Software-Programming

Adobe has confirmed the company would be releasing Adobe AIR for the Google Android mobile platform on October 8, with support for other platforms like the BlackBerry soon to follow.

Adobe AIR allows developers to use various platforms like HTML5, JavaScript, including the company’s own Flash platform, among others, to build Internet applications that could run locally on supported operating systems like Linux, Mac, Windows, and mobile operating systems, without the need for a browser.

Companies that develop free software and release it under the GNU GPL sometimes distribute some copies of the code in other ways. If they distribute the exact same code under a different license to certain users that pay for this, typically permitting including the code in proprietary programs, we call it "selling exceptions". If they distribute some version of the code solely in a proprietary manner, we call that releasing a purely proprietary version of the program.

DS is great for a lot of things, but fighting piracy isn't one of them. With the 3DS, Nintendo may be stepping up its fight against piracy through a more robust firmware update system.

During an investors Q&A session earlier this week, CEO Satoru Iwata alluded to a more robust PSP-style firmware update system, where new firmware updates can be included with games. Additionally, Iwata said that Nintendo is looking into the possibility of automatic firmware updates through the system's SpotPass download system.

Google has open sourced a new "lossy" image format known as WebP — pronounced "weppy" — claiming it can cut the size of current web images by almost 40 per cent.

CNet revealed the format with a story late this morning, and Google soon followed with a blog post describing the technology, which has been released as a developer preview. WebP is derived from VP8, the video codec Google acquired with its purchase of On2 Technologies earlier this year and promptly open sourced as part of the new WebM format.

I watched him enter the smoke-filled room and head to the back booth where I’d been waiting. I knew from the moment I saw him that he was my supplier, as he looked as I’d expected. The fedora was slung low over his face, so the scar running across his chin was the only part of his face that was visible. He looked around and saw me, ambled over and slid across from me.

“No names. I’ve got the ROM you wanted.” He gauged my reaction and knew he had me hooked. “Follow the instructions I have included with the ROM exactly, or you may BRICK YOUR PHONE.”

Today's tip comes from a blog post by Antonio Cangiano, Software Engineer & Technical Evangelist at IBM, who recently interviewed and hired two interns for IBM. One of the things that struck him was that "most students didn't know much about programming in the real world. In particular, they didn't seem to be very up-to-date, most having never heard of things like SVN, GIT, MVC, ORM, Agile programming, or NoSQL."

Cisco has released its twice-yearly set of security updates for its switches and routers.

There are six advisories in all, each one covering a different component of the Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS), which powers the routers. They cover IOS components such as Cisco's VPN software, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Internet Group Management Protocol, and Network Address Translation (NAT) software.

The infamous iPhone Dev Team has rolled out an updated version of its Redsn0w jailbreak tool to assist iPhone 3G and iPod touch second-generation device owners in hacking their units.

According to the Dev Team, the tool can only be employed on Mac OS X machines for now, while those relying on the ultrasn0w unlock are advised to stay put for now

Following the release of the final version of CyanogenMod 6.0 for some Android-based devices out there, news on a new flavor of the solution has emerged into the wild.

The development (hackers) team is already working on CyanogenMod 6.1, and things are said to be already shaping up pretty nicely. According to a recent post on CyanogenMod, some database issues determined them stay offline for a while, but they are back with news on the said CM 6.1, which should not be too far in the future.

Mozilla has released a JavaScript engine strictly for testing purposes to allow web developers to gain deeper access to – and better understanding of – the code underpinning its browser.