Hasta La Gadget!

The World Wide Web Consortium might just be the United Nations of web development, as it’s bringing together some frequent enemies to fight for a common cause through WebPlatform.org. The collaboration will see Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia and Opera pool educational resources to create a comprehensive, frequently updated guide to creating HTML5 and other content for the open web. The companies’ instructional oversight is just the start, however — visitors will have chats and forums to devise their own solutions, and they’ll even have a better than usual chance at influencing mid-development web standards. It may be some time before we’ll see the first fruits of the organization’s work, but we’re already happy to see technology companies set aside some of their differences.

Continue reading W3C teams with Apple, Google, Mozilla on WebPlatform, a guide to building the open web (video)

Filed under: Internet, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Google, HP, Facebook

W3C teams with Apple, Google, Mozilla on WebPlatform, a guide to building the open web (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 03:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just last week, we talked about how Firefox on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system is going to look awesome, and here we are with the Mozilla Firefox 18 for Metro preview being released to the masses. This version of Firefox will run on x86 Windows 8, whether you want to do so in the classic Windows environment or in the new ‘Metro’ environment, that does not really matter for the browser. Folks who run the 64-bit RTM release of Windows 8 are able to download a nightly build of Mozilla Firefox from the Elm development branch, where it currently has taken up residence in the experimental repository where majority of the other ‘Metro’ development work has happened.

Similar in nature to the Firefox Nightly channel, this particular repository churns out nightly builds. Not only that, the builds will be self-updating, as it provides a means for you to track Metro Firefox development. If you are interested in previewing the browser, it will comprise of (but not limited to) a new Metro-style Firefox Start page, Metro touch and swipe gestures, support for Firefox sync, integration with Windows 8 ‘charms’ and the Australis interface. Mozilla has boldly promised to deliver additional features in the coming weeks and months such as tightened up Windows integration, improved performance and responsiveness so that users are able to experience ‘a first class Firefox experience for Windows 8’.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mozilla Firefox Metro UI development for Windows 8 begins, Mozilla announces Firefox for Metro,

We know that by using one login name and one password for all your accounts is just a great way of letting hackers gain access to all your accounts in one fell swoop, but Mozilla thinks otherwise and has launched the official beta of Persona, the company’s identity management system. Basically what it does is that instead of having websites authenticate the user, the authentication will be based on a decentralized system and by choosing one password, you will have the option of logging in to multiple websites.

In a way it’s kind of like how by signing into your Google account, you can access your mail, calendar, Google+ account and etc., although in Persona’s case it will let you log into different websites that aren’t necessarily owned by the same entity. Of course websites will need to support Persona and so far Mozilla has listed The Times Crossword, OpenPhoto and Voost as some of the sites who currently support Persona logins. It sounds like a pretty convenient solution, although we’d hate to think of the mess and chaos that will ensue if hackers gain access to user passwords, but if you don’t mind giving the beta try, head on over to Mozilla’s website for the details.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: ZTE has plans for Mozilla phone launch in early 2013, New JavaScript technology will speed up Firefox 18,

Google’s Android smartphone OS is facing a lot of challengers in the low-cost smartphone segment, from Huawei, ZTE, Samsung and Nokia at the vendor end to Mozilla coming from its position in browser software. But for the short term it appears that there is little for Android to worry about from any single contender. Research out today from Strategy Analytics notes that one of these, Firefox OS, Mozilla’s mobile effort, will only sit on 1% of all global smartphone shipments in 2013, versus 67% for Android, and it could take up to two years for it to turn that around.

To be fair, Firefox has made some headway with carriers and OEMs with its low-cost focused smartphone OS — those that backed the company’s mobile OS efforts in July include Telefonica, Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and ZTE. The low-cost, sub-$100 device smartphone segment is a growing one, with Deloitte projecting there will be 500 million of these sold this year alone.

But that growth, for now, is a story with Android as the protagonist. Strategy Analytics says Firefox OS will continue to remain “niche” because of low brand awareness, a limited retail presence (especially in the U.S.) and an ecosystem of developers that is still too small, says the analyst group, challenges that will also give it problems growing market share in tablets, too — an area where it also hopes to make some headway against the iPad but also lower-cost Android-based tablets.

The first handsets built on Firefox OS are expected to come out in the first half of 2013. They will be targeting the low-cost smartphone segment rather than doing battle at the higher end with Apple and Samsung’s Galaxy line. That is an area that up to now has been largely dominated by Android, with phones costing as little as $100 or less without any subsidies. Among other challenges, Nokia is trying to take its still-strong position in the feature phone market and leverage it better in the smartphone segment, where it has been struggling for years.

Firefox OS, like Android, is open-source and rather than looking at creating a native ecosystem it is putting its eggs into the HTML5 mobile web basket. But is coming into the low-cost market at a time when Google has cornered it in just about every region. “Overcoming Android will not be an easy task,” says Neil Mawston, analyst with Strategy Analytics.

But he also points out that this doesn’t mean Firefox is doomed — just that Mozilla and its partners will need to remain patient to see whether it takes off. “It took Android just two years from commercial launch to overtake Symbian and go from new entrant to established global leader, so things can change extremely fast in the smartphone industry,” Mawston told TechCrunch. Android launched commercially in Q4 2008 and was number-1 by Q4 2010, according to SA’s calculations.

And the challenges are not exclusive to Firefox OS. “At the moment, none of the emerging smartphone platforms, such as Firefox and Tizen, has the hardware, software and services capabilities to match Android or Apple,” he continues.

But as the smartphone market continues to grow, it will see further price pressure, especially from developing markets full of first-time smartphone buyers. That presents a  chance for growth. “[Firefox and Tizen] are cost-competitive and this gives them an opportunity to make some gains among price-sensitive mass-market consumers in the early phases of their strategies.”

Still, he notes that new platforms like Firefox OS and Tizen are “Android challengers rather than Android killers at this stage.”

We did see a quad-core powered ZTE Grand Era U985 smartphone late yesterday evening, but that smartphone does seem to be headed only for China. The thing is, ZTE seems to be pursuing after a larger market share in the smartphone industry, with word that there are solid plans to roll out a Mozilla phone sometime early next year, at least according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal claims that ZTE is in cahoots with Mozilla so that they will be able to better diversify their product range and not rely too much on Android and Windows Phone as their mobile operating system crutches. Apparently, ZTE is in partnership with “a regional telecom carrier outside of China”, which is not too surprising considering how Mozilla did announce their fair share of tie-ins with Telefonica and Sprint when you roll the clock back.

The Mozilla phone OS will most probably run an HTML-based platform, although it should not compromise on performance in order to keep up with the rest of the mobile operating system pack. What do you think a Mozilla-powered smartphone should pack?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: ZTE Grand Era U985 smartphone has quad-core processor, bound for China debut, ZTE Windows Phone 7.8 and Windows Phone 8 range teased,