Some Google news

Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project [blogoscoped.com]
Built with WebKit but with added cool features – some UX stuff but more interestingly a new JavaScript virtual machine, multi-threading and sensible security policies. And all Open Sourced.

Google’s undocumented favicon to png convertor [via Simon Willison]
Showing the favicon of a domain next to a link is a really nice trick, but it’s slightly tricky to achieve as IE won’t display a .ico file if you link to it from an img element, so you need to convert the images server-side. This undocumented Google API does that for you, meaning it’s much easier to add favicons as a feature to your site.

Some cool hacking…

Solar powered ice maker [Hack a Day]
The system uses solar heat to facilitate evaporation of a coolant. When the sun goes down and the coolant turns back to liquid, its temperature drops drastically due to extreme pressure differences. The unit can produce 14 pounds of ice per day with zero carbon footprint.

Archrs – an everyday story of web development [BBC – Radio Labs]
Tristan’s review of his work on a new Archer’s prototype. Unfortunately it didn’t get launched – which is a real shame it would have been great.

And finally some project management stuff

The Need for Leadership in Scrum [NetObjectives]
An interesting take on the role of management and leadership within organisations using Scrum. Where leadership as the “ability to create a solid vision of a better future for those people he/she is leading.” A leader must have a compelling desire to move towards that vision. And management as the “ability to match people’s tasks with their skills.”