TechVirtuoso

Google stripping support for H.264 video out of Chrome

January 11th, 2011 at 6:31 PM  576 Comments

In a surprise announcement on the Chromium Blog today, Google announced that they would be phasing out H.264 support from the Google Chrome web browser, in favor of the open sourced WebM standard. The announcement further muddies the waters of HTML5 video support.

To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 <video> support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.

What is unclear is how Google can on one hand say that their goal is to enable open innovation, and yet still justify bundling the proprietary Adobe Flash plugin with Chrome.

The biggest supporter of H.264 in HTML5 video comes from Apple, which uses it in Safari, specifically on the iPhone, iPad and other iOS platform devices. Because Steve Jobs doesn’t like to run Flash unless he’s had a few drinks first, and even then only with protection, there is no Flash support on any iOS device. If WebM were to take off, Apple would need to act to incorporate support or leave millions of iOS users unable to load most web video sites.

However, the chances of a clear winner emerging from all of this is unlikely.

Prior to this announcement, Chrome had the unique distinction of being the only major browser to support both technologies. Firefox has never supported H.264 and will not in the next version, but Internet Explorer 9 which will be released sometime in 2011, does. Currently the only other mainstream browser that supports WebM is Opera, but Firefox 4 will enable support for that technology after it is released. Safari provides no support for WebM, nor does any current or future version of Internet Explorer.

Factor in Ogg Theora, and you have a codec that is almost universally supported by Firefox, Chrome and Opera… just not Internet Explorer or Safari.

Confused? Yeah, us too.

The reasoning for all of this comes down to licensing, something most end users don’t care about. We’re generally just happy when technology works as advertised. But Google doesn’t want to pay anyone for anything they don’t have to, and supporting WebM means not paying as much money or being bound to a restrictive license agreement.

Chrome used to be the browser that would play any of the three major HTML 5 video formats. Going forward from today, it has voluntarily neutered itself.

Apple discontinuing their Xserve lineup

November 5th, 2010 at 8:57 AM  236 Comments

Adding a bit of uncertainty to what exactly Apple is doing up in North Carolina with two (maybe three) datacenters, it’s now public on the Apple website that after January 31, 2011, you’ll no longer be able to purchase an Apple Xserve.

Maybe it’s because of the datacenters, that Apple cannot keep their own internal systems online and still sell the servers at retail? Doubtful. Apple is suggesting administrators transition over to either Mac Mini or Mac Pro based servers. Neither of which are particularly rack mount friendly.

It’s just hard to imagine Apple doing any sort of massive datacenter project and fill it with such inefficiently designed server systems, yet it’s equally hard to see an Apple datacenter with Dell or HP systems. I’m sure they have something interesting up their sleeves and maybe will be releasing a new server lineup down the road.

Microsoft admits iPad cutting into netbook sales

November 4th, 2010 at 12:16 PM  323 Comments

Does this really shock anyone?

Nick Eaton over at Seattle PI got Windows product manager Gavriella Schuster on record as saying that that the iPad is cutting into netbook sales:

“These are definitely getting cannibalized,” she said. “These are really a second device. But they are getting cannibalized.”

As they should. Netbooks, for the most part, have sucked. Under powered, small screens, stripped down Linux OS or Windows XP. Compared to the iPad or other tablets for similar price, who wouldn’t make that decision in favor of the iPad?

Apple dominates global tablet market

November 2nd, 2010 at 3:01 PM  211 Comments

Tablets are nothing new, Microsoft has had them around for years. But despite their best efforts they were nothing more than laptops with screens you could write on with an ugly stylus. They were reserved for business, hospitals and education. The battery life was horrible. They weren’t something your grandma could pickup and figure out how to use. They weren’t sexy.

Enter the iPad.

The iPad is everything Windows tablets were not. Designed for consumers, no stylus required, with an awesome battery. And being mostly glass and aluminium it sets the definition of sexy in the tablet space.

And as such, it has done what Windows tablets have failed for nearly a decade to do. Sell.

Apple now, just six months after launching, dominates the market according to research firm Strategy Analytics. At 95% Apple is now the monster to beat. Best of luck to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the BlackBerry PlayBook, and the HP Slate (in either Windows 7 or WebOS flavors) — you’ve got your work cut out for you.

via Computer World

Sophos releases full featured Mac OS anti virus for home users

November 2nd, 2010 at 11:49 AM  130 Comments

We’ve covered this before: the need for Mac users to secure their systems with a proper antivirus. But unlike the Windows space, there are not many/any really good, small footprint AV clients that are free. Until now.

Sophos has released a free client for Mac, based on their popular business product, which you can download from their website.

“While most businesses recognise the importance of protecting their Mac computers from malware threats, most home users do not,” said Chris Kraft, product management vice president at Sophos. “By offering free industrial-strength security to home users, we aim to protect Mac users against today’s and tomorrow’s Mac threats. Everyone knows that Macs are beautiful computers – Sophos wants to lend a hand to keep them that way.”

iOS 4.2 is golden, should be released in the next week

November 1st, 2010 at 7:02 PM  182 Comments

Apple has posted the gold master version of the iOS 4.2 firmware to the Apple developers website.

With this release, the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch will all be unified under one code base and have more feature parity. However the most important part of this release is that the iPad will gain the much coveted mutlitasking abilities that have been present in the iOS firmware since version 4.0 on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

As Engadget points out:

if you’ve got a friend with an iPhone Developer Program subscription, now would be a greattime to get cozy

Indeed. Typically the gold master will run on any device, not just ones which are registered to a developer account. Also, the gold master is typically released to the public within a week or so of hitting developers, so expect this to be finalized very soon. Apple promised 4.2 would be out in November and they seem on track to deliver.

And just in time for me to buy an iPad this week.

Will Bill Gates pull a Steve Jobs?

November 1st, 2010 at 12:50 PM  147 Comments

If you’re an Apple fanboy you already think Microsoft just rips off Apple’s ideas. However, David Milman at ComputerWorld has asked if it’s time for Bill Gates to pull a Steve Jobs and make a return to Microsoft?

Now granted, the departure of these two tech giants from their creations were under very different circumstances. Jobs was all but thrown out on the streets of Cupertino left to wander the scorched Earth through NeXT and Pixar. Meanwhile Gates stepped down from power at Microsoft leaving Steve Ballmer as CEO and later Ray Ozzie as CSA. Gates now spends his time unleashing mosquitoes on the unsuspecting public and convincing other super billionaires like Warren Buffett to give away their money.

And like when Jobs was removed from Apple, Microsoft has been on a decline since the departure of Gates. It’s stock has declined, it’s products have lost some of their edge (although a lot of that has changed with Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7) and their focus.

Some would argue that Ballmer should have lost his job after the failure of Windows Vista. I’m inclined to fall into that camp. But is Gates the best person for that job, again? Does Microsoft need fresh blood or does it just need its old blood back? We want to hear your thoughts.

Apple has no plans for USB 3 anytime soon

October 31st, 2010 at 12:37 PM  154 Comments

Given the fact that Apple is still putting 3+ year old processor technology in their newest notebooks it should come as no surprise to anyone that they have no plans to incorporate USB 3 support into their products at this time.

In one of his famous email replies, Steve Jobs had this to say about it:

We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel, for example.

Catch 22, they don’t see it taking off, yet they’re not doing anything to help it along.

While it leaves the door open for future implementation, it does seem to put some blame on Intel. It’s true, that Intel doesn’t support USB 3 in their native chipsets. However, it should be pointed out that their friends over at AMD… do.

via 9to5mac

White iPhone fun for your Sunday morning

October 31st, 2010 at 11:20 AM  Comments Off

If you’re still waiting on the release of the iPhone 4 in white, you better check out this video from *cough* “Apple”.

Warning: If you’re working on a Sunday, don’t crank the volume on this one up too high if your boss doesn’t have a sense of humor.

VMWare developing View client for iPad

October 30th, 2010 at 7:30 PM  182 Comments

Proof that the iPad is gaining traction in the enterprise, VMWare is hard at work developing a native version of their View client for the iPad. This will allow users to connect back to a virtual desktop infrastructure through PC over IP, which is the standard connector as of View 4.0.

While the client is only in the internal alpha stages, it will already have competition from a firmly entrenched app from Wyse called PocketCloud. Wyse’s app has been out nearly two years and is fully function on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Wyse’s product, in addition to speaking native to the View infrastructure also can be RDP or VNC back to another non-View or even non-virtual device. They have also ported the PocketCloud app to Android.

Both of these apps are driving mobile devices into a thin client space which I’ve always found exciting.

(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Copyright © 2009-2011 TechVirtuoso, LLC. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.