HTML5

Remember the big Apple vs. everyone else video-format war from last spring? When Apple was pushing the HTML5 standard it wanted to use for video on the iPhone and iPad, instead of Adobe Systems' Flash?

No one seems to spend much time talking about it anymore. For good reason: in large part because Steve Jobs insisted on it, "online video" increasingly means "HTML5-compatible." There's not much to debate anymore.

Video search engine MeFeedia, for instance, says that 54 percent of Web video is now compatible with HTML5. That's more than double the tally the … Read more

Adobe Systems is working with several digital ad companies to create a new format for mobile ads that can tap into Flash or HTML5.

Announced today at the Adobe Max developers conference, the collaboration will define two full-screen ad formats in a bid to create a new industry standard for mobile device ads. Though geared toward devices running Flash Player 10.1, the ads can display in the Flash format or be converted to HTML5 for devices that don't support Flash. Currently targeted at smartphones, the new ad format will eventually expand to tablets and other devices, Adobe said.… Read more

Nokia is making Qt its sole application development framework and is supporting HTML5--both of which the company says are designed to benefit mobile app developers and customers.

The mobile phone maker said today its Qt decision means that mobile apps will be compatible with future versions of Symbian and MeeGo. Previously, developers could write directly for Symbian or MeeGo, each with its own specific development tools and environment.

With Qt, developers can create apps that runs on both smartphone platforms.

Though Nokia will be switching to the MeeGo platform for its N series of smartphones, the company has said it … Read more

Is HTML5, the next version of the standard used to describe Web pages, ready for real-world use now or isn't it?

One of its biggest allies, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that's working hard to create the standard, thinks not. But Facebook, one of the world's most popular Web sites, begs to differ. Indeed, on Tuesday, David Recordon, Facebook's senior open programs manager, published a description of how Facebook is using HTML5 right now.

The ruckus began with an InfoWorld interview last week. In it, Philippe Le Hegaret, who oversees HTML5 standardization, was quoted as saying, "The problem we're facing right now is there is already a lot of excitement for HTML5, but it's a little too early to deploy it because we're running into interoperability issues." In other words, what a programmer writes won't show up the same on different browsers.

Le Hegaret's words triggered derision from some quarters. HTML5 book co-author Remy Sharp ranted about Le Hegaret's position, and Palm director of developer relations Dion Almaer added, "I utterly disagree with Philippe, and instead implore you to think about what your site or app can be in 2010 with the new capabilities." … Read more

LONDON--For someone interested in capitalizing on the new era of advanced Web standards, you'd think Google would be a pretty good employer. After all, it's got an up-and coming browser, some of the world's most influential Web applications, and plenty of money to invest in both.

But in the culture of Silicon Valley, sometimes there's a time to strike off on one's own, and that's what Brad Neuberg, a very visible Web programmer at Google, decided to do. He announced his departure on the eve of a speech last week at the Future of Web Apps conference here.

In an interview with CNET afterward, Neuberg said he plans to launch a San Francisco start-up in November focusing on the same suite of Web technology he's been steeped in at Google. He's cagey on details, but he said he plans to focus on Web applications for consumers.

"I drank the HTML5 Kool-Aid," he said, saying it and other Web standards are fueling a new wave of entrepreneurial activity. " I really believe we're starting to see those start-ups. We'll see that accelerate in the next six months to a year and a half."

Plus, he didn't like spending three hours a day commuting from San Francisco to Google's Mountain View, Calif., offices and back for two years and nine months of his life.

"What am I sacrificing? It didn't all fit," he said. "I should be doing what I would do if I won the lottery," so now he's begun trying to gather a group of like-minded folk for the start-up. … Read more

Social network giant launches new group feature designed just for you and your few close friends. We immediately get invited to 500-person groups. How romantic. Also, Verizon iPhone rumors heat up (again); Cisco tries to sell $600 product to compete with free video conferencing services; and Russian Space Porn!

When we last left PlayOn, the clever video-streaming Web server, its official iTunes App Store app had been unceremoniously back-burnered by Apple, shortly after we published a hands-on preview of it.

The official PlayOn app never did make it past the Apple gatekeepers, but MediaMall Technologies, PlayOn's parent company, has been working on an HTML5-based "Web app" as a replacement. The iPhone and iPod Touch version has been functional at m.playon.tv for several weeks, but the new update to PlayOn's PC-based server software will finally support the iPad as well.

We got an early … Read more

It was just last week that Apple relented on its ban of ported Flash applications for iOS devices, but unsurprisingly, Adobe is still toddling along with its piecemeal rollout of HTML5 support in its Creative Suite 5 applications. The HTML5 pack for Dreamweaver became an official update patch at the end of August, and now the company is following up with an informal update for Illustrator CS5. Adobe refused to call it a beta, but neither is it a final version; it's a "compatibility update and will not roll out through the normal update process, and will change … Read more

On Wednesday, when the world's dominant search company launched the Google Instant search-as-you-type service, a technically savvy section of Web users were left out: those who prefer the Opera browser.

But they won't be for long, Google said Thursday. "We hope to support Opera shortly after launch," the company said in a statement.

Google Instant works on newer versions of the four most widely used browsers: Google's Chrome version 5 and later, Firefox version 3 and later, Safari for Mac version 5, and Internet Explorer 8, the company said. "We encourage people to upgrade … Read more