Archive for May, 2008
Google is getting ready to welcome more than 2900 developers to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for Google I/O™, the company’s largest developer event of the year. The event opens with a keynote speech on Wednesday, May 28, and runs through Thursday, May 29, with nearly 100 in-depth technical sessions about Google’s own developer products, and general web application development.
Google’s developer products are devoted to making it easier for developers to build for the web. In particular, Wednesday’s keynote speech will explore three areas of Google investment that — in close collaboration with the larger web community — aim to enable increasingly innovative and rich web applications:
- Making clouds of computing power more accessible to all developers
- Making the client — i.e., the browser — more capable and more powerful
- Ensuring the connectivity that enables the client and the cloud to work in harmony
“After years of competition among platforms, the web has won because it’s open, because it’s ubiquitous, and because there’s a passionate community working together to move it forward,” said Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering for developer products at Google. “Openness is great for developers and for users because it knocks down hurdles to building great applications, and because it speeds the next wave of innovation by letting good ideas be shared. The web doesn’t depend on any one API or tool or product, from Google or anyone else. What makes the real difference is the aggregate effect of us all working together, with open standards and open source.”
Google App Engine: Making It Easy to Build, Maintain, and Scale Web Apps
Google App Engine™ enables developers to build their web apps on the same infrastructure that powers Google’s own applications. So developers eager to build highly scalable web apps will be especially pleased with the following piece of Google I/O news: Google App Engine is announcing open sign-ups. More than 150,000 developers have joined the product’s waiting list over the past 6 weeks; on Wednesday, Google App Engine will be available to everyone — no waiting required.
Google App Engine is also announcing its pricing plans (effective later this year) for purchasing additional computing resources; this is something developers have been asking for ever since the initial launch. The product will be free to get started, and in the current preview release apps will continue to be restricted to that free quota. Later this year, once the preview period has ended, developers can expect to pay:
- Free quota to get started: 500MB storage and enough CPU and bandwidth for about 5 million pageviews per month
- $0.10 - $0.12 per CPU core-hour
- $0.15 - $0.18 per GB-month of storage
- $0.11 - $0.13 per GB outgoing bandwidth
- $0.09 - $0.11 per GB incoming bandwidth
Lastly, and likewise in response to developer feedback, Google App Engine will provide two new APIs in the coming weeks. The image-manipulation API enables developers to scale, rotate, and crop images on the server, and the memcache API is a high-performance caching layer designed to make page rendering faster for developers.
More information about Google App Engine is available at http://code.google.com/appengine/.
Building more powerful, faster AJAX applications: Google Web Toolkit 1.5 Release Candidate
With Google Web Toolkit™, developers can develop and debug web applications in the familiar Java programming language, and then deploy them as highly optimized JavaScript. In doing so, developers sidestep common AJAX headaches like browser compatibility, and enjoy significant performance and productivity gains. Google Health is one recently launched application to use Google Web Toolkit.
Google Web Toolkit Release Candidate 1.5 will be available later this week and includes Java 5 language support so that developers can enjoy using the full capabilities of the Java 5 syntax. These capabilities include Java generics, enumerated types, annotations, auto-boxing, variable parameter lists, and more. The compiler in Google Web Toolkit 1.5 produces faster code than ever, delivering performance gains big enough for end users to notice; indeed, it is often the case that the compiler produces faster JavaScript than a person would write by hand in JavaScript. Google Web Toolkit 1.5 accomplishes this by performing deep inlining, better dead code elimination, and other forms of enhanced static analysis.
Google Web Toolkit also continues to provide a rich and growing set of libraries that help developers build world-class AJAX, including thoroughly-tested reusable libraries for implementing user interfaces, data structures, client/server communication, internationalization, testing, and accessibility. More information about Google Web Toolkit is available at http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/.
Innovation in the Open: At the Event
Google I/O will include a mix of practical, hands-on advice for building web apps as well as opportunities to learn about and discuss emerging trends. Sessions with top Google engineers will cover tools developed both inside and outside of Google. Topic areas will include:
- AJAX & JavaScript
- APIs & Tools
- Social
- Mobile
- Maps & Geo
More information about Google I/O is available at http://code.google.com/io/. Google will be accepting online registrations until the evening of May 27th and on-site the day of the event.
May 31st, 2008
Yahoo! today issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Microsoft Corporation that it is continuing to review potential transactions with Yahoo!:
“Yahoo! has confirmed with Microsoft that it is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo! at this time. Yahoo! and its Board of Directors continue to consider a number of value maximizing strategic alternatives for Yahoo!, and we remain open to pursuing any transaction which is in the best interest of our stockholders. Yahoo!’s Board of Directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value.”
May 24th, 2008
Tonight at Campfire One at the Googleplex (http://code.google.com/campfire/), Google will announce a preview release of Google Friend Connect, a service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling any site on the web to easily provide social features for its visitors.
Websites that are not social networks may still want to be social — and now they can be, easily. With Google Friend Connect (see http://www.google.com/friendconnect following this evening’s Campfire One), any website owner can add a snippet of code to his or her site and get social features up and running immediately without programming — picking and choosing from built-in functionality like user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews, as well as third-party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community.
Visitors to any site using Google Friend Connect will be able to see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more.
To illustrate, independent musician Ingrid Michaelson has added music features from iLike with Google Friend Connect and is now able to run the iLike OpenSocial application on her official website (www.ingridmichaelson.com). As a result, starting tonight, fans who visit Ingrid’s site can connect with their friends without having to leave the site. Visitors will be able to see comments by friends from their social networks, add music to their profiles, see who is attending concerts, and enjoy other features of the iLike application, all at Ingrid’s website. With Google Friend Connect, people will be able to enjoy their favorite features with their friends on any website across the web.
“We want to bring ourselves to every eyeball, not bring every eyeball to us,” said Hadi Partovi, President of iLike. “Friend Connect is a significant opportunity for iLike, artists, and fans. The iLike Artist Dashboard™ will be the first content-management system that allows artists not only to post their songs, concerts, and videos to every leading social network from one dashboard, but also to simultaneously manage the content on their own websites.”
Google Friend Connect has been developed to lower two barriers to the spread of social features across the web. First, many website owners want to add features that enable their visitors to do things with their friends, but the technology and resource hurdles have been too high. Second, people are tiring of needing to create new logins and profiles and recreate their friends lists wherever they go on the web. Google Friend Connect offers a solution to both these issues.
“Google Friend Connect is about helping the ‘long tail’ of sites become more social,” said David Glazer, a director of engineering at Google. “Many sites aren’t explicitly social and don’t necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other. That used to be hard. Fortunately, there’s an emerging wave of social standards — OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and the data access APIs published by Facebook, Google, MySpace, and others. Google Friend Connect builds on these standards to let people easily connect with their friends, wherever they are on the web, making ‘any app, any site, any friends’ a reality.”
For Site Owners: Traffic and User Engagement
Without requiring coding experience, Google Friend Connect gives site owners a way to attract and engage more people by giving visitors a way to connect with friends on their websites.
- Drive traffic: people who discover interesting sites can bring their friends with them, and can opt-in to publish their activities on those sites back into their social network, attracting even more visitors.
- Increase engagement: access to friends and OpenSocial applications provides more interesting content and richer social experiences.
- Less work: any site can have social components without hiring a programming team or becoming a social network.
Google Friend Connect is in a preview release, available tonight after Campfire One on a handful of whitelisted websites. All site owners interested in learning more about Google Friend Connect and signing up for the wait list can visit http://www.google.com/friendconnect/ starting tonight. In the weeks ahead we will be turning on more sites, adding more social applications, and integrating feedback from site owners and developers.
Google I/O
Learn more about Google Friend Connect, OpenSocial, and other social initiatives at Google I/O, a two-day developer gathering about building the next generation of web applications. It takes place May 28-29 at Moscone West, San Francisco. Register now for Google I/O at http://code.google.com/events/io/.
May 17th, 2008
Google today announced a web security product that makes it easy and affordable for companies of all sizes to provide Internet security to users in any location. Google Web Security™ for Enterprise provides real-time malware protection and URL filtering with policy enforcement and reporting. An additional feature extends the same protections to users working remotely on laptops in hotels, cafes, and even guest networks.
“One of the benefits of Google Apps is the protection it provides for communication and collaboration within businesses,” said Scott Petry, director of product management, Google. “Now companies can extend that protection to more of their users’ Internet activities, whether they’re surfing the web at the office or the airport.”
Google Web Security allows companies to secure their networks from web-based malware; enforce Internet use policies at the user, workgroup or company level; and receive comprehensive reporting on all web activities. Since employees are most vulnerable when they’re working outside the office, companies have the option of adding protection for off-network users. And because the product is delivered as a service, those remote workers get the protection wherever they are, without having to sign on to their corporate network.
The product is Powered by Postini™ with technology from ScanSafe, and accessible from the same administration console used for Google Apps security and compliance messaging services. Google Web Security is available in North America and Europe. Go to http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/security/web.html for more information.
May 9th, 2008
The first thing you need to do is to create an SQL database on your webhost. This can be done via CPanel or if not that, then ask your host how…anyways, creating an SQL database with 1 table is not hard.
The key is, to create it, record the information and then try to log in to that database via Dreamweaver.
You can do this by creating a new database connection in the ‘Application’ window of Dreamweaver.
This is one of the most challenging parts, and you’ll need to set up the site’s testing server. At first this can be tricky, but if you stick with it and get connected to your SQL databas via Dreamweaver, you’ll soon find ways to insert records, display records, and much more!
You see, once you are connected to the database, the table names will dynamically show up in Dreamweaver, and from there it is only a short step to learn how to insert records, repeat records, and display data in the database.
Of course reading a book can help you with PHP, but it is also fun to just jump right in the Dreamweaver buttons.
Even a total PHP dunce like myself was able to start creating little PHP/SQL applications once I figured out these basic steps.
So if you want to create PHP applications, but don’t know how to hand-code PHP, create a PHP/SQL database with 1 table, figure out how to connect to it via Dreamweaver, and start messing around with the Dreamweaver PHP buttons.
In a few hours time you’ll see what creating PHP/SQL applications in Dreamweaver is all about.
For more information on Dreamweaver including step by step video tutorials, visit www.dreamweaverhowto.com
J. Gilbert Offers awesome step by step video tutorials that show people how to set up various aspects of an online information business. You can see more of his products at www.resource-website.com
May 6th, 2008
Yahoo! and McAfee today announced a partnership to deliver a safer Web search experience through Yahoo! Search. Launching in beta today, the new SearchScan feature by Yahoo! Search, powered by the award-winning McAfee(R) SiteAdvisor(R) technology, provides always-on alerts to users for “risky” sites with security concerns such as spyware, adware and other malicious software that can infect and damage a user’s PC. SearchScan also identifies sites that have shown bad email practices, flooding user in-boxes with spammy emails. SearchScan is available for Yahoo! Search users in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. The McAfee Yahoo! partnership is a multi-year, global agreement with additional elements, including bringing Yahoo! Search to McAfee users, in the next few months.
By integrating McAfee’s technology into Yahoo! Search, sites that may harm the user’s computer just by visiting them will be eliminated from appearing in Yahoo! Search results. SearchScan also alerts users to potentially risky sites with a red warning sign in search results, allowing users to proceed with caution. During this beta period, SearchScan displays McAfee alerts optimal for the Yahoo! Search user and does not include all McAfee SiteAdvisor red ratings. (See Diagram 1)
After children’s safety, 65 percent of Americans online are more worried about clicking unsecured search listings than the threat of neighborhood crime, getting ones wallet stolen or email scams.* SearchScan addresses users urgent need to avoid visiting dangerous sites on the Web when conducting a search. The McAfee Yahoo! partnership represents a major step forward for safer searching online; users who conduct Web searches with Yahoo! will be warned about the many malicious and dangerous Web sites before they visit them.
“The new SearchScan feature from Yahoo! Search makes searching the Web even safer than ever before. No other search engine today offers this level of warning before visiting sites that can damage or infect a user’s PC and cost them valuable time and money,” said Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Search. “Through this partnership with McAfee, we can offer users a safer search experience and drive more users to make Yahoo! Search their starting point on the Web.”
“We are very excited to have Yahoo! as a partner to make the Internet more secure for everyone,” said Tim Dowling, McAfee vice president, Web Security Group “The advance warning offered by McAfee SiteAdvisor is one of the strongest weapons in the battle against online threats. Research indicates that 4 out of 5 Web site visits start with a search, and consumers who use Yahoo! Search will now be alerted to high-risk Web sites. This protects users from known malicious threats such as browser exploits that will wreck their PC with a single click or spyware that can lead to identity theft.”
May 6th, 2008
DoubleClick today announced that DoubleClick Mobile, the company’s advertising delivery system for mobile devices, is integrating with mobile ad networks including AdMob, Google’s AdSense™ for mobile content, and Millennial Media’s premium MBrand network as well as its Decktrade™ performance network. This upgrade helps mobile publishers fill more of their available inventory and ultimately earn more revenue.
“This integration is a great example of how DoubleClick is working with key industry players to bring value to publishers by enhancing the liquidity of mobile display inventory,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. “We believe that the ability to sell mobile inventory directly and indirectly will provide mobile advertisers with more options, ultimately leading to better monetization for publishers.”
Now, publishers using DoubleClick Mobile can sell mobile display inventory indirectly, through automated access to one or more networks of mobile advertisers. Publishers, of course, can continue to sell directly as they have always done. DoubleClick Mobile provides an accurate view of what inventory is available to sell, what has been sold directly and what has been filled by ad networks. By managing inventory across direct and indirect channels, DoubleClick Mobile helps publishers better monetize their mobile web content.
DoubleClick Mobile is part of the DoubleClick Revenue Center, which enables media sellers to manage their display campaigns in tandem with emerging platforms, such as mobile advertising, in a single location.
“Both brand and performance advertisers are using our MBrand and Decktrade networks to reach their mobile advertising goals,” said Paul Palmieri, president and CEO of Millennial Media. “Our integration with DoubleClick Mobile makes it possible for publishers to accept ads from Millennial Media’s deep roster of leading advertisers while preserving their ability to sell directly.”
“AdMob is always eager to extend our engineering investments in mobile advertising relevance and optimization to new platforms,” said Omar Hamoui, AdMob’s founder and CEO. “We are excited that DoubleClick’s clients will now be able to join over 4000 existing AdMob publishers in leveraging AdMob’s ad liquidity and mobile specific ad serving technologies.”
May 1st, 2008
