Comments for Live Folders Bring the Real-Time Web to Android

Live Folders Bring the Real-Time Web to Android

2009-03-17T14:32:58Z

An upcoming feature for Android smartphones called "Live Folders" will deliver real-time web updates to the phone's homescreen. Recently, this feature was revealed in a video of "Cupcake," a development branch of Google's mobile OS where new additions and changes are tested prior to being ported over to the main Android platform.

]]> In the video demonstration of Live Folders on Better Android, you can see how this will work using the social news web site Digg.com as an example. But the potential for what this feature can bring to the Android platform goes much further than just delivering a cool, new way to check out Digg top stories.

With real-time live updating folders such as these, it's easy to imagine how any web site could take advantage of this feature. Live updating RSS feeds or top stories from your favorite news source? Yes! Real-time stock quotes or fantasy football updates? Sure! And that may only be the beginning...the potential is there to expand the technology into other applications, too. For example, a live-updating RSS reader.

Also, since Android apps can run in the background, a Live Folders-enabled application could display update-related info right on the phone's homescreen similar to how an email application displays the number of unread messages. In an Android RSS reader application, that information could be the number of unread news items, for example. For other applications, though, the technology could be used to change the icon itself for a more subtle type of notification. Anything's possible of course, but for now Android users will have to be content with the way Live Folders currently works. However, that's still pretty impressive.

According to Android Developer Joey Sochacki, the latest version of Cupcake is solid and he suspects that it could be ready for public consumption in only a matter of weeks if Google's Android team wanted to deploy it. Considering that there will be major announcements today surrounding an update to the iPhone software, Google may want to prepare to release something exciting of their own, too.

Comment from Muhabbet on 2009-09-19

2009-09-20T01:32:26Z

Thansk

Comment from muhabbet on 2009-06-10

2009-06-10T15:41:28Z

thank you.

Comment from sohbet on 2009-03-23

2009-03-23T11:34:09Z

thank you

Comment from Nic on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T19:01:52Z

@Duncan Also speculating from the video, but not only is this technology nothing fresh, neither is it's use (see: Firefox Live Bookmarks). Maybe I'm misunderstanding what's going on here, though.

Comment from Duncan on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T16:43:29Z

Is this really new technology, from the video its just a desktop rss widget updating every 10 minutes. For it to be actually live, the providers would have to push udpates to the devices would they not?

Comment from Sarah Perez on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T15:54:03Z

@Matt Fan, actually. It's an impressive OS to watch. I wish I could own one of every phone, to be honest. That would rock.

Comment from Hillel on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T15:51:47Z

Seems pretty cool, but http://www.myflyscreen.com/ seems cooler in every possible way.

Comment from Matt Wiseley on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T15:49:42Z

Thanks, Sarah. I'm so glad there's an Android user on the RWW staff!

Comment from AnthonyF on 2009-03-17

2009-03-17T14:56:46Z

Multitasking like this will make Android the WMx killer for sure. Hopefully it will just force MSFT to get better...