All Articles in Web Apps

Google’s blog has announced that Google Product Search now joins the growing list of Google web sites and WebApps optimized for the iPhone and it’s Mobile WebKit cousins:

I’m happy to announce that as of today, when you type a product query on Google.com in your iPhone or Android browser, you’ll get Google Product Search results nicely formatted for your phone. You can see online ratings, reviews, prices, and product details if you’re out and about, or just do some mobile web surfing from your couch. Whether you’re trying to decide between two digital cameras while you’re in a store or checking out prices for a new product that you’ve just seen on TV, we hope Google Product Search for mobile helps you to make better-informed shopping choices.

[via Android Central]

We’ve covered the Gym Technik WebApp before, but now they’re back and fitter than ever. Our sibling site, CrackBerry.com has the long list of upgrades, or you can check out gymtechnik.com to sign up.

Now excuse us while we go do 100 sets of 3 min. burpee rounds. Yeah, that’s how we roll… In our dreams…

Daring Fireball has been looking into Google’s new Gmail WebApp for the iPhone and the technologies behind it. We already know the iPhone packs a version of Apple’s Safari Web Browser which is, in some ways, even more advanced than desktop Safari on the Mac. SQLite database caching, for example, for example users continue to archive or star messages even when there’s no internet connection. What’s more interesting to him, us — and likely users — is how that technology improves functionality.

Says Gruber:

I use the native iPhone Mail app to read email on my iPhone, but I’m tempted to start using the Gmail web app for one reason: I waste a lot of time switching back and forth between Mail and Safari after tapping a URL in an email. When using the Gmail web app, tapped links simply open in a new Safari tab. The iPhone Mail app needs a built-in web view, like what most popular iPhone Twitter clients offer.

Google’s Alex Nicolaou has blogged about the process.

We once wondered what the future of WebApps would be in a post-native apps world. Looks like Google expects — and is out to prove — things still look very bright.

Anyone else considering ditching the built-in mobile Mail app for some web-based Gmail?

Says Google’s blog:

Today we’re happy to announce a new and improved experience when you access Gmail and Calendar through the browser of your iPhone and Android-powered devices. What’s new? For Gmail, we’ve improved the user interface to make it easier to message on the go, and we’ve introduced “Floaty Bar,” which makes sure common actions such as archive and delete are only a click away (check out the video tour below). You can also start the application, compose mail, and open recently read messages even when you’re offline. With the new Calendar, you can edit or respond to an event and, like Gmail, the app is accessible even without a network connection. To quickly navigate between Gmail, Calendar, and other mobile applications, you can use the classic links that now always appear across the top of the screen. The “more” menu provides easy access to the full list of applications. To read more about what’s new, take a look at the Gmail and Calendar posts on the Mobile blog.

Google claims they’re focusing on WebApps over native apps because they’re faster to iterate which makes sense, especially if they want to leverage their work across all WebKit mobile devices (iPhone, Android, and soon Palm Pre). Still, we have to ask…

Where’s our native push Gmail?!

You really have to love Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park:

“We’re always in favor of people downloading. It’s how a lot of people see the show. And it’s never hurt us. We’ve done nothing but be successful with the show. How could you ever get mad about somebody who wants to see your stuff?”

Well Apple drops the ball yet again with the official South Park app in the App store… and yet again a 3rd party picks up the slack. South Park Mobile is available via Cydia and if you are not jailbroken, check out www.southparkmobile.net on your iPhone. What this app allows you to do is stream full episodes of South Park for your viewing pleasure right on your iPhone. Every single episode, from every single season is available for you to stream. Keep in mind this is not something official from Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker but it’s the best we currently have available to us.

*You must be on firmware 2.2+ in order for this Jailbreak App to work.

[Thanks to Jaun for the tip!]

Looks like Google still isn’t done giving us mobile goodness this month. To the list of Gmail Tasks, Latitude, Google Books, and Google (Active)Sync we can now add editing, sorting, and filtering to Google Doc’s spreadsheet WebApp. Says Google’s blog:

Today, I’m happy to announce that we’ve made mobile access even better by adding new capabilities with List View for spreadsheets. You can quickly view, edit, sort, and filter your spreadsheets on a variety of mobile devices including Android-powered devices like the T-Mobile G1, the iPhone and iPod touch, and the Nokia S60.

And to think, the month is only half over. Google, what else you got for us? Readers, what else you want?

Sure, we lost iGoogle, but we gained Gmail Tasks, have been promised Google Latitude, and now have been served up a piping hot portion of Google Books optimized for the iPhone.

Authors, no doubt, may continue to have a problem with Google willfully ignoring copyright for their own content lust, while mobile users jump up and down in glee, like one author and mobile accomplisher, Andy Ihnatko is doing on his Celestial Waste of Bandwidth:

Yes, all 1.5 million public-domain texts in the Google Books project are now available to mobile users, behind a fairly awesome, slick interface. [...] And I scroll down a bit and find many titles of interest. I give one of ‘em a tap, and soon I’m looking at a very credible little mobile book reader. [..] Good golly. If Google is evil, then they’re a Doctor Doom sort of evil. What’s a little evil, when the totalitarian dictator takes such wonderful, indulgent care of his subjects?

Indeed. Google is really stepping up to showcase what great WebApps can still do in the post-App Store iPhone world. Any ebook aficionados try this out yet? How does it compare to native apps like Classic and Stanza? And how does the iPhone experience compare to the Kindle for that matter?

[Video note: Interesting to see the Google iPhone in the video above is missing the iTunes and App Store icons... and the YouTube App (YouTube being, you know, owned by Google). Google Mobile App got a prime spot though!]

Still catching up on the Google news, and this one is more confusing to us then most. A while back we mentioned — regretfully — that Google had stopped offering their iPhone optimized version of iGoogle because, to be blunt, they wanted to offer every handset a similar experience and few other handsets could match the quality of the iPhone version.

Now, however, Google has announced that while they aren’t bringing the iGoogle page back, they are adding an iPhone optimized version of their bare-bones Gmail Tasks WebApp:

starting today, you can manage your task list from your iPhone or Android device, and access it from any xhtml enabled phone. (Mine’s always with me, in whichever jeans I’m wearing.) Just go to gmail.com/tasks from your phone’s browser and log in. If you already use the version of Tasks in Gmail Labs, you’ll see the same task list that’s always in sync. We focused on making it super easy and fast to update your Gmail task list — you can add new tasks and check off completed ones, no matter where you are (like in a meeting or at the grocery store) even when you’re in the bathroom.

Inconsistent but potentially appreciated. But will Tasks on the iPhone be the glory of Gmail email, or the fail of Gmail contacts? Anyone tried this out yet? Let us know how it works for you!

Sure, there are still plenty around — plenty of good ones even — but back before the App Store, before Apple released the iPhone SDK, WebApps were the development platform for the miraculous new mobile wireless platform.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) were the only tools needed, Steve Jobs told us, to make delightful, dynamic applications for the iPhone. And — by the way — every web developer already new how to use them! As a bonus of sorts, Apple provided some simple URL handles for things like telephone numbers, and some attributes and sample behaviors that helped optimize the iPhone experience.

For a while there was a torrent of WebApps, from re-purposed websites like FaceBook and Amazon, to original content and even games. Some were great, some were okay; it depended how well the idea suited the WebApp platform.

Now, 9 months post-iPhone SDK, 6 months post-App Store launch, post 15,000 apps, and we don’t hear much about WebApps anymore. Almost three months ago TiPb asked if WebApps had a future. Three months later, is the silence we’re hearing our best response?

Palm has now announced their new webOS platform, which is similar to WebApps but runs locally as well and should — though we don’t know the details yet — provide far greater hooks into the smartphone system (perhaps somewhere between WebApps and Native Apps, like Widgets). Could this kickstart the iPhone WebApp developers back into gear?

Anyone out there make, use, or find a killer iPhone WebApp lately? Know of any in the pipeline? And where do you think WebApps will be another 3 months? In another 6?

The previous attempt to make an end run around the iPhone’s lack of cut/copy and paste involved shared code called OpenClip and relied on a loophole Apple closed in iPhone OS 2.1

This latest tilt at the text editing windmill targets only 2 apps instead:

Pastebud—as the service is called—works using two bookmarks in Safari. One prepares and loads the page you are viewing, ready to select text at the touch of a finger. From there, you can copy any text you want and create a new mail message with that text in it. In addition to that, you will be able to copy and paste in the text field of a different web page.

Check out the full story and video over at Gizmodo. And then let us know if you think this is enough — for now — to satisfy your cut/copy and paste cravings?