Fabrizio Giordano

Google diventerà presto un competitor di Skype grazie a WebRTC, una tecnologia open source per la realizzazione di conferenze audiovisive col browser in HTML5. Il prodotto sarà integrato in Chrome e dipende da SPDY, il progetto di Google per rendere il web «due volte più veloce» del normale. E Microsoft sta iniziando a preoccuparsi.

Real-Time Communications (RTC) può essere sperimentato su Chrome con un plugin: Google ha intenzione d’estenderne la compatibilità ad altri browser tra cui Firefox, Opera e Safari. Perché dovrebbe diventare un problema per Skype? Soprattutto negli Stati Uniti e in Canada, Google Voice ha già abbracciato il VoIP e dialoga con GTalk.

Sommando le caratteristiche di Google Voice, GTalk e WebRTC si ottiene un sistema di comunicazione del tutto simile a quello di Skype. La differenza è nell’utilizzo di soluzioni open source e compatibili con tutte le piattaforme. Inclusi Windows e Internet Explorer. Ciò potrebbe alludere all’arrivo di Google Voice in Europa e Asia.

Via | TG Daily

Google rivale di Skype con una chat audio/video via HTML5 per Chrome é stato pubblicato su Downloadblog.it alle 12:00 di venerdì 24 giugno 2011.

SPDY (cioè “speedy”) è un progetto di Google per rendere il web due volte più veloce. Inaugurato nel novembre del 2009, è costituito di vari componenti legati allo sviluppo di Chrome e Chrome OS. Fino a ieri SPDY era presente soltanto sui server di Google: Strangeloop l’ha aggiunto alla propria offerta di hosting col Site Optimizer.

Trattandosi di un protocollo sperimentale, non ancora elevato a standard, SPDY funziona esclusivamente su Chrome e i Chromebook. Strangeloop è la prima società ad adottarlo al di fuori di Mountain View. Perché possa approdare su tutti i browser, è necessario che SPDY sia disponibile su larga scala: questo è soltanto il primo passo.

Strangeloop ha lavorato su SPDY con Google dal primo momento: grazie ai miglioramenti apportati il protocollo può ridurre del 50% il caricamento delle pagine web. SPDY include un’accelerazione per SSL. La disponibilità al pubblico dovrebbe incrementare la possibilità che SPDY costituisca davvero un futuro per il web insieme a IPv6.

Via | ZDNet

SPDY di Google è già stato aggiunto al Site Optimizer di Strangeloop é stato pubblicato su Downloadblog.it alle 10:00 di martedì 14 giugno 2011.

(Cross-posted to the Google Enterprise Blog and the Gmail Blog)

For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers. For example, desktop notifications for Gmail and drag-and-drop file upload in Google Docs require advanced browsers that support HTML5. Older browsers just don’t have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience.

For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we’ll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we’ll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

As of August 1st, we will discontinue support for the following browsers and their predecessors: Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3. In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, and eventually these apps may stop working entirely.

So if it’s been a a while since your last update, we encourage you to get the latest version of your favorite browser. There are many to choose from:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds.

Posted by Venkat Panchapakesan, Vice President of Engineering

News out of Finland has put Samsung as the latest potential buyer of ailing mobile vendor Nokia, shifting focus from Microsoft, which was also rumoured to be tabling a bid for the company.

The Wall Street Journal has attempted to chase Nokia and Samsung for comment – predictably, both have responded with statements that they do not comment on rumours.

Reports of a Samsung takeover by the WSJ may hold more weight than the speculative tweets of industry insider Eldar Murtazin, although the pundit has successfully predicted acquisitions and partnerships in the past. Nokia recently moved to state that Murtazin was “getting obviously less accurate with every passing moment” but did not categorically rule out an acquisition by Microsoft.

Nokia, which is currently working on readying Windows Phone devices to release in the fourth quarter of 2011, recently laid off 7,000 staff as it tried to streamline operations.

If Samsung was to acquire the stricken manufacturer, it would position the company as the top Windows Phone provider, in addition to the success of its Android offerings.Image Credit

If you’ve taken the chance to work with the Bing Webmaster Tools you’re in for a happy surprise today. Bing has put the word out in a blog post about some pretty hefty changes to the system that will give you more configuration and deeper customization.

Crawling Delays

Busy time? You can make sure that Bing crawls a bit slower so that it doesn’t interrupt normal traffic. Want to set up crawling times? You can now do that in your Crawl Settings panel by dragging and dropping a graph by the hour.

New Index Explorer

This isn’t just an improvement, according to the team, it’s a complete re-write. Index Tracker will now focus more on these six points:

• Freshness
• Performance
• Extensibility
• Reduced machine footprint
• Stability and failure detection
• New sites will have Index Explorer data the moment they sign up

Role Management

With no change to code, you can now let other people have admin or read and write access to your site via a Users panel:

This is the sort of upgrade that Bing has been releasing over the past twelve months: incremental improvements to core technologies that impact both searchers, and webmasters. Today’s changes will certainly help those who run websites interact with Bing, something that might persuade more to do just that. That won’t boost Bing’s market share directly, but it could improve its results, which in turn could grow its search volume.

Sound off in the comments, does this sort of upgrade by Bing help it in its struggle against Google, or is it just spinning its wheels?