JQuery Tools

Ran across the JQuery Tools release thanks to Ajaxian. JQuery Tools is a series of UI elements included in a 5k library. UI elements include tabs, tooltips, and more. It looks pretty cool. I think tabs are best done with CSS and HTML but that is merely a matter of preference.

A $279 Mini Me from HP

Check out this article on Engadget on the HP Mini 110 Mi. This is an Ubuntu Linux based netbook with a 10" screen, 90% full size keyboard, and 8 Gig solid state drive, 1 Gig of RAM and an Atom N270 processor. All for $279 dollars. This is freaking amazing. The prices and features on these things keeping getting lower and cooler. For more information check out the following links:

• Full Engadget Review


• Video Review

Google Search Tip

I have been meaning to share this tip for some time. There are a number of tips included in this book:

One of the more useful tips is the use of the site: parameter in a Google search. What the parameter allows you to do is perform Google searches of a specific site. For example, if I wanted to search this web site for information on CSS I could write:

site:http://blueskyworkshop.com css

You can also limit the search using site directories and paths. I tried this same trick on Yahoo search the other day, and it seems to work there as well. Very useful stuff.

The Reader gadget

Google Reader has finally come to Google Desktop, as announced on the Google Reader blog. This gadget is a convenient way to check your subscriptions and fits right in with the Gmail, Calendar, and Docs gadgets. Please give it a try and tell us what you think. And a big thanks to Arindam Sharma, who created this gadget during his internship at Google Bangalore.



James Yum, Developer Programs Engineer

Apple WWDC Live Blog

If you can't wait to find out the latest from the Apple World Wide Developer conference, you can get a live blog play by play of the key note from appleinsider.com. Rumors have been that a new iPhone will be announced.

JDK 7 Certification Public Review

If you don't know already, my day job is as a writer and developer for Sun Microsystems' learning/education group. Currently we are planning the development of the courses and certifications for JDK 7.

Right now, we are just finishing up the Job Task Analysis (JTA) for JDK 7. What is a JTA you ask? It is basically a list of topics that will be covered in our certifications and courses. This topic list is published with every certification to give developers an idea of what is covered on an exam and what areas they need to study.

For the JDK7 course and certification development effort we wanted to have a round of public review. Therefore, a preliminary JTA for the Sun Java Certified Programmer exam and the Sun Certified Java Developer exam is available for comment at:

http://wikis.sun.com/display/JTASurvey

Note: If you don't have an account, you can create one on the site.

So if you have ever wanted to have input into what is on the Sun Java exams, now is your chance. Please provide us with comments on any objectives you would like to see added or removed from the list of objectives. In addition, on the main wiki page, you will see a link to a weighting survey. Please take a moment to complete the survey and give us your feedback on what objectives you think are the most important to cover in a course or exam.

The site will be up for a week or two, so act now before this deal is gone. :)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Google Elements

During its conference, Google announced its Web Elements services. Bascially, these are really easy to use versions of the Ajax APIs that allow you add functionality to your blog or web site. Click on the service you want, customize it a bit, then add it to your site with the supplied code.

From my quick look at this, only the Map and the News tools look real useful. But overall, this does look very promising for the future./p>