Microsoft Partners with SAP for Enterprise Business Applications [internetnews.com 4/24/2005] Using their service-oriented architecture models as a base, SAP AG and Microsoft are jointly developing a new composite application that hooks together SAP's enterprise services architecture and Microsoft's .NET platform to integrate the two companies' technologies. Code-named Mendocino, the software represents the next level of integration between the companies' core products, where customers use SAP's business software directly from Office applications. SAP will resell Microsoft Office and Microsoft will resell licenses to SAP's business process platform, available in 2006. The pact offers more tangible proof that distributed computing models are here to stay. 5/4/2005 6:35:57 PM    

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Utilize MySQL's features through .NET [TechRepublic 5/3/2005] MySQL continues to gain market share due to its ease of use and price. The open source community has extended its reach by developing a connector to be used with the .NET Framework. Learn more about using MySQL in .NET applications and get extended examples of how to work with MySQL data via .NET. 5/4/2005 1:53:17 PM    

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Why I Don't Use DataSets in My ASP.NET Applications. [4GuysFromRolla 5/4/2005] This article examins the fundamentals of the two data access objects provided by ADO.NET: the DataReader and the DataSet. Both objects have their time and place in .NET applications but, according to Scott Mitchell, DataSets are rarely, if ever, useful in ASP.NET Web applications. There are exceptions, granted, but for the majority of Web applications, DataReaders should be used exclusively. Performance, performance, performance. (There's also a good discussion on this topic going on over at Scott's blog.) 5/4/2005 1:43:00 PM    

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How to make screen capture work with Windows video

Most people know that when you press the Windows Print Screen (PrtSc) key, nothing (apparently) happens. Some people know that Windows actually takes a snapshot of your computer's screen and copies it into the clipboard, so you can paste it into your favorite graphics processing program, or Paint. A few people even know that pressing Alt+PrtSc copies the currently selected window instead of the full screen. Of course, there are all kinds of screen capture programs to give you more control over the process.

In theory, it should be easy to capture stills from video files, whether paused or streaming, by pressing Atl+PrtSc and pasting the result into your graphics program. However, quite often all you get is a beautiful image of the media player's border and controls, with a blank where the picture of the video is supposed to be.

I always thought this was some sort of DRM control "feature", but I was wrong. It's actually caused by your video acceleration setting.

D'Oh!

In Fixing a blank display, the screen capture experts at PixelMetrics explain how to turn off the media player's acceleration while recording. They give instructions for Media Player (7,8,9,10), QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, and WinAmp.

If that doesn't work, they also explain how to disable hardware acceleration system-wide.

5/4/2005 9:49:27 AM    

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Punching the Clock: Hacking an alarm clock to snooze when hit [via Street Tech 5/3/2005] This is a fun hardware hack: a cheapo alarm clock outfitted with an accelerometer so that it will go into snooze mode when you smack it, whack it, punch it, toss it off your nightstand, etc. This application note for the low-cost DE-ACCM[pdf] accelerometer board shows how to reverse engineer an off-the-shelf appliance and modify it so it's much more fun and useful. Dimension Engineering was formed in 2004 by two Carnegie Mellon graduates to sell easy-to-use electronic products to the hobbyist, educational and research markets. 5/4/2005 8:40:31 AM    

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When Reality Bites the Free Gospel [Free Software Magazine April 2005 via Linux Today 5/3/2005] "In a dream world, all software would be free. However, we spend enough time with our eyes open to realize that some situations call for proprietary software, either as a desktop or as a server application, on a free system... Examine this scenario: you have an Oracle database that’s been running for x years and it’s tweaked so perfectly you can’t afford the time and effort to scrub it and migrate to a free relational database. Rest easy: Oracle is available on free systems, albeit certified only on certain distributions... Another scenario: You’re one of the poor sods who pass your company's Free-OS exemption test because of some esoteric application not available on free systems... OpenOffice.org to the rescue." 5/4/2005 8:36:16 AM    

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On average, only five make it to interviews: poll [Globe and Mail 5/4/2005] On average, executives only interview five candidates for each job opening, according to a new survey of 100 Canadian executives by OfficeTeam, a unit of Robert Half International Inc.. "Once you secure an interview, you've crossed a major hurdle," said Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam. "The key then becomes presenting your skills and talent effectively and building rapport with the hiring manager to distinguish yourself from other candidates." 5/4/2005 8:14:14 AM    

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Open Document Format Approved [Slashdot: 5/4/2005; 5:52:18 AM] Open Document Format approved! Read all about it!* The OpenDocument format is intended to provide an open alternative to proprietary document formats including the popular DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office. Organizations and individuals that store their data in an open format avoid being locked in to a single software vendor, leaving them free to switch software if their current vendor goes out of business or changes their software or licensing terms to something less favorable. The OASIS Group announces that the third Committee Draft [PDF*] of the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.0 Specification has been approved as an OASIS Standard.
*Acrobat reader required to read open format PDF 5/4/2005 8:08:50 AM    

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Lobbyists in uproar as Florida Legislature considers banning felons from lobbying. [St. Petersburg Times 5/3/2005 via Fark] Lobbyists were in an uproar Monday over a proposal to ban felons from lobbying the Florida Legislature. It was a last-minute amendment to a bill which would require lobbyists to report the dollars they spend wining and dining lawmakers. The Senate President said he was unaware that any lobbyists had felony records until telephone calls and notes started pouring in. Senator Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, suggested the felony amendment be named in honor of the defibrillators required on the fourth-floor, where lobbyists hang out. 5/4/2005 7:47:09 AM    

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