HTML5 and the future of PhET

At NTSA/Boston in 2008, I made my first contact with a human being associated with PhET. I was a big fan even back then. I was beginning to include PhET sim-based lab activities in the lab manuals I was authoring for Paul Hewitt's conceptual science lab manuals.

Apple introduced the first iPad in 2010. When I ran into the PhET people at NSTA/Philadelphia in 2010, I prodded/goaded them a little bit that they would need to rewrite their Adobe Flash-based sims since Flash did not run on iPads. Flash was out, HTML5 was in, at least according to Apple's Jobs. In March 2010, the good people of PhET didn't want to hear this and derided me for the absurdity of my suggestion. They did not see a problem with Flash. They certainly weren't going to abandon Flash just because that oddball, Steve Jobs, didn't like it!

{Sitcom fast-forward to August 2013} PhET is pleased to announce their transition to HTML5, the Flash replacement that is iPad friendly. Shortly after Steve Jobs died, Adobe announced it was going to abandon Flash. And iPads have been selling at insanely unexpected rates. Especially to schools. So PhET didn't really have a choice if they were to remain relevant. And as a fan of PhET, I'm glad to see them remain relevant. And they've got a new logo. A logo that would look good on a T-shirt, I might say.

Anyway, check out PhET's blog post: "The Future of PhET".

There's even a nice movie: