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In the competition between native applications for mobile phones vs. Web applications, hardware support often makes native apps an obvious choice for programmers. But the World Wide Web Consortium is tackling one area, touch-screen support, in an effort that could help Web apps catch up.

The W3C published an editor's draft of a new touch-screen standard for Web apps today. The draft specification is designed also for devices such as drawing tablets that don't have a screen, but today's hot market for smartphones makes touch screens the more important focus.

A standard--if designed well and adopted--would make … Read more

The World Wide Web Consortium, faced with derision that its new HTML5 logo represented a broader set of Web technologies, has pared down the logo's scope.

"Since the main logo was intended to represent HTML5, the cornerstone of modern Web applications, I have updated the FAQ to state this more clearly. I trust that the updated language better aligns with community expectations," W3C spokesman Ian Jacobs said Friday in a blog post.

Indeed, the HTML5 logo FAQ now states in no uncertain terms: "This logo represents HTML5, the cornerstone for modern Web applications." Those who … Read more

It's not your regular Buzz Outloud today. From New York City, Wilson G. Tang, Jeff Bakalar, Dan Ackerman and Rex Brian (AKA Scott Stein) take over, and needless to say it's a very different BOL. In this topsy-turvy world, Google's Dr. Eric Schmidt is forced out as CEO. HP joins the fray by rearranging its board of directors with four new members, including former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Verizon files suit against the FCC for rules they proposed, and no, the iPad 2 won't be getting the Retina Display--much to our dismay.

Two days after the World Wide Web Consortium debuted a flashy new HTML5 badge, none other than the editor of the Hypertext Markup Language standard has dumped the hot tech buzzword.

"HTML is the new HTML5," Ian Hickson, who edits the specification, said in a blog post yesterday. The announcement embodies a more continuous development process that he's planned for more than a year, but Hickson told CNET today that the W3C's HTML5 badge--which controversially stands for a number of Web technologies beyond HTML--hastened a change that had been planned for later in 2011.

"Now … Read more

Underscoring the confluence of technology, politics, and marketing, the World Wide Web Consortium today unveiled a new logo for HTML5.

With the logo, the W3C wants to promote the new Web technology--and itself. The Web is growing far beyond its roots of housing static Web sites and is transforming into a vehicle for entertainment and a foundation for online applications.

The W3C hopes the logo--T-shirts and stickers with it already are on sale--will fuel excitement and interest in the refurbished Web. "In addition to work on the specification, test suites, and useful materials for developers, we seek to raise … Read more

The ninth beta version of Firefox, due imminently, is set to get support for a standard called IndexedDB that provides a database interface useful for offline data storage and other tasks needing information on a browser's computer.

"IndexedDB allows Web apps to store large amounts of data on your local system (with your explicit permission, of course) for fast offline retrieval at a later time. We're hoping that Web mail, TV listings, and online purchase history will one day be as convenient to access offline as they are online," Ben Turner, who develops IndexedDB for Mozilla'… Read more

This week, we're all back from CES with a list of the coolest laptops of the show. Plus, the Verizon iPhone is imminent--find out if it's worth making the switch.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

… Read more

Note: With almost all of us decamping to Las Vegas last week, we never got around to posting the blog for the January 3 show until now.

All the buzz this week is about CES 2011, but besides that, the Digital City crew outlines how they all survived NYC's snowmageddon 2010, and find out what cool tech goodies we got (and gave) for the holidays.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

… Read more

LAS VEGAS--B&W's series of Zeppelin iPod speakers have always been known for their striking design and better-than-average sound quality and at CES 2011 the company announced the Zeppelin Air, now compatible with Apple's new Airplay streaming audio platform.

AirPlay compatibility means you'll be able to stream music wirelessly directly from iOS devices (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch), either from apps or your own music collection. You'll also able to stream music directly from iTunes on a networked computer. The Zeppelin Air still includes a dock, which is handy in case you want to charge your … Read more