Practical Technology

for practical people.

June 6, 2013
by sjvn01
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Google re-opens CalDAV

When Google announced on March 13th that it would no longer be supporting the CalDAV application programming interface (API), developers were not happy. In early June, Google reconsidered its position and re-opened CalDAV and, to top it off, Google said they’d be opening CardDAV’s API as well.

CalDAV, for the non-programmers among you, is an open extension to the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) standard for Web-based calendar services. It’s used in Apple’s iCal; Mozilla’s Calendar Project-based programs; and it will soon be available in the next update to Windows Phone 8. It’s as close to a lingua franca for calendaring applications as we have today.

Google re-opens CalDAV. More >

June 5, 2013
by sjvn01
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2013: Welcome to the universal Internet

Ten years ago the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started deregulating incumbent local exchange companies’ (ILECs’) broadband services. Shorn of jargon, that meant the telephone and cable companies were free to offer newer, faster Internet broadband services. The FCC  expected this move to bring tens of billions of dollars into residential broadband. It did. What they didn’t expect was Netflix, iPads, or Google Glass.

2013: Welcome to the universal Internet. More >

June 3, 2013
by sjvn01
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Foxconn backs Firefox OS play

While Android and Apple iOS battle it out for mobile platform operating system supremacy, other minor mobile operating systems, such as Mozilla’s Linux-based, open-source operating system Firefox OS, are still trying to get a seat at the mobile operating system table. On June 3rd,  Firefox OS gained an important backer: electronics contract manufacturing giant Foxconn.

Foxconn backs Firefox OS play. More >

June 2, 2013
by sjvn01
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Windows 8 continues to fail

The real take-away from Net Applications’ May 2013 release of NetMarketShare monthly operating system statistics is that, as PC sales continue to collapse, Microsoft’s Windows 8 could be a factor behind the plunge.

While Microsoft apologists focus on Windows continuing to be the dominant desktop operating system, they keep missing the two elephants in the room: Windows 8 continues to fall behind Microsoft’s previous top operating system failure, Vista, and Windows is no longer the dominant end-user operating system when PCs, smartphones and tablets are considered.

Windows 8 continues to fail. More >

May 31, 2013
by sjvn01
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Wireline networking groups merge to form HomeGrid Forum

Wi-Fi is fine for ease of use and category 6 Ethernet cable is great for when you need real speed, but sometimes you just want to network a building without Wi-Fi’s perpetual security concerns and without dragging cable. For those times, you need wireline networking, which uses powerlines and other existing wired infrastructure for networking. Alas, wireline technologies have been ham-strung because of competing standards for years.

In late May, two of the major factions finally buried the hatchet to work together on G.hn technologies.

G.hn, which was pioneered by Marvell, promises to bring up to 1Gigabit per second speeds over your existing powerline, co-ax, and phone lines. G.hn, is “any wire” technology defined by ITU-T open international standards to help with small office/home office (SOHO) networking.

Wireline networking groups merge to form HomeGrid Forum. More >

May 30, 2013
by sjvn01
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Ubuntu declares bug #1 — ‘Microsoft has a majority market share’ — closed

Give major Linux company Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth credit for chutzpah. In the Ubuntu bug-tracking system, LaunchPad, he just announced that bug number one “is now closed.” The bug, which dates from Ubuntu’s first days in 2004, was: “Microsoft has a majority market share.”

Ubuntu declares bug #1 — ‘Microsoft has a majority market share’ — closed. More >