Mansoor Ahmed
I am a Software Engineer, Software Developer and a Blogger as well.
Homepage: http://www.geekword.net/
Posts by Mansoor Ahmed
Google introduces search with My Location for iPhone 3.0
Jul 16th
Google has introduced ‘Search with My Location’ for iPhone 3.0. Now if someone wants to know which jazz clubs are near him, he don’t have to specify a location – he just search for “jazz clubs”.
Google stated:
At Google, we want to make searching the world around you as easy and informative as searching the web.
When you visit www.google.com from Safari on your iPhone 3.0, you can choose to turn on My Location by tapping on the link on the homepage. When you tap on the “update” link, your location will be updated and displayed right there on the homepage. Whenever you want to refresh your location, just tap the “update” link. Testing this in New York, my search for “jazz clubs” returned a many places within walking distance.
Google won’t use your location in search unless you explicitly opt to choose it. And you can always disable the feature from Preferences at the bottom of the homepage.
Search with My Location from Safari is available in English in the US and UK. Other country and language combinations will be integrated soon. You can also search with My Location using Google Mobile App, available from the iPhone App Store.
Facebook: Now connecting 250 million people
Jul 15th
Today Facebook has announced that the 250 million people are using Facebook to stay updated on what’s happening around them and share with the people in their lives. The rapid pace of Facebook’s growth is the great API and stable interface, and it affirms that people everywhere are realizing the power of staying connected to everything they care about on Facebook.
From the beginning, Facebook hasn’t been about building a website. Facebook is about all of the people using it and all of the things that are important to user.
The 250 million of you on Facebook today are what gives Facebook life and makes the site meaningful to everyone using it, so we thank you.
Each person who joins makes Facebook better by adding a presence to the site that friends and family can connect with and feel closer to him/her.
Growing to 250 million users isn’t just an impressive number; it is a mark of how many personal connections all of users have made, and how far Facebook have to go to extend the power of connection to the billions of people around the world.
Today as Facebook is celebrating 250 millionth user, Facebook stated:
we are also continuing to develop Facebook to serve as many people in the world in the most effective way possible.
Facebook is reaching out to everyone across the world and making products that serve all of you, wherever you are—whether through Facebook Connect, new mobile products and the other things that we are building.
Here comes Google Voice for Android and Blackberry
Jul 15th
Today, Google has announced a Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android. Previously, to place a call using Google Voice, you had to dial your own Google Voice number from your cell phone or use the Quick Call button online.
About three months ago, we reported about the launch of Google Voice, and Muhammad Ali wrote in his blog post:
Google, the search engine giants have launched Google Voice. Google Voice is an application that is targeted to provide more efficient management of voice communication. Initially, Google Voice will be available to existing users of GrandCentral. GrandCentral is a service that was acquired by Google in July 2007.
With this mobile app you can:
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Make calls
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Send SMS messages with your Google Voice number directly from your mobile phone.
The app is integrated with each cell phone’s contacts, so you can call via Google Voice straight from your address book.
From this mobile app, you can:
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Access your voicemail: read message transcripts, follow along with “karaoke-style” playback of messages, read SMS messages sent to your Google Voice number (even if your phone doesn’t receive SMS messages) and access your call history.
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Place calls that display your Google Voice number from your address book, the app dialer (Blackberry) or the native dialer (Android).
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Send SMS messages that display your Google Voice number.
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Place international calls at low rates.
You can easily download the app from the Google Voice mobile site at: m.google.com/voice. For those who don’t have a Blackberry or an Android device, there is a mobile web version of the Google Voice site that allows you to access Google Voice features.
Mozilla warns about JavaScript vulnerability in Firefox 3.5
Jul 15th
Mozilla is warning users and administrators of a critical JavaScript flaw in its Firefox 3.5 browser. Bug was discovered last week in Firefox 3.5’s Just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compiler was disclosed publicly yesterday. It is a critical vulnerability that can be used to execute malicious code.
The vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker who tricks a victim into viewing a malicious Web page containing the exploit code. The vulnerability can be mitigated by disabling the JIT in the JavaScript engine.
To do so:
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Enter
about:configin the browser’s location bar. -
Type
jitin the Filter box at the top of the config editor. -
Double-click the line containing
javascript.options.jit.contentsetting the value to false.
Note that disabling the JIT will result in decreased JavaScript performance and is only recommended as a temporary security measure. Once users have been received the security update containing the fix for this issue, they should restore the JIT setting to true by:
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Enter
about:configin the browser’s location bar. -
Type
jitin the Filter box at the top of the config editor. -
Double-click the line containing
javascript.options.jit.contentsetting the value to true.
Alternatively, users can disable the JIT by running Firefox in Safe Mode. Windows users can do so by selecting
Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)
from the Mozilla Firefox folder.
Mozilla developers are working on a fix for this issue and a Firefox security update will be sent out as soon as the fix is completed and tested. The flaw is the latest in a string of high-profile browser exploits in recent days.
App Store hits 1.5 billion downloads this year
Jul 14th
Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from App Store, which is claimed to be the largest applications store in the world.
The App Store is growing has more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone™ Developer Program.
Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs said:
The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality, with 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.
The revolutionary App Store has more than 65,000 apps available to consumers in 77 countries, also allows the developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world.
The App Store works with both iPod touch and iPhone including the new iPhone 3GS, the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet. Recently Apple has shipped over 40 million of these devices that run apps from the App Store.
Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications.
Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
Why Windows 7 RTM have not yet signed off?
Jul 14th
Windows 7 have not yet signed off. It will be available when it’s ready. It is expected Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July.
There are three major reasons, why RTM is not there yet,
1. Windows 7 will be available in many languages from around the world. So there are certain considerations to make RTM “done”, it requires that all languages be completely finished. So there is a lot of work that needs to take place for Microsoft to finalize all languages of Windows 7 (Lame!).
2. Microsoft also need to get to a point of “global readiness” with their partners. Partners being ready for Windows 7 is extremely important to RTM (Partners being ready, or what).
3. Another reason of the delay is a specific build internally of Windows 7, there is an extensive step-by-step validation process to ensure quality. This process takes time (I didn’t know that).
RTM is essentially the final “stage” of engineering for Windows 7 before it hits the market at General Availability. General Availability will be on 22nd October.
Steven Sinofsky mentions in a blog post in May,
RTM is not one point in time but a “process” as from RTM we enable the PC manufacturers to begin their processes of building Windows 7 images for new PCs, readying downloads for existing machines, and preparing the full supply chain to deliver Windows 7 to customers.
At RTM partners begin their final preparations for Windows 7, including testing and building images for new PCs.
6 out of 10 firms will skip Windows 7
Jul 13th
Six out 10 companies in a survey plan to skip the purchase of Microsoft’s Windows 7 computer operating system, many of them are much much happier with their current OS, and others over concern about compatibility with their existing applications.
As we all know, Windows 7 will be released on October 22, but it is far better than its disappointing current version, Windows Vista. Many companies have already rejected Windows Vista as it’s much much unstable.
Many of the more than 1,000 companies responded to a survey by ScriptLogic Corp say they have economized by cutting back on software updates and lack the resources to deploy Microsoft’s latest offering. ScriptLogic Corp help the companies in managing their Microsoft Windows-based networks.
The survey found about 60 percent of those surveyed have no plans to deploy Windows 7, 34 percent will deploy it by the end of 2010 and only 5.4 percent will deploy by year’s end. Forty-two percent said their biggest reason for avoiding Windows 7 was a lack of time and resources. 35 percent had already skipped upgrades. Another 39 percent of those surveyed said they had concern about the compatibility of Windows 7 with existing applications.
Sean Angus, a senior personal computer technician at Middlesex Hospital, said:
The IT department must complete thorough testing to ensure that the applications we rely on each day, specifically radiology information systems and financial applications, will be compatible, before deploying any new platforms or software to our 1,500 desktops,
Follow all Google accounts on Twitter
Jul 13th
I use Twitter everyday, but I never noticed all Google accounts on Twitter. Do you want to know and follow every Google tweet on Twitter? In order to do so, Google’s Karen Wickre, offered this list earlier today:
General:
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twitter.com/Google – Google’s central account
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twitter.com/Blogger – for Blogger fans
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twitter.com/GoogleCalendar – user tips & updates
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twitter.com/GoogleImages – news, tips, tricks on image search
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twitter.com/GoogleNews – latest headlines via Google News
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twitter.com/GoogleReader – from Google’s feed reader team
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twitter.com/iGoogle – news & notes from Google’s personalized homepage
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twitter.com/GoogleStudents – news of interest to students using Google
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twitter.com/YouTube – for YouTube fans
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twitter.com/YouTubeES – en Espanol
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twitter.com/GoogleAtWork – solutions for IT and workplace productivity
Geo-related:
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twitter.com/SketchUp – Google SketchUp news
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twitter.com/3DWH – SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse
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twitter.com/Modelyourtown – 3D modeling to build your favorite places
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twitter.com/EarthOutreach – Earth & Maps tools for nonprofits & orgs
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twitter.com/GoogleMaps – uses, tips, mashups
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twitter.com/GoogleSkyMap – Android app for the night sky
Ads-related:
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twitter.com/AdSense – for online publishers
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twitter.com/AdWordsHelper – for AdWords questions and tech issues
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twitter.com/AdWordsProSarah – Google Guide for AdWords Help Forum
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twitter.com/GoogleAnalytics – insights for Website effectiveness
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twitter.com/GoogleAdBuilder – re building display ads
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twitter.com/GoogleRetail – for retail advertisers
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twitter.com/TechnologyUK – for U.K. tech advertisers
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twitter.com/InsideAdWordsDE – for German AdWords customers
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twitter.com/GoogleAgencyDE – for German ad agencies
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twitter.com/AdSensePT – info for Portuguese-language publishers
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twitter.com/AdWordsRussia – AdWords news & tips in Russian
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twitter.com/DentroDeAdWords – Spanish updates from the Inside AdWords blog
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twitter.com/AdWordsAPI – AdWords API tips
Developer & technical:
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twitter.com/GoogleResearch – from research scientists
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twitter.com/GoogleWMC – Google Webmaster Central
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twitter.com/GoogleCode – latest updates for Google developer products
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twitter.com/GoogleData – Data APIs – protocol for reading and writing Web data
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twitter.com/app_engine – Web apps run on Google infrastructure
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twitter.com/DataLiberation – initiative for complete import/export of all data
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twitter.com/GoogleMapsAPI – about using Google Maps embedded in Websites
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twitter.com/GoogleIO – Google’s largest annual developer event
Culture, People:
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twitter.com/googletalks – notes from our @Google speaker series
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twitter.com/googlejobs – the voice of Google recruiters
Country or Region:
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twitter.com/googlearabia – news from the Google Arabia Blog*
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twitter.com/googledownunder – Google activities in Australia & New Zealand
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twitter.com/GoogleDE – Google in Germany
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twitter.com/GoogleLatAm – Latin America (en Espanol)
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twitter.com/GooglePolicyIt – Notes on Google policy issues in Italy
But my all time favorite account is twitter.com/Google. All of Google events are kept here. It is also been good for a few story tips.
There are certain questions questions for you guys:
Do you follow Google on Twitter?
If so, what is your favorite Google Twitter account and why?
Will you follow Google Twitter accounts now that you have the account list?
If so, which one(s) and why?
See the world with improved Google Search
Jul 10th
Google is still in its search business despite the flurry of activity around its Chrome OS and all other things. Today, on the Official Google Blog, they announced the introduction of better, more comprehensive search results for places.
Google said:
Using our Universal Search technology, we have provided maps in our search results for more than two years. However, as any traveler could tell you, knowing the geographical location of a place is only part of the story.
It’s often just as valuable to get a sense of what the place is like, and there’s no better way to do that than by looking at images of some of its most important sights
Rather than just heist the images they used I did some exploring myself. Raleigh, NC and Cary, NC (neighboring ‘cities’) each had their own map and pictures. It appears as if major metros and tourist destinations get preference while medium sized towns just got a map as well.
This looks like a nice feature and makes sense in the layout and concept. Google is still working on its search experience. The day they shelve that for something else we will all have something to talk about for sure.
Microsoft patches ActiveX, ISA, Virtual Server and two others soon
Jul 10th
Microsoft is getting a bit more attention than it’s used to for its patch release schedule. Three new “critical” security patches will be released with the patch package that will be available on Tuesday, three “important” fixes for other Microsoft products will be there as well includes Publisher, Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server and Virtual PC and Virtual Server.
One of those fixes, for a security vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX Control, as it has been awaited for quite long.
Microsoft spokesman Mike Reavey wrote in a Microsoft Security Response Center blog item yesterday:
We’ve gotten some questions from customers about when we got the first report of this vulnerability and how long the investigation has taken relative to the outbreak of attacks against this vulnerability,
Reavey wrote:
Before I go into the details, the key thing I want customers to understand is that this is an issue that was responsibly reported to us and we have been driving in our standard process towards a security update,
He further wrote that:
While in the middle of that process, attackers found this same vulnerability and began attacks against it. We were far enough in the process that we could provide information that customers can use to protect themselves in the interim while we complete that investigation and deliver a security update that you can deploy broadly with confidence.
There are certain reasons of the vulnerability to be fixed, because it can enable an attacker to take over a victim’s computer over the Internet as the logged-on user if the computer’s owner browses a malicious Web site. Another reason is that more than a year has passed for a fix.
