---

MISNet Education - 10th anniversary

Congratulations to MISNet-Education as they celebrate their 10th anniversary last September 22. The company sponsored a bowling activity at the Superbowl, Makati City Square, participated by its clients.

MISNet Education, Inc. started delivering training in 1995 as MISNet, Inc. and became the Philippines' first Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center (then called Authorised Technical Education Center). In November 2002, MISNet Education, Inc. was established as a separate entity from MISNet, Inc. to focus on the training and certification business and to open the doors for partnership with other Microsoft partners.

Congratulations to MISNet!

2 Must-have books!

Here are some books that caught our fancy lately. It may interest you too.

1. Ambient Findability by Peter Morville (blog)
Intelligence is moving to the edges, flowing through wireless devices, empowered individuals, and distributed teams. Ideas are spreading like wildfire, and information is in the air, literally. And yet, with the profusion of instantly accessible information, we still experience disorientation. We still wander off the map. How do we make decisions in the information age? How do we know enough to ask the right questions? How do we find the best product, the right person, the data that makes a difference?

In the book "Ambient Findability," Peter Morville searches for the answers in the strange connections between social software, semantic webs, evolutionary psychology, and interaction design.  And, he explains how the journey from push to pull is changing not only the rules of marketing and design, but also the nature of authority and the destination of our culture.

Thought-provoking and insightful, "Ambient Findability" will be of interest to any "user experience professionals" who design, build, and manage web sites and interactive products. But the book will also hold appeal for anyone interested in the future of architecture, business, communication, education, design, literacy, marketing, and other areas of work touched by the information age.

2. Practical Development Environments by Matthew B. Doar
You can have great coders, a terrific idea,top-of-the-line technology, even deep funding, but a project can still fail without a toolsmith. Every project has a toolsmith--some are pre-defined full-time positions, but often the de facto (and usually unspoken role) of toolsmith falls to the person who happens to have the skill set, the interest, or who just didn't duck the onerous task quickly enough. Either way, making the choices about tools, installing them, and then maintaining the tools that everyone else depends upon can prove vital to the project.

Building a development environment may not be a sexy topic to most people, but it's an essential one. Developers want to write code, not maintain makefiles. Writers want to write content instead of managing templates. IT provides machines, but doesn't have time to maintain all the different tools. And managers, of course, want the product to move smoothly from development to release.  Ergo, the onus of creating and maintaining a productive technical environment rests with the individual who ends up being a toolsmith for his or her group.

But building an effective development environment is not only not sexy; it's not easy either. How do you decide which tools to use for any given project? What do you look for in a tool--and what do you avoid? Which can you rely on? Which will help automate your processes? How do you discover the pitfalls or annoyances of any given tool--before you're in knee deep?

Practical advice is hard to come by, and trial and error on the fly is not only time consuming and frustrating, but potentially hazardous to the health of a project.

Unlike most tech books, "Practical Development Environments" doesn't tell you how to write faster code, or how to write code with fewer memory leaks, or even how to debug code at all. It's a practical approach to the challenges that confront toolsmiths every day: how to build the product in better ways, how to keep track of the code that's written, and how to track the bugs in code.

Another book that my be of interest also:

1. The Cult of iPod by Leander Kahney (blog)
Since its first iPod model hit the market in 2001, Apple has sold more than 21 million iPods, from the no-frills Shuffle up to the flagship 60GB iPod. "The Cult of iPod," like its predecessor "The Cult of Mac," takes readers on a tour of everything iPod with gorgeous four-color photos, stylish layout and design, and tales of users who devote considerable time, energy, and imagination to their gadgets.

Meet the little-known practice of iPod-jacking (strangers plugging into each other's iPods to find new music); discover the growing legions of MP3Js (regular folks who use their iPods to become DJs); and meet average joes who create their own professional quality iPod commercials just for fun. "The Cult of iPod" looks at the cottage industries that have sprung up to capitalize on the iPod's popularity, too, from both fun and functional accessories to services that build customized playlists or will convert your entire CD library into the iTunes format. "The Cult of iPod" also covers the trend of celebrities and fashion mavens who've customized their iPods and made high-end limited edition carrying cases, as well as gadget freaks who've modded their iPods into one-of-a-kind designs that make techies drool.

8 Must-have books!

Okay, we haven't been posting that much books lately. Fortunately today, we got the chance to scour through several book listings and found the ones we like.

Must have books!

1. Using Moodle by Jason Cole
In recent years, Course Management Systems (CMSs) have matured to the point that they're now considered critical software for many colleges and universities. At a basic level, a CMS gives educators the tools to create a course web site and provide access control so only enrolled students can view it. Beyond access control, a CMS typically offers a wide variety of tools to make a course more effective: an easy way to upload and share materials, hold online discussions and chats, give quizzes and surveys, gather and review assignments, and record grades.  In other words, it's a suite of tools that enhance teaching by taking advantage of the Internet without replacing the need for the teacher.

Moodle is the open source CMS used by more than two thousand educational organizations around the world. Available for free on the Web, (http://www.moodle.org), Moodle can scale from a single-teacher site to a 40,000-student university. Its tool set and features are comparable to those of the leading commercial packages, and the system has the added benefit of being built on a sound education philosophy with a huge, active community that supports and develops it.

The name "Moodle" is both an acronym (Modular Object Oriented Development Learning Environment) and a verb (to let the mind or body wander and do something creative but without particular purpose). Martin Dougiamas, a computer scientist and educator who spends time supporting a CMS at a university in Perth, Australia, created Moodle. Increasingly frustrated with the existing system, Dougiamas learned that engineers, not educators, had designed it. He surmised that a system built by someone who started with the educational process, rather than an engineering process, would be infinitely better than what he had to work with, and so he began to develop Moodle.

"Using Moodle" is written for instructors learning how to use Moodle. The book is more than just a how-to manual; each chapter includes suggestions, case studies, and best practices for using Moodle effectively. The book also exposes little-known but powerful hacks for the more technically savvy users.

2. Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management by Johanna Rothman (blog) and Esther Derby (blog)
Getting the computer to do the right thing can be difficult at times, but getting people to do the right thing is even harder. If you've ever wondered what real management is all about, or if you're currently working as a manager or tech lead, you need this book. Full of tips and practical advice on the most important aspects of management, this is one of those books that can make a lasting and immediate impact on your career.

3. RT Essentials by Jesse Vincent, Robert Spier, Dave Rolsky, Darren Chamberlain, and Richard Foley
In a typical organization, there's always plenty to be done: Vendors need to be paid. Customers need to be invoiced. Sales inquiries need to be answered.  Bugs in hardware or software need to be fixed. And when the end of the day rolls around, someone has to keep track of who wanted what, who did it, when it got done, and most important, what remains undone.

This is where a ticketing system comes in.  A ticketing system allows you to check the status of various tasks: when they were requested, who requested them and why, when they were completed, and more.  RT (Request Tracker) is a high-level, open source ticketing system that allows a group of people to efficiently manage tasks, issues, and requests submitted by a community of users.

The book starts off with a quick background lesson about ticketing systems, and then explains how to install and configure RT.  Readers will learn how to perform day-to-day tasks that turn their RT servers into highly useful tracking tools.

4. Open Source for the Enterprise by Dan Woods and Gautam Guliani (blog)
If using open source were as easy as simply installing Linux and learning to use a few free tools and applications, the world would have completely converted to open source by now. Large and small businesses alike that are enticed by open source's possibilities--saving money on license fees, reducing support and integration costs, gaining access to the functionality of thousands of programs, and much more--must necessarily hesitate when they consider its incumbent risks and responsibilities.

Woods and Guliani describe their book as "a sober reflection and a pragmatic approach to an ocean of opportunity." Written from an IT department's perspective, "Open Source for the Enterprise" is organized around the common problems facing those who struggle in the trenches. Rather than plunging into the popular, spirited debate of why open source is superior to proprietary software, the authors offer an intelligent discussion aimed to help technology and business executives determine whether they can benefit from using open source in their environments.

As Woods and Guliani point out, in order to make open source work, businesses will need to have a clear understanding of what open source is and what it is not. They'll need to understand the fully loaded costs of using open source and have a strategy for acquiring and maintaining the needed skills. This will involve crafting a hybrid tack of open source and commercial software that makes sense for the organization. "Open Source for the Enterprise" approaches these and other issues in ten succinct chapters, beginning with a discussion of the nature of open source; the book concludes with a series of appendixes that identify the most promising open source applications.

5. Agile Web Development with Rails: A Pragmatic Guide by Dave Thomas (blog) and David Heinemeier Hansson (blog) with Leon Breedt (blog), Mike Clark (blog), Thomas Fuchs (blog), and Andreas Schwarz
Developers the world over are talking about Ruby on Rails, a new approach to web development that makes it easier than ever to create rich, sophisticated, and maintainable web applications.

The book was written by leaders in the field: As one of the authors of The Agile Manifesto, Dave Thomas understands agility. As the author of Programming Ruby he understands Ruby and how to describe writing Ruby applications. David Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of the Rails framework. Leon Breedt wrote the web services component of Rails. Mike Clark is an international expert on testing techniques. Thomas Fuchs contributed much of the AJAX support for Rails. Andreas Schwarz wrote the online manual on security for Rails. This is the dream team for writing not just the first Rails book, but the definitive Rails book.

6. Security and Usability edited by Lorrie Faith Cranor and Simson Garfinkel (blog)
Conventional wisdom dictates that there must be a tradeoff between security and usability.  To illustrate the point, Lorrie Faith Cranor, DSc, and Simson Garfinkel, Ph.D., contrast a computer with no passwords with one "that makes you authenticate every five minutes with your password and a fresh drop of blood." The former is usable, but not secure, while the latter is secure but holds little appeal for most users.

In the first book to be focused entirely on the subject of usability and security, Cranor and Garfinkel present thirty-four groundbreaking essays from leading security, usability, and human-computer interaction (HCI)
researchers around the world. Balancing theory and fundamental principles with practical advice, they examine this important issue in detail.

"Security and Usability" offers a window into the future of computer security where usable design and secure systems are no longer at odds. Topics include:

-Realigning usability and security: psychological acceptability, designing for actual (not theoretical) security, tools for usability evaluation, and trust designs and models

-Authentication mechanisms: password memorability, challenge questions, graphical passwords, biometrics, keystroke dynamics, smart cards, and USB tokens

-Secure systems: secure interaction design, anti-phishing, sanitization and usability, usable PKI, compartmentalized security, and ethnographic analysis

-Privacy and anonymity systems: privacy design pitfalls, the Privacy Space Framework, the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P), web bugs, informed consent on the Internet, social approaches to security, and anonymizing
 technologies

-Commercializing usability: vendor experiences in addressing usability issues at Microsoft, IBM/Lotus, Firefox, Zone Labs, and Groove Networks

"Security and Usability" brings together research findings, actual implementation experiences, practical advice, and recommendations for constructing next-generation operating systems. This volume is sure to become a classic reference and an inspiration for further research.

7. Digital Identity by Phillip J. Windley (blog)
The rise of network-based, automated services in the past decade has definitely changed the way businesses operate, and not always for the better. Offering services, conducting transactions, and moving data on the Web opens new opportunities, but many CTOs and CIOs are more concerned with the risks. Like the rulers of medieval cities, they've adopted a siege mentality, building walls to keep the bad guys out. It makes for a secure perimeter, but hampers the flow of commerce.

The experienced book authors provides a rich, real-world view of the concepts, issues, and technologies behind a key concept known as "identity management architecture" (IMA). According to Windley, IMA is a method to provide ample protection against malicious attacks while giving good guys access to vital information and systems. In today's service-oriented economy, digital identity is critical:  it provides a set of standards, policies, certifications, and management activities that enable companies to manage digital identity effectively--not just as a security check, but as a way to extend services and pinpoint the needs of customers.

Windley likens IMA to good city planning:  cities define uses and design standards to ensure that buildings and city services are consistent and workable. In "Digital Identity," CIOs, other IT professionals, product managers, and programmers will learn how security planning can support their business goals and opportunities, rather than holding them at bay.

8. The eBay Survival Guide: How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt by Michael Banks
Now more than 114 million members strong, according to company data, eBay attracts all kinds of buyers and sellers and an unimaginable variety of items up for auction. Unfortunately, a lot of trashy products and unscrupulous people are mixed in with the legitimate business. This book faces this reality head-on and shows readers how to get the best experience from the online auction site while steering clear of the bogus offers and shady characters.

Others worth checking out!

1. Programming Windows Presentation Foundation by Chris Sells (blog) and Ian Griffiths (blog)
As part of the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft has included a brand-new graphics subsystem called the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) for building user interfaces. With this vector-based framework, application interfaces will be well suited for the new generation of high-resolution monitors and able to take advantage of the graphics capability in the latest video cards, which aren't used much now outside of computer games. In other words, WPF--formerly known as "Avalon"--will put the vista into Windows Vista, and even put a little extra into Windows XP. The book introduces readers to the powerful set of tools for managing the visual layout of their applications, describes WPF features for connecting the user interface to the underlying data, and shows them how to use styles and control templates to customize the appearance of their user interfaces. There are also chapters on using WPF's drawing tools, writing custom controls, and using the framework's animation facilities.

2. Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart by Wei-Meng Lee
Three years after Microsoft introduced the .NET platform, millions of Visual Basic programmers have resisted the call to upgrade. They still prefer the Rapid Application Development features of VB 6, the last version released before Microsoft radically transformed Visual Basic into an object-orientated language called VB .NET. This year Microsoft hopes to win over reluctant VB 6 developers with Visual Basic 2005, the new version intended to bring together the best of both programming worlds. Lee's new book is written specifically to help VB 6 programmers make the transition to VB 2005, and it arrives at a crucial time. Microsoft also chose this year to end mainstream support for VB 6, and those who stick with the older version will have to pay a premium for extended support. "Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart" offers them a concise test drive of VB 2005, complete with hands-on projects and dozens of code examples to help readers learn the new syntax quickly. The book also shows them how to migrate existing VB 6 applications.

3. Programming .NET Components, Second Edition by Juval Lowy
With its ability to simplify and add flexibility to complex enterprise applications using reusable code, it's no wonder that component-oriented programming has established itself as the predominant software development methodology over the last decade.  There are a number of tolerable and even outstanding component technologies to choose from, such as CORBA and JavaBeans. Packed with helpful code examples, tips, warnings, design guidelines, and original utilities from Lowy, the new edition of "Programming .NET Components" not only teaches the skills developers need to design and develop component-based .NET applications, but also explains the rationale behind them.

4. Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook by Ian Langworth and chromatic
Perl has a strong history of automated tests. The earliest release of Per1 1.0 included a comprehensive test suite, and it has only improved since then. The beauty of it, however, is that you don't have to be a die-hard, free and open source software developer who lives, breathes, and dreams Perl to put these automated tests to use. You just have to want to do your job better. With today's increased workloads and short development cycles, unit tests are more vital to building high-quality software than ever before. Once mastered, the lessons in "Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook" will help developers ensure low-level code correctness, reduce software development cycle time, and ease maintenance burdens.

5. Learning Perl, Fourth Edition by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and brian d foy (blog)
The Llama is back! The fourth edition of the book includes new exercises with solutions so readers can practice what they've learned while it's still fresh in their minds. Readers will learn about data structures, minimal matching, threading, data parsing, references, objects, modules, package implementation, and more.  The authors have reengineered the pace and scope of the lessons with today's Perl student in mind, while retaining the detailed discussions, examples, and eclectic wit for which the book is famous. Although Perl was first known as the "toolbox for Unix," knowledge of Unix isn't required; the lessons in the new book apply equally well to most modern implementations of Perl.

6. Perl Best Practices by Damian Conway
The guidelines in "Perl Best Practices" cover code layout, naming conventions, choice of data and control structures, program decomposition, interface design and implementation, modularity, object orientation, error handling, testing, and debugging.  Above all, it's a set of practices that actually works, and that many developers around the world are using already. Much like Perl itself, the guidelines are about helping programmers get their jobs done, without getting in the way.

7. Windows Server 2003 Network Administration by Craig Hunt and Roberta Bragg
Hunt's new book, coauthored with Roberta Bragg--a Windows networking MVP and expert on information security--is a practical, step-by-step guide to configuring and managing TCP/IP networking software on Windows server
systems. Written specifically for experienced system administrators, "Windows Server 2003 Network Administration" covers the issues that are most important to those building or managing a Windows network.

8. Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, Second Edition by James Boney
"Cisco IOS in a Nutshell" consolidates the most important commands and features of IOS into a single volume. The new edition has been revised an expanded to cover features that were integrated into Cisco's latest major release, 12.3, along with highlights from minor release 12.4.  Some of the new features are AutoSecure, AutoQoS, and the new IOS naming model. Other sections have been expanded to include IS-IS routing, MPLS, new hardware types, while new chapters have been added to cover quality-of-service and multi-casting. Unlike the previous edition, the book also covers non-routing topics, such as VLANs and switching.

9. The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols by Charles M. Kozierok
Packed with over 300 illustrations that explain the finer points of this complex topic, and over 500 tables for easy reference, "The TCP/IP Guide details the core protocols that make TCP/IP internetworks function, as well as the most important classic TCP/IP applications. The book's personal, user-friendly writing style makes plain English of the dozens of protocols and technologies that run the Internet, with full coverage of PPP, ARP, IP, IPv6, IP NAT, IPSec, Mobile IP, ICMP, RIP, BGP, TCP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, SNMP, FTP, SMTP, NNTP, HTTP, Telnet, and much more.

10. The Debian System: Concepts and Techniques by Martin F. Krafft
Written by Martin F. Krafft, an experienced developer and a faithful Debian supporter since 1997, "The Debian System" is intended for those who want to understand and get more out of their Debian installation(s) - both
Linux/UNIX admins switching to Debian and existing Debian users alike. Co-published with Open Source Press of Munich, Germany, "The Debian System" gives readers a peek into the experience level and sophistication that
have shaped the various system components and shows why this system's pure elegance makes it a desirable choice of many. Krafft introduces the system's concepts and analyzes the techniques that comprise the Debian Way of system administration and explains why Debian developers have chosen certain approaches to development that differ from other Linux distributions.

11. Windows XP Cookbook by Robbie Allen (blog) and Preston Gralla (blog)
From installation, configuration, and maintenance, to disk management, editing the Windows Registry, and more, "Windows XP Cookbook" is useful for anyone who has to use, administer, or automate this OS--not just administrators of Windows networks, but also power users who want to tweak home PCs.  Among hundreds of tasks, readers will find ways to turn off XP's annoying balloon messages, stop mysterious tasks from running, turn a PC into a jukebox, run multiple OSes simultaneously, and tackle network settings when moving a laptop from one wireless network to another.

12. Linux in a Nutshell, Fifth Edition by Ellen Siever, Aaron Weber (blog), Stephen Figgins, Robert Love (blog), and Arnold Robbins
Considered by many to be the most complete and authoritative command reference for Linux available, "Linux in a Nutshell" covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions. The material in "Linux in a Nutshell, Fifth Edition" was tested on Fedora, Novell/SUSE, and Debian systems (with some testing on other distributions as well. No single volume can cover all the commands provided by even on of the popular Linux distributions, but readers will find most of the commands they are likely to need with the major distributions are contained in this volume.  It's the one reference book that every Linux user will want to have close at hand.

13. Nokia Smartphone Hacks by Michael Juntao Yuan (blog)
For everyone who wants to make the most of mobile technology and unlock their Nokia's full potential, "Nokia Smartphone Hacks" delivers innovative and powerful hacks.

Lucasfilm selects HP technology to create digital entertainment assets

HP and Lucasfilm Ltd., known in visual effects and sound engineering for feature films, recently announced a global, three-year, multi-million dollar technology and marketing agreement.

Lucasfilm will use HP Adaptive Enterprise solutions to generate new video games, visual effects and animation. The HP technology, also being used to store and manage LucasFilm’s business applications, will be deployed at Lucasfilm's new Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco and at the company's Singapore operations.

Lucasfilm will roll out up to 1,000 high-performance HP workstations powered by Dual-Core AMD Opteron™ processors for the production of its visual effects and video games. The HP xw9300 Workstation environment at Lucasfilm will run both Linux and Windows® XP operating environments in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes, with in-house software applications for creation and editing.

In addition, HP Services is working closely with Lucasfilm to deploy a storage environment to securely store and archive critical business information.

Lucas visual effects and game development requires the most powerful workstation configurations available. The 64-bit dual processor, dual-core and dual-graphics HP workstation is designed for customers with such intensive computing demands.

The HP xw9300 Workstation's performance and visualization capabilities are enabled by the processing power of two AMD Opteron™ processors and advanced 3D graphics capabilities made possible by NVIDIA's dual PCI Express x16 graphics.

LucasArts' long-term relationship with nVidia remains intact. Each workstation uses nVidia's dual PCI Express x16 graphics cards, enabling advanced 3-D graphics capabilities, and every one can support multiple graphics cards.

Lucasfilm selected the latest HP StorageWorks offerings for its business applications. With a 35-terabyte capacity, the HP StorageWorks XP12000 Disk Array and Cisco MDS 9509 is a high-end disk storage system delivering “zero downtime” for mission-critical environments.

The system incorporates HP software innovations for single-system management, remote copying and cross-continental disaster recovery. The HP StorageWorks XP12000 Disk Array offers Lucasfilm an advanced solution available to ensure business continuity and asset protection.

All Systems Go for ManilaCon 2005

I just word from Jun Malacaman that ISSSP's 4th Philippine I.T. Security Conference is all systems go this September 13 and 14 at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Intercontinental, Makati City. With the theme Privacy@Risk, the conference aims to help participants in improving and increasing their ability to prevent intrusions by creating awareness and arming with the necessary security tools and know how in defending information systems.

Download the conference flyer for more details. See you there!

 

<< Previous page Next page >>