Few months ago a Wall Street analyst predicted that Apple will start merging Mac OS X with iOS into a single operating system starting in 2012 and completing in 2016. The new OS would run on all of Apple devices from the iPhone up to the iMac. This comes in the context of the recently released Mac OS X Lion, which comes with features inspired by iOS, such as the Launchpad, full-screen apps, and an even greater focus on multi-touch gestures. In the Microsoft camp Windows 8 is essentially doing Read More

Opera Software ASA, Norway developed a web browser (Internet suite) called Opera. It is one of the most used browsers on earth, and probably the fastest and best one. Most Internet users probably remember the days when Internet Explorer and Netscape navigator competed for every single user. Internet Explorer was eventually victorious as it became the most widely used Internet browser. Internet users are well aware of Internet Explorer’s mistakes and standard compliance problems. Unfortunately, these same Internet users were probably unaware of Opera’s existence, although it has been an Read More

The struggle of Chromebooks to succeed in the market, which prompted Google and partners to slash their prices, indicates that not many are willing to go as far as to entrust all of their computing to the cloud and Software as a Service. Tablets on the other hand, especially the iPad, are doing pretty well. Chromebooks are basically low powered netbooks which run only the Chrome web browser, and are meant to provide fast access to web based applications. It is an experiment born out of the fact that the Read More

Let me ask you a question. Do you need a super computer the equivalent of IBM’s Blue Gene in your home? I’m asking because that’s how powerful those desktop towers most of us were used to might be not too far from now. Anyone who has been paying attention over the last couple of years can spot a clear trend. Our mobile phones and tablets are becoming powerful enough to compete with our desktop PCs, even in terms productivity. Input methods, peripherals and apps are yet to catch up, but Read More

After a period of waning interest for Google+ the new social network is picking up steam again as Google keeps adding features and improvements. It has already found its legitimate place in the social elite with Google+ buttons seen everywhere side by side to those of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Alas, just yesterday I’ve heard a major podcast refer to their Google+ page as if it mattered more than their Facebook page, as if it’s now “cool” to have a Google+ page. In other words, it would appear Google+ is Read More

Adobe recently announced that they are abandoning further development of the Flash Player for mobile devices. Instead they will focus on the development of native apps built with their AIR framework. This comes just a year and a half after late Steve Jobs’ famous “Thoughts on Flash” when he essentially locked Flash out of all iPhones and iPads, angering Adobe and its fans in a major way. If he were still alive I bet he would’ve been saying something to the effect of “I told you so”. Killing mobile Flash Read More

As the bigwigs of the content industry tries to sponsor bills that would give them legal power to effectively censor web sites over mere suspicion of “intellectual property” infringement opposition is getting stronger and more vocal. As a reminder the bills in question are the PROTECT-IP Act in the US Senate, and SOPA (“Stop Online Piracy Act”) in the US House of Representatives. They are aimed at fighting online piracy, but provide powers that allow them to be used for far more than that, and put online businesses at constant Read More

Yes he's in a robe and wearing slippers. So what? The new movie about Facebook, The Social Network, was supposed to portray Mark Zuckerberg as a cold, arrogant backstabber and perhaps leave me walking out of the cinema cursing his name. For me, it had the opposite effect. It was a pretty good ad. Whoever thought they were doing character assassination with this movie failed pretty hard as far as I am concerned.  First off, I realize this movie wasn't necessarily an entirely accurate and balanced portrayal of everything that Read More

Over the last few years, cloud computing has rapidly grown from an untested technology paradigm to a reliable, scalable, and economical hosting solution for many businesses. The next step in the evolution of cloud computing is implementation of cloud architectures in enterprise data centers. Cloud Data Centers – Not Just for Service Providers Anymore The early adopters of cloud computing technologies were service providers: cloud hosting companies, Internet service providers (ISPs), and application service providers (ASPs).  These companies invested heavily in early-stage cloud technologies and earned their investment back through Read More

Apple stirred some controversy by announcing that they will require every application in the Mac App Store to run in an App Sandbox, much like iOS apps do on iPhone and the iPad. The App Sandbox would isolate the app from the entire operating system except for files and APIs which are explicitly allowed to the application. Apple calls these entitlements, and will provide only a limited number of them. Developers will have to request these entitlements to be granted to their app. This requirement was to come into effect Read More