Monthly Archives: August 2009

Google hates HTML5, pushes Gears?

So you bought this brand new HTC Hero and you tell everyone it’s on a par with the iPhone 3GS and its great browser? I mean, both are very recent Webkit-implementations aren’t they? Safari Mobile on iPhone OS3 is based on AppleWebKit/528.18, Chrome Mobile (or don’t they call it that?) for Android 1.5 on AppleWebKit/528.5+, and between 528.5+ and 528.18 there can only be minor differences? So HTML5-goodies (such as geolocation, localstorage and app cache) which Google is actively promoting, will work out of the box, just like on that dreaded iPhone 3GS, won’t they?

Sorry to bust your bubble, but Google seems to have decided otherwise; there’s no navigator.geolocation, no localstorage and no app cache on my HTC Hero (which is running Android 1.5 aka cupcake). You can access similar functionalities by calling the built-in Gears plugin, but mobile web-developers can’t assume that these HTML5-draft-specs are available on all modern high-end mobile handsets at all. Hell, even “big” Chrome 3.0.195.10 (which is based on Webkit 532!) does not seem to support these killer-features. Must be that Google is secretly pushing for Gears to become the default “rich internet enabler” instead of HTML5?

HTC-dude, where’s my keyboard?

13 Replies

In spite of my almost religious view on the ideal mobile phone, I bought a HTC Hero last week.

But let there be no doubt; it’s a great handset! My Hero sports a beautiful touch-screen, a nice -albeit young- Linux-based OS and a top notch webkit-based browser (with Adobe Flash 10, a first for a mobile device). The price is considerably lower then that of an iPhone and the platform is very open (esp. if you compare it to the golden cage Apple created for its ecosystem). I’ve installed several free apps from the Android Market and downloaded and installed a great AR-application from outside the Market without having to jailbreak anything (more on Android-apps in a later post).

But there’s one thing I really miss on my fancy device; a physical keyboard. Because as ancient as my Nokia e61i might have been, I really was more productive (as in “writing mails”) on it thanks to the (small) physical QWERTY-keyboard it sported. And while friends and colleagues assure me that I’ll get used to the virtual keyboard, and I’m sure things will indeed get better, we should not kid ourselves; nothing beats a real keyboard. Ever! So let the quest for a small compatible bluetooth keyboard begin!

HTTP upload MIME type hell

4 Replies

If anyone, like some colleagues of mine, runs into problems when uploading a CSV-file (or any other filetype for that matter) and checking mime-type (content-type), the following info might help.

Deciding the correct mime-type when doing an HTTP Upload is the browser’s responsibility, which produces … well, very mixed results. I made a little test-script and experimented with the same csv-file (with both .txt and .csv as suffix). See the results for yourself:

1. ubuntu 9.04, firefox 3.5.2:
.txt = text/plain
.csv = text/csv
2. work win xp sp2, windows firefox 3.5.2:
.txt = text/plain
.csv = application/vnd.ms-excel
3. work win xp sp2, windows ie6
.txt = text/plain
.csv = application/vnd.ms-excel
4. work win xp sp2, google chrome 3.0
.txt = text/plain
.csv = application/vnd.ms-excel
5. home win xp sp3, internet explorer 8
.txt = text/plain
.csv = application/octet-stream
6. home win xp sp3, firefox 3.5.2
.txt = text/plain
.csv = application/octet-stream
.xls = application/vnd.ms-excel
7. mac os x 10.5, Firefox 3.5.2:
.csv = text/plain
.txt = text/plain
8. mac os x 10.5, Safari 4.0.3:
.csv = application/octet-stream
.txt = text/plain

So as you can’t depend on browsers being strict while sending, you’ll have to be lenient while receiving, won’t you?

As found on the web (August 21st)

WebTech news (august 2009)

1. The web wants to kill Internet Explorer 6, MS won’t

msie6 (° 2001) is causing web developers headaches (it requires a lot of specific, non-standard code). some high-profile sites (such as youtube and digg) have announced they’ll stop supporting msie6 (cfr. http://www.wait-till-i.com/2009/07/14/did-digg-and-youtube-just-spell-the-end-of-internet-explorer-6/). web developers are mounting actions to urge users and IT-departments to upgrade (cfr. http://hey-it.com/, http://www.ie6nomore.com/, http://ie6update.com/ and others).
microsoft confirmed however that they will continue to support msie6, according to the bbc even until 2014 (cfr. http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/08/10/engineering-pov.aspx and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8196242.stm)

2. HTML5: the web is growing up (but not fast enough, see previous paragraph)

The same Microsoft (finally) joined discussions on the specifications for HTML5 (a new version of the language used to create webpages). It might be some time before Internet Explorer has the same level of support for the (draft) spec as Safari, Chrome, Opera and Firefox, but hey, talking is an important first step, no? (cfr. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/webware/~3/iXVRC6Myrus/8301-1001_3-10305822-92.html)
Google bought On2, a company specialized in video encoding formats and owner of a number of patents of the VP6-codec which is used in Flash Video (flv). Analists suspect Google will open source the codec so it can be used in html5, which supports video without Flash (cfr. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/technology/8185910.stm). This could solve (or worsen) discussions in html5-land about what codecs are to be supported (cfr. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/decoding-the-html-5-video-codec-debate.ars).
2 great articles about why html5 is important (and esp. for the mobile web) can be found here: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cloudfour/~3/-PtLhQmkuhw/ and http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/16/html5-and-the-future-of-the-web/

3. Misc

According to research by an American company, interest in iPhone application-development is still very strong. More surprising might be the take-up of development of mobile applications for Google Android-base devices (cfr. http://gigaom.com/2009/08/10/the-battle-of-the-apps-google-vs-apple/). Looks more and more like Android is a serious iPhone-challenger (lots of Android-based phones are expected to arrive in Q4).
Jakob Nielsen, the usability-pope, wrote a great article about usability of the web on mobiles here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html, a must-read!
Google published the specs and a reference implementation of “pubsubhubbub”, a light-weight semi-realtime communication mechanism for web-applications which is considered as one of the buildingblocks of what will become the “realtime web” (cfr. http://feeds.dashes.com/~r/AnilDash/~3/8TkbODhCEu0/the-pushbutton-web-realtime-becomes-real.html and http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/)

As found on the web (August 14th)

	Liked Radiohead [NEW LEAKED SONG] These are My Twisted Words
	Published WebTech news (august 2009) Ive started sending out a (maybe bi-)monthly web technology news mail at work, Ill repost these here (excluding items/ re…
	Shared IE6 OFFENDERS: Report Companies Still Using Internet Explorer 6
	Shared Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy: Irrelevance
	Shared Pidgin gets Google Voice–sort of
	Shared Unix uniqueness
	Shared Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Strategy: Too Much, Too Late?
	Shared Primeur: filmpjes bekijken in tijdschrift
	Frank zoekt iemand die snel een testje kan doen op een mac.
	Shared Blackberry browser to support Flash and Silverlight
	Frank mist een toetsenbord op z’n HTC Hero.

	Liked 2 videos.
	Shared Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 now available for download
	Shared Microsoft joins HTML 5 standard fray in earnest
	Liked 3 videos.
	Shared 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging
	Shared Superlative
	Liked Richie Havens Freedom Woodstock 1969
	Shared The Battle of the Apps: Google vs. Apple
	Shared Engineering POV: IE6
	Shared Microsoft: IE6 Cannot Die
	Shared Litrik De Roy: HTC Hero
	Shared BREAKING: Facebook To Launch Facebook Lite
	Shared Are You a Digital Sharecropper?
	Shared FACEBOOK LITE: The Early Details and Screenshots
	Published Dochterken loves bling Ge ziet hier niet veel fotos van het schoonste, liefste en slimste dochterken ooit, maar dat is allemaal de schuld van Faceb…
	Shared You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again \| Epicenter \| Wired.com
	Shared Become a Test Pilot!
	Liked 2 videos.
	Published Warning: your computer might be infected! Warning: your computer might be infected while surfing the web! Because these days web criminals arent just attacking govern…
	Shared Real-World Protection With IE8’s SmartScreen Filter™
	Published My blog laughs in your Facebook Gisteren bij Peter Decroubele lekker ouderwets gereageerd op zijn tekst over hoe blogs aan populariteit lijken in te boeten t…
	Liked New Slang

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