This TechNote (http://www.macromedia.com/support/coldfusion/ts/documents/cfmx61_issues.htm) lists the issues and limitations with ColdFusion MX 6.1 that were discovered after the release date. Issues discovered prior to release are documented in the ColdFusion MX 6.1 Release Notes. The hot fixes described and linked from this TechNote are included in the ColdFusion MX 6.1 Updater.

Is this going to trigger a price war? Yahoo! is offering domain name registrations (.com, ,net, .org, .biz, .info, .us) for $9.95 a year (without a multi year contract). See http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/.

Ericsson helped develop Bluetooth, and has played an important role in the growth and adoption of the technology. And so it is somewhat alarming to read (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5327431.html) that Ericsson has shut down the 125 person division that was responsible for its Bluetooth work. Ericsson still plans to include Bluetooth support in products, so this may be nothing more than a reorg. And if Ericsson really did step back from its leadership role in the Bluetooth world, it is unlikely to really impact the technology at this point. Still, this is somewhat disconcerting.

This is a little one, but it has bugged me for years, and I am pleased that Blackstone fixes it. When you use you can populate the list with a query and also insert your own options using tags. Those options are always placed below the query, which often makes for rather unintuitive forms. For example, a list of options from a database, and an ALL option of your own (likely the default) and it ends up below the list. Blackstone has added a QUERYPOSITION attribute to , QUERYPOSITION="above" (the default) make behave as it does now, QUERYPOSITION="below" places the query driven options beneath any of your own as nature intended it. [Checking that one off of my "it bugs me" list].

I know that this is not funny, but, well, it kinda is! :-) The island nation of Sri Lanka lost data connections on Sunday leaving 800,000 subscribers without Internet access. The problem? Indian ship "State of Nagaland" dropped anchor in the Sri Lankan port of Colombo, and the anchor severed an underwater cable. Story (and links) at http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/08/24/errant_anchor_blamed_for_knocking_island_nation_offline.html.

This courtesy of Andy Allan. The following Scottish football sites are powered by ColdFusion, Scottish Football Association (http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/), Scottish Football League (http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/), and Aberdeen Football Club (http://www.afc.co.uk/). And then there is Scotland's biggest venue, the Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (http://www.secc.co.uk), and the associated Queens Dock Project (http://www.qd2.co.uk/).

Sounds like justification for a return visit to me!

I mentioned this one during my tour, the ColdFusion MX 6.1 updater is now available. This update to ColdFusion MX 6.1 consists of several fixes that have previously been available separately; the JRun Updater 3 (for ColdFusion server configurations only), new releases of DataDirect JDBC drivers and JIntegra COM support, making sure that these important components are up to date, all security fixes through July and over 60 bugs fixed in ColdFusion. It rolls together all ColdFusion MX 6.1 hot fixes and security patches that have been released to date, eliminating the need to install multiple hot fixes and patches. Many other included fixes have not been available elsewhere. Details at http://www.macromedia.com/support/coldfusion/ts/documents/cfmx61_updater.htm.

Consider the following situations ...

* You don't have access to the ColdFusion Administration, but need to make simple changes (like registering your IP addresses for debugging).

* You need temporary datasources (perhaps for data import tasks) and want to be able to programmatically create (and drop) them.

* You automate user account creation processes (FTP, e-mail, and more), and need to define ColdFusion Administrator settings for new users.

* You are the administrator, and want to allow users to be able to set specific Administrator settings only without granting them ColdFusion Administrator access.

You get the basic idea. The ColdFusion Administrator is a bit of an all-or-nothing proposition, and that is not changing in Blackstone. What we are planning on changing is providing developers with an alternative to the ColdFusion Administrator, and Administration API.

I am not going to comment yet on exactly how the API is implemented (or what the calling code looks like). But I do want to comment on the API itself, and the problem it addresses.

The intent is to provide a series of calls that will provide access to settings in the ColdFusion Administrator, both getting and setting. From reading current server settings, to changing debug settings, to defining datasources, to registering CFX tags, to ... lots of stuff.

Now before anyone panics, this does not mean that anyone who can write CF code can make ColdFusion Administrator changes. The APIs will require that a password be specified, and it is unlikely that all developers would be given that password (if they had it they'd be able to use the ColdFusion Administrator now). Rather, the API will be used by administrators to create custom consoles, mini-admin applications, and scripts. Administrators will use the APIs to allow developers to self-manage (to the extent that they allow).

So, if you need to create datasources the administrator could whip up a "create a datasource" screen. And if you needed to register a debug IP address, a simple script could do that. And so on.

I'll post more details in the future.

Do you have (or have you used) a quad-band GSM phone? The only ones I have seen are the Motorola v400, Motorola v500, Motorola v600, the NEC 525, the Palm Treo 600, and the Sharp GX32. (It does not look like Nokia or Sony Ericsson have any to offer, even the new SE p910 comes in three different tri-band options instead of a quad-band, how stupid!). While not a Motorola fan, I am leaning towards the v600 for now. But ... any suggestions?

"Windows Network & .NET Magazine" (at http://www.winnetmag.com/) is powered by ColdFusion. There are lots of static pages on this site, so you may have to dig around to find the .cfm links, but they are indeed there. Thanks to Steve Young for this one.

PC Welt (http://www.pcwelt.de/), ComputerWoche (http://www.computerwoche.de/) and ComputerPartner (http://www.computerpartner.de/) are German IDG publications, and all of their Web sites are powered by ColdFusion (CFMX and CF5). Thanks to Hansjoerg Posch for pointing these ones out to me.

Macromedia is now shipping Flex Builder, which is designed to provide an interactive development environment for Flex. Flex Builder is now available and bundled with the Flex trial CD and Flex purchase. Details at http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/flexbuilder/.

After installing Windows XP Service Pack 2, the Windows Firewall is enabled by default. This can prevent ColdFusion MX 6.1 from functioning correctly. The technote at http://www.macromedia.com/support/coldfusion/ts/documents/windowsspxp2.htm describes the steps that need to be taken in order to overcome this.

I am using pre-beta versions of ColdFusion Blackstone on some of my applications (so as to test new features), and I've been updating the version used on a fairly regular basis, without any real downtime.

How is this possible? Simple. I have ColdFusion running on top of JRun4. When I want to move to a newer build, this is what I do:

1) Download the build

2) Run the installer and select option 3 to create a new ColdFusion EAR or WAR

3) Create a new JRun service instance using the JMC

4) Deploy the new ColdFusion EAR or WAR into the new instance

5) Run some tests to make sure the code is working properly (all this time traffic is still being services by the previous version)

6) Run the wsconfig utility to map the sites to the newly deployed ColdFusion (now traffic is being services by the new version)

7) Drop the previous JRun service (not necessary, but might as well not waste resources)

Oh, and if there is a problem, switching back is just a matter of starting the previous service and running wsconfig again.

It's a thing of beauty, and another great example of using multiple ColdFusion instances. If you have ColdFusion Enterprise, and are not yet using multiple instances, I'd strongly suggest that you consider doing so, quickly.

I flew out of Detroit this morning. That is something I do quite frequently, so why do I mention it here? Because something odd happened; I was not asked for ID. Really. I even asked "do you need to see ID?", and the TSA screener shook her head no and waved me through. Not that I think that casually checking identification (looking at your license, and then glancing at your face) would actually have any real impact on anything, but it was still odd. After all, the last time I walked on to a flight without having any ID checked anywhere was September 11th, 2001.

And then I landed in Raleigh Durham, North Carolina. There was a long line at one of the checkpoints, and lots of frustrated travelers, too. I saw a TSA agent gesturing to a second agent who was slowly walking towards him to hurry up. She loudly proclaimed "I don't go any faster, I work for the government".

As per the TSAs mission and vision, "The Transportation Security Administration protects the Nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. The Transportation Security Administration will continuously set the standard for excellence in transportation security through its people, processes and technologies." Humm.

There has been some good buzz in the press and blogs about event gateways in ColdFusion Blackstone, and folks are starting to try to wrap their hands around the concept and what this all means. So ...

ColdFusion has long been an incredibly simple way to build Web apps. That's why we all use ColdFusion, simplicity (and thus productivity). But ColdFusion is not exclusively tied to the Web. In fact, ColdFusion does not even talk to Web browsers (that is the Web server's job). ColdFusion simply executes scripts on the server in response to requests, requests which (thus far) have been typically HTTP originated.

So could ColdFusion respond to other requests? For example, data sent to a specific port, or changes in a folder, or inbound SMS and IM messages, or database table changes, or ... ? The answer is yes, ColdFusion can respond to any and all of those, it just needs a way to know when those events occur.

And that is what the event gateway in Blackstone is all about. Gateways are interfaces to other systems, ways for events to trigger ColdFusion processing. A gateway watching a folder on a server can trigger ColdFusion execution when folder contents change. A gateway connecting to an SMS provider can respond to inbound SMS messages (and send SMS messages as well). A gateway can be pinged by a database trigger so that a database event forces ColdFusion processing (imagine being able to automatically dynamically generate static HTML pages whenever back-end databases change).

Gateway types are defined in the ColdFusion Administrator. Blackstone will ship with some types (we don't yet know the final count and what exactly they'll be), we will be sure to ship very useful ones (both as usable types, and as examples). You'll also be able to create your own types (in Java), although most ColdFusion will find themselves using existing types (included ones, ones available for download, ones written by 3rd parties, etc.). Gateway types are just that, types, they are not gateway instances. The folder watcher type has no code specific to your folders or what you'd want when an event is triggered. An SMS gateway type knows how to connect to SMS servers and exchange messages, but is not tied to a specific account or processing. Gateway types are genericized, they are the processing that is not unique to your application. You can kind of think of gateway types as being a bit like database drivers, they contain (and encapsulate) the code and processing needed to interact with some system or technology. And, as already stated, they are registered in the ColdFusion Administrator.

Gateways are also defined in the ColdFusion Administrator. A gateway is simply an entry that defines the name, the associated type, the name of an optional configuration file, and the name of the CFC file containing your processing. A single gateway type can be associated with as many gateways as needed (so you can have several different IM applications running, or multiple folders being watched each triggering different events). The CFC used is no different to any other CFC, except that specific method names will likely be used. The CFC is straight CFML, and can contain any CFML code and processing. When a gateway event occurs (an SMS message arrives, a database trigger fires, etc.), the ColdFusion gateway engine calls the appropriate CFC method, telling it everything it needs to know about the event. And your CFC code can then respond, using the same CFML that you know and love.

So, if you want to respond to IM or SMS messages, you'd need to define a gateway (using the appropriate gateway type), create a configuration file for account and server information, and write a CFC which accepts arguments and returns data. It's that simple. In fact, you could quite easily share processing between Web apps and SMS apps (for example) by having different entry-points to the same back-end code. And the differences between systems and transports (and even session state management) are all handled transparently. (For more on SMS gateways, see Tim Buntel's blog posting http://www.buntel.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=6A1F548E-4E22-1671-548E2C987C3F6F32).

Of course, this means that you need to be writing ColdFusion Components. Actually, you should be writing them anyway, but if for some reason you are not yet doing so, consider this your very compelling justification to do so right away. You'll be hearing and reading lots more about gateways in the coming months (there will be entire sessions on this subject at MAX in New Orleans), but for now, keep using those CFCs.

Operated by The University of Iowa, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, the IEM 2004 US Presidential Winner Takes All Market is a real-money futures market where contract payoffs will be determined by the popular vote cast in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election. The overview, assets, graphing options, and more are all powered by ColdFusion (it appears to be CF5 on Windows running Apache 2). Thanks to Benjamin Rosenthal for the link.

[Updated 8/18/2004] Looks like I forgot the URL, here it is: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/markets/Pres04_WTA.html

"Blackstone" beta applications are now officially being accepted. Go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/programs/beta.html for more details.

Good news for elementary schools! Last week Macromedia announced a program which makes it easier than ever for K-6 schools to introduce Macromedia tools to teachers and staff, and in turn to make it easy for teachers to introduce these tools to students in the classroom. The Macromedia K-6 Site License includes Contribute 3 software for use throughout the entire school, plus 10 copies of Macromedia Studio MX 2004. The site license also includes teacher training and curriculum resources, such as a half-day Contribute workshop for training staff and teachers on how to create and edit web pages, plus a new Contribute classroom project that enables students to add information to a class website. Two sample projects for Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver are also included to help introduce students to the industry-standard products in Studio MX. This combination of software and project-based curriculum projects will help get your students started using digital tools in core academic subjects, and will give teachers the resources they need to learn and integrate the projects into their teaching curriculum. This is available in the US and Canada with a suggested retail price of $1499.00, regardless of school size. Details at http://www.macromedia.com/buy/volume_license/k6/.

According to the German publication, Technology Review, Siemens is developing a cell phone with a built in gas sensor. The phone (if it were to ever see the light of day) could be used to detect ozone, bad breath, and as a breathalyzer (detecting alcohol on your breath). And who said that cell phones and cars don't mix? The story (in German) is at http://www.heise.de/tr/aktuell/meldung/50020.

The sites are back up. As DNS changes can take a while to propagate, I have the old server redirecting to a temporary host name. Aside from that, the move seems to have gone painlessly (too painlessly?).

I have always self hosted, I was involved with a start-up and had access to a dedicated data center. But that start-up has now sold, and so it was time for me to move to real hosting. My new home is at HostMySite (http://hostmysite.com/), they have been incredibly helpful and dedicated, and went the extra step to make the transition, well, painless.

I'm still testing everything. If you notice any problems, please let me know. Thanks.

I have slowly been moving my servers over to a new hosting provider. DNS has been moved, some sites are already cut over, and having successfully completed dry-run moves of my primary sites, I plan on cutting those over later today. Downtime should be minimal, and the only gotcha I foresee is DNS cache lags. So, if you run into problems access my sites later today (or into the weekend), please try later (or flush local DNS). Thanks!

Details for MAX 2004 in Taiwan are now online (in Chinese) at http://www.macromedia.com/tw/macromedia/events/max_gc/. Speaker information (oddly enough, in English) is at http://www.macromedia.com/tw/macromedia/events/max_gc/speaker_bios/.

Hong Kong's Brando is selling lenses for phone cams, two sets of lenses to be precise, each with three lenses for telescopic view, softening, distortion, and more. As per the description, "camera lenses adapt to PDA/Cellphone which is built-in camera. The optical effect of each len[s] is readily visible thought the LCD display of the camera". And the best part is "can be mounted directly to the PDA or Cellphone camera with the sticky pads", yep, that's right, sticky pads (which I assume makes these lenses not overly reusable). Details (and sample camera images) at http://shop.brando.com.hk/cameralens.php.

T-Mobile is one of the largest providers of wireless voice, messaging and data services. The Developer Center is T-Mobile's online guide to developing for the T-Mobile network. From WAP to J2ME and more, you will find helpful resources and tools to assist you in your development process. And http://developer.t-mobile.com/tmobile/ is powered by ColdFusion! Thanks to Britt Mileshosky for bringing this one to my attention.