Wanted: Java Programmer

A colleague's friend is looking for a Java Programmer. Posted at Jobstreet, still has not found a qualified applicant so they lowered their criteria to new fresh grad. Employer is a Belgian owned Company in the Philippines (Pasig). Salary range is P20-30k/mo (daw). Deadline of submission is Nov 09, 2008.

Below is the direct link to Jobstreet's vacancy notice:
http://ph.jobstreet.com/jobs/2008/9/default/20/1975375.htm?fr=C

Good luck job seekers!

"Gain School Advance" in the height of the milk scandal: Manufactured by Fonterra New Zealand

The current Dairy crisis of China made milks have brought scare, specially to parents like us who have kids depending on milk as one of their primary source of nutrition. I just read the news that 43% of Sanlu Group Co., the leading Chinese manufacturer involved in the milk scandal is owned by New Zealand’s largest company and the world’s largest exporter of dairy products, Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd.

My kid is turning 3 so he needs to switch his milk from "Gain Plus Advance" to "Gain School Advance" as progress from the same milk manufacturers. As I check the manufacturer and country of origin of the milks stated at the bottom-back of the can or box, I found out that Gain School Advance is manufactured by Fonterra unlike Gain Plus Advance which is manufactured by Abbott Ireland.

It may not be from China directly but there is a connection between Fonterra and the scandal. It maybe from New Zealand but how sure are we of the source of ingredients? Although Abbott has made press release assuring consumers of their products, how can we verify?

This discovery pushed me to look for another brand with better source and to be more scrupulous always.

Some of Fonterra's dairy product line here in the Philippines include Anchor Butter, Anchor Milk, Anmum, Anlene, Wham!, etc.

source:
1. http://abbottnutrition.com/news_and_media/press_releases/pressReleaseDetail.aspx?ContentTitle=Abbott%20Nutrition%20Statement%20on%20Infant%20Formula%20Contamination%20in%20China&year=2008
2. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/122742/Health-department-revokes-Chinese-milk-import-licenses
3. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tainted_milk

Google Phone, match for Apple's iPhone

Google's and HTC's T-Mobile G1 Android Dream Phone (using Google Apps), Apple iPhone's nightmare!!!



More:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05b04oTQbrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quwXY3w26wg

The new RAM: Magneto

Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM): new memory technology, based on electron spin. MRAM promises to bring non-volatile, low-power, high speed memory, and at a low cost, too. MRAM is called "the holy grail" of memory, and has the potential to replace FLASH, DRAM and even hard-discs.

Current memory systems in use include Dynamic and Static Random Access Memory (DRAM and SRAM). While they are faster than their predecessors, they do have some disadvantages. An interruption in the power supply would mean an immediate loss of information currently processed. Computers using these memory systems also take a long time to start up. Imagine turning on a computer and it being ready for use immediately, instead of having to wait for the computer programmes to be loaded. MRAM does away with that wait.

the mram write process:


Source:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=29896
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAM
http://www.mram-info.com/

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 8 - Worst browser of all time!

As I tried the new beta released of IE 8, it seems almost all sites have broken css, tables, java scripts, errors everywhere, etc. Although they have added a new feature "compatibility view" to correct the broken parts, it's still best to automatically do this just like Mozilla Firefox. IE 8 also added the crash-per-tab only like Google's Chrome. Microsoft should improve its products not worsen. Maybe Chrome will be better than IE after all.

Microsoft has dominated the market but everything will surely fall to right places.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9691448&ch=4226721&src=news

Google Chrome vs Mozilla Firefox

I've been using Google Chrome since its first release and comparing my daily use to Firefox, Chrome definitely needs some polish under the hood.

Some sites that breaks in IE also breaks in Chrome while not in Firefox. RSS feeds also comes out in text only while well represented in Firefox.

But the motive of Google to develop a browser is questionable. I've read their comics justifying their reason but it's still not convincing. Why not help the browser that pioneered and increasingly gets a share of the market? They have supported this browser and its progressing fast. Architecture or approach may be different, but these concepts can be shared to existing browsers especially to the one they support.

We know the battle of Google to free users and be independent from the dominant OS, you'll notice that Chrome is an alternative only for browsers running on Microsoft Windows. Therefore Chrome is a direct hit for Microsoft.

One thing to note about Chrome is that it that by default, it transmits browsing history to Google.

As Michael Malone of ABC News said, "Microsoft only wanted all of our money. Increasingly, it seems that Google wants all of our data,"

Google is a giant in the industry now, and when a giant jumps into the pool, it will surely shake and make giant waves.

trying Microsoft SQL Server - DB Mirror...

SQL Server cannot create the mirroring endpoint, 'Mirroring'.

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Create failed for Endpoint 'Mirroring'. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

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An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo)

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Database mirroring is disabled by default. Database mirroring is currently provided for evaluation purposes only and is not to be used in production environments. To enable database mirroring for evaluation purposes, use trace flag 1400 during startup. For more information about trace flags and startup options, see SQL Server Books Online. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 1498)

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Hmmm... Let's try this:

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3786143&SiteID=1

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After MSSQL says that it is possible to mirror on 2 instance on same host, it requires mirroring on 2 separate hosts. Therefore, different instance on same host is not allowed after all. Then MSSQL required both hosts to have SQL service pack 2. After updating the engines to SP2, still it won't work. MSSQL=Syet!

DBA Morning Checklist

Backups

• Verify that the Network Backups are good by checking the backup emails. If a backup did not complete, contact _____ in the networking group, and send an email to the DBA group.
• Check the SQL Server backups. If a backup failed, research the cause of the failure and ensure that it is scheduled to run tonight.
• Check the database backup run duration of all production servers. Verify that the average time is within the normal range. Any significant increases in backup duration times need to be emailed to the networking group, requesting an explanation. The reason for this is that networking starts placing databases backups to tape at certain times, and if they put it to tape before the DBAs are done backing up, the tape copy will be bad.
• Verify that all databases were backed up. If any new databases were not backed up, create a backup maintenance plan for them and check the current schedule to determine a backup time.

Disk Space

• Verify the free space on each drive of the servers. If there is significant variance in free space from the day before, research the cause of the free space fluctuation and resolve if necessary. Often times, log files will grow because of monthly jobs.
  

Job Failures

• Check for failed jobs, by connecting to each SQL Server, selecting "job activity" and filtering on failed jobs. If a job failed, resolve the issue by contacting the owner of the job if necessary.
  

System Checks

• Check SQL logs on each server. In the event of a critical error, notify the DBA group and come to an agreement on how to resolve the problem.
• Check Application log on each server. In the event of a critical or unusual error, notify the DBA group and the networking group to determine what needs to be done to fix the error.

Performance

• Check Performance statistics for All Servers using the monitoring tool and research and resolve any issues.
• Check Performance Monitor on ALL production servers and verify that all counters are within the normal range.