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This Code is Your Code, This Code is my CodePosted by Harold.DeArmas in Software at 14:58 | Friday, August 31. 2007
Upon running my daily blogging circuit, I came across this article that really hit home with me and I feel compelled to share. Go ahead and read it, and if you'd like, read my comments on it.
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/08/21/4486197.aspx Continue reading "This Code is Your Code, This Code is my Code" Comprehensive Protection from Identity ThievesPosted by Chris Hill in Hot Topic at 06:59 | Thursday, August 30. 2007A few months ago Chris Hansen of NBC's Dateline decided to "Catch an ID Thief". It was amazing at how complex the network of identity thieves became as they dug deeper into this black market. This particular show was a year in the making. They created a fake ecommerce website to sell goods to track the use of credit card fraud and get face to face with the people purchasing the goods. They were introduced to an online black market of selling and buying credit information through IRC-like mediums. Entire credit files could be purchased within minutes for less than $100, including credit card numbers along with expiration date and the 3-digit CVV number. This network was found to span the globe, using numerous middlemen and even unsuspecting innocent people. These middlemen would receive the packages and re-ship the items overseas. One unsuspecting man believed himself to be working for a South American supermodel whom he was in love with. With a network of fraud as advanced and widespread as this, how can you prevent identity theft? Much of it is common sense practices and being aware of your surroundings. I've compiled a comprehensive list of ways to help you protect yourself from identity theft.
Remember, be cautious and always aware of your surroundings even when in your favorite restaurants. Thieves are everywhere, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. It's not a matter of if, but when. Will you be ready? Work here, Win a free Nintendo Wii!Posted by kevin in Grab Bag at 13:11 | Wednesday, August 29. 2007
Are you looking for a fun and exciting place to work? How about a place that gives away video game systems and iPods to its employees in various contests?
I started working at PC-Doctor in January of this year. During the past several months, I have worked hard and have had a ton of fun. During the short time that I have been here, there have been:
You might be thinking: 'This sounds great, but what kind of people would I work with?' I have worked in the software industry for over 7 years and am amazed at how energetic, friendly (and normal!) the people are here. We all work towards common goals and objectives as a team. We are always willing to help each other out. This is a real team environment without the bureaucracy and politics I've seen and heard of far too often. We are always on the look out for bright and talented people to join us. We tend to be picky in order to keep the environment the way it is and to ensure we find the best talent possible. If you think you might fit in, please visit our careers page today! Staying Connected: Ford Sync.Posted by Chris Hill in Grab Bag at 06:00 | Tuesday, August 28. 2007[display_podcast]Microsoft Auto + Ford Sync = Sweet Innovation OR Highway Blue Screens of Death? According to Microsoft.com, Microsoft Windows Automotive 5.0 is an automotive-grade open software platform that provides OEMs, suppliers, and developers with the building blocks they need to quickly and reliably create a broad range of advanced in-vehicle solutions that meet the growing needs of automotive consumers. Ford Sync is Ford's exclusive new fully integrated, voice-activated, in-car communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital music players. This system is said to be one of the most advanced systems available today. Ford's banking on the notion that others will feel the same as it will initially be available in 12 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles this year. The great thing about the system is that it can be operated using voice alone, controlling cell phones, iPods, Zunes, USB storage devices, and more. Alternatively, devices can be controlled using the vehicle's steering wheel mounted controls. The system is flash memory-based and provides two methods of connectivity, Bluetooth and USB 2.0. Supported media formats include MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, and PCM. It's comprised of an ARM 11 processor, 64MB of DRAM and 256MB of flash memory. An informational display is provided on a small screen on the face of the stereo console or embedded in the instrument cluster. Ford Sync will first be seen on these vehicles: 2008 Ford Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, Edge, Freestyle, Explorer and Sport Trac; Mercury Milan, Montego and Mountaineer; and Lincoln MKX and MKZ. It will be included in all Ford vehicles in the near future. Listed below are the initial features according to Ford's press release. Since the system is entirely software based, it's easily upgradeable via it's USB port -- Ford Sync Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3 -- you get the picture.
Wow! If this system performs as promised, Ford might have a winner on their hands. Sync, in conjunction with their new vehicle lineup, is exactly what Ford needs to stay on track with their restructuring plan. The voice recognition software, provide by Microsoft, is a similar system to those provided in numerous Honda and Acura vehicles, all of which received high marks for intelligence. Obviously within the next few years all vehicles will offer similar systems as drivers demand they stay connected with their expensive hand held devices. I also think this is great for those people (you know who you are) that like to dodge and weave through rush hour traffic, all while carrying on that important conversation on their cellphone. Now you can dodge and weave with two hands on the wheel instead of one! I am surprised that Ford didn't offer a large hard drive for storage. Hopefully, Ford was smart enough to separate the vehicle systems. If Microsoft Auto decides to blue screen am I going to lose my entire entertainment/audio system? Will the stereo/CD player continue to work? More importantly, will the vehicle continue to operate? This may give a whole new meaning to the infamous Windows blue screen of death. We'll have to wait and see. It might be a while for me, I'm looking at the new F-150 for my next vehicle and it most likely won't be available until 2009 Google Web Toolkit: First ImpressionsPosted by fred.bertsch in Software at 08:36 | Monday, August 27. 2007
I've starting converting a complex web app from being purely JavaScript and browser plugin based to using the Google Web Toolkit for the JavaScript part of the project. See my previous blog post about this.
Unfortunately for me, this project is not high enough priority to play with it for long periods of time. However, I have managed to start work and get some basic functionality working. It was certainly interesting! I'm going to comment on a few of my first impressions. I'll state a strong opinion now, but I reserve the right to change it completely as I get more experience with the library and tools. Speaking of Tools...Wow. This is really slick. You get to debug the Java code directly without looking at the JavaScript that it compiles to! Eclipse is a great editor for Java code, and GWT integrates nicely with it. The debugger is nice, the compiled code looks good, and the warnings and errors that the development web server generates are extremely helpful. This is probably the strongest selling point for me with GWT. Don't touch the DOM!This was a shock to me. The web browser's DOM is an extremely efficient place to store information about the document you're displaying. A heck of a lot of effort has gone into making this efficient and safe. CSS is an extremely powerful tool that is closely coupled to the document's DOM. GWT's designers don't want you to touch the DOM, though. GWT gives programmers only limited abilities to write to the DOM, and they work extremely hard to make it difficult to read the DOM. For example, the DOM.setAttribute call can be used to assign a id attribute to an HTML tag. That sounds like a really useful call, doesn't it? I could use that to make it easy for our graphic artist to design some CSS to describe the appearance of the application. It's deprecated, though. You're not supposed to use it. GWT is not for documents.I shouldn't be too harsh to GWT about the DOM, though. This might be obvious, but GWT is for complex, full featured applications that happen to reside in your web browser. It's not for displaying documents. There are some corners of the library that allow you to put HTML directly wherever you want to, and I suspect they work great. They should even work with an external CSS file. An application is not a document, and I might be having trouble getting over that. I'll get back to you later when I form a stronger opinion. Writing JavaScript directly?If you want to do something that simply cannot be done through GWT, you're in luck. GWT has a JavaScript Native Interface that is analogous to Sun's JNI. It works great! I use it extensively to talk to my browser plugin, for example. It's easy to use, and it doesn't screw up the tools any more than they should be. This, of course, allows you to create whatever back door you want to allow you to manipulate the DOM. However, until I get a better understanding of the GWT techniques, I'm going to try to do things the GWT way. I may have more to say on this subject later. There are back doors to get there, but it's not a real GWT application if you rewrite their tools to do it your way. Instead, you do things the SWIG way. GWT == SWIGYes, that's right. GWT has more in common with a SWIG application than a JavaScript/DOM/CSS application. Is that bad? It's certainly a great thing if you like SWIG. I don't have much experience with it, so I don't yet have a strong opinion. However, I do think it's a great idea to emulate a well used framework instead of writing a completely new one. There are a lot of SWIG developers and ex-SWIG developers out there, and I'd guess that they'll feel pretty comfortable in this framework. Documentation?The documentation is fine, and I shouldn't complain about it. However, I could have really used this blog post before I'd started. If you start out as a native JavaScript/Prototype/Ruby on Rails developer like I did, then what I've said here is not completely obvious. The Google group is great, though. I've gotten responses to my queries immediately. Another Way to Run Windows Applications on LinuxPosted by travis in Software at 09:50 | Friday, August 24. 2007[display_podcast]At some point most Linux desktop users do end up needing or wanting to run a Windows program. There are some Windows apps that are arguably better than the Linux equivalent or that are required for some specific tasks. For instance, when working on a website I like to make sure that it will display properly in Mozilla browsers like Firefox and also in Opera and Microsoft Internet Explorer. To do this many Linux users end up dual-booting or setting up WINE to run the program. Dual booting has obvious draw-backs, you can't run Windows and Linux apps side-by-side, nor can you probably even access the same files in Windows that you had access to on your Linux desktop. It's also a waste of time to watch your computer reboot every time you have to switch between Linux and Windows. WINE has its own fair share of problems too. It can be slower and is often difficult (or nearly impossible) to setup and get Windows programs running with. For my own purposes I have found an alternate solution. I run a full Windows OS in a virtualized Vmware or Xen environment. Then I export applications individually using rdesktop and a modified server side component for RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). This allows me to export just one or more applications rather than working on a Windows desktop inside a window on my Linux desktop. The individual applications show up in kicker (the KDE taskbar) just like Firefox and Open Office do. I can copy and paste from one to another or from Windows applications to Linux applications . Most apps work this way, the only one that I've had real trouble with is cmd.exe which refuses to display properly. Continue reading "Another Way to Run Windows Applications on Linux" The "Wave" of the FuturePosted by Chris Hill in Grab Bag at 08:10 | Thursday, August 23. 2007
Wristband access linking families with their children, wired trash cans, Wi-Fi on the sand, radio-frequency identification chips (RFID), parking spot monitors and reporting, all coming to a beach in Ocean City, New Jersey at the cost of $3 million.
The beach will require ALL visitors to wear a wristband, costing $5/day, $10/week, or $20/summer. These wristbands can be linked with each other which might prove popular for parents. If the wristbands leave the beach without the parent wristband a text message is sent to the parent's cell phone. This is the type of scenario where I can agree with tracking your children. Read my previous post, "Keeping them safe or making them vulnerable."It's temporary and in a crowded, relatively dangerous, public place. It would also be nice if a text message was sent when children got near the water. This might help prevent accidental drownings. The wristbands will also automatically debit their bank accounts when using food, parking, and other paid amenities on the beach. Not sure of the security behind this, but this might worry me a bit. Hopefully, it's optional. The beach will have Wi-Fi internet access so you can carry on those important Skype conversations with the execs back in the office while enjoying the crashing waves and sun beating down on your face. In fact, the entire beach community is going to be wired. The trash bins will send email alerts when they need to be emptied and the parking lots will display how many parking spots are available and where they're located (that's a cool feature!). City officials will know how many people are on the beach at any given time. And of course, they're using solar power to deliver energy to the trash cans and signs. The same privacy concerns that are always an issue come into question here. I'm sure the city will track your every move, including the purchases you make, how many beers you drink, and how often you frequent the restroom. I guess we have to ask ourselves, when out in public, our we ever really private? What information should remain private and what information is fair game, if any? Regardless, I fear that we'll have to get used to this. Next, our shopping malls, employers, and the roads we drive on will all be tracking our every move. After all, it is the Wave of the future. Isn't technology great... Microsoft Vista Satisfaction (Or Not), Part DeuxPosted by Doug V in Software at 09:58 | Wednesday, August 22. 2007[display_podcast]My experience with Microsoft Vista reminds me of a comment that I heard (and captured) by David Pogue, the tech columnist for the New York Times. In an on-camera interview with 60 Minutes about the growth in the PC service market, David said: �Part of the problem [with PCs] is that there are so many cooks � Microsoft made the operating system, some company in Taiwan made the equipment, you�re running software from a company in California, and now you're installing the driver for a digital camera from a fourth company. You know, what are the odds that all of these are going to work flawlessly together for all 400 million people who have PCs? Zip." This week, my system did some wacky things that have even boggled our very experienced IT guy. First, I updated a video driver (see results in the jpg). Never in my 30 years have I ever seen a screen flip upside down. Pretty crazy stuff. ![]() Next, I tried to install a new optical mouse (the old one had an annoying stutter step when you tried to move it too finely). It asked me if I wanted to find the driver, which is weird because it is a NEW MICROSOFT BASIC OPTICAL MOUSE!!! Then, I�d get an annoying message that it couldn�t install the required software. These two odd things would likely be highly entertaining if it wasn�t for the time I�ve had to waste (and that of our IT expert) with these issues and others � another blue screen, continued application hangs (though less frequent) and a reboot on average of every second or third day. I have found that there seems to be a correlation of problems when I use my Sprint card, but nothing that I can duplicate to discover the final solution. A pool has started now in the office: How long before Doug chucks Vista and asks for a downgrade (upgrade?) to Windows XP. You�re all invited to play. The only prize is bragging rights. Interns, Where are You?Posted by ken in Grab Bag at 09:31 | Wednesday, August 22. 2007[display_podcast]When the PC-Doctor engineering office was in Davis, CA, between 2000 and 2003, we had a steady flow of top-notch software development interns. When we posted for them we could pick from numerous great candidates. The interns worked 15 to 20 hours per week during the year - tough as a CS student, but if you need to work or want great experience, internships are great. Several of our interns became full-time employees. This arrangement was great for everyone. The interns were paid very well ($15+ /hr) to do professional software development. The benefit to students is amazing, as the top differentiator between recent grads in an interview is experience as a professional software development intern. Although the interns had a lot to learn, they were productive and helpful on key projects. We got to �test drive� them and had a pool to draw from when we needed full-time employees. In 2003 PC-Doctor moved to Reno, NV and getting interns has been much harder. A lot has changed since 2000-2003. The job market is much tighter. We are drawing from UNR instead of from UCD. UCD has a bigger and better CS program and, since Davis is a small town, internships are sought-after. On the other hand, PC-Doctor is a bigger fish at UNR and some of my top engineers are UNR alum, so I know top-notch talent comes form UNR. I am puzzled as to why more interns have not applied for our internships and made it through our hiring process. The benefits to all are amazing. We have posted on www.pc-doctor.com and the UNR web site, and we have participated in every career fair since we moved to Reno. Our hiring process is tough but realistic. We understand what students know. Any ideas on how to get more interns. OR, if you are looking for an internship or know someone who is, let me know. |