WebProNews

Tag: HTML5

  • Is Native WebGL Support Coming To Internet Explorer 11?

    For all of its talk of supporting open Web standards, Internet Explorer 10 still lacked one important part of the open Web ecosystem – WebGL. Sure, you could add it with a plugin, but Microsoft refused to add native support while Mozilla and Google do amazing things with it. That all may change, however, with Windows Blue.

    Fremycompany reports that Internet Explorer 11, as seen in the recent leak of Windows Blue, contains hints in its code that Microsoft will finally be adding native support for WebGL. The only problem is that it’s not entirely functional yet:

    I didn’t get webgl working, even by trying using iesl, hlsl and other combinations. So, it seems like WebGL interfaces are defined but not functional at this time.

    As CNET points out, Microsoft did have a good reason to keep WebGL out of Internet Explorer until now. The company called it out as a security risk, and was concerned that malicious actors could hijack browsers using the technology. Still, this latest hint of incoming support may mean that Microsoft has patched up all the security holes it was concerned about.

    There’s not much more to go on at this time beyond the initial hints, but it would be incredibly advantageous for the Web if Internet Explorer finally added native WebGL support. It’s quickly becoming one of the more important open Web standards as more people use it to make games and other graphic intensive content on the Web without plugins.

    We’ve reached out to Microsoft to see if the Internet Explorer team is working on native WebGL support. We’ll update this story if they get back to us.

  • Mozilla and Epic Games Bring Unreal Engine 3 To The Web

    Mozilla and Epic Games Bring Unreal Engine 3 To The Web

    For the longest time, HTML5 was far behind Flash in terms of game development as it didn’t offer a native experience. Mozilla and others have been bridging that gap over the last year, however, and the non-profit’s latest move inspires more hope that HTML5 can deliver native gaming experiences sooner rather than later.

    Mozilla and Epic Games announced at GDC that Unreal Engine 3 is now available to HTML5 developers. The epic achievement (pun so intended) was made possible through Mozilla’s work in developing “a highly-optimized version of JavaScript” that allows game developers to bring graphically intensive content to the Web.

    To see it in action for yourself, check out this quick run through of Epic Citadel running on a Web browser:

    It’s Mozilla’s hope that developers will use this to bring more visually striking, and maybe even AAA games, to the Web. Of course, HTML5 is still in its infancy and developer adoption is low. Still, it’s incredibly encouraging to see HTML5 progressing this fast especially when Flash only just got Unreal Engine 3 support at last year’s GDC.

  • Want A Firefox OS Phone? Attend One Of These Workshops

    Want A Firefox OS Phone? Attend One Of These Workshops

    Mozilla announced a while back that it would start selling Firefox OS Developer Preview phones sometime in February. That obviously didn’t happen, and there’s no mention of when the phones will be widely available to developers. Until then, you’re best chance to get one is at one of Mozilla’s recently announced workshops.

    Mozilla announced today that it will be hosting a number of Firefox OS App Workshops starting in April. The first will take place on April 20 in Madrid, Spain; the second on May 18 in Bogotá, Colombia; and the third on June 1 in Warsaw, Poland. Mozilla says that it plans to have more workshops in more locations later on in the year.

    So, what will those attending the workshops receive? Mozilla says it will be offering the usual free swag, like t-shirts, and a free meal to all attendees, but the real treat is that all those in attendance will receive a Firefox OS Developer Preview phone.

    All Mozilla asks is that those wanting to attend have “solid ideas and strong Web development skills.” In other words, it’s looking for developers who have built apps using open Web development platforms like PhoneGap, Chrome, webOS, BlackBerry Webworks, etc.

    Those attending can also look forward to working one-on-one Mozilla’s own Firefox OS development team to create new apps for Firefox OS or port an existing app to the HTML5-centric mobile OS.

    If you wish to attend, you’ll have to apply for a spot at one of the events. Mozilla says they’ll be approving applications on a first-come, first-served basis.

  • Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 Now Available

    Late last year, Mozilla released Firefox OS simulator 1.0. The preview software would give developers an idea of how Firefox OS looks when running on a mobile device while allowing them to develop apps for the HTML5-centric platform. It’s only been a few months since then, and Mozilla has already pushed out two new versions with the latest being made available this week.

    Mozilla announced that Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 is now available to developers. What sets this apart from previous Simulator builds beyond the obvious new features is that it’s a really early build that’s still “rough around the edges.” Still, Mozilla wants you, the developers, to have a go at it to help the team build the best product they can.

    Here’s what you can expect to see in version 3.0 of the Firefox OS Simulator:

  • Push to Device
  • Rotation simulation
  • Basic geolocation API simulation
  • Manifest validation
  • Stability fixes for installation and updates to apps
  • Newer versions of the Firefox rendering engine and Gaia (the UI for Firefox OS)

    • The most helpful update in version 3.0 is probably the ability to push apps to a device loaded with Firefox OS. Sony has recently released an experimental version of the mobile OS for its Xperia E smartphone. With the latest version of the simulator, developers can now test apps on these devices to make sure they properly work in a true mobile environment.

    If you want to try out the latest version of Firefox OS Simulator, you can grab it for Windows, Mac or Linux. Be aware that it acts as an extension of Firefox so you’ll have to keep the browser open to play around with it.

  • Samsung Chromebook Gets HTML5 Netflix Streaming

    Samsung Chromebook Gets HTML5 Netflix Streaming

    For the longest time, Chromebooks were denied the simple pleasure of streaming content from Netflix. This is because Netflix’ streaming service is powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight software, which is not available on Chrome OS. To get around this, Google worked with Netflix and Microsoft to get a version of Netflix running on at least one Chromebook.

    Google announced today that Netflix is now available via HTML5 streaming on Samsung’s latest Chromebook. It’s a pretty big deal as this is the first time Netflix has moved off of Sliverlight. It’s also one of the first major video providers to use HTML5. YouTube has been beta testing HTML5 support for a year now, but Netflix may really push it to its limits.

    Netflix users who also happen to own a Chromebook will be pleased to know that there are no hoops to jump through to start watching video content. In fact, it’s just as simple as watching Netflix on any Windows PC or Mac. All you have to do is head over to the Netflix Web site and start watching whatever content currently pleases your eye muscles.

    Looking at the bigger picture, it doesn’t appear that Netflix will be free of Silverlight on other operating systems anytime soon. What this really means is that we start seeing Netflix appear on more operating systems that don’t support Silverlight – namely Linux. Native support for Netflix via HTML5 would be a huge win for the open source community. Let’s just hope Netflix can find a way to make it happen.

    [h/t: Engadget]

  • Learn How To Make Web Apps With HTML5 And App Engine

    Learn How To Make Web Apps With HTML5 And App Engine

    Building a modern Web app can be a daunting task for someone not familiar with HTML5. That’s where Google comes in with its newest tutorial.

    The folks at Google have a new talk up today on how to best utilize HTML5 and Google App Engine Endpoints to create modern Web apps that can work in offline mode while supporting all the latest HTML5 technologies. Watch the video tutorial below, and follow along with the slides here.

  • Google Makes Your Phone/Tablet The Controller In New Chrome Game

    Google Makes Your Phone/Tablet The Controller In New Chrome Game

    Google announced the launch of a new game under the Chrome Experiments label. It’s called Chrome Super Sync Sports, and lets up to four people compete in running, swimming and cycling on a shared computer screen, using their smartphones or tablets as the game controllers.

    The game takes advantage of HTML5 features like WebSockets, Canvas and CSS3.

    To play, just go to the Super Sync Sports page on your computer, choose a game and select the number of players. From there, visit g.co/super in Chrome on your smartphone or tablet, and type in the code that is displayed on the computer. This syncs the devices, and puts you in gameplay mode.

    “Use the arrow pad on your smartphone or tablet to select one of 50 athletes and prepare yourself for the competition,” says Steve Vranakis, Executive Creative Director, Google Creative Lab. “The motions you make on your mobile touchscreen will move your athlete on your computer screen. To move your athlete forward and win the race, you need to make the correct gestures as quickly as possible. The better you are, the higher your chances of making it to the global leaderboard.”

    The game is available for Chrome v15 and up, and for Android 4.0+ and iOS 4.3+ devices.

  • Internet Explorer 10 Finally Available On Windows 7

    After launching with Windows 8 in October of last year, Internet Explorer 10 has only been available as a release preview on Windows 7. That all changes as Microsoft pushes out the final release to all Windows 7 users starting today.

    Just like Windows 8, IE10 will reportedly speed up your browsing experience on Windows 7. Microsoft says that internal benchmarks put it about 20 percent faster than IE9. To test it out for yourself, you can try out Microsoft’s Minesweeper benchmark test. It’s built entirely in HTML5 and will measure your browser’s performance.

    IE10 is also a marked improvement over its predecessors by finally adding a number of HTML5 and related Web technologies to its repertoire. Developers and consumers now have access to the following features in IE10:

  • Create rich visual effects with CSS Text Shadow, CSS 3D Transforms, CSS3 Transitions and Animations, CSS3 Gradient, and SVG Filter Effects
  • More sophisticated and responsive page layouts with CSS3 for publication quality page layouts and responsive application UI (CSS3 grid, flexbox, multi-column, positioned floats, regions, and hyphenation), HTML5 Forms, input controls, and validation
  • Enhanced Web programming model for better offline applications through local storage with IndexedDB and the HTML5 Application Cache; Web Sockets, HTML5 History, Async scripts, HTML5 File APIs, HTML5 Drag-drop, HTML5 Sandboxing, Web workers, ES5 Strict mode support.
  • Beautiful and interactive Web applications with support for several new technologies like CSS3 Positioned Floats, HTML5 Drag-drop, File Reader API, Media Query Listeners, Pointer Events, and HTML5 Forms.
  • Improved Web application security with the same markup and support for HTML5 Sandbox for iframe isolation.

    • As for privacy, the Do Not Track signal will be turned on by default in IE10 for Windows 7, just as it was for Windows 8. Just don’t expect it to actually accomplish anything.

    You can grab IE10 for Windows 7 right now. If you want Microsoft to do the work for you, you’ll be upgraded to IE10 automatically in the coming weeks. Those who took part in the IE10 Release Preview will get first dibs, with everybody still on IE9 coming later.

  • WebGL Has Come A Long Way Since Last Year

    Last year, Mozilla released an impressive tech demo called BananaBread that showed how HTML5 and WebGL can handle 3D rendering in a game. It was very basic, but it showed a lot of promise, especially in Web-based texture compression. Now one developer has released a new tech demo that blows prior experiments in WebGL 3D rendering out of the water.

    Mozilla has the story of Anthony Liot, a developer for Actisku He took on the task of porting a 3D engine called Unigine to HTML5 using Mozilla’s Web technologies and Emscripten. The results are absolutely mind blowing. You can check out the non-interactive demo here. It works in either Firefox or Chrome.

    If your browser, namely Internet Explorer, can’t display WebGL rendered 3D visuals, check out some screenshots below:

    HTML5-Based 3D Rendering

    HTML5-Based 3D Rendering

    HTML5-Based 3D Rendering

    For more details on this project, check out Actisku’s blog post.

  • Google Partners With Disney In New Chrome Experiment

    Google Partners With Disney In New Chrome Experiment

    The last Google Chrome Experiment took us on a journey through the stars of our galaxy. Now Google is partnering with Disney to take users through the world of Sam Raimi’s upcoming film – Oz: The Great and Powerful.

    The latest Chrome experiment uses a number of Web technologies to bring the world of the film to life. Google says it worked with UNIT9 and Disney to create the visual spectacle using the latest HTML5 technologies like WebGL, CSS3, Web Audio API, and WebRTC. You can see the results for yourself here.

    Like the other Chrome Experiments before it, this latest one is another great case study for the continued development of HTML5 and open Web technologies. The tornado segment is an especially awesome example of the kinds of technical marvels developers and designers are now able to achieve with Web technologies that could barely render 2D sprites only a few years ago.

    If you’re more interested in the development work that went on behind this latest experiment, hit up the Chromium blog to see all the technologies used. To get even more in depth, you can check out UNIT9’s case study at HTML5 Rocks.

  • Mozilla Kills The PDF Plugin In Firefox 19

    We just got Firefox 18 earlier this week, but Mozilla already has its sights set on the future. That future is one devoid of PDF plugins, like Adobe Acrobat Reader, that could harbor dangerous security flaws. Instead, the non-profit will continue pushing HTML5 in the new year.

    Mozilla announced today that Firefox 19, which is currently in beta, will have a new PDF reader called PDF.js. The .js extension should tip you off that the new reader is built in JavaScript and HTML5. The idea is that the new PDF reader will be more secure than “proprietary closed source code.” Here’s all the details:

    For a number of years there have been several plugins for viewing PDF’s within Firefox. Many of these plugins come with proprietary closed source code that could potentially expose users to security vulnerabilities. PDF viewing plugins also come with extra code to do many things that Firefox already does well with no proprietary code, such as drawing images and text. These problems, and the desire to push the boundaries of the HTML5 platform, led Andreas Gal and Chris Jones to start a research project they named PDF.js. The project quickly picked up steam within Mozilla Labs, where it grew into a full-fledged PDF viewer.

    Today, the PDF.js project clearly shows that HTML5 and JavaScript are now powerful enough to create applications that could previously have only been created as native applications. Not only do most PDF’s load and render quickly, they run securely and have an interface that feels at home in the browser. As an added benefit of using standard HTML5 API’s, the PDF viewer is capable of running on many platforms (PC’s, tablet, mobile) and even different browsers. Last, performance will only get better as JavaScript engines and rendering performance continue to improve in browsers.

    Mozilla Kills PDF Plugins In Firefox 19

    PDJ.js is now available in Firefox 19, but it’s still in beta so bugs may be present. To that end, Mozilla encourages beta users to file bug reports if they run into any problems. The developers want to get PDF.js into the release version of Firefox, and plenty of bug reports will help them polish it up for release six weeks from now.

    As for developers, you can help contribute to the project by visiting the PDF.js github page. It would be an excellent opportunity to work in more advanced HTML5 projects.

  • HTML5 Is Now Feature Complete, W3C To Start Focusing On Interoperability

    HTML5 Is Now Feature Complete, W3C To Start Focusing On Interoperability

    Many people will tell you that HTML5 is the future, while others will say that it’s not going to happen. The biggest proponent of and main architect behind HTML5, the World Wide Web Consortium, insist that HTML5 is the future, and its latest advancement only further helps to prove that point.

    The W3C recently published the “complete definition of HTML5 and Canvas 2D applications.” These are not W3C standards just yet, but it represents a major step forward for the Web technology. Those who were on the fence can now start developing for HTML5 in earnest as a stable version is now available.

    HTML5 may be stable and feature complete, but the W3C is not yet done with the Web standard. The group says that browser fragmentation still remains a problem with some browsers lagging behind others in terms of HTML5 adoption. The group’s new goal is to make sure HTML5 is interoperable across every browser. They hope to have this completed by the middle of 2014 and then it will publish its final HTML5 recommendation.

    A number of W3C members spoke out on this tremendous milestone. All express excitement that HTML5 is ready for its biggest debut yet. Here’s some of the more interesting testimonials with promises of a better future for all on the Web.

    Danny Winokur, Vice President and General Manager of Adobe Interactive Development, spoke on HTML5’s impact on the company’s recent introduction of its Edge Web tools:

    The completion of the HTML5 and Canvas specifications is an important milestone for developers and designers as it provides a common foundation for browsers and other implementations. Web standards are central to Adobe’s Edge Tools & Services for authoring rich interactive web media and animations, helping us deliver a more predictable and reliable user experience for anyone creating content and applications for the modern web. We congratulate the working group for their efforts in advancing both specifications.

    Tobie Langel, W3C Advisory Committee Representative for Facebook, spoke on the social network’s tight relationship with the Web technology:

    HTML5 plays a fundamental role in making Facebook accessible to the more than one billion people who use our products. Building with the latest web technologies is how we are able to make our experience available across more than 7,000 devices. Today’s announcement is an important milestone for the Open Web Platform. Facebook is proud to contribute to this effort through involvement in initiatives like the Coremob Community Group.

    Jean Paoli, President of Microsoft Open Technologies, spoke on Microsoft’s commitment to implementing HTML5 technologies in its products:

    Microsoft is proud to have participated in the hard work that has made HTML5 and Canvas 2D Candidate Recommendations, and congratulates W3C on reaching this important milestone. We look forward to working with the Web community to finalize these as W3C Recommendations. Several Microsoft products have implemented these emerging open Web standards to bring interoperability and maximum reach across multiple devices. We’re confident that HTML5 and Canvas 2D are ready for wide adoption, and glad that the industry shares our enthusiasm for HTML5.1 that will soon support better graphics and streaming media in an open way.

    It will be interesting to see how other players in the Web ecosystem approach HTML5 now that it’s “feature complete.” I know a few developers who have stuck to Flash and other plugin-based Web technologies because HTML5 just wasn’t good enough for them yet. It’s unknown if this will increase HTML5 adoption across the Web.

  • AdWords Now Lets You Convert Flash Ads To HTML5

    Google recently launched a new feature in AdWords that lets advertisers convert Flash ads to HTML5, potentially saving time and money.

    “In this increasingly multi-screen world, it’s important for marketers to easily run ads that reach people on different devices,” says Google Display Ads product manager Ashley Jiang. “But with different specs and standards across platforms, this can currently be difficult, especially for marketers who’ve invested in engaging rich media ad units. Since Flash isn’t supported on many tablets, and building a new ad in HTML5 can be expensive and time-consuming, often marketers’ rich media ads aren’t able to run on tablets.”

    Flash to HTML5 conversion

    “Advertisers can now generate an HTML5 version of a Flash image ad with the click of a button, right within the Image Ad upload flow in AdWords,” says Jiang. “Because HTML5 ads can appear on browsers and devices that are incompatible with Flash, running an HTML5 version of an image ad alongside the Flash version in AdWords extends reach across devices. In this initial release, these converted HTML5 ads will show only on iPads, though we hope to extend support to additional tablet and mobile devices in the coming months.”

    In the section on converting ads in Google’s AdWords help center, the company does note that ads may not be 100% identical to the Flash ads. You can, of course, preview it though. Filters and blending are not supported.

  • Mozilla Announces The Game On Challenge

    Web-based games have come a long way since the early days of Shockwave. Mozilla has been one of the leaders in this area by creating games that push the boundaries of HTML5 and other Web-based technologies. Now the non-profit wants other developers to create Web games for its Game On challenge.

    This year’s Game On challenge will be focused on creating games using Open Web technologies. Mozilla will be accepting games in three categories – hackable games, multi-device games, and web-only games. Here’s the breakdown of what the judges will be looking for:

    Best Hackable Games

    Create games that let players remix game mechanics, fork code, or use assets from the web to create their own version (and maybe even learn how to code along the way).

    Best Multi-Device Games

    Use the power of mobile to explore concepts like asymmetric gaming, alternate reality games, and companion apps. This category is searching for games that take advantage of the unique affordances of different platforms they inhabit.

    Best Web-Only Games

    Create games that can only be played on the web. Get inspired by web-only mechanics such as sharing links and data, finding clues on the web that will help you advance in the game, always-on multi-player, and more – creating the most webilicious game possible!

    Each winner from the three categories will get a multitude of prizes, including an all-expense paid trip to the GDC 2013. Other prizes include a spot on the Mozilla marketplace, a chance to pitch your game to Chillingo, one year membeship to the IGDA and UKIE, promotion of your game on Mozilla’s Game On Gallery, and plenty of Mozilla swag.

    Those interested in participating in this year’s Game On Challenge need only sign up at Mozilla’s Web site. The deadline to sign up is February 24 of next year. While you’re at it, you might want to start looking at some game jams happening around you. Mozilla will be hosting game jams in New York and London this weekend, but is also providing the tools needed to host your own.

  • Twitter Breaks Down How It Uses PushState To Eliminate Latency

    A common complaint of Twitter is that there’s a quite a bit of lag when going from one part of Twitter to the other. The engineering team feels that they sufficiently solved the problem through an implementation of pushState, and have taken to their blog to explain how they did it.

    The Twitter engineering team says that pushState is part of the HTML5 History API – a set of tools that, as Mozilla puts it, “exposes useful methods and properties that let you move back and forth through the user’s history, as well as… manipulate the contents of the history stack.” As for pushState itself, the team at Twitter explains it as thus:

    While the pushState() method is used when navigating forward from A to B, the History API also provides a “popstate” event—used to mange back/forward button navigation. The event’s “state” property maps to the data passed as the first argument to pushState().

    If the user presses the back button to return to the initial point from which he/she first navigated via pushState, the “state” property of the “popstate” event will be undefined. To set the state for the initial, full-page load use the replaceState() method. It accepts the same arguments as the pushState() method.

    Here’s a visual explanation:

    Twitter Breaks Down How It Uses PushState To Eliminate Latency

    The team says that implementing pushState was relatively simple, but there were a few problems that they had to overcome. In particular, not every browser is up to date on the latest advances in the History API and programmers have to replicate behaviors that are otherwise present in full-page reloads.

    Other problems were present as well with one being that all browsers currently ignore the title attribute in pushState. All updates must be performed manually at the time being. Another problem arose from Firefox imposing a 640kb character limit on any serialized state objects that are passed to pushState.

    Despite all this, the team says they’re pleased with the HTML5 History API. They feel that it has improved rendering teams significantly on the Twitter Web page and app.

    If you want to play around with the History API or pushState, check out these two github projects from balupton and defunkt.

  • New Chrome Experiment Is Pretty Stellar

    Google likes to flex the power of Chrome from time to time, and the resulting Chrome Experiments are generally delightful and/or informative. Besides being fun to look at, the experiments serve a secondary purpose. Chrome gets put through its HTML5 paces, and developers can see firsthand the advancements being made in Web APIs.

    The latest Chrome Experiment is called 100,000 Stars, and the title really does say it all. It’s a visualization of our stellar neighborhood and all the stars that reside in it. It’s actually pretty awe inspiring to see Web APIs rendering thousands of stars.

    New Chrome Experiment Is Pretty Stellar

    Users can zoom in from the initial display of stars to get a better look at the stars that surround our own solar system. The focus is on our own solar system so our Sun is at the center, but the program details the locations of all the prominent stars that surround our own solar system. You can also click on each star’s name to get an excerpt from its Wikipedia article.

    New Chrome Experiment Is Pretty Stellar

    Finally, the team at Google really puts its WebGL and CSS3D skills to the test with a fantastic close up render of our own Sun.

    New Chrome Experiment Is Pretty Stellar

    If you have a few minutes to spare, you should check out Google’s stellar map in more detail. There’s a lot of interesting stuff about our universe just waiting to be learned. It should also be noted that the fantastic music being used in the experiment was composed by Sam Hulick, one of the men responsible for the score in Mass Effect.

  • Mozilla Brings Real Time Video Remixing To The Masses With Popcorn Maker

    Does anybody remember VH1’s Pop Up Video? At the time, it was really cool to see music videos laden with small nuggets of trivia about my favorite artists. It’s about time something like that came to the Web, and Mozilla is more than willing to accomodate.

    At the Mozilla Festival over the weekend, the non-profit announced the launch of Popcorn Maker. It’s a free Web app that lets users create their own “Pop Up Videos,” and then some. In a way, it’s like a Web version of movie maker programs like Windows Movie Maker or Final Cut Pro.

    Mozilla’s Director of Popcorn, Brett Gaylor, says that Popcorn Maker makes video “work like the rest of the Web: hackable, linkable, remixable, and connected to the world around it.” It’s based on the Popcorn.js library that Mozilla made available to developers last year, but the non-profit is now putting it in the hands of users with “an intuitive interface anyone can use.”

    Here’s an example of what Popcorn Maker is capable of. Pay close attention to the Google Maps embeds. It’s all kinds of magical when you can interact with Google Maps in the middle of a video.

    It’s hard to say if things like Popcorn Maker will take over established video delivery services like YouTube. It’s also important to note that some content owners might not appreciate fans remixing and reiterating on their content. Even so, Popcorn Maker is pretty awesome, and it may very well have a future among developers and artists alike.

    For those interested, you can start using Popcorn Maker now. For more detailed information on the development of Popcorn Maker, check out the Mozilla Hacks post from the Tech Lead for Popcorn Maker, Bobby Richter.

  • Google Updates WhatBrowser.org; 43 Languages, Mobile Support

    Google says that no matter which browser you choose, you should at least be informed on whether or not it’s updated and what the other options are. Three years ago, they created a site that answers those questions and more.

    Although WhatBrowser.org is a Google creation, they don’t simply recommend that everyone switches to the newest version of Chrome. For instance, accessing WhatBrowser with Firefox will suggest that you can try Chrome, Opera, or Safari. Not IE, it’s important to note.

    For the truly technologically-challenged among us, Google also provides a short description of what a browser actually is. They also let users know that updating your browser, whichever one it may be, is necessary because it’s faster, safer, and more feature-rich.

    With that in mind, Google has made some changes to the site, which they announced in a Chrome blog post.

    “To reflect the changing browser landscape, we’ve completely revamped whatbrowser.org. The site has been fully rebuilt in HTML5, localized in 43 languages, and now works on mobile, too. The site also highlights why it’s so important to use a modern browser and keep it up to date: doing so saves you time, keeps you safer, and lets you do more online. The browser you choose is up to you; hopefully whatbrowser.org can help,” says Google Product Manager Jeff Chang.

    With the internet reaching more and more people across the world every day, searches like “what’s a browser” and “what browser am I using” will continue to see volume. Google’s WhatBrowser.org ranks near the top for many of these types of searches.

    For fun, if you’re interested, you can take a journey through four years of the browser wars here. The visualization takes you from June 2008 to June 2012 – from a world dominated by Internet Explorer to one where Chrome and Firefox take up plenty of real estate.

  • RIM Announces New Features For BlackBerry 10

    Today marked the start of the BlackBerry Jam developers’ conference. This is the failing company’s last big chance to remain relevant in the smartphone world. It also marks the first public unveiling of BlackBerry 10, the company’s new smartphone operating system.

    The two main new features going into BlackBerry 10 are Flow and Hub. The two new apps are indicative of RIM finally embracing what smartphone owners want out of their devices. They offer a one-stop shop for all of their apps and communications.

    BlackBerry Flow is an activity monitor of sorts. It minimizes all of the currently running apps on one screen. It’s somewhat similar to Microsoft’s Live Tiles in Windows Phone 8. In this case, the app is contained in a small window that provides the most recent information from that app. RIM uses the example of seeing the most up-to-date BlackBerry Messenger update on the Flow screen.

    From there, users can access the BlackBerry Hub. It’s a all-encompassing message center that collects communications from multiple email accounts, BBM, social networking, and text messages. Once again, it seems like BlackBerry is taking a page out of Windows Phone here. It’s nice, however, and a much needed improvement over previous BlackBerry OS versions.

    You can check out both new features in action below:

    RIM is once again playing catch up by announcing that the Blackberry App World will begin offering music and movies. They have also redesigned App World to be easier to navigate. You can get a brief glimpse of the new App World below:

    Finally, RIM also announced a new Web browser that will be shipping with BlackBerry 10. The browser has been built around new Web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. It also promises faster loading and built-in sharing. One of the more unique things about the browser is that it can access on board hardware and interact with it via HTML5. Check out the demo below to see for yourself:

    Overall, RIM hasn’t shown anything groundbreaking. These are features that should have been present in BlackBerry ages ago. RIM has been constantly playing catch up with iOS and Android in the past. Now they’re playing catchup with Windows Phone. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

    With that being said, the browser is really nice. I hope Apple and Google get it together in pushing better HTML5 support. Being able to access hardware functions through a browser is pretty cool.

  • Adobe Introduces Edge Tools For HTML5 Development

    Adobe Introduces Edge Tools For HTML5 Development

    Adobe and its products have been instrumental in constructing how we view the Web. Flash was, and still is, a major innovator in the Web-based video and gaming arena. The company, however, saw that HTML5 will one day be the future. That’s why Adobe has begun investing heavily in it through various software like Adobe Shadow. This morning, the company announced its new plan to take Web development and HTML5 even further.

    At its Create the Web event in San Francisco, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch revealed the company’s bid to help build the future of the Web – Edge Tools and Services. The new tools take all of Adobe’s previous efforts in HTML5 development, and combines them with brand new tools that will help creative and technical minds alike create Web sites.

    Edge Tools and Services includes the following software:

  • Edge Animate – A motion and interaction design tool that allows users to bring animated content to the web using HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
  • Edge Inspect – An inspection and preview tool that allows front-end web developers and designers to efficiently preview and debug HTML content on mobile devices.
  • Edge Code – A code editor, built on the Brackets open source project, optimized for web designers and developers working with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
  • Edge Reflow – A responsive web design tool to help users create layouts and visual designs with CSS, the standard for styling HTML content.
  • Edge Web Fonts – A free web font service for using a growing library of open source fonts on websites and in apps.
  • Typekit – A service that gives designers and developers access to a library of hosted, high-quality fonts to use on their websites.
  • PhoneGap Build – A service for packaging mobile apps built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript for popular mobile platforms.

    • Edge Reflow was only shown in preview form today and will be available for general preview later this year. The rest of the software, including Edge Animate, Inspect, PhoneGap Build and WebFonts will be available today. Edge Code will also be available, but it’s still in preview.

    “We are excited to put a powerful new set of HTML5 tools into the hands of web designers and developers and can’t wait to experience the beautiful websites, digital content and mobile apps they’ll create,” said Danny Winokur, vice president and general manager, interactive development at Adobe. “We are passionate about enabling creative people to do anything they can imagine with web technologies, which is why we’re contributing to the web platform and making the Edge Tools & Services available for free, including the first release of Edge Animate.”

    Adobe hopes that these new tools will help developers and creators alike innovate the Web, including four key areas: layout, foundational graphics, cinematic visual effects, and typography. These four areas are central to the evolution of the Web by making it more expressive.

    To help get people started, Adobe will be giving away Edge Animate in Creative Cloud for free starting today. After the introductory period, it will go back up to its normal $499 perpetual license price. Those who don’t have that kind of money laying around can opt for the much cheaper $14.99 per month licensing fee.

    Those looking for the best bang for their buck, Adobe will be offering all of its new Edge Tools alongside CS6 in its Creative Cloud membership. It’s $49.99 a month under an annual contract.

    It’s not quite there yet, but the future of the Internet is going to the Web. HTML5 is heralded as what’s leading the charge to this brave new future. Adobe wants a part of that, and the company’s new Edge tools helps get a foot in the door near the beginning. Now it’s up to designers and developers to create the future.

  • Google’s Games Chat Show Is Back For A Third Episode

    It’s been a while since Google last graced us with its wonderful Games Chat show. If you’re new to it, be prepared for 45 minutes of Google gamers and game developers talking about trends in the industry and browser game development.

    This week’s episode tackles more topics relating to game development on the Web. The group discusses the single sign-in on Google+ for transferring game saves across devices. It’s a look at how HMTL5 games will be able to deal with the issue of saving progress in Web games without the use of cookies.

    There’s also a lot of great discussion on the future of gaming, including a talk on gamer parents. Will the future of gaming be dependent upon on parents indoctrinating their children into playing games? These guys seem to think so, but watch and formulate your own opinion.

    Check out the rest of the video for 45 minutes of Web development discussion. Games have proven this week to be pushing the future of HTML5 with the latest version of Firefox. It’s exciting to see a weekly show that will actually discuss the latest developments in the world of browser gaming.

    On a personal note, it would be great to see the Google Games Chat team up with the Firefox HTML5 games team for an episode. An in depth look at how advanced 3D games are made in HTML5 would be awesome and educational.