Development
Apple releases Beta version for Safari 4
Feb 25th
Yesterday(24th February, 2009), Apple released Beta version for their browser namely “Safari 4″. Apple’s share gaining web browser contains the latest Javascript engine. It supports the latest web standards.
Safari contains an engine dubbed as “Nitro”, which is said to run Javascript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3. According to Apple, this beta version contains 150 features in total.
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing stated:
Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward. Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications.
In terms of performance, Apple asserts that the latest Beta release executes Javascript 30 times faster than Microsoft Internet Explorer, in comparison to Firefox 3, Safari runs 3 times faster. It loads HTML web pages 3 times faster than Microsoft and Mozilla browsers .
Safari contains a handful of new user interface related features such as:
- Top sites, which display a certain amount of frequently visited web pages, so that user can access their favorite sites with a single click. Moreover this feature also notifies the user if any of their favorite sites were updated since their last visit by displaying a star on the top right corner of that site’s wall preview. This is a feature which you do not find in IE or firefox
- Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks “as fun and as easy as paging through an album art in iTunes.”
- Full History Search, which enables the user to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily access their recently visited sites.
- Smart Address Field, which automatically and dynamically completes web addresses by displaying a list of suggestions from Top Sites, bookmarks and browsing history.
- Smart Search Field, which enables the user to fine tune their search with recommendations from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches.
- Full Page Zoom, which enables you to take a closer look at any website without affecting the quality of the site’s appearance.
- Windows like look for Windows version of Safari, and uses standard font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars.
- Built in tools for web developers to debug, tweak and optimize a website for peak performance and compatibility
Produle – Create interactive flash based applications online
Feb 22nd
Produle is a web service for designing interactive flash/flex based applications in the cloud without coding.
As a Software as a Service solution, it inherits all the benefits of On-Demand software such as no installation, automatic updates, global availability, cross-platform (works under PC, Mac and Linux). Moreover users can design and publish flash apps with no time consuming compilation or uploading, it’s just instant.
Produle can be used for a wide range of projects listed below:
- Data apps
- Widgets
- Banners
- Promos
- Animations
- Product guides
- Presentations
- User interfaces for web services
- And any other possible interactive web content
Applications can be fully customized to suit your needs. With a full featured workspace, built-in support for data services, asset manager and the ability to visually define interactivity and application logic using events, states and effects, we believe Produle marks an exciting way for designing and sharing applications online.
Whether you are a creative professional, designer, programmer, business user or even a casual web user, you will find a range of solutions with Produle.
Overview slides are also available in order to show the power of Produle.
Look for samples made with the preview build at and also around this website. As in preview status, it may have some issues and warnings and we are working on it towards the final release.
To get started just sign up and you are on the go. Your feedback and participation is appreciated to make this happen soon. For your ease, full fledged Documentation is also available. You can also regularly follow Produle Blog here. Certain samples and demos are available here.
Youtube introduces Collaborative Annotations
Feb 22nd
YouTube recently introduced a new feature that allows publishers to invite others to annotate their videos. Just a few weeks ago, YouTube introduced a new annotation feature that made it easier for publishers to add speech bubbles or spotlights to their videos. Now, you can send a special link to your friends so that they can easily add their own witty comments to your videos.
The new feature is named as known as “Collaborative annotations”. Youtube already launched annotations in June 2008, but after facing inconsiderate reviews from mainstream Youtube users, Youtube released its new version of annotations known as collaborative annotations. The June 2008 version was not reasonably functional, but this time they bought a twist in the new annotation version.
For example:
- Videos can be linked in the annotations.
- Your friends can add annotations to your videos.
Collaborative annotations can be enabled easily. Just follow the steps below: 1. Get the special annotation link by going to ‘ My Videos ‘ and then by going to the annotation editor.
Watching your video when you’re logged in youtube (the link appears on the right, which you can share with your friends).
2. Retrieve the special link highlighted.
3. Send this link to your friends, so that they can add annotations to your videos.
You can delete the annotations and you can also disable access to the annotation URL to stop others from further adding annotations to your videos. Just go to your ‘Account Settings’ and look for the Annotations settings (just log in to YouTube for this to work).
Ubuntu 9.10 to focus on cloud computing
Feb 22nd
Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need – a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has announced the codename for Ubuntu 9.10, which is scheduled for release in October: Karmic Koala.
For those wishing to manage clouds, Ubuntu will apparently contain tools that leverage the Amazon APIs.
The desktop goals are primarily around “first impressions,” with Shuttleworth indicating that “boot will be beautiful.”
He also promises that the appearance of Ubuntu will change significantly:
The desktop will have a designer’s fingerprints all over it – we’re now beginning the serious push to a new look. Brown has served us well but the Koala is considering other options. It sounds like the majority of the work on the server side in Karmic Koala will be around cloud computing.
The actual text can be summarized as follows:
Ubuntu server will target promoting cloud computing through entirely open-source software.
Canonical will create standard Amazon Machine Images from Karmic Koala, essentially creating “ready-to-run” appliances that will serve as “standard builds” to the Amazon community.
Shuttleworth says one goal is to speed up the boot process in Ubuntu 9.10, while possibly using a new splash screen. Canonical will also be refining the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface for mini-laptops like the Dell Inspiron Mini.
The server edition of Karmic Koala will feature support for Amazon’s EC2 APIs, and will also use the Eucalyptus project to allow you to host cloud based apps in your own data center.
Google is using Google Gears to enable Offline Gmail version for Phones
Feb 21st
Apple iPhone 3G and Android users soon could have access to their Gmail accounts even without Internet connectivity.
At the Mobile World Congress conference Wednesday, Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of engineering, showed a technical concept of a mobile Gmail application that lets users access their e-mail offline, as well as bring the labeling feature to phones.
Google recently enabled its desktop version of Gmail to be functional without internet access using the Gears application technology. But Mr. Gundotra demonstrated the new mobile version that is a Web application using the offline data storage standard HTML5.
Gundotra said:
“You now have an ability to build an app that spans devices as long as that device implements the latest specifications of these modern HTML5 Web browsers,”
Google uses the standard for database and cache features, and it lets users read emails, label messages, and track email browsing without an internet access. This is to be noted that the offline application cannot retrieve new emails without being synchronized with the network once internet connectivity is restored.
No specific date given by google when the updated version of Gmail would be out, but this could help in development of robust web-based applications. Web-based applications are generally not considered to be stronger as native mobile applications, but still this will have a positive impact on web-based applications industry.
Technology preview for Opera Mobile 9.5 now available
Feb 21st
Opera have announced the availability of technology preview for Mobile version of Opera browser i.e. “Opera 9.5″. The latest technology preview provides support for Gears. Gears is basically an open source project of Google that makes web application more powerful.
The use of Gears varies when it comes down to using it for mobile or desktop devices. When using it with mobile gadgets, Gears serves as one of the best option for providing a rich and interactive user experience, since it allows applications to cache data in a more efficient manner, which as a result minimizes the bandwidth usage. When it comes down to the desktop, Opera makes it possible for applications to function offline and synchronize data with the respective server once it gets connected to the internet again at a later stage.
Developing web applications that provide a smooth and responsive user experience is quite a challenge for desktop, this challenge becomes all the more difficult when it comes to developing them for mobile devices. Mobile networks have a high latency rate and low level bandwidth as compared to desktop devices. Because of these facts, developers must be extra cautious for determining the amount of code required and number of round trips to the server.
Mobile devices are less powerful in terms of processing as compared to desktop computers, so optimization must be done very carefully. Another limitation to take into consideration is that Javascript seems not to integrate too well with mobiles and make use of the advantages provided by the running hardware.
Here is how Gears come in handy and solves the issues discussed above. You can make the tasks of your processor a bit easier by splitting and breaking JavaScript calculations into separate worker threads, which are background processes defined by Gears that can perform tasks as agents of the browser. Response rate of your applications can be increased by downloading data and code onto your device and allowing most of application’s functionality to run offline. Another thing to note is that you can use Gears to create application shortcuts for your web applications that will be visible in the file system.
Google Chrome bug fixes
Feb 20th
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
Google Chorme Dev channel has released yet another bug fix release of Google Chrome and it has been updated to 2.0.164.0. This is a bug fix release.
Now Google Chrome user interface is supporting 8 Indic languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya(not supported in XP), Tamil, and Telugu. This is just the initial integration of support for these languages. The translations are not complete and haven’t been finalized.
Changes made to the newer version are:
- Fixed the problems with Facebook’s sidebar layout.
- Fixed ‘crash on some Hebrew and Arabic sites’ known issue.
- Fixed several problems with making Google Chrome the default browser on Windows Vista.
- The complete list of changes is available in the released notes.
Following are the known issues which are listed as:
- After scrolling, input method editor (IME) windows appear far from the current text area. (Issue 7651)
- The Web Inspector (right click > Inspect Element) does not work. (Issue 7800)
- Issues with commands on pop-up windows: the context menu has most commands disabled, reload and view source do not work. (Issues 7615, 7635, 7804)
- Saving web pages does not work. Save as.. (Ctrl+S) appears to save to your Downloads folder, but it creates a file in the Application\2.0.164.0 directory. (Issue 7616)
- Some pop-ups and tabs load pages, but the title remains ‘Untitled’ and the address bar shows ‘about:blank’ as the URL. (Issue 7625)
You people can also report bugs. This release was announced by Mark Larson, Google Chrome Program Manager.
Tinychat – Create your own Chatroom
Feb 18th
TinyChat is a free service that allows you to create a free chat room that is accessible by anyone with a browser.
With TinyChat you can create your own chatroom and invite people through one simple link.
Simply create a chatroom from the homepage then send the link it gives to you to anyone you want to chat with. After you leave the chat room, all the chat data is gone, so its perfect for secure chats.
The giant websites like Google and Twitter has a simplistic front-end and limited features can appeal the users in a more effective manner.
TinyChat falls under the category of really simple applications that might just be what people are looking for.
By the help of TinyChat your web-based chat room is just one click away. It then generates a unique URL that you can share with whoever you choose to invite.
Just share the link and users will be redirected to a simple chat room interface, in order to users can input messages and change their usernames.
There’s also a way to embed a badge on other sites and forums to spread the link to the chatroom, showing the number of active users. Once you close the screen, the data is gone, so don’t use it to discuss anything worth remembering even if it lets you save the chat log.
The instant chat rooms are starting to become pretty popular on micro-sharing service Twitter, which is kind of strange if you consider that many people look at Twitter as one gigantic chat room to begin with.
This service was created by Daniel Blake. The terms and conditions can be viewed here.
Mozilla Lab’s Bespin – A new code editor in the cloud
Feb 15th
Mozilla Labs was created to give the community a safe and welcoming place to develop, research, talk about, and play with new and crazy ideas.
Mozilla has introduced a new product by the name Bespin, it’s a code editor that lives in the cloud.
It definitely tells you how many web developers and programmers are working in co-operation, or collaborating with other programmers from a home office.
The main features of Bespin are, it is easy to use, it provides real time collaboration as it comes with the feature of sharing live coding sessions with colleagues, it can be accessed from anywhere and from any device.
I found a video on Youtube, you people can watch it and see how good Bespin is.
Mozilla has has released an early experimental prototype to demonstrate some of the concepts of Bespin and the possibilities that it opens up.
Initial prototype framework includes support for basic editing features, such as syntax highlighting, large file sizes, undo/redo, previewing files in the browser, importing/exporting projects, etc.
All of the source code underlying the Bespin experiment is being released as open source software under the the MPL.
More advantages includes a synchronized work environment, without the pains of other web-based writing tools. Most popular web-based editors like Google Docs don’t handle code well at all. They’re mostly for writing regular old text docs. Bespin gives you the facilities like syntax highlighting and line numbering.
In short Bespin is a great success for the development community, now there is nothing to worry about the code, the synchronization, the work enviroment, the devices.
Making the right use of Visual Studio’s Object Browser
Feb 9th
Many of you might be familiar with the Object Browser that Visual Studio provides. Well, I decided to explore what benefits if any it has to offer to its user. And guess what my exploration revealed some interesting results. In simple words, Object Browser gives you a view of all the objects that are accessible within your application.
There exists more than one way to open the Object Browser. You can open the Object Browser from the View Menu, or open the Object Browser by clicking on its button in the Main toolbar. Also you could use a shortcut key (Ctrl+W,J) to open the Object Browser.
As a developer, you might be faced with situations in which you have to use and explore new classes and APIs. Well you guessed it, Object Browser will make your exploring task easier. Object Browser shows the various properties, methods, events associated to a certain class within a certain namespace. In addition to that it also shows the relationship (inheritance) between classes.
The Object Browser comprises of three panes which are:
- Object pane on the left side.
- Members pane on the upper right side.
- Description pane on the lower right side.
Let us consider a scenario in which we intend to explore the System.Net.Mail namespace.
First of all, Open the Object Browser, your screen should look something like this:
Then expand the System node and select the System.Net.Mail namespace and expand it as shown below:
After this, select the MailMessage class, you will be presented with the following picture
The Member pane on upper-right side displays the class members (methods, properties etc) of MailMessage, whereas the Description pane on lower-right side provides a brief description of the MailMessage class.
Let us explore it a little bit more, select a method lets say MailMessage(string, string) and observe the change in the description pane. Your description should look something like this
The description pane provides the summary, description and exceptions that may occur for the selected method.
In my opinion, the Object Browser is a time-saving tool that assists you in exploring a certain namespace and classes within that namespace, thus assisting you in searching the required class for a certain scenario.
