Just What the World Needs: Google Introduces Goo.gl URL Shortener

Maybe it started as a joke, "What the world needs is another URL shortening service!" said as though we didn't have enough already. Then, someone at Google heard the joke, took it seriously, committed $$$, and out popped Goo.gl.
Yes, another URL shortener, just what the world needs! Put another way: What won't Google do to a) put its name on something and b) gather more information about users?

For now, Goo.gl works only with Google applications, where it shortens URLs for Google's Feedburner and from the Google browser toolbar. The service cannot be accessed directly by users from a browser.

Entering the goo.gl address calls up the following:

"Google URL Shortener at goo.gl is a service that takes long URLs and squeezes them into fewer characters to make a link that is easier to share, tweet, or email to friends."

Actually, whether the service really is at goo.gl is hard to say, since there is no public user interface--all we see is a Web page that also states the Mom-and-Apple-Pie goals for the service:

"Stability, ensuring that the service has very good uptime; security, protecting users from malware and phishing pages; and speed, fast resolution of short URLs."

The Google Official Blog post that announced the service Monday afternoon offers a tad more detail.

"People share a lot of links online," wrote Googlers Muthu Muthusrinivasan, Ben D'Angelo, and Devin Mullins. "This is particularly true as microblogging services such as Twitter have grown in popularity.

"If you're not familiar with them, URL shorteners basically squeeze a long URL into fewer characters to make it easier to share with others. With character limits in tweets, status updates and other modes of short form publishing, a shorter URL leaves more room to say what's on your mind - and that's why people use them."

The Google URL Shortener immediately competes with services including TinyURL, Bit.ly, and a host of others. Each generates a unique shortened URL, such as http://bit.ly/5jTKbh when I submitted http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-urls-shorter-for-google-toolbar.html (the address for the Google blog post) to the bit.ly service for shortening.

When the user clicks on the shortened URL, the shortening server must resolve the URL, match it to the original and longer URL, and then redirect the browser to that site.

I am not aware of any huge problems with the existing shortening services, but letting Google handle URL shortening for some of its customers' needs probably makes sense.

(Google recently got into the public DNS business as well, another necessary Internet service).

So, while the world doesn't need a new URL shortener, we may someday be happy Google started offering one as the need for such services continues to grow. If nothing else, the goo.gl URLs will be a constant reminder of the company gives us goodies.

BTW--If you are wondering about the domain name: GL is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Greenland, that patch of glaciers (and a little soil) up past Canada on the way to Iceland, which is less icy and more green than Greenland. (The .ly in Bit.ly is the ccTLD for Libya).

Google’s real-time search now live in the U.K.

Google’s newly announced real-time search is now not just limited to the Trends page. It’s now live across searches on Google.co.uk. (I just tried it with “Ethan Beard”, who is director of the Facebook Developer Network and is speaking on stage at Le Web right now.) The search giant announced the new feature on Monday — it pulls in public data from Twitter, MySpace and Facebook and uses it to surface content that’s been recently published and shared.

Basically, when users search for something, the most recent news articles and posts on sites like Twitter will be immediately into your results, and those results will be updated immediately as new articles and tweets appear.

•If you do a search for “Obama,” you can see the latest news articles and tweets, and as you look at the page, more updates are added as they are published.
•Google has already added time filters to its different search options, so you can just see results from the past day or hour. Now it’s adding an option called “latest,” highlighting these real-time results, as well as an “update” view showing each addition to the search results as it’s published.
•These real-time results will be available on Android phones and iPhones as well.
Google says it developed “dozens of new technologies” to make this happen, such as a language model that can recognize which updates contain new information, and which are just “weather buoys” automatically repeating information posted by others.

Dubai—A Lesson In Why Transparency Matters

NEW YORK —Dubai's troubles offer a warning of the perils of investing in places where leaders--whether of governments or companies--have limited accountability.

In fact, it raises questions about other investment destinations: China, for example.

One reason why markets continue to be jittery over last week's news of a standstill on property conglomerate Dubai World's debt is the lack of transparency surrounding it. That's a direct function of a closed political system that is not conducive to foreign investment.

The announcement of the restructuring has been handled abysmally. Even with Dubai World divulging long-awaited details Monday, information has been spotty and contradictory. It's still not clear which creditors will be hit, and there are still big questions over how much of a guarantee oil-rich sister emirate Abu Dhabi is willing to give to back up Dubai's debt.

Investors have been left to speculate over political motives. One theory holds that Abu Dhabi ruler Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is withholding his support--despite the financial risks of not doing so--because he's angered by his Dubai counterpart's close ties to Iran. Alternatively, others say that the naturally more conservative Abu Dhabi is simply reluctant to stoke moral hazard by bailing out Dubai's risky property investments.

Either way, because they can't divine what's going on in either of these two billionaire monarchs' heads is the essence of investors' problems. In an information vacuum, many have imagined the worst and have felt compelled to sell their Dubai debt positions, which in turn creates problems for banks with exposures there and, by extension, for global stock and credit markets.

This all stems from the overarching political system in place.

In the absence of democratic institutions, the UAE's sheikhs are not required to explain themselves. And as the majority owners of many of the biggest companies, they face no checks and balances from minority shareholders. Meanwhile, contract law is fraught with the uncertainty of a legal system that's low on judicial independence.

This is why investors are nervous. It's not the lack of money. After all, Abu Dhabi, with a sovereign wealth fund worth anywhere from $300 billion to $900 billion, has plenty of that.

The bigger lesson in all this is that investors need to be doubly careful of investing in countries with closed political systems.

With the spectacular failure of U.S. financial markets last year, it has become fashionable to laud the top-down central planning of countries like China, which was able to more quickly put its giant fiscal stimulus to work this year.

But if and when China faces a crisis, investors will have a more difficult time interpreting the actions of government officials and of the managers of its state-run corporations than they would in more openly governed countries.

To be sure, the Chinese Communist Party functions with more consensus than monarchy like Dubai. And for now, China's capital controls make it nearly impossible for foreigners to make portfolio investments there.

Nonetheless, direct foreign investment in China is soaring, as is broader exposure to its boom via assets in neighboring countries. If nothing else, Dubai's crisis is a reminder that those investments carry political risks that are absent from more transparent markets.


By MICHAEL CASEY

LindedIn Opens APIs,Clearing way for new APPs

LinkedIn announced today the release of its APIs and the launch of its "LinkedIn Platform," which will enable developers to integrate LinkedIn into their business applications and websites.

The announcement comes on the heels of partnerships with Microsoft, IBM and RIM's BlackBerry, via which LinkedIn will integrate with Outlook and Lotus Notes. A LinkedIn mobile application will soon be available for the BlackBerry.

With this move, LinkedIn joins the list of social media platforms, such as Google Wave, Facebook (which released its APIs in April) and Salesforce.com's just-announced Chatter Collaboration tool, all vying to be at the center of your everyday social media experience.

LinkedIn has tradionally been cast as the conservative choice among social networking apps, so it may develop a different kind of application ecosystem than Facebook's quizzes and games, for example.

LinkedIn has also announced that an interface redesign is pending, though mum's the word on timing.

Beginning today, developers can register at developer.linkedin.com to receive a unique key that allows access to discussion boards, sample code, provisioning code and more, says Adam Nash, VP of search and platform at LinkedIn.

Several developers helped test the platform, including developers from the poplular Twitter utility TweetDeck, which is announcing full support for the LinkedIn platform in its next version, according to Nash. These developers helped to provide feedback, which allowed the LinkedIn Platform to become "so easy to maneuver that developers will be able to get going in minutes," Nash says. Iain Dodsworth, founder and CIO of TweetDeck, says that his team was able to "request a key and actually write functioning code in less than 15 minutes."

Thousands of developer requests prompted LinkedIn to consider releasing its APIs, Nash says. Originally, requests to use LinkedIn APIs were evaluated on a case-by-case basis, where priority was given to "integrations that provide the most value to the greatest number of LinkedIn users," according to its former policy. The LinkedIn Platform now allows that access to everyone.

"I think what end users will be excited about is the idea that they'll be able to use LinkedIn everywhere," Nash says. "There will be that awareness, trust and value that is placed on LinkedIn when it's leveraged on all the apps people value."

Original story - www.cio.com/article/508549

Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone

The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading "in the wild" in Australia.

The self-propagating program changes the phone's wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message "ikee is never going to give you up".

The worm, known as ikee, only affects "jail-broken" phones, where a user has removed Apple's protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.

Experts say the worm is not harmful but more malicious variants could follow.

"The creator of the worm has released full source code of the four existing variants of this worm," wrote Mikko Hypponen of security firm F-secure.

"This means that there will quickly be more variants, and they might have nastier payload than just changing your wallpaper."

The picture of Rick Astley is believed to be a nod to the internet phenomenon known as Rickrolling, where web users are tricked into clicking on what they believe is a relevant link, only to find that it actually takes the user to a video of the pop star's song "Never gonna give you up".

'Stupid people'

The worm has so far only been found circulating in Australia, where the hacker - Ashley Towns - who wrote the program lives.

The 21-year-old told Australia's ABC News Online that he created the virus to raise the issue of security.

It only exploits jail-broken phones that have SSH installed, a program that allows people to make changes to the phone's file system.

My prediction is that we may see more attacks like this in the future

Graham Cluley
The worm is able to infect phones if their owners have not changed the default password after installing SSH.

"What's clear is that if you have jail-broken your iPhone or iPod Touch, and installed SSH, then you must always change your root user password to something different than the default, 'alpine'," wrote Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos.

"In fact, it would be a good idea if you didn't use a dictionary word at all."

After a phone becomes infected it disables the SSH service, preventing reinfection.

The code contains numerous comments from Mr Towns about his motivation.
One comment reads: "People are stupid and this is to prove it."

"It's not that hard guys. But hey who cares its only your bank details at stake."

The worm can be removed by changing the phone's password and deleting some files.

Some estimates suggest that up to 10% of all iPhones and iPod Touch are jail-broken.

The practice allows a phone user to install software and applications that have not been approved by Apple.

"Phone users may rush into jail-breaking their iPhones in order to add functionality that Apple may have denied to them, but if they do so carelessly they may also risk their iPhone becoming the target of a hacker," said Mr Cluley.

"My prediction is that we may see more attacks like this in the future."

Marin pioneering new 'smart' energy highway

Field-testing has begun in Marin County for one of the nation's first "smart grid" demonstration projects that ultimately could help modernize the nation's power grid.
It's the type of system touted by the Obama administration, which announced $3.4 billion in government grants last week designed to advance an overhaul of the country's power distribution network.

"We are deeply committed to this effort," Supervisor Charles McGlashan said Friday, when local and federal authorities gathered to celebrate the start of the test phase of the project.

Grids - the wires and other equipment that distribute electric power - can be made "smart" by adding various bits of information technology to them, such as sensors, digital meters and computers.

Smart grids can save consumers and suppliers of electricity money by managing the flow of power more efficiently. They are also considered an essential component for the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. That is because wind and solar power sources ebb and flow - sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it doesn't. Smart grids are needed to manage the variability of such power sources.

After securing a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008, Infotility, a software company based in Boulder, Colo., began installing smart grid technology at the Marin County Civic Center and four other county facilities, three of which have large banks of solar panels on their roofs.

The data and information from this Marin County demonstration project will be stored in a smart grid information clearinghouse" and used by others across the country, said Dan Ton, who manages the smart grid research and development program for the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Marin Energy Authority, a joint powers authority formed in November to explore projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is seeking a $31.4 million grant from the Department of Energy for a much larger demonstration project that would involve more than 5,000 Marin households. The authority, which consists of the county of Marin and eight other municipalities, has offered to provide about $60 million in matching funds.

Dawn Weisz, interim director of the Marin Energy Authority, said most of the $60 million would be raised through a program that would allow homeowners in Marin Energy Authority cities and towns to finance energy-efficiency improvements and rooftop solar installations over time. Similar programs have been initiated in Berkeley, Sonoma County and Palm Desert. Homeowners use the money they save on energy to pay for the installations with slightly higher property taxes.

Weisz said the authority expects to hear back from the Department of Energy regarding the grant request within the next three weeks.

The technology installed in the county buildings make it possible to monitor precisely how much electricity the buildings are using and how much electricity the solar panels are producing. That is important to know for anyone interested in selling the electricity they produce back to the grid.

Software is also being developed that will make it possible to turn power on and off in the Marin County buildings automatically.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has a program that pays the owners of commercial buildings who temporarily scale back their energy usage when asked, said Rich Barone, Infotility's director of business development. Barone said Infotility's software has an ability "to interpret an e-mail from PG&E, parse it and then be able to calculate a bid."

Over the next year, Infotility plans to create a means of storing some of the power being generated by the Marin County buildings, as well as some charging stations for electric vehicles, Barone said.

Eventually, smart grid technology holds the promise of making it possible for household consumers to program some of their appliances, such as washing machines and clothes dryers, to switch on when electricity rates are cheapest.

Use Your Own Number With Some Google Voice Features

Google Voice users can now use their existing phone numbers with the service, which will come as good news to people who don't want to give out a new number to all of their existing contacts. But there are some catches.

First off, this isn't quite the same as transferring a phone number from one carrier to another; your number still works with your cell phone or landline. Instead, Google Voice will intercept calls going to voicemail, thereby providing you with transcription, e-mail integration, and the other goodies that Voice users have come to rely upon. Secondly, if you want to use call screening, forwarding to any phone, or other features of the service, you'll still need to give out your new Google Voice-assigned number.

In either case, all Google Voice users can place outgoing calls, free to the US and Canada, and cheap elsewhere (but you'll still burn cell minutes if you use your handset).

You'll need an invite to get access to Google Voice, but invites have gone out to many existing subscribers, so ask your friends. If you want to use Google Voice voicemail, check Google's supported carriers to make sure that yours is included (all major providers are).

Google has published a help page with details on how this will work after you activate the feature. Sadly, iPhone users won't be able to use the handset's Visual Voicemail feature if they activate this service, but apparently, you can turn the feature on and off on the fly, in case you find you prefer your phone's integrated voice messaging.