Latest [latestproductreview] from SYS-CON MEDIA

Windows XP Installation Issues on ACPI Enabled System

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:52:00 EST

ACPI or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface is an industry power management specification. It enables an operating system to control the amount of power required to be given to each device that is connected to the computer system. Thus, it eliminates device management responsibilities for firmware interfaces. However, when ACPI is enabled, your system BIOS might create issues. These problems are typically observed when you try to install Windows XP on your computer. You might be compelled to perform clean installation of Windows XP in such cases to solve the problem. Since the process deletes all the data that is stored on the hard disk, you will need to restore it from the recent data backup available. At times, backup might prove incompetent to restore the required files and folders. To cope up with such problems, you need to use an efficient data recovery tool that could extract the data thus lost

Plone and Drupal: Different Approaches, Different Results

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:15:00 EST

Plone and Drupal are two leading open source Content Management Systems (CMS). Both were recognized in the 2009 Open Source CMS awards, run by Packt Publishing. Both also have large installed bases and large developer communities. This is made evident by some quick searching on Google: A search for LinkedIn profiles that mention Plone (search for 'plone site:linkedin.com/pub/') turns up 1350 pages—a large increase from 500 results in 2006.

IBM CloudBurst and WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance Compared

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:00:00 EDT

What is a cloud computing platform? Is it simply automated provisioning systems coupled with a resource virtualization, where the workload is policy driven, and resources over committed and any resource contention handled by policy driven resolution? As it turns out technologies that provide provisioning, virtualization and policy enforcement form the building blocks of a true cloud computing platform, but not any one technology is a cloud offering in and of it self. IBM’s CloudBurst family attempts to provide a single cloud solution with an appliance form factor. This paper will discuss, and draw differences between IBM CloudBurst and WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance (WCA). So why an appliance? An appliance is generally considered a computing device with specific function and limited configuration capability. An appliance delivers the hardware and all the requisite software in one package, ready for use with minimal configuration. The appeal of an appliance is in its simplicity and ease of use. Both of the IBM cloud offerings, IBM CloudBurst and WCA embarks upon the notion of simplicity and provide an appliance which is purposeful and self contained. While these two offerings are distinct and have a specific role in enterprise cloud environments, together they aim to fit in any enterprise class cloud environment.

Kindle 2 vs Nook

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EDT

Barnes & Noble just recently unveiled their upcoming eReader, the Nook. On the blog of my non-techy alter-ego I've posted a comparison of the two readers that is entirely based on my own personal feelings of what is cool and what isn't, so take it as opinion and certainly not as a technical review. Click here to check out the blog post.

The Multi-Domain Registry/Repository

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Now think about how organizations are starting to rely on Cloud-based services, such as Amazon S3 (storage) and Force.com (sales force automation). These services are not on-premises SOA service, so they are not in the SOA registry/repository. But the organization relies on these services! This means that the registry/repository does not contain a full compliment of the services which are used by an organization.

Can AT&T Handle the Truth?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:00:00 EDT

I have a good one, did you hear the joke about the telco who promised everything and started falling apart at the seems because we wanted it all? This may be the curse of AT&T.

Reporting Solutions Using Crystal Reports for Eclipse

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:15:00 EDT

SAP (Business Objects) has recently released Crystal Reports for Eclipse version 2.0 to provide reporting solutions for Java-based applications. This is available as free to use (within an organization) and has the advantage that it is built on the most tested and reliable component (Java Reporting Component in Crystal Reports) that has been in market for quite a few years now. This article discusses the features of CR4Ev2.0, usability of its designer and API, and starting off with an overview of Crystal Reports product architecture.

WebLogic Server - Identity vs Trust Keystores

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EDT

In computing most technologies have lots of terms and acronyms to learn, it's par for the course, you get used to it. However in computer security the frustration is multiplied as there are often many different terms that mean the same thing. It makes implementing security hard, because understanding it is hard, and I'm not surprised why security is considered badly implemented because the average Joe will struggle (and for the record I'm the average Chris so I struggle too ;-).

I've been trying recently to get straight in my head what is stored in the WLS identity and trust keystores, and what the difference between identity and trust is anyhow. Thanks to kind assistance from Gerard Davison, I think I can now post my understandings, and as usual, hopefully the post is helpful to other readers. As noted however security to me is a difficult area, and so be sure to check the facts here, your mileage with this post may vary.

The following WLS documentation attempts to explain the concepts of identity and trust:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E12839_01/web.1111/e13707/identity_trust.htm#i1170342

...in ripping out one of the core paragraphs, with a slight rewrite of my own we can see the concept of identity, and how it relates to the public and private keys:

"The public key is embedded in a digital certificate with additional information describing the owner of the public key, such as name, street address, and e-mail address *as well as the hostname*. *Along with this the digital certificate containing the public key, and the separate related private key, provide identity for the server*."

...ultimately to identify the server, to assert the server is who the server says it is.

The digital certificate containing the public key is also referred to as the "server certificate", as for example in 1-way-SSL traffic between the server and client, the server certificate containing the public key is what is initially passed to the client.

There is a missing piece in the puzzle. Regardless that the digital certificate states the owner of the public key, their name and so on, how does a client know that the "identity" asserted by the digital certificate is true? That's where Certificate Authorities (CAs) come in.

Ignoring self signed digital certificates, a typical digital certificate used on the internet containing the public key and owner details is signed by a trusted CA who has verified the identity of the owner. Presumably when purchasing digital certificates from CAs, this is what some of the cost covers, the CAs research into ensuring that the identity details embedded in the digital cert are actually true.

At runtime on receiving the digital certificate, the client checks the CA and if the CA is one that the client trusts (or a CA in a chain of trusted CAs), then the identity of the server is established/verified.

Thus the "identity" of the server is established by what's stored in the "identity" keystore, and its contents are what are farmed out to clients establishing secure connections with the server, who then verify the supplied digital certificate's CA against the clients own list of trusted CAs. The "identity keystore" is also referred to as the "server keystore", because it establishes the server's identity (ie. I am who I say I am).

WLS side note: As mentioned the digital certificate also includes the host name of the server, or in other words the digital certificate is pegged to that server and that server alone. This implies on that server with its relating digital certificate, *all* of the applications will share that single digital certificate for secure communications. Occasionally a requirement will arise where each application must have its own digital certificate. In WLS because keystores are configured under an individual WLS "managed server", if you have two separate applications, it is not possible to use separate digital certificates for each in one managed server. The solution is to create another managed server with its own keystores.

WLS web service side note: Following on from the previous side note, for web services that use in-message encryption and digital signatures, there is often the requirement for multiple different digital certificates. Under WLS to provision the WS-Security model, WLS has a separate Web Service Security Configuration (WSSC) to provision this setup.

Finally regarding the trust keystore, what is its job in all of this? The trust keystore is typically used for storing CA digital certificates, essentially the CAs who will be used to check any digital certificates that are given to the server at runtime (just the same as the client did above). In the standard 1-way-SSL between a client and the WLS server, the trust keystore doesn't come into the equation as the client has its own trust keystore (containing the CAs) and the server has nothing to verify. Yet in the case of mutual SSL (aka. 2 way SSL) between the client and server, the client and server actually swap each other digital certificates to establish identity of both parties, and in this case the server must be able to test the identity of the client through the CA of the client's digital certificate.

Mutual SSL side note: the setup of mutual SSL is more complicated than this. Readers are advised to refer to the following Oracle article.

Final author's note: if any readers find anything particularly wrong with the ideas presented in this post I'd be keen to hear them please. As I've really only experience with 1-way-SSL, it's hard to know if what I've said applies to the concepts of mutual SSL and other security configurations.

The Difference Between Web Hosting and Cloud Computing

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:15:00 EDT

Yesterday a friend of mine was asking me what I've been doing lately in my spare time. When I mentioned that I'd been doing a lot of messing around with Windows Azure, he was naturally curious. After explaining what Azure is, he asked me what the difference was between Windows Azure, a cloud computing environment, and traditional web hosting scenarios. On a really high level, he's got a valid point : With Azure you can develop your application offline locally and then when you're done you can publish it to a remote host. To the casual observer, this looks exactly like what you might do with a web hosting company that provides space on an IIS box and let's you use ASP.NET and maybe even a little SQL server database.

Product Evaluation: JBoss TCO Calculator

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Are you still using expensive, proprietary middleware? Tired of rising license costs? Enterprises such as Priceline.com, Citistreet, and many more have decided there is a better way. There are compelling reasons to switch to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform including more capability for less cost, no vendor lock-in, award-winning support, performance, and modular architecture that enables superior agility and flexibility.

Publishing Synergy: Blog, Twitter and Ulitzer

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:45:00 EDT

In the six months we've been using Ulitzer, the platform has definitely demonstrated its value in the delivery of true publishing synergy with new media. Through it, we have built an effective, responsive and fiscally conservative customer outreach program. Industry thought leadership, as measured by article readership, has exceeded all expectations. We look forward to future enhancements and will certainly leverage the many other related offerings.

PowerBuilder 12 .NET Review

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Yakov Werde has just written an article on DevX, which looks at the new version of Sybase's long running and successfull RAD development tool... PowerBuilder. 'A dormant giant gets a new lease on life as a .NET-compatible development environment.' I dont know if I totally agree with him on the use of dormant, as there are still many customers continuing to use PB, but the rest of his statement...how right he is, as PowerBuilder 12 .NET includes new features such as...

Eclipse Europa 3.3.2 Integration with SCM Tools

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Presently, I am the administrator of SCM AllFusion Harvest. SCM AllFusion Harvest is a process-based Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool for managing application source code. I manage 121 applications housed in SCM AllFusion Harvest and support 185 users using the product. The development tools we currently use are PowerBuilder PBV8, PBV11; Visual Studio 2003, 2005, 2008; and Java.

Delphi 2009 Development Essentials Reviewed

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Robert Meek has written a book review about my Delphi 2009 Development Essentials, which is sold as paperback from Lulu.com, or offered as free bonus for anyone who purchases Delphi or one or more courseware manuals in PDF format from me.

Developer Tools Update

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:15:00 EDT

NetBeans IDE 6.7.1 with JavaFX and JetBrains Web IDE Early Access are ready for download. In their own words here are some of the benefits these releases deliver. An update to the 6.7 release release that is integrated with Project Kenai, a collaborative environment for developers to host open-source projects. With Kenai and the NetBeans IDE, a team of developers is able to create projects, check out, edit, debug, build, discuss, and commit code, all through one easy-to-use interface.

Get Ready to Meet the Latest LG Mobile Phones

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:32:55 EDT

Different leading handset manufacturers are there in the market like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG and many more. They all are trying to gain more popularity with their latest models. Among these brands, LG company is known to launch their handsets with gorgeous look and advanced features. As such LG Mobile Phones have created exclusive likeness among the worldwide phone users.

RSS Biscuit and Database Caching

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:45:00 EDT

This recently launched feature has been improved: If a RSS feed has not been retrieved and cached by Netbiscuits yet, the end user will get a page which refreshes automatically to see the RSS content as soon as it becomes available. Download the Netbiscuits Getting Started Guide "Integration of Dynamic Content Feeds"

Latest Netbiscuits Device Updates

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Netbiscuits added many devices to their database within the last month: Three Skypephone S2 (Amoi 8709), Nokia 5730 (XpressMusic), LG LG265 (Rumor 2), Toshiba W62T,Sharp SH902i, Kyocera A5528K Sanyo A5522S and- Samsung GT-S8000 (Jet), among others.

Nokia N97 Mini Leaked

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:15:00 EDT

Last month a Vodafone employee let slip the N97 would be getting a smaller counterpart, but obviously this wall was all rumours. Apparently though he was right and pictures and information have “leaked” onto t’internet. The noticeable difference is the smaller screen and chassis. The D-Pad on the keyboard has been removed and the 32GB of memory has apparently been dropped to 8GB although you can still upgrade no doubt with microSD.

No Money In Voice – Welcome 4G!

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:15:00 EDT

The last five years has seen unprecedented change in communications. The European consumer has a plethora of handset choices and packages. The average handset has evolved from the humble voice-box, to the total media centre. As a result thousands of start-up companies are profiting out of the sector’s advances, supplying the various add-ons which inevitably accompany any new wave of technology.

What To Do About iPhone Security Concerns

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:15:00 EDT

Two recent security scares regarding the iPhone have brought renewed attention to the iPhone readiness for business use. In one case Forbes.com author Andy Greenburg garnered a lot of attention with his " How to Hijack Every iPhone In the World " story. This describes an SMS exploit that will be exposed at the Black Hat CyberSecurity event in Las Vegas this week. "Researchers say they'll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone's functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking."

Mobile Application Stores: What's the Operator's Play

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:45:00 EDT

Mobile application uptake-it isn't only about iPhones. Sure Apple's App Store now offers over 65,000 applications, and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion iPhone and iPod touch applications in the 1st year since launch. But while getting a late start, other mobile application storefronts are trying to catch up. In the 3 months since launch, RIM's BlackBerry App World has 2,000 applications ready for download. The Nokia Ovi Store is leveraging (and paying 70% revenue share to) the large Symbian developer community to create new applications for its user base. At the myTouch 3G launch, Google announced that there are more than 5,000 applications in the Android Marketplace. Recently joining the party is the LG Application Store, initially targeting markets in Asia.

Google Latitude Hits the iPhone

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Love the thought or loathe the thought, Google Latitude is now available for the iPhone in US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and I'm sure that those folks worried about privacy will be in the latter group. Google latitude runs in the iPhone's Safari Browser and can be saved as a Bookmark onto the iPhone's desktop. So updates to your location, via the iPhone, will only happen when that webpage is opened on the device (as there are no user background tasks in the iPhoneOS). Updating schemes are different for other supported devices such as Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android etc.

App Store Will Have to Evolve

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

This week I have been monitoring a few stories which all link together really nicely, with respect to the continued growth in Mobile Applications and developer education. It is my belief that the level of Mobile Applications will increase... as Apple state, "there's an app for just about anything'" and it is the 'just about' that in itself is driving iPhone users to demand more! I also think that this increase, in the level of Mobile applications, will also drive an increase in the usefulness of each application. I'm going to sound like a Grumpy Old Man and say that I will happily wave goodbye to a reduction in the numbers of the novelty applications. As the iPhone picks up speed in the Enterpise especially through 3rd Party companies such as Sybase, I think we will see applications developed that put an even sharper edge on this most sought after device, turning it into the ultimate business weapon.

Rich Content Rotator for ASP.NET

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:45:00 EDT

Web developers are always on the lookout for great products to add dynamic effects to their Web pages. Dynamic pages, often called DHTML pages, make use of slide shows, random content rotation, and news scrollers, and are generally developed using languages such as Visual Basic, Java, JavaScript, and VBScript.

The Trouble With Testing Mobile

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EDT

We hear it from over and over from countless customers, QA managers and testers: getting mobile apps tested is tough. Compared to mobile, the worlds of web and desktop apps are mature and stable: standards have emerged, the OS and browser universe is more mature, testing tools and best practices have been established (even though they’re always evolving). Mobile, on the other hand, is still early in its overall lifecycle, so development and testing aren’t yet fully baked. With that in mind, I came across an article from CNET yesterday titled, Testing the iPhone 3Gs (or why the phone gods hate product testers. This piece underscores the difficulties that confront companies (even the well-equipped experts at the CNET labs) when trying to test mobile devices and apps.

Visual Studio 2008 Integration with SCM Tools

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

This article describes the integration between the SCM AllFusion Harvest Version Control Interface (VCI) and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for version control. It will show how to make the necessary connections using the interface, demonstrate check-outs and check-ins, how to delete files in proper order using SCM tools, demonstrate file comparison and how to exclude files, add new files, load the initial baseline via the Visual Studio IDE and promote the Change Request (CR) Package in SCM AllFusion Harvest through the entire lifecycle leaving the initial baseline footprint across all SCM AllFusion Harvest states.

Choosing Between Azure and VMM Private Clouds

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EDT

I’ve spent the past day reviewing all that’s floating around the Interwebs on the Azure announcements from the WPC this week. There are definitely a lot of nice nuggets to digest and stuff that’s going to take a while to process. Most of the Azure talk at WPC has been, as expected, about how partners [...]

Cloud Computing Is the Next Great Land Rush and It Is Happening Now

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EDT

In theory, migration to the Cloud makes business sense; you’re enabling companies to rent computing power that would cost them too much to buy. I won’t bore you with yet another blog post on the ‘what is it’ topic. There is a great synopsis of Cloud Computing published by Mache Creeger and I recommend checking it out. In our model, we’re allowing companies to pool their resources on the supply side of Cloud Computing and leverage a much bigger, better shared infrastructure on the demand side of the equation.

Google Voice

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:47:00 EDT

Quick note from my iPhone — my friend (and my wife’s high school classmate) Kevin Mullet told me over the weekend that he had just been approved for Google Voice. I was SO jealous! If you haven’t explored what it will do — you need to take a look, and apply, right away! (Check it [...]

Energise Your Lives with Latest Sony Ericsson Phones

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:49:00 EDT

The people can have more reasons to enjoy their lives with latest Sony Ericsson phones which are phenomenal with their latest technologies and utilities. Such gadgets are competent enough to douse your instinct of music.

Nokia N95 8GB on Contract Deals: A Single Device with Multiple Benefits

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:44:00 EDT

Nokia handsets come with a number of sophisticated features and a variety of deals in order to please the users. Nokia N95 8GB can be taken as in instance in this respect. You get beneficial offers such as discounts and free gifts on purchasing Nokia N95 8GB on contract deals.

New Business Opportunities Abound

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

Telx, a leading provider of network-neutral colocation and interconnection services, is holding its 7th Annual Customer Business Exchange – or CBX – event on Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York City. The Telx CBX is one of the largest colocation and interconnection networking events held each year; its goal is to facilitate business relationships and deals that generate new interconnections among the global networks, enterprises, and technology companies that reside within any of Telx’s 15 facilities.

Book Review: Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers is an upgrade from an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2005. It employs the Murach approach of dual pages that repeat and enhance the concepts being presented on each page. As the authors have done with previous releases of SQL Server, this book serves as a good review and as an introduction to the new features added to SQL Server 2008.

Adobe Flash Kindle Books Selections

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EDT

If you still can not adopt reading books from your computer screen, or do not like to waste your laptop battery charge for just reading a book, then I think Amazon Kindle is the best solution for you. I myself still can't give up reading from paper books as it is much comfortable for eyes.

Book Review: Processing XML Documents with JDeveloper 11g

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:30:00 EDT

The thing about book reviews, like movie reviews, is the interpretation by the reviewer is subjective. The trick is for you the review reader to work out does the reviewer have the same tastes and likes as you. If yes that should mean that the book review will be relevant to you potentially giving a recommendation that suits your needs. If no you might miss a really good book or waste a couple of those hard earned squid.

Learn SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services

Sun, 31 May 2009 14:56:00 EDT

Report Builder 2.0 provides an extremely flexible GUI with user friendly wizards for creating the Tablix data regions, a versatile construct that includes tables, matrix, and charts and gauges. In this excerpt from my book, the User Interface of Report Builder 2.0 is described in detail. Feature rich reports can be created or modified using this GUI which can later be managed by the Report Manager front end.

Where Web 2.0 Meets Voice 2.0

Fri, 15 May 2009 23:00:00 EDT

In today’s financial environment, the demand to extract more value from IT has never been more important within the enterprise. The pressure to improve productivity and streamline processes has been at the heart of the first wave of Web 2.0 adoption, where teams have used collaborative tools like wikis, forums, and online communities in their quest to streamline work processes.

A Review of Key PDF and Font Concepts

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:00:00 EDT

This article is the first of two that will look at some of the challenges faced by developers and non-developers who work with PDF technologies and who are curious about what causes fonts in a PDF to render incorrectly or even go missing. Specifically, these documents provide an overview of some of the problems associated with missing font information in PDFs.

Sony Ericsson T303 On Cheap Deals : An Ultimate Handset Along With Beneficial Deals

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:24:00 EDT

The advent of mobile phones has brought a tremendous revolution in the way we communicate and conduct businesses. The various cheap deals along with the handsets are becoming very popular in the recent times and now you can thrill yourself by getting Sony Ericsson T303 on cheap deals.