JOSHUAJENKINSis unremarkable

Google hasn't officially announced it yet, to the best of my knowledge, but it looks like they're very far along with the development of a new Web Browser based on the Webkit rendering engine. They call it Google Chrome.

The interesting part isn't the rendering though. The underlying architecture is what makes this very exciting news. As everyone nerd knows, websites and web applications are becoming more and more reliant on Javascript to get things done. Most bottlenecks in modern web browsers seem to come from Javascript-intensive sites choking up.

As such, Google has been hard at work on their own Javascript virtual machine for Chrome (and anyone else who wants it) called V8. I don't understand all of it, but the part that seems interesting to me is that all code is instantly interpreted into machine code, allowing it to fly at about one million miles per hour. There's also neat bits about the ease of finding pointers and garbage collection that are going to make V8 the next generation Javascript engine.

The other killer feature, which is the bane of all modern browsers to incorporate tabbed browsing, is individual processes per tab. Say you load up twenty tabs in Firefox right now and one of those tabs loads a site that goes apeshit. In today's browser-world^TM you would most likely either have to restart Firefox entirely, or Firefox would just crash. Chrome aims to fix that by putting all tabs into their own processes, so if one tab freaks out, you simply close it and the process is gone. Everything goes back to normal.

All of this (unconfirmed) information is coming from a thirty-eight page comic that was shipped to Philipp Lenssen. I see this as huge for Google, and huge for end users. Faster web apps for us, amazing open source software for developers, and the world being one step closer to using the Internet as an OS for Google.

There's been a lot of talk about a Google OS for a long time, and I think this might be it.

Update: Looks like it'll be out tomorrow (September 2nd) for Windows.

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There's been a lot of buzz the past couple of days about Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake (best last name ever) resigning from Yahoo. This married pair is responsible for the founding of Flickr, so at least partially to blame for how great Flickr is today. Stewart Butterfield's resignation letter to Yahoo executive Brad Garlinghouse has been circling the tubes.

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Dear Brad,

As you know tin, is in my blood. For generations my family has worked with the most useful of metals. When I joined Yahoo! back in '21, it was a sheet-tin concern of great momentum, growth and innovation. I knew it was the place for me.

Over the decades as the company grew and expanded, first into dyes and punches, into copper, corrugated steel, synthesized rubber, piping, milling equipment, engines, instruments, weaponry, and so on, I still felt at home, because tin was the core of the business.

After the war, as we continued to branch out in electronics, all manner of aeronautical frames, hulls and bodies, computing and tabulating machines, precision controls, and later, farther afield -- real estate, brewing, consumer finance, grain processing, lighting and salty snacks -- I took it in stride, for there was still a place for me.

Since the late 80s, as the general manufacturing, oil exploration & refining, logistics, and hotel & casino divisions rose to prominence, I have felt somewhat sidelined. By the time of the internet revolution and our expansion into Web Sites, I have been cast adrift. I tried to roll with the times, but nary a sheet of tin has rolled of our own production lines in over 30 years!

I don't know what you and the other executives have planned for this company, but I know that my ability to contribute has dwindled to near-nothing, and not entirely because of my advancing age. Therefore, with a heavy heart, I recognize that is time for me to and the company to part ways.

In my 87 years service, I've accomplished many feats, sharing in the ups and downs, made great friends, and learned a tremendous amount (who would have thought that Electronic Mail would come to supplant the nation's own great and venerable post!?) but there is a new generation now and it would be unfair not to give them a chance. Those that started in the make-work programs of the depression, on the GI programs in the late 40s, and even those young baby boomers need their own try, with out us old 'uns standing in the way.

So, please accept my resignation, effective July 12. And I don't need no fancy parties or gold watches (I still have the one from '61 and '76). I will be spending more time with my family, tending to my small but growing alpaca heard and, of course, getting back to working with tin, my first love.

Your old tin-smithing friend and colleague,

-Stewart Butterfield

I took three things from this letter of resignation:

1. Butterfield is not a fan of conglomerates.
2. Butterfield is definitely a fan of the comma.
3. Butterfield wants to get back to working with tin, which, if I'm reading this correctly, is what Flickr was originally built with.

More power to Fake and Butterfield for getting out of an environment they weren't comfortable in. I sincerely hope they're either working on, or about to start working on, some new killer product that will once again set the pace for an entire industry.

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While I probably won't be listening to a lot of Jack Johnson like Apple wants me to, I'll definitely be using the hell out of the other features. I'm actually really excited about this phone, I think it's going to huge for my productivity. I've never had a fancy phone, my current Samsung t-519 is dated and drops calls like that's its job. So I'll be happy to upgrade.

A lot of internet shitheads have been writing people off as fanboys for liking the iPhone but I honestly feel that it's a revolutionary device. The user interface is leagues ahead of anything out there and the app store is going to revolutionize the way we get ripped off for shitty content. I'm glad that Apple is presenting us with a convenient way to blow lots of money on things we don't need, but at least they'll be generally well designed and functional.

I'm super excited to have GPS (right now I text google things like FedEx near 97232 and I get a few results back in text, but if I don't know a specific address it makes it hard to find). Also looking forward to getting my work email (Exchange) and my personal email all on one device. Calendars are going to be killer too. Not to mention a good chunk of my music (though I was really hoping for a 32gig), a season or two of whatever TV show I want to load up, and a slick photo viewer.

All for 300 bucks.

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