2011 Cool Summer Internship Problem 1

Following the 4PSA Cool Summer Internships in Bucharest article, we publish today the first problem. We will have three problems and my feelings are that if you submit at least one correct solution, you will join our team. Of course, feel free to send solutions for all three problems we are going to publish.

We shall start with an architectural problem that targets mainly programmers, but it can also be solved by candidates applying for SQA or Security and Performance profiling positions. You have more than 48 hours to solve it!

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Cool Summer Internships in Bucharest

Summer is going to be hot in Bucharest, Romania. Close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 F), but lots of cool things to do, building the greatest 4PSA product ever. We will have great fun 😉

Do you want to have fun with us, contributing to really neat stuff and in the same time being paid for doing it? We have 12 internship positions for this summer! It is easy to join us, just follow the steps below.

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On Cloud Computing, Clubs in Soho and End-Users

I read an interesting article presenting the results of a survey made on the streets of London. People had been asked what cloud computing is. Extremely funny answers:

25% – “a data center in the sky”
20% – “something Microsoft advertised”
10% – “global warming caused by overheating computers”
10% – “trendy club in Soho”
35% – a new way to access IT services over the Internet

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The First Rule of Impressive Results

You all know Newton’s second law of motion that says that F = m * a (Force equals mass times acceleration). This makes sports interesting, for example boxing. A heavy boxer will always punch with more force than a lightweight boxer. This is due to his high mass. Even if the lightweight boxer has more punch acceleration, it is almost impossible to achieve two times more acceleration than the heavy fighter to compensate for the extra mass. I don’t want to discuss about the energy spent on this, which is also an important parameter because it shows how much time he can deliver such punches.

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With My Head Up In The Cloud

How many times have you been told this: Is your head in the clouds?!? Usually, it’s not a compliment, but these days that might just change. Of course, it’s about a different Cloud and it would be nice to have your IT services there, not your head. 🙂

I see at least a dozen of articles every day on cloud computing, written by people from various areas of business: IT, marketing, sales, even HR. They debate on cloud definition, advantages and disadvantages, on myths, data security, lock-in degree, and ultimately whether cloud computing really is a new concept or just an over-hyped renaming of the old IaaS, PaaS and SaaS models or even a clever marketing-invented new name for virtualized environments.

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4PSA = For Performance, Scalability and Agility

We are often asked what 4PSA means. Many people living in US heard about PSA and maybe not in the nicest circumstances. For them, this is just a medical term. Well, we are software developers, not doctors 🙂 And even though, if you want to explore the PSA meanings, there are quite a lot of them.

For us, 4PSA is an important part of our culture. It has been our name since day one. I won’t debate whether it’s a good or a bad name, I will only try to explain where it came from and what it means to us.

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Introducing 4PSA Support Zone

Next week 4PSA will be introducing a new online presence, as well as redesigned back-end systems. One of the most important systems that has been completely renewed is the one used to provide technical support to our customers. The new facility, called Support Zone, is the result of an important development effort primarily focused on improving the satisfaction of our customers.

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OpenID, the Quick and Easy Way to Log In

Along with Internet development, some of the traditional actions have been implemented into the virtual space. Nowadays, we do not use paper and pen to send a letter, we email messages; we do not socialize only face to face, we also use Facebook, Twitter or Hi5. We have now access to an extremely fast method of sharing information. For all these technologies we have unique accounts that enable others to recognize our identity. Many accounts mean a lot of user names and passwords that we need to remember in our every day virtual world.

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