Internet

242 posts

Google Adds New Dynamic Templates to Blogger

Google has added 5 new templates to Blogger using the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3.

Features include:
Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page

New layouts: different views suited to different types of blogs

Speed: download images as you view them, not all at once in advance

Interactivity: there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content

More info: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/fresh-new-perspectives-for-your-blog.html

Google App Engine Gets Search Feature

Google has announced that it’s cloud platform App Engine has a new search feature that can be used to build notification, monitoring, or filtering services.

Google App Engine allows developers to build and host cloud-based applications on the same systems that power Google’s own applications. To build applications, developers use the App Engine SDK for either Python or Java. The release also introduces a new Blobstore writing feature, the experimental release of the Prospective Search API in Python, and a few goodies for Task Queue and Cron users.

You can serve your app from your own domain name (such as http://www.example.com/) using Google Apps. Or, you can serve your app using a free name on the appspot.com domain. You can share your application with the world, or limit access to members of your organization.

Read more: http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2011/03/announcing-app-engine-143-release_30.html

Download: http://code.google.com/appengine/downloads.html#Download_the_Google_App_Engine_SDK

Baidu Developing New Web Browser

Search engine, Baidu, is developing its own web browser in an effort to cement its hold over China’s Internet market, reports PCWorld.

“Starting this month, Baidu began testing an early beta version of the product within the company, according to an industry source familiar with the browser. The browser is built to be integrated with the company’s search applications. Baidu has also incorporated its “box computing” strategy into the design, a concept which allows users to not only search for results, but also execute commands like launching an application in the browser, or directly accessing an online service.”

Baidu holds a 75.5 percent share of China’s search engine market.

Read more: http://www.pcworld.com/article/223453/chinas_baidu_testing_new_web_browser.html#tk.rss_news

Microsoft Buys IPv4 IP Addresses

Microsoft has agreed to buy 666,624 IP addresses from bankrupt Canadian company Nortel for $7.5 million. This works out to $11.25/ip, writes Milton Mueller.

“Wake up call for our friends in the Regional Internet Registries. Nortel, the Canadian telecommunications equipment manufacturer that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, has succeeded in making its legacy IPv4 address block an asset that can be sold to generate money for its creditors. The March 23 edition of the Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Report has reported that Nortel’s block of 666,624 IPv4’s was sold for $7.5 million – a price of $11.25 per IP address. The buyer of the addresses was Microsoft. More information is in its filing in a Delware bankruptcy court.”

More: http://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2011-March/034547.html

Chrome 11 Beta Gets HTML5 Speech Input API

Google has launched Chrome 11 browser with some new features, one of which is added support for the HTML5 speech input API, enabling you to talk to your PC.

With this API, developers can give web apps the ability to transcribe your voice to text. When a web page uses this feature, you simply click on an icon and then speak into your computer’s microphone. The recorded audio is sent to speech servers for transcription, after which the text is typed out for you.

Speech input test site: http://slides.html5rocks.com/#speech-input

The Chrome 11 beta also offers a sneak peek of GPU-accelerated 3D CSS, said Google.

More info: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2011/03/talking-to-your-computer-with-html5.html

Twitter Offers HTTPS Tweet Option

Twitter has added a user setting that lets you always use HTTPS when reading and writing on Twitter.com. Twitter is adopting the encryption protocol, in steps.

For some time, users have been able to use Twitter via HTTPS by going to https://twitter.com. Twitter have made it easier for users to do this by adding the option to always use HTTPS.

To turn on HTTPS, go to your settings and check the box next to “Always use HTTPS,” which is at the bottom of the page.

“There are also a few instances where turning on HTTPS in your settings does not force HTTPS. For example, when accessing Twitter from your mobile browser, you need to go to https://mobile.twitter.com to use HTTPS for now. We are working on a solution that will share the “Always use HTTPS” setting across twitter.com and mobile.twitter.com, so you don’t have to think about which device you’re using when you want to check Twitter. If you use a third-party application, you should check to see if that app offers HTTPS.”

More info: http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/making-twitter-more-secure-https.html

Google Drops Gears from Chrome

Google is removing Gears from its Chrome browser as many gears features are available in HTML5.

“It’s finally time to say goodbye to Gears,” said Gears team member Aaron Boodman in a blog post. “There will be no new Gears releases, and newer browsers such as Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 will not be supported. We will also be removing Gears from Chrome in Chrome 12.”

Google have implemented the HTML5 File API, which is very similar to the Gears Blob functionality.

More: http://gearsblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/stopping-gears.html

Google Updating Blogger

Blogger presented a preview of it’s “next-generation user interface” at SXSW.

Blogger will be launching a new design user interface that is cleaner and more modern and uses Google Web Toolkit.

In 2010, Blogger introduced template designer, real-time stats, comment spam filtering, mobile templates and web fonts .

According to Alexa, Blogger users published more than half a billion blog posts in 2010, which were read by more than 400 million active readers across the globe.

More: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-new-with-blogger.html

Google Updates Street View Website

Google is relaunching it’s Street View Website adding new info about different Street View vehicles Google uses to collect images and how those collected images are processed.

In addition to the places on the site homepage, Google have included highlights from around the world in a gallery that lets you see ski slopes, UNESCO World Heritage sites, and places on all seven continents.

Google says the new site is only available in the US, and will be launched in other countries later this year.

More info: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/03/street-view-showcase.html

Google Releases Person Finder Tool for Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Google has launched a version of its Person Finder tool for Web users looking for people in the region affected by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in Japan.

The tool is available in English and Japanese. Users can click on the “I’m looking for someone” link or the “I have information about someone” link and enter ant information they have.

Google say: All data entered will be available to the public and viewable and usable by anyone. Google does not review or verify the accuracy of this data.

Person finder website:

English: http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en

Japanese: http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=ja

Akeni Social Networking and Collaboration Software Version 3.1 Announced

Akeni Social Networking and Collaboration Software integrates instant messaging, forums, blogging, in/outboard into a easy to use .NET application.

Security and confidentiality: Unlike e-mail and public IM, information created and sent via Akeni Space can not be leaked out accidentally because the system is not connected to the outside world. All information sent and received are confined inside the system.

Fine grained access control: The administrator can control who can communicate with whom, and also which features of the system the users have access to. For example, the system can be setup so that a user can only talk to his manager and to no one else. Another example would be to disable file transfer for a select group of users.

Extensive Logging: Unlike instant messaging systems, past messages are stored in the server and can be recalled with only a few mouse clicks. The system can also be configured to log user activities for auditing and performance evaluation purposes.

No spams, virus and other distractions: Only authorized users can send and receive messages. This cuts down on e-mail spams, virus and other outside distractions that wastes user’s time and energy.

Make corrections: Unlike e-mail and IM, if you have sent a message to the wrong person you can “recall” the message by hiding it before the other party have read it (with the exception of messages sent automatically by the system via subscription). You can also edit messages you sent out to fix any errors in them, instead of having to resend corrections.

History and context: When a new employee joins an organization, her inbox is empty. She has no access to past e-mails that could give her the proper context and history to aid her in her new role. With their system she can be given instant access to past postings, documents, and files to make it her productive sooner.

Information capture: When an employee leaves an organization, her knowledge and expertise may leave with her unless some of it has been captured in a format that can be easily accessed by the rest of the organization. With the Akeni platform information is captured in a format that can be searched, perused, and shared by everyone. The more people use it the more valuable the system becomes.

Structure and organization: With e-mail important information can be locked away in an employee’s personal inbox and not accessible to the rest of the organization. The users need to spend considerable amount of time organizing e-mails in their own haphazard manner. With the judicious use of groups and tags Akeni allows messages, documents, and files to be organized and structured on a global basis so that all users can search and peruse this information in a more productive and efficient manner.

Versatility: Different kinds of information requires different tools for effective communication. Akeni Space offers notification, instant messaging, channels, blogs, forums, status updates, personal profiles and a plethora of other tools to fulfill these different needs.

Simplicity and uniformity: The same clean and effective interface is used in every page, so that there is a gentle learning curve to bring all users up to speed quickly.

Integration: All the tools works together seamlessly. For example, you can easily upload files and images to the system and then embedded them into a blog. The file can also be sent as part of a notification.

Accountability: Every action taken by the users is logged and an audit trail can be made for all messages sent and updated by a user.

Automatic notification: Via subscription users can get automatic notification of user status changes, new messages, files and documents. This helps greatly in the dissemination and discovery of new information in the organization.

Auditing and version control: Messages, files and documents can be updated with new versions, but old versions are kept so that they can be referenced and also used for auditing purposes later.

Well balanced: There are two conflicting goals when it comes to corporate data. One goal is to share the data, so that the information is readily available to those who needs it, when they need it. The other goal is to prevent unauthorized access to confidential information. The Akeni platform is flexible enough that by assigning both the information and the users to the correct group and roles, one can achieve both goals with the minimum amount of effort.

Ease to setup: if you have IIS and SQL Server installed already then their application can be installed and configured in less than 15 minutes.

Ease of deployment: the platform is web based, so there is no desktop software to install

Consolidation: instead of managing separate services for blog, instant messaging, notification server, bulletin board, in/out board, etc, all these functionalities are now under one single application and managed with a easy to use web based interface.

No duplication of data: only a single copy of messages, files, and documents exists in the system, making it easy to keep the information up to date. This also make the job of back up the data easier.

Optimized for smart phone: the system has been tailored to work easily with the small touch screen that comes with mobile browsers.

www.akeni.com

Google Announces Gmail Smart Labels

Google is starting a public test of a new Gmail feature called Smart Labels

When it’s on, Smart Labels creates three labels called Bulk, Forums and Notifications.

Once you turn it on from the Labs tab in Settings, Smart Labels automatically categorizes incoming Bulk, Notification and Forum messages, and labels them as such. “Bulk” mail includes any kind of mass mailing (such as newsletters and promotional email) and gets filtered out of your inbox by default (where you can easily read it later), “Notifications” are messages sent to you directly (like account statements and receipts), and email from group mailing lists gets labeled as “Forums.”

More info: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-in-gmail-labs-smart-labels.html