December 2004 - Posts

Vacation: 1 Month in Sri Lanka / Merry Xmas

Well after 8 years of not going back to Sri Lanka I've decided to go. It will be interesting to see how much has changed since the last time i was there(~96) but unfortunetly it means i have to unhook from the pc (I am taking a notebook so i can work, but i'm not sure if i can jack in with it at an net cafe) so i'll be ultra slow to reply to emails, thread posts etc...

To everyone who's reading this silly blog, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year:-)

REFOLD 2 goes live!

After months of coding and painstaking documentation (System MOdels, Requirements Models etc) we've finally finished work on REFOLD. Go take a peek around.

Just a bit of background info.

What is REFOLD?
REFOLD is a data store of protein refolding techniques and associated experiment information for Protein researchers in the BioMed departments across the globe. It houses common experiments (both published an unpublished) conducted by researchers into the folding techniques of certain proteins. For a more indepth and sophisticated look at what refold is, the description below is from our clients website:

The majority of human proteins expressed in bacteria are insoluble and thus require renaturation.  Identifying the optimal refolding conditions and methodology is therefore rate limiting.  In order to address this problem, we have catalogued the methods employed in the refolding of some 150 proteins in a web-accessible relational database, REFOLD. The database contains heavily annotated entries for the refolding of a wide range of proteins. REFOLD contains detailed protocols and experimental information that may assist in the design of new renaturation protocols.

What is the data like?
The data's pretty painfully split between 15 tables and is connected by one mother of all tables called refolding_record.( see this page). Its powered by a MySQL (v4.1) database and makes use of the latest release's cool and neat features such as subquerying and multiupdate statements.

Whats it written in?
The original was written in Apple WebObjects, but after we delved into rewriting it we decided against using WebObjects.. so it was re-architected and re-written purely in PHP5 and some C code for the apache module that runs in the background to manage the site.

Whats the purpose for the site?
Basically our client wanted more (he always wants more...) than just a searching web portal (it used to be what PFD Database is like now) so we transformed what REFOLD was (just a searching tool) to a community oriented portal for all protein researchers to allow them to contribute their own data, manage their data and to interact with other users across REFOLD.

How long did it take?
Overall it was a 5-6month project in a team of 5. We mixed the use of Prototyping and eXtreme Programming (ProtoXP) to get the best of both worlds in order to deliver a product in 3 seperate milestones (so our client sees what he will get by hte end ). If there was less (or better yet no) formal documenting of *all* the areas of the system it would have taken less or the same time with more functionality, but alas.. in the industry the documenting of your code is as important as delivering a product that is stable and secure.

Google Suggestion, autocomplete search engine:O

Google has done it again, this time they are taking the concept of autocomplete you find in browsers to the search engine.

Visit the beta site:
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

type in “Mi” and it will offer suggestions. I've been working on something similar in ASP.NET with Whidbey in March-May but never got around to finishing it, quite an amazing achievement from Google, if not yet ready for prime time.

Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what people are looking for as they type queries into a search box.

Google Suggest quietly debuted this week on the company's Labs site, which showcases Google features that "aren't quite ready for prime time," according to a message on the site. When someone starts typing a request into the search box, a drop-down menu appears with suggestions as to what that person could be looking for.

For instance, typing in "Mi" generates a list starting with "Microsoft" and continuing with "miniclip," "Michael Moore" and "miserable failure," among other suggestions.

Google uses "a wide range of information" to predict queries, according to an FAQ, including data about the overall popularity of various searches. The company does not use individual search histories to help generate the prompts, it says.

Google regularly launches new features in its Labs section, using it as a test bed before formally releasing them. The company recently launched a specialized search function that can scan for scholarly literature, and a desktop search feature allows users to scan their PCs using Google technology.

Things You Wouldn't Know Without Movies

Its rare that i look through each junk email let alone publisise it openly, but this one was somewhat amusing..

JOKE OF THE DAY

Things You Wouldn't Know Without Movies

-It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.

-A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

-If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

-Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.

-It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

-When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.

-No one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.

-Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.

-When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

-You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.

-Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

-An electric fence, powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.

-Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment you turn the television on.

To that end, i must admit I have SPAM... Outlook filters atleast 800 emails a day to thushan  at wsoftware dot biz or developers / developerfusion / webmaster accounts:O

Oakley MP3 Sunnies... Closer to TV Sunglasses?

SigmaTel, the leader of MP3 audio controller chips within portable MP3 players has announced a new stylish product and a world exclusive. The "performance eyewear" known as Oakley Thump is available now for Christmas at Oakley.com online stores. The sunglasses come with 128MB of memory ($400) or with 256MB memory ($495). The device has low power consumption and USB 2.0 to ensure fast data transfer to your goggles.
 
WOW!!!! Now when will we see movie style sunglasses or Terminator style visualisations on sunnies? Well we'll have to wait a few more sleeps for that to happen... but for the time being MP3 sunnies will do...

Windows Messenger v5.1 RTM Download & MSN Messenger 7 Public Beta:O

Woke up wasted today from a lack of sleep and lots of caffeine inside me... so what more to do than go through the mail before heading off to school?

Dear Thushan Lasitha Fernando,

We are very pleased to announce that Windows Messenger 5.1 has been released. You can download Windows Messenger 5.1 from: <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A8D9EB73-5F8C-4B9A-940F-9157A3B3D774&displaylang=en>

Thank you again for all of your help in getting this release out the door!!

The Live Communications Server Team

Not to be confused with “MSN Messenger” which is now a public open beta. More about it here:

http://messenger.msn.com/Beta/Default.aspx

to those that got the early peek at MSN Messenger 7 from moi you may want to download the build again as it contains a couple of fixes. Keep the nudges to my account to a minimum:P

Next Netscape Preview

Well Netscape - the once mighty company - is about to release the next version of their browser. What will they call it next? Netscape 10 (skip 8 and 9?)? meh i have no idea but it looks good from the shot at InternetNews:

We all know however that looks can be deceiving (Britney...) but some of the features that they are working on include pop-up controls, tabbed browsing features, password manager and content built into the browser. But the most interesting and unique feature, says a source close to Netscape, is the dual rendering and layout engines that allow users to switch between Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Yes you heard right, Netscape will actually dual use IE/Mozilla rendering engines... Interesting times ahead i see...