Open Source Community Has 50 New Apps To Brag About
September 23, 2013
We love open source, not just because they offer free software and save us money, but also because the community downright rocks. Here is another reason open source rules from Datamation: “50 Noteworthy New Open Source Apps.” Datamation likes to compile a list of open source apps every once in a while to help its readers be knowledgeable about the latest projects because new ones pop up everyday. When they were making the list they found these interesting trends:
“First was the sheer volume of projects surrounding JavaScript and Web development. Many of these relate to the creation of mobile apps and/or HTML5 technology. The second trend is closely related to the first—cross-platform or platform-independent apps. Web-based apps that will work on any operating system are becoming much more common than those designed for a particular OS. Last is the trend toward open source principles spreading beyond software. Every project on the list includes open source code, but in some cases that code is being used to write an open source book or to do open source science where anyone is welcome to participate.”
Browse through the list and you will find everything from database tools to Web development, which takes up more than half the list. Beyond basic development tools, there are apps for fonts, games, videos, task management, and forums. Some of the apps require a little code savvy, while others can be downloaded with zero to none. We love useful lists here and this is one of the best we have found.
Whitney Grace, September 23, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Marketing Angle from TIBCO
August 30, 2013
TIBCO has something new to offer its clients, according to the main Web site in the press release: “TIBCO Enterprise Message Service 8.9 Helps Businesses Scale And Streamline IT Systems.” So what exactly does that mean? The company has updated its enterprise messaging platform to version 8.0. The new message platform allows administrators to monitor and configure their EMS servers from a centralized location. Plus TIBCO added the new Java Message Service (JMS) 2.0 specification, which is the latest messaging standard.
TIBCO want to make sure that it does not fall behind in the fast-paced IT market:
” ‘To remain competitive in today’s environment of ever-increasing data volumes, organizations must develop a strategy to scale and streamline IT systems to support business growth while reining in costs. EMS version 8.0 goes a long way to help organizations do just that,’ said Denny Page, chief engineer, TIBCO. ‘The new Central Administration capabilities greatly simplify the management of large complex deployments, while support for JMS 2.0 with its simplified APIs, help reduce application development costs.’ “
Despite the 8.0 upgrade, the JMS 2.0 is the big attention grabber, because it is the first time in over a decade that TIBCO updated its JMS specifications. The main reason is TIBCO wants its product to handle larger message loads and perform more applications on a server. The new marketing angle is TIBCO is going faster to meet its clients’ demands. The times are moving faster and faster.
Whitney Grace, August 30, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Replicant Hopes to Free Mobile from the Tyranny of Proprietary Software
August 27, 2013
Citing freedom and security concerns, the makers of Replicant are calling for donations, we learn from “Fundraising a Fully Free Fork of Android” at Boing Boing. The project hopes to give us all the choice to run our Android-based mobile devices entirely upon free software.
But wait, you ask, isn’t Android is already open source? Well, most of it, but a few “key non-free parts” keep our Android devices tethered to proprietary programs. Such parts, they say, include the layer that communicates with hardware; yes, that would be pretty important.
Also of concern to Replicant developers are the pre-loaded applications that some of us call “bloatware,” but upon which many users have come to rely. The team plans to develop free software that provides the same functionality. (I hope they also include the option to delete applications without them returning uninvited. That would be a nice change.) Furthermore, they have set up rival to the Google Play store, their app repository called F-Droid. That repository, the article notes, works with all Android-based systems.
The write-up summarizes:
“Mobile operating systems distributed by Apple, Microsoft, and Google all require you to use proprietary software. Even one such program in a phone’s application space is enough to threaten our freedom and security — it only takes one open backdoor to gain access. We are proud to support the Replicant project to help users escape the proprietary restrictions imposed by the current major smartphone vendors. There will still be problems remaining to solve, like the proprietary radio firmware and the common practice of locking down phones, but Replicant is a major part of the solution.”
Replicant is underpinned by copyrighted software that has been released under an assortment of free licenses, which their site links to here. This is an interesting initiative, and we have a couple of questions should it be successful: Will Google’s mobile search revenues come under increased pressure? What happens if Samsung or the Chinese mobile manufacturers jump on this variant of Android? We shall see.
Cynthia Murrell, August 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Rocket Software Adds National Language Support
August 2, 2013
Rocket Software is making it easier for clients to do business across language barriers, we learn from “Rocket Software’s System Builder Extensible Architecture 6.2.2 Provides National Language Support” at Database Trends and Applications. This latest iteration of the company’s platform embraces national language support technology, as well as other improvements. We learn from the write-up:
“Along with the new SB/XA Designer and integration with Rocket CorVu Business Intelligence tools, SB/XA now provides National Language Support (NLS) to UniVerse customers, enabling them to store data in many character sets. The new support addresses the increasing globalization of the world economy, requiring software developers to implement solutions that can be easily adapted to different languages, cultures, customs, and regulations in order to establish a stronger presence in the worldwide market. With multi-language translation in SB/XA, NLS support allows organizations to run their business in the language and data format of their choice.”
The addition of NLS was prompted by feedback from a customer overseas, who wished to furnish an application to its call-center employees in their native language—a step that I’m sure considerably reduces misunderstandings.
Founded in 1990, Rocket Software distributes its enterprise software and hardware worldwide through independent service vendor (ISV) partners. The company is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, and maintains offices around the world. Rocket Software focuses on helping each organization get the most from their unique IT situation.
Cynthia Murrell, August 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Cyber Threat Prediction from Recorded Future
August 1, 2013
Interesting. Caffeine Security lets us in on a development from a rising business intelligence firm in, “Recorded Future Announces Cyber Threat Intelligence Application.” The new product is named, reasonably enough, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Application. The brief write-up reports:
“The new app adds a set of real-time trend signals for attackers, TTPs, targets, and hacktivist operations. You can see what’s trending for each of the four categories, brush across entities to see cross-linkages, and drill down on interesting items to dig in and analyze.
“The application presents a real-time dashboard of cyber threats, and allows filtering based upon threat, target, operation, or any other criteria.
“One of the staff from Recorded Future was kind enough to demo the application for me today, and I am very impressed.”
For your chance to be impressed, see the company’s not-quite-two-minute YouTube video. The interface seems clear and intuitive.
Launched in 2009, Recorded Future is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Göteborg, Sweden. Both Google and In-Q-Tel have invested in this innovative company. As the name implies, Recorded Future emphasizes predictive analysis, helping clients anticipate risks and seize opportunities.
Cynthia Murrell, August 01, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DataStax Enterprise 3.1 Released
July 31, 2013
Open source enterprise software continues to gain steam and make headlines. The latest involves Datastax, the commercial side of the Apache Cassandra content management project. Read more about the DataStax Enterprise 3.1 release in the ZDNet article, “DataStax Enterprise 3.1: NoSQL; Yes, CQL.”
The article begins:
“DataStax, the major commercial entity behind the Apache Cassandra wide column store NoSQL database, is today announcing version 3.1 of its DataStax Enterprise distribution. This release brings the Cassandra Query Language (“CQL”) — the SQL-like query language for Cassandra — to DataStax Enterprise. DataStax will also supply Java and .NET drivers for the CQL interface. Other features include support for a 10-fold increase in data per node, and integration with Apache Solr 4.3, bringing 60 new search-related features. Support for virtual nodes (“vnodes”) and new tracing features have been added as well.”
The article mentions the integration with Apache Solr 4.3, which is easily the most powerful and effective open source search appliance available. LucidWorks builds its open source enterprise solutions on the power of Apache Lucene Solr, and many organizations look to LucidWorks for flexible and affordable search capability.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 31, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Cloudera Releases Search Application
July 17, 2013
Cloudera is joining the ranks of those who offer open source enterprise search solutions. They are powering the new offering, Cloudera Search, with Apache Solr and combining with the storage of Hadoop. Read more in “Introducing Cloudera Search.”
The introduction begins:
“Powered by Apache Solr™, the enterprise standard for open source search, Cloudera Search integrates with the 100% open source Big Data platform, CDH, to bring scale and reliability for a new generation of search – Big Data search.
Speed to Resolution: Get to answers quickly with user-friendly search and drill-down navigation and find relevant data across large, disparate data stores of mixed format and structure.
Accelerated Exploration: Discover the “shape of data” quickly and easily during modeling and data exploration with faceted search interfaces and free-text query APIs.”
There are many more features that are covered in the remaining write-up. Readers can find more information by registering for a free webinar or viewing an introductory video. It is not surprising that Cloudera wants to expand their market share by moving into enterprise search. LucidWorks has had much success in this area, building their products on Apache Solr as well, combining it with emerging technologies like Hadoop. So while Cloudera’s news is exciting, and shows great momentum in the market, industry-vetted solutions like LucidWorks might be the tried and true option.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
HP Pairs with Google Apps
July 2, 2013
Google plus HP? Stranger things have happened. All Things D reveals, “HP and Google Team Up to Offer Small Businesses ‘IT in a Box’.” Now a Google Apps reseller, HP will be packaging Googly management tools with computers, printers, and other hardware. Writer Arik Hesseldahl observes:
“It’s the latest move on the chessboard by HP to get a little closer to Google, and it is interesting in light of the fact that Microsoft has both been building its own hardware — the Surface — and also cozying up to HP rival Dell with a $2 billion loan to help finance its $24.4 billion leveraged buyout. The move is also taking place against the backdrop of HP’s further embrace of Android and Chrome-based hardware. It just added a second Chromebook to its line of notebooks, and also offers an Android-based tablet.
“Google is getting something pretty attractive out the deal, too: HP’s considerable relationships in the channel — the network of third-party resellers that offer customized packages of products to businesses.”
Sounds like a sweet deal for both HP and Google. Will the consumer be similarly blessed? Hesseldahl ponders other changes the arrangement could bring. He suspects the team could soon add more HP hardware to the Google Apps bundle, like servers and networking equipment, for a special small-business package. That could be helpful; we’ll just have to wait and see.
Cynthia Murrell, July 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Helm from DocAuto Works with Autonomy IDOL Worksite DMS and Worksite Communications Server
June 26, 2013
The article titled DocAuto Releases “Helm”, A Full Scale Infrastructure Monitoring Application on e-releases explains the software developers’ newest user engagement solution. Helm, the product at the center of attention, promises to by the most methodical infrastructure supervising resource for Autonomy IDOL as well as Worksite Communications Server, and Worksite DMS. The article states,
“As a result of utilizing DocAuto’s many cumulative years of experience with the Autonomy infrastructure, we have released Helm, a scalable, customizable, real-time monitoring solution specifically designed to analyze and alert based on technologies used in the IDOL and WorkSite environment.” – Dave Pilling, Vice President of Operations and Strategy at DocAuto, Inc. Helm combines the intricate functions of multiple monitoring applications with widely expanded capabilities and one central command center to control it all. “
Part of the excitement lies in the trivial impact of Helm on system resources while providing users with wide-ranging information of system performance. We are interested to see the DocAuto has gotten into the Autonomy services business. Helm has automated what were once manual IDOL and DMS administration errands, simplifying the job for the IT Team and IDOL experts (less system checks). It is not limited to the suite of applications for iManager anymore either, but able to analyze any Windows Services application.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Boxfish Launches Android App
June 11, 2013
Boxfish wants to keep the public in-tune with what is trending on TV and they have just the technology to do that. Their technology was already available for Apple iOS and according to the TechCrunch article “Video Discovery Startup Boxfish Launches Android App, Opens Up API For Third-Party Developers” they recently released an Android version of their application. They have taken it a step further and have opened up their application to developers.
“To recap: Boxfish works by scanning network satellite signals for captions and figuring out which words or topics or phrases are being talked about across a wide number of TV programs. It started with a real-time TV search engine, letting its users say where and when certain topics are being mentioned. But it’s expanded to enable users to see which topics are most popular.”
The Android technology continues to grow in the tablet and smartphone world so this addition means that Boxfish will be an option for more phones, tablets and users. Also notable is a new feature was added to the Android version. Users will now have the ability to use Google’ voice recognition technology and be able to actually talk to the app and search for content without ever typing a word. Boxfish is looking at the big picture and isn’t just settling for apps they are also reaching out to third parties. They have opened their real-time TV API up to some of their partners and allowed them to use the technology in their own apps. The data is also being offered to university media schools so that they can have a more in-depth understanding of topics that are talked about on 24-hour news networks. Boxfish definitely seems to be giving video search a new and refreshing makeover.
April Holmes, June 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
