Of Interest

InterNiche has released NicheView, a web browser for embedded devices such as PDAs, set-top boxes, and consumer electronics devices that require web connectivity. The company claims NicheView is less specifically tailored to a particular set of I/O devices such as keyboards, pointing devices, and color and bit-mapped displays. NicheView provides a generic interface for input events and output streams which pass text blocks, images, and other content to device drivers. Some added features are multiple font support, plug-ins, and a subset of the Javascript language. NicheView also includes a development environment for converting PC keystrokes and mouse clicks to browser events.

Numerical Objects AS has announced Diffpack Adaptivity Toolbox 1.0. This toolbox gives you access to mechanisms for building applications with adaptive simulation meshes. Diffpack Adaptivity Toolbox 1.0 is the first in a series of new toolboxes to be available as plug-ins to Diffpack. Toolboxes for parallel computing, multigrid methods, and finite volume methods are scheduled for release. Diffpack is available on Win32 as well as Linux, DEC, IBM, SGI, HP, and Sun UNIX platforms. Test versions of the software, documentation, and application examples are freely available on a demo CD or for download from the company's web site.

Bennet-Tec Information Systems has released TList 5/Pro, a listbox that offers independent formatting for each row or cell, Table/Grid support, and Search/Sort. TList offers a simple file I/0 mechanism for saving all data and formatting to a single file. TList supports printing, rich text, automated drag-and-drop, and restricted views. Bennet-Tec also announced UpdateLive .Com, a utility that checks whether the files installed on end-user machines are the most up-to-date versions available and updates them over the Internet.

WaveMakers Research has announced its WaveMakers Speaker Identificationsoftware designed for use in speech recognition, audio and video conferencing, toys and games, home automation, and related applications. WaveMakers Speaker Identification uses a single, omnidirectional microphone that can identify speakers at distances of up to 10 feet, and can also be used with headset-mounted microphones. The software requires less than 70 KB of RAM and less than 4 percent of the processing cycles of a 350-MHz Pentium.

Jumpstart, from The Theory Center, is a pure Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB)component-based product designed to help you build usable web-enabled applications. Jumpstart provides a plug-and-play environment and is fully customizable and extensible. Jumpstart is based on open standards that let you integrate your e-business application prototypes with existing EJB component-based technologies and legacy applications and data.

Aprobe is a toolkit from OC Systems that lets you define your own tools for debugging, testing, and integration, fault injection, performance tuning, requirements verification, and software maintenance. Aprobe can be used on C, C++, Ada, and other conforming languages, and is designed for use on large real-time networked or distributed systems. Aprobe is available for the AIX and Solaris operating environments. A demo of Aprobe can be downloaded from the OC Systems web site.

OneRealm has announced Version 2.0 of its I18n Expeditor and Reporter software for detecting and correcting bugs related to internationalization. I18n Expeditor, the interactive version, automatically finds and fixes internationalization errors in source code. I18n Reporter is a batch version of the product and generates a report after testing the source code. The I18n Expeditor Version 2.0 is available for either C/C++ or Java source code; it is priced at $1750.00 per user on Windows 95/98/NT. I18n Reporter is available starting at $2000.00 per build machine running Windows 95/98/NT or Sun Solaris.

OTEX has released Version 5.1 of its OTEX LAN, a network operating system that runs on Windows 3.x/95/98 or DOS. The entire package can be configured to run in 22 KB of high/low memory. OTEX LAN includes remote control, user home directories, security and log-in options, and over 50 NET commands. Support of network hardware is provided by one of the supplied protocol stacks, which include NDIS, FTP Packet Drivers, ODI, and ATS drivers. A downloadable, 30-day trial, 12-user shareware version (400 KB) is available from the company's web site. A single-user add-on kit is $129.00; a three-user starter kit $279.00; a 12-user starter/add-on kit is $399.00; and a 255-user site license is $799.00. OTEX also provides the complete user's manual online.

RadView Software has introduced WebLoad 3.5, a web application testing tool that unifies load, performance, and functional testing into a single process. WebLoad lets you verify the scalability and integrity of web applications at a per-client, per-transaction, per-instance level under user-defined load conditions. Features include integrated functional testing, data drilling, application server integration, synchronization points, and virtual client throttle. Licenses for WebLoad 3.5 begin at $5000.00 for a 100 Virtual Client license.

Global Majic Software has announced a new language-independent environment for real-time 3D application development and graphic rendering. Called 3Dlinx, the software supports graphics APIs, scene graph management, view culling, and collision detection. The company claims that 3Dlinx opens up 3D graphics development to less experienced programmers. 3Dlinx is based on ActiveX and COM/DCOM technologies and runs on Windows 95/98/ NT. System requirements include a Pentium class processor, 32 MB of RAM, a 3D graphics accelerator video card with full OpenGL ICD support, and 8 MB of memory. Supported programming environments include Visual Basic, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

Inprise has announced Borland Delphi 5, an updated version of its Windows rapid application development tool. Delphi 5 includes support for HTML 4 and XML. It also includes ADOExpress, for database access, a tool called TeamSource that lets teams manage changes to source code, and the Borland Translation Suite, to internationalize or localize applications for new languages and cultures. Delphi 5 comes in three versionsDelphi 5 Enterprise ($2499.00), Delphi 5 Professional ($799.00), and Delphi 5 Standard ($99.95).

O'Reilly & Associates has released WebBoard 4.0, an update to its forum and chat software for Windows. Features news to WebBoard 4.0 include increased customization; Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), a local data storage engine, and support for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5/7.0; a choice of four communication approaches; redundancya single copy of WebBoard can reside on multiple systems; and expanded user features. A single WebBoard license provides 255 virtual boards with unlimited users for each, plus live chat (IRC-based) for up to 1000 simultaneous users. WebBoard has a suggested retail price of $1199.00.

A professor at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Tobin Maginnis, has launched a comprehensive, multilevel Linux testing and certification program for IT professionals. Maginnis has founded a company called Sair Inc., to produce Linux training and testing materials in partnership with the book publisher John Wiley & Sons. The tests are administered through Sylvan Prometric, the same company that administers the tests for the Microsoft Certification Program. Sair's Linux certification will be offered in four levels, each consisting of four tests.

Polar has released an updated version of its PolarZIP Component file compression and extraction software. More than 30 new functions have been added, with the ability to create multiple archives on removable and nonremovable volumes. New capabilities include multidisk spanning, self-extracting, and fixing zip files. The PolarZIP Component can be used in all major Windows development tools, and is priced under $150.00. Free evaluation copies are available.

Servertec has announced a new release of iServer, a platform-independent application web server written entirely in Java. iServer can use any JDBC-accessible database to store users, groups, access rights, and access control lists and also features support for JSDK 2.1. iServer also supports open standards such as Java, Servlets, HTTP, CGI, SSI, HTML, TCP/IP, RMI, IIOP, CORBA, and XML. A preview release is freely available from Servertec's web site. iServer is licensed on a per-seat basis for $50.00. You can purchase a license to iServer that lets you embed and distribute iServer royalty free. A binary subscription to iServer is available for $1500.00.

The CAD-UL C/C++ toolkit, from CAD-UL, lets you prototype your software on a Linux-based host platform using C/C++ tools that are designed for embedded development. Features include CAD-UL's ANSI-compatible C/C++ compilers, linker and assembler, libraries, and floating-point emulator library. The toolkit for Linux includes support for protected- and real-mode programming. The CAD-UL C/C++ toolkit requires Linux, Kernel 2.0.xx or 2.2.x and libc5 on a PC-compatible host machine. The base price for this toolkit is $5600.00.

TechExcel has announced the availability of DevTrack 3.5, a defect-tracking application for software-development teams. The company also announced ServiceWise 1.0, a complementary tool for technical-support groups. The new DevTrack version includes features such as customizable workflow, master/detail relationships, field-level security, and advanced integration with Visual Basic. ServiceWise is an extension of DevTrack, offering customer and contact management, knowledge-base creation and searching, automatic e-mail notification, and sales force integration. The two products can be used together sharing a common ODBC-compliant database.

DDJ