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TikTok is testing more mini-games, including one from Aim Lab
Creators in some regions can attach one of nine mini-games to their videos.
Google Calendar's desktop site can work offline again, in some cases
Google Calendar's desktop website lost offline support in a 2018 redesign, but now it's coming back -- at least for business accounts.
Flash games site Kongregate has stopped accepting submissions
If you played Flash-based games in the 2000s, you probably remember Kongregate, a website that hosted over 100,000 browser games. Unfortunately, the site will soon take a step towards being more of an archive than an active part of the internet, as Kongregate has announced that it’ll stop accepting new game uploads. Additionally, Forbes confirmed that the site is also laying off an unknown number of employees after a number of employees tweeted that they only found out by a direct deposit to their bank accounts.
Google's Area 120 brings quick web games to slow phones
Google is countering Facebook's Instant Games with its own bid to make web games more accessible. Its Area 120 experimental lab is introducing GameSnacks, HTML5-based casual games that are designed to load quickly and play well even on poor connections and basic smartphones. The combination of a lean initial web page, compressed media and just-in-time loading means you can start playing within just a few seconds, even on a phone with less than a 1Mbps connection (all too common in the world) and just 1GB of RAM.
Google Search will stop indexing Flash content this year
Flash was impressive back in the day. Games, animations and interactive elements were right there in your browser. But as the internet matured, Flash did not. In fact, it became a nuisance and a security risk. Adobe, which owns Flash, announced that it would end support for the technology by December 2020, and now Google says Search will no longer index Flash content or Shockwave Flash files in the coming weeks.
The Gmail Offline Chrome app will disappear after December 3rd
Offline access to our Gmail is a feature that has come, gone and changed before, and 2018 will be no different. While Google's announcement Wednesday that it will pull the plug on Inbox got a lot of the attention, it also revealed that the old Gmail Offline Chrome app would be pulled after December 3rd. For an alternative, Google has prepared a native offline experience in its recent redesign of Gmail that syncs up to 90 days of emails and keeps everything listed in the same familiar interface. That means if you want offline access (useful for flights or other locations that combine dodgy WiFi with a possible need to pull up old messages) you will have to switch to the new experience -- we hope you like it.
Facebook's Instant Games now offer in-app purchases
Facebook's Instant Games are about to add a cornerstone of the modern gaming experience, although it's not necessarily the one you'd hope for. The social site is adding support for in-app purchases to Instant Games on both Android and the web, letting you buy extra goodies (no doubt including a ton of in-game currency) in titles that don't require lengthy load times. The tools are available now, although game creators can only start submitting apps on May 7th.
Anyone can make Facebook Instant Games
Facebook's Instant Games technology hasn't exactly taken off (there are less than 200 games to date), but that's because it's been in closed testing. Now, it might have a chance to grow: Facebook has opened the Instant Games platform to all developers. Anyone can build HTML5-based web games designed to run in Messenger or your News Feed, whether you're on desktop or mobile. They'll have ways of making money from and promoting games, too, including ads (sorry, folks) and cross-promotional links.
Flash was useful, but developers are glad it’s on the death march
Earlier this week, Adobe announced it would cease support and development of Flash at the end of 2020, a decision that had many people saying, "Finally." The "Flash is dead" rhetoric has been around for years, and people like Facebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, have called for Adobe to set an end-of-life date for some time. Well, it finally has, and Adobe tells Engadget that the transition out has been planned for several years.
Google Chrome now defaults to HTML5 for most sites
Google proposed making HTML5 the default over Flash in its Chrome browser back in May. With the latest release, Chrome 55, the company has nearly completed the transition. Chrome now defaults to HTML5 except when a site is Flash-only or if its one of the top 10 sites on the web. For every other website you visit, you'll be asked to enable Flash the first time you go there.
YouView's major update centres on a faster, more visual UI
BT said earlier this month it would be rolling out a major update to its TV service next year, but it can only do that by following YouView's lead. Today, YouView announced the finer details of the impending platform upgrade, which is coming to all set-top boxes, including TalkTalk's and, of course, BT's. Moving in the same direction as all TV UIs, YouView's has been redesigned to be more visually compelling. Less words and menus, more cards and thumbnails. The EPG remains relatively unchanged, though it's now translucent by default, with whatever's currently playing shown behind it.
Twitch rolls out video uploads, clip editing on iOS and Android
While Amazon-linked Prime features are the big news out of TwitchCon, the livestreaming service is bringing some long-promised new features to users. Starting today, users can upload videos directly to Twitch. That means streamers can apply their video editing and production skills to archived clips for their audiences, without having to take them somewhere else, like YouTube Gaming. The feature was announced at TwitchCon last year, but at least it's here now in beta form.
Chrome beta for Android plays web videos in the background
Ever wanted to listen to the audio from a web video on your Android phone, but couldn't because the sound would stop the moment you switched apps? You won't be hampered from now on. Google has released a beta of Chrome 54 for Android that plays web videos in the background, letting you carry on with other tasks while you finish that lecture or video podcast. You'll get a notification with basic play/pause controls in case you need to take a break. There's no firm indication of when the finished Chrome 54 will be ready for everyone, but you can grab the beta from Google Play if you're feeling experimental.
Microsoft hopes 1080p Netflix makes Edge your next browser
As Microsoft continues to nudge folks into trying its new Edge browser on Windows 10, its latest tease is the promise of better looking, more efficient video streaming. Just like Apple's Safari browser on OS X, it turns out that on Windows only Microsoft's browsers stream HTML5 Netflix in 1080p, while Chrome, Firefox and Opera all max out at 720p and a much lower bitrate. It also claims the browser makes use of Windows 10's enhancements to offload video and audio processing to the right hardware in ways that save significant battery life.
Twitch's HTML5 player is available to subscribers today
Twitch is taking steps to improve its video streaming experience by bringing viewers a closed beta of its HTML5 video player. Anyone with a Turbo subscription will be able to join the beta beginning today and can test out the new player before other users later this summer.
Twitch Collections embrace the randomness of non-gaming streams
Game (and food-eating) broadcasting service Twitch has been in the news quite a bit this week, and here's another instance of that. First up we have a few major additions to the Twitch Creative umbrella. The Creative homepage has undergone a revamp, with each type of stream (cosplay, painting, drawing, etc.) getting its own directory tab. Twitch says that anyone can make a suggestion for adding to these, and that it'll accept "the most active and diverse ones."
Here's the cable industry's counter offer to fix TV boxes
Earlier this year the FCC voted on a plan to fix crappy cable boxes. Dubbed "Unlock the Box," the plan would make cable companies open up their services for use on boxes made by other companies. Now, after a few months of complaining and poking holes in the FCC plan, the cable companies have a proposal of their own. Their offer consists of an "industry-wide commitment" to create HTML5-based apps for third party devices like phones, tablets and connected TV boxes. It was presented this week by representatives for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), AT&T/DirecTV, Comcast and others.
Chrome will make Flash player a last resort as soon as fall
We've come a long, long way from the time when Google was praising Adobe Flash as if it were a cornerstone of the internet. The internet firm has quietly proposed an "HTML5 by Default" initiative for Chrome that would make Flash more of an if-you-must backup than a must-have. The web browser would pick the HTML5 web standard for content when given the choice -- when it isn't an option, it would ask you to activate Flash. It'd skip that activation prompt for the 10 most popular sites using Flash (currently including YouTube, Facebook and Twitch), but only for a year. You'd first see HTML5 by Default in the open source Chromium browser in the fourth quarter of this year, with regular Chrome likely following soon afterward.
Netflix's Windows 10 app is at home on PCs and tablets
Microsoft continues to fill out its library of Windows 10 apps, and the latest addition is from Netflix. Upgrading from its old Windows 8 edition to take advantage of the new operating system, this one is a universal app, that will eventually work across PCs, tablets and phones, although it's not ready for that last one just yet. While the team works on extending the experience to Windows 10 phones, the desktop app is rolling out this week for all supported countries.
Adobe bows to HTML5 and renames its Flash Professional app
Given that Flash is widely considered an internet blight, it's hard to imagine a time when it was actually cool. But in the day, the app was the only way to make interesting animated pages, so it attracted top designers to its content creation tool, Flash Professional. Adobe has now officially ended that era by renaming Flash Professional to Adobe Animate CC. The company said that "over a third of all content created in Flash Professional today uses HTML5," so it is symbolically acknowledging the shift with the new name. The app will still support Flash output, of course, along with other video and animation formats, including 4K, HTML5 canvas and WebGL output.
