JavaOne 2012: Difficult Decisions

JavaOne 2012: Difficult Decisions

It was recently announced that the JavaOne 2012 Schedule Builder is now available. I have signed up for my first cut at sessions that I will attend, but found myself experiencing the typical feelings of excitement and disappointment as I did so.

If I was forced to make a Top Ten list of the sessions I have been most interested in attending at JavaOne 2012, I would estimate that 3 to 4 of those are being offered at exactly the same time and there are a couple others in conflict with one another. On one hand, I find myself excited at the idea of attending certain presentations, but this is tempered at the disappointment realized when I see other presentations at the same time that I'll have to miss. There is undoubtedly an opportunity cost associated with seeing my chosen presentations.

One of the session slots that is most difficult for me to make a final decision regarding is the Monday (October 1) 10 am session. In that session, I must choose between "The Road to Lambda" (CON4862), "Concurrency without Pain in Pure Java" (CON3454), "Finding and Solving Java Deadlocks" (HOL6500), "Efficient Memory and Thread Management in Highly Parallel Applications" (CON4611), "Uncovering Hidden Power Tools in the JDK" (CON7059), "JSR 311: Constraint Programming API" (CON3255), "Lessons Learned: Use of Modern JVM Languages Besides Java" (CON2424), "Effective HATEOAS with JAX-RS" (CON3383), "How RESTful is Your REST?" (CON7573), "Make Your Clients Richer: JavaFX and the NetBeans Platform" (TUT4801), "Building Amazing Applications with JavaFX" (CON4606), and several other interesting sounding presentations. I'm currently leaning toward "The Road to Lambda" because I believe lambda expressions will "change everything" in how we think about and write Java and because Brian Goetz is its presenter.

Another example of being forced to make a very difficult decision is the 8:30 am slot on Tuesday (October 2). Among other great sessions, I am forced to choose between "Lambda: A Peek Under the Hood" (CON6080), "Introduction to the Play Framework" (CON3845), "Modern Software Development Antipatterns" (CON6152), "Kotlin: Practical Aspects of JVM Language Implementation" (CON5759), "The Evolution of Java Persistence" (CON6622), "New Image Operations in JavaFX" (CON4440), and "3-D Made Easy with JavaFX" (CON4513).

A final example that I'll cover here of the difficult decisions to be made comes from the 10 am hour on Wednesday (October 3). Among many great sessions available in that hour, I am having an especially difficult time making my mind up between "Unlocking the Java EE 6 Platform" (CON2987), "Innovating Testing Techniques with Bytecode Instrumentation" (CON3961), "Software Modularity: Paradoxes, Principles, and Architectures" (CON3992), "Design Patterns in Modern JVM Languages" (CON3455), "Developing Polygot Persistence Applications" (CON4775), "JSR 353: Java API for JSON Processing" (CON3566), "Audio and Video Processing in JavaFX" (CON7146), "Do It Yourself: Custom JavaFX Controls" (CON2425), and "Building HTML5 Mobile Apps with Cloud Services" (CON11114). Fortunately, I don't have this same hour's Are Your Garbage Collection Logs Speaking to You on this difficult choices list because I attended it last year.

I listed a session code after each session name in the lists above. The session naming uses the following convention:

• BOF - Birds-Of-a-Feather
• CON - Conference Session
• HOL - Hands-On Lab
• KEY - Keynote Speech
• TSF - Test Fest
• TUT - Tutorial
• UGF - User Group Forum

I focused on three hours of JavaOne 2012 that provide a set of presentations of such great interest that it is difficult to choose only one from the group. Although I used three for examples here, the truth is that just about every hour had at least two of my "must see" presentations and many had more than two in the same hour.

Even though I've made initial selections for which presentations I plan to attend, these will change between now and the conference and even during the conference. In fact, they already have changed some since the Content Catalog was released. In particular, my previously high level of interest in Mark Reinhold's "The Modular Java Platform and Project Jigsaw" (CON10844) is lessened significantly since learning that it is likely that we won't see Project Jigsaw until at least 2015 (Java 9). It is difficult to justify using a precious time slot on something that we likely won't see for at least 3 more years.

As I was browsing through the JavaOne 2012 presentations and the Oracle OpenWorld 2012 presentations, I noted that no JavaOne session had yet filled up, but several Oracle OpenWorld sessions are already full. I like that Schedule Builder tells you that it's full and tells you how many people are already on the waiting list. In one case, an Oracle OpenWorld session already had a waiting list of 43 people!

One of the things I don't like about Schedule Builder is that some of the pre-selected sessions that appeared on "My Schedule" keep reappearing every time I log into Schedule Builder even though I explicitly remove them every time I'm in the tool. I've stopped removing them for now, but would like to have them permanently removed so that it is more clear what I have scheduled each day.

I am trying to attend presentations representing a wide variety of topics at JavaOne 2012. I could attend a presentation on JavaFX in just about every session, but I hope to cover a much broader set of topics than just JavaFX. I'm trying to mix in some JavaFX, basic Java SE tooling, alternative JVM languages, and more. The biggest challenge is eliminating so many great sessions and trying to live with attending just one each hour.

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the JavaScript benchmark suite for the modern web

 the JavaScript benchmark suite for the modern web

The web is evolving and so should the JavaScript benchmarks that measure its performance. Today, we are releasing Octane, a JavaScript benchmark suite that aims to measure a browser’s performance when running the complex and demanding web applications that users interact with daily.

Most of the existing JavaScript benchmarks run artificial tests that were created on an ad-hoc basis to stress a specific JavaScript feature. Octane breaks with this tradition and extends the former V8 Benchmark Suite with 5 new benchmarks created from full, unaltered1, well-known web applications and libraries. A high score in the new benchmarks directly translates to better and smoother performance in similar web applications.

Here is an overview of the new tests:

• Box2DWeb runs a JavaScript port of a popular 2D physics engine that is behind many well-known simulations and web games.
• Mandreel puts a JavaScript port of the 3D Bullet Engine to the test with a twist: The original C++ source code for the engine is translated to JavaScript by Onan Games’ Mandreel compiler, which is also used in countless web-based games.
• Pdf.js is based on Mozilla’s PDF reader and shows how Javascript applications can replace complex native browser plug-ins. It measures how fast the browser decodes a sample PDF document.
• GB Emulator is derived from an open source emulator of a famous game console running a 3D demo.
• CodeLoad measures how quickly a JavaScript engine can bootstrap commonly used JavaScript libraries and start executing code in them. The source for this test is derived from open source libraries (Closure, jQuery).

Besides an expanded set of benchmarks, Octane also has an interface that makes it easier to read and that adapts automatically to tablet and mobile screens.



You can try out Octane yourself, browse the source code, or read more about each benchmark at theOctane site. Still have some questions? Have a look at the FAQ page.

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Even After Price Drop, Sony Vaio Z Is Still a Big-Ticket Notebook

Even After Price Drop, Sony Vaio Z Is Still a Big-Ticket Notebook

Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

When the Vaio Z was first released in 2011, it became clear that Sony was capable of besting Apple in the premium notebook realm, at least when it came to pure performance and exotic builds. The sub-three-pound notebook — a mix of carbon fiber, aluminum, and magnesium alloy — was one of the lightest and fastest machines available upon its arrival. It was also one of the most expensive, around $2,500 once you optioned it up.
This year’s refreshed Vaio Z still has the same striking design, and it’s still very impressive on specs. It’s also several hundred dollars cheaper, making it a much more sensible purchase. But the 2012 Vaio Z suffers from some weird design quirks, and even with a lowered price tag, it doesn’t do enough to truly outshine its competitors in today’s ultrabook-saturated laptop market.

Sony has upped the Vaio Z’s power and speed to keep it in step with the advances that have occurred since the original’s arrival.

Sony has upped the Vaio Z’s power and speed to keep it in step with the advances that have occurred since the original’s arrival. This means it now has the latest, third-generation Intel Core chips. The Z sits at the pointy end of Sony’s Vaio line, and even the most basic model has a dual-core 2.5 GHz Core i5 chip. You can upgrade to a quad-core 2.1 GHz Core i7 chip (like the one in the “Enhanced” model we tested). The 13.1-inch LED display has a higher, full HD resolution, at 1920 x 1080 pixels — noticeably better than the MacBook Air’s 1440 x 900 pixel screen.
All of this is housed in a sleek, 2.58-pound, 0.66-inch thin package made of the same unique blend of aluminum and magnesium alloy with a carbon-fiber-accented exterior. It’s definitely an incredibly light and portable notebook, even if it doesn’t technically qualify for Intel’s “ultrabook” label. The choice of materials offers slightly more flex than pure aluminum, and the carbon fiber feels similar to plastic. This gives the notebook a cheaper appearance overall, even though the material is sturdy.

Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

Unfortunately, almost nothing about the physical appearance has changed since the Z’s previous incarnation, and that’s not a good thing. The trackpad is still frustrating to use, and its inelegant, carbon-y textured surface doesn’t help. It also remains awkwardly off to the right of the keyboard’s space bar, and is incredibly small compared to other ultrabook track pads. Even more clumsy, a significant portion of the bottom section (where the clicking mechanism lives) is not touch-sensitive.
The keyboard could also benefit from some refining. The chiclet keyboard is not as responsive as Apple’s, and when typing very quickly, it led to a noticeable increase in typos. Another odd design choice is found in the hinge, which strangely lifts the back of computer by a few millimeters when you open the lid. I didn’t mind it too much, but I also didn’t understand the purpose of having such a quirky feature.
Unlike last year’s Vaio Z, the 2012 model does not come with a docking system, which means the Blu-ray drive and extra ports won’t be included. But that also means Sony was able to slash the price by several hundred dollars, making the most basic model of the Vaio Z $1,600. You get 128GB of SSD (upgradeable up to 512 GB) and the necessary ports, including one USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, HDMI output, VGA output, Ethernet, and a headphone jack.
Still, the Vaio Z isn’t easy on the wallet. And if you choose to upgrade just a few features — hard drives or processor or memory — you’ll quickly edge over the $2,000 mark. With more and more high-end ultrabooks entering the market at around two-thirds that cost, it’s hard to justify such a steep outlay, even with impressive specs.
WIRED Sharp and gorgeous matte display that has little to no glare problems. Top-of-the-line specs and upgradeable features. Good battery life, up to around 6.5 hours.
TIRED Strange and impractical trackpad. Klutzy keyboard. Carbon fiber elements give it a cheap, plasticky vibe. Expensive.

Yes, that’s a VGA port. Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

The rest of the ports are shown here, including a flip-down Ethernet connector. Photo by Peter McCollough/Wired

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Motorola XYBOARD 8.2 and 10-inch tablets getting Ice Cream Sandwich

Motorola XYBOARD 8.2 and 10-inch tablets getting Ice Cream Sandwich

Motorola’s latest tablets might have been forgotten by many, but the XYBOARD tablet in both the 8.2 and 10-inch flavors are getting upgraded to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich this week. Motorola dropped the news last night, and now Verizon has also confirmed the DROID XYBOARD tablets will receive the same fate.


The XYBOARD tablets are quite nice, but they still haven’t managed to make much of a dent — if any at all — in the US market. Motorola confirmed and detailed the update over on their support pages, and now Verizon’s done the same. The tablets initially landed stateside from Verizon, so most US users probably are sporting the DROID edition.
For full update details and instructions you’ll want to head to the Verizon support page, as that explains what to expect. As usual we’ll probably see the update roll out for Verizon DROID XYBOARD owners in the next 24-48 hours, so start checking for updates.
Improvements include Face Unlock, a better browsing experience, improved 3G/4G connectivity, Unlock screen shortcuts, as well as general stability improvements as usual. One thing worth noting is Motorola themselves updated both tablets to Ice Cream Sandwich, but Verizon’s support pages only shows the update for the 10.1 model and not the 8.2 tablet. We could see it any minute now so we aren’t too worried about Verizon leaving it out. Be sure to start checking for updates as it should arrive shortly.
 

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 rated by iFixit, James Franco stars in new ad

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 rated by iFixit, James Franco stars in new ad

The fine folks at iFixit have ripped apart the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 in an effort to find out how repair-friendly it is. The results were pretty good too, with iFixit giving the tablet a repairability rating of 8/10. It’s not perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than the third-gen iPad, which only managed to take home a 2/10 rating.

Opening the device up, iFixit found that it housed a total of 16 connectors, which they say is a “huge boon” for repairability. The device is sealed up with a handful of Phillips screws and clips, which means that it’s relatively easy to get into while still keeping out those tiny humans some affectionately call “children.” The Galaxy Note 10.1 also gets bonus points for having an easy-to-remove battery, despite the fact that a fair amount of cables have to be disconnected before you can take the battery out.
The screen also scored some major points, as the glass and the LCD are easy to separate. Worth mentioning are the EMI shields, with iFixit saying that they’re screwed in, which is a pretty rare thing. In all, the Galaxy Note 10.1 managed to take home a pretty great repairability score, so if you like taking your devices apart and fixing them yourself, you have a repair-friendly tablet with the Galaxy Note 10.1.


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Elsewhere on the Internet, James Franco can be seen starring in a brand new ad for the Galaxy Note 10.1. The 2:45 ad focuses once more on the multitaksing capabilities of the Galaxy Note 10.1, with Franco using the the tablet to record video and voice memos relating to skateboards and take a picture of a model’s strep throat before sending it off to her doctor. It’s a strange little ad, but definitely one that’s worth watching (especially if you happen to like James Franco). Check it out above, and be sure to peruse our story timeline below for more posts on the Galaxy Note 10.1!

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Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE Review

Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE Review

The newest slide-out hardware QWERTY keyboard rocking smartphone has finally hit the market. That being the brand new Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE with the Now Network. Motorola calls this a “triple threat phone” with a great screen, PC-like keyboard, and dual-core processor. Stay tuned to find out how much of a threat it really is.


This represents the second device from Motorola to come out of the box with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and on-screen navigation keys here in the US. The device rocks some of the better hardware available (screen aside) but sadly the network is quite slow and their “4G LTE” is still nowhere to be seen. Lets take a look shall we?
Hardware
To start with the hardware we’ll run down the specs, then go into more details after our hands-on video. The Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE comes with near top of the line specs, but falls short in a few places. The screen is 4.3-inches and rocks Moto’s Colorboost technology but sadly is only 960 x 540 qHD resolution, no 720p here. Other than that the rest of the specs are top-tier. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 1.5 GHz dual-core processor (Just like the Galaxy S III) has 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (and micro-SD slot), an 8 megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p video, 1.3 front for video chatting. Take a peek below:


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Then obviously we have that spacious and comfy 5-row QWERTY keyboard that also manages to be edge-lit for dark situations. The DROID 4′s was also edge-lit but they lights only came on as needed. With the PHOTON Q the key lights are always lit up. The keyboard is extremely easy to work with, and get use to — I just wish there was an Android home button on it. In comparison to the previous PHOTON, the new Q didn’t get much thinner, didn’t get a quad-core processor, and lost its kickstand in favor for a non-removable back and battery. Those last two are serious cons if you ask us — just saying!
    To round off the specs we get a dedicated camera button, HDMI-out for accessories, and a mediocre 1785 mAh battery. Motorola has always had better than average build quality with their hardware. It looks good, feels good, has a durable construction and more. That also means it’s quite heavy though. The vibration haptic feedback seems to rattle the keyboard area giving it a cheap feeling, but it’s no where near a cheap device. The combined soft and hard plastic design is odd and feels rather different, but we liked the overall feel during usage. The last thing we wanted to mention of the hardware is Motorola added a LED for notifications. It doesn’t light up while charging oddly, but does notify users of pending notifications and is rather bright. Green is the only color we’ve seen.

Software
Running on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich you have nearly the latest and greatest Android OS, and surely it will receive Jelly Bean sometime in the future. Motorola’s been bringing some uniqueness to Android with smart actions, and now we have their clock/weather Circle Widget that I love, as well as a new way to set up homescreens. You won’t have 5-7 out of the box, and instead when you swipe to the side you’ll be greeted with options to set up additional screens. It’s a different approach, but we like the thought.

As usual Motorola’s webtop software is present, as well as the micro-USB/HDMI ports for their multiple accessories. The PHOTON Q 4G LTE will work with their desk dock, HD dock, and Lapdock computer accessories all with ease. Their HD dock we’ve seen before but as usual it is also available and compatible with the PHOTON Q 4G LTE, and we suggest those in need check it out. It’s made to be universal with future purchases too.

Motorola has continued to improve on their OS now that they’ve ditched their BLUR UI, and Android 4.0 ICS looks rather simple and pretty. Instead of changing everything it’s more of a skin than a complete overhaul. Hopefully Google continues to rub off on Motorola.
Performance
Performance was stellar as expected. Running on the same 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm S4 processor as the Galaxy S III, HTC One X (AT&T) and others yet having the smallest screen of them all we knew it would perform well. Quadrant results were impressive passing the 5,000 mark with memory and IO results scoring quite well. This mirrored daily usage of fast speeds, quick navigation, and a smooth experience. AnTuTu wasn’t as nice giving it a lower score than even the old Galaxy S II.
 Speedtest and 4G LTE
Sadly we must mention this because such a big selling part is the 4G LTE — which by the way is basically non existent for most of the US. Once the carrier gets up and running with their LTE this will be different, but for now their 3G is still dead slow. The Now Network 3G is still amazingly slow and until 4G LTE arrives this phone will crawl with browsing the web, app updates and more. I was constantly searching for WiFi all week. Once 4G LTE launches in more cities we’ll revisit these tests.
a
Even 3G was hard to come by in terms of a good, stable, and fast connection. With Verizon and AT&T both far ahead with 4G LTE the light is starting to dim here — but hopefully they pull it together. T-Mobile is catching up and launching their LTE next year too.

Camera and Battery Life
The camera is one area I can say Motorola has made significant improvement. Their previous phones like the dreadful DROID Bionic had some rather terrible cameras. While this still doesn’t compete with the Galaxy S III or HTC One X the 8 megapixel sensor is decent. Shutter speed has always been a problem but not anymore. The PHOTON Q 4G LTE was quite fast, and pictures were decent during daily usage. You’ll have no problems getting a good shot. Here’s a few samples:
  

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Next up is battery life. Sadly Motorola pulled a bad move and discarded the popular kickstand while also making the rear of the device non-removable. You can’t take off the back to access the battery, and it’s only 1785 mAh. Having the efficient S4 dual-core and a smaller non HD screen made battery life better than the average device these days, and we averaged well over 13 hours of solid usage. Enough for a days work.

Wrap-Up
In the end the Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE is a great piece of hardware. The keyboard isn’t quite “PC-like” as they call it, but certainly one of the best keyboards on a phone we’ve used in a while. The screen isn’t HD but has great colors and brightness so that’s a plus. We wouldn’t really call this a triple threat but for those on the Now Network this is certainly one to consider — especially if you like the hardware keyboard.

Sadly the network is still no where near being up to par, especially with 2012 standards. Call quality was great, but data is another story. As a phone calls were clear, crisp, and rarely dropped and the speaker phone is amazingly loud on this device. Once the 4G LTE becomes a reality this phone will be a good option for the many who love a keyboard. As an added bonus this is the first smartphone from Motorola that can officially be unlocked. You can unlock its bootloader with their Unlock My Device website. The new Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE is available today starting at $199 with a new 2-year contract. If you love a keyboard and are willing to wait
for 4G LTE go pick one up today!

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