Google Wave - Upcoming Product From Google

Recently Google previewed the most important product of this year, Google Wave. In simple Google Wave is an application to empower the communication over web. Google Wave comes with lot of amazing features that we may not have even imagined. As I said Google Wave is mainly a communication application. So it can be compared to Gmail. But it total different from an E-Mail system from its basics. Also Google Wave has lots of more features than an E-Mail has. To know more about Google Wave see the Developers Preview Video Here

DocSyncer: Sync your MS office with Google

For the not so techie, It works like this, you have a word, excel, powerpoint document on your pc, that document gets uploaded online automatically. Every changes that you make on that document whether on your PC or online, you’ll be able to see the updated one whichever file you open.

You have to download an application on your computer.

REQUIREMENTS:

Windows 2000 / XP / Vista
(Mac OS X version coming soon!)

500 MHz processor or above

10 MB of disk space

64 MB of RAM memory

Broadband Internet connection

When you’re done installing, your DocSyncer admin page will automaticall open. Then it will start syncronizing the documents on your PC. But currently, it will only sync any document that is in your My Documents and Desktop folders.

So if you just want to sync the contents of a single folder, you can do so. Just click edit on the menu above the Folder List view (left side of screen). I guess, you just place all the docs that you want to be synced in a single folder - that’s if you don’t want DocSyncer to sync all your docs.

Ok so WHY use DocSyncer?

So that when you’re not infront of your PC and you want to access a document, then you could just go to an internet cafe and open the document from there. You can open it using Google Docs or download it to the PC that your are currently using and change it there. (but if you do that then it doesn’t get re-synced - so just use Google Docs)

Or, since Google Docs can be accessed through a mobile phone, you can access your document on your cellphone, edit it there then access the updated docs on your pc when you get back.

As you can see from the pic above its a “previous version feature”. So if you want to see your previous versions of the file - old contents versus new changes you’ll be able to see it (i don’t know yet up to want extent the editing history tracking will be).

One more thing, It serves as your back-up if ever you loose your file due to a virus or your pc crashes or you accidentally permanently deleted your file.

Oh.. I checked my Google Docs admin page. I saw the documents that were uploaded by DocSyncer.

I’m a big fan of automatic synchronization. I’m using Foxmarks for my bookmarks. I can open my bookmarks anywhere!

File Associations
Now you can launch Google Docs just like Microsoft Office! This feature allows you to auto-launch documents into Google Docs should you click on them anywhere on your computer - just like a file association. As long as the file is synced to Google Docs, it will launch instantly in your browser. If the file isn’t on Google Docs, the default application for that file will launch instead (such as Microsoft Word). If you’re disconnected from the Internet (such as on an airplane), DocSyncer will detect this after a few seconds and launch the document in your default application. A few points on this feature:

* You need to reinstall DocSyncer (which only takes a minute - no need to uninstall first) for file associations to work.
* File associations are completely optional for now and can be turned on in your My Account Settings.
* Only works on XP - Vista support coming soon.

Open Files Locally through My Account
While using My Account through your browser, you can now open files locally in their default application by clicking Open Locally. It takes a few seconds after you click Open Locally - we’re working on getting this speed down to less than a second. This feature is great for those who are still wanting to operate in both worlds (Google Docs and Microsoft Office).

Expanded File Support
In Settings, you can choose what file types should and shouldn’t sync to DocSyncer and your Google Docs account. We’ve added support for RTF, TXT, CSV, and HTML as well as the ability for you to turn off certain file types. We also sync XML Microsoft Office files (such as DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) by default, even though Google Docs doesn’t support them yet (when they add support, we will sync them to your Google Docs account).

Changing Your Google Docs Account
In Settings, you can now disconnect your DocSyncer account from your Google Docs account. This isn’t recommended unless DocSyncer was hooked up to the wrong Google Docs account (such as the case where users have more than one Google Account).

Custom Folders
During the beta, only the My Documents and Desktop folders are synced. However, now you can edit which folders inside these folders are included or excluded. Just click Edit on the top left of the My Account page.

What we’re working on…

* Google Apps for Your Domain support. We hear you and it’s coming soon!
* Google Docs Folder Support - Through Google’s API, we have no way to assign documents to folders. We’d very much like to do this so your Google Docs account is just as organized as your computer. We’re trying to work with Google to add support soon.

Google Goes Local in India

Google is offering local language support in India in a bid to win over new users.

Google Inc. has introduced technologies that will allow people in India to use local languages in search queries and that will generate content in local languages.

Internet growth in India is expected to come from outside of cities, where many people are more at ease using Indian languages, Roli Agarwal, a spokeswoman for Google India, said Monday.

Google has set up a version for India of Google Labs, which it styles as a "technology playground" for products that are in development and require market feedback to improve. The Indian version of Google Labs will focus on products for that market, though these may not be developed only by Google's research and development (R&D) centers in India, Agarwal said.

Google has put up two technologies for testing by users on the Google Labs Web site: an Indic On-Screen Keyboard iGoogle Gadget and Google Indic Transliteration.

The Indic On-Screen Keyboard iGoogle Gadget allows users to type search queries in 14 Indian languages by choosing letters from an on-screen keyboard using a mouse. Users can add the gadget of their chosen language to their personalized iGoogle home page and use it to search for content in their language, Google said.

Google Indic Transliteration allows the user to type in Hindi, a key language in India, using phonetically equivalent English text entered through an English keyboard. The content created can be used in e-mail, word processors and other applications from both Google and its competitors, Agarwal said. This technology will help increase the amount of content available online in Hindi, she added. Hindi transliteration was launched earlier this year on Google's Blogger, a service for bloggers.

A number of multinational companies are working on technologies that will make access to the Internet and computers easier for people in India who are more at ease with local languages. IBM Corp., for example, announced earlier this month that it has developed speech recognition software that will allow people speaking Hindi to create e-mail and documents on computers and also to operate ATMs (automated teller machines) and IVR (interactive voice response) systems.

Yahoo Inc. launched earlier this year portals in seven Indian languages. It has introduced plug-in modules to its instant messenger, that allow users to chat in nine different regional languages and scripts. Later this year, the company is also introducing Indian languages versions of its e-mail service.

Google also launched Monday an Indian version of its Google Local Search for Indian users looking for locally relevant information on the Web. It also launched an Indian version of Google Local Business Center, that allows business to add their names to Local Search. These products use English, and do not support Indian languages.

Tags: Google, India, Search, Engine

Google creates uber search site

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--In its biggest revamp ever to its home page, Google on Wednesday launched its version of universal search, a redesign that will list in one place search results from a variety of media.

Combined with its other new features, universal search not only makes it easier to find relevant information in one place, it will put even more pressure on Google's competitors.

Instead of using separate search pages for photos, video, news, archived news, scanned books and other sources relevant to, say, "Steve Jobs," Google's universal search users will find links to all of those sources in a single search attempt.

"Now with universal search we can provide a more holistic answer," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, said during a "Searchology" media event at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.

To illustrate further, Mayer searched for the classic black-and-white horror film Nosferatu. The first result was a link to a popular film site, IMDB, and the second was a link to the actual movie, which can be played on the page in a window. A search for "I have a dream" will display results related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous civil rights speech, as well as to a video of the speech. The results also will include video from other sources such as video-sharing site Metacafe.

Other Google features were retuned. Some Google Oneboxes, which offer an instant result at the top of the search results to things like weather, will still be displayed, Mayer said. More significantly, the Google home page eventually will have ads featuring more than just text: some will include video and display, Mayer said in remarks to reporters afterward. "That door has always been open," she said. "We don't have a particular timeline in place."

This is the first major revamp of the site and its underlying architecture in several years, said Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The work began about two years ago and more than half of the company's search efforts were devoted to it, he told reporters after the event, adding that the site will continue to evolve. The changes will expose to more people some "underutilized" Google services, such as Book Search and Video search, and they will help boost Google's already huge market share, Brin said.

"Our data says we not only are the best (search engine) but we're widening the gap," Brin said. Google has about half of the market and even is the top Web property globally, according to comScore.

Google launching 'Universal Search'

At Google's Searchology press event right now, Marissa Mayer just announced a feature we're all going to appreciate: "Universal Search." Google is finally going to display results from various "silos" of search on one page. In other words, you'll no longer have to search books, videos, pictures, and the Web separately. The new Google search will display everything on one page.

Mayer also showed how videos from Google and YouTube will even play in the Google search results. Very cool.

You'll still be able to drill into data types ("corpuses"), but Google will only display links to the most relevant ones for each search.

The first silos to be brought into Universal Search: Books, Local Search, Images, News, and Video. Plus Web results, obviously. Mayer says the new feature will be rolling out today.

Speaking of Universal, a new "Universal navigation bar" will appear on Google services. It lets you quickly navigate between services, like Search and Gmail.

And if you want to always get the latest Google experiments in your engine, check out www.google.com/experimental. There's cool stuff there, like timeline and map views of search results.

Watch CNET News.com for more news; Elinor Mills is at the Searchology conference.

From the Searchology event: Marissa Mayer demos Universal Search.

(Credit: Google)

Google's Website Optimizer (beta)

Free landing page optimization tool

Website Optimizer, Google's free multivariate testing application, helps online marketers increase visitor conversion rates and overall visitor satisfaction by continually testing different combinations of site content (text and images).

Start testing today

Rather than sitting in a room and arguing over what will work better, you can save time and eliminate the guesswork by simply letting your visitors tell you what works best. We'll guide you through the process of designing and implementing your first experiment. Start optimizing your most important web pages and see detailed reports within hours.

Try Website Optimizer: Sign-ups are now open

Learn more about Website Optimizer and multivariate testing

View the overview demo Learn why testing is important and how Website Optimizer can improve your business results.

Review quick-start guide Learn how to design and plan your first experiment.

View a sample report See an example of the reports that will help you determine your most effective page content.

Google Webmasters - Very Helpful Tools For Webmasters

Our suite of webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly. They can show you Google’s view of your site, help you diagnose problems, and let you share info with us to help improve your site’s visibility.

Getting Google’s view of your site, and diagnosing potential problems
The first step to increasing your site’s visibility on Google is learning how our robots crawl and index your site.

• Crawl info: You can make sure we have access to your site, and see when Googlebot last visited. You can also view URLs that we’ve had trouble crawling and why we couldn't crawl them. This way, you can fix any problems preventing us from indexing all of your pages.
• Robots.txt file validation: See if we’re having trouble with your file, and test out changes to that file before you change it on your server.
• Website content: View top content from your site and see the words that other sites use to link to it.

Seeing how your site performs
A second step is learning what drives traffic to your site.

• Top queries: Find the top queries that drive traffic to your site and where your site is included in the top search results. This will let you learn how users are finding your site.
• Indexing information: See how your site is indexed and which of your pages are included in the index. If we find violations in your site, we’ll give you the opportunity to fix the problems and request reinclusion of your site.

Sharing info with Google about your site
Since no one knows more about your site than you do, you can also share this info with Google and improve your crawlability.

• Submit a Sitemap file: Tell us all about your pages by submitting a Sitemap file; help us learn which pages are most important to you and how often those pages change.
• Specify your preferred domain: Tell us which URL to use when indexing your site; we’ll do our best to index the version you prefer.

Google Officially Announced TV Ad Campaign

Google’s advertising platforms are very popular on the entire Internet world because the search giant owns an impressive number of registered members. Today, the company confirmed another big step into the evolution of their advertising platform by announcing an innovative TV advertising campaign for the advertisers registered with Google.

“With Google TV ads, the entire process is automated – from planning the campaign to uploading and serving the ad to reporting on its effectiveness. Like our AdWords advertising program, Google TV ads are bought using an auction model and through a single online interface that is already familiar to agencies and advertisers. Advertisers can target by demographic, daypart and channel and pay only for actual impressions delivered,” Google sustained in the press release.

This is not the first time when Google tries to expand its advertising platforms into the offline area or to enhance it with several powerful features. In the past, Google tried to take AdSense and AdWords to the next level by announcing several campaigns to bring them into the offline area. The first one was announced a long time ago when Google decided to place adverts in numerous US newspapers after the company selected some of the AdWords publishers. After the beta session was completed, Google evolved to the audio ads and sent adverts to US radio stations. Multiple users confirmed the campaign after they heard their ads on the radio so the company wanted to go further to the next stage.

The search giant recently announced its plans to bring advertising to billboards and into the US stores but no official program was yet confirmed. Using the new TV ad trial, Google will surely expand its advertising platforms into the offline area and attract users from all over the world.

Google Talk Gadget

The Google Talk Gadget is a web-based module that you can add to your Google Personalized Homepage, letting you see your friends and chat with them -- all on your homepage.

We know a lot of people love being able to chat with their friends in Gmail Chat, so we created the Talk Gadget to offer that experience in other places, starting with the Google Personalized Homepage. You'll also find all your Gmail and Google Talk contacts organized for you in the Talk Gadget. And just like with Gmail Chat, you don't have to download and install software to use it. One thing we really like is that it looks and feels the same on a Linux desktop as on a Windows laptop, and it also works on Macs. No matter where you go, all you have to do is login to your Google account, and there it is.

And if you have a webpage or blog, you can put the Google Talk Gadget in those places too, so your visitors can sign in and start instant messaging right from your page. If you post your username next to it, visitors can add you as a contact and start chatting with you right away. Like most other gadgets, you can do this by pasting a single line of code into your page, which you can find here.

We worked hard to make the Google Talk Gadget embody the same simple, clean feel of Gmail Chat and the Talk download client--but we threw in some extra goodies too. You'll notice that your conversations all open up in tabs inside the Gadget. And one of the coolest features in the Google Talk Gadget is the ability to do media previews. When we're not busy working on new features for Talk, we're checking out "Ask A Ninja" on YouTube or Friday night's party photos on Picasa Web Albums, sending around links to this multimedia in our chats, and posting them in our status messages. It was just plain silly that our IM client didn't know more about photos and videos other than the fact that it was a link. So by scratching our itch, we can now watch YouTube videos and see Picasa Web Albums photos inside of the Google Talk Gadget anytime someone IMs us a link or sets it as their status message.

Taking steps to further improve Google's privacy practices

When you search on Google, we collect information about your search, such as the query itself, IP addresses and cookie details. Previously, we kept this data for as long as it was useful. Today we're pleased to report a change in our privacy policy: Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymize our server logs after a limited period of time. When we implement this policy change in the coming months, we will continue to keep server log data (so that we can improve Google's services and protect them from security and other abuses)—but will make this data much more anonymous, so that it can no longer be identified with individual users, after 18-24 months.

Just as we continuously work to improve our products, we also work toward having the best privacy practices for our users. This includes designing privacy protections into our products (like Google Talk's “off the record” feature or Google Desktop’s “pause” and “lock search” controls). This also means providing clear, easy to understand privacy policies that help you make informed decisions about using our services.

After talking with leading privacy stakeholders in Europe and the U.S., we're pleased to be taking this important step toward protecting your privacy. By anonymizing our server logs after 18-24 months, we think we’re striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google’s services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices. In the future, it's possible that data retention laws will obligate us to retain logs for longer periods. Of course, you can always choose to have us retain this data for more personalized services like Search History. But that's up to you.

Our engineers are already busy working out the technical details, and we hope to implement this new data policy over the coming months (and within a year's time). We’ll communicate more as we work out these details, but for now, we wanted you to know that we’re working on this additional step to strengthen your privacy.

Berlin in 3D Released for Google Earth

Several German readers have sent me E-mail this morning alerting me to the release of 44,000 buildings of Berlin (about 10% of the buildings in Berlin) for Google Earth. Not only that, but five of the buildings are available in the "highest resolution" with even interior details including the Reichstag Building (seat of the German Parliament), and the Olympic Stadium. The models were made possible with help by Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam and a spin-off called 3D Geo GmbH. It was developed by the State of Berlin through the Senate Department of Urban Development, the Senate Department for Economics, Technology, and Women's Affairs, and Berlin Partner GmbH.

To download the collection (not yet part of the Google Earth layers), use this link (English) or this link (German). These models are not yet part of the Google Earth layers, you have to download them through these links published by the State of Berlin.

At first glance, I'm really impressed with this collection. They have done a good job of balancing performance with complexity. Buildings that are further away automatically disappear (so they don't use too much memory, and so you see more detail when you are closer to the buildings). Although, this is annoying if you want to take a screenshot of the skyline. You might need a relatively recent computer with a relatively new 3D video card (preferably one with a lot of memory for textures). Because some of you won't have a fast enough computer, I will do a video demonstration later. [UPDATE: there's a WMV video (Windows Media Player required) available here by the developers which shows off some of the buildings.]

There may be problems reaching the models today since it was just released and there will be high demand for this large collection of 3D models. More details on the release are available from here. Also here is a Spiegel Online article (in German). Thanks to GEB readers Frederic, Mathias, and Manuel for being the first (all within 30 minutes) of telling me about the new collection.

Plot Your EMail Trajectory on Google Maps

Wondering what physical path an email message (from a friend or some spammer) had followed before reaching your inbox ? Try the Email graphic traceroute service.

You copy-paste your email headers in the Email Routemap web interface and the service draws the path of your email message on Google maps.



For the above screenshot, we used a test mail sent via yahoogroups.com.The orange icon (destination) denotes the location of Yahoo! Mail servers while the green pin indicates the origin or the location from where that email message was sent.

Another very interesting Google Maps mashup is Google Maps Traceroute - type in any IP address and the service will show the exact physical location of that IP on Google Maps.

Manage Photos Uploaded On Blogger Through Picasa Web Albums; Edit, View or Delete Images

If you own a Blogger blog, open Picasa Web Albums homepage and you may be pleasantly surprised to discover a new album containing all pictures that you have previously uploaded to the blog.

That's because Google today introduced a new feature inside Picasa Web Albums to help you manage all photographs/images uploaded to your blog hosted on Blogger.com.

Any photos you upload using Blogger will automatically appear in Picasa Web Albums. The title of your Blogger web album will match the title of that blog and contain those photos.


And for the first time, you can remove previously uploaded pictures from the Blogger server - If you delete a photo from your Blogger album on Picasa Web Albums, the photo will also be deleted from your blogspot blog.

You can also download the pictures uploaded to Blogger using Picasa software in one go. That makes it extremely easy to backup your Blogger Blogs.

There's also a hint that Google might be adding the delete feature in Blogger itself. The What's new page says - "If you delete a photo from Blogger it will also be deleted from Picasa Web Albums. " So we know what's coming in Blogger next.

Google Desktop 5 Released

some of the look and feel of the application, increased the security – there were some recent problems – and added previews to Desktop search results.

Google Desktop’s old features are still intact:
You can search through your computer (and Outlook) faster than what Microsoft offers themselves
You can hit the Ctrl-key twice to bring up a quick Google search box
You can include Google gadgets, like news feeds, a clock, or todo lists

Personally I prefer an uncluttered desktop and don’t need gadgets, but Google Desktop search part is still great if you store a lot on your computer, and the new preview function is an improvement for at least some file types.

The new preview plusbox. Useful for files like PDF, not too useful for web pages...

The dialog for adding gadgets. Google gadgets (former “modules”) come in 3 flavors, and some gadgets support all of them: desktop gadgets, personalized homepage gadgets, and webpage gadgets.

Add A Sitemap To Your Blogger Blog

Further to my other post on why you need a sitemap, and how to add one to a WordPress blog, I have now set one up for a Blogger blog.

The steps are very simple, and will require a minor edit of your template. If you’ve never done it, it’s not as frightening as it sounds! Just make sure you backup your template first as described below.
Visit Google Webmaster Tools and sign up to a free account. If you have a Gmail email address, you can sign in with that. If you haven’t got Gmail & would like it, mail me & I’ll send you an invite.
Once signed into Webmaster tools, choose to add a website & submit your blog URL. Google will find it & invite you to verify your site.
Click on verify, and choose to validate by uploading a Meta tag. (You cannot use the other method with Blogger) Copy & paste this Meta Tag to Notepad or similar.
In a new window/tab visit your Blogger Dashboard, and click on ‘Template’, then ‘Edit HTML’.
BEFORE doing anything else, choose ‘Download Full Template’ and save it to your hard-drive. If anything goes wrong (It won’t), you can simply upload this saved template to put your blog back the way it was before you started.
Look at the HTML in the edit window. Approximately 6 lines down you will see the ‘HEAD’ tag (shown in red below). Copy the Meta Tag (shown in pink) from Notepad and paste it directly next to the ‘HEAD’ tag as shown. Save the changes. View your blog, there should be no visible difference.
Switch back to Google Webmaster Tools, click the button for Google to check your verification - this should take a few seconds and then will confirm it is verified, or if not, whether it’s your fault or Google’s. Sometimes Google doesn’t work first time - try again or leave a few hours, it will get done.
Now you have to tell Google the location of the Sitemap. First choose ‘General Web Sitemap’ for the type. The location for Blogger blogs is the same as your Atom news feed, and will be in the format of : http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Click submit & you’re finished.

Easy really? Google will index your site over the next few days, and this will ensure that your post titles are searchable by Google that much faster than without. Questions, corrections or cries for help? My email address is on the About page.

A few nice updates to the Personalized Homepage

A few nice updates to the Personalized Homepage this week for those who are feeling too lazy to customize it. If for instance you're feeling lazy about browsing for new content to add to your homepage, there's a new feature that will give you item-to-item recommendations. For my part, I have the Digg gadget on my page. If I click on the gadget's drop-down menu and select "You might also like..." I'll get a bunch of stuff that other people who like Digg also liked, including Slashdot, Wired News, Macworld, and more.

For those who are too lazy to create new tabs to organize stuff, here's a bit of magic. If you add a new tab to your homepage, you can name your tab and have the option of letting us select the content for you based on your chosen name. Say I create a tab called "Astronomy" to get the latest news and info on that topic. We'll populate the page with the NASA image of the day, the current moon phase, and a bunch of feeds related to astronomy. Less lazy folks are welcome to try to stump us with tab names.

And if you just don't know what you want, we've added ratings and reviews to our directory, so you can see what other people have to say before committing to a new gadget.