I recently got really pissed off at Netbeans 6.1 while I have been developing some projects. Every time I tried to save a workspace and create a new one, everything would go all haywire. I would have to re-import my code into a blank project, and just pray that everything would continue to work if something changed. Well since a new version of Eclipse has recently been released, I figured why not give it a shot.

Well off I went to go and download Eclipse and see what new things would be incorporated into the new release. I will have to say that this release of Eclipse is really nice. I have been very impressed with it and the Eclipse community in a whole. Not only is the new version very stable, the community has rapidly updated there tools to work with this new release.

I will say that one of the best additions is the Java Import feature. In previous releases, if you did not import a Jar, it would not tell you in a little drop down bubble and allow you to select that jar. Now it is part of the code completion bubble, which is how most other ide’s work.

I am running this software on my Mac, which did not really work very well in the last release. This release works flawlessly on my Mac, which is a big relief as well.

Today I was one of about 6 people in my organization to win a UNC-Chapel Hill Unsung Hero award. This is some nice recognition for me. I have been working a lot of overtime to meet the demanding need of the ERP project that is wrapping up in a few weeks.

I have mainly been in charge of the Shibboleth Single Signon implementation at UNC. I was in charge of integrating Shibboleth with PeopleSoft and all of the other companion projects. This task had some challenges. I had to educate developers on what Shibboleth is, how they can go about integrating it into there environment, and coordinating work between the groups.

This is the second time that I have won a award at the University. It is always a good feeling to be recognized for your hard work. I know that things are not going to be slowing down, but at least my hard work is not going unnoticed.

Well I did some searching on the web, and tried to find a way to convert my VGA signal to S-Video. Doing some Google searches showed me that there are some solutions, but they can run you anywhere from $100 to $250 dollars. This was way more than I wanted to spend. Finally I found my answer at Sewell Direct .

For $35.00, you can purchase the Sewell PC to TV Converter which they claim will convert any PC signal to a TV signal. Well that is just so hard to believe, especially at that price. So I decided to look for more information out there on the internet and ran into this video, which had me sold.

Now that I have this nice little toy, all I can say is that it works great. It is very easy to setup. There are no device drivers to install, you just hook it up to your computer and your TV. It comes will all wires necessary to use the device, which is really nice. I always hate having to run out and get some cable to make my new toy work. It is also powered by USB, which is a great plus.

I have been using it for a couple of months now, and I will have to say, that displaying video through it looks really nice. Since I have purchased it, I am always watching online content through my TV, and can hardly notice any issues with the video quality. Sometimes I will have to say that there does seem to be a little refresh lag, but I think that has to do with the online stream more than the video device.

One of the first things that I install on any new Windows machine that I get is VIM . I have been using VI for years, and love having it integrated into my Windows Environment. One of my favorite features is the ability to view a file by right clicking on it and selecting the “Edit with VIM” option from the Contextual Menu.

When I installed VIM on Windows Vista 64, everything worked great except that there was no “Edit with VIM” menu option. Well off I went and found the following solution on the Vim on Vista - VIM Tips Wiki . All you have to do is the following:

1. Open regedit
2. Navigate to and expand: Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell Note: Literally a * ; should be first in list
   1. Right click on shell
      1. Select New -> Key
   2. Right Click on the new key, and rename it to: Open with gVIm
   3. Left click on Open with gVIm
      1. In the right hand side, Right Click on (Default) and select Modify
         1. In the Value Data field type: Edit with Vim
   4. Right Click on Open with gVIm
      1. Select New -> Key
   5. Right Click on the new key, and rename it to Command
   6. Left click on Command
      1. In the right hand side, Right Click on (Default) and select Modify
         1. In the Value Data field type: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim\vim72\gvim.exe” “%1” Note: quotes (") are important!

I find Apache 2.2 and Reverse Proxy a very powerful tool. I use it all the time when setting up Shibboleth SP to secure all kinds of different applications. SpringSource is going to have a webinar on the “Secrets of Apache 2.2 Reverse Proxy”. I am very interested in seeing what new tips and tricks I might learn. Go and register for this FREE Webinar today.

Secrets of Apache 2.2 Reverse Proxy

The Apache Web Server has always been heavily used in reverse proxy environments. With the release of Apache 2.2, the capabilities of Apache as a reverse proxy has significantly enhanced. Apache now natively supports load balancing, failover detection and recovery, increased RFC compliance and the ability to proxy the AJP protocol.

Join Jim Jagielski, Chief Open Source Officer and Principal Software Engineer at SpringSource, for a webinar that will provide an overview of these new capabilities and introduce you to the advanced features of installing and configuring Apache as a robust, high-availability web server and reverse proxy, for HTTP and Tomcat servers.

Attend this webinar if you:

* Use Apache as a front-end to Tomcat
* Need load-balancing at the web tier
* Need to protect your business logic assets

This webinar is offered in two different time zones. Register for a session for clicking on the appropriate time below:
When: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
European Audiences 3:00 PM Central European Time
North American Audiences 11:00am Pacific/2:00pm Eastern

Speaker: Jim Jagielski
Chief Open Source Officer and Principal Software Engineer
SpringSource

Technical Level: Intermediate Technical Level