I just read this article on Speed TV's website about MotoGP rider John Hopkins getting upset with Kawasaki because they haven't made enough progress with their engine development to make the bike competitive in MotoGP. I applaud him for this. Clearly Hopkins wants to win races. At a minimum, he wants to be battling for the front. I have no doubt that Kawasaki would also like to see their bike on the podium. I only hope this really gives Kawasaki a kick in the pants to really up their game. As a Kawasaki owner, I'd like to see them to better.

I found this website which displays a graph of gas prices over the past six years (http://www.sanjosegasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx). You can select from specific areas, or the U.S. average. Guess what the price of gas was six years ago? The U.S. average was $1.31. The U.S. average is now $3.94. Something is clearly wrong here.

Well, it looks like now I'm forced to try my local library, at least in the short-term. Somehow, I'm still not quite sure exactly how, I broke my Sony eReader. I had been using it the day before it broke. The next day I turned it on and was greeted with a white screen with grey streaks running through it. Damn. The screen itself isn't broken, but I believe the eInk layer just beneath it is. I took the eReader out of the holder to find a rather large dent in the back. Something must have hit it with a fair amount of force as the entire Sony was slightly bent at the point of impact. The good news is that Sony provides a warranty on the device to help me get a replacement, which has been ordered and is in route. Thank you Sony. In the mean time, I guess I'll resort to checking out my local library for some old-fashioned paper-based information.

I was recently discussing a book I've been reading (The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, which I highly recommend) on my Sony eReader with a friend and suggested he borrow my eReader to try it out (and of course, read the book). His reply was "Sure, I'd like to try out the eReader, but I no longer buys books, except for the tried and true reference books you should always have at arms reach, I'll just check it out from my local library.". This got me thinking. I haven't actually used my local library in quite a while. Mainly because I thought it was more of a pain then it was worth. For me, it's like the difference between taking mass transit and owning your own car. I like the idea of mass transit, the lower cost, and the fact that it saves the environment more then owning your own car does, but I just can't get passed the freedom that comes with having your own car. Owning your own car is worth the price you pay. Borrowing a book from the library means you first have to find out if they even have it. Then you have to find out if it is available. If not, you have to wait until it becomes available. Then you have to read it and get it back to the library within the allotted time, or possibly you can re-check it out for longer. Finally you have to deal with the library if the book is late or if you happen to lose it. On the plus side, the book is free to borrow...at least that's cheaper then mass transit!

It occurred to me that it might be nice to be able to rent book, like NetFlix. I found several 'rent a book' websites including Book Swim, Paper Spine, and Books Free. They include both paper and audio books. This actually looks like an attractive option as many of them ship books both ways for free. If you read enough books, this is well worth the price. And like NetFlix, you create a list of books you want to read and when you send one back, they send the next one in your list. Pretty nice.

Before I jump into paying a subscription for book rentals, though, I'm going to give my local library a try. There's one *really* close to my house, actually, two. I'd like to find out for myself just how much of a pain (or not) it really is. And who knows, if I like it, I might actually give mass transit a try too!

I have been interested in electronic books (eBooks) ever since I saw the Nuvomedia's Rocket eBook many years back. eBooks are devices, designed to fit comfortably in your hands, which let you download and store books in electronic form. Similar to downloading and reading a PDF document onto your computer. However, eBooks are designed to be portable, easy to read, and again, comfortable in your hands. In short, a replacement for your paperback or hardback book. The advantages are that you don't kill trees, you don't need a place to store them, and you can carry many books with you without the bulk. I didn't buy the Rocket eBook at the time because the price was more then I was willing to spend and the number of books available on it was limited.

I recently purchased a Sony eReader...an electronic book. I bought the book because the price was right (I found the price at a discount because Sony released a new version of their eReader), because I figured there would be a lot of content for it considering Sony is behind it, because it came with a few "new" books, and because it came with a *lot* of "classic" books (I was able to get Beowulf, in its original form).

What I like about the eReader is:

• The eInk technology, which I won't go into in detail, allows the eReader to display information without using any battery. Energy is used only when first displaying information.
• The form factor feels right. The size and weight of the eReader is just right for me.
• Sony has a reputation for building solid products

What I don't like about the eReader is:

• The main file format it uses is Sony-proprietary. This isn't a surprise coming from Sony.
• No access to the network. This one is a bit of a double-edged sword for me. While I'd like to be able to download books and periodicals wirelessly, I don't really want to have to pay 1) a high price for the eBook itself (ala other eBooks which have wireless support) and 2) a price for wireless access. I like that the Amazon Kindle uses a cell network so you can use it anywhere, I don't like that I'm paying for that wireless access by being charged for converting files. WiFi support, although not available everywhere, would suffice for me.
• The user interface leaves something to be desired. The new version of the eReader moved some buttons around for a better user experience, but the UI on the new model is pretty much the same as on mine.

It is this last point which brings me to write this entry...when will I get my iBook? An eBook is just screaming for someone like Apple to slap a touch screen on it so I can swipe my hand from right to left over it to turn the page. I should be able to swipe my finger in the top right and left corners diagonally to create a bookmark. The virtual keyboard on the iPhone would be perfect for entering in URL's so I could read websites. Where's my easy to use iBook? Adding WiFi which would let me access web pages, read periodicals, and download books easily.

Maybe since eBooks are on the uptake, I'll have my iBook soon.

Not long ago I needed to create some web pages which were tied to a database. Not being an expert in creating Web applications, I decided to take a stab at using NetBeans and the Visual Web Pack to create some web pages. All I have to say is Wow. I created a new Visual Web application, created a few web pages, created a database connection, added a bunch of design elements including connecting some fields to database columns, added some page navigation, and built and ran the application (NetBeans automatically deployed the application to one of the included servers), all within minutes and all graphically. While this is no customer-facing Internet-ready application, I don't think it's too far off. It amazes me how much functionality can be created so easily in such a short amount of time.

Recent years in AMA pro racing have seen two veteran motorcycle racers, Mat Mladin and Ricky Carmichael, come under pressure by younger, equally hungry competitors. Mat Mladin lost his AMA Superbike streak to Ben Spies and Ricky Carmichael finally has someone able to run with him in both Supercross and Motocross in the form of James Stewart. Mladin, this year, is out to prove he is still a champion. He has stepped up his game, looking at every possible aspect of motorcycle racing he can to leave no stone unturned in getting ever faster. This past race at Miller Motorsports Park, Mladin proved why he has been so dominant in Superbike racing. On lap 6, he high-sided on Turn #1, causing a red flag. It looked like Matt would be out of the race as not only was his bike smashed up some but he was holding his leg, clearly in pain. However, his pit crew was able to put the bike back together for the re-start and he toughed out the pain to get back to the pit. Because he caused the red flag, he was relegated to the back of the grid for the re-start. Mladin had a great re-start...by the time he got to the first turn, he was already up to ninth. Curing the course of the race he had made it up to third place at one point, but Miguel DuHamel got the best of him on the last lap and relegated Mladin to finishing fourth. This kind of effort is why Mladin is a six-time champion...and why Spies should be worried.

I recently found out about the Enertia Electric Motorcycle from Brammo. The Enertia, like many electric vehicles coming onto the market, is targeting the majority of people who commute, on average, about 30 miles or less a day. The reasoning goes if the majority of commuters can use an electric vehicle, with zero emissions (plus the emissions from generating the electricity), we'll all be generating at lot less pollution. Sure, there will be days when you have extra errands to run where a vehicle like this might not do...or maybe you just need to make sure you can charge it fully before you run your errands.

The Enertia has the look of the "street fighter" style motorcycles (it's not too bad looking...actually, it's one of the better looking electric bikes I've seen), gets about 45 miles per charge, can fully charge in about 3 hours, charges from a standard outlet, has a top speed of 50 M.P.H., and only weighs about 275 pounds. Part of the reason it weighs so little (and costs so much) is that it uses a carbon fiber moncoque frame (carbon fiber is still pretty expensive) and it utilizes Lithium Phosphate batteries (also expensive). However, the reduction in weight makes the bike more manageable and provides for a longer range.

I'd love to be able to swap out my internal combustion motorcycle for one of these.

I've recently had a chance to take Mercurial for a test drive. For those of you who haven't tried it yet, get ready for a mind-shift. The biggest difference between Mercurial and other Source Code Control Systems (SCCS's) is that most other SCCS's enforce a master-child relationship between the master repository and "child" repositories. You typically create a master repository which is used by everyone as the place into which changes will be put. This is a good thing. Everyone must commit to the master repository and everyone must make sure their commit is correct and doesn't break the build. Everyone gets the latest updates from the master repository. It's a central "meeting" place for code. One problem with this is you don't have a full, complete copy of the repository from which to work. This may cause a problem when you're taking your code mobile.

Mercurial is different in that it is a distributed peer-to-peer system. If you create a repository on a server in your group, there is nothing special about that repository from Mercurial's perspective. You pull the code from the repository on that server and now you have a copy of the code on your local machine which is equivalent to the one on the server...commit comments and all. Need to take the code on the road? Pull the code from either your local copy or the server's copy to your laptop...both are the same. Need to commit changes? Commit from your laptop to your local copy or the server's. If you commit from your laptop to the server, you'll need to pull the committed changes from either your laptop or the server to your local copy...again, both are the same.

In Mercurial, the "master" repository on the server is a convention only. You and your group decide you want to have a "master" repository on the server and so you treat it as such. Mercurial doesn't care. I think this model works better in our increasingly distributed, increasingly mobile work force.

I watched the latest AMA Motocross race this weekend, and as expected, it was a a great battle between the two rivals of Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart. Ricky Carmichael is still proving he's a dominant force in Motocross racing while James Stewart is fighting to take over the reigns. The great thing is these two keep fighting to prove they're the best in the sport. They keep pushing as hard as they can. This is what makes great champions. It also will cause mistakes as each rider continues to ride on the absolute edge. This is what happened to Stewart as they neared the end of race #2, letting a hounding Carmichael pass for the win. I'm really going to miss this kind of racing when Carmichael retires. Without him, Stewart will continue to win easily. Hopefully someone else, like Villopoto, will step up when they hit the big class to at least provide us fans with some interesting racing to watch. Run away races are never fun to watch.

The JavaOne Session Preview is now available online. What is cool about this is that Sun's Eco group has calculated these statistics in providing this document online rather then sending out a paper hard-copy:

By producing this piece virtually, the Eco group has calculated the savings Sun has made:

• Assuming (based on last year) the document is equivalent to 2.5 pages of 0% recycled copy paper
• Total paper saved = 4.63 tons
• Greenhouse Gases reduced (CO2 equivalents) = 13 tons (26,297 lbs)
• Reduction in wood use = 13 tons
• # of trees saved (assuming 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets) = 111
• Reduction in wastewater (and associated water pollution) = 78,616 gallons *(equivalent to 838K cans of soda)*
• Reduction in solid waste (stuff sent to landfills) = 5.1 tons

Regardless of how it's delivered, this is your first chance to see what's happening at this year's JavaOne.

Sun recently announced the release of a SAMP stack optimized for Solaris 10, also known as the CoolStack. For those familiar with the AMP stack on other platforms, there is a 'recipe for success' which has step-by-step instructions to get up and running quickly. If you're interested in running an AMP stack on a really fast, robust platform, you owe it to yourself to try this out.

I've found from talking to many people that it isn't common knowledge that you can split a window in NetBeans. That is, displaying multiple editor windows at a time by dividing up the display. You can split windows horizontally and vertically, just like any good editor or IDE. This is very easy to do in NetBeans.

To split a window horizontally, you simply click and hold the mouse button on a tab at the top of the editor and drag it to the bottom (or top) area of the editor. As you do this, you'll see an outline of where the window will be placed. Let go of the mouse button and the window will split and display at the bottom. You can then click and drag the area between the bottom window's tab area and the top window's status bar area to resize the window.

To split the window vertically, do the same thing as above, except drag to the right (or left) side of the editor window and let go. Again, you'll see an outline letting you know where the window will be placed.

You can continue to do this and keep splitting windows as you like. Of course, with the amount of space the window takes up (tab area, toolbar area, status bar area, etc.), you're real estate diminishes quickly. BTW, you can get rid of the toolbar to free up more space (right-mouse click on the area to the left of the edit window and de-select 'Show toolbar').

You can add multiple files to the split window as well. Just make your first split, then drag and drop a second tab into the middle of the target split area. The file will be added.

To get rid of a split, drag a tab from the split area back to the middle of the main area. The file will be moved to the main area. If the file is the last one in the split area, the split will disappear.

You can also view different sections of a file at the same time. Simply right-mouse click on the tab of the file and choose 'Clone Document'. You'll see another tab show up with the same name. Then use the cloned window to split the window. You now have the same document displayed side by side. You can scroll both windows independently.