IBM has teamed with Xamarin to make it easier for C# developers

IBM has teamed with Xamarin to make it easier for C# developers to integrate back-end systems like databases with mobile apps.

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The growing popularity of smartphones has put pressure on IT departments to make enterprise systems available on mobile devices. What Xamarin lets them do is take advantage of C# know-how to build native applications for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, and reuse code between them.

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Developers can use Xamarin's own IDE or Visual Studio to build the apps, thanks to a partnership with Microsoft. IBM has a new SDK that lets developers integrate apps with any back-end system directly from either IDE.
"This is the first time IBM has partnered with another mobile development platform company, so that's a big deal for us," said Nat Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Xamarin.
The integration uses IBM's Worklight Server, which works as a gateway between the mobile applications and the back-end system. It handles synchronization, provides data access and converts the response to a mobile-friendly format. Large file sizes aren't a problem when working on a desktop and a LAN, but can cause problems on a much slower mobile network.
"With a lot of back-end ERP systems when you make a query, you get an object back that's 2MB. So Worklight makes sure you don't get sent 2MB for every query," Friedman said.
The two companies are already working on apps with about a dozen customers, according to Friedman.
For those who don't want to use C#, IBM's Worklight portfolio also includes Studio, a development platform that can be used to create HTML5 and native applications, or a mixture of the two.
The last six months has seen IBM step up its mobile push another notch. In July, the company announced a partnership with Apple, which means IBM will develop iOS apps that integrate with its big data and analytics services and promote iPhones and iPads.
IBM and Xamarin announced the collaboration on Wednesday at Xamarin's user conference Evolve in Atlanta. At the conference, Xamarin also announced a number of new and improved tools.
Xamarin's Test Cloud -- a service that lets developers test apps on real devices -- has been upgraded with video capture and the ability to shorten tests by running them on multiple duplicate devices simultaneously. Both features are available immediately.

With Xamarin Android Player the goal is to create an hardware-accelerated emulator that outperforms what's currently available to developers.
"Our users have consistently told us the emulator that comes with Android is the most painful part of building an app. So it wasn't our fault but it was our problem," Friedman said.
Android Player is available for Mac OS X and Windows, and works with the touchscreen on devices like the Surface 3 from Microsoft. It has also been integrated with Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio. For now it's only a preview, but the tool is stable and developers can control GPS location and battery settings. An upgrade that adds the ability to simulate the back- and front-facing cameras is coming soon.
With Xamarin Insights, the company is also adding app analytics to its mobile app development platform. The initial focus is to provide an insight into application stability. It tracks all kinds of crashes and exceptions, and helps developers know in real-time what is happening with app users.
Just like Android Player, Insights is still under development and available in a preview version.

The New BBM

Here are some things you need know about the new Blackberry Messenger BBM

 

The New BBM Logo

 

BBM users have started to receive an update to the messaging app that reverses a change that did not go over too well. A previous update made BBM default to using stickers before emoticons. Since BBM users have to buy stickers from the BBM Store, it would make sense for BlackBerry to promote the use of stickers before the free emoticons.

BlackBerry has had its ear to the ground lately, listening to its customers. While it didn't completely reverse the changes made with the previous update, it did compromise by pushing out a new dynamic emoticon/sticker picker (got to love that name). If you type something in the text field and hit the emotion picker, it will show an emoticon like in previous versions of BBM. But if you don't write any text and click the button, it will give you the option to send a huge sticker. This change is being made available to Android and BlackBerry 10 versions of BBM for now.

BBM 2.6 is now available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry 10 users of the messaging app. One new feature allows you to send stickers in a group chat. Speaking of stickers, BlackBerry has a current promotion going on that allows you to buy any sticker pack for just 99 cents. If you use stickers on BBM, now is the time to take advantage of this limited time offer. The update also increases the maximum time that you can have a timed message appear, to 60 seconds. Timed messages can be viewed multiple times until the clock runs down to zero.

We recently told you that the BBM for iOS beta included a new UI that supports the look of iOS 8 and the larger screen sizes of the Apple iPhone 6 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus. This new look is included in the update of BBM for iOS. Android users of BBM are getting their own UI change with the new update. The messaging app now supports Android 5.0, and will work in landscape mode. Not be left out, BlackBerry 10 users can now share multiple pictures and attachments at the same time.

Be on the lookout for the update to BBM. While it could be ready for you now, it might just take a day or longer for it to show up in your app store.

 

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Tim Berner Lee - The man behind the World Wide Web

 

Tim Berners Lee

Biography

A graduate of Oxford University, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, in 1989. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread.
He is the 3Com Founders Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence ( CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he also heads the Decentralized Information Group (DIG). He is also a Professor in the Electronics and Computer Science Department at the University of Southampton, UK.
He is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a Web standards organization founded in 1994 which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. He was a Director of the Web Science Trust (WST) launched in 2009 to promote research and education in Web Science, the multidisciplinary study of humanity connected by technology.
Tim is a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation, launched in 2009 to coordinate efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.
He has promoted open government data globally, is a member of the UK's Transparency Board, and president of London's Open Data Institute.
In 2001 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has been the recipient of several international awards including the Japan Prize, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize and Germany's Die Quadriga award. In 2004 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 2007 he was awarded the Order of Merit. In 2009 he was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of "Weaving the Web".
On March 18 2013, Tim, along with Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreesen, was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for "ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity."



(Longer biography)

Before you mail me

• If you need someone to find something for you about some arbitrary subject (travel agents, or parakeets or whatever), don't ask me, but try the Virtual Library for example, or your favorite search engine.
• If you want to know how to run a server, or how to edit HTML, check the W3C web or your local bookstore. I'm sorry I can't answer individual requests for help.
• If you can't access something on www.w3.org , you find bad links from www.w3.org pages, or errors in the hypertext please see the webmaster's documentation..
• If you are doing homework or a school project on the history of the Web then please check my Kid's questions, or the more general Frequently Asked Questions; and also, W3C FAQ, or my press FAQ as almost everything I have is there or linked from this page. I am sorry I cannot help with individual projects.
• If you are a member of the press and need clarification or an interview, please mail w3t-pr@w3.org (and Cc me) with details.
• If it is about a possible speaking engagement, see below.

If you have a serious comment on things I have signed, then do email me. I am also always open to discussion with W3C Advisory Committee representatives.

What not to email

Email is safe unless it contains programs. (Data and documents are fine, programs are not). If you send me a program, I will not run it, as it could damage my system and could be a virus.

• Note: Documents for Microsoft word, Excel, and possibly other Office programs tend to execute programs (scripts) in what you would expect to be harmless documents. These can expose my machine to viruses, because these programs do not (it seems) prevent scripts from running within a document when it received by email. Please do not send me Microsoft Office documents.
• If you are sending text, please send it as plain text, HTML, of necessary PDF. If you use your favorite word process, slide tool, etc, and send it in that program's format, then you are forcing me install proprietary software on whatever machine I read them on.

What you can email

• These are all good document standards: Plain text messages, HTML (sometimes called rich text) pages without scripts, Photos (JPEG files, PNG, GIF and SVG), PDF, SMIL, RDF/XML, N3 and so on. All these can be sent as messages or as attachments to messages. I can read them with a variety of software programs, and they cannot contain viruses, unless there is a serious bug in the code I use to read them. If you don't need anything else, then use plain text.

These are good rules when emailing anyone.
Please use my full name in the "To" line with my email address, as this will make your message look less like spam. This will happen automatically if you have me in your address book. If you just type in my email address, I probably won't see your mail.

Source: http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

The Beast - Obama's Presidential Car

10 Things to Know About the President's Limo
1. It isn't a Cadillac. Unlike any presidential state car before it, The Beast shares little in common with a standard production car. Its chassis, diesel engine and transmission are based on those used in the Chevrolet Kodiak, a rugged commercial vehicle used as everything from a dump truck to a U-Haul truck.

Some standard trim pieces, like headlamps from an Escalade and tail lights from the now-discontinued STS keep it looking vaguely Cadillac-like.

2. It has its own airplane. The Secret Service makes use of a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft to haul The Beast, a second limo and a heavily armored Chevrolet Suburban communications vehicle, any time the President is traveling. The Suburban is nicknamed Roadrunner and it is said to be a rolling communications office directly linked to a military satellite - hence the SATCOM dome festooned to its roof

3. Calling it armored is an understatement. There is probably not a better-armored vehicle with windows on the planet than The Beast. Its armor plating is said to be 8 inches thick and its doors weigh as much as those on a Boeing 757 aircraft. Five-inch thick bulletproof windows contain at least five layers to put a damper on any effort by subversives. And those gigantic, nearly bus-size Goodyear tires are Kevlar-reinforced run-flats capable of keeping The Beast on the road for quite some distance if needed. The interior is sealed off from the outside world to reduce risks of a chemical attack, while a special foam surrounds the fuel tank to insulate it in the event of an impact.

4. It's exceedingly well-equipped. Pop open The Beast's trunk and it is said that you'll find everything from firefighting equipment and oxygen tanks to a cache of the president's blood type. There are tear gas canisters, shotguns and, supposedly, grenade launchers, integrated into The Beast. The Secret Service has learned a lot since President John F. Kennedy's open-top Lincoln Continental was fired upon on Elm Street in Dallas.

5. It holds seven passengers. At the very least, The Beast has three passengers aboard - the driver, the president's lead Secret Service protective agent in the front passenger seat and, of course, the president himself. However, four additional seats in the back are available - three rearward facing spots on a bench and one spot next to the president for a guest. A folding desk separates the president from his guest's spot.

Obama coming form his presidential car

6. The Beast is not alone. The Secret Service actually has a few Beast-like vehicles. Although it's not known whether they're all functionally identical, some look more like a Cadillac DTS than The Beast. The other limousines are used for high-ranking foreign officials and VIP guests when they're in Washington, D.C. It isn't known why the Secret Service rotates between presidential vehicles, however.

In addition, the President sometimes travels in a heavily-armored Chevrolet Suburban or a modified Prevost bus known as Ground Force One rather than The Beast.

7. It runs on diesel. The Beast is believed to use a Duramax diesel engine closely related to that featured under the hood of Chevrolet and GMC's full-size heavy duty pickup trucks. Why diesel? Aside from the durability associated with diesel engines, the fuel has a low volatility that reduces the risk of it exploding - and it can be found everywhere in the world, unlike high quality unleaded fuel.

8. Its pilot is a heck of a driver. Even though The Beast has more in common with a school bus than a sports car, its highly-trained drivers can execute tight J-turns and other police-style evasion techniques in the event of a situation gone south. The Secret Service drivers have undergone extensive training on a secluded site (believed to be a military base) with input from GM engineers and test drivers.

9. Its specs will not impress you. Burdened with lugging a rumored 20,000 lbs. worth of Beast around, the diesel engine isn't a rocket. Hitting 60 mph from a complete stop takes about 15 seconds, which is more than just about any new car we can think of, and the big car's top speed is said to max out at 60 mph. In addition, all that weight makes it a guzzler, sipping fuel at a rate of 8 mpg.

10. This year, it will make a political statement. In a politically-motivated move, President Obama chose to have D.C.'s available Taxation Without Representation license plates installed on The Beast. The White House says that the decision "demonstrates the president's commitment to the principle of full representation for the people of the District of Columbia and his willingness to fight for voting rights, home rule and budget autonomy for the District."

However, it's unlikely that D.C. will gain representation in Congress as long as Republicans are in control.