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  • Social Business Forum Milano: Day 1

    - by me
    div.c50 {font-family: Helvetica;} div.c49 {position: relative; height: 0px; overflow: hidden;} span.c48 {color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;} div.c47 {background-color: #ffffff; border-left: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); border-right: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); background-clip: padding-box;} div.c46 {color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal} span.c45 {line-height: 14px;} div.c44 {border-width: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline} div.c43 {border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;} p.c42 {color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif} span.c41 {line-height: 14px; font-size: 11px;} h2.c40 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif} p.c39 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif} span.c38 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 80%; font-weight: bold} div.c37 {color: #999999; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px} div.c36 {background-clip: padding-box; background-color: #ffffff; border-bottom: 1px solid #e8e8e8; border-left: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); border-right: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); cursor: pointer; margin-left: 58px; min-height: 51px; padding: 9px 12px; position: relative; z-index: auto} div.c35 {background-clip: padding-box; background-color: #ffffff; border-bottom: 1px solid #e8e8e8; border-left: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); border-right: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); cursor: pointer; margin-left: 58px; min-height: 51px; padding: 9px 12px; position: relative} div.c34 {overflow: hidden; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 1px;} ul.c33 {padding: 0px; margin: 0px; list-style-type: none; opacity: 0;} li.c32 {display: inline;} a.c31 {color: #298500; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 8px;} a.c30 {color: #999999; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; float: left; margin-right: 2px;} strong.c29 {font-weight: normal; color: #298500;} span.c28 {color: #999999;} div.c27 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word} span.c26 {border-width: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; border-radius: 5px 5px 5px 5px; position: absolute; top: 12px; left: 12px;} small.c25 {font-size: 12px; color: #bbbbbb; position: absolute; top: 9px; right: 12px; float: right; margin-top: 1px;} a.c24 {color: #999999; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 12px;} h3.c23 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif} span.c22 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif} div.c21 {display: inline ! important; font-weight: normal} span.c20 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 80%} a.c19 {font-weight: normal;} span.c18 {font-weight: normal;} div.c17 {font-weight: normal;} div.c16 {margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;} a.c15 {color: #298500; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px;} strong.c14 {font-weight: normal; color: inherit;} span.c13 {color: #7eb566; text-decoration: none} span.c12 {color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px} a.c11 {color: #999999; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px;} span.c10 {font-size: 12px; color: #999999; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;} strong.c9 {font-weight: normal;} span.c8 {color: #bbbbbb; text-decoration: none} strong.c7 {font-weight: bold; color: #333333;} div.c6 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal} div.c5 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 80%; font-weight: normal} p.c4 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 80%; font-weight: normal} h3.c3 {font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold} span.c2 {font-size: 80%} span.c1 {font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;} Here are my impressions of the first day of the Social Business Forum in Milano A dialogue on Social Business Manifesto - Emanuele Scotti, Rosario Sica The presentation was focusing on Thesis and Anti-Thesis around Social Business My favorite one is: Peter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser social business manifesto theses #2: organizations are conversations - hello Oracle Social Network #sbf12 Here are the Thesis (auto-translated from italian to english) From Stress to Success - Pragmatic pathways for Social Business - John Hagel John Hagel talked about challenges of deploying new social technologies. Below are some key points participant tweeted during the session. 6hRhiannon Hughes ?@Rhi_Hughes Favourite quote this morning 'We need to strengthen the champions & neutralise the enemies' John Hagel. Not a hard task at all #sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 8hElena Torresani ?@ElenaTorresani Minimize the power of the enemies of change. Maximize the power of the champions - John Hagel #sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 8hGaetano Mazzanti ?@mgaewsj John Hagel change: minimize the power of the enemies #sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 8hGaetano Mazzanti ?@mgaewsj John Hagel social software as band-aid for poor leadtime/waste management? mmm #sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 8hElena Torresani ?@ElenaTorresani "information is power. We need access to information to get power"John Hagel, Deloitte &Touche #sbf12http://instagr.am/p/LcjgFqMXrf/ View photo Reply Retweet Favorite 8hItalo Marconi ?@italomarconi Information is power and Knowledge is subversive. John Hagel#sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 8hdanielce ?@danielce #sbf12 john Hagel: innovation is not rational. from Milano, Milano Reply Retweet Favorite 8hGaetano Mazzanti ?@mgaewsj John Hagel: change is a political (not rational) process #sbf12 Expand Reply Retweet Favorite Enterprise gamification to drive engagement - Ray Wang Ray Wang did an excellent speech around engagement strategies and gamification More details can be found on the Harvard Business Review blog Panel Discussion: Does technology matter? Understanding how software enables or prevents participation Christian Finn, Ram Menon, Mike Gotta, moderated by Paolo Calderari Below are the highlights of the panel discussions as live tweets: 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @cfinn Q: social silos: mega trend social suites - do we create social silos + apps silos + org silos ... #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @cfinn A: Social will be less siloed - more integrated into application design. Analyatics is key to make intelligent decisions #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta - A: its more social be design then social by layer - Better work experience using social design. #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Ram Menon: A: Social + Mobile + consumeration is coming together#sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Q: What is the evolution for social business solution in the next 4-5 years? #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @cfinn Adoption: A: User experience is king - no training needed - We let you participate into a conversation via mobile and email#sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta A:Adoption - how can we measure quality? Literacy - Are people get confident to talk to a invisible audience ? #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Ram Meno: A:Adoption - What should I measure ? Depend on business goal you want to active? #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Q: How can technology facilitate adoption #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser #sbf12 @cfinn @mgotta Ram Menon at panel discussion about social technology @oraclewebcenter http://pic.twitter.com/Pquz73jO View photo Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Ram Menon: 100% of data is in a system somewhere. 100% of collective intelligence is with people. Social System bridge both worlds Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser #sbf12 @MikeGotta Adoption is specific to the culture of the company Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @cfinn - drive adoption is important @MikeGotta - activity stream + watch list is most important feature in a social system #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta Why just adoption? email as 100% adoption? #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 2hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta Ram Menon respond: there is only 1 questions to ask: What is the adoption? #sbf12 @socialadoption you like this ? #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 3hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta - just replacing old technology (e.g. email) with new technology does not help. we need to change model/attitude #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 3hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Ram Menon: CEO mandated to replace 6500 email aliases with Social Networking Software #sbf12 Expand Reply Delete Favorite 3hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @MikeGotta A: How to bring interface together #sbf12 . Going from point tools to platform, UI, Architecture + Eco-system is important Expand Reply Delete Favorite 3hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser Q: How is technology important in Social Business #sbf12 A:@cfinn - technology is enabler , user experience -easy of use is important Expand Reply Delete Favorite 3hPeter H. Reiser ?@peterreiser @cfinn particiapte in panel "Does technology matter? Understanding how software enables or prevents participation" #sbf #webcenter

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  • Choice of open source license for some components, closed source for others

    - by Peter Serwylo
    G'day, I am working on a set of multiplayer games, where different games play against each other (e.g. you play a Tetris clone, I play an Asteroids clone, but we are both competing against each other). All the games would be based on the same underlying framework written specifically for this project. I am struggling to comprehend how I would license this so that: The underlying framework is open source, so other people can create new games based on it. Some games built on the framework are open source Other games are closed source The goal is to have two bundles on something like the Android market: One free and open source package which has a collection of games Another "premium" (although I dislike that word) paid package which has a different collection of games. Usually I am fond of permissive licenses such as MIT/BSD, however I would prefer something more in the vein of the GPL for this. This is because for software such as the snes-9x SNES emulator, which is a great piece of software, there is a ton of poor quality versions being sold, whereas it would be preferable if there was just one authoritative version which was always kept up to date, and distributed for free. If the underlying framework was GPL'd, would I be able to build closed source games on top of it? Thanks for your input.

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  • Ubuntu can't find the correct max resolution with Samsung SyncMaster SA300

    - by fatmatto
    i decided to install ubuntu also on my desktop PC (Windows has been exorcised from my life) but i am having some problems i didn't have with previous hardware configurations. My display is a Samsung SyncMaster SA300, on windows vista the maximum resolution (1920x1080) worked well, but now, ubuntu (after installing fglrx drivers) tells me that the maximum resolution is 1600x1200 I googled a lot last night, and i found a lot of people solving this (on different displays though) with xrandr. I was not able to do it, because xrandr keep complaining "you goddamn maximum resolution is 1600x1600". What xranrd clean command say is: mattia@fatdesktop:~$ xrandr Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1600 DFP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) CRT1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) CRT2 connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm 1600x1200 60.0*+ 1400x1050 60.0 1280x1024 60.0 47.0 43.0 1440x900 59.9 1280x960 60.0 1280x800 60.0 1152x864 60.0 47.0 43.0 1280x768 59.9 56.0 1280x720 60.0 50.0 1024x768 60.0 43.5 800x600 60.3 56.2 47.0 720x576 50.0 720x480 60.0 640x480 60.0 TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) CV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) Then according to other internet posts and forums: mattia@fatdesktop:~$ cvt 1920 1080 60 # 1920x1080 59.96 Hz (CVT 2.07M9) hsync: 67.16 kHz; pclk: 173.00 MHz Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync So now i have to add that modeline mattia@fatdesktop:~$ xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync mattia@fatdesktop:~$ xrandr --addmode CRT2 1920x1080_60.00 And here comes the pain: mattia@fatdesktop:~$ xrandr --output CRT2 --mode 1920x1080_60.00 xrandr: **screen cannot be larger than 1600x1600 (desired size 1920x1080)** See? screen cannot be larger than 1600x1600 (desired size 1920x1080) At this point, the 1920x1080 option appears inside the resolution choice menu (the graphical one). But last night, when i tried to select it, my screen went black, and i had to power off the pc. Any clues? am i on the wrong path?

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  • Androidify Turns You into an Android-style Avatar

    - by ETC
    Androidify, a free application for Android phones, lets you create an Android-style avatar of yourself (or anyone, for that matter). Swap out the clothes, adjust the side of your noggin, add a pirate eye-patch, the customization options are abundant. Much like the Mii creator on the Wii, Androidify starts you off with the basics: skin color, hair style and color, adjustment of the body size. After that you can tweak things like clothing, accessories, facial hair and more. Once you’re done you can set it as your contact image, send it to others to use as your contact image, save as a photo, and other wise upload it with the social media tools you have on your phone. Hit up the link below to read more and grab a copy. Androidify [Android Market] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware Comix is an Awesome Comics Archive Viewer for Linux Get the MakeUseOf eBook Guide to Speeding Up Windows for Free Need Tech Support? Call the Star Wars Help Desk! [Video Classic] Reclaim Vertical UI Space by Adding a Toolbar to the Left or Right Side of Firefox Androidify Turns You into an Android-style Avatar Reader for Android Updates; Now with Feed Widgets and More

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  • Dutch Techdays 2011 in The Hague

    Microsoft organizes at April 27, 28 and 29 the Dutch Techdays in The Hague. Already for 14 years this is the biggest Microsoft event in The Netherlands where you get the chance to get up to speed with the latest technology with speakers all over the world. I have the pleasure to provide you with two sessions this year: At the DevDays Pre-conference four ALM experts from the Dutch region help you understand how to adopt and improve your agile practices for greater productivity and higher quality applications. The topics for the day are: Adopting SCRUM Improve the developer workflow Adopting Continous Integration Agile testing My second session, LAB Management in de Praktijk , is about one of the features in Visual Studio ALM a lot of people are not aware of, which is called Lab Management. In the Dutch edition of the .NET magazine, I already gave the first sneak peak into the product. In the session I will dive deeper in the product and show you how you can create your templates and your test environments. I also show you how you can execute the tests on these environments and how you can incorporate it in Team Build. As a speaker you have the advantage to attend other sessions as well. The sessions I really look forward to are: Entity Framework in de Praktijk (Pieter de Bruin) Introduction to Visual Studio Lightswitch (Beth Massi) Building Robust, Maintainable Coded UI Tests with Visual Studio 2010 (Brian Keller) CQRS op Windows Azure (Tijmen van de Kamp) Using SharePoint Search to Develop Custom Solutions (Mirjam van Olst) Application Performance on Windows Phone 7 (Caspar Ruhe) Have fun at the Techdays, and hopefully we have a chance to meet each other.

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  • Using net group to add users to a AD group

    - by numone
    Hi, I'm trying to add users to the an Active Directory group using net group. We use Domain Local groups for everything. When I go to run the command net group "group name" "username" /add /domain it returns "The group name could not be found. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2220." If I create a Global group and try to add them it works without issues. I would rather not re-do all of our groups just to be able to use this to add people to a group. Any thoughts/suggestions?

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  • Measuring accesses to files - apache

    - by George
    So, I run a website, that among other things serves some files (usually PDFs). All of these are stored under a specific directory on the server: /var/www/vhosts/mysite.com/httpdocs/site/pdf_files Due to storage issues on my VPS I am thinking of getting some S3 or other cloud storage, and mount it as a drive using S3QL/S3FS. Then I will be able to have the pdf_files folder symlinked to the cloud folder and serve those files using that, without any changes on the web app (is that a good plan?) Now, before doing that, to estimate costs, I need to measure how many file accesses people do, how many times those pdf files are downloaded each month for example. Basically how many times those pdf files are accessed through the webserver. I'd like to do it on the apache level. What's the best way that this can be done? e.g.: measuring the bandwidth used by files in that specific folder would also be nice, but estimating the GET requests I'll be doing to amazon is more important.

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  • How do you put price on your source code?

    - by deviDave
    I was asked to sell the source code of small utility app I did years ago with existing users of this app. I tried investigating how to put price on the source code and haven't come up with a good solution so far. I first tried searching the net, but information I found there are somehow far from reality. Then I found a few people how also sold their source code with users as well. But their price seems unrealistic (too high). For example, one person had an app which price was around $200 for 1 user and he had 80 users. He sold the source with users for $30k. How did he come up with this price? Is it a good price if I charge the code by formula: num_of_users x app_price + app_price x num_of_new_users_in_one_year ? This means that I count the price by selling each user for the price of the app then adding the amount of money I earn in 1 year from this app. If this is a good formula, what shall I do with sources who do not have users yet?

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  • How to use semantic markup and Google Places to assist in local search SEO?

    - by ElHaix
    In this article, adding additional localized markup is supposed to help your site's SEO. ie. <div itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Organization"> <span itemprop="name">Search Engine People</span> <span itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Address"> <span itemprop="street-address">100 Westney Road South Unit 200, Building E</span> <span itemprop="locality">Ajax</span>, <span itemprop="region">ON</span> <span itemprop="country-name">Canada</span> <span itemprop="postal-code">L1S 7H3</span> </div> What about a site that contains valid localized results, where the actual business location is not relevant. For example, a site with valid local results from San Francisco, CA and Phoenix, AZ. Should these tags be added to the localized results, and has anyone got any experience with how much adding these tags have improved results? In terms of Google Places, however, they seem to ask for the business' actual physical location. Is there a way to use Google Places in the aforementioned example to assist in SEO?

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  • How to view all connections through Router

    - by Anton8000
    So what I need to know is how find out who has been visiting what websites when through the router. It is similar to being able to History on browsers, but people can clear their history, or use Incognito mode. However, surely any data would be sent through the router so even if the person did clear their history or use incognito mode, you would be able to see what they had sent through the router, and what the internet had sent back. Is there any way to view all the connections that the router manages, and store all the data that it sends and receives and put them into, for example, a log file so I could view which computer had viewed what website at what time?

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  • Html5 Input Validation Presentation

    - by srkirkland
    Last week I gave a presentations to the 2011 UC Davis IT Security Symposium that covered input validation features in HTML5.  I mostly discussed the following three topics: New Html5 Input Types (like <input type=”email” />) Html5 Constraints (like <input type=”text” required maxlength=”8” />) Polyfills The slides only cover part of the story since there are a few “live demos.”  You can find all of the demo code on my github repository https://github.com/srkirkland/ITSecuritySymposium.  You’ll need ASP.NET Mvc 3 installed to run them. The slides are also available in my GitHub repository, but I’ve also added them to slideshare as well because that’s what the cool kids do: http://www.slideshare.net/srkirkland/data-validation-in-web-applications. I believe the presentation was well received and most people learned something, so I just wanted to share.  When loading up the Html5 demo just click on the Html5 tab and go through each example. Enjoy!   [Examples from the Slides and Demos]  

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  • Windows Vista/7: Managing multiple audio playback devices

    - by BrianLy
    I've got speakers (audio in) and headphones (USB headset with it's own soundcard) connected to my desktop computer. Under Windows 7, I can right-click the Audio Mixer and select Playback Devices and toggle between my these devices. Is there an easier way, perhaps a keyboard shortcut, that would make it easier to toggle? I'm working in an shared space were sometimes I want headphones to avoid annoying other people, but at other times speakers are OK. I want to be able to toggle quickly. In an ideal world, the solution to my question would work in Vista too.

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  • Dotfuscator Deep Dive with WP7

    - by Bil Simser
    I thought I would share some experience with code obfuscation (specifically the Dotfuscator product) and Windows Phone 7 apps. These days twitter is a buzz with black hat and white operations coming out about how the marketplace is insecure and Microsoft failed, blah, blah, blah. So it’s that much more important to protect your intellectual property. You should protect it no matter what when releasing apps into the wild but more so when someone is paying for them. You want to protect the time and effort that went into your code and have some comfort that the casual hacker isn’t going to usurp your next best thing. Enter code obfuscation. Code obfuscation is one tool that can help protect your IP. Basically it goes into your compiled assemblies, rewrites things at an IL level (like renaming methods and classes and hiding logic flow) and rewrites it back so that the assembly or executable is still fully functional but prying eyes using a tool like ILDASM or Reflector can’t see what’s going on.  You can read more about code obfuscation here on Wikipedia. A word to the wise. Code obfuscation isn’t 100% secure. More so on the WP7 platform where the OS expects certain things to be as they were meant to be. So don’t expect 100% obfuscation of every class and every method and every property. It’s just not going to happen. What this does do is give you some level of protection but don’t put all your eggs in one basket and call it done. Like I said, this is just one step in the process. There are a few tools out there that provide code obfuscation and support the Windows Phone 7 platform (see links to other tools at the end of this post). One such tool is Dotfuscator from PreEmptive solutions. The thing about Dotfuscator is that they’ve struck a deal with Microsoft to provide a *free* copy of their commercial product for Windows Phone 7. The only drawback is that it only runs until March 31, 2010. However it’s a good place to start and the focus of this article. Getting Started When you fire up Dotfuscator you’re presented with a dialog to start a new project or load a previous one. We’ll start with a new project. You’re then looking at a somewhat blank screen that shows an Input tab (among others) and you’re probably wondering what to do? Click on the folder icon (first one) and browse to where your xap file is. At this point you can save the project and click on the arrow to start the process. Bam! You’re done. Right? Think again. The program did indeed run and create a new version of your xap (doing it’s thing and rewriting back your *obfuscated* assemblies) but let’s take a look at the assembly in Reflector to see the end result. Remember a xap file is really just a glorified zip file (or cab file if you prefer). When you ran Dotfuscator for the first time with the default settings you’ll see it created a new version of your xap in a folder under “My Documents” called “Dotfuscated” (you can configure the output directory in settings). Here’s the new xap file. Since a xap is just a zip, rename it to .cab or .zip or something and open it with your favorite unarchive program (I use WinRar but it doesn’t matter as long as it can unzip files). If you already have the xap file associated with your unarchive tool the rename isn’t needed. Once renamed extract the contents of the xap to your hard drive: Now you’ll have a folder with the contents of the xap file extracted: Double click or load up your assembly (WindowsPhoneDataBoundApplication1.dll in the example) in Reflector and let’s see the results: Hmm. That doesn’t look right. I can see all the methods and the code is all there for my LoadData method I wanted to protect. Product failure. Let’s return it for a refund. Hold your horses. We need to check out the settings in the program first. Remember when we loaded up our xap file. It started us on the Input tab but there was a settings tab before that. Wonder what it does? Here’s the default settings: Renaming Taking a closer look, all of the settings in Feature are disabled. WTF? Yeah, it leaves me scratching my head why an obfuscator by default doesn’t obfuscate. However it’s a simple fix to change these settings. Let’s enable Renaming as it sounds like a good start. Renaming obscures code by renaming methods and fields to names that are not understandable. Great. Run the tool again and go through the process of unzipping the updated xap and let’s take a look in Reflector again at our project. This looks a lot better. Lots of methods named a, b, c, d, etc. That’ll help slow hackers down a bit. What about our logic that we spent days weeks on? Let’s take a look at the LoadData method: What gives? We have renaming enabled but all of our code is still there. If you look through all your methods you’ll find it’s still sitting there out in the open. Control Flow Back to the settings page again. Let’s enable Control Flow now. Control Flow obfuscation synthesizes branching, conditional, and iterative constructs (such as if, for, and while) that produce valid executable logic, but yield non-deterministic semantic results when decompilation is attempted. In other words, the code runs as before, but decompilers cannot reproduce the original code. Do the dance again and let’s see the results in Reflector. Ahh, that’s better. Methods renamed *and* nobody can look at our LoadData method now. Life is good. More than Minimum This is the bare minimum to obfuscate your xap to at least a somewhat comfortable level. However I did find that while this worked in my Hello World demo, it didn’t work on one of my real world apps. I had to do some extra tweaking with that. Below are the screens that I used on one app that worked. I’m not sure what it was about the app that the approach above didn’t work with (maybe the extra assembly?) but it works and I’m happy with it. YMMV. Remember to test your obfuscated app on your device first before submitting to ensure you haven’t obfuscated the obfuscator. settings tab: rename tab: string encryption tab: premark tab: A few final notes Play with the settings and keep bumping up the bar to try to get as much obfuscation as you can. The more the better but remember you can overdo it. Always (always, always, always) deploy your obfuscated xap to your device and test it before submitting to the marketplace. I didn’t and got rejected because I had gone overboard with the obfuscation so the app wouldn’t launch at all. Not everything is going to be obfuscated. Specifically I don’t see a way to obfuscate auto properties and a few other language features. Again, if you crank the settings up you might hide these but I haven’t spent a lot of time optimizing the process. Some people might say to obfuscate your xaml using string encryption but again, test, test, test. Xaml is picky so too much obfuscation (or any) might disable your app or produce odd rendering effets. Remember, obfuscation is not 100% secure! Don’t rely on it as a sole way of protecting your assets. Other Tools Dotfuscator is one just product and isn’t the end-all be-all to obfuscation so check out others below. For example, Crypto can make it so Reflector doesn’t even recognize the app as a .NET one and won’t open it. Others can encrypt resources and Xaml markup files. Here are some other obfuscators that support the Windows Phone 7 platform. Feel free to give them a try and let people know your experience with them! Dotfuscator Windows Phone Edition Crypto Obfuscator for .NET DeepSea Obfuscation

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  • ArchBeat Link-o-Rama for 2012-03-16

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Applications Architecture | Roy Hunter and Brian Rasmussen www.oracle.com Roy Hunter and Brian Rasmussen examine the strategies three organizations applied to modernize their application architectures. Part of the Oracle Experiences in Enterprise Architecture article series. Public Sector Architecture | Jeremy Foreman and Hamza Jahangir www.oracle.com Jeremy Foreman and Hamza Jahangir examine the strategies used by two different organizations in deploying their respective future-state architectures. Part of the Oracle Experiences in Enterprise Architecture article series. XMLA vs BAPI | Sunil S. Ranka sranka.wordpress.com Oracle ACE Sunil Ranka's brief primer on the XMLA and BAPI standards. The Java EE 6 Example - Running Galleria on WebLogic 12 - Part 3 | Markus Eisele blog.eisele.net Oracle ACE Director Markus Eisele continues his series on working with Galleria. Oracle Linux Online Forum - March 27 event.on24.com Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 Time: 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET Hosts: Oracle Executives Edward Screven and Wim Coekaerts. Customer Presentation: How Oracle Helps Reduce Cost and Improve Performance of Database Applications at Progressive Insurance Speaker: John Dome What's New in Oracle Linux Speakers: Waseem Daher, Chris Mason, Elena Zannoni, Lenz Grimmer Get More Value from your Linux Vendor Speakers: Sergio Leunissen, Chris Mason, Monica Kumar JavaOne 2012 Call for Papers www.oracle.com Don't keep all that Java skill locked up in your overstuffed cranium. Submit your proposal for that killer paper now to share your experience at this year’s JavaOne. Running applications in the cloud are not designed for the cloud | Tom Laszewski blogs.oracle.com "The issue you face with moving client/server applications to the cloud via rehosting is 'where will the applications run?'" says Tom Laszewski. GlassFish 3.1.2 - Which Platform(s)? | The Aquarium blogs.oracle.com The Aquarium shares a list of GlassFish 3.1.2-supported operating systems and JVMs. IT Strategies from Oracle; Three Recipes for Oracle Service Bus 11g ; Stir Up Some SOA www.oracle.com Featured this week on the OTN Architect Portal, along with the latest events, product downloads, community social resources, articles on hot topics, and a whole lot more. Thought for the Day "No matter what the problem is, it's always a people problem." — Gerald M. Weinberg

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  • Apache error_log repeated attempts to access forum.php

    - by bMon
    About every two seconds I am getting: [Sat Feb 19 19:00:01 2011] [error] [client 69.239.204.217] script '/var/www /html/forum.php' not found or unable to stat [Sat Feb 19 19:00:04 2011] [error] [client 69.239.204.217] File does not exist: /var/www/html/404.shtml ..in my /var/log/httpd/error_log file. Sometimes the request will be for forum_asp.php. I'm assuming its a bot trying to access insecure forum files, but I'm not so sure since it appears each is a unique IP and not just a few rouge IPs hitting it consecutively. And whois results of the ip's aren't all the classic ISP in Russia or China, they are more end user address (comcast, etc). Any insight into whats going on here would be appreciated. Also, any techniques people use to do a "live monitor" of web traffic would be appreciated. Right now I'm doing a: tail -f error_log Thanks.

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  • redirect traffic to www.example.com through DNS from example.com

    - by ChrisMuench
    Hello, I have a bit of a unique problem. for the domain (example.com) I want people to go to www.example.com however I'm also throwing GSLB into the mix. for GSLB the devices(one in each datacenter) need to be the nameserver for portion of the domain that they are going to answer for(www.example.com) so I know I can make the NS record of www.example.com just fine and have it point to each GSLB device. However that only helps for www.example.com NOT example.com. I don't want to make my root NS of example.com my GSLB as my enterprise managed DNS provider does an excellent job of all DNS stuff. any ideas?

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  • Podcast Show Notes: Toronto Architect Day Panel Discussion

    - by Bob Rhubart
    The latest Oracle Technology Network ArchBeat Podcast features a four-part series recorded live during the panel discussion at OTN Architect Day in Tornonto, April 21, 2011. More than 100 people attended the event, and the audience tossed a lot of great questions at a terrific panel. Listen for yourself... Listen to Part 1 Panel introduction and a discussion of the typical characteristics of Cloud early-adopters. Listen to Part 2 (June 22) The panelists respond to an audience question about what happens when data in the Cloud crosses international borders. Listen to Part 3 (June 29) The panel discusses public versus private cloud as the best strategy for small or start-up businesses. Listen to Part 4 (July 6) The panel responds to an audience question about how cloud computing changes performance testing paradigms. The Architect Day panel includes (listed alphabetically): Dr. James Baty: Vice President, Oracle Global Enterprise Architecture Program [LinkedIn] Dave Chappelle: Enterprise Architect, Oracle Global Enterprise Architecture Program [LinkedIn] Timothy Davis: Director, Enterprise Architecture, Oracle Enterprise Solutions Group [LinkedIn] Michael Glas: Director, Enterprise Architecture, Oracle [LinkedIn] Bob Hensle: Director, Oracle [LinkedIn] Floyd Marinescu: Co-founder & Chief Editor of InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences [LinkedIn | Twitter | Homepage] Cary Millsap: Oracle ACE Director; Founder, President, and CEO at Method R Corporation [LinkedIn | Blog | Twitter] Coming Soon IASA CEO Paul Preiss talks about architecture as a profession. Thomas Erl and Anne Thomas Manes discuss their new book SOA Governance: Governing Shared Services On-Premise & in the Cloud A discussion of women in architecture Stay tuned: RSS

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  • A standard style guide or best-practice guide for web application development

    - by gutch
    I run a very small team of developers on a web application, just three people (and not even full time). We're all capable developers, but we write our code in very different ways: we name similar things in different ways, we use different HTML and CSS to achieve similar outcomes. We can manage this OK because we're small, but can't help feeling it would be better to get some standards in place. Are there any good style guides or best-practice guides for web application development that we can use to keep our code under control? Sure, we could write them ourselves. But the reality is that with lots to do and very few staff, we're not going to bother. We need something off the shelf that we can tinker with rather than start from scratch. What we're not looking for here is basic code formatting rules like "whether to use tabs or spaces" or "where to put line breaks" — we can control this by standardising our IDEs. What we are looking for are rules for code and markup. For example: What HTML markup should be used for headers, tables, sidebars, buttons, etc. When to add new CSS styles, and what to name them When IDs should be allocated to HTML elements, and what to name them How Javascript functions should be declared and called How to pick an appropriate URL for given page or AJAX call When to use each HTTP method, ie POST vs GET vs PUT etc How to name server-side methods (Java, in our case) How to throw and handle errors and exceptions in a consistent way etc, etc.

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  • How do I enable PHP’s flush() with nginx+PHP-FPM?

    - by abrahamvegh
    I’m using nginx with PHP-FPM (APC is installed). I need PHP’s flush() to work. Is this possible? Things I’ve tried so far: Disabling all output buffering in php.ini, as well as output compression. Disabling gzip in nginx’s configuration. Setting nginx’s fastcgi_* buffering settings and fastcgi_max_temp_file_size to zero. I’m sure I must be missing something, since I’ve run across many posts here and elsewhere where people claimed they’ve got it working, but I’m having no luck, it would seem.

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, April 28, 2010

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, April 28, 2010New ProjectsArgument Handler: This project aims to help the handling of arguments in command line programs.Bing for BlackBerry: Bing for BlackBerry is a SDK that allows intergration and searching Bing in there applications.C4F - GeoWallpaper: This is an extension for my MEF Utility Runner to change desktop wallpaper based on Flickr images geotagged with your current location. Uses Windo...CRM 4.0 Contract Utilities: List of Contract Utilities (i.e. custom workflow actions) 1. Change contract status from Active to Draft 2. Copy Contract (with custom start/end da...ELIS: Multimedia player based on WPFEnterprise Administration with Powershell: The EnterpriseShell aims to produce a powershell code library that will enable Enterprise Administrators to quickly reconfigure their IT infrastruc...ExposedObject: ExposedObject uses dynamic typing in C# to provide convenient access to private fields and methods from code outside of the class – for testing, ex...F# Project Extender: Installing F# Project Extender provides tools to better organize files in F# projects by allowing project subdirectories and separating file manage...Hack Framework: Code bundle with the internets brains connected into one piece of .Net frameworkKrypton XNA: Krypton allows users of the XNA framework to easily add 2D lighting to their games. Krypton is fast, as it utilizes the GPU and uses a vertex shade...Net Darts: Provides an easy way to calculate the score left to throw. Users can easily click on the score.PlayerSharp: PlayerSharp is a library written entirely in C# that allows you to communicate your C# programs with the Player Server by Brian Gerkey et al (http:...Ratpoid: RatpoidRedeemer Tower Defense: 2d tower defense game. It is developed with XNA technology, using .Net Visual Studio 2008 or .Net Visual Studio 2010SelfService: Simple self service projectSharePoint Exchange Calendar: a jQuery based calendar web part for displaying Exchange calendars within SharePoint.SharpORM, easy use Object & Relation Database mapping Library: AIM on: Object easy storeage, Create,Retrieve,Update,Delete User .NET Attribute marking or Xml Standalone Mapping eg. public class Somethin...Silverlight Calculator: Silverlight Calculator makes it easier for people to do simple math calculations. It's developed in C# Silverlight 2. Silverlight Calendar: Silverlight Calendar makes it easier for people to view a calendar in silverlight way. It's developed in C# Silverlight 2.SPSocialUtil for SharePoint 2010: SPSocialUtil makes it easier for delevoper to use Social Tag, Tag Cloud, BookMark, Colleague in SharePoint 2010. It's developed in C# with Visual S...Sublight: Sublight open source project is a simple metadata utility for view models in ASP.NET MVC 2Veda Auto Dealer Report: Create work item tasks for the Veda Auto Dealer ReportWPF Meta-Effects: WPF Meta-Effects makes it easier for shader effect developpers to develop and maintain shader code. You'll no longer have to write any HLSL, instea...New ReleasesBing for BlackBerry: Bing SDK for BlackBerry: There are four downloadable components: The library, in source code format, in its latest stable release. A "getting started" doc that will gui...DotNetNuke® Store: 02.01.34: What's New in this release? Bugs corrected: - Fixed a bug related to encryption cookie when DNN is used in Medium Trust environment. New Features:...Encrypted Notes: Encrypted Notes 1.6.4: This is the latest version of Encrypted Notes, with general improvements and bug fixes for 'Batch Encryption'. It has an installer that will create...EPiServer CMS Page Type Builder: Page Type Builder 1.2 Beta 2: For more information about this release check out this blog post.ExposedObject: ExposedObject 0.1: This is an initial release of the ExposedObject library that lets you conveniently call private methods and access private fields of a class.Extended SSIS Package Execute: Ver 0.01: Version 0.01 - 2008 Compatible OnlyF# Project Extender: V0.9.0.0 (VS2008): F# project extender for Visual Studio 2008. Initial ReleaseFileExplorer.NET: FileExplorer.NET 1.0: This is the first release of this project. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please report any bugs that you may en...Fluent ViewModel Configuration for WPF (MVVM): FluentViewModel Alpha3: Overhaul of the configuration system Separation of the configuratior and service locator Added support for general services - using Castle Wind...Home Access Plus+: v4.1: v4.1 Change Log: booking system fixes/additions Uploader fixes Added excluded extensions in my computer Updated Config Tool Fixed an issue ...ILMerge-GUI, merge .NET assemblies: 1.9.0 BETA: Compatible with .NET 4.0 This is the first version of ILMerge-GUI working with .NET 4.0. The final version will be 2.0.0, to be released by mid May...iTuner - The iTunes Companion: iTuner 1.2.3769 Beta 3c: Given the high download rate and awesome feedback for Beta 3b, I decided to release this interim build with the following enhancements: Added new h...Jet Login Tool (JetLoginTool): In then Out - 1.5.3770.18310: Fixed: Will only attempt to logout if currently logged in Fixed: UI no longer blocks while waiting for log outKooboo CMS: Kooboo CMS 2.1.1.0: New features Add new API RssUrl to generate RSS link, this is an extension to UrlHelper. Add possibility to index and search attachment content ...Krypton XNA: Krypton v1.0: First release of Krypton. I've tried to throw together a small testbed, but just getting tortoisehq to work the first time around was a huge pain. ...LinkedIn® for Windows Mobile: LinkedIn for Windows Mobile v0.5: Added missing files to installer packageNito.KitchenSink: Version 7: New features (since Version 5) Fixed null reference bug in ExceptionExtensions. Added DynamicStaticTypeMembers and RefOutArg for dynamically (lat...Numina Application/Security Framework: Numina.Framework Core 51341: Added multiple methods to API and classic ASP libraryOpenIdPortableArea: 0.1.0.3 OpenIdPortableArea: OpenIdPortableArea.Release: DotNetOpenAuth.dll DotNetOpenAuth.xml MvcContrib.dll MvcContrib.xml OpenIdPortableArea.dll OpenIdPortableAre...Play-kanaler (Windows Media Center Plug-in): Playkanaler 1.0.5 Alpha: Playkanaler version 1.0.5 Alpha Skärmsläckar-fix. helt otestad!PokeIn Comet Ajax Library: PokeIn v0.81 Library with ServerWatch Sample: Release Notes Functionality improved. Possible bugs fixed. Realtime server time sample addedSharpORM, easy use Object & Relation Database mapping Library: Vbyte.SharpOrm 1.0.2010.427: Vbyte.SharpOrm for Access & SQLServer.7z 1.0 alpha release for Access oledb provider and Sql Server 2000+.Silverlight 4.0 Popup Menu: Context Menu for Silverlight 4.0: - Markup items can now be added seperately using the AddItem method. Alternatingly all items can be placed inside a listbox which can then be added...Silverlight Calculator: SilverCalculator: SilverCalculator version 1.0 Live demoSilverlight Calendar: Silverlight Calendar: Silverlight Calendar version 1.0 Live demoSpeakup Desktop Frontend: Speakup Desktop Frontend v0.2a: This is new version of Speakup Desktop Frontend. It requires .net 4.0 to be installed before using it. In this release next changes were done: - ...TwitterVB - A .NET Twitter Library: Twitter-2.5: Adds xAuth support and increases TwitterLocation information (html help file is not up to date, will correct in a later version.)VCC: Latest build, v2.1.30427.5: Automatic drop of latest buildXP-More: 1.1: Added a parent VHD edit feature. Moved VM settings from double-click to a button, and rearranged the buttons' layout.Yasbg: It's Static 1.0: Many changes have been made from the previous release. Read the README! This release adds settings tab and fixes bugs. To run, first unzip, then...Most Popular ProjectsRawrWBFS Managerpatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryAJAX Control ToolkitSilverlight ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)ASP.NETMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesPHPExcelMost Active ProjectsRawrpatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryGMap.NET - Great Maps for Windows Forms & PresentationNB_Store - Free DotNetNuke Ecommerce Catalog ModuleIonics Isapi Rewrite FilterParticle Plot PivotFarseer Physics EngineBlogEngine.NETDotNetZip LibrarySqlDiffFramework-A Visual Differencing Engine for Dissimilar Data Sources

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  • Friend of Red Gate

    - by Nick Harrison
    Friend of Red Gate I recently joined the friend of Red Gate program.   I am very honored to be included in this group.    This program is a big part of Red Gates community outreach.   If you are not familiar with Red Gate, I urge you to check them out.    They have some wonderful tools for the SQL Server community and the DotNet community.    They are also building up some tools for Exchange and Oracle. I was invited to join this program primarliy because of my work with Simple Talk and promoting one of their newest products, Reflector. Reflector is a wonderful tool.   I doubt that anyone who has ever used it would argue that point. Red Gate did a wonderful job taking over the support of Reflector.   I know many people had their doubts.    The initial release under Red Gate should set those fears to rest.   I was very impressed with how their developers interacted with their users during the preview phase! Red Gate is also a good partner for the community.    They activly support the community, sponsoring Code Camps, sponsoring User Groups, supporting the Forums, etc. And their tools are pretty amazing as well.

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  • Are Mac Minis suitable for a proper desktop computer?

    - by alex
    I've read about a lot of people using their Mac Minis as a file server, or media centre or something similar. Does the mini function alright as a standard desktop PC? The Mac will be used primarily for web development, that is, it will need to run Coda, Photoshop, possible Firefox and Safari at the same time. So it will need suitable performance. Or am I better off getting an iMac? I though the mini looked like a good option because: cheaper I already have a keyboard, mouse and 24" monitor I could use a KVM between the mini and PC Also, does the mini support multiple monitors? Thanks

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  • Is there a Firefox or Chrome plugin, or a standalone program, for monitoring site usage and search queries?

    - by Leigh Caldwell
    I'm running some research on how people search the web for specific types of information. I'd like to be able to set them up with a laptop and browser and then record a history of what they search for and what sites they visit. A Firefox or Chrome plugin would be ideal, but a standalone program is fine too. It doesn't need to be free, just quick and reliable. It doesn't need to be a general PC monitoring program (though that would be OK too) - it's only Web usage I need to track. I've found a few on the Web but am not sure which ones to trust. Your recommendations would be much appreciated.

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  • The future for Microsoft

    - by Scott Dorman
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/sdorman/archive/2013/10/16/the-future-for-microsoft.aspxMicrosoft is in the process of reinventing itself. While some may argue that it’s “too little, too late” or that their growing consumer-focused strategy is wrong, the truth of the situation is that Microsoft is reinventing itself into a new company. While Microsoft is now calling themselves a “devices and services” company, that’s not entirely accurate. Let’s look at some facts: Microsoft will always (for the long-term foreseeable future) be financially split into the following divisions: Windows/Operating Systems, which for FY13 made up approximately 24% of overall revenue. Server and Tools, which for FY13 made up approximately 26% of overall revenue. Enterprise/Business Products, which for FY13 made up approximately 32% of overall revenue. Entertainment and Devices, which for FY13 made up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which for FY13 made up approximately 4% of overall revenue. It is important to realize that hardware products like the Surface fall under the Windows/Operating Systems division while products like the Xbox 360 fall under the Entertainment and Devices division. (Presumably other hardware, such as mice, keyboards, and cameras, also fall under the Entertainment and Devices division.) It’s also unclear where Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s handset division will fall, but let’s assume that it will be under Entertainment and Devices as well. Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume a slightly different structure that I think is more in line with how Microsoft presents itself and how the general public sees it: Consumer Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 9% of overall revenue. Developer Tools, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Enterprise Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 47% of overall revenue. Entertainment, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which would probably make up approximately 17% of overall revenue. (Just so we’re clear, in this structure hardware products like the Surface, a portion of Windows sales, and other hardware fall under the Consumer Products and Devices division. I’m assuming that more of the income for the Windows division is coming from enterprise/volume licenses so 15% of that income went to the Enterprise Products and Devices division. Most of the enterprise services, like Azure, fall under the Online Services division so half of the Server and Tools income went there as well.) No matter how you look at it, the bulk of Microsoft’s income still comes from not just the enterprise but also software sales, and this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. So, now that the stage is set…what’s the future for Microsoft? The future I see for Microsoft (again, this is just my prediction based on my own instinct, gut-feel and publicly available information) is this: Microsoft is becoming a consumer-focused enterprise company. Let’s look at it a different way. Microsoft is an enterprise-focused company trying to create a larger consumer presence.  To a large extent, this is the exact opposite of Apple, who is really a consumer-focused company trying to create a larger enterprise presence. The major reason consumer-focused companies (like Apple) have started making in-roads into the enterprise is the “bring your own device” phenomenon. Yes, Apple has created some “game-changing” products but their enterprise influence is still relatively small. Unfortunately (for this blog post at least), Apple provides revenue in terms of hardware products rather than business divisions, so it’s not possible to do a direct comparison. However, in the interest of transparency, from Apple’s Quarterly Report (filed 24 July 2013), their revenue breakdown is: iPhone, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 51% of revenue. iPad, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 18% of revenue. Mac, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 14% of revenue. iPod, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 2% of revenue. iTunes, Software, and Services, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 11% of revenue. Accessories, which for the 3 months ending 29 July 2013 made up approximately 3% of revenue. From this, it’s pretty clear that Apple is a consumer-and-hardware-focused company. At this point, you may be asking yourself “Where is all of this going?” The answer to that lies in Microsoft’s shift in company focus. They are becoming more consumer focused, but what exactly does that mean? The biggest change (at least that’s been in the news lately) is the pending purchase of Nokia’s handset division. This, in combination with their Surface line of tablets and the Xbox, will put Microsoft squarely in the realm of a hardware-focused company in addition to being a software-focused company. That can (and most likely will) shift the revenue split to looking at revenue based on software sales (both consumer and enterprise) and also hardware sales (mostly on the consumer side). If we look at things strictly from a Windows perspective, Microsoft clearly has a lot of irons in the fire at the moment. Discounting the various product SKUs available and painting the picture with broader strokes, there are currently 5 different Windows-based operating systems: Windows Phone Windows Phone 7.x, which runs on top of the Windows CE kernel Windows Phone 8.x+, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows RT The ARM-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows (Pro) The Intel-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Xbox The Xbox 360, which runs it’s own proprietary OS. The Xbox One, which runs it’s own proprietary OS, a version of Windows running on top of the Windows 8 kernel and a proprietary “manager” OS which manages the other two. Over time, Windows Phone 7.x devices will fade so that really leaves 4 different versions. Looking at Windows RT and Windows Phone 8.x paints an interesting story. Right now, all mobile phone devices run on some sort of ARM chip and that doesn’t look like it will change any time soon. That means Microsoft has two different Windows based operating systems for the ARM platform. Long term, it doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to continue supporting that arrangement. I have long suspected (since the Surface was first announced) that Microsoft will unify these two variants of Windows and recent speculation from some of the leading Microsoft watchers lends credence to this suspicion. It is rumored that upcoming Windows Phone releases will include support for larger screen sizes, relax the requirement to have a hardware-based back button and will continue to improve API parity between Windows Phone and Windows RT. At the same time, Windows RT will include support for smaller screen sizes. Since both of these operating systems are based on the same core Windows kernel, it makes sense (both from a financial and development resource perspective) for Microsoft to unify them. The user interfaces are already very similar. So similar in fact, that visually it’s difficult to tell them apart. To illustrate this, here are two screen captures: Other than a few variations (the Bing News app, the picture shown in the Pictures tile and the spacing between the tiles) these are identical. The one on the left is from my Windows 8.1 laptop (which looks the same as on my Surface RT) and the one on the right is from my Windows Phone 8 Lumia 925. This pretty clearly shows that from a consumer perspective, there really is no practical difference between how these two operating systems look and how you interact with them. For the consumer, your entertainment device (Xbox One), phone (Windows Phone) and mobile computing device (Surface [or some other vendors tablet], laptop, netbook or ultrabook) and your desktop computing device (desktop) will all look and feel the same. While many people will denounce this consistency of user experience, I think this will be a good thing in the long term, especially for the upcoming generations. For example, my 5-year old son knows how to use my tablet, phone and Xbox because they all feature nearly identical user experiences. When Windows 8 was released, Microsoft allowed a Windows Store app to be purchased once and installed on as many as 5 devices. With Windows 8.1, this limit has been increased to over 50. Why is that important? If you consider that your phone, computing devices, and entertainment device will be running the same operating system (with minor differences related to physical hardware chipset), that means that I could potentially purchase my sons favorite Angry Birds game once and be able to install it on all of the devices I own. (And for those of you wondering, it’s only 7 [at the moment].) From an app developer perspective, the story becomes even more compelling. Right now there are differences between the different operating systems, but those differences are shrinking. The user interface technology for both is XAML but there are different controls available and different user experience concepts. Some of the APIs available are the same while some are not. You can’t develop a Windows Phone app that can also run on Windows (either Windows Pro or RT). With each release of Windows Phone and Windows RT, those difference become smaller and smaller. Add to this mix the Xbox One, which will also feature a Windows-based operating system and the same “modern” (tile-based) user interface and the visible distinctions between the operating systems will become even smaller. Unifying the operating systems means one set of APIs and one code base to maintain for an app that can run on multiple devices. One code base means it’s easier to add features and fix bugs and that those changes become available on all devices at the same time. It also means a single app store, which will increase the discoverability and reach of your app and consolidate revenue and app profile management. Now, the choice of what devices an app is available on becomes a simple checkbox decision rather than a technical limitation. Ultimately, this means more apps available to consumers, which is always good for the app ecosystem. Is all of this just rumor, speculation and conjecture? Of course, but it’s not unfounded. As I mentioned earlier, some of the prominent Microsoft watchers are also reporting similar rumors. However, Microsoft itself has even hinted at this future with their recent organizational changes and by telling developers “if you want to develop for Xbox One, start developing for Windows 8 now.” I think this pretty clearly paints the following picture: Microsoft is committed to the “modern” user interface paradigm. Microsoft is changing their release cadence (for all products, not just operating systems) to be faster and more modular. Microsoft is going to continue to unify their OS platforms both from a consumer perspective and a developer perspective. While this direction will certainly concern some people it will excite many others. Microsoft’s biggest failing has always been following through with a strong and sustained marketing strategy that presents a consistent view point and highlights what this unified and connected experience looks like and how it benefits consumers and enterprises. We’ve started to see some of this over the last few years, but it needs to continue and become more aggressive and consistent. In the long run, I think Microsoft will be able to pull all of these technologies and devices together into one seamless ecosystem. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but my prediction is that we will be there by the end of 2016. As both a consumer and a developer, I, for one, am excited about the future of Microsoft.

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  • Reader for Android Updates; Now with Feed Widgets and More

    - by ETC
    Android phone owners rocking the official Google Reader app will be pleased to see the new update includes much requested features such as polished feed widgets, unread counter widgets, and a handy “mark previous as read” button. Widgets have long been one of the most requested feature for Google Reader for Android. This update rolls them out in two forms. News ticker widgets show you current headlines for your Google Reader folders (as seen in the screenshot here); folder widgets function just as unread counters and only take up a 1×1 space. In addition to the widgets another much requested feature made an appearance. While scrolling through your feed you can now mark all the previous entries as read. Hit up the link below to read more or visit the Android Market on your phone to update the application. Updates to the Google Reader App for Android [The Official Google Reader Blog] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware Comix is an Awesome Comics Archive Viewer for Linux Get the MakeUseOf eBook Guide to Speeding Up Windows for Free Need Tech Support? Call the Star Wars Help Desk! [Video Classic] Reclaim Vertical UI Space by Adding a Toolbar to the Left or Right Side of Firefox Androidify Turns You into an Android-style Avatar Reader for Android Updates; Now with Feed Widgets and More

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