Author Archives: Ben Truyman
Google releases “Swiffy” tool to convert Flash SWF files into HTML5
In their quest to push more standards-based technologies like HTML5, Google has released a new tool that will convert certain Flash SWF files into “HTML5” (more specifically, SVG and JavaScript). Playing off the common pronunciation of the acronym SWF, they’ve called the tool “Swiffy”.
It’s a very interesting project but, due to what I would assume are some technology restrictions, the tool can only be used on older SWF 8 files using Actionscript 2.0. Most Flash projects built in the past few years are likely to be SWF 9 or 10 using Actionscript 3.0 — so don’t expect to convert that fullscreen Flash site using this tool. However, I can see some obvious uses to convert some Flash-created banner ads as they’re generally very simple and likely trivial to convert using this tool.
A couple of months ago I mentioned Adobe’s Wallaby project which is also an attempt to turn Flash projects into HTML and JavaScript. It has a wider range of capabilities and will probably be of more use to more developers — where Swiffy is more useful for simple conversions.
Windows 8 — Powered by HTML5
Microsoft hasn’t always been known for their great support of web standards like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. But their recent efforts with Internet Explorer are a clear indication that Microsoft intends to get back in the browser game (some would argue they already have). While Microsoft may have a long road ahead before catching up to the likes of Mozilla’s Firefox or Google’s Chrome in terms of support for web standards, they’ve shown a clear dedication to improve their browser to support new technologies such as HTML5.
HTML5 has proved itself to be a powerful platform to create rich, dynamic and cross-platform applications, without all the overhead traditional desktop applications typically bring. Google’s embraced the technology with their Chrome OS platform and Apple has (to some degree) on their iOS devices. In an unexpected move, Microsoft demoed the next version of their operating system (codenamed Windows 8 ) with native applications created using HTML5 technologies. Read More
We all know that April showers bring May flowers — there were certainly a few storms up in “The Cloud” last month. Cloud services going down, sites taken offline and data is being stolen. Let’s hope May brings those flowers it promised.
Amazon’s EC2 and RDS Services Go Down — Takes Netflix, Foursquare and Reddit With It
On top of books, furniture and Kindles, Amazon also sells a comprehensive suite Web Services used by a number of big players along with thousands of smaller ones. These web services are often used by developers and application maintainers to help alleviate some of the struggles often encountered when trying to “scale up” their web apps by deploying them to Amazon’s “cloud”. Well two of those services (EC2 and RDS) went down on April 21st, and they went down hard.
The outage took out sites like Netflix, Foursquare and Reddit for several hours (and some cases even days). Blame’s been placed on developers improperly using Amazon’s Web Services since sites like Twilio were unaffected, others say the customers shouldn’t be blamed. Either way, it’s clear both Amazon and website owners learned a lot this past month.
Adobe Releases New Flash-To-HTML5 Converter Called “Wallaby”
Adobe is stepping further into the HTML5 arena. Whether it’s pressure from Apple or the progressive movement towards standards-based technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript — it’s clear that Adobe’s heard loud and clear that developers need tools to create rich content without the requirement of their Flash plugin. Personally, while I see less and less value in most Flash-produced content, I’m rooting for Adobe to create a rich toolset that for producing rich content in all forms for the web.
QR Codes Are So 2010 — 2011 Is All About The NFC
In 2011, NFC has nothing to do with football — although you might be able to buy the next game’s tickets by swiping your cell phone at the ticket booth. NFC stands for Near-Field Communication, and it’s coming to a mobile platform near you. Near-Field Communications is a method for transferring bits of data over short distances. One popular use (already very prevalent in Japan as Mashable mentions) is mobile payments. A number of big players like Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft are already rumored to bring support for NFC-based technology to their existing platforms. Time will tell as to whether or not we’ll be able to replace our wallets with our phones.
Read More
Continuing our monthly tech trends feature, here are a few of the stories on my mind this February.
HTML is the new HTML5
We’re all aware of the buzz around HTML5 and its offerings on the modern web. However, that buzz is getting a new name: HTML. That’s right, it’s just called HTML according to Ian Hickson (editor of the spec formerly known as HTML5). What does this mean? The HTML specification will become a “living document” — that is, constantly evolving, just like browsers do. It makes sense.
IP Addresses Are A Changin’
IP addresses are the Internet’s phone numbers — and these numbers are running out. In fact, researchers believe that by the end of 2011 we will run out of IPv4 addresses. But there’s a solution: IPv6. Imagine adding an area code to your IP addresses, except that area code is 96 characters long and not just numbers — that’s IPv6. However, hardware and software updates need to be made by both servers and clients to support this new and necessary standard. A number of big shots have pledged to participate in “World IPv6 Day”.
Ad Tracking Opt-out
Browser manufacturers are beginning to implement their own solutions for allowing users to disallow Internet advertising companies from tracking users. Even Google! Other proposed solutions involve a “Do Not Track” header sent from the browser, telling the website’s server to respect the user’s privacy by not tracking them. No legislation is currently enforcing this privacy, nor has any of these solutions been standardized — but experimentation is beginning and it will be interesting to see what shakes out.
Hello World! I welcome you to the first installment of the new Tuesday Tech Trends feature–a monthly gathering of some of the most talked and tweeted-about tech stories. From HTML5 to emerging mobile technologies, you can expect to find it here (sprinkled with a little personal commentary here and there).
Title Junk
Page titles play a large factor in a site’s SEO performance — so it’s important to make sure all relevant keywords make it in there. In this post, however, John Gruber talks about how we often abuse the ever-important <title> tag. Whether it be unnecessary decorative symbols or keyword stuffing, Gruber provides a number of examples, from Fox News to CNN, of poorly constructed page titles and how it makes them inaccessible in search results, mobile devices, and bookmarks.
A Sneak Peek at Android 3.0, Honeycomb
Google gives us a peak into the next version of Android, Honeycomb. Android 3.0 is the first release of Google’s mobile operating system designed for tablet devices. It’s a preview of what is likely to be the most widely used mobile platform of 2011. This is one to keep an eye out on. The iPad might be hot right now, but just wait until tablet manufacturers get ahold of Google’s latest creation.
