More Google Rumors: Trogdor, Gmail Calendar, Pervasive U.S. Wi-Fi

Google is rumoured to be working on an Ajax web page editor, a calendar app, and pervasive wireless in the U.S.:


1. Google has a project codenamed Trogdor, an Ajax webpage editor for creating web pages. = geocities except with a javascript page creator.
2. Calendar for GMail, basically like ical in javascript
3. Wireless in every city in the US, not just mountainview - still in early development + legal problems

Background information on Ajax:

Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym Ajax (Pronounced A-JAX), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to shift a great deal of interaction to the Web surfer's computer, exchanging data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability. The Ajax technique uses a combination of:

XHTML (or HTML) and CSS for marking up and styling information.

The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations like JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented

The XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in some situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server.

XML is commonly used as the format for transfering data, although any format will work, including preformatted HTML, plain text, JSON and even EBML.

Like DHTML, LAMP, or SPA, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies together. In fact, derivative/composite technologies based substantially upon Ajax, such as AFLAX, are already appearing.

Google or not, an Ajax-style GeoCities makes sense. We’ve seen portal-like editors like Dobrado that make light work of page creation by novices. Even Protopage makes a good editor for someone who wants to whip up a quick homepage. We also have many rich text editors being used in production, such as JotSpot’s use of the Dojo Rich Text Editor.

Tools like these not only make basic HTML generation a breeze, but could also help create some Ajax features too. Imagine a Portlet editor using drag-and-drop to set up the link flow. Another example is a Live Search widget, allowing all pages managed by the user to be searched.