tags: technology

Retriever honored as top Intermec partner Retriever Communications has won the 2007 New Market Innovator Award for the Asia Pacific Region at the Intermec Global Sales and Partner Summit, held in Orlando, Florida.

Senate panel increases H-1B visa limit The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved an extra 30,000 foreign worker visas for 2006 under a visa program popular with many technology companies, but the increase was halved from an earlier committee proposal.

Finally, electronic paper big enough to use Start-up E Ink and LG.Philips LCD have created an "electronic paper" display measuring 10.1 inches across, the biggest one ever made, and the latest step toward the dream of e-books and magazines, according to the companies.

India lags in product, technology innovation Although India has emerged as a key offshore software development and chip design location for multinational companies, it still lags in home-grown products and technology innovation, according to some in the industry and analysts.

Submerging Technologies A list of technologies that are reaching the sunset of their usefulness. Among the top five are: Windows 9x, Client/Server Computing, SNA/Proprietary networks, Tape Backup and Visual Basic 6. One of the more interesting one is the PDA. The cell phone will slowly take over the PDA's place.

A Case Study and Tutorial in Using IT Knowledge Based Tools In going through a business decision process for complex technology selections, more and more use is being made of technologically driven processes using Decision support tools and captured knowledge. The use of these systems and the capability to drive a solution from them assumes an ability to accurately express business requirements and business value within these tools. In this article, Technology Evaluation.com explores the marriage of knowledge management and decision support in forming knowledge based selection systems and procedures that can assist in reducing the current appalling record of IT project failures. (free registration required)

Bots Smarten Online Customer Service A new generation of smart, self-learning Web products is improving online customer service and cutting overall support costs. Here's how to pick the right bot for your job.

Intel's Low-Cost Pentium 4 Could Ignite Sales Observers expect that price cuts on Intel's new Pentium 4, combined with a major marketing push, will force competitors to respond with their own price reductions.

Great Product: Too Bad The Architecture Doesn't Fit During the process of product selection a great deal of attention is given to the functional capabilities of the software being evaluated. While this aspect is obviously important, ignoring the technical mechanisms by which the software actually operates can be fatal to a project. In this document, TechnologyEvaluation.com explains how to avoid the pitfalls. (free registration required)

by Sebastian Royce, Creative Director of gluemedia, London.

Hi folks, we’re back again and it’s about time for the main event. In the right corner, we have Java, a worthy champion who has certainly been around the block a few times. He has huge support and he’s looking up for this challenge but has he still got it in him?

We’ll find out in just a few seconds. In the left corner, the young pretender, a showman who knows no fear - Flash. And he certainly appears to live up to his name. Just look at him, a precocious talent who burst onto the scene and has really shaken things up. It’s sure going to be an interesting contest.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rumble.

There’s the bell and Java comes flying out of his corner. No need for a plug-in there and that’s going to be a distinct advantage to him in these early stages. Or is it? Flash seems to be downloaded very easily and it doesn’t look like he’ll have to go through that process again. And now Flash is putting together some great moves. It’s a very simple (some would say basic), accessible style, relatively easy to understand compared to the highly technical stuff we’re seeing from Java. You’d need some serious technical coding to get to grips with that one. I think this particular point has really effected the popularity of both these contenders over the last couple of years (among the kids anyway). It seems they can easily relate to the Flash style whereas Java, well it’s just a bit before their time.

There’s the bell for the end of round one. We’ve got Flash in front on points and just look at him strutting around, interacting with the crowd. This guy is happy on any platform, he really is. Java there, a few bugs appearing. He doesn’t seem to like this interactive bit quite so much but he is still in with a shout. What we’ve got to remember is that when Java puts it all together, he can be pretty impressive himself. It is worth pointing out too I think, that Java works best on big projects and there is a definite argument that the outcome of a contest between these two depends entirely on where they fight. Java has and continues to work brilliantly with his old partner HTML. They have been inextricably linked throughout his career and Flash is still relatively naïve in this area. Flash on the other hand, is great at the smaller, faster turn around projects. It is this, coupled with the fact he’s so easy to work with that has made Flash an advertiser’s dream and dare I say it, a good bet to take this fight.

So out they come for round two. Nice neat work by both fighters but hang on, if we get closer, Java is looking a bit ragged around the edges. Yep, he’s sure not looking so good close up. That kind of pixel style is really going to push his file size right up. The judges will have spotted that, especially as Flash is strong in this area, vector lines, small in file size. It’s really impressive to watch.

The crowd are on their feet now. Great audio support for Flash, much less so for Java. But both Java and Flash quick to load up those punches.

We’re on the edge of our seats here, just waiting for the knockout blow. But wait a second….this could be it. Java’s corner seem to be up in arms about something and what’s this?… They’ve thrown in the towel. Sensational. There’s pandemonium in the ring. Java will just not accept the game is up. Flash is doing his victory lap but the former champion is having none of it. We’ve just got word from his corner that long time sponsors Microsoft are deciding whether to withdraw support for Java from the new versions of IE. That really would be a severe blow. Could it spell the beginning of the end for Java, not just of this fight but of his whole career?

Stay tuned fight fans. This one’s not over yet.

We’ll be back after the break.