Google launches music search with Lala and iLike

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc on Wednesday partnered with Web services Lala and MySpace's iLike to give music fans an easier way to find, sample and buy songs on the Internet, expanding its music industry footprint.

The global Web search leader will provide users who want to sample a song with a pop-up box that will play at least a 30-second segment -- in some cases the entire song -- provided by iLike and Lala, which will then offer links to purchase the music.

Google has also teamed up with Pandora, iMeem and Rhapsody to incorporate links to those music sites, to help consumers discover music related to search queries. Google will begin rolling the feature out to users across the United States on Wednesday.

The move will help cement Google's role in the music industry, which is struggling with plunging sales amid the rise of Apple's iTunes and other sites, and fewer media outlets to break new acts. Investors hope that streaming songs or video clips online will help stem the fan-base losses.

"Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or that iconic song, or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head," Google said on its blog.

The new capability will help listeners find songs by entering a search by title, album, artist or even with a line or two of lyrics.

Google said it did not work directly with any record labels -- contrary to reports that it had forged ties with the likes of Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group -- but had the industry's full support.

"Everybody's been very supportive. Indeed, our business model is to improve the search experience with the help of streaming partners, which offer interesting business models of their own," said R.J. Pittman, director of product management for Google.

Ref: http://in.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idINTRE59R5SF20091029

Nokia - 3D touch interface

A recently filed patent reveals that Nokia is working on a 3D multi-touch interface, using pressure sensitivity to discern the third dimension

Published on Oct 23, 2009

Nokia is testing a new multi-touch interface that works in three dimensions thanks to touch pressure sensitivity.

These developments appeared in patents filed by Nokia regarding exactly how the technology would work.

Nokia isn't perhaps the first manufacturer we'd expect to experiment with 'out there' technologies like this 3D touch interface, what with their continuing support of the increasingly aged-feeling Symbian OS, but if it works intuitively it could represent a step forward for smartphone operating systems.

According to the patent, the haptic touchscreen will be able to tell how forceful each of your screen prods are and exactly which direction any swipes are made in. The latter isn't anything new of course, but it could offer higher fidelity than current capacitive models.

The patent diagram also suggests that this new type of touchscreen is designed for finger operation, which is good news for all of you who are fed up with losing the stylus on your current Nokia smartphone.

 Ref URL: http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/342776/nokia_working_on_3d_touch_interface.html

10 cool things about the iPhone 3G S

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Apple has announced its latest iPhone -- the iPhone 3G S.

The third iPhone to be released since the first was launched in the U.S. in 2007, Apple claims the iPhone 3G S is faster and more powerful than the current iPhone 3G. Although it retains an identical form factor and design, the iPhone 3G S has some nifty new features. Here are 10 of the best:

1. It's faster

Apple launched the iPhone 3G S by announcing it has a faster processor, more memory and "snappier performance". Although the iPhone 3G is no slouch, it can be a little sluggish when opening and closing applications. If Apple's demo videos are anything to go by, the iPhone 3G S will be a much zippier smartphone.

2. It has more memory

Apple will sell two models of the iPhone 3G S: 16GB and 32GB. There original iPhone came with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage.

3. Video recording

Wow! A smartphone in 2009 that can record video? No way! Apple critics will point to the fact that the iPhone 3G can't record video as an example of a phone that lacks some basic features, but for potential iPhone owners the addition of video recording is a real plus.

4. Improved camera

The iPhone 3G S has a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, compared with the iPhone 3G's 2-megapixel, non-autofocus camera. It still lacks a flash, but the increased megapixel count should slightly improve photos and tapping an area on the screen to focus on is a cool feature that should make mobile photography easier.

5. You can talk to it

The iPhone 3G S introduces what Apple calls Voice Control, a voice recognition feature that allows you to make a call and play music by speaking. Voice Control can find any entry in your contacts list, and users simply have to say a name or phone number to make a call. For music, you can ask what song is playing and hear the iPhone 3G S answer, tell it to play your favourite album, or play similar tracks to the current one.

6. It has a built-in compass

A built-in digital compass is another new feature of the iPhone 3G S. We aren't sure exactly how often anyone would use this as a standalone app, but when combined with Google Maps, the compass will rotate maps to always match the direction you're facing. Now that is pretty cool.

7. Internet tethering

The iPhone 3G S can now be used as a modem, connecting to a Mac or PC via USB or Bluetooth. Although AT&T in the US won't be supporting this feature, Optus is one Australian telco that has confirmed it will be. Telstra and Vodafone are yet to announce whether they will offer tethering capability.

8. Accessibility features

Apple has included a number of features that help people with disabilities use the iPhone 3G S. These include Apple's VoiceOver function, which reads aloud what is on the screen, a zoom function that magnifies up to five times, and a white on black display option that provides increased contrast.

9. Nike+ iPod integration

Previously only available for selected iPod nano models, Apple's Nike + iPod is a fitness system that involves a Nike shoe communicating wirelessly with an iPod. The iPhone 3G S will be compatible with the system, which displays real time walking or running statistics.

10. New headphones

The iPhone 3G S will include Apple's remote headphones in the sales package. The new headphones have a multi-button remote and volume control keys, as well as a microphone to handle voice calls.

For the latest on the iPhone 3G S check out our iPhone Centre.

Follow PC World Australia on Twitter: @PCWorldAu

Ref: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/166556/10_cool_things_about_the_iphone_3g_s.html

Automated test tools for Java

A list of automated test tools for Java.  See which one suites your purpose. My personal favorite is Grinder.

1. MaxQ - MaxQ is a free web functional testing tool. It includes an HTTP proxy that records your test script, and a command line utility that can be used to playback tests. The proxy recorder automatically stores variables posted to forms, so you don't have to write that stuff by hand.
2. Abbot - The Abbot framework is a Java library for GUI unit testing and functional testing. It provides methods to reproduce user actions and examine the state of GUI components. The framework may be invoked directly from Java code or accessed without programming through the use of scripts. There are two ways of using this framework. One is to write the tests directly in Java code. The other is to use a script to control the event playback and testing, which is more suitable to integration/functional testing. A script editor is provided to facilitate the latter form of test.
3. Pounder - Pounder is a utility for automating Java GUI tests. It allows developers to dynamically load GUI's, record scripts, and then use those scripts in a test harness. Pounder differentiates itself from other utilities by allowing you to examine the results of a test run in source, while maintaining a separate GUI script that can be re-recorded if necessary.
4. Grinder - The Grinder is a Java™ load-testing framework. The Grinder makes it easy to orchestrate the activities of a test script in many processes across many machines, using a graphical console application.
5. Jameleon - Jameleon is an acceptance-level automated testing tool that separates applications into features and allows those features to be tied together independently, creating test-cases. These test-cases can then be data-driven and executed against different environments.
6. GUITAR - GUI Testing Framework that presents a unified solution to the GUI testing problem. Emphasis has been on developing new event-based tools and techniques for various phases of GUI testing.
7. Solex - Solex is a Web application testing tool built as a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE. It provides functions to record a client session, adjust it according to various parameters and replay it later typically in order to ensure non regression of the application's behaviour.
8. WebScarab - WebScarab is a loose suite of web application security assessment tools. It is designed to be a tool for technical auditors who want to expose some of the workings of an application and automate some of the tests, whilst still having the flexibility to force the tests to execute the way the auditor wishes.
9. JOSIT - JOSIT (Java Observation Simulation Inspection Toolkit) is an open Application Programmer's Interface for instrumenting applications written in the Java programming language.
10. Canoo WebTest - Canoo WebTest is a free open source tool for automated testing of web applications. It calls web pages and verifies the results, giving comprehensive reports on success and failure.
11. TestMaker - TestMaker is the complete test and monitoring solution that software developers, QA technicians and IT managers use everyday to solve scalability, functionality and performance problems in Web-enabled applications, especially Web Services. TestMaker makes you immediately productive with an integrated test environment and test agent Recorder.
12. Enterprise Web Test - Enterprise Web Test allows Java programmers to write re-usable tests for web applications that, unlike HttpUnit, "drive" the actual web browser on the actual platform they intend to support.
13. Marathon - The long-term vision for Marathon is to keep the focus of a tool that specializes in automated java Swing testing. Implemented by folks at Thoughtworks.
14. DBMonster - DBMonster is a tool which helps database application developers with tuning the structure of the database, tuning the usage of indexes, and testing the application performance under heavy database load. DBMonster generates as much random test data as you wish and puts it into SQL database. It provides a very pluggable interface and is trivial to use.
15. JSpider - A highly configurable and customizable Web Spider engine. Check your site for errors. Outgoing and/or internal link checking. Analyze your site structure.
16. Anteater - Anteater is a testing framework designed around Ant. It provides an easy way to write tests for checking the functionality of a Web application or of an XML Web service. Built-in webserver allows testing of HTTP requests as well as responses. Suitable for non-interactive, cron-driven use in Continuous integration environments.
17. LogiTest - The core application in the LogiTest suite. The LogiTest application is used to record and playback single tests. LogiTest can be used to create functional and regression test for web applications using a simple graphical user interface. LogiMonitor is used to monitor web applications and send notifications or take actions when a web application fails.
18. Jacareto - Jacareto is a capture&replay framework for Java applications and applets. It allows you to easily create your own capture&replay tools. Jacareto is very flexible; you can write your own capture modules, replay modules, classes which handle special components, editors, record types, record elements and tests. You can also group record elements together to build high-level structures (qualitative analysis). By extracting data sets from records, quantitative analyses can be performed.
19. LoadSim - LoadSim is a web application load simulator. It allows you to create simulations and have those simulations run against your webserver. Records your browser session to create the simulation scenarios. Remote management of simulations. Random delays can be added between links to simulate real users.
20. Rubis - RUBiS is an auction site prototype modeled after eBay.com that is used to evaluate application design patterns and application servers performance scalability. RUBiS can be used from a web browser for testing purposes or with the provided benchmarking tool. We designed a client that emulates users behavior for variours workload patterns and provides statistics.
21. JMeter - Apache JMeter is a 100% pure Java desktop application designed to load test functional behavior and measure performance. It was originally designed for testing Web Applications but has since expanded to other test functions.
22. Joshua - Joshua uses Jini and JavaSpaces to build upon the JUnit Test Automation Framework and create a simple and efficient test distribution mechanism.
23. Latka - Latka is a functional (end-to-end) testing tool. It is implemented in Java, and uses an XML syntax to define a series of HTTP (or HTTPS) requests and a set of validations used to verify that the request was processed correctly.
24. Haste - Haste (High-level Automated System Test Environment) represents an approach to system testing that is philosophically consistent with standard XP unit testing practices. Test code runs in the same address space as the application under test, allowing for ready examination of application state. The fundamental Haste abstractions of Story, Step, and StoryBook provide a framework to implement system tests.
25. SLAMD - SLAMD was originally developed for the purpose of benchmarking and analyzing the performance of LDAP directory servers, and it is the most powerful and flexible tool available for this task. It includes tools for recording and playing back TCP traffic, and a utility for intercepting LDAP communication and writing it as a script that may be executed in the SLAMD scripting engine. It has an embedded scripting engine that can be used to stress applications using protocols like LDAP, HTTP, SMTP, IMAP, and POP and any database that supports JDBC.
26. JSystem - JSystem is a framework for writing and running automated tests, based on JUnit. Its main goal is to support automation of functional and system testing.
27. JCrawler - JCrawler is a Stress-Testing Tool for web-applications. It comes with the crawling/exploratory feature. You can give JCrawler a set of starting URLs and it will begin crawling from that point onwards, going through any URLs it can find on its way and generating load on the web application. The load parameters (hits/sec) are configurable.
28. Java PathFinder - Out of the box, JPF can search for deadlocks and unhandled exceptions (e.g. NullPointerExceptions and AssertionErrors), but the user can provide own property classes, or write listener-extensions to implement other property checks (like race conditions). It is the first NASA program to be actively developed and hosted on SourceForge.
29. UISpec4J - UISpec4J is an Open Source functional and/or unit testing library for Swing-based Java applications, built on top of the JUnit test harness. If you are writing a Swing application, you will appreciate UISpec4J above all for its simplicity: UISpec4J's APIs are designed to hide as much as possible the complexity of Swing, resulting in easy to write and easy to read test scripts. This is especially true when comparing UISpec4J tests with those produced using Swing or low-level, event-based testing libraries.
30. Cobertura - Cobertura is a free Java tool that calculates the percentage of code accessed by tests. It can be used to identify which parts of your Java program are lacking test coverage. It is based on jcoverage. Instruments Java bytecode after it has been compiled. Generates reports in HTML or XML. Shows percent of lines coveraged and branches coveraged. Shows the McCabe cyclomatic code complexity. Can sort HTML results by class name, percent of lines covered, percent of branches covered, etc. And can sort in ascending or decending order.
31. Slimdog - SlimDog offers a simple script based webapplication testing tool. It is based on httpunit. The tool offers a wide range of commands to work with forms, check the content of tables and navigation between HTML pages. Rather than writing long JUnit testcases or crucial XML files the users can write simple text scripts. he results are written either to the console, a file or as a HTML page.
32. JBlanket - Blanket is a method coverage tool for stand-alone and client-server Java programs. It modifies the byte code in specified class and JAR files so that method type signatures are recorded when the methods are invoked during the execution of JUnit test cases. JBlanket automates support for test quality assurance in a manner consistent with Agile programming practices.
33. TestGen4J - TestGen4J is a collection of tools that automatically generates unit test cases. TestGen4J automatically generates test cases from your own Java class files, or source files. Its primary focus is to exercise boundary value testing of the arguments passed to the method. It uses a rules engine, with a user-configurable XML file, that defines boundary conditions for the data types.
34. Jemmy - Jemmy is a library that is used to create automated tests for Swing/AWT GUI applications. It contains methods to reproduce all user actions which can be performed on Swing/AWT components (i.e. button pushing, text typing, tree node expanding, …). It can be effective for automating demos to show how an application works. Jemmy is a NetBeans independent module, that can be used separately as well as together with the NetBeans IDE.
35. Sahi - Sahi is an automation and testing tool for web applications, with the facility to record and playback scripts. Developed in java and javascript, this tool uses simple javascript to execute events on the browser. Features include, in-browser controls, text based scripts, ant support for playback of suites of tests, and multi threaded playback. Sahi runs as a proxy server and the browser needs to use the sahi server as its proxy. Sahi then injects javascript so that it can access elements in the webpage.
36. Floyd - A Java library intended to make the automated testing of web applications easier. Provides full control of standard web browsers such as Mozilla and Internet Explorer to normal Java unit tests. The interaction with the browser and any loaded web pages is achieved via calls to Floyd's Java API. This allows to simulate user interaction with a real live web browser.
37. Watij - 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 however with a future plan to support Mozilla. Watij supports XPath expressions for finding HTML elements on a page. Watij also manages popup browser windows.
38. iValidator - iValidator is a framework for XML-based test automation of complex test scenarios. The central feature of iValidator is the flexible descriptive control of complex test scenarios. Using XML you can also describe test cases, combine them into test suites and control the flow of the test suites.
39. Testare - A java testing framework that simplifies the test development process for distributed java applications. It provides easy to use in container testing capabilities. It provides a test environment management and provides fixtures, global fixtures, test environment probes and guards.
40. Java Test Runner - A Java distributed testing framework with particular emphasis on JEE specification. The framework supports standard JSE components, EJBs, JMS and Web Services (document-based and rpc-like).

Ref: http://micronet800.co.uk/?p=12

DEFINITION OF DORSCON-FLU ALERT CODES

The DORSCON Alert codes describe the risk of acquiring an infectious disease. It provides a guide for planning and execution in the event of an influenza pandemic. However, if the progression of the disease is very fast, it may not be operationally feasible to have a clear, sequentially graduated response.

 

 

Alert GREEN Level 0 (WHO Phase 1).

·         Low Threat with no novel influenza virus outbreaks anywhere in the world.

 

Alert GREEN Level 1 (WHO Phase 2 - 3)

·         Present of global concern about the possible emergence of a novel virus with isolated animal to human spread from closed prolonged contact. The disease is basically limited to animals and the threat of human-to-human infection remains low.

 

Alert YELLOW (WHO Phase 4).

·         There are inefficient human-to-human transmissions of influenza caused by a novel virus requiring close and sustained contact to an index case. Further spread can be prevented through public health measures to isolate cases and quarantine contacts. The risk of import into Singapore is elevated. Isolated imported cases may occur but there is no sustained transmission.

 

Alert ORANGE (WHO Phase 5).

·         Globally and/or locally, larger cluster(s) but human-to-human spread is still localized suggesting that virus is becoming increasingly better adapted to humans but may not yet be fully transmissible, requiring close contact with an index case (substantial pandemic risk). In most instances, there will be dead end transmissions. But in some instances, a cluster of cases may develop from an index case.

 

Alert RED (WHO Phase 6).

·         A pandemic is underway. The virus is fully transmissible between humans. Import into Singapore is inevitable. Sources of infection are undefined and there is a high risk of acquiring the disease from the community once it spreads to Singapore.

 

Alert BLACK (WHO Phase 6).

·         There are high rates of severe disease and deaths. The healthcare and other social support systems are overwhelmed by the pandemic. Economic activities are severely disrupted.

 

Ref: http://www.mhchealthcare.net/definition-of-dorscon-flu-alert-codes/