Green Day: Rock Band coming June 8, supports full exports
Green Day: Rock Band has a release date, so you can finally exhale. The game is coming to the PlayStation, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii on June 8, for $59.99 on the two high-definition systems and $49.99 on the Nintendo Wii.
The game features 47 Green Day songs, vocal harmonizing for multiple singers, and you'll have the ability to export every song to Rock Band or Rock Band 2 for an additional $10. Joystiq is reporting that if you preorder the game from GameStop, you'll be able to export the songs to your hard drive for free. A $69.99 special edition version of the game will include the ability to export the songs as well, and will include previously released Green Day tracks from the Rock Band Store.
The story mode of the game will take you through Green Day's career, with images to unlock and videos to watch. For the hardcore Green Day fan this should be a day-one purchase. For everyone else? We're just going to have to take a look at how much Green Day we need in our rhythm games.
Harmonix has also announced Rock Band 3 for release this year, but has yet to provide any details.
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Court nixes individual track downloads of Pink Floyd albums
Individual Pink Floyd songs will soon disappear from online music stores. The British High Court has ruled against EMI, the band's record label, saying that the band's contract requires EMI to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums." In this case, that means keeping all the tracks together and in the order they were meant to be in, leading some to worry whether Pink Floyd's music will disappear from popular online music stores altogether.
When Pink Floyd signed with EMI back in the late '60s, its members probably did not imagine an age when we would be ditching physical media en masse in favor of cherry-picked songs on a series of Internet tubes. It's unsurprising then that the contract stipulated for the label to maintain the artistic integrity of the album itself—back then (and today as well, but perhaps to a lesser degree), musicians spent painstaking amounts of time crafting the entire album as a whole artwork. Those who only listened to select tracks were totally missing out.
Indeed, as EMI has discovered, that still appears to be the case, at least when it comes to Pink Floyd. The High Court ordered EMI to pay £40,000 in court costs with the possibility of future damages and EMI may have to pull Pink Floyd's individual offerings from places like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. (As of this writing, the albums with per-track purchases were still available. Get 'em while they're hot.) In addition, EMI must pay Pink Floyd an undisclosed amount in royalty payments.
This doesn't mean they wouldn't become available again as full-album purchases, though—iTunes, for example, regularly offers albums that have one or two tracks that only come with a full album purchase. We wouldn't be surprised to see Dark Side of the Moon come back to iTunes with every track marked "Album only."
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feature: Safely whitelist your favorite sites and opt out of tracking
So there was this article on the Internet recently about how ad blocking is devastating to sites that you love. You may have read it and there's a good chance that you participated in the frank and lively discussion that took place afterwards.
One of the things we learned from all of this is that not all people who use ad blockers are actually out to block our ads, and that many of you didn't realize that blocking ads hurt us and the other sites you love. Many care deeply about their privacy, personal information, and the well-being of their computers. Many were more than happy to unblock Ars, but many others had difficulty doing so due to the complicated nature of many ad blocking solutions. Dozens of you asked for help, so here it is.
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0-day exploits for IE flaw another reason to switch to IE8
Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday a new flaw affecting version 6 and 7 of its Internet Explorer web browser that could allow remote code execution. The security advisory noted that targeted attacks using the flaw were already in the wild.
This information was confirmed by McAfee, reporting that exploitation of the flaw was originating from the domain topix21century dot com over both HTTP and HTTPS. The drive-by attacks install a backdoor which connects to a command-and-control server.
Analysis by Symantec reveals that the exploit works effectively on IE6. IE7 tended to crash instead, and IE8 is, as stated in the Microsoft advisory, immune. The attack loads some malicious code, and then makes repeated changes to the HTML document eventually provoking execution of the malicious code.
The best solution is to upgrade to IE8, as one of the many improvements found in this browser also seals off the security hole. Failing that, enabling Data Execution Prevention in IE7 should provide some level of mitigation, as the current exploits do not circumvent DEP (though they could probably be combined with DEP bypass techniques). Removing access to the file iepeers.dll using either of the mechanisms described in Microsoft's advisory prevents Internet Explorer from loading the flawed code, but may also break print and web folder functionality. Finally, disabling of scripting and ActiveX in the Internet and Local Intranet security zones should also provide protection against exploitation.
Microsoft has still made no indication whether this flaw will receive an out-of-band update, but with exploits in the wild and documented analysis of the exploit, clearly this flaw is something that needs fixing, and soon.
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FCC Commissioner rips ISPs on broadband prices, competition
Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn solidified her role as the agency's tail gunner on Wednesday with a warning to the big ISPs that the FCC's patience with rising broadband subscription rates is wearing thin.
"When prices rise across the industry, and where there are only a limited number of players in the game, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace," Clyburn declared in a public statement. "Moreover, when executives from major broadband providers indicate that they will only roll out faster speeds in the few markets where they have competition, our fears about whether meaningful competition exists should grow."
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Limbo is quiet, subtle genius... coming to XBLA
The problem with dreams is that things never work the way you think they should. Try turning on a light... nothing happens. The branches of that tree may turn out to be the legs of a spider. You never feel safe, not exactly, because anything can happen. That feeling of uncertainty and unease is what Playdead had in mind when developing Limbo, a game that's coming to the Xbox Live Arcade, hopefully this summer.
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Congress wants big NatSec exemptions for spectrum inventory
A newly revised version of a House bill requiring the government to inventory the nation's radio spectrum would give Federal agencies and private license owners a national security pass on publicly disclosing information about their spectrum holdings or related data. The proposed bill, as now amended by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, would let government agencies duck out on releasing such intel if they can prove that doing otherwise "would reveal classified national security information or other information for which there is a legal basis for non-disclosure and such public disclosure would be detrimental to national security, homeland security, or public safety."
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feature: Why new hard disks might not be much fun for XP users
A rather surprising article hit the front page of the BBC on Tuesday: the next generation of hard disks could cause slowdowns for XP users. Not normally the kind of thing you'd expect to be placed so prominently, but the warning it gives is a worthy one, if timed a bit oddly. The world of hard disks is set to change, and the impact could be severe. In the remarkably conservative world of PC hardware, it's not often that a 30-year-old convention gets discarded. Even this change has been almost a decade in the making.
The problem is hard disk sectors. A sector is the smallest unit of a hard disk that software can read or write. Even though a file might only be a single byte long, the operating system has to read or write at least 512 bytes to read or write that file.
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Controversial Amazon 1-Click patent survives review
Amazon's patent on one-click shopping has survived the scrutiny of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In an official notice published this month, the USPTO declared its intent to issue a reexamination certificate affirming the validity of Amazon's amended version of the patent.
The patent, which was filed in 1997, describes a method of enabling consumers to purchase goods without having to provide credit card and shipping information during every shopping session. Amazon enforced the patent against competitor Barnes and Noble almost immediately after it was granted in 1999. The patentability of one-click Internet shopping is broadly disputed. It has become the textbook example of how a broad patent on a trivially obvious software concept can have a profoundly anti-competitive impact on a wide segment of the industry.
Peter Calveley, an actor and patent law enthusiast from New Zealand, launched a campaign against the one-click patent in 2006 and filed for a reexamination with funding that he collected from his supporters. A year later, the USPTO issued a decision rejecting 21 of the patent's 26 claims, largely due to the broad availability of well-documented prior art. Amazon decided to amend the patent in order to address some of the specific issues raised by the reexamination.
The amended version has a slightly smaller scope, limiting the patent's coverage to online shopping cart systems rather than all one-click e-commerce. In its statement today, the USPTO declared that the new version of the patent is valid, despite the fact that it has no functional difference from the original version. This outcome, which took four years to reach, reflects the deficiencies of the reexamination process.
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Power Gig: it's a rhythm game... with a real guitar
There is a point when playing rhythm games such as Rock Band or Guitar Hero where you hit a kind of wall; there is only so much to learn hitting buttons as notes flow down the screen. Power Gig: Rise of the Six String—in addition to having a terrible title—wants to break that wall by teaching you actual guitar skills if you choose to move past what the tradition rhythm game has offered. The guitar peripheral is an actual six-string electric guitar, although we're promised that the full band bundle of guitar, drums, and microphone will be priced competitively with other rhythm bundles on the market.
We had a chance to see the game being played in front of us, although hands-on testing was forbidden. The notes came down the screen, connected by a pulsing ribbon, showing the player what button to hit on the guitar's neck. Any number of strings hit will register as a correct hit. In this mode, you will be able to use your existing rhythm game guitars. The real meat of the game happens when you move to the higher difficulty levels, where the dots are replaced by numbers, showing you what strings to play. A green two means you'll be pressing down on the second string down from the top of the neck, in the green section. Tutorials will show you how to hold your hands and fingers to create power chords.
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Code library gives homebrew iPod remotes chance for awesome
Not too long ago, David Finland built a device capable of communicating with just about any model of iPod via the dock connector using an Arduino Nano, PodGizmo breakout board, an old USB iPod connector, and a momentary switch. While it may not sound like a big deal, there is more to it than one might think: namely programming a device (in this case the Arduino Nano) to be able to receive, interpret, and respond to messages sent from an iPod.
This means teaching it to speak Apple Accessory Protocol and, although proprietary in nature, it has been fairly well documented around the Internet. Finland slung some code so that his iPod touch was hooked up to one of the famous Staples Easy buttons in his car. Now he could easily play and pause his iPod touch without having to fiddle with the on-screen controls.
Fast-forward several months and Finland had all but forgotten about the project when he was asked by the folks that run Make magazine to talk about it. In particular, they wanted him to talk about the library he created for communicating with Apple’s portable audio players. He said yes, and decided to dive back into the project and attempt to add additional functionality to the project.
Finland's first go around only involved tackling the the Simple Remote portion of the Apple Remote Protocol, which handles things like mute, next playlist, skip, and turning the device on and off. With newfound interest, however, he has now tackled the Advanced Remote portion, which opens up a bevy of new functionality, including getting names of songs, albums, artists, and track time; toggling shuffle and repeat mode; and all the other neat functionality that iPods have.
This newly released library of code will surely appeal to the do-it-yourself hackers who love tinkering, soldering, and programming. Someone could theoretically even build his or her own iPod speaker solution with a plethora of different options and feedback. The more daring could hard-wire a solution to a car’s in-wheel audio controls. Personally, I envision some sort of bicycle solution that docks the iPod on the handlebars but allows riders to control the device without taking their hands off the handlebars. An even more enterprising individual could rig something like this up to a sudden motion sensor so that when someone enters a room, the iPod begins to play.
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Hands-on with Sony's new PlayStation Move motion controller
SAN FRANCISCO — At a GDC event today, Sony showed off its new PlayStation Move controller, along with a number of games. The audience response was positive, but the demos shown, including sports games and sword-and-shield-style battles, seemed both inspired and informed by what the Wii has done before. We got a quick hands-on with the controller, and have posted some impressions and pictures, below.
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Bad employee! 12% knowingly violate company IT policies
By now, it's practically a mantra that the biggest problem with corporate IT security is the employees themselves. However, we usually assume that's due to ignorant users or poorly enforced policies. Not so for a chunk of the US working population—according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 12 percent admitted to knowingly violating IT policy in order to get work done.
The survey of 1,347 employed adults was conducted on behalf of Fiberlink, a company that hawks services that "help enterprises connect, control and secure laptops and mobile devices." Needless to say, the survey results fit perfectly into the company's agenda, but they are hardly surprising. After all, how many of us know someone who has left a work laptop in an unattended vehicle, sent unencrypted e-mails without permission, or reused the same three passwords over and over instead of choosing new ones every 90 days?
Fiberlink CEO Jim Sheward warned of the obvious. "IT departments nationwide spend a lot of time and money on their compliance, usage, and access policies, but they only work if people follow the rules," he said in an e-mailed statement. [C]ompanies could face dangerous breaches that include the loss of sensitive data, competitive intelligence, or customers’ private information."
Harris' findings are supported by previous reports saying that leaky employees are a bigger threat than malware, that employees (not hackers) cause the most corporate data loss, and that employees' online activities pose the greatest threat to IT security. With 12 percent of those people actively working outside of stated IT policy (and plenty more who do so out of ignorance), IT admins certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to maintain a tight ship.
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Researchers get plastic to act totally metal
Plastics became ubiquitous during the 20th century. They were hot topics of industrial and academic research, and saw innumerable consumer applications. While plastics can have a wide variety of mechanical properties, they are almost universally good insulators, both of heat and electricity. But a paper out of the Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratories reports on a novel processing technique that aligns the polymer chains of polyethylene, which results in a material that has both a high thermal capacitance and a high electrical resistance.
The researchers forced the polyethylene to form into this aligned morphology by slowly drawing the fiber out of solution using the tip of an atomic force microscope. The new fibrous form of polyethylene conducts heat well along the direction of the fibers—so well, it beats out many pure metals, including iron and platinum.The resulting fiber was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal polyethylene. This surprising ability to move heat could find uses in any number of technologies that currently rely on metal as a heat transfer medium.
This new method differs from previous attempts at creating a more heat-conductive plastic in that it transforms the morphology of the underlying material instead of using an additive. These prior attempts, while scalable, resulted in only modest gains, since there was high thermal resistance at the interface between the plastic and additive.
It's not currently known how well, if at all, the process will be able to scale up to production. So far, the team has only produced single fibers in the laboratory, but they hope to be able to scale up to macro-scale production of entire sheets of this material.
Nature Nanotechnology, 2010. DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2010.27 (About DOIs).
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Pushing the speed limits of quantum memory
It feels like quantum computers have barely been invented, and scientists are already testing how extensible the current technology is. A paper published in Nature Photonics this week describes how researchers are beginning to push the bandwidth limits of quantum memory. Using photon pulses and cesium vapor has provided bandwidths on par with broadband connections, rates 100 times those of other quantum memory systems currently being tested. However, the system's efficiency is still very low, and advances will have to be made in other fields before it can be improved.
Since many quantum computing implementations operate on photons, a quantum memory that doesn’t involve converting photons into other media, like electrical pulses, would be ideal. Unfortunately, current photon-based media suffers from problems with storage time, retrieval efficiency, and bandwidth. The paper tackles the last issue, as current quantum systems are limited to a data rate of a few megahertz at most.
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Donkey-politician vid keeps two Azerbaijani bloggers in jail
Two Azerbaijani bloggers will remain in jail after using a donkey to represent their government in a satirical YouTube video. Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli lost an appeal Wednesday asking for them to be released from their respective 2 and and 2.5 year sentences. Their lawyer vowed to continue appealing all the way up to the Azerbaijan's Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
Hajizade and Milli had posted the video on YouTube in 2009, which made fun of Azerbaijan's government and what they portrayed to be the country's softball press. Featured was an actor dressed up as a donkey holding a press conference—the donkey, of course, representing the government. As noted by the AFP, the two were charged with hooliganism immediately after the video appeared online and have been in jail ever since.
The bloggers' lawyer Isakhan Ashurov told the AFP that they had appealed the ruling because they have not committed any crimes in Azerbaijan, though authorities claim that their arrest mysteriously has nothing to do with the satirical video. Ashurov plans to press on with the appeal. "The European Court of Human Rights has already accepted two complaints from us regarding infringements of the bloggers' rights during detention," he said. "If the Supreme Court also upholds the decision we will send a third complaint."
Like many former USSR countries, Azerbaijan is often criticized for its heavy hand in silencing criticism and free speech. Reporters Without Borders in particular has hammered on the government for treating these two bloggers (and jailed journalists/critics in general) as dangerous criminals and for dancing around the true reasons for their arrest. If the government continues to reject Hajizade and Milli's appeals, though, their jail sentences might come to an end before the legal system gets around to dealing with them.
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Transformers: War for Cybertron shows how it all began
Cybertron isn't just the homeworld of the Transformers... it is a Transformer itself. It was the first Transformer. In War for Cybertron you get to explore the Civil War between the Autobots and the Decepticons as they blast their way across the planet. At GDC we were treated to a long demo of the game, and yes, it looks good.
The characters were given all-new designs, and some of them will in fact be made into toys. The game takes place before Optimus gains his "Prime" designation, and shows his early days of gaining the trust of the Autobots; we get to see just how he learned to be a leader on the battleground. On the flip side of things, the game explores how Megatron met Star Scream. "We also explore why Megatron keeps this guy, who is basically a back-stabber, around," we're told. This game is taking the Transformers lore back to basics, and filling in some serious holes.
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LifeLock fined $12 million over lack of life-locking ability
Identity theft prevention service LifeLock is not as pristine as its reputation claims after all. The company agreed to pay out $12 million to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission and 35 states, which had said that LifeLock's identity-theft-prevention claims were false and that the company actually made its own customer data available and unsecured from theft. As it turns out, there is no way to fully guarantee that identity theft won't happen, no matter what someone puts on the side of a truck.
LifeLock has made a name for itself as the go-to service if you never want to have any part of your identity stolen, ever. The company claims to proactively protect your information against fraud, alert you to any kind of shady activity, and reduce credit card offers for $10-15 per month. Those who have seen LifeLock's trucks driving around their cities know that the company used to slap its CEO Todd Davis' social security number on the side of the vehicle along with a number of claims guaranteeing that its customers won't fall victim. (As an aside, Davis' identity allegedly ended up getting stolen in 2007.)
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Cellcos hoping to cash in on iPad with 3G/4G mobile hotspots
Though the 3G-equipped version of the iPad will only be able to get data services from AT&T, Verizon apparently sees the introduction of Apple's tablet device as "an opportunity" for the company to sell data services. A supposed internal sales memo published by Engadget reveals Verizon's plan to push its MiFi mobile hotspot for the WiFi-only version of the iPad, which will be available April 3.
The memo points out that the WiFi + 3G iPad won't go on sale for at least a few weeks after the WiFi model, costs $130 more, and can only get service through AT&T, which the memo describes as "an overloaded network with limited coverage." Ouch.
To be fair, the extra $130 includes GPS hardware in addition to the 3G radios, and AT&T continues to make improvements to its network. But, if you don't want to wait, don't want to pay extra, or just don't want to use AT&T service, Verizon has a point—a mobile hotspot like the MiFi (which can connect up to 5 devices at once) can make a good alternative.
A MiFi 2200 from Verizon will run you $50 with current promotions and a two-year contract; without a contract expect to pay about $250. However, Verizon's plans aren't as generous or affordable as the data options AT&T offers for the iPad. Through AT&T, you'll pay $15 per month for up to 250MB of data or $30 per month for unlimited via AT&T, and those plans don't require a contract. With Verizon, you'll pay $40 per month for up to 250MB, or $60 per month with a 5GB cap. Prepaid, non-contract options start at $15 per day with a 75MB limit. Like AT&T, however, your plan also includes free access to Verizon WiFi hotspots.
Sprint offers a branded MiFi 2200 as well, though you can get it free after a $50 mail-in rebate. The company only offers one data plan, though: $60 per month with a 5GB cap (and a 300MB cap on roaming). Sprint also offers the Sierra Wireless Overdrive 4G/3G hotspot for those in an area with WiMAX coverage. Though it costs $100 after rebate, for the same $60 a month you'd get unlimited 4G data and 5GB of 3G data.
For a 4G-only option, you can go directly through Clear to get a 4G USB modem and a Clear Spot WiFi adapter that works with up to eight devices for under $200 total. Data plans start at $40 per month for 4G-only access, though bundles with home service or 3G fall-back are also available.
Other combinations of mobile data modems and/or mobile hotspots are also possible, and it's probably worth it to check with the provider in your area to see what options are available. Despite the extra cost of the WiFi + 3G iPad and the associated data plans, you're not likely to find a cheaper alternative. But going this route means you'll have data access for other devices, such as a laptop, iPod touch, or Nintendo DSi, and can serve data to multiple devices at the same time. The extra flexibility may fit your particular needs and justify the extra cost.
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Free wireless broadband plan is déjàvu all over again
As part of the grand hoopla-fest building up to the release of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan this month, the agency hosted a Digital Inclusion Summit at Washington, DC's Newseum on Tuesday. Co-sponsored with the Knight Foundation, during the course of the event the FCC disclosed more components of The Plan. These include recommending the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps "to conduct skills training and outreach in communities with low rates of adoption," and tapping into the agency's Universal Service Fund to subsidize broadband for low income people.
But what really got our attention was this: the NBP will ask the government to "consider use of spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless broadband service.''
That's odd, we thought, since the FCC and Congress have been considering such an idea for years.
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Street Fighter IV: as good as you can expect on the iPhone
Street Fighter IV is now available on Apple's App Store; you can pick it up right now for $10 if you'd like to see what Capcom can do with Apple's hardware. Capcom also threw quite the party at GDC, allowing the press and community some hands-on time with the game. After playing for about 15 minutes, the verdict is in: this is about as good as you can expect from a fighting game on the iPhone.
As a tech demo it's amazing. The characters are large and detailed, and they move fluidly with grace. Many people enjoyed simply watching others play the game; this is one of the prettiest portable fighting games out there. The problem is simple: the iPhone doesn't have any actual buttons. Many gamers are snobs about the input for their Street Fighter experience, playing with only arcade-quality parts. Going from my home set-up to virtual buttons on the iPhone screen took a while to get used to.
I was able to pull off the dragon punches and fireballs after a while, but the game never felt good to me. It never felt like a game I could sit down and play for hours. The iPhone just isn't set up for this kind of game, and Street Fighter IV felt like someone trying to prove that it could be done. The question they should have asked was should it be done. A good iPhone game takes advantage of what the hardware can do well and works around what it does poorly. Street Fighter IV is simply a graphical curiosity.
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Nanotubes help create thermopower waves
A paper published in Nature Materials this week details a new method for using nanotubes to generate significant amounts of power, at least for their size. When multi-walled carbon nanotubes are covered with a material that produces an exothermic reaction, the nanotubes help conduct the heat in one focused direction. To the apparent surprise of the researchers, this created an electrical pulse, a quick surge of power, that could be put to a number of uses.
When you couple a heat-activated material with exothermically-reactive chemicals, it's theoretically possible to create self-propagating waves of heat. However, there are a couple of problems with implementing systems like these. The waves generally propagate in all directions, which is not terribly efficient for heat- or power-generating purposes. Furthermore, materials that both prevent the wave of the pulse from scattering and can stand up to a large amount of heat are fairly rare.
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Getting chopped: why True Crime loves bladed weapons
Jeff O'Connell is the lead producer of the new True Crime game, and he's showing off the game's hand-to-hand fighting. The part of the game we saw was low on gunplay, but it looked great, with some cinematic-looking moves and kills. The game takes place in Hong Kong, and we're told the art team took 27,000 reference photos of the city. They wanted a bright, saturated look that showed the difference between night and day; a stark contrast in the city.
There were very few guns, and a good amount of slicing with meat cleavers. We asked O'Connell about this strange aspect of the game.
"Hong Kong is not as much an action movie as you'd think, to even possess a single bullet will put you in jail. The triads rely on fists and feet and chopping weapons. In the real Hong Kong these Muay Thai gyms are triad owned and operated. They teach their guys how to do Muay Thai because it's an extremely effective street-fighting mechanic. It's really brutal—it's knees and elbows and things that will brutalize you and put you down." That's why they focused on martial arts, with brutal stomps to knees and vicious kicks and punches... not to mention those slicing weapons.
"The cleaver aspect... guns are hard to come by. There's even a line in the cut scene where a character says 'he brought guns into this,' there's an escalation into guns, it doesn't start in a world where there are guns."
Being sliced up is simply a part of organized crime in Hong Kong. "They call it being 'chopped' by the triads," he explains. "They target you, mutilate you, and often leave you alive. He talks about a recent story of a radio personality who said the wrong thing about a man with triad connections, and he was hacked up with cleavers. The game will feature many chopping weapons; there is not an emphasis on firearms. The hand-to-hand fighting mechanics are impressive, with environmental kills and a free-flowing action movie aspect to the game.
When I told people I was going to see the new True Crime, they had one question: will there be a fight against a dragon? The last game featured a somewhat infamous section where you fought a dragon, and gamers do not remember it fondly.
O'Connell places both hands in the air, as if taking a solemn oath. "You will not, at any point in the game, fight any type of mystical beast, including a dragon." We're sold. True Crime is coming fall of this year, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
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Google Apps becomes a platform, gets its own app store
At the Campfire One event last night, Google launched the Google Apps Marketplace and demonstrated how external Web applications from other vendors can be integrated into Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other services that are part of the search giant's Web-based productivity suite.
In the quest for data liberation, Google's hosted Web services have long offered a wide range of APIs for third-party developers. With the launch of the new marketplace, however, Google Apps for domains is opening up even further and enabling external software to expose its own functionality directly through Google's Web-based applications. This will make it possible for third-party software in the cloud to offer broad interoperability with Google Apps and very tight integration.
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