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Zoom around the vast Milky Way in a browser

In the grand scheme of things, it's fair to say our solar system is very tiny.

You might especially agree with that statement after viewing 100,000 Stars, a Google Chrome Experiment Web page that gives anyone the chance surf around the our slice of the universe from the comfort of their Internet browser. Spacesuit and oxygen supply optional. … Read more

Behind the curtain at Google's Cirque du Soleil show

Google Chrome and Cirque du Soleil have partnered to show off the potential of the modern Web with an all-HTML5 Cirque performance that's unique to the Web, called Movi.Kanti.Revo.

The name comes from the Esperanto terms for moving, singing, and dreaming, according to the official Movi.Kanti.Revo Google announcement, and the experience does go to great lengths to create a dreamlike world on the Web. During different scenes of Movi .Kanti.Revo (pronounced MOOV-ee CANT-ee REEV-oh), you can interact with the site by moving your body or speaking to your computer. If that sounds a lot … Read more

Adobe fleshes out Muse, Edge tools for Web publishing

Illustrating one of its selling points for its software subscription plans, Adobe Systems has updated Muse three months after it first released the tool for designing and publishing Web pages.

Adobe released Muse along with the Creative Cloud subscription service, which lets people use the full panoply of Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) software along with some online services including Web hosting, Web fonts, and file synchronization. Part of the Creative Cloud sales pitch is that Adobe will update its components as new features arrive, meaning that subscribers get new abilities without having to wait for CS7.

The new version … Read more

Adobe: Web standards match 80 percent of Flash features

SAN FRANCISCO--Adobe Systems, retooling as fast as it can for a future of Web publishing and Web apps, sees the technology as mostly caught up to the Flash technology that Adobe previously preferred.

"I think it's close to 80 percent," Arno Gourdol, Adobe's senior director of Web platform and authoring, said in an interview during the Google I/O show here.

Gourdol, who leads Adobe work to embrace Web standards, has a lot on the line as the company tries to make a difficult transition away from the widely used but fading Flash. He's eager … Read more

Jeff Jaffe lights a fire under Web standardization

BARCELONA--It's been an action-packed two years since Jeff Jaffe took over as the World Wide Web Consortium's chief executive, but more action is the order of the day at the standards group.

The W3C oversees the standardization of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), technologies that carry tremendous importance as the Web expands from a medium to publish documents into a foundation for applications that can run on anything from mobile phones and cars to TVs and tablets. These Web standards, combined with the JavaScript programming language and other related technologies, let programmers reach a … Read more

W3C co-chair: Apple, Google power causing Open Web crisis

The dominance of Apple and Google mobile browsers is leading to a situation that's even worse for Web programming than the former dominance of Internet Explorer, a standards group leader warned today.

Daniel Glazman, co-chairman of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) group overseeing the formatting and effects standard called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), said that programmers are overlooking other browsers when they use newer CSS features--even when those other browsers support the features.

The result is that those other browsers--Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera, chiefly--might have to essentially masquerade themselves as other browsers. When that happens, the "… Read more

Amazon: Time to start programming your e-books

The dividing line between writing books and writing programs just got a big step blurrier.

That's because Amazon has now released tools for creating books using Web technologies. Those tools include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), used to describe Web pages, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), used for formatting.

"Through the use of HTML5 and CSS3, KF8 allows publishers to create great-looking books in all categories, particularly those that require rich formatting and design, such as technical & engineering books and cookbooks," Amazon announced. Other features are well suited to graphic novels, comics, and kids' books, Amazon said. … Read more

Google HTML converter becomes Flash Pro plug-in

Google has released a plug-in that lets Flash Pro users convert Flash's SWF files into HTML code directly from the Adobe Systems developer tool.

The plug-in links to the Swiffy service Google operates to convert Flash to Web standards including HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Those Web standards let people see the content in a browser without relying on Adobe's Flash Player plug-in.

"The extension enables you to convert your animation to HTML5 with one click," said Esteban de la Canal, a Google programmer, in a blog postRead more

Web-based Kindle format good for comics, kids' books

Amazon has retooled and renamed the format for electronic books, embracing Web technologies and adding better abilities for graphics and complex layouts.

The previous format, Mobi 7, will be replaced by Kindle Format 8, aka KF8, according to an Amazon announcement yesterday.

"As showcased on Kindle Fire, KF8 enables publishers to create great-looking books in categories that require rich formatting and design such as children's picture books, comics & graphic novels, technical and engineering books, and cookbooks," Amazon said in its announcement. "Kindle Format 8 replaces the Mobi format and adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, … Read more

Adobe reboots for apps and Web--with dash of Flash

commentary For all the folks out there who love to bash Adobe Systems for its Flash Player software, it's time to take a fresh look at the company.

Because today's Adobe is very different than the one that long promoted Flash as the way to a rich, interactive Web. Adobe is being reborn as a Web technology company that is advancing Web standards, not promoting its own in-house technology alternative at the expense of those standards.

It's not just Web standards making an appearance, either. Adobe also is moving beyond the personal-computer era with serious apps for … Read more