Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Moonlight—Open Source Silverlight on Mono

We have many proponents of open source, cross platform software in the SitePoint community, and I think Microsoft have left some of us scratching our heads over where to stand after unveiling Silverlight and the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR).


Microsoft’s DLR is a layer on top of their Common Language Runtime (CLR), which provides support for dynamically typed languages such as Python, Ruby and JavaScript. The great news is that the DLR is released under Microsoft’s Permissive License—their way of saying open source. Microsoft’s .NET/DLR implementations of Python and Ruby, named IronPython and IronRuby respectively, are both covered by the same Permissive License as DLR.


Microsoft describes Silverlight as “a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications.” That all sounds great—cross platform, cross browser—but unfortunately it’s missing the magic words “open source”.


Even so, it’s hard not to be a bit excited about the prospect of a ubiquitous platform/plugin which brings together dynamic languages like Ruby, Python and JavaScript to the client side of the web. And with some of the vital components already open source, it should make it easier for somebody else to take it the rest of the way…


Twitter Recruiting Members for User Testing

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Tabula Rasa, Medal of Honor: Airborne, and More

The very first role-playing game that I ever bought was Ultima IV for the Commodore 64, and ever since then I've been a huge fan of designer Richard Garriott, aka the legendary Lord British. In addition to the Ultima games, Lord British created the first major massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Ultima Online. Now Lord British and his team are putting the finishing touches on Tabula Rasa, a sci-fi MMORPG that's been in the works for over five years. We caught up with Lord British and producer Starr Long for the details.

Next up is Medal of Honor: Airborne, the next game in EA's World War II first-person shooter franchise. The really interesting thing about Airborne is the approach to the game. In most first-person shooters, you're just along for a tightly controlled ride that plays the same every single time. In Airborne, you can decide your ride, as you have control over where you land on the map, which has a huge impact on how the rest of the battle unfolds. To find out more, read our designer diary with the game's producer.

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Blogclient test story

We were on the scene in South Korea when Blizzard made its huge
announcement: Starcraft II is a go. And just like that, the GameSpot
forums pretty much went into meltdown over the first details,
screens, and videos of the game, which is the sequel to 1998's
legendary real-time strategy game. What do we know? All three
Starcraft races are back, and there apparently is no fourth race.
There are a bunch of new units and abilities, as well as a sparkling
new 3D graphics engine. But to get all the details, check out the
coverage on the site.

Meanwhile, what happens when two of the premier strategy game studios
on the planet team up? The answer is Age of Empires III: The Asian
Dynasties, the newly announced second expansion pack to 2005's
blockbuster real-time strategy game from Microsoft and creator
Ensemble Studios. However, the Asian Dynasties won't be made by
Ensemble, which is busy with a little game called Halo Wars. Instead,
Ensemble turned to fellow Microsoft-collaborator Big Huge Games,
creator of our 2003 PC Game of the Year, Rise of Nations and last
year's excellent Rise of Legends.Add Photos & Videos
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Blogclient test story

We were on the scene in South Korea when Blizzard made its huge
announcement: Starcraft II is a go. And just like that, the GameSpot
forums pretty much went into meltdown over the first details,
screens, and videos of the game, which is the sequel to 1998's
legendary real-time strategy game. What do we know? All three
Starcraft races are back, and there apparently is no fourth race.
There are a bunch of new units and abilities, as well as a sparkling
new 3D graphics engine. But to get all the details, check out the
coverage on the site.

Meanwhile, what happens when two of the premier strategy game studios
on the planet team up? The answer is Age of Empires III: The Asian
Dynasties, the newly announced second expansion pack to 2005's
blockbuster real-time strategy game from Microsoft and creator
Ensemble Studios. However, the Asian Dynasties won't be made by
Ensemble, which is busy with a little game called Halo Wars. Instead,
Ensemble turned to fellow Microsoft-collaborator Big Huge Games,
creator of our 2003 PC Game of the Year, Rise of Nations and last
year's excellent Rise of Legends.Add Photos & Videos
Add Photos & Videos

Tags:

Friday, June 08, 2007

Wireless power pulls plug on cables


POWER cables and plugs may soon become obsolete because scientists have developed a way to wirelessly charge electrical devices from a distance.

WiTricity can already power a lightbulb over a distance of 2m, and its inventors believe that within three to five years the system would be able to charge mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players and other electronic devices.


The appliances would only need to be within range of a WiTricity transmitter to work.


Professor Marin Soljacic, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that wireless electricity could eventually replace most power cables, in the same way that mobile and cordless phones had supplanted landlines.


“Once, when my son was about three years old, we visited his grandparents’ house,” said Professor Soljacic, whose results are published in the journal Science. “They had a 20-year-old phone and my son picked up the handset, asking, ‘Dad, why is this phone attached with a cord to the wall?’


Source: theaustralian.news.com.au
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Tags: %% | Massachusetts | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Technology | wireless | cables | cordless | ELECTRONIC | inventors | laptops | MOBILE PHONE | obsolete | Plug | published | SCIENTISTS

Paris Hilton Ordered to Return to Court


The hotel heiress was headed for a courtroom showdown Friday that could put her back behind bars, as prosecutors sought to hold sheriff's officials in contempt for releasing her early from jail.

Hilton was ordered to report to court at 9 a.m. and will be brought in a sheriff's vehicle from her Hollywood Hills home, said Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini.

The frenzy began early Thursday when sheriff's officials released Hilton because of an undisclosed medical condition and sent her home under house arrest. She had been in jail for three days.


Source: washingtonpost.com
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Tags: Angeles | %% | court | hollywood | Paris Hilton | PARIS_HILTON | People | superior | arrest | Jail | judge | officials | reckless-driving | sheriff | showdown | violating

Friday, June 01, 2007

Security Companies Blast Each Other With Patent Infringement Lawsuits


Computer security companies Secure Computing Corp. and Finjan Software, Ltd. are hurling lawsuits at each other over a patent dispute.

According to Finjan, the lawsuits relate to systems and methods used to protect computers and networks from hostile downloads and malicious code.


Secure Computing, an enterprise gateway security company, seemingly struck the first blow on Wednesday, filing a patent infringement and unfair competition lawsuit against Finjan, a Web security company, in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota. On Thursday, Finjan filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against Secure Computing and its subsidiaries, CyberGuard and WebWasher in U.S, District Court in Delaware.


In response to Finjan's move, Secure Computing, which claims it holds 80 patents worldwide, also filed patent infringement counterclaims against Finjan in Delaware.


Source: informationweek.com
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Tags: blast | Computer | court | Delaware | District | infringement | Minnesota | Patent | SECURE | Technology | thursday | filed | lawsuit | subsidiaries | CyberGuard | Finjan | WebWasher