Google Chrome to Add Greasemonkey Support

A recent build of Chromium, the open source project behind Google Chrome, added support for user scripts. For now, the support is limited: Chromium reads the scripts from the hard-coded directory c:\scripts and it ignores the @include metadata which restricts scripts to one or more web addresses. To enable Greasemonkey support, you need to use the flag: --enable-greasemonkey, for example by appending it to the target of a shortcut.

I tested the Greasemonkey support with the old script Linkifier, which turns text URLs and email addresses into links.


The new feature has been contributed by Aaron Boodman, the creator of the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, who happens to work at Google.

In September, Google's Sundar Pichai said that Chrome will have an API for extensions. "We don't have that in the beta today, but we definitely plan an extension API. It is one of the things we will get to next." It seems that Google Chrome will provide native support for Greasemonkey scripts before releasing the API.

Tips:
* to get early access to developer-oriented Google Chrome builds, subscribe to the Dev Channel and read the release notes.
* the latest Chromium snapshots are available at the BuildBot site, but they don't support Google's auto-updater and they're less stable than the official releases. You only need to download the file chrome-win32.zip from the most recent folder.

Footnotes in Google Docs

Google Docs added footnotes, a feature that would've been useful for those who write academic papers or books if it were implemented properly. You can insert a footnote by clicking on the Insert menu and selecting Footnote.

"Footnotes appear on-screen in the document margin and at the bottom of the page when printed. You'll be able to see how the footnotes will appear when printed by selecting Print (Ctrl+P) or Download file as... PDF from the File menu. There will also be a footnote marker within the actual document designated by a pound sign (#). You can drag and drop a footnote anywhere you'd like in the document by simply clicking on this pound sign and dragging," notes Google's help page.


Google did a good job at integrating footnotes in the interface, but they should be displayed at the bottom of the page and they should be numbered. Unfortunately, Google Docs still doesn't support pagination.

Another compatibility issue is that word processors will display footnotes as endnotes, at the end of your document.

The New iGoogle, Publicly Launched

After months of painful testing, the new version of iGoogle has been launched for everyone in the US. iGoogle 2.0 moves the tabs to the left, brings a persistent Google Chat widget and it adds a canvas view that allows gadgets to become full-fledged applications.

"Canvas view allows developers to deliver richer content, games, and UI to users on iGoogle as well as the opportunity to monetize," explains Google. Not all the gadgets take advantage of the canvas view, but this page highlights some gadgets that can be maximized and the list includes: Google Reader, Google Calendar, Gmail, weather, Wall Street Journal and regular feeds. For example, the new Gmail gadget lets you read your messages and send replies directly from iGoogle, but it lacks some features that would've made it a good replacement for the full-featured Gmail: links and attachments are stripped from messages.

Google has been testing the new version of iGoogle for the past three months on a small sample of users and many of them complained about the new navigation interface.



"We're very excited about these changes because it makes iGoogle a more useful homepage and a better platform for developers. And this is just the beginning: expect to see more canvas gadgets created by developers and more new features on iGoogle soon. Not in the U.S.? Don't worry. We'll also be rolling out this updated version in other countries very soon," mentions Google's blog.

The next big thing for iGoogle is the support for OpenSocial that will make Google's personalized homepage more social.

Update: For those who don't have the new iGoogle yet, go to the settings page, change the language to English (US) and then go to this URL: http://www.google.com/ig/v2invite.

If you have the new version, but you prefer the previous interface, go to the settings page and select English (UK) from the list of languages. Please note that this is just a temporary fix.

{ Thanks, Pascal, Samuel, Chrissz and everyone who commented. }

KallOut, Powerful Contextual Search

When you read an article, you often find concepts or names that aren't properly explained, but it's inconvenient to interrupt your reading and use a search engine to find more information. KallOut is a Windows application that addresses this problem: whether you read the document in a browser, a word processor or in a PDF reader, you can select some text and obtain some useful information in a mini-browser.

KallOut lists many search engines and reference sites from which you can choose, but it also suggests good options. For example, if you select "DMCA takedown", KallOut suggests an article from Wikipedia, for "Flickr" KallOut points to Flickr's homepage, while "NY" is linked to Google Maps and geotagged photos from Flickr.



The software displays search results, maps, videos, Wikipedia articles, definitions, translations - all without opening a new page. For now, KallOut supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Microsoft Office 2003/2007, Adobe Reader, WordPad and Notepad.

Internet Explorer 8 introduced accelerators, a similar feature that already has a public API and an impressive gallery, but KallOut is not limited to Internet Explorer, it's easier to use and it requires less clicks.

Google Street View Expands Coverage in France

After including Tour de France's routes in Street View, Google expands the coverage for France, by adding Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Lille and Toulouse. The French blog Zorgloob links to a video prepared for the launch:


If you've never visited Paris, Street View is a great way to explore Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Basilique du Sacré-Cœuror or Jardin du Luxembourg.

Here's a "flipbook" created using still images from Paris:

How Many Times Have You Searched Google?

While it's difficult to estimate your number of searches, Google Web History shows the total number of searches performed when you were logged in. The service was launched in April 2005, but my account shows data from December 2005.

Google Web History is enabled by default when you create a Google account and it records your searches, the search results you click on and your browsing history, but the last feature is opt-in.


In 2003, Google tested a counter that displayed the number of searches, but that feature didn't go live. "The counter is displayed at the bottom of Google's home page, and shows both a numeric count and a color bar to represent the frequency of your searching. (...) Beyond being an interesting gimmick, what's the purpose of the counter? Though Google has removed the counter FAQ page, its answer to the question What do I win was the zen-like There is no winning. There is only self-awareness. The search is endless."

Who Links to Non-Existing Pages from Your Site?

Google Webmaster Tools is a valuable source of information if you have a website: Google lists crawl errors, popular searches that lead to your site, backlinks and SEO tips. Until now, Google listed the URLs from your site that returned the 404 (page not found) error, without mentioning how GoogleBot found those addresses. This has been fixed and you can find the list of pages that link to broken URLs from your site in the "Linked From" column of the "Diagnostics > Web crawl > Not found" report.


"If we report crawl errors for your website, you can use crawl error sources to quickly determine if the cause is from your site or someone else's. You'll have the information you need to contact them to get it fixed, and if needed, you can still put in place redirects on your own site to the appropriate URL," suggests Google Webmaster Central blog.