A CMS is a system usually can be loaded from any web browsers to manage contents. Not just manage contents, but manage contents in a dynamic way and not in a static way. Not just managing contents but also able to interlink the CMS with plugins such as widgets and more. For more on the plugins which is aka extensions in Joomla: http://extensions.joomla.org/

So here is the question, which CMS to use since there are so many open sourced and paid CMS out in the market?

Well I’m going to list the possible requirements that you need to know before you choose to buy or use open source CMS.

1. Purpose of Use
Before selecting the best suitable CMS for your project or business, please do consider carefully on your purpose of use. For an example, a WordPress blog CMS can be used for the purpose of a blogshop or just purely for blogging purpose. And if your business requires a CMS for marketing purpose, go ahead. CMS is usually for projects or businesses with frequent updates of contents. Would you prefer to update static files frequently to reflect your most latest updates to clients or users? Can you imagine the headache and stress on the company? CMS would be the best selection to market your business.

2. Paid CMS or Open Source CMS?
There is always a choice between a paid CMS and open source CMS. Usually paid CMS has more advance features that open source CMS does not offer. Before deciding on the CMS to be used, do a research on the available paid CMS and open source CMS to suit your requirements. I have no discrimination between a paid CMS and an open source CMS. Open source CMS provides a more better way to configure the CMS to cater to your business requirements. In the case of an open source CMS, plugins are generally available for free for non-commercial use.

3. Security
In my opinion, open source CMS has more security problems than paid ones. Open source CMS is more prone to hackers which they use the loopholes in the CMS’ foundation to break into the CMS and the FTP server. In-house web developers or external vendors are to be on their guide when delivering the CMS to companies and also to address the issue.

4. Robust
Robust can be used with security. Every businesses would like to have a system that is stable and which does not fail frequently because it would determine a business’ creditability. Imagine, if the system is always down because hackers trying to send in packets to the server which results the system is down, clients and users wouldn’t want to visit the site and patronize it. In every CMS, there are updates likewise the same as for software. Remember to patch the updates when there are new updates to address the loopholes in the old system.

5. User Friendly Interface
Everyone likes user friendly interface to navigate around to execute the different functions in the system. Do you remember the 3-click rule for users to navigate to the information they want? Likewise, CMS should have the ability to have this. Many CMS available in the market has demo versions on their website, do check out them and use their demo versions to decide which CMS will be the easier to use. User friendly installation of the CMS is important as well to ensure the CMS is put in placed in the web server, and you do not want to crash the system during the installation halfway through the process.

6. Compatibility with web server
Not many CMS may be compatible with old web server. Do check on their web server requirements. Most CMS works on web server such as Linux, Apache or Windows NT. CMS works with PHP files which means that the database used is MYSQL or PHPMYADMIN.

That’s all for the Part 1 of the article. Please check out Part 2 later next weekend. Cheers.

Description: This small piece of code will show you how Bank Transactions are handled. Bank Transactions are always executed in a series so that none of the transactions are missed or all of them are missed. If you used recordset instead, then if for some reason only one command is executed (power failure is common in Pakistan) it will be quite hard work to identify the missing transaction. Hence, finding the missing transaction will increase manual overhead. Despite using commit and begin trans either both of the transactions are executed or none of them (in case of failure).

Complete source code is at:
http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngCId=4995&lngWId=10

It allows a network to forward packets to the IP address destination stored in the routing table.

Static routes are known to be manual configured thus it does not change and its not dynamic.

Advantages

• Static routes are simple and quick to configure.
• Static routing is supported on all routing devices and all routers.
• Static routes are easy to predict and understand in small networks.

Disadvantages

• Static routes require extensive planning and have high management overhead. The more routers exist in a network, the more routes that need to be configured. If you have ‘N’ number of routers and a route between each router is needed, then you must configure N x N routes, so, for a network of nine routers, you need 81 routes (9 x 9 = 81).
• Static routes do not dynamically adapt to network topology changes or equipment failures.
• Static routing does not scale well in large networks.

Author: Mustafa OZGUR Date: 2010-08-09 (4 days ago) Groups: PHP 5, Databases Description: This class is Database access wrapper using MySQL or MySQLi extensions. It can: - Establish connections to a MySQL server - Execute arbitrary queries and return the number of result rows, the number of affected rows or the last inserted identifier - Execute INSERT queries given the table name and field value arrays - Execute SELECT queries and return single values or arrays with results

ODBC on The Fly

Author: Osama Salama Date: 2010-08-06 (7 days ago) Groups: PHP 5, Databases, Windows Description: This class can be used to connect and query Microsoft Access databases. It takes the path of a Microsoft Access database file and computes suitable a DSN string to establish a connection to the database using ODBC extension on Windows. The class can also execute a given SQL query to the connected database and return the whole result set in an array.

Recently, Google has released a cool feature in their Google Mail application.

It provides drag-and-drop feature in Google Mail whereby you are able to drag-and-drop email attachments to your desktop without right-clicking it to save it as a document.

Hassle-free. And I totally fell into it. Give it a try today!

like I’m quite late for a review on the new digital cameras from Sony.

From the image above, Sony has keep its promise by giving slim and sleek designs to its digital cameras. That’s one thing for sure what I like about Sony digital cameras. Ladies would sure to like this.

The camera isn’t an ordinary camera, it is unique in a way that, interchangeable lens can be attached and detached from the camera. Oh yea, doesn’t that sounds like a normal DSLR? Yup, that is, but attaching to a digital camera body.

Okay, but it looks real weird to have a bulky lens attached to a slim and sleek digital camera. And the way how you hold the camera is important too.

Lets just put aside the design but lets talk about the specifications. Looking at the specifications, I’m quite impressed with it. The camera has 14.2 megapixel image sensor.

Image Sensor: 14.2 million effective pixels.
Metering: Multi pattern, centre-weighted and spot.
Sensor Size: APS-C-sized CMOS (23.4×15.6mm).
Lens: Sony E Series mount.
Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/4000 second. Flash sync: 1/160 sec.
Continuous Shooting: seven fps.
Memory: Memory Stick PRO Duo, PRO-HG Duo, SD, SDHC, SDXC cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): 4592×3056, 4592×2576, 3344×2224, 3344×1872, 2288×1520, 2288×1280.
Movies: 1280×720, 848×480, 640×480 at 30 fps. (NEX5 has 1080p)
Colour Space: sRGB, Adobe RGB.
LCD Screen: 7.5cm LCD (921,600 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, RAW, JPEG+RAW, MPEG4.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 200 to 12,800.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMNI, AV.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 117.2×62.6×33.4mm WHDmm.
Weight: 297 g (inc battery and card).

Well, I guess as a photography myself, I would give a second thought whether to purchase the camera since I would rather go for a DSLR.

I’m sure that this camera will live up to its name.

More review: http://blog.digitalrev.com/2010/05/11/sony-nex3-nex5-latest-pics-and-specs/

Description: 2D, simple pan and zoom example using graphics class. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out and drag the mouse with the middle mouse button pressed to move.

Complete source code is at:
http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/default.asp?lngCId=7899&lngWId=10

It may sounds weird with 3D in implementing in cameras especially when photos are really just purely in 2D. With the ever fast pace in technologies, we are too near to the new technology. We have 3D in movies in cinemas now, what’s more that we will see it in cameras too!

On 8 July 2010, Sony announced the new cameras Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX9 and DSC-WX5, point and shoot cameras which will have the 3D effect when viewed with a 3D compatible television system. How cool is that!!! Besides these two cameras uses the panorama technology too like what it is used in the TX7 model.

So how do we view the images in 3D? Simply viewing 3D images on your camera is easy. It uses a new technology called Sweep MultiAngle allows you to see images moving in simulated 3D on the camera’s LCD screen by tilting the camera back and forth.

“You’ll be able to view any of your photos in 2D and when you want to see 3D on the “big screen” remember you need a compatible 3D television, 3D-compatible HDMI cables and 3D glasses.”

The cameras will only be ready in September.

Credits: http://blog.discover.sonystyle.com/take-your-photos-to-the-3rd-dimension-with-sony-cyber-shot

A* search algorithm
Graph search algorithm that finds a path from a given initial node to a given goal node. It employs a heuristic estimate that ranks each node by an estimate of the best route that goes through that node. It visits the nodes in order of this heuristic estimate. The A* algorithm is therefore an example of best-first search.

Beam Search
Beam search is a search algorithm that is an optimization of best-first search. Like best-first search, it uses a heuristic function to evaluate the promise of each node it examines. Beam search, however, only unfolds the first m most promising nodes at each depth, where m is a fixed number, the beam width.
Binary search
Technique for finding a particular value in a linear array, by ruling out half of the data at each step.
Branch and bound
A general algorithmic method for finding optimal solutions of various optimization problems, especially in discrete and combinatorial optimization.

Buchberger’s algorithm
In computational algebraic geometry and computational commutative algebra, Buchberger’s algorithm is a method of transforming a given set of generators for a polynomial ideal into a Gröbner basis with respect to some monomial order. One can view it as a generalization of the Euclidean algorithm for univariate gcd computation and of Gaussian elimination for linear systems.
Data compression
Data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes.
Diffie-Hellman key exchange
Cryptographic protocol which allows two parties that have no prior knowledge of each other to jointly establish a shared secret key over an insecure communications channel. This key can then be used to encrypt subsequent communications using a symmetric key cipher.
Dijkstra’s algorithm
Algorithm that solves the single-source shortest path problem for a directed graph with nonnegative edge weights.
Discrete differentiation
I.e., the formula f’(x) = (f(x+h) – f(x-h)) / 2h.
Dynamic programming
Dynamic programming is a method for reducing the runtime of algorithms exhibiting the properties of overlapping subproblems and optimal substructure, described below.
Euclidean algorithm
Algorithm to determine the greatest common divisor (gcd) of two integers. It is one of the oldest algorithms known, since it appeared in Euclid’s Elements around 300 BC. The algorithm does not require factoring the two integers.
Expectation-maximization algorithm (EM-Training)
In statistical computing, an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is an algorithm for finding maximum likelihood estimates of parameters in probabilistic models, where the model depends on unobserved latent variables. EM alternates between performing an expectation step, which computes the expected value of the latent variables, and a maximization step, which computes the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters given the data and setting the latent variables to their expectation.
Fast Fourier transform (FFT)
Efficient algorithm to compute the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and its inverse. FFTs are of great importance to a wide variety of applications, from digital signal processing to solving partial differential equations to algorithms for quickly multiplying large integers.
Gradient descent
Gradient descent is an optimization algorithm that approaches a local minimum of a function by taking steps proportional to the negative of the gradient (or the approximate gradient) of the function at the current point. If instead one takes steps proportional to the gradient, one approaches a local maximum of that function; the procedure is then known as gradient ascent.
Hashing
A function for summarizing or probabilistically identifying data. Typically this means one applies a mathematical formula to the data, producing a string which is probably more or less unique to that data. The string is much shorter than the original data, but can be used to uniquely identify it.
Heaps (heap sort)
In computer science a heap is a specialized tree-based data structure. Heaps are favourite data structures for many applications: Heap sort, selection algorithms (finding the min, max or both of them, median or even any kth element in sublinear time), graph algorithms.
Karatsuba multiplication
For systems that need to multiply numbers in the range of several thousand digits, such as computer algebra systems and bignum libraries, long multiplication is too slow. These systems employ Karatsuba multiplication, which was discovered in 1962.
LLL algorithm
The Lenstra-Lenstra-Lovasz lattice reduction (LLL) algorithm is an algorithm which, given a lattice basis as input, outputs a basis with short, nearly orthogonal vectors. The LLL algorithm has found numerous applications in cryptanalysis of public-key encryption schemes: knapsack cryptosystems, RSA with particular settings, and so forth.
Maximum flow
The maximum flow problem is finding a legal flow through a flow network that is maximal. Sometimes it is defined as finding the value of such a flow. The maximum flow problem can be seen as special case of more complex network flow problems. The maximal flow is related to the cuts in a network by the Max-flow min-cut theorem. The Ford-Fulkerson algorithm computes the maximum flow in a flow network.
Merge sort
A sorting algorithm for rearranging lists (or any other data structure that can only be accessed sequentially, e.g. file streams) into a specified order.
Newton’s method
Efficient algorithm for finding approximations to the zeros (or roots) of a real-valued function. Newton’s method is also a well-known algorithm for finding roots of equations in one or more dimensions. It can also be used to find local maxima and local minima of functions.
Q-learning
Q-learning is a reinforcement learning technique that works by learning an action-value function that gives the expected utility of taking a given action in a given state and following a fixed policy thereafter. A strength with Q-learning is that it is able to compare the expected utility of the available actions without requiring a model of the environment.
Quadratic sieve
The quadratic sieve algorithm (QS) is a modern integer factorization algorithm and, in practice, the second fastest method known (after the number field sieve, NFS). It is still the fastest for integers under 110 decimal digits or so, and is considerably simpler than the number field sieve.
RANSAC
RANSAC is an abbreviation for “RANdom SAmple Consensus”. It is an algorithm to estimate parameters of a mathematical model from a set of observed data which contains “outliers”. A basic assumption is that the data consists of “inliers”, i. e., data points which can be explained by some set of model parameters, and “outliers” which are data points that do not fit the model.
RSA
Algorithm for public-key encryption. It was the first algorithm known to be suitable for signing as well as encryption. RSA is still widely used in electronic commerce protocols, and is believed to be secure given sufficiently long keys.
Schönhage-Strassen algorithm
In mathematics, the Schönhage-Strassen algorithm is an asymptotically fast method for multiplication of large integer numbers. The run-time is O(N log(N) log(log(N))). The algorithm uses Fast Fourier Transforms in rings.
Simplex algorithm
In mathematical optimization theory, the simplex algorithm a popular technique for numerical solution of the linear programming problem. A linear programming problem consists of a collection of linear inequalities on a number of real variables and a fixed linear functional which is to be maximized (or minimized).
Singular value decomposition (SVD)
In linear algebra, SVD is an important factorization of a rectangular real or complex matrix, with several applications in signal processing and statistics, e.g., computing the pseudoinverse of a matrix (to solve the least squares problem), solving overdetermined linear systems, matrix approximation, numerical weather prediction.
Solving a system of linear equations
Systems of linear equations belong to the oldest problems in mathematics and they have many applications, such as in digital signal processing, estimation, forecasting and generally in linear programming and in the approximation of non-linear problems in numerical analysis. An efficient way to solve systems of linear equations is given by the Gauss-Jordan elimination or by the Cholesky decomposition.
Strukturtensor
In pattern recognition: Computes a measure for every pixel which tells you if this pixel is located in a homogenous region, if it belongs to an edge, or if it is a vertex.
Union-find
Given a set of elements, it is often useful to partition them into a number of separate, nonoverlapping groups. A disjoint-set data structure is a data structure that keeps track of such a partitioning. A union-find algorithm is an algorithm that performs two useful operations on such a data structure:
Find: Determine which group a particular element is in.
Union: Combine or merge two groups into a single group.
Viterbi algorithm
Dynamic programming algorithm for finding the most likely sequence of hidden states – known as the Viterbi path – that result in a sequence of observed events, especially in the context of hidden Markov models.
From Source http://www.risc.jku.at/people/ckoutsch/stuff/e_algorithms.html