Google Publish y cool multimedia showcase for what’s possible in HTML5

The good folks at Google have published a very cool multimedia showcase for what’s possible in HTML5. Using music by Arcade Fire (the 21st century hipster equivalent of ELO), filmmaker Chris Milk has made an interactive video of sorts that spans multiple browser windows.
Eliot Van Buskirk has a full write-up, including an interview with Milk, over on Wired’s Epicenter blog.
“The Wilderness Downtown,” features HTML5 native video and audio, canvas-animated birds that fly away from your mouse clicks, interactive SVG fonts, and photo panoramas from Google Maps Street View. You enter in the address of where you grew up and it pulls the images for that neighborhood. The neighborhood of my childhood home wasn’t available, so I opted for the section of Burlington, Vermont I lived in throughout college. It was creepy to see my old house in an Arcade Fire video.
Being Google-produced, the experiment works best in Google Chrome, of course. It had problems playing back properly in Firefox 4 beta.
If you have Chrome and can watch it, it really strikes a chord. It goes beyond all the HTML5 vs Flash dogma and presents what’s possible with these new technologies in a way which resonates on a level that’s more emotional and immediate than nerdy and intellectual.
So who do I talk to at Google about getting them to do one of these things for my band?

Does the rise of apps mean the fall of the web?

"Proclaiming the web dead seems to be something of a trend. First pop legend Prince announced its imminent demise, and now we get the same prediction from a more expert source, tech magazine Wired. In its September cover story, the journal says it’s only a matter of time before the web as we know it disappears. According to research from Cisco, HTML traffic visible through a browser is currently only about a quarter (23%) of the overall traffic, down from nearly 50% ten years ago.




Planet of the Apps



One cause of its dramatic drop is people like us. Yes, the web is on a downward spiral in large part due to the huge popularity of mobile computing and apps. If you’ve got a smartphone, think of how pervasive apps are in your life.



You probably use an app to check your email, to browse your social media stuff, to listen to online radio. You discover what’s happening in the world through RSS feeds and news apps. You communicate using Instant Messaging apps and you chill out with music apps. The list is endless and there are more and more apps for every aspect of our lives coming out all the time. All of these bypass the web.



Billions of nails in the coffin



Nonetheless, it’s still hard to believe that apps can have such a dramatic effect on something as central to our lives. That is until you look at some of the figures.



According to a Juniper Research report out in July, the number of “consumer-oriented handset downloads” is expected to rise from less than 2.6 billion per-year in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015.



In March this year, Ovi Store was getting around 1.5 million downloads each day — which works out to 22 applications downloaded every single second!



This year it took less than three months for web and mobile instant messaging (IM) aggregator eBuddy Mobile Messenger app to zoom past a million downloads on Ovi.



By 2012 it’s estimated that the mobile apps market will be worth an estimated $17.5 billion.



World Died Web?



If mobile computing carries on growing at such a pace, maybe the end of the web is nigh after all. What do you think? Will the World Wide Web eventually become the World Died Web or is news of its demise premature?"

source

Our glee at three: 3 reasons you’ll love Symbian^3

"We’re often told not to believe everything we read in the newspapers. When it comes to smartphones, you can see why. Certain devices, it seems, are always in the news. But is the huge amount of media coverage a reflection of their sales? The simple answer is no. In the 2nd quarter of 2010, Symbian smartphones had a whopping 47.2% of the market. More Symbian devices are being shipped than ever. According to the research company Gartner, over 80 million Symbian devices were sold worldwide in 2009. Whatever way you look at it, Symbian is the world’s most popular mobile operating system.




A labour of love



Symbian^3, the latest version, was officially completed on June 17th. In the months since, Nokia’s brainboxes have been busy testing and refining to ensure it works brilliantly in the soon to be released Nokia N8 and the devices to follow. According to the Symbian Foundation there are more than 250 new features in this latest release, all of which are documented at the Forum Nokia Library. There are hundreds of pages to get through, but rather than have you trawl through them, we’ve found three developments that we think will make you fall in love with Symbian^3.



Graphics you’ll adore



Everyone loves fantastic graphics, and the Symbian^3 delivers with new graphics architecture that combines hardware acceleration and speedier software. That means an even more responsive interface, with cool added features like kinetic scrolling that’s sure to dazzle your buddies when you show off your phone. Add to that the fact the interface is programmable and you can expect developers to go crazy creating fantastic themes and apps to make your phone unique.



Multimedia you’ll lust after



Now more than ever before, our devices are multimedia centres. Symbian^3 takes this to a whole new level by supporting output to HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). Imagine, you’ll be able show your pics or videos on television and hear sound on Dolby Digital Audio. Steven Spielberg eat your heart out! And that’s not all: the music player includes a home page widget for faster control of your song list and there’s a new Fusion Player for stored and streaming video.



Multitasking you’ll cherish



If, like us, you never seem to have enough hours in the day, you’ll know how important Symbian’s multitasking is. Well, with Symbian^3 your life is set to get even more efficient. Thanks to improved memory, you can run even more apps at the same time without running out of space. Plus, you’ll be able to use an ‘Alt-Tab’ style task switcher to move between the applications you’ve got open."

Source

Here’s what the Media thinks of the Nokia N8…

"The much anticipated Nokia N8 was handed to many of the World’s largest press publications for review earlier this week.

Following the recent releases of some high profile competitor devices of late, it’s been great to see how some of the world’s most high profile journalists think the Nokia N8 will stack up against the rest.

To give you a taste of what the experts are saying, we’ve put together a brief round up on some first impressions of the device’s key features – starting with a comment on the Nokia N8’s camera.

There’s been plenty of hype about the 12MP snapper… so does it deliver? Vladislav Savov at Engadget says:

There’s no getting around it, this phone is indeed a terrific performer when it comes to video, and a 30-second clip we recorded took no longer than a couple of seconds to process and return us to a position where we were ready to film again.

The camera is similarly snappy (we had to do it), with Nokia claiming a half-second delay between shots. Our unscientific experience seemed to corroborate the claim. That says a lot about the processing power encased within the N8, but Nokia also notes that this handset has the biggest sensor that’s yet been integrated in a phone.

Another crucial feature to the Nokia N8 is its HDMI capability. Why is this so important? Andrew Orlowski at The Register hits the nail on the head, so we’ll leave it to him to explain:

It’s a cameraphone first, second and third, and features an HDMI port and Dolby Digital Plus surround stereo. This is a subtle but overlooked point – Nokia envisages people hooking the N8 up to the family flat panel TV as often as they hook it up to the PC. Given that new TVs have HDMI ports to spare, this is no longer Jetsons territory.

We’ve had a fair few comments on the Nseries Blog and on Twitter @Nseries asking why the Nokia N8 won’t be out until Q3. We’ve always explained that this is to ensure that the device has the best possible user experience once it hits shelves. Flora Graham at CNET UK backs this decision:

Nokia is taking its sweet time with the N8, which we think is a great idea — this is a good-looking phone with plenty of potential, and it needs a smooth, easy user interface to polish it off. Expect to find the N8 is shops sometime in the autumn.

Another exciting facet of the Nokia N8 is its brand new Symbian^3 UI – which we think is a significant step forward from its predecessor. It should be noted that the version of Symbian^3 presented to the Media was still unfinished, and it will a more polished version that hits the shelves in Q3. However, the guys at Pocket Lint are impressed with the debut:

Another nice touch with Symbian^3 is the visual multitasking panel that appears when you hold down the homescreen button. This feature allows you to see a decent sized snapshot of all the apps that you have open on your device. Browsing is nice, especially so because it handles Flash with no problems.

So hopefully that’s given you a taste of what to expect from the Nokia N8. All in all, we’ve been delighted with how it has been received so far. What’s even more exciting is the prospect of everyone else getting the device in their hands… so bring on Q3!"

Source

Nokia C6 video 3 ovi maps

Best Video Of Nokia C6

Dell reassessing 3PAR offer

"NEW YORK – DELL said on Sunday it was assessing its bid for 3PAR after the data storage company’s board of directors late on Friday said Hewlett-Packard’s $2 billion (S$2.7 billion) offer was a ’superior proposal.’ The Fremont-California based 3PAR had also notified Dell of its intention of terminating its merger agreement. Dell has three business days to match HP’s offer under its merger agreement with 3PAR.


‘We will make a decision in the best interest of our customers and shareholders and make that known when it becomes appropriate,’ said Dell spokesman David Frink. A HP spokesman decline to comment.



The move is the latest volley in an intense bidding war between technology giants HP and Dell for the high end data storage company 3PAR.



On Aug 27, HP raised its bid to $30 per share, or $2 billion, less than 3 hours after Dell announced 3PAR had accepted its bid of $27 per share, which matched HP’s previous offer.



‘We have an existing agreement with 3PAR that gives us the right to match any competitive offer. We are assessing it at this time,’ Frink added.



The bidding war, a rare occurrence in the tech sector, started last week when HP bid $24 a share for 3PAR, topping Dell’s previous $18-per-share deal. — REUTERS"
source

Apple iAd partners say they're happy with early results

"Apple's iAd mobile advertising platform is getting favorable reviews from the companies whose advertisements were the first to run on the new system, including Dove soap-maker Unilever and Nissan. App makers like Dictionary.com and CBS Mobile have said iAd is allowing them to charge more for ad space in their applications.




Though neither Apple nor the advertisers would share revenue or traffic numbers, they noted that their pilot iAds tended to pull in users and keep them interested for significantly longer than other kinds of digital ads.



Nissan, which created a multilayer interactive ad for its electric LEAF car, said customers spent an average of 90 seconds with the ad -- 10 times longer than interaction times for comparable online ads. Moreover, people chose to "tap" on the Leaf iAd five times more frequently than they clicked on regular online display ads for the Leaf.



Like the other iAds from major players like Nike and Dove's campaign, the LEAF ad resembles something closer to an informational game, allowing users to manipulate the car with their fingers, change its paint job and chart its fuel efficiency in comparison with other cars.



"We feel pretty strongly that this is the way to capitalize on where the mobile Web is heading," said Chad Jacoby, a senior manager of Nissan's media operations. "What iAd promises is the most progressive thing I've seen to date" in digital advertising.



Dictionary.com said on Wednesday that the amount it could charge for its ad space had increased 177% since it enabled iAds in its iPhone app, and CBS Mobile Senior Vice President Rob Gelick said the company's six apps -- including apps for CBS Sports, CNET, and GameSpot, were seeing up to $25 CPMs (the cost advertisers pay for an add to appear a thousand times.)



Apple has said it secured $60 million in advertising commitments for 2010 -- or about half the nascent U.S. mobile display advertising market, according to market research from J.P. Morgan.



Rob Master, the North American media director for Unilever, which put out one of the first iAds for its Dove shower products -- said his company would soon launch a second iAd for its Klondike dessert bar. The company's Dove ad featured videos and trivia games about baseball players Albert Pujols and Andy Pettitte.



The Dove ad resulted in a "double-digit" percentage of users seeking further information about the product, with 20% of viewers returning to check the ad out again. (Repeat viewers are marketers' favorite kind -- it indicates a clear interest in their brand.) That's a good start, Master said.



Moreover, he added, producing the first ad brought with it a useful "learning curve," both for its producers and for Unilever at large.



"The ad served to help rally the organization at large" to see the value of iAds. "And now that we've been through one, the amount of time and team dedicated [to producing an ad] drops dramatically."



Other Apple iAds are forthcoming from partners like Campbell Soup, DirectTV, General Electric and Sears."

Source