IBM announced Maqetta, an HTML5 authoring tool for building desktop and mobile user interfaces, and also announced the contribution of the open-source technology to the Dojo Foundation.

LAS VEGAS – At the IBM Impact 2011conference here, IBM announced both Maqetta as well as the open-source contribution of its Maqetta HTML5 visual authoring tool to the Dojo Foundation.

Maqetta is an open-source project that provides WYSIWYG visual authoring ofHTML5 user interfaces using drag-and-drop assembly, and supports both desktop andmobile user interfaces. The Maqetta application itself is authored in HTML, and therefore runs in the browser without requiring additional plug-ins or downloads. Maqetta is available under an open-source license. Ands users can download the source code and install it on their own server, customize the code to fit their needs and contribute improvements to the open-source project.

IBM officials said HTML5 is an umbrella term for dozens of new features that ship in modern browsers (desktop and mobile) that allow rich user interfaces, graphics, multimedia and fast performance using open standards. HTML5 ships in the latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari, and on smartphones, including iPhone, Android, RIM BlackBerry and Windows 7 Mobile.

Read the full article from eWeek.com here

After more than eight years of doing business in other states, a Madison company that offers online alcohol training to bartenders and others in the industry is now able to do business in its home state.

Professional Service Certification Corp., with its website, Rserving.com, offers online certification training in 35 states for bartenders, servers or sellers of alcohol to teach the proper protocol in checking people's identifications and also to help recognize the signs of intoxication.

"Since it's online, they can get off in the middle of the night and can work on it," President Robb Graham said about people doing the certification program. "They don't have to be on a specific schedule where they have to show up. It's a lot nicer for accessibility reasons."

Find out more here

4 Game-Changing Trends in Web App Design

Web applications are one of the greatest revelations of the Internet. It’s a development that is largely specific to the Web 2.0 era, but their significance will be in effect for generations.

The web app is a signifier of a fundamental shift in computing. It’s representative of the cloud and our newfound ability to decentralize our technical lives and spread ourselves across desktop computers, mobile devices and pretty much anything else connected to the Internet.

But web apps are driven by trends, and trends move fast. So if you’re slaving away on a mobile app, here are four trends that you might want to consider before coding yourself into irrelevance.

1. Location

It’s not that location started with Foursquare, but it took Foursquare’s simple badge system to make the world pay attention. If your web app isn’t location aware, people are far less likely to be aware of it. With web juggernauts like Facebook launching Places and Google shifting product rockstar Marissa Mayer to location and local services, it’s safe to bet on geolocation.

These days, it’s easier than ever to to make your app location aware. HTML5 features a native location protocol (try finding yourself with an HTML5-compliant browser), and with a few easy lines of JavaScript, your app can be pegging latitudes and longitudes in no time. And, according to SimpleGeo’s Andrew Mager, HTML5’s location protocol is doubly useful for mobile web apps, because it doesn’t hog battery resources by constantly running GPS.

Read the other 3 HERE.

New York to adopt ‘Google Apps for Education’ for its schools

With New York Tuesday announcing its decision to adopt Google Apps in its public schools, it became the fifth state in the US - the other four being Oregon, Colorado, Iowa, and Maryland - to use Google's free version of its online email and collaboration software for use in the K-12 classrooms of the newest school system.

Read the full article HERE

Is E-mail Dead?

ALL THE balleyhoo that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are diminishing our need for e-mail can be best summarized by paraphrasing Mark Twain: Reports of e-mail's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Just ask Wesley Lee, a 21-year-old senior at UC Berkeley studying computer science. He's looking for a job after graduation, and e-mail is his lifeline to job leads and a possible employer contact.

"I am addicted to my e-mail," he says. "I check my phone for new e-mail all the time, and I also bring a laptop wherever I go. When I am not in class, I am working on e-mail."

And while Derek Miller, 18, uses Facebook to chat with his friends, the Diablo Valley College freshman still checks his e-mail account regularly, often multiple times a day.

"I use e-mail when I am talking to adults, like teachers," he says. "E-mail seems more professional than other ways of talking with people, like texting or calling."

Read the full article HERE