Here are a shot list of  the most known services for such tasks:

• http://aws.amazon.com/mturk/ the famous mechanical turk from Amazon
• http://microworkers.com/
• http://www.vworker.com/
• http://crowdflower.com/
• https://www.odesk.com/ and http://www.freelance.com/ are quite similar services to manage various jobs from design, to development or marketing (as already mentioned in my previous post)
• http://www.microtask.com/ a new one I discovered thanks to twitter, quite specific but can be handy sometimes

If you know other alternatives, especially ones that can be used outside US, feel free to share

1. Know a good designer (and if possible a good integrator for websites)
2. Buy a standard template
3. CrowdSource your project for logo or design

Today, I would like to share some crowdsourcing resources:

• http://99designs.com/
• http://www.crowdspring.com/
• http://www.designcrowd.com/
• http://brandstack.com/

These websites are intended for design, logo and website projects.
Yet another way is to find a contractor or freelance on http://www.elance.com/ or https://www.odesk.com/

Did you already try one of these services? And did you get full satisfaction ?

Thanks to the “cloud”, there are (too) many solutions. They are usually referred as VPS, for Virtual Private Server.

Here are some alternatives if you need a VPS:

• http://www.linode.com one of the most know VPS provider
• http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/ rackspace is another well know VPS provider
• http://mediatemple.net from simple web hosting to full dedicated server, and also a professional CDN solution
• http://6sync.com a really cost-effective and scalable solution (and they seem quite active in social media)
• http://www.slicehost.com VPS provider with solutions similar to Linode
• http://vps.net various solutions: cloud hosting, on-demand 1-day server and CDN solution
• http://fstservers.com really cost-effective solution in Chicago

Of course I forgot to mention Amazon Web Services (AWS), that comes with a lot of different profesional solutions (EC2, S3, RDS, …) and with a price !!! Except if you go for the free tier solution

If you have specific feedback for one of these services or know any other good solution, feel free to share !

Planes are like ants trying to find food and auto-organizing themselves (not necessarily with the shortest path). This recall me of the Ant colony optimization for solving TSP problem.

Here are some resources for the ACO optimization for TSP problems: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3689188/Ant-Colony-TSP-Optimization, http://www.ugosweb.com/Documents/jacs.aspx or http://www.idsia.ch/~luca/acs-bio97.pdf.

Moreover, this is a one shot generation so any “quick and dirty” solution would have satisfied me Here are the possible solutions I found:

• Webservices: there are plenty of webservices to generate webshots on the go. The pricing is quite low and this is definitely a quick way to build your webshots collection. Among others, you can check: webthumb, site thumbshot, Quick Thumbnail, Thumbalizr. You can check google for more…
• Applications: you can also (as I did) rely on simple applications/scripts like CutyCapt, IECapt, Paparazzi, webkit2png or khtml2png. On the first pass, I used CutyCapt, but on second pass I switched to IECapt since a lot of my websites needed flash plugin in order to render properly.
• Build your own server: there are also a couple of articles describing how to build you own webshot server: with python and qtwebkit, with firefox. You can also check thummer(a global webshot server solution) or this article.

For me, CutyCapt and IECapt (with some batch script) did pretty well

For .Net developpers who needs a local databse, you can use SQLite in application developped in C# or VB.net by using one of the following wrappers:

1. System.Data.SQLite is the original SQLite database engine. It is a complete ADO.NET 2.0 provider and can be used as full replacement for the original sqlite3.dll. It has no linker dependency on the .NET runtime so it can be distributed independently of .NET.
2. Finisar.SQLite was the original ADO.NET Data Provider for accessing SQLite-Databases using the .NET-Framework. It is no longer under active development and has been replaced by System.Data.SQLite.
3. SQLite.NET wrapper  is a simple wrapper composed by a couple of classes in C# to allow access to SQLite databases. This is not an ADO.NET provider, but instead it provides a simple set of methods to access and retrieve data in a result set class.

I recommend this 2 quick tutorials to get started with SQLite in a .Net environment: SQLite on .NET – Get up and running in 3 minutes and Using sqlite with .NET.

Last but not least, if you need some visual database manager (GUI), you can try SQLite2008 Manager, SQLite Administrator or SQLiteTool. See also SQLite Trac for a more comprehensive list or this link.

This generally implies a lot of marshalling and interop to wrap unmanaged windows functions into nice managed .Net namespaces. And this is also true for mobile developpers interacting with Windows CE dll, see Interop for .Net Compact Framework.

I just discovered that  a couple of Win32 functionnalities are already bundled in the Microsoft.Win32 namespace of the .Net framework.

Another great resource for COM interop is the P/Invoke wiki !

And for those who are (still) more familiar with the old school windows functions, you can refer to this map to find your way in the .Net environment.

• Griffon is a Grails like application framework for developing desktop applications in Groovy. You can begin with the quick start guide.
  
• Gradle is a build system like Ant, Maven or Ivy but trying to get the best from all. It supports multi-project build and  dependency management. And you still can use you old Ant tasks.
• Easyb is Behavior Driven Development framework (BDD). It uses a specification based Domain Specific Language (DSL).  The main idea is to keep really close to the business needs all along the development process. With this tool you’ll have a readable documentation AND a unit-testing all-in-one. You may start by reading first this tutorial.
• Compass is an open source project built on top of Lucene, to simplify the integration of search capabilities in your java applications .

And of course you can still refer to the Groovy and Grails websites.

1. Microsoft Patterns & Practices provide an Updater Application Block v2.0. An application block is a kind of reusable and extensible module. This specific application block provide a quick and easy mean to add self updating capabilities to .NET-based smart client solutions, like Windows Forms applications. Here you can find the Introduction, the Design overview and an article on how to use this application block.
2. Sharp AutoUpdater is a library providing an auto-update feature for .NET applications. It relies on XML configuration files and handles the detection of a new version, downloads, unzips, and installation of the new files.
3. Microsoft also has a ClickOnce deployment solution that handles updates. It is similar to the  java webstart solution. You can find more information here, in this article or among the wikipedia external links

ClickOnce seems fully integrated in a .Net environment, but as far as I know there is no solution to use a standard webserver (not IIS) to handle updates. I should definitely give it a try and see if IIS is really mandatory or if you can use some workaround.

Do you know other methods? Sometimes deployment tools include auto-update container to bundle an generic updater with your application (like install4J).

Yesterday, I randomly discovered a new tool for .Net to help developers with code testing. Microsoft Research has developed Pex, a test plugin which can be integrated to Visual Studio. So far nothing is really new, right ? But, say you’re as lazy as me when it’s about writing unit tests, you should definitely go look the official Pex homepage.
To be more specific, Pex automatically discovers interesting test paths. It finds interesting input-output values for each method and generate a test suite offering a pretty high code coverage. The keyword being “generate”, which means less time on testing and more on… (suit yourself).

At first sight, I must confess this may sounds a bit magical.  So how does it work?  Pex performs a systematic analysis, hunting for boundary conditions, exceptions and assertion failures, which you can debug right away. Bringing all this together, Pex offer a new approach to Parameterized Unit Testing and will hopefully reduce debug time and maintenance costs. This general test technique is also referred as  white box testing.

You will find extra information on this slideshow or on the Pex documentation section. Channel9 offers a “getting started” video as a tutorial on how to use Pex inside Visual Studio 2008. Microsoft Research has also a document about Parameterized Unit Tests.

Also let’s stay cautious: automated or generated tests are not THE solution to avoid code inspection and application stress. As a responsible developer, you should use tools to ease your life and make your products better. But never be too confident when it comes to magic black box software making your job

• Jericho HTML Parser is a java library allowing analysis and manipulation of parts of an HTML document, including server-side tags, while reproducing verbatim any unrecognised or invalid HTML. It also provides high-level HTML form manipulation functions.
• MozillaParser is a Java Html parser based on mozilla’s html parser. it acts as a bridge from java classes to Mozilla’s classes and outputs a java Document object from a raw ( and dirty) HTML input.
• HTML Parser is a Java library used to parse HTML in either a linear or nested fashion. Primarily used for transformation or extraction, it features filters, visitors, custom tags and easy to use JavaBeans.
• NekoHTML is a simple HTML scanner and tag balancer that enables application programmers to parse HTML documents and access the information using standard XML interfaces.
• JTidy is a Java port of HTML Tidy, a HTML syntax checker and pretty printer. Like its non-Java cousin, JTidy can be used as a tool for cleaning up malformed and faulty HTML. In addition, JTidy provides a DOM interface to the document that is being processed, which effectively makes you able to use JTidy as a DOM parser for real-world HTML.
• HtmlCleaner is open-source HTML parser written in Java. From a (dirty) HTML document, HtmlCleaner reorders individual elements and produces well-formed XML. The process is like the creation Document Object Model (DOM) in browsers. But you can provide custom tag and rule set for tag filtering and balancing.
• TagSoup is a SAX-compliant parser written in Java able to parse wild or nasty HTML as found on the web. A C++ port of the library is also avalaible.

The last 3 items are more cleaning tools intended to output well-formed balanced HTML code. Anyway, as JTidy have to build a DOM object of the HTML, you may use this to elegantly access data from your raw/dirty html source.
So for the time being, I would probably focus on Jericho HTML Parser and HTML Parser who seem the best candidates for the job. Moreover, they offer documentation and samples to get quickly started. I you already tried any of these, I would be happy to hear your recommandations.

On the other hand, if you need a generic parser, I would recommend JavaCC or JParsec. And if you are not satisfied yet, you may still look on java-source.net directory.

Now, let’s also talk a bit about Groovy, I only find 2 basic articles about parsing HTML in a Groovy way:

• http://groovy.codehaus.org/Testing+Web+Applications
• http://blog.foosion.org/2008/06/09/parse-html-the-groovy-way/

… which seems quite limited, so I should probably import some of this POJA (Plain Old Java API).  Or maybe you can point me other references?

• sh404SEF: sh404SEF rewrites Joomla URL to a more user-friendly format (SEF URL or URL rewriting). It also manages title and meta tags (with or without .htaccess file). It also claims to be fully compatible with Joomfish, OpenSEF, VirtueMart, Community Builder, Docman, … and all that for small DB query time overhead! From a personal perspective, I had trouble to make it running with Virtuemart and JoomFish at the same time (but there were some leads in the forums to get it working). Check the author’s website.
• Artio JoomSEF: This component will rewrite your Joomla! URLs not to be only Search Engine Friendly, but also to be human easily understandable. It provides support for multilingual sites using JoomFish. You can also fully customize your meta tags or your 404 page. It supports the same 3rd party plugins like Joomfish, VirtueMart, Community Builder, Docman and more… Check the author’s website.
• SEF Advance: SEF Advance is a Joomla SEF component which extends its built-in Search Engine Friendly URL functionality and raises it on a higher level. But be aware that this one costs about 40€. Check the author’s website.

For Joomla 1.0 users (if there are still any alive), you can have a look to the Open-SEF extension.

You may find other useful resources in the Joomla SEF extensions. As always, I’m looking towards your comments.

• JoomSEO: JoomSEO is a Search Engine Optimizing(SEO) bot making Joomla content more Search Engine Friendly(SEF). JoomSEO dynamically creates meta keywords, meta descriptions, changes the title on the fly (Adds the sitename for Joomla 1.5), adds heading tags to content titles and more.   This seems to me a pretty good start point. Check the author’s website.
  
• Joomla 1.5 SEO Patch: This component can improve the SEO settings of Joomla 1.5 with this free SEO patch for Joomla 1.5. The patch allows you to gain fully control over the html head section, the META and title settings in the http header settings in Joomla 1.5 generated pages. Check the author’s website.
• Joomap: Joomap is a sitemap component for Joomla that shows the normal Menu Structure, Content Categories, Sections and Virtuemart Categories in a hierarchical tree or a Google Sitemaps list. It can support all your content along with localization. Check the author’s website.
• Xmap: Xmap is based on the Joomap component. It allows you to create a map of your site using the structure of your menus. Check the author’s website.

I still have to look deeper the difference between Joomap and Xmap, but I think I’ll definitely try the JoomSEO plugin.
If you want other kind of extensions related to SEO/SEF/Sitemaps, have a look to Joomla Extensions for SEO & Metada and Joomla Extensions for Sitemap.
You can also find some tutorials and informations about SEO with Joomla on http://www.joomlaseo.net.

If you have other resources or extensions, feel free to share

• Dependency Walker: http://www.dependencywalker.com/
• Process Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processexplorer.mspx
• Reflector .Net: http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/
• RemoteSoft .Net explorer: http://www.remotesoft.com/dotexplorer/
• DILE (dotnet IL Editor): http://sourceforge.net/projects/dile
• Dis# : http://www.netdecompiler.com/
• Xenocode Fox http://www.xenocode.com/Products/Fox/
• Spices .Net: http://www.9rays.net/Products/Spices.Net/
• Remote Soft : http://www.remotesoft.com

Let’s say I’m almost convinced that this could be useful, or maybe more… like necessary. But I’m still incomfortable with the whole UML thing to build up your project without you. Obvious questions are:

• Am I really a good UML designer?
• Is this solution easily maintable?
• Are there all my favourite libraries included in the default cartridge? (Or should “/me-LAZY” write and share a cartridge with the community?)
• Will I get to do all my projects in less than 1 week if I start to use MDA tools?
• And last, am I still needed in the development process at all?!

So I try to find some MDA tools to prove myself there is a large adoption of this approach, here I share a couple of web links, but feel free to comment them:

• Objecteering
• Borland Together
• StarUML
• Compuware OptimalJ
• Microtool ObjectiF
• Sparx Systems – Enterprise Architect
• Taylor MDA (but this one is from Sébastien)
• Manyeta Codagen Architect (and this one is a bit obscure…)

A last link is the MagicDraw website, since MagicDraw seems to be a tool appearing in most of the MDA websites.

So it seems this MDA buzz is likely to have some fans. I should still investigate further but first I have to face UML instead of my shiny little lines of code… and I’m still unsure I could give this away to some technologic stranger who seems to code with some painting tools ! And eventually, if MDA is really worthy (as it seems to be), what is the exact connection or retations with BPM…

Edit: Even IBM was already annoucing MDA in February 2004 ! I should get less sleep