From Ruby-land, news that Merb will merge into Rails 3. This seems a case where combining the two efforts should improve the result. We are also noticing a significant increase in the mindshare around JRuby in all these projects as the quality of JRuby continues to increase. Added - also see the Story at SDTimes.

Crossbow is the Solaris' Network Virtualization architecture and has just been released into OpenSolaris. Crossbow provides "virtualized lanes" that will scale at high performance over many cores; see Sunnay's Introduction and Ben's two posts: Announcement and Experiments. Crossbow is useful for Network Resource Allocation and will have deep implications for our Virtualization offerings - see Michaels' note from 2008 on the topic.

From the cloud computing area, Sun acquires Q-Layer; see the Press Release. Vijay has two relevant posts: an Introduction with several good links and a Terminology Overview; Om (@GigaOm) also writes about the Acquisition. Q-Layer should be a great addition to the xVM family.

We planned it a while ago, announced it in July, and it finally happened! The core of the Sun Web Server (used in places like MLB.com and Sun's own BSC and Sun Forums) is now Open Source - see the announcements from CVR and Jyri. The ancestry of the code goes back to the Netscape Server but it has changed quite a bit; see Jyri's details. Sun Web Server 7.0 U4 is included in OpenSolaris but it is also available separately as part of the Sun Web Stack 1.4 and contains many features that complement the GlassFish Server.

Finally, from Solaris-land, a note that Sun is now doing Stricter Enforcement of the existing Patch Policy. No changes or impact on the situation for Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server patches - see our Sun's GF Enterprise Support.

• Palm Pre - This seems one of the best of the iPhone challengers - looks like a good OS, multi-tasking/touch, physics, nice design and a keyboard. See homepage, wikipedia, Gizmodo and PCWorld.
• Sony Vaio P - This one looks like a nice netbook, with a wide screen, build around a good sized keyboard. The use of a trackpoint means the whole thing can be sized just for the keyboard - would love to try it out. Competition for the "lesser" netbooks and the always rumored iPod tablet? See Gizmodo, Engadget.
• Dell Adiamo - This one (if the promise matches the buzz) would compete with MacBook Air; if it keeps with Dell's pricepoints, it would help with the pricing. See Gizmodo and Engdget.
• Windows 7 - This one, I hope will help keep Apple focused in doing a good job with MacOS. Ubuntu and, I'd hope soon, OpenSolaris, can help with the pressure, but I've felt that the quality of the desktop offerings from Apple has decreased since the iPod/iPhone started generating so much money, and they can use a strong competidor. See homepage and Gizmodo.

JSF 2.0 went into Public Review Draft and Jim has posted more entries in his series showing how to take advantage of the new functionality. In the first one, he describes how to write an AJAX-aware Editable Text Component - sources are here. The second is a SwitchList - sources for an AJAX-aware variant are here (I suspect Jim will write about that version soon).

Arun has written two pieces on how to use the GlassFish v3 Gem with Merb. In the first one he covers the basics while the second Provides a Scaffold for a typical application. The posts have already been used successfully by Ashley Towers, Grant Michaels, iamclovin. Aded - Also check on details on Grant's Experience.

The winners of the Student Contest on MySQL and GlassFish (Official Rules, Announcement) have been announced. They are grouped into two categories, Campus Ambassadors and General Students, with one Grand Prize and several (4/3) Second Prizes on each. The winners are from Brazil (4), India (3), China (1) and the US (1). Full details (and photos) in the Winner Announcement - and thanks to Arun for the tip.

More Translations, this time of the download pages of GlassFish v3 Prelude to 7 languages: German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese - see Ogino's Note;

JavaFX will be launched this Thursday, Dec 4th, but the previews are starting to show. Chris - the original inventor of F3, the precursor to JavaFX - has a Thank-you note, while Robert has published the Reference Manual (thanks to Octavian for the tip). Stay tuned for more news during the launch.

And, in the meantime, on OpenJDK-land, Mark is describing the issues involved in today's Monolithic JDK, which we need to address if we want this infrastructure to be widely available as the basis for efforts like JavaFX.

GlassFish includes EclipseLink as its default JPA implementation but works equally well with Hibernate. There are many users of Hibernate, so the question pops up regularly; Alexis provides an Update on the solution, and we are working on making this even easier to our users.

Merb is gaining traction and we are trying to be friendly to all frameworks; see the Merb RC3 Announcement that explicitly refers to improved GlassFish/JRuby support.

The future plans for Grizzly include NIO2 support (see Webinar on the topic); JFA has started a series of blog notes talking about Tricks and Tips with NIO2.

Earlier this year, during JavaOne, Kohsuke showed how to Embedded GlassFish v3. Byron is not now leading the effort and we recently started having Promoted Builds for the embedded binary. Check out Nazrul report on Support for Scattered WARs, plus the additional links.

Finally, it seems that The Beatles will come to RockBand. The details are stil unfolding but this would be the first time that The Beatles show in a digital franchise. I think this highlights the role that players like RockBand have to distribute IP, in a medium that is richer than the old mp3 player - and also harder to pirate. It is also a reminder of the value of distribution channels (in this case the RockBand store).

Masoud is ahead of us! Check out his One-Pager on GlassFish v3 Prelude. The actual release of GFv3 Prelude will be split into two parts: the bits will go out this week but the special webinar is not until next week, on November 6th.

Packt Publishing is looking for an author to write a new book focused on the administration features in GlassFish server to complement their Java EE5 Development using GlassFish Application Server. Check out the Authors info, and contact Kshipra Singh (kshipras at packtpub dot com) if interested.

Carla writes about Logging features in GlassFish v3 Prelude. Overall, logging in GFv3 will now use the JDK logging facility but not all features are implemented yet, so check on Carla's writup to see the details and plans.

Shoal is getting close to the 1.1 release, as part of the preparations for GFv2.1 and Sailfin. Check out Changelog, Shreedhar's Summary Note, and Download Page.

VirtualBox is now available for retail purchase at Amazon.uk (not in the US store, though). It's not yet a best seller; as of this writing, it is ranked 15,244 - let's see how if it goes up...

Plenty of Microsoft news aligned with PDC 2008. There is now a pre-Beta Windows 7 that includes plenty of consumer-friendly features like improved navigation and taskbars and multi-touch gestures, as well as lightweight, web-friendly versions of Office products. They have also announced their Cloud offering, Azure, but I've not had much time to check it except to note that Yousef is involved. On a more techie side, Rajeev reports that MS will add SAML 2 Support, which is good news for OpenSSO et al.

Jakub has published a new Enterprise Tip on Jersey showing how to Configure JSON for RESTful Web Services in Jersey 1.0. Jersey is the production-quality, reference implementation of JAX-RS, the JCP standard for RESTful Web Services. JAX-RS is part of Java EE 6, but it can also be used separately. Jersey is part of GFv3 Prelude.

On JSF - first the NetBeans team shows how to Start Developing JSF Applications with the new NetBeans releases, including the forthcoming NB 6.5. Then Arun shows how to use JSF and Google Maps using Gmaps4JSF, Facelets and Mojarra on GlassFish v3 Prelude.

Comet and Atmosphere - JFA recently presented on Atmosphere - his new portable Comet framework - at the Silicon Valley JUG. The slides are Now Available.

GlassFish ESB is getting very close to its first Release Candidate (and GA/FCS release) (Milestone 2 Download) but I just noticed I had not spotlighted Mike's excellent Screencast on GlassFish ESB. Check it out and notice it is a multi-parter - very well done.

While we await GF ESB v2, we are already working on the next generation, which is based on Project Fuji. Fuji Milestone 2 released last week, and here are two additional posts: Nikki on Interceptors in Fuji and Derek on the Proxy bundle.

Andy B is adjusting his time involvement at Sun so he can spend more time with Arista Networks, "one of his startup companies" that is focused on the 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching business. The Original NYTimes Article was followed by a Clarification.

And today's toys includes Google Earth on iPhone, and Oprah endorses Kindle. Of the two, I think Oprah's endorsement will have the largest impact - is the time for the electronic reader finally here?

Any Best poll is always subjective in one way or another, so here are two more :-) First What's the Best AppServer - with several references to GlassFish. The second is a question from a prospective GF user that elicited a Very Nice Testimonial... which is a good time for a call for Adoption Stories; if you have any, drop us a mail at stories at sun dot com.

The OpenMQ community page sports a new, clearner-looking OpenMQ WebSite. I hear they also have testimonials and performance numbers cooking; stay tuned.

The Identity folks at Sun have released a new Compliance Manager product that elicited good press coverage (BusinessWire, SearchSecurity). This is part of Sun's Identity Products, and, like with OpenSSO, I expect the usability and applicability - not just the functionality - of all these products to continue to spread in the future.

NetBeans 6.5 (now in RC) has improvements in MySQL support, including knowing about the Sakila sample, improvements to the SQL Editor, SQL code completion, displaying multiple rowsets, and SQL history. Check out Andrei's NetBeans.TV Screencast, and thanks to John for the tip.

Roy (Fielding) has specific objections to the RESTful API for OpenSocial - see Roy's note and Dave's links (Roy points the comment to SocialSite, but it really is about OpenSocial). It seems there is a discussion thread on the OpenSocial group discussing how to incorporate that feedback into the spec.

Finally, on the OpenStorage side, a couple of good videos discussing the role of Flash in Storage, (both available in two sizes): Bill Moore ([medium], [ipod]) and Andy Bechtolsheim ([medium], [ipod]). The ipod-sized presentation are ideal for flights :-)

More frameworks come with GlassFish support out-of-the-box. Seam 2.1.0 GA is out and GF support is now explicitly mentioned ([1], [2]), and Terracotta 2.7 is out, also with GlassFish support ([2]).

JBoss announces a new relationship with Magnolia (website). The tip landed in my inbox as a "new JBoss portal strategy" and there seems to be some angle there as JBoss.org is switching from the JBoss portal to Magnolia Enterprise, but I think of Magnolia as mostly a CMS product rather than a portal, so will keep an eye on more details. See Announcement.

NetBeans continues to get closer to NB 6.5. The community builds with the multiple localizations are now available for review and feedback - check out Masaki-san's writeup.

GlassFish v3 Prelude includes support for the EJB 3.1 draft through the new update center, and Marina has modified instructions on how to Use the EJB Timer (small modification from previous instructions).

And, as Android becomes more real, Google has Open Sourced it.

Kohsuke returned from Japan where he had a good time and started building more relationships with developers, users and customers. He writes about a Visit to Apresso where he talked about Hudson and Sorcerer, another Sun campus at Youga on Metro and Jersey, and his Hudson Keynote at the JJUG conference. We have also tossed around the idea of him hosting an online webinar in Japanese similar to the one I hosted in Spanish last week.

Arun and Jim presented at AjaxWorld on how to Use Comet in a Two-Player Game built using the Grizzly Comet facilities. Check out the Presentation Description, the slides in PDF and the actual code. Arun even has a Rails/Grails Version.

More articles on MEP: Santiago describes the development cycle of a MEP connector, including source code generation from a template, compilation and deployment. Also check the MEP product page and the Administration Page.

Quite a bit of JSF activity as we get closer to JSF 2.0. Roger presented at AJAXworld on AJAX Frameworks and JSF, and Ed, shows how he handles the JSF 2.0 Endgame - I've done my share of specs, but I've never seen it done that way - look carefully at the pictures, those are not post-it notes :-)

I am not a heavy Toy guy, but this one I could use: a 7 inch display from Nanovision. I would use it as a dedicated screen for my RTM page, but I can also see it as a dedicated Skype or IM window.

Finally, on news from your Editor, I'm going to be traveling through the next week, so expect reduced posts, and special congratulations to the Williams College, Women's V2 boat.

TopLink Essentials EclipseLink is the JPA implementation used in the soon-to-be-released GlassFish v3 Prelude. (as well as the RI for JPA 2.0). NetBeans has support for JPA, and this Screencast at NetBeans.TV shows how to use it in NB (thanks to Rob for the tip).

The GlassFish Migration team is soliciting participation from interested parties to Localize the tool. Contact Shinya via that blog entry or by sending email to g11n at glassfish dot dev dot java dot net if interested.

Arun has another post on JSF 2.0; this time showing how to Use JSF 2.0 with Managed Beans.

From OpenDS land, first Ludo points to an article at BigAdmin by Sachin Krishna Telang showing how to Use OpenDS with IBM's WebSphere. Then, Mark describes how he used OpenDS with JRuby.

Dave has published two recent notes focusing on the areas where SocialSite extends the OpenSocial API. The First Post covers People and Friending, Profile Editing and Metadata, Profile Privacy Settings and Group Creation, Management and Invitations. The Second Post covers Gadget Installation and Management, Messaging and Search. Dave promises additional posts.

And, from the land of Java SE, the long-awaited JavaSE 6 U10 release is now available; check Downloads, FAQ and Osvaldo's post. Despite its obscure name, this is a very important release - I'd expect additional posts on the topic early next week.

Arun shows how to use JSF 2.0 with GlassFish v2 in his Mojarra on GFv2. I believe the current thinking is that JSF 2.0 will not depend on Servlet 3.0 and will be able to run on Java EE 5 containers.

Atmosphere, JFA's new portable Comet framework, is now here; check the Announcement.

Jacob promised more JRuby frameworks and it seems that Rack Support is the first step. Rack provides an minimal interface between webservers supporting Ruby and Ruby frameworks, so things like, Merb, build on top of it. Seems a role equivalent to that of modjy in Jython?.

Jiandong shows how to use WS-Trust to Secure Web Services in Metro.

Yesterday's big announcement was T5440 (aka Batoka), a 4 socket, T2-based, 256 hardware threads, at 1.4GHz with up to 512GB memory, all in a 4U chassis! For techies, start with the posts by Allan and Josh, the T5440 WebSite and the Benchmarks. The press has nice reactions: [1], [2], [3]. Also check how to use it to Scale SugarCRM using Ldoms, and the new LDom cookbook. If you like it, give it a Free Try and Buy!.

Today, Apple announced the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Need to go check them out at the local Apple store, but I'm disappointed there is no Blu-Ray nor a sub-1K$ entry (in the new enclosure).

Marco had a small expedition tracking a bug in GlassFish v2 interacting with Syslogd. He found a solution and has Posted his Story and Patches. Still working on how the fix will migrate back to the main repository.

OpenSSO now has a set of RESTful Web Services to access its functionality to do things like authenticate, authorize, validate, etc.

And, on the same topic, the JCP just formally announced that JAX-RS 1.0 is now final. The final specification is here. First JavaEE 6 specification all completed.

Judy reports on a SunTech meeting focused on spreading adoption of GlassFish Server in China. Expect us to reach out more to that community in the very near future, in the meantime, check out Judy's note. Added - Judy pointed me to GlassFish_China Google group.

And SmugMug has a very nice note on how they have been using OpenSolaris with MySQL and ZFS in production. Check out Don MacAskill's note (don't miss the comments) and Marc's initial pointer.

We had already mentioned that RTL Uses GlassFish. RTL Group is the largest TV, Radio and production company in Europe. FunRadio.fr is one of their companies (Website) and they are now also running on GlassFish (v2 U1).

Oleksiy writes about the Roadmap and the Recent Updates for Grizzly 2. Oleksiy and JeanFrancois recently gave a Webinar on this topic at TheAquarium Online that goes into plenty of detail (wiki page, SlideShare).

More UpdateCenter 2 progress getting ready for GFv3 Prelude. Chris (Kampemier) points to the RC 4 build and Chris (Kasso) explains how the Desktop Notifier works.

One of the key technologies in OpenESB (and thus on GlassFish ESB) is BPEL. There are differences between the old (1.1) and the new (2.0) standard; check out the new BPEL Migration page.

Apple is getting ready to release new notebooks. I admire the way Apple/Steve focuses in delivering "got-to-have" products, and I expect this event to be no different. We Will Find out on the 14th...

Jacob reports from JRuby-land that he is working on Support for More Frameworks in GlassFish, like merb. Others will follow, so let him know if you have preferences.

We are in the last few weeks before GlassFish v3 Prelude, and Paul has announced Final Review for Documentation. Review ends on Monday, so you don't have much time left.

Kohsuke is now in Tokyo, starting his (Japan Trip. Check out the GeoMap on Japan: we have 140K hits there, not bad, but I'm sure we can do better with improved outreach, which is why Kohsuke is visiting.

A new JRE is brewing. The new Java SE 6 Update 10 has an in-place update for the JRE in your desktop. This is a big change that will reduce the download time and will simplify your disk management. The Intro at SDN News has a pointer to a dummy try-out program, consider checking it out to give us feedback on the new release.

And the BlackBerry Storm is out, with its new touch-screen, see: Vodafone, Hands-On and AppCenter. From reading the crackberry entry, it seems the store is for distributing apps from the carrier - which is more limited than the iPhone AppStore, but, since the store is not the only way to download an app, that's less critical.