Canonical had announced plans for including Web apps in Ubuntu 12.10. These apps will not only allow to access online services with a single click, but also will provide a nice integration with Ubuntu Unity interface. This means if you add Facebook, for example, as a web app, you will receive Facebook notifications and messages right in your desktop.

Fortunately, these web apps are available in Ubuntu Precise too, and you can install them easily by adding a PPA. Note that these apps are currently in beta, so you may experience some rough edges. To install web apps, run the following commands in your terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webapps/preview
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-webapps-preview

A handful of services are available via web apps. These include some poplular ones like Baidu, Blogger, Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Facebook, Drupal, Gmail, Google Calender, Google News, Google Reader, Hotmail, Last.FM, Launchpad, Reddit and more.