google system

Google Currency Conversion Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:07:00 +0000

Here are some tips that will help you use Google Search as a currency converter. It's an old Google feature that has been updated and it's now more convenient to use and offers more information.

Note: all the Google searches from this post are enclosed by brackets. For example, you should type usd= when you see [usd=]. If you use google.com instead of your country's Google domain, replace "your country's currency" with "US dollar".

1. The quickest way to convert almost any currency to your country's currency is to search for the currency code, followed by "=". For example [gbp=] for British pounds or [czk=] for Czech koruna. You can also search for [100 gbp], [50 czk], so "=" is no longer necessary when you add a number.

2. The quickest way to convert US dollars to euros is to search for [$], but you can also search for [usd=]. Search for [$100], [100$] or [100 usd] to convert 100 US dollars to euros.

3. The quickest way to convert a currency to any other currency is to type the two currency codes. For example, you can search for [gbpeur], [gbp eur] or [gbp to eur] to convert British pounds to euros. This also works when you search for [100 gbpeur], [100 gbp eur] or [100 gbp to eur].

4. To convert multiple amounts of money in different currencies to your country's currency, use a query like [50 gbp + 100 czk + 200 sek]. To convert them to another currency, use a query like [50 gbp + 100 czk + 200 sek = eur].

5. If you don't know currency codes, your queries will be a bit longer, but you can perform any conversion using a single query. Some examples:

[sweden to euro]
[50 sweden = euro]
[sweden to dollar]
[100 sweden = $]
[swedish to japanese currency]
[sweden to japan currency]
[swedish to indian money]
[sweden to india money]

6. You can use multiple currencies when performing simple arithmetical calculations even if you don't know currency codes. For example, search for [50 uk currency + 100 czech money + 200 dollars=euro].

7. After performing any simple currency conversion, Google shows an interactive widget that lets you change the amount of money or the currencies. You can click the currency name to select a different currency from a long list.

8. How to quickly swap the two currencies? Let's assume you search for [1 yen to yuan] and you realize that you need to convert the Chinese yuan to the Japanese yen. Click the "Japanese yen" drop-down and select "Chinese yuan" from the list. Google places the currencies you use at the top of the list.

9. The shortest query that shows Google's currency calculator is [$], but you can also search for [currency], [currency converter], [currency calculator].

10. You can also use currency names instead of codes and country names. For example, search for [lira to real], [1000 forint to pound], [500 yuan to canadian dollar], [500 peso to ringgit]. By default, peso=Mexican peso, crown=Czech koruna, dollar=US dollar, pound=British pound sterling.

11. Google's currency conversions aren't very precise. By default, Google only shows results with 2-digit precision and that's not always enough. If you search for [algerian dinar in eur], Google shows that "1 Algerian Dinar equals 0.01 Euro". To get a precise result, use a simple trick that forces Google to use the old interface: divide by 1 and search for [1 algerian dinar in eur/1]. The new result: 1 Algerian dinar = 0.00964425063 Euros.

Find Your Photos Using Google Search

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 10:17:00 +0000

Here's a cool Google Search feature that I missed: search for [my photos] and you'll see the latest images you've uploaded to Google+ Photos. Obviously, you need to log in to your Google account and join Google+ if you haven't done that already.

You can also search your photos directly from the Google Search box: enter [my photos], followed by one or more keywords and you'll see the results almost instantly. This works with the image recognition feature, so you'll get results for [my photos portrait] or [my photos flowers] even if the photos don't include "portrait" or "flowers" in the file name or captions. "To make computers do the hard work for you, we've also begun using computer vision and machine learning to help recognize more general concepts in your photos such as sunsets, food and flowers," informs Google.

Another way to use this feature is to search for [my photos], followed by the name of an album. Google will show some photos from that album. You can also search from [my photos from Paris last year], [Daniel's photos] (if you follow Daniel on Google+), [Daniel's photos from Germany 2011], [Matt Cutts photos cats], [Sergey Brin photos ocean].

It also works for people tagging, so you can search for [photos of Sergey Brin]. They're restricted to the photos uploaded by the people/pages you follow.

Unfortunately, if you click "Photos from you and your friends", Google will send you to the Google+ Photos homepage, instead of the list of search results.

To switch to the regular Google Image Search results, click the globe icon next to the gears button. This will hide personal results, but you can switch back by clicking the people icon.

{ via Inside Search }

Conversational Voice Search in Chrome for iOS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 09:11:00 +0000

Chrome for iOS has been updated and now includes the enhanced version of voice search that was available in the Google Search app. The upgraded voice search is more accurate, answers more question, has spoken feedback and it remembers your previous questions, so you can ask "how many calories are in an apple?" and then "what about an orange?".

The microphone icon has been removed from the address bar and it's now placed prominently next to the keyboard. If you start using the keyboard, the voice search button is replaced by some keys that are useful when you enter a web address: ":", ".", "-", "/" and a ".com" button.

Google now shows the words from your question as you speak, so you can see much faster if Google's speech-to-text engine understands what you're saying.

You'll hear the answer and Google will also show a card with more information. Spoken feedback can be disabled from the settings page: go to the voice search section and disable "speak answers back". "The answer can be a fact, weather condition, stock price, flight status, sports score, currency conversion, mathematical calculation, and more. Spoken answers are only supported in English at this time," informs Google.

Voice search is more useful as a Chrome feature than as a feature of the Google Search app, especially if you're already using Chrome. You don't have to open a new app and you can see the results for multiple questions because Chrome has tabs.

For some reason, Chrome for Android still includes the old voice search, but that should change in the near future.

Ode to 3GS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 09:59:00 +0000

With all this hype about quad-core and dual quad-core phones, I find it amazing that a smartphone from 2009 runs the latest OS version and the latest apps well. I'm sure that a 600 MHz single-core CPU and 256 MB of RAM no longer impress anyone today, not to mention a 480x320 resolution with 163 ppi. Well, a phone with these terrible specs is still relevant: in fact, it's the only phone released in 2009 that's still relevant today. It's the only phone from 2009 that runs Chrome and Google Search with Google Now and enhanced Voice Search without relying on jailbreaking, rooting and custom ROMs.

iPhone 3GS launched with iOS 3.0, which added basic features like cut, copy, and paste or MMS support. Then it was updated to iOS 4.0, which supported third-party apps multitasking. iOS 5.0 brought iCloud and better notifications, while iOS 6.0 for 3GS was a limited release that didn't include many features that were available for iPhone 4S/5. Apple got the foundation right and started to add features later, while Google started with the features and fixed the foundation later.

Back in 2009, Android was buggy and slow, so Google released new software updates quite frequently. Android 1.1, 1.5 and 1.6 added new features and fixed bugs, but didn't focus on the user interface. At that time, not many Android phones were available: G1, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, but Motorola Droid and Verizon's ad campaigns put Android on the map. Motorola Droid had better specs than iPhone 3GS: higher resolution screen, bigger battery, hardware keyboard, microSD support, multitasking, free turn-by-turn navigation. Droid ~~does~~ did look interesting and more feature-packed. Motorola Droid was only officially updated to Froyo (Android 2.2). The latest CyanogenMod release is based on Gingerbread and there are some other ROMs for Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean.

In January 2010, Google launched Nexus One, a phone with much better specs than Motorola Droid: 1 GHz Qualcomm Scorpion and 512 MB of RAM. It was updated to Froyo and Gingerbread, but the limited internal storage was the most important flaw that made it obsolete. In fact, the only Android phone released in 2010 that was officially updated to Ice Cream Sandwich is Nexus S (December 2010). Ice Cream Sandwich was launched in October 2011.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone 3GS is the only iOS device that received 3 major OS updates. Apple usually supports iOS devices for 2 years, so you get at least one major OS update and most often 2 updates. 3GS was still sold (free with contract in the US) until September 2012, when iPhone 5 was announced. 4 years of software updates is unprecedented in the mobile world, with hardware and software that evolves so quickly.

The Curious Case of Google Hangouts History

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 23:06:00 +0000

Do you remember the post about the updated Gmail chat logs? The new interface is only displayed for Google Hangouts conversations, while the old interface is still used for Google Talk/Chat conversations.

The updated interface no longer treats chat logs like regular Gmail messages, so many features like reply, forward, label, "move to inbox" are gone. You can no longer disable chat history from Gmail's settings, but you can click "delete Hangout history" to "permanently delete all messages" in a Hangout.

Google Hangouts logs are loaded dynamically, as you can see in this screenshot. This suggests that the logs aren't really stored like standard Gmail messages.

I clicked the "print" icon next to one of my Hangouts and I was surprised to notice that the print preview page only included a few messages, not the entire conversation.

In fact, Google Hangouts logs are only displayed in the regular desktop Gmail interface. They're nowhere to be found in the "basic HTML" interface or in the mobile Gmail sites/apps, not even when you use the search feature.

I disabled the conversation view in Gmail's settings to see how this affects Hangouts logs. Each reply was displayed in its own separate message, so a Hangout generated tens of message. Google Hangouts logs are unusable if you disable conservation view.

A very basic feature that worked well ever since Google Talk was launched is now broken: buggy, more limited and less useful.

{ Thanks, Katty. }

Google's Calorie Counter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 22:02:00 +0000

Google can now answer questions about nutrition, but it's strange to see that this feature only works if you use voice search in Android, iOS or Chrome. "You will be able to quickly and easily find extensive nutrition information for over 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats and meals in search. From the basics of potatoes and carrots to more complex dishes like burritos and chow mein, you can simply ask, 'How much protein is in a banana?' or 'How many calories are in an avocado?' and get your answer right away," informs Google.

It works for general questions like 'how many calories are in carrots' or for queries like 'carrots calories'.

By default, Google shows the number of calories in a medium carrot, but you can pick a different serving size: 1 slice, 100 grams, 1 cup grated and more. For now, you can't enter a custom serving size.

You can also disambiguate your query. If you search "tuna calories", you can select from bluefin, skipjack and yellowfin. Unfortunately, the list is incomplete and you can't select canned tuna.

Google shows a knowledge graph card with information from Wikipedia and nutrition facts, so you can quickly find the amount of saturated fat, cholesterol, protein or vitamins and minerals without clicking a search result.

And it's not all about calories. You can also ask: 'how much protein is in an egg?', 'how much cholesterol is in chicken?', 'how much saturated fat is in butter?', 'how much sugar is in Coca Cola?', 'magnesium in an apple', 'vitamin C in parsley'.

The feature only works in English and it's gradually rolling out, so it may not work for you. Try it in Android's Google Search app, Google's app for iOS or in Chrome (click the microphone icon from the search box).

Bigger Thumbnails in Google Search for Tablets

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 20:56:00 +0000

Google Search's tablet interface highlights some of the top search results if they're from video sites like YouTube or Dailymotion. Google shows much bigger thumbnails, so the search results really stand out. Unfortunately, Google no longer includes a snippet.

It's likely that this UI is used for queries that return a lot of video results. Some examples that worked for me in the tablet interface: [internship trailer], [u2 one corbijn video].

It's interesting to notice that Google adds a +1 button next to the video results when the top result is highlighted. The +1 button has been recently removed from the tablet interface, so these results are treated differently.

New Google Calendar Controls for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:42:00 +0000

Google Calendar's app for Android has been updated with new controls for selecting time, date, timezones, colors and editing repeating events. I wonder if the next Android version will use these controls instead of the existing pickers.

Selecting the time is a 2-part process: you first select the hour and then the number of minutes. The time picker is based on a real 24-hour clock.

Selecting the date is straightforward: Google uses a scrolling calendar that's great for picking a date from the current month or next month. If you want to pick a date from a different year, tap the year and you can quickly switch to 2014, 2015 or any other year.

Here are the standard time/date Android pickers that were previously used by the Google Calendar app. "Each picker provides controls for selecting each part of the time (hour, minute, AM/PM) or date (month, day, year). Using these pickers helps ensure that users can pick a time or date that is valid, formatted correctly, and adjusted to the user's locale."

And here are the original pre-Honeycomb pickers:

The control for repeating events looks much better. "You can now set events to repeat every Tuesday and Thursday, every month, or every 7 weeks, it's completely up to you," informs the Android blog.

Now you can pick different colors for events and calendars:

There's also a different way to select time zones: instead of showing a long list of time zones, countries and regions, Google Calendar lets you enter the country name and it displays the relevant time zones.

I've found it easy to compare the old and new controls because my phone has both the stock Calendar app and the Google Calendar app from Google Play. It's a good idea to disable the notifications for one of the apps if you don't want to get multiple notifications for the same event.

6 Quick Tips for International Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:16:00 +0000

Note from the editors: After previously looking into various ways to handle internationalization for Google’s web-search, here’s a post from Google Web Studio team members with tips for web developers.

Many websites exist in more than one language, and more and more websites are made available for more than one language. Yet, building a website for more than one language doesn’t simply mean translation, or localization (L10N), and that’s it. It requires a few more things, all of which are related to internationalization (I18N). In this post we share a few tips for international websites.

1. Make pages I18N-ready in the markup, not the style sheets

Language and directionality are inherent to the contents of the document. If possible you should hence always use markup, not style sheets, for internationalization purposes. Use @lang and @dir, at least on the html element:

<html lang="ar" dir="rtl">

Avoid coming up with your own solutions like special classes or IDs.

As for I18N in style sheets, you can’t always rely on CSS: The CSS spec defines that conforming user agents may ignore properties like direction or unicode-bidi. (For XML, the situation changes again. XML doesn’t offer special internationalization markup, so here it’s advisable to use CSS.)

2. Use one style sheet for all locales

Instead of creating separate style sheets for LTR and RTL directionality, or even each language, bundle everything in one style sheet. That makes your internationalization rules much easier to understand and maintain.

So instead of embedding an alternative style sheet like

<link href="default.rtl.css" rel="stylesheet">

just use your existing

<link href="default.css" rel="stylesheet">

When taking this approach you’ll need to complement existing CSS rules by their international counterparts:

3. Use the `[dir='rtl']` attribute selector

Since we recommend to stick with the style sheet you have (tip #2), you need a different way of selecting elements you need to style differently for the other directionality. As RTL contents require specific markup (tip #1), this should be easy: For most modern browsers, we can simply use [dir='rtl'].

Here’s an example:

aside {
 float: right;
 margin: 0 0 1em 1em;
}

[dir='rtl'] aside {
 float: left;
 margin: 0 1em 1em 0; 
}

4. Use the `:lang()` pseudo class

To target documents of a particular language, use the :lang() pseudo class. (Note that we’re talking documents here, not text snippets, as targeting snippets of a particular language makes things a little more complex.)

For example, if you discover that bold formatting doesn’t work very well for Chinese documents (which indeed it does not), use the following:

:lang(zh) strong,
:lang(zh) b {
 font-weight: normal;
 color: #900;
}

5. Mirror left- and right-related values

When working with both LTR and RTL contents it’s important to mirror all the values that change directionality. Among the properties to watch out for is everything related to borders, margins, and paddings, but also position-related properties, float, or text-align.

For example, what’s text-align: left in LTR needs to be text-align: right in RTL.

There are tools to make it easy to “flip” directionality. One of them is CSSJanus, though it has been written for the “separate style sheet” realm, not the “same style sheet” one.

6. Keep an eye on the details

Watch out for the following items:

Images designed for left or right, like arrows or backgrounds, light sources in box-shadow and text-shadow values, and JavaScript positioning and animations: These may require being swapped and accommodated for in the opposite directionality.
Font sizes and fonts, especially for non-Latin alphabets: Depending on the script and font, the default font size may be too small. Consider tweaking the size and, if necessary, the font.
CSS specificity: When using the [dir='rtl'] (or [dir='ltr']) hook (tip #2), you’re using a selector of higher specificity. This can lead to issues. Just have an eye out, and adjust accordingly.

If you have any questions or feedback, check the Internationalization Webmaster Help Forum, or leave your comments here.

Written by Jens O. Meiert and Tony Ruscoe, Tech Leads, Google Web Studio

Google's Unified Storage Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:33:00 +0000

As previously anticipated, Google's 25GB plan will no longer be available for new users. It was the most affordable storage plan: $2.49/month. Now the cheapest plan offers 100GB for $4.99/month, but it's shared storage that can be used in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos.

OLD:

NEW:

"Store up to 15GB in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos, and then pay for additional storage as your account grows," informs Google. Paid storage no longer increases Gmail's storage limit to 25GB, but now the entire storage is shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos.

You can still find the old plans here, so I suggest to choose the 25GB plan if you need more storage because it will be removed soon. You'll also get some additional Gmail storage.

Existing users will keep the old plans. "If your account lapses, your credit card is declined, or you choose to change your storage plan in any way (upgrade or downgrade), you'll be asked to choose from among the new Google Drive storage plans. Once you choose a new plan, you'll no longer be able to switch back to the old one." I still have the plan that offered 20GB of storage for only $5/year.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

HTC One, Nexus Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:50:00 +0000

After Samsung Galaxy S4, it's time for HTC One to get a Nexus Edition. It will be available on June 26 from Google Play US for $599, $50 less than Samsung's flagship.

"The unlocked device will run on both AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States with support for high-speed LTE data on both networks. This 'Nexus user experience' version will contain 32GB of built-in storage. Much like the special edition Samsung Galaxy S4 unveiled during I/O, Google will be directly handling future software updates," reports The Verge.

The Google Play version of HTC One will run stock Android, but it will have the same hardware like a regular HTC One. For example, it will have an infrared blaster that can't be used by Google's software because the stock Android 4.2 doesn't support IR. It's likely that a future Android update will add native support for infrared sensors.

I've mentioned in the post about Galaxy S4 that the Nexus Edition is great for Google, phone manufacturers, developers and users. Even if you don't buy this phone, you'll be able to install Google's software or a custom ROM that uses it.

Why use the stock Android instead of HTC's Android flavour or Samsung's Android flavour? It doesn't include so much bloatware, it's faster and easier to update. You'll miss features like HTC's Zoe or Samsung's Smart Pause, but you'll get a phone that's more responsive, has a modern interface and can take advantage of the latest software updates. Still, Nexus Edition phones aren't Nexus phones, so don't expect the same experience. The software wasn't designed with this hardware in mind.

Maybe the 'Nexus user experience' project has a different goal: show the difference between the pure Android and custom Android, running on the same devices. Maybe this will convince users that the stock Android is better and phone manufacturers will have to use it or at least provide an option to switch to it. As the stock Android improves, it's time to use it and build upon it, instead of hiding it behind useless features.

Tips for Gmail's Tabs and Categories

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 19:38:00 +0000

Some of you have already seen this screen in Gmail, which shows that the new inbox tabs have been enabled for your account. If not, click the gears button and see if you can find "Configure inbox". Click this menu item and you can use the new feature. If you can't find "Configure inbox", check back later.

There are 5 tabs:

- social messages from sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+

- promotions: newsletters, offers and other bulk messages

- updates: confirmations, bills, receipts

- forums: messages from online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists (hidden by default)

- primary: shows all the other messages

It's important to keep in mind that the tabs only show the messages from your inbox. If you have filters that automatically archive messages, you'll not see them in the new tabs.

If you've used the SmartLabels feature from Gmail Labs, you can delete the associated labels and filters after disabling the feature. Filters look like this: Matches: label:social-updates Do this: Skip Inbox. SmartLabels had the following names: social updates, promotions, notifications, forums. Inbox tabs replace the SmartLabels feature: instead of archiving messages, you can keep them in your inbox, but in separate tabs.

Here are some tips that should help you use the new feature:

Inbox tips

1. Click the "+" button to hide or show tabs. You can hide all the tabs except Primary to go back to the old inbox. This doesn't disable categorization, so you can use all the tips from the Categories section (starting from #6).

2. Starred messages are added to the Primary tab, but you can disable this option by clicking the "+" button and unchecking "include starred in Primary".

3. Drag inbox messages to a different category or right-click and select "move to tab".

4. Tabs show the number of unread messages and a list of senders. The inbox unread count only shows the number of unread messages from the Primary tab.

5. Keyboard shortcuts:
` Go to the next inbox tab
~ Go to previous inbox tab

Categories tips

6. There's a new Categories list in the sidebar that lets you find all your notifications, promotions, social updates, not just the messages from your inbox. The list is still displayed if you hide some inbox tabs, but you can collapse it. Click "Categories" to see the messages from all the categories.

7. Search for category:updates, category:social, category:forums, category:promotions to find these messages.

8. You can create filters that use these categories. For example, create a filter that forwards all forum-related messages to a different address.

9. Create filters that exclude messages from these categories by enabling "Exclude from SmartLabel categorization" in the filter editing dialog.

10. Help Gmail categorize messages by creating filters and selecting "categorize as". For example, send all messages that include "unsubscribe" to the Promotions category.

11. You can also drag messages to the sidebar categories and use feature like "move to" or "labels" to categorize messages. The list of categories is displayed below your labels.

No More Gmail Sneak Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:58:00 +0000

Gmail had a cool Labs feature that allowed you to read messages without opening them. Message Sneak Peek displayed the first sentences from a message when you right-clicked it. You could use keyboard shortcuts to navigate to the previous or to the next message, so this was a great to quickly read messages.

Here's a screenshot from 2010, when this feature was launched:

The Labs experiment is no longer available and now Gmail has a contextual menu that shows features like "move to inbox", "archive", "delete", "mark as read/unread", "move to tab" (for inbox messages). You can select multiple messages, right click and use one of the features that were also included in the Gmail toolbar.

If you're missing Sneak Peek, try Preview Pane, another Labs experiment that lets you read messages in a vertical/horizontal pane like in Outlook or Gmail for tablets.

Don't forget that "Gmail Labs is a testing ground for experimental features that aren't quite ready for primetime. They may change, break or disappear at any time."

{ Thanks, jp (banana). }

Getting started with structured data

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Webmaster level: All

If Google understands your website’s content in a structured way, we can present that content more accurately and more attractively to Google users. For example, our algorithms can enhance your search results with “rich snippets” when we understand that your page is a structured product listing, event, recipe, review, or similar. We can also feature your data in Knowledge Graph panels or in Google Now cards, helping to spread the word about your content.

Today we’re excited to announce two features that make it simpler than ever before to participate in structured data features. The first is an expansion of Data Highlighter to seven new types of structured data. The second is a brand new tool, the Structured Data Markup Helper.

Support for Products, Businesses, Reviews and more in Data Highlighter

Data Highlighter launched in December 2012 as a point-and-click tool for teaching Google the pattern of structured data about events on your website — without even having to edit your site’s HTML. Now, you can also use Data Highlighter to teach us about many other kinds of structured data on your site: products, local businesses, articles, software applications, movies, restaurants, and TV episodes.

To get started, visit Webmaster Tools, select your site, click the "Optimization" link in the left sidebar, and click "Data Highlighter". You’ll be prompted to enter the URL of a typically structured page on your site (for example, a product or event’s detail page) and “tag” its key fields with your mouse.

The tagging process takes about 5 minutes for a single page, or about 15 minutes for a pattern of consistently formatted pages. At the end of the process, you’ll have the chance to verify Google’s understanding of your structured data and, if it’s correct, “publish” it to Google. Then, as your site is recrawled over time, your site will become eligible for enhanced displays of information like prices, reviews, and ratings right in the Google search results.

New Structured Data Markup Helper tool

While Data Highlighter is a great way to quickly teach Google about your site’s structured data without having to edit your HTML, it’s ultimately preferable to embed structured data markup directly into your web pages, so your structured content is available to everyone. To assist web authors with that task, we’re happy to announce a new tool: the Structured Data Markup Helper.

Like in Data Highlighter, you start by submitting a web page (URL or HTML source) and using your mouse to “tag” the key properties of the relevant data type. When you’re done, the Structured Data Markup Helper generates sample HTML code with microdata markup included. This code can be downloaded and used as a guide as you implement structured data on your website.

The Structured Data Markup Helper supports a subset of data types, including all the types supported by Data Highlighter as well as several types used for embedding structured data in Gmail. Consult schema.org for complete schema documentation.

We hope these two tools make it easier for all websites to participate in Google’s growing suite of structured data features! As always, please post in our forums if you have any questions or feedback.

Posted by Justin Boyan, Product Manager

New Gmail Favicon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 09:57:00 +0000

Gmail has a new favicon that looks like the icon used by Gmail's Chrome app. It's also close to the iOS app's icon.

In this screenshot, the first tab shows new the new favicon, while the second one shows the old favicon. There's also a bigger version of the new favicon.

A similar screenshot for Internet Explorer:

Here's the same icon in Chrome's new tab page. The Gmail app for Chrome is installed by default.

If you don't see the new favicon, reload Gmail using F5 or Ctrl+F5. If you don't like the new icon, you can go back the old one by enabling "Unread message icon" in Gmail Labs. This feature only works in Chrome, Firefox and Opera and it lets you see "how many unread messages are in your inbox with a quick glance at the tab's icon".

Chrome for iOS, Not a Fast Browser

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 08:26:00 +0000

Chrome for iOS doesn't have a lot of things in common with the desktop Chrome or Chrome for Android. It doesn't use the latest WebKit rendering engine and can't switch to Blink, it doesn't use the V8 JavaScript engine, it doesn't have a multi-process architecture. These are iOS limitations and all third-party iOS browsers are built using UIWebView, so they use the same rendering engine and the same JavaScript engine, which is slower than Safari's Nitro (Opera Mini is just an OBML reader, not a browser, because pages are rendered using Opera's servers).

I was surprised to see an ad for Chrome when visiting Google's homepage in Safari for iPad: "Browse fast on your iPad. Install Google Chrome." Chrome for iOS is not fast, it's a lot slower than Safari and that's not Google's fault. It's even a little bit slower than other third-party browsers.

Even the Chrome for iOS homepage claims that you can "browse fast and sign in to bring your Chrome experience from your computer, anywhere you go". Sure, Chrome combines the address bar and the search box, preloads web pages and shows the most visited pages, but it's not a faster browser than Safari.

From Tom's Hardware: "In the end, any third-party Web browser on iOS is essentially tantamount to using an older version of Safari with a slightly different user interface and additional features. Due to Apple's App Store mandate that all third-party iOS browsers utilize Safari's stock engines, browser competition on this mobile operating system is practically non-existent. Unless Apple reverses course, allowing other developers to compete using their own unique rending and JavaScript engines."

Google's Bigger App Launcher

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:36:00 +0000

I've previously posted about Google's experimental app launcher that replaces the black navigation bar. It's the perfect fit for the Chrome integration with Google search, which also removes the search box from Google SERPs.

Google tests a new version of the app launcher in Chrome: it's huge and you can click "more" to see other Google services. I've managed to get the new interface using this URL in Chrome.

If you think "huge" is an exaggeration, take a look at this screenshot and compare it with the screenshots from this post:

{ Thanks, Silviu. }

Gmail's Inbox Tabs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:04:00 +0000

Gmail has a lot of cool features that let you organize mail, but not many people use them. Creating filters is complicated and manually labelling messages is time consuming. That's why Google added features that automatically classify messages: Priority Inbox finds important messages, Smart Labels categorizes messages and lets you find notifications, bulk messages or automatically archive them. Gmail also has different inbox styles that prioritize important messages, starred or unread messages.

Now Gmail's inbox started to include a few tabs powered by Smart Labels, a feature from Gmail Labs. "On the desktop, the new inbox groups your mail into categories which appear as different tabs. (...) Your inbox is organized in a way that lets you see what's new at a glance and decide which emails you want to read when. You can easily customize the new inbox - select the tabs you want from all five to none, drag-and-drop to move messages between tabs, set certain senders to always appear in a particular tab and star messages so that they also appear in the Primary tab."

There are tabs for social updates from sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+, promotions (newsletters, offers and other bulk messages), notifications/updates (confirmations, bills, receipts), forum messages (online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists) and a primary tab that shows all the other messages. This way, you can focus on important messages and read everything else later. The Smart Labels feature also has a checkbox that allows you to automatically archive messages, so that notifications, newsletters and social updates skip the inbox.

A similar feature will be added to the mobile Gmail apps for iOS and Android.

The nice thing is that inbox tabs are customizable, so you can hide some of them or even all of them.

The new feature will roll out in the coming weeks, but the updated mobile apps should be available sooner. Until then, try Smart Labels.

{ via Gmail Blog. Thanks, Mike. }

YouTube's Feeling Lucky

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 May 2013 00:05:00 +0000

YouTube has a cool feature that generates a playlist of 10 recommended videos. Make sure you are logged in and visit this page.

There's even an experiment that places a "play" button next to the YouTube logo, so you can quickly generate the "I'm Feeling Lucky" serendipitous playlist. If you don't like the playlist, click "play" again.

Here's how you can enable the experimental button. If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer 8+:

1. open youtube.com in a new tab and log in

2. load your browser's developer console:

* Chrome - press Ctrl+Shift+J for Windows/Linux/ChromeOS or Command-Option-J for Mac

* Firefox - press Ctrl+Shift+K for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-K for Mac

* Opera - press Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-I for Mac, then click "Console"

* Safari - check this article

* Internet Explorer - press F12 and select the "Console" tab.

3. paste the following code which changes a YouTube cookie:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=LVXsOMb_c_g; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

4. press Enter and close the console.

To go back to the standard UI, follow the same steps, but use the following code:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

{ Thanks, Yu-Hsuan Lin. }

Spam From Gmail Contacts?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 May 2013 10:59:00 +0000

Gmail shows this message when you mark as spam a mail from your contacts: "Did your contact actually write this message? You marked this message as spam, but the sender is in your contact list. If this message seems suspicious, let us know then tell your contact that their email account might have been compromised and used to send fraudulent messages."

As you probably know, adding someone to your contacts is the best way to make sure that the messages aren't flagged as spam. When you mark a message as spam, it's likely that the following messages sent from the same address will be flagged as spam by Gmail. So there's a conflict and Google tries to fix it by assuming that the email account has been compromised.

"Normally, we'd expect that you would want to get messages from people on your Gmail contact list. So when you mark one as spam, we'd like to understand why. [When you] click 'Message looks suspicious' within the alert, the message will be marked as 'sent from a compromised account,' and you'll send a report to the Gmail team to help us improve our detection of compromised accounts. Your contact's account will not be penalized and you'll continue to receive messages from this account in the future."

Unfortunately for Gmail, the mail that triggered this alert wasn't sent by one of my contacts, so this feature doesn't work well.

Find Gmail Receipts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 May 2013 10:35:00 +0000

Here's a way to find your receipt messages from Gmail: search for label:^smartlabel_receipt. This feature is powered by the Smart Label experiment from Gmail Labs, but you don't need to enable that experiment.

I've found receipts from PayPal, Google Play and Google Checkout, order confirmations from eBay, Amazon and other shopping sites. Gmail automatically detects receipts, just like it finds notifications, social updates, forum messages and other categories of messages.

The Smart Label feature from Gmail Labs creates filters that automatically label messages and convert system labels like ^smartlabel_receipt to user labels like Receipts. You can manually do that for receipts: click the arrow from the search box, type label:^smartlabel_receipt in the "has the words" field, click "create filter with this search", click "OK" and ignore the warning, select "Apply the label" and then "new label", create a label called "Receipts", check "Also apply filter to * matching conversations" and click "Create filter". You'll get a receipts label:

Google+ Photo Search With Image Recognition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:25:00 +0000

Last year, Google Drive added an advanced image search feature powered by Goggles that recognizes objects and uses OCR technology to extract text. The same feature is now available in Google+: search for [sunflower], click "More", restrict the results to "Photos" and select "Most recent". You'll find sunflower images from Google+ posts that don't even include "sunflower", not even in the image filename.

This also works for the images you've uploaded to Picasa Web Albums/Google+ Photos or the images uploaded by your circles.

{ via Android Police }

Google Trends Charts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:24:00 +0000

Google Trends has a new section that shows monthly popularity charts for topics like scientists, cars, movies, songs, people, animals, chemical elements and more. Charts are limited to the US for now and they show the most popular things, not the "movers and shakers". Google uses the Knowledge Graph to restrict the charts to real-world things and "measures interest in a broader topic, so it might also count different searches with the same meaning".

"Top Charts are lists of real-world people, places and things ranked by search interest. They show information similar to our Year-End Zeitgeist, but updated monthly and going back to 2004. To check them out, go to Google Trends and click 'Top Charts' on the left-hand side," informs Google.

Google Trends shows information from Wikipedia, links to Google+ or other top search results, the number of months in chart and the previous month's rank.

Google also added a Metro-inspired page that lets you visualize hot searches in full screen. Mouse over the top-left icon to show multiple searches at the same time and click the country name at the bottom of the page to switch to a different country.

{ via Google Blog }

YouTube Search Experiments

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:17:00 +0000

YouTube experiments with some new search features. When you click a video from the list of YouTube search results, there's a red progress bar displayed at the top of the page until the video page loads. YouTube loads pages using AJAX and uses HTML5 history.pushState to change the browser URL without reloading the page. Here's the new feature in action:

The search box still includes your query when you watch the video. Another experimental feature shows a list of search suggestions when you watch a video and click the search box. The list of suggestions is probably generated based on the video's title.

Click the homepage search box and YouTube shows a list of recent searches.

Here's how you can try the new features (the red progress bar seems to be Chrome-only). If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer 8+:

1. open youtube.com in a new tab

2. load your browser's developer console:

* Chrome - press Ctrl+Shift+J for Windows/Linux/ChromeOS or Command-Option-J for Mac

* Firefox - press Ctrl+Shift+K for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-K for Mac

* Opera - press Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-I for Mac, then click "Console"

* Safari - check this article

* Internet Explorer - press F12 and select the "Console" tab.

3. paste the following code which changes a YouTube cookie:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=jyDR-4Ljl_I; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

4. press Enter and close the console.

To go back to the standard UI, follow the same steps, but use the following code:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

{ Thanks, Yu-Hsuan Lin. }

Create Google Now Reminders in Google Search

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:00 +0000

Reminders are a new feature in the latest version of the Google Search app for Android. You can create reminders using voice search and Google Now will show notifications.

Now you can also create reminders from the desktop Google Search when you search for events. Use queries like [when is bonnaroo 2013?], [when is the first day of summer?], [halloween day] and Google shows a link that says: "Remind me on Google Now".

Click the link and "Google Now will remind you 1 week before." For now, notifications are only available if you use the Google Search app for Android, which also lets you manage reminders (delete reminders and set new ones).

{ via Search Engine Roundtable }