User:Dria/PiCL Future Ideas
Specific features
Multi-profile support
A user should be able to sign out of Firefox and let a second person use it without the second user having any way to access to the first user's data.
Internet cafe use case
Users should be able to sign into Firefox from a shared browser on a shared computer and be able to immediately have their core Firefox experience available. When they sign out of that browser & computer, that data should be completely erased and inaccessible even to administrators of that machine.
Reading List/Queue
Firefox for Android has a Reading list feature that we want to evolve and turn into something that works across devices. The idea is that it become more than a "reading list" and allow users to add anything they want to consume/view later -- articles, PDF documents, videos, etc. This should include auto-setting and syncing read/viewed state & marking their current location within the content.
Future evolutions would allow users to do things like use their phone to auto-play all of their Queued videos on their TV and to further interact with those in the process (rating them on the origin site, adding comments to the original blog post, adding them to a Collection (see below), sharing them, etc.).
This should also allow users to either augment or replace this feature completely with a third-party service such as Pocket.
Backup/Restore
Full, reliable, versioned, cloud-based back-up and restore facilities that would give users peace of mind that all of their browser data is safe and secure and available in event of catastrophe, including rolling back to an older version should more recent backups end up corrupted for whatever reason.
Could include third-party integration with Dropbox or whatever other facility/service the user would like to use, including a personal data store.
Send tab to another device
Give users the ability to instantly send any tab to any other of their PiCL-enabled devices. Eventually this should include the tab's history & current scroll-point.
Web access of PiCL data
Give users a web-based UI they can use to into and access all of their PiCL data in ways similar to within the browser -- bookmarks, open tabs, history; future: task lists, collections, workspaces, etc.
Task list
- Task list creation & management w/ cross-device sync & features
Collections
- Bookmark/web clipping "Collections" w/ publishing & sharing options
Workspaces
- Workspaces (collaborative, shareable, publishable)
Second-screen & Multi-screen interaction
Since PiCL lives in the cloud and understands the various devices you use to access it, it should be able to do interesting things between those devices. You should be able to use PiCL on your phone to drive PiCL on your TV, or to use your tablet as an optimized "second screen" while you’re watching videos or doing research.
Cross-device sharing (user-to-user)
PiCL should make it simple to share content between your devices, or to share something with another PiCL user either across the room or around the world.
Possible areas for future exploration
Context-awareness
- Context-aware data retrieval and presentation (tailored to what I'm doing)
Location-awareness
- Geo-loc-aware data retrieval and presentation (tailored to where I am)
User dashboard
A continually-updating collection of new, interesting and relevant content that either can be actively used or can acting as a passive, ambient display. Sort of a "
Global unified web history
- Global unified web history (cross-browser, cross-device, cross-app global web history repository wrapped in an API).
If user data lives in the cloud, it can be part of the fabric of the web itself. We would like for all of a user's browsers and apps to be able to communicate with this personal data store, giving them a single unified web history accessible from wherever they are.
History mining (individual & aggregate)
Personal web & search history data-mining to make it easier for users to find the things they're really looking for - more efficient search, more efficient web navigation, etc. Would it be possible to develop smarter pathfinding and navigation based on where people have been before, and how we really, collectively use the web, to give users the ability to skip back and forth within their history in non-linear ways, or organize and present their history differently?
Auto-organize user data in new ways
- New automated ways to categorize and organize users' data
by People, by Places, by Topics...
Enhanced search?
Would it be possible to use user's data to simplify and enrich search by combining results from a variety of sources we know they're interested in -- their history, their bookmarks, their social networks, multiple search engines they use actively, etc?
Social features and/or enhancements built around Firefox Accounts?
How can we make social more meaningful, more real, and more useful -- whatever this means in a world where the web is ubiquitous and user data lives in the cloud. Can we help people find other people who have similar interests and help them build relationships and communities?
Content discovery
Could we use the anonymized aggregate information of millions of users to develop a content recommendation and discovery engine
Global unified social sharing
(across devices, across services...) If PiCL knows about all of your social accounts, would it be possible to build a tool that allows you to post to or read from multiple accounts at the same time?