Desktop Java

Australian Customs Selects IP Video Surveillance Solution

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:00:00 EDT

March Networks announced that the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has selected the Company's VideoSphere solution to enhance its security operations in multiple airports across the country. The integrated systems include March Networks' Video Management System (VMS) software and Edge encoders, as well as host and storage servers from Sun Microsystems.

New Universal Desktop Converter Extends Lifecycle of Old PC Hardware

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EDT

IGEL’s Universal Desktop Converter is the extended software-based version of the company’s successful PC to TC Conversion Card. To upgrade third party hardware into IGEL Universal Desktops, customers simply plug in and boot from the USB token. Afterwards, the IGEL Universal Firmware is installed automatically onto their system. The Universal Desktop Converter comes with three Digital Service Pack options – Entry, Standard, or Advanced – so businesses only pay for what they need by selecting the software platform that best suits their requirements.

Dialog Boxes, Habituation, and Single Threaded Thought

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EDT

In Jef Raskin’s excellent book, The Humane User Interface, he discusses how the human brain is able to perform many tasks simultaneously while only having the ability to focus on one conscious thought at a time. Being able to process information and analyze it intelligently is crucial to our ability to solve problems, but once we have learned how to deal with a particular situation, just as vital is our ability to remember and recall the response without thinking.

User Interface Generation Tools: Silver Bullet or Fool's Gold?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:00:00 EDT

User interface generation tools are something that has always been dear to my heart. I’ve enjoyed using them and have been fortunate enough to work on developing them. However, there’s a huge tar pit to be avoided when using them on projects that I see people heading towards over and over again. The problem crops up when one tries to automatically generate GUIs from a model. It doesn’t matter what the model is; once upon a time it was a CORBA IDL or a relational database schema, today it’s more likely to be a UML model, WSDL schema, RESTful API, or whatever the API du-jour happens to be.

The 4 Core Principles of Agile Programming

Fri, 16 May 2008 11:45:00 EDT

One of the things I really enjoy at the moment is the recognition and adoption of agile programming as a fully fledged powerful way to deliver quality software projects. As its figurehead is a group of very talented individuals who have created the agile manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/). At its core are four simple principles that, when followed and applied to software projects, generally will ensure a great flexibility and hence higher agility.

Is Computing Riddled with Too Many Acronyms?

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

An acronym occurs when the first letters of a phrase are combined into a shortened form that becomes an abbreviated way of describing the original. In science, they are often used to take a fairly verbose and complex concept, such as Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, and create a more concise and catchy noun LASER. The computing world is full of acronyms: Joint Photographic Experts Group becoming JPEG, or Graphics Interchange Format shortening to GIF.

Is It Time for a Hippocratic Oath for Programmers?

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:30:00 EST

Hippocrates, one of the founding fathers of modern medicine, realized that those who trained to become physicians were not only able to use their skills for good and for progress, but also might be inclined to misuse all they had learned. To protect against such abuses, new grads back in the 4th century B.C. were made to swear they would only use medicine in the best interests of their patients by taking the eponymously named 'Hippocratic Oath.'

Google Searching for Java Innovators

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:30:00 EST

Imagine you are a contestant on a TV game show and your grinning quiz master pops the question: 'Name the one thing you most associate with Google?' Think about your answer - write it on a card (don't show me yet). Turning your card over, it's likely to be one of the following...Great Internet search engine on google.com; Wicked share price, wish I'd bought some a few years ago; Powerhouse of innovation for Java

Java JVM Swapping - Safe Practice or Unsafe Risk?

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:00:00 EST

One of the most fundamental design principles of Java is captured in its motto 'Write Once, Run Anywhere.' It describes how a .class file encodes its instructions at the bytecode level, allowing portability between different machines that, through a specific virtual machine implementation, resolve the bytecodes into executable instructions to give the program life. It's a goal that's almost enshrined in the Java fundamental commandments, as Sun took out a high-profile advertising campaign to back up the '100% Pure Java' slogan and engaged Microsoft in battle for their proprietary language extensions.

Software Salespeople Are Like Pretty Boy Band Members

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST

Once upon a time, software developers wrote code and ruled their kingdoms. Good programs had few bugs and performed their tasks efficiently and with style. The elite programmers went on to become designers who would lead others in their wake, instilling in them good software practices in a master/apprentice relationship. However, someone was needed to sell the code, so software salespeople were hired who, like pretty boy band members, tended to spend their weekends at the mall browsing shelves of hair products rather than intellectually challenging books.