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Opera confirms its Devices SDK is behind Boxee TV's HTML5 apps
It's been available since last month, but browser-maker Opera has only today confirmed that it's Opera Devices Software Development Kit is providing the backend for the Boxee TV's HTML5 apps. Those already include the likes of YouTube, Spotify and Vimeo, but Opera says one of the big advantages of Boxee using the SDK is that future apps built with it will be able to be easily ported to the Boxee TV -- no word on any big additions just yet, though. Boxee's COO Tom Sella also notes that using the SDK "enabled us to add a lot of apps to Boxee TV without a lot of effort on our part." If that sounds a bit familiar, it's because it largely echoes Opera's promise from last year to provide smart TV and set-top box makers with an easy-to-deploy solution filled with cross-platform apps. You can find the full announcement after the break.
BBEdit 10.5 adds Retina support (updated)
Bare Bones Software's HTML and text editing program, BBEdit, has just received a sharp new update that adds a wealth of new features and improvements, as well as full Retina display support for Apple's latest MacBooks. Version 10.5 adds the ability to compare the current document against previous "Versions" for people running OS X 10.7 or later. It is also now easier to update image dimensions in HTML documents, as well as a bunch of other features. One that stands out is a new "Preview Filter" option which lets you run a live preview window of your document through a filter of your choice using any AppleScript, Unix executable, or shell script. For fans of MultiMarkdown this means that you can now create a "Preview Filter" that will let you see your document processed with Multimarkdown extensions, but the possibilities go far beyond that. You can read the full list of changes on the official website, and if you like what you see, you can pick up BBEdit 10.5 for US$49.99 via the site's store. (A previous version of this article referred to some existing features in BBEdit which, while present in 10.5, are not new features in this release.)
Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, others to launch new Web standards resource
Apple is just one of quite a few big tech companies signed on to help support the Worldwide Web Consortium (known as the W3C) in developing a brand new web standards resource called WebPlatform.org. The new site is simply designed to get all available information about how to code for the various web standards out there (from HTML and CSS to newer tech like the Canvas API and various Audio plugins) all together in one clean, easy-to-find place. If you do coding for the web, the site is probably a valuable resource already, and all of the companies involved are trying to convince content creators to help them grow it by contributing to the forums, docs and tutorials currently available on the site. Apple's got lots of reason to support a movement like this, especially as its various Macs and iDevices claim more and more of the web's browsing audience. So it's no surprise that Cupertino is contributing to make a resource like this available. [via TheNextWeb]
Adobe Edge swells to include Tools & Services, streamlines the designer web
Adobe really wants web designers to kick things up a notch. Not satisfied with where Edge has gone so far, it just released a full-fledged Edge Tools & Services suite to cover the bases for polished desktop and mobile pages on most any modern platform. Motion tool Edge Animate (formerly Edge Preview), automated previewing tool Edge Inspect (formerly Shadow) and mobile app packager PhoneGap Build have all arrived in the suite as version 1.0 releases, and come with both Edge Web Fonts as well as TypeKit to spruce up text. A pair of pre-release utilities, Edge Code (Brackets) and Edge Reflow, are also joining the group to tackle the nitty-gritty of editing web code and layouts. Any of the apps will readily cooperate with third-party software, although they won't always be cheap: while most of the Edge suite is free to use in at least a basic form as long as you have a Creative Cloud membership at any level, Edge Animate is only free during its initial run and should eventually cost either $15 per month or $499 in a one-time sale. For pros that want to burnish their corner of the web to a shine, the result just might be worth the expense.
W3C says HTML 5 will be finalized in 2014, HTML 5.1 to follow in 2016
HTML 5 has been a buzz word around the interwebs for so long you'd be forgiven if you thought it was a well-established standard looking for a successor. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which helps establish the primary standards used online, didn't actually intend to complete HTML 5 until 2022. Thankfully, the group has reconsidered that seemingly absurd timeline and now plans to have this whole mess wrapped up by the end of 2014. The revised plan calls for an HTML 5 Candidate Recommendation (sort of like a feature-frozen beta) to be submitted by the end of 2012, before being finalized in 2014. All existing bits of the standard that are unstable or that suffer interoperability problems will be pulled from that candidate and pushed to a draft version of HTML 5.1. While HTML 5 is being completed, its evolutionary successor will begin the process of marching towards standardization, with a target completion date of 2016. For a more detailed exploration of the future of HTML hit up the source link.
Google releases Course Builder, takes online learning down an open-source road
Google is well-known for projects with unexpected origins. It's almost natural, then, that the code Google used to build a web course has led to a full-fledged tool for online education. The open-source Course Builder project lets anyone make their own learning resources, complete with scheduled activities and lessons, if they've got some skill with HTML and JavaScript. There's also an avenue for live teaching or office hours: the obligatory Google+ tie-in lets educators announce Hangouts on Air sessions. Code is available immediately, although you won't need to be grading virtual papers to see the benefit. A handful of schools that include Stanford, UC San Diego and Indiana University are at least exploring the use of Course Builder in their own initiatives, which could lead to more elegant internet learning -- if also fewer excuses for slacking.
Zuckerberg: betting on HTML 5 for Facebook mobile app was a 'mistake,' native Android version on the way
Remember the days before Facebook's iOS app ditched HTML 5 and sped things up with some native code? It turns out that there's some regret in Menlo Park about relying on the web markup language. Betting on HTML 5 for the app is "one of the biggest mistakes if not the biggest strategic mistakes we've ever made," Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt today. The firm's CEO also mentioned that new features will be making their way to the app and a snappier Android version is coming down the pike "when it's done."
Microsoft teams up with shopping search engine for HTML5 digital catalogs
Dead tree product catalogs -- dated. Fortunate, then, at least for Mother Earth, that Microsoft's unveiled the results of its team-up with retail-focused search engine TheFind, several web-based Glimpse catalogs, offering the visual pizazz of a retail magazine without the carbon hangover. Injecting Redmond's HTML5 know-how into the shopping hub's catalog and social apps, it distills those functions into the single site. Stores including Brooks Brothers and Lands' End have already offered up their collections in the web store, but Techcrunch reckons the venture needs a little more work. The images appear to be little too compressed and blurred in the new format, while the detail view directs users to social network sharing rather than a product's description. But with Microsoft already offering the HTML5 juice that powers the online app for free, someone else might improve on the company's groundwork.
Microsoft advises nuking Windows Gadgets after security hole discovery, we mourn our stock widgets
Whether you see Windows Vista and Windows 7 Gadgets as handy tools or a blight upon a pristine desktop, you might want to shut them off for safety's sake. Mickey Shkatov and Toby Kohlenberg have found that the desktop widgets' web-based code have flaws that would allow malicious Gadgets, or even hijacked legitimate Gadgets, to compromise a PC without having to go through the usual avenues of attack. Microsoft's short-term answer to the vulnerability is a drastic one, though: a stopgap patch disables Gadgets entirely, leaving just a barren desktop in its wake. There's no word on a Gadget-friendly solution arriving before Kohlenberg and Shkatov present at the Black Hat Conference on July 26th, but we suspect Microsoft's ultimate answer is to move everyone to Windows 8, where Gadgets aren't even an option. We understand the importance of preventing breaches, of course -- we're just disappointed that we'll have to forgo miniature stock tickers and weather forecasts a little sooner than expected.
Sandvox adds iWeb migration assistant to scrape your iWeb/MobileMe site
The June 30 sunset date for MobileMe is only a few short weeks away. If your website is built with iWeb and hosted on MobileMe, there's no time like the present to get it shifted over to more permanent hosting. To better serve iWeb users looking to move their existing sites into Sandvox, Karelia has introduced a new migration assistant in its version 2.6 update. This tool allows you to enter the URL for an iWeb-based site, and then it scans for key text and image elements as well as links and page structure. It's a make-do solution that works around the need to parse and process iWeb's proprietary project files. Instead of reverse-engineering Apple's format, Sandvox scrapes your site to recover key website content. It then provides a rough outline that you can then customize inside the app. The transfer is not perfect. You will need to inspect and correct fine details like page names, on occasion. But by preserving your content and site structure, you won't have to copy and paste those years of blog posts, or re-create those photo albums that you worked so hard on. A company spokesperson explained to TUAW that while they couldn't offer a native import feature, they wanted to reach out to iWeb users and offer the simplest possible transfer solution -- imperfect as it is -- so users could quickly get up to speed with Sandvox sites. Of course, the iWeb application itself will still keep working past June 30; if your site isn't hosted on MobileMe, it's not at risk right now. The new assistant is due to go live in the Mac App Store today, and is a free upgrade for existing purchasers.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me move on from iWeb and MobileMe
Dear Aunt TUAW, With the demise of MobileMe and [the corresponding decreased functionality of] iWeb the question has come up with myself and friends as to what to use instead. Looking for something along the lines of iWeb but with a bit more flexibility. Something like Adobe DreamWeaver is way too complex and I'd like to avoid web based applications that restrict you to their hosting services. I'd like to be able to simply build a web site and upload to my own host provider. Your loving nephew, Richard Dear Richard, Auntie took a look around at possible replacements. She feels comfortable recommending Karelia Software's Sandvox 2 as a well-rounded iWeb replacement. It offers great easy-to-use features that impressed Auntie, whose iWeb use was admittedly scattershot at best. It's not cheap -- US$80 -- but after some intensive hands-on testing, Auntie feels it's perfect for people looking for a simple, flexible, and friendly solution with lots of handy webpage designs. In Sandvox you'll find easy ways to create photo albums, blog posts, web pages and more -- most of what you'll be missing. And the interface will feel familiar and comfortable to anyone who has used iWeb, with the app's "what you see is what you get" live editing. "We've been taking care of people graduating from iWeb for years," a Sandvox spokesperson told TUAW. "We think people making the move should jump over sooner rather than later now." Karelia publishes a handy migration guide, too. You will, however, have to find your own website hosting plan, but Sandvox makes that easy too. You can select a remote provider and use FTP/SFTP/WebDav with an easy built-in "Publish" button. Uncle Steve covered some hosting options for the post-iWeb era here. Other quick and easy website design options recommended by far-flung members of the the TUAW clan include RapidWeaver, Freeway Express AS and Flux. Uncle Steve also pointed out that if you want to have the control of hosting your own site but still want the convenience and sophistication of a full content management system, you can install your own WordPress setup... but that may be more geek aggravation than you signed up for. Hugs, Auntie T.
Coda 2 for Mac, Diet Coda for iPad available May 24
Coda is Panic's legendary Mac app for editing HTML and other web files, and today Panic has announced the followup to Coda, called (surprise) Coda 2. As you might expect, the hugemongous feature list over on the Coda site has web developers frothed up into a frenzy of anticipation. In addition to the usual suspects like a better editor, UI improvements, and compatibility with FTP, iCloud, and other services, Coda 2 will also include a built-in MySQL editor, code-folding to get code you don't need to see out of the way, and an active path bar to let you find any file you need right away. It looks like the premiere tool for working with web code -- Coda 2 -- will be available on May 24. And that's not all. Panic is also releasing Diet Coda for the iPad on the App Store that day as well. Diet Coda is a version of the editor engineered for the iPad itself, and not only brings the best of Coda's features to Apple's tablet, but also works with a Coda 2 installation for "AirPreview": Make changes in Coda 2, see them live on your iPad right away. Diet Coda will be $9.99.
Adobe Muse is ready to let you design websites without the coding headaches for $15 a month
If you've been looking to get that web project off the ground but despise the idea of coding it, Adobe's recently announced web design tool has just landed. Muse, the program that allows you to design websites without having to get your hands dirty with HTML5 is now available. The kit behaves more like a layout program (like InDesign) instead of a web publishing / programming tool, allowing those who are more design-minded to feel right at home. As you might expect, the software is available with an annual $49.99 per month Creative Cloud subscription alongside CS6 heavyweights like Photoshop and Illustrator. If Muse is all you're after, you can snag it alone for a $24.99 month-to-month fee or $14.99 for a twelve-month commitment. Need to see it in action before you open your wallet? No worries. Hit the coverage link below for a look at what the application can do.
Mozilla demos WebRTC integration, browser-powered video chat (video)
Last week at IETF 83 in Paris Mozilla gave a little demo that went almost completely unnoticed. The team behind Firefox showed off an experimental built of its flagship browser with integrated WebRTC support. To showcase the real-time communication plug-in's capabilities, the foundation built a simple video chat client based around Persona and SocialAPI. Whether or not such a feature will ever make it into an official build of the browser remains to be seen, but for now you can check out the simple, yet impressive, HTML and Javascript demo after the break.
PhoneGap v1.3 brings better cross-platform app coding to Windows Phone
Nitobi's PhoneGap project helps app developers to code for multiple mobile OSs simultaneously, thanks to the open standard wonders of HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. It's supported Windows Phone since the beginning, but v1.3 builds on that friendliness by opening up the API's full feature set and hence every limb and organ of a Mango handset, from the compass right through to storage and notifications. New plug-ins yield extra goodies, like Live Tile updates, BingMaps Search and social networking integration. Plus, in the interests of fairness, the full list of improvements (at the source link) contains some nuggets for Android, iOS and BlackBerry coders too.
Last.fm Discover delivers greener pastures of music discovery
Last.fm is going all HTML5 with Discover, a new music discovery service that lets you find artists through tag search and create playlists by dragging and dropping songs from the comfort of your browser. Once you've created a mix from the site's rolling fields of music, you can share it via Facebook and Twitter to show the world just how indie you are. Check out the new service at the source link below.
Yifan Lu jailbreaks Kindle Touch, uses a special MP3 file to do so (video)
We've seen a fair share of Kindle Jailbreaks over the past few years, but Yifan Lu's (evidently the first) for the Kindle Touch is certainly novel in its approach. As The Digital Reader points out, a sizeable chunk of the Touch's software is essentially a string of pseudo HTML5 and JavaScript webpages -- differentiating it from Kindles prior -- which led Lu to notice an exploit rooted in its browser. It's there where he found a function titled nativeBridge.dbgCmd(), which'll run any ol' shell command as root. Armed with that knowledge, Lu crafted the jailbreak by cramming his payload of HTML and JavaScript into the ID3 tags of an easily downloadable MP3 file. There isn't much to be gained from "playing" that MP3 just yet, but Lu's looking forward to developers using the tools needed to write programs for the device. Full details about the jailbreak can be found at source link below, but before you head off, you can catch the video proof after the break.
SkyDrive juices up document sharing and uploading, grabs a HTML5 smoothie afterward (video)
Omar Shahine has sent SkyDrive off to the Microsoft gym in the hopes that it'd trim up ready for its forthcoming update. Users will soon be able to enjoy beefier document management powers, share individual files from private folders, control permissions and post files to Facebook in a couple of clicks. They'll also be able to upload groups of documents whilst navigating the site and best of all, can use the HTML5 file api to drag'n'drop documents in any standards-compliant browser. Slideshows are much improved this time out, and right-clicking fans will be able to edit individual documents and photos inline. The service will purportedly now load in around half the time it did before -- clearly it's been told to shed some of those Silverlight pounds.
Visualized: an interactive timeline of the web
Ever wondered what the World Wide Web's illustrious history would look like if plotted in timeline form? Well, thanks to Google's "Evolution of the web," you won't have to. The delectable chart traces the evolution of HTML, the web technologies that came alongside it and the browsers that've held it all together -- all in a seriously meta HTML5 package. Ready for a trip down memory lane? Hit the source, friend, and revel at how far we've come.
Google celebrates Alexander Calder and spinning things with HTML5 doodle
How to honor the life's work of an artist who has been dead for more than a quarter-century? Why, an HTML5 doodle on the Google homepage, of course. The search giant paid homage to Alexander Calder, the celebrated inventor of the mobile sculpture with its first doodle created entirely in HTML5 canvas. Those using a laptop with an accelerometer and an updated browser can move the coded sculpture around with their curser. Ironically, we had some difficulty playing around with the image on our mobile devices.
