Monthly Archives: July 2009

PHP-GTK is still live

Posted by on July 25, 2009 No comments

PHP-GTK is an extension for the PHP programming language that implements language bindings for GTK+. It provides an object-oriented interface to GTK+ classes and functions and greatly simplifies writing client-side cross-platform GUI applications.

PHP-GTK is one of those great resources that for some unclear reason hasn’t become mainstream. One would think that  standalone applications created with the power of PHP would be a big hit, and I do hope it still happens.  Earlier this year there were some rumours about the death of PHP-GTK, the developers were quick in responding with this:

“Rumours of PHP-GTK’s death have been greatly exaggerated! The project is very much still alive, but we’re waiting for PHP 5.3 to come out, and also some work needs to be done on the Cairo extension before a new release can be made. This should be completed soon. This release will come with support for GTK+ 2.14 and 2.16, Cairo, and PHP 5.3. 

The next release will also include official installers for Windows and Mac OSX, and an installer script (thank you bob) for Linux.” – extracted

Have a look at PGP-GTK Community for some examples of applications created with PHP-GTK.

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East Africa Undersea fibre optic network is live

Posted by on July 23, 2009 No comments

Undersea fibre optic network ready to deliver unprecedented capacity and connectivity to Africa

23 July 2009 – SEACOM today announced that its 1,28 Terabytes per second (Tb/s), 17,000 kilometres, submarine fibre optic cable system linking south and east Africa to global networks via India and Europe has been completed and commissioned. Backhauls linking Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala with the coastal landing stations have been established and SEACOM is also working with its national partners to commission the final links to Kigali and Addis Ababa shortly.

The launch of SEACOM opens up unprecedented opportunities, at a fraction of the current cost, as government, business leaders and citizens can now use the network as the platform to compete globally, drive economic growth and enhance the quality of life across the continent. (extracted)…. read in full

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Firefox Add-on Collector

Posted by on July 21, 2009 No comments

Now you can have a list of your favourite Firefox Add-ons to share. I have always tried to keep a list in my bookmarks of the Add-ons I find most useful and normally recommend to people, now life has become much easier.

Discover more of the best add-ons and organize your favourites in easy-to-manage collections. Subscribe to see how the collections you admire grow, and fans follow when you manage and update your own collections with Mozilla Firefox Add-on Collector.

You can have a look at my small collection at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collection/itechlog

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New iTunes blocks non-Apple devices

Posted by on July 19, 2009 No comments

According to the BBC technology website, Apple claims to have fixed a hole in iTunes that allowed it to sync non-Apple devices. Interesting that this comes out as a lot of iPhone competitors are on the market and some of them like the Palm Tre do sync with the iTunes library.  Thanks to Apple if you live in a mixed enviroment you are now stuck.  Isn’t this what people would call the “drug dealer’s technique”? You give them access to it, get them hooked and make them buy more and more. I have always been unimpressed with Apple’s rip-off marketing strategy and even more with the cultish behaviour of its users but this is a new low.

Apple tried to keep cool about it with this (lame) statement…

“Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players” and warned that “newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality” with them.”  extracted

Maybe it’s time to switch to something like Song Bird, the open source competitor to the iTunes that syncs with most devices, including iPods.

 

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Open Source Web Conference

Posted by on July 17, 2009 1 comment

Dimdim.com allows anyone to experience live web meetings using just a browser. It has a very intuitive web conference – lets anyone deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and webpages while sharing their voice and video over the Internet – with no download required. Based on an open source platform it is used in over 185 countries around the world by more than 1 million people.

Dimdim offers various levels of service: Enterprise, Professional and free hosted services. It also has an Open-source Community Edition, which can be downloaded and hosted by the user.

Dimdim’s services can also be integrated with some other open source services like the market leader in open source CRM SugarCRM and e-learning systems like Claroline, Moodle and Docebo. If you don’t use any of these systems you can tap into Dimdim’s API and develop your own integration.

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