Google gears !!

Google gears is an open source browser extension that allows developers to build web applications which can work offline.

It is a cross platform plugin helping developers to build content that can work offline as well as online. It primarily uses JavaScript API's .

A light weight 700k installer which binds 3 API's together.

1.Local server - to cache the data , images , javascript locally

2.A database based on SQLite - a relational database to search data

3.Asynchronous Javascript - to handle synchronisation between the offline and online content and preventing the browser from overburdening itself.


The currently google geared enabled product is the "Google Reader"and there are a few more to come .

Works on Windows , MAC , Linux and requires Internet explorer 6 > and Firefox 1.5 >

Looks like a stiff competition to MS Silverlight and co. Lets see what happens ....

A technical know how to google gears : Googlegears Slide

Microsoft Silverlight : Getting Started

Well yet another "FAT " platform by Microsoft :) . Well , this one is called the "$ilverlight " . I'll try making this short and sweet just like the previous posts.

Bang !! Silverlight is a Cross platform , cross browser application(plugin) to deliver Rich Internet Applications and rich media which enhances UX ( user experience ).

You can find most of the information on www.silverlight.net.

The following slide gives a short introduction on Silverlight and its implementation.



Requirements to develop Silverlight applications :

1. Runtimes - Silverlight Alpha / Beta
2. Developer environment - MS Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 , Silverlight Add-ons
3. Designer environments - Expression Design , Expression Blend , Media Encoder