Technically Speaking

Adobe has released its latest version of Lightroom, Lightroom Beta 4. If you have been using the prior versions and liked them then you should surely like this one. One of the main things to note is “the achievement of full feature parity between the Windows and Mac OS versions of Lightroom”. Everything Lightroom offers on Mac can now be done in Windows. A few other enhancements have been listed below. Hurry up and get your free copy today.

Lightroom Beta 4 also features:
• Groundbreaking changes in the way tone curve adjustments are made and displayed, giving you the highest quality results in an interface that’s easier to use than ever before.
• More streamlined and elegant user interface - We’ve made several changes to the look and feel based on your feedback in the earlier beta releases.
• Customizable interface - You can now display only the controls you want to be visible.
• Precision white balance selection tool
• Facility to easily rename and convert files to DNG after they’ve been imported to the Lightroom library
• Increased interaction between Lightroom library organizational structure and the underlying file system
• Filter and search presets to more quickly find the photographs you want
• Better performance and improved interface for the Web module features
• Develop control improvements based on community feedback, including comments from the Pixmantec user community (welcome!)

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The browser wars are heating up, as the first beta of Firefox 2.0 is due on Tuesday July 11th, and Internet Explorer version 7.0 is now on it’s third beta release.

Firefox fans, and browser junkies have an opportunity to get a jump on Tuesday’s beta, as a public “release candidate” has been posted on the Mozilla FTP site. This nightly build is finally feature complete, although it’s still not completely ready for mass consumption.
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Reports from early testers compliment two of the significant new features: an integrated spell checker, and an anti-phishing tool. The spell-checker promises to make blog and forum postings more lucid. The phishing filter (an integrated component of IE 7.0 as well) works with locally stored lists of bad sites, along with Google’s site listing, and possibly others down the road.

The rest of the interface stays mostly the same, unlike the more radical changes in IE 7.0. Firefox 2.0 does include a horizontal scrolling capability for tabs, and an ability to close a tab directly from within the tab itself. The Options dialog has been reworked to include a horizontal, tabbed based interface, and numerous changes have been made under the hood.

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According to the Google Blog, Google has acquired Measure Map, an analytics system for blogs, from Adaptive Path. There is a limited beta test up and running over at the Measure Map Website. Many users have been
using analytics to track stats on their sites - I wonder how this will stack up.

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I don’t know anything about analytics but if it is anything like what I am currently using, Site Meter, then I am sure I will be happy with it. Besides, Google has a knack for making all of their products free. Site Meter is charging me a monthly fee.

Google enters the IM arena with an application that can make phone calls or IM over the internet. The technology is on par with that provided by Skype and thus Google is now in direct competition with them. The official launch date of the application is today and I am eager to try it out when I get home tonight.

When you go to download Google Talk, this will be what you’ll see:

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. Google Talk offers you:

* Choice: Get in touch how and when you want to–over email, IM or a call

* Quality: Talk through your computer but hear your friends as if they were in the same room

* Convenience: Your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded into Google Talk so inviting or talking to your friends is just a click away

Google Talk is in beta and requires a Gmail username and password.

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Download it here and if you need a Gmail account send me and email @ Tony-at-tonytalkstech.com and I will do what I can to give you an account. I don’t have many to give out at onetime so you may have to be patient if your requesting an email account.

This news comes as somewhat of a shock. Apple will cease to use the IBM chip architecture in their PowerPCs. In actuality, Apple has been preparing for this switch for sometime now, as Jobs explains:

In his speech, Jobs revealed that Apple has been developing all versions of OS X since its inception to run on Intel and PowerPC chips.

“Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life the past five years,” he said.

The move to Intel marks a tectonic shift for Apple, which has used processors from IBM and Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor) throughout the life of the Mac. However, the company has changed architectures before, shifting in the 1990s from Motorola’s 68000 family of chips to the PowerPC architecture jointly developed by IBM and Motorola.

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The main reason for the switch is that the future of the IBM PowerPC chips has nearly come to an end. They can’t squeeze much more performance out of it and Apple was hoping to have a 3Ghz machine in 2006. With the PowerPC this would be possible.

As for why Apple was making the shift, Jobs pointed both to past problems and to the PowerPC road map, which he said won’t deliver enough performance at the low-power usages needed for powerful notebooks.

Two years ago at the same conference, Jobs introduced the first G5-based Power Macs and promised developers that the company would have a 3GHz PowerMac within 12 months. The company still doesn’t have a machine that fast. “We haven’t been able to deliver,” he said. Nor has Apple been able to introduce a G5-based laptop–something Jobs said “I think a lot of you would like.”

Things weren’t looking better in the coming months, Jobs said, saying that IBM’s PowerPC road map would only deliver about a fifth the performace per watt as a comparable Intel chip.

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With this change, I think that Apple will be able to tap into Microsoft’s market a lot easier. It might even be possible to have machines dual boot Longhorn and Leopard. An interesting thought, heh.

I found this letter written to the developer of DVD decrypter and was deeply saddened by its content. It appears that the copy protection law passed in October of 2003 applies to the use of this application. So our options for copying DVDs are quickly disappearing.

Hello world,

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Let’s start with the good…. (tumble weed passes by) Ok, and now onto the bad: DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0 is the last version you’ll ever see. We hoped this day would never come, but it has, and I can promise you, nobody is more gutted about it than I am.

What started as a bit of fun, putting a GUI around some existing code, turned into something that I can only describe as “part of me” – yes, I know that’s sad As I’ve recently been made aware (by a letter, hand delivered to my door, last Tuesday), due to some law that was changed back in October 2003, circumventing copy protection isn’t allowed.

Ok so it has taken a while (almost 2 years), but eventually “a certain company” has decided they don’t like what I’m doing (circumventing their protection) and have come at me like a pack of wolves. I’ve no choice but to cease everything to do with DVD Decrypter. I realize this is going to be one of those “that sucks - fight them!” kinda things, but at the end of the day, it”s my life and I”m not about to throw it all away (before it has even really started) attempting to fight a battle I can”t possibly win.

If 321 Studios can’t do it with millions, what chance do I have with £50?! As I’m sure most of you have already noticed, the site has been down for a few days. That surprised me as much as the next person (slight breakdown in communication), or I would have issued this statement on it directly.

So anyway, from this point forward, I’m no longer permitted to provide any sort of assistance with anything that helps people infringe the rights of “a certain company.” That means, no more emails, no more forum posts, no PM’s, no nothing! END OF STORY. The domain name will be transferred over to the company by the end of the week (9th June, according to the undertakings I have to sign) so don’t email it thinking “Oh, I’ll just ask LIGHTNING UK! for support on this.” You’ll not be getting the intended recipient and could be landing yourself in sh1t!

With 3.5.4.0 being the last version, it makes sense for everyone to disable the “check for new versions” feature, as obviously there won’t be any. Of course what I really mean is that you should all stop using the program out of respect for the company’s rights.

Anyone hosting DVD Decrypter is advised to cease doing so immediately. I’ve the feeling they won’t stop with just me. I’m having to contact anyone I know of that is (at the very least, the “mirror” sites), and tell them to stop. Copies of those emails must also be sent to the solicitors so they can check I’m doing everything I’m supposed to. If I don’t, I die.

It is of course down to the owners of those sites to react how they want to. It’s not my job to force you to do anything you don’t want to, I’m just giving you some friendly advice. Maybe it’s just me, but I see this as a bit of an “end of an era.” I realize there are other tools, but there’s no telling how much longer they’ll last, and not only that, mine was the oldest! I’ve met loads of great people over the years and I want to take this opportunity to wish them every success for the future - yes DDBT peeps, that includes you lot! : “( I hope you’ve all enjoyed my contribution to the DVD scene and maybe I’ll see ya around sometime.

LIGHTNING UK!
(Author of the once “Ultimate DVD Ripper,” DVD Decrypter)

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DVD Shrink and DVD43 might be one of the last great programs out there that can do the job for you. I suggest you get them now before they to are pulled.

Yesterday, the world’s largest passenger plane, a double deck plane, successfully completed a 4 hour test flight. The Airbus A380 is visioned as the future of air travel with room for 840 people total. When it is in production the likely configuration setup for 3 classes will seat 555 passengers with options like bedrooms, gyms, bars, spacious lounges and even a basketball court. In addition to all of that, Airbus states the A380 will use 20% less fuel and will fly quieter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the 747.

The A380 is Airbus’s answer to the Boeing 747. Here are the stat comparing the planes and the future plans of Boeing in the super jumbo jet arena.

The Boeing 747 had dominated the jumbo-jet market for more than three decades, and the company has left open the possibility of trying to rev up dormant sales. Meanwhile, Airbus highlights these selling points for its plane, vs. the 747. The A380:

• Has at least 35% more seats. Depending on airlines’ specific orders, it can accommodate between 555 and 800 passengers.

• Flies 10% farther without refueling.

• Is more fuel efficient.

Instead of replacing the aging 747 with a new goliath-size plane, Boeing is championing the development of a 250-seat 7E7 Dreamliner. The high-tech, superlight plane can fly between almost any two airports in the world. The 7E7 is expected to be unveiled at the end of next year.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of International Lease Finance, the largest customer for both Boeing and Airbus, says there’s a need for both the 7E7 and the A380. “I don’t think the two compete as much as the press has made out of it. They serve two different segments of the market.” At the same time, Udvar-Hazy says, “Boeing miscalculated the 747 replacement market.”

Airbus has orders for almost 150 A380s. It expects to break even with another 100 orders.

None of the financially strapped U.S. airlines has placed an order. U.S. transport companies FedEx and UPS have ordered cargo versions of the A380.

Nevertheless, the plane should be much in evidence in a few years to passengers flying high-volume international routes such as London Heathrow to New York John F. Kennedy.

“The A380 is critical for us,” says Eryl Smith, director of planning and development at Heathrow. “It will change the face of Heathrow and the face of long-haul travel.”

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Currently, four prototypes will be used in a 2200 hours flight test programme lasting 15 months. Then upon certification the plane will hopefully go into production in the third quarter of 2006. Australian carrier Qantas became the first airline to commit to U.S. flights, announcing here that it will begin using the A380 between Melbourne and Los Angeles starting in October 2006.

Gmail has upped the ante. They are now giving account holders and new gmail users 2GB of free space.

Storage is an important part of email, but that doesn’t mean you should have to worry about it. To celebrate our one-year birthday, we’re giving everyone one more gigabyte. But why stop the party there? Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2GBs by giving you more space as we are able. We know that email will only become more important in people’s lives, and we want Gmail to keep up with our users and their needs. From Gmail, you can expect more.

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More free space to come…. What will the response to this news be from the other email services?

An interesting article, found in the BBC news site last Wednesday, asks the following question: There are dozens of photo sharing websites out there, but one, Flickr, has caught the imagination of the global weblog community. Now it has been bought by Yahoo! So what makes Flickr unique?

I have been a member for some time now but only recently I have started posting images and getting involved with the community. Flickr is an addictive and time consuming website that is guaranteed to have something for everyone. Check out what the BBC has to say about it all.

Users can create a list of friends who also use the site - instantly building online communities through picture sharing. Friends can write a comment beneath your photos or even attach a discreet note to part of the image itself, turning the whole experience into more of a conversation.

This casual sociability is what makes the site so fun. Tom Coates, recent winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award for his weblog plasticbag.org, posts several photos every week from his phone and camera. “It’s not about taking artful shots,” he says, “it’s about capturing moments - things your eyes have got caught on - and doing what you’d do to a friend if they happened to be on the street with you, saying ‘check that out, isn’t that awesome’”.

But Flickr reaches beyond friends - its archive is open to everyone, so any stranger can see your photos, and vice versa.

While you can group your own photos into themed collections - perhaps a gallery of your holiday or of your pets - you can also set up, or join, themed groups. It could be a wedding, so guests can contribute their photos of the big day, or a public group devoted to pictures of your neighbourhood, your favourite hobby, or even objects (scooters, peeling paint, muscles…).

With so many photos on the site, how do you find them? Tags. When you upload a photo you can “tag” it with a few keywords describing the picture. Anyone can search for photos matching specific tags and create spontaneous collections of themed pictures taken by all of Flickr’s users. How about 21,050 flowers, 3,581 smiles or 764 photos of wind?

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That is about the extent of the site, but it is the people you meet and the things you see that make it all that more interesting. If you haven’t been to Flickr yet, go and check it out! Don’t be afraid to become a member and try it out. It’s free you know!

It looks like Yahoo has taken another step in arming themselves to compete with Google. It is now official that Yahoo has bought the online sharing service, Flickr. Along with their recent beta launch of Yahoo 360, a new blogging tool, their instant messaging, Internet radio and of course the search engine/portal, Yahoo may be sufficiently equipped to do battle. (Google has Picasa, Blogger, and the most popular search engine, and Gmail) But what exactly will Yahoo do to make them outshine Google?

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Flickr lets users upload digital photos from computers and camera phones, put together photo albums, and post photos to blogs, among other things.

Joanna Stevens, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, confirmed the deal Sunday but did not disclose the terms.

“We look forward to working with them for their innovation and product development across the Yahoo Network in the coming months,” she said.

Stevens said Flickr will remain a standalone site for now. The company’s employees, however, will relocate to Sunnyvale later this year.

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Yahoo and Google have many other services that they provide but the ones listed seem to be the big “Money Makers” right now. I think that the search engine is the main component for both companies and Google has control in that arena. Next would probably be email and instant messaging. Yahoo has the upper hand here, for the time being. Once Gmail goes public who knows what will happen, but Google doesn’t do IM. For online photo sharing, Yahoo has it, but Google’s Picasa software is pretty powerful. Over all I think that they are fairly matched and Google may have the people behind them for now. Yahoo has done a great job of positioning themselves and SHOULD be able to tip the scale to their favor. I will be keeping a close eye on this one.

It has been reported, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Buzzworthy, that Google is randomly giving out Gmail accounts to users of their search engine. The above image depicts a link that you may see that allows the user to sign up for an account. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, this is what Google has to say about the matter:

Since we launched Gmail in April 2004, we’ve been focused on improving the service, relying on our users to spread the word and invite others to try it out. The response has been great, and now we’re ready for some more Gmail users. …

As we make room for more Gmail users, we want to first extend invitations to Google users. We’re still working to make Gmail better, so for now, we’re just inviting a small number at random. Looks like that’s you! We’re really excited to share Gmail with you and we hope you like it.

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Google has done it again. They are now indexing television shows by tapping the closed caption feed and capturing still video to go with it. Currently the system has been launched as a Beta with limited channel selection. Mainly San Fransico Bay Area stations are being indexed but hopefully in a short time many more stations (national network stations) will be added.

Our mission is to organize the world’s information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day. Google Video enables you to search a growing archive of televised content – everything from sports to dinosaur documentaries to news shows.

Just type in your search term (for instance, ipod or Napa Valley) or do a more advanced search (for instance, title:nightline) and Google Video will search the closed captioning text of all the programs in our archive for relevant results. Click on a program title on your results page and you can look through short snippets of the text along with still images from the show. Visit the “About this show” side panel to learn when this show will air next.

Right now we’re just testing this product, so you’ll find programs only from a limited number of channels, which we’ve been indexing since late December 2004. You can expect to see more and more content as we continue to add new channels.

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During the last few months, IE has steadily loss market share to Firefox. IE’s share has fallen from 95.5% to just under 90% in the last few months since Firefox released their “stable” version. The company, WebSideStory, that collected this data, samples more than 30 million daily Internet users from more than 200 countries to determine the browser-usage shares. Doing the quick math, the numbers suggest that 1.5 million of the daily websurfers have made a switch from IE to some other browser.

The percentage of users browsing with IE has steadily fallen since June, while Firefox and some other competing browser have shown gains. Over that time, IE use has dropped a total of about 5 percent from its perch at 95.5 percent.

Surveys from another Web analytics provider, OneStat.com, have reflected a similar pattern and even put IE’s worldwide share below 90 percent.

Firefox, which is Mozilla’s standalone browser, was released as a stable version in November.

WebSideStory tracks Mozilla’s other browser with a category that includes browsers from America Online Inc.’s Netscape unit. That category dropped slightly to 2.6 percent in mid-January from 2.8 percent a month earlier.

Remaining browsers, which largely are Opera Software ASA’s namesake browser and Apple Computer Inc.’s Safari browser, showed a gain of almost a full percentage point. They reached a 2.1 percent usage share, compared with 1.3 percent a month earlier, according to WebSideStory.

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It is good to see that people are starting the realize that there are other safer and better ways to visit the web. Firefox, being the catalyst of the movement, will build steam as their browser gains the word-of-mouth momentum. Microsoft will really have to examine what the people want in a browser if they are to keep their dominating piece of the pie.

I have heard the news earlier today and iit is really hard to fathom the enormous power of nature. This tsunami has taken more than 13,773 lives at present count and the count is rising.

The tsunami waves were triggered by an 8.9 magnitude underwater earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, rearing up into walls of water as high as 10 meters (30 feet) as they hit shallow coastlines in south and south-east Asia.

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m.; the tsunami came as much as 2 1/2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.

I am seeing now that the quake was measured to be 9.0. It is the worst recorded in over 40 years but not surprisingly it was another product of the “Ring of Fire”.

I did a little research on tsunamis and found that they can be generated a number of ways… Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. I think that the most interesting one and probably the most common one is the earthquake generated tsunami. Here are some facts on the phenomena and following are some tips to survive them although they seem a little naive.

Tsunamis can be generated when the sea floor abruptly deforms and vertically displaces the overlying water. Tectonic earthquakes are a particular kind of earthquake that are associated with the earth’s crustal deformation; when these earthquakes occur beneath the sea, the water above the deformed area is displaced from its equilibrium position. Waves are formed as the displaced water mass, which acts under the influence of gravity, attempts to regain its equilibrium. When large areas of the sea floor elevate or subside, a tsunami can be created.

Large vertical movements of the earth’s crust can occur at plate boundaries. Plates interact along these boundaries called faults. Around the margins of the Pacific Ocean, for example, denser oceanic plates slip under continental plates in a process known as subduction. Subduction earthquakes are particularly effective in generating tsunamis.

This simulation (2 MB) of the 1993 Hokkaido earthquake-generated tsunami, developed by Takeyuki Takahashi of the Disaster Control Research Center, Tohoku University, Japan, shows the initial water-surface profile over the source area and the subsequent wave propagation away from the source. Areas in blue represent a water surface that is lower than the mean water level, while areas in red represent an elevated water surface. The initial water-surface profile, as shown in this image, reflects a large, long uplifted area of the sea floor lying to the west (left) of Okushiri Island, with a much smaller subsided area immediately adjacent to the southwest corner of Okushiri.

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Edward C Baig of USA TODAY fame, lists his top picks for gadgets, gizmos and software for 2004. To no surprise Apple, Google and Mozilla all have made the list with Apple and Google having two products each in it. Most of the items listed in the complete list would make great holiday presents, provided that they are in your budget. The software is free so you can’t beat that.

•Apple iMac. This is the most exquisite Mac yet, and that’s saying a lot. The whole computer, not just the display, appears to float on an aluminum stand. That’s because the guts of the machine - 80-gigabyte or 160-gigabyte hard drive, memory, robust “G5″ processor, etc. - are inside a 2-inch flat-panel display. There are two vibrant wide-screen display models, 17 or 20 inches. You can twist or tilt the display to any reasonable viewing angle.

Also hidden inside: a drive for handling CDs or DVDs. Disks are loaded into a slot on the side of the display. The back of the computer is equally elegant. You can loosen three screws to remove the cover to add, say, extra memory or a wireless networking card. All the connectors you’d need are neatly aligned on the outside. To reduce clutter, the power cord slips through a hole on the back of the aluminum stand. And you can tuck the keyboard under the display and out of the way. Cost: $1,299 to $1,899.

•Apple iPod Photo. How do you make the best-of-breed portable digital music player even better? Add up to 25,000 pictures (and in some instances album art) to the mix. The latest iPod Photo models include a cable that lets you view slide shows on a TV, backed by a soundtrack. Or you can peek on the device’s crisp 2-inch color display while scrolling through images by sliding your finger across a click wheel. There are a few drawbacks, including price ($499 to $599, for 40-GB and 60-GB versions) and the fact that you cannot directly transfer pictures from a digital camera or memory card to the iPod.

•Google Desktop Search. Funny how Google’s “beta,” or not-quite-finished, products outshine “final” offerings from most other companies. Example No. 1 is Google’s Desktop Search. Anyone who is anyone leans on Google for Web searches. But what about searching your hard drive? Google’s free Desktop Search tool, also in beta, can perform the task quickly.

When first downloaded, Google’s Desktop Search software “indexes” compatible files, e-mail and any Web pages you previously viewed in Internet Explorer. Later, when Google spits out search results, you can view these Web pages again, even if you are offline or the page is no longer available. That’s because the pages and other files Google indexes are stored, or “cached.” Google can search plain text, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, along with Outlook (and Outlook Express) mail and AOL Instant Messenger chat sessions. Other file types are in the works.

•Google Gmail. The beauty of Google’s free, and invitation-only (while in “beta”), Web-based Gmail service is the amount of storage you get - a humongous 1,000 megabytes (or 1 GB), about 500 times the capacity of Microsoft’s rival Hotmail e-mail service when Gmail first arrived. (Perhaps in response, Hotmail and Yahoo recently beefed up storage capacities to 250 MB.) That means you’ll likely never have to discard any old mail. Also, messages are grouped with all their replies, making them easier to find.

Be aware of the tradeoff: You’ll have to put up with targeted advertising, though there are no pop-ups. Google recently added free POP e-mail access. You can now view Gmail messages using an e-mail program such as Microsoft Outlook or a handheld device such as a BlackBerry.

•Mozilla Firefox. The cyber-rogues who unleash viruses at your computer often attack vulnerabilities inside Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser. That’s why alternative browsers are looking so good. Among the best: Firefox, from the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. It was built with security in mind. This sly fox is fast (switching programs is a breeze), free and uncluttered.

Among the available features are “extensions” and “themes” - custom add-ons that boost functionality and alter the browser’s look and feel. Still, you might run into cases where the sites you visit want you to use IE.

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If you are one of the lucky ones using Gmail, you may be happy to know that they are in the process of adding POP3 access to the service for free. I have been using Gmail for some time now and I must say that the only main feature that I really wanted was POP3 access. The initial plan for POP3 service was that it would be added in an upgraded pay account type of setup. I guess that idea has changed at least for the meantime.

* Over the next several weeks, we are introducing POP access to all of our users. To make sure the feature is fully stable, we’re giving users access to POP in phases. Once POP access is available to you, a ‘New Features!’ link appears at the top of your account, along with a ‘Forwarding and POP’ tab on your ‘Settings’ page.

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The date is set. Everybody get set for some worry free browsing!

The recently found security hole found in Google’s Gmail service has been repaired in record time. The vulnerability was reported late last week and by yesterday, Google announced that they had addressed the issue Saturday.

A major security hole was discovered in Google’s Gmail service, according to several news reports that surfaced over the weekend, but the problem reportedly was corrected as of Saturday.

“Google was recently alerted to a potential security vulnerability affecting the Gmail service. We have since fixed this vulnerability,
and all current and future Gmail users are protected,” Google says in a statement.

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Yes, it is true. Microsoft will promote the Google Deskbar and use it as part of the Partner Pack for Windows.

Google’s Deskbar is included in Microsoft’s Partner Pack for Windows, a collection of Microsoft and third-party products released last week that Microsoft describes on its Web site as “the ultimate application package” for a Windows XP PC.

The Deskbar adds a search box to the Windows taskbar, allowing users to search the Web via Google without having to start a Web browser. Other applications in the Partner Pack include Computer Associates International’s ETrust EZ Antivirus 2005, and Post-it Software Notes from 3M.

Microsoft’s promotion of the Google Deskbar comes as it works to deliver a beta version of its own MSN Search engine and a desktop search application by the end of this year.

“We should see some good MSN search technology in this calendar year, probably late in the second half, and we’re going to have a heck of a great race in search between Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. It will be really fun to follow,” Microsoft chief financial officer John Connors said last week during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

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How can this be, you may ask? Will it looks as if it is based on a technicality of sorts. Google is partnering with Microsoft’s larger Windows group while they are competing with Microsoft’s MSN search group, a much smaller part of the company. Another reason why Microsoft is using the Google Deskbar is that it is built on Windows technology, this signifies a strong but unspoken message of Google approving of the Windows Framework, says a Microsoft spokeswoman. I’m not to sure about that. The endgame of this chess match will be quite exciting to watch. I think that Google will receive maximum exposer from this partnership and in that they will be extremely strong in the market share. (As if the need Microsoft’s help for that.) When MSN Search completes their desktop search app, the Microsoft Windows group will definitely drop their promoting of Google’s Deskbar and go with MSN’s product, whether it is better than Google’s or not. The only thing that Microsoft will have going for itself is the fact that the MSN product will come bundled with Windows, thus giving it instant popularity and a good portion of the market share.

After a resounding “No” on Microsoft’s Sender ID specification a month ago, they have reworked it and this time it may fly. AOL will be the first to support the newly modified version of the Sender ID e-mail authentication specification.

AOL had rejected a previous version of Sender ID because it lacked backward compatibility for version 1 of the SPF standard, also known as SPF Classic, which AOL had begun to support many months before.

The new version puts the original SPF syntax, specifically support for “mail-from” checking, back into the core specification.

“Specifically, this now allows those of us who have been testing an e-mail authentication technology known as SPF—or Sender Policy Framework—to be included in the Sender ID specification moving forward,” AOL said in a statement. “This means that the over 100,000 domains publishing SPF v1 records—including AOL—will not need to change their DNS listings.”

AOL also plans to begin testing using Microsoft’s algorithm for determination of the “purportedly responsible address” or PRA, as well as many other proposed specifications. This is different from “mail-from.”

The new version of the specification does not address the objections of many over Microsoft’s intellectual property claims for the PRA algorithm, but users may implement the SPF Classic half of the specification without implementing the more controversial PRA detection.

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One of the biggest problems with the specification was the controversy over the PRA algorithm. Microsoft is giving the people a taste of what they ask for, this will undoubtedly leave a bad taste in the mouths of many. Is the backing of AOL enough to keep Microsoft’s Sender ID alive?