Online maps are extremely useful, but not very innovative in their present form, as most maps we use today merely mirror paper maps. The road map serves most of our everyday needs, but as more and more data with a location component to it is accumulated – geo-tagged photos, videos, or information from social networks like Facebook and Twitter – we’ll need to represent that data in a way that adds value without overwhelming users. And as mobile devices gain more processing power, they’ll be able to access raw data stored in a server and display it in whole new ways. Mapping technology specialists say that these two developments — the increase of geo-tagged elements and the increased power of mobile devices — mean that browsing a map will increasingly mean moving around in a virtual, three-dimensional world like in the state-of-the-art video games seen on consoles like the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
Read the original:
3D maps: you’ll be able to walk around in them like in a virtual world
Editor’s note: This story is part of our Microsoft-sponsored series on cutting-edge innovation. Michael Lucaccini is president and founder of digital development studio Archetype. Working for a digital design firm, I get the chance to see trends across projects and technologies. I also notice trends in client expectations. There was a time when resistance to interactive platforms like Flash and Silverlight was commonplace. What were once barriers, negotiation points and show stoppers have now become core requirements of most of the apps we design and develop at Archetype
Excerpt from:
As new phones emerge, mobile app dev is a moving target
Netflix’s Director of Web Engineering Adrian Cockroft teased yesterday that the company was looking into implementing HTML5 on its site — but not in the way you’d initially think. At first, it seemed as if Netflix was readying an HTML5 version of its video player — which would displace the Microsoft Silverlight player it’s currently using. That’s the angle TechCrunch took in its report, but Cockroft later updated his post in response to the speculation. He made it clear that he was only referring to HTML5 in terms of adding visual and usability flourishes to the site: I was thinking of HTML5 features that let us build very cool user interfaces with drag-and-drop, canvas transforms etc
Follow this link:
Netflix talks HTML5 (but not for video), adds video output to iPad app
Seesmic and Tweetdeck , which were early players in building third-party software to read tweets and status updates from social networks, are showing off fresh versions of their software that can interact with Google Buzz among other new abilities. The two companies seem to be taking divergent strategies, however, with one company focusing on HTML5 and the other still pushing to support multiple platforms. San Francisco-based Seesmic debuted a new desktop edition today (pictured top right), based entirely on Microsoft’s Silverlight platform. That framework allows Seesmic to have rich plug-ins; it’s adding Socialwok today, which is an enterprise-focused service that creates a private Facebook-like experience for sharing messages, files, email and Google Docs. There are also “Channels” that can track activity around specific brands across Twitter. That means users will be able to track activity across all of their social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Buzz and interact with co-workers through the SocialWok plug-in. U.K.-based Tweetdeck also added support for Buzz and is in the process of building an HTML5-based version of its client. (A video of the app is shown below.) Tweetdeck is joining a growing cohort of companies that are putting their weight behind HTML-5
Read this article:
Tweetdeck, Seesmic up their game with new versions; add support for Buzz
We’ve already got a post up outlining the new version of Hotmail that Microsoft demonstrated yesterday , with a focus on how it stacks up against Gmail. But one of the strongest impressions I took away from the presentation wasn’t just the ground that Hotmail might regain from Google and other competitors. If the new application, scheduled to launch this summer, does everything Microsoft hopes, it could also provide a real boost to the software giant’s other services and technologies. To a certain extent, that’s a natural offshoot of the general approach that the Hotmail team took to the new product — by integrating with other applications, Hotmail makes it easier for users to view and share attachments without leaving. There are some non-Microsoft services on the list, such as Yahoo-owned Flickr, but the most interactive features involve Microsoft’s SkyDrive , where users can now store attachments for future viewing, and with the web version of Office , where users can share document attachments for editing. In those two cases, Microsoft spokespeople were quick to emphasize two things
Read more:
The new Hotmail — good for Microsoft services, not for mobile browsers
Intel’s taken the wraps off of its next-gen Atom mobile processors, chips it hopes will rival the ARM/Apple mobile solutions. The new processors are based on Intel’s Moorestown architecture, and have the ‘Z6’ brand name to make them sound that little bit sexier.
The rest is here:
Intel’s takes on ARM/Apple with its latest Atom
Editor’s note: This story is part of our Microsoft-sponsored series on cutting-edge innovation. Shay David is the vice president of business and community development at Kaltura , a company offering video tools for publishers. The “open Web”, a vision for the future of the Internet that is participatory, collaborative, and free from vendor lock-in is finally coming to fruition. Following Mozilla Firefox’s successful wedge of open Web standards into the browser platform, today we see every browser vendor and every web-enabled device gravitating towards supporting a vendor-neutral platform for rich media web experiences
Go here to see the original:
How JavaScript will lead the way to open video
Simeon Simeonov is founder and CEO of startup advisory FastIgnite . Reading Steve Jobs’ open letter with “thoughts on Flash” literally — as an argument about Flash’s capabilities or lack thereof — is a diversion from its deeper message, which is that Apple is willing to throw its recently-gained weight around in a big power play against all major platform companies save one — Oracle. (Have Steve and Larry Ellison partitioned the world on a napkin
Read the original here:
Apple vs. Adobe Flash: What Steve Jobs really means
Here’s the latest action: Fisker motors on with $115M more — The maker of the luxury plug-in hybrid Karma vehicle, has raised $115 million in new funding , which will allow it to access the $529 million in low-interest loans it was guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy last fall. Raising more equity was mandatory in order for it to unlock this financing. iPad? iTablet
Read the original:
Here’s the latest action: Fisker banks $115M, Zune phone rumored, and more
We’ve reached the exciting part of the Crunchies , the awards celebrating the year’s best achievements in technology — the part where you get to choose the winners. Readers already sent in tons of nominations, and a committee from the three co-hosting sites (that’s TechCrunch, GigaOm, and VentureBeat) narrowed those down to six finalists in each of the 18 categories. Check out the finalists below, then click here to vote . Please remember that these awards are for accomplishments in 2009, not during the entire lifetime of these companies (or founders). Everyone is eligible to vote once per day per award category until midnight Pacific on January 6. The winners will be announced at a swanky ceremony in San Francisco’s Herbst Theater on the evening of Friday, Jan
Read the original:
Here are the Crunchies finalists; vote for you favorites