Why is HTML5 gaining popularity in the mobile industry?

Many of you may know about HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), it’s the programming language that’s used to build websites. It basically provides a base for web design and integrates with other languages such as CSS, JavaScript, XML, Flash, Perl and many others to create the many websites you know and love. In that sense, HTML5 is the fifth revision of the HTML standard. The upgrade adds many features and improvements such as speed, animations and HD video playback among many others. So now you must be thinking, if it’s a web designing standard, why have you been hearing so much about it in the mobile industry? Well the answer is simple, one of the biggest advantages of HTML5 is that it allows you to create web apps (a combination of animations, vector graphics, video and other features with an ordinary html layout to allow apps to be created within browsers). Would you like an example, take a look at Facebook or twitter’s website from within your mobile’s browser, that is a web app. Web apps started gaining popularity when iOS had the feature to bookmark a page directly to your home screen, although those weren’t necessarily web apps, they paved the way for engineers to get interested in web apps. However a pivotal moment for web apps came in late 2011 and early 2012, Microsoft announced that applications built for the windows 8 and windows phone store could be based on HTML5. A little later on, RIM announced that blackberry 10 would feature full HTML 5 integration for app development and so the trend continued. Before too long Mozilla announced that Firefox OS would be entirely html 5 based and Canonical announced that Ubuntu and more recently Ubuntu Phone would feature web app integration directly into the operating system.

Now there are disadvantages to web apps and HTML 5, such as the fact that web apps are noticeably slower than native apps and lack the performance since they can’t take full advantage of the phone’s processing power. But from a developer’s standpoint, there are many reasons why developing an app in HTML5 can be a huge advantage. HTML is a relatively easy language to learn, I can tell you this from experience. Not much time or effort goes into learning HTML and most programmers out there probably started off learning HTML. So it’s already widely accepted. HTML is platform independent, it works on mostly all platforms under the sun, such as this means that developers can use the same code to develop apps for Ubuntu and Firefox OS. They don’t have to learn another language to make their app available on another platform. This is the main problem you see today, this is the reason many of your favourite iOS apps don’t come to android and vice versa, it’s because they’re platform dependant. So by using HTML5, it’s less of a hassle for developers to create apps for different platforms. By being able to develop easily for all the different platforms, developers can reach a much wider target audience and user base, as more people will have access to their application. The higher the user base, the higher the market share and market growth and the higher the market share the higher the scope for profits. That settles the reason people sell their apps in the first place, to make profits! Even if it’s a free app, they use advertisements to generate revenue. There’s a popular saying in the Silicon Valley, “If you’re not paying for the service, you probably are the service”. HTML 5 can also prove to be an advantage in the long run and for consumer satisfaction because updates can be pushed out much easier and automatically, no need to wait for it to be authorized by the “App Store” and no need for users to go and manually download the update. Everything is done automatically.

There are many other minor advantages to using HTML 5 such as the easy access to data on other web pages, etc. however the main benefits have already been highlighted. So what do you think? Do you feel HTML 5 is the future of mobile app development or is it just a passing phase? Feel free to sound of in the comments below and till next time folks,

Stay Snazzy!




Why I think Facebook messenger has the potential to be a whatsapp killer.

If you haven’t heard, facebook recently launched a new feature within their messenger app for android that allows users to communicate with others by using just their mobile numbers, without the need of a facebook account, similar to other services such as whatsapp and viber. There are many other services similar to this that have tried to “kill” whatsapp but none of them have really succeeded. However, I believe there’s a couple of things that facebook has that can prove to be extremely useful.

1. Wide User Base

Let’s be honest? Who doesn’t have facebook? granted I only have 30% of my real life friends on my facebook friends list, but that’s because I’m very selective of the people I accept requests from. But think about it, with the amount of people already using facebook, you wouldn’t have to keep forcing people to download whatsapp and stuff, they would already have am account, thus making it hassle free. And not to mention it’ll make your contacts look more organized with their facebook display pictures and contact info, or maybe that’s just for those with digital OCD such as myself.

2. Desktop Chat

don’t you just hate it when you’re in a conversation with someone and your battery dies? how about if you need to message someone and your phone is not with you? With whatsapp there wasn’t anything you could do about it, but with facebook messenger you can continue that conversation from your desktop, tablet or anything else, since basically every device is a facebook device now days, even some shitty feature phones!

Well we’ve gone through the good, now on to the bad. It isn’t a secret that people aren’t really big fans of anything that has the name “facebook” in them now days, and that’s what I believe will cause less people to adapt the service. They could go ahead and just drop the facebook, making it just messenger, it’s a relatively small change but a psychological one at that. There are many other things they could do to get people onboard, I personally have been one to criticize facebook and what they do, but there’s something about this app that seems to be promising, guess we’ll just have to wait and watch.

Awesomely Awesome Geek Stuff!

Well I was browsing the interwebs today looking to see what kind of geeky stuff was sold on there. Not to my dismay, I found some awesomely wacky and useful stuff. Here’s a few of my favorite ranging from the relatively inexpensive to the majorly expensive. For prices and where to buy it, click on the name of the product and it will take you to the site!

Utility 6 – in – 1 tool

maybe this isn’t really that interesting, but it did catch my eye. Why you ask? well because exams are ending and I’m going to be focusing on my youtube videos which means, I need an unboxing knife! Also this has a bottle opener, which means I’ll never have to try (and fail at) opening a beer bottle on the table!

Polluted Toxic Waste Glasses

Doesn’t this look beastly? Imagine drinking absinthe in that! okay maybe not absinthe, but anything is bound to look cool in that, plus it’ll suit the theme awesomely when you watch Breaking Bad

DrinkLip Portable cupholder

I can’t stress how badly I need one of these, they would be so awesome! However they would make my coaster collection irrelevant.. (It’s coming out quite well actually, thanks for asking!)

Plug Hub

yet another something that I really need, all my cables are in a mess! I could probably do with 5 of these, yes parents that’s a hint.

Blade Runner Style LED Umbrella 

Okay this may not be that useful, but it’s darn cool! Actually come to think of it it’s rainy season in Jakarta, so it is quite useful after all!


My favourite out of all the items on this list, doesn’t it look beastly??? And it moves around in sync with any music you’re playing and with your voice!

Batman Money Clip

this just looks gorgeous does it not? does it not? yes it does!

Star Wars Lightsaber Desk Lamp

I first saw this on iJustine’s instagram and must admit it caught my eye, it brings quite an orgasmic ambiance to the table *ba dum tiss*

USB Super 16 Port Hub

Is there anything more to say besides yes? okay, yes yes yes yes yes yes  yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. That’s 16 yes’s, one for each port. If only it looked sexier, matte black anyone?

Game of Thrones LIFESIZED Throne

Is your mouth still open? jaw still dropped? yeah, don’t plan on trying to pick it up anytime soon. What you see is true, and no today is not the 1st of april, this is it. yeah, I know right? wow.

Best Of Windows 8 Hardware – Tablets / Convertibles

With Windows 8 being launched today, a whole slew of devices or computers were launched over the past year to complement it. here’s a list of my favourite tablets, with a list on desktops and laptops coming soon.

1. Dell XPS Duo 12

pros: innovative design, good specifications, ultrabook like form factor

cons: expensive ($1,200) (still cheaper than certain macbook air’s and better IMO)

2. HP Envy x2

pros: looks like a laptop but is also a tablet, brilliant battery life

cons: still unsure for now, will update if any are found

3. Asus Vivo Tab

Just as you expect it to be, comes in RT and Normal variants.

4. Samsung ATIV Smart PC

comes with an S-Pen for galaxy note like functionality!

5. Dell XPS 10

Trailer Review: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU IN 3D (read this in 6 months)


Okay, let’s get down to business…

The first and second movie were directed by Eric Darnell and Tim McGrath. For this latest installment, McGrath will not be joining Darnell in the directors seat, instead Conrad Vernon will take his place. Vernon worked as a creative consultant for the first Madagascar movie, and has previously directed Monsters vs Aliens.

The storyline: The gang arrives in Monte Carlo to find the penguins. Over there they cause a lot of ruckus thus Scary Cop Lady is called upon to catch them. Now, they’re hiding from the law and have apparently made the ‘Europe’s Most Wanted’ list (I guess Inspector Clouseau has caught all the actual criminals – please don’t make a Pink Panther 3). Running, as you can imagine, gets pretty tiring so they decide to lay low for a while and join a circus!

The Voices: Don’t tell me you’ve actually forgotten? Let me tell you anyway,

BEN STILLER. AS ALEX. *crowds cheering* THE LIIIIOOOONNNNN. *crowds cheering*

Releasing on June 8, 2012 (so far :o). Go watch the trailer, lots of little laughs here in there. Has the same charm as the other two movies and of course contains our favorite song and the Madagascar trademark: I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT. he likes to move it move it, she likes to move it move it, they like to move it move it, WE LIKE TO, MOVE IT!!

P.S: If you guys recall in the last movie, Melman final giraffed-up and told Gloria how he felt about her. I’m hoping they actually follow-up on this instead of pretending like it never happened. ALSO, it’s been 6 years since the first Madagascar movie?! Wow. Kind of just makes you feel old but still young at heart huh 🙂

Well I’ll be damned


Well as the heading says, I’ll be damned. The blackberry bold 9900 a.k.a touchbold launched today in indonesia, and from the press release, it’s clear we know more about the phone than they do, as they are still calling it the dakota, which was just it’s development nickname. There’s no official statement of documentation from RIM themselves where the 9900 is stated as the Dakota, but that dosent take away the fact that this is one sweet device, now it may not be the phone that pulls me away from rule #7 of my life (all blackberries suck!) but the new device coming from RIM codenamed the “bb colt” might just catch my eye. The reason? Its gonna be running QNX! now I may have posted in the past of my dissatisfaction and disappointment in the abysmal playbook, well the truth is after using it a couple of times, the device is starting to grow on me, and I actually really like it, the video playback is just superb, even in comparison to the iPad 2, now even though I don’t really like tablets and find them useless in comparison to an ultraportable PC (samsung series 9, MacBook Air), the whole touch interface could be a need to some people.

Back to the 9900, it feels quite solid and responsive but there’s just one thing that might draw consumers back, it’s 9 million (IDR) wassup with that??? I’d rather get the HTC sensation which runs gingerbread and runs on a dual core snapdragon 1.2GHz SoC.

What do you think? Will you be pickin up a bold for Nearly double the price of a high end android?