Category: Software

  • What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

    Trish Millines Dziko wrote:

    [Editor’s note: This post is from a speech by Trish Millines Dziko of the Technology Access Foundation. It begins by citing a poem from Langston Hughes.]

    What happens to a dream deferred?

    Does it dry up

    like a raisin in the sun?

    Or fester like a sore–

    And then run?

    Does it stink like rotten meat?

    Or crust and sugar over–

    like a syrupy sweet?

    Maybe it just sags

    like a heavy load.

    Or does it explode?

    The dream or life goal of a human being is central to what makes a human a valuable member of society. But suppose you’re told you can not fulfill your goal. You must wait until society changes, until institutions and laws change to allow you to become the doctor, the engineer, the professor, the scientist or the poet you may become. That’s what Langston Hughes was writing about. He was writing about what it was like to be an African-American in the 1920s and 1930s.

    But when I read that poem today, I think about all the children of color and low-income kids who are in so many ways told they are only this good, or the bar for them is only this high, because the system makes judgments about students’ abilities based on what they look like or where they come from. The outcome of this behavior, of course, is devastating. High dropout rates, high crime rates, unemployment, and for too many, incarceration.

    I’m reminded by something from another favorite author of mine, James Baldwin. He said, ‘these are all our children. We will all profit by, or pay for, whatever they become.” He’s basically saying we get out what we put in. That’s a lesson we hold dear at TAF. We hold it close to our hearts. We truly believe that what you put in is what you get out. We believe if you set high expectations, invest resources, and provide access to opportunities, students will rise to the challenge. They will create their own success.







  • Apple Must Feature PixieTea In Their Next iPhone Ad [IPhone]

    A Chinese artist named PixieTea both recorded this song and shot the accompanying video almost entirely on an iPhone 3GS. The surprise? It’s actually pretty decent! See for yourself: More »







  • Adobe and Microsoft working closely together on bringing Flash 10.1 to WP7

    Talk of Flash on Windows Phone 7 was cooled a bit when Steve Ballmer announced the OS, saying it will not ship with the web runtime, but may come in a later version.

    Recently Mike Chambers, principal Product Manager for developer relations for the Flash Platform at Adobe, reconfirmed that both Adobe and Microsoft are targeting Flash 10.1 for the browser in Windows Phone 7.

    One thing I wanted to clarify as it may have been lost in some of the other news is that Adobe and Microsoft are working together to bring Flash Player 10.1 to Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Phone 7 Series.

    I don’t have an eta or other specifics right now, but it is something that both Adobe and Microsoft are working closely together on.

    This is rather good news, and suggests we can hold out for Hulu on our phones some time in the future after all.

    Read the full post here.

  • Zenitum shows of marker-less augmented reality on a Samsung Omnia 2

    Korean company Zenitum has shown of an improved version if augmented reality that allows the company to dispose of the ubiquitous back and white markers one normally associates with the technology.

    Able to recognize features on a scene directly, this also allows for depth perception using only a single camera,  and allows for more natural interaction with the scene.

    In the above demo a Samsung Omnia 2 is being used to animate a figure climbing a keyboard, demonstrating not only 2D but also a 3 dimensional perception of the space.

    Read more about the technology at Zenitum here.

  • Resize and Tweak Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnails

    The folks at TheWindowsClub have made a habit of releasing awesome tiny free utilities. In the past, we reviewed several TWC utilities including SMART, GodMode Creator, FixWin and Windows Access Panel. The latest TWC offering is the Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer.

    Windows-7-Taskbar-Thumbnail-Customizer

    Windows-7-Taskbar-Thumbnail-Large Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer allows you to modify various aspects of Windows 7 Taskbar thumbnails such as maximum and minimum thumbnail size, spacing between thumbnails, margin size and thumbnail delay. Just select the desired values for various properties and click on apply. Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer will automatically restart explorer.exe so that all the changes are visible immediately.

    Techie Buzz Verdict

    Like all TWC utilities, the Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer is extremely easy to use and idiot proof. In case you go wrong, you can restore the default settings with the click of a button. The app itself is just 100 KB in size and does not require installation. Try it, if you are not satisfied with the default taskbar thumbnail settings.

    Techie Buzz Verdict: 3/5 (Good)

    [ Download Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer]

    Resize and Tweak Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnails originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Pallab De on Wednesday 10th March 2010 09:00:26 AM. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

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  • New “Innovation Tax” Puts Tech Industry and Professional Service Firms at Risk

    Ken Myer wrote:

    The challenge currently before our Governor and Legislature to balance the Washington state budget in the face of declining tax revenues is not an easy one. No one envies the task of either cutting needed state programs or raising new taxes—yet this year we are faced with the prospect of both.

    In the past 24 hours, the state House of Representatives has passed a bill that will create a new tax on a whole range of innovative software companies that are at the center of our technology industry. Without any input from industry, the House passed a version of Senate Bill 6143 that includes a new tax on custom software development—a fundamental shift in tax policy that could lead to job losses, business closures and new taxes on other professional services.

    There are over 2,500 custom software businesses in our state and most of these are small companies—and many are independent and freelance consultants. These companies and their employees already pay over $150 million in state and local taxes and are held up as the kind of innovation businesses we want to encourage in Washington.

    Yet this new tax scheme does just the opposite of encourage. Among the many problems:

    * A slippery slope. Custom software has traditionally been considered a “professional service,” similar to attorneys, engineers, management consultants and other similar professions. This tax is a major departure from that classification system and puts us on a slippery slope to tax other professional services.

    * New burden on small business. Unlike sellers of digital goods, custom software providers are not set up to take payments from customers by credit card, do not have e-commerce systems, and converting to a sales tax collection system will be burdensome and costly—resulting in frustration and likely business closures.

    * Putting economic development at risk. Large customers of custom software companies will surely seek to lower programming costs by going to offshore providers, which could lead to job loss among local custom software providers. Custom software providers may decide to locate themselves in a neighboring state or province, thereby avoiding the burden of being a tax collector for the state, and instead put the burden on the customer to pay use tax, where compliance is traditionally less than for sales tax.

    * The language is ill-defined. The technology sector is ever-changing. Is a Web design firm considered a “custom software” provider? Does any service done for a particular customer that uses software to produce that service fall under this provision? Confusion will rein and both the Department of Revenue and taxpayers will have endless discussions and arguments over tax liability.

    Again…the challenge before the Governor and our Legislators is not an easy one, but this new tax is not the answer. If you agree with us, then please contact your State Senator and tell them to reject the house version of Senate Bill 6143. To follow our fight, please visit our Government Affairs blog.







  • Windows Phone 7 XNA games shown off

     harvets-achievement-top-1

    Engadget has been lucky enough to be shown 2 early 3D Windows Phone 7 games created in XNA Game Studio 4.

    More after the break.

    The first is The Harvest, shown above, which is a “dungeon crawler” with destructible environments,by Luma Arcade.  The software was built in only 2-3 weeks.

    windows-phone-xna-02-prwindows-phone-xna-10-pr  windows-phone-xna-09-pr windows-phone-xna-04-pr

    The screen shot above also shows an notification, in this case an achievement being unlocked, which simply slid in and out of view without any capability to interact with it.

    The other is Battle Punks, a one-on-one sword fighting Facebook game by Gravity Bear.

    windows-phone-xna-08-pr windows-phone-xna-03-pr windows-phone-xna-01-pr windows-phone-xna-07-pr

    Development is based on DirectX, and currently developers can test on the desktop, with emulators coming soon.

    Microsoft has signed up game studios Oberon, Sega, Glu, EA, Popcap, Hudson Entertainment, Namco, Konami.

    Below is a closer view of the video demo we saw earlier.

     

    See more screenshots at Engadget here.

    Thanks MobilePaddy for the tip.

  • Elliott Makes $2B Bid for Novell, Summit Partners Leads $23M Investment in Cloudmark, Stemgent Backs Scottish Startup, & More Boston-Area Deals News

    Rebecca Zacks wrote:

    Deal flow was a bit slow among New England’s tech and life sciences firms this week. Perhaps folks were too distracted by the unexpected appearance of that warm glowing ball in the sky to attend to contracts and negotiations?

    —Stemgent of Cambridge, MA, and San Diego announced plans to invest $4.5 million over the next three years in Ubiquigent, a Dundee, Scotland-based company commercializing biological products from the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling at the University of Dundee. Stemgent will market Ubiquigent’s products in the United States.

    —Software giant Novell received an unsolicited buyout offer from private equity firm Elliott Associates, which owns 8.5 percent of the Waltham, MA-based firm’s common stock. Novell’s board of directors will review the $5.75 per share offer, worth $2 billion in total.

    Isis Biopolymer raised $3 million in equity-based financing, according to an SEC filing. The Providence, RI-based startup is developing a patch device for delivering drugs through the skin.

    Boston’s Summit Partners led a $23 million growth equity investment in San Francisco-based Cloudmark, a mobile-messaging security firm. Nokia Growth Partners, Ignition Partners, and Industry Ventures joined the deal.

    —SensAble Technologies of Woburn, MA, indicated in an SEC filing that it has raised $8 million in a mixed offering of equity and other securities. Return investor HLM Venture Partners led the round and North Bridge Venture Partners participated as well. The financing will help support marketing, engineering, and sales efforts for SensAble’s line of digital dental design products.

    Mobile Monday Boston unveiled data indicating that venture investments in Boston-area mobile technology companies decreased in both volume and value in 2009, while payouts from mergers and acquisitions hit a record high of $1.5 billion.







  • Fslide, a new app switching concept

    The world of Windows Mobile has been inundated with many different UI’s both by corporations and private developers, and this new one is quite spectacular. This new UI was made by one of XDA’s millions of members, and it really takes UI’s to a new level. The tweak is a little like the original TouchFlo, where you use gestures to start new application.

    This specific application/tweak/UI is currently a free ware and you get two things. The first and most important aspect of this application is  its great looks. There is no point using something that does not make you happy turning your device on. The second important part of this application is the inclusion of fast transition gestures. This means you can  switch from one task to another in just seconds.

    This is a very creative concept, and I am sure many of you are excited to try it out. Get the application and comment below and tell us what you think.

    Give it a try

  • Tangram: New puzzle game hits marketplace

     

     

    Screen2-eng Screen3-eng Screen4-eng

    Tangram is an ancient game that originated in China 3000 years ago and came to Europe in the 18th century.

    Screen1-eng The Tangram is a square divided into 7 pieces: 2 large triangles, 1 medium triangle, 2 small triangles, 1 square and 1 parallelogram. The rules are simple, arrange all seven geometric pieces to match the presented puzzle silhouette. The forms represent letters, animals, humans, geometric figures, and many other interesting shapes.

    Like all great puzzle games the rules are simple, but it is much harder than it sounds.

    The game features:

    • 140 challenging puzzles.
    • Five unique skins to choose from.
    • Simple, intuitive control.
    • Perfect for playing on the bus, subway or tram.

    The game is only $0.99. Search for it on the mobile marketplace or use this link to the desktop version here.

    Via PDA.pl

  • iPhone Tweet Defense Slaughters Zombies With Witticisms [IPhone Apps]

    The premise of Tweet Defense is simple: The more you tweet and the more Twitter followers you gain, the stronger your tower defenses will be. Clever, though hopefully RT bonuses will come in the future. $1. [iTunes via Kotaku]






  • Free Mix10 twitter app

    Screenshot_2

    Software Logistics has released a small app which does only one thing – pull in tweets with the #MIX10 hash tag.

    The app automatically updates every 30 seconds, and does surface quite a bit of info.

    Unfortunately the links in the tweets are not live, meaning the app is much less useful than it could be. Hopefully SL can fix this major omission soon.

    If however you think you will find this app useful, search for View Mix10 tweets in the US marketplace or select it here.

  • Windows Phone 7 titbits from GDC

    Music-Hub_1579100c

    Pocketnow are at GDC, and have posted some bits of Windows Phone 7 info today.

    They note that Windows Phone 7 has been designed with OLED screens in mind, explaining the predominance of black (which is power-saving on OLED screens) in the UI and minimalist UI, for example in the calendar app.

    Talking about the PIM, they also note that Pocket Outlook will now finally load pictures automatically, and will allow pinch to zoom and scrolling and HTML rendering without any special measures, making for a much better user experience. In the hubs, content will be preloaded when possible, meaning even screens with online content, such as the photo hub, will load instantly.  This setting will be optional however for those without a data plan. Start page tiles will be either square or rectangular and can be re-arranged via press and hold.

    Lastly, they mention that Windows Phone 7 will support 2 screen sizes and resolutions but only one aspect ratio, which will make resolution-independent applications simple to support over the whole range.

    Read more at Pocketnow here.

  • Chuck Thacker of Microsoft Research Wins Turing Award, Talks Future of Mobile Interfaces

    Chuck Thacker
    Gregory T. Huang wrote:

    One of the founding fathers of the personal computing era, Microsoft Research technical fellow Chuck Thacker, has won the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award, which is often called the “Nobel Prize of computer science.” The award, which was announced today, comes with a $250,000 prize, sponsored by Intel and Google.

    Thacker, 67, was awarded the prize for his design of the Alto, the first modern personal computer with networking capabilities, which he built while at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the early 1970s. It had a TV-like display, which enabled the development of the modern graphical user interface, as well as connections to outside devices like servers and printers. Although the Alto was never commercialized, it influenced generations of PCs in the decades that followed. Thacker was also cited for his contributions to the Ethernet local-area network, the first multiprocessor workstation, and a tablet PC prototype.

    I spoke with Thacker by phone this morning—he’s based at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley. “I was actually flabbergasted when I was told” about the award, he says. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d win.” That’s because the Turing Award traditionally has been given to theoreticians or software experts, not hardware people. The previous Microsoft winners of the Turing Award are the late Jim Gray, Butler Lampson of Microsoft Research New England, and Tony Hoare of Microsoft Research Cambridge in the U.K. (Thacker is also a recipient of the Charles Stark Draper Prize and the John von Neumann Medal from the IEEE.)

    Thacker says the most interesting thing about the Alto computer was that “it was a complete system.” It connected to servers that stored information remotely and to printers that produced documents. Although the hardware looked “quaint” by today’s standards, he says, the software behind it persisted. In particular, the user interface—keyboard, mouse, how you interact with programs—looked a lot like what we still use today.

    So I asked him how he thinks computing interfaces might evolve in the future, given how little they’ve changed in 30 years. Thacker says he thinks about it from the point of view of what computers have not been able to do so far. “One thing I can’t do yet is talk to my computer,” he says. “I can’t carry on a conversation, and I’d like to see that.”

    A second area of intrigue is computer-controlled cars and transportation. “I’m not that great a driver. The dents in my door demonstrate that,” Thacker says. “Computers should drive.” (He says he has followed the DARPA Grand Challenge competitions for driverless vehicles for the past few years.)

    Given his work at Microsoft Research in tablet computing in the late 1990s—which helped lead to Microsoft’s first Tablet PC—I asked Thacker where he sees the field …Next Page »







  • The Smart Grid is Coming! What’s a Smart Grid?

    SDG&E Smart Meter
    Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

    Several hundred utility executives, government regulators, and engineers have gathered in downtown San Diego this week for a three-day conference that is focused on what may be the utility industry’s biggest paradigm shift since the Tennessee Valley Authority electrified the Southeastern United States.

    The only problem is that it’s the biggest paradigm shift that people have never heard of.  A Harris Poll recently highlighted the fact that U.S. utilities have committed billions of dollars to upgrade the electric grid by installing new “smart meters” in homes and businesses. But the Harris Poll shows about two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) have never heard the term “smart grid” and 63 percent don’t know what a smart meter is.

    So for at least some people, you got it here first: Instead of merely tracking how much total electricity (or gas, or water) a customer uses each month, a smart meter tracks a customer’s usage continuously throughout the day and uses wireless technology to automatically transmit the data in real time to the utility. This automated meter reading technology makes it possible for regulators to set prices that vary at different times of day—and which encourage or discourage consumption—based on the relative cost of power production and periods of peak energy demand. As the Harris Poll shows, if the price of electricity changes according to how much it actually costs to produce, three out of four people want to be able to see and control how much electricity they are using.

    So why are smart meters a big deal? And why should technology innovators care? A few highlights from the “Metering America” conference are in order:

    —In California, the big three investor-owned utilities are in the process of deploying 12 million smart meters, covering about 80 percent of the state’s population at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion, according to Commissioner Nancy Ryan of the California Public Utilities Commission. Ryan told the “Metering America” conference that utility rates based on time-of-day pricing related to the cost of producing electricity must be coupled …Next Page »







  • XNA Game Studio 4 to bring unified game development to WP7, Xbox and desktop

    XNACover Michael Klucher, Lead Program Manger for the XNA Development Platform, revealed XNA Game Studio 4 in a blog post prior to GDC today.

    XNA Game Studio 4.0 allows for game development on Windows Phone 7 Series, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.

    On Windows Phone 7 it will feature hardware accelerated 3D API’s on Windows Phone 7 Series and Visual Studio 2010 integration, for Xbox partners Xbox LIVE and a premium gaming experience on Windows Phone 7 Series.

    Through the Gamer Services API’s a user’s Gamertag and 2D Avatar will be available, as well as achievements and notifications for asynchronous turn based gaming.

    ZuneHD developers are encouraged to transition their games to Windows Phone 7. Mary Jo Foley suggests a more compatible ZuneHD 2 may be coming to address this issue.

    Read more at Klucher.com and ZDNet here.

  • Long-awaited Sprint Touch Pro 2 WM 6.5 upgrade finally coming this month

    Sprint upgrade Click for larger version

    PPCGeeks member platin465 received the  Sprint Small Business Catalog which claims that the Sprint HTC Touch Pro 2 is finally getting a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade this month.

    The Sprint Touch Pro 2 was one of the first to be released in USA, but has been the slowest to see upgrades, with both Verizon and AT&T seeing new software well before them.

    Of course most people who really care probably have a cooked ROM already, don’t they ;)

    Via WMExperts.com

  • AutoPatcher Adds Support for Windows 7 – Download and Distribute Updates Offline

    AutoPatcherEarlier today, we shared with you how to slipstream (integrate) Windows updates into the setup, in order to avoid downloading them every time you (re)install Windows. In case you do not want to take the trouble of creating a custom Windows setup, AutoPatcher is your best friend.

    AutoPatcher has a very simple aim – to make installing updates as simple and hassle free as possible. Originally, all the essential Windows updates used to be included in the download package itself. However, due to objections raised by Microsoft AutoPatcher had to change its ways. In its current form, AutoPatcher comes with an update module, which identifies and downloads all available updates. The deployment tool then takes care of the rest. The final product is a simple executable file, which can be used to install all available updates at one go.

    Until now, AutoPatcher was available only for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Vista (with the latest Service Pack already installed). The good news is that AutoPatcher has now been updated to support Windows 7. The biggest benefit of AutoPatcher is that it is able to effortlessly install multiple updates in a batch without requiring repeated user intervention. Additional modules also available for deploying essential utilities like Adobe Reader, DirectX and .NET Framework.

    AutoPatcher Adds Support for Windows 7 – Download and Distribute Updates Offline originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Pallab De on Tuesday 9th March 2010 12:50:34 PM. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

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  • MacHeist: Get 8 Mac Apps Worth $280 For $20 [Dealzmodo]

    MacHeist’s nanoBundle 2 offer is almost over, which means the really good apps are on the verge of being unlocked. Already available? Tales of Monkey Island, in both Mac and PC versions.

    By the time you read this post, RapidWeaver should already be unlocked, and it should be very, very close to unlocking Tweetie at around 50 or 60k bundles sold. Once Rapidweaver is unlocked, that should be no problem. Note: this isn’t just the Tweetie that’s out now, but beta access (and a free upgrade) to Tweetie 2, with the features that were found on Tweetie 2 for iPhone.

    In any case, $20 for all these apps is a great deal. [MacHeist]

    Update: It’s all unlocked!






  • Palm webOS PDK Public Beta Is Available Now [Palm]

    Palm’s complement to their SDK, the webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK), is available in beta form now. Download it here.

    Palm webOS PDK Public Beta Now Available

    Palm Demonstrates New Games at Game Developers Conference

    SAN FRANCISCO, Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 9, 2010 – Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today announced that a public beta version of the Palm® webOS™ Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) is now available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). Palm is demonstrating new games from early PDK developers in its booth at GDC (No. 2016).

    The PDK complements the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK), letting developers use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app. The PDK enables new functionality, including immersive 3D graphics, and gives developers who have built games for other platforms an easy way to bring their titles to the webOS platform. Developers can download the beta PDK and start developing today, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality provided in an upcoming Palm webOS update.

    “Palm webOS is the go-to platform for great games on two of the three leading carrier networks,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “We have both the developer tools and the hardware necessary for a world-class gaming experience, and an impressive portfolio of webOS game titles from top-notch developers to show for it.”

    At CES in January, Palm introduced 12 games built by four leading developers with early access to the PDK:

    • “Asphalt 5” (Gameloft)
    • “Brain Challenge®” (Gameloft)
    • “Glyder 2” (Glu Mobile)
    • “Let’s Golf!” (Gameloft)
    • “MONOPOLY” (EA Mobile™)
    • “Need for Speed™ Undercover” (EA Mobile)
    • “SCRABBLE” (EA Mobile)
    • “Sudoku” (EA Mobile)
    • “Tetris®” (EA Mobile)
    • “The Oregon Trail” (Gameloft)
    • “The Sims™ 3” (EA Mobile)
    • “X-Plane” (Laminar Research)

    Since then, more than 20 exciting webOS titles have been launched by these early-access developers:

    • “Apollo” (Laminar Research)
    • “Assassin’s Creed™ – Altair’s Chronicles” (Gameloft)
    • “Brothers In Arms®: Hour of Heroes” (Gameloft)
    • “Castle of Magic” (Gameloft)
    • “Deer Hunter 3D” (Glu Mobile)
    • “Dungeon Hunter” (Gameloft)
    • “Earthworm Jim” (Gameloft)
    • “Gangstar: West Coast Hustle” (Gameloft)
    • “Giant Fighting Robots” (Laminar Research)
    • “Guitar Hero 5 Mobile” (Glu Mobile)
    • “Hero of Sparta” (Gameloft)
    • “Real Soccer 2010” (Gameloft)
    • “Real Tennis” (Gameloft)
    • “World Series of Poker: Hold’em Legend” (Glu Mobile)
    • “X-Plane Airliner” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Carrier” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Extreme” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Glider” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Helicopter” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Racing” (Laminar Research)
    • “X-Plane Space Shuttle” (Laminar Research)

    “The Palm webOS PDK is extremely powerful and far-reaching, as evidenced by the number of titles we’ve been able to bring to the webOS platform in a very short time,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft. “It’s quite difficult to make a great phone that’s also an outstanding gaming platform; Palm has been successful delivering both.”

    More information about the beta PDK is available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). More information about games for Palm webOS is available at www.palm.com/applications.