Developer tools

Firefox world loses Web dev guru to Chrome

For years, an extension called Firebug has been a powerful tool that kept Web programmers loyal to Firefox.

But now, as browser makers add their own tools geared to attract those who build Web sites and applications, the lead Firebug programmer has taken a job with Chrome, CNET has learned.

"Monday, I start work on next-gen Web dev tools at Google on the Chrome browser team. Consequently I will no longer be contributing routinely to the development and maintenance of Firebug for Firefox," John J. Barton told members of a Firebug mailing list yesterday.

The change reflects the … Read more

Google App Engine suffers availability problems

Nice financial results notwithstanding, Google had some trouble late today with its App Engine service for online applications.

Overall availability of the cloud-computing foundation, which can run online applications written in Python or Java, dropped at least as low as 88.1 percent, according to the Google App Engine status dashboard.

The dashboard showed problems serving Java programs--more than half of attempts to request an app's Web page resources produced errors at one point. There also were delays in using a programming interface to manage tasks.

In Google's postmortem analysis, the company determined that there was an overall … Read more

Evernote raises $50M to help become your 'second brain'

The popular note-taking service Evernote today announced it has raised $50 million in a new round of funding by Sequoia Capital and Morgenthaler Ventures to develop a growth and acquisition strategy.

"Even though we've built a profitable and successful business in the past three years, we still have a long way to go to achieve our goal of becoming everyone's second brain," Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote said in a statement.

Ken Gullicksen, vice president of corporate development of Evernote, will head the development and acquisition strategy.

Since the software company's inception, Evernote has grown … Read more

WebCL: New hardware power for Web apps?

Web applications such as image editors and advanced games could get a new performance boost from a graphics chip's processing power through a technology called WebCL.

Hardware acceleration is all the rage right now among browser makers: it can speed up everything from animating graphics to laying out all the elements of a Web page. Tapping directly into the hardware at a low level not only speeds things up, it saves precious battery power, too.

Now several companies are hard at work on a new interface called WebCL through the auspices of the Khronos Group standards body. WebCL is … Read more

Developer API for Google+: It's coming

Google's new social network, Google+, has only been public for two days, and developers are already interested in access to the service so they can roll out add-ons and improvements.

Fortunately for them, and ultimately for Google+ users, developer access is coming. It's simply a matter of time. As Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social for Google, told me at a Web 2.0 Summit cocktail party tonight, "I'm a developer guy at the core. It is inconceivable I would build something without a platform."

Gundotra worked for 15 years at Microsoft before leaving for Google. His last job there was as general manager of platform evangelism. It's fair to say he's got the background for building systems that developers can build upon.

But it's not surprising that Google+ launched without developer access. The service is far from fully baked.

"We're just getting started!" Gundotra gushed to me when we talked.

The features and functions of Google+ will likely change substantially in short order. More functions will be definitely be added to the service, as well as increased integration with other Google apps. Giving developers access now might be premature, as some might build products that end up duplicating features that Google itself is just about to layer into the publicly available service.

But opening up Google+ to developers eventually could enable all manner of add-ons and improvements, from third-party access apps, like Tweetdeck was for Twitter (before Twitter acquired it); to Zynga-like games that access the Google social graph; to other utilities and add-ons. Personally, I'd like to see a utility that makes faster work of managing and sorting contacts into circles.

Google is collecting names from developers who want to know when the company launches developer tools. There's an e-mail and Google Group sign-up online now.

Microsoft releases new browser preview for devs

Microsoft today released the second platform preview of Internet Explorer 10, a tool that helps developers design Web sites to work with the upcoming browser.

The key features of the new platform preview, which Microsoft plans to update every 12 weeks, include improved support for HTML5, speedier performance, and better security. The idea behind rapidly releasing platform previews is to get quick feedback from developers and incorporate changes into the development process as the company moves toward releasing a beta version of its next browser.

Microsoft is also using the release to make a case for supporting its implementation of … Read more

Watchdog: Facebook Credits violate antitrust law

A public interest group called Consumer Watchdog has filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about Facebook Credits, arguing that the virtual currency used for purchases such as assets in online games is anticompetitive.

Specifically, the group objects to new terms for using the credits that go into effect Friday. The group argues in the 28-page complaint (PDF), "The new Facebook Credits terms will enable Facebook to maintain and extend its monopoly power over the market for virtual goods purchased in social games."

In addition, the complaint argues, the new terms prohibit game developers from charging … Read more

Rapid-release Firefox meets corporate backlash

Last week, Mozilla programmers and executives were jubilant when the release of Firefox 5 marked the successful transition to a more competitive rapid-release development cycle.

Now, with a backlash from corporations and others who aren't equipped to handle that pace of change, things aren't quite so sunny. The organization and its community of supporters have begun some soul-searching about how to reconcile the conflicting priorities--developing software quickly but not leaving users behind.

Mozilla has concluded that Firefox isn't for corporations whose Web use doesn't move at the speed of today's Web, though. That decision frees … Read more

GoDaddy nearing deal to be acquired for $2.5 billion?

GoDaddy, the world's largest registrar of domain names, might be acquired soon, according to a report today.

Private-equity firms KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners, and Technology Crossover Ventures are currently nearing a deal to buy GoDaddy Group for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing people with knowledge of the proceedings.

The Journal said the deal between the companies could be announced next week, but so far, GoDaddy has not signed a definitive agreement to sell its business to the firms.

GoDaddy has reportedly been seeking potential buyers for months. In … Read more

Google releases Chrome-based Web security scrutinizer

Google today released an open-source tool called DOM Snitch that tries to flag Web site software that would be dangerous to run in a browser.

The software is an experimental Chrome extension that examines how Web site code executes to see if commands could lead to cross-site scripting or other attacks used to deliver malware to computers via a Web browser.

DOM Snitch (download) "enables developers and testers to identify insecure practices commonly found in client-side code," said Google security test engineer Radoslav Vasilev in a blog post. He elaborated:

To do this, we have adopted several approaches … Read more