Live Documents is new web product developed by InstaColl, chaired by Sabeer Bhatia and an alternative to Microsoft's Office Suite that allows users to view, share and edit documents from any computer.

Sabeer Bhatia, best known for co-founding Hotmail together with Jack Smith, admitted that "a few million bucks" of Microsoft’s payment from the sale of Hotmail went into Live Documents.

Mr. Bhatia said that Live Documents would be a significant challenge to Microsoft's Office, because "we are just a few years away from the end of the shrink-wrapped software business. By 2010, people will not be buying software. This is a significant challenge to a proportion of Microsoft's revenues."

This is an important aspect considering Microsoft Office Suite accounted for a third of company's total revenues in 2007 and it is forecast to top $US20 billion in 2008.

Live Documents would give away 100MB of free data storage space per user. Companies will pay for the system, either hosted remotely or on an internal server, at a much lower price than Microsoft's licensed technology. Their first client was Aricent, an Indian software services group with 6700 employees.

At first look Live Documents is very similar to Google Apps, launched in February and used by big companies including Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and Capgemini.

But, Mr.Bhatia said that his product is superior to Google Apps in its range and quality, most crucially because Live Documents mimics Office 2007. Also the potential is great considering 500 million Office customers did not upgraded from Office 2003 and also Office 2003 is not available for Apple computers.

Download Live Documents Desktop Client

Labels: google, live, microsoft, office, web

Happy New Year! everyone and welcome a new update WeGoSe Media website.

What we have done:
- better look and new logo;
- optimized layout;
- 80% faster loading pages;
- updated webcams store;
- links section;
- improved website search;
- introduction of labels;
- all pages are under the same roof, no more subdomains;
- other small improvements.

What we will do:
- update all other stores with the new layout;
- improving labels;
- news section;
- tutorials section;
- more improvements.

Thanks for visiting our site in 2007 and we hope that you'll come here also in 2008 :)

Labels: web, wegose

Finally, something that I waited for a long time. Gravatar is going to get very popular. Why? Well, because Automattic, the guys that created the popular Wordpress, Akistem just bought it.

Gravatar is a small project with a nice idea, aiming to make your avatar global. Many blogs already support it.

This is official as you can also read it on Matt's blog

Labels: web, wordpress

Google Apps is a bundle of Google services like Google Docs, GMail, Calendar, and GTalk bundled together in a package that allows businesses to use Google’s infrastructure behind their own domain.

This is a must tool for small businesses. Google Apps comes in three editions: standard edition (free), premier edition ($50/year/user) and education edition (free).

While the free editions does most of the things a small business or academic environment needs, Google has also the premier edition as an offer for larger enterprises. Priced at $50/year/user, it’s not cheap, but many organizations can probably make a case that it’s cost effective based on what they spend now on the same setup from other vendors.

Today Google is upgrading their tools by increasing the storage of the premier edition to 25 Gb (it was 10) and adding new tools based on technology they acquired with Postini.

The new tools provide more security by assuring more protection from Spam and virus scanning. They also allow companies to recover lost data and manage compliance issues by ensuring users don’t inadvertently violate company policies with outbound content controls.

Labels: google, web

Yahoo and Reuters are planning on teaming up to launch a new user-generated content web site. The media group teamed up with Reuters to go in a new user-generated content direction. Through the new site, users will be able to upload pictures and video to Flickr. Once downloaded, editors from Yahoo and Reuters will distribute clips and photos to relevant online articles.

Users will not be paid for content that is used on Yahoo and Reuters sites, but will be paid if their videos are further distributed to Reuters’ clients. Photo editors at Reuters will be checking all images to make sure they haven’t been retouched or tampered with.

Both groups are hoping to further expand their user content resources beyond video and pictures in the future. Yahoo and Reuters will be facing competition for viewer’s media as more media groups turn to citizen journalism.

Labels: web, yahoo

This may come as a surprise for many! While almost all webmaster are struggling to get their news sites into the Google News search results, there are actually several webmasters that want to stop Google from extracting news snippets from their news sites in order to present them on the Google's News portal.

The launch of the Scandinavian versions of Google News, revealed a new and more serious problem for Google. While normal Web practice allows for short quotations and links to other sites, international intellectual property rights regulations do not allow the use of protected images and photographs.

But, Google News also includes photos in its home pages. This use of photographs is in violation with Norwegian copyright law. Terje Bringedal the leader of the Norwegian Press Photographer’s Club, said that to you use photographs without the owner’s permission must be considered theft and that Google should know better.

Come on, quoting and linking is part of what the Web is all about, and as long as Google stick to a few sentences they should not be insulted!

Labels: google, web

In October 2006, Google and Yahoo! both gained search market share while Microsoft and Time Warner (company that own AOL) went down, according to a report released by Internet metrics company comScore.

From September 2006 Google gained of 0.3 percentage points and processed 45.4% of U.S. search queries, while Yahoo! handled 28.2% of U.S. searches during the same period and is up 0.1 percentage points.

At the same time, Microsoft's search market share dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 11.7%, while Time Warner's search share declined by also o.2 percentage points, with only 5.4% of the query market.

Ask's share of U.S. searches remains steady at 5.8%.

Over the course 2006, Google has been showing a continuing growth, while Microsoft, Time Warner, and Yahoo all declined. U.S. Americans performed 6.8 billion searches in October, up 3% from September and 33% from a year ago.

Labels: statistics, web

Answers.com announced that they have integrated Yahoo! Answers directly into their content. From now on, if you do a search at Answers.com, you will see at the bottom right of the page, a small box for Yahoo! Answers results that match on those keywords you searched.

Answers.com users can view relevant questions and answers - both specific questions and topic-related categories - from Yahoo! Answers directly on Answers.com’s own pages. In addition, users can click directly to Yahoo! Answers to ask any question ... read more

Labels: web, yahoo

James Nicholson, the co-founder NetVentures, acquired by CNET in 1999 and after an executive in CNET's commerce and operations groups wrote an interesting article on his personal blog about internet acquisitions.

As the market for acquiring small, but with potential, Internet companies is growing, it's worth taking a look at all those acquisitions that didn't quite work out. For every Internet acquisition that's successful there seems to be dozens that die on the vine. So what makes for a really bad Internet acquisition?
First, it has to be the cost.
Second, it has to contribute little or no long term growth to the acquiring company.

So, here is his list of the 10 worst Internet acquisitions of all time:

10. Hotmail - acquired by Microsoft in 1998 for about $400 million.

9. Skype - acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $2.6 billion.

8. MySimon - acquired by CNET in 1999 for $700.

7. BlueMountain.com - acquired by Excite@Home in 1999. $780 million for an online greeting card site!!!

6. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks for $4.6 billion in 2000. Yeah, I never heard of Terra either.

5. Netscape - acquired by AOL in 1998 for $4.2 billion.

4. GeoCities - acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for $3.56 billion. GeoCities could have been mySpace, but the entire social networking revolution passed them right by.

3. Excite - acquired by @Home in 1999 for $6.7 billion.

2. AOL - merged with TimeWarner in 2000.

1. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for $5 billion. Yahoo! paid a mind-boggling $710 per user back in the hey day of the bubble.

Read more about why these acquisition are the worst on James Nicholson Blog.

Labels: web

The Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a report Monday that 20 percent of Americans obtain most of their science information from the Internet, compared with 41 percent who cited television. Newspapers and magazines were each credited by 14 percent, and radio by 4 percent.

So, the internet still ranks second to TV as the principal source people get their science news. While it’s no wonder that the tech savvy crowd gets their science news from the net, it's surprising see that the normal, average man also get his news from Internet.

Labels: education, web

Google Pages is a service that allow users to create a personal webpage using an AJAX interface that removes a lot of the dificulties associated with creating pages with HTML and other desktop design applications. As with the other Google web application, this one is also very easy to use and great if you just want to create a personal page (resume, about, family etc).

Google Pages also allows you to upload files, create many pages that you can link up, and select a templates from many available.

When Google first launched Google Pages, there were many people who were complaining their web site URL was an easy target for spam bots looking for e-mail addresses.

In response to their users (which I find very nice of them), Google had removed a feature in Google Pages that let users create multiple different websites with different addresses a month ago. The company has brought back a feature so you can create up to 5 (five) web sites with different URL's. With the new updates to Google Pages, you can now also hide your primary web site in the site settings effectively hiding your e-mail address from Spam bots, the company claimed.

Labels: google, web

This is good news for all webmasters and web developers out there! Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft are joining in supporting the Sitemap protocol.

As part of this development, the protocol was moved to a new namespace, www.sitemaps.org. If you've already submitted a Sitemap to Google or Yahoo! using the previous namespace and version number, they will continue to accept it.

If you haven't submitted a Sitemap before, check out the documentation on www.sitemaps.org for information on creating one. You can submit your Sitemap file to Google using Google webmaster tools. See the documentation that Yahoo! and Microsoft provide for information about submitting to them.

Labels: google, microsoft, tutorial, web, yahoo

So, what are sitemaps?

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

So here is the Sitemaps 0.9 Protocol that an help you build your own sitemap. There are a number of tools and applications that can help you understand and build better sitemaps. Here are a few:
http://code.google.com/sm_thirdparty.html

After you build your sitemap(s) for your website(s), here you can find out how to get Google index you pages more often and faster!

I highly recommend using Google Webmasters Tools
for a better understanding of you website(s) and to attract much more visitors ;)

Labels: google, tutorial, web

Yahoo! has gone wild on plucking properties with social networking characteristics. The company announced that it had acquired Bix.com, a site where users set up and run contests ranging from singing and talent shows, to pure beauty pageants.

Much like del.icio.us and Flickr before it, Yahoo! will let Bix run under its existing brand, but for sure they will inject some advertising and links to other Yahoo properties in an effort to grow the already huge Yahoo! user base.

Epinions co-founder Mike Speiser, who also led the Bix team, now becomes a Yahoo vice president in charge of community sites like Yahoo Photos and Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo! also acquired MyBlogLog, a social networking service for blog readers who want to connect with other readers of the same blogs. What exactly Yahoo intends to do with this property? We'll just have to wait an see!

Labels: web, yahoo

Educational uses include sites for government stats, news from the Department of Education, a class calendar (http://www.rsscalendar.com), quote of the day, government announcements, science news, keeping up with student blogs and ... read more

Labels: education, short-news, web

Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel thinks that there are not enough advertisements on the Internet and analysts' predictions about growth in the market have been underestimated.

At Internet Advertising Bureau Engage 2006 conference, Semel said predictions for Internet advertising did not take into account the new technologies and directions that can be seen today on the WWW and did not include advertising on video, social media or mobiles.

Labels: web, yahoo

Skype, the well known VOIP application, has released version 3.0 of their software client and for the first time ever, the application has over 8 million registered users.

Skype version 3.0 new features includes a refreshed interface design, public chats, browser extensions, Skypecast controls, and the ability to add-on extras easily. Note that the version is still in beta.

So, 8 million users online is an important milestone and Jean Mercier said that it has taken 71 days to gain the last million users, the fastest million of registered users in Skype's history.

Labels: voip, web

AccStatistics is a free, simple and easy to use website statistics php script. AccStatistics tells you everything you want to know about your website visitors. There is also an online demo and video that helps you how to install this script.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AccStatistics features:

• number of visits and number of unique visitors of your website per month, per days, per hours.
• your visitors operating system
• your visitors Browser Type
• your visitors Screen Size
• your visitors Colour Depth
• your website Referrers
• searched terms

More info and online demo http://www.accstatistics.com/

Labels: web

Great news from 37Signals regarding their manifesto book Getting Real.

They want millions of people to read this exceptional book, so 37Signals introduce two new versions that make the content even more accessible.

Also, beside this manifesto, I'm a huge fan of TaDa Lists.

Read more about this great news on their popular weblog: Signal vs. Noise

Labels: free, web

Our WeGoSe Memory website has been updated to version 1.1. This update is part of the wave updates for all wegose websites.

 What's new: 

 - 3 new products categories: Memory Card Readers, Memory Card Adapters and Printer Memory Modules;

 - new sort memory by bestsellers, reviews and price links;

 - some minor bug fixes.

 

 

We are also working on a new website, more info coming soon!

Labels: web, wegose

We welcome all people to talk about technology, web, seo, audio, visual and other various topics in all new discussions forum that is available starting from today: http://www.wegose.com/forum/.

 

All WeGoSe websites are in the middle of the version 1.1 update. What brings this update?

1. New bestsellers, review rank and alphabetical sort for the products

2. Product of the month. This will feature for each website the most popular product for that month.

3. Lots and lots of bugfixes for the script as well for the compatibility between bowsers.

There are many other cool todo's in the list, but in all will be revealed in time ;). Until then happy browsing!

Labels: web, wegose

Last update: 14 Oct 2006

This page is an attempt to sum up all Google Products and websites. This list will be updated from time to time hopefuly :)

The Products:

Google Checkout™ - http://checkout.google.com - Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout. Google Checkout is a new service that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure.

Google Talk - http://www.google.com/talk/ - They say talk is cheap. With Google Talk, it’s free and fast. Get in touch with an IM, email, or a call, enjoy fast file transfer and high quality voice calls, reach all your Google Talk contacts, with just a click.

Google Transit Trip Planner - http://www.google.com/transit - With Google Transit Trip Planner you can create your own transit trip, complete with itineraries and maps. Google Transit Trip Planner enables you to enter the specifics of your trip—where you're starting, where you're ending up, what time of day you'd like to leave and/or arrive—then uses all available public transportation schedules and information to plot out the most efficient possible step-by-step itinerary. You can even compare the cost of your trip with the cost of driving the same route! Check out an up to date list of included regions.

Google Video - http://video.google.com - The world's first open online video marketplace, where you can search for, watch and even buy an ever-growing collection of TV shows, movies, music videos, documentaries, personal productions and more.

Google Webmaster Tools - https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/siteove... - Suite of webmaster tools that provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly. They can show you Google’s view of your site, help you diagnose problems, and let you share info with us to help improve your site’s visibility.

 

The Websites:

Google Official Blog - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ - Googler insights into product and technology news and our culture.

Google's Summer of Code - http://code.google.com/soc/ - Program that offers student developers stipends to create new open source programs or to help currently established projects. Google will be working with a variety of open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several hundred projects over a three-month period.

Google Webmaster Central Blog - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ - Official news on crawling and indexing sites for the Google index.

Labels: web, wegose

Last update: 14 Oct 2006

We want to share with you a list of websites wich are the primary sources of WeGoSe's web20 news. In time this list will grow, so check out last time we updated this page.

BetaNews, Inc. - http://www.betanews.com - News and software archive webiste.

Bigmouthmedia - http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/ - An independently owned search optimisation and e-marketing agency based in London, Edinburgh and New York.

eWeek - http://www.eweek.com/ - Online news website, eWEEK.com is the source for all high-tech news on a continual basis throughout the day, every day. eWEEK and Spencer F. Katt are trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings.

Google Inc. Official Blog - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ - Googler insights into product and technology news and our culture.

InternetNews - http://www.internetnews.com/ - Realtime news for IT Managers.

Pocket-lint.co.uk - http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/ - Welcome the premier gadget news and reviews site in the UK.

Search Engine Watch (SEW) - http://searchenginewatch.com - tips and information about searching the web, analysis of the search engine industry and help to site owners trying to improve their ability to be found in search engines.

Labels: web, wegose

MySpace said it would provide the tools for artists to sell directly to members of the Web's largest online social network. The social networking service will use tools provided by Snocap, a San Francisco company that sells digital licensing and copyright management services. Snocap was co-founded by Shawn Fanning, who launched Napster file-sharing network in 1999.

"This is just the first step. In the future, the site could offer concert tickets, merchandise associated with artists and more. This has the potential of being a very big revenue driver." Amit Kapur, director of business development for MySpace.

They would also be able to distribute the HTML code needed for fans to build into their pages a digital storefront for the artists. Pricing would be set be artists, and MySpace would enable them to collect payments through credit card or PayPal. This new service is more likely to appeal to unsigned artists than to record labels and signed bands, given that songs would be distributed in MP3 format without the copyright protection technology found in music purchased through Apple's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

However, MySpace hopes that online advertising will bring in big money. In August 2006, Google agreed to pay MySpace parent News Corp. $900 million over three years to be the exclusive provider of text ads for the site.

MySpace was started in 2004 and was bought in 2005 by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media Inc. In May 2006 was the largest social network on the Web with 51.4 million unique visitors, according to ComScore Networks. The site claims to have more than 100 million members.

Labels: web

Reporters Without Broders, a Paris-based organization with interests in freedom of speech and censorship-free mass-media, has reported that an investigation conducted on different search engines has proven that Yahoo.cn is the most compliant with the local communist regulations concerning censored content.

RWF stated that Yahoo was even more restrictive than the China's own search engine, Baidu. Among the tested search-sites were Google.cn, MSN.cn and Baidu.cn. Overall, compared to Google and MSN, Yahoo.cn was found to cencer better, and thus to be more than pleasant for the local communist authorities, with 97% results in searches containing "subversive" key-words accepted by the chinese regulations.

Complying with communist rules has become a condition for all those who want to invest in the huge Chinese potential. Microsoft in January, for example, took down the blog of outspoken Chinese journalist Zhao Jing, in order to comply with China's rules. Yahoo last year gave information about journalist Shi Tao's personal email account to Beijing, which later jailed him for 10 years on charges of divulging state secrets.

But it is exactly this type of actions that Reporters Without Frontiers would like to stop in countries with communist or autocratic regimes, like China or Cuba. "We are convinced that these companies can still access the Chinese market without betraying their ethical principles," the group said in a statement. "They must however adopt a firm and clear position in relation to the Chinese authorities."

China is a country with a great potential not only for manufacturers but also for Internet providers. It boasts with more than 100 million people online (less than a tenth of 1.3 billion population) and it is expected to surpass the US in the future at this chapter.

Source: http://www.playfuls.com/

Labels: google, web, yahoo

One: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, including its Live 8 concert - is promoted by their site One.org that now features photo sharing, blogging, a downloadable toolbar, podcasts and an interactive map.

As part of Yahoo for Good Scrum, a company program that lets its employees spend up to three months away from their regular responsibilities to support a charitable cause, Yahoo also integrated One.org with a One group on its Flickr site, where organization supporters can add their photo.

The Flickr photos are featured on the One.org home page, alongside those of celebrity supporters. Clicking on any of the photos brings site visitors to that photo and its tagged information on the Yahoo photo-sharing site.

One supporters can download banners to place on their Web sites, which would give One.org free ad support. They can also download a One.org-Yahoo toolbar that provides fast links to One updates and streaming video of its latest events.

The site also sells self-promoting wristbands and T-shirts. Naturally, those T-shirts are now worn by some downloadable Yahoo avatars.

The Web site overhaul is part of a One campaign leading up to this year's G8 Summit, set to kick off July 15 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Last year, One's Live 8 concert was held in Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Rome simultaneously. Its purpose: to lobby the Group of 8 world leaders for greater commitments to fighting extreme poverty and AIDS.

Co-founded by U2 lead singer Bono, One.org is a coalition of several faith-based and humanitarian organizations, including Bread for the World, Save the Children, Oxfam, USA for Africa, and UNICEF USA. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, The New York Times Co.'s About.com, MSNBC and AOL are also supporters.

Source:ZDNet News
Link: One.org

Labels: web, yahoo

U.S. lawmakers are requiring that nations comply with intellectual property laws before joining the World Trade Organization, the Washington Post reported.

The media industry's problems in trying to protect intellectual property -- including movies and music -- have expanded as high-speed Internet access has become more widely available. Copyrighted entertainment is now worth as much to the U.S. economy as automobiles, steel and coal once were.

Restrictions on file-sharing are difficult to enforce.

Russia's inability to shut down an unauthorized file-sharing site may prevent that nation from joining the trade organization, the newspaper said. China also has not fully complied with WTO requirements to protect intellectual property, said Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

U.S. trade representative's office told the Swedish Ministry of Justice it was harboring one of the largest Web sites for unauthorized distribution of movies, music and games. But when Swedish police shut down Pirate Bay on May 31, the site was set up again three days later in the Netherlands, posting a logo of a pirate shipping sinking the word "Hollywood".

Source: United Press International

Labels: piracy, web

Picasa Web Albums is Picasa’s newest feature, designed to help users post and share their photos quickly and easily on the web.

Features:

• One-click web upload using Picasa’s new “Web Album” button


• Free storage space to post and share approximately 1000 photos, with the option to upgrade to more space


• High-quality photos, automatically resized and optimized to fill available screen space


• Pre-loaded images enable quick scrolling using arrow keys, and mimic a desktop experience of “flipping” through photos, even on the web


• End-to-end photo management that makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer

These features will enable users to share their pictures with other people on the Internet. The new functions bring Picasa into line with the highly successful Flickr photo sharing and community site owned by Yahoo!.

Under the new scheme, Picasa users will still be able to upload, manage and store their digital images in the same way as ever. However, they will now be able to upload the pictures into the web albums that will make them available to others. By the same token it is possible to download an entire album of photos from another person directly into Picasa with just a few clicks.

Cost: The latest version of Picasa with the Web Albums feature is free. It’s also free to use Picasa Web Albums for posting, sharing and viewing photos.
Access: You need an invitation to post and share photos on Picasa Web Albums. You can sign up for an invitation using your Gmail username. No invitation or sign-in is required to view a friend’s photos online.
Storage: Each Picasa Web Albums account comes with 250MB of free storage space, or room to post and share approximately 1,000 wallpaper-sized photos (at 1600 pixels each). For $25.00 per year, users can get a subscription to an additional 6GB of storage – room to post and share approximately 25,000 photos.
No Ads or Pop-Up: There are no ads present in Picasa or on Picasa Web Albums

Take a look at this public gallery to see what it’s like to share photos using Picasa Web Albums.

Link: http://picasaweb.google.com

Labels: google, web

Yahoo has been named “Web Company of the Year” by PC World.
Here is the rationale for the honor: The number-one online developer, on the strength of great revamps of Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Maps, smart acquisitions of Web stars such as Del.iciou.us and Flickr, and development of the Yahoo 360 personalized Web spaces and of the Yahoo Music Engine.


While some may have differing opinions as to the relative merits of individual products and services cited, PC World’s conclusion is compelling: “Google may get a lot more attention, but Yahoo has been getting more things accomplished.”

Link:http://www.pcworld.com

Labels: web, yahoo

Walt Disney's company is going to join studios Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate and, with the help of CinemaNow, to start selling movies over the Internet. Initially, users will be able to purchase new and old movies to view on their computers, and later this month, the goods will also work with portable devices.



The prices would be similar to those for DVDs or about $20 per new title and $10 for some of the older films. The CinemaNow official also said that the movies can be transferred to up to three devices, which include laptops and other portables. The first title released by Disney is "Glory Road".

CinemaNow users will not be able to burn their movies on DVDs, movie studios not being ready for this leap.

Vivid Entertainment and CinemaNow debuted a service which allows users to download adult movies that they can burn on DVDs. The novelty is that the DVD can be viewed on any device and it’s not restricted to the computer on which it has been downloaded. The only restriction imposed by Vivid is the compulsory usage of CinemaNow’s burning application, which prevents a copied DVD from being duplicated.

Labels: movie, web

Forum Systems has released the Forum Java Web Services Security (JWSS) Software Development Kit (SDK) version 1.0 offering developers a comprehensive library of application programming interfaces (API’s) to leverage in coding Web Services applications.

The JWSS SDK v1.0 addresses the need for security to be enforced within the application itself in order to ensure privacy and integrity of Web Services and SOA applications.

Forum JWSS SDK v1.0 allows developers to administer and apply security policies within J2EE compliant Application Servers using a declarative security model and API’s for XML message authentication and authorisation. The Application Server is then responsible for applying these security constraints to the code at runtime.

Adding XML security within business logic prevents transactions from bypassing third-party enforcement points that would violate regulatory compliance or work flow security. Companies should complement this developer-centric approach with an
“interception” model using a SOA Gateway or XML Firewall within a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) for a global and scalable SOA security and acceleration strategy.

Forum Systems has released the Forum Java Web Services Security (JWSS) Software Development Kit (SDK) version 1.0 offering developers a comprehensive library

Source: SDA India Magazine

Labels: free, java, web

Spinoza Technology announced the third generation of its Spinoza Navigator software, which allows simplified, web-based control and management of hundreds of audio/visual devices across a network. Navigator uses a number of different open standards such as TCP/IP, XML, SNMP, AJAX, and HTTP to give an administrator access to hundreds of A/V devices from scores of different manufacturers across any network.

"This is a breakthrough both for the A/V industry and for IT managers and network administrators," said Randy Massengale, founder and president of the five-year-old Seattle-based company. "For the first time, you’ll be able to use a single web browser to manage any number of projectors, screens, plasmas, and other A/V devices simultaneously."

Spinoza Navigator is designed with network administrators, educators, presenters and corporate executives in mind. It helps to control and manage projectors and screens anywhere on a network, allowing a user to:

Monitor and manage projectors and other A/V devices from a remote desktop via a web browser.

Manage devices from many different vendors in many different locations with simple web-based setup.

Streamline operations by adjusting the brightness and contrast, changing the inputs of the projector directly, and turning projectors on and off remotely.

Save money by predicting and preserving projector bulb life.

"In the past few years, high-ticket devices such as plasma screens and digital projectors and screens have become more commoditized and prices have plunged," said Massengale. "As the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system arrives next year, we believe the open standards movement will transform the A/V world. Customers will be living in an A/V world of diverse audio/visual devices from many manufacturers, and they will expect all those devices to play together nicely."

"As AV devices have proliferated in boardrooms, conference rooms, and classrooms," said Massengale, "they have begun to present more of a challenge for IT professionals. It has become essential that AV devices are connected to the network, and that IT professionals have the tools to deliver asset management, end user assistance, and device maintenance across the network. Spinoza Navigator fills that void."
Link: Spinoza Technology
Source: Sys-Con

Labels: ajax, technology, web

Have you written your own AJAX framework yet? It seems all the big boys are doing it. Microsoft is bringing us Atlas for ASP.NET, Yahoo!'s User Interface Library is open source, server agnostic and beautifully documented and Adobe is working on Spry, which is off to a shaky start in the web standards department. Do we really need another?

Google's late-but-inevitable entry into this arena is certainly no copycat. The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is nothing less than a completely original approach to web development that allows server-side Java developers to take their skills to the JavaScript domain… without having to write any JavaScript.

In short, you write, test and debug your client-side code in Java and then use a specialized compiler to convert it all into cross-browser JavaScript for use on your site.

How's it work?
You can write you client-side code using the usual core Java classes in the java.lang and java.util packages, as well as a nice library of classes that come with GWT that let you access the same browser features that are available in JavaScript (the Docment Object Model, alert boxes, setTimeout, XMLHttpRequest, etc.).


You also get a bunch of Java classes for adding widgets to the page, from simple buttons to complex drop-down menus and trees. All of these widgets offer events that you can subscribe listener objects to, and write Java code to respond to them.


When you're ready to test out your application in a browser, you simply compile your classes in your Java IDE of choice and launch the GWT Shell, which pops up a specialized browser window and loads your application. On Windows, that browser window uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine, whereas on Linux it uses Mozilla.

The GWT Shell acts as a go-between between your Java classes and the special browser window, allowing your application's client-side logic to run within the browser even though it is implemented in Java, not JavaScript. This small miracle actually lets you test and debug your client-side logic as you would any other Java code! Set breakpoints to pause and step through client-side event handlers, write unit tests to verify that your user interface works as designed. It all just works.



At this stage, your application is still a collection Java classes, and the final development step is to compile those classes down to efficient cross-browser JavaScript code. The compiler that comes with GWT actually reads the source code of your classes and generates the equivalent JavaScript code!

You can then take the generated JavaScript code, along with your static HTML, CSS and image files and dump them on a server as you would for any other web site. The resulting code is entirely self-contained-no browser plugins or special server technology required.

What about AJAX?
As I mentioned, the class library does give you access to the XMLHttpRequest object normally used in AJAX applications, but GWT also offers an even slicker method of communicating with the server.

In addition to your client-side code, you can write Java server-side code. Because it doesn't get converted to JavaScript, this code can use the full capabilities of the Java platform, and any additional class libraries you may require.

In your client-side code, you can set up classes that are able to communicate with your server-side code. When your application is compiled, GWT will automatically generate all the JavaScript needed to communicate with the server on the client-side, and will compile your server-side code to a set of Java Servlets.

You can deploy these Servlets on any Java web server, and let GWT do the rest. GWT manages the conversion between JavaScript variables on the client-side and Java objects on the server side, and again it all just works.

GWT also includes a full browser history management system, allowing you to involve the browser's Back and Forward buttons in your application's navigation, even though the browser never actually leaves the page containing your applications.
Sticking Points

Google has definitely put together an impressive platform with GWT, but as one would expect (especially from a beta product) it's not perfect:

• GWT detects and supports browsers by their user agent string. You must rely on Google to add support for future browsers. Right now, for example, GWT applications are incompatible with IE7. You can hack the toolkit to treat it like IE6, but that's the extent of what you can do to support new browsers.


• The bundled GWT widgets make extensive use of tables for layout. If you want you application to generate a standards-compliant document structure, you'll need to write your own widgets, which isn't a happy prospect.


• GWT was written to work with Java 1.4 or later. As such, it does not take advantage of Java 5 features like annotations and generics. This adds some redundancy and bulk to the code you must write, especially when working with the AJAX features of the library. For example, each server-side access point in your application requires you to write an interface to describe the servce, another interface to describe the asynchronous version of the service, and finally a class to implement the service. Using annotations, you could do it all by writing just one class.


• 
  


• The development shell does not support Mac OS X. Google is saying that Mac support is planned, but for now GWT development is limited to Windows and Linux. Compiled GWT applications run just fine in Mac browsers, of course.


• 
  


• Unclear best practices for security and performance. By masking the client-server division, GWT could lead unwary developers to make some serious security and performance blunders. You really need to know what you're doing to use GWT effectively.

But the biggest thing lacking in GWT is an example of a finished, real-world application running in the wild. No doubt Google is hard at work on its next big project using GWT, but for now at least GWT is unproven technology.

Link: Google Web Toolkit
Source: SitePoint Blogs

Labels: ajax, free, google, java, web

SYS-CON Events announced today that the first international AJAXWorld(TM) Conference & Expo, taking place on October 3-4, 2006, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, California, will offer AJAXWorld University - Developer Bootcamp program. The AJAX Developer Bootcamp will take place on Monday, October 2, 2006, one day before the conference opens.

Early bird registration for the AJAX Developer Bootcamp opened today at the AJAXWorld Conference Website.

AJAXWorld University's AJAX Developer Bootcamp is an intensive, one-day, hands-on training program that will teach Web developers and designers how to build high-quality AJAX applications from beginning to end. Available as part of or separately from the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, October 3-4, 2006, the AJAX Developer Bootcamp is an in-depth, highly practical crash course that takes students rapidly through the paces of developing AJAX using the latest techniques, libraries/frameworks, and best practices.

Held on October 2, the day before the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo begins, the AJAX Developer Bootcamp is intended to be the premier AJAX instructional program presently available anywhere. The AJAX Developer Bootcamp curriculum is carefully designed to be the most efficient way to "fit all of AJAX in your head" using a structured and well-organized approach to learning about this significant new paradigm shift in Web development.

The AJAX Developer Bootcamp will be taught by AJAXWorld University instructor, Dion Hinchcliffe, renowned AJAX architect, developer, author, and speaker, who is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of AJAXWorld Magazine and editor of SYS-CON Book's upcoming bestseller, "Real-World AJAX: Secrets of the Masters."

Attendees of the AJAX Developer Bootcamp will gain a deep understanding of the underlying principles of AJAX including DHTML, JavaScript, XMLHttpRequest, how to build AJAX-friendly Web services including JSON, AJAX application structure, and useful tips for debugging, troubleshooting, and tuning AJAX applications. Knowledge of and ability to work with HTML and CSS are a bootcamp prerequisite, as well as basic JavaScript skills.

The AJAX method of designing Web-based software has taken the industry by storm over the last year. Internet companies like Google have shown what is possible (Gmail and Google Maps), and the future of Web development now seems closely intertwined with mastery of the AJAX technique, which results in online software that is as rich and expressive as desktop software.

AJAXWorld University Certification:
Attendees successfully completing the bootcamp will get a certificate of completion from AJAXWorld University.

Who Should Attend:
Attendees with prior limited knowledge of AJAX are encouraged to attend AJAX Developer Bootcamp if they will be involved in the design or building of AJAX software.

AJAXWorld Conference & Expo:
The world-beating conference program will provide developers, IT managers, and corporate decision makers with comprehensive information and insight into the biggest paradigm shift in Website design, development, and deployment since the invention of the World Wide Web a decade ago.

The next-generation user-centric Web is hurtling toward us and it is a rich-media future in which AJAX, the most talked about of all the Rich Internet technologies, is positioned firmly at center stage.

Burton Group defines "Rich" Internet Applications as those that offer functionality beyond standard HTML frames and hyperlinks, the most famous examples of such functionality on the Web to date being the AJAX-based Google Maps and Gmail.

AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2006 recognizes that, while on the one hand Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) as a category is wider and broader than just AJAX, on the other it is indisputably AJAX that has acted as the tipping point.

"Over the two information-packed days, delegates will receive four days' worth of education, as speaker after speaker explores AJAX and RIAs in the greater context of the overall Web 2.0 spectrum," said Jeremy Geelan, conference chair and group publisher of SYS-CON Media. "Delegates will also receive all conference sessions on SYS-CON.TV's 'very popular' Webcast DVDs, thus, not missing a single session of this ground-breaking event of the year."

AJAXWorld will feature a faculty of the world's most distinguished speakers, including Jesse James Garrett, the father of the term "AJAX" who will be delivering the opening keynote. The speakers will present more than 96 sessions, keynotes, and televised power panel discussions, in six simultaneous tracks for two days.

The call for papers for "AJAXWorld" will remain open through June 30, 2006, at www.ajaxworldexpo.com.

Source: Sys-Con OpenSource Magazine

Labels: ajax, event, web

Check out graphical logos of some of the most important companies or websites that defined and make good use of the new Web 20.0 technologies: google, yahoo, wikipedia, digg, del.icio.us, flickr, youtube, google earth etc



See more here http://web2logo.com/

Labels: art, web

What began as a focused gathering on the implications of the Web becoming a platform has transformed into an industry event focused on the latest Internet innovations—the services, applications, businesses, and models—that are redefining the way companies do business and how people live.

In 2004, Web 2.0 focused on one big idea: The Web has become a platform, a foundation upon which thousands of new forms of business would emerge. In 2005, at the second annual Web 2.0 Conference, we focused on the idea of “Revving the Web” - with the platform in place, we highlighted emerging innovations, with a particular emphasis on the entertainment, communications and IT industries.

This year, we're thinking even bigger. It's clear that major swaths of the global economy are in significant flux. Now that the Web has become a robust platform with countless innovations driving its ongoing development, widespread disruptions in traditional business models are well underway. The telcos are under siege from VoIP and bandwidth hungry content companies. Entertainment and publishing companies are struggling with consumer-driven media and the attention economy. And the IT giants - Microsoft chief among them - are in a battle for their lives with the “give it away free and monetize it with ads” model of Yahoo! and Google.
The “Who's Who” of the Internet

Now in its third year, Web 2.0 has become the gathering place for business leaders of the new Web - it reflects and embodies the community - bringing together the best to discuss and debate the most important issues and strategies driving the Internet economy and what we might expect in the coming year.

* 50+ thought leaders and entrepreneurs slated to present in an interactive format stressing audience participation
* More than a dozen extraordinary thinkers and business leaders will present “High Order Bits” - ten minute stand-and-deliver presentations designed to provoke, delight, and amaze the audience
* Top executives from platform businesses will address the future of the Web in plenary sessions
* We'll focus on innovative new web technologies in our expert led-workshops
* Second Annual Launch Pad event featuring presentations by a select group of start-ups
* A variety of unique networking events including receptions, dinners and evening parties

The Web 2.0 Conference connects the leaders and technologists opening the Web's business opportunities. Conference attendance is limited to maintain an intimate setting and foster dialogue among all participants.
2006 Conference Topics will Include:

* Defining Web 3.0: What's Next?
* Collision of the Titans: Publishers v. Platforms
* Collective Intelligence or The Madness of Crowds?
* What Might Go Wrong in Web 2.0?
* Is the IPO Culture Over?
* Launch Pad 2.0
* The Tiered Internet: A Debate
* Web 2.0 in China
* High Order Bits
* Disrupting the Disruptors: Incumbents Strike Back
* Privacy and Trust: Who Owns Your Data?

More info: http://www.web2con.com

Labels: education, event, web

We recomend you to read a cool article about Web2.0 written by Tim O'Reiley. This article is an attempt to clarify just what is Web 2.0:
The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 marked a turning point for the web. Many people concluded that the web was overhyped, when in fact bubbles and consequent shakeouts appear to be a common feature of all technological revolutions. Shakeouts typically mark the point at which an ascendant technology is ready to take its place at center stage. The pretenders are given the bum's rush, the real success stories show their strength, and there begins to be an understanding of what separates one from the other.

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
DoubleClick vs. Google AdSense
Ofoto vs. Flickr
Akamai vs. BitTorrent
mp3.com vs. Napster
Britannica Online vs. Wikipedia
personal websites vs. blogging
evite upcoming.org vs. EVDB
domain name vs. search engine optimization
page views vs. cost per click
screen scraping vs. web services
publishing vs. participation
content vs. wikis
directories vs. tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness vs. syndication

Read the article here: What Is Web 2.0?

Labels: tutorial, web