InformationWeek Stories by Thomas Claburn

InformationWeek Stories by Thomas Claburnhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-05-21T16:08:00ZFlickr Can Store Any Data, Not Just PhotosFlickr offers a terabyte of free data, but, thanks to an outside developer, photographers may not be the only ones who find a way to use that space.http://www.informationweek.com/storage/data-protection/flickr-can-store-any-data-not-just-photo/240155298?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  In a bid to revive interest in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a>, Yahoo has redesigned its photo community website and increased the amount of free storage available to Flickr users to 1 terabyte. That amounts to more than 500,000 photos taken at 6.5 megapixels, which is about the size generated by current smartphone cameras. It's enough space to attract the interest of developers who see Flickr as resource for storing any file, not just image files. The reason is simple: A free terabyte of storage is a pretty good deal, particularly when you consider that Flickr is charging $499 per year for 2 terabytes. Online storage prices vary widely. Google is charging $50 per month to store 1 terabyte of files using Google Drive. That's on the high side: CrashPlan, an online backup service, offers unlimited storage for $60 per year, though CrashPlan doesn't allow immediate, random file access the way Drive does. Amazon's Glacier costs about $10 to store a terabyte for a month, with additional fees for outbound transfers. An actual 1 terabyte hard drive can cost anywhere from about $75 to a few hundred dollars, depending on the features and target market. [ Yahoo's trying to reinvigorate its business. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/yahoos-mayer-promises-we-wont-ruin-tumbl/240155188?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Yahoo's Mayer Promises: We Won't Ruin Tumblr</a>. ] The problem with using Flickr as a generalized storage service is that it's only designed for images. To get around that, developer Ryan LeFevre has posted Ruby code to Github called <a href="https://github.com/meltingice/flickr-store">flickr-store</a> that allows the user to encode arbitrary data as a .PNG image file, so it can be stored using Flickr. LeFevre, in an email, said that another developer, Ricardo Tomasi, implemented <a href="https://github.com/ricardobeat/filr">a similar project</a> at about the same time he published flickr-store. LeFevre said he would not advise anyone to use his code to store critical files. "The ability to store files on Flickr by encoding them as PNGs was more of an academic exercise than anything," he said. "That said, there have been some similar successful projects in the past, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GmailFS">GmailFS</a>, so it's possible that the project could mature into a somewhat useful tool. Encoding/decoding data from PNG files is also, unfortunately, a bit slow. There is a lot of room for improvement." There are other programs designed to encode data in the format of an image, such as the Windows applications Clotho, Hide In Picture and Free File Camouflage. Steganography applications do the same thing, though they are often designed to encode small text files in images rather than large arbitrary files. The flickr-store code requires a Flickr API account, though it remains to be seen whether the code conforms with <a href="http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html">Flickr's terms of service</a> and the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/services/api/tos/">Flickr API</a>. A Flickr representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. LeFevre said that the permissibility of his project under Flickr's terms of service isn't clear. "I'm sure they frown upon it, but they claim that you cannot upload anything that interferes with the services and I don't believe this does," he said. Flickr's redesign, which is part of a broader effort to restore Yahoo's lost luster, is about more than upgraded storage capacity. According to Markus Spiering, head of product at Flickr, the Home page, the Activity Feed, Photostreams and Sets have all been redesigned. Slideshows, search and social features have also been improved, and facial recognition capabilities have been added to simplify photo organization. There's even a new Android app for Flickr in the Google Play store. In keeping with the tradition of design changes to major Internet services, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157633547442506/">a vocal group of users</a> hate it.2013-05-21T08:57:00ZGoogle Hangouts To Support Voice CallsAn enhanced Google Hangouts offers video chat, texting and photo sharing for free on multiple devices. More change is en route. http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/google-hangouts-to-support-voice-calls/240155193?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/google-chromebook-pixel-visual-tour/240149087"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/953/one_tn.JPG" alt="Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour" title="Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>At its annual developer conference last week, Google took one of the most well-regarded features in Google+, Hangouts video chat, and turned it into a stand-alone cross-platform messaging application. The revised Hangouts combines video chat with Google Talk, a text chat system that became part of Gmail, and Google+ Messenger, an Android app that provides text chat alongside photo sharing and video in Google+. It now extends to multiple platforms: Hangouts is available as a Chrome Web extension, an iOS app, an Android app and as a Web service within Google+. It includes: the ability to send photos of emoji icons, real-time activity indicators, an optional conversation history, a unified cross-device notification system, and, of course, group video chat. It's all free. [ Why is Congress concerned about Google's new high-tech glasses? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-glass-alarms-lawmakers/240155156?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass Alarms Lawmakers</a>. ] Although Hangouts is supposed to unify Google's real-time communications services, it isn't quite there yet: Google Voice has problems with Hangouts and Android customers have been unable to use the app on AT&T's cellular network. Both of those issues, however, should be resolved before the end of the year, if not sooner. AT&T issued a statement to <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/20/4348672/att-will-allow-all-video-chat-apps-on-its-network-by-end-of-2013">The Verge</a> on Monday saying the company plans "to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device." The telecom company expects to implement this change throughout the second half of 2013, which should eliminate any of the issues Hangouts users with Android phones might be experiencing. Presently, AT&T supports the use of downloaded video chat apps, but not apps it deems to be pre-installed, unless they've been cleared with AT&T. It doesn't consider Hangouts for iOS to be pre-installed. Nor does it consider the video chat capabilities in the Android Google+ app to be pre-installed. But AT&T customers with Android phones can't use Hangouts except over Wi-Fi. Hangouts users also can look forward to Google Voice integration. Users of Hangouts on the desktop cannot place Google Voice calls, although they can still receive them. This has understandably annoyed a number of Google Voice users, prompting them to complain. Google product manager <a href="https://plus.google.com/106636280351174936240/posts/DG6h32BWaQW">Nikhyl Singhal</a> on Monday published an update through Google+ stating that Google intends to make both inbound and outbound Google Voice calls work in Hangouts. "Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning," he wrote. "Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly." In addition, Google is <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DoriStorbeck/posts/XNRAQThToay">working on SMS integration</a> for Hangouts. According to Google, over 190 million users actively contribute to the Google+ Stream every month and over 390 million users engage every month with Google+ through Google and third-party websites.2013-05-20T14:15:00ZYahoo's Mayer Promises: We Won't Ruin Tumblr$1.1 billion deal represents Yahoo's bid to win new users and remain relevant.http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/yahoos-mayer-promises-we-wont-ruin-tumbl/240155188?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/10-must-have-wordpress-plugins-for-busin/240153363"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/982/WordPress_01_tn.jpg" alt="10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Businesses" title="10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Businesses" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Businesses</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  In her announcement of Yahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition of social blog service Tumblr on Monday, CEO Marissa Mayer deferred the usual celebratory remarks and opened with a peremptory defense of the deal. "We promise not to screw it up," <a href="http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/50902111638/tumblr-yahoo">Mayer said</a> in a statement. "Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve." Karp at least has the irreverence down: His take on the deal concluded with "F*** yeah" rather than more socially acceptable qualifiers of sentiment. The audience with which that would resonate is exactly the audience that Yahoo wishes to recapture after its years in the wilderness under indecisive management. That's why Mayer's first order of business is: keep Tumblr users from jumping ship. [ Want to know more about the deal? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/3-things-tumblr-brings-yahoo/240155203?itc=edit_in_body_cross">3 Things Tumblr Brings Yahoo</a>. ] In a post to the Tumblr blog, <a href="http://staff.tumblr.com/post/50902268806/news">Karp, too, focused on reassuring users</a> rather than hyping the acquisition. "We're not turning purple," he said, in reference to Yahoo's corporate color. "Our headquarters isn't moving. Our team isn't changing. Our roadmap isn't changing. And our mission -- to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve -- certainly isn't changing." Move along. Nothing to see here. Back to business as usual. If this approach becomes commonplace, acquisition announcements will begin with apologies. Zachary Reiss-Davis, social marketing analyst at Forrester Research, said in a phone interview that the value of the deal is that it will let Yahoo add a new large group of users to its existing user base. He also said that Mayer's commitment to Tumblr users is appropriate. "It made a lot of sense for Marissa Mayer to say that Yahoo would not screw this up because she knows Yahoo has had a mixed track record of managing acquisitions in the past few years," he said. One such acquisition was Geocities, a similar website service that Yahoo bought in 1999 for $3.5 billion. And clearly some users already see a reason to flee: <a href="http://ma.tt/2013/05/yahooblr/">WordPress founder Matthew Mullenweg said</a> in a blog post Sunday night that the number of Tumblr users exporting their content to WordPress had jumped from a typical 400-600 posts per hour to 72,000 in a single hour. However, Mullenweg appears to believe that this surge is statistically insignificant. In a follow-up comment to his post, he wrote, "I don't think there will be any sort of exodus from Tumblr. For most folks habits overcome Internet-outrage. Even if a million people left, that's just about a week's worth of signups." Unlike many other recent deals done by Yahoo's peers, this one isn't really about the mobile market. However, it could help Tumblr become more relevant to Yahoo's 300 million existing mobile users. Reiss-Davis said it is difficult to say whether Tumblr is worth $1.1 billion to Yahoo, but he noted that Yahoo can only do a few such deals given its limited cash reserves. Tumblr <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324787004578493130789235150.html">reportedly generated $13 million</a> in revenue last year.2013-05-20T09:06:00ZGoogle To Apple: Catch Us If You CanDespite a low-key Google I/O conference this year, Google has transformed itself into a company of fearsome focus.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-to-apple-catch-us-if-you-can/240155140?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundthewebGoogle I/O 2013 has come and gone without major developments affecting the company's two primary platforms, Android and Chrome, but the developer conference nonetheless demonstrated how Google is outpacing its competitors. Certainly, that's evident in the numbers Google provided, 900 million Android activations to date and 750 million users of Chrome worldwide. But such statistics only sketch the outline of Google's success. Google began as a search company and seventeen years later, the head of the company's search technology, Amit Singhal opened his portion of the Google I/O keynote by taking about the end of search as we know it. Even if that's more rhetoric than reality -- Google will still be in the search ad business no matter how search changes for the foreseeable future -- it reveals a willingness to take risks that Apple and Microsoft seem to be unwilling or unable to match. [ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-strengthens-cloud-platform/240155040?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Strengthens Cloud Platform</a>. ] Singhal described how in his youth he was inspired by the computer on Star Trek, a machine capable of conversing and understanding questions. Google is developing something comparable: mobile VP Johanna Wright demonstrated <a href="http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-multi-screen-and-conversational.html">a future version of Google Search</a> that will support "hotwording," listening for a phrase like "OK Google" and then treating the words that follow as a query. Someone from Apple should have been making that announcement. The company launched Siri, its voice-driven personal assistant software, in October 2011. Siri was seen as a sign that Apple was ready to challenge Google's search dominance by betting on a future where spoken queries matter more than text queries. But Apple hasn't moved quickly enough and now finds Google pushing the technological envelope and advancing related post-search services like Google Now. Then Apple's attempt to compete with Google Maps went badly awry. As Apple works to recover from the embarrassing debut of its own Maps app, Google has launched a preview of the next version of Google Maps, and this time it's personal, or rather, <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2013/05/meet-new-google-maps-map-for-every.html">personalized</a>. Part of the problem is that Apple and Microsoft (not to mention Facebook) spend far too much energy keeping Google out instead of deploying services that are better than Google's. Communities around the country are hungry for high-speed broadband and falling all over themselves to become the next Google Fiber city. Google rightly recognizes how much Americans resent the telephone and cable monopolies, with their high fees, lack of options and poor service. Apple and Microsoft could have launched similar initiatives, if they had more expansive ambitions and were more willing to challenge existing business models. Really, there's something ludicrous about how Microsoft makes billions selling more or less the same word processor, spreadsheet and email client to everyone every two or three years. Where is Apple Street View? It doesn't exist (yet). Microsoft rightly understood the vast usefulness of Google Street View and launched its own, Microsoft Streetside. But the company found a way to limit adoption by requiring people to download its Silverlight software, now slated for extinction because of poor uptake. Apple's iCloud also suffers in comparison to Google's cloud offerings, as has been <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/apple-icloud-has-service-issues-again/240153447">documented</a> <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2012/11/27/apple-needs-to-learn-how-the-internet-works-before-icloud-evapor/">in</a> <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148628/why-doesnt-icloud-just-work">various</a> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/frustrated-with-icloud-apples-developer-community-speaks-up-en-masse/">reports</a>. Microsoft, at least, has shown it can compete in the cloud, even if it's too reliant on Office as a way to rope customers in. Meanwhile, Google is pushing ahead with its Cloud Platform to compete with Amazon Web Services. The company opened Google Compute Engine to the public, added PHP support to App Engine and introduced Cloud Datastore. Google gave developers at I/O a Chromebook Pixel, a high-end Chrome OS laptop that should set off alarm bells at Apple: Despite the fact that this is a niche luxury product designed to show developers how the Web can work with a high-resolution touchscreen, it's proof that Apple cannot rely on aesthetic superiority as a means of product differentiation, the way it could when the competition consisted of Windows PC vendors with an affinity for beige plastic. Google also launched Google Play game services, for Android, iOS and the Web. Apple's focus on its own platforms will hurt it here: Given a choice between integrating the Apple-only Game Center and the cross-platform Google Play services, developers are likely to lean Google if they're not exclusively committed to iOS. Apple looked outward with iTunes by creating a Windows version; it should have launched an Android version of Game Center instead of burying its head in the sand. Despite the absence of a significant Android update, Microsoft isn't any closer to changing the balance of power in the smartphone market. Apple at least is doing well here, though Android's relentless rise has to be keeping Apple executives awake. Google also beat Apple to the punch by launching its streaming music service, the inelegantly named Google Play Music All Access, before Apple could launch one of its own. Google CEO Larry Page insisted the competition between major Internet companies isn't a zero sum game, but it seems doubtful that the majority of consumers will be keen to pay monthly subscription fees for multiple streaming music services. There was a lot of attention paid to Google+ at Google I/O, particularly to improvements made to Google+ Photos. Though Facebook remains the leader in social networking, Google's vision of social computing is no longer laughable, because Google has the power to force participation and because some services, like Hangouts, are really good. Google+ is unavoidable, for better or worse. But Apple and Microsoft have nothing comparable, outside of a few strong stand-alone services like iMessage and Skype. All told, Google's announcements were modest, but the company's ambitions keep getting bolder. Google's competitors need to wake up to the fact that complaining to regulators and hiding behind technical barriers to entry won't save them. They need to move faster and compete more vigorously. E2 is the only event of its kind, bringing together business and technology leaders across IT, marketing, and other lines of business looking for new ways to evolve their enterprise applications strategy and transform their organizations to achieve business value. Join us June 17-19 for three days of 40+ conference sessions and workshops across eight tracks and discover the latest insights in enterprise social software, big data and analytics, mobility, cloud, SaaS and APIs, UI/UX and more. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for E2 Conference Boston today</a> and save $200 off Full Event Passes, $100 off Conference, or get a FREE Keynote + Expo Pass! 2013-05-17T15:00:00ZGoogle Glass Alarms LawmakersMembers of Congress want answers about the device and its privacy implications.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-glass-alarms-lawmakers/240155156?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundthewebLawmakers want answers from Google CEO Larry Page about the privacy implications of Google Glass. On Thursday, eight members of Congress sent <a href="http://joebarton.house.gov/images/GoogleGlassLtr_051613.pdf">a letter</a> to Page asking how Google intends to protect public privacy in the face of Glass and whether Google intends to implement facial recognition technology in its computerized eyewear. Had our worried government representatives attended Google I/O, they might have been reassured by some of what Google representatives had to say about Glass. At a session titled <a href="https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/332695704">"Fireside Chat with the Glass Team,"</a> product director Steve Lee offered his reassurance that Glass has been designed with privacy in mind. "From the beginning, the social implications and social etiquette of Glass have been at the top of our minds in how we design and develop the product," Lee said, noting that this applies not only to Glass wearers but to the people around them. [ Would you use Google to pay bills? Read more at <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-lets-you-send-money-with-gmail/240155081?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Lets You Send Money With Gmail</a>. ] Lee dismissed concerns about Glass being used covertly to capture images and video. Google's engineers, he said, designed Glass so that it provides "a very clear cue to people around you when glass is active: the display lights up, not only for me but others can see that as well." That's not something that can be said about miniature or covert cameras, mobile phones with cameras or cameras with a telephoto lens. Even so, a few Glass users among the many at Google I/O demonstrated disinterest in public perception by entering restrooms while wearing their devices. Knowing that Glass was not recording didn't make the obvious presence of a camera where cameras are not typically welcome any less awkward. While it may be that Glass can be hacked so that the act of recording isn't evident, Lee said, "Our design is to ensure the display is active when glass is active. That will be part of our [forthcoming Glass Developer Kit] and our policy. Applications won't be permitted that do that." It's not entirely clear how much permission will matter when it comes to Glass. Glass can be hacked and rooted. And Google showed developers how to do that: In a separate session on Thursday, Google engineers provided instructions on how to install Android apps or Linux on Glass. Glass developers, however, do not really need Google's guidance to hack Glass. Earlier this week, Lance Nanek, a software engineer for HTC, described in a blog post how he was part of a team that implemented proof-of-concept <a href="http://neatocode.tumblr.com/post/50292349091/face-rec-on-glass">facial recognition</a> in a Glass app for medical professionals. While Google has experimented with facial recognition in Glass, Lee said, "It's not currently in our product plans." That said, he allowed that a truly compelling use case would make the technology more acceptable. Whether Lee's assurances can erase the memory of Google's gathering of open Wi-Fi data remains to be seen, particularly when Google's foes benefit from keeping that memory alive. The Congressional inquisition about Glass specifically cites Google's 2010 collection of Wi-Fi data as a rationale for probing Glass-related privacy issues.2013-05-16T15:34:00ZGoogle Lets You Send Money With GmailNew service integrates Google Wallet with Gmail but isn't widely available yet.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-lets-you-send-money-with-gmail/240155081?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div>(click image for slideshow)</div>In an effort to boost the popularity of Google Wallet and free it from dependence on Android phones, Google is trying to make online commerce social and viral. On Wednesday at its developers' conference Google I/O, the company announced it has integrated Wallet with Gmail to allow people to <a href="http://www.google.com/wallet/send-money/">send money with their messages</a>. Google is hoping its payment-via-email service will catch on in the viral sense: "The only way you get the feature is if someone sends you money," explained Peter Hazelhurst, director of product management for Google Wallet, in <a href="https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/332490621">a video interview</a>. [ The Google developers' conference kicked off with across-the-board product announcements. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-io-day-1-music-maps-search-social/240154984?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O Day 1: Music, Maps, Search, Social</a>. ] In this metaphor for infection, the ability to transfer money via email plays the role of a disease, spread through the medium of Gmail. The concept is a bit of a stretch -- real viruses have infection rates of less than 100% and no funds transfer service would fly if only a portion of the money got through -- but it does convey what Google is doing. The company is redefining its popular email service so that it's no longer simply a way to send asynchronous messages. It is turning Gmail into an interface for other Google services, something already seen in the Google+ integration with Gmail. In a related announcement, Google introduced support for <a href="https://developers.google.com/gmail/schemas/">markup schemas in Gmail messages</a>, allowing message senders to dress up their emails by adding some code. These schemas, a set of HTML tags recognized by major search providers (although not yet standardized), simplify the addition of interactive elements to Gmail messages. They require very little markup code, making them easier to deploy and more consistent as interface elements than coding the same thing in JavaScript. Google is supporting four of these schemas and one interactive card: an RSVP Action, for responding to events; a Review Action, for submitting reviews of products, services and activities; a One-click Action, a general trigger for actions that can be performed with a click; a Go-to Action for taking users to a website; and Flight interactive cards, for a Google Now-style presentation of flight information in Gmail. According to Google Wallet product manager Travis Green, sending money via Gmail is <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/send-money-to-friends-with-gmail-and.html">free if your Wallet is linked to your bank account</a>; otherwise there's a fee of 2.9% per transaction (minimum $0.30) when the funds are drawn from a linked credit card. Sending money couldn't be much easier -- if you have Google Wallet and have already received an emailed payment. Just click on the $ icon, between the Drive and Photos icons on the attachment options ribbon at the bottom of the Gmail Compose window. If you haven't received money via Gmail from someone with early access to the service, you will probably have to wait several months before Google makes the service more widely available.2013-05-16T14:46:00ZGoogle Strengthens Cloud PlatformGoogle adds features and power to Cloud Platform, says it won't race Amazon to the bottom on price.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-strengthens-cloud-platform/240155040?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundthewebThe keynote presentation at Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, lasted over three hours and focused mainly on what Google SVP Sundar Pichai described as the company's "two open platforms:" Android and Chrome. But Google has a third platform, the Google Cloud Platform, which also received some attention in the form of new features and capabilities. And this third platform may have more potential to bring Google recurring enterprise revenue than Web productivity applications like Google Apps. Certainly, Amazon.com has realized revenue from cloud services. The company's Amazon Web Services division is estimated to have brought in over $2 billion in revenue last year. As anticipated, Google opened Compute Engine (GCE), its on-demand cloud computing infrastructure service, to the public. Launched last year as an invitation-only service, GCE was made available last month to Google Cloud Platform customers paying for the company's $400 per month Gold Support package. [ For more news and announcements from Google I/O, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-io-day-1-music-maps-search-social/240154984?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O Day 1: Music, Maps, Search, Social</a>. ] To provide more flexibility for customers, Google also introduced sub-hour billing. GCE customers can now run brief computing jobs without being forced to pay for a full hour, which is the minimum billing increment on some other services. GCE bills by the minute, with a 10-minute minimum. In addition, Google added support for shared-core instances, for routing features that make it easier to connect on-premises servers with Google's infrastructure and for persistent disks that support up to 10 TB per volume. Google has also completed the ISO 27001:2005 international security certification for Compute Engine, Google App Engine, and Google Cloud Storage. Such certifications may serve to give enterprises the confidence to shift more of their computing work into the cloud. "Our enterprise sales force is certainly in a lot of conversations with a lot of enterprises about the overall cloud platform," said Greg DeMichillie, director of product management for Google's Cloud Platform, in a press briefing on Wednesday. "I think we're at the beginning of that process, largely because if you look at enterprises in general, the enterprises that are out there actively working on the cloud are pretty small [in terms of quantity rather than size]. It's the classic bell curve. It's really only the leading edge companies that are seriously looking at it. ...We think that over the next 12 months we will see a pretty big upswing." Google App Engine, the company's platform-as-a-service offering, was updated to version 1.8.0 last week. And this week Google confirmed what others had previously observed: that App Engine had been updated to support the PHP programming language. PHP continues to be extremely popular for Web applications and its presence on App Engine should help bring more business customers to the Google Cloud Platform. With PHP and Google Cloud SQL, App Engine could become a low-cost option for hosting small WordPress websites. Google also introduced Google Cloud Datastore, a managed NoSQL database derived from the High Replication Datastore Google uses for App Engine. Developers can utilize Cloud Datastore even if their apps are not running on GCE or App Engine, making the service comparable in concept to Amazon S3. DeMichillie, however, says that Google isn't looking to compete with Amazon on price. "We intend to be a premier offering in terms of performance and abilities, but not in terms of price," he said, adding, "I don't think we need to peg our prices to others. The reality is we just price it effectively, and the result is we are as cheap [as] or cheaper than others."2013-05-15T17:14:00ZGoogle I/O Day 1: Music, Maps, Search, SocialGoogle strengthens its platform foundations by introducing a streaming music service, plus improvements to Maps, Search and Google+.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-io-conference-music-maps-search-a/240154984?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/googles-10-best-gags-pranks-and-easter-e/240151036"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/965/Google_Gags_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" title="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Announcing that there have been 900 million Android activations worldwide and that Chrome has 750 million active users, Google opened its annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, with the introduction of a series of new APIs and services for its mobile operating system and the Web. Unlike last years' spectacle-heavy event, in which skydivers wearing Glass stole the show, Google I/O 2013 is about <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/live-from-google-io-mo-screens-mo.html">fortifying Google's platforms and empowering developers</a>. It's about practical platform enhancements rather than pushing the technology envelope, at least for user-facing services. "Our goal behind these platforms is to make sure developers can build amazing experiences," said Sundar Pichai, senior VP of Chrome, apps and Android at Google. The real advances at Google are happening behind the scenes, in areas such as semantic search. For example, Vic Gundotra, senior VP of engineering and social, described an image-quality identification system that has been added to Google+ Photos thus: "Google can pick the best pictures for you." That's right, Google's engineers believe their software can compute aesthetic value, a determination not normally entrusted to code and machines. Google Glass was barely mentioned during the three-hour keynote presentation. [ Google is counting conference attendees' footsteps and other ambient stats at its developers' get-together. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/google-io-features-sensor-network/240154833?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O Features Sensor Network</a>. ] To help developers create the amazing experiences mentioned by Pichai, Google debuted new APIs for Android, new Google Play services for developers and consumers, and major enhancements for Google+ Stream, Hangouts and Photos. The company also is re-imagining its search service, deepening its ability to understand queries and to respond to conversational queries, at least for Chrome users. Amit Singhal, senior VP of search, called it "the end of search as you know it." The Android APIs include Fused Location Provider, a faster, more accurate and less power-hungry location system; Geofencing, which supports up to 100 virtual location-based boundaries in an app; and Activity Recognition, which can help developers measure physical activity through phone motion. Google is expanding Google+ Sign-In with cross-platform single sign-on, so that Google credentials can be used on Android devices and websites. The service includes the ability to prompt the user to automatically install an Android app when logging in to a related website. Google+ gained dozens of new features. The three major ones are: a redesign of the Google+ Stream to support a multi-column format; a revision of Hangouts so that it works as a cross-platform communications service; and new image editing and organization tools for Google+ Photos. Google Play Game Services can be thought of as Google's answer to Apple's Game Center, except that Google Play Game Services is cross-platform: It can be deployed in Android apps, iOS apps or Web games. It includes cloud game saving, achievements, leader boards and multiplayer matchmaking and coordination.To address the lackadaisical Android update policy followed by many mobile carriers, Google plans to sell a special Samsung Galaxy S 4 through Google Play for $649, beginning June 26. It features the Nexus UI and will get Android updates from Google as soon as the updates are released. Google also is releasing an integrated development environment (IDE) for Android called Android Studio, to improve programmer productivity. Google launched its own music streaming service, Google Play Music All Access, for users in the U.S. For $10 per month -- $8 if you sign up before June 30 -- users gain the ability to stream millions of Google Play songs to computers and mobile devices. The company also added a new section to the Google Play store, Google Play for Education, a service to help schools, educators and students use Android content. The Google Play website has received the same design revision displayed in the Google Play mobile app last month. And the Google Play Developer Console now boasts five new features: Optimization Tips, advice on ways to make apps sell better; App Translation, an integrated way to submit text strings in apps to various third-party services for translation into different languages; Usage Metrics and Referral Tracking, to help developers understand how their apps are being used; Revenue Graphs, to see the money; and Beta Testing and Staged Rollouts, to distribute apps in a controlled manner. Google has added the ability to set Google Now reminders using voice commands, along with other new Google Now services, and it previewed "hotwording," the ability to set a phrase that will prompt Google to search based on a spoken query. Google has already implemented this in Glass: Users alert Glass to a forthcoming command by prefacing the command with "ok glass." "The search of the future will need to answer, converse and anticipate," said Singhal. As expected, Google showed off a forthcoming version of Google Maps that features a cleaner design with more relevant, personalized information. "When you are logged in, you get your maps and we'll highlight everything that's important for you," said Bernhard Seefeld, product director for Google Maps. Google says there are more than one billion monthly active users of Google Maps services and more than one million websites and apps using the Maps API. To use the new maps, users can sign up at <a href="http://maps.google.com/preview">maps.google.com/preview</a>. Google expects to send out invitations on Thursday. Although not mentioned in the keynote, Google is <a href="http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2013/05/ushering-in-next-generation-of.html">now supporting PHP</a> as a language on App Engine and has opened Compute Engine to the general public. It launched Google Cloud Datastore, a managed NoSQL database to complement its other cloud platform offerings.2013-05-15T08:34:00ZGoogle CEO Recovering From Vocal Cord ParalysisLarry Page has published a Google+ post explaining his recent voice problems.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/google-ceo-recovering-from-vocal-cord-pa/240154898?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div>(click image for slideshow)</div>Google CEO Larry Page says that his ongoing hoarseness is the result of the paralysis of his vocal chords and that he has decided to fund voice-related medical research through the Voice Health Institute, based in Boston, Mass. Last summer, Page <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/software/productivity-applications/undefined/240004068">did not speak</a> during Google's Q2 2012 earnings conference call, owing to an undisclosed ailment that affected his ability to talk publicly for several months. Coming not long after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the controversy over whether Apple owed investors more information about Jobs' health, awareness of Page's medical challenge raised similar, if more muted, questions in the media. In <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LarryPage/post">a Google+ post</a> on Tuesday, Page discussed his condition publicly for the first time. He explained that 14 years ago, he caught a bad cold that left his voice hoarse. His doctor at the time diagnosed him with left vocal cord paralysis, a nerve problem. A cause was never identified but Page speculates that a virus might be to blame. [ Sensors planted all over the Google I/O conference starting Wednesday will collect ambient data including footsteps. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/google-io-features-sensor-network/240154833?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O Features Sensor Network</a>. ] In any event, Page's voice mostly returned and Page says that he was told that his other vocal cord was not likely to be affected because sequential vocal cord paralysis was rare. Nonetheless, he was again afflicted with vocal cord paralysis last summer and again no cause was diagnosed. Page now believes his vocal problems might be related to a thyroid condition, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, with which he was diagnosed in 2003, because although each vocal cord takes a different route through the body, both converge in the thyroid. "Thankfully, after some initial recovery I'm fully able to do all I need to at home and at work, though my voice is softer than before," Page wrote. "And giving long monologues is more tedious for me and probably the audience. But overall over the last year there has been some improvement with people telling me they think I sound better." Page adds that although his vocal cord problem has also limited his ability to exercise at peak aerobic capacity, he still outlasts his friends when kite surfing. Page does not disclose the extent of the funding he plans to provide to the Voice Health Institute other than to say that it is "significant." A call to the Voice Health Institute went unanswered. Google's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, also has written publicly about personal health issues. In 2008, Brin launched a blog on Google's blogger platform -- Google+ hadn't been launched yet -- with a post about his <a href="http://too.blogspot.com/2008/09/lrrk2.html">elevated risk for Parkinson's Disease</a> and his interest in genetic research.2013-05-14T15:20:00ZGoogle I/O Features Sensor NetworkHundreds of sensors will measure environmental conditions at Google I/O, and the hardware designs will be available as open source.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/google-io-features-sensor-network/240154833?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div> (click image for slideshow) </div> Having closed the books on its 2010 <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/google-mortified-over-wifi-data-gatherin/227900752">data collection from open Wi-Fi networks</a> with fines, organizational changes and contrition, Google is once again ready to revisit permission-less data gathering. This time, however, the company won't be vacuuming personal information: At its <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-io-2013-preview/240154653">Google I/O</a> developer conference on Wednesday in San Francisco, Google plans to deploy a series of sensors to collect data about environmental conditions in the Moscone West conference center over the course of the event. "Using software built with the Google Cloud Platform, <a href="http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2013/05/data-sensing-lab-at-google-io-2013.html">we'll be collecting and visualizing ambient data about the conference</a>, such as temperature, humidity, air quality, in real time," explained Michael Manoochehri, developer programs engineer at Google, in a blog post. "Altogether, the sensors network will provide over 4,000 continuous data streams over a ZigBee mesh network managed by Device Cloud by Etherios." [ For more Google news, read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-combines-storage-for-gmail-drive/240154799?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Combines Storage For Gmail, Drive, Photos</a>. ] In addition, said Manoochehri, the sensors will detect noise-level fluctuations and count footsteps in certain locations to provide a picture of how attendees move about the conference area. Conference attendees might have their own real-time biological systems to detect and respond to temperature, humidity, air quality, noise and crowds, but Google's goal isn't to graph the obvious; it's to promote the development of software and hardware for its Cloud Platform. Having constructed a set of cloud services, Google would like to see more tenants move in. Google's approach to working with developers is notably different than Apple's. Apple, in keeping with its preference for control, requires third-party developers to join its <a href="https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/">MiFi program</a> to develop authorized accessories for iOS hardware. In the context of Android, Google has opted for a more open road: It offers an open <a href="http://developer.android.com/tools/adk/index.html">Accessory Development Kit</a>, based on the Arduino open-source electronics prototyping platform, to help developers come up with Android-compatible hardware without the need for a license. Google is taking a similarly open approach with its Cloud Platform: The Cloud Platform code for the sensor project, the Arduino sensor hardware designs, and the data collected will be open source and publicly available after the conference, according to Manoochehri. Google is working with O'Reilly Media's <a href="http://datasensinglab.com">Data Sensing Lab</a> to deploy some 525 sensors at the conference. Although Google is pitching its Cloud Platform as a foundation for potential sensor-oriented innovation, Data Sensing Lab is participating to promote the sensor hardware on a broader level: Generating interest in the Internet of Things contributes to O'Reilly Media's publishing, events and DIY hardware businesses.2013-05-14T09:09:00ZGoogle Combines Storage For Gmail, Drive, PhotosGoogle users now get 15 GB free for Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-combines-storage-for-gmail-drive/240154799?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/storage/data-protection/8-great-cloud-storage-services/240151180"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/967/Cloud_Storage_Services_01_tn.jpg" alt="8 Great Cloud Storage Services" title="8 Great Cloud Storage Services" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 Great Cloud Storage Services</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Last year, when Google <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/google-defends-privacy-policy-consolidat/232500825">combined the privacy policies</a> for more than 60 services into a single policy governing most of the company's services, the company assured lawmakers that its consolidated privacy policy would allow for a more seamless user experience and information sharing across different products. On Monday, Google extended that policy merger into the product realm. The company broke down the wall that separated Gmail from Drive and Google+ Photos. Henceforth, Google users have access to 15 GB of free online storage that covers Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos. Previously, Gmail came with 10 GB of free storage and Drive and Google+ Photos collectively came with 5 GB. The combined free storage pool puts an end to Google's previous practice of slowly increasing Gmail storage over time. But Google product management director Clay Bavor insists separate storage doesn't make any sense anymore. "With this new combined storage space, you won't have to worry about how much you're storing and where," <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/bringing-it-all-together-15-gb-now.html"> Bavor explained in a blog post</a>. "For example, maybe you're a heavy Gmail user but light on photos, or perhaps you were bumping up against your Drive storage limit but were only using 2 GB in Gmail. Now it doesn't matter, because you can use your storage the way you want." [ What will we see out of Google's developer conference? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-io-2013-preview/240154653?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O 2013 Preview</a>. ] That's as long as you want to use less than 15 GB of storage all told. If you want to use more space, you have the option to buy more, at a rate of $5 per month per 100 GB. The maximum amount of storage Google offers is 16 TB, for $800 per month. As a point of reference, Amazon.com currently sells 1 TB hard drives for less than $80. Also, Microsoft Skydrive offers 7 GB free to new users. The change affects Google's business customers, too. Google Apps users will have <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/">30 GB of unified storage</a> that's shared between Gmail and Drive. The <a href="https://www.google.com/settings/storage/">Google Drive storage page</a> doesn't yet reflect the company's new pricing, but Google says it plans to update the page soon. The altered storage scheme affects consumers immediately. Google plans to roll out the changes to its Rapid Release business customers in the coming weeks. For Apps users, one exception to Google's storage quota still remains: Google does not count files created in Docs against storage limits.2013-05-13T15:32:00ZAT&T Reportedly Dropping HTC Facebook PhoneHTC First, the first smartphone to come with the Facebook Home interface pre-installed, has not proven to be popular.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/att-dropping-htc-facebook-phone-report-s/240154771?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/facebook-home-invasion/240152345"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/974/facebook_home_001_tn.jpg" alt="Facebook Home Invasion" title="Facebook Home Invasion" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Facebook Home Invasion</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>Last month, when introducing his company's <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/facebook-home-wraps-android-in-social/240152272">Facebook Home app</a>, CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that mobile phones are designed around apps when they should be designed around people. The people who buy phones evidently are not convinced. They've bought few of the HTC First phones, which were the first to ship with Facebook Home pre-installed. Consumers have purchased only about 15,000 of the devices through last week, according to <a href="http://bgr.com/2013/05/13/htc-first-discontinued-att-facebook-phone/">Boy Genius Report (BGR)</a>, prompting AT&T to decide to discontinue selling the phone and to return unsold inventory to HTC. [ What will this year's Google developers' conference reveal? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-io-2013-preview/240154653?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O 2013 Preview</a>. ] Both Facebook and HTC declined to comment. An AT&T spokesman said a response would be forthcoming, but declined to say when. In the past, AT&T has characterized price drops as regular marketing events unrelated to product performance. A warning sign came last week when AT&T dropped the price of the HTC First to $0.99 with a two-year contract. When launched on April 12, the phone was offered for $99. For HTC, disinterest in the HTC First arrives at a bad time. The Taiwan-based smartphone maker last month reported that its first quarter net income fell 98%, its sixth consecutive quarter of decline. Its revenue drop has been attributed to competition with other smartphone makers and component shortages that delayed the availability of the HTC One smartphone. For Facebook, the repudiation might sting but it validates the company's decision not to manufacture its own mobile phone. When Facebook Home launched last month, Ovum chief telecom analyst Jan Dawson characterized Facebook's decision to build an app rather than a phone as a low-risk bet. A survey of 3,269 people published last month by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo.com found that <a href="http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2013/04/amazon-facebook-smartphone-and-ecosystem-war">82% of respondents were not interested in buying a Facebook phone</a>. Evidently, that disinterest extends to the Facebook Home app. Through Google Play, Facebook Home has just passed a million downloads, a respectable number for a stand-alone app but hardly what a service with over a billion users might hope for. To make matter worse, Facebook Home is plagued by poor reviews. The app at the moment has more one-star reviews (8,866) than two-star through five-star reviews combined (7,962). Its average rating is 2.2.2013-05-11T09:26:00ZGoogle I/O 2013 PreviewLook for an improved Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3, a new language for App Engine and other product introductions at Google I/O.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-io-2013-preview/240154653?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/google-chromebook-pixel-visual-tour/240149087"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/953/one_tn.JPG" alt="Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour" title="Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Chromebook Pixel: Visual Tour</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Google's annual developer conference, <a href="https://developers.google.com/events/io/">Google I/O</a>, begins Wednesday, although it's likely to be a more subdued event than last year's extravaganza. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-io-jelly-bean-nexus-tablet-projec/240002846">Google I/O 2012</a> would be hard to top: Skydivers wearing Google Glass broadcasted live video from the devices as they jumped from an airship over San Francisco, landed on the roof of the Moscone Convention Center, and performed bike stunts while making their way to the keynote auditorium. Now that Glass is a real product and is being distributed to the developers who signed up to be Glass Explorers last year, execution matters more than publicity. Google will probably present a polished video about someone using Glass in a socially conscious or inspiring way. [ Will Internet-connected glasses mean the end of manners? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-glass-etiquette-a-work-in-progres/240154551?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass Etiquette: A Work In Progress</a>. ] But if I/O 2013 offers less in the way of spectacle, that might mean more in the way of substance. Here's what we could see: The Marriage of Android and Chrome? The most interesting thing about Google I/O this year might be hearing what Sundar Pichai has to say. Pichai was recently tapped to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/update-from-ceo.html">take over management of Google's Android operating system</a>, in addition to his duties overseeing Chrome and Apps. Android and the Chrome browser both have been huge successes for Google. Chrome OS, Google's browser-based operating system, hasn't done as well. If Google wants to sell notebook hardware outside the education and business markets — and producing prestige products like the Chromebook Pixel suggests it does — it needs to find a way to make Chrome OS hardware more useful and better integrated with its growing Android installed base. Google could create code that allows Android apps to be executed on Chrome OS devices, using its NaCl technology. Whether it will do so remains to be seen. But at the very least, we should expect the ability to edit Microsoft Office files in Chrome browsers and on Chrome OS devices using Google's QuickOffice technology, acquired last year. Google already has integrated QuickOffice into Chrome to allow Office document viewing. It might finally be ready to announce the ability to edit Office documents in Chrome. Hangouts Gets Babel Google has been working on an integrated cross-platform instant messaging and communication application. Referred to internally as Babel, it's now expected to be <a href="http://www.techradar.com/us/news/internet/confirmed-babel-will-launch-as-google-hangouts-1150473">rolled into Hangouts</a>, currently a video collaboration and broadcasting service. The new Hangouts is expected to integrate Talk and Messenger, with Voice to be added at a later date. Nexus 7 HD To compete with the iPad Mini Retina tablet expected from Apple, Google is reportedly <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/us-google-nexus-idUSBRE93205L20130403">upgrading its Nexus 7 tablet</a> with a high-resolution screen and faster processor. Although not an earth-shattering development, an upgraded mini tablet certainly will be welcomed by Android fans. App Engine Adds PHP Google has acknowledged it will be adding support for another programming language to App Engine. The only question is what it will be. Over at Reddit, there's a convincing case being made that <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/1e0m9d/it_seems_that_php_is_the_newest_runtime_on_google/">it will be PHP</a>, a language that doesn't get much respect but remains widely used. I'd have preferred JavaScript and node.js. Google Playground Apple has Game Center as a communal center of gravity for iOS and OS X games. Google doesn't have an equivalent, yet. The company recently hired game-industry veteran Noah Falstein as its chief game designer. And the .apk code for the recently released MyGlass app <a href="http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/04/18/apk-teardown-google-games-anyone-play-services-is-getting-real-time-and-turn-based-multiplayer-invitations-in-game-chat-lobbies-leaderboards-and-achievements/">suggests Google Play Services</a> are being developed. Maps Redesign <a href="http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-google-maps-interface.html">A revamped version of Google Maps</a> was spotted recently. Whether this is simply an aesthetic change or was undertaken to accommodate new services or devices isn't yet clear. Google Now, Everywhere Google Now, the company's mobile predictive search tool, could find a place in desktop browsers, or perhaps just in Chrome. Google apparently has <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-now-destined-for-googlecom/240153372">been testing code</a> that would allow this. Google Compute Engine Restrictions Removed In April, Google made Compute Engine available to customers paying $400 per month for its Cloud Platform Gold Support service. Compute Engine, which competes with cloud services such as Amazon EC2, previously had been available by invitation. Google I/O would be the logical time to announce unqualified public availability. Android 4.3 Android watchers remain convinced that Android 5.0, otherwise known as Key Lime Pie, has been delayed. Instead, they expect to see an incremental upgrade, Android 4.3. Notable features are said to include support for Bluetooth Low Energy and OpenGL ES 3.0. Delaying Android 5.0 has the advantage of allowing Google to respond to iOS 7, which presumably will be revealed in June at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference. Glass Partnerships? Glass just got a software upgrade so it seems unlikely Google will have much to announce. Perhaps we'll see a partnership with Warby Parker for fulfilling custom lenses or the announcement of distribution events for winners of Google's #ifihadglass contest. Or we might see some interesting third-party Glass apps debut. What We Probably Won't See Google is believed to be working on a streaming music service is similar to in concept to Spotify, though the reported launch date isn't until the third quarter of the year. Google was reportedly working on <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/development/mobility/google-wallet-gets-real/240012795">a physical Google Wallet card</a>, but that apparently has <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130510/googles-wallet-plans-for-io-cloud-expansion-on-but-longtime-physical-card-plan-scuttled/">been cancelled</a>. Google TV persists but hasn't gotten much attention recently. Don't look for that to change. And after the debacle of the Nexus Q audio system last year, it seems unlikely Google will revisit music hardware, at least until it has a functioning streaming music service as a tie-in. Motorola's XFON may or may not make the cut. We'll have to wait and see.2013-05-10T09:06:00ZGoogle Glass Etiquette: A Work In ProgressCan you stop recording me now? That's one worry early Google Glass users say they're trying to soothe while creating social norms for the groundbreaking gadget.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-glass-etiquette-a-work-in-progres/240154551?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb  <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/social_networking_consumer/240007253"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/867/Google-Plus,-1st-screen_full.PNG" alt="10 Best Business Tools In Google+" title="10 Best Business Tools In Google+" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 Best Business Tools In Google+</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>   While recounting his experience using Google Glass for the past few weeks, <a href="https://plus.google.com/109854785137745177366/">Noble Ackerson</a> had his privacy invaded, again. Ackerson, a technology strategist and software developer in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, was participating in a phone interview using his mobile phone, hands free, while wearing Glass in his car. Upon pulling into a parking spot at a car dealership, he began chuckling: A man had just taken his picture, he explained. Ackerson observed that while Glass gets characterized in the press as a tool for invading people's privacy, "I've had more people take photos and videos of me than I've been in situations where I would want to record someone." Like many people who have worn Glass in public, Ackerson has encountered negative reactions. He recalled a recent visit to one of his clients, where a young woman said, "It looks like you have something wrong with you." [ How can Google make Glass better? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-glass-gets-smeared-11-improvement/240154378?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass Gets Smeared: 11 Improvement Ideas</a>. ] Asked to elaborate, she said, "It just doesn't look natural." Ackerson said he responded by telling her that the inventor of the monocle probably received similar reactions. Ackerson wore Glass during a meeting with a different client and that client didn't say anything until the end of the meeting. He said that after he explained he was wearing Glass, the client remarked that it made him look crazy. Ackerson said his experience as an early Chevy Volt driver was similar. "Any new technology will come with its own misconceptions," he said. That may explain why, back in March, Ackerson created a series of <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/109854785137745177366/albums/5854572181627340801">etiquette cards for Glass</a>. He likens his role as a Glass Explorer to that of an ambassador for Google's technology. Evidently, Glass needs ambassadors, because some people are intolerant and abusive to those wearing the device. There's <a href="https://www.glass-community.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/message-uid/391#U391">a discussion on the Glass Community website</a>, a closed forum for Glass Explorers, that asks about the negative experiences Glass users have dealt with. Developer Ben Oberkfell opened the discussion. "I just had an experience yesterday, on day two of owning Glass, where someone leveled an obscenity at me as we passed on the sidewalk," he wrote. The good news for Google and Glass Explorers is that hate isn't the most common reaction to Glass. At least half of the handful of developers contributing to the discussion described positive responses to wearing Glass. Det Ansinn, president and founder of software development company BrickSimple and Council President of Doylestown Boro in Pennsylvania, wrote, "I've had great experiences wearing it on the street. I enjoy a daily walking commute so I get to see a lot of people. As an elected official, people are always more than willing to stop me and talk. I do 'Glass with confidence' and I suspect that goes a long way." Michael DiGiovanni, emerging technology lead for marketing and design firm <a href="http://www.roundarchisobar.com/">Roundarch Isobar</a>, said in a phone interview that he'd experienced mostly positive reactions. "Everyone I've come up to has been intrigued and interested," he said. "The most negative reaction has come from security guards, who almost always ask if Glass is recording." But, DiGiovanni said, once he explains that Glass is not always recording, the wary relax and become interested. He too likens the role of Glass Explorer to that of an ambassador and an evangelist. "If we take a few minutes to explain the technology and address concerns, I think we'll make it more acceptable," he said. DiGiovanni said that while Glass has taken a while to get used to, he sees it serving a role similar to a smart watch. He suggests Glass will allow people to access information without removing their smartphones from their pockets. And he praised Glass's turn-by-turn navigation as exceptional. Like Ackerson, DiGiovanni said he's had people take his picture because he's wearing Glass. He noted it was ironic that people fear Glass will invade their privacy when they're the ones taking pictures with their mobile phones. <a href="http://drlarryrosen.com">Larry Rosen</a>, a professor and past chair of the psychology department at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/iDisorder-Understanding-Obsession-Technology-Overcoming/dp/0230117570">iDisorder</a>, contends that the negative reaction to Glass goes beyond uncertainty about its capabilities and its privacy implications. The salient issue, Rosen explained in a phone interview, has to do with expectations about attention. "If you're out at a restaurant with a group of people and they're picking up their phones, you know people are not attending to you. …It's not obvious with Glass. You're creating a situation where attention becomes ambiguous." Rosen likens the situation to the advent of Bluetooth earpieces several years ago. The expectation then was that when you heard someone speaking in your vicinity, that person was probably speaking to you. Bluetooth earpieces and mobile phones violated that expectation and, as a result, annoyed people. "We've now come into a gray area about what is social etiquette," he explained. "There is no etiquette for holding someone in your visual field and not paying attention to that person." However, Rosen does not expect this to be an issue for long. He suggests that just as we've gotten used to having televisions in bedrooms and to individuals conversing aloud within unseen people, we'll acclimate to Glass. "We appear to adapt to technological innovations rather rapidly and that's good because they're coming rather rapidly," he said. At the same time, that doesn't mean the transition will be easy. "Etiquette always lags behind acceptance," Rosen said. "There's still no etiquette for using a cell phone in the middle of church. It's frowned upon but people still do it."2013-05-09T15:45:00ZGoogle Says Shoppers With Smartphones Spend MoreGoogle says frequent smartphone users spend 25% to 50% more while shopping than moderate smartphone users do.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-says-shoppers-with-smartphones-sp/240154547?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/googles-10-best-gags-pranks-and-easter-e/240151036"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/965/Google_Gags_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" title="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Google, which is heavily invested in smartphones, search advertising and mobile commerce, has just published a study that suggests retailers have reason to embrace smartphones, search advertising and mobile commerce. <a href="http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/mobile-in-store.html">The study</a>, conducted with the assistance of M.A.R.C. Research and the Google Shopper Council, finds that 79% of smartphone owners use their mobile phones for shopping and 84% of those who do so use their smartphones in retail stores. When shoppers evaluate products in stores by using their smartphones to compare prices with online retailers, that's known as "showrooming." It's a practice retailers dislike because they tend to have trouble competing on price with the likes of Amazon.com. Placed, a mobile analytics company, conducted <a href="http://www.placed.com/resources/white-papers/aisle-to-amazon">a study</a> in January that reaffirmed the threat showrooming represents to traditional retailers. To underscore that point, the study noted that Best Buy and Target, in an effort to curtail showrooming, have put policies in place to match Amazon.com prices. [ Everybody wants a piece of the mobile market. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/microsoft-opens-office-web-apps-to-andro/240154386?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Microsoft Opens Office Web Apps To Android Tablets</a>. ] A related recent <a href="http://www.gartner.com/id=2335415">Gartner study</a> suggests that less than 10% of shoppers end up buying from a showroomed retailer. With customers like these who need enemies? Well, Google would have retailers believe that smartphone-armed shoppers aren't as bad as all that. In fact, Google's research suggests they're big spenders. "We compared the in-store purchases of moderate and frequent smartphone users and found that basket sizes of frequent mobile shoppers were 25%-50% higher," said Adam Grunewald, mobile ads marketing manager, in <a href="http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2013/05/understanding-smartphone-use-in-stores.html">a blog post</a>. "For instance, while the average appliance smartphone shoppers spends $250 per shopping trip, frequent smartphone shoppers spend $350." Google argues that winning over smartphone-wielding shoppers requires being present online, ideally in Google's search index. Google's study indicates that 82% of smartphone shoppers rely on mobile search to help make purchase decisions, which is more than the 62% who turn to store websites or the 50% who turn to brand websites. Gartner research VP Allen Weiner suggested in <a href="http://blogs.gartner.com/allen_weiner/2013/01/25/can-content-marketing-beat-showrooming/">a blog post</a> earlier this year that retailers combat showrooming by hiring people who are passionate about the product they're selling. But that may not be the answer. Google's study suggests that hiring fewer people or keeping employees hidden might be the best way to win business from smartphone shoppers. Grunewald notes that a third of smartphone shoppers "would rather find information using their smartphone than ask a store employee." And the percentage of employee-averse shoppers rises to almost 50% when the product category is electronics and appliances. Whether smartphones make shoppers antisocial or make wiser advisers than poorly trained employees, retailers need to adapt. "[I]t's clear that smartphones are changing the in-store experience, and that winning the key decision moments at the physical shelves means owning the digital shelves too," said Grunewald.2013-05-08T16:29:00ZGoogle Glass Gets First UpdateFirst software update, version XE5, responds to queries "wicked fast" and adds support for Google+ notifications, among other improvements.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-glass-gets-first-update/240154470?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div>(click image for slideshow)</div><a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/">Google Glass</a>, a wearable, network-ready computer and display screen packed into an eyeglass frame, has been in the hands of a small group of developers for just a few weeks, but Google is already sending the device its first post-release software update. Not all Glass units have received the update. The few thousand Glass developers testing the device can confirm the software version they're running through the Device Info card. The update is designated XE5. <strike>The software update frees turn-by-turn navigation from its previous dependence on the MyGlass Android app. This lets iOS users now ask Glass for directions. Doing so presents this not particularly confidence-inspiring warning message: "Please keep your eyes on the road and obey applicable laws. Do not manipulate this application while in motion. Directions may be inaccurate, incomplete, dangerous, not suitable or prohibited. Data is not real time and location accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Tap to continue."</strike> The update brings a number of other improvements as well. It adds support for incoming Google+ notifications, with the ability to comment and +1, and for incoming Hangout notifications. It also opens up public Google+ sharing of Glass content. [ What's it like to wear Google's high-tech specs? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] It extends a shortcut action to invoke Google search -- a prolonged press on the Glass frame -- so that it's available from anywhere in the user interface. In version XE4, search could be activated only when the device was awakened. Google Glass is faster now. Version XE5 accelerates the speed at which spoken queries and messages are transcribed to "wicked fast." Google also has improved battery life with a more restrictive sync policy: it now requires both power and Wi-Fi connectivity for background uploads. Battery power representation has been made more accurate as well, according to Google. The update also adds crash reporting and improves Glass's on-head detection system. There's now support for international number dialing with SMS, and the Device Info card now displays the device serial number. A hop animation has been added to indicate when a swipe action is not allowed. And there's a new recipient-list mosaic for messages. Looking ahead, the Glass Mirror API bug report list suggests possible future features. Among the posts accepted for evaluation, there's one asking for the ability to customize the "ok glass..." command initiation phrase. <a href="https://code.google.com/p/google-glass-api/issues/detail?id=6&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Owner%20Summary">Not all the Glass developers agree</a> this would be a good idea, but it's being considered. If Google ultimately rejects command phrase customization, it might want to consider adding voice pattern authentication. Right now, when Glass is listening for "ok glass," it does not care who says the phrase. This makes it easy for people to interfere with someone else's Glass usage. Other Mirror API suggestions include integrating Glass with Google Goggles, which would allow image recognition and QR code recognition, for example. Glass developers also have asked for the ability to trigger the camera programmatically and for native Android application support. Update: Google's <a href="https://www.glass-community.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/message-uid/527#U527">official post</a> about the update, which went up after this story was filed, does not mention the decoupling of turn-by-turn navigation with the Android MyGlass app. Although turn-by-turn navigation appears to be accessible for Glass users who aren't using Android phones and MyGlass, initial testing suggests some turn-by-turn functionality might still be missing. Testing with a paired iPhone produced a turn-by-turn map but also a "Searching for GPS" message. We've asked Google to clarify. Correction: Despite claims by Glass users that they could access turn-by-turn navigation without MyGlass and a test that suggested as much, the Glass update XE5 does not provide that functionality Google has confirmed. We apologize for the error.2013-05-08T09:03:00ZMicrosoft Opens Office Web Apps To Android TabletsReal-time collaboration is also on its way as Microsoft commits to ongoing enhancements of its cloud productivity software.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/microsoft-opens-office-web-apps-to-andro/240154386?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>  Microsoft Office Web Apps, free online versions of the company's popular Office productivity applications, will soon support Google Chrome on Android tablets and will gain the same kind of real-time collaboration found in Google Apps. Office Web Apps are accessed via a Web browser, require SkyDrive online storage and are available through most Office 365 plans. Office 365 is Microsoft's subscription-based service that provides access to Office productivity, communication and collaboration software in the cloud and on the desktop. In a blog post on Tuesday, Amanda Lefebvre, senior product marketing manager on Microsoft's Office Web Apps team, said that <a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/archive/2013/05/07/office-web-apps-more-office-more-collaborative-more-devices.aspx">Microsoft intends to improve</a> the user experience, social and collaboration capabilities, and cross-platform browser support for Office Web Apps. "You'll see us introducing a collection of authoring features that make it easier to collaborate in the cloud, a new real time co-authoring experience and editing capabilities from more devices," said Lefebvre. Just as Adobe is <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/adobe-kills-boxed-version-of-creative-su/240154269">embracing software-as-a-service</a>, so too is Microsoft, without going so far as dropping boxed software. Microsoft director <a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/office-news/archive/2013/05/07/software-subscriptions-progressive-or-premature.aspx">Clint Patterson in a separate blog post</a> on Tuesday observed, "Like Adobe, we think subscription software-as-a-service is the future. The benefits are huge. Subscribers get the latest and most complete applications, not to mention support across the multitude of devices people use today." That's a message cloud-oriented companies have been hammering for years. [ Comedians and pundits are making a mockery of Google Glass. Can Google get the last laugh? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-glass-gets-smeared-11-improvement/240154378?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass Gets Smeared: 11 Improvement Ideas</a>. ] Office Web Apps will become more Google-friendly, with support for Android tablets, and more like Google Apps, with true real-time collaborative editing. Office Web Apps presently offer something close to real-time collaborative editing, but they fall short -- users see collaborators' changes only after those changes have been saved, rather than as they type. Microsoft's announcement may seem to be premature given that Lefebvre's blog post suggests Office Web Apps won't gain Android tablet and real-time collaboration support for a few months. But at least Microsoft is making real-time editing in PowerPoint available immediately. Office Web Apps already support a variety of mobile devices, at least partially. Microsoft maintains <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-suite-help/compare-how-different-mobile-devices-work-with-office-365-HA103991814.aspx">a detailed online chart</a> that identifies how mobile devices function, or don't, with Office Web Apps and other Office 365 software. Michael Atalla, director of product marketing for Office 365, in a phone briefing claimed that Microsoft understands productivity challenges more broadly than competitors like Google, thanks to the scope of its business software and to its years of enterprise experience. "Holistically, productivity is more than running code in a browser," Atalla said, as if to suggest that Google's efforts are confined to client-side scripting. In any event, Microsoft, though cautious in its move to the cloud, appears to be doing well with Office 365 adoption. "This quarter was our strongest ever with net seat additions up five times over the prior year," said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein during the company's earnings conference call in April. "One in four of our enterprise customers now has Office 365 and the business is on $1 billion annual revenue run rate."2013-05-07T14:49:00ZGoogle Glass Gets Smeared: 11 Improvement IdeasComedians and pundits are making a mockery of Google Glass. Here are 11 ways Google could get the last laugh.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-glass-gets-smeared/240154378?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/googles-10-best-gags-pranks-and-easter-e/240151036"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/965/Google_Gags_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" title="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Google Glass shows signs of being the next Apple Newton, a product that was ahead of its time and undone by relentless ridicule. But the fate of Glass in the market is not as clear as its name suggests. In <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130307015547-531284-i-m-a-google-glass-skeptic-and-think-it-ll-be-the-next-apple-newton">a post published</a> on LinkedIn in March, blogger and entrepreneur Andrew Chen compared Glass to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_%28platform%29">Newton</a>. He characterized it as a visionary product that could succeed after several iterations, in the way the iPhone and iPad can be seen as improvements on the Newton. What Chen didn't foresee is the breadth of public wariness and skepticism about Glass. Over the weekend, Saturday Night Live skewered Glass mercilessly in its <a href="http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-randall-meeks/n36353/">Weekend Update sketch</a>, expressing in parody what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nobody-really-likes-google-glass-2013-5">early mixed reviews of the device</a> are saying in prose. And dissing Glass isn't merely a pastime for late-night comedians. On Tuesday, the New York Times explored the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/technology/personaltech/google-glass-picks-up-early-signal-keep-out.html">nascent resistance to Glass</a>. The Wall Street Journal has weighed in with <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323982704578453031054200120.html">an etiquette guide</a>, which seems to be predicated on the notion that wearing Glass makes one forget civil behavior. Then there's the widely cited <a href="http://whitemenwearinggoogleglass.tumblr.com/">White Men Wearing Glass</a> website, <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/features-of-google-glass,31880/">The Onion's</a> take on Glass, and a <a href="http://tapastic.com/episode/2058">Joy of Tech comic</a>. [ What's Google Glass really like? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] There's even been critique of Glass for what it doesn't do, but presumably could: <a href="http://t.co/8xUKRdHUeN">billboard ad blocking</a>. Google, as a major company, has no shortage of detractors, and bold bets invite punishments for hubris. When you build a Glass house, expect some stones. Part of the issue is that the Internet lends itself to ridicule. Everyone's a critic. It's difficult to create anything new and it's simple to tear something down. Witness how <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZwModZmOzDs">Microsoft can be pilloried</a> for a product it hasn't even attempted, its own version of Glass. But easy derision isn't easy to deal with. Ridicule kills products, at least that's public perception. Here's what Computerworld writer David Haskin <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9012345/Don_t_Believe_the_Hype_The_21_Biggest_Technology_Flops">wrote about the demise of Apple's Newton</a> in 2007: "So why did Newton flop? One reason was the ridicule heaped on it by talk show comedians and comic strips (most notably 'Doonesbury'), which focused on the supposed inaccuracy of the handwriting recognition. Also, Newton was expensive -- about $700 for the first model and as much as $1,000 for later, more advanced models. In addition, Newton was arguably ahead of its time." Of course there was more to it than that, but disdain sways public opinion. Suddenly, the term "Glasshole" is rising in Google Trends. It spiked last year in <a href="http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/01/new-york-daily-news-calls-stoudemire-glasshole/">a different context</a>. Now it succinctly captures the way many see Glass wearers. <script type="text/javascript" src="//www.google.com/trends/embed.js?hl=en-US&q=glasshole&content=1&cid=TIMESERIES_GRAPH_0&export=5&w=500&h=330"></script> Google declined to comment. But the company has won big bets before. YouTube was once dismissed as a bad investment. Google+ was written off as a ghost town. Android for years was seen as something less than iOS. There have been failures, too, like Wave and the Nexus Q. But it's too early to tell how Glass will turn out. If Glass does follow the trajectory of the Newton, that might not be as bad as it seems. Wearable computing is not a fad and Glass is an experiment; if Glass Explorer Edition never takes off, Google will do better the second time around. But first, Google will have to find a way to wipe the smears off Glass.Developers may be able to help, if they can create compelling applications for Glass. A killer app of some sort, something that can't be done on a smartphone, would go a long way toward justifying Glass ownership. But there's only so much they can do given the limitations of the Mirror API and the Glass terms of service. Google doesn't allow developers to profit from Glassware apps. That's not the way to incentivize the creation of innovative software. The form factor is also a problem: Facial accessories demand attention and raise issues that other adornments don't. Glass, with its protruding lens, gets in your face, so to speak. It is confrontational. It asserts the wearer's right to capture images, something better treated as a privilege and negotiated on a picture by picture basis. Glass shines a spotlight on our inability to control our privacy and it suggests the wearer is somehow apart from the social group, a spy of sorts or a privileged person with secret knowledge. If you've ever been chided by a companion for being distracted by a device, you've provoked something like the negative response that can be generated by Glass. It should be noted that Glass itself isn't any more invasive than anyone armed with a camera or mobile phone. In fact, cameras with telephoto lenses are far more capable of privacy invasion than Glass. And mobile phones, when they record audio, can be hidden in a way that Glass can't be when worn. Had Google chosen to develop a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-iwatch-vs-smartwatches-past-and-pr/240148629">wearable computer for the wrist</a> -- as Apple is rumored to be doing -- it wouldn't have seen its brainchild teased for standing out. Here's how Google could help make Glass more appealing. 1. Price This is obvious. $1,500 is far too much for what's presently the equivalent of a face-mounted Android phone. But Glass is a developer product, so you can assume the consumer version will be offered at a more reasonable price. 2. Visibility Google Glass Consumer Edition should look like a pair of ordinary glasses, with no visible camera. Glass' biggest privacy problem is not that it invades privacy, but rather that it denies the wearer privacy by identifying him or her in such an obvious way. Someday, Glass (or a similar product) will be available as a contact lens. At that point, the social angst will be about brain implants. 3. Facial Recognition Glass cries out for facial recognition. Google has to know this. Presumably it wants to avoid controversy. It ought to reconsider. The technology is out there and it will be implemented by governments, like it or not. Let the people have it too. 4. Panoramic Camera A camera that captures everything around the wearer would be useful as a reporting tool and as a personal security tool. The panoramic camera ought to support constant transmission of video over the network to a remote server, to preserve a record of any incident affecting the wearer. 5. True Augmented Reality Glass would benefit from apps that exploit having a screen between the wearer and the world. To do that, it would need to be able to superimpose graphics on reality in a more complete and convincing manner. Right now the screen is off to the side and up. And there's no mechanism to recognize object boundaries, which is important for aligning overlays. Practical uses for this technology range from the mundane, like being able to see where studs, wires and pipes are behind wallboard, to the exotic, like immersive games and interactive visuals. 6. Folding One of the most annoying aspects of Glass Explorer Edition is the fact that the device doesn't fold up like regular eyeglasses. There's no hiding Glass in a pocket if you take it out in public. The consumer version should fold. 7. Gesture Detection Glass can already be programmed to trigger its camera when the user winks. Broader support for gestures, like the ability to read sign language and to initiate actions in response to specific hand movements, would be useful. 8. Gaming If Glass doubled as an <a href="http://www.oculusvr.com/">Oculus Rift</a> headset, it would hugely popular no matter how it looked. 9. Bluetooth Physical Controls Saying "ok glass" isn't always convenient or socially functional. It would be nice to be able to link a physical item to the Glass menu navigation scheme. Imagine being able to scroll forward or back in your Glass timeline by twisting a ring on your finger or by swiping across your mobile phone screen (this is probably doable through a Glassware app). 10. Extended Spectrum Glass is a visual tool. Google could better exploit Glass with accessory lenses that let wearers see ultraviolet and infrared light. Want to do a thermal assessment of your house? Glass could let you see where your residence is poorly insulated. 11. Go Gaudy Glass tries too hard to be cool. Had Google designed Glass to look outrageous and clownish, ridicule would be pointless because wearers would obviously not be taking themselves seriously. Had Google played up the geeky social ineptitude of wearing Glass, it could have immunized its product from derision. Google Glass isn't perfect, but it's clearly something worth improving. Though it's the butt of jokes at the moment, Google may yet get the last laugh. Glass isn't about a single product, it's about the next generation of mobile devices.2013-05-07T09:15:00ZAdobe Kills Boxed Version Of Creative SuiteAdobe gives up on discs in shrink-wrapped boxes to focus on delivering software as a service for its Creative Cloud customers.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/adobe-kills-boxed-version-of-creative-su/240154269?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/smb/hardware-software/8-windows-8-apps-under-25/240154177"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/989/Intro_01_tn.jpg" alt="8 Windows 8 Apps Under $25" title="8 Windows 8 Apps Under $25" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 Windows 8 Apps Under $25</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Adobe has decided not to offer the next iteration of its professional authoring applications on discs in shrink-wrapped boxes in order to focus on delivering software as a service for its Creative Cloud customers. The company announced the shift at its <a href="http://max.adobe.com/">Adobe MAX conference</a> in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday. "We launched Creative Cloud a year ago and it has been a runaway success," said David Wadhwani, Adobe SVP and general manager of Digital Media, in <a href="http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201305/050613AdobeAcceleratesShifttotheCloud.html">a statement</a>. "By focusing our energy -- and our talented engineers -- on Creative Cloud, we're able to put innovation in our members' hands at a much faster pace." Though Adobe will continue to sell boxed versions of Creative Suite 6 and its consumer software, like Photoshop Elements and Lightroom, there will be no Creative Suite 7. Instead, Adobe's updated desktop creative applications will be offered under the "CC" brand, to reflect their association with the company's Creative Cloud service. The revised apps, available next month, include: Adobe Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC and Premiere Pro CC. They will be made available as downloadable, installable software that runs on a local computing device to Creative Cloud members with an appropriate subscription. [ Is streaming software the wave of the future? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/apple-microsoft-challenged-by-streaming/240154215?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple, Microsoft Challenged By Streaming Software Plan</a>. ] Adobe offers annual Creative Cloud memberships for $50 per month. A discounted rate of $30 per month for the first year is available to Adobe customers who own CS3 to CS5.5 licenses. Promotional pricing is also available for some customers, as detailed on <a href="https://creative.adobe.com/plans">Adobe's website</a>. The broad industry shift toward cloud computing and mobile devices, the popularity of online app stores and Apple's decision several years ago to drastically reduce the prices of professional apps like Final Cut Pro have all helped make Adobe's practice of selling software in boxes with the size and weight of a six-pack of beer something of an anachronism. To its credit, Adobe began laying the groundwork for a cloud transition last year when it launched Creative Cloud, a way to sell its software as a subscription service. "We were actually surprised by how quickly customers moved to Creative Cloud," said Scott Morris, senior director of product marketing creative cloud, in a phone interview. Morris said more than half a million paying members and more than two million free members have subscribed in the past year. One reason Adobe has moved to a cloud-based model so quickly, Morris said, was that the company's engineers found it challenging to maintain two different code bases, one for traditional Creative Suite users and one for Creative Cloud users. "Allowing the product teams to focus was the right thing for us and for our customers," said Morris. In an email, Al Hilwa, program director for applications development software at research firm IDC, said that Adobe has persevered through Apple's ban of its Flash technology on iOS devices and a recession that reduced spending on its high-end software to find a future on the Web and in the cloud. "What seems pretty clear is that Adobe has made a thorough transformation of its desktop software into a set of cloud services," said Hilwa. "Adobe's clients have definitely jumped on Creative Cloud, perhaps even faster than Adobe's fastest projections. What also appears to be the case is that Creative Cloud is attracting additional customers who previously may have been peripheral team collaborators or point users of Adobe products. What is ahead for Adobe is how it will tackle the enterprise with a specific value proposition." One way that Adobe is dealing with corporate needs is through new Creative Cloud plans for teams and businesses and for education that allow for centralized billing, administration and deployment. "We recognize the cloud model not right for everyone," said Morris.2013-05-06T10:21:00ZApple, Microsoft Challenged By Streaming Software PlanAutodesk, Mozilla and Otoy have a plan to stream software from any platform into Web browsers.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/apple-microsoft-challenged-by-streaming/240154215?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/top-ipad-5-rumors/240153565"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/984/iPad5_NextGen_01_tn.jpg" alt="5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes" title="Top iPad 5 Rumors" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Mozilla and <a href="http://www.otoy.com/">Otoy</a>, a graphics technology company, on Friday announced a JavaScript library that allows native desktop applications to be virtualized in the cloud and streamed to modern Web browsers, a development that has the potential to make computing hardware less relevant and to diminish the gatekeeping power currently enjoyed by Apple and and Microsoft. The code library, ORBX.js, can be thought of as a cloud-based alternative to Google's Native Client technology. It permits Linux, OS X and Windows applications to run on remote servers and to be presented in a Web browser. "With ORBX.js, native code and legacy applications can be hosted in the cloud (e.g. Amazon EC2), and stream interactive graphics, 3D rendering or low latency video to a standard HTML5 page without using plugins or native code, or even the video tag (which, like Google NaCL,is vendor specific — ORBX.js works on all five major browsers)," explained Otoy founder and CEO Jules Urbach in an email. "The video codec created for ORBX.js can decode <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p">1080p60</a> at a quality on par with H.264, using only JavaScript." With ORBX.js and a cloud service provider, you could conceivably run Value's PC Steam client on an Apple iMac or Google Chromebook. You could run Autodesk 3DS Max 2014 on an Android Nexus 7 tablet. You could run a big budget, graphically demanding game title like Left 4 Dead 2 in a Web browser, without any plugins, Flash, Java, NaCL or other supporting technology. [ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] Other companies have tried this and failed, notably OnLive, which streamed online games all the way to bankruptcy. At a press event held on Friday at Autodesk's office in San Francisco, Calif., Jeff Kowalski, CTO of Autodesk, said the difference between OnLive's technology and Otoy's is, "This one works, it doesn't require any specialized hardware, runs in the browser. It's so much easier to deploy. " Autodesk invested in Otoy in 2011 and has integrated Otoy technology into its own software. The company also invested in OnLive, so has some awareness of what works and what doesn't in terms of streaming. Perhaps the most important feature of ORBX.js is that, as a Web technology, it cannot easily be banned. Why would anyone want to ban it? Because streaming apps challenge existing business models and revenue streams. Apple <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnliveIos">refused to approve OnLive's iOS client app</a>, presumably because it saw OnLive's ability to deliver and sell games to iOS users without paying a 30% fee as a threat to the iTunes App Store. What's more, the ability to stream virtualized applications and games to Web browsers removes much of the incentive for upgrading computer hardware. "We want you to be able to downgrade your hardware," explained Kowalski, who reasons that his company's clients would be thrilled to stream Autodesk software to a $500 tablet instead of buying, installing and maintaining the software on a much more expensive workstation. Using ORBX.js, you could run Android apps in Firefox on a Mac or Office for Windows in Chrome on a Chromebook. Operating system distinctions vanish in the cloud. Google has been thinking along similar lines with Chrome OS. But Chrome OS adoption has been hindered by its inability to run popular Windows applications, like Microsoft Office. Google has been working to resolve this problem through the QuickOffice software it acquired, which should soon run in Chrome using NaCL, Google's technology for presenting native code in the browser. The thing about the Web is that it has no gatekeeper. If you publish a game that runs in a Web browser, you don't have to pay Apple, Google, Microsoft, or any app store owner. You don't have to seek approval if the content is controversial. Writing polished, commercially viable games using Web technologies like JavaScript has proven to be a challenge and in recent years developers have tended to favor native code for games because of the maturity of native development tools, industry habit and the marketing advantages of established online stores. Those advantages, however, are eroding, though efforts to advance Web technology and as a result of the proliferation of native apps, which have become so abundant that standing out in an app store is as difficult as standing out on the open Web. Apple has perpetuated the disparity between native apps and Web apps by not swiftly moving to implement technologies that would make Web apps perform better. For example, it doesn't yet support WebGL by default in desktop versions of Safari and doesn't support it at all in mobile Safari, except for its iAds service. It also continues to limit access to its Nitro JavaScript engine, ostensibly for security reasons. This has the effect of making third-party native apps that invoke the Web using a UIWebView control or Web apps saved to the iOS homescreen perform less well than Apple apps or Web apps opened in mobile Safari. "Apple has done everything they can to cripple the Web, so that you'll do native apps," said Urbach. The Web as a platform, meanwhile, continues to recover from letdowns following the initial hype cycle — Google's 2009 declaration that the Web has won — and the shift of companies like Google and Facebook from Web apps to native apps on mobile devices. By working with Mozilla, which has an interest in assuring that Web apps remains competitive with native apps, Otoy (and Autodesk) has a chance to make streaming far more important for software delivery and to make locally installed software and hardware far less important. It's too early still to say how ORBX.js and associated technology will be licensed or made publicly available, but Urbach suggested software companies might be able to use an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) create a virtual machine running on Amazon EC2 to deliver an experience with the visual fidelity of Microsoft's Xbox at a cost of as little as $0.10 per GPU hour. Otoy's higher-end rendering service sells for $1 per GPU hour and Urbach suggested pricing of around $0.50 to $0.75 per GPU hour might be appropriate for high-quality streaming. It's unlikely that streamed applications will ever totally replace the need for local computing resources. People do still work offline or in situations where network connectivity is constrained. But streaming content has undeniable appeal to large content providers because it can be watermarked to discourage unauthorized distribution. And streamed apps can't be copied, because the apps don't exist locally. As far as businesses are concerned, streamed apps are easier to manage than local ones . "The ability to move things into the cloud has always been disruptive," said Urbach, demonstrating an Autodesk graphics application streamed to an iPad. "With what we're showing here, I think we're at a point where you just don't need to have a Windows PC anymore." That's not the sort of sentiment that Apple or Microsoft are likely to let go unchallenged.2013-05-03T09:06:00ZWorld Wide Web At 20: 12 MilestonesTwo decades ago, the first Web page came to life. These milestones for users and developers have made the Web what it is today.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/world-wide-web-at-20-12-milestones/240154100?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/windows/microsoft-news/10-ways-microsoft-could-improve-the-surf/240154051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/987/Microsoft-Su rface-homepage_tn.jpg" alt="Microsoft Surface: Round Two" title="Microsoft Surface: Round Two" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 Ways Microsoft Could Improve Surface Tablet</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Twenty years ago, the first website was published by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym CERN. To mark the occasion, the research group has restored <a href="http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html">the spare-looking site</a>. Web technology was first <a href="http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html">proposed</a> in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, a British physicist working at CERN. Following development and implementation, the Web was made publicly accessible in 1991. On April 30, 1993, CERN made its Web technology available on a royalty-free basis. Royalty demands for competing information retrieval systems such as Gopher contributed to the adoption of the Web. [ What is it like to wear Google's new high-tech glasses? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] CERN's first Web page, describing the World Wide Web, contains only the most basic hypertext markup. Since it was published, Web technology has continued to evolve. These 12 milestones have made the Web what is is today. 1. Images. February 1993: Marc Andreessen <a href="http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0182.html">proposes</a> the IMG tag, the HTML element that allows Web browsers to display pictures. Without images, the Web would have been a far drearier place. 2. The Web Goes Free. April 1993: CERN gives the Web to the public. No one likes paying royalties. 3. Mosaic For All. September 1993: The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) releases versions of the Mosaic browser for the X Window System, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Mosaic's availability on popular commercial operating systems opens the Web to those outside computer science. 4. Java. May 1995: Marc Andreessen, then executive VP of Netscape Communications, says the Netscape browser will support Java. Two years later, Sun would sue Microsoft for attempting to subvert Java. And years later, Google would base Android on Java, to the consternation of Oracle, which acquired Java when it bought Sun in early 2010. 5. JavaScript. September 1995: Netscape Navigator 2.0 ships with LiveScript, subsequently renamed JavaScript. JavaScript makes websites interactive. Without it, we wouldn't have modern Web apps. 6. Shockwave And Flash. 1995: The Macromedia Shockwave plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0 is released, laying the groundwork for more plug-in technology. Adobe buys Macromedia that same year and comes to promote Flash, released in 1996, alongside Shockwave, as another technology for presenting rich graphics on the Web. Apple's Steve Jobs puts an end to Adobe's platform ambitions in 2010. The Web is still recovering from its dalliance with proprietary technology. 7. Microsoft Internet Explorer. August 1996: Microsoft Internet Explorer would come to dominate the Web until 2004, when Mozilla's Firefox appeared. 8. Inline Frames. 1997: Microsoft introduces the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/present/frames.html#edef-IFRAME">IFRAME</a> element, which allows Web pages to get content from different sources. It proves to be well suited for online advertising. 9. Mozilla Firefox. November 2004: Mozilla releases Firefox. The competition has an edge: Microsoft Internet Explorer has a global market share of more than 90%. By 2011, Firefox has close to a quarter of browser market share and Internet Explorer's market share has fallen to almost half what it was. Mozilla demonstrated the value of innovation. 10. Apple iPhone. June 2007: Apple puts the Internet in people's pockets and sells everyone on its curated app store model. The Android ecosystem follows while Microsoft struggles to adjust to the new world order. Steve Jobs banishes Flash. Web designers have to rethink everything. Mobile is now what matters. 11. HTML5. January 2008: The <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-html5-20080122/">initial draft of HTML5</a> is introduced. The evolving Web specification adds ways to deal with touch input, to store data, to access files, to operate offline, to communicate in real-time and to present graphics more efficiently, as well as a variety of other innovations. 12. Google Chrome. September 2008: Google recognizes that it has to have a browser, to prevent dependence on Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla. Google makes a browser that's fast, stable and secure and it updates its browser far more often than its competitors. In 2011, Google Chrome becomes more popular than Firefox and in 2012, it becomes more popular than Internet Explorer.2013-05-02T15:05:00ZFacebook Turns Friends Into IT SupportFacebook's new Trusted Contacts option lets friends assist with account recovery, so Facebook personnel don't have to.http://www.informationweek.com/security/intrusion-prevention/facebook-turns-friends-into-it-support/240154124?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/windows/microsoft-news/10-ways-microso ft-could-improve-the-surf/240154051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/987/Microsoft-Su rface-homepage_tn.jpg" alt="Microsoft Surface: Round Two" title="Microsoft Surface: Round Two" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 Ways Microsoft Could Improve Surface Tablet</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) </div>Just as companies have warmed to the financial benefits of employee-supplied devices and have embraced the rent savings of offices that are open but smaller under the pretense of promoting interaction, Facebook has recognized the economic and security promise of deputizing users to provide customer support. The social network, ever keen to increase user engagement, wants you to designate friends as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-security/introducing-trusted-contacts/10151362774980766">Trusted Contacts</a> who can restore access to your Facebook account "if you ever have trouble logging in." Don't call us, call a friend. Why might you have trouble logging in? Facebook doesn't say. A hacked account is one possibility, but presumably anyone who hijacks your account could alter your Trusted Contact list. And Facebook maintains a separate account reset process for hacked accounts, at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/hacked">facebook.com/hacked</a>. [ Wondering what it's like to wear Google's new high-tech glasses? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] The most common scenario for resorting to Trusted Contacts is a forgotten password. This could be a relatively frequent occurrence, given that Facebook tends to keep users logged in, thereby obviating the need to type one's password and making it easier to forget. Account recovery processes, however, have a long history of insecurity. For example, in 2008, the Yahoo Mail account of then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was hacked when a University of Tennessee student <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/sarah-palin-e-mail-hack-suspect-indicted/210800483">reset the account password</a> by answering what turned out to be obvious password recovery questions. The following year, Yahoo Mail's account recovery process <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/social-network/twitter-employee-account-hijacked/217201066">was abused again</a> to gain control over a Twitter administrative account. A Facebook spokeswoman in an email said that there are also occasions when users <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/418876994823287">lose access to the email account</a> through which they log in to Facebook. Facebook in a blog post suggests that the Trusted Contact account recovery process represents an improvement on answering security questions. "With trusted contacts, there's no need to worry about remembering the answer to your security question or filling out long web forms to prove who you are," the company says. "You can recover your account with help from your friends." There's another security benefit too: Account compromises often occur as a result of social engineering attacks. While customer service personnel can be tricked into revealing personal information by people posing as account holders, friends presumably are less likely to be duped by an imposter soliciting sensitive data. With Trusted Contacts, Facebook support personnel can expect fewer emails from users who can't log in to get their their social fix. What's more, Trusted Contacts could create a user retention halo effect: Users will probably be less likely to drift away from Facebook when their friends have entrusted them with the keys to their accounts.2013-05-01T15:38:00ZFake Firefox Spyware Riles MozillaSurveillance software pretends to be Firefox to escape detection, report claims. Mozilla lawyers take action.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/fake-firefox-spyware-riles-mozilla/240154020?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/vulnerabilities/anonymous-10- things-we-have-learned-in-2/240149686"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/955/01_Mask_by_E dans_110.jpg" alt="Anonymous: 10 Things We Have Learned In 2013" title="Anonymous: 10 Things We Have Learned In 2013" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Anonymous: 10 Things We Have Learned In 2013</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow) </div>Samples of FinSpy, part of the <a href="http://www.finfisher.com/FinFisher/en/index.php">FinFisher</a> surveillance software suite sold by Gamma International UK Ltd to government organizations, have been found disguised as Mozilla's Firefox browser, according to a report published Tuesday. <a href="https://citizenlab.org/storage/finfisher/final/fortheireyesonly.pdf">The report</a>, written by academic research group <a href="https://citizenlab.org/">Citizen Lab</a>, documents the spread of offensive computer network intrusion capabilites -- hacking tools -- marketed by Western companies. The report notes that a Malay-language Microsoft Word document purporting to discuss Malaysia's impending 2013 election installs FinSpy spyware that masquerades as Mozilla's Firefox browser on the computers of those who open the file. It further states that this behavior has been documented previously in files targeting Bahraini activists. [ What are Microsoft's new Internet-enabled glasses really like? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass: First Impressions</a>. ] In a blog post on Tuesday, Alex Fowler, head of privacy and public policy for Mozilla, said <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/04/30/protecting-our-brand-from-a-global-spyware-provider/">Mozilla has sent a cease and desist letter to Gamma International</a> to demand an end to this unlawful behavior. "We cannot abide a software company using our name to disguise online surveillance tools that can be -- and in several cases actually have been -- used by Gamma's customers to violate citizens' human rights and online privacy," said Fowler. Fowler stresses that the spyware doesn't alter Firefox. Rather, it represents itself as Firefox in order to evade detection. If a Windows user chooses to view the properties, for instance, he or she can expect to see "Firefox.exe" in the Details tab, along with Firefox version numbers, copyright and trademark identifiers. An examination of the spyware's manifest file conveys similar misinformation. According to Citizen Lab, FinFisher Command & Control servers are now present in 36 countries: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. The organization notes in its report that the presence of such servers in a country does not necessarily mean that the software is being operated by the country's government in an official capacity. "The use of generic hosting providers such as Softcom and GPLHost is likely an attempt to camouflage the true operator of the spyware," the report says. Citizen Lab's report goes on to question use of the term "lawful intercept," which is used to describe and justify the information gathering function of surveillance software intended for legal authorities. "There is nothing inherently lawful about the capabilities of these tools, however," the report concludes. "They are simply trojans sold to states, not individuals." Indeed, the misappropriation of Firefox's identity appears to be a case of unlawful intercept.2013-05-01T09:08:00ZGoogle Glass: First ImpressionsGoogle Glass may usher in the era of wearable computing, but based on my first few days, this is a long way from being a mass market product.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-first-impressions/240153936?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/internet/google/240002872"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/824/03_2012-06-27-11_08_45_full.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Awesome Visions" title="Google I/O: 10 Awesome Visions" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Awesome Visions</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div> On Friday, 10 months after signing up to join Google's Glass Explorer program at Google I/O 2012, I received my invitation to purchase and pick up <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/">Google Glass</a>. The invitation directed me to call an 800 number, to agree to Google's unprecedentedly restrictive terms of service, and to choose a color: Charcoal, Tangerine, Shale, Cotton or Sky. For the fashion-challenged, that translates to black, orange, gray, white or light blue. I opted for black because it goes with everything and it's less likely to attract attention, which appears to be difficult to avoid if you wear Glass in public. The invitation asked me to choose between picking up Glass at a Google office in Mountain View, New York or Los Angeles, or having Glass shipped. As a resident of San Francisco, I opted to for the in-person pickup experience at Google's sprawling headquarters in Mountain View. [ What else is Google up to? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-now-melds-with-ios/240153836?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Now Melds With iOS</a>. ] First Contact Google's Glass distribution operation is housed in one of its office buildings on Charleston Road, just south of the company's main office complex. A larger-than-life model of the Android logo, perhaps 15 feet tall and formed from green plastic, stands to the left of the entrance. Outside, several Google employees were milling around, some wearing Glass. Once checked in by the security guard, I was ushered inside to a workshop at the intersection of technology and fashion. Computer workstations lurked beneath desks topped by keyboards and monitors. It all had been shoved toward the back to make room for several tables where the invited Glass Explorers could sit with Google employees to try on their hardware and learn the ropes. There were a lot of mirrors, something not typically abundant in tech company offices. But then Glass aspires to be fashionable. When computing becomes wearable, you need a fitting room. Apple's stores are often cited as exemplary retail operations, but the Google Glass customer experience deserves recognition, too. Simply put, Google has learned how to make a transaction into an event, and that showmanship will serve the company well if and when it formally launches its own stores. Granted, Glass is a low-volume, luxury product -- $1,500 plus sales tax -- but the level of personal attention Google employees provided and the quality of the hardware and the packaging will generate a lot of goodwill among early adopters in the development community. Google refers to its developer relations personnel as <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/google-fortifies-platform-with-stronger/240007484">developer advocates</a> rather than evangelists, to emphasize conversational exchange over product promotion. With Glass, developer outreach might best be described as coddling. Clearly, Google wants to get off on the right foot. Glass Unboxing Glass comes in the same kind of sturdy white cardboard box used for Google's Chromebook Pixel. It's a step up from the thinner black cardboard used to package Google's Nexus 7 tablet. It includes an exterior label that reads, "This box is 100% paper. So use it to write a letter to your Grandma. Or at least, please, recycle it. All of it." You won't want to recycle it, because it's that nice. At 10.5-inch x 7-inch, the box seems rather large for a product you might expect to be the size of a pair of eyeglasses. But Glass doesn't fold, so it needs a larger container. And it comes with accessories. Beneath the Glass hardware you'll find a micro-USB charging cable, a black-and-white USB outlet adapter, a fabric Glass storage bag with a protective shell at the bottom and a small paper envelope with printed FAQs and two pairs of extra silicone nose pads. I also received two additional boxes: snap-on tinted and clear lenses (which presumably will be available eventually with a corrective prescriptions). Either of these help make Glass less odd when in public: People notice when you're wearing eyeglass frames without any lenses. The Glass hardware itself is elegant. The titanium frame is strong and flexible and electronics are unobtrusive, packed away in plastic on the right-hand side of the frame. You have to look carefully to identify the power button and the micro-USB port. Glass is heavier than normal eyewear however: 42 grams, compared to 26 grams for a regular pair of reading glasses. So wearing Glass for long periods of time -- several hours -- can be uncomfortable, an issue magnified by the uneven weight distribution. Getting To Know Glass Glass takes some getting used to. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just remember, you're not on the desktop anymore. To get the attention of Glass, you either tap the frame by your right temple or you tilt your head back 30 degrees (the angle is settable). Doing so turns on the display screen to show the time and the "ok glass" prompt, which you have to say before speaking a command. Available commands include: google, take a picture, record a video, get directions, send a message and make a call. Prompting Glass to listen for search query terms can also be accomplished by tapping the frame with two fingers. <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/googles-10-best-gags-pranks-and-easter-e/240151036"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/965/Google_Gags_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" title="Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google's 10 Best Gags, Pranks And Easter Eggs</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div> Making a call requires a mobile phone that supports Bluetooth tethering, such as an iPhone or Android phone, with the appropriate data plan. Getting directions requires an actively tethered Android phone. Android users also can use the MyGlass app, which isn't yet available for iOS devices. MyGlass adds turn-by-turn directions, screencasting from Glass and the ability to send SMS messages from Glass. If you don't want Glass to do anything after waking it up, you can scroll through a series of timeline and settings cards by moving your finger forward or backward along the right-hand frame. Tapping on a card will allow you to choose relevant actions, such as read aloud, share and delete. Having Glass read your email is odd. The audio vibrations from bone conduction transducers in the Glass frame feel like a spasm in the veins behind your ear. Unfortunately, the volume isn't adjustable. Unlike a desktop computer, timing is important. Glass does not wait endlessly for you to do things. Like a mobile device, it powers down after a period of inactivity. If you wake Glass by tapping on the frame, you have about 14 seconds to follow-up with "ok glass" and a command. If you wake Glass by tilting your head back, you have about three seconds. Likewise, if you elect to send a message to someone, you have the opportunity to speak and the message gets sent after a few second of silence, even if you had just stopped to think. Messages sent this way include the presently non-customizable notice "Sent through Glass" at the end. Seeing Past Glass Upon seeing me wearing Glass, my 13-year-old daughter issued the snap judgement, "You look like a cyborg." Asked whether that's good or bad, she said, "It's kind of cool, but it makes you look like a stalker." She enjoyed trying Glass on -- despite Google's contractual prohibition on loaning Glass to anyone, Glass includes a Guest Mode setting -- and would have happily run the battery down while taking videos. But she considers Glass to be "impractical." My 10-year-old daughter was less diplomatic: "You look like a dork!" she said. My wife just rolled her eyes, although she was curious enough to try it. Such reactions are not uncommon. The Google employees who showed me how to use Glass acknowledged that they get strange looks when wearing Glass in public, along with requests to try Glass. I find that I have very little desire to wear Glass on the streets of San Francisco. If and when Glass becomes ubiquitous, perhaps I'll feel differently. But at the moment, the social cost outweighs the technological benefit. Pointing a camera at someone is not always welcome. Brandishing Glass at the very least seems rude. The best photographers of people usually take pictures with the permission of their subjects, often after they get to know them. Wearing Glass suggests that you don't care what others think. It suggests that you believe no permission is necessary, that anything public is fair game. That might be a legally defensible position, but it ignores social norms and expectations. Really, Glass ought to prompt a reevaluation of privacy rights in public places and in commercial businesses. Is everyone in public subject to constant citizen surveillance? Do those being recorded have a right to defend themselves with counter-measures, like bright lights, lens-defeating sprays or noise generators? Walking around in clown shoes invites assumptions. So, too, does wearing a tinfoil hat. Strolling around with Glass elicits responses as well. It's going to take some time before wearing Glass isn't a statement. What's Glass Good For? Glass allows you to take pictures and videos, conduct Google searches, get directions, send text messages and Gmail messages, make and receive phone calls, participate in Google Hangouts and receive Google Now cards. If you have a functioning smartphone, you can do all this already. Where Glass excels is machine interaction while on the move, like taking pictures and videos with minimal hand input or Googling while on the go. Using Google to translate spoken English phrases into another language might be the killer app, at least until facial recognition becomes available. When I was leaving Google with my Glass, Google Now took the opportunity to tell me that I had a 44-minute drive ahead of me with traffic. That was pretty cool, since I hadn't asked. Glass is still in its infancy and wearable computing is just becoming a mass-market possibility. Eventually, Glass will be able to do more, once developers create their own Glassware applications. It's doubtful many of these applications will be worth $1,500. But the price should come down as interest in wearable computing devices rises. Glass Explorers are going to discover plenty of dead ends, but we will find our way in time. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Zk0yss1osus" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>2013-04-29T15:10:00ZGoogle Now Melds With iOSApple's Siri now has some competition on iPhones and iPads.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-now-melds-with-ios/240153836?cid=SBX_iwk_related_news_SMB_aroundtheweb<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/google-nexus-7-take-two-what-to-expect/240151920"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/970/Nexus-7-rumors-01_tn.PNG" alt="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" title="Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Nexus 7, Take Two: What To Expect</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>Google on Monday updated its <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=8">iOS mobile search app</a> to version 3.0, adding support for <a href="http://www.google.com/landing/now/">Google Now</a>, the company's predictive search agent. Google Now presents information on mobile devices when certain conditions are met, based on what can be determined from users' Web histories, location data and history, calendar data and other inputs. For example, the software can publish a notification advising the recipient to leave his or her current location for a restaurant reservation, based on Google's knowledge of real-time traffic data and a calendar entry of the reservation. Available since July 2012 for Android devices, when it launched as part of Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean), Google Now turned up in a promotional video in March that suggested a future iOS release. Later that month, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt indicated an iOS version was waiting for Apple's approval. [ How much do you rely on Google? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/is-google-bad-for-your-brain/240153762?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Is Google Bad For Your Brain?</a> ] "Google Now is about giving you just the right information at just the right time," said Google engineer Andrea Huey in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/google-now-on-your-iphone-and-ipad-with.html">a blog post</a>. "It can show you the day's weather as you get dressed in the morning, or alert you that there's heavy traffic between you and your butterfly-inducing date -- so you'd better leave now! It can also share news updates on a story you've been following, remind you to leave for the airport so you can make your flight and much more." Google Now represents Google's future rather than its present. At the moment, the company still derives most of its revenue from desktop search advertising. But probably within a year or two, mobile search usage will surpass desktop search usage and Google can be expected to continue investing in technologies that will help its advertising business thrive in the post-PC era. Google CEO Larry Page recently observed during his company's Q1 2012 earnings call that typing on a mobile device is a hassle. In keeping with that belief, Google has been pushing to advance voice input and services such as Google Now that don't require typing on mobile phones. As if to demonstrate that, Huey observes in her blog post, "Voice Search is particularly handy on the go..." With more and more wearable computing devices coming to market, services like Google Now that don't require keyboard input are likely to proliferate. Google Now also appears to be headed for desktop computers. JavaScript code discovered last week by Google Operating System, a blog that covers Google, suggests Google Now notifications are being tested <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-now-destined-for-googlecom/240153372">for delivery in a Web browser</a>. Al Hilwa, program director for applications development software at research firm IDC, said in an email that Google Now, like Apple's Siri, matters because of the shift toward voice interfaces for search. "In fact, for the promise of wearable computing to be delivered, these mechanisms of interaction are a must and I expect they will evolve rapidly over the next couple of years," Hilwa said. One potential problem, however, is privacy. "There is clearly a tradeoff for users as they have to provide a great deal of personal information to the service to get relevant and effective contextual help," Hilwa explained. "This data is potentially used for any number of other things the user may not be aware of, but some users will find this a worthwhile gambit, especially as the technology evolves to provide more effective assistance in day-to-day life."