Google programmers are adding support for the Perl programming language to its App Engine service for hosting Web applications, but so far it’s not really an official project.

The work is the project of Google employee Brad Fitzpatrick, who disclosed the project on his blog Tuesday. But he’s not a member of the App Engine team, and Google isn’t promising Perl support, he stated. By going public with the project, he hopes to intercept other Perl fans’ work in the area.

“I (along with other Perl hackers here at Google) are now allowed to work on this 20 percent project of ours out in the open where other Perl hackers can help us out, should you be so inclined,” Fitzpatrick said. (Google permits engineers to spend 20 percent of their work time on pet projects.)

“Here at Google…it’s not one of our huge languages so I don’t get to write as much Perl as I used to. I’d still like to run my personal Web apps on App Engine, though, and I’d like to write them in Perl,” he said.

Google plans to add new languages to App Engine, but hasn’t yet stated which. Perl ranks fourth on the list of desired App Engine languages, after Java, PHP, and Ruby.

Check Fitzpatrick’s post for details on the roadmap and what he thinks is necessary to make Perl a full-fledged part of App Engine.

Fore more visit Source: [webware]

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The easiest way to describe Spire, a new community site that made its debut Monday, is as a more grown-up, cultured Yelp: the latter offers expert advice on the ideal dive bars in Brooklyn, whereas the former focuses on four-star restaurants and hotels across the river in Manhattan. Calling itself …

Source [The social]

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iLike, the social music service that rose to popularity with the launch of Facebook’s developer platform last year, is getting bigger. The company announced that membership has surpassed 30 million users, and that it’ll soon be getting the buzz out even more by letting developers put music on …

Source [The social]

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–It appears Verizon Wireless doesn’t need the iPhone after all. The wireless carrier - a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) - said Tuesday that it added 1.5 million net new customers in the second quarter, a tick higher than Wall Street expectations. The number indicates it is taking a more massive […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net

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As part of its annual “Wikimania” conference in Alexandria, Egypt, the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation–parent company of Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and a number of others–announced two new members to its board of trustees. The announcement went out on Friday and is effective immediately.

Taking over from current chair Florence Devouard will be …

Source [The social]

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I just got the preview for Backblaze, yet another on the internet backup service. Or to use the current vernacular, cloud storage. It’s a nifty service in that it does but one thing: back up your Personal computer (Macs coming). Setup is so simple my cat could do it: you grab the software, run it, enter in an ID and password, and you’re done.

By default, Backblaze begins to backup your Computer in idle times, grabbing everything on your disk except the contents of your system and program directories, and your temp files. There’s no storage or bandwidth limit, and it will store files up to 4GB in size. Backblaze costs $5 a month–quite reasonable.

You can't beat Backblaze's simplicity.

If you want to change the default backup directories or filter out files by type, you can do that in the control panel. You can also change the backup schedule so the app isn’t constantly waiting for idle time to send data. The service, as simple as it is, also gets geek cred for giving users the option to set a private encryption key for their data; if you use this option, even Backblaze won’t be able to recover files if you lose your password. On the other hand, Backblaze can’t access open files, which means it won’t back up your Outlook e-mail unless you remember to shut the app. Mozy handles Outlook superior.

If you want a highly configurable backup solution, there are plenty of competitive options (Mozy, for instance, or Carbonite, which I use). Backblaze is the backup app you recommend to your mother, or anyone else who should be backing up their computer but is either too scared of the technicalities or too lazy to do the work necessary to make sure the app grabs all the files it needs to.

Backblaze will let users access files they’ve backed up from its Web site, but it isn’t designed for that. It’s not a sharing or a syncing platform. And I’m not impressed by the restore services. Since the app doesn’t back up your entire PC, you can’t use it to do a bare-metal rebuild of a machine from backup. You can’t even do a restore of all your data over the Web: You can get up to 1GB of data downloaded at a time (in Zip files–not exactly user-friendly), or 4.7GB on a DVD (for a fee), or, in a real catastrophe, up to 160GB on a USB hard drive sent by overnight mail to you (for more of a fee, but not a usurious one).

The service is still in private beta, but you can get access to the trial (15 days free) at https://www.backblaze.com/webware.

Fore more visit Source: [webware]

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This might not seem like the most glamorous bit of the energy revolution, but cables are a big frikkin’ deal. And though superconductors are pretty sexy, regular old conducting cables can get pretty fancy too. Particularly when they’re under 300 to 1,000 feet of salt water.

In this video, I’ll take you on a tiny tour of how complex a wire really can be. First, you see two layers of thin, bundled steel cables to protect the cable from stresses. Obviously, the ocean can exert a big amount of mechanical energy, otherwise we wouldn’t be building wave power plants at all.

The materials used to house and insulate the wires have to be changed as well. Since weight isn’t a problem but water-proofing is, heavy rubber is used to insulate the three copper conductors. Also included in the cable are fiber-optic wires for communicating with the power-generating structures, be they tidal turbines, wave generators, or offshore wind turbines.

All together, what once seemed like a pretty simple idea gets massively complicated. But it’s just one more little step we’ve got to take toward a renewable future.

Filmed at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, UK,

For more visit Source:[green.yahoo]

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WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–A federal appeals court tossed out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. (CBS) on Monday for its live broadcast of Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The ruling by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest rebuke to the Federal Communications Commission’s stepped-up campaign to police content […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net

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A look at the new Last.fm homepage.

(Credit: Last.fm)

Social music site Last.fm has unveiled a new look: a slick new design, an iPhone app, a partnership with Logitech to stream music to compatible home stereo systems, and a host of new features.

With the new features, …

Source [The social]

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