Moving on from IE 6 in 2010. Google no longer supporting IE 6
I got another awesome letter from Google today I thought I should share with the world, because it means thing will be changing for the good in 2010.
Google has officially announced it will not be support IE 6 browsers on a few of their major services, such as Google Apps (letter below), YouTube and Gmail.
Dear Google Apps admin,
In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.
We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.
Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.
Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.
In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.
Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
The Google Apps team
Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
I feel like this movement has been long awaiting the support of a giant such as Google to back it. Microsoft has not supported or even accepted any responsibility for the IE 6 browser quite some time and it is non-sense to continue to apply hacks and work-arounds to perfectly legitimate website code to support it.
However, as website developers and owners, I also believe we should make the initiative to instruct our visitors using IE 6 that they need to change their software before we just cut them off completely. Implementing User Agent detection and displaying messages to these users on every page they view might be a good start. Offering them their choice of downloading IE 8, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4 or Google Chrome 2 would also be a great way to encourage them to upgrade.
Securing Website Forms with and without CAPTCHA
There are means to block automated or remote submission of the website forms. Having an unsecured form these days is just asking for a few hundred junk emails a week if not more. There are about 4-5 decent ways of blocking SPAM and potential “hacker” or intrusive programs from abusing our forms:
1. The most elegant in my opinion and definitely the least annoying to users, but not a completely secure or “perfect” solution is currently referred to simply as “Safer Contact Forms without Captcha”. There isn’t really anything tangible to show you a demo of, but an overview of the technology method can be reviewed here: http://15daysofjquery.com/safer-contact-forms-without-captchas/11/ or here: http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Safer_Contact_Forms_Without_CAPTCHAs (i think this is the original author of this method, but they’re both the same thing)
Two downsides to this approach are:
1. Users must have cookies enabled as well as Javascript. A teeny tiny amount of visitors will not, but we can prompt them with a message.2. This security concept is based on the current methods that “bad bots” and hacker-programs use, but is in no means actually “securing” anything.
2. Number 2 because it is my second favorite option currently available: Ajax Fancy Captcha jQuery plugin. This one is cutting edge and truly is the best and most realistic way of proving someone is actually a human in todays software abilities and limitations. A live interactive demonstration of this is here: http://www.webdesignbeach.com/beachbar/ajax-fancy-captcha-jquery-plugin
Two downsides to this approach are:
1. “You don’t want to use CAPTCHA’s in general because you just know that requiring your visitors to read squiggly letters
and numbers just to send you a message is going to suppress communication – not encourage it.” – Quoted from the article
in option #1 
2. This method is the least friendly to handicap visitors using screen readers, etc. This isn’t a major concern on this project, since we are not subject to be Section 508 Compliant or anything, but it’s always something we should be conscious of. You never want to dishonor the ADA… 
3. Option #3 is very widely used and is actually the industry leader in CAPTCHA solutions in the open-source world. You’ve probably seen and used this at least a dozen times on various websites: http://recaptcha.net/plugins/php/
4. Option #4 is another flavor of CAPCHTA that is a little less “bloated” and has more readable characters, but is less effective than Option #3: http://www.archreality.com/jcap/. I’ve implemented this one one of our clients websites recently that you can look at: http://www.plansource.com/plansource/contact
Top Ten Apps for Android – Updated!
Ringdroid
Rings Extended
- HandscentSMS
- SuperDial
- RingDroid
- Dolphin Browser
- RingsExtended
- RemoteDroid
- ASTRO File Browser
ES File Manager - SwiFTP Server
- wpToGo
Locale ¹ has been removed.
¹ – Locale is no longer free… plus I’ve had some major issues with it since their last update(s). I was happy with it before, but they’ve lost my vote for top 10 after I saw it listed at $9.99 on the market…
We’re a Favorite Place on Google!
I received this (awesome) letter from Google today and thought it was cool enough to share:
your PDX Freelancers – Website Designers in Portland business listing ****** times, and requested driving
directions or other information about your business **** times.
Because you’re so popular, we’re enclosing a window decal that shows customers you’re a “Favorite Place
on Google.” The sticker includes a special bar code that potential customers may scan with cameras on their
phones. Then they can see your business listing on Google, read and write reviews, and add you as a favorite
right there. We encourage you to put up this decal so potential customers know that you’re a Favorite Place
on Google.
With the holiday shopping season here, we encourage you to update your free Google listing right away. It’s
easy to check if your hours, address, and business description are correct. We also recommend you add
photos, videos, and even coupons to help your business stand out. All of this is free. You’ll notice the results
every time someone says, “We found you on Google.”
Congratulations on your popularity on Google. We look forward to providing you with more and better ways
to grow your business.
Sincerely,
Michaela Prescott
The Google Local Business Team
Top 50 finalists of the Android Developer Challenge
$275,000 Award Recipients
 |
cab4me Konrad Huebner, Henning Boeger Ever been looking for a cab? cab4me is the answer. Anywhere. Anytime. |
 |
CompareEverywhere Jeffrey Sharkey Shop smarter using your phone. Compare prices, read reviews, and connect with local stores. |
 |
Ecorio Jeff Kao, Gary Pong, Robert Lam, Taneem Talukdar Ecorio |
 |
GoCart Rylan Barnes Scan a product’s barcode with your phone’s camera and view all the best prices online and at nearby, local stores. |
 |
Life360 Chris Hulls, Dilpreet Singh, Luis Carvalho, Phuong Nguyen, Steve Potell From |
 |
Locale Carter Jernigan, Clare Bayley, Jasper Lin, Christina Wright Locale is an advanced settings manager that automatically changes your phone’s settings based on conditions, such as location. |
 |
PicSay Eric Wijngaard Easy to use image editor that enables you to quickly personalize your pictures and share them with friends or photo sites. |
 |
Softrace Staffan Kjellberg, Thomas Kjellberg Turn your workout into a thrilling race and challenge the world in real time. |
 |
TuneWiki TuneWiki Inc. TuneWiki |
 |
Wertago Kelvin Cheung,Teresa Ko, Peter Ree, Robert Sarvis, Douglas Yeung The |
$100,000 Award Recipients
 |
BreadCrumbz Amos Yoffe BreadCrumbz |
 |
Cooking Capsules Mary Ann Cotter, Muthu Ramadoss Inspiration |
 |
Maverick Virgil Dobjanschi Maverick |
 |
PebbleBox Yin Wang, Tao Jin A |
 |
PhoneBook 2.0 Voxmobili PhoneBook |
 |
Piggyback Christophe Petit, Sébastien Petit Piggyback is a revolutionary real-time carpooling |
 |
Pocket Journey Anthony Stevens, Rosie Pongracz Pocket |
 |
Rayfarla Stephen Oldmeadow Have fun with music. Play music based games and make music with your phone using a range of virtual musical instruments. |
 |
ShareYourBoard Mikhail Ksenzov ShareYourBoard is an Android application for capturing, processing and sharing whiteboard data. |
 |
Teradesk e-Storage José Augusto Ferrarini Teradesk is an application for Virtual Storage and Remote |
Finalists
 |
B4E Mr. Che, Mr. Happy C. B4E |
 |
Beetaun Sergey Gritsyuk, Dmitri Shipilov Beetaun |
 |
BioWallet José Luis Huertas Fernández Biometric |
 |
City Slikkers PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems City |
 |
Commandro Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha Commandro |
 |
Diggin Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin Play |
 |
Dyno Virachat Boondharigaputra Dyno is an application used to evaluate vehicle performance on the road. |
 |
e-ventr Michael Zitzelsberger e‐ventr is your personal event organizer and friendship scout for your mobile. |
 |
Em-Radar Jack Kwok Em-Radar keeps you informed of severe weather and emergencies near |
 |
Fingerpaint Rob Mickle Fingerpaint is a collaborative drawing application. Draw by yourself, or together with friends – anywhere in the world. |
 |
FreeFamilyWatch.com Navee Technologies LLC Free location-based services helping family to navigate |
 |
GolfPlay Inizziativa Networks Provides support to all real time necessities of a golf player during a game. |
 |
gwalk Klaus ten Hagen, Marko Modsching, Christian Klinger, Rene Scholze Discover |
 |
iMap Mobile™ Weathertop Consulting, LLC iMap |
 |
IMEasy Yan Shi IMEasy is an IM based application designed particularly for touch screen mobile users. |
 |
JOYity Zelfi AG JOYity is a platform for next generation mobile |
 |
LifeAware Gregory Moore, Aaron O’Brien, Jawad Akhtar Be aware of your surroundings and the location of your |
 |
Marvin Laurent Pontier Publish in private, to your peer network or to the world, |
 |
mobeedo Sengaro GmbH mobeedo |
 |
MyCloset Mamoru Tokashiki Manages photographs and information about the fashion items you own, and coordinates and records your daily outfits. |
 |
PedNav RouteMe2 Technologies Inc. PedNav is a location-aware day planner that allows you to |
 |
SafetyNet Michael DeJadon SafetyNet |
 |
ShapeWriter ShapeWriter Inc ShapeWriter |
 |
SocialMonster Tommy Ng, Ben Hui Stay on top of your social life with SocialMonster and |
 |
SplashPlay Andreas Ipp, Keith Sturch, Friedger Müffke and Ronan Schwarz SplashPlay |
 |
Sustain Niraj Swami Sustain is a utility that helps its users naturally and fluidly communicate with their contacts. |
 |
SynchroSpot Shaun Terry Service |
 |
The Weather Channel for Android The Weather Channel Interactive Inc. The |
 |
TokPlay Sung-Suh Park TokPlay |
 |
Wikitude Philipp Breuss Wikitude |