The Java 2 platform has been an incredible success. Introduced as a major revision of Java technology in 1999, its editions - the Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Micro Edition, and Java Card (which never adopted the "2" in its brand name) -- have become standards in their development specialties.

The Java marketing team met with a large sample of the Java partner community, and the majority were in agreement with the idea of simplifying the naming system for the Java 2 platform: Drop the 2. Expand the acronym. Say "Java."

Starting from the 2005 JavaOne Conference, we all will adopt the new naming system. As future releases of the platform ship,

J2SE 6.0 will become Java SE 6 (code name Mustang)
J2SE 7.0 will become Java SE 7 (code name Dolphin)
J2EE 5.0 will become Java EE 5.
J2ME will become Java ME, because it does not have a version number

That's without the "2"

Current versions as well as older versions of the platform will maintain their current naming (for example, J2EE 1.4, J2SE 5.0, J2SE 1.4.x, and so on).

Shiira is a full featured tab browser which has a lot of unique features. This page introduces new features of 1.1.

Tab Exposé
The most impressive feature of Shiira is the Tab Exposé. Tab browsing is useful, but it can't show all opened page at once. Tab Exposé shows all pages by the simple way.

Page transition effect:

Tiger provides a powerful graphic library that is called Core Image. That is very great, we MUST leverage it. Shiira uses it for the page transition effect. You can go and back like book reading. It makes Web browsing fantastic.

Firefox bookmarks:

Shiira supports Safari bookmark integration. You can use Safari bookmark without importing. Now 1.1 supports Firefox, too. Firefox user can immigrate to Shiira without any work.

System requirement: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. >>

Mus is an one-button computer mouse looks like a cursor, for Macintosh users who know that one-button mice do a perfect job of moving the cursor on the screen. Very good sleek design and idea.

Gigabyte communications, has introduced its first handset, the Gigabyte g-X5. The Gigabyte g-X5 is an impressive looking, piano black slider handset. The g-X5 supports the GSM 900/1800/1900Mhz bands, and includes a 2.6 million color TFT display along with a megapixel camera. In an interesting twist, the Gigabyte g-X5 includes tri-axis motion sensing, allowing users to interact with games on the handset by merely moving the device in their hand.

Specifications for the Gigabyte g-X5:

Band GSM 900/1800/1900Mhz
Data GPRS
Size 96.7mm x 54mm x 25.6mm (3.8" x 2.1" x 1")
Weight 106g (3.7oz)
Battery Life 10 days standby time
250 minutes talk time
Main Display 2.6M color TFT, 176 x 220 pixel resolution
Camera 1152 x 864 resolution
Messaging MMS/EMS/SMS
Java Yes
Polyphonics Yes (64 voice)
Memory miniSD memory card slot

It also has POI, or Points Of Interest, which integrates e-maps with places of interests, restaurants, and tour routes recommended by the magazine Walker.

Bill Gates at 1983, hmmm... what a cool nerdy look ;).

source: http://blog.monkeymethods.org

In honor to the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, Google added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help us pay our own visit to the celestial neighbor. More about Google Moon. Google ROCKS everywhere!! >>

Apple's Xsan, an enterprise-class storage area network (SAN) solution that’s affordable. Xsan lets multiple computers concurrently access terabytes even petabytes of storage on Xserve RAID over high-speed Fibre Channel. Xsan version 1.1 takes advantage of the 64-bit file system in Mac OS X v10.4. Xsan costs $999 per node. >>

The history of our quest to understand the brain is certainly as long as human history itself. Use this extensive timeline to meander through some of the high-lights (and low-lights) of this great journey of understanding. Quite interesting, MUST to see it. >>

surfACE 1.5 is the versatile and expandable laptop computer support system, its sure to increase our computing comfort and the cooling efficiency of our mobile computer.
When used in an armchair a surfACE totally supports the weight of the mobile computer on the chairs armrests, no weight, pressure or heat transferred to the users legs. >>

RedTacton is a new Human Area Networking technology that uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed network transmission path. RedTacton uses the minute electric fieldemitted on the surface of the human body. Technically, it is completely distinct from wireless and infrared. A transmission path is formed at the moment a part of the human body comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver. Physically separating ends the contact and thus ends communication. Communication is possible using any body surfaces, such as the hands, fingers, arms, feet, face, legs or torso. RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well. Sounds very interesting!! >>

A good introduction on LDAP, by Kirk Coombs. It explains LDAP directories and their usage. A simple primer to bring users who have no experience with LDAP up to speed with the basics. >>

Most Java 2 Platform Standard Edition have an internal code or project name, as listed below. Starting with Tiger, each version has two version numbers: an internal number, such as 1.5.0, and an external number, such as 5.0.

JDK 1.1.4 Sparkler Sept 12, 1997
JDK 1.1.5 Pumpkin Dec 3, 1997
JDK 1.1.6 Abigail April 24, 1998
JDK 1.1.7 Brutus Sept 28, 1998
JDK 1.1.8 Chelsea April 8, 1999
J2SE 1.2 Playground Dec 4, 1998
J2SE 1.2.1 (none) March 30, 1999
J2SE 1.2.2 Cricket July 8, 1999
J2SE 1.3 Kestrel May 8, 2000
J2SE 1.3.1 Ladybird May 17, 2001
J2SE 1.4.0 Merlin Feb 13, 2002
J2SE 1.4.1 Hopper Sept 16, 2002
J2SE 1.4.2 Mantis June 26, 2003
J2SE 5.0 (1.5.0) Tiger Sept 29, 2004

Future Releases

J2SE 6.0 (1.6.0) Mustang Not yet released
J2SE 7.0 (1.7.0) Dolphin Not yet released

In 1995 Microsoft released the font Comic Sans originally designed for comic book style talk bubbles containing informational help text. Since that time the typeface has been used in countless contexts from restaurant signage to college exams to medical information. These widespread abuses of printed type threaten to erode the very foundations upon which centuries of typographic history are built.

While we recognize the font may be appropriate in a few specific instances, our position is that the only effective means of ending this epidemic of abuse is to completely ban Comic Sans. >>

Mobile GMaps is a free piece of software that displays Google Maps and Keyhole satellite imagery on Java J2ME-enabled mobile phones or other devices. Mobile GMaps is distributed under the Creative Commons license. We can download, use and distribute the application free of charge for non-commercial purposes. >>

Internet sites tailored for mobile phone browsing will adopt a new and officially approved .mobi domain suffix. The idea is that .mobi sites will make surfing the net via our handset much easier as a set of standards, such fixed screen-size resolutions, will be introduced.

MTLD, the company responsible for rolling out the new .mobi service, is hoping to launch the made-for-mobile domain towards the tail-end of 2006. Early supporters for the .mobi domain include the likes of Nokia, Microsoft, 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone. We’ll be bringing you details on the first .mobi sites as and when they surface, so watch this space.

Last week, my Software team in our Organization had an interesting session on Capability Maturity Model (CMM), by Mr. K.Sridhar [along with some philosophical examples :) ]. Here are some of the basic concepts, I have learnt on CMM:

CMM was developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the CMM characterizes the maturity of a software development organization in terms of the processes employed. The CMM identifies five software process maturity levels, from Level 1 "Ad Hoc" to Level 5 "Optimizing". At each maturity level, a number of key process areas represent the critical issues that must be under control for the organization to achieve that level.

The CMM is not a process you can simply implement. It is a guidebook to help you navigate the difficult path from ad-hoc software development to highly effective, mature software processes. It helps to identify best practices useful in helping them increase the maturity of their processes.

It was quite interesting session and helped me to learn lots of concepts on CMM. By the way my organization is a CMM Level 4 company. At this moment I would like to thank Mr. Prasanna and Mr. Jai for helping me to join the session :). Thank You!

Google Earth helps us to view the globe inside our PC. Just point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that we want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route. It is free for personal use. A must try for everyone. It also comes as Google Earth Plus [$20] and Google Earth Pro [$400]. Google always Rocks!!. >>

Here is an interesting article about Remote Controlling Linux using Red Carpet by Joe Harmon. It is explained in simple terms, provided with step-by-step along with screen shots. >>

The Google Maps API lets developers embed Google Maps in their own web pages with JavaScript. We can add overlays to the map (including markers and polylines) and display shadowed "info windows" just like Google Maps. The Maps API is a free beta service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. >>

iPodLinux Project an open source venture into porting Linux onto the iPod. So far, it has successfully ported a customized uClinux kernel to the iPod, and written a simple user interface for it dubbed podzilla. Many additional Applications have been written, adding many capabilities. It has a installation for window and Mac OS. >>

The Sony Ericsson P910 is the next generation of high-end smartphones. The P910 is a highly sophisticated smartphone, combining PDA, phone, still and video camera, e-mail and web browser, all in one stylish, mobile package. The P910 has the convenience of a Qwerty keyboard inside the flip and a large, 262 k-color touch screen. It has lots of interesting GREAT features. >>