Google Bookmarks and Web history merged
by George T on Aug 29 2009 at 18:31 
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In case you haven’t noticed it yet, there have been some slight changes in some Google products including Search and Bookmarks. To begin with, Google added a small feature in the up right corner at their homepage from where you can choose to configure your Search settings and your Google account settings.
Clicking on the “Seach settings” takes you to the Preferences page from where you may change some cool things concerning the way your Google results may appear by altering SafeSearch filtering, the number of results per page, etc. However my favorite part is the Subscribed Links at the bottom of that page.
When you subscribe to some of these links you customize Google search to show special results from sources of your choice. For example if you search for “man grep” after subscribing to “Unix Manpages” you will get this as a result.
As you may see, somewhere in the first few results you will see a result coming from your selected subscribed links. In this specific example we get to see a very short explanation of the linux command “grep”. Apart from that you may notice the “iGoogle” link replaced by “Web Hostory” and the gbar – the blue bar in the results page that includes the “Show Options” link – that has shifted to left following the ads shifting which occurred a few days ago.
Moreover, Google Bookmarks and Web History have now merged providing a more complete bookmarking product. Google Bookmarks which almost seemed abandoned by Google now gets a little more attention. This merged product provides you a complete list of your web history splitted into categories such as Web, Images, News, Maps and Blogs. If you look lower you will see Trends, where you may see a list of your top searches, a look at your search activity, and other interesting tidbits. You will also see Interesting Items, where you may see Recent top queries and web pages related to your searches. And finally, at the bottom of that navigation menu you will see your good old Bookmarks.
I would love to see Google Bookmarks getting even better, more social and more beautiful.
Gmail – Adding recipients from contact chooser
by George T on Aug 26 2009 at 14:22 0
When composing a new email in Gmail, you would probably rely a lot to the auto-complete feature when typing a recipient’s name or email which makes sending emails even faster. However there comes a day when you forget to include a person on an email and as strange as this sounds you always realize this in the next few seconds after you press the “Send” button. To avoid this, you may enable “Undo Send” in the Gmail Labs which stalls messages from being sent for a few seconds after hitting the send button.
Apart from that, Gmail introduced last night the contact chooser which allows you to scroll down your contact list in a pop-up window helping you remember all the people you want to include on your email. Just click on “To:” when composing a message. And if you user Google Groups, you will be able to see your groups in the drop down menu.
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IE6 support till 2014!!!
by George P on Aug 24 2009 at 20:42 1
Yes! It is true! Microsoft has announced that support for Internet Explorer 6 will get extended until 2014. Originally it was planed until 2010.
IE6 was launched in 2001 and it is estimated that 15-20% of people still use it to browse the web.
I already see angry web developers surrounding Microsoft’s HQ.
Full article can be found here
Announcing twidroid PRO – update
by George T on Aug 24 2009 at 14:19 0
Twidroid, one of the most successful (if not the most successful) twitter clients for android devices, is getting a PRO version arriving before the end of this month. (28.08.2009)
Compared to the free version of twidroid, twidroid PRO includes multi-account support (merged & single view), native bit.ly support, video posting, listing your followers & friends, color themes and of course a desktop widget.
Moreover there will be an integrated buzz viewer, courtesy of twittersphere.
For more information you can see here a more detailed list of the features.
Changes in Gmail
by George T on Aug 21 2009 at 16:41 1
Google fired up a couple of new features last night. Firstly the next time you will add a contact you will see a red background in the email field until you type a validated email as it is shown in the picture below.
And secondly, if you haven’t noticed it, your Chat widget in your Gmail now has a scroll bar displaying all your chat buddies independently from your option on the size of chat list.
Google Docs, sharing with Google Groups
by argy on Aug 20 2009 at 20:13 0
Recently, Google introduced an easier way to share documents, calendars, etc — using Google Groups.
Sharing capabilities were limited, because you could only share a document with a friend of yours, or make it public so that everyone can see it. Now, sharing enhanced, with the option to share docs with multiple people — you can now share with an entire Google Group.
The group members, can simultaneously open and edit the same documents, and everyone will be aware of each documents’ status (awareness). This way of sharing, makes collaboration better between several individuals, and we expect more to come from Google.
Sharing with a Google Group is easy, all you have to do is type the Google Group’s email address and it’s done! The magic starts when people join or leave the group and they automatically gain or lose the rights they were given (as a group).
This was a feature that people wanted to “just work” — and now it does. Go ahead and try it out with your sites, calendars and documents!
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Picasa gets more social – part 2
by George T on Aug 20 2009 at 16:00 2
Two days ago Picasa Web Albums turned on a feature implementing “likes” and “views” inside the photo albums. That featured let you mark a photo you like and besides that to see the number of views of that photo.
Today another feature just launched called “Collaborative albums“. This feature enables you to collaborate with friends or family contributing to a photo album. Just click the Share button and check the option “Let people I share with contribute photos”.
After that the people you chose can contribute photos. All they have to do is press the “Add Photos” button.
And just by that they will be redirected to the upload page which is much similar to their upload page they use to upload photos to their picasa web albums.
Another cool detail about this new feature that i like very much, is that you can tun on and off the ability of a collaborative member to contribute to the specific photo album.
As it is is shown in the picture above, you can press the green plus to disallow or allow a member to contributing photos.
Layar, world’s first mobile augmented reality browser goes global
by George T on Aug 19 2009 at 11:13 0
Layar, world’s first mobile augmented reality browser which launched back in June in the Netherlands, is now available globally on Android devices. This version (second) also includes new content layers like Wikipedia, Twitter and Brightkite.
To discover new content quickly and with ease, the new Reality Browser includes sections for ‘Featured’ and ‘Popular’. All layers are also accessible via a keyword search in the search function. Layers that are used often can be saved to ‘Favorites’. In addition to the enhanced augmented reality camera view, it is now possible to select Map or List view. For every Point of Interest (POI), several actions can be taken such as: linking to a mobile site for more information, playing a live location based trivia game, linking to a video or sound clip, clicking to call for reservations, and looking at a route description to the POI. Content partners can fully customize their layer to provide a distinctive experience for the user.
Layar can be downloaded in all local Android Markets and is pre-installed on the new Samsung Galaxy (i7500) in the Netherlands.
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Picasa gets more social
by George T on Aug 18 2009 at 16:21 2
There is no doubt that the era we live in consists of many social components that help us make up our online identity. This makes the Web 2.0 keep moving, altering and evolving. Over the last few days we have noticed many changes in the area of Web 2.0 and social networking. First there was facebook with its Lite version, then Twitter starting up the Project: Retweet and finally Google trying to get Reader more social.
Well, this time Google tries to get Picasa Web Albums more social. If you watch carefully the next time you browse some album photos you will notice a new bar under the photo’s caption with “I like this” option at the bottom left and the number of “Views” at the bottom right.
Picasa Web Albums have tried a few changes in the last year in order to compete, but no change could boost Picasa that much to overtake its main rival
Android Network Awards results are out!
by George T on Aug 18 2009 at 10:50 0
Last night Android Network Awards announced the results of their polls. According to them, more than 43.000 people voted.
So, here are the results:
Best Security App: Mobile Defense
Best Camera App: Snap Photo Pro
Best Home Replacement App: Panda Home
Best Streaming Music App: imeem Mobile
Best GPS Navigation App: CoPilot Live
Best Twitter App: Twidroid
Best Weather App: WeatherBug
Best Communication App: chompSMS
Best Widget: Weather Widget
Best Puzzle Game: Jewellust
Best Arcade Game: Robo Defense
Best Casual Game: Bonsai Blast
Best Shopping App:ShopSavvy
Best Fitness App: SportyPal
Best System Utility App: TasKiller
Best Tool App: ASTRO File Manager
Best Location Based App: Sherpa
Best Sports App: SportsTap
Best Organization / Productivity App: Astrid
Best Wow Factor App: Shazam
Best Reference App: WikiMobile
Best News App: USA Today
Best Finance App: PayPal
Best Social Networking App: Babbler for Facebook
Best Entertainment App: Shazam
Best Media Player App: TuneWiki
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