Webaroo, a company based in Seattle, USA, has just launched a new free service that allows users of laptops and PDAs to access online content offline.
Users must first download free software from the Webaroo website and browse through “web packs.” These are essentially directories containing thousands of websites compiled by themes such as news, sports, cities, and more.
Webaroo states that they have utilized end-user technology that can search and analyze interesting web content to integrate into the web packs. The company has made efforts to select pages containing the richest information to attract more users. Whenever the computer is connected to the Internet, the software automatically updates new content and completely removes old information.
Brad Husick, President of Webaroo, acknowledges that many people still need a direct connection to send emails and instant messages (IM). However, their service will be very useful in many situations, such as looking up information on Wikipedia or searching for restaurants.
To access the web offline, users must have a laptop running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or Windows XP SP2 with at least 1 GB of memory. The service also works with Windows Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition-compatible handheld devices, but most of these products have limited capacity, so users will need to equip additional memory cards.
A spokesperson for Acer affirmed that the company will integrate this software into some of its new laptop lines.
T.N.
