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Google Docs welcomes DocVerse

2010-03-05T18:53:00Z

(Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)

The future of productivity applications is in the cloud. We've always believed the web is the best platform for creating and sharing information, and Google Docs has already helped millions of people become more productive. But we recognize that many people are still accustomed to desktop software. So as we continue to improve Google Docs and Google Sites as rich collaboration tools, we’re also making it easier for people to transition to the cloud, and interoperate with desktop applications like Microsoft Office.

For example, we recently made it possible to use Google Docs to store and share any type of file that you have on your computer, not just the ones you create online. Today we’re excited to announce another step towards seamless interoperability: we have acquired DocVerse.

DocVerse is a small, nimble team of talented developers who share our vision, and they’ve enabled true collaboration right within Microsoft Office. With DocVerse, people can begin to experience some of the benefits of web-based collaboration using the traditional Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint desktop applications.

A huge "welcome" to the DocVerse team and their customers! Current DocVerse users can keep using the product as usual, though we’ve suspended new sign-ups until we’re ready to share what's next. Stay tuned!

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Group Product Manager

Express yourself with the Blogger Template Designer

2010-03-11T18:00:00Z

In Blogger’s more than 10 years, we’ve learned that blogging is a powerful way for people to express themselves. More than 350,000 words are written on Blogger every minute of every day and over the years we’ve added a bunch of features to ensure that writing those words is as easy, fun and rewarding as possible. Today, we’re happy to announce the launch of the Blogger Template Designer on Blogger in Draft, our experimental playground where you can try out the latest features Blogger has to offer. Instead of creating a lot of new templates that will grow stale over time, we decided to go beyond static templates and reinvent the whole process of designing your blog, making it even easier to express yourself online.

The Blogger Template Designer is our big first step in improving not just our template designs, but all the ways that you can customize the look and layout of your blog. If you try out the Blogger Template Designer, you’ll find:

Fifteen new professional templates to start from (and more on their way)
Custom blog layouts with one, two and three columns
Hundreds of free professional background images from iStockphoto, the leading microstock image marketplace
Customizable colors, fonts and more

Check out this video for a peek at what you can do with the Blogger Template Designer:

For more info, check out our post on the Blogger in draft blog. Give the Blogger Template Designer a test drive, and then let us know what you think!

Posted by Pete Hopkins, Tech Lead, Blogger

Biking directions added to Google Maps

2010-03-10T13:00:00Z

Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often "So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?" We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!

Today we've added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S. My team has been keeping close tabs on all the public support for biking directions that’s been steadily coming in, but we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done.

Let's say you want to bike to work, or maybe you want to drive less and spend more time outdoors. Biking directions can help you find a convenient and efficient route that makes use of dedicated bike trails or lanes and avoids hills whenever possible. To find biking directions, select "Bicycling" from the drop-down menu when you do a directions search:

So, how does it work? Well, I'm based in Seattle, along with the rest of the biking directions team. The city is notoriously hilly, but also has some great trails and a strong cycling community. Let's say I'm trying to get from Golden Gardens to a friend's house in Montlake:

This route avoids hills (phew!) and puts me on the Burke-Gilman trail for most of the journey. When I need to get off the trail to cross town, biking directions makes sure to keep me on bike-friendly roads and avoid some of the city's busiest intersections. The time estimate for the route is based on a complex set of variables accounting for the type of road, terrain and turns over the course of my ride. If I decide that I want to stop at Woodland Park Zoo along the way, I can click on the blue path and drag it to my desired route — just like with driving directions — and we'll still customize the journey for cycling suitability. Over on the Lat Long Blog, you can read more about all the unique tweaks and calculations factored into our routing algorithm.

We've also added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly onto the map. This can help you get a better sense of your route, or let you find trails nearby for a recreational ride. When you're zoomed into a city, click on the "More" button at the top of the map to turn on the "Bicycling” layer. You'll see three types of lines appear on the map:

Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail;
Light green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road;
Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for bicycling, but without dedicated lanes

Thanks primarily to our partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we now have more than 12,000 miles of trails included in biking directions and outlined directly on the map. We also have data on bike lanes and recommended streets for 150 cities across the country. We'll continue to add new trail information and encourage riders to send feedback (biking directions is in beta, after all) and route information for inclusion via the “Report a Problem” tool. When Map Maker is available in the U.S., all riders will be able to directly contribute their local knowledge about trails, bike lanes and suggested routes.

We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting this feature, so head over to http://maps.google.com/biking to try it for yourself and then hop on your bike!

Posted by Shannon Guymon, Product Manager

Google Wave Extensions Gallery Launches

2010-03-12T14:44:13Z

This morning, Google launched an "extensions" gallery for their real-time communications product, Google Wave. Within the new gallery, you'll find the tools and add-ons that have been created by the developer community to add additional functionality to the Wave service. Among the extensions are those some Wave users have probably seen before - like the popular "yes/no" voting gadget, for example, which lets you create polls via Wave. However, there are others that you may not have seen yet - like the "iFrame Gadget" that lets you embed webpages into a Wave or the "Likey Gadget" that provides a "like" (and "dislike!") button for showing support for a particular topic, similar to those found on Facebook or Google Buzz.

Sponsor

According to the Google blog post, developers interested in submitting their extensions for inclusion in this gallery can do so by first submitting them for approval here. Google has also released a new Google Wave robots API (v2) for developers to try.

The complete list of extensions includes the following:

Wave Sudoku (play Sodoku with friends in a Wave)
Extension Installer (for developers only)
Colcrop (game)
Yellow highlighter (highlight text)
Napkin gadget (for doodles)
Waffle (date-picker)
Iframe gadget (embed webpages in a Wave)
Yes/No/Maybe gadget (for polls)
Map gadget (insert maps)
Video Chat Experience (chat in Waves)
Phone Conference (call your friends)
Mind Map gadget (collaborate on diagrams)
Likey gadget (like/dislike a topic)
Pollo gadget (for surveys)
Take-out gadget (for ordering out)
AccuWeather (weather forecasts)

Will Extensions Bring You Back to Wave?

With Google Wave soon becoming a member of the Google Apps family of products sometime this year, it's good to see development work continue on this innovative, if somewhat confusing, real-time tool. Although members of the tech community have expressed mixed feelings about the product in its current state, what Google has presented is definitely a unique service and one that may still be useful in several niche scenarios, if not as the email replacement some hoped it would be. For example, small teams in the workplace needing to collaborate with one another may find Wave a better option than sending multiple emails back and forth.

That being said, traffic to Google Wave has been declining sharply since November or December of 2009, depending which analytics service you use. Looking at the numbers, it's clear that Wave has been abandoned by many of its earliest adopters - users who were once clamoring for invites in ways that haven't been seen since Google first launched Gmail. (On that note, we actually have several spare invites sitting around - if you want one, comment and ask.)

Will extensions actually bring those one-time Wavers back? Probably not - at least, not for longer than a quick look at most. On the flip side, however, Wave advocates feel that there's great potential in this experimental project. Still, even most of those folks have to admit there's a lot of work that needs to be done before Wave could attract a mainstream audience.

So will Wave ever replace email? Perhaps not. But we wouldn't be surprised if some of the innovations developed in the Wave playground ended up in our Gmail inboxes one day. And for that, we'll keep one eye on Wave...even if we're not entirely embracing it just yet.

Discuss

Unannounced Core i7 Apple MacBook Pro surfaces in benchmarks logs

2010-02-06T18:00:00Z

A benchmark report for an unreleased Apple MacBook Pro sporting Intel's upcoming dual-core 2.66GHz Core i7 mobile processor was published online this week, suggesting a refresh to the professional notebook line may be imminent.

Episode 200: Rails 3 Beta and RVM

2010-02-08T08:00:00Z

Get started with Rails 3.0 Beta and install Ruby 1.9.1 using RVM: Ruby Version Manager. Stay tuned to the end for a challenge on giving back to open source.

Google Creating Twitter Clone for Gmail

2010-02-08T19:49:11Z

As soon as this week, Google might be rolling out a "Twitter-killer" feature for Gmail users, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Gmail users can currently broadcast status messages via the Google Talk feature. The main difference between the current offering and the new feature is that status messages aren't available in a timeline format. With the new "Twitter clone," they will be.

Sponsor

UPDATE: While we're still waiting for an official response from Google's PR team, we've been invited to an event at the Googleplex tomorrow "to see some innovations in two of our most popular products." The event will begin at 10 a.m. PT (UTC -8) - stay tuned tomorrow for RWW's live coverage of the event!

This is the current option for updating statuses in Gmail:

Google's new tools, however, will better integrate with Google's multimedia sites, YouTube and Picasa. (Currently, Google Talk users can share YouTube videos via chat, which prompts a miniaturized version of the video to pop up above the chat in progress.) Users will also be able to see "a stream of status updates from people they choose to connect with."

We're contacting Google for more information and will update this post as we learn more.

In the meantime, however, we're wondering how this feature will integrate with other status-sharing sites. Will Gmail and Google Talk's new feature act as Google's first steps into developing a social media client (like Tweetdeck) in its own right?

The new feature could start appearing on users' screen as soon as this week. If you had this tool, would you use it?

Would you use a Google Twitter clone?(poll)

Discuss

Free e-commerce catalogs managed with Google Docs

2010-02-03T17:00:00Z

Guest post: Dan Salcedo is founder of the DC based international development organization OpenEntry, with the mission of helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) worldwide benefit from the exciting new opportunities opened up by global e-commerce. Working with a team of volunteer developers, he built a catalog generator that enables SMEs in developing countries to create their own free e-commerce catalogs, managed via a Google spreadsheet.

Years ago, I noticed artisans in developing countries were selling their items to a long chain of middlemen that only paid them 10-15% of the final retail price, even through conventional fair trade channels. So I launched a non-profit organization to help artisans disintermediate all the middlemen by selling directly through e-commerce catalogs that they could create and manage themselves. We recently relaunched our OpenEntry catalog generator using a bunch of Google tools including Docs, Sites, Checkout, Picasa Web Albums, AdSense, and Apps Engine. And our User Manual, built on Google Sites, is full of YouTube videos. This enables us to offer totally free e-commerce catalogs (software, hosting, user support) to artisans and SMEs worldwide including the following:

www.NatureNepalHS.com

Nature Nepal-Herbal Care

Nepal

main.openentry.com/mereville

MerevilleyTrust

India

www.pupbd.org

Pollee Unnyon Prokolpo

Bangladesh

Each catalog is managed by filling out a Google spreadsheet with three sheets containing information on the company, products, and additional pages (see products sheet below).

The images are stored on Picasa Web Albums and sellers use Google Checkout (as well as PayPal and 2Checkout) to accept credit card payments. Google Sites helps users generate attractive HTML that can be added to some of the spreadsheet fields to improve aesthetics. Google App Engine reads the spreadsheet, then generates the catalog hosted on Google servers. These tools also made it surprisingly easy to enable OpenEntry catalogs to be managed with a smart phone.

Google recently added a feature enabling the ownership of their spreadsheets to be transferred to a third party, which makes it easy to transfer spreadsheets to the final SME vendor. This is very good news because it enables the OpenEntry User Support team in Nepal to set up catalogs and transfer ownership to the SME vendor who can then operate it securely. This also means we can now transfer blocks of catalog accounts to young, ambitious entrepreneurs anywhere in the developing world, enabling them to start their own legitimate enterprises. Even though the OpenEntry catalogs are free, the entrepreneurs can charge for setup, digital images, custom templates, training, maintenance, etc. And they can even do it from an Internet cafe until they can afford their own computer. This reinforces the conclusion of the United Nations Development Program evaluation of our platform (under its previous name, CatGen) that generated 4000 jobs for artisan women and "a relatively inexperienced group of young IT professionals" in Nepal.

Because this is a non-profit initiative, OpenEntry is seeking volunteers to help with a variety of technical tasks starting with template design.

Posted by: Dan Salcedo, Founder and CEO of www.OpenEntry.com, dsalcedo@OpenEntry.com

iPad photos show slot for forward-facing video camera

2010-02-02T02:00:00Z

Physical evidence pointing to a forward-facing iPad camera was found in the frame of replacement enclosures for the device.

40,000 More Extensions!

2010-02-01T20:26:00Z

One thing that got lost in the commotion of the extensions launch is a feature that is near and dear to my heart: Google Chrome 4 now natively supports Greasemonkey user scripts. Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension I wrote in 2004 that allows developers to customize web pages using simple JavaScript and it was the inspiration for some important parts of our extension system.

Ever since the beginning of the Chromium project, friends and coworkers have been asking me to add support for user scripts in Google Chrome. I'm happy to report that as of the last Google Chrome release, you can install any user script with a single click. So, now you can use emoticons on blogger. Or, you can browse Google Image Search with a fancy lightbox. In fact, there's over 40,000 scripts on userscripts.org alone.

Installation is quick and easy, just like installing an extension. That's because under the covers, the user script is actually converted into an extension. This means that management tasks like disabling and uninstalling work just like they do with extensions.

Note that user scripts are powerful software and have full access to your private data on any web site. So, for example, they could read all your web mail or access your online bank. Be sure to read the comments on any user scripts in order to decide whether you trust the author with this power.

Also keep in mind that some user scripts won't work in Google Chrome yet, because of differences between it and Firefox. Based on some analysis that the current maintainers of Greasemonkey did, I expect between 15%-25% of scripts to not work in Google Chrome. If you find such a script, you should consider letting the author know. There may be something he or she can do to easily fix the problem. In the meantime, we'll keep working on bugs on our side to bring our implementation closer to Greasemonkey.

Have fun trying out the thousands of available scripts. And don't worry - If you get bored, there's lots more extensions at Google Chrome's extension gallery.

Posted by Aaron Boodman, Software Engineer

Create Pages in Blogger

2010-02-04T07:19:00Z

By Sean McCullough, Software Engineer

Another top user-requested feature has just graduated from Blogger In Draft! Blogger now makes it easy to create Pages linked from your blog.

This feature lets you easily publish static information on stand-alone pages. For example, you can create an About This Blog page that discusses the evolution of your blog, or a Contact Me page that provides directions, a phone number, and a map to your location.

You create a page similar to how you write a blog post. From Blogger click the Posting | Edit Pages tab, then click New Page. (Note: you can create up to 10 pages.)

Once your page is published, you can link to it from the new Pages widget. The Pages widget lets you add links to your pages as tabs at the top of your blog, or as links in your blog's sidebar.

In the Pages widget, you can decide which pages will be linked and in what order they will appear. You can also choose whether you want new pages to appear automatically in the Pages widget by checking or unchecking the box to the left of Add new Pages by default.

Finally, for those of you that have custom templates, your custom template may not automatically support Pages as horizontal "tabs". If you are familiar with HTML, follow these instructions on how to add Pages to your custom template.

Looking forward to seeing all of the Pages that bloggers create!

11 Outstanding Online Resources for Web Developers

2010-02-03T17:36:17Z

This series is supported by Rackspace, the better way to do hosting. Learn more about Rackspace’s hosting solutions here.

If you’re a web developer, you’re almost certainly constantly looking for ways to improve your skills, expand your technology arsenal, and keep on top of the latest trends in development and design. Whether you need to pick up a new coding language, get informed about new standards, brush up on best practices, or simply get inspired by great examples from your peers, we’ve collated a number of great resources to help you stay at the top of your game.

Have a look at some of the online repositories for great development information and inspiration below, and be sure to tell us about any other trusted sources we haven’t included in the list that other developers should check out.

1. W3 Schools

Featuring one of the largest collections of tutorials and reference articles for web developers on the internet, W3 Schools offers a huge assortment of learning and training resources on just about every relevant language and web service in use on the web today. You’ll find content tailored towards the full range from beginner to expert developer along with code examples, quizzes, tutorials, and reference guides in a relatively clean and well-organized site complete with a well-trafficked forum community.

2. A List Apart

Taking a holistic approach to the subject of web development, A List Apart is “for people who make websites” including designers, developers, and online content creators of all stripes. From its origins as a mailing list in 1997, to its official launch as a website the following year, and on into today’s ALA 4.0 incarnation, A List Apart has consistently produced and curated top notch content at the intersection between design and development for the web.

3. Webmonkey

Now a property of Wired Digital, Webmonkey has been a resource to developers on the web with a long and storied history stretching back to 1996. Having been brought back to life twice during that time, Webmonkey now operates as a wiki, featuring contributions from the developer community to an extensive code library, reference section, and tutorial clearinghouse.

4. Dev Shed

Combining extensive coding tutorials with an active forum community, Dev Shed is one of a family of interconnected sites offering free guides and instructional material to web developers. From language tutorials to webmaster tools to example scripts, the Dev Shed collection has something for webdevs at various skill levels and technology needs.

5. Smashing Magazine

Aimed at both web designers and developers, Smashing Magazine is a frequently updated and independent web publication serving up quality information and community discussion surrounding best practices and techniques on the web. Though the heavier emphasis is on design, the articles, resources, and tools address dynamic HTML technologies, WordPress template coding, and development software as well.

6. Developer Tutorials

Dedicated to “helping ordinary people create extraordinary websites,” Developer Tutorials has offerings for major languages and multimedia production software. In addition to free scripts and extensive developer manuals, the site also has sections for finding reputable online services for common development needs, and to help with projects where you may need to outsource certain components.

7. Ajaxian

A great resource for folks building dynamic web content, Ajaxian is a long-running blog featuring news, editorials, podcasts, resource links, code examples, and more. Less a repository of tutorials and more a timely resource for news and developments of interest to dynamic web builders, Ajaxian also features an active community of readers and commenters in addition to its experienced staff of writers and practitioners.

8. DZone

The simplest analogy is to think of DZone as Digg for developers. The link-sharing community surfaces great resources of interest to webdevs as well as providing free reference cheatsheets, white papers, and original editorial articles as well.

9. IBM developerWorks

A clearinghouse for tutorials and articles on a wide range of development topics, IBM’s developerWorks explores dynamic web content technologies as well as related fields including systems administration and open source applications. Various learning resources and downloads are offered surrounding a wide variety of web projects from PHP and DHTML to wikis and web service mashups.

10. Sitepoint

Having waxed and waned in popularity over the years, Sitepoint has survived the changing tastes and standards on the web to currently bring fresh perspectives and information for both developers and designers. Instructional videos are available in both free and paid series flavors, a well-organized reference section covers CSS, HTML and Javascript, and an active forum community round out this resource for webdevs.

11. O’Reilly

Best known for its extensive book series covering a wide variety of technical topics, O’Reilly’s online site is also home to a number of web resources both free and paid of interest to web developers. An Answers platform provides a community knowledge base, original blog and video content provide news and commentary, and the Safari Books Online service gives access to thousands of technology reference books from major publishers for a monthly subscription fee.

Series supported by Rackspace

Rackspace is the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why.

More web developer resources from Mashable:

- 7 Useful Tools for Web Development Testing
- A Guide to Mobile Web Design Tips and Tricks
- An Inside Look at 4 Developer Ecosystems
- 20 Developers to Follow on Twitter
- Top 18 Social Media Resources for Developers

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, a_Taiga

Reviews: Digg, PHP, WordPress, iStockphoto

Tags: developer, Lists, web developer, Web Development, web development series

A First Taste Of What The Google Tablet’s Interface Will Look Like (Pics)

2010-02-02T03:57:16Z

Last week, the world saw Apple’s long anticipated tablet device, the iPad, for the first time. In the aftermath since that announcement, a few things have become clear: it will be great for some people, but its apparent lack of flexibility (at least in its first iteration) may leave something to be desired. It’s increasingly looking like the best alternative will be Google’s Chrome OS, which is clearly on a collision course with the iPad. And tonight, we’ve come across some very impressive mockups of what Chrome OS may look like on a tablet form factor.

The photos have been posted to the official Chromium site (Chromium is the open source project behind Chrome and ChromeOS). And while Chromium is not actually part of Google, it appears that these mockups were put together by Glen Murphy, Google Chrome’s designer. In other words, there’s a good chance that the final version of Chrome OS will resemble this.

Update: Be sure to watch this video to see a mockup of the tablet in action.

It’s worth pointing out that there almost certainly will be multiple “Google Tablets”, given that Chrome OS won’t be tied to a single device. That said, Google is working with select hardware partners to ensure that it runs on devices that are up to its specifications, and there may be one tablet device that is designated as the “Google Tablet”, much like the Nexus One is the “Google Phone”.

Via TheChromeSource.

Fennec 1.0

2010-01-30T22:27:58Z

Po trzech wersjach release candidate, Mozilla funduje nam oficjalną, stabilną wersję Fenneca – 1.0, jak na razie tylko dla systemu operacyjnego firmy Nokia – Maemo.

Fennec 1.0 w wersji dla Nokii N900, bazujący na silniku Firefoksa 3.6, jest dostępny do pobrania na specjalnej stronie Firefoksa dla urządzeń mobilnych. Ostatnia wersja release candidate, czyli trzecia, dostępna jest dla Linuksa, Mac OSX oraz Windowsa.

Po nowym Fennecu spodziewać się możemy między innymi:

sprawdzania pisowni
obsługi ponad 35 języków
Awesome Bar znany z biurkowych wersji przeglądarki – funkcja przeszukiwania zarówno historii, jak i zakładek oraz tagów
interfejs użytkownika zorientowany na urządzenia sterowane dotykiem
dodawanie zakładek jednym dotknięciem
Weave Sync, o którym pisano już na OSnews.pl
Mechanizm Add-ons
Menadżer haseł
Menadżer pobierania
i inne.

Dev Channel Update

2010-01-29T23:40:00Z

The Dev channel has been updated to 5.0.307.1 for Windows & Mac

Windows

[r37023] Use default downloads directory on Vista and Windows 7 (except where it is the desktop) (Issue: 13610)
[r36938 and others] Start work on Content Settings window and sub-dialogs (Issue: 32719)

Mac

Improved plugin stability.
[r37204][r37210] Cocoa NPAPI plugins will now get NPCocoaEventMouseDragged and NPCocoaEventFlagsChanged events (Issues: 32996, 31846)
[r37010] Fix crash that sometimes happened when dragging tabs (Issue: 29906)
[r37004] Fix %cpu in task manager. (Issue: 32464)
[r37139] Give the cookies manager a search field. (Issue: 32328)
[r37247] Make copying of big images more robust (Issue: 26822)
[r37114] Improve task manager resizing behavior (Issues: 33134, 33133)

Known Issues

[Mac] Crash when deleting cookies (Issue: 33533).

More details about additional changes are available in the svn log of all revision.

You can find out about getting on the Dev channel here: http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel.

If you find new issues, please let us know by filing a bug at http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/entry

Orit Mazor
Google Chrome

CyanogenMod-4.2.14

2010-01-31T21:36:36Z

Here’s a new update for the Dream/Magic! Lots of bugs fixed, new Music and DeskClock apps from Eclair, improved stability.

Get it with CM Updater and check out the XDA Developers thread!

Encouraging More Chromium Security Research

2010-01-28T21:59:00Z

In designing Chromium, we've been working hard to make the browser as secure as possible. We've made strong improvements with the integrated sandboxing and our up-to-date user base. We're always looking to stay on top of the latest browser security features. We've also worked closely with the broader security community to get independent scrutiny and to quickly fix bugs that have been reported.

Some of the most interesting security bugs we've fixed have been reported by researchers external to the Chromium project. For example, this same origin policy bypass from Isaac Dawson or this v8 engine bug found by the Mozilla Security Team. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of these people and others, Chromium security is stronger and our users are safer.

Today, we are introducing an experimental new incentive for external researchers to participate. We will be rewarding select interesting and original vulnerabilities reported to us by the security research community. For existing contributors to Chromium security — who would likely continue to contribute regardless — this may be seen as a token of our appreciation. In addition, we are hoping that the introduction of this program will encourage new individuals to participate in Chromium security. The more people involved in scrutinizing Chromium's code and behavior, the more secure our millions of users will be.

Such a concept is not new; we'd like to give serious kudos to the folks at Mozilla for their long-running and successful vulnerability reward program.

Any valid security bug filed through the Chromium bug tracker (under the template "Security Bug") will qualify for consideration. As this is an experimental program, here are some guidelines in the form of questions and answers:

Q) What reward might I get?

A) As per Mozilla, our base reward for eligible bugs is $500. If the panel finds a particular bug particularly severe or particularly clever, we envisage rewards of $1337. The panel may also decide a single report actually constitutes multiple bugs. As a consumer of the Chromium open source project, Google will be sponsoring the rewards.

Q) What bugs are eligible?

A) Any security bug may be considered. We will typically focus on High and Critical impact bugs, but any clever vulnerability at any severity might get a reward. Obviously, your bug won't be eligible if you worked on the code or review in the area in question.

Q) How do I find out my bug was eligible?

A) You will see a provisional comment to that effect in the bug entry once we have triaged the bug.

Q) What if someone else also found the same bug?

A) Only the first report of a given issue that we were previously unaware of is eligible. In the event of a duplicate submission, the earliest filed bug report in the bug tracker is considered the first report.

Q) What about bugs present in Google Chrome but not the Chromium open source project?

A) Bugs in either build may be eligible. In addition, bugs in plugins that are part of the Chromium project and shipped with Google Chrome by default (e.g. Google Gears) may be eligible. Bugs in third-party plugins and extensions are ineligible.

Q) Will bugs disclosed publicly without giving Chromium developers an opportunity to fix them first still qualify?

A) We encourage responsible disclosure. Note that we believe responsible disclosure is a two-way street; it's our job to fix serious bugs within a reasonable time frame.

Q) Do I still qualify if I disclose the problem publicly once fixed?

A) Yes, absolutely. We encourage open collaboration. We will also make sure to credit you in the relevant Google Chrome release notes and nominate you for the Google Security "thank you" section.

Q) What about bugs in channels other than Stable?

A) We are interested in bugs in the Stable, Beta and Dev channels. It's best for everyone to find and fix bugs before they are released to the Stable channel.

Q) What about bugs in third-party components?

A) These bugs may be eligible (e.g. WebKit, libxml, image libraries, compression libraries, etc). Bugs will be ineligible if they are part of the base operating system as opposed to part of the Chromium source tree. In the event of bugs in a component shared with other software, we are happy to take care of responsibly notifying other affected parties.

Q) Who determines whether a given bug is eligible?

A) The panel includes Adam Barth, Chris Evans, Neel Mehta, SkyLined and Michal Zalewski.

Q) Can you keep my identity confidential from the rest of the world?

A) Yes. If selected as the recipient of a reward, and you accept, we will need your contact details in order to pay you. However — at your discretion, we can credit the bug to "anonymous" and leave the bug entry private.

Q) No doubt you wanted to make some legal points?

A) Sure. We encourage participation from everyone. However, we are unable to issue rewards to residents of countries where the US has imposed the highest levels of export restriction (e.g. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). We cannot issue rewards to minors, but would be happy to have an adult represent you. This is not a competition, but rather an ongoing reward program. You are responsible for any tax implications depending on your country of residency and citizenship. There may be additional restrictions on your ability to enter depending upon local law.

We look forward very much to issuing our first reward and featuring it on our releases blog. We're happy to take questions at security@chromium.org. Alternatively, feel free to leave a comment. We will update this blog post with answers to any popular questions.

Finally, if you're interested in helping out Chromium security on a more permanent basis, we have open positions.

Posted by Chris Evans, Google Chrome Security

Weave 1.0 now available for download

2010-01-29T04:14:14Z

Mozilla has released Weave 1.0, the Firefox extension and service that provides Firefox user data synchronization among computing devices like laptops, desktops, and starting tomorrow, with Firefox for Maemo release, mobile devices. It is also great for users who dual-boot, and what don’t want to bother remembering where they did what.

So far, synchronization includes bookmarks, history, preferences, passwords, filled forms, and even your last 25 opened tabs. All the information is transported and stored in encrypted form at all times making it pretty safe to use.

Weave, in development for more than two years now, includes a client (the Weave Sync extension), and a server component (Weave Server) so companies could deploy their own synchronization servers.

A feature that is not present but was tried at some point in Weave development is automatic sign-on, but it could come back at some point.

Also, preferences finally ended in its own tab in the Options or Preferences dialog, after trying a page approach Mozilla is considering for the whole preferences user interface or add-on management at least (more on this in the next post).

With Weave 1.0 and Firefox 3.6 released, and Firefox for Maemo 1.0 debuting tomorrow, Mozilla is rounding a great 2010 start.

Check out the release notes for more details. Download Weave Sync from Mozilla Add-ons.

5 Reasons to Wait for iPad 2.0

2010-01-28T15:48:50Z

With yesterday's reveal of the iPad now past, we can finally put myth and speculation behind us and focus on the reality that is Apple's entry into the tablet PC business. Whether the iPad is revolutionary or evolutionary is still hotly debated, but what we do know is that the computer, despite its elegance and blazing fast speed, is a decidedly first-generation device. Although one day after the product's announcement may be too soon to discuss what's coming in the next version of the iPad, we've already come across several reasons to wait... and some of those reasons are hidden away in the new iPad SDK (software development kit) itself.

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1. Wait for the Camera - It's Coming

As Mike Melanson pointed out yesterday, the lack of a camera in the iPad is potentially a "killer" issue for this once highly anticipated device. Without the ability to capture images and video, the iPad looks a lot less functional than the netbooks Steve Jobs happily ridiculed as "cheap" on stage during the event. Cheap they may be, but at least video chat is possible! Even the Facebook app he demoed - the same one ported over from the iPhone - is missing key features: the ability to post photos and videos shot with your mobile device.

But while the camera's omission is troubling, all hope is not lost. According to some early looks at the iPhone/iPad's SDK, there's an interface for a camera already implemented. In the Contacts application found in the kit's emulator, for example, you can tap the "Add Photo" button to add a picture to go along with the contact information. After doing so, a pop-up appears asking if you would like to "take photo" or "choose existing photo." Really, take photo? Of course, this is by no means definitive proof that the camera is coming to the next gen iPad - Apple could have simply reused the iPhone's Contacts app in the iPad emulator and forgot to remove this option. However it's likely that, if anything, a camera will be the next big feature added in order to encourage sales of iPad 2.0.

2. Voice Calls to Come Later

Another possibility for future iPad editions is that the (hopefully then webcam-enabled) device will also offer another critical component necessary for the implementation of video chat: voice. Although the iPad touts a microphone and speakers, how exactly voice chat will be implemented is still anyone's guess. The most logical choice, though, would be to allow for VoIP functionality via an app as opposed to a full-on cellular voice plan and the accompanying monthly bill that would require. Instead, allowing for VoIP apps would be something that could be added to any iPad model - even the entry-level, Wi-Fi-only one.

Plus, the iPad SDK reveals clues that this, too, could be coming in the future. Unless Apple just got really sloppy putting together the iPad emulator, then the "Touch to return to call" option that appears in some emulator screens could easily be a hint of things to come.

3. Annotations for iBooks

One thing the Kindle has going for it in the realm of e-books is its ability to allow for bookmarking, highlighting, and annotations of text. Not mentioned during the iPad demo of iBooks? Those three same features. In fact, no use case for education was even presented during the presentation and no giant e-textbook was projected on the screen behind Jobs' head.

Yet these features are especially are important in selling an e-reader, especially if you want to convince college students to buy the device. Today's students, who mark up their textbooks with notes and highlighting, would have little use for an iBook's "read-only" nature. That means if iBooks are ever to compete with Kindle e-books, Apple will have to add in more interactivity in a future version of the iPad. Until then, colleges are likely to hold off on recommending the device to students, just as they're doing now.

4. Hold out for Verizon

While there is no proof that Apple intends to end their exclusive contract with AT&T in order to offer a CDMA version of the iPhone (and now the iPad), there have been ongoing reports that the two companies are talking. Well, at least according to anonymous "sources," that is. However, journalists covering the tech beat aren't the only ones touting the imminent forthcoming Verizon partnership - analysts are saying so, too. According to Canaccord Adams analyst Mark Misek, a Verzion 4G iPhone model will arrive in June. Will a Verizon iPad soon follow? Possibly. But even if it doesn't arrive by iPad 2.0's launch, you'll still have plenty of other features to dull the pain of having to sign up - yet again, iPhone owners - with AT&T.

5. Wait for Multitasking via OS 4.0

Finally, there is the OS component. The iPad is built on the operating system that powers both iPhone and iPod Touch devices, iPhone OS. The current version of the tablet runs iPhone OS 3.2, but not, as hoped, a newer version of that same OS, version 4.0. According to sources, iPhone OS 4.0 is said to offer a new way to run applications in the background via multitasking. This feature, notably left out of the current operating system due to battery drain, says Apple, is a key selling point for the company's latest competitor, Android, the mobile OS designed by Google.

However, a somewhat overlooked bit from the iPad announcement is the news that the new device runs Apple's own processor, the A4. This new, speedy, high-performance 1 GHz chip is also touted on Apple's website as a "low-power system-on-a-chip." Not only does this proprietary tech make the iPad "crazy fast," its ability to use less power could mean that it will - you guessed it! - not drain the battery as fast as before.

So why not let the iPad multitask right out-of-the-gate then? Because Apple wants to push the multitasking update to all its iPhone OS 4.0 devices at the same time. That means cramming a smaller version of the A4 into the power-hungry iPhones and iPod Touches then announcing that those people with the new devices can multitask thanks to the new technology. Speculation? Sure. But possible? Definitely. Of course, you probably won't need new iPad 2.0 hardware for this - the feature will come via a software update and likely even sooner than iPad 2.0. It will just sweeten the deal when you get ready to buy the second generation tablet device.

Let the Early Adopters Have This One

So unless you're an early adopter, serious Apple fanboy or girl, or fortunate enough to have a good bit of disposable income for gadget buys, holding out for the next generation iPad may be worthwhile if all the above comes to pass.

That being said, those of us who pen reports such as these are already emptying our piggybanks and counting our change in anticipation of the iPad's arrival in Apple Stores. We won't hold it against you if you do the same.

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Augmented Reality: Heaven or Hell?

2010-01-28T04:30:30Z

Augmented Reality, technology that places data or images on top of our view of the world around us, is hot. Under development in research labs for decades and in use in industry for years, Augmented Reality (AR) began to hit the mainstream consumer market in 2009. Hundreds of AR applications were launched last year, around products like Topps baseball cards and GE's Smart Grid.

Consumer AR, whether it be on your mobile phone or delivered through your computer's webcam, tends to be a mixture of utility and advertising. How far will those types of content go and what balance do we want between them? London Architecture Graduate Student Keiichi Matsuda has produced a gripping video placing these questions inside a scenario of pure eye candy. Check it out.

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Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Matsuda's video, titled Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop, is both very cool and very frightening. Some of the information delivered through the AR interface appears to be useful. The intensity of the advertising, though, seems utterly frightening. That the user has control over the "advertising level" they are exposed-to is encouraging, but why would anyone crank it all the way up? Would this kind of immersive hyper-marketing change our standards the way that new technologies have made us more comfortable with multi-tasking?

There are a lot of big questions to tackle in regards to Augmented Reality. ReadWriteWeb is currently working on our next premium research report on the topic of AR marketing. Watch this space for that.

Let's not waste any time before we start thinking, though, about what we want out of an Augmented future. Many of the same questions that the Web has faced will be present in AR. Do we need an AR DNS? Will advertising support the production of quality, useful content? Or will the AR future be like Keiichi Matsuda depicts in the video above? Perhaps a mix of heaven and hell, delivered through eyeglasses in between the world and our brains.

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