Monday is the deadline for submitting proposals to the next O’Reilly Emerging Technology conference (San Diego, Mar 6-9). This year’s call for proposals is a doozy:
You Can Take It With You!
With a global population always on the move, how do we marry the flexibility of end-to-end applications to the power of disconnected operation? We look at TiddlyWiki as an early example of using the network as a data source but surviving disconnected operation; but what of resynching when you’re next online? Gmail et al are designed for email from anywhere with a browser and network heartbeat, yet you can’t take it with you on a plane or for a walk in the woods without resorting to a standard POP email client. Surely there’s a way to take it offline without need of the costly interface and context switch!
* What techniques let us successfully take web applications with us while disconnected and then resynchronize when we are next connected?
* Just how far can the browser and JavaScript be stretched as a platform for rich internet applications?
* Given that there are more mobile phones than landlines in many parts of the world, what progress has been made in using the mobile phone as a remote control?