I installed a sweet tool today called Synergy. It allows me to use one keyboard/mouse/clipboard across my home workstation and my laptop. At work, I’ve used two monitors connected to my laptop and that works great. But, at home, I find that my workstation’s keyboard and mouse are more ergonomic. Plus, sometimes I like to play internet radio, DVDs, or MP3s from my workstation while I do my serious work on my laptop. Synergy let’s me jump from one machine to the other without leaving the keyboard or mouse simply by moving my mouse from one screen to the other.
Author: Jeff Potts
Infoworld corporate blogging article
The March 28 issue of Infoworld has a cover story on corporate blogging called The Enterprise Blogosphere. It covers both blogs and wikis in the corporate environment and sidebars on JotSpot, Movable Type, TWiki, and Socialtext.
Jon Udell’s latest screencast
Jon Udell’s got a dream job. Check out his lastest screencast that showcases some of his cool hacks.
Content, services, and the yin-yang of intermediation. Today’s four-minute screencast is about content, services, AutoLink, LibraryLookup, Greasemonkey, Google Maps, and OpenSearch. … [Jon’s Radio]
Customizing XML app behavior in Documentum
Customizing XML Application Behavior with Java and Type based Business Objects (TBOs). Sometimes it’s necessary to customize the operations supported by Documentum XML Applications to apply business logic and enforce object-specific business rules. Often this can be implemented only by developing additional code. This article discusses writing Java code that can be called from within an XML configuration file and implement a TBO to satisfy these needs. [EMC Documentum Developer Program – New Content]
XSL transformation SBO
Transformation Service (BOF 1.0 Service-based Object). This service provides an interface to apply an XSL stylesheet to an XML document. It uses the DFC Transformation APIs to achieve its purpose and provides the result of the transformation as raw data that can be used by presentation layer for display. In the example provided, the output is saved to an HTML file. UPDATED 31 March, 2005 [EMC Documentum Developer Program – New Content]
Typo3 for content management
Learning about content management with Typo3. One of the social benefits of open source packages is that anyone can download them and start learning — not just about that platform — but about content management systems in general. In our experience, this is particularly valuable for developers. For example, you can easily download Typo3, a popular PHP-based system, and run it on your laptop or local network (the installer will unpack Apache and MySQL if you don’t already have). By playing around with the tool, you can learn a lot of CMS concepts, such as templating, user management, applying pre-set functions and components, embedding custom code snippets, and so on…. [CMSWatch Trends and Features]
Mambo open source CMS
Continuing the open-source riff. A major competitor to Typo3 is Mambo CMS. The two projects are organized rather differently, but both run on a LAMP platform and each boasts a worldwide following. Here is a nice story on the history of the Mambo project, with additional perspective on their recent legal travails…… [CMSWatch Trends and Features]
Documentum ships 5.3
Documentum has announced that their new major release, 5.3, has shipped.
The most noteworthy bullets from the new release:
– Linux support across the stack
– Content Rendition Services re-architected and rolled up with other “transformation” products into Content Transformation Services
– Integration of eRoom into the Content Server including the ability to associate a discussion with any object
– Integration of records management retention policies into the core content server
– WDK usability changes (Note: They call them “enhancements” but I’ll wait until I’ve seen them for myself before I use that word!)
Day’s implementation of JSR-170
Java Content Repositories (JCR) on the Move. Day Software, a provider of content management and infrastructure software, announces that Obinary will embed Day’s Content Repository Extreme (CRX) across its entire product sets. CRX – Day’s Java Content Repository – is the industry’s first full implementation of JSR… [CMSwire]
When to move the intranet to a portal
Portals: are you ready to make the leap?. Shiv Singh has written an article exploring when to migrate to a portal for your intranet or extranet. To quote: For a business manager, choosing a portal package is not an easy decision. While the benefits for corporate IT departments… [Column Two]
This is a short, excellent article that can help you really think about whether or not you will get business value out of a portal implementation. One of my favorite tidbits:
Intranets and extranets built on portal platforms are less usable than regular websites. Most portal vendors limit how much the user interface can be customized to prevent the software from becoming buggy. As a result, most portal packages have user interfaces that are clunky, and relatively unusable for novice computer users.
Agreed. It is somewhat deflating after a large portal implementation, particularly if it is very content-centric, to take a step back and realize that millions of dollars and thousands of person-hours have essentially resulted in a web site that is difficult to maintain and use. Obviously, this anti-climactic feeling can subside if personalization can be leveraged, if applications can be integrated, and if user adoption flourishes, but organizations need to walk in to a portal implementation with their eyes open on this issue.