March Beta-watch

After a talk with a long-time associate and web expert about business direction, brewing startups, and security, I walked away with a couple of interesting sites:

Groupable - which helps groups (even tiny, esoteric groups) to find sponsors, is in beta and moving quickly. I haven't been following the site progress closely, but it looks promising.

It is more functional than many in the beta stage. The real tests for Groupable will be to:

1. Clearly communicate what they can do for a Sponsor or Group
2. Get Sponsors to sign up
3. Give Sponsors easy, relevant ways to find Groups

It looks like it's well on its way. I see a lot of potential for student groups, support groups, little league teams, and networking groups especially. Not every group would consider finding outside funding or support for activities provisions, and Groupable might help some of those succeed where they wouldn't have.

TipMeOff - which seems to be a classifieds site, in the vein of Craigslist. The interface is messy, though I see some useful features rare in free classifieds:

1. 6 Photos per post (as opposed to 4, or none, in some cases)
2. Anonymized e-mail or Web-based messaging to reply to posts
   
3. Multiple languages, although right now only the location names are localized
4. Multiple locations post, global and local (you can post your ad to multiple locations anywhere in the world, but this won't be useful until TipMeOff gets its interface together)
5. Ads don't expire (for now! I expect this to change if TipMeOff wants to keep its content relevant)

For most people, the ugliness of the site will be a turn-off. For generalist-nerds, it just might be a fun ride.

2008? Somebody light a match! 2009: Much, much better...

The latter half of 2008 was a real challenge.
In so many ways.

While I still think the company I started working for (after so many positive years consulting independently) is the best I've ever worked for, there were a few times last year that gave me pause. All in all, we pulled together to resolve impacts many of you will find familiar:

• Clients with "disappered" budgets
• Projects frozen due to "significant changes in client standing or management"
• Staff changes due to major life changes, family matters, or a need to move

Almost through the first quarter of 2009, we're looking forward to the Spring! We found opportunity in 2008's adversities, and smoother times are ahead.

Chrome :: Aw, Snap!

Chrome's message reads:

"Aw, Snap! Something went wrong while displaying this webpage. To continue, press Reload or go to another page"

Apparently, some caught errors in rendering will display this playful message.

Google Chrome :: Easter Egg, Crash, and more

Easter Egg:

• Type

  about:internets

   into the location / address bar for blast from the past...

Useful bits:

 Type any of the following to tinker, prod, or poke at the underbelly of Chrome:

• about:memory
  
• about:stats
• about:network
• about:histograms
• about:dns
• about:cache
• about:plugins
• about:version
• about:objects
• about:chrome-nativeui
• view-cache:[URL]
  
• view-source:[URL]

The Bomb:

Any of the following is likely to crash the current version of Chrome:

• Percent Crash. Clicking a link like this: 

  Evil link

  or, for that matter, any other target of the form "something:%"
• Typing evil:% or something:% into the address / search bar

Credits:

• http://lifehacker.com/5045136/google-chromes-aboutinternets-easter-egg
  

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer - A Showdown

At work we're always staying abreast of tech developments, especially disruptive technologies. Google's release of Chrome might prove disruptive, as its rapid initial wave of browser market share consumption suggests.

In advising our clients and planning for future development, we consider:

Chrome, a Newcomer: Pacman™  style

• Quick to Launch
• Quick to Load Sites
• Sends URL information to Google
• No Private Browsing Mode
• Open Source....Eventually, but not yet
• Glitchily new
• More resilient to crashes
• Child of Google: deep reach, deep pockets
• Not supported by many operating Systems

Mozilla Firefox: Rebel with a cause

• Launched the first significant blow to IE's browser dominance since that dominance was established
• Many diehard fans of the browser and Mozilla
• Many more "flexible" and "early adopter" users, may be more susceptible to Google Chrome's "wares" and more likely to give Chrome a try soon.
• No Private Browsing Mode
  
• Widely supported across many operating systems

Microsoft Internet Explorer: "Everything that has a beginning...."

• Default Browser for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
• Most popular browser, apparently
• Tends to mimmick other browsers' successes, rather than innovate
• Many users hesitant to try other browsers or give up what's familiar
• Previously had biggest reach by default through the Microsoft Connection. Now with Chrome through Google...well, we'll see.
• No Private Browsing Mode
  
• Supported on roughly ..2.. Operating Systems

Others...

• Opera was an early innovator with tabbed browsing and a lighter-weight, more flexible browser -- but lacked exposure/reach to take off. That, and for a time they tried to charge for their browser. Ooops!
• Safari supports a private browsing mode that its more popular counterparts have been slow to take on. However, Safari also lacks reach and uniqueness to make a dent in the browser market.

For now, even though entire communities long-ago left Internet Explorer for Firefox, IE is still king and queen of web browsing. However, as each generation becomes more engaged in tech, long-lived dynasties on browsers that innovate as an afterthought...won't be feasible. 

Business-wise, it makes sense to be IE compatible OR ELSE;

Community-wise,  we'd do well to encourage adoption of Firefox and maybe even Chrome. In the Web these days, usage (and even simply viewing) == voting.

The Dao of Online Security

After a recent series of meetings regarding security, I decided to create and regularly update this post about online security and how to stay safe online:

• Use an Encrypted Proxy when using unencrypted Wi-Fi.
  Each time you connect your PDA or laptop to a wireless network that doesn't support encryption (such as AES, WPA, or the obsolete WEP), you expose your passwords, logins, chats, and web browsing to any eavesdropper within radio range.
• Use encryption when accessing e-mail.
  Some providers support encryption for SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 connections (sometimes and variously called SMTPS, IMAPS, POP3S, SIMAP, and more), which is mostly relevant when using an e-mail client such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Agendus, or Eudora. When accessing webmail, choose the SSL or TLS option (https:// rather than http://). Taking these methods helps to avoid eavesdropping by others on your network, others using your ISP, others within Wi-Fi range, and even others on networks between your computer and your e-mail provider's systems.
• Use encryption when logging into websites.
  Whenever the option is available, choose "secure login" or "SSL Login" to enter your username and password through an https:// web address rather than an http:// web address.
• Turn off bluetooth when not in use. Some systems can be compromised through Bluetooth, often through a buggy implementation.
  

RSS and Atom Syndication Galore

This week we've developed standards for RSS and Atom Syndication across all internal sites and projects.

It will take several weeks yet to implement the standards, and it was interesting learning along the way:

Regarding the choice and difference between Atom and RSS:

We opted to use Atom universally, since Atom is much more versatile, and both formats are widely supported. Some features we plan to use in the near future aren't supported by RSS, even though much of the web uses "RSS" non-technically to refer to both standards, effectively.

For developers looking to implement an RSS or Atom feed, these resources were useful in our search:

• Feedcreator: ( http://feedcreator.org/ ) - a no-nonsense PHP feed creator that supports several formats spanning RSS and Atom
• Autodiscovery: (http://www.petefreitag.com/item/384.cfm) - our man "Friday"! during a quick search, this blogger's entry made a quick distinction between rss autodiscovery (rss+xml) and atom autodiscovery (atom+xml)