This is pretty interesting. I remember some time ago Vox Media (who make The Verge and Polygon along with Vox itself) declared that they were going web-only:<p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/2/6096609/welcome-to-verge-2-0" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/2/6096609/welcome-to-verge-2-...</a><p>It doesn't seem to have hurt them - but push notifications are probably the #1 feature that differentiates between webapps and native apps in a context like this. I wonder if they'll take advantage.<p>(as with all things mobile web, this comes with the huge caveat that Apple have no intention of doing this (despite having similar functionality on desktop), and want to force everyone to use native apps, so it's unlikely to be a complete solution any time soon)
This is cool to see. The other day a client with about zero technical expertise told me she had won a grant to develop an app, then went on to explain "it has to be a web app that can be used offline; it can't be a regular app." I was pretty blown away and immediately offered to code it for her, just because I'd much rather build and promote this kind of app. These new Chromium features give me hope that it might be even easier to enhance web apps across the board, in the future.<p>The downside (or frustrating side) with this project is that 1/4 of the grant money is set aside for coding the web app, and while it's not a teeny sum, I'm wondering just how much "app planning expertise" is being brought into the game by whoever's getting the other 3/4.
It's kind of interesting to see Android, Chrome, and FirefoxOS all rushing towards the same point, though from different directions.<p>Chrome is trying to "nativify" the browser, and making the browser a more seamless part of navigating Android[0].<p>With FirefoxOS, the webapp is already native, and the goal is to browserify the native OS (in other words, to make the operating system itself inside the browser).<p>[0] I say Android specifically because this integration already goes much deeper on Android than on iOS, simply because it can.
It would be a significant step towards "reaching and re-engaging users" if Google would make it possible to actually build a functional Chromium browser for Android. Since they've completely abandoned the default AOSP browser in favor of Chrome, there is no longer an up to date browser in AOSP.
interesting , wonder how quickly will sites like HN, reddit jump on the bandwagon. Will be interesting to compare the experience to native push notifications