It would speed up delivery of online orders, but the technology is at least three or four years away.

(Photo: Amazon)

Story Highlights

• Company would use small, unmanned aircraft, through a service called Prime Air
• Octocopters will pick up packages in yellow buckets at fulfillment centers for dropoff
• New delivery system is to get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less

Amazon.com is testing delivering packages using drones, CEO Jeff Bezos said on the CBS TV news show 60 Minutes Sunday.
The idea would be to deliver packages as quickly as possible using the small, unmanned aircraft, through a service the company is calling Prime Air, the CEO said.
Bezos played a demo video on 60 Minutes that showed how the aircraft, also known as octocopters, will pick up packages in small yellow buckets at Amazon's fulfillment centers and fly through the air to deliver items to customers after they hit the buy button online at Amazon.com.
The goal of the new delivery system is to get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less, the world's largest Internet retailer said. Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take "some number of years" as Amazon develops the technology further and waits for the Federal Aviation Administration to come up with rules and regulations, the company added.
Bezos told 60 Minutes that the service could be up and running in as few as four years — although he noted that he is an optimist when it comes to such things.
"One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today," the company said.
This is the latest futuristic effort by Bezos, who was an e-commerce pioneer in the 1990s and more recently popularized the e-reader — while pursuing personal projects such as private spaceflight and a 10,000-year clock built inside a mountain.

Amazon tests drone delivery through a program called PrimeAir(Photo: Amazon)

Drones have mostly been used by the U.S. military to shoot missiles at enemy combatants in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, the cost of these unmanned aircraft has dropped precipitously in recent years, making them more accessible to commercial users, such as companies, small businesses and entrepreneurs.
However, the FAA currently limits the use of drones in the U.S. to public entities such as police forces and hobbyists, meaning the devices cannot be used in return for payment. The regulator said recently that it plans to have regulations governing commercial use in place by 2015.
"The FAA would not let Amazon do this now," said Ryan Calo, an expert on robotics, privacy and the law at the University of Washington. "But this is precisely the type of application that Congress had in mind when it told the FAA in 2012 to come up with rules for commercial unmanned aircraft."
Amazon will be able to petition the FAA to show them how its drone delivery technology works and the company can also apply to test its drones to make sure they are air worthy,he added.
"Amazon will not be able to darken the skies of Seattle with drones. They will need a plan for safety," Calo said. "But I see no reason why this application won't fly."
If drone delivery takes off, it could be a threat to FedEx and UPS, which Amazon uses for a lot of its deliveries now. Indeed, FedEx founder Fred Smith told Wired magazine in 2009 that the company wanted to switch their fleet to drones as soon as possible but that it had to wait for the FAA to regulate such activity.
"We'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place," Amazon said Sunday. "Safety will be our top priority, and our vehicles will be built with multiple redundancies and designed to commercial aviation standards."

TOMCAT FATEL ERROR 500 SERIES Jan 14, 2014 5:57:10 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init-

INFO: The Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in produ

ction environments was not found on the java.library.path: C:\Program Files (x86

)\Java\jdk1.6.0_10\bin;.;C:\Windows\Sun\Java\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;

C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;

C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program

Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.5.0\bin;.;C:\Program Files\Dell\DW WLAN Card;C:\Program Fi

les (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_10\bin;.C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\jdb

c\lib\ojdbc14.jar;.

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:10 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init

INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-4040

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:10 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load

INFO: Initialization processed in 330 ms

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:10 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start

INFO: Starting service Catalina

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:10 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start

INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.14

Test Param: Initialization Paramter

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester fatalError

SEVERE: Parse Fatal Error at line 9 column 6: Comment must start with "<!--".

org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Comment must start with "<!--".

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAX

ParseException(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:195)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalErro

r(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:174)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(

XMLErrorReporter.java:388)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLScanner.reportFatalError(X

MLScanner.java:1411)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImp

l$FragmentContentDriver.startOfMarkup(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2577)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImp

l$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2695)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(X

MLDocumentScannerImpl.java:648)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImp

l.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:510)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(X

ML11Configuration.java:807)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(X

ML11Configuration.java:737)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.

java:107)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Ab

stractSAXParser.java:1205)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.p

arse(SAXParserImpl.java:522)

        at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1562)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.tldScanStream(TldConfig.java:51

8)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.tldScanTld(TldConfig.java:555)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.execute(TldConfig.java:295)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.processTlds(StandardContext.

java:4428)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4

235)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase

.java:791)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:77

1)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:525)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory(HostConfig.jav

a:920)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectories(HostConfig.j

ava:883)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:492

)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1138)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java

:311)

        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(Lifecycl

eSupport.java:117)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443

)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:5

16)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710

)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:566)

        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.

java:39)

        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces

sorImpl.java:25)

        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext processTlds

SEVERE: Error reading tld listeners javax.servlet.ServletException: Exception pr

ocessing TLD at resource path /WEB-INF/oreillySample.tld in context /jsp

javax.servlet.ServletException: Exception processing TLD at resource path /WEB-I

NF/oreillySample.tld in context /jsp

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.tldScanTld(TldConfig.java:557)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.execute(TldConfig.java:295)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.processTlds(StandardContext.

java:4428)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4

235)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase

.java:791)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:77

1)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:525)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory(HostConfig.jav

a:920)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectories(HostConfig.j

ava:883)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:492

)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1138)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java

:311)

        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(Lifecycl

eSupport.java:117)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443

)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:5

16)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710

)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:566)

        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.

java:39)

        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces

sorImpl.java:25)

        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)

Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Comment must start with "<!--".

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Ab

stractSAXParser.java:1231)

        at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.p

arse(SAXParserImpl.java:522)

        at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1562)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.tldScanStream(TldConfig.java:51

8)

        at org.apache.catalina.startup.TldConfig.tldScanTld(TldConfig.java:555)

        ... 25 more

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start

INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-4040

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init

INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start

INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/15  config=null

Jan 14, 2014 5:57:11 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start

INFO: Server startup in 802 ms

MIT /1.124/LectureNotes/JavaBeans Implemented by Ramu

1. Introduction

A Java Bean is a reusable software component that can be manipulated visually in an application builder tool.  The idea is that one can start with a collection of such components, and quickly wire them together to form complex programs without actually writing any new code. Software components must, in general, adopt standard techniques for interacting with the rest of the world.  For example, all GUI components inherit the java.awt.Component class, which means that one can rely on them to have certain standard methods like paint(), setSize(), etc.  Java Beans are not actually required to inherit a particular base class or implement a particular interface.  However, they do provide support for some or all of the following key features

• Support for introspection.  Introspection is the process by which an application builder discovers the properties, methods and events that are associated with a Java Bean.

 
• Support for properties.  These are basically member variables that control the appearance or behavior of the Java Bean.

 
• Support for customization of the appearance and behavior of a Java Bean.

 
• Support for events.    This is a mechanism by which Java Beans can communicate with one another.

 
• Support for persistent storage.  Persistence refers to the abilility to save the current state of an object, so that it can be restored at a later time.

 

2. The BeanBox

This is a basic tool that Sun provides for testing Java Beans.   To run the BeanBox, your computer needs to have access to a BDK installation.  To run the BeanBox, go to the beans/beanbox subdirectory and then type run.  This will bring up three windows:

• The ToolBox window gives you a palette of sample Java Beans to choose from.
• The BeanBox window is a container within which you can visually wire beans together.
• The Properties window allows you to edit the properties of the currently selected Java Bean.

Try a simple example: choose Juggler bean from the ToolBox and drop an instance in the BeanBox window.  Also create two instances of OurButton.  Edit the labels of the buttons to read start and stop using the Properties window.  Now wire the start button to the juggler as follows.  Select the start button, then go to Edit | Events | action | actionPerformed.  Connect the rubber band to the juggler.  You will now see an EventTargetDialog box with a list of Juggler methods that could be invoked when the start button is pressed (these are the methods that either take an ActionEvent as an argument or have no arguments at all.)  Choose startJuggling as the target method and press OK.  The BeanBox now generates an adaptor class to wire the start button to the juggler.  Wire the stop button to the juggler's stopJuggling method in a similar manner. Now that the program has been designed, you can run it within the BeanBox.  Simply press the start button to start juggling and press the stop button to stop juggling.  If you wish, you can turn your program into an applet by choosing File | MakeApplet in the BeanBox.  This will automatically generate a complete set of files for the applet, which can be run in the appletviewer.  (Do not expect current versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer to work with this applet.)
Let's take a closer look at how the BeanBox works.  On start up, it scans the directory beans/jars for files with the .jar extension that contain Java Beans.  These beans are displayed in the ToolBox window, from where they can be selected and dropped into the BeanBox window.  Next, we edited the labels of the two instances of OurButton.  The BeanBox determined that OurButton has a member named label by looking for setter and getter methods that follow standard naming conventions called design patterns.  If you look at the source code in beans\demo\sunw\demo\buttons\OurButton.java, you will see that OurButton has two methods named
     public void setLabel(String newLabel) {
         ...
     }
     public String getLabel() {
         ...
     }
Design patterns are an implicit technique by which builder tools can introspect a Java Bean.  There is also an explicit technique for exposing properties, methods and events.  This involves writing a bean information class, which implements the BeanInfo interface.
When we wired the start button to the juggler, the BeanBox set up the juggler to respond to action events generated by the start button.  The BeanBox again used design patterns to determine the type of events that can be generated by an OurButton object.  The following design patterns indicate that OurButton is capable of firing ActionEvents.
     public synchronized void addActionListener(ActionListener l) {
         ...
     }
     public synchronized void removeActionListener(ActionListener l) {
         ...
     }
By choosing Edit | Events | action | actionPerformed to connect the start button to the juggler, we were really registering an ActionListener with the start button.  The Juggler bean itself is does not implement the ActionListener interface.  Instead the BeanBox generated an event hookup adaptor, which implements ActionListener and simply calls the juggler's startJuggling method in its actionPerformed method:
    // Automatically generated event hookup file.
     package tmp.sunw.beanbox;
     import sunw.demo.juggler.Juggler;
     import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
     import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
     public class ___Hookup_1474c0159e implements
           java.awt.event.ActionListener, java.io.Serializable {
         public void setTarget(sunw.demo.juggler.Juggler t) {
             target = t;
         }
         public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent arg0) {
             target.startJuggling(arg0);
         }
         private sunw.demo.juggler.Juggler target;
    }
A similar event hookup adaptor was generated when we wired the stop button to the juggler's stopJuggling method.
Why not make Juggler implement the ActionListener interface directly?  This is mainly a matter of convenience.  Suppose that Juggler implemented ActionListener and that it was registered to receive ActionEvents from both the start button and the stop button.  Then the Juggler's actionPerformed method would need to examine incoming events to determine the event source, before it could know whether to call startJuggling or stopJuggling.
 

3. Creating a Java Bean

This example illustrates how to create a simple Java Bean.   Java Bean classes must be made serializable so that they support persistent storage.  To make use of the default serialization capabilities in Java, the class needs to implement the Serializable interface or inherit a class that implements the Serializable interface.  Note that the Serializable interface does not have any methods.  It just serves as a flag to say that the designer has tested the class to make sure it works with default serialization.  Here is the code:     SimpleBean.java
    import java.awt.*;
    import java.io.Serializable;
    public class SimpleBean extends Canvas implements Serializable {
        //Constructor sets inherited properties
        public SimpleBean() {
            setSize(60,40);
            setBackground(Color.red);
         }
    }
Since this class extends a GUI component, java.awt.Canvas, it will be a visible Java Bean.  Java Beans may also be invisible.
Now the Java Bean must be compiled and packaged into a JAR file.  First run the compiler:
    javac SimpleBean.java
Then create a manifest file
    manifest.tmp
    Name: SimpleBean.class
    Java-Bean: True
Finally create the JAR file:
    jar cfmv SimpleBean.jar manifest.tmp SimpleBean.class
The JAR file can now be placed in the beans/jars so that the BeanBox will find it on startup, or it can be loaded subsequently by choosing File | LoadJar.
 

4.  Support for Properties and Events

This example builds on the SimpleBean class.  It illustrates how to add customizable properties to a Java Bean and how to generate and receive property change events.     SimpleBean.java
    import java.awt.*;
    import java.io.Serializable;
    import java.beans.*;
    public class SimpleBean extends Canvas implements Serializable,
        java.beans.PropertyChangeListener {
        // Constructor sets inherited properties
        public SimpleBean() {
            setSize(60,40);
            setBackground(Color.red);
        }
        // This section illustrates how to add customizable properties to the Java Bean.  The names
        // of the property setter and getter methods must follow specific design patterns that allow
        // the BeanBox (or builder tool) to determine the name of the property variable upon
        // introspection.
        private Color beanColor = Color.green;
        public void setBeanColor(Color newColor) {
            Color oldColor = beanColor;
            beanColor = newColor;
            repaint();
            // This relates to bound property support (see below).
            changes.firePropertyChange("beanColor", oldColor, newColor);
        }
        public Color getBeanColor() {
            return beanColor;
        }
        public void paint(Graphics g) {
            g.setColor(beanColor);
            g.fillRect(20,5,20,30);
        }
        // This section illustrates how to implement bound property support.  Bound property
        // support allows other objects to respond when a property change occurs in this Java
        // Bean.  Remember that each property setter method must fire a property change event,
        // so that registered listeners can be properly notified.  The addPropertyChangeListener
        // and removePropertyChangeListener methods follow design patterns that indicate the
        // ability of this Java Bean to generate property change events.  As it happens, these
        // methods overide methods of the same names, which are inherited through java.awt.Canvas.
        private PropertyChangeSupport changes = new PropertyChangeSupport(this);
        public void addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener l) {
            changes.addPropertyChangeListener(l);
        }
        public void removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener l) {
            changes.removePropertyChangeListener(l);
        }
        // This section illustrates how to implement a bound property listener, which will allow this
        // Java Bean to register itself to receive property change events fired by other objects.
        // Registration simply involves making a call to the other object's addPropertyChangeListener
        // method with this Java Bean as the argument.  If you are using the BeanBox, however, you
        // will typically use the event hookup adaptor mechanism to receive the events.  In this case,
        // you can set the target method to be the propertyChange method.  (Another word about the
        // BeanBox: the Edit | bind property option is a useful way to make a property change in one
        // object automatically trigger a property change in another object.  In this case, the BeanBox
        // will invoke the correct property setter using code in sunw/beanbox/PropertyHookup.java.
        // An adaptor class will not be generated in this case.)
        public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
            String propertyName = evt.getPropertyName();
            System.out.println("Received property change event " + propertyName);
        }
    }
 
the output is