Tech Thoughts

Using the Kindle iPhone App

2009-03-05T08:46:00.005-06:00

Let me start by saying I don't own a Kindle. I've thought about purchasing one, but the $359 price tag seems a little steep. Last year I purchased a Sony Reader PRS505 as part of an inventory liquidation...meaning I got it cheap. While I've enjoyed the Reader, I must admit I've experienced Kindle envy with regards to available titles and wireless capabilities.Yesterday Amazon released the

Kindle 2.0?

2008-10-07T06:35:00.004-05:00

It seems that pictures of the new Kindle 2.0 device, the one that Amazon is denying exists, are leaking out across the web. Here's the link on BoyGenuisReport.com.

Sony's New PRS-700 Reader

2008-10-03T08:23:00.003-05:00

In case you haven't heard, Sony just introduced their new reader, the PRS-700. The big difference between it and the PRS-505, is a 6 inch touchscreen, faster processor, expanded memory, and a built in side-lighting. The biggest feature that is lacking: no wireless capability. That being said, the touchscreen should be an improvement as it allows for note taking and finger swipping for page

Tracking Stolen Laptops

2008-10-01T20:37:00.001-05:00

Recently there's been a lot in the news about people recovering their stolen laptops through remote tracking (i.e. NY victim uses remote to nab theft suspect). Several companies provide commercial products for tracking lost laptops including products like Computrace Lojack for Laptops and CyberAngel. There are also open source solutions such as Adeona, created by the University of Washington.

Head in the Clouds

2008-09-30T22:24:00.005-05:00

Here are some articles I forwarded to my team earlier today. The first is an interview with Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer. Mr. Mundie talks about composite computing and how the cloud becomes one aspect of it. The best quote: "People who started out and said, 'Hey, all software should just become a service,' started out with the misconception that the computing

I Just Had to Post This One

2008-09-23T21:09:00.002-05:00

The Moron Brothers on YouTube...and no I didn't make up the name. They are self proclaimed morons:

Great Open Source Article on Slashdot

2008-09-22T21:41:00.003-05:00

If you haven't seen this article on Slashdot, you should read it: Stanford Teaching MBAs How To Fight Open Source. Maybe B schools should spend more time teaching their MBA's how to embrace open source software instead of proprietary software? My favorite quote: "Glad to see that $48,921 that Stanford MBAs pay being put to good use. Having said that, such research is perhaps a great,

More on the Sony/Target Digital Reader Partnership

2008-09-22T11:21:00.002-05:00

Here's some more information on the Sony/Target partnership to sell Reader Digital Book products: cnetPC Magazine

ReThinking the Data Center

2008-09-22T11:06:00.006-05:00

Recently there have been some developments in building alternatives to the traditional data center. Google has filed for a patent of its floating data center. Intel is running a proof-of-concept data center using outside air. Now, we learn that Microsoft has been running a rack of servers in a tent outside one of their data centers...something that those of us involved in Boy Scouts can

Sony Reader Sighting

2008-09-19T21:33:00.005-05:00

Tonight, after waiting in line at Costco for 30 minutes for gas, my youngest son and I headed to a nearby Target. While wondering around Target, I say a Sony Reader display in electronics. Target is selling the Reader for $299. They also have several accessories, including prepaid eBook cards for the Sony eBook store. I picked up a cover with a built in light for mine. I think it's very

Creating Books "Old School Style"

2008-09-18T21:13:00.003-05:00

I thought you might enjoy the following video from the 1940's that shows the process of making a book. Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit.

Recent E-Reader/E-Ink Launches

2008-09-18T11:51:00.004-05:00

By now you've already seen or at least read about Esquire Magazine's 75th Anniversary cover with flexible e-Ink technology. If you're interested in this technology, here are some other eReader devices you should also be watching: Plastic Logic eReader. This device is supposed to launch in January. Polymer Vision Readius. A flexible pocket eReader. One of the big differences between these

From dotProject to Mingle

2008-09-17T21:23:00.004-05:00

As my development teams move to more toward Agile development methodologies, they found dotProject to be less than adequate. After a some research, they found and started using Mingle, an Agile Project Management tool. So far the reviews have been very positive.

Gibson EM-150 Pickup Rebuild

2008-09-17T21:00:00.005-05:00

I was researching my 1969 Gibson EM-150 mandolin on the web and found the following video on YouTube. This video shows Clint Searcy from Searcy String Works rebuilding a Katrina damaged P-90 mandolin pickup that I assume came from an EM-150 since it is the only Gibson that I'm aware of with this kind of pickup. Enjoy.

Just Because I Like the Banjo

2008-09-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

You're not a banjo player if you've never had something like this happen to you:

More to the Mythbusters and RFID Story

2008-09-03T16:27:00.006-05:00

Last week I posted a video about a Mythbusters episode on RFID security that was supposedly stopped by corporate attorneys. Here's a follow up to that story fromcnet.com. Here's a clarification from Adam Savage. No matter what, my sons and I remain faithful Mythbusters watchers.

MythBusters and RFID

2008-08-30T15:44:00.003-05:00

Considering RFID security. Here's a video of MythBusters' Adam Savage discussing some upcoming shows and why they aren't going to do an episode on RFID security.

Information Week Article

2008-08-28T09:20:00.007-05:00

Some interesting charts from John Soat's article: How Tomorrow's CIO Can Buck The Trend Of Waning Influence. The first concerns the most important attributes for a CIO: The second is about the major obstacles faced by today's CIOs:

Graph on eReader Formats

2008-08-20T21:26:00.001-05:00

I found the following graph on eBook dowloads by format: The source data comes from manybooks.net.

Becoming A Coaching Leader

2008-08-17T09:36:00.002-05:00

I've just finished an excellent book, Becoming a Coaching Leader, by Daniel Harkavy. Daniel is CEO of Building Champions, Inc., a company dedicated to building and improving leadership skills. Daniel's approach to coaching your team for the highest individual and group performance is excellent. I can't wait to start applying the material. To be fair, I need to let you know that Thomas Nelson, my

CIO Insights Slide Show on IT Project Failure

2008-07-30T22:29:00.004-05:00

CIO Insight recently posted a slideshow titled Why IT Projects Get Killed. They listed 5 major reasons for killing IT projects: Business needs changed: 30%Does not deliver as promised: 23%No longer a priority: 14%Exceeds budget: 13%Does not support business strategy: 7%The data was based on a recent survey of 167 IT executives.In my career, I've experienced most of these reasons at one time or

Google and the Mac

2008-06-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

From c/net Google gets serious about the Mac: "Google has long had a fondness for the Mac, with upwards of 6,000 of its 10,000 20,000 current employees opting to use the Mac over Windows." This is good news for people like me who use a mac as their primary development platform because it translates into more open source tools.

Engadget Interview with Jonathan Schwartz

2008-06-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

Just read the Engadget interview with Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO, on porting Java to the Google Android platform, and mobile platforms in general. According to Mr. Schwartz, not only is he using an iPhone, Sun's committed to delivering Java for the device. When asked about Google's Android platform, Schwartz turned attention to the upcoming JavaOne conference. Anyone who's used some of Google's

ComputerWorld Article on Leadership and WoW

2008-05-30T20:05:00.002-05:00

I was recently reading a ComputerWorld interview of Byron Reeves, Revenge of the gamers: World of Warcraft is honing tomorrow's leaders. Reeves is the Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication at Stanford University and a co-founder of Seriosity Inc. The article points to these reasons why business leaders should be playing online games: Why play games?Pace: Leaders often have to make

CIO Dashboard

2008-03-10T22:04:00.007-05:00

Recently I read the following InformationWeek article: Hunting the Elusive CIO Dashboard. As I read my heart began to race and I felt some panic. I didn't have a dashboard. Were other technology management professionals leaving me behind? Was there something I was missing? Did I even have any Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? What was wrong with my leadership that I didn't have a nifty tool to

Ubuntu/Tomcat 5.5 Issues

2008-01-14T20:56:00.001-06:00

I've been running Ubuntu Linux, specifically Feisty Fawn, and Tomcat 5.5 on a server at my house for a few months now. So far I've encountered only one issue: Tomcat5.5 doesn't start properly. In order to start it (once the startup.sh script has run), I've had to go to the /var/log/tomcat5.5 directory and sudo cat the catalina.out file. Doing so jump starts the tomcat console and messages start

dotproject: open source project management for the rest of us

2007-11-25T19:09:00.000-06:00

If you're in IT, chances are sooner or later you're going to be managing a project. And, if you're managing a project of any size, you need a set of tools to help. For those of you who use a PC running Windows whatever...you know who you are...Microsoft Project will probably be your tool of choice. And, if you're into the whole project management certification track, Microsoft Project makes a lot

Dice Project Management Article

2007-11-01T22:43:00.000-05:00

I recently read this project management article, Ten Skills for Project Management Success, on Dice.com (no I wasn't posting a resume) that might be of interest to some of you. I really like tip 6: Stay Away from Microsoft Project. I agree with the writer, if you want to quickly lose peoples' attention show them a complex gantt chart and some resource docs. While these tools are good for the

JavaFX Tricks: LookAndFeel

2007-07-28T18:34:00.000-05:00

Yes I know, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Over the last few months I've been working on some swing apps, installing ubuntu on a server at my house, and testing open source network monitoring software. During my time away, I've also been working with JavaFX...I'll blog more on this later. For now I want to leave you with a FX tip that I couldn't find on-line. To change the look and feel of

Exporting JTable data to Excel Revised

2007-02-26T10:03:00.000-06:00

Someone alerted me to a problem with my JTable exporting example. It seems with all the changes I've been making to my blog, I lost some of the code at the end of the example. It's been restored and can be found here: Tech Thoughts: Exporting JTable data to Excel. Rick.

Making a JTable Non Editable

2007-02-21T08:38:00.000-06:00

There are times when you want to display a JTable in your Swing app, but do not want to the user to be able to edit the cells. Here's a simple way to accomplish this task via the DefaultTableModel: DefaultTableModel model = new DefaultTableModel(6,7){ public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int column) { return false; } }; In the example above, I'm creating a DefaultTableModel

I love Simple Solutions

2007-02-09T21:49:00.000-06:00

While developing a a JTree TreeModel built from a MySQL database (I'll post an example later), I found the following simple approach for expanding all the nodes at once: for (int i = 0; i < tree.getRowCount(); i++) { tree.expandRow(i); // tree is your JTree component } Thanks Javalobby for providing this example.

Turning Servlets into Web Services

2007-01-31T21:23:00.000-06:00

Introduction It is relatively easy to build Java servlets that can parse and return XML documents with the help of the BorlandXML toolset found in JBuilder Developer and Enterprise editions. BorlandXML provides s a mechanism for extracting data from XML documents and creating XML documents using JavaBeans. In this article, we will use the BorlandXML toolset to build a servlet based web

Using the Preferences API

2007-01-30T21:34:00.000-06:00

Like many Java developers, I tend to find something that works for me and use it for years without researching better approaches. For example, I've used the Properties class for years to load and save configuration information in my Java programs. The Properties class works fine, but does have some drawbacks.Last week I stumbled across another API, the Preferences class, that's been available

Java Windowing Toolkit Poll

2007-01-10T13:10:00.000-06:00

New Blog "The Business of Technology"

2007-01-05T06:40:00.000-06:00

Over time, this blog has been going in a couple of different directions. From the emails/comments I've received, most who visit this blog are looking for solutions to specific Java or other technology issues. While some of my posts have been related to these issues, others have focused more on managing IT. So, starting today I'm launching a new blog The Business of Technology. This blog will be

Installing Eventum on Windows XP

2006-09-18T21:14:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I posted and entry about installing the MySQL Eventum project on Mac OS X. Having successfully created an Eventum test environment on my Mac, I needed to install a production instance of it on a Windows XP VMware server. As it turns out, this process can prove rather difficult unless you follow the steps below. Step 1: Install Apache 2.0 Installing Apache 2.0 is fairly

New Blog Format

2006-09-02T09:36:00.000-05:00

Those of you who have visited before may have noticed a change in the format of my blog. Having grown weary of making java code examples fit within the confines of Blogger's supplied templates, I decided to create one that better suits my needs. While not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing blog ever, it is more practical for showing code examples.

Exporting JTable data to Excel

2006-08-28T23:30:00.000-05:00

Recently I wanted to find a way to export JTable data to Excel. I found an excellent example of how to do this in Swing Hacks by Joshusa Marinacci and Chris Adamson. The authors show an example of saving JTable data to a tab delimited file with a ".xls" extension. The file can then be opened by Excel and converted to a spreadsheet. I liked their approach, but I also wanted to provide the

A Mac in a Windows World

2006-08-26T20:34:00.000-05:00

Remember that Mac commercial, no not that one, the other one. I'm talking about the one where the PC and Mac are holding hands to show how compatible they are. Never mind the disturbing image of the young woman pulling a picture from her backside. Nope, I'm talking about the compatibility thing. In general the Macs are compatible, but there are some challenges to running a Mac in a Windows world.

Installing Eventum on Mac OS X

2006-08-22T06:48:00.001-05:00

Last weekend while attempting to install Eventum, a MySQL/PhP based issues tracking system, on my Mac, I ran into a common problem. I say common because of the number of questions I found on the web relating to it. In order to successfully install the software, you have to modify your php.ini file and set allow_call_time_pass_reference = On...which turns out is not an easy task. First, it's not

Javax.comm Jar for Windows MIA

2006-06-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

It seems that Sun has removed the Javax.comm jar file for Windows from their site (no comment). Anyway, for those Windows developers out there, here's a link to it.

From 101 Geeky Things to Do With Your PC: Number 11

2006-04-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a computer geek. Not only that but I also hold a ham radio license. My callsign is KG4ZNV. Recently I downloaded a program developed by Simon Brown, HB9DRV called Ham Radio Deluxe. Using this program, I can control my Yaesu FT-817. For the uninitiated, the FT-817 is handy little portable radio that covers 160m - 70cm bands. Anyway, while playing with the software I found

Interesting Poll on Java Coders

2006-03-07T21:20:00.000-06:00

Geek nirvana...programmer paradise...whatever. Developers and those who manage developers have been looking for the "right" software development process for as long as there's been software to develop. Whole segments of the software industry have been built around the latest development process. A recent Java.net poll asked the question: What term best describes your software development process?

Borland To Drop JBuilder

2006-02-17T20:22:00.000-06:00

Those of you who've read my Java articles know that I'm a big fan of Borland's JBuilder IDE. Recently, though, my open systems development manager Nick vanMaarth has been working on me to switch to Eclipse. Personally I have nothing against Eclipse...it's just I've been using the JBuilder IDE for a long time and don't want to learn something new. Well it seems that Borland has helped Nick push me

Ajax in Action

2006-02-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading Ajax in Action by Dave Crane and Eric Pascarello. I was surprised to find that I'm already incorporating pieces of Ajax into sites I've developed...I just didn't know what I was doing had another name. And, if you're like me, you've been attempting to create rich (fat) client interfaces into your web applications using CSS, JavaScript, and DHTML for some time. The book's

Blackberry Blues

2006-01-26T22:29:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of ComputerWorld articles concerning the potential Blackberry injunction that I was recently interviewed for: Exemption for government BlackBerry users riles others facing shutdown and BlackBerry users 'wiggin' out' over RIM/NTP patent battle.

Java's Demise?

2005-12-23T15:01:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago BusinessWeek published an article titled: Java? It's So Nineties. The main points of the article are some somewhat questionable stats and comments about companies moving away from Java to .NET, PHP, LAMP, etc. At one point the article mentions that large web companies like Google do not rely on Java. Hmmm...I recall an interview last fall with a Google software engineer who

ComControl Bug Fix

2005-12-19T08:08:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago I wrote an article for the Borland Developer Network about the Java Communications API. Based on the hundreds of emails I've received about it, a lot of developers have read the article. I took the example java code from a real world scenario. However, I created a much less involved version for the article. This version contained a bug in the serialEvent() method. The

VoIP Challenges

2005-12-18T13:43:00.000-06:00

Information Week recently ran an article about VoIP Gotchas. If you're looking to make the switch from traditional PBXs and digital phones to a Voice over IP system, read this article. This year, we began implementing a VoIP phone system. Fortunately, my network team spent a good deal of time preparing for the installation and were ready for the issues. In preaparation for moving to a new system,

CIO Insight Article: Measure of Alignment Predicts Success

2005-12-09T12:07:00.000-06:00

In the Fall Alignment issue of CIO Insight magazine, there is a very good article on IT/business alignment. IT consultants Thomas Lodahl and Kay Lewis Reditt talk about measuring IT contribution to profit margins and earnings growth. In the article, Lodahl states "...profit margin is a great measure of performance, because it deals both with revenue growth and cost reduction." Some companies miss

Churches and Technology

2005-12-09T06:34:00.000-06:00

Last night I read a CIO Insights article titled Megachurch Megatech. As a sometimes web designer for my church's praise and worship service site, I was intrigued by the technology being used at the larger churches. According to the article, there are an estimated 1800 megachurches. Some of these churches have technology budgets of over $1 million. At my church, we get excited over simple things

CIO Article Bound to Fail

2005-11-11T20:54:00.000-06:00

I recently found an excellent article in CIO Magazine regarding the risk of maintaining legacy systems: Bound to Fail. Many companies today are still running back office operations on systems that are 20+ years old. It is hard to replace a trusted application running on mostly depreciated hardware, with a new application that may require extensive capital outlays, has an appreciable learning

Darwin Streaming Server

2005-08-23T22:32:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I began researching Java Media Framework and streaming. This research ultimately led me away from Java Media Framework to Apple's open source streaming server Darwin. After some experimentation, I've got Darwin up and running on Windows 2000. The biggest issue I've found is that Darwin's web based administration server interferes with the streams. No big deal really, just turn

Managing IT Investments

2005-04-29T06:46:00.000-05:00

In his April 2005 Strong Signals,column, John Parkinson writes: "Managing a portfolio of IT investments only gets harder when the benefits are unevenly distributed." I agree. It can be difficult to garner the capital required for investment in technologies that appear to have little or no short term ROI. Fortunately for me, I work in a company whose vision and strategy that includes IT

Server Virtualization: Back to the Future

2005-04-08T06:25:00.000-05:00

Server virtualization is a hot topic these days. As IT leaders balance the need for better server utilization with the need to maintain costs, they are turning to products like VMware. In a nutshell, VMware allows for the creation of virtual servers. Server virtualization is nothing new. 20 to 30 years ago mainframe providers like IBM were building software to allow their users to create virtual

JDatastore: A Small Footprint Java Database

2005-03-31T06:21:00.000-06:00

My DBA, Tim Caylor, recently started a blog about his DBA experiences called The Trenches. If you're interested in a small footprint pure Java SQL database take a look at his post on JDatastore.

Open Source RSS aggregation Classes

2005-03-30T21:23:00.000-06:00

A few months ago my team was approached by our president to develop a website that would serve as a aggregation for employee blogs. While working on this project, I came across Informa...a set of open source Java objects for aggregating RSS feeds. I used their classes to develop the prototype. My team, working with our web designers, did a much better job developing the full site which should be

Less Java Media Framework

2005-03-29T21:42:00.000-06:00

After a few frustrating weeks spent playing with the Java Media Framework (JMF), I give up. It's not that the player doesn't work...it does. It's not that you can't stream files...you can. It's just too much trouble. Tonight, I spent about 30 minutes installing Apple's Darwin Streaming Server (an open source implementation). It can be found here. The only drawback to Darwin is that it requires

Even More Java Media Framework

2005-03-20T22:05:00.000-06:00

I'm taking the week off to spend Spring break with my family. Hopefully as you are reading this, we're tooling around the Indiana countryside on dirt bikes, fishing, exploring caves, or just hiking in the woods. I'm also working on a little Java project while I'm out of the office. I can't tell you much about it yet (don't want to spoil the surprise), but it involves JMF and other Java APIs. By

ComputerWorld Article on VB6

2005-03-17T06:13:00.000-06:00

Carol Silwa, an editor at Computerworld contacted me to participate in a quick survey regarding Microsoft's decision to drop support for VB6. This is her article: Update: Users push Microsoft to extend VB6 support. One of the points I made in my comments to her was that Microsoft's history of not providing backward compatibility (within reason) helped drive our decision to use Java as our

Running IT Like a Business

2005-03-15T10:09:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I blogged a little about IT Metrics. While searching for information about IT metrics, I ran across this Computerworld article: Running IT Operations Like a Business Not So Easy, Execs Day. It makes some good points about chargeback systems. Over the course of my career, I've worked in chargeback and non-chargeback environments. Personally, I think having a chargeback system in

IBM's Frustration at the Java Community Process

2005-03-15T06:11:00.000-06:00

An interview with IBM's software chief Steve Mills on Java and IBM's direction What's Wrong with Java. I found the comments about IBM focusing on small to medium sized businesses interesting since small and medium sized businesses have been steering away from IBM.

CIO Insights Article

2005-02-24T06:36:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I was contacted by Debra D'Agostino, a writer for CIO Insight magazine, about the perception gap between the CIO and his or her lieutenants with regards to IT/business alignment. Her article Can a CIO Become too Strategic? is very good and worth your time if you are currently in an IT leadership role or considering one as a career choice.

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

2005-02-24T06:18:00.000-06:00

Here's a good Sarbox article from CIO Insight Magazine for those of you in smaller public companies: Sox Hurting Small Business?

Apologies to Lou Gerstner

2005-02-17T06:06:00.000-06:00

Last month I created a posting called Learning from the Past. In that post I inadvertently referred to Lou Gerstner as Lou Gersner. My apologies to Mr. Gerstner for misspelling his name. Rick.

What Happens When a Company is Defined by the CEO

2005-02-14T20:44:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting article in my local paper. From the Associated Press: A celebrity CEO rarely shines on the company's bottom line. It brings to mind something a professor told my grad school class. He said something like, "How do you know when a company's in trouble? When the CEO is spending more time on his or her image than on the business of the company." Then there was the CEO I used to

Outsourcing Java Projects to Students

2005-02-14T19:50:00.000-06:00

This morning I read a thought provoking editorial in the JDJ: Digital Edition titled Outsourcing to Students. While searching through computer science classes at various colleges, Yakov Fain found the same thing I have: it appears that very little Java is taught at the undergrad level. Mr. Fain talks about outsourcing projects to college students as opposed to outsourcing to developing countries

More Java Media Framework

2005-02-10T19:40:00.000-06:00

Spent some time with Java Media Framework this past week. Biggest complaint: not enough documentation. At least there's not enough good documentation. I'll admit that I haven't bought a book on JMF, but I've poured over articles, newsgroup entries, etc. A lot of people are talking about it...mostly from the client side. The link for the JMF API can be found here. If you try running some of the

Small Prejudices

2005-02-06T07:40:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning I went to the barber shop to get a haircut. I say barber shop because that's what it is. Not to be confused with a hair salon, the old fashioned barber shop I go to feels more like a sepia toned memory from my childhood. No pictures of models on the walls, abstract art, and no vanity fair or GQ magazines scattered around. You'll find no books filled with the latest hair styles.

Communication Problems

2005-02-04T01:14:00.000-06:00

A colleague forwarded me the following article from FoxNews.com: FBI Urged to Scrap Computer Overhaul. As I read the article I was reminded of similar, albeit smaller in scale, situations that I've seen over the years. Although I'm not personally familiar with this project, I'll bet the problems result from poor communication. Issues like this happen when the vendor doesn't take the time to

Java Media Framework

2005-02-03T19:34:00.000-06:00

I'm working with that Java Media Framework (JMF) this week. If I'm successful in building a streaming media server, I'll probably write an article on it. Or I may just provide the source code listing on this blog. If you're reading this and have an interest in JMF, email me and let me know. Also, if there's a Java topic that you would like me to write about, let me know that too. I'm always

IT Metrics

2005-01-31T22:04:00.001-06:00

Like many, I'm looking for better IT metrics. Translation: I need a better way to communicate IT to my company. I'm playing with various financial ratios to see if they make sense as a measure of IT performance; ratios like ROA and IT asset turnover. Expressing IT in financial ratio terms seems better to me than using some kind of IT productivity measurement. As you well know, IT productivity is

Upcoming Article on Creating Java Web Services

2005-01-30T14:32:00.000-06:00

I've just completed an article on turning servlets into web services for the Borland Developer Network. Click here for a sneak peek at the code.

Java Confession

2005-01-27T06:08:00.000-06:00

I have a confession to make about Java. As much as I like the language for its portability, features, etc., I hate Java Swing. I understand why Swing is the way it is. But, I don't have to like it. And I don't. The problem is in order to maintain the "write once run anywhere" philosophy, Swing adds a layer of complexity not present in platform specific GUI development languages. I'm not saying I

IT/Business Alignment

2005-01-25T21:58:00.000-06:00

I have a question for you: when did IT and business units fall out of alignment? In every organization I've worked for, IT existed at the behest of business units. Without a business need, there would be no need for an IT department...or at least one of any size. Yet in those companies, there we were serving business unit needs. Sometimes there were over 100 employees in IT and sometimes as few

Learning From the Past

2005-01-07T21:37:00.000-06:00

As I was recently reading the book "Why Smart Executives Fail: and What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes" by Sydney Finkelstein, I was reminded of when I worked for IBM in the early 90's. At that time, IBM was an incredibly large, bureaucratic nightmare of a corporation. I was hired by their recently formed technology services and outsourcing division, Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation or

Socket Programming in Java

2005-01-04T21:28:00.000-06:00

It's funny what you find on the Internet. Several months ago I submitted a couple of articles to Borland Developer Network. Receiving no communication back, I assumed that the articles were rejected. A couple of evenings ago I stumbled across a reference to one of the articles on the weblogs.java.net site. I was floored. It seems that Borland did decide to post the articles after all...they just

Windows Service Article

2005-01-03T22:15:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I sent one of my blog entries "Running Java Applications as a Windows Service" to the Borland Developer Network. Click here for the article.

The Java Communications API Revisited...

2004-12-08T22:07:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I wrote an article for the Borland Developer Network site (http://bdn.borland.com) on the Java Communications API. Since that time I've received numerous emails about the article. To those who've emailed me, thanks for your kind words. I've compiled the following FAQ based on some of your questions and my responses. If you're working with the Java Communications API, you might

More Than Java Development

2004-09-22T21:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been busy with a Great Plains implementation. Follow the link for an article about Great Plains that mentions my company. When It Rains... More on my thoughts about Microsoft Great Plains and VBA later.

Java Quick Tip of the Day: Reading non-Http Input Into a Servlet

2004-08-01T20:54:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wanted to read something other than the results of a get or a post into a servlet? It's not as difficult as you think. It's really just a matter of using the getInputStream() method of the HttpServletRequest object. Let's take a look at the following example: public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {

IT Strategy and IT Spending

2004-07-13T05:50:00.000-05:00

First, let me apologize in advance for spelling mistakes I make this morning. I am writing this from my BlackBerry. I'm watching an early morning storm out over the Gulf of Mexico...glad that I'm not on a boat somewhere in the middle of it. But I digress... In the 80's and 90's no one would dare create an IT strategy without including double digit percentage increases in IT spending. While

Java Quick Tip of the Day: Using HashMaps

2004-06-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

The next time you have to create a simple lookup table in Java, try using a HashMap. HashMap is part of the java.util package. It is an interface for storing objects as key-value pairs. HashMap is typically used for storing object relationships. Take a look at the following example: import java.util.*; public class HashTest { static HashMap qbLookup; public static void main(String[]

Sockets: Basic Client-Server Programming in Java

2004-06-22T15:10:00.000-05:00

For a how-to on socket programming in java, see my article Sockets: Basic Client-Server Programming in Java.

Do You Need a Change?

2004-06-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

When do you know that it is time to either change your attitude or leave your company? That is a hard question to answer, but there are warning signs. Ask yourself the following: Do you hate coming to work each day? Do you find excuses to be out of the office? Do others consider you hostile and defensive? Are you always upset? Have you had these feelings for more than 6 months? If you've

Is Information Technology Becoming a Commodity?

2004-06-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Does IT Matter? by Nicholas Carr. He argues that IT is going to go the way of railroads, electricity, etc. Meaning that information technology will become a commodity...a cost of doing business. In my opinion a lot of factors have to fall into place for this situation to occur. First, availability of broadband Internet services has to be cheap, reliable, and less prone to

Java Quick Tip of the Day: Getting the Date in YYYYMMDD Format

2004-06-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

There are times when you need to return a date as string in YYYYMMDD format. Here's a simple way to do it: import java.text.*; ... ... ... SimpleDateFormat sf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd"); java.util.Date date = java.util.Calendar.getInstance().getTime(); System.out.println(sf.format(date));

Java Quick Tip of the Day: Selecting Current TimeStamp for DB2

2004-06-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

There are times when you may want multiple programs to retrieve a current timestamp from a central location. This can be accomplished by selecting the timestamp from a database server. To return the current timestamp from DB2 execute the following query: ResultSet rs; rs = stmt.executeQuery("select distinct(current timestamp) from sysibm.sysdummy1"); rs.next();

Java Quick Tip Of the Day: Character Encoding and ResultSets

2004-06-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

We recently ran into a problem where a Java program running on our IBM enterprise server was unable to properly display strings returned from a Microsoft SQL Server table. The problem was due to character encoding. Because of the SQL Server table definition, the JDBC driver was not translating the ASCII values in the string returned from a ResultSet.getString() method to EBCDIC. The solution.

My Company's IT Direction

2004-06-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

The following link is one of my on-line postings in response to an article on open source development: Open Source

RMI: Distributed Java For the Rest of Us

2004-06-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Follow the link to read my RMI article on Borland's Developer Network site. RMI Article

Running Java Applications as a Windows Service

2004-06-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

Introduction Have you ever needed to run a Java class unattended on a Windows server? There are various ways to accomplish this task. By far, the best alternative is to run your Java class as a Windows service. One of the easiest tools I’ve found for turning classes into services is the open source Java Service Wrapper project from Tanukisoftware.org (http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.org

The Java Communications API

2004-06-11T08:41:00.000-05:00

Follow the link below to read my article on the Java Communications API posted on the Borland Developer Network. Java Communications API