Fx is predicted to hit more than 21% market share in Dec, IE will drop below 69%. Of IE versions, the biggest loser is IE6 and IE7 isn't gaining marketshare, only IE8 is gaining marketshare but not fast enough to offset the net loss for IE6 and IE7. There is also a conclusion that Fx is picking up more IE users than any other browser out there, out of every 3 users leaving IE 2 of them are picked up by Fx. Safari and Google are also enjoying marketshare growth, while Opera not so much.
Recently I've bought the BEST BOOK EVER, and I've just finished Chapter Six. I can describe the book as simple EPIC, and it is really helping me grasp a topic very dear to me, and that is inner working of an OS.
Chapter 6 discusses the boot process of Unix 6th Edition on the PDP11, the source code accomponied with the commentary had this interesting comment:
And then followed by three short but very cryptic lines of C code. The book's author describes the lines as enigmatic and leaves explaining them to later in the book, but when reading the source code I couldn't help not laughing.You are not expected to understand this.
Nov. 2007 | 2008 | % Change
Wii: 0981K | 2040K | 108%
NDS: 1530K | 1570K | 2.6%
360: 0770K | 0836K | 8.6%
PSP: 0567K | 0421K | -25.7%
PS3: 0466K | 0378K | -18.9%
PS2: 0496K | 0206K | -58.5%
PlayStation by the Numbers November 2008
PlayStation Brand Continues Strong Sales Momentum Into the Holiday Season; PS3 Hardware Sales Grow 60% Year-to-Date
Total PlayStation Hardware Unit Sales in November 2008 Top 1 Million
The PlayStation brand began the holiday season by posting solid sales at retail across its three platforms, with more than 1 million hardware units sold in November 2008, a 93% growth from the October 2008, according to NPD.
PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) has continued its strong momentum during the holiday season with 378,071 hardware units sold in November, representing an increase of almost 100% from October. From January to November 2008, more than 2.8 million PS3s have been sold in the U.S., representing a year-to-date hardware sales growth of more than 60%.
[... too much blah blah ...]
PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and the Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters PSP Entertainment Pack proved to be a popular choice for movies, games and entertainment content on-the-go in November, with 420,539 units sold. This represents an increase of 118% from October.
Power of the PlayStation Portfolio
The PlayStation brand generated strong sales across all three platforms, earning $663 million in November.
Year-to-date (Jan-Nov), the PlayStation brand generated more than 5 billion in revenue, representing an 11% growth year-to-date.
PlayStation total hardware revenue was $261 million in November, representing a year-to-date growth of 9%.
PlayStation total software revenue in November was $352 million, representing a year-to-date growth of 16%.
$inFile is assumed to have the name of file you want to open, and @lines is the array that'll store the file content.
open(INFILE, $inFile) or die("Error: Can't open file!");
@lines = <INFILE>;
@revGrd = reverse @grid;
The rumors are rumors no more. Evidence seem to indicate that next year Microsoft, in partnership with nVidia, will be bringing a new gaming oriented zune phone, this ZunePhone should be announced at 3GSM, and will function to do one thing, replace WinMo devices, and maybe lure Apple and Google haters.
Microsoft once again is backstaping its business partners. Just like it did with its PlaysForSure partners when it introduced its own media player failure, the Zune. Not just its partners, but thousands of PlaysForSure consumers found themselves owning MS-DRMed music that the Zune can't play!
"There will still be a lot of proprietary innovation in the browser itself so we may need to have a rendering service," Ballmer said, adding, "Open source is interesting. Apple has embraced Webkit and we may look at that, but we will continue to build extensions for IE 8."So, even if Microsoft adopts WebKit, it'll make sure that it wont be compatible with other WebKit browsers. Since WebKit is licensed under LGPL and BSD-like, Microsoft can add its own proprietary 'features' on top of it.
Some companies never change. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling about 35,000 laptop batteries from Sony, after several reports of fires.
Nineteen consumers have reported the batteries overheating; of that group, 17 reported flames, and two suffered minor burns. The recalled batteries are shipped in some Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell notebooks.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/laptop-fires-pr.html
Jump lists provide quick access to application features. Applications that use the system API for their Most Recently Used list (the list of recently-used filenames that many apps have in their File menus) will automatically acquire a Jump List containing their most recently used files. There's also an API to allow applications to add custom entries; Media Player, for example, includes special options to control playback.Why not copy OS X's dock while you're at it?
Window management has also undergone changes. In recognition of the fact that people tend only to use one or two windows concurrently, 7 makes organizing windows quicker and easier. Dragging a window to the top of the screen maximizes it automatically; dragging it off the top of the screen restores it.I already had this on Gnome for years!
Another common task that 7 improves is "peeking" at windows; switching to a window briefly just to read something within the window but not actually interact with the window. To make this easier, scrubbing the mouse over the taskbar thumbnails will turn every window except the one being pointed at into a glass outline; moving the mouse away will reinstate all the glass windows. As well as being used for peeking at windows, you can also peek at the desktop.Compiz does it better, and peeking on the desktop, OS X had it since Panther at least.
Peeking at the desktop is particularly significant, because the desktop is now where gadgets live. Because people are increasingly using laptops, taking up a big chunk of space for the sidebar isn't really viable; Microsoft has responded by scrapping the sidebar and putting the gadgets onto the desktop itself. Gadgets are supposed to provide at-a-glance information; peeking at the desktop, therefore, becomes essential for using gadgets.You mean like OS X's Dashboard?
The icons themselves have also been streamlined to make common tasks (such as switching wireless networks) easier and faster.Copying Apple again?
Windows 7 introduces a new concept named Libraries. Libraries provide a view onto arbitrary parts of the filesystem with organization optimized for different kinds of files. In use, Libraries feel like a kind of WinFS-lite; they don't have the complex database system underneath, but they do retain the idea of a custom view of your files that's independent of where the files are.Smart folders by another name?
"If you want to run full internet, you're going to have to run an Intel-based architecture," Intel wackaloon said.Why not slam desktops and laptops that use AMD, after all according to your twisted logic they are incapable of delivering the full Internet experience. Or what about other processors that aren't x86, like the PowerPC, Cell, DEC Alpha and MIPS, are they also incapable of providing full Interent experience? The reason Apple went with ARM and will continue to do is because you don't offer anything better!
"Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone -- we sold more phones than RIM," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "We don't yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we're armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt."Apple profits rise 26% on sales of 2.6M Macs, 6.8M iPhones
Now I think of it, version numbering never mattered in software.
Microsoft's on-going press conference at TGS today revealed that Namco Bandai's upcoming Tekken 6 will arrive on the Xbox 360 sometime in Fall 2009.Source GameSpy
Mac OS X combines the best of Free Software and Proprietary Software, and in this post I'll try to show why I believe it is the best developer-friendly OS, and try to fend off the myth about OS X being useless.
• Cocoa and Objective-C : When it comes to API and programming language nothing beats this combo. It's better thought out and offers virtually everything, except for the times when you need to dive into Carbon; read this article, for a better indepth explanation.
• Xcode : Certainly not the best IDE out there; but being the official IDE of the Mac OS, and being capable of providing the developer everything he/she needs in a single version (no basic and professional nonsense) for free more than makes up for it minimum shortcomings.
• MacPorts : This project enables developers and users to easily compile and install various Free and Open Source programs and libraries, bringing you the best the FOSS community has to offer.
• Unix : Mac OS X is a full-fledged SUS-certified and POSIX-complaint Unix, and version 10.5 (Leopard) comes with X11 and the popular BASH pre-installed.
This list is obviously non-exclusive, but add this to the ease-of-use, simplicity of the Mac, and growing market share; and you get a very strong argument for development on the Mac.
Reminded me of a famous quote "Real programmers can write assembly code in any language." only this time, more appropriately, it would be "Real programmers can write brainfuck in any language."_(__,___,____){___/__<=1?_(__,___+1,____):!(___%__)?_(__,___+1,0):___%__==___/
__&&!____?(printf("%d\t",___/__),_(__,___+1,0)):___%__>1&&___%__<___/__?_(__,1+
___,____+!(___/__%(___%__))):___<__*__?_(__,___+1,____):0;}main(){_(100,0,0);}
Both Office 2007 and Windows Media Player 11 do away with traditional menu bars.
Interestingly Outlook 2007 keeps them around, but not in the compose dialog.
I wonder what's in the box?
You know of course the saying “Good things are worth waiting for” … undoubtedly we were trying the truism of this adage longer than warranted, but we have broken the logjam. We are delivering the Roadster to our customers. Already 9 production Roadsters have arrived in California, another 3 arrive this weekend, and they will keep arriving at the rate of 4 per week (except for the scheduled factory shut down in the last two weeks of August). In fact, currently there are 27 Roadsters in various stages of assembly. In large measure we deliberately limit the production until we install our own born and bred final transmission by mid-September, at which time production will start to ramp up leading toward a monthly rate of over 100 cars in December.
| Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix™ interactive entertainment products in North America, announced the release of SONG SUMMONER™: The Unsung Heroes, on sale at the iTunes® Store worldwide (www.itunes.com) and available for play in English and Japanese on the iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod. |
| SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes is a Role-Playing Game that transforms your iPod® songs into powerful "Tune Troopers" that you can control in battle! As the protagonist Ziggy, you will embark on an epic journey to rescue your brother from the clutches of the Mechanical Militia! Intriguing characters, an epic story and a tactics-based battle system combine for a rich RPG experience previously only available on home and handheld game consoles. |
| STORY From the days of old, Melodica was a land of music, a land of freedom. The people sang, played and danced to the music they so cherished. Until one day, they came — the Mechanoids, who enhanced their bodies with machinery. Those who were tempted by greed and power willingly gave away their souls for bodies of steel, forsaking their humanity to become cold, emotionless automatons. Now, they seek to destroy all that do not embrace their way of life. But there is hope on the horizon. There are those who are fated to stand against the tyranny of the machines — the Superstars, who can turn sound into lethal weapons, and the Conductor, also known as the Song Summoner, who can summon powerful warriors born of music. In their most desperate hour, Melodica awaits the arrival of their new Song Summoner... |
| FEATURES |
Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.
Ever since Firefox was launched in 2004 we've relied on our community to help us spread the word, and thanks to projects including crop circles, newspaper ads, giant stickers, videos, blogs and more we now have over 180 million users in more than 230 countries.
So what's next? We'll just have to wait and see what YOU come up with!
In response to a report earlier this week pointing out that many of the applications in early builds of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard are dramatically smaller in size, a number of developers have weighed in to explain where all those missing megabytes went.
One reader noted that the extra heft in Leopard’s apps does indeed come from localization files, which are used to distill all of the text strings and other variables that differ between languages. Depending on the language preference set by the user, the operating system accesses the desired language files and uses them in conjunction with the common application code to simplify developers’ work to deploy their apps to worldwide markets.
Continues: Solving the mystery of Snow Leopard’s shrinking apps
The National Labor Committee : The Toyota You Don't Know
http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=562The American and Japanese people have a lot in common. In both countries, excessive corporate power and greed are destroying the middle class as income disparity soars, enriching the few while the vast majority of us are left behind. As the two largest economies in the world, the people of the U.S. and Japan should, and could, have a very powerful voice in helping to shape a global economy that fosters respect for human and worker rights, protects our environment and promotes social and economic equality. There needs to be more dialogue among labor, environmental, human and women’s rights organizations and students in the U.S. and Japan. If corporations are the only ones talking to one another, we will just get more of the same.
In the U.S., we produce too many gas guzzlers. But they are made by well-paid, middle class union workers who have a democratic voice on the shop floor. In Japan, companies like Toyota make some of the best hybrids. But their unions are weak and lack independence—allowing the widespread exploitation of cheap temporary workers in their plants, along with a parts supply chain that is riddled with sweatshop abuses, including human trafficking. We have a lot to learn from each other.
Right now, Toyota and the U.S. auto companies are locked in a race to the bottom, which will inevitably lead them to adopt each others worst practices.
If the middle class is going to survive, it is time for working people in the U.S. and Japan to begin speaking to one another.
While there is no confirmation yet of its existence as a game for Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Network, at least we do now know that it will be a downloadable game in a place where it most makes sense: WiiWare.
Further, the rumors of an 8-bit artstyle were not only true, but quite literal: So far, this looks just like one of the NES games, rather than the later fare of Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8, each of which has its fans and detractors.
Pricing the PlayStation 3 below its production cost caused Sony to lose $2.16 billion in 2007 and $1.16 billion in 2008, the company revealed today.Sony's fiscal 2008 annual report delineated potential risk factors to its investors, outlining that "the large-scale investment required during the development and introductory period of a new gaming platform may not be fully recovered." The loss figures were provided as an example of the "significant negative impact" introducing a new platform can cause at first.
Good! this ought keep SONY from introducing another overpriced console.
* Toyota linked to human trafficking and sweatshop abuse: Toyota's much admired "Just in Time" auto parts supply chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the trafficking of foreign guest workers, mostly from China and Vietnam to Japan, who are stripped of their passports and often forced to work--including at subcontract plants supplying Toyota--16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage. Guest workers who complain about abusive conditions are deported.http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/06/18/090268.html
* Prius made by low-wage temps: Fully one-third--10,000--of all Toyota assembly line workers in Japan are low-wage temps who have few rights and earn less than 60% of what full time workers do.
* Unpaid overtime and "overworked" to death: Mr. Kenichi Uchino was just 30 years old when he died of overwork on an assembly line at Toyota's Prius plant, leaving behind his young wife and two children. Mr. Uchino routinely worked 13 to 14 hours a day, putting in 106 1/2 to 155 hours of overtime--depending on whether work taken home was counted--in the 30 days leading up to his death. Toyota claimed that he had only worked 45 hours of overtime and that the other 61 1/2 to 110 hours were "voluntary" and unpaid. His wife had to go to court -- which ruled that Mr. Uchino was overworked to death -- to win a pension for their children.
* Ties to Burmese dictators: Toyota, through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which is part of the Toyota Group of Companies, is involved in several joint business ventures with the ruthless military regime in Burma. The dictators use these revenues to repress and torture the people of Burma.
* Toyota and the race to the bottom: Toyota is imposing its two-tier, low wage model at its non-union plants in the south of the United States, which will result in wages and benefits being slashed across the entire auto industry.
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecordAwesome work - we’re almost there!
Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we got more than 8 million Firefox 3 downloads in 24 hours. That’s more Firefox downloads than we’ve ever had in a single day -- an impressive feat indeed!
Please be patient while the good people of Guinness review our World Record attempt. This might take a few days so please check back here. And, a huge thanks for all of your support!
Quick note on Firefox 3 downloads
Thanks to overwhelming demand we’ve passed through 14,000 downloads a minute! This will put us well into the tens of millions of downloads in a 24 hour period if we can sustain it. Each download is about 7MB so that’s around 13 Gigabits/s of just download traffic. Not too shabby!
The Wine team is proud to announce that Wine 1.0 is now available. This is the first stable release of Wine after 15 years of development and beta testing. Many thanks to everybody who helped us along that long road!
While compatibility is not perfect yet, thousands of applications have been reported to work very well. Check http://appdb.winehq.org to see the details for your favorite applications.
The source is available now. Binary packages are in the process of being built, and will appear soon at their respective download locations.
Set a Guinness World Record
Enjoy a Better WebSounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We're not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.
The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008. Join our community and this effort by pledging today.
