I just noticed Yahoo!’s My Web 2.0 service. Is this the second version of ‘My Web’, or is it just blatant buzzword exploitation as I suspect? Oh, there are tags, contacts, sharing… I think it’s the latter. Is this a genius stroke of marketing on Yahoo!’s behalf or just a cheap shot at capitalising on the latest web buzzword?
Archive for the ‘ Web – General’ Category
Yahoo! My Web 2.0 — Flog those buzzwords
Wednesday, April 26th, 2006Google Calendar
Thursday, April 13th, 2006Another week, another new Google product, another new post about Google product.
Google Calender has finally been released to the public, and it looks very slick. But one surprise with it is that the developers behind it have actually created some valid HTML. Google Calendar even has a doctype! Perhaps the days of Google’s notoriously bad HTML is behind them.
Douglas Bowman was involved in the project, which may have had something to do with it. (Possible quote: "by the way guys, c’mon — your web apps are awesome but your HTML sucks!").
On the functionality side, I’m not sure how much impact Google Calendar will have until it synchs with handheld devices. I’m sure they’ll attempt this in the future, and then along with Gmail, Google might actually give the likes of Outlook a real run for its money. Outlook is hardly the be and end all of desktop communication and organisation — but even Doug Bowman sings Google Calendar’s praise over iCal, which is always getting praise from the Mac camp.
Microsoft Live Mail
Monday, April 10th, 2006I don’t check my Hotmail very often anymore (since switching to Gmail quite a while ago), but I did today just to clear the alerts I keep getting from MSN Messenger (where most of my IM contacts are). I noticed a fairly garish and green button inviting me to check out Live Mail Beta and decided to have a look.
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Joga update
Thursday, March 30th, 2006The Official Google Blog has just posted about Joga – gives a good overview of what’s on offer there. Joga is still in ‘invite only’ mode though; so the world may have to wait to see my hot football skills (ahem!).
A Look at Google Page Creator
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006Well, I got an invite to check out Google Page Creator today. The good news is I doubt this will threaten my career; the bad news is… actually, there isn’t really any bad news (except perhaps some of the tacky templates available, but to be fair, they look pretty slick compared to the good old days of Geocities).
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Google and Nike Launch Joga.com
Monday, March 20th, 2006Google and Nike – perhaps a less than obvious pairing – have launched Joga (via Slashdot), which purports to be social networking site for Football fans around the world. Of course at the moment its got the usual ‘Invite Only’ status everyone has come to know when it comes to new Google products.
I find it interesting that this site appears to have video and photo sharing — is this the first we may see of a Google photo sharing service? Such a product seems to be strangely missing from Google’s product line up, especially considering its very offline photo organising service Picasa.
Maybe Google aren’t quite ready to challenge Flickr (and Yahoo!) just yet.
British Design Museum and Accessibility
Friday, March 3rd, 2006According to the British Design Museum website, they are:
…well-equipped to welcome visitors with disabilities. Our facilities include: lifts, wheelchair access, adapted toilets, and audio guides for selected exhibitions.
The irony of all this is that in the HTML version of the site (as opposed to the Flash) this text is rendered in a GIF with no alt text (and not considering the fact the site launches several pop-up windows). So unlucky if you’re visually impaired.
Or does this raise the question of whether you could truly appreciate a Design Museum if you were visually impaired? Or an art gallery? Or museums in general?
Regardless I do love the irony of disability services information appearing in probably the most inaccessible way possible.
Google Gmail Autosave
Tuesday, October 4th, 2005Flash Video: Where’s the Remote?
Tuesday, August 9th, 2005CNET News.com has reported on Flash 8′s beefed up video capabilities, touting it as a serious contender to the world of video streaming on the web. But for me, there is some serious work that needs to be done on Flash.
Firefox Pop Ups
Monday, August 8th, 2005For a while I’ve noticed a few pop up ads slipping through Firefox’s usually excellent blocker control. Some have even attempted to sell me Crazy Frog ringtones. It seems Flash (and other plugins) can bypass the usual blocking process, however Pete Bevin has worked out a way to stop Flash doing this, so no more pop ups… for a while, anyway.