I have a very quick look at the hacking procedure. If I understand that correctly, it involves using an victim’s partial "authentication string" - something like session ID or the long, seemingly random string sometimes you could see in URLs - to fake Gmail into believing that you were logged in as the victim. The procedure looks complicated, but can definitely be eased by a script or something.
Of course this method no longer works as I do not have access to the log files now. I did not track the traffic, until Google announced Google Analytics, a free traffic-analyzing service for everyone.
Oh, Google again! Those skeptics said, they are more and more like Microsoft, who keep acquiring and expanding and using "advanced" technology until there is no room (and money) for its competitors.
But according to Eric Peterson, a senior analyst on web site technology, Google does not seem to be forcing other analytics vendors out of business. There are still many websites, most of them blogs, that didn’t heard of or use any website analysis services until Google started providing a free one. The market still has plenty of room for everyone at the moment.
Actually I do not worry too much about Google being the Big Brother, as I think the chance is slim. But it is in general not a good idea to put all eggs in one basket. Given the fact that I have used too many Google’s products, this time I would really like to try software from other companies. However, most of them, for example those mentioned by Eric, are either not free or by invitation (e.g. Measure Map) only. If any one knows a good substitution, please let me know.
Before I found another solution, I would keep using Google Analytics. Nonetheless, I think my visitors here should have the right to know this: This site uses Google Analytics to track YOU.
Ajax is hot. Some people even claimed that web applications, or web apps, based on this technology will one day dominate the market. Many people retold Sun’s motto some years ago: "Network is the computer." And suddenly, Google, with its rich "lab" of web apps, becomes the most threatening enemy of Microsoft.
For security reason, browsers, and hence web apps, cannot access to your local files. Some say this is a critical limitation of web apps. But who needs local files if most of your apps are web-based? Actually, web apps nowadays normally allow you to open/save files located in their own domain.
However, cross-domain file access is usually not supported. For example, the photos you saved in Flickr cannot be accessed from Writely. Well, Flickr is popular, so some web apps, mostly blog systems, do allow you to read or write from it. But this is in a rather ad hoc fashion. Why isn’t there a "web filesystem" that other web apps can access to easily?
Google is a company (if not the only company) that has the ability to provide such service globally. In fact, I am writing this blog because I have the feelings that Google Base is actually heading to this direction. Imagine there is an API such that data can be import/export from the Base in the format of, say, XML through the HTTPS protocol. Then other web apps can use it to read/write "files" to this universal "filesystem"! Moreover, the API would allow web apps to extract metadata instead of just the file itself. This is even more useful, I think! Not to mention the ability to search, efficiently.
Of course, security is a big issue that must be examined very, very carefully, because you are authorizing whatever web app to access to a pool of data owned by you. But this doesn’t stop me from getting excited about this very idea!
Let me make a bolder statement: the main battle of the war between Microsoft and Google is actually WinFS vs. Google Base! Microsoft, inherently favors local applications, invests heavily in this next generation, database-driven local filesystem; while Google, being the most powerful web company in the World, puts its bet on the data generated by rich web applications. Woo! I would really like to see the strategies they will use to win this war!
Because of a new law suit, Gmail might not be able to keep using the name Gmail.
This is an old news, and Google have already done something to “unload” the name. The changes have been done quietly that the general public may not notice, but not to us developer. For example, because of its change in URL from gmail.google.com/gmail to mail.google.com/mail, gmail-lite and libgmailer failed to use immediately. Fortunately we discovered that and fixed it quickily. And now it seems that you cannot find any references to the word “Gmail” anywhere in its AJAX source code.
Google would probably rename Gmail back to “Google Mail”. Boring name, but safe. After this, I think Google will no longer “invent” new names for its new products. They will keep on using the pattern “Google xxxx”: Google Maps, Google Reader, Google Suggests, Google Desktop, Google OS (okay I faked this one), etc etc. You can see them in Google Labs.
What about all the “hacks” based on it, such as gmail-lite? Should we change to googlemail-lite and libgooglemailer also?
I think I will keep on using this name, unless they, uh, shoot sue me.
Google has just launched Gmail Mobile, a simplified XHTML interface for mobile phone with browsers. According to their Help Center:
Gmail Mobile lets you access your Gmail account from your mobile phone. Just enter http://m.gmail.com in your phone’s web browser to log in to your account.
Gmail Mobile offers a number of cool features:
- The interface is automatically optimized for the phone you’re using
- You can access attachments, including photos, Microsoft Word documents, and .pdf files
- If you enter phone numbers in your Gmail Contacts list, you can reply to messages by call
You can try it yourself by entering this URL: http://m.gmail.com
Does it mark an end to the gmail-lite/gmail-mobile projects? Not really.
