Simplify your laptop buying
The World Wide Web Consortium has published a draft of an interface that browsers can use to manipulate files better, one of a series of steps aimed at gradually improving the sophistication and polish of Web site interfaces.
The draft File API (application programming interface) defines a number of ways that browsers and Web sites handle files better. One big part of it: being able to select multiple files for upload, such as on photo-sharing sites or Web-based e-mail, a task that often relies on Adobe Systems' Flash today.
But there are other aspects, too. For example, the interface governs the use of "blobs," or packages of raw binary data such as video files. Google has touted blobs for its Gears browser plug-in as a way to divide large videos into small chunks so that uploads can be more easily resumed if a network problem interrupts the process.
Another benefit: files are handled asynchronously, which the browser won't freeze up while a file is being uploaded or otherwise handled, and the browser reports progress on file transfers.
The technology is one example of work to transform the Web into a better foundation for interactive applications, a move that usurps some power from computer operating systems such as Windows and that's embodied most boldly in Google's Chrome OS project.
Here's one example of use of the Files interface provided by Mike Smith, who works for the W3C on matters relating to HTML--Hypertext Markup Language, the language used to describe Web pages:
"A user uses a Web-based application for reading and sending e-mail. She wants to attach multiple files to particular messages. The Web application provides an user interface that allows her to select multiple files to attach at the same time. After she selects the files, they are uploaded to the Web application asynchronously, allowing the user to perform other actions while they are uploading (for example, finishing the rest of the message she was composing before you added the file attachments). As the attachments are uploaded, the Web applications shows progress bars to indicate how much of the contents of the files have uploaded thus far."
The interface can work in conjunction with various standards including the drag-and-drop support in the HTML 5 now under development and the Web Workers technology that lets browsers better perform multiple operations simultaneously.
The interface also can help Web applications process the contents of files. For example, Smith describes a lyrics finder:
A user has on her local file system a playlist file from her favorite desktop music player. The playlist contains a list of song titles and information, and she wants to be able to easily fetch the lyrics for particular songs without needing to manually search for the lyrics on the Web. So a site can provide a Web-based application that allows her to upload her playlist. The Web application then parses the file and then presents a user interface to her, show in the contents of the file as a hyperlinked, sortable list. She can then retrieve the lyrics for any given song just by clicking on a particular song title.
Mozilla's Arun Ranganathan wrote the specification, according to Chris Blizzard, Mozilla's director of developer relations.
Standards for the Web are advancing rapidly, with the W3C representatives including Microsoft working in conjunction with a parallel effort, WHATWG. New standards require actual implementation in browsers before they are accepted as finished, a fact that can lead to some chaos but that helps ensure the new ideas are tested in the real world.
Firefox 3.6, in beta testing now, will support most of the Files API, Blizzard said.
With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft showed Wednesday it's trying to retake the browser initiative.
IE remains the Net's dominant browser. But perversely, it became something of a technology underdog after Microsoft vanquished Netscape in the browser wars of the 1990s and scaled back its browser effort.
That left an opportunity for rivals to blossom--most notably Firefox, which now is used by a quarter of Web surfers, but also Apple's Safari, which now runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, and Google's Chrome, which aims to make the Web faster and a better foundation for applications.
Microsoft has been pouring resources back into the IE effort, though, and at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, some fruits of that labor were on display. In particular, Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky showed off IE 9's new hardware-accelerated text and graphics.
The acceleration feature takes advantage of hitherto untapped computing power in a way that's more useful than other browser-boosting technology--Google's Native Client to directly employ PC's processor and Mozilla's WebGL for accelerated 3D graphics, for example--according to Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer.
"This is a direct improvement to everybody's usage of the Web on a daily basis," Hachamovitch said in an interview after Sinofsky's speech. "Web developers are doing what they did before, only now they can tap directly into a PC's graphics hardware to make their text work better and graphics work better."
... Read more
Location-based social network Brightkite announced its first native BlackBerry application on Thursday. It was created by a third-party developer using the company's application programming interface. Brightkite already offers native applications to iPhone and Android users.
Dubbed myKite, the BlackBerry app, which was created by developer Chris Hallgren, locates the user through the BlackBerry's built-in GPS. It then finds other Brightkite users nearby in real time. When other people are found, myKite allows users to browse profiles, check status updates, post photos, and write notes on different establishments around town.
Prior to the release of myKite, BlackBerry users had to access the company's mobile site from their phones. According to Hallgren, he used Brightkite's API to develop myKite because he "wanted a native app for the BlackBerry."
myKite is available now for free in the BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry owners can download the app by either accessing it from their devices or by following this link.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Those attending Microsoft's TechEd event will not only get to hear about Office 2010, they will also be among the first to get to try it out.
Microsoft said Monday that it will launch an invitation-only Technical Preview Program of the new Office in July, and said that those at this week's Microsoft conference in Los Angeles will be among the first to get to kick the tires on the new version of Microsoft's flagship software.
Microsoft first talked about the browser-based abilities of Office 2010 (then code-named Office 14) at a developer conference last October. Click image for full gallery.
(Credit: Microsoft)Whereas Office 2007 introduced new file formats and a major overhaul of the user interface, Office 2010 is a more modest change to the desktop programs. However, in conjunction with the release, Microsoft is also releasing browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, known as Office Web Applications. It will also be the first version of Office to come in a 64-bit version, as well as the traditional 32-bit variety.
Microsoft had previously said that a test version would come sometime in the third quarter. Microsoft said it will scale the test version to users beyond those at TechEd, but did not give a time frame.
The final version of Office 2010 is due out next year.
To run the desktop versions of Office 2010, Microsoft said that users will need either Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Hardware that is capable of running Office 2007 should also support Office 2010, Microsoft said.
In addition to announcing the timing of the Office technical preview, Microsoft is also using the first day of the TechEd event to announce more details on the next versions of SQL Server and Windows Server and to confirm that it will release Windows 7 in time to be on PCs this holiday season.
Version 1.5 of Google's mobile operating system is well on its way to bringing flashier features to Android phones. Some, like the virtual keyboard, are as sturdy and sensible as a bread roll, while others, like "live" dashboard folders and video recording and playback, pack in much more flavor and fat.
Until that blessed day arrives, here are nine free Android apps that take our G1 somewhere in between. You can download them all via the Market icon on your Google Android phone.
(Credit:
Vimeo.com)
Moov: It calls itself a mobile interface, but in reality Moov is a launcher. From the dashboard view, slide open the keyboard and begin typing the first few letters of your MP3, application, address book contact, and so on to get a list of search suggestions popping up on a separate screen. Moov even helps you out by offering tabs that let you search your term in the publisher's other apps: Fbook, Quickpedia, Local (Yelp), and Dial Zero. I have to give Moov's developer, Next Mobile Web, a little credit--most of their apps made this top list, too. One setup note--for best results, make Moov the default search organism, or else you'll waste time choosing to search through the contact list or through Moov, and this app subsumes Android's own search.
Fusion Visual Voicemail: If you haven't yet discovered visual voice mail, don't waste another second. It's high time you scissor off the shackles of regular, "blind" voice mail. By simply forwarding your voice mail calls through PhoneFusion's service, you'll be able to see the messages stacked up in your in-box and listen to calls in any order you choose. You can play and pause the message, mark it unread, call or text the caller (extremely useful if you're in a meeting or another locale where it would be imprudent to field a call.) You can also add the contact, or even resurrect a deleted message. While PhoneFusion's visual voicemail service is free, it's likely that PhoneFusion will soon follow the lead of competitors on other platforms and offer premium services to transcribe voice messages into text, making them truly "visual."
... Read more
Make your home screen all business.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)I'm no cheerleader for most Windows Mobile interfaces, and that goes double for phones like the Samsung Omnia, with its widgety sidebar of management tools that rubs me the wrong way. A decently designed theme is typically an improvement.
Swooping to the rescue, the recently released (and awkwardly named) Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 lays out a heap of good-looking screens, shortcuts, and widgets onto the mobile dashboard without ever deleting the default Today screen. There's a professional layout, casual themes, room for customization, and an extended mobile desktop that triples the real estate when you swipe left or right.
The professional view sports a clock and weather widget, your various voice mail and message in-boxes, alarms, and the calendar on a glossy background whose maroon default you can change (the black looks especially snappy.) Clicking a widget launches a similarly skinned window for further management. Below is a contact icon that opens your contact list. Newly added Facebook integration lets you set your friends' profile picture or take a new one. There's also a launcher that pops up a skinned view of your recently used apps, plus shortcut icons to take you to your full program list, the settings, and the task manager.
Press another icon to see a stylized 3D carousel of screens to swipe through, like the Spb settings menu, your call log, or what's called the Lifestyle layout. This is the theme aimed at casual users, or for off-the-clock business types. Here you're able to change the background and add widgets--like a battery meter, a mini media player, the weather, and clocks. You can drag and drop them around the screen to place them where you'd like. This view also supports that expanded screen I mentioned above, where swiping to the left or right reveals two more panels as large as your main screen. While spacious in theory, widget pack rats will find ways to clutter it.
Add Facebook photos to the contact card.
(Credit: CNET/Jessica Dolcourt)
Switch among tools and views.
(Credit: CNET/Jessica Dolcourt)Spb Mobile Shell navigates smoothly and intuitively, and the app goes a long way towards making Windows Mobile interfaces engaging and attractive. The color settings should be easier to get to, but the biggest drawback for some may be the price. $30 is more than most cosmetic apps, but the trial download gives you time to decide if the sleekness is worth the dollars. It's tempting at the very least.
Earth Day may or may not appeal to your eco-conscience, but keeping the reins steady on your computer's carbon footprint and energy consumption makes good technological and financial sense. Reducing your energy output can prolong the life of your hardware--especially a laptop or Netbook--and can help save cash, which we all know is the 'greenest' motivation around.
This collection of environmentally friendly software lassos together these apps, plus a few others to help understand and appreciate our planet's cities, flora, and outer space neighbors.
ENERGY-SAVERS
Edison
(Credit:
CNET)
Edison for XP and Windows Vista is the newest one-stop app for monitoring how much energy and money you save when you tighten up your computer's sleep and shutdown schedules. A slider lets you decide after how many minutes you want to shut down your computer's display and hard drive during the peak work day. You can program differing criteria for off hours. Manual customization is also possible if you need to ease into greener computing.
... Read more
Believe it or not, the way to help us get out of this recession is to shop as often as you can manage. And Amazon just made it even easier for you to do that, if you have a BlackBerry.
(Credit:
Amazon)
Amazon's iPhone app launched in December, and on Thursday the company released its Amazon App for BlackBerry. Like the iPhone app, this new application can be downloaded for free.
The app takes advantage of the BlackBerry's trackball for a quick and simple way to find, discover, and buy products from Amazon.com, as well as from thousands of other retailers.
Beyond that, according to Director of Amazon Mobile Sam Hall, the app also allows you to access the Amazon Remembers feature, which is an easy way to build an image list of products you want to remember for later or to make price comparisons across multiple merchants.
The coolest feature of the app is that it allows you to snap photos of a product with your BlackBerry, and the photos are automatically uploaded to Amazon.com. The company will then try to find products similar to the ones in the photos. As soon as a product is found, you can purchase it immediately or save it to the "remember it" file in your Amazon account.
Other features of the app include:
- Purchase using Amazon's 1-Click ordering and Amazon Prime
- Track packages or modify orders using the Your Account feature
- Receive personalized recommendations
- View editorial and customer reviews
- Get the Gold Box Deal of the Day
- Access to Wish List
There you go. Now you have no excuse not to shop, at least for inexpensive things. Just remember to do it responsibly.
The rumors and speculations that Research In Motion would launch its anticipated BlackBerry App World application store at CTIA were dead on. On Wednesday, the Canadian smartphone and software maker will make BlackBerry App World available for download. RIM's application store seems to enjoy a logical layout, sharing some similarities with the iPhone App Store (mostly in the app discovery department), but also has a dark look all its own. Vicariously step into BlackBerry's App World through our gallery of screenshots: Introducing BlackBerry App World.
Careful, Yahoo Mobile for Web can grow longer than your arm.
(Credit: Yahoo)Yahoo let loose at CTIA 2009 with a redesigned Yahoo Mobile experience for the Web and iPhone--available beginning Wednesday--and a sneak peek at a version for Java smartphones.
Yahoo has combined all the organizational elements it has been working on separately during the past year and a half or so to bring OneSearch, OnePlace, and OneConnect together in a single application. It's a throwback to Yahoo's beginnings as an Internet portal, but with a twist--and it works, though not without drawbacks.
Most intriguing is Yahoo's completely divergent similar experiences for the Web and iPhone versus the build for Java smartphones. The former invoke a classic Yahoo design, and the latter splinters off into widget land with a brand-new dashboard. Read below for the full details, or check out photos in our gallery: Yahoo Mobile steps into the light.
Yahoo Mobile's Web makeover
Yahoo's completely redesigned mobile hub on the Web is a tall, scrollable mashup of search, news, e-mail, social networking, finance, weather, sports scores, and any other RSS feed you'd want to add. At the very top is Yahoo OneSearch, which keys in your location using GPS or cell tower triangulation to make your text searches start faster. Below the search bar is a condensed feature section (Today on Yahoo) that emphasizes images.
Below that is an option to expand all Yahoo services, which gives you a portal-style list of everything from the Yahoo calendar to Flickr to movie showtimes. Back in the main screen, Yahoo OneConnect lets you add Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL e-mail in-boxes, Facebook and Twitter feeds, instant-messaging applications, and Yahoo's calendar and address book.
Further south, the area for Yahoo OnePlace will let you monitor RSS feeds for weather, finance, stocks, bookmarks, sports scores, and any other RSS link you'd like to add.
Now here's the bad part: Yahoo Mobile is infinitely customizable, which means that it's infinitely scrollable--the more services you add, the taller the app. While this is less of a problem on the iPhone, whose finger-flicking navigation rapidly scrolls up and down, it will take more time (and patience) on other devices. Although you can easily edit each section, the link to manage accounts from within each silo can easily get lost.
The ability to flip between screens for these various functions makes the iPhone app smoother and less cluttered, though the individual pages can still get long if you add numerous RSS feeds.
Trying to be too many things to too many people has been Yahoo's Achilles' heel for a long time, beginning with the Yahoo Go application that, though excellent and thorough, took too many brain cells for unfettered use.
The theme continued with Yahoo's series of separate apps for different mobile platforms that felt more like experiments than a mobile solution--Yahoo OneSearch with voice, OnePlace, and OneConnect. The retooled Yahoo Mobile unifies them all in a good-looking, intuitive structure whose whole is worth far more than the sum of its parts, even if it has the potential for creating a foot-long application.
Yahoo Mobile for Java phones
Yahoo's new native application for Java phones may be the same genus as the Web portal, but it's a completely different beast. Yahoo Mobile for smartphones has a few more enhancements, including voice search (powered by Vlingo) and an underlying Opera Mini browser. (See an image in our gallery.)
The app will take on a dashboard feel, with the search bar on top and widgets tiled below. The widgets will include services like Facebook and a socially intelligent address book that integrates e-mail history, SMS, IM, and calling.
There will also be a mapping app, and plenty of ways to personalize by adding your own widgets. It certainly looked easy to use when we played with in during our demo, but the one question in our minds is whether people will want a second dashboard on their phones to access their contacts, calendars, social networks, e-mail, and so on.
Answers to these questions will become clearer when Yahoo Mobile for Smartphones becomes available sometime in May.
