Archive for category Google
Test Driving Google’s New Public DNS
Posted by Brad Rowley in Google on December 7th, 2009
Google introduced its Public DNS earlier this month. I can’t say there was a lot of fanfare over the new offering, but it does appear that people have been polarized in their opinions. Some believe it will add speed and security to browsing, others see privacy issues and yet other just see Big Brother around every corner. As with any new technological innovation, especially those introduced by über-tech companies like Google and Microsoft, there is a lot of FUD out there right now.
I have switched over my main desktop computer and my netbook to this public DNS server. My impressions (purely qualitative… not very scientific) are that this DNS is somewhat faster that using my ISP’s DNS server. This only stands to reason, as Google DNS does caching and prefetching of lookups. Typical DNS resolution involves, to some degree, searching from a top level domain (e.g. .com, .ca) and then working down until an authoritative resolution can be made.
Even though this does appear to be fast (to me anyway) I’m not ready to switch over some devices, like my Vonage VOIP adapter.
Learn more about Google’s Public DNS by visiting one of these sites (FUD free!)
- Introduction to Google’s Public DNS at Google Code
- Hands On with Google’s Public DNS at PC Mag
There’s also a response from Google’s only competitor in this space, OpenDNS.
Check them both out, give it a try and decide for yourself!
IE8, FF Pwned at Pwn2Own
Posted by Brad Rowley in Google, Microsoft, Security, Software on March 20th, 2009
Mere days after the release of Microsoft’s latest browser (Internet Explorer 8), contestants at Pwn2Own tried to “pwn” browsers on several platforms. Day one saw IE8, Firefox and Safari exploited. Day two was uneventful, with no exploits of mobile platforms.
The only browser not exploited (so far) is Google’s Chrome. So, without any futher ado…
Update: March 20, 2009
It looks like the version of IE8 used at Pwn2Own may have not been the final release version. Microsoft has stated on their Security Research and Defense blog that “the final release of Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista blocks the .NET DEP+ASLR bypass mechanism from malicious websites on the Internet”. If I am understanding things correctly, the combination of the final release IE8 and Vista is quite secure. The Internet Storm Center questions whether IE8 would have been exploited had the competition been held a day later and the “Official” release been available.
Check out the links and decide for yourself if you’re going to install IE8.
More OpenID news
Posted by Brad Rowley in Google, Microsoft, Trends on March 12th, 2009
Fresh on the heels of my earlier post…
Microsoft has a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the OpenID Window Live Provider that allows you to associate an OpenID alias with your Windows Live login. With Google and Microsoft both heavily supporting OpenID, the reality of having a single signon for all your web accounts is getting closer to reality.
For more information, check out the news releases at OpenID and the Window Live ID blog.
Google Friend Connect and Other Goodies
Posted by Brad Rowley in Google, Trends on March 12th, 2009
Google has recently released another slice of Google Friend Connect. The Friend Connect API allows you to access the core features of Friend Connect to integrate into your web site.
This API gives you a few tools to increase traffic to your site and build it into a community though social networking. It utilizes open services like OpenID, OAuth and OpenSocial to authenticate visitiors to your web site.
Google offers this exciting social networking tool (and others) over at their Social Web blog. If you’re feeling brave you can download and test plugins for WordPress, Drupal and Phpbb over at Google Code.