Adding LINQ to Visual Studio: Does this change everything?
For over a decade, database developers have been begging for a kind of bridge that enables procedural language programs to access relational databases relationally. Now that bridge is coming. But are developers ready for LINQ? We asked Microsoft's Visual Studio general manager, Jason Zander.
LOS ANGELES (BetaNews) - The first genuine effort to create a uniform set of database drivers for Windows came in 1988, when an independent firm started as a consultancy called Pioneer Software launched a product and an idea called Q+E -- a tool for linking its own database editor, and later Microsoft applications such as Excel, to any number of existing databases through stand-alone providers. It was indeed a revolutionary concept, and it gave birth to a never-equaled database connectivity standard called ODBC.
Visto, Microsoft settle patent dispute out of court
Just ahead of a hearing set to begin next Monday on Visto's claims of patent infringement against the Redmond company, the two sides have settled.
Both sides will drop any legal claims as a result of the agreement. Visto had accused Microsoft of infringing on three patents surrounding the synchronization of mobile data. The original suit was filed in December 2005.
Near Field phones come one step closer to replacing cashiers
Imagine if your cell phone represented your bank account. Rather than a "smart card," you could wave your smart phone in front of a payment kiosk. Today, the standard to bring that about worldwide took a huge leap forward.
Today, "wallet phones" took one step closer to becoming a reality with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI) approval of another Near Field Communications (NFC) standard.
Sprint leaps onto the 'unlimited' heap with voice + data plan
Sprint Nextel last Friday announced two unlimited calling plans in response to the price war launched by Verizon Wireless, two weeks ago, and followed up by AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular.
The new "Simply Everything" unlimited calling plan for $99.99 per month includes unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Internet browsing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect. A cheaper $89.99 plan includes unlimited voice and text messaging, but does not include the other amenities.
Facebook users translate the site again, this time to German
The translation project that was only announced at the beginning of the year for Facebook has already made massive progress with only the help of volunteers.
Early in February of this year, the social networking site announced that a team of 1,500 volunteers had translated the entire site to Spanish in just under four weeks.
Analyst: Recording industry needs even newer business models
JupiterResearch analysts are pointing to the music industry's need to revolutionize its business model even further, as social networking sites, Internet radio stations, and legit P2P services are taking command of the market.
As music steps more and more toward online distribution, it will become increasingly important for the entertainment industry to find new business models along with new device paradigms, according to analysts at JupiterResearch.
Asus to show off keyboard-less UMPC
Asus will be showing off the new design of its upcoming UMPC, and instead of being modeled after a laptop like the Eee PC, it's a keyboard-less tablet design.
At CeBIT in Hannover, Germany, Asus is preparing to unveil what could become its next generation UMPC design: the R70, the 7" cousin to the 5" R50 announced in November. Like the smaller model, the R70 lacks a keyboard, but relies instead on a control pad and Asus' "InfoPen" stylus controller. The result is a device somewhat similar to the Samsung Q1.
Talk of iPhone in China begins anew
Once again, talk of bringing the iPhone to China is at the forefront, with China Mobile saying it was interested in offering the device to its customers.
Bringing the device to this region could be viewed as one of Apple's top priorities during 2008. Analysts have begun to question Apple's 10 million device goal this year based on sales in existing markets, so opening up new ones is an important next step.
Intel unveils Atom: new microarchitecture for UMPCs, MIDs
When you make smaller transistors, you can make much smaller processors, and the immediate payoff is that you use less power. The trick is to make the consumer want the smaller processor, and that may not be as easy as having invented the thing.
You know Intel's coming into this year's CeBIT conference in Hannover with a full arsenal of innovations when it makes its first announcements on Sunday just to be able to fit everything in. This morning, the latest upshot of its discovery of the high-k-plus-metal-gate (HK+MG) process takes center stage, with an entirely new 25 square-micrometer processor called Atom whose thermal design point plunges as low as 0.6 watts.
BitTorrent comes to the iPhone
The iPhone Hacker core has developed a new application that will allow users to download torrents directly to the device over EDGE.
A preview version of the client is now available for download, which was ported from the open source Transmission BitTorrent client to run on the iPhone's ARM processor. However, tests over EDGE show that downloads may not be completely stable just yet. The way data is sent seems to crash the data connection quickly, although at times testers were reportedly able to download files at higher data rates without crashing.
Double-whammy for Qualcomm as Nokia wins two rounds
Last November, trade courts effectively neutralized many of Nokia's key weapons against Qualcomm in a long-running patent dispute. In the past few days, though, the same courts have deflated Qualcomm's strategy in turn.
In the Nokia / Qualcomm intellectual property dogfight, which originally erupted over a royalties spat, suddenly it's both planes that appear smoking, leaking fuel, and headed into a tailspin. This morning, a High Court judge in the UK has thrown out all of Qualcomm's patent disputes against Nokia, in so doing rendering one of the two Qualcomm patents under examination invalid, reportedly for "lack of novelty."
Wikileaks returns after judge overturns own injunction
Whistleblower site Wikileaks has been allowed to reopen after the judge reversed his own decision to block it within the United States.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White cited First Amendment issues and legal jurisdiction questions as his reasoning for removing the injunction. This could be viewed as a win for both the site and the free speech advocates who saw it as too broad a ruling.
Dell takes more hits as its reorganization continues
Dell Inc. took a 6 percent hit in profits for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, warning that the earnings slide could continue in light of cautious consumer spending.
But in a conference call with analysts Thursday, CEO Michael Dell and other officials also pointed optimistically to a high growth rate in his company's consumer sales channel, success achieved so far in reducing head count, and expansion of activities in Dell's core business of enterprise computing.
China's Baidu again in hot seat for MP3 search
The leading search engine in China is being sued by two music industry trade groups for alleged copyright violations, once again highlighting the trouble Baidu has had stopping infringement.
Baidu saw immense growth after adding an MP3 search tool on its Web site that lets users find and download a variety of Chinese music. The site still allows users to search for and listen to song files for free.
Sprint plans further WiMAX build-up, 'push-to-talk' CDMA phones
After suffering a $29.5 billion loss in its latest quarter, a beleagured Sprint is focusing on keeping customers from drifting away from its Sprint CDMA and Nextel networks.
Sprint-Nextel is still eyeing an initially data-oriented service for its WiMAX network, known as Xohm, and the 4G network's current soft launch is now in the process of being "built up," said company CEO Dan Hesse, in an earnings call. Hesse said that Sprint is also talking with Clearwire, its former partner in Xohm, about some sort of a revamped relationship, but he declined to elaborate much further.
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