This morning’s bounty of posts brought in two that will make you think.

First was Port80 Software’s comments on using the Cache-Control mechanism embedded in all browsers. This is interesting to read, as I have been trying to get companies to use this mechanism more intelligently for a number of years. I know that the Port80 team gets it, but it is always nice to have some outside validation of a position you have tried to evangelize for a long time.

The second was Tim O’Reilly’s post on Cal Henderson’s new book on Web scalability. While I am likely to purchase the book for a professional interest, I have one problem with Flickr’s current configuration: static.flickr.com does not use HTTP persistence, something I noted last week. This strikes me as weird.

It’s always good to see Web performance rear its head.

Technorati Tags: Tim O’reilly, Cal Henderson, Cache-Control, http, port80 software, persistent connections, Flickr

Tags: ASP, book, browser, cache-control, control, current, EAD, HTML, HTTP, http persistence, IE, IM, it, Om, One, OReilly, performance, persistent, persistent connections, PHP, posts, pr, Technorati, web, Web Performance

Uh oh! Serious issues are starting to appear with the Google Accelerator, including security/authentication issues.

More here and here and here

C|Net’s take.

geeked’s take.

Geek News Central

Om Malik hits for six by declaring: So What? [here]

Radar has a learned discussion on the GWA’s impact on my other fave whipping post: 37 Signals BackPack. [here]

Tim Yang brings on more 666gle anti-love.

Om Malik hits for the Century by saying: And Why?

BlogNewsChannel has the best wrap-up. [here]

Dan Gillmor chimes in.

Tags: app, ARIN, blog, design, GigaOm, Google, hits, HTML, HTTP, IM, IP, Issues, it, Malik, Om, Om Malik, OReilly, PHP, web

Gee, want to make those searches even more powerful? How about we track exactly where every person on the Web is going by tracking them using a piece of software that they install on their own computers?

Google Web Accelerator. The latest from Big Brother those folks at Google.

This also explains why Google wanted to buy up all of that dark fiber. You have to plug your proxy servers into something

Doesn’t mean I am not going to try it…

Via Micro Persuasion

O’Reilly Radar has the same paranoid delusions privacy concerns that I do over this product. [here]

John Battelle notes the salient feature of the Google Accelerator at the end of his article.

However, you do start to run all your web surfing habits over Google’s servers, and that, of course, makes Google something of a proxy ISP, with access to all the aggregate data that an ISP like AOL or Comcast has on you. Is that a good thing? Well, yes and no. But net net, it has implications down the road. Very soon, Google will know an awful lot about the world’s surfing habits, well beyond search. Hmmm.

Search Engine Watch has a straight-forward list of the features — limited commentary. [here]

Great comments from Techdirt.[here]

More from TechDirt, pointing to a great post by Tristan Louis.

The usually paranoid TDavid seems to be addicted to the revving icon. [here]

Lifehacker comments.

Google Blog Comments.

Darren Rowse hits for six with this quote from Mike Lambert:

Instead of using a random surfer model, Google can use a real surfer model, based on the aggregate web traffic of the people using their Web Accelerator. They can discover /exactly/ how the Google Juice should flow in the real world.

C|Net’s party-line, facts-only commentary. [here]

Silicon Valley Watcher is prescient enough to mention that “your browsing history might be just a subpoena away from the nearest FBI office”. [here]

More Google Web Accelerator anti-love from Carson McComas. [here]

Tags: blog, comcast, cro, Darren Rowse, data, EAD, Google, Google Web Accelerator, hits, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, ISP, it, media, Om, One, OReilly, PHP, pr, proxy, proxy server, run, search, server, tn, tracking, traffic, web

I miss out on all the cool conferences, like Location Intelligence.

Now, I am not much into GIS, but I have a side-interest in IP to location mapping (the now defunct GrabIP project, as an example), and have been working giving feedback on a project that someone has been building using the type of basic geographic information I gather in the IP database I created.

Now Radar is trying to develop a little buzz for PostgreSQL by discussing how many of the GIS firms use it.

I agree that Postgres is far more advanced than MySQL, but for most Web development, the level of transactional complexity that is available in Postgres is far beyond what is needed.

For example, using Postgres for anything that I do is like using an elephant to open a can of sardines. But using MySQL to manage a complex GIS system would be like an orange trying to drive a Porsche.

Each system has its place in the open source world.

Tags: app, cool, data, database, HTML, HTTP, information, IP, it, mysql, Om, One, OReilly, pr, web

I submitted a presentation proposal for OSCON 2005 just now. The abstract is below.

The Open Source community has driven the online world for the last decade. PHP, PERL, Apache, Java, and MySQL are all major components of large online enterprises.

However, putting an application online and ensuring that it satisfies the performance, availability and reliability demands of the increasingly knowledgeable online consumer are often two separate concerns.

Performance should not be an afterthought; performance should be a leading force in creating a Web application.

Using simple Open Source Tools, Web performance measurement solutions can be built that rival commercial solutions. But what does this data tell you? And how do you turn this into useful business information?

This discussion will expose the participants to key Web performance metrics that make sense to both technology and business leaders in your organization.

I have a snowball’s chance in hell of having it accepted, as it is not hip, technical or trendy, and I am not an Open Source Guru, but if you design stuff for the Web, then you better be ready to have your site examined in detail, because if you don’t do it, your customers will.

Tags: apache, app, application, business, community, components, customers, data, design, EAD, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, it, measurement, metrics, mysql, Om, One, online, online world, OReilly, performance, performance measurement, Perl, PHP, pr, Reliability, web, web app, web application, Web Performance, Web performance measurement