Practical Technology

for practical people.

February 9, 2012
by sjvn01
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Review: Chrome 17, faster than ever, more secure than ever.

Google’s been really busy lately. They may be releasing “G-Drive,” a personal cloud storage service ala Dropbox. They have released a beta of the Chrome Web browser for Android. And, with all that, their developers have also been hard at work keeping Chrome on top of the Web browser hill.

Chrome 17, the latest and greatest, is fast. But, then Chrome has long been faster than its competition: Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, and Apple Safari. This latest update though has more than pure speed. It also comes with some new, useful features.

The best of these is security related. Besides such squashing potentially dangerous security bugs, Google now automatically runs checks on executable .exe and .msi files. If the program doesn’t match a built-in white list of OK programs, Chrome then automatically checks in with its Safe Browsing site to see if the Website you picked the program is known for of malicious downloads.

If the file isn’t from a known source, Chrome automatically sends the URL and IP of the host and other meta-data, such as the file’s hash and binary size, to Google. The file is then automatically classified using machine learning analysis and the reputation and trustworthiness of files previously seen from the same publisher and Web site. Google then sends the results back to Chrome, which warns you if you’re at risk.

Review: Chrome 17, faster than ever, more secure than ever. More >

February 9, 2012
by sjvn01
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Will we soon see a Google cloud drive?

These days, everyone and their uncle offer online cloud data storage plans. Dropbox is the name everyone knows, but big name Internet companies like Amazon, with its Cloud Drive; Apple with iCloud; and Microsoft with SkyDrive all have their personal cloud storage options to tempt you with as well. But, the one big company that everyone’s been waiting on for a cloud storage option, Google, has never shown their personal cloud drive cards. That may be changing.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google is getting ready to launch a personal cloud-storage service called Drive . Sources are reported to have said that, like most Google services, it will be free for free for most of its consumers… unless they require a lot of storage. How much is a lot? Good question. We don’t have any answers. Dropbox prices, which are typical for personal cloud storage, currently give users 2GB for free, then charges them $9.99 for 50 GB and $19.99 for 100 GB.

Google’s response to this story is that “We do not comment on rumor or speculation.” OK. Fair enough.


Will we soon see a Google cloud drive? More >

February 9, 2012
by sjvn01
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Eolas loses landmark Web patent case

The idea that someone could actually own a patent on the Web may sounds ridiculous to you. Alas, in these days of intellectual property (IP) lawsuits, it isn’t only possible, it’s actually happened. For years, Eolas has been successfully suing major companies like Microsoft for violation of its Web patents. So when Eolas went after Amazon, Google, Yahoo and other Internet powers for running Website with “interactive” features such as streaming video it was no laughing matter. But, in a victory against software patents, a jury in the U.S. District Court in East Texas, ruled against Eolas.

Eolas had long claimed that its two software patents 7,599,985 and 5,838,906 covered much of we now consider part and parcel of today’s Web. Microsoft finally surrendered and other technology giants like Texas Instruments, Oracle and JP Morgan Chase paid off Eolas. But other companies weren’t so quick to give up. Experts, like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Web’s creator; Pei-Yuan Wei, creater of the early Viola Web browser; and Dave Raggettm who created the <embed> tag have long contended that Eolas’ claims were invalid.

While it was clear to the experts—and to your author who was the first person to report on the Web back in 1993–that Eolas’ claims were bogus, until this decision Eolas had managed to maintain its patents against all comers.

Eolas loses landmark Web patent case. More >

February 8, 2012
by sjvn01
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Commercial Support now available for the open-source NGINX Web server

NGINX, the popular open-source Web server, recently swept by Microsoft’s Internet Information Services to become the second most popular Web server in the world. Not bad for an open-source project without any commercial support! NGINX is changing that now. Its parent company has just announced commercial support options for businesses.

According to the newly formed, July 2011, Web company, NGINX’s original creators and developers will provide support for small, medium or large-scale commercial Web site installations. Three technical support packages are available–Essential, Advanced and Premium–covering installation, configuration, performance improvement, software maintenance, design, implementation, and optimization assistance.

Commercial Support now available for the open-source NGINX Web server More >

February 8, 2012
by sjvn01
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Is Windows 8 Metro failing even at Microsoft?

When I first saw this image of Bill Flora, a key leader on the team that created Microsoft’s Windows 8 Metro interface, I almost laughed myself silly. Notice what Flora, who had left Microsoft after 19-years as a creative director in September to start TECTONIC, a user experience design firm, uses for his main computer? That sure looks a MacBook Pro to me!

Seriously? One of Microsoft’s go-to Metro guys left the company ahead of Windows 8’s launch and now uses a Mac? The picture says it all. Of course, Floria’s not the only Metro developer to abandon ship. Brandon Watson, head of developer experiences for Windows Phone, is the latest executive to leave the Microsoft’s phone unit. Between Flora and Watson’s departure, Matt Bencke, General Manager for Windows Phone Developer and Marketplace, left the Windows Phone team, but he did, at least, stay in Microsoft. He’s now over with the to Xbox Live crew.

OK, so Metro, while it’s getting closer to beta, is still too wet behind the ears for serious work. That said, I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s a little odd that Metro developers are running out the door so late in the game and with so much Metro development and design work still to be done. I wonder what they know that Microsoft isn’t telling us. Mind you, Microsoft isn’t telling users or developers that much about Metro applications and programming.

Is Windows 8 Metro failing even at Microsoft? More >

February 7, 2012
by sjvn01
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Google Chrome Web browser finally comes to Android

I love the Chrome Web browser. I like the Android operating system. Both belong to Google. So like peanut-butter and chocolate these two good things should be great right? Well, we’re finally getting a chance to find out. At long last, Google has released the beta of the Chrome Web browser for Android.

One of the great Google mysteries–well to me anyway–was why Google hadn’t released Chrome or built it into Android earlier. Instead, Android users have been stock with the generic “Browser” for ages. We still don’t know why it took so long, but it’s finally here.

While Chrome is known for its speed on PCs, Browser was known for… well being the browser built into Android and nothing else. Sure, there were other browsers available in the Android Market, Dolphin and Opera, but while both are well-regarded and Dolphin boasts of having over 10-million downloads, the vast majority of Android users have kept using Browser.

Google Chrome Web browser finally comes to Android More >