Check it out: deviceless driver toolkits, development suites with integrated debuggers, fingerprint verification, video analysis, and much, much more in this month's collection of New Stuff.
3D Web Page Authoring Tools
Superscape's VRT version 5.50 will be shipped with a Logitech Space Mouse 3D controller, allowing designers up to six degrees of freedom when putting a 3D Web page together. VRT 5.50 includes
Superscape's new renderer (for Gouraud shading, advanced transparency, and lit texturing), allowing greater realism in 3D environments without the need for hardware acceleration. The Drag'n'Drop Warehouse contains over 800 Virtual Clip Art objects for fast world building. VRT 5.50 supports VRML 97 import and export as well as the SVR format.
Superscape Inc.
3945 Freedom Circle, Suite 1000
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-969-0500
http://www.superscape.com
Fingerprint-Enabled Logon System
I/O Software is shipping SecureStart/98, a fingerprint-enabled logon system for Microsoft® Windows®. I/O Software, which also publishes Puppy Secure Logon System for Windows NT®, brings the features of Puppy Logon to Windows 95 and Windows 98-based personal computers. SecureStart/98 works with the Sony Fingerprint Identification Unit (FIU)
to provide users with the added option to log on to their computer with a fingerprint. Unauthorized users are more reliably prevented from logging on and accessing information. Key features include administrator control and three authentication modes (password only, fingerprint and password, or fingerprint only), and network access to file servers only allowed to
authenticated users.
I/O Software Inc.
1533 Spruce Street
Riverside, CA 92507
909-222-7600
http://www.iosoftware.com
Access and Control
Hardware Without Drivers
Enhance performance at the hardware level and achieve binary compatibility across Microsoft's 32-bit operating systems with Vireo Software Inc.'s Driver::Agent software application development tool. Using Vireo's Kernel Agent technology, Driver::Agent lets applications access and control hardware directly on all 32-bit Windows platforms—Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 and 5.0—without performance penalties. Driver::Agent lets developers run part of their application in kernel mode for top performance, and
its Device Access Architecture delivers additional scalability. Source can be written and tested in an application, and then moved, unchanged, into a Kernel Agent for higher performance—or into a native device driver for complete flexibility. Driver::Agent contains sample code, advanced configuration tools that simplify setup for developers and users, wizards for application and Kernel Agent development, and debugging support. Advanced programming features include built-in timers, shared events, shared FIFOs, and the ability to construct custom Kernel Agents. Driver::Agent also includes automatic configuration for plug and play devices. The toolkit contains examples and full support for applications written in C, C++, Java, Delphi, and Visual Basic®. It is recommended for commercial applications, lab use, rapid prototyping, and
diagnostic software.
Vireo Software Inc.
30 Monument Square,
Suite 135
Concord, MA 01742
978-369-3380,
http://www.vireo.com
Use Windows Explorer to Edit Java Apps
ProtoView is now shipping the Data ExplorerJ, a component that allows developers to view and edit Java application data with the familiar Windows Explorer user interface. The Data ExplorerJ integrates the JFC Jtree/
Jsplitter/Jtable into a single integrated
control with extended features such as custom data models and bound images. Developers can use the JFC Jtable model, the Data ExplorerJ data model (which incorporates a treeview), or a data model of their own design. Data ExplorerJ can create a column of images bound to grid data as the first column; the images stay with the table data after sorting and moving.
ProtoView Development Corporation
2540 Route 130
Cranbury, NJ 08512
800-231-8588
609-655-5000
http://www.protoview.com
Create XML Documents Quickly
Vervet Logic is now shipping XML Pro, an editor that lets users create and edit documents using XML, a new Internet data document standard ratified by the World Wide Web Consortium. The XML Pro interface lets users create well-formed, validated XML documents quickly and efficiently. XML Pro includes support for document type definitions and XML validation.
Vervet Logic
501 North Morton, Suite 211
Bloomington, IN 47404
812-856-5270
http://www.vervet.com
Optimize Java Code
DashO-Pro, designed to create the fastest and smallest Java executables, is now available from preEmptive Solutions Inc. DashO-Pro increases Java program speed, makes programs as small as possible, and helps protect Java programs from decompilers. Java class files tend to grow larger than necessary, which makes it difficult to distribute applets quickly.
DashO-Pro removes unused methods, fields, and constant pool entries from Java programs, significantly trimming their size and allowing the applets to load faster and consume fewer resources on the client side. Though it can't prevent decompilation, DashO-Pro makes the resulting reconstructed source difficult to understand.
preEmptive Solutions Inc.
26250 Euclid Avenue, Suite 503
Euclid, OH 44132
216-732-5895
http://www.preemptive.com
Search and Analyze Video
Scene change detection technology is at the heart of Excalibur Technologies' Video Analysis Engine (VAE), a software development kit that eliminates many of the time-intensive tasks usually associated with manual review of video material.
VAE lets programmers and integrators build applications that analyze any video content automatically to discover crucial events—such as scene changes—as they occur. Based on Excalibur's Adaptive Pattern Recognition Processing, the technology can be used to create video storyboards representative of content. Excalibur's VAE gives programmers the power to directly control and manipulate video analysis at a very detailed level through video event detectors. Using the VAE API, programmers can select which detector to use at any point, and can build applications specific to their video analysis needs.
Excalibur Technologies Corporation
1921 Gallows Road, Suite 200
Vienna, VA 22182
800-788-7758
http://www.excalib.com
CodeWarrior Upgrade:
Integrated Debugger and Java Tools
Metrowerks is shipping two upgrades to its CodeWarrior line of development tools: CodeWarrior Professional 3 and CodeWarrior for MIPS 2. Code Warrior Professional 3 combines development tools for Windows and Mac-hosted desktops into a single package. It also contains Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 3.0, the latest version of Metrowerks' integrated development environment, which includes a debugger and a new Java-to-native compiler. The new IDE also allows programmers to use both the Intel MMX and AMD-3D instruction sets. The integrated debugger supports native x86, PowerPC, 68K, and Java and is seamlessly integrated into the IDE. By not switching back and forth between the debugger and IDE, developers will benefit from reduced memory usage by not having to run two separate applications. All the editing and project management tools are available to the programmer during debugging, so you can step through each line of code and set breakpoints directly in the editor instead of having to run a separate debugger. CodeWarrior Professional 3 also includes Java-to-native prerelease compiler plug-ins for x86 and PowerPC targets, and a JavaDoc postlinker that makes use of information generated during the compiler's parsing phase to create HTML documentation. CodeWarrior for MIPS 2, hosted on Windows 95 and Windows NT, supports both C and C++ languages. It integrates an editor, project manager, class browser, 32-bit and 64-bit compilers, source and assembly language-level debugger, assembler, linker, and debug monitor into a single package. CodeWarrior for MIPS 2 includes support for MIPS ISA levels III and IV, increasing the number of processors a developer can target for a new embedded system.
Metrowerks Inc.
2201 Donley Drive, Suite 310
Austin, TX 78758
800-377-5416,
http://www.metrowerks.com
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