222 Posted Topics
 | If your plan is to strong-arm customers into offering your products exclusively, you had better give them something people want to buy. With Microsoft and Windows Vista, such is not the case, and Hewlett-Packard isn't taking it lying down. HP, the world's number one PC supplier in terms of volume …  |
| | If you have to release a statement explaining your commercial, I think it's safe to say it was a failure. The much anticipated [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM_72QXCtN4]Microsoft commercial[/URL] featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld debuted yesterday, and quickly rose in the viewer ranks on YouTube. Not only was the 90-second spot not funny, it left …  |
| | I agree it was a disappointment. And if it was supposed to be an ad for Vista, it totally missed the mark. The best moment came at the end, with Jerry's enthusiastic "YES...!" However, the message I got was that there's something [i][b]else[/i][/b] coming; something [i][b]other[/i][/b] than what's already out. |
| | Bravo to Google for daring to compete in the two-party system of the world's desktop browser market. And kudos for bucking the status quo to design a "modern platform for Web pages and applications," as its [release statement](http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/why.html?hl=en) read. But there's also skepticism out there about Google's bravado, and about … |
| | It was widely reported today that Apple will begin selling iPhones in Russia through agreements with at least two of the country's top three carriers. Apple might be better off settling for its current black market sales figures, which [URL=http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Russian-Vendors-To-Sell-Legal-iPhone/story.xhtml?story_id=00200081FB3Y]one report[/URL] has at about 20,000 units a month. Because Apple … |
| | With dozens of freshly minted applications on hand to stock its shelves, Google's Android Market is all but ready to open-- right across the street from Apple's App Store. All Google needs now is for someone to start selling phones that use Android, its Linux-based mobile operating system. According to … |
| | Google yesterday announced winners of the [URL=http://code.google.com/android/adc.html]Android Developer Challenge[/URL], which put up US$10 million in prize money to developers of the best applications for its nascent mobile platform. In doing so, Google also helped to stock the shelves of Android Market, a forthcoming online retail site for Android applications akin … |
| | Are you participating in Hack Week? That's Novell's open invitation to the world for suggestions on how to improve its openSuse Linux distro running through this Friday, Aug. 29. And you might just even win a prize. Calls for porting [URL=http://www.gnome.org/projects/tomboy/]Tomboy[/URL] to Windows (and maybe even Mac OS X), adding … |
| | In the late 1990s an innovative company called Enroute Imaging came out with QuickStitch, a program that could analyze a series of digital photos and "stitch" them together into a single image. It cleverly figured out where the image data repeated and combined the photos seamlessly. It was really cool … |
| | I can just hear Jerry Seinfeld’s monologue taking jabs at Redmond: “…and what’s with Microsoft Vista—Bob and Windows ME weren’t embarrassing enough?” Who knows, maybe he already has. But now all that must be put aside as he takes on the role of pitch man for Vista. Do the folks … |
| | Intel Thursday unveiled something [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla]Nikola Tesla[/URL] could only dream of. The company this week was demonstrating the ability to transmit 60 watts of electrical power across three feet of thin air with 75 percent efficiency. I had a toothbrush once that recharged without wires. Every time the handheld part was … |
| | Device maker Palm this week placed its bet on a pair of pros. First is the [URL=http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treopro/index.html?creativeID=SP_BB_treopro]Palm Treo Pro[/URL], its next-generation smartphone to rival Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry. The other is Jon Rubinstein, the company’s executive chair hired earlier this year and now charged with the company's salvation. Rubinstein … |
| | Hi Ron: Good post. I couldn't agree more. Microsoft's reaction to the (really funny, and I believe effective) Apple ads indicates that the ads must contain more than a 'kernel' of truth. And since Apple still has such a small percentage of the market, the move makes Microsoft look even …  |
| | Toshiba is taking another crack at high-definition DVD, sort of. Half a year after it [URL=http://www.hddvdfreak.com/2008/02/hd-dvd-is-dead.html]ceased combat major operations[/URL] in the format wars with Philips, Sony and the Blu-ray format, Toshiba has taken the wraps off [URL=http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/dvd/]XDE[/URL], a new up-conversion format that it claims can wring more resolution from pictures … |
| | Get ready to rewrite your USB drivers. Again. Intel this morning released portions of an updated draft of the [URL=http://www.intel.com/technology/usb/spec.htm]Extended Host Controller Interface 3[/URL], the latest version (0.9) of the part of the USB specification that handles register-level communications between the operating system and the USB host controller. The new … |
| | It’s a new day for open source developers. A U.S. Federal appeals court yesterday ruled that someone releasing code under an open source license can control future use of that code using copyright law. That’s important because copyright laws carry stronger remedies—including court injunction—along with the monetary remedies available for … |
| | I'm in hog heaven right now. I've got nothing to do today but munch on [URL=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/2156053173_976de8781a.jpg?v=0]linzer tarts[/URL] and watch the first day of 2008 Olympic games live from Bejing, China. And if the mood strikes me (as it obviously has), maybe even do a bit of blogging. Unlike with previous …  |
| | Google is doubling down on cookies. I like cookies as much as the next guy; I've got a box of linzer tarts next to me as I write this. But when a company as powerful as Google starts force feeding you with tracking agents, some might see that as unpalatable. … |
| | AUGUST 7, 2008--There was much to celebrate at the [URL=http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/]LinuxWorld Conference and Expo[/URL] this week in San Francisco's Moscone Center, particularly if you're a developer building applications on or for the platform. Remember when gOS debuted as the operating system inside Wal-Mart's US$199 PC? The company yesterday introduced [URL=http://www.thinkgos.com/new/]gOS 3 … |
| | How's this for a news story? Genuitec, which develops the MyEclipse commercial Eclipse IDE, announced today that it is working toward a near-zero carbon footprint and wants other Java tool companies to do the same. Stay with me here. Touting its environmentally friendly ways, the company starts with a boast … |
| | It’s not a new snack food and it’s not a plan to help save the Earth. The low power chips are a series of application processors and digitial signal processors announced in July by Texas Instruments that consume significantly less power than predecessors and prolong battery life of the devices … |
| | Virtualization tools company Xenocode today is set to begin shipping an update to Postbuild 2008 for .NET, which enables developers to deploy .NET applications to systems that do not have the .NET framework installed or have a mismatched version. The update adds support for .NET 3.0 and 3.5, Visual Studio … |
| | Apple has grabbed lots of headlines this week, some for things it has done, others for things done to it. Of all the major Apple products, only the iPod has escaped mention. With perhaps the potential to affect the most people is the deal announced this week with AT&T to … |
| | Erik Anderson and Rob Landley are at it again. The guys who brought us the [URL=http://busybox.net/]BusyBox[/URL] toolset for resource-constrained Linux and Unix systems, together with the Software Freedom Law Center, have filed yet another GPL enforcement lawsuit for copyright infringement. This time it’s against [URL=http://www.extremenetworks.com/index.aspx]Extreme Networks Inc.[/URL], a maker of … |
| | Forgive this experiment. I need to know how much the headline matters. If you've already read my Midori article from yesterday (July 30), don't bother to [URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2885.html]CLICK HERE[/URL]. If you haven't read it (and want to), please do [URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2885.html]CLICK HERE[/URL]. Thanks. |
| | Details of a future Microsoft operating system were revealed yesterday by David Worthington, a guy who works down the hall from me. He has apparently gotten his eyes on Microsoft documents that contained extensive details of a ground-up OS rewrite code-named Midori. Based on those documents, [URL=http://tinyurl.com/5ryum5]he reports[/URL] for SD … |
| | GUIdancer 2.2 Automates Failure Retires If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Such is the way of GUIdancer 2.2, the latest version of the function-test automation tool from Bredex, which began shipping yesterday. The keyword-driven tool for Java (Swing, SWT and RCP) and HTML can now retry failed … |
| | Microsoft it was disclosed today will become a sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation, forking over US$100,000 a year for theprivilege . In return, Redmond will gain access to the [URL=http://poi.apache.org/]Apache POI[/URL] project, a Java port of file formats of Microsoft's Office suite of applications. Based on Microsoft's history, I … |
| | "The great thing about standards is that every company gets to have one." The first time I heard that expression was around 1995. Proclaimed by Joel Shore, a former-boss-now-friend, it was one of the many truisms at the time. A good many standards bodies and arbiters have cropped up since … |
| | Two years after selling off its Xscale operations, Intel is once again turning its attention to building microprocessors for small devices. But rather than designing Xscale-like chips to form the foundation of devices such as the Palm Treo and RIM Blackberry, the strategy announced today will focus instead on system-on-chips, … |
| | The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting today about [URL=http://knol.google.com/k/knol]Knol[/URL], a Google service now in beta that's being compared to Wikipedia, a comparison that I believe is incorrect. While Wikipedia attempts to accumulate all the world's knowledge and information as a sort of user-made encyclopedia, Knol seems more like … |
| | When I first saw animated photos on newspapers in the Harry Potter movies, I thought it looked interesting, but never imagined it could be made cost-effective. It looks like time has once again proven me wrong. (When the 386SX processor came out, I wondered why anyone would ever need a … |
| | Halvar Flake is a researcher. Here's how he describes himself on [URL=http://www.blogger.com/profile/12486016980670992738]his blog[/URL]: "I like simple things. And complex things. And drinking beer with people like Fyodor Yarochkin. I like South America. And some parts of Asia, specifically Kuala Lumpur. I like French. I like Spanish. I'd like to like … |
| | A new service coming online soon may have us hearing the phrase "Quick, take out your cell phone!" a little more often. I suppose it was just a matter of time before somebody came up with a way to stream cell-phone video to the Web and store it there. That … |
| | Apple's doesn't make too many missteps, but the company continues to stumble implementing its [URL=http://www.apple.com/mobileme/]MobileMe[/URL] e-mail service. Apple issued a second apology over the weekend for service outages which left users without e-mail; the first came last week for similar reasons. The service was launched on July 9 along with … |
| | Here's some news that's sure to please the greens, while not costing much of it. A Linux-based desktop computer released today is reported to consume just two watts of power, and can save about US$35 a year in energy costs, according to company claims. The [URL=http://www.cherrypal.com/]CherryPal C100[/URL], which its namesake … |
| | I laughed out loud when I saw this headline on the ars technica Web site: “[URL=http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2008/07/16/monkey-see-monkey-do-microsoft-launches-mobile-app-site]Monkey see, monkey do: Microsoft launches mobile app site[/URL].” It’s so typical of Microsoft in recent years to desperately emulate companies it perceives as its competitors, even at the expense of its own embarrassment. The …  |
| | The Advanced Research Team of security tools vendor Ounce Labs has identified two vulnerabilities in the Spring framework for Java. The vulnerabilities have the potential, the team says, to allow an attacker to “subvert the expected application logic and behavior,” and gain control of an application and access any personal … |
| | Here’s a footnote for the current chapter of the Microsoft-Yahoo acquisition saga. Microsoft this week issued a [URL=http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/jul08/07-14statement.mspx]statement[/URL] to “set the record straight” about [URL=http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=321697]Yahoo’s July 12 rejection[/URL] of the latest acquisition offer from Redmond. Rather than trying to paraphrase, here’s Microsoft in its own words, including references to “activist … |
| | One of my very first blog entries here at DaniWeb was titled “[URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2341.html]Mac-Cloner Psystar: Hero or Hoax?[/URL]” Well it was either no hoax at all or Apple was the latest to get sucked in. It was revealed today that Apple on July 3 filed a [URL=http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/images/apple.pdf]law suit[/URL] in San Jose, … |
| | Here's an idea for an iPhone app project with a guaranteed user base: Build a tool for adjusting the display's color temperature. It's not officially possible, according to Apple, but don't let that stop you-- there's evidence that it can in fact be done. Because the day you purchased your … |
| | A built-in profiler, a new attributes language and enhanced project analyzer are among the features in RealBasic 3, the cross-platform integrated development environment from Real Software. The IDE for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows began shipping today. RealBasic 3 now supports attributes—which the company characterizes as compile-time properties—for project … |
| | Code search company [URL=http://www.krugle.com/]Krugle[/URL] on July 8 will begin shipping Krugle Enterprise 2.3, an update to its code repository appliance that it claims now allows more fine-tuned searching, increased storage and search capacity and the ability to search using custom data fields. Krugle positions its enterprise search appliance as a … |
| | Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is not only an apish buffoon, but he also apparently lacks a backbone. It was revealed today in a [URL=http://in.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idINWNAS033120080707]letter to Yahoo shareholders[/URL] written by “activist investor” Carl Icahn that Ballmer expressed fears that the current Yahoo board—hostile to a takeover by Microsoft—could put the huge … |
| | Here's a story that didn't get much play on the wire services. Microsoft on June 30 published [URL=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc203350.aspx]format specifications[/URL] for Office binary files as well as protocol documentation for Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, Outlook 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SQL Server 2005. According to the company, the move … |
| | Microsoft is betting that people would rather fork over $US20 a year for the legal right to use its Office application suite than install an old or pirated copy or use one of a growing number of free alternatives. Having been faced with that exact decision myself this week, I … |
| | Taiwanese device maker [URL=http://openmoko.com/]OpenMoko[/URL] chose Independence Day in the United States to announce the launch of Neo FreeRunner, its latest Linux-based open smartphone platform. Delivered with minimal functionality, owners are encouraged to develop and/or install their own applications and functionality. The unit is well equipped, sporting a 400Mhz processor, 640x480 … |
| | The Wall Street Journal reported this morning (and thousands of others since then) in a [URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121496732802022117.html] front-page story[/URL] that Microsoft is seeking new channels of opportunity for acquiring the search business of Yahoo. Redmond has reportedly been in talks with Time Warner and WSJ parent company News Corp., cooking up … |
| | The [URL=http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm]International Organization for Standardization[/URL] today announced that Adobe’s Portable Document Format is now an ISO standard. Well it’s about time! The PDF has only [URL=http://www.adobe.com/pdf/about/history/] been around[/URL] for 15 years! This is great news for all areas of publishing, for Web developers and Web site admins, even operating system … |
| | That’s it. I’ve had enough. Today I draw a line in the sand with me and Windows XP on one side and Microsoft and any of its new operating systems—including Vista—on the other, for ever more. What got me started on this—the reason for this pledge—is simple: Yesterday Microsoft said … |
The End.