I’m deeply entrenched in learning Objective-C at the moment due to my overwhelming obsession to create an iPhone application. However, within the past couple of months I’ve taken note of some interesting tools that rely heavily on JavaScript and HTML to allow developers (particularly web) to create mobile phone applications without knowing anything about Objective-C.

Today as I discovered an open source development tool called “PhoneGap” which allows a developer with JavaScript and HTML knowledge to build a mobile application.

From the PhoneGap site:

If you’re a web developer who wants to build mobile applications in HTML and JavaScript while still taking advantage of the core features in the iPhone, Android and Blackberry SDKs, PhoneGap is for you.

Take note that not only is this an iPhone development tool, but also Android and Blackberry.

The other is tool is called “Atlas” and it’s a development environment which is powered by Cappuccino and built on top of standard web technologies like JavaScript.

These technologies are amazing, but they say something more profoundly important in that web developers realize that the future is on the mobile platform and they need to be there to stay relevant.  Thankfully they’ve decided to share these tools!

Mozilla Labs is working on an interesting project called Bespin.  The cool thing about Bespin is that it runs entirely in the “cloud”, so upon implementing this as a development tool you immediately reap all the benefits of the usual cloud based web application.  Even more interestingly Mozilla Labs has developed an experimental GUI toolkit called “Thunderhead” which will be showcased more in the future by Mozilla Labs in future web casts.

At this point Bespin is a tech preview, but Mozilla Labs is encouraging developers to play with the preview which can be found at: https://bespin.mozilla.com/

You simply register for an account and you’re set to begin using Bespin.

Introducing Bespin from Dion Almaer on Vimeo.

‘Tis the season, and in light of everything the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has done in 2008 it’s only fitting they get a song dedicated to their accomplishments.

From http://w2.eff.org/

“But after looking over everything we’ve tried to handle this year — from our real-time US election monitoring system, to our ongoing fight against warrantless wiretapping, to keeping an eye on Comcast’s packet forging, to defending dancing babies on YouTube, to representing whistleblowing MIT students on the Boston MBTA — we decided the only way we could summarise it all was in traditional cloyingly seasonal song form.”

Learn more about this video and support EFF!

I’ve been fascinated by the idea of computing in the cloud for at least half a decade, especially ever since Amazon popularized the idea of “Software as a Service” back in 2002.  I realize that these concepts aren’t new (computing in the cloud that is), and in fact when I was an undergrad in college I remember searching something called “Bearcat” for books in our university library.  Bearcat was a dumb terminal that was driven by a server sitting in a different building on the university campus, in fact as far back as the 60′s these concepts were envisioned.  Amazon played a key kick starting role, but Google is also now pushing App Engine in the space, as well as Microsoft with their latest platform called Azure.

You’ll soon get overwhelmed by the large number of options.  Recently in a Bernstein Report titled: The Long View: Netbooks, Wireless and Cloud Computing–Client Software’s Imperfect Storm, there is a diagram that I found extremely helpful in mapping this ever evolving landscape and putting it into perspective.

(Click To Enlarge)

Jesse James Garrett, co-founder and president of Adaptive Path and lead designer of Aurora explains in this concept video how our future web browsing experience might change.  This is part 1 of a series of concept videos that was created by Adaptive Path in partnership with Mozilla Labs.

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

I am a fan of both Apache and Python.  I just came across this interesting visualization about developers committing to the code base of open source projects.  From the site:

This visualization, called code_swarm, shows the history of commits in a software project. A commit happens when a developer makes changes to the code or documents and transfers them into the central project repository. Both developers and files are represented as moving elements. When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer. Files are colored according to their purpose, such as whether they are source code or a document. If files or developers have not been active for a while, they will fade away. A histogram at the bottom keeps a reminder of what has come before.

Python:

code_swarm – Python from Michael Ogawa on Vimeo.

Apache:

code_swarm – Apache from Michael Ogawa on Vimeo.

Even though Firefox holds only 20% of the browser market it has been on a steady up-rise, second of course to Internet Explorer.  On June 17th Firefox will be officially released and Mozilla Corp is hoping to set a 1,000,000 downloads in one day record.  Rafe Needleman points out that Google actually foots the bill for the download bandwidth on the 17th and every other day that someone downloads Firefox, so Mozilla Corporation has nothing to lose by pushing this record.

Firefox is a shining example of what Open Source software can become (i.e, support for features that are developed by many such as plug-ins) so on the 17th help Mozilla break the 1,000,000 mark and download Firefox 3.  You can keep track of whether Mozilla breaks the 1,000,000 mark at Webware.com

In anticipation of Firefox 3, CNET News.com’s Kara Tsuboi and Webware.com’s Rafe Needleman discuss what users can look forward to with the new browser release.

I’m am super impressed by the built-in compass feature of Android, especially when combined with something like Google’s own street view.  Just watch the video to judge for yourself.

I’m impressed by this little device called the Yubikey which is the creation of a company called Yubico.  The Yubikey is a tiny form factor USB authentication device which produces a one time password for authentication purposes.  Essentially the Yubikey acts like a keyboard and auto enters passwords which are 32 characters in length (8 characters never change) so in layman’s terms this gives you a 32 characters password which is always different each time you use the Yubikey! (hence the one time pass key).

It should be noted also that you’ll need to authenticate with a Yubikey server.  You can build your own in-house server using Yubico’s basic SDK, click here for more info, or you can authenticate with Yubico’s own server using their API.

There is sure to be more Yubikey authenticating servers as support increases.

The Yubikey is around $44.00

First of all, be clear about what type of hacker your referring to… please!  The general term “hacker” can refer to different groups of computer professionals, and so often it is confused by the “press”  “White Hats” are “good hackers” they try to fight “Black Hats” who are generally criminals… most Linux users are “Hackers” as they are trying to improve the software they use!  So when this ad/article says “Hackers Can Turn Your Computer Into A Bomb” they should more appropriately say “Black Hats Can Turn Your Computer Into A Bomb!”…

Why does the press quickly jump to calling computer criminals general “Hackers”?