development

Study: Cloud computing to brighten future of data centers

Cloud computing, the notion of outsourcing hardware and software to Internet service providers, is showing the classic signs of disruptive technology--it's not good enough for the masses yet, but it has clear potential to shake things up.

Forrester Research on Monday released a report written by James Staten, an IT operations and infrastructure analyst, saying that cloud computing does not meet the needs of large businesses. But that could be only temporary.

The services offered by a new crop of hosting providers, such as Amazon Web Services, are where the overall hosting market is going, according to Staten.

"… Read more

Surprise, iPhone SDK also works on PowerPC Macs

Though Apple states that the iPhone software development kit requires an "Intel processor-based Mac running Mac OS X Leopard," developers have found that -- with a little leg-work -- the SDK also runs on PowerPC-based Macs.

By default, the iPhone SDK package available free from Apple's site will run on a PowerPC-based Mac but omit the iPhone SDK-related files, installing only Xcode 3.1 beta and a series of other files. This routine is easily circumvented via the shareware tool Pacifist, which can be used to force an installation of the entire SDK package on PowerPC-based Macs. … Read more

Sun will make Java work for iPhone

After the release of the software development kit for Apple's iPhone, Sun Microsystems says it's going to enable Java applications to run on the device, InfoWorld is reporting.

Sun will build a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), based on the Java Micro Edition version of the programming language after June of this year. It will be available in the iPhone AppStore. Eric Klein, vice president of Java marketing at Sun, told InfoWorld Friday that although Apple passed on enabling Java on the iPhone, Sun decided to do so anyway after Thursday's SDK unveiling. After combing through the documents … Read more

The iPhone SDK: The day after

Twenty-four hours after Apple revealed its procedure for getting third-party applications on the iPhone, developers have a few questions about the software development kit, but seem mostly satisfied.

In the immediate aftermath of Thursday's presentation at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., reaction was almost universally positive to Apple's SDK plans. Some developers had feared worse outcomes, such as having to submit their source code to Apple, and seemed willing to let Apple take a piece of their revenue and be the exclusive distributor for iPhone applications in exchange for getting a crack at the technology.

Now that … Read more

Open source = market development

Generally, when a company wants to open a new market it needs to spend months to years dumping money into it to stoke demand.

MySQL and other open-source companies do market development a little differently. They dump software to seed a market. Lots of software.

Sun executive and former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos discusses this in a recent article with Computer Business Review:

I would say the ratio [between raw downloads and installations] is between one in one hundred and one in one thousand. If you look at averages you get useless information, because we might get 10 million downloads in China and we know almost none of them will pay anything in the near future. In the web 2.0 space, most will pay. In countries with a high GDP, many will pay, and in those with a low economy absolutely nobody will pay today.

The old model would have had MySQL spending money on sales and business development teams in these emerging markets, trying to figure out when and how to scale teams there. In open source, the customers download the software and tell you when they're ready to buy.

More efficient. More productive. More intelligent. And it's not just a matter of emerging markets. It's also a matter of emerging customers. Mickos goes on to say:… Read more

iPhone OS 2.0 will support locally stored Web apps

It appears that Web-apps can be stored locally under the forthcoming iPhone OS 2.0. The new OS iteration will include support for the client-side database API, which is part of the HTML 5 spec. Apple says this functionality goes "well-beyond cookies" and has robust support for offline data usage.

Apple says that properly designed with the client-side database API can be "totally functional even with the network disconnected."

The version of Safari included with iPhone OS 2.0 will also include a full-screen mode in Safari. This means that Web apps can be displayed without … Read more

iPhone SDK includes Web app creation tool

The iPhone SDK (software development kit) made available yesterday includes a new version of Dashcode (v. 2.0 Beta [126]) that allows creation of Web apps for the iPhone. When you click run, these Web apps launch in the Aspen Simulator. The tool also has support for bundling home icon images into the deployed Web app.

Preset styles include the standard sliding-style "Browser" interface. Code snippets include gauges, indicators, forward and back buttons, form elements and more.

Whether this means Web apps will be able to be stored locally under iPhone software/firmware 2.0 has not yet … Read more

iPhone SDK screenshots

We've obtained our first screenshots of the iPhone SDK from Nicholas "Drudge" Penree, a venerated iPhone developer instrumental in a number of the previously published "jailbreak" procedures.

Feedback? info@iphoneatlas.com.

"Limited number" to be let into iPhone developer program

An Apple press release accompanying today's "software roadmap" announcements states that "a limited number of developers will be accepted into Apple?s new iPhone Developer Program," which is priced at $99. As previously reported, the program allows access to pre-release iPhone software; technical support; the ability to get code onto iPhones for testing; and distribution of applications via the new App Store.

The "Enterprise Program" costs $299 per year.

Feedback? info@iphoneatlas.com.