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It looks like all "apps" are web pages. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they can make it run things like Angry Birds. And how well they deal with backg

It looks like all "apps" are web pages. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they can make it run things like Angry Birds. And how well they deal with background tasks. On Android I can upload my photos in the background, or play music through Spotify (or my MP3 app) while I'm doing other things. Will I be able to do similar things here?

nailer 15y ago
On a web browser now you can already play music through an app (eg Google music) while you do other things. Don't see why they'd change it.
- AndrewDucker 15y ago
  I guess the question is how they highlight things so I can easily switch back to the app that's playing the music, so I can pause it when necessary, how much space they make available to individual apps (I have about 5GB of music on my phone at the moment for Spotify), and what the model is for apps sharing data (so I can download a photo in one app, change it in a second one, and upload it with a third one). I'm looking forward to seeing what their equivalent of "intents" is.
  - icebraining 15y ago
    I'm looking forward to seeing what their equivalent of "intents" is. Google and Mozilla are already collaborating on Web Intents[1], and Mozilla already has a proof of concept[2]. [1]: http://www.webintents.org/ http://www.webintents.org/ [2]: https://mozillalabs.com/blog/2011/07/web-apps-update-experiments-in-web-activities-app-discovery/ https://mozillalabs.com/blog/2011/07/web-apps-update-experim...
Tichy 15y ago
"HTML 5" has the web workers API for background tasks. They don't work while you visit other pages, though. I guess they'll have to introduce a new API for that.
- bergie 15y ago
  webOS solved this by enabling apps to also ship Node.js code that would be able to run as background services. https://developer.palm.com/content/api/dev-guide/js-services/overview.html https://developer.palm.com/content/api/dev-guide/js-services... Given that Mozilla already made their JS engine emulate Node.js (http://blog.zpao.com/post/4620873765/about-that-hybrid-v8monkey-engine http://blog.zpao.com/post/4620873765/about-that-hybrid-v8mon...), it might not be so far-fetched to think that something similar could be done with B2G.
- azakai 15y ago
  > "HTML 5" has the web workers API for background tasks. They don't work while you visit other pages, though. Web workers should continue to work while you visit other tabs. But not if you browse away from the page with the worker.
toyg 15y ago
And how well they deal with security. I look forward to the day when a malware-distributing webpage can pwn millions of phones without being detected... EDIT: uh, downvotes?
- flpmor 15y ago
  MY first reaction was about security as well. This change of paradigm is a recipe for disaster if security is not considered from the beginning because most of the assumptions change. If it's not done carefully (things like segregation between apps, access control to privileged JavaScript, etc)... it is going to pretty painful.
  - icebraining 15y ago
    Firefox already has all that. A good part of the browser is written in JS which runs with high privileges (full filesystem access, full network access, etc) while the code on websites doesn't. It already has systems for unprivileged JS to request access to certain privileged APIs (location, localStorage, etc). "Apps" - websites - are already segregated and run in their own sandbox.
    - flpmor 15y ago
      I know, and we have constantly lived along the edge of the cliff because of that. From a perspective of security it was a very poor design decision. By making those decisions you create a big security burden, the attack surface is very large, the impact of bugs is very large. These are the types of security consideration that have to happen at design time. In this case I would like to know more about, maybe it's being considered but not being discussed.
      - zobzu 15y ago
        So you're saying sandboxing webapps are a bad design decision. What is your proposal then?
- azakai 15y ago
wazoox 15y ago
> It looks like all "apps" are web pages. This was already this way on WebOS. It didn't prevent any of the thing you mentioned.
Sami_Lehtinen 15y ago
Well, Angry Birds runs as HTML5 app already perfectly well. http://chrome.angrybirds.com/ http://chrome.angrybirds.com/
- AndrewDucker 15y ago
  I thought that it used Flash for the sound.
  - mbrubeck 15y ago
    Angry Birds uses the Web Audio API for sound, with Flash as a fallback for browsers that don't support that API: http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2012/01/angry-birds-chrome-now-uses-web-audio.html http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2012/01/angry-birds-chr...

nailer 15y ago

On a web browser now you can already play music through an app (eg Google music) while you do other things. Don't see why they'd change it.

AndrewDucker 15y ago
I guess the question is how they highlight things so I can easily switch back to the app that's playing the music, so I can pause it when necessary, how much space they make available to individual apps (I have about 5GB of music on my phone at the moment for Spotify), and what the model is for apps sharing data (so I can download a photo in one app, change it in a second one, and upload it with a third one). I'm looking forward to seeing what their equivalent of "intents" is.
- icebraining 15y ago
  I'm looking forward to seeing what their equivalent of "intents" is. Google and Mozilla are already collaborating on Web Intents[1], and Mozilla already has a proof of concept[2]. [1]: http://www.webintents.org/ http://www.webintents.org/ [2]: https://mozillalabs.com/blog/2011/07/web-apps-update-experiments-in-web-activities-app-discovery/ https://mozillalabs.com/blog/2011/07/web-apps-update-experim...

Tichy 15y ago

"HTML 5" has the web workers API for background tasks. They don't work while you visit other pages, though. I guess they'll have to introduce a new API for that.

bergie 15y ago
webOS solved this by enabling apps to also ship Node.js code that would be able to run as background services. https://developer.palm.com/content/api/dev-guide/js-services/overview.html https://developer.palm.com/content/api/dev-guide/js-services... Given that Mozilla already made their JS engine emulate Node.js (http://blog.zpao.com/post/4620873765/about-that-hybrid-v8monkey-engine http://blog.zpao.com/post/4620873765/about-that-hybrid-v8mon...), it might not be so far-fetched to think that something similar could be done with B2G.
azakai 15y ago
> "HTML 5" has the web workers API for background tasks. They don't work while you visit other pages, though. Web workers should continue to work while you visit other tabs. But not if you browse away from the page with the worker.

toyg 15y ago

And how well they deal with security. I look forward to the day when a malware-distributing webpage can pwn millions of phones without being detected... EDIT: uh, downvotes?

flpmor 15y ago
MY first reaction was about security as well. This change of paradigm is a recipe for disaster if security is not considered from the beginning because most of the assumptions change. If it's not done carefully (things like segregation between apps, access control to privileged JavaScript, etc)... it is going to pretty painful.
- icebraining 15y ago
  Firefox already has all that. A good part of the browser is written in JS which runs with high privileges (full filesystem access, full network access, etc) while the code on websites doesn't. It already has systems for unprivileged JS to request access to certain privileged APIs (location, localStorage, etc). "Apps" - websites - are already segregated and run in their own sandbox.
  - flpmor 15y ago
    I know, and we have constantly lived along the edge of the cliff because of that. From a perspective of security it was a very poor design decision. By making those decisions you create a big security burden, the attack surface is very large, the impact of bugs is very large. These are the types of security consideration that have to happen at design time. In this case I would like to know more about, maybe it's being considered but not being discussed.
    - zobzu 15y ago
      So you're saying sandboxing webapps are a bad design decision. What is your proposal then?
azakai 15y ago

wazoox 15y ago

> It looks like all "apps" are web pages. This was already this way on WebOS. It didn't prevent any of the thing you mentioned.

Sami_Lehtinen 15y ago

Well, Angry Birds runs as HTML5 app already perfectly well. http://chrome.angrybirds.com/ http://chrome.angrybirds.com/

AndrewDucker 15y ago
I thought that it used Flash for the sound.
- mbrubeck 15y ago
  Angry Birds uses the Web Audio API for sound, with Flash as a fallback for browsers that don't support that API: http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2012/01/angry-birds-chrome-now-uses-web-audio.html http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2012/01/angry-birds-chr...