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Valve takes a shot at gaming consoles!!

Video game maker Valve is planning to launch their “Steam Box” video game console that will allow users to play games from the Steam online games store on their big-screen televisions next year. The plan to produce a console to challenge the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo was revealed by Valve’s co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell.

How would the PC-in-a-box be different from any other PC? And how would Valve balance the tinkering and upgrading needs of PC gamers with the nature of console development, which utilizes standards in order to serve a large consumer base?

Console games just work no matter what. If you have an Xbox 360, your Xbox 360 game will run on it as they are designed and developed keeping the 360 in mind; however, if you have a PC, there’s no guarantee your specs will be up to requirement. The point of having a gaming PC, on the other hand, is to be able to upgrade and power-up your hardware in order to play cutting edge games. So there’s an inherent conflict between the PC and the console, and I’m still not really sure how Valve will address it.

The Steam Box

With Valve announcing their adoption of Linux, a Steam-based console seemed all but inevitable. Big Picture mode, Linux, lots of hardware accessories, and a bunch of people at Valve talking up the importance of living room-based gaming…the next logical step is a machine to pull it all together.

Steam itself is hugely profitable for Valve, but as Amazon has shown with its Kindle service, the entire ecosystem isn’t complete without hardware. If Valve wants to compete directly against Microsoft and every other company in the gaming industry, including Apple, they need an ecosystem of their own, and a platform that includes both software and hardware.

Valve will be under pressure to produce a winning game console especially since the new Xbox and PlayStation systems which are also expected to be unveiled sometime next year.

JAVA Five: Architectural Features of Java.

We have seen that Java programming language finds its various applications in different working fields in world of computers and technology. In this post I’ll tell you about the basic architectural features of Java in brief.

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM):

JVM is defined as: “An imaginary machine that is implemented by emulating it in software on a real machine.” The code for the JVM is stored in the .class files, each of which contains the code on the public class.

The compiler takes the Java application source code and generates bytecodes. Bytecodes are machine code instructions for the JVM. Every Java interpreter, regardless whether it is JAVA technology development tool or a web browser that can run applets, has an implementation of the JVM. The JVM design allows the creation of implementation for multiple operating environments.

Garbage collection:

Many programming languages allow the dynamic memory allocation. The process varies according to the syntax of the programming language, but always involves the returning of a pointer to the starting address of the memory block. After the allocated memory is no longer required the program or the run-time environment should de-allocate the memory.

In C, C++ and other languages, you are responsible for de-allocating the memory. This can be difficult exercise sometimes because you do not know which memory to de-allocated in advance. Programs that donot de-allocate the memory eventually crash.

However Java programming language removes you from the responsibility of de-allocating the memory. It provides a system level thread that tracks ach memory allocation. During idle cycles in the JVM the garbage collection thread checks for and frees the memory that can be freed.

The Java Runtime Environment:

Java software source files are compiled in the sense that they are converted to a set of byte codes. These byte codes are then saved in ‘.class’ files. At the run time the bytecodes that make up a Java program are loaded, checked and run in an interpreter. The interpreted has two functions: it executes bytecode and makes the necessary calls.

JVM tasks:

The following are the tasks performed by the JVM:

1. Loading of class: This is done by the class loader.
2. Verifying the code: It is performed by the bytecode verifier.
3. Execution of the code: It is performed by the Runtime interpreter.

1. The Class Loader: The class loader loads all the classes that are required for the execution of the program.

2.The Bytecode Verifier:  The JVM puts the code through the bytecode verifier that tests the format of the code fragments and checks the code fragments for illegal code, which is that forges illegal pointers , violates access rights on object or attempts to change object types.

3. The Verifying process: The bytecode verifier passes the code through four processes which verify whether the code adheres to the specifications mentioned by the JVM.

JAVA:Four: Encapsulation, Inheritance and Polymorphism.

In this post we will see meaning of the three main features of Java as a Object oriented programming language.

1. Encapsulation: Encapsulation is the mechanism that binds together code and the data it manipulates and keeps both safe from outside interference and misuse. One way to think about encapsulation is as a protective wrapper that prevents the code and the data from being arbitrarily accessed by other code defined outside the wrapper. Access to the code inside the wrapper is tightly controlled by a well defined interface. In Java the interface is called a ‘class’. A class is a logical construct.
2. Inheritance: Inheritance is the process by which one object acquires the properties of another object. This is important because it supports the concept of hierarchical classification. Without the hierarchies each object would have to define its own properties explicitly. For example, consider an apple and a mango. A mango and an apple are both fruits. We all know that fruits have general properties like   the outer covering, the flesh inside, the seed enclosed within et al. So ‘fruit’ is a class and mango and apple are its objects. So the properties that the fruit class defines are all inherited by mango and apple. If we were not to consider the hierarchy, we would have to define the general properties for apple and the mango individually. To avoid the excessive work the concept of inheritance was introduced. The figure shows an example of inheritance. The sub-classes inherit the properties of the super class while can define their own properties.
3. Abstraction: It is on essential feature of OOP. We manage the complexity by abstraction. The concept will be more clear when we’ll take up a practical example in future.
4. Polymorphism: Polymorphism is a feature that allows one interface to be used for a general class of action. For example consider a stack. A stack can contain integer values, another can contain floating value while yet another can contain characters. The algorithm that implements each stack is the same even though the data that it contains is different. The concept of polymorphism is often contained in one phrase “one interface, multiple methods”. This helps in reducing the complexity by allowing same interface to define different class of action.

“Like ”,”Share”, ”Comment” and now a new ”Want” plugin on FB

Just as the “Like” button plugin and the “Share” and “comment” plugin , Facebook appears to be testing for the “Want” button plugin.

The button has not yet been listed in other social plugins but when done, it would work on Open Graph objects known as “products”.

The “Like” button plugin has helped Facebook to accumulate the interests of their users. In the same way the new “Want” button would help the e-commerce to reach their customers with the help of Facebook in a better way.

Well, the advertising world supremo Google AdWords is going to get its potential competitor  soon…..

Jelly Bean comes in with Nexus 7

Google has officially unveiled of the Nexus 7, its first reference-grade tablet. The 7-inch slate is the first and only device at the moment with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it takes advantage of its optimization for smaller tablet screens, magazines and movies. The tablet is built by ASUS and features the quad-core Tegra 3 T30L quad-core processor running at 1.3GHz. Wireless connectivity is 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth as well, but there’s no WWAN connectivity here. There’s 1GB of RAM and either 8 or 16GB of storage. It also comes with a 1.2-megapixel front camera, NFC and  IPS-based 1280 x 800 LCD screen which one usually expects in more pricier tablets. There’s no SD card slot and comes in two versions.

Google I/O 2012 Summary Live

Welcome to Decoding’s Google I/O keynote 2012 Live Blog summary. We will be providing quick short updates of the google I/O. You can also watch it live on this link.

Google has added lots of updates in it’s latest Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean !! Some Jelly Bean updates are :

• Widgets are automatically resized to fit, and you can discard them by tossing them off the screen.
• A better dictionary and predictive typing.
• Offline voice typing using on-device voice recognition !!
• Faster and smoother UI under project butter.
• Deeper integration of Google services.
• Google Now: “smartphones are only as smart as you tell them to be.” This changes now. Google Now gives you just the right information at just the right time.
• New Android Beam features: share photo or video by tapping.
• Project Butter

Jellybean is available OTA in mid July and available for developers right now !!

• Added smart app updates added for honeycomb above. Now no need to download the complete apk !!
• Android Cloud to Device Messaging delivers billions of messages every day!
• Music, movies, TV shows added to google play !!

Time for Google’s Tablets !! Nexus 7 announced. Will ship with jellybean and will be built by ASUS!

• 1280×800 display, Tegra 3 chipset, quad-core CPU, 12-core GPU.
• Front-facing camera, WiFi. Bluetooth & NFC
• Premium magazine experience, also TV and movies !
• New features in Google maps. Offline maps now available !!

Price $199 (+$25 Google Play store credit). Ships mid July !

Now moving to project tungsten.Nexus Q : a small Android powered computer that lives in your home. Tightly integrates with Google Play. Use your phone or tablet to control it.

• It has a 25 W speaker.
• It has digital output with bluetooth, NfC and a microUSB port !

“It’s the first ever social streaming device.” $299. Pre-order today, shipping in July. US.-only for now.

Google+ comes to the center now, it was launched 1 year ago!! Key features of Google+ are highlighted.

• Hangouts on Google+ for tablets. “Enables a kind of intimacy that isn’t possible on other devices.”
• Lots of other improvements: navigations, ribbon bar, brand-new profiles.
• Not just Android. Also coming to iPad and android phones !

Sergey Brin comes out with their Google Glass project !!

He gives a live demo with the help of some sky divers using Google Glass. This demo is impossible to beat.

Features:

• Microphones for audio information and speaker. Gyroscope, accelerometer and compass. Multiple radios for communication.
• It has a display, camera, powerful processor and a lot of memory. Touchpad on the side.

It will be 1500$ for IO attendees and will ship next year.Learn more about Project Glass here : Link

Sergey Brin concludes the keynote announcing free goodies for all I/O attendees !

Thanks for being a part of our live Google I/O summary ! You can follow us on facebook : https://www.facebook.com/decoder404

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Jolicloud : Your personal cloud

 

If you wish to convert your low-cost computers into elegant cloud computing devices, Jolicloud is just for you.

Jolicloud gives you an personal online library for all your content including music, photographs, videos, documents, links and many more….

Jolicloud OS is a entirely free Linux based OS whose source code is open and available on GitHub. Designed around the Jolicloud user interface is the simplest OS that doesn’t even need a tutorial. Embedded with one-click Dropbox intergration, around 1500 free apps, automatic software update, Jolicloud OS is amazing netbook operating system for users interested in cloud services.

 

Jolicloud me is a kinda organizer for you online assets.It is built around all the content you create, like or explore from online services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr and Picasa. Jolicloud organizes it into an easy-to-handle library collection. You can explore and search for popular history you have once visited and get it back with few clicks.

Jolicloud also brings to you public profiles so that you can share your memories in library with your friends on the services you have connected to Jolicloud. After all, it’s all about sharing that today’s World whirls around.

You can download Jolicloud OS from http://www.jolicloud.com/jolios/download.

Happy Decoding..!