Tony Aldridge - Softonic English

Google ready for phone charge

Google Mobile As many could have predicted, it would appear that those Google boffins are planning to takeover the mobile market in much the same way as they have with the internet. Remember the internet? Clearly Google believes the future will fit in a pocket.

Google already has a mobile version of its search engine facility available but sources say its big move is yet to come, and that will be a specialised search facility purely for mobile content such as games, ringtones and music. The business model is based on the company’s internet search engine with companies eventually paying a premium to have their results listed at the top of the page. And that page will be a whole lot smaller, and presumably more expensive.

Perhaps the only surprise is how long it’s taking Google to grasp control of the mobile market. But then Google don’t usually do anything without making sure it’ll change the world.

Pack-up your life, Lemmings is back

Lemmings My blog posts might not be the award-winning scoops of journalism that I was tipped for way back when at Bournemouth University, but I know for a fact, reader, that you are going to remember this moment for the rest of your week. So sit down, if you aren’t already, and get ready for some stomach-punching news. Those legendary digging, bridge-building, parachuting, exploding Lemmings are now inside your PC and at your control.

In an im Parachuting Lemmings maculate DHTML remake of the classic game, all written in javascript, you can play fun, tricky, taxing and mayhem levels and save your progress. One annoying omission is the lack of sound, especially exciting I remember when hundreds of the green-haired rodents were set to explode. By the way, did you know, the suicide myth surrounding Lemmings was created by Walt Disney. Anyway get playing this and you can do what you want to the little creatures.

Unfortunately since writing this article it would appear that Lemmings DHTML has been around since 2004, just no-one’s heard about it. My career is in tatters.

A new battered browser from Firefox

Firefox We could spend the summer talking about Firefox extensions, add-ons and plug-ins but the truth is I want a holiday and you haven’t got time. So let’s keep this brief.

Like the Rolling Stones, Firefox just can’t stop playing and now they’ve decided what we all really need is a new browser. It’s an interesting move because one of the only things that has stayed the same with the internet in the past decade is that little bar at the top of our screens.

The latest Firefox addition – Locationbar² – basically dismantles the URL into different segments which you can then swap between by holding the Ctrl, Shift or Alt buttons. Having just installed it myself it does suddenly seem quite handy to be able to jump between separate sections of the URL. And clearly the longer your URL the more convenient you will find it. Let’s wait and see whether this really makes life easier or if it’s just another case of pointless browser tampering.

Google launches Mapplets

Google Mapplets Stop the world – word is out that Google today adds the Mapplets widget to Google Maps, essentially the micro-data of the planet.

Although still in their preview stage when I last checked, Mapplets gives world-watchers the chance to see what movies are playing in their area, check gas (or petrol) prices at different garages, measure any distance across the world, search real estate and hover over crop circles, like an alien, I guess. There are about 30 different Mapplets yo Google Crop Circle u can add at the moment through Google’s content directory. Here’s my personal favourite.

Google describes Mapplets as mini-webpages that are served inside an IFrame within the Google Maps site. You can put anything inside this mini-webpage that you can put into a normal webpage, including HTML, Javascript, and Flash. Google provides a Javascript API that gives the Mapplet access to services such as manipulating the map, fetching remote content, and storing user preferences. Users can publish new content with a return URL. So, once again it looks like Google have created something we can’t live without. Still can’t find a fly fishing Mapplet, though.

Social networking site for dead people

Respectance When I was 10 I went to my nan’s funeral and stayed up all night with my uncle Mike watching naked American women on television. Grief hits people in different ways.

Perhaps if my nan died now I would take advantage of the latest social networking site – Respectance. Founded by entrepreneur Tom Wilkinson and Kazaa man Richard Derks, the site allows grievers to write tributes and memories, share photos and videos, and build and join various groups.

A quick tour of the site shows-up tributes to the usual crowd – Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley (of whom one writer adds – amazing man, especially in Las Vegas), with lengthy biographies – as well as more touching and personal memories from recently bereaved families and friends. Side-by-side all these are a whole group of dead dogs wearing sunglasses or superman costumes with tributes such as, ‘Sparky LoLo was a great pup’.

Only in death, and on the worldwide web, does it seem are we all truly equal.

The site is not accepting advertising but charges $1 for each funeral video. People video funerals? I’m only glad my nan died when she did.

Zoho launches Facebook office app

Zoho As American research recently revealed, Facebook is the social networking site of the intellectual, or at least the university student with rich parents.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that Zoho, an office suite provider, has launched a new Facebook application allowing users to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations while networking with their fraternity. The app offers editing facilities (both personal and shared) from Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show.

There are plenty of applications for Facebook including music add-ons, graffiti, ‘zombies’ that bite your friends, a ‘where I’ve been map’ and a whole load of other stuff that makes keeping in contact with people you don’t really like more fun.

All this comes as Nielsen/NetRatings warns that MySpace may have jumped the shark after May saw a slump in its UK traffic while Facebook and Bebo continued to reel-in more new users. With Facebook poised to overtake MySpace’s Alexa ranking, could it be time for a major facelift?