Posts Tagged
web apps
There’s so many things you can do from your browser, you could get by quite nicely without any other native apps. The internet is full of amazing web apps, ranging from powerful tools for enterprises to little tools that do one thing great.
While the web apps and sites we love are powered by servers, usually running Linux with Apache, MySQL, and more, our browsers feel more like the “operating system” on which web apps run. We’ve gathered the best tips we can find to help you get the most out of web apps, both from the apps themselves and the browsers you use to access them.
When Apple first announced iCloud at the last WWDC conference, it was unclear at first if iCloud would even have real web apps so you could check your email and calendar from any browser. The first iPhone shipped without native app support, relying instead on web apps to fill any functionality gaps, but the success of the App Store in iOS and OS X has made web apps a much lower priority for Apple’s platforms.
Then, iCloud finally trickled down to the public with iOS 5 and OS X Lion, and we were excited to see that iCloud not only included web apps, but really high quality web apps that were beautifully designed. They’re just about the closest imitation of their sister native apps we’ve ever seen on the web.
Problem is, most people just use the native apps on iOS or their Macs already. Plus, many of us already have our mail, contacts, and calendar in Google’s cloud, and don’t overly want to switch. That’s why I was wondering if you use the iCloud web apps. If you have an account, and have never tried them out, you owe it to yourself to go to iCloud.com and take them for a spin.
Question is: will you keep using them there, or will Mail, Calendar, and Address Book on your iOS device or Mac come calling again?
If you have been a consistent reader of Web.AppStorm, you know that there are some great applications out there for the web. There are many times that I wish a lot of these were actually on the desktop instead. Take for example, Pandora, I love using it, but there is not native desktop app for it. Well, about a year ago, I came across a solution that has been such a great way to enjoy them natively.
In this post, let me show you how to use Fluid, an application that changes a web page into a desktop like app. I don’t know about you, but I am moving more and more toward using the web for a lot of my daily tasks, email, calendar, social networking, etc., and I hate having so many tabs open in my browser. With Fluid, I can change all of that and have these websites launch by itself versus being stuck on the web. Let me show you what I am talking about.
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For over a year now, I have been trying hard to push every reader of this blog (and whoever I talk to) to embrace the cloud. It goes without saying that I use a lot of web apps to carry out my personal and professional day to day activities. But in reality, it’s a mix of web and native apps combined (about 75% and 25% of each respectively). Not that web apps aren’t capable of pulling out all the tasks that I do, but native apps offer a bit of flexibility in some cases.
But guess what, last week I got caught up in a unforeseen situation, I had to get away from my beloved desktop for a couple of days. I had access to Internet cafes, but that’s all I got to complete my assignments before deadlines. I did make it in time. Care to know how I pulled it off with the help of web apps alone?
If you read Techcrunch’s Deadpool articles, it would seem that most of the apps that come out are destined to become parked domains and distant memories in the Internet Archive. Time and again, an exciting new app comes out, but without a business model or a sufficient user base, it soon falls on the wrong side of the Survival of the Fittest. Or, perhaps, the company gets bought out, only the purchasing company saw it as a talent acquisition and didn’t care the least bit about the app they purchased. Worse yet, the app you’ve come to rely on could decide to “pivot” and change their product or business model, breaking the very thing you liked about it.
We love how many new web apps are always coming out, but sometimes it can be hard to fall in love with an app when so many disappear. The rapid iteration can both be beneficial and harmful at the same time. It means new features and exciting new apps, but it also means that the odds of an app sticking around for the long term are worse than ever. With native apps, you’ll at worst lose support and updates if you purchased an app from a company that later died. But, with web apps, the app and your data are gone along with the company.
Have you ever had trouble from an app getting shut down? Are you excited when new apps come out and quick to try them, or would you be more likely to wait and see if the company’s going to be around for the long haul? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Three months ago, I made the switch to a Mac after years of using PCs. I’d used Linux off and on, but for the most part had stuck with Windows, from 95 through 7. It was almost amazing how easy it was for me to switch to the Mac; within hours of unboxing it, I was back at work as productive as ever.
Much of the difference this time was the fact that I rely on web apps for much of my computing life. Sure, I still love native apps; that was half of the reason I wanted to switch to the Mac to start with. But the cloud has helped us keep our data and it’s now easier to use the apps you want with your data than ever before.
Apple took the stage at San Francisco’s Moscone West for their opening keynote at WWDC this afternoon, announcing (or rather, reasoning in the first case) Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and their new service, iCloud.
iCloud is the successor to MobileMe, Apple’s previous set of web apps that synced directly with other devices, whether they be powered by Mac OS X, Windows or iOS. However, iCloud builds on those, providing a much more refined syncing environment for your devices in terms of both data and media. (more…)
Enterprises and Businesses are the cash cows that can make a software development company into an overnight success. Selling to them is an incredibly lucrative opportunity. There’s a catch though; you will have to work hard to convince them to make a switch from an archaic system they might be using in production.
Cloud computing and SaaS models unlock the potential of resources — both human and hardware. While some cloud solutions might end up costing a lot more than their self hosted competitors over time, a shrewd manager will know the savings are manifold too. Data portability and remote teams are among the first in the list.
With so many web apps to choose from in all aspects of running a business, moving all business functions to the cloud is a very real possibility.
By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Google’s new Chrome Web Store and some of the great apps you can find there. What you might not have heard or found out for yourself yet is that many of the apps in the Web Store are actually just links to existing web apps. Lots of people were expecting more apps to be optimized to take advantage of Chrome’s capabilities, and they’re not.
We’ve dug through the Chrome Web Store to find 10 really great Chrome apps that aren’t just links to existing apps, they’re either specifically a Chrome app or optimized for Chrome. Take a look and let us know what you’ve found.
6rounds is a social entertainment platform that mixes webcam chats, interactive features & social games in a fun and playful video chat environment. If you are bored after keeping in touch with your friends in just 140 characters or with no real one on one conversation, it’s time for you to check out 6rounds.
After covering some of the great apps used in production at WorkingPoint and our own Envato, we asked 6rounds share the apps that help them brew the secret sauce. If you are not familiar with 6rounds, be sure to check out our review of the app!.
