Technology | Zoli’s Blog

Opera Unite Turns Your Computer into a Web Server. But Will You Want It?

Software, Technology June 16th, 2009

The little browser that could … was how the Opera browser was often referred to around 1996-98. The best browser packed with innovative features that Internet Explorer and Firefox were forced to copy: tabbed browsing, popup-blockers, saved sessions, zooming, mouse gestures to name a few. But it never really took off, continuing to hover around 2% market-share forever.

Today Opera proves again they are innovators: they claim to “reinvent the web” with the launch of Opera Unite.

Did the Gizmo-blogs Just Fall for an Old CrunchPad Prototype?

Technology June 14th, 2009

Forget all the news coming from Iran, there’s real excitement on TechMeme: the unboxing of the CrunchPad prototype, posted on Youtube by Loic Le Meur:

I hate to say this.. but I think what we’re seeing here is Prototype C, the previous version, not the final, Launch prototype. Compare the photos and decide for yourself.

Given how I am waiting for the CrunchPad myself, I’d be happy to be proven wrong this time…

(Cross-posted from CloudAve)

Tags: crunchpad, situational device, situational hardware, tablet, techcrunch, xref

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Experimental Green Flight Across the Atlantic

Technology June 9th, 2009

American Airlines is about to test eco-friendly new technology on it’s regular flight between Paris and Miami this Thursday.

CrunchPad – It’s Real. Beautiful. I Want One.

Technology June 3rd, 2009

I admit I was skeptical when Mike Arrington first announced he wanted to build a lightweight Web Tablet. But a few month later we saw the first prototype, which was not particularly attractive – but real. Mea Culpa, I was wrong.

The second prototype was already quite likable, albeit not as sexy as as the original sketch. Today Mike @ Techcrunch announced that the final prototype is just weeks away- and although all he now has are conceptual drawings, if the real thing is anywhere close .. OMG.. OMG.. it’s absolutely sexy smile_tongue

Intel & Microsoft Leans on the Netbook Market

Technology May 26th, 2009

The proliferation of affordable netbooks is good for everyone – consumers, that is. Computer manufacturers loath it (high volume, low margin business) and so does Microsoft: they can’t exactly sell $100+ worth of software on a $200 machine. So they come up with all sorts of evil plans. smile_devil

Who Says the iPHone is Not for Business When SAP Runs on It?

Enterprise Software, Technology March 11th, 2009

Well, SAP Executives, for starters .. just ask Vinnie Mirchandani or Larry Dignan. SAP Execs and key customers were quite dismissive of the iPhone as a business communication platform. But like I’ve said before discussing Oracle’s SaaS offering, it’s not what they say … it’s where they put their money. smile_wink

Granted, the SAP – Sybase partnership just being announced at these very moments (webcast) isn’t all about the iPhone: it’s about making the SAP Business Suite 7 available on iPhone, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. Still, it’s nice to see they chose the “right phone” for the video. smile_wink (hat tip: Jeff Nolan)

(Cross-posted from CloudAve. To stay abreast of news, analysis and just plain opinion on Cloud Computing, SaaS, Business grab the CloudAve Feed here.)

Tags: blackberry, bs7, iPhone, mobility, sap, sap bs7, sybase

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Costco.com Partially Down

Technology March 9th, 2009

Costco.com order status page:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application.

Runtime Error

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.
Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".


<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>
Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application’s <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.


<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

Oops. smile_sad

Tags: costco, error, outage

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Why Asus Beats Apple…

Humor, Technology March 3rd, 2009

… and all the boring Win brands. Which one would you choose?

Yes, (she is) truly inspiring smile_yawn

Tags: Apple, asus, mac, marketing, pc, win

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Glue – Get Sticky Now

Business, Software, Startups, Technology February 24th, 2009

What is Glue?
Definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Hm – not what I am looking for, if you need it, you can buy it here – end of story.
Social Glue … now we’re getting closer. So again, what is Glue? There are several companies in the software business with ~~goo-y~~ glue-y products:

Glue is Companies and Products

AdaptiveBlue has a browser extension called Glue. (Blue Glue?) VC and Blogger Fred Wilson aptly calls it A Social Net That Lives In Your Browser.

Then there is Yahoo Glue.   And of course there are a bunch of companies that don’t call themselves or their products Glue – they just do it.

Gnip’s mission is elegantly “Making data portability suck less”. Here’s an easy (?) chart explaining what they do:

Boomi is another Glue company, providing integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS – ah, starting 5-letter acronyms). Read their thought-provoking post on Why APIs Don’t Solve the SaaS Integration Challenge.

MindTouch started their life as a wiki company, and grew into “an open source enterprise collaboration and community platform that enables users to connect and remix enterprise systems, social tools and web services.”. Ouch, that sounds so official – here’s another version from the Chief Conductor who just returned from a major Product Launch:

We do orchestration for a myriad of systems, databases and any web service, all with a easy to use wiki-like interface.

Let’s not forget about Mashery, plumbers of the Web, or more elegantly, a “leading provider of API management services enabling companies to easily leverage web services as a distribution channel.”

The list can go on and on, and even in the current downturn we will see more Glue companies. In fact Glue has become investment theme for some really smart VCs:

Glue is our term for the web infrastructure layer that facilitates the connections between web services and content companies

Glue is a Concept – actually, several concepts

Enterprise Glue: A "web oriented architecture" and beyond SOA

Data Glue: Mash-ups, mash-ups and more mash-ups

Social Network Glue: The movement toward cross-network interoperability and data sharing

Interface Glue: Cross-platform, cross-browser technologies like Silverlight and Adobe Air

Messaging Glue: Tools that are evolving for meta-messaging

Identity Glue: Reputation, user-centric identity and web sso

OS Glue: Cross-operating system runtimes

Marketing Glue: The abstraction of the management of ad platforms into a common interface

Infrastructure Glue: Cloud and Utility computing that binds back-end services

Oh, boy. This is big, way over my head. I better leave this discussion to smarter people who actually understand the technology behind all this.    But I’ll share a secret: they will all come together in Denver, on May 12-13 of this year. Will you be there?

Glue is a Great Conference – Get Sticky Now

I’ve discussed earlier how Defrag was the best Conference I attended for quite a while. The conference Theme, sessions, very active participants, the venue, the infrastructure (working wi-fi, no small feat!) – you name it, it all came together perfectly. So when Defrag’s organizer, Eric Norlin sets out to launch another conference discussing all of the above and more, it’s bound to be a success. Here’s Eric’s summary:

Glue is the only conference devoted solely to solving the web application integration problem-set. People that should attend Glue include the architects, developers, administrators and integrators that have moved past the initial step of seeing the web as a platform, and are facing the real-world challenges of what "stove-piped" web applications mean for their overall strategy. Glue is about all of bits and pieces, APIs and meta-data, standards and connectors that will help us to glue together the varying applications of the new platform.

The Agenda is shaping up, Sponsors are in, and reservations are coming through nicely, recession or not. Like I’ve said, Some Conferences Are Worth Attending Even in Bad Times.

Of course getting a bargain helps in bad times: where else do you get an intense top-notch conference for $395? That is if you catch early bird reservation, so hurry, get sticky now.

By the way, participation does not start in May – you can share ideas right now, I’ll help with resources. CloudAve, my main blogging gig is pleased to be the Media Sponsor for Glue, and you will see a stream of related posts over there as we approach the Conference dates (this may be the right time to grab the CloudAve Feed). We invite everyone interested to participate: please submit your post, we’ll be happy to publish it. And if you prefer to post in your own blog, wiki, Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook…whatever – just make sure to use the tag gluecon (since glue might find – you know, this).   We’ll find your post and pull it under the Glue Tab, which will soon turn into a resource list of all-things-glue.

On a personal level I am stoked to be able to serve on the Glue Conference‘s Advisory Board along with great thinkers like Amy Wohl, Phil Wainewright, Chris Shipley, Mike West, and Albert Wenger. I’m really excited about this Conference, and am looking forward to meeting many of you.

What are you waiting for? Get Sticky Now!

(Cross-posted from CloudAve)

Tags: Collaboration, conferences defragcon, defrag, denver, glue conference, gluecon, Social Networks, Web Applications, web integration, web services

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Is the USA Really the Broadband Leader?

Technology February 23rd, 2009

The US is not exactly the leader when it comes to Broadband or even Mobility – in fact we’re way behind several Asian and European countries.

But is that really true? Professor Leonard Waverman of the London Business School disagrees. He published a study on the World’s Connectivity Scorecard. His key thesis is that penetration and connection speed is not enough to measure true connectedness: we have to consider to what extent the Consumer, Businesss and Government sectors put broadband to productive use.

The compound index reveals a few surprises: the USA is actually #1, closely followed by Sweden and Denmark, and in fourth position (surprise!?!) is Malaysia, leaving countries like Japan, Korea, Norway in the dust.

I am not entirely convinced about the US position, especially if we take a look at the Consumer vs Business segmentation … and don’t get me started on Government.