http://www.techslash.comProviding extensive technology, computing and internet information resources!Copyright 2009 TECHSLASH. All rights reserved.Browser support should focus on usability and accessibility rather than pixel perfect design. Sites should render in all browsers, but provide advanced features and aesthetics to those which can support it. http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200917910281/7/2009 9:10:28 AMIt's the end of 2008 and everyone on the Web is hurting due to the economy. But we know that things will get better, because slow-downs eventually bury the old and give birth to new evolutionary ways of doing things. One of these evolutions started quietly in 2008. We are witnessing the rise of a new kind of web: contextual. You might not have heard or thought about it much yet, but you are already using it today. Search remains the killer app on the web, but context is quickly become a viable contender. Why? Because context is what happens instead of search. http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200812249522612/24/2008 9:52:26 AMFor those of you who develop on the .NET platform, this is THE reference architecture book for you. In fact, it's often referred to as the "Microsoft playbook for application architecture". http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200812238521712/23/2008 8:52:17 AMA project brings Semantic Web technology to personal documents. People naturally group information by topic and remember relationships between important things, like a person and the company where she works. But enabling computers to grasp these same concepts has been the subject of long-standing research. Recently, this has focused on the Semantic Web, but a European endeavor called the Nepomuk Project will soon see the effort take new steps onto the PC in the form of a "semantic desktop."http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200812161810412/16/2008 6:10:04 PMLearning a new language can seem like a daunting task. However, as it is with all types of learning, there are certain techniques and practices that will help you learn the language faster and more efficiently. Here are 10 of the best practices that aspiring programmers can use to quickly start programming in a new language. http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200812168531612/16/2008 8:53:16 AMIt is quite a remarkable feeling to watch as the pieces fall into place and the picture, anticipated for so long, is finally revealed in all its splendour. As with any jigsaw that lacked a guiding picture on the box, the final result is that inevitable mix of vindication and surprise. Some areas of the picture are wholly unexpected, some look as one predicted, while across most of the image there are new facets to explore in familiar places, anticipated scenes to compare with long-held expectations, and assumptions to challenge or validate. Recent advances in the business of cloud computing form just such a picture and reach out to encompass previously unrelated aspects of Web 2.0, the semantic web, platform computing, software as a service (SaaS), and the economics of disruption. http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200812159422612/15/2008 9:42:26 AMDuring the PC era, the technology stack was controlled by Microsoft Windows and Wintel - the "Wintel" era. We are now entering a new era, called variously 'Cloud' or 'SaaS' or 'Enterprise 2.0'. In this era everything is different - the stack, the players and the potential for value creation. ReadWriteWeb outlines the basic shape of this emerging era, in particular defining what makes up the new stackhttp://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200810319105810/31/2008 9:10:58 AMDojo, Ext, Google Web Toolkit, jQuery, MooTools, Prototype, and Yahoo User Interface perform amazing tricks with JavaScript; InfoWorld explores what makes each tick to help you determine which one to pick.http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200810301919210/30/2008 7:19:02 PMThe goal of Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud platform is to provide developers who want to write applications that run partially and/or entirely in a remote datacenter with a platform and set of tools. http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=2008102912473610/29/2008 12:47:36 PMWith its ambitious Oslo software-modeling platform, Microsoft Corp. is seeking a new application-development paradigm that raises the level of abstraction. But the effort has brought up questions about whether Oslo crowds the modeling landscape and whether Microsoft can achieve its lofty goals.http://www.techslash.com/?contentid=200810229441510/22/2008 9:44:15 AM