[drivebyacct2]

I hadn't considered the limitations of "you have to have the browser open" as my browser is never closed.

You're right in that some of the problems are solved (I get native notifications of new email in Gmail via Web Notifications and a Chrome plugin that turns them in inotify (or whatever) notifications, and the indicator on my app'd tab in Chrome changes from zero -> one).

I do appreciate the feedback, these were conditions I hadn't even considered and need to account for.