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Tag: google

Google Chrome – first look

Last night Google “mistakenly” released a comic book presentation of a their new Chrome browser application. Well it certainly got the buzz going and has whetted my appetite to give it a whirl. Less than an hour ago, Google made the download available and I’ve just been in a live walk-through (that hung my Firefox – oh the irony!), looking at some of its major features. In a nutshell – it is quick. More later…
[UPDATE: The verdict – it is fast. Much more screen space. Ideal for web apps. Won’t replace Firefox/ IE / Safari. Yet.]

Google App Engine

Google has just released “Google App Engine” – which will let you run your web applications on Google’s infrastructure. It sounds similar to Amazon’s offerings (S3, EC2 and SimpleDB) and the ill-fated Zimki:

  • Dynamic webserving
  • Persistent storage
  • Automatic scaling and load balancing
  • APIs for authenticating users and sending email
  • Fully featured local development environment

Python is the only language supported at the moment but they say more languages will be supported in the future. With the weight of Google behind it, this service looks set to provide an excellent all-in-one route to rapid web-app development. So long as you are happy using Python and all of Google’s Web services.

MS Photosynth: 3D browsing and web2.0 photo data = web3pointD?

MS Photosynth is an app or a Firefox plugin (and yes – this is a Microsoft product!) that connects to geo-coded photo sites like Flickr and enables you to browse through similar pictures in 3D. The tech preview is visually very impressive but I’ve not yet seen a real-life demo so the verdict is still open. The video of the demo does look good though.

In my mind, this represents an interesting step forward in the cross-overs between web 2.0 apps and 3d browsing. It also raises interesting questions about where Microsoft might be headed in the 3d browsing space (aka “3pointD”). Particularly considering the rumours around Google’s developments in this field – where Google Earth and SketchUp could be brought together to create a “Google Planet” – a virtual-real-world Second Life, if you will. As has been suggested – maybe, in the not-to-distant future, “every Google Account [will] include a plot of land on Google Planet?”