Last Straw » Internet

Adobe and Flash vs. Apple, the iPad and HTML5

Christiaan — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:08:01 +0000

So it would seem Apple is helping to win the battle for an open web based on HTML5.

Mefeedia, a video search engine, is reporting that "54% of web video is now available for playback in HTML5 (H.264 mostly)". Up from 10% in January.

Meanwhile Adobe has bitten the bullet and is building HTML5 export capability into Flash Pro, their Flash authoring tool. And not a moment too soon.

Nack makes a pertinent point about Adobe's motives:

Flash is great for a lot of things ... It’s not the only game in town, however, and Adobe makes its money selling tools, not giving away players.

Indeed indeed. And what they'll be pissed about is that anyone can build HTML5 authoring tools, which means they're not the only game in town either. With Flash, Adobe is the only game in town and they were well on the way to completely controlling rich content on the web. Control this and Flash Pro would have become a money tree for Adobe, degrading the web in the process.

What does Apple have to gain from an open web and the demise of Flash? The same thing as everybody else, a level playing field.

Impressive augmented reality coming to Bing Maps

Christiaan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:16:24 +0000

Demonstration by Blaise Aguera at TED of the impressive work they've been doing behind the scenes on Bing Maps. (click through for the video)

How to confuse a Facebook user

Christiaan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:39:29 +0000

ReadWriteWeb, a popular technology website, has a page that ranks highly in Google’s search results for “Facebook login”. Check out the comments on the page. They're filled with complaints from confused Facebook users who think that this is the new Facebook login page. Quite clearly many people do not use bookmarks, or simply type "facebook.com" in the address bar but instead they Google for what they're after and click on the first result assuming it is correct.

Apple iPad will choke innovation

Christiaan — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:59:27 +0000

While I'm a big fan of the iPad's ease of use, this aspect worries me.

The main problem with Wolfram Alpha

Christiaan — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:11:49 +0000

John Timmer’s take on Wolfram Alpha: … the biggest issue is that, in the process of creating the data store behind Alpha, all the context behind a number—who produced it, what were their methods, how was the raw data obtained, is the number actually relevant for a given analysis, etc.—is stripped …

Wolfram Alpha, a new way to find facts

Christiaan — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:49:23 +0000

Wolfram Alpha is a new search engine you’re likely to hear a lot more about and it went live with a test run today. It’s not a search engine in the same way as Google, which indexes and searches websites, but an answer search engine, which indexes and computes facts. Wolfram Alpha about page: Wolfram|Alpha is the first step…

Time to ditch Facebook?

Christiaan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:20:01 +0000

Have you ever thought it was a bit creepy that Facebook, a profit-driven organisation, has such an intimate knowledge of you, your friendships and family links? Ever considered leaving Facebook because of such creepiness? Maybe now is a good time.

Passionato

Christiaan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:50:30 +0000

And now for something completely different, for those of you who like to listen to classical music. I've been meaning to blog this for a while: Passionato.com — this is how digital music distribution on the net should work: decent length previews, DRM-free (meaning no restrictions on which devices you play your music) and available in lossless file format (meaning the files are compressed without sacrificing the integrity of the audio, as happens with lossy formats like MP3). They could improve their search function, but the show-stopper is price: if I find an album I like what's to stop me from purchasing the CD for cheaper? I'm not a huge buyer of music but I would be if digital distribution competed with CDs. Check out more on their about page.

Easily encrypt your internet telephony calls

Christiaan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:50:34 +0000

Sending information over the internet can be like using postcards and VoIP (iChat, Skype, Gizmo, Google Talk, etc.) is no exception. To solve this Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, the most widely used email encryption software in the world, created an application for encrypting video and audio calls over the internet. It’s called Zfone and it’s…

The Fear and the closed internet

Christiaan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:55:51 +0000

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber explains why he thinks the management of some of the closed aspects of Apple’s iPhone App Store are flawed. And if that interests you, you might also be interested in this interview with Jonathan Zittrain and a review of his new book, The Future of the Internet—And How to Stop It.

It’s a good thing, Jane

Christiaan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:23:09 +0000

Jane Clifton muses on the emergence of blogging and it’s relationship with old fashioned journalism, complaining that “it’s hard to tell whether the information providers are accurate, biased or simply malicious.” “The Blogerati” responds in good fashion, but what I like that blogging brings to the table is exactly what Clifton fears: uncertainty about who is telling the truth. One…

Ecohost, possibly the ultimate web host?

Christiaan — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:35:44 +0000

This weekend I finally moved my website to a new web host: Ecohost, possibly the ultimate web host.

Fired for plagiarising plagiarism?

Christiaan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:44:02 +0000

At the beginning of February, when I arrived back in London from a trip to New Zealand, I was surprised to find my inbox full of messages alerting me that a person named Ty McDonald had been fired from a newspaper for plagiarising me.

Blog from 10000 metres

Christiaan — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:20:57 +0000

Thought I better write a blog at 10000 metres above sea level when I had the chance.

When website names go wrong

Christiaan — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 19:40:32 +0000

Hereâ€™s a bit of light-hearted stuff. A bunch of real website domain names that have unintended double meanings.

Belated introduction

Christiaan — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:01:29 +0000

So I've been spamming you all for a few months now, I thought it was about time I rolled out an introduction.