Google TV is coming
Google recently announced Google TV, which they are calling “an open platform for TV-related devices.” Basically, it is going to be a set top box similar to Apple TV, Xbox, or Roku for Netflix that allows you to access web content on your television. One big difference is that Google has an agreement with Sony to include the device in new Sony televisions, with others possibly to follow.
What does this mean for web developers? Not much. The device uses the Google Chrome browser, so as long as you test your sites in Google Chrome, and you should, then your site will work with Google TV. However, there are some styling that can be done to improve your site’s appearance on Google TV. For example, you adjust the width to be TV friendly (1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080). You should also avoid particular colors that do not display well on television screens like pure white, red, or orange. Additional recommendations can be found on Google’s website.
At this point, web developers should be used to supporting additional devices. Google TV is one more to add to that list. Fortunately, it does not look like it will be difficult.
Web development startup leaves Ann Arbor Spark East incubator
By Dustin Walsh
Ypsilanti-based VC Web Design is moving on up.
The one year-old Web development company left its incubator space at Ann Arbor Spark East last month and moved to a new home in downtown Ypsilanti, marking the first “graduate” of the Spark East incubator, said Elizabeth Parkinson, Spark’s director of marketing.
“They’ve reached the milestone they needed to reach to move on,” Parkinson said. “Our job now is to make sure we can keep them in the area.”
VC Web Design Graduates From Ann Arbor SPARK East
YPSILANTI, Mich., April 15 /PRNewswire/ — VC Web Design recently graduated from the Ann Arbor SPARK’s SPARK East regional incubator. Over the course of a year, VC Web Design, a full service Web company, grew out of the incubator into office space in downtown Ypsilanti, at 9 Washington Street.
Flash vs HTML5
The announcement of Apple’s iPad has sparked a fresh debate over Flash on the web. It was very obvious during Steve Jobs’ iPad announcement that the new device did not support Flash. This isn’t a big surprise since the iPhone and iPod Touch do not either. The iPad has the potential to be more of a web consumption device, so the absence of Flash definitely raises some issues. If the iPad turns out to be as popular as the iPhone, web developers will have to think twice about using Flash on their sites and potentially loosing a large segment of users. Apple has made it clear that they think the future of multimedia on the web will involve HTML5.
HTML5 is the next generation of the language used to create websites. This is the first major update to the HTML standard in over 10 years. While the HTML5 standard is still a draft, many of the features are supported in current browsers. There are many exciting new features available in HTML5, including audio and video tags. It is these multimedia tags that are threatening the future of Flash.
HTML5 is a threat to Flash because it offers an alternative to one of the key benefits of Flash. Up until HTML5, the best way to embed video that worked across platforms and browsers was to use Flash. Almost everyone has a Flash plugin installed in their browser, so it makes sense. But, even before HTML5 there were forces working against Flash.
For a long time Flash was the best tool for delivering animation and multimedia. But those things are changing. Flash may no longer be the best choice for these features. You can now do very sophisticated animation with jQuery, and with HTML5 you have an alternative for delivering video as well. HTML5 makes adding video to a web page as easy as adding an image.
In the end, I believe Flash will fade due to in part to limitations placed on it by Apple and lack of access to the iPhone and iPad. There has also been trend toward open, non-proprietary standards like HTML. Flash may still have a place as a presentation tool, but it’s role on the web is likely to diminish over time.
iPad and Non-profit websites
This week Foster Braun, Ed Rudel, Cal Carson and Vince Chmielewski will be in the studios to tackle your computer and Internet questions.
We also feature two very special non-profit websites: The Wellness Community of Southeast Michigan aimed at helping cancer patients and their families and The Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration , that provides the infrastructure for collaboration between the health professionals around the globe who are developing new standards for dealing with sarcoma. Vince was instrumental in developing both these websites as he has been in creating ours.
And of course we count on Erik Anderson to take a few Mac Minutes to talk about launch of the iPad, Apple’s long anticipated touch screen tablet earlier this week.
Consumer Electronics Show
Ed Rudel, Cal Carson, Vince Chmielewski and Erik Anderson discuss news from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and then put on their problem solving hats to handle your computer and Internet questions.
New Media Drivers License Course
Michigan State University is leading the way in New Media Education. Learn from Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing what it takes to get our license to drive new media. His talk will touch on social media marketing, personal branding, online public relations, search engine optimization, Google tools and more! The New Media Drivers License Course is offered as an MSU lifelong education course or as an Executive Education course for corporations looking to train their team on new media.
Internet Advisor
It’s a special edition! Join us as the Internet Advisor crew, led by Gary Baker, launches a brand new website for the show. You’ll get to meet:
* Carrie Hensel and Catherine Hayes of Inner Circle Media, who created the new design,
* Vince Chmielewski of VC Web Design, who is kind of like the Wizard of Oz pulling all the right bells and chords behind the scenes to make the whole thing work right and
* Jason Yaeger from Online Tech, the company which has hosted our sites since we began 12 years ago.
It’s a chance not only to see how our new site works but give you insight into what your website could look like with a little expert help.
Foster Braun returns in studio for this important launch program. Big Red Erik Anderson has The Mac Minute ready with news from the “Dark Side” and tech expert Joel Powell joins us again to help answer your questions.
In the second and third hours the guys answer technology related questions during open line.
Listen to audio of Hour 1 from appearance on Internet Advisor
Listen to audio of Hour 2 from appearance on Internet Advisor
Listen to audio of Hour 3 from appearance on Internet Advisor
Leadership in Difficult Times
As we find ourselves in the midst of the worst recession in recent history, leaders are faced with the most difficult decisions of their careers. There are few people who have experienced such challenging and uncertain times. Leaders question whether they have the “right stuff” and the resources necessary to succeed.
*What do we, as leaders, need to do to assure our company’s success through turbulent times?
*What are the issues that we will face as we emerge from the downturn?
*How do we engender resiliency during these times?
Stephanie Boyse is the President and CEO of Brazeway, Inc, brazeway.com, a global manufacturer of components to the appliance and automotive industries. In 2008, for the first time in Brazeway’s history, they found both industries to decline at the same time. They experienced the largest single quarterly decline in October 2008 of 47% and posting subsequent year over year record declines in 2008 and 2009.
Brazeway took actions to restructure the business, requiring painful employee reductions, organizational restructuring, product and profitability analysis, cash management and top line growth strategies. The result cut their break-even in half and restored profitability in 3 months.
Stephanie will share Brazeway’s story and talk about her perspective of Leadership Resiliency during tough times. And as many businesses begin to stabilize and plan for growth once again, she will address her thoughts on the issues that may lie ahead for Leadership coming out of tough times.