Filed under: Developer, Internet, Web services, Google, Googleholic, web 2.0
Googleholic for May 30, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! In this edition:
- Google I/O round-up
- Use Google to reference your JavaScript libraries
- Google Web Toolkit 1.5 RC
- Other random Google bits
Google I/O round-up
As we noted on Tuesday, Google I/O took place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Here are some of the highlights:
- Google Demos the latest version of Android - At I/O, Google demoed the latest version of their cellphone I/O for developers. Thus far, Android appears to be very iPhone-esque.
- Google Earth comes to the browser - Well, Windows browsers anyway. A plugin is available for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 and Firefox 2 that will let you use most of Google Earth's features from within the browser, no external app required. Now if only Google Earth would get Mac or Linux support...
- Google App Engine Opens Up - After launching to an initial pool of 10,000 (later expanded to 75,000) developers in April, Google is now opening the App Engine preview release to everyone. Google has also laid-out its preliminary pricing structure for users that exceed the 500 MB storage/5M pageviews included for free.
- $0.10 - $0.12 per CPU core-hour
- $0.15 - $0.18 per GB-month in storage
- $0.11 - $0.13 per GB outgoing bandwidth / $0.09 - $0.11 per GB incoming bandwidth
- AOL will support OpenSocial - At I/O, AOL (parent-company to Weblogs, Inc., which includes DownloadSquad) announced their plans to support OpenSocial, Google's API for social applications across the web. AOL will start by adopting the use of Gadgets for myAOL.com with plans to eventually expand the use throughout their products and platforms.
Use Google to reference your JavaScript libraries
We really enjoy playing with the various open source JavaScript libraries (jQuery, prototype, script.aculo.us, MooTools, etc.) but managing more than one library within a site or application and keeping tabs on their various update cycles can be annoying. This is where Google's AJAX Libraries API comes into play.
The AJAX Libraries API is a content distribution network/loading architecture for the most popular open source JavaScript libraries. Instead of referencing the JavaScript library locally in your site or application, you can instead use the google.load() loader or a direct </script> tag to reference the library. Awesome!
[via Google Operating System]
Google Web Toolkit 1.5 RC
Google Web Toolkit Release Candidate 1 is now available for download. GWT makes writing AJAX applications easy because you write the code and GWT compiles and optimizes it and makes it easy to support multiple browsers. Plus it comes equipped with Google APIs and reusable UI components, which can make the coding process even more efficient. Google Web Toolkit is available for Mac, Windows and Linux users and can be used with a variety of IDEs.
[via Official Google Web Toolkit Blog]
Other random Google bits
This was a big week for Google news, because of I/O, so here are a few other Google tidbits of the week:
- Google changes their favicon [via Google Operating System] - Google has changed their favicon from the longstanding "big G" to the lowercase "g"
- Google Maps might be getting a redesign - Google Blogoscoped has all the details but it looks like Google is experimenting with the design of the Google Maps page.
- Get a vanity Google definition - Google Blogoscoped also has information on how to trick Google into creating your own definition for the "define" query.
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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd said 2:56PM on 5-30-2008
"...Thus far, Android appears to be very iPhone-esque."
Huh? In what way? Because it has a touch screen? Maybe watch the videos and see the Gphone is an order of a magnitude different from the iPhone, in nearly every respect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOSk9TW7z-4
Sad that The Download Squad has lifted its Android news blackout, only to make a very inaccurate statement about it.
Reply
Christina Warren said 3:04PM on 5-30-2008
Well, to me, I can't help it -- it DOES look iPhone-esque. Not JUST the touch-screen aspect, the whole gesture control functions, the HUD interface and menu design, the gradients, the stylings.
I'm not saying that is a bad thing -- it just looks very iPhone-esque. Hey, I use a BlackBerry so I don't really care one way or another ;-)