HTML5: The future of the Web is finally here...

The tool that promises to launch the next era of websites, smartphone apps and online video is finally finished.

HTML5, the long-in-the-works update to the language that powers the Web, is "feature complete," according to an announcement made Monday by the standards-setting Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C). There's still some testing to be done, and it hasn't yet become an official Web standard -- that will come in 2014. But there won't be any new features added to HTML5, which means Web designers and app makers now have a "stable target" for implementing it, W3C said.

The HTML5 language lets developers deliver in-the-browser experiences that previously required standalone apps or additional software like Java,Adobe's Flash or Microsoft's  Silverlight. It supports lightning-fast video and geolocation services, offline tools and touch, among other bells and whistles.

The W3C has been developing the spec for the better part of a decade.

"As of today, businesses know what they can rely on for HTML5 in the coming years," W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe said in a prepared statement. "Likewise, developers will know what skills to cultivate to reach smart phones, cars, televisions, e-books, digital signs, and devices not yet known."

Most of the top browser makers didn't wait for the language to be 100% finished before building support for some elements into their software. The latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari are already compatible with most HTML5 elements.

Netflix  and Google's YouTube are two of the most prominent HTML5 adopters, but many others have also taken the leap. The Financial Times abandoned its smartphone app last year in favor of an HTML5 mobile website. The site looked and functioned like a native app -- with the advantage that FT didn't have to make changes to multiple versions of its code on multiple smartphone platforms. (Using a mobile website instead of a native app also let FT avoid paying Apple for in-app purchases.)

Google , a strong supporter of HTML5, produced a viral interactive video in 2010 with the help of rock band Arcade Fire that showed off the potential of the new Web features. Firefox browser maker Mozilla made a splash in February when it created a smartphone operating system called "Boot to Gecko," which is almost entirely based in HTML 5.

HTML5 grew prevalent enough by 2010 that then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs was able to unleash an epic rant against Flash and get away with it. A year later, Adobe more or less conceded that Jobs was right, abandoning its mobile Flash software in favor of HTML5 support. In November 2011 blog post, Adobe called HTML5 "the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."

There's still more work to be done. W3C said that about 63% of Web and app developers are actively using HTML5 to make their sites and software, but "browser fragmentation" remains a big reason why many still aren't using it. Though most up-to-date browsers support at least some aspects of HTML5, older versions of some Web browsers likeMicrosoft's  Internet Explorer don't.

That's why W3C is working on cementing HTML5 as a new Web standard, making it interoperable and fully supported by any modern browser. It will take two years to complete the testing and standardization of HTML5, the consortium said.

What's next? W3C is already working on HTML 5.1, the first parts of which were just submitted in draft form. 

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How to protect your Instagram photos...

After Instagram changed its terms of service, giving the company commercial rights to user accounts and images, the site's users revolted. And rightfully so, because in a worst-case scenario, the new rules would allow the company to sell your images to outside parties to use however they please.

Instagram quickly backtracked, saying that's not what it meant and that it will "modify specific parts" of the new terms to make its intentions clearer. Its aim appears to be to incorporate your personal information into sponsored posts, along the lines of what Instagram's parent company, Facebook , already does with its Sponsored Stories ads. Those ads pull in users' profile photos for messages promoting brands that users have chosen to "like." (Instagram operates independently from Facebook -- for now -- and the two sites have their own, separate terms of service.)

The wording of its terms gives Instagram wriggle room to change its mind, but for now, launching into a full-scale panic seems unnecessary.

But if you're concerned about corporate overlords getting their money-grubbing hands on your creations, there are some steps you can take.

Set your account to private: Instagram reiterated on Tuesday that private accounts will remain private. That means your photos can only be seen by the people to whom you've granted access. If you're bothered by strangers viewing your pics, a private account is the way to go.

What a "private" account won't do, though, is entirely opt you out of Facebook's advertising. Instagram will still be able to use your data in targeted commercial messages shown to your friends and followers.

If you're bothered by the idea of someone making money off your creative work on Instagram, that a different issue. You're using a free service, and as Instagram said Tuesday in its blog post: "From the start, Instagram was created to become a business."

If that's not a tradeoff you're willing to accept, the best move may be for you to stop using Instagram altogether.

Back up your data: OK, you've decided to ditch Instagram. That might be a bit extreme, but it's understandable. The first thing you should do before you wipe out your account is to copy all those snapshots documenting the last year or two of your life.

Right now, you have two options: Instarchive and Instaport. Both services will have you log in using Instagram's API (a tool that gives other sites access to Instagram's data) and automatically download your photos as a compressed .ZIP file. Instaport appears to be overloaded by the number of backup requests at the moment and isn't working, but it promises to let you export your images directly to another service in the future.

Either way, once you've backed up your year's work, you can entirely erase your photo trail from Instagram's servers. That's the nuclear option. Your photos will be "removed permanently and will not be recoverable," Instagram says.

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Google sells Motorola cable box unit for $2.4 billion...

Under the terms of the deal, which Google and Arris announced late Wednesday, Google will receive $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in newly issued Arris shares. That will giveGoogle about a 16% ownership stake in Arris , a communications technology company, when the deal

closes sometime during the second quarter of 2013,

Rumors that Google would unload the struggling cable-box division have been swirling since March, before the company's purchase of Motorola Mobility was even finalized.

Google first revealed its plan to buy Motorola Mobility in August 2011, but the $12.5 billion deal didn't clear regulatory procedures until May 2012. The deal was largely made so that Google could get access to Motorola Mobility's portfolio of patents and it was always thought that Motorola Mobility's set-top box business was not a great fit for Google.

Since the Motorola deal closed, Google has been quick to make moves aimed at turning the business around. In August, Google announced it would cut 4,000 Motorola employees, or 20% of the total workforce. At that point, Motorola Mobility had been unprofitable in 14 of the past 16 quarters.

Google and Arris noted in their press release that Motorola Home generated $3.4 billion in revenue for the four quarters ended September 30. Arris' purchase of the unit is expected to save $100-125 million in annual operating costs.

Shares of Arris were slightly higher in pre-market trading Thursday. Google investors might respond favorably as well. Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz wrote in a report Thursday that Wall Street was expecting Google would only raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for Motorola Home. 

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Facebook tests paid messages to strangers ...

How much would you pay to contact a stranger? Facebook is sprucing up its messaging system, and the most interesting change is a move to charge people to send a message to someone outside their network.

Most important messages go straight to your inbox on Facebook. But there's a second class of messages, including potential spam and notes from people not in your network, that the site's algorithms deem "less relevant."

These unlucky missives are dropped in the little-known "Other" folder, where they will often spend the remainder of their digital existence unseen, unread and unloved.

Facebook is now testing a solution to help messages avoid this limbo, the company announced in a blog post Thursday. People can pay to circumvent the dreaded "Other" folder and have their messages show up directly in the recipient's inbox. The cost to send one message will be a dollar, according to AllThingsD.

In a post announcing the changes, Facebook points out that this could be helpful for people who want to contact someone about a job or reach out to anyone else they may not have a personal connection to. Charging could also help cut down on unwanted spam, according to Facebook.

"Several commentators and researchers have noted that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful," says the post.

The "inbox delivery test" will be available only to select people using Facebook in the U.S. for now. Companies won't have access to the feature at this time, and people are limited to one paid outgoing message a week to minimize abuse.

The social network is also rolling out new filtering options for the inbox. If you select Basic Filtering, the usual messages from friends and people in your extended network will go to the inbox. With Strict Filtering, it will be "mostly" limited to messages from friends.

The update also allows members to receive messages from the Messenger for Android app, a mutual friend throwing a party and anyone with your @facebook.com e-mail address.

Facebook is constantly trying to find new revenue streams, testing out services such as paying to promote posts and Facebook Gifts. The pay message option is being tested out for a few months, but if it is popular, it could be an interesting way for the site to address spam and make some money at the same time.

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Yahoo new apps ... Read More

Yahoo once dominated search and email, and it was one of the earliest players in instant messaging and online news aggregation. Then, of course, it all went south. By the time Yahoo lured Mayer away from Google, it was barely even a shell of its former self.

With her hiring came promises to restructure the sprawling company, remake the products, and transform Yahoo into an innovator that can compete with the Googles, Facebooks, Microsofts, Apples and Twitters of the world.

Yahoo Mail general manager Vivek Sharma says Mayer was actively involved in the email revamp.

"She's played an unbelievably pivotal role in product direction and design," Sharma said. "She has an unbelievably intuitive understanding of what users want and need."

The new suite of email apps aren't life changing, but they at least offer a good experience for dedicated Yahoo users and show that the company is aware of what it needs to do to not only hang around, but actually make people care.

Following in the footsteps of Google and Microsoft's recent redesigns of Gmail and Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo's apps now have a cleaner look, though Yahoo's overall use of color and texture in its user-interface design feels a few years behind what its competitors are doing. A big part of the company's goal was to make its products simpler (there are fewer visible elements and a more intuitive layout) and more consistent across platforms. All of the mobile apps and the Web client now have the same general features and layout.

Among Yahoo's new apps, the iOS app for Apple devices is probably the most modern in look and feel, though much of that comes from the baked-in iOS tools that Google, Twitter and Facebook already use in their apps (including the "pull" gesture to refresh and "swipe" for options). Most importantly: It's fast, renders emails properly, and works offline. One drawback is that it only allows one account at a time to be logged in.

The Web client is also an improvement, with less visual noise and an easier path to firing off emails, but it still looks a generation behind as far as design trends go. Yahoo's Windows 8 app can't help but feel modern since it follows the Windows 8 design language, but -- much like the default Metro email app -- the tragic flaw is that it lacks an expanded view for individual emails. That forces you to view messages in a single corner of the screen.

Merely being good might not cut it. Email is no longer a novel thing, and it's not hard to find better alternatives. Unlike Google and Microsoft, Yahoo lacks a widely used instant messaging service, offers no cloud services, and doesn't have little perks like a "priority inbox" setting.

Sharma says that he hasn't dismissed the value of those features. In addition to looking into developing new clients for other iOS products (read: iPad), the company has its eye on ways to improve the utility of Yahoo Mail, he said.

These apps won't attract an army of converts, but if Yahoo follows through on its promise to treat this as a first step, there may be hope yet for the embattled company. 

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Instagram pulled it's photos out of twitter ! Why ? ...Read More

Images from Instagram, the photo-sharing app that lets user spruce up their work with a slate of arty and retro filters, no longer show up on Twitter, a popular place to share them.

The change, foreshadowed when photos began appearing buggy on Twitter last week, was confirmed Sunday by both Twitter and Instagram. It marks a shift in how the app will be used and signals a new round in the escalating feud between two of the Web's social media titans.

Since Facebook bought Instagram in April, it's been apparent that Facebook and Twitter, which rank one-two in popularity among social-networking users, are distancing themselves from each other.

In the Internet age, data and dwell time equal money. With Facebook pushing to grow its mobile revenue (and modest stock price) and Twitter still searching for effective ways to translate its popularity into profit, this rift was perhaps inevitable.

In July, Twitter stopped letting Instagram users find friends via Twitter they may want to follow on the photo app. (They did the same for popular blogging site Tumblr after buying rival blogging platform Posterous.)

In the most recent move, users began noticing that images posted to Twitter were cropped weirdly. By Monday, sending an Instagram photo to Twitter simply posted a link directing followers to Instagram's recently beefed-up website.

The move was first mentioned by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom last week at Le Web, a tech conference in Paris.

"We're working on building an awesome Web presence, which we just launched," Systrom said. "We revamped our Web properties, and now we're able to staff up teams to work on Web properties with the Facebook acquisition."

A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed Monday that Instagram turned off support for "Twitter cards," the app that lets third-party images appear on the site. In its statement posted Sunday, Twitter also confirmed what happened.

"Instagram has disabled photo integration with Twitter. As a result, photos are no longer appearing in Tweets or user photo galleries," the statement reads. "While tweeting links to Instagram photos is still possible, you can no longer view the photos on Twitter, as was previously the case."

At Le Web, Systrom said the shift wasn't payback for Twitter shutting down its friend-finder function. But he also said there are no plans to disable Instagram images on other sites.

"This is more of a one-off," he said.

Underlying all the back-and-forth, of course, is the possibility that hard feelings still exist after Twitter's reported offer to buy Instagram was spurned in favor of a reported $1 billion deal with Mark Zuckerberg's Web juggernaut.

By allowing its images to show up on Twitter, Instagram gave Twitter users no incentive to visit its own site or mobile app. The amount of time visitors stay on a website is an important figure for advertisers choosing which sites to patronize. Keeping Instagram photos off Twitter also could encourage users to publish their pictures to Facebook, which allows them to show up in all their glory.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Twitter is planning its own photo-filtering app, which could be out by the end of the year.

Such moves and countermoves are to be expected, many in the tech blogosphere were saying Monday.

"The companies obviously realize how important photos are to getting users to share and interact on the web, so it looks like the competition isn't stopping any time soon," .

Others were saying this won't change the actual Twitter-Instagram user experience all that much.

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Apple and Samsung battle continues...

The $1 billion patent dispute between Apple and Samsung picked back up in federal court in San Jose on Thursday, with both sides arguing over issues of damages amounts, bans on product sales and allegations of dishonesty on the part of the jury foreman.

In August, a nine-person jury awarded Apple just more than $1 billion in damages from Samsung after three weeks of complicated and technical testimony. The jurors found that Samsung copied the iPhone and iPad designs for its own smartphone and tablet models, and calculated the damages amount using 109 pages of jury instructions and a 20-page verdict form.

Now Apple is pushing to increase the amount of damages it was awarded by several hundred million dollars, and to ban Samsung from selling certain products that infringe on Apple patents.

Samsung is fighting to chip away at the enormous settlement amount or to have it thrown out. As part of its strategy, the South Korean company is asking for a new trial, alleging that the foreman of the jury was willfully dishonest by not divulging he was sued by his former employer in 1993, a company in which Samsung had invested.

Judge Lucy Koh didn't make any rulings on the various post-trial motions on Thursday, but said she plans to issue the orders separately over the next month. A protracted legal battle after a jury verdict is not unusual in a case this large and complicated, and was expected by legal experts.

"It shows that there is a careful process; the judge does get to review what the jury has done," says law professor Jay P. Kesan of the University of Illinois.

Each side is armed with impressive and expensive legal teams that are also fighting smaller battles in other countries. While those legal costs are likely astronomical, they are dwarfed by what's at stake: a global smartphone market that is expected to be worth $150 billion by 2014. 

Currently, only 50% of mobile phones in the world are smartphones, which means there's a huge untapped market of potential smartphone customers.

The judge urged both sides to reach a settlement, claiming it was best for consumers, the industry and both parties.

"I think it's time for global peace," she said.

However, a settlement still looks unlikely at this point -- both parties were made to meet before the trial began to discuss a settlement but nothing came of it. In court on Thursday, Samsung indicated it was willing to reach an agreement, saying the ball was in Apple's court. Apple, however, wanted more. It said the awarded damages, which are for past infringements, are not enough to discourage Samsung from copying Apple patents in future smartphones and tablets.

"The key issue is whether there's going to be a permanent injunction. That's probably the hardest thing for Apple to get," said Kesan. He said the chance of a retrial was also very remote.

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