Spiceworks – The Free IT Desktop July 25, 2006
Posted by Ryan Jarrett in Advertising, Google, Tech.add a comment
In my last job (and to a lesser extent, in my current job) I was working with a limited budget and resources. Therefore I was always on the lookout for good quality, low cost (i.e. free!) software tools. I found quite a few (and occassionally use them for testing in certain circumstances) and I may post a list on here if there is enough demand. Today I’m just spreading the word about Spiceworks. Its curious not only because its a browser-based, network admin tool but because it displays Google ads alongside the application in the browser – and this is how its funded. I can see larger companies disregarding Spiceworks because they already use Microsoft’s Systems Management Server, or another third party tool, but for SMEs, organisations and charities with smaller budgets I can see a home. I’m hoping Spiceworks is the first of many Google ad-supported apps we will see (if you’re reading this guys then an easy-install-and-use Intranet would be great!), especially with Ajax and other web2.0 technologies extending what is practical and achievable in a web browser.
Google to challenge PayPal June 27, 2006
Posted by Ryan Jarrett in Google, Tech.add a comment
CNN are reporting that Google are about to launch their own system of making online payments. Purported to be similar to PayPal, gBuy will offer customers rebates for purchases.
Now, I’m not sure if this is going to be a PayPal killer, but its going to be another stream of revenue for Google. No details have been announced on which vendors will support this directly, but I assume payments between two individuals will also be supported (having a Google account is becoming a must nowadays!) It will be interesting to see if they will tie gBuy up with Froogle and even Google Calendar to show when payments are scheduled.
Google inadvertently hosts Trojan June 21, 2006
Posted by Ryan Jarrett in Google, Tech.1 comment so far
ComputerWeekly.com reports that Google's free webhosting service, www.googlepages.com, is hosting pages that contain malicious code. Now, while this is news (no-one likes Trojans), this can happen to any webhosting service. But, what this suggests is that Google doesn't check the contents of the user-created content that googlepages allows. Surely it would be rather easy to run each page through some sort of anti-virus style scanner before being let loose on the public? Surely it's the responsible thing to do?
Google Minesweeper June 16, 2006
Posted by Ryan Jarrett in Funny, Games, Google, Microsoft.add a comment
Take a look at Google's next foray into Microsoft-beating web applications…
Google photos not private June 16, 2006
Posted by Ryan Jarrett in Google, Tech.add a comment
As it may have become clear by now, I am a Google fan. Not just of the search engine, but of their ideology and their methods and their other products. I find that their offerings are usually high quality, with a lot of thought behind them, and the fact that many products are free is just a bonus.
Therefore, it was quite surprising when I found this article describing how the non-private albums are actually accessible by anyone doing a little guess work. I know that Picassa Web Albums are still in a beta stage and therefore things are likely to change before a full release, but testers should be aware that their photos can, potentially, be viewed by anyone at the moment.
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