There were a lot of announcements to take in during Google I/O last week, but among them were some HTML5 efforts from Adobe, illustrating the company's dedication to utilizing the technologies it sees playing significant roles in the future of the web.
Of course a widely publicized tiff between Adobe and Apple over HTML5 and Flash came about from Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismissing Flash, and painting HTML5 as the way of the future, and resulted in Adobe carrying out an ad campaign in response. Adobe made it abundantly clear at Google I/O that HTML5 is very much a part of its plans, and that Flash is as well.
After the keynote in which Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch talked about the company's HTML5 offerings, WebProNews spoke with Adobe Sr. Director of Engineering Paul Gubbay about them, as well as he co-existence of HTML5 and Flash:
"It's important for folks to remember that Flash and HTML have always coincided together," says Gubbay. "They've always lived together. And now with HTML5, we're starting to see new features and other things that certainly start moving towards some of the territory that we've typically seen Flash do. And that's great. That's innovation. I mean gosh, it's been quite a while since the browsers have really started to innovate at the level we're seeing now. It creates fantastic opportunities to build great tooling for HTMl5 and services on top of that, which is what we're doing."
"We'll also see Flash innovate and continue to innovate. There's a bunch of things you just can't do in HTML5 today consistently across browsers. People will continue to use Flash for those. They'll continue to use Flash for the other types of innovations we'll see there. I personally have always seen HTML as fantastic. There's a lot of things you can do with it. And Flash has always sort of been a blueprint for the things you can't do, but probably will be able to do in the future. And it's going to continue to build that way. So I absolutely see a world where both play in, and I think it's Adobe's job to show how that works, and to bring value to folks wherever we need to."
Do you agree that Flash will continue to innovate and act as a blueprint for things you can't do with HTML? Share your thoughts.
Online travel website TripAdvisor has launched a new TripAdvisor iPhone application, available on Apple's App Store.
The free applications allow users to search for popular hotels, restaurants, attractions and cheap airfares. The application is available in 13 languages, giving users a localized experience on TripAdvisor.
"Our iPhone app gives people in 20 countries and 13 languages a new way to access the more than 35 million traveler reviews and opinions available on TripAdvisor," said Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor.
"Now, travelers can find a great hotel, restaurant or attraction and book a cheap flight whether they're at home or on the go."
The new TripAdvisor iPhone application replaces Local Picks in the App Store. The app uses the iPhone's GPS technology to allow users to search for nearby hotels, restaurants and attractions. Users can search by rating, distance and price. Users can also send in reviews while they are traveling.
Additionally, travelers can use TripAdvisor Flights, the sites flight search engine, to find cheap airfares using their iPhone.
Google has launched new stable versions of its Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
"Since last December, we've been chipping away at bugs and building in new features to get the Mac and Linux versions caught up with the Windows version, and now we can finally announce that the Mac and Linux versions are ready for prime time," says Chrome product manager Brian Rakowski.
Google says the new releases are the fastest yet. For reference, check out Google's recent speed tests for Chrome:
"We've improved by 213 percent and 305 percent in Javascript performance by the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks since our very first beta, back in Chrome’s Cretaceous period (September 2008)," says Rakowski.
New Chrome features (other than speed improvement) include the ability to sync browser preferences (bookmarks, themes, homepage and startup settings, web content settings, preferred languages, and page zoom settings) across multiple computers, new HTML5 capabilities (Geolocation APIs, App Cache, web sockets, and file drag-and-drop), and a new bookmark manager.
"For a taste of HTML5’s powerful features, try browsing through websites developed in HTML5 such as scribd.com, dragging and dropping attachments in Gmail, or by enabling the geolocation functionality in Google Maps," says Rakowski.
Google has also fixed numerous minor issues, such as non-exploitable crashes, hangs, and other annoyances, according to Anthony Laforge of the Chrome team.
The new stable release does not include Adobe Flash Player integration, but Google has been beta testing this and plans to enable it soon.
Later this year, Google will open the Chrome Web Store, which will feature a gallery of web apps that will actually work not only with Chrome, but other web browsers. However, Chrome users will be able to create convenient shortcuts for easily accessing the apps they download.
Nearly a quarter (24%) of all U.S. households have a television connected to the Internet, according to a new report from the Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
The report found consumers connect to the Internet via variety of devices including a video game console, a Blu-Ray player, or a compatible TV. While Internet connectivity has become a common built-in feature in many devices, consumers are just beginning to use this feature to watch video from the Internet.
Overall, just 1 percent of adults watch video from the Internet via one of these devices daily, and 5 percent weekly. Usage leans heavily towards young men, with 16 percent of men ages 18-34 watching video from the Internet via one of these connected devices weekly, compared to 3 percent weekly use among all others.
"Despite speculation that consumers are 'cutting the cord' to cable, satellite or Telco video services and choosing to watch video exclusively online or through other alternatives, there remains little evidence of this being a trend," said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
"Emerging video services do not necessarily create either/or scenarios in decisions to subscribe to a video service or not. Rather, they create opportunities and trade-offs in how, when, what, and where to consume the increasing video entertainment options."
Among households with a TV connected to the Internet, 20 percent do so via a game console, 8 percent have an Internet connected TV set, and 6 percent have a Blu-Ray player with an Internet connection.
Just 5 percent of those online at home strongly agree that they would be willing to pay $9.95 per month to watch TV shows from a service like Hulu, while 81 percent strongly disagree.
Other findings include:
*55% of Netflix subscribers report that they used the "Watch Instantly" feature in the past month -- overall, 1% of all adults use Netflix's "Watch Instantly" daily, and 4% weekly
*Overall, 3% of adults watch a full length TV show online daily, and 11% weekly
*Among all individuals online at home, 4% strongly agree that they would consider disconnecting their TV service to just watch video online -- compared to 3% last year, and 4% two years ago
Small and medium-sized business (SMB) marketers are becoming increasingly convinced of the positive results of video email, social media and personalization, according to a new report from GetResponse.
Over 80 percent of respondents plan to use video emails in 2010 and over 90 percent of SMB marketers who use video emails report it delivers significant conversion rates.
More than half of respondents said video emails can increase click-through rates. One in three marketers believes video can improve brand image and increase customer loyalty. Over 20 percent of marketers believe that video emails can also reduce support and training costs. Only 4.7 percent of email marketers do no see any benefits from using video email.
"Today's marketers are mindful of the importance of delivering relevant content and one-to-one messaging based on preferences and behaviors," said Simon Grabowski, founder of
"It's all about putting the 'human element' back into marketing through the use of video and social media conversations."
Other highlights from the survey include:
Social media: A 113.2 percent increase in use of links to new messages on social media pages; a 109.1 percent increase in use of sign-up forms on Facebook, etc. fan pages; 88.8 percent will increase share options and 71.6 percent more will place "follow us" links in email messages.
Personalization: 53.80 percent of SMB respondents said they intend to increase targeting and personalization in 2010; 52.40 percent will try to improve email title and subject line personalization.
Behavioral targeting: Nearly 75 percent of marketers claim that behavioral targeting can result in significant or moderate increases in email marketing effectiveness. Only 2.8 percent did not consider behavioral targeting an effective practice.
The Internet is now the third most-popular news platform, behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio, according to a new survey out today.
The survey of 2,259 U.S. adults, conducted jointly by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, found 59 percent of respondents gets news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day.
The Internet and mobile technologies are at the center of how people's relationship to news is changing. One-third (33%) of cell phone owners now access news on their mobile phones and more than a quarter (28%) of Internet users have customized their homepage to include news from sources and topics that are of interest to them.
Nearly forty percent (37%) of Internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or shared it via postings on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
In addition, people use their social networks to filter, assess, and react to news. They use traditional email and other tools to exchange stories and comment on them. Among those who get news online, 75 percent get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites and 52 percent share links to news the same way.
The survey also found the typical online news consumer routinely uses just a handful of news sites and does not have a particular favorite. Overall, Americans have mixed feelings about this "new" news environment. Over half (55%) say it is easier to keep up with news and information today than it was five years ago, but 70 percent feel the amount of news and information available from different sources is overwhelming.
"Americans have become news grazers both on and offline - but within limits," said Amy Mitchell, deputy director for the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
"They generally don't have one favorite website but also don't search aimlessly. Most online news consumers regularly draw on just a handful of different sites."
Realtor.com, the website for the National Association of Realtors, has launched a Real Estate Search iPhone app.
Users can search for every property listed on Realtor.com by price, location, property type, MLS ID number, square foot, lot size, open house events, distance from a user's current location and age.
The real estate iPhone app allows users to send a link of a specific property via email, Twitter or Facebook to family, friends or a realtor.
"The Realtor.com iPhone app places the power of Realtor.com in the hands of millions of highly mobile consumers that depend on us to deliver the largest collection of properties with the freshest and most accurate information available on the market," said Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com.
"By combining our unmatched search power with the ability to instantly share listings and feedback by email, Twitter or Facebook from an iPhone, millions now have mobile access to a phenomenal property search experience superior to other apps already on the market. We expect Realtors and their clients will appreciate the ease and convenience that our app brings to their experience as they work together to find the ideal property."
Netflix said today it has reached an agreement with Nintendo that will allow Netflix members who own a Wii to instantly stream movies and TV shows directly to their TVs.
Netflix is scheduled to go live on the Wii this spring in the United States at no additional cost to Netflix members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection.
"Our goal is to offer Netflix members as many ways as possible to watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix right to their TVs and to give non-members more and compelling reasons to consider the service," said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings.
"Joining forces with Nintendo, which has been so immensely popular with consumers since its introduction, is a very meaningful step in that direction."
Netflix already has deals in place to stream movies and TV episodes on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
Wii remains the fastest-selling game console in history, and reaches more consumers than any other device that currently offers streaming movies from Netflix. In December 2009, Nintendo sold over 3 million Wii consoles in the United States.
"Soon both new and longtime Wii owners will enjoy the benefits of Netflix - and a variety of informational and entertainment options - by being Netflix members and connecting their consoles to the Internet," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime.
The much-anticipated Boxee Beta has now officially come out. It is available for Mac, Windows, and Ubuntu.
"In the past 4 weeks since we announced the upcoming Beta we had the help of tens of thousands of early access users who tested the Beta on all different platforms and gave us great feedback," says Boxee's Avner Ronen. "Hundreds of bugs have been opened and we’ve been working diligently to resolve as many of them as we could. We feel the version deserves the upgrade from Alpha grade to Beta grade, and we’re going to spend the next year improving it, so we can release 1.0 at CES next year."
Along with the beta release, Boxee has announced some new content partners:
- TV.com
- Blip.tv
- IGN
Boxee is also showing off the details of its Boxee Box at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. You can read about the remote, and the Box's internals here and here respectively.
There may come a point at which Google's popularity maxes out, but we haven't reached it yet. A new report from comScore concerning online video sites indicates that the search giant's properties attracted considerably more eyeballs in November than the previous month.
In October, comScore counted 126.3 million unique viewers in connection with Google's sites. In November, this number increased to 129.0 million. Meanwhile, Google's share of videos viewed rose from 37.7 percent to 39.4 percent.
This didn't bode well for second-place Hulu in one respect, as the site's share slipped from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent. Still, Hulu drew in about 1.3 million more unique visitors on a month-over-month basis, and comScore stated, "The average Hulu viewer watched 21.1 videos during the month, representing another all-time high for the property."
As for the rest of the videos viewed rankings, Viacom Digital came in third place, a significant move up from its former position in fifth. Microsoft placed fourth, and Yahoo followed it in fifth. Then came Fox Interactive Media, the Turner Network, the Tremor Media Video Network, CBS Interactive, and AOL.
Finally, here's a bit of news about the overall state of things: in November, comScore saw the number of videos viewed online from the U.S. go beyond 30 billion for the first time ever.
"Despite speculation that consumers are 'cutting the cord' to cable, satellite or Telco video services and choosing to watch video exclusively online or through other alternatives, there remains little evidence of this being a trend," said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for 
In October, comScore counted 126.3 million unique viewers in connection with Google's sites. In November, this number increased to 129.0 million. Meanwhile, Google's share of videos viewed rose from 37.7 percent to 39.4 percent.
