What is Android? and Android Application?

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. TheAndroid SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.

Features

• Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components
• Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices
• Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine
• Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)
• SQLite for structured data storage
• Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)
• GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)
• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)
• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)
• Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE.

Application Fundamentals

Android applications are written in the Java programming language. The Android SDK tools compile the code—along with any data and resource files—into an Android package, an archive file with an .apk suffix. All the code in a single .apk file is considered to be one application and is the file that Android-powered devices use to install the application.

Once installed on a device, each Android application lives in its own security sandbox:

• The Android operating system is a multi-user Linux system in which each application is a different user.
• By default, the system assigns each application a unique Linux user ID (the ID is used only by the system and is unknown to the application). The system sets permissions for all the files in an application so that only the user ID assigned to that application can access them.
• Each process has its own virtual machine (VM), so an application's code runs in isolation from other applications.
• By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application's components need to be executed, then shuts down the process when it's no longer needed or when the system must recover memory for other applications.

In this way, the Android system implements the principle of least privilege. That is, each application, by default, has access only to the components that it requires to do its work and no more. This creates a very secure environment in which an application cannot access parts of the system for which it is not given permission.

However, there are ways for an application to share data with other applications and for an application to access system services:

• It's possible to arrange for two applications to share the same Linux user ID, in which case they are able to access each other's files. To conserve system resources, applications with the same user ID can also arrange to run in the same Linux process and share the same VM (the applications must also be signed with the same certificate).
• An application can request permission to access device data such as the user's contacts, SMS messages, the mountable storage (SD card), camera, Bluetooth, and more. All application permissions must be granted by the user at install time.

That covers the basics regarding how an Android application exists within the system. The rest of this document introduces you to:

• The core framework components that define your application.
• The manifest file in which you declare components and required device features for your application.
• Resources that are separate from the application code and allow your application to gracefully optimize its behavior for a variety of device configurations.

Microsoft release new operating system : Windows 8

The next major release for the Microsoft Windows operating system, Windows 8 is expected to make its debut in the first half of 2012. While many of its features and capabilities are not known at this point, Windows 8 is expected to be a completely redesigned operating system that's been developed from the ground up with touchscreen use in mind as well as near-instant-on capabilities that enable a Windows 8 PC to load and start up in a matter of seconds rather than in minutes – although it should be noted that this is a feature that's been promised in countless previous releases of Windows as well.

Windows 8 is also expected to replace the more traditional Microsoft WindowsOS look and feel with a new "Metro" design system interface that first debuted in the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. The Metro user interface primarily consists of a "Start screen" made up of "Live Tiles," which are links to applications and features that are dynamic and update in real time.  Users will also be able to switch between apps in Metro by simply swiping across the screen.

Windows 8 is expected to include the latest Internet Explorer Web browser, Internet Explorer 10, as well as integrated cloud-based online services like Microsoft’s app store and Office 365.  The new operating system will also likely add built-in support for newer technologies like USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0.

Windows Phone

A mobile operating system for smartphones and mobile devices that serves as the successor to Microsoft's initial mobile OS platform system, Windows Mobile. Unlike Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 (also referred to as WinPho7) is targeted more to the consumer market than the enterprise market, and it replaces the more traditional Microsoft Windows OS look and feel with a new "Metro" design system user interface. 

Metro's interface consists largely of a "Start screen" made up of "Live Tiles," which are links to applications and features that are dynamic and update in real time.  The Metro design is also expected to be prominently featured in Windows 8 as well. 

As with Apple's iOS, Google's Android OS and the BlackBerry OS, third-party applications can be developed for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and are made available through Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Microsoft doesn't enable smartphones running versions of the older Windows Mobile operating system to be upgraded to Windows Phone 7, and Windows Phone 7 also doesn't offer backward compatibility with Windows Mobile applications.

Windows Phone 7 features a multi-tab Internet Explorer Mobile Web browser that uses a rendering engine based on Internet Explorer 9 as well Microsoft Office Mobile, a version of Microsoft Office that’s tailored for mobile devices. A new update for Windows Phone 7 called "Mango" is expected to add a variety of critical new features, including visual voicemail, third-party multitasking, a fully HTML5-compliant Web browser (Internet Explorer 9 Mobile), integrated instant messaging via Facebook and Windows Live Messenger, face-detection software capabilities, custom ringtones, threaded e-mail and messaging conversations support and more.

What is Website Optimization?

1) Also called search engine optimization (SEO),  website optimization is a phrase that describes the procedures used to optimize – or to design from scratch – a website to rank well in search engines.  Website optimization includes processes such as adding relevant keyword and phrases on the website, editing meta tags, image tags, and optimizing other components of your website to ensure that it is accessible to a search engine and improve the overall chances that the website will be indexed by search engines.

See White hat SEO.
Also see How Web Search Engines Work in the Did You Know…? section of Webopedia.
See also Search Engine Optimization Services.

2) A phrase used to describe the procedures to optimize the speed at which your website loads in a Web browser.  This type of optimization generally involves editing your website to optimize scripts, HTML or CSS code for faster loading.  It's also reduces the number of components such as images, scripts, or video components that are needed to render the webpage.

Software

Computer instructions or data. Anything that can be stored electronically is software. The storage devices and display devices are hardware.

The terms software and hardware are used as both nouns and adjectives. For example, you can say: "The problem lies in the software," meaning that there is a problem with the program or data, not with the computer itself. You can also say: "It's a software problem."

The distinction between software and hardware is sometimes confusing because they are so integrally linked. Clearly, when you purchase a program, you are buying software. But to buy the software, you need to buy the disk(hardware) on which the software is recorded.

Software is often divided into two categories:

systems software : Includes the operating system and all theutilities that enable the computer to function.

applications software : Includes programs that do real work forusers. For example, word processors, spreadsheets, and database management systems fall under the category of applications software.

Simplee Makes Your Medical Bills Understandable

Health care is a mess in this country, especially the payments and insurance side of the equation. But as I mentioned in my last post on Brighter, a new group of startups are attacking the problem by giving consumers better information and tools to take control of their healthcare dollars. Let’s call it DIY health reform.

Another startup launching today in private beta, Simplee, is very much part of this movement. Simplee is like Mint for your healthcare bills. (The first 500 readers to sign up to Simplee’s private beta with the invitation code TECHCRUNCH will get in). The time for this idea is definitely now
—just last week Cake Health launched with a similar approach. Simplee has raised $1.5 million from Greylock Israel and a group of Israeli angels. CEO Tomer Shoval is Israeli, but the company is based in Palo Alto.

Just like with Mint and your financial accounts, you give Simplee access to your medical insurance accounts. It then brings in all of your medical, dental, and pharmacy bills and presents them in an easy-to-understand dashboard. Simplee tells your total medical costs, how much you’ve paid out-of-pocket, your deductible, and how many doctor’s visits you and your family have had.

This is all pretty basic information, but health insurance statements are so obtuse that most people have no idea how much they spend on health care. I know I don’t. Simplee does a good job of breaking it all down and showing you what you’ve spent, how much your insurance has paid, what you’ve paid, and how far along you are towards your deductible. It does this for every member of your family under the same insurance plans.

Simplee lets you drill down to individual claims to see what your insurance paid, the negotiated discount, and what you owe. It’s like a statement of benefits that actually makes sense. Simplee currently supports eight of the largest health plans in the U.S (including Aetna, United Healthcare, Cigna, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, and BlueCross BlueShield of California), and is adding more every week.

Shoval, who used to run Shopping.com in North America, says that his ultimate ambition is to “create a shopping engine for health.” But first he will go after low-hanging fruit, such as helping members pick a health plan based on their historical health expenses and doctors. The more data Simplee collects about your healthcare costs, the smarter it can become about suggesting alternatives or reminding you to take advantage of health perks you may have overlooked.

Startups like Simplee aren’t going to solve the problems of the healthcare industry overnight. But if the first step to solving a problem is to measure it, then Simplee is a promising first step.

refe:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/19/simplee/

Infinity Ventures Summit In Sapporo: Demos From 14 Japanese Startups

Earlier this week, I took part in Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS) Spring 2011 in Sapporo[this and many of the following links are in Japanese], a two-day, invitation-only event that takes place twice a year in Japan. IVS attracted over 400 people from the domestic and international web industry this time and is organized by VC firm Infinity Venture Partners(which just raised US$41 million for their IVP Fund II).

Apart from panel discussions and presentations, some hours of the program gave a total of 14 Japanese start-ups the chance to present their services onstage. Here’s a rundown of all companies that participated at the IVS launchpad this time.

HTML5: It's Last Call for Comments

After more than 3 years of development and discussion by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Working Group on the subject, the draft specifications document for HTML version 5 will now be moved into Last Call status after a 63 to 2 vote, with 3 abstentions.

HTML5 is quite hot already, having being deployed with excitement by browsers on desktop and mobile computers. Some amount of controversy remains, however, over what the final version will look like exactly. As Deutsche Telekom AG's Kai Scheppe said in voting Yes, "I believe it is time to get full consideration of all stakeholders for this draft of the specification, which will only occur in last call status."

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