Moving to Semantic Web

You must have heard this before : "Web 2.0 is dead and over" and for who haven't try this. So if you believe web 2.0 is dead,where are we heading? and if you don't believe this entry is to make you think about it. About the next web : Semantic web!

The work have already started. Radar Networks is a company pioneering the Web 3.0 or semantic web. They have stated to release their product in 2007 itself. They have also graph representing the growth of web:

Looking at the graph, we are to leave behind (may be not totally avoid it) and move into new stuff named OpenID, SPARQL, SWQL etc to reach Web 3.0 and finally the WebOS. You will see that we have already started the work on all these technology that will help us reach Web 3.0 and beyond. OpenID will help in decentralized digital identity for users and it will be on open platform. SPARQL and SWQL are going to play a important role in getting information. May be you can say RSS and Atom are the ancestor technology to collect information but SPARQL and SWQL which is rule language will bring out a better informative web to users.

Keeping aside the development of these technologies, lets see how the present technology will help to move from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. So web 2.0 is not dead? I would say no! And the major reason is we still have development in Ajax,RIA technology. It not the matter of how many web 2.0 projects is undertaken or successfully completed today, but its how we built,use and evolve (modify) these new technologies that we have today to make Web 3.0 or semantic web or intelligent web or ... so Web 2.0 is not dead but evolving.

With the work on Web 3.0 no and running, and we also see new technologies screaming "cross-platform,browser-independent etc.." its all about using these new query and rule languages and develop a semantic web. And for this we will definitely see Mashups, widgets, RIA applications and advanced search mechanism playing a major role.

Songbird : A Web Player

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a very interesting "baby" product called Songbird. Its a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up built on Mozilla Application Framework. Even though Songbird is at version 0.2.5, its very fruitful media player and will definitely stand out in the coming days.

The main attracting features of Songbird are: Cross-platform (available for Linux,Mac and Windows), Support for "Add-ons" similar to what you have in Firefox, and its ability to connect to iPod and other USB devices. But that's not all, it has features like library, skins (called feathers), flow control and mixing, CD burning etc. Some interesting features that you will not see in other media players are XUL rules ( yet another application of Mozilla's UI toolkit ) , multi-language (around 45+ supported now) and web browser with integrated search both for web and your local library. It also features a sleek mini mode as show below:

Well, if you are still not happy with the mini mode, you also have the feature to minimize it to system tray. To do this you have an Add-on. You even have notifications when a song starts! This feature startled me because, my media player lack this functionality. Right now we have less add-ons but I am sure you will get more as Songbird becomes popular because of the "developer ease" in building add-ons.

I have started using Songbird and dumbed Windows Media Player 11 because of many reasons: Its open source, there is good a look and feel, the features that have explained above. And to end with the Songbird team is giving away T-shirts (which costs!!) but you can always get a Songbird button from your blog or web site and showoff your support to this product.

Adobe to open up Flex

I am bit late for this entry but here it is: Abode has announced its plan to open source Flex and its development. This press release appeared on Abobe's site on April 26th (and I was busy preparing for my final review).

According to Adobe, they are to release ActionScript components from the Flex SDK,Java code for ActionScript and the MXML compiler. The open sourced Flex SDK will be available under Mozilla Public License (MPL).The MPL will allow full and free access to the source code, allowing developers to download, extend, and contribute to the source code for the Flex compiler and framework classes. This show Adobe's commitment to open technology initiatives, including the contribution of source code for the ActionScript Virtual Machine to the Mozilla Foundation under the Tamarin project. At the same time it also show how Adobe is planning to tackle its rivals like Dekoh, Dojo etc which are already open.

Now Microsoft's Silverlight is yet to see the open source light. And I am sure that's not going to happen. Another set back that Silverlight will have is that, the support for linux (Unless mono project take up the task). So... keeping the heat on RIA technology all these products are going to change our internet experience in next 2 year in a big way!

Digg goes out of service?

Digg, one of the community-based popularity website goes out of service just after multiple entries regarding HD-DVD key. You can also find entries that say "This page does not contain the HD-DVD key"! For example check this out. But look at the URL and you will see that the page indeed do not contain the key ;)

I found that the entire Digg site was not down! Instead the entries that contained the HD-DVD key had the page shown on the right and other Digg entries worked fine.

After a break...

I am back after a small break! and I have lot of things to catch up with... From my office works, my site updates and off course my blog!!! and there is lot to talk about.

First, I am over with my Masters course from VIT. My final review of the project turned out to be one of the best review I ever got ;) Second, After a long time.. I went home!

On the technical side... My first update today was for my web site. I just added real time visitor stats on my site. The service is from statisfy.net. Which have built a good mash up using Google maps. You can view my real time stats here. Thats not all... Google have come up with their new stuffs and I am behind. With new features from Google in Gmail, Calendar, etc. Another news making camp is Microsoft, Adobe and Dojo.. ( I will write seperate blog entries soon.. so watch out).


And for now... I am at my office desk ;)