Apple Shake-Up Could Lead to Design Shift

An interesting article found on the New York Times about apple software design http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/technology/apple-shake-up-could-mean-end-to-real-world-images-in-software.html?smid=li-share&_r=0

XML Parser using XmlReader from an XML string in C#

System.Text.UTF8Encoding encoding = new System.Text.UTF8Encoding();
Byte[] pBytes = encoding.GetBytes(strXML);
MemoryStream pMem = new MemoryStream(pBytes, 0, pBytes.Length, true, true);
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(pMem);
string s = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(pMem.GetBuffer(), 0, (int)pMem.Position);
XmlElement element;
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
pMem.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);


while (reader.Read())
{
XmlNode node = null;
switch (reader.NodeType)
{
case XmlNodeType.Element:
bool fEmptyElement = reader.IsEmptyElement;
element = xmlDoc.CreateElement(reader.Prefix, reader.LocalName, reader.NamespaceURI);
//element.IsEmpty = fEmptyElement;
//ReadAttributes(reader, element);
//if (!fEmptyElement) {
//parent.AppendChild(element);
//parent = element;
//continue;
//}
//node = element;
break;

case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
//if (parent.ParentNode == null)
//{
// syntax error in document.
// IXmlLineInfo li = (IXmlLineInfo)reader;
// throw new XmlException(string.Format(SR.UnexpectedToken,"", li.LineNumber, li.LinePosition), null, li.LineNumber, li.LinePosition);
// }
//parent = parent.ParentNode;
continue;

case XmlNodeType.EntityReference:
if (reader.CanResolveEntity)
{
reader.ResolveEntity();
}
continue;

case XmlNodeType.EndEntity:
continue;

case XmlNodeType.Attribute:
//node = LoadAttributeNode(parent);
break;

case XmlNodeType.Text:
node = xmlDoc.CreateTextNode(reader.Value);
break;

case XmlNodeType.SignificantWhitespace:
node = xmlDoc.CreateSignificantWhitespace(reader.Value);
break;

case XmlNodeType.Whitespace:
//if (preserveWhitespace) {
// node = xmlDoc.CreateWhitespace(reader.Value);
// break;
//}
//else {
//continue;
//}
continue;
case XmlNodeType.CDATA:
node = xmlDoc.CreateCDataSection(reader.Value);
break;

case XmlNodeType.XmlDeclaration:
break;

case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction:
node = xmlDoc.CreateProcessingInstruction(reader.Name, reader.Value);
break;

case XmlNodeType.Comment:
node = xmlDoc.CreateComment(reader.Value);
break;

case XmlNodeType.DocumentType:
string pubid = r.GetAttribute("PUBLIC");
string sysid = r.GetAttribute("SYSTEM");
node = xmlDoc.CreateDocumentType(reader.Name, pubid, sysid, reader.Value);
break;

default:
//UnexpectedNodeType(reader.NodeType);
break;
}
}

Windows 8 liveblog

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/10/liveblog-microsoft-rolls-out-windows-phone-8/

How To Prevent Visual Studio 2012 ALL CAPS Menus!

If you can’t stand the ALL CAPS menus in Visual Studio 2012 there’s a way to switch them to normal casing. open your registry editor and create the following registry key and value HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General\SuppressUppercaseConversion REG_DWORD value: 1 Go figure why this is set in the registry...
Before

After

iPhone 5 (GSM) vs Galaxy S III (Verizon) vs Lumia 920 vs Galaxy Note II vs One X (LTE) vs Galaxy Nexus (Verizon)

http://www.theverge.com/products/compare/6116/5807/6082/6024/5236/3604/

Convert JAVA to C#

When I was looking for ways to convert Java to C# I found some very interesting JAVA to C3 class available from a some folks at Versant. Part of there developement, they converted a bunch of JAVA Class to C# using sharpen The source code of sharpen is available https://source.db4o.com/db4o/trunk/sharpen/ db4o product is now more mature with a Current product version 8.0 and is available at the following location http://www.db4o.com/DownloadNow.aspx Some snapshot of the code is available http://www.koders.com/info.aspx?c=ProjectInfo&pid=6NHM8BDANR31VECB75REWUAC2H http://www.tangiblesoftwaresolutions.com/Demo.htm

IIS Windows 7 Ultimate

Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services, formerly called Internet Information Server) is a set of Internet-based services for servers created by Microsoft to be used with Microsoft Windows. It is the world's second most popular web server only after the Apache HTTP Server. The servers provide services for File Transfer Protocol, SMTP for e-mail and HTTP/HTTPS for web server.
In this article we will explain you how to install The Microsoft IIS Webserver on your computer. The IIS Server is NOT available for Microsoft Windows 7 Home edition as they say the Home edition was not meant for networking. So you must have the Proffessional edition or the Ultimate edition of Windows 7 installed on your computer for installing the IIS Webserver. You will also be needing the Windows 7 DVD during this install. Now, Follow the steps below:
1. Place the Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 7 Proffessional DVD into your DVD-Rom Drive.
2. Goto Start > Control Panel > Programs
3. From the dialog box that opens, click on Turn Windows features on or off. You can check this detailed guide on how to add or remove Windows features in Windows 7.
4. This brings another dialog box that contains a list of many Windows related services
5. Check the box for 'Internet Information Services (IIS)' leaving all the default installation settings intact. If you would like to install additional services, then expand each option and select them.
6. Once IIS is installed on your machine you can view your home page in a web browser by typing 'http://localhost' (you can substitute 'localhost' for the name of your computer) into the address bar of your web browser. If you have not placed your web site into the default directory you should now be looking at the IIS documentation.
7. Service and Configuration management for your IIS web server
8. You might like to install IIS Tuner in order to configure your IIS server installation for optimum performance.
9. Now, Install the Web development options for Visual Studio 2012 RC

The cost of connectivity

Forget about the Olympics.... USA first city/provider... rank 30 Can't wait for Google Fiber !!! http://oti.newamerica.net/publications/policy/the_cost_of_connectivity

Rank	City	ISP	Download Speed	Upload Speed	Price (USD/PPP)	Network Technology	Data Cap (GB)
1	Riga	Balti-Com	20	5	25.43	Cable	None
2	Seoul	KT	50	50	32.74	Fiber	None
3	Paris	Free	100	50	34.47	Fiber	None
4	Seoul	LGplus	100	100	35.78†	Fiber	None
5	Paris	SFR	25	--	36.67†	ADSL	None
6	Paris	Bouygues Telecom	20	0.512	36.67	ADSL	None
7	Paris	Orange	20	--	37.53	ADSL	None
8	Copenhagen	Telia	20	1	40.36†	DSL	None
9	London	Virgin	30	--	43.03†	Fiber	None
10	Paris	Darty	100	5	43.56†	Fiber	None
11	Amsterdam	T-Mobile	20	1	44.64†	DSL	--
12	Berlin	TeleColumbus	16	1	44.93	Cable	None
13	London	BT	16	--	45.45	DSL	None
14	Riga	Lattelecom	20	20	45.66	Fiber	None
15	Hong Kong	City Telecom Limited	500	20	46.72	Fiber	None
…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…
30	Lafayette	AT&T*	6	1	65.60	DSL	250
32	Chattanooga	AT&T*	6	1	68.44	DSL	250
33	San Francisco	AT&T*	6	1	73.94	DSL	250
34	Los Angeles	Verizon*	7	--	79.99†	DSL	None
38	San Francisco	Comcast	20	4	89.97	Cable	300
39(t)	New York	RCN	25	2	89.99†	Cable	None
39(t)	Washington DC	RCN	25	2	89.99†	Cable	None
41	Washington DC	Verizon*	15	5	89.99†	DSL	None
43	Los Angeles	TimeWarner	10	1	89.99	Cable	None
46	Bristol	BVU	16	3	96.40	Fiber	None
47	Washington DC	Comcast	20	--	99.00	Cable	300
48	Bristol	Charter	15	3	99.97†	Cable	100
49	Chattanooga	Comcast	20	4	99.99	Cable	300
50	Lafayette	LUS	15	15	103.89	Fiber	1024
51	Bristol	CenturyLink*	10	0.7	107.26†	DSL	250
52	New York	Time Warner	15	0.78	112.69	Cable	None
53	San Francisco	Astound	10	1	124.00	Fiber	100
55	Chattanooga	EPB	30	30	129.51	Fiber	None**
56	Lafayette	Cox	15	1.5	133.96	Cable	200
57	New York	Verizon	10	2	154.98†	Fiber	None

Michio Kaku Vision of the future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=219YybX66MY&feature=related

Samsung Chrome Box

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/chrome-devices/chrome-devices/XE300M22-A1VUK

Google demonstrated streaming AAA video game content like Electronic Arts' Bulletstorm without the need for Flash or Java

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbMF-X08etY&utm_source=Gaikai+Beta+Signup&utm_campaign=3c64c7d0ae-Google+Beta+List&utm_medium=email At Google I/O today in San Francisco, Google demonstrated streaming AAA video game content like Electronic Arts' Bulletstorm, made by Epic Games and People Can Fly, in the Google Native Client on a Samsung Chromebox. By working closely with Google's team, Gaikai will soon allow you to run high end console-quality games instantly from the Cloud in your Chrome browser and Chrome OS without the need for Flash or Java. You can run a complete gaming experience, including using a gamepad and playing full screen. Over the last three years, Gaikai has built the fastest interactive gaming network in the world and is proud to be chosen to demonstrate this new Chrome capability in the Google Keynote today.

NOKIA please bring a 42 mega pixel Windows Phone to US now!

The company is not doing itself any favors as it lumbers within the smartphone business. It missed a rare opportunity to release a version of the Nokia 808 with its 42-megapixel camera. This unit was shown in the big Mobile World Congress earlier in the year with no plans to bring it out in the U.S. Why not? One reason may be because it was running on the old Symbian OS. But why did the company do that in the first place? I’m positive that a Windows Phone from Nokia packing a 42-megapixel sensor would get a lot of attention and subsequent sales. But the company apparently doesn’t think so. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-it-time-to-buy-nokia-2012-06-08?link=MW_latest_news

Sequoia's "RIP Good Times" Revisited

http://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-rip-good-times-full-2011-3#

IE10 and FLASH

Finally, there’s Internet Explorer 10, Microsoft’s in-house web browser, which adds a couple of interesting features. First, Microsoft has added a strip of frequently visited and pinned/bookmarked sites that appear when you begin typing in a URL. Potentially more useful, however, is “Flip Ahead,” which adds an arrow (only visible if your mouse is close by) to the right of the screen. The arrow looks at Bing user activity and page data and actually tries to predict the most likely page you want to go to. This would be very handy for, say, articles split among multiple pages — that is, if it actually took you to the next page. In my brief test with a few multi-page articles from Slate, it did nothing of the kind, but perhaps it just needs tweaking (and more user data). Most important, IE10 now has Flash compatibility built in. However, as Microsoft explained to me, this does not mean that every Flash site will render properly. Since IE in Metro uses a customized version of Flash that Microsoft worked directly with Adobe to create, sites need to submit themselves for approval to work with IE10. Microsoft said it’s already taken care of big Flash sites (like YouTube) and more are getting added to the bucket. This seams to be the best way to avoid bogus SWF to mess up your CPU and so forth. This should be the same for Android APP to reduce the ridiculous amount of ADB log draining the battery Please Google implement a turned on or off ADB LOG in the settings of next Android OS. http://mashable.com/2012/05/31/windows-8-release-preview-2/

Microsoft with its unveiling of Xbox SmartGlass

SmartGlass is not a kind of glass. Maybe it's the buzz about the Gorilla Glass featured on the new Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone. Or the fact that touchscreens are a key part of the feature. Or -- you know -- the fact that they called it SmartGlass. But some folks have been confused on that score. The feature is actually an app. It will work with the Windows 8 operating system, which runs on both PCs and mobile devices, to link up tablets and smartphones with the Xbox console and, by extension, a user's TV. So I need a Windows phone or tablet? No, you don't. Obviously, Microsoft would prefer you buy something such as the Nokia Lumia 900 or one of the many tablets expected to be released once a final version of Windows 8 is up and running later this year. But SmartGlass will also work with Apple devices, such as the iPhone and iPad, or mobile devices running Google's Android operating system. As long as you have an Xbox 360 and either a PC running Windows 8, mobile devices running Windows 8 or an iOS or Android device, you're good to go. http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/05/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-smartglass-explainer/index.html

Apple and Samsung earn 99 percent of mobile phone vendor profits

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/03/apple-and-samsung-earn-99-percent-of-mobile-phone-vendor-profits/

This INSANE Graphic Shows How Ludicrously Complicated Social Media Marketing Is Now

http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-marketing-landscape-complicated-2012-5

Windows Phone Marketplace storefront

Original Article posted on http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com Microsoft plots to bring Android apps to Windows Phone By Jason Ankeny and http://www.unwiredview.com/2012/05/17/what-app-problem-microsoft-is-developing-a-service-to-migrate-all-your-android-apps-to-a-new-windows-phone/ Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has applied to patent technology that enables users to migrate applications from rival operating systems like Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS to its Windows Phone platform.

A patent application originally filed in late 2010 suggests Microsoft is working on a service that would scan applications installed on the Windows Phone user's legacy iPhone or Android device to identify identical or similar apps available for download from the Windows Phone Marketplace storefront. However, in the event Microsoft is unable to make a match, the service also would enable consumers to transfer their existing iOS and Android apps to their new Windows Phone handset, guaranteeing them continued access to their favorite games and services. While the Microsoft service is compelling in theory, it is unclear how it would work in practice. Neither Apple nor Google currently allow users to migrate their apps from one platform to another. The patent also indicates Windows Phone users looking to repopulate their handset with the same premium apps available on their previous device would likely be expected to purchase those apps from Windows Phone Marketplace, which could limit consumer interest in switching operating systems. ABI Research anticipates consumers will download close to 36 billion mobile applications this year, with iOS and Android combining to drive 83 percent of all downloads. Windows Phone devices are expected to generate just 2 percent of all app installs this year, ABI notes. Critics commonly cite the relative scarcity of Windows Phone apps compared to rival platforms: Windows Phone Marketplace currently offers about 80,000 apps, while Apple's App Store features more than 600,000, followed by Google Play at around 400,000. The Android operating system powers 56.1 percent of all smartphones sold in the first quarter and now represents 36.4 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, according to Gartner data issued earlier this week. iOS fuels 22.9 percent of first-quarter smartphone sales and accounts for 16.9 percent of the global market. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Microsoft sold just 2.7 million Windows Phone devices in the first quarter and controls a mere 2.6 percent of the worldwide smartphone market.

The Hidden Cost of Outsourcing Software: Software Intelligence

Great article written by Chad Davis http://java.dzone.com/articles/hidden-cost-outsourcing As everyone knows, time in the world of software passes very quickly when compared to other aspects of business. So, in the last ten years, the way many companies handle their software needs has seen drastic change. In particular, many companies and organizations that would have, in the last century, employed their own software engineers, now outsource the creation of software to external sources. I'm not talking about India or Russia, though that could very well be the case -- I'm just talking about having someone else do the work because the costs of doing it in-house are too high. This is not news. It's a fact of life. The cash-wise savings are undeniable. But I'm not here for, nor interested in, a discussion of the economics of outsourcing software. I'm here to discuss something a little less tangible. I think the speed of change in the world of software has outstripped our ability to develop sound correspondent business practices. Being young enough to have only worked as a member of small teams that do the outsourced work of larger companies, I have given a lot of thought to the odd relationship between us and them. Yes, us and them is how I think of it. There are the occasional "partnership" moments, but typically it feels more like us and them. And it's quite clear that the us and them relationship is not doing anyone any good. I have come to realize that many companies, in the rush to eliminate their in-house software engineers, have failed to recognize that they may have inadvertently thrown the baby out with the bathwater. The bathwater is the cost of full time employees. Again, no one denies that you can lower costs of developing software by outsourcing. There is, however, the baby to think of. With in-house software engineers, your assets are twofold, at least. First, they produce software for you. With outsourcing, that aspect is covered perfectly well by the external team. But the second, and perhaps most important, asset you have in an in-house software team is Software Intelligence. This is Intelligence with a capital I, as in the CIA. With an in-house software team, you have folks that know about software and can advise you on how various types of software, various trends in software, and all those software related buzzwords might play a role in your company's business model. By using their irreplaceable knowledge of both your company's business and software they can help guide you towards the software decisions that will best realize the business goals of your company. But now that you've eliminated these folks, who can you expect to provide this advice to your decision makers. One might suggest, as I am suggesting, that you seek advice from those external teams that you have hired to build the software. They have replaced one aspect of your internal team, why not ask them to replace both aspects? It's hard to envision this from the us and them context. So, why does it have to be us and them? It's mostly economics I'm afraid. When the company buying the software negotiates the deal with the seller of the software, it seems that the primary thing on everyone's mind is the total cost. For the customer, it's critical to get the software for a price that doesn't break the budget; keep in mind that it was cost that motivated them to outsource in the first place. For the seller, it's critical to get paid enough to make a profit; estimating software costs is not easy, and the demands to produce an upfront not-to-exceed estimate can be stressful on many levels. It's hard not to see this relationship as something of a poker match at best, and, at worst, openly adversarial. So, in this environment, it's hard to conceive of an "advisory" capacity for these external teams. Of course, the purchasing company could hire an external "consultant" to advise, but that seems a bit redundant. The solution is probably a lot simpler than one realizes. The money-based us and them scenario arises from the fact that everyone is only thinking about the software product and how much it's production and delivery should cost. If you start thinking of the external team as a provider of two services -- software production AND Software Intelligence -- then you've already shifted the focus of the relationship away from buyer and seller. If the external software team believes that their ability to provide Software Intelligence for the outsourcing company will contribute to a long and prosperous relationship for both sides, then you're that much closer to a true partnership. Besides, asking for advice always changes a relationship for the better. While this may be hard to envision, there are few good options. When you got rid of the in-house software team, your company may have lost all of it's Software Intelligence. If you don't recover that Intelligence from somewhere, then it's hard to imagine that you can make the right software decisions. If you are still thinking about the money . . . then you've missed the point.

Android Ported to C#

http://blog.xamarin.com/2012/05/01/android-in-c-sharp/ Android Ported to C# Oracle and Google are currently in a $1 billion wrestling match over Google’s use of Java in Android. But Java is not the only way to build native apps on Android. In fact, it’s not even the best way: we have been offering C# to Android developers as a high-performance, low-battery consuming alternative to Java. Our platform, Mono, is an open source implementation of the .NET framework that allows developers to write their code using C# while running on top of the Java-powered operating system, and then share that same code with iOS and Windows Phone. Unlike Sun with Java, Microsoft submitted C# and the .NET VM for standardization to ECMA and saw those standards graduated all the way to ISO strong patent commitments. The .NET framework is also covered by Microsoft’s legally binding community promise. Last July when Xamarin was getting started, they got there team together in Boston to plan the evolution of Mono on iOS and Android. After a day of kayaking in the Charles River, they sat down to dinner and turned their attention to how we could improve the performance and battery life of applications on Android, and make our own Mono for Android even better.