Polaroid is ending its instant film camera line.
I know this is subject is not about Google or something high tech. It's about a legend, the Polaroid instant camera. It was the magic of watching a picture develop right before your eyes that hooked wannabe photographers and scrapbook makers. The magic about the Polaroids started when you pressed the button, then out rolled a four inch by four inch silver colored paper, then in about a minute the picture slowly appeared. When I was a kid back in the late 60s through the 70s, this was like rocket science to me. But this era is sadly come to a end. Digital photography has killed the film camera.
 That's one more product that technology has killed off completely: On the eve of the product's 60th anniversary, Polaroid is announcing that its namesake instant film is being discontinued. None of Polaroid's two dozen auto-developing products will be produced after 2008. Depending on the type of film, Polaroid says you can expect to find it on store shelves until the first quarter of 2009, but most of its films will be gone well before then. And don't get too excited about "stocking up" on Polaroid film, either: It will all expire before the end of 2009, after which it will begin to degrade considerably. Polaroid is of course being made obsolete due to the rampant popularity of digital cameras, which make it easy to see what you just shot thanks to their built-in LCDs, without having to wait at all, unlike Polaroids, and without any additional cost. The next target for digital to make irrelevant will naturally be all chemical film. Digital camera revenue overtook film camera revenue way back in 2000 and digicams have all but eliminated film in the market today, even with professional photographers. Of course, Polaroid may be down, but it's not out entirely. Its ZINK "zero ink" technology looks like it's coming to market soon, with a mobile photo printer that lets users print 2" by 3" pictures on special paper, without any ink at all. Production is planned to begin sometime this spring. Stay tuned. POLL: Your thoughts on Polaroid
  This edition covers:
- Inline language translations
- Create a static Google Map
- Hacker group releases tool to find site exploits via Google
 Inline language translation
While Google Translate is hardly perfect, but when trying to read or respond to a web page written in another language, it can be invaluable. Although the Google Toolbar has translation services built-in, the options for selective translation are pretty limited. Enter gTranslate, a Firefox plugin (note, this plugin is NOT compatible with Firefox 3 beta) that allows for selective translation in any of the language pairs offered by Google Translate. Simply select the text and right click and the translation will appear in a contextual menu. If the passage is too long to fit in the window, clicking on it will open the full translation in a new tab. It also supports translating text boxes on the fly. [via Google Operating System]
 Create a static Google Map
As cool as the interactive Google maps are, there are situations where embedding javascript isn't always ideal. In the past, if you wanted to send a "static" Google map to someone via e-mail, you had to take a screen capture from your browser and then attach the corresponding image. Those days are over. Google has just released launched a new Static Maps API, making it easy to create fast-loading static maps that can then be e-mailed or displayed on a web page, all without the need for JavaScript. The Static Maps API can be combined with the JavaScript API if you want to make the map interactive when someone rolls over or clicks the map on your webpage. [via Google Lat Long Blog]
 Hacker group releases tool to find site exploits via Google
Hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) has released the Goolag scanner and Open Source tool designed to search for website vulnerabilities using automated Google search queries. While the concept of "Google hacking" is hardly new, but this kind of automated search is, according to the cDc, "...like Google hacking on steroids." The tool is open-source and available for Windows. Although aimed at IT administrators to help check their own sites for vulnerabilities, there will undoubtedly be users who attempt to use the tool for malicious purposes. While the cDc concedes this, they point out that excessive Google queries may end up getting the user's IP banned from Google. [via ComputerWorld] Tags: google, google hacking, google maps, GoogleHacking, GoogleMaps, goolag scanner, GoolagScanner, gtranslate
 The Lighter Side of Google
Five Google Easter eggs that you can try right now! - Go into Google and type in the answer to life the universe and everything.
- Go to the Google home page and type in xx-klingon, then hit “I’m feeling lucky.”
- Go to the Google home page and type in Google Easter Egg and hit “I’m feeling lucky.”
- Go to the Google home page and type in xx-elmer and hit “I’m feeling lucky.”
- Go to Google home page and type in xx-hacker and hit “I’m feeling lucky.”
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