SW apps :    How to Use RDFa to Build Semantic Mash-ups

Semantic Mash-ups ("SMash-ups") are combinations of information from multiple sources using the W3C Semantic Web languages (RDF and OWL) to control merging and filtering of the mashed-up data.

SOA & WS :   webMethods Launches Free Trial Download of SOA Governance Solution

Available as a free download at www.SOAMasterClass.com, the SOA Master Class Edition of the webMethods Infravio X-Registry is a pre-populated and pre-configured version of webMethods’ solution for service-oriented architecture (SOA) lifecycle governance.

WS apps :   Banks make Web services accessible for cell users

Bank of America this week announced that in March customers with cellular Internet access can use their phones to pay bills, transfer funds, review account balances and perform other online banking chores.

SW future :   From semantic Web (3.0) to the WebOS (4.0)
Nova Spivack's view of the evolution of the Web over the next 25 years.

SW standards :   Managing SOA Semantics Using Ontologies and Supporting W3C Standards
A web seminar ('webinar') which promises to explain the notion of ontologies and semantics and help the SOA architect prepare generalizations that make the problem domain more understandable.

WS tools :   ILOG JRules 6.5 With Automatic Deployment Of Rule-Based Web Services
Amongst others JRules features "push-button" creation and deployment of Transparent Decision Services (rule-based Web services) in service-oriented architecture (SOA) applications without additional programming.

EU R&D :   Semantic web for the maritime sector

The ROBOTIKER-TECNALIA Technological Centre is leading the development of the semantic layer within the European funded research project AQUARING, whose aim .is the creation of the largest European multilingual portal dedicated to the aquatic environment and its resources. The AQUARING system will include techniques to provide semantic annotation to contents and to facilitate their  retrieval.

SW tools :   IBM's alphaWorks Release Free Preview of Enterprise Mashup Maker

IBM is providing users with a free preview of QEDWiki on alphaWorks to enable them to evaluate the enterprise mashup technology in real business situations and provide valuable feedback for broader assessment.

SW tools :   IBM Research: Mining for the future of search

"IBM T. J. Watson Research Center is investigating fundamental research issues involved in the automatic extraction of intelligent information from unstructured information such as images, audio, video, rich text, as well as heterogeneous distributed sensor networks. The analysis will help build solutions for semantic enrichment and repurposing of the unstructured data. "

SW technologies :   Move to a 'Human' Semantic Enabled Network (Part II)

Part II of an overview of the Semantic Enabled Network, its architectural components, characteristics, and practical applications to unlock new opportunities as organizations migrate toward the human network.

SWS standards :    W3C Announces Candidate Recommendation Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema

W3C has recently announced that ' Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema' is now officially a W3C Candidate Recommendation. The document defines a set of extension attributes for the Web Services Description Language [WSDL 2.0] and XML Schema definition language that allows description of additional semantics of WSDL components.  Work done in project DIP has laid the foundations of the above submission.

SW & SOA :    Should Your SOA Include a Persistence Strategy?

" this is a prime location for a central repository and for the management of application semantics, perhaps using standards such as the Semantic Web."

SW tools :    Open Source Semantic Browser

Tabulator v 0.8 is an open source Semantic Web Browser written with AJAX and RDF.   It loads RDF data from the web as you explore, allowing you to then slice, chop, and mix that data into tables, maps, calendars, and timelines. 

SW search :   Businesses gain powerful new tools with emergence of semantic search

Excerpts of a recently sponsored podcast on the new semantic search opportunity, exploring how business relationships and the Business Web can be brought to bear on information overload and ecommerce value discovery. .

FP7 in Motion:   Intelligent Content and Semantics

Applications for European Union funding for research projects under its Framework Programme 7 can now be submitted under ICT Call 1, published on 22 December 2006. Closing date of the call is 8 May 2007.

SW services :    Access-eGov - Accessible eGovernment embracing the Semantic Web

Access-eGov (Access to e-Government Services Employing Semantic Technologies) is an IST project partially funded under the IST Programme of FP6 (eGovernment research). It aims at increasing the accessibility of public administration services for citizens and business users by supporting the interoperability among existing electronic and “traditional” government services .

SWS standards :    W3C Announces Candidate Recommendation Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema

W3C has just announced that ' Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema' is now officially a W3C Candidate Recommendation. The document defines a set of extension attributes for the Web Services Description Language [WSDL 2.0] and XML Schema definition language that allows description of additional semantics of WSDL components. With these attributes, semantic annotations can be added to Web Services Description Language (WSDL) components for use in classifying, discovering, matching, composing, and invoking Web services.

SW search :    Future of Search -The European View

(extract of an email from Richard Firminger, Yahoo's  N. European search marketing director, to blog.searchenginewatch.com) "The search engines themselves will evolve. From a single search we will soon be able to receive answers incorporating text (sponsored and algorithmic), video, images and even human knowledge – the latter coming from social search products like Yahoo! Answers, which was launched this year." [snip] "Additionally, natural language, or Semantic Search – which enables users to pose queries as a properly phrased question, not with a couple of words – may come to the fore. "

WS tools :     Sun's Java SE 6 Retooled for Web Services

Sun is spotlighting the Web 2.0 capabilities of this release, which was engineered to allow the mixing of Java technology with dynamic scripting languages, such as PHP, Python, Ruby and JavaScript.

SW & Web 3.0 :    Even experts have difficulty understanding Web 3.0

"The most ambitious vision of Web 3.0 promises to propel us a giant step forward by adding meaning to both the content and links crisscrossing hyperspace.  Dubbed by some as the Semantic Web, this view of Web 3.0 would rely on a complex tangle of user-tagged content, semantically analyzed information, and real time artificial intelligence to create a space where useful information could be correlated in context."

FP7 in Motion:   Intelligent Content and Semantics

Applications for European Union funding for research projects under its Framework Programme 7 can now be submitted under ICT Call 1, published on 22 December 2006. Closing date of the call is 8 May 2007.

XML standards :     W3C Selects AgileDelta's XML as Standard

World Wide Web Consortium has selected AgileDelta's Efficient XML(TM) as a basis for its global Web standard format after a comprehensive review of binary XML formats by W3C EXI Working Group.

SW standards :    OGC Joins W3C to Help Add Geospatial to the Web

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) recently joined the World Wide Web Consortium, (W3C, www.w3.org/) a standards organization that develops specifications, guidelines, software, and tools to take the Web to its full potential. The OGC is participating in the W3C incubator activity focusing on semantic geospatial issues or Geospatial XG (http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/geo/)

WS standards :    W3C Announces Symposium on Role of Web Standards in eGovernment

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is holding a European Symposium on eGovernment on 1-2 February 2007 in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. Participants will discuss issues that governments and citizens currently face in their use of Web technology. The Symposium is expected to trigger improvements in W3C specifications or further W3C energies devoted to eGovernment initiatives.

SW Search :    Search attains powerful new role in emerging semantic web

Search is becoming more than a starting point on information discovery, it is becoming the flexible interface to complex decision-making, analytics, and business intelligence (BI). " Gartner predicts that in 2012, 75 percent of the world's applications will use search as the dominant metaphor for how an application is being operated by the end-user."

FP7 in Motion:   Intelligent Content and Semantics

Applications for funding of research projects can now be submitted under ICT Call 1, published on 22 December 2006. Closing date of the call is 8 May 2007.

SW in 2007 :    The biggest web trend of 2007 will be...

One website asked its readers and here are the most popular predictions from the readers of   www.readwriteweb.com. Semantic web is at no. 7, getting 6% of the votes .

WS standards :    Common Service Descriptions could be a key to Governance

Neither WSDL nor UDDI provides the "meta" information that will prove useful as we leverage both private and public services. We need a common standard., argues this article.

WS standards :    WS-Policy on SOA fast track, W3C approval this summer

WS-Policy is the missing link in SOA, according Toufic Boubez, CTO for Layer 7 Technologies Inc., and the good news is that by the end of 2007 it may not be missing anymore.

SW tools :    Tutorial 'O The Day: XHTML Semantics

WIRED Blog brings you this simple introduction to the use of semantically meaningful markups using XHTML

EU R&D :    A semantic web portal focused on risks and prevention of cancer in the workplace

Last September the European EUROWORKSAFE ( www.euroworksafe.org ) project was launched. After 18 months of development, a market validation of a Web portal supported by semantic technologies, has been launched  providing information and advice on health and safety and occupational health..

SW apps :    Firefox 3 To Support Microformats

Mozilla says that Firefox 3 will support microformats. The basic premise of microformats is to create the “semantic web” using tools that already exist.

WS :    Rip-Curl Redmond- Microsoft's Plans for the Future

For IT pros, tracking Microsoft’s moves is vital to your career. If you have a realistic idea where Microsoft’s heading, you can base corporate buying decisions and spend professional training time on technologies that are going to be around for a while. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t provide one easy-to-find page on its Web site where it collects all its public statements on product plans. This article tries its best to do just that.