Lack of software talents solved

A foundation which advocates IT development will soon offer courses to solve the shortage of software developers in Cebu, says Global Nation.

Arnold Banogon, senior project manager of Cebu Educational Development Foundation for IT, said the local IT industry needs 1 500 developers as a yearly minimum requirement.

The bridge courses will focus on six subject areas identified by local industry players. These are: Oracle, Java, Microsoft.Net, Ipv6, PHP Web Programming and Systems Programming in C/C ++.

Google has updated a couple of its developer-oriented tools; the Google Web Toolkit for creating Web applications, and Google Gears technology for enabling offline access to services, reports eWeek.

Google announced the release of GWT 1.4, which enables Java developers to build Web applications without getting into the gobbledygook of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) development.

Google Web Toolkit is an open source project that helps Java developers harness the richness of AJAX in a cross-platform, Web-friendly environment, said Bruce Johnson and Dan Peterson, two developers on the GWT team at Google, in a blog post.

Two Austin start-ups, 30 Second Software and Phurnace Software, have received venture capital infusions, says the Statesman.

The investors were not named. Sikora, the former CEO of Pervasive Software declined to comment. 30 Second Software is developing mobile commerce technology and services.

Phurnace, which creates software that accelerates the deployment of Java applications, will use the money for development, sales and marketing, CEO Larry Warnock said.