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Google's speedier internet standard is now an actual standard
Google's QUIC data technology is now an official internet standard, potentially improving connections worldwide.
Google pushes for an official web crawler standard
One of the cornerstones of Google's business (and really, the web at large) is the robots.txt file that sites use to exclude some of their content from the search engine's web crawler, Googlebot. It minimizes pointless indexing and sometimes keeps sensitive info under wraps. Google thinks its crawler tech can improve, though, and so it's shedding some of its secrecy. The company is open-sourcing the parser used to decode robots.txt in a bid to foster a true standard for web crawling. Ideally, this takes much of the mystery out of how to decipher robots.txt files and will create more of a common format.
New web security standard promises safer, faster browsing
It's safe to say that web security could use a tune-up given the deluge of malware attacks and data breaches. Thankfully, it's about to get one. The Internet Engineering Task Force has approved Transport Layer Security 1.3, a new standard that makes some fundamental improvements to how and when web encryption kicks in. For the most part, int involves both shrinking the window of opportunity for intruders and preventing them from recycling code.
Big tech companies want to make email more secure
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast and LinkedIn have joined forces to create a new email mechanism that makes sure the messages you send are encrypted. In the proposal they've submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force, these tech titans called their creation SMTP Strict Transport Security (SMTP STS). See, the underlying technology behind email has remained largely unchanged since it first became available. An encryption system was introduced some time ago -- and big email providers like Gmail do use it -- but it's susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Web status code tells you when sites are censored
With a few exceptions, web status codes are meant to indicate errors. A 404 page shows up when you tried to reach content that wasn't found, for example. However, there's now a code for those times when that absence is all too intentional. The newly published 451 code (a nod to Fahrenheit 451, naturally) lets site hosts and network providers warn you when censorship and similar "legal obstacles" prevent you from seeing web material. In theory, this gives you a much better explanation than the generic 403 "forbidden" code -- and a not-so-subtle hint that you need to jump through hoops to get the truth.
Internet infrastructure groups push for more independence from US monitoring
Internet overseers like ICANN, the IETF and the W3C aren't happy that the US strongly influences their operations, especially when it likes to spy on much of the world. Accordingly, several of these organizations have just called for truly international governance of online affairs. The groups want to speed up the globalization of their roles and let everyone contribute "on an equal footing." In other words, they want national institutions like the US Department of Commerce (which monitors ICANN) out of the picture. A statement of intent doesn't guarantee action, but it's clear that Americans shouldn't expect to maintain their current level of control.
Skype promising CD quality sound from new 'Opus' audio codec, fewer choppy calls
Skype's got a new audio codec that it thinks you should be pumped about, and it's called "Opus." It's been kicked around at Skype since March 2009, though work didn't begin in earnest until June of the same year, and it was just certified by the IETF as a standard of online audio. Senior Skype architect Koen Vos lead a team of audio engineers to create the hybrid audio codec, combining Skype's own "SILK" codec with Xiph.Org's "CELT" codec, intending to create a low-bandwidth codec "designed for the internet." But what does that mean for us? It means "CD quality" audio (fullband stereo sound) over Skype, regardless of internet connection. And what about those pesky packet loss issues that cause Skype calls to often sound choppy? "It has multiple mechanics to deal with and recover from packet loss plaguing the network," promises audio/video product engineering director Karlheinz Wurm. So ... uh, less of a chance of sounding like an Autobot then? Great! Wurm says the new codec "will make a quiet but crystal clear entry into the world" without naming exactly when. And yes, Opus is expected to become standard across all Skype platforms. What's that, you want to watch a 45 minute speech about Opus? We've got you covered, just below the break.
Microsoft's 'HTTP Speed + Mobility' aims to make the web faster, could be the next big ping
We're generally satisfied with our internet performance, but we wouldn't say no to a speed boost. A Microsoft blog post reveals plans to enable just that, with the company's proposed "HTTP Speed + Mobility" approach to HTTP 2.0. Have you thought about what life would be like with a faster internet? MS says Y-E-S! "There is already broad consensus about the need to make web browsing much faster," the company proclaimed. Juicy. The suggested protocol will, well, focus on achieving greater speed, but Microsoft hasn't detailed exactly how it will accomplish that, beyond mentioning that it's based on the Google SPDY protocol, which on its own aims to reduce latency and congestion by prioritizing requests and removing the limit on simultaneous streams over a single TCP connection. For its part, MS says it will be expanding on SPDY to "address the needs of mobile devices and applications," which we presume would be in Google's best interests as well. It's safe to say that Microsoft's being a bit more forthcoming during its meetings with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) this week -- the organization responsible for creating HTTP 2.0 -- so perhaps we'll be hearing more about this fabled faster internet before we turn anew to Q2.
The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond
This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture. We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.
MMOX standards at the 74th IETF
From 22 to 27 March this year in San Francisco, the 74th IETF meeting will take place in San Francisco. The IETF is the Internet Engineering Task Force, a volunteer group responsible for the development and promotion of Internet standards, and while it represents just one of the cogs in the Internet's success and usability, it is fundamentally responsible for most of the interoperable network and communication protocols in use today. For this particular meeting's schedule, there's a new BoF waiting for approval. To be jointly chaired by Linden Lab and IBM, the MMOX BoF (loosely translated as Massive Multiplayer Online X -- where X stands for 'stuff' or 'experience', take your pick) is to tackle the preliminaries of virtual environment standards and interoperability mechanisms.
GSM Association proudly endorses NFC and Carrier ENUM
The GSM Association has been gung-ho about near-field communications (NFC) for a good while now, but just recently at a meeting in Macau did it take the opportunity to officially proclaim its support for NFC and Carrier ENUM. As for the former, it's urging manufacturers to have NFC technology (which is most commonly used for mobile payment systems) in "mainstream mobile phones by mid-2009 by using the standardized single wire protocol (SWP) interface, which enables communications between NFC hardware and a SIM card." Furthermore, it gave a hearty thumbs-up to ENUM (previously known as Number Resolution Service), which is an IETF-sanctioned standard for converting traditional phone numbers into IP addresses. It also announced that a related service (dubbed PathFinder) was generally available to mobile and fixed network operators from NeuStar. All this sounds fine and dandy, but what we're really interested in is what these folks did in Macau after the business was settled. Lucky...[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of ISOC]Read - Official GSMA support for ENUMRead - Support for NFC / ENUM
