Hasta La Gadget!

The jury is still out on whether Chromebooks will sell like hotcakes (we’re guessing not), but no matter to Mozilla. The organization behind Firefox has plans to develop its own operating system for mobile devices — a clear shot across the bow at Google’s browser-based Chrome OS. In a page on Mozilla’s own wiki, a handful of senior developers announced their intentions to create a “complete, standalone operating system for the open web” running HTML5 apps. The OS, codenamed “Boot to Gecko,” will be designed with tablets and handsets in mind, says Mike Shaver, the foundation’s VP of technical strategy. And here’s the fascinating part: the OS will rely on Google’s own Android drivers and kernel to boot the device. In a Google Groups discussion thread, the lead devs said they chose Android over a Linux stack since so many device makers have focused their efforts on Android, and it makes sense to “reuse its lower layers.” Still, they insist that they otherwise intend to borrow from it as little as possible. Obviously, don’t hold your breath for Firebooks, as the project’s very much in its infancy, but in the meantime there’s some mighty interesting conversation happening in that discussion thread about Mozilla’s lofty end game: breaking “the stranglehold of proprietary devices over the mobile device world.”

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Mozilla planning a Chrome OS-like operating system for phones and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, Pandora announced that it would finally be dropping its longtime support for Flash in favor of HTML5. The move is one piece of a big redesign for the site, one which will begin rolling out to Pandora One (the $36 / year premium version) subscribers in pieces, as part of a limited testing period before being made available to the service’s entire massive user base.

The timing could have been more ideal, of course. A day after the announcement, Spotify quickly grabbed the attention of those following the online music industry by formally launching in the US. It’s important to note right off the bat, however, that these two services are not really direct competitors, in spite of how some might spin it. Spotify is an all-you-can eat subscription service, making it more akin to the likes of a Rhapsody and Napster. Pandora, on the other hand, is built largely around passive music discovery. You log-in, you enter an artist, and you let the music come to you. This redesign takes that ease of use to a whole new level. Check out our impressions below.

Continue reading Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on

Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Adobe has lost yet another ally to the silky smooth allure of HTML5. Internet radio service Pandora has traded in the once ubiquitous Flash for the increasingly adopted web standard, citing, among other things, the ability to lop precious seconds off the site’s load time. The upgrade is part of a major redesign for the service, said to have been inspired by the company’s own iPad app. The old features are largely intact, but many, like Twitter and Facebook integration, have been revamped. The update will be rolled out to Pandora One subscribers soon, in something of a limited testing mode, with other users following later. Those with browsers that aren’t fully HTML5-friendly will still be able to access Flash features as backup.

Pandora ditches Flash, opens up the HTML5 box for redesign originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we wait (rather impatiently, we might add) for Mango to make its official debut others are still playing with test builds, pouring over code, and digging up interesting tidbits about Microsoft’s mobile OS update. That WP7 will be getting improved HTML5 support is nothing new but, that it will specifically support in-browser audio and continue to stream even if you navigate away from the browser or lock the screen, is music (literally) to our ears. Snippets discovered in a recent Mango dump have also turned up mentions of Xbox Live Voice chat, parties, multiplayer gaming, and tighter integration with the 360 for pushing Live content to your big screen. If you hit the WPSauce source link you’ll find a whole host of other fascinating things in the WP7 code, and some details about just how deeply Facebook will be tied to the OS. But, before you go, check out the video of the HTML5 audio support in action after the break.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Continue reading More Mango features uncovered: in-browser audio streams, Xbox Live voice chats, and more (video)

More Mango features uncovered: in-browser audio streams, Xbox Live voice chats, and more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do not be alarmed, your Netflix.com experience has been updated today “with a new look and feel to make it easier for you to find something to watch instantly.” While the header introduced late last year remains and sticks on screen as you scroll vertically, box art of queued movies fills the screen horizontally. The redesign takes significant cues from the HTML5 UIs recently rolled out to most streaming devices, but it’s not clear if this related to some of the queue shuffling we’ve been seeing recently. Responses on the Netflix blog have been mostly negative, although just like Facebook and Twitter revamps some complaints about any change are normal.

That said, we’re not fans either because it still requires an additional click to find out if a movie is in HD or has subtitles, a misdirected click starts playing the wrong movie too easily and selecting “your queue” still takes us to our discs first instead of Watch Instantly. If the new front page isn’t working there’s always alternatives in Netflix queue managers like InstantWatcher.com and FeedFliks, or any number of mobile apps. Let us know if you’ll be riding with the redesign or hitting the back button in the comments here.

Netflix.com’s new look is focused on streaming, cribs UI elements from connected TV apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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