Diamond Age Solutions News for the IT Industry

Fri Nov 17 07:11:14 NZDT 2006

Today Index

Sun finally release JSE, J2ME, JEE and GlassFish under the GPL:
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3337915997.html
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2055770,00.asp

Sun also Open Source their mascot, "Duke":
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2058297,00.asp

Microsoft's Jim Allchin backs away from earlier statements suggesting that Vista might be so secure it won't need anti-virus software:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/13/allchin_vista_antivirus_confusion/

ATI Offers a toolkit to assist programmers in porting DirectX applications to OpenGL:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/10/hlsl2glsl/index.php#

Serious flaw found in Broadcom's Windows WiFi driver:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3643536

Google think free cellphones are the way to go, paid for by making you listen to or watch advertisements. Much like the Vodafone spam now:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/11/technology/bc.tech.google2.reut/index.htm?postversion=2006111122

NVIDIA Position their G8800 as a stream processor that can be used as a GPU, rather than its obvious hardware optimisation as a pixel-pusher:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061115-8230.html

Engadget do a thorough review of the Zune. It's everything you'd expect from Microsoft. Basically they prefer iPod. Nice error screen though:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/15/zune-review/
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35755

Wireless gadget recharging gets a boost from MIT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Intel's 4004 CPU, the first integrated microprocessor, turns 35. Full schematics and a Java simulator made available:
http://www.4004.com/

Early nanotube use traced to AD900-AD1750, where they strengthened the blades of Saracen swords:
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19225780.151-secrets-out-for-saracen-sabres.html

Amazing underwater robot moves like a squid. Not jet propulsion, but by rippling fins around its periphery:
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=815

And finally. Star Trek had transparent aluminium, but we have transparent concrete - and you can make PC displays from it:
http://www.litracon.hu/aboutus.php
http://www.innovationlab.net/sw22811.asp

News collated from various sources by Vik Olliver for Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. The views presented in this document are the personal opinion of the collator, and should not be taken as any more than that.