Google Toolbar Updated, but Only for IE
It often seems as though Google's Firefox releases lag behind their releases for Internet Explorer. Recent case in point: the Google Toolbar. Just yesterday, a new version of the toolbar was released, with new features like Google Gadget support, saving settings on Google servers so they can go anywhere you do, revamped Google Bookmarks functionality, integration with Google Notebook, and Web History access. I'm very happy about the news, and I looked for a Firefox version. Is there one anywhere? No, of course not. As with the last version of the toolbar, Google will probably not release an update for another few months at least.
I remember the Firefox T3 update well. The Internet Explorer toolbar had bookmarks for weeks and weeks before I could get the same functionality in Firefox. Now it will likely be the same length of time before I can finally dump the Google Notebook extension for the integrated toolbar features. That's what I did with the bookmarks; I had a third-party extension for Google Bookmarks access until the feature was finally added to the Firefox toolbar.
This is nothing new, for sure. Google has always lagged a bit with updates for Firefox. It's understandable, considering Internet Explorer holds about 80% of the browser market, but that doesn't make it less annoying. None of the Google extensions I have in my browser right now have been updated in the last six months, with some going over a year with no changes. Some I've disabled because they no longer even work due to changes in infrastructure (such as the Blogger Web Comments extension, which doesn't support Google Account logins) or because they're just so buggy.
I can't ask Google to issue updates for all their products overnight, but I hope that in the future they'll be a little faster at issuing updates for the second-most popular browser in the world.
Programming Game Show Idea
My friend i80and had an interesting game show idea the other day. He thought of a show where contestants (probably two) are given a whiteboard, a marker, and a programming problem, and the person who designs the simplest and most efficient data structures for that situation wins. It gave me an idea, too.
What if the show involved not just data structures, but entire class abstractions? Or perhaps actually writing code for a specified operation within the given situation? I think I need to give an example.
Let's say the show begins with the original idea of designing data structures. Whoever comes up with the simplest and most efficient means to store the necessary data gets points, and the other player gets a smaller number of points based on how much less efficient/more complex their idea is.
Next, the challenge would be to write a class (in PHP, Java, JavaScript, or whatever, depending on the problem) to handle the given task, including all member functions and variables, excluding abstraction layers (which could be referenced in contestants' code just the same, with comments to describe what the call is doing). Again the results would be analyzed for efficiency, and points awarded.
Finally, the contestants would develop a user interface, if applicable to the problem set forth at the beginning, graded on usability. Tally up the points, and the player with the most points wins a prize such as a trip to Apache, Google, or somewhere (I'd have to work on the destination list).
It's not fully-baked (neither was i80and's idea, let's be honest), but it would be an interesting idea, and probably much more intellectually stimulating than shows like Fear Factor. What do you all think?
Update (2008-01-04): In light of all the views I've seen this page get, just let me say that if you steal this idea and get some studio to make it, I expect a cut. Gotta protect intellectual property rights. And set aside an equal share for my friend i80and, too; I did get my inspiration from him.
Google Infringing on Sun Patents with Android’s Dalvik?
OK, so Google doesn't call it a Java VM; to them, it's "Dalvik", not Java. It does accept Java bytecode, though, and turns it into Dalvik bytecode. Sun hasn't filed any lawsuits yet, and as far as I know doesn't consider Google's custom virtual machine to be a problem or infringement on their intellectual property. But the developer community and Sun are going over the nonstandard VM that Google made.
When Android came out, I was determined to ignore it, as mobile phone technology doesn't really affect me these days (not until I actually get a cell phone). Since then, Google's announced a full SDK, $10 million developer competition, and shown prototypes that look pretty promising, actually. OK, so all I saw of the prototypes was a few pictures on another blog, but it looked cool. And I can't ignore the Linux part. Not anymore, at least.
Anyway, some people call Google's move "clever", among other things, mostly positive from what I've read. That word above is the opinion of Stefano Mazzocchi, a developer and board member at Apache Labs. Others, such as Hari Gottipatti (a mobile developer), say Google converts the bytecodes so it can say Dalvik is not a Java virtual machine. The general consensus, at least according to my take on the article I read, seems to be that Google is somehow avoiding Sun licensing fees, though (says Gottipatti) Sun might have just waived the licensing if Google had simply approached them and asked.
Me, I'm not too terribly interested in the whole Android thing, but this particular part of it, the maybe-Java-maybe-not part, seems to be worth following. Next thing is to find out whether or not Sun will pursue legal action against Google for what sounds like, on the surface, copying Java Micro Edition. Such a lawsuit probably wouldn't be a good vibe for a company so active in the open source movement, but you never know. I'll definitely keep an eye out for further developments on this one; it's piqued my interest.
PS: To anyone who's ever used the phrase "peaked my interest" or "peeked my interest" (ouch!), please go to your blog control panel right now and fix it. Now! Reading those two words in place of the real one hurts my brain; they give a different (and often nonsensical) meaning to the sentence. How do you peek an interest? I didn't think so...
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