- Terrier IR — open source (Mozilla) text search engine, now with Hadoop support.
- s3ql — open source (GPLv3) Linux filesystem which stores its data on Google Storage, Amazon S3, or OpenStack. (via Adam Shand)
- Esprima — open source (BSD) fast Javascript parser in Javascript. (via Javascript Weekly)
- Hogan.js — open source (Apache) Javascript templating engine from Twitter. If it proves anywhere near as good as Bootstrap, it’ll be heavily used.
"cloud" entries
Top Stories: January 2-6, 2012
Welcome to the feedback economy, a guide for empowered patients, and 3 developer topics that will define 2012.
This week on O'Reilly: Alistair Croll explained why the information economy is giving way to the feedback economy, Fred Trotter examined the epatient movement, and we looked at the three big stories that will shape the developer world in the months ahead.
Developer Week in Review: 2012 preview edition
A look at the developer stories that will define 2012.
It's a brand new year, time to look ahead to the stories that will have developers talking in 2012. Mobile will remain a hot topic, the cloud is absorbing everything, and jobs appear to be heading back to the U.S.
Four short links: 28 December 2011
Text Search, Cloud Filesystem, Javascript Parser, and Twitter Templates
Top Stories: December 5-9, 2011
A vote against frictionless sharing, a look at cloud security threats, and why the open sourcing of Data.gov matters.
This week on O'Reilly: Mike Loukides explained why there's little value in frictionless sharing, Jeffrey Carr examined the significant security threats attached to cloud services, and we learned why the open sourcing of Data.gov is an important milestone for open government.
Why cloud services are a tempting target for attackers
Jeffrey Carr on the significant and escalating risks of hosting data with cloud providers.
Before organizations embrace the efficiencies and cost savings of cloud services, they should also closely consider the security repercussions and liabilities attached to the cloud.
Four short links: 21 November 2011
Early Jobs, Personal Computing Sticks, Short-Sighted Profits, and Ford's Software Business
- Steve Jobs in Early NeXT Days (YouTube) — documentary footage of the early retreats at NeXT, where Jobs talks about plans and priorities. Very interesting to watch this knowing how the story ends. I’m astonished by how well Jobs spoke, even then, and delighted by the glimpses of impatience and dismissiveness. I wonder where the raw footage went. (via The Next Web)
- Cotton Candy Prototype — an Android-running computer on a USB stick. Plug it in, use the software on the stick to talk to the onboard OS, and you’re off. The ease of carrying your systems and data with you like this is the only long-term challenge I can see to the convenience of cloud storage of your digital life. For more details see Laptop Mag.
- Clayton Christensen on Short-Sighted Pursuit of Profits (Forbes) — love this quote from an overseas semiconductor manufacturer: You Americans measure profitability by a ratio. There’s a problem with that. No banks accept deposits denominated in ratios.
- Ford Just Became a Software Company (Information Week) — Ford are shipping memory sticks with software upgrades to the touchscreen computer in their cars. This is the future of manufacturing: your physical products will need software, which will for your business to have software competencies you haven’t begun to dream of. Business opportunity?
Four short links: 19 October 2011
Ubiquitous Multitouch, Bitcoin Bust, vim Text Concepts, and Storage Troubles
- OmniTouch: Wearable Interaction Everywhere — compact projector + kinect equivalents in shoulder-mounted multitouch glory. (via Slashdot)
- Price of Bitcoin Still Dropping — currency is a confidence game, and there’s no confidence in Bitcoins since the massive Mt Gox exchange hack.
- vim Text Objects — I’m an emacs user, so this is like reading Herodotus. “On the far side of the Nile is a tribe who eat their babies and give birth to zebras made of gold. They also define different semantics for motion and text objects.”
- Hard Drive Shortage Predicted (Infoworld) — flooding in Thailand has knocked out 25% of the world’s hard drive manufacturing capacity. Interested to see the effects this has on cloud providers. (via Slashdot)
Four short links: 20 September 2011
Android Plan 9, Virtualization OS, Rogue Games, and Wikipedia Semantics
- Plan 9 on Android — replacing the Java stack on Android fans with Inferno. Inferno is the Plan 9 operating system originally from Bell Labs.
- SmartOS — Joyent-created open source operating system built for virtualization. (via Nelson Minar)
- libtcod — open source library for creating Rogue-like games. (via Nelson Minar)
- Wikipedia Miner — toolkit for working with semantics in Wikipedia pages, e.g. find the connective topics that link two chosen topics. (via Alyona Medelyan)
Publishing News: Amazon launched the HTML5 Kindle Cloud Reader
Amazon continues its "be everywhere" approach, publishing survey results are optimistic, and a lawsuit against Apple and five US publishers was filed.
In the latest edition of publishing news, the Kindle Cloud Reader's HTML5 platform offers a new level of content ubiquity, BookStats latest survey shows optimistic results for publishers, and a Seattle law firm alleges Apple and five US publishers colluded.
Apple and a web-free cloud
Apple's approach to the cloud is business as usual, and that's what makes it interesting.
From custom chips, to the data centers backing its new iCloud effort, Apple is committed to controlling the end-user experience. The web has no place in their vision.