big holiday dinner. Post-prandial drowsiness doesn’t go well with a game that takes twenty minutes to set up and another fifteen to explain, so don’t lose your audience before you get to the good stuff. Pick something speedy that gets people into the game with little downtime. If possible, get them laughing — I hear it causes the release of endorphins, which makes them feel better, which will lead to more gaming. (We’ll work on the dopamine receptors later, when you get them hooked on learning new games.) Games like Zombie Dice and Spot It! are easy to teach and can handle a pile of players. FlowerFall and Ca$h ‘n’ Gun$ are guaranteed to make people gravitate to the game table to see what’s going on. How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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  • 10 Tech Products Ahead of Their Time [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Sometimes a product just can’t help but be too far ahead of it’s time to be adopted. Check out these 10 products that had their moment of glory a moment (or a decade) too soon. At Mashable they’ve gathered up 10 products that hit the market too soon for people to really appreciate them. Among them, as seen in the video above, a super simple internet-focused computer. At the time it hit the market people simply didn’t get the value of having a cheap, easy to use internet terminal. It probably didn’t help much that the 1990s internet didn’t have the plethora of powerful and useful web-based applications we have now. None the less we now have tons of lightweight and “underpowered” devices focused on the internet experience (like netbooks, iPads, smart phones, chromebooks, and more). Hit up the link below to see the 9 other gems from their collection of products ahead of their times. 10 Tech Products Ahead of Their Time [Mashable] How to Make and Install an Electric Outlet in a Cabinet or DeskHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is CompromisedHow to Clean Your Filthy Keyboard in the Dishwasher (Without Ruining it)

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  • Oracle CX Cloud promotions extended twice (products and duration)!

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    The Oracle Cloud promotions, which include free months and/or pre-approved discounts (subject to T&C's) is extended throughout November 2014 and includes more products including Oracle Fusion CRM Cloud Service (Oracle Sales Cloud), Oracle RightNow Cloud Service and Social Relationship Management. For more information about these exciting promotions, please contact your local Oracle CX Sales Representative, Oracle Direct, your Oracle Alliance Manager or [email protected].

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  • Windows Azure: Major Updates for Mobile Backend Development

    - by ScottGu
    This week we released some great updates to Windows Azure that make it significantly easier to develop mobile applications that use the cloud. These new capabilities include: Mobile Services: Custom API support Mobile Services: Git Source Control support Mobile Services: Node.js NPM Module support Mobile Services: A .NET API via NuGet Mobile Services and Web Sites: Free 20MB SQL Database Option for Mobile Services and Web Sites Mobile Notification Hubs: Android Broadcast Push Notification Support All of these improvements are now available to use immediately (note: some are still in preview).  Below are more details about them. Mobile Services: Custom APIs, Git Source Control, and NuGet Windows Azure Mobile Services provides the ability to easily stand up a mobile backend that can be used to support your Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, Android and HTML5 client applications.  Starting with the first preview we supported the ability to easily extend your data backend logic with server side scripting that executes as part of client-side CRUD operations against your cloud back data tables. With today’s update we are extending this support even further and introducing the ability for you to also create and expose Custom APIs from your Mobile Service backend, and easily publish them to your Mobile clients without having to associate them with a data table. This capability enables a whole set of new scenarios – including the ability to work with data sources other than SQL Databases (for example: Table Services or MongoDB), broker calls to 3rd party APIs, integrate with Windows Azure Queues or Service Bus, work with custom non-JSON payloads (e.g. Windows Periodic Notifications), route client requests to services back on-premises (e.g. with the new Windows Azure BizTalk Services), or simply implement functionality that doesn’t correspond to a database operation.  The custom APIs can be written in server-side JavaScript (using Node.js) and can use Node’s NPM packages.  We will also be adding support for custom APIs written using .NET in the future as well. Creating a Custom API Adding a custom API to an existing Mobile Service is super easy.  Using the Windows Azure Management Portal you can now simply click the new “API” tab with your Mobile Service, and then click the “Create a Custom API” button to create a new Custom API within it: Give the API whatever name you want to expose, and then choose the security permissions you’d like to apply to the HTTP methods you expose within it.  You can easily lock down the HTTP verbs to your Custom API to be available to anyone, only those who have a valid application key, only authenticated users, or administrators.  Mobile Services will then enforce these permissions without you having to write any code: When you click the ok button you’ll see the new API show up in the API list.  Selecting it will enable you to edit the default script that contains some placeholder functionality: Today’s release enables Custom APIs to be written using Node.js (we will support writing Custom APIs in .NET as well in a future release), and the Custom API programming model follows the Node.js convention for modules, which is to export functions to handle HTTP requests. The default script above exposes functionality for an HTTP POST request. To support a GET, simply change the export statement accordingly.  Below is an example of some code for reading and returning data from Windows Azure Table Storage using the Azure Node API: After saving the changes, you can now call this API from any Mobile Service client application (including Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, Android or HTML5 with CORS). Below is the code for how you could invoke the API asynchronously from a Windows Store application using .NET and the new InvokeApiAsync method, and data-bind the results to control within your XAML:     private async void RefreshTodoItems() {         var results = await App.MobileService.InvokeApiAsync<List<TodoItem>>("todos", HttpMethod.Get, parameters: null);         ListItems.ItemsSource = new ObservableCollection<TodoItem>(results);     }    Integrating authentication and authorization with Custom APIs is really easy with Mobile Services. Just like with data requests, custom API requests enjoy the same built-in authentication and authorization support of Mobile Services (including integration with Microsoft ID, Google, Facebook and Twitter authentication providers), and it also enables you to easily integrate your Custom API code with other Mobile Service capabilities like push notifications, logging, SQL, etc. Check out our new tutorials to learn more about to use new Custom API support, and starting adding them to your app today. Mobile Services: Git Source Control Support Today’s Mobile Services update also enables source control integration with Git.  The new source control support provides a Git repository as part your Mobile Service, and it includes all of your existing Mobile Service scripts and permissions. You can clone that git repository on your local machine, make changes to any of your scripts, and then easily deploy the mobile service to production using Git. This enables a really great developer workflow that works on any developer machine (Windows, Mac and Linux). To use the new support, navigate to the dashboard for your mobile service and select the Set up source control link: If this is your first time enabling Git within Windows Azure, you will be prompted to enter the credentials you want to use to access the repository: Once you configure this, you can switch to the configure tab of your Mobile Service and you will see a Git URL you can use to use your repository: You can use this URL to clone the repository locally from your favorite command line: > git clone https://scottgutodo.scm.azure-mobile.net/ScottGuToDo.git Below is the directory structure of the repository: As you can see, the repository contains a service folder with several subfolders. Custom API scripts and associated permissions appear under the api folder as .js and .json files respectively (the .json files persist a JSON representation of the security settings for your endpoints). Similarly, table scripts and table permissions appear as .js and .json files, but since table scripts are separate per CRUD operation, they follow the naming convention of <tablename>.<operationname>.js. Finally, scheduled job scripts appear in the scheduler folder, and the shared folder is provided as a convenient location for you to store code shared by multiple scripts and a few miscellaneous things such as the APNS feedback script. Lets modify the table script todos.js file so that we have slightly better error handling when an exception occurs when we query our Table service: todos.js tableService.queryEntities(query, function(error, todoItems){     if (error) {         console.error("Error querying table: " + error);         response.send(500);     } else {         response.send(200, todoItems);     }        }); Save these changes, and now back in the command line prompt commit the changes and push them to the Mobile Services: > git add . > git commit –m "better error handling in todos.js" > git push Once deployment of the changes is complete, they will take effect immediately, and you will also see the changes be reflected in the portal: With the new Source Control feature, we’re making it really easy for you to edit your mobile service locally and push changes in an atomic fashion without sacrificing ease of use in the Windows Azure Portal. Mobile Services: NPM Module Support The new Mobile Services source control support also allows you to add any Node.js module you need in the scripts beyond the fixed set provided by Mobile Services. For example, you can easily switch to use Mongo instead of Windows Azure table in our example above. Set up Mongo DB by either purchasing a MongoLab subscription (which provides MongoDB as a Service) via the Windows Azure Store or set it up yourself on a Virtual Machine (either Windows or Linux). Then go the service folder of your local git repository and run the following command: > npm install mongoose This will add the Mongoose module to your Mobile Service scripts.  After that you can use and reference the Mongoose module in your custom API scripts to access your Mongo database: var mongoose = require('mongoose'); var schema = mongoose.Schema({ text: String, completed: Boolean });   exports.get = function (request, response) {     mongoose.connect('<your Mongo connection string> ');     TodoItemModel = mongoose.model('todoitem', schema);     TodoItemModel.find(function (err, items) {         if (err) {             console.log('error:' + err);             return response.send(500);         }         response.send(200, items);     }); }; Don’t forget to push your changes to your mobile service once you are done > git add . > git commit –m "Switched to use Mongo Labs" > git push Now our Mobile Service app is using Mongo DB! Note, with today’s update usage of custom Node.js modules is limited to Custom API scripts only. We will enable it in all scripts (including data and custom CRON tasks) shortly. New Mobile Services NuGet package, including .NET 4.5 support A few months ago we announced a new pre-release version of the Mobile Services client SDK based on portable class libraries (PCL). Today, we are excited to announce that this new library is now a stable .NET client SDK for mobile services and is no longer a pre-release package. Today’s update includes full support for Windows Store, Windows Phone 7.x, and .NET 4.5, which allows developers to use Mobile Services from ASP.NET or WPF applications. You can install and use this package today via NuGet. Mobile Services and Web Sites: Free 20MB Database for Mobile Services and Web Sites Starting today, every customer of Windows Azure gets one Free 20MB database to use for 12 months free (for both dev/test and production) with Web Sites and Mobile Services. When creating a Mobile Service or a Web Site, simply chose the new “Create a new Free 20MB database” option to take advantage of it: You can use this free SQL Database together with the 10 free Web Sites and 10 free Mobile Services you get with your Windows Azure subscription, or from any other Windows Azure VM or Cloud Service. Notification Hubs: Android Broadcast Push Notification Support Earlier this year, we introduced a new capability in Windows Azure for sending broadcast push notifications at high scale: Notification Hubs. In the initial preview of Notification Hubs you could use this support with both iOS and Windows devices.  Today we’re excited to announce new Notification Hubs support for sending push notifications to Android devices as well. Push notifications are a vital component of mobile applications.  They are critical not only in consumer apps, where they are used to increase app engagement and usage, but also in enterprise apps where up-to-date information increases employee responsiveness to business events.  You can use Notification Hubs to send push notifications to devices from any type of app (a Mobile Service, Web Site, Cloud Service or Virtual Machine). Notification Hubs provide you with the following capabilities: Cross-platform Push Notifications Support. Notification Hubs provide a common API to send push notifications to iOS, Android, or Windows Store at once.  Your app can send notifications in platform specific formats or in a platform-independent way.  Efficient Multicast. Notification Hubs are optimized to enable push notification broadcast to thousands or millions of devices with low latency.  Your server back-end can fire one message into a Notification Hub, and millions of push notifications can automatically be delivered to your users.  Devices and apps can specify a number of per-user tags when registering with a Notification Hub. These tags do not need to be pre-provisioned or disposed, and provide a very easy way to send filtered notifications to an infinite number of users/devices with a single API call.   Extreme Scale. Notification Hubs enable you to reach millions of devices without you having to re-architect or shard your application.  The pub/sub routing mechanism allows you to broadcast notifications in a super-efficient way.  This makes it incredibly easy to route and deliver notification messages to millions of users without having to build your own routing infrastructure. Usable from any Backend App. Notification Hubs can be easily integrated into any back-end server app, whether it is a Mobile Service, a Web Site, a Cloud Service or an IAAS VM. It is easy to configure Notification Hubs to send push notifications to Android. Create a new Notification Hub within the Windows Azure Management Portal (New->App Services->Service Bus->Notification Hub): Then register for Google Cloud Messaging using https://code.google.com/apis/console and obtain your API key, then simply paste that key on the Configure tab of your Notification Hub management page under the Google Cloud Messaging Settings: Then just add code to the OnCreate method of your Android app’s MainActivity class to register the device with Notification Hubs: gcm = GoogleCloudMessaging.getInstance(this); String connectionString = "<your listen access connection string>"; hub = new NotificationHub("<your notification hub name>", connectionString, this); String regid = gcm.register(SENDER_ID); hub.register(regid, "myTag"); Now you can broadcast notification from your .NET backend (or Node, Java, or PHP) to any Windows Store, Android, or iOS device registered for “myTag” tag via a single API call (you can literally broadcast messages to millions of clients you have registered with just one API call): var hubClient = NotificationHubClient.CreateClientFromConnectionString(                   “<your connection string with full access>”,                   "<your notification hub name>"); hubClient.SendGcmNativeNotification("{ 'data' : {'msg' : 'Hello from Windows Azure!' } }", "myTag”); Notification Hubs provide an extremely scalable, cross-platform, push notification infrastructure that enables you to efficiently route push notification messages to millions of mobile users and devices.  It will make enabling your push notification logic significantly simpler and more scalable, and allow you to build even better apps with it. Learn more about Notification Hubs here on MSDN . Summary The above features are now live and available to start using immediately (note: some of the services are still in preview).  If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, you can sign-up for a free trial and start using them today.  Visit the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more about how to build apps with it. 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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  • ZeroBin Is an Encrypted PasteBin Alternative

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    ZeroBin is like the heavily armored sibling of PasteBin; You can still paste large chunks of text but that text is encrypted with client-side encryption. PasteBin is great when you need to share snippets of code or log files, the only problem is the service is essentially wide open. Not such a big deal if you’re sharing your XBMC logs on the support forum to get a little help figuring out why your movie list won’t update, but less than idea if you’re sharing more sensitive information. ZeroBin steps in to fill that gap by offering client-side encryption where ZeroBin has no knowledge of the content of your shared text snippets. In addition you can set up the ZeroBin content to self destruct after a set amount of time. Hit up the link below to take ZeroBin for a spin. ZeroBin [via One Thing Well] How to Stress Test the Hard Drives in Your PC or Server How To Customize Your Android Lock Screen with WidgetLocker The Best Free Portable Apps for Your Flash Drive Toolkit

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  • Day of DotNetNuke Recap

    - by bdukes
    This weekend was the Day of DotNetNuke in Charlotte, NC .  I was there to present two session, along with three other Engage colleagues ( Oliver Hine and Anthony Overkamp also presented).  I was honored to be able to present on the Client Resource Management Framework and the Services Framework, two newer components in DotNetNuke (introduced in DNN 6.1 and 6.2, respectively). Making Full Use of the Client Resource Management Framework The slides are available to view at http://bdukes.github...(read more)

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  • Roll Your Own DIY Solar-Powered Security Camera Setup

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re looking to set up a security camera without running power or video lines, this solar-powered version combines a cheap Wi-Fi cam with a home-rolled solar setup to provide surveillance without wires. Courtesy of Reddit user CheapGuitar, the setup combines a dirt cheap off-brand Wi-Fi security camera, a Tupperware container spray painted black, some old camping solar panels, and a battery into a security camera that checks in as long as it’s in range of a Wi-Fi router or repeater. Hit up the link below to check out the build guide. Solar Powered Camera [via Hack A Day] HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT & 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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  • Our Narrow Slice – Looking at History from a Different Perspective

    - by Akemi Iwaya
    When we learn about places, people, and events from history, we are usually taught about them in separate chunks or blocks, making them ‘seem’ rather separate and/or disconnected from each other. Vsauce provides a new perspective about some famous people, places, and events from history that you may not have known about or thought of as simultaneous/connected. Our Narrow Slice [YouTube]     

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