Category: Archive

This Thanksgiving weekend I spent in London with my family. I went there without my laptop, so let me spend fifteen minutes to record my notes from this visit. Otherwise I “ll forget.

1. First of all, London is a place when you can run into your friends from anywhere in the world. We were walking on the street on our first day there and ran into our friends from NYC. Also, I was corresponding with Dr.Heinz Kabutz from South Africa about organizing his talk at Java Users Group during his upcoming visit to New York. Only later I found out that he and I were in London at the same time staying in the same area one Underground station apart.

2. We were flying by Virgin Atlantic, and I highly recommend this airline. Seats were convenient, food was better than on many other airlines, and the TV offered a selection of about fifty movies and lots of other programs, which made the flight shorter. My friend (see item 1 above) with his wife flew by British Airways, and this is his amazing story. A Japanese couple sat next to them on the plane. In the beginning of the flight she put on her hands on her belly and a smile on her face. He turned on the TV programs for her, and she did not change the position or said a word during the entire flight!

3. London is expensive. You have to pay $2.1 US dollar for each pound. The numeric values of the prices for goods and services are pretty much the same as in New York, but it “s in pounds.

4. Computer books are also very expensive. You can find only very thin books that costs under $50 USD. Can English programmers afford paying for the books? On the positive side, I found an entire bookcase with books on Java, which is impossible to find in the USA.

5. People are much better dressed in London than in NYC. Especially young generation. I did not see falling pants even once! Neither did I see women in expensive fur coats wearing sneakers.

6. We Will Rock You , the musical by Queen and Ben Elton is a must see. I bought the tickets at the ticket box in Piccadilly underground. The guy there is a crook ndash; he sold me tickets quickly flashing seats 2-3-4, and only at the theater we found out that the tickets were in different rows. We overpaid. But the show was amazing. If you like the musing of Freddy Mercury and Queen, go to see this musical. This is probably the best musical I “ve seen after Jesus Christ Superstar.

7. The underground is expensive ($8 vs. $2 in NYC, purchasing tickets requires college degree, and it “s unreliable. Not only you have to insert you ticket to enter, but you can “t get out without inserting the ticket again. You might go to an unpaid zone and may be killed for this.

On the way to the airport, I found out that there is not service on that line and this info was published in their brochures. I do not remember the need to read any brochures about closures in New York subway.

8. An average English lady has 1.6 kids, while an average immigrant Pakistani woman living in GB has 4.6 kids. Welcome to the Islamic GB circa 2050. Hey Brits, I do not feel sorry for you ndash; you “ve asked for it.

Several years ago I was thinking about finding a job that would pay me American salary for working in Europe. Forget it, I can “t afford living in Europe anymore. Also, I need to spend more time studying the Japanese culture.

Our company provides various types of Flex training, and based on the calls we are getting, it seems that people are confused by the word “certified ” in the name of this particular program. So I “ll try to give you some clarification here. But let me start with explaining what the title Adobe Certified Flex Instructor means. I “ll start with my own story.

In the Summer of 2006 I “ve been working with Flex at full speed. In addition to this, I “ve been writing technical articles and was a co-author of an advanced book on real-world programming with Flex and Java. Since I always enjoyed teaching programming, I decided to start teaching Flex. And when you teach any programming language, you need a good text book or courseware. I decided to purchase Flex courseware from Adobe, complete all the labs and start teaching Flex to the masses.

When I contacted Adobe, they “ve answered that the courseware is available only for certified instructors. This sounded reasonable, and my next question was, “How do I get certified? rdquo;

Since I was an early Flex adopter, has published numerous articles, worked on the Flex book, knew people on the Flex team, has Java medals all over my chest, and was teaching programming at NYU, I was expecting the following answer from Adobe:

rdquo;Dear Yakov, we are so happy that you “ve decided to become a certified Flex instructor! We “ll overnight you the diploma, and please start teaching Flex now. rdquo;

The real answer was a little different:

rdquo;Yakov, get your butt on the plane and fly to Seattle next month. Sit through the five-day train-the-trainer Flex class, then prepare and teach one hour training session in front of the audience using our courseware, and if we like it, you “ll become Adobe Certified Flex Instructor rdquo;. The wording was more polite, but the meaning was the same.

And I did exactly this ndash; took a week off at work, purchased the air tickets, booked the hotel, and sat through a very involved class at Adobe. I had a great instructor, Matt Boles, one of the original authors of Flex courseware. At the end of the class I ran a short class covering various units using the original courseware, and passed the test.

Since then, I periodically teach Adobe Certified training for our corporate clients and for general public (my next public training is on the week after Thanksgiving in New York City).

A colleague of mine became certified Flex instructor this year, and requirements were even more stringent ndash; he had to become certified Flex developer first , which is now a pre-requisite for becoming certified Flex instructor.

So when you see an ad about Adobe Certified Flex training, this means that the class will be taught by a person who knows Flex, went through the certification process and knows how to teach Flex using a very well done courseware right from the source.

The word certified here does not mean that you will become a certified Flex developer after attending this class, but it does mean that you can expect a high quality training that will help you not only in passing certification exam if you choose to, but will also leave you with a very good understanding of how to create rich Internet applications with Adobe Flex. The market for Flex developers is extremely hot, so do not miss your opportunity. Find the Flex class near you, or get your butt on the plane hellip;Well, you know the drill.

I ‘ll attend the Java meetup on Nov 19, and will do a short non-formal preso on rich Internet applications with Java. If you need to kill a Monday evening come over. Remember Mamas and Papas – Monday, Monday, it ‘s so good to me …

It ‘s a free event, just register at http://java.meetup.com/59

See you on Monday, Monday.

After Google “s Android announcement , at least four big guys should be irritated:Sun Microsystems, Apple, Adobe and Microsoft.

Google approaches telephony from the open source side ndash; Linux based platform, uses Java but does not care about sticking to Java ME ndash; they planning to use fast OpenGL libraries and are not afraid to be hardware-specific. Check out the Youtube videos at the android site. Performance-wise that device looks pretty impressive. Google has created an alliance of more than thirty parties ndash; phone manufacturers and service providers. Google knows how to do things right.

Obviously, Android is a direct outside threat to Java ME, which makes it two now. The first one is Sun “s own JavaFX which will should become a commercial product for creating visual telephony applications at the same time when Android will be officially released ndash; next Fall.

Apple “s beauty, the iPhone, has started as close proprietary platform, which originally did not even allow any third-party to develop applications for iPhone. The situation is changing now, they are going to do us a favor and allow writing software for their hardware. Thank you very much!

Adobe “s Flash Lite is a new kid on the block, that is moving into multimedia telephony mainly competing with Java ME, and here comes another bully hellip;Man, it sucks!

Microsoft is irritated just because Google exist. Period. Whatever Google does makes Microsoft unhappy. First, Microsoft has its modest chunk of this market with its Windows Mobile. Besides, now Bill Gates goes into the world of voip servers and has announced Microsoft Office Communication Server. Yes, this is not exactly about writing software for the phone devices, but still, it “s telephony, and having Google playing there does not help Microsoft.

Competition is healthy, and consumers should applaud Google for entering the stage in an open source way. Maybe the day will come when people will be able to switch from one cell phone service provider to another and the same software will work on all phones?

I personally use Skype a lot. I have my laptop with me all the time anyway, why waste my cell phone minutes? I also keep an eye on Ribbit, which will allow creating rich internet application for making calls.

And you know why Google ‘s offering may win? No licensing fees to the vendors. Interesting, very interesting hellip;

I ‘m listening to the Bruce Williams talk show on my way from work. People call and ask for various advises (Bruce is a realy smart man with lots of life experience. This guy calls in and says,

“I have a house and some money in the 401K plan ”

Bruce asks:

“How much money do you have in your 401K and what ‘s the price of your house? ”

“$6000, and the house costs $80K ”

“What do you do you owe on this house? ”

“$80K ”

“Oh, so you do not own the house…Was it a zero down purchase? ”

“Yes, I had an 80/20 mortgage ”

“So what ‘s you question? ”

“I ‘m seeing this lady, and not sure if I should marry her ”

“Why not? ”

“What if in 20-30 years she decides to leave me and we ‘ll need to split the money? ”

Bruce suggested him to stay single…

But my problem is that this guy is not mental. He really thinks that he owns the house.

People are brain washed… They know that having a house is an American Dream…Unfortunately, these days American dream turns into an ability to obtain the mortgage, which gives you a feeling that you own a house. Let ‘s not even go into a situation with sub-prime mortgages in America, which affects everyone, regardless if you have a mortgage or not.

Do not kid yourself, you own nothing until you paid it off 100%.

Do you own a house? Yeah, right!

When I was planning my immigration to America, I was positive that this country is different from any other country in the world. This country was lucky to set the right experimental society more than two hundred years ago, and people managed to keep this experiment going, more or less, for all these years. Private property, freedom of speech, live and let live, work more and live better, people do not have be equally poor as in communist regimes, but are allowed to be differently rich, a small guy can carry a gun to simplify relations between people.

But now, I can see how this country “s lives under one rule ndash; just be politically correct. People are very cautious in what they say. They are afraid to speak up.

In the corporate environment, if you see a nice looking co-worker, you “d better behave. If you have to look at her, do it as if you look at a piece of furniture. Otherwise you may be accused of sexual harassment. During orientation days for the newly hired some firms show preventive videos illustrating what can be treated as a sexual harassment. Tell your colleague that you like his tie or her dress and you are screwed. Here “s another scenario from one of these instructional videos. Two guys are eating in the company “s cafeteria. A lady in a short skirt bends down to pick up her candies from a vending machine revealing her underwear. These poor men reflectively turn their heads to look at her legs, and she files a sexual harassment law suit.

What the fuck is this? Actually, to be politically correct, I should have written WTF.

The main goal of medical doctors is to protect themselves from potential law suits from her patients. If you “ll get into an emergency room in a hospital alive but with a bullet in your head, they will put you through a hundred of tests before removing the bullet just to make sure that you won “t sue them for malpractice. Talking about protective medicine hellip; When you get your diagnosis at the doctor ‘s office, do you think of the need of a second opinion? Do you trust you doctor? Do you trust your priest or rabbi?

In America, I “ve learned that if your car got hit from behind by another car, it “s a good thing. It makes your lawyers happy. It does not matter that your car did not even get any scratches ndash; the accident stressed you out, and now you can “t have normal sex with your wife. Smell money?

Divorce in America almost always means fight where the lawyers get richer and husbands get poorer. And interestingly enough, I would not blame layers, who are just the instruments in peoples ‘ hands. It “s people vs. people, not lawyers vs. people. The country has about 800 thousand lawyers, and their unemployment rate is under one percent.

Generations of people are collecting welfare and do not even plan to work. In other words, the government pays people for not even thinking of going to work.

When I was coming to America, I knew that people make multi-million deals just by shaking hands. Maybe some people still do, but in vast majority of deals, you ‘d better read the fine print in your contract.

You are not allowed to use the “N ” word if you are “W rdquo;. But if you are black , you can scream and shout this word off the stage and make money by releasing musical CDs or selling out stand up comedy shows. Can ‘t critique there…it ‘s a culture of minorities and we are for diversity.

When the President of the United States of America delivers his state of the union address, the audience gives him standing ovations two-three dozen times. I “ve seen exactly the same show thirty years ago while living in the Soviet Union and watching speeches of one and only Leonid Brezhnev.

Here “s one more. We are approaching the Christmas season. Oops hellip; What did I say hellip;How dare I hellip;It “s a Holiday season! You have to be political correct, otherwise you may offend someone who is not Christian. The country with about 80% of Christian population is ashamed of wishing Merry Christmas. Just go shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the sales clerk will politely say to you, “Happy Holidays! rdquo; Yeah, right. For retailers, the “Holiday season ” is as important as Oscars for Hollywood. I have a question to retailers, “Is this season important to you because people are buying Hanukkah presents for their kids? ” No? So call it Christmas season for crying out loud. BTW, I ‘m Jewish. I ‘m wondering, when someone will come up with lyrics to replace the words “Santa Claus is coming to town rdquo; with something more neutral.

So to compensate for the castrated way of life inside the country, we watch superman movies, and invade other countries for no reason. Did we scare anyone? This is not the right war and this is not a result. Fifteen out of nineteen of 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, hence let “s destroy… Iraq. Or take this anti-terrorist campaign. FBI has created a terrorist watch list that includes more than 750 thousand people (!?). A mother of a six-year old kid is being told in the airport that her son “s name was found in this terrorist list . They force you to take your shoes off in the airports. How about protecting people in shopping malls, trains and buses?

Traditionally, America was THE country with the largest number of free people with balls. It still is, but this number is substantially less today than it was even fifteen years ago, let alone fifty. I love America, and want it to be smarter and better. But let me tell you, it “s getting a little boring living in a country where every other person is eunuch.

It ‘s ten in the morning on Saturday, and if you also were working since the wee hours, take a break and listen to some music.

If you like The Beatles, here ‘s an amazing cover of their song “Something ” by the band called Screaming Headless Torsos. This is not exactly an elevator music, but is very well done. Put on the headphones and do not get scared…

Enjoy your weekend!

Yesterday, I spent in Reston, VA attending the EclipseWorld 2007 conference. The event took place in Hyatt hotel located in a nice area with fancy stores. The registration was quick. I got my speaker “s badge and a coupon for $25 bucks to spend in any store or restaurant in Reston Shopping center. Actually, the lunch was served for free by one of the event sponsors (XAware). I wonder if from a marketing point of view it “s a smart move to buy lunch for 800 people just to be able to have a mike and talk about your product in the lunch room while everyone is chewing and digesting. Anyway, than you for the food.

In general, lunch is an important part of any conference. Here “s a suggestion ndash; do not pick a table with the people you know, because lunch is an opportunity to meet new people. Even if you are attending this event with a couple of your colleagues, you should split and take eat at different tables. Did not get it? OK, here “s a little school math. Each table in the dining room has 8 seats. If John, Mary and Sidor from XYZ Software, L.L.C. will seat together, there is a chance to meet 8-3=5 new people (potential clients, useful contacts, smart programmers, whatever). If each of them will sit at a different table, they can meet up to 7*3=21 new people. Got it now? Since I was there alone, I did not have to worry about splitting. One seat at our table was empty for a while. And then Mike Milinkovich, the keynote speaker and the head of Eclipse foundation stops by the table and asks if this seat is not taken ndash; sure, be my guest.

Three chewing movements later we were talking. I introduced myself, he said that my face looked familiar (you bet, it “s all over the Internet), I told him about our company, and Eclipse plugins for Flex that we create, and then gave him my business card with the words that if a Flex related topic will come up, we we “re the right people. Mike is a nice person, I “m sure he did not trashed my business card yet. You may say, “What the big deal, you gave your business card, so what rdquo;. No, kid, it “s a big deal, because you never know what may come out of it. And it “s definitely better than sitting in the closet when no-one knows who you are and what are you up to.

Meeting people is often more important than the stuff you learn in the classrooms. Especially if the presenter is a boring and having-nothing-to-say as the guy that ran a class “How to create Web applications with Eclipse rdquo;. It takes about two minutes to realize that you are picked the wrong class, but it “s too late hellip; but my laptop is already connected to the Internet. No, not through the wireless connection offered by the conference organizers ndash; no one seem to be able to do any work using that connection. My Verizon broadband connection (I have love/hate relations with it), performed better than local wi-fi. The Internet connection speed in the USA is of the stone age quality, but this is another subject altogether.

Then I “ve attended a class on the Web reporting solution for Eclipse called BIRT 2.2. This was a great presentation by Jason Withersby from Actuate. I like BIRT, but is misses one feature that our reporter ClearBI has ndash; the end-users can customize reports (grouping, filters, formatting) without help of IT crew.

I introduced myself to Jason, told him about our Flash Player based solution and gave him my card. He seemed interested.

After lunch, I was running two classes in a row totaling 2.5 hours. In the first part I “ve shown how to facelift your Java-based Web applications using Flex, and in the second part I demoed our Eclipse plugins ndash; Log4FX, Clear Data Builder and ClearBI reporter. This time I showed how our tools can utilize OpenAMF implementation of the fast AMP protocol to work from Flex on the front with POJOs on the back.

A couple of people stopped by after the presentation, asked about our company and professional services in projects that involve Java and Flex. We “ve exchanged business cards.

At the end of the day I went to the exhibition floor ndash; nothing beats free food and beer. Plus, I met in person Maher Masri, the guy behind MyEclipse. They have a new offering called Pulse, which sounds interesting. They “ll demo it to me next week. We “ve talk about some potential business together and exchanged cards.

On the way back to the parking garage, I stopped by at Williams Sonoma and picked a jar of coffee beans and a jar of a quality tea (remember that $25 certificate?).

Let “s talk the debit-credit now. To attend this conference I missed a day of work (lost earnings), have driven about 500 miles, and paid for two tanks of gas and the hotel. This is debit. On the credit side, I “ve got a couple of business cards, two jars of coffee and tea, and some blurry potential of new business in the future.

Was it worthwhile? Yes it was. Do not like these hassles? I hear you. Just get employed by a nice large corporation and you may be better off than me when it ‘s time to retire. But so far, I prefer a more active life, and if one of these networking events will turn into something big, I “ll leave you in the dust. Which way is the right one? I do not know.

Adobe has launched a new Web site: Education Developers Center. This new site should become a one stop shopping point for college professors, full or part-time students, and everyone who is studying or teaching Adobe Flex, AIR and related products.

First, there is a registration link where students and faculty can get their free copy of Flex Builder.

Second, it provides links to various Flex tutorials that will make your immersion into flex as smooth as possible.

Third, it has a motivational article of yours truly, which was written by myself while being in a good mental health. The article was written for free and under no pressure of any kind or form. Why? Because while Flex still has a room for improvement, today it has no competition in the market of rich Internet application development tools. If the balance on this market will change one way or the other, I ‘ll be the first one to admit it. But as of November of 2007 I suggest you to start getting your hands dirty with Flex.

Now students have no excuses like “We do not have money for beer. Ain ‘t gonna buy no Flex Builder “. Now you can have both: the beer (I recommend Leffe Blonde) and Flex Builder. Drink and program responsibly.

Disclaimer for professors. It ‘s not either Flex or Java. It ‘s Flex in addition to Java.

If you ‘d like to speed up your immersion into Flex, you may consider enrolling into Adobe certified public training class that I ‘ll be teaching in New York City on the week of November 25. Students and faculty will get 40% off the tuition.

Your truly (this time wearing a hat of adjunct professor at NYU)

Yakov Fain

Well, I “m losing my passion after about six months of poor service. No, the customer service representative are very polite, but helpless. And the statement that Verizon has 98% coverage of the USA is a joke (I “m still trying to be politically correct).

Connection is very slow, but if I “m lucky to get connection, I “ll be losing it 10 times a day, North Jesrsey and a large area in Pensilvania have lots of dead spots ndash; I see two green bars, but either can “t connect or get 10Kbps. Currently, I “m seeing four bars connection getting the download speed of 300kbps and upload speed of 4 kbps(!?) speed.

Verizon “s connectivity software (VZAccess Manager) often hangs and I need to reboot the computer to reconnect. I “ve seen the same behavior on Vista and on Windows XP as well.

At this point, I “m ready to pay my $175 cancellation fees and sign up with a different service provider, but if there is better wireless provider of so-called broadband Internet access in the greater New York area. I “d appreciate the feedback of people who have are traveling and use the broadband access in this area. You can test your actual connection speed at http://www.speedtest.net .