Improvements to the search engine at Google.com are undeniably newsworthy, but on a sort of life-and-death scale, adjustments to the Google News engine are also important. And a few changes (and reminders) cropped up recently.
Open Source vs. Walled Gardens
Open vs. Walled – let the best win.
Recently in Boston, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, was pushing a theme that is dear to many of us. The Mobile Web should grow with open standards. The Walled Garden approach should be abandoned.
Libraries Reject Google In Favor Of Open Source
The Google Library Project gains new members fairly frequently, and a comparable service from Microsoft also does all right. A number of libraries have steered clear of the corporate rivalry, though, and have instead opted to side with the Open Content Alliance (OCA).
Build Your Social Media Site With Open Source Scripts
Occationally I talk to progressive companies that have taken the leap into social media and have implemented full social communities with lots of features that enable users to interact on the site, but when I look at their site I discover a propriatry custom scripted website.
In most cases this is a GIANT Mistake.
NYT Editor Cuts Blogger As Story Source
A piece by a New York Times writer drew material from an interview with a blogger who broke the story, but failed to credit him or his blog thanks to an editor’s removal of the reference.
Internet Main Source For Healthcare Information
Going online for health information is popular. Seventy-eight percent of Americans look to the Internet to find health information, according to a Burst Media study.
Facebook Source Code Sees The Light Of Day
For Facebook, it wasn’t a great way to start the weekend – the site’s home page source code was posted online for all to see. On the bright side, data belonging to Facebook’s many users appears to be completely safe and unaffected.
Open Source Expert: Google Not A Team Player
Google makes rare books available for free, protects the environment, and gives grants to many non-profit organizations. But in at least one respect, the company may not be so generous; General Public License (GPL) author Eben Moglen feels Google should contribute more to the open source community.
Adobe Flex Enters Open Source
Adobe hopes to attract more developers to their Flex platform by releasing its SDK under terms of the Mozilla Public License.
Google Selects MySQL Goodies For Open Source
Some of Google applications use the MySQL database, and internal performance enhancements made by Google engineers have been publicly released.