Gmail turned five on Wednesday, April 1. Launched in 2004 as an invitation-only e-mail service, the Google product now has more than 100 million users. Yet it’s still in “beta”—a term of art traditionally reserved for prototype software that’s ready for testing. What gives?
Semantics. Usually technology companies keep products in beta for a short period of time—as a transitional phase between “alpha” (when in-house testers or focus groups try out the software) and the official release. Beta releases also tend to be more buggy than the final version. Neither of these qualities accurately describes Gmail (although there was a worldwide service outage in February); the label is just a way for Google to signal users that they’re still tweaking the e-mail service and adding new features. Company spokespeople won’t say exactly when Gmail will be out of beta, but apparently there’s an “internal checklist” that’s lacking in some crucial checkmarks.
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Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category
Why Is Gmail Still in Beta?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Windows only: Free application Portable Ubuntu for Windows runs an entire Linux operating system as a Windows application. As if that weren’t cool enough, it’s portable, so you can carry it on your thumb drive.
Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn’t bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.
The coolest parts about Portable Ubuntu are:
* It actually works (in most cases, on most systems).
* It fits on a (larger) thumb drive and can run entirely from it.
* It can work on, and save to, your Windows folders and files.
* It’s persistent, so changes you make and apps you install are carried around with you.
* It’s easily manageable from Windows, and works great on dual monitors.
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BitTorrent Freed Music, and Now It’s Yours
Monday, March 16th, 2009The Internet and file-sharing networks like BitTorrent have shifted music promotion from the labels to the people. Increasingly, record labels are losing control over what music the masses are listening to, and according to some musicians this is is actually a good thing.
Meet Chris Zabriskie, a full-time musician whose career started roughly 8 years ago. Like many other artists, Chris has decided to give all of his music away for free. This isn’t down to Chris lacking a desire for money, but because he thinks that his music should be heard – and that it’s pretty much impossible to sell music nowadays without giving the public the option to “try before they buy.”
Zabriskie, himself an avid BitTorrent user, said he has leaked all of his albums on torrent sites ahead of their official release date. And he’s not the only one doing this. “I can tell you from numerous conversations and firsthand experience that there are few artists left, even in the big leagues, that do not. You wonder where the early leaks come from? Don’t be so surprised.” he writes.
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One-Third Use a Single Password for Everything
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
A third of web users have admitted to using the same password for a number of different websites, says Sophos.
According to the security firm, just 19 percent never use the same password twice. Sophos added that three years ago, 41 percent of web users said they used the same password, indicating that just 8 percent of web users have realized the importance of strong, unique passwords.
“It’s worrying that in three years very few computer users seem to have woken up to the risks of using weak passwords and the same ones for every site they visit,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
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Symantec Warns of Worm’s Return
Monday, March 9th, 2009A third version of Downadup has been identified by Symantec, which says the new variant gives infected machines more powerful instructions to disable antivirus software and analysis tools, among other actions.
W32.Downadup.C is a modular component for machines currently infected with Downadup. This variant of Downadup, also called Conficker, is not attempting to self-replicate and appears to behave more like a Trojan than a worm, says Vincent Weafer, vice president of Symantec Security Response.
“Think of it as an updated module that’s more aggressive, more robust in defending itself,” Weafer says.
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