Download Squad

Go-go Google Gopher... Go! Google invents its own programming language

Sebastian Anthony — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST

In exciting, but not unexpected news, Google has has put its name behind the brainchild of three of their in-house genius programmers. But it's not a web app, nor is it an enterprise solution -- it's not even a downloadable tool like their Chrome browser. They've actually gone and invented a new language. It's called Go. (That's their mascot, the Go-Gopher, over on the right.)

Citing difficulties with existing languages and arbitrary restrictions that prevent them from making the Google services as good as they could be... they did the only really sensible thing they could do: they made their own superior language. To put it into simple terms: imagine trying to communicate with grunts and squeals. That's how Google feels with today's languages, and why they've made their own one. It's why we speak English today, rather than Tarzan Talk.

And in true Google style, they've done it right. Go is fast. It's secure. They even go as far as to call it 'fun' on their homepage!

I don't want to bore you with specifications -- they're all there on their site if you're a developer and want to get going immediately (it's open source, of course!) -- but I will tell you that this is big, big news.

We haven't seen a new systems-oriented language for over a decade. Technology has moved on a lot. Heck, Google themselves have pushed the requirements of computer systems. When you're trying to build a system that scales to hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of servers, it's no surprise that existing languages don't quite hit the spot.

Say they're only squeezing 40% of the max theoretical output from their server farm. If Go could push that utilization up to 60 or 70%... imagine the gains! For them, for us! This is even good news for the environment!

Of course, it's free to use, there are tutorials and very easy to get started with. There's even a little video showcasing just how fast it is, after the break.

Continue reading Go-go Google Gopher... Go! Google invents its own programming language

Go-go Google Gopher... Go! Google invents its own programming language originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hundreds of Facebook groups hacked and hijacked - to prove a point?

John Burke — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Security, Web

Facebook is under attack! Okay, maybe that's a little too dramatic.

Recently, however, hundreds of Facebook groups were exploited by a group of attackers known as "Control Your Info". The hackers promise they aren't doing this for any malicious purpose though. The purpose of the mass hacking is to point out a major problem with the way Facebook handles groups management.

So what's the problem? The guys that did this said the problem has to do with group admins. When someone decides they don't want to be an admin any longer, virtually anyone can take over the group and make changes to members, group information, and pictures.

Unlike completely malicious hackers, the group says it wants to raise awareness and make sure people think about security. The groups that were hacked had their names changed to "Control Your Info" and profile images modified. A message appeared on many of the groups that said "Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group. If we wanted, we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severely."

The group promised not to "mess anything up" and will return the groups to their original state by the end of the week.

Hundreds of Facebook groups hacked and hijacked - to prove a point? originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gift Guide: get 50 photo holiday cards for free

Dolores Parker — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Photo, Holiday Gift Guide, Web

Since we're all looking for ways to save money for the holidays, you might want to take advantage of this limited time offer from SeeHere.com where you can buy 50 (4x8) or 50 (5x7) photo holiday cards for absolutely nothing. This offer includes free standard shipping and represents a savings of $40.

SeeHere is Fuji's photosharing site where you can create cards, photo books and gifts. They have a decent holiday selection and new account users can also get 100 free (4x6) prints for registering. (Shipping not included - promo code "prints").

To get the 50 holiday cards for free, be sure to use the promo code "freebies4mom-1109." Don't procrastinate! This offer is only good until 11/30.

Gift Guide: get 50 photo holiday cards for free originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rejoice, surfers! Bing it up with free WiFi access across the US

Sebastian Anthony — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Search

In exchange for just one search on Bing, Microsoft's new search engine, Microsoft will grant you free WiFi access on hotspots nationwide (but mostly in airports and hotels).

Apparently the offer began in September but perhaps they've been steadily unrolling it across the country as they only just announced it officially yesterday.

It's an interesting approach to marketing, and no doubt not the cheapest one either. But they're reporting good 'engagement rates' well above the usual .1 or .2% and will continue the scheme for the foreseeable future -- so enjoy your free wireless access! (As a juicy, related titbit, and in no way coincidental, Yahoo will be providing free wireless access at Times Square in New York City, for an entire year.)

Whether it's worth Microsoft's money or not may never be known. But one thing's for certain: Microsoft are famous for their brazen and fearless love of loss-leading -- they have the cash to do it, so why not?

And I tell you what... I would switch to Bing if Microsoft paid for my Internet connection. Wouldn't you? Now there's an interesting thought.

[via MediaPost]

Rejoice, surfers! Bing it up with free WiFi access across the US originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 security defeated by 8 out of 10 malware applications

Sebastian Anthony — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Microsoft

Leading up to its release, there was a lot of concern regarding Windows 7's default User Account Control (UAC) settings. Namely: it doesn't actually provide any damn security. Alas.

Basically, Microsoft went ahead and reacted to the public outcry regarding the Vista security confirmations. I think we can all agree that they were really annoying (and most power-users turn UAC off because of how irritating they are). As a result, there are significantly fewer UAC warnings in a default Windows 7 installation -- hooray! The problem is that the new default setting in Windows 7 leads you to falsely believe that you have a secure installation right out of the box. Sadly, this is not the case.

It's no surprise then that 8 out of 10 malware applications defeated the default Windows 7 UAC setting in tests.

So practice safe surfing (duh!) or go and hoik your UAC settings up to the most secure -- and annoying -- setting. Ars Technica has a great guide on patching up your UAC for new Windows 7 users -- or even an experienced user like myself that falsely believed the default setting to be secure.

[via ZDNet]

Windows 7 security defeated by 8 out of 10 malware applications originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Firefox has a new logo: Furry fetishists rejoice!

Sebastian Anthony — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Open Source, Browsers

You are looking at the new logo for Firefox Mobile: The Pocketfox!

It looks more like some Harry Potter fan-art in my opinion -- someone with a Fawkes the Phoenix fetish -- but no matter! It's cute and very vibrant. It will certainly stand out, and ultimately that's what matters.

I can't help but wonder if the 'What's that in your pocket?' double entendre was intentional or not. I'd like to think the Mozilla developers have a sense of humor! If you want to find out more about Firefox Mobile (I don't think many people have heard of it), check out its 'Coming Soon...' page, which is full of juicy details about the new browser.

Mozilla have held a few contests recently. The one that's open at the moment -- 'Five years of Firefox' -- is open until December 9th. They're looking for poster ideas to celebrate their birthday. It feels like only yesterday that I held my Firefox 1.0 launch party...

What do you think of the new logo? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Mobile Firefox has a new logo: Furry fetishists rejoice! originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google to unveil a Wave-inspired, unified interface across its web apps

Sebastian Anthony — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google

Our sister blog Engadget is reporting -- based on some leaked screenshots -- that Google may be moving to roll out a single cohesive interface for all its web apps.

The screenshots come from an anonymous source and are as-yet unverified, but it would make sense given their obvious intentions to centralize a lot of the Web's communication channels into Google Wave.

With the eventual (but sooner-rather-than-later) release of Chrome OS, a unified, standardized, user-friendly UI is an obvious step forward. Judging by the gallery of screengrabs over on Engadget, it would seem the change-over to the new interface is not all that far away -- and don't be surprised if you see a Userscript pop up to apply the updated interface before Google makes the change official anyway!

[via Engadget]

Google to unveil a Wave-inspired, unified interface across its web apps originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You spend more time on MSN Messenger than ANYTHING else

Sebastian Anthony — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Google, Microsoft

To some of you, this might be a shock. To the rest of you that prey on poor, unsuspecting girls with webcams... not so surprised.

Apparently 14.5% of all online time is spent on MSN Live Messenger -- 14.5% of 27 billion total hours.

To put it into perspective, the next biggest service is Facebook at at 5.2% with YouTube coming in third at 4.4% (and Google's biggest slice of the online pie.)

One has to wonder if people with Messenger logged in in the background counts towards the total -- I imagine it does. So the totals are probably somewhat skewed -- but in either case, you can find all of the data on the original comScore report. Perhaps most impressive is Facebook's 200% climb in usage since the same time last year!

[via SeattlePi]

You spend more time on MSN Messenger than ANYTHING else originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viewfinder brings powerful Flickr search to your Mac

Nik Fletcher — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Macintosh, Blogging, Web services, Yahoo!, Shareware, web 2.0

Every now and then I find myself working on slides in Keynote and writing Download Squad posts - and struggling to find a suitable image. Of course, Flickr is the best way to find images - their clear licencing and Creative Commons support makes finding images fairly straight forward. However, getting the image into Keynote isn't entirely painless. The workflow of browsing search results, viewing the image and then finding it at a suitable size (if it exists) takes time - however that's where Viewfinder steps in.

A native Mac OS X application (requiring Mac OS X Snow Leopard), Viewfinder allows you to search Flickr from the desktop apply filters to show only Creative Commons images, and specify a particular image size. Then, once you select an image you can download the image, set it as your desktop background - and most importantly - send images straight to Keynote for your slides.

If you're a heavy keynote user (or blogger) who frequently needs to find Flickr images for your work Viewfinder is indispensible. I've been testing it since early September and found it an incredibly convenient tool to have at hand. A licence costs £15 (roughly $25) and a free demo is available for you try from the Viewfinder webpage.

Viewfinder brings powerful Flickr search to your Mac originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boxee media center to hit beta next month

Brad Linder — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Beta

Media center application Boxee has grabbed a lot of headlines over the past year or two, and for good reason: Boxee provides Mac, Linux, and Windows users with an excellent solution for watching internet video on a TV. While web browsers were generally designed for viewing text and images with video thrown in as an afterthought, Boxee was designed to look and feel more like a consumer electronics application that you can navigate from the couch with a remote control.

Boxee can access online video from services including Hulu, Joost, and BBC's iPlayer. You can use it to enjoy audio and video podcasts. And you can access local media stored on your hard drive.

But despite all of its features, Boxee is still alpha software. That's going to change next month. Boxee is set to launch the first beta version of its software at an event in New York on December 7th. I suppose the day will continue to live in Infamy, although I doubt that decades from now we'll still be talking about it as the date that Boxee went beta.

The new version will have a new user interface, improved navigation, a user-controlled queue, and a new TV and movie search function among other changes.

Boxee media center to hit beta next month originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's new Commerce Search helps you find holiday gifts faster!

Sebastian Anthony — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Google

Google sure knows how to time its innovations. Just in time for the holiday rush, Google have a new search tool -- but not for shoppers like you or I, at least not directly. No, this one's for businesses themselves; it's an enterprise product that straps onto existing online shops! (Sorry, I like anything that sounds vaguely Star Trekkie.)

Citing the ol' chestnut that most visitors spend on average just eight seconds before deciding if it's the right site for them or not, Google's Commerce Search replaces any kind of built-in search engine that an e-commerce shop might already have installed. Rather than hosted locally, it's hosted up in the big Google cloud, so as business gradually increases in the weeks up until Christmas, the Commerce Search will remain quick and snappy, not buckling under the increased load!

And as you all know, Google prides itself on the accuracy of its results -- so being able to search a shop quickly and reliably for the gift you want can only be a good thing for us this Christmas.

There's a lot more info over on the Google Blog itself, so go take a look.

Google's new Commerce Search helps you find holiday gifts faster! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zoho rebrands as FakeOffice (not really, but it's catchy, no?)

Brad Linder — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Office, Web

Over the past few years, Microsoft has had to contend with increasing competition from free, web-based office suites such as Google Docs and Zoho Office. And when I say contend, I mean, maybe start taking notice of. There's no doubt that MS Office is still the 800 pound gorilla in the word processing, spreadsheet, and database field. But free competitors including those online applications and desktop solutions including IBM's Lotus Symphony and and the open source OpenOffice.org can't make the folks in Redmond very happy.

So it probably shouldn't be that surprising that Microsoft Online VP Ron Markezich referred to Zoho, Google Docs, and Zimbra as services that offer "fake Office capabilities."

What was a bit surprising is how well the Zoho team took that idea and ran with it. Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu wrote a blog post about the topic yesterday. And today the company launched FakeOffice.org, a site that compares Zoho's application suite with Microsoft's.

Not surprisingly, Zoho points out a number of features that it's products offer that Microsoft's doesn't. Clearly, MS Office has a few features up its sleeve that you won't find in Zoho Office, including 100% compatibility with all those Office documents your friends and colleagues keep sending you. But it's worth checking out the site for the Fake Office "work online" music video, and the little comments such as the Twitter gadget, which is powered by "Fake MS Access."

Zoho has actually been an innovator in the online office space for a while, and most of the company's web apps offer far more features than competing Google Docs. But it's tough for a company with an unusual name like Zoho to take on the big guys like Microsoft and Google. Maybe Vembu should think about permanently changing Zoho's name to FakeOffice? It does have a nice ring to it.

Unfortunately FakeOffice.com has already been registered, which is why Zoho had to grab a .org address for their site.

[via Instant Fundas]

Zoho rebrands as FakeOffice (not really, but it's catchy, no?) originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now finally available - ubiquitous media sharing with Orb for Mac

Dolores Parker — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Photo, Video, News, P2P, Social Software, iPhone, Mobile, Web

It was pretty exciting news at Download Squad to hear Orb, the "sort of software version of Slingbox," was available for Mac. Orb allows you to broadcast your media to any device that has a web browser. After downloading Orb to your "always on" Mac with a high speed internet connection, you can access all your photos, songs, TV shows, and videos from any device with a browser and media player.

After downloading the app, Orb indexes your media and then prompts you to either log in to mycast.orb.com, or create a log in if you don't have an account. After you log in you can see your dashboard and all your media goodies.

Though my songs appeared immediately, my photos did not. There are various feed settings you can play with and channels to explore. Also, with a simple drag drop interface you can share your media with your friends via email, SMS, widget on your blog, or a public URL.

Checking it out from my home computer is one thing, but would it work on other devices? Success! I was able to access my media from my Dell PC.

A note for iPhone owners: The esteemed and indefatigable Jay Hathaway noted that he received errors when he tried to download the free version of OrbLive for the iPhone, which he tried from both his iPhone and his iTunes account on his Mac. There are 3 flavors of Orb available for the iPhone: OrbLive free, OrbMedia ($4.99) and OrbLive ($9.99)

Note to Orb: Please update your landing page to include PC and Mac, ok?

Now finally available - ubiquitous media sharing with Orb for Mac originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Old Man IE6 shakes fist as Firefox surpasses him in browser share

Jay Hathaway — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Browsers

Web designers and standards advocates have tried everything to kill Internet Explorer 6, but it just refuses to die. In fact, Microsoft has extended support for the aging browser until at least mid-2010, and longer for some versions of Windows. However, there is strong evidence that people are coming around to browsers that support standards, don't make web designers cry, and have frickin' TABS, for crying out loud ...

Firefox is now more popular than IE6.

That's right: according to October browser usage stats reported by Ars Technica, the old, incontinent granddad of the browsing world has finally been overtaken by the cool kid with all the rad accessories. Although IE6 still has 23% of the market - sadly, more than any other version of IE - when you add up the usage on every version of Firefox, you get 24.07%, enough to top that single old edition of Internet Explorer.

I assume the shift is accounted for by home web users shifting to newer browsers with the release of Windows 7, because corporate IT departments are still the last bastion of widespread IE6 use. As Ars speculates, high Windows 7 adoption rates could be the stake through IE6's cold, tab-less heart.

Meanwhile, in the Webkit browser wars, Chrome and Safari both made gains this month. Chrome is still growing faster -- right now it's closing in rapidly with 3.58% to Safari's 4.42%.

Old Man IE6 shakes fist as Firefox surpasses him in browser share originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The biggest ban ever: no more World of Warcraft in China

Sebastian Anthony — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Games, Internet

Did you know that four million Chinese play World of Warcraft?

You probably knew that a lot played it -- and that WoW has 13 million subscribers or so -- but four million? That's almost the population of Denmark or Scotland. And they're all having to go without their Warcraft fix... again!

After a relaunch in September, the operators NetEase have been forced to shut down the realm of Azeroth yet again. Now, this isn't Blizzard being indecisive or something: no, it's two wings of the Chinese government getting their panties in a knot. Y'see, there's a department that deals with PR -- the General Administration of Press and Publication... comrade!! -- and the more-sensibly named Ministry of Culture. Neither of them seem to be able to decide whose jurisdiction WoW actually falls under -- and until they stop swaggering around and one actually backs down, we may not see WoW return to China.

Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard are losing the subscription fees provided by one third of its player base. But not to worry... Modern Warfare 2 is out this week! A lot of people point to the 13 million subscribers and marvel at the amount of money that WoW must make for Activision Blizzard -- but their MMO revenues only account for 35% of their total takings. The rest come from their huge COD and Guitar Hero brands.

Thanks to the magnificent, circumventable behemoth of the Internet, WoW players in China are just logging into the servers over in Taiwan anyway. Hooray!

[via VentureBeat]

The biggest ban ever: no more World of Warcraft in China originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSN.com gets its first major redesign in a decade

Jay Hathaway — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Design, Internet, Features, Microsoft, Search

MSN.com, Microsoft's search, news and services portal page, hasn't weathered the years well. Tweaking the same basic design for a decade left it far behind the times in terms of design and usability. With today's clean, whitespace-friendly, reimagining of MSN.com, Microsoft ditches the spectre of MSN search and delivers a site that's a little more worthy of showcasing the company's new search hotness, Bing.

A prettier, less cluttered layout and a prominent Bing search bar aren't the only upgrades to the homepage. In a touch that says Microsoft actually knows what year it is after all, you can add your Facebook newsfeed and your Twitter stream to an area on the right side of the page. The news is still there, but it's more customizable, and the layout presents fewer stories at a time than the cluttered old MSN.com did. There's also a local focus, with local weather and a Bing-powered local news widget at the bottom left.

I have to say that, compared to the MSN of old, this new design looks attractive and functional. Speaking of comparisons, though, have a look at our gallery of MSN.com designs since 2001. Looking at how slowly the site changed over the years only underlines how much it just changed overnight.

Gallery: MSN.com through the years

MSN.com gets its first major redesign in a decade originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That annoying site-preview thing on Wordpress blogs -- now also on Google searches!

Sebastian Anthony — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Google, Search

... but, in true Google fashion, it's less annoying and invasive! Hooray!

Google keeps rolling out the big guns to their search service -- which is good, as people might've been beginning to think that Google has their attention on other things. But no, Google has their attention on everything. Fingers in every pie.

Today, if you're in a subset of Google's users, you can now choose even more ways to display your search results. You've probably noticed that 'More Options' button in the top left corner -- well now, at the bottom of that list, there are now the following options:

More text -- you can get a good 50-100 words from each page now, without having to click through!
Images from the page -- this option shows you a couple of images from each search result. I'm sure there's a good use for this, I just haven't worked it out yet.
Page previews -- the big one! Now you get a little thumbnail showing you what the target page looks like.

And that's about it. Some of you will have none of the above options -- and if you're like me, I have all of the options on my laptop, but only two of them on my desktop. I have no idea why -- I guess they are all being gradually unfurled.

That annoying site-preview thing on Wordpress blogs -- now also on Google searches! originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy + CinemaNow = sitting in a tree

Brad Linder — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Video

US electronics retailer Best Buy is preparing to enter the digital video distribution business in a big way. The company is partnering with CinemaNow, an online video download service that lets users rent and purchase movies and TV shows.

Best Buy will load up CinemaNow software on internet-connected consumer electronics sold at the company's retail stores. That includes computers, portable media players, Blu-Ray players, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and internet-connected television sets.

Customers that purchase one of these items will be able to rent or buy videos from a catalog with about 22,000 titles. Movie purchases typically run between $10 and $20, while TV shows are $1.99 per episode. Movie rentals typically go for $2.99 to $3.99.

The move should give Best Buy and CinemaNow a much stronger foothold in the digital media space. CinemaNow already offers a pretty compelling user experience, allowing you to download a video and watch it on up to three devices. But the fact that virtually every consumer electronics device that Best Buy sells that can run the software soon will, means that CinemaNow is about to become a much bigger name in digital media, and that could help the companies take on Apple's iTunes and Amazon's video on demand services.

Best Buy is expected to roll out the new service early next year.

Best Buy + CinemaNow = sitting in a tree originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Track Black Friday prices with Invisible Hand add on for Firefox

Dolores Parker — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, News, Mozilla, Holiday Gift Guide, Search, Browsers, Web

We've covered Invisible Hand, the discreet shopping comparison add on for Firefox, which displays prices on items you are searching on the web. Just in time for Black Friday, the hand has trotted out a new add on which along with other improvements, incorporates Google search results.

Now, you can get your price results in real time so you know you're getting the best deal. My test drive of the hand went smooth, the results loaded up within a second or two and updates were very discreet. This is a real time saver for getting price results.

The add on will be officially released to the Mozilla site within a few weeks, but the first 200 Download Squad readers can download the beta version. Just click on the link below and key in invisibleDLS for the access code.

http://preview.getinvisiblehand.com/

Track Black Friday prices with Invisible Hand add on for Firefox originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google come in peace... Wave Federation now activated

Sebastian Anthony — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Internet, Google, Open Source

I'm not quite ready to reveal just how geeky I am, so I'll spare you the massive deluge of Star Trek jokes. My apologies in advance if one or two slip past your shields.

Anyway... Over on the Google Wave Developer Blog they've just announced that they're ready to start implementing the federation of Wave servers. This doesn't mean a whole lot to most of us, only that it means the Borg Collectiv-- er, The Google Wave Team, is plodding ever onwards, driven by its impulse engines towards some kind of epic singularity where all email servers will be wiped out and replaced with Wave servers.

And what a glorious day that will be. But yeah, if you're a developer -- or ISP? -- now's the time to get in there and integrate your experimental Wave server with Google's sandbox! With the open specification and open source nature of Wave it will be interesting to see what other developers are hiding up their sleeves

[On a side note, our great Google Wave invite giveaway was a great success. There should be more news about that later today -- and the lucky winners should start to receive their invites in the next few days!]

Google come in peace... Wave Federation now activated originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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