Google has recently released Google Earth 5.2. There are some really nice new features including visualization of tracks captured by GPS devices.
Installing under Fedora Linux can be a bit of a challenge if you have SELinux enabled.
What is SELinux?
SELinux is feature which provides the ability to have access control policies which confines processes and users to the minimum required access level. For example the httpd process can be confines to only have access to files under it’s document root. Because of this confinement, there is a decreased risk if the httpd process were to become compromised and damage due to a security flaw is minimized.
Making Google Earth work with SELinux
The default install of Google Earth does not properly set the proper SELinux access controls and so if you have SELinux enabled, Google Earth will not start properly. One option with I’m sure that many people have done is to completely disable SELinux. Although this approach will get Google Earth working, it eliminates the benefits of SELinux and makes your computer less secure than it could be.
Recent versions of SELinux have a tool which gives suggestions of how to fix problems when violations occur. However on Fedora 13, the suggested command of ‘restorecon /usr/local/google-earth/googleearth-bin‘ didn’t fix the problem. I was still getting the error:
“./googleearth-bin: error while loading shared libraries: ./libcommon_webbrowser.so: cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied”
The key was to allow text relocation for the lib files in the install directory so typing in:
“chcon -t textrel_shlib_t /usr/local/google-earth/lib*”
Now Google Earth runs beautifully under SELinux.
June 23rd, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Linux, Tech|
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Browsing the web can be a quiet experience. Except for the odd Flash based video, web pages are typically quiet and don’t have any sounds associated with them.
The new W3C HTML 5 specification introduced a new audio tag which finally allows web pages to play sounds natively without having to resort to plugins such Flash or Java.
Taking it to the next level
Following on the introduction of basic audio, the W3C has formed and Audio Incubator Group which according to the group’s charter will explore possibilities of reading or writing raw audio and synthesizing speech or sound.
Members of the incubator group include Mozilla, the BBC and Google.
I think that it will be interesting follow this group and see what this incubator group comes up with.
May 18th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Tech|
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Fredericton, New Brunswick has been featured as a Google Earth Cities in 3D success story.
In January 2010 over 100 3D representations of buildings were added to Google Earth. These models are photo-textured and have quite a bit of detail in them.
3D Fredericton - Google Earth
The City of Fredericton in collaboration with the nearby Canadian Forces Base Gagetown’s Army Learning Support Center for Tactics School developed the models. The city provided a lot of the data and the Armed Forces group created the models which they use for simulations and tactical training. They also integrated the 3D models into a first person game to teach tactics and for simulating various possible scenarios.
By uploading and sharing the models with the rest of the world through Google’s cities in 3D program, the groups have allowed others to get a different perspective. As a fringe benefit, it strengthens Fredericton’s reputation as a city on the forefront which understands, promotes and uses technology in everyday life. Considering that Fredericton is a high tech city and home to IT firms such as RIM, CGI, Radian6 and the National Research Council, this is a good reputation to promote.
The corner of King Street and York Street in 3D
April 16th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Fredericton, Mapping, Tech|
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The Android mobile platform has a lot going for it. It has a large mind share thanks in part to its huge backer, Google. Android also has something that Apple’s iPhone platform lacks: Diversity in devices and vendors.
The Open Handset Alliance which backs the Android platform consists of 65 members from various parts of the mobile industry such as handset manufacturers such as HTC, Sony and Toshiba along with semiconductor companies such as Intel and Nvidia to software providers such as Google and eBay to mobile network providers such as NTT Docomo and Verizon.
The members’ diverse backgrounds, business models and needs ensures a healthy mix of devices, services and software for the platform. Although a healthy diverse mix of devices and implementations is healthy, it can also lead to problems such as fragmentation.
Platform Fragmentation
Fragmentation can occur when different implementations have different core feature set and different user experiences. With the iPhone platform, once you’ve used an iPhone you know that all of the iPhone devices will behave the same and run the same applications and have a similar user experience. With Android however, you can get radically different experiences based on handset being used as well as the Android version being used.
Some handset vendors have implemented their own UI customizations such as Mototola’s Blur and HTC’s Sense which alter the user experience even more and can prevent or delay uptake of new operating system revisions as they are released. Depending on the customizations, developers must also consider how their applications might work in each of these customized environments. As any web developer knows, having to support multiple browsers is not a fun tasks. Supporting multiple slightly differing mobile platforms isn’t considered fun either. Worrying how you application will look or run at 10 different possible resolutions is much more of a pain than iPhone’s 1 resolution fits all model.
As users may be stuck waiting to a handset vendor to provide OS upgrades, they may be unable to install of use some applications. For example, the recent release of Google Earth will only run on Android 2.1 or later which most Android handsets are not yet running.
Combating Fragmentation
Google has started trying to address the fragmentation issue. One of the approaches is to decouple upgrade of major applications and components from the Operating System. By being able to upgrade major components independently, users could simply download the latest and greatest without having to wait for their slow vendor to provide upgrades. Being able to easily upgrade the browser or the input functionality could reduce the number of people running different feature sets and different levels of code. If you can run all of the latest applications and code, do you really care if you are on the latest OS or not?
Google has also stated that development and releases of the core Android OS will most likely slow down soon as the platform has matured and there will be more focus on applications and features built upon the more stable core.
Hopefully Android users will be able to get the best of both worlds, a diverse set of handsets, applications that will run on all devices and not have to wonder if they are betting on the right handset vendor.
April 13th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Android, Tech|
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Research in Motion makers of the ever popular Blackberry has announced that it has purchased QNX Software Systems from Harman international.
QNX which is based in Ottawa, Ontario was formed in 1980 and is a leading provider of embedded systems. QNX has a very strong real-time operating system (RTOS) and has especially been a strong player in the in-car entertainment sector.
There is speculation that RIM will attempt to create a more seamless integration between it flagship Blackberries and in car systems. This integration could lead superior user experience which could help differentiate RIM from Apple iPhone or Google’s Andoid platform.
Then again perhaps it is just a cheap source of patent protection.
April 12th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Business, Tech|
no comments
Will Internet Explorer 9 finally pose a challenge to the technically superior upstart web browsers from Google, Mozilla and Apple?
Microsoft recently revealed a platform preview of its upcoming Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) web browser at its MIX10 conference. The preview browser is far from complete with a lot of the user interface components such as tabs and navigation buttons but it does show off the renderer and the Javascript engine which allows developers to see what features are coming in the future. Microsoft’s IE team has also committed to update the preview every 8 weeks which will allow users to see the progression of IE9 development.
Microsoft getting a new (standards-based) religion?
It appears that IE 9 will finally adopt and comply with some of the web standards. The initial preview scores a respectable 55//100 on the CSS Acid 3 test which is a huge improvement over IE8’s score of 20/100. Support for some new HTML 5 features is also present in the IE9 preview build such as the much touted video tag as well as SVG support. The video tag will have support for the H.264 codec which is also being supported by Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari.
Microsoft has also improved the performance of the rendering engine by leveraging available hardware. Graphics cards will now help offload some video and graphics processing from the CPU. IE9 has also been made increasingly multithreaded and optimized to take advantage of multiple cores in a system. For example the Javascript engine can use a separate core to compile Javascript code in preparation for execution which leaves the primary core available to do additional processing. In fact, Javascipt performance has been increased so much that on certain tests, IE 9 is faster than Firefox.
Will a strong IE9 release slow the momentum of the competing browsers which have been nibbling away the market share from Microsoft? A strong IE will definitely reduce the incentive for people to switch to an alternative browser.
One caveat which may play a factor in IE9 adoption is that Internet Explorer 9 will not be compatible with Windows XP.
Ars Technica has a great write up on the preview : Platform Preview gives Web developers first taste of IE9.
March 26th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Tech|
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After a long wait, Canadian can fully get aboard the Google Android train. Google has announced that Canada will get paid apps and that the Nexus One is available on Rogers in Canada as well as also being available on AT&T’s network. The Nexus One is available in Canada for $529 USD from http://www.google.com/phone, As did our American friends, you need to create a Google Checkout account to purchase the phone.
Previously, Canadian developers were prevented from putting their Andoid applications for sale on the Android Marketplace. Hopefully the increased international availability of the Android Marketplace, the platform and the Nexus One will increase the availability of applications and adoption of the Android by phone manufacturer and users alike. Developers might also have more incentive to develop for Android with a larger target user base.
As an open mobile platform, Android is different from the iPhone where every application is vetted by Apple and users can only go through Apple’s app store to get applications. Android Marketplace showcases Android applications but users and developers are not forced into using the Marketplace. This differentiator can be very important to some folks. Indeed it appears that Android’s open platform has already attracted a new high profile employee in Tim Bray.
March 16th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Android, Tech|
no comments
Google has recently introduced a new and interesting Labs feature for its popular Google Maps service. In the same fashion as its Google Labs offering, Google Maps Labs allows users to opt-in to beta versions of features currently in development or testing.
By clicking on the little green beaker in the top right hand corner (currently with “New!” in red beside it), you are given the option of enabling beta features currently ranging from the extremely useful Click and Zoom which allows quick zooming to a selected rectangular area to the interesting rotatable maps to the humourous ‘BETA’ feature which as far as I can tell, simply adds a beta graphic to the Google Maps logo – as the features states: “Gmail isn’t the only one that can enjoy a BETA tag.”.
To have beta map features enabled for future visits, users must be signed into their Google account.
The intention with Google Maps Labs is that popular and well tested features would get integrated into the full Google Maps version. Even if none of the features make it past the beta stage, it is still interesting to see some of the possibilities.
For more info see: Google LatLong: Introducing Google Maps Labs, your passport to a world of new features.
March 6th, 2010
Posted by
Danny D'Amours |
Mapping, Tech|
no comments
