Location services for cell phones set to take off | CNET News 05/27/2004
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Location services for cell phones set to take off | CNET News.com: “‘People had terrible experiences three or four years ago,’ said Rick Smith of M-Spatial, a company that makes mapping and route-finding software for wireless devices, at the annual Mobile Location Services conference this week.
These days, maps and directions are tailored to a handset’s small screen, which is now in color. The maps are designed to meet specific demands, such as to help pedestrians who need landmarks to simplify their orientation when they come out of an underground train station. “
Company looks to capitalize on free XML tool | CNE… 05/25/2004
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Company looks to capitalize on free XML tool | CNET News.com: “Vienna-based Altova makes an array of developer tools for working with XML, the fast-spreading standard for exchanging data between disparate computing systems.
But the company also gives away a full-fledged authoring application that enables nondevelopers to create XML documents. Altova’s Authentic software–which has been downloaded by more than 500,000 users–dresses up raw XML with a slick interface that makes unwieldy chunks of code look like a spreadsheet or a word-processing document.”
Microsoft to Deliver Visual Studio Team Tools 05/24/2004
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Microsoft to Deliver Visual Studio Team Tools: “At its Tech Ed conference in San Diego, Microsoft plans to unveil Burton, the code name for its Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, sources said. The system will feature improved support for distributed, team-oriented enterprise application development, they said.
With the release of Burton, the Redmond, Wash., company will move into direct competition with IBM’s Rational division and Borland Software Corp., among others, in providing tools for the overall software development life cycle, from requirements management to design, modeling, development, testing and maintenance”
Sybase CEO: Unwired Enterprise Requires Aggressive Apps 05/21/2004
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Sybase CEO: Unwired Enterprise Requires Aggressive Apps:
“The company is using events such as its sponsorship of the Sybase Classic golf tournament this week to promote its ‘unwired enterprise’ concept, which focuses on enabling customers to connect their back-office data to their end users regardless of whether those users have wireless PDAs, browser-enabled PCs or any other computing device operating on the edge. “
hicksdesign | 3D CSS Box Model 05/20/2004
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hicksdesign :: 3D CSS Box Model: “20.05.04 | 3D CSS Box Model
Here’s a thing. I’ve seen umpteen diagrams showing CSS beginners how padding, border and margin work together, but not the order in which elements such as background colour and image are stacked. To try and fill this hole, I’ve drawn a diagram. I’m not sure if this is of any use at all, but here it is anyway – the 3D CSS Box Model.”
Microsoft Playing Nicer with ISVs, Company Exec Says 05/20/2004
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Microsoft Playing Nicer with ISVs, Company Exec Says:
“Microsoft execs say the company is working to polish its lackluster image with software partners as it increasingly views everything from its Office productivity suite to its business applications as a platform. “
TCS: Tech Central Station | Go Tech, Young Man! 05/20/2004
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TCS: Tech Central Station | Go Tech, Young Man!
“All companies used their presentations to emphasise ‘reduction of costs,’ ‘repayment of debts’ and most of all, ‘profitability, profitability, profitability.’ All that matters now is the bottom line. The market’s laws of gravity have clearly done their work and these companies are the better for it.”
Eurogamer.net | Microsoft set to offer XNA technology to consumer electronics rivals 05/20/2004
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Eurogamer.net | Microsoft set to offer XNA technology to consumer electronics rivals: “Microsoft is essentially bored with the current obsession surrounding console cycles, and the obsolescence that happens every five years. It likes the way the film industry does things – the way that grand old business manages to seamlessly project movies into every conceivable corner of the market, from the box office to the handheld and every point in between. It wants gaming to follow the lead of the movies, and coin in the bucks that having invisible standards brings. “
Good Enterprise System Wireless Suite 05/18/2004
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Good Enterprise System Wireless Messaging and Application Access Product Suite:
By providing a rich, wireless laptop-like experience for multi-tasking, exchanging messages and accessing corporate data, mobile users can work as efficiently on the road as they do in the office. The cradle-free system wirelessly synchronizes handheld information with the desktop, so the mobile workforce stays up-to-date with their information. Mobile employees can increase customer satisfaction by responding immediately with the right answers and by reducing access time to information, back-office processing and executive approvals.
With voice and data support for the Treo 600 and Pocket PC, mobile employees can integrate their email, data, voice and Web functions to provide an even greater rate of productivity.”
Microsoft Releases Source Code for Windows Template Library 05/13/2004
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Microsoft Releases Source Code for Windows Template Library: “Last month, Microsoft made available on SourceForge an internally developed product called the Windows Installer XML (WiX).
Jason Matusow, manager of Microsoft’s shared-source initiative, told eWEEK in an interview Wednesday that the company expects advanced C programmers to be most interested in using the WTL code, which can be found here.
The WTL is essentially a lightweight windowing C++ template library that allows developers to build simple Windows graphical user interfaces on applications.
Visual C++ developers have used WTL to develop a wide variety of applications requiring a front-end Graphical User Interface (GUI). Applications using WTL have been developed for desktop Windows as well as for Windows CE and have ranged from basic utilities to commercial consumer applications, to vertical commercial applications.”
3-D Is Not for Me | (somebody forgot his meds today) 05/08/2004
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3-D Is Not for Me: “In fact, when you think about it, is the real world really the environment we want to duplicate for our computers? Do we want to make it as easy to misplace virtual content as it is to lose our car keys or the TV remote?
Some of you may be thinking that I’m just an old loser who should stick to his command lines and point-and-click interfaces?Dthat I should leave 3-D to the youngsters who are more comfortable in rich gaming interfaces. But I’m a hard-core gamer, and I do love the 3-D interfaces in games.
Here’s the difference: When I’m playing Half-Life or Splinter Cell, I expect their interfaces to emulate the real world. That’s the point. However, when I’m writing reviews for eWEEK or even doing my taxes, I don’t need or want real-world emulation and 360 degrees of virtual space.”
LinuxPlanet | Reports | Sun Wants to Make Linux 3D 05/08/2004
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LinuxPlanet | Reports | Sun Wants to Make Linux 3D | Beyond the Second Dimension:
“Sun saw great potential in Looking Glass from its beginnings as an experimental proof of concept. ‘When we saw the prototype and saw a great opportunity, we built an engineering team around the idea. What we are doing is dissecting the original concept and rebuilding it using traditional desktop graphics technologies,’ Soto says.
While it certainly sounds like an attractive approach to an operating system, analysts say it’s too early to say what impact (if any) Looking Glass could have on Linux or the general operating system market. Tom Murphy, senior program director at Meta Group, wants to know what they will do with it.
‘I think in and of itself, it has a big wow effect. It’s cute to see these things like 3D animations of stuff moving around and think of collaborative space, but how does it make my business more productive?’ Murphy wonders. He believes, they need to tie the product to business productivity to make it successful. ‘As it’s shown (in the demonstration), if it’s not going to make me more productive, then who cares?’ “
Not all will see Longhorn in 3D | CNET News.com 05/06/2004
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Not all will see Longhorn in 3D | CNET News.com:
“The next version of Windows will sport some fancy, three-dimensional graphics, but for those with an older video card, Longhorn will look a lot like Windows 2000…”
“When you have a terabyte of local storage, potentially, a rich way to relate and gain (access) to the data becomes very important,” Sullivan said. “We’re not doing 3D in the (Windows) shell because it is cool–but it is cool.”
