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• SQLAuthority News TechEd India April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore An Unforgettable Experience An Oppert

  TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event [...]...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Design: classes with same implementation but different method names

  - by Dror Helper

  I have multiple classes that have similar implementation for different named methods: class MyClassX { public int MyClassXIntMethod(){} public string MyClassXStringMethod(){} } class MyClassY { public int MyClassYIntMethod(){} public string MyClassYStringMethod(){} } the methods inside the classes have similar implementation but because the method's names are different (due to 3rd party constraints) i cannot use inheritance. I'm looking for an elegant solution that would be better than implementing the same functionality over and over again.

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• The Best How-To Geek Articles for March 2012

  - by Asian Angel

  March was a busy month here at HTG where we covered topics such as properly scanning photos (and getting better images), the best tips for securing your data, identifying network abuse with Wireshark, and more. Join us as we look back at the most popular articles from this past month. How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 1 What’s the Difference Between Sleep and Hibernate in Windows? Screenshot Tour: XBMC 11 Eden Rocks Improved iOS Support, AirPlay, and Even a Custom XBMC OS

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• BizTalk 2010 Certification Exam

  - by Paul Petrov

  I took a shot at new (to me) certification exam for BizTalk 2010. I was able to pass it without any preparation just based on the experience. That does not mean this exam is a very simple one. Comparing to previous (2006 R2) it covers some new areas (like WCF) and has some demanding questions and situation to think about. But the most challenging factor is broad feature coverage. Overall, the impression that if BizTalk continues to grow in scope it’s better to create separate exams for core functionality and extended features (like EDI, RFID, LOB adapters) because it’s really hard to cover vast array of BizTalk capabilities. As far as required knowledge and questions allocation I think Microsoft description is on target. There were definitely more questions on deployment, configuration and administration aspects comparing to previous exam. WCF and WCF based adapters now play big role and this topic was covered well too. Extended functionality is claimed at 13% of the exam, I felt there were plenty of RFID questions but not many EDI, that’s why I thought it’d be useful to split exam into two to cover all of them equally. BRE is still there and good, cause it’s usually not very known/loved feature of the package. At the and, for those who plan to get certified, my advice would be to know all those areas of BizTalk for guaranteed passing: messaging and orchestrations, core adapters, routing, patterns; development of all artifacts and orchestrations; debugging and exceptions handling; packaging, deployment, tracking and administration; WCF bindings and adapters; BAM, BRE, RFID, EDI, etc. You may get by not knowing one smaller non-essential part (like I did with RFID, for example). In such case you better know all other areas very well to cover for the weak spot. If there more than one whiteouts in the knowledge it’s good idea to study and prepare: MSDN, blogs, virtual labs and good VM to play with can help when experience is not enough. So best wishes and good skill to you in passing this certification!

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• Teaching "web design/development" to high-school home-school group. Good sources?

  - by anonymous coward

  I may soon begin teaching a "web design and development" class for a home-school co-op group. Any suggestions for "course" material? My first thought was to work through the Opera Web Standards Curriculum, but am interested in hearing about possible alternatives or suggestions that better cover the "very basics" of getting started with designing and developing web pages. Not necessarily looking for topics, so much as existing resources. Thanks so much for your input!

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• Starship Collage and Size Comparison Chart [Wallpaper]

  - by Asian Angel

  Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and more are all included on this awesome collage and comparison chart wallpaper! Sci Fi, Spaceship [Wallpaper Abyss] 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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• Asynchronously returning a hierarchal data using .NET TPL... what should my return object "look" like?

  - by makerofthings7

  I want to use the .NET TPL to asynchronously do a DIR /S and search each subdirectory on a hard drive, and want to search for a word in each file... what should my API look like? In this scenario I know that each sub directory will have 0..10000 files or 0...10000 directories. I know the tree is unbalanced and want to return data (in relation to its position in the hierarchy) as soon as it's available. I am interested in getting data as quickly as possible, but also want to update that result if "better" data is found (better means closer to the root of c:) I may also be interested in finding all matches in relation to its position in the hierarchy. (akin to a report) Question: How should I return data to my caller? My first guess is that I think I need a shared object that will maintain the current "status" of the traversal (started | notstarted | complete ) , and might base it on the System.Collections.Concurrent. Another idea that I'm considering is the consumer/producer pattern (which ConcurrentCollections can handle) however I'm not sure what the objects "look" like. Optional Logical Constraint: The API doesn't have to address this, but in my "real world" design, if a directory has files, then only one file will ever contain the word I'm looking for.  If someone were to literally do a DIR /S as described above then they would need to account for more than one matching file per subdirectory. More information : I'm using Azure Tables to store a hierarchy of data using these TPL extension methods. A "node" is a table. Not only does each node in the hierarchy have a relation to any number of nodes, but it's possible for each node to have a reciprocal link back to any other node. This may have issues with recursion but I'm addressing that with a shared object in my recursion loop. Note that each "node" also has the ability to store local data unique to that node. It is this information that I'm searching for. In other words, I'm searching for a specific fixed RowKey in a hierarchy of nodes. When I search for the fixed RowKey in the hierarchy I'm interested in getting the results FAST (first node found) but prefer data that is "closer" to the starting point of the hierarchy. Since many nodes may have the particular RowKey I'm interested in, sometimes I may want to get a report of ALL the nodes that contain this RowKey.

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• The True Cost of a Solution

  - by D'Arcy Lussier

  I had a Twitter chat recently with someone suggesting Oracle and SQL Server were losing out to OSS (Open Source Software) in the enterprise due to their issues with scaling or being too generic (one size fits all). I challenged that a bit, as my experience with enterprise sized clients has been different – adverse to OSS but receptive to an established vendor. The response I got was: Found it easier to influence change by showing how X can’t solve our problems or X is extremely costly to scale. Money talks. I think this is definitely the right approach for anyone pitching an alternate or alien technology as part of a solution: identify the issue, identify the solution, then present pros and cons including a cost/benefit analysis. What can happen though is we get tunnel vision and don’t present a full view of the costs associated with a solution. An “Acura”te Example (I’m so clever…) This is my dream vehicle, a Crystal Black Pearl coloured Acura MDX with the SH-AWD package! We’re a family of 4 (5 if my daughters ever get their wish of adding a dog), and I’ve always wanted a luxury type of vehicle, so this is a perfect replacement in a few years when our Rav 4 has hit the 8 – 10 year mark. MSRP – $62,890 But as we all know, that’s not *really* the cost of the vehicle. There’s taxes and fees added on, there’s the extended warranty if I choose to purchase it, there’s the finance rate that needs to be factored in… MSRP –   $62,890 Taxes –      $7,546 Warranty - $2,500 SubTotal – $72,936 Finance Charge – $ 1094.04 Grand Total – $74,030 Well! Glad we did that exercise – we discovered an extra $11k added on to the MSRP! Well now we have our true price…or do we? Lifetime of the Vehicle I’m expecting to have this vehicle for 7 – 10 years. While the hard cost of the vehicle is known and dealt with, the costs to run and maintain the vehicle are on top of this. I did some research, and here’s what I’ve found: Fuel and Mileage Gas prices are high as it is for regular fuel, but getting into an MDX will require that I *only* purchase premium fuel, which comes at a premium price. I need to expect my bill at the pump to be higher. Comparing the MDX to my 2007 Rav4 also shows I’ll be gassing up more often. The Rav4 has a city MPG of 21, while the MDX plummets to 16! The MDX does have a bigger fuel tank though, so all in all the number of times I hit the pumps might even out. Still, I estimate I’ll be spending approximately $8000 – $10000 more on gas over a 10 year period than my current Rav4. Service Options Limited Although I have options with my Toyota here in Winnipeg (we have 4 Toyota dealerships), I do go to my original dealer for any service work. Still, I like the fact that I have options. However, there’s only one Acura dealership in all of Winnipeg! So if, for whatever reason, I’m not satisfied with the level of service I’m stuck. Non Warranty Service Work Also let’s not forget that there’s a bulk of work required every year that is *not* covered under warranty – oil changes, tire rotations, brake pads, etc. I expect I’ll need to get new tires at the 5 years mark as well, which can easily be $1200 – $1500 (I just paid $1000 for new tires for the Rav4 and we’re at the 5 year mark). Now these aren’t going to be *new* costs that I’m not used to from our existing vehicles, but they should still be factored in. I’d budget $500/year, or $5000 over the 10 years I’ll own the vehicle. Final Assessment So let’s re-assess the true cost of my dream MDX: MSRP                    $62,890 Taxes                       $7,546 Warranty                 $2,500 Finance Charge         $1094 Gas                        $10,000 Service Work            $5000 Grand Total           $89,030 So now I have a better idea of 10 year cost overall, and I’ve identified some concerns with local service availability. And there’s now much more to consider over the original $62,890 price tag. Tying This Back to Technology Solutions The process that we just went through is no different than what organizations do when considering implementing a new system, technology, or technology based solution, within their environments. It’s easy to tout the short term cost savings of particular product/platform/technology in a vacuum. But its when you consider the wider impact that the true cost comes into play. Let’s create a scenario: A company is not happy with its current data reporting suite. An employee suggests moving to an open source solution. The selling points are: - Because its open source its free - The organization would have access to the source code so they could alter it however they wished - It provided features not available with the current reporting suite At first this sounds great to the management and executive, but then they start asking some questions and uncover more information: - The OSS product is built on a technology not used anywhere within the organization - There are no vendors offering product support for the OSS product - The OSS product requires a specific server platform to operate on, one that’s not standard in the organization All of a sudden, the true cost of implementing this solution is starting to become clearer. The company might save money on licensing costs, but their training costs would increase significantly – developers would need to learn how to develop in the technology the OSS solution was built on, IT staff must learn how to set up and maintain a new server platform within their existing infrastructure, and if a problem was found there was no vendor to contact for support. The true cost of implementing a “free” OSS solution is actually spinning up a project to implement it within the organization – no small cost. And that’s just the short-term cost. Now the organization must ensure they maintain trained staff who can make changes to the OSS reporting solution and IT staff that will stay knowledgeable in the new server platform. If those skills are very niche, then higher labour costs could be incurred if those people are hard to find or if trained employees use that knowledge as leverage for higher pay. Maybe a vendor exists that will contract out support, but then there are those costs to consider as well. And let’s not forget end-user training – in our example, anyone that runs reports will need to be trained on how to use the new system. Here’s the Point We still tend to look at software in an “off the shelf” kind of way. It’s very easy to say “oh, this product is better than vendor x’s product – and its free because its OSS!” but the reality is that implementing any new technology within an organization has a cost regardless of the retail price of the product. Training, integration, support – these are real costs that impact an organization and span multiple departments. Whether you’re pitching an improved business process, a new system, or a new technology, you need to consider the bigger picture costs of implementation. What you define as success (in our example, having better reporting functionality) might not be what others define as success if implementing your solution causes them issues. A true enterprise solution needs to consider the entire enterprise.

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• The Keyword Tracker For Tracking the Rank of Your Website

  The search engines have those- sites at the top placement which have used better optimization techniques for them. You can do it with the help of many of the SEO tools that are available in the market.

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• Pitivi video editor (gstreamer errors)

  - by The Programmer

  The error messages are not helpful in diagnosing what's broken here: What can be done to make Pitivi and gstreamer work better together? Should I just give up on Pitivi and go with another tool? ERROR [15963] [0x7fb986aed700] "" pipeline Sep 18 19:31:14 _errorObject: error from /GstPipeline:pipeline1/GstBin:bin1/GnlComposition:gnlcomposition3/GnlSource:gnlsource: AudioTestSourceFactory3/GstBin:bin5/GstAudioTestSrc:real-audiotestsrc (main.GstAudioTestSrc): GStreamer encountered a general stream error. (gstbasesrc.c(2507): gst_base_src_loop (): /GstPipeline:pipeline1/GstBin:bin1/GnlComposition:gnlcomposition3/GnlSource:gnlsource: AudioTestSourceFactory3/GstBin:bin5/GstAudioTestSrc:real-audiotestsrc: streaming task paused, reason not-negotiated (-4)) (/usr/lib/pitivi/python/pitivi/log/loggable.py:30)

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• How can I keep current with Python coding style?

  - by vartec

  I've been using Python since version 2.2. I do pick up new language constructs like for example with statement or dictionary/set comprehensions. However, I've realized that even though I'm being consistent with PEP-8, for existing constructs I'm using old style, rather than new style (for example except Exception, e instead of except Exception as e). Is there a resource which would have either most current style guide, or even better a list of changes in Python's coding style?

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• Evaluating and Investigating Drug Safety Signals with Public Databases Webinar

  - by Roxana Babiciu

  In this one-hour webinar, BioPharm Systems' Dr. Rodney Lemery, vice president of safety and pharmacovigilance, will review a number of public databases available to use during the evaluation and investigation of identified safety signals. The discussion will focus on the use of free and paid longitudinal healthcare databases available online. After attending this presentation, you will better understand how these data sources can be used in your daily PV work. Read more here

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• Solita Oy Achieves Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialization

  - by michaela.seika(at)oracle.com

  Helsinki, February 2, 2011 - Solita Oy, a member of the Oracle® PartnerNetwork (OPN), is the first Finnish enterprise to achieve OPN Specialized status for customer-specific systems integration and software solutions.To achieve a Specialized status, Oracle partners are required to meet a stringent set of requirements that are based on the needs and priorities of the customer and partner community. By achieving a Specialized distinction, Solita Oy has been recognized by Oracle for its expertise in customer-specific systems integration and software solutions, achieved through competency development and demonstrated by the company's business results and proven success in implementing customer projects. "Solita and Oracle have cooperated for a long time, and we have been an Oracle partner for many years. We believe that the renewed partner program and the new partnership level that we have achieved will open up new opportunities for a closer collaboration with Oracle. Our increased focus on systems integration solutions and the stepping up of our specialized knowledge of SOA will enable us to provide even better solutions for our customers," said Jari Niska, Chief Executive Officer, Solita Oy. "Solita has shown trust and belief in Oracle's technology and in the business opportunities arising with it. They have contributed to building our cooperation in a consistent and systematic way. Achieving a Specialized status in our partner program is a natural further step in our close and committed cooperation. It strengthens our trust in our ability to be able to increase both turnover and profitability together," said Juha Kaskirinne, Alliances and Channel Leader, Oracle Finland Oy.  About Oracle PartnerNetwork Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit http://www.oracle.com/partners or connect with the Oracle Partner community at OPN on Twitter, OPN on Facebook, OPN on LinkedIn, and OPN on YouTube. About Solita Oy Solita Oy is a Finnish company dedicated to developing demanding information system solutions and IT professional services. Solita's customers include prominent Finnish companies and public organizations. Solita's turnover in 2010 was about 17 million euros. The company was founded in 1996 and has over 170 employees. Further information: www.solita.fiFurther information Jari Niska, CEO, Solita Oy, tel. +358 40 524 6400, [email protected] Kaskirinne, A&C Leader Finland, Oracle Finland Oy, tel. +358 40 506 3592, [email protected]

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• Correct way to handle path-finding collision matrix

  - by Xander Lamkins

  Here is an example of me utilizing path finding. The red grid represents the grid utilized by my A* library to locate a distance. This picture is only an example, currently it is all calculated on the 1x1 pixel level (pretty darn laggy). I want to make it so that the farther I click, the less accurate it will be (split the map into larger grid pieces). Edit: as mentioned by Eric, this is not a required game mechanic. I am perfectly fine with any method that allows me to make this accurate while still fast. This isn't the really the topic of this question though. The problem I have is, my current library uses a two dimensional grid of integers. The higher the number in a cell, the more resistance for that grid tile. Currently I'm setting all unwalkable spots to Integer Max. Here is an example of what I want: I'm just not sure how I should set up the arrays of integers of the grid. Every time an element is added/removed to/from the game, it's collision details are updated in the table. Here is a picture of what the map looks like on my collision layer: I probably shouldn't be creating new arrays every time I have to do a path find because my game needs to support tons of PF at the same time. Should I have multiple arrays that are all updated when the dynamic elements are updated (a building is built/a building is destroyed). The problem I see with this is that it will probably make the creation and destruction of buildings a little more laggy than I would want because it would be setting the collision grid for each built in accuracy level. I would also have to add more/remove some arrays if I ever in the future changed the map size. Should I generate the new array based on an accuracy value every time I need to PF? The problem I see with this is that it will probably make any form of PF just as laggy because it will have to search through a MapWidth x MapHeight number of cells to shrink it all down. Or is there a better way? I'm certainly not the best at optimizing really anything. I've just started dealing with XNA so I'm not used to having optimization code really doing much of an affect until now... :( If you need code examples, please ask. I'll add it as an edit. EDIT: While this doesn't directly relate to the question, I figure the more information I provide, the better. To keep your units from moving as accurately to the players desired position, I've decided that once the unit PFs over to the less accurate grid piece, it will then PF on a more accurate level to the exact position requested.

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• How do I tell the cases when it's worth to use LINQ?

  - by Lijo

  Many things in LINQ can be accomplished without the library. But for some scenarios, LINQ is most appropriate. Examples are: SELECT - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11883262/wrapping-list-items-inside-div-in-a-repeater SelectMany, Contains - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11778979/better-code-pattern-for-checking-existence-of-value Enumerable.Range - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11780128/scalable-c-sharp-code-for-creating-array-from-config-file WHERE http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13171850/trim-string-if-a-string-ends-with-a-specific-word What factors to take into account when deciding between LINQ and regular .Net language elements?

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• Compiling vs using pre-built binaries performance?

  - by Nick Rosencrantz

  Will performance be better (quicker) if I manually compile the source for a software component for the actual machine that it will be used on, compared to if the source was compiled on another platform perhaps for many different architectures? I got some good results compiling source that I downloaded and I wonder whether this was due to compiling it instead of downloading a pre-compiled binary which is often the case with software updates.

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• Abnormal alexa ranking score

  - by SteenhouwerD

  I have 2 websites of ecommerce in France and for these websites I have a strange behaviour of the alexa results. Here are some statistics about the websites : Unique Visits January 2012 Website A : 158,828 Website B : 58,867 Number of Search Results google Website A : 5,100 Website B : 56,000 Links to my site Website A : 3,120 Website B : 2,180 ALEXA Score Website A : 405,804 Website B : 278,944 How does it come that website B with 1/3 of the visitors of website A have a much better Alexa Score ( x2 ) then website A?

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• Screen Tweaker Swaps Windows 7 Logon Screen

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Windows: Free application Screen Tweaker makes it simple to swap out your logon screen wallpaper (as well as tweak other elements of the Windows logon screen). In addition to swapping out the wallpaper you can add and remove buttons, add text, and otherwise tweak the interface. Hit up the link below to grab a free copy. Windows 7 Logon Screen Tweaker [via Freeware Genius] How To Properly Scan a Photograph (And Get An Even Better Image) The HTG Guide to Hiding Your Data in a TrueCrypt Hidden Volume Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage

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• It's All In The Cloud

  - by Natalia Rachelson

  People turned out in droves for Steve Miranda's Apps Cloud General Session. Steve, as engaging as ever, covered our Apps strategy in the cloud and reinforced that Oracle has a complete set of cloud services including: •    Human Capital Management•    Talent Management•    Sales and Marketing•    Customer Service and Support•    Financial Management•    Procurement, Sourcing, and Inventory•    Project Portfolio Management•    Governance, Risk, and Compliance... all delivered on top of the Social, Platform, and Common Infrastructure.Steve talked about Fusion being the centerpiece of our Cloud Services. The fact that Fusion is 100 percent standards based is a big, big deal! In addition, our ERP Cloud Service is the most complete cloud service on the market. And email marketing is dead -- social marketing is where the action is. It's also where Oracle is investing heavily from a Sales & Marketing Cloud perspective. Steve covered the strategic acquisitions Oracle has made to enhance our organic Cloud offering. Specifically, Oracle bought RightNow to make our Customer Service and Support Cloud service complete. We also bought Taleo to add Recruiting and Learning capabilities to our Talent Management Cloud. Steve talked about our customers and how they are benefiting from the use of a variety of our Cloud Services. Red Robin is driving lower labor and food costs with Oracle ERP Cloud Service. He used Elizabeth Arden as the profile customer for HCM and Talent Management Service, UBS for HCM and Talent Management Service, and Brocade for Talent Management. All these customers are benefiting from a comprehensive and fully integrated HR platform that aligns compensation with performance and enhances workforce motivation and retention. At the same time, Hitachi Data Systems is using Oracle Taleo Performance Management Cloud to recruit the right competencies, pinpoint areas of improvement, and develop and monitor employee goals to support the global account organization. KLM and Overstock.com are gaining the benefits of Oracle's Customer Service and Support Service from RightNow by better engaging and serving customer needs online and through call centers. And last but not least, Graco and Key Energy are leveraging mobility features and sales forecasting and territory management capabilities within the Oracle Sales and Marketing Service. They expect to gain better visibility to sales information and drive more efficient sales campaigns and empower their sales force with data they need to make sales. Overall, Oracle Apps Cloud Services are enjoying a significant momentum in the marketplace. Steve projected an air of confidence and enthusiasm highlighting Oracle's latest successes with Cloud services.

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• Make Browsing Safer for Children in Google Chrome

  - by Asian Angel

  If you are worried about the websites that your children could accidentally visit while browsing, then you may want to have a look at the Kid Safe – LinkExtend extension for Google Chrome. Kid Safe – LinkExtend in Action Before going any further you may want to have a quick look at the options. Everything is enabled by default but it is recommended that you disable the “Allow entering unsafe sites Option”. For our first example we visited “chatroulette.com”. As you can see in the screenshot WOT and McAfee SiteAdvisor gave the website a “green rating” but when it came specifically to its’ level of appropriateness for children LinkExtend gave it a “yellow rating”. Our second example was “hotbabes.com”…obviously not a good website for any child to visit. You can see that the entire window area has been totally “blacked out” and the available information for this site from each of the six ratings sources. The “Toolbar Button” is also displaying a “red rating”… Notice the two links at the bottom of the ratings screen…both will be visible if the “Allow entering unsafe sites Option” is not disabled (see Options above). You can see the difference for the links at the bottom of the ratings screen if you have the “Allow entering unsafe sites Option” disabled. Definitely much much better… Clicking on the “Find Kids Sites Link” will navigate the tab to the Yahoo! Kids website. The extension will also place “ratings buttons” beside search results at Google. As you can see in the screenshot below not all of the results had information available for them at this time. But it is certainly a lot better than nothing at all when it comes to keeping your children safe. A close-up look at the ratings for one of the search results. Conclusion While no browser add-in makes for a perfect solution the Kid Safe – LinkExtend extension will definitely be a helpful addition to your family’s Chrome browser. Links Download the Kid Safe – LinkExtend extension (Google Chrome Extensions) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How to Make Google Chrome Your Default BrowserAccess Browsing History in Google Chrome the Easy WayFocused New Tabs Quick-Fix for Google ChromeVisually Browse Through Your Open Tabs in Google ChromeSubscribe to RSS Feeds in Chrome with a Single Click 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 Awe inspiring, inter-galactic theme (Win 7) Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook Recycle !

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• A Lean Patch Batch from Microsoft for March

  While February saw one of the largest patch batches ever from Microsoft, the forecast for March looks much better, with only two bug fixes on the agenda.

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• Interaction of a GUI-based App and Windows Service

  - by psubsee2003

  I am working on personal project that will be designed to help manage my media library, specifically recordings created by Windows Media Center. So I am going to have the following parts to this application: A Windows Service that monitors the recording folder. Once a new recording is completed that meets specific criteria, it will call several 3rd party CLI Applications to remove the commercials and re-encode the video into a more hard-drive friendly format. A controller GUI to be able to modify settings of the service, specifically add new shows to watch for, and to modify parameters for the CLI Applications A standalone (GUI-based) desktop application that can perform many of the same functions as the windows service, expect manually on specific files instead of automatically based on specific criteria. (It should be mentioned that I have limited experience with an application of this complexity, and I have absolutely zero experience with Windows Services) Since the 1st and 3rd bullet share similar functionality, my design plan is to pull the common functionality into a separate library shared by both parts applications, but these 2 components do not need to interact otherwise. The 2nd and 3rd bullets seem to share some common functionality, both will have a GUI, both will have to help define similar parameters (one to send to the service and the other to send directly to the CLI applications), so I can see some advantage to combining them into the same application. On the other hand, the standalone application (bullet #3) really does not need to interact with the service at all, except for possibly sharing a few common default parameters that can easily be put into an XML in a common location, so it seems to make more sense to just keep everything separate. The controller GUI (2nd bullet) is where I am stuck at the moment. Do I just roll this functionality (allow for user interaction with the service to update settings and criteria) into the standalone application? Or would it be a better design decision to keep them separate? Specifically, I'm worried about adding the complexity of communicating with the Windows Service to the standalone application when it doesn't need it. Is WCF the right approach to allow the controller GUI to interact with the Windows Service? Or is there a better alternative? At the moment, I don't envision a need for a significant amount of interaction, maybe just adding a new task once in a while and occasionally tweaking a parameter, but when something is changed, I do expect the windows service to immediately use the new settings.

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• Why is the sudden increase in number of Git submitters on Debian popcorn graph in 2010-01?

  - by Jungle Hunter

  Almost every article I've read 1 comparing Git and Mercurial it seems like Mercurial has a better command line UX with each command being limited to one idea only (unlike say git checkout). But at some point Git suddenly became looking super popular and number of Git submitters on Debian popcorn graph (see graph image below) literally exploded. Source: Debian What happened in 2010-01 that things suddenly changed. Looks like GitHub was founded earlier than that - 2008.

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• Effectiveness and Efficiency

  - by Daniel Moth

  In the professional environment, i.e. at work, I am always seeking personal growth and to be challenged. The result is that my assignments, my work list, my tasks, my goals, my commitments, my [insert whatever word resonates with you] keep growing (in scope and desired impact). Which in turn means I have to keep finding new ways to deliver more value, while not falling into the trap of working more hours. To do that I continuously evaluate both my effectiveness and my efficiency. EFFECTIVENESS The first thing I check is my effectiveness: Am I doing the right things? Am I focusing too much on unimportant things? Am I spending more time doing stuff that is important to my team/org/division/business/company, or am I spending it on stuff that is important to me and that I enjoy doing? Am I valuing activities that maybe I have outgrown and should be delegated to others who are at a stage I have surpassed (in Microsoft speak: is the work I am doing level appropriate or am I still operating at the previous level)? Notice how the answers to those questions change over time and due to certain events, so I have to remind myself to revisit them frequently. Events that force me to re-examine them are: change of role, change of team/org/etc, change of direction of team/org/etc, re-org, new hires on the team that take on some of the work I did, personal promotion, change of manager... and if none of those events has occurred since the last annual review, I ask myself those at each annual review anyway. If you think you are not being effective at work, make a list of the stuff that you do and start tracking where your time goes. In parallel, have a discussion with your manager about where they think your time should go. Ultimately your time is finite and hence it is your most precious investment, don't waste it. If your management doesn't value as highly what you spend your time on, then either convince your management, or stop spending your time on it, or find different management: Lead, Follow, or get out of the way! That's my view on effectiveness. You have to fix that before moving to being efficient, or you may end up being very efficient at stuff that nobody wants you to be doing in the first place. For example, you may be spending your time writing blog posts and becoming better and faster at it all the time. If your manager thinks that is not even part of your job description, you are wasting your time to satisfy your inner desires. Nobody can help you with your effectiveness other than your management chain and your management peers - they are the judges of it. EFFICIENCY The second thing I check is my efficiency: Am I doing things right? For me, doing things right means that I deliver the same quality of work faster [than what I used to, and than my peers, and than expected of me]. The result is that I can achieve more [than what I used to, and than my peers, and than expected of me]. Notice how the efficiency goal is a more portable one. If, by whatever criteria, you think you are the best at [insert your own skill here], this can change at two events: because you have new colleagues (who are potentially better than your older ones), and it can change with a change of manager (who has potentially higher expectations). That's about it. Once you are efficient at something, you carry that with you... All you need to really be doing here is, when taking on new kinds of work that you haven't done before, try a few approaches and devise a system so that you can become efficient at this new activity too... Just keep "collecting" stuff that you are efficient at. If you think you are not being efficient at something, break it down: What are the steps you take to complete that task? How long do you spend on each step? Talk to others about what steps they take, to see if you can optimize some steps away or trade them for better steps, or just learn how to complete a step faster. Have a system for every task you take so that you can have repeatable success. That's my view on efficiency. You have to fix it so that you can free up time to do more. When you plan a route from A to B - all else being equal - you try to get there as fast as possible so why would you not want to do that with your everyday work? For example, imagine you are inefficient at processing email: You spend more time than necessary dealing with email, and you still end up with dropped email threads and with slower response times than others. How can you improve? Talk to someone that you think is good at this, understand their system (e.g. here is my email processing system) and come up with one that works for you. Parting Thoughts Are you considered, by your colleagues and manager, an effective and efficient person at your workplace? If you are, what would you change if you were asked by your management to do the job of two people? Seriously, think about that! Your immediate reaction may be "that is not possible", but it actually is. You just have to re-assess what things that were previously important will now stop being important, by discussing them with your management and reaching agreement on relative priorities. For example, stuff that was previously on your plate may now have to be delegated or dropped. Where you thought you were efficient, maybe now you have to find an even faster path to completion, perhaps keeping in mind that Perfect is the Enemy of “Good Enough”. My personal experience (from both observing others and from my own reflection) is that when folks are struggling to keep up at work it is because of two reasons: They are investing energy in stuff that they enjoy doing which the business regards as having a lower priority than a lot of other things on their plate. They are completing tasks to a level of higher quality than what is required (due to personal pride) missing the big picture which almost always mandates completing three tasks at good enough quality than knocking only one of them out of the park while the other two come in late or not at all. There is a lot of content on the web, so I strongly encourage you to use your favorite search engine to read other views on effectiveness and efficiency (Bing, Google). Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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• OpenGL vs DirectX?

  - by Harold

  I saw the articles that were going on about OpenGL being better than DirectX and that Microsoft are really just trying to get everyone to use DirectX even though it's inferior so that gaming is almost exclusively for Windows and XBox, but since the article was written in 2006 is it still relevant today? Also I know plenty of games are written in DirectX but does anyone have any examples of popular games written in OpenGL? Thanks

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