technology

On Monday, Google made a big splash with a customized Arcade Fire video page that showed off all the cool things HTML5 can do, from video, animations and 3D rendering to gorgeous fonts and choreographed windows. It’s all cutting edge stuff as far as what is possible with a Web browser goes, but there is one very big problem. It doesn’t work so great in all browsers, even browsers that supposedly support HTML5. If you go to the landing page that launches the video in Firefox or even the forthcoming IE9 (which isn’t out yet, but is very HTML5-friendly), it detects your browser and suggests you use Chrome instead. I received the following message on Firefox:
This site was designed with Google Chrome in mind and is unable to render properly in your browser. For the best viewing experience, we recommend downloading Google Chrome and trying this site again.
But wait, isn’t Firefox one of those “modern browsers” that supports HTML5? This isn’t the first time there have been issues with HTML5 compatibility. The problem is that HTML5 is so young that the standards have not been hammered out yet across all browsers. The markup language required to produce the same effect is different for different browsers.
“The Arcade Fire thing . . . they are writing to the browser,” points out Dean Hachamovitch, the Microsoft general manager in charge of Internet Explorer. “They use proprietary Javascript.” HTML5 “done right,” he contends, would be using the same markup language across browsers. Seems reasonable. That is what the open Web is all about. It is why we have standards. But HTML5 is so new that we are getting flashbacks to the late 1990s with sites refusing to accept certain browsers.
To illustrate this point, Microsoft has an HTML5 test page set up that changes the border around a block of text. Inside the block of text, it shows the markup code required to create different effects such as animating it or creating dots instead of a solid line. Here is what the code looks like in Chrome:

And here is what it looks like in Firefox

What’s wrong with these pictures? One takes 16 lines of code, the other takes four, and they are completely different.  Even the dots that are created don’t match (Chrome’s dots are square).  A different set of HTML5 code is required for IE9.  ”We want to make the same markup work everywhere,” says Hachamovitch.  ”If you have to write that differently for every browser it is kind of missing the point.”
Microsoft is working with the standards bodies, as are all the other browser makers, but what is really needed is better definitions and a thorough set of reference examples for every possible HTML5 feature.  It’s a lot of work.  Eventually, we will get there. But until then, expect to see grandstanding about which browser does HTML5 better.  When you hear that, just ask yourself, which version of HTML5 are they talking about.
CrunchBase InformationGoogle ChromeWindows Internet ExplorerFirefoxInformation provided by CrunchBase

Perhaps you’ve heard that Apple and Facebook are having a little bit of an issue at the moment. Despite launching with Facebook Connect integration yesterday, it’s now nowhere to be seen on Apple’s new music social network, Ping. And that’s too bad because even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed up to try out Ping yesterday, we hear.
While Facebook Connect will no longer help you find Zuckerberg there, if you do a simple name search, there he is. Well actually, there he is twice. Hmm. Which one to choose?
One has 46 followers, says he’s into “Dance, Hip-hop/Rap”, and has no picture. The other has 74 followers, doesn’t list musical preferences, but has a picture. So it’s gotta be the second one, right?
Nope. As tempting as it is to think that Zuckerberg actually filled in his profile to say “It’s true, I invented Facebook,” this is a fake account. The one with no picture and less followers? That’s the real Zuck. He follows two people, Katy Perry and Bret Taylor. One of those is a famous pop singer, the other is Facebook’s CTO. I’ll let you sort that out.
Who cares? Well, it’s sort of interesting that anyone can create a fake account of someone else on Ping. Sure, you need an iTunes account, but there are undoubtedly many people who have no interest in using Ping and are happy to create fake accounts aplenty. As another example, here’s The Beatles. No, it’s not the group (iTunes doesn’t play nicely with them, remember?) — it’s someone who made their name “The” and “Beatles” and put an album cover picture in there.
These fake account could potentially lead to users who believe them getting tricked into making purchases that they think their idols recommend. Zuckerberg didn’t actually recommend Those Darlins, for example — Fake Zuckerberg did.
Seems like there’s an identification system that could potentially help with this. Oh yeah, Facebook Connect.

CrunchBase InformationFacebookiTunesInformation provided by CrunchBase

It's officially over. After Dell pulled out of the running this morning, HP has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire data storage company 3PAR, for $33 per share in cash, or a value of $2.35 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

This morning, HP upped the ante with an offer worth $33 per share or $2.4 billion. 3PAR accepted HP's bid and Dell withdrew.

It was only a matter of time before this app came out. The folks over at Hot or Not have launched a location-based free iPhone app that will show you the hottest ladies and gents that are close to you.
If you aren’t familiar with Hot or Not, the site allows you to rate pictures of girls or a guys (depending on your taste) on a scale of 1 to 10. It’s a mindless site and game which has managed to gather a fairly massive user base.
The app is fairly simple in what it does: it uses the iPhone’s built-in GPS technology to map out the hottest guys or girls registered on HotOrNot.com that are close to your location. Currently the site draws from a database of 4.8 million members.
Hot or Not says that the app received more than 2,000 sign-ups its first day in the App Store. Last year, the startup also launched Hot Or Not War, which we covered here. Hot Or Not was bought by Avid Life Media in 2008.

I feel like all I’ve written about the past few weeks is Facebook’s need for a new social dynamic. Specifically, I want Facebook to break their social graph into two: those people who you are friends with, and those who you follow — for sharing purposes. It seems that Facebook may be testing something like that out — well sort of, maybe.
Facebook appears to be testing out a new feature called “Subscribe.” A source who supposedly has it enabled, tells All Facebook that “by subscribing you don’t miss any updates from people you subscribe to.” While on the face of it, this would seem to be a lot like the idea of “follow” it’s not clear from that wording if you actually already need to be friends with a person in order to follow them.
In other words, this may just be another mechanism to ensure you see updates from people you really care about. But if that’s the case, this just adds more confusion to Facebook’s social graph because you can already create lists for that purpose. Though, as All Facebook points out, these update will apparently appear in the notifications drop down.
Instead, what I’m hoping is that this is a proper follow feature that allows you to see other users public updates even if you’re not subscribed to them. And vice versa, obviously. I would love to allow people to subscribe to stuff I share publicly (and have it appear in their stream), but have the option to still share stuff with my actual friends.
But still, maybe that is in the works as well. Baby steps are probably wise here for Facebook so their users don’t lose their minds and scream bloody murder — which will happen anyway.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment on this to try and get more clarity on the feature. They’re currently “looking into it.”
Update: Here’s Facebook’s comment:
This feature is being tested with a small percent of users. It lets people subscribe to friends and pages to receive notifications whenever the person they’ve subscribed to updates their status or posts new content (photos, videos, links, or notes).
“Friends” appears to be the keyword there — as in, this is still only for people you are connected with. But I’ve asked Facebook to clarify that further just to make sure.

As we pointed out earlier, today is Google Chrome’s second birthday. Since it launched in beta on September 2, 2008, it has come a long way (it’s already 6 versions deep). Back then, it was Windows-only, with official Mac and Linux support only coming late last year. But now it’s on the verge of another milestone: becoming the top browser coming to this site.
I’ve checked out our logs over the past few years to see how well Chrome has been doing compared to its rival browsers. The numbers are shockingly strong for such a new entry — particularly in the past year. Obviously, TechCrunch has a tech-centric audience, but I don’t think it’s off-base to say that you’re also a leading audience of early adopters that often point to where the general public will be in the future.
The numbers are clear: Firefox is in trouble. It has been the top browser since we began using Google Analytics to record stats back in 2007. By 2008, it was nearly 25 percentage points ahead of the next closest rival, Internet Explorer. As of yesterday, it stood just 3 percentage points ahead of the next closest rival, Chrome.
Here are the numbers. In August 2010 (the month that just ended):

Firefox: 33.98%
Chrome: 26.22%
Safari: 18.40%
IE: 13.23%
Mozilla Compatible Agent: 5.46%

One year ago, in August 2009 (right before Chrome’s first birthday), the numbers looked like this:

Firefox: 45.91%
IE: 20.61%
Safari: 18.85%
Chrome: 10.09%
Mozilla Compatible Anent: 1.83%

Two years ago, in August 2008 (right before Chrome launched), the numbers looked like this:

Firefox: 55.63%
IE: 31.21%
Safari 9.76%
Opera: 2.23%
Mozilla: 0.62%

By September 2008, the month Chrome launched in beta, it had an immediate impact. But remember, it was Windows-only at the time:

Firefox: 52.36%
IE: 28.55%
Safari: 9.18%
Chrome: 6.58%
Opera: 2.05%

And just for fun, let’s go back three full years, to August 2007.

Firefox: 48.81%
IE: 40.61%
Safari: 6.59%
Opera: 2.29%
Mozilla: 0.72%

Chrome has clearly taken a bite out of Firefox, IE, and even Opera’s already small share. Safari is up big over the past couple of years as well, but its growth has seemingly stalled over the past year — despite iPad browser usage (in terms of visits to TechCrunch) exploding.
Of course, overall traffic to TechCrunch is also way up over these past few years. It just appears that more and more people who are visiting are now doing so via Chrome.
Let’s look at the numbers from yesterday:

Firefox: 34.68%
Chrome: 31.09%
Safari: 15.65%
IE: 12.77%
Mozilla Compatible Agent: 3.48%

Yes, it’s just a matter of time before Chrome is on top.
As a humorous aside, IE with Chrome Frame, the plug-in Google made to make IE behave like Chrome, is now a bigger source of traffic to TechCrunch than Opera Mini or BlackBerry. While still tiny, it too is growing.
CrunchBase InformationGoogle ChromeFirefoxTechCrunchInformation provided by CrunchBase

Prepare to get hit by a ton of Sammy marketing. The commercial embedded here is likely just the first wave of Samsung’s assault on the iPad. And it seems that they’re going about it the right way, too.
The commercial simply shows off the Galaxy Tab‘s capabilities in an Apple-ish sort of way. We’ve said all along that if any Android tablet has a chance to steal marketshare away from the iPad, it’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab and this commercial, along with our extensive hands-on, seems to confirm our thought. Now all we need is to know is its price tag and when it will hit stores.

Your Windows PC might be designed to make your life easier, but they often have a non-stop list of problems. Today we'll walk through some of the more common problems and how to troubleshoot them. More »

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Fora.TV has always been playing a dangerous game—trying to sell long-form online video about intellectual ideas. That’s like trying to sell sunblock to the cast of Jersey Shore. Fora calls itself Hulu for “the Thinking Man’s Web.” (There’s a Thinking Man’s Web?)
Eighteen months after closing its $6 million series A round and long time magazine editor Blaise Zerega took over as CEO, Fora seems to be grinding it out. The traffic has tripled and it’s now streaming about three million videos per month, mostly captured from conferences and high-level events. Those aren’t close to YouTube numbers, but considering the intellectually demanding content– think Timothy Geithner talking for an hour about the best ways to stimulate the economy—it’s impressive.
Despite its limited size, Fora has a few high-brow sponsors like Mercedes Benz who want to reach its rarefied audience. Conferences love it, because it gives them a sophisticated way to broadcast content to people who can’t attend. Anything they make is money that would have been left on the table otherwise. For instance, 150 people attended a talk by Stanford’s director of design earlier this year, but 500 people watched it live over Fora. Thirty days later more than 325,000 watched it. And this was just a talk about how some students set up an incubator at Stanford. It may not be a YouTube-sized business, but there’s clearly something there.
And, as of today, Fora has a new $5/month subscription to watch and download most of the videos without ads. The site still offers pay-per-view pricing for specific talks, too. Think of the business model like cable TV, Zerega says. There are basic packages and premium packages and stuff you pay for individually ala On Demand. Think of their content like the Discovery Channel. No doubt when it launched, media executives were saying, “People aren’t going to watch long form non-fiction content on cable! Shark week? Who cares about sharks?”
Everyone wants to post live video of their events these days, but it’s incredibly hard, expensive and time consuming to do well—something we’ve all learned getting TechCrunchTV up and running this summer. What gives Fora an edge is that it can do everything from filming a conference’s content to writing headlines and speaker bios to cutting the film into watchable DVD chapters and three-minute teasers to writing transcripts. And increasingly, Fora is working on distribution, trying to get that content available on as many platforms as possible. Already Fora is on Boxee and Comcast.
There are so many wonky, technical, tedious details in that process that most think-tank or university conferences just don’t have the staff or know-how to tackle. Put another way—maybe Fora doesn’t solve an obvious problem for millions of viewers (I have an hour to kill…..where can I find a lecture on free market economics?) but it does solve a big problem for thousands of conferences and event planners, who in turn will push that content to their constituents.
It’s no surprise Zerega was the managing editor of Wired during its “Long Tail” days.
CrunchBase InformationFora.TVInformation provided by CrunchBase

There seems to be some confusion out there right now about iTunes Ping, Apple’s new music social network, and Facebook. Some people seem to think it was never a part of iTunes, that Apple decided against connecting; while other reports say they think it was at one point integrated, but that it wasn’t working and has since been removed. I can tell you for sure that yesterday Facebook Connect was a part of Ping — because I used it.
When I first loaded iTunes 10 yesterday and started up Ping, connecting with Facebook was the first thing I did to find friends. At first, I will say that it didn’t work. I hit the Connect button, entered my credentials, and nothing happened. But I tried again and it worked perfectly. I found a handful of Facebook friends who had just started using Ping as well and connected with them.
Further, looking at my Facebook account, I’m still connected to Apple’s Ping app there. And so are 27 of my Facebook friends, currently. Apple has removed the implementation from iTunes for right now, but the app is still live and connected on Facebook.
I also spoke with some Apple representatives at the event yesterday, and they confirmed that the Facebook Connect implementation was only for pulling your friends in to Ping. No other data was being transferred, I was told.
The app page on Facebook seems to confirm this:
This application makes it easy to find and follow any of your Facebook friends who also use iTunes Ping.
So why did Apple remove it? Who knows. It could have been buggy (as I said, it was yesterday), or maybe Facebook didn’t like some aspect of the implementation and asked iTunes to rework it. So far, neither side is talking.
I do think that Ping has a nice and simple social model which lets users follow, friend, or lurk. Compare that to Facebook, which is a mess or privacy settings.
But again, the connection between the two was definitely working yesterday. But it only about finding friends, no other data was being transfered over.
Update — Here’s Facebook canned statement on the matter:
Facebook believes in connecting people with their interests and we’ve partnered with innovative developers around the world who share this vision. Facebook and Apple have cooperated successfully in the past to offer people great social experiences and look forward to doing so in the future.

CrunchBase InformationiTunesAppleFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBase

Well, as promised, here’s a handy video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in action. Apologies if it’s gets a little hairy at times—juggling two cameras while trying to navigate a GUI touchscreen isn’t exactly the easiest trick to pull off.