Bush, Patent Office Head to Push for Reform
In an attempt to quell increasing criticism over the nation's patent system, the Bush Administration is looking to make changes to require more specific information, and allow the public to comment.
In an interview with the New York Times, US Patent Office director Jon Dudas said that the responsibility for better quality patents should be shared by all, and he planned to address Congress about the issue starting Thursday.
Microsoft, LG Reach Patent Agreement
Microsoft said Thursday that it had reached a cross-licensing agreement with South Korean electronics manufacturer LG, which follows a similar construct to a deal with Novell reached last November.
Through the agreement, LG is permitted to use Microsoft's patents in its products, including those used in Linux devices. In turn, Microsoft has access to LG's patents, including those owned by business solutions provider MicroConnect Group.
TechEd 2007: Skinning Demonstration for Silverlight Touts C# Payoffs
ORLANDO - During an early morning session on Thursday, Microsoft program manager Chung Webster introduced developers to some of the basic concepts of building Silverlight-capable Web applications, including the creation of customizable video controls. The tools Webster used were the Beta 1 edition of Visual Studio 2008, the current beta of Expression Blend 2, and the Silverlight Alpha 1.1 version which uses Web services and C#.
What Webster was implying - and many in the crowd knew he was doing so - was that there is indeed a payoff to be gained from developing Silverlight apps using the strongly-typed C# language. One is the ability to utilize Web services through JSON - not yet SOAP, he said, although Microsoft is currently working with the W3C to make that happen. Another is the ability to use Expression Blend to tinker with the skin of the video control, producing a new set of XAML framework code that can be imported into the project.
TechEd 2007: The Story So Far
ORLANDO - We've passed the midway point here of this week-long affair, and we're noticing the effect that the more practical, toned down, brass-tacks Microsoft -- without a glistening new operating system hovering twelve months into the future -- is having on attendees. It's a mixed bag, actually. While I happen to like the difference, I've noticed my feelings haven't been shared by everyone here - the presenters, the press, the developers, or the administrators.
Though I've said this before, it continues to amaze me how the type and level of information that, just 30 years ago, would have had to have been taught in colleges, is being presented by one company during the course of one week.
TechEd 2007: Health Modeling Tool for Visual Studio 'Re-Premieres'
ORLANDO - Every so often, new products or tools from Microsoft that aren't always "front burner" projects have to be re-announced...and sometimes, even some big news doesn't find a proper place in the cycle. (We've been tripped up by this before ourselves.) This afternoon at TechEd, Microsoft architect evangelist "Chef" David Aiken (complete with white uniform) demonstrated a component called Visual Studio Management Model Designer. He described it as an essential component of .NET Framework 3.0 development, and it is downloadable from Microsoft's CodePlex, though it is probably as official a .NET component at this point as PowerShell was a component of Longhorn as of last year.
The concept of this component is to enable developers to automatically generate code that enables the reporting of their own health and status, based on standards in the midst of being set for Windows. Within a few minutes, applications become capable of producing their own text logs - an essential part of development that is often missed for the sake of compressing the schedule.
Pac Man Founder Calls It Quits with New Version
For a video game legend, Wednesday's release of "Pac Man Championship Edition" for Xbox 360 will mark the end of a nearly three-decade career for one of gaming's most illustrious developers.
Toru Iwatani, now 52, will retire from Namco -- the company that helped propel his game to worldwide acclaim -- and turn his focus to mentoring the next generation of developers by teaching at Tokyo Polytechnic University.
Apple to Use Sun's ZFS in 'Leopard'
Ahead of Apple's yearly developer conference, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz confirmed Wednesday that the next version of Mac OS X -- code-named Leopard and due in October -- will feature Sun's ZFS file system instead of Apple's HFS+ used previously.
The change to ZFS will bring numerous improvements, including checksums to protect data integrity and the ability to abstract storage space from physical drives using a virtual layer, making it easier to add space. ZFS snapshots also improve backup capabilities, and as a 128-bit file system, potential disk size is virtually unlimited. In addition, built-in compression increases performance by 2-3x, according to Sun.
Adobe Reader 8.1 Brings Vista Support
Adobe on Tuesday released the first major update to both Acrobat and Reader 8.0, adding support for Windows Vista and remote printing capabilities through a partnership with FedEx Kinko's. Version 8.1 (download from FileForum) also brings integration with Microsoft Office 2007.
Acrobat users can now export Office documents to PDF files by right clicking, as well as preview multi-page PDF files from without Outlook 2007. Adobe has additionally added Flash movie playback for Mac users, removing the need to use QuickTime. The new "Send to FedEx Kinko's" toolbar button quickly sends a document to the company's remote printing service, primarily designed for business users when traveling.
House Approves Another Anti-Spyware Bill
While a bill passed by the House last month put stricter requirements on software to protect consumers from spyware, the body has passed another bill with even stricter policies.
This bill faces opposition from the software industry, that says the new regulations could place an unnecessary burden on developers and stunt technology investment. It passed in bipartisan fashion by a vote of 368 to 48.
Multiple Security Flaws in Yahoo Messenger
Security firm eEye says it has notified Yahoo of multiple security vulnerabilities within its instant messaging application, which could lead to "remote execution of arbitrary code with minimal user interaction." The flaws were given a severity rating of "high."
Although eEye has withheld specific details of the vulnerabilities and says no exploit code has surfaced, the company notes that both Yahoo! Messenger 8.0 and 8.1 running on Windows are affected. Yahoo says it is working on a fix for the problems, which follow an April security update related to audio conferencing.
Google Adds 12 Universities to Book Project
Nearly doubling the educational institutions participating in its massive effort to digitize the world's books, Google said Wednesday that another twelve universities have joined Google Book Search. In total, they will contribute up to 10 million volumes to be scanned.
The new agreement was forged with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which is represented by the University of Chicago and 11 universities that make up the Big Ten athletic conference: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. The committee and Google say they will respect copyright law, but the search engine is facing lawsuits from the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over the effort.
Google Acquires PeakStream
Google said Tuesday that it had acquired software company PeakStream, which specializes in software to assist developers in programming for multi-core processors.
Although the buy may seem strange to those who are following the Mountain View, Calif. company's moves, it may actually hold clues to Google's future plans. PeakStream's software has been used to program graphics processor units.
TechEd 2007: First Demos of Microsoft SoftGrid Application 'Sequencing'
ORLANDO - Although Softricity was officially in the business of finding ways to virtualize applications within their own self-contained memory envelopes since 1998, for many of us (guilty as charged) the concept is an entirely new science, with new concepts and technologies. In what for many was the first demonstration they'd seen of these concepts, Microsoft senior technical product manager Chad Jones - who came on board when it acquired Softricity - introduced the concept of application sequencing, which is the process admins will undertake to pre-install applications that users will run within a SoftGrid virtualization envelope.
What am I talking about? SoftGrid is now Microsoft's system for enabling remote users to run applications in Vista without their having to be installed there beforehand. In reality, they're being run on the server, in such a way that they just appear to be run on the client.
TiVo Could Return to DirecTV
Could TiVo make a return to DirecTV? Comments from the DVR maker's CEO are certainly opening the door to such an idea.
With DirecTV under new management, it could very well happen. The two companies parted ways after the satellite provider's former owner, News Corp., decided to back technology from its NDS subsidiary.
PS3 Falls Further Behind in Japan
Any hope from Sony that its fortunes were turning around with the PlayStation 3 were dashed Tuesday as data showed it was falling further behind the Nintendo Wii in sales on its home turf.
Japanese gaming magazine company Enterbrain said that the PS3 had only managed to sell 45,321 units in May, far less than the Wii's 251,794 units during the month of May, a five-to-one margin. In April, the Wii was outselling the PS3 by a four-to-one ratio.
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