This is just awesome. To quote the author, “Greasemonkey on steroids for Android.”

I really haven’t had the time to delve into the source yet, but the premise is what’s intriguing me. Typically, rich apps can only go but so far in interacting with the user’s computer unless you start using Java. This is doubly true for smart phones. Especially with newer models, we’ve got devices that are fully capable of rendering whatever Javascript and CSS you throw at us (WebKit ftw!). However, we’re not able to tap the potential just yet of these devices. Imagine clicking “upload a picture” on a web site and having the camera kick in for a quick take-and-upload session. OilCan seems able to do this. The built in demo shows an Amazon search page where you’re prompted to scan a barcode in directly from the camera; OilCan comes from the same developer as CompareEverywhere (the app where you can scan the barcodes and it searches for other places you can buy it).

There’s also a similar project called Mosembro that I haven’t touched yet. Although, it seems to be more about reading your web pages and finding data that it can attach handlers to (auto-linking to maps, contacts, that sort of thing).