Filed under: Internet, Features, Web services, Beta, Search, web 2.0
RoamAbout browser plugin brings web services to any page

But why take the data to the web service, when the web service can come to the data? This morning Vysr is launching a new browser plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer called RoamAbout. It lets you access a series of web tools from any page.
At launch, a handful of services like Facebook, del.icio.us, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, MapQuest, and Google Maps will be supported. Users can highlight an address on any web page, and click a button in the toolbar to plot the address on a map and then email the map to a friend. Or you can select a zip code or city name and check the weather by hitting another button to pull up the Weather.com interface.
Gallery: Vysr RoamAbout
Users can pick from categories like maps or weather and select the services they want to be able to pull up from an in-browser toolbar. The company hopes to add new services every week. And Vysr is also releasing an API to allow third parties to add services to RoamAbout.
Since RoamAbout works with Firefox, the service is compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows systems. Vysr CEO Guda Venkatesh says the plugin is just a 30kb download, and uses less RAM than opening up a new tab in your browser with Facebook or another web service.
RoamAbout is available as a public beta. The program is free for users, but eventually Vysr may ad contextual advertising to the interface. Vysr also hopes to work with web publishers to develop tools that will let you interact with web services directly from a web page even if you haven't installed the toolbar yourself.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andyb said 8:45AM on 4-22-2008
Isn't this just like IE8 activities?
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Febi Guibo said 12:10PM on 4-22-2008
Download link: http://dl.vysr.com/RoamAbout/?s=webexposf08
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Lynn said 5:50PM on 6-25-2008
Downloaded and used this software a couple of weeks then had to remove it because it kept kicking up script error messages for each tab opened in Internet Explorer 7. Far as I'm concerned, it's not ready for prime time yet. I'll try it again when the next version releases because it would be great if they fix it.
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