WebGL

When it comes to the competition between Flash and Web technologies, the latter camp has two big new allies in the online gaming industry: Zynga and Disney.

Zynga today mostly uses Adobe Systems' Flash technology as a foundation for its widely played CityVille and FarmVille online games. But an acquisition of a German company last fall is paving the way for a new foundation using technology that uses a browser, not a browser plug-in.

Zynga joined the World Wide Web consortium this week and will share the fruits of its Web-based gaming experience, said Paul Bakaus, chief technology officer of … Read more

Along with the major Android news from Mountain View, Calif., this week, Google has pushed version 9 of Chrome out of the beta nest. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Chrome 9 stable marks the spread of WebGL support, debuts Google Instant in stable Chrome's search/location bar, and opens the Chrome Web Store for Chrome-based apps to all users.

WebGL support has been available to Chrome users in the dev and beta channels for some time now. What it means for people on the stable branch is that they will now be able to check out 3D animations … Read more

Improved desktop-to-mobile synchronization and hardware acceleration powered by WebGL are the hallmarks of Mozilla's latest Firefox 4 beta, which the company plans to release later today for desktops and mobile devices.

Firefox 4 beta 8, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, isn't expected to make any sweeping changes to the browser, instead focusing on improving already-included features. Meanwhile, not much is known at this time about what will be included in the simultaneous release of Firefox Mobile 4 beta 3 for Android and Maemo, although CNET has been able to confirm that the update will contain improvements to the … Read more

Mozilla and Microsoft have been racing to see which will be the first to release a production-quality browser with hardware-accelerated graphics, but at the current rate, it could be Google's Chrome 9 that crosses the finish line first.

Google likely will be issuing Chrome 9 in beta form soon. It had been planned for Tuesday, but Anthony LaForge, a Chrome technical program manager, pushed it back. "The crash rate [of] 400 crashes per million page loads on the browser is simply too high," he said in a mailing list message

Hardware acceleration isn't a simple either-or … Read more

The Web is the next vanguard for 3D graphics, but programmers who want to embrace the new dimension next year will have to place a bet on one of two competing technologies: Flash or WebGL.

For years, Adobe Systems' Flash software has been the way to bring graphical games like Crush the Castle, Bloons, Desktop Tower Defense, or Stunt Bike Pro to the Web.

But at the same time, Web standards advocates have toiled to build such technology into the Web itself and not rely on the proprietary and sometimes insecure Flash Player plug-in. That work following in Adobe's … Read more

Khronos Group, the industry consortium that develops OpenGL, announced a new version of the graphics interface on Monday that it hopes will compete better with Microsoft's DirectX--and that could get a boost from 3D Web technology.

OpenGL 4.1, released just a few months after OpenGL 4.0, is an interface that programs can use to tap directly into a variety of graphics hardware. It's the 3D interface of choice for Mac OS X, Linux, and many 3D design applications, but when it comes to the biggest consumer market, games, DirectX rules the roost.

OpenGL 4.1 adds … Read more

In a move that could keep ties with online games programmers strong, Adobe Systems is adding 3D graphics support to a coming version of its widely used browser plug-in.

The move is an important advancement for Flash, a software foundation that eases programmers' difficulties with incompatibilities among various operating systems and browsers. And it'll come none too soon: Flash is under siege by a host of Web standards, and part of that work focuses on 3D Web graphics.

The 3D plans came to light on an agenda for the Adobe Max conference in October. "Join Sebastian Marketsmueller, Adobe … Read more

Google has partly scrapped a browser plug-in project called O3D, instead throwing its full weight behind a 3D Web graphics technology called WebGL that got its start at Mozilla.

The move, first reported by CNET, has the potential to simplify the effort to bring hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the Web, an idea that has appeal to those trying to refashion it as a foundation for applications such as games. However, it also means the functioning--if experimental--O3D technology is going back to the drawing board for a while.

The overall idea of O3D, a higher-level interface than the 3D nuts and … Read more

Google on Monday augmented Google Maps with a feature called Earth view that brings the Google Earth software's 3D perspective to the Web browser.

Earth view is available through the installation of a browser plug-in Google originally issued in 2008. With it, people can see the contours of world--canyons and mountains, most dramatically--using the Google Earth fly-through interface.

Places with 3D building models look more interesting from ground level, but if your suburb hasn't received that treatment, the perspective mismatch can be a bit awkward when viewing the scene from an oblique angle farther from perpendicular.

You can … Read more