The executive summary?
Simultaneous attacks by Google on Verizon, Oracle, Microsoft, Facebook (and by extension MySpace and Rupert Murdoch), AOL, and corporate IT departments everywhere.
Unscathed? Content providers – especially old media. After all, its all powered by the advertising that accompanies content. Old Media still has the best content generation talent locked up. Its the outdated infrastructure that profits by that content that is threatened.
I, Cringely . The Pulpit . The Future is Cloudy | PBS
Here is what’s significant about Google putting code into MySQL: they haven’t done it before. Google has been a MySQL user from almost the very beginning, customizing the database in myriad ways to support Google’s widely dispersed architecture with hundreds of thousands of servers. Google has felt no need previously to contribute code to MySQL. So what changed? While Google has long been able to mess with the MySQL code in ITS machines, it hasn’t been able to mess with the code in YOUR machine and now it wants to do exactly that.
Google Phone Plan Draws Interest – WSJ.com
Within two weeks, Google is expected to announce new software and services that handset makers could use to build customized Google-powered phones. The company needs wireless operators to sign on to the project in order to get its mobile devices in front of consumers by the middle of next year. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, and Sprint Nextel are both in advanced discussions with Google, the people familiar with the talks said.
Official Gmail Blog: Code changes to prepare Gmail for the future
So recently the Gmail team has been working on a structural code change that we’ll be rolling out to Firefox 2 and IE 7 users over the coming weeks (with other browsers to follow). You won’t notice too many differences to start with, but we’re using a new model that enables us to iterate faster and share components (we now use the same rich text editor as Groups and Page Creator, and the Contact Manager can be seen in several Google apps). A few other things you will notice are some new keyboard shortcuts and the ability to bookmark specific messages and email searches.We have also been fanatical about speed.
Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday
The new project, called OpenSocial (URL will go live on Thursday), goes well beyond what we’ve previously reported. It is a set of common APIs that application developers can use to create applications that work on any social networks (called “hosts”) that choose to participate.
Google to Connect to Other IM Networks Using Jabber Transports
After looking at the code of the recently launched Gmail 2.0, it seems that Gmail team actually listens to feedback, because they’ll implement some of the popular suggestions:* colors for labels
* detaching messages from a conversation
* Jabber transports (these could be used to chat with people from other IM networks, like Yahoo, MSN, AIM). You could already use these transports to connect Google Talk with other IM networks, but you have to use a third-party server and another IM client to configure the transports. Being able to chat with people from other networks, which are much more popular than Google Talk, will make Google’s instant messenger more useful.
