The option to share an iGoogle tab is a great promotional mechanism. You can create special gadgets for an event or use existing gadgets and change their settings.
Google created a special tab for the Rugby World Cup that started yesterday in France. The tab is promoted on some of the Google homepages from countries that are involved in the competition (for example: Google Australia). Google also has a special doodle for this event.
The tab consists of five gadgets: two of them show results and news, other two let you support your team by uploading a YouTube video or hearing a cheerful sound and the last one shows satellite images of the stadiums.
Google should now build a directory for tabs and let you easily create themed tabs using popular gadgets as the building blocks. The new Gadget-to-Gadget Communication API could be helpful to create a unified package.
But Google should fix this weird bug before: if you click on the link to add a tab and you're not logged in, the tab is added to a default iGoogle page. When you log in, the tab is nowhere to be found. It would be nice to force a log in before adding the tab to iGoogle.
{ Thank you, Mark. }
Measuring Distances in Google Maps
Update (May 2011): Distance measurement is now available in Google Maps Labs. Just enable "Distance Measurement Tool" and click the ruler icon at the bottom of the map.
If you want to measure the distance between two or more places, Google Maps can be pretty helpful.
One way to do that is to add the "Distance Measurement Tool" mapplet and create a path on the map. You can add as many points as you want and if you make a mistake, there's an option to delete the last point. Distances can be expressed in Metric units or English units, but if you're feeling geeky there are many other less known units you can choose: Bohr radius, Egyptian remen, nautical mile, Olympic swimming pool, light-year, PostScript point and more.
"My Maps" can also be used to create personalized maps. Add lines, define a path and change it by dragging one of the white rectangles placed on the path. The personalized map can be saved for future reference, printed, shared with others and embedded in a site.
It's interesting to compare these distances with those obtained from driving directions. To customize the route, drag the blue line or add a new destination in the sidebar.
Google Earth offers similar ways to measure distances. In both Google Maps and Google Earth, "measuring is calculated using the lat/lon coordinates from point to point and does not consider elevation."
Only the distance measurement mapplet lets you choose between metric and English units of measures. The path from "My Maps" shows the total distance in miles, while the driving directions show the units of measures used in a country.
If you want to measure the distance between two or more places, Google Maps can be pretty helpful.
One way to do that is to add the "Distance Measurement Tool" mapplet and create a path on the map. You can add as many points as you want and if you make a mistake, there's an option to delete the last point. Distances can be expressed in Metric units or English units, but if you're feeling geeky there are many other less known units you can choose: Bohr radius, Egyptian remen, nautical mile, Olympic swimming pool, light-year, PostScript point and more.
"My Maps" can also be used to create personalized maps. Add lines, define a path and change it by dragging one of the white rectangles placed on the path. The personalized map can be saved for future reference, printed, shared with others and embedded in a site.
It's interesting to compare these distances with those obtained from driving directions. To customize the route, drag the blue line or add a new destination in the sidebar.
Google Earth offers similar ways to measure distances. In both Google Maps and Google Earth, "measuring is calculated using the lat/lon coordinates from point to point and does not consider elevation."
Only the distance measurement mapplet lets you choose between metric and English units of measures. The path from "My Maps" shows the total distance in miles, while the driving directions show the units of measures used in a country.
Google's Search Pages Could Include Richer Ads
When Google launched Universal Search, Marissa Mayer was asked if Google intends to include image or video ads. She didn't rule out this idea and said it's natural to see ads evolving in the same direction as the organic search results. In a chat with Gord Hotchkiss, she talked more about this:
"I think that there will be different types of advertising on the search results page. As you know, my theory is always that the ads should match the search results. So if you have text results, you have text ads, and if you have image results, you have image ads. So as the page becomes richer, the ads also need to become richer, just so that they look alive and match the page. (...) So while I do think the ads will look different, they will look different in format, or they may look different in placement, I think our commitment to calling out very strongly where we have a monetary incentive and we may be biased will remain."
At the Citigroup Technology Conference in New York, Nicholas Fox from Google gave an example of video ad for a local butcher that would work better than a standard text ad: "a video with shots of fresh meat and the overall store experience". He also assured us that Google will be careful about user experience and the new ads will be placed only if they're really relevant.
The promo for "The Ultimate Search for Bourne" was probably the most complex ad ever included in a Google search results page: it included a small image and an option to view the trailer inside the same box (the video was hosted at YouTube). Google now also includes big blue buttons next to the ads from advertisers that accept Google Checkout as a method of payment. Another interesting experiment shows the address of the business, a static map and an option to get directions next to local ads.
The main advantages of the text ads are that the page loads faster, they're not obtrusive and blend with the rest of the content which mainly consists of text. Now that search results also include geographical information, images, videos, news and the content is more diverse, the ads could also be richer. Google will probably keep the current text ads and use Plus Boxes to expand the content.
Personalization is another thing that could put the ads in line with search results. "My philosophy is that the ads and the search results should match. [And when it comes to targeting,] search and ads are almost the same," said Marissa Mayer.
"I think that there will be different types of advertising on the search results page. As you know, my theory is always that the ads should match the search results. So if you have text results, you have text ads, and if you have image results, you have image ads. So as the page becomes richer, the ads also need to become richer, just so that they look alive and match the page. (...) So while I do think the ads will look different, they will look different in format, or they may look different in placement, I think our commitment to calling out very strongly where we have a monetary incentive and we may be biased will remain."
At the Citigroup Technology Conference in New York, Nicholas Fox from Google gave an example of video ad for a local butcher that would work better than a standard text ad: "a video with shots of fresh meat and the overall store experience". He also assured us that Google will be careful about user experience and the new ads will be placed only if they're really relevant.
The promo for "The Ultimate Search for Bourne" was probably the most complex ad ever included in a Google search results page: it included a small image and an option to view the trailer inside the same box (the video was hosted at YouTube). Google now also includes big blue buttons next to the ads from advertisers that accept Google Checkout as a method of payment. Another interesting experiment shows the address of the business, a static map and an option to get directions next to local ads.
The main advantages of the text ads are that the page loads faster, they're not obtrusive and blend with the rest of the content which mainly consists of text. Now that search results also include geographical information, images, videos, news and the content is more diverse, the ads could also be richer. Google will probably keep the current text ads and use Plus Boxes to expand the content.
Personalization is another thing that could put the ads in line with search results. "My philosophy is that the ads and the search results should match. [And when it comes to targeting,] search and ads are almost the same," said Marissa Mayer.
Update: Daniel Dulitz, from Google, writes on Slashdot:
"I'm the product manager responsible for the way ads look on Google. You will not be distracted by image ads or video ads on Google search results pages. Period.
Just because other companies use image ads and video ads with the _purpose_ of distracting users doesn't mean Google will do that. Images and videos can be useful and entertaining, if you see them when you want to see them. It's taken us a long time to figure out how to do it right.
BTW, how many _years_ do we have to be in business before people learn Google isn't motivated by short-term greed? Yes, we want to make money. We want to make money 10 years from now. The only way to do that is to build great products that people want. I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far, and we're not planning to stop."
"I'm the product manager responsible for the way ads look on Google. You will not be distracted by image ads or video ads on Google search results pages. Period.
Just because other companies use image ads and video ads with the _purpose_ of distracting users doesn't mean Google will do that. Images and videos can be useful and entertaining, if you see them when you want to see them. It's taken us a long time to figure out how to do it right.
BTW, how many _years_ do we have to be in business before people learn Google isn't motivated by short-term greed? Yes, we want to make money. We want to make money 10 years from now. The only way to do that is to build great products that people want. I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far, and we're not planning to stop."
An Online Version of Your Library
Google Book Search has an incredibly useful new feature that lets you build a virtual library of your favorite books. You can import the books if you have a list of ISBNs or search them and click on "Add to library".
Your library has a public URL you can share with other people (here's mine) and even a feed. You can also write reviews, rate the books or categorize them using tags. Probably the most important reason you should build the library is because it becomes searchable. Imagine being able to find a scene from one of your books without knowing its title and by typing some keywords that describe the scene. Of course, Google didn't index all the books in the world, so many of your favorite books aren't yet searchable.
Another new feature is the "cover view", a way to only see the book covers and leave out the additional details. To find the author and the title of a book, hover over its cover.
Book summaries also show popular fragments quoted by other books. "Digitized text is useful beyond search, too. It enables us to infer connections between books through shared passages. (...) You can discover connections between books through quotations like this in a feature we call Popular passages," notes the Google blog.
New York Times reports that Google will also add a way to view the full text of some copyrighted books, but I hope this won't end up like Google Video Store. "This fall, Google plans to start charging users for full online access to the digital copies of some books in its database, according to people with knowledge of its plans. Publishers will set the prices for their own books and share the revenue with Google. So far, Google has made only limited excerpts of copyrighted books available to its users." I discovered this new feature in January in a Google page that describes how it works: "With online access, users who discover a book through Google Book Search will be able to pay for immediate access to its full contents. (...) The book will be available to users only through their browser, and only when they've signed in with their personal account. Users cannot save a copy on their computer or copy pages from the book."
Your library has a public URL you can share with other people (here's mine) and even a feed. You can also write reviews, rate the books or categorize them using tags. Probably the most important reason you should build the library is because it becomes searchable. Imagine being able to find a scene from one of your books without knowing its title and by typing some keywords that describe the scene. Of course, Google didn't index all the books in the world, so many of your favorite books aren't yet searchable.
Another new feature is the "cover view", a way to only see the book covers and leave out the additional details. To find the author and the title of a book, hover over its cover.
Book summaries also show popular fragments quoted by other books. "Digitized text is useful beyond search, too. It enables us to infer connections between books through shared passages. (...) You can discover connections between books through quotations like this in a feature we call Popular passages," notes the Google blog.
New York Times reports that Google will also add a way to view the full text of some copyrighted books, but I hope this won't end up like Google Video Store. "This fall, Google plans to start charging users for full online access to the digital copies of some books in its database, according to people with knowledge of its plans. Publishers will set the prices for their own books and share the revenue with Google. So far, Google has made only limited excerpts of copyrighted books available to its users." I discovered this new feature in January in a Google page that describes how it works: "With online access, users who discover a book through Google Book Search will be able to pay for immediate access to its full contents. (...) The book will be available to users only through their browser, and only when they've signed in with their personal account. Users cannot save a copy on their computer or copy pages from the book."
Windows Live's Trojan Horse
Microsoft launched a software bundle for the most important products released under the Windows Live umbrella. Windows Live Installer (Beta) is very similar to Google Pack, but Microsoft doesn't include third-party software.
The confusing Windows Live brand brings together software and web apps that serve as an extension to Microsoft's operating system. It's pretty strange to include in the name of a webmail service the name of an operating system, even if Windows Live Hotmail also works on Linux and Mac.
Windows Live Installer has a triple role:
* to increase the adoption of Microsoft's search engine (there's an option to set Live Search as the default search engine)
* to bundle Microsoft's software offering in a unified package
* to integrate with Microsoft's web applications and to increase their usage and usefulness
"Windows Live makes it easy to store and manage your communications and information, and share what's going on in your life with the people who mean the most to you. (...) Today we're releasing beta versions of a new generation of Windows Live software designed for your Windows PC that makes it easier than ever to get connected to Windows Live or other services. (...) This new suite of applications is a new way that we can make connecting, communicating, and sharing anywhere a terrific experience on your Windows PC. Together with our web services, we have a complete suite that combines the best of the Web and the best of Windows, and works the way you want," explains Chris Jones, from Windows Live.
Essentially, Microsoft wants you to live in a "Windows Live World", where there's little difference between online and offline, but the installed software takes the central role. The software included in Microsoft's package have a consistent look and are tightly integrated:
* a sign-in assistant that lets you switch between your Windows Live identities the same way you switch between your Windows accounts (it works only in Internet Explorer).
* a shiny email client that looks and feels a lot like Microsoft Outlook. Windows Live Mail recognized my Gmail address and filled the POP3 settings for me, but it also provided me with an easy way to create a Hotmail address and to see the online status of my Messenger contacts.
* Windows Live Messenger, the software responsible for the huge popularity of Microsoft's social network, Windows Live Spaces.
* Windows Live Writer, an excellent blogging editor that works with most popular blog platforms, including Blogger and Windows Live Spaces.
* a photo gallery software that also installs Microsoft's desktop search tool and makes it easy to publish photos to Windows Live Spaces and videos to MSN Soapbox. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to index the "My Pictures" folder, but it has tags, ratings and an option to create panoramic pictures.
* the toolbar for Internet Explorer, whose main purpose is to let you search the web (with Live Search).
* Windows Live OneCare Family Safety is an online parental control service that helps "protect your kids from the online stuff you don't want them to see by filtering the Web sites they visit".
While many of these applications have counterparts in Google Pack, the integration between Google's products is almost non-existent or not very visible. Google also didn't use the opportunity of a software like Google Desktop to let you publish documents of the web or to send photos from Picasa to Google Talk.
Windows Live Installer has great software and a good distribution strategy could help it improve the awareness of the Windows Live brand and also keep people away from Google.
The confusing Windows Live brand brings together software and web apps that serve as an extension to Microsoft's operating system. It's pretty strange to include in the name of a webmail service the name of an operating system, even if Windows Live Hotmail also works on Linux and Mac.
Windows Live Installer has a triple role:
* to increase the adoption of Microsoft's search engine (there's an option to set Live Search as the default search engine)
* to bundle Microsoft's software offering in a unified package
* to integrate with Microsoft's web applications and to increase their usage and usefulness
"Windows Live makes it easy to store and manage your communications and information, and share what's going on in your life with the people who mean the most to you. (...) Today we're releasing beta versions of a new generation of Windows Live software designed for your Windows PC that makes it easier than ever to get connected to Windows Live or other services. (...) This new suite of applications is a new way that we can make connecting, communicating, and sharing anywhere a terrific experience on your Windows PC. Together with our web services, we have a complete suite that combines the best of the Web and the best of Windows, and works the way you want," explains Chris Jones, from Windows Live.
Essentially, Microsoft wants you to live in a "Windows Live World", where there's little difference between online and offline, but the installed software takes the central role. The software included in Microsoft's package have a consistent look and are tightly integrated:
* a sign-in assistant that lets you switch between your Windows Live identities the same way you switch between your Windows accounts (it works only in Internet Explorer).
* a shiny email client that looks and feels a lot like Microsoft Outlook. Windows Live Mail recognized my Gmail address and filled the POP3 settings for me, but it also provided me with an easy way to create a Hotmail address and to see the online status of my Messenger contacts.
* Windows Live Messenger, the software responsible for the huge popularity of Microsoft's social network, Windows Live Spaces.
* Windows Live Writer, an excellent blogging editor that works with most popular blog platforms, including Blogger and Windows Live Spaces.
* a photo gallery software that also installs Microsoft's desktop search tool and makes it easy to publish photos to Windows Live Spaces and videos to MSN Soapbox. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to index the "My Pictures" folder, but it has tags, ratings and an option to create panoramic pictures.
* the toolbar for Internet Explorer, whose main purpose is to let you search the web (with Live Search).
* Windows Live OneCare Family Safety is an online parental control service that helps "protect your kids from the online stuff you don't want them to see by filtering the Web sites they visit".
While many of these applications have counterparts in Google Pack, the integration between Google's products is almost non-existent or not very visible. Google also didn't use the opportunity of a software like Google Desktop to let you publish documents of the web or to send photos from Picasa to Google Talk.
Windows Live Installer has great software and a good distribution strategy could help it improve the awareness of the Windows Live brand and also keep people away from Google.
Google Reader Adds Search
As mentioned in the previous post, Google Reader is now mature. But how could it mature be without having a search feature? The wait is over: Google Reader finally added search.
You can search all your feeds, the feeds from a folder or the posts from a single feed. In fact, you can perform two searches: one for a folder or feed and another search for the posts that contain some keywords and are from the folder or feed you've previously selected. The results are sorted by date and it takes a couple of seconds for them to show up.
It's easy to navigate using keyboard shortcuts: j for the next item, k for the previous item, Enter to read the full post and to go back to the search results, v to go to the original site.
Some small complaints: it would be nice to search the current folder or feed without having to manually select it from the list; there's a noticeable lag so search is anything but fast; when restricting the search to starred items you can't find the post you've starred one minute ago; some advanced search features would be useful (restricting to an author, a date range, posts that have enclosures). Ranking search results by relevance (with a slight bit of personalization) and clustering them à la Google News would dramatically improve the search experience, but I'm probably a nitpicker. What's important is that Google Reader has a way to search your feeds.
Update: For about a day, Opera users saw new Google Reader interface, specially designed for their innovative-but-not-very-popular browser:
You can search all your feeds, the feeds from a folder or the posts from a single feed. In fact, you can perform two searches: one for a folder or feed and another search for the posts that contain some keywords and are from the folder or feed you've previously selected. The results are sorted by date and it takes a couple of seconds for them to show up.
It's easy to navigate using keyboard shortcuts: j for the next item, k for the previous item, Enter to read the full post and to go back to the search results, v to go to the original site.
Some small complaints: it would be nice to search the current folder or feed without having to manually select it from the list; there's a noticeable lag so search is anything but fast; when restricting the search to starred items you can't find the post you've starred one minute ago; some advanced search features would be useful (restricting to an author, a date range, posts that have enclosures). Ranking search results by relevance (with a slight bit of personalization) and clustering them à la Google News would dramatically improve the search experience, but I'm probably a nitpicker. What's important is that Google Reader has a way to search your feeds.
Update: For about a day, Opera users saw new Google Reader interface, specially designed for their innovative-but-not-very-popular browser:
Reading Reactor (or a Google Reader Update)
A Google Reader update, released to a select number of users, solved a weird annoyance and added a long-existing feature to the interface. (Update: The new release is live and it also includes the most requested feature - search.)
Apparently, Google Reader learned to count to 1,000, which is a major improvement if we consider that Google Reader was only able to count to 100. More exactly, all the feeds, folders and other views showed 100+ if you had more than 99 unread items. I wonder if this is a technical limitation or Google is afraid we're not able to handle the information overload.
The other feature lets you hide the sidebar by clicking on a small arrow, like in Google Maps. You can already do this by typing u, but who's going to remember all the keyboard shortcuts? (You don't have to remember them. Google Reader is probably the only major web applications that makes it a piece of cake to see the available shortcuts: just type ?)
Like any grown-up Google product, Reader will also add support for multiple languages and remove all the icons reminiscent of Google Labs. Google Reader is now more than a feed reader, it's responsible for almost anything related to feeds at Google: from iGoogle to the feed API. After all, it started as an Atom parser in JavaScript that became a 20% project.
"[Aaron Boodman] let me know (I'm paraphrasing) that I was missing the big picture and that a reading tool would be more useful if its model started with the item (not the source) as a building block and allowed items to be interleaved and maybe even ranked and recommended to other people. Our conversation meandered into comparing certain views to television as TV channels are important but not as important to viewers as the shows themselves," describes Chris Wetherell the initial vision.
Hopefully, this vision will continue to guide Google Reader. Ranking, filtering, recommending help you see the most important information and obtain a personalized view for your feeds. Google Reader could truly become a reactor by reacting to your signals and to external signals (Reactor is Google Reader's codename).
{ Screenshot licensed as Creative Commons by Dan Ox. Tip from Tom Schenk Jr. Special thanks to Justin Blanton. }
Google Spreadsheets Lets You Import Online Data
Google Spreadsheets wins the prize for the coolest new features launched this summer in Google's web applications.
The magical autofill lets you type the first elements from a series, select them, drag the fill handle (a small blue square) across the range that you want to fill and obtain the rest of the items automatically. It works for time series (days of the week, months), numerical series (arithmetical progressions), a combination between text and numbers (for example: type Q1, Q2 and Google Spreadsheets will add Q3, Q4 etc.) or dates.
You can also try entering related words, products, companies, countries and you may get surprising results; just press Ctrl while dragging the fill handle. It seems that autofill uses data from Google Sets. Look what I got when I typed "pop", "rock", "rap":
The other great new feature uses the "online" part from from "online spreadsheet". Now you can add data from many different sources available online: feeds, HTML files or simply text files (CSV/TSV). The data is automatically refreshed, although it's not very clear how often.
For HTML or XML files, you have to type an XPath expression to describe the data:
=importXML("URL","XPath expression")
For example, to get the Google search results for [live], you need to check the source code and notice that the class attribute has the value "l":
=importXML("http://www.google.com/search?q=live", "//a[@class='l']/@href")
There's a special function to import tables and lists from HTML files:
=importHtml(URL, element, index)
Element can be either "list" or "table", while the index tells an element's order in the page. Here's how to import all the definitions for [live] found by Google:
=importHTML("http://www.google.com/search?q=define:live", "list", 1)
To import structured text files, use this function:
=importData("URL")
This is especially useful if you want to import data from multiple CSV files available online.
Atom and RSS feeds can be imported using this function:
=GoogleReader(URL)
The function has an advanced form that lets you add only some of the items from the feed. For example, here's how to obtain the latest headline from New York Times:
=GoogleReader ("http://graphics8.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/HomePage.xml", "items title", "false", 1)
If we couple these new additions with the two other functions that retrieve information from the web and consider that each published spreadsheet is available as a feed, it's clear that you can connect multiple spreadsheets and easily reference data available online.
The magical autofill lets you type the first elements from a series, select them, drag the fill handle (a small blue square) across the range that you want to fill and obtain the rest of the items automatically. It works for time series (days of the week, months), numerical series (arithmetical progressions), a combination between text and numbers (for example: type Q1, Q2 and Google Spreadsheets will add Q3, Q4 etc.) or dates.
You can also try entering related words, products, companies, countries and you may get surprising results; just press Ctrl while dragging the fill handle. It seems that autofill uses data from Google Sets. Look what I got when I typed "pop", "rock", "rap":
The other great new feature uses the "online" part from from "online spreadsheet". Now you can add data from many different sources available online: feeds, HTML files or simply text files (CSV/TSV). The data is automatically refreshed, although it's not very clear how often.
For HTML or XML files, you have to type an XPath expression to describe the data:
=importXML("URL","XPath expression")
For example, to get the Google search results for [live], you need to check the source code and notice that the class attribute has the value "l":
=importXML("http://www.google.com/search?q=live", "//a[@class='l']/@href")
There's a special function to import tables and lists from HTML files:
=importHtml(URL, element, index)
Element can be either "list" or "table", while the index tells an element's order in the page. Here's how to import all the definitions for [live] found by Google:
=importHTML("http://www.google.com/search?q=define:live", "list", 1)
To import structured text files, use this function:
=importData("URL")
This is especially useful if you want to import data from multiple CSV files available online.
Atom and RSS feeds can be imported using this function:
=GoogleReader(URL)
The function has an advanced form that lets you add only some of the items from the feed. For example, here's how to obtain the latest headline from New York Times:
=GoogleReader ("http://graphics8.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/HomePage.xml", "items title", "false", 1)
If we couple these new additions with the two other functions that retrieve information from the web and consider that each published spreadsheet is available as a feed, it's clear that you can connect multiple spreadsheets and easily reference data available online.
orkut Shows Updates from Your Friends
Google has finally realized that orkut is an important player in the social networking space and it could become more popular outside Brazil and India if Google invested more time and trust.
The latest orkut feature is similar to Facebook's mini-feed: a list of updates from your friends on the homepage.
The feature is not available for everyone, but if you have it, this page should show updates from your friends. You can disable this feature from the settings, by clicking on the Privacy tab.
orkut will probably add many other missing features in the near feature. A simple addition that could provide similar value to Facebook's platform is the inclusion of iGoogle gadgets that could be shared with your friends. The gadget maker is also appropriate in orkut's social environment.
The latest orkut feature is similar to Facebook's mini-feed: a list of updates from your friends on the homepage.
The updates from your friends section on your homepage shows updates when your friends perform the following actions on orkut:
* make changes to their profile
* make changes to their photo album
* make changes to their video favorites
* accept new testimonials
When you make these changes to your own profile, your friends will see your updates on their homepages.
The feature is not available for everyone, but if you have it, this page should show updates from your friends. You can disable this feature from the settings, by clicking on the Privacy tab.
orkut will probably add many other missing features in the near feature. A simple addition that could provide similar value to Facebook's platform is the inclusion of iGoogle gadgets that could be shared with your friends. The gadget maker is also appropriate in orkut's social environment.
10 Questions and Answers About Google Phone
With so many speculations about a possible Google Phone, it's almost impossible to be just a rumor. Even if it didn't exist when rumors began to circulate, Google has certainly started to work on it. The visible side, the mobile applications, is impressive and grows at a high pace. But will Google Phone be more than just a collection of apps?
Here are some of the most interesting speculations about Google Phone, mostly containing information from "trusted sources". Apparently, Google develops a mobile OS and software, while trying to find one or more companies to manufacture the actual phones. Because there could be more than one Google Phone.
Who makes the Google Phone. Google made an interesting acquisition in 2005: Android, a company founded by Andy Rubin and Rich Miner.
"In what could be a key move in its nascent wireless strategy, Google has quietly acquired startup Android Inc., BusinessWeek Online has learned. The 22-month-old startup, based in Palo Alto, Calif., brings to Google a wealth of talent, including co-founder Andy Rubin, who previously started mobile-device maker Danger Inc. Android (www.android.com) has operated under a cloak of secrecy, so little is known about its work. Rubin & Co. have sparingly described the outfit as making software for mobile phones, providing little more detail than that. One source familiar with the company says Android had at one point been working on a software operating system for cell phones." (my emphasis)
Where: boston.com found out where the research lab is located.
"Cambridge has a chocolate factory, and a Willy Wonka. The chocolate factory is Google's local research lab, located on the seventh floor of a Kendall Square office tower, and the resident Wonka is Rich Miner, a Google executive sometimes described as the company's vice president of wireless but officially a "technical staff member," according to a Google spokesman. The golden ticket is a chance to see a prototype of Google's new mobile phone, which Miner has shown to a handful of Boston entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, some of whom have signed nondisclosure agreements and some of whom haven't." (my emphasis)
What: Om Malik found some details about the OS from a reliable source.
"Google Phone is based on a mobile variant of Linux, and is able to run Java virtual machines. All applications that are supposed to run on the Google Phone are Java apps. The OS has ability to run multimedia files, including video clips. (...) There is a special browser which has pan-and-browse features that are common to modern browsers such as browsers for iPhone and Symbian phones. The entire browser is apparently written in Java. (...) Initially there was one prototype, but over past few months Google has the mobile OS running on 3-to-5 devices, most of them likely made by HTC, a mobile phone maker, and all have Qwerty apps."
What about the phone? Says the Wall Street Journal:
"The specifications Google has laid out for devices suggest that manufacturers include cameras for photo and video, and built-in Wi-Fi technology to access the Web at hot spots such as airports, coffee shops and hotels. It also is recommending that the phones be designed to work on carriers' fastest networks, known as 3G, to ensure that Web pages can be downloaded quickly. Google suggests the phones could include Global Positioning System technology that identifies where people are."
What Google software?
The answer is pretty obvious: "a special version of Google Maps, compatible with built-in GPS", Gmail, access to Google search. "Google Talk will become a part of the phone, adding VoIP capability to the hardware."
How will it look?
The photos available online are just some Photoshopped proof-of-concepts. There's no real photo of a Google Phone. "People who have seen Google's prototype devices say they aren't as revolutionary as the iPhone. One was likened to a slim Nokia Corp. phone with a keyboard that slides out. Another phone format presented by Google looked more like a Treo or a BlackBerry."
When: Business Standard claims it will be launched at the beginning of this month. Other sources say the launch is next year.
"Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone (Gphone) and has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks. (...) Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world." (news from August 24)
Why: Mobile is a big part of Google's strategy (New York Times).
"The biggest growth areas are clearly going to be in the mobile space," Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, said when asked about new opportunities (...). In case his point wasn't clear, Mr. Schmidt drove it home: "Mobile, mobile, mobile."
Seriously, why? Google intends to be the leader in the mobile ads space. A good browser that renders the ads correctly could be helpful.
"What's interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the non-mobile phone ads because they're more personal," said Mr. Schmidt.
How much will it cost? Many sources indicate it won't be too expensive and it may be subsidized by advertising. It's unlikely it will be free, at least for now:
"Schmidt said Saturday that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as eight to 10 hours a day talking, texting and using the Web on these devices, advertising becomes a viable form of subsidy. "Your mobile phone should be free," Schmidt told Reuters. "It just makes sense that subsidies should increase" as advertising rises on mobile phones."
Here are some of the most interesting speculations about Google Phone, mostly containing information from "trusted sources". Apparently, Google develops a mobile OS and software, while trying to find one or more companies to manufacture the actual phones. Because there could be more than one Google Phone.
Who makes the Google Phone. Google made an interesting acquisition in 2005: Android, a company founded by Andy Rubin and Rich Miner.
"In what could be a key move in its nascent wireless strategy, Google has quietly acquired startup Android Inc., BusinessWeek Online has learned. The 22-month-old startup, based in Palo Alto, Calif., brings to Google a wealth of talent, including co-founder Andy Rubin, who previously started mobile-device maker Danger Inc. Android (www.android.com) has operated under a cloak of secrecy, so little is known about its work. Rubin & Co. have sparingly described the outfit as making software for mobile phones, providing little more detail than that. One source familiar with the company says Android had at one point been working on a software operating system for cell phones." (my emphasis)
Where: boston.com found out where the research lab is located.
"Cambridge has a chocolate factory, and a Willy Wonka. The chocolate factory is Google's local research lab, located on the seventh floor of a Kendall Square office tower, and the resident Wonka is Rich Miner, a Google executive sometimes described as the company's vice president of wireless but officially a "technical staff member," according to a Google spokesman. The golden ticket is a chance to see a prototype of Google's new mobile phone, which Miner has shown to a handful of Boston entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, some of whom have signed nondisclosure agreements and some of whom haven't." (my emphasis)
What: Om Malik found some details about the OS from a reliable source.
"Google Phone is based on a mobile variant of Linux, and is able to run Java virtual machines. All applications that are supposed to run on the Google Phone are Java apps. The OS has ability to run multimedia files, including video clips. (...) There is a special browser which has pan-and-browse features that are common to modern browsers such as browsers for iPhone and Symbian phones. The entire browser is apparently written in Java. (...) Initially there was one prototype, but over past few months Google has the mobile OS running on 3-to-5 devices, most of them likely made by HTC, a mobile phone maker, and all have Qwerty apps."
What about the phone? Says the Wall Street Journal:
"The specifications Google has laid out for devices suggest that manufacturers include cameras for photo and video, and built-in Wi-Fi technology to access the Web at hot spots such as airports, coffee shops and hotels. It also is recommending that the phones be designed to work on carriers' fastest networks, known as 3G, to ensure that Web pages can be downloaded quickly. Google suggests the phones could include Global Positioning System technology that identifies where people are."
What Google software?
The answer is pretty obvious: "a special version of Google Maps, compatible with built-in GPS", Gmail, access to Google search. "Google Talk will become a part of the phone, adding VoIP capability to the hardware."
How will it look?
The photos available online are just some Photoshopped proof-of-concepts. There's no real photo of a Google Phone. "People who have seen Google's prototype devices say they aren't as revolutionary as the iPhone. One was likened to a slim Nokia Corp. phone with a keyboard that slides out. Another phone format presented by Google looked more like a Treo or a BlackBerry."
When: Business Standard claims it will be launched at the beginning of this month. Other sources say the launch is next year.
"Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone (Gphone) and has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks. (...) Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world." (news from August 24)
Why: Mobile is a big part of Google's strategy (New York Times).
"The biggest growth areas are clearly going to be in the mobile space," Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, said when asked about new opportunities (...). In case his point wasn't clear, Mr. Schmidt drove it home: "Mobile, mobile, mobile."
Seriously, why? Google intends to be the leader in the mobile ads space. A good browser that renders the ads correctly could be helpful.
"What's interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the non-mobile phone ads because they're more personal," said Mr. Schmidt.
How much will it cost? Many sources indicate it won't be too expensive and it may be subsidized by advertising. It's unlikely it will be free, at least for now:
"Schmidt said Saturday that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as eight to 10 hours a day talking, texting and using the Web on these devices, advertising becomes a viable form of subsidy. "Your mobile phone should be free," Schmidt told Reuters. "It just makes sense that subsidies should increase" as advertising rises on mobile phones."
Opera, the Real Google Browser
I've always thought that Opera is the browser most closely related to Google's philosophy. It may seem strange, but Opera's mail client has many things in common with Gmail (labels, a threaded view), Opera includes search in most views and it usually adds innovative features long before the competition. Another interesting tidbit is that Opera has been supported by Google's contextual ads.
Unfortunately, many Google services don't work in Opera, because of some browser flaws or lack of testing. Another reason is that Opera has a very small market share and very few people care about supporting it.
Opera 9.5, launched today in alpha, tries to solve two of the most important Google problems: persistence of your browser's settings and a searchable web history. Google already has solutions for these problems, but they're limited and not properly integrated. Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension that synchronizes your bookmarks, cookies, passwords and sessions across multiple computers, while Google Toolbar lets you send all the pages you visit to Google Web History, where you can search them.
Opera also makes your history searchable, but it stores the index on your computer, the same as Google Desktop. You can search the full content of the pages, from the History page or from the address bar.
"With Opera 9.5, we introduce full history search - search the complete Web pages you visited, but without requiring you to bookmark them. Unlike previous and other browser history searches which only look at the URLs of the pages you have visited, full history search searches the actual content of the Web pages you have visited."
If you have a My Opera account (maybe you're a fan), you can store your bookmarks online and have them automatically synchronized every time you make a change. There's no interface for viewing the bookmarks online and no other data is synchronized for the moment. The feature will become even more valuable when you'll be able to synchronize your bookmarks between the desktop version and Opera Mini or Opera for Wii.
So I think it's ironic that the software most closely related to my definition of a Google Browser doesn't work well with many Google services, including Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Google Notebook, Google Page Creator, Blogger (this script solves some of the problems).
The latest build of Opera 9.5 is available here for Windows, Mac and Linux. Don't install it over a previous Opera installation or if you're not adventurous.
Unfortunately, many Google services don't work in Opera, because of some browser flaws or lack of testing. Another reason is that Opera has a very small market share and very few people care about supporting it.
Opera 9.5, launched today in alpha, tries to solve two of the most important Google problems: persistence of your browser's settings and a searchable web history. Google already has solutions for these problems, but they're limited and not properly integrated. Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension that synchronizes your bookmarks, cookies, passwords and sessions across multiple computers, while Google Toolbar lets you send all the pages you visit to Google Web History, where you can search them.
Opera also makes your history searchable, but it stores the index on your computer, the same as Google Desktop. You can search the full content of the pages, from the History page or from the address bar.
"With Opera 9.5, we introduce full history search - search the complete Web pages you visited, but without requiring you to bookmark them. Unlike previous and other browser history searches which only look at the URLs of the pages you have visited, full history search searches the actual content of the Web pages you have visited."
If you have a My Opera account (maybe you're a fan), you can store your bookmarks online and have them automatically synchronized every time you make a change. There's no interface for viewing the bookmarks online and no other data is synchronized for the moment. The feature will become even more valuable when you'll be able to synchronize your bookmarks between the desktop version and Opera Mini or Opera for Wii.
So I think it's ironic that the software most closely related to my definition of a Google Browser doesn't work well with many Google services, including Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Google Notebook, Google Page Creator, Blogger (this script solves some of the problems).
The latest build of Opera 9.5 is available here for Windows, Mac and Linux. Don't install it over a previous Opera installation or if you're not adventurous.
Exploratory Google Search
Google's search results are far from being flawless, but sometimes they're better than advertised. I was trying to find some information about an algorithm and Google returned a page from a book available online. I liked it so much that I almost read the entire book (mostly for the writing styles and the "war stories"). Last week, I searched for the title of a book and found a great short film inspired by the book.
Marissa Mayer said in an interview that many of the web pages available online wouldn't exist if we didn't have a good search engine. If nobody is able to find your web page, you'll have less visitors and your site will grow much slower (a lot of web sites receive most of the traffic from search engines).
I wonder if showing a list of great web pages not necessarily related to your query, but from the same domain, will help you understand a topic better. Google could provide an "exploratory" mode that expands your query and shows you more from the full picture, like zoom feature from Google Maps. Google already provides recommendations based on the choices of other users and has a log of your previous queries, so it could disambiguate your query, assign it a point in the big space of searches and show the most interesting results from the important queries that surround it.
Did you ever discover unexpectedly great things by searching with Google (or other search engine)?
{ link to Marissa's interview via Google Blogoscoped, that also tells the story of AdSense and Gmail's contextual ads }
Marissa Mayer said in an interview that many of the web pages available online wouldn't exist if we didn't have a good search engine. If nobody is able to find your web page, you'll have less visitors and your site will grow much slower (a lot of web sites receive most of the traffic from search engines).
I wonder if showing a list of great web pages not necessarily related to your query, but from the same domain, will help you understand a topic better. Google could provide an "exploratory" mode that expands your query and shows you more from the full picture, like zoom feature from Google Maps. Google already provides recommendations based on the choices of other users and has a log of your previous queries, so it could disambiguate your query, assign it a point in the big space of searches and show the most interesting results from the important queries that surround it.
Did you ever discover unexpectedly great things by searching with Google (or other search engine)?
{ link to Marissa's interview via Google Blogoscoped, that also tells the story of AdSense and Gmail's contextual ads }
Customize iGoogle's Layout
Now you can edit the layout of an iGoogle tab. Choose between 7 layouts:
(1) single column (this is pretty ugly)
(2a) two equal-sized columns
(2b), (2c) two columns: a narrow one and a wide one (there are two flavors for this layout)
(3a) three equal-sized columns (this is default one)
(3b) two narrow columns and a wide column in the middle
(4) four equal-sized columns
I think the most interesting layouts are the ones that combine different types of columns, so you can have more space for the gadgets. The last layout is great for wide-screen computer monitors.
To edit the layout of a tab, click on the small arrow next to its name and choose "Edit this tab". You have the option to rename it and choose a new template. For now, there's no option to change the layout for all the tabs at once.
{ via Google Blogoscoped }
(1) single column (this is pretty ugly)
(2a) two equal-sized columns
(2b), (2c) two columns: a narrow one and a wide one (there are two flavors for this layout)
(3a) three equal-sized columns (this is default one)
(3b) two narrow columns and a wide column in the middle
(4) four equal-sized columns
I think the most interesting layouts are the ones that combine different types of columns, so you can have more space for the gadgets. The last layout is great for wide-screen computer monitors.
To edit the layout of a tab, click on the small arrow next to its name and choose "Edit this tab". You have the option to rename it and choose a new template. For now, there's no option to change the layout for all the tabs at once.
{ via Google Blogoscoped }
Explore Popular Google Maps
Google's personalized maps are a great way to share details about your trips or to place geographical information in its context. Unfortunately, it's not very easy to find them as the custom maps are buried at the bottom of Google's local search results.
This mapplet lets you see popular maps created by other users as you navigate in Google Maps. You may find details about interesting places, pictures and videos, art guides, tips and tricks from tourists. Don't forget to enable "Browse Popular Maps" in the left sidebar.
Other interesting overlays include photos from Panoramio and Picasa Web Albums (added by default), videos from YouTube and Wikipedia articles.
{ via Google LatLong }
This mapplet lets you see popular maps created by other users as you navigate in Google Maps. You may find details about interesting places, pictures and videos, art guides, tips and tricks from tourists. Don't forget to enable "Browse Popular Maps" in the left sidebar.
Other interesting overlays include photos from Panoramio and Picasa Web Albums (added by default), videos from YouTube and Wikipedia articles.
{ via Google LatLong }
Google Presentations and JotSpot Could Be Available Next Week
Google will participate at the Office 2.0 Conference that takes place next week in San Francisco. Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager at Google Spreadsheets, will be there:
"Almost a year ago - it was October 10-11, 2006, actually - I participated in the Office 2.0 conference where we (Google) announced the combination of two of our collaborative content creation/editing products: Spreadsheets, which was in Labs at the time, and the Word Processing product formerly known as Writely. Google Docs & Spreadsheets won't even be 11 months old when this year's Office 2.0 conference is held.... which is really just a shocking (to me) reminder of how young this space is."
This conference seems the perfect place for launching the much-anticipated presentation app. Google announced in April that the "due date is this summer" and made two acquisitions: Tonic Systems and Zenter.
Another Google acquisition, JotSpot, could also be integrated into Google Docs. JotSpot's help center is already hosted at google.com, the same as JotSpot's discussion board. In January, JotSpot launched "the last JotSpot version produced before the migration [to Google's infrastructure] occurs", while in July, Dave Girouard announced that JotSpot will be a part of Google Apps.
After all, if Google launched Docs & Spreadsheets at the Office 2.0 Conference, it makes sense to showcase its evolution there.
Update (Sept. 7): No Google announcement at the conference. A new information about JotSpot's development is that it could replace Google Page Creator.
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