Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Cyberthieves Silently Copy Your Passwords as You Type - New York Times

There is evidence that among global cybercriminals, phishing may already be passe.
In some countries, like Brazil, it has been eclipsed by an even more virulent form of electronic con. The use of keylogging programs that silently copy the keystrokes of computer users and send that information to the crooks

Games That Pushed The Limits - Part 1 : Retro Gaming with racketboy

Racketboy

I have been recently been fascinated by the history of the various machines that have battled for our living rooms. Each machine has had its strengths and weaknesses, and as a programmer, I'm amazed by some of the ways developers have harnessed the power of consoles and pushed them to their limits resulting is some marvelous games.

I usually try to emphasize that gameplay is more important that graphical quality. However, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at games that were the most demanding when it came to a console's limited system resources."

Dell flirts with the Linux desktop

Is Dell is on its way to becoming the first tier-one PC vendor to offer a mainstream business Linux desktop to US customers? It's starting to look that way

Spam king Adam Vitale busted by Secret Service

Adam Vitale, aka Batch1 aka Baxter, 25, of Boynton Beach, FL, and his partner Todd Moeller, aka M3rk, of New Jersey, are accused of sending nearly 50,000 pieces of spam e-mail to more than 1.2 million AOL subscribers

WSJ.com - 'Worms' Turn on Apple Macs, Bigger Target as Sales Boom

Users of Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh computers have long enjoyed the technology equivalent of a safe neighborhood, where the viruses and security nuisances that bedevil far more common Windows PCs are practically nonexistent. Now, as the Mac is seeing some of its best sales in years, bad guys appear to be casing the joint.
In the past two weeks, information-security companies like Symantec Inc., Sophos PLC and McAfee Inc. have identified several security issues related to the latest version of Apple's Mac operating system, called OS X. Among the concerns: two 'worms,' programs written by unknown hackers that were designed to spread themselves to other Macs through Apple's iChat instant-messaging software and Bluetooth wireless-communications capability.
And in a reminder that Macs, like Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, also contain potentially worrisome security holes, a German graduate student last week discovered a vulnerability in OS X that could let a hacker install potentially damaging code on a Mac through the systems' Safari Web browser

Microsoft Confirms 6 Versions of Vista - from the this-is-getting-complicated-fast dept.

Microsoft is planning six versions of the next incarnation of its Windows operating system.
Three versions of the software, called Vista, will be for home users, two will be for businesses and one will be for emerging markets.
One of the home versions of Vista will include features that let users store and play back TV shows.
No fixed date has been given for the release of Vista but it is expected to be launched by the end of 2006

He Helped Build the iPod; Now He Has Built a Rival - New York Times

When Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, decided to mount a serious challenge to Apple Computer's iPod music player early last year, it turned to a little-known Silicon Valley software start-up with a cluttered one-room office tucked away here in a building above a mortgage title company.
Skip to next paragraph

Noah Berger for The New York Times
Paul Mercer, software designer, pictured on the Samsung Z5. The result of that partnership is Samsung's newest Z5 portable MP3 player, which will appear on store shelves March 5. The software inside the player was forged at Iventor Inc. by a small team of programmers led by Paul Mercer, 38, a veteran Apple Macintosh software designer.
Samsung's decision to hire Mr. Mercer is significant because Apple, in designing the original iPod four years ago, turned to Pixo Inc., the company Mr. Mercer founded after he left Apple in 1994 to create software for hand-held devices

Siegfried and Roy - Tiger show goes wrong again!

How-To Turn your iPod in to a Universal Infrared Remote Control - Engadget

Engadget

This week's How-To is a fun one, we take an iPod and turn it in to a universal infrared remote control which can be used to control all your home electronic equipment, or just about anything that uses a remote control, for example in our place we have our iPod controlling our TV, DVD Player, Direct TV, Ultimate TV PVR, Media Center PC, Xbox, XM Satellite Radio, Roomba and a few other random things like a Robot

HOW-TO: Make a Nintendo NES controller into a PC Joystick - Joystiq

Study says U.S. tech hiring increasing - Feb. 23, 2006

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Demand for technology workers in the United States continues to grow in spite of American companies shifting more technology work overseas, according to a new study.
The Association for Computing Machinery, a professional development organization that includes academic, government and industry officials from the information technology field, released a study Thursday that said that shifting IT jobs to countries like India or China is not nearly the threat to workers here that is commonly believed.

The study cites estimates that between two to three percent of IT jobs will be lost annually to lower-wage developing countries through the process known as offshoring. But it said the U.S. IT sector's overall growth should outpace that loss of jobs, expanding opportunities for those trained in fields such as software architecture, product design, project management and IT consulting

PC World's Techlog - Google's Latest: Page Creator

OK, I checked back--and Google Page Creator is indeed live, at least at the moment. It's a very, very simple Web-site designer that works in your browser. That's not a new idea (CoffeeCup did something along the same lines years ago), but Page Creator has a zippy, AJAX-y interface that feels like a desktop application. It offers a bunch of themes and a few different page layouts. And it does a nice job of eliminating the need to know anything about Web authoring. (You can edit in an HTML mode if you really want to, but mostly, you work in a WYSIWYG mode that saves everything to the Web automatically.)

Page Creator puts your site at a yournamehere.googlepages.com URL, offers a maximum of 100MB of space, and only creates simple, static pages without flashy features, interactivity, or structure. So it's best suited for folks with extremely basic needs who want to get something on the Web with a minimum of fuss--but for that, it's worth a look. But it's a bit strange that Page Creator is a cutting-edge, extremely interactive Web service that...lets you create really old-fashioned, passive Web sites.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Vendors Say IBM Delivers Confusing Message with New GUI Tools

A three-ring circus might have better luck directing the attention of its audience to the appropriate act than IBM will have getting i5 customers to choose the Web tool that's right for their applications, vendors say.
With all the options it has thrown out or talked about, including WebSphere, CGIDEV2, WebFacing, and HATS, IBM has achieved nothing more than confusion in the marketplace, says Eric Figura, director of sales and marketing for BCD. The company's WebSmart product competes with the IBM WebFacing tools

Four Hundred Guru--Admin Alert: Moving Libraries Between i5/OS Partitions, Part 1

For i5, iSeries, and AS/400 administrators, it's common to move libraries between partitions or machines. Library duplication is necessary when you're creating or updating data in a test partition, moving software libraries between machines, or migrating information from an existing partition to a new machine in advance of an upgrade. Whatever your migration situation, there are definite steps for easily transferring libraries between environments.

When performing library duplication, you generally need to perform the following five steps for a successful transfer.

Prepping the data to be moved

Saving the library to be moved

Transferring the saved library to the new partition or machine

Restoring the saved library to the target machine

Checking your results

These steps are fairly intuitive and easy to follow, as long as you avoid a few pitfalls

OS/400 Servers Over Time: iSeries to i5 to System i

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Now that the System i5 machines are just getting into the hands of resellers and then customers, it is an appropriate time to take a hard look at the value that the new machines offer to OS/400 shops. In prior issues of this newsletter and its siblings in the Four Hundred family of publications, we have gone over the feeds and speeds of the new hardware and the features and functions of the new software. Now it is time to assess what kind of deal these new machines offer in a series of articles that will compare the System i5s to prior OS/400 machines and then to other platforms

Windows XP built on AS400s

Search any WinXP box for a picture named img149.jpg, on mine it's at
C:\WINDOWS\Help\Tours\htmlTour\img149.jpg

This is clearly the AS/400 room at M$, complete with a 5250 session on
the terminal, a bookshelf full of manuals and Redbooks and the Malcolm
Baldridge Quality Award sticker visilble on all of the racks.

Or just go to file:///C:/WINDOWS/Help/Tours/htmlTour/best_fr.htm and
click "More Secure;
Easier to Manage"

IBM's Octopiler, or, why the PS3 is running late

by Hannibal

All afternoon I've been slogging through IBM's 25-page paper on their newly released Octopiler, and now things are clearer to me. See, Cell's greatest strength is that there's a lot of hardware on that chip. And Cell's greatest weakness is that there's a lot of hardware on that chip. So Cell has immense performance potential, but if you want to make it programable by mere mortals then you need a compiler that can ingest code written in a high-level language and produce optimized binaries that fit not just a programming model or a microarchitecture, but an entire multiprocessor system. This isn't just a tall order, or even a doctoral dissertation. It's a generation's worth of doctoral research. Meanwhile, the PS3 is due out in 2006.
Octopiler is intended to become just such a compiler�one that can take in a sequential program that's written to a unified memory model, and output binaries that make efficient use of the massive, heterogeneous system-on-a-chip that is the Cell Broadband Engine. I say 'intended to become,' because judging from the paper the guys at IBM are still in the early stages of taming this many-headed beast. This is by no means meant to disparage all the IBM researchers who have done yeoman's work in their practically single-handed attempts to move the entire field of computer science forward by a quantum leap. No, the Octopiler paper is full of innovative ideas to be fleshed out at a further date, results that are 'promising,' avenues to be explored, and overarching approaches that seem likely to bear fruit eventually. But meanwhile, the PS3 is still due out in 2006

Linux distros for older hardware

By: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier

"Microsoft lately has been challenging Linux's suitability for older hardware, so it seems like a good time to look at Linux distributions that can run on older machines. I took six distributions for a test run on an old machine, and also tried software that turns old hardware into a thin client. The bottom line: Linux is still quite suitable for older hardware. It might not turn your aging PC into a powerhouse, but it will extend its lifespan considerably.

For these tests, I dug out Igor, an old PC that had been collecting dust in my closet. Igor is a Pentium II 233MHz machine with 64MB of RAM, an 8x CD-ROM drive, a 3GB hard drive, and an integrated ATI 3D Rage Pro video card with 4MB of video RAM. You can run Linux on older and slower machines, but this is the most under-powered machine I had available."

Creating a Stored Procedures in AS400/Iseries enviornment

SQL Reference
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r3/topic/db2/rbafzmst02.htm

Stored Procedures, Triggers and User Defined Functions on DB2 Universal Database for iSeries
http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/sg246503.html?Open

TechTip: Excel Flies Higher with JExcelApi - MC Press Online

JExcelApi dramatically reduces the time needed to create large Excel documents. I tested both implementations by creating a 30,000-row by 30-column worksheet, and JExcelApi took approximately half the time POI did: I was able to create this 10 MB Excel document in its final form (with headers, edited figures, formatted dates, etc.) in less than 90 seconds

Sunday, February 26, 2006

User ditches Iron Mountain for EVault

Iron Mountain Inc. might be the dominant player in the data protection services market, but one former customer of the vaulting giant found an alternative with competitor EVault Inc., following a data recovery that went horribly wrong

Friday, February 24, 2006

There are many benefits to studying at Lakehead University. Ubiquitous wireless Internet access, however, isn’t one of them

Thats because president Fred Gilbert wont allow it until hes satisfied EMF (electric and magnetic fields) exposure doesnt pose a health risk, particularly to young people

Open Source for iSeries

One place to go to find Open Source resources for your iSeries projects

Thursday, February 23, 2006

IBM System i5 Support: Planning statements - V5R4

i5/OS Support of Selected iSeries Models, January 2006
IBM plans for i5/OS V5R4 to be the final release supported on iSeries models 270, 820, 830, 840, SB2, and SB3. The next release is planned to be supported on models 520, 550, 570, 595, 800, 810, 825, 870, and 890.

iSeries Access Family, January 2006
IBM plans to discontinue shipping the WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services Limited Edition (HATS LE) product from the iSeries Access Family on May 1, 2006.

HATS LE will continue to be serviced with iSeries Access Family (V5R3, V5R2) until these releases reach their end-of-service dates. Therefore users can continue using the current HATS LE product after May 1, 2006.

Suggested replacements:

Use the 5250 emulator in iSeries Access for Web, delivered with the iSeries Access Family. Learn more about iSeries Access for Web at http://www.ibm.com/eserver/iseries/access/web.
Use the full WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) application development product for extending legacy applications to the Web. Learn more about HATS at http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/hats/.

iSeries Access for Windows Data Transfer for Excel, January 2006
IBM plans for iSeries Access for Windows V5R4 to be the final release to support Excel 95 and Excel 97 with the Data Transfer add-in support. Only Excel 2000, and later, will be supported for data transfers in the release after V5R4.

Suggested alternatives:
Upgrade to Excel 2000 or newer.

Apache Tomcat, January 2006
IBM plans for i5/OS V5R4 to be the final release to ship Apache Tomcat (jsp/servlet) support in IBM HTTP Server which ships with i5/OS.

Suggested alternatives:
Use WebSphere Application Server Express, which is shipped with i5/OS
Use an open source version of Tomcat, which can be obtained from jakarta.apache.org
Enhanced Netware Integration, January 2006
IBM plans for i5/OS V5R4 to be the final release to support Enhanced Netware Integration (5722-SS1 Option 25).

Tivoli Management Agent, January 2006
IBM plans for i5/OS V5R4 to be the final release to include Tivoli Management Agent with i5/OS shipments.

Suggested alternatives:
Obtain the Tivoli Management Agent for i5/OS through Tivoli channels.

S/36 and S/38 Environment, January 2006
IBM plans to continue supporting the S/36 and S/38 environment within i5/OS in the next release of i5/OS.

RPG & COBOL System/36 & System/38 compatible compilers, January 2006
IBM plans for WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries V5R4 to be the final release to ship and support the following S/36 and S/38 compiler options. V5R4 will be the final release to include these compilers in the SW Maintenance or SW Subscription contract.

5722-WDS Option 32 - System/36 Compatible RPG II
5722-WDS Option 33 - System/38 Compatible RPG III
5722-WDS Option 42 - System/36 Compatible COBOL
5722-WDS Option 43 - System/38 Compatible COBOL



Suggested alternatives:

IBM recommends migrating existing S/36 and S/38 environment applications to the integrated language environment (ILE) on i5/OS.
The S/36 and S/38 compilers will be available as separate non-warranted PRPQs in the next release after V5R4. The PRPQs will not be covered by the SW Maintenance or SW Subscription contract.

Resurrect Your Old PC for Music�with Linux

O'Reilly

Are you the kind of person who can't toss out old gear? I know I am--though I must admit that embracing the art of junk-collecting has come in handy from time to time. For instance, this article will show you how to resurrect a tired old PC by installing a modern operating system, and then revitalize the computer as an internet-enabled CD player, DVD burner, and MP3 jukebox

Hybrids? Some opt to go all-electric. | csmonitor.com

Not long after Dan Kroushl got his new 2004 Toyota Prius, he began to wonder about the mysterious button on the dash. It didn't seem to have any function. Didn't boost the turbo or engage an ejector seat. In online discussions with other Prius enthusiasts, Mr. Kroushl soon discovered the button did have a hidden function: It could turn the gasoline-electric hybrid into an all-electric car - for a mile or so on limited battery power.
This 'stealth mode' button works fine in Japan and Europe where it's handy for drivers to roll politely about densely packed subdivisions in the early morning and late evening. But the button has been disconnected for North America's Priuses

MakeZine feeds

Slashdot review of 'Make' Premier Issue

Boing Boing: Diamonds are for pussies - Nothing says I love you like radiation

Fug diamonds. Isotopes are a girl's best friend. Let others dream of ice this Valentine's Day -- real men procure hunks of ultra-highly-irradiated uranium ore for their honeys. And they buy it online, for $45.00 a shot

Make del.icio.us bookmarks

Check out what they checkout!

Cool Make Project Photos

Some social bookmarking, cosmos and photo goodness-- The first is a Flickr group pool. Anyone can join and add photos of projects or cool things they're up to

Addicting Games - Free Flash and Java Games

Addicting Games - Free Flash and Java Games

Elenco 300-In-1 Project Lab


This Maxitronix 300-in-1 Electronic Lab Project kit from Elenco Electronics
is a fun way to learn about electronics & study the wonders of science.
Suitable for ages 10 and older.

FEATURES: Start a great hobby in electronics with no prior knowledge needed.
Build a radio, AM broadcast station, electronic organ, kitchen timer,
logic circuits, rain detector, digital light dimmer, and more!
300 different experiments that you can perform with this kit! Even
if you've never built an electronic circuit, you'll be able to
build all of the provided projects with ease.
Comes with a built-in speaker, 7-segment LED display, two fully
integrated circuits and rotary controls.
Each of the basic electronics parts is mounted and clearly marked
on the breadboard.
Each component can be assembled onto the breadboard without soldering
because they get connected to spring terminals.
Plenty of pre-cut insulated wire.
All of the provided projects are powered by low voltage batteries,
so there's none of the danger associated with using standard AC
voltage.
Detailed content within the instruction manual includes:
-Surprise and Fun
-Back to the Basics
-Electronic "Building Blocks"
-Putting Electronics to Work
-Radio Circuits
-Sonic Zoo and Sound Factory
-Electronic Decision-Makers
-Operational Amplifier IC Can Do Many Things
-Introducing the Power Amplifier IC
-A Trip to Digital Land
-More Adventures in Digital Land
-Circuits that Count
-Getting Closer to Computers
-Amusement in Digital Land
-Shakehands of Analog and Digital
-Surprise and Fun Revisited
-Testing and Measuring Circuits
Owners manual provides simple, clearly-written instructions which
help you operate and experiment with each project. Schematics/
diagrams accompany the projects.

INCLUDES: 300-in-1 Electronic Lab Project Kit.

REQUIRES: Assembly
6 "AA" Cell Batteries
This Maxitronix 300-in-1 Electronic Lab Project kit from Elenco Electronics
is a fun way to learn about electronics & study the wonders of science.
Suitable for ages 10 and older.

FEATURES: Start a great hobby in electronics with no prior knowledge needed.
Build a radio, AM broadcast station, electronic organ, kitchen timer,
logic circuits, rain detector, digital light dimmer, and more!
300 different experiments that you can perform with this kit! Even
if you've never built an electronic circuit, you'll be able to
build all of the provided projects with ease.
Comes with a built-in speaker, 7-segment LED display, two fully
integrated circuits and rotary controls.
Each of the basic electronics parts is mounted and clearly marked
on the breadboard.
Each component can be assembled onto the breadboard without soldering
because they get connected to spring terminals.
Plenty of pre-cut insulated wire.
All of the provided projects are powered by low voltage batteries,
so there's none of the danger associated with using standard AC
voltage.
Detailed content within the instruction manual includes:
-Surprise and Fun
-Back to the Basics
-Electronic "Building Blocks"
-Putting Electronics to Work
-Radio Circuits
-Sonic Zoo and Sound Factory
-Electronic Decision-Makers
-Operational Amplifier IC Can Do Many Things
-Introducing the Power Amplifier IC
-A Trip to Digital Land
-More Adventures in Digital Land
-Circuits that Count
-Getting Closer to Computers
-Amusement in Digital Land
-Shakehands of Analog and Digital
-Surprise and Fun Revisited
-Testing and Measuring Circuits
Owners manual provides simple, clearly-written instructions which
help you operate and experiment with each project. Schematics/
diagrams accompany the projects.

INCLUDES: 300-in-1 Electronic Lab Project Kit.

REQUIRES: Assembly
6 "AA" Cell Batteries

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

How to access a multi-member file in RPG

Q. How to access a multi-member file in RPG

A. Use the USROPN and EXTMBR(variable) keywords on the file
or
OVRDBF MBR(*ALL). The current member name is in the open feedback area (pos. 129 - 138).

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

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Plan FeaturesHostonyHostony
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Frontpage ExtensionsYesYes
Raw Log FilesYesYes
Protected DirectoriesYesYes
Anonymous FTP--
Telnet/SSHYesYes























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Email Accountsunlimitedunlimited
Forwarders (Alias)YesYes
AutorespondersYesYes
Web-Based EmailYesYes
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Friday, February 10, 2006

Using Multiple Monitors with Windows XP

This column explains how to configure multiple monitors using the Dualview feature in Windows XP. It also helps you set up an old laptop as a second monitor by using some cool third-party software that works with Windows XP

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Looks like personalized start pages are making a comeback

Looks like personalized start pages are making a comeback. Take a look at this list:
Google Personalized Page
Microsoft Windows Live
Netvibes
Protopage
Goowy
Zoozio
Eskobo
Favoor

Apache Geronimo 1.0 Released

Apache Geronimo 1.0 introduces complete J2EE 1.4 certification, support for Java Business Integration (JBI), Jetty or Tomcat Web container deployment options, a complete Web-enabled management console based on Java Portlets, full integration with the Eclipse Web Tools Project, and integration of Apache Derby and the Apache Directory Server

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Ajax technologies aren't particularly new or sexy

Why you should learn a scripting language

by Nathan

You know those little tasks that really need to be done, yet send you scurrying for any excuse to procrastinate? I came up across one of those the other day - I had some files (module1.zip, module2.zip, library1.zip, etc.) and needed to unzip them all into subdirectories with the same name as the zip file. For example, module1.zip should have its contents unzipped to a directory called module1. Not a big deal to just do a few unzip commands, but there were over 120 of these files. Rather than do something crazy (like transfer the files to a windows box, use winzips unzip using filenames as folders then transfer them back) I wrote the following perl script:

#!/usr/bin/perl
system('unzip $_ -d '.(/(.+).zip/)[0]) foreach @ARGV"

How to Learn Java Technologies Online (and for Free)

Apache Jetspeed 2.0 FINAL Released

The Apache Portals Jetspeed Team is pleased to announce the final release of the Jetspeed 2.0 Open Source Enterprise Portal. This final release is fully-compliant with the Portlet Specification 1.0 (JSR-168). Jetspeed-2 has passed the TCK (Test Compatibility Kit) suite and is fully CERTIFIED to the Java Portlet Standard.
The Jetspeed team will be presenting the new 2.0 release at ApacheCon US 2005 on December 10th in San Diego.
Jetspeed is a full implementation of the Java Portlet API. Notable features include security components backed by LDAP and database implementations and some robust administration interfaces. Custom portals can be built and deployed using the Jetspeed plugin for Maven. Developers can use the Jetspeed PSML language to assemble portlets and the Apache Portals Bridges project to 'bridge' portals with existing technologies including Struts, JSF, PHP, Perl. For GUI designers, Jetspeed comes with several built-in templates used to decorate portals and portlets

Woz Says Big Software Doesn't Work

Friday, February 03, 2006

How to fight network leaks in your java app

You are suffering from errors like 'too many open files' from time to time? You are using sockets all over the place in your enterprise java application? Then this might be an interessting read if you are running on linux.
Why do we get this error?
This is quite simple, you are using more file resources aka descriptors as the operating system is willing to offer for one process. Suppose you are running your enterprise application inside tomcat, then all applications inside this server can use only some amount of descriptors. I give you an idea what is using a file descriptor in the java server world: each jar file you or the server loads, each socket connection you need, each file you read or write, each font you or the JRE loads, each logfile you need, each shared object the JRE needs. Even without user apps, there is some significant amount of file descriptors open. If you have a high transaction application where each user uses sockets and have some problems with leaking, its just a matter of hours or days when your application breaks and with break i really mean break (mostly its in fact a halt of your app)

How to fight network leaks in your java app

You are suffering from errors like 'too many open files' from time to time? You are using sockets all over the place in your enterprise java application? Then this might be an interessting read if you are running on linux.
Why do we get this error?
This is quite simple, you are using more file resources aka descriptors as the operating system is willing to offer for one process. Suppose you are running your enterprise application inside tomcat, then all applications inside this server can use only some amount of descriptors. I give you an idea what is using a file descriptor in the java server world: each jar file you or the server loads, each socket connection you need, each file you read or write, each font you or the JRE loads, each logfile you need, each shared object the JRE needs. Even without user apps, there is some significant amount of file descriptors open. If you have a high transaction application where each user uses sockets and have some problems with leaking, its just a matter of hours or days when your application breaks and with break i really mean break (mostly its in fact a halt of your app)

How to fight network leaks in your java app

You are suffering from errors like 'too many open files' from time to time? You are using sockets all over the place in your enterprise java application? Then this might be an interessting read if you are running on linux.
Why do we get this error?
This is quite simple, you are using more file resources aka descriptors as the operating system is willing to offer for one process. Suppose you are running your enterprise application inside tomcat, then all applications inside this server can use only some amount of descriptors. I give you an idea what is using a file descriptor in the java server world: each jar file you or the server loads, each socket connection you need, each file you read or write, each font you or the JRE loads, each logfile you need, each shared object the JRE needs. Even without user apps, there is some significant amount of file descriptors open. If you have a high transaction application where each user uses sockets and have some problems with leaking, its just a matter of hours or days when your application breaks and with break i really mean break (mostly its in fact a halt of your app)

How to fight network leaks in your java app

You are suffering from errors like 'too many open files' from time to time? You are using sockets all over the place in your enterprise java application? Then this might be an interessting read if you are running on linux.
Why do we get this error?
This is quite simple, you are using more file resources aka descriptors as the operating system is willing to offer for one process. Suppose you are running your enterprise application inside tomcat, then all applications inside this server can use only some amount of descriptors. I give you an idea what is using a file descriptor in the java server world: each jar file you or the server loads, each socket connection you need, each file you read or write, each font you or the JRE loads, each logfile you need, each shared object the JRE needs. Even without user apps, there is some significant amount of file descriptors open. If you have a high transaction application where each user uses sockets and have some problems with leaking, its just a matter of hours or days when your application breaks and with break i really mean break (mostly its in fact a halt of your app)

Big Faceless PDF Library

The Big Faceless PDF Library is a Java class library for creating PDF documents. The Extended Edition offers the ability to create and edit AcroForms, PDF's answer to the HTML form. Like HTML forms, PDF forms can contain text boxes, radio buttons, and can call JavaScript functions. The Extended Edition also includes a PDF reader for importing and editing, along with FDF support, verification for digital signatures and text extraction. Both variations offer full Unicode support, encryption, embedded TrueType and Type1 fonts, barcodes, hyperlinks, spot and calibrated color

5% of XBOX360s overheating, 2% DOA, and 1% scratching discs reports XBOX360Fanboy - The Jason Calacanis Weblog

5% of XBOX360s overheating, 2% DOA, and 1% scratching discs reports XBOX360Fanboy - The Jason Calacanis Weblog: "Fan site XBOX360Fanboy.com is reporting that 5% of readers claim their XBOX 360 is overheating. Additionally, 2% report the unit was dead on arrival, and 1% reported that the XBOX360 was scratching their discs. Not a great start, but understandable given the scale and timing of the launch."

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Think Skype offers cheapest world dialing? Think again!

Free DB2 Database anyone

DB2 Express-C for Linux and Windows: "DB2 Express-C, a version of DB2 Universal Database Express Edition (DB2 Express) for the community, is a no-charge data server for use in development and deployment. Providing the same core data server features, development interfaces as well as system limits as DB2 Express in a smaller package, DB2 Express-C offers a solid base to build and deploy all applications including: C/C+, Java, .NET, PHP, and more. DB2 Express-C is available for Linux and Windows running on 32 or 64 bit hardware with up to 2CPUs and 4GB of memory."