Monday May 18, 2009
We understand that not everyone can make the trip to San Francisco to attend
JavaOne. That's why we've made special arrangements to bring JavaOne to
the Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) Community. We have scheduled a series of webinars which are
previews of hands-on labs that will be conducted at JavaOne. Check the OSUM events calendar for the complete schedule and RSVP today.
Wednesday Apr 22, 2009
Here's a contest especially for youth 17 and younger. Our friends at the Institute For the Future just launched The Digital Open, an innovation expo for global youth. The Digital Open is an online technology community and competition for youth around the world, to demonstrate how they are using technology that will change the world - or just make life a little easier or more fun.
Students can share their experiences, expertise, and projects through photo, text, or video. There's great prizes for the winners including an PeeCee Mini Laptop running OpenSolaris, a Flip pocket-sized video camera or other cool stuff.
The Digital Open is all about Free and Open Technology. In this spirit, all submissions must make use of
existing free and open platforms and/or licensing your project under
one of the Digital Open-approved licenses.
There is lots of opportunity for creativity. Submissions can be in one of the following
Resources for each category have been posted to allow young students to get started quickly.
If you're not 17 or younger, please share info on the Digital Open with youth in your community and encourage them to sign up and start participating.
Tuesday Apr 21, 2009
If you missed by first blog regarding Jazoom Rookie please take note. The deadline to submit your video for a chance to deliver a technical talk at Jazoom09 is 23 April 2009. If you're one of the three finalists, your conference fees and travel expenses will be paid
via the competition.
Wednesday Apr 15, 2009
Sun just launched the OpenSolaris Apps of Steel
Challenge. This is a great opportunity to learn about developing and porting packages. Then use your talents and
participate for a chance to win a Toshiba OpenSolaris laptop! The winning packages will also be showcased at the OpenSolaris Install Lounge at CommunityOne West, in San Francisco on June 1-3rd, 2009.
Apart from the prizes and recognition, contributing OpenSolaris packages benefits the entire OpenSolaris community by building out the package eco-system. Need help getting started? Check the OpenSolaris Software Porter's Community.
Packages must be submitted by 12:00 pm midnight PDT on May 8, 2009. Packages will be judged on the following criteria:
- Complexity of the Port
- Use of unique OpenSolaris features, such as ZFS, DTrace, SMF, and FMA
- Number of dependent packages ported
- Usefulness to the end user
For all the details, please see the Official OpenSolaris Apps of Steel Challenge Rules and Restrictions.
Good luck!
Tuesday Apr 14, 2009
JavaOne 2009, the best developer event in the world, is taking place in San Francisco, June 2-5. Students who can make the trek to San Francisco will learn what’s new and different inside and around Java™ technology. But here's the best part – student can get a free pass to Java One that includes admission to 300+ technical sessions, keynotes, and the JavaOne Pavilion. This free pass also gets you admission to the first day of CommunityOne
(our open source conference) and Community One Deep Dives (half- and
full-day technology tutorials).
Faculty can also take advantage of a special conference rate for $895! But it just gets better. Professors who bring 10 students will get a conference pass for free. Check out the Student and Educator Program for all the details, then register for JavaOne 2009. It will be the experience of a lifetime.
Friday Apr 10, 2009
According to the intrepid researchers at the Paranormal Investigation Experts (PIE) Network, strange events preceded many of history’s greatest developmental leaps in science, technology, and agriculture - a phenomena know as the JUMP. Recent sightings suggest that the next JUMP is quickly approaching!
Sound a bit strange? That's because it is. It's a game and a great way to have fun with friends and learn about Java FX in the process.
The game unfolds through a narrative focused on two characters, Baron Rude and Hector Macchiato who are quickly establishing themselves as the arbiters of all things paranormal on YouTube, the OSUM Community and other viral networks. The pair of nerds offer humorous analyses of paranormal sightings. These Paranormal Investigation Experts (or PIE Guys) are looking for evidence of legitimate paranormal activity to support their theory. Throwing everything we know about causation to the wind, the pair are convinced that recent sightings imply the next JUMP is quickly approaching. In order to prepare, they have created a website at PieTheory.com to track strange phenomena and debunk hoaxes.
We need your help following The JUMP and ensuring its arrival. You'll need to follow the clues posted to the OSUM PIE Network and review the research at the PIE Theory Network. There's lots of content so form a team to review the research and unlock the clues.
Get started by registering at the Pie Theory website and downloading the "Recruit Toolkit". You'll use JavaFX 1.1 and NB 6.5 to unlock clues, solve challenges, and help Baron and Hector make The Jump happen!
Have fun.
Wednesday Apr 08, 2009
Earlier this week, I blogged about the Java FX Coding Challenge and special categories for students. Today, I'm happy to promote another great opportunity that has opened up for student developers.
Jazoon09 is a great Java developer event and will take place in Zurich, Switzerland from 22 to 25 June 2009. Jazoon Rookie is billed as Europe's first Young Java Developer Speaker's Competition. Students compete for the opportunity to deliver a 20 minute technical talk at Jazoon09 with their conference fees and travel expenses paid via the competition.
To enter the competition, students must record a part of their talk on video and submit it by 23 April 2009. The top 3 Jazoon Rookies will be invited to Jazoon'09, where they present their
20 minutes talk and compete for the Jazoon Rookie Cup.
Special thanks to the conference organizers for extending the Jazoon Rookie submission deadline.
Monday Apr 06, 2009
JavaFX provides developers, designers and students with unparalleled freedom and flexibility to
create the next generation of rich internet applications (RIAs) for mobile
devices, desktops and other devices. The Java FX Coding Challenge was recently launched, providing a new opportunity for developers, designers or students to submit an innovative rich internet application using JavaFX 1.1 and NetBeans 6.5, and win big bucks:
- 1st Place: $25,000
- 2nd Place: $10,000
- 3rd Place: $5,000
I have no doubt that students will be have some great submissions and will be in contention for these top prizes, but just in case, three additional prizes of $1,500 each will be awarded to the top three applications
submitted by students.
As with all contests, there are Contest Guidelines and Rules so make sure you review these before you get started. Then get to work on your own JavaFX application and submit before the deadline - May 29, 2009.
Thursday Feb 12, 2009
Nominations are being accepted for the seventh edition of the Duke's Choice awards, which honor the best and most innovative uses of Java technology. Winners will be recognized at the 2009 JavaOne Conference, June 2-5 in San Francisco. Entries must be submitted by March 27.
Submit Nomination
This is a great opportunity for students to showcase their Java
projects. Each year, it's great to see students up on stage with James Gosling
accepting their award. This year it could be you.
Sunday Jan 25, 2009
Lalith Suresh a student at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology in India, just contributed his second bug fix to Open High Availability Cluster. This is a great example of the kind of contributions that students are making to the open source world.
Both of Lailith's contributions will be included in the next OHAC release. Check out the blog by the engineer who sponsored these bug fixes for all the details..
Great job Lalith!
Sunday Jan 11, 2009
NetBeans 6.5 has been out for a couple of months now and much of the focus has been on the support for dynamic languages such as PhP. However, in this article, Geertjan Wielenga does a great job of outlining all the improvements in NetBeans 6.5 for the Java developer.
Geertjan starts by posing the following questions, "Which, of the many cool new things, would be particularly appealing to
a Java programmer? And why should a Java programmer now consider
NetBeans IDE 6.5 above its competitors?" His answer to these questions are straightforward and a must read for java developers who are considering NetBeans or used previous versions.
Read Geertjan's article by clicking here.
Friday Jan 09, 2009
I bet you missed the news, so I thought I'd post this blog to let you know that Sun has introduced the new Sun Certified Solaris Associate (SCSAS). This certification is great for students who are new to Solaris or UNIX, but would like to obtain a certification while continuing to work toward the Sun Certified System Administrator (SCSA). I previously blogged about the career-enhancing advantages of industry recognized certifications, so it's great to have this additional opportunity available for students.
Even better yet, students, professors & university staff can take advantage of the free web-based courses available via the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI) to prepare for the SCSAS.Through the SAI, students can get free access to Unix Essentials, which consists of:
-
WS-1000-S10: Viewing and Using Components of the Desktop System;
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WS-1001-S10: Manipulating and Managing Files and Directories;
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WS-1002-S10: Searching and Process Manipulation;
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WS-1003-S10: Working with the Shell; and
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WS-1004-S10: Archiving Files and Remote Transfer.
I also encourage students to join the Open Source University Meetup (OSUM - yes it is pronounced "awesome") to connect with over 40,000 students and nearly 1,000 student developer clubs from over 100 countries. OSUM is the perfect place to get access to free resources for student developers on an ongoing basis.
Change (Y) Our World.
Tuesday Jan 06, 2009
We all know that MySQL
is the world's most popular open source database. So it should come as no surprise that MySQL is huge in academia, both for back-end databases such as Ladok, a national system used for the documentation of academic information in Sweden, and as a platform for instruction in the classroom.
Here are a couple of MySQL resources that will be of interest to professors, university DBAs and students:
MySQL University is an ongoing series of free educational online webinars offered each Thursday. An individual Wiki page is created for each session containing links to the presentation
slides, the presentation recording (slides and audio), and the chat
transcript.
MySQL Conference & Expo 2009, is scheduled for April 20-23, 2009 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There are special discounts available for professors (50%) and full-time students (65%).
Change (Y) Our World.
Monday Jan 05, 2009
It's amazing what gets done when people (and institutions) work together. A good example is the innovation that comes out the collaborative efforts that Sun formalizes with academic institutions through the Center of Excellence Program (COE). Here are some good examples:
- Saint Paul College COE for next-generation immersive learning systems based on Project Wonderland. Check out Kevin's blog for info on the upcoming COE launch event;
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi Centre of Excellence
in E-governance which is conducting research to advance the eGovernance field to contribute to better social infrastructure, provide enhanced security and a better quality of life for the citizens of India; and
- The growing community of COEs adopting OpenSPARC to execute chip design research
and course work based on Sun's chip multi-threading (CMT) design.
Of course, there are many more outstanding collaborative efforts underway in a variety of fields.
Sunday Jan 04, 2009
I'm sure many student developers have made New Year resolutions and I'm willing to bet that at least some of them have resolved to become better coders. Check out this great article from the Sun Developer Network (SDN) in which some of the best Java developers offer their advice for students. Here's a summary of their advice:
- Write lots of code. Have fun with it!
- Learn to use your tools.
- Don't put your entire application in one method
- Trust the garbage collector to do its job
- Start simple. Learn the basics of the language
- Don't panic (when you first see the API with thousands of classes)
Read the full article.
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