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Tuesday May 31, 2005

OpenOffice on my USB Drive - simply : Portable

John Haller has just released an awesome version of OpenOffice that can run on any portable device like a USB thumbdrive. Aptly named Portable OpenOffice (a geeks nugget of joy), it's a fuly functional OpenOffice version for a USB keydrive. Portable OpenOffice has been optimized to perform faster and also extend the life of the USB key. It also has a specialized launcher that allows you to execute OpenOffice from a directory of your choice. The other devices Portable OpenOffice is compatible with are: CDRW (in packet mode), ZIP drives, External Hard Drives, MP3 Players, Flash RAM Cards and many many more.. The current Portable OpenOffice is for the windows platform ONLY. The only issue with it as of now, is that It does not have support for Java as Java is NOT portable. Therefore this version of OpenOffice does not include a JVM and some functions of XHTML will not function. You can Download Portable OpenOffice from sourceforge.net this download also has the Portable OpenOffice Launcher. The Launcher can be downloaded from John Halers Website. Portable OpenOffice can also be launched using a simple .BAT file. In order to use a .BAT file for launching Portable OpenOffice. Simple save the following batch file in your program directory root. Please remember to alter the batch file IF you have renamed the PortableOpenOffice directory

@echo off echo Starting OpenOffice... cd\ start PortableOpenOffice/program/soffice.exe

NOW life is a lot more simpler for me, as whenever I encounter a customer who does not have OpenOffice or StarOffice installed (or cannot install it for some political reason) on their desktops; I just run Portable OpenOffice from my USB Drive and launch launch my sweet little OpenOffice. and HEY !!! we now we are inter-operable !!! The SourceForge project page for Portable OpenOffice is located at portableOO Can life get any sweeter than this

Posted at 09:53AM May 31, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Geeks | Comments[5] | Permalink

Monday May 30, 2005

Running Tomcat as a Windows Service

Hi, I had to reinvent the wheel again today (or was it yesterday ?), just to make my preinstalled Tomcat server on windows to run as a service, I did not want to reinstall Tomcat, but rather wanted a short fix to make my pre-installed tomcat server run as a service in windows. I have done this several times in the past but had forgotten to remember the exact process... hence this post as It'd help me (of all the people) remember. Here's how I did it: SO: If you want to run tomcat as a windows service, there are two ways to do it. Once is while installing choose to install as service, or if you already have installed it through command line, then you can run the following command to install tomcat as a service.

%CATALINA_HOME%bintomcat -install “Apache Tomcat” “%JAVA_HOME%jrebinclassicjvm.dll” -Djava.class.path="%CATALINA_HOME%binbootstrap.jar;%JAVA_HOME%libtools.jar” -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%” -Xrs -start org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap -params start -stop org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap -params stop -out “%CATALINA_HOME%logsstderr.log”

The above command will install tomcat as a service. If this fails then its possible that tomcat.exe is not there in %CATALINA_HOME%bin directory. You can just download tomcat again and extract tomcat.exe and put this into the directory. (I was not having this in my tomcat local directory because when installing for the first time I choose NOT to install it as a service). After installing the service, you can either go to control panel/administrative tools/services and start and stop the service, or you can run it from command line net start “Apache Tomcat” // to start the service net stop “Apache Tomcat” // to stop the service. If you ever want to uninstall tomcat as a service you can run this command “%CATALINA_HOME%bintomcat.exe” -uninstall “Apache Tomcat” Service not starting issues.. When I did this my service did not start properly, and I went to the event viewer log to see the problem. It was not able to find jvm.dll in the path so I had to search and correct the path for dll and things worked just fine. Note that when I made the path change, I had to first uninstall the service and then install it again to make life easier: (the following code would do the trick. Simple save this is servcie.bat in your tomcat/bin directory and run it) : This code aint mine. It's from Mark Turk

@echo off if "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" setlocal rem rem NT Service Install/Uninstall script rem rem Options rem install Install the service using Tomcat5 as service name. rem Service is installed using default settings. rem remove - Remove the service from the System. rem rem name (optional) If the second argument is present it is considered rem to be new service name rem rem $Id: service.bat,v 1.5 2004/04/08 16:49:37 mturk Exp $ rem ------------------------------------------------------ rem Guess CATALINA_HOME if not defined set CURRENT_DIR=%cd% if not "%CATALINA_HOME%" == "" goto gotHome set CATALINA_HOME=%cd% if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\tomcat5.exe" goto okHome rem CD to the upper dir cd .. set CATALINA_HOME=%cd% :gotHome if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\tomcat5.exe" goto okHome echo The tomcat.exe was not found... echo The CATALINA_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly. echo This environment variable is needed to run this program goto end :okHome if not "%CATALINA_BASE%" == "" goto gotBase set CATALINA_BASE=%CATALINA_HOME% :gotBase set EXECUTABLE=%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\tomcat5.exe rem Set default Service name set SERVICE_NAME=Tomcat5 if "%1" == "" goto displayUsage if "%2" == "" goto setServiceName set SERVICE_NAME=%2 :setServiceName if %1 == install goto doInstall if %1 == remove goto doRemove echo Unknown parameter "%1" :displayUsage echo echo Usage: service.bat install/remove [service_name] goto end :doRemove rem Remove the service "%EXECUTABLE%" //DS//%SERVICE_NAME% echo The service '%SERVICE_NAME%' has been removed goto end :doInstall rem Install the service rem Use the environment variables as an exaple rem Each command line option is prefixed with PR_ set PR_DISPLAYNAME=Apache Tomcat set PR_DESCRIPTION=Apache Tomcat Server - http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat set PR_INSTALL=%EXECUTABLE% set PR_LOGPATH=%CATALINA_HOME%\logs set PR_CLASSPATH=%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\bootstrap.jar "%EXECUTABLE%" //IS//%SERVICE_NAME% --Jvm auto --StartClass org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap --StopClass org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap --StartParams start --StopParams stop rem Clear the environment variables. They are not needed any more. set PR_DISPLAYNAME= set PR_DESCRIPTION= set PR_INSTALL= set PR_LOGPATH= set PR_CLASSPATH= rem Set extra parameters "%EXECUTABLE%" //US//%SERVICE_NAME% --JvmOptions "-Dcatalina.base=%CATALINA_BASE%;-Dcatalina.home=%CATALINA_HOME%;-Djava.endorsed.dirs=%CATALINA_HOME%\common\endorsed" -StartMode jvm --StopMode jvm rem More extra parameters set PR_STDOUTPUT=%CATALINA_HOME%\logs\stdout.log set PR_STDERROR=%CATALINA_HOME%\logs\stderr.log "%EXECUTABLE%" //US//%SERVICE_NAME% ++JvmOptions "-Djava.io.tmpdir=%CATALINA_BASE%\temp" echo The service '%SERVICE_NAME%' has been installed :end cd %CURRENT_DIR%

Posted at 12:00AM May 30, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Technology | Comments[4] | Permalink

Sunday May 29, 2005

Would I need To reIterate

That...

The views expressed here are solely the author's (ie: mine, Rohan Pinto's) and should not be attributed to my past or present employers or clients. These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. The material and information provided on this blog are for general information only and should not, in any respect, be relied on as professional advice. No content on this blog is "read and approved" before it is posted. I try to provide quality information, However, I The author (ie: me, Rohan Pinto) of this blog make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to form here or the blog hosting provider. All content on this blog is just my opinion (and who cares about my opinion anyway). No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here. Reader's comments reflect their individual opinion and their publication on this blog does not necessarily infer my endorsement of their views. I reserve the right to delete comments. Emails sent to me may be reproduced/quoted on my blogs unless the sender specifically requests otherwise.

I had read somewhere that (I dont remember where; but attribute to that source wherever it may be), when posting on blogs, to include the disclaimer text at the bottom AND top of every post. After all, what good is the disclaimer if a user reads half of my post, consider my opinions as advice, loses a million dollars in productivity, and then reads my disclaimer? I dont have a disclaimer at the top AND bottom of EVERY post (I have one on every page though). But however, The most important reason behind me posting this is because this blog is publicly available and is not restricted to be accessible withing an "intranet". Am I playing safe here ? Maybe I am !! . I am not looking out to create controversies. AND... there do exist a lot of folks out there with malicious intent who could cause a lot of harm (using content from my blog) if they so desired.

Posted at 12:10AM May 29, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Blog | Comments[4] | Permalink

Saturday May 28, 2005

50 FACTS YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW

I just received this (chain) in an email this AM, and was quite amused or impressed rather... A real nice way to start a weekend.. and just like the email header described, "there was more GK packed in this than a mini encyclopedia".

There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C.
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelt.
On an average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as a medicine.
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.
The original name for the butterfly was "flutterby"!
By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.
Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
The first owner of the Marlboro company died of lung cancer.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.
Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.
To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, prick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.
A mathematical wonder: 111,111,111 multiplied by 111,111,111 gives the result 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
The "pound" (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
"Dreamt" is the only word in the English language that ends in "mt".
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
In Chinese, the KFC slogan "finger lickin' good" comes out as "eat your fingers off".
A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.
We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.
Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines.
Coca-Cola can be used as car oil.
Mexico City sinks abut 10 inches a year.
Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.
Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.
When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying "yes" in Sri Lanka.
There are mo re chickens than people in the world.
It's against the law in Iceland to have a dog.
The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.
The only word in the English Language with all vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental".
Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer

Posted at 09:55AM May 28, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Blog | Comments[3] | Permalink

India as an Information Technology Superpower - Who Are We Kidding PART II

I was lashed at in a "mild manner" by quite a few members of the blogosphere mafia via emails and phone conversations over the last few days on my post on India An IT Superpower, Who Are WE Kidding ?. WHY ? Is it because I had an opinion ? Is it because I came across as a anti-Indian ? Or was it because I am foolish ?

Here's a post expecting another round of bashing. But this time, I expect them to post them as comments here so everybody can read it rather than expect me to spend time replying to emails and phone calls. So folks; PLEASE post YOUR opinions as comments however harsh they may be.

The Indian Technology industry sector comprises of a huge magnitude of organizations offering consultancy services, call centers and BPO markets. It's no longer a question that India has made it's mark in the Information Technology marketspace. But what I always question is whether India would be able to sustain itself in this space. The statistics, put forth by business intelligence firms, merchant bankers and leading IT industry associations such as NASSCOM, McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs, among others, seem to point to a robust, high growth Indian IT industry in the future. Can India make it to IT Superpower status? According to a Goldman Sachs report released in 2004, India's IT workforce could grow to 2 million in 10 years. We tend to only read up on analysts reports that picture the good. We harp on how good and great Infosys is doing. But how many of us have read the negatives? Here's a post on Stop calling India an IT superpower - courtesy : rediff.com

After two decades of being in the information technology business, India is still a 'toddler' with only 2 per cent of global market share, according to N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies Ltd. "We are just toddling; hence we should stop terming ourselves as an IT superpower," Murthy said in his address on 'Key challenges and strategies to offshoring: the political perspective' at 'Nasscom 2004 - India Leadership Forum' in Mumbai on Thursday. "Politicians, administrators and the media should stop saying that we are a superpower," he said and added that the country has a long way to go, both in terms of quantity and quality of services. In fact, despite India's low market share, global IT majors have begun to consider certain Indian companies like Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Satyam as a 'threat' to their businesses, he pointed out. He also said the growing opposition to outsourcing of jobs in the United States was a 'sensitive issue,' which had to be dealt with 'sensibly.' "It should not be sensationalised and carried on the front pages of Indian newspapers, especially when the US is facing an election year," he said. He also said the Indian government should liberalise its internal policies, before asking other countries to liberalise their views.

India is a democracy right? Here's a statement excerpt from the Communist Party Of India's Website. "No country which treats its human resources as a liability rather than an asset can aspire to be a superpower" (not that I'm a communist) We also keep a justification slogan in out backpack and use it whenever we feel cornered. "that India has been independent for only 58 years, while America has been independent for 219 years" Some More Facts: (before I end this thread) The number of patents from India are far below the level expected. Of course India has a lot of talented minds. But it's all wasted as "employees" of MNC's where they have to simply work rather than think. There is a huge gap between working and thinking or developing innovative ideas.

Whether the new-found prosperity and excitement of present-day India can be sustained will depend crucially on how the government guides the country over the next few years. Cheap labour and the widespread use of English do not guarantee success, and there are major obstacles that the country will need to tackle to ensure continued growth. Take infrastructure. Where China has pumped billions into water, road and rail projects, India has let them drift. Likewise, companies complain that bureaucracy and corruption make doing business far more difficult than it ought to be. EXCERPT from teakada.com

PS: Also read this post on "India as an Information Technology Giant" by Dr. Abhishek Puri This whole topic is so debatable that one could go on and on without ever coming to a conclusion. I guess it's all because we are trying to forecast things, and IF we were so good at forecasting the unknown, We would not be where we are right now.I'd do timetravel if I could I end this post with. I Wish India Was a Superpower and Hope that it DOES attain that status someday. I also wish that I win the Super Lotto someday.

Posted at 01:01AM May 28, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Rants | Comments[15] | Permalink

Friday May 27, 2005

Steve Jobs vs Bloggers

a San Jose judge tentatively ruled Thursday that Apple Computer can force three online publishers O'Grady's PowerPage, AppleInsider, and Think Secret over leaks of information concerning an unreleased product code named "Asteroid" and "Q97," which has been described as a FireWire audio interface for use with GarageBand. The subpoenas are related to a lawsuit against an unnamed individual who leaked the information to surrender the names of confidential sources who disclosed information about the company's upcoming products. (As reported on cNET.) The San Jose news piece has the most detail on the ruling while Mac Daily News has some background on the case, and Gizmodo vociferously expresses an opinion on the lawsuit. The BBC is carrying a story on the legal battle between Apple and free press advocates. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined in the fight to protect journalists from revealing their sources. Which carries more weight: the right of Apple to protect their trade secrets or the rights of journalists to protect their sources?

More news on this at The Electronic Frontier Foundations Website.

Posted at 09:48PM May 27, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Rants | Comments[2] | Permalink

Thursday May 26, 2005

Microsoft wants it's users to UNINSTALL Netscape

yep, after a bashing for bundling internet explorer the browser with the WIndows OS, it's Microsoft's turn to avenge it's browsers divorce from the OS. The issue sprouted up this afternoon on a MSDN Blog, where Microsoft's chief IE developer Dave Mass recommended that users completely uninstall Netscape as a possible workaround for a bug that Microsoft has discovered in Netscape 8. AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein insists the bug only affects "a very small percentage of [IE] users" who visit pages using XML technology. Netscape 8 is based on the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox code base, which means that security bugs in Firefox are likely to affect Netscape 8 users. So I'd assume that Microsoft would want everybody to uninstall Firefox as well. With Netscape 8 and Firefox gone, Why should Mozilla be left behind ? Guess what Microsoft wants is users to have ONLY IE on their desktops.... sinister... I am really not sure what to make of this, because Ben Goodger, the lead firefox developer has also posted on his weblog that Netscape 8 is unsafe... This is gonna be a very interesting one to follow...

UPDATE : Netscape is working on a fix for this bug. They are not denying the fact or sidetracking the issue. You can follow the discussions around a fix for this bug at community.netscape.com

Posted at 04:08PM May 26, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Rants | Comments[32] | Permalink

Millions in India to get OpenOffice

CDs containing localised versions of OpenOffice, Firefox and other open source applications will be distributed to millions of people by the Indian government The Indian government is trying to encourage the use of computers across the country by distributing free CDs that contain localised versions of popular open source applications. The government has started distributing CDs containing Tamil-language versions of various open source applications, including the Firefox browser, the OpenOffice productivity suite and the Columba email client. It plans to freely distribute 3.5 million copies of the CD to Tamil speakers worldwide, according to R.K.V.S. Raman, a researcher at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, an organisation involved in the production of the CD. Raman told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that the CDs are in considerable demand, following a newspaper and television advertising campaign last month.

"We have had a tremendous response to this [initiative]," he said. "In the first two weeks of the campaign we got about 100,000 hits daily on the Web site offering CDs, and about two to three thousand downloads [of Tamil-language applications]. We have already sent out around 50,000 CDs and have a backlog of 35,000."

Once the requested CDs have been sent out, further copies of the CDs will be distributed with computer magazines and newspapers, according to Raman. Even the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, has taken an interest in the project and met the team involved in the production of the CD earlier this month. The next stage of the project is to distribute CDs containing applications in Hindi, the national language of India. This stage will be launched on 21 June and is likely to involve more than the 3.5 million CDs earmarked for the current phase, said Raman. Eventually, the government plans to release CDs in all of the 22 official languages of India. Raman believes open source software brings two main advantages to the Indian population :: cost, and the freedom to modify the software. "We are sometimes not comfortable with Western user interfaces ::€” they don't make sense in our culture, particularly for rural people who haven't had much access to technology. If we want to modify the software we have to have access to the code," he said. The Indian government's decision to ship free software in this way is likely to be a blow to Microsoft, which plans to release a low cost version of Windows in India soon. Microsoft originally hoped to release its Windows XP Starter Edition â€” a low-cost, feature-restricted version of Windows XP â€” by the end of March, but is now aiming for a June release. SOURCE : news.zdnet.co.uk

Posted at 12:02PM May 26, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Technology | Comments[4] | Permalink

Wednesday May 25, 2005

A Gold Fetish

Fetish !!, yes it's true, People have fetishes, all kinds of them, sometimes they are really wierd. Well, I have this fetish for GOLD. Now dont get any wierd ideas. What I mean by the term fetish here is a derivative from the definition of the term gold on wikipedia. I just have a preference for investments in gold rather than the NYSE. Gold happens to be an excellent way to manage wealth. In 1999, Alan Greenspan, then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of the United States of America, said: "Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world.". Gold has a tendency to move independently of all other economic factors. I remember from a long time ago, when I wasted my money (everybody gets addicted to some form of vices I guess) on Gold, I was laughed at by all my friends who made hundreds of thousands of dollars by playing with the stock markets. Well, I felt so left out during discussions and parties as all they spoke about was day trading, fast sell, short sell, (whatever those words meant.. I still dont understand them completely) etc. Some made a hellava lot, and pulled out at just the right moment. But some of my friends were not so lucky. They lost..BAD. It's all a gamble. You win some. you loose some. But with Gold, it's different. The price of Gold has been at it's highest level in the last 16 years. And many market watchers expect the price to go higher still in 2005. As the buying power of the US dollar has diminished in the recent past, the price of Gold has risen about 35% in US dollars. I dont have any special gifts to forecats the future, But however, I believe that the price of Gold would continue to rise... at least untill the point where the dollar gives the euro a run for it's value. Paul Merriman from CBS Marketwatch says : "Gold is for speculation, for turning quick profits. It's not suitable for asset allocation. Two years of good returns in Gold funds doesn't mean any more about the near future than several extraordinarily good years of technology funds meant three years ago." Well; I disagree with the experts. (not that I know more than them). I just believe that Gold is a way safer investment that one can have. It may not sky rocket your earnings and profits. It's a slow, steady and gradual climb. HEY !! did I just say climb. True. A gradual upslide is way better than a downslide am I saying it right? And the Upside I'm always gonna have is that I have an extremely happy better half

So all said an done, The gifts I always love to receive is Gold; and with my birthday soon approaching, you could send me some Gold. BTW : When I buy Gold, I dont mean Gold like what the americans are used to. NO WAY !!, not 14, 16 or 18 carat. I mean 24 carat !! or 22 carat at the least. (after all I have that DESI gene)

Posted at 03:10AM May 25, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Blog | Comments[7] | Permalink

Monday May 23, 2005

First World - WHO ? The West or the Middle East ?

I had been in several discussions and practically a verbal warfare zone with my pals on discussions around Technologically Advanced and First World Nations. Everybody seems to have a tendency to lean towards the West for it's Monetary powers. Well, I was stumped to find out what Dubai Had. Not the Saudi's, But Dubai. Dubai One of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Peninsula, is a very small country that spans 3,885 KM2. Dubai is the second largest emirate in the federation after Abu Dhabi. Dubai is distinct from other members of the UAE in that revenues from oil account for only 5% of the Gross Domestic Product of the emirate. A majority of the emirate's revenues are from the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) and now, increasingly, from tourism. However what shocked me more was the pictures from Dubai !!!. I have seen Vegas and almost all the best of spectacular places in the United States. But these pictures of Dubai had me in AWE. I though that it would be good idea to share those pictures here...

You gotto see it to Believe it !!!

Burj Dubai : This phenomenal tower from which construction began last January and will end in 2008 should reach the 800 meters height. The building, built in three parts around a central column, finishes in spiral. It will count 160 stages.

Burj Al Arab : Top of its 321 meters, Burj Al Arab, located on an artificial island is at the same time the hotel highest of the world and only possèdant 7 stars. Become the symbol of Dubaï, this impressionante infrastructure which opened its door in 1999, shelters 220 continuations.

Dubai Waterfront : Advancing on water of the Gulf, this whole of islands in the shape of crescent will extend on 81 square kilometres. Becoming the greatest sea front in the world, it détrône thus the island from Manhattan in New York.

A Arial View of Dubai's Palm Island : Three artificial islands in the shape of palm trees will shelter nearly 500 apartments, 2 000 villas, 25 hotels and 200 shops of luxury. Palm Jumeirah, the most advanced, will be completed as of the end of 2005. Hundred twenty-five kilometers of coast additional will be thus created.

Dubai Hydropolis : Entirely assembled in Germany, this underwater hotel will be immersed with broad of Dubai at the end of 2006. It will comprise 220 continuations whose panoramic windows will give on sea-beds. The price of a room for the night would rise with 500 dollars.

Madinat Al Arab : Here the representation of the one of the districts of the future greater sea front in the world, Dubai Waterfront. This sight accounts for the architectural ambition and the spectacular development of real constructions with Dubaï.

Dubai Marina : A new city, of a total cost of 10 billion dollars, will be built on a way of artificial navigation of 4,5 km. It will be able to lodge 120 000 people. Three principal towers will be set up and will bear the name of Arab perfumes.

Dubai Riveira : is one of the ten principal districts of Dubai Waterfront. There is nine different: Close-cropped Al, Outer Cornice, Inner Cornice, the Peninsula, Madinat Al Arab, Al Mined, Promenade, Palm Boulevard, the Exchange.

Dubai Sports City : This immense sporting complex of 7.5 km² will accomodate sports such as the cricket, the golf, Rugby, football, the sports of ground, track, and interior (tennis shoe, handball, volley ball). Hotels, residences and villas are also envisaged.

Dubai Old Town : It is the final district of the building site located at the foot of the tower Burj Dubai. This great real complex will include the highest tower of the world, the greatest shopping centre of the world as well as a gigantic residential district.

The World - Man Made Islands in Dubai : With broad of Dubaï, nearly 300 artificial islands, seen sky will form a planisphere. If you want to acquire one of these islands, it will cost some to you between 6,2 to 36,7 million dollars. Work of fill, already begun, should be completed at the end of 2005.

Dubai's Crystal Dome : With its 455 m height and its 2,2 million m² of total surface, it will be one of bulkiest and higher buildings of the world. It will shelter 500 000 m² offices, commercial spaces like 3 000 residential apartments.

Dubai SKI Dome - SNOW IN THE MIODDLE OF A DESERT !!! : This ski resort indoor, will comprise inter alia a directional ski piste and tracks of snowboard (with 6 000 tons of true snow). "Pinguinarium", aquariums four seasons, spa cold and hot... are also envisaged with the program.

Dubai International Airport : The international airport of Dubaï, most active in the world, accomodates 22 million travellers annually per annum. After its enlarging (in 2008) whose second phase was started, 70 million passengers will forward each year there.

Science and Space Center in Dubai : Space is one of the subjects exploited in the immense park with topics of Dubailand which has the ambition to become the largest tourist park and of attractions in the world.

Nakheel Falcon Tower : This tower falls under the construction of the ambitious baptized ultramodern property Jumeirah Lake Towers. The latter itself is included in gigantic Dubaï Waterfront.

Dubailand Dinosaur Park : The dinosaurs will be one of the 45 topics represented in the park of leisures of Dubailand. The project, carried out in collaboration with the museum of natural history of London, envisages the re-creation of an authentic prehistoric environment.

Jumeirah Island : On this immense artificial island in construction with the foot of Burj Al-Arab, it is envisaged the construction of several tens of hotels, of the thousands of houses and apartments, of the restaurants, the watery parks, the shopping centres...

I for one, know for sure where my next holiday is gonna be !! My Brother Anup, is in Dubai, lucky guy !!! Hopefully he will sponsor me a trip to Dubai someday Images displayed here are courtesy of : burj-Al-arab.com, Dubai Waterfront Co, Planet East, Emaar Properties, hydropolis.com, Dubai Waterfront Project, Dubailand, Ten Guides, golden delicious-dome.org and Department of Civil Aviation - Dubai.

Posted at 09:47PM May 23, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Blog | Comments[34] | Permalink

Y!Q

Yahoo just released it's Y!Q, a "contextual search technology that analyzes the contents of the Web page you're viewing and then gives you a list of search results directly related to what you're reading." offering in a direct faceoff with Google's Intelligent Context Sensitive Search. Yahoo's Y!Q seems to be way more efficient in it's context sensitive search results than Google's.

Jeremy Zawodny who runs a blog on Yahoo Search quotes "The fundamental idea was to supplement search queries with context. So instead of having to spend a lot of time searching and assembling all the information you're after, this contextual search technology could incorporate that context (the stuff you were reading at you moment you decided that you wanted to know more) to find the most relevant results."

Reiner Kraft is the brains behind Y!Q. Reiner had published a whitepaper in the recent past on "Mining Anchor Text for Query Refinement", that seems extremely related to the logistics behind the Y!Q magic. Y!Q does some text extraction from a website, and it then runs a search against Yahoo's DB using the keywords that were extracted. Y!Q Challenge in ON !!. I myself intend to use this Challenge and customize it so that contextual text from my blog could alternatively return intelligent search results from Yahoo. Lets see how this works. I already started my efforts into integrating it in my blog and other websites that I run, And hopefully this Y!Q magic works. I shall also be awaiting Googles response to this Yahoo Offering. The WWW is getting to be a way more interesting place to be in than what I originally envisioned. Cheers Yahoo !!!

Posted at 01:29PM May 23, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Technology | Comments[1] | Permalink

Saturday May 21, 2005

Dont let the SUN go down on me

In a recent article post on ciol.com Jeff Jackson, The V.P. of Java and Developer Platforms Group, sidelines joining the 'Eclipse' initiative quoting the need for choice to spur competition.

The Eclipse open-source development platform has far outdistanced Sun Microsystems Inc.'s NetBeans in terms of developer and vendor support, but Sun has vowed to continue to innovate around NetBeans while practically everybody else in the Java world is supporting Eclipse. Timothy Cramer, director of NetBeans in the Java and Developer Tools group at Sun, said of Eclipse: "They do have a lot of momentum … but I think they're going to end up with a lot of competing interests."

I think it's nice that Java users have several strong choices in terms of IDEs . . . Netbeans, Eclipse, IntelliJ. I myself have used all 3 and find the freedom of choice quite nice compared to Visual Studio.

Yanick Duchesne, A Netbeans Developer is quoted saying "[Netbeans] Very fast (at least, on Linux, it is way faster than Eclipse, and I would be tempted to say that it should approach Eclipse on Windows ...)...... I did not think I'd be saying this, but it don't seem like I'll be switching back..."

Charles Ditzel the vociferous critic of Eclipse on Mac OS X wrote in his blog : "The realities are something different than the IBM marketing and advertising dollars can buy and the current trends do not bide well for Eclipse. Successive versions of Eclipse have become slower and more resource hungry than its predecessors and each new version of NetBeans since 3.5 has been faster. This has become a serious concern and the Eclipse organization is working on usability while at the same time facing increasingly fierce criticism not only on the issue of performance but also for the weak performance and reliability of Eclipse on non-Windows platforms."

The result is that many Eclipse developers have switched to NetBeans and others are beginning the migration to NetBeans by using both IDEs.

Posted at 01:44PM May 21, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Technology | Comments[3] | Permalink

Friday May 20, 2005

From Federated Identities to Federated Federation

First Came LDAP, then Single Sign On, then Provisioning, then sprouted Identity Management, and then Access Management, and from there on Fererated Identity Management. All the major vendors like Sun Microsystems, Novell, Alcatel, Sentillion, Passlogix, Fujitsu, Evidian, Courion, Data Power, IBM, Verisign, Oblix, Netegrity, Nokia, Intel, RSA Security, Elios, Phaos, Oracle, Calendra, PingID, Thor, M-Tech, Computer Associates, Entrust, Axalto, Microsoft, HP scrambled around adopting Project Liberty standards and releasing their own version of Federated Identity Management Poducts. I thought that it would be a good thing to get involved in the circle of trust federated identity providers and keep up with the trends and technological advancements in this arena. Apart from getting a comfort factor from being able to learn and master the usability of all these products and their features, knowing their pros and cons, I believed that involving myself in just Project Liberty would suffice. I was so very wrong. Familiarizing myself with this rande of vendor products was a daunting task by itself. As I started getting involved in discussions around these products, I got sucked into discussions around protocols, framework and specifications. Project Liberty was not the one stop shop. There was InCommon Federation, , SWITCHaai, Athens Access Management, Meta Access Management, and so on... I wonder how much more there is to discover - I Wonder whats NEXT? Kim, Andre, Chuck, Kaliya, Don, Ian, Kudo I really could use some help here...

Posted at 10:41AM May 20, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Rants | Comments[0] | Permalink

Federated Security: The Shibboleth Approach

EXCERPT FROM EDUCAUSE PUBLICATION

The open-source Shibboleth System extends Web-based applications and identity management for secure access to resources among multiple organizations

The Shibboleth System includes two major software components: the Shibboleth Identity Provider (IdP) and the Shibboleth Service Provider (SP). These two components are deployed separately but work together to provide secure access to Web-based resources. A step-by-step description of the Shibboleth sign-on process follows. While the details may vary based on deployment choices, the steps below are typical. The players include the user, who wants to use a protected Web resource; the resource provider Web site, which has installed the Shibboleth SP software; and the user's home organization, which has installed the Shibboleth IdP software.

The user navigates to the Web resource using her browser. The resource site is protected, hence requires information about the user in order to decide whether access is permitted.
The Shibboleth SP software redirects the browser to a "navigation" page (called a WAYF, for "where are you from"), which presents the user with a list of the organizations whose users may access the resource.
The user selects her home organization, and the browser is sent to the home organization's Web site running the Shibboleth IdP software. This site uses a Web sign-on method chosen by the home organization. The user now sees the familiar login Web page of her home organization, enters her username and password, and selects the Login button.
The Shibboleth IdP software sends the browser back to the original resource site and includes in the message some security information called an "assertion" that proves the user signed on. The Shibboleth SP software on the resource site validates the assertion and then requests additional information (attributes, such as "faculty" or "student in Film327") about the user by making a request to the home organization's Shibboleth IdP service.
The Shibboleth SP receives the user's attributes from the home organization's IdP and passes them along to the resource provider's Web application. The application uses those attributes and its access policy to decide whether the user's access is permitted or denied, displaying the appropriate page to the user's browser.

Often, many of these steps can be skipped. The WAYF can set a cookie in the user's browser so that the user doesn't see that page the next time through. If the home organization's Web authentication service uses single sign-on and the user already has a session with it, the login page won't be seen. In many cases the user can get access to the resource without seeing any intermediate Web pages at all. The process above resembles other Web sign-on schemes. In the rest of this section we present the features that distinguish the Shibboleth System.

Please Read the Complete Publication at http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm04/eqm0442.asp?bhcp=1

Posted at 10:29AM May 20, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Identity Management | Comments[0] | Permalink

Personalized Google

Google recently rolled out a personalized version of their site, much in the likes of yahoo and other portal service providers. This personalized feature of Google does not have a name yet. Maybe it's gonna be called myGoogle (Google recently registered the domain myGoogle with AllDomains.com), or GgMYle or something on those lines...

Currently the personalized Google service allows one to create their home page with different modules that they can drag and drop across the page, thus enabling the user to have one place to gofor their email, weather, maps, movie schedules, news headlines and of course the Google web search. As Yahoo starts to launch their own adsense like offering called YSM, Google is going the other way around to offer a Yahoolike personalized service. Google will start by offering content from the BBC, the New York Times, Slashdot, Wired, the Quote of the Day and the Word of the Day. The Google also plans to let users add syndicated Web content from news sites and blogs via RSS, or really simple syndication, technology, said Marissa Mayer, who directs consumer Web products for Google.

The Google service thats to be launched pretty soon is extremely similar to it's rival offerings like MyYahoo, MSN, AOL and EXCITE. The portal tool is part of a broader Google initiative to aggregate its features and information into a unified single place, a project Googleproudly calls the "fusion." Google is exploring other ways to personalize the experience, a Google representative was heardto have mentioned. Very typicalof Google's style, Google is releasing this as a BETA.It's currently available on Google Labs.

All said and done, Google's not way different from all the others out there who imitate each others offerings. For Google Innovation is not in Invention; but rather in Imitation!!.

Posted at 07:30AM May 20, 2005 by Rohan Pinto in Technology | Comments[2] | Permalink