"Data validation is a common chore in programming any user interface. The Java language's regular-expression support can make data validation easier. You can define a regular expression that describes valid data and then let the Java runtime see if it matches. But certain types of data have different formats in different locales. The ResourceBundle class lets you work with locale-specific data in an elegant way. This article shows how to combine the two techniques to solve a common data-entry problem."

"With December upon us, rife with rumors of labor disputes (again!) at the North Pole, it seems about time to talk about the ELF standard. ELF (ELF is an acronym for Executable and Linking Format) is a standard for object modules, libraries, executables, and core files. Many UNIX and UNIX-like systems use ELF, and the ELF standard has contributed substantially to the development of compiler toolchains and debugging tools for a variety of systems."

Ex-Amiga hacker and ex-BeOS engineer Tinic Uro, now at Macromedia, blogged about the next version of Flash Player for Linux. Apparently version 8 will be skipped and the Linux version will see some extra love on upcoming version 8.5.

Love-him-hate-him Paul Thurrot has released a four part in-depth review of Vista's December CTP. "I think people are going to be surprised by how good the Windows Vista December 2005 Community Technical Preview (CTP, or build 5270) really is. After years of painful delays and an uncertain couple of months since the last CTP, Microsoft shipped a near-feature-complete Vista build to testers this week, and the prognosis is extremely positive. From what I can see, Vista has turned the corner. The December CTP is an exciting release, stable and full of new features. In this review, I'll examine those new features, and the features that have changed since the previous CTP, build 5231" Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.

"It's finally arrived - the first Mac Mini clone. Our review system was supplied by Evesham, but the barebone chassis is manufactured by AOpen and has been known as the 'Pandora'. Sadly this catchy name is gone - AOpen has re-named it the Mini PC, which is just plain boring. Anyhow, name aside, this is a really cool-looking little machine - it arguably looks even better than the Mac Mini, mainly due to its aluminium case."

"Ruby on Rails is just one facet of what makes Ruby great, just like EJB is only part of the Java enterprise platform. Andrew Glover digs beneath the hype for a look at what Java developers can do with Ruby, all by itself. Ruby's syntax is quite different from that of the Java language, but it's amazingly easy to pick up. Moreover, some things are just plain easier to do in Ruby than they are in the Java language."

As here in Europe Christmas eve has already begun, we, the OSNews team, both editors and site maintainers, would like to wish all of our readers a very merry Christmas. May everyone be with the ones they love-- no matter one's nationality, religion, favourite operating system, favourite desktop environment, or whatever. Let us also hope the victims of the tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan, and Gulf Coast hurricane, and all others who have suffered this year, have found comfort. Let's have a moment of silence on the 26th for them. Merry Christmas, people (and anyone who dares to sing "Last Christmas" in the comments gets banned for a week) !

Fans of the classic computer game Ultima V (from the c64/Apple][e era) have re-created the game, using modern game tech, thanks to the Dungeon Siege engine. The Ultima re-make, called Lazarus, is free for download, runs on Windows or Mac, but needs the Dungeon Siege engine (commercial software) to run. More details at the Ultima5 Lazarus site. Update: URL fixed.

As reported in the latest free edition of LWN the Bluetooth Qualification Administrator has demanded that the Linux BlueZ project take down the Bluetooth hardware compatibility list for Linux, claiming that 'As neither of these products have been qualified using Linux it is illegal to make them available for public use'. This was apparently done at the request of a registered member of the Bluetooth SIG.

"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that release 3.0 of the NetBSD operating system is now available. NetBSD 3.0 continues our long tradition with major improvements in stability, performance, networking, security, also includes support for two new platforms (iyonix and hp700), and many new peripherals. Far reaching improvements to the network stack will not only provide better performance but also make NetBSD an excellent choice for a VPN gateway. PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) framework adds more flexibility to NetBSD's user management and simplifies integration into heterogeneous networks. The kernel, libraries and utilities can now handle filesystems larger than two terabytes, and support for Xen 2.0 allows hosting many virtual servers on a single machine." Read the full changelog here, and downloads are here.

"In this paper I will try to explain the philosophy behind the Security Enhanced Linux (SE Linux). I will however try to explain the concept with an example but to keep the length readable I will restrain myself to go into much of implementation details for e.g. commands and similar stuff."

"Progression Desktop allows you to transfer files and settings from Windows desktops to Linux desktops in an automated fashion. Desktop "personalities" and data are quickly moved across operating systems and applications to ensure a seamless transition to Linux. Progression Desktop moves critical data, application settings, network shares, desktop settings, directory structures and more in a predictable and repeatable fashion. Migrate Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express to Novell Evolution, KMail, Mozilla or Thunderbird, Microsoft Internet Explorer to Mozilla, Firefox or Konqueror, Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org and more."

Some five months after Google announced plans to open a product research and development center in China, and said it was appointing former Microsoft vice president Kai-Fu Lee to head the operation, the parties have settled the matter. In a brief statement released late Thursday, Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the parties had entered into a private agreement that resolved all issues to their mutual satisfaction.

"Uim is a multilingual input method library, whose goal is to provide a secure and useful input method for all languages. Uim works in many environments, including of course general desktop systems such as GNOME or KDE. It also supports Linux Zaurus, Mac OS X." Version 1.0.0 has been released.