Tag Archive for 'firefox'

How Mozilla finally made me change browser – or the Ubiquity Effect

09
Oct
08

Ubiquity

In case you’ve been away from the Internet for some time, Mozilla has recently developed a new app that allows users to, via the simple input of strings of text, command their browser to perform an action it could not previously via the usage of language based instructions- and they named it Ubiquity. Think old school adventure games applied to a browser! (Leisure Suit Larry anyone?)

Basically you can perform actions you once thought – like “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could just email this picture I found without having to save it to my computer, open Gmail, attach it and add an address to send it to?”. Well, now you just select a picture you come across online and write down “mail to EMAIL” on the Ubiquity console – it will open your GMail account and have an e-mail ready with the address filled out and the image attached. Or better – you want to know where the nearest McDonalds is? Just write “map McDonalds Portugal” and it will open Google Maps with the McDonalds available.

And the best part is the possibilities are never ending – users are invited to create their own strings. All that is required is some basic code knowledge. So an entire library of direct inputs can be created by the users to create what I consider to be one of the most ingenious mashups created until now.

What is the learning we can take? Instead of inventing completely new stuff, why don’t you think of ways to improve current experiences by combining elements and giving the user the power to develop the rest by themselves? Think of Ubiquity, think of Spore (without the DRM controversy, please), think on how can your consumers engage with your Brand and improve it while giving them the feeling that they are actually helping themselves. It’s Free Love meets UGC!

In case you’ve been hiding all day: Google will launch a new browser today

02
Sep
08

chrome.jpg

After keeping tech bloggers busy for Labor Day weekend, Google confirmed last night that it was about to launch a new browser, Chrome, based on Webkit, like Safari. Going very frontal with Microsoft for what is now the most crucial piece of software in a computer since we do more and more things on the web, from email, companies extranet, calendar, banking, social networking, spreadsheeting, word processing…

What’s gonna happen to Firefox if Google decides to pull the plug on supporting the Mozilla Fundation? Is the long tail of browsers long enough for Opera, OmniWeb, Flock, Safari with the arrival of this massive competitor? Expect highly integrated Google Services like Google Gears, a lot of Windows Blue® and hopefully, a browser reinvented from scratch, more adapted to what the web browser is today: an OS.

From Google’s official blog:

All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends — all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.

This is just the beginning — Google Chrome is far from done. We’re releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We’re hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we’re committed to continuing on their path. We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.




The TrendWatch:


The TrendWatch is the collective postings of some of the FullSIX Group’s designers, strategists, and consultants on new media and marketing trends. It is meant to be an impromptu think-tank, and is a way for us to share theories and beliefs about how we think communication and connectivity is evolving.

We work for The FullSIX Group; a leading full service marketing agency with digital DNA. From our 15 international offices with over 600 employees, we constantly embrace and encourage innovation to make integrated marketing and communication campaigns that are more accountable and efficient for our clients.