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What is Missing in OpenSocial
2007-11-04 06:43:00
OpenSocial is a project initiated by Google for developers to create applications across various social networks. So far, all the major social networks agreed to participate, such as MySpace, Hi 5, Ning, Friendster, etc, except Facebook. The idea is that, with just a single platform, developers will not have to waste time developing the same application multiple times just to fit their codings into various social networks. But will OpenSocial be the ultimate solution to cross-platform social network application development? Not yet.Just as Nicholas Carlson from Valleywag points out, OpenSocial does not allow applications on one social network to communicate with another. This means that the same FunWall application I have on orkut wouldn't be the same as the one on MySpace. Also, some of the participating social networks are still planning to launch their own application platform.Also, Facebook won't have the incentives to open up its current application platform (which already ac...
More About: Missing , OpenSocial , Missi

Interesting iGoogle Ad
2007-10-31 16:28:00
I saw this ad on YouTube and like it very much:The promotion tag line till the last says: "Create your iGoogle homepage! Start now!"
More About: Interesting , Eres

Shortest Google Domain Ever
2007-10-29 16:34:00
Google China launched the shortest Google domain ever - G.cn which they say in their blog is for those who don't understand much about English or Google or when geeks type 'wwww' or 'gooogle'. So they decided to keep it simple.Is Google going to own all "g" domains, how about "g.us" or "g.hk". :P
More About: Google , Domain

PageRank Updated: Massive Drops
2007-10-28 06:13:00
Google's search engine secret sauce, the PageRank algorithm, finally gets an update after 6 months since its last update. Normally, PageRank updates every 3 months. There have been reports about a massive drop in sites that are widely known to be selling text links which Google identifies as manipulating search engine results. There have also been reports that YouTube's PageRank drops to 3.Side note: You will now receive a confirmation if you submit spam or paid links report in Webmaster Tools which says:Thank you for submitting a spam report for this site: [submitted URL] We take the quality of our results very seriously, and we thoroughly investigate every report of deceptive practices and take appropriate action when we uncover genuine abuse. In especially egregious cases, we will remove spammy websites from our index immediately, so they don't show up in search results at all. At a minimum, we'll use the data from each spam report to improve our site ranking and filtering a...
More About: Pagerank , Gera

SearchMash Goes Flashy
2007-10-26 12:14:00
SearchMash , the experimental site operated by Google to test new searching experience, had a recent upgrade. Instead of the previous simple HTML version, they launched a flash version which is very unlike Google's usual practice of keeping things simple. However, SearchMash is still kept ad-free. The new interface is a complete makeover adding more interactive elements.Here is how it looks like when you search for 'iPhone':SearchMash implements Snap Shots preview technology so that a preview is shown on the right (which is called the 'preview area') together with site information as well as other typical functions such as search within site and go to cache page. You may navigate the results by clicking on them, using the arrow keys on your keyboard, or by scrolling. To open a result, you will have to double-click. And when you open a result, SearchMash follows you by adding a frame at the top:To go to image results, simply click on the 'Image' tab and without loading the enti...

YouTube Hong Kong
2007-10-18 08:14:00
YouTube launches a customized version for Hong Kong which is also the first localized YouTube in Asia. There are a few channels from partnering organizations such as RTHK, ATV and Hong Kong Tourism Council. One of the founders of YouTube who was born in Taiwan, Steve Chen, said they chose Hong Kong to be the first Asian city to a localized YouTube mainly because the music and filming industry are of very high standard. He noted that the Taiwan version would launch later today (18 Oct). Here's the promotional video for the launch:
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In Memory of Luciano Pavarotti
2007-10-12 12:05:00
Luciano Pavarotti , (October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007) was a celebrated Italian tenor in operatic music. ... By the mid-1970s, the tenor became known worldwide, famed for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register. His "high C" became one of his trademarks.[Source: Wikipedia]
More About: Memory , Luciano , Luciano Pavarotti , In Memory

Google Continues to Top in Global Search
2007-10-12 11:27:00
According to comScore, Google continues to top global search charts with 37.1 billion searches in August dominating over 60% of the worldwide market.More Related News
More About: Search , Global , Conti

Good News for Gmail Users
2007-10-12 08:59:00
Haochi from Googlified dug into the source code of Gmail 's homepage and found that the storage estimation has been updated. The new entries indicates that the storage will be: 2912MB by October 11, 2007 midnight Google time4.2GB by the 23rd this month6GB by January 4th next year42GB by the year of 2038and 2.70266701 × 1072 TB* by 1/2/3456 7:00Though I doubt the possibility of getting TBs in Gmail ... I still think that getting 42GB is possible. The spontaneous update for paid storage might be a prove:The previous rates were:6 GB ($20.00 USD per year)25 GB ($75.00 USD per year)100 GB ($250.00 USD per year)250 GB ($500.00 USD per year)Now they are:10 GB ($20.00 USD per year)40 GB ($75.00 USD per year)150 GB ($250.00 USD per year)400 GB ($500.00 USD per year)Let's wait and see ...Update: The counter update is confirmed in the Official Gmail Blog and that they are really aiming at infinity + 1! Look at the counter: It's speeding now!
More About: News , Good News , Good , Users

AdSense Video Units
2007-10-09 14:43:00
AdSense offers yet another form of advertisement - videos. A typical video unit consists of a customized embeddable player with an image banner at the top. Inline-text ads would pop up at the bottom of the video. Users have to manually click to 'shrink' the ad (it doesn't completely disappear, a link still exists).Currently, only videos from selected content providers could be chosen as to ensure the quality of the content. The revenue would be shared among the content provider, publisher and Google. Here's a video unit sample (you can view it live here):To set up a video unit, go to "AdSense Setup" tab in your AdSense account. Click "video units" and you would be redirected to YouTube to customize your player as well as selecting content providers.I personally quite like the idea because the embedded videos can be manually selected, so it would be highly relevant to the website itself. Also, video are more vivid and could convey messages in a very short period of time.AdSense ...
More About: Video , Adsense , Units , Unit

Google Desktop Gadgets in iGoogle
2007-10-06 05:40:00
With Google Desktop 5.5 Beta, you could run Desktop gadgets in your iGoogle homepage. To add a Desktop gadget to your iGoogle homepage, just do so like you normally would when adding a iGoogle gadget by search browsing the iGoogle Content Directory. I think they should put all Desktop gadgets in a "Desktop Gadgets " tab.On a side note: Google wants to secure its market share by asking users (even those who are using Google as default) if they would like their default search engine to be Google. And this means, I will get this 'warning':
More About: Google Desktop

Sputnik - 50th Anniversary
2007-10-04 11:24:00
50 years ago (i.e. October 4, 1957) the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. ... While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.[Source: NASA History Division]
More About: Anniversary

Google Apps Premium Offers Message Recovery
2007-10-03 13:35:00
After Google 's recent acquisition of Postini, they are rolling out policy management and message recovery by Postini to Premier Edition administrators at no additional charge.Here are some description from their product description page:Policy management lets administrators implement rules for how messages are handled based on the sender, recipient, attachments or content of the message:Message s can be selectively tracked, routed for review or blocked according to company or regulatory compliance guidelines. For example, emails with specific keywords can be prevented from being sent to external recipients, or groups of users can be entirely prevented from sending external email.Configurable spam and virus filtering lets organizations add custom filtering rules, complementing the spam and virus protection already included in Gmail.Message recovery allows you to search for mail across your whole domain and recover deleted emails on a 90-day rolling basis.Premier Edition administrator...
More About: Recovery , Google Apps , Offers

Google Photos Blog
2007-10-03 03:57:00
Yte another new Google blog. As its name and logo suggests, they will be posting feature updates, photography tips, and some of their favorite photo albums.One sentence I particularly like from the first post: "Picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes there's still more to say." :P[Via Googlified]
More About: Photos , Blog

Gmail Help Center Includes External Data Source
2007-09-28 17:14:00
When you seek help from Gmail 's Help Center , you would now see "user community" data in search results which includes not only threads from its dedicated Google Groups but also other external sources such as Lifehacker and About.com.Given the fact that Gmail users increases dramatically after it opens up to the public, the Gmail Team might be receiving overwhelming amount of help tickets and turn to quality external sources which provides quick answers to simple questions.
More About: Data , Source , External

Google Calendar in iPhone
2007-09-27 13:06:00
The Google Calendar Team has developed a tailor-made interface for iPhone users. The 'What's New' page says: Google Calendar now works (and looks) better on your iPhone. Enhanced 'touch-screen' buttons and color-coded events make keeping track of your schedule - and viewing others' calendars - even easier while you're on the go.
More About: Iphone

YouTube Launches Nonprofit Program
2007-09-27 12:42:00
The "YouTube Nonprofit Program " enables non-profit organizations to set up outreach programs on YouTube. By joining the program, organizations benefits from:Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacityRotation of your videos in the "Promoted Videos" areas throughout the siteThe option to embed a Google Checkout "Donate" button — and to fundraise without transaction costs.Here's an example for the Google Checkout "Donate" button next to a video from Asia Society:Here are some tips on setting up a video fund-raising campaign from the YouTube Blog:Sign Up | YouTube Blog
More About: Youtube

Happy Birthday, Google!
2007-09-27 11:18:00
It's Google 's 9th birthday! I wonder what Google's birthday wish is :P
More About: Happy , Birthday , Happy Birthday

Strange YouTube Video Description in Google
2007-09-04 17:05:00
Pay attention to the description of the video! It reads '8 clicks from http://tstkeith.blogspot.com/2007/05/ ...'. Pretty obvious it is some referral statistics from YouTube. This suggests that YouTube has been putting its referral statistics in public allowing (extremely powerful) search engines like Googl e to access this information. I tried some other keywords but it doesn't seem to trigger the same "description". Could you find other keywords that produces the same (strange) video description? Or do you have other opinions about this phenomena?
More About: Video , Youtube , Strange

Google Paid Storage
2007-08-10 06:53:00
Google is offering paid storage for Picasa Web Album and Gmail and would extend the program to other services such as Google Docs & Spreadsheet soon. The paid storage could be shared among different services. The cheapest plan start at $20/year for 6GB.Personally, this idea is pretty disappointing as I am expecting Google to offer unlimited storage to its users in the near future but it seems they are not interested in offering free yet ad monetized storage anymore. Gmail's keen competitor, Yahoo Mail, is offering unlimited storage now and I thought this was the trend. Well, don't imagine you can backup everything on your computer in GDrive, you might only get another gigabyte only. Sigh.Manage your storage usage | Purchase extra storageP.S. I would be Off to Iceland until 27 August so this would be the last post before I leave.
More About: Google , Storage , Paid , Googl

Google Business Referral Representative
2007-08-06 12:10:00
Google Maps allows business owners to add and edit their businesses helping them to connect with potential customers in their communities. However, Google thinks that relying merely on business owners is not efficient enough to 'organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible'. Therefore, they would like to pay US residents to help them add in more listings by being a Google Business Referral Representative . The details of the program is listed in form of a FAQ below.What do you have to do?You would have to visit local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You'll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information.How much will I be paid?You can earn up to $10 for each approved and verified referral. $2 when a business referral is approved by Google; and $8 when ...
More About: Google , Googl

Use Google Maps to Track Flood in UK
2007-07-25 12:00:00
The newly released mapplets feature in Googl e Maps has created a platform for BBC Berkshire to create a flood map showing latest flood warning information, locations of emergency centers, photos, video and audio reports from correspondents across Berkshire. Read more about the flood map in BBC Berkshire.In 2005, when Katrina stroke New Orleans, Google Earth provided satellite images of the flood. This time with mapplets, however, individual users (in this case BBC) can make use of the interactive mapping tools and take the initiative to generate flood maps.Launch Flood Map
More About: Google Maps , Track

Blogger Adds Robots.txt
2007-07-18 15:28:00
If you use Google Sitemaps for your Blogger and you are seeing a sudden increase in the number of links being blocks by robots.txt, don't panic as it is not anything you did wrong. It is all because Blogger is adding robots.txt by default recently. As you can see from the codes below, all pages under the /search directory is being disallowed meaning and pages under the /search directory would not appear included in any search result pages of major search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo and Live.com).User-agent: *Disallow: /searchSitemap: http://gspy.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/defa ult?orderby=updatedThis is, in fact, a good news to Blogger users as Google is treating most of these blocked pages as duplicated content and are listing them as 'Supplemental Results'. Furthermore, the more duplicated content you site has, the less Google is weighing your site's content.A further improvement towards this great feature is to allow Blogger users to customize their own robots.txt so they could...
More About: Robots , Robo

Google Ready to Capture the Entire US?
2007-07-18 14:00:00
Wow, was my respond when I first saw the above image taken in the Googl e parking in Mountain View, California. (Followed by an OMG) As you can see, there is an entire fleet of at least 30 brand-new Chevy Cobalt cars, most without license plates, each with a metal frame attached at the top which is highly likely to be a vertical extension for mounting Google's Street View 360° camera.Here's a closeup:This should be how the car is going to look when the 11-lens + 360 degree camera is installed:If you still haven't put up a robot.txt (v2.0) outside your garden, you better do now! :P[Via Gizmodo]
More About: Entire , Capture , Ready

Picasa Helping Spammers
2007-07-16 13:23:00
Without any CAPTCHA or spam prevention algorithms, spammers are taking advantage of the flaw in its album sharing feature to send out spam emails. Spammers send out album invitations together with a whole chunk of spam message and could easily get around Gmail's spam filters and arrive in victim's Inbox as the sender is from a highly trusted source - a Google domain.There have been similar reports by Gmail users in the Google Blogoscoped Forum. And spammers have also eyed Pica sa 's comment system to distribute spam.It is clear that the next mission for the Picasa Team is to find away to avoid spammers from abusing its system.
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Google AdSense Ran Out of Fund
2007-07-15 09:24:00
A recent blog post from a AdSense publisher reveal that AdSense's bank account does not have adequate funds to cover the amount listed on the check. Here is an extract from the conversation between the unlucky publisher and the bank teller:“There aren’t sufficient funds in the account to cover your check.” *stunned silence* I say, “Excuse me, could you repeat that?” She does. ...First, denial and disbelief. I say, “Are you sure? Do you know who Googl e is? You’re kidding me, right?” She says she does know who Google is, but that this particular account doesn’t have enough funds to cover my check. I’m too stunned to move. I look down at the check handled back to me and look back up at her confused. Next, shock and awe. I say to the teller, “How does a gazillionaire company like Google have a bank account with so little money in it?” She laughs. I laugh.I really don't know how to comment on this ... It sounds insane to me.
More About: Adsense , Google Adsense , Fund

Google to Add 'Unavailable After' META Tag
2007-07-13 15:20:00
The director of crawl systems at Googl e , Dan Crow is releasing a new META tag named "unavailable_after".Easily understood from the name, the "unavailable_after" tag will tell Google when Googlebot should no longer crawl that page. It is especially useful for limited time offer promotional pages where the promotions will expire on a specific date. By using the "unavailable_after" tag, you can tell Google not to crawl these pages, after the promotions expire.[Via Search Engine Land]
More About: Meta , Available

Add Interactive Search to Blogger Without Knowing AJAX
2007-07-12 12:02:00
Blogger in Draft launched a pretty handy new feature that allows users to add in Google AJAX Search to their blogs without knowing any coding. Users could add in a Google Custom Search box as a new page element and choose what the search results will cover, i.e. Only the content in the blog, sites that the blog links to or the web. Different results are separated in tabs.Here are a few suggestions from me:Bloggers should be able to add in their own AdSense publisher ID to enjoy a revenue share with Google every time a visitor clicks on the ads in the search results.More customizable options should be added to the set up menu. Users should be able to control stuff like the color scheme of the search results, whether the Google logo is displayed outside the search box or inside the text box.Other kinds of Google search (such as Blog Search, Image Search, etc.) should be made available.Furthermore, the 'Poll' feature is out of draft!Related: Blogger in Draft
More About: Blogger , Interactive , Ajax , Knowing

Gmail New Signup Button
2007-07-12 06:24:00
A slight update to the Gmail homepage by replacing the old tedious single line 'Sign up for Gmail' with the Mac style 'Pick a name »' button and a call to action statement 'New to Gmail? It's easy to start.'If you were new to Gmail, would you be attracted to sign up? Which do you think is better?Related: Keep up-to-date with the news and updates of Gmail by subscribing to their newly established blog.
More About: Button

Google Pack Improves Navigation
2007-07-08 06:58:00
Google Pack updated their homepage making it clearer to you (as a users) which softwares are already installed on your computer and which are not. There is also a new table showing short descriptions align with one of the most good-looking screenshot of each software.Google Pack is (an unpopular) product from Google providing free collection of essential software aiming to streamline downloading, installing, and updating software. It is currently promoted under the AdSense Referral program where publishers earn at most USD2 for each referral.
More About: Google , Navigation , Rove , Googl