The document introduces several projects from Mozilla Labs, an experimental research lab for developing new web technologies. Projects described include Raindrop for organizing conversations across different sources, Weave for syncing browsing across devices, Bespin for cloud-based code editing, Jetpack for building Firefox extensions using web technologies, Personas for customizing the Firefox interface, Prism for running web apps on the desktop, Snowl for integrating online discussions into Firefox, Test Pilot for testing new features, Ubiquity for controlling the browser with voice commands, and the Concept Series for exploring future directions for Firefox and the web. The document encourages readers to get involved in testing, providing feedback, and helping shape the future of the open web.
2. About Mozilla Labs
Laboratories are where science and creativity meet to
develop, research, and explore new ideas. Mozilla Labs
embraces this great tradition ¡ª a virtual lab where
people come together to create, experiment, and play
with new Web innovations and technologies.
Anything goes here. Crazy ideas and inspirations are
encouraged as we all explore and experiment with
brand new ideas in whole new ways. Mozilla Labs is
about inspiring and harnessing the intelligence,
wisdom, and energy of the Mozilla community; let¡¯s
imagine the future of the Web, and then let¡¯s build it
together.
4. Raindrop's mission: make it enjoyable to
participate in conversations from people you
care about, whether the conversations are in
email, on twitter, a friend's blog or as part of a
social networking site.
Raindrop uses a mini web server to fetch your
conversations from different sources (mail,
twitter, RSS feeds), intelligently pulls out the
important parts, and allows you to interact with
them using your favorite modern web browser
(Firefox, Safari or Chrome).
9. Weave
Synchronization engine - securely
transports your browsing experience
across all your devices
Cryptographic engine - provides default
client side encryption for all your data
Weave server - a secure storage location
for all your encrypted data
APIs - extension interfaces for 3rd party
developers
Mozilla Weave enables you to have incredibly rich, personalized experiences across the web.
12. Bespin
Code in the cloud
Bespin proposes an open extensible web-
based framework for code editing that
aims to increase developer productivity,
enable compelling user experiences, and
promote the use of open standards.
16. Jetpack
Jetpack is a newly formed experiment in using open
Web technologies to enhance the browser, with the
goal of allowing anyone who can build a Web site to
participate in making the Web a better place to work,
communicate and play.
In short, Jetpack is an API for allowing you to write
Firefox add-ons using the web technologies you
already know.
As with all Labs experiments, Jetpack is an open
source project and everyone is welcome to
participate in its design, development and testing.
24. Prism
Bringing web applications to your
Desktop
Prism is an application that lets users split
web applications out of their browser and
run them directly on their desktop.
28. Snowl
Messaging in the browser
Could the web browser help you follow
and participate in online discussions?
Snowl is an experiment that examines
several different ways to integrate online
conversations into Firefox's interface.
31. Test Pilot
Join to be a Test Pilot!
Test Pilot is a platform aimed at collecting
structured user feedback from Firefox and other
Mozilla Labs experiments.
As a Test pilot, not only will you try before
anyone else the newest features and coolest
user-interface ideas, you could also learn how
those test results may contribute to future
designs.
The goal for this platform is to encourage
everyone from all skill levels to improve the
Web experience by participating in these tests.
32. Test Pilot
Become a Test Pilot!
How test pilots help
You control your own data
Get Involved
34. Ubiquity
Don¡¯t just surf the web ¡ª command it!
Ubiquity is a time-saving Firefox extension that simplifies common
web activities by letting you give commands to Firefox. Ubiquity
includes about 80 commands for speeding up common web
activities (searching, translating, mapping, emailing, etc.), but also
provides an API so you can write your own commands using
Javascript. You can also share the commands you write, and
subscribe to commands shared by other users.
To make it easy for users to run these commands, Ubiquity
provides a unique pseudo-natural-language input method: You type
what you want to do, and Ubiquity guesses what you mean and
suggests the best-matching commands. For instance, you can
select some foreign-language text on a web page, hit a hotkey to
bring up the Ubiquity interface, and type "translate" (or just type "tr"
and let Ubiquity figure out that you mean the translate command);
then hit enter to have the selected text replaced, right in the page,
with a translation to your language.
39. Concept Series
Inspire the Future
The Concept Series aims to provoke
thought, facilitate discussion, and inspire
future design directions for Firefox, the
Mozilla project, and the Web as a whole.
Get involved and share your ideas and
expertise as we collectively explore and
design future directions for the Web.