Checking OpenStreetMap Data for Problems

OpenStreetMap is a diverse project with hundreds of thousands of people contributing data and making use of it in different ways. As a result, many of the resources that mappers have created and use are scattered around the Internet, but the project data and much of the documentation is hosted at openstreetmap.org, on servers operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

In this article by Jonathan Bennett, author of the book OpenStreetMap, we'll look at some of the following tools you can use to check OpenStreetMap data in a particular area, and what problems they can and can't tell you about:

• The data inspection tools on openstreetmap.org
• The NoName map
• ITOWorld OSM Mapper
• Geofabrik's OSM Inspector

Some of these tools identify specific problems, while others allow you to see when changes to the data were made and by whom. In either case, all these tools can do is offer guidance, not black-and-white answers, and you always need to use judgment when checking data.

Chatroom Application using DWR Java Framework

DWR (Direct Web Remoting), is an Open Source Java framework, licensed under commercial-friendly Apache Software License v2 for building AJAX applications. DWR's main idea is to hide AJAX implementation details such as XMLHttpRequest from developers. Developers can concentrate on developing the application and business objects and leave AJAX details behind the scenes where they belong.

In this article by Sami Salkosuo, we discuss a Chatroom application which demonstrates the use of DWR. The Chatroom sample application is a very typical multi-user chatroom. The functionalities of this sample include a list of online users, automatic refresh of chat text, and the ability to send messages to the chat room.

Character Head Modeling in Blender: Part 1

In this two-part tutorial by Jonathan Williamson, we are going to look at how to model a character head in Blender. Along with basic modeling tools we will also focus heavily on good topology and how to create a clean mesh that will deform well during animation. This tutorial will take you through the whole process from setting up a background image as a reference, to laying out the topology, to tweaking the final model proportions and mesh structure.

CEP and SOA: Six Letters Are Better than Three

This article by Michael Havey explains to SOA veterans how to make good use of Complex Event Processing (CEP): a technology that is perhaps unfamiliar and obscure. CEP is a large topic, but we will focus on four specific subjects:

• The nature of CEP, explained in terms of its relationship with SOA.
• Where CEP fits in the SOA stack.
• The contrasting coding styles of CEP and SOA.
• CEP-aware SOA processes.

Categories and Attributes in Magento: Part 1

In this article by William Rice, we will learn about Categories, Products, and Attributes in Magento.

The combination of products, presentation, and service makes our store unique. In this part, we will see how to add products to our store. Before adding products, we need to make some decisions about how we will organize our site. A few minutes of planning now can save us hours of work later.

Call Control using 3CX

Once your extensions are working, we can begin exploring call routing also called as call control. When someone calls from the outside world, what do you want to do with the call? How do you want your calls to get to an extension? Unless you want your calls to go directly to an extension, you will need to configure one or more of the following features which we'll be covering in this article by Matthew M. Landis and Robert Lloyd, authors of The 3CX IP PBX Tutorial:

• Ring groups (also called Hunt groups in other PBX systems)
• Digital Receptionists or Auto-attendants
• Call by name (also called Dial by Name in some PBX systems)
• Call queues

Calendars in jQuery 1.3 with PHP using jQuery Week Calendar Plugin: Part 1

In this article by Kae Verens, we will discuss the following topics:

• Displaying a calendar for a week
• Creating and saving an event in that calendar
• Moving, editing, and deleting events
• Creating recurring events
• Editing and removing recurring events

We will use the jquery-week-calendar plugin to create and edit normal and recurring events.

CakePHP: Authentication Setup on an Application

This article explains how to set up authentication on a CakePHP application. This is accomplished through the use of tools that are built into the framework core, which allow us to quickly set up secure areas without losing flexibility to build more complex solutions.

In this article by Mariano Iglesias, author of CakePHP 1.3 Application Development Cookbook, we will cover the following topics:

• Setting up a basic authentication system
• Using and configuring the Auth component
• Allowing logins with e-mail or username
• Saving the user details after login
• Getting the current user's information
• Using prefixes for role-based access control
• Setting up Access Control Layer based authentication

Cacti: Using Graphs to Monitor Networks and Devices

This article will show you how to add new devices and how to add some performance measurement graphs to them. You will also learn how to group devices using the Cacti tree.

In this article by Thomas Urban, author of Cacti 0.8 Beginner’s Guide, we will cover the following topics:

• Introduction to graph creation with RRDtool
• Adding devices to Cacti
• Adding graphs to a device
• Assigning host templates to a device
• Adding a device to the Cacti tree