Google Dumps Gears for HTML5

If you believe in open sourced systems that are extensible and leverage the content of a non-proprietary internet then this announcement is in some ways a short term setback but in the long run everyone, consumers and developers, are going to be so much better off. Bring on HTML5. We can't wait!

As one Google rep told the L.A. Times, "We are excited that much of the technology in Gears, including offline support and geolocation APIs, are being incorporated into the HTML5 spec as an open standard supported across browsers, and see that as the logical next step for developers looking to include these features in their websites."

Believe us Google, no one is looking forward to the cross-browser, cross-OS implementation of HTML5 as much as we are."

via Google Dumps Gears for HTML5.

What does HTML5 mean to digital signage?

HTML5 and The Future of the Web - Smashing Magazine Great overview of HTML5 for the lay person - namely me!

Definitely helped me understand the leverage that HTML5 will bring to digital signage. Very exciting. Despite spotty browser support for HTML5 today it is pretty clear that it is strategic to Google and if it enables their apps it is pretty safe to say that Chrome and Chrome OS can be your preferred browser target of your HTML5 applications tomorrow.

Connected Consumers

Interesting survey by Razorfish

• 40% of respondents friend a brand on Facebook or MySpace
• 25% follow a brand on Twitter
• Why? Exclusive deals, current customer, or they are just interested or entertained
• 96% said that online experience influenced whether they bought or not
• And 56% of these connected consumers own a Smart Phone
• Overall they use readers, mobile apps, blog and create content

These are either the decision makers today are about to be in very short order. How are you reaching them?

Gartner interviews Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

Very interesting video. Highly recommend watching the whole thing. What struck me:

• Chrome OS will lower net book (display appliance?) costs by a factor of 5 or 10 within 1 year - "Can you be an early adopter?"
• "Wave is a message board on steroids
• The Internet will be Chinese within 5 years
• 5 years is a factor of 10 by Moores Law - computers 10 times more powerful than they are today within 5 years
• Within 5 years ubiquitous 100mb+ broadband everywhere - tv, video, radio - all will blur into one delivery mechanism
• Google builds platforms, not vertical applications
• We will not trap user data - "the data liberation front" - data comes in and out of the cloud without barriers
• Knocking down mobile application barriers and tying the mobile app to corporate data
• Twitter and Facebook - "rather not talk about it... watch the space" - implication being something unexpected will shake down
• HTML 5 supersedes Gears, HTML 5 is supported within powerful browsers - implication being Chrome
• User generated information will replace traditional sources

If the above is an inevitable trend, how do you surf it (it pushes you) rather than fall off the back of the wave?