I think the next next browser war will be about how to integrate online services into the browser itself – search plugins were only the beginning. As more and more people rely on things like GMail, Google Docs, Google Reader, and Google Maps it will only be natural for Google to integrate its online services into its Chrome browser. The question will be whether this is anticompetitive at all in the sense that the “hidden” APIs in Windows were considered anti-competitive. I do think Google will make its server-side hooks open and transparent (because it benefits by having other browsers integrate their services).
In case you missed it, Google Docs was recently upgraded with a Draw Chart capability. This was, in my opinion, the biggest reason to still use desktop software like Microsoft Office. The best part? It uses SVG to get the job done (and VML if you’re still using IE). Bravo! Encore!
Thoughts on the future of this feature? Here are some things I want:
- Please allow the author to extract the drawing as an SVG file from the service (currently Firebug is the only way I could figure out how).
- Fill gradients (Linear and Radial), please
And yes, there are privacy concerns with an online (aka ‘cloud’) service like this – I’m not implying you should use this for everything – but for the occasional document that you want to use for collaboration, it really does the trick.
Now if only I could get them to update their Spreadsheet service so that I can use it offline…
I’ve struggled a long time with trying to come up with the perfect solution for tracking my Things To Do. For the last several months I’ve tried to use a physical notepad and small pen in my back pocket, but that’s literally turning into a pain in the ass. Here are my requirements for a digital system:
I’m not a big fan of Eclipse from a UI perspective, but I do acknowledge that it’s pervasive in the industry and some big projects are using it extensively. Plus it’s better than ‘vi’ and the command-line. I guess 
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get used to it. Here’s a really simple tip on using Eclipse with Android : Read the rest of this entry …
So having gone through my 1000+ unread feed items, emails, blog comments and sundries, here’s what I think I missed while on our pilgrimage to worship a mouse in the south. Feel free to clue me in further in the comments below. Oh, and the vacation was fantastic, fwiw, though I did miss internet access that wasn’t filtered through the foggy and tiny lens of WML. I gots to get me one of them new-fangled phones that can browse the real web real soon now. Read the rest of this entry …