2009 TopCoder Open is Coming
TopCoder just provided a teaser on the forthcoming big event of theirs, the 2009 TopCoder Open held onsite at The Mirage, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 2009 TopCoder Open (TCO) is a world-wide programming tournament that is open to all TopCoder members 18 and older, who are in good standing, and meet all other eligibility criteria. There are nine different tracks of competition as part of the TCO: Algorithm, Architecture, Assembly, Component Design & Development, Marathon, Mod Dash, Specification, and Studio Design. Taking part in the TCO09 gives you the opportunity to showcase your programming and/or design skills up against some of the best in the world.
Nine tracks is awesome. These all are about what TopCoder is, a competition based business process. Do not know about new thing like Mod Dash, but the other like Specification, assembly, and architecture on onsite event are sure a big hit to reward their competitors.
As a third time competitors on this event, and some with top three placement :) I think I am ready to rock on this event, again. Glad it didn’t conflicted my vacation scheduled on July. Wohooo!
Note: If you are interested, and I think you would. Hey, they provide you all the way tickets to Las Vegas! Full package of The Mirage hotel, and also you can grab the meals for free on the contest arena. So, everything are provided by them.
The registration is easy. Keep on eye on your favorite contest one. And do not forget to include my handle “oton” (without quote) as your referrer. Thanks.
Source: 2009 TopCoder Open Teaser
Some related post about the event:
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CakePHP 1.2 is out
Today, the history of the CakePHP grows stronger. December 25, 2008 will be remembered as one of the most important points in this history. After exactly 2 yrs from the first development release, we can happily say we have the most stable and powerful web framework available. Please enjoy our big present to you, CakePHP 1.2 stable [1]. For this release, we have removed the test files from the build, and created a tag in SVN
Two years of waiting. Lots of changes! Enjoy updating your CakePHP project.
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Herman Miller's Embody
Well, I am still dreaming about owning Aeron chair, and now Herman Miller’s launches their new chair, called Embody. Read the review at Wired.
Fourteen years after they unseated every other office perch with the iconic Aeron, the designers at Herman Miller have once again upped the ante on stylish chairgonomics. The new Embody not only looks great — we love the spinal-styled back — it’s heaven on our ischial tuberosities (you know, ass bones). An array of knobs and levers let you tailor the chair to your body like a bespoke suit, and an improved tilt mechanism combats neck, hip, and lumbar strain.
How much does it cost? A rarely cheap $1600. Flat butt? No!
Sad, their official website is not friendly to me. Too many clicks just to find out how great is your chair are.
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Wordpress 2.7 is Out
Wordpress 2.7 is out. And I have been tasted it a bit for several of my other blogs (and client’s blog) and it looks promising.
The new interface is nice, not eating much real estate, standard web based like tool :) And they said it lots faster to reach some task with just few click. Adds it with the Turbo features, and you are looks like a rock singer!
What’s so freaking awesome was their new automatic update features. This is killer new features, though I deeply thinking about some possible attacks as Wordpress are among the favorite blogging system to be attacked in industries, either for spamming or another malicious things.
Well, very well done, and with Coltrane, they called it, what should we need more than this open-source (free) blogging system which look so damn good!
Disclaimer: This blog is running Textpattern. And I probably not having a plan on switing in near time or future.
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Programmer Good Chair, Priceless
I recently found this post by by Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror about his decision to buy a good chair for his daily programming activities, Investing in a Quality Programming Chair.
Chairs are a primary part of the programming experience. Eight hours a day, every day, for the rest of your working life — you’re sitting in one. Like it or not, whatever you’re sitting in has a measurable impact on your work experience.Cheap chairs suck. Maybe I’ve become spoiled, but I have yet to sit in a single good, cheap chair. In my experience, the difference between the really great chairs and the cheap stuff is enormous. A quality chair is so comfortable and accommodating it effortlessly melts into the background, so you can focus on your work. A cheesy, cheap chair constantly reminds you how many hours of work you have left.
Chairs last. As I write this, I’m still sitting my original Aeron chair, which I purchased in 1998. I can’t think of any other piece of equipment I use in my job that has lasted me ten full years and beyond. While the initial sticker shock of a quality chair may turn you off, try to mentally amortize that cost across the next ten years or more.
Aeron Chair for me? I really wants one. But since I didn’t found a way to buy it and deliver it to Jakarta, and it’s pricey, may be next or so years to come :) Then, I would prented my $95 chair is fun and fearless.
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Ribbit $100,000 killer apps contest wanted Flash/Flex voice apps
May be you didn’t hear the news, here is a great one.
Wanted: Killer Flash/Flex Apps!We’re giving out $100,000 in prize money in 5 categories, with a grand prize of $30,000, to the developers who can build the best Killer Apps using the Ribbit Voice Platform.
Along the way, we’ll have three early submission checkpoints, where we’ll award cash prizes to the best early submitters, and provide you feedback from our judging panel so you can keep working to improve on your app for a shot at that $30,000 prize.
Using the Ribbit Voice Platform, voice is now a programmable feature that is free from the traditional device.
It can go anywhere… on a phone, on a webpage, inside email, and in an existing app. Voice can now live inside any environment including online communities or stores, CRM systems, call center applications, media properties – you name it. It can be captured, stored and sent in traditional and non-traditional ways…it is totally free for your innovation across any industry.
Coding voice as a feature is easy. Build your rich voice applications in either Flex or Flash. Ribbit’s voice components are available in both flavors. Now you can easily add the ability to make and receive calls, record, send and receive voice messages, as well as add and organize contacts to your applications with the Ribbit API.
Great prize, and it’s looks like fun contest for voice apps with Flex/Flash. Interested anyone?
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Apple Store Indonesia is Open
I just got the news, Apple Store is now opening their online store to Indonesian customer. Hello Indonesia, this is truly a great news. (FYI, they still made some errors not replacing their Philippines to Indonesia like in this page).
The bad is, the listing prices is quite expensive compared to local reseller prices. I bet this is reasonable, so the reseller can compete with them, tough we would love to buy in their store with regular price. Let alone it adds up with shipping prices, but not that expensive.
The benefit to shop via Apple Store is, you can build you perfect Mac configuration, and it shipped free (for order more than Rp700,000). And free engraving for every iPod buying. I just surprised to try configure for Mac Pro with 32GB memory, and it cost me Rp 105 million, that’s awesome. :)
Another thing, as I explored, they are currently selling mostly Apple’s software like iWork, Apperture, etc. There are some menu in the left bar like Family Games, but this is just empty pages, no product listed here. The other software manufacturer sold here as far as I know are Office Mac and VMWare Fusion 2.
Exclusive T-Shirt for every purchase of a new Mac or iPod by November 24, 2008.
So Mac nerds, what gives?
UPDATE: There is not any onsite Apple Store yet in Indonesia. This is just online Apple Store.
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Tea of Choice
This my favorite tea of choice, Tong Tji Green Tea. Produced by an old brand of tea maker from Semarang, Central Java. Tough is a green tea, but this one is actually darker than other competitor, and the price is considered mid range ($1 per box containing 25 tea bag) compared to other imported brands which around $2+.
BTW, look at how they put a sexy girl silhouette in that bag. Do we really need it but just a nice tea one? Do we?
That’s how I satisfy my lonely night in front of screen, one sip a night is enough, without sugar please.
Have a nice tea!
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Sofia's Drawing: First Human
We just realized Sofia can draw, a human object. We were confused at first because the object reflected, head at the bottom. And she actually draw it from the bottom, starting with half head, eyes, mouth, nose, then fill up half head, the the body. We just knew that’s how she looked it when we showed her how to draw.
Congratulations my beloved daughter! You are doing great at your 2nd year!
PS: Sorry if I made cross posting. The moment of your child getting like this is just so wonderful :-)
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Eid Mubarak
Saya, Arif; juga istri, Yani; dan putri kecil kami, Sofia; mengucapkan, Selamat Idul Fitri. Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin. Tahun ini kami tidak mudik, jadi kami akan tinggal di Jakarta menikmati Lebaran. Semoga tetap menyenangkan!
Our family wishes you Happy Eid Mubarak!
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