Curious Creature

I’ve been mucking around with adding my Remember the Milk lists as iCal event feeds to my Google Calendar account.  The idea of having tasks with due dates show up like “local” GCal events is great but it doesn’t work as I’d hoped.

Apparently I’m not the only one noticing this either based on this post on the GCal Google group.  That post notes that it takes hours for the feed to refresh and that there is no way to manually refresh it (you can in with a  30boxes.com calendar but that one leaves a lot to be desired).  Quite frankly it’s ridiculous that it takes hours.  At that point I can’t be sure that anything I entered actually shows up in GCal.   It would appear this behavior just isn’t an RTM issue as I see the same behavior with a feed from iWantSandy.com.

RTM does have two other options available, one for GCal, and if you’re using Firefox, one for GMail.  The GMail Firefox plugin is quite nice but I don’t want my tasks there…I want them in my calendar.  The option for GCal itself is OK but I’m picky and don’t want to have to click that checkmark to see what I have for the day.

I suppose that GCal is like so many other pieces of software, it gets you most of the way there but then dumps you off about a mile away from your intended destination.  This is a real disappointment. I know GCal is free but adding a manual refresh link for the external feeds can’t be that difficult.  The Google Group link above notes that “they’re looking into it”.  I hope it happens sometime soon.

Not surprisingly this works flawlessly on iCal on the Mac.  I can even see tasks with no due date set in the To-Do list part of iCal.   But I can’t use my Mac at work anymore where I really need to see these lists

I posted this on the JasperReports forums but wanted also to put it here in case it helps someone out (since I have my Java topic going to the Java Blogs aggregator.

At work I am currently using Weblogic 9.2 running on Windows XP for web application development.  I am also using MyEclipse 6.5 to code and deploy to the Weblogic deployment.  We have also been using JasperReports since version 2.0.5.

For several months I had not been using Windows XP but a Mac. I had to switch due to work rules and just ran into a problem lately where I have not been able to run any reports.   This problem has not been happening on our Linux servers or workstations nor was it happening on the Mac.  The problem was when trying to load a report the application would throw the following exception:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRPropertiesMap.readObject(JRPropertiesMap.java:185)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
Truncated. see log file for complete stacktrace

I had seen this problem once before when trying to run a compiled report that was compiled with version 2 of the library on a server running version 3 of the library.  A class loading issue was the obvious cause but I couldn’t figure out why in this case because our system has been running JasperReports 3 for awhile now and I hadn’t gone back to version 2 so what was the problem.

Lucian pointed out that in version 3 I shouldn’t be getting this error because the sources for 3.0.1 don’t correspond to the error.  He said it looked like an older version and suggested finding out where the JRPropertiesMap class was being loaded from with:

System.out.println(JRPropertiesMap.class.getPackage().getImplementationVersion());

or

System.out.println(JRPropertiesMap.class.getResource("/net/sf/jasperreports/engine/JRPropertiesMap.class"));

The first call reported that I was in fact using JRPropertiesMap from version 2.0.5 of JasperReports.  Huh?  I haven’t been deploying Jasper 2.05 for ages.  We switched to version 3.0.1 awhile back.  I looked in my build paths for the various modules and only 3.0.1 was there and it was the only version of JasperReports in APP-INF/lib in the deployment.  Where was 2.0.5 coming from?

The second call above located the problem for me.   Weblogic caches things in your domain and it was caching, and loading, Jasper 2.0.5. In fact I had 4 versions of the library in there: 2.0.5, 3.0,3.0.1, and 3.1.0. On my system this location is located at “C:/opt/bea/user_projects/domains/f58_domain/servers/AdminServer/tmp/_WL_user/_appsdir_rocketscienceApp_dir/r6vnzf/APP-INF/lib/”.

Problem solved but I really don’t get what is going on here because it has been months since I deployed 2.0.5 with the application and the Windows XP machine I’m using now is brand new with a new install of WebLogic.  I copied over my workspace from the Mac and maybe thats where the problem started but I still find that improbable since a coworker, who’s on Vista, is also having the same problem.    Only the Windows boxes are having the problem.

Very odd indeed but at least I won’t be losing any more hair over this one.

Thanks again to Lucian for pointing me in the right direction!

After 25 years of being a Cub fan it’s hard to have faith at times   Oh how many times have I seen them totally melt down and blow a game.

Tonight against the Mets I thought for sure in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and only 1 out in a tie game it was over.  Nope.   Bob Howry got out of it.  Before that Jeff Samardzija got out of a jam (though he did walk in the run that tied the game).  Before that Kevin Hart got out of a jam.

I should have had faith in the guys that have been winning all year.   Top of the 10th they got three runs and won the game.

This is the best team the Cubs have fielded in my lifetime.  At this point it comes down to one thing: gotta have faith.

My title is a bit harsh?  Maybe.  But consider how eMusic.com prices their tracks (and for a bit of point-counterpoint I include classicsonline.com.

eMusic.com

You pay a monthly fee and they have tiers which split based on the number of tracks you can download per month.  This actually works out pretty well, except for classical music where it can become downright crazy.  My tier, which actually is a special tier since eMusic just recently changed their pricing, is 40 tracks for $11.99. For the challenged that is less than $0.40 per track.  The problem is that in the case of classical music many pieces have tracks that are very short, on the order of 15 seconds short.  So I’m paying the same price for that 15 second track as for a 10 minute track.

The problem compounds itself when you are considering purchasing one of the many fine options, such as Handel’s Messiah, which is 54 tracks (depening on which version you download…I’m looking at one on the  Chandos label).  I can’t get that all in one month without buying a booster pack from eMusic.

It would be nice if eMusic would offer an option to buy a whole album vs. looking at everything as just tracks (in other words….follow the model that iTunes and Amazon.com do).   I purchased Handel’s Messiah on Amazon as an mp3 download for $13.  Their per-track pricing is much more expensive.  C’mon eMusic!  Give us the option to buy full albums even it is a seperate charge!

Classicsonline.com

These guys price things really weird when talking per-track charges.  Tracks that are less than 5 minutes cost $0.99.  Tracks longer than 5 minutes cost $1.99. Tracks longer than 10 minutes cost $2.99.  Why would I want to buy from these guys again?  Yeah great selection.  Yeah its from Naxos but their definition of ‘affordable’ is interesting to say the least…at least on a per-track basis.

In their defense they do offer album downloads like Amazon and iTunes and it appears that the are using 320kbps these days for their downloads which is much better than when they launched.

In the end I wish eMusic were being smarter about what constitutes a track given how important it is without them offering album downloads at a discounted price.  Everything else aside it’s ridiculous that I have to pay the same thing for a 15 second track as a 10 minute one.

What do you do when you can no longer use your computer platform of choice at work even when you’re more productive with it and are used to the tools available for it which are generally superior to the offerings (if they exist) on other platforms?  You go back to web applications.

I had been using a combination of GMail, Remember the Milk, and Google Calendar for my GTD/personal organization needs.  This was prior to getting a Mac.   At that time I started using Apple Mail and iCal both of which I have grown to love.   I then ended up getting an iPhone for my mobile needs and life was wonderful.  About 3 weeks ago the axe was dropped on me and my Mac usage at work so it’s back to the drawing board.

I have to say I’m still pretty livid about the corporate computer policies at work that seem to keep springing out of nowhere.   Not being able to use personal equipment on the corporate network is just the latest policy to fly in out of left field.  But all that aside where does that leave me?

I guess I move mail back to GMail which I never really abandoned.  I just set up Apple Mail to retrieve my email from the IMAP interface of GMail.    I actually also still used Google Calendar in the respect that I bought and installed Spanning Sync to sync my iCal calendars with Goolge Calendar.  For tasks lists I really hadn’t found a replacement for Remember the Milk but then again i wasn’t using it much anyhow.  My list-keeping fell off and I just scheduled things directly in the calendar either on specific days and times or just on specific days as all-day events.

I do really need to get back in to keeping task lists though but I’m less than thrilled with having to pay $25 for RTM Pro to get the iPhone interface.  I’d be more inclined at this point to give ToodleDo a try again since at $14.95 a year you get the iPhone interface and quite a bit more.  I like RTM but the $25 is hard to swallow simply for the iPhone CSS and HTML they send out.

At any rate I’m back to square one because of a corporate policy that doesn’t take into account an employee’s productivity.   Maybe things won’t be so bad since I had woven in my gmail/gcal use with the client apps on the Mac.  Once again though it all comes down to the list-keeping and task lists and I’m not sure what I’m going to do there.

Apple promised quite a bit with the 2.1 release of the iPhone and quite frankly, as a very new user of the phone, I was hoping it was going to fix all of the issues I was having with my phone.  I’m still withing the 30 day period of being able to return it to AT&T and I’ve been pretty tempted, as cool as the phone is, to return it because it can be so damn aggravating at the same time.

I’ve had lots of application crashes (Apple-provided applications and stuff from the app store on iTunes).  I’ve had awful 3G reception.  I’ve had really awful backup times for the phone.  I can’t really complain about the battery as it has been what I’ve expected.  Could it be better? Of course but since I can keep the phone plugged in most of the day at work it really isn’t an issue for me.

In walks the 2.1 OS update and I have to say that my world has changed.  Backup times are very quick.  They were brutally slow before.  3G reception has been much improved from what I can tell in the short test I’ve been able to use it where it was an issue before (lots of apparently dead spots on my train ride into work….its always worked well at home though).  I haven’t experienced as many application crashes either.  Hoping that continues

I have to say I’ve gotta give a thumbs-up to this update.  Its been a breath of fresh air in a very troubled, yet short, relationship I’ve had with the iPhone.  Who knows…it may just rescue the phone from being banished at my house

I wanted to follow-up quickly on my other posts about the issues I was experiencing with iTunes 8 and my iPhone on Windows Vista.  The latest download  of iTunes which is still labeled 8.0.0.35, included a rolled-back driver, usbaapl.sys (1.29.0.0) which was from the 7.7 release of iTunes, seems to have fixed the problems I was having (read: couldn’t use the software with my iPhone).

More information about this whole thing from Ed Bott here.

There isn’t much to say really.   9/11/2001 was a day that anyone who was old enough to be aware of what was happening will never forget.    Every anniversary of that event I watch video of what happened that day to remind myself of how that day felt.  Today was no exception and as usual it brought back a flood of memories.

I was getting ready for work that day like any other and like most days I had Good Morning America on.  When I came out of my room they had broken in to the regular coverage with what appeared to be a fire burning in one of the towers of the World Trade Center.  At that point nobody really had much information as to what was happening but at 9:02 I remember seeing the 2nd plane hit the second tower and thinking to myself “what in the hell did I just see? did I just see another plane hit the towers?” and yes that is in fact what I saw. It was a horrifying moment and one I will never forget.   The TV anchors were speechless.  Everyone felt helpless.  We were sitting there watching some sort of attack and of course nobody knew what else might happen.

I called in to work and said I wasn’t coming in that day because it would have been stupid to get on the roads.   I then called my wife, who worked in downtown Chicago at the time, to make sure she was safe and find out what was happening there.  People were streaming out of downtown but everything was orderly and she arrived home safely.

Eventually we found out there were other attacks and we also sat and watched in horror as the towers collapsed. I really don’t know what to say here because as I sit here writing, after watching the videos again, I have that same feeling inside me, the feeling of being completely helpless.   It was just one of those events, like the attack on Pearl Harbor, or the assassination of President Kennedy, where you know where you were and what you were doing at the exact moment it all happened.

I remember quite vividly too the next day going to work and at lunchtime going for my usual walk at one of the local forest preserves.  I worked close to O’Hare airport at the time and of course they had grounded all flights in the United States.  It was extrememly odd not hearing the sound of planes going overhead as they made their approach to O’Hare.   It was even more odd not seeing some trace of a plane in the sky that day.   It had never happened before and thankfully has not happened since.

It is still amazing to me how some events leave such a lasting imprint on your memory that it is possible to almost relive it.  A lot has happened in the seven years since that event but I’ll certainly never forget where I was that day and what I was doing.

This is ridiculous.   Did Apple not do any testing on this product before releasing it into the wild?  Other websites are also reporting issues with iTunes 8 on Vista but thankfully I haven’t been having blue screens of death on my setup.

Here is the solution Apple is providing at the moment.  Note the requirement to download a new installer.

Hoping this is going to fix the many problems I had again tonight…..

“If JavaScript gets any faster, then developers will question if they should develop in Flash or (Microsoft’s) Silverlight (technologies),” – Marc Andreessen 9/9/08

That quote was talking about Chrome, which, if you’ve been reading any tech journalism as of late, is Google’s new browser (currently Windows-only).   Granted  Andreessen gets props for the Mosaic and Netscape browsers, big props even.   That being said I think he’s way off.

As great as the Chrome JavaScript engine (V8) sounds it’s only part of the puzzle when considering using HTML/JavaScript in place of Flash or Silverlight.  Fast JavaScript?  Great.   What about everything else a Flash or Silverlight application provides like, in the case of both, platform/browser independence, or in the case of Silverlight alone, multiple languages in which to create a program.  With Flash or Silverlight I don’t have to worry about using a JavaScript library that has to take into account all of the weirdness of each of the different browser implementations of JavaScript.  I don’t have to worry about CSS implementation differences between browsers.  And I don’t have to worry about HTML at all.

And while Chrome and the V8 JavaScript engine might be fast the folks at the Mozilla project haven’t exactly been sitting still.   TraceMonkey is also a JIT-ing JavaScript compiler, and in fact in benchmarks TraceMonkey is faster than V8 and is open-source as well (not to mention that the father of JavaScript, Brendan Eich, is working on it).

Listen, don’t get me wrong, I like Chrome.  I think they’ve brought some interesting ideas to the table like the idea of having each tab in the browser operate in it’s own process.  There are a lot of good things about Chrome and it’s good that it’s open source but in the end it’s Google and they’re pursuing this project for their own interests.   If applications only target Chrome (because of V8 and the built-in Gears functionality) where is the win?

At this point I just don’t see why Chrome is a big deal.  Firefox still offers more and they’re not sitting still on the features front.  Flash and Silverlight have nothing to worry about with Chrome right now or the foreseeable future.   I guess Chrome really isn’t the new black.