We all have our favorite languages in our tool-belt, but is there a "best" overall language? If anyone can hash that out, it will be the members of this roundtable discussion, some of the stars of the open source language space. This wide-ranging session, hosted and moderated by the O'Reilly Media editorial staff, and broadcast live on the web, will try to identify the best and worst features of each language, and which are best for various types of application development. Attendance is limited, so register now!
To mark another iPhone milestone (1.5 billion app downloads in a year), I checked our iTunes app store data warehouse. I was expecting the Books category to continue to register the fastest-growth but was instead greeted by an explosion in News (and to a lesser extent, Navigation) apps. News content providers increasingly need to have a strategy for delivering content to the iPhone and similar mobile devices. At least for the iPhone, many news organizations have done just that: during the week ending 7/12, there were over 1,500 News apps. Read more.
The iPhone is correctly credited with bringing location services to the consumer. It started at launch with Google Maps. It kicked into hyper-drive with the launch of the App Store (there are now over 2800 location-enabled apps - via Skyhook). However, there is still a step to go, the iPhone needs the ability to share your location in the background to a third-party server. This has been done for them by a couple of hackers. Read more.
I recently returned to
SQL and Relational
Theory: How to Write Accurate SQL Code
by C.J. Date, a leading researcher in the field of relational
databases, as I learned more about some of the alternative forms of
data storage that are becoming popular for Web-based or text-heavy
repositories. Read more.
Even professional writers are prone to infrequent accidental plagiarism. But in the world of novels, newspapers, and college exams, there are rules about bootlegging others’ work that are well-established - most everyone agrees on what behaviors are unacceptable and what the consequences are. In bantamweight publishing, however, the rules are not so clear. Read more.
Now there are no excuses not to carry around many of the O'Reilly books you're reading. Because if you've got an iPhone or iPod Touch you can choose from a growing roster of popular O'Reilly titles that are now available as iPhone apps. You'll find Scott Berkun's Making Things Happen, David Sawyer McFarland's CSS: The Missing Manual,Using Drupal,Real World Haskell,YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts, and much more. Check them out.
Recession-Proof Open Source — "When stocks are low, conventional wisdom says "invest in bonds." There's no conventional wisdom for what to do when the computer software market is low (for the second time in a decade). But if there were, it would say invest in open source," writes Allison Randal in the latest O'Reilly Insights on Forbes.com. Randal, co-chair of O'Reilly's upcoming Open Source Convention in San Jose, explains there are many young open source ventures worth watching this year. Read more.
It seems that Apple is poised to launch its Tablet Computing entry later this year for a (rumored) price ranging between $500-800; wedging it from a pricing relativity perspective at about a grand less than a MacBook Air with solid state memory. But, perhaps the real story with respect to the forthcoming Apple Tablet Device is that Apple has already released a tablet computing device. It's called the iPod touch, and because it's often overshadowed by its noisier sibling, the iPhone, we sometimes forget that it has already sold 15M+ units. Read more.
One year and ten months is how long it's taken Microsoft to release their third version of Silverlight. From the beginning, Silverlight has been media and consumer focused. Projects such as the NBC Olympics, Wimbledon, the NCAA March Madness basketball video player have defined what Silverlight is. What isn't as well known is that Silverlight is quickly becoming a viable option for RIA development. Read more.
Social media expert Tamar Weinberg cuts through the hype and jargon to give you intelligent advice and strategies for positioning your business on the social web in her new book from O'Reilly, The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. In this excerpt adapted for the web, Weinberg discusses what power account holders should do to build credibility, establish identity, and make them memorable among the community. Weinberg offers 10 easy to follow rules. "Anyone, however, can follow these rules on social news sites to become a respected and valued participant of the service." Read more.
When it comes to favorite productivity apps, it's likely you prefer OmniFocus or Things. Now you can vote for your favorite in the current App Smackdown taking place on O'Reilly's new Best iPhone Apps site. Ready to guide the way, we shine the light on the very best apps that are sure to delight, empower, and entertain. Best iPhone Apps book author Josh Clark & a team of O'Reilly editors have stress-tested thousands of titles from the App Store emporium to hand-pick apps that will make the biggest difference in every aspect of your life. And don't forget to vote.
Join us for the 11th OSCON, happening July 20-24, 2009 in San Jose, CA.
Now more than ever, open source technology is the smart choice for navigating uncertain economic waters. Connect with the growing community that is open source.
Register now!
Save 15% on any Certification Series "I am now the team programmer, and I have been able to manage projects already launched as well as develop several new ones on my own."
Learn directly from the experts – live and in-person
InsideMobile Conference — Learn the ins and outs of mobile programming, design and business for iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android, and Palm webOS. Happening July 26 & 27 in San Jose, CA. Register Now and Save $150!
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