Oracle buys … Everything (Part II)

Ok, this was fast. Oracle bought another company, Haley Limited. The product: RuleBurst, a Business Rules Management System. 

The question: What is going to happen with the current business rules engine included in Oracle SOA Suite?

My First Certification: OCA

During my career, I have had chance to learn different technologies but never had tried to certify. Finally, encouraged by my sister I take the Oracle Certified Associate test, and passed.

This is the beginning, the next one is…

Oracle buys … everything

The software companies are evolving. Years ago the strategy was focus on being the best in the market in a specific topic. And Oracle wasn’t the exception.

Oracle became the best RDBMS in the market, but nowadays its goal is being a solutions provider, that’s why new slogan is “ORACLE IS THE INFORMATION COMPANY”. To achieve this, Oracle’s strategy is acquiring the top software and integrates them to its platform.

Some of its most important acquisitions are PeopleSoft, Siebel, Innobase, Demantra, Stellent, Hyperion and AppForge. But the most shocking is BEA Systems, with this Oracle is the owner of the most powerful application server in the market: Weblogic.

Its last acquisition announced today, Primavera Systems, complements its solution adding project management to its middle tier solution.

The issue about all of these acquisitions is the future of the platform. Consider this: OAS is/was the core of the middle tier solution, but as they bought Weblogic, it’s probably they want to change OAS for WebLogic, but that means several changes including licensing, costs, migration and business impact. Also OAS 11g was already announced, so next year they are going to exist 2 different Oracle Application Servers 11g.

Wellness Diary and ... Step Counter?

Funny thing…

I was using “Activity Monitor” to count my steps, but something wasn’t right. For example, it counts steps in sessions instead of whole day, and also doesn’t have goals. Exploring “Wellness Diary”, I was figuring out why my steps from “Activity Monitor” weren’t exported.  

The reason was simple: “Activity Monitor” change into “Step Counter”, with new features and the most important, compatibility with “Wellness Diary”. I had to uninstall it and install the new application. My verdict: excellent. Despite it consumes a lot of my battery, I have it running permanently when I’m outside home.

My new challenge is start to use “Sports tracker” more efficiently, that means do some exercise ;-)

Steam iron

Ironing is one of the chores I like less. The main reason I think is because is boring and I spend too much time to get good results. I also tried with one of those modern irons with steam, but I didn’t get better results.

My sister bought a steam brush. It’s funnier but not good enough. The reason is because water tank is not big enough, so I have to recharge constantly. Also the brush is broken, so it’s not so efficient now.

In our last try, we were watching “As seen on TV” where offered a product called “Tobi steamer”, and we decided to buy one. We didn’t want to buy without watching it first, and fortunately we found a similar one in a local store. After a short demonstration, we bought it.

Our first sessions were really good, good results and not too much effort. I didn’t ironed too much but I know that when I need it, I can do it easy and fast. Another advantage is you iron directly in the hanger, no problems with folding lines.

P.S.-The world’s largest collection of irons is in Gochsheim Castle, near Karlsruhe, Germany.

Wellness Diary – a Nokia Labs Application

Time to time I explore Nokia Labs looking for a new innovative software, something that improve the value of N95 and help me. I have already installed:

• Moving Ball (accelerometer’s test)
  
• Activity Monitor (step counter)
  
• Sports Tracker (GPS, step counter, speed, all in one)
  
• Podcasting (access to my favourite podcasts)

In my last exploration, I found this software: Wellness Diary. I’m not really fan about fitness, but as a responsible adult I’m concerned about my health and this software can help me to track some variables like:

• Weight
  
• Exercise (hours)
  
• Steps
• Eating (kCal)
  
• Sleep
  
• Working time (Hours)
  
• Stress level
  
• Blood pressure
  
• Fat %
  
• Illness
  
• Doctor visit
  
• Alcohol
• Smoking
  
• Waist circumference
  

Those variables concentrate the principal health issues. In addition there are some features:

• Import your registers from Sports Tracker, like daily steps and amount of exercise.
  
• Establish your personal goals.
  
• Graphical view to see your own progress.
  
• Send results through e-mail, Bluetooth, etc.
  

I’m trying to add all the information I can and particularly I like to control my weight and blood pressure. The hard part for me it’s calculate the amount of calories in food. (never interested on that before). 

You can download it here and here.

How to recycle CDs and DVDs?

I'm always looking for a good alternative to recycle CDs, DVDs and their respective jewel cases. In the list of reasons to recycle them are: 

• They are not useful anymore, like Windows 98 Installation CD.
  
• They don’t work (scratched, damaged, holed, bad burned, whatever).
  

About the last one, I have a fun story: today I was burning a big file already cut with split, supposed to use 5 DVD, but after several tries, I screwed up 7 DVDs. The theory about the reason is that file was a zipped one, and when I burned it in pieces each byte was burned correctly but when they are accessed causes an error in CRC, something that doesn’t happen with the full file. Does somebody know a method to send an 80 GB file without using network or USB drives?

With my frustration on top, I researched again for new ways but most of them referred to contact a company and give it to them, in some cases you should pay for that, so I focus on give CDs and DVDs a second chance in the world, like a resurrection of stuff.

I found these interesting options:

• RecyclingCds.com (http://www.recyclingcds.com), they use CDs to make nice clocks.
  
• Kaboose (http://crafts.kaboose.com/compact-disc-crafts.html), good ideas to make crafts.
  
• All Free Crafts (http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/index.shtml#cd)
  
• Make-Stuff - Jewel Cases (http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/jewelcases.html)
  
• Make-Stuff - CDs (http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/cd.html)
  

Also, some people with the same concerns:

• The Eco-Urbanite (http://ecourbanite.blogspot.com/2007/11/recycling-jewel-cases.html)
  
• Grist – Ask Umbra (http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2004/03/25/umbra-cdrecycle/index.html).
  

If somebody has a creative idea, please share.

IT Outsourcing

Nowadays, the non-IT companies are questioning itself about outsourcing IT services (hosting, colocation, service desk, etc.). I could mention lots of pros and cons, but to simplify the comparison, I made this list about most important things to consider about outsourcing:

• Providers are not more compromised with your business than you. Don’t expect sacrifice from them, they just want to reach SLA’s and fulfill.  
  
• The relationship you have with your provider is a Business relationship, in that way your provider wants to maximize their income, and one way to do that is expend less, sacrificing things like QA (quality assurance) or budged you high.
  
• If you don’t know the rules, better don’t play. Translated in business terms: if you are not ready to work with a provider, better don’t work with one.
  
• Providers are not bad guys; they are just doing the same thing you are: taking care of their business.
  
• Contracts are the cornerstone. They should be a reflection of your expectations as a customer, that means if you forgot put something on in, you shouldn’t expect  receive it.
  

At the end, everything is related with expectations. Some people are disappointed about their IT partners because they don’t get what they expected, without questioning about what are they duties and rights.

Finally arrived – 8Gb

When I bought my N95, some people told me "Why you didn’t  wait until N95 8Gb?" I don’t think I’ll need 8GB on my mobile, but that let me a question: Can a N95 use a microSD 8GB?

Despite the Nokia specification about supporting up to 2 GB microSD memory cards, one week ago I bought on ebay a microSD SDHC 8GB class 2 and now it is here. I replaced my 1GB with this little wonderful card just copying contents and voilà. Now I have a N95 with 8Gb and the option to change microSD (N95-8Gb doesn’t have microSD slot). Here is a screenshot to prove it: 

P.S.  N95 Screenshots were taken with “Screenshot” software by Antony Pranata. Here is the link to the site http://www.antonypranata.com/screenshot