Earlier this month (5/14/08 @ 05:40 PST) Google announced the Google Maps API for Flash. One of the changes that you notice right off is the difference and smoothness in animation. Its great to finally have the ability to integrate this mapping application into a flash experience and have access to the geo API natively.

Resources
Announcement
http://googlemapsapi.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-google-maps-api-for-flash.html

Documentation & examples
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/flash/

Note
Google Maps API for Flash is not the only kid on the block with a Flash based mapping solution: Universal ActionScript 3.0 Mapping API

I have personally just cut over to Firefox 3 as my default browser. I was finally able to gather the core add-ons I needed to make the switch. Some of the add-ons are still in beta, but are at least compatible with Firefox 3 so most of he functionality is there.

Firebug (use the 1.1 beta) - Install Now
Firecookie (use the beta) - Install Now
Greasemonkey (supports up to FF3.0b5) - Install Now
Web Developer (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
Operator (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
PageDiff (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
Uppity (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
IE Tab (current version supports FF3) - Install Now

Not development related but add-ons I find very handy

Better Gmail 2 (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
Download Statusbar (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
Foxmarks (current version supports FF3) - Install Now
Foxyproxy (current version supports FF3) - Install Now

If anybody else has add-ons that they find useful along with information on how to get them working in the Firefox 3 please share in the comments.

I ran across this post on the Google Blog describing what makes a web design Googly. Here are Googles 10 design principles:

1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people’s trust.
10. Add a human touch.

Its hard to argue with this list. But as Google alludes to in their post, true success comes from the right balance of all ten. Something that always seems illusive when your in the thick of it, but extraordinarily simple when viewed after the fact.

A great podcast via IT Conversations, Technometria series. In depth discussion of Ajax implementations, design considerations and toolkits. It offers some great insight into Ajax application development by a veteran in field.

IT Conversations Overview

In this edition of Technometria, Phil and Scott talk to Joseph Smarr, the Chief Platform Architect at Plaxo. Plaxo makes great use of AJAX in its product offerings. The gang starts by discussing techniques for overcoming cross-site scripting limitations including Javascript workholes and JSON APIs (also known as JSON-P or JSON callbacks).

The talk turns to performance considerations for Web sites making heavy use of Javascript and some techniques for making AJAX faster. Finally the show ends with a discussion of the coming open social Web and the current state of the OpenSocial proposal.

You can also get more info over at IT Conversations page

The following email was sent to Amazon Web Services customers on 4/23/08 announcing the new pricing structure for data transfers

Dear Amazon Web Services developers,

We’ve often told you that one of our goals is to drive down costs continuously and to pass those savings on to you. We have been able to reduce our costs for data transfer, so we’re pleased to announce that we’re lowering our pricing for data transfer, effective May 1, 2008. You’ll notice below that we’ve reduced price at every existing usage tier of transfer out, as well as added an additional tier for the heaviest users.

Current data transfer price (through April 30, 2008)
$0.100 per GB - data transfer in
$0.180 per GB - first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.160 per GB - next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.130 per GB - data transfer out / month over 50 TB

Data transfer “in” and “out” refers to transfer into and out of the Amazon service. Data transferred between Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3-US, Amazon SimpleDB and Amazon SQS is free of charge (i.e., $0.00 per GB). Data transferred between Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3-Europe will be charged at regular rates.

New data transfer price (effective May 1, 2008)
$0.100 per GB - data transfer in
$0.170 per GB - first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.130 per GB - next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.110 per GB - next 100 TB / month data transfer out
$0.100 per GB - data transfer out / month over 150 TB

Data transfer “in” and “out” refers to transfer into and out of the Amazon service. Data transferred between Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3-US, Amazon SimpleDB and Amazon SQS is free of charge (i.e., $0.00 per GB). Data transferred between Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3-Europe will be charged at regular rates.

The result of this pricing change is that all customers will see a reduction in the price of transfer out. For example, a customer transferring 50TB a month will save 16% and a customer transferring 500TB a month will save 26% on transfer with the new pricing. Please see http://aws.amazon.com for full pricing information for each service.

Sincerely,
The Amazon Web Services Team