1. Keep the Internet free and open
Starting in 1973, when my colleagues and I proposed the technology behind the Internet, we advocated for an open standard to connect computer networks together. This wasn’t merely philosophical; it was also practical.
Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-proprietary and interoperable. They avoided “lock-in,” and allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Internet creates so much value today. Because it is borderless and belongs to everyone, it has brought unprecedented freedoms to billions of people worldwide: the freedom to create and innovate, to organize and influence, to speak and be heard.
But starting in a few hours, a closed-door meeting of the world’s governments is taking place in Dubai, and regulation of the Internet is on the agenda. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening a conference from December 3-14 to revise a decades-old treaty, in which only governments have a vote. Some proposals could allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access in their countries.
You can read more about my concerns on CNN.com, but I am not alone. So far, more than 1,000 organizations from more than 160 countries have spoken up too, and they’re joined by hundreds of thousands of Internet users who are standing up for a free and open Internet. On an interactive map at freeandopenweb.com, you can see that people from all corners of the world have signed our petition, used the #freeandopen hashtag on social media, or created and uploaded videos to say how important these issues are.
If you agree and want to support a free and open Internet too, I invite you to join us by signing the petition at google.com/takeaction. Please make your voice heard and spread the word.
2. Ubuntu Linux and Windows 8: Head-to-Head at Last
Canonical may have ultimately changed its mind about "Avoid the pain of Windows 8" -- the slogan that accompanied the original launch of Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" earlier this fall, but like so many deeply compelling notions, it seems to have staying power here in the Linux blogosphere. That indeed is why more than a few Linux fans have viewed Windows 8 with jubilation rather than dread -- it may, after all, prove to be Linux's next big shot at broader desktop use.
3. iTunes 11: I Want to Be More Impressed Than I Am
After the iTunes 11 delivery delay, I was hoping Apple was working through a seriously complicated redesign that would vastly improve my iTunes experience. Instead, we got iTunes 11, which looks like a huge improvement, but -- if anyone out in the world is at least somewhat like me -- is just a marginal improvement with some pretty shininess built into it. Granted, iTunes has a lot of mistresses to keep happy: It's not only a jukebox hub for music, it holds movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes U content, books, apps, and even ringtones.
5. YouTube takes to the skies, brings its channels to Virgin America flights
Google has spent millions of dollars funding channels offering high quality content in a bid to compete with television, and more importantly, offer brand-safe shows for major companies to attach their adverts to. Some of the channels have been wildly successful, while others -- it’s fair to say -- haven’t reached anywhere near their full potential.
Still, YouTube remains committed to funding high-quality programming and in the next fortnight or so will start showing content from five of its flagship channels on Virgin America flights across the U.S. and Mexico.
The five YouTube channels selected to appear on personal seatback screens are Warner Brothers’ H+ The Digital Series, WIGS’ Blue (starring Julia Stiles), Geek & Sundry’s Written By a Kid, Crash Course and Barely Political’s The Key of Awesome.
While Written By a Kid, Crash Course and The Key of Awesome can all be dipped into, H+ and Blue are like regular TV shows, with each episode needing to be watched in order. H+ The Digital Series is made up of short time-jumping episodes, and is proving confusing to long time viewers, so heaven knows what Virgin America passengers tuning in for the first time will make of it.
New series and shows will be added every two months.
6. Faster GPS that won't kill your battery via the cloud, and a crowd
A Continuous GPS and seismic monitoring station at Great Rift, Idaho can use precision GPS data from NGA to pick up distortions in the earth's crust measured in millimeters.
Idaho National Laboratory
There's been a push from government agencies, navigation equipment companies, and smartphone manufacturers to wring additional accuracy and performance out of the Global Positioning System's network of satellites. Part of that effort has included using a network of GPS-fixed reference stations to build an ever-improving model of satellite orbit data, which can be used to help GPS systems pick the right satellites to connect to get a quicker fix.
But there's a new emerging class of "near-real-time" GPS applications that promise to both squeeze additional accuracy out of GPS signals and in some cases dramatically reduce the power consumption of GPS sensors. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which supplies data on GPS satellite orbits to the Department of Defense and the scientific community, is looking to create these even more accurate calculations of GPS satellite orbit data by collecting data from a wider range of GPS reference stations. But rather than adding more of its own ground stations, NGA is looking to acquire more orbit data, called Precise Ephemeris(PE), through a sort of crowdsourcing—collecting the data from a constellation of GPS ground stations operated by private companies and other institutions.
The agency hopes the resulting network of GPS reference points will speed the gathering of precise location data, create extremely accurate GPS tracking for some GPS receivers, and allow for lightweight tracking devices that can last for months or even years on a single battery charge. The same approach could be used for commercial applications such as smart phone location services, improving their precision while dramatically reducing the power drain from GPS by pushing the computation of location up into the cloud.
Starting in 1973, when my colleagues and I proposed the technology behind the Internet, we advocated for an open standard to connect computer networks together. This wasn’t merely philosophical; it was also practical.
Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-proprietary and interoperable. They avoided “lock-in,” and allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Internet creates so much value today. Because it is borderless and belongs to everyone, it has brought unprecedented freedoms to billions of people worldwide: the freedom to create and innovate, to organize and influence, to speak and be heard.
But starting in a few hours, a closed-door meeting of the world’s governments is taking place in Dubai, and regulation of the Internet is on the agenda. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening a conference from December 3-14 to revise a decades-old treaty, in which only governments have a vote. Some proposals could allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access in their countries.
You can read more about my concerns on CNN.com, but I am not alone. So far, more than 1,000 organizations from more than 160 countries have spoken up too, and they’re joined by hundreds of thousands of Internet users who are standing up for a free and open Internet. On an interactive map at freeandopenweb.com, you can see that people from all corners of the world have signed our petition, used the #freeandopen hashtag on social media, or created and uploaded videos to say how important these issues are.
If you agree and want to support a free and open Internet too, I invite you to join us by signing the petition at google.com/takeaction. Please make your voice heard and spread the word.
Canonical may have ultimately changed its mind about "Avoid the pain of Windows 8" -- the slogan that accompanied the original launch of Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" earlier this fall, but like so many deeply compelling notions, it seems to have staying power here in the Linux blogosphere. That indeed is why more than a few Linux fans have viewed Windows 8 with jubilation rather than dread -- it may, after all, prove to be Linux's next big shot at broader desktop use.
After the iTunes 11 delivery delay, I was hoping Apple was working through a seriously complicated redesign that would vastly improve my iTunes experience. Instead, we got iTunes 11, which looks like a huge improvement, but -- if anyone out in the world is at least somewhat like me -- is just a marginal improvement with some pretty shininess built into it. Granted, iTunes has a lot of mistresses to keep happy: It's not only a jukebox hub for music, it holds movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes U content, books, apps, and even ringtones.
4. Google+ introduces Communities despite persistent 'ghost town' reputation
On Thursday, Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra announced the launch of Google+ Communities, a new feature which allows users to join and create interest groups on Google's social network.
Google+ Communities rolls out today and in typical social networking fashion, it will allow both private and public membership options. Users will be able to plan events, start hangouts and share Web content with fellow community members. Categories have been implemented to improve navigability and searchability.
Currently, Communities is labeled as a preview, and it can be used by clicking on the "Communities" icon that should appear today. It will be made available for mobile Google+ users in the near future as well.
Google also made Snapseed for Android devices available today after a period of iOS exclusivity. Snapseed is a photo editing program which can be used to perform minor tweaks or apply filters. Users will be able to share their creations on Google+, as well as other cloud services.
Snapseed is available for download from Google Play and App Store.
Possibly more exciting than the introduction of Communities and Snapseed for Android, Vic Gundotra also provided some crucial details regarding the member activity on Google+ and other Google services.
According to Gundotra, Google+ has more than 500 million users, of which 235 million (less than 50 percent) are active across other services such as Play or Gmail. That number is based on +1s, hangouts or friend connections in Search.
From this 235 million users, only 135 million (or 57 percent) are actively using the social network's stream as well as its related services.
This suggests that Community is basically addressed to 135 million Google+ users, or 27 percent, from the total number of members. Compared to the 584 million daily active users on Facebook and 1 billion monthly active users, Google+ seems like it is still very small. Critics who have called the social network a "ghost town" could certainly still make that criticism.
On Thursday, Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra announced the launch of Google+ Communities, a new feature which allows users to join and create interest groups on Google's social network.
Google+ Communities rolls out today and in typical social networking fashion, it will allow both private and public membership options. Users will be able to plan events, start hangouts and share Web content with fellow community members. Categories have been implemented to improve navigability and searchability.
Currently, Communities is labeled as a preview, and it can be used by clicking on the "Communities" icon that should appear today. It will be made available for mobile Google+ users in the near future as well.
Google also made Snapseed for Android devices available today after a period of iOS exclusivity. Snapseed is a photo editing program which can be used to perform minor tweaks or apply filters. Users will be able to share their creations on Google+, as well as other cloud services.
Snapseed is available for download from Google Play and App Store.
Possibly more exciting than the introduction of Communities and Snapseed for Android, Vic Gundotra also provided some crucial details regarding the member activity on Google+ and other Google services.
According to Gundotra, Google+ has more than 500 million users, of which 235 million (less than 50 percent) are active across other services such as Play or Gmail. That number is based on +1s, hangouts or friend connections in Search.
From this 235 million users, only 135 million (or 57 percent) are actively using the social network's stream as well as its related services.
This suggests that Community is basically addressed to 135 million Google+ users, or 27 percent, from the total number of members. Compared to the 584 million daily active users on Facebook and 1 billion monthly active users, Google+ seems like it is still very small. Critics who have called the social network a "ghost town" could certainly still make that criticism.
Google has spent millions of dollars funding channels offering high quality content in a bid to compete with television, and more importantly, offer brand-safe shows for major companies to attach their adverts to. Some of the channels have been wildly successful, while others -- it’s fair to say -- haven’t reached anywhere near their full potential.
Still, YouTube remains committed to funding high-quality programming and in the next fortnight or so will start showing content from five of its flagship channels on Virgin America flights across the U.S. and Mexico.
The five YouTube channels selected to appear on personal seatback screens are Warner Brothers’ H+ The Digital Series, WIGS’ Blue (starring Julia Stiles), Geek & Sundry’s Written By a Kid, Crash Course and Barely Political’s The Key of Awesome.
While Written By a Kid, Crash Course and The Key of Awesome can all be dipped into, H+ and Blue are like regular TV shows, with each episode needing to be watched in order. H+ The Digital Series is made up of short time-jumping episodes, and is proving confusing to long time viewers, so heaven knows what Virgin America passengers tuning in for the first time will make of it.
New series and shows will be added every two months.
A Continuous GPS and seismic monitoring station at Great Rift, Idaho can use precision GPS data from NGA to pick up distortions in the earth's crust measured in millimeters.
Idaho National Laboratory
There's been a push from government agencies, navigation equipment companies, and smartphone manufacturers to wring additional accuracy and performance out of the Global Positioning System's network of satellites. Part of that effort has included using a network of GPS-fixed reference stations to build an ever-improving model of satellite orbit data, which can be used to help GPS systems pick the right satellites to connect to get a quicker fix.
But there's a new emerging class of "near-real-time" GPS applications that promise to both squeeze additional accuracy out of GPS signals and in some cases dramatically reduce the power consumption of GPS sensors. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which supplies data on GPS satellite orbits to the Department of Defense and the scientific community, is looking to create these even more accurate calculations of GPS satellite orbit data by collecting data from a wider range of GPS reference stations. But rather than adding more of its own ground stations, NGA is looking to acquire more orbit data, called Precise Ephemeris(PE), through a sort of crowdsourcing—collecting the data from a constellation of GPS ground stations operated by private companies and other institutions.
The agency hopes the resulting network of GPS reference points will speed the gathering of precise location data, create extremely accurate GPS tracking for some GPS receivers, and allow for lightweight tracking devices that can last for months or even years on a single battery charge. The same approach could be used for commercial applications such as smart phone location services, improving their precision while dramatically reducing the power drain from GPS by pushing the computation of location up into the cloud.
7. Google Graduates Send & Archive, Quote Selected Text, and Default Reply All from Labs
As any Gmail ninja knows, some of the best features are hidden away in Gmail's "Labs" section, where they test new and experimental features. Today, three of those features graduated to become a default part of Gmail. More »
As any Gmail ninja knows, some of the best features are hidden away in Gmail's "Labs" section, where they test new and experimental features. Today, three of those features graduated to become a default part of Gmail. More »
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