IBM announced Tuesday a new member of its WebSphere application server family: the WebSphere Application Server Community Edition.

WAS CE (WebSphere Application Server Community Edition) is built on the Apache Software Foundation’s Geronimo open-source application server and includes code from Gluecode Software.

IBM acquired Gluecode last May.

WAS CE also includes IBM’s Cloudscape database, which is based on the open-source Apache Derby Project.

The end result is a J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) application server, which IBM means to be a flexible and affordable alternative to traditional commercial software offerings and can help customers begin to deploy an SOA (service-oriented architecture).

Specifically, according to Scott Cosby, the IBM Transition Executive in charge of integrating Gluecode into IBM, it’s designed for midsize businesses and enterprise departments with access to open-source-based technologies with no upfront costs.

Source: eWeek

A Day after the rumors about Google Base, Google opened Google Base to the general public.

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. Google will host your content and make it searchable online for free.
Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.

At the time of writing this item, Google Base still suffers from some problems, such you are sometimes unable to pass the login page, although you are logged in. But I expect that this problem will get solved quickly.

Sun Microsystems plans to make its Java Desktop System (JDS) available for any Linux distribution through the new JDS Partner Programme, Sun executive vice president for software John Loiacono said at a town hall meeting in Sun’s San Francisco office.

The firm’s Java Desktop System is a collection of applications including a browser, the Star Office suite and the Java Virtual Machine.

Sun currently makes the application available bundled with a derivative of the SuSE Desktop Linux operating system at a fee of $100 per desktop per year or $50 per employee per year. It also comes bundled free of charge with Solaris 10.

The move will make the application available on any Linux distribution including Red Hat, Red Flag, Gentoo, Yellow Dog and Linspire, Loiacono said.

Source: vnunet

Google and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation today announced a joint effort to make the Foundation’s Archive of American Television interviews available for free viewing on Google Video. This historic collection includes interviews with Alan Alda, Dick Wolf, Steven Bochco and many of television’s greatest actors, writers, producers, directors and others.

“The Foundation’s Archive of American Television is probably the most diverse, complete and fascinating resource of its kind. The stories are told through the eyes of the creative geniuses – in front of and behind the cameras – who shaped and continue to shape television into the most powerful medium in the world,” Steve Mosko, Chairman of the Television Academy Foundation, commented. “Google has been fantastic. They learned of our need to make our interviews more accessible and stepped up to make it happen. This relationship is a perfect marriage of irreplaceable content and one of the most powerful delivery systems in the world.”

Today, the first 75 of the 284 historic films (which equals to about 240 viewing hours) can be watched on Google Video at http://video.google.com. The collection includes a virtual “who’s who” from the past 75 years of television.

Today, if a user enters the query [academy of television] into the Google Video search box at http://video.google.com they will see a results page featuring the first 75 interviews from the Academy.

Google Inc. is fierce competition for Microsoft Corp., but the software giant does not fear the race and plans to upgrade his search technology in the next six months, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said in remarks published Wednesday.

On his first-ever trip to Israel, Gates praised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel’s contributions to the global high-tech market. In interviews with Israeli TV and newspapers, he also answered questions about Microsoft’s fierce competition with Mountain View, California-based Google.

“We are not afraid of Google, but there is intense competition between us. Google is our main competitor, brilliant people work there, but Internet search engines are still in a terrible state compared to where they could be,” Gates was quoted as saying in the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot.

Source: AP

Microsoft’s MSN Internet search group detailed its new effort to catalog books, academic materials, periodicals and other print resources on Tuesday.

Dubbed as MSN Book Search, the effort is part of the company’s push to expand its search capabilities to find more of the information people seek when they come to its site and launch Web queries.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker released few details regarding the timeframe for launching Book Search, stating only that it plans to launch a beta of the product sometime in 2006 that indexes roughly 200,000 documents and publications.

Unlike Google, which has instituted a so-called “opt-out” program through which people can ask to have their works removed from its print effort, Microsoft said it would rely on an “opt-in” arrangement whereby it seeks permission to include many texts.

Source: eWeek

In a move that could put Google in competition with eBay, the search giant is testing a new service that would allow people to post and make searchable any type of content, a Google spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

A screenshot of a page for “Google Base” gives as examples of items that can be posted to Google’s server: “description of your party planning service,” “articles on current events from your Web site,” “listing of your used car for sale,” and “database of protein structures.”

“This is an early stage test of a product that enables content owners to easily send their content to Google,” a Google spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail. “Like our Web crawl and the recently released Google Sitemaps program, we are working to provide content owners an easy way to give us access to their content. We’re continually exploring new opportunities to expand our offerings, but we don’t have anything to announce at this time.”

View: another screenshot

Source: News.com

Yahoo plans to debut on Wednesday new services to help people plan for trips. Yahoo Travel is launching a new Trip Planner Beta, which would allow people to create, tag, share and print personalized trip itineraries and add interactive maps and driving directions.

Travelers also will be able to share photos on Flickr, exchange information on message boards and read and submit ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and other travel-related activities and sources. Users will be able to get information on vacation rentals from a database of owner listings and information from sources like the New York Times, Fodors and Conde Nast Traveler.

Source: News.com