michael bolger points to this announcement that "SchemaSoft and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) will host the 2nd annual SVG Open Conference on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) in Vancouver, British Columbia from July 13-18, 2003 at the Westin Bayshore Resort & Marina. The SVG Open 2003 Conference and Exhibition is a forum for software developers, Web developers, graphic artists and other technical specialists to exchange ideas, methods and advances related to Web graphics."

An anonymous reader writes "Grid computing is the "next big thing," and this article's goal is to provide a "10,000-foot view" of key concepts. This article relates many Grid computing concepts to known quantities for developers, such as object-oriented programming, XML, and Web services. The author offers a reading list of white papers, articles, and books where you can find out more about Grid computing."

miguel writes "Today Zoltan Varga announced that he got Eclipse running on Mono using the open source IKVM Java virtual machine for .NET by Jeroen Frijters. This is the first time a complete free software JVM implementation can run eclipse in a reasonable time. This runs with our latest Mono release. Mandatory screenshot"

dolbywan_kenobi writes "GoboLinux is an alternative Linux distribution which redefines the entire filesystem hierarchy. In GoboLinux we have paths such as /Programs/XFree86/4.3/ and /System/Settings/BootScripts/Reboot." By design, GoboLinux is quite a bit different from most Linux distributions, and -- notably -- is a live ISO, always nice.

Aavidwriter writes "Peter Wayner asks Michael 'Monty' Widenius of MySQL, 'When will RAM prices make disk drives obsolete for database developers?' From Monty's answers, it sounds like hard drives may be nothing but backups before long." From experience, I'd wager that RAM failure rates are less than hard drive failure rates, so it might also mean more stability from that perspective.

An anonymous reader writes "Over at java.sun.com, there's an informative article about the new features in JDK1.5. Some of the changes like generics are nice and should make some things easier. Some of the enhancements to me are purely sugar, like enumerators. When it comes down to it, once the code is compiled, it's the same. The thing I hope is, some of this new syntactic sugar doesn't result in more obfuscated code. Unlike some people, I feel using programming shorthand leads to increased maintenance. This is especially true when you have to debug a complex application."

An anonymous reader writes "Over at Apple has posted a technote on porting Unix programs to Mac OS X. Nothing earth-shattering, but nice to see it all collected."

An anonymous reader writes "Using genetic algorithms to breed strings of computer code graphically, this week's Nature magazine describes results from Caltech and Michigan State. Their program is Avida. While they mainly mimic mutation, not genetic cross-over [or inheritance (thus wiping away much memory of initial conditions)], their simulations show how a short-term backward step in survival strategies can generate innovative advances. It is not unlike running a maze which necessarily involves testing alot of dead-ends, and thus shares the graphical look of Conway's classic Game of Life." Here's a National Geographic story about this as well, or see their press release.

larsberg writes "Another wonderful article from Paul Graham on hackers, their lifestyle, and their tools. It's entitled "Hackers and Painters", and provides a great description of how the great hackers write code. The article is definitely worth a read, especially for those who have an inkling that any field that has to place the word "Science" in its name probably isn't really a science after all."

ansonyumo writes "ZDNet is carrying an article written by one John Carroll that outlines specific advantages of .NET over Java. It's written from the point of view of a Java advocate who has 'seen the light.' First of all, comparing .NET and Java isn't very fair; you have to compare .NET and J2EE. When you level the playing field, most of his arguments readily fall apart."

aphor writes "The The Infrared Data Association has drafted a standard for IrDA "Point and Pay" devices. Its called Infrared Financial Messaging (IrFM) Point & Pay, and its supposed to turn your handheld computer or cell phone into a digital wallet that can handle credit card, debit, check [and maybe even secure anonymous digital cash ala CyberCash?] transactions. I think this is significant, because instead of trusting a closed device like a smart card or magstripe on a credit card (we all know the problems with those), you receive a challenge from the vendor on your IR port, and you control how your device responds to it. Palm OS and Linux are specifically mentioned in their documentation as platforms for IrFM Point-and-Pay. BTW: I can't see anything that would prevent turning your Palm device into a handheld cash register. The specs for their protocol can be downloaded for free."

snow70 asks: "It seems that it is getting harder and harder to justify the decision to re-write rather than hack/patch away on a flawed code base, given the economic situation and the drive to squeeze every last drop out of an existing code base. Are the readers aware of any research articles or reports that extoll the benefits of re-writing in terms of the cost savings in maintenance and support ?" This topic was discussed two years ago, but I think many people who'll find themselves in this situation would also benefit from any research articles or publications as snow70 requests.

CowboyRobot writes "ACM Queue has an interview with Jim Ready about how embedded systems differ from desktops and servers, and how they will help shape the future of Linux. From the article: Your car, for instance, now has telematics -- mapping, navigation, and entertainment systems -- that clearly present a very sophisticated user interface... The neat part for me now is that embedded systems can consist of Linux applications with beautiful graphical interfaces."

bergie writes "There is an interesting article on Advogato on why it is so difficult for Open Source projects to interoperate or support common standards. Often cultural differences between projects, egoes, and many other issues stand in the way. The article outlines some practical ways for improving the situation, based on experiences from OSCOM efforts to get support WebDAV, SlideML and other standards into Open Source CMSs. Examples of successful interop projects include freedesktop.org, the cooperative effort between GNOME and KDE."

Ryan McDougall writes "Have you ever downloaded a new app, got that tingly feeling, and wanted to express your thanks to the developer that made it happen? Have you flamed a developer over some small issue, but would never consider using another app -- and you want them to know that? Is Gnome your favorite DE, and want to express your appreciation? There is a touching 'thanks-fest' going on at http://gnomedesktop.org/article.php?sid=1099&mode= &order=0&thold=1 . If you answered yes above, please stop by and leave your regards."

makapuf writes "According to linuxtoday, the X Consortium has published enhancement proposals to let X and IPV6 interoperate. This is surely a relief for the masses here that longed for X support for IPV6. Or the contrary? The proposal can be found here."

Michael Williamson writes "A PC parallel port can provide 0 or 5v on 8 pins, individually controllable. This can be used to directly drive LED lights, or with the addition of an external power supply, some switching transistors, and some relays, control 8 higher-powered devices. I've written a handful of example programs that drive a homemade 8-LED display in amusing ways."

santos_douglas writes "ZDNet news has this story on a study by market researcher Evans Data showing that 'professional' use of Microsoft's Visual Basic language is down significantly. The study pegs VB use at 52%, but of those surveyed 43% intend to switch soon. Of those 31% intend to use Java, and 39% C#, the remaining 30% are not described. The reason: '"As they leave Visual Basic 6.0 behind, developers are choosing languages that help them work more easily with emerging technologies such as wireless and Web services development," said Esther Schindler, senior analyst at Evans Data, in a statement.'"

HackerStickers writes "The Fellowship of the Geeks - Aka Gnomedex 3.0 is the geeks conference of the year. This weekend-long geek-a-thon has had upwards and over 500 attendees all having the common love of technology. Des Moines, Iowa is where the Geeks will tromp July 25th & 26th both in business and pleasure. The lockergnome crew will be there and the list of speakers keeps growing with great topics by Jim Louderback, your very own slashdot man - Rob Malda, Tim O'Reilly, and not-so-decided topics by both MS and Google."

Reader java1dev submits the following brief review of O'Reilly's Java Data Objects, which he says provides excellent coverage of JDO. His capsule description of the book: "First, a high-level overview, followed by an in-depth coverage of the core features, and concluding by describing the more complex concepts in detail. Running throughout the book is an excellent intuitive example application that illustrates the features being covered." Read on for more of his review.