BlogAllAlong » Google

Google guessing answers to your query?

Bashar — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:28:27 +0000

I saw this today and thought it’s kind of new, to me at least. Google seem to be trying to build an AI that can understand and answer your query.

The query seems to be able to best answer birth and death dates by analyzing popular sites content. You may try things like “Larry Page was born on”, “Halo 3 release date”, “Brave release date“, which is June 22, 2012. Mark your calendars. Perhaps the birth dates is not new, but I hardly doubt the cause of death isn’t. Anyone noticed it before? Any more neat tricks you know of?

Use Gmail Filters to auto-arrange your email tasks

Bashar — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:38:22 +0000

So often do I come across an interesting article or video while browsing the web, especially using my mobile. I want to read the article, or I have something to do with that article, but I just don’t have the time (or iphone is too slow to keep up with the new OS 4) that I decide to email the link to my Gmail address for later reading.

And since I have like everybody else tons of emails, I start labeling emails as TODO and Worthy for things I need to do, or really want to read later on. So this requires that I go to my Gmail Inbox and label my sent email accordingly. But you can use Gmail filters effectively to skip this last step. Here is how:

1- From Gmail, go to Settings, Filters
2- Click Create a new filter
3- In the From field, insert your email address, so that only you can use that filter. After all, you don’t want outsiders to add things to your todo list do you? I know I’d like to do that to others, so for your sake, keep your email :).
4- In the Subject field, add a specific tag that is unlikely to appear in emails. For instance, I use Google similar syntax to filter as in is:todo. But keep in mind you need to escape the colon character “:” with backslach, so it will be “is\:todo”.

5- Click Next Step
6- Check the Apply the label: box and select your preferred label from the dropdown list, or create new one if you like.

New improved Google Currency Converter

Bashar — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:42:17 +0000

Have you ever tried Google Currency Converter? I always do. You simply Google for something like “100 USD in EUR” and you got it. Well now you can even get more. Historical chart of conversion rate, and a form to quickly calculate other amounts.

Try it out!

iPhone OS 4 vs. Android

Bashar — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:30:11 +0000

[Guest Post By James Mowery]

With the much anticipated upcoming release of Apple’s iPhone OS 4, especially with the recent iPhone prototype media leaks, tech fans wait to see how OS 4 stacks up against the Android 2.1 platform. Since Android 2.1 was released in January, it has steered many Apple cronies away from their beloved iPhones with its open app development and multitasking capabilities. Now that Apple is responding with iPhone OS 4, will it blow Android out of the water or merely play catch-up to the new kid in town?

Let’s take look at some of iPhone OS 4’s new features and compare them to the Android 2.1 OS.

Multitasking

The new iPhone OS 4 will now feature the ability to multitask between apps. In previous versions, the iPhone featured push notifications but no true multitasking feature. When OS 4 is released, iPhone users will now be able to switch between apps with a simple double-click of the home button. While this is a big deal for iPhone users, I wouldn’t expect much of a reaction from an Android 2.1 user, as that platform has had multitasking capabilities since its inception and has refined the process ever since. Furthermore, Apple’s App Store retains the final say in which apps are released with a multitasking function. While iPhone users will be able to use apps during voice and VoIP calls, its multitasking abilities only bring OS 4 up to par with Android 2.1. Advantage: Android 2.1

New APIs

As iPhone OS 4 is released, so will over a thousand new APIs for users to personalize their iPhones with. These APIs will allow apps to send text messages and make new appointments in the phone’s calendar, as well as integrating the phone’s map and photo album features into popular apps. While these new APIs increase the iPhone’s functionality, the available apps are still limited to the Apple App Store. These APIs have existed in Android’s open source environment for some time now, and when paired with skinning-ability and animated wallpapers, the iPhone really looks like its trying to match Android 2.1, not surpass it.

Folders

Another feature now found on both phones is the ability to create and manage folders. Android 2.1 has had this feature, while this is new for iPhone OS 4. Not a deal-breaker when deciding on a new smartphone, but this is another example of the iPhone playing catch-up.

Gaming

The iPhone has always had the advantage in this department, basically pioneering the latest generation of phone-based gaming, and now they have added a feature to iPhone OS 4 that Android 2.1 cannot match; the ability to play on a social gaming network. This will allow users to play games against their fiends or random opponents, and track their progress in the iPhone’s Game Center. Advantage: iPhone OS 4

Overall, the new iPhone OS 4 has removed many of its notorious limitations and has closed the gap left when Android 2.1 was released. For Apple lovers, OS 4 will make you feel like you possess the phone of the future, but many of its “new” features will look rather familiar to anyone who has used Android 2.1. iPhone OS 4 is a step in the right direction for Apple, but it’s Android who is leading the way towards the perfect smartphone.
About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

Google Communicates with Saddam

Bashar — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:54:36 +0000

Some of you might have already heard about this. The Google Native Client SDK is an effort by Google in bringing the Native Client to the web, helping developers put real rich web applications, without heavy server call backs.

Besides the promising future in this short video, you would see the automatic speech recognition in effect, failing first to distinguish C from See.

But that’s really alright, they are both pronounced the same, I’d be surprised if it got it right. Unless we keep in mind geeks developing it tend to prefer their common sense over the rest of the world. The second one blew me apart laughing.

Hope CIA doesn’t take this seriously. Otherwise they will show interest in links with Bin Ladin!

Anyways, here’s the video, still worth every minute of it.

Gmail Mobile on Nokia 6500 Slide giving ‘Certificate Invalid’ error

Bashar — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:44:09 +0000

This is an email I get from someone reporting the problem, and I thought it would be nice to publish the result for public benefit, so I might be doing more of this later on.

Problem is it seems is Nokia 6500 Slide Gmail app is giving ‘no appropriate certificate’ or ‘certificate invalid’ error. What you need is to install or update the missing certificate. Little Googling and here is the answer on how to install the Verisign Certificate to your mobile phone.

In a nutshell, you

Open your phone’s web browser and navigate to: http://www.verisign.com/cgi-bin/support/rootcert/getrootcert.cer
Download the file and open/install.

Google Chrome Super Fast

Bashar — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:01:11 +0000

Google Chrome is taking up the challenge against fired potato, sound waves, and lighting in speed, showing amazingly high rendering speeds in splits of a second.

And for the geeks, this is the behind the scenes video.

Now imagine if I do this same test here in Kuwait. Bake a toast Vs Google Chrome. That might end up in a tie!

Give power to the wrong people and this is what you get

Bashar — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:49:08 +0000

To English readers, this translates Quot to Egyptian Sex Movies. This is what happens when you trust the wrong people.

Google Chrome (MUST) RSS Subscription Extension

Bashar — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:11:42 +0000

Know this little icon that appears on the right of the address bar?

This is what tells you that there is an RSS feed to this page that you can subscribe to. And this is what you don’t get in Google Chrome browser for some reason. To get it, I have to search for RSS link on the page, copy it, open Google Reader and subscribe to it. How lame is that?

But here is the simple solution.

Why would something like the RSS auto-detection be just an optional extension, while the page translation is a built-in can’t disable feature?

Quake 2 on HTML5

Bashar — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:43:33 +0000

Unbelievable huh? If you know me very well you’ll know how much I hate April Fool, and this video was released the same day. But so was Gmail! I hope Gmail isn’t a long time joke as well cause I’ve been swearing my life on it for years. So anyways, this is the official Google Code page for the project. There are people saying it’s April Fool, and even TechCrunch was confused about it. But if you look at the Wiki and people’s comments, you will see people really trying and building it. No single comment from someone who tried it telling it’s a fool. So it seems pretty real, an for the sake of the future of the web, I really hope it remains real. This could be a serious threat message to Flash.

Google Chrome’s Built In Translation

Bashar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:30:03 +0000

Have you seen this in your Google Chrome? It’s a new feature recently added to Chrome that keeps asking you whether you want to translate non-English pages. It will allow you to easily and quickly translate any non-English text on your page. And yes, I say keeps as I think it’s annoying to have such a thing pushed on my browser without any notice. Most people would visit pages of their own language, while others might find this feature useful. Now for those others, you may want to promote it on Google Chrome default page, or one time notice. But to have it by default open in every non-English page, or English page with littl non-English text in it until I tell it not to do so is not the best way to promote it.

Apparently this Google Buzz incident is going to be a trend now. Do you know why? This is an excerpt from Google Chrome Webpage Translation page.

At this time, it’s not possible to totally disable the translation bar. To control the display of the translation bar for specific sites and languages, click Options at the end of the bar.

Google couldn’t figure a way to completely disable it? Didn’t have time? Or didn’t wanna?

Google Opt-Out Privacy Feature

Bashar — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:04:27 +0000

To all those who question Google’s ethics, fear their privacy violation, and have DOUBT about “Do Not Do Evil” motto, Google proudly gives you this.

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Gmail Authentication Icon for Verified Senders

Bashar — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:59:41 +0000

While this may seem a bit obvious for a moment, anyone who have dealt with PayPal or eBay might have noticed the great amount of scam emails that is sent. Such emails try to fake the identity of the sender, pretending to be PayPal for example. And while a spam filter as good as Gmail usually catches all those emails, suppose one slips through to the inbox, or you unaware assume the email in Spam folder was legitimate, click the link, get the PayPal login screen, and put in your credentials. What if it was just a site 100% identical to PayPal, and you failed to spot the domain url?

This little new Gmail Lab feature called Authentication icon for verified senders helps identify the matching identity of the sender for such popular sites, PayPal and eBay only for now, thus preventing an accidental uncalled for disaster. The Gmail Lab seems to have a couple of new features you might like as well. Give it a look.

As a side note, I wish Gmail Lab would have a sort by add date so that we can easily tell what’s new to look for.

Have you tried Google Living Stories?

Bashar — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:49:47 +0000

I heard about this last week and just tried it out. Google is working with New York Times and Washington Post on a new revolutionary way to read the news. Timeline based news called Google Living Stories. Take a look.

Just amazing isn’t it? It’s a lot easier to get in late and know exactly what the news is all about. It’s supposed to remember and gray-out the stories you’ve read, but I don’t seem to see it happening. Also, the one thing that’s easy to notice missing is the search. But perhaps that’s because it’s still in very early stages in the Google labs, and there aren’t many stories to search for anyways.

Just wait till it takes full scale, and Microsoft tries to clone it :).

Where is the quick calculator in Windows 7?

Bashar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:56:50 +0000

I kinda thought this can be taken for granted by now.

But apparently not for Windows 7.

8 More Bugs To Go for Mac Chrome

Bashar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:10:51 +0000

Few days ago, Mike Pinkerton, from the Chrome Project for Mac, tweeted Chrome for Mac release is really close now, with 8 more bugs to go, then signaling just mostly Flash issues remaining.

I’ve personally lost patience as Firefox fails to meet my expectations, and jumped to the developer version of Chrome for Mac weeks ago. Been using it since then magnificently. It crashed few times, but it can restore, and it’s times faster and more memory efficient.

Gmail new as you type transliteration

Bashar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:56:34 +0000

I’d be surprised if this is more than one or two days old as I don’t recall seeing it before. Today as I was typing the email I saw a new option beside the Bold font option.

> And it would seem this is an application of the Google Ta3reeb Arabic Transliteration, only it works on Gmail messages on the fly and as you type, if you select it. This is helpful for people who want to write an email in something other than English characters, like Arabic or Chinese, with an English only Keyboard. What you do is you go on typing your local words using English characters, and Gmail will translate it to your language. For instance, you type Arabic name like Ali, and it will convert it to “علي”, or kora (ball in Arabic) to “كرة”. Might come in handy, especially for Mac users here who always suffer and may end up paying over $100 to change to Arabic keyboard if they bought their laptop from outside. I personally still use my memory while typing Arabic on the English keyboard :).

I think I selected it by mistake and got pissed off I couldn’t write my email with all these enforced transliteration. But no, Gmail was innocent. My bad. Try it out and see if you like it. You can select more than just Arabic, they have a dozen options. And if you don’t like the transliteration, you can backspace once and it will give you other suggestions to choose from.

Have you seen this feature before? Google Help marks it as last updated 12/10/2009, but that doesn’t mean it was pushed for public necessarily.

Google To Acquire AdMob

Bashar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:34:03 +0000

Google to Acquire AdMob

November 2009

Today we announced that AdMob has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google for $750 million. We are extremely excited about this new partnership and what it means for our publishers.

AdMob’s people, products and tools will continue to work to effectively monetize your mobile traffic – no interruptions. Our product and engineering teams will keep building great products for our customers. Our sales team will keep working with our thousands of advertisers to deliver successful campaigns.

After our deal closes, AdMob will work with Google to accelerate the pace of innovation in mobile and do an even better job for you. We believe this deal will benefit our developer and publisher partners by:

*Building even more powerful technology and tools to monetize mobile traffic.

*Increasing the effectiveness of display advertising on mobile devices by leveraging Google sales team, infrastructure and relationships.

*Improving the already high level of service and support we deliver to our publishers.

You can read more about this deal at www.admob.com/google.

Omar

AdMob is the leading mobile advertising marketplace out there, and mobile advertisement is something that Google have been wanting to get into heavily for quite sometime. Having tried it for a very short time I wasn’t very impressed with the relevancy of the ads that I stopped looking at it. But if Google’s got their hands on it, I think we better keep our eyes open.

Still though, the problem with mobile advertisement is the conversion rate on the advertiser site. How many ways and on how many mobile phones can an advertiser profit from a mobile visit? Not many yet. Thanks to the iPhone however, things are changing to the better.

Alex, the first Android e-Book Reader Is Coming

Bashar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:22:30 +0000

Spring have revealed what will be the first Google Android Mobile OS based e-Book Reader, called Alex, which features dual-screen with built-in 3G & WiFi, and a battery that lasts for days. The upper 6inch screen that uses the Electrnoic Paper Display (EPD) is similar to Kindle for e-book reading, while all the hyperlinked multimedia information and other 3rd party input will go on the lower 3inch color touchscreen LCD display, thus giving you colorful touchscreen web browsing experience, while still staying on the same e-book page. And you don’t need a US or AT&T network to do your browsing as well.

Not only that however, but authors can embed images and videos to go along with the text being read. This really comes over the Kindle problem having to flip pages back and forth to see the picture in discussion. I’ve had once to seek the image of the web and print it to make things easy. This one has videos on top of images as well. Readers will also get the chance to attach their images and notes to the material being read.

My only major take on it is the size, which is like %33 taller than the 6inch Kindle. A bit inconvenient for reading I presume. Otherwise, the look of it seems promising. We’ll have to see about the response time.

TrustedReviews also writes about Que, another upcoming e-Book reader that might turn some heads. The reader sets itself apart with the shatterproof plastic display, a definite plus given a friend’s Kindle screen crash incident, and adds to it the touchscreen and a built-in WiFi, and AT&T 3G Network (Why AT&T?).

This leaves Amazon Kindle with nothing but the book collections they have. Which brings up the question, What about book formats? Que will at least support PDF, Word, Powerpoint and Excel. Will it have other proprietary DRM formats? What about Spring? What will happen to people who bought Kindle books?

Seems to me inevitable we will go into years of eBook reader formats war that will only cost consumers and producers money until they settle on one format.

With Mac rumored eBook reader just waiting to be confirmed, and with these two new comers shaking the competition, I really don’t advise anyone to buy an eBook reader now. Yes I bought mine few months ago and I love it. It’s saving me a lot of money, and giving me enjoyable reading. But as things stand now, better wait.

Google Reader Secret Code

Bashar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:06:50 +0000

1- Go to Google Reader & Login if you haven’t already
2- Click UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A

Now you have 30 lives (unread topics) in every subscription. And just for fun, click the Like & Unlike button.

No, I didn’t try infinite number of permutations until I found this.

Google Celebrates Bar Code Invention

Bashar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:22:30 +0000

This is a nice simple one :). I thought something went wrong for a moment. Did you know Barcode can be just a font on your computer?

Though I’m not able to tie it 100% to the logo. I can see the G and the E, but I get lost in the middle. Is it me, or is it because there are multiple barcode types? Or did they misspell Google in Barcode language as well :P?.

Finally, a possible good YouTube revenue model

Bashar — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:41:03 +0000

When Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion just 3 years ago, many argued about the value of this purchase, with YouTube’s high running costs and the lack of any revenue model. And it did fail to stop losses for the past 3 years as well, and all Google got from it was new lawsuits, now that the video service is under the big G umbrella.

Eric Schmidt wasn’t showing any concerns, to the press at least, claiming YouTube monetization is not really a big problem. But when they started their attempt, this is how the YouTube page looked like:

First, most people going to YouTube are mostly interested in watching videos and won’t click non-related ads on the side. Second, this ad popping at the bottom of the video is more than annoying, and people are less likely to click it (intentionally). Not to mention Arabic ad text is unreadable as it’s showing disconnected characters.

But now finally, YouTube is offering YouTube video ads on the side of YouTube search results, thus enabling YouTube publishers to delivery targeted ads and spread the word about their videos. Now as to why people might wanna do that, I bet many would love to have their video spread and are willing to spend few bucks for the sake of it. Others are trying to reach for wider audience to attract attention to their skills through this media.

I hope this really picks up as it will eventually mean better YouTube service, and result in removal of those silly ads showing above the videos we see now. See the video below to familiarize with the service.

Bing Map Vs Google Map

Bashar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:59:52 +0000

Kinda feels like fill in the spaces map right? And yet sites like Expedia.com and Hotels.com insist on putting Microsoft before their customers.

List your local business with Google LBC (Not the TV Channel)

Bashar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:33:05 +0000

No! It’s not LBC TV Channel, and no, you can’t use it in Kuwait either. Well, now that we kicked out 80% of the traffic, up with the good news. Google is launching a new local business center service that would allow business owners to list their business details, get trends and insights about what people search for, from where, and how they find them, plus a lot more. I could bore you to death probably with this so just waste 1:38 minutes of your life and get the whole picture.

Apple Makes it’s Anti-iPhone Killer App

Bashar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:47:35 +0000

The start of the personal computers faced a big challenge and obstacle, which is, what would people do with that computer? Computers needed what they call a killer app. An app that you would go and buy the whole computer for. Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program was once the killer app for the IBM’s PC in the 80s. Apple on the other hand, had to ask for Microsoft help back then to bring the killer office tool to it’s Apple computers. Otherwise, people won’t be tempted to buy a beautiful computer that lacks any useful software. Nowadays, while it would take a lot more than a single killer app to get people onto a new platform usually, there is all these performance demands, compatibility, openness and such, but you would still want to keep the good apps for yourself to keep people around. Some companies fight and pay huge amounts to win exclusive rights over some apps and programs, not to mention games!

Google however is a company known in general for working in the open, trying to support whatever people demand. They have recently launched a revolutionary service called Google Voice, that would give you one number for all your calls and messages, allow call screening, call blocking, SMS send and receive, phone routing, and much more. They could’ve stroke a deal with one mobile vendor for a killer app, but instead chose to support all that’s out there. Android ofcourse, iPhone, and the BlackBerry. One of the three however grew in greed, always wanting a bite of every penny made through it’s sold device, wanting to satisfy his partner’s needs. Guess who?

Ofcourse, Apple with their iPhone. Apple for no obvious reason decided to reject the Google Voice application from it’s App Store altogether, thus leaving Google limited with the mere browser capabilities. But why would Apple do that? It’s a nice App isn’t it? It’s so great it can piss off the AT&T guys. YEP, the closest partners for the iPhone. This is most likely why Apple decided to dictator over what can come, and what can’t.

What Apple didn’t anticipate however is the strong reaction this might have. I was happy yesterday to read about TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington’s bold move to drop the iPhone, pay the AT&T $175 termination fees, move to Android, and get his Google Voice up and running once and for all. Such a move from such a figure would sure have it’s influence on many others who would walk down the same path, deciding to get what they want most. And thanks to Apple’s decision, their toughest competitors, both Android and BlackBerry have a killer app of their own. Apple made it. Apple took the trouble of giving it to them on a golden platter. I hope Apple enjoys it.

Some of you may already know I just got my iPhone recently, and might feel surprised I’m writing this. The fact is, I’ve been bouncing between Android and iPhone for quite some time before I made the decision, and I so far do not regret it. I love the iPhone. I love the software, and the hardware, and I’m really enjoying my time using it. Problem with Android phones is mostly the hardware used. I’ve suffered quite a lot from my HTC Tytn II, and it’s not an experience I’m welling to repeat. My two main software takes on the iPhone however are:

1- No BackGround Processes: Apple can claim this is to stop memory exhaustion, but truth is, Apple also wants to keep control and monitor over what happens in the device you paid for, and I really feel how beautiful it would be if I could let an app work and in the background, finish some work, and get back to it later. I have to admit though, there is a nice taste for the easy of quitting apps. Avoids wasted memory in quite an easy and fast way. So OK, I’ll live with this.

2- Dictatorship: Apple wants one entry to your iPhone, and that is through it’s App Store. They want a 30% bite of all money you make. They say this doesn’t apply to FREE apps, but the truth is, it does. It just happens that 30% of zero, is just another ZERO. That’s one thing by it self. But to disallow certain apps for no obvious reason is a completely different thing. Ofcourse this is where jailbreaking was invented, but big companies like Google won’tgo down the road and provide their app in an unofficial way.

Ofcourse this Google Voice is only available in the US right now, growing to expand beyond that in the near future hopefully, as it seems quite an amazing service you would love to pay for. We in Kuwait ofcourse however are not holding our breaths. Should Google have nothing better to do than try to enter our tiny market, our Government would make sure the red carpet is not in place for them.

I still hope this bold move being made by some out there would send a clear message to Apple, to make them reconsider their whole process. This move to Google Voice option is not made available publicly yet, but it soon will, and then people will start drifting in directions against Apple’s will. If I have such a great option as this, I might end up wanting to make the same move, and I’m sure many others would do as well. iPhone App Store is loaded with great apps, most of them are not the killer ones though. They’re just great overall to have, and one such serious killer app might make all the difference.

Apple, Your choice! Or, it’s the consumer’s choice.

Ballmer for once says something right!

Bashar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:16:58 +0000

In an interview by CNET, Bill Gates without much information in hand yet was not so optimistic about the newly announced and upcoming Google Chrome OS saying ”In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there’s something new. I mean, you’ve got Android running on Netbooks. It’s got a browser in it.” .

While this might be true, so was a piece of news about Google launching a new browser, yet it changed the way people look at browsers. It made browsing experience much better for many from it’s time of launch. It showed that current browsers are not giving the best experience there is. The web has outgrown current browsers, and if we want to get the most of the web, we have to give it the tools it needs.

The hilarious words however, and as always, came from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, arguing that currently half of PC use is done off the browser. Let’s repeat that last sentence one more time. “PC users spend half their time outside the browser”. Hmmm, now let’s rephrase it. “PC Users spend half their time inside the browser”. Does that sound different? I wonder if Ballmer has a chart to support his words, and I hope his chart has historical figures as well. How much was that number just 3 years back? It must’ve been quite lower, and it keeps growing with more advances and richer sites. I for one now use the web for most of my time, and online project management, tasks, and Google Docs are giving me great experiences, that I stopped or decreased my offline tools dependancy to a great extent. I think offline word editing is the only thing of the three I do offline now.

Ballmer statement makes two things quite clear for all:

1- He admits to the fact of increasing browser time usage compared to non-browser time usage.

2- Microsoft still doesn’t, or more likely doesn’t want to, admit to the large role of browsers and the internet.

Well Ballmer, just because you can’t ride the big wave, doesn’t mean it’s any less of a wave. Ohh, did I just say Wave? Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you!

I’m a Gmail Ninja Master

Bashar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:43:58 +0000

I have mastered the Gmail Ninja tips. I now hold the ultimate Gmail power!

Forget Ninja Gaiden. Take the path to become a Gmail Ninja Master. For First, it’s much shorter, easier, and more user friendly. And second, I bet it will make your life much better than that game!

Official Google Blog Post.

Loving the new Google search options

Bashar — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:57:44 +0000

If you tried to Google today (any chance you haven’t?), you would have probably noticed the new Show options link just below the searchbox,

and if expanded, will give you a whole bunch of new features, some of which were previously in the labs only.

Quite a lot of cool features. Ability to quickly flip to Videos, Forums, or Reviews results. You can also filter by time, something people always wanted to have straightforward. You get to see images of the results and some more text if you want. My favorite however is the Wonder Wheel:

Now maybe Lucasarts can see better the cry for a Monkey Island 5 game! If it’s gonna be like the last however, please don’t bother. [Sorry divergence] This feature ofcourse is not a revolution, it’s been done before in other sites. But people usually aren’t welling to go to different search engine just to get this feature, and neither does it replace regular results. Another neat feature coming from the labs is the Timeline. You get to see how your query results have changed overtime.

See, Monkey Island dates back to the 18th Century!

Now I personally like and think will be using those features. But why is this any better than the departed Google SearchMash experiment?

Google have a sense of humor even at failures :)!

I think it’s the seamless integration of the new features into the default search interface, without affecting the regular user experience, and just adding on top of it with the new features. You can use Google as you always loved to, and you can get a bit of extra without any serious change to the way results were displayed, and it all happens in a snap!

Can’t wait to try the Google Squared now.

What’s the most searched for term on Microsoft Live?

Bashar — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:52:44 +0000

Google

No seriously…

And How Many People Do it?

1% of all Live.com Search Queries are “Google”!

And what’s number 2?

Yahoo!

Seems most people just use Live.com to find a way out.

So Microsoft, please just help make the world a better place and default your browsers to Google!

You can file it under a Green Environment initiative, since every bit consumes a bit of energy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/apr/30/google-yahoo

Google Similar Images

Bashar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:31:32 +0000

This is actually pretty neat feature, and works fine once you identify a specific pretty popular object like the London bridge in the video, or Cars in my case.

But not for places like Kuwait Towers for example.

Maybe they’re still building up their full database. It seems to be taking the clouds heavily into the equation if you see in the first picture.

The service is still in the labs, but you can try it out here. Hope it doesn’t stay there for the next 3 years!

BlogAllAlong » Google

Google guessing answers to your query?

Related Posts:

Use Gmail Filters to auto-arrange your email tasks

Related Posts:

New improved Google Currency Converter

Related Posts:

iPhone OS 4 vs. Android

Related Posts:

Google Communicates with Saddam

Related Posts:

Gmail Mobile on Nokia 6500 Slide giving ‘Certificate Invalid’ error

Related Posts:

Google Chrome Super Fast

Related Posts:

Give power to the wrong people and this is what you get

Related Posts:

Google Chrome (MUST) RSS Subscription Extension

Related Posts:

Quake 2 on HTML5

Related Posts:

Google Chrome’s Built In Translation

Related Posts:

Google Opt-Out Privacy Feature

Related Posts:

Gmail Authentication Icon for Verified Senders

Related Posts:

Have you tried Google Living Stories?

Related Posts:

Where is the quick calculator in Windows 7?

Related Posts:

8 More Bugs To Go for Mac Chrome

Related Posts:

Gmail new as you type transliteration

Related Posts:

Google To Acquire AdMob

Related Posts:

Alex, the first Android e-Book Reader Is Coming

Related Posts:

Google Reader Secret Code

Related Posts:

Google Celebrates Bar Code Invention

Related Posts:

Finally, a possible good YouTube revenue model

Related Posts:

Bing Map Vs Google Map

Related Posts:

List your local business with Google LBC (Not the TV Channel)

Related Posts:

Apple Makes it’s Anti-iPhone Killer App

Related Posts:

Ballmer for once says something right!

Related Posts:

I’m a Gmail Ninja Master

Related Posts:

Loving the new Google search options

Related Posts:

What’s the most searched for term on Microsoft Live?

Google

No seriously…

And How Many People Do it?

1% of all Live.com Search Queries are “Google”!

And what’s number 2?

Yahoo!

Seems most people just use Live.com to find a way out.

So Microsoft, please just help make the world a better place and default your browsers to Google!

You can file it under a Green Environment initiative, since every bit consumes a bit of energy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/apr/30/google-yahoo

Related Posts:

Google Similar Images

Related Posts: