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Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google

Posted on April 11, 2012 by A Googler

More than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+, enjoying new ways to share in Search, Gmail, YouTube and lots of other places. It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google.

A critical piece of this social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations. So today we’re introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google+. We think you’ll find it easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google.

Navigation you can make your own
One of the first things you’ll notice is a new way to get around the stream. Instead of static icons at the top, there’s a dynamic ribbon of applications on the left. This approach comes with lots of perks, but some of our favorites include:

You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of “More”

Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time. We've also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That. So stay tuned.

Conversations you’ll really care about
Once you’ve upgraded to Google+, it’s easy to share with your circles from just about anywhere. We’re dreaming bigger, though. We're aiming for an experience that fuses utility with beauty—one that inspires you to connect with others, and cherish the conversations that unfold. Today’s update is an important step in this direction, including:

Full bleed photos and videos that'll make you really proud to post
A stream of conversation "cards" that make it easier to scan and join discussions
An activity drawer that highlights the community around your content

Simply put, we're hoping to make sharing more awesome by making it more evocative. You know that feeling you get when a piece of art takes your breath away, or when a friend stops by with unexpected gifts? We want sharing to feel like that, every single time.

A new home for hanging out
Google+ Hangouts uses live video to bring people together, and the results range from heartwarming to breathtaking to music-making. Today we're adding a dedicated Hangouts page that creates even more opportunities to connect in person, including:

An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles
Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast
A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don’t want to miss

By highlighting all the hangouts you can join, all over the world, it’s now easier to spend time together—even be there for each other. And with efforts like hangout apps already underway, you can expect more hangouts in more places in the future.

Getting there from here
Today's Google+ update extends beyond navigation, the stream and hangouts. For instance: there's a new Explore page that shows what's interesting and trending across the network. And a new profile with much bigger photos. And a new chat list that puts your friends front and center. And a whole lot more.

We're rolling out all of these improvements over the next few days, so please check back if you don't see them yet. In the meantime, you can visit this overview to learn more.

By focusing on you, the people you care about, and the stuff you’re into, we’re going to continue upgrading all the features you already know and love—from Search and Maps to Gmail and YouTube. With today’s foundational changes we can move even faster—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President

Posted in google+ | Comments Off

Google Finance Adds TPE, CNSX Realtime Quotes

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Chris Crum

Google announced the addition of realtime quotes from Canada and Taiwan to Google Finance today.

“Here at Google, we get excited by bringing our users relevant information at blazing speeds. So, why would we want to make users wait 15 minutes to see what trades are being made?” writes engineer Mark Schmit on the Google Finance blog. “Instead, we’re continuing to expand our real-time coverage and are very pleased to announce the launch of two more real-time exchanges.”

Those would be the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TPE) and the Canadian National Stock Exchange (CNSX). Here’s the full list of exchanges Google Finance now proivdes info for. Many of them are realtime while others have different increments:

Google Finance also provides info for North America, Europe and Asia. Likewise for the following indexes:

Google says it will be looking to add more info at a later date, which from the “check back soon” wording used in the announcement, could be in the near term.

I guess this all falls under the blanket of increased direct answers in Google search results the company has been talking about.

Posted in Financial, Google Finance, search, stocks | Comments Off

Mercedes-Benz Hits The Road With Google Maps API

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Drew Bowling

Mercedes-Benz is steadily becoming what some might consider the iCar. First, the car company debuted its first smart car at CES 2012. Then, Mercedes-Benz announced that Apple’s Siri would be included in its A-Class line of vehicles, plus it has some kind of Facebook and Twitter access built into the dashboard. Now, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler, have used Google Maps API to create a series of interactive maps accessible from the car’s dashboard.

From the Lat Long Blog:

The vehicle’s integrated navigation system will be enhanced in certain regions by a fully functional JavaScript Maps API v3 implementation using Styled Maps, Google Places API, Places Autocomplete API, traffic layer, and the Panoramio layer as an Android App for the AMG Performance Media option. This provides the user with a familiar Google Maps interface in addition to the onboard maps from the navigation system.

In addition to being able to perform Google Maps searches from the convenience of your car console, you’ll have access to several overlays developed with Google Maps API. One of the more useful maps you’ll find is a low light map that’ll make it easier for the eyes to read without making your pupils dilate too much as you switch from the road to the map.

If you’re driving into parts unknown, drivers will also be able to view the destination with its environs via Google Street View.

Then again, with all of these features, if you’re driving maybe you should, y’know, drive and let your passenger navigate through the Google Maps menu.

Posted in Google Maps, Google Maps API, mercedes-benz, search, smart cars | Comments Off

Google+ Pages In Google Analytics Soon To Be A Reality

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Chris Crum

It looks like Google may be gearing up to offer even more social data in Google Analytics than originally thought.

Arvid Bux at DutchCowboys.nl (via State of Search) blogged about a presentation Google gave, indicating that you will soon be able to connect your Google+ Page with Google Analytics.

WebSonic posted the actual slide, revealing the news. It says the feature is “coming soon”:

Last month, Google announced that it would soon be releasing new social reports in Google Analytics. Google said the reports were aimed at helping users: identify the full value of traffic coming from social sites and measure how they lead to conversions, understand social activities happening on and off site to help you optimize user engagement and increase key performance indicators, and make better, data-driven decisions in your social strategies.

There is a Social Sources report and an activity stream, which does include data from a lot of places, but lacks some key social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and StumbleUpon.

Since the announcement of the social reports, Google has also announced new site speed reports, as well as new email and PDF exporting features.

Posted in analytics, google analytics, Google Plus, Google Plus Pages, google+, search | Comments Off

This Zombie Survival Map Could Very Well Save Your Bacon

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Drew Bowling

You don’t want to be the aperitif at a zombie feast. Nobody does. But when the undead arrive, if the film genre is any indication, assume that there will be lots of them and they have appetites incapable of being spoiled. Worse, we remaining humans will find ourselves bereft of all reliable resources for our survival. You’ll need all the help you can get. Luckily, a forward-thinking fellow named Jeff at doejo.com has got you covered and put together a zombie survival map with locations of all the necessities you need to survive on a zombified planet.

Using Google Maps API, Map of the Dead (not to be confused with this other Map of the Dead) displays a color-coded key of all of the necessary locations you need to know about in order to survive in a world of zombies. Everything from military resources and cemeteries to pharmacies and liquor stores are included in the map so you’ll be able to find the closest supplier for your needs whenever you run out of something.

The map identifies danger zones, which are described as areas having a high risk of zombie infestation due to the presence of man-made structures. If you’re to go by what the map tells you, zombies are a cosmopolitan class of monsters who only want to hang out in well-developed cities. As you can see below, if you cross the river over into that charcoal-colored area of wilderness on the map you’ll be safely beyond the reach of the zombies’ clutches. However, all of the resources you need are still on the zombie side of the river, so… pack up before you go, I guess?

Cleverly, you can also download a copy to print off and store away in a safe place because, really, if the zombie uprising jumps off, do you think they’re going to provide very reliable IT support? No, but at least you’ll have your trusty map.

As things go, it appears that Central and South America as well as most of Asia and Africa will be largely unaffected by the zombie populations, so in lieu of risking your life and fighting off the legions of undead, you could always just put some money aside and jet down there at the first sign of trouble. Canada, oddly enough, seems to be of no regard to zombies as the country appears to be zombie-free. Cuba, however, seems to have a zombie problem, which figures – will there ever be a time when it’s okay for Americans to safely travel to Cuba again?

[Via Neatorama.]

Posted in Google Maps, Google Maps API, search, Survival, Zombies | Comments Off

Iran Still Planning To Launch A “Clean” Internet

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Drew Bowling

We’ve been hearing for a while now that Iran’s government plans to shut down the Internet in general and, in its place, launch a national Internet that doesn’t include sites like Google or YouTube. For now, though, those plans seem to have no definite deadline as the Iranian authorities have come out denying that it plans to cut off the Internet by August. However, authorities are still claiming that it plans to launch a “national information network” by March 2013.

According to a statement released by Communications Minister Reza Taghipour that was released on April 1, speculation that the country planned to shut down Internet access by August is “completely baseless” and “in no way confirmed by the ministry.”

Despite Taghipour’s claims, the Irani government has made a habit of shutting down popular Internet sites in the past several months. In February, the government began blocking sites like Gmail, YouTube, and Google’s encrypted search prior to the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Google confirmed the reports that its sites were blocked in Iran, but further information suggested that the entire Internet had been included in the blockade. Although access to the sites returned, rumors began to spread following this outage that the Irani authorities were blocking the sites because it was testing the possibility of launching its own national Internet.

More recently, Iran’s government blocked access to the official site for the 2012 Olympics in London and is currently redirecting users to Iran’s official news agencies. Officials claim that the 2012 logo spells out “Zion.”

At this point, while it would be wildly ambitious to shut out the Internet from the country, such efforts, based on the government’s previous habits, wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility.

[Via AFP.]

Posted in censorship, Internet, Iran, search | Comments Off

Bing Details Bing Features For Nokia Lumia 900

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Zach Walton

Remember the Nokia Lumia 900? It was the really impressive Windows phone that Microsoft is betting heavily on since its first positive reviews came out of CES 2012. It was announced two weeks ago that the Lumia 900 would be launching April 8. Today is April 8 and guess what, the Lumia 900 is here.

The Bing Team always knowing about the newest cool features coming to Bing have taken to the Bing blog to announce some of the cool stuff Lumia 900 users can do with Bing. The feature is admittedly impressive only because it takes a lot of features from numerous applications on other smartphones and consolidates them into a single Bing application.

The first feature is called Local Scout. It allows users to filter their search results locally. It also brings up results for local dining, shopping and activities. Going to any of the results will tell you “where it’s located, how to get there, who to call, when it’s open, the Web site, and even ratings and reviews.” If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same functionality that Google Places and other services like Yelp! and Foursquare offer.

One of the other much touted features is Voice. It’s just a simple search by voice command. The same functionality is seen in other smartphones as well. It’s usefulness is all over the place, however, with my voice search commands always being misinterpreted.

Now here’s the pretty cool feature even if it is copied from other services. Bing now has music search which will listen to a song and then display the artist, song title and where you can buy it. We’ve been using this kind of technology for a few years now with applications like Shazam, but it’s still new to Bing.

The final feature is Bing Vision which sounds like some kind of night-vision application. Unfortunately, it’s not that exciting. It’s just a product scanner that brings up relevant information on said product.

It’s worth pointing out that all the applications that Bing replicates are also available on the Windows Phone marketplace for free. It’s handy to have all of these applications in one place, but Bing will have to prove that it performs these tasks better than the dedicated applications.

Posted in bing, nokia, Nokia Lumia 900, search, Windows Phone 7 | Comments Off

Google Earth Flight Simulator; Or, Why I Shouldn’t Be A Pilot

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Drew Bowling

Occasionally, no matter how confident you are in your general skills with manipulating new devices or environments, sometimes your intuition is not enough and you must open up to swallow a mouthful of humble pie. While this is not something I particularly enjoy, two things I do enjoy is aviation and Google Earth. I am neither a pilot nor a cartographer but both of these concepts have, at different points in my life, occupied my attention with fascination and adventure. So, when I found out about Xavier Tassin’s amazing flight simulator developed to be used with Google Earth, I strapped on my virtual flight goggles and ventured off into the clear blue skies of my computer monitor.

First, a primer: This was developed for Google Earth, with heavy emphasis on the Earth part. You can fly various planes virtually everywhere on the planet as well as take off from/land on over 30,000 runways throughout the world. The flight simulator works with the Google Earth plug-in so you don’t even really have to download anything other than that.

Perhaps one of those neatest aspects of using GEFS is that you’ll see all of the other users currently zipping around in their planes in real-time. Depending on their skills compared to your own, this can be a great source of either pride or humility. If airplanes aren’t really your thing, you can take a go with helicopters and hot air balloons (called Major Tom in the GEFS).

Anyways, as I harnessed myself into my office chair and and prepared for lift-off in my mustard-hued baron, the simulator was quick to remind me that, no, I am not a pilot and so this isn’t going to be like riding a bike. If things start out encouraging when you start up the simulator, it’s likely because you haven’t figured out how to move yet. Not moving makes you look like you know what you’re doing: the plane is level, you’re not crashing, everything’s under control.

This flight simulator is a great reminder to always read the directions first before trying something new. I didn’t read the directions, so it literally took me seven minutes to figure out that I have to turn on the plane’s engine in order to make it go. First goal: don’t be an idiot. Some rules that apply on Real Earth also apply on Google Earth.

Another real-life that applies: gravity. This is not the DCU and you are not a caped crusader defying the laws of physics. You have to master the controls just like you would in real life in order to succeed here. And the controls, well… let’s just say that knowing how the controls work on a real plane really help. I am not a pilot and the closest I’ve ever come to one was coming in second in a paper airplane-making competition when I was in elementary school. As you can see, the results of that experience did not lend any sagacious assistance for this flight simulator.

As things are, I ended up hitting the reset button a lot in order to eventually figure out how to get the plane off the ground. Well, to get it off the ground in order to do more than merely flip it over. Finally, I found a short-cut in the location menu: I can choose different locations and then start my flight already up in the sky. This seemed easier, so I gave it a go. After all, what is it you always hear, the most dangerous parts of air travel are the take-off and the landing?

Not true! Well, at least it’s not if I’m your pilot. Starting out in mid-air didn’t work out so well for me, as you can see here in the simulation I chose for Mount Everest in Nepal. At least it looks pretty when you’re falling to Earth and crashing into mountains

So I can’t fly a plane with any more finesse than Wile E. Coyote, but I gave it one more chance and changed places yet again. In the next simulation, I gave in to superstition and decided to fly over my hometown in northeastern Kentucky. I managed to stay up in the air a little bit longer, although I’m not sure I was actually in control as the plane behaved less like a plane and more like a moth that just flew through a cloud of opium smoke. Occasionally, it did steady out and so I managed to take this picture that, were I to simply lie to you and tell you I was a master of the stratosphere, would obviously demonstrate my awesome flying talents.

But that would be a deceit of unprecedented limit, and I’m a big fan of full disclosure. So, yes, I am a horrible pilot. All in all, though, I’m not giving up on my abilities to achieve even a small level of competency with Google Earth Flight Simulator. This is a wonderful application of the Google Earth imagery and promises to not only be a lot of fun but an ingenius way to explore Google Earth’s maps. And since I have no idea when my next vacation might be, or even where I might go, this is as good as it gets for me, so I’m going to earn my stripes with this simulator come hell or high water.

[Via Google Earth Blog.]

Posted in Flight Simulator, google earth, search, xavier tassin | Comments Off

Download Wikipedia In English – All 9.7GB Of It [UPDATED]

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Drew Bowling

For those of you that can’t get enough Wikipedia, or even for those of you lamenting the cessation of a printed copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica, now you can take it with you in your offline life. Wikipedians can now download the entirety of the English Wikipedia – all 9.7GB of it – and access it anytime you want without the need to connect to the Internet.

The gargantuan file contains every Wikipedia page and fact up through January 2012 and comes in the OpenZIM format, which was prepared by Emmanuel Engelhart, the developer of Kiwix, which is one of the reader applications on which you you can read the Wikipedia file.

From Wikipedia’s blog post announcing the new downloadable version of its English archive:

Start your BitTorrent client and grab a copy of the 9.7GB file (.torrent link, other download options). You can also download content packages directly from within Kiwix using its library feature, including content from sister projects like Wiktionary and Wikisource, as well as non-Wikimedia content.

While the ZIM file doesn’t include images (that would blow it up to ~100GB for thumbnail-sized images), it does come with all the lists, tables, citations, and even mathematical formulas included in the online version.

Honestly, even if it did include images and the file size did balloon to over 100GB of data, I have to believe that there are people who would still try to download the file.

According to Erik Moeller, the Deputy Director at the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia downloads in languages other than English are also available. In an email, Moeller said that Wikipedia provides “regularly updated raw XML dumps at http://dumps.wikimedia.org/backup-index.html.” He added, “We’re not yet running a ZIM service of our own. ZIM files are independently provided and updated by the Kiwix project and copies in several languages can be found on the Kiwix homepage.”

Do any of you think you’d actually download this file so as to have an accessible copy of Wikipedia whenever you’re not online? Any particular reason? Share your thoughts below.

Posted in Offline, search, wikipedia | Comments Off

Google Art Project Hopes To Add Mona Lisa, The Louvre With Next Phase

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Drew Bowling

Make no mistake, Google Art Project has partnered with some amazing museums and cultural centers around the world in order to bring people greater access to some of the world’s most important and valuable works of art. Not only has Google Art Project assembled virtual galleries that users can peruse, but it also offers Street View for 51 museums that partnered up in the project.

Still, the project is lacking perhaps the most recognizable work of art in history: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.

According to Bloomberg News, however, that could soon be changing now that Google has begun talking with the Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa and the most visited museum in the world, in order to work out a deal where Google may be granted access to the Louvre’s 400,000-plus collection of art.

“Everyone asks me if we have Leonardo’s Mona Lisa,” Amit Sood, who heads the project, said at a news briefing in Paris. “We’re talking to people from the Louvre. Maybe they’ll be part of the next phase.”

When contacted by telephone by Bloomberg News, a spokeswoman at the Louvre press office declined to comment and wouldn’t give her name.

Amassing virtual tours that features the likes of Bosch, Van Gogh, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., La Gioconda will undoubtedly be the elusive jewel missing from Art Project’s crown.

To sample what Art Project has been doing with Google Street view, check out the Tokyo National Museum below.

View Larger Map

[Via Bloomberg.]