Notices

It looks like the ball is finally rolling on Google Gears for OS2008. I was able to install an alpha version to my N810 which I found on this site, thanks for the heads up from the people in this thread. (toward the bottom in the comments section, direct link) (you need to unzip it first, I was out of the house so I used Xarchiver right on my N810). It seemed to install fine and after a restart of my browser I had sites start to ask me if they could used Google Gears. When I tested Remember the Milk it seems to be working fine. What I haven't tested yet is trying to access RTM after going offline and closing the browser then going to the site again, which I've seen reported as not working. But I can tell you that you can go offline with Google Gears and terminate your connection (just leave your browser open) and add tasks with ease, then connect again and go back online with GG and it will sync up your tasks with no problem. Now if RTM would make a page for the N8x0 devices we could really use this (I struggle using it in its currently implementation because all the menus and check boxes are so incredibly small) or maybe someone can work on a Greasemonkey script to improve it for the N8x0?

I was mainly happy to see Google Gears support because I'm a pretty heavy Google Reader user, unfortunately (*sigh* I know) while it seemed like it would work fine, I've tried several times and only been able to get the offline download up to 58% then it seems to freeze. I get an error in MicroB saying that a java script may have frozen, I hit ok and nothing seems to happen. Oh well, at least there is an installable version of Google Gears and hopefully this will encourage more people to test and help make a full functional Google Gears.

EDIT!: After another try I was able to get the Google Reader offline download to complete and the button showed me as being offline. Browsing through incoming posts worked fine and when I went back online then loaded up Google Reader on my desktop it seemed to have synced with no problem! Maybe there is some tuning to be done to improve the consistency in which it is able tp pull Google Reader offline. I haven't yet done a 'true' Google Reader offline test (I didn't terminate the connection, I just saw that it told me it was offline and tested from there). But I'll do a true test soon and update shortly.

Edit2: I was able to go offline with Google Reader again with no problem, true offline test worked (I actually disabled the connect and was still able to go through my posts), however as mentioned above with RTM, you can't close your browser or you won't be able to get back to your reader without a connection. I think this issue is cause by MicroB trying to access the website by first finding a connection.

Developers: Don't forget you can make your favorite websites Google Gears compatible by making a script for Greasemonkey and using the Google Gears API!

See below for some screenshots -

cool, I was just looking at GG last night. I have one question though...what is the motivation to making a site offline readable? I understnad Google Reader for sure...but can you enlighten me on the importance of GG? Really, I have no clue of it's potential...so, yup, I need to buy a clue from Vanny.

EDIT: OK...I think I get it today...it was very late last night when I found it. Basically GG allows us to use online apps like those from Google and the "Remember the Milk" app off line. Right? Then when we connect it synch's everything up?

If that is the idea...this is most excellently cool!!

Its very important. With all these web 2.0 online apps coming out (Gmail, Google Reader, Remember the Milk) it is important to be able to access their functions while you are offline. Google Reader offline mode is great because you shouldn't need to be connected to the internet to view mostly text, so offline mode makes sense for that. Instead of a while desktop application, you just enable offline access, which you can make changes in the app and sync it right back to the online app. This is beneficial because it still means users are inside the online app which they can access from any computer, not just the one that the app is installed on.

The same thing goes for Google Calendar, and Gmail. Wouldn't it be great to be able to add things to Gcal and read/write in Gmail without being connected (these don't actually have GG functionality yet *tear*)? How about Google Docs, which has GG functions in the testing phase. The ability to access your documents not only from any computer, but offline as well when you need them, then have it all synced up quickly has a very strong appeal. GG and offline access pertains to me and others in many ways, but I could see it seeming like not a big deal if you don't have many things that require that offline access. For some of us though it couldn't be more useful : )

thanks that really does make tons of sense. Like you say for these online apps one really does not need to actually be online a majority of the time.

I guess this actually positions the browser itself as the application platform rather then the OS. I really like that idea since it takes the underlying OS out of the picture by adding a the browser layer above that...

Looks like I will have to try this out...

hey

I'd like to know what GG can do with google maps API? Will i be able to view google maps (in regions I visited online).. ?

It doesn't support Google Maps yet I think. It's been rumored to support google calendar though some people seem to get the prompt for google gears while others don't.

If you are having trouble with the RTM site, you might want to try the iGoogle/sidebar version. Doesn't work with gears, as far as I can tell, but it is a nice interface to RTM for a handheld.

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/servi...ules/googleig/

Thanks for posting this. I too was looking at GG over the past days wondering if there was going to be any action on the IT front with it. Seems like it is, and this is a really good thing for the IT (and mobile devices as a whole). Beside Google, I'd love to see other task/journaling type websites begin to support this. Besides enabling that web app side of things, leveraging the browser as the "application layer" could open a few other devices to the fray.

You can check out Zoho Writer which is a full featured online word processor which has support for GG offline access.

http://www.calio.it/files/maemo-googlegears-webaddon_0.2.9.0-0_armel.zip

Here is a direct link to the install file for Google gears.

This might be the last step to replacing my Handspring Treo. It will depend on how fast google calender opens. Thanks for pointing this out!