This Saturday, we had the opportunity to organize a Java User Group meeting, and have as special guest none other than Mr. James Gosling. Here's the picture to prove it:



We discussed several topics about Java. James Gosling talked to us about the new tools in Netbeans 5 for RAD GUI development, how he sees the desktop computer going away in the near future, to be replaced by small devices interconnected.

We had a lot of fun.

Just as I was researching on a Continuous Integration tool for our next project at work, I learn from a co-worker that the Apache Maven Project has released final version 1.0 of its CI tool, Continuum.

I downloaded and installed the application, and it looks really nice. Previous to this tool, I was considering using Luntbuild (by recommendation of another developer), but since we're going to use Maven for our build tool, and considering the long track of successes in projects that the Apache Software Foundation has, I think I'm going to stick with Continuum for the time being.

The CI tool is only part of what we're trying to set up to standardise and speed development. We have found and chosen the following tools:

• SCM Tool: Subversion
• Build Tool: Maven (2.x)
• CI Tool: Maven Continuum 1.0
• Unit Testing Tool: JUnit
• Code Coverage Tool: NoUnit
• Issue Tracking Tool: Trac (still undecided)

I wonder if someone has a similar setup, with the same or different tools, and why they chose those tools. Also, do the use of those tools actually improve development speed?

I am very excited. This weekend Mr. James Gosling will come to Monterrey to act as a one of the guest speakers for a national youth science event. The good thing about it is that thanks to my lovely wife, who's part of the team doing the organization of the event, I was able to organize a Java User Group reunion on the same day, and James agreed to accompany us at the reunion.

So, if you live in (or near to) Monterrey, there will be a Monterrey Java Users Group reunion on Saturday, October 29th, at 11:30am. The meeting will be held in one of the classrooms inside Prepa Tec, Campus Eugenio Garza Lagüera.

I got a Dell Latitude D600 laptop from work, and when I travel I usually use Skype to call home, since it is way cheaper than using the hotel's long distance service. I usually carry a headset with me for the microphone, but I found out that my headset's mic isn't working anymore. I was frustrated.

I tested my laptop with Skype's echo service anyway, and sure enough,  I didn't get any sound sent, so I was sure my laptop didn't have an integrated mic. However, yesterday a co-worker told me that he used Yahoo! messenger to chat with his wife, and that he had no troubles using the laptop's mic. I said 'what mic? there's no mic on the laptop', but he swears he didn't connect any mic (and we have the same laptop models). Was he lucky and got a laptop configuration that included a mic?

So, last night I ran Yahoo! messenger and guess what? Now my laptop suddenly has a mic included! I even got to use Skype after the test and now I can talk! no mic attached! I've checked everywhere on the dell site about my laptop model, and they don't mention anything about an integrated mic (although there's a weird hole just above the power button). I've read the service manuals, the user's guide, and short of opening my laptop to check what's inside, I'm almost sure it doesn't have a mic.

So what's going on? is Yahoo! messenger doing some weird software emulation of a microphone using the speakers? I knew that some speaker types (piezoelectric, I think) can be used as microphones, but I didn't know you could accomplish that through software. Nowhere on Yahoo's site mentions this functionality, but I'm almost sure that they're doing it. Also, whenever I speak, I can hear a delay of about a second from the time I speak to the time I listen to my voice, so there's definitely some processing going on.

Has anyone else encountered this feature? Can anyone else confirm/deny this? Am I going crazy?