Duke Zone

Hello friends I missed you all!

Hope you are all well rested and energized for a great 2009 full of promising developments and awesome new technology. Although our newest baby JavaFX is but a month old, we are hearing awesome feedback and seeing cool platforms being written in the Script language.

I want to point your attention to WidgetFX which is a desktop widget platform written in the new language. It can run widgets written in either JavaFX Script or Java and takes advantage of the latest features in the Java Consumer JRE (Java SE 6 update 10).

Here are some cool features:

• open-source
• support for multiple platforms (Vista, Linus, Mac OS)
• rich library of graphics
• one-click installation and automatic updates
  

To get more info you can visit the project site here.

I've had one of those days where I can't believe how much Java makes our lives so much cooler. From the technology that powers Blu-ray Discs to my latest obsession Amazon's Kindle, Java simply does not cease to amaze us! You can learn more about the amazing stuff that Java can do here.

I'm psyched to announce that Sun released a major consumer-focused update of Java SE and boy are the features faster, easier and more powerful! Some of the enhancements include:

• radically improved startup time for Java applications and applets
• the ability to drag Java applets directly from the browser and have them run as desktop widgets
• more powerful and stylized application graphics
• a faster and simpler installation experience
• a new cross-platform look and feel

I invite you to download the new update here and tell me what you think!