Example of a web mashup at work
Posted by Pavan Chander | Filed under Web
A web Mashup is essentially a way of taking data from one web service or application and then using another web service or application to either add to, modify, or display the data in a unique way.
Ran across an excellent blog posting that demonstrated this.
… So to recap, we have scraped some data from a wikipedia page into a Google spreadsheet using the =importHTML formula, published a handful of rows from the table as CSV, consumed the CSV in a Yahoo pipe and created a geocoded KML feed from it, and then displayed it in a Google map.
-Data Scraping Wikipedia with Google Spreadsheets
The resulting KML file can viewed in Google Maps here.
Tags: Google, Mashup, Web, Wikipedia, Yahoo
Opera 9.6
Posted by Pavan Chander | Filed under Software
Boy time flies, whether you’re having fun or not.
It’s already been just over a month since Google Chrome came out, and I guess it shows how much of a Google fan boy I am because I’m still using it. I’ve completely switched from Opera and while there have been little annoyances about Chrome once in a while, I understand it is a ‘true’ beta product.
Opera 9.6 introduces a new feature that seems promising, the “Scroll Marker”:
The new Opera Scroll Marker makes it easier to continue reading when you scroll through a Web page. At the end of the page it will indicate the previous position of the bottom of the screen so you can easily see where to continue reading.
-Opera 9.6 Change log
Its very unobtrusive and sleek, but I’m finding it doesn’t always show up whenever I scroll, and having an inconsistent helper, I find, is worse then having none at all.
Opera has also launched an online tutorial which helps get someone up to speed with the browsers features, it’s quite newb friendly ;)
Now I guess time will tell whether I switch back to Opera, or continue going through the occasional sufferance with Chrome.
Tags: Browser, Chrome, Google, Opera, Software
The Google OS is here
Posted by Pavan Chander | Filed under Software
No really, it is!
Well kind of, It’s probably just not what you had in mind.
First of all, what could one consider a “Google OS” to be?
One could reply that its an OS designed to integrate Google’s web based application line, with traditional desktop applications with focus on search, ease of use, and stability.
Fine maybe thats just my take on it, but its not a bad take..
So then what kind of applications does an OS need?
Well there’s a need for productivity software (Mail, Calendar, Document control). Communication (IM, Social Networking, Online discussion).
Media (Images, Video).
Anyone can see where I’m going with this, so if Google already has so many desktop applications being ported to the web then why does it need to create a whole OS to interact with them?
They don’t.
Introducing: Google Chrome, must-read overview here.
Why do I call it the Google OS, well think about it; The real “Google OS” is actually all in cyberspace. So all one needs to do is use a browser to access it.
But By creating a browser that will run on Windows/Mac/Linux, Google has created a universally stable “OS” that will be able to handle all Google Apps effectively.
Tags: Browser, Chrome, Google, OS, Software, Web
Family web presence
Posted by Pavan Chander | Filed under Web
Well I think its about time that everyone in my family had a web presence, its the 21st century….and I feel obliged to force technology down everyones throat :P
So now we have to decide on either a common domain, or separate domains for each of us. Most likely it will be separate for the each of us, as my sister and dad will probably not be able to agree on a common domain. So the next couple of days/weeks will be us going through the WHOIS registry to see what’s available.
On each of the domains I will be implementing Google Apps, another amazing tool by Google. It lets you give you and your users the ability to have the Google Office applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, as well as Google Talk. The Gmail feature alone makes it worthwhile, as their online interface is by far the best I’ve seen, and Gmail has recently started supporting the IMAP protocol.
