Salesfoce in Google App Engine

Salesforce.com is set to announce that it is connecting its Force.com development platform with Google's App Engine.

The news, follows Salesforce's recent announcement of a similar arrangement with Amazon Web Services' Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3).

Google's App Engine, is aimed at developers who want to quickly and easily build scalable Web applications, while AWS is positioned as a more generalized, flexible infrastructure platform for serving all types of programs.

Meanwhile, Force.com provides a database, Java-like programming language, integration and workflow capabilities, and user-interface design tools for creating business applications that run on Salesforce's cloud infrastructure.

Google said the integration will foster the creation of new Web applications and further demonstrate the power of the Web as a platform.

The announcement is the latest stage in Salesforce and Google's relationship, which has also resulted in an integration between Salesforce and Google Apps, and could prompt another round of speculation that the search giant will buy Salesforce.

Google announces unlocked G1 for developers

If you're a developer itching to get your creative developer hands on a T-Mobile G1, good news for you.

An especially good news if you happen to be a developer who lives outside an area covered by T-Mobile.

Google has announced a SIM- and hardware-unlocked version of the first Android smartphone.

To get an Android Dev Phone 1, you'll first need to register as an Android developer on the Android Market site, which entails a one-time setup fee of $25.

Then the device will cost you $399 (free shipping here in the States). To accommodate demand, Google says it's one device per developer account--for now.

The device will be available for purchase in 18 international markets, including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary. And more territories are on the way, Google says.

Now go build us some amazing apps, developers! Or if you're just pretending to be a developer to nab one of these, go enjoy your new unlocked smartphone!

Recession hits Google

The Wall St. Journal reports that Google has realized its "torrid growth" can't go on forever and is implementing a series of belt-tightening moves aimed at helping it weather the current economic downturn.

These include cutting back on engineers' less promising "pet" projects (so much for that vaunted 20% time), while focusing more on probable profit-generators such as display ads and mobile phone advertising.

While the moves are disappointing -- especially for the engineers that Google lured in with promises of a blank checkbook -- they aren't surprising in this economic climate. But Google's success has always been predicated on its engineer-run culture. Keep aiding the customer's Internet experience and the revenue will follow.

As Google cut costs, it has to make sure it also doesn't cut opportunities. Google's new mindset is captured in these recipes:

• New hires go to revenue-generating groups first.


• Ad-sales reps now have to meet quotas.


• More employees now find their pay tied to performance.


• Standard procurement, and price paid, across departments.


• Hiring only when needed, not just when talent is available.


• Earmarking funds for only the most promising projects.


• Building data centers only when capacity needs require them.

Source: PCWorld

Chrome will add extensions

Google has published its plan to build into Chrome its most requested feature: the ability to accept extensions that can customize how the open-source Web browser operates.

The Chrome extensions document, spotlighted Saturday by Google programmer Aaron Boodman, doesn't include a timeline, but it does shed light on why the project is a priority for Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome.

When Google launched Chrome three months ago, it promised a Chrome extensions framework. Extensions are a popular feature of Chrome's most likely rival, Mozilla's Firefox, and one very popular extension is AdBlock Plus.

And AdBlock makes a specific appearance on the list of extension uses that Google said it would like to support eventually:

• Bookmarking/navigation tools: Delicious Toolbar, StumbleUpon, Web-based history, new tab page clipboard accelerators.

• Content enhancements: Skype extension (clickable phone numbers), RealPlayer extension (save video), Autolink (generic microformat data--addresses, phone numbers, etc.)

• Content filtering: AdBlock, Flashblock, privacy control, parental control

• Download helpers: video helpers, download accelerators, DownThemAll, FlashGot

• Features: ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, Web Of Trust, GooglePreview, BugMeNot

Google Street View available in New Zealand

Google has announced the launch of Street View on Google Maps in New Zealand.

More than 100 metropolitan areas in six other countries around the world are presently visible in street view, which first launched in the United States in May 2007.

Tourism New Zealand has selected a gallery of Street View images that showcase some of New Zealand's best tourist attractions and locations to the world.

Many other organisations have already identified significant opportunities for Street View to be used in travel, tourism, house buying and renting, education, and helping make small businesses easier to find.

Google has gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while allowing all New Zealanders to benefit from this feature.

Street View only contains imagery that is already visible from public roads, and blurs identifiable faces.

Anyone can easily flag for removal images that they consider inappropriate by clicking on “Report a concern” at the bottom of the Street View image in question.

The Street View imagery was collected by camera-equipped cars that drove public roads in New Zealand over the past 12 months.