The Technical Web

Mobililty Applied - The Supermarket In Your Hand

2011-12-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

As the number of mobile devices the world over continues to climb higher, and statistics show the ever increasing rise in smartphones and tablets over the first-generation phones, frankly, one can't help but wonder, how all these things will really come together. For whom? Well, for both consumers and businesses alike.

It's easier for consumers as they find novelty and amusement in the 450,000+ Apple iPhone or Google Android apps on App Stores (see this excellent peek into how the Mobile influences your 24 hours). Game providers (ala Angry Birds) are probably singing their way to the banks. But what about the remaining 449,000 apps? Who is really using these?

What we see here is the 'Long Tail' phenomenon at play. And, while this has indeed become possible with the innovations and platforms provided by companies like Apple and Google, no doubt, the million dollar question that's asked in enterprises is - what can we do with this new disruptive force?

Well, one company appears to have got it right - and superbly too. Tesco, a leading UK retailer, has demonstrated an amazing way to make a difference to the lives of Koreans in the way they live and work. This video (below) explains exactly how, and in so doing, Tesco has become a leader in this new geography, a true sign of innovation powering growth in unchartered territories!

10 Best Tablets of 2011 (Reviews)

2011-11-27T02:41:00.000-08:00

The mobile revolution is already making deep inroads. After the fancy phones, this year has already seen almost every one going crazy after Tablets - those uber-cool devices that Apple introduced to the world sometime ago. Not to be left behind, and with the rising popularity of Google's Android, there's been a score of tablets that have flooded the marketplace.

As we come to a close of 2011 shortly, here's an easy to use review of the best tablets of 2011.
(PS: You may or may not agree to all the review criteria or the ratings, but it's still a good, quick summary, to help you make a more informed choice, if you're planning on getting one of these anytime soon! Happy shopping!)

(PS: Use the option buttons above to zoom in/out, navigate or interact better with the visual map above)

Big Data Architecture(s)

2011-11-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

"Facebook is the world's largest social network, with a user population exceeding 800 million and 2.5 billion photos uploaded a month (2009)." Twitter is the largest micro-blogging site in the world with millions of messages exchanged everyday. "About 5 billion mobile devices are in use (as of 2010), the world over, and that doesn't even include everyone in the most populous countries of the planet."These are staggering facts by any standard...
This is the digital age, and we are using technology everyday - rather, every second of the day - to connect, collaborate, share, with the people who belong in our social sphere, be it for work or fun. And, with the rise and affordability of means of capturing and sharing digital information at the click of a button, there is just an extreme burst of data that flows through the guts of the Internet (and systems) today.

A new age is beginning to dawn where the ability to process, analyze and visualize these vast bits of data will lead to newer insights into the way people are leveraging the technological innovations to improve their personal as well as business relationships. It is this new paradigm that is aptly called BigData, and is here to stay.

The great presentation below walks us through the internals of what make up such Big Data Architectures, and also provides a peek into the (earlier) architectures of Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to Philippe Julio for sharing this presentation.

The Rise of the Social Enterprise: Enterprise 3.0 is on the way

2011-09-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Ever since the dawn of Web 2.0, there has been a revolution that's underway. The new(er) web has been dramatically changing the way folks live, work, interact - whether for accomplishing their work or personal goals. And, this is all enabled by the rich internet platform that is only likely to get richer, with the advent of cloud computing, social media and mobile devices. There's unlikely to be a disagreement on that one.

And, there's no doubt, that while individuals on this planet are increasingly embracing this new, social web, through means such as [no prizes for guessing!] Faceb ook (oh, yeah, and now there's Google+) and Twitter, there is a lot to be said for the same in the capacity of say, an employee, a customer or a partner. Enterprise-adoption of these "social" channels is on the rise, but has been slow to pick up since the past few years, barring may be examples of a few who hopped on to the Social Media bandwagon.

Last week, at Salesforce.com's premier event, Dreamforce 2011, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's Keynote presentation showcased a strategic vision for the 'Social Enterprise', a coming together of sorts of Cloud Computing & the Social Web for the Enterprise (aka Enterprise 2.0). The messaging and presentation was engaging, crisp, and invigorating ( a la Steve Jobs, may be?).

In case you missed this major, annual event of the pioneer of Cloud-based (SaaS) services, then check out the presentation (and don't forget to tune in to the keynote video too).

Dreamforce 2011 Social Enterprise Keynote @benioff @salesforce

Hope you enjoy it. And, should we say, don't hesitate to socialize this, if you like it. Cheers!

What's different in Google+ compared to Facebook?

2011-07-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so there's a lot of discussions that this can trigger, and it has been so, in the online world. Is Google's launch of Google+ too late to catch up with Facebook? Is Google concerned with the rise and rise of Facebook? (well, yeah - duh?). Is it facebook's turn to be concerned now?

Oh, well. We think that there's enough of all those debates and views being discussed, and that's probably adding to the 'unanticipated capacity' that Google+ experienced a day or so after it's launch. So, we thought, let's not add another to the lot, but let's get under the hood, and find out what's the difference in Google+ going to be vis-a-vis Facebook.

Thanks to NixonMcInnes, here's a quick look at what Google+ is all about. Well, there's nothing about facebook in there, for it's unlikely that you'll not be in the 500+ million who already know how facebook is!)

Google Plus briefing notes

View more presentations from We are NixonMcInnes

(PS: Hmm, it appears, Google+ apparently seems to share - or is it called leverage? - a few things that were in Google Buzz. Most likely that's not pure coincidence. But hey, does it matter - it's Google, after all!)

The Rise of the Mobile (Mobile Trends)

2011-06-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Mobiles are the rage today. With an increasing penetration and the continuing popularity of Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, the mobile revolution is clearly under way.

Here are two great presentations that take us through what the mobile trends unfold in the years to come ( or at least in the near future)
1. Mobile Trends - June 2011

2. 2010 Mobile Trends, Mobile Development Strategy, Mobile User Experience - Realcommerce consulting

Building Scalable Web Applications: The Non-relational Way!

2011-05-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

A trend that's emerging since 2009 (see graph) shows that there's been an increasing interest in a new (type of database?) architecture to cater to the "super applications" of the web era of today. Examples cited include the likes of Facebook (500+ million users), Google (Petabytes of data), Amazon (millions of items, reviews, comments), and others.

The question that's been doing the rounds therefore is, how does one design for such scalable, resilient, highly available and efficient applications. Well, one of the factors is being/has been addressed with the advent of cloud computing architectures, and it's no surprise, that Amazon, Google and Facebook have played a pioneering role in that.

But, that apart, research that has been going on has shown that a relational datastore may not be the best option for everyone, and thus, was born the concept of NoSQL, meaning 'Not Only SQL'. Or, in other words, 'not only relational'. NoSQL is an area that gaining increasing attention, especially when dealing with distributed systems architecture, and as the presentation (below) explains, for good measure.

To be relational, or not to be relational? That's NOT the question!

It may not be the end of the RDBMS, but there's definitely one more way to architect the web applications of this age. (See the earlier post: 'Understanding NoSQL Databases' for a more detailed look into NoSQL)

Amazon.com: The Hidden Empire

2011-05-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com is the largest e-retailer on the planet, and while books is probably the first things that comes to mind, they are into an amazing number of things.

Jeff Bezos has laid out the vison and has left no stone unturned to turn this into reality.

The presentation below is a superb compilation of what's behind this leading brand today, and how this mammoth enterprise is driving its strategy towards innovation and customer satisfaction.

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire

(Thanks to faberNovel for sharing this)

Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA)

2011-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been under discussion for more than a few years now. Likewise, we have seen the advent of Web 2.0 and the evolution of social computing in the blink of an eye. And, now there's the whole cloud paradigm that's the talk of every technical conversation, whether in the real or digital world. The following wonderful presentation takes us through how SOA and the new Web (Web 2.0) are intersecting to form, what is being referred to as the Web-Oriented Architecture.

Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA)

Facebook Engineering and Open Hardware

2011-04-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

Facebook just announced that it is going to open source its server and data center designs and has announced the formation of the Open Compute Project, an industry-wide initiative to share specifications and best practices for creating the most energy efficient and economical data centers. This could potentially mark the beginning of an era, akin to what open source software did for the software industry: Open Hardware.

Surely a great thing to happen in a world that is becoming increasing open, both technically and of course, socially. The Open Compute project is about making available the "hacks" that the Facebook Engineering team has worked on to efficiently power their data centers. This opening-up is with the intent to encourage innovation in the hardware design space, much like open source promotes innovation.

Watch the folks at Facebook Engineering in this short video speak about this, first hand.

Oh, and just one thing: don't expect hardware to become free anytime soon, like what's happened in the software industry. Till then, well, cloud computing may hold the promise for those who cannot do the engineering themselves!

Understanding NoSQL Databases

2011-02-19T04:40:00.003-08:00

Of late, what with the rise of phenomena like Facebook and Twitter, that are pushing the envelope, requiring handling requests and data at scales not seen so far, there is clearly something different at work, under the covers. Sure, this has been possible with the rise of technologies that enable Web 2.0, Social Media and Cloud Computing, but there's probably another key element at work that powers this.

This key element - the ubiquitous data store - is not your classical relational database aka RDBMS. Instead, it's a new kind of database (architecture), viz. NoSQL or the non-relational database.

The following presentation is an excruciatingly detailed, but very good look into the innards of the NoSQL Database architecture, and also helps to understand how this compares to RDBMS.

NoSQL Databases: Why, what and when

Thanks to Lorenzo Alberton for putting together this wonderful presentation.

See also, 'Building Scalable Web Applications: The Non-relational Way!', which provides a glimpse into the new, emerging trend of non-relational aka NoSQL databases.

100 Years of IBM

2011-02-19T01:46:00.000-08:00

International Business Machines (IBM) is an iconic symbol of our times. In it's centennial year, the company has made an amazing video, where people aged 100 to 1 recount IBM's momentous milestones all the way from 1911 to 2011.

Understanding Facebook - A Web 2.0 Phenomenon

2011-01-29T05:41:00.000-08:00

Started in only 2004, facebook.com is today, the world's largest social network, boasting more than 500 million (yes, that's half a billion!) users, who collectively spend more than 5 billion minutes per day.

The rise of facebook to it's present stature is awesome and incredible, by any yardstick, and its hardly surprising that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of facebook, was named 'TIME Magazine's Person of the Year, 2010'.

facebook has come a long way since it's early days, and has revolutionized the social dynamics of the human race today, be it in the personal or corporate or community sphere. It is thus, a first hand example of the awesomeness of the era of Web 2.0. Since the number of facebook user's is now crossing 550 million, it's likely that you too are already using it, or have at least seen it at some point. So, it's no point discussion 'Facebook 101'.

However, if one wants to get a sense of what this phenomenon is all about, check out this comprehensive presentation.

Facebook: Beyond The Fundatmentals

And, if you found this helpful, as we did, then, in the spirit of the theme, you may indicate your 'Like'ness !!

Social CRM - A Gartner Presentation

2010-12-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Gartner prez on social crm

View more presentations from Barry Libert.

SOA Book Store - I

2010-11-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural style for enabling business agility in the age of rapid and constant change. Here are some good books on the subject, by one of the leading authors - Thomas Erl - in this space.

Amazon Web Services

2010-09-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

Amazon Web Services is seemingly the pioneer in the space of cloud-based services. Ever since the hype around Cloud Computing began, Amazon has been putting together a number of cloud-based services that leverage Amazon's proven and reliable infrastructure.

While each product and service needs to be understood in detail, here's a quick overview of the Amazon Web Services portfolio.
(Tip: The following is an interactive mindmap - use the options below to navigate or optimize your view).

HTML 5 - A Choice for Web 2.0+

2010-09-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

HTML 5 is the latest revision of the HTML standard and has been structured to improve support for 'Web 2.0' capabilities of today's web. This includes support for the latest multimedia, apart from a number of new language constructs and improvements to continue enabling humans and computers to process.

Here's a comprehensive look into HTML v5.

How to build a html5 websites.v1

Google html5 Tutorial

A summary of some major differences between HTML v4.x and HTML 5, can be found here.

Social Analytics - A New Era ...

2010-08-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we all have now become familiar with Social Media - and it's hard to get by without coming across (annoying?) emails and banners on web pages, that promise to teach you the magic of 'Social Media Marketing' and how it can do wonders for you or your business. Sure, there are success stories, and social media is undoubtedly a new channel force to reckon with in these times. Web pages and sites is probably passe.

But, if you are seriously considering leveraging the so called power of this new channel, as you delve deeper, you're sure to ask (or be asked), if there's any way to analyze - and we mean, quantitatively - the ROI of embarking on this Social Media journey. In the good old days of the pre-Web 2.0 era, IT and business was used to implementing Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. Or, Analytics, as its more rightly called.

So, in this new age of social media hyperactivity, what's going to be needed? You guessed it - Social Analytics! Get a sense of what this is, through this wonderful presentation here:

Blog Indiana 2010 - Social Analytics: A New Era of Web Measurement (#EpicMetrics #BIN2010)

View more presentations from Brandon Prebynski.

Castles in the Cloud: Developing with Google App Engine

2010-08-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

This one can be termed as one from the archives. But, nevertheless, it has a lot of useful information and a good overview of what is (and isn't?) in Google App Engine.

Castles in the Cloud: Developing with Google App Engine

View more presentations from catherinewall.

Find more posts on GAE in library.cloud.gae.

Google Docs

2010-07-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

With all the hype around 'collaboration' in this Web 2.0-powered world of ours, here's another cool solution from (who else?) but Google. Google Docs is all about collaboration and sharing documents - in real time - without the hassles of emailing them back and forth.

Check out a quick overview of what Google Docs is, and what & how it solves:

Agile Tools

2010-07-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

1. MountainGoat Software - Planning Poker Cards

Planning Poker (R) is an interesting tool for agile planning and estimating.

. Like playing cards, but "special"
. Good for all developers on the team
. Encourages collaboration and effective participation

All this while making the whole thing fun!

To know more about Planning Poker (R):
What is Planning Poker?

2. BrightGreen - Agile Project Management Tool

- Online, web-based
- Reasonably simple pricing (per
user/month)

Main Features:

- Requirements Management:
Organize/structure, filter, export,
dependencies
- Wall: Visualization, as a dashboard
- Planner: Releases & Iterations
- Customization: for paid-up
accounts only
- Reports: Burn-down charts,
Velocity chart, ...

More Information on BrightGreen:
Home - Tour - Who's using this? - FAQs - Pricing/Signup

Google Voice

2010-06-27T11:21:00.001-07:00

Google Voice - an 'integrated' voice service:

Google Chrome OS: Web 3.0?

2010-06-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple, and quick overview of what Google Chrome OS - a new "web" OS from Google is.

As we saw in the post Future of the Web: 2010 and beyond, 'Web OS' seems to be the near-future, the Web 3.0 generation of things to come. Just as Google is an example of all things Web 2.0, we'll have to watch this space to see if they can also inspire the shape of Web 3.0-things to come.

The [Unofficial] Google Architecture

2010-06-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Google seems to be everywhere, anywhere... And, users are lapping up the stuff they put out there for obvious reasons - there's something about the whole thing, that you just can't beat. If you are awed by the stuff they do, and are struggling to even begin to imagine how they do the things they do, don't worry - you may not be alone in this universe.

Here's an awesome view into the guts of what Google is seemingly made up of; in other words, architected. Really great work by the author of this, and thanks to the sharer.

The Anatomy Of The Google Architecture Final v1.1

View more presentations from Hasan Veldstra.

All about Google!

2010-06-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Now, who wouldn't want to know about Google. Be it how they run their search, how they power it, what's the latest innovation and where are they heading.

Well, the 'allaboutgoogle' series that we have here will address just that - all.about.google!

Starting off the series we found a couple of 'Google Presentation' (hmm, ok, a bit dated, nonetheless) that captures the evolution of Google since the beginning.

Google at a glance 1998 - 2008

View more presentations from Andreas Jaffke.

Google Presentation

"Yes, architecture is relative, but it is not arbitrary."

2010-05-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Zachman Framework^(TM) for Enterprise Architecture is something we've always been inspired by, since it summarizes the multiple dimensions (and perspectives) that are important to defining the enterprise perspective. It is both, simple and overwhelming at the same time. (But, then, no one ever said architecting was simple!).

Architecture - in the broadest sense - may mean different things, depending on the perspective and who (i.e which role) is the stakeholder. The Zachman Framework^(TM) throws up a number of debates and this article by John Zachman, discusses the finer distinctions between the three main perspectives: Conceptual, Logical and Physical.

Yes, architecture is relative, but it is not arbitrary. As long as we continue to consider it arbitrary, we are going nowhere. We are just adding to the legacy. “Keeping on doing the same thing and expecting different results is one definition of insanity” (Einstein)

The Cloud Computing Bookstore - I

2010-05-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

If you are in IT (and, very likely even if you are not), Cloud Computing is raining down heavily in everyday life. To learn more about Cloud Computing, check out some of these books.

Oracle Completes Sun Acquisition

2010-04-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

On April 20, 2009, Oracle announced that it was buying Sun Microsystems, in a deal valued at approximately $7.4 billion.

With the completion of this acquisition, Oracle now provides, what is referred to as the complete, integrated stack: "SOFTWARE. HARDWARE. COMPLETE."

With the acquisition completed in January, 2010, Oracle announced a series of Webcast Series and events to clarify the strategy for 'Transforming the IT Industry'.

Check out the following presentation from the series:

1. Charles Phillips: Welcome and Oracle + Sun: Transforming the Industry
View Highlights or Full Webcast
2. Larry Ellison: Oracle + Sun
View Highlights or Full Webcast
3. Thomas Kurian: Software Strategy
View Highlights or Full Webcast

and more.

Apple iPad - Review

2010-04-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

After a long wait, Steve Jobs on 27 January, 2010, announced the launch of the Apple iPad - a device that promises to enhance and improve the user's experience in various perspectives: Browsing, Music, Pictures... and of course, eBooks!

With a super sleek size (only 0.5 inch thick) and touch screen enabled, the iPad has many similarities to the revolutionary iPhone.

Check out a quick review of what the iPad is all about:

Under the hood: Google App Engine Architecture

2010-04-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

You can find more than a few sources (including our library.cloud.gae) that describe and help to understand various aspects about Google App Engine. Architecture, and more so a Platform-architecture, such as GAE's and design motivations can be quite an interesting topic.

Found an interesting presentation - by Patrick Chanezon, from Google DevFest '09 - which delves into the design and architectural aspects for GAE.

Google Devfest 2009 Argentina - Intro to Appengine

Google App Engine - With Java and Groovy

2010-03-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Google App Engine (GAE) With Java and Groovy

GAE began with supporting Python, but is now able to support applications you write (or deploy) for various languages: Java, Groovy, and others too, that use the JVM-based language architecture (eg. JRuby, Grails). Here's a nice quick peek into some low-level technical aspects and examples of using GAE with Java and Groovy.

Google App Engine With Java And Groovy

Google App Engine Java, Groovy and Gaelyk
Based on the present limitations (or are these by design?), a logical question this would very likely throw up would be what's the motivation behind limiting the support of Java/JEE APIs on GAE?

Understanding Google App Engine (Quickly)

2010-03-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a crisp introduction and overview to Google App Engine: Hosting Data and Apps Using the Google Infrastructure.

Living in the Cloud: Hosting Data & Apps Using the Google Infrastructure

Google App Engine - A PaaS for Web Applications

2010-03-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cloud Computing is one hot topic these days. There's a rare chance that you'll find a blog, presentation or conversation, which doesn't somehow lead into the topic.

We introduced Cloud Computing in an earlier post, and mentioned about the three primary models - service models, to be technically correct:

Infrastructure (or Hardware) as a Service (Iaas or HaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
Software as a Service (SaaS)

Each service model offers opportunities to providers to innovate and create those killer/disruptive services, like Force.com.

Google's App Engine (GAE) is also positioned to offer a Platform-as-a-service, and is more specifically looking to provide a web application platform for users to deploy their applications on. Surely, no one understands and leverages the power of the web like Google does. And, GAE is only going to extend this.

Here's an overview of Google App Engine from DevFest 2010. (It's comprehensive, albeit, a bit lengthy).

Google App Engine - Devfest India 2010

View more presentations from chanezon.

Future of the Web: 2010 and beyond

2010-01-02T05:52:00.000-08:00

Before we continue, here's wishing all of you from around the world, a very happy new year, and the start of another decade.

The beginning of the first decade of this century saw the emergence of the Internet and the web as a force to reckon with. "Web 1.0", as it is now called, in hindsight, saw a number of ups and downs [who can forget the bubble], but nevertheless for those who had the courage (and luck, and of course the creativity) to weather that storm, caught the attention of the people of this world.

Without the belief that the web was a force to reckon with, we would not have seen the maturing of the "web as a platform". And, experts say, "Web 2.0" (See post: What is Web 2.0?) - the present generation of stuff that's enabled via the now, almost ubiquitous Internet, is only just beginning to exploit what's possible.

So, what does the future of the Web hold, as we embark on yet another exciting start to this decade, with renewed hopes of economic recovery, the increased penetration of the web in our daily lives, a larger digital people and the hype & promise of Cloud Computing (See post: What is Cloud Computing?)?

Nova Spivack, a technology visionary, has written about the past, present and future of the web. His famous graph (see below), depicting the evolution of the web seems to offer some hint to what the future of the web holds.

Nova blogs extensively - and very thoughtfully - and what's really unique about the web-evolution graph, is how he has divided the evolution, more on the basis of time (decade-wise), to depict the incrementally [smarter] web. This is quite in contrast to what many folks often times tend to interpret as the progressively "next, technology-driven version" of the web.

As we enter the third decade of the web (and hence 'Web 3.0'), Semantic Web seems to be the central theme and some of the early innovations are already beginning to see the light of day, even as the sun has set on 2009.

What's New in Java EE 6?

2009-11-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 (Java EE 6) is almost here - slated for release in Q4 2009.

Java EE 6 includes, besides improvements over Java EE 5, the following key themes:

Profiles (Targetted bundles of technology)
Pruning (Making some technologies optional (Current list includes: JAX-RPC, EJB 2.x Entity Beans, JAXR, JSR-85)
Extensibility (Embrace open source libraries & frameworks)
Ease of development
EJB Lite
RESTful Services
Dependency Injection (at long last?!)

And, to summarize the new features, these include:

EJB 3.1 (JSR 318) [Ease of use, No-interface view, Portable JNDI, Singleton Beans, Timer Service and more]
JPA 2.0 (JSR 317)
Servlet 3.0 (JSR 315) [Annotations, Optional web.xml/fragments, better defaults, Asynchronous Processing]
JSF 2.0 (JSR 314) [AJAX, Simplified component creation]
JAX-RS 1.1 (JSR 311) [RESTful services]
Connector Arch 1.6
Web Beans 1.0 (JSR 299)
Bean Validation 1.0 (JSR 303)

And, corresponding to the availability of Java EE 6, GlassFish v3 is also coming along by around the same timeframe.

You can get the full details from the following presentation by Sun Microsystems:

Sun Java EE 6 Overview

Windows 7 is here!

2009-10-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

Microsoft finally launched Windows 7, its latest OS - after an extended beta, on 22 Oct, 09.

Windows7 is intended to undo many of the shortcomings that failed for Microsoft Vista, and promises a load of features.

Click here to enlarge the tag cloud

Some of the prominently talked about features include:

Desktop Enhancements and packed with options for customization
Live Taskbar Previews - A nifty feature on the newly designed TaskBar
Aero Peek and AeroShake - A new way to "minimize" windows on the desktop
An all new Explorer, supported by the new Windows Search, Libraries, and HomeGroups
Parental Controls and Improved Security/User Access Controls (UAC)
XP Compatibility Mode

There are a whole lot of features - and you can view the quick demos (7 second demos, as they are called) and the full listing here.

If you want a quick peek into what some of these features are all about, here's a brief video (still based on the Beta, but i'll post another if I find a more recent one):

When you think about it, a lot of these features are pretty neat and are geared to enriching the overall experience and productivity for the user. You wonder, how far things have come from what really an OS should really offer. And, with the present trend of rich experiences, faster online access and al things "Web 2.0", Windows7 seems to be offering just that - performance, security and experience.

Surely it's easy for users and critics to comment on a lot of the things that may not necessarily be up to one's expectations. But, coming from a technical perspective, its hard, if not, impossible, to imagine, design, architect and then implement something that's suited for such a large and varied user base. At a risk of sounding like being too 'pro-Microsoft/Windows', it's worth acknowledging that Windows sure has come a long way from the days of Windows 3.1.

Will there be a newer, better Windows down the line, or will the Mac & Linux (or is it Chrome OS?) genres ultimately rule? The whole world will watch the release of Windows7 - and while competitors will hope otherwise, it's probably wise to hope and expect that Windows 7 should fare MUCH better than its predecessor, Vista.

Cisco's Cloud Strategy

2009-10-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco Systems, in this presentation (from slideshare.net) describes the 'Future of Government IT' and how Cisco, with it's cloud strategy, is building the strategy for the same.

Padmasree Warrior - Enterprise Architecture 2009

View more documents from George Gonzalez.

Force.com - Platform as a Service

2009-10-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here's an amazing video from SalesForce.com, the current leader in SaaS, that elicits the constant and amazing changes that we have witnessed through the past four or five decades, and how force.com has again changed things!

On a slightly personal note, it's also exciting to have witnessed - and be a witness - to some of these changes, and how they are influencing our lives. What's even more exciting for me is to be able to work in this field, and create such solutions and architectures as well!

The Web 2.0 Bookstore

2009-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 - A Tagged View

2009-10-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Tags are an informal and largely ad-hoc categorization of content. Tags have become popular with the advent of Web 2.0 sites and are a simple and effective means to facilitate searching.

In an earlier post, we explained the core principles of what makes up Web 2.0. In a more conventional sense, we could write pages after pages to describe these. While in a different conext, that is still going to be needed, here's what Web 2.0 entails, depicted as a tag cloud.

(Based on the original source for this tag cloud, by Markus Angermeier)

What is Web 2.0?

2009-09-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Snazzy logos, glassy icons, creative sites with equally creative names, amazing flexibility, rich web experience, ... It's all over the Internet now - and everyone wants more!

This is the power that Web 2.0 has brought to unleash the "Power of You".

'Web 2.0' sounds new - and in many ways, is the next version of the web. In a sense, it is a next, but is hardly a [higher] version in the conventional sense of things. Rather, it is more about the next generation of the Web (or Internet), and it manifests itself in different ways.

Web 2.0 is undoubtedly an exciting trend - and has since, given rise to a plethora of "2.0" terms! - that is slated to change the way businesses and the folks who belong to those businesses, no matter who or where they are, perform their routine set of tasks.

The term "Web 2.0" is widely accep ted to be associated with Tim O'Reilly, during the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. To quote a more formal definition, according to O'Reilly and Battelle:

"[Web 2.0 is] an architecture of participation where users can contribute website content to create network effects. Web 2.0 technologies tend to foster innovation in the assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features from distributed, independent developers (a kind of "open source" development and an end to the software adoption cycle, the so-called "perpetual beta"). Web 2.0 technology encourages lightweight business models enabled by syndication of content and of service and by ease of picking up early adopters..."

By this time, it's probably unlikely that you have not heard or come across at least one of the following:
and are already socializing with your buddies on Facebook, using Wikipedia as a reference (encyclopedia), tagging stuff on del.icio.us, watching videos that users upload onto YouTube, and of course, writing, reading or commenting on someone's blog somewhere.

All this is what's "Web 2.0" is made of (aka, the core principles of Web 2.0):

Web as a Platform
User-generated content
Content syndication
Social Networking / Tagging
Collective Intelligence
Rich User Experience / Collaboration
New Business Models / The Long Tail

Web 2.0 is an amazing phenomenon - and is here to stay. Surely, I won't be able to do justice to this business revolution in a single post, and I sure am glad that I am fortunate to experience it in this age.

Keep watching this space!

What is Cloud Computing?

2009-08-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Cloud computing, which is the new buzz these days, and has also figured in Gartner's annual listing of technologies to watch for, is seeing a lot of hype of late. I don't exactly recall when I began using the term myself - but, it was probably when the topic started popping up in a number of blogs and forums and seminars and conversations.

I'll admit, I haven't researched the subject enough, to put a finger on when (or what exactly led to) the birth of this concept took place (you know, like how "Web 2.0" is attributed to Tim O'Reilly's talk at a conference). However, as with most technologies - and keeping in view Gartner's Hype Cycle paradigm - these things tend to seemingly happen right before one's own eyes, before you know it.

For example, Google's Gmail which began offering 'unlimited' storage. Or, to counter this, most of the popular email service providers bumped up their account quotas pretty much simultaneously. Or, Jonathan Schwartz's dream of 'The Network is the Computer' (2006). Looking back, I think this could not have been possible, without, what we now recognize as forms of cloud computing. Sure, now there are other examples.

Put very simply, Cloud Computing:

Is a style of computing (much like how SOA is a style of architecture)
Inherently offers dynamic scalability (as in 'on-demand')
Is offered as a service (over the Internet, that is)

Based on these fundamental characteristics, cloud computing typically comprises three distinct 'types' or 'models':

Infrastructure (or Hardware) as a Service (Iaas or HaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
Software as a Service (SaaS)

I'll elaborate on each of these areas further in subsequent posts, but the key concept behind this seemingly powerful concept - which is beginning to see the light of day - is that it based on the fact, that computing power like your regular electric power, is as good as a utility. That is, both hardware and software can be thought of as 'utility', that are consumed when you need them. And, hence, the concept of on-demand or pay-as-you-use services.

Cloud Computing is here to stay - and Web 2.0 is closely associated to it - and while the current global economic downturn may have slowed things down a bit, it offers the promise of reducing IT expenditure (capex) for agile businesses.

Technology

2009-08-02T09:22:00.001-07:00

Well, that's what this blog is for!

And, that's what we'll cover here. You'll find information on a number of technologies here, we promise!

News

2009-08-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Technology and the technical world is a dynamic universe. New technologies coming up, innovations, standardizations, new business models, mergers & acquisitions, ...

There's a whole lot of news on a daily basis.

Magazines

2009-08-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

Just like books, its a pleasure to find, browse or read magazines. Unlike books, magazines are more succinct and help to create awareness, educate and feed the information in brief, to be pursued further, if needed.

Once again, we'll cover (technical) magazines and their articles, here.

Books

2009-08-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

We live in an increasingly digitized world, and there's no dirth of information that can be found online. However, books are unlikely to fade away, and it's always interesting and exciting to find a good book.

We'll cover technical (kind of) books here, primarily.

Design Patterns

2009-08-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Design Patterns - in a slightly technical sense - are design solutions to (commonly) occurring problems. Depending on the context of the problem, and therefore the corresponding solution, there can be a whole set of patterns that may apply.

As a solution (or system) designer/architect, it is important to identify the right pattern in the given context.

Here, we'll include posts on design patterns.

Design

2009-06-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Designing IT solutions is no easy thing - and the fact that there's an entire industry that caters to it, must imply that there is something to it. Of course, one can argue about these things. But, we'd rather provide information on how real-world, IT solutions are designed. We'll get to know about design principles, best practices and much more.

Web 2.0

2009-06-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 is all around us now. But, there's a whole lot that's going on - and it's amazing, what the technology is enabling in this space. Find out all about Web 2.0 architectures here.

Cloud Computing

2009-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Get to know what's the latest buzz in the world of Cloud Computing.

Service-Oriented Architecture

2009-06-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

Get to know what's happening in the space of SOA: Service-Oriented Architecture.

Architecture

2009-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Get to know about architecture - concepts, solutions, applications and practices.

Articles

2009-06-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

This category of posts is related to articles relating to anything that is interesting, informational or educational.

Library

2009-06-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

This category will contain posts about -

Books
Whitepapers
Case Studies
Reviews

that are interesting...

About: The Technical Web

2009-06-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

Technology - in the Information Technology sense - is exciting, to say the least. Things happen, literally, every instant. And, many have the potential to change our lives, we cannot imagine.

Find interesting articles and posts about design, architecture, SOA, Cloud Computing, and how Web 2.0 is changing the world... This is one place where the technically inclined will find something of interest, to keep up with all that's happening around.

Go on. Explore and apply. Technology is our passion!