In today’s Bulldog wrapup on technology news:

  • Epic Games awards its first grants from a $5 million pot
  • Microsoft and Google unveil co-development plans for Java
  • Red Hat launches a new operating system for Linux in the cloud
  • Google to offer one phone for wireless service and it’s made by Lenovo’s Motorola
  • Google begins offering car insurance quotes

The details:

  • Epic’s First Grants

Epic Games announced Thursday the first three grants from its recently $5 million pot for developers using its Unreal 4 development engine. (Se the YouTube video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UVSX_qpR3E] with this post for an example.)

Artist Koola received $18,000 for creating architectural designs and outdoor scenes.

“Nuren: The New Renaissance,” a virtual reality demonstration, received $15,000. Developers are Jake Kaufman and Jessie Seely.

And developer Mike Buttsney landed $15,000 for his game “Dead Static Drive.”

Game Informer has more details at: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/03/05/epic-games-is-awarding-5-million-grants-to-innovative-unreal-engine-4-projects.aspx

  • Google-Microsoft Partnership

Google and Microsoft on Thursday disclosed advances in their co-development of tools for use in JavaScript.

“For the last several months, the Microsoft TypeScript and Google Angular teams have been working closely together. Today at ng-conf in Salt Lake City, the Angular and the TypeScript teams are unveiling the first fruits of that collaboration,” the project leaders said. “We’re excited to announce that we have converged the TypeScript and AtScript languages, and that Angular 2, the next version of the popular JavaScript library for building web sites and web apps, will be developed with TypeScript.

“Working closely with a rich library like Angular has helped TypeScript to evolve additional language features that simplify end-to-end application development, including annotations, a way to add metadata to class declarations for use by dependency injection or compilation directives.

“Even more than the language innovations and library that have been built by the two teams, I’m proud of the productive relationship and partnership we’ve built between the TypeScript and Angular teams. Both teams are looking forward to continuing to move TypeScript and JavaScript forward together in the future, including working with the ECMAScript standards body on the future of types in JavaScript.”

Read more at: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2015/03/05/typescript-lt-3-angular.aspx

  • Red Hat’s Linux Containers

Red Hat continues to double down on the “cloud” for the company’s future.

On Thursday, Red Hat announced “Linux 7 Atomic Host,” an operating system to support cloud and Linux operations more securely.

“Twelve years ago, Red Hat delivered the first iteration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, taking a cutting edge software technology and moulding it into the backbone that powers the enterprise, from the server to the cloud,” said Red Hat’s general manager for platforms Jim Totton.

“Today, with the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host, we are doing the same for Linux containers, bridging innovative open technology with the stability and security required by the enterprise.”

Computer Business Review offers more details at: http://www.cbronline.com/news/tech/software/middleware/red-hat-zones-in-on-linux-container-market-4526685

  • Google’s Phone Coming from Lenovo Motorola

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google will offer one phone to operate over its own wireless service:

The Nexus 6 phablet, made by Lenovo’s Motorola.

The newspaper also said Google will use Sprint and T-Mobile for its network.

  • Google Providing Car Insurance Quotes

Google is helping California drivers shop for car insurance as part of a new service that could foreshadow the Internet company’s latest attempt to shake up a long-established industry.

The feature unveiled Thursday compares auto insurance quotes from up to 14 carriers that are participating in the comparisons. The policies can then be bought online or through an agent. Google will receive a cut from the insurance sales. The Mountain View, California, company says the size of the commissions won’t influence how it ranks the price quotes.
Google Inc. plans to provide car insurance quotes in other states, too.

A Forrester Research analyst suspects Google is trying to learn more about the auto insurance industry so it can possibly begin underwriting and selling policies on its own.