For the first time, About.com's Computing Channel will be running a coordinated Reader's Choice Award program in early 2010. During January, you'll be able to nominate your favorite sites, services and innovations in categories ranging from the best IM client and email service to best Web design and Web browser. Then, in February, check back to see if your favorite nominees made the cut, and cast your vote. Winners will be announced March 1. There's no prize -- just the bragging rights that come with getting recognized by the readers of one of the biggest tech networks on the Web.

The participating computing sites are :

• Desktop Publishing
• Email
• Family Computing
• Google
• IM
• Javascript
• Macs
• Mobile Games
• PC Hardware and Reviews
• Smart Phones
• Visual Basic
• VOIP
• Web Browsers
• Web Design/HTML
• Web Search

Following on from his article, an introduction to Java EE, Ed Ort has a new video in the Deep Dive series. He talks to Arun Gupta, Sun Evangelist, about Java EE 6. In the first part of the video, What's new and cool in Java EE 6, they highlight the improvements and new features to be found in the platform.

In case you were wondering about what's new in the latest enterprise edition of the Java platform, Ed Ort has written an extremely informative article on Java EE 6. Introducing the Java EE 6 Platform looks at how Java EE 6 meets it's intended goals and highlights some of the new technologies and improvements.

There's a nice new JavaFX plugin available for Netbeans 6.8 - the JavaFX Composer. It allows developers to drag and drop JavaFX containers, JavaFX controls, and project resources to create an application GUI. It also makes connecting to data sources easier.

It's a beta version, but don't let that stop you having a go at creating GUI layouts for your JavaFX applications. It's definitely worth a look. To help you get started there are a few tutorials on the JavaFX Composer wiki.