Curl announced the beta release of Curl Nitro, the code name for an extension of the Curl Rich Internet Application (RIA) platform which offers enhanced desktop capabilities required by today's enterprises. The Nitro extension simplifies the process of installing and managing Curl applications accessed via a browser as well as directly from the desktop. Curl Nitro is the only platform for both traditional RIA and Desktop RIA that provides enterprise-level security, high performance and support for large data sets.

2008 is going to be an important year for Rich Internet Applications. Most organizations are delivering or planning to deliver Rich Internet Applications; however, at the same time, most IT managers are facing a dilemma: which Rich Internet Application technology and platform to use? The number of different frameworks and libraries is too vast to even consider evaluating a fraction of them.

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.

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!).

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.

I am always being told off by i-technologists for quoting Picasso as having said that computers are useless. But I still love his reasoning: 'Because they can only give you answers.' Picasso, like AJAXWorld Magazine, liked questions. So we thought we would share with you what some of the world's leading rich Internet application pioneers are thinking may be the next questions that we need to see answered. From that, readers can themselves infer: where is AJAX headed next?

Being held for the first time on March 18, 2008 at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, AJAXWorld Security Bootcamp is a compelling, intensive, one-day, hands-on training program that will teach Web developers, Web designers, and other Web professionals how to build secure AJAX applications and demonstrate what the best practices are to mitigate security problems in AJAX apps. It is led by one of the world's foremost AJAX security experts and popular teachers, Billy Hoffman.

Appcelerator CEO Jeff Haynie is quoted as saying about Fleury, 'We believe the knowledge he developed building JBoss, to the point where it quickly became a true challenger to much larger competitors and a substantial industry force, will be invaluable to Appcelerator as we look to achieve similar dominance in our pursuit of the enterprise RIA development market.' According to Fleury the company delivers cross-platform functionality on the server side, supporting the .NET, Java, Ruby or PHP architectures. On the client side, its RIA widgets are standards-based and portable across browsers.

Ajax4jsf has turned one and what a year it has been. It was an amazing ride for all of us here at Exadel. The popularity of Ajax4jsf is evidenced by the size of the community, available resources, examples, blog entries, and articles. Also, a significant number of organizations today use Ajax4jsf in production. Ajax4jsf is an open source extension to JavaServer Faces (JSF) that adds AJAX capability to JSF applications without requiring the writing of any JavaScript. So, after wishing Ajax4jsf and those who have worked on it a heartfelt 'Happy Birthday,' let's take the time to reflect on this whirlwind of a year.

AJAXWorld 2007 West will take place on September 23-26, 2007, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, in Santa Clara, California, and will offer a new dedicated 'iPhone Track.' Another dedicated track will offer a comparative education opportunity for conference delegates on emerging RIA tools, including a Diamond track on OpenLaszlo and sessions on Microsoft's Silverlight, Adobe's AIR and Sun's JavaFX.

This is our last article in a series of four that have been introducing the concepts of creating AJAX-enabled JavaServer Faces (JSF) components. In this article we are going to summarize and encapsulate the concepts that were introduced in the three previous JDJ articles starting with the 'Rich Internet Components with JavaServer Faces' (Vol. 10, issue 11), and design a Google-like JDJ InputSuggest component.

ICEsoft Technologies, Inc., a provider of enterprise AJAX solutions, has announced a new chapter in the high-growth rich Internet Application (RIA) market. ICEfaces, ICEsoft's ground breaking AJAX development platform and one of the industry's most comprehensive enterprise solution for Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE), is now available under open source license.

When I was learning how to work with AJAX, I went through a number of 101-type articles. The biggest problem with these tutorials is that the authors are trying to explain several things at once, which is confusing. I'll try to offer you a very simple example of an Ajax application.

The AjaxAnywhere project has made available its intial release - version 1.0. According to company sources, 'AjaxAnywhere turns any set of existing JSP components into AJAX-aware components without a complex JavaScript coding. Simply separate your web page into multiple zones, and use AjaxAnywhere to refresh only those zones that needs to be updated.'

PRWeb, the Internet's leading press release distribution newswire, has announced the beta launch of PRWeb Photowire, the Internet's first free news and PR image wire service. PRWeb Photowire allows users to upload their own high-resolution news photos and images, providing a stand-alone resource for quickly delivering news images to the media. In addition, the new service enables images to be tagged with keywords using Open Source AJAX technology.

Developers now have a fast, efficient and cost-effective way to create AJAX-enabled rich Internet applications with the release of ClearNova's, ThinkCAP JX --the first rapid application development (RAD) platform to be offered as open source, and the first visual development environment for building rich Internet applications. ThinkCAP JX combines the power of AJAX, Java EE and open source to enable organizations and their developers to build the web-based applications that run their businesses.

In this interview, Dave Crane not only talks about AJAX but also about how AJAX can fit into the kind of applications and frameworks we are used to working with today. He also tells us why he feels AJAX has become so popular in such a short time and what lies in the future for Java-based AJAX development.

'Though it's been around for a while, AJAX is now a hot topic in the application developer community because it brings cross-platform rich user interfaces to Web applications without having to use products like Microsoft .NET or Macromedia,' said Steve Benfield. Benfield explains what all the AJAX fuss is about, dispel some myths and advise how best to take advantage of the trend during his SYS-CON.TV Webinar.

'Though it's been around for a while, AJAX is now a hot topic in the application developer community because it brings cross-platform rich user interfaces to web applications without having to use products like Microsoft .NET or Macromedia,' said Steve Benfield as he announced that his September 27 session at the Austin Java User's Group will be called 'Injecting Life into Boring Web Applications with AJAX.' Benfield plans, he says, to explain what all the AJAX fuss is about, dispel some myths and advise how best to take advantage of the trend.

The new Tibco General Interface 3.0 consists of two components, Tibco General Interface Framework and Tibco General Interface Builder, which together enable developers to deliver applications that run completely in a standard Web browser, the company says. This installation-free framework eliminates the need for client-side software, end-user plug-ins, ActiveX controls or Java applets.

TIBCO Software Inc., a business integration and process management software company that enables real-time business, has announced the availability of TIBCO General Interface 3.0.