Google adds geolocation to Gears offline plug-in
Google has upgraded with a geolocation API its Gears browser plug-in, which is designed to let users work with Web-based applications when they aren't online.
The new API (application programming interface) will let developers create applications that can obtain information from Gears about end users' geographic location, Google said Friday.
Knowing where a user is located opens the door to entirely new types of applications and allows developers to build additional functionality in existing Web applications.
The geolocation API is one of several enhancements in version 0.4 of Gears, a product Google released in May of last year to tackle the problem of offline access for Web applications.
While online applications have become increasingly popular as IT and business managers give more consideration to SaaS (software-as-a-service) products, a big drawback has been the loss of functionality when users don't have an Internet connection.
Different options are available, but Google hasn't been particularly quick at adapting its Web services and software to Gears, making it available so far only for its RSS feed manager Reader and its Docs applications.
Zoho, a competitor to the Google Apps collaboration and communication hosted suite, also uses Gears for offline access in its suite, while Yahoo's Zimbra has its own technology called Desktop.
Other enhancements in Gears 0.4 include a Blob API for referencing arbitrary binary data, an extension of the desktop API and localization of Gears dialogs in 40 languages.
IDG News Service
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Kudos to the Cloud Crowd for
Kudos to the Cloud Crowd for Re-Inventing the Wheel!One thing 30 years in the IT industry has taught me is that the more things
change, the more they stay the same. Another is that the only memory we
seem to access is short-term. Yet another is that techno-marketeers rely on
that, so they can put labels like "revolutionary" and "innovative" on
platforms, products and services that are mere re-inventions of the wheel
... and often poor copies at that.
A good example is all the buzz about "Cloud Computing" in general and
"SaaS" (software as a service) in particular:
http://tinyurl.com/6let8x
Both terms are bogus. The only true cloud computing takes place in
aircraft. What they're actually referring to by "the cloud" is a
large-scale and often remotely located and managed computing platform.
We have had those since the dawn of electronic IT. IBM calls them
"mainframes":
http://tinyurl.com/5kdhcb
The only innovation offered by today's cloud crowd is actually more of a
speculation, i.e. that server farms can deliver the same solid performance
as Big Iron. And even that's not original. Anyone remember Datapoint's
ARCnet, or DEC's VAXclusters? Whatever happened to those guys, anyway...?
And as for SaaS, selling the sizzle while keeping the steak is a marketing
ploy most rightfully accredited to society's oldest profession. Its first
application in IT was (and for many still is) known as the "service bureau".
And I don't mean the contemporary service bureau (mis)conception labelled
"Service 2.0" by a Wikipedia contributor whose historical perspective is
apparently constrained to four years:
http://tinyurl.com/5fpb8e
Instead, I mean the computer service bureau industry that spawned ADAPSO
(the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations) in 1960, and
whose chronology comprises a notable portion of the IEEE's "Annals of the
History of Computing":
http://tinyurl.com/5lvjdl
So ... for any of you slide rule-toting, pocket-protected keypunch-card
cowboys who may just be coming out of a 40-year coma, let me give you a
quick IT update:
1. "Mainframe" is now "Cloud" (with concomitant ethereal substance).
2. "Terminal" is now "Web Browser" (with much cooler games, and infinitely
more distractions).
3. "Service Bureau" is now "SaaS" (but app upgrades are just as painful,
and custom mods equally elusive).
4. Most IT buzzwords boil down to techno-hyped BS (just as they always
have).
Bruce Arnold, Web Design Miami Florida
http://www.PervasivePersuasion.com