Google`s new search tools

Google yesterday rolled out two new features to its search engine, both from the recently formed Google Labs, reports TheRegister.

One of them, the Google Viewer, turns results into a slideshow. The viewer pans them across the results at a selected speed, which makes for an interesting alternative to a screensaver.

The second is a reputation-based assessment of the search results. Google Webquotes annotates the results of a Google search with comments from other Web sites. Of course, there are many sites that make a habit of running down other sites which could make for some fairly unreliable results. [TheRegister]

Novell is hoping to kick-start the adoption of the UDDI Web services standard with the release of its UDDI server based on its eDirectory software. UDDI (or universal description, discovery and integration) is one of the key Web services standards, although it is still in relative infancy compared with other standards. The UDDI specification provides a registry of available Web services and addresses for locating Web service applications.

The Novell Nsure UDDI Server adds features such as access control and secure identity management to UDDI services, according to Justin Taylor, chief strategist for directory services at Novell.

InfoWorld reports that the Novell UDDI server also attempts to resolve some elements not finalised by the UDDI specification, including the ability to secure data in the UDDI server, how to securely handle identity information and how to add fault tolerance and backup capabilities. The Novell Nsure UDDI Server will be available on 17 December as a free download. [InfoWorld]

Developers from the Mono project this week released more pieces of their version of an open source .Net alternative. However, plans for a complete release of the technology have been put on hold, at least until the middle of next year.

Project founder Miguel de Icaza, chief technology officer at Linux software-maker Ximian, said earlier this year that Mono version 1.0 would be completed by now. However, he now says the full product is not likely to be completed before mid-2003.

De Icaza says that perhaps the project group underestimated how many features were in .Net, with the result that development has taken a lot longer than expected. "I didn`t anticipate how big it was," he says. [InfoWorld]

Hewlett-Packard and Linux NetworX, which makes cluster software and management tools, are partnering to create supercomputing cluster environments that are cheaper than traditional systems.

In the agreement, announced yesterday, HP said it would offer Linux NetworX`s ClusterWorX software as a tool to manage the clusters, where large numbers of systems are tied together through high-speed networks. The software offers users monitoring, management and disk cloning capabilities.

The first of Linux NetworX`s new systems using HP`s two-processor rx2600 server and four-processor rx5670 servers will be available from 1 January, according to company officials. [eWeek]

An Israeli firm has developed a step-up scanner designed to spare travellers the nuisance of having their shoes removed and checked for hidden explosives at airports.

The "Safeshoe" detects metal items which could be used as a hijacking weapon, says Avi Kostalitz of Ido Security.

Kostalitz, a former head of Israel`s Airports Authority, says the briefcase-size Safeshoe is portable and designed to be used in conjunction with standard airport X-ray gates. "This means an end to the humiliation of standing around barefoot while some stranger goes through your shoes." [Reuters]

This week in TechNiche:
Java hones in on cellphones
Sun`s N1 to debut on blade servers
Microsoft wants Windows domain