CBS planning HTML5 videos for iPad compatibility?
A few readers have sent up tips about odd "iPad - test" video links showing up on CBS.com. MacRumors did some digging and discovered that if you click on the iPad-test links in your computer's browser, you'll be taken to the normal Flash versions of the video. However if you're on the iPad SDK Simulator or spoof your browser's User-Agent to impersonate an iPad, you're sent to a HTML5 version of the video.
MacRumors notes that the HTML5 version of the videos doesn't work yet, but there does seem to be full screen support and the CSS fills reference HTML5 and have a number of specific "webkit" calls.
Many, including Steve Jobs, see HTML5 as the successor to Flash -- and things aren't looking too hot for the Adobe plugin's continued dominance. In January Google launched a HTML5 Youtube beta site followed by Virgin America announcing earlier this month that they dumped Flash from their website because the iPhone doesn't support it. Of course, HTML5/iPad support doesn't mean CBS is ditching Flash. They could be following in the footsteps of NPR and the Wall Street Journal and creating two different websites -- one Flash-free -- for users of the iPad. Whatever the case, it's nice to see CBS planning for the iPad and one hopes the other major networks will follow suit.
