Greetings! In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, Microsoft launched the 9th version of Internet Explorer (IE9) on Wednesday. Tanagram was honored to participate in that event by creating a “demo” site that illustrates the capabilities the new browser brings to us. Before we go into that awesomeness, I wanted to post something about the prevalent skepticism that I encountered while speaking with the Press.
Why would anyone be skeptical about the launch of IE9 you ask? Well, let’s just say Microsoft is trying to recover from a string of disappointing browser releases. With IE6 at the top of the most-hated browsers of all time, (at least by developers), Microsoft IE7 and IE8 were improvements, but still failed to overcome the stigma created by IE6. Despite the clamoring of the developer community Microsoft failed to hear that we wanted a browser that unconditionally supported W3C code standards and didn’t require workarounds or the use of Microsoft proprietary markup to achieve sustainable results.
I should say that I don’t speak for Microsoft, I am not (you can decide for yourself) biased by the opportunity to work with them. This post is intended to place them in a critical and honest light. A light that I believe they would appreciate. While I was wandering the event floor, I had an opportunity to talk to product managers, coders, and even senior leadership on the Internet Explorer team and the one message that I heard over and over is, “we are going to make this right, this release is for developers and users.” Having worked for 4 months with alpha and beta builds of IE9, I can tell you that this release isn’t perfect, but the overall improvement is huge. Here’s how:
Relinquished “ownership” of the web
Dear all, Microsoft got your message. They heard that you are tired of them trying to “lead” the web development space with proprietary markup and software platforms that complicate cross-browser web development and provide zero transparency with regards to the machinations running beneath the surface. For the launch of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft funded (not bribed!) the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to speed the ratification of many key elements coming in the new HTML5 specifications. The key here is that Microsoft has taken steps not to steer, but to encourage development of standards that will make the web better for all of us. Not to put the W3C in a bad light, but they aren’t the fastest group when it comes to ratifying new standards (sheesh). This is probably a good thing. To me, this step means Microsoft is learning to play well with others. You can draw your own conclusions.
Really, really good hardware acceleration
One of the outcomes of Microsoft’s involvement in the standards ratification was the approval of the SVG and Canvas element. These are two of the primary elements used to create the gorgeous animations and interaction that are typically associated with Adobe Flash, and Microsoft Silverlight applications. What happened next was really really beautiful. Microsoft has the best people on the planet when it comes to software compiling (my opinion) and that’s why Visual Studio dominates the software development space. Microsoft took what I call their code-compiler-rocket-scientists and had them build a compiler into IE9. Not just any compiler, this particular compiler takes the reams of JavaScript and HTML 5 we create and smashes into a binary that runs in the super fastest parts of your computer. The nitrous-oxide injection occurs when the compiled binary hits the GPU (the computer that lives on your graphics card) and holy wow is it fast! I had an excellent video of Chrome and IE9 (shot myself) running the same application simultaneously and how Chrome was turtling away while IE was enjoying an “Arnold Palmer” (while juggling) at the finish line, but I left my phone on the plane and … well you get it. I invite you to test out the performance yourselves here. Please review the code for the test drive sites too. You’ll find no sneaky IE9 tunings, just clean HTML5. I want to make one more point here and that is to acknowledge Apple has been hardware accelerating for 5-ish years now with Safari and Quartz but do not currently have Canvas or SVG acceleration. Firefox also has acceleration but has, for some reason, disabled it in the current release of their browser. Likely what you will see is both browsers chasing Microsoft with rapid updates to provide the same acceleration. Yay! We all win. Thanks Microsoft.
Open Code
Yup, no hiding anymore. This is the new web. If you want to know how a particular HTML5 site runs, right-click and save-as my friend. IE9 will download all of the JavaScript and JSON files used by the app for your review. This is a game-changer. Think about all of the folks out there who built their businesses with proprietary code. Gone. Sure you can obfuscate the code, sure you don’t have to use HTML5 but given that HTML5 can and does solve the need for rich user experiences and is community defined, I believe it won’t take long for developers to move away from closed platforms like Flash and Silverlight. That’s where I’m spending my next dollar for sure. Part of me does question why Microsoft has seemingly doomed their own Silverlight platform but I’m sure they have a plan…
So what does this mean? Microsoft, to me, is sending a message to us. They are saying the web is not about proprietary code, it’s about service and relationships. We all want rich experiences, and it’s time they got out of the way and instead helped make them happen. IE9′s minimal chrome (no extra junk), pinning (you can pin a site to your task bar), lightning-fast, built-in debugging tools, new malvertising protection, and overall support for HTML5, CSS3 is a win for all of us.
Here is a link to the application we built for the demo: www.skybeautiful.com My next post will talk about this in detail.
This is a screencam of Tim playing with a Photosynth of a building (The Idaho Capital renovation). It’s a three dimensional (3D) model generated by photos of the building that were stitched together using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology. It’s spectacular stuff with huge implications. Here is a web version of the Taj Mahal. Enjoy!
If you have ever watched a NFL broadcast you’ve seen Riddell’s logo on the grill of just about every pro-player’s helmet that screams across the screen. Riddell, a Chicago institution and Easton Bell Sports subsidiary, makes the best helmets in the industry. Their lifesaving concussion-reduction technology is available as an option on helmets for youth players all the way up to their professional models. If you haven’t seen the Revolution Speed Helmet, you should check it out, it’s amazing. My kids will definitely wear Revo Speeds if they choose to play football. They are statistically proven.
Tanagram has been working with Riddell for several years helping them evolve their marketing and sales presence on the web and this launch marks a key point in their evolution roadmap. E-commerce has been implemented using SAP’s shopping cart and while we’re not huge fans of the SAP product, it works pretty darned well. The short story is you can now buy Riddell products online and have them shipped to your home. WOOT!! As the site continues to mature, advanced metrics are being measured and SEO is being implemented. In the near future we will be expanding Riddell’s online community to do some really amazing things that will be meaningful to those who adore football.
We had a blast putting this site together using some cutting edge technologies including Adobe AS3, Papervision, and the not-so-cutting edge WordPress CMS engine.
Tanagram would like to thank the brilliant folks at Riddell for being such great partners. This site reflects the hard work invested by the entire team. You guys rock!
This site is beautiful not because it is user centric, not because it is ornate or flashy (pun intended) but because it creates a compelling environment for the user to play and experience the song multimodally. I found it nearly impossible to not listen to the entire song just because I was so captivated by the simple visual aesthetic and interaction. I think this site reminds us that some of the most memorable interactions are presented in the simplest of gestures. Nice job to http://www.herraizsoto.com, http://www.badabing.es, and http://www.zumbakamera.com. We invite you to explore their portfolios for further treats. Great work!!!
If you do nothing else today spend 5 minutes and go to this site. You’ll need a printer, a pdf viewing application, a computer with a webcam (new Macs come with these by default), and a web browser with Flash 10 installed (you will get a prompt to install if you don’t have it).
Click on the “Launch Turbine” or “Launch Solar” link and permit Flash to access your camera (you’ll get a dialog box)
Hold up the printed PDF so it shows up in your camera view and prepare to be amazed.
This demo begins to show the promise of Augmented Reality on embedded display technology. What I mean is as displays get cheaper it will be more common for them to be placed in public or even private areas for your benefit. Imagine dressing room mirrors that can show you what you will look like without changing cloths. Imagine wearing digital accessories visible only to those who view you through a screen or through a Head Mounted Display (HMD). The possibilities are endless as we start to embed virtual objects in our reality.
Note: Tanagram has been awarded (we’re in the ‘negotiation’ phase) a grant to design a user interface concept for Augmented Reality. More on that soon!
Robert doesn’t know it but he’s inspired a recent UI project over here. We’re really into exploring dimensionality and particle physics and Robert makes both so very beautiful. Of course we can’t share what we are working on yet, but maybe you’ll see it soon. Maybe.
It’s Monday and after being inundated by political talking points and talks of our further receding economy, we think it’s time to play. While HelloSourSally is most definitely a viral marketing piece, it’s whimsical interaction and childlike experience make all the bad monsters go away. Enjoy!
During a recent digital expedition we stumbled across this gem. The folks at Georgia Tech are using augmented reality and behavioral modeling to build an interactive scenario where the human must resolve a conflict between a virtual married couple. The result is compelling and entertaining. So much so that the complexity of the system is almost transparent. Now they need to get their engineering students assigned to miniaturize the platform. You won’t find many people willing to wear a laptop on their back.
We, the city of big shoulders, enjoyed more than 10 inches of rain this weekend. It was a gift from our deadbeat friend Ike (so like him to stop by uninvited…). In past posts I’ve talked about how we as a society still have not realized the full potential of our coupling with Digital and unfortunately this story adds further proof.
The rains started falling sometime Friday night. By noon the next day, our basement carpet was soaked by water that was coming in through the outside walls. I, in my typical “I’m on a mission” manner, went out to Home Depot to purchase a Wet/Dry Vac and a sump pump. To my dismay, Home Depot was enjoying a run on all things flood related. People were fighting for bags of leveling sand. There were no vacs or pumps left in stock.
So I think to myself, “Here’s where we test Digital!” To maximize my effectiveness, I logged onto consumer reports on my iPhone (the site works well except for Flash callouts) and found out who made the best Wet/Dry vac for the money. It turns out it was Sears / Craftsman. So off to Sears.com I went. (I’m doing this all in my idling minivan in the Home depot parking lot). I was able to determine that Sears did have the model I sought in stock at a location that was 6 miles away. Yay Digital, I’m now more informed than the hordes of shelf stormers rampaging through Lowe’s down the street. Unfortunately this is where Digital falls down. Sears.com crashed my iPhone before I could purchase the equipment online. I was attempting to purchase the items with in-store-pickup because Digital (Sears really) promised me a special entrance intended for the Digital elite and a dedicated attendant to help me load my minivan. No such luck, however. Digital failed me again when the online store lookup became unavailable. Imagine this drama unfolding at slow-mo EDGE network speeds…painful. I decided to ditch Sears.com and try 411. Perhaps AT&T’s Digital could help? The number the system gave me (even with operator assistance) was a fax line. Not willing to give up I had called my wife, had her look up the store phone number online and read it to me and then called them directly. About halfway through the call with my wife, I start driving to the Sears location hoping to get one of the last items before the hordes pillage the entire place. I dial the number she reads me and I get a computer (hello Digital) telling me that they are experiences call problems and to call back another time. I call three more times and get the same thing.
When I finally get to the store, the hordes are just showing up. The store manager has got all of the pumps and vacs they have in stock and out on dollies ready for the mayhem. I grab my stuff and get in the line for checkout (starting to get long). When it’s my turn to pay I mention that the phone system is having problems and the register clerk tells me that it’s not the phone system it’s that there are only 4 people in this department and they are being overwhelmed by calls for vacs and pumps so they stopped answering the phone.
It’s clear that natural disasters stress all systems, especially digital. It’s also clear that Digital is still too brittle to be relied upon and is only providing marginal benefit when it works. I won on Saturday, but not without an extreme amount of effort. We at Tanagram are continuing our quest to make this better, but we need your help. Please?
With IE6 at the top of the most-hated browsers of all time, (at least by developers), Microsoft IE7 and IE8 were improvements, but still failed to overcome the stigma created by IE6. Despite the clamoring of the developer community Microsoft failed to hear that we wanted a browser that unconditionally supported W3C code standards and didn’t require workarounds or the use of Microsoft proprietary markup to achieve sustainable results. 
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