Tip: track the fastest rising queries from your region using the Insight for Search gadget.
{ Image licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. }
Oxymoronic Google Trends
Randall Munroe from xkcd imagines some correlations between Google searches and people that are unlikely to use them. The #1 US state for [men kissing] is indeed Utah, but the other correlations are made up.
Tip: track the fastest rising queries from your region using the Insight for Search gadget.
{ Image licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. }
Tip: track the fastest rising queries from your region using the Insight for Search gadget.
{ Image licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. }
Top Google Products in 2008
This is a top of the Google products that improved the most in 2008.
10. Blogger has improved a lot this year by adding useful features like importing/exporting a blog, inline comments, blog rolls and scheduled posts.
9. Picasa Web Albums added a feature that makes it easy to organize your photos: people tagging. The system uses face detection to find all the people from your photos and then it clusters the faces. There's a new option to make the albums private, you can send photos to an albums by email and the "explore" page highlights beautiful images.
8. Google Translate added support for 10 new languages and there's a new API that enabled the integration with many services: Twitter Search, Google Reader, YouTube etc.
7. Google Docs added a PDF reader, forms, templates, spreadsheet gadgets, an offline version and a more consistent interface.
6. YouTube started to test higher-quality versions for videos and, at the end of the year, it went widescreen. You can add captions and annotations, there's a video analytics feature and a new personalized homepage. YouTube offers more ways to promote and monetize videos, but it's still far from reaching its potential.
5. Android, Google's operating system for mobile devices, has been released and the first phone that used it wasn't a very good choice. "There is tremendous potential for this OS on mobile devices -- it truly realizes the open ideals laid out by Google when they announced this project. The only problem seems to be the stuff they either left on the back burner, cutting room floor, or hoped would come from that exciting, untapped world of open source developers. While there's plenty to praise in this phone, there's a lot more that's missing -- and some of those missing elements are what we consider to be core components of a device in the G1's class," summed up Engadget.
4. Gmail launched most of the new features as Labs experiments and there are plenty of useful additions: from task management, sending SMS, to viewing Google Calendar agenda and customizing keyboard shortcuts. If you install a plug-in, Gmail supports voice and video chat. Themes make your inbox more personal and more distinctive, but you shouldn't forget about the option that automatically redirects to the secured version of Gmail.
3. Google Maps continued to increase the coverage for Street View, which is now available in the US, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. You can now get walking directions, car directions enhanced by Street View, traffic estimations and explore places by looking at geo-tagged photos and videos.
2. Google Search has a new advanced search page, it detects the date when a page has been published, it's more comprehensive by indexing previously inaccessible pages, Flash files and scanned documents. Google Suggest has been enabled by default, the SearchWiki experiment is now live and the snippets are more useful for discussion boards and scientific papers.
1. Google Chrome, the most advertised Google product, is a browser that went back to the basics and impressed people with speed and simplicity. Journalists rediscovered JavaScript benchmarks and early adopters started to be excited again about a browser. "Chrome is a smart, innovative browser that, in many common scenarios, will make using the Web faster, easier and less frustrating. But this first version -- which is just a beta, or test, release -- is rough around the edges and lacks some common browser features Google plans to add later," noted Walt Mossberg. Chrome releases new versions at an impressive pace and most of the major issues will probably fixed just in time for the distribution deals.
Related:
The top for 2007 and 2006.
10. Blogger has improved a lot this year by adding useful features like importing/exporting a blog, inline comments, blog rolls and scheduled posts.
9. Picasa Web Albums added a feature that makes it easy to organize your photos: people tagging. The system uses face detection to find all the people from your photos and then it clusters the faces. There's a new option to make the albums private, you can send photos to an albums by email and the "explore" page highlights beautiful images.
8. Google Translate added support for 10 new languages and there's a new API that enabled the integration with many services: Twitter Search, Google Reader, YouTube etc.
7. Google Docs added a PDF reader, forms, templates, spreadsheet gadgets, an offline version and a more consistent interface.
6. YouTube started to test higher-quality versions for videos and, at the end of the year, it went widescreen. You can add captions and annotations, there's a video analytics feature and a new personalized homepage. YouTube offers more ways to promote and monetize videos, but it's still far from reaching its potential.
5. Android, Google's operating system for mobile devices, has been released and the first phone that used it wasn't a very good choice. "There is tremendous potential for this OS on mobile devices -- it truly realizes the open ideals laid out by Google when they announced this project. The only problem seems to be the stuff they either left on the back burner, cutting room floor, or hoped would come from that exciting, untapped world of open source developers. While there's plenty to praise in this phone, there's a lot more that's missing -- and some of those missing elements are what we consider to be core components of a device in the G1's class," summed up Engadget.
4. Gmail launched most of the new features as Labs experiments and there are plenty of useful additions: from task management, sending SMS, to viewing Google Calendar agenda and customizing keyboard shortcuts. If you install a plug-in, Gmail supports voice and video chat. Themes make your inbox more personal and more distinctive, but you shouldn't forget about the option that automatically redirects to the secured version of Gmail.
3. Google Maps continued to increase the coverage for Street View, which is now available in the US, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. You can now get walking directions, car directions enhanced by Street View, traffic estimations and explore places by looking at geo-tagged photos and videos.
2. Google Search has a new advanced search page, it detects the date when a page has been published, it's more comprehensive by indexing previously inaccessible pages, Flash files and scanned documents. Google Suggest has been enabled by default, the SearchWiki experiment is now live and the snippets are more useful for discussion boards and scientific papers.
1. Google Chrome, the most advertised Google product, is a browser that went back to the basics and impressed people with speed and simplicity. Journalists rediscovered JavaScript benchmarks and early adopters started to be excited again about a browser. "Chrome is a smart, innovative browser that, in many common scenarios, will make using the Web faster, easier and less frustrating. But this first version -- which is just a beta, or test, release -- is rough around the edges and lacks some common browser features Google plans to add later," noted Walt Mossberg. Chrome releases new versions at an impressive pace and most of the major issues will probably fixed just in time for the distribution deals.
Related:
The top for 2007 and 2006.
Google 2008 in 12 Pictures
January - iGoogle has a new theme directory, where people can upload interesting themes. Later this year, Google uses three collections of iGoogle themes (artist themes and non-profit organizations) to promote the personalized homepage and Gmail also gets themes.
February - a Russian ad recreates Gmail's interface in real life.
March - Google's homepage has a black background to promote Earth Hour, an event that encourages energy conservation.
April - Google's April Fools' Day hoaxes are more numerous than ever. From human colonies on Mars, human-powered search, rickrolled YouTube users to searching the web pages published tomorrow, there's something for everyone.
May - Google Translate adds 10 new languages, including the very difficult Finnish.
June - 2008 was a great year for Blogger, which added many useful features, including an inline comment form and an option to export blogs.
July - Google launches Knol, a service that encourages people to share knowledge. Built on JotSpot's wiki technology, Knol's goal is increase the amount of search results that offer high-quality information. "There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge," explained a Google blog post.
August - Google Search Insights is a more advanced Google Trends for advertisers and enterprises. Use it to find popular queries in a region, to restrict the data to a category or to monitor interest over time.
September - Google's browser is no longer a speculation as Google launches Chrome. The browser is based on many open source projects, including a new JavaScript virtual machine, and it's an attempt to steal market share from Internet Explorer, by providing a fast and secure browser with a simple interface.
October - T-Mobile G1, the first Android-based phone, is now available. Crunchgear thinks that "the hardware design is dated", Engadget is optimistic about Android and its app marketplace, while Laptopmap thinks that the interface "is perfectly functional but lacks the polish and consistency of the iPhone's".
November - SearchWiki is a new feature for Google search that lets you highlight search results and annotate them. While the added functionality is certainly useful, Google could integrate in a less cluttered interface.
December - Gmail Tasks is the 31st experimental feature added to Gmail Labs. Adding a task management service should've been a higher priority task for Google, which still has a lot to catchup with more mature services like Remember the Milk.
Related: Also see the 12 images for 2006 and 2007.
February - a Russian ad recreates Gmail's interface in real life.
March - Google's homepage has a black background to promote Earth Hour, an event that encourages energy conservation.
April - Google's April Fools' Day hoaxes are more numerous than ever. From human colonies on Mars, human-powered search, rickrolled YouTube users to searching the web pages published tomorrow, there's something for everyone.
May - Google Translate adds 10 new languages, including the very difficult Finnish.
June - 2008 was a great year for Blogger, which added many useful features, including an inline comment form and an option to export blogs.
July - Google launches Knol, a service that encourages people to share knowledge. Built on JotSpot's wiki technology, Knol's goal is increase the amount of search results that offer high-quality information. "There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge," explained a Google blog post.
August - Google Search Insights is a more advanced Google Trends for advertisers and enterprises. Use it to find popular queries in a region, to restrict the data to a category or to monitor interest over time.
September - Google's browser is no longer a speculation as Google launches Chrome. The browser is based on many open source projects, including a new JavaScript virtual machine, and it's an attempt to steal market share from Internet Explorer, by providing a fast and secure browser with a simple interface.
October - T-Mobile G1, the first Android-based phone, is now available. Crunchgear thinks that "the hardware design is dated", Engadget is optimistic about Android and its app marketplace, while Laptopmap thinks that the interface "is perfectly functional but lacks the polish and consistency of the iPhone's".
November - SearchWiki is a new feature for Google search that lets you highlight search results and annotate them. While the added functionality is certainly useful, Google could integrate in a less cluttered interface.
December - Gmail Tasks is the 31st experimental feature added to Gmail Labs. Adding a task management service should've been a higher priority task for Google, which still has a lot to catchup with more mature services like Remember the Milk.
Related: Also see the 12 images for 2006 and 2007.
Google Hot Trends, Christmas Edition 2008
Google Hot Trends shows the searches that have suddenly become popular in the US. It's always interesting to see what are the "hottest" queries on Christmas Day, when many people open their presents and then use Google to find information about them.
Check the "hot trends" list and see if there's any change from last year. iTunes seems to dominate the list of popular queries: [www.itunes.com downloads], [itunes download], [itunes store], so Apple's iPhone and iPod continue to sell well.
According to Google Zeitgeist, the fastest rising query for 2008 was [Sarah Palin], followed by [beijing 2008], [facebook login], [tuenti]*, [Heath Ledger] and [Obama]. Google continues to be popular: [orkut] is the most popular query in Brazil and India, [youtube] is the most popular query in France, Spain, Italy and Mexico, the fastest rising query in Denmark was [google oversætter]**, while in Australia, the home country of Google Maps, the third fastest rising search was... [google maps].
* "Tuenti is a Madrid-based, invite only private social networking website that has been referred to as the Spanish Facebook," according to Wikipedia.
** Google Translate
Check the "hot trends" list and see if there's any change from last year. iTunes seems to dominate the list of popular queries: [www.itunes.com downloads], [itunes download], [itunes store], so Apple's iPhone and iPod continue to sell well.
According to Google Zeitgeist, the fastest rising query for 2008 was [Sarah Palin], followed by [beijing 2008], [facebook login], [tuenti]*, [Heath Ledger] and [Obama]. Google continues to be popular: [orkut] is the most popular query in Brazil and India, [youtube] is the most popular query in France, Spain, Italy and Mexico, the fastest rising query in Denmark was [google oversætter]**, while in Australia, the home country of Google Maps, the third fastest rising search was... [google maps].
* "Tuenti is a Madrid-based, invite only private social networking website that has been referred to as the Spanish Facebook," according to Wikipedia.
** Google Translate
Predictions for Google's 2009
1. 10% market share for Google Chrome.
2. Google's search engine will lose a significant amount of market share as Live Search's position will consolidate.
3. Google's Q&A service, used to implement Google help forums, will become a part of Google Apps.
4. GrandCentral will be publicly available in the US and the interface will integrate with Gmail.
5. Google will launch a mobile browser for feature phones and non-Android smart phones.
6. The popular Google Bookmarks service will improve the way you manage bookmarks, by adding hierarchical labels, sharing options and more intuitive visualizations.
7. Google will bring some of the Chrome features to other browsers.
8. Google Translate will be seamlessly integrated with many Google services and applications.
9. Google Reader will list popular posts shared by the community and you'll be able to subscribe to OPML files dynamically (the changes will reflect in your subscription list).
10. Google Maps Live - Google's service will showcase webcams that stream from all around the world, it will include a tab for Google Earth and the most recent custom maps, reviews and map edits from your contacts.
11. Google Contacts will become a separate application, it will offer advanced search and an option to synchronize contacts data.
12. Google's efforts to promote Chrome will change people's perception about Google, which will be increasingly associated with Microsoft.
13. Many high-profile Google employees, including Marissa Mayer, will leave the company.
14. Google Apps will start to be attractive again once the App Engine will be fully released.
15. Personalized search ads for users that are logged in.
16. OneGoogle - a new interface that merges all Google applications so you can quickly switch between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs without opening a new tab or losing your work.
2. Google's search engine will lose a significant amount of market share as Live Search's position will consolidate.
3. Google's Q&A service, used to implement Google help forums, will become a part of Google Apps.
4. GrandCentral will be publicly available in the US and the interface will integrate with Gmail.
5. Google will launch a mobile browser for feature phones and non-Android smart phones.
6. The popular Google Bookmarks service will improve the way you manage bookmarks, by adding hierarchical labels, sharing options and more intuitive visualizations.
7. Google will bring some of the Chrome features to other browsers.
8. Google Translate will be seamlessly integrated with many Google services and applications.
9. Google Reader will list popular posts shared by the community and you'll be able to subscribe to OPML files dynamically (the changes will reflect in your subscription list).
10. Google Maps Live - Google's service will showcase webcams that stream from all around the world, it will include a tab for Google Earth and the most recent custom maps, reviews and map edits from your contacts.
11. Google Contacts will become a separate application, it will offer advanced search and an option to synchronize contacts data.
12. Google's efforts to promote Chrome will change people's perception about Google, which will be increasingly associated with Microsoft.
13. Many high-profile Google employees, including Marissa Mayer, will leave the company.
14. Google Apps will start to be attractive again once the App Engine will be fully released.
15. Personalized search ads for users that are logged in.
16. OneGoogle - a new interface that merges all Google applications so you can quickly switch between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs without opening a new tab or losing your work.
Last Year's Predictions
From my 16 predictions for this year, less than a half actually became reality.
1. (0/1) "Google will try to unify its application and transform them into a big social network."
That's still a work in progress and I expect to see more pieces next year. Google will connect the unified profiles with the activities broadcasted by applications and the contacts.
2. (0.5/1) "Google should finally go beyond indexing text and start to use image analysis and speech recognition in Google Image Search and Google Video."
Google certainly works on expanding the capabilities of the multimedia search engines and Google Audio Indexing or the recent filters from Google Image Search hint at more changes.
3. (0.5/1) "Google won't give up on universal search, but we'll see a different interface that separates standard search results from OneBoxes and other additions. Google's snippets will become smarter and they could include information about authors, locations, concepts."
To my surprise, Google didn't separate the universal search results in a different section. Google did include smarter snippets for scientific papers and forum threads.
4. (1/1) "Gmail will add another batch of new features, one of the most important being task management, and will finally go out of beta. Gmail will launch a Google Labs-like site with experimental features that could be added by those who are curious to see the next features before they are officially launched."
Gmail is not out of beta, but you can explore more than 30 experimental features in Gmail Labs, including a basic task management feature.
5. (0/1) "The first Android phones will be a disappointment, but developers will create a lot of interesting applications that could compensate for the poor designs."
T-Mobile G1, the first Android phone launched this year, is surprisingly outdated and bulky, but T-Mobile's aggressive promotion and Google's association with the device made it a success.
6. (0.5/1) "Most Google applications will work offline using Google Gears, even if the functionality will be limited. Google Gears will also work on mobile phones and could become a part of Firefox."
For some reason, Google didn't integrate Gmail and Google Calendar with Gears this year. Gears is available on Windows Mobile phones and it's now a part of Chrome.
7. (1/1) "Google Maps will be redesigned and could include more space for user-generated content. We'll start to see user's locations, important events from our area, recommendations from friends. Google Maps will become more personal."
Google Maps has been redesigned twice this year and it integrated user-generated content in search results and in layers.
8. (0/1) "OpenSocial won't work as well as expected and Google will focus on its own social network(s). iGoogle gadgets are about to become social and aggregate data from your contacts."
Many social sites implemented OpenSocial and Google's API is a success. "During 2008 OpenSocial gained a lot of traction; statistics released in November stated that OpenSocial had reached 675 M registered users at that time and there were 7,500 applications. Most impressive is the list of organizations who signed onto OpenSocial and are actively developing apps for it. That high powered list includes MySpace, AOL, Bebo, hi5, LinkedIn, Ning, Orkut, Yahoo," says ReadWriteWeb.
9. (0.5/1) "Google will launch a people search engine that gathers data from the web, especially from social networks."
Well, it's not quite a people search engine that aggregates data from social networks, but Google Profile Search seems like a good start.
10. (1/1) "Google Books will be more present in search results and Google will start to sell access to the full content of some of the books."
I've seen a lot of results from Google Book Search and Google will start to offer access to some of the indexed books next year.
11. (0.5/1) "At the end of the year, Outlook and most mobile phones will be able to synchronize with Google Calendar and Gmail's contacts. Google Docs will have plug-ins that let you edit documents in Microsoft Office or OpenOffice and save the changes online. Google Toolbar will integrate Browser Sync and start to synchronize your bookmarks, cookies, passwords and your browser's history."
Google started to offer a calendar sync tool for Outlook and a contact sync application for Blackberries. Google Calendar supports CalDav, there's an API for contacts and a phone that synchronizes email, calendar events, contacts with Google's online applications. Browser Sync has been discontinued, but I think it will reappear in a Google application at some point. Integrating Google Docs with a desktop office suite is less necessary since Google Gears makes it possible to view and edit documents offline.
12. (0/1) "Multi-faceted search, searching from different points of view (objective information vs positive/negative opinions, official information vs comments from blogs, forums)."
Nope.
13. (0/1) "Google will differentiate commercial search results by integrating data from Google Base."
No, but there's an interesting Plus Box experiment for ads.
14. (1/1) "Google Talk will move completely online: the embeddable gadget will let you create custom chat rooms, talk with other people and maybe even see them if they have webcams."
The recently-launched Gmail plug-in lets you use most Google Talk features directly from your browser.
15. (0/1) "Picasa Web Albums will add some of the photo editing features from Picasa and will increase the free storage."
Picasa Web still offers only 1 GB of free storage and there's no photo editing feature. Google uses the popularity of the desktop photo management tool to attract people to Picasa Web Albums, so the online service is perceived as an extension of the software. This "software + services" strategy is used by Microsoft.
16. (0/1) "GDrive will finally launch, but it won't offer infinite storage or advanced features."
I wonder if Google will launch another service that requires a lot of resources in this period of crisis.
1. (0/1) "Google will try to unify its application and transform them into a big social network."
That's still a work in progress and I expect to see more pieces next year. Google will connect the unified profiles with the activities broadcasted by applications and the contacts.
2. (0.5/1) "Google should finally go beyond indexing text and start to use image analysis and speech recognition in Google Image Search and Google Video."
Google certainly works on expanding the capabilities of the multimedia search engines and Google Audio Indexing or the recent filters from Google Image Search hint at more changes.
3. (0.5/1) "Google won't give up on universal search, but we'll see a different interface that separates standard search results from OneBoxes and other additions. Google's snippets will become smarter and they could include information about authors, locations, concepts."
To my surprise, Google didn't separate the universal search results in a different section. Google did include smarter snippets for scientific papers and forum threads.
4. (1/1) "Gmail will add another batch of new features, one of the most important being task management, and will finally go out of beta. Gmail will launch a Google Labs-like site with experimental features that could be added by those who are curious to see the next features before they are officially launched."
Gmail is not out of beta, but you can explore more than 30 experimental features in Gmail Labs, including a basic task management feature.
5. (0/1) "The first Android phones will be a disappointment, but developers will create a lot of interesting applications that could compensate for the poor designs."
T-Mobile G1, the first Android phone launched this year, is surprisingly outdated and bulky, but T-Mobile's aggressive promotion and Google's association with the device made it a success.
6. (0.5/1) "Most Google applications will work offline using Google Gears, even if the functionality will be limited. Google Gears will also work on mobile phones and could become a part of Firefox."
For some reason, Google didn't integrate Gmail and Google Calendar with Gears this year. Gears is available on Windows Mobile phones and it's now a part of Chrome.
7. (1/1) "Google Maps will be redesigned and could include more space for user-generated content. We'll start to see user's locations, important events from our area, recommendations from friends. Google Maps will become more personal."
Google Maps has been redesigned twice this year and it integrated user-generated content in search results and in layers.
8. (0/1) "OpenSocial won't work as well as expected and Google will focus on its own social network(s). iGoogle gadgets are about to become social and aggregate data from your contacts."
Many social sites implemented OpenSocial and Google's API is a success. "During 2008 OpenSocial gained a lot of traction; statistics released in November stated that OpenSocial had reached 675 M registered users at that time and there were 7,500 applications. Most impressive is the list of organizations who signed onto OpenSocial and are actively developing apps for it. That high powered list includes MySpace, AOL, Bebo, hi5, LinkedIn, Ning, Orkut, Yahoo," says ReadWriteWeb.
9. (0.5/1) "Google will launch a people search engine that gathers data from the web, especially from social networks."
Well, it's not quite a people search engine that aggregates data from social networks, but Google Profile Search seems like a good start.
10. (1/1) "Google Books will be more present in search results and Google will start to sell access to the full content of some of the books."
I've seen a lot of results from Google Book Search and Google will start to offer access to some of the indexed books next year.
11. (0.5/1) "At the end of the year, Outlook and most mobile phones will be able to synchronize with Google Calendar and Gmail's contacts. Google Docs will have plug-ins that let you edit documents in Microsoft Office or OpenOffice and save the changes online. Google Toolbar will integrate Browser Sync and start to synchronize your bookmarks, cookies, passwords and your browser's history."
Google started to offer a calendar sync tool for Outlook and a contact sync application for Blackberries. Google Calendar supports CalDav, there's an API for contacts and a phone that synchronizes email, calendar events, contacts with Google's online applications. Browser Sync has been discontinued, but I think it will reappear in a Google application at some point. Integrating Google Docs with a desktop office suite is less necessary since Google Gears makes it possible to view and edit documents offline.
12. (0/1) "Multi-faceted search, searching from different points of view (objective information vs positive/negative opinions, official information vs comments from blogs, forums)."
Nope.
13. (0/1) "Google will differentiate commercial search results by integrating data from Google Base."
No, but there's an interesting Plus Box experiment for ads.
14. (1/1) "Google Talk will move completely online: the embeddable gadget will let you create custom chat rooms, talk with other people and maybe even see them if they have webcams."
The recently-launched Gmail plug-in lets you use most Google Talk features directly from your browser.
15. (0/1) "Picasa Web Albums will add some of the photo editing features from Picasa and will increase the free storage."
Picasa Web still offers only 1 GB of free storage and there's no photo editing feature. Google uses the popularity of the desktop photo management tool to attract people to Picasa Web Albums, so the online service is perceived as an extension of the software. This "software + services" strategy is used by Microsoft.
16. (0/1) "GDrive will finally launch, but it won't offer infinite storage or advanced features."
I wonder if Google will launch another service that requires a lot of resources in this period of crisis.
Virtual Scrollbar for Google Cache
Google Cache Mapper is a Greasemonkey script that enhances Google's cached pages by adding a virtual scrollbar with all the matches of your keywords. Google highlights your search terms using different colors and this script shows the position of the matches. The virtual scrollbar is clickable and it shows snippets for each match of your search terms.
Google Chrome has a similar scrollbar that uses yellow markers to locate the matches for the "find in page" feature.
The user script requires Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension.
Related:
Browsing the web using Google Cache
Google Chrome has a similar scrollbar that uses yellow markers to locate the matches for the "find in page" feature.
The user script requires Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension.
Related:
Browsing the web using Google Cache
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