In case you didn't know, we've been doing some FREE hands on training in a few places.  The next one is at Disneyland . If your local, this is a great way to meet some folks from product development.  At the event is developers and product managers from Times Ten, XDM , Java, SQL Developer, SQL Developer Data Modeler, Application Express, JDeveloper, .NET, and I'm sure I'm missing someone.  The training is based on the Oracle By Examples which have a new home on Oracle.com here. You can try any of these OBEs online anytime.  To make things even easier we've made the first VirtualBox Appliance with everything pre-setup. Just download and run.

If you want to try out any of these technologies, it's easier than ever. Follow the 5 steps listed on the appliance page and you have a complete setup for running the Application Express and Database Development tracks.  This includes:
  • Oracle Enterprise Linux 5
  • Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Cache
  • Oracle XML DB
  • Oracle SQL Developer
  • Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler
  • Oracle Application Express
  • Hands-On-Labs (accessed via the Toolbar Menu in Firefox)
 The appliance is also running the latest Application Express Listener to try out.

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/virtualbox/appliances/index.html