Issue #57 – 18th September 2013
News and Latest Developments
UKOUG Applications Conference Agenda 
The agenda for the UKOUG Apps Conference has been released. There’s a lot PeopleSoft content, two streams spread over the Tuesday and Wednesday including Michelle and Duncan from Succeed, several slots from Grey Heller and some strong Oracle content.
PeopleTools 8.53.07 Patch
Oracle have released the 7th patch for PeopleTools 8.53. It’s available for those with a support logon from the link above.
Functional
Eric Kimberling on the IT Toolbox blog writes on saving ERP Implementations from Organisational Silos. Most of us will have experienced this situation at some point and Eric has some suggestions on how to remove the barriers.
Manoranjan Gupta from the Hexaware blog details some of the new features inPeopleSoft Query and how you can use them to write larger queries with more capability to join records and the choice of alternate output formats.
Technical
An intro to PeopleSoft Update Manager
Oracle’s Rebekah Jackson wrote this post on the new PeopleSoft Update Manager (PUM) functionality that Tools 8.53 has brought us. It’s well worth a read is it really transforms the way in which we’ll apply maintenance releases to PeopleSoftenvironments.
Writing to stdout and stderr – Take 2
Jim Marion has refined his technique for outputting logging data to the stdout and stderr log files.
Using Open COBOL with PeopleSoft
The Stephen ‘Digital Eagle’ Phillips has been experimenting with using alternative Cobol compilers with PeopleSoft. Like most, he’s found MicroFocus cobol frustrating – these are his findings while trying to find an alterantive.
Reading
Dark Patterns in UI Design
A really interesting article discussion Dark Patterns – elements of UI designed to trick users into doing something that they wouldn’t normally do. These carefully crafted elements are built to misdirect and confuse users, whilst concealing the intention. Examples shown include Misdirection, Forced Continuity and Trick Questions.
iPhone 5s and Dismembered Fingers
iPhone 5s and Dismembered Fingers 
Probably best filed under ‘reassuring’, rather than ‘useful’. Kit Eaton from Fast Company Labs has looked into the new fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5s and details the reasons why it’s more secure than initially thought.
SAP Recruits Autism Employees To “Spark Innovation”
This article was spotted by Chris at Succeed. SAP is looking to recruit hundreds of people with autism, “Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century,” Luisa Delgado (SAP’s Chief Human Resources Officer) said earlier this year.
Infographic
We at Succeed love a good infographic, feeling that it often aids in quickly analysing data. However, this amusing site catalogues examples of when data visualisations get in the way of understanding the data.
Watching
The America’s Cup may not be going exactly to plan, but it’s still an engrossing sport to watch. The above video shows the Oracle yacht whipping around the bay raised on the Hydrofoils – it seems almost supernatural to see such a huge boat supported on such small blades. Also, there’s an innovative use of the same technology in another sport.
And Finally…
Women have made a significant contribution to everyday life with a string of inventions. Here are some of the most surprising top 25. Bullet-proof Vest and Circular Saws?
We’re a fan of Kohsuke Kawaguchi (he’s the brains behind the Hudson/Jenkins Continuous Integration system). Like most of us, he plays lego with his children, although rather typically he does it on a different scale to most. We particularly like the way minor details like crust thickness and height from sea level frustrate such a perfectionist.
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