Ruby On Rails - the new trend

Ruby on Rails framework is an open-source web application development framework developed initially by David Heinemeier Hansson at 37signals in Chicago while working on the BaseCamp productivity application. Ruby on Rails is written in the highly-dynamic open-source object-oriented Ruby programming language.

Some see Ruby as an alternative to Java and even as its heir. They believe, Ruby as a dynamically-typed language is superior to statically-typed languages such as Java.
And yet others believe although they have some common features they can co-exist in the foreseeble far future. Here is a comparison of Ruby on Rails and Java. And here's another view.

Obviously, there are so many enterprises that have invested in Java and its not going anywhere soon, but this new trend might give new direction to its evolution and maybe to other programming langugages'. But there's one thing is certain now, Ruby on Rails is becoming more and more popular. New books about it is being released frequently and conferences are being organized...

Dell laptop exploded into flames

At a conference in Japan, a Dell laptop suddenly exploded into flames that last for 5 minutes. Flames could be put down by fire extinguishers. Some photos are posted here. Previously Dell recalled defective batteries. Dell representatives announced that they are investigating the incident.

[ also ]

Next generation DVD

DVD wars heat up as Toshiba announced the release of first HD-DVD recorder equipped with 1 TB hard-disk on July 14. The rival of HD-DVD, Blue-ray DVD is promoted by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (Panasonic). A similar war on VHS format was lost by Sony on their VHS-Betamax although it was superior to its competitor.

[ more ] [ also ]

Virtual Reality becoming real with VirtuSphere

VirtuSphere is a a giant plastic sphere that spins with the movement of a person in it. It is on stationary wheels, allowing user to walk, crawl, run and maybe even do gymnastics, all while the wheel itself spin in place.

[ VirtuSphere ] [ more ]

Adobe will distribute Google software

Adobe and Google signed multi-year software distribution agreement. According to the press release on June 21, Adobe will distribute Google Toolbar along with its Macromedia Flash Player.

[Press Release ]

First "Skype Edition" Notebook

Packard Bell, a known PC brand in Europe, announced a deal with Skype. According to the press release, Packard Bell's new laptops will have a Skype button by which users can answer calls or intiate a call.

[ Press Release ]

Microsoft announced Robotics Studio

Microsoft released a new software package with the effort of providing standardized platform to the robotics community. The software is available for free from Microsoft's page.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/

French Microsoft website hacked

Turkish hackers gained access to http://experts.microsoft.fr
Above is the screenshot of the site on June 18, 2006
The incident stirred up the questions about safety of IIS 6.0

[ more ]

Windows Live Messenger - Official Version

At last, Beta period is over for Windows Live Messenger and Messenger version 8.0 is officially realased late night on Jun 19th. You can get it from here.
Also, you can read developers' blog

Illumio

A new social network, Illumio (http://www.illumio.com) is under preparation. It aims at connecting friends and collegues as well as talent and knowledge. Unlike a bulletin board or forum, however, illumio doesn’t rely on others to read posted questions and respond. Instead, illumio uses each group member’s PC to filter requests in real time and alert him or her when there is a strong match. Read more from the developers' blog.

Windows for SuperComputers

Microsoft released a new version of windows for high performance computing.

[ Press Release ]

Trial version version is available for free from here. The product will be available in August for an estimated price of US$469 per node.

A new peer-review model for scientific papers?

Nature is undertaking a trial of a particular type of open peer review. In this trial, authors whose submissions to Nature are sent for peer review will also be offered the opportunity to participate in an open peer review process

http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/

The web debate page below contains a range of perspectives about peer review from those who believe it is working well, to those who prefer other options.

http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/debate/

At least, it's very stimulating that this now a debate topic and a better way might be on the way...

Parallels: A virtual machine solution that can run Windows on Mac

Parallels has released a beta of intel-mac version software that can run Windows on Mac OS X. The release condidate (RC2) version can be downloaded for free from http://www.parallels.com/en/download/
Final version is expected to be about $40 to $50.

Free Online Storage

www.box.net gives 1GB free online file storage with a cool interface that allows easily loading and managing files...