| Yes, They Launched On April Fool’s Day |
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Gmail was born on April 1, 2004 — here’s the earliest version I could find at the Internet Archive — an interesting day to launch a new product. On the eve of its fifth birthday, Todd Jackson, Gmail Product Manager, gave an interview with the folks at Ars Technica. They talked a lot about Gmail Labs, which has been churning out a new feature every couple of weeks. Here’s one interesting quote concerning the “Beta” tag that Gmail still carries after 5 years: “I got the impression from our conversation that the Gmail team does not lose much sleep worrying over whether Gmail is worthy of a specific version number. Jackson touted a philosophy of rapid feature development and discussed his perception that communication is a constantly evolving landscape, so his team doesn’t see the point in ever calling Gmail ‘finished’.” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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Comments (0)| Wikipedia Forces Microsoft To Surrender |
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Ars Technica reports that Microsoft will discontinue their Encarta encyclopedia on October 31, 2009. Here’s what they said: “Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed. People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past. As part of Microsoft’s goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today’s consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business. Microsoft’s vision is that everyone around the world needs to have access to quality education, and we believe that we can use what we’ve learned and assets we’ve accrued with offerings like Encarta to develop future technology solutions. In doing so, we feel strongly that we are making the right investments that will help make our vision a reality.” Here’s what they meant: “Y’all are just gonna use the Wikipedia anyway, so what’s the point?” I think Encarta was the second CD I got when I finally purchased a PC with a CD drive. The first? Myst. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Ten Years Of Bullet Time |
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Wired reports that today is the 10th anniversary of the release of The Matrix. The other 2 movies in the trilogy sort of lost their way, but the original sure changed the way we looked at cyberpunk. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Google Decides To Give Money Away |
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Google has announced Google Ventures, a venture capital fund that they will use to fund promising start-ups: “We’ll be focusing on early stage investments across a diverse range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and, no doubt, other areas we haven’t thought of yet. Central to our effort will be our fellow Googlers, whom we view as a critically important resource to help educate us about potential investments areas and evaluate specific companies.” When I read the announcement, I wondered how Google Ventures will play nice with Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, which has been in a state of flux since its Chief, Dr. Larry Brilliant, changed roles last month. The NY Times (sort of) has an answer for me: “The venture unit comes as Google is rethinking the mission of Google.org, its corporate philanthropy, which has invested in areas like clean energy. Some of those investments will now be made by the venture unit.” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Editorial Note |
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Due to a shocking lack of editorial oversight, the name of a certain Internet worm has been misspelled from time to time in four posts from this blog. The posts have all been corrected. The editor in charge has been disciplined. Dan Giancaterino, naturally, is not at fault. He’s a swell guy and promises to always call it Conficker from now on. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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March 30, 2009
| If You Can Read This Then My CAPTCHA Isn’t Squiggly Enough |
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David Pogue ranted last Friday about CAPTCHAs, those codes you have to enter on certain Websites so that they know you’re a human and not a bot. He even points us to a Website with examples of CAPTCHAs even humans couldn’t decipher. Only a geek would know that CAPTCHA is an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” Which reminds me of yet another T-shirt I wanna get: the one that says “I failed the Turing test“. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Conficker Specifically Targets Jenkins … Site Down … Employees Reduced To Playing Solitaire On Computers |
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Sorry … Just warming up for Wednesday, the day that the Conficker worm’s supposed to go nuclear. There’s been a fair amount of buzz about Conficker — some of it from yours truly — but apparently 60 Minutes went over the top last night. What is it about Conficker that makes people go nuts? Is it the name? Anyway, speaking of security, the NY Times reported Saturday about a bot apparently originating in China that’s infiltrated more than 1,200 computers in embassies and government offices around the world. Though it’s present in more than 100 countries, it seems to be focused on Tibet and other countries in Aisa. The Chinese government categorically denies any involvement with the spy system, but given their track record, I’m a tad dubious. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Sending Tweets At 65 MPH |
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Apparently in the near future, cars equipped with OnStar will allow you to send and receive Tweets. They’ll be converted to and from text using voice recognition technology. Given my experiences with people trying to multi-task while driving, I’m not exactly thrilled by this. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Tomorrow’s The Day For Skype On The iPhone |
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Wired reports that Skype will announce a version of its software for iPhones on Tuesday. Your VoIP calls will be free to other Skype users; if you call a landline, you’ll pay the same rates as you would with SkypeOut on your PC. The Skype app will even recognize the numbers in your iPhone address book. No video for the time being, though. If you have a second gen iPod Touch, you’ll be able to use Skype to place calls as well. I’m gonna have to wait for Skype for Android. Back in January, Skype released Skype Lite, which works on most mobile phones. I didn’t install it on my T-Mobile G1. I’m soooo glad: three months later, the app is rated only 2.5 stars out of 5 in the Android Market. The comments are amusing, but sound desperate and angry. I’ll wait for the real deal. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Guide to Representing Religious Organizations |
 By Lisa A. Runquist, Jeannie Carmedelle FreyThe book addresses critical issues and risk factors of concern for religious organizations ranging from formation and governance, to taxes, fundraising and employment issues, and property rights. It outlines the general requirements of applicable law and highlights areas in which religious organizations receive special consideration under the law. Library Record • Borrow it • More Titles |
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Submitted by: Malgorzata Pawska, Digital Content Coordinator
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