RIM opened up the BlackBerry Developers Conference by revealing the first modern 3D support for its smartphones. Those using a new Java SDK for BlackBerry OS 5.0 can now use OpenGL ES graphics and produce games or other 3D apps with contemporary effects. The SDK is currently in beta but should be available today.
Beginning with two Tuesday updates, all future iterations of Mozilla's Firefox browser will check for at least some outdated plug-ins, the company has announced. Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 will both scan for the latest version of Flash, prompting users to visit a link where an updated plug-in can be downloaded. "For now, our focus is on the Adobe Flash Player both because of its popularity and because some studies have shown that as many as 80 percent of users currently have an out-of-date version," says Firefox security team member Johnathan Nightingale.
Apple has has posted two new Java update patches, targeting Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger, respectively. The Leopard patch, Update 4, is said to improve the "reliability, security and compatibility" of Java by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_13, J2SE 5.0 to 1.5.0_19, and J2SE 1.4.2 to 1.4.2_21. Mac OS X 10.5.7 is required, and Java SE 6 is only functional on Intel Macs, due to particular 64-bit code. The file is 158MB.
Oracle chief Larry Ellison late Tuesday said (registration required) his company may jump into the netbook field in the aftermath of its buyout of Sun. While referenced casually at the JavaOne conference, the expansion into computers is considered a logical offshoot by Ellison given Sun's experience in hardware and other fields outside of Oracle's preferred database apps.
Several Mac security companies, Intego and SecureMac, have issued warnings related to an unpatched Java vulnerability that affects OS X. The flaw could be exploited to allow local code to be executed remotely, leaving the computer open to "drive-by-attacks" which can install malicious software just by loading a website containing a specially crafted Java applet. Hackers could also access or delete files on a system.
Oracle today said it would buy Sun for about $7.4 billion, or $9.50 per share. The move gives Oracle both a significantly stronger position in databases, letting it produce the servers that run its apps, as well as access to Sun's software. Oracle will have access to Java as well as Sun's Solaris operating system and promises to invest heavily in both.
A pair of sources claim Sun is willing to return to discussions with IBM over stalled takeover talks, according to Bloomberg. The insiders say Sun's main condition is that IBM make a stronger commitment to closing the deal, which might be subject to anti-monopoly investigations of the combined server business if a deal is struck. Whether Sun is willing to accept a lower offer, which was also considered a sticking point, isn't mentioned.
Research in Motion's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in an interview today shot down claims by Apple about push data and background apps on mobile devices. The executive argues to Laptop that RIM is more experienced at sending live updates through the 15 years of BlackBerries and that Apple's claims of severe battery life hits with background apps aren't well-founded. To Lazaridis, true background apps are feasible as long as the software is properly optimized.
IBM's rumored deal to take over Sun may close as soon as the start of next week, multiple sources indicate. Initially thought by sources of both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (one, two) to be worth as much as $7 billion, the Financial Times now says negotiations and the market have tentatively pushed that number down to $6 billion but that a deal could be made public as early as Monday. Discussions are characterized as hectic and have the price changing from moment to moment.
Kyocera at CTIA today announced a pair of new CDMA handsets for North America with the G2GO (“Good-to-Go”) M2000 and Laylo M1400. The former is the company's third-generation QWERTY-equipped handset that comes in a horizontally-sliding form factor, while the latter is a more common vertical slider with a regular keypad. The G2GO M2000 is meant for heavy text- and instant-messaging uses and is due to replace the Lingo M1000 handset. The phone has Bluetooth support and a 1.3-megapixel camera and has dedicated keys for zooming into and out of and editing photos. An accelerometer switches the orientation of the 2.4-inch 240x320 display as needed.
ARM today said it should be the first to have truly console-like graphics on smartphone-grade devices. Detailing its plans to PC World ahead of this week's Game Developers' Conference, the company said its upcoming Mali-200 and Mali-400 chips will both have improved pure performance but will also support OpenGL ES 2.0. The mobile video standard is based on programmable shaders (effects instructions) that allow complex visuals like water ripples without overly complex code paths.
IBM is discussing a deal that could see it buy Sun Microsystems for about $6.5 billion, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The takeover would be worth twice as much as Sun's current stock value and would give IBM a significantly larger influence on Internet businesses, where both companies' preferences for open-source and cross-platform technologies like Linux and Java would give them better clout against Microsoft's closed software as well as give them further independence from Intel or other x86 hardware.
Apple has released three web-related software updates, distributing them through Software Update and its support website. The first two fix the Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.4 distributions of Java, which are said to have multiple security vulnerabilities in their Web Start and Plug-In components. Of these the most serious is said to allow elevated privileges for untrusted apps and applets, which can be embedded into malicious websites to run arbitrary code attacks.
The LiMo Foundation on Monday announced six new wireless providers have committed to release LiMo Platform based handsets in 2009. The Linux OS-based phones will become available from Verizon Wireless, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica and Vodafone sometime in 2009. The open-source Linux operating system in the devices will be based on the latest version of the LiMo Platform.
BUGLabs has recently announced it will be introducing its BUGvonHippel breakout board module for Java/BUG software developers which includes a female USB 2.0 port. Named after MIT Professor Eric Von Hippel who authored Democratizing Innovation, the device has a female breakout board and direct connections to the circuit board for standard size wires. Users can connect power, DAC, serial and grounds as well as others to the BUGvonHippel module.
Samsung will launch its first phones based on Google's Android platform this coming spring within the US, according to statements reportedly made by the Korean company. An official has told local press that Samsung is "accelerating" development of phones based on Android and should have a finished product released within the US during the second calendar quarter of the year, which runs April through June. The goal is to "meet the specific need of local carriers," the electronics maker adds.
Apple formally adopted a new web design framework at the end of last week's WWDC conference, accounts say. Although the session was guarded with high security and a non-disclosure agreement, information has reportedly emerged on Apple's announced development for SproutCore, an existing, open-source JavaScript framework based on Cocoa. The technology addresses deficiencies in exploiting JavaScript, which is often used only for launching simple behaviors such as animations.
The WebKit development team on Tuesday unveiled a new JavaScript rendering engine called SquirrelFish for the open source browser, making the browser perform 1.6 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark. SquirrelFish is billed as a register-based, direct threaded, high-level bytecode engine with a sliding register window calling convention. The engine was designed around current theories and research progress performed by professors, and developers of the Lua programming language.
The Alchemist Guild has announced the release of WebScripter 2.0, a new release of the integrated development environment (IDE) for programming in several popular web scripting languages such as: PERL, PHP, CSS, HTML/XML, JavaScript and Ruby. The tool offers features including: text editing, previewing web pages, testing scripts, managing projects, navigating code and FTP integration. The developer says that in this release, the original concept was scrapped and redesigned from the ground up with a modern OS X GUI using tabs for editing and split views for integrating features into a single window. The new design is "compact, concise and helps to keep the user in close contact with the experience. WebScripter 2.0 is priced at $40.
Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced it will soon be releasing JavaFX Rich Client Technology, a family of products for creating Rich Internet Applications without resorting to complex programming associated with Java. The announcement took place at the 13th annual JavaOne Conference. JavaFX programs will allow easier access and therefore appeal to more people who wish to create Java applications, the according to Sun's executives.
Swedish cellphone maker Sony Ericsson is hoping to encourage new kinds of applications through a new set of APIs, writes IDG News. The company has announced that it intends to allow developers to merge Flash Lite and Java ME into a single Java application, bypassing technical shortcomings. Specifically this refers to an absence of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and secure payment hooks in Flash, and conversely, a lack of interface capabilities in Java. A game, for example, could be written mostly in Java, but use a Flash-based menu.
Apple has released Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 for 64-bit Intel Macs, finally enabling Java 1.6 on the newest Mac OS X Leopard release. The update adds support for Java SE 6, specifically version 1.6.0_05, although v1.6.0_06 is the latest release. Apple says that the release "does not change the default version of Java" and is only for Mac OS X v10.5.2 and later; it should not be installed on earlier versions of Mac OS X: "This release is for 64-bit Intel-based Macs only and cannot run on PowerPC-based or 32-bit Intel-based Macs," Apple wrote in its documentation. The 58MB update is available via the Mac OS X Software Update. Apple notes that the release, first seeded to developers in early March, provides several additional features including support for AppleScript as a javax.script language, new API for altering the application Dock icon, and native support for document modal sheets.
WaveMaker has released the v3.2 update to Visual Ajax Studio, its development tool for both Ajax- and Java-based web applications. As with many visual tools, the software allows users to avoid entering custom code, forms or frameworks; VAS, though, is a free and open-source program, with a drag-and-drop interface. It is nevertheless intended for enterprises, and when combined with the Rapid Deployment Framework can quickly deploy apps to IT architectures such as Apache Tomcat and J2EE.
New Zealand's Innaworks has introduced the first limited beta of alcheMo for iPhone, a conversion tool for developers. The software is mainly intended for mobile game developers, who typically write their games in Java code; because the native iPhone platform uses Objective C however, developing for it can be unusually complicated. alcheMo is theoretically able to convert J2ME code for the iPhone instantly, without any need for manual adjustments.
Sun intends to use the newly established iPhone SDK to provide a Java virtual machine for the device, the company's Java marketing VP Eric Klein said late Friday. The company hopes to implement a native version of Java Micro Edition that would provide a direct framework for most any application that can run with the mobile-optimized virtual environment. Implementing the engine should allow the Java games that often land on most phones as well as business-grade tools such as customer relations management and enterprise resource management software, Klein adds.
WatchGuard Technologies recently updated its Firebox X network protection hardware to neutralize the latest Java threats against Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users. Malicious web pages are reportedly the most common methods of implementation for viruses or attacks, but WatchGuard says that its equipment prevents against these kind of incursions by running network traffic through its Application Proxy technology – a proxy that separates user traffic from web-source to neutralize these exploits. Application Proxy is currently available in all of WatchGuard's products, including the Firebox X line of protective hardware.
Apple has officially released a new Java client, specifically tailored to Mac OS X 10.4. Release 6 requires that a Mac be updated to Mac OS X 10.4.10, specifically, and is an 80MB download. The update is said to improve "reliability and compatibility" for Java SE 5.0 and Java 1.4; the former shifts to v1.5.0_13, while Java 1.4 has been patched to v1.4.2_16. The download is a Universal Binary; as of press time, Apple has not properly updated its release notes page to document all changes.
Excel Software recently unveiled QuickUML 3.0, an update to its Unified Modeling Language programming software, adding new features and functionality. Users can now generate PHP code in addition to C++, Java, Delphi, and Objective-C. New presentation features allow for class-definitions of operations, properties, and events, with customized color, access, data type, and visibility options. Users can view an entire project in a multi-pane window, where work is saved as a platform-independant XML formatted text file. New users can purchase QuickUML 3.0 for $300 directly from Excel Software.
