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The demo movie above from Adobe shows off some WebKit-based experiments that seek to change that. Adobe Engineering VP Paul Betlem narrates and the demo, and he shows how his team is extending the WebKit browser to do some new typographic tricks. WebKit is the open source engine behind Safari and Google Chrome, and it powers the most popular mobile browsers like the ones on the iPhone, iPad, iPod and all the Android phones. The demo certainly shows some impressive results. However, we're a bit suspicious of the methodology behind the results. Betlem talks about extending WebKit's CSS support via vendor prefixes, but neglects to mention what those prefixes are built against - in other words, there's no mention of submitting a standard that other browsers could work from.

Good title.  Nice to see that some of the tech media are starting to figure this out.  It's about time. excerpt: While Microsoft has struggled with its mobile operating system, it still occupies a dominant stake of the server operating system, desktop operating system, business productivity software, messaging, and Web browser markets. Bells and whistles aside, it's hard to argue with the potential of a smartphone platform that can seamlessly tie in with the platforms and tools that businesses rely on. RIM, Apple, Palm, and now Google, all recognize and respect Microsoft's presence in the enterprise. These other mobile platforms realize that integration with Microsoft backend tools--particularly Exchange Server--is imperative to success in the enterprise. No matter how hard they try, though, the solutions are often clumsy or cumbersome, and have a sort of "square peg in the round hole" feel to them. The core appeal of a Microsoft mobile operating system is the inclusion of native tools that naturally integrate with the existing server, desktop, and office productivity environment. Windows Mobile is uniquely suited to deliver a seamless and familiar experience for business professionals. Expecting Microsoft to introduce unique innovations or raise the bar in any way for mobile operating systems is probably a recipe for disappointment. Assuming that Microsoft can at least improve Windows Mobile to the point that Windows Phones are more or less on par with next-generation smartphones like the iPhone or Droid will be enough, though, for Microsoft to get the ship pointed in the right direction and begin to reclaim some of its lost mobile platform market share. Microsoft has a built-in audience and the game is Microsoft's to lose.

Here it comes - the "rich" Web experience based on integrated but proprietary 2010 technologies from Microsoft.  Note the comparative "advantages" listed in this article describing Microsoft SkyDrive, and comparing to Google Docs. excerpt:  Do you use Microsoft Office programs for creating documents and then use Google Docs to edit these documents online or as an offsite backup? Well, now that Office 2010 and Office Web Apps are available under public beta for free, here are some reasons why you should consider uploading documents, presentations and spreadsheets into Office Web Apps via Windows Live SkyDrive in addition to your Google Docs account. 1. Windows Live SkyDrive supports larger files 2. Document formatting is preserved 3. Native OpenXML file formats 4. Public Documents are in the Lifestream 5. Content is not 'lost in translation'  ....... When you upload a document in Office Web Apps, the application will automatically preserve all the data in that document even if a particular feature is not currently supported by the online applications. For instance, if your PowerPoint presentation contains a slide transition (e.g., Vortex) that is not supported in the online version of Office, the feature will be preserved in your presentation even if you upload it on to Office Web Apps via Windows Live SkyDrive. Later, when you download and open that presentation inside PowerPoint, it would be just like the original version. The content is not 'lost in translation' with Office Web Apps. Are you using Google Docs as a Document Backup Service?  Office Web Apps won't just preserve all the original features of your documents but you can also download entire directories of Office documents as a ZIP file with a simple click.

Office suites are now taking the cloud route and offering advanced services, luring partners with smart gain  By Varun Aggarwal While all applications are moving to the cloud, there is no reason why the ubiquitous office productivity suites like MS Office or OpenOffice should stick to the desktop. Providing customers with a key set of capabilities, and a browser to aid easy access makes complete sense. Take for instance a student working on a class paper. Writing in a Web browser might aid in sharing and incorporating constructive changes, but it is a cumbersome experience as compared to using Office on his PC. But by using productivity suite online, he gets best of both worlds.  

WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) is a fourth-generation (4G) telecommunications technology primarily for fast broadband. Also a 4G mobile technology, LTE allows a peak download speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on mobile phones, compared with 20Mbps for 3G and 40Mbps for WiMAX. "For operators, the choice of technology depends on a number of things including available spectrum, legacy inter-working, timing and business focus," says Nokia Siemens Networks head of sub region, Asia South, Lars Biese. To deploy either technology, operators will have to commit tens of billions of dollars in network upgrades for the new mobility landscape, which now includes social, video, location-based and entertainment applications and experiences. Wing K. Lee says WiMAX and LTE more similiar than different. Also a 4G mobile technology, LTE allows a peak download speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on mobile phones, compared with 20Mbps for 3G and 40Mbps for WiMAX. Some argue that LTE is the next step for mobile networks like GSM, WCDMA/HSPA and CDMA in the move to future networks and services. The common belief is that the natural migration path is from 2G to GPRS, from GPRS to 3G, and from 3G to LTE. But IDC Asia/Pacific's telecom research director Bill Rojas has a differing view. To him, LTE is a totally new set-up. It has been reported that LTE's main advantage over WiMAX, in addition to speed, is that it is part of the popular GSM technology and can allow backward compatibility with both 2G and 3G networks. A point many dispute.  The new Sprint EVO is a 4G smartphone with chipsets for 2G, 3G, 3G enhanced, and 4G WiMAX.  Sprint argues that LTE is just another chipset away.

1)  What's the Best Android Phone for Verizon Right Now? Droid X. This was one of two reviews to break into the top 10, both of them on Android. It hit as the Android frenzy was reaching a crescendo and highlighted how a bigger screen could work on smartphones. This review and the number two post also hit the top mobile posts of the year. 2)  Android Sales Overtake iPhone. This has been a theme that has generated a lot of traffic all year. With Android ascendant, we saw the first quarter where recent sales surged past the iPhone. While the iPhone appears to still have a larger overall installed base, the reports of Android's rise touched off a lot of debate about where the two platforms will end up. 3)  Nexus One: The Best Android Phone Yet. This post went up in January and foreshadowed a big year for Android. While praising the device, Om said it still didn't match the experience of the iPhone, but it showed Google was ready to compete. 4)  4chan Decides to Do Something Nice for a Change. This was a nice change-up and showed that 4chan, despite its reputation for sophomoric humor and sexual imagery, could be used for good. The online community banded together to wish 90-year-old WWII veteran William J. Lashua a happy birthday. 5)  Your Mom's Guide to Those Facebook Changes and How to Block Them. Where would we be without a Facebook post in our top 10? This post looked at the expansion of the "like" button to outside websites and instant personalization and explained how users can sidestep the features. This fit into a larger story about privacy on Facebook, which never seems to get old. 6)  Is Apple About to Cut Out the Carriers? This post stirred a lot of conversation after we reported that Apple was looking at putting its own SIM card in iPhones to sell devices directly to consumers. The move would have allowed Apple to cut out European carriers. It looks like the plan didn't come to pass, but it illustrated the power of Apple and its am

The history of HTML from it's earliest days to HTML5, by Mark Pilgrim.  Wonderful stuff, beautifully written.  Excellent introduction to the HTML5 category of Open Web technologies ( HTML5, CSS3, SVG, JavaScript and the Open WEB API's) excerpt quote: Implementations and specifications have to do a delicate dance together. You don't want implementations to happen before the specification is finished, because people start depending on the details of implementations and that constrains the specification. However, you also don't want the specification to be finished before there are implementations and author experience with those implementations, because you need the feedback. There is unavoidable tension here, but we just have to muddle on through.

If this doesn't make Florian weep, nothing can! Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is now available worldwide. This plugin for Microsoft Office is available to anyone with a Google Account, and brings multi-person collaboration to the Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications that you may still need from time to time. The plugin syncs your work through Google's cloud, so everyone can contribute to the same version of a file at the same time. Learning the benefits of web-powered collaboration will help more people make a faster transition to 100% web collaboration tools.

CloudStack Manifesto Before getting into the framework specifics, it would be worthwhile to cover some of the design principles we had in mind while we were building CloudStack: CloudStack brings together the best of the web and the desktop: We strongly believe in the convergence of the desktop and the web and will continually strive to expose more services that bring out the best from both. CloudStack enables rapid application development and deployment: Out of the box, CloudStack provides a fully brand able and deployable shell application that can be used as a starting point to jumpstart application development. CloudStack also provides a scalable deployment environment for hosting your applications. CloudStack leverages existing web technologies: We built the CloudStack P2WebServer container over the J2EE compliant Jetty web server. As a result, CloudStack applications are built using standard web technologies like AJAX, HTML, JavaScript, Flash, Flex, etc. CloudStack does not reinvent the wheel: We strive to reuse as much as possible from other open source projects and standards. By creatively stringing together seemingly disparate pieces, like P2P and HTTP, it?fs amazing to create something that's really much greater than the sum of the parts. CloudStack does aim to simplify existing technologies: We will abstract and simplify existing interfaces if needed. For example, we built simpler abstractions for JXTA (P2P) and Jena (RDF Store). CloudStack encourages HTML-based interfaces: We believe that the web browser is the most portable desktop application container with HTML being the lingua franca of the web. Rather than writing a native widget interface for the local desktop application and another web-based interface for the remote view, we encourage writing a single interface that can be reused across both local and remote views. HTML based interfaces are inherently cross-platform and provide good decoupling of design from code (versus having the UI as compiled

Android device owners have one less reason to drive to the bank now that PayPal has added check scanning to its software. PayPal today released an update to its mobile app for Google's platform that brings the feature: Users can snap a picture of a check with their Android 2.1 or better phone and have the amount automatically deposited to their PayPal account. The newest version of the mobile app, version 2.8, also allows the software to be stored on a handset's memory card, which can free up internal storage on the device. iPhone owners have had the check scanning feature since October of last year and they don't seem shy about using it. In a blog post today, Shimone Samuel, the Product Experience Manager for PayPal Mobile, says that iOS device owners have been scanning about a million dollars per month using the image capture feature with checks. I noticed some lengthy terms of service upon installation of the new PayPal app; notably that users are limited to $1,000 per day and $3,000 per month for check scans. After accepting the terms, I ran through a quick test by writing myself a quick check for $5; note that you can't write checks to "Cash" using the software.

Collaborate and Edit documents with Zoho, Store and Manage in Microsoft® SharePoint®. Zoho is onto something here. The video is well worth the watching. Anthony Ha of Venture Beat ahd this to say: "As online office software tries to move into big corporations, it's starting to work more closely with entrenched solutions - which often means technology built by Microsoft. In the latest example, Zoho just announced plans to offer its collaboration services as an add-on for SharePoint, Microsoft's server and software for collaboration and document management." "Basically, that means you can use Zoho Office as the interface for collaborative editing of documents, while the documents themselves sit safely on the SharePoint server, behind the corporate firewall. The add-on brings a more web-like interface to SharePoint; rather than having to check documents in and out as they work on them, multiple users can jump into a document and edit it at once, and also send instant messages back-and-forth within their application using Zoho Chat." "This is a smart way to get Zoho into companies that wouldn't consider making the full jump into online office applications, but want to experiment with these kinds of tools without sacrificing security or throwing away existing hardware. The financial investment is small, too - a 30-day trial period, followed by $2 per user per month if companies pay for a year, or $3 per user per month if companies pay by month."

Oliver has a short post concerning Google Wave and the new world the Wave will have wrought. Once section in particular caught my eye:
Two behemoths going after each others markets
..."Google apps, while a very popular tool for students, has never caught on in the enterprise due to security concerns, with a few exceptions - Microsoft Office is the default in cubicle land. Google search meanwhile is currently the global market leader, and is a popular enterprise solution in the form of internal appliances behind the firewall, while Microsoft's search and associated electronically stored information taxonomy and tagging has been famously weak."
"While these two giants slug it out for the others coveted market the playing field may well change significantly as the third big internet revolution unfolds. We've gone from Web 1.0, the read only static html website world to Web 2.0, the read-write, 'user generated content' web. The explosion in interconnectedness is at the expense of information fragmentation: the third web generation (Web 3.0?) is all about the meaning and context of data and information.
"Behaviorally suggested content; the personalized experience of a web that seems to know you and anticipates what you want is just around the corner...."

Recently the Rocketman and i have been arguing about webkit/Chromium DOM capabilities and limitations; like the failure to fully implement CSS3! Especially missing is support for CSS3 page layout / page break innovations. I realized that i didn't have a good understanding of browser DOM - client side issues, and came across this interesting post from Dave Ward concerning DOM and jQuery.
The core issue behind my discussions with the Rocketman have to do with creating a DOM view from OpenXML and ODF documents, and then passing that view to the webkit/Chromium engine. So we weren't all that interested in cross browser support or in how IE8 handles DOM-JavaScript. Dave Ward however not only provides a good discussion about DOM-JavaScript and the importance of jQuery as a force of interoperability, he also points out that Microsoft supports jQuery - including direct support within Visual Studio!
".....Though JavaScript itself is a great programming language, the document object model (DOM) can be a web developer's worst nightmare.  The DOM is a method through which browsers expose an interface allowing JavaScript code to manipulate elements, handle events, and perform other tasks related to a document within the browser.  While almost every browser implements an ECMA standard version of JavaScript, their DOM implementations are inconsistent and quirky at best.  In fact, if you've had bad experiences with client-side programming in the past, it's likely that the DOM was the true source of your frustrations, not JavaScript itself.  This is exactly the pain point which jQuery addresses....
..... "Officially supported by Microsoft - For many Microsoft developers, this official blessing is the clincher. Not only will Microsoft begin including jQuery with Visual Studio, but it is part of the default ASP.NET MVC project template. What's more, Microsoft Product Support Services has already begun offering support for jQuery."....

For most of this decade, web developers have been suffering the shortcomings of Internet Explorer. Like 1998 limited HTML-CSS support.  And nothing for the language of the Web - HTML+ :: HTML5, CSS3, SVG/Canvas and advanced JavaScript.  That hasn't bothered Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) too much, because the company has historically focused on developing "real" applications that run only on Windows and don't use the browser as a platform. With the new Office web apps, many thought that Microsoft might actually have to experience the living nightmare that web app development can be. Yet the company has figured out a way to make things easier: cheat.   MIcrosof thas figured out how to provide MSOffice as Web Apps, without having to use the language of the Web: HTML+.  Instead, they use protpietary formats, protocols and interfaces to create an interesting dichotomy - a rich MS-Web, and a poor, 1998 Open-Web.

Apple desktop and iPhone support of Microsoft Exchange is not support for Microsoft, as some think.  It's actually a strategy to erode Microsoft's desktop monopoly.  It's also part of a longer term plan to thwart Microsoft's hopes of leveraging their desktop monopoly into a Web Server monopoly. Excerpt: Apple is reducing its dependance upon Microsoft's client software, weakening Microsoft's ability to hold back and dumb down its Mac offerings at Apple's expense. More importantly, Apple is providing its users with additional options that benefit both Mac users and the open source community. In the software business, Microsoft has long known the importance of owning the client end. It worked hard to displace Netscape's web browser in the late 90s, not because there was any money to be made in giving away browser clients, but because it knew that whoever controlled the client could set up proprietary demands for a specific web server. That's what Netscape had worked to do as it gave away its web browser in hopes that it could make money selling Netscape web servers; Microsoft first took control of the client with Internet Explorer and then began tying its IE client to its own IIS on the server side with features that gave companies reasons to buy all of their server software from Microsoft. As Apple takes over the client end of Exchange, it similarly gains market leverage. First and foremost, the move allows Apple to improve the Exchange experience of Mac users so that business users have no reason not to buy Macs. Secondly, it gives Apple a client audience to market its own server solutions, including MobileMe to individual users and Snow Leopard Server to organizations. In concert with providing Exchange Server support, Apple is also delivering integrated support for its own Exchange alternatives in both MobileMe and with Snow Leopard Server's improved Dovecot email services, Address Book Server, iCal Server, the new Mobile Access secure gateway, and its include

Om Malik has an interesting commentary on Google Voice, the Android OS, and a new gVoice application for iPhones and Androids. For sure, new gVoice app meshes into the Andorid OS as if it were hard coded into the silicon. I left a lengthy comment in the discussion section describing my experiences with gVoice and what i see emerging as Google's Unified Productivity Platform. Of course, gWave, Chrome, Chrome OS, webkit-HTML+, and the sweep of Google Web applications and service come into play. Excerpt: Can Google be your phone company? The answer is yes. I came to that conclusion after I met with Vincent Paquet, co-founder of GrandCentral (a company acquired by Google) and now a member of the Google Voice team. Earlier today he stopped by our office to show the mobile app versions of its Google Voice service for Blackberry and Android. Google recently announced that it was going to make the Voice service widely available to users in the U.S. soon.

Haven't yet explored to see what's beneath the marketing hype. And I'm less than excited about the Skype with its NSA tendrils being the vehicle of audio translations of human languages. But given the progress in: [i] automated translations of human texts; [ii] audio screenreaders; and [iii] voice-to-text transcription, this is one we saw coming. Slap the three technologies together and wait until processing power catches up to what's needed to produce a marketable experience. After all, the StarTrek scriptwriters saw this coming too.   Ray Kurzweil, now at Google, should get a lot of the pioneer credit here. His revolutionary optical character recognition algorithms soon found themselves redeployed in text-to-speech synthesis and speech recognition technology. From Wikipedia: "Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flatbed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first commercial text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer Kurzweil K250 capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition." Not bad for a guy the same age as my younger brother. But Microsoft's announcement here may be more vaporware than hardware in production and lines of executable code. Microsoft has a long history of vaporware announcements to persuade potential customers to hold off on riding with the competition.  And the Softies undoubtedly know that Google's human language text translation capabilities are way out in front and that the voice to text and text to speech API methods have already found a comfortable home in Android and Chromebook. What does Microsoft have that's ready to ship if anything? I'll check it out tomorrow.