Google Gears: Browser up, OS down!
We all knew this was coming and it has finally come. The final problem of offline access to web-based services has been addressed by Google Gears which was released last week. Today, I saw the first instance of it being available to the end user via the Google Reader.
You can have consistent, transparent access to all your favorite websites/web applications through the browser. The OS becomes less important now and the need for natively installed OS specific applications is greatly reduced.
It would be interesting to see the changes this will bring in our world!
Joost is the new TV
I have tried Slingbox and I have tried Democracy TV. Joost is different. Community features, high quality programming, full screen smooth video. It's a joy, a pleasure. I was captivated for hours as I kept watching show after show with a numbed, retarded expression on my face. The PC is the TV now and I am loving it.
And did I mention how cool the interface is? Check out these screenshots:
More screenshots
Note: click on the images to see the full size. When was the last time you saw free streaming internet video of that resolution? It's a joy that even my Slingbox doesn't provide despite a 3MBPs connection at both ends thanks to the low upload bandwidth of ADSL.
Note 2: It's not yet open to general audience, you need an invite to get started.
Yahoo! Travel Updated
I am a little disappointed with Yahoo! which seems to sneak in great updates without a lot of buzz being generated around it. For instance, the only way I find out about the fact that Yahoo! Travel has undergone a major revamp is if I look closely at my Yahoo! page.
Where are the blogs, the news, the reviews around this wonderful update?
I do not think I can manage a full-blown review just yet, but some interesting things are:
- They have added community features to the Travel website
- You can browse other's people's trips, share your trip details with friends
- You can duplicate other's trips and make reservations for the same itinerary or fudge it to create your own unique trip
I am going to play around with this and probably comment more. But I am still confused about why the only thing Yahoo! has been in the news recently for is people stepping down or Yahoo! Photos shutting down!
Democracy TV
Democracy TV is a pretty good video player. Not only can it play many formats, it also has RSS feed subscriptions, podcasts and it also does video blogs. It is also integrated with the video sites like YouTube etc. It also has a built in bit-torrent client. It's underlying goal is to free up the consumption of media and also promote free creation of media. It is a project of the Participatory Culture Foundation.
Watchout! It takes quite some memory. So instead of being MPlayer fast, it's more like Windows Media Player slow - if you get the drift.
Opera 9 is here
A very slick looking flash intro. A nice site for promoting the new features. Check it out here.
The feature list is quite interesting, the one that stands out is integrated torrent support. Check out all the features here.
Yahoo Messenger 8 (beta) is here
Just out, fresh out of the mill. Yahoo Messenger 8 (Beta) with open plugins. Get it here.With plugins for Yahoo!360, I think I know where this is heading. With an excellent web based content creation system in place, Yahoo! is now focussing on making content creation more intuitive.
WordPress 2.0.2
I don't know why I am putting it off 
. I updated the other blogs with it, but am yet to update this one. Why? Lazy me!
GWT – First nail in Windows’ Coffin
Microsoft so far was confident about Windows since they provide a very easy to use development tools - the Visual Studio. Using those, a developer can create binaries for any variant of the target device without any incompatibilities.
On the other hand, Web-based client development is a nightmare. Opera, Firefox, Netscape, Popups blocked, JavaScript disabled, Coookies Washed, Different Screen resolutions, differing Bandwidths are some of the hostilities a developer needs to face.
Due to this, it seemed quite unlikely that we would see the web development platform offering any serious competition to the thick OS-hosted softwares of Windows.
Ed Burnette reports that yesterday Google released the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) which unifies web-development. Like an MFC of sorts, we will now see many glossed up AJAX developed web clients, since this will really simplify and hasten web client development. You write the code in Java and the hosted eclipse converts it into AJAX based JavaScript.
Do give it a spin.
Stale: Yahoo bought MusicMatch
The Old:
The New:
This is strange, I never came to know that Yahoo! bought MusicMatch until I looked for it today (It used to be one of my first media players in the olden days - does anyone remember Sonique?)
But this PCWorld article confirms that Yahoo! bought MusicMatch way back in September 2004, for $160 million.
So Yahoo Music Engine is based on MusicMatch!?
google calendar : getting on my nerves
So now google launches a calendar, and it's integrated with Gmail.
Innovation has boiled down to emulating Microsoft office in AJAX.
Gimme a break!! What's the big deal in repeating something. bull!
After Google Search, Google Earth was a good innovation coming through Google. Everything else has been re-invention of the wheel, nothing new.
So this also means end of the Mozilla Calendar project which seems to be so lost somewhere?!
w.bloggar update
seems impressive because it supports almost all the blogging hosts/systems. But it had a very sad way of screwing up HTML entries (converting new lines to line breaks), so I quit using it. Quit using it almost a year ago. Well, there's a new version out, and am giving it a spin again.
Gates memo warns of ‘disruptive’ changes | Tech News on ZDNet
Gates memo warns of 'disruptive' changes | Tech News on ZDNet
A must read. It highlights how MS is still poised to compete very strongly with the opposition.
No monopolies here. Google & Microsoft tooth and nail.
Windows Live! – A reaction – no real innovation
Well
I checked out the Windows Live thingy and am not really very impressed by it.
Microsoft had to do this as a bare minimum reaction to stay in business.And this is exactly what this is. A bare minimum reaction.
Most of the things they announced already exist either on Yahoo! or on Google! and it doesn't seem like it's gonna be a better version.
If Yahoo! and Google offer eclairs, I want Microsoft to offer full chocolate bars. That's how competition should be. But it seems Microsoft has started with giving out eclairs themselves.
What is Windows Live?
Your online world gets better when everything works simply and effortlessly together. That's the basic idea behind Windows Live. So the things you care about - your friends, the latest information, your e-mails, powerful search, your PC files, everything - comes together in one place. This is a brand new Internet experience designed to put you in control. And this is just the beginning - you'll see many more new services in the coming months.
What are they offering?
Live.com beta
Have your way with this page. Sign in, get the content you want-news, sports, search results, whatever-add columns, and move stuff around at will. It's all you.
Seems to be the same as 
But the AJAX seems a lot better and the gadgets thing got me a little interested.
Windows Live Mail beta
It's all new web mail, built from the ground up. Preview your e-mail without loading a new page each time (like Outlook®) drag and drop messages into folders, and generally power through your e-mail in a flash.
Couldn't log in to it. It's not RTM. But I doubt if it will be better than GMAIL.Probably will have a more Microsoft like look and feel. The 2 GB is welcome.
Windows Live Safety Center beta
It's like taking your PC in for a tune up at the service station. If the service station was free and available 24/7. Get free on-demand virus cleaning and a comprehensive PC health checkup to help keep your PC running its best.
Seems cool. Will be interesting to see what the guys at Symantec would have to say abou this. No firefox support! You got me biased!
Windows LIve Favorites beta
You are away from your own computer and want to get to the important sites you use everyday? No problem, now that your Internet Explorer Favorites can travel with you.
del.icio.us has done it. Yahoo! My Web 2.0 has it. In fact, it does a lot lot more. Nice to see Microsoft has come around to noticing the need. When will roaming profiles be common!
Windows Live Messenger beta
Coming soon - This will be the next-generation MSN Messenger. The name is new, but it will still be free to download Messenger and use most of its features. And there will be some remarkable new ways to instantly share and connect with friends.
Yes, Yahoo! already has Photo Buckets where you can share images with each other in a very nice way. The suggested upgrades to the new version hardly make a dent. Trillian, Yahoo! & ICQ have all those things since a long time!
Windows OneCare Live beta
Coming soon - The things you should have to help protect your PC, but probably don't because they're such a hassle. Stuff like virus scanning, firewall settings, tune ups, and software backups-tied up with a bow and delivered to you in a friendly, easy-to-use package that runs quietly in the background.
I didn't quite understand the difference between this and the Windows Live Safety Centre beta
Windows Live Search beta-mobile
Coming soon - Picture this: You search for a restaurant with your phone, then click on the result to be connected immediately. Plus, you can see detailed maps, driving directions, and more-all formatted to fit the screen on your mobile device.
Yahoo! Mobile exists since 3 years. But well, that was WAP based, atleast the Microsoft iteration assumes people have xHTML browsers and attempts to offer richer content.
It's too early to comment on these things. But the confused and hurried release of these services might be a reflection of the chaos in the ranks. On one hand Google keeps scoring slowly and steadily, and has had a more number of "first"s. Microsoft, late in the race and all shaken up by the handicap is still recoiling.
Though I am not impressed by Microsoft's play, it's nice to see the battle ground heat up.
What I liked:
Didn't quite get it, but seems cool.
Next step, google or yahoo? Any guesses? I guess Google, but you never know.
Windows Live! Released today
Boy o boy o boy!
This is the worst of times, this is the best of times.
The rate of change is accelerating. Release cycles are getting shorter. There is no long term way of doing anything right anymore.
Change, realignment, reorganization, reconfiguration on demand is the only way to stay on top.
For people like me who thrive on change, this is really the best of times.
Latest change factor for humans: Windows Live!
The latest offering from microsoft has a host of online services. Will check out each one.
New Search Engine – ma.gnolia
New kid on the block.
ma.gnolia is a new search engine that claims to work on a different philosophy.
Found is the New Search
What you mark in Ma.gnolia not only stays found but keeps coming back to you as your interests change. That’s our pitch, plain and simple, and it’s why we say that found is the new search.
It's not launched yet, here is the temporary page.
Will watch this thing, seems to be something different.
Testing Google
Google claims to give us 2 GB mailboxes.
Google wants everything to be on their servers so they can process it. The more the data they get, the better. They can have more accurate analyzers which will help their ad-sense engine and spam filters. But somewhere, the advantage of having more data must fall short of the cost of maintining that data.
How many of us have 2 GB worth of mails in our mailbox? Can google really support all the users having 2 GB mailboxes? There's only one way to find out. Let's test it.
Let's fill our inboxes with Mails galore. Archive it all. As google prefers it. Label them as "deletables". Keep deleting those as your mailbox starts filling up with actual usable data.
It is unethical to do it. But this is probably what people will start doing now. We don't want a monopoly. Google is becoming one. And people with foresight are waking up.
Public Proxies and Thought Pointers – where will google stop?
The next thing google will probably do now is provide public proxies.
Using a google proxy will be faster than surfing the internet directly - the catch - nice pretty plain-text ad's will get embedded in the web-pages we browse through the proxy.
So you go to hotmail.com and you will get a plain-text ad on top of the hotmail logo saying "try GMAIL - it's free".
The way its going, finally they will have some compelling and free interface to our brains, and every thought will result in the ad-sense engine to fire up and 'Point' our thoughts to relevant ads.
So you just come home from the gym and 'think' of drinking something and google ad-sense will 'suggest' to your brain the idea that Real Fruit juice would be the most apt thing to ingest.
Is this good, or is it too invasive, I do not know.
Neave Lab › Flash Earth
Google earth online - Using Flash. More usable, lovely.
Try it Out.
Fixed some problem (Typo?) in Drupal MassMailer module
I spent quite some valuable minutes trying to find out why the MassMailer module of Drupal wasn't able to access the SavedSearches of the ContactManager module.
I saw the debug SQL query which was causing an error. It went like:
Table 'contact_search' doesn't exist query: SELECT name, sid FROM contact_search WHERE type = 'search' ORDER BY name in ...../includes/database.mysql.inc on line 66.
I kept ignoring the above message until I was sure i was not making some stupid mistake.
I tried disabling & re-enabling the ContactManager module, hoping it would create the table.
Then I fired up phpMyAdmin to find out that the table didn't exist alright. But I saw that there was another table 'contact_manager_search' which had precisely the structure and data that the SQL query was fired up to for.
Should I rename the table?
Made a copy of the 'contact_manager_search' table with the name 'contact_search' and tested the MassMailer module. No errors, was working fine. But this wasn't a fix. If I create more SavedSearch entries then it won't get reflected in this duplicate table.
So then I opened up the module code, read up a bit on how Drupal Modules are written etc. Was expecting to see a system of internal APIs or atleast shared module variables for modules to operate with each other's data. But was a little surprised to find raw SQL queries (not really raw in the absolute sense, but raw in the sense of inter-module communication - since direct access to the table was being made, though database portability etc are maintaned).
Well, to cut a long story short, it turned out I just had to do some text-replace operations on the massmailer.module file:
So
$result = db_query('SELECT name, sid FROM {contact_search} WHERE type = \'%s\' ORDER BY name', 'search');
was changed to
$result = db_query('SELECT name, sid FROM {contact_manager_search} WHERE type = \'%s\' ORDER BY name', 'search');
Strange. Simple.
Clean Pipe – Prolexic Technologies – Defense against DDoS?
Prolexic Clean Pipe
The Prolexic Intrusion Prevention Network (IPN) is a multi-million-dollar, four facility, global network designed specifically to protect Prolexic customers from DDoS attacks. Prolexic's Clean Pipe offers the most advanced DDoS protection available in the world. We have incorporated significant flexibility into our Clean Pipe product line allowing us to filter and protect enterprises of varying sizes, regardless of network resources, existing security hardware, and/or physical location. Leveraging unique filtering techniques, high-speed bandwidth and peering, advanced routing, and other patent-pending devices, Prolexic has created the most powerful DDoS detection and protection system in the world. Consequently, Prolexic has demonstrated success in monitoring, filtering, and routing massive traffic flows, often shouldering multi-gigabit-per-second distributed attacks for its customers. Prolexic's solution is easily implemented into networks of all sizes, often with little or no infrastructure investment.
The Clean Pipe can be deployed in one of the two following flavors:
Clean Pipe Managed Service
For customers who wish to rely on Prolexic to manage their border defense, Prolexic will reroute customer Internet traffic through one or more of its patent-pending IPN centers and deliver purified, threat-free bandwidth back to the customer. This process is completely transparent to the customer and the end-user. Prolexic will remove threats from traffic, including the largest and most destructive DDoS attacks known to the interner, before they ever reach the customer's network infrastructure. In fact, utilizing proprietary technology which removes the bad-traffic overhead that clutters up most internet circuits, Prolexic has proven that it can actually increase the speed and overall performance of its customers' websites. The managed system is available in multiple configurations able to handle a wide variety of custom protocols, and network setups.
Clean Pipe Circuits
Imagine having a T1 that can withstand a 1+ Gbps SYN flood or GET flood. With a Prolexic Dedicated Circuit this dream is now a reality. We have now incorporated all the features of Prolexic's Clean Pipe service into a dedicated circuit/leased line. Truly clean, protected bandwidth is now a cross-connect (for customers collocated at a Prolexic co-lo facility) or circuit turn up away. This circuit operates for all intents and purposes as a general Internet transit circuit. Behind the scenes, however, we have coupled high-performance route aggregation (ensuring the best route possible to your end customer) with advanced DDoS mitigation methods to create the first hardened, exploit free, SLA bound internet connection service.
Read more about them here
Have no idea how good they really are.
