Tech Thinking

If you search for an option to upload multiple videos to youtube.com in a batch, you will find more suggestions than you ever want to see. You will also find both free and paid tools or software that claim to upload multiple videos to youtube.com.

Believe it or not, the easiest way to upload multiple videos at a time is to use the default interface provided by youtube.com.

Here you could drag and drop multiple videos to the screen or you could click on the button “upload video” and select multiple videos in the popup window. In order to select multiple videos while using Windows, you should select the first video, then keep the “ctrl” key pressed and select additional files.

If you know an easier way to batch upload videos to youtube.com, please feel free to add a comment.

My employer started rolling out Outlook Web Access to all employees and it was a much welcomed change from the old and aging Lotus Notes email system. All went well, except for the missing functionality of inserting a picture or screen print in an email. I believe in the saying that “a picture is worth more than a thousand words” and I tend to use screenshots and snagit on a regular basis.

I kept using the Outlook client anytime I want to copy and paste a picture, until a friend showed me how to enable Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) in Outlook Web Mail. Listed below are the steps I followed in Outlook Web Access to enable copy and paste. (version 2003 and above)

1) Access Outlook Web Access Email and click on “options” (top-right corner)
2) Click on Email Security. If you a see a screen like the one below, that means you are missing the MIME control that will enable you to insert pictures.

3) Click “Download the Outlook Web Access S/MIME control” and install the client.
4) After installing the MIME control, check the Email Security page to ensure that the components were installed correctly.

Now start writing a new email and “copy paste pictures” at will….

If you know a better way to enable copy and paste option for Outlook Web Access, feel free to make an entry in the comments.

Java 1.5 (5.0) and above support autoboxing conversions for primitives and wrapper objects. This will unclutter the code and give more flexibility to programmers, however this can have a negative impact on performance and can cause some unexpected behaviors. (Use boxing with care).

Eclipse by default will throw a warning if there are boxing and unboxing conversions in the code. If you want eclipse to throw an error during these conversions, follow the steps below –

Eclipse –> Window –> Preferences –> Java –> Compiler –> Errors/Warnings

If you want to learn more autoboxing in Java click here

From time to time you might need to find all the ports that are used by other applications in your machine. Recently, I was installing a web server and I saw that the default port was already taken by some other application. There are many tools in market that will allow you to monitor and scan ports, but if you are simply looking to find available ports in a windows desktop or laptop you can can take advantage of the “netstat” tool provided with the windows OS.

Open command prompt and type
netstat -an
This will display all connections and listening ports in numerical form. If you have many ports open this will be a rather long list.

If you looking for a specific port, you can search inside the results provided by netstat. In the example below I am looking for all ports starting with port 80.
netstat -an | find “80″




If you want to be a little more specific, you can search search inside the results provided by the previous command. In the example below I am looking for all ports starting with port 80 and in listening status.
netstat -an |find /i “listening” | find “80″

I am glad that I can access gmail in my iPhone, however I miss the group contacts that I have in my gmail account. Groups are a big help when I email pictures to my family and friends, and I do not want to run the risk of missing anyone while sending pictures.

I saw many solutions online. Link below is the one that worked. This is not an ideal solution, but better than nothing.

http://red66.com/2009/07/how-to-send-group-emails-from-your-iphone/

I hope soon there will be a better solution from apple.

Here is a direct link to download Java 1.5.0.22 or Java 5.0 update 22. Going directly to this link will save time registering at oracle.com and waiting for an email with download link.

http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/5u22/jdk

Alternate option is to download from CNET.

Have you ever wondered how to add sites to Google custom search engine or CSE. Answer is to use Google Marker… a javascript which you can add to your browser tool bar or favorites.

Using the Google Marker (from the Marker documentation)
The Google Marker allows you to add and label sites in your Custom Search Engine. Please note that you must already have created or signed up to collaborate on a Custom Search Engine to use the Google Marker with a Custom Search Engine.

Once you are ready, simply add the Google Marker link below to your browser toolbar.

Firefox users: Drag the marker into the Bookmarks Toolbar.

Chrome users: Drag the marker into the Bookmarks Toolbar.

Internet Explorer users: Right-click on the marker, then select “Add to Favorites” > “Links.”

http://www.google.com/coop/cse/marker

This is a follow up to my previous post How to Sort a Two Dimensional String Array using JAVA

Here I am trying to sort an address table by Street Name, Street Number and City using java comparator. First I sort the table by Street Name (column A), then keeping street name as constant sort by Street Number (column B) and finally keeping street name and number as constant sort by City (column C)

If you want to sort my more columns, you can easily add the rules to ORDER_BY_RULES – shown below.

Address Table:

Street Name	Street Number	City	State	Zip Code
univ dr	101	Sunshine	FL	33324
break rd	102	Sunrise	FL	33224
univ dr	103	Cleveland	OH	24785
dykes rd	104	San Antonio	TX	24785
dykes rd	104	Boston	MA	24785
dykes rd	104	Orlando	FL	24783

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class Sort {

static final Comparator<Address> ORDER_BY_STREETNAME = new Comparator<Address>() {
	public int compare(Address a1, Address a2) {
		return a1.streetName.compareTo(a2.streetName);
	}
};
static final Comparator<Address> ORDER_BY_STREETNUMBER = new Comparator<Address>() {
	public int compare(Address a1, Address a2) {
		return a1.streetNumber.compareTo(a2.streetNumber);
	}
};
static final Comparator<Address> ORDER_BY_CITY = new Comparator<Address>() {
	public int compare(Address a1, Address a2) {
		return a1.city.compareTo(a2.city);
	}
};

static final Comparator<Address> ORDER_BY_RULES = new Comparator<Address>() {
	public int compare(Address a1, Address a2) {
		int i = ORDER_BY_STREETNAME.compare(a1,a2);
		if(i == 0){
			i = ORDER_BY_STREETNUMBER.compare(a1,a2);
			if(i == 0){
				i = ORDER_BY_CITY.compare(a1,a2);
			}
		}
		return i;
	}
};

public static void main(String args[]){
	//Array with address to sort
	Address[] addressArray = new Address[]{
		new Address("univ dr","101", "Sunshine", "FL", "33324"),
		new Address("break rd","102", "Sunrise", "FL", "33224"),
		new Address("univ dr","103", "Cleveland", "OH", "24785"),
		new Address("dykes rd","104", "San Antonio", "TX", "24785"),
		new Address("dykes rd","104", "Boston", "MA", "24785"),
		new Address("dykes rd","104", "Orlando", "FL", "24783"),
	};
	Arrays.sort(addressArray, ORDER_BY_RULES);
	//Print the sorted array
	for(int i=0; i<addressArray.length; i++){
		System.out.println(addressArray[i].toString());
	}
	System.out.println();
}
}

//Address Class
class Address {
	String streetName;
	String streetNumber;
	String city;
	String state;
	String zipCode;
	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "Address [" + streetName + " | " + streetNumber + " | " +
			city + " | " + state + " | " + zipCode + "]";
	}
	public Address(String streetName, String streetNumber,
				String city, String state, String zipCode) {
		super();
		this.streetName = streetName;
		this.streetNumber = streetNumber;
		this.city = city;
		this.state = state;
		this.zipCode = zipCode;
	}
}

Results – sorted by street name, street number and city

Address [break rd | 102 | Sunrise | FL | 33224]
Address [dykes rd | 104 | Boston | MA | 24785]
Address [dykes rd | 104 | Orlando | FL | 24783]
Address [dykes rd | 104 | San Antonio | TX | 24785
Address [univ dr | 101 | Sunshine | FL | 33324]
Address [univ dr | 103 | Cleveland | OH | 24785]

If you are looking to compare technical information or key metrics like Market Value, Revenue, Net Earnings, P/E, Profit Margin, Dividend etc of two or more stocks, then check the sites listed below. All the popular sites like finance.yahoo.com, finance.google.com and others will allow you to compare stock charts, but not the detailed financial information.

Smarty Money – Stock Compare
SmartMoney will allow you to compare and analyze any number stocks at a time. They also have an applet version of the analyzer will only allow you to compare three stocks. Included below is a screen print of the smartmoney website.

Nasdaq – Stock Comparison
Nasdaq will allow you to compare up to a maximum of five stocks. The will even allow you to compare stocks that are not traded in their exchange.
Included below is a screen print of the Nasdaq stock comparison website.

If you know any better websites for comparing technical information of stocks, feel free to comment.

Recently I had to write a program to sort data (String) in a table and was looking for an efficient and easiest way to do sorting in java. I found two options – one was to write my own sorting program, and the other was to use the Comparator class in the Util package. I found that using Comparator or Comparable interface was very easy compared to writing my own sorting algorithm.

If you are new to using “Comparator”, I highly recommend reading this one page tutorial.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/collections/interfaces/order.html

Here is a working example for sorting a two dimensional string array:

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class Sort {
	public static void main(String args[]){
		//Array with address to sort
		String[][] addressArray = new String[][]{
				{"E","abc st","Sunshine", "FL"},
				{"S","abc st","Sunrise", "FL"},
				{"E","abd st","Cleveland", "OH"},
				{"N","aab st","Dallas", "TX"},
				{"W","xyz st","San Antonio", "TX"}};

		//Sort the array by city name or column 3
		Arrays.sort(addressArray, new ColumnComparator(2));

		//Print the sorted array
		for(int i=0; i<addressArray.length; i++){
			String[] row = addressArray[i];
			for(int j=0; j<row.length; j++) {
				System.out.print(row[j] + " | ");
			}
			System.out.print("\n");
		}
	}
}
//Class that extends Comparator
class ColumnComparator implements Comparator {
	int columnToSort;
	ColumnComparator(int columnToSort) {
		this.columnToSort = columnToSort;
	}
	//overriding compare method
	public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
		String[] row1 = (String[]) o1;
		String[] row2 = (String[]) o2;
		//compare the columns to sort
		return row1[columnToSort].compareTo(row2[columnToSort]);
	}
}

Results – sorted by city name

E | abd st | Cleveland | OH |
N | aab st | Dallas | TX |
W | xyz st | San Antonio | TX |
S | abc st | Sunrise | FL |
E | abc st | Sunshine | FL |