May 2008 Archives

A single instance application is one that only allows for 1 of the application to run no matter how many times the user tries to launch.  Windows and linux native applications have an API to detect the instance of an application but when in Java, it is not quite as easy or reliable.  To complicate matters, often times the requirement will be for the original application instance to react in some way to the launch, as in bringing the window to the front, opening a file or displaying a message.

Fortunately it's not all that difficult to code this if you know the trick.  In this article I'll give you all the code you need to copy and paste into your application to make it single instance.

I've had to do this for several of these laptops now so I thought I'd just make a picture tutorial to explain.  It's been pretty much the same for all models T60 and greater.  What we've been doing is upgrading machines with either 1 or 2GB up to 4GB.  The memory is located under the touchpad on the front panel, which is removable via long screws on the bottom.  All you need is a philips head precision screwdriver and your new ram, which must be compatible with the machine.

I was at dinner with a few people some months ago when we got to talking politics.  Rather than discuss the people and the issues though, we ended up talking about the process by which people select candidates to favor.  One of the people said that his mother always picked her candidate not by reading about their position on issues or their history but instead by asking her friends who they are voting for.  We joked that this person's mother is simply using collaborative filtering to get a good recommendation.  Then we asked the question:  Why isn't this process automated?  Now it is -  The Election Recommender.  We originally had only joked about using celebrity endorsements but the results have been very interesting so far.  If you're satisfied just trying out the site, go ahead, otherwise read on for a more detailed explanation.