20% of the market sound like a lot but on other hand this number will inevitably become smaller and smaller every month. Many designers have moved to liquid design that gives resolutions-independent feeling, full screen browsing “friendly” and potentially makes it easier to accommodate higher resolutions in the future.

Still we should probably stat with 1024×768 for a little longer and here is why:

• About 76 % of users don’t browse using full screen mode. They simultaneously chat, emil, access widgets.
• Users that have 1600×1200 and higher resolution, usually don’t used full screen and instead have multiple windows / websites open, which is more productive.
• 20% is still a significant piece of the market that should not be ignored.

That being said one needs to take into account user audience demographics. Designing for b2b website for IT industry that routinely uses latest generation of computers and monitors, it would be save to go one step  up and optimize a site for 1280px. Retail sites should aim at 1024×768 to be able to support casual users that don’t upgrade their hardware unless it’s necessary. Learning target audience is always a good idea that helps delivering more usable product.

“Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.”

With Google’s YouTube switching to HTML5 Flash takes a big hit. I’m not missing Flash on my iPhone, I try to skip Flash splash page when I run into one surfing the web and I never ever advice my clients to use Flash on their sites unless they need to build an interactive app with Cold Fusion backend. So no hard feeling about absence of Flash on future Apple devices.

• Apple has been discussing with book, magazine and newspaper publishers possible ways of cooperation.
• NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, when asked about the new devices, said  “stay tuned”.
• Orange Chief confirms Apple Tablet With Built-In Webcam
• Apple has been negotiating with TV networks CBS, Walt Disney and ABC for a monthly subscription service.
• There have been rumors that Apple is going to work with Electronic Arts to position the new device as a gaming platform.
• The device will have a web camera and be capable of live web streaming
• Apple has been promoting an idea of backing-up users music online and accessing it on an connected device. This also supports the recent Lava acquisition. Its technology may very well find its way to iTunes 10.
• Apple’s new $1 billion data centre in North Carolina is under construction. MobileMe will most probably have a major upgrade, possibly the “Mobile iTunes” version, and as the name suggests, possibly other things related to “Me”.

Nowhereelse.fr has obtained what it says may be a video of the long-rumored Apple tablet. Whatever it is, it looks pretty cool already:

Last year, Apple’s focus shifted from computer production to content delivery. The turning point was dropping “Computers” from the company name. Since then their devices are just one unified platform that makes it easy to delivery content to end user. And, this strategy pays off very well.

SunSpider JavaScript Benchmarks of Mac Browsers (Shorter bars represent faster performance)

On the Windows platform Chrome 3.0 shines as the fastest browser, leaving Safari behind. We might expect a speed boost in the final version of Chrome for Mac, although Google has made no claims regarding Chrome JS rendering speed on Leopard.

JS rendering performance is important for websites and web apps that rely on JavaScript to provide rich functionality. Gmail, Google Maps, Flickr, a9, online text editors and any other site that uses AJAX.

What’s the reason? Usability I guess. Google is an adept in making usable apps. All their apps are highly intuitive and usable, albeit ugly. I save great deal of time when I have all apps in one window talking to each other. The ugliness of design elements does bother me but the usability pays me back in time saved.

I guess to justify Google’s approach to UI, they need to think about every bite going through their server with the amount of data they process. To a certain degree they comply with a basic rule of design: Take out everything that is not necessary until you can’t anymore and then you have a well designed product. (Michelangelo used to joke that his trade is very easy. Take a rock and cut off everything unnecessary).