ie8 fix

Mozilla: Look ma, no plug-in for video, apps

A new codec from Mozilla and OTOY will let browsers run high-performance rendering apps like Autodesk and high-definition video without plug-ins, the companies unveiled Friday.

The new, open-source digital stream encoder and decoder, called ORBX.js, obviates the need for a plug-in like Flash, Sliverlight, or QuickTime to run HD video in the browser. Mozilla and OTOY expect live TV, watermarked video, and cloud gaming to all get a boost in HTML5-enabled browsers that support it. Currently, that list includes all five major browsers: IE 10, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

"Thanks to our ongoing efforts in making the … Read more

Download Gmail attachments to cloud storage with Kloudless

Installation and initialization is quick and painless with four, easy steps:

Simply download and install Kloudless (public beta).

Sync your Gmail and Google Drive account with Dropbox and/or box services.

Set automation rules for how Kloudless handles your files. Set MS Doc and Excel spreadsheets to be automatically sent to Google Drive. Large files like videos and music can be transferred to Dropbox while smaller files can go to your box storage. Move confidential materials off your e-mail quickly and into the cloud.

Sync multiple e-mails and make their attachments available on one cloud service. You can also sort … Read more

Google Keep note-taking comes to Chrome

Google Keep wants to be the app that you dump all your little notes and big thoughts into, and Google introduced a Keep Chrome Web app version on Thursday.

To install it, you must use the link above, as it's not yet available by searching the Chrome Web Store.

Like Keep in Google Drive and Keep for Android, it lets you write notes in a stripped-down interface that lacks all but the most basic features. In addition to standard note-taking, you can change the text color or insert an image.

Keep for Chrome launches in its own window, and … Read more

Chrome caching to smooth out rough patches in network

Google is working on software that will improve Chrome (Windows, Mac) during moments when people lose their network connection by letting the browser load its own stored copy of previously visited Web pages.

Google programmer Randy Smith said yesterday he's added support for "offline cache mode" to Chrome. It's only on the developer version of the browser so far, and it's disabled by default, but the flag to enable it says the feature will let Chrome load Web pages from the browser's local cache if the online version isn't available. That could help … Read more

Monotype deal helps Google's fonts escape the Web

Through a deal with font specialist Monotype, Google's free fonts for Web publishing are spreading beyond the Web.

Monotype now lets designers use Google's 624 freely available fonts through its SkyFonts software for managing fonts on Windows and Mac machines. Although Google offers fonts for use on Web site, designers often need local versions on their computers for use in design software.

SkyFonts can be used to rent fonts from Monotype's library for short-term use. Tapping into the Google library of fonts, though, is free. Using the software will ensure people get the latest versions of the … Read more

Twenty years on, the Web faces new openness challenges

Two decades ago today, the European particle accelerator called CERN gave birth to what's known as the open Web -- a technology that anyone can build without paying licensing or royalty fees.

But as the Web has grown ever more popular and sophisticated, proprietary technology poses a challenge to that philosophy of openness. The challenge is most clear in the area of video, where patents and copy protection are at odds with the Web's openness.

Tim Berners-Lee, a physicist at CERN, started developing what he called the World Wide Web in 1989. After CERN released the software for … Read more

Opera suit: Former employee spilled secrets to Mozilla

Opera Software has sued former employee Trond Werner Hansen, alleging that he gave trade secrets to rival browser maker Mozilla.

The Norwegian company seeks damages of 20 million kroner, or $3.4 million, according to a report by newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv, which uncovered the suit and wrote about it Monday.

"Opera is of the opinion that the former employee has acted contrary to his contractual and other legal obligations towards Opera. Among other things, we claim that he is in breach of the duty of loyalty and his contractual and statutory confidentiality obligations," said Ole E. Tokvam, a … Read more

New Chrome extension can open Office docs

Direct browser support for Microsoft Office documents is coming in fits and spurts to Chrome. Google's latest effort is a portly extension for Chrome beta.

If you're running Google Chrome Beta on Windows or Mac, you can now install the Chrome Office Viewer. It will allow you to open links to Office files directly in the browser, a feature that was first announced with the Chromebook Pixel.

However, you're limited right now to merely viewing the files. To edit, you'll have to upload the file to Google Drive, or open it in Microsoft Office or another … Read more

Free Software Foundation attacks DRM in HTML video

The Free Software Foundation, never a friend to digital rights management, has taken issue with its arrival in the Web standards world.

In a letter from the FSF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, and other allied groups yesterday, the group called on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to keep DRM out of the standards it defines.

"We write to implore the World Wide Web Consortium and its member organizations to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal," the groups said. "DRM restricts the public's freedom, even beyond what overzealous copyright law requires, to the perceived … Read more

Enable offline cached pages in Google Canary

Canary is a developer and beta version of Google Chrome's newest features. By allowing both versions of Chrome to run side-by-side, you can test out the newest features without sacrificing your stable version.

If you're using the most recent version of Canary, there's a new experimental feature that lets you view the offline cached versions of Web pages. Not sure if you have the most recent build? Easy fix. Just click the Settings icon in the top-right-hand corner, then choose About Google Chrome. Your browser will check for updates and apply any available.

So let's get … Read more