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Blackberry

RIM Confirms Android Apps Will Run On Playbook, Through Intermediate Players 113

Posted by timothy from the when-fruit-meets-robot-companion dept.
angry tapir writes "Research In Motion has announced that users of its PlayBook tablet will be able to run Android and Java applications. The PlayBook, which becomes available on April 19, will have two optional 'app players' that will provide run-time environments for BlackBerry Java apps and Android 2.3 apps. The players will let users download BlackBerry Java Apps and Android Apps from BlackBerry App World."
Image

Book Review: Android User Interface Development Screenshot-sm 111

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
RickJWagner writes "So you want to be an Android developer? If you're like me, you've probably been wanting to learn how to program a mobile device, but just haven't found the time to master Objective-C. So now that Android is here, all of us garden-variety Java coders can jump on the bandwagon and start slinging apps out, right? Well, it turns out there's a little more to it than that. This book can make the trail from everyday Java code slinger to best-selling Android app writer a little more plausible." Read below for the rest of Rick's review.
Open Source

Google Engineer Releases Open Source Bitcoin Client 280

Posted by timothy from the gold-standard-in-non-gold dept.
angry tapir writes "A Google engineer has released an open source Java client for the Bitcoin peer-to-peer currency system, simply called BitcoinJ. Bitcoin is an Internet currency that uses a P2P architecture for processing transactions, avoiding the need for a central bank or payment system. Cio.com.au also has an interview with Gavin Andresen, the technical lead of the Bitcoin virtual currency system." Update: 03/23 16:22 GMT by T : Confused? BitcoinJ author Mike Hearn points out this video explanation of how Bitcoin works.
Facebook

Facebook Acquires Feature Phone App Maker Snaptu 62

Posted by timothy from the hut-hut-hut dept.
Krystalo writes "Facebook has agreed to acquire Snaptu, an Israeli startup that makes Java-based feature phone apps, for an estimated $70 million. The acquisition, for which neither company would reveal financial details, is expected to close within a few weeks. Earlier this year, Facebook worked with the mobile development firm to build a feature phone app that is accessible free of data charges in various overseas markets. The company says the Facebook for Feature Phones app currently works on more than 2,500 devices."
Java

Mirah Tries To Make Java Fun With Ruby Syntax 444

Posted by timothy from the user-friendly-is-hard dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Java is performant, widely adopted and eminently portable, however, its syntax is largely inherited from C++ along with some of its esoteric unfriendliness. Mirah aims to place a friendly face on Java through the implementation of a syntax whose primary concern is developer friendliness (think Ruby/Python/Groovy), and route of least surprise. The result is a truly cogent alternative syntax delivering readability, expressiveness and some compelling new language features."
Android

Does Android Have a Linux Copyright Problem? 292

Posted by timothy from the ask-the-patented-magic-8-ball dept.
An anonymous reader writes "TheRegister says Google's attempt to purge copyright from header files has put mobile developers at risk of being forced to reveal their own source code, according to legal experts. This time it's not patents or Android's reinterpretation of Java that's causing problems, but the Linux code that compiles down into Android itself. The discussion started with a Huffington Post article by IP lawyer Edward Naughton, who has serious doubts about Google's approach to the Linux kernel header files. He in turn links to copyright law professor Ray Nimmer's blog post on disclosure risks on copyleft platforms. And IP blogger Florian Mueller believes Google faces a serious Linux copyright issue."
Books

Book Review: Solr 1.4 Enterprise Search Server 43

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
MassDosage writes "Solr 1.4 Enterprise Search Server written by David Smiley and Eric Pugh provides in-depth coverage of the open source Solr search server. In some ways this book reads like the missing reference manual for the advanced usage of Solr. It is aimed at readers already familiar with Solr and related search concepts as well as those having some knowledge of programming (specifically Java). The book covers a lot of ground, some of it fairly challenging, and gives those working with Solr a lot of hands-on technical advice on how to use and fine-tune many parts of this powerful application." Keep reading for the rest of MassDosage's review.
The Internet

Timezone Maintainer Retiring 198

Posted by timothy from the sunset-clause-means-it's-noon-all-over dept.
linuxwrangler writes "It's used in Java. It's used in nearly every flavor of UNIX/Linux. In PostgreSQL, Oracle and other databases. Several RFCs refer to it. But where does the timezone database come from? I never gave it much thought but would have assumed that it was under the purview of some standards body somewhere. It's not. Since the inception of the database Arthur David Olson has maintained the database, coordinated the mailing list and volunteers and provided a release platform and now he is retiring. IANA is developing a transition strategy. Jon Udell has an interesting literary appreciation of the timezone database."
Classic Games (Games)

Futureproofing Artifacts: Spacewar! 1962 In HTML5 175

Posted by timothy from the way-better-than-a-hi-fi-jumprope dept.
trebonian writes "In 1997 we posted a playable version of the Spacewar!, the first graphical computer game. Spacewar! was written by Russell et al at MIT in the early '60s. We did not re-implement the game. Rather, we found the original source code, rebuilt it to get an authentic binary and ran it on a PDP-1 emulator that we wrote in Java. We chose Java to implement the PDP-1 because we believed at the time — correctly as it turned out — that a Java version would survive the browser wars. Also, it would not require any effort to keep it running on all platforms well past the turn of the millennium, and through the traffic peaks of Spacewar's 40th and 45th birthday. It's now getting close to 15 years later. We would not want to bet that in another 15 years a Java program will still run on the latest popular platforms. As a hedge to the future, and in an effort to continue the preservation of this significant digital artifact, we've now ported the PDP-1 emulator to Javascript/HTML5. This should see the game through Spacewar!'s 50th (and hopefully 60th) birthday. Expect another update around 2025."
The Internet

Retro Browser War: IE6 Vs. Netscape In 2011 211

Posted by CmdrTaco from the gotta-wonder-why dept.
jbrodkin writes "What if you took the raw, pre-patched, 10-year-old versions of Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape 6.1 and tried to surf the modern Web? What would happen? You might think firing up IE6 or Netscape would lead to an immediate onslaught of viruses, but just for fun, I decided to spend some time using these two ancient browsers. It turns out IE6 is still capable of surfing much of the modern Internet, and can play Flash and Java content, but Netscape's troubles show it probably died a justified death."
Google

Google x86 Native Browser Client Maybe Not So Crazy After All 332

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-you-can dept.
GMGruman writes "Google's experimental technology to run native x86 binaries in the browser shows lots of potential, writes Neil McAllister. He's previously said it was a crazy idea, but a new version of Native Client (NaCl) caused McAllister to take a fresh look, which has led him to conclude the technology is crazy like a fox. McAllister explains what NaCl is useful for, how to use it, and why it's not a Java or a Flash or a JavaScript replacement, but something else."
Android

Can Android Without Dalvik Avoid Oracle's Wrath? 264

Posted by Soulskill from the just-kidding-nobody-can-avoid-oracle's-wrath dept.
jfruhlinger writes "Despite the fact that Oracle is suing Google over claims that Android violates Java IP, Android is roaring ahead in the marketplace. Still, some groups are wondering if they can implement Android without incurring Oracle's current or future wrath by avoiding the Dalvik VM. A project called IcedRobot aims to create a GNU-compatible version of Android, and rumors abound that RIM is planning on putting an OpenJDK-version of Android on its upcoming PlayBook tablets."
Google

Google Asks USPTO To Reexamine Four Oracle Patents 122

Posted by timothy from the seriously-your-honor?-seriously? dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Google leaves no stone unturned in its defense against Oracle's patent and copyright infringement allegations. eWEEK reports on the latest development: Google has asked the USPTO to reexamine four of the seven patents asserted by Oracle. Patent watcher and skeptic Florian Mueller believes 'the world would be a better place without those virtual machine patents,' which he considers excessively broad and not really technical inventions. He also reports on a Google letter to the court, asking for permission to file a motion to throw out Oracle's copyright infringement allegations as soon as possible, without further discovery."

80% of Browsers Found To Be At Risk of Attack 196

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-we're-all-gonna-die dept.
CWmike writes "About eight out of every 10 Web browsers run by consumers are vulnerable to attack by exploits of already-patched bugs, a security expert said Thursday. The poor state of browser patching stunned Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, which presented data from the company's free BrowserCheck service Wednesday at RSA. 'I really thought it would be lower,' Kandek said. BrowserCheck scans Windows, Mac and Linux machines for vulnerable browsers, as well as up to 18 browser plug-ins, from Adobe's Flash to Windows Media Player. When browsers and plug-ins are tabulated together, between 90% and 65% of all consumer systems scanned with BrowserCheck since June 2010 reported at least one out-of-date component. In January 2011, about 80% of the machines were vulnerable. The most likely plug-in to require a patch: same as last year, Oracle's Java."
Book Reviews

Book Review: jBPM Developer Guide 39

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
RickJWagner writes "jBPM is a mature, open source business process management (BPM) solution. This book, written in a developer-centric manner, guides the reader through the framework and exposes many important considerations for production use. BPM tools are used to define and execute business processes. They usually come with a graphical editor, which is used to drag and drop boxes onto a graph. The boxes represent activities performed by programs, activities performed by humans, and decision points. If this all sounds like 'graphical programming', it isn't. The picture does draw out the desired series of steps, but there's always configuration and maybe some programming involved as well." Read below for the rest of Rick's review.
Android

BlackBerry Devices May Run Android Apps 158

Posted by timothy from the western-civilization-would-be-a-good-idea dept.
crankyspice writes "RIM is allegedly prepping the QNX-based operating system running their forthcoming PlayBook tablet to run Android applications, according to a Bloomberg article. As RIM has stated that the QNX platform will run at least some of its upcoming smartphones as well, this could cinch Android's status as the lingua franca of smartphone application environments, especially with BlackBerry's current market leadership and Android's explosive marketshare growth."
Google

Google Brings Design-By-Contract To Java 134

Posted by Soulskill from the putting-a-hit-out-on-bugs dept.
angry tapir writes "Google is developing a set of extensions for Java that should aid in better securing Java programs against buffer overflow attacks. Google has announced that it open sourced a project that its engineers were working on to add a new functionality into Java called Contracts, or Design-By-Contract. 'Contracts exist to check for programmer error, not for user error or environment failures. Any difference between execution with and without runtime contract checking (apart from performance) is by definition a bug. Contracts must never have side effects.'"
Java

Post-Oracle Purchase, How Is Sun's Software Doing? 235

Posted by timothy from the first-the-pro-side dept.
GMGruman writes "Oracle has steadily provoked the open source community since its acquisition of Sun, raising the question of whether the move will simply destroy Sun. But as Paul Krill observes, Oracle has been steadfast in upgrading Sun-derived technologies — and making them profitable, which should mean they will stick around a long time."
Java

Java Floating Point Bug Can Lock Up Servers 157

Posted by Roblimo from the here-a-bug-there-a-bug-everywhere-a-bug-bug dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Here we go again: Just like the recently-reported PHP Floating Point Bug causes servers to go into infinite loops when parsing certain double-precision floating-point numbers, Sun/Oracle's JVM does it, too. It gets better: you can lock up a thread on most servers just by sending a particular header value. Sun/Oracle has known about the bug for something like 10 years, but it's still not fixed. Java Servlet containers are patching to avoid the problem, but application code will still be vulnerable to user input."
Book Reviews

Book Review: OSGi and Apache Felix 3.0 52

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
RickJWagner writes "OSGi is a Java framework that's designed to simplify application deployments in shared environments. It allows applications with differing dependencies to run side-by-side in the same container without any deployment time contortions. The end result is that your application that needs FooLib v2.2.2 can run right beside my application that needs FooLib v1.0, something not often possible in today's application servers." Keep reading for the rest of Rick's review.

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