CNET: gPhone Software To Be "Everything You Need To Run A Phone"

By Rob Beschizza

Google's Monday Revolution will be a suite of software based on Linux and codenamed "Android," according to a story published at News.com. This suite is implied to be an operating system ("it's said to include everything you need to run a phone") to be followed immediately thereafter by an SDK.

The rest of the story is standard gPhone preview: weasel-worded blather like "backed by some of the largest wireless industry companies in the world" and "carrier n is said to be heavily involved." Buried deep, however, are nuggets like JumpTap executive Dan Olschwang wondering if the whole thing is just a giant trap to get people to write expansions to Google's software, and Tim Hanlon of Denuo pointing out that if the gPhone's framework is anything like what's described here, the carriers would be loathe to let it in their playground at all.
Google to unveil 'Android' phone software [CNET]

Searching for the GooglePhone? Here's the Lowdown

By Rob Beschizza


The Google Phone may dropkick the wireless industry as early as Monday.
The Wall Street Journal says the legendary

platform/service/framework/protocol/network/McGuffin has decided to come two weeks early — but still doesn't know exactly what it will be.

Describing it with such boilerplate vagaries as "big plans in wireless," "a splash in the mobile market" and "alliance with various handset makers and cellphone operators," the implication is clearly that it's a platform of integrated software and service offerings that anyone, in principle, may work into a new machine's hardware. Here's what we know, based on the Journal and other sources:

The Journal's sources say it will be T-Mobile and Sprint on board to begin with (Yesterday, it was Verizon and Sprint!)

International carriers seem to be in on the action too: Bharti Airtel's leaking info like a sieve over in the subcontinent.

Om Malik says the hardware's coming from everyone except Nokia.
The phone will be running a "highly optimized Mobile Linux" with a strong Java flavor, again according to Om Malik.

The Journal's Amol Sharma says to expect HTC as the "likely bet" for the manufacturer of the first set of phones.

HTC is Microsoft's honey, manufacturing many Windows Mobile-based handsets, which puts the big question front and center: Google's platform, if it is not an operating system too, will surely have to play nicely with Windows Mobile, given the spread of handset-makers in the crystal ball. How will the two co-exist in the mobile advertising space?

I'll go with the obvious bet: it'll be an initial disappointment from a "Gee Whiz" viewpoint, but clearly the wedge-end of a longer-term plan that goes part hardware and software and right to the cloud. But we want hardware. Superior steeple-fingered analysis is to be found at sister blog Epicenter, wherein Dylan prepares to eat hat.

Ring-Ring…Google to Announce Phone Plans Monday [WSJ]

Leopard's Almost Here -- What You Need to Know

By Michael Calore

The next version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system goes on sale at 6pm local time Friday. Though nobody's expecting iPhone-style lines snaking around the block at every Apple store, there is a huge amount of excitement among Mac owners for Apple's second-biggest product release of the year.

If you want to be the first on your block to procure a shiny DVD of Leopardy goodness, you should be prepared. Here's a rundown of what we know now so far.

If you buy a new computer today after 6pm, Apple will throw in a DVD of Leopard for free. The new OS ships on all new Mac hardware purchases starting today, and it's unlikely Apple will have had time to load all of its back-room stock with Leopard in advance.

If you bought a new Mac after October 1, 2007, you can upgrade to Leopard for $10. Also, if you buy a new computer anytime today before Leopard goes on sale -- even at 5:55pm -- you have to pay $10 to upgrade.

The only way to get a physical copy of Leopard on Friday will be to visit an Apple store or an Apple-authorized retail location. Lines should be expected. You may be able to buy Leopard at 6pm at your local Best Buy or CompUSA, but availability will vary based on your location.
Expect the Apple stores to close between 4pm and 6pm. Apple stores usually close for about two hours before a major launch. This gives workers time to put up special interactive displays and new signage, and it allows time for sales personnel to receive a last-minute briefing. It's also likely Apple stores will replace all of the computers on the sales floor with machines running Leopard just before doors re-open at 6.

The rumor has it the first 500 customers to buy Leopard at each location will receive commemorative Leopard T-shirts. So get there early!

If you really can't wait, we hear pirated copies of Leopard are available on BitTorrent trackers and Craigslist, among other places.

Users are organizing meetups at Apple stores around the world. In cities with multiple Apple stores (like Los Angeles and New York), users are trying to organize meetups at specific stores. Check the Leopard meetups boards on MacRumors to find the highest concentration of Mac nerdery in your locale.

So far, it looks like the Apple stores in downtown San Francisco and the Santa Clara store at Valley Fair are the hottest spots on the west coast to buy Leopard.

The jokers at smashsomestuff.com gained notoriety on June 29 for smashing a newly purchased iPhone, and we hear the videobloggers are planning a repeat demonstration at the Valley Fair store just before Leopard goes on sale.

Leopard will cost $130 per single-user copy. Five-license "family packs" will also be available for $200. For hardware requirements, visit Apple's website.

word is that this has been leaked and it has gotten some good reviews!
http://www.xtremegadgets.net

Mozilla Prism: Refracting The Web Onto Your Desktop

By Scott Gilbertson

Mozilla Labs has launched what it says is a series of experiments designed to "bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps." The first release is Prism the new name for WebRunner. Prism allows you to create desktop-like apps out of individual websites.
As we mentioned in yesterday’s write up on GreaseKit, site-specific applications — essentially a web browser that handles one site — are a growing trend. It’s tempting to dismiss these apps as superfluous, but there are some advantages to them. For instance, if you keep your e-mail open in a tab while you’re browsing and your browser crashes, your e-mail tab goes with it.
If, on the other hand, you use Prism to set up an dedicated GMail “application” your e-mail is safely partitioned off from the rest of your web browsing.
At the moment site-specific apps are in their infancy and there aren’t many compelling reasons to use them, in fact they lack many of the features you’re likely used to from the browser. But Prism isn’t intended to replace your browser, nor is it an attempt to section off the web. Rather Prism recognizes that some site are beginning to behave more like applications and for users who want to interact with them more like applications, Prism offers a way to do it.
With websites becoming more application-like and beginning to support offline data storage and other extended features, and as experiments like Prism become more robust, site-specific apps could end up with an important role in the future of the web.
If you’d like to try out Prism, head over to the Mozilla Labs, but be forewarned it’s Windows-only at the moment. Mac and Linux versions are said to be coming in the next couple of weeks.

Once installed, launching Prism will bring up a dialogue box where you can add a url, name your new application and control where it shows up.
From there just double click the app as you would any other desktop icon and it’ll launch a window with the selected site. Because Prism uses the same rendering engine as Firefox, your interactions will mirror those you’re familiar with in the browser.
At the moment Prism is pretty bare bones, it’s basically a Firefox-like window sans the tool and address bars. Regrettably there doesn’t seem to be a way enable Firefox add-ons, though it’s not hard to imagine an option to do so making its way into the Prism set up dialogue.
Mozilla has big plans for Prism. The blog post lists a few things that will eventually make their way into Prism:
We’re also thinking about how to better integrate Prism with Firefox, enabling one-click “make this a desktop app” functionality that preserves a user’s preferences, saved passwords, cookies, add-ons, and customizations. Ideally you shouldn’t even have to download Prism, it should just be built into your browser.
Perhaps even more useful would be a way for the websites themselves to offer a "pop out" option to create a standalone app.
I played around with Prism last night and found that while it seemed quite stable, its features are too limited at this point to make it worth the effort. As one cynic on the Mozilla blog post notes "The JS chrome-less popup window comes full circle."
Indeed, Prism has the single window application element down pat, but it doesn’t really offer any desktop-like integration to warrant using it. However, more robust site-specific apps like Mailplane, an OS X app for GMail which supports drag and drop operations and other desktop-style features, offer a glimpse of where Prism is headed.
The emergence of site-specific apps won’t suit everyone’s working habits, for some the advantage of web-apps is that they aren’t desktop apps and everything can be handled in a single application — the browser. But for those that love web-apps, and don’t like putting all their eggs in one basket, Prism and related tools like Adobe Air and Apple’s WebKit could end up offering the best of both worlds.
[via Alex Faaborg, who has a bit more to say about Prism’s design and end goals.]
Here's a shot of Gmail running in Prism:

And here's a shot from the Mozilla post of Prism apps in your start menu. The apps I created didn't end up with custom icons for some reason:

The Futuristic Van from 1977 Becomes Web History

By Bruce Sterling


The Web History Center and the Computer History Museum proudly present:
Major Internet Milestones:
A 30th Anniversary Celebration of the First Three-network Transmission
Featuring Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn, Don Nielson, and other original participants. Moderated by Gina Smith.
Sponsored by Cisco Systems, SRI International, and Rockwell-Collins *******************
1977 marked a critical milestone in the development of the modern Internet and also wireless networking. While many people trace the Internet's origins to the ARPANET of the late '60s, in fact the word "internet" means joining different kinds of individual networks together. This kind of internetworking made its formal debut with the three-network transmission of 1977.
In the fall of that year, an unmarked step van stuffed with futuristic equipment, scientists, and sometimes fully uniformed generals quietly cruised the streets of the Bay Area. Only an oddly shaped antenna gave any hint of its purpose. The moment of truth came on November 22; on that day, data flowed seamlessly through the van between SRI International in Menlo Park and the University of Southern California via London, England, and across three kinds of networks-packet radio, satellite, and the ARPANET.
(((I wonder how history would have changed if that futuristic van full of geeks and generals had been hit by a semi-truck.)))
The test was also a major milestone in packet radio, the technology which foreshadowed WiFi and other kinds of wireless internet access.
On November 7, 2007, the Computer History Museum and co-host the Web History Center will present a special celebration of this historic demonstration that spawned the Internet we know and use today.
Please join us for a panel presentation with recollections and perspectives from Vint Cerf, Robert Kahn, Don Nielson, Virginia (Strazisar) Travers, Jim Garrett, Irwin Jacobs, Don Nielson, and Paal Spilling. Our moderator is noted tech journalist Gina Smith. The restored packet radio van will be open for tours from 5:30-7:00 pm.
WHERE: Computer History Museum
Hahn Auditorium
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
WHEN: Wednesday, November 7, 2007 6 pm Member/VIP Reception 7 pm Program
Wine provided by The Mountain Winery
Registration
Free-- please register early as space is limited. Suggested donation of $10.00 at the door from non-members. To register or for more information on the event, please visit the Museum's website at: http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1191351626 or call (650) 810-1005.
About the Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a 25-year history as part of the former Boston Computer Museum. CHM preserves and presents the artifacts and stories of the information age and is dedicated to exploring the social impact of computing. CHM's diverse collection of computing-related artifacts is the largest and most significant in the world. CHM brings computing history to life through an acclaimed speaker series, dynamic website, and onsite tours and exhibits. Current exhibits include "Mastering the Game: A History of Computer Chess," "Innovation in the Valley," and "Visible Storage," featuring 600 key objects from the collection. A signature "Timeline of Computing History" exhibit will open in October 2009. For open hours and more information, visit computerhistory.org or call +1 650 810 1010. Admission is free.
About the Web History Center
The Web History Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with offices at the Computer History Museum and at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, and representatives in three European countries. Founding institutional members include Stanford University Libraries, the Internet Archive, the Computer History Museum, the Charles Babbage institute, and eight others. Formed in March 2006, its charters are to collect at-risk historical material including oral histories, to serve as a facilitating organization for Web and related net and hypertext history as a field, and to encourage public and educational access to that history. Founding sponsors include CommerceNet and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. For more information visit webhistory.org.

First Look: Delicious Library 2.0 Burns With Animated Cool

By Scott Gilbertson

Thinking Inside the Box
Now that 2 million Mac users have made the leap to Leopard, Apple developers are ready to turn up the dazzle. Delicious Monster lead developer Wil Shipley and his crew are working on the next version of the award-winning media-management application, Delicious Library. The program is an elegant answer to the ever-increasing problem of clutter for collectors of books, CDs, DVDs and videogames -- it neatly organizes your collections and lets you browse those of your friends.
Delicious Library 2 takes advantage of Core Animation, Mac OS X 10.5's powerful graphics-processing engine, which lets developers bring desktop apps to life with animated, fluid user interfaces. Though Shipley's app features eye-popping visuals -- items slide and shuffle, windows rotate into position and entries go up in flames as you delete them -- this isn't just a cosmetic release. Delicious 2.0 is blazing fast compared to its predecessors, and it features tighter integration with other Apple apps and services.
Shipley says the new version will "arrive in time for the holiday season," but he gave Wired News a look at the latest build.
Left: If you're a long-time Delicious Library user, the first thing you're likely to notice about the new version is the absence of the sidebar item-detail inspector. Instead, that same info has been rolled into a pop-up window that automatically picks the best location to display. Clicking on the black triangle allows you to move it around wherever you'd like.