Recently in Tech Category

Recently I've went through an experience I would rather not repeat. I made an attempt to convert NASA Watch from our commercially licensed Movable Type 3.35, which it currently uses, to Wordpress 2.5 with results that did not please me.

For some time now I've been somewhat displeased with the lack of features I could easily add to Movable Type to enhance it. In so doing I forgot one important lesson, if it isn't broken why mess with it. It was one thing to want additional features, it's another to move over to another platform altogether. I wanted to move to Wordpress 2.5 because it offered a lot more features in an open source environment and because I thought it would save me time. Like so many other people I have a lot of projects on the go and my time has to be spread around each project.

After the conversion to Wordpress 2.5 failed I then tried to move NASA Watch to the new open source version of Movable Type 4.1 with results just as bad. And so here starts my tale of publishing woes.

Adobe yesterday released version 1.0 of Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) knows as Adobe Air along with Adobe® Flex® 3. Adobe Air, Adobe Flex and Adobe Flash are the foundation of the Adobe technology platform for rich Internet applications (RIAs). And while the impact this platform will have on how users interact on the Internet won't be known for some time it's not too early to say that it could be profound.

The two biggest strengths of the platform are its cross platform appeal and the fact it breaks away from the Web browser. Once an application is developed from the platform it can be installed on Windows and Apple computers and later this year on Linux and runs as a stand alone program independent of the browser. Users still need to install the Adobe Air software but that's a breeze.

J. Nicholas Hoover of InformationWeek writes in his post "Adobe Stakes New Claim To Rich Web Apps With Release Of Air":

"Rich Internet apps, or RIAs, could be loosely defined as software with engaging user interfaces that typically bridge the connectivity of the Web with a graphical richness and custom user interface that used to be reserved for client software."

"Air, a cross-operating system platform that was code-named Apollo, attempts to bridge the gap between the Web and the desktop by allowing developers to create Internet-connected applications that aren't restricted by the form and functionality of Web browsers."

I needed to find a document on my hard fast and since I use an Apple Mac Pro I clicked the Spotlight icon to start my search. However it was talking too long so I decided to try the Google Desktop search. What a difference, it came up with the needed document within seconds. I'll keep testing both and see what happens. My main concern with Google Desktop was with the amount of resources it uses when indexing.

After two years of using the Blackberry 8700 I decided last week to switch to the Blackberry Pearl. Of course I had a little incentive from my wireless provider Rogers. I was eligible for an upgrade, it seems you can now upgrade every year. Anyway with the instant rebate and special promo discount and confirmation of extending my plan I was only charged $75 for the upgrade. I bought the 8700 outright a few years back so I don't have to return it, so I suppose I'll sell it on eBay.

After 1 day of use with the Pearl I am impressed so far. It weighs half as much as the 8700 and has some added functionality such as a camera, mp3 and video player. But how does it perform compared to the 8700?

This from MSNBC, and it's about time. About from some company in North America to step up and finally implement this. After the Japanese have had by phone services for several years now.

PayPal plans payments via text message: "PayPal, the online payment service owned by eBay Inc., has begun testing a new offering to allow people to make and receive payments using cell phones and other mobile devices."

Is this rumour true? I think so, it makes sense. Ubiquitous WiFi for all manner of tech devices is coming fast. For instance your WiFi equipped personal digital assistant (PDA) will be handed off from network to network as you roam through major cities.

GoogleNet--massive Google WiFi in the works?: align="right" vspace="16" border="0">

Suddenly Google local (and maps, and video, and so on) makes so much more sense—Business 2.0 reports that they’ve
learned from ‘telecom insiders’ that Google is hard at work on a nation-wide high-capacity data network, buying up
unused fiber lines and cheap backbone access to really flesh out their capacity. B2 theorizes this could result in a
massive digital video db, on-demand television (IPTV) system, or free ad-based WiFi network, which in conjunction with
location-tracking hotspot firm Feeva, has already been pilot launched in San Francisco serving up Google Local-based
ads. Could Google really power not just Internet search, but a sizable portion of the Internet? Beats us, but if they
want to make it happen, they better get that AdSense click fraud thing sorted out asap.

(Via Engadget.)

Urchin, a provider of Web Analytics software and on demand services has been bought by Google (Wall Street Journal, subscription required).

About a year ago I had become dissatisfied with the software I was using to analyze the traffic for all my web sites. After some thorough research I settled on Urchin. I have not been disappointed. The software is great and provides a true picture of who comes to my sites, what they do and how I can take advantage of the patterns I see. Looks like Google agrees. :-)

Last summer at the Search Engine Strategies conference Google hosted its annual Google Dance and during the festivities I was offered a Google Gmail account. At first I was somewhat intrigued, but really what was the big deal?