Leap Day: When There Are Too Few Hours in the Year

It is here, in all its quadrennial springiness, like a cartoon Slinky boinging into the wall calendar.

Ah, Leap Day. It's so topsy-turvy, sounding too whimsical for its placement at the end of what everyone knows is the cruddiest month of the year. It's the day when, oh, anything can happen, like women proposing to men, like pirates turning 5 when they think they're turning 21 ( c'mon-- Gilbert and Sullivan! "Pirates of Penzance"! Whistle! Trill!).

It is a curly, twisty day hanging off the only month that divides neatly into four weeks, and it is there to tidy up time. The Romans were the first to get that Earth's rotation and its revolution didn't quite match up; it was taking a smidge more than 365 days to circumnavigate the sun. They gave the calendar an occasional breath in the form of Feb. 29, to set things right again. (February deserved the extra time, what with Caesar Augustus stealing a day, according to legend, to make August longer.)

There are all kinds of reasons to mess with the calendar. In centuries past these reasons have included, but were not limited to: farmers, the decimal system, Napoleon Bonaparte and Kingsford charcoal briquettes, instrumental to the successful lobby to extend daylight saving time in the name of summer barbecues.

Current proposals for calendar reform are all about common sense. The most orderly among us need to rectify this ridiculous system in which 30 days hath September and nobody knows the next line but everyone tries to make something rhyme with February. These proposals are brandished every decade or so by right-thinking astrophysicists who suggest that each year start on the same day of the week, floating holidays be anchored and algorithms dedicated to figuring out what to do with Leap Day.

Dick Henry, a physics professor at Johns Hopkins, deals with the leap conundrum in his "common civil calendar" by inserting an occasional extra week in December -- extra time to get business filings in order before the new year. In his plan, all months would have either 30 or 31 days, and your birthday would always fall on the same day of the week. "The fact of the matter is that economic organizations have to reorganize their calendars every year," says Henry. "With my calendar, once it's done, it's done."

Think of the order that could be achieved.

Think of it, and understand why we must keep our messy calendar, leaps and all.

Leap Day functions for us the same way it functions for Earth, after all: as a breather, a day to catch up, a wild card in the synced order of the rest of our lives.

It's a prolonged version of the languidness found on daylight saving days, where no one really knows what time it is and everyone uses that to their advantage:

I'm sorry to be four hours late/early/at the wrong location. The time change caused me to sleep in/zone out/get drunk by 3, which I thought was 6.

We loll through those days like characters in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, raising our heads from the divan to weakly ask what time it is, only to express disbelief at the answer. And to think, just yesterday at this time it was 9 o'clock, not 10.

Leap Days are like this, but longer, and grander in their utter lack of ambition. Nobody makes plans for Feb. 29, because nobody remembers when there is a Feb. 29. And so the day arrives like a snow day, an empty calendar slot with no obligations and no expectations. Just a pause.

"It's mostly just a busy work day for me," says John Lowe, who leads the Time and Frequency Services section at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Leap Day is his tax season; yesterday he gave 10 media interviews to explain where . . . time . . . goes.

And to think, just last year at this time it was March 1.

By Monica Hesse || Washington Post Staff Writer || Friday, February 29, 2008; Page C01

Ref: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022804152.html?hpid=topnews

Bendable cell phone - Demo by Nokia

Nokia and the University of Cambridge are showing off a new stretchable and flexible mobile device of the future called Morph.

 

The new concept phone is part of an online display presented in conjunction with the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition underway through May 12 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The device, which is made using nanotechnology, is intended to demonstrate how cell phones in the future could be stretched and bent into different shapes, allowing users to "morph" their devices into whatever shape they want. Think Stretch Armstrong for cell phones. Want to wear your cell phone as a bracelet? No problem, just bend it around your wrist.  Nokia says the concept device demonstrates handset features that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering, including flexible materials, transparent electronics, and self-cleaning surfaces. "Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices," Bob Iannucci, chief technology officer for Nokia, said in a statement. "The Morph concept shows what might be possible."

Even though Morph is still in early development, Nokia believes that certain elements of the device could be used in high-end Nokia devices within the next seven years. And as the technology matures, nanotechnology could eventually be incorporated into Nokia's entire line of products to help lower manufacturing costs.
 

Ref: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9878005-7.html?tag=cd.blog

Blu-ray Won the Battle, but Now Comes the War

There is a concept rattling around the blogosphere that Sony's victory over Toshiba in the war to define the high-definition video disc format is moot because soon people will be downloading high-definition videos rather than buying them on discs.

I suspect Blu-ray will have a hard time for a few years, but not because of downloading. That is simply too hard for the mass market. Buying discs is easy to do and easy to understand.

The competition for Blu-ray players is the latest generation of DVD players which can generate a high-definition signal from a standard-definition disc.

Right now, Blu-ray players cost $350 to $400. Sony PlayStation 3 game machines, which also play Blu-ray discs, also cost about $400.

I called Mike Abt, the president of Abt Electronics, the big Chicago-area electronics retailer, to ask about his take on demand for Blu-ray players in the wake of the withdrawal of Toshiba's HD DVD format.

He said the biggest question is how Sony and the other manufacturers approach pricing.

"If Blu-ray is really smart they won't raise prices even though they can, now that they have no competition," he said. "They haven't got everyone to join in and want a Blu-ray."

"Most people are happy just buying a better DVD player, instead of spending $350 or $400 for Blu-ray," Mr. Abt said. "An upconverting DVD for $79 is a great value. It has a great picture, really better than an old DVD. You really see a difference."

What is more, he said, consumers will be put off because Blu-ray discs cost $5 to $10 more than standard DVDs.

Sure, the super-high-end home theater buyers will start to get Blu-ray players, Mr. Abt said. They had already been buying the combination Blu-ray and HD DVD players from Samsung and other makers. (Those are the folks who may experiment with Apple TV or other ways to download movies, I suspect, but they will have disc players too.)

But Blu-ray will represent far less than 25 percent of disc players sold until the price falls below $200 or even $150, he said.

What about all the people who bought HD DVD players, prompted by Toshiba's aggressive price cuts? Mr. Abt hopes he can at least partially mitigate their anger and frustration by pointing out how well the players can display standard DVDs.

"We have a lot of people who bought HD DVD players in the last few months," he said. "We are going to communicate with them: you have an upconverting DVD player, enjoy it. You paid $150 for it, so you didn't lose too much."

Ref: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/blu-ray-won-the-battle-but-now-comes-the-war/?hp

Toshiba, Sony Agree On Chip-Making Deal

Toshiba Corp. and Sony Corp. said they have agreed formally on a chip-making venture that will start operations next fiscal year.

In line with an accord in October, Toshiba will buy some of Sony's 300-millimeter-wafer production lines in western Japan for about 90 billion yen ($835 million). The companies said the deal will be completed by the end of March, and Toshiba will lease facilities to the venture, which will start operations April 1.

The venture will be 60% held by Toshiba, 20% by Sony and 20% by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony's game unit. The venture, which will be capitalized at 100 million yen, will make advanced chips used in Sony's PlayStation game consoles as well as in Toshiba's digital consumer goods

Ref:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120356678345282449.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

India's 7 hottest IT destinations - Part II

4. Pune - Once a sleepy town, nestling in Western Ghats, Pune (or the 'Queen of the Deccan') may soon become the number one destination for IT investments in India, considering the pace at which it is growing and attracting companies. According to a recent report, Pune has the highest PC penetration among households. Several IT majors like Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, Tata Consultancy Services, Kanbay, Veritas, Cognizant, PCS and Mahindra British Telecom have development arms in the city. IT parks like Rajiv Gandhi IT Park at Hinjewadi, Magarpatta Cybercity, MIDC Software Technology Park at Talawade, Marisoft IT Park at Kalyani Nagar are seats of technology that the city can boast of. Mumbai - The Maharashtra government has done a fantastic job in building the IT Corridor connecting International Infotech Park, Millenium Business Park and the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone. A number of IT companies have set up offices here.  The most important advantage that brings software enterprises to SEEPZ is the hi-tech 64 KB line, that enables these companies to communicate and video conference over satellite to any of the offshore sites, or branches around the world.  Mumbai, apart from being the financial capital of the country, is also a booming IT centre.

Image : One of the numerous IT offices located at Magarpatta, near Pune in Maharashtra.

5. Kolkata

West Bengal is aiming to become one of the top three IT states by 2010, contributing 15-20 per cent of the country's total IT revenue. A number of IT majors are today doing significant business in the state's capital, Kolkata. Announcing the results of a survey report on the state's IT and ITeS sector in Kolkata recently, Indian Chamber of Commerce president Harsh K Jha said, "Between 2002-05, West Bengal has been recognised as the fastest growing IT destination in the country with more than double the national average growth rate." "The ICC carried out the survey by gathering feedback from prominent IT companies operating in the state, including TCS, Cognizant, IBM, Wipro, on issues like infrastructure, investment scenario and future business prospects," he said. According to the survey, 80.6 per cent of the respondents affirmed that the state was a competitive destination for IT and ITeS companies to set shop. However, he warned that majority of the companies felt that IT and ITeS remained a 'public utility service' only on paper, with a resounding 74.19 per cent opining that the sector in the state could not operate on 24x7x365 model, as it was being frequently disrupted by strikes and bandhs.

Image: The Cognizant campus at Salt Lake

6. Delhi  - India's capital owes its recent economic growth to the emergence of Gurgaon as a significant outsourcing hub of northern India. The outsourcing industry, which practically took birth in Gurgaon in 1997 with the setting up of GE Capital International Services, the business process outsourcing arm of GE Capital. In 2005, GECIS got an independent entity, Genpact.  Apart from Genpact, Gurgaon houses other important knowledge process outsourcing units and BPOs like Dell, Accenture, Hewitt Associates, etc.  Gurgaon's outsourcing boom has led to a spurt in jobs and wages not only in Gurgaon but in Delhi as well. A chunk of Delhi's population is employed in the BPOs and KPOs of Gurgaon.

Image : Unitech Trade Centre in Gurgaon

 

7. Bhubaneswar

Once famed for its Sun Temple, the capital of Orissa is fast emerging as a major player in the outsourcing industry. The city accounts for almost all of the IT revenue of Orissa and is one of the fastest growing regions in India in this sector.

The city is home to more than 30 engineering colleges. Although Orissa has a planned investment of $90 billion for the IT sector, the road to success is fraught with hindrances. Land acquisitions for some of these projects have been opposed by the local people as well as by environmentalists.

Ref:  http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/19sld01.htm to http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/19sld07.htm

India's 7 hottest IT destinations - Part I

Thanks to its treasure-trove of skilled manpower and high growth of software export, India is a true IT powerhouse.  And despite the current slowdown in the United States, Indian companies' overdependence on the American economy, and a weak dollar, the Indian IT juggernaut is on a roll. So where in India has the IT boom really taken off? And which are India's hottest IT spots? Read on. . .

1. Bangalore Bangalore's (or Bengaluru's) ten-fold growth in quick time can be traced back to the IT boom over the past few years. Bangalore's main activity is information technology and information technology-enabled services. Being the leading contributor to India's IT industry, it has been dubbed the Silicon Valley of India. Home to many software majors, like Infosys and Wipro, Bangalore accounted for 33 per cent of India's Rs 144,214 crore ($32 billion) IT exports in 2006-07.

A recent study also revealed that the rupee millionaire club in Karnataka's capital is the largest in India. Bangalore also boasts of having the largest number of households with an annual income of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) or more. Needless to say, the city owes it all to the IT boom. Little wonder then that Bangalore is the number 1 IT desitnation in India.

Image : Infosys campus in Bangalore.

 

2. Hyderabad  - Like Bangalore, Hyderabad too has witnessed an IT boom in recent times, with software exports exceeding $1 billion in 2004. Of late, the city has seen huge investments in digital infrastructure. It is the second most attractive IT destination in India. On February 19, 2008, the Indian government cleared seven projects, estimated to fetch about $7 billion over 10 years to Fab City, a silicon chip manufacturing facility, in the city. The capital of Andhra Pradesh has also made considerable progress in the field of bio-technology through initiatives like Genome Valley and Nanotechnology Park.

Image: Cyber Gateway in Hyderabad.

3. Chennai  -Chennai is the country's third-largest exporter of information technology and information-technology-enabled services, next only to Bangalore and Hyderabad. Experts say that the city has the potential to beat Bangalore and Hyderabad in terms of infrastructure and thus gain the position of the most attractive IT destination. Today, it is the third most preferred IT spot in India. The software companies having their development centres in the city, are well positioned to tap the growing healthcare market for IT products and the emerging opportunity in life sciences. Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Covansys earn the lion's share of their income from what they offer to the US healthcare market.  The capital of Tamil Nadu is often looked upon as the most reasonable and reliable outsourcing destination for IT and healthcare solutions.

Image : Mahindra World City-Chennai.

Watij - Web Application Testing in Java

Watij (pronounced wattage) stands for Web Application Testing in Java. Based on the simplicity of Watir and enhanced by the power of Java, Watij automates functional testing of web applications through the real browser. Currently Watij supports automating Internet Explorer on Windows only. Future plans are in place to support others like Mozilla.

Reference:

http://watij.com/

http://watij.com/wiki:quick_start
http://watij.com/wiki:user_guide

Sony to sell chip facility to Toshiba for $835 mln

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it will sell its microchip production facilities in western Japan to Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) for 90 billion yen ($835 million), in their latest move to focus on their core businesses.

The equipment will be used by their semiconductor joint venture that will make high-performance Cell chips and RSX graphic chips, both used in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, as well as other microchips that go into Toshiba products.

The venture will be established on April 1.

Sony, which is focusing on image sensor chips for digital cameras and pulling away from heavy investments for cutting-edge chip production equipment, said in October it would sell production facilities for making key microchips used in the PS3 to Toshiba, but the price has been unavailable.

The announcement on the selling price comes on the heels of Toshiba's decision on Tuesday to abandon its HD DVD high-definition DVD format, ending a prolonged battle with the Sony-led Blu-ray camp.

Toshiba twinned the HD DVD exit with an announcement that it and partner SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O: Quote, Profile, Research) would spend $16 billion on two new flash memory plants.

Shares in Sony were up 2.8 percent at 5,150 yen in afternoon trade while Toshiba fell 2.8 percent to 801 yen. The Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index was down 2.1 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Editing by Michael Watson)

Ref: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUST28617520080220

Intel unveils eight-core high-end, gaming platform

Skulltrail will support graphics technology from ATI, which is owned by rival AMD

 

February 19, 2008 (Computerworld) Intel Corp. unveiled its latest gaming and high-end computing platform, which includes two quad-core processors and graphic cards.

The new platform, which had been code-named Skulltrail, not only holds a total of eight processors; it also gives users a choice of two multicard graphics solutions -- one from ATI and one from nVidia Corp.

"This shows Intel taking the lead in developing and bringing to market cutting-edge PC designs," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc. "Before, they tended to aim more for the middle-ground mass market and, in doing so, left the high-performance side of the market to others. Now, with this new combination, they've elbowed aside everyone else to take the lead in the PC performance race."

Olds noted that while the new platform will be largely welcomed by gamers, along with 3-D animators and high-definition video editors, it also will have its place in corporate IT. "Right now, it's mainly for gamers, but there certainly are some enterprise workloads that will benefit," he added.

Intel was to officially unveil its Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform today at the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The platform is the latest product to run Intel's 45-nanometer Penryn microprocessors, which hit the market last November.

The new platform's motherboard, Desktop Board D5400XS, is being paired with two Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors.

"For the team creating world-class games here, time is one of our most valuable assets," said Robert A. Duffy, programming director at game maker Id Software, in a statement. "Having eight powerful Intel cores in a single machine helps our team create and test our latest titles at record speed. We have seen one of our most time-consuming asset-generation processes cut from over four hours to under 20 minutes by utilizing all eight cores and threading the generation code."

An interesting part of today's announcement is the fact that Intel is supporting graphics technology from ATI, which is owned by Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Olds called this a smart move for Intel.

"It's a move toward gaining market share and also a hedge," said Olds. "If Intel doesn't support ATI graphics, then they automatically cede that market to AMD.  Right now, nVidia owns the high ground in graphics, but that isn't a guarantee that they will forever. If ATI leapfrogs nVidia, Intel will be well positioned by supporting cards from both vendors."

Ref: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063419&intsrc=hm_list

Mozilla Messaging reveals plans for Thunderbird 3

The Mozilla Foundation announced today the official launch of Mozilla Messaging, a new subsidiary dedicated to creating open-source Internet communication software. The organization, which is headed by former ActiveState CTO David Ascher, will take on stewardship of Mozilla Thunderbird. The newly-formed subsidiary has also revealed plans for Thunderbird 3, the next major version of the open source mail client. Mozilla Messaging has hired a small staff of developers that will work alongside community contributors to move the initiative forward. In addition to Ascher, the organization's board of directors includes Mozilla Labs VP Christopher Beard and MySQL AB CEO Marten Mickos.

Mozilla first revealed its intentions to spin off a separate entity for Thunderbird back in July, when former Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker wrote a blog entry describing some potential approaches to structuring a new hypothetical nest for Thunderbird. The plans began to solidify when Mozilla revealed that the new organization would be headed by Ascher and would be given $3 million in seed funding.

Today's announcement, which marks the finalization of Thunderbird's emergence into autonomy, provides much insight into the direction that Mozilla's e-mail hatchling intends to fly. Ascher enumerates a short list of planned features for Thunderbird 3, including support for integrated calendaring, improved search, and usability improvements.

Where Thunderbird is headed
"Our plan starts with building a great product. Firefox has shown that if you have a great product that tens of millions of people love to use daily, doors open and more opportunities become within reach. So we'll focus on the product," wrote Ascher in a blog entry. "We've started defining what Thunderbird 3 will be, because we think that there is enough consensus to make some of the first decisions on the most important changes to tackle first. Specifically, Thunderbird 3 will build on the great base that is Thunderbird 2."  Ascher also says that the organization will work on incrementally improving the underlying architecture of Thunderbird and notes that it wants to take advantage of the platform improvements that have been developed for Firefox 3. Mozilla Messaging plans to aggressively leverage the technical strengths of Firefox, like the high potential for customization and strong HTML rendering. The organization will also look closely at emerging trends in communication and consider possibilities for integrating support for other services beyond e-mail.
Mozilla Messaging also launched its new web site today, which provides more information about tentative plans for Thunderbird and encourages users to get involved with the project. The Mozilla Messaging initiative appears to be off to a good start. Ascher clearly has a compelling vision for the future of Thunderbird, and community interest seems to be very strong. Mozilla Messaging has the potential to bring a lot of innovation to the Internet communication space, and there are many opportunities for the organization to explore. I look forward to seeing open-source e-mail evolve as the Mozilla Messaging community grows.

Ref: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080219-mozilla-messaging-reveals-plans-for-thunderbird-3.html

Microsoft Gives Away Software Worth Thousands To Students

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says he wants to "equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software

 

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is giving away, free of charge, development software that would normally cost about $3,300, the company announced Tuesday. The effort, called DreamSpark, is aimed at giving jump starts to current high school and college students for their IT careers. "We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems, and catalyze economic growth," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a statement. It's not all altruistic, of course. Microsoft hopes that by giving students software for free, the students will be more likely to purchase the paid versions later.

DreamSpark includes Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Expression Studio, XNA Game Studio 2.0 with a free yearlong subscription to the XNA Creators Club, SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition. When Windows Server 2008 is released to MSDN, it will be available to students as well. In the beginning, DreamSpark will provide college students in 10 countries access to all this software, and Microsoft hopes to expand the program worldwide and to high school students by the end of 2008. Students will log into a site on Microsoft's Channel 8 student-oriented Web site to get access.

The software will be available under an educational license, meaning that it isn't licensed to use for business. However, it won't stop working when students leave their institutions, and Joe Wilson, Microsoft's senior director of academic initiatives for developer and platform evangelism, said in an interview he hopes students will use the software as a way to get their business careers started.

"If we have a thousand more ISVs or new startups, I think that's a great outcome for this program," Wilson said. "Students are on the honor system. Overall, students are going to go do what the best thing for them is at that point; we don't sit around worrying about that." It could be challenging for Microsoft to verify identities, but the company has a verification system in place to make sure students are students and not professional developers. It uses public and private sources of information to verify identities, including a database run by academic software company JourneyEd in the United States and other educational information networks in China and Europe. That's not to say non students won't fall through the cracks. "There's no magic button to instantly verify students," says Wilson. Microsoft's effort follows that of Adobe, which began giving away a free version of its Flex Builder development software to students in November.

Ref: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206800334

OPRAH WINFREY

Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is the American multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated talk show in television history.^[1] She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award-nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century,^[2] the most philanthropic African American of all time,^[3] and the world's only black billionaire for three straight years.^[4][5][6][7] She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.^[8][9]

Born in rural Mississippi to a poor unwed teenage mother, and later raised in a Milwaukee ghetto, Winfrey was raped at the age of nine, and at fourteen, gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third rated local Chicago talk show to first place^[5], she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.

Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication^[10], she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized^{[11] [12] [13][14]} the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue^[13], which a Yale study claimed broke 20th century taboos and allowed gays, transsexuals, and transgender people to enter the mainstream. ^[15] By the mid 1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing confession culture^[14] and promoting controversial self-help fads, she is generally admired for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.^[16]

 

Main Page: http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml
Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey
Magazine : http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/omag_landing.jhtml

Web testing using WATIR, and WatirRecorder++

Watir - (Web App Testing in Ruby) is a simple open-source library for automating web browsers. It allows you to write tests that are easy to read and easy to maintain. It is optimized for simplicity and flexibility.

 

Why Watir?

It's a free Open Source tool. There are no costs to use the tool.

There's a very active and growing community behind it.

It uses Ruby, a full-featured modern scripting language, rather than a proprietary vendor script.

It is powerful and easy to use.

Don't just take our word for it, read what our users are saying.

 

WatirRecorder++ - New Release of WatirMaker now WatirRecorder

 

Rutger Smit has given the original WatirMaker an overhaul and we're re-releasing it as WatirRecorder++. Here's the original screencast if you want to see what it does. A roadmap will follow soon. Thanks Rutger! This version compiles and runs under 1.1, but it upgrades smoothly to 2.0, so we'll probably do that one day.

UPDATE: We had some trouble getting everyone access on CodePlex so we're putting WatirMaker/WatirRecorder up on OpenQA.org, where Watir itself is hosted.

You can check out the source anonymously using the Subversion URL http://svn.openqa.org/svn/watir-recorder/trunk You can get the source by doing the following:

svn co https://svn.openqa.org/svn/watir-recorder/trunk

If you've never installed Watir, here's the easiest possible thing to do:

       Install the Ruby One-Click Installer.

       Open cmd.exe and type "gem install watir"

       Install WatirRecorder++, hit Start, do some stuff (do NOT use the keyboard to submit forms). Hit stop, and playback.

       Now, STOP everything and remind yourself that this is a jump-starter, that's it.

       Watir is so incredibly easy, that many folks "get it" and stop using a recorder all together.

       Read the VERY excellent Watir User Guide. Do read it all, and scroll all the way down. If you skim, you'll possibly miss some goodness.

       Try using the IRB (run IRB.exe) from the command line to develop your tests. There's great examples.

       There's also the Ruby version of WatirMaker, and folks are already starting to improve it.

Enjoy.

As an aside, keep an eye out for FireWatir. It's tricky to install and requires a number of bleeding edge things, but it's very shiny.

 

Ref: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/NewReleaseOfWatirMakerNowWatirRecorder.aspx

 

 

Watir Reference URLs:

   http://wtr.rubyforge.org/

   http://wtr.rubyforge.org/install.html

 

Tools:

http://siteadvisor.se/sites/hanselman.com/downloads/ and File name : WatirRecorder_Setup_Lite.msi

Mc Afee Site advisor for the above mentioned MSI file : http://siteadvisor.se/sites/hanselman.com/downloads/2552115/

Report: PlayStation 3 could be top-selling next-gen console by 2011

For more than a year, the whole world has seen Sony's PlayStation 3 get its rear handed to it by Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

But if a three-year forecast from market research firm iSuppli is to be believed, the PS3 could out pace both the Wii and the Xbox by 2011.

Since its release in November 2006, the Wii has been the most successful of the next-gen consoles, far eclipsing Microsoft's Xbox 360 and leaving the PS3 in the dust.

But because the Xbox had a full year's head start on both the Wii or the PS3, it still had the overall sales lead.

Now, however, that lead looks imperiled, and according to a report in Information Week, the Wii could soon become the overall sales leader among the three consoles.

The article cited market research firm iSuppli as determining that by the end of 2008, the Wii will have sold a total of 30.2 million units, 17.5 percent higher than the projected 25.7 million Xboxes Microsoft will have sold.

But the really interesting news in the iSuppli report is a forecast that by 2011, the PS3 could be the top console. The research firm predicted that by the end of 2011, the PS3 could have sold 38.4 million units, while the Wii might be in second place at 37.7 million.

Of course, three-year forecasts have about as much chance of being right in electronics as predictions of who will win the World Series in three years.

Still, for anyone to put their name to a forecast that the PS3 could emerge from its doldrums is actually quite noteworthy. And for me, it's a hint of future validation since in the fall of 2006, I wrote a story suggesting that the PS3 would be the eventual winner of the next-gen console wars.

Shortly thereafter, of course, that suggestion made me look rather foolish when Sony's much-publicized problems with production and overpricing got the PS3 off to an extremely poor start. And with the surprise success of the Wii, my prediction looked even more foolish, even though Sony said from day one that it views its consoles as 10-year plays.

And of course, iSuppli's forecast could be just as far off base as mine was. But the fact that it is willing to make such a prognostication here, in 2008, is gratifying. Even if it's a bit mystifying.

Ref: http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9872827-52.html?tag=newsmap

Nokia Rolls Out N95’s Successor

Nokia introduced the successor to its popular N95 mobile phone, the N96, featuring a slightly larger screen, as well as an upgraded mapping program.

The N96, due out by September, has a 2.8-inch LCD TFT screen, a bit larger than the N95's 2.6-inch screen. Minus subsidies and taxes, the phone will sell for €550 (US$800), Nokia said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.

The N96 has 16G bytes of internal flash memory enough to hold roughly 40 hours of video or 12,000 songs plus a slot for an 8G byte microSD memory card.

Other features are a video camera that records at 30 frames per second and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. The N96 also includes Nokia's Assisted GPS (Global Positioning System) application, which lets users put markers on the photos based on their location, known as "geotagging." Photos can then be uploaded to photo-sharing services such as Yahoo's Flickr, Nokia said.

A-GPS is also a feature on three other new Nokia products: the 6210 Navigator, 6220 classic and the N78. The phones will also have Maps 2.0, Nokia's latest upgrade to its mapping program, also announced Monday. Maps 2.0 has been in a beta release, and Nokia has been expanding the number of countries that Maps covers.

The most notable feature of Maps 2.0 is the "Walk" feature for pedestrians. The feature taps into a piece of technology in the 6210 an "accelerometer" that detects when a walker changes direction. Used with the device's built-in compass, a pedestrian can watch their progress on the mapping program as they are moving, as well as get directions to a different location.

Minus taxes and subsidies, the 6210 Navigator will retail for €300; the 6220 classic for €325 and the N78 for €350. The 6210 and 6220 should be available by September, with the N78 coming out before the end of June, Nokia said.

Nokia is also trying build interest in Ovi.com, its Web site where users can share photos, buy music and access third-party services such as Flickr. The latest upgrade, "Share on Ovi," lets people create a personal account to publish their photos.

The service is free and intended to be a one-stop place where people can manage their content on their phones and PCs. However, Ovi.com is in a field crowded with other competitors, such as Facebook.

Nokia also took a step in the mobile advertising arena. The company has launched the Nokia Media Network, a consortium of operators and publishers. Nokia said the platform will let advertisers book mobile ad campaigns, reaching some 100 million mobile users.

Media publisher Hearst, Reuters, Sprint and Discovery Communications have joined the network, Nokia said.

Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E18C12573EB00487884.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=print

Sony Ericsson Unveils Xperia X1 Windows-Based Smartphone

The company also released handsets for mobile professionals, music lovers, photo enthusiasts, and prosumers that want a mix of functionality, advanced features, and small form factors.

Sony Ericsson this week introduced several phones, each targeting a different group of users: mobile professionals, music lovers, photo enthusiasts, and prosumers that want a mix of functionality, advanced features, and small form factor. The phone maker unveiled the new phones at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona.

The first and most notable device in Sony Ericsson's lineup is the Xperia X1, a Windows Mobile smartphone with a touch screen overlay and a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone comes with 3G technology called HSDPA and Wi-Fi for a high-speed mobile experience. It also has built-in GPS for personal navigation.

"Xperia represents the first brand that is truly borne from within Sony Ericsson. It represents our vision for a premium, energized communication experience," said Dee Dutta, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson, in a statement.

Like Apple's iPhone, the X1 has a large home screen with a variety of panels that can be selected with the tap of a finger to access the Web, multimedia, and applications. The panels can be configured, depending on a user's preference, which is an option that Apple also recently started offering on the iPhone. The panels, however, are larger than icons and look like snapshots of actual applications, which makes the home screen appear quite busy.

A touch screen is becoming a prominent feature on mobile phones. The number of phones with touch screens will reach almost 200 million by 2011, according to MultiMedia Intelligence.

Business professionals who constantly require access to applications on-the-go prefer the combination of a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard, which is why they might choose a smartphone like the X1 over an iPhone. Add Windows Mobile and 3G support to the mix and you've got a solid alternative that's practical and cutting-edge.

Sony Ericsson didn't provide pricing information and is initially launching the X1 in select markets in the second half of this year.

Sony Ericsson is bringing touch screen phones to the masses with its new G700 and G900 phones, which primarily serve as personal organizers. The G700 is the size of a regular phone and has a standard keyboard, but it also features a touch screen for jotting down notes on the screen with a stylus or staying organized using its other capabilities.

The G900 has features similar to the G700, but it also sports a 5-megapixel camera with Touch Auto Focus technology, touch photo album and editor, and built-in Wi-Fi. Both phones are capable of high-speed data access through 3G technology and both will become available in the second quarter of this year.

Sony Ericsson also added two new phones to its Cyber-shot product family, bringing the latest camera technology to mobile users, the company said. The C702 Cyber-shot phone is plash and dust resistant for those who lead an active lifestyle. It comes with Google Maps and built-in GPS for location-based imaging, so users can always go back and locate where their pictures were taken.

The C902 Cyber-shot phone comes with a slide-out lens cover that conceals a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus. It has eight camera touch keys, including camera modes, flash, face detection, and auto focus. The phone's BestPic feature lets users take nine photos in succession instead of just one at a time, and it has 160 MB of storage -- capable of holding up to 100 full resolution photos, according to Sony Ericsson.

The C702 and the C902 will come in two versions: a 3G version that supports UMTS/HSDPA networks and another version that supports slower EDGE/GPRS networks. Both will become available in the second quarter of this year.

The other two new phone models introduced by Sony Ericsson are the Z770 and Sony the W980, the latest addition to the company's Walkman music phone family. The Z770, which will be offered in the second quarter of this year, is a clamshell phone designed for Web surfing. It comes with 3G and can be used as a modem when connected to a laptop. The W980 Walkman phone has audio enhancing technology, intuitive music control, and 8 GB of storage; it will be available in June in select markets.

Ref: http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=206401730

Last.fm launches Internet "jukebox"

SAN FRANCISCO - Music website Last.fm on Wednesday launched an ad-based online service that lets people listen for free to songs of their choosing.

"We're giving the listener free access to what is basically the best jukebox in the world," said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel.

"The ability to dip into a uniquely broad catalogue from your laptop, home or office computer, and listen to whatever you want for free represents a new way of consuming music."

Last.fm, which was bought in May of last year by US entertainment powerhouse CBS Corp., offers the service in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany and promised to roll it out globally in coming months.

Last.fm claims it is the first music website to offer free, global, on-demand access to an extensive catalogue of songs from the four major record labels — Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI.

"It is clear to us that communities built around great content are increasingly driving traffic and revenue online," said CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves.

"We acquired Last.fm because music is one of the best ways to build communities on the Internet."

Last.fm limits to three the number of times any listener can play a particular song, referring them on the fourth try to iTunes, Amazon or another online music seller to buy the work.

Last.fm also announced an "artist royalty" deal for musicians with no record label ties. Unsigned artists can upload their songs to Last.fm, which will pay them each time someone listens to their music.

"We're building a platform to help redesign the music economy, enabling artists and labels to earn revenue according to how people listen, rather than how they buy," said Last.fm co-founder, Felix Miller.

"For the first time, anyone can upload tracks and get paid when those tracks are played. It's a whole different model."

Last.fm was launched in London in 2002 and uses feedback from members to power a "recommendation engine" steering people to music based on their expressed tastes.

Last.fm reports that it is used by more than 20 million people monthly from 240 countries.

Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/324592/1/.html

Yahoo switches its online music channel to Rhapsody

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo said Monday it will let the website Rhapsody handle its online subscription music service and concentrate on letting people access free songs on the Internet.

Yahoo announced its deal with Rhapsody while revealing it bought Israeli firm FoxyTunes, which specialises in small "widget" programs that make it easy for people to link to online music through Web browsers.

"It is not that we are no longer focused on music," said Yahoo spokeswoman Carrie Davis. "It is just that we are de-emphasising premium music service to focus on free music and information."

Yahoo said it will shut down its Music Unlimited service and "migrate" members to a subscription on-demand music service powered by Rhapsody at its Yahoo Music website.

Rhapsody is a partnership between RealNetworks and Viacom-owned MTV Networks. Yahoo says the monthly membership for its "all you can eat music" on-demand service has ranged from 21 to 24 million people of late.

"By partnering with Yahoo, we are able to instantly extend Rhapsody's 'jukebox in the sky' experience to one of the biggest music-seeking audiences on the web," said RealNetworks chief executive Rob Glaser.

Yahoo Music Unlimited members moved to the Rhapsody-powered service will be able to keep their old subscription prices "for a limited time." Yahoo's subscription service features lower rates than Rhapsody.

Yahoo head of media Scott Moore said the deal with Rhapsody fits Yahoo's goal of being the preferred starting point for Internet searches, in this case attracting music fans "on their path to music discovery."

Yahoo did not release financial details of its purchase of FoxyTunes, which created a popular browser plug-in program that finds music and related content based on songs they play using their computers.

"Our partnership with Rhapsody, the acquisition of FoxyTunes and the release of the web-based Yahoo Media Player moves Yahoo Music closer to our goal of enabling users to play all of the music on the Web," said Yahoo vice president of video and media applications Ian Rogers.

The announcements come as Yahoo works to concentrate resources on core strengths including search, email, and mobile offerings.

Yahoo has been struggling to bolster its bottom line in the face of fierce competition from online advertising-goliath Google.

US software giant Microsoft is courting Yahoo with a buy-out offer valued at 44.6-billion-dollars in order to merge resources to better challenge Google. - AFP/ar

Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/326998/1/.html

World's biggest observation wheel set to spin in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The world's biggest observation wheel is ready to spin in Singapore on Monday night, with corporate clients paying thousands of dollars for the "inaugural flight", the company said.
At 165 metres or 42-storey high, the Singapore Flyer will be 30 metres higher than Britain's London Eye, said Great Wheel Corp, which built the Singapore attraction. "We're actually ahead of time and on budget," David Beevers, general manager of the Singapore Flyer, told AFP from the waterfront site. "It's all systems go." The wheel will start twirling just before dusk Monday evening, at 1230 GMT, organisers said. The attraction's first three nights were sold out, Beevers said. Companies and individuals paid S$8,888, an auspicious number in Chinese culture, for the first rides. "Through the month of February... it's a whole series of private events each day that's going to allow us to ramp up to full opening March 1 for the public," Beevers said. Groups of between 600 and 1,000 people were expected at the initial private events, Beevers said, with a formal opening to take place on April 15. Unlike cramped, old-style Ferris wheel carriages which hang in the open air, the Singapore Flyer and other large observation wheels feature fixed "capsules". The 28 capsules -- about the size of a city bus -- are air-conditioned and can hold up to 28 people. Passengers can walk around and will not feel movement or vibration during the 30-minute ride, the company said. "You can put over 1,000 people an hour on the wheel," Beevers said, adding that they expect to host about 10 million people a year. Among the first clients will be SG Private Banking. The French-based global private wealth manager has booked 11 capsules for Wednesday night for its annual staff celebration of the Chinese New Year, said Pierre Baer, the company's Singapore and South Asia chief executive officer. Developers of Singapore Flyer said there was no comparison between a giant slowly-rotating observation wheel and a Ferris wheel. "We don't use the F-word," Florian Bollen, the chairman of Singapore Flyer, told reporters during a preview of the attraction last year. For S$29.50, walk-in passengers will get a 360-degree view of up to 45 kilometres across the island republic and into neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia on the 30-minute ride, the developers said. Higher-priced tickets include food and drinks. Bollen's Singapore-based company, Great Wheel Corp, is also building wheels in Beijing and Berlin which will edge out the Singapore Flyer as the world's biggest when they begin turning in about two years, he said. The London Eye, which opened at the turn of the century, was the first of the new generation wheels, Bollen said. Singapore's wheel is located across from the Marina Bay Sands casino complex, set to open in 2009, and is near the pit area of a Formula One Grand Prix street race to be held for the first time in the city-state in September. Lacking natural attractions, the wealthy island nation has embarked on a major campaign to spruce up its tourist appeal. A record 10.3 million visitors came to Singapore last year, an increase of 5.4 percent over 2006, the Singapore Tourism Board said. By 2015, the country aims to draw 17 million visitors and to earn S$30 billion in tourism revenues. The Singapore Flyer project, worth about S$240 million, is a private venture backed mainly by German investors. But Bollen said it received strong marketing and other support from the city-state's tourism board.
Bollen said his company was the only bidder for the project designed by Kisho Kurokawa Architects and Associates of Tokyo, along with Singapore's DP Architects. The wheel was built by Mitsubishi Corp and Takenaka Corp of Japan. The Singapore Flyer is being marketed as a venue for activities ranging from business meetings to weddings. Packages for Valentine's Day are also being offered.
Though a majority of revenue is expected to come from corporate clients and travel agents, the Flyer's marketing agent said 20 percent will be reserved for walk-in customers. Shops, restaurants and a tropical rainforest are among the attractions at the site that passengers can explore before "takeoff". Beevers said some of the retail and food outlets will be open by Monday and most should be ready by month's end. Ultimately, Bollen said, the experience was "all about the view."

Ref: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/327960/1/.html

Obama set for clear Maine victory

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is projected to win the Democratic caucus in Maine, defeating Hillary Clinton.

The Maine contest tops a weekend of gains by Mr Obama in the battle for the party's presidential nomination.

On Saturday, Mr Obama won in polls Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state and the US Virgin Islands.

The clean sweep of all five weekend contests puts him almost neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton in their deadlocked nomination battle.

Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton has appointed a new campaign manager after this weekend's setbacks.

Maggie Williams, who was the New York senator's chief of staff when her husband was serving as US president, will take over from Patty Doyle, who has decided to step down.

Campaign aides said Ms Doyle's decision was not urged upon her by Mrs Clinton or any senior members of her team, the Associated Press reports.

Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton now head into a series of contests on Tuesday: Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Ref: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7238153.stm

US Election 2008 - Obama expands lead on Clinton in California

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama opened narrow leads on Hillary Clinton in California and Missouri one day before crucial "Super Tuesday" nominating contests in 24 states, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday.

In the Republican race, Arizona Sen. John McCain solidified his double-digit leads over Mitt Romney in New York and New Jersey, but Romney expanded his lead in California, the biggest prize on "Super Tuesday."

Obama and Clinton were deadlocked in New Jersey, and Obama enjoyed a double-digit advantage over Clinton in Georgia in two other Democratic contests on the biggest single day of voting ever in a U.S. presidential nominating campaign.

Obama, an Illinois senator, and Clinton, a New York senator, have waged a bitter duel for the Democratic presidential nomination, competing for votes from coast to coast after splitting the first four significant contests.

"The momentum is with Obama," said pollster John Zogby. "If this trend continues it could be a very big night for him."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, led McCain 40 percent to 32 percent in California, where the margin of error was 3.3 percentage points. A win in California, the most populous state, could help puncture McCain's growing momentum in the Republican nomination fight.

McCain won the last two contests, in South Carolina and Florida, to seize the front-runner's slot in a hard-fought Republican race despite qualms among some conservatives about his past views on taxes, immigration and campaign finance.

"Romney is widening his lead in California and has a really big advantage with conservatives," Zogby said. "Romney winning California would give some Republicans pause when they look at McCain as the potential nominee."

Romney said he would cut short a scheduled trip to Georgia and fly back to California on Monday for a last-minute campaign visit.

'A GOOD SHOT'

"People there are taking a real close look at the race and it looks like I've got a good shot there," Romney told reporters.

In Missouri, McCain leads former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee by 35 percent to 27 percent, with Romney in third place at 24 percent. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.

"Huckabee and Romney are splitting the anti-McCain vote in states like Missouri," Zogby said.

The Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby rolling tracking poll surveyed presidential races in both parties in California, New Jersey and Missouri. The polls also looked at the Republican race in New York and the Democratic race in Georgia. Polling will continue for one more night.

In California, Obama gained two points on Clinton overnight to lead 46 percent to 40 percent, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points. Obama wiped out a 1-point Clinton advantage in Missouri to take a 47 percent to 42 percent lead, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The two rivals were deadlocked at 43 percent in New Jersey, with 10 percent still undecided. Obama had a 17-point edge in Georgia, aided by a more than 3-to-1 edge among black voters.

Both Democrats continued to build a strong base of support, with Clinton favored by women, Hispanics and elderly voters and Obama favored by blacks, men and young voters.

The new poll found McCain, who could be on the path to the Republican nomination with a strong performance on Tuesday, doubling Romney's support in New Jersey and doing even better in New York.

All of the presidential contenders are aiming on Tuesday to win a big share of the national convention delegates who choose the nominees. More than half of the total Democratic delegates are up for grabs on Tuesday, and about 40 percent of the Republican delegates.

The rolling polls in all five states were taken Friday through Sunday with samples ranging from 835 likely Republican voters in New Jersey to 967 likely Democratic voters in California.

In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

 

Ref: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0345866120080204?sp=true