Google is offering a service-level agreement for a version of Google Apps, a move that may provide some comfort to enterprises spooked by a long Gmail outage and a buggy Apps portal earlier this month.
The Premier Edition of the Google Apps online productivity and collaboration suite will come with a 99.9 percent per-month uptime guarantee for the Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sites and Google Talk services.
In effect, Google is promising compensation if downtime exceeds around 45 minutes a month -- but it won't count outages of less than 10 minutes' duration towards this total. The SLA conditions define downtime as when the "user error rate" exceeds 5 percent, as measured on the server side. Customers could therefore experience far more than 45 minutes of downtime, in shorter bursts, without compensation.
There'll be no compensation either if the downtime is for scheduled maintenance for which Google has given more than five days' advance notice. Scheduled downtime will not exceed 12 hours a year, Google said.
If Google doesn't hit its marks, it will give customers credit toward more service. For only 99 percent uptime, Google will add three days of service to the end of a contract; from 95 to 99 percent, seven days and for less than 95 percent, 15 days. The agreement says money can't be substituted for user credits.
The SLA may give Apps customer additional confidence in Google, which experienced several problems with its services this month.
The starting portal page of Google's Apps suite malfunctioned as the company was apparently updating the layout and other functions. Administrators complained they would have preferred it if Google warned them before making changes.
Some Google Apps customers could not access Gmail for up to 30 hours after a service outage earlier this month. Google already offers a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee for Gmail for users on Google Apps Premier. In user forums, system administrators complained of outraged CEOs and executives in their companies who could not access e-mail.
With its Apps, suite Google is trying to draw customers away from desktop-based software from companies such as Microsoft. While hosted software requires less maintenance and enables easier software updates, it also leaves in-house IT specialists with few options but waiting when things go bad.
Google will reportedly add SMS sending capabilities to Gmail Chat today which will now let desktop Gmail users swap instant messages with mobile phone users via SMS protocol. Previously Gmail users could communicate to mobile phone users, but were limited to sending e-mail messages. The Official Gmail Blog hasn't announced the new SMS chat feature yet but reports indicate that SMS support in Gmail Chat will be available for all US users some time today.
When the service becomes available it will require you sign up for it through Google Labs. To do this simply go to Gmail, then Settings (upper right-hand corner of Web page) and select Labs. Simply scroll down and "enable" SMS chat.
The new feature joins a plethora of new experimental features launched this month by Google Labs. SMS in Chat, according to reports, is only available in the US.
How SMS in Chat works
To get started using the service just type a phone number in the Chat search box or search a contact by name (if you have their phone number stored) and click the "Send SMS" option.
The person receiving an SMS from Gmail's Chat will see it as coming from a 406 area code number. This pseudo-phone number will be associated with your account once you first use the feature. That 406 number now can be used for others to send you text messages that will pop up right in your Gmail Chat window.
Potentially Harmful to Your Wallet
This feature is not free. The person receiving SMS messages from you via Gmail Chat will be charged by their mobile carrier each time you hit enter in the chat window. The same applies if they reply to that message. While sending the messages from Gmail is free, at the receiving end users will pay standard text messaging rates to their wireless carrier.
SMS in Chat is a feature that differentiates Gmail from other large webmail providers such as Windows Live Mail or Yahoo! Mail, which do not have such functionality. AOL's instant messaging platform AIM does support SMS messaging in chat.
A mere week after its release, the T-Mobile G1 phone has been unlocked. The dutiful folks at the Android Community posted pictures and a YouTube video of a G1 phone functioning with an AT&T SIM card. The site also claims -- but does not illustrate or explain how -- that the code works with any network SIM card.
But if you're thinking about opening up your open-source G1, there are a few things you should know. One: the Android Community is charging $22.99 for the unlock code. Two: your Google account will no longer work on the G1. Without a functioning Google account, Gmail ceases to operate and the Android App Store becomes inaccessible.
So in the long run, is it worth $22.99 to render a Google phone Google-free? Remember: after 90 days of service, T-Mobile customers can request a SIM unlock code themselves. Or you can wait for a more sophisticated unlock code that will not restrict the G1's functionality. Also, a slew of manufacturers, including Motorola, are preparing their own Google-powered phones that may be compatible with your mobile service carrier. Right now, it doesn't seem worth your money.
Google announced last night that it will become a single sign-on provider using OpenID solutions. This will allow Google users to login with their Google account information when signing up for new accounts on other sites.
Microsoft and Yahoo have both adopted the same strategy, using OpenID, and now Google has jumped on the bandwagon in a bid to offer its users a better "value" for their accounts. Google's API is based on the OpenID 2.0 protocol and is designed to be embedded by third party web services.
So What's OpenID?
OpenID is a free framework that eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites. If you have a Microsoft Live Mail account, a Yahoo account, or a Google account, you can log in with those same credentials on other websites like AOL, MySpace, Plaxo, Zoho or Buxfer, without having to create a new account on any of these sites.
Not Really That Open
Yahoo and Microsoft, and now Google, are only using OpenID for login information, which means that accounts with these services are not transferable. You won't be able to use your Windows Live account to access services on Yahoo's site or vice-versa, same as you won't be able to use your Yahoo ID to start using Picasa without opening a separate Google account. The full OpenID solution will be only used for third-party sites.
Brand Before Simplicity
You also shouldn't expect to see the OpenID logo anytime soon when you sign in to your Gmail, Hotmail of Yahoo Mail account. Even though major web service providers are adopting this technology, Yahoo and Google went for the option of promoting their own brand, bypassing the OpenID title. Users will be given the option to "Sign in with a Google Account" or to "Sign in with a Yahoo! ID" on other websites such as Plaxo or Zoho (pictured above).
Future Looks Good, Though
With support from the web's big names, like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and MySpace, OpenID is poised to see a large-scale adoption. However, this is only the first step toward a truly unified and portable web. Contacts are the the next big thing that I'd love to see transcend various service providers. Maybe one day we'll be able to transfer our e-mail accounts the same way we do our phone numbers when we change networks.
Reports have Motorola announcing as soon as Thursday a big push to build new Android phones, but the more important move would be a potential plan by the handset maker to reduce the number of mobile operating systems it uses, analysts said.
On Wednesday, a Wall Street Journal report suggested that during Motorola's Thursday morning third quarter earnings call, the handset maker might unveil plans to focus development on Android and reduce the number of operating systems it uses. Android is the operating system developed by Google that first appeared just last week on the G1 phone built by HTC.
Analysts agreed that choosing to concentrate on just a few platforms would be a good change for the struggling Chicago-area company. "Over the last several years, they've had a one-off of everything," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "If you're trying to do that it's hard to concentrate and get it right."
If Motorola is planning to back Android in a big way, that could happen at the expense of Symbian, said Gold. It doesn't make sense for Motorola to build phones long term based on both platforms, which target generally the same market, he said. Motorola might choose Android over Symbian because Symbian is likely to be unstable in the near future as it goes through its stated plan to become open source, he said. In addition, Gold is predicting that Symbian and Android might somehow merge. "It makes sense not to have multiple open operating systems," Gold said.
Motorola has a stormy history of developing iconic, cutting edge phones followed by prolonged dry spells that threaten the company's existence. Most recently, it built the wildly successful Razr, but in the four years since its launch Motorola has failed to come out with another hot seller. Phone sales for the company have plummeted, from 35 million handsets in the second quarter of 2007 to 28 million in the second quarter this year. Quarterly financial losses have accompanied the drop in sales.
Narrowing its focus could help. Motorola currently makes handsets based on Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux in addition to several proprietary platforms for low-end phones.
Overall, the more that handset makers focus, the more likely they are to be profitable, said Bill Hughes, an analyst with In-Stat. Nokia, BlackBerry and until recently HTC, all essentially use just one operating system and they are all profitable companies, he noted. LG, Samsung and Motorola all support multiple platforms and none is profitable. "It's hard to say if that's a cause or an effect, but it's an interesting observation," Hughes said.
The analysts did not expect Motorola to support just one operating system, however. The handset maker is likely to continue making Windows Mobile phones targeted at high-end enterprise users and perhaps consolidate down to just one platform for very low-end feature phones. "But that leaves a big chunk in the middle. Android could provide focus there," Gold said.
Android is a likely choice given clear indications that Motorola is staffing up a new group to build phones based on the operating system. One recent job posting on the handset maker's Web site seeks a senior software engineer to work on an Android smartphone. The posting describes a new division within Motorola "with the mindset of a startup, executive level sponsorship and deep funding."
If Motorola does decide to focus on just a few platforms, the move will be challenging and will require a significant cultural shift, said Hughes, who worked for the giant a decade ago, although not in the handset division. Traditionally, Motorola has believed in volume, so when an operator asks the company to make a phone based on a specific operating system, the company has "culturally been unable to say no," Hughes said. "When someone says to them, 'I want to order X million units if you use this OS,' they don't have it within them to turn it down."
Reducing the number of operating systems it supports and turning away some orders would be a big undertaking, he said. "It would be something very Motorola-like to try, but whether they succeed or not... If they announce this and succeed I'll believe they have a different culture. And by the way, the last four CEOs at Motorola have come in planning to change the culture and they were unsuccessful," Hughes said.
In August, Motorola hired Sanjay Jha, a former Qualcomm executive, to serve as co-CEO of Motorola and run the handset business, which the company plans to spin off next year. He fills in for Greg Brown, president and co-CEO for Motorola, who had been temporarily running the handset business after Stu Reed quit the job in February.
Motorola declined to comment on any planned announcements regarding Android.
Memristor circuits lead to ultrasmall PCs. Intel and AMD unleash massively multicore CPUs. Samsung TVs respond to your every gesture. These and other developing technologies will fundamentally change the way you think about--and use--technology. The Next Big thing? The memristor, a microscopic component that can "remember" electrical states even when turned off. It's expected to be far cheaper and faster than flash storage. A theoretical concept since 1971, it has now been built in labs and is already starting to revolutionize everything we know about computing, possibly making flash memory, RAM, and even hard drives obsolete within a decade. The memristor is just one of the incredible technological advances sending shock waves through the world of computing. Other innovations in the works are more down-to-earth, but they also carry watershed significance. From the technologies that finally make paperless offices a reality to those that deliver wireless power, these advances should make your humble PC a far different beast come the turn of the decade. In the following sections, we outline the basics of 15 upcoming technologies, with predictions on what may come of them. Some are breathing down our necks; some advances are still just out of reach. And all have to be reckoned with.
Since the dawn of electronics, we've had only three types of circuit components--resistors, inductors, and capacitors. But in 1971, UC Berkeley researcher Leon Chua theorized the possibility of a fourth type of component, one that would be able to measure the flow of electric current: the memristor. Now, just 37 years later, Hewlett-Packard has built one.
What is it? As its name implies, the memristor can "remember" how much current has passed through it. And by alternating the amount of current that passes through it, a memristor can also become a one-element circuit component with unique properties. Most notably, it can save its electronic state even when the current is turned off, making it a great candidate to replace today's flash memory.
Memristors will theoretically be cheaper and far faster than flash memory, and allow far greater memory densities. They could also replace RAM chips as we know them, so that, after you turn off your computer, it will remember exactly what it was doing when you turn it back on, and return to work instantly. This lowering of cost and consolidating of components may lead to affordable, solid-state computers that fit in your pocket and run many times faster than today's PCs.
Someday the memristor could spawn a whole new type of computer, thanks to its ability to remember a range of electrical states rather than the simplistic "on" and "off" states that today's digital processors recognize. By working with a dynamic range of data states in an analog mode, memristor-based computers could be capable of far more complex tasks than just shuttling ones and zeroes around.
When is it coming? Researchers say that no real barrier prevents implementing the memristor in circuitry immediately. But it's up to the business side to push products through to commercial reality. Memristors made to replace flash memory (at a lower cost and lower power consumption) will likely appear first; HP's goal is to offer them by 2012. Beyond that, memristors will likely replace both DRAM and hard disks in the 2014-to-2016 time frame. As for memristor-based analog computers, that step may take 20-plus years.
32-Core CPUs From Intel and AMD
Photograph: Courtesy of Intel
If your CPU has only a single core, it's officially a dinosaur. In fact, quad-core computing is now commonplace; you can even get laptop computers with four cores today. But we're really just at the beginning of the core wars: Leadership in the CPU market will soon be decided by who has the most cores, not who has the fastest clock speed.
What is it? With the gigahertz race largely abandoned, both AMD and Intel are trying to pack more cores onto a die in order to continue to improve processing power and aid with multitasking operations. Miniaturizing chips further will be key to fitting these cores and other components into a limited space. Intel will roll out 32-nanometer processors (down from today's 45nm chips) in 2009.
When is it coming? Intel has been very good about sticking to its road map. A six-core CPU based on the Itanium design should be out imminently, when Intel then shifts focus to a brand-new architecture called Nehalem, to be marketed as Core i7. Core i7 will feature up to eight cores, with eight-core systems available in 2009 or 2010. (And an eight-core AMD project called Montreal is reportedly on tap for 2009.)
After that, the timeline gets fuzzy. Intel reportedly canceled a 32-core project called Keifer, slated for 2010, possibly because of its complexity (the company won't confirm this, though). That many cores requires a new way of dealing with memory; apparently you can't have 32 brains pulling out of one central pool of RAM. But we still expect cores to proliferate when the kinks are ironed out: 16 cores by 2011 or 2012 is plausible (when transistors are predicted to drop again in size to 22nm), with 32 cores by 2013 or 2014 easily within reach. Intel says "hundreds" of cores may come even farther down the line.
Nehalem and Swift Chips Spell the End of Stand-Alone Graphics Boards
When AMD purchased graphics card maker ATI, most industry observers assumed that the combined company would start working on a CPU-GPU fusion. That work is further along than you may think.
What is it? While GPUs get tons of attention, discrete graphics boards are a comparative rarity among PC owners, as 75 percent of laptop users stick with good old integrated graphics, according to Mercury Research. Among the reasons: the extra cost of a discrete graphics card, the hassle of installing one, and its drain on the battery. Putting graphics functions right on the CPU eliminates all three issues.
Chip makers expect the performance of such on-die GPUs to fall somewhere between that of today's integrated graphics and stand-alone graphics boards--but eventually, experts believe, their performance could catch up and make discrete graphics obsolete. One potential idea is to devote, say, 4 cores in a 16-core CPU to graphics processing, which could make for blistering gaming experiences.
When is it coming? Intel's soon-to-come Nehalem chip includes graphics processing within the chip package, but off of the actual CPU die. AMD's Swift (aka the Shrike platform), the first product in its Fusion line, reportedly takes the same design approach, and is also currently on tap for 2009.
Putting the GPU directly on the same die as the CPU presents challenges--heat being a major one--but that doesn't mean those issues won't be worked out. Intel's two Nehalem follow-ups, Auburndale and Havendale, both slated for late 2009, may be the first chips to put a GPU and a CPU on one die, but the company isn't saying yet.
USB 3.0 Speeds Up Performance on External Devices
The USB connector has been one of the greatest success stories in the history of computing, with more than 2 billion USB-connected devices sold to date. But in an age of terabyte hard drives, the once-cool throughput of 480 megabits per second that a USB 2.0 device can realistically provide just doesn't cut it any longer.
What is it? USB 3.0 (aka "SuperSpeed USB") promises to increase performance by a factor of 10, pushing the theoretical maximum throughput of the connector all the way up to 4.8 gigabits per second, or processing roughly the equivalent of an entire CD-R disc every second. USB 3.0 devices will use a slightly different connector, but USB 3.0 ports are expected to be backward-compatible with current USB plugs, and vice versa. USB 3.0 should also greatly enhance the power efficiency of USB devices, while increasing the juice (nearly one full amp, up from 0.1 amps) available to them. That means faster charging times for your iPod--and probably even more bizarre USB-connected gear like the toy rocket launchers and beverage coolers that have been festooning people's desks.
When is it coming? The USB 3.0 spec is nearly finished, with consumer gear now predicted to come in 2010. Meanwhile, a host of competing high-speed plugs--DisplayPort, eSATA, and HDMI--will soon become commonplace on PCs, driven largely by the onset of high-def video. Even FireWire is looking at an imminent upgrade of up to 3.2 gbps performance. The port proliferation may make for a baffling landscape on the back of a new PC, but you will at least have plenty of high-performance options for hooking up peripherals.
Wireless Power Transmission
Wireless power transmission has been a dream since the days when Nikola Tesla imagined a world studded with enormous Tesla coils. But aside from advances in recharging electric toothbrushes, wireless power has so far failed to make significant inroads into consumer-level gear.
What is it? This summer, Intel researchers demonstrated a method--based on MIT research--for throwing electricity a distance of a few feet, without wires and without any dangers to bystanders (well, none that they know about yet). Intel calls the technology a "wireless resonant energy link," and it works by sending a specific, 10-MHz signal through a coil of wire; a similar, nearby coil of wire resonates in tune with the frequency, causing electrons to flow through that coil too. Though the design is primitive, it can light up a 60-watt bulb with 70 percent efficiency.
When is it coming? Numerous obstacles remain, the first of which is that the Intel project uses alternating current. To charge gadgets, we'd have to see a direct-current version, and the size of the apparatus would have to be considerably smaller. Numerous regulatory hurdles would likely have to be cleared in commercializing such a system, and it would have to be thoroughly vetted for safety concerns.
Assuming those all go reasonably well, such receiving circuitry could be integrated into the back of your laptop screen in roughly the next six to eight years. It would then be a simple matter for your local airport or even Starbucks to embed the companion power transmitters right into the walls so you can get a quick charge without ever opening up your laptop bag.
Google is beefing up its enterprise strategy with Labs for Google Apps, features that Google Apps administrators can download and plug into their domains, quickly extending the collaboration suite's core capabilities. "There is a widely held belief that technology progress in the enterprise is slow and methodical, that adoption cycles are long, and that experimentation is inappropriate. Here at Google we believe that experimentation is a good thing -- even in the enterprise space," said a post Tuesday on the official Google Enterprise Blog. Three add-on features are now available for download at no charge to Apps customers from Google's Solutions Marketplace: Google Moderator, for corralling and focusing group discussions; Google Code Reviews, which development teams can use to quality-check source code collaboratively; and Google Short Links, a tool for simplifying the creation and sharing of content links. "Once installed ... users on your domain will be able to log in and access these features alongside existing applications like Gmail and Sites, and your domain administrators can configure them using the standard Google Apps control panel," Google said. Google will be adding more Labs applications in the future, according to the blog. "We're also planning on opening up the Labs for Google Apps platform to third party developers, so that new and existing vendors can build apps for the million-plus businesses using Google Apps today," the post adds.
Microsoft has been hinting for some time at plans to not just rival but outdo Google Docs, and today we finally got a glimpse of what the company has in mind. Surprise: They're turning to an old dog that's going to learn some impressive-looking new tricks-Microsoft Office. In demos at the very end of a long Professional Developers Conference keynote that also marked the public debut of Windows 7, a Microsoft Office team member showed how web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that will be bundled with the next release of Office will allow people to seamlessly collaborate on documents that can reside online or on PCs. (Microsoft later posted a news release about its plans to create "lightweight" versions of Office apps for the Web.) In one of the demos, the keynote audience saw two people modifying a One Note document-one from within a desktop version of OneNote and another working on the browser-based version of the note-taking application. And in another, we watched a full-featured spreadsheet being modified in similar fashion, in close to real time (there was a slight lag). The Webification of Office promises functionality that goes beyond what Microsoft already offers as Google alternatives in its existing Windows Live program-in fact, Microsoft says it will deliver the Office apps via Office Live. The beauty of this approach (and why it might actually succeed in winning converts from Google Docs) is that Microsoft starts the Web competition with a big advantage in terms of formats: Office documents remain the lingua franca of business communication. The demos suggest that the problem of offline access would go away, since documents would be automatically synced (via Live Mesh technology). What remains to be seen is what you'd need to do to avail yourself of Web-desktop synchronicity-would you have to sign up for some kind of Microsoft collaboration service, or pay for storage space that Google now gives away for free? We don't yet know when Microsoft plans to release the next version of Office (although if past history is any indication, it shouldn't be too long after Windows 7, which is still officially slated to debut in early 2010). But Microsoft has said it will be working on extending anytime-anywhere functionality to mobile devices (presumably Windows Mobile devices). In his remarks during both today's and yesterday's keynotes, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said over and over again that Microsoft intends to bring customers the benefits of the desktop, the Web, and mobility in the years to come.
Ever want to have a quick glance at your calendar appointments while in Gmail? Users so far had to open separate tabs for access to their Google Calendar and Google Doc documents. But now there's an easier way. Google labs announced last night two gadgets that integrate with Gmail and allow users have a quick look at their Google calendar appointments and recently accessed documents right from within their Gmail inbox. It's been a while now since many have asked publicly for this feature and Google finally complied. You can head over to Settings/Labs in Gmail and enable the two new features that will dock on the left side of your inbox. Using the other Labs features, you can reorder your gadgets and move some of them (chat, labels) on the right side, for a more comprehensive inbox. The calendar gadget displays your latest entries in an agenda style while the documents gadget will show the latest used documents together with a search function. A third feature was also launched that allows you to add any other gadget by pasting the URL of the file. However, even the Google team admits that the third feature "isn't very user friendly right now," but hopefully we will see some improvements soon. If you're concerned with security though, keep in mind that not all gadgets are fully compatible with https, so the ones connecting to Gmail via https might get mixed content warnings. The Labs team said that it is "working on fixing this." Google Beefs Up Gmail Google Labs has been at the forefront of innovation at Google lately, releasing a plethora of new features for Gmail's 100 plus million users over the past month. As a quick recap, we had emoticons, canned responses, contacts improvements, advanced IMAP controls and Mail Goggles, all in just one month. Someone up there on the Google cloud must be watching which Labs features users activate for their Gmail accounts and tally up whether these new features will be part of a final Gmail version. However, while Gmail is still in a perpetual beta status, I wonder who has more input into shaping the future versions of Gmail: the personal user or the businesses that use Google Apps?
With the first public alpha release of Windows 7 due Monday at the Microsoft PDC2008 conference, the outline of the new operating system is taking shape. What you won't see when that alpha comes out is the way that Microsoft will try to use Windows 7 as a Trojan horse in its war against Google. Google's domination of the search market continues unabated, but Microsoft hasn't given up on it. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently said that his company is willing to lose "5% to 10% of total operating income for several years" to fund its ongoing attempt to make inroads into the search market. Much more than search is at stake. Google wants to replace Microsoft's desktop-based applications, such as Office, with its cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs. So where does Windows 7 come in? What new features can Microsoft possibly introduce that will help it overtake Google in search and retain its domination of productivity software such as Office? Microsoft's secret weapon in Windows 7 is not what features the operating system has, but instead what features it doesn't have. Microsoft is stripping Windows 7 of some of Windows' best built-in applications, and it's making them available only as downloads on its Windows Live site. When Windows 7 comes out, it won't include Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker, which are some of Vista 's most useful applications. Windows Movie Maker is a surprisingly sophisticated piece of software for creating videos and DVDs, and it's worthy of being sold as stand-alone software. Windows Photo Gallery is a well-done, elegant way to manage digital photos. And Windows Mail is the successor to Outlook Express, with a very big installed base. Expect users to howl in protest when they find those applications gone, particularly Windows Mail. To get them, users will have to visit the Microsoft Windows Live site, where the software can be downloaded for free. And, of course, there will be plenty of other Windows Live software they can download, as well as other Windows Live services they can use. It's a variation on the classic "loss leader" in retail, where you lure folks in with freebies and then pounce with a hard sell. Microsoft claims that it is stripping the applications out of Windows 7 because it makes for a "cleaner" operating system. But there are plenty of useless applications it could strip out of Windows to no ill effect. The backup program in Vista, for example, is close to useless. And as for People Near Me or Windows Meeting Space -- do you use either of those programs? Do you know anyone who does? Those could easily go to make for a cleaner operating system. And while Microsoft is at it, it could get rid of User Account Control. I don't know anyone who would cry real tears if that one bit the dust. I expect that there will be plenty of other hooks in Windows 7 to get people to go to Windows Live. And I don't expect all of those hooks to be consumer-oriented like Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. Don't be surprised if there are enterprise-related hooks as well. All this may be clever marketing, but it won't work. Microsoft may be able to push users to Windows Live, but if it doesn't build better search and better services than Google, people will stay with Google. If Microsoft wants to eat into Google's share of the search market, there's only one thing it can do: Build better search. If it wants to make sure that Google doesn't threaten its near-monopoly of productivity suites, it will need to make some version of Office available over the Internet. The key to battling Google is building better software and services. Stripping useful applications out of Windows isn't the way to win the war. Computerworld contributing editor and the author of more than 35 books, includingHow the Internet WorksandWindows Vista in a Nutshell. Contact him atpreston@gralla.com.
You know that guy who replaces every period in his e-mail with a wink ;) ? Well, if he's got Gmail, watch out -- because now he can take his emoti-madness to a whole other level. The folks in Mountain View who have brought us mail Goggles and canned responses recently have unleashed a collection of 148 emoticons into the Gmail space. Gmail has created all its emoticons as GIFS (little pictures) so that your true feelings can cut across all e-mail brands. Now when you want to say something is not so good, there's a nice steaming pile of you know what (there's also an animated version with flies buzzing around it); if someone is giving you the cold shoulder you can hit back at them with the snowman. With 148 emoticons to choose from you may never have to type a complete sentence again! So how do the competitors stack up against Gmail's emotional meltdowns? Not even close. Hotmail comes in second with a paltry 60 emotions, Yahoo Has only 40, and AOL comes in dead last with an anemic 16 emoticons. There's no question, Gmail is the most sensitive e-mail service of them all. Some emoticons are appropriate for the presidential election. For John McCain there's a frowny face or maybe the I-can't-believe-I'm-behind panic face; Barack Obama can show off his Spock-like calm with the straight face. And for anybody in the audience at a rally with either vice presidential candidate there's shock, horror and "did I just hear what I thought I heard?" faces. So, watch out, world! Gmail emoticons are here with a vengeance!
Google's continued effort to make Gmail a powerful e-mail platform continues this week with the introduction of Canned Responses. This feature allows you to create a library of short e-mail responses that can be selected in just a few clicks when replying to an e-mail. This feature is handy for anyone who is sick of typing out the identical response to multiple people. I could see this as a handy feature for storing directions to your home or commonly used e-mail responses such as "Unsubscribe: Please remove me from your e-mailing list." You can take Canned Responses a step further, as Google points out, and and use the feature to personalize e-mail auto-replies with specific messages. For example, you can have two canned messages set up to reply to either your boss or a friend. The one for your boss might read is "Sorry I missed you, I'm hard at work" and the other "Catch me on my cell phone, I'm likely down at the bar." Here is how to create Canned Responses. First select Setting from the upper right hand corner of your account page.
Next select the Labs tab and scroll down to Canned Responses and select Enable.
The next time you reply to a message you will see a blue Canned Response option in your email.
One drawback of the Canned Response feature is that it only supports short replies. Because of the way Google allows you to select responses from a drop-down menu longer responses will overload the menu making it impractical to have more than one Canned Response (see left image). Marrying Custom Canned Responses with Auto-Replies You can take Canned Responses to the next level by marrying responses with the Gmail auto-reply feature. Here's How To create rules for Canned Responses go to Gmail Settings and then select Filters and then select Create New Filter.
Durring the last step in creating your filter you'll see an option to "Send a Canned Response." Here is where you can select an individual response to specific sender.
You can create also create Filters to reply based on keywords in the body of the e-mail or in the subject line.
Google planned to announce on Tuesday that the source code for its mobile operating system, Android, is now available for anyone to use free. The move was expected, although the timing was uncertain. Developers can find the source code on the Web site for the Android Open Source Project. “An open-sourced mobile platform, that’s constantly being improved upon by the community and is available for everyone to use, speeds innovation, is an engine of economic opportunity and provides a better mobile experience for users,” said Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms for Google, in a statement. The first Android phone isn’t yet on the market—the G1 goes on sale in the U.S. from T-Mobile on Wednesday. Journalists were first able to publish reviews of the G1 last week. Google expects that by making the source code for the operating system open, a wide variety of applications will appear, as will cheaper and faster phones. But Google’s model for Android has some critics. The LiMo Foundation, which publishes specifications for middleware for mobile Linux devices, and of which Google is not a member, says that Google’s model might be too open. “There’s a debate about whether Google’s approach to openness is sustainable and good for the industry,” said Andrew Shikiar, director of global marketing for the LiMo Foundation. Android will be released under the Apache license, which doesn’t require developers to share their changes to the code back with the community, he said. This is one of the reasons why some people wonder whether Android will become fragmented as various incompatible versions of the software appear in phones across the market. In the FAQ section of the site for the Open Handset Alliance, the group supporting Android, Google says that using the Apache license will let manufacturers innovate on the platform and allow them to keep those innovations proprietary as a way to differentiate their offerings. Shikiar floats a more sinister reason that he’s heard for why Google may have chosen the Apache license. “If it’s fragmented and scattered, and the only common version is the Google-optimized one, it’s good for them,” he said. That’s because the G1, which is optimized by Google, comes loaded with many Google services that can eventually bring in revenue for the search giant. If that turns out to be the best version of an Android phone, more people will use it and so, presumably, more people will be using Google apps. LiMo and Symbian, which also is going open source, each use different licenses, but both include obligations for people who change their code to share their changes, Shikiar said. Shikiar also criticized Google because he said the search giant hasn’t created any sort of governance model for the Open Handset Alliance and doesn’t publicly publish the group’s membership agreement. A governance model spells out for participating companies exactly how their intellectual property can be used by other members. Without it, members might be reluctant to contribute, he said. The OHA did not reply to questions recently posed regarding its choice of license and its governance model. Google also was not immediately able to respond to similar questions.
A judge in the Netherlands has ordered Google to release Internet Protocol addresses for the owner of a Gmail account. The alfaiscool2002@gmail.com e-mail address is believed to have been used for privacy violations and corporate espionage against a manager of a company called iMerge. The company filed suit against Google after the Internet firm refused to voluntarily hand over the data. The court in Amsterdam ordered Google earlier this month to provide the targeted company with a list of all IP addresses that have been used to access the account over the past 30 days under penalty of a €1,000 (US$1,342) daily fine. Google also had to hand over the IP address from which the account was created and the date on which this happened, as well as the name and secondary e-mail address of the applicant. IMerge also had asked for a list of all addresses that mail had been sent to, but the court ordered that such data would unduly violate the privacy of third parties. Google has since complied with the order. IMerge over the summer found that it's e-mail servers had been altered, allowing all e-mail messages addressed at the manager to be secretly forwarded to the Gmail address. The company said that the log files show frequent access to the account from both within iMerge as well as from the personal Internet connection of a disgruntled partner. The company argues that the log files provide sufficient evidence for a civil claim against the individual. In addition to corporate espionage, the copied e-mails have harmed the affected manager in his personal life. He used his corporate e-mail to exchange messages with a person with whom he had an extramarital affair. Those messages have been forwarded to his spouse and are now part of a divorce procedure. IMerge's counsel Mark Meijer complained to Webwereld, an IDG affiliate, that it is "incredibly easy" to create an anonymous e-mail account and harass other people. "Companies like Google will only cooperate when they risk legal claims, even if there is overwhelming evidence to indicate criminal wrongdoings as is the case here," Meijer said. Allister Verney , a spokesperson for Google Netherlands countered that the firm never gives out user data without a court order. "In court cases we always try to limit the amount of that that is provided. But if a judge rules that we have to comply with a request, then we have no option but to give out the data," said Verney. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/152492/google_gmail_privacy.html?tk=rss_news
Google, which has been building out its data center inventory for the past few years, is literally floating its latest idea for the location of such facilities at the U.S. Patent Office. The company filed a patent application for a "water-based data center" detailing a floating data center, complete with an energy supply fed by a wave-powered generator system, and a wind-powered cooling system using sea water. The patent application, published Aug. 28, describes a modular setup that calls for "crane removable modules" that store racks of computers. The modules would facilitate adding, subtracting and moving the computing power. The patent application also details tapping waves and water motion to generate power and the ability to configure the system in many different ways, including on-ship and on-shore data centers, various cooling mechanisms, backup systems and even temporary housing and helicopter pads to support IT maintenance staff. Google is not the first to consider alternatives to the power-sucking data centers that it and others are constructing around the globe, to suggest unique locations, or to tap the sea for innovative IT ideas. Both Google and Microsoft are already using hydro-electric power options in the Northwest. A couple in Nebraska that lives underground in a 1960s-era Atlas E Missile Silo wants to turn 15,000 square feet of their bunker into a highly secure data center. And a company called SeaCode a few years ago proposed Hybrid-Sourcing, a venture that loads a fully staffed luxury liner with software engineers to get around H-1B visa restrictions and provide U.S. businesses with high-end tech workers. Google officials say there is nothing to announce now regarding its water-based data center idea. "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products, services or infrastructure, some don't. We do a lot to make our infrastructure scalable and cost efficient," a company spokesman said in response to an e-mail. The idea, however, is fully outlined in the patent application. Google says computing units could be mounted in shipping containers, which could be stored on ships or floating platforms and loaded/unloaded via cranes and equipment already used in shipping ports. The computers in the containers or "modules" could easily be replaced or updated as technology advances and adverse sea conditions exact their toll. Proposed configurations include putting the modules on land next to a body of water. Water is key for generating power, according to the patent, which cites the use of Pelamis machines and other devices such as wind generators to create energy. The Pelamis machines use a series of hydraulics powered by water motion to drive motors connected to electrical generators. Other devices such as a floating power-generation apparatus use tethers and a spring-loaded hub to gather power from the rise and fall of water levels. Google also proposes the option of building tidal basins with channels to the sea that are used to control the rise and fall of water that would engage the tethered power-generating devices. The power supply methods could be used for floating data centers or wired into on-shore data centers. Google says such data center options can help satisfy the growing public use of the Internet and the need for bandwidth to support graphics, video and Web 2.0 applications. But it also says highly flexible and mobile computing centers would provide "transient data centers" that could be used in times of natural disasters, military maneuvers or special events to provide temporary computing and telecom services. Google's application also details cooling options using sea-powered or wind-powered pumps and seawater-to-freshwater heat exchangers Another option outlined is tapping at shoreline into the existing communication's infrastructure that runs under the ocean, and adding housing and helicopter access on floating data centers. The plan also calls for a backup system that could rely on a fuel-based power generation system or use energy stored by the Pelamis system or wind turbines. A solar collection system could also be used, Google says. The patent states, "As one example, banks of batteries may be used to store electrical energy. As another example, fuel cells may be used with hydrogen kept in a reservoir, which is filled by electrolysis when wave energy is available." Whether Google gets a patent or not, the message is that the need to satisfy bandwidth demands and to locate computing power near users may grow beyond even what pundits today are expecting। रेफरेंस : http://www.pcworld.com/article/151185/google_data_center.html?tk=rss_news
Hewlett-Packard is getting ready to launch the ExDS storage system, which will use up to 820 1T-byte drives for file-based storage, packaged in two 42U cabinets. The system is an online content repository that comes in the shape of an appliance, according to Jim Haberkorn, whose job description as a director at HP's StorageWorks division includes hyping the system to potential customers. "We first designed the product specifically for streaming media and for static media. We've got a company called Snapfish, and they have over 5 billion online images. We were kind of thinking of them when we designed it, and it wouldn't take much to go from static to streaming media, and it actually works really well for that," Haberkorn said. But as HP has started to show the ExDS to potential customers, more ways of using it have come to light, including oil and gas companies that want to use it for seismic research. But in the end, many industries are thinking of ways to handle fast data growth. Most likely companies that are interested in the new system have already looked at their old kind of storage, but have found it too expensive, that it takes up too much space or uses too much power for what they want to do, according to Haberkorn. "Maybe they want to start an online backup service or start saving their customer's videos, or their snapshots themselves -- traditional storage doesn't allow them to reach the right economies in order to make that viable," Haberkorn said. The system will cost less than US$2 per gigabyte or US$2,000 per terabyte. "That includes everything, so it includes the software, the hardware, the infrastructure, the cabinets, all the installation and all the services," Haberkorn said. HP has tried to make it as easy as possible to manage. "We can install this in hours, and the customers can then install the storage and the compute power themselves," he said. To keep costs down, HP's storage division has taken advantage of what already exists at HP, instead of starting from scratch. The system uses HP blade servers, and the drives are of course their own. "The hardware was the easiest thing to solve," Haberkorn said. Both the number of blade servers and the number of drives can be scaled independently, depending on how much performance and storage are needed. The model for building these kinds of storage systems is Google. By and large, how the search giant has managed to grow its infrastructure remains a closely guarded secret, according Haberkorn, but he is convinced ExDS can deliver better performance than Google's in-house system. "We, for example, get double the density, they get 6T bytes per U, we believe, and we get 12T bytes," said Haberkorn. Haberkorn doesn't want to specify a launch date for the ExDS, other than saying it will be out later this year। Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/151179/ExDS_filestorage.html?tk=rss_news
T-Mobile USA will become the first company in the world to announce a mobile phone based on Google's Android OS at a New York press conference Sept. 23, the New York Times reports, citing T-Mobile. The handset was manufactured by Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC), the Times said. HTC representatives in Taipei declined to comment on the report. Several other Web sites are also reporting the Sept. 23 event, including Gizmodo, which is displaying what appears to be an announcement from T-Mobile. HTC has already said it is developing a mobile phone developed around Android and plans to call the handset "Dream." The handset maker may end up being first in the world to put out an Android-based mobile phone, but other companies are also developing handsets around Android, including Samsung Electronics. HTC's Google handset is just over 5-inches long and 3-inches wide, with a keypad underneath the screen that either slides out or swivels out. The aim of the keypad is for easy e-mail, note-taking and writing Web addresses. Internet navigational controls are situated below the screen on the handset. Android is an open source software platform that includes an OS and is designed to take advantage of Internet services for mobility। The software could become a potent new rival to Windows Mobile and other handset operating systems. At the launch ceremony early this year, Google announced that over 30 companies had joined the Open Handset Alliance. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/151165/.html?tk=rss_news
T-Mobile USA will become the first company in the world to announce a mobile phone based on Google's Android OS at a New York press conference Sept. 23, the New York Times reports, citing T-Mobile. The handset was manufactured by Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC), the Times said. HTC representatives in Taipei declined to comment on the report. Several other Web sites are also reporting the Sept. 23 event, including Gizmodo, which is displaying what appears to be an announcement from T-Mobile. HTC has already said it is developing a mobile phone developed around Android and plans to call the handset "Dream." The handset maker may end up being first in the world to put out an Android-based mobile phone, but other companies are also developing handsets around Android, including Samsung Electronics. HTC's Google handset is just over 5-inches long and 3-inches wide, with a keypad underneath the screen that either slides out or swivels out. The aim of the keypad is for easy e-mail, note-taking and writing Web addresses. Internet navigational controls are situated below the screen on the handset. Android is an open source software platform that includes an OS and is designed to take advantage of Internet services for mobility। The software could become a potent new rival to Windows Mobile and other handset operating systems. At the launch ceremony early this year, Google announced that over 30 companies had joined the Open Handset Alliance. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/151165/.html?tk=rss_news
Sun is set to compete with the likes of Google Code and Github through Project Kenai, an open-source project hosting site the vendor launched in beta form late last week. Developers can host their projects at no charge on the site, which enables the use of the Subversion and Mercurial version-control systems and also provides issue tracking, forums and other features. Sun's primary goal is not to battle existing project hosting sites, project engineer Nick Sieger said on the blog maintained by Tim Bray, Sun's director of Web technologies. "You could look at it that way, and at face value that's certainly true, however it's not our goal to directly compete with those services," Sieger wrote. "Kenai is a recognition by Sun that, as the largest open source company in the world, we need to take control of our own destiny." "We need a place to nurture and grow our open source communities that we ourselves can control; we need to demonstrate credibility in building on top of more traditional LAMP/SAMP Web stacks (not just Java EE); and we need to show viability of Sun technologies and hardware for next-generation Web applications," he added. Following some feedback over his use of the word "control," Sieger subsequently clarified his remark: "We have no interest in exercising any sort of control over projects on the site. What I meant is that we want to go through the process of building the site to learn as we go, and to be able to respond to the needs of the communities that come to the site more quickly than can be accomplished by third-party vendors." The Kenai site serves as a test of Sun's ability to produce "next-generation Web applications," as it is built with the popular Ruby on Rails development framework, along with "a stew of [open-source] components and Sun-flavored technology behind and underneath," according to Sieger. Ruby on Rails' reputation for scalability has suffered due to high-profile outages at sites like Twitter. But Sun believes Kenai's overall architecture may have licked those issues, Sieger suggested: "We hope to help ensure that other people won't have to feel the pain we went through to build on top of this stack, because now that we've got it up and running, we think this could be a great base for building highly scalable Web applications." One observer said Sun's move is at least partly about gaining mindshare among programmers. "While I take what Sun says at face value regarding them needing a place to manage their own projects, make no mistake: They would love to attract more developers into the Sun sphere of influence, and Kenai is part of that effort," said Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst with Forrester Research, in an e-mail Monday।
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