W3C: HTML5 will be finished in 2014

Those curious about the final release date for the hotly debated HTML5 need wonder no more: The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) plans to finalize the standard by July 2014, the organization announced Monday.
"This is the first time we've been able to answer people's questions of when it will be done," said Ian Jacobs, head of W3C marketing and communications. "More and more people from more and more industries are asking when it will be done. They require stability in the standard and very high levels of interoperability."
HTML5 is the next version of the HyperText Markup Language, a platform-neutral standard used worldwide for rendering Web pages. Concerns over when the standard would be finalized have escalated in recent years, as Apple, Google and Microsoft touted the still-unfinished standard as the basis for building Web applications.
Despite the enthusiasm of those companies and others, many have cautioned against using the standard before it is finalized. Because of its complexity, estimates as to when HTML5 would be finished have varied wildly, from a year or two to not until 2022.
The last call for feedback has already been announced, for May 22 this year.
From then until 2014, the HTML Working Group will have several tasks to complete before the standard is finalized, Jacobs said. The group has to review and address the comments submitted up to the May deadline. The feedback from this "Last Call" is expected to be quite considerable and could result in another revision of the document.
The group also has to design a test suite, one that can encompass the wide range of different browsers and platforms that will render pages and Web applications written in HTML5.
Such interoperability is crucial, given the expanding range of devices accessing the Web, including televisions, tablets and phones. "The target is broad interoperability," Jacobs said.
The W3C expects no new features to be added after the Last Call. From that point on the group will take feedback only from implementers and through trials of the test suite, said Philippe Le Hégaret, lead for the W3C Interaction Domain, which oversees the development of HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and other Web standards.
As the working group finalizes HTML5 it will start considering new features and improvements for subsequent versions. While members of the working group have decreed they will do away with version numbering of the standard, neither Jacobs nor Le Hégaret would definitively state that there won't be future numbered versions, such as an HTML6 or HTML5.1.
For now, the organization will classify the work being done under the working title of "HTML.next," Jacobs said.
The W3C also announced on Monday that it has extended the charter of the HTML Working Group to 2014. The HTML Working Group is comprised of more than 400 members from browser vendors, software developers and other organizations reliant on the Web standard.
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Nokia CEO quashes talk of sale to Microsoft

Despite a sweeping deal with Microsoft on Windows Phone, Elop dispels rumors that a Nokia buyout is imminent
Microsoft won't be buying Nokia anytime soon despite a sweeping Windows Phone agreement announced by the vendors last week, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told reporters Sunday.
"There was no discussion of acquisition" during negotiations of a pact that will have Nokia phones running Windows Phone 7, Elop said at a crowded press conference on the eve of the Mobile World Congress here.
"The best approach for Nokia was to enter into a deep partnership, but to respect that there's a huge chunk of Nokia that's not in [Microsoft's interest]," he added.
Several analysts have suggested that the Nokia-Windows Phone partnership could lead to Microsoft buying the Finnish company. Analysts said that despite the high cost of such an acquisition, the fact that mobile devices such as smartphones and laptops will play a central role in the emerging computing and communications landscape could make it successful.
Also, analysts noted Microsoft would capture Nokia's distribution and manufacturing capabilities, providing a huge boost to its efforts to increase its small share of the smartphone market.
Elop acknowledged he had heard the speculation that the cell phone maker might be an acquisition target.
Gartner said Microsoft had 3.4% share of the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2010, putting it in fifth place.
Symbian-based devices made by Nokia and others led the smartphone market with a share of 32.6%, Gartner said. Nokia's own devices had a 28.5% share of the smartphone market in the quarter, Elop said on Sunday.
While Elop didn't rule out a future purchase of Nokia by Microsoft, he said the focus of the partnership now is the "next billion" Windows Phone-based devices that will be produced by Nokia. "The opportunity for shared value was first priority," he said.
Elop also defended the plan to use Windows Phone on Nokia hardware at a time when few others, such as Samsung, HTC and LG, have committed to Microsoft. He suggested other device manufacturers will move in that direction and say, "We'll compete in the Windows Phone ecosystem."
He added that the first priority is to compete with Android devices. "We have shifted from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems," he said.
Elop also introduced Jo Harlow, who was promoted last week to executive vice president of smart devices at Nokia. She previously held a chief marketing post.
Harlow said a Nokia device running Windows Phone will be available sometime this year, and she presented two slides of concept Nokia devices, including one slide that has already been widely seen on blogs.
"It's an exciting contemporary and modern platform," Harlow told reporters. "We are the partner that will bring innovative design and hardware to make great mobile products with Windows Phone."
She said teams from Microsoft and Nokia are already working together in Iceland on the first Windows Phone product.
Elop also sought to lessen fears of developers writing applications for Nokia's Symbian and Meego operating systems.
"You'll see volumes of Symbian devices in coming months and years ... which gives us the ability to carefully manage the transition of Symbian and Windows phones," Elop said. Nokia's plans for Symbian devices will provide "a huge opportunity for developers," he added.
Elop said that Meego devices will ship this year to take advantage of Qt, a cross-platform developer framework. But he added that Nokia has no plans to put Qt on Windows Phone. "It would confuse developers and consumers," he said.
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iPad to lead 400% surge in NAND flash use this year

12.3 exabytes of NAND flash expected to ship by 2014
Apple's iPad is leading an almost five-fold surge in NAND flash memory use this year as consumers gobble up tablets in increasing numbers, according to a report released today by HIS iSuppli.
The consumption of NAND flash memory chips, which are used to build solid-state drives (SSDs) used in mobile devices, is expected to soar to 2.3 billion gigabytes (2.3 exabytes) this year, up a 382.4% from 476.8 million gigabytes (or 476.8 petabytes) in 2010.
According to iSuppli, shipments of NAND for tablets shows no sign of slowing down, eventually hitting 12.3 exabytes of capacity shipped by 2014.
When measured against the total supply of NAND flash, memory in tablets will represent 11.8% of the supply this year, up from a 4.3% in 2010. By 2014, tablet memory will represent 16% of all NAND flash.
Ultimately, the NAND landscape appears to favor entertainment-focused tablets, like the iPad, over computing-oriented models that will soon be released using a Windows/Intel platform, iSuppli indicated. The high-density requirements for the latter category of tablets will mean higher prices for the devices, which could deter buyers.
Conversely, tablet makers will be pressured to keep prices down, which could serve to limit the amount of flash memory in each unit.
"The bump in NAND consumption among tablets is likely to come from devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad as well as a raft of tablet devices powered by the rival Android operating system expected to hit the market this year," said Dee Nguyen, analyst for memory and storage at HIS iSuppli. "Together, the iPad and Android-based tablets form one strand of the tablet experience offered by manufacturers -- one centering on Internet-based media consumption. For such tablets, internal storage capacity is less an issue because the devices are intended to provide entertainment, not a full PC computing experience."
According to iSuppli, average flash memory densities will range from 27.1GB for non-iPad slates to 41.5GB in the iPad. Currently, NAND flash costs about $1.20 per gigabyte.
While still an order of magnitude more expensive than hard disk drives, solid-state storage is taking over the market in mobile devices, from smart phones to ultra-portable laptops, because of its greater performance and durability.
Soon there will be a second surge in tablet sales led by new products based on Windows/Intel platform. Those tablets will be sold by the likes of Lenovo, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard and will have solid-state storage with capacities ranging from 32GB to 64GB, Nguyen said.
The expected high volume of iPad and Android tablet sales will end up contributing significantly to NAND consumption by 2012, HIS iSuppli said.
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Google offers jobs to Nokia employees

Google seems all set to welcome with open arms employees of Nokia who are in the firing line, thus adding a new dimension to the new battle that started with the mobile major joining hands with Google's arch rival Microsoft.

Though there is no official confirmation from the search engine giant yet, one of its leading recruiter has tweeted Nokia software engineers are welcome to apply.

"Any Nokia software engineers need a job? We're hiring: www.google.com/jobs," read the tweet posted by Google EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) recruiter Aidan Biggins.

The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia plans to significantly cut jobs as it transitions to a new strategy involving a partnership with software giant Microsoft, its chief executive had said on Friday.

"There will be substantial reductions in employment in various locations around the world and that too will affect Finland," Stephen Elop told reporters in London after the company announced major shake-up in the face of intense competition.

"We don't have any specific comments about who and what level of people will be hit," he had added in a webcast. In October 2010, the company had announced 1,800 job cuts.

Nokia had last week said it is adopting Microsoft's mobile phone platform as its primary operating system. Seemingly commenting on which Google vice-president of engineering Vic Gundotra, had commented via Twitter, "Two turkeys don't make an eagle."

Interestingly, he parroted what Nokia EVP Anssi Vanjoki had said in 2005 on BenQ buying Siemens's handset business to take on the might (then) of Nokia.
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Google Fights against Spam

During this time, google search engine accused of being a nest for spam that lies in their ads. The cyber criminals managed to get their spam because spam is paired using a free pass. This of course is directly contradicted by the California-based company. Not only denied a place spam, Google promised to fight against all spam hiding through ads posted on their services. Google in its attitude will be dealing mainly with the fields of content that was shallow, and of low quality.
Reported by PC Magazine, tactical step taken by Google is to launch two major algorithmic changes, to combat the fields of content that includes spam.
Google will take action against sites that violated the guidelines of our quality standards, explained Matt Cutts from Google. Some researchers found a number of spammers has proven to utilize the search engine giant Google as a tool to send spam to avoid tracking installed email filter.
Based on the latest reports MessageLa, found the number of blocked websites increased approximately 91 percent, from 2076 sites in June, and approximately 3968 in July, with the largest percentage of the website is exposed to SQL injection attacks.
Most of the spam that is found will be automatically downloaded by bringing a sort of anti-spyware program Antivirus XP 2008. Programs that look genuine but fake ask the user to buy a license.
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GM recalls 2,800 imported cars in China: Report

Shanghai General Motors is to recall 2,806 imported Cadillacs in China to repair faulty suspension , state media said Monday, citing a government statement.

The recall, due to begin on March 21, includes models of the Cadillac CTS produced between June 16, 2008 and April 20, 2009, the government's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its website, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The statement said the company would repair or replace rear suspension track bars of the recalled vehicles because some nuts on the bars are likely to loosen and cause worn screw threads.

This could lead to a loosened track bar under extreme conditions, which is unsafe when travelling fast, it said.

China's booming market has become increasingly important to US auto giant General Motors as demand weakens in the States. China, where GM's international operations are now based, overtook the US as the world's biggest auto market in 2009.

GM has several joint ventures in China including Shanghai General Motors, a partnership with China's largest auto maker SAIC Motor.

GM said on Wednesday last week its sales in China jumped 22.3 percent year-on-year in January to set a new monthly record.
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