Microsoft to help Eclipse developers make Java apps look Vista-native
In a growing effort to show the world it is embracing the open source community, Microsoft announced it will work with the Eclipse Foundation to offer the Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit that can be used with the Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation.
The use of Eclipse technology will allow Java developers to make software applications that look native to the Windows Vista operating system. Eclipse is an open source community project that is the most popular Java development environment available to programmers.
Torrent site Mininova to test video streaming
The popular BitTorrent tracking site Mininova is working with a Dutch university development team in the development of an online video streaming service that may later be integrated into the site.
The service will begin with closed beta testing for a small number of current Mininova users, with no indication when it will be moved to open beta status.
Apple brings back Leopard feature with update, but users report problems
Apple issued firmware updates for its AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule base stations late Wednesday, bringing back a feature it initially touted for Mac OS X Leopard, but later dropped.
AirPort Disk was supposed to allow users to hook up an external hard drive to their AirPort Extreme base stations and perform automated backups using Leopard's new Time Machine feature. Shortly before the operating system launched last October, however, the feature was removed from Apple's Web site.
Verizon Wireless captures 700 MHz glory in near-sweep of C-block
As it turned out, those smiles were on the Verizon Wireless executives' faces for a very good reason: It has won easily the most valuable wireless spectrum ever auctioned in US history, by virtue of high bids placed 230 rounds ago.
Verizon Wireless may not have ever been seriously challenged for rights to use the most valuable C-block of wireless spectrum -- currently hovering around Channel 63 of the VHF TV dial -- for future wireless operations. Throughout the lower 48 states, it placed winning bids for the nation's major regions as early as round 18, in an auction that lasted through round 261.
Google search plug-in for Windows Mobile promises more of the same
Google yesterday announced the availability of a plug-in for Windows Mobile devices, which provides a shortcut on the home screen to Google's search.
The plug-in was first made available to BlackBerry devices last December, and then to Symbian-based phones more recently. Making it available on Microsoft's popular mobile operating system was only a logical step for Google.
AMD denies reports of layoffs under way
Two separate AMD spokespersons denied to BetaNews this afternoon published reports that the company was already implementing a five percent workforce reduction, and that employees were already receiving pink slips.
"AMD confirms that it has not had a reduction in force," states one AMD spokesperson today. "While AMD cannot comment on speculation about what may happen in the future, we confirm that we have not had layoffs at this time."
Open sourcers create iPhone business applications
An open source project called ICEfaces is now building "collaborative business applications" for Apple's phone, including one that lets you order a taxi electronically and view the cab's dispatch schedule.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - Although iPhones are generally considered consumer devices, the open source ICEfaces Project is now at work on Java-based "rich media" business applications that will run across both desktops and Apple's popular handheld platform.
Adobe's plans for iPhone Flash depend on your meaning of 'committed'
Is Flash coming to the iPhone or not? For two consecutive days now, Adobe has said it wants to make that possible. But the way it's handling the issue has the press parsing every participle for latent meaning.
A statement from Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen during the Q&A session of his company's quarterly earnings call last Tuesday appeared to indicate his company was actively pursuing the production of a Flash component for the Apple iPhone. That's how quite a few press sources reported the story, including BetaNews.
ComScore data for February: Yahoo's popular, AOL's everywhere
Media analysis firm comScore yesterday released its 50 top-ranked Web sites for the month of February, showing that Yahoo is still the biggest destination, but the advertising power lies with AOL.
Yahoo continued its lead as the server of the most visited sites on the Web, with 137 million unique visitors in February. Yahoo was followed by Google with nearly 136 million, and Microsoft sites with over 118 million.
Verizon Wireless releases 'open specifications' for device builders
Going forward with an historic initiative launched last November, one of the nation's largest wireless carriers held a gala conference to celebrate the release of specifications for how any wireless device can just plug right into its network.
While Verizon Wireless' vice president for open development, Tony Lewis, read the FCC disclaimer prior to the start of his presentation in New York City yesterday -- the part where he says he's prohibited from discussing the proceedings or outcome of the 700 MHz auction, usually the least newsworthy part of a show -- his wide, beaming smile and jovial demeanor spoke volumes.
Amazon apologizes for lack of Kindles, promises more on the way
A personal letter from Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos graced the front page of the online retailer Thursday, apologizing for the lack of Kindle electronic book readers and promising that production is being sped up.
Since the Kindle made its debut last November, the device has been in very short supply. Many buyers are waiting upwards of six weeks for their Kindle to arrive, and the situation hasn't improved much even after the holidays.
Blu-ray Profile 2.0 update coming to PS3 this month
Sony detailed its plans Thursday to deliver the long-awaited Profile 2.0 update for Blu-ray to its PlayStation 3 later this month. Sony expects the PS3 to have a 10-year lifecycle.
Because the Blu-ray specification was incomplete when Sony launched the format to compete with HD DVD in 2004, consumers have had to wait for more advanced features already found in the rival -- and now defunct -- format. Picture-in-picture wasn't added until Profile 1.1 -- known as Bonus View -- and Internet connectivity and local storage come with Profile 2.0, which has been dubbed BD-Live.
Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)
There are so few gentle geniuses left. One more has passed: a man who could not only dream magnificent new things could come about, but who had the competence to actually make his dreams reality.
When most people I know think of Arthur C. Clarke, they think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and almost immediately, they conjure images and sounds of HAL the computer, spaceships landing in overlit, white parlor rooms, dancing orangutans, Johann Strauss music intertwined with Richard Strauss music, and innocent young fetuses hanging in space. That's generally when I say they're confusing Clarke for Stanley Kubrick.
Should social networks be treated as 'primitive lands?'
It takes almost anthropological skills to understand the still "primitive" land of social networks, contended one of the speakers Wednesday at the Search Strategies 2008 Conference and Expo in New York.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - The tribes of online participants who gather together in sites such as Digg, Second Wave, and Wikipedia are actually developing distinct sociological subcultures, according to Rob Key, CEO of a company called Converseon.
Startup Mahalo aims to combat Yahoo, Google with 'semantic relationships'
"We know not everybody wants to give up Google or Yahoo," acknowledged a CEO of a startup that aims to compete with them both. But the future of search, he says, could involve more features than either ever considered.
Search pages of the future might incorporate user-contributed URL links, product recommendations from other social networks, and semantic searches, suggested Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo, in a keynote speech Wednesday at the Search Strategies 2008 Conference and Expo.
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