Microsoft announced that their new approcach to planning and building Windows doesn't have the capacity to continue to deliver features outside the regular release cycle. While their core development team is focused on building the next release, their sustained engineering team is focused on updates to existing features. As a result they don't plan to create Ultimate Extras.
Google announced that it has begun beta testing its new Google Sync cloud-based synchronization services meant to link users' iPhone and Windows Mobile calendars and contacts with their Google accounts and automatically keep them in sync.
John Resig had a nice chat with the Yahoo! folk about the mess we all
face with the DOM. Here are the chat and the presentation in which he details specific issues on a bunch of the DOM methods across the browsers, discusses testing, and work around code for the various browsers.
There are two cool additions to the iPhone that now use HTML5 features: Safari JavaScript Database Programming and HTML5 Application Cache.
At the California Academy of Science, Google has announced the newest version of Google Earth. This launch marks the moment when Google Earth becomes much more complete. Today, it has a much more detailed bathymetric map (the ocean floor), so you can actually drop below the surface and explore the nooks and crannies of the seafloor in 3D.
Microsoft will reveal more details on Silverlight 3 at its forthcoming Mix 09 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company has promised deep dives at the March show into controls, rendering, and latest media features, and promised to discuss what's new in its third installment.
The next two releases of Silverlight will take Microsoft's media player in completely new directions, the technical executive in charge has promised.
On the "Engineering Windows 7" blog, Windows development chief Steven
Sinofsky announced that there will be just one
beta of Windows 7.
Google announced a new feature in its Gmail Service:Offline e-mail for businesses using Google Apps and for consumer Gmail users. With the offline service, users will be able to load Gmail in their Web browsers even if they don't have an Internet connection, and they will be able to read, star, label, archive, and organize e-mails. Offline Gmail will also allow users to compose new e-mails and move them to the Outbox, where they will wait until the user is online again to be sent.
The European Commision is considering to force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with future versions of Windows. The revelation came as part of Microsoft's quarterly filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. Among the statements is a clause outlining the penalties being considered by the European watchdog, which recently ruled that Microsoft is harming competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.