Internet

Google has announced global availability of Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, which was launched as beta in 2010.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office brings collaborative multi-person editing to the familiar Microsoft® Office experience. You can share, backup, and simultaneously edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel® documents with coworkers.

The plug-in syncs to Google’s cloud so that multiple people can make changes to the same file. A Cloud Connect toolbar is displayed in Microsoft Office that allows users to sync their version of the file with an online version in Google Docs.

Requirements:
Windows XP with .NET Framework 2.0, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007, or Office 2010

Google Cloud Connect is not available for Mac OS X

More info: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect

Google Chrome Background Apps is a feature that allows web apps to run without seeing them.

“Apps and extensions that use the new “background” feature can continue to run in the background—even if the user closes down all of Chrome’s windows. “Background apps” will continue to run until Chrome exits. The next time Chrome starts up, any background windows that were previously running will also be re-launched. These windows are not going to be visible but they will be able to perform tasks like checking for server-side changes and pre-emptively loading content into local storage.

One way you can use background windows is to preload content and data so that they are immediately available when the user opens your app. You could also issue HTML5 notifications to alert the user when important events occur—for example, a friend wants to initiate a chat session. There are plenty of possibilities here, and we look forward to seeing what you’ll do.”

More info: http://blog.chromium.org/2011/02/amping-up-chromes-background-feature.html

Sample app on the Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/biecdmomngcfnkjelkbfjijebfednkno#

Panguso.com, will combine the strengths of Xinhua, a leading news agency and content provider, and China Mobile which has the latest network technologies, said Panguso, a joint venture of Xinhua and China Mobile, in a press release.

“The operation of Panguso is an important move by Xinhua and China Mobile to extend our cooperation in cyberspace,” said Li Congjun, president of Xinhua News Agency, at the opening ceremony.

The search engine is expected to contribute to the development of new media in China and better serve Chinese netizens, Li said.

China now has about 457 million Internet users

Twitter has shut down popular mobile apps such as UberTwitter, UberCurrent, and twidroyd, writes Tony Bradley on PCWorld.

“The Twitterverse is abuzz with news that Twitter suspended popular mobile apps such as UberTwitter, UberCurrent, and twidroyd today. The services had not recently changed anything about the functionality or behavior of the apps, which leads one to wonder why Twitter suddenly decided to shut them down.”

Full article: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/220156/twitter_cracks_down_on_popular_mobile_apps.html

Twitter support said:” We have suspended UberTwitter and twidroyd for violating our policies.

Every day, we suspend hundreds of applications that are in violation of our policies. Generally, these apps are used by a small number of users. We are taking the unusual step of sharing this with you because today’s suspension may affect a larger number of users.

We are committed to helping you continue to use Twitter during the disruption of these applications.”

UberMedia responded that it had made the “very small” changes requested by Twitter, which include changing the name of “UberTwitter” to “UberSocial.

Jim Rapoza has posted a review ” Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management” on Informationweek which is worth reading for those thinking of using Drupal 7 to power a website.

The article covers: More Intuitive Interface – Better Module Management – Improved Theme Technology.

Drupal, which uses the standard GNU general public license (GPL) open source license, can be downloaded from Drupal.org

Full post: http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218676&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Drupal 7 Video

Drupal 7 Marketing Video from Lullabot on Vimeo.

Woomark has announced the launch of its newly-redesigned website and Android mobile app, that aims to give a new approach to location-based services by adding GPS social networking, user reviews, sharing, Facebook like, and follow “a la Twitter” as part of the many other popular features that made the modern social web space.

Users can publish and explore places of interest around them either on the Woomark website or directly using the GPS on their Woomark mobile application.

Sign up and Login are made easy as users can use their existing Facebook, Google and Yahoo accounts and can use Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz and Stumbleupon for sharing groups and places of interest in just a click.

“Our users will now experience a more exciting view of the Woomark places,” says Kim di Centa, Founder of Woomark. “In the same way that we created Woomark.com to give a new approach to geosocial networking, the redesign of the Woomark website and our new branding consolidates Woomark’s position as the new exciting home on the web and Android mobile devices for people looking for places of interest around them.”

The new website features improved content and navigation with an full integration into Google maps and Street view to make it even easier for users to publish and explore new places around the world.

Woomark also launched a new improved version of its Android mobile application now available in English, Italian, and French from the Android market and other popular App stores such as Getjar, Handango, Mobihand and CNET Download.com.

Woomark is a FREE location-based social networking website and Android mobile application that makes it easy to publish, share and discover places of interest anywhere in the world.

www.woomark.com

Google Chrome Browser has been updated to Version 10 for beta users and Version 11 for developers. Google now has a six-week update schedule for new releases.

Google say about Version 10:

“In the spirit of the lunar new year, we’re excited to kick off the Year of the Rabbit with a slew of enhancements in the Chrome beta channel,”

“With a new speed boost that we previewed in December, Chrome’s JavaScript engine V8 runs compute-intensive JavaScript applications even more quickly than before. In fact, this beta release sports a whopping 66% improvement on the V8 benchmark suite over our current stable release

This release also includes a preliminary implementation of GPU-accelerated video. Users with capable graphics hardware should see a significant decrease in CPU usage. In full screen mode, CPU usage may decrease by as much as 80%!”

More info: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2011/02/faster-than-speeding-rabbit-speed-sync.html

Speaking at the RSA Conference, Itworld reports Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Trustworthy Computing Scott Charney said that he no longer thought it was a good idea for service providers to be the ones on the hook for keeping infected PCs from the rest of the Internet.

“Last year at RSA I said, ‘You know we need to think about ISPs being the CIO for the public sector, and we need to think about them scanning consumer machines and making sure they’re clean and maybe quarantining them from the Internet,'” he said. “But in the course of the last year as I thought a lot more about this I realized that there are many flaws with that model.”

Full story: http://www.itworld.com/security/137159/microsoft-has-a-change-heart-how-keep-internet-safe

Skype Access, pay-as-you-go Internet that uses your Skype Credit to get online, has officially launched a partner program for WiFi hotspot operators. Leading WiFi hotspot providers around the globe including BT Openzone, Fon, Tomizone and others have signed on to provide Internet access for consumer and business users on-the-go using Skype.

With one click, Skype users can connect to the Internet through a WiFi operator partner in over 500,000 hotspots around the globe including 500 airports, 30,000 hotels and numerous cafes, trains, planes, offices buildings, and convention centers. Whether in a neighbourhood cafe or in the airport on a business trip, you can quickly connect to the Internet for voice and video calls, email, or simply surfing the web.

In celebration of Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona this week, Skype Access will be free to use from 0001 CET on the 14th February 2011 to 2359 CET on the 18th February 2011 across the whole of Spain.

Rather than paying costly per day or per hour Internet access fees, Skype Access allows you to pay per minute using Skype Credit to control your costs at rates starting at £.04 /€.05/$.06per minute**. All you need is a connection to a Skype Access compatible hotspot and the latest version of Skype for Mac or Windows.

Through the Skype Access partnership program, WiFi operators are able to generate additional revenues from untapped users who prefer pay-as-you-go models versus traditional vouchers. Partnering with Skype provides operators access to Skype’s 145 million average monthly connected users*who are communicating with their friends, family and colleagues both at home and while travelling.

Skype Access partners include:

BT Openzone – The UK’s largest WiFi hotspot provider with a network of two million hotspots
Fon – The world’s largest WiFi network with over 3.35 million Fon Spots across the globe
M3 Connect – WiFi provider in Germany with hotspots in many hotels, fairgrounds, airports and places like the German Stock Exchange
Row 44 – Provides the world’s leading in-flight broadband platform to commercial airlines around the world
Skyrove – WiFi hotspot solutions for Guesthouses, Hotels and Coffee Shops throughout South Africa.
Spectrum Interactive – Specializes in offering WiFi for the travel and media sector including airports and hotels across the UK
Tomizone – WiFi provider in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific
Vex – Offers WiFi services in thousands of locations around the world including South America

Google has announced personal blocklist extension for Chrome browser which will block domains/hosts from appearing in your Google search results and transmit to Google the patterns that you choose to block. When you choose to block or unblock a pattern, the extension will also transmit to Google the URL of the web page on which the blocked or unblocked search results are displayed.

Matt Cutts has written in a post on the Google blog that the company hopes the extension will improve the quality of search results. extension

Matt Cutts wrote in a post on the Google blog that the company hopes the extension will improve the quality of search results.

More info: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-chrome-extension-block-sites-from.html

Skype today announced a Mobile Partner Program for operators in markets with low 3G broadband penetration. The program aims to bring the Skype experience to a broad range of mobile users and will enable carriers to differentiate their offerings in a competitive market environment. This program follows the successful operator partnerships that Skype has already launched with Verizon, KDDI and Hutchison 3.

The Mobile Partner Program from Skype is a simplified operator program that utilises a purpose built client/server solution. The solution developed specifically for operators, enables use of Skype on a broad range of handsets including smartphones and feature phones. Optimised for efficient bandwidth usage, it keeps users connected with minimal impact on battery life and data usage.

Operators taking part in this program will be able to offer their customers a fast, easy Skype experience that runs on a range of OS platforms covering more than 100 different smartphone and feature phone handsets. Through Skype their customers will have the ability to make free calls and send instant messages to other Skype users. In addition, their customers can take advantage of Skype’s low rates to make affordable calls to mobile phones and landlines virtually anywhere in the world.

“We see a growing demand for differentiated services from mobile operators across the world,” said Russ Shaw, VP and GM of Mobile at Skype. “Our mobile operator program will give operators in emerging markets the possibility to tap into the global Skype community while providing a great user experience on a variety of mobile handsets.”

Microsoft has unveiled the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate (RC) during a launch event in San Francisco.

After months of beta testing, the feature complete Release Candidate is available for download at Beauty of the Web. The company is now focused on encouraging developers to build new websites and user experiences on IE9, said Ziad Ismail, Internet Explorer’s director of product management.

Download: http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/