Third-party browser developer Skyfire has launched a new plug-in framework, allowing other apps to drill deeper into your everyday mobile web experience. Readability is one of the launch partners for this Horizon framework, which includes options to quickly see your reading list, mark pages to read later, or translate web pages into a readable format right away. A less well-known service called Blue Kangaroo can offer valid coupon codes when you're shopping online through your mobile device. There are lots of big-name plug-ins available, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, IMDB, and Amazon, among others.
There's a big catch, though. This new toolbar isn't going live in Google Play, but rather rolled out through carrier partners. AT&T is already deploying Skyfire with Horizon this month on many of their Android handsets. Though that might just seem like yet another spot for the carrier to push more bloatware, any plug-ins that are preloaded can be removed and replaced by whatever plug-ins the user wants to put in.
Horizon is an interesting system, and certainly seems to offer a bit more functionality than the system-wide Share menu (depending on how in-depth developers go with the plug-in framework). Skyfire also works heavily on carrier-side compression, which enables faster delivery of your browsing data.
Developers and carriers interested in getting involved with Horizon can check out their landing page. Any big Skyfire fans in the house? Which third-party browsers do you use?
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Bar Refaeli
Malin Akerman
Mila Kunis
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