Google's Go; a new, open-source programming language

Google has unveiled an interesting programming language. Dubbed Go, it's aimed at making programmers' lives more fulfilling, especially for multi-core or perhaps even clustered computers. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers go wild.

By Richi Jennings. November 11, 2009.
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Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention epic kludges...


Cade Metz getz going:

Google has open-sourced an experimental programming language that attempts to crossbreed a dynamic web-happy language like Python with a compiled language like C++. ... Dubbed Go ... Google says the language is type safe and memory safe, and it's specifically designed for building software that runs on multi-core machines. Systems and servers are written as lightweight processes called goroutines.
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The project's developers include Unix founding father Ken Thompson; fellow Bell Labs Unix developer Rob Pike; and Robert Griesemer, known for his work on the Java HotSpot compiler. They call the language Go because, well, you know. "'Ogle' would be a good name for a Go debugger," the company says.

Jason Kincaid goes further:

Google ... says that Go is experimental, and that it combines the performance and security benefits associated with using a compiled language like C++ with the speed of a dynamic language like Python. Go’s official mascot is Gordon the gopher.
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For more details check out Golang.org.

Google's Go team members go on and on:

Here at Google, we believe programming should be fast, productive, and most importantly, fun. That's why we're excited to open source an experimental new language called Go. ... Typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go lets you move fast.

Go is a great language for systems programming with support for multi-processing, a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design, plus some cool features like true closures and reflection.

Dj Walker-Morgan:

The language itself has pointers but no pointer arithmetic; instead it offers bounded slices for random access to memory. Go promotes the writing of systems as lightweight communicating processes called goroutines. The developers say that an application can be made up of thousands of goroutines, which are supported at the language level. Unicode support, garbage collection and run-time reflection are also included in the design of the Go language.
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The language already has two compilers, gccgo which uses a GCC back end, and a suite of architecture specific compilers, 6g for 64 bit x86 code and 8g for 32-bit x-86 code (the naming style for the compilers is inherited from Plan 9 ). The GCC based compiler is slower than the architecture specific compilers but currently generates more efficient code.

But Ryan Paul wants to go home:

Creating a compiler is practically a rite of passage for computer science students, and half of the top vendors in the software industry eventually make their own programming language or extend an existing one to the point where it's marginally recognizable. ... Modern mainstream programming languages don't fall far from the C tree.
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Are there any influential software vendors who have the vision and leverage to liberate [us] from the tiresome anachronisms of C? ... When I learned that Google was going to announce a new programming language, I was hopeful that the search giant would bring something truly novel to the table. They haven't, but the result isn't bad.

And John Ripley goes further:

I really don't understand the repeated banging-head-against-wall that language inventors are doing. There's a good reason why C++ is still in wide and very popular use: precisely because it does have explicit memory management and pointer arithmetic. C++ is a static, explicit language. Go is not. It will not replace C++, and no language will until that is understood.
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Stop trying to replace C++ with a language that does not fulfill every aspect C++ covers. If you ARE a language inventor and reading my comment, answer this: can you write a cache/MMU interface or an interrupt handler in your language? If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board.

Group takes control of dozens of Facebook sites

A group called Control Your Info has hijacked a number of Facebook sites, aiming to call attention to privacy issues.

"We have seen too many examples where friends and relatives of ours have suffered from their lack of in-depth knowledge concerning their online presence," says the group on its website. "After some research we discovered this is a wide spread problem. People have even lost their jobs over Facebook content. We wanted to do something about this."

Using a quick Google search, the group found a number of sites that had been left without an administrator - and appointed itself. "We did not hack anything. Once we were administrators we owned the groups and could have changed any setting. We chose to change the picture, the name and the description of every group," it says.

The point is it making is that anybody could have done the same, but with rather more malign intent - linking a group with pedophilia, for example.

It says it isn't the only group to have acted in this way. "The search results also revealed many groups that already had been hijacked by various people. Their intentions remain unclear," it says.

Control Your Info says that, now it's got the attention it was after, it will change these settings back.

Facebook is trying to downplay the action, stressing that the sites had been abandoned. It says it will disable the affected groups.

Droid - The Insecure Macho Phone?

Summary

The tone (and cost) of this campaign seems completely over-the-top -- why all the negative energy Verizon?

Analysis

From a branding perspective this is not the easy-breezy and likeable “can you hear me now?” personality of Verizon we know and love and that the company has worked so hard to build to help get them to #1.

Much of the advertising in this campaign appears to be talking to just iPhone owners and users – while the iPhone has been hugely successful, that’s a relatively narrow market to target, if you're going for world (or U.S.) domination. And even more extreme, the campaign seems to target dissatisfied iPhone owners and users. That is really narrow - the iPhone has the highest customer satisfaction scores of all smartphones - millions of iPhone users love their iPhones, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Yes, there's frustration with AT&T’s service, and some of the campaign attacks that but most of the anger in this campaign seems to be (mis)directed at the iPhone hardware and app approach.

Can't I love my iPhone but still decide to switch to Verizon because it’s coverage is so much better and they finally have some cooler (but still no uber-cool) smartphone handsets to choose from?

And, there are 89 million Verizon subscribers that don’t have access to the iPhone, but do have access to the Droid. Why not sell the positive merits of the Droid to them? That should be a super easy sale, right? $100 million? Really?

While this article doesn’t break it out, I would like to know how the $100 million is being split between Verizon and Motorola, Inc. I can only hope-guess that Motorola was the driver of this over-the-top, in-your-face, over-compensating, insecure-macho tone, and this is not going to be Verizon’s new direction with their brand or marketing.

Samsung Offers Smartphone Software As Competition Intensifies

SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co. next year will produce smartphones based on its own operating software and encourage software developers to write programs for them, a step that puts the world's second-largest cellphone maker in competition with some of its key technology suppliers like Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

The move is a sign of the rising importance phone manufacturers are placing on controlling their own platform, as companies like Apple Inc., Research in Motion Inc. and Palm Inc. do with their smartphones. Nokia Inc., the world's largest cellphone maker by unit sales, has two proprietary operating systems for smartphones.

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Bloomberg News

Samsung Electronics liquid-crystal display at the Korea Electronics Show 2009 in Ilsan, South Korea, last month

Samsung executives said the company will continue to offer smartphones based on many types of operating systems, including Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Google's Android. "We feel we need to be multi-platform in smartphones and cannot just focus on one," says Lee Ho-soo, executive vice esident in charge of Samsung's strategy for product software and content.

But the company, as it did with regular cellphones, is also seeking to control the direction of its smartphone products by offering its own operating system. The move also provides a hedge in case developers of the other systems take financial or technical steps that Samsung doesn't like.

Samsung on Tuesday launched a Web site aimed at attracting software developers to its proprietary operating system, which it has named "bada," the Korean word for ocean. It will provide a software development kit to programmers next month. The company hasn't decided whether to let other cellphone makers to build phones based on its software.

Samsung will offer its first bada-based smartphone in the first half of next year. The company in September opened its first online stores for selling smartphone software in the U.K., France and Italy and aims to provide such service in 30 countries next year.

"The company wants to be a total provider like Apple, with its own platform and app store," says Greg Noh, analyst at HMC Securities in Seoul. "Being a total provider is every company's dream right now."

Though it accounts for about 20% of the global cellphone market, Samsung is a latecomer in smartphones, which is the industry's fastest-growing and most profitable segment. Smartphones will account for about 16% of all cellphones this year, but represent less than 5% of Samsung's business.

To date, most of Samsung's smartphones are built around Windows Mobile software but the company has also built a few Android-based models and two that use a Linux-rooted operating system called LiMo.

Mr. Noh estimates that bada-based smartphones will account for half of Samsung's smartphone lineup by 2012. Samsung's Mr. Lee said it's too early to make such estimates, however.

—Jaeyeon Woo contributed to this article.

Google gives the gift of free Wi-Fi this Christmas

In a move to secure plenty of good tidings ahead of Christmas, online search giant Google is to provide travelling Internet users with completely free Wi-Fi access at 47 airports across the United States and also on every flight operated by Virgin America during the busy holiday period.

Starting today and running through to January 15 of 2010, the free Wi-Fi offer is described by Google as a holiday gift for its faithful users that it hopes will enable them to be connected for a few extra minutes “or hours if you're delayed” in order to make stressful Christmas travel just that little bit easier to deal with.

“We're very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months,” enthused Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience at California-based Google.

“We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both travelling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier,” she added.

Some of the major U.S. Destinations covered by Google's free Wi-Fi service include Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Orlando, and St. Louis. It's worth noting that Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering free Wi-Fi indefinitely once the January 15 closing date passes.

Google reportedly acquiring Gizmo5 VoIP startup

Please note that this story is based upon rumor and/or speculation.
vibrant media

TechCrunch reports that Google has reportedly acquired VoIP startup Gizmo5 for $30 million in cash, according to sources familiar with the deal. The publication was not able to reach Gizmo5 or Google for comment.

The acquisition could potentially provide integration across Google's communications tools, like Google Talk and Google Voice, which could allow web users to call and to receive calls from landline and mobile phones. TechCrunch says that the deal will be announced shortly.

Snow Leopard Update Bricks 'Hackintoshes'

Mac OS X 10.6.2 delivers more than three dozen fixes, but crashes Atom-based netbooks.

Apple's latest update to its Mac OS operating system offers more than three dozen fixes for bugs ranging from unprompted data deletion to spontaneous system logouts. And to the consternation of some Apple fans, it also disables netbooks hacked to run the OS on Intel's Atom processor.

Apple released the OS X 10.6.2 "Snow Leopard" update Monday.

The list of bugs the update fixes includes an issue that caused data to be deleted when users logged in as a guest, a glitch that causes unexpected system logouts, and a bug that compromises the duration and reliability of VPN connections.

Also fixed are issues with font spacing, brightness settings, improperly formatted E-mails from Exchange servers, Mobile Me syncing, and about three dozen other problems that affected the previous version of Snow Leopard. It also includes a number of security updates.

Mac OS X 10.6.2 is meant to "enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac," Apple said. But the biggest change that the update foists upon host computers may also be the least popular.

According to numerous user reports, it breaks support for so-called "Hackintoshes"—Intel Atom-based netbooks that have been modified to run Snow Leopard instead of their original operating system.

Netbooks are becoming increasingly popular with computer users willing to trade horsepower for portability and convenience.

Apple obliquely warned users that installing OS X 10.6.2 could wreak havoc on systems that employ unauthorized modifications. "You may experience unexpected results if you have third-party system software modifications installed, or if you've modified the operating system through other means," Apple warned.

That's not sitting well with some Mac users, who've long complained about the monolithic control Apple maintains over modifications to its products, including the iPhone. "I think it should be up to the customer what hardware they want to install even if it's not supported by Apple," wrote a user on a forum maintained by the tech blog TG Daily.

Others, however, weren't as concerned about the issue. "I don't see that as a big deal—Apple is trying to protect its investment. Hackers will always find workarounds for such problems," wrote a poster named Daniel.

Apple has not formally commented on the policy.

Firefox at 5: the Google Cold War

As Firefox pops the champagne on its fifth birthday, one of its founding fathers has warned the world against an interwebs ruled by a certain money-minded tech giant.

That would be Google.

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory was instrumental in the rise of Mozilla's open-source web browser, contributing not only code, but considerable amounts of cash. Since 2004, Mozilla has pocketed a slice of all Google search revenues generated by Firefox traffic, and in 2006 and 2007, Mountain View dollars accounted for more than 85 per cent of the open-sourcers' income.

But following the debut of Google's very own Chrome browser last year, a certain chilliness has come between the two. Their financial relationship hasn't changed - Mozilla still needs the cash, and Google still needs the traffic - but in other ways, they aren't as close as they once were.

Firefox was founded to revive the mid-90s browser wars with Microsoft and Internet Explorer. But five years after the official debut of Firefox in November 2004, a kind of browser cold war has developed with Microsoft's biggest rival.

"I look at Google and I don't see a lot of alignment with the big picture of the internet," says Asa Dotzler, the ten-year Mozilla vet who was among the team of three or four who founded the Firefox project back in 2002.

"Google is essentially an advertising company. That's where they make their money. They provide a wonderful service - primarily their search service - but it serves their advertising goals. It serves their revenue goals. The more they can know about their users, the more effective they believe they can advertise, the more money they believe they can make. That is most fundamental."

He doesn't see Google as the new Microsoft. Far from it. But Google is still a threat to the Mozilla way. Redmond and Mountain View have absolutely nothing in common, Dotzler says, except that they're both public companies legally beholden to maximize revenue for their stockholders. He's adamant that if Google's ad-centric vision comes to dominate, the web will wind up as something we've all seen before.

"I hope that there is renewed competition in the search space and in the advertising space and in revenue models for the web beyond advertising," he says. "I fear that we would end up in a worse case scenario where the users of the web become consumers of content who sit in front of commercial advertising all day long and have no control over their experience. And that sounds like cable TV to me. The internet can be so much more."

The irony, of course, is that Google ads are still propping Mozilla's bottom line. But the organization has revenue deals with all the big search engines, and Dotzler insists that none of them - not even the most lucrative - has an effect on the company's egalitarian mindset.

As you might expect, he wholeheartedly nominates Mozilla as the outfit who can save the net from both Microsoft and Google. "Mozilla creates a product that makes sure that the non-commercial aspects of the web - those things which haven't purely been designed to generate revenue - are well represented and that anyone can come along and participate without having to be a part of the financial model of the web," he says.

"There are civic and cultural and educational aspects of the internet that needs a defender and an advocate. They won't get that from traditional commercial organizations who have a legal responsibility not to care about this stuff."

Three Reasons The Justice Department Should Stop The Google-AdMob Deal

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Monday acquired AdMob, a three-year-old mobile advertising display company, in a $750 million stock-swap deal.

AdMob, based in San Mateo, Calif., already serves ads for Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s iPhone and a variety of platforms including Google Android operating system-based smartphones.

The acquisition must still be approved by government regulators. And Google has already attempted to squelch any antitrust concerns by claiming that the mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive. Here are three reasons why the U.S. Justice Department should stop the acquisition.

1. It Will Kill A Thriving Mobile Advertising Display Business

Google is right. There are more than a dozen mobile ad networks in the U.S. with companies like Quattro Wireless, Millenial and Jump Tap. What do you think will become of those healthy competitors when the company that has a virtual stranglehold on the online search advertising market uses all its might and muscle to shut mobile advertising display competitors down.

The smartphone and mobile advertising market is just developing. We don't need a monopoly ad power player coming in and wreaking havoc on an industry that is still in its infancy.

This is the kind of emerging market where the Justice Department needs to be proactive so that consumers and businesses are not backed into a corner and forced to deal with ONE ad player rather than having the option of choosing many different companies.

What the Justice Department has to consider is simple: will the deal lead to more choices or fewer choices for mobile/smartphone manufacturers looking to build a business?

All the Justice Department has to do to come up with the right answer is look closely at the facts regarding how Google has forced any and all comers to play its search game.

2. It Will Snuff Out Mobile/Smartphone Developer Creativity

The lack of an advertising monopoly in the mobile/smartphone market has a wave of companies experimenting with different business models.

Google's decision to enter the game, in effect, freezes any and all experimentation. Google's dominant position in the desktop search market means that all companies are going to wait for Google to wield its search influence before making any development decisions that could leave them out of the Google mix.

Every mobile and smartphone player in the market is huddling in conference rooms today feverishly looking at what they can do to make sure their development teams are on the same page as Google.

Think about it, thousands of developers were working to come up with a better mobile/smartphone mousetrap. Now they are looking at how to play the Google game.

3. Google is Already Too Powerful

The fact is Google is already too powerful in the general ad display market and now is looking to extend that monopoly position into the mobile market. Google will use any and all its power in the general ad display market to snuff out the competition in the mobile/smartphone market.

The Google-AdMob deal is a lot different than Microsoft acquiring ScreenTonic, Yahoo acquiring Actionality or AOL acquiring Third Screen Media. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL were NOT trying to extend a monopoly in the desktop search market to the mobile/smartphone market. Google is doing just that.

What's more, Google already has a mobile market share position with its Google Android operating system platform. The AdMob deal will force more application and content providers into the Android camp and limit their options at a time when they are already being squeezed by the Apple iPhone App Store (Some claim that only five percent of the 100,000 iPhone application providers make money off of the iPhone App Store platform).

All this Google talk about a mobile ecosystem is a joke. The mobile ecosystem has just been whacked across the head with this acquisition and will only recover if the deal is stopped.

There is a reason that Google is going to great lengths to claim its AdMob acquisition will not stifle competition. Google knows how much power it has in the desktop display advertising business and wants to extend its influence into the mobile market in one fell swoop with the AdMob deal.

Don't fool yourself. Once this deal closes, there will be fewer choices for mobile/smartphone manufacturers, application developers and users. Less competition. Fewer choices. That's the net result of the Google-AdMob deal. And that's what the Justice Department should consider when reviewing the deal.

New BlackBerry software will make your phone cooler

"OpenGL ES" and "Eclipse" may not mean much to you if you're not an application developer, but ordinary BlackBerry owners will soon be able to benefit from the string of announcements uncovered on Monday at RIM's second, annual BlackBerry Developer Conference.

BlackBerry-maker RIM announced on Monday enhancements to its BlackBerry application development platform--including four APIs for developers to more easily integrate ads, payment services, geolocation, and push notifications for third-party developers.

What does that mean for you? The new tools and features for developers should make it easier for them to create richer apps and do so faster. For instance, new support for OpenGL ES, a graphics API, makes it possible for developers to create 3D games for BlackBerry. Electronic Arts (EA) hopped on stage to demo the car-racing game Need for Speed-Shift on the Storm. The game includes new touch controls, like swiping to activate a speed boost or touching the screen to apply the brakes.

Very soon you'll start seeing visual themes and widgets available for purchase and download in BlackBerry's App World. RIM's new BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0 will let developers include ringtones in themes. As a result, a theme you download through App World might replace your default ringtone with one that matches the visual theme, like the "Batman" theme song to mirror your "Batman" wallpaper. The ringtones sound very cool, but are limited to BlackBerry phones running the 5.0 operating system or higher.

In addition to finding themes and widgets in the App World for the first time, you'll soon be able to buy premium content not only through PayPal, the current purchasing model, but in 2010, through your monthly phone bill. Like Apple, RIM will be making subscriptions and micropayments available to developers. That will make it possible for users to unlock premium features in BlackBerry apps, like navigation apps, music apps, and games. iPhone games commonly make use of in-app purchasing.

BlackBerry owners can also look forward to seeing push notification not just for core BlackBerry apps, but also for apps created by third-party developers. In the near future, in addition to seeing a red circle or badge as an alert, applications can also insert a notification message into your in-box. Similarly, an app can schedule an event on your BlackBerry calendar, and will be able to call up the camera, as with iPhone, to snap a photo from within the app. We should see a rash of social-networking apps taking advantage of this feature.

Most new BlackBerry smartphones contain GPS; when GPS isn't available, RIM is enabling location services that pinpoint your whereabouts using information from nearby cell phone towers.

RIM has also announced a new alliance with Adobe, which--in 2010--will let developers create applications with Flash 10, and with familiar Adobe Web development tools like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flex. New menu options within Adobe's CS4 applications will help developers create sophisticated graphics and animations, then test them on an emulator or on a smartphone.

The remaining question is, will the software improvements make potential iPhone users take notice? While the technology may differ between the iPhone and BlackBerry behind the scenes, one the surface, many of the new additions appear to be playing catch-up with capabilities already available in the iPhone--like micropayments, notifications for third-party apps, apps that can pull up the camera, and 3D graphics support. Regardless, whenever developers get a hand creating a greater variety of better-looking apps, users gain.