‘Google wants to build communication and collaboration.’ -
Google is previewing a new web application to developers that may eventually supplant Gmail. Google Wave goes beyond the basic capabilities of email in order to let people communicate and work collaboratively in real-time with text, photos, videos, maps, gadgets, and social networking feeds from other sources on the internet.
A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document. A user starts off by creating a wave and adding people to it. Everyone on a wave can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It is being billed as concurrent, collaborative rich text editing, where you can see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is well suited for quick messages as well as for persistent content. A “playback” function is also available to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.
The project is being headed up by Software Engineering Manager Lars Rasmussen, who joined Google with his brother Jens after their tiny mapping startup named “Where 2 Tech” was bought by Google. Technologies from that company eventually became a part of Google Maps.
“Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. You see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave,” stated Rasmussen in a blog post.
The code for Google Wave will be open source, with developers given freedom to modify it as they wish. Google Wave can be thought of as being comprised of three layers: the product, the platform, and the protocol.
The Google Wave product is now available as a developer preview, and is the web application portion that people will use to access and edit waves. It is a HTML 5 application built on Google’s Web Toolkit, and includes a rich text editor and other functions like desktop drag-and-drop, which will enable users to drag a set of photos into a wave.
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Google’s first preview shot of Wave
Google Wave can also be considered as a platform. It is being developed with a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will allow developers to build new extensions that work inside waves. Developers will also be able to embed waves in other web services.
The underlying format is the Google Wave protocol, used as the means of sharing and storing waves. It includes the live concurrency control, which allows edits to be reflected instantly across users and services.
“Developers are going to see the potential of Google Wave as a platform; we hope they’ll leap on it,” said Wave engineer Adam Schuck. “They’ll be able to integrate it with existing systems they use today, or produce new tools that allow people to improve and manage their communications.”
The ideas behind Google Wave came from a project by Jens Rasmussen codenamed “Walkabout”. His basic idea was that the two most successful forms of digital communication were originally designed in the 1960’s to imitate analog formats. Email was designed to mimicked snail mail, and instant messaging mimicked phone calls. However, many different forms of communication had been invented since then, such as blogs, wikis, and real-time collaborative documents. Walkabout was proposed as a new communications model that used all these advances as a starting point. Greater capacity on the internet and fast internet connections make this new paradigm possible, along with computers that have lots of memory and capable of playing several concurrent video streams.
Google Wave’s prototyping started with a five-person team in Google’s offices in Sydney. An expanded team has been working on bringing about a public release for the last two years.
No launch date for a public product has been set. “We’re inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch,” wrote Rasmussen.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
New Study Gives Blackberrys High Scores on Security
‘iPhone, WinMo phones not quite as secure, says the study.’ -
The chic iPhone may have snatched Research In Motion’s smartphone sales crown in 2008, but RIM charged back with its Blackberries topping sales charts this year, thanks in part to Verizon’s “Buy one get one” promotion. Both phones are vying for business customers, as are a plethora of Windows Mobile (WinMo) phones. So how do all these phones stack up in security, one of the most critical considerations in business tech adoption?
A new study by Lopez Research, founded by President Maribel Lopez, a former Forrester Research analyst tackles this question, looking at these three top competitors in the smart phone arena. The study was broken down into three categories — device, network, and transmission. It gives a score of 0 to 4 (highest) to each competitor for each category.
Its results may surprise some. It blasts Apple’s iPhone with an overall score of 1 out of 4. Apple’s worst performance came in the device category in which it earned a zero. Ms. Lopez notes that the underlying OS X build is easily compromised, that the system lacks over the air security updates, and that its encryption options are lacking.
Networking was Apple’s strongest category. The reason why it performed well, according to Ms. Lopez, was that the iPhone “uses the same active directory based on authentication methods as Windows Mobile.”
As this quote might imply, Windows Mobile 6.5 scored quite well, earning an overall 3 out of 4. Ms. Lopez praises, “Microsoft’s solution leverages the existing infrastructure, such as Active Directory, to manage Windows Mobile capable devices, meaning IT can manage the system with familiar tools and capabilities. It also recently achieved common criteria certification EAL 2+ for Windows Mobile 6.1 in August of 2008. The combination of MDM and a VPN provides a reasonable security solution for firms that would like to use Windows Mobile devices.”
Microsoft earned a lower mark — 2/4 — on devices as its encryption was lacking, despite having over-the-air updates.
Sales leader RIM, though, took the cake, earning a perfect mark. States Ms. Lopez, “RIM offers strong security protection across the device, transmission and the network domains through tight control of the device, its software and its application control policies. While other vendors have stepped up security efforts in the past year, RIM offers the most robust security solution.”
Ms. Lopez points out that it’s important for all of these companies to continue their efforts as large corporate deployments will likely see a mix of handset makers and OS’s. For those worried about bias against Apple, given its poor mark, it can be noted that the Lopez Research site, which the report is available on, was built on a Mac.
The chic iPhone may have snatched Research In Motion’s smartphone sales crown in 2008, but RIM charged back with its Blackberries topping sales charts this year, thanks in part to Verizon’s “Buy one get one” promotion. Both phones are vying for business customers, as are a plethora of Windows Mobile (WinMo) phones. So how do all these phones stack up in security, one of the most critical considerations in business tech adoption?
A new study by Lopez Research, founded by President Maribel Lopez, a former Forrester Research analyst tackles this question, looking at these three top competitors in the smart phone arena. The study was broken down into three categories — device, network, and transmission. It gives a score of 0 to 4 (highest) to each competitor for each category.
Its results may surprise some. It blasts Apple’s iPhone with an overall score of 1 out of 4. Apple’s worst performance came in the device category in which it earned a zero. Ms. Lopez notes that the underlying OS X build is easily compromised, that the system lacks over the air security updates, and that its encryption options are lacking.
Networking was Apple’s strongest category. The reason why it performed well, according to Ms. Lopez, was that the iPhone “uses the same active directory based on authentication methods as Windows Mobile.”
As this quote might imply, Windows Mobile 6.5 scored quite well, earning an overall 3 out of 4. Ms. Lopez praises, “Microsoft’s solution leverages the existing infrastructure, such as Active Directory, to manage Windows Mobile capable devices, meaning IT can manage the system with familiar tools and capabilities. It also recently achieved common criteria certification EAL 2+ for Windows Mobile 6.1 in August of 2008. The combination of MDM and a VPN provides a reasonable security solution for firms that would like to use Windows Mobile devices.”
Microsoft earned a lower mark — 2/4 — on devices as its encryption was lacking, despite having over-the-air updates.
Sales leader RIM, though, took the cake, earning a perfect mark. States Ms. Lopez, “RIM offers strong security protection across the device, transmission and the network domains through tight control of the device, its software and its application control policies. While other vendors have stepped up security efforts in the past year, RIM offers the most robust security solution.”
Ms. Lopez points out that it’s important for all of these companies to continue their efforts as large corporate deployments will likely see a mix of handset makers and OS’s. For those worried about bias against Apple, given its poor mark, it can be noted that the Lopez Research site, which the report is available on, was built on a Mac.
Computer Virus Strikes US Marshals, FBI Affected
WASHINGTON – Law enforcement computers were struck by a mystery computer virus Thursday, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their networks as a precaution.
The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department’s computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem.
“We too are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that’s affecting several government agencies,” said FBI spokesman Mike Kortan. He did not elaborate or identify the other agencies.
Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency’s computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar problems earlier.
“At no time was data compromised,” said Credic. The type of virus and its origin were not determined.
In addition to their external networks, most federal law enforcement agencies have an internal-only network to prevent cyber-snoopers from sensitive data.
In Thursday’s incident, the Marshals Service shut down its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the problem. The FBI made similar moves to protect its system.
The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department’s computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem.
“We too are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that’s affecting several government agencies,” said FBI spokesman Mike Kortan. He did not elaborate or identify the other agencies.
Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency’s computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar problems earlier.
“At no time was data compromised,” said Credic. The type of virus and its origin were not determined.
In addition to their external networks, most federal law enforcement agencies have an internal-only network to prevent cyber-snoopers from sensitive data.
In Thursday’s incident, the Marshals Service shut down its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the problem. The FBI made similar moves to protect its system.
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