Daily Bitekletas

Following emerging development in online/offline computing like Adobe’s Apollo platform or Microsoft’s Silverlight platform, Google releases Gears which will allow developers to create applications using JavaScript that will run in offline mode and could synchronize to a remote application (e.g. server application) when available.

Google Gears group writes:

Google Gears allows developers to enhance their AJAX applications to be able to run even when their users are offline. This is the official discussion group for web developers interested in using Google Gears in their applications.

Google Gears provides application programming interface (APIs) for offline application access and data storage (using SQLlite). Licensed: BSD

More on Google Gears

• Google Gears Lets Developers Take Apps Offline
• Official Google Gears Site, groups and API documentation

I’ve been a Linux user for a years but still newbie at some simple stuff like keyboard shortcuts when interacting with the shell. Like some command line junkie, I always freak out every time the scroll lock is activated without me noticing it. I always love to kill my test scripts, however in some instances, instead of pressing Ctrl-C my index finger would hit the S key and that would cause my keyboard to lock. I always end up using Google to search for the key combination on for unlocking the keyboard.

To unlock, use Ctrl-Q. Don’t freak out, use Ctrl-Q key combination to unlock your keyboard.

For more keyboard shortcuts, head over to Pio’s Blog.

Smart Communications and Dream TV are in a rat race to make Mobile TV part of every Filipinos love for mobile phones. Mobile TV is different from an earlier TV streaming services by both Smart and Globe Telecom when they were just introducing 3G to Philippine market. Mobile TV does not ride on the same spectrum used in GSM/GPRS for phone calls and text messaging.

Smart is already doing a test broadcast of it’s mobile TV service starting in key cities in Metro Manila and recently rolled out transmitters in key cities like Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, Dumaguete, Davao and Boracay, Aklan.

Mobile TV signals are delivered using DVB-H (standards for digital television) technology. One needs to have a DVB-H compatible handsets which are already available in the market a few months back (Nokia,Samsung, and Sony Ericsson). Mobile TV works just like a regular cable television with default features such as addressable box (which is the handset itself).

Dream TV is aiming to launch their Mobile TV months earlier than the target date of Smart. Dream TV also uses DVB-H for signal or content delivery to mobile phones. An Inquirer.net article provides information on pricing which includes service fee of PhP 300.00 for twelve channels (eight free and 4 pay-per-view). Dream TV, a brand of Philippine Multimedia Systems Incorporated (PMSI) which also owns Dream Satellite TV is I think a very welcome addition to the growing market of mobile content providers. This move of Dream TV will mostly benefit those who are interested in the service by providing competitive price and NOT allowing monopoly in pricing scheme by by either of the two biggest wireless carriers in the Philippines.

Sources:

• Smart demos TV on mobile phones
• Smart expands mobile TV infra in Visayas, Mindanao

Linux, having less of a surface area, is what Windows Server 2008 will be promoting as one of the idea in it’s features set. Surface area is an IT term use to define the total resource footprint of an operating system. Surface area includes the amount of code, features, network resources like number of ports which could potentially break the system due to attacks.

Bill Laing, Microsoft Windows Server General Manager pointed out that “Having less surface area does reduce the servicing and amount of code running and exposed, so we have done a lot of work in 2008 to make the system more modular”. He also added that there are more than 30 components not installed by default which a huge change. For some IT managers, system administrators and technicians, having these components turned on by default will mean harder time for attackers in finding out a hole in the system. One more noteable feature according to Laing is a server core where it doesn’t have (and don’t need ) the graphical user interface in order to bring up the system.

I guess, what Microsoft is trying to do is to attract old/new Linux enthusiast AND mostl importantly small and medium enterprise to finally consider Windows Server for their IT operations need. This is another challenge for Linux which I personally think is not really that of a bigger deal. This kind of competition will benefit the most important part of the IT industry, no one else but the users. I just hope that Microsoft can come up with a better pricing scheme for their new products or else Linux will continue it’s rise to the enterprise and probably dominate in this field.

On OSnews.com discussion, Shanya Almafeta said “Speaking as a long time Windows customer, I can’t see how this would be good. Having 30 more components that aren’t included in the default build just means 30 more ways to break compatiblity, as well as 30 more things we might have to buy.” This is just one of the many reactions that will pop up as soon as Microsoft intensify their marketing effort for Windows 2008.

Sources:

• Windows Server 2008 Features Address Linux Challenge - eWeek.com
• OSnews.com discussion

Update: Changed some of the instances of “Windows 2008″ to “Windows Server 2008″.

Authors@Google Present: Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak talks about his career at Apple as well as his life and new book “iWoz” at Google.

Stephan Gary “Woz” Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is an American computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.), with Steve Jobs. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing greatly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s. The Apple II gained a sizable amount of popularity, eventually becoming one of the best selling personal computers of the 1970s and early 1980s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak]

I can’t stand watching this spoof video about a fictitious Microsoft oPhone without laughing. “They’ve done it! They’ve really done it! They’ve reinvented the wheel!”. Talke about “circular display”. What a terribe design for a phone. Thankfully it’s a joke!