Originally posted on May 31, 2007 @ 12:58 am
Following the entry Tools for the Offline Blogger on the Road, we need to add a new feature, tool and it’s from Google this time. Actually it’s not a tool, but a new platform.
With the introduction of Google Gears the Mountain Viewers have released a platform made for laptop users.
What is Google Gears?
Google Gears, as a platform, offers the possibility to take web applications offline, but more interesting is that it will connect and synchronize your data as soon as you log on again.
Technical and abstract, but the launch of the offline Google Reader is the perfect example of what the platform can do : as soon as your connection is gone, Google Gears will allow you to continue reading your feeds, because now the last 2000 entries are managed on your local machine in its cache. Once you’re online again, it will mark all the feeds you’ve read as read and download the newest feeds.
But this is just the beginning. Google said they are working to take other applications such as Google Docs.
Google Gears is a small (700kb) tool, which needs to be installed locally.
With this, and the possibilities of Google Gears (Gears will support applications built on the Adobe Flex and Microsoft Silverlight platforms) and the excellent Google Browser Sync for Firefox, Google becomes even more THE platform for the traveler, notebook user on the road.