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Breaking: Yahoo Finally Sells Off Kelkoo

Yahoo has been rumored to be selling Paris-based comparative shopping site Kelkoo for some time now, and it appears that they have found a buyer. Yahoo acquired Kelkoo in 2004 for €475 million. The company has been sold to a UK-based private equity firm called Jamplant Ltd (update: here is a profile of the fund) for something less than €100 million, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. Ex-Kelkoo CEO Pierre Chappaz announced the news on his blog, and a copy of the internal email a

Nov. 21, 2008 08:53 AM

Is White Listing going Mainstream?

Nov. 20, 2008 07:00 PM

Strings

FORTRAN was a programming language for crunching numbers. It provided limited textual support, primarily for the labeling of output. It did this with Hollerith constants. Hollerith constants were named for Herman Hollerith, who adapted the punched card for data processing. To make a Hollerith constant, enter the number of characters, then the letter H, and then the characters. 13HHELLO, WORLD! ALGOL 60 had better textual support, adding a structure called a string which was a s

Nov. 20, 2008 12:24 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #30

Stack Overflow Podcast episode 30 is up, with special guest Richard White of UserVoice. Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.

Nov. 20, 2008 11:53 AM

Application Development in the Clouds - Mike Vizard and John Michelsen

Mike Vizard at eWeek recently hosted a podcast with ITKO???s John Michelsen, on "Application Development in the Clouds." In this conversation, John and Mike talk about how cloud computing is going to upend the way IT organizations think about SOA and application development in general. Mike started by mentioning the increased number of dependencies that SaaS brings to SOA testing. John said Mike really nailed the problem - it is something we are seeing in every engagement that relies on third p

Nov. 20, 2008 11:37 AM

It’s all “Pattern Analysis”?

There was an interesting article on predictive analytics and CEP in Insurance & Technology this month, as reported on David Luckham’s site. The article commented on day-by-day / real-time high-volume data analysis using predictive analytics and complex event processing. Though the article didn’t draw the logical conclusion (i.e. there are use cases for applying both forms of pattern analysis, i.e. deep-historical and real-time), nor did it mention TIBCO (!) [*1], it’s a goo

Nov. 20, 2008 10:27 AM

More on ProxyPass in Apache/Windows

I thought I had it yesterday, but there was a case I didn't test, and it didn't work, so there's still some more work to do. What I want: 1. http://apache.twitterland.org/ should be served from the static Apache folder, which is in its virgin state with the "It Works!" page. And it does work. 2. The npr sub-folder should be served by the OPML Editor, and it is. 3. http://test5.twitterland.org/ should also be served by the OPML Editor, but it is not. Instead it's serving the static Apache folder.

Nov. 20, 2008 10:16 AM

Adobe MAX. Blog #5. Day 2.

MAX, as a big brother hosts a number of small unconferences, which are located in the well equipped half-open spaces in the hallway. They have AV, comfy coaches, and are less formal gatherings of the developers. At 8:30AM I was sitting at 360MAX unco

Nov. 20, 2008 10:00 AM

Internet not the child-devouring swamp many adults fear

A three-year research project, headed by Mimi Ito, involving 28 researchers and 800 subjects, and sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, finds that the stereotypical idea of the Internet as a soul-devouring, anti-social wasteland for our kids is just plain wrong. If you suspected otherwise, now you know you were right. The report makes a key distinction that helps explain some of the confusion we’ve been living through. From the press release: The researchers identified two distinctive ca

Nov. 20, 2008 09:01 AM

Some reminders (JUG Lugano, NetBeans Demo Camp at Genova, Devoxx...)

Let me just write a few reminders...This evening at 18:45, JUG Lugano is going to give its first meeting. I'm speaking about Struts 2 (and NetBeans, of course). Pizzas will follow.Next Tuesday, November 25, there will be a NetBeans Demo...

Nov. 20, 2008 08:21 AM

Five or 15 True Friends

Mr. Zucker's relationship with Mr. Weinstein is also the subject of commentary in the court papers. At a meeting in January 2007 between the two, Mr. Weinstein told Mr. Zucker: "You can only have in your life five true friends, and I consider you one of my five friends. And I'm telling you, I will not embarrass you." When the Weinstein Company filed its reply to the lawsuit last month, it claimed that Mr. Weinstein told Mr. Zucker that a person "has about 15 friends in the business world" and t

Nov. 20, 2008 06:51 AM

The Art of Laying People Off

Over at the American Express OPEN Forum, I posted an article explaining “The Art of Laying People Off.” Actually, I hope you don’t have to read it.

Nov. 19, 2008 02:02 PM

Ruby on Rails Bible Now on Twitter

For those who Twitter, the Ruby on Rails Bible book now has a Twitter feed of its own. You can follow Ruby on Rails Bible for content updates and corrections, new content, discussion about the book and its contents, and Rails knowledge sharing. You

Nov. 19, 2008 12:17 PM

Foundation Classes - PocketBuilder

** Hot News ** Software Tool & Die (my company) is pleased to announce that they have released an update to their STD Foundation Classes for PocketBuilder (PK). This latest release coincides and complements the lat

Nov. 19, 2008 11:49 AM

SY 4 x Mobile Star Awards 2008

Sybase Unwired Enterprise Solutions Win Four 2008 Mobile Star Awards.

Nov. 19, 2008 11:32 AM

OSGi for the Enterprise Gets a Bit Closer & LinkedIn Too

Last week at IBM Montpellier the upcoming OSGi 4.2 release got a bit closer, and Yan Pujante presented LinkedIn's requirements. Peter can't believe what Yan is saying... ! In the now usual pattern for a two-day expert group face to face, the first day was given to the core platform expert group (CPEG) and the second day to the enterprise expert group (EEG). Neither can the rest of us...! The work to produce the enterprise edition of the OSGi specifications is roughly divided between th

Nov. 18, 2008 05:25 PM

Updated ActionScript 3 RIA API Guide

We have just posted an updated PDF of the Flash Platform ActionScript 3 RIA API Guide. The new guide includes updated apis for Adobe AIR 1.5, Flex 3.2 and Flash Player 10. You can find more information on the guide, as well as download the PDF from the developer center. You can view some images of the previous guide here. We also have printed versions of the guide. If you are MAX, you can find one in your goodie bag. If you are not at max, I will be sending some guides and new eboy sticker shee

Nov. 18, 2008 02:44 PM

HTML 5 Web Sockets article on IndicThread

HTML 5 Websockets and the K team's open source project Kaazing Gateway reaches India and the India developer community. Sidda Eraiah will be presenting 2 sessions @ IndicThreads Conference 2008, Pune, India: How to build an enterprise trading solution using HTML 5’s WebSockets The Future of the Web: HTML 5, WebSocket, Java and Comet Sidda has also written a very nice article for IndicThread on Comet, Websockets, and Server-sent Events. The article provides a 4 step mini-howto on WebSoc

Nov. 17, 2008 03:20 PM

Thinking about Theory (Warning: Interaction Design Nerdery Ahead)

In conversations and on mailing lists addressing the design of interactive media, I’ve found myself growing uneasy with just how little understanding most people practicing in the field have of how they are influenced by the various theories that undergird are standard practice. I think it can be problematic that so people are working in the context of these theories don’t understand how the theories’ assumptions are coloring their approaches. What do I mean by theory? Theory i

Nov. 16, 2008 11:34 PM

iSync Plug-In for Nokia 5310

I bought my wife a Nokia 5310 MusicExpress phone recently. She had used the 6210i for a long time and wanted something that had the same ease of use but that was slim, had a radio, and allowed her to play music. The 5310 was ideal. My wife has a Mac and as per normal the phone was not supported on iSync, the built-in Mac device syncing service. You can add the 5310 to isync by downloading a package to provide the device with isync here

Nov. 16, 2008 02:35 PM

The OMG is hosting an Object Database Standard Definition Scope meeting in Santa Clara

I have received a note from Mike Card that I would like to share with you. Please note that the registration link sent by Mike (see below) is not yet active...."The OMG is hosting an Object Database Standard Definition Scope meeting in Santa Clara, CA at the Hyatt Regency on Tuesday afternoon, December 9th. The purpose of this meeting will be to define what the scope of the new object database standard should be.We have already done some work in this area but more remains to be done. Our goal is

Nov. 15, 2008 10:15 AM

HTTPS/SSL Tunneling and Proxy Server

HTTPS Tunneling, also called HTTPS Proxy, SSL proxy, or SSL tunneling, refers to sending HTTPS content via a proxy server. This is a very common usage scenario over the web. Unfortunately, I have not found any Java server that supports this yet. Tomcat chokes up quickly if you tunnel HTTPS messages. Other Java servers don’t even come close. Jetty is the furthest and closest to supporting it. Greg Wilkins even wrote two examples showing Jetty’s proxy support (ProxyServlet and Asy

Nov. 15, 2008 12:29 AM

Get Your Own gTLD… for only $185,000

ICANN has opened up the process for gTLD. I’m certain that we’ll now finally see .mac and .msn. The application process looks grueling, and the application fee is expected to be a relatively staggerring $185,000, so don’t expect to see .dojo, .sitepen, or .dylan any time soon. That said, if someone wants to set up .lan, I’ll be first in line to pay for dy! For now, I’ll stick with dylan.io.

Nov. 14, 2008 01:57 PM

Mashups : New and Agile way to Integrate

I came across this interesting post: How Mashups Could Eliminate Integration Projects by Loraine Lawson. In a related post, she refers to John Crupi's article Enterprise Mashups Part I: Bringing SOA to the People which I would recommend to readers who want to understand JackBe's take on defining mashups. Anyway, Loraine's post led me to Ron Schmelzer's ZapFlash. Here are some excerpts of Ron's article that caught my eye, with my take on them.Excerpt from ZapFlash:A year or two ago, assuming tha

Nov. 13, 2008 06:52 PM

Top Ten Software Engineering Concepts, v10

I’m giving a presentation on “Top 10 Software Engineering Concepts” at a CompAid “Software Best Practices” conference in Chicago on November 13th. I hope you’ll be there in person to hear all the nuances; but if you’re stuck in some other part of the world, you’re welcome to download the (10 megabyte) PDF version of the presentation, which has a whole bunch of embedded links to other presentations, publications, books, articles, Websites, etc.

Nov. 13, 2008 06:31 AM

Joel on Software

Stack Overflow Podcast #30

Stack Overflow Podcast episode 30 is up, with special guest Richard White of UserVoice. Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.

Posted: Nov. 20, 2008 11:53 AM

Anecdotes

Michiko Kakutani reviews Malcolm Gladwell's latest book in the New York Times: “Much of what Mr. Gladwell has to say about superstars is little more than common sense: that talent alone is not enough to ensure success, that opportunity, hard

Posted: Nov. 18, 2008 10:08 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #29

In this week's Stack Overflow podcast, Jeff and I talk about video games, programming languages that aren't "in" English, and hiring great programmers. Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great peopl

Posted: Nov. 12, 2008 09:29 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #28

Corey reviews the podcasts Jeff and I are doing, under the title Jeff Atwood is Trying to Kill Me: “The trip from Chicago to Detroit was without homicidal incident. The only harbinger of what was to come was that I could sense a growing irrit

Posted: Nov. 6, 2008 09:00 AM

The Unproven Path

“As for what this all means, I'm still trying to figure that out. I abandoned seven long-held principles about business and software engineering, and nothing terrible happened.” From my latest Inc column: The Unproven Path Not loving

Posted: Nov. 3, 2008 06:01 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #27

Our guests on this week's Stack Overflow Podcast are the founders of Reddit, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. By the way, Jeff recently upgraded the database server from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to 2008, and found pretty conclusively that 2008 h

Posted: Nov. 1, 2008 10:34 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #26

On this week's Stack Overflow Podcast, Jeff and I devote the episode to questions from listeners. Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.

Posted: Oct. 15, 2008 10:34 PM

Sins of Commissions

“A couple of years ago, I went into a big-box shoe store and bought a pair of sneakers. At the checkout counter, the cashier grabbed a can of that bogus silicone spray stores always try to up-sell you. It's supposed to make sneakers shiny and

Posted: Oct. 10, 2008 04:34 PM

Stack Overflow Podcast #25

This week's Stack Overflow Podcast features special guest star and programming blogger superhero Steve Yegge. It's a terrific conversation about working at Google, marketing your ideas, and programming languages... one of the most interesting

Posted: Oct. 9, 2008 11:00 PM

Hair on fire

On August 17th, Jason, a student in our software management training program, read a post by Seth Godin, marketing guru extraordinaire: "Here's the challenge: Assemble your team (it might be just you) on Monday and focus like your hair is on fir

Posted: Oct. 8, 2008 11:54 AM