Version 1.1 of Mozilla’s web-centric smartphone platform adds major features such as push notifications and browser downloads. But will this be enough to see signed-up manufacturers such as Huawei and LG actually produce Firefox OS phones?
Google touts the new Chromebook Pixel for “what’s next” or the touchable web, but the fact is we already have that experience on tablets and such. Maybe this is what’s really next for the Pixel.
The modern era of mobile apps is just over four years old, but their usage continues to grow, according to new survey data released Wednesday. Time spent in apps grew 35 percent in the last year, while TV watching remained steady and web usage dropped.
Pocket, which allows users to save content from the web to view later, has added a Mac app to its lineup of iOS, Android, Kindle Fire and web apps.
If a web app works on Google’s old Chromebooks, it works on the new one just announced, right? Not exactly: Netflix doesn’t, nor does Bastion, a fun browser-based game. Native code in the browser may require web apps to be recompiled for the new chips.
Startup BookShout lets users import their Kindle and Nook books into its iOS, Android and web-based social reading platform. But the function doesn’t work very well yet, and it seems as if it’s only a matter of time before Barnes & Noble or Amazon shuts it down.
The New York Times is introducing an HTML5 web app for the iPad that will offer digital subscribers another way to access content outside the Times’ website and native apps. The Times said the app is experimental and part of its larger NYT Everywhere strategy.
Hosted memcached provider MemCachier is expanding like crazy, moving from its homebase on Heroku into the AppFog, CloudBees, DotCloud and Amazon EC2 platforms. It’s impressive growth for a bootstrapped company that launched in April and was little more than an idea a year ago.
Google’s Chromebook continues to improve. The latest software update for all Chromebooks — even the CR-48 laptops — upgrades the browser to version 21 of Chrome. Even better are some user interface enhancements, more offline support and the ability to use wireless gamepads with a Chromebook.
What if Facebook is nothing more than a digital drug dealer and we’re all just junkies? As we head toward a future where technology is not just something we do, but a part of our biology, the answer to that question might take on grave importance.
