I just learned about the...

BeanShell

...Java scripting language while reading about the new Android Scripting Environment and writing about it for the MobileContentToday blog...

Android Scripting Environment Both Awesome & Frightening

Its installers are are Java jar files. So, I'll guess it can be used on any platform that Java runs on. I'm definitely planning on taking a closer look at it sometime soon.

Good news for MySQL fans (like me). MySQL founder Monty Widenius and Peter Zaitsev announced the formation of the...

Open Database Alliance

Its stated purpose is to be:

I haven't had much luck with software from the New York Times. The 1.x releases of their iPhone app crashed 100% of the time on my iPod touch and iPhone 3G. The 2.0 release completely locked up my iPod touch (had to preform a soft reset). So, neither of those apps are still installed on the iPod touch or iPhone. Now comes the Adobe AIR based...

The New York Times TimesReader 2.0

I just installed Facebook Desktop for Adobe AIR (from Facebook). You can find its announcement in the Facebook blog at...

Interact with Your Stream Anywhere

So far, I much prefer the combination of twhirl (for use with Twitter) plus Facebook Desktop for Adobe AIR instead of the monolithic Seemsic Desktop which can now interact (poorly IMHO) with both Twitter and Facebook.

Seesmic says Seesmic Desktop is going to replace twhirl. They just released an update...

Seesmic Desktop 02-rc2

...that adds Facebook account integration. The smaller font used by this update makes it look a bit neater. But, I think Seesmic Desktop takes up way too much screen space (compared to twhirl). And, I don't like having to switch accounts for the text entry box. It would be better to have separate text entry boxes for each account to avoid confusion.

The New York Times and other news organizations are reporting that...

Oracle Agrees to Acquire Sun Microsystems

So, now what happens to MySQL (my favorite Open Source database server)? Hmm. I hope this isn't the end of MySQL as we know it. I guess it is a good thing that there are significant forked MySQL projects in progress.

PostgreSQL is arguably the most powerful Open Source relational database available (and I say this is as a long time MySQL user). The latest update came out last month (mid-March). As its minor dot point release number indicates, it consists mostly of bug fixes. You can find its release notes at...

PostgreSQL 8.3.7 release notes

Remember Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition which lets you clone bunches of hard drives across a network? Here's a free Open Source version called...

Clonezilla 1.2.1-52

The Clonezilla Live version can be installed and used from a CD/DVD disc or USB flash drive (Unicast mode only).

I've been working with MySQL since 2001. It is, by far, my favorite database (Open Source or otherwise). It used to be a snap decision to install it: Just visit...

http://dev.mysql.com/

...and download the latest version. Then, a couple of years ago, MySQL created two diverging/converging forks: A free community edition and a paid-for enterprise edition. The choice was still pretty easy for me: Free community edition. This evening I read this blog item...

eWeek has an interesting article titled...

Why Recession Is Causing Enterprises to Rethink Open-Source Strategy

Seesmic Launches its Facebook Desktop Client Available Today

I was too lazy to boot up the PC with the latest version of the TrueCrypt (6.1a) installer. So, I pointed my browser at...

truecrypt.org

...and found it is down or gone. I popped over to SourceForge and found the TrueCrypt project page there. But, it turned out that downloads are only available from TrueCrypt.org.

Let's hope it is just a server glitch and not an indication that TrueCrypt has disappeared for good.

Interesting looking Open Source web server project...

Cherokee Web Server

The name is obviously a take-off of the Apache web server. Binary installers are available. However, the official release is source code only. I'm told it compiles and runs fine under Mac OS X (no binary intaller for that platform).

Well, this is an interesting situation... Two of my favorite free services are at odds with each other. Is.gd is the default URL shortening service used by the Twhirl Twitter client. Unfortunately, OpenDNS which I use instead of my broadband provider's flaky DNS servers thinks that is.gd is a phishing site. Hmm.

Nice to see mainstream press coverage of a great free and Open Source multiplatform app in the New York Times...

Data Analysts Captivated by R’s Power

If you want to learn more about the "R" statistical package, you can read the article I wrote about it last summer for the O'Reilly DigitalMedia Mac blog...

I copied the VirtualBox virtual machine (VM) files from the Mac I built it on (running Mac OS X 10.5.6 - Leopard) to a PC running Windows Vista.

VirtualBox 2.1.0

VirtualBox on Windows Vista did not see the VM at all even though I:

1. Let VirtualBox update its internal data for existing VMs before performing the copy
2. Placed the files from the Mac in the appropriate sub-directories

When I wrote...

Adobe AIR Apps

...for the O'Reilly DigitalMedia Mac blog back on June 4, 2008, there were 168 Adobe AIR apps listed in the...

Adobe AIR Marketplace

There are 563 apps listed there as of today (2008.12.14) and it is pretty hard to figure what to try next despite the star rating system.

Are there any blogs/sites focused on reviewing Adobe AIR apps?

MySQL 5.1 was released on Saturday. And, guess what? No less than Michael Widenius (MySQL founder) says...

Oops, we did it again (MySQL 5.1 released as GA with crashing bugs)

The reason I am asking you to be very cautious about MySQL 5.1 is that there are still many known and unknown fatal bugs in the new features that are still not addressed.

MySQL remains my favorite SQL database server. But, I am so glad that I do not maintain MySQL servers on a day to day basis anymore.

I guess Adobe AIR does not auto-detect updates to itself on the Mac (still need to check Windows boxes). I downloaded the current version from...

Get Adobe AIR

...and found myself updating from the apparently ancient 1.1.0.5790 to 1.5.0.7720.

Turns out that VirtualBox 2.0.2 was released on September 12. I just learned about it tonight while firing it up to check something in Fedora 9.

VirtualBox.org