I wanted to write a quick post about Google’s new “Caffeine” search infrastructure. A preview is open for Web developers so Google can collect feedback. Apparently the search engine will be “faster, more accurate and more comprehensive” than the current Google search setup. I would guess the timing of the announcement is in answer to Microsoft’s Bing. There are links to articles about the preview here and here. Unfortunately, a recent article says the preview is down and when I tried it, sure enough I was redirected to an error page that said they were performing “system maintenance.” Hmmm… Here’s a link to the Caffeine sandbox in case you want to try it — hopefully the “maintenance” will be finished soon.
Is there a special someone in your life who has trouble searching the Internet? Check out this handy tool called, “Let Me Google that for You.” We have pre-populated the tool with another helpful link.
One of the hottest rumors in the IT world is that Google is developing its own router. Industry observer Erik Sherman, writing in BNET.com, says, “When I contacted Google, the answer was the now-standard ‘It’s our policy not to comment on rumor and speculation,’ which — if memory serves — is the same answer that used to be in play when asked if Google was developing a browser.”
Technology pundit Alex Handy, says, “In a world where traffic is likely doubling every six months, it’s hard to think of any type of hardware architecture that could possibly sustain itself.” He believes Google may be fed up with Jupiter Networks’s JUNOS routers. “It would seem Jupiter hasn’t figure this out either, and that Google has taken it upon itself to chase down a solution of its own.”
Hackers at the recent CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, B.C., were challenged to exploit holes in an array of popular browsers. The most popular target — or “low-hanging fruit,” as programmer Garett Rogers told TechRepublic.com — was Safari on the Mac.
One presumed hacker named Charlie Miller is reported to have said: “It’s clear all three browsers — Safari, IE and Firefox — have bugs. Code execution holes are everywhere… But there’s almost no hurdles to jump through on Mac OS X.”
If that’s the case, Google’s Chrome browser was the “high-hanging” fruit.
“I might have this bug and I might be able to get code execution,” Miller said. “But you’re in a sandbox and you have no permissions to do anything. You need another bug to get out of the sandbox. Now you need two bugs and two exploits. That raises the bar.”
That’s a great explanation, if you understand hacker-ese. The real evidence, however, was that no hacker at the conference — even given the challenge — even attempted to exploit the Google browser.
