This was a pleasant surprise for me:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/WD-filter-effects-20121025/
I like that you will (eventually?) be able to build your own filter graphs and shaders for any elements/images in a web page.
I’m not sure what I will use it forl
It’s like having Genetica built into every browser. Very cool 
20 years from now: “Back in my day we had text in our web browsers. Sentences even. And we liked it that way!”
20 years ago from now: “Back in my day we had ONLY text in our web browsers. And we liked it that way!”
Yeah, all those standards that should make life easier have become a large library. Still better than stagnatation and IE setting the rules though