New Surge Performance Plugin
This banner headline at WP Tavern recently caught my attention. Surge: A New Page Caching Plugin for WordPress with No Configuration Required Having just done a WordPress Meetup featuring WordPress performance plugins, one that delivered performance tuning without having to do any tinkering with performance settings – this was of keen interest. So the logical step […]
WebP with WordPress
Controling your website’s image sizes has become a top priority among Web developers Here is the reason why: As of 2017 end , HTTPArchive.org reports that images comprised 54% of the total page download size. And since response time is inversely related to page load, developers wanting to achieve 2 seconds or better response time […]
Data Recovery Processes
Data loss through a failed PC hard drive or cyber-attack is a galling problem for three reasons. First, you missed the warning signs of disk slowdown hinting at failure or somehow let a hacker get access to your PC or online system to loot or lock it up. Second is that both cyber attacks and […]
Online Diagramming Apps
Online Diagram apps are bringing full-feature Flowchart and Diagramming to online users. There is almost a surplus of diagramming systems available to users with tools like Draw.io[no limit free edition], SmartDraw.com [$10US/month/user, 7day free trial], Lucidchart.com, [$10US/month/user, no time limit free edition],Gliffy.com [$8US/month/user, 14day free trial] and Cacoo.com [$4US/month/user, 14day free trial]. This mark the […]
GDPR Key Requirements and Rules
There are two very useful studies that examine the nature of GDPR. The first is the Enterprise approach of IBM which has a five point plan that is matched to the GDPR regulations on both data protection as well as data privacy. There is a strong opening Assessment/Audit of the current usage of personal data throughout an organization’s web […]
Automation of Website Translations
About five years ago for a consulting assignment, we looked at programs that could automatically translate from one language to another. Of course, Google Translate and Babylon were two major players. Well as more Web users are looking for an economical automated translation of the text on a website from one language to another, there […]
New Google Fonts
What? New Google Fonts! Yes, there are now 804 free and well chosen Google Fonts available to web developers [up from 708] and a new, improved interface. Ye editor finally relented at the end of May to do a review of the Google Fonts online app; but just waiting a couple of weeks later would reveal a […]
HTML5 Test of Browsers : Feb 2015
TheOpenSourcery looked at the HTML5Test.com benchmarks for the major browser just 6 weeks ago but HTML5Test changed its grading [read all about it here]so lets see what has happened: HTML5 Test Dec 20, 2014 HTML5 Test Feb 6, 2015 So what has happened in 6 weeks time? First Maxathon is no longer available for browser comparisons. But like […]
Adobe Spurs Open Source
Recently Adobe was in a disastrous, market threatening position – a major consumer software vendor that had to defend itself from the tyranny of Apple, Microsoft, and Google’s OS + App Store monopolies. These OS market share pinnacles allow arbitrary exclusion [Apple’s infamous Flash ban on iOS], OS API update dependencies or vulnerabilities [again, used in […]
Major Media Miss on Windows 8 and its Convertibles
Now this reviewer does not like to gloat but it is always a nice to see how far ahead of the Major Media Pack one can be. First the NYTimes and now Marketwatch, more than a year late, have “seen the opportunity and lead” that Windows 8 has in 2-in-1 or convertible laptops/tablets and with […]
The Fate of Bill Gates
Reuters started the ball rolling earlier this week saying the 3 of the top 20 Microsoft shareholders raised the question of whether Bill Gates should be replaced as Chairman of Microsoft. Now Bill’s 5% holding of Microsoft stock is the largest but the 3 dissident shareholders have a combined holding that is slightly larger. And […]
Web Browser Market Share
Usage share of desktop browsers for June 2013 Source Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox Safari Opera Other StatCounter 42.68% 25.44% 20.01% 8.39% 1.03% 2.44% Clicky 38.92% 29.08% 21.22% 9.28% 1.17% 0.32% W3Counter 32.60% 21.70% 19.50% 15.40% 2.20% 8.60% NetApplications 17.17% 56.15% 19.15% 5.55% 1.58% 0.40% Wikimedia 46.02% 20.47% 17.71% 3.10% 5.45% 7.25% The following table is […]
Whose Muckier – Windows 8 RT, Apple iOS, Google Android?
Google Plus is a great place for discussing technology trends. Here is an example: ZDNet’s Steven Vaughn-Nichols picks up a Wayne Rash post who in turn is commenting on how eMail support may be one of the reasons behind Windows 8 Surface RT [the ARM version of Windows hardware ] flagging sales and relatively high return […]
Chinese Hack Attack Super Highway
The spate of recent Chinese hacks into major US media at NYTimes and the Wall Street Journal among others are a cogent reminder of how vulnerable US organizations and institutions are to Chinese Hack attacks. The underlying problem is the Chinese hack attacks on Google in 2009-2010 revealed that the Chinese hackers likely have the complete Internet Explore […]
Google Doodles in HTML5 Canvas
The Google Doodle today is an animation in honor of Frank Zamboni’s 112th birthday and his hockey arena fixture the Zamboni ice surface smoothing machine. Warning to Google Doodle collectors – it does not appear universally on Google search engine URLs. Goto google.ca for a currently appearing Doodle. But what the Doodle does do is […]
PCWorld’s Bogus Browsers Test
PCworld’s Nick Mediati has done one of those flawed reviews that commits huge errors of omission. This occurs when comparing the three most popular browsers – Google Chrome 21, Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, and Mozilla Firefox 15. The review is so incomplete it does browser users a disservice. If you take a look at the […]
Computing’s Big 3 and the Continuing Dissatisfaction with Microsoft
When proposing that Windows 8 would be a smash hit, the highly negative reaction to Windows 8 I discovered on commentary sites like Reddit and Digg was a bit surprising. Many of the reactions to Windows 8 were pure scorn. It appears that Microsoft has a lot of make-up still to do for such sore points as […]
Windows 8 Will Be A Smashing Hit
For the past half year I have secretly held the notion that Windows 8 will be a smashing hit. But the problem has been that my access to full multi-touch screen Windows 8 test machines has been limited. But not so for multi-touchpad and touch mice equipped Windows 8 PCs which I, clients and many Windows […]
Google Dart Update
Google’s Dart has been designed to shore-up JavaScript for large scale programming. Google argues that by tuning up the syntax of JavaScript and borrowing C-like contructs Dart can be made to scale and perform better than JavaScript.. The current version of the Dart Editor: Note there is no UI objects or Visual Editor for Dart […]
The Big 3 in Computing – Apple, Google, Microsoft
The Big 3 in Consumer Computing for the next 3-8 years have declared themselves all in. Just as in the auto industry from 100 years ago, the consolidation in computing has begun and the OS software makers have emerged as the top 3. Each has approached the hardware side of computing from different angles because […]
On the Verge of Greatness – LeapMotion’s 3D Touch Tool
TheVerge gadget website finally caught onto to what theOpenSourcery readers have known about 3 weeks ago. The next dynamite NUI-Natural User Interface that is going to sweep the Consumer Computing scene is LeapMotion’s SuperKinect, 3D pointer tool which will hopefully do away with both the mouse and all variety’s of trackpads in the near future.. […]
Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface : Linux Last PC Opportunity?
The DOJ-Department of Justice when it won its Antitrust case against Microsoft also lost it at that moment because the officials involved had not agreed on a remedy for controling Microsoft. In the end it was $3 billion in fines and kid glove supervision by the Bush DOJ for 5 years. However, one remedy which […]
Google Blockly, MIT Scratch, and Google to MIT App Inventor
There is a family tree here its just not obvious who inherited exactly what. Lets Start with App Inventor, the Google program developed with the Media Lab at MIT. App Inventor is designed to allow anyone, including people unfamiliar with computer programming, to create software applications for the Android operating system (OS). It uses a graphical interface, drag and drop operations […]
Google Blockly Winners, Losers
First and foremost, lets consider the winners from our last Google Blockly posting … err the Google Blockly Maze Problem Winners – Jon Henson and Uncle Bear. Jon’s Solution does not use Wall to Right or Wall to Left tests UncleBear’s Solution Its hard to say who got the Maze finished first – I should […]
Google Blockly – A Visual Programming Language
In a week when Apple continued to go thermonuclear against anything Google and Microsoft continued to steer Windows 8 astray, Google announces Blockly a visual programming language and computer programming learning tool. Here is a screenshot of Blockly in action: The Blockly demo of a Maze solver is a wickedly tough programming task because users […]
Windows 8 as a Repeat of the Vista Disaster
There is mounting evidence since the release of the Final Release Preview that Windows 8 is shaping up to be a repeat of the Vista Disaster. The basic ingredient is that Redmond feels it can do a Steve Jobs – and force its users to accept wholescale changes that they might not normally agree with. […]
The Next Wave of NUI – Natural User Interfaces
New Devices+UI Software that change the UI game decisively are starting to come to market. They are referred to as Natural User Interfaces or PostWIMP – succeeding GUI interfaces that use WIMP- Windows Icons Menus and Pointers. There is a whole community of different Natural User Interface designs from Tangible UI that have inspired the Microsoft […]
The Bizarre Browser Bazaar
Browser Bazaar, Browser Bizarre, Browser Bazaar – one can hear the hawker touting full-lunged at the amazing and bizarre things happening in the browser marketplace in the past few weeks. Surprise, surprise it is Chrome not Firefox that displaces IE as the number one browser in use Worldwide on the Internet. But Firefox contributed mightily […]
The Plus PC World: Client Computing Directions
The Technology pundits have it all wrong – calling for a Post PC World. Over on Reddit, we are having a small debate on the Post PC World versus the Plus PC World. The Post PC World see the decline of the PC as they are replaced by smartphones, tablets, games and other mobile devices […]
2 Strange New Graphics Programs
Google is selling SketchUp Pro for $495 – Why? The program, SketchUp Pro is not strange – its a architecture and landscape design program which appears to have not only a nice range of features but also integrates well with AutoDesk DWG and other CAD files. No the novelty here is that Google is doing […]
Year Ahead in Client Computing I
Robert Scoble said this at the BBC Year-end Technology Forecast about client computing: On the train here I was with an executive from General Electric, and he said a year ago they were very anti-iPad. But in January at their global meeting they’re going to hand out iPads. It is crazy to think about a company […]
Goofle Gmail Fixes
Goofle is the name ye Editor has given to Google when it makes a big, stupid error in it software offerings. Google has made a big deal of its recent interface updates to Gmail. But they have have been legion with goofs very large and unnecessary and raise the question where is interface guru MM […]
Dart for JavaScript
[iframe width=”100%” height=”600″ src=”http://try.dartlang.org/”] With Flash and Flex taking big hits as Adobe appears to be bowing under the pressure from Apple and Microsoft , getting to know Google’s Dart is going to be more important. Why? Because HTML5 is going to becarrying the load for not just Webbut also cross platform applications now that […]
Google Gmail Goofle
About Gmail’s new look did you know that Google had $2.8 billion dollars to spend on improving Gmail last quarter for its new look released November 7th.. About Gmail’s new look, for the first time ever, ye Editor finds himself saying that it looks like the new look is an old Microsoft ploy – dazzle them with […]
Whither Goes PC OEMs
Tim Bajarin has been an astute observer of the PC and Server scenes. His comments at TechOpinion imply that Windows 8 is gaining momentum on PCs and tablets especially among large PC OEMs like HP. No argument there because the PC OEMs, who have lost market to the tablets and smartphones because users who want […]
Apple iPhone 4S versus Samsung Nexus Galaxy – Xmas Battle
This Christmas there will be a war between Apple’s iOS5 powered iPhone 4S versus the Andorid 4 powered Samsung Galaxy Nexus. This will be the second major challenge to Apple CEO Tim Cook as iPad gets challenged in tablets by low price Kindle Fire and the Tegra-powered Tranformer Prime. These challenges are real because of […]
Newest Browsers HTML5 Benchmarks
There has been an almost complete new set of browsers released in the last two months from all the major browser vendors. So these new browsers are included in these tests using the revised HTML5Test.com 450 item benchmark. The browsers are ranked by their % compliance scores with Google Chrome the best and IE 9 […]
Amazon Shakes IT Markets
At a time when Apple is considering retiring its iPod, Amazon is shaking the whole IT industry to its core. Amazon is doing a Google Android and Apple selling software and hardware cheap to enable its online business to profit from many more tightly linked customers. Amazon is selling for cheaper than ever before a […]
Microsoft Continues Web Mischief
When your total browser market share is declining by 1% per month [see wikipedia note here] and you are courting developers for your new Windows 8 OS which features HTML5 as a key developer component [the only cross platform tool of any import being offered byMicrosoft], the last thing Redmond would want to do is […]
Preview: Appsbar for creating Apple iOS and Google Android Mobile Apps for FREE
Appsbar.com has a nifty capability – Appsbar allows users to create iPhone iOS apps and Google Android apps on the Web for free.Sound incredible – but as the screen shot shows below Appsbar provide a workspace, design templates and a wizard to guide users through all the step required to build a mobile app. Lets […]
It is now Google’s Linux
Ye Editor received a link to a post from Linux Desktop guru Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols yesterday and it was a bit of surprise. The story on ZDnet’s Linux and Open Source is entitled “The Linux desktop is dead. Long live the Linux desktop”. It certainly caught my attention. In the post Steven argues that the […]
Windows 8 Beats Apple iOS And Google Android
Microsoft has done the near impossible with its Windows 8 announcement this last week – it has catapulted into the lead in client OS software design ahead of both Apple iOS +MacOS/X and Google Android+ChromeOS. This is the good news for Microsoft – the bad news is that Apple and/or Google can quickly regain the advantage as […]
Who Has The Biggest Tech Money Bags – Update
Update-I missed some big players in the US Tech Sector The Google Buyout of Motorola is all the news in the Financial Press; so here is the top 3 IT Money Bags: 1)Microsoft – $52.8B – not yet showing? $8.5B for Skype 2)Cisco – $43.4B 3)Apple – $28.4B 4)Google – $38.1B – not yet showing […]
Why Google Bought Motorola – Day Later Update
Well right off the mark, TheOpenSourcery.com got the principl reasons for the buyout – right on Denmark. See here – 1)Google is going to operate the company as is and not bring Mototrola into the Google fold – this means minimal disruptions and has later advantages; See here – 2)Google has got its major other […]
HTML5 Developer Tool: Adobe Edge
Adobe Edge HTML5 Animation Tool Adobe has just made two significant announcements this week on its support for HTML5. First, there is the new HTML5 tutorial and evangelism site, The expressive Web, which is chock full of examples of HTML5 +CSS3 code with comments, links, and Complimentary resources – see here for a review. Next, […]
Swiffy: Google’s Flash to HTML5 Converter
Since Larry Page took over at Google, the Googleplex appears to be trying to do a remake of the movie The Fast and the Furious. Google Plus, Google Sites for Mobile and now Swiffy, “Swiffy converts SWF files to HTML5, allowing you to reuse Flash content on devices without a Flash player.” -all of this […]
Google Plus – Best Software of 2011
Google Plus/Google+ has provoked a lot reactions among Social Media users. After all Google+ is deemed the best challenger to Facebook for all those consumer eyeballs [700 million worldwide and growing for Facebook]and Web time [a Facebook session average 4-5 times longer than a Google session].Yet ye Editor has been cagey after the disasters that were […]
Google Apps Versus Microsoft Office 365
Two reviews catch the changed landscape for Microsoft in the Cloud. Information Week sees Google Apps ahead of Office 365 on 4 telling counts, Gartner is more cautious about the features but sees some problems; and the Guardian sees improved features over BPOS, the proceeding Microsoft Office Suite available on the Web. But no one clearly answers […]
The Making of Google Plus
If you think like ye Editor that Google Plus is a breakthrough product just awaiting final polish and trim; then you will want to read Steven Levy’s article at Wired on the baking/making of Google Plus.
Google Plus is ++
Dave Winer is yawning at Google Plus, the new social sharing service offering from Mountain View[what happens to Google’s Orkut??]. Dave says it is just a personal peeve between Google top brass and Facebook top brass. Ye Editor has moved from MySpace to Flickr to Fotki to Facebook never quite satisfied among existing Web/Social Sharing […]