Google Desktop Finally Out for Linux

Google Inc. launched a Linux version of Google Desktop on Wednesday, almost three years after the product's launch for the Windows operating system.

The application, designed for indexing and finding data in PCs, as well as for searching the Web, also comes in a Mac OS X version, introduced in April of this year.

Like the Mac OS X version, Google Desktop for Linux is a beta, or test, product. The Windows version shed its beta tag already, meaning Google considers it a more stable and mature product.

At this point, Google Desktop for Linux does not feature the Sidebar and Gadget features present in the Windows version.

Gadgets are mini-applications that display things such as e-mail, weather data, photos and news on the desktop. The Sidebar is a vertical panel where the Gadgets can be organized.

This Linux version, developed by Google's Beijing engineering team, is available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, simplified and traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.

Google Desktop for Linux runs on Debian 4.0, Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 6.10, SUSE 10.1, and Red Flag 5.

Users can download it for free from this Web site

Plans for Ubuntu 7.10 revealed

Development plans for Ubuntu 7.10 (codenamed Gutsy Gibbon) were announced last night on the Ubuntu development mailing list. Scheduled for official release in late October, Gutsy Gibbon will include version 2.6.22 of the Linux kernel, GNOME 2.20, and Xorg 7.3. Kubuntu 7.10 will feature KDE 3.5.7 and offer optional packages for KDE 4.0 RC2. Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition will feature some nice additions, including support for Novell's AppArmor security framework.

Ubuntu 7.10 will be the first Ubuntu release to offer a complete mobile and embedded edition built with the Hildon user interface components, which are also used by the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet's Maemo platform. The Ubuntu mobile and embedded edition is most likely intended for use on upcoming portable computing devices being developed by Intel. This will also be the first Ubuntu release to include compositing support by default by fully integrating OpenCompositing, a window manager that merges elements of Compiz and Beryl.

Xorg 7.3, which includes RandR 1.2 and supports hotplugging for monitors and input devices, will vastly simplify Xorg configuration in Ubuntu 7.10 and significantly reduce the need for manual xorg.conf manipulation for some users. Ubuntu 7.10 will also include a new graphical display configuration utility that aims to reduce the complexity of configuring support for two displays. Unfortunately, users who want to run more than two displays by using multiple video cards will have to continue to manage their configuration by hand and endure the serious deficiencies of Xinerama, which still isn't compatible with RandR.

Tribe 1 (the first Ubuntu 7.10 development prerelease) was officially released on June 7th. According to the official release schedule, Tribe 2 is officially scheduled for release late this month shortly after the Debian import freeze. Additional Tribe prereleases will be issued at the rate of one or two per month until October. Assuming that circumstances don't necessitate a deviation from the schedule, Ubuntu 7.10 release candidates will be available mid-October and the final official release is scheduled to take place on October 18.

Favored by prominent hardware companies like Dell and Intel, Ubuntu is rapidly becoming one of the most important distributions in the Linux ecosystem. The addition of the new mobile and embedded edition in the 7.10 release represents the next major step in Ubuntu's evolution and portends broader Ubuntu adoption in the context of portable computing.

Lotus Vs Microsoft

Rivals IBM/Lotus and Microsoft Tuesday used the Enterprise 2.0 conference to push their social networking agenda with Lotus releasing its previously announced suite of services and Microsoft building around its SharePoint Server.

In January, IBM/Lotus introduced Lotus Connections as part of its push to develop social software for business users. Tuesday, the company released Connections and said Lotus Quickr, IBM's rework of its Lotus QuickPlace team sharing platform, would ship next week. Connections is an integrated bundle of social networking tools including blogging, bookmark sharing, user profiles and software to track activities and build online communities.

IBM also introduced Info 2.0, a way for companies to extract data from applications and databases using syndication technology and use it in mashups.

Microsoft Tuesday unveiled some of its social software efforts, although they are a bit rougher around the edges than the two finished products Louts unveiled.

Microsoft's foundation for its social software is Office SharePoint Server 2007. On Tuesday the company made available early releases on its Codeplex Web site, and its Community Kit for SharePoint that includes Enhanced Blog, Enhanced Wiki, ChatterBox Ajax and Tag Cloud. The tools are designed to let users create community Web sites.

In addition, Microsoft said it is committing to build 100 social networking business applications before June 2008 for use inside the company. One currently in development is SharePointPedia, which helps users find SharePoint technical and support information from both Microsoft and other sources. The company also is using personal Web sites call My Site, wikis and mash ups to foster collaboration.

The company plans to build its social networking capabilities such as expertise search, blogs, RSS feeds, and profiles into the SharePoint platform, according to company officials.

Analysts say both vendors are starting to moves corporate users from the buzz stage into bleeding edge adoption but that deployments are measured.

"We are seeing adoption among business units but not corporate wide," says Josh Holbrook, And right now were seeing a lot of one-off or point solutions, but not adoption of a broad suite of services."

Holbrook says he see IBM/Lotus moving out front with Connections and Microsoft as a fast follower.

Connections pulls together IBM's BluePages, an end-user directory for profiles; Dogear, a bookmark sharing application, Activities, a sophisticated to-do list, Communities, for pulling together groups of users and Roller, a blog server developed within the Apache Software Foundation. Connections is a set of server-based services, so it is not a new platform to install but one that can be added to existing tools through integration with the forthcoming Notes 8 and Sametime 7.5.1 clients that are based on the Lotus Expeditor and Eclipse client frameworks.

In addition, IBM also said Info 2.0 would bring "mash-up like" capabilities to enterprise data. The technology is coming from IBM's data management division.

"What they are working on is starting to go get data out of applications, databases and other enterprises data sources and make that available in things think RSS and Atom feeds and open up the data and make it available to mix and match," said Carol Jones, an IBM fellow.

Google opens up malware blacklist API

Google employees from the Antiphishing and Antimalware Teams have announced that the company is opening up its Safe Browsing API to the public. The Safe Browsing API allows easy access to Google's updated blacklist of suspected phishing and malware-infested web pages. The blacklists are the same ones used in Google's antiphishing plug-in for the Firefox web browser, as well as Google Desktop.

Anyone with a Google account can sign up for an API key, which is a 58-character string used to authenticate the user. It also allows Google to disable access to certain users if they violate the terms of service agreement. Applications that use the Safe Browsing API must limit the number of times they poll Google's servers for updates to the blacklists, which Google updates every 30 minutes. There is also a limitation on the number of users an application using the Safe Browsing API is allowed to service: the license agreement states that if more than 10,000 users are expected to send regular requests to the API, an e-mail must be sent to Google to lift the cap. In addition, applications that use the API are required to inform users that the service does not provide 100 percent malware protection.
Google has been working on making the web safer for Internet surfers for some time now. The recent purchase of the web security firm GreenBorder, combined with the opening of their Safe Browsing API to the public, shows that Google is serious about wanting to improve the public's perception of the safety of the web, and in particular of web-based applications. The effort has not always gone smoothly. Google had to quickly patch their blacklisting software when it was revealed that some of the URLs it listed contained user names and passwords. Google maintains that the Safe Browsing API is still "experimental" and subject to change. The company hopes to improve the API in the future, making it easier for small developers to integrate it into their applications.

Wireless electricity test completed

The day may be coming when PCs, cell phones and many other devices will be run without a battery or electrical cord.

Last week, an MIT research team announced that it had juiced up a 60-watt light bulb using "WiTricity," the name it has given a wireless electricity source it is developing.

The team generated the WiTricity using two copper coils, one attached to a power source. The power coil emitted a field of magnetism to the unpowered coil, stimulating it to generate a current that powered the light bulb from seven feet away, said Andre Kurs, a graduate student in MIT's physics department who worked on the project.

The team has been testing WiTricity options over the past year. The WiTricity generated by the coils powered the light bulb in a way similar to magnetic induction, which is used in power transformers so that one coil carries power to another.

Using an energy converter, any object near the WiTricity generating coils could be powered, and the technology could, in the future, be used to replace cords and bulky batteries, which often contain toxic chemicals.

Kurs contended that WiTricity is safer than electricity or batteries and will "run forever if you take care of it."

Depending on how the coils are configured, a single WiTricity source could provide power for several laptops or dozens of cell phones.

The team plans to expand the tests with a goal of covering greater distances and generating more power