Sputnik, Google's New JavaScript Test Suite
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Google engineers working on the Chrome web browser have announced a new open-source JavaScript testing and performance suite called Sputnik. The new test suite is intended to provide a comprehensive set of tests, more than 5,000 of them, and check compliance with the ECMA-262 JavaScript standard.
“The goal was to create a test suite based directly on the language spec that checked the behavior of every object, function and individual algorithm in the language. The task was given to a team in Russia – hence the name "Sputnik" – which went about systematically producing tests,” Christian Plesner Hansen, Google software engineer, writes. “Now that the test suite is complete we're happy to be able to release it as an open source project, under the BSD license. We hope Sputnik can be as useful to other implementers of JavaScript as it has been to us, particularly at a time where implementations change rapidly.”
The project was started soon after V8, Chrome's lightning-fast JavaScript engine, took shape and the development paralleled it. As the number of tests in the suite grew the team would test V8 to check if it complied or displayed unexpected behavior. Now that it is finalized Google is releasing it under the very liberal BSD open-source license.
Sputnik is built in python and to run it you need to install the environment so it might not be as user friendly as other JavaScript performance tests. However the suite is intended more for developers and focuses on compliance rather than pure performance measuring. With its goal of testing every function and object in the JavaScript language it could prove a valuable resource for browser developers aiming for standards compliance as well web developers trying to find out how various browsers differ in their implementations.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/
“The goal was to create a test suite based directly on the language spec that checked the behavior of every object, function and individual algorithm in the language. The task was given to a team in Russia – hence the name "Sputnik" – which went about systematically producing tests,” Christian Plesner Hansen, Google software engineer, writes. “Now that the test suite is complete we're happy to be able to release it as an open source project, under the BSD license. We hope Sputnik can be as useful to other implementers of JavaScript as it has been to us, particularly at a time where implementations change rapidly.”
The project was started soon after V8, Chrome's lightning-fast JavaScript engine, took shape and the development paralleled it. As the number of tests in the suite grew the team would test V8 to check if it complied or displayed unexpected behavior. Now that it is finalized Google is releasing it under the very liberal BSD open-source license.
Sputnik is built in python and to run it you need to install the environment so it might not be as user friendly as other JavaScript performance tests. However the suite is intended more for developers and focuses on compliance rather than pure performance measuring. With its goal of testing every function and object in the JavaScript language it could prove a valuable resource for browser developers aiming for standards compliance as well web developers trying to find out how various browsers differ in their implementations.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/
Labels: Google News, Google Sputnik
Flickr2Twitter : A New Lease of Life
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Flickr has released the long awaited feature for posting photos to Twitter. The built-in feature lets members tweet their photos. And also explains how to post photos from your phone, and how to tweet from Flickr. Users can also upload directly to Flickr and Twitter simultaneously, or tweet a photo already on Flickr, using a special short Flickr Url.
It is different from other photo tweeting services like TwitPic which lets you sign-in using your Twitter account. To use Flickr2Twitter, you first need to sign-in to Flickr, and then authorize the service to post to your Twitter account, which can be done from your settings page. Flickr2Twitter creates a shortened URL for your photos and post these as Tweet to your Twitter account.
To use this feature, you just need to authorize Flickr to access their Twitter account once. After you’ve allowed Flickr to use your Twitter credential, a new option in Twitter’s “Blog This” option will now include your Twitter account.Flickr would also give you the chance to compose the 140 character Tweet then append the URL of your photo.
Such an interesting combination, Flickr2Twitter, will surely benefit both Twitter and Flickr, but more so for Flickr, as Twitter’s popularity will bounce back to Yahoo’s photo uploading service. And moreover, this in a way adds a new lease of life to Flickr.
Labels: Flickr News, Twitter news
Palm Pre Vs. iPhone : Opt for a Best Smartphone
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
iPhone faces heat from a new challenger in the market in shape of a slick new software with a cool design. Palm Pre is all set to to take over the market place and will surely outdo the hype created by the iPhone. It not only looks good, but also features applications that make it desirable to any device enthusiast. Its technical features goes well with its superior looks.
The Pre resembles the iPhone in terms of most of its features. And it even carries few innovative capabilities not seen on the iPhone, such as an actual QWERTY keypad and the ability to have multiple applications open at once. But for financially savvy shoppers, the Pre on Sprint's 3G network offers a value proposition that may just be enough to tip the scale when deciding between smartphones.
In terms of the upfront cost of the devices, the iPhone and the Pre are the same. But the Pre's initial monthly service starts at $70, whereas,s iPhone'ss AT&T unlimited plan at $100 a month. It's really the service contract from Sprint that sets the Pre apart from the iPhone from a cost perspective.
Both the Pre and the iPhone are good products. They both physically look good. They appeal to people's senses. They're easy to use. And both are very comparable, but the Pre on Sprint's network offers better value for many consumers. In short words Palm pre is the next alternative for iPhone, lets take a look on the some features of both smartphone’s.
1. Screen: Both phones have smultitouch Screens. The Pre’s glowy little “gesture area” has dropped the touchable real estate all the way down to the bottom of the phone.
2. Multitasking: In the case of Multitasking, Palm appears to be the clear winner, whereas, iPhone lags miles behind.
3. Developers : Again Palm pre is leading with WEBOS because it supports JavaScript, HTML and CSS. While Apple provides OS X-based SDK.
4. Web Integration: Palm Pre, again with WEBOS, supports to share your contacts of Facebook, Gmail, IM and and scanned for duplicates also. Truly Web Interface.
5. Applications : Here Apple gains the advantage of Third party applications Via App store or Cydia there are tons of free & paid applications available for iPhone while it may take time for Palm Pre to have this type of support.
6. Camera: The Palm Pre gains another advantage with the LED Flash for its 3MP camera, which iPhone lacks. Flash cellphone photos are ugly, but for a lot of people, they’re good enough.
7. Keyboard : Palm Pre has Physical QWERTY Keyboard while iPhone has pretty Virtual Touch keyboard. For the existing iPhone users, it’s a bit hard now to use QWERTY Keyboard so iPhone gains another advantage.
8. Battery: Apple’s comes with their non-removable battery while Palm pre comes out for a spare swap too.
9. Copy & Paste: The Pre supports this feature, whereas, iPhone still doesn’t and still this is not expected in near future.
Therefore with its agile and smart software, the Palm Pre has become a favorite of many already. The Palm Pre is the most interesting phone and has become a big challenge to the market leaders like the iPhone and the Android. So, to conclude it can be stated that Palm Pre is surely something to look forward to. And Apple must have to work on its Third version of iPhone to compete with Palm Pre other wise palm pre has the potential to grab a good amount of Smart Phone market.
The Pre resembles the iPhone in terms of most of its features. And it even carries few innovative capabilities not seen on the iPhone, such as an actual QWERTY keypad and the ability to have multiple applications open at once. But for financially savvy shoppers, the Pre on Sprint's 3G network offers a value proposition that may just be enough to tip the scale when deciding between smartphones.
In terms of the upfront cost of the devices, the iPhone and the Pre are the same. But the Pre's initial monthly service starts at $70, whereas,s iPhone'ss AT&T unlimited plan at $100 a month. It's really the service contract from Sprint that sets the Pre apart from the iPhone from a cost perspective.
Both the Pre and the iPhone are good products. They both physically look good. They appeal to people's senses. They're easy to use. And both are very comparable, but the Pre on Sprint's network offers better value for many consumers. In short words Palm pre is the next alternative for iPhone, lets take a look on the some features of both smartphone’s.
1. Screen: Both phones have smultitouch Screens. The Pre’s glowy little “gesture area” has dropped the touchable real estate all the way down to the bottom of the phone.
2. Multitasking: In the case of Multitasking, Palm appears to be the clear winner, whereas, iPhone lags miles behind.
3. Developers : Again Palm pre is leading with WEBOS because it supports JavaScript, HTML and CSS. While Apple provides OS X-based SDK.
4. Web Integration: Palm Pre, again with WEBOS, supports to share your contacts of Facebook, Gmail, IM and and scanned for duplicates also. Truly Web Interface.
5. Applications : Here Apple gains the advantage of Third party applications Via App store or Cydia there are tons of free & paid applications available for iPhone while it may take time for Palm Pre to have this type of support.
6. Camera: The Palm Pre gains another advantage with the LED Flash for its 3MP camera, which iPhone lacks. Flash cellphone photos are ugly, but for a lot of people, they’re good enough.
7. Keyboard : Palm Pre has Physical QWERTY Keyboard while iPhone has pretty Virtual Touch keyboard. For the existing iPhone users, it’s a bit hard now to use QWERTY Keyboard so iPhone gains another advantage.
8. Battery: Apple’s comes with their non-removable battery while Palm pre comes out for a spare swap too.
9. Copy & Paste: The Pre supports this feature, whereas, iPhone still doesn’t and still this is not expected in near future.
Therefore with its agile and smart software, the Palm Pre has become a favorite of many already. The Palm Pre is the most interesting phone and has become a big challenge to the market leaders like the iPhone and the Android. So, to conclude it can be stated that Palm Pre is surely something to look forward to. And Apple must have to work on its Third version of iPhone to compete with Palm Pre other wise palm pre has the potential to grab a good amount of Smart Phone market.
Labels: iPhone, iPhone 3 G, Palm News, Palm Pre
iPhone 3GS : The Fastest IPhone Announced
Monday, June 29, 2009
Apple launched the new iPhone 3GS on 8 June 2009 as a follow up to its popular iPhone 3G. With this Apple remains at the leading edge of smartphone innovation with the iPhone 3GS.
Apple's iPhone has transformed how the world thinks of cellphones. Phone companies and hardware-makers follows the iPhone's touchscreen interface, easy access to the Internet, and bustling App Store.
The S is for "speed"
The iPhone 3G S is a major step forward in terms of the iPhone's technological underpinnings. Its processor runs at 600 MHz, compared to previous models' 412MHz. It's got 256MB of RAM, compared to 128MB in previous models. The lack of external changes belie what's going on underneath the iPhone 3G S's glass and plastic exterior. The iPhone's last upgrade added a faster cellular radio and a GPS chip, but otherwise, the iPhone 3G's internals were largely unchanged from the original iPhone.
From inside, the iPhone 3GS has been fully redesigned, with new core components (CPU, memory, integrated compass, video recorder) in different locations, no less. And together with the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade (which makes many compelling features available to existing iPhone customers), the iPhone 3GS stands tall. After pounding on it, you will find that at the full-subsidy prices, the 3GS is a surprisingly worthy upgrade for heavy users of the phone's Web and gaming capabilities, and for general-use apps--even if you're only jumping from the iPhone 3G. Not only do apps open faster, they respond faster, too.
Apple claims the battery's talk time over 3G should be about the same as with iPhone 3G (5 hours), and more than twice that (12 hours) over EDGE. For data, the company rates the battery at up to 9 hours time over Wi-Fi, and 5 hours over 3G.
One pleasant battery-related addition is a new Battery Status indicator, which you enable In General/Usage. It often left one wondering aloud why earlier iterations of iPhone couldn't do this seemingly basic task?
The iPhone 3G S boots faster than any other iPhone OS-based device, and launched every app in record time. Its Safari browser had the dramatically fastest JavaScript engine as measured by the SunSpider benchmark, and loaded Web pages dramatically faster as well. Every aspect of using the phone felt noticeably faster on the iPhone 3G S than on the iPhone 3G. Even actions that only took moments before now happen instantaneously.
The speed doesn't stop with app launches and fast-loading Web pages, either. The iPhone 3G S supports the new OpenGL ES 2.0 standard, meaning that a slew of iPhone game apps will be able to capitalize on advanced graphics features to create higher-quality graphics than have been seen on the iPhone up to now. But more important, the iPhone 3G S is just better when it comes to graphics.
The 3GS so far has generated very strong sales figures, as Apple says that it has sold more than one million 3GS models since its release on Friday. iphone is a significant improvement over the original iPhone 3G in terms of processing power, storage, memory and battery life.
Apple's iPhone has transformed how the world thinks of cellphones. Phone companies and hardware-makers follows the iPhone's touchscreen interface, easy access to the Internet, and bustling App Store. The S is for "speed"
The iPhone 3G S is a major step forward in terms of the iPhone's technological underpinnings. Its processor runs at 600 MHz, compared to previous models' 412MHz. It's got 256MB of RAM, compared to 128MB in previous models. The lack of external changes belie what's going on underneath the iPhone 3G S's glass and plastic exterior. The iPhone's last upgrade added a faster cellular radio and a GPS chip, but otherwise, the iPhone 3G's internals were largely unchanged from the original iPhone.
From inside, the iPhone 3GS has been fully redesigned, with new core components (CPU, memory, integrated compass, video recorder) in different locations, no less. And together with the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade (which makes many compelling features available to existing iPhone customers), the iPhone 3GS stands tall. After pounding on it, you will find that at the full-subsidy prices, the 3GS is a surprisingly worthy upgrade for heavy users of the phone's Web and gaming capabilities, and for general-use apps--even if you're only jumping from the iPhone 3G. Not only do apps open faster, they respond faster, too.
Apple claims the battery's talk time over 3G should be about the same as with iPhone 3G (5 hours), and more than twice that (12 hours) over EDGE. For data, the company rates the battery at up to 9 hours time over Wi-Fi, and 5 hours over 3G.
One pleasant battery-related addition is a new Battery Status indicator, which you enable In General/Usage. It often left one wondering aloud why earlier iterations of iPhone couldn't do this seemingly basic task?
The iPhone 3G S boots faster than any other iPhone OS-based device, and launched every app in record time. Its Safari browser had the dramatically fastest JavaScript engine as measured by the SunSpider benchmark, and loaded Web pages dramatically faster as well. Every aspect of using the phone felt noticeably faster on the iPhone 3G S than on the iPhone 3G. Even actions that only took moments before now happen instantaneously.
The speed doesn't stop with app launches and fast-loading Web pages, either. The iPhone 3G S supports the new OpenGL ES 2.0 standard, meaning that a slew of iPhone game apps will be able to capitalize on advanced graphics features to create higher-quality graphics than have been seen on the iPhone up to now. But more important, the iPhone 3G S is just better when it comes to graphics.
The 3GS so far has generated very strong sales figures, as Apple says that it has sold more than one million 3GS models since its release on Friday. iphone is a significant improvement over the original iPhone 3G in terms of processing power, storage, memory and battery life.
Labels: iPhone, iPhone 3 G, iPhone 3 GS
