It has been a crazy, crazy week, but we are all in crunch mode with JavaFX. This fall is going to rock with JavaFX and I can't wait for everyone to see what we have been working on.
It was brought to our attention last week while we were recording our latest episode of our weekly podcast series, This Ain't Your Dad's Java, that I hadn't told my blog world about it.
Every week, Eric Klein, David Bryant and I sit down with various people from across Sun and talk all things Java as well as we dive into some of our favorite toys, what music has our toes tapping, what books we are reading as well as what we got in our last box from Amazon.COM. We go all over the place, but we always have fun doing it. We also plan to go outside of Sun and talk to partners, customers, Java gurus and more.
We are now nine (9) episodes deep and have recently been featured as a "new and notable" podcast series on iTunes! We have had a pretty sweet group of people on with us so far... from Jeet Kaul, to James Gosling, Param Singh, Danny Coward, Nandini Ramani, Bill Sheppard, Chris Melissinos and more.
To get to our podcast series, you can subscribe at the following places:
If you are interested in hearing us talk with someone or have some feedback for us, send us a note to: aintyourdadsjava@sun.com and we will get you in our queue. Remember, This Ain't Your Dad's Java... its a whole new arena and we are ready to play!
And before I sign off for the day, a huge big thank you must go to our graphic's goddess, Gwen Coyne, for our fabulous podcast grahic she did for us:
I feel like I haven't really blogged in forever. Last week Heidi and I were at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York doing what we do best. We blogged a lot (well, Heidi did...), we twittered, we shot some new videos for Sun Total Access Network and we hosted our very first BoF. While I didn't feel the conference gave us the what's now, new and next, we did get to talk to lots of interesting people and got to see Project Kenai and Zembly in action in the Sun booth. And our BoF went really, really well! We got to talk all about being social butterflies at Sun and how we use it to grow developer communities. And thanks to JB (John Brock) we got to have some technical expertise in the room to talk Kenai and Zembly. Thanks again JB! Our trip to New York was fast and furious, but we had some fun along the way and came home with our brains a buzzin'.
I am in the throws of planning world domination for JavaFX at the moment, so I have been listening to lots of music. Some new, some old, but mostly, some that I can listen to any day, all day and helps me when I am plugging through a never ending to do list. And BTW, I am sort of digging the whole Genuis function of iTunes. I have tried songs from all different genres and each time, the playlists have been bringing up songs that I love (but then again..it is my music library and why wouldn't I like it) and a lot that I haven't listened to in a long time (that is the problem with having over 15K songs in your library..and that isn't even all my music!) So here is a very short list of what is playing now and what has my toes tapping this week:
1. Phoenix - United (I was catching up on the new season of Entourage last weekend and they had one of my favorite Phoenix songs at the end of the episode...If I Ever Feel Better...and I have been grooving to this album a lot this week).
2. Minibar - Road Movies and Desert After Rain (I get to see Simon playing with Juliana Hatfield tomorrow night, so I am very much in a Minibar mood. Plus, to get to see Simon in my neck of the woods is always fun. Haven't seen him since I was last in LA for my birthday, so it will be good to hang out and see what's up.)
3. Keane - Hopes and Fears (I absolutely love this band...their new album is scheduled for release in November and I cannot wait!)
4. Ryan Adams - every single album. I have them all playing on shuffle and he's always playing in my car, in my house, in the office. I lurve him and his music.
5. Romantica - America - I beg you all to listen to this album and tell me that you won't fall in love with them. It just won't happen. You can't help but listen to this beautiful album over and over again.
6. Sigur Ros - Takk - beautiful, etherial, yet rocker with a bit of an edge music. I totally dig them.
7. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication - being in New York last week made me want to listen to the BB. I am kickin' it old school with this album.
8. Sloan - A Sides Win - I just love these boys! They always know how to put on a rockin' show!!
So there you have it. Not quite a top ten, but there are way more than ten albums that have been pumping through my speakers so far this week. Now I am off to tackle that every growing to do list, so listen up and play it loud! Enjoy the day!
Heidi and I arrived safely to New York and we are up and at em and ready to take on our first day at Web 2.0. As our morning cup of coffee kicks in and we are battling the "it's only 5:30am in California" syndrome, we are also super excited to tackle our busy schedule. Today its all about the marketing tracks for us. From a track all about viral marketing, to web analytics, we will be learning all there is to know about all things marketing in the Web 2.0 space. The general session keynote doesn't begin until later this afternoon, so our morning will be spent in sessions as well as getting some videos for Sun Total Access Network. I definitely have some ideas of people we want to talk to.
Last night we hit up one of my favorite places to go for some good food in New York, Cafeteria. Located in Chelsea, you can't help but get the Mac Attack Trio of their amazing mac and cheese. It was just as good as I remembered it and I am sure we will go once more before we leave.
Stay tuned for an update later today from both Heidi and I to let you know what we learned this morning from our sessions. Enjoy your day!
Just a quick entry before I wing out to New York to attend the Web 2.0 Expo with my friend and partner in all things social media SDNGal, Heidi. Look for us to be live blogging, twittering as well as speaking at a BoF. We're excited to get there and look to hear from us soon. My iPod is fully charged with lots of good music..off to SFO I go! Enjoy your day!
Happy Wednesday everyone! I have seemed to have caught the head cold that is going around, but it isn't holding me down too much. I am very much plugging through all things JavaFX and I am getting super excited for all the things we have to show you! Oh and I also wanted to point out that we have a very cool contest going on at the moment! There is a new student contest where participating students can earn up to $500 by developing a web application using MYSQL and GlassFish, creating a java.net project of their application and writing a review of these products. For all the details, please go here. Pretty sweet for you students out there!
As I have been mentioning in previous blog postings, music is always playing when I am working (unless of course, I am in meetings or on concalls) and it pretty much consumes much of my life. I have been a *huge* fan of my artist of the week for a long while, and this week, I am here to tell you all about Ryan Adams. My love for Mr. Adams started back when he was a founding member of Whiskeytown (which, BTW, how awesome of a band name is that?!) and has grown and grown over the years.
Adams' first foray into music was with his high school punk band, Patty Duke Syndrome and was fuelled by influences such as the Dead Kennedys and Sonic Youth. However, first experiences of love-turned-sour converted Adams to country and folk as he searched for a musical genre which could embody his feelings. In this spirit, Whiskeytown was formed in 1994 with Caitlin Cary, Phil Wandscher, Eric "Skillet" Gilmore and Steve Grothman.
After only two albums, 'Faithless Street' and 'Strangers Almanac', and beset by personnel changes, the band began to disintegrate, partly because of artistic and personal differences, partly because of an inability to meet the fans' expectations as result of alcohol and drug excesses. ("Well, we were called Whiskeytown!' was Adams' riposte.) Nevertheless, Adams' image as trouble starter served him well and his popularity survived the demise of the band. After a period of introspection, he began working on his own songs and honing his musicianship by jamming in after-hours bars with friends Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. It was during these jamming sessions, Ryan Adams, the alt-country star was born.
Ryan has released a slew of amazing albums both as a solo artist and as part of The Cardinals. For a complete list of all that he has released and more, check out his discography here. I can't even imagine picking a favorite album out of his entire collection, but lately, I have been putting all of them on shuffle and listening until my heart is content. I was poking around the web the other day and ran across an amazing live version of his song, "Two" that he performed on the Late Show with David Letterman in June 2007. "Two" is track off his latest album, 'Easy Tiger', which was released around the same time he was on Letterman. Please enjoy the video of him performing this beautiful song and make sure to go and give Ryan Adams a whole hearted listen. Your ears will thank you..and then thank you again. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I have been super busy these last few weeks on all thing JavaFX and have been either in meetings or heads down plugging through a very long list of things I need to do. Last week I had the amazing opportunity to record a podcast with Eric Klein and James Gosling. We talked all things Java and we found out some very cool information from James. You can listen to this episode and all episodes here. Ok...back to the subject at hand. Music is definitely keeping me sane through all of this hecticness and I have been listening to LOTS. I thought I would once again feature a list of artists and bands who have been filling my days with sweet sounds so far this week:
5. Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos (another loss way too soon and altho this album was mostly written in 1974 (but wasn't published until 1992, I still think it sounds absolutely modern)
9. David Bowie - Best of Bowie (I have been rocking our to Suffragette City...man, do I love that song!)
10. Minibar - Desert After Rain (what list is complete without some love for my Minibar boys...this album is always in heavy rotation)
In other exciting news, Pete is in the studio recording a new album! Earlier this summer, PY was in Salem, Oregon recording an album with the ever incredible Frank Black (yes, that Frank Black of Pixies) and is now currently in the studio in Omaha, Nebraska working on his new album (with Bright Eyes guru Mike Mogis). In a blog post earlier this week, his myspace said "stay tuned for more updates and NEW EXPLORATIONS IN MUSIC coming soon!" That last bit makes me super stoked to see what he has in store for us!
One more thing before I sign off..make sure to head over to Heidi's blog to see what yummy recipe she has for us this week...she never tells me what they are, but am always pleasantly surprised with what she picked!! So far, with what I have made, they are all A+!
Ok..I am off to conquer more of my to do's... enjoy your day!
Happy Wednesday everyone! Once again its a busy week, but its busy with fun things! Later this week Eric and David (and I will be there too!) will be sitting down with the father of Java for our weekly episode of "This Ain't Your Dad's Java". You will have to tune in to Sun Total Access Network and to our podcast to see what he has to say and much more!
I will be blogging about my artist of the week as well later this week, but I wanted to direct you to a new screencast that was just produced about JavaFX. Jeff Hoffman, a User Experience Designer, introduces Project Nile, a tool that works with JavaFX. He shows you how to use the features of Project Nile, which include export plugins for Adobe products, a SVG graphics converter, a JavaFX graphics view and samples. Make sure to tune in to see what Jeff has to say.
Also, have a question about JavaFX? You have a chance *this week* to Ask The Experts! Head over here to ask your questions. The Ask the Experts program gives you the opportunity to ask questions about Java technology or Java tools from Sun and get answers from the experts on that topic. The tool does not require you to log in and allows you to submit questions when its convenient for you.
And one more thing..make sure to stop by SDNGal's page today....I hear she is going to be posting a very yummy recipe today... I can't wait to see what it is!
Hello everyone! I have been a quiet blogger this week as it has literally gotten away from me! I am knee deep in a bunch of very cool things that I can't talk about quite yet, but when I can, you will be stoked! This week was hectic, as I mentioned before, but we recorded two new podcasts for "This Ain't Your Dad's Java" and those will be up on iTunes and on our RSS Feed early next week. These two episodes are called "The One About the Twins" and "The One About Media Elitists". In any case, I wanted to introduce you to my artist of the week before the week was officially over. This week I am bringing you one of my top 10 bands of all time, if not in my top 3... from the moment I heard them in the late 90s I knew I was going to be in love with them from that point forward. This week I am featuring none other than the band Travis.
Travis was one of the most prominent British traditional rock bands in the mid- to late '90s. Following Oasis' lead of crafting down-to-earth, heartfelt songs in the vein of classic British bands from the '60s, Travis was more successful and enduring than some of their peers due to their lively, impassioned songwriting and performances. The group formed in Glasgow around 1990 as something of a lark for its members, singer/songwriter Francis Healy, guitarist Andy Dunlop, drummer Neil Primrose, and bassist Dougie Payne. After finishing their studies at art school a few years later, the foursome became more serious about Travis' potential and moved to London in 1996. Their self-released debut EP, All I Wanna Do Is Rock, came out in the fall of that year; with its earnest vocals and soaring guitars, it captured the spirit of British rock at the time, which was retreating from some of Britpop's artiness to a back-to-basics sound. Their second single, 1997's "U16 Girls," was released by Independiente Records, the new label headed by former Go! Discs director Andy MacDonald; a few months later, their critically acclaimed full-length debut, "Good Feeling", arrived. Recorded in a matter of days with top producer Steve Lillywhite, the album included hit singles like "Happy" and "Tied to the '90s" and immediately entered the Top Ten of the U.K. charts. The following year, Travis began sessions with star producer Nigel Godrich for the follow-up to Good Feeling, recording in six studios in as many months. Though it was a slower, darker affair, when "The Man Who" appeared in 1999 it eclipsed Travis' previous successes, going platinum six times in the U.K. and spawning more hit singles such as "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and "Writing to Reach You." Nominated Select Magazine's Album of the Year (and finishing in the Top Ten of many other publication's year-end lists), The Man Who appeared on U.S. shores in early 2000, just in time for a tour with their musical big brothers, Oasis. Debuting at the number one spot on the U.K. album chart, "The Invisible Band" was issued in June 2001 just prior to stateside summer gigs with Dido. Two years later, the band issued "12 Memories", which was followed in late 2004 with the singles collection "Singles". Travis finally returned with an album of all-new material in the spring of 2007 entitled "The Boy with No Name", whose arrival was announced by the release of the single "Closer." Chris Martin from Coldplay has said on more than one occasion that Coldplay is "the poor man's Travis" and were known to cover Travis songs early on in their career.
I was fortunate to be able to catch Travis twice last year at The Fillmore (once on their way to Coachella and once in support of their new album) and I have seen them many times before. During their last show (in November) Fran mentioned that they would be going right back into the studio to work on a new album. "Ode to J. Smith" is deemed to be their loudest, edgiest and most arresting record since their debut. Written in 5 weeks and recorded in just 14 days, its the sound of a band re-born, re-inspired and re-energized. Yesterday, Fran wrote a blog about their first single from the new album titled "Something Anything" . As promised, its rockier, its edgier and it's making me super, super excited for the album. I have already pre-ordered it and I can't wait until the single hits! Lucky for us, the boys have already made the video and I am leaving it with you hear for you viewing and hearing pleasure. Go out and invest in all of Travis' albums; I can promise you that your ears (and the boys themselves!) will thank you. Happy weekend! Enjoy your day!
Happy Friday readers! It has been a long week of getting things done, but I am happy to say that I have checked many things off of my to do list this week. My awesome team and I had a fabulous planning and brainstorming meeting yesterday and it was awesome to be able to spend the day in one room with everyone. About half of my team work remotely or in another state, so when we get together for these meetings, its always good to see the girls! And we had an awesome team dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in downtown Palo Alto called Junnoon. I have one things to say. YUMMY!
In any case, I am super excited about the Olympics starting today and even more excited about this really cool new application (ok... really, its a game!) that was launched on Facebook called myPicks Beijing 2008. What is myPicks Beijing 2008 you ask? WELL... it is a game that allows users like you and I to predict winners at the Olympics. And, if your predictions are correct, you win points. All points we accumulate are credited to the country we choose when we sign up and you can challenge your friends to competition predictions and more. Whats even more cool about this is that the game was created on Zembly - the worlds first and easiest Facebook application development environment. Zembly is built from the ground up on Sun's technology (both hardware and software...sweet!).
My partner in crime and all around fabulous friend, Heidi (aka SDNGal) and I shot a video today for Sun Total Access Network to talk about myPicks Beijing 2008. Make sure to head over to SunTAN and to Heidi's blog as well to find out just what we have to say about all the cool stuff that is happening in our worlds. Heidi, I am ready for our Olympic challenge. GAME ON! Happy weekend everyone! Enjoy your day!
Happy Wednesday everyone! With the release of the JavaFX SDK last week, I would like to say I have slowed down a bit here at work, but alas, that is not so much the case...I think I have gotten even more busy! But, I like it that way..makes the days go by fast and I am working on some very cool things! I am excited to see my whole team tomorrow as we are diving into a brain storming session offsite. That should be fun!
Since I have been so heads down with planning, making videos and presentations, I did want to introduce you to my artist of the week that will make your ears happy. This week, I want to introduce you to a Los Angeles musician by the name of Greg Laswell. Jonathan Zwickel, who works for Rhapsody, had this to say about Laswell: " Greg Laswell is already a critic's darling, and with the right marketing his second album will give him a proper shove into mainstream. 'Through Toledo' is an impressive collection of densely lyrical, deeply melodic indie pop that refuses to settle into the predictability. Laswell -- on guitar, piano, drums and production -- is clearly more than just another singer-songwriter."
The first time I heard Greg, I heard his remake of the Cyndi Lauper hit 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.' (you can find it on iTunes!) It is not the same upbeat tune you would think it would be...its more melancholic and his voice just drew me in with how sad he sounded as he sang it. Once I heard that, I quickly rushed out and bought up all his albums. In July, he released a new album called 'Three Flights From Alto Nido'. I highly suggest going out and getting the album as soon as possible. He is everything I love about new music... original and fresh sounding.
As I leave you with some great new music, please check out Greg's video for the song "How the Day Sounds". It is beautiful and the sound he has is truly amazing. Also, note Elijah Wood in the video. Enjoy the day!
Happy Thursday everyone! Today is an exciting day in Java land. I'm thrilled to announce that we officially launched the JavaFX Preview SDK this morning! This is a very exciting milestone for us as it marks our first official release and includes tools to enable web scripters to begin prototyping JavaFX content for use in desktop or browsers.
The JavaFX Preview release is designed to help early adopters become
familiar with JavaFX and is not yet being offered for commercial
applications. The JavaFX Preview release consists of the following
components:
JavaFX Preview SDK: Provides the JavaFX compiler
and runtime tools, 2D graphics and media libraries to create highly
interactive applications for desktop and browser, as well as tutorials,
API documentation and sample code.
NetBeans 6.1 IDE with integrated JavaFX plug-in: Provides a sophisticated development environment to build, preview, and debug JavaFX applications.
Project Nile: An easy to use tool that exports creative assets from Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to JavaFX applications.
Java Runtime Environment 6 Update 10 Beta:
Delivers a high performance runtime with a new browser plug-in that
provides the ability to drag a live running applet out of a web browser
and dynamically transform it into an application running on the desktop.
So now its your turn... go to download the preview SDK here and get started playing around with JavaFX today!
Want some new duds to impress all your friends with? Tell us what you think about the new SDN channel redesign on the SDN Channel Blog and get a limited edition t-shirt from JavaOne 2008. They are pretty sweet! Enjoy the day!
Happy Wednesday everyone! I feel like this week is zooming by... I am heads down on our upcoming JavaFX launch, so I have been listening to lots of music to keep me going while I plug away on a never ending to do list. Instead of featuring an artist this week, I thought of I would share with you a list of songs, albums and artists that have been making my ears happy as I am working on that list:
1. Pete Yorn - Last Summer (it was a new song on his myspace page for a few weeks and its one of those songs that speaks to the soul)
2. Minibar - Road Movies (this album just makes me tap my feet and sing along to all the songs...I love Minibar!)
3. Romantica - America (enough said...I featured them last week and I can't stop listening to this album)
4. Ryan Adams and The Cardinals - Cold Roses ( a beautifully sad album that I can listen to on repeat)
5. Doves - Some Cities (I can listen to the Doves over and over again...)
10. Pixies - Wave of Mutilation - Best of Pixies (I recently saw someone's facebook status that they were listening to the Pixies and I was like, I need to bust them out again..so I have been listening to them a lot this week).
So there is my very short list of what I am listening to...this week. I highly suggest going through it and listening to all of these amazing artists. Your ears will thank you and so will they. Also, if you are hungry for something good and tasty, head over to my fabulous friend Heidi's aka SDNGal's blog and see her featured recipe of the week. It sounds super yummy! Enjoy the day!
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My iPod is fully charged with lots of good music..off to SFO I go! Enjoy your day! 
Music is definitely keeping me sane through all of this hecticness and I have been listening to LOTS. I thought I would once again feature a list of artists and bands who have been filling my days with sweet sounds so far this week:
...and its super-fun to be on it !