Run apps on Spoon

Spoon.net offers a cloud hosting service for desktop applications. Quite an innovative approach but in the age of virtualization things rarely surprise us anymore. It requires an installation of a .Net plugin to run on Windows, which may make it unusable at some locations, like internet cafes. Hopefully, issues like this get solved with advancing technology. It feels weird being able to run Notepad++ in the cloud! :)

Well, actually, the app gets downloaded in the background and runs in a virtual machine / sandbox on your PC. This makes me wonder what happens with apps that require registry access. Something to try out with, for example, Quicken.

http://spoon.net/

IBM Enterprise Architect Kit for SOA

A great set of resources related to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). For most organizations I've seen, even knowing the very definitions would make a huge difference. :)

"Understanding SOA: Key Terms

Service: a repeatable business task, such as check customer credit or open account

Service orientation: a way of integrating your business processes as linked services, and the outcomes that these services bring

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): an IT architectural style that supports service orientation

Composite application: a set of related and integrated services that support a business process built on SOA"

(link)

HTML5

Great overview of HTML5, what it is and, more importantly, what it is not. :)

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wa-webstandards/index.html

Grid vs Cloud

Cloud computing vs. Grid computing explained in IBM's paper from 2009. It explains how cloud computing is an extension to grid computing. An evolution, a natural progression, if you want. The term 'utility computing' is also explained and this is what today's services are becoming more and more like - paying for what one uses on a shared infrastructure.

Cloud computing represents Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), as opposed to Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS) concepts.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-cloudgrid/

Further to that, some great Cloud computing resources available at

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/index.html?ca=dti-cloudzone

A-GPS

A good and brief explanation on A-GPS and how to enable it on Android is available here. Detailed sources, as always are on Wikipedia: GPS, and A-GPS.

In brief, to enable A-GPS, turn on "use wireless networks" in GPS settings (Location and Security). 

Google MapMaker

Similar to OpenStreetMap.org, Google has allowed the public to add and edit content on Google Maps. MapMaker is the service where one can edit the map and/or review the changes made by others.

This is quite useful, especially for areas that have rather low Google Maps coverage, like Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, editing areas outside the US is not enabled yet.

http://www.google.com/mapmaker

Glimpse! - server debugging on the client

Thanks to Scott Hanselmann, I've just been introduced to some serious brain-damage. :) Things like Glimpse do not pop-out every day and so it was really weird to see a framework that - in your browser - displays debugging information from the server, executing the MVC web application on .NET stack.

This is really groundbreaking, but at the same time quite needed, technology that lets you know what is going on with your application. Kinda like debugging on production servers. :) Head there to find out more.

"What Firebug is for the client, Glimpse does for the server... in other words, a client side Glimpse into whats going on in your server."

Link: http://www.getglimpse.com/

Android 2.3.3 available for Samsung Galaxy S

The official Android 2.3 Gingerbread is available for Samsung Galaxy S. It is available only in some countries/regions for now. The update is/should be available through Samsung Kies.
Since I still do not see it in the list of updates, I decided to look around for leaked versions. So, here are some:

• Stock Firmwares for GT-I9000 (link), or
• Ramad (link)
• JKay (link)

To flash the ROM, follow the instructions in the posts above or check the links for more detailed installation instructions. Useful instructions are here and the accompanying video here.
After installing the new ROM, the phone will have to be rooted again (or here). I used instructions from Nikademus thread.

SQLDiffFramework

SQL Diff Framework is an Open Source framework that does the work (comparison of databases or other data sources) similar to SQL Compare.

Unique in database comparison, SDF lets you compare live data--or saved snapshots--from any combination of SQL Server, Oracle, MySql, or ODBC data sources (Access, Excel, CSV files, etc.). Compare like-named or dissimilar tables or fields--now you can compare apples to oranges!

http://sqldiffframework.codeplex.com/

Android 2.3 Coming Soon to a Galaxy S Near You

Apparently, Samsung has started rolling out Android 2.3 Gingerbread for Galaxy S (see Wikipedia). I still don't see it in Kies but looking forward to the update relatively soon. Although I don't see many important changes in it, one thing I'm looking forward is the improvement in battery life. That's one thing that there's never enough. I'd be even happier if the thin film photovoltaic cells would start rolling out so that the phone gets recharged in sunlight. This is something I'd expect to see as a standard part of the mobile device in the (hopefully near) future.

Market Forecasts

Here is an awesome chart that illustrates the power of market forecasts, predictions, call it whatever you want.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Itanium_Sales_Forecasts_edit.png

Nginx 1.0.0

Nginx is a small web server with some cool features, steadily rising in usage on the Web.