News & Reviews
Firefox 3.1 release likely to be delayed
Feb 22nd
There are reports that suggest that release of Mozilla Firefox version 3.1 is likely to be delayed. The reason for this delay is attributed to the problems posed by “TraceMonkey”. Some of the developers have suggested to remove the new Javascript Engine dubbed as TraceMonkey so that release of Firefox can get back on track.
Firefox developer David Baron seemed puzzled regarding how long Firefox 3.1 should be held up by TraceMonkey problems. He quoted:
Without TraceMonkey, we probably could have shipped 3.1 final by now, or, if not now, within the next month.
Mozilla has made most out of their Javascript engine, for example performance boost since its introduction last summer. However the bugs of TraceMonkey and the slow pace in patching them is the primary reason for the delay in releasing their next version.
Few Mozilla Developers are of the view that removing TraceMonkey would solve the delay problem. However it seems that removal of TraceMonkey is not an optiom. Mike Shaver, Mozilla’s vice president of engineering stated:
We’re always looking at all of our choices, but I don’t think it’s likely. TraceMonkey is a big part of Firefox 3.1, and a big part of what we want to have for users.
Shaver went on to say that Firefox 3.1 in its current state is still “quite a stable product”.
Mozilla Firefox 3.1 was once thought of as a “fast-track” update to June 2008′s Firefox 3.0. However in the current situation the new browser’s progress has been much slower than originally planned. At one point, Mozilla was planning a final release as early as during the last months of 2008, and hinted that it would use just a single beta to do so but that did not happen.
Introducing RedHat’s Jboss Developer Studio
Feb 22nd
JBoss Developer Studio is a certified open source development environment where they can get everything they need to develop rich web applications. Developers will be using technologies like JBoss Hibernate, JBoss Seam, JBoss Application Server.
JBoss Developer Studio is bundled with Eclispe , Eclispe Tooling and JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.
Clay Ryder, Senior Analyst, Sageza Group said:
“The Eclipse framework has been established for some time; however, developers have usually had to weave together their test and development environments from multiple frameworks and components. With this announcement, the potential of a comprehensive IDE that supports all development tasks, whether they are Java-, Ajax-, or Linux-based, has become a reality.”
The JBoss Developer Studio includes both certified visual tooling and a runtime platform that Red Hat supports for 5 years,which can give the developers a confidence that their developed environment, platform and product will be stable, upgradeable, deployable, supportable.
JBoss Developer Studio is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS Tiger 10.4x and earlier. JBoss Developer Studio requires JDK 5.0 to run.
Red Hat has seen over 100,000 downloads of JBoss Developer Studio 1.0 beta, since this august, which is a positive sign of well-tested 1.0 release.
Brad Shimmin, Principal Analyst, Current Analysis said:
“Although Red Hat’s JBoss Developer Studio is a 1.0 release, it is anything but a first stab or untested solution. (…) Since being released in beta this August, Red Hat has seen 100,000 downloads, making this product a well-tested 1.0 release.”
More Information about JBoss Developer Studio features are available at here .
More features in Windows 7
Feb 22nd
Windows 7 is faster, more reliable, and makes it easier to do what you want. Both the everyday things and the killer “is that really possible?” things.
Windows 7 was built around customer feedback, so customer will see a lot of things they have asked for.
People asked to make everyday tasks faster and easier, make their PC work the way they want it to, and make new things possible.
Windows Media Center features and changes in Windows 7 to the new Pictures and Videos experience:
- Changes to the way videos are displayed in Video Library to include Thumbnails AND Names for each video.
- Support for H.264 Video – no 3rd party codecs are required to play H.264 content.
- Video Play-All Option (think of it as a “Video Slide Show”) with ability to navigate between each video.
- Developers can take advantage of the new Import API for Windows Portable Devices. The new API enables photos AND videos from portable devices to be imported directly within Windows Media Center.
- Ability to create Slide Shows (new Slide Show pivot) with your pictures and can contain pictures or music or both.
- New On-screen Keyboard (Touch-enabled).
- Improved Rating Controls within Windows Media Center UI.
- New Ratings Pivot for quick access to your favorite content.
- Play Favorites feature with new Slide Show style.
- Auto Slide Show feature acts as a screen saver for Windows Media Center.
Follow the link below to watch the video about the Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta.
Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta
Latest Toshiba 16-inch Satellite Series
Feb 22nd
According to the announcement made last month, Toshiba released its first 16 inch display notebooks in the form of the Satellite A350, A355, and A355D.
These laptops support a maximum of 4GB RAM, up to 400GB hard drive and a built-in DVD burner. Its display offers 1,366 × 768 pixels resolution with aspect ratio of 16:9.
All models will boast harman/kardon stereo speakers, an integrated webcam and microphone, 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Ethernet LAN, three USB ports, an eSATA/USB combo port, ExpressCard slot, 5-in-1 media card reader and Firewire port.
Toshiba Satellite A350 has a 720p HD capable screen with 1366 x 768 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio, together with speakers from Harmon Kardon, but sadly no Blu-ray drive, only a dual-layer DVD burner. Both Intel and AMD processors are available, with the cheapest model having a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 while the range tops out with a Core 2 Duo P7450 running at 2.13GHz.
Ports include three USB 2.0, one dual USB/eSATA, VGA output, S/PDIF and a multiformat memory card reader. There’s also an ExpressCard slot.
In terms of connectivity, all of the new 16″ Toshiba Satellite laptops come with integrated 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Ethernet LAN and 56k modems whilst each also sports three USB ports, an eSATA/USB combo port, ExpressCard slot and Firewire port whilst additional features across all three laptops include built-in 5-in-1 media card reader, web cam and microphone and integrated harman/kardon stereo speakers.
In terms of differences between the new 16″ Satellite laptops, the Satellite A350 and A355 come with a Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors under the hood with Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics complete with HDMI output respectively (the A350 offers VGA output only, incidentally) whilst the Satellite A355D packs an AMD Turion X2 CPU paired with Radeon 3100 integrated graphics – though various configurations are available.
Prices for the new 16″ Toshiba Satellite models range from around $650 to $900 for the base models with optional extras obviously serving to hike up these prices depending on your requirements.
Now manage your several email accounts with Gmail Multiple Inboxes
Feb 21st
Google launched Multiple Inboxes a couple weeks back which was an experimental feature in Gmail Labs. With Multiple Inboxes you can customize different inboxes in one view to log into Gmail.
All you would need is to forward all your work, college or friends email to Gmail, then you can easily use the Multiple Inboxes to see your accounts separately within the same browser window.
Before Multiple Inboxes email users used to first filter their mails then label and auto-archieve all their messages which was an annoying task. Now with Multiple Inboxes users could easily see all their messages without cluttering the primary inboxes.
This feature would definetly be very useful for the office workers and professionals which will in response increase Gmail users.
Windows 7 introduces new internet games
Feb 21st
Just like the earlier versions of Windows OS, Windows 7 comes to the table with it’s fair components like a collection of games, some of them are conventionally associated while others are new additions. I have just encountered total of 11 games in Windows 7 and among them 3 are new including:
- Internet Backgammon
- Internet Spades
- Internet Checkers
These games have been redesigned and improved over their old artificial intelligence. With each of them, you can:
- Play online against 4 of your friends at the same time.
- You can also select 3 difficulty levels and play against the same skilled players from all around the globe.
- If your friend / opponent drops out due to any reason, so automatically computer bot will take over to finish the game.
- There’s also a flexibility in choosing different backgrounds and cards design to get your desired look and feel.
All these new games in Windows 7 is centralized through the Games Explorer. You can also track records both for the client-based variants of the games, as well as for those played online.
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So, are you really tired of Freecell? Give these games a try and play with several users online. My favorite one is Internet Checkers, let me know yours.
Download your Google Documents using the Documents List Data API
Feb 21st
Google Documents List Data API, allows client applications to upload documents to Google Documents and list them in the form of Google Data API (”GData”) feeds.
Recently, the API allowed users to download files in their original format, but the developer community was active in requesting exporting capabilities, and today developers can use the API to download documents in a variety of formats including PDF, Microsoft Word, SWF, RTF, and Open Document Format.
According to the discussion on the Google Data API’s Blog:
Many of you have been waiting patiently for the ability to download your Google Documents using the Documents List Data API. Today, I am very happy to announce the API’s top feature request is finally live.
The undocumented (but widely used) RawDocContents url has been replaced by a more versatile Export servlet. Authenticated applications can now download documents in a number of different formats including pdf, doc, ppt, swf, xls, and more.
Exporting is available to all three authentication methods (ClientLogin, AuthSub, OAuth) and will work for developers using the DocList API with a Google Apps hosted domain.
This is a great achievement to the Documents List Data API and it has yielded the client applications to enable users to manage and manipulate their document files in new ways.
One potential new app would enable users to delegate download-only access of some of their Google Docs in the read-only PDF format.
Another potential new app could use the API to batch process file format conversion in the background it means that you have to write once and convert it to multiple documents.
For all the details on exporting the documents, see the documentation. Ask your questions here.
Google Chrome bug fixes
Feb 20th
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
Google Chorme Dev channel has released yet another bug fix release of Google Chrome and it has been updated to 2.0.164.0. This is a bug fix release.
Now Google Chrome user interface is supporting 8 Indic languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya(not supported in XP), Tamil, and Telugu. This is just the initial integration of support for these languages. The translations are not complete and haven’t been finalized.
Changes made to the newer version are:
- Fixed the problems with Facebook’s sidebar layout.
- Fixed ‘crash on some Hebrew and Arabic sites’ known issue.
- Fixed several problems with making Google Chrome the default browser on Windows Vista.
- The complete list of changes is available in the released notes.
Following are the known issues which are listed as:
- After scrolling, input method editor (IME) windows appear far from the current text area. (Issue 7651)
- The Web Inspector (right click > Inspect Element) does not work. (Issue 7800)
- Issues with commands on pop-up windows: the context menu has most commands disabled, reload and view source do not work. (Issues 7615, 7635, 7804)
- Saving web pages does not work. Save as.. (Ctrl+S) appears to save to your Downloads folder, but it creates a file in the Application\2.0.164.0 directory. (Issue 7616)
- Some pop-ups and tabs load pages, but the title remains ‘Untitled’ and the address bar shows ‘about:blank’ as the URL. (Issue 7625)
You people can also report bugs. This release was announced by Mark Larson, Google Chrome Program Manager.
SAP now owns Coghead
Feb 20th
Yes you read it right, Business software giants SAP have purchased Coghead which provides an online application development platform.
SAP who in the past invested in their latest purchase Coghead, have bought the Coghead’s intellectual property and have hired its engineering team. SAP will not be selling the services which Coghead provided. Instead they intend to use it as an internal tool for the present time.
Coghead enabled its clients to develop and host database applications online using the drag-and-drop interface. The service is set to continue through April, but SAP “will not assume any customer obligations or relationships,” according to a SAP spokeswoman. On its site, Coghead has advised its customers to stop development and download their valuable data, since SAP has ceased technical support.
Coghead CEO Paul McNamara, who is a former Red Hat and IBM executive , in his letter to the customers stated:
As a customer, you know that the Coghead platform provides one of the fastest and most efficient ways to develop applications. SAP saw great value in our technology. SAP also saw great value in our people. As part of the deal, many of the Coghead engineering and operations team have joined SAP as well.
The CEO also thanked all those who were attached to the Coghead:
Coghead began as an ambitious vision by Greg Olsen, Chelliah Thirunavukkarasu, and Bill Trento. Along the way, the company became a trendsetter in the cloud computing space and I want to thank all of our employees, customers and partners who contributed to turning Coghead from vision to reality.
In regard to his own future plans he stated:
As for me, I will not be joining SAP, and I cannot comment any further on SAP’s future plans for the technology or the details of the sale transaction. However, I wish my former colleagues the best of luck at their new home.
Another significant update for Google Transit is out now
Feb 20th
Google Transit is a service to provide the users of Google Maps a step-by-step transit directions on their web browser and mobile phones. The Google Transit features include finding transit stops in an area, viewing station information and schedules. The Transit Layer overlays public transportation lines visually on Google Maps, mostly in places where the local public transportation agency has not yet partnered with Google their full schedule data online.
People around the world are being facilitated by using the Google Transit on their desktop or mobile phones which made using of public transportation much more convenient for them. Google Transit team’s goal is beyond this point.
Google Transit Product Manager, Raphael Leiteritz said:
“We haven’t reached our dream of having coverage for all public transit agencies, but we’ve been working hard to keep getting closer to that goal”
Yesterday, Google Transit had announced another significant update with the launch of several updates for full schedule routing around the world and more then ten new cities in the Transit Layer.
Full schedules are now available for Transit among others in Calgary, Hamilton, Edmonton, and York Region in Canada; East Midlands (UK); Houston (TX); 21 agencies in the state of Virginia, as well as a substantial data set in China, connecting all provinces with 3100 train lines, covering about 2700 stations and all major cities of china. In all those cities users can route around with public transportation by using Google Maps on their desktop or mobile phones.
New cities include: Adelaide, Atlanta, Bonn, Calgary, Davis, California, Hamilton, Canada, Pilsen, Sacramento, Torino, Toronto York region. Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria are also updated. In all those cities users can visually see public transportation lines on Google Maps and interact with the Layer by clicking on stations.
