Google hires Java creator James Gosling despite Oracle suit

Java's core creator James Gosling revealed on Monday that he was joining Google. He didn't know what his efforts would focus on but did anticipate it would be a "bit of everything." The new, unnamed position took effect the same day. The hire is likely to focus on Android, where Java is the core of the app system. Google's timing has raised attention as it comes just as the company is facing Oracle accusations of copying Java code. The Dalvik Java engine that powers Android 2.2 and later has multiple instances where code appears directly lifted from Sun, which Oracle now owns. If Oracle was successful in its lawsuit, it could force Google to change its Java code, reach a royalty deal, or face a ban on virtually all Android devices...

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Posted in: Google,Oracle

James Cameron pushes for higher frame rates to improve 3D

Avatar director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau are currently pushing the film industry to adopt higher frame rates, a move which is said to be necessary to improve 3D content. Moving from 24 frames per second to 48 or 60 frames per second is touted as a way to enhance the overall image quality and brighten the picture to compensate for darkening from 3D glasses. "An artifact in 3D (creates) strobing that goes away at higher frame rates. (Strobing) is more noticeable in 3D (than 2D)," Landau told The Hollywood Reporter. The producer suggests most digital cameras are already capable of shooting in 48 or 60 frames per second, but the feature is generally utilized solely for slow motion effects played back at 24 frames per second. The proposal seeks to push manufacturers to...

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Posted in: Entertainment,Tech

How the Internet of Things is Changing the Way We Work

Several years ago, before the Web had become as ever-present as it is now, Wal-Mart was the shining example of a future where inanimate objects communicated, aka the Internet of Things. The company had a plan to implement RFID tags to better optimize its supply chain. The problem? The RFID technology could not be programmed to exchange data. In the past few years, we've seen the emergence of the application programming interface, or API. APIs have become very popular. It's evident when you look at the directory from Programmable Web, which has 3,000 APIs. APIs are used all the time to connect Web apps, cloud-based services, devices and increasingly, inanimate objects. APIs are making our world programmable. We can program a bridge,...

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Posted in: Entertainment,Social Good,Tech

Ad Industry Execs: Google’s +1 Could Hold Us More Accountable

Is Google’s +1 feature likely to be an online ad industry game changer? Ad experts were split on whether Google’s new recommendation system will catch on, but if it does, it’s likely to further an existing move toward marketing transparency. Voicing the most pessimistic view on +1 was David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer. He notes that search is more a utility than a social activity, making recommendations an odd fit. “It’s not a medium where people spend time,” Hallerman says. “It’s a tool that people use.” But as DeepFocus CEO Ian Schafer suggests, +1 could make search more social, changing behaviors in the process. “When someone is searching for a piece of information about a product, a review, or insightful commentary,...

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Posted in: Entertainment,Google,Social Media

Everything You Need To Know About Google’s +1

Google’s announcement that it’s adding a “+1” button to incorporate sentiment into its search results raised a lot of questions not addressed in the company’s official announcement. We spoke with Google rep Jim Prosser about +1. Here are some of our questions answered. What other questions do you have about the new product? Why is Google doing this? Aside from the fact that it represents another way to compete with Facebook, Google’s officlal line is that it will make search results more germane. Says Prosser: “People consult their friends and other contacts on decisions. It’s very easy and lightweight way to make search results more relevant.” Will the number of +1s affect search rankings? Prosser says no, but adds that it’s something...

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Posted in: Google

HTC ThunderBolt review: The new smartphone king of 2011

akeaway: The HTC ThunderBolt is Verizon’s first smartphone to run on its 4G LTE network. The speed of the ThunderBolt is so fast it’s almost ridiculous, but it does come at a price. The HTC ThunderBolt delivers big, in nearly every sense of the word. It lives up to its sky high expectations (see huge banner below from CES 2011). And it’s physically really big and heavy. It’s big in hype, big in performance, and big in form factor — and it has one big caveat. The ThunderBolt is Verizon’s first 4G LTE phone. And, while AT&T and T-Mobile are abusing the term 4G and causing it to lose its meaning, Verizon’s LTE is a legitimate next generation experience with uber-fast download/upload speeds and lower latency...

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Posted in: HTC,Smartphone

Is Apple Delaying the Release of iPhone 5?

Apple could be delaying the release of its unannounced generation iPhone from its typical summer debut to sometime in the fall due to the Verizon iPhone 4. For the last four years, Apple has released a new version of the iPhone in June or July. And for the last three years, Apple has unveiled the phone at its Wordwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held sometime in June each year. Earlier today, Apple announced the dates for the next WWDC. The announcement was unusual though. Apple’s SVP of marketing didn’t say anything about new hardware; in fact, it was all about software. “At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” he said in the company’s press release, making it sound as if a new iPhone...

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Posted in: Apple,Entertainment,iPhone,Tech

Amazon Cloud Player: First Impressions

Amazon has made its triumphant entry into the music streaming world with Amazon Cloud Player. Rather than stream a library of predetermined music (e.g. Pandora, Spotify), Cloud Player lets you upload your existing music library and stream it from any computer or Android device. For the last 30 minutes, I’ve been testing out Cloud Player. While it’s impossible to get the full experience in half an hour (mostly because Amazon estimates it will be another 12 hours before my first 1,262 songs are uploaded), I’ve had enough time to play with it to write a preliminary evaluation of Amazon’s new streaming music service. Here are some of my initial thoughts about Amazon Cloud Player and its companion Android app: Uploading: When you first...

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Posted in: Amazon,Android,Entertainment

HOW TO: Avoid and Prevent Facebook Spam

The Facebook Marketing Series is supported by Buddy Media, Power Tools for Facebook. Have something new to tell 500 million people? Learn the best way to manage multiple brands on Facebook with this webinar. Like death and taxes, spam is one of life’s inevitabilities. From junk emails to fake pharmaceutical advertisements to bogus comments on websites like this one, spam is a very real (if aggravating) part of online life. As Facebook emerges as the communications platform of choice for a growing number of individuals and brands, the spam problem — both from other users and from applications — becomes a more pressing concern. Facebook is doing a lot to help curb app-generated spam, with platform spam down 95% in 2010, but no automated...

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Posted in: Facebook,Tip

Links for Windows Live Essentials 2011 Offline Installers for ALL languages

The final version of Windows Live Essentials 2011 are now available for download. Here is the list of and the links to the offline installers in all the available languages. These languages include Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, etc, along with some Indian languages like Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. Languages Lang iD Links Arabic ar http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/ar/wlsetup-all.exe Bulgarian bg http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/bg/wlsetup-all.exe Catalan ca http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/ca/wlsetup-all.exe Czech cs http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/cs/wlsetup-all.exe Danish da http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/da/wlsetup-all.exe German de http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/de/wlsetup-all.exe Greek el http://g.live.com/1rewlive4-all/el/wlsetup-all.exe...

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Posted in: Microsoft,Windows Live

Why Facebook’s New Questions Tool Is Good for Brands & Businesses

Brands and businesses are looking for ways to leverage Facebook’s recently unveiled Questions tool in ways that differ from what they’re already doing on Q&A sites such as Quora, Yahoo Answers and LocalMind. The feature, which Facebook rolled out to all users March 24, functions as a recommendation engine. It also presents a major opportunity for businesses to conduct market research and crowdsource in a far more elegant way than was previously possible, according to Ben Grossman, communication strategist for marketing agency Oxford Communications. “We know from Nielsen that recommendations from friends and family and the opinions of online strangers are the top two most trusted forms of advertising,” Grossman told Mashable. “Facebook...

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Posted in: Facebook,Tech