About.com Google

Google Dashboard

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:24:25 +0000

Google introduced a new tool to let you more transparently see exactly which Google services you're using.� The Google Dashboard shows most Google services, including your Web history, Gmail, Blogger, Google Health, and Latitude. You can also see snippets of recent activity and nicknames.

Google is presenting this as a method of transparency they hope becomes an industry standard, but I can see this spawning another wave of complaints that Google knows too much.� At the same time it is very cool to see how many Gmail messages I've sent and where my last Web search took me.

Take a look at your Google Dashboard at: www.google.com/dashboard and then tell me what you think. Is it cool or creepy to see everything Google knows about you?

Google Dashboard originally appeared on About.com Google on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 22:24:25.

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Google Makes the Case for Fewer Passwords

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:41:18 +0000

We live in a technology world with too many passwords. Earlier this year, Twitter's corporate email and Google Apps accounts were hacked by someone that took advantage of psychology instead of brute force. The problem is that most of us cope with all of our passwords by re-using the same password on multiple sites. If you can find or guess someone's password, you can manage to unlock email, bank accounts, shopping carts, and sensitive corporate data.

One solution is to force everyone to use multiple unique and hard to remember passwords. That's not really very practical. A better solution is to make a single password secure and seldom necessary to type out. Google would like to see us use a method called hybrid onboarding.� (For the geeks in the crowd, the "hybrid" is the combination of OpenID and OAuth standards.)

They developed the method with Plaxo and Facebook. It means that some services will never require a password at all. If you're logged into a "trusted' email account, such as Yahoo! or Gmail, you can log into websites using hybrid onboarding with two mouse clicks and no typing.

How to Avoid Being Hacked Like Twitter

Google Makes the Case for Fewer Passwords originally appeared on About.com Google on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 00:41:18.

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Is Chrome a Game Changer?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:00:20 +0000

Google recently awarded the Chrome team a Founders Award. The internal award comes from Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and goes to� celebrate "large-scale, game-changing achievements." Previous winners included Gmail, Adsense for Content, and Google Maps.

Granted, Chrome is a pretty cool browser, but is it a game changer?� It's really fast, and they got rid of the search box, but there are still very few users compared to Internet Explorer and Firefox.� Perhaps the game changing part will happen when we see Chrome emerge as a full operating system?

Is Chrome a Game Changer? originally appeared on About.com Google on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 01:00:20.

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Social Search

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:28:08 +0000

Google has a deal with Twitter, but they've launched something that could end up being more interesting:� Social Search.� Google Social Search is a Google Labs experiment that highlights search results written by people within your social circle. Who's in your social circle? People you've connected to through your Google account, and people you've publicly connected to through services you've listed on your Google profile, such as your Flickr or Twitter accounts.

In order to use Google Social Search, you need to turn it on in Google Labs. Next, you need to make sure you have edited your Google profile to include all the non-Google, public social tools you want to include in your search results.� When you're logged into your account and using Google to search, you'll find results from people in your social circle.

Social Search originally appeared on About.com Google on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 23:28:08.

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Google Unveils Music Search

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:57:14 +0000

Google partnered with MySpace, imeem, Pandora, Lala, and Rhapsody� to introduce music searches into Google. This is a feature hidden within the main search engine. When you search for lyrics or the name of songs, you'll be able to preview the song, find links to legally purchase the song, and find stylistically similar songs.

This feature is being rolled out slowly, so we should theoretically see it sometime in the next day. The service is a win-win-win for Google, music services, and anyone who has ever tried to search for music.

It might not be so much of a win for Apple. Google music searches could potentially hurt Apple's iTunes/iPhone ecosystem, particularly if Android gains better music search and downloading capability.

Nobody had to be paid to participate in this deal, though all companies stand to gain financially from increased traffic and sales. The deal could also help them fight piracy.� As imeem's founder and CEO, Dalton Caldwell put it, "The key to stemming piracy is making it easier to find music than it is to steal it."

8 Things You Didn't Know Google Did

Google Unveils Music Search originally appeared on About.com Google on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 23:57:14.

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Google Voice Lite

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:47:43 +0000

Google Voice is pretty fantastic, but it does have a few snags. One inconvenience used to be that you had to give everyone a new phone number in order to use the features. That's no longer the case. Google announced a way to keep your number and still use some of the features. New users can choose whether they want to use Google Voice with their existing number or get the additional features of a Google number.

If you keep your existing number, you can use Google voicemail and related features. Google voicemail is compatible with following carriers: Alltel, AT&T, Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon.� You can also use Google Voice for discounted international calls.

If you choose a Google number, you can choose your number by searching for desired number or letter strings. Using a Google number gains you free texting, call screening, conference calls, call blocking, and the ability to ring multiple phones at the same time.

Google Voice Lite originally appeared on About.com Google on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 22:47:43.

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Gmail Tasks Are Google Tasks

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:41:46 +0000

Last year Google introduced an experimental feature for Gmail - a simple task list. The task list has graduated from Gmail Labs and no longer needs to be enabled in the settings menu. Tasks are also now available in multiple Google tools.� You can view them in iGoogle, Google Calendar, and on your smartphone (navigate to gmail.com/tasks.)

I'm so glad they decided to implement this as a common task list instead of a simple add-on feature for Gmail. It means a lot more flexibility for users, and� it might lead to eventual third party mashups and gadgets for task data.

Gmail Tasks Are Google Tasks originally appeared on About.com Google on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 23:41:46.

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Twitter in Google Results

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:32:50 +0000

Google announced that they'd reached an agreement to include Twitter in Google search results. This is super news for Twitter, who has been in talks with both Google and Microsoft. They announced a similar agreement with Microsoft's Bing search engine earlier the same day.

Why would you want Twitter results in your search engine? If you're searching for breaking news and public events, Twitter results are very handy. With two major search engines indexing results, the information could also be easier to read and interpret. Imagine being able to search for context as well as keywords.

Twitter in Google Results originally appeared on About.com Google on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 21:32:50.

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Tell Google to Go Ride a Trike

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:14:05 +0000

Google Maps used a VW Beetle modified with a special camera to capture most of the images used for Street View. That doesn't mean that there aren't places people would like to see on maps that aren't accessible by car. You could virtually tour college campuses, scope out vacation plans, or learn more about a remote location. So how do you capture imagery from places that aren't street views?

How about by bike? The idea came from a 20% project from Daniel Ratner, a Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Street View team. Eventually the bike gained a third wheel and 250 pounds worth of GPS and camera equipment. Take a look at LEGOLAND to see it in action.

Google is accepting nominations for pedestrian-only places you'd like to see captured by the Street View trike. The categories are:

�� Parks & Trails
�� University Campuses
�� Theme Parks & Zoos
�� Pedestrian Malls (ie: outdoor shopping areas, boardwalks)
�� Landmarks
�� Sports Venues (ie: golf courses, racing tracks, stadium grounds)

Submit your nominations to www.google.com/trike. They'll accept entries until October 28th and then have a round of voting to determine the winning locations.

10 Things You Didn't Know Google Maps Did

Tell Google to Go Ride a Trike originally appeared on About.com Google on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 01:14:05.

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Google Wave Preview

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:49:54 +0000

I've been using Google Wave for a few days now, so I thought I'd share my initial impressions.

It seems like there are a lot of others who think Google Wave is overhyped and unimpressive. I'd say most of that comes from failure to understand Google's intent here. Google never promised a finished product at this stage. In fact, they promised the opposite. They wanted early feedback. Preview users are there to find bugs, and there are plenty of them to be found.

It's slow. The Google Wave team knows this. Part of it is that preview users find unexpected ways to break the system, such as typing in 100,000 character words. Google has also been inviting users until the servers slow down, fixing the problems, then inviting more users. Eventually they're going to have to expand to include anyone who wants an account, so better to learn how to grow now than later.

Everyone can see you type. This is annoying for large public waves, but it's clearly not going to look like this once Google Wave hits beta status. There's a grayed out "draft" check box every time you edit a message or write a blip that would probably let you make typing errors in peace. Meanwhile, if you're chatting with someone one on one, you probably do want to see messages in near real time rather than waiting forever to see a long paragraph.

You can't manage wave participants. This is a feature that hasn't been enabled yet. You can't remove participants or yourself from a wave, which means that if you so much as look at a wave, it's hanging around in your inbox to taunt you. You can "mute" those waves, but that's not as helpful as removing them.�

There's no established etiquette for wave participation. Sometimes people edit a bilp. Sometimes they add a blip of their own, and sometimes they ad a blip within a blip. Do you add items to the beginning of a wave or the end?� It gets difficult to tell who contributed what.� We developed ad hoc rules to deal with all sorts of Internet communication. I'm sure the same thing will happen here.

It isn't the latest, greatest, biggest best social networking tool ever. Google never promised this was the next public social networking sensation. They were aiming for this as a new email. Something to collaborate with small groups. When the features are rounded out and the stability issues are addressed, this will seem a lot more realistic.

Is it bad publicity for Google to open up a preview on a slow server and with so many features missing? Perhaps. Their other previews have been smaller. Perhaps their biggest mistake was pre-announcing it. Chrome OS will likely face similar problems if they decide to let users preview it.

Google Wave isn't ready for prime time. If you want to really start using it, wait for the beta release. If, on the other hand, you like finding bugs and giving feedback, sign up on the waiting list.

Google Wave glossary:

Google Wave Preview originally appeared on About.com Google on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 00:49:54.

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