The Web is the best app store

Funny how things have come full circle:

I’ve always believed that the Web is the best platform out there: it’s open, free (as in free speech), and flexible. Apple did a great job with the original iPhone of making web apps work great on smartphones, and they’re continuing to do so. (MobileSafari is still by far the best mobile browser out there in terms of performance and support for modern HTML5 and CSS3 features.) But the best part is that web apps work on any device with a web browser, so software developers don’t have to maintain several different native apps for different operating systems.
Obviously there are still challenges for making web apps as functional as native ones – things like notifications, multitasking, and user interfaces are still not as straightforward as they are on native apps – but I’m convinced that they already work great for many uses, and will be more and more relevant in the future of mobile devices.

Important security note for WordPress users

There’s a vulnerability in a piece of software called timthumb.php that is used by some self-hosted WordPress themes and plugins for image manipulation (not WordPress.com.)

If you have shell access to your web server, go to your web root directory and run:

find -name timthumb.php

(If you can’t do it through the shell, check your hosting control panel’s file manager for a search function or ask your host to run the search for you.)

If you find timthumb on your server, figure out what plugins/themes use it and delete them for now. (I found that WP Featured Content Slider and Featured Post with thumbnail are among the affected plugins.) If removal isn’t an option, get a developer who knows their way around WordPress to safely delete the timthumb library without breaking the rest of your site.

Find full technical details at Zero Day Vulnerability in many WordPress Themes | mm.

Vieques, Puerto Rico

My vacation in Puerto Rico had a short solo leg in San Juan (photos) followed by a week on the island of Vieques with some of my family. It was at the same time relaxing and adventurous, filled with trips to Vieques’ myriad beaches, a rainy night in the bioluminescent bay, and rum cocktails on the Malecón, the Esperanza village’s harbor promenade.

Google ending experimental “labs” offerings

While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead.

Translation: “We need to leave ‘release early, release often’ behind.”

I wonder if it’s because they catch too much flak for exposing prerelease features to the public, or because they’re trying to adopt a more holistic approach to their product cycles.

via Official Google Blog: More wood behind fewer arrows.