Color Palette Genorator
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The Rapture
Topic: design
Here's a handy tool for web designers or if you're looking to re-decorate your home and are having trouble picking a color.... Why not take your favorite photograph and generate a color palette based on the tones in the photo? That's the idea behind DeGraeve's Color Palette Generator; just paste in the web address of a photo and the nifty Color Palette Generator will, well, generate a color palette. (Found via Lifehacker.)

New Google Search: Code
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Erland Oye
Topic: search
Google just launched a new search service which allows you to search open source code. Search prefixes like license: and lang: can narrow results and the search supports POSIX regular expression syntax. The results are displayed as a link to the source code, a clip of the code and a link to a zip file which contains the entire code package.

While a nice new feature and one that will no doubt be handy for web developers, it seems to me that most people looking for source code might really be looking for something more like a tutorial. Of course as they say, good code is self documenting, so perhaps this will inspire programmers to write cleaner code and clearer documentation. Probably not, but we can always dream can't we?

It's worth noting that Google acknowledges in their FAQ that, while they try to "determine the software license for code packages by looking for a license in the comments or in a separate license file," the results are, as they put it, "not perfect." In other words, just because Code Search thinks a file is licensed under the GPL doesn't mean that it is and presumably it's up to you to verify the license before using the code.

If you'd like to make sure that your code is not indexed by Google, there are instructions for doing so in the Code Search FAQ.

Oh and speaking of not perfect, Google appears to have turned off their spellchecker this morning which leaves us to search for a "regular expresion [sic]." Or perhaps this is their subtle way of letting us know that Google is still powered by humans. 

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Due in May 2007
Now Playing: Jacob Miller
Topic: software

Beaming with pride from last year's acquisition of Macromedia and bursting at the seams with a whole crop of new products to sell you, Adobe plans to release version 3 of its Creative Suite in May of next year. Investor's Business Daily has the report, and from what we can tell, it's going to be a whole lot more than "Photoshop, Illustrator and some other stuff" this time around.

The IBD article talks about how the company is folding the Macromedia products into the Adobe family:

Adobe is now integrating into its own products the products it got from its December acquisition of Macromedia... For instance, Acrobat 8 contains Macromedia's Breeze software for Web conferencing. Creative Suite 3 also will contain former Macromedia products.

Two of those former Macromedia products that will most definitely show up in Creative Suite 3 are Dreamweaver, which will replace GoLive as Adobe's premiere web development app; and Flash Professional, which has long been the dominant platform for creating and presenting interactive rich media (a mix of vector graphics, video and sound) on the web. Space Cowboy Ian thinks that Adobe will roll animation features from After Effects into Flash.

No word on pricing or hard release dates just yet. See our previous news reports about Adobe Acrobat 8 and its new web-enabled collaboration features.

My Baseball RSS Blackout: Day 2
Now Playing: Sinead, Sly, Robbie
Topic: general

Yesterday, I posted about how difficult it is to "turn off" the news during the Major League Baseball playoffs. I'm an Oakland A's fan, and I tried my hardest to remain blissfully ignorant of the score of the ALDS game 1 until I had the chance to watch it. The game ended at 1PM yesterday, and I'm proud to announce that I didn't see the final score until I got home and actually watched the game. The A's won a nail-biter.

Most of yesterday was difficult. I couldn't go to any major news websites like Google News, The New York Times, SFGate or (just to be safe) BBC. I had to kill a few feeds from NetNewsWire, and I stopped checking my personal email in the mid-afternoon just in case there was some chatter there. I stayed cautious on AIM and I began every telephone conversation with "Don't talk about baseball!"

The technology stuff wasn't super hard to block out, but the meatspace spoilers were just as tough to dodge. I couldn't wear my Oakland A's hat or any piece of A's paraphernalia. I've been spoiled before by wearing my Kiko Calero jersey on public transportation when some joker decided to offer his condolences for a loss that I was rushing home to witness.

Averting one's eyes from televisions, not listening to the coversations taking place behind you, and steering well clear of sports bars is a chore. Not to mention the fact that they display sports scores on the tops of taxi cabs now! When did that happen?

My guess is that if you want to remain totally in the dark about something as important as the outcome of the game between the A's and the Twins, you have to sit in a quiet room and read a book or a magazine.

Meanwhile, I'm working hard to keep the secret... and at home, the DVR patiently waits for daddy.

Google Upgrades Groups, Now It Looks Like GMail
Now Playing: DJ Koze
Topic: communities

Google has launched the new Google Groups beta, a version of their bulletin board service that's been souped up to meet 21st century standards.

All of the conversations have been mashed into an expanding and collapsing Ajaxy "cards" style interface, much like the way GMail conversations work. You can read threads much more easily this way.

At first, I thought it was a little strange to build out a simple bulletin board into a color-coded stack of threads. As an old school BBS poster (talkin' about the 1980s, y'all), I prefer my message boards and discussion groups to work and read like an old, crufty email client. It's been that way for so long, that's just what I expect. But now, email clients are changing. They're browser based or they're full-color and slick. Or, in many cases, both. I've been a GMail user for a year now, and the thread feature is a life-saver.

So after clicking around in the alt.music section for a while, these enhancements make perfect sense. There are some other new Groups features, too. Group owners can customize colors, fonts and welcome messages. Groups members can kibbutz in a new Members area or engage in centralized, non-illicit file sharing in the Files area. The Groups beta also has a Pages feature that lets members collaborate on web pages for their group.

On top of all that, you get built-in functionality with other Google services like GMail and chat. Read all about the new Google Groups beta at the official Google Blog.

Microsoft: Pirates Beware, Everyone Else Pray
Now Playing: Thomass Brinkmann
Topic: software

Microsoft has announced details about its Windows Software Protection Platform, the company's anti-piracy initiative that will protect Windows Vista from illegal copying and license tampering. You can read the strange interview/press release and the white paper (link to a Word doc) from Microsoft. Windows SPS is very similar to the Windows Genuine Advantage, its current dynamic key validation program.

Basically, Windows Software Protection Platform will be able to determine if your copy of Windows Vista is operating under a bogus or hacked license key. If the software detects a bogus key and thinks you're cheating, you'll be locked out. Not immediately and totally locked out, but you'll first lose Windows performance enhancements and spyware/virus protection. If you continue to use Vista after that, you'll eventually be forced to work in "reduced functionality mode." The start menu and desktop icons disappear, and you are immediately logged out every 60 minutes.

As Ed Bott points out in his blog at ZDNet.com, this "improved punishment regimen" is sure to snag regular, do-no-wrong users as well as the pirates and hucksters:

What's most distressing about the SPP announcement is Microsoft's continued insistence that its anti-piracy tools are nearly perfect and that innocent victims never suffer from errors in their code.

"Hubris," Bott says.

To be fair, Microsoft is in a tough position. Most everyone loves to get Windows for free, and the company has every right to protect their property. But there are a few things wrong with Windows SPS.

First, the notification system doesn't give the user any opportunity to clear up the matter in the case of a misunderstanding or an error. The user only sees a link to purchase a genuine Vista license. Second, SPS can and will be hacked -- It's only a matter of time. Lastly, Microsoft has a bumpy track record when it comes to key validation systems like Windows Genuine Advantage. WGA and SPS are both "phone home" systems that some have branded as spyware. Microsoft is even being sued over Windows Genuine Advantage for this reason.

In any case, the decision to ship all versions of Vista on one DVD certainly isn't going to help matters. Anyone want to guess how long it will be before somebody cracks right through those protections?

Social Networking and Child Safety
Now Playing: Hanuman
Topic: communities

October is National Cyber Security Awareness month. To commemorate the occasion, the National Cyber Safety Alliance (NCSA) has released their third annual study on user behavior at social networking sites. You can view the full 2006 report as a PowerPoint on their site. Some interesting facts: 74% of social networks users have given out personal information -- varying from email addresses to Social Security numbers -- on the sites, and almost half of social networks users have browsed sites like MySpace from the workplace, opening up their office computers to the possibility of further infection from spyware or malware.

ArsTechnica and Fred Stutzman of Unit Structures have some in-depth analysis. Fred says:

The unsolicited contact stats are quite interesting, especially when broken down by age. The survey clearly shows that the younger groups are less likely to respond to unsolicited contacts. If this survey had a 13-18 age group, I'm almost certain the percentage of non-response to unsolicited contacts would be even higher than the 18-34. The notion that youths commonly respond to unsolicited contacts in social networks is clearly unfounded.

In a true Helen Lovejoy moment, the survey points to data showing that roughly half of the parents who are aware that their kids are on social networking sites don't restrict their childrens' profiles to make them viewable to trusted friends only.

Half? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Browse Craigslist Photos with Listpic
Now Playing: Dr. John
Topic: Mash-up

Listpic is a cool mashup that lets you browse classified listings on Craigslist by just looking at the photos. The service, which a reader named Ryan told us about, works for the For Sale, Housing and Personals sections of the classifieds site. There's a slider near the top that adjusts the size of the thumbnails on the page.

Of all of the major "toys" in my life, I've bought most of them on Craigslist.org. My bike, a few of my guitars, my piano -- all Craigslist scores. When I'm looking for something in particular, I'll go to Craigslist and dig through the listings a few times a day. Listpic takes some of the pain out of the process, and it's a useful tool if you're looking for a specific type or color of car, bike, couch, apartment or whatever. As far as I can tell, Listpic only displays listings that have been posted with photographs. (Obviously).

Actually, the thing this is really going to blow apart is the personals section. People looking for dates always look at the photo first (right?) so Listpic will give you single types a way to sort through those potential suitors without having to read about the size of their Doctor Who fan fic collections.

Morning Reboot: Wednesday October 4
Now Playing: Medeski, Martin and Wood
Topic: reboot

The Morning Reboot is our daily link roundup here on Monkey Bites. Every morning, we shake the feed tree and catch all the latest falling tech news fruit. Occasionally, we will revisit some of these stories later in the day. Here are today's top news items:

• AOL releases the beta of OpenRide, an desktop tool that lets broadband-connected Windows users access the web, video content, email and AIM. [GigaOM]

• WalMart's own MySpacey social network, TheHub, goes over like a lead balloon and is pulled after 10 weeks. [Mashable]

• PodCamp West, an unconference about podcasting, comes to San Francisco on November 18 and 19, 2006. [Scripting News]

• SSIA: A mobile-friendly version of Wikipedia. [Micro Persuasion]
  

Google Launches Universal Gadgets
Now Playing: Wojciech Karolak
Topic: search

Google Gadgets have gone universal. The search and services company announced today that anyone can put its Google-powered widgets on any site or blog.

Google has had these Gadgets available for a while, but only for use on Google Desktop or Google Personalized Homepage. All of the popular widgets are there, including weather, driving directions, Google Maps, Google Calendar, traffic, Pac-Man, Hangman, a Google Video player and a moon phase calendar, among hundreds of others.

Google's push to universal use echoes a similar move by MySpace, which is developing its own widget distro site called The SpringBox. Pete Cashmore has more on this trend over at his site, Mashable.

I like the look and feel of Google's Gadgets. There's something very basic and 1998 about them. Of course, they're lacking the Flash interfaces that so many other widgets use, and because Google Gadgets use JavaScript and XML, they won't work on MySpace.

The widget craze is one that looks like it's going to stick around. Personally, I think one or two well-placed widgets are fine, especially if they extend the functionality of the site I'm browsing. But if people load up on them, they just become distracting. More often than not, there are better ways to wrap syndicated content. Gadgets and widgets can be a real nuisance. So please, use with care!

In other Google news, the company's Ajax Search group has released beta version 1.0 of their API. Developers can add Ajaxified Google search to their sites, and there's a new GNewsSearch class that lets you restrict results to specific news sources. Sounds a bit like Rollyo for Google News?