Playmobil Security Check Point

As a frequent traveler for business, not only did the existence of this toy make me say to myself, 'WTF? I've gotta check this out', but the most popular reviews made me laugh out loud. Never again will I pass through a security check point without thinking of this toy. To think that there's a toy modeled after those annoying and reactionary security check points in airports is completely hilarious. (I mean, really, do they make anyone feel safer?) Is there also an interrogation play set to go along with this? My First Guantanamo Bay or My First Camp XRay perhaps? Oh sorry, I guess that's Fisher Price, not Playmobil ;-).

Still, those reviews are not nearly as funny as the most popular review for the children's book The Story About Ping.

Microsoft Entourage Mangles URLs

Last week we switched the mail server from Zimbra to Exchange (blech!) so I started using Entourage as my mail client (blech!). I'm not a fan of Microsoft software but I've used Entourage before and the experience was good enough - connectivity to the contat list and calendars, etc.

Everything started off OK until I realized that the URLs in the support messages I receive from the support system were mangled. WTF?! Could this really be? Here's an example of what I'm seeing. First, check out the URL below which came from a message received using Entourage:

http://www.company.com/sugarcrm/index.php?action=DetailView=Cases=90e6ce2e-c0d0-8de5-3e9a-491d5af0a8d6

Now check out the URL from the same message in the OWA web ui:

http://www.covalent.net/sugarcrm/index.php?action=DetailView&module=Cases&record=90e6ce2e-c0d0-8de5-3e9a-491d5af0a8d6

Notice that the first URL is missing all of the '&<parameter>' fields in the URL. The only difference with that message is that it was received from Entourage. Totally awesome!

Note that Apple Mail can connect to Exchange servers and it does not mangle URLs - woot!

Apache ActiveMQ and ServiceMix at Devoxx

This week I delivered a three hour University talk at the Devoxx conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Stephan and his crew really do a great job with the conference. This was my third year in a row to speak at Javapolis/Devoxx and I feel pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to speak there.

The crowd this year was over 3000, but I'm not sure of the exact number as I heard both 3200 and 3600. The speaker's dinner was on Tuesday night and I heard that there were 150 speakers! Geez, that's the lot! I had a great time seeing old friends and meeting lots of new people as well.

If it seems like I'm rambling in this post, it's because I am. I'm writing this from the Memphis airport and I'm incredibly jet-lagged right now. My body clock is going in nine directions right now and I feel a headache coming on. One more flight and I'm home - phew! This was the last scheduled conference for a while. I'm pretty burned out from all the travel lately. This makes the sixth conference I've done since late September and three of those were in the EU. I'm just ready to be home with my family for a while.

Apache ActiveMQ at SpringOne

Last week I spoke about ActiveMQ at the SpringOne Americas conference in Hollywood, Florida. This was my first time at SpringOne but it was good since it's organized by fellow Coloradan Jay Zimmerman of NFJS fame. Tons of great people, lots of great sessions and I finally got to meet lots of folks from SpringSource.

The hotel was right on the beach so I was fortunate enough to be able to stroll on the beach a couple times. Unfortunately not enough time to go for a swim or rent a wave runner though. The weather was pretty nice while we were there. Compared to the cold spell that blew into Colorado as I was leaving on Wednesday, 70 degrees Fahrenheit was pretty nice.

After the conference Arjen Poutsma and I flew to Amsterdam where I took a train to Antwerp for the Devoxx conference. No sleep on the plane means that I'm gonna be upside down all week - ugh.

Apache ActiveMQ and ServiceMix at Øredev Conference

This week I am at the Øredev Conference in Malmö, Sweden speaking about ActiveMQ and ServiceMix. The weather here has been quite cold, rainy and windy, but the conference has been great. I've met lots of great people here, many of whom are very passionate about the Scrum development process. Unfortunately I haven't slept much since I've been here (sometimes that happens when I travel internationally) but I have gotten a lot of work completed.

One unique feature of this conference is the keynote talk each morning to start off the day and each one has been very good in topic and delivered by some very entertaining speakers including Ted Neward, James Bach and Robert C. Martin. Another unique offering here has been a track dedicated to development processes, and, as I mentioned, very slanted toward Scrum. I wish I saw this level of passion for the development process at more companies where I've consulted! I've also noticed that every talk has been captured on video (using Macs ;-) ), so I wonder if it will be offered up on the website - hmmmm - I need to ask Michael Tiberg about that.

Some Choice Quotes
Wednesday morning that Ted was speaking, he asked if anyone in the crowd writes perfect concurrent code. As one guy in the nearly 1000 person crowed raised his hand, Ted pointed in his direction and said, 'Aaaahhh, I think we need some mental health professionals over there.'



Today, Bob Martin asked, 'How many people have looked at code and thought, oh I must fix this code, but then you decide not to do it? Because if you fix the code you might break it and if you break it, you own it - ha, ha.'

New CEO Joins Sonatype

Recently Sonatype hired a new CEO to take the helm. Mark de Visser has a lot of experience working with open source companies as he has held key positions at Zend, Agitar and Red Hat. As noted previously by Matt Asay, Mark joined the team in early October, but it's only recently become fairly recognized.

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Mark back in October and I was impressed with Mark's analytical sense even the first time I met him. I think he's a good fit for the Sonatype crew. He's got a lot of knowledge of the open source world how to do the right kind of marketing in it. This is very important for any startup who is focused on building quality commercial products around open source and Mark's experience in this area is immediately useful.

Sonatype has done a great job with its products so far and they're getting great adoption. Now Mark can help them really get the right marketing message out there and spread further awareness of the company and all that it offers.

Purchased Songs Disappear From iPhone

Just recently I finally broke down and got an iPhone. My old Sony Ericcson T610 was konking out so it was time to buy a new phone anyway. So far I've been very happy with it, even the service from at&t has not been too bad. Being that my old phone was nearly eight years old, having a phone with newer, more easily accessible features is a nice change.

A couple weeks ago I purchased the new album from Ryan Adams and the Cardinals from iTunes on my iPhone. After listening to it for a week or so I sync'd my iPhone with my MacBook Pro only to realize that the entire album disappeared from both the iPhone and iTunes. Upon trying to download it again on my iPhone, I received an error stating that I had already downloaded it, am I sure I want to purchase it again? So I started Googling the problem and much to my amazement this seems to be a fairly widespread issue with the iPhone. I found many folks in the same predicament with no solution whatsoever. The only option is file an issue with Apple about it by selecting the purchase in my iTunes account and clicking a button named Report a Problem.

So far I have received nothing from Apple about the problem I reported and, sadly, I don't expect anything. My solution was to purchase the album a second time and make sure it was backed up by iTunes so I won't lose it again (hopefully).

Has anyone else experienced this and had the situation remedied by Apple in some way?