Here is a question that I have been pondering on and off for quite a while: Why do 'cool kids' choose Ruby or PHP to build websites instead of Java? I have to admit that I do not have an answer. Why do I even care? Because I am a Java developer. Like many Java developers, I get along with Java well. Not only the language itself, but the development environments (Eclipse for example), step-by-step debugging helper, wide availability of libraries and code snippets, and the readily accessible information on almost any technical question I may have on Java via Google. Last but not least, I go to JavaOne and see 10,000 people that talk and walk just like me.

Apple's iPhone is a massive hit; the company has sold millions of handsets since the product's launch in June 2007. Within weeks of the iPhone hitting the market, the first of several highly publicized security exploits, a Trojan virus targeting the device, was identified. SMobile Systems has announced that it has ported its signature application suite, Security Shield, to the iPhone, utilizing the recently released Apple Software Development Kit (SDK).

Remember that suit that the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) filed against Verizon Communications back in December for not providing source code as the GPL 2 requires? Well, it's been settled. Verizon, the biggest name among the four companies SFLC has sued so far for non-compliance, kicked the problem back to its wireless router supplier Actiontec Electronics and Actiontec caved in to demands.

Cisco announced that Xanadoo Company has utilized Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) infrastructure to launch one of the first commercial North American mobile WiMAX broadband wireless networks. Mobile WiMAX, based on the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (IEEE 802.16e) specification, is a mobile wireless technology that will enable high-speed Internet Protocol (IP)-based services for both businesses and consumers who want to access gaming and music, stream video and transfer large files, all while on the go.

The US Postal Service has started piloting a program that will let people recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges for free by mail. The postage will be paid by Clover Technologies Group, a company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges can't be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials recycled.

U.S. Cellular has awarded Nortel a five-year contract to provide advanced wireless capabilities that deliver high-quality mobile voice and data services while supporting addition of new subscribers. The deal builds on Nortel and U.S. Cellular's long-standing relationship for supplying CDMA solutions.

Nortel has won an agreement with India's BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.), valued at over US$100 million, to put mobile connectivity in the hands of millions of new subscribers in the southern area of the country.

Qualcomm announced that it is offering BREW managed service, a new solution for operators that want to outsource their data services. With BREW managed service, Qualcomm hosts a single catalog of BREW applications that operators may offer to their respective subscribers who purchase BREW-enabled handsets. The hosted service is designed to provide operators a dynamic mobile application shopping experience that drives wireless data growth at low operational costs. This new offering will enable Qualcomm to provide BREW service to 23 operators who were previously being hosted by Midwest Wireless, including Bluegrass Cellular, Cellcom and Alaska Communications Group.

According to a recent report published by The 451 Group, 2009 is the year that will see attention on the delivery to mobile devices of business intelligence from enterprise applications - particularly those utilizing the 'service-oriented' software architecture model (SOA). Additionally, Webalo, the inventor of the 'Mobile Dashboard' service, which gives IT and non-IT administrators, a way of achieving this, is positioned to service this new market.

I want to thank everyone who showed up to share my enthusiasm for the iPhone as it is, what I believe, the mobile development platform to target. I also want to thank those people who tolerated my evasiveness and lack of detail during the SDK session. As I've said before, just because everybody else on the internet has no problem violating NDAs, when I click 'Agree', I know what I am agreeing to and I intend to stick to that agreement.

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel will soon redefine the guest experience through a technology deployment that is built on a unified communications platform from Cisco. To be designed and built by Cisco-certified systems integrator 3D Networks, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel's planned technology adoption marks a shift in unified communications deployments in Singapore from simple private branch system (PBX) replacement to true workspace transformation.

During the Q&A period after one of my sessions at the iPhone Developer Summit last Thursday, there was someone there from Microsoft Competetive Intelligence. She asked myself and some other folks who were lingering nearby to describe, in our unbiased opinions, what we thought was wrong with Windows Mobile.

Sybase iAnywhere announced availability of support for Apple iPhone during the first international iPhone Developer Summit, colocated with AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2008 East. Information Anywhere now enables IT organizations to provide secure delivery of Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange enterprise email to iPhone users, in addition to a broad range of other mobile devices. Sybase iAnywhere?s unique approach to providing enterprise email support for the iPhone reduces potential security concerns while still providing a rich user experience utilizing native iPhone applications.

Sybase iAnywhere announced the availability of support for Apple iPhone within its Information Anywhere Suite. Information Anywhere now enables IT organizations to provide secure delivery of Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange enterprise email to iPhone users, in addition to a broad range of other mobile devices. Sybase iAnywhere's approach to providing enterprise email support for the iPhone reduces potential security concerns while still providing a rich user experience utilizing native iPhone applications.

Telrad Networks released the TL6500, a MultiService Access Gateway (MSAG) for service providers looking to make the migration from legacy systems to move towards triple-play networks of voice, video and data. The TL6500 supports a wide range of user interfaces, including ADSL2+, VDSL, G.SHDSL, Fast Ethernet, POTS and ISDN as well as Giga Ethernet uplink. The robust and scalable solution allows for outdoor as well as Central Office applications of single or multiple shelves, depending on the required capacity.

IBM announced that the Lotus Expeditor software platform is extending desktop computing and Web 2.0 capabilities to mobile phones. Mobile phone users will be able to run several desktop-style applications like social networking, mashups and other consumer or business applications simultaneously on a variety of mobile phones.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of the iPhone SDK, including discussion of the App Store, Apple's planned distribution channel for SDK applications. Keep in mind that the contents of the SDK and experiences while using it are covered under NDA, so be prepared for me to talk in generics and leave out specific details that might be covered by the NDA. I am planning on providing a quick introduction to Objective-C for those attendees who may have never seen it and might be worried that it will be difficult to code in (it isn't!).

Parallels announced that Swyx Solutions has selected Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 to deliver a cost-efficient and scalable hosted PBX application via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Using Parallels software, Swyx delivered 'Hosted SwyxWare,' a hosted solution based on its 'SwyxWare' telecommunications system for Microsoft Windows.

Veveo announced that its vTap web video application for Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone devices has received the 'Designed for Windows Mobile' certification by Microsoft and has been included in Microsoft's Mobile2Market program. Microsoft's certification process is a comprehensive testing program aimed to provide assurance to users of Windows Mobile devices that certified applications have met testing standards. Under the Mobile2Market program, vTap will be marketed and promoted for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones and Pocket PC?s to a worldwide audience of mobile operators, e-tailers, retailers and consumers.

Buongiorno announced figures concerning the recent performance of its mobile social networking solution, BING. Since its successful market testing, launched in June 2007 in South Africa and Austria, Buongiorno has rolled out BING to a larger global market in 2008, including the 9 new geographies of the UK, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Vietnam. The reach into 11 countries has been achieved by Buongiorno's connection to the mobile population in 53 countries. To date BING scores over 20 million messages exchanged per week and over 1.2million logins.

AccuWeather.com announced that they have partnered with Opera Software to offer a direct link from the Opera Mini start page to AccuWeather.com's top ten mobile web site. The two are a match for U.S. and international users that want more from their weather and their mobile web browsing experiences.

Fortress Technologies announced that Kurt Krueger has been appointed Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development. In this new role, Krueger will focus on expanding Fortress' market penetration, customer base, and product offerings. In addition, he will develop new strategies to capitalize on the wide-range of growth opportunities available to the company in the government market.

RIM announced a BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) plug-in for Eclipse - a new development tool that enables Eclipse developers to create and test wireless applications for the BlackBerry platform from within the familiar Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse will enable Eclipse developers to create powerful mobile applications for the large and growing base of BlackBerry smartphone users around the world while maintaining a familiar Eclipse development environment. It will also allow Eclipse developers to leverage the inherent capabilities and benefits of the BlackBerry system architecture and development tools.

Webtide announced that it has developed a web and application server designed to operate on Google's Android mobile platform. Android is a freely downloadable open source software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications based on Linux and Java. The port of Jetty on Android is named i-Jetty.

'We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to add playback of rich, web-based Flash Player compatible content and PDF document viewing to Windows Mobile,' said Al Ramadan, senior vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe, as Adobe today announced that Microsoft has licensed Flash Lite software to enable web browsing of Flash Player compatible content within the Internet Explorer Mobile browser in future versions of Microsoft Windows Mobile phones.

SVOX's partner Linguatec presented the global innovation Shoot & Translate, a photo translation program for mobile phones, smartphones and PDAs. Our mobile phone is our constant companion through all of life's endeavors. When used in combination with the translation software Shoot & Translate, it becomes the practical translator that's always at hand when we need it.

Ifbyphone announced it is offering up to 1 million minutes in free phone time per month and a new Facebook phone application to demonstrate to developers the power of phone mashups to connect the Web to voice applications.

As an ESRI Corporate Hardware Partner, GETAC will demonstrate the Fully Rugged handheld PS535E on Sunday during the GIS Solutions Expo. Also on display will be the just-introduced GETAC E100 tablet, the workhorse M230 laptop, and the convertible V100 - all of which offer the latest technology and features in a Fully Rugged package.

NextPhase Wireless announced that it has been selected by Convergent IP Networks to deploy a network backbone link between two CIPNetwork data centers based in Southern California. Utilizing licensed fixed wireless spectrum on the 29 GHz band acquired by NextPhase, a CIPNetwork data center, co-located in NextPhase's Network Operations Center in Anaheim, will be linked over NextPhase's WiMAX- ready network to a sister CIPNetwork data center based in Santa Fe Springs, providing increased redundancy and enhanced network security that better meets CIPNetwork's increasingly stringent security and bandwidth requirements.

Highdeal announced that Mobile Satellite Ventures has chosen the Highdeal Transactive advanced billing solution for its next-generation network. The solution is part of an innovative infrastructure designed to meet the needs of MSV's wholesale-based business model. Highdeal Transactive will serve as the pricing, rating and billing platform supporting MSV's all IP 4G wireless satellite-terrestrial communications network.

For the past ten years application developers have been stuck with only two desktop client choices. Traditionally, they can choose either a very thin Web-client technology implemented in HTML and CSS, or a very heavyweight thick client experience implemented using traditional client/server (C/S) technologies (e.g. Java Swing, MFC). It wasn't until the introduction of RIA technologies (e.g. AJAX, Adobe Flex, Curl, and Silverlight) and widget engines (e.g. Yahoo! Widgets and Google Gadgets) that we were given more options.

Acquia has yet to price its maintenance and support subscriptions - there should be a variety of SLAs - but they're supposed to include an electronic update notification system code named Spokes for updates that have been reviewed for security and compatibility and are supported by Acquia. Acquia is currently at 12 people, expecting to be 25 by the end of the year. Its Series A money comes from Northbridge Venture Partners, Sigma Partners and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. According to Dries' blog, Drupal 7 should offer the ability to create, share and mashup managed content, letting Drupal be a data repository accessed by tools and web sites across the network.

Call Genie and Spoken Communications announced a partnership to provide a next generation voice solution that integrates automation with human silent agents to deliver a better consumer experience. The hybrid speech automation provides proactive assistance to understand the exact reason and meaning for the caller's query to help them reach the most relevant advertising and business listing results in a pleasant and effective manner.

Trimble announced the availability of a new broadband wireless modem for the Nomad outdoor rugged handheld computer. The EVDO high-speed cellular data modem, made by Franklin Wireless, allows users to communicate from the field to office or other locations where Sprint cellular connectivity is available in the U.S. Expanding upon the Nomad's current WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities by adding advanced cellular technology, users now have the ability to move about more freely and extend their range while working in the field.

Atreus Systems announced that De-Fi Mobile has selected Atreus' Multi-Service Activation solution to automate the delivery of media-rich, advanced IP features and global voice services to mobile users. De-Fi Mobile's new Straight Talk service bridges the traditional gaps between carrier networks, handset manufacturers and mobile application providers, providing high quality mobile services.

McObject announced the availability on the java.net Mobile & Embedded Community site ( www.mobileandembedded.org ) of McObject's ProScout demo application, incorporating the Perst Lite object-oriented, open source embedded database system, to the wide population of developers building mobile device-based applications using the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME).

Zoho announced that Zoho Writer supports both online and offline access from Internet Explorer Mobile (IE Mobile), the Microsoft browser for mobile devices running its Windows Mobile operating system. Zoho support for the open source Google Gears means its customers can work with their Zoho Writer documents from Window Mobile devices, regardless of network availability.

Sybase iAnywhere announced the next generation of its handheld security technology, introducing a new architecture that offers advancements in user performance and battery life consumption. Designed to take advantage of the latest capabilities in Windows Mobile, the Information Anywhere Suite updated Afaria security component enables instantaneous encryption and decryption of data. This provides a solution to a dilemma IT organizations face when choosing to encrypt only selected data in order to maintain device usability, while leaving other data, often email, unencrypted and vulnerable.

Sybase iAnywhere launched iAnywhere Mobile Office, a new component of the Sybase Information Anywhere Suite, designed to meet the evolving requirements for a mobile 'inbox of the future.' Combining fully integrated wireless email, PIM, security and business process mobilization, iAnywhere Mobile Office enables organizations to better manage critical, time-sensitive workflow business processes, such as approving purchase orders or submitting reports, all through a mobile email client.

Yahoo! continues to enable the global mobile ecosystem with the unveiling of Yahoo! onePlace - a mobile content management solution. Following the company's achievements in reinventing mobile search and mobile communications, Yahoo! onePlace is designed to be an essential tool to enable consumers to better manage the wide selection of content available across the Internet.