OpenWeb 01/18/2012 (a.m.)

• Making Love to WebKit — Acko.net

  Steven Witten pushes the envelope using CSS 3D instead of WebGL.  He explains why, arguing parralax, GPUs and his own brand of technofetishism.  Great stuff.  Awesome must read adventure in the future of the Web.

  Tags: Steven-Witten, Acko.net, CSS-3D, WebGL, Parralax, WebKit

  • - By Gary Edwards

• Pushing the 3D Boundaries in WebKit with CSS 3D and Three.js

  Good stuff going on at Acko.net! Excerpt: Sometimes, you need to see what a technology can do before you can fully appreciate it. Take, for instance, CSS 3D and Three.js. It's one thing to hear about doing 3D elements for Web sites, and another to see them integrated into a well-designed site. Take, for example, Steven Wittens' Acko.net redesign. Visit Acko.net using a current release of Firefox, and you'll see a nice clean site with a nice header image that demonstrates two-point perspective nicely. But hit the site using a WebKit browser, and you're in for a real treat.

  Tags: CSS-Layout, CSS-3D, WebGL, OpenWeb-Productivity-Platform, WebKit

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 01/14/2012 (a.m.)

• Kindle Format 8 Overview

  Amazon releases a new version of the KF8 Format, with greatly improved HTML5-CSS3 capabilities.  Details of the KF8 spec can be found here: http://goo.gl/XY39v A couple of things i'm wondering about here.  One is, the KindleGen conversion tool can convert HTML, XHTML and EPUB to KF8.  Has anyone tried to push a OpenOffice XHTML compound document through this latest KF8 version of  KGen?  I'm thinking that perhaps the OOo HTML problem could be solved in this way? There is no doubt in my mind that HTML5 will continue to grow, and eventually replace the desktop XML "compound document" formats. The great transition from desktop client/server business productivity environments, where legacy compound documents rule the roost and fuel the engines of all business systems, to a Cloud Productivity Platform, will require an HTML5 compound document format model.  Also needed will be HTML5 capable applications participating in the production of Cloud ready compound documents.  Is KF8 a reasonable starting place? excerpt: Kindle Format 8 is Amazon’s next generation file format offering a wide range of new features and enhancements – including HTML5 and CSS3 support that publishers can use to create all types of books. KF8 adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, including drop caps, numbered lists, fixed layouts, nested tables, callouts, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics - opening up more opportunities to create Kindle books that readers will love. Kindle Fire is the first Kindle device to support KF8 - in the coming months KF8 will be rolled out to our latest generation Kindle e-ink devices as well as our free Kindle reading apps.

  Tags: KF8, compound-documents, Cloud-Productivity-Platform, Cloud-Compound-Document

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 01/06/2012 (a.m.)

• Could coding be the next mass profession?

  Interesting theory, but can you really train a Java developer in under 3 months? Great list of training services provided in this blog.excerpt:They’re handing out Gutenberg printing presses out there: with services like Treehouse (http://goo.gl/MCeTL) and Codecademy (http://goo.gl/kw2j9) (and its expertly-timed year of code), countless university courses free online, Google Code University (http://goo.gl/IJeB), the warm embrace of Stack Overflow, in-person courses like Dev Bootcamp (http://goo.gl/RPPxi), summer camps for kids, even the promise of a one-day result with Decoded (http://goo.gl/I6wGD) (the six-minute abs of learning to code), and great organizations like CodeNow (http://goo.gl/n4IO7) reaching out to teach code in underserved communities. I’m sure I’ve left many out.Treehouse   (http://goo.gl/MCeTL)Codecademy (http://goo.gl/kw2j9)Google Code University (http://goo.gl/IJeB)Dev Bootcamp (http://goo.gl/RPPxi)Decoded (http://goo.gl/I6wGD)CodeNow (http://goo.gl/n4IO7)

  Tags: Code, developer-training, HTML5-training, JavaScript-training, Java-training

  • - By Gary Edwards

• Telax Unveils HTML5 Software for Mac OS Contact Centers

  Interesting development in the world of real time Web Apps.  Looks like Business processes and services in the Cloud are embracing HTML5, and moving fast to replace legacy client/server.  Note this is not Flash or Silverlight RiA.   excerpt: Telax Hosted Call Center, a leader in cloud contact center solutions announced the release of its HTML5-based Call Center Agent (CCA) today. Key to the development of the browser-based CCA was Websocket, a component of HTML5 that provides a bi-directional, full-duplex communication channel over a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) socket. Websocket is currently supported by the latest versions of Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Firefox, making Telax's new CCA compatible with the most popular browsers in Mac environments. Before HTML5, real-time unified communication software was typically deployed as a local client because its browser-based counterparts were unable to deliver an acceptable user experience. Some browser-based clients use 3rd party software such as Adobe Flash or Sliverlight to operate adequately, but both solutions require software installation and are not mobile friendly.

  Tags: HTML5

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/24/2011 (a.m.)

• How Google Apps works when actual people use it | TechRepublic

  Use case for Google Apps described.  This is very interesting stuff and for sure i need to take a much closer look at how others are using Google Apps.  The integration with MailChimp is very interesting.  Good stuff.  As i read through this, i found myself wondering about using Google Apps Document templates in MSOffice 11???

  Tags: Google-Apps, Productivity, Cloud-Productivity-Platform

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/23/2011 (a.m.)

• Hover - domain name and email management made simple

  Many are joining the boycott against SOPA, and need an alternative to domain host and registrar GoDaddy.com.  Hover.com has been suggested as a good replacement.   The SOPA list of crony capitalist and fascist supporters can be found at http://goo.gl/udScr.

  Tags: SOPA, GoDaddy, SOPA-Boycott

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/21/2011 (p.m.)

• Firefox Add-On Bypasses SOPA DNS Blocking | TorrentFreak

  Tags: censorship, OpenWeb, SOPA, DNS Blocking

  • The pending Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) continues to inspire opponents to come up with creative solutions to circumvent it.

    A new anti-SOPA add-on for Firefox, titled “DeSopa,” is such a counter measure.

    When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).

  • “It could be that a few members of congress are just not tech savvy and don’t understand that it is technically not going to work, at all. So here’s some proof that I hope will help them err on the side of reason and vote SOPA down,” he adds.
  • If browsing a site through a single IP address is not supported, this other anti-SOPA plugin provides an alternative.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/20/2011 (p.m.)

• AT&T Ends $39 Billion Bid for T-Mobile - NYTimes.com

  Tags: AT&T, T-Mobile, antitrust, mergers, spectrum, wireless networking

• BT sues over hyperlink claim | Networking | ZDNet UK

  Tags: software patents, hyperlink patent, BT, Prodigy, lawsuit

  • The lawsuit, filed against Prodigy Communications Wednesday in a New York federal court, follows BT's claim in June that it owns the intellectual property rights to hyperlinks. BT says the patent, discovered in a routine trawl through its own patents three years ago, also covers a basic technology necessary for connecting computer users to the Internet.

    The telco aims to require all ISPs who use hyperlinks -- a fundamental Web technology -- to pay BT a licence fee.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

Future of the Web 12/20/2011 (p.m.)

• AT&T Ends $39 Billion Bid for T-Mobile - NYTimes.com

  Tags: AT&T, T-Mobile, antitrust, mergers, spectrum, wireless networking

  • AT&T said on Monday afternoon that it had withdrawn its $39 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile USA, acknowledging that it could not overcome opposition from the Obama administration to creating the nation’s biggest cellphone service provider.

    The company said in a statement that it would continue to invest in wireless spectrum, but could not overcome resistance from both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission.

  • Under the terms of the deal, AT&T will pay Deutsche Telekom $4 billion in cash and wireless spectrum as a break-up fee, and the two companies will begin a seven-year roaming agreement that will expand T-Mobile’s national coverage.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Future of the Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/12/2011 (p.m.)

• World’s first programmable quantum photonic chip | ExtremeTech

  Tags: quantum computing, qubit

  • A team of engineering geniuses from the University of Bristol, England has developed the world’s first re-programmable, multi-purpose quantum photonic computer chip that relies on quantum entanglement to perform calculations.

    With multiple waveguide channels (made from standard silicon dioxide), and eight electrodes (see image above), the silicon chip is capable of repeatedly entangling photons. Depending on how the electrodes are programmed, different quantum states can be produced. The end result is two qubits that can be used to perform quantum computing — and unlike D-Wave’s 128-qubit processor (well, depending on who you ask) this is real quantum computing.

  • We know that entanglement can be used for very effective encryption, but beyond that it’s mostly guesswork. There’s general agreement that qubits should allow for faster computation of very complex numbers — think biological processes and weather systems — and early work by Google suggests that pattern recognition might also be a strength of qubits.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/08/2011 (p.m.)

• This 32-Year-Old Entrepreneur Is Bent On Beating One Of Microsoft's Largest Businesses

  Good in depth article about Huddle, and their challenge to Microsoft SharePoint.  We met these guys at the 2006 and 2007 Office 2.0 conference in San Fran.  Lengthy conversations about the Windows Productivity Environment and how Microsoft built that platform.  Need to take a closer look at how far they have come.  The Cloud is a greaqt opportunity for a new Productivity Platform.

  Tags: Huddle

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 12/06/2011 (a.m.)

• Survey: Companies Adopt the Cloud to Use Tablets, End Up Saving Less - ReadWriteCloud

  Tags: no_tag

  • Contrast this with an astounding 92% of Brazil-based firms, and 70% of Australia-based firms, reporting some degree of cost savings.
    • - By Gary Edwards
  • Only 10% of respondents claimed cost reduction as the key driver for their cloud adoption campaign.
    • - By Gary Edwards
  • 46% of U.S.-based businesses, said it was mainly to give employees greater options for accessing resources, including from tablets and smartphones.

• Mobile banking pioneer mFoundry nabs $18M from MasterCard, Intel Capital and others

  Good stuff. The Internet-payment sector is really heating up: Square, PayPal, mFoundry, Simple, and my favorite - DWOLLA. The credit-card-payment-industry is still in control, but you can see from the heavy investments they are making in Web based systems, that the mobility phenomenon has them concerned. Dwolla is my favorite because of the innovative way they connect direct to the bank accounts of users, cutting the transaction and reconciliation cost from credit card standard 2.75% o a FLAT $0.25 cents!!!! Outstanding. Could prove very disruptive.

  Tags: PayPal, Credit-Card-Payment-Industry, Dwolla, Web-Money, Internet-money, Internet-Transcaction-Payments

  • - By Gary Edwards
  • - By Gary Edwards

• I Don't Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore

  Precious stuff! And funny too:Summary statement:Abstract Valley Girl 2.0 Acronymitis Using Meaningless ExpressionsThis is when you combine the four diseases above. So you get phrases like, "You should meet this guy with the SIO. He's sort of this kind of social entrepreneur thinking outside of the box in the sustainability space and working on these ideas around sort of web-based social media, and he's in a round two capital raise in the VP space with the people at SVNP." How many times have you heard what you now recall to be precisely this sentence?This would all be funny if it weren't true. People just don't make sense anymore. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you internalize this. Observe it, deconstruct it, and appreciate just how ridiculous most business conversation has become.

  Tags: business-management, business-consulting, brain-jammer-language, valley-girl

  • - By Gary Edwards

• TripLingo | Mandarin for China

  TripLingo provides mobile Language assistance applications for the iOS and Android.  Assists with local idoms and prhasing for commonly used conversations and questions.  Geared to help world travelors.  Lots of languages to choose from!

  Tags: TripLingo, languages, translations

  • - By Gary Edwards

• 11 Groundbreaking Inventions Of 2011

  Extraordinary stuff. A few items in particular stood out for me: The Army Research Office's "Vibrating Belt"; TripLingo; DiDO, and the skin cell printer. Amazing stuff.

  Tags: groundbreaking-inventions

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/30/2011 (p.m.)

• Changing File Permissions Using cPanel Control Panel

  Tags: file permissions, change permissions, cpanel file manager, linux hosting, linux web hosting, cpanel, whm

  • - By Stanley Jones

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

Future of the Web 11/30/2011 (p.m.)

• MediaFuturist: A gift for you: free PDFs of my last 3 books: Music 2.0, The End of Control, Friction is Fiction

  [I want to start 2011 in a renewed spirit of generosity and sharing, so here are the complete PDFs of my last 3 books, for free; provided under a Creative Commons,non-commercial, share-alike, attribution license (see below). If you still want to buy the dead-tree versions of these books (or donate something for the free PDFs - yes, that's an option, too;), you can visit my Lulu Store, or go to Amazon.com, or check out my 'Paying for Gerd' page. You can also return the favor by blogging or tweeting of Facebook-liking my stuff. Thanks, and enjoy, and have a great 2011. Update: my free videos (50+ keynotes and presentations) are here, the iTunes podcast feed is here (just subscribe to download all videos to your iPod / iPad / iPhone, or computers), and my free slideshows (90+) are here, on Slideshare :)]

  Tags: free, pdfs, music, 2.0, end, control, Gerd Leonhard

  • - By Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Future of the Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/29/2011 (p.m.)

• Restoring R1Soft CDP3 BackUp | Continuous Data Protection | Tutorial

  Tags: eukhost_backup_solutions, r1soft_cdp_3_backup, restore, tutorials, continuous_data_protection, data_security, remote_backup, back_up_services

  • - By Stanley Jones

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/27/2011 (p.m.)

• Spooked By Lax U.S. Data Privacy, European Firms Build Their Own Cloud Services

  Draconian post-9/11 U.S. government surveillance statutes will cost U.S. economy as customers shop for cloud services elsewhere.  

  Tags: cloud computing, data privacy

  • - By Paul Merrell

  • A few recent legal developments affecting U.S. online privacy have rightfully troubled privacy advocates and civil libertarians on American soil. In addition to the Patriot Act's relaxed regulation of law enforcement's access to private data, recent court rulings have made it clear that U.S. authorities can secretly request data from tech companies without the user ever knowing.

    If this seems objectionable from the standpoint of U.S. citizens, imagine how it looks to outsiders who are storing their data there. Some European companies who do business with U.S. technology companies are concerned enough to start looking elsewhere for infrastructure

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/20/2011 (p.m.)

• Tiny USB Stick Brings Android to PCs, TVs | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

  Vaporware, but interesting. More info on the developers' website at .  Basic idea is a computer on a stick that can be plugged into either other computers or into an HDMI flatscreen TV. In the latter scenario, Bluetooth connectivity for keyboard/mouse combo, provided by e.g., a smartphone. The USB connection is v. 2.0, but I'll guess that USB 3.0 would soon be an option in newer models.  According to the specs it can run either Android or Ubunutu. If you check the developer's website, they definitely have their eyes on the growth in the numbers of HDMI-equipped TVs. Note that if delivered as described, this breaks boundaries of mobile devices, tending toward a convergence of TV monitors and mobile devices in an unexpected way. 

  Tags: Cloud-Computing, Android, Ubuntu, TV-Internet, mobile devices

  • - By Paul Merrell

  • Google has made no secret about its plans for Android. Smartphones and tablets are just the beginning — the company wants Android everywhere. And thanks to FXI Technologies’ Cotton Candy USB device, we may not have to wait long to see Android on more than just our mobile devices.

    FXI essentially built an ultra-lean computer inside a small USB stick. Stick it into any device that supports USB storage, and Cotton Candy will register as a USB drive. From there, you can run the Android OS in a secure environment inside your desktop, courtesy of a Windows/OSX/Linux-compatible virtualization client embedded in the device.

    Stick Cotton Candy into a computer, and Android will appear in a virtualized window on your desktop. But get this: The USB key also features an HDMI connector. This way, you can connect the stick to your TV and use Android on the big screen (though you’ll need some kind of secondary input device, like a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo, to get anything done.)

• Five Reasons Why the Amazon Kindle Fire Will Light Up Enterprises | ZDNet

  Tags: android, IPad, mindshare

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/18/2011 (p.m.)

• I2Mag-Internet & Design Inspiration Magazine

  Tags: Google, computer, internet, web, design, resources, tutorials, magazine

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/16/2011 (p.m.)

• SendWrite - The easiest way to send a card

  It's Kristallnacht for the Open Internet, free speech, right to assemble, the rule of law, and probable cause.  SendWrie provides an easy to use means of sending digital letters to your congress critters.

  Tags: SendWrite, Politics, Letters-to-Congress, Open-Web

  • - By Gary Edwards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/16/2011 (a.m.)

• This 28-Year-Old's Startup Is Moving $350 Million And Wants To Completely Kill Credit Cards - Business Insider

  Page one of this extrordinary Business Insider interview of Ben Milne, founder of Dwolla.  Lots of highlights on this 3 page article.  An absolute must read.  Dwolla is using the Web and mobile Web connectivity to truly disrupt the massive Credit Card transaction and payment industry.  Built on top of the legacy Bank ACH payment and reconciliation system used by all Banks. This is awe-sum!  A recent economic study claimed that 40% of all transactions is "interest payment".  For Governments, it's 50%.  The Banksters are getting their vig at every turn, with Credit Cards accounting for much of the productivity-sales formula of invest, build, service, and sell.

  Tags: Dwolla, Banksters, Credit-Card-Payment-Industry

  • - By Gary Edwards
  • really strategic investors, which is what we did. One of our investors is a financial institution; one is a financial services company. 
  • Our investors do credit and debit processing for banks.  So when you get a credit card from your bank, it's being issued by companies like them.  Our investors are also distributing our product to financial institutions.  So we've been building a payment network, and we can do it legally because of who our investors are.

• This 28-Year-Old's Startup Is Moving $350 Million And Wants To Completely Kill Credit Cards - Page 2 - Business Insider

  Incredible interview with Ben Milne of Dwolla, the PayPal and Square killer that promises to take a huge chunk out of the Credit Card transaction industry.  Incredible must read!  This is page 2 out of four.  Starts at: http://bit.ly/vzVUy3 excerpt: How does Dwolla work and how is it different from PayPal? With Dwolla, payments are made directly from your bank account.  No credit or debit cards are allowed.  And because they don't exist in the system, we don't have to bring the fees into the system.  You can spend any amount of money and when you do that, the person on the other end doesn't have to pay 1, 2, 3 or 4%. They only pay $0.25 a transaction, which is especially helpful when it's $1,000, $2,000 or $5,000 transactions.  Obviously PayPal becomes very cost prohibitive with those larger transactions.   The biggest difference between ideas like this and a PayPal — and PayPal is a phenomenal idea, Square is too — is that those are built on top of networks like Visa and MasterCard. We're building our own.

  Tags: Banksters, PayPal, Square, Credit-Card-Payment-Industry, Dwolla, Ben-Milne

  • - By Gary Edwards
  • The biggest difference between ideas like this and a PayPal — and PayPal is a phenomenal idea, Square is too — is that those are built on top of networks like Visa and MasterCard. We're building our own
    • - By Gary Edwards

  • All banks are connected by one ACH system.  Credit card companies utilize that same system to pay off your credit card charges.  Banks internally set along that same system to move money in their own banks.  This system in its own right is riddled with flaws — tons of fraud issues and waste and delays.  If you've ever had a payment take a few days to clear, its because they're waiting on that ACH system. 

    We want to fix that system between the banks, take out the delays and make it instant.  If we can create this ubiquitous cash layer of distribution between consumers and merchants and developers and financial institutions, that actually fixes the problem.

  • We don't believe in credit cards.  We believe in authorization and in lower cost transfers.  Our generation actually understands that when you buy sh*t, it comes out of your bank account and you have to pay for that.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.

OpenWeb 11/11/2011 (a.m.)

• Openbook - Connect and share whether you want to or not

  Excellent search FaceBook service.  The quote at the top of th epage explains why FaceBook users need to pay close attention to what FaceBook is doing to shred privacy:   "They 'trust me".  Dumb fucks."  ..... Mark Zuckerberg, FaceBook

  Tags: Facebook, FaceBook-privacy

  • - By Gary Edwards

• China Telecom looking to expand into US consumer market, eyes 2012 launch - Engadget

  Tags: China, China Telecom, wireless networking, mobile devices

  • Instead of resting on its laurels as China's third-largest wireless provider, China Telecom is now looking to branch out into relatively uncharted waters -- namely, the US consumer market. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Donald Tan, president of China Telecom Americas, confirmed that his company plans to bring its own branded wireless service to select US markets next year, in the hopes of capitalizing on the large Chinese communities and consumer bases scattered across the country.
  • If the trial goes swimmingly, he added, China Telecom may expand it to Canada, as well, and would even consider purchasing or constructing its own network in the States (pending FCC approval, of course). The provider, which has already been marketing its services to US corporations for a decade, also has the capacity to spend "hundreds of millions or billions" on stateside acquisitions

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Open Web group favorite links are here.