Googlepedia: The Blog

Google+

2011-08-02T16:40:00.001-04:00

Google recently launched its new competitor to Facebook, dubbed Google+. It's very similar to FB, but less cluttered and more easily organized. It also adds a new toolbar to the Google search page and other Google product pages; this toolbar adds buttons to access Google+ and to view G+ updates. Check it out!

Google+ Launches

2011-07-15T17:25:00.001-04:00

Google+, Google's social networking answer to Facebook, has now launched. With more than 10 million users in the first week of operation, this could be something to watch!

New Google Books

2011-04-21T17:38:00.003-04:00

Look for these new Google-related books in a bookstore near you:

Using Google Maps and Google Earth
Using Google Apps
Using Google AdWords and AdSense
Using Google Search

New YouTube Features

2011-04-21T17:38:00.000-04:00

New in YouTube: HD videos (both 720p and 1080p), new customizations for the embedded video player, new video channels, and (coming soon) live streaming and commercial videos from some big players. Check it out!

New Search Features

2011-04-21T17:36:00.002-04:00

Google has added lots of new search features recently. There are new options in the sidebar filters, new OneBox results, and a change in the results in the search box drop down. Look for them!

Blogger in Draft

2010-01-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

Check out Blogger in Draft to view upcoming Blogger features before they're released to the general public.

New Google Features

2010-01-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

There are a slew of new features available for Google search and related Google applications. More after the jump.

Google Docs now lets you upload files up to 250MB in size.
Gmail now enables HTTPS secure connection by default.
YouTube now lets you link from your video to a non-YouTube site -- if that video is part of a promoted videos campaign.
Google News has enabled Fast Flip, which lets you flip through news articles as you would pages in a newspaper or magazine.

Using Google AdWords and AdSense

2010-01-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

I just finished work on my latest Google-related book. Using Google AdWords and AdSense covers both the AdSense and AdWords programs, and will be available sometime in the spring. Look for it!

New Google Books on the Way!

2009-12-11T17:22:00.002-05:00

I'm currently writing several new books about various Google services. These include Using Google AdWords and AdSense, as well as Teach Yourself Google Analytics in 10 Minutes. There are even more books to come -- stay tuned to learn more!

Google Squared

2009-06-04T11:03:00.002-04:00

Here's something really cool, currently in testing in Google Labs. Google Squared takes your search query and parses the key results in tabular format. It's great for comparing product features and other types of information. For example, when you enter "blu-ray dvd player" you get a comparison chart of different models, features, prices, and so forth. It's still a work in progress, but worth checking out.

Google Calendar Tasks

2009-05-28T15:29:00.000-04:00

Here's a welcome addition to Google Calendar. You can now add to-do list tasks and track them over the web, from any PC, just as you do your calendar appointments. This brings Google Calendar up to the functionality you have with Microsoft Outlook and similar programs -- it's a one-stop site for all your time management needs!

Introduction to Google Apps

2009-03-13T16:34:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that my latest book -- and my first textbook -- is now available. Introduction to Google Apps is an introductory-level textbook that shows how to use Google's most important applications -- web search, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Presentations. Like all good textbooks, it's a four-color book with spiral binding, and comes complete with end-of-chapter exercises and the like.

The book is 219 pp. long and sells for $70 or so, wherever textbooks are available. Click here to learn more about the book.

Google Checkout Price Increase

2009-03-13T16:28:00.002-04:00

I love it when Google changes something big just after I send a new book about to the printer. The book in this instance is the upcoming Selling Online 2.0: Migrating from eBay to Amazon, craigslist, and Your Own Ecommerce Website. Much of the advice in the book is predicated on switching from PayPal to Google Checkout to handle online payments, and the fact that Google Checkout had considerably lower fees than PayPal (2.0% + $0.20/transaction vs. PayPal's 2.9% + $0.30/transaction).

Until now.

Google just announced the end of their "introductory period" (which has lasted a few years) and the instatement of their new regular pricing. What are the new fees? How about 2.9% + $0.30/transaction -- identical to PayPal's fees. Plus, Google has eliminated the discount for those Google Checkout sellers also using Google AdWords. Way to go, Google.

Now, one might ask, why should a seller shift from using PayPal to using Google Checkout? Well, with the new fee structure, there is absolutely no reason at all to use Google Checkout. In fact, Google Checkout offers fewer features, accepts fewer payment options, and works in far fewer countries than does PayPal. Offering less than PayPal for the same price -- not a winning proposition.

And let's just forget the fact that this change negates much of the advice I offer in my book that hasn't even hit the shelves yet. Thank you very much, Google.

Google Drops Applications

2009-01-15T20:07:00.004-05:00

It's part of the overall economic slowdown, but the first time I can remember that Google has laid off workers, closed offices, and dropped some existing applications. Here's what is either immediately closed or no longer supported:

Google Notebook
Google Video uploads
Google Catalogs
Mashup Editor
Dodgeball (a little-known social network)
Jaiku (a little-known microblogging service)

The Death of Lively

2008-11-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

Lively, Google's foray into virtual worlds, hasn't been a success. As such, Google just announced that it is shutting down Lively at the end of 2008. (Scratch that chapter from my Googlepedia book!) Sorry, Lively fans.

New Googlepedia Third Edition

2008-11-10T13:45:00.000-05:00

Just released -- the new third edition of Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource. Updated for all of Google's newest features, including Google Presentations, Google Gadgets, Google Gears, Android, and the Google Chrome web browser. Now available at bookstores everywhere for just $29.99 -- learn more on the Googlepedia page of my website.

New Google Docs Interfaces

2008-10-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

Google has introduced new interfaces for the Google Spreadsheets and Google Presentations components of the Google Docs suite. The new interfaces use a standard pull-down menu system instead of the odd tabbed operation system previously in pace. Insead of selecting the Edit tab to edit your spreadsheet, for example, you simply use the pull-down Edit menu. This approach standardizes all three applications of the Google Docs suite and makes it much more like Microsoft Office in operation.

Google Chrome

2008-09-09T17:20:00.000-04:00

Google just made one of its biggest announcements in some time. The big news is a Google web browser, dubbed Google Chrome.

As a web browser, Chrome is similar to Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. That said, Chrome is actually more than a web browser; some have compared it to a web-based operating system, or at the very least an operating container for web-based applications. I'll explain why in a few paragraphs.

First, let's examine Chrome as a web browser. The Chrome interface resembles that of Internet Explorer and other modern web browsers, complete with tabs for different web pages. Chrome is a bit sleeker than the other browsers, however, with no menu bar, search bar, status bar, or other extraneous bits and pieces. This makes the web page bigger in the window, which isn't a bad thing. In essence, it moves the business of the browser out of the way so that you can pay more attention to the web page itself.

Where Chrome really shines, however, becomes apparent when you use it to run a web-based application, such as Google Calendar or Google Docs. Select the right options, and your application appears in a window that resembles a traditional desktop application window rather than a browser; the tabs and the toolbars fade away so that all you see is the application itself. Even better, web-based applications run much faster in Chrome than they do in competing web browsers -- more than 50 times faster than with Internet Explorer, or at least that's what Google's engineers claim.

Chrome's speed is due partly to the stripped down interface, but more likely is a result of the modern JavaScript engine used to run the browser. Chrome's engine, dubbed "V8," is designed to improve the performance of complex applications -- just like the cloud computing applications that Google serves up to its millions of users.

Why is Google launching its own web browser? Isn't Microsoft Explorer (or Firefox or Safari or Opera) good enough? Apparently not -- at least when it comes to working from within the browser. The folks at Google, like many users, spend much of their computing time not working with traditional applications, but rather working inside the web browser. Whether it's reading email via Gmail, checking appointments in Google Calendar, or working on documents and presentations with Google Docs, there's a lot of work that gets done inside the browser. Unfortunately, today's major browsers are based on technology originally developed more than a dozen years ago -- and that technology was designed for the process of loading traditional HTML web pages, not for running dynamic web-based applications.

Thus Google's interest in developing a new type of web browser optimized for running cloud applications. As I stated previously, Chrome is more of a application container or web-based operating system than it is a browser. To this point, Chrome doesn't compete with Internet Explorer; it competes, instead, with Microsoft Windows itself. And that is something that Microsoft ought to be worried about.

Google Friend Connect

2008-05-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Want to turn your website into a social networking hub? Google Friend Connect lets you enhance your web pages with a variety of OpenSocial gadgets that add a variety of social features, no programming required on your part. With the gadgets installed, you'll be able to see, invite, and interact with new friends, as well as communicate with existing friends from social sites on the web like Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, LinkedIn, orkut, and Plaxo. Learn more and sign up for the preview release here: Google Friend Connect.

Google Maps Real Estate Search

2008-05-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a good one if you're interested in purchasing a new house. Google Maps has added a Real Estate Search to its advanced search functions. Just click the Show Search Options link to display the Restrict Results list. Pull down this list and select Real Estate then enter an address, and Google will show all avaialble properties near that address. Neat!

New Google Spreadsheets Features

2008-03-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

Google has adds some useful new features to its Google Spreadsheets application. These new features include:

Email notifications when collaborators make changes to the spreadsheet in general, or edit specific cells.
Autocomplete for repetitive cell values
New gadgets you can add to use existing spreadsheet data, including interactive charts, timelines, filters, pivot tables, maps, and such

Google Calendar Sync

2008-03-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a great new tool -- I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Google Calendar Sync is a utility that performs one-way or two-way syncing between your Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Read more and download it here.

Google Now Talks to AIM

2007-12-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

This is something we've been anticipating for quite some time now. Google and AOL have now connected their Google Talk and AIM instant messaging networks. The only caveat is that you have to use the chat function in Gmail instead of the freestanding Google Talk program, but that's probably the most common version of Google's IM anyway. When you log into Gmail Chat, you can now sig into your AIM account and talk to all your AIM buddies, easy as pie.

New Terrain Layer in Google Maps

2007-12-28T15:59:00.000-05:00

Google Maps now includes a new Terrain layer that combines the regular street maps with information about the surrounding terrain. Also new are street level photos for several new cities, including Minneapolis and Indianapolis.

Google Maps for Mobile Knows Where You Are

2007-12-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

There's a new feature in the version of Google Maps for mobile phones, called My Location. Using either your phone's built-in GPS function (if your phone has built-in GPS, that is) or triangulation from the nearest cell phone tower, My Location lets you highlight where you are on the onscreen map. Just press the 0 key and look for a blue dot -- that's you!