Author: Jamie Welch, Senior Editor

Java makes Google App Engine more mainstream

Posted by | Apr 8, 2009 | , |

In a case of converging technologies, Google App Engine took several steps toward the mainstream on its first birthday Tuesday at the same time that the concept of cloud computing in general is becoming more accepted. Cloud computing presents applications as an Internet-accessible services rather than software that runs on corporate servers or people’s own PCs. It can mean anything from raw computing services that can be bolted together, as in the case of Amazon Web Services, to finished products such as the Picnik photo-editing site or SalesForce.com customer-management service. Google App Engine is an intermediate level, offering a general-purpose foundation. Thus far, App Engine had been limited to Web applications written in the Python programming language favored internally at Google but not as much elsewhere. The  Google App Engine now has support for Java as well.  What do you think?  Do you think this will encourage more developers? Spencer’s presentation was temporarily derailed by a Windows blue screen of death, but a backup Mac system quickly filled in. (Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News) via Java makes Google App Engine more...

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New Prices on Apple’s iTunes

Posted by | Apr 8, 2009 | |

That single, comforting price of 99 cents for all songs in the iTunes music store is being replaced today by three pricing tiers: 69 cents for the oldies-but-not-so-goodies, $1.29 for some hot new hits, and 99 cents for nearly everything else. Apple is setting the prices based on the wholesale prices set by the music labels. Apple described the changes in January at Macworld, but today we have the first specific indications of how the music labels will approach the new tiers. Here’s a quick first look. Thirty-three of the top 100 songs now sell at $1.29 — and the rest at 99 cents. Sony BMG has priced the recent Pink single “So What” and the elegantly titled Kelly Clarkson single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” at $1.29. via Making Sense of New Prices on Apple’s iTunes – Bits Blog –...

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Windows 7 beta upgrade won't be easy

Posted by | Apr 7, 2009 | , |

Those who want to move from the beta version of Windows 7 to the upcoming “release candidate” version will be able to do so, but it is going to take some work. In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft said that it is offering two options for going from the beta to the newer test version, which is due shortly. Neither is all that easy. The recommended approach, Microsoft said, is to go back to Windows Vista and upgrade from that. Microsoft asked testers to follow this approach as it will help the company get more feedback on the experience that the typical user will have in going from Vista to Windows 7. Those who really want to upgrade directly from the beta to the release candidate will be able to do so, but only using a series of convoluted steps. “We know many people (including tens of thousands at Microsoft) are relying on the pre-release builds of Windows 7 for mission critical and daily work, making this step less than convenient,” the company acknowledged in its blog. “We’re working hard to provide the highest quality release we can and so we’d like to make sure for this final phase of testing we’re supporting the most real world scenarios possible, which incremental build to build upgrades are not. At the same time everyone on the beta has been so...

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Apple refusing royalty-free license to widget patent

Posted by | Apr 7, 2009 | |

Apple refusing royalty-free license to widget patent   Apple believes it has a patent that could potentially throw a wrench into an effort to develop a Web standard for updating widgets. Last month Apple disclosed the patent (No. 5,764,992) to the W3C Web Applications Working Group, which is trying to come up with a standard entitled “Widgets 1.0: Updates,” as spotted by MacNN. Apple’s patent is for “A software program running on a computer automatically replaces itself with a newer version in a completely automated fashion, without interruption of its primary function, and in a manner that is completely transparent to the user of the computer,” according to the abstract on the patent. When companies participate in a W3C standards-setting process, they must agree to disclose relevant patents and license any “essential claims” related to those standards to the group free from royalties. This is a good thing; just ask anyone involved in the DRAM standards-setting process in the...

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Google improves Gmail for iPhone, Android

Posted by | Apr 7, 2009 | , |

Google improves Gmail for iPhone, Android New features The new version is much more elaborate than its predecessor–though not so elaborate that there are ads, as in the regular version of Gmail. Among the new features: • Multiple messages can be selected then archived, deleted, and marked as read, unread, or spam. • A floating toolbar–the “floaty bar”–travels with the page as you scroll through a message or through an in-box with selected messages, letting you take various actions without having to scroll to the top or bottom of the page. • A search button appears at the top of the screen for easier retrieval of older messages. Previously it was buried at the bottom of the in-box. But the offline access is what sets the application apart. The application stores e-mail messages on the phone itself using the still settling-down HTML 5 standard for Web page design and, in Android’s case, using Google’s Gears browser plug-in. Faster e-mail That makes messages readable while offline. But it also makes reading messages faster, since they don’t have to be retrieved over the network as long as they’ve been cached on the phone. I noticed a very significant speedup in use–once I endured an initial wait for synchronization while messages were downloaded. “Gmail for mobile allows common actions such as archive and send to be completed much more quickly than previous releases. The first...

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