Web App Wednesday, Mashup, Backup, and Decay

Posted by Jeff Scudder, App Engine Team

Michael Bernstein is doing something I find very interesting. Not only is he creating applications on App Engine, he creates a new one every Wednesday. His site, appropriately named Web App Wednesday, is where he is creating a new web application every Wednesday, starting first with the site itself, followed by F/OSS License Info, a single-page site that displays information about the most common Open Source software licenses. Another recent app, LinQR , is a URL shortening service and QR code generator. Good luck to Michael and we look forward to seeing what he comes up with next Wednesday.

If you're doing something cool with App Engine please let us know! We'd love to highlight it here on the blog or even have you write up an article explaining what you've done, like this new article from Omar Abdelwahed on Creating a Facebook App with Google App Engine and Best Buy Remix.

Speaking of articles, Aral Balkan has written an article on his backup and restore utility and our own Joe Gregorio published an article on a design for popularity ranking using voting and time-based decay.

U of C, Berkeley Research Leads to Radio in Bug

Last month (January 28th), The University of California, Berkeley succeeded in controlling a live rhinoceros beetle by radio. A video of the experiment was previewed at the MEMS 2009 academic conference taking place in Sorrento, Italy. In the experiment, radio signals were sent to six electrodes attached to various locations of the beetles brain and muscles, thus allowing university researchers to control the movement of the beetle�s wings and some other parts. They equipped the beetle with a module incorporating a circuit to send signals to the electrodes, wireless circuit, microcontroller and battery. Controlling the movements of an insect is not a first for the university. This was the first time using a radio control system.



Rhinoceros beetles with a weight of up to 3g were used in this experiment because they can carry the controlling module (weighing about 1.3g) on their backs. And another reason is that they look cool, according to the university.

So what�s the point of this exercise? Considering that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding the research, military purposes are a likely contender. Commenting on this point, the university said that the technology can also be utilized for peaceful purposes. For instance, the radio-controlled beetle can be useful in places that are too narrow or dangerous for a human to enter and for many other purposes.

For that use, the university is planning to mount sensors including a camera on a beetle in the future. With the sensors, rhinoceros beetles will be able to work as surveillance robots in place of humans. As they can carry a weight of 3g, 1.7g of sensors, in addition to the 1.3g of the current module, can be mounted.

However, the ultimate goal of this research goes beyond just incorporating sensors. Beetles are already equipped with "sensors," such as their own eyes. In addition, they have a system to derive energy from food. So, the university is aiming to make the most of insects' own sensors while using their energy system as batteries.

I think we are on a slippery slope with this one. Attack of the Rhino Beetle? I might have trouble sleeping tonight.

Edit Google Docs spreadsheets from your phone

Until today, you've only been able to view Google Docs spreadsheets on your mobile devices. Last night, we launched new capabilities to Google Docs for your phone that allow you to add new rows, edit existing cells, sort by columns, and filter by terms. Now you don't have to wait until you get to your computer to update a spreadsheet, whether it's your expense tracker, time sheet, or your wine rating spreadsheet.

To check out these new capabilities, just go to m.google.com/docs in your mobile browser and log in. If you are a Google Apps user, go to docs.google.com/a/your-domain.

Enhanced mobile access to spreadsheets is available on Android, iPhone (and iPod touch), and Symbian S60. You can read more about these enhancements on the Google Docs blog.

Posted by Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager, Google Docs team