There’s a reason why at airports you hear “The moving walkway is ending…” repeating again and again. Walking on moving surfaces isn’t the most natural thing. It’s easy to trip and fall or just make a wrong step and be off balance.

That’s exactly the situation developers working with HTML5 currently have to deal with. The browsers you’re targeting? Changing! The features you’re targeting? Changing! Even the specifications are changing quite regularly. Better make sure your shoelaces are tied!

Because of this, tools and resources that help you figure out the best places to step are quite valuable. Here are two that we like here at Automata Studios:

Modernizr

Modernizr is a great JS tool that lets you figure out what the user’s browser supports and react accordingly. This isn’t your daddy’s browser sniffer – it actually tests features so even as new browsers come out, it won’t break.

HTML5 Please

This is a new site that helps you “use the new and shiny responsibly.” It gives you up-to-date information on a feature-by-feature basis on what’s usable right now and how to best do so.

Recently Automata was tasked with building software for an iPad-based installation. It featured 24 iPads arranged in an 8 x 3 grid secured into a cabinet. Due to many factors, including a very short deadline, we quickly determined that HTML5 + a kiosk app was the way to go. The problem was the iPads were very firmly secured into the cabinet with no easy way of resetting them or pushing the home button. We needed a way to reload the app in case any issues popped up in the field.

As I was mulling the problem I remembered reading in Make magazine about an Arduino based door lock that would listen for secret knocks. Only if the person knocked on the door at the correct rhythm would the Arduino unlock the door. I realized that this same concept could be applied to JavaScript with the added bonus of making each knock have to be on a particular area of the screen.

The actual porting of the Arduino C code over to Javascript was quite painless and the final ended up working exceedingly well. If you’re interested in the code for your own use or just to take a look at how it works, we’ve posted it up as a gist on GitHub – knock.js (It’s a require.js / CommonJS module)

Hi folks!

Lots of exciting changes at Automata Studios since our last update.

Our dev team has grown. Intern Skye is Employee Skye. Having utterly impressed us this summer, he brings Branden Hall-level understanding and creativity to our projects.

And our list of partners has grown! Franco Brockelman joined us as Chief Business Officer in October. Franco is leading us brilliantly in some new ventures that we are very excited about. Franco’s insights and leadership in just the short time he has been here have been invaluable.

It has been incredible to be a part of a company that just two years ago was run out of Branden’s garage. Now we are six folks on two continents making awesome software for awesome clients.

Automata Studios would like to welcome Skye Alcorn and Phil Weinstein to our team. Skye and Phil have been here a mere three days and they are already wowing us. The whole Automata family is looking forward to fantastic things this summer!

Automata Studios is proud to announce the launch of Star.me! We were asked by Ze Frank to work on the new “Thank it Forward Chain” feature, and we are super happy with the result. Tell your friends how awesome they are and give them stars, just like kindergarten.

Because of Star.me, Automata Studios worked on special projects for both the IE9 beta launch, and the official launch. When it comes to interactivity, it doesn’t matter the technology, Automata always makes beautiful and fun creations for our clients.

Starting Monday, February 14th 2011 IBM’s Watson supercomputer will compete on the game show Jeopardy!. Automata Studios was proud to collaborate with Joshua Davis to create Watson’s on-screen avatar.

Automata took Josh’s designs and programmed both the avatar and a collection of tools. We defined easily editable configuration files and a special supercomputer simulator to let Josh work with IBM to bring Watson to life and give “him” a truly unique stage presence.