Apache proposes open source Java

The Apache Foundation has proposed creating an open source version of Java on the desktop, reports News.Com.

The report says Sun Microsystems has initially welcomed Project Harmony, which aims to write from scratch the software needed to run Java programs on desktop PCs.

Those proposing the project plan to create a Java virtual machine, related "libraries" and testing software, making them all available under the Apache open source licence.

If accepted, the project will create something that open source developers and others have demanded for years but Sun has resisted.

Sun is the primary author of Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE), and provides testing tools and a reference implementation to ensure compatibility among different Java software licensees. The company has not made its own J2SE software available with an open source licence because of legal considerations and customers` concerns with Java compatibility.

Dual-mode phones combining WiFi and cellular technologies could make a huge splash by the end of the decade, according to a new study from ABI Research.

ExtremeTech says the study predicts annual global sales of "dual-mode" mobile phones, which can connect to either a conventional cellular service or a WiFi network, are likely to exceed 100 million in 2009.

ABI Research says some of the giants of global telecommunications such as British Telecom and Korea Telecom plan to offer dual-mode services by the end of this year.

When these services mature, users will be able to start a phone call at home, where the phone connects to a residential WiFi network and then to a broadband voice over IP (VOIP) phone service, and then continue the call in the car, where the phone switches to a cellular provider`s network, and finally complete the call at work, where the phone once more switches VOIP through a WiFi LAN.

For the fourth time in three months, major security flaws in the Firefox Web browser have pushed volunteers at the Mozilla Foundation into damage-control mode, reports ExtremeTech.

The open source group has rushed out a partial fix for a pair of "extremely critical" Firefox vulnerabilities after zero-day exploit code leaked onto the Internet, promising a comprehensive patch will be available soon.

Mozilla`s public acknowledgement of the vulnerabilities includes a warning that an attacker could combine the flaws to execute malicious code without user interaction.

Firefox users are urged to disable JavaScript immediately and Mozilla recommends that the browser`s software installation feature be disabled.

BlackBerry has notched up its three millionth subscriber by adding a million users in the past six months alone, reports BBC News.

BlackBerry`s maker, Canada`s Research in Motion (RIM), is reportedly aiming towards five million to 10 million by April 2006, even though the lucrative mobile e-mail market is becoming more competitive.

The firm`s success means that more competitors are entering the market, such as the UK-based mobile operator Vodafone, which recently said it would introduce alternative e-mail systems for its customers, though it offers BlackBerries already.

Further rival gadgets such as the Nokia`s Communicator, T-Mobile`s MDA III phone-cum-personal-organiser, and dedicated devices from US-based Danger like the Hiptop2 are also due to be unveiled.

University of Missouri-Columbia sociology professor Ed Brent says student essays tend to have the same sort of flaws, so he`s designed a software program to eliminate these at the draft stage, reports CNN.com.

Brent`s SAGrader software counts the number of points he wanted his students to include and analyses how well concepts are explained.

Although Brent and his two teaching assistants still handle final papers and grades, students are encouraged to use SAGrader for drafts of their essays to help improve the final version.