Use virtualization software? Check out VirtualBox 2.2.2, which adds some exciting new features:

• Support for 64-bit guests on 32-bit host operating systems. Testing a 64-bit desktop is now much easier thanks to VirtualBox supporting 64-bit guests on 32-bit hosts. It’s pretty impressive that this is even possible!
• Experimental 3D acceleration via OpenGL. Don’t get too excited about 3D acceleration yet. For now only OpenGL on a 32-bit Windows guest is supported. DirectX support is planned, which means that 3D gaming in a VM could become possible.
• New Host Interface Networking implementations for Windows and Linux hosts with easier setup. Host interface networking couldn’t be easier in this release. No setup is required on the host or guest!
  
  
   
• OVF (Open Virtualization Format) appliance import and export (see chapter 3.8, Importing and exporting virtual machines, User Manual page 55)
• Hypervisor optimizations with signi?cant performance gains for high context switching rates
• Raised the memory limit for VMs on 64-bit hosts to 16GB
• VT-x/AMD-V are enabled by default for newly created virtual machines
• USB (OHCI & EHCI) is enabled by default for newly created virtual machines (Qt GUI only)
• Experimental USB support for OpenSolaris hosts
• Shared folders for Solaris and OpenSolaris guests
• Added C API in addition to C++, Java, Python and Web Services

A recent conversation has been sparked by Raymond Camden with someone who recently asked why conferences can't find that many women speakers. See blog entry here: http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2009/3/5/Open-Question-Women-speakers-at-conferences

Because of this recent discussion CFUnited has decided to open the call for speakers again for women only. CFUnited has opened up 5 more topic slots starting today (March 9th). Submit on the call for speakers until March 20th. http://callforspeakers.cfconf.org/ CFUnited will post all the choices in a survey on March 23rd and let the community vote again for two weeks.

Currently Dee Sadler is accepted as a speaker, speaking on Hands-on CSS, and Selene Bainum will be added as a speaker soon to a Database Track.

The CFUNITED blog has just released the first set of topics for CFUNITED 09. Included are some Flex and Air topics that are must sees. A total of 25% out of the whole event will be Flex/Air for 2009.

My topic is "How to Setup a Local Development Environment" - Yancy Wharton

Chosen Security is now offering individual code signing certs here

Features and Benefits

• Valid for 1, 2 or 3 years
• Trustworthy verification using documents such as: an extract from the register of companies and an ID card, or personal identification.
• Revocation service (can be contacted online or by telephone)
• Delivery in PKCS#12 file format. This format is directly supported by the Adobe AIR development tools.

Price Information

1 year for $199
2 Years for $349
3 Years for $498

More info here

Liz has opened the survey for CFUnited 09, so now you can shape your experience at CFUnited.

You can vote for me in the following categories;

AIR technology: "What is Adobe AIR" - Yancy Wharton
Beginner Track: "How to Setup a Local Development Environment" - Yancy Wharton
Open Source: "Cream of the Crop - Tools and Utils" - Yancy Wharton

I really did it this time...

After months and months (and months) of threating to switch to a Mac after Vista was released, and I was forced to use it (couldnt buy a new PC with out it), I took the first step down "Conversion Row" today and purchased a new 17" Mac Book Pro. This new purchase will replace my current PC workstation used for daily development and maintance on over 125 public and private .COM's and .MIL's. I am excited about the change and being able to follow in the footsteps of thoes that have gone before.

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What would you think of a datacenter that is sealed off from the world by entrance doors 40 cm thick (almost 16 inches). Located in central Stockholm below 30 meters (almost 100 ft) of bedrock:

This underground data center has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb. It looks like the secret HQ of a James Bond villain.

And it is real. It is a newly opened high-security data center run by one of Sweden’s largest ISPs, located in an old nuclear bunker deep below the bedrock of Stockholm city, sealed off from the world by entrance doors 40 cm thick (almost 16 inches).

Above: The NOC is set in a cozy jungle setting. That light fog almost makes us think of cloud computing. Fog computing?

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This was, until just recently, unexplored territory. I knew that it could be done, that other people had done it before, and that it was darn easy to do in ColdFusion.

I have spent the last two weeks on a very intensive integration project where there was a custom UI built in JSP that needed to have a single sign-on from an existing ColdFusion application. We decided to take advantage of some of the session variables available, the catch being that the information in the session variables were encrypted (using the ColdFusion en/decrypt functions... naturally). I figured that "it couldn't be that hard" to replicate the same functionality in JSP, get the session variable... decrypt it... look the info up in the database... and set some application variables on the JSP application side. That was two weeks ago. Yesterday I figured it all out in a blinding burst of code.

What I ended up doing was writing an entire custom Java class that does all the encryption / decryption of string information passed to it. We had to instantiate the class on the ColdFusion side and not use the built in CF functions.

And this is how I did it...

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