Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Google

  • Google’s Influence on Photography – Street View and Beyond

    Google’s Influence on Photography – Street View and Beyond

    Following up on yesterday’s post on Google Street View in the Grand Canyon, here’s a great article from LightBox. It goes over the incredible impact of Google’s Street View experiement, and what it’s done for mapping and photography. From the article:

    In the catalogue to the show Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera since 1870, editor and curator Sandra Phillips compared the biblical story about elders spying on Susannah to present day, saying: “Today, however they would use cell phones to grab a picture of a young woman in a compromised position and send it to friends, having located her garden through Google Earth. Human hunger for seeing the forbidden has not changed. The technologies to facilitate it have.”

    And she’s right—this technology has been adapted quickly by artists and devoured by the art world. Doug Rickard used Google Street View to see the back roads of the nation in a series called A New American Picture, which was featured at New York City’s MoMA last year and is currently on view at Yossi Milo Gallery. Geoff Dyer wrote extensively in the Guardian about Rickard, saying: “Any doubts as to the artistic – rather than ethical or conceptual – merits of this new way of working were definitively settled by Rickard’s pictures. It was William Eggleston who coined the phrase “photographing democratically” but Rickard has used Google’s indiscriminate omniscience to radically extend this enterprise – technologically, politically and aesthetically.”

    Street View and Beyond: Google’s Influence on Photography – LightBox.

  • Google Street View in the Grand Canyon: Google Trekker

    Google Street View in the Grand Canyon: Google Trekker

    Introducing Google Trekker in the Grand Canyon – what a great use of Google’s street view tech:

    Today, demonstrating the rocky and rugged paths we’ll travel to make Google Maps even more complete, we’re collecting imagery from a place no car, trike or snowmobile has ever been before. On its first official outing, the Street View team is using the Trekker—a wearable backpack with a camera system on top—to traverse the Grand Canyon and capture 360-degree images of one of the most breathtaking natural landscapes on the planet.

    Google Takes Its Backpack-Sized Trekker Street View Cameras To The Grand Canyon | TechCrunch.

  • Automated Scrolling with The Story of Send from Google

    Automated Scrolling with The Story of Send from Google

    By far the coolest example of automated scrolling and parallax in HTML by our friends at Google. Here’s their explanation of the site, but the real magic for me comes in how they implemented the concept in code.

    We’re answering those questions with Story of Send, a new site that gives you a behind-the-scenes look into how all that virtual information makes its journey through the real world—from your Internet service provider to our data centers and beyond. Along the way, you’ll discover everything from where we filter for spam and scan for viruses to how we’re minimizing our impact on the environment through energy efficiency and renewable power.

    The Story of Send.

  • Google Opens Up Chrome Web Store – Continuing The Move To Web-Apps

    Google Opens Up Chrome Web Store – Continuing The Move To Web-Apps

    Today it was announced at Google I/O that Google is taking the Chrome Web Store, it’s store for selling applications and modules to run in its Chrome Web Browser, worldwide. Additionally, Google is starting to add in-app purchases, and a flat fee for developers to sell products. This brings the Chrome Web Store even more in line with mainstream “app stores” like Apple’s iTunes Store and the Android Market.

    What this means for the industry is that web-apps are continuing to gain momentum towards mainstream use, and will continue to start to cut into the penetration of “installed” apps, in favor of “web-apps”. Google’s example was the newly announced Angry Birds for Chrome.

    Chrome’s whole concept and selling point is that all of its applications and functionality happens on the web browser and “in the cloud” – there’s no concept of a user really having installed apps, and everything that’s  done is synchronized across devices, and accessible anywhere. Additionally, most of the actual data processing that happens in an “app” is done offsite in the “cloud”.

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  • Google’s New Nav Bar Being Rolled Out

    Google’s New Nav Bar Being Rolled Out

    Loading up Google this morning, I was given a brand new shiny navigation bar. The new bar is much more polished than before, and offers enhanced integration with my Google profile. Apparently they’ve been testing this for quite some time now, and are slowly rolling it out to the masses. According to Google Operating System, there are a few different versions, too.

    Co-workers Kenny Chung and Ben Beyda also tweeted about this well before the change hit my own account.

  • Google Labs Julia Fractal Map Uses HTML5

    Google Labs Julia Fractal Map Uses HTML5

    Recently Google Labs released its Julia Map fractal renderer – a neat project that uses the power of HTML5, the simple Google Maps interface, and remote processing to zoom endlessly into fractals. Try it!

    Google:

    Julia sets are fractals that were studied by the French mathematician Gaston Julia in the early 1920s. Fifty years later, Benoît Mandelbrot studied the set z2 ? c and popularized it by generating the first computer visualisation. Generating these images requires heavy computation resources. Modern browsers have optimized JavaScript execution up to the point where it is now possible to render in a browser fractals like Julia sets almost instantly.

    Julia Map uses Google Maps API, and HTML 5 Canvas to render the images. It will let you browse these fractals in an interactive manner. We hope you will enjoy exploring the different Julia sets, and share the URLs of the most artistic images you discovered.

    Update 2011-03-11**
    Ben Beyda just sent over this new fractal rendering engine, Fractal Lab. From Ben: “We could see this project being pushed even further by adding the ability to create animations from these infinite worlds, which could then be exported and integrated into live visuals and other video-based work.”

    Fractal Lab is a WebGL based fractal explorer allowing you to explore 2D and 2D fractal. The fractals are rendered using the OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) to enable real-time interactivity.

  • Google favors mobile optimized sites in their mobile search results

    Google favors mobile optimized sites in their mobile search results

    Recently, a client asked me about Google Mobile Search Results, and how the algorithm works to prioritize results aimed specifically at mobile users. In general, I believe that Google favors mobile optimized sites in their mobile search results. There are a number of usability features, such as location base services, screen real estate, and touch gestures that greatly enhance the functionality of Mobile sites. Google seems to be optimizing its mobile search results to deliver sites that deliver enhanced mobile functionality to the user.

    For your reference, below are a few resources regarding Google’s treatment of mobile optimized sites.

    Resources:

  • iPhone and Android Applications In Google Mobile Search Results

    iPhone and Android Applications In Google Mobile Search Results

    Google has started showing mobile application results in their mobile web search results, potentially marking the beginnings of the intersection of web search and mobile apps. This initial implementation of mobile installable application results in mobile web search result is the first step.
    Mobile network infrastructure and mobile handset hardware are improving, and web standards such as HTML5 with support for interactive features are in the very beginning stages of proliferation. As these advances give rise to rich, interactive web-based mobile applications (web-apps), I think that these installable application results may soon give way, or will grow to include results for web apps.

    From the Google Mobile Blog:

    As of today, if you go to Google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device and search for an app, we’ll show special links and content at the top of the search results. You can tap these links to go directly to the app’s Android Market or iPhone App Store page. You can also get a quick look at some of the app’s basic details including the price, rating, and publisher. These results will appear when your search pertains to a mobile application and relevant, well-rated apps are found.

    Update 2010-06-07, 13:56EDT – In his WWDC Keynote Speech, Steve Jobs just gave a nod to the viability of HTML5-based web apps, stating “”Next, I’d like to talk about the App Store. Before I do that, I want to make something clear. We support two platforms: HTML5 — it’s a completely open, uncontrolled platform. And we fully support it.”
    Screenshot of HTML5 app Steve Jobs quote from Engadget’s live keynote coverage

  • Apple’s iPad and HTML5 Power Play

    Apple’s iPad and HTML5 Power Play

    Is Apple’s reluctance to include flash on iPhone or iPad actually a veiled play to change the entire face of code and web standards on the internet, and beyond? Or are they just hoping to sell more apps?  I think that Apple’s strategy here goes both ways – and hopefully, both outcomes will change both Apple and the internet in general for the better.

    A Flash-less iPad helps sell applications. One of the reasons flash is such a great technology, and so hotly desired on the iPad and iPhone is for its rich media and interactivity potential. Flash allows developers to make websites function almost exactly like a native iApp would, but have it hosted off site on a third party website, rather than directly on the device. Enabling this channel for app delivery would be great for the developers and brands looking to rapidly launch interactive, media rich apps.

    By allowing these flash apps to proliferate, Apple would be removing the incentive to work with them and publish apps through their App store, thereby limiting the potential for apple to turn a profit. Wired recently announced that they would be releasing an iPad Wired Magazine app that allows readers to leaf through the pages of the magazine, much like they’re reading an actual paper copy.

    A flash-less iPad pushes forward HTML5. By restricting the usage of flash on the iPad and iPhone, Apple is forcing developers to either develop iApps through the App Store, OR, and more importantly, embrace alternative interactive web technologies to accomplish what they would have been able to with flash or a native app.

    Although on the surface this may seem like a more complicated, less ideal solution for web-hosted-app development, it’s actually a blessing in disguise. HTML5 is a highly accessible web standard, which can be scaled gracefully across multiple devices, and has been designed with the future in mind. I think that a future of web apps built on HTML5, and surrounding technologies, instead of solely on Flash,  will ultimately be more viable, and will allow mobile devices, the interactive web, and internet technology in general to scale quickly and easily into the future.

    Immediate effects of Apples Flash-free, HTML5 vision of the future is evident in BrightCove’s recent HTML5 announcement that their video platform will still be HTML5 compatible, and will be able to play video on the iPhone and iPad. This is a great win for Apple, HTML5, and for Brightcove for embracing the new standard so readily.

    Sites such as Vimeo and YouTube have already started experimenting with HTML5 video players, and heavy hitters like Google are experimenting with HTML5 web apps – namely Google Voice.

    I don’t think HTML5 will kill flash completely, but adoption of the new standard, alongside flash, will open up many possibilities for the future.

    More:

  • Google Wave In Action

    At their IO conference this week, Google unveiled their new communications platform Google Wave. It supposedly combines multiple forms of communication – namely email and IM, into a collaborative communications suite. There’s been HUGE buzz on this lately, and Ben Parr of Mashable has posted a good Google Wave guide.

    I think Google Wave does have great potential, and its success will be largely dependent on how effectively Google manages to distribute it and enable universal access – users must be able to seamlessly switch over to using Google Wave from their current email/IM platforms. This could mean significant API access for developers (already available), and cross platform interface compatibility. Additionally, I love seeing that they’re enabling access to social nets like Twitter and Facebook. Could we get universal login with our Google login / Facebook login / Twitter login / OpenID login?

  • Writing about Google Analytics and Flash on the Morpheus Media Mlog

    Writing about Google Analytics and Flash on the Morpheus Media Mlog

    I recently wrote a short blog post for Morpheus Media’s MLOG blog, outlining the ins and outs of Google’s recent announcement that they were expanding the Google Analytics tracking capabilities into Adobe Flash. Now, website owners can not only track visitor metrics on html pages, but also within embedded flash objects, including user engagement statistics such as interaction and length. This announcement follows Google’s recent announcement that they would be ramping up their search indexing of flash, to allow users to find flash websites in Google search results.
    In short, I think that Analytics Tracking, combined with searchability will lead to an increased value in flash sites, both for semantic relevancy on the web, as well as for increased commercial value and opportunities for monitization.

    Please check out the full post on the Morpheus Media MLOG, titled “Google Analytics Comes To Adobe Flash“

  • Google Chrome – First Impressions

    After a relatively short "announce to launch" window, Google launched its new, open source web browser, Google Chrome. It was announced over the weekend, and a comic book-style introduction was published yesterday. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Windows just yet – us mac users will have to either wait a bit for Google Chrome for OS X, or give it the ole Boot Camp try and take the dive to load up windows.

    Although real world performance and deployment is the ultimate test, I think Google’s idea of making each tab of the browser into is separate, isolated process is a good one. This should allow for more power to be devoted to more robust web apps, isolate bad code and bad webpages, and overall provide a more customized and customizable operating environment for each individual website – I know that during my day, I am often times simultaneously working with sites that use flash, java, ajax, silverlight, embedded media, active x, etc etc etc. Being able to keep each of these isolated to just the page where it’s needed seems like it would be a huge performance and stability boost. Additionally, I’m excited to hear that Google Chrome is built from the ground up to be much better at managing memory. Although Firefox, my current browser of choice, is super fast and relatively stable, after using it continuously for an entire day, it tends to start eating up massive amounts of memory. The precise memory management in Google Chrome will hopefully work well.

    That’s all for now – tonight I’ll hopefully find some time to install it in Windows XP pro in bootcamp on my MBP, and give at a real test run.

    Sites I plan to test with Google Chrome, for performance and stability –

    Gmail.com – web app – made by Google, so it should run perfectly.

    Jeffzilla.com – obviously

    Meebo.com – another great web app

    Hulu.com – streaming video

    WordPress admin – non-Google web app which uses the Google Gears Framework

    Potatoland.com – hosts some neat java applets, which create trippy graphics – visually intensive java applet processing

    Lively.com – Google’s virtual world, fairly graphics intensive

    Flickr.com Organizr – again, intense flash/java web app

    Finally, elsewhere in the blogosphere… TechCrunch has some massive video action happening – but luckily if you’re using Chrome, it should be able to load up all those rich media YouTube flash windows with no problem!

    Kara Swisher discusses the early comic book leak, and the ongoing re-ignition of the browser war.

    Regarding process isolation, check this overview video on the Chrome Task Manager…

  • Gmail Still Down – I’m Dead In The Water!

    Gmail Still Down – I’m Dead In The Water!

    Gmail has been down for me for almost 12 hours now. And it’s only my main account. Seems like there is a documented issue, which is good to hear, but still not fixed. According to the Google Groups Gmail discussion board, they are working on the issue:

    Update: our engineers have identified the source of the problem and are working to restore account access as quickly as possible. We know how important email is to our customers, and we are taking this very seriously. We apologize for this inconvenience, and we will provide updates as new information becomes available.

    This makes somewhat glad about using my own domain for my email. Right now, any email you send me gets forwarded to my gmail account. However, if this gmail situation doesn’t get fixed, it’s a quick switch with my domain registrar to have my email forwarded somewhere else – either another gmail account, my own hosted webmail, or another email provider altogether.

    Gmail 502 error
    Gmail 502 Error

    **Update Update**

    Google just updated the 502 error message, with more familar Gmail branding, and a very slightly more reassuring error message.

    Update 2* – And… we’re back! Luckily gmail didn’t lose any messages. But those few hours were intense – also kind of nice.. like a vacation.

    Update 3* – 2008-08-11 – Gmail is back down, but now it seems to be down for many more people. It’s down for me, too. Luckily, I’m still doing just fine with email. My email address is at a domain I own. I simply have it all forwarded to my gmail account, so I can use the great gmail interface and services – imap, etc etc. However, during the latest gmail outage, i fiddled with some settings on my webhost, and set it up to not only continue to forward to my gmail acct, as it has been, but to also use a locally hosted email box. So, for now, since gmail is down, I’m seamlessly switching over to my own hosted email box. Victory!

  • Google Launches Friend Connect

    Google Launches Friend Connect

    Google just announced, and will launch tomorrow, Friend Connect. Will this be another building block in the road to the ultimate ubiquitous social network? With any website being able to add a social networking component, and all of those components being able to network together via Open Social, we’re about to be one step closer to all being on the same social network, always. Additionally, OpenID integration will allow us to have just one login name/password to remember for everything. From the press release:

    Visitors to any site using Google Friend Connect will be able to see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more.

    Read more on Techcrunch, and watch Google’s Campfire One tonight.


  • IM First Steps for Mobile Web-Apps

    IM First Steps for Mobile Web-Apps

    Instant Messaging while on the go – It’s increasingly more essential, yet with many current software/hardware offerings, increasingly more frustrating. 

    I carry a Blackberry Curve 8300, which has its strengths and weaknesses. The hardware is actually decent, well built, good screen etc. The software, however, is absolutely worthless. It honestly feels like a 1st try beta version. There are random menu items where they’re not needed (example: “call voice mail” option in the camera options menu – why?!?!), and the UI is so un-optimized that despite reasonably powerful hardware, the thing still crawls doing the most basic tasks. One of those basic tasks, which you’d think the curve would be able to do easily is instant messaging. The Blackberry Messenger does work well, but not everybody has a Blackberry – probably for the better. I use AIM and gChat mostly. While there are decent clients for both of these networks, when running either one of them, it causes the rest of the phone to grind to a halt – text takes 5 seconds to come up after you’ve typed it, and it takes till the 4th ring for the os to catch up and allow you to actually take a call. Amazing how they could actually sell a product like this.

    (more…)

  • YouTube really went down

    Ah, those minutes troubleshooting video on the blog today were for nothing.. turns out that YouTube really did go down for a while this afternoon, when Pakistan Telecom apparently hijacked YouTube’s IP Range. Amazing something like this can happen.. and reminds me of the story a while back about some farmers using a high bandwidth fiber optic cable for target practice…  

    Upon further reading.. looks like BBC is reporting this story too, but there’s a difference between the TechCrunch Article and the BBC Article – TechCrunch is discussing how Pakistan Telecom took down YouTube for the WHOLE WORLD, whereas BBC completely glossed over that fact, and even made it seem like YouTube access was only cutoff in Pakistan. YouTube is probably gone more permanently from Pakistan, but I think it defenitely would have been worth noting the worldwide effect  of Pakistan Telecom’s actions. What’s going on here?  

    Some more clarification from ZD Net 

  • Open Networks, Open Standards – the critical next step

    Google WirelessBroitman, I think you’re right on with giving Google the openness award. Your importance of being open article is spot on, but I just wanted to step back a bit to how they got to this new openness.

    Google has to free up technologies that can have the most impact in an open environment. Technologies like cellular networks and broad-area wireless coverage, such as the 700mhz networks they helped to free, are the pathway to the future. Additionally, I agree that the opening up of the social networking standards, cell phone platforms, music formats, etc, is all the way of the future. In fact, the very industries that built up these technologies will die without openness.

    However, we didn’t get to this point easily, and we definitely could not have gotten here without initially constructing closed, proprietary systems. In fact, I’m all for closed systems and technology, at least for the beginning stages of growth and adoption. When a company develops a new technology and keeps it closed, it encourages that company to pour as much as it can into the tech, building it up to make it the biggest and best. Additionally, fundamental values, operating procedures, and quality control are concentrated. If, for example, the wireless 700mhz spectrum were always a freely available chunk of spectrum, I think that its effectiveness would become diluted. Way too many people would be making half-assed efforts to use it, and it would never be able to concentrate that critical mass of userbase, tech base, and monetary support.

    Going forward, I’m eager to see where we go in developing new applications based on formerly closed, now opened technologies. If the industry can break out of the molds already made by the industry, we could begin to see some really killer technologies. Google’s Android and Open Social are just the beginning.

    The one potential step back that i see the industry trying to take is Net Neutrality. I’m all for it, and think that the reason the internet is great, and will continue to be great is that its neutral – bandwidth is bandwidth. So let’s keep it open too, ok?