MySQL 5.1 is almost ready for prime time, but in the meantime some brave users have already started putting it to work in production environment. MySQL wants to hear from these intrepid souls. The MySQL 5.1 use Case competition is under way. We want feedback from users who have found a practical usage for 5.1 features, and also from the ones who have met usability challenges.

Two articles have already been published from the competition submissions. One showing a popular soccer team using MySQL 5.1 and one proposing a creative way of managing large storage. More articles will come with your feedback

If you are using MySQL 5.1 in production, please let us know!

I didn't know that CollabNet's Issue Tracker supported votes on bugs. You will need a Java.Net id, but you can go to your favorite bug (like this one, for example) and cast your vote(s); it looks you have a budget of 10 altogether (I've used 5 of mine so far). Issue tracker also supports votes in queries: here are the GF bugs with At Least 5 Votes.

So, go ahead, and vote on bug 90... err, I mean, on your favorite bug :-).

The second Hudson Extreme Feedback Device is... a Lava Lamp! :-) As Kohsuke points out (and lava lamp fans know), the shape of the lamp changes over time, so you can tell how long ago your build broke. On the plugin front, Kohsuke wrote a Gant Plugin and the community delivered 3 more: for Clover (from Stephen Connolly), a Plot Plugin (from Nigel Daley) and one for Visual SourceSafe (from Vara Kumar). Check the details and enjoy!

Hudson has its first Extreme Feedback Device. Kohsuke has built an orb out from LEDs and a PIC chip and has it connected to his Hudson builds. Now that he has built one, we need to decide where to place it... Check Kohsuke's blog for complete details, he even offers you the source code and schematics; maybe there are other interesting ideas on variations of this...