Kiran Upadhyay

While the bulk of the buzz about HTML5 still seems to be focused on the video tag, there are plenty of other awesome developments cropping up. Things like drag-and-drop attachments in GMail and all those crazy Internet Explorer 9 Test Drive samples. Then there's the work of developer Joe Huckaby . Joe has taken images created by graphic artist Mark Ferrari to produce some incredibly cool, animated retro gaming images using HTML 5's canvas element to reproduce an effect called color cycling . While the demos themselves are impressive, equally as impressive is the fact that they work extremely well on darn near any HTML5-compatible browser -- including mobile Safari. Beginning HTML5 and CSS3: Next Generation Web Standards You can view Joe's demos on this page -- my favorite is the one above, Water City Gates.

Google has had a "dictionary lookup" feature for a while now -- all you had to do was slap define: before your search term. But they've now made it better, and mostly, made it easier for people to find it: Just search for a "difficult" word, and a definition would pop up as the first result, with quick links to some dictionaries. What's interesting is that you don't get an instant definition for every word you search for as a single word: it's just the "big words". I would love to see the algorithm they use for deciding when to pop up a definition and when to stay mum.   Google Nexus One Unlocked Phone

Google Operating System reports that Google is testing a feature for signing in using multiple accounts. While the post itself has a screenshot (which you can see above), it does not include any instructions on how to enable this functionality. This is obviously a limited or closed-beta test; the question is just how limited it is. This functionality is not just "useful" - it is often vital. I have one account tied into an AdWords account, another account tied into Analytics, and yet a third Apps account. Merging them is impossible, especially as long as Google Apps doesn't support Reader. Having a way to sign into all three at the same time from the same browser would certainly make things less irritating.

One of the things my team has been working on has been a new view engine option for ASP.NET. ASP.NET MVC has always supported the concept of “view engines” – which are the pluggable modules that implement different template syntax options.  The “default” view engine for ASP.NET MVC today uses the same .aspx/.ascx/.master file templates as ASP.NET Web Forms.  Other popular ASP.NET MVC view engines used today include Spark and NHaml . The new view-engine option we’ve been working on is optimized around HTML generation using a code-focused templating approach. The codename for this new view engine is “Razor”, and we’ll be shipping the first public beta of it shortly. Design Goals We had several design goals in mind as we prototyped and evaluated “Razor”: Compact, Expressive, and Fluid : Razor minimizes the number of characters and keystrokes required in a file, and enables a fast, fluid coding workflow. Unlike most template syntaxes...

Almost all of us listen to music. We listen at home, while working, on the subway, while driving, while running. Yet many of us don’t think of music as much more than entertainment. Did you know that you can use music as a tool? With the right music, you can increase effectiveness, create better stuff more easily, get into your creative zone quickly and kick-start a productive day. Add music to your workflow for better results. This isn’t a recent development inspired by the iPod generation. People have been using music as a tool for thousands of years — ever since humans started hitting sticks against rocks. Indigenous peoples used music in rituals and ceremonies, drummers prepared warriors for battles, and significant life events (like weddings and funerals) are still marked with special music. (Image by renneville ) So, how do you actually use music to increase creativity, productivity and effectiveness? Let’s consider a couple of ways of adding music to your work...