World: r3wp

I didn't do Jabber, I built an MSN messenger clone in REBOL years 
ago.

That was way back when we all communicated/collaborated on the REBOL/IOS 
Developer server.

win7 phone UI... OMG... so many Interface design flaws wrapped into 
one package... I do think MS will replicate its excellent vista track-record 
with this.

When you make things smaller, you compact all the bad design into 
one high yeild place :)

MS IE9 - interesting plans - http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2010/03/16/html5-hardware-accelerated-first-ie9-platform-preview-available-for-developers.aspx

Wow, nice to see just how much IE8 SUCKS!

Taken from OS News (credit: Kroc Camen):


Google's Native Client (NaCl) is a browser technology to deliver 
native x86 binaries to users on Windows, Mac and Linux. Whilst this 
bridges the gap between modern JavaScript speeds and native binaries, 
portability is limited and that's especially important on the web 
where there's greater device diversity than on the desktop. Google 
are announcing that NaCl now also supports x86-64 and ARM. In addition 
to this Google are also announcing the ANGLE project, an open source 
compatibility layer to map WebGL (OpenGL ES for the web) to DirectX 
calls for Windows systems without an OpenGL library.


http://www.osnews.com/story/23021/Native_Client_Portability_Almost_Native_Graphics_Layer_Engine

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-series-the-complete-guide/
 Windows 7 Phone actually looks very nice (I am not a MS fan, but 
some things of them still suck much less as people give them credit)

and innovative, with this Android is starting to look like a poorer 
try because of less design centric development

http://blog.cubeofm.com/why-im-investing-in-windows-phone-and-skippin
interesting blogpost about it

I wonder if this is a trend... I just saw a demo of Ribbon Hero for 
MS Office. Instead of having Clippy, you have a scoreboard and a 
list of "challenges" shaped like little games to help you use various 
features in Word, Excel and Powerpoint. You can share your scores 
on facebook just like any other game. It's very game oriented, but 
I wonder if this will help or hinder Office users in the future.

http://www.officelabs.com/ribbonhero

Haha, it seems MS over-engineered WM7 .... that happens, when marketing 
guy dictates system features :-) Info from MIX 2010 conference ....


- no real multitasking, apart from few exceptions you are left with 
a push-notification system

- only way of how to get your app to the device is marketplace. Devs 
will have exception, probably for testing purposes

- you will not be able to set 3rd party browser or mailer as a default 
one
- devices will most probably not  support storage cards
- system will not support 3rd party UIs

- system files will not be user accessible. Each app will be able 
to handle only its own directory
- no copy&paste

I thought the mail and browser _could_ be overriden - at least in 
the Engadget article is says this:
We can tell you that there won't be any silly 

duplication of functionality" rejections: Microsoft says it won't 
reject a Google Maps or Google Voice app, or replacement email clients 
-- or even browsers, if some dev manages to code one up in Sliverlight 
or XNA."

but I agree that they're making it lame - seems they think this is 
the winning formula as defined by Apple

$100 tablet prototype http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/marvell-teases-with-100-tablet-for-students/

Interesting touch keyboard assist http://www.thickbuttons.com/

it predicts the next letter you want to type and not the whole word

4x the sensitive performance of CCD and CMOS chips? http://www.dpreview.com/news/1003/10032201quantumfilm.asp

again, MS is following Apple and not realizing that Apple isn't MS. 
 ;-)

Python gets JIT for X86 32  bit - http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2010-March/098360.html

...again. There's a few Python implementations with JIT. This is 
just announcing that PyPy's JIT has become practical :)

Cool nosql blog article:  http://stu.mp/2010/03/nosql-vs-rdbms-let-the-flames-begin.html

Interesting read, Nick. Few other links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoSQL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_%28database%29


I think that with RIF we could go the NoSQL way too. In fact, Ashley 
did so already :-)

NoSQL is for people who need speed rather than acid.


I worked on stuff in the 1980s and 1990s that sacrificed guarantees 
of data consistency for higher rates of throughput. At the time, 
it was the only way to build those systems as we did not have the 
raw machine power needed to run large-scale real time systems.


These days, the same may still be true for some huge write-heavy 
applications. If so, people will do what they can get get the performance. 


But most applications need data consistency more than raw performance.

Of course it would be good if we could just have uptime ....

That's yet another priority that needs to be factored in!

I'm going to move my reply to ~ Chit Chat

http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/state-of-internet-operating-system.html
 ...  I hope Carl is paying attention :)

I'm going to move my reply to ~ Chit Chat

Google to bundle Flash with Chrome - http://www.osnews.com/story/23081/Google_To_Bundle_Flash_with_Chrome_Yup

AROS on Acer Aspire One 150 netbook - pretty decent performance - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn8TW0gF5xQ

Microsoft will release Silverlight 4 in few months - makes it more 
regular dev platform, than "just" a RIA. Includes support for printing, 
webcams, microphones, local video recording support, drag&drop, clipboard, 
multitouch ...

Looks good ... is it hosted on windows or running native Aros?

I'm not sure but I think I've read somewhere that it's native

That seemed like a windows window that came up, and he talks about 
Aros native coming ...

but it looks like a multiboot loader

Dare I reformat my Acer Aspire one ??

he shows two versions, one is native and second is hosted under win

There are two versions - native AROS, and hosted AROS (Icaros desktop) 
- http://www.icarosdesktop.org/

well, I need rebol for it!

Hmmm bootable usb stick.

Find Carl somewhere, and ask him to finish R3 host kit, so that we 
can port it ;-)

The screen dragging is only available on hosted for now....pretty 
cool.


Its come a ways since last I tried it...Starting to look like a replacement 
for linux  on my  "kiosk" apps when R3 gets ported.

amacleod - you do any kiosk related work?

I say kiosk...I just mean dedicated computers running some rebol 
apps that I have at the firehouse....

A mapping app that locates fire boxes with directions, and a notification 
system for messages to members to their email and phones via text.

Not ready for prime time...hense the quotes.

Aros - can run 3.1 apps with UAE...wonder if R2 would run?

Dunno what is the last R2 version, which worked for Amiga ....

has anyone here tried out the GuruPlug?
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/c-4-guruplugs.aspx

the version with HDMI out seems interesting to create a nice home 
pc for an HDTV