There has been a great deal of speculation in forums and on Nintendo news websites that an upcoming release of the Internet Channel is in the works that will add support for multiple tabs, WiiSpeak functionality, and other features.  I’m sure something is in production, but that image circulating online with the spinning cube for selecting tabs has been debunked as a quick Photoshop job.

Some have pointed out the buttons as being a built-in Photoshop style.  Others have noted that, although neat looking, the cube would be cumbersome to use.  Also, take a look at the forward/backward buttons.  The proportions of their corners do not match those of the other buttons, meaning the author simply stretched the template and applied some icons.  Apparently not much time was spent on the nuances of this work.

The latest release of the Internet Channel is great, but it is far from perfect.  The newest release of the Adobe Flash API could be integrated with a new release.  Of course Opera could also update their canvas support for translations and native 3D acceleration.  Faster JavaScript would be nice as well – now that WebKit’s speedy  implementation in Safari and Chrome has taken the Internet by storm.  Don’t forget ending that clunky keyboard overlay screen now that USB keyboards are supported.

There’s so much that could be done, and I’m sure we will see some of it integrated in the next release.  Until then, YouTube still works, and the active Wii-centric software development community will stay active with our projects here, at WiiCade, at Videlectrix, and in many other locations.