Google Books

Google has made available some books which can be read entirely online. Some are also downloadable such as the one below by Edward Gibbons.

Opera Unite vs Google Wave?

Google Wave

Application shortcuts on Google Chrome

I continue to marvel and find the application shortcuts provided by Google Chrome very useful not just because of its looks and feel (although that plays a big part as well), but its loading speed which allows you to quickly work on the website or web service as if it is just another desktop application (take a look at the quick launch shortcuts screenshot below). Perhaps there is some truth in saying that the browser has now indeed become the operating system.

First impression of Google Chrome

Things I like:

• lightness
• speed of loading and rendering
• Apple-like feel
• browser acting like an application especially when you create application shortcuts (it really does feel and look like an application instead of being in a browser environment and unless my mind deceives me, it loads faster in such a mode than in a normal Chrome mode)
• creating application shortcuts on desktops etc.
• larger viewing space
• history shown in thumbnails
• task manager and stats 
• nice looking Javascript console
• bookmarks as you type at the address bar much like FireFox 3

Things I don't like:

• I miss my Google toolbar, bookmarks, etc
• It actually detects security issues with GMail!
• Some scripts (especially in Facebook which can become quite annoying) and plugins do not work (Quicktime is an example)
• no RSS support .. albeit at the moment
• not being able to use some cool addons in FF i.e. Shareaholics etc. takes valuable points from otherwise a pretty cool browser
• unable to import my vast collection of bookmarks from my Google account
• unable to move backwards and forwards to a few level deep

I will try out a bit more and log down after a night's sleep.

Screenshots

Lively

I am bought over by the potential of Lively to be used as an educational tool for enhancing greater participation from students to chat or discuss about their subjects of learning. I was never a believer in using Second Life for educational purposes largely due to its cumbersome application which uses a lot of bandwidth, at least in my personal experience. I am also put off by the fact that I had to open another application and interface to conduct my explorations in the virtual world. Lively gives me a new flexibility that I never had with Second Life. I am able to embed my virtual rooms or spaces into existing virtual learning environments simply by pasting the generated script to my web page or blog. In this way, I can encourage students to login to an existing VLE and make use of Lively to conduct educational activities within a virtual academic context which Second Life could not do. I am also interested in the 'lightness' of Lively which requires only a small and simple installation on our desktops. Another feature is its features of deciding on access rights which I could use to formulate open or close tutorial sessions. On top of that, I have the capability to archive all conversations for research, assessment or evaluation.