Syslog by Staff
Turning the verbosity up one debug level, Syslog is where tidbits of information that are usually sent into the bit bucket reside. If it is interesting, a quick snippet or something downright entertaining that fits nowhere else, this is the place for it.
Jul 02
Google's new foray into image search
R.J. Pittman, Google's director of product management for Consumer Search Properties, shared some details of future versions of image search. In the interview with Beet.tv's Andy Plesser, Pittman said that Google is developing visual crawling software that can be used for facial recognition and scene analysis. In addition images can be matched with display ads and utilise geotagging information for [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: image search, web 2.0, google
Jul 01
Windows XP's last hurrah
The mere fact that Microsoft will stop widespread sale of Windows XP at the end of the day has been a topic here and elsewhere for months. So, rather than rehash things, I thought I would take a look at the Windows landscape. The most immediate question is, with Windows XP moving off the stage, just where is Windows Vista? On the plus side, the newer operating system has sold 140 million [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: windows xp, windows vista, microsoft, windows
Jun 30
Google data-sharing gets authentication option
Google now supports the open OAuth standard for sharing data through its Google Data interface, a move that could make it easier to tap into information stored at Google property. TheGoogle Data API -- GData for short --provides a conduit whereby other Web sites can slurp out data stored at Google. For personal information, such as photos at Picasa or contacts at Gmail, access to that information [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Jun 27
Screw-ups, Mobile Linux shakeup and kthxbai Bill
Without doubt, the most popular story of this week on Builder AU was Sun's admission that they "screwed up" their open source relations back in 2001/2002. The argument that Sun makes is that by open sourcing Solaris and Java, that they are making amends for past wrongs. Some of the talkback disagreed and pointed out Sun's involvement with SCO in the past. Up in Redmond there will be much wailing [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: domain name, icann, bill gates, internet, sun, java, open source, microsoft
Jun 24
Google plans new Internet measurement tool
Google is expected to unveil a tool on Tuesday that measures Internet use to help advertisers identify the best places to buy ads that will reach its target audience, according to a report Monday on the Wall Street Journal website. The measurement tools, which will be offered to advertisers and their agencies for free, will compete with services offered by established leaders Nielsen and ComScore. [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: advertising, google
Jun 20
Gestation, robots and NASA hacking
After an extended gestation period of betas and release candidates, the official release of Firefox 3 finally hit the Internet this week. Coupled with a world record attempt for most software downloads in a 24-hour period, this release was always going to be big. It does help your propaganda if there is not a current world record to try to pass, but this new record is a good benchmark and will take [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Jun 18
Outsourcing made wrong – a real case
A few days ago I wrote about how outsourcing goes wrong. Now I will explain more in detail with a real case. A couple of weeks ago I was in the US and visited a state government. They had outsourced the development of their new Enterprise Software to a US based international software house here called Smarty for the nice sum of several hundred million dollars. Smarty would develop the enterprise [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 2 comments
Tags: outsourcing, project management
Jun 17
Jonathan Schwartz's free software foundation
Sun has become its own free software foundation, open sourcing everything from Java to Solaris, and acquiring the open source MySQL database for $1 billion in January of this year, as a way to grow its revenue. It seems counter-intuitive, but Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz has been betting the company on that strategy. Speaking at the Supernova 2008 conference, Schwartz explained that free software brings [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: jonathan schwartz, zfs, sun, mysql, open source
Jun 16
Outsourcing made wrong
Outsourcing is hot! Every major corporation around the globe is outsourcing all or part of their software development. Examples come from all industries: banking, insurance, utilities and government. And unfortunately the result is lots of unsuccessful projects. However, the failures are often never talked about because the vendor has got a fantastic contract and the customer won’t speak up [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 4 comments
Tags: outsourcing, project management
Jun 13
When software becomes an entertainment report
The software industry's latest on-again, off-again relationship is officially off again. Microsoft's efforts to reach some sort of arrangement with Yahoo have broken down with Yahoo claiming that Microsoft was only interested in the search component of the business and not its entirety. In a case of the freedom to do good also means the freedom to do bad, Richard Stallman hit out at the use of [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: windows live, yahoo, moonlight, stallman, apple, microsoft, firefox, linux
Jun 12
Microsoft's Surface goes to Vegas
This might not be what Bill Gates originally envisioned with his "information at your fingertips" concept. On Wednesday in Las Vegas, the Rio hotel will unveil a new Surface computer application called Flirt, that will let bar patrons "interact" with each other through video cameras and text messages. Another, called Mixologist, will let guests design their own cocktails and send drinks to friends [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Jun 06
Bracing for Applefest
It's that time of year again, Steve Jobs' reality distortion field (RDF) is about to extend throughout the internet and consume your favourite tech news sites for days. To Apple fanboys it is more than Christmas -- to others it is WWDC and you cannot escape it. Open source followers will forgo their principles and embrace a proprietary platform; Microsofties will wonder how to get into the iPhone [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: steve jobs, iphone, apple, security
Jun 04
When it comes to Apple, proprietary, 'schmaprietary'
After taking over as Apple CEO for the second time, Steve Jobs pulled the plug on a program to license the Macintosh operating system to clone makers. No surprise, as that was consistent with his approach since the debut of the Macintosh. Keeping everything under one roof worked to Apple's advantage, and it found later expression in the development of the iPod and iTunes. So it is that in the run-up [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: proprietary, closed, profit, apple
May 30
You've got patched flaws!
Strutting down the corridors of Symantec this week, one very proud security researcher was on top of the world. A flaw had been found within Adobe's Flash player and therefore the entire Web was ready to reel in horror. One small issue with that premise though: the flaw in question had already been patched and everything continued as normal. Well, maybe not normal within the walls of Symantec, [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: symantec, patents, open source, microsoft, firefox, google, adobe
May 29
Everyone wants to be agile
The last month I gave four public presentations with around 100-200 people each. I met with about twelve companies. At every occasion, I asked what really is new with agile. Here are typical unfiltered answers: "rapid iterations", "working software", "coping with change", "communication", "flexible", "adaptable", "eliminate waste", "accepting changes", "small iterations", "feature-driven", [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
May 23
A new coat of varnish
While the journalists were out covering all the conferences this week, the Builder design gnomes were busy giving us a coat of paint here and a spruce-up there -- no terribly large and daunting changes, but after a time the make-up does need to be reapplied. The most obvious changes were on our homepage, we'd love it get your feedback on the new look especially if there are places that need improvement [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: twitter, ego, remix, opera, email, microsoft, security
May 22
Opera Widget SDK released
Yesterday’s release of Opera Widgets SDK beta grants Web developers the ability to create Web applications capable of running on all devices. The SDK is W3C standards-compliant and compatible with Opera 9.5 or higher. It utilises Web technologies such as HTML, CSS and media queries, JavaScript and Ajax for developing widgets. The Opera Widgets SDK is equipped with an emulator, libraries, documentation [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: opera browser, device, dragonfly, widget, opera, sdk, mobile
May 16
XO to run XP
When Bill Gates says that everything in the world should be a computer, what he means is that everything in the world should be running Windows. Mr Gates can scratch the One Laptop Per Child project off his list of "things to run Windows" after the announcement this week that the XO laptop would come with XP. That's right, it will run XP -- the operating system that Microsoft can't kill, despite [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
May 15
Drop in on Builder AU at Open CeBiT 2008
Got a question on open source you need answered? Need a way to help convince your boss that open source is the way to go? Or just curious to learn what all the fuss is about? Then drop in to the Builder AU Open Source Afternoon on Wednesday May 21. We have teamed up with Australia's premier expo and conference which is focused on Open Source for business to provide an afternoon of panels, interviews [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: event, open source
May 09
RIP: iPhone carrier monopoly
Each time an iPhone launch story appears, one can almost feel thousands of credit cards shudder in collective fear. This week the landscape for the iPhone began to crystallise with confirmation of multiple carriers and a very good indication that the iPhone in Australia would be 3G. Will this be the catalyst that takes mobile browsing to the masses in this country? Not at the current data rates [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
May 08
Plastic bag conquers Google Street View
Privacy advocates should take note of an effective way to avert the prying eyes of Google Street View: the lowly plastic bag. Google Street View foiled by a plastic bag. (Credit: Google) A block of College Road in Fairbanks, Alaska, along with portions of Minnie St. and Third St. show what a driver would see only if wearing a plastic bag on his or her head. As Google Sightseeing observes, you can [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: street view, sabotage, humour, google
May 05
Get a discount on Web Directions entry
Entry to Web Directions currently stands at $595, but we can get that down to $545 with Builder AU readers receiving a $50 discount. Builder AU is proud to support two upcoming events this year, Web Directions User Experience (May 16, Melbourne) and Web Directions Government (May 19, Canberra), and in addition Web Directions is offering a $50 discount for Builder AU readers when they register by [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
May 02
Flash seeking the open road?
Being able to see the future is probably not one of the requirements for a Mozilla executive, but it certainly does help. Tristan Nitot appeared to have the gift of precognisance when he said that Adobe may open source Flash if Silverlight gained enough traction. Two days later Adobe announced the Open Screen Project in an attempt to get Flash onto more mobile devices. Open Screen is very much [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: soap, phpmyadmin, php, sun, java, mozilla, adobe, flash
Apr 24
Google Developer Day scheduled in 2008
Google has announced that it will host a free new event for developers in 2008. Google Developer Day is to be held at Wharf 8, Sydney on Wednesday, 18th of June 2008. This one day event will give developers the opportunity to share knowledge of both Web application development and Google’s developer products. "In the past year, the Web has evolved to be a more open and collaborative platform, [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 1 comment
Tags: applications, event, google, web development, developer
Apr 18
SEO is voodoo
Anyone who claims to know everything about search engine optimisation is either a fool or a liar. This public service announcement has to be made in light of Google owning up to the fact that last year their search engine was tweaked 450 times. That is more than one tweak a day. If your local SEO expert claims knowledge of all that is involved, ask for another bottle of snake oil to go with the [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 2 comments
Apr 15
Google App Engine meets Amazon EC2
What do you get when you cross Amazon's EC2 on-demand cloud computing infrastructure with Google's new App Exchange foundation for Web applications? It's hard to say what the union could produce besides ugly children. But it's not just a hypothetical hybrid: programmer Chris Anderson has released software called AppDrop that brings App Exchange to EC2. Programmer Andy Baio spotlighted [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Apr 14
How Google's App Engine stacks up with Amazon's EC2
With the platform-as-a-service revolution getting into full swing, developers (especially in start-ups) have more options for creating and deploying applications without the hassle and more extreme cost of setting up and maintaining infrastructure. Dion Hinchcliffe at ZDNet compares Amazon's approach to providing infrastructure services to Google's. He found that Amazon's set of services is more [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Apr 11
How useful is OpenSocial?
First up and you've got about an hour to act on this: there's a charity campaign for the Fred Hollows Foundation running until noon Australian Eastern Standard Time. Get in quick to help a good cause. The Builder crew was out in force on Thursday night checking out MySpace's local developer launch. One of the more interesting characters at the night was Markus Weichselbaum, the CEO of the company [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: micrsoft, yahoo, video, opensocial, myspace, python, google
Apr 04
Resuming regular service
One day a year the Web turns into a quagmire of uselessness. It wasn't the heavens falling down as someone's blackberry pre-emptively called an end to daylight savings. It was that day that's full of half-funny, geek-orientated humour -- and with timezone differences, it lingers well into April 2 for Aussies. Thanks to Google though, we are now able to see who can pick a joke, and who cannot. There [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Apr 03
CSS support in Opera 9.50 Beta 1
In response to the comments to my article on CSS compatibility on different browsers, I’ve tested the code used on the latest version of Opera -- 9.50 Beta 1. Pleasingly, all the examples have passed the test (see the screenshots below). :hover :focus :enabled and :disabled The :root pseudo-class worked correctly and the background colour of the document [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: opera, css, compatibility, web browser
Mar 28
Do vendors read their own EULAs?
If you've ever had Safari installed under Windows then you were a software thief -- until last night. Someone actually looked at the license terms for Safari on Windows and noticed that they had a curious restriction: "The software allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time." Now if a company the size of Apple cannot be bothered [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Mar 27
Firefox 3's better performance and memory improvements
At the Mozilla "open house", Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla Corporation vice president of engineering said that beta 5 of Firefox 3 will come out next week. It will be the last beta before release candidate 1, which is due for May; Firefox 3 should ship in June or before, if possible. Schroepfer said, Microsoft’s stated support for open standards (like CSS 2.1) is "a huge win for the Web." But "I [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: mozilla, web browser, iphone
Mar 25
Oracle's Agile PLM gains popularity
I recently spoke to Oracle about their Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, which has crowned them the leader in the PLM market -- or so they kept on repeating. Here is some information on what it is and how it can be of benefit to an enterprise: * After its acquisition and integration of Agile Software Corporation, Oracle has been able to provide an integrated PLM solution for enterprises. [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: integration, oracle, plm, agile, product
Mar 14
How soon is Semantic?
At some point in the future you will be able arrive at work George Jetson-style. Your electric flying car will be streaming content to you from the new Semantic Web while your son in the backseat will be enjoying Duke Nukem Forever. It's a nice picture to think about but what are the chances of any of the above appearing soon? Given Duke Nukem was in that list, I'd say close to none. Nevertheless [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: semantic web, tim berners-lee, acid3, yahoo, api, microsoft, google
Mar 13
YouTube becomes a service
Google's YouTube has announced that it is expanding its APIs to allow more direct access to the service. The updates to the APIs, or application programming interfaces, give developers deeper access into YouTube for video uploading and allow for "chromeless" players, or players without the traditional YouTube interface and branding. This move means YouTube will become not just a destination [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Mar 13
Google's Secret Sauce
A new Googler has offered a rare glimpse into the process by which the search giant turns ideas into products. Naveen Viswanatha, lead sales engineer for Google Enterprise, gave a presentation on Tuesday as part of a webinar entitled "Innovation @ Google: a Day in the Life" hosted by KMWorld. Brian Ussery, a technologist at an interactive marketing agency who moderates a Google forum on [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: google, developers
Mar 11
What to Expect in Java SE 7
At the Sun Tech Days Australia Conference last week, I attended Chuk-Munn Lee's presentation "Java SE 6 Top 10 Features and Java SE 7". Lee said some of the top features of SE 6 are a Vista look-and-feel, JTabbed pane enhancement, Tray icon programming, Desktop class, custom annotations and a scripting architecture. Below are some features we can expect to be introduced in Java SE 7: |> Closures: [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Mar 07
Introducing IE8: The Ocho
Over in Las Vegas the MIX conference is underway and that means only one thing: Microsoft announcements and plenty of them. Prior to MIX came the news that IE8 would use its standards mode as the default renderer in IE8. And before anyone even had the chance to ponder the future death of IE-centric code, IE8 appeared on the Microsoft site available for download. I took a look at IE8 yesterday [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: internet explorer, ie8, woz, gates, deathmatch, silverlight, standards
Mar 07
Competition: Gates vs Woz Deathmatch
Bill Gates says the world's poorest two billion people do not need cheap computers -- they need drugs and electricity. Steve Wozniak instead says that the OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte deserves a Nobel Prize. The only way to settle this is with the: Gates vs Wozniak: Flamewar against Poverty Write to competitions@builderau.com.au with your explanation of who would win in a deathmatch [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: bill gates, steve wozniak, deathmatch, poverty, competition, olpc
Feb 29
Feeling fines with Microsoft
This week had Microsoft-related news coming at us from left, right and centre -- fines, launches and more Steve Ballmer than you can handle -- so let's get straight into it. Europe struck back at Redmond early this week, slapping the software giant with a record AU$1.4 billion fine for failing to comply with supplying interoperability documentation. Little wonder that the European Commission was [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: server 2008, visual studio, microsoft
Feb 29
Salesforce's new AIR toolkit
Following the announcement that Salesforce will provide a free toolkit for Adobe Flex and AIR development on its Force.com platform, I spoke to the company’s Doug Farber, the Vice President of Operations, Asia Pacific about its functionality and other issues surrounding the toolkit. The key feature of the toolkit, Farber said, is its ability to make data available offline, by downloading it automatically [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: air, salesforce, force.com, adobe, flex
Feb 29
Is public domain software open-source?
When writing earlier this week about Adobe's sponsoring of the SQLite project, I ran into a complicated issue: is software released into the public domain also open-source software? I have an editor who hates headlines with question marks, but I'm afraid this time it's appropriate, because even experts disagree. For background, software or other material in the public domain simply means that [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: copyright, sqlite, open source software
Feb 27
Yahoo open search: Good for users, but great for Yahoo
At the SMX West conference Yahoo is making a big deal of its new open search initiative. This program, not yet live, will allow site publishers to influence the way the Yahoo search engine displays results for their sites. The idea is to get structured data into search results. For example, if you search for product, and one of the results is a CNET review, open search will know that CNET reviews [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 1 comment
Tags: microformats, yahoo, search
Feb 22
Microsoft says "open sesame"
While you may have been out last night watching the latest Rambo adventure with Sly Stallone making war for war's sake, Microsoft was busy declaring a truce with the open source community. The Redmond giant said that they would make available, for no cost, the APIs for Office and Windows Server initially, and eventually the APIs for Windows Vista, the .NET Framework, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 1 comment
Tags: office, sql server, server, students, api, free stuff, windows, .net, microsoft
Feb 21
Trial of ReiserFS programmer takes bizarre turn
The ongoing murder trial of Hans Reiser, the 44-year-old Oakland, California, computer programmer accused of killing his wife, took a rather interesting turn Tuesday with rambling testimony from Reiser's father, who said he had warned his son about "techno-geeks" who are into sadomasochism, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Yep, you read that right. During a break with jurors present, [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 1 comment
Tags: trial, engineer, crime, open source
Feb 15
SCO of the dead
It lives -- struggling along with a bad limp and only one thing on its mind -- brains. Will anyone be able to stop the zombie-like progress of SCO? The shotgun blast that Novell fired to prove it still owned the Unix copyright was not enough. Less than a year and $100 million later, SCO is back to trudge over the *nix landscape once more. Also this week we learned a little about Sun's motivation [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: sun, mysql, linus torvalds, lotus, yahoo, sco, microsoft
Feb 08
OpenID Foundation scores top-shelf board members
If the OpenID Foundation were a liquor cabinet, it just got stocked with some Grey Goose, Rhum Clement, and Gran Patron. The foundation, which is pushing for a universal Internet login standard, announced on Thursdaythat representatives from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, and VeriSign have become its first corporate board members. They join existing board members Scott Kveton (Vidoop), David Recordon [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: verisign, yahoo, openid, logins, google, ibm, microsoft, standards
Feb 08
Microsoft does a Wacko Jacko
Every other week lately has had a different corporate buyout lead it and this week continues that trend with Microsoft announcing the opening moves of its US$44 billion courtship of Yahoo. A lot of the focus surrounding the deal has looked at the portal side of Yahoo and MSN, but what will impact developers will be what Microsoft decides to do with the numerous tools that Yahoo offers. A twist of [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 3 comments
Tags: steve ballmer, linus torvalds, microsoft, linux
Feb 06
Flickr fans band together to fend off Microsoft
This is what happens when Microsoft tries to take over not just a company but also a community: a number of Flickr users have launched a group opposing the attempted acquisition. This "Blue-Pink Screen of Death" image protests Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Yahoo, which operates Flickr. (Credit: Flickr user michaeluyttersp) The Microsoft: Keep Your Evil Grubby Hands Off Our [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: flickr, protest, acquisition, microsoft
Feb 01
Nokia starts trolling
This week Builder AU is on the road at linux.conf.au 2008 in Melbourne -- but before we get into all that is happening here, there is the small matter of Trolltech. Continuing the recent trend of open source companies being bought out, the latest up is the company behind the Qt toolkit which is used in KDE and many mobile phones. No wonder Nokia decided to part with $174 million to buy Trolltech. What [...] Read more »
-- posted by Staff | 0 comments
Tags: nokia, trolltech, linus torvalds, linux.conf.au, security, google
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Club Builder: Sports, Gates and Gears
This week on Club Builder: Steve Ballmer gives a teary goodbye to Bill Gates, Mark Taylor moves into IT endorsements and we ask some Google Gears questions.
