Daily Update: HTML 5 Logo, Ed Calls BS on Google's H.264 Decision, More

Good morning.

The W3C has released a new logo for HTML 5, which you can see on its web site home page. And it's not just a logo, but an entire "identity system" through which you can make custom logos for your site, specifying which HTML 5 technologies you use. (These include semantics, offline/storage, device access, connectivity, multimedia, 3D & effects, performance & integration, and CSS3 & styling.) Too much? I guess we'll find out.

Ed Bott does his usual beat-to-death deconstruction of whether Google's decision to drop H.264 support in Chrome is really because of royalty payments that (conspiracy theory alert) may or may not go up dramatically over time. (Very) long story short, it's not. And they won't.

Remember when Kim Komando was a big deal? Then you're old. But I do love this headline: OpenOffice is an alternative to Microsoft. Sure. And a witch doctor is an alternative to real medicine. Up next: A look at the dBASE family of products.

Speaking of classic headlines: Microsoft: 2010 was the biggest year in Xbox history. Sadly, the console was number two for the year and was almost ousted from that position by the PS3. Microsoft! Microsoft! Microsoft! 

And while we're chanting: PDFs are now No. 1 vehicle for web-based attacks. Adobe; We're number one! We're number one! We're number one! Also, this is one time where, for Microsoft, being number two is actually a good thing.

TechSpot writes about the Most Anticipated PC Games of 2011. They still make PC games?

Steve Jobs' latest medical leave of absence is giving unimaginative tech journalists a bit of a gimmee, where they can simply write multiple say-nothing articles about the topic. Case in point: Will Steve Jobs' absence affect Apple's upcoming products?, which is about as lazy as they get but also representative of the commentary that's out there now. No one can see the future, so pose it as a question, provide examples of both possible answers and hit that 1,000 character limit in your sleep. Add a few cross-links and .... bam! A story. Yawn.

Here's my take on Steve Jobs: As a human being with actual feelings, I hope he's OK. Apple isn't, and won't be, the same company without him. These things are both obvious, right? Right. Now get well, Mr. Jobs.