Upon doing some research today, I found a new element that’s worked its way into the HTML5 spec: the <device> tag. What this will allow web developers to do is have a standard way of using a device on the user’s computer (like a webcam or microphone).

What could this mean? The obvious one is video-chat capabilities without Flash, but I’m seeing this as a huge bridge between the desktop world and the web world. Just imagine: Flickr could upload pictures directly from your camera without any extra software, or browser games could use your joysticks natively. If this specification goes through, we could be looking at a dramatically different web.

This is a 30-minute documentary about the patent process and how it applies to software. It’s a remarkably complicated and important issue, and it does a good job of explaining it understandable terms. Even if you’re not into computer science, this is an important issue that affects many aspects of technological progress.

So Towel Day has come to an end. I listened to a couple episodes of the original radio show. I carried around a towel all day.

So long, and thanks for all the fish, Mr. Adams.

Tomorrow is Towel Day (Wikipedia article), a celebration of the life and humor of the esteemed Douglas Adams. For those who don’t know, Douglas Adams was the writer of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show (which eventually got turned into a book, which was turned into a movie that wasn’t quite as clever) and was a frequent contributor to the BBC show Doctor Who. He passed away on 2001-05-11. Tomorrow is the tenth celebration of Towel Day, a tradition which started two weeks after his death.

So bring a towel, the most useful thing in the universe, with you tomorrow, and celebrate a great man. And DON’T PANIC.