I hope Joel doesn't mind that I used this image here to commemorate #JoelKallmanDay. This picture was posted by our dear friend, Joel Kallman, in 2019. Shortly after Mike Hichwa was presented with the first coin in the first series of the Oracle APEX Challenge Coin.
One of the key highlights at Oracle Cloudworld 2023 is general availability of Select AI feature that allows anyone to query the Oracle Database using natural language. This is likely made possible with a template wrapping the database metadata with the prompt, and then calling either the OpenAI or Cohere APIs to generate the intended text.
In case you missed it, Oracle recently announced the availability of a new feature for the Autonomous Database (ADB) that allows developers and database administrators to send messages using either emails, Slack, or Microsoft Teams (Teams). At Insum, we use teams for internal communications and collaboration, and thus, you can appreciate my excitement when I heard about this feature release. Here's an early guide to getting started with DBMS_CLOUD_NOTIFICATION for those using Teams at their organisation.
When I was first introduced to generative adversarial networks (GANs), I was impressed, but yet not impressed. The concept, performance, and outcomes of these advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms were truly jaw-dropping, but easily abused. And so, when everyone was excitedly chatting about ChatGPT, I was cynical and tried to tune out until I came across a comment by an old acquaintance, following a news article on concerns about ChatGPT and potential plagiarism in school.
It's like someone using a calculator in an arithmetic exam, ChatGPT is just another tool.
That statement got me rethinking my stance on the technology, and curious about its utility in my day-to-day job.
It's been too long since I last posted anything on my blog. Thanks to Tim Hall, I am writing again, after a long pause, to celebrate Joel Kallman Day 2022. My contribution today is about my deep appreciation for the team behind the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI Services. Below is a quick scoop on how I have used these services to improve on my OCI-powered e-flashcard for learning new words in a different language. I will be doing a quick demonstration (session LRN3673) of this work at the upcoming Oracle CloudWorld 2022.
For a long time now, I have been eagerly awaiting for out-of-the-box RSA encryption support with pure PL/SQL. Not so much for to sharing secrets, but rather, the ability to sign messages and verify signatures. I might have missed the announcements, but it looks like my wait is over support with asymmetric key operations added in 21c, and (perhaps backported) in 19c as-of release 19.9.
During a recent Kscope21 session, "Predict Customer Churn Using Oracle Autonomous Database, Machine Learning, and APEX", I had shared that it has always been my personal desire to create web applications that are not only purposeful, but also have an element of "intelligence". With new features recently introduced in the Oracle Machine Learning product offering, it is now relatively easy to introduce ML as a component of your Oracle Application Express (APEX) applications. This is the first of several posts that I am writing as a follow up to the presentations I did at this year's (virtual) conference.
In September 2020, Oracle first announced that it was working with Ampere Computing to provide ARM-based chips for its Compute instance offering on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. They have delivered!
ARM chips are found in many low-powered devices like smartphones, single-board computers, and IoT devices. So, if you are an Oracle Application Express (APEX) developer, you might be wondering, "What's in it for me?" Well, remember we talked about running a customer-managed Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) instance for an Oracle Autonomous Database?
The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a great platform in many ways. However, as much as I love it, I have long griped about the lack of out-of-the-box support for AI services that many of Oracle's competitors have. Well, as of May 6, 2021, I am glad to see that things are starting to turn around with the launch of the OCI Language service.
It was only days ago that I had finalised my slides for my upcoming Oracle Groundbreakers APAC Virtual Tour talk on using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Object Storage for storing large files in Oracle Application Express (APEX). Today, I found out with a lot of excitement, that one of my slides was now factually wrong!
I won't deny that it has been a challenging and tough journey, but today, I'm glad to be able to declare that the book "Getting Started with Oracle Cloud Free Tier" has been published and available to purchase!
As Uncle Ben would say, "Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility." With the release of Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) version 19.4.6, many of us were eager to deploy a customer-managed ORDS solution in order to support vanity URLs with Oracle Application Express (APEX), myself included. It has worked well for me until a few days ago, I noticed that my Oracle JET charts weren't loading any more.
In my previous post, we looked at installing and configuring Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) and have it work with Oracle Application Express (APEX) that comes preinstalled with every Oracle Autonomous Database (ADB). Like APEX, ORDS is also included as a feature of the ADB. However, there are certain situations where you might like to manage your own instance of ORDS.
The Oracle Autonomous Database (ADB) is Oracle's current flagship database product and rightly so! Each instance comes with self-tuning, self-patching and several Oracle Database Options that customer would otherwise have to purchase separate licenses for. Database developers will also be pleased to know that there are a suite of tools at your disposal including Oracle Application Express (APEX), Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) and Oracle Machine Learning Notebooks.
The minimum instance you can create will have 1 CPU and 1 TB of storage and with so much features, doesn't come cheap. Here's the good news though, Oracle provides everyone two Always Free ADBs through the Oracle Cloud Free Tier offering. Yes, that's a great deal for anyone wanting to host a simple web application on the Internet. It is however, not without limits.
Every Singaporean Son grows up to respond to a codeword alongside an image of a soldier on guard.
When your codeword is flashed on the screen, you wrap up whatever you are doing, head home, pack, bid your goodbyes and then report to camp. Hence, when I heard this call to help, instinct kicked in and I had to respond.
