GigaOM » Samuel Dean Archives

Updates From the Open-source Browser Front-line

Samuel Dean — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:00:47 +0000

I’m a firm believer that most of the innovation in browsers is coming from the open-source players. This week brings a number of interesting developments from the browser arena, especially if you use either of the two most popular open source browsers: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Firefox is slated to come out in a new version 3.6 next week, with several improvements, and I’m hoping it will iron out a few of the instabilities I’ve experienced in Firefox 3.5. Meanwhile, the Google Chrome team has announced a new collection of Artist Themes for enhancing your browser’s look. The themes come from a diverse list of well-known designers and artists, ranging from Dolce & Gabanna to pop star Mariah Carey. They’re very slick. And finally, the Arora browser, which is based on the open source WebKit rendering engine,is out in a new, cross-patform version that makes it especially easy to block ads.

As PC World notes, Firefox 3.6 will have a number of enhancements, including faster JavaScript handling, better Bookmark synchronization, page load enhancements, a better approach to restoring sessions, a way of checking for outdated plug-ins, and more. The Mozilla team has steadily been working on some of version 3.5′s stability issues, and there will be lots of bug fixes in version 3.6. Mozilla has also confirmed that a much overhauled Firefox version 4.0 will arrive next year.

The Google Chrome browser’s new Artist Themes are quite eye-popping. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that they could make good conversation starters when you’re working around other people. You can get a sense of how they work and look from this OStatic post. The theme seen atop this post was produced by fine artist and poster maven Yulia Brodskaya, while Wes Craven has supplied a spooky theme. To add a theme to Chrome, you just open Chrome and go to the Chrome Theme Gallery, pick one you like, then click “Apply theme.”

While it’s unlikely to become your primary browser, if you have a need for a very lightweight browser, Arora is out in a new version .10. It’s based on the open source WebKit engine, and you can use it on Windows, the Mac, and Linux. Download Squad notes that you can easily enable ad blocking in Arora with one click. I also think it’s lightweight and snappy enough to make sense as a portable browser to carry on a USB flash drive.

Which open-source browser do you use, and why?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Google Wave Spreading to More Users

Samuel Dean — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:44 +0000

Google has apparently made enough progress with its pre-release Google Wave project that, starting today, the company is rolling out a preview version, although it’s only available to some users. Wave has been available for a small group of developers already, but now more than 100,000 invitations to try Wave in its newest incarnation will go out to active preview developers, the first users who signed up and offered to give feedback upon Wave’s announcement, and some customers of Google Apps.

Wave was first introduced in May, and caused many people to hail it as a next-generation, cutting-edge communications tool. It combines email, instant messaging, wiki features and more, into a splashy-looking unified stream of messages, images and thoughts, as seen in the screenshot here. There is also a video of Wave in action available here. Google has served up some interesting examples of how Wave might be used, and although I choose to reserve some skepticism about it, it is without a doubt attracting interest.

Upon Wave’s announcement in May, Jordan over at GigaOM questioned whether it will really be “what email would be if it were invented today,” as the project’s development team refers to it. Most attempts that I’ve seen over the years at “universal inboxes,” incorporating streams of messages and media from multiple sources, haven’t been as useful as their creators thought they would be.

But there are some interesting potential applications. Here, journalist Andy Ihnatko imagines using Wave in conjunction with his column editor for a new spin on speeding a piece of writing into published form. Filmmakers have also weighed in on how Wave might be used for collaboration purposes and co-editing. And ZDnet makes the case that enterprises may find novel uses for Wave. When I’ve seen Wave in video demos, it’s looked to me like it might be useful for jazzing up and diversifying the way people comment on blog posts and online articles.

Wave’s developers concede that it is still a work in progress. Still, you may be one of the Google Apps users or people who expressed interest in Wave to get the preview version this week. It’s definitely an application to watch. If you’d like to learn more about Wave, check out the GigaOM Pro report “Google Wave Explained” (subscription required).

If you’ve received a Wave invitation, let us know what you think of the service in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Microsoft's WebSiteSpark Delivers Free Dev Tools — to Some

Samuel Dean — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:00:16 +0000

If you happen to work for a small startup business, and have the need for web development and tools, you may want to look into a new program that Microsoft has launched: WebSiteSpark. The specifics of the program are in this announcement. Essentially, Microsoft is offering a number of its widely-used development tools to small startups for free, or essentially for free. Here are more details, and some of the restrictions that apply.

WebSiteSpark offers software licenses for Microsoft’s widely-used development tools that startups can use for three years at no cost. Support is included with the licenses, as is free online training. The program is especially aimed at independent web developers and web development companies that build web applications and web sites on behalf of others. Startups with fewer than 10 employees can qualify for the freebies, and Microsoft will track the progress of companies that qualify. Some observers are noting that these are fairly tight restrictions, but the program is likely to represent cost savings for some of the qualified companies.

If you do qualify for the free offerings, you get:

3 licenses of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
1 license of Expression Studio 3 (which includes Expression Blend, Sketchflow, and Web)
2 licenses of Expression Web 3
4 processor licenses of Windows Web Server 2008 R2
4 processor licenses of SQL Server 2008 Web Edition
DotNetPanel control panel (enabling easy remote/hosted management of your servers)

CNet’s Matt Asay makes the good point that there are many free, open source development and platform tools that don’t come with any strings attached, and they compete directly with the offerings above. He points to the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/Perl) stack in particular, but WebSiteSpark should be a good program for many companies. It’s one of several “Spark” programs that Microsoft has recently launched, including BizSpark, which also provides free software to startups.

Will you be taking part in the WebSiteSpark program?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

5 Tips for Upgrading to 802.11n Wi-Fi

Samuel Dean — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:00:14 +0000

Last week, the IEEE’s Standards Board ratified the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, which will increase the number of certified compatible products based on the standard, and is likely to encourage many businesses and users to upgrade from previous 802.11g Wi-Fi technology. Of course, many people, myself included, have been using pre-ratification Draft-N technology for a long time; I wrote last year that the Draft-N technology was worth upgrading to. Many Mac users have been using it by default for a long time via Apple’s Airport Express routers. If you are still using 802.11g, though, now is the time to upgrade. Here are some tips for getting the most out of this faster wireless technology.

Much Faster and More Dependable, But Test It. The primary advantage of 802.11n over previous Wi-Fi standards is speed. It takes advantage of MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) antenna technology for much faster performance than 802.11g offers. If you are upgrading to 802.11n on a Windows network, I highly recommend the free application Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector for managing and troubleshooting connections, and monitoring your signal performance.

Better Range, But Optimize It. In previous posts I’ve done on Wi-Fi, I’ve been surprised at how many readers use a router only for their home Wi-Fi setups, and no access points. Access points, including 802.11n access points, extend your roaming range while preserving a strong Wi-Fi signal, and can be bought for under $75 — often much less. If you install new 802.11n Wi-Fi technology, and were planning on using just a router, you may want to experiment with at least one access point (I use several at home). You can get a good 802.11n router for under $100, so there is room to optimize the components on your network. Of course, whether you need access points will depend on the size of the space you want covered, how many floors you want covered, etc. The range is good enough with 802.11n that I know people who have a router on the bottom floor of a home and get a good signal upstairs and far away.

Experiment With Access Point Placement. It’s surprising how finicky Wi-Fi components are, including 802.11n components. As you put in a new Wi-Fi network, try different placements for your router and access points. The smallest change can make a big difference in the performance and range that you get. Remember that Wi-Fi is radio technology, so it tends to work best away from obstructions, and away from metal.

Security Matters. While this point pertains to Wi-Fi networks of all stripes, it’s also well-known that one of the biggest mistakes people make when putting in a new Wi-Fi network is not establishing proper security. It used to be that to secure your wireless network you had to know your way around complicated acronyms and the like, but now you can just follow the steps on your router’s installation CD to lock your network down.

Keep Track of Upcoming 802.11n Offerings, and Certification. The Wi-Fi Alliance is the main body that certifies Wi-Fi products for interoperability and performance. The logo above is the one that the organization uses in certification — look for it. Also, many businesses don’t upgrade their Wi-Fi networks until the IEEE ratifies a standard, which just happened for 802.11n. As businesses upgrade, there are likely to be new products and good deals appearing, which should be worth keeping track of.

Are you using a 802.11n in your home network?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

USB 3.0: Finally Set for Its Day in the Sun?

Samuel Dean — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:00:35 +0000

Sometimes, technologies that are ready for prime time don’t arrive in official, finalized form for ages. For example, although many of us have been using high-speed Draft 802.11n Wi-Fi technology for years now, it was only a few days ago that the IEEE officially ratified the 802.11n spec. Likewise, USB 3.0, or SuperSpeed USB has been working technically well for a long time now, but hasn’t arrived for widespread use in products. (If you want to learn more about USB 3.0, see Stacey’s post over on GigaOM, “Everything You Need to Know About USB 3.0.“) There are some strong signs that that is about to change, and the true arrival of USB 3.0 could change the way you work in many ways — for the better.

All the way back in August of last year, I wrote a post on the delivery of the final specification of USB 3.0, and how it would soon usher in many new conveniences. “Soon” turned out to be jumping the gun, and I’m still waiting for some of the USB 3.0-enabled devices that I want to arrive. Now it looks like we’ll see product development start in earnest.

As CNET reports, next week’s Intel Developer Forum will include several USB 3.0-capable devices. They include a Fujitsu laptop that will exchange data with an external USB drive from Buffalo Technology, and a high-performance digital video camera from Point Grey Research capable of streaming 1080p high-definition video at 60 frames per second to a computer.

It’s easy to underestimate how much impact a connectivity technology like this can have on all of us. I clearly remember when USB 2.0 took off, suddenly ushering in many new types of audio, video and storage devices. However, the data transfer speed improvements in USB 2.0 over the original USB technology were not tremendous.

That’s hardly true for USB 3.0, which boosts data transfer rates 10 times over current USB technology. Cameras — video and still — will take on many new conveniences, allowing users to stream content very quickly to computers. Backing up data to external USB storage devices will speed up tremendously, and there are even other benefits expected from USB 3.0. For example, simple downloading and uploading will speed up significantly. USB 3.0, unlike version 2.0, is bi-directional, meaning that it can send and receive data at the same time. Additionally, USB 3.0 is targeted to allow peripheral devices plugged into, say, a laptop to suffer fewer charge drains. Devices being charged while plugged into a USB port will also charge faster.

CNET and others expect that a big wave of USB 3.0 devices could be upon us before the end of the year — worth keeping in mind as you start preparing your holiday wish list.

What benefits are you hoping USB 3.0 will bring?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Browser Updates: A Faster Version of Chrome, and More

Samuel Dean — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:00:32 +0000

This week brings several pieces of significant news on the browser front, about Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 8. As covered on the OStatic blog, Google has announced a new, stable version 3.0 of Chrome. It’s downloadable here, and if you’re already using it, you’ll get an automatic update. Meanwhile, Mozilla announced new tools, and Internet Explorer — which has been steadily losing market share, to Firefox in particular — bested all other browsers in an interesting set of tests.

Chrome 3.0. Google’s announcement post on Chrome 3.0 provides walkthroughs of several of the new features in the browser. There are improvements to the Omnibox, which is the combination search/address bar in Chrome. You can now get drop-down lists in the Omnibox that show not only URLs, but also bookmarks, search options and more. Themes are also now supported in Chrome, and there are also HTML5 enhancements, which could make working with video and audio much more flexible.

Probably the biggest news about Chrome of all, though, is that the JavaScript performance is much improved. Below are Google’s own benchmark charts showing JavaScript tests (bigger is better in the first chart, and smaller is better in the second one).

Internet Explorer 8. I rarely use Internet Explorer any more, and I feel that most of the meaningful innovation is going on in the open-source browsers, with Firefox and Chrome leading the way. However, AnandTech came out this week with a very interesting browser face-off, which focused entirely on which browser preserves battery life the best on portable computers. The surprise winner was IE 8. The tests involved constantly loading and unloading various browsers and tracking battery life. I would have thought Chrome or Opera would win in these kinds of tests, but no.

Firefox and SeaMonkey. Mozilla released its Jetpack project a few months ago, and this week it updated Jetpack to version 0.5. Jetpack is an API and framework designed to make building extensions for Firefox easy enough for non-developers. You can get the new Jetpack here, and create your own extensions. Meanwhile, Mozilla has also released a second beta of version 2.0 of its SeaMonkey project, which is a collection of Internet apps. At the core of the collection, there is a speedy browser based on the same engine that Firefox uses. You also get a simple HTML editor, IRC chat functions, and more.

Is IE8′s apparently low power consumption enough of a reason to use it?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

For Visual Searches, Try a Few Different Approaches

Samuel Dean — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:00:22 +0000

I noted with interest that Microsoft has announced a new feature in its Bing search engine, focused on visual searches. You can try it here (note that it requires you to have Silverlight installed). Like some of the dedicated visual search engines, it presents a way to do web searches by clicking through collected visual images, instead of entering keywords. Initially, it’s only available for certain types of search categories.

To perform searches, you start with a category such as “Digital Cameras,” where a search will present you with a large tapestry of individual photos of camera; a portion of the digital camera-related results is shown below. Clicking on any camera in the tapestry will take you to dedicated search results for that camera. This seems, in particular, to be a good search metaphor for, say, shopping for tech products online, where the look of the product might matter a lot to you. For general use, though, there are some other visual search engines that I favor.

As Webware notes, the new visual search feature in Bing “showcases the real value of having a search engine that blends structured data into the results.” As long as you perform visual searches on topics that are mainstream, for which Bing will tend to have a lot of structured data pre-indexed, you’ll tend to get rich sets of results back. The digital camera shopping example I supplied above is a good example of that. You can identify the camera you might like by its design, then jump immediately to lots of specific data about it. For less mainstream topics, though, the visual metaphor won’t be so useful, which is probably why Microsoft only supplies a limited number of topic categories as it beta tests the new feature.

There are a few other visual search engines that I think I’ll probably continue to use more regularly than I’ll use Bing’s new feature. Two of my favorite ones, which I wrote about here, are Viewzi, and RedZ. The best way to get a sense of what these do is to try a search, but Viewzi essentially lets you toggle between many types of visual presentations for any search topic, and RedZ gives you a rotatable set of web page thumbnails, as seen below for a search on digital cameras. You can then cycle, or rotate, through the results just as you would cycle through album art on an iPod with the Cover Flow feature.

If you haven’t tried it, I also recommend giving SpaceTime3D a try. It’s a little like RedZ, in that it presents you with arrays of web page thumbnails that you can cycle through to see what may interest you, but it presents bigger and nicer representations of the pages, and has a very slick interface.

I don’t rely on visual searches all the time, but for tasks such as shopping for new technology products online, researching people and news stories, and anything else where a picture can be worth a thousand words, these tools are useful.

What do you think of Bing’s Visual Search feature?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Chrome Extensions Are Here — In Dev Channel Versions, At Least

Samuel Dean — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:00:58 +0000

The Google Chrome browser has been in existence for a little over a year now, and has close to three percent market share, according to NetApplications. Many people attribute its relatively low market share thus far to lack of availability of finished Mac and Linux versions, as well as a lack of of the kinds of very useful extensions that are available for Firefox. On that last front, Google is taking a bold step forward, and making support for extensions turned on by default on versions of the browser obtained through the Dev channel, which anyone can subscribe to. The news was announced on the Chromium blog, and is a strong sign that a healthy ecosystem of extensions is on the way for one of the speediest and most innovative browsers.

Google’s Dev channel has been the way to get new versions of Chrome that are in development at the earliest opportunity, and while the versions aren’t final or always totally stable, many Chrome users stay updated through it to get the latest features. Until now, access to support for extensions for Chrome has been available only for developers.

If you subscribe through the Dev channel, you can now begin using quite a few useful extensions with Chrome. Several of the sample extensions are shown here, and will ring a bell if you happen to use the analogous extensions in Firefox. There is a Gmail Checker extension, an extension for quickly grabbing RSS feeds as you browse, and an extension for checking on Chrome’s latest builds. XMarks and other popular Firefox extensions are also headed for availability on Chrome. In addition, Google confirms that “we’ve also enlisted some help to get extensions up to speed on Mac and Linux.”

For those who would like to develop Chrome extensions, there is some documentation. And, if you’ve already written an extension, you should check this update. Lack of extensions has been a shortcoming for Google’s browser, which is based on an open source core and designed for extensibility. It’s good to see this new chapter unfolding for the browser.

Which Firefox extensions would you like to see made available for Chrome?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

uberVU Web Conversation Tracker Is Overhauled

Samuel Dean — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:00:30 +0000

A much-improved version is out of uberVU, a site that helps you track the flow of conversations on the web, whether they’re taking place on Twitter, Digg, Reddit, in the comments sections of blogs, or elsewhere. There are many tools available for searching specific social sites (including lots of them for Twitter), but uberVU is particularly useful for checking on what people are saying all over the social web. In this post, I’ll look at some of the improvements to the app, and what you can get done with it.

If you do any blogging, you may be familiar with going to various sites or search engines to keep track of what’s being said about a particular post you wrote. Or, if you’re following a particularly newsworthy development, you may do the same just to see what the social web’s reaction is to the news. uberVU aims to provide one-stop shopping for that type of task.

AltSearchEngines lists uberVU’s new features, including:

Search – You can now search for keywords and URLs instead of just adding URLs.
Faster tracking – You can track links on Twitter, Digg, Reddit and many more in close to real time.
Analytics – You can view graphs and summaries for a big picture of a web conversation.
Public – uberVU is now in public beta, with no invitation code required to register.

uberVU is definitely faster at gathering conversation threads from sites such as Twitter and Digg than it was before. Previously, if an event had just happened, and you went to search, you got very sparse reactions from a limited number of sites. That’s changed in the updated version.

The analytics are also useful, especially the graphics you can generate. While she isn’t a tech story, one of the big stories of this past Labor Day weekend was Melanie Oudin, the 17-year old tennis player who is competing at the U.S. Open. I searched on her name at uberVU, and discovered that there was actually a bigger spike in web conversations about her prior to the tournament than during it, as seen in late August, below:

You can also use uberVU’s analytics features to pull up distribution charts showing where conversations are taking place. Below is one for Melanie Oudin showing that Twitter is where most conversations are taking place:

If you haven’t tried uberVU before, give it a go. It can keep you from hopping between many search sites, and is greatly improved in its new version.

How do you track conversations that are happening across the web?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

LogMeIn Ignition Gives You Remote Access From Your iPhone

Samuel Dean — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:00:35 +0000

If you’re an iPhone user who needs remote access to one or multiple computers when you’re on the go, the folks at LogMeIn have a new application that will do the trick: LogMeIn Iginition. The application is actually specifically intended for IT personnel who need to monitor, access and provide support solutions on a remote basis, but it’s accessible and usable for any iPhone user with remote access needs.

You can get LogMeIn Ignition from the iTunes App Store for $29.99 — a bit pricier than most paid iPhone apps. As is true for most of LogMeIn’s applications, you must first have an account at LogMeIn’s web site and download LogMeIn itself, which is free, and which I consider to be the best remote control application for general purposes. You also need to install LogMeIn on any computers that you want to be able to remotely access, which is a quick process.

You can view a video demonstration of LogMeIn Ignition here. A centralized page in LogMeIn Ignition displays all of your accessible PCs and Macs, and it also stores all of the relevant passwords. The page shows you which computers are on and accessible, and which are not. By clicking on a particular computer, you can take control of the desktop, access files, perform diagnostics and more. If you’ve used LogMeIn before, you’ll recognize the process as being very familiar.

Of course, if you carry a laptop or netbook around, they’ll be better platforms for remote access, due to the small screen size of the iPhone. But if you’re away from your laptop and require remote access in a hurry, LogMeIn Ignition could be just what you need.

Let us know what you think of LogMeIn Ignition in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.