Hasta La Gadget!

Dead tree product catalogs — dated. Fortunate, then, at least for Mother Earth, that Microsoft’s unveiled the results of its team-up with retail-focused search engine TheFind, several web-based Glimpse catalogs, offering the visual pizazz of a retail magazine without the carbon hangover. Injecting Redmond’s HTML5 know-how into the shopping hub’s catalog and social apps, it distills those functions into the single site. Stores including Brooks Brothers and Lands’ End have already offered up their collections in the web store, but Techcrunch reckons the venture needs a little more work. The images appear to be little too compressed and blurred in the new format, while the detail view directs users to social network sharing rather than a product’s description. But with Microsoft already offering the HTML5 juice that powers the online app for free, someone else might improve on the company’s groundwork.

Continue reading Microsoft teams up with shopping search engine for HTML5 digital catalogs

Filed under: Internet

Microsoft teams up with shopping search engine for HTML5 digital catalogs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may have noticed Google’s forecast feature on your HTML5-capable smartphone browser — simply typing “weather” into the search field brings up a basic real-time temperature tool, complete with hourly and five-day forecasts for your current location. That feature has been around in one form or another since the beginning of last year, but as of this week, it’s made its way to tablets, too. Web weather is entirely browser based, and you can bring it up in just the same way as on a smartphone — confirm that your GPS is enabled, then head to Google.com and type “weather” — you’ll be rewarded with a 10-day forecast, complete with temp, precipitation, humidity and wind speed readouts. The tool is interactive, so while you may only be able to view a few days of weather at once, you can simply slide along the timeline to see more. The same applies to the hourly forecast as well. There’s nothing to download or subscribe to for this one, and it’s available right now at Google.com.

James Trew contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Internet, Software

Google adds browser-based weather feature to tablets with temperature, wind and precipitation originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More than a few N9 aficionados felt their hearts sink when important MeeGo team members left Nokia this week, putting the fate of the entire swipe-friendly platform in doubt. Recently-founded Jolla was clearly watching, as it confirmed just in the nick of time that it’s planning to carry the torch further. The Finnish startup, which includes important members of the N9 team as well as veterans of the unofficial MeeGo community, not only plans to iterate on MeeGo but to build its very own smartphone with that foundation. Those attached to Nokia’s interpretation of MeeGo will have to adapt to a few changes: Jolla’s work is based on the related, partly HTML5-driven Mer Project and will have a “brand new UI” to go with the new hardware. It won’t be a literal N10 as a result, but we’ll find out just what direction Jolla is taking soon — it’s been working on the phone since late 2011 with plans to show its work later this year. As long as some of the N9’s spirit carries forward, we have a hunch that a lot of fans won’t mind the absence of a Nokia badge.

Continue reading Jolla promises MeeGo will live on, plans new smartphone to reward the faithful

Jolla promises MeeGo will live on, plans new smartphone to reward the faithful originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With now over 45 million users, while you may not use Line yourself, someone you know (or at least someone they know) probably does. The Asia-centric Skype rival has decided to roll-out some extra functionality and is looking to go a few rounds with even bigger competition. ‘Home’ offers up a base for sharing photos and other content, as well as your own status updates, while the ‘timeline’ feature will throw together a familiar-sounding chronological breakdown of your latest adventures to show your friends, adding in the ability to comment on each other’s posts. Its ‘Line channel’ sounds even more nebulous and aims to use the existing app as a foundation for integrating and linking to yet more programs and services. The screenshots hint at camera, gaming and (yes) horoscope integration, while Line is gearing up for both HTML5 and native applications. Hit up the company’s notions on a heavily connected messaging service in two servings of press release, right after the break.

Continue reading Line messaging and VoIP app adds ‘timeline’ and ‘home’ features, throws in new platform for app integration

Line messaging and VoIP app adds ‘timeline’ and ‘home’ features, throws in new platform for app integration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First there was skydiving Google Glass; now Google IO has brought us Cirque du Soleil in the browser. The famous acrobatics company took the IO stage to show how they’d used web technologies to put motion-tracking dance and interaction into Chrome. The webcam of a Chromebook was used to follow the movements of the user, all rendered in smooth 3D; even more impressive, it all worked in the browser on a tablet, too.

In the case of the tablet – which used an iPad for the IO demo – the accelerometer was used to navigate through the 3D environment, with a virtual acrobat filling the screen.

Cirque du Soleil’s sytem uses a combination of HTML, web video and markup to create “virtual set pieces” using CSS. The end result is hugely scalable and easily edited, the group said, and will be featured on the troupe’s site.

Of course, not everyone is interested in being a virtual acrobat, but Google is pushing the interactive web technologies as ideal for any developer looking to make more of their site. Earlier today, the company confirmed that Chrome has 310m active users.

Cirque du Soleil demos motion-tracking virtual acrobats in your browser is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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