Web Applications

Apple ups browser power with Safari 4 Beta release

By Darren Quick

21:49 February 25, 2009 PST

Apple might have one of the coolest personal communications devices on the planet at the moment in the iPhone, but in the browser wars their Safari offering is struggling with statistics showing Firefox and Internet Explorer usage way out in front, and even Google’s recently released Chrome overtaking it. In a bid to rectify that Apple has released a public beta of Safari 4 for OS X and Windows with claims it runs JavaScript over four times faster than its predecessor, 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, six times faster than Internet Explorer 8 and up to four times faster than Firefox 3.1 thanks to its new Nitro engine. Read More

RoboBraille online text translation service

By Emily Clark

00:29 May 13, 2008 PDT

May 13, 2008 Vision impaired users can now access books, news articles and web pages using an email-based service that translates text into Braille and audio recordings. RoboBraille is a free service offering a simple way of converting text without the need for users to operate complicated software and has completed more than 250,000 translations since its launch in January. Read More

Asterbot automated in-video tagging set for launch

By Emily Clark

18:13 March 13, 2008 PDT

March 14, 2008 Asterpix has released new technology that automatically tags any internet video with interactive hotspots allowing users to see notes, links to more information and other videos on related topics. The new system build on the company's web-based service that enabled users to create interactive videos - with Asterbot, the work is done for you. Read More

Qipit turns camera phones into a mobile scanner, copier and fax machine

By Darren Quick

17:57 December 17, 2007 PST

December 18, 2007 An online application designed to reduce the cluttered piles of paper documents that refuse to disappear from our lives, mobile service Qipit turns a camera phone into a portable scanner and a mobile fax machine by enabling hard-copies to be digitally captured, cleaned-up and stored on the go. Using patented ink-extraction technology, the application automatically transforms photographs of a handwritten or printed document into a high contrast, easy-to-read digital copy that can then be stored or shared online. Qipit also sends a copy of the revitalized document to the user’s camera phone to reuse anywhere, eliminating the need to carry around a pile of paper documents. Read More

Interactive tagging for online photos and videos

By Darren Quick

19:13 November 11, 2007 PST

November 12, 2007 Photobucket has launched a new breed of photo tagging that gives users the ability to share linked photos across email and online social networks. Users can add up to 20 links within a single photo before sharing them, giving those viewing the images easy access to a range of related information. Read More

Bling! It - Image editing software for eBayers

By Darren Quick

14:36 November 7, 2007 PST

November 7, 2007 Graphics and imaging software producers Vertus have announced the release of Bling! It – a graphic image editing tool that is aimed primarily at the army of people selling goods through online auction sites such as eBay and Amazon, for whom programs such as Adobe Photoshop and CorelDraw represent serious overkill in terms of both complexity and cost. Vertus says Bling! It will enable online sellers as well as small businesses to quickly and easily create attention grabbing product shots for the web in mere minutes. Read More

Find a recipe based on what's in your cupboard

By Loz Blain

June 25, 2007 Here's a website that turns the cookbook upside down to suggest recipes that use the ingredients you've already got. Type in what's in your cupboard, and Recipe Matcher will tell you what you can make. It's a great idea, but it needs some work; for my ingredient list it told me to make "Avocado and Lobster Salad," and that all I was missing to complete the dish was... an avocado and some lobster. Hmm. Read More

Your desktop on any PC: the web application revolution

By Loz Blain

June 21, 2007 Why do we still store all our applications and data on our local PCs? It ties us to our machines, leaves our files vulnerable, and frankly it's such a last-millennium way to do things. Thankfully, since the advent of broadband, companies are starting to take real steps toward a world where accessing anything on your hard-drive will be as versatile as checking your webmail. Disk storage, applications, processing - everything could eventually be moved off your local PC, which would become merely a display terminal - and the model holds a lot of advantages. Gizmag takes a look at where we're at with the Web Application revolution. Read More