Google releases Closure!

When Gmail was released I was very enthusiastic in knowing how they built the application around the Ajax technology. Since Gmail, Google have released many successful web application to the public and now they have decided to release the core javascript library that they used to build these application.

Introducing the Closure library and javascript tools built by Google to build applications that scale! They are open sourcing these tools to the web development community. The toolkit consists of :

Closure Complier - A javascript compiler that is used to optimize the code. The compiler is said to remove dead code and minimize the code. It also checks the syntax, variable references and warn about javascript pitfalls.

Closure Library - Is a broad, modular and cross browser javascript library. Developers can make use of the wide range of UI widgets and controls, server communication, effects, data structures etc etc..

And finally, the Closure Templates - are web templates that are precomplied to efficient javascript. Interesting part of templates is that they are implemented for both javascript and java! Meaning you can use the same template on client and sever side.

But, I really wonder why they named the library "Closure" as it very related to programming language terminologies. I also wonder why they released it into Google Labs if they have been using it. According to Google the Closure started out as 20% projects and all google applications currently use it. Open sourcing such a tool is a great boon to web developers!

Google Introduces AJAX Libraries API

With plenty of open source AJAX libraries out there (and increasing), Google has come up with the idea of host the most popular once. This will developers instant access to AJAX libraries like jQuery, Dojo etc. Web developers ; I would say mostly people who have blogs and wikis hosting on free services like blogger, wordpress etc, will now be able to use these libraries by just loading them using the new API.

AJAX Libraries API will simply help you to loading architecture for the most popular open source Java Script libraries. These libraries are hosted on Google's servers. Developers can use Google's API loader's google.load method to load the library. Presently, Google hosts the following Java Script libraries:

• jQuery
• Dojo
• prototype
• script.aculo.us
• MooTools

And Google promises to keep the list growing! Google has struck a deal with all these libraries to host the latest versions as they release. But I am not sure for how long they will retain the old versions. The major advantage of using this API will be the ability to access these open source libraries even without hosting them. Also, you will be able to use features from multiple libraries in your blog or web site. I am the major reason for Google to come up this library API and hosting them is to enable these Java Script libraries to their App Engine. With these libraries at developers disposal developers will be able to embed lot of UI and client side features to the web applications they develop.

All these look good, but did Google miss somebody? Or did they ignore them? I am talking about Ext JS. Ext has been recently "hot" on web for wrong reasons! I was just wondering Google really missed them or ignored them? And I don't have to comment on YUI. I am sure, Yahoo's java script library is not going to make to the list!Polities aside; lets have look at how to use this library!

Introducing google.load() Method
Google with its vast API set, has a very simple API loading technique. To use the basic API you need to load a JS from the URL http://www.google.com/jsapi. Some API will require you to have the Google API key. But the AJAX library do not require one. Developers load the necessay Java Script files on the client side using a simple method google.load(). For example; if we need to load jQuery version 1.2.3:

<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></script>
<script>
  // Load jQuery
  google.load("jquery", "1.2.3");
</script>

Ok, so now I have the jQuery library load. How do I use it? Google also provides a callback function which is invoked once the module (library) is loaded. The callback method is specified by google.setOnLoadCallback(myMethod) method. And finally, myMethod will have all my logic!

Trying an example!
To have a feel of the need API, I just tried out some simple tasks using jQuery. Here is the example and its source:

<html>
<head>
<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></script>
<script>
google.load("jquery", "1.2.3");

google.setOnLoadCallback(function() {

 $("a").click(function() {
     alert("Hello world!");
   });

 $("#sam").click(function() {
  alert("display");
  $("#hidden").show();
 });

});
</script>
</head>
  <body> 
   The content begins.. <br/>
   <div class="divStyle newStyle">
 <a href="http://www.google.com">This</a> is a test </div>   <br/>
   <div id="sam"> This is another Test <div id="hidden" style="display:none">hidden text</div></div>
   The content ends.. <br/>
  </body>
</html>

I will give a demo on adding some useful components and widgets from these libraries later. Till then bye!

Google introduces Friend Connect

Google launched its new Data portability platform called Friend Connect. The service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling any site on the web to easily provide social features for its visitors. This these features enabled on your blog or site you will be able to attract more visitors, add social networking features with no or very less programming.

This is Google's next step in social networking. Initially they launched OpenSocial an API for social applications. Then Google profile was launched and integrated with Google Reader. Recently they added commenting (notes) feature in Google reader. Plus they have API that I need not mention (Google Calendar Data API,Google Contacts Data API etc). So with Google Friend you will be able to integrate social features like user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews other other applications built on openSocial. You will also be able with other social networks like facebook, hi5, Plaxo, LinkedIn etc. So, you will be able to connect people from different networks and broadcast activities to friends in their social networks.


I went through an example and was able to login using my Google ID. The application gave me options to connect with my facebook and orkut accounts. With this Google will stay way ahead in social networking and intergration. With OpenSocial around these platforms, I am sure facebook and Yahoo have lots to learn from this.

Google launches App Engine!

Google's introduces its new avatar: Google App Engine. It lets you to build your web application on Google's infrastructure. The web applications are built using
Python, BigTable and GFS. Even though the launch is just a preview release, Google promises to make web application development more simple and fun!

The App engine, once fully launched will be all set to transform the web application. Even though they are targeting existing solutions like Amozon's S3 and Zoho, the developer community is going to have lots of platforms at their disposal. With App engine, there will be no server maintenance. All you have to do is built the application and deploy it. The rest is in Google's hand. With this Google has started a new sub domain : appspot.com , just like blogspot.com. Developers will also be able to control access to the application they create. And important part is, all these are free with a storage capacity of 500 MB. I am sure Google will have a commercial part of this engine.

The application environment consist of Python runtime, Datastore API, Users API, Mail API and URL Fetch API. For now the App engine will support only Python but other runtimes are being considered. The environment includes the following features:

• Creating of dynamic web pages.
• Data storage with queries,sorting and transactions.
• Automatic scaling and load balancing.
• APIs for authenticating users and sending email using Google Accounts.
• A SDK to develop applications on your computer.

You can download the SDK (available for all platforms) or browse through the application gallery.

Google Profile - What is it?

Google is about to launch another product called Google Profile. Google defines it as :

lets you tell others a bit more about who you are and what you’re all about. You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you’d like.

So, what's the idea? It will integrate all Google services you use and give you an identity. Further it will help you to manage your contacts.


You can find Google Profile in its initial state at Google Maps and Google Reader. These profiles are public and contain basic information about yourself. In Google Maps, you will find you profile on top and in Google Reader you will find it in "Friends" tab in settings. But I found that these are not in Sync for now. So you will have to edit in both the services. The big advantage of the Profile will be in searching individuals. It will be interesting to see how these public profiles will get integrated to Orkut and other social services.

Another minor topic is the addition of support for OpenID for commenting in blogs. So, what will be advantages with this feature? Google seems to be moving to the "Social Networking" in a fast rate!

Google's API for creating Charts and Graphs

Google just keeps innovating! They just released their new API which is all about creating charts and graphs. It’s called Google Chart API. In one look, it’s a down to earth API for creating charts and graphs by simply passing values to an URL. This is what struck me the most! The API has only an URL to which you pass values like chart size, data and chart type. In turn the API creates the chart as image and you have it! Creating chart is as simple as that. Let’s have a peep inside…

This might be one of the best API’s available now. The reason? Everything is through the URL. Google defines their new charting API as:

The Google Chart API is an extremely simple tool that lets you easily create a chart from some data and embed it in a web page. You embed the data and formatting parameters in an HTTP request, and Google returns a PNG image of the chart. Many types of chart are supported, and by making the request into an image tag you can simply include the chart in a web page.

The API provides different types of charts like Line, Bar, Pie, Venn diagram etc. To create any chart, we just have to pass some parameters to the URL: http://chart.apis.google.com/chart, specifying chart size, type and date. The generic syntax will be as follows :

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?<parameter1>&<parameter2>&<parametern>

For a simple pie chart, here is the code (URL):

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chd=s:hW&chs=250x100&chl=Hello|World

So, you just created your Hello World chart using the API. All charts are generated as PNG images. Now lets look at the analyze the “Hello World” chart we just wrote.
You should have noticed that we passed 4 parameters, cht, chd, chs and chl. “ch” obviously stands for chart.. cht represents the chart type, chd the data, chs the size of chart and chl the charts label. The API provides different type of data encoding like simple, text and extended encodings.

Here’s some example..





Let me dig deeper and see how I can make use of this library! :)

Google's OpenSocial API

Google might have failed to get the piece of Facebook cake, but they are on a roll! They recently announced OpenSocial, a set of APIs for building social applications. In May Facebook launched Facebook Platform giving access to developers to create applications inside Facebook. After this many third party applications by Microsoft, Slide, iLike, Digg etc have come up. Google with its new API is set to make bigger bang in social networking.

Google’s OpenSocial provides a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites. Unlike Facebook, which keeps its application platform closed, Google has opened up its API to any network that is ready to participate. So, Google is aiming at an open platform so that application lifecycle (create, deploy and manage) is easy and developers don’t have to make a choice from many different APIs. And if Google get control of this on web, they will be in the center! They will have control of the network!

So, with OpenSocial developers will be using the standard JavaScript and HTML to create applications that will fit to social networks like Orkut, LinkedIn, MySpace. Google says :

The ultimate goal is for any social website to be able to implement the APIs and host 3rd party social applications

Looking into the APIs.. there are three set of APIs:

1. 1.People Data API
2. 2.Activities Data API
3. 3.Persistence Data API

These three are Javascript APIs. To access these APIs we can go for use client-side JavaScript API or use server-side RESTful data APIs. Here is the list of thing that Google promises the API is capable of:

• Build applications without maintaining your own server
• Build applications that include a server-side component (for offline processing and/or access from other websites)
• Create brand-new applications
• Expose existing web applications in the context of existing social websites
• Add social features to existing Google Gadgets
• Write one application that can run in the context of many different social websites

One major advantage of the new API seems to be the usage of existing technology. Google is not introducing any markup language like facebook (FBML). So, developers will be able to use the raw HTML,CSS for formating and display. There will be three types of people involved in using the OpenSocial: Host, Developer and End-User. Host will be any site that will allow OpenSocial to run on.

What is not clear is who will regulate and administer the Advertisements on the applications. Will developers have a hand? or the host will administer? We will have to wait and see on this. It will be interesting to see how Facebook will take it. And further, how sites adopting the API will extend, use and administer.

Oh!, and to checkout some OpenSocial stuff, try this!

Google Releases Calendar Directory

Google introduces a directory of public calendars! Now you can quickly add calendars, search them and browse them. The public calendars are categorized like “Top Picks”, “TV shows”,” Events”, “Sports” , “By Google” and more…

You can add these calendars or view them. Anyone regardless of whether they’re using Google Calendar can view the calendar details by just clicking the linked title for a specific calendar. When you add a calendar to your calendar account, you can then see it integrated as part of your main calendar, color-coded as usual. You can also then set up event reminders.

To have your own Calendar be added to the directory, simply make it public. So Google Calendar is getting updated at last, I was waiting for this. Another new feature to Calendar is the “Add Calendar to Toolbar” option on the top right.

What’s Google next update?? ;)

Blogger's spam-prevention

I am stuck! I was planning to blog on some other topic but ended up with a strange message from blogger in "Create" section:

This blog has been locked by Blogger's spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what's going on and how to get your blog unlocked.

Even after requesting for the unlock, I am still have no response from the Blogger!!! The only thing I can do now is create the entries and save them. I will publish this entry once I get my blog unlocked!

PN : [This post was published after the lock was removed]

Google's new products..

Google may be busy at Google Developer Day, their first worldwide developer event kicked off in Sydney and won't stop until it's reached 10 locations around the world. The last location is at Google's offices in Mountain View, California. But in mean time they released a bunch of new products:

• Google Gear
• Google Mashup Editor
• Google Mapplets

This might not be end of the list, we will get new stuffs as GWT is gearing up for making use of other Google APIs.

Google Gear is an answer to dojo's offline web applications. It is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline. It consists of three modules that address the core challenges in making web applications work offline:

1. Local Server - Cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) locally.
2. Database - Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database.
3. WorkerPool - Make your web applications more responsive by performing resource-intensive operations asynchronously.

The interesting part is Google Reader is already having this offline feature. You need to download the runtime and use it.

Google Mashup Editor provides simple tools and features that allow you to create mashups in minutes. Its still in the beta stage and is not available for the public. You need to sign up and wait for your account to get activated. For now all you have is the tour available to see the features.

Now about the Mapplets, they are mini-applications that you can embed within the Google Maps site. They are simple Google Gadgets that can manipulate the map using Javascript calls that are derived from the Google Maps API. Mapplets are currently only available in a special Developer Preview version of Google Maps. The Mapplets documentation and gallery can also be accessed.

So time also, Google have answered to Microsoft's Popfly and to dojo's Dojo Offline Toolkit and ya its also a release against the Adobe's Apollo and Dekoh runtime.

Google Experimental!

Everyday Google comes out with something new. For the past few days they have come out with Web History, and New look for Google search:

Apart from these changes Google have been trying new ways to present the search result and display information that will be more useful to users. Google Experimental shows off some of the new ways they are working on. Have a look!

And a new feature to Blogger is the draft auto save feature! Just found it ;)

Suggesting features for Gmail

Google is going around collecting new features that is to be added to Gmail. Looks like the next mega update that is around the corner is going to be for Gmail. And I would love to see some of them. You can suggest features here. All you have to do is check the features you google to add and put your innovative idea in the end!
The new feature list includes some interesting features like:

• Rich text signatures
• Ability to block a user from sending mail to your account
• Hierarchy of Label system
• Additional chat emoticons
• Integration with other Google products
• Add notes to messages
• To-do list
• Multi-person chat
• Export messages to a CD for storage
• ...

Lets see what all features are going to come out. But i am disappointed because Google calendar has not yet got a face lift (I wish it had "To-do list" and much more). The major feature I am looking forward to see in Gmail is integration with other Google products like Calendar,Picasa and Google Talk. Another Integration option Google missed out to mention in their list is to integrate google docs and spread sheets. I also wish we could have a better navigation method to other google services which is presently on top left corner!

Suggest you features for Gmail

Google's new service: Google TiSP

Yet again Google comes up with a great innovation. This time its FREE in-home wireless broadband service named Google TiSP. The most interesting part is to know how it works! Google is going to make use of the municipal sewage lines to connect your home with their TiSP Access Node. Here how it's done:
Google is having a "Do-It-Yourself" guide to install TiSP kit. They are also going to provide service for installation and setup. That's not all!! The TiSP is provided for enterprise with 24-hour on-site technical support in the event of backup problems, brownouts and data wipes. And you can get your kit from Google Checkout ;)

Google Notebook gets a new UI

Google keeps improving their product! The new update is to Google notebook and there is lot of changes to the UI part. Google team have also added some new features to it like sort, sections for the existing notebooks and the introduction of multiple languages.
But this sort feature is just a small part. You can combine note of a notebook into sections and name these sections. These sections are highlighted with a different color and you can easy add notes to the section by simple drag and drop. But that's not all, you can also export the entire notebook to Google Docs!!! Another notable update is the "Note this" option in the pop-up menu when you right click on a web page. And finally for those who use the FF and IE plugins, they too will experience the new user interface!

So which service of Google is next for update? I hope it is Calendar, because for some time, they haven't added new features to it. We will have to wait and see what Google brings out.

Google on Fire

Google's on fire!!! They have released a bundle of web services for the world to work on! And as always, they are of high quality. I started my Docs & Spreadsheet as soon as I read the news in "google news" which said "1 hour ago". So i am not late! Apart form this they have also enhanced the picasa with the online album and released Picasa 2.5 with more features. With this, Google is definitely on fire! Users are definitely wondering what's next?

• Presentation service?
• More desktop services?
• Or something that even my brain is lazy to kick!?
  

Google have enough services and by integrating we can say it’s a Web OS! And they integrated it well so far. Now google is really tough with its competitors. Yahoo seems to be much dormant in the race, but Microsoft which has lost the search ground and its "msn charm" is trying to get back to business.
Google is quite ahead of Microsoft in number of services, the quality and technology. Gmail used Ajax before anybody, bringing new innovation and revolution in e-mail. The MSN beta and Yahoo beta seem to go the outlook look. But still the service is very poor. Frankly i am a google fan and i use google stuff even though i am aware of the Microsoft and yahoo services. One the best part of google's service is its simple innovations that has brought web to be more personalized and highly user-centric. So to end ... here are some questions for you to plunder!

• How many of the google services you subscribe to and how many you use?
• Do you feel google has similar services in different names?
• Is google entering a monopoly?
• Will Microsoft recovers their lost grounds?
• Why is Yahoo entering the race limited (they have come up with much less innovation)?
  

Google Research Papers

I have found somthing new to me which I would like to share.. Google has released some new services to the world to play with. Definitly this will keep the ahead of the corporate war with microsoft. what i found today is somthing quite interesting in google site itself. They have a whole set of research papers published which they conduct in their company! Check the site out:

http://labs.google.com/papers/

they have published some of there research papers.. techno geeks should go through it. Many of these researchs are implemented and is being used as the backbone of google. Public to make use of it but do not have direct access. For example the The Google File System. You can get more details on the file system from wikipedia. For technical details read the PDF that google provides in there site itself!

Happy hacking!

Importance of "Self-Googling"

Sun Student Developer Connection eNewsletter of september had one interseting link named "Beware Your Blog". Since I have blog, I checked it out. The link lead me to an Article at University at Buffalo. The authur talks about how important it is to "self-google" and see
how you are listed. In this internet world where people google things from news,images,videos to everything under sky, its important making yourself listed in google.

Try your name! What do you get? I was surprised to see myself listed first. My savannah profile came first followed by my java forum profile. In the article the professor recommends it as a shrewd form of "personal brand management" in the digital age.

Thus it is important to manage your online presence in a positive manner. So, how do you build reputation? Your presence in internet is the answer. Having blogs, personal websites,being active in disucssions,forums make you alive on net. But as any technology hold, "self-googling" has disadvantage! Any person could just as easily start several websites and make it look as though they had accomplished all manner of things. People who treat the internet as a 100% reliable source of information deserve what they get.The truth may be closer to 0%.

So pull up your sleves and built reputation.! but a good one!