internets
Why is Google Releasing a Browser? Updated Analysis: Google, in a blog post on its web site has acknowledged the existence of Google Chrome, a browser that the company will be releasing tomorrow. Kara Swisher has confirmed the existence of Google Chrome, a browser developed by the Mountain View, Calif.-based search company. The rumors of the browser were reported earlier on Google Blogoscoped, which received a comic book that outlined the key features of the browser. The company released: So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web. All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends — all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build. On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.
Google says the browser is going to be in open source.
We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we’re committed to continuing on their path. We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.
The new browser is going to be released in beta for Windows first, and there will be Mac and Linux versions at a later stage. A source tells me this initiative prompted Apple to release Safari For Windows as a beta last year. The question is: Why a browser? What does Google get from releasing a browser? There are going to be many theories around the Google Browser — that it is a direct challenge to Microsoft’s IE Browser, for example — but I think it might be more than just the desktop. Why? Because even today, despite strong competition from Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft controls about 75 percent of the desktop browser market. In other words, given Microsoft’s control of the desktop, it is hard to dislodge it on the desktop. However, it is vulnerable on mobiles, where IE Mobile has a non-existent market share. Like Mozilla, Microsoft is playing catch-up with Webkit, the core rendering engine for Nokia S60 phones, Apple’s iPhone Safari and Google Android devices. Even a Windows Mobile version is in the works. (Read my Webkit report.) By developing a browser that offers a seamless experience on both mobile and desktop devices, Google can carve out a nice chunk of the browser market for itself. The big opportunity could be especially the emerging class of mobile devices like the Netbooks. Most of the features mentioned in the comic book and Google’s blog post indicate that features such as faster JavaScript VM, better memory management, better Windows UI rendering, faster text layout and rendering and intelligent page navigation are all features that make absolute sense in a mobile browser. I wouldn’t be surprised that that many of these features end up back in the Android browser. In recent months, there have been rumors that Android is going to work on more than just mobile phones. Given the light-weight footprint of these devices and Google Chrome’s focus on “web applications” it would make perfect sense for Google to chase this opportunity. Mathew Ingram points out, “Google clearly sees the browser as a form of operating system — just as I think the Mozilla group.” I agree, and also I agree with John Furrier’s contention that browser-as-OS war is only beginning. What are your thoughts about this development?
[gigaom]
Google Calendar Gets Better a Little at a Time
If you're a GCal lover with the niggling complaint here and there, the Official Gmail Blog highlights several small but worthwhile improvements to the popular web-based calendar. Updates include better meeting request follow-ups and more flexible reminder schedules among a few other nice updates.
Note well: this is a historic ruling. If you live in South Africa then chances are that you'll be affected by it - whether you care about computers and telephones etc. or not At the end of the post there are two other links to stories about the same thing at other websites.
Johannesburg - The South African telecommunications landscape has been fundamentally changed as of Friday morning when a judge ruled in favour of Altech Autopage's High Court application essentially appealing for all network service providers be allowed to build their own networks.
It effectively takes the "managed" part out of the liberalisation process and could throw the market wide open to competitive forces.
The judgement means that telecommunications regulator Icasa - unless it appeals - would have to cast aside its competitive process for determining which value-added network service providers (Vans) qualify for Electronic Communications Network Service (ECNS) licences under the Electronic Communications Act, and grant these to any operators that want to build their own networks.
The winners will be those operators that have the funding, and importantly the black economic empowerment (BEE) credentials (Icasa says they'll need 51% BEE ownership), to be able to successfully apply for WiMax spectrum to build their own wireless networks.
The losers will be Vans like Vox Telecom, M-Web and Internet Solutions (among the front runners in Icasa's competitive process), because although they too will be awarded ECNS licences, they'll have their competitive advantage eroded somewhat.
The matter dates back a 2004 ministerial determination in which Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri made a statement that as of 1 February 2005, "value-added network services may also be provided by telecommunications facilities other than those provided by Telkom and the second national operator or any of them".
Icasa interpreted this as that the Vans could self-provide, but later backtracked. The minister argued she had never intended that to be the case, and this is the line that she and Icasa fought in response to Altech's court application.
Icasa also argued that it would be impractical to let all 600-odd Vans dig up the country's roads to lay their own networks.
The reality is that not all would be able to afford to do so. But, the situation would arguably have to be carefully controlled to minimise disruption and chaos on the roads.
It was always mind-boggling that the minister's confusing determinations were never challenged in court - before now, that is.
Perhaps the explanation lies somewhere in the fact that the confusion benefited some, who took advantage of the grey area to build their own networks anyway.
* Altech management is expected to release a statement later this afternoon. Fin24.com will also endeavour to get comment from the other parties.
These URLs link to other stories about the same topic
Under the Sea, Google Expands Even More -
Google is working with a consortium of carriers to become part of an intra-Asian submarine cable system, tentatively called the Southeast Asian Japan Cable (SJC). The cable would be Google’s second play in the sub-sea category. The new cable links various different cities to Chikura, Japan Guam, the landing site of a transpacific cable called Unity.
Earlier this year, Google invested in this transpacific cable along with a bunch of other carriers. The Unity cable is expected to cost about $300 million. The new SJC cable has pretty much the same carrier partners as the ones in the Unity cable, reports Telegeography, a research company.
Companies that are participating in both consortia are Google, Bharti, SingTel, KDDI and Global Transit. Pacnet, which will control two fibre pairs on Unity, already operates the EAC-C2C intra-Asian mesh cable system and consequently is not involved with SJC. Globe Telecom of the Philippines and TOT of Thailand are also members of SJC and will be the landings parties for the cable in their respective countries.
Google’s fierce expansion under the sea is a sign that the company views Asia as its big growth market and is preparing to build an infrastructure that gives it a distinct advantage over others. Asia is one of the hottest Internet markets and the demand for bandwidth is exploding in that region. It isn’t much of a surprise that many cables are being built, leading to speculation that another optical bubble might be building.
[gigaom]
So I'm not sure how, but I broke one of my Ubuntu virtual machines now, right at a about the worst possible time for it to break. The symptoms were that while I could still login to the machine as my user, and if I was root I could still "su" to that user, every time I was that user the user itself seemed to have no understanding of itself, while the system still did. That was a pretty hairy sentence, so let me explain by showing what I tried.
root@gw-pkl-01:~# su - charles
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$
Now when you try SSH'ing anywhere or doing anything useful you are told to get lost.
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$ ssh charles@anywhere.i.can.think.of -Cv
You don't exist, go away!
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$
But I wonder whether the system knows who I am?
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$ id
uid=1000 gid=1000(charles) groups=4(adm),20(dialout),24(cdrom),25(floppy),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),107(fuse),109(lpadmin),115(admin),1000(charles),1001(wheel)
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$ whoami
whoami: cannot find name for user ID 1000
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$ echo $USER
charles
I have no name!@gw-pkl-01:~$
That almost all seemed correct, so what on earth could be going on? I tried adding new users to see if they were alright, and they also had the problem.
The answer is that your /etc/passwd file is not readable by all users. This was confirmed by comparing the broken machine with another one that I had deployed from the same template.
root@dynamips-pkl-01:~# ls -la /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2104 2008-07-17 00:12 /etc/passwd
root@dynamips-pkl-01:~#
root@gw-pkl-01:~# ls -la /etc/passwd
-rw------- 1 root root 2331 2008-08-12 13:49 /etc/passwd
root@gw-pkl-01:~#
Make it readable and everything works again.
root@gw-pkl-01:~# chmod +r /etc/passwd
root@gw-pkl-01:~# su - charles
charles@gw-pkl-01:~$ id
uid=1000(charles) gid=1000(charles) groups=4(adm),20(dialout),24(cdrom),25(floppy),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),107(fuse),109(lpadmin),115(admin),1000(charles),1001(wheel)
charles@gw-pkl-01:~$ whoami
charles
charles@gw-pkl-01:~$ echo $USER
charles
charles@gw-pkl-01:~$
This is unbelievable! "300 billion GBs per month served"...
http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/
By Yi-Wyn Yen
Google’s acquisition of ad server DoubleClick is supposed to help the search giant make a splash in the display advertising market. But it’s YouTube that Google is hoping will make it a big player on Madison Avenue.
“We’re spending a lot of time on YouTube right now because that happens to be a clear objective and clear opportunity,” said Tim Armstrong, Google’s president of advertising at a recent Bear Stearns media conference.
What isn’t clear is why Google (GOOG) hasn’t figured out how to make a profit from YouTube yet.
Google built its multi-billion empire by delivering text-based ads that appeal to marketers looking for a direct response. Now the search engine’s going after major brand advertisers who see video as an opportunity to connect with consumers on an emotional level.
For a company consumed by organizing the world’s information, Madison Avenue is an unfamiliar turf. “They’re starting to think about branding,” said Matt Sanchez, CEO of video ad network VideoEgg. “There’s a culture shift going on at Google.”
While display marketing isn’t Google’s forte, the company has created an appealing branding opportunity with YouTube. The videosharing site has become the go-to site for short, snacky clips. But some advertisers worry that, unlike watching an episode of Lost on ABC.com or a Saturday Night Live clip on Hulu, most of YouTube’s vast collection of campy, user-uploaded clips are unmarketable.
“This is a challenge for advertisers,” said Chris Allen, the video innovation director for media agency Starcom. Roughly 10 to 20% of YouTube’s content is professionally produced. That really starts to diminish the opportunities for brand advertisers.”
One media buyer takes a glass-half full approach. “We’re trying to figure out what is the value in brand association with content that’s not premium,” said Curt Hecht, chief digital officer for GM Planworks, which handles advertising for General Motors (GM). “The approach we take is, how can we package this in front of a ton of eyeballs.”
YouTube is the King Kong of online videos, and what it lacks in marketable clips it makes up for with its massive and engaged audience. In January, nearly 79 million viewers, or a third of all online viewers in the U.S., watched more than three billion user-posted videos on YouTube, according to comScore’s latest report.
However, delivering all those free video clips isn’t cheap. YouTube sends a staggering 1,000 gigabytes of data every second, or nearly 300 billion GBs each month. Several industry insiders estimate that YouTube spends roughly $1 million a day just to pay for the bandwidth to host the videos. By that number, YouTube downloads would account for roughly 3% of Google’s $11.5 billion operating costs for 2007.
YouTube, which makes the bulk of its revenue from selling display ads that run on the right-hand side of the site’s homepage, has not been a moneymaker for Google. The company states YouTube’s revenues last year were “not material” in a regulatory filing. The search giant paid $1.6 billion for the company in October 2006. “I’d be surprised if they broke $20 million in revenue in ’07,” said Anton Denissov, an online video analyst with the Yankee Group.
Part of the problem is that advertisers and companies like Google are still experimenting with what works in the web video market. Advertisers will spend $1.35 billion on online video advertising in the U.S. this year, according to eMarketer. That represents 1.5% of television advertising spending this year, and just 5% of all Internet advertising spending. The research firm forecasts that U.S. spending for web video ads will triple to $4.3 billion in 2011.
Wall Street is anxious for Google to turn the videosharing site into a cash cow. Last October during its earnings call with analysts, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said making money wasn’t a top priority. The company has focused heavily on refining a user’s experience and collecting data on how viewers find videos on YouTube. Dave Eun, who runs Google’s content businesses, said the company would “turn up the dial on monetization” next year.
Last fall Google introduced several types of ad formats with moderate success. Its says viewers are responding favorably to its overlay ads, which run on the bottom of a screen like a sports ticker 10 seconds after a video starts. A viewer can choose to close the ad or click on it to expand the ad before returning to the original clip. The overlay ads only appear on YouTube’s select premium content.
“We’ve been careful about testing different monetization approaches,” Eun said at the Bear Stearns conference on March 10. “We’ve purposely not taken the easy money. And frankly, there was a lot of easy money out there. We could have taken cut-down TV ads and pushed them down our users’ throats with pre-rolls.”
Not everyone is convinced that just because Google flips a switch, the YouTube money will start pouring in. “All of Silicon Valley has a hard time understanding that it’s not some spigot you turn on,” said VideoEgg’s Sanchez. “Maybe that’s how direct marketers work, but media buyers on the brand side don’t spend money that way.”
“There’s no silver bullet,” he added. “Google’s been testing and pushing and marketing its product, but it’s not suddenly going to do a billion dollars in revenue off YouTube.”
Microsoft sponsors Apache -
Microsoft has become a platinum sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation, custodians of the open source Apache web server. That translates into at least US$100 000 a year that Microsoft will donate to the foundation, funds the Apache team can spend on paying to run its support services. The announcement was made by Microsoft’s director of platform strategy, Sam Ramji, during a speech at the Open Source Convention in Portland, Oregon on Friday. Ramji also gave details of the sponsorship on Microsoft’s Port25 blog. Ramji said that while Microsoft was sponsoring the ASF this did not mean Microsoft was abandoning IIS as its web server technology. “We have invested significantly in refactoring and adding new, state-of-the-art features to IIS, including support for PHP. We will continue to invest in IIS for the long term and are currently under way with development of IIS 8,” Ramji said. Apache is, by many metrics, the most widely-used web server on the Internet today. Over the past six months Microsoft has announced an ever increasing number of ways it plans to develop closer ties with the open source community including supporting ODF in Microsoft Office, playing a role in the future development of ODF, and improving document interoperability.
Russia, The Final Frontier For Data Centers?
To paraphrase (and mangle) StarTrek’s famous tagline: Can Russia be the place where Internet companies boldly go looking for the final frontier of data center? At least one blog thinks so, and points to the massive hydroelectric power capacity on tap in Russia. An article in this week’s The Economist points to RusHydro, a Russian company that has capacity of producing 25 gigawatts of electricity.
Much of the unused part is in Russia, RusHydro says. It has 5GW of new capacity under construction and more than 20GW on the drawing board—enough to double production.
Power is seen as the biggest constraint when it comes to building data center capacity. As a way around this conundrum, large consumers of Internet data center capacity have located their facilities closer to energy sources. For instance, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have built data centers in Quincy in the state of Washington near a hydroelectric dam where they pay a lot less for power than say in Silicon Valley. (Related stories, The Geography of Internet Infrastructure and Why Google Needs Its Own Nuclear Plant)
From that perspective, it is not as far fetched to imagine that these and other companies could plan on building data centers in Russia. Microsoft has already made its intentions very clear and is planning a data center in Siberia. Google has been slowly expanding its presence in Russia including a recent purchase of Rambler for $140 million. M Of course the big problem is that of lack of massive Internet backbone pipes in and out of Russia, but that might be an issue that can be addressed easily.
Why? As we have noted before, there is a lot of capacity being built across the Pacific Ocean. Earlier this week, a new 570 km cable with a capacity of 640 Gbps between Russia and Japan went live. The cable is a joint venture between TransTelecom Company CJSC of Russia which has about 55,000 km of backhaul network in Russia. The other partner in this cable is NTT. Similarly, Eastern Europe is seeing big build outs when it comes to fiber to the home (and/or premises). These networks needs back haul pipes leading to big network upgrades.
I think the reason Russia’s natural environment makes it a good candidate for big data center expansion. There are some folks who have come up with ways to leverage natural environments such as cold weather to lower the amount of power required to cool a data center. Andrew Hopper, head of Cambridge University Computing Lab’s has been preaching the mantra of putting data centers next to power sources, since it takes “electrical transmissions costs out of the equation.”
[gigaom]
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta released -
Opera Software today released the first public beta of Opera Mobile 9.5. As with the latest version of Opera Mini, Opera Mobile 9.5 beta now defaults to page overview mode, allowing the user to view the entire Web page and instantly recognise the Web site. With panning and zooming options, the user is able to focus on specific page content. Opera also introduces a sleek new user interface for easier navigation. Opera Dragonfly, Opera’s developer tools, officially goes cross-platform with this release. It allows developers to debug JavaScript, inspect Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Document Object Model (DOM), and view any errors, making development for the mobile phone easier. Opera Mobile 9.5 beta also includes speed improvements, better standards support and the ability to save pages or images to the mobile device. Download the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta from http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/.
Is Facebook Down? - The best thing that’s happened to Facebook: Apple’s MobileMe outage, the iPhone launch and iPhone activation problems across the board. Why? Because no one seems to be reporting on them being out for most of the morning. I just tried to get in; no luck. There is no update on their blog, either. I got a few responses to my question about Facebook’s status on Twitter, so this is not just a problem for me. Are you having Facebook problems as well? Update: A Facebook spokeswoman emailed us back. “We did experience some issues with the site for a short time this morning, but it was never completely down. It was stabilized as of 10:10 a.m.” They are still investigating the root cause.