AgroKrag Graphic Design/Illustration, Web Design, Web Marketing

“The browser will become the equivalent of an operating system” - Wired Magazine

The begining of a new computing era began today, September 2nd 2008, as Google releases the soft beta of it’s new browser, Google Chrome.  Released to the public early, due to a leak of the 32 page comic book story of the browsers development, Google Chrome is the software giants attempt to make cloud computing the next reality of the internet age.

As Wired magazine explains - “the coming era of cloud computing, the Web will be much more than just a means of delivering content — it will be a platform in its own right.”

What this means is that Google wants its users, which potentially is the entire globe, to be connected to all of their bookmarks, spreadsheets, documents, and files wherever they go.  No need to carry around a flash drive, just enter your google username and password and access your file instantly.

This is a very interesting, yet slightly scary, move.  Scary because of the amount of money this browser will make for Google by allowing this new browser to string together all pieces of the web that Google has helped create.

Cloud computing will become a reality, its just a matter of time.  Weither or not Chrome is the invention that delivers it is yet to be seen.

To read more about Google Chrome and get a first look at the browser and it’s capabilities, read this article.

Technorati Profile

In a few weeks, I will be taking my 4th graphic design class as part of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s Graphic Design Certificate program  Thus far, the options for the electives that I am to choose from have been mostly the basics; Introduction to Adobe Illustrator, Introduction to Adobe Photoshop, Introduction to Web Design, Ptography, etc.  Which is great, but expected.  Finally, they switched it up this semester and added “Dynamic Web Design” to their program.  I have to say that I am very excited, as this class is discribed - “For students who want to create sophisticated, dynamic applications and Web sites. We will focus on designing and programming in Flash and will explore the power of combining Flash with JavaScript, XML (Extensible Markup Language), and PHP scripting language to create advanced Web applications that offer total design control and animation capabilities.”

Sounds challenging, but great to me.  Lack of time mixed with lack of self-motivation has enabled me from ever properly learning Flash, and as a Web Designer,  Dynamic Web Design seemed like the perfect class to  take next step.

What should I expect?  Does anyone have any insight or suggestions on the topic of Dynamic Web Design?

Cuil (pronounced “Cool”) has recently gained much attention due to the “all-star” management/development team which consists of former Google and Alta-Vista personnel.  I think they missed the boat in terms of creating a Google competitor, or a decent search engine in general, but I’m not so sure that is their objective.  Let me explain.  First off, let’s look at the homepage below:

Crisp, clean, to the point.  Looks like an “edgy” Google.  Makes you want to search just to see what comes next.  From a design standpoint, this isn’t so bad.  But then again, how hard is it to design a typographic logo with a search bar underneath?

Now let’s look at the results page.  A search for “graphic design”

Again, very attractive.  Looks strikingly similar to Apple’s website.  As for the results in general, not so much.  There is no way that the general public is going to buy into the way the results are displayed.  People like hierarchy (as much as they’ll say they don’t), and these results just don’t give you that.  Sure, the site in the top left is #1, but where do we go from there?

So what is their real objective?  Sell out.  The recent tech news has been swamped with Microsoft-Yahoo deals, Google-Yahoo deals, etc.  Perfect time for a seasoned crew to build up an attractive engine, make some cash, and bail.  Let’s wait and see.