Apple's iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using 'high-quality' tracks?

By Thomas Ricker posted May 27th 2011 3:08AM

There's been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you'd think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it's still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn't stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is "known" thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers' iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple's own servers -- no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of "replacing" any low bitrate tracks with the "high-quality" versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices.

Of course, this value-add won't come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service's integration with Apple's $99 per year MobileMe sham. And you know those rumors about MobileMe being offered as a free service? We wouldn't be surprised if it stays at $99 with iCloud being announced as a "free" feature update; aka, an $8.25 per month music subscription that also provides web access to your synced bookmarks, contacts, email, and calendar. Regardless, it's this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we're sure to hear more -- much more -- before the event kicks off on June 6th.

JVM,JRE,JDK,JIT

Differentiate JVM JRE JDK JIT

10/05/2009

Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is an abstract computing machine. Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is an implementation of the JVM. Java Development Kit (JDK) contains JRE along with various development tools like Java libraries, Java source compilers, Java debuggers, bundling and deployment tools.
JVM becomes an instance of JRE at runtime of a java program. It is widely known as a runtime interpreter. The Java virtual machine (JVM) is the cornerstone on top of which the Java technology is built upon. It is the component of the Java technology responsible for its hardware and platform independence. JVM largely helps in the abstraction of inner implementation from the programmers who make use of libraries for their programmes from JDK.

Diagram to show the relations between JVM JRE JDK

JVM Internals

Like a real computing machine, JVM has an instruction set and manipulates various memory areas at run time. Thus for different hardware platforms one has corresponding implementation of JVM available as vendor supplied JREs. It is common to implement a programming language using a virtual machine. Historicaly the best-known virtual machine may be the P-Code machine of UCSD Pascal.
A Java virtual machine instruction consists of an opcode specifying the operation to be performed, followed by zero or more operands embodying values to be operated upon. From the point of view of a compiler, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)is just another processor with an instruction set, Java bytecode, for which code can be generated. Life cycle is as follows, source code to byte code to be interpreted by the JRE and gets converted to the platform specific executable ones.

Sun’s JVM

Sun’s implementations of the Java virtual machine (JVM) is itself called as JRE. Sun’s JRE is availabe as a separate application and also available as part of JDK. Sun’s Java Development Tool Kit (JDK) comes with utility tools for byte code compilation “javac”. Then execution of the byte codes through java programmes using “java” and many more utilities found in the binary directory of JDK. ‘java’ tools forks the JRE. Implementation of JVMs are also actively released by other companies besides Sun Micro Systems.

JVM for other languages

A JVM can also be used to implement programming languages other than Java. For example, Ada source code can be compiled to Java bytecode, which may then be executed by a Java virtual machine (JVM). That is, any language with functionality that can be expressed in terms of a valid class file can be hosted by the Java virtual machine (JVM). Attracted by a generally available, machine-independent platform, implementors of other languages are turning to the Java virtual machine (JVM) as a delivery vehicle for their languages. PHP with Quercus is such an example.

Just-in-time Compiler (JIT)

JIT is the part of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is used to speed up the execution time. JIT compiles parts of the byte code that have similar functionality at the same time, and hence reduces the amount of time needed for compilation. Here the term “compiler” refers to a translator from the instruction set of a Java virtual machine (JVM) to the instruction set of a specific CPU

Differentiate JVM JRE JDK JIT 10/05/2009 Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is an abstract computing machine. Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is an implementation of the JVM. Java Development Kit (JDK) contains JRE along with various development tools like Java libraries, Java source compilers, Java debuggers, bundling and deployment tools. JVM becomes an instance of JRE at runtime of a java program. It is widely known as a runtime interpreter. The Java virtual machine (JVM) is the cornerstone on top of which the Java technology is built upon. It is the component of the Java technology responsible for its hardware and platform independence. JVM largely helps in the abstraction of inner implementation from the programmers who make use of libraries for their programmes from JDK. Diagram to show the relations between JVM JRE JDK Diagram to show the relations between JVM JRE JDK JVM Internals Like a real computing machine, JVM has an instruction set and manipulates various memory areas at run time. Thus for different hardware platforms one has corresponding implementation of JVM available as vendor supplied JREs. It is common to implement a programming language using a virtual machine. Historicaly the best-known virtual machine may be the P-Code machine of UCSD Pascal. A Java virtual machine instruction consists of an opcode specifying the operation to be performed, followed by zero or more operands embodying values to be operated upon. From the point of view of a compiler, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)is just another processor with an instruction set, Java bytecode, for which code can be generated. Life cycle is as follows, source code to byte code to be interpreted by the JRE and gets converted to the platform specific executable ones. Sun’s JVM Sun’s implementations of the Java virtual machine (JVM) is itself called as JRE. Sun’s JRE is availabe as a separate application and also available as part of JDK. Sun’s Java Development Tool Kit (JDK) comes with utility tools for byte code compilation “javac”. Then execution of the byte codes through java programmes using “java” and many more utilities found in the binary directory of JDK. ‘java’ tools forks the JRE. Implementation of JVMs are also actively released by other companies besides Sun Micro Systems. JVM for other languages A JVM can also be used to implement programming languages other than Java. For example, Ada source code can be compiled to Java bytecode, which may then be executed by a Java virtual machine (JVM). That is, any language with functionality that can be expressed in terms of a valid class file can be hosted by the Java virtual machine (JVM). Attracted by a generally available, machine-independent platform, implementors of other languages are turning to the Java virtual machine (JVM) as a delivery vehicle for their languages. PHP with Quercus is such an example. Just-in-time Compiler (JIT) JIT is the part of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is used to speed up the execution time. JIT compiles parts of the byte code that have similar functionality at the same time, and hence reduces the amount of time needed for compilation. Here the term “compiler” refers to a translator from the instruction set of a Java virtual machine (JVM) to the instruction set of a specific CPU.

W3C Confirms May 2011 for HTML5 Last Call, Targets 2014 for HTML5 Standard

http://www.w3.org/ -- 14 February 2011 -- W3C today extended the charter of the HTML Working Group with clear milestones for HTML5, the cornerstone of W3C's Open Web Platform for application development. In May 2011, the Working Group will advance HTML5 to "Last Call," an invitation to communities inside and outside W3C to confirm the technical soundness of the specification. The group will then shift focus to gathering implementation experience. W3C is developing a comprehensive test suite to achieve broad interoperability for the full specification by 2014, the target date for Recommendation.
"Even as innovation continues, advancing HTML5 to Recommendation provides the entire Web ecosystem with a stable, tested, interoperable standard," said Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. "The decision to schedule the HTML5 Last Call for May 2011 was an important step in setting industry expectations. Today we take the next step, announcing 2014 as the target for Recommendation."
Today there are more than 50 organizations participating in the HTML Working Group, all committed to Royalty-Free licensing under the W3C Patent Policy. There are more than 400 individuals from all over the world in the group, including designers, content authors, accessibility experts, and representatives from browser vendors, authoring tool vendors, telecoms, equipment manufacturers, and other IT companies.

Demand for Web Interoperability Greater Than Ever

The Web has become a critical global resource that is transforming all industries, including mobile, television, gaming, publishing, and health care. Forward-thinking industries are turning to the Web as the platform of choice for integrating diverse devices, services, and business models. As the audience for the platform grows, so does the need for interoperability among the many technologies of W3C's Open Web Platform including HTML5, CSS, SVG, WOFF, various APIs, and more. Nearly all of these technologies are already in use, at varying degrees of maturity and implementation.
Because HTML5 anchors the Open Web Platform, W3C has started work on a comprehensive test suite to ensure the high levels of interoperability that diverse industries demand. W3C invites test suite contributions from the community, which will enable software implementers to fulfill W3C's implementation criteria and make it easier to create content and applications. The testing effort will play an important role in the timely completion of the standard.

Stable Standards Drive Innovation with Confidence

Stable standards play an important role in the broad deployment of technology. As reference points, they make it easier for large numbers of independent implementers to achieve interoperability across diverse platforms, devices, and industries. This is particularly important in the rich ecosystem of HTML producers and consumers, which includes authoring tools, browsers, email clients, security applications, content management systems, tools to analyze or convert content, assistive technologies, and unanticipated applications. Stable standards with community support give developers and implementers confidence that what they build today will continue to work in the future. W3C's consensus process, Royalty-Free patent policy, and commitment to building a comprehensive test suite will make HTML5 an important standard across multiple industries, for years to come.
As part of the mission of the W3C HTML Working Group to continue the evolution of HTML, W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee also encourages the group to begin discussion of requirements for future versions of HTML.

Julia Map in HTML5..!!!

Google Launches HTML5 Julia Map

Google Research has launched Julia Map, an HTML5 Julia fractal renderer.

Julia sets are fractals that were studied by the French mathematician Gaston Julia in the early 1920s. Fifty years later, Benoît Mandelbrot studied the set z2 − c and popularized it by generating the first computer visualisation. Generating these images requires heavy computation resources. Modern browsers have optimized JavaScript execution up to the point where it is now possible to render in a browser fractals like Julia sets almost instantly.

Julia Map uses the Google Maps API to zoom and pan into the fractals. The images are computed with HTML 5 canvas. Each image generally requires millions of floating point operations. Web workers spread the heavy calculations on all cores of the machine.

We hope you will enjoy exploring the different Julia sets, and share the URLs of the most artistic images you discovered. See what others have posted on Twitter under hashtag #juliamap. Click on the images below to dive in to infinity!