Kit Ong's News Pick Of The Day

Samsung Galaxy S4 mobile phone

Kit Ong — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:16:17 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2013/03/16/152434.aspx

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 launched on March 14th have some impressive features. Nowadays most people use their mobile phones as their primary camera so it's nice to see so many features for the photo enthusiasts. Some of the announced features I look forward to checking out are, eraser, hover, gif creation, simultaneous use of dual cameras, head tracking when watching videos, air gestures, S Health and IR remote control (there's just too many features to list here!)

More info on Galaxy S IV

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/14/samsung-galaxy-s-4-beats-the-best-with-5-inch-1080p-display-1-9ghz-processor-gesture-controls-and-a-q2-2012-release/
http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/

Book review of PDF Succinctly

Kit Ong — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:43:52 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2013/03/14/152416.aspx

I saw a few book reviews of Syncfusion's Succinctly series by other GWB bloggers and have also received emails from Syncfusion asking if I wanted to write a review for them. Below is my review of the free ebook PDF Succinctly by Ryan Hodson, although I was approached by Syncfusion the review below is all of my own opinion.

The book PDF Succinctly is written in a concise manner, being only 60 pages long it makes reading this technical book an easy and quick task. I was impressed by how the book got straight into the topic of creating a PDF file after a short overview. This was the main reason why I wanted to read the book. As an example of how concise this book about PDF is, by page 20 you are already shown how to create a simple PDF document. Although this book is concise it does contain a some advanced topics about PDF such as in Chapter 4 and 5 where you are shown how to add vector graphics and navigation elements to a PDF document.

I also like how all the external references such as links to open source libraries and source code are clearly stated in the book. Many times when reading a technical book you often struggle to find where you can download a resource used in the book, this was not the case when I read PDF Succinctly.

My only critique about the book is that the downloadable source code could do with more advanced examples, there were only 2 examples in the source code provided.

Here is my summary of the topics in the PDF Succintly book.

Chapter 1 contains an overview of the structure of a PDF document.
Chapter 2 takes you through the steps of creating a simple PDF document using a utility program called pdftk from PDF Labs.
Chapter 3 details how text in a PDF document can be manipulated using text operators.
Chapter 4 shows how vector graphics can be added to a PDF document using graphics operators.
Chapter 5 details how a document outline (navigation element in the form of a tree), hyperlinks and text annotations can be added to a PDF document.
Chapter 6 shows how you can dynamically generate a PDF using C# with the help of an open-source PDF library called iTextSharp.

All references I found relating to the book are below.

http://www.syncfusion.com/resources/techportal

http://www.syncfusion.com/resources/techportal/ebooks/pdf

http://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/files/itextsharp/

Samsung in, Apple out

Kit Ong — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:11:32 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2013/01/14/151831.aspx

Having been users of both Samsung and Apple mobile devices, I can understand why Samsung can overtake Apple in the smart phone market, I am perfectly happy with my Samsung device even if it's not made of glass and metal.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/apple-cuts-order-for-iphone5-parts-after-weak-sales-but-samsung-powers-on-after-selling-100m-galaxy-s-devices-8450969.html

SharePoint Unit Testing and Load Testing Finally?

Kit Ong — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:04:20 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/09/13/150701.aspx

It has always been a real pain to incorporate extensive SharePoint Unit Testing and Load Testing in a project, could Visual Studio 2012 finally make this easier? It certaining looks like it, here's a brief overview on SharePoint support in Visual Studio 2012.

Load testing – We now support load testing for SharePoint out of the box. This is more involved than you might imagine due to how dynamic SharePoint is. You can’t just record a script and play it back – it won’t work because SharePoint generates and expects dynamic data (like GUIDs). We’ve built the extensions to our load testing solution to parse the dynamic SharePoint data and include it appropriately in subsequent requests. So now you can record a script and play it back and we will dynamically adjust it to match what SharePoint expects.

Unit testing – One of the big problems with unit testing SharePoint is that most code requires SharePoint to be running and trying to run tests against a live SharePoint instance is a pain. So we’ve built a SharePoint “emulator” using our new VS 2012 Fakes & Stubs capability. This will make unit testing of SharePoint components WAY easier.

Spot the difference, iPhone 5

Kit Ong — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:00:25 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/09/13/150700.aspx

It will still sell well despite there being no drastic changes..

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/09/a-few-videos-of-the-iphone-5-in-action/

Restore everything from recycle bin in SharePoint 2010

Kit Ong — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:18:11 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/06/25/150053.aspx

Here's a sample Powershell script to restore everything from a site recycle bin.

$ritems = (Get-SPWeb "http://<site>" ).RecycleBin | Select ID
foreach($item in $ritems) { (Get-SPWeb "http://<site>").RecycleBin.Restore($item.ID) }

Quick Analysis of Popular Canon and Nikon DSLR Cameras

Kit Ong — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:31:37 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/05/13/149597.aspx

Photo quality aside, it seems that Canon DSLRs are more popular than Nikon DSLRs right now based on Flickr stats.

Below is a ranking of popularity based on daily users (taken from Flickr.com)

Canon Camera (Average daily users)
EOS 5D Mark II (4350) $2500
EOS REBEL T2i / 550D (3908) $500-$600
EOS 7D (3577) $1500-$1800
EOS REBEL T1i / 500D (2507) $400-$500
EOS 60D (2219) $800-$1300

Nikon Camera (Average daily users)
D90 (3985) $1000-$1200
D7000 (2664) $1200-$1500
D3100 (2173) $500-$700
D700 (1912) $2200-$3000
D5000 (1521) $600-$1000 (superseded by D5100)

Key to below stats:

# of items - This is the total number of photos uploaded per model.
Avg. daily users - This is the number of Flickr members who uploaded 1 or more photos yesterday.
Activity Factor The "Activity Factor" is a number derived from photos, members and a model's rank to indicate cameras that are used "a lot".
Type Point & Shoot / DSLR / Cameraphone / Camcorder
Rank A model's rank (within its brand) is based on how many people used it yesterday.

Canon Popularity

Nikon Popularity

Canon DSLR

Nikon DSLR

Links for more info.
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/nikon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Canon_DSLR_cameras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Nikon_DSLR_cameras

Windows 8 Consumer Preview and HP Printer drivers

Kit Ong — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:04:24 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/05/03/149527.aspx

Granted Windows 8 Consumer Preview is only 2 months old but you would expect most common Printers to work with it. This wasn't the case when I tested a HP Deskjet Printer with it. Although HP has released a tool to help find Windows 8 Printer drivers (http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Windows-8-Consumer-Preview/How-to-Get-Your-Inkjet-Printer-Working-with-Windows-8-Consumer/td-p/1334287). However, it seems that not all HP Printers are supported.

A solution that worked for me was to manually install a HP PCL driver via the Windows Add Device, hopefully this will help others who have a similar issue.

Stuxnet - how it infects

Kit Ong — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:27:54 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/04/12/149305.aspx

Except from the CNET article.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-57413329-52/stuxnet-delivered-to-iranian-nuclear-plant-on-thumb-drive/?part=propeller&subj=news&tag=linkv

The Stuxnet worm propagates by exploiting a hole in all versions of Windows in the code that processes shortcut files, ending in ".lnk," according to...[the] Microsoft Malware Protection Center....Merely browsing to the removable media drive using an application that displays shortcut icons, such as Windows Explorer, will run the malware without the user clicking on the icons. The worm infects USB drives or other removable storage devices that are subsequently connected to the infected machine. Those USB drives then infect other machines much like the common cold is spread by infected people sneezing into their hands and then touching door knobs that others are handling.

The malware includes a rootkit, which is software designed to hide the fact that a computer has been compromised, and other software that sneaks onto computers by using a digital certificates signed two Taiwanese chip manufacturers that are based in the same industrial complex in Taiwan--RealTek and JMicron, according to Chester Wisniewski, senior security advisor at Sophos.... It is unclear how the digital signatures were acquired by the attacker, but experts believe they were stolen and that the companies were not involved.

Once the machine is infected, a Trojan looks to see if the computer it lands on is running Siemens' Simatic WinCC software. The malware then automatically uses a default password that is hard-coded into the software to access the control system's Microsoft SQL database. The Stuxnet worm propagates by exploiting a hole in all versions of Windows in the code that processes shortcut files, ending in ".lnk," according to...[the] Microsoft Malware Protection Center....Merely browsing to the removable media drive using an application that displays shortcut icons, such as Windows Explorer, will run the malware without the user clicking on the icons. The worm infects USB drives or other removable storage devices that are subsequently connected to the infected machine. Those USB drives then infect other machines much like the common cold is spread by infected people sneezing into their hands and then touching door knobs that others are handling.

Development Best Practices for SharePoint 2010

Kit Ong — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:20:21 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/03/14/149002.aspx

Useful advice for SP2010 development

Master List of SharePoint 2010 Custom Development Best Practices
http://nikspatel.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/sharepoint-2010-development-best-practices/

Why no flash on Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod?

Kit Ong — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:38:16 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/02/22/148794.aspx

A good article by the man himself as to why Flash is not supported on iPhones, iPads and iPods, at http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash

But there is also a long history between Apple and Adobe as mentioned in the book by Walter Isaacson. This could explain the resistance by Steve Jobs to Adobe Flash.

Excerpt from Steve Job's Biography by Walter Isaacson's

To make this work, the iMac needed to have great video editing software. So Jobs went to his old friends at Adobe, the digital graphics company, and asked them to make a new Mac version of Adobe Premiere, which was popular on Windows computers. Adobe’s executives stunned Jobs by flatly turning him down. The Macintosh, they said, had too few users to make it worthwhile. Jobs was furious and felt betrayed. “I put Adobe on the map, and they screwed me,” he later claimed. Adobe made matters even worse when it also didn’t write its other popular programs, such as Photoshop, for the Mac OSX, even though the Macintosh was popular among designers and other creative people who used those applications.
Jobs never forgave Adobe, and a decade later he got into a public war with the company by not permitting Adobe Flash to run on the iPad. He took away a valuable lesson that reinforced his desire for end-to-end control of all key elements of a system: “My primary insight when we were screwed by Adobe in 1999 was that we shouldn’t get into any business where we didn’t control both the hardware and the software, otherwise we’d get our head handed to us.”

Microsoft to launch Windows 8 'Consumer Preview' on February 29th 2012

Kit Ong — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:39:40 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/02/09/148652.aspx

Now I just need to find a tablet to install Win8...

http://www.theverge.com/microsoft/2012/2/8/2784724/windows-8-consumer-preview-february-29th

Former Apple iPhone engineer Bob Borchers

Kit Ong — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:14:25 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/02/03/148588.aspx

Bob Borchers revealed that the reason a lot of iPhone adverts show the time as 9:42 am on the iPhone was because the iPhone was originally launched at that time.

For one of the commercial for the original iPhone, Borchers said the phone number used to demo the Google Map function was genuine and is the actual number number of the Pacific Catch Restaurant in San Franscisco and the last time he was there they still had the iPhone special, which is calamari.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/02/talk.to.students.emphasizes.innovation/

Error occurred in deployment step 'Activate Features': Unable to locate the workflow's association data

Kit Ong — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:29:31 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2012/01/28/148511.aspx

Workflow deployment can be a real pain, here's an error I came across the other day.

Error occurred in deployment step 'Activate Features': Unable to locate the workflow's association data. To restore the association data to the workflow, restart the workflow settings wizard by selecting the workflow node in Solution Explorer and then clicking the ellipsis button (…) on one of the properties in the Properties window that has an ellipsis button.

Even though Visual Studio suggests to reassociate the workflow with task and history lists, I found that the best way to fix this issue is to set Auto Associate to False.

The operation did not proceed far enough to allow RESTART. Reissue the statement without the RESTART qualifier.

Kit Ong — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:18:51 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/kit/archive/2011/12/20/148098.aspx

This is a strangest error I have come across whilst working with SharePoint 2010, the full error is this.

[12/20/2011 5:29:10 PM] Warning: [WSS_Content] The operation did not proceed far enough to allow RESTART. Reissue the statement without the RESTART qualifier.

RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

The error message was written to the file restore.log found in the SharePoint backup folder, it seems that the following keyword in TSQL caused the error.

IF EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM master..sysdatabases WHERE has_dbaccess(name)=1 AND name=@db_name )
BEGIN
SELECT 1 as ErrorCode
END
ELSE
BEGIN RESTORE DATABASE [WSS_Content] FROM DISK=@db_location WITH STATS=5, FILE=1, MOVE @db_OldName TO @db_NewFile, MOVE @db_OldLogName TO @db_NewLogFile, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, RESTART, RECOVERY
END

The combination of software I had installed was SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 with SQL Server 2008 R2

Resolution

To fix this error I took the drastic action of downgrading SQL Server to 2008 R1, the keyword RESTART no longer appears when I restore the SharePoint Farm. This problem could also be down to SP1 issues.