Lately, I've heard a lot about cloud computing. It starts with fast networks and technologies such as Mashups and REST interface. A mashup allows you to take information and processing coming from different sources and put them together to provide a new application and new insights based on the data manipulation.

REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is a way to access data, possibly through a web service, using the HTTP protocol (Web server protocol). This makes it simpler than using the SOA SOAP interface.

There have been a lot of discussions on public newsgroups about the lack of nice and flashy IBM Informix demos. The truth is, IBM has them, but as so many other stuff it may be hard to find in the IBM website. So I decided to ease up your searches. Please follow this steps:

1. Access IBM TV
2. On the right side, there is a list of a lot of media titles. Scroll down until you find several Informix titles which include:
   

Very short post just to let you know I changed the page look a bit.
There were already too many links, so I tried to organize them into categories (blogs, documentation and just links).

I also added a gadget that allows you to view and listen to some Informix videos available on YouTube.

Here's a quick entry to let you know that there is a new blob available at:

http://informix4virtual.wordpress.com/

Virtual worlds are important in gaming but are seriously looked at in business. This could be the next step of the evolution of collaborative software and Informix is in the middle of it!

Take a look

If you're into the "Interactive entertainment industry" be sure to check out Rajesh Nair's new blog Virtual Worlds, MMOGs, Serious data - Informix Technology for Persistent Worlds.



I am somewhat ignorant when it comes to virtual worlds and massive multi-player online gaming (unless you count Webkinz, where I play a mean game of Quizzy's Word Challenge), but it is clear there is vast potential for data management in this segment.

I had the opportunity to be gorgeous LA attending the VW Expo. This was my first at any of the VW conferences.  I frequent the GDC

more. Anway, the thing about this being my first event was that I didn’t really have any particular expectations set. I was to there to take in the technology, the business models and the trends. And from that standpoint, it was a reasonably valuable experience for me! My colleague Karen Keeter forwarded me a few photos from the expo that I post here!

Consulting IT Specialist and general bon vivant Spokey Wheeler somehow managed to evade the rigorous background checks and start his own developerWorks blog: Random Informix Ramblings.



As elucidated in his first post he hopes to "encourage various luminaries in the Informix developer and partner community who do not already have Informix blogs to use this as a place to share their knowledge, wisdom and talent with everyone".



Adam Hattrell from UK Database Support has taken the challenge and written

Now I flat out will let you know that I am not an expert on all things about virtual worlds and MMOGs. But I do know a thing or two about databases . And I do know about game data and some of the challenges and requirements for their management.

If you follow up some Informix related blogs and sites you probably already noticed that the latest IDS 11.50xC2 includes some surprises. Both Guy Bowerman and Eric Herbert mentioned it on their webpages.