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  • Create Custom Playlists in Windows Media Player 12

    - by DigitalGeekery
    A playlist is a group of songs or media files that are grouped together based on a theme. Today we’ll look at how to create your own custom playlists in Windows Media Player 12. Create Custom Playlists Open Windows Media Player and switch to the Library view. Click on the Play tab at the top right to reveal the List pane.   If you currently have songs listed on the List pane, you can remove them by clicking Clear list.   To add songs to your playlist, right-click on the song title, select Add to, and then click Play list. You can also drag and drop the song title right onto the play list area. Hold down the Control [Ctrl] key while clicking to select more than one track at a time.   Changing the Playlist Order You can click and drag each item in your playlist to move it up or down.   You can also right click on the title and select Move up or Move down, or to completely remove a track from your playlist. You have the option to shuffle your list by clicking the Options list icon and selecting Shuffle list from the dropdown list. By selecting Sort list by you can sort by Title, Artist, Album, Release date, and more. Saving and naming your playlist To save your playlist, click on the Save list button. You’ll be prompted to enter a name for your playlist in the text box. Click away when you are finished. Windows Media Player will display your most recent playlists in the Navigation panel. Simply select the playlist anytime you want to listen to it.   Conclusion Custom playlists are a great way to group your music by themes such as mood, genre, activity, season, and more. If you are new to Windows Media Player 12, check out our post on managing your music in Windows Media Player. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Fixing When Windows Media Player Library Won’t Let You Add FilesShare Digital Media With Other Computers on a Home Network with Windows 7Install and Use the VLC Media Player on Ubuntu LinuxMake Windows Media Player Automatically Open in Mini Player ModeWhat are wmpnscfg.exe and wmpnetwk.exe and Why Are They Running? 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 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Easily Search Food Recipes With Recipe Chimp Tech Fanboys Field Guide Check these Awesome Chrome Add-ons iFixit Offers Gadget Repair Manuals Online Vista style sidebar for Windows 7 Create Nice Charts With These Web Based Tools

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  • Scan Your Thumb Drive for Viruses from the AutoPlay Dialog

    - by Mysticgeek
    It’s always a good idea to scan someone’s flash drive for viruses when you use it on your PC. Today we look at how to use Microsoft Security Essentials to scan thumb drives via the AutoPlay dialog. Editor Note: This technique was created by our friend Ramesh Srinivasan from the winhelponline tech blog. If you haven’t done so already, download and install Microsoft Security Essentials (link below), which has earned the How-To Geek official endorsement. Next download the mseautoplay.zip (link below). Unzip the file to view its contents. Then move the msescan.vbs script file into the Windows directory. Next double-click on the mseautoplay.reg file… Click Yes to the warning dialog window asking if you’re sure you want to add to the registry. After it’s added you’ll get a confirmation message…click OK. Now when you pop in a thumb drive, when AutoPlay comes up you will have the options to scan it with MSE first. MSE starts the scan of the thumb drive…   You can use this to scan any removable media. Here is an example of the ability to scan a DVD with MSE before opening any files. You can also go into Control Panel and set it as a default option of AutoPlay. Open Control Panel, View by Large icons, and click on AutoPlay. Notice that now when you go to change the default options for different types of media, Scanning with MSE is now included in the dropdown lists. Remove Settings If you want to remove the MSE AutoPlay Handler, Ramesh was kind enough to create an undo registry file. Double-click on undo.reg from the original MSE AutoPlay folder and click yes to the message to remove the setting.   Then you will need to go into the Windows directory and manually delete the msescan.vbs script file. This is an awesome trick which will allow you to scan your thumb drives and other removable media from the AutoPlay dialog. We tested it out on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and it works perfectly on each one. Download mseautoplay.zip Download Microsoft Security Essentials Read Our Review of MSE Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Disable AutoPlay in Windows VistaFind Your Missing USB Drive on Windows XPDisable Autoplay of Audio CDs and USB DrivesHow To Remove Antivirus Live and Other Rogue/Fake Antivirus MalwareScan Files for Viruses Before You Download With Dr.Web 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 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup Sculptris 1.0, 3D Drawing app AceStock, a Tiny Desktop Quote Monitor Gmail Button Addon (Firefox) Hyperwords addon (Firefox) Backup Outlook 2010 Daily Motivator (Firefox)

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  • Customize the Background in Boxee

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Are you a Boxee user who thinks the default background is little boring? Today we’ll take a look at how to freshen up the look of Boxee by changing the background. Boxee Background When you log into Boxee, select the Settings button at the upper left corner of the Home page.   Select General on the Settings screen. When you select or hover your mouse over the Background Image button, you’ll see options to set a background image or set a background image folder. You’ll have the option of settings a single static image as your background, or choosing an images folder.   If you choose a folder, Boxee will rotate through the images in the folder. To set Background images folder, select that option. Browse for your image folder.. And then select OK.   Boxee will rotate through the images in the folder.   Images will change every ten seconds.   If you prefer a single static image, select Set background image   Choose a image and select OK. Now just enjoy you nice new backgrounds.   If you ever wish to revert back to the default Boxee background, simply select Reset Images on the Settings \ General screen. Adding your own backgrounds is a nice way to customize your Boxee experience. Ideally, you’ll want to choose high resolution images and images oriented as landscape rather than portrait. If you are unfamiliar with Boxee, check out our article on getting started with Boxee.  Looking for a Boxee remote? Read how to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a Boxee remote. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Integrate Boxee with Media Center in Windows 7Using Pandora in BoxeeWatch Netflix Instant Movies in BoxeeUse your iPhone or iPod Touch as a Boxee RemoteCustomize the Windows 7 Logon Screen 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 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Use ILovePDF To Split and Merge PDF Files TimeToMeet is a Simple Online Meeting Planning Tool Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule

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  • How to convince my boss that quality is a good thing to have in code?

    - by Kristof Claes
    My boss came to me today to ask me if we could implement a certain feature in 1.5 days. I had a look at it and told him that 2 to 3 days would be more realistic. He then asked me: "And what if we do it quick and dirty?" I asked him to explain what he meant with "quick and dirty". It turns out, he wants us to write code as quickly as humanly possible by (for example) copying bits and pieces from other projects, putting all code in the code-behind of the WebForms pages, stop caring about DRY and SOLID and assuming that the code and functionalities will never ever have to be modified or changed. What's even worse, he doesn't want us do it for just this one feature, but for all the code we write. We can make more profit when we do things quick and dirty. Clients don't want to pay for you taking into account that something might change in the future. The profits for us are in delivering code as quick as possible. As long as the application does what it needs to do, the quality of the code doesn't matter. They never see the code. I have tried to convince him that this is a bad way to think as the manager of a software company, but he just wouldn't listen to my arguments: Developer motivation: I explained that it is hard to keep developers motivated when they are constantly under pressure of unrealistic deadlines and budget to write sloppy code very quickly. Readability: When a project gets passed on to another developer, cleaner and better structured code will be easier to read and understand. Maintainability: It is easier, safer and less time consuming to adapt, extend or change well written code. Testability: It is usually easier to test and find bugs in clean code. My co-workers are as baffled as I am by my boss' standpoint, but we can't seem to get to him. He keeps on saying that by making things more quickly, we can sell more projects, ask a lower price for them while still making a bigger profit. And in the end these projects pay the developer's salaries. What more can I say to make him see he is wrong? I want to buy him copies of Peopleware and The Mythical Man-Month, but I have a feeling they won't change his mind either. A lot of you will probably say something like "Run! Get out of there now!" or "I'd quit!", but that's not really an option since .NET web development jobs are rather rare in the region where I live...

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  • Set a Video as Your Desktop Wallpaper with VLC

    - by DigitalGeekery
    Are you tired of static desktop wallpapers and want something a bit more entertaining? Today we’ll take a look at setting a video as wallpaper in VLC media player. Download and install VLC player. You’ll find the download link below. Open VLC and select Tools > Preferences. On the Preferences windows, select the Video button on the left. Under Video Settings, select DirectX video output from the Output dropdown list. Click Save before exiting and then restart VLC. Next, select a video and begin playing it with VLC. Right-click on the screen, select Video, then DirectX Wallpaper.   You can achieve the same result by selecting Video from the Menu and clicking DirectX Wallpaper.   If you’re using Windows Aero Themes, you may get the warning message below and your theme will switch automatically to a basic theme.   After the Wallpaper is enabled, minimize VLC player and enjoy the show as you work.     When you are ready to switch back to your normal wallpaper, click Video, and then close out of VLC.   Occasionally we had to manually change our wallpaper back to normal. You can do that by right clicking on the desktop and selecting your theme.   Conclusion This might not make the most productive desktop environment, but it is pretty cool. It’s definitely not the same old boring wallpaper! Download VLC Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Dual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop in Windows 7, Vista or XPDual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each DesktopDesktop Fun: Video Game Icon PacksDesktop Fun: Starship Theme WallpapersDesktop Fun: Mountains Theme Wallpapers 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 All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 VMware Workstation 7 OpenDNS Guide Google TV The iPod Revolution Ultimate Boot CD can help when disaster strikes Windows Firewall with Advanced Security – How To Guides Sculptris 1.0, 3D Drawing app

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  • Hey You! Stop Using the Apply Button and Just Click OK! [Geek Rants]

    - by The Geek
    As a computer geek, I often find myself helping people, and watching them change settings on their PC… and they almost always click the Apply button, and then the OK button. Why? Whenever you encounter a dialog box in Windows, there are the standard OK, Cancel, Apply buttons—but you don’t actually have to click the Apply button first. The OK button does the same thing, saves the settings, and then closes the dialog box… saving you an extra click. Don’t believe me? Try it out for yourself. Only the worst possible application won’t behave that way, and you probably don’t want to use that type of application to begin with. The only exception to this rule is a multiple tab dialog box, on a badly written application. Sometimes… your settings on one tab won’t stick unless you click Apply. Note that in this particular case, you can make changes in any one of the tabs, and they will carry through without having to click Apply, because this dialog window is well written. We’re just using the screenshot as an example of a multiple tab setting interface. So now that you know better, you can tell us… do you always use the Apply button first? Have you ever found an instance where it behaves differently? Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Got Awesome Skills? Why Not Write for How-To Geek?Customize Your Windows Vista Logon ScreenUse Outlook Rules to Prevent "Oh No!" After Sending EmailsGot Awesome Geek Skills? The How-To Geek is Looking for WritersQuick Firefox UI Tweaks 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 Recycle ! Find That Elusive Icon with FindIcons Looking for Good Windows Media Player 12 Plug-ins? Find Out the Celebrity You Resemble With FaceDouble Whoa ! Use Printflush to Solve Printing Problems

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  • How to Format a USB Drive in Ubuntu Using GParted

    - by Trevor Bekolay
    If a USB hard drive or flash drive is not properly formatted, then it will not show up in the Ubuntu Places menu, making it hard to interact with. We’ll show you how to format a USB drive using the tool GParted. Note: Formatting a USB drive will destroy any data currently stored on it. If you think that your USB drive is already properly formatted, but Ubuntu just isn’t picking it up, try unplugging it and plugging it back in to a different USB slot, or restarting your machine with the device plugged in on start-up. Open a terminal by clicking on Applications in the top-left of the screen, then Accessories > Terminal. GParted should be installed by default, but we’ll make sure it’s installed by entering the following command in the terminal: sudo apt-get install gparted To open GParted, enter the following command in the terminal: sudo gparted Find your USB drive in the drop-down box at the top right of the GParted window. The drive should be unallocated – if it has a valid partition on it, then you may be looking at the wrong drive. Note: Make sure you’re on the correct drive, as making changes on the wrong hard drive with GParted can delete all data on a hard drive! Assuming you’re on the right drive, right-click on the unallocated grey block and click New. In the window that pops up, change the File System to fat32 for USB Flash Drives, NTFS for USB Hard Drives that will be used in Windows, or ext3/ext4 for USB Hard Drives that will be used exclusively in Linux. Add a label if you’d like, and then click Add. Click the green checkmark and then the Apply button to apply the changes. GParted will now format your drive. If you’re formatting a large USB Hard Drive, this can take some time. Once the process is done, you can close GParted, and the drive will now show up in the Places menu. Clicking on the drive will mount it and open it in a File Browser window. It will also add a shortcut to the drive on the Desktop by default. Your USB drive is now ready to store your files! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using GParted to Resize Your Windows Vista PartitionInstall an RPM Package on Ubuntu LinuxCreate a Persistent Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash DriveShare Ubuntu Home Directories using SambaCreate a Samba User on Ubuntu 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 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day Check the Average Speed of YouTube Videos You’ve Watched OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott

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  • Java Spotlight Episode 111: Bruno Souza @brjavaman and Fabiane Nardon @fabianenardonon StoryTroop @storytroop

    - by Roger Brinkley
    Interview with Bruno Souza and Fabiane Nardon on StoryTroop. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link:  Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News End of Puplic Updates for JDK 6 Bean Valdiation 1.1 public review approved Two key JSRs accepted in time for JavaEE7 Public_JCP EC_meeting_audio_and materials posted Devoxx UK and Devoxx France CFP open JPA 2.1 Schema Generation WebSocket, Java EE 7, and GlassFish Events Dec 3-5, jDays, Göteborg, Sweden Dec 4-6, JavaOne Latin America, Sao Paolo, Brazil Dec 14-15, IndicThreads, Pune, India JCP Spec Lead Call December on Developing a TCK JCP EC Face to Face Meeting, January 15-16, West Coast USA Feature InterviewBruno Souza is a Java Developer and Open Source Evangelist at Summa Technologies, and a Cloud Expert at ToolsCloud. Nurturing developer communities is a personal passion, and Bruno worked actively with Java, NetBeans, Open Solaris, OFBiz, and many other open source communities. As founder and coordinator of SouJava (The Java Users Society), one of the world's largest Java User Groups, Bruno leaded the expansion of the Java movement in Brazil. Founder of the Worldwide Java User Groups Community, Bruno helped the creation and organization of hundreds of JUGs worldwide. A Java Developer since the early days, Bruno participated in some of the largest Java projects in Brazil.Fabiane Nardon is a computer scientist who is passionate about creating software that will positively change the world we live in. She was the architect of the Brazilian Healthcare Information System, considered the largest JavaEE application in the world and winner of the 2005 Duke's Choice Award. She leaded several communities, including the JavaTools Community at java.net, where 800+ open source projects were born. She is a frequent speaker at conferences in Brazil and abroad, including JavaOne, OSCON, Jfokus, JustJava and more. She’s also the author of several technical articles and member of the program committee of several conferences as JavaOne, OSCON, TDC. She was chosen a Java Champion by Sun Microsystems as a recognition of her contribution to the Java ecosystem. Currently, she works as a tools expert at ToolsCloud and in companies she co-founded, where she is helping to shape new disruptive Internet based services.StoryTroop is a space where we combine multiple perspectives about a story. This creates an understanding of that story like never seen before. Pieces of a story are organized in time and space and anyone can add a different perspective.What’s Cool Geek Bike Ride at JavaOne LAD Devoxx UK (Mar 26, 27) and FR (Mar 27 - 29) CFP jFokus schedule is firming up Nashorn Blog 1,500 @JavaSpotlight Twitter followers

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  • Find a Faster DNS Server with Namebench

    - by Mysticgeek
    One way to speed up your Internet browsing experience is using a faster DNS server. Today we take a look at Namebench, which will compare your current DNS server against others out there, and help you find a faster one. Namebench Download the file and run the executable (link below). Namebench starts up and will include the current DNS server you have configured on your system. In this example we’re behind a router and using the DNS server from the ISP. Include the global DNS providers and the best available regional DNS server, then start the Benchmark. The test starts to run and you’ll see the queries it’s running through. The benchmark takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. After it’s complete you’ll get a report of the results. Based on its findings, it will show you what DNS server is fastest for your system. It also displays different types of graphs so you can get a better feel for the different results. You can export the results to a .csv file as well so you can present the results in Excel. Conclusion This is a free project that is in continuing development, so results might not be perfect, and there may be more features added in the future. If you’re looking for a method to help find a faster DNS server for your system, Namebench is a cool free utility to help you out. If you’re looking for a public DNS server that is customizable and includes filters, you might want to check out our article on helping to protect your kids from questionable content using OpenDNS. You can also check out how to speed up your web browsing with Google Public DNS. Links Download NameBench for Windows, Mac, and Linux from Google Code Learn More About the Project on the Namebench Wiki Page Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Open a Second Console Session on Ubuntu ServerShare Ubuntu Home Directories using SambaSetup OpenSSH Server on Ubuntu LinuxDisable the Annoying “This device can perform faster” Balloon Message in Windows 7Search For Rows With Special Characters in SQL Server 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 How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error Gadfly is a cool Twitter/Silverlight app

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  • Follow the How-To Geek Writers on Twitter

    - by The Geek
    Ever wonder what the How-To Geek writers are up to? If you’re a Twitter user, you can connect with us directly. We’ve also setup a new @howtogeeknews account if you just want to keep up with the latest articles. So if you want just the latest articles… click the image below and then click the Follow button. Otherwise, if you’d like to connect with the rest of us that actually use Twitter, you can follow each of us separately through  the links below. Note: Let’s try to stick to discussion, and leave the tech support questions for our forum. the How-To Geek (that’s me!) -  @howtogeek Matthew Guay – @maguay Trevor Bekolay – @TrevorBekolay Asian Angel – @asian_angel  Andrew Gehman – @andrewgehman Some of the HTG writers are not currently using Twitter… but I’m gonna list their accounts just in case you wanted to follow them. Mark Virtue – @markvirtue Mysticgeek – @mysticgeek  (He’s far too productive to waste time on Twitter!) Enjoy the conversation! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Got Awesome Geek Skills? The How-To Geek is Looking for WritersGot Awesome Skills? Why Not Write for How-To Geek?Integrate Twitter With Microsoft OutlookState of the Geek 2009: Behind the Scenes and Other GeekeryAnnouncing the How-To Geek Blogs 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 Download Videos from Hulu Pixels invade Manhattan Convert PDF files to ePub to read on your iPad Hide Your Confidential Files Inside Images Get Wildlife Photography Tips at BBC’s PhotoMasterClasses Mashpedia is a Real-time Encyclopedia

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  • ACORD LOMA 2010: Building Insurance Companies in the Clouds

    - by [email protected]
    Chuck Johnston, vice president of global strategy and alliances for Oracle Insurance, participated in a featured speaking session at ACORD LOMA 2010. He provides an update on his discussions with insurers at the show and after his presentation. Every year I always make a point of walking the show floor at the ACORD LOMA technology conference to visit with colleagues and competitors, and try to get a feel for which way the industry will move over the next 12 months. Insurers are looking for substance in cloud (computing), trying to mix business with pleasure (monetizing social networks), and expect differentiation through commodity (Software as a Service). The disconnect at this show is that most vendors are still struggling with creating a clear path from Facebook to customer intimacy, SaaS to core cost savings and clouds to ubiquitous presence. Vendors need to find new ways to help insurers find the real value in these potentially disruptive technologies by understanding the changes coming to the insurance business and how these new technologies impact the new insurance business. Oracle's approach to understanding the evolving insurance industry comes from a discussion with our customers in our Insurance CIO Council, where one of our customers suggested we buy an insurance company to really understand our customers. We have decided to do the next best thing and build our own model of an insurance company, Alamere Insurance, that uses the latest technologies to transform its own business. Alamere will never issue an actual policy, but it does give us a framework to consider the impacts of changes in the insurance landscape and how Oracle technology meets the challenge or needs to evolve to help our customers be successful. In preparing for my talk at the conference using Alamere as my organizing theme, I found myself reading actuarial memoranda on CSO table changes and articles on underwriting theory that really made me think about my customer's problems first and foremost, and then how Oracle technology can provide answers. As much as I prefer techno-thrillers and sci-fi novels to actuarial papers for plane reading, I got very excited about the idea of putting myself back in the customer shoes I haven't worn in a decade, and really looking at how Oracle can power the Adaptive Insurance Enterprise. Talking to customers and industry people after the session, the idea of Alamere seemed to excite people and I got a lot of suggestions as to what lines of business we should model and where we should focus first on technology uptake. One customer said to a colleague that Oracle's attempt to "share their pain" was unique among vendors. More about Alamere, and the Adaptive Insurance Enterprise next time. Chuck Johnston is vice president of global strategy and alliances for Oracle Insurance.

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  • Don Knuth and MMIXAL vs. Chuck Moore and Forth -- Algorithms and Ideal Machines -- was there cross-pollination / influence in their ideas / work?

    - by AKE
    Question: To what extent is it known (or believed) that Chuck Moore and Don Knuth had influence on each other's thoughts on ideal machines, or their work on algorithms? I'm interested in citations, interviews, articles, links, or any other sort of evidence. It could also be evidence of the form of A and B here suggest that Moore might have borrowed or influenced C and D from Knuth here, or vice versa. (Opinions are of course welcome, but references / links would be better!) Context: Until fairly recently, I have been primarily familiar with Knuth's work on algorithms and computing models, mostly through TAOCP but also through his interviews and other writings. However, the more I have been using Forth, the more I am struck by both the power of a stack-based machine model, and the way in which the spareness of the model makes fundamental algorithmic improvements more readily apparent. A lot of what Knuth has done in fundamental analysis of algorithms has, it seems to me, a very similar flavour, and I can easily imagine that in a parallel universe, Knuth might perhaps have chosen Forth as his computing model. That's the software / algorithms / programming side of things. When it comes to "ideal computing machines", Knuth in the 70s came up with the MIX computer model, and then, collaborating with designers of state-of-the-art RISC chips through the 90s, updated this with the modern MMIX model and its attendant assembly language MMIXAL. Meanwhile, Moore, having been using and refining Forth as a language, but using it on top of whatever processor happened to be in the computer he was programming, began to imagine a world in which the efficiency and value of stack-based programming were reflected in hardware. So he went on in the 80s to develop his own stack-based hardware chips, defining the term MISC (Minimal Instruction Set Computers) along the way, and ending up eventually with the first Forth chip, the MuP21. Both are brilliant men with keen insight into the art of programming and algorithms, and both work at the intersection between algorithms, programs, and bare metal hardware (i.e. hardware without the clutter of operating systems). Which leads me to the headlined question... Question:To what extent is it known (or believed) that Chuck Moore and Don Knuth had influence on each other's thoughts on ideal machines, or their work on algorithms?

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  • Windows Azure Recipe: High Performance Computing

    - by Clint Edmonson
    One of the most attractive ways to use a cloud platform is for parallel processing. Commonly known as high-performance computing (HPC), this approach relies on executing code on many machines at the same time. On Windows Azure, this means running many role instances simultaneously, all working in parallel to solve some problem. Doing this requires some way to schedule applications, which means distributing their work across these instances. To allow this, Windows Azure provides the HPC Scheduler. This service can work with HPC applications built to use the industry-standard Message Passing Interface (MPI). Software that does finite element analysis, such as car crash simulations, is one example of this type of application, and there are many others. The HPC Scheduler can also be used with so-called embarrassingly parallel applications, such as Monte Carlo simulations. Whatever problem is addressed, the value this component provides is the same: It handles the complex problem of scheduling parallel computing work across many Windows Azure worker role instances. Drivers Elastic compute and storage resources Cost avoidance Solution Here’s a sketch of a solution using our Windows Azure HPC SDK: Ingredients Web Role – this hosts a HPC scheduler web portal to allow web based job submission and management. It also exposes an HTTP web service API to allow other tools (including Visual Studio) to post jobs as well. Worker Role – typically multiple worker roles are enlisted, including at least one head node that schedules jobs to be run among the remaining compute nodes. Database – stores state information about the job queue and resource configuration for the solution. Blobs, Tables, Queues, Caching (optional) – many parallel algorithms persist intermediate and/or permanent data as a result of their processing. These fast, highly reliable, parallelizable storage options are all available to all the jobs being processed. Training Here is a link to online Windows Azure training labs where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure HPC Scheduler (3 labs)  The Windows Azure HPC Scheduler includes modules and features that enable you to launch and manage high-performance computing (HPC) applications and other parallel workloads within a Windows Azure service. The scheduler supports parallel computational tasks such as parametric sweeps, Message Passing Interface (MPI) processes, and service-oriented architecture (SOA) requests across your computing resources in Windows Azure. With the Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK, developers can create Windows Azure deployments that support scalable, compute-intensive, parallel applications. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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  • Viewing at Impossible Angles

    - by kemer
    The picture of the little screwdriver with the Allen wrench head to the right is bound to invoke a little nostalgia for those readers who were Sun customers in the late 80s. This tool was a very popular give-away: it was essential for installing and removing Multibus (you youngsters will have to look that up on Wikipedia…) cards in our systems. Back then our mid-sized systems were gargantuan: it was routine for us to schlep around a 200 lb. desk side box and 90 lb. monitor to demo a piece of software your smart phone will run better today. We were very close to the hardware, and the first thing a new field sales systems engineer had to learn was how put together a system. If you were lucky, a grizzled service engineer might run you through the process once, then threaten your health and existence should you ever screw it up so that he had to fix it. Nowadays we make it much easier to learn the ins and outs of our hardware with simulations–3D animations–that take you through the process of putting together or replacing pieces of a system. Most recently, we have posted three sophisticated PDFs that take advantage of Acrobat 9 features to provide a really intelligent approach to documenting hardware installation and repair: Sun Fire X4800/X4800 M2 Animations for Chassis Components Sun Fire X4800/X4800 M2 Animations for Sub Assembly Module (SAM) Sun Fire X4800/X4800 M2 Animations for CMOD Download one of these documents and take a close look at it. You can view the hardware from any angle, including impossible ones. Each document has a number of procedures, that break down into steps. Click on a procedure, then a step and you will see it animated in the drawing. Of course hardware design has generally eliminated the need for things like our old giveaway tools: components snap and lock in. Often you can replace redundant units while the system is hot, but for heaven’s sake, you’ll want to verify that you can do that before you try it! Meanwhile, we can all look forward to a growing portfolio of these intelligent documents. We would love to hear what you think about them. –Kemer

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  • Finance: Friends, not foes!

    - by red@work
    After reading Phil's blog post about his experiences of working on reception, I thought I would let everyone in on one of the other customer facing roles at Red Gate... When you think of a Credit Control team, most might imagine money-hungry (and often impolite) people, who will do nothing short of hunting people down until they pay up. Well, as with so many things, not at Red Gate! Here we do things a little bit differently.   Since joining the Licensing, Invoicing and Credit Control team at Red Gate (affectionately nicknamed LICC!), I have found it fantastic to work with people who know that often the best way to get what you want is by being friendly, reasonable and as helpful as possible. The best bit about this is that, because everyone is in a good mood, we have a great working atmosphere! We are definitely a very happy team. We laugh a lot, even when dealing with the serious matter of playing table football after lunch. The most obvious part of my job is bringing in money. There are few things quite as satisfying as receiving a big payment or one that you've been chasing for a long time. That being said, it's just as nice to encounter the companies that surprise you with a payment bang on time after little or no chasing. It's always a pleasure to find these people who are generous and easy to work with, and so they always make me smile, too. As I'm in one of the few customer facing roles here, I get to experience firsthand just how much Red Gate customers love our software and are equally impressed with our customer service. We regularly get replies from people thanking us for our help in resolving a problem or just to simply say that they think we're great. Or, as is often the case, that we 'rock and are awesome'! When those are the kinds of emails you have to deal with for most of the day, I would challenge anyone to be unhappy! The best thing about my work is that, much like Phil and his counterparts on reception, I get to talk to people from all over the world, and experience their unique (and occasionally unusual) personality traits. I deal predominantly with customers in the US, so I'll be speaking to someone from a high flying multi-national in New York one minute, and then the next phone call will be to a small office on the outskirts of Alabama. This level of customer involvement has led to a lot of interesting anecdotes and plenty of in-jokes to keep us amused! Obviously there are customers who are infuriating, like those who simply tell us that they will pay "one day", and that we should stop chasing them. Then there are the people who say that they ordered the tools because they really like them, but they just can't afford to actually pay for them at the moment. Thankfully these situations are relatively few and far between, and for every one customer that makes you want to scream, there are far, far more that make you smile!

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  • Keep taking the tablets

    - by Roger Hart
    A guest editorial for the SimpleTalk newsletter. So why would Red Gate build an Ipad Game? Is it just because tablet devices are exciting and cool? Ok, maybe a little. Mostly, it was seeing that the best existing tablet and smartphone apps do simple, intuitive things, using simple intuitive interfaces to solve single problems. That's pretty close to what we call our own "intuitively simple" approach to software. Tablets and mobile could be fantastic for us, if we can identify those problems that a tablet device can solve. How do you create THE next tool for a completely new technology? We're glad we don't face that problem every day, but it's pretty exciting when we do. We figure we should learn by doing. We created "MobileFoo" (a Red Gate Company) , we picked up some shiny Apple tech, and got to grips with Objective C, and life in the App Store ecosystem. The result so far is an iPad game: Stacks and Heaps It's Rob and Marine's spin on Snakes and Ladders. Instead of snakes we have unhandled exceptions, a blue screen of death, and other hazards. We wanted something compellingly geeky on mobile, and we're pretty sure we've got it. It's trudging through App Store approval as we speak. but if you want to get an idea of what it is like to switch from .net to Objective C, take a look at Rob's post Android and iOS is quite a culture-change for Windows developers. So to give them a feel for the problems real users might have, we needed some real users - we offered our colleagues subsidised tablets. The only conditions were that they get used at work, and we get the feedback. Seeing tablets around the office is starting to give us some data points: Is typing the bottleneck? Will tablets ever cut it as text-entry devices, and could we fix it? Is mobile working held up by the pain of connecting to work LANs? How about security? Multi-tasking will let tablets do more. They're small, easy to use, almost instant to switch on, and connect by Wi Fi. There's plenty on that list to make a sysadmin twitchy. We'll find out as people spend more time working with these devices, and we'd love to hear what you think about tablet devices too. (comments are filtered, what with the spam)

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  • Unrated Easy iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone 5/4S/4/3GS Untehtered System

    - by user171772
    Popular jailbreak tool Unlock-Jailbreak.net – compiled by the iPhone Team – has just been updated with full support for Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone 5/4S/4/3GS iOS 6.1.4 and 6.1.3/6.0.1 Untethered. You may have caught our tutorial, which detailed how one could jailbreak their device tethered using Redsn0w, although since it was a pre-iOS 6.1.1 release, users needed to "point" the tool to the older firmware. Team Unlock-Jailbreak was established few years ago, combines some of the jailbreak and unlock community’s most talented developers all known for producing reliable jailbreaks in the past. This team was assembled in order to develop a reliable untethered jailbreak and unlock iphone 5,4S,4 iOS 6.1 for post-A5 devices, including the iPhone 5, the iPad mini and the latest-generation iPad. This has now been achieved with the just-released userland jailbreak tool, known as Unlock-Jailbreak.net. To Jailbreak and Unlock your iPhone 5/4/4S/3GS iOS 6.1.4 and 6.1.3 visit the official website http://www.Unlock-Jailbreak.net http://www.Unlock-Jailbreak.net was formed in mid 2008 and have successfully jailbroken over 250,000 iPhones worldwide. This is unparalleled by any other service in the industry. They have achieved this by combining a very simple solution with a fantastic customer service department that is available 24/7 through many forms of contact, including telephone. Unlock-Jailbreak from Unlock-Jailbreak.nethas been downloaded by over 250,000 customers located in over 145 countries. To further ensure customers of its products usability, Unlock-Jailbreak offers a 100% full money back guarantee on all orders. Customers dissatisfied with the company’s product will be given a full refund, no questions asked. One good advantage of the software is that the jailbreaking and unlocking process is coampletely reversible and there will be no evidence that the iPhone has been jailbroken and unlocked . iOS 6.1/6.1.4 and 6.1.3 comes with many new features and updates for multitasking and storage. By unlocking and jailbreaking the iPhone,Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone 5/4S/4/3GS iOS 6.1/6.1.4 and 6.1.3/6.0.1 Untethered unleash unlimited possibilities to improve this already fantastic experience and the iPhone FULL potential. Before going through any jailbreak process with Unlock-Jailbreak it is always good housekeeping to perform a full backup of all information on the device. It is unlikely that anything will go wrong during the process but when undertaking any process that modifies the internals of a file system it is always prudent to err on the side of caution.

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  • New Wine in New Bottles

    - by Tony Davis
    How many people, when their car shows signs of wear and tear, would consider upgrading the engine and keeping the shell? Even if you're cash-strapped, you'll soon work out the subtlety of the economics, the cost of sudden breakdowns, the precious time lost coping with the hassle, and the low 'book value'. You'll generally buy a new car. The same philosophy should apply to database systems. Mainstream support for SQL Server 2005 ends on April 12; many DBAS, if they haven't done so already, will be considering the migration to SQL Server 2008 R2. Hopefully, that upgrade plan will include a fresh install of the operating system on brand new hardware. SQL Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are designed to work together. The improved architecture, processing power, and hyper-threading capabilities of modern processors will dramatically improve the performance of many SQL Server workloads, and allow consolidation opportunities. Of course, there will be many DBAs smiling ruefully at the suggestion of such indulgence. This is nothing like the real world, this halcyon place where hardware and software budgets are limitless, development and testing resources are plentiful, and third party vendors immediately certify their applications for the latest-and-greatest platform! As with cars, or any other technology, the justification for a complete upgrade is complex. With Servers, the extra cost at time of upgrade will generally pay you back in terms of the increased performance of your business applications, reduced maintenance costs, training costs and downtime. Also, if you plan and design carefully, it's possible to offset hardware costs with reduced SQL Server licence costs. In his forthcoming SQL Server Hardware book, Glenn Berry describes a recent case where he was able to replace 4 single-socket database servers with one two-socket server, saving about $90K in hardware costs and $350K in SQL Server license costs. Of course, there are exceptions. If you do have a stable, reliable, secure SQL Server 6.5 system that still admirably meets the needs of a specific business requirement, and has no security vulnerabilities, then by all means leave it alone. Why upgrade just for the sake of it? However, as soon as a system shows sign of being unfit for purpose, or is moving out of mainstream support, the ruthless DBA will make the strongest possible case for a belts-and-braces upgrade. We'd love to hear what you think. What does your typical upgrade path look like? What are the major obstacles? Cheers, Tony.

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  • links for 2011-02-18

    - by Bob Rhubart
    VirtualBox: Pre-Built Developer VMs "Learning your way around a new software stack is challenging enough without having to spend multiple cycles on the install process. Instead, we have packaged such stacks into pre-built Oracle VM VirtualBox appliances that you can download, install, and experience as a single unit." (tags: oracle virtualization virtualbox) Java Space on Parleys (The Java Source) "'Oracle partnered with Stephan Janssen, founder of Parleys to make this happen. Parleys website offers a user friendly experience to view online content. You can download some of the talks to your desktop or watch them on the go on mobile devices." (tags: oracle java parleys) Why ADF Developers Should Attend ODTUG This Year (Shay Shmeltzer's Weblog) Shay says: "A new track called the "Fusion Middleware" track has been formed and it has lots of sessions for any level of ADF developer. The track is run by several Oracle ACEs who are also involved in the ADF Enterprise Methodology Group." (tags: oracle otn odtug fusionmiddleware) Wrapping up an Exciting Mobile World Congress (The Java Source) "One of the more popular topics in our booth was the use of Java in the Smart Grid. In our booth we were showing off some of the work of the Hydra Consortium whose goal it is to leverage the emerging smart grid infrastructure to securely enable the delivery of personal health data..." (tags: oracle java smartgrid) How to Audit and Monitor BI Publisher Reports Access? (Oracle BI Publisher Blog) "Do you know who is accessing to which report at what time at your reporting environment ? As you delivered the BI Publisher reports to the production environment and your users start using them as part of their daily business operations you might wonder such questions." (tags: oracle otn businessintelligence) Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.0.4 Released! (Oracle's Virtualization Blog) Fat Bloke says: "Oracle made a maintenance update release of Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.0.4 today. You can Download it now, or read about the changes in the ChangeLog." (tags: oracle otn virtualization virtualbox) Obama says Cloud and Data Center Consolidation Will Help Curb IT Costs | WHIR Web Hosting Industry News "In the report, he estimated that the federal government could reallocate some $20 billion of IT spending to cloud computing technologies and reduce 'data center infrastructure expenditure by approximately 30 percent' through cloud computing." (tags: cloud obama datacenter) Chris Muir: ADF BC: Creating an "EXISTS" View Criteria Oracle ACE Director Chris Muir shares some ADF tips. (tags: oracle otn oracleace adf) Translation and Multiple Languages with Oracle UCM | Bex Huff Bex says: "Last year, I gave a presentation at Oracle Open World about Creating and Maintaining an Internationalized Web Site. Well, I'm happy to announce that one of the several add-ons to UCM is now available for purchase!" (tags: oracle otn enterprise2.0 ecm oracleace) ORACLENERD: Design Documentation Oracle ACE Chet "ORACLENERD" Justice makes a pledge. (tags: oracle otn oracleace database)

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  • I'm creating my own scalable, rapid prototyping web server. How should I design it?

    - by Mike Willliams
    I'm going to create my own web server that focuses on scalability, rapid prototyping and the use of JavaScript as the server's scripting language, much like node.js. It will use a Model-View-Controller design pattern so a web application can support more concurrent users just by adding hardware -- and not having to redesign the software. Basically, I'm aiming to produce a framework that allows for fast and easy development of cloud applications without the need to write lots of boiler plate code. I've got some questions about this... How hard will it be to put MySQL in the cloud? How could I go about implementing this and make the resulting product free? Will I have to write my own engine or modify an existing one, if I do what should I watch out for? To make this scalable I need to adjust from one server to hundreds of servers this creates the requirement for the servers to be load balancing, how should I do this? If I balance based on the work load per server I would need gateway to handle all the incoming requests. Is it the right idea to have all the servers check into the gateway and update there status. By having the servers run through a gateway if the gateway dies all the incoming requests are ignored. I'm thinking that having all the servers maintain a list of each other, or at least a few I could rebuild the list of servers and establish a new gateway. Is it worth it? Or should I have a backup gateway that could switch out? Should I let the user choose? How should I pick which server handles the database and which handles the page serving? Should I spread the database so that queries are preformed on multiple servers? Which would theoretically improve performance. The servers would need to mirror the database at least once so that if a server goes down the database isn't corrupted. So this brings up writing another question, should I broadcast SQL queries so that all the servers can take a bit of the work load? If I do it that way wouldn't a query clog up the network so that other queries couldn't be preformed? What are my alternatives? Finally, is there a free solution already out there that might need a little modification that suits my needs?

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  • Most Unprofessional Workplace

    - by TehGrumpyCoder
    I've worked lots of places in lots of roles: Delivery truck driver, Boilermaker, antenna rigger, Professional Musician, Electronic Technician, Electrical Engineer, and for most of my career: Software Turkey. I want to say this large company is the most unprofessional place I've ever worked, but then I think about other jobs such as TTI that stiffed us all for 10 months salary -- or had us work 2-1/2 years at 66% however you want to look at it, or maybe NeoPlanet with a cast from a bad sitcom running the show, I could go on, but I digress (as usual). So maybe this place isn't the *most* unprofessional, but the personnel rank up there. I'm in a small room off a factory. There are 3 managerial offices, and 36 common-folk of various skill-sets in a variety of single to quad cubicles. No matter where you sit though, because of the layout and location, you've got a hard wall as one wall of your cubicle. Because of that hard wall, everything echoes. I get off the phone, and the guy in the next cubicle makes a comment in response to my phone conversation... I hate that it can be heard and I hate that they do that! These people have no problem yelling from cube to cube to carry on running conversations some of which are actually work-related. There's a lady two cubes away that talks so loud I can clearly hear every phone conversation she has... all work-related but still... Then the one in the next cubicle must have been raised on a farm because there's only one volume setting: LOUD... "HEY MARGE, CAN I GET IN FOR A QUICK APPOINTMENT AFTER WORK TONIGHT?" ... sigh Also that cube is the 'party cube' so that's where all the candy, cake, donuts, and leftovers sits. Anything MzLoud brings in has to have a verbal recipe associated with it at least 10 times during the day, and of course at volume. I've had running conversations over the top of my cube from people in the next one on each side. The weird thing is... the boss sits with an open door closer to this whole fiasco than me. So I wear a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and crank up Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Wes Montgomery, or Jimmy Smith to the point I can't hear the racket... what the heck, I already have a hearing loss from playing guitar.

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  • A Slice of Raspberry Pi

    - by Phil Factor
    Guest editorial for the ITPro/SysAdmin newsletter The Raspberry Pi Foundation has done a superb design job on their new $35 network-enabled Linux computer. This tiny machine, incorporating an ARM processor on a Broadcom BCM2835 multimedia chip, aims to put the fun back into learning computing. The public response has been overwhelmingly positive.Note that aim: "…to put the fun back". Education in Information Technology is in dire straits. It always has been, but seems to have deteriorated further still, even in the face of improved provision of equipment.In many countries, the government controls the curriculum. It predicted a shortage in office-based IT skills, and so geared the ICT curriculum toward mind-numbing training in word-processing and spreadsheet skills. Instead, the shortage has turned out to be in people with an engineering-mindset, who can solve problems with whatever technologies are available and learn new techniques quickly, in a rapidly-changing field.In retrospect, the assumption that specific training was required rather than an education was an idiotic response to the arrival of mainstream information technology. As a result, ICT became a disaster area, which discouraged a generation of youngsters from a career in IT, and thereby led directly to the shortage of people with the skills that are required to exploit the potential of Information Technology..Raspberry Pi aims to reverse the trend. This is a rig that is geared to fast graphics in high resolution. It is no toy. It should be a superb games machine. However, the use of Fedora, Debian, or Arch Linux ARM shows the more serious educational intent behind the Foundation's work. It looks like it will even do some office work too!So, get hold of any power supply that provides a 5VDC source at the required 700mA; an old Blackberry charger will do or, alternatively, it will run off four AA cells. You'll need a USB hub to support the mouse and keyboard, and maybe a hard drive. You'll want a DVI monitor (with audio out) or TV (sound and video). You'll also need to be able to cope with wired Ethernet 10/100, if you want networking.With this lot assembled, stick the paraphernalia on the back of the HDTV with Blu Tack, get a nice keyboard, and you have a classy Linux-based home computer. The major cost is in the T.V and the keyboard. If you're not already writing software for this platform, then maybe, at a time when some countries are talking of orders in the millions, you should consider it.

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  • Convert Chrome Bookmark Toolbar Folders to Icons

    - by Asian Angel
    So you have your regular bookmarks reduced to icons but what about the folders? With our little hack and a few minutes of your time you can turn those folders into icons too. Condensing the Folders Reducing bookmark folders to icons is a little more tricky than regular bookmarks but not hard to do. Right click on the folder and select “Rename…”. The folder’s name should already be highlighted/selected as shown here. Delete the text…notice that the “OK Button” has become unusable for the moment. Now what you will need to do is: Hold down the “Alt Key” Type in “0160” (without the quotes) using the numbers keypad on the right side of your keyboard Release the “Alt Key” after you have finished typing in the number above Once you have released the “Alt Key” you will notice two things…the “cursor” has moved further into the text area and you can now click on the “OK Button” again. There is our folder after editing. And it works just as well as before but without taking up so much room. Here is how our “iconized” folder looks next to our bookmarks. Perfect! What if you want to reduce multiple folders to icons? Perform the same exact steps shown above for each folder and pack your “Bookmarks Toolbar” full of folder goodness! As seen here the folders will have a little more space between them in comparison with singular bookmarks due to the “blank name” for each folder. For those who may be curious this is what your bookmarks will look like in the “Bookmark Manager Page”. Note: If you export your bookmarks all bookmarks contained in multiple blank name folders will be combined into a single folder. Conclusion With just a little bit of work you can pack a lot of goodness into your “Bookmarks Toolbar”. No more wasted space… Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Condense the Bookmarks in the Firefox Bookmarks ToolbarAccess Your Bookmarks with a Toolbar Button in Google ChromeAdd the Bookmarks Menu to Your Bookmarks Toolbar with Bookmarks UI ConsolidatorAdd a Vertical Bookmarks Toolbar to FirefoxReduce Your Bookmarks Toolbar to a Toolbar Button 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 OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error

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  • How to Share Files/Folders Between Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Fedora Linux

    - by Akshay Deep Lamba
    Getting started:   To get started, logon to Windows XP and click Start –> then right click ‘My Computer’ and select ‘Properties’.       Then select ‘Computer Name’ tab and click ‘Change’       Enter the Computer and Workgroup name and click OK. Make sure all systems use the same Workgroup name. You will have to restart your computer for the change to take effect.       After restarting, click Start –> Control Panel.       Select Security Center –> Windows Firewall.       When Windows Firewall opens, select ‘Exceptions’ tab and check the box to enable File and Printer Sharing. Close out when done.         Next, logon to Fedora and go to System –> Administration –> Add/Remove Software.       Then search for and install system-config-samba. Install all additional packages when prompted. Ensure that the Network Settings along with Correct Gateway is Mentioned so that your System can Access the Internet. system-config-samba     After installing, go to System –> Administration –> Samba.       Then select Preferences –> Server Settings.         Enter the Workgroup name here and click OK.       Select Preferences –> Samba Users.       Edit or Add User to samba database and click OK.       To create shares, click File –> Create Add Shares, then select the folder you wish to share and check: Writable Visible       Then select ‘Access’ tab and give users access to the shares, then click OK to save.       Next, go to System –> Administration –> Firewall.       Select ‘Samba’ under ‘Trusted Services’ and enable Samba.       Next, select ‘ICMP’ and enable ‘Echo Reply (pong) and Echo Request (ping)’      Also add the eth0 interface to the trusted interfaces.     After that go to Applications –> System Tools –> Terminal and run the command below:   su -c 'chkconfig smb on'     Restart your computer and if everything is setup correctly, you should be able to view shares from either system.           At the terminal: Quote: su setenforce 0 service smb restart service nmb restart exit   ENJOYYY....

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  • Getting developers and support to work together

    - by Matt Watson
    Agile development has ushered in the norm of rapid iterations and change within products. One of the biggest challenges for agile development is educating the rest of the company. At my last company our biggest challenge was trying to continually train 100 employees in our customer support and training departments. It's easy to write release notes and email them to everyone. But for complex software products, release notes are not usually enough detail. You really have to educate your employees on the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN of every item. If you don't do this, you end up with customer service people who know less about your product than your users do. Ever call a company and feel like you know more about their product than their customer service people do? Yeah. I'm talking about that problem.WHO does the change effect?WHAT was the actual change?WHERE do I find the change in the product?WHY was the change made? (It's hard to support something if you don't know why it was done.)WHEN will the change be released?One thing I want to stress is the importance of the WHY something was done. For customer support people to be really good at their job, they need to understand the product and how people use it. Knowing how to enable a feature is one thing. Knowing why someone would want to enable it, is a whole different thing and the difference in good customer service. Another challenge is getting support people to better test and document potential bugs before escalating them to development. Trying to fix bugs without examples is always fun... NOT. They might as well say "The sky is falling, please fix it!"We need to over train the support staff about product changes and continually stress how they document and test potential product bugs. You also have to train the sales staff and the marketing team. Then there is updating sales materials, your website, product documentation and other items there are always out of date. Every product release causes this vicious circle of trying to educate the rest of the company about the changes.Do we need to record a simple video explaining the changes and email it to everyone? Maybe we should  use a simple online training type app to help with this problem. Ultimately the struggle is taking the time to do the training, but it is time well spent. It may save you a lot of time answering questions and fixing bugs later. How do we efficiently transfer key product knowledge from developers and product owners to the rest of the company? How have you solved these issues at your company?

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