Hasta La Gadget!

A fast smartphone will only go so far toward improving browser load times if the connection isn’t there to back it up. If a discovery within a recent build of Chrome for Android is any hint, Google may have its own solution to that bottleneck. New code flags reference Google-run proxy servers that would squeeze pages using SPDY, improving performance at least slightly for the bandwidth-deprived. While there’s not much more to go on, the finding is enough to suggest that roughly equivalent boosters like Amazon Silk and Opera Turbo could have a real fight on their hands. We’d advise caution when the flags are only accessible by running an ADB command — they’re clearly not ready for prime time. Should Google flick the switch on compression for Chrome’s main release track, though, Android users may not need a third-party browser to sip the web through a thin straw.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Google

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Via: François Beaufort (Google+)

Source: Chromium.org

Google’s SPDY protocol is already gaining traction among web browsing heavyweights such as Chrome and Firefox, but its next step may be its biggest showing to date — albeit in a different form. According to Mark Nottingham, the chairperson of the committee behind the HTTP protocol, a decision was made to focus on SPDY as the starting point for HTTP/2.0 discussion. Now, in case you couldn’t tell, this is far from a sure thing, and as is, the HTTPBIS Working Group is currently targeting 2014 for the new specification’s release. The decision is important, however, as the group seems intent to not reinvent the wheel with HTTP/2.0.

While Nottingham made it clear that SPDY wouldn’t serve as an outright replacement for HTTP — for example, the “methods, status codes, and most of the headers” will remain the same — there’s now a high likelihood that SPDY will heavily influence the new protocol. Up next, Nottingham will open the discussion to the group’s mailing list, and after that, approval will be sought from the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Once those steps are out of the way, however, we can expect work to begin in earnest toward the development of HTTP/2.0, and hopefully, a lot of speedy influences.

Filed under: Internet

HTTP standards group looks to SPDY protocol to influence HTTP/2.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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