Check.in Launches To The Public

What you need to know:
• Check.in is an HTML5 app built by location veteran Brightkite to cute check-in fatigue.
• There are about a dozen location based networks you can check in to right now, and Check.in is looking to be the one check in to rule them all.
• Launches with Foursquare, Brightkite, and three networks in experimental mode: Gowalla, TriOut, and Whrrl 
• Problem is still that there isn't one unified database of places, each service has its own. All Check.in does is coss check and do its best to match.
• Works on iPhone, Android, iPad, and any other HTML5 capable browser.

I've been using Check.in in closed beta for quite some time, and I use it quite rarely and only when I remember. Most often it's because of the simple fact that half the time it can't find me on one of the services it offers. Whether it's Brightkite or Gowalla, it just has trouble actually hitting all (then) three services it incorporates. Foursquare usually worked just fine, but at that point I might as well just use the apps. This isn't a problem with Check.in, it's an inherent problem with the services. There needs to be one central database of places, but it hasn't happened yet. What do you think? Have you tried it out? Let us know in the comments!

Google Voice Pwns App Store, Offers HTML5 Webapp

Google has finally leapfrogged Apple's arbitrary app store approval process and has put out an HTML5-based rich webapp for use on the iPhone (and Palm's WebOS, and any other HTML5-capable mobile browser you can think of). Obviously, it suffers from some of the same shortcomings that any other webapp might on a mobile device. Just like the GMail webapp, it accesses your GMail contacts, not your iPhone's, so you'll need to sync to Google if you want to use it primarily.

It also does come with improvements, though. Rather than calling your phone first, then connecting you to the call recipient like GV Mobile, it calls directly through one of Google's 406 numbers they have been assigning to contacts without a Google Voice number. Obviously, that's about as far as it goes for a webapp, but if you're an iPhone (or Pre, or Pixi, etc...) user, head to m.google.com/voice to check it out.

Photos via Gizmodo

One more photo after the jump.

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YouTube and Vimeo Now Sporting HTML5

Video behemoth YouTube and the creative-focused Vimeo are now both sporting HTML5. HTML5 enables browsers to render video without needing a plugin. As of right now, in order to render Flash or Silverlight video users need to install a separate plugin in order for it to work. With HTML5, the browser can treat video just as it if were any other .jpg. HTML5 only works in Webkit-based browsers (Safari, Chrome, Camino, etc...), so it won't work in Firefox.

But the beauty here is that most mobile browsers are Webkit-based. In fact, YouTube has been using HTML5 to render videos on the iPhone platform since launch. So, if we have the proof of concept, why hasn't HTML5 been more widely adopted yet? Well, in order to switch to HTML5, services have to give up some features that are built in to Flash right now, like fullscreen viewing. Both YouTube and Vimeo suffer from the same shortcomings of HTML5 video right now, but both are working on implementations for all the features missing.

If more video services continue to follow in the vein of these two, and adopt HTML5 as a viewing option (not the standard, more choices always = better), then there's a good chance we may never have to worry about Flash on a mobile device again, assuming the features can be brought back up to par.

The feature is in YouTube's testtube for right now, so if you want to try it out, you can head here to enable it.