Developer Shed Weekly News for 2010-02-25

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Feb.25, 2010 It's time once again for the latest issue of the Developer Shed newsletter. If you're working on your company's virtualization strategy, you'll want to check out the article we're highlighting this week from eWeek. Microsoft just released a couple of applications that could really help you get a handle on integrating proprietary applications into your IT infrastructure. You'll also want to check out the excellent assortment of articles published this week on the Developer Shed family of web sites. On Dev Shed, you'll find some great items to help you build an email application easily with the Swift Mailer framework. ASP Free brings you some useful tutorials for building web sites with ASP.NET, and examines whether Microsoft certifications are worth the expense. Website designers and developers reading Dev Articles learned more about preloading images with CSS and JavaScript. They also explored the Active Record of the Rails framework. Hardware enthusiasts reading Dev Hardware, meanwhile, enjoyed reviews of flat panels, desktops, and even a useful smartphone application that can help keep teenagers safe. SEO professionals reading SEO Chat learned five ways to optimize web pages; how and why to update their versions of WordPress; and how to increase their revenue from Google AdSense. Those new to owning a web site benefited from this week's Dev Mechanic articles on using Webstarts to create a free site, and how your site's design affects how well the search engines can index it â€" and thus where you'll turn up in the search engine results pages. Speaking of web sites, do you run a site that receives a lot of traffic? You may want to check out this week's article on Web Hosters, which explains how to choose a high volume web host. Or perhaps you're an experienced programmer who appreciates what you can do with the model-view-controller design pattern, but want to get more out of it. Codewalkers has your number this week, with the second part of a series that focuses on the hierarchical model-view-controller pattern. Finally, Scripts and Tutorialized have all the best content created by our readers. As always, thanks for reading. Until next week, Developer Shed Staff

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It's edgy! It's irreverent! It's all about technology! It's News You Can't Use, and you won't want to miss it! View this week's edition to learn the answers to these burning questions: Late Night with DevShed Hulk returns. Plus Jenny brings us all the news that's weird.. Watch the video!

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Dynamically Attaching Files with Swift Mailer 2010-02-24 In this eighth part of a ten-part series on the Swift Mailer email library, you'll learn how to attach files that have been dynamically generated to an email message. In addition, you'll see how to use Swift Mailer's "setFileName()" method to modify the name of an attachment before it's sent, which speaks for itself about this library's flexibility. Read the full article. Using Different Paths for Attachments with Swift Mailer 2010-02-23 Welcome to the seventh tutorial of a series on Swift Mailer. Comprised of ten parts, this series introduces you gently to using this thorough PHP5-based email package. It complements the corresponding theory with numerous code samples that you can incorporate into your own PHP applications. Read the full article. Handling Attachments and Sending HTML Email Messages with Swift Mailer 2010-02-22 In this sixth article of a series I discuss how to handle file attachments and sending HTML email messages with the Swift Mailer library. As you'll soon see, performing these tasks is a very straightforward process. Read the full article. Sending Blind Carbon Copies with Swift Mailer 2010-02-18 This fifth part of the series expands your background in the Swift Mailer library. You will learn how to use it for sending blind carbon copies of a basic email message to a predefined recipient. The process is as simple as using its "setBcc()" method. Read the full article.

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Are Microsoft Certifications Worth the Cost in 2010? 2010-02-24 The question that we are going to examine today is an important one for anyone who works in, or is training to work in, the IT field. Is getting a Microsoft certification really worth the money that you will spend to get it? If all you want is to know about a specific certification's worth, jump forward to later pages of this article, but for those people who are new to the field, we are going to start with a quick primer on Microsoft certifications. Read the full article. Building an ASP .NET Website Using Include Tags 2010-02-23 Include tags allow you to build template-driven websites in ASP .NET very efficiently. If you're just learning how to build websites using this framework, keep reading; you're about to take your site building abilities to the next level. Read the full article. Create ASP .NET Web Forms to Use a Microsoft Access Database 2010-02-22 This tutorial will guide you through making ASP .NET web forms that query an MS Access database, retrieve records and display them on the browser. This dynamic use of ASP .NET can have enormous importance for web applications that depend on an MS Access database. Read the full article. Editing Web Design Layout in Visual Web Developer Express 2008 2010-02-18 If you are working on or developing an ASP .NET website, chances are you should be using Visual Web Developer Express 2008. This is a website designer for ASP .NET/Microsoft technologies. This article will basically illustrate how you can maximize the use of Visual Web Developer Express in your website development projects. With the techniques and skills acquired, it can help any developer to speed up the development/progress of their website project. Read the full article.

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Validation and the Active Record 2010-02-24 In this fourth part of a five-part series that delves deeply into the Active Record of the Rails framework, we'll wrap up our discussion from the previous part and then move on to take a look at applying validations. Read the full article. Arrays, Associations and the Active Record 2010-02-23 In this third part of a five-part series that delves into Rail's Active Record, you'll learn how to handle many-to-many associations, use an array, and more. Read the full article. Using Client-Side Scripting to Preload Images with CSS and JavaScript 2010-02-22 In this fourth part of a series, I demonstrate that preloading a group of images with JavaScript is an easy-to-master process, especially if you already have an intermediate background in manipulating the DOM via client-side scripting. Note that the biggest drawback to the approach is its dependence on JavaScript to do its thing; you should keep this in mind when implementing this type of image preloading mechanism on your own web pages. Read the full article. Removing Non-Semantic Markup when Preloading Images with CSS and JavaScript 2010-02-19 In this third part of a series, you will learn how to preload a set of images via CSS, without the need to write any additional markup or even deal with empty containers. From all the approaches reviewed so far, I personally find this one to be the cleanest and simplest to implement, so you may want to put it in your toolbox if you're planning to add an effective preloading mechanism to your website. Read the full article.

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BenQ V2400 Eco and Samsung SyncMaster 2233SW 2010-02-24 What do you value more in an LCD monitor, excellent performance or environmental awareness? The two monitors we'll review today ask you to make that decision. The BenQ V2400 Eco may encourage you to trade your hard-earned green for a greener world, while the Samsung SynchMaster 2233SW offers good value in other ways. Keep reading for a closer look. Read the full article. Gateway DX 4300-11 and Maingear Shift 2010-02-23 Today we'll take a look at the Gateway DX 4300-11 and the Maingear Shift desktop computers. One machine delivers solid performance that should suit the needs of casual users, while the other will appeal to the gaming crowd. Read the full article. Smartphone App iZup Helps Make the Roads Safer 2010-02-22 There's a reason why six states currently have laws that ban cell phone use while driving, and sixteen have specifically made it unlawful to text while driving; it's dangerous and irresponsible. Yet people still do it, especially teen-agers. Isn't there some way to deal with this problem? Believe it or not, there's an app for that, and it's called iZup. Read the full article. HTC Nexus One for T-Mobile 2010-02-19 The HTC Nexus One for T-Mobile is a smartphone that runs on the Google Android 2.1 operating system. It provides a solid overall feature set along with fast processing performance. Keep reading to find out if it is the right phone for you. Read the full article.

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How to Increase Google AdSense Revenue 2010-02-24 One of the best ways to earn money online is by using Google AdSense. If you are a blogger and your blogging/web software allows you to copy and paste HTML code, then you can implement Google AdSense. In this way you can earn extra income from your blogging hobby whether it is a part-time or full-time endeavor. This two-part article will help you maximize your AdSense income. Read the full article. Five Ways to Optimize Pages 2010-02-23 You think very carefully about your keywords, your phrasing, your titles and links when you create an article or blog post for the Web. When writing with an Internet audience in mind, you're always sure to optimize your content for best effect with the search engines. SEO isn't just something you want to use when creating blogs and bits and content for your site; SEO is something you want to use on every single page. Learn five ways to optimize pages all over your Web site. Read the full article. Updating WordPress Tips and Techniques 2010-02-22 WordPress is one of the best and most popular open source CMS/blogging platforms. The down side of its popularity is that it is frequently exploited by hackers wanting to take over and deface your website. In fact, one of the WordPress sites I work with prevented 716 hacking attacks between July 8, 2009 and November 23, 2009. One important way to prevent hack attacks is to keep your WordPress up to date. This article will show you how. Read the full article.

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How to Choose a High Volume Host 2010-02-24 Choosing a web host is always a bit of an act of faith. You are not only giving that host your hard-earned money, but you are also giving them a stake in your reputation with your end users. That's all the more reason to choose carefully, especially if your web site receives a lot of traffic. Not sure where to start? Keep reading. Read the full article. Protecting Your Wireless Network with Tools Anyone Can Use 2010-02-17 Wireless networks are wonderful things, giving users greater freedom to work or play wherever they want, within range of the network. Unfortunately, as with most good things, they carry some dangers. This article will explain what those dangers are, and how and why to protect your wireless network from them. Read the full article. Set Up and Encrypt Your First Wireless Network at Home 2010-02-10 Setting up your first at-home wireless network is relatively simple. It is when you need to make your network secure that things can get a bit hairy. After all, knowing what you are doing is important. A misstep can mean that you have to reset the whole thing and start again. Feeling uncertain? Keep reading. Read the full article.

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Tutorialized is dedicated to programming, designing, and many other tech related tutorials. Submit Your Tutorial Today! Actionscript Mouse Events Learn to respond to different mouse events like clicks and hovers. Read the tutorial. Fireworks We are going to learn to use the brush tool to create fireworks. Read the tutorial. Simple Photo Flash Menu See how to create simple Flash menu. Simplistic tutorial and fun to read. Read the tutorial. Tips on PhpLib The pHpLib template makes it very easy to create a website. It is based on a template. Read the tutorial. Key controls This Flash tutorial will teach you about the basic key controls. Read the tutorial. Replace a String in a TXT File Replace strings in TXT files through PHP. Read the tutorial.

Want to Earn Cash & Fame Writing for ASP Free Developer Shed is actively seeking fresh, new writing talents for our Microsoft Windows technology site. We're looking for Windows programmers, system administrators, and more to provide our readers with the latest, up-to-date techniques and strategies. Here's your chance to earn some cash, gain some exposure, and beef up your resume! If you would like to join our team, email your name, a description of your qualifications, and the topic areas you would like to cover to contact_editor@developershed.com.

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Scripts is dedicated to developer and programming related scripts both commercial and free, and for all OS platforms. register | add scripts | link to us EzUploads EzUploads utilizes CGI upload methods to a PHP site back end. You are able to upload unlimited file sizes. Supports Ascii Captcha. Learn more. MultiUser Chat Software Multi operator ASP script based chat messaging software contains full support of Ajax technology. Learn more. DepthStats The target audience for this script is anyone looking to stay away from stat services and stats provided by hosting companies. Learn more. .Net Ad Server Solutions We provide a complete line of ad management, ad network, affiliate network and banner solutions. Learn more. PHP Stock Portfolio System allows you to hide, show, or show masked values for each of eleven value fields. Script retrieves data from Yahoo! Finance. Learn more. MyFTPUploader MyFTPUploader is a Java applet for uploading multiple files and directories to an FTP Server. Easy to use. Learn more.

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Use Webstarts to Create a Free Site 2010-02-24 Sure, you have a MySpace page, a Facebook account, even some pictures on Flickr. But aren't you ready to carve out your own unique space on the Internet? Isn't it time to present the public with pages that are solely and uniquely created by you? Learn how to use Webstarts to create a free site in your free time -- no Web design experience required. Everyone from the Pope to the President has a Web site…so why not you, too? Read the full article. More Than Just Looks. How Your Web Design Can Hurt Your SEO 2010-02-22 Are you building your website for humans or the search engines? Ideally, you're designing your website to accommodate your human visitors, but you shouldn't overlook the spiders that come to visit. Keep reading to learn how to please both kinds of visitors. Read the full article. Promoting Your Site: How to Set Up a Cost Effective Ad Campaign with Any Budget 2010-02-19 Creating an ad campaign is a very complex issue.There are a lot of factors that need to be addressed when you are creating a campaign. Sadly, in most campaigns there is one factor that tends to trump them all. That factor is your budget. While in a lot of ways budget has to be a key factor, it does not have to keep your advertising campaign small and ineffective. You can make a great campaign at any monthly budget. Read the full article.

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Dispatching Requests to MVC Triads with the Hierarchical MVC Design Pattern 2010-02-24 In this second part of a series on the hierarchical model-view-controller design pattern, I demonstrate how to implement a simple HMVC layer within the sample framework we're developing. This feature was incorporated via a basic request-handling class, which you're free to improve and extend at will. Read the full article. Implementing the Hierarchical Model-View-Controller Design Pattern in PHP 5 2010-02-17 Without a doubt, the Model-View-Controller design pattern (also known by its acronym as MVC) is a very popular architectural paradigm these days. This article, the first in a series, will show you how to implement a more advanced version of this design pattern, known as the Hierarchical Model-View-Controller pattern. Read the full article. Install Slackware on Your Old PC 2010-02-10 Slackware may be what this flavor of Linux is called, but you can not be a slacker if you want to install Slackware. Do not be afraid. If you have even some basic skills you can install Slackware. Well, with the help of this tutorial, that is. Read the full article.

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Add Drupal to Your Skill Set With the current state of the economy, many IT workers are looking for new skills to learn to increase their employment options. Job creation continues to be sluggish, but are there some types of skills or technology areas that inspire more interest from employers than others? You can look to open source software for the answer to that question, and specifically to a nine-year-old software package: Drupal. Drupal, a free software suite, lets users easily publish and manage social content on the Internet. With more than two million downloads to its credit, Drupal had been keeping excellent company in recent years. It's been seen in the best of company, helping to run high-profile web sites in both the public and private sectors. Thank Drupal for powering whitehouse.gov, Warner Brothers records, and numerous other sites both big and small. So how can you learn more about Drupal? Conveniently, there's a conference coming up in San Francisco on April 19 to 21 called Drupalcon. If you're eager to learn, though, it's what's happening the day before the conference starts that should concern you. That's when you'll be able to receive training at all levels on all aspects of Drupal from some of best Drupal technologists around. You'll pay maybe a tenth of what you'd normally pay for these kinds of courses. Check it out; a small investment in your future now could shortly lead to an awesome job. Read more about this

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