Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs, and Liliputing may earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on those links. All prices are subject to change, and this article only reflects the prices available at time of publication.
Google is working on a new project called “Fizz” which is designed to make mobile web apps more like native apps. In other words, developers may eventually be able to send work even when you’re offline, send push notifications, or perform other actions just as if they were native apps.
You won’t even need to have a specific web page open in a browser tab for it to send or receive messages.
It’ll likely be a while before Fizz is fully integrated into the Chrome web browser, and it’ll be up to web developers to decide whether or not to take advantage of the features (and presumably it’ll be up to you to decide whether to let web apps send you push notifications or work offline). But it seems like Mozilla isn’t the only company that sees a future for mobile web apps.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web. You can keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
- Google “Fizz” aims to make web apps act more like native apps on mobile devices
Fizz also includes a Geofrencing API that allows web apps to be notified when you enter or leave a geographic region and a Network Information API to access information about your device’s internet connection. [+François Beaufort] - Pebble hires the design team behind LG’s webOS TVs to work on smartwatch design
It’s not clear at this point exactly what they’ll be working on… but user interface design seems like a safe bet. [The Verge] - Firefox nightly for Android now supports casting videos to Chromecast
Chrome can do it too… but that’s hardly surprising since Google makes both Chrome and Chromecast. [+Lucas Rocha] - XBMC 13.2 “Gotham” final released
This will likely be the last stable release of the popular cross-platform, open source media center application before it officially changes its name to Kodi in time for the release of Kodi 14. [XBMC] - Report: LG G Watch 2 is already in the works
The LG G Watch is still hot off the presses (or whatever they make smartwatches on), but there are reports that a next-gen model could be unveiled as soon as early September. It reportedly has an AMOLED display rather than LCD. [Android Police] - Inside ATAP, Google’s mobile development group led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan
An inside look at the team responsible for the modular Project Ara smartphone, the 3D-mapping Project Tango phone and tablet and who knows what other crazy ideas?[Fortune]