B-Trees

any comments?

android

hello everybody,

here's a demo with the android...just launched today...what do you think?

USA Today Article on Brazilian Software

U.S. tech companies give Brazil a go

BY THE NUMBERS
Population: 190 million.
Size: 3.3 million square miles.
Gross domestic product: $943.6 billion.
GDP per capita: $8,600.

Source: CIA World Factbook
By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Step aside, India and China. Brazil is the latest country with an emerging economy to attract big investments from U.S. tech companies.

Brazil, which is slightly smaller than the USA and has about two-thirds the population, has long had potential to become a significant tech market. But economic instability hindered growth.

Now that's changing. Tech spending in Brazil is expected to jump to $32.3 billion in 2011 from $20.5 billion this year, researcher IDC says. U.S. tech firms moving in include:

•Dell. The No. 2 PC maker this month opened a major assembly plant near São Paulo. Dell eventually will have about 1,200 employees in Brazil — about double what it had in 2005.

•Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The prominent Silicon Valley venture-capital firm opened its first Brazil fund this month in partnership with a local venture company. It has $40 million in capital, and a second fund worth about $100 million will follow soon, managing director Don Wood says.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: China | PC | IBM | Myspace | Dell

•MySpace. The social-networking giant, now owned by News Corp., plans to launch MySpace Brazil this summer.

Other companies are making similar forays. Brazil veteran IBM recently announced a partnership with local video game company Hoplon Infotainment. Since Portuguese is Brazil's official language, Mozilla is touting a Portuguese version of its Firefox Web browser. Intel launched a $50 million Brazilian venture fund.

Brazil is growing fast, and, "We'd like to be part of that," says Terry Kahler, Dell's vice president for Latin America.

Brazil's economic growth has been stunted for decades by inflation exceeding 70% a month at times, says Patrice Franko, an economics professor at Colby College. Years of reform are bringing Brazil's currency, the real, under control, she says.

The financial turmoil left a mixed legacy. Brazil's per-capita gross domestic product is about $8,600, compared with $43,500 in the USA. But Brazil also has a highly developed banking system and entrepreneurial spirit, Franko says.

Now, due to the more stable currency, "We have a middle class emerging," says Elber Mazaro, marketing manager for Intel Brazil.

Growth isn't limited to U.S. companies. Brazil's largest PC maker isn't Dell or IBM, but Positivo Informática in Curitiba.

Doing business in Brazil remains difficult. Taxes are high. Brazil has a thriving market for illegally imported goods, Kahler says. Plus, the gap between rich and poor — some in drug-ridden shantytowns — is rising, Franko says. That's led to an uptick in violence. Foreign workers "are living in privatized security enclaves in order to protect themselves," she says.

Health Care and Java

Here's a fascinating article on what has been done since 2004 to improve the Brazilian Health System using Java technology.

Java Project for million of users - Click here

Software making products better: iPhone

Hey everybody,

Apple has just launched the iPhone

It is simply amazing how you can improve a product with good software and good design

Great understanding of UI development and user needs

I wonder if the entire code was written in Cupertino, Ca.

Tell me what do you think, leave a comment if you can.

You can watch the announcement here: Click here to watch announcement


You can watch a short demo in the video here:

Competing On The Basis Of Speed

Pessoal, esse video eh muito bom pra quem trabalha com desenvolvimento de software. Google Tech Talks December 15, 2006 ABSTRACT Companies that compete on the basis of speed create a huge competitive advantage. But going fast is not easy. Speed requires a precise understanding of value: who, what, when, where, how, and why people will love your product. And it means getting value to them without complexity creeping into either your product or your process. Complexity comes in three basic flavors: 1. Inconsistency - Anything that is uneven, unbalanced, or irregular. 2. Overload - Any excessive or unreasonable burden. 3. Waste - Anything that unnecessarily takes up time, effort, space, or money. All three flavors of complexity are rampant in software development processes, and you can't go fast until you root them out. To learn more, join Mary and Tom Poppendieck in a discussion of Complexity, Queuing Theory, and Constant Innovation.

Video about Brazil - UK

Here's an excellent video about Brazil.

It is in English and takes about 5 minutes to start. If you want to know more about Brazil, check it out.

Click here to watch the video