iPhone vs. BlackBerry: What To Buy? - Media 3.0

The point in this article I liked the most was that if you want a phone buy the Blackberry.

"iPhone vs. BlackBerry: What To Buy? - Media 3.0"

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Configuring spring application from a database

I need to move a  spring based application configuration from a property file  to a database. It is a headless, server application.

The reason I would like make the move  is

·         It is much easier to build a web application to manage the configuration.

·         Add support for dynamic configuration. Today the application needs to restart when a configuration change is made.

Using databaseconfiguration as described in the this example seems to be the way to go.

This solves the static configuration management. How does one handle changes to the configuration without having to restart the application?  I have some ideas, but it would be interesting to see if anyone has solved it.

I would have to

·         let the beans register to listen for configuration changes,

·         Frequently poll the database for changes to the configuration,

·         Notify bean listeners of the change and

·         Let the beans handle the change

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Oracle 11gR2 Instance Caging and Licensing on VMware

As per Oracle® 11gR2 Database New Features Guide

“Instance Caging allows the DBA to limit the CPU usage of an Oracle instance by setting the CPU_COUNT initialization parameter and enabling CPU resource management. With Instance Caging, users can partition CPU resources among multiple instances running on a server to ensure predictable performance.”

For those of us who do not have unlimited Oracle Licensing, this would be a nice way for Oracle to consider CPU licensing of the database on VMware. The CPU license could apply to only those used by Oracle as opposed to those on the ESX host.

 I am not holding my breath, as Oracle is more keen to promote its VM solution.

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Joel Spolsky: The Duct Tape Programmer

Here is another thought provoking article by Joel Spolsky.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/09/23.html

A Duct Tape Programmer is a great asset to an organization. He is probably also a Pragmatic Programmer.

This type of a programmer is domain focused.

·         He uses technology to solve a domain requirement as opposed to finding a problem for a cool new technology.

·         He probably uses the YAGNI principle. A team of Duct Tape Programmers, especially in a startup are a great asset.

·         He ensure quick feature implementation and release cycles, which are very essential for survival in a startup

Joel has covered a lot of other areas very well. The only point that made me cringe was related to “unit tests”. Knowing Joel’s views on unit tests, it is not surprising. Well there is no such thing as being perfect. J

Having said that, there is always a place for programmers who tend to always look at new technologies and methodologies and then go searching for a problem to solve.

·         They are never satisfied with what they did in the previous release.

·         They always looking to do something new.

·         Sometimes they may leave a trail of unused languages, technologies, frameworks and libraries in your product but

·         other times they will come up with something that works magic and opens up avenues and channels to take your software to new levels and new directions. 

I know this is very vague, but if you have the resources, a few programmers like these can help develop creative concepts that could revolutionize your software development or product portfolio .

A Duct Tape Programmer will ensure that your product is good, an “unsatisfied” ( I am not in the same league as Joel in most cases and obviously in naming) programmer can make a product great.

 

Of course having the very best personnel in either case will make it easier to succeed.

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Google Wave

Google wave is the next wave in the collaboration space. Gmail always provided a context to a conversation by grouping threads. This takes it to the next level by providing the context in line. Email is almost becoming irrelevant in the consumer space the same way snail mail was sometime ago. Social networking tools will do to email what email did to mail. Email will be relegated to official docs and junk. Google wave is going to make the process faster.
Enterprise adoption will send wiki's to oblivion. Enterprises will need a better security and auditing model, if it is not already being built. Real time nature of this protocol open's a whole new communication channel that will be used in exciting new ways. I have a feeling that the wave client is just the appetizer. The real killer app is yet to come.
I am looking forward to seeing how google voice will be integrated.
This looks like a much better platform for unified messaging than a lot of the earlier pretenders.

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Trying out disqus

I am trying out this commenting system from disqus. Seems to be promising.

Why raise gasoline tax?

A panel has recommended a increase in federal fuel tax to combat the decrease in consumption by motorists. This mechanism seems to be consistently used by the government. My county is planning to raise property taxes to compensate for the heavy reduction in property prices.
Here are a few points that can be considered before raising the fuel tax.

• Can the government not do the same as its citizens? Eliminate pork and focus on the essentials? I know this will not happen as the emphasis has been on more government spending.
  
• Maybe a portion of the $700 billion bailout could be used to repair the roads. Roads are part of the infrastructure and it is likely the money will be spent inside the country.
  
• The recommendation were probably made when the prices were high. Now that the gas prices have plummeted over 60% ($1.55/gallon), I do not feel the pinch as much and am open to driving more. This may increase consumption and demand and hence raise prices and make more money to build roads and bridges. We may just need to wait a little.
• and the most important point; More taxes may drive down consumption. Partially caused by increase in cost as demonstrated earlier this year and partially due to the common man's frustration. Politically it would be difficult to explain the increase in taxes against the background of the bailout of the banks and auto makers.