Monday, November 28, 2005

URL Forwarders / URL Redirecting

URL Redirection is a technique that enables to view a web page from more than one URL. This means a same web page is available thought a number of different URL if each URL redirects itself to some particular URL.

On the World Wide Web, there exist huge numbers of web sites that can take a long URL and give you back a shorter URL. Among these, there are many free websites too, that let you shorten your URL without any registration. Actually, these web sites create a new URL that in turn redirects itself to a long URL. Since these sites forward a click from one link to another, they are also known as URL Forwarders. Some of these websites also do sub-domain forwarding.

Following is a list of such sites in alphabetical order. Many of these are free:
  • BabyURL -- Check: http://www.babyurl.com/
  • Beam.To -- Check: http://beam.to/start.asp
  • dephine.org -- Check: http://dephine.org/
  • durl.us -- Check: http://www.durl.us/
  • MakeAShorterLink -- Check: http://www.makeashorterlink.com/
  • Metamark Shorten Service -- Check: http://metamark.net/
  • MY OWN Networking -- Check: http://www.my-own.net/redirection.php
  • notlong.com -- Check: http://notlong.com/
  • Orz.net -- Check: http://Orz.net/
  • shorl.com -- Check: http://www.shorl.com/
  • shrinkster.com -- Check: http://shrinkster.com/
  • snipURL -- Check: http://snipurl.com/index.php
  • TinyClick.Com -- Check: http://tinyclick.com/
  • Tinyer.com -- Check: http://tinyer.com/
  • TinyURL -- Check: http://tinyurl.com/
  • URL Cutter -- Check: http://urlcutter.com/
  • urlSNIP -- Check: http://urlsnip.com/
Besides, there are a lot more such websites available that shorten your URL.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Google Reader

Today, I'll discuss about a new entrant to Google Labs -- Google Reader. Check: http://reader.google.com/.

Google Reader is one of the latest entrants to Google Labs. It makes it easier to maintain the ever-expanding reading list of content from across the web. Using Google Reader one may automatically get the latest news and updates from their favorite sites. The best thing for novice users is that their is a search bar at the top where you just need to put in the name of the website and Google itself identifies the links to the news resources available for that site. Remember you may need a Google account.

So for now, Happy Reading!!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Free Developer Tools (Sun Java Studio Enterprise & Sun Java Studio Creator)

Sun is offering the award-winning Sun Java Studio Enterprise 8 and Sun Java Studio Creator 2004Q2 IDEs at no cost to all developers worldwide who join Sun Developer Network (SDN).

Java Studio Creator is an easy-to-use IDE for serious web development on the Java platform.

Java Studio Enterprise's rapid architecture and modeling capabilities enable faster development of enterprise-grade applications for the Java platform.

Check out http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/free/ for details.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) / Web Services

Today, I am listing a few articles on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Services. SOA and Web Services are two buzz words that everyone is talking about these days. October 2005 is SOA/Web Services month at java.sun.com. Check: http://java.sun.com/reference/soawebservices/.
  1. Service-Oriented Architecture and Web Services: Concepts, Technologies, and Tools: This is an article by Ed Orl. It dates back to April 2005. It discusses about widely-adopted web services technologies that are available to implement a SOA, and more technologies, as well as tools, that are on the way. Check: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/soa2/.
  2. What's New in SOA and Web Services?: This is an article by Ed Orl. It dates back to October 6, 2005. It introduces introduces the enhanced capabilities and emerging technologies, tools, and infrastructure software to simplify creating, using, and managing services in an SOA. Check: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/soa2/WhatsNewArticle.html.
  3. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Services: The Road to Enterprise Application Integration (EAI): This is an article by Qusay Mahmoud. It dates back to April 2005. After reading this you can find out SOA provides a cost-effective solution to evolving and enhancing legacy enterprise information systems (EIS). Check: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/soa/index.html.

Here are links to few more links to interviews and chat sessions with different industry gurus:
  1. Reap What You SOA: This is an interview of John Crupi and Dan Malks. They are better known for their best seller, Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies. In this interview they talk explain how to build a SOA and why pragmatic SOA really rocks? Check: http://www.sun.com/emrkt/innercircle/newsletter/0905cto.html.
  2. The Next Big Thing: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Takes a New Route: This is an article by Janice J. Heiss. It dates back to October 6, 2005, It is an interview of RouteOne's T. N. Subramaniam and Sun's Ashok Mollin. In this they discuss about RouteOne's SOA, which serves some 80% of the 22,000 auto dealerships in the United States. Check: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Interviews/routeone_qa.html.
  3. Sun Java Studio Enterprise: Web Services Strategies: This is an article on Moderated Chat with Sun's Chief Web Services Strategist. The guest is Mark Hapner who is Sun Distinguished Engineer and chief web services strategist at Sun Microsystems and the moderator is Jeanne Hsu who is Enterprise Audience Manager at Sun Microsystems. It dates back to September 23, 2004. In this Mark Hapner answers a wide variety of questions about web services. Check: http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jsenterprise/community/chats/september232004.html.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Windows Communication Foundation (Indigo)

Today I am posting links to a few nice articles on Windows Communication Foundation (WCF - formerly known as Indigo). WCF is Microsoft's unified programming model for building service-oriented applications. Homepage of WCF can be accessed at http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/indigo/.
  1. The first to go in the list is the article Introducing Indigo: An Early Look by David Chappell. It appeared in February 2005 and is based on a prerelease version of Indigo's first Community Technology Preview (CTP). It provides an architectural overview of Indigo covering Indigo's relationship to existing distributed application technologies in the .NET Framework, the basics of creating and consuming Indigo services, and an overview of Indigo's capabilities, including security, reliable messaging, and transaction support. Please find the complete article at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/introindigov1-0.asp.
  2. Next on the list is an article titled Introduction to Building Windows Communication Foundation Services by Clemens Vasters. It appeared in September 2005 and is based on Indigo Beta1. It explains the fundamental concepts of WCF and shows how to build services and service clients using WCF's System.ServiceModel namespace. Please find the complete article at http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/introtowcf.asp.
  3. Next on the list is The Windows Communication Foundation: A Primer by Laurence Moroney. It appeared in first week of October 2005 and September Community Technical Preview versions of WCF. It helps in creating first Indigo application. Please find the complete article at http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/29414?trk=DXRSS_WEBDEV.
  4. Last but not the least, on the list is Windows Communication Foundation (Indigo) FAQ. Here you may find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions concerning the WCF. Please find the complete faq at http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/support/faq/communication/.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Software (Browster, TortoiseCVS)

Today I list two freeware tools that are really nice to use and speed up the way you work. Check them!

A nice tool for people who do a lot of searching over Google, MSN, etc. Check www.browster.com.

Another tool for those using CVS. This lets you access your CVS directly from Windows Explorer. Check www.tortoisecvs.org.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation

A nice article on Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation by David Chappell is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/WWFIntro.asp.

It describes the functionality and benefits of Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation, soon to be a standard part of the Microsoft Windows platform. Windows Workflow Foundation provides a general framework for defining workflow, one that can be used in many different kinds of applications.