News (24)

Opera 10 nears completion

Opera Software has completed its first release candidate of Opera 10, which the company says has better performance, a Turbo mode for slow internet connections, support for a variety of web standards such as web fonts, and improvements to the Opera Mail feature. Read more »

Android to hit Australia on 29 Jan

The first mobile phone running Google's Android operating system will hit Australia on 29 January, with a company called Kogan Technologies announcing the imminent release of an Android-based handset it calls the "Agora". Read more »

SaaS unsuitable as core platform for businesses

Despite the cost savings software-as-a-service (SaaS) promises to provide, some businesses believe the on-demand delivery model is not suitable as a platform for core enterprise-class applications. Read more »

Microsoft OOXML becomes an ISO standard

Microsoft's bid to make the Open XML (OOXML) file formats international standards has succeeded, barring any last-minute changes. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is scheduled to issue the official communique today. Read more »

Gender gap not crossed in IT pay

The pay gap between male and female tech professionals has narrowed but striking differences remain, according to the latest UK government research. Read more »

OpenOffice worm hits Mac, Linux and Windows

Malware targeting OpenOffice documents is spreading through multiple operating systems including Mac OS, Windows and Linux, according to Symantec. Read more »

Developer defies MS demands to kill .NET debug tool

UK developer Jamie Cansdale seems to have ignored calls from Microsoft that he remove a free tool called TestDriven.NET from his Web site, despite legal demands that the tool be removed by June 1 -- because it breaches licensing conditions. Read more »

Office standards battle grinds on

Standards body Ecma International has created a committee to standardise Microsoft Office document formats, handing the software giant a victory in an intensifying struggle over desktop software. Read more »

'DVD Jon' targets Media Player file encryption

A Norwegian programmer has developed a tool for removing some encoding surrounding the Windows Media Player, in a move to give open-source media players a chance to access the streams. Read more »

Apple sued over iTunes interface

A US company has sued Apple Computer, alleging that the interface for iTunes infringes on its patent. Read more »

Features (13)

GoogleSharing: A way to prevent tracking by Google

A security expert has developed an innovative Firefox add-on that prevents Google from tracking your whereabouts on the internet. Read more »

Set named restore points for easier flashback in Oracle 10gR2

The MERGE statement, introduced in Oracle 9i Release 2, is often called an "upsert" because it can both update and insert rows in the same pass. Rows that don't already exist in the data warehouse are inserted, and rows that do exist are updated. Read more »

Perform date/time arithmetic with Java's Calendar class?

Java's Calendar class offers a set of methods for converting and manipulating temporal information. In addition to retrieving the current date and time, the Calendar class also provides an API for date arithmetic. Read more »

The LAMP development toolkit

Need to dust up your Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, Python, and MySQL (LAMP) software stack skills? Our LAMP development toolkit is just what you need. Read more »

The open-source patent conundrum

The latest tactic in the software-patenting battle is the granting of patent rights to open-source developers. But are the grants really the equivalent of wolves in sheep's clothing? Read more »

Using the ASP.NET Calendar control

Learn to use ASP.NET's Calendar control to easily build applications to display and manipulate dates, months, and years. We'll show you how. Read more »

Developer Spotlight: Richard Stallman

Builder AU recently caught up with RMS to talk about his achievements, the Free Software movement and his concerns with the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement. Read more »

Builder AU's May Top 10

Have you missed any of the hottest development stories published in the past month? Builder AU can help you keep in touch with the Top Ten stories of May. Read more »

An introduction to Silva

Australian technical writer Jan Smith highlights the features and functionality within Silva, an open-source content management system. Read more »

SQL Server CE vs. Access CE

Looking for a robust database for your handheld or mobile device? Edmond Woychowsky takes a closer look at SQL Server CE and Access CE head-to-head. Read more »

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  • Staff Microsoft shows off IE9 preview

    This week, highlights from Microsoft's MIX10 conference and more in the Roundup. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Chris Duckett IE9's H.264 vote killed Ogg

    In a split decision by the judges, the winner of the W3C/WHATWG video codec consensus is H.264, taking home the future of video playback on the internet while loser Ogg goes home with nothing but thoughts of what might have been. Read more »

    -- posted by Chris Duckett

  • Staff Google launches Apps Marketplace

    Google launches and app store, while Mozilla plans to re-write its open-source license. More of this week's news in the Roundup. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

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