'Google Gears' is program interface for AJAX application developers. * A local server, to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) without needing to contact a server * A database, to store and access data from within the browser * A worker thread pool, to make web applications more responsive by performing expensive operations in the background
posted by acro on May 31, 2007 - 20 comments

Google's word processor (re)launches. Formerly known as Writely, the online application, with all kinds of nifty collaborative features, joins a wide range of free online word processors, including the decent Zoho (you can see reviews of many online word processors here). Want to do presentations instead? Check out Thumbstacks or ThinkFree (with 1 GB of storage). If drawing is your thing, try Litha-Paint, or use SnipShot to crop pictures and save them to Flickr or your computer. Even GE's gotten into the free web application act with their no-registration-required collaborative whiteboard. And the number of free web applications just keeps growing...
posted by blahblahblah on Aug 21, 2006 - 52 comments

Google Web Toolkit + Texas Holdem Poker = gpokr.com. I should probably be embarrassed about how much time I've spent in the last few weeks playing poker online for pretend money. As the site operator mentions in his development blog, it seems to be the small things that make the site so sticky: elegant ajax design, players' rankings displayed and updated right next to their names at the table, a slew of player statistics presented on the main ranking page, even more statistics and graphs on each user page. (Oh, and out of 5000 or so current players, I seem to be #1).
posted by nobody on Aug 17, 2006 - 35 comments

MIT SIMILE Timeline — a unique AJAX-based scheduling manager with a unique Google Maps-like graphical interface
posted by Mr. Six on Jul 1, 2006 - 17 comments

Google Live Search
A Greasemonkey Script that enables you to watch your google results come in live, as you type the search terms. Mesmerizing, time-wasting, and possibly useful.
Greasemonkey and Firefox required.
posted by Edible Energy on Aug 22, 2005 - 32 comments