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Yahoo! Backs OpenSocial; New Foundation Formed

3/26/2008

Yahoo! announced Tuesday that it's joined forces with Google and MySpace to back OpenSocial, which aims to define a common API to allow social applications across multiple sites. Google, Yahoo!, and MySpace are also creating a non-profit foundation to "foster the continued open development of OpenSocial."

Eclipse Platform e4 Just Getting Off the Ground

3/25/2008

The Eclipse Foundation offered attendees at last week's EclipseCon 2008 conference an early look at plans for the next generation of its Eclipse distribution and platform: Eclipse 4.0, better known as "e4."

BEA Systems Releases WebLogic Portal 10.2

3/21/2008

BEA Systems, a provider of enterprise infrastructure technology, announced the availability of WebLogic Portal 10.2 earlier this month. The solution is a Java-based portal for service-oriented infrastructure. It supports the creation of Web pages with dynamic content, as well as composite applications and Web 2.0 apps.

Microsoft Takes First Steps Toward Eclipse Support

3/21/2008

Microsoft has added another nickel to its open source credibility bank this week with the announcement of its first collaboration with the Eclipse Foundation. The world's largest proprietary software maker and the non-profit host of the open source Eclipse project will work together to allow the Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) to use Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), according to Sam Ramji, director of Microsoft's Open Source Software Lab.

JBuilder Integrates Swing Designer

3/21/2008

CodeGear has teamed up with Instantiations, a provider of software products, services and technologies for Eclipse, Java and Smalltalk. The companies plan to add Instantiations' Swing Designer visual layout tools to CodeGear's JBuilder integrated development environment (IDE). Swing Designer will be part of the JBuilder 2008 release, due in April from CodeGear, the development-tools arm of Borland Software Corp. JBuilder will be the first commercial Java IDE to integrate this technology, company representatives said.

Nexaweb Offers 4.0 RIA and AJAX Dev Tool

3/20/2008

Boston-based Nexaweb Technologies released the latest version of its integrated development environment (IDE) for the enterprise. Nexaweb Studio 4.0 provides a drag-and-drop development environment for the creation of dynamic Web applications. It can be used to create composite applications, mashups, and rich Internet applications (RIAs).

IBM Addresses Web 2.0 Security Concerns With 'SMash'

3/19/2008

IBM announced new technology to secure "mashups," Web applications that pull information from multiple sources, such as Web sites, enterprise databases, or e-mails, to create one unified view. Mashups allow users to gain insight on complex situations but, as with all Web-based initiatives, security has been a concern.

Research Collaboration in the Ephemera of Web 2.0

3/19/2008

What technologies do researchers need at different phases of their projects? With new possibilities constantly emerging, it seems we must keep reconsidering all our options. Part of research now is not just doing our research, but keeping abreast of new collaboration technologies.

Second Life -- "A libertarian paradise where there are no zoning laws"

3/19/2008

An examination of a thesis for a masters of science in art education, done in Second Life.

Student Faces Expulsion over Facebook Study Group

3/19/2008

A chemical engineering student in Toronto faces expulsion from his school for running an online study group through Facebook. Chris Avenir, a first-year student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, said he joined the social networking group in fall 2007 to get help with the homework in one of his chemistry classes. Eventually, he became the administrator for the network, which grew to include 146 students.

Waiting for the Semantic Web

3/19/2008

Yahoo is about to add semantic elements to search. For educators, evolution toward search based on meaning and not just a character-string is highly significant.

IBM Expands Information Server, Sets Delivery Dates for Collaborative Software

3/19/2008

IBM this month will release two new software updates focused on collaboration--Lotus Quickr 8.1 and Workplace Collaborative Learning 2.7. The company has also expanded its Information Server software platform with the introduction of IBM Information Server FastTrack, a new module for information integration projects.

Flash, AIR Get Media Rights Management

3/19/2008

Adobe today began shipping Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server, a $40,000 (per CPU) system designed to integrate with Adobe Media Player and Adobe AIR software to "safeguard video content created for Adobe Flash technology against misuse." It's targeted mainly toward broadcasters and other media-focused organizations.

Vanderbilt Optimizes Web Site for iPhone

3/17/2008

Vanderbilt University has released a version of its homepage designed for the Apple iPhone. The site was created by the Vanderbilt News Service's Office of Web Communications, which is working to optimize the university Web site for other mobile devices.

CodeGear Releases 3rd Rail 1.1, Donates Ruby Debugger

3/13/2008

CodeGear announced last week that it has released a new 1.1 version of 3rdRail, a Ruby on Rails integrated development environment that plugs into Eclipse.

Oxford Scholarship Online Expands Reach through ebrary

3/10/2008

Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO) is making its digital collection of 3,000 Oxford titles available through ebrary, a California-based company that offers an online content management platform for libraries and publishers. OSO is a subscription service providing digital versions of books published through Oxford University Press, the publishing arm of the University of Oxford.

U Texas Streams Athletic Events

3/10/2008

The University of Texas has taken its Longhorns athletic events online to broaden the reach of its collegiate sporting programs to a much larger audience.

Microsoft Creates IT Job Portal for Students

3/7/2008

Microsoft has just put the finishing touches on its Students to Business (S2B) portal, an initiative aimed at pairing American college students working toward IT careers with companies who are looking to fill entry-level IT positions.

MIX08 Kicks Off with First IE 8 and Silverlight 2 Betas

3/6/2008

Microsoft Wednesday ushered in two highly anticipated betas for developers at its MIX08 conference in Las Vegas: the first public downloads of Internet Explorer 8 and Silverlight 2. The company also released a slew of technology previews, including the Visual Studio 2008 tooling for Silverlight 2, Expression Studio 2 beta (which supports Silverlight 2) and an ASP.NET MVC Preview 2.

Social Networking: The New Face of Recruiting

3/6/2008

Social networking sites aren't just for fun. In what may be the future for college recruiting efforts, some 300,000 students now use a social networking site called Zinch specifically to network with colleges. On Zinch, prospective students can enter a personal profile that gives colleges in-depth information well beyond grades and test scores. From the other side, Zinch says that more than 450 colleges and universities are using Zinch as a high-powered recruiting tool.

Micro Blogging with Twitter

3/5/2008

Depending on your point of view, Twitter--an online social networking/micro-blogging service--is either a cool new way to connect with people or yet more online noise. But Twitter as an academic tool? In this interview, we talk with David Parry, Assistant Professor of Emerging Media at the University of Texas at Dallas, who recently blogged about using Twitter in class.

Is Web 2.0 'Designed for Education?'

3/5/2008

In Web 2.0, the proliferation of Web services that create spaces and sites for learning continues to grow and add value.

Stoneware Integrates Virtual Desktop with iTunes U

3/5/2008

Stoneware announced the integration of Apple's iTunes U with its virtualized Web desktop solution, WebOS. iTunes U allows colleges and universities a way to let students search, download and play education content just like they do music, movies, and TV shows. With the integration of iTunes U into the user's virtualized WebOS desktop, students can access applications, files, documents, educational podcasts and other content from a Web desktop that is accessible from anywhere.

Web 2.0, Secondary Orality, and the Gutenberg Parenthesis

3/5/2008

During the Gutenberg period, just ending, humanity valued printed works as the foundation of knowledge, and tended to believe knowledge is "owned" by an individual. We are just beginning to understand once again, with the Internet, that knowledge is communal.

Microsoft Expands Office Live Workspace Beta Worldwide

3/4/2008

After nearly three months of private beta testing involving about 100,000 users, Microsoft Office Live Workspace (OLW) is being rolled out worldwide as a full public beta. Previously, participants had to be qualified by Microsoft for the beta; now, as of today, it's open to all comers who wish to create workspaces. Coinciding with the public beta, Microsoft has also revved OLW with new features and enhancements and has kicked off a sweepstakes to build awareness for the service.