Ubiquity: It’s a big sounding word that means being everywhere at once, and that is precisely what Mozilla is helping users be. This August, Mozilla released a prototype plug-in for Firefox named “Ubiquity,” allowing for a more intuitive use of the internet and streamlined user experience.
This plug-in, admittedly in its infancy, allows easy use of internet services like Google Maps, TinyURL, Wikipedia, and others, without having to open 18 extraneous browser windows or tabs. Through the use of commands (think MS DOS, but you define the commands), the plug-in harnesses those internet services to give you the information you want immediately, and allows you to share it as easily as copying and pasting some highlighted text. Ubiquity uses what Mozilla calls “mashups,” forcing programs to work together to gather valuable content—the plug-in takes care of all the work behind the scenes, letting users get information with little hassle.
Though too soon to be sure, Ubiquity seems to be an evolution of the way we use the internet. It fills a need that we, as users searching for better ways to navigate the web, knew we had but couldn’t quite put into words. Mozilla saw the answer clearly, and may have given us the solution. Could Ubiquity be the trumpet announcing the imminent arrival of Web 3.0?
For a better explanation of how Ubiquity works, I would highly suggest checking out the video below.
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Sara Lugo - NY
Tags: firefox
