The new voice-search application for the iPhone marks a milestone for spoken interfaces.
If you own an iPhone, you can now be part of one of the most ambitious speech-recognition experiments ever launched. On Monday, Google announced that it had added voice search to its iPhone mobile application, allowing people to speak search terms into their phones and view the results on the screen.
In designing the system, Google took on an enormous challenge. Where an automated airline reservation system, say, has to handle a relatively limited number of terms, a Web search engine must contend with any topic that anyone might ever want to research--literally.
Fortunately, Google also has a huge amount of data on how people use search, and it was able to use that to train its algorithms. If the system has trouble interpreting one word in a query, for instance, it can fall back on data about which terms are frequently grouped together.
Google also had a useful set of data correlating speech samples with written words, culled from its free directory service, Goog411. People call the service and say the name of a city and state, and then say the name of a business or category. According to Mike Cohen, a Google research scientist, voice samples from this service were the main source of acoustic data for training the system.
But the data that Google used to build the system pales in comparison to the data that it now has the chance to collect. "The nice thing about this application is that Google will collect all this speech data," says Jim Glass, a principal research scientist at MIT. "And by getting all this data, they will improve their recognizer even more."
Mobile phones are assuming more and more computational duties; in much of the world, they're people's only computers. But their small screens and awkward keyboards can make text-intensive actions, like Web search, frustrating. While mobile browsers are getting better at predicting your search terms, and thereby reducing the amount of typing, nothing is quite as easy as speaking directly into the phone.
Speech-recognition systems, however, remain far from perfect. And people's frustration skyrockets when they can't find their way out of a voice-menu maze. But Google's implementation of speech recognition deftly sidesteps some of the technology's shortcomings, says Glass.
"The beauty of search engines is that they don't have to be exactly right," he says. When a user submits a spoken query, he says, Google's algorithms "just take it and stick it in a search engine, which puts the onus on the user to select the right result or try again." Because people are already used to refining their queries as they conduct Web searches, Glass says, they're more tolerant of imperfect results.
Even after the search application loads, the voice-recognition system kicks in only when the user puts the phone to her ear, as determined by its built-in motion sensors. "If you're listening all the time, then you trigger false positives," Glass says. "The typical solution is to make you push a button," but the motion-activated system is easier and more intuitive, he says.
The search application also uses the iPhone's built-in location-awareness system to prioritize results. For instance, if you search for Bank of America, one of the results will be a map of local branches. This saves users from having to include location terms--which can be open to misinterpretation--in their queries.
While Google won't disclose details about how its voice-recognition system works, it probably hasn't done anything too radical, says Nelson Morgan, director of the International Computer Science Institute, in Berkeley, CA. "Nearly everybody who does speech recognition has a system that looks about the same," he says. First, the system analyzes frequency characteristics of the voice input. Then, based on probabilities drawn from a huge number of real-world examples, it correlates them with words. Finally, those words are fed into a language model that uses common combinations or sequences of words to resolve ambiguities. For instance, if you say, "president of the United," it's likely that the next word is going to be "States."
While Google isn't announcing plans to use its voice-recognition technology for other services, the potential is easy to see. "Now we have tech to take spoken words and convert it to text," says Gummi Hafsteinsson, a senior product manager at Google. "There are a lot of options." Currently, there's no way to use your voice to access Google's calendar or e-mail applications or to write an e-mail or a text message. But that could change in the future. "I think this opens up a whole new dimension," Hafsteinsson says.
Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21696/?a=f
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Friday, November 21, 2008
The Next Chapter for eBooks
It appears publishers have no favorites among the current spread of eBook formats. "It's true -- publishers do not have a favorite or a preference at this point," Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive and president of the International Digital Publishing Forum, told TechNewsWorld. "The field is wide open, and Adobe is well-positioned to seize the market."
The publishing industry is struggling to cash in on eBooks; so far the digital literary attempt has been fragmented and slow, both in terms of adoption and in getting the material to the reader. However, that may change soon, given new initiatives announced in the last few days ranging from the arrival of new industry standards to a new reader with some cool effects.
Until recently, publishers have slogged their way through a hodge-podge collection of technologies, trying to get books to readers in a digitalized format with mixed success. Still, they continue to think eBooks are worth the effort.
"Simon & Shuster is platform agnostic," Adam Rothberg, vice president of corporate communications at Simon & Shuster, told TechNewsWorld. "We work with all the major platforms because we think eBooks will be big business eventually. They will never replace printed books, but they will be a big part of our business."
Oddly, publishers have no favorites among the current spread of eBook formats. "We love all our children," laughs Rothberg. "Ultimately, the consumer will decide what it likes."
The waiting game appears to be the same strategy adopted by all leading publishers. "It's true -- publishers do not have a favorite or a preference at this point," Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive and president of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) told TechNewsWorld. "The field is wide open, and Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) Latest News about Adobe is well-positioned to seize the market."
Adobe's Approach
This week, Adobe Systems announced the release of Adobe Digital Editions 1.0, a new software application for acquiring, managing and reading eBooks, digital newspapers and other digital publications. It is available as a free download for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft Windows Rackspace is the expert when it comes to delivering Windows and Linux hosting solutions. Click here to learn more. and Macintosh Latest News about Macintosh systems.
By using a new export feature built into Adobe InDesign CS3, publishers can create new Adobe Digital Editions-ready content, helping to significantly reduce cost and conversion time. In addition, with versions for mobile platforms and reading devices also planned, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony has committed to embed Adobe Digital Editions technology into its portable reader product line.
With native support Linux MPS Pro - Focus on Your Business - Not Your IT Infrastructure. $599.95/month. Click to learn more. for Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and XML-based publications, Adobe Digital Editions already works seamlessly with more than 150,000 commercially published titles. Using Adobe Digital Editions 1.0 readers will find that content automatically re-flows, adapting to different screen sizes, and support for Adobe Flash software promises to enhance digital publications through the integration of rich audio and video.
The public beta of Adobe Digital Editions generated more than 300,000 downloads in less than six months, and user feedback influenced the feature set. Adobe Digital Editions now enables users to annotate content through bookmarks, highlights and text notes. The library view offers advanced organization with multiple bookshelves. A slick new user interface enhances zooming and the overall reading experience, while support for the new IDPF Open Publication Standard (OPS) for XHTML-based reflowable eBooks guarantees a seamless viewing experience.
"At less than 3 MB, the file is so small that it downloads instantly," says Potash.
Adobe Digital Editions works in conjunction with Adobe Digital Editions Protection Technology (ADEPT), a new, hosted content protection service to guard publishers' rights while maintaining ease-of-use for consumers. ADEPT supports the company's Adobe Content Server (ACS) technology and protects both PDF and reflow-centric OPS XML eBooks. Purchase and lending business models include library lending, subscription and ad-supported models.
'New Growth Phase'
It looks as though the publishing industry is going to take a cue from the movie and music industries and pick things up a pace at least. "This is an exciting time in the eBook space," says Potash. "It's starting to enter a new growth phase, everything's accelerating as new standards help reduce costs for publishers."
IDPF, formerly the Open eBook Forum (OeBF), is the trade and standards association for the digital publishing industry. It announced the release of new standards for eBooks in recent weeks. IDPF has previously developed the already widely adopted Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) standard.
The Container Format working group is set to release a container format to allow publishers to release only a single standard file into their sales and distribution channels instead of the multiple proprietary files that they currently produce. The new ZIP-based proposed standard, OEBPS Container Format (OCF), is an extension of the packaging format defined by the OpenDocument OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300).
"Adobe has been very pleased with the rapid progress within IDPF towards creating an open and neutral container format," said Bill McCoy, general manager of ePublishing for Adobe. "An open packaging technology clearly has applicability across multiple areas of our solutions, including eReading systems, and we look forward to working with industry participants to finalize this community-developed standard in the coming months".
The container format is expected to be submitted to the IDPF for official approval in the next several weeks. A draft specification is publicly available.
Hardware's Angle
In a second specification, the OEBPS Working Group is developing the next generation of OEBPS to improve this XML-based standard as both a production and a final delivery format for digital publications. The effort will focus on detailed control of content rendering, navigation and accessibility, and alignment with other standards efforts.
"Mobipocket has been a great supporter of open standards in the eBook world since the OEBPS creation. We are excited about this new initiative, which is the right way to go to make this market mainstream. We plan to fully support this new standard in our product line," said Thierry Brethes, CEO & cofounder of Mobipocket.com, an Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com company.
Hardware companies have also voiced implementation plans. "iRex Technologies will support the development of these standards as it will accelerate the momentum in electronic reading," iRex Technologies' VP Marketing and Business Development Willem Endhoven said. "We believe that consumers will benefit from a more harmonized, open system approach and simplicity of use. We expect to support the IDPF standards for use in the iLiad e-reader in the future."
IDPF has recently joined the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) international standards consortium, and hopes that the IDPF OCF may be further advanced within OASIS as a general file containment technology standard.
"We are happy to have the IDPF join our organization and pleased that they plan to contribute proposed extensions to the OpenDocument OASIS Standard for their Open Container Format," said James Bryce Clark, director of standards development at OASIS. "We are looking forward to working with them on future standardization efforts."
IDPF is also cooperating closely with DAISY (Digital Access Information System), which is a member of the IDPF. The upcoming OEBPS revision is working to be aligned with requirements of the DAISY-based NIMAS initiative for accessible K-12 textbooks.
"The disability community is looking forward to the day when commercial eBooks are usable by persons with disabilities with their assistive technologies," said George Kerscher, secretary general of the DAISY Consortium.
The combined standards efforts will result in a non-proprietary way for publishers to deliver digital books through the distribution chain to consumers, similar to the MP3 format for digital music. No patent encumbrances are expected of either new specification.
After standards are set and formats are improved, will eBooks find a place in readers' hearts?
"We need to remember that the majority of people already spend their time staring at computer screens on a daily basis. I'm still not convinced anyone would want to come home, slide into bed, and then curl up with an eBook reader the same way they would with a traditional book," novelist Jon F. Merz told TechNewsWorld. "There are other senses engaged when it comes to reading for pleasure and no one has found a way to mimic those tactile and psychological experiences yet."
Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/58083.html
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Internet Explorer 8: Faster and easier
Compatibility View
Internet Explorer 8 is a beta release and some websites may not yet be ready for Internet Explorer 8. Click the Compatibility View toolbar button to display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7, which will correct display problems like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. This option is on a per site basis and all other sites will continue to display with Internet Explorer 8 functionality. To go back to browsing with Internet Explorer 8 functionality on that site, simply click the Compatibility View button again.
The Compatibility View button
Try clicking the "Compatibility View" toolbar button to fix the problem. It's located next to the Refresh button on the Address Bar.
You can maintain a list within Internet Explorer 8 for sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. From the Command Bar, select Tools, and then select Compatibility View Settings to add and remove sites from this list. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View.
The Compatibility View Settings dialog box
Add and remove websites to be displayed in Compatibility View.
Enhanced Tabbed Browsing
It can be difficult to keep track of many tabs at once. Internet Explorer 8 introduces Tab Groups, which make tabbed browsing easier. When one tab is opened from another, the new tab is placed next to the originating tab and color coded, so that you can quickly discern which tabs have related content. If you close a tab that's part of a group, another tab from the same group is displayed, enabling you to remain within the context of the current task rather than suddenly looking at an unrelated site.
Tab grouping
Tab grouping allows you to easily keep track of related tabs
By right-clicking on any tab, you can close the tab, close the tab group, or remove the tab from a group. From the same menu, you can refresh one or all tabs, open a new tab, reopen the last tab closed, or see a list of all recently closed tabs and reopen any or all of them.
Better Find On Page
Internet Explorer 8 includes a completely redesigned Find On Page toolbar, which is activated by pressing Ctrl-F or choosing Find On Page from the Edit menu or Search box drop-down. Press the Alt key if you do not see the Edit menu option.
Find on page
The new find on page toolbar in action
The toolbar is integrated below the tab row, so that it does not obscure any content on the page. Instead of waiting for you to type an entire search term and hit Enter, the toolbar searches character-by-character as you type. Matches are highlighted in yellow on the page so that they're easy to identify.
Smarter Address Bar
The Address Bar in Internet Explorer 8 makes navigation easier than ever, becoming a highly useful search tool that enables you to just type a few characters and then go directly to the desired site. It searches across your History, Favorites, and RSS Feeds, displaying matches from the website title or any part of the URL. As you type, matched characters are highlighted in blue so you can identify them at a glance. In addition, you can delete any address in the drop-down box by clicking on the red X. This is especially useful for getting rid of misspelled URLs.
The address bar
The address bar generates results as you type.
Redesigned New Tab page
The New Tab page loads quickly and provided links make it easier to get started on your next browsing activity:
Use an Accelerator: Now you can use an Accelerator using any text you have copied to the clipboard.
Start InPrivate Browsing: Two things happen when you start inPrivate Browsing: your browsing activities, history and cookies are not retained, and third party web content providers may be blocked from tracking your online activities without your consent.
Reopen closed tabs: Reopen a tab that you've closed in your current browsing session, which can be helpful when a tab is accidentally or prematurely closed.
Reopen your last browsing session: Reopen all tabs that were open when Internet Explorer 8 was last closed, which can be useful if you accidentally close the browser.
The new tab page
Reopen tabs you were viewing if you accidentally close the browser.
Improved Zoom
Adaptive Page Zoom improves upon traditional zoom-in/zoom-out functionality in the browser by intelligently relaying out the page content and eliminating the need to scroll left and right. This will improve your ability to magnify pages with small fonts and be able to read more on the web.
A better back button
When using rich applications such as mapping on the Internet, you may be taken to the beginning of the application instead of the previous page when you hit the back button. Now when you hit the back button, more pages will behave the way you expect.
Download Here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/worldwide-sites.aspx
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx
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Internet Explorer 8 is a beta release and some websites may not yet be ready for Internet Explorer 8. Click the Compatibility View toolbar button to display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7, which will correct display problems like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. This option is on a per site basis and all other sites will continue to display with Internet Explorer 8 functionality. To go back to browsing with Internet Explorer 8 functionality on that site, simply click the Compatibility View button again.
The Compatibility View button
Try clicking the "Compatibility View" toolbar button to fix the problem. It's located next to the Refresh button on the Address Bar.
You can maintain a list within Internet Explorer 8 for sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. From the Command Bar, select Tools, and then select Compatibility View Settings to add and remove sites from this list. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View.
The Compatibility View Settings dialog box
Add and remove websites to be displayed in Compatibility View.
Enhanced Tabbed Browsing
It can be difficult to keep track of many tabs at once. Internet Explorer 8 introduces Tab Groups, which make tabbed browsing easier. When one tab is opened from another, the new tab is placed next to the originating tab and color coded, so that you can quickly discern which tabs have related content. If you close a tab that's part of a group, another tab from the same group is displayed, enabling you to remain within the context of the current task rather than suddenly looking at an unrelated site.
Tab grouping
Tab grouping allows you to easily keep track of related tabs
By right-clicking on any tab, you can close the tab, close the tab group, or remove the tab from a group. From the same menu, you can refresh one or all tabs, open a new tab, reopen the last tab closed, or see a list of all recently closed tabs and reopen any or all of them.
Better Find On Page
Internet Explorer 8 includes a completely redesigned Find On Page toolbar, which is activated by pressing Ctrl-F or choosing Find On Page from the Edit menu or Search box drop-down. Press the Alt key if you do not see the Edit menu option.
Find on page
The new find on page toolbar in action
The toolbar is integrated below the tab row, so that it does not obscure any content on the page. Instead of waiting for you to type an entire search term and hit Enter, the toolbar searches character-by-character as you type. Matches are highlighted in yellow on the page so that they're easy to identify.
Smarter Address Bar
The Address Bar in Internet Explorer 8 makes navigation easier than ever, becoming a highly useful search tool that enables you to just type a few characters and then go directly to the desired site. It searches across your History, Favorites, and RSS Feeds, displaying matches from the website title or any part of the URL. As you type, matched characters are highlighted in blue so you can identify them at a glance. In addition, you can delete any address in the drop-down box by clicking on the red X. This is especially useful for getting rid of misspelled URLs.
The address bar
The address bar generates results as you type.
Redesigned New Tab page
The New Tab page loads quickly and provided links make it easier to get started on your next browsing activity:
Use an Accelerator: Now you can use an Accelerator using any text you have copied to the clipboard.
Start InPrivate Browsing: Two things happen when you start inPrivate Browsing: your browsing activities, history and cookies are not retained, and third party web content providers may be blocked from tracking your online activities without your consent.
Reopen closed tabs: Reopen a tab that you've closed in your current browsing session, which can be helpful when a tab is accidentally or prematurely closed.
Reopen your last browsing session: Reopen all tabs that were open when Internet Explorer 8 was last closed, which can be useful if you accidentally close the browser.
The new tab page
Reopen tabs you were viewing if you accidentally close the browser.
Improved Zoom
Adaptive Page Zoom improves upon traditional zoom-in/zoom-out functionality in the browser by intelligently relaying out the page content and eliminating the need to scroll left and right. This will improve your ability to magnify pages with small fonts and be able to read more on the web.
A better back button
When using rich applications such as mapping on the Internet, you may be taken to the beginning of the application instead of the previous page when you hit the back button. Now when you hit the back button, more pages will behave the way you expect.
Download Here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/worldwide-sites.aspx
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx
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Latest Developments in the .Net World
Do you want to know about the latest development in the .Net technology? Here is a comprehensive look at the latest developments in the world of Microsoft’s.NET.
If you are committed software developer, you must be aware that ‘web services’ is the latest buzzword to have hit the IT industry. And that this technology trend holds tremendous potential for addressing business problems.
Extensible markup language (XML) is the universal format for data on the web. With XML web services gaining momentum among developers as the next generation of internet-based computing. A platform that made it similar to build these solutions and provide a reliable framework for integration and interoperability was needed. Microsoft’s answer to this much-felt need was .NET—a platform for building, deploying, operating and integrating XML web services.
.NET is the only platform that has been built to support XML services ground up, and Microsoft has been extensively working with the industry to develop standard s like SOAP and UDDI, the XML web services search directory that exits today.
Let’s now take a detailed look at all that Microsoft’s .NET has to offer software developers by the analyzing the latest developments that have taken place in this platform.
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is more than the next version of active server pages (APS) ----- it is the unified web development platform that provides the services necessary for developers to build enterprise-class web applications.ASP.NET is a compiled, .NET –based environment; you can author applications in any.NET compatible language, including ASP.NET Visual Basic .NET,C#, and the jscript.NET.Additionally, the entire .NET framework is available to any ASP.NET application.
Developers can choose from one of two features when creating an ASP.NET application, web services, or combine these in any way they see fit.
Web forms to allow you to build powerful forms-based web pages. When building these pages, you can use ASP.NET server controls to create common UI elements, and programs then from common tasks.
These controls to allow you to rapidly build a web form out of reusable built-in or custom components, simplifying the code of a page.
An XML web service provides the means to access server functionality remotely. Using web services, interfaces to their data or business logic, which is turn can be obtained and manipulated by client and server applications. XML web services enable the exchange of data in client-server or server- server scenarios, using standards like HTTP and XML messaging to move data across firewalls.
Each of these models can take full advantage of all ASP.NET framework and.NET framework common language runtime. These features and how you can use them are outlined as follow:
* If you have ASP development skills, the new ASP.NET programming model will seem very familiar to you. However, the ASP.NET object model has changed significantly from ASP, making it move structured and object oriented.
* Accessing database from ASP.NET application is an often-used technique for displaying data to website visitors. ASP.NET makes it easier then ever to access database for this purpose.
* ASP.NET provides a simple model that enables developers to write logic that runs at the application level. Developers can write this code in the global. Asax text files or in a compiled class deployed as an assembly.
* ASP.NET provides easy-to-use application and session-state-facilities that are familiar to ASP developers and readily compatible with all other .NET framework APIs.
* For advanced developers who wants to use APIs as powerful as the ISPI programming interfaces that were included with previous version of ASP, ASP.NET offer the IHttpHandler interfaces.
* ASP.NET takes advantage of performance enhancements found in the .NET framework and common language runtime.
* The. NET framework and ASP.NET provide default authorization and authentication schemes for web application.
* ASP.NET configuration setting are stored in XML-based files , which are human readable and writable.
VB.NET
Visual basic .NET enable you to create rich application for Microsoft Windows in less time, incorporate data access from a wider range of database scenarios, create components with minimal code, and build web-based application using your exiting skills. Builds powerful windows-based applications in less time and more robust windows-based applications with less code.
1. Web-based applications
Helps to create web solutions in visual basic.NET using the shared web forms designer and HTML designer
2. Flexible, simplified data access
Offers support to tackle any data access scenario easily with Microsoft ADO.NET and Microsoft Active X Data objects (ADO) data access.
3. Improved coding
It brings a multitude of enhancements to the code editor, including enhanced intellisence , smart listing of code for greater readability , squiggles , and a background compiler for realtime notification of syntax .
4. Direct access to the platform
Features quick leverage of registry , eventlog , performance counters , and file system in user’ application and eliminates the need to use declared statements .
5. Full object-oriented constructs
Helps create reusable, enterprise-class code using full object-oriented constructs .Language features include full implementation inheritance, encapsulation ,and polymorphism .
6. XML Web services
The new XML .Web services project templates builds all underlying Web services enable you to call components running on any platform.
7. Mobile applications
These new features give developers a single, mobile Web interface to support a broad range of Web devices, including WWL 1.1 for WAP-enabled cellular phones , compact HTML (cHTML) for i-mode phones ,and HTML for pocket PC handheld devices , and pagers . Reach out to more than 80 different Internet-enabled mobile devices using the Microsoft mobile Internet Toolkit .
8. Com interoperability
This feature enables seamless bi-directional communication between Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic Net applications.
VS .NET
Visual Studio .NET is the comprehensive tool for rapidly building and inter grating XML. Web services and application dramatically increasing developer productivity, and enabling new business opportunities.
1. Enterprise Architect
Visually specify and communicate application architecture: It uses Microsoft Visio-based Modeling Language (UML) modeling to specify and communicate application architecture and functionality.
* Gain unparalleled support for database modeling: Full roundtrip engineering, with logical and physical data models, enables communication from the business analyst to the database designer.
* Easily shared best practices: Senior developers and architects can customize enterprise template projects to provide application starting points and guidance for less experienced developers.
* Use the industry-leading development environment: Leverage the powerful capabilities in Visual Studio.Net for rapidly building XML web services and applications that span devices and platforms.
* Define and communicate development policies: developers can immediately view any policy violations and discrepancies in their code in the task list window.
Enterprise Developers:
* Fast and easy test of XML web services and applications: VS.Net can quickly create and run tests within the visual studio.Net environment to fine-tune the performance of XML web services and applications and verify functionality.
* Maximize developer productivity: It leverages the powerful capabilities in Visual Studio .Net for rapidly building XML web services and applications that span devices and platforms.
* Simplify server-side development: This feature helps to visually build server-side components with the server explorer and Visual component Designer.
* Build, leverage, and extend scalable XML web services: it creates components that can be accessed on any platform by using XML web services easily publish and component as XML web services, and reuse existing XML web services running on any platform.
Get support for the complete lifecycle: The Visual Studio integration technologies bring a broad array of partners of visual studio .Net developers and enables third party languages, components and tools to integrate tightly with visual studio .Net through various stages of the development in lifecycle.
VS .NET Professional :
* XML web services : It helps to create components that can be accessed on any platform by using XML web services . Converts existing functions to XML web services and reuses existing XML web services.
* High-performance database application with XML : It uses the built-in Microsoft ADO.NET tools to build database applications with Microsoft SQL Server , Oracle ,or any other XML-based data source .
* Supports Rapid Application Devlopment (RAD) for the server developed for thin-client devices : Offers developers a single mobile web interface to support a broad range of web devices –including WML .1.1 for WAP cell phones , compact HTML(cHTML) for i-mode , and HTML, for pocket PC, palm-size PCs pagers .
* Shared IDE : It uses a single unified integrated development environment (IDE) for all languages with a single toolbox debugger and task window across Visual Basic ,C++ and C# project .
Windows CE .NET
Window CE .NET is the successor to Windows CE 3.0 Designed from the ground up for the embedded marketplace , Window CE .NET aims to deliver a robust realtime operating system for rapidly building the next generation of smart mobile and small footprint devices. With a complete operating system feature set and end-to-end development environment Windows CE-based devices that requires rich networking hard real time, and a small footprint , as well as rich multimedia and Web browsing capabilities. Windows CE .NET offers.
* Scalable wireless technologies : Windows CE.NET include scalable wireless technologies that enable mobile devices to flexibly connect into existing infrastructures . Supported wireless technologies include.
* Bluetooth : Windows CE .NET allows a devices to use a Bluetooth-enabled cellular phone as a data modem , and to use a Bluetooth-enabled local area network (LAN) access point to provide network connectivity.
* 802.1x/Zero Configuration – New features in window CE .NET i.e., 802.11 zero configuration, aim to simplify setup of 802.11 network and to enable seamless roaming from one 802.11 network to another. 801.1x and EAP enhance the security of 802.11 by enabling user/password, certificate, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specific authentication to log on to the network.
* Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol – Windows CE .Net’s support for OBEX works over Bluetooth and infra red data association (IrDA) protocols . Object Exchange (OBEX) is an efficient, compact binary protocol that enables a wide range of devices to exchange data spontaneously in a simple, efficient manner.
* Media Sense – This feature improves the roaming experience for mobile devices users by notifying application of network status.
* Real time collaboration and communication (RTC/SIP) – Real time communication (RTC) enables messaging, presence, and audio (voice over IP between any two IP-enabled devices.
* Realiable core operating system services for demanding embedded designs : Windows CE .ET offers reliable core operating system services that enable the most demanding real time embedded designs across a breadth of devices . New and enhanced operating system features include.
* Small footprint: Continuing the effort to minimize the operating system footprint for embedded devices, Windows CE .NET provides granular Kernel componentization. Windows CE .NET supports a minimum configuration platform as small as 200 KB with minimum Kernel functions only.
* Enterprise-scale – Network security enhancements include support for the Kerberos Security Protocol.
* Wide selection of CPUs- Windows CE .NET provides a high level of processor flexibility with support for the following four families of microprocessors and emulation technologies like ARM, MIPS, SHx, x 86 etc.
* Real time – Real time processing support for the most demanding support for the most demanding deterministic applications with 256 priority levels and nested interrupt support.
* Net- enabled for creating rich personalized experiences - Windows CE .NET enables you to build smart Microsoft .NET-enabled devices and create rich, personalized experiences.
* XML – XML allows developers to easily describe and deliver rich, structured data from any application in a standard consistent way.
* Net compact Framework : The .NET Compact Framework supports all processors supported by windows CE .NET . For more information on how to develop application using the .NET Framework, please see .NET on the MSDN site. Look in the .NET Compact Framework Read me’ for specific information about implementation issues in your embedded design.
* Microsoft Direct3D API – Provides support for interactive three-dimensional (3-D) graphics applications by allowing device dependent access to 30d video-display hardware in devices-independent manner.
* Windows Media 8 compressor/decompressor (codecs) and controls – Supports the latest Microsoft Windows Media 8 codes and controls ,which allows for the latest high-bandwidth encoded multimedia streams.
* Easy-to-use end-to-end tool set: Windows CE .NET provides an integrated end-to-end tool set to help developers reduce both operating system and application development time, allowing them to get devices to market faster. These tools include.
* Emulation technology - Windows CE .NET include emulation technology to enable developers to build and test their designs on their Windows 2000 or Windows xp professional workstations without additional hardware investments.
The new platform wizard – The new platform wizard provides a foundation for starting
Device designs for:
* Cellophanes / Smart phones
* Custom devices
* Digital imaging devices
* Industrial automation devices
* Internet/media appliances
* Personal digital assistants (PDA)/Mobile handhelds
* Residential gateways
* Retail point-of-sale
* Set-top boxes
* Tiny kernels
* Web pads Windows thin clients.
CE .Net also provides support for managed and native code – To write applications for Windows CE .NET, Microsoft offers a rich set of languages for creating managed .NET-enabled or unmanaged (native) applications.
NET Compact Framework
Microsoft Corp. Has recently released the beta of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, extending the .NET strategy to smart handheld devices. The .NET Compact Framework is Microsoft’s mobile application platform technology that harnesses the power of XML Web services on mobile devices. As a subset of the .NET Framework, the .NET Compact Framework shares same programming model and application development tools, enabling .NET developers to transfer their existing skills to build mobile applications, which is expected to accelerate adoption of mobile solutions.
It provides key features for smart devices such as a programming model unified with the .Net framework on desktop and server, integral XML web services support, enterprise-class data access using ADO.Net and XML, and rich class libraries that enable developers to build powerful applications in minimal time. Runtime features such as managed code and just-in-time compilation help ensure reliable, high performance applications for a better user experience.
The .Net compact framework is complemented by other technologies such as Microsoft SQL server 2000, windows CE edition version 2.0 and the Microsoft mobile internet toolkit (MMIT), SQL server CE is the compact, relational database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to new smart devices. The SQL server CE is the only mobile database that integrates with the .Net compact framework, allowing data to be locally and securely stored and extracted to interact with back-end applications or web services.
The Microsoft mobile internet toolkit offers a wide reach to project applications to any kind of mobile device with a browser. The development experience for these technologies is unified through Microsoft Visual Studio >net, which provides a consistent set of tools and interfaces for building applications using Microsoft’s mobile technologies.
Source: http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/ADO.NET/Latest-Developments-in-the-.Net-World/
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If you are committed software developer, you must be aware that ‘web services’ is the latest buzzword to have hit the IT industry. And that this technology trend holds tremendous potential for addressing business problems.
Extensible markup language (XML) is the universal format for data on the web. With XML web services gaining momentum among developers as the next generation of internet-based computing. A platform that made it similar to build these solutions and provide a reliable framework for integration and interoperability was needed. Microsoft’s answer to this much-felt need was .NET—a platform for building, deploying, operating and integrating XML web services.
.NET is the only platform that has been built to support XML services ground up, and Microsoft has been extensively working with the industry to develop standard s like SOAP and UDDI, the XML web services search directory that exits today.
Let’s now take a detailed look at all that Microsoft’s .NET has to offer software developers by the analyzing the latest developments that have taken place in this platform.
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is more than the next version of active server pages (APS) ----- it is the unified web development platform that provides the services necessary for developers to build enterprise-class web applications.ASP.NET is a compiled, .NET –based environment; you can author applications in any.NET compatible language, including ASP.NET Visual Basic .NET,C#, and the jscript.NET.Additionally, the entire .NET framework is available to any ASP.NET application.
Developers can choose from one of two features when creating an ASP.NET application, web services, or combine these in any way they see fit.
Web forms to allow you to build powerful forms-based web pages. When building these pages, you can use ASP.NET server controls to create common UI elements, and programs then from common tasks.
These controls to allow you to rapidly build a web form out of reusable built-in or custom components, simplifying the code of a page.
An XML web service provides the means to access server functionality remotely. Using web services, interfaces to their data or business logic, which is turn can be obtained and manipulated by client and server applications. XML web services enable the exchange of data in client-server or server- server scenarios, using standards like HTTP and XML messaging to move data across firewalls.
Each of these models can take full advantage of all ASP.NET framework and.NET framework common language runtime. These features and how you can use them are outlined as follow:
* If you have ASP development skills, the new ASP.NET programming model will seem very familiar to you. However, the ASP.NET object model has changed significantly from ASP, making it move structured and object oriented.
* Accessing database from ASP.NET application is an often-used technique for displaying data to website visitors. ASP.NET makes it easier then ever to access database for this purpose.
* ASP.NET provides a simple model that enables developers to write logic that runs at the application level. Developers can write this code in the global. Asax text files or in a compiled class deployed as an assembly.
* ASP.NET provides easy-to-use application and session-state-facilities that are familiar to ASP developers and readily compatible with all other .NET framework APIs.
* For advanced developers who wants to use APIs as powerful as the ISPI programming interfaces that were included with previous version of ASP, ASP.NET offer the IHttpHandler interfaces.
* ASP.NET takes advantage of performance enhancements found in the .NET framework and common language runtime.
* The. NET framework and ASP.NET provide default authorization and authentication schemes for web application.
* ASP.NET configuration setting are stored in XML-based files , which are human readable and writable.
VB.NET
Visual basic .NET enable you to create rich application for Microsoft Windows in less time, incorporate data access from a wider range of database scenarios, create components with minimal code, and build web-based application using your exiting skills. Builds powerful windows-based applications in less time and more robust windows-based applications with less code.
1. Web-based applications
Helps to create web solutions in visual basic.NET using the shared web forms designer and HTML designer
2. Flexible, simplified data access
Offers support to tackle any data access scenario easily with Microsoft ADO.NET and Microsoft Active X Data objects (ADO) data access.
3. Improved coding
It brings a multitude of enhancements to the code editor, including enhanced intellisence , smart listing of code for greater readability , squiggles , and a background compiler for realtime notification of syntax .
4. Direct access to the platform
Features quick leverage of registry , eventlog , performance counters , and file system in user’ application and eliminates the need to use declared statements .
5. Full object-oriented constructs
Helps create reusable, enterprise-class code using full object-oriented constructs .Language features include full implementation inheritance, encapsulation ,and polymorphism .
6. XML Web services
The new XML .Web services project templates builds all underlying Web services enable you to call components running on any platform.
7. Mobile applications
These new features give developers a single, mobile Web interface to support a broad range of Web devices, including WWL 1.1 for WAP-enabled cellular phones , compact HTML (cHTML) for i-mode phones ,and HTML for pocket PC handheld devices , and pagers . Reach out to more than 80 different Internet-enabled mobile devices using the Microsoft mobile Internet Toolkit .
8. Com interoperability
This feature enables seamless bi-directional communication between Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic Net applications.
VS .NET
Visual Studio .NET is the comprehensive tool for rapidly building and inter grating XML. Web services and application dramatically increasing developer productivity, and enabling new business opportunities.
1. Enterprise Architect
Visually specify and communicate application architecture: It uses Microsoft Visio-based Modeling Language (UML) modeling to specify and communicate application architecture and functionality.
* Gain unparalleled support for database modeling: Full roundtrip engineering, with logical and physical data models, enables communication from the business analyst to the database designer.
* Easily shared best practices: Senior developers and architects can customize enterprise template projects to provide application starting points and guidance for less experienced developers.
* Use the industry-leading development environment: Leverage the powerful capabilities in Visual Studio.Net for rapidly building XML web services and applications that span devices and platforms.
* Define and communicate development policies: developers can immediately view any policy violations and discrepancies in their code in the task list window.
Enterprise Developers:
* Fast and easy test of XML web services and applications: VS.Net can quickly create and run tests within the visual studio.Net environment to fine-tune the performance of XML web services and applications and verify functionality.
* Maximize developer productivity: It leverages the powerful capabilities in Visual Studio .Net for rapidly building XML web services and applications that span devices and platforms.
* Simplify server-side development: This feature helps to visually build server-side components with the server explorer and Visual component Designer.
* Build, leverage, and extend scalable XML web services: it creates components that can be accessed on any platform by using XML web services easily publish and component as XML web services, and reuse existing XML web services running on any platform.
Get support for the complete lifecycle: The Visual Studio integration technologies bring a broad array of partners of visual studio .Net developers and enables third party languages, components and tools to integrate tightly with visual studio .Net through various stages of the development in lifecycle.
VS .NET Professional :
* XML web services : It helps to create components that can be accessed on any platform by using XML web services . Converts existing functions to XML web services and reuses existing XML web services.
* High-performance database application with XML : It uses the built-in Microsoft ADO.NET tools to build database applications with Microsoft SQL Server , Oracle ,or any other XML-based data source .
* Supports Rapid Application Devlopment (RAD) for the server developed for thin-client devices : Offers developers a single mobile web interface to support a broad range of web devices –including WML .1.1 for WAP cell phones , compact HTML(cHTML) for i-mode , and HTML, for pocket PC, palm-size PCs pagers .
* Shared IDE : It uses a single unified integrated development environment (IDE) for all languages with a single toolbox debugger and task window across Visual Basic ,C++ and C# project .
Windows CE .NET
Window CE .NET is the successor to Windows CE 3.0 Designed from the ground up for the embedded marketplace , Window CE .NET aims to deliver a robust realtime operating system for rapidly building the next generation of smart mobile and small footprint devices. With a complete operating system feature set and end-to-end development environment Windows CE-based devices that requires rich networking hard real time, and a small footprint , as well as rich multimedia and Web browsing capabilities. Windows CE .NET offers.
* Scalable wireless technologies : Windows CE.NET include scalable wireless technologies that enable mobile devices to flexibly connect into existing infrastructures . Supported wireless technologies include.
* Bluetooth : Windows CE .NET allows a devices to use a Bluetooth-enabled cellular phone as a data modem , and to use a Bluetooth-enabled local area network (LAN) access point to provide network connectivity.
* 802.1x/Zero Configuration – New features in window CE .NET i.e., 802.11 zero configuration, aim to simplify setup of 802.11 network and to enable seamless roaming from one 802.11 network to another. 801.1x and EAP enhance the security of 802.11 by enabling user/password, certificate, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specific authentication to log on to the network.
* Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol – Windows CE .Net’s support for OBEX works over Bluetooth and infra red data association (IrDA) protocols . Object Exchange (OBEX) is an efficient, compact binary protocol that enables a wide range of devices to exchange data spontaneously in a simple, efficient manner.
* Media Sense – This feature improves the roaming experience for mobile devices users by notifying application of network status.
* Real time collaboration and communication (RTC/SIP) – Real time communication (RTC) enables messaging, presence, and audio (voice over IP between any two IP-enabled devices.
* Realiable core operating system services for demanding embedded designs : Windows CE .ET offers reliable core operating system services that enable the most demanding real time embedded designs across a breadth of devices . New and enhanced operating system features include.
* Small footprint: Continuing the effort to minimize the operating system footprint for embedded devices, Windows CE .NET provides granular Kernel componentization. Windows CE .NET supports a minimum configuration platform as small as 200 KB with minimum Kernel functions only.
* Enterprise-scale – Network security enhancements include support for the Kerberos Security Protocol.
* Wide selection of CPUs- Windows CE .NET provides a high level of processor flexibility with support for the following four families of microprocessors and emulation technologies like ARM, MIPS, SHx, x 86 etc.
* Real time – Real time processing support for the most demanding support for the most demanding deterministic applications with 256 priority levels and nested interrupt support.
* Net- enabled for creating rich personalized experiences - Windows CE .NET enables you to build smart Microsoft .NET-enabled devices and create rich, personalized experiences.
* XML – XML allows developers to easily describe and deliver rich, structured data from any application in a standard consistent way.
* Net compact Framework : The .NET Compact Framework supports all processors supported by windows CE .NET . For more information on how to develop application using the .NET Framework, please see .NET on the MSDN site. Look in the .NET Compact Framework Read me’ for specific information about implementation issues in your embedded design.
* Microsoft Direct3D API – Provides support for interactive three-dimensional (3-D) graphics applications by allowing device dependent access to 30d video-display hardware in devices-independent manner.
* Windows Media 8 compressor/decompressor (codecs) and controls – Supports the latest Microsoft Windows Media 8 codes and controls ,which allows for the latest high-bandwidth encoded multimedia streams.
* Easy-to-use end-to-end tool set: Windows CE .NET provides an integrated end-to-end tool set to help developers reduce both operating system and application development time, allowing them to get devices to market faster. These tools include.
* Emulation technology - Windows CE .NET include emulation technology to enable developers to build and test their designs on their Windows 2000 or Windows xp professional workstations without additional hardware investments.
The new platform wizard – The new platform wizard provides a foundation for starting
Device designs for:
* Cellophanes / Smart phones
* Custom devices
* Digital imaging devices
* Industrial automation devices
* Internet/media appliances
* Personal digital assistants (PDA)/Mobile handhelds
* Residential gateways
* Retail point-of-sale
* Set-top boxes
* Tiny kernels
* Web pads Windows thin clients.
CE .Net also provides support for managed and native code – To write applications for Windows CE .NET, Microsoft offers a rich set of languages for creating managed .NET-enabled or unmanaged (native) applications.
NET Compact Framework
Microsoft Corp. Has recently released the beta of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, extending the .NET strategy to smart handheld devices. The .NET Compact Framework is Microsoft’s mobile application platform technology that harnesses the power of XML Web services on mobile devices. As a subset of the .NET Framework, the .NET Compact Framework shares same programming model and application development tools, enabling .NET developers to transfer their existing skills to build mobile applications, which is expected to accelerate adoption of mobile solutions.
It provides key features for smart devices such as a programming model unified with the .Net framework on desktop and server, integral XML web services support, enterprise-class data access using ADO.Net and XML, and rich class libraries that enable developers to build powerful applications in minimal time. Runtime features such as managed code and just-in-time compilation help ensure reliable, high performance applications for a better user experience.
The .Net compact framework is complemented by other technologies such as Microsoft SQL server 2000, windows CE edition version 2.0 and the Microsoft mobile internet toolkit (MMIT), SQL server CE is the compact, relational database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to new smart devices. The SQL server CE is the only mobile database that integrates with the .Net compact framework, allowing data to be locally and securely stored and extracted to interact with back-end applications or web services.
The Microsoft mobile internet toolkit offers a wide reach to project applications to any kind of mobile device with a browser. The development experience for these technologies is unified through Microsoft Visual Studio >net, which provides a consistent set of tools and interfaces for building applications using Microsoft’s mobile technologies.
Source: http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/ADO.NET/Latest-Developments-in-the-.Net-World/
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Sunday, November 9, 2008
Microsoft to ship Windows 7 by holiday season 2009
Microsoft has been very shy about pinpointing the Windows 7 release date in the past, but a recent presentation given at the company’s WinHEC conference pretty much confirmed the software giant plans to have the operating system ready by the middle of next year – and on store shelves for holiday season 2009.
The company is trying to avoid the PR damage that would come with missing a deadline; so officially, Windows 7 is still slated to ship within three years of the January 2007 consumer release of Windows Vista. However, proof of how the next major Windows release is on a fast-track schedule is that the company already handed out a pre-beta at PDC 2008 late last month, and said it will ship a beta version early next year followed by only one release candidate.
Granted, the OS still needs some polishing here and there, but Windows 7 is a straightforward update from a technical standpoint since it is essentially built on the foundation of Vista but with some important enhancements centered on speed, usability and memory use. Here’s hoping the company can avoid past mistakes and have the operating system ready to roll in time for the holiday season 2009.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32380-microsoft-to-ship-windows-7-by-holiday-season-2009.html
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Sunday tech reading: Interview with Google's CEO
Google at 10: Searching Its Own Soul Mr. Schmidt, 53, spoke earlier this week from the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters about his plans for managing Google in a downturn, the unraveling of an advertising partnership with Yahoo and his recent public endorsement of Barack Obama. NY Times.
Panasonic confirms Sanyo takeover talks Panasonic confirmed to day it is in talks to acquire its smaller rival, Sanyo, in a deal that would see the formation of Japan's biggest electronics maker. Guardian UK.
Creative releases X-Fi Linux 32bit/64bit Drivers Surprising yet welcome move by Creative earlier this week when they announced the release of a driver providing Linux 32-bit / 64-bit OS support for the Sound Blaster X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium series of audio devices. Creative Labs.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32393-sunday-tech-reading-interview-with-googles-ceo.html
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Panasonic confirms Sanyo takeover talks Panasonic confirmed to day it is in talks to acquire its smaller rival, Sanyo, in a deal that would see the formation of Japan's biggest electronics maker. Guardian UK.
Creative releases X-Fi Linux 32bit/64bit Drivers Surprising yet welcome move by Creative earlier this week when they announced the release of a driver providing Linux 32-bit / 64-bit OS support for the Sound Blaster X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium series of audio devices. Creative Labs.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32393-sunday-tech-reading-interview-with-googles-ceo.html
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Apple iPhone developers demand surges 500%
Apple's initial reluctance to provide an SDK for iPhone development was surely a mistake. Most people knew that from the beginning, but at least for Apple's sake hindsight is proving that releasing the SDK has had a positive impact on the platform. According to some sources, the SDK has increased demand for iPhone developers significantly, upwards of 500% in the past few months alone.
The largest increase in demand for iPhone developers came shortly after the Apple App Store opened, which no doubt drew both 3rd party companies and independent developers in. What's even more interesting is what some people see this leading up to, which includes accreditation for development. Could we see in the near future a "Certified iPhone Developer" program come out?
With a massive increase in developers, they also expect to see an increase in conflicts over intellectual property. This could easily happen between different developers, or between the developers and Apple. Apple has already proven they are willing to squelch any application they don't approve of on the App Store, which has included programs they feel "mimic" existing ones that they develop. Regardless, iPhone development has seen a huge surge, which is nothing but good news for the iPhone.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32262-apple-iphone-developers-demand-surges-500.html
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The largest increase in demand for iPhone developers came shortly after the Apple App Store opened, which no doubt drew both 3rd party companies and independent developers in. What's even more interesting is what some people see this leading up to, which includes accreditation for development. Could we see in the near future a "Certified iPhone Developer" program come out?
With a massive increase in developers, they also expect to see an increase in conflicts over intellectual property. This could easily happen between different developers, or between the developers and Apple. Apple has already proven they are willing to squelch any application they don't approve of on the App Store, which has included programs they feel "mimic" existing ones that they develop. Regardless, iPhone development has seen a huge surge, which is nothing but good news for the iPhone.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32262-apple-iphone-developers-demand-surges-500.html
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