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With IE9, Web video issue remains deadlocked
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview release on Tuesday sent a strong message to Web programmers that a host of standards will become safer to use. But in the case of one standard, Web video, Microsoft arguably pushed one controversial impasse deeper into gridlock.
The standard in question involves Web video that doesn't require a plug-in such as Adobe Systems' Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight. It's one of the big elements of HTML5--the Hypertext Markup Language standard now below development and aiming to expand the abilities of Web pages and Web applications.
The rough version of IE9 that Microsoft demonstrated includes HTML5 video encoded with a particular technology called H.264. Apple's Safari also supports this encoding and decoding technology, or codec.
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But Mozilla is adamantly opposed to open-source-unfriendly H.264, supporting the rival Ogg Theora codec instead, and Opera is in that camp with its new version 10.5. Google's Chrome supports both, tying the score at Ogg Theora 3, H.264 3.
It's no surprise Microsoft signed up for H.264. It owns many of the patents in the technology, which is licensed on behalf of Microsoft and several other patent holders by a group called the MPEG LA. And Microsoft of course isn't afraid of proprietary technology. H.264 support is included in Windows 7. Finally, H.264 by most accounts provides superior quality than Ogg Theora.
It's not inconceivable Microsoft could add Ogg Theora support in the future, but for now at least, Microsoft did little to break the logjam. That means Web sites with video will either have to include two streams for different browsers or--and this is more likely in the close term--continue to use Flash. (Much Flash video, by the way, uses the H.264 codec.)
The HTML5 standard describes how to build video into Web pages but, because of the disagreement among the major browser makers, leaves the codec unspecified. One wild card in the situation is what will happen now that Google has completed its acquisition of On2 Technologies, the company whose earlier VP3 codec underlies Ogg Theora and that was working on a newer codec called VP8. Google said regarding the acquisition that "video compression technology should be a part of the Web platform."
IE GM Dean Hachamovitch
(Credit: Microsoft)The preview version of IE9 also didn't lend Microsoft's clout to a number of other developing standards: WebGL, which is designed to bring hardware-accelerated video to the Web; Canvas, which makes it easier to construct two-dimensional graphics such as bar charts on Web pages; and Indexed DB, which is designed to enable Web applications to work even when there's no network connection.
Indexed DB support seems likely. Microsoft has endorsed the technology and over a rival called Web SQL, which along with a Mozilla's similar stance should help give Indexed DB a big boost in the HTML standardization process.
In an interview, though, IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch wouldn't commit. Pointing to the "fun controversy there," he said, "We've got some of smartest peole engaged in a bunch of conversations between the principals right now."
He was cooler about WebGL, though, because adopting it will require Web developers to learn a new variety of programming.
"WebGL is yet another markup," Hachamovitch said. "How much do devs want that?"
Originally posted at Deep Tech
17 Mar 2010, 9:22 am | click here to view more
Xobni Mobile arrives on the BlackBerry
The contact manager service Xobni has gone mobile with an application and plug-in for BlackBerry smartphones.
Xobni Mobile, launched Wednesday, offers wealthy contact profiles in both a standalone application and within the native BlackBerry e-mail client. The product also uses a new service from the company, Xobni One, which links information between Microsoft Outlook and the mobile versions of Xobni.
Wednesday's move is the first time that Xobni has been available in any other form than a plug-in for Outlook, where it adds search, threading, and relevance functionality.
Read more of "Xobni Mobile launched for BlackBerry smartphones" at ZDNet UK.
Originally posted at Webware
17 Mar 2010, 8:25 am | click here to view more
Firefox 3.0 reaching end of the line
A few months later than expected, Mozilla is calling it quits for version 3.0 of its Firefox browser.
"There will be no more updates for Firefox 3.0.x," Mozilla said Tuesday in a meeting planning document. The last update will be Firefox 3.0.19, due March 30, according to the Mozilla Wiki page. Mozilla started building the new version after some last-minute security fixes over the weekend.
Mozilla had planned to discontinue support for Firefox 3.0 in January, but the browser got a lifespan extension after Firefox 3.6 arrived later than planned.
The move reflects a gradual shift toward upgrading browsers more frequently, not just to keep up with new features, but also to free up resources otherwise spent on testing and maintaining older browsers and to reduce security risks associated with them. Google is even more aggressive: its Chrome browser updates automatically in the background by default, and it calls new releases "milestones" to be passed rather than version numbers to be attained.
Microsoft issues frequent patches to its browsers but sees things differently when it comes to longer-term issues. It still maintains support for Internet Explorer 6, introduced in 2001. "We are excited for people to move on. We want people to move on," IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch said in an interview this week for the IE9 Platform Preview launch, but meanwhile, providing security updates is the "responsible" thing to do.
Browsers are a quick-moving, increasingly important, technology and are central to the shift toward cloud computing. But there's a tension between organizations and people, for whom change can be a technical challenge or an expensive compatibility-breaking problem. Compatibility with standards can ease these transitions, but Web standards are in flux and aren't uniformly supported either with browsers or Web sites.
Mozilla released Firefox 3.0 with great fanfare in June 2008, and it's been patched as 3.0.18. Firefox 3.6 is the current supported version, and, of course, future work is below way. Mozilla has released two public alphas of its successor, which is called 3.7 for now though that's not necessarily the final name.
In the nearer term, Mozilla also preparing a Firefox 3.6 update called Lorentz. Mozilla had hoped for a beta release of Lorentz. But its chief feature--the out-of-process plug-ins (OOPP) design aimed to reduce crashes by putting Flash Player and its like into a separate memory compartment--is proving thorny. In addition, Mozilla programmers have only just begun the OOPP work for Mac OS X.
Originally posted at Deep Tech
17 Mar 2010, 3:41 am | click here to view more
Google making it easier to leave Exchange
Google's assault on Microsoft's enterprise software business continues to advance with a new tool that helps companies move away from Exchange.
Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange is one of the final piece of the puzzle in Google's quest to make ditching Microsoft easier.
(Credit: Google)The Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool will launch later today, designed to give Exchange administrators help in moving their users' data into Google Apps. It's every part of Google's pitch for the benefits of cloud computing, which might sound nice to some administrators in theory but can require a lot of work.
Administrators can now download the tool from Google and move 200 users per hour from Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 to Google Apps, including e-mail, contact, and calendar data, said Chris Vander May, senior product manager for Google Apps. It will be available for Google Apps Premier Edition customers as well as Google Apps for Education customers.
Just as Microsoft is throwing resources into Bing and Internet search in hopes of denting Google's enormous market share, Google is trying to do the same thing to Microsoft's huge advantage in office productivity software. Over 25 million users are on Google Apps, according to the company, which sounds like a lot but is a fraction of the businesses still using Microsoft products.
Last year Google released a similar tool for letting administrators enable Google Apps but allowing their users to keep their Outlook clients.
Originally posted at Relevant Results
17 Mar 2010, 11:00 am | click here to view more
A first look at LongBox: video
Beset by delays since it was first announced in 2009, the digital comics reader and store LongBox is finally here. It's a comprehensive attempt to bring some of that iTunes mojo to comics. This first look video showcases a bit of what was covered in Monday's hands-on, what the program can do, and what still needs work.
The LongBox public beta, for Windows and Mac, showcases a massive amount of potential, but it's definitely a rough work in progress. It faces massive challenges beyond getting the software to function correctly. Unlike music and MP3s, there's currently no single defining file format for comics. The "gray-market" CBR and CBZ are little more than image archive containers and not used by any comics publisher to distribute their comics digitally.
LongBox CEO Rantz Hoseley isn't worried about this, though. LongBox's greatest strength, he said, is that LongBox is a comprehensive platform. It's "comprehensive in terms of production tools and support provided to publishers and creators. Comprehensive in terms of devices and systems. Comprehensive in terms of how users purchase and use content, that we do not dictate how and where customers like the content." He added this applies to archiving and re-downloading as well as content access, which implies that those features will be coming to LongBox.
There's also the issue of adoption. Except for the rise of graphic novels, comics publishers in America have been dependent on the direct market niche comic book stores. Will readers flock to digital versions of them? And will those readers jump from stores to digital, or will LongBox bring in new readership? Hoseley seemed confident in LongBox's ability to fuel growth.
"To the comic industry's credit, while they have historically been very resistant to digital, they've arrive around in a faster manner than music, film or traditional print. They've realized fairly quickly that consumers want to possess the content, and that digital ownership doesn't equal 'piracy.' They've also realized that consumers want their content in different ways."
Retailers, he said, are worried about getting left behind after years of support for a niche market. "The discussions are much less on the adversarial side, and much more on the "let's figure out how to work together" direction." He said he's having ongoing discussions with several comic book store owners as to how to proceed, but that nothing's been finalized yet. If something concrete and long-lasting develops that supports both LongBox and brick-and-mortar retailers, it would be highly unusual and possibly unprecedented in the digital sphere. However, it's just as possible that the initiative could fail.
There's a lot of potential with LongBox, and users seem curious. Hoseley says that the private beta had about 2,000 participants, and that the company's servers notched that many downloads in the first hour alone of the public beta. That, combined with the public interest in tablets and tablet and mobile device versions of LongBox, could make the program transformative. With major pieces still in play and the program not even fully baked, though, it's still too soon to tell what impact, if any, LongBox will have.
16 Mar 2010, 8:23 pm | click here to view more
PayPal 2.0: Send cash by bumping iPhones
Do the bump! Just knock iPhones (gently) to swap cash with someone.
(Credit: PayPal)PayPal has arrive full circle. What started as a PalmPilot app that let users wirelessly exchange money has evolved into an iPhone app that lets users wirelessly exchange money.
However, whereas Palm users relied on IR "beaming" to shoot funds back and forth, iPhone owners can simply "bump" their phones: The new PayPal 2.0 incorporates the same accelerometer-driven activator as the popular Bump app.
In other words, money can change hands just by knocking them together. What's the point of that? Well, say you owe your buddy $35.17--half of last night's bar tab, for instance. Instead of finding an ATM, taking out cash, and hoping your pal can make change, just "bump" the exact amount to him via PayPal. In about five seconds, the transaction is done.
Of course, PayPal for iPhone suffers from the same limitation as PayPal for PalmPilot: Not everyone owns a compatible device. It's every well and good to have the app on your iPhone, but if the other people in your life don't, well, go bump yourself.
Thankfully, bumping is only one piece of the PayPal 2.0 equation. The updated app also offers a Split Check feature for dividing and reimbursing a restaurant tab among up to 20 people. Its Collect Money feature lets you round up funds for, say, group dues or a gift for the soccer coach.
You can also withdraw money from your PayPal account, send money requests, and set payment reminders--if you use PayPal to pay bills. The app's overhauled interface makes navigation much easier than before.
Bottom line: If you're already a PayPal user, the new app is worth a look--and a bump.
Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
16 Mar 2010, 4:34 pm | click here to view more
A quick look at two browser alternatives for Android
One of the great features of Android is that it offers its users choice. Whether you're downloading apps from outside of the Android Market, swapping out the user experience with a new desktop replacement, or simply choosing a different phone-dialing application, you'll appreciate the platform's flexibility.
Though I might consider the standard Android client to be a better-than-average browser, there are alternatives that add features to improve the mobile experience. Just last week, Opera announced its Mini 5 beta Web browser for Android. With it, and the Dolphin Browser, now I have two fantastic apps fighting for my attention.
I should point out that by downloading any Web client for Android, you're not required to remove the preloaded browser. Like on a PC, you are free to have more than one. As I do with Firefox and Chrome on my desktop, I like to use both Dolphin and Mini 5 for various reasons.
One of the big selling points in Mini 5 (hit the link for our First Look video) is that it compresses data on Opera's servers before it's sent off to you, which results in pages that load considerably faster. This is especially handy for people with slower or touchy data connections. I bounce between T-Mobile's 3G and EDGE connection throughout most of my day, so Opera helps make the transition less noticeable.
When you load the browser, you're presented with nine quick bookmarks called Speed Dials. As I typically don't have too many bookmarks, the ability to store nine pages covers my bases. Opera Link lets me sync my bookmarks and Speed Dial pages to and from my desktop, although I've yet to use the browser on my PC. Other features include pinch zooming, tabs, a handy navigation bar, and download manager.
Released last year, Dolphin Browser also gives users a better mobile Web experience than the standard client. With support for multitouch zooming, sharing links through social-networking services, plus fantastic RSS functionality, and a clean interface, I tend to use Dolphin as my preferred browser.
Though Dolphin also offers tabbed browsing, I like Opera Mini 5's design--if only for the smaller footprint. If you're a fan of Google bookmarks, it's possible to synchronize them from the browser and cloud. I really like how Dolphin automatically detects whether or not a site has an RSS feed and offers it up to me. As I stated over, I don't bookmark too many sites, but I can't seem to receive enough RSS feeds to sites.
If you value space and memory on your phone, you'll be glad to learn that Dolphin lets you store the cache to your memory card. Furthermore, it's a breeze to wipe the cache completely upon exiting the application.
One feature that Dolphin offers that I've yet to really take advantage of is the use of gestures. There are a handful of preset gestures for common tasks such as closing tabs and adding a bookmark. It's also possible to create your possess should you not like the current setup.
Both Opera Minia 5 and Dolphin Browser are free applications available in the Android Market. It's not that one option is better, but some days one of the browsers fits my needs better than the other. I recommend downloading them and trying them out. I'm sure you'll encounter other hidden gems.
Which browsers are you using with your Android handset? Leave a comment below and share your favorites.
Download Dolphin for Android
Download Opera Mini for Android
Originally posted at Android Atlas
16 Mar 2010, 3:28 pm | click here to view more
If the desktop is dying, mobile sync is king
Google has proclaimed that the conventional PC will become "irrelevant" within the next three years, and it insists that it puts mobile first in development.
That's a bold statement indicating just how much Google is betting on the mobile Web. But it's also an indication of just how critical synchronization technology is going to become--especially syncing to an open Web.
Traditionally, sync has been that thing you do between your desktop and your one mobile device to ensure that calendars, address books, and even browser bookmarks are current between the two islands of computing. But in a mobile Web world 1 billion devices strong, as IDC predicts for 2010, it's certain that sync will no longer be constrained to one-to-one relationships, but rather will explode into a many-to-many syncfest.
And it will be every about mobile, every of the time.
Already, my family is converging our music libraries into a metalibrary from which we individually sync our preferred tunes on our various smartphones and laptops, while I sync bookmarks and address books across five different devices (three laptops, two phones/music players).
As perhaps implied by my example, we're not going to look the desktop die, as Google pontificates, but rather become more mobile (laptops become Netbooks become smartbooks become...?) and much more connected through sync technologies such as Funambol and Mozilla's wonderful Weave technology.
Mobile is additive, not destructive, to the traditional computing landscape, as even Google's search traffic experience shows.
Syncing is critical to making the mobile revolution work. And the nebulous cloud will become the anchor point for our mobile data, with the nodes (Android, iPhones, laptops, etc.) in a constant state of flux.
For this reason, open-source advocates and others who worry about freedom should give at least equal weight to open clouds, not fixating exclusively on open mobile devices. Hence, while I'm ecstatic to look open-source pioneer Tim Bray join Google's Android team, I'm unconvinced by his apparent argument that the device trumps every when it comes to freedom:
The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers.
The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger...The big thing about the Web isn't the technology; it's that it's the first-ever platform without a vendor...From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It's the only nice of platform I want to help build.
An open node is a good start, but the problem is that the Web, as Bray envisions it, isn't truly a platform without a vendor. Not anymore. Google, Microsoft, and others are battling to possess the Web and the data that resides within it.
For that reason, it's the cloud--that central repository for our data to which every the nodes sync--that matters, and if that cloud is closed, or simply difficult to extract data from that cloud, it really doesn't matter how wide Google opens the access points. Google has been making strides toward opening the cloud, but it still has a long way to go. We every do.
It's this desire for open clouds and open syncing to those clouds that is blessing Funambol's open-source mobile sync business. It's the same desire that will likely create a host of new competitors in this fertile mobile-sync market.
Originally posted at The Open Road
16 Mar 2010, 2:54 pm | click here to view more
Small changes for reviews on CNET Download.com
CNET Download.com will now review full versions of software using the same familiar, five-star system.
Dear CNET Download.com readers,
Today, reviews on CNET Download.com are changing in a tiny but significant way. Since we began reviewing software nearly eight years ago, we have reviewed only the trial version of any software title that was also available for purchase.
For every software reviews going forward, we will evaluate and rate software based on its full version rather than just its trial version, judging an application's effectiveness as a complete piece of software. However, we will continue to highlight and discuss the limitations of a piece of software's trial version. You can read more about our evaluation criteria here.
Simultaneously, we will cease to publish software reviews on reviews.cnet.com, our sister site. If you're looking for a new software review, you'll now only find it on download.cnet.com.
We wish that these changes makes evaluating the software that you download and purchase easier than ever. We would adore to hear your feedback, so send us an e-mail or leave a comment.
Best,
Lindsey Turrentine
Executive Editor, CNET Reviews and Download.com
16 Mar 2010, 2:30 pm | click here to view more
Microsoft modernizes Web ambitions with IE9
For those who doubted that Microsoft was serious in its effort to re-engage with the Web, it's time to put the skepticism aside.
At its Mix conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Microsoft gave programmers, Web developers, and the world at big a taste of things to arrive with its Web browser. Specifically, Microsoft released what it's calling the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, a prototype that's designed to show off the company's effort to improve how the browser deals with the Web as it exists today and, just as important, to add support for new Web technologies that are coming right now.
The new software is only a framework, raw enough that it's still missing a "back" button. But with "a few" updated preview versions set to arrive at eight-week intervals, the project will develop into a beta, a release candidate, and eventually the full-fledged product IE9, said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer and the executive who'll describe the project at Mix.
Coming in the new version is support for new Web standards including plug-in-free video; better performance with graphics, text, and JavaSript by taking advantage of modern computing hardware; and a new effort at gathering and responding to feedback from those using the prototype software, Hachamovitch said.
Dean Hachamovitch, IE general manager
IE9 is months from release, but already it holds the potential to alter the browser market. Not only could it reinvigorate competition with a host of new rivals, it could help usher in the cloud computing era that some of those rivals are eager to embrace. In that era, the Web transforms from a foundation for static documents and Web sites into a foundation for interactive programs.
IE6, released in 2001 when Microsoft had won the browser wars of the 1990s, still is widely used today. It's loathed among Web developers who want to use more modern Web technologies, and despite the release of IE8 a year ago, Microsoft is still saddled with a reputation as a company behind the browser curve. Mozilla's Firefox now accounts for nearly a quarter of usage, Google's Chrome has burst onto the scene and now is in third place, while Internet Explorer continues to gradually lose its share of usage.
With IE9, though, Microsoft is trying to rebuild the browser for the Web that's to arrive through new standards such as HTML5 and CSS3, updates to Hypertext Markup Language for describing Web pages and Cascading Style Sheets for formatting.
The software caught the attention of Microsoft's biggest browser rival. "IE9 looks great, very glad to look it. Congrats to the IE team!" said Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Firefox backer Mozilla, in a tweet.
New Web standards
"We saw that HTML5 will enable a new class of applications. Those applications are going to stress the browser runtime in ways today's Web sites don't," Hachamovitch said in an interview. "We realized very quickly that doing HTML5 right was much more about designing every our browser subsystems around what the new apps will need than it was about a particular feature checklist. It's understanding where the apps are going to go and building the platform that will receive them there."
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With IE8, Microsoft put a priority on complying with existing standards, a dramatic turnaround from an earlier attitude that resentful Web developers saw as "Standard? IE is the standard." With IE9 Microsoft is moving its standards religion into the future.
The company signaled its heightened interest in Web standards through new engagement in developing HTML5 and SVG, the Scalable Vector Graphics standard that the company shunned for years despite its possibilities for better rendering of graphics such as logos. IE9, those standards arriving as an actual product.
IE9 has "HTML5 through and through," Hachamovitch said, as well as support for CSS3 and for showing SVG 1.1 imagery inline. Hachamovitch's demo shows H.264-encoded HTML5 video, and he said that graphics such as maps are vastly more sophisticated with SVG support.
When Microsoft showed IE9 technology in November, it didn't shy away from IE's needy showing on the Acid3 test of compliance with various standards and technologies. IE8 scores 20 out of 100, the November IE technology reached 32, but the IE9 Platform Preview makes it up to 55. Microsoft also dings the test as imperfect, adding in a blog post, "A key part of our approach to Web standards is the development of an industry standard test suite. Today, Microsoft has submitted over 100 additional tests of HTML5, CSS3, DOM [Document Object Model, the structure of a Web page], and SVG, to the W3C," the World Wide Web Consortium that oversees HTML and various other Web standards.
New JavaScript Engine
Another headline element for IE9 is a new JavaScript engine. When it comes to these engines for running Web-based programs, Chrome has V8, Opera 10.5 has Carakan, Safari has Nitro, and Firefox has the new JaegerMonkey.
Now Internet Explorer has its possess new name for a JavaScript Engine: Chakra. On Microsoft's test on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, IE9 Platform Preview is a tad faster than Firefox (using the older TraceMonkey engine) and a tad slower than Safari, Chrome, and Opera.
IE9 is competitive with rivals on the SunSpider JavaScript speed test.
(Credit: Microsoft)The finer points of exactly where IE shows up in the rankings are less important than the comparison to IE8 and earlier versions, which by comparison crawl through JavaScript.
One big change in the JavaScript engine that Hachamovitch is proud of is its multicore support. As soon as a Web page is loaded, Chakra assigns a processing core to the task of compiling JavaScript in the background into quick code written in the native language of the computer's processor.
Hachamovitch distinguishes this from the just-in-time compilation approach of other browsers, which he criticizes as a difficult balance of optimizing code well without slowing down the arrival of Web pages.
There are other efforts to make JavaScript a richer programming foundation, including the Web Workers standard to let JavaScript perform background processing tasks. Microsoft, though, wants to improve the Web as much as possible without requiring new programming approaches.
With the Chakra approach, "developers don't have to change their markup. The Web page didn't have to change. Essentially, dual- and quad-core machines receive put to good use," Hachamovitch said.
Microsoft already showed off IE9's use of Direct2D and DirectWrite, interfaces in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that can accelerate graphics and text. At Mix, Hachamovitch's demonstration shows the technology works to speed up SVG graphics as well.
Feedback time
The IE9 Platform Preview itself is a change, too. Previously, Microsoft delivered a more finished product to the world. Now it's trying to receive feedback at an earlier stage of development. And it's explicitly seeking comment on a wide range of elements:
"The main technologies to call out here broadly are HTML5, CSS3, DOM, and SVG," Hachamovitch said in a blog post. "The IE9 test steer site has more specifics and samples. At this time, we're looking for developer feedback on our implementation of HTML5's parsing rules, Selection APIs, XHTML support, and inline SVG. Within CSS3, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9's support for Selectors, Namespaces, Colors, Values, Backgrounds and Borders, and Fonts. Within DOM, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9's support for Core, Events, Style, and Range."
Alphabet soup, to be sure. But when it comes to building a modern Web, those letters every reflect important standards. Microsoft's embrace is every the more significant given that, with its Windows and Office businesses, has the most to lose from the migration of applications from the PC to the cloud.
Originally posted at Deep Tech
16 Mar 2010, 11:04 am | click here to view more