Google Chrome Frame changes the game

Google announced a new free product called Google Chrome Frame (GCF or simply CF) which is basically a plug-in for IE to bring HTML5 support (via Webkit engine) and better JavaScript performance ( via V8 engine) to IE. These technologies are cornerstones of Google's Chrome browser.

With this plug-in installed, web developers need only one line to switch from IE's Trident engine to CF:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">

Or

the user can add the cf: prefix in the URL to use CF to render the page.

Watch this video for a brief introduction.

So why brother to bring these stuff to IE? With CF, web developers can stick to HTML5 and Javascript (and Ajax) to build rich internet applications (RIA) without using proprietary technologies like Silverlight, Adobe AIR (which based on Flash) and Sun JavaFX.

The results? The bar for developing RIA is lowered. The Web is less depending on individual vendors. More devices can enjoy better web experience without whether proprietary plug-ins are available in specific platforms.

Both Webkit and V8 are open source. If the future of Web (Web 3.0) is built around HTML5 and JavaScript, we can imagine that the OS game is over (at least changed). Who will care what OS is running when all the functionalities can be obtained from the web ? Most people will definitely look for faster and cheaper (or even free) alternatives unless you are gamers or professionals that rely on sophisticated software to learn your living.

There is a long way to go there but this is the vision behind Google Chrome OS. Intel is also working on Moblin, a Linux based lightweight OS which can be booted within seconds.

The driving forces behind HTML5 are Google, Apple and Mozilla (the browser makers other than Microsoft). Microsoft has low motivation in supporting HTML5 as Silverlight is their answer to the future of the Web. However, Microsoft doesn't release Silverlight for other platforms except Mac OSX. It only provides support for open source effort - Moonlight, which brings Silverlight to Linux.

Recently, Microsoft and Intel team up to bring Silverlight to Linux targeting Atom platform. Suddenly, the Moonlight project seems becoming irrelevant.

The only selling point for Silverlight is the multi-programming languages support provided by the lightweight .NET runtime being a part of Silverlight.

Chrome Frame official site: http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/

LEGO Mindstorms Sudoku Solver

Amazing work. Scan the sheet, recognizing the numbers, solving the sudoku, writing the numbers back to the sheet, all by this little LEGO Mindstorm.

轎夫擊鼓戰東瀛

Good job!

Mac OS X 10.6 Reviewed by Ars Technica

The only Mac OS X 10.6 review that we need to read. Everything else is secondary.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/08/mac-os-x-10-6.ars

Highligts:

1. Developer oriented release (though there are new end-user features)
2. Intel-Only
3. Around 50% in disk footprint
4. On demand driver download
5. Chinese input using touchpad
6. No Rosetta by default (by installed on demand from the net)
7. No Quick Time Player 7.0 by default (but can still be installed)
8. 64-bit kernel (but not the default)
9. 64-bit system applications
10. OpenCL
11. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) facilitates developing multi-threading applications using lightweight queues served by centrally controlled threads
12. LLVM / Clang tool chain in addition to GCC
13. Block construct (i.e. closure in many dynamic) for C language
14. Quick Time X
15. Only US$29 for existing Leopard users
16. Exchange support via Mail, iCal and Address Book
17. Screen recording
18. Faster boot / shutdown time

Play attention to the compatibility. There are massive overhaul under the hood (it is said that 95% modules touched for refinement)

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/start

It blocked me from upgrade as my wife is using Adobe CS3 (which has known issues with 10.6)

Jealous !? Apple store robbed

Probably these guys cannot get iPhone and MacBook Pro during their debuts, so they smashed the glass and grabbed a lot of Macs and iPhones from an Apple store in Marlton, New Jersey.

Apple is well known for security in their OS X (virus never an issue) but not for their store ! No metal gateway, just glass.

Source: http://www.appleinsider.com/

Automata starts here!

I wanted to start a blog long time ago and I had registered several blogs on different topics but I ceased to maintain them individually shortly after them were created.

Finally I came up with a new blog and a new site using Google's services with my own domain automata.hk on late August 2009. That is the beginning of www.automata.hk and blog.automata.hk.

I want to build a web to consolidate all my interests with a complementary blog (for posting the changes about the site contents and what is coming up).

The subjects of the web and the blog are mainly about IT and some other topics that I feel interested. Hope you enjoy the contents of both of them. And feel free to leave a comment.