It’s a great day when Internet giant Google open sources the programs it uses to build well-known favourites such as GMail, Docs and Google Maps. It announced on its blog that it will be making a lot of it’s own development software available to developers all over the world. This release comes as Google are undoubtedly upgrading their own tools especially with the upcoming launch of Google Wave.
The first of the three tools they released is called Closure Compiler which helps developers trim down code and optimize it for better performance. There is also a plug-in for Firefox released alongside this so they can view heir Java Script code in the browser.
The second one is called Library which is a tool to help build Java Script Apps. Here is what Google said on their official blog about the program:
The Closure Library is a JavaScript library that provides many features that are useful for building web applications across browsers. It helps to abstract browser differences and provides clean class and function interfaces for common tasks. Besides DOM interaction and UI tools, the library includes tools for arrays, objects, string manipulation and much more. The library also implements a name spacing and import standard, which helps keep scripts small and load fast when used with the Closure Compiler.
The third and final release until further notice was Templates. This is an app that is for creating HTML elements that can be used within Java Script.
Closure Templates simplify the task of dynamically creating HTML and have an easy-to-read syntax. They allow you to write templates for reusable HTML and UI elements that can be used within JavaScript or on the server side in Java. They also have excellent run-time performance because they are never parsed on the client side.
Over the next month or so there is undoubtedly going to be a big rush of new Java apps and programs onto the market thanks to the Google outsourcing. Be sure to stay in touch with Crenk to stay informed!
Google has always been known to mark special occasions such as Christmas, St. Patricks Day, 4th of July and many others depending on what country you live in, by creating a new Google logo, or doodle as they have become known, for their homepage.
Well for two days in a row they have been celebrating the anniversaries of two famous children’s TV shows.
Yesterday they had a Wallace and Grommet logo to mark the 20th anniversary of their creation:
And today, Google.co.uk is displaying the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street to mark the 40th anniversary of the show.
A while back, the Finnish government announced that it was making high-speed internet access a legal right for all of its citizens. They have a point in making such legislation.
Because the Internet is playing a bigger part in work, education and society everyday it’s essential that everyone has access to it. Now the Swedes are adopting the same approach by promising their citizens 100 MB broadband in just over ten years. Imaging how many movies you could download with that!
In all seriousness though, I think this is great news. When the web grows more complex and starts to broadcast SuperHD videos (due in the next few years) we’ll need a seriously fast connection to keep up. At them moment, the base connection in Sweden is 20kb/s which is extremely slow. You’d have to go back to 1998 to get an internet connection that slow by using dial-up. I don’t even want to imagine loading a web page with that – let alone download a movie.
So come 2010 all the Swedes will be downloading ABBA at lightening speed!
Over at Techcrunch they reported yesterday that the New York Times are now receiving nearly a quarter of their total revenues from online advertising.
The New York Times announced third quarter earnings this morning. Total revenues were down 17 percent to $571 million. Of that advertising revenues decreased 27 percent to $291 million, and the online advertising portion was down 8.2 percent to $68 million.
Last quarter, advertising revenues declined an even steeper 32 percent, and online advertising was down 15.5 percent. So maybe this is the first step on its way back to positive territory. Here are the year-over-year declines in online advertising revenues for each of the past four quarters.
Annual Decline In Internet Advertising Revenues
4Q08: -3.5%
1Q09: -6.1%
2Q09: -15.5%
3Q09: -8.2%
Another interesting data point is that because its print advertising revenues are shrinking at a faster rate than its Internet advertising revenues, the Internet portion is actually a bigger percentage (23.5%) of the New York Times’ total advertising revenues than it was year ago (when it was 18.6%).
I have been a firm believer that print business will slowly leave only the major players in each market and all the smaller business will have to move online or close. However, with these latest figures I now think even the major players could be in big trouble!
I noticed this morning that in the Silicon Alley Insider RSS feed that they were not just promoting Techcrunch content, but linking directly to their articles!
Have these two key rival in the technology news space partnered to try to catch up to Mashable in terms of traffic numbers?
I know how at all those technology conferences it seems as though it is just a sausage fest. Well Manolith have put together a list of the hottest girls in tech. Now I just wish they went to the same technology conferences as me!
In a very surprising move, Microsoft has started selling computers and even third-party software via its online store.
This is a small part of a much broader push for Microsoft as they think that stores like Apple’s might bring in much higher margins for them and their products. Microsoft had said it would sell PCs at its brick-and-mortar stores, but it plans to open just two of those this year, including a Scottsdale, Ariz., location that opens later Thursday.
Early on Thursday, though, Microsoft revamped its online store, which had been an outlet only for Microsoft products. The remake of the online store comes just as Microsoft is launching Windows 7.
Clicking on laptops brings up a list of 10 models, organized by price, including two models below $750. The site also offers three Netbooks and a single desktop model, Lenovo’s $999 A600 all-in-one.
On the software front, Microsoft is selling Norton 360 and Adobe Photoshop, along with Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. Accessories include a lot of Microsoft keyboards, mice, and Webcams, along with flash drives and blank DVDs from other companies.
Google has long wanted to make the internet faster and provide internet to everyone in the world. Google has now taken this to the next level as they are going to sponsor free wifi from November 15th to January 2010 for all Virgin Airline customers.
This wifi service normally costs $13 for computers over long haul flights and $8 for smartphones and handheld devices. Google has tried to state that they are just aiming to ease passenger stress during the busy holiday season, but im sure they will be focusing their sponsorship to get customers to use Google products while in flight.
Unfortunately Virgin Airlines only services major airport hubs in the U.S. although that service still means tens of thousands of passengers will have free access during that promotional period.
It has been rumored that EA is just about acquire or has already acquired Playfish. Playfish is a Facebook game developer who produces some of the most popular games on the Facebook platform. The acquisition is rumored to be around $250 million.
This year it is expected that Playfish will have $75 million in revenues from advertising combined with virtual goods sales. Another leading social games company, Zynga, is slated to report revenues upwards of $200 million for 2009.
Although the free-to-play with microtransactions business model has been huge in the Asian video gaming industry for some time now, it’s been slow to make it over to Western shores. This year casual and social gaming companies using that business model have attracted massive numbers of players and revenue to match, unsettling the traditional video game industry.
Beyond the current revenue potential, EA could see further gains from using its muscle to more widely advertise Playfish’s game roster — which includes hugely popular Facebook titles Restaurant City, Pet Society, World Challenge, and Who Has the Biggest Brain.
Netbooks are becoming cooler by the day. I you’re going on holidays, on a journey or just need something light that can get the job done then a netbook is your best bet. However, they have their drawbacks – namely that they run an outdated OS, have bad graphics and are slow.
However, HP is looking to change all of that with their Mini 311 seen here in the picture. Basically, they have amped up the graphics and all of the other innards so that they’re approaching laptop specs (see list below). What’s more, it will soon begin to ship with Windows 7 instead of the current OS on the system – XP.
One bad bit is that you have to pay extra for a white lid and for a netbook, the price is already steep enough at the $400 mark.
It’s a great day when Internet giant Google open sources the programs it uses to build well-known favourites such as GMail, Docs and Google Maps. It announced on its blog that it will be making a lot of it’s own development software available to developers all over the world. This release comes as Google are undoubtedly upgrading their own tools especially with the upcoming launch of Google Wave.
