webapplicationsguide.com

Web apps have been a normal occurence on the internet for a long time and they have now entered the arena of mobile communications. With more and more mobile phones going 3G, the higher transmission speeds have turned them into more than just wireless telephones but mobile computers that is one step closer to a pocket PC. They use specially designed OS’s and browsers that allows them to access the internet on the go, anywhere there is a bar on your signal indicator. Companies like Instant Access Technologies with their Zabidoo that allows one to browse the web without the need for a URL, wow, now that’s movile internet access. Browsing the internet used to be cumbersome and difficult especially on your mobile where the keypads are as compact as they can get. It supports 1,000 mobile websites and just the thought of browsing with such ease would be enough to claim praise from your aching thumb.

With their offline Google Gears released last year, Google Inc., reinforced it’s dominance of online ads and development further that Microsoft tried to get their hands on Yahoo, one of the leading competitors of Google in the Search Engine aspect of internet use. This has been an unprecedented move by Google for they were the first to release a distributed web application platform and their move to make the same system independent of the web has Microsoft clamoring for a piece of the market it has dominated for so long. Why the sudden move from one of the world’s largest software maker? The internet it helped evolve has become more than many have expected it to be and they have again been caught at the seams of their pants trying to find a piece of the pie so to speak. Microsoft’s domination of the world’s software market has continuously been under threat from open-sourced apps that are now increasing their share (or maybe simply because most open apps are FREE) of the market and big companies are being threatened that even Microsoft has opened doors to open-sourced developers for more inter-operability functionality with Microsoft’s existing Office systems.

Widgets are small applications that are updated dynamically through the internet that can be something as simple as an ornate clock to a small pocket sized game similar to those battery-powered games you used to play with as a kid only on your PC. They are fun and easy to use that many advertising companies have started to use them for online ad campaigns as they shift to more productive ad campaigns. Compared to more traditional ad campaigns, done throught the internet and getting other people to work for you takes more of the guess work out of the total solution. It needs a small program that is sent out through popular websites. The Ad part can be changed dynamically and easily through the link the widget maintains with the servers where they are updates as the ads changed.

With WEB 2.0 still to reach the whole globe, talk of a more social web is now underway and many are quite stunned for not all have embraced the advent of WEB 2.0 and here comes WEB 3.0 soon afterwards. Most teens and young adults now form a huge percentage of the market share when it comes to web users and they want more of the social web. With sketchy details, there is a lot to expect from the newer web for the social web has taken the power over the internet away from the PC taking it online and out of the grasp on big businesses. With more and more people using free open-sourced applications, the next evolution for the net may come in the form of the net being ever present with us everywhere we go.

The internet has become so entwined with our everyday life that it has even had applications in the area of education. Time may come when the classroom may become more of a virtual presence type class reducing the fuel and expenses of having to physically go to school. Today, there are online courses that cater to disabled children and distance education classes in far areas of the globe where teachers are hundreds of miles away and the children in their own homes attending classes in a virtual space they get their education from. The teacher or professor gives out lectures directly citing online sources they can all share and view and the internet is a wondeful place for information. Just hope they figure out a way of ensuring the true ones from the nots (web sites) for do a search on any engine and you still end up with a lot of junk sites.

The days of the dumb search engine algorithms may be numbered for google has started some form opf semantic web searching whereby pages are ranked and submitted as results not only as the most likely ones to answer the search but analyzes the context in which the words are used giving a more exact result. Up to now, the concept of a semantic web was only in the hearts and minds of the inventors of the web but behind the scenes programmers and developers are hard at work doing just that. With some semantic processing already in effect over the web through paid searches, it is only time before they become staple of our everyday web experience.

There was a time when wikipedia was hailed as a sort of quack information source, claiming to provide credible information that is provided by users whom nobody can guarrantee that the information that was provided was accurate or totally false but the advent of the social web changed all that with more and more academics turning having a change of heart with the common good application. Today, wikipedia has been hailed as a tool for all end even educators have been endorsing the use of such media for research and other purposes due to the main fact that the credibility of the media contained within the pages have become so diverse and expansive it is hard to not take notice. The day of the social web has people helping other people the best they can and what better way to encourage change than to share information to those who need it most. True that some information on the pages of Wikipedia may be false but that is slowly changing into one of the most accurate and best of all free sources of information on just about anything on the internet. The age of free information is again within grasp of common man and out of the control of big businesses, more power people. Knowledge is power and power is knowledge!

The web application started out as a venture of Google Inc. into something trivial, the ability to accurately show this earth and anything on it to all without barriers and no holds barred. That changed when Google Earth became so updated and accurate that military forces tookl notice and told or rather requested the company to restrict views to certain levels. Today, Google earth has evolved into a tool for all to see; environmentalists aiming to show the real-time destruction of the earth, city planners who aim to study current developments in hopes of developing with less impact on the environment and the benefits are truly immense. Being able to show the world what we have made this earth of ours into is probably one of the most exciting things that you can do while browsing the web. Imagine being able to see a place almost as if you were there. Add that to all the information you can get online and you get a clearer picture of this earth and the people who live on it.