Oracle preps NetBeans for a mobile Web future

Although originally built to develop enterprise Java apps, the NetBeans IDE (integrated development environment) is increasingly being rigged to help developers use the lighter weight HTML5 and JavaScript Web languages as well.

With the next edition of NetBeans, version 7.4, Oracle has outfitted the IDE with new tools to help build iOS and Android Web applications that use HTML5 and JavaScript, in addition to updating its core feature set for Java Enterprise Edition development as well.

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NetBeans IDE is Oracle's no-cost open source IDE for primarily designed for Java, though it includes robust support for the PHP and C/C++ languages as well. It is available for the Windows, Apple Macintosh, Oracle Solaris and Linux platforms.

Oracle started building HTML5 support into NetBeans 7.3, and 7.4 continues this work. This version allows developers to build HTML5 functionality directly in their Java and PHP applications, rather than working on the HTML5 code as a separate part of the project.

NetBeans 7.4 also provides emulators that can show developers what their HTML5 applications would look like and how they would operate in iOS and Android-based browsers.

JavaScript support has been improved quite a bit as well. The editor now recognizes the JavaScript AngularJS, Knockout and ExtJS frameworks. JavaScript code completion has been improved, as has the IDE's understanding of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

Web developers can now also use Sassy CSS and LESS preprocessor files in NetBeans, which saves time in building complex CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for applications.

For the Java developers, NetBeans now recognizes the new Profiles and Lamba functionality that is being built into the upcoming release of Java 8.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com

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Oracle preps NetBeans for a mobile Web future

September 21, 2013 10:01 AM ETIDG News Service - Although originally built to develop enterprise Java apps, the NetBeans IDE (integrated development environment) is increasingly being rigged to help developers use the lighter weight HTML5 and JavaScript Web languages as well.

With the next edition of NetBeans, version 7.4, Oracle has outfitted the IDE with new tools to help build iOS and Android Web applications that use HTML5 and JavaScript, in addition to updating its core feature set for Java Enterprise Edition development as well.

NetBeans IDE is Oracle's no-cost open source IDE for primarily designed for Java, though it includes robust support for the PHP and C/C++ languages as well. It is available for the Windows, Apple Macintosh, Oracle Solaris and Linux platforms.

A

Oracle started building HTML5 support into NetBeans 7.3, and 7.4 continues this work. This version allows developers to build HTML5 functionality directly in their Java and PHP applications, rather than working on the HTML5 code as a separate part of the project.

NetBeans 7.4 also provides emulators that can show developers what their HTML5 applications would look like and how they would operate in iOS and Android-based browsers.

JavaScript support has been improved quite a bit as well. The editor now recognizes the JavaScript AngularJS, Knockout and ExtJS frameworks. JavaScript code completion has been improved, as has the IDE's understanding of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).A

Web developers can now also use Sassy CSS and LESS preprocessor files in NetBeans, which saves time in building complex CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for applications.

A A

For the Java developers, NetBeans now recognizes the new Profiles and Lamba functionality that is being built into the upcoming release of Java 8.A

The new Netbeans 7.4 comes with enhanced support for developing mobile applications

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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NASA's Voyager to prepare us for future deep space missions

September 13, 2013 03:58 PM ETComputerworld - As NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft travels outside the solar system, scientists hope to learn about the forces pushing on the "bubble" around the sun and how interstellar radiation could affect future space exploration.

"There's never been anything like this," said Ed Stone, chief scientist for the Voyager mission. "Nothing has ever been outside the solar bubble before. Nothing."

NASA scientists confirmed that the Voyager 1 space probe has gone into the interstellar region beyond our solar system. (Image: NASA)

Stone is hardly a newcomer to the Voyager mission. He was the chief scientist on the project during Voyager's planning stages in the early 1970s.

Not only did Voyager 1 make history by becoming the first human-made spacecraft to journey beyond the solar system, but it did so on 36- to 40-year-old technology, Stone told Computerworld on Friday.

"This was one of our long-range hopes," Stone said. "We had no way to know at the time that this was possible because we didn't know how far away the edge of the bubble was. When Voyager was launched, the space age was only 20 years old. Most things didn't even last a few years back then. We had no idea if Voyager could last for 36 years and go as far as it has."

To put it in perspective, a smartphone today has 240,000 more memory than Voyager 1. That makes the Voyager 1 probe a testament to the power of engineering.

"This whole mission has been a major part of my life," Stone said. "I've been so fortunate to be part of this historic journey. This is the first spacecraft to sail in the cosmic sea between the stars."

The Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 with its twin spacecraft, Voyager 2 . On Thursday, NASA announced what had already been suspected -- that the spacecraft had left the solar system and had entered interstellar space in August 2012. The probe has journeyed between 14 billion and 15 billion miles.

"The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them," Stone said during a press conference Thursday. "But we can now answer the question we've all been asking -- 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."

Stone explained that it took scientists months to figure out whether Voyager 1 had left the solar system because the instrument that Voyager used to measures plasma, an ionic gas, stopped working in 1980. Plasma is different depending on whether it is inside or outside the heliosphere, which is like a bubble that surrounds the sun. Without that measurement tool, scientists had to analyze plasma waves, which was a more time-consuming process.

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Intel CEO gives peek into laptop future with Broadwell chip

Intel provided a glimpse into the PC future by showing off a laptop based on the Broadwell architecture that is faster and more battery-friendly than current ones based on Haswell processors.

During a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich showed the thin-and-light laptop running a gaming application, and it looked much like the ultrabooks currently available from top PC makers.

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Krzanich hinted that the Broadwell PCs could arrive in the second half of next year, but didn't provide an exact date.

Core chips based on Broadwell will be 30 percent more power efficient and faster than their Haswell counterparts, Krzanich said. Analysts have estimated CPU performance improvements in Haswell at 10 percent to 20 percent compared to previous Ivy Bridge chips.

Lenovo recently announced ThinkPads with Haswell chips that could offer 17 hours of run time through internal and swappable batteries. Broadwell laptops could provide even longer battery life.

Krzanich admitted that the PC market is changing with the popularity of tablets, and one of Intel's goals with its upcoming PC chips is to extend battery life as much as possible.

The chips will be made using the 14-nanometer process, which will also bring some performance and power improvements. Current Haswell chips are made using the 22-nanometer process.

"Fourteen nanometers is here, it is working, and we will be shipping by the end of this year," Krzanich said. The first 14-nm Broadwell chips will likely go into low-power Xeon server chips and then to PCs.

Intel is trying to grow its participation in the tablet market and will announce new Atom tablet chips code-named Bay Trail on Wednesday. The Bay Trail chips will go into tablets priced under $99 by the end of this year, Krzanich said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

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Salesforce.com's Benioff lays out future strategies

IDG News Service - Salesforce.com's second-quarter earnings conference call featured the usual dose of chest-thumping by CEO Marc Benioff as the company posted US$957 million in revenue and raised its full fiscal year forecast to at least $4 billion.

But the call also revealed some telling details about the company's strategic direction and growth. Here's a look at the highlights.

Going vertical, Oracle style: Salesforce.com recently brought aboard former Oracle sales executive Keith Block, who left that company last year after instant messages in which he was critical of Oracle co-president Mark Hurd surfaced as part of a lawsuit with Hewlett-Packard.

While Block's departure was inevitable, he was considered a key to Oracle's growth and success. And he's currently filling an important hole in Salesforce.com's strategy, Benioff said on Thursday's call.

"One thing Salesforce.com has never fully optimized for is enterprise distribution and the ability to reach the largest customers in the world with highly customized solutions for their industries and their verticals," he said. "You saw how Keith executed that strategy extremely well at Oracle over the last 26 years, and we look forward to seeing him execute a very similar strategy enhanced for Salesforce."

As a bonus, Block has poached Oracle sales executive Tony Fernicola, who Benioff claimed is "perhaps the most successful sales executive from Oracle of all time."

Siding with SAP: Salesforce.com has long used Oracle's technology under the hood of its platform, despite the fact that Benioff and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison have butted heads publicly for years.

While it's not clear how much of their banter has been competitive theater versus rooted in true animosity, it was still shocking to see the companies' recent announcement of Salesforce.com's long-term commitment to Oracle products, as well as the subsequent warm-and-fuzzy conference call between Benioff and Ellison.

As part of the deal, Oracle will also integrate Salesforce.com's CRM (customer relationship management) with its own cloud-based HCM (human capital management) and financials software.

Now Benioff wants to do it again, in a sense.

"It's my hope and I believe that we will be able to develop and create a similar alliance with SAP," Benioff said on Thursday. "I believe it's in the interest of their customers and our customers that Salesforce works well with Oracle, works well with SAP, and even works well with Microsoft, because our customers have these existing investments that we want to leverage."

In 2011, Salesforce.com announced a set of consulting and integration services SAP customers could use to "unlock" data from their back-end systems and build social connections between employees and customers.

To this end, Salesforce.com signed one of the "largest platform transactions in our history" in the quarter with food distributor Sysco, which was already implementing Salesforce.com CRM, Benioff said.

"We're able to take their huge investment in SAP back-office and put on a customer-facing capability that they badly needed but SAP was not able to deliver for them," he said. "I believe there's a lot of SAP customers that are in a similar position."

Benioff also alluded to Salesforce.com putting its software on top of implementations of HANA, SAP's in-memory database.

Targeting ExactTarget: Earlier this year, Salesforce.com acquired marketing software vendor ExactTarget, dropping $2.5 billion on the deal in its largest-ever purchase. Marketing will become a $1 billion annual revenue stream for Salesforce.com, Benioff has said.

Work is underway to make that prediction a reality, according to Benioff.

For one thing, ExactTarget has had a "rather boutique" sales organization, he said. For Salesforce.com to get the most out of ExactTarget, sales representatives need to act as if "there is no difference between selling the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, the Sales Cloud, the Service Cloud, or the Platform," Benioff said.

Combining the marketing products sales teams is "one of the most important things that I work on every day," Benioff added.

Over time, customers can expect a "comprehensive application" encompassing ExactTarget as well as Salesforce.com's Radian6 social analytics product and its Buddy Media and Social.com advertising platforms, Benioff said.

Deluge at Dreamforce: Salesforce.com's Dreamforce event in San Francisco this November will be its biggest yet. More than 120,000 are registered to attend it so far, according to Benioff. Last year, the total was around 90,000.

While Salesforce.com has offered keynote and expo passes at no charge, which certainly helps inflate those numbers, the year-over-year growth is nonetheless significant.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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FDA Rejection Of Augment Graft Improves Future For Smaller Companies

The failure of Wright Medical Group’s (WMGI) Augment bone graft to get past the FDA was not wholly unexpected in light of its first-time defeat and an almost perfunctory attempt to plug the holes in the data for the resubmission. Nevertheless Wright’s investors appeared to be taken by surprise, sending the company’s shares down 8% on Friday.

Augment’s denial leaves Medtronic (MDT) and Integra LifeSciences (IART) dominating the market for these contentious products, EvaluateMedTech data show. But with Medtronic’s flagship orthobiologic graft Infuse beset by negative trial findings, its bone filler sales are set to stagnate. Indeed, consensus forecasts show that the companies with the fastest-growing orthobiologic sales are relative minnows in the sector (see table).

Deals

Wright itself is stuck in neutral following the FDA’s non-approvable letter for Augment’s use in hindfoot and ankle fusion. The company had bet big on Augment, selling its hip and knee business to MicroPort Scientific less than two months ago as part of a biologics-focused strategy which looked risky at the time (MicroPort’s Wright turn could lead to parallel ortho market, June 21, 2013).

It is Wright’s other recent deal that the rejection affects most profoundly. Wright bought fellow Tennessee firm BioMimetic in November for $190m upfront, principally to obtain Augment. The deal was structured so that each BioMimetic share entitled its holder to up to $6.50 on Augment being approved in the US and hitting sales milestones (BioMimetic buy could augment Wright’s orthopaedic offering, November 20, 2012).

While the FDA has left the door open for Wright to conduct further trials and reapply, BioMimetic shareholders will be waiting a good while before they see that $6.50.

Up for grabs

With its principal biologic bone filler going nowhere in the U.S. – though it is still undergoing European review – the forecast worldwide sales for Wright’s orthobiologics segment will surely be revised downwards.

Wright’s predicted 2018 sales of $78m are therefore up for grabs. And the grabbiest company appears to be San Diego group NuVasive (NUVA), whose orthobiologic bone filler sales are predicted to grow at a rate of 73%, EvaluateMedTech’s data shows. Its AttraX biologic is awaiting FDA 510(k) clearance; analysts at Barclays Capital expect approval in the first quarter of next year.

The biggest player by far in orthobiologics is Medtronic. Consensus shows that its sales are barely growing, though individual analysts’ predictions for its main biologic, spinal fusion product Infuse, vary quite widely following some negative trial results (Infuse trials backfire on Medtronic with negative findings, June 18, 2013).

Biologics for bone fusion procedures are tricky to get approved, have never wholly proven their safety and are not setting the market alight in terms of sales. Now Augment is delayed or perhaps even killed off entirely, companies might be wise to give this area a miss, even though a competitor has taken a step back.

Worldwide sales forecasts ($m) for orthobiologic bone filler segments

All data sourced to EvaluateMedTech

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