I’ve been doing some reading recently for a (long procrastinated) assignment at school. I’ve found some official looking materials as well as a recent Digg that led to some generally accepted industry expertise. I’ll give the links in a moment, but here’s the point of it all. Low-hanging fruit Don’t waste time trying to tune every query in your database. It can’t be done. Find the ones that take all the time and tune them. [...]

Two quick tidbits I picked up in the news today. TapeFailure Apparently, there is a new product called TapeFailure that will show you video of what customers are doing on your website. It doesn’t capture all the information that other solutions provide, but somehow converts their browsing experience into a video that you can watch. Other metrics include percentage of pages scrolled, distance the mouse moved, average clicks per page, user sight focus. I can [...]

You know, regardless of your personal religious feelings and whether or not you believe in Microsoft, you’ve got to admit that they make a pretty good product.  I’m an Apple fanboy, but I do live in reality, and I can see that Windows helps make the world move along.  I can love my own operating system without hating all others.  There is room in my heart for those who choose to follow Satan’s Bill’s path. [...]

The Java Language presents many advantages for the enterprise-types.  My personal favorite language really shines on the web, but for the full architecture and support desired in enterprises, Java has a lot to offer (not the topic of this post).  Right now we’re going to look at 2 Java tools that have become commonplace in enterprise development: log4j and JMS. log4j log4j (non-capitalized on purpose) is an open-source project developed under the Apache Jakarta banner.  [...]

I’m always on the prowl for new Firefox extensions to make browsing easier for me, and thought I’d share some of my findings. I use Firefox primarily on my Mac, but on my work computer and home computer I’ve installed the very same plugins. It’s nice to have the same setup anywhere you go. I’d be curious to know what Firefox extensions you all use and find invaluable on a daily basis. Please leave comments [...]