Archive for May, 2007
I’m a regular user of Google Reader because it helps me keep my feeds in order, and I think you agree with me on this one. However, a little colored link that said NEW caught my view today. It linked to a page that presented me a new BETA service developed by Google, called “Google Gears”. The software is available for Windows, Mac, and even Linux right now, and it seems like a wonderful project.
It’s basically an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JS API’s that will store any application resources locally and serve them from your HDD. The same goes for the databases and their relations with other components. And it’s all STILL based on AJAX to improve the user feeling.
Want to try it out? Download it from here (requires browser restart). How is this useful? This will enable you to browse content while offline, the same content that would have required you to be connected otherwise. For example, you can browse offline the latest 2000 posts in your Google Reader account, or you can check your GMail inbox (will soon be developed). Isn’t that great?
Running the above downloaded setup file will be possible only after you close all of your browser windows (yes, including this one ;). It will then initiate a download sequence (this might take a few moments), and afterwards Google Gears will install on your system.
The requirements are not high though you should already be running Windows XP or Vista and use Firefox 1.5+ or IE 6+ for it to work. You can safely start your browser after the installation finishes and load Google Reader again. You will be prompted by a security warning (shown in picture #1) which you’ll have to accept in order to continue. Should you need to go over these again, the settings can be found in your Tools menu (Firefox shown in picture #2).
The only disadvantage I would find for now is the amount of time that will take for it to download that much data and when the GMail extension will be released, the time it will take for people to download 1,5GB of mails. Of course, most people don’t use that much of their space so it’s barely a general disadvantage, but time will come.
I’ve always wanted to be able to stay connected to the Google services while offline and now this is making it possible. If anyone has tried this in detail already, I would be more than happy to hear your comments and first opinions on the service.
Google on,
It seems that FileHippo presented us with Firefox v. 2.0.0.4 before there was any official announcement on Mozilla’s FrontPage, but taking a short trip in the past, I noticed that FileHippo has done this before. If you’re dying to try the new version of Firefox, you can download it from here, or you can wait for the official announcement of the release.
As a noticeable feature for this version, they say it delivers easier navigation for everyone, including those who are visually or motor-impaired.
Enjoy,
UPDATE: It seems this version is now available on Mozilla’s official page - http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 | Posted in Internet | 1 Comment »
The new Street View feature for Google Maps looks great. Although it’s only available in a couple US cities ( five of them to be more precise) the Street View amazes us by the level of detail you get. Entire streets are mapped completely, and not just main boulevards but small streets too, from busy highways to silent streets Google covers it all. You can even navigate the mapped roads using the provided arrows and the N-S guiding line.
Click to enlarge
This combined with the Traffic tool in Google Maps makes a great city orientation guide, also the Find Businesses and Get directions features come in handy when you feel disoriented in the big city. We can only wait for Google to cover larger areas (outside the US) and to bring new and more astounding features (which it will most certainly do).
You’ve all been aware of the fact that RegisterFly was lately involved in a series of lawsuits due domain theft. If not, let me remind you a few hot lines.
The split between the founders of Registerfly.com, the leading domain name registrar, took a tawdry turn last week, as court documents filed by John Naruszewicz and Unifiednames, the corporation that owns Registerfly.com, made some shocking allegations against ousted CEO Kevin Medina.
The complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and alleges that 75,000 domain names were lost in January 2007 alone due to failure to remit registry fees. The complaint goes on to accuse Medina of using corporate accounts as private slush funds, thereby failing to maintain sufficient float to cover registry fees.
Click here to find out more!
The embezzlement alleged includes tens of thousands of dollars for luxuries such as escort services, personal credit card bills and even liposuction. It also alleges that Medina used $10,000 in corporate funds per month to cover rent on a Miami Beach penthouse apartment.
Registerfly is an ICANN-approved provider of internet hosting and domain name registration services based in New Jersey that controls approximately two million domain names for 900,000 different owners. In recent weeks, the service appears to have effectively collapsed, with owners scrambling to recover domains that were not automatically renewed as agreed, or were paid for and for no apparent reason allowed to lapse well before the agreed upon expiration date.
Source
However, I’m bringing this up because a few hours ago, GoDaddy, one of the acredited ICANN registrars agreed to take over and manage ex-RegisterFly customers. The number is just a bit higher than 850,000, those being added to the already existent 20,000,000.
RegisterFly clients were in limbo after the internal troubles the company had. Official persons declared that many of their customers were unable to renew their domains before expiration, or even to transfer them to another registrar.
I have found no financial information over this deal at this point, but it’s certain that GoDaddy will start running the RegisterFly names within a week.
At the time I’m writing this, RegisterFly is no longer an ICANN certified registrar since The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers revoked its certification and sued it for the databases.
I’ll keep you posted with future coverage if anything happens, but I’d also like to know your opinions on this.
Latest news say that Google has purchased Green Border for an undisclosed sum. Green Border is a company founded in 2001 that provides malware protection tools for your browser. Desktop DMZ is a program that protects your computer while you browse the internet and it does that by separating the browsing sessions form your operating system, so if anything malicious gets in, it doesn’t affect system files. You know that Desktop DMZ is up and running by looking for the green frame that encircles the browser window when protection is ON, this way you can be sure your system is safe all the time.
Now how does this relate with Google Desktop antivirus ? Well think about it, if Google would want to improve its Desktop package this would be one of the main features required, an antivirus module, especially when it uses innovative methods such as Desktop DMZ that don’t require constant updates or maintenance.
They made it, yes. Well, they don’t actually achieve Apple’s performance in selling 100 million iPods but noting the fact they’re newer on the market, they’re pretty satisfied of their results. The following is an extract from an interview with Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s president of the Entertainment and Devices Division.
Question: Can you talk a little bit about the Zune overall? Will we see next-generation Zunes coming out, particularly flash-based players?
Bach: We’re still about nine months into having Zune in the marketplace. We’re very pleased with the progress. We’ve sold a little over a million Zunes. In the category we’re in, the hard-disk-based category, we’ve got about 10 percent market share. It’s a good start. It’s not an overwhelming start. I’m not going to pretend it’s some gigantic move. As we look to the future, you’re certainly going to see us continue to invest in that category. We don’t enter things like that lightly. There will be new things down the path (in the fall). We just came out with a special edition pink Zune and a watermelon-colored Zune, which are the personal favorites with my kids.
Question: Are people sharing music by beaming songs from Zune to Zune? Do you have any way to gauge that?
Bach: People are sharing. When your installed base is a million, the benefits of sharing, frankly, aren’t as wide as we hope to see in the future. One of the challenges for us is continuing to build on the install base. Sharing is a tip of the iceberg of what you can do in the social nature of music, and what you can do when you have a device that you can connect when you’re at a Starbucks, when you’re at work, when you’re at home. That really, over time, will change things, for Zune and for consumers.
Nowadays, every single possible peripheral device for a computer has had at least one wireless version. Honestly, this thing impresses me. It’s thin and can easily bypass as a painting if you want. This wireless printer escapes from the in-communicative box and takes on its traditional role of image making in a more direct visual articulation, referencing a picture frame, it hangs on the wall or leans on the desktop, printing and then displaying your documents until you retrieve them.
Check out these three pictures below
Reddit isn’t one of the most popular social news websites out there, but its presence is commonly known. However, reddit’s developers don’t seem to put pretty much thinking in their job, as this story demonstrates. They seem to forgot adding ANY type of validation to the submit form (the most used feature on the website itself). From the security point of view, this is a major flaw that needs to get fixed.
Basically, you can enter anything you want there and nothing can stop you. If you’re smart enough, you can use XSS to retrieve usernames and passwords or to execute malicious code in your favor.
At the time I’m writing this, the bug is still not fixed, the submit form still allowing me to play around. What’s more intriguing is that reddit’s owner found out about a similar exploit on Yahoo Combinator a while ago. Although that one was checked and quickly fixed, reddit.com is still vulnerable at this very moment.
As the mini-PC trend starts to be more and more popular, players on the market start releasing increasingly impressive models. Let’s take the LPC - 450 mini-PC from Stealth Computer for example. With a case of 5.7- x 9.9- x 1.65 inch, it offers a computing ‘heart’ of Core 2 Duo processors, also it accommodates up to 160GB of storage and 1GB or RAM memory. Connectivity is provided via the gigabit Ethernet connection, three USB 2.0 ports + FireWire. Visual processing is assured by the integrated GMA950 Intel chip.
Pack all these in the sturdy aluminum case and you’ll have your dream mini-PC, that’s if you’re ready to pay somewhat around $1,500 for it.
