My Internet Notebook

First, Apple’s patent application on iPod interface has been rejected. Apple could still re-submit their application within 3 months. But it is obviously a setback to the company.

Second, Google submitted a patent application on “Embedding advertisements in syndicated content”, i.e. RSS. THAT would be a setback for other Internet Ads guys like Yahoo and Ask.com.

I have thought about patents around RSS, podCast, VODcast etc lately. If Google can patent embedded ads in RSS, why can’t I patent embedded ads in PodCast.

There seems to be a lot of complaints on internet forums that PocketPC Emulator – ActiveSync connection does not work. Some also complained that there is not enough documentation to explain how to trouble-shoot PocketPC Emulator – ActiveSync connection problems.

According to my experience, I didnot have any problems at all to make PocketPC Emulator – ActiveSync connection work, i.e. to establish a device partnership in ActiveSync. My only complaint is that the PocketPC Enulator is soooo slow.

If you are having problems connecting PocketPC Emulator with ActiveSync, see if my five step process helps you.

I was browsing my web server log file and noticed a few strange lines. It seems someone is trying to explore possible break-ins through known security holes, e.g. sql injections holes of many php-mysql based discussion forums program.

82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:41 -0700] “GET /forum/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:42 -0700] “GET /phpBB/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:43 -0700] “GET / HTTP/1.1” 404 0 206
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:43 -0700] “GET /forums/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 213
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:44 -0700] “GET /phpbb/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:50 -0700] “GET /board/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:54 -0700] “GET /boards/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 213
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:31:58 -0700] “GET /phpBB2/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 213
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:01 -0700] “GET /msgboard/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 215
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:05 -0700] “GET /foros/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:09 -0700] “GET /portal/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 213
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:09 -0700] “GET /discussion/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 217
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:10 -0700] “GET /nar/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 210
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:13 -0700] “GET /html/forum/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 217
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:13 -0700] “GET /html/forums/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 218
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:14 -0700] “GET /Forum/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 212
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:18 -0700] “GET /Forums/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 213
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:24 -0700] “GET /bb/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 209
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:24 -0700] “GET /ugboard/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 214
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:28 -0700] “GET /ugboards/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 215
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:28 -0700] “GET /newboard/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 215
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:35 -0700] “GET /newboards/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 216
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:35 -0700] “GET /members/phpBB/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 220
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:39 -0700] “GET /members/phpBB2/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 221
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:43 -0700] “GET /members/phpbb/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 220
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:46 -0700] “GET /portal/forum/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 219
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:49 -0700] “GET /portal/forums/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 220
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:55 -0700] “GET /bbs/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 210
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:32:58 -0700] “GET /bulletinboard/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 220
82.77.150.112 7168 [05/Aug/2005:03:33:02 -0700] “GET /bulletinboards/ HTTP/1.1” 404 0 221

I think that this is a reminder that no one is really safe on the internet and if you run at website, make sure you keep with security patches.
Btw, the IP address was traced back to Romania.

If you are a small enterprise software company, what benefits would you get by having a developer program.

• Increase adoption/awareness of your technology in the market
• Leverage your limited internal resources
• Reduce sales cycles

Of course, all this assumes that you have something valuable to offer to developers who can either use your ware to satisfy their needs or add value to your ware on a reseller basis.

How to setup your program then? There are already a lot of tools out there that can help you get started cheap. For a started, you can run a forum with open source phpBB. Other options include portals, wikis, blogs etc.

Good software engineering is hard, but good software engineering management is much harder.

Ask anyone who has been on a software project where more than one person was involved, you will be told the same: one person coding is easy but team-based software engineering is hard. I would say it is often not because there are no best practices in existence that people can follow. But instead, it’s because people don’t follow them.

How to get Engineers to follow the best practices? It takes good Software Engineering Managers. A good Software Engineering Manager will instill a culture of deliverying quality engineering work in the team; a good Software Engineering Manager will establish a good SDLC process and stick to it; a good Software Engineering Manager knows how to motivate his team; and a good Software Engineering Manager knows the importance of effective communications and encourages / facilitates them.

Unfortunately, these good Software Engineering Managers are hard to come by these days …