Note before we go any further several factoids, the first of which being that the grandfather of Java James Gosling just about a week ago decided to leave Google after only a half year on the job, this lining up suspiciously well with both the start of and possibly the end of the case we’re looking at right this moment. Remember also that so-called evidence dug up by IP man Florian Mueller has since been proven to be useless to the suit incase you were still wondering about that, and also remember that in July of 2011 relatively new Google CEO Larry Page was the subject of a 2 hour grilling on the case.

Also, for your records, this is completely separate from the patent wars being spoken about by Microsoft and Google over the past couple of months.

Now what we’re seeing today is that Google and Oracle appear to be walking together, holding hands, smiling at one another as they reach the mediation table where they’ll make a newly minted attempt at settling the case. Both Google and Oracle have released statements on the subject.

Google writes:

Google welcomes the Court’s suggestion that the parties participate in a mediation of this case before a Magistrate Judge. Google does not object to participating in a mediation before a Magistrate Judge who is not otherwise involved in this case.

Google recognizes the importance of having top executives of the parties attend the Court-ordered mediation. Google proposes that Andrew Rubin, who is Senior Vice President, Mobile and reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, attend for Google together with Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel of Google. Mr. Rubin’s executive responsibilities include all of Google’s mobile business, of which the Android business is a part. Mr. Rubin is knowledgeable regarding the issues in this case and he is fully empowered to resolve this matter on reasonable terms.

Google also understands from counsel for Oracle that they propose that Safra Catz and Thomas Kurian attend on behalf of Oracle — and Google agrees with this choice. Ms. Catz is one of two Presidents of Oracle who, like Mr. Rubin, reports directly to Oracle’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rubin and Ms. Catz were involved in previous discussions involving the subject matter at issue in this case.

Oracle writes:

Oracle concurs with the Court’s view that an additional attempt at settlement of the case through mediation before a United State Magistrate Judge is warranted. Oracle has found previous efforts at settlement, including private discussions between the parties, frustrating for lack of follow-through, and believes that those efforts have not exhausted the possibilities for resolving the case.

As suggested by the Court, Oracle considers it essential that both parties bring top-level executives. Accordingly, Oracle’s executive representatives in the mediation before the Magistrate Judge will be Safra Catz, President of Oracle Corporation, and Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Oracle Product Development.

Oracle will strive to make its representatives available as necessary and proposes that the mediation occur before the end of September.

So Judge William Alsup, in his infinite wisdom, has suggested such a mediation before the case heads to jury. Oracle’s Safra Catz, if you were considering this particular meeting to be a matchup of minds, might be the top contender in this barrel, and as that fellow Florian Mueller, who just seems to keep popping up in this epic story somehow, says:

The choice of Andy Rubin and Google’s General Counsel Kent Walker is very questionable. While Google can’t be penalized for the fact that it doesn’t give anyone the title of “President”, those two executives are clearly not at a level with Safra Catz.

What do you think? Are Google and Oracle taking this case seriously? I sure as heck feel like Oracle is ready to go the full swinging boxing match here – and with what’s at stake, one would hope that both parties would bring their best contenders to the floor. We’ll be following this story to the end, so stay tuned until the very epic end!

[via FossPatents]

Gosling left Google to become the chief software architect at Liquid Robotics. The CEO of Liquid Robotics is Bill Vass. Vass and Gosling worked together at Sun Microsystems previously. Gosling will be writing software for the cool robots that Liquid Robotics makes. The bots are called Wave Glider and are designed to glide through the oceans collecting data on all sorts of things.

The bots are able to harvest the power they need form the waves in the ocean and are autonomous. The robotics firm only makes about a third of its overall income selling the data that its bots collect. The rest of the income the company generates is made by doing research and development as well as selling the Wave glider robot that the company uses to collect data in the oceans.

[via Android Community]

Nonetheless, Apple is at pains to point out that Java SE 6 will still be available for OS X Snow Leopard and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Oracle will take over with Java SE 7 and future versions, managing the platform’s distribution to open source developers.

Press Release:

Oracle and Apple Announce OpenJDK Project for Mac OS X

REDWOOD SHORES and CUPERTINO, California—November 12, 2010—Oracle and Apple® today announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS® X. Apple will contribute most of the key components, tools and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client. OpenJDK will make Apple’s Java technology available to open source developers so they can access and contribute to the effort.

“We are excited to welcome Apple as a significant contributor in the growing OpenJDK community,” said Hasan Rizvi, Oracle’s senior vice president of Development. “The availability of Java on Mac OS X plays a key role in the cross-platform promise of the Java platform. The Java developer community can rest assured that the leading edge Java environment will continue to be available on Mac OS X in the future. Combined with last month’s announcement of IBM joining the OpenJDK, the project now has the backing of three of the biggest names in software.”

“We’re delighted to be working with Oracle to insure that there continues to be a great version of Java on the Mac,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “The best way for our users to always have the most up to date and secure version of Java will be to get it directly from Oracle.”

Apple also confirmed that Java SE 6 will continue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard® and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Java SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X will be available from Oracle.

Java is a general purpose software development platform that is specifically designed to be open and enable application developers to “write once, run anywhere.” The Java platform is most widely used in business software, web and mobile applications.

Google is going out of its way to “defend open-source standards,” and they do not intend to stop here, with this lawsuit brought against them. They call the whole thing “baseless,” in fact. And as both companies obviously push forward, we’re forced to look at what they’re fighting over here. What it all means, as it relates to Android in any case. The Dalvik virtual machine, at the heart of Android, is held front and center within this dispute. It would be pretty shocking to see either Google or Oracle back down from their statements at this point.

Google’s Official Statement

“We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit. The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform.”

Handseeing creates online games titles based on Chinese folklore, using Java rather than Flash.  While the company is little known outside of China, within the country it has won awards for its JGnet games engine; back in June 2009 Handseeing secured 50 million RMB ($7.4m) investment from Green Pine Capital Partners Co., Ltd.  Apple declined to comment on the speculation.

The new SDK is part of RIM’s play to pull in more third-party developers, since they’re lagging behind Android and iOS when it comes to app selection.  Part of their approach is to make a lot more of the underlying system available for integration, including the Universal Search and improved location-awareness (such as reverse geocoding and a new Travel Time API that calculates ETAs).  There’s also HTML5 support in the new WebKit-based browser, and devs can create widgets and web-apps that tie into the phones’ core abilities.

Developers keen to try out the new tools can download the BlackBerry 6 Java SDK here; there’s also more information for developers on the new OS here.

SlashGear is at the RIM press event in New York today, and will be bringing you a full hands-on report with the Torch 9800 as soon as we grab some time with the new smartphone.  Until then, check out all the details here.

Press Release:

BlackBerry Torch Smartphone First to Feature New BlackBerry 6 Combines New Touch Screen Experience with Easy-To-Use Keyboard and Rich WebKit Browser First Smartphone to Support AT&T’s Next Generation Messaging Experience, and First to Offer Locations Feature New BlackBerry App World Pre-installed with Carrier Billing Support

Dallas and Waterloo, ON – Joining forces to offer the first smartphone to feature the highly anticipated BlackBerry® 6 exclusively on the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T* and Research In Motion (RIM) today introduced the new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone. Adept for socially connected consumers and packed with the tools business customers love, the new handset is the world’s first smartphone to combine a BlackBerry® keyboard with a full touch screen experience. Whether users choose to type out messages on the capacitive touch screen or easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard, browse the Internet using pinch to zoom or fluidly navigate with the optical trackpad, the BlackBerry Torch allows them to communicate any way they want.

“We were the first to launch the BlackBerry solution in 1999 and have a rich history of innovation and collaboration with Research In Motion,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “The two companies that brought the first BlackBerry smartphones to market have teamed up again with the new BlackBerry Torch, creating a true generational shift in hardware and operating system for this enormously popular service.”

“This is one of the most significant launches in RIM’s history and we are proud to introduce the new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 together with AT&T,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-ceo, Research In Motion. “With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 deliver integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals that preserve the industry-leading strengths of the BlackBerry platform while adding exciting new dimensions.”

BlackBerry 6
The BlackBerry Torch is the first BlackBerry smartphone to launch with BlackBerry 6, a new operating system that retains the familiar and trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that’s powerful and easy to use.

BlackBerry 6 features a redesigned interface that seamlessly works with the touch screen and trackpad, includes expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features to simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds (Social Feeds), and provides integrated access to the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications available on the BlackBerry Torch smartphone. Its enhanced multimedia experience rivals the best in the industry and includes a dedicated YouTube app and Podcasts app.

BlackBerry 6 also integrates a new and rich WebKit-based browser on BlackBerry Torch that renders HTML web pages (as well as HTML email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. It features tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, pinch to zoom for easy navigation and an auto-wrap text zoom feature that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page’s key elements (simply double-tap on the BlackBerry Torch).

Universal search, always accessible from the Home Screen, allows users to search through email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more on the smartphone, as well as extend search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World™.

Advanced Messaging
Messaging has always been a core element of the BlackBerry smartphone experience and the BlackBerry Torch smartphone expands on RIM’s popular messaging solutions with the support of AT&T’s advanced messaging features for SMS and MMS. RIM’s new Text Messages application is especially exciting for users who communicate most via SMS and MMS, providing support for AT&T’s next-generation messaging experience, which includes group messaging with “reply all” functionality for up to 10 contacts. And for the first time, AT&T’s platform includes a new Locations feature.

Locations lets users easily search for points of interest, businesses, and even the user’s own location, and insert this information directly into a message, all without leaving the messaging application. Using group messaging and locations together, users can arrange to meet a group of friends easily by sending one message to all of them, discussing together where to meet and then sending a map – all in one threaded conversation. AT&T designed the service based on research that revealed customers want features that help facilitate social planning, improved message organization and location sharing.

Apps At Your Fingertips
After powering up the BlackBerry Torch smartphone for the first time, users will notice a set of pre-loaded icons which allow them to download and immediately begin using a variety of rich entertainment and social networking applications to access Bloomberg, ESPN, The Weather Channel and Slacker Radio content in addition to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more. Also available is AT&T’s Web Video Search, a unique new app that searches video content from over 70 major Internet video websites.

In addition to searching the Internet for video, the BlackBerry Torch smartphone also features more multimedia apps that let users download TV shows and watch live TV, as well as create video content and upload it to YouTube. The new Podcasts application makes it easy for users to find and manage audio and video podcasts.

Another application that puts a key function of a phone at your fingertips is Visual Voicemail, which benefits customers by allowing them to select the voicemails they want to hear first.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is also the first BlackBerry smartphone to include BlackBerry App World™ pre-installed, supporting carrier billing through AT&T, making it easier for customers to discover and purchase applications.

BlackBerry Torch Smartphone Features
• Elegant styling, measuring approx. 4.4″ (5.8″ open) x 2.4″ x .57″ and weighing 5.68 ounces
• 3.2″ 360×480 capacitive touch screen display
• 35 key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing
• Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth
• Powerful 624 Mhz processor with 512 MB Flash memory
• 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box
• 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes, geo-tagging and zoom, as well as video recording at up to 640×480 resolution
• Built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging
• Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n); qualifying smartphone customers can enjoy seamless connectivity to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional cost
• 3.5mm stereo headset jack
• Premium phone features, including voice activated dialing, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories
• New BlackBerry® Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos**. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes® or Windows Media® Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. When in range of their home Wi-Fi network (or via USB), the changes are synced with iTunes or Windows Media Player and the songs are automatically downloaded to the smartphone
• Tri-band HSDPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE support for the option of voice service in more than 220 countries, data service in more than 195 countries and 3G connectivity in more than 125 countries, including Japan and South Korea
• Removable, rechargeable 1300 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.8 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 30 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video playback

Pricing and Availability
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone will be available only for AT&T customers on August 12 in AT&T company owned retail stores and online at www.att.com/blackberrytorch, as well as Best Buy, Wal-Mart and RadioShack stores.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available for $199.99 with 2-year service agreement on a qualifying rate plan and smartphone data plan required. New smartphone customers may choose from two AT&T monthly data plan options, $15 for 200 MB of wireless data or $25 for 2 GB. Enterprise and small business customers should contact their account representative for pricing details.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

AT&T imposes: a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge of up to $1.25 to help defray costs incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulations; State and Federal Universal Service charges; and surcharges for government assessments on AT&T. These fees are not taxes or government-required charges.

**Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies. Photo and video syncing is currently only available for Windows-based PCs.

Limited-time offer. Other conditions & restrictions apply. See contract & rate plan brochure for details. Subscriber must live & have a mailing addr. within AT&T’s owned wireless network coverage area. Up to $36 activ. fee applies. Equipment price & avail may vary by mrk & may not be available from independent retailers. Early Termination Fee: None if cancelled in the first 30 days, but up to $35 restocking fee may apply to equipment returns; thereafter up to $325. Some agents impose add’l fees. Unlimited voice services: Unltd voice svcs are provided primarily for live dialog between two individuals. No additional discounts are available with unlimited plan. Smartphone Data Plan Requirement: Smartphones require a DataPlus (200MB) or DataPro (2GB) plan. If you exceed your initial data allowance, you will automatically be charged an additional $10 for each additional 1GB provided on DataPro or an additional $15 for each additional 200MB provided on DataPlus. All data allowances, including overages, must be used in the billing period in which the allowance is provided or they will be forfeited. An Enterprise Data Plan is required for corporate email, company intranet sites and business applications. For more details on Data Plans, go to att.com/dataplans. Offnet Usage: If your mins of use (including unltd svcs) on other carrier’s networks (“offnet usage”) during any two consecutive months or your data use during any month exceeds your offnet usage allowance, AT&T may at its option terminate your svc, deny your contd use of other carriers’ coverage, or change your plan to one imposing usage charges for offnet usage. Your offnet usage allowance is equal to the lesser of 750 mins or 40% of the Anytime mins incl’d with your plan (data offnet usage allowance is the lesser of 24 MB or 20% of the KB incl’d with your plan). Sales tax calculated based on price of unactivated equipment. AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots- Based on non-municipal company owned and operated hotspots. A Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for additional services, restrictions and locations. Visual Voicemail – Data plan required for AT&T Visual Voicemail. Data used in replying to and forwarding voicemail messages via SMS, MMS or email is counted against your data plan. Applicable data charges apply if data plan limits have been exceeded. International data charges apply to receiving, replying to and forwarding voicemail messages while roaming internationally.

Press Release:

RIM Unleashes BlackBerry 6

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced BlackBerry® 6, a new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones that retains the trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that is both powerful and easy to use. BlackBerry 6 features a redesigned interface that seamlessly works with a touch screen and trackpad, expanded messaging capabilities that simplify managing social media and RSS feeds, an advanced multimedia experience that rivals the best in the industry, a convenient new Universal Search tool, and a new and efficient WebKit-based browser that renders web pages quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience.

“BlackBerry 6 is the outcome of RIM’s ongoing passion to deliver a powerful, simplified and optimized user experience for both touch screen and keyboard fans,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-ceo, Research In Motion. “Following extensive research and development to address consumer needs and wants, we are delivering a communications, browsing and multimedia experience that we think users will love, and we are thrilled to debut BlackBerry 6 on the amazing new BlackBerry Torch smartphone.”

Visual, Fluid Interface
BlackBerry 6 has been redesigned making it easier and more intuitive, with clean, sleek visuals and natural, fluid navigation. Designed to be both fresh and familiar, the new interface enables a productive, fun and highly satisfying user experience whether using a touch screen or trackpad and keyboard.

BlackBerry 6 offers multiple views that help users better organize their applications and content. Icons are arranged on the Home Screen in 5 customizable views (All, Favorites, Media, Downloads and Frequent) that are navigable with simple swipes. Users can organize where they want their icons to appear, and can add contacts or web page shortcuts directly to the Home Screen.

Also new to BlackBerry 6 are visually-rich, context-sensitive Action Menus. Within a given application, by clicking and holding the trackpad or through an extended touch of the display, users can bring the most common actions or tasks of an application to the surface. In addition, users can seamlessly multitask by holding down the Menu key, which pops up a visual grid of all the applications currently running, so users can instantly switch between applications.

A powerful Universal Search tool is also accessible from the Home Screen. By simply clicking or tapping the Universal Search icon, users can search for any content on their handset, the web or in the new BlackBerry App World™, which is also integral to BlackBerry 6.

Fast Rich Web Browsing
BlackBerry 6 integrates a new and efficient WebKit-based browser that renders web pages (as well as email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. It features tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, an auto-wrap text zoom feature that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page’s key elements, and pinch to zoom.

Social Feeds and Text Messaging
The new Social Feeds application simplifies the management of social networking and RSS feeds and provides integrated access to the native BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™, AOL® Instant Messenger™, Google Talk™, Windows Live™ Messenger and Yahoo!® Messenger applications for BlackBerry smartphones. Social Feeds streamlines the user experience, provides an integrated view of friends’ activities across multiple social networks, and let’s users post updates across multiple networks simultaneously. Users can also easily add their favorite RSS Feeds from the Social Feeds application or directly from a website while browsing.

RIM’s new Text Messages application also adds exciting new features for users who communicate mostly via SMS and MMS, including the ability for users to now view a conversation in one threaded ‘chat’ as well as share photos, videos and other rich content.

Engaging Multimedia Experience
The multimedia experience in BlackBerry 6 is designed to give users a more engaging and streamlined experience with album art everywhere in the new music and video players. The new BlackBerry® Desktop Software 6 integrates media sync for easily syncing photos and videos as well as iTunes® and Windows Media® Player music with the smartphone*. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes® or Windows Media® Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists, as well as select music for download. When in range of their home Wi-Fi network (or via USB), the changes are synced with iTunes® or Windows Media® Player and the songs are automatically downloaded to the smartphone.

BlackBerry 6 also gives users access to a range of camera modes that can help them capture better images. Editing, organizing and sharing shots is amazingly simple, with intuitive options for grouping pictures.

The new Podcasts application makes it easy for users to find and manage audio and video podcasts. Users can view all the podcasts saved on their smartphone, browse a catalogue of podcasts available for download, subscribe to them, and wirelessly download the content directly onto their smartphone. There is also a dedicated YouTube® application, so viewing and sharing videos is easier than ever and users can also easily search for videos using the new Universal Search tool in BlackBerry 6.

Compatibility with Existing BlackBerry Smartphones
BlackBerry 6 will debut on the new BlackBerry® Torch™ smartphone (announced today) available from AT&T on August 12 and it is also designed to run on select BlackBerry smartphones already in market. Subject to carrier certifications in the months ahead, the new OS is expected to be available for the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9650 and BlackBerry® Pearl™ 3G, as well as future BlackBerry smartphones.

Research In Motion is releasing an SDK for BlackBerry 6 (also announced today). Developers can find additional details at www.blackberry.com/developers/blackberry6.

For more information on BlackBerry 6, visit www.blackberry.com/6. To view screen shots, visit the Inside BlackBerry Blog: www.blackberry.com/blog. For more information about the BlackBerry Torch smartphone from AT&T, visit www.att.com/blackberrytorch.

* Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies. Photo and video syncing is currently only available for Windows-based PCs.

Press Release:

RIM Announces Java SDK to Support New BlackBerry 6

User Interface Enhancements, Web Kit Browser Support and New Services Make it Easier to Build Compelling and Fresh Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced a new Java SDK to support BlackBerry® 6, a highly anticipated new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones. BlackBerry® Java SDK v6.0 takes advantage of new UI features, offers deeper integration with BlackBerry smartphones, access to new and enhanced services and support for rendering and porting content to the new WebKit-based browser.

BlackBerry Java SDK v6.0 focuses on providing developers with powerful tools that enable them to create rich, visually appealing applications on the BlackBerry® Application Platform and make it easier to integrate capabilities that have traditionally been difficult for developers. The BlackBerry developer community can now access more than 40 new APIs that allow them to build visually rich and deeply integrated applications that take advantage of the new features in BlackBerry 6.

“The opportunity for developers to create applications that tie to core applications and features of the BlackBerry Application Platform has never been greater,” said David Yach, Chief Technology Officer, Software at Research In Motion. “Our veteran developers, as well as those who are new to the BlackBerry platform, are going to be thrilled with the new APIs as well as the sleek and powerful user interface.”

Richer User Interfaces
The BlackBerry Java SDK v6.0 supports the fresh new look in the BlackBerry 6 user interface (UI) with new pre-built UI elements including contextual menus, tables, lists, inertial scrolling, activity progress indicators, pane managers, tool bars, title bars and sub menus.

BlackBerry Browser with WebKit
The new browser in BlackBerry 6 leverages a WebKit rendering engine and developers will be able to build dynamic web sites and rich mobile applications as well as advanced widgets that can be seamlessly integrated with the browser and core native applications. BlackBerry Widgets and web applications designed for the BlackBerry Browser v 5.0 will be forward compatible to the new browser.

HTML5 Support
With the added support of HTML5 in the new BlackBerry 6 Browser, web developers will be able to create content for BlackBerry smartphones that is run through the web, including compelling games and interactive media with 3D graphics in real time and more.

Native Feature Integration
Developers can use new APIs to more deeply integrate their applications with various aspects of a BlackBerry smartphone’s core functionality. The Unified Search Framework API will allow developers to register their application and their content partners to be searchable, as well as provide a mechanism for in-app search. The Mapfield API has been redesigned to provide enhanced features including panning, zooming, my location and convenience toolbars. Developers can call the Mapfield API to customize the look of location data and can use multiple mapfields simultaneously on the same screen for added user benefits.

Location Service Enhancements
The Location Service has been enhanced with a Wi-Fi® Geolocation API, allowing developers to build applications that leverage a handset’s location based on its proximity to Wi-Fi networks. The API builds on the LBS features already available to developers through cell tower location and GPS. Reverse Geocoding now allows applications to leverage zip/postal codes to obtain local information. The Travel Time API brings estimated time of arrival (ETA) information into applications. The ETA is based on anonymous real-time crowd sourced data combined with historical traffic information.

BlackBerry Java SDK v6.0 is available for download at www.blackberry.com/developers/java. More information about BlackBerry 6 can be found at www.blackberry.com/developers/blackberry6 .

TouchWiz wasn’t the greatest. TouchWiz 2.0 was a huge leap in the right direction. But there was always going to be something holding back Samsung from taking any steps forward in the mobile marketplace, and it had nothing to do with proprietary software on their phones. They lacked what everyone else and their second-cousin has: a way to get first- and third-party developed applications onto their phones. Well, it looks like that’s about to change.

Earlier in the month, we disclosed Samsung’s launch of the TouchWiz SDK, and it looks like they’re holding good on the promise to deliver some quality apps for their phones. Firstly, there will be a portal that’s powered by Samsung’s own native client, and the store will be filtered via an unspecified “content guideline” for getting apps into the Samsung Application Store (we know: creative). A total of 300 applications are said to be available when the store launches, and it will apparently focus on games. Not just random Java games, either. These games are coming from major providers, like Capcom, EA and Gameloft, among others. Samsung also mentioned that they are aiming to get 2,000 applications out to the consumers by year’s end.

Samsung is aiming for high-end phones to begin with: Samsung Omnia i8910 (the Omnia HD), Omnia II, and Omnia Lite. Customers will be able to tie purchases to their phone bills, or pay for your apps via third-party means. The website is available now, but Samsung said that the store won’t be open to purchases until September 14th, and is going to launch in France, the UK, and Italy. 30 countries are lined up in the coming months, and considering that the Omnia II is scheduled for a release here in the States, then it’s a good possibility we get to see some Application Store goodness.

[via Electronista]

Video demo after the cut

The only other really noticable change from the original ROM is that you now get Java on the Hero, as you can see in the screenshot above.  Otherwise there are a few bugfixes but it’s the speed that’s the headline feature here.

Paul says he thinks the ROM “takes the [Hero] to the next level”, and considering we called it the best Android device so far that’s a pretty impressive level indeed.  Our only point of concern is timing for its release: HTC told us it would arrive “in the coming weeks”, but Paul seems to have been told “a couple of months”.

It starts with raw or green coffee beans, it roasts them, and then it sends them to the grinder and grinds them. From there it uses water, presumably at least filtered if not purified, and brews you your coffee, quite literally from start to finish.

The best part is that it does all of that, from start to finish, in roughly the time it would take you to get your coffee at Starbucks, probably less. There are 13 glass tube-shaped bins for the beans, 6 hold green beans, the other 7 hold roasted beans, and each one has a scale built in which is probably used to let the employees know when the green beans need refilled and to keep the machine from roasting more beans than are being used so that they are fresh as possible. Pneumatic tubes are used to move the beans to the grinder, kind of like your bank, it’s all a pretty cool system just to get you your coffee.

[via BornRich and Micheal Galpert]