Posts Tagged ‘Google’

So it turns out Google Wave isn’t actually dead…

Posted by admin at 3 September 2010

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While prevailing sentiment seemed to be that Google Wave is all but finished as a standalone product, Google has made a pair of big announcements about the service. Google’s Alex North has published a blog post which seems to indicate that something different is going on.

Wave is not so much dead, as preparing to enter the second chapter of its saga. To that end, Google will be open sourcing additional code (more than 200,000 lines were already open). That doesn’t mean the entire project is going OSS as you may have read elsewhere. Think of the Chromium/Chrome model — while the vast majority is open, there are certain things which Google can’t (codecs, for example) and others they simply don’t make part of the open source code.

They’re also working on delivering Wave-in-a-box, which would include a server and web client that developers and administrators could self-deploy and manage. Heck, maybe you’ll even be able to slide a Google Collaboration box into your rackmount underneath that fancy search appliance.

Moral: don’t count Wave out just yet. It’s back for round two, and its code will no doubt be cropping up in other Google apps soon enough.

So it turns out Google Wave isn’t actually dead… originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Wave – Google – Open source – Download Squad – Server

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Google Chrome 6 goes stable, 2nd birthday celebration brings extension and autofill sync

Posted by admin at 3 September 2010

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It’s Chrome’s second birthday today, and in addition to posting some fancy-schmancy images to celebrate Google Chrome’s stable channel has been bumped to version 6. For those of you still keeping tabs on version changes, it’s only been four months since Chrome 5 went stable.

The update means that all Chrome users can now take advantage of extension and autofill sync — both important parts of Google’s desire to keep your ‘browsing platform’ uniform across all the computers you use.

Version 6 also brings the new consolidated menu, richer content settings (JavaScript, plug-ins, notifications, and the like), and the first-run search engine selection screen. There’s also a faster V8 JavaScript engine under the hood.

No announcement yet from the Chrome Blog, but we’ll add a link once their official post has gone live. In the meantime, the Chromium blog has a breakdown of some of the more important security updates and feature additions.

Google Chrome 6 goes stable, 2nd birthday celebration brings extension and autofill sync originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome – Google – Browsers – search – Clients

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Google’s “Things to do” helps you show the power of Google to non-techies

Posted by admin at 2 September 2010

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thingstodo

For most people, “Google” has become synonymous with “search”. Heck, Cambridge dictionary lists it as a verb.

But as we all know, Google can do lots more than just search. You’ve got Gmail, and YouTube, and Maps, and the calculator, and a whole bunch of other Web properties.

While Gmail is enormously popular, not all Google projects fare so well (cough Wave cough). Even most of the search operators for Google itself are confined to the geekier crowd.

One thing Google UK has done to make its service more accessible to the non-geeky crowd is create Things to do. There’s no US version at Google.com, but the British one is lots of fun, especially for guys who don’t know Google so well.

It’s basically a long list of things a normal person might want to do online (no, porn is not represented … but that doesn’t mean you’re not normal, don’t worry). The lines are couched in informal British English, which makes it all the more amusing. Being a nerd, I knew I could personalize my YouTube channel, but I didn’t know I could “glam it up”.

The whole page is a JavaScript accordion: Each tip has a + sign next to it. Clicking the line (or the sign) opens up the line, and you get a short YouTube clip demonstrating the feature, or a Search box for the specific service (for example, Google Scholar).

Bottom line: This is a very nice resource for sending to clueless friends who are wondering what sort of things they could use Google for. Saves lots of explaining – and hey, you might even find something that’s new for you!

Google’s “Things to do” helps you show the power of Google to non-techies originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google – YouTube – search – Search Engines – Google Wave

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About:labs lands in Google Chrome — brings tab overview to Mac, side tabs to Windows

Posted by admin at 1 September 2010

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Chromium — Google Chrome’s open source cousin — recently debuted the new about:labs page which brings easier access to bleeding-edge features. The Labs page provides a simpler, GUI-based system for enabling things like side tabs which you previously had to activate via command line switches.

In the latest Chrome Canary update, Labs has arrived. That means Mac users can now enable tab overview (an Expose-like feature which shows all your open tabs) and Windows users can play around with side tabs — no switches required! Just enable the feature on about:labs and restart, and you’re good to go.

Remember, this has just hit Canary — but the dev channel shouldn’t be too far behind.

Hopefully Google will begin adding other features to the page now that it’s made the jump to Chrome. First on our wish list; hardware acceleration!

Thanks for the tip, Jim!

About:labs lands in Google Chrome — brings tab overview to Mac, side tabs to Windows originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome – Download Squad – Google – Browsers – Open source

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Google Docs begins integrating Etherpad’s collaboration kung fu

Posted by admin at 31 August 2010

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Google’s acquisition of Etherpad came at a time when Wave was still being talked about by the cool kids. Its collaboration chops seemed well-suited to Wave’s real-time environment. As you well know, Wave ended up being a bit of a wash-out — but it turns out Etherpad was slated for integration elsewhere.

That “elsewhere?” Google Docs, of course! As of today, Docs will show you which blocks of text other contributors are currently modifying when you’ve got a document open. It’s an incredibly useful change if you have multiple authors working on Docs files — no more stumbling over each other or accidentally fighting over the same block of text at the same time.

This is probably just the beginning, of course. With Etherpad in tow, Google Docs will probably see many more collaboration-oriented additions in the near future.

[via Google Docs blog]

Google Docs begins integrating Etherpad’s collaboration kung fu originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Docs – Google – Google Wave – Etherpad test – Real-time computing

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See what Google Chrome extensions are up to before you install them

Posted by admin at 31 August 2010

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There are a lot of great extensions in the Chrome Gallery. However, as the Chrome APIs round out and extensions have increased access to things like your history, cookies, and file system you may want to take a closer look at what a particular extension can do before you install it.

Fortunately there’s a new extension which can do just that. What?! An extension to peek under the hood of other extensions? Yep. It’s called Extension Gallery Inspector, and it’s pretty slick.

Install the Inspector and head to the Chrome Extensions Gallery. When you browse an extension’s detail page, the lightning bolt icon will appear in your Omnibar. Click it, and Inspector will unpack the .CRX file and scan for API calls, permissions, and OAuth support. It also tells you the uncompressed size of the extension and whether or not it has an options page and browser action icon.

Still not enough info for you? Click the view files link and you can actually check out the extension’s source code, icons, and manifest file.

You’ll obviously need a bit of technical knowledge to benefit from Extension Gallery Inspector as it stands right now. Still, for power users who want to know what an extension has access to — or developers who are just curious how a particular extension works — Inspector is a must-have Google Chrome extension.

See what Google Chrome extensions are up to before you install them originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome – Download Squad – browser – Source code – Clients

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Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck

Posted by admin at 30 August 2010

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SocialDeck has become the latest addition to Google’s Hall of Acquisitions. The creators of the popular iPhone game Shake and Spell have also produced Spark, which allows mobile gamers to challenge or chat with friends, recommend games, save games in the cloud, and more.

In their own words, SocialDeck are “super excited to announce that someone found our social games as fun as you have – in this case, that “someone” is Google.” They’ll even have a nice group of friends with common interests to play with now that they’re part of the Google collective.

Earlier this month, Google acquired Jambool — who created the Social Gold virtual currency platform. Back in April they picked up Lab Pixies, who specialize in social and casual gaming widgets. And let’s not forget Google is also a major investor in casual game maker Zynga — the demons behind the game you love to hate, Farmville.

What does it all mean? Clearly Google sees gaming (and social gaming in particular) to be an area worth getting involved in. With Android picking up momentum and Google TV and Chrome OS both on the way, there are going to be a whole lot more Google hardware users looking to kill some time destroying pixelated zombies or spelling their way to a high score.

That means money spent on games, on virtual goods, and, of course, delicious, delicious ad impressions.

[via Inside Social Games]

Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google – Download Squad – Zynga – Mobile game – IPhone

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Google, Arcade Fire deliver amazing, HTML5-powered music video from the future

Posted by admin at 30 August 2010

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It takes a lot for a music video to grab my attention anymore. Arcade Fire’s HTML5 collaboration with Google, however, does a pretty damn good job.

Head over to The Wilderness Downtown, punch in the address of the home where you grew up, and watch the magic unfold. The “experience” is definitely one of the most interesting demos to come out of Google’s Chrome Experiments thus far. It’s a fantastic showcase of what HTML5 and modern browsers bring to the table.

As director Chris Milk told Wired, “[HTML5] is in its infancy right now, but I think the browser will be the next widely recognized artistic medium.” He continues by adding “It allows such a larger dialog with the viewer. There’s actual two-way communication going on between the art and the observer.”

One parting note: is it just me, or was that HTML5 progress indicator every bit as annoying as the ones we’ve grown accustomed to with Flash preloaders? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

[via Wired]

Google, Arcade Fire deliver amazing, HTML5-powered music video from the future originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google – Google Chrome – HTML5 – Arcade Fire – Chris Milk

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iReader extension is like Safari Reader for Google Chrome and Firefox

Posted by admin at 30 August 2010

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One of the most talked about features in Safari 5 has been its Reader function — Apple’s built-in implementation of the Readability bookmarklet. Both are nice ways to reformat articles on blog or news sites for distraction-free reading.

If you like the look of Safari Reader but would rather not change from Google Chrome or Firefox, don’t worry. The iReader extension brings the same functionality to your browser of choice!

Like Safari Reader, iReader shrouds the background in semi-opaque blackness . Hover near the bottom of the page to display zoom and print controls, as well as e-mail/Twitter/Facebook sharing buttons. iReader is also highly configurable — set Gmail as your ’send page’ client, change the display font, activate smooth scrolling, set the “curtain” to be more or less transparent, and adjust the reading area and margins. You can also choose hotkey combination to activate iReader (rather than having to click on the Omnibar icon).

Download iReader : Google Chrome extension or Firefox add-on

iReader extension is like Safari Reader for Google Chrome and Firefox originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome – Apple – Safari – Add-on – Google

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Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Apple, Google, Facebook, AOL, eBay, Netflix, Yahoo!, Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and YouTube over patents

Posted by admin at 28 August 2010

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Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen has filed suit against nine companies over patent violations. Through his current firm, Interval Licensing LLC, Allen is suing Apple, Google, AOL, Facebook, ebay, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube (which is a subsidiary of Google). The claims involve four separate patents, most of which cover integral parts of how the companies named do business. For example, one patent allows site suggestions for consumers based on things they’re currently viewing, while another allows related articles to be delivered while reading news. All in all, it sounds like Allen’s patents — if they’re indeed found to cover these technologies — are seriously vast. The suit, which was filed today, does not name any specific amount of damages he is seeking. Allen, who is one of the richest people in the world with an estimated worth of over $13 billion, recently pledged to donate over half of his wealth to philanthropic causes after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates called on the world’s billionaires to do so.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Apple, Google, Facebook, AOL, eBay, Netflix, Yahoo!, Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and YouTube over patents originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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