shiv.me

Finally it’s out in the open. The ultimate weapon in Google’s powerchest to combat desktop applications, render the need for a specific platform meaningless – the browser. I guess this has been in the making for the last decade, and here it is. A browser by a company that downloads pretty much most of the internet every day.

If you are still reading this, you shouldn’t be. Get outta here and read this. (Actually just open in a new window, and continue reading this).

I guess it makes a lot of sense for a company like Google to have an install base of their own, and what better way than, what has become the primary application on most computers, the browser. With Google’s data processing and storage capabilities, I can’t begin to imagine the things that could be done with a browser like this.

Some unique things about (I stand corrected, David) Key features of Google Chrome (such a lame name .. come on guys you can be a bit more creative than that — too many Mozilla hackers @ Google?!), as mentioned in their cartoon booklet (if you care to read thru 40 pages), include:

• Tabs to the top (ignore that – such a cosmetic change) – Aparently this has been around for a while in Opera – thanks David Sheen
• Tabs as separate processes (that’s good in a way, but I’m not so sure about older machines)
• New garbage collection engine.
• New javascript virtual machine, that supports compiled javascript – I want to see the performance on that.
• Apparently, they have a huge testbed, that can test each browser build automatically using a hundred monkeys. (I don’t care too much about this, I just think this is over-engineering, but hey, this is me).
• Uses Webkit for page-rendering.
• Persistant tab state, and the tab can be detached as well, into a new window.
• Standard auto-completing address bar (Firefox 3)
• Personalised start page with your browsing history, google info etc.

As a write this, a huge array of ideas come to mind, that will surely come to be common-place in next few years. I’m throwing out some general ideas here, and maybe I’ll come back a few years and tick some of them down.

1. Personalised homepages with per-user google content (this is already present in their beta vision)
   
2. Single sign-on using open id and o-auth using google account information (read as identity management)
3. Social networking (submit to orkut etc), location aware
4. Voice calls from the browser (gtalk, jaiku etc)
5. Content tagging services, using collective intelligence (this could make google searches much better than they already are – something like mahalo + google, just that every click could potentially give google data, thereby bettering the result match for you.)

That’s my five things google could do. What do you think? What could Google add to their browser, that willl change the way we use it in the next 5 years?

I wrote this a few months back, when I had just starting using facebook, but never got around to posting it. With a recent cleaning spee (of my laptop) I found it lying in a neat corner. If you are not already infected by facebook, here it is.

Facebook, is a web2.0 app that has the most serious drain on productivity, and got me to waste all of 5 hours on it, doing nothing but organizing, linking, inviting hundreds of friends; and just lounging around!

Why? It is not just another application, it is a platform, it is an aggregator of sorts, of not data, but of people. It takes the whole idea of social networking to the next level, and gives people a load of cool things to play with and keeps you and your friends engaged. It can be either as fun or as hip or as geeky or as professional as you want it to be. How? Coz it lets you add the services that you see as best useful for you. So unlike orkut (mostly for the younger ones – a.k.a college kids wanting to just gossip or get in touch or whatever), and very much unlike linkedin (you just create a network and there is no way except good ol’ mails or thereabouts to interact with people)

Well, after a serious 5/6 hours with facebook, I really think that is there is one social-networking (somebody find a shorter name for this – how about socNET?!) that I would recommend, it would be facebook. Why ?! Coz, I can promote and show off the following

• My blog/anything with RSS using feedinvasion.
• Music I listen to using iLike.
• Movies that I watch using flixster.
• Articles that I read Google reader shared items app.
• Photos that I have taken using photos app.
• Videos that I have made using Video app.

So these are the applications that I use currently, and they change every time I log on to facebook.

So you are better served to checking out my profile on facebook everyday or rather, your own, since you will get notifications of what I have done recently, as I do it, instead of my website (that is you are one of the poor souls, who still have faith in my blogging skills – :>) <- (That was my evil grin). That way you get not only what I write about, but also, a whole host of things about me. May I say: One small step for an online app, but a giant leap for web as a platform!

Technorati Tags: facebook, web 2.0