Marc Andreessen, internet pioneer, told attendees at a PHP conference that PHP is succeeding where Java has failed.

Java enjoyed great success when its inventor, Sun Microsystems, released it in 1995, largely because it was optimised better for programmers than for machines, making software development significantly easier, Andreessen said. Unfortunately, Java has acquired many of the unfavorable characteristics of its predecessors, he added.

He also told the attendees that due to ease of deployment, web technologies, not desktop, will dominate for the application space for the next 30 years. And pointed to technologies like Ajax (with javascript), not Java, as the way to do client-side development.

“Microsoft talks a lot about Avalon (display technology in the upcoming Vista version of Windows) and fat clients. But they still have a problem. You have to get the program out onto everybody’s desktop. With the Web model, you don’t,” Andreessen said. “I think there’s no question the Web model is going to dominate over the next 10, 20, 30 years.”

PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

Flock beta is now available for download at Flock.com This is a developer preview so expect many, many bugs.

Flock Developer Preview is now available.

Our code couldn’t wait any longer to be free!

But! This preview ain’t for the faint of heart! If you’re the bleeding-edge type and don’t mind a few scrapes and busted knees from time to time, feel free to give it a whirl.

We’ve got interesting ideas in this thing. We want to know what we’ve done right how we could improve. And we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us!

So if a bucket of source code and developer binaries sound enticing, head over to our Developer page now.

ilounge.com has been testing the 5G iPods (with video) and have released the Top Ten Things Techies Wanted to Know About the 5G iPod. They tested the 30 GB version, and so far it looks pretty positive. Battery life is better than advertised and the sound quality has been improved since the 4G models.

Videora has released Videora iPod Converter, a free conversion application that will convert any PC video file into a format your 5th generation iPod will understand.

Videora iPod Converter is a free video conversion application developed by the creators of Videora. It allows you to convert your regular PC video files (avi, mpeg, etc) into the proper video format that your iPod understands.

When combined with Videora, Videora iPod Converter + Videora allows you to download, convert and copy video to your device, automatically using BitTorrent and RSS technology. See xCasting for more details

They even put together a video conversion guide.

This page will guide you through the entire process of ripping video off of any DVD and getting it onto your iPod. Most steps contain actual screen shots that show you exactly what you will see on your screen and exactly where to click and/or what to look at to perform that step.

Sweet!

After taking jabs at politics, including the 2004 Presidential election, Jib Jab takes a shot at American consumerism. Jib Jab’s latest, Big Box Mart, is a parody of Walmart and the all too real cost that these big box stores bring.

Entertaining as usual, and sung to the tune of “Oh, Susanna”. Classic stuff.

The actors, writers, and directors want a piece of what Apple is selling. Namely TV and video content for the iPod over it’s newly released iTunes 6. Since Apple announced last week, that episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives would be available for purchase a day after they air, union members want to be compensated for the re-use of their work.

Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America (West), said: “I’m thrilled by the notion I can watch my shows in the palm of my hand, but I also want to make sure we are paid appropriately.”

Nintendo has joined McDonald’s in a plan to boost the appeal of it’s new online gaming service. McDonald’s will be hosting free wi-fi for the Nintendo DS, allowing customers to play against other people around the globe.

While MCD currently offers wi-fi in some restaurants, it’s not free.

“Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is simple to use. Beginning with free access at participating McDonald’s, we have removed one of the major barriers that have kept people from going online to play games.”

Nintendo will be launching its online gaming service on November 14, 2005. November will also mark the release of the first available online games for Nintendo DS, Mario Kart and Tony Hawk. With two more games coming by the end of the year, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Metroid Prime Hunters, the pickings are still very slim. It’s unknown whether the DS will be able to catch the PSP multiplayer line up.

While awaiting the arrival of the highly anticipated FPS game Quake 4 in none other than #Quake4 (EFnet) tonight I ran into a guy (dyntix) who was telling me about some killer FPS game named .kkrieger: chapter 1 that believe it or not only has the the footprint of 96KB yet delivers Quake 4 equivalent graphics.. I couldn’t believe it.

After visiting the developers website and spending almost a nanosecond downloading, I ran the single binary. It began to what appeared to be some sort of decompression which took less than a minute. A demo began and after hitting a button a menu was brought up with the option to start a new game. I was immediately immersed with extremely high quality graphics with very accurate lighting and shadowing models coupled with an almost perfect representation of a long never ending hallway. I couldn’t believe it. I spent 15 mins going through the game demo and finally beating it. I felt so satisfied that someone could develop something so small that had such a large game feeling.

I thought to myself, if this guy can do this much with 65K, imagine what he could do with an entire DVD worth of space and about a year of his own time! Watch out Carmack!

Download the free game here.

dyntix also had a couple of other great links that I thought I’d pass along:

(dyntix) check this one, free: http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
(dyntix) supports multiplayer too
(dyntix) there is one more, http://www.nexuiz.com/index.php?module=media

Apparently RIM (Research In Motion) is licensing their Blackberry Connect PUSH email software to the Treo 650 next year.

Palm is planning on implementing the BlackBerry software alongside it’s existing Versamail email client in order to keep a familar look-and-feel in place for Palm OS users. With the new BlackBerry software installed users will be able to access email delivered by Microsoft Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Domino e-mail servers.

Read the whole story over at MacWorld.

The Indian government has expressed concerns that Google Earth could be used by terrorists to find targets. This echos concerns given by other nations including, Thailand, South Korea, and the Netherlands.

Google said in an email, that they welcome dialogue with the Indian government to go over their concerns. Stating the information in the satellite photos is one to two years old and is not in high detail everywhere. Meanwhile, the Indian president, Kalam, has called for new laws regarding the dissemination of such information.

The Google site contains clear aerial photos of India’s parliament building, the president’s house and surrounding government offices in New Delhi. There are also some clear shots of Indian defense establishments.

What’s the big deal? Are they saying there are no current maps of New Delhi? I would hate to be a tourist in that city. And if I remember correctly, terrorists have been blowing up buildings long before Google maps was released. Sensitive military bases are one thing, but it’s perfectly reasonable to put something on a map that is visible from a city street.