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Tag Archives: google
Sneak-peek into Google’s new Social Networking Site – Google+ project
With Facebook’s growing domination in the social networking space, Google’s Orkut lost the race long back. The orkut team came up with new UI’s and quite a few upgrades but couldn’t get back their charm. For the past one year there has been NEWS(read as rumors) that Google has been working on creating an entirely new platform to combat Facebook’s popularity. A e-mail last evening confirmed those rumors to be true.
Google’s Commercial for Superbowl 2010
Well most would be aware that SuperBowl day is one of the most important day for Americans. All of america goes crazy and gets glued to the TV. I am not a big sports fan and never have been able to catch a Superbowl broadcast but what interests me are the numbers that run behind this day specially in the ad-world.
The Advertisement spots for this day reach a new peak in prices every year. Companies spend millions on making and broadcasting ads on this day as this sport garners the maximum reach and you can be sure that your product registers to all those so many eye-balls glued to the screen…
This year, among the many brands whose commercial went on air was GOOGLE. Yup, surprising coz they do not seem like a company who actually need to advertise. But that’s what they did! A 30 second slot costs around $3Million on this day and this commercial is around 52seconds. That quite a chunk of money.. Though Google would not have had to spend anything in making the ad itself coz anyone with a little video editing training can do this…but the advert is pretty interesting..
Check out the advert below and keep in mind…..well leave it, you will figure it out yourself! 
I’m feeling lucky – Google Search Feature
“I’m feeling lucky”, wouldn’t you like to say that sometime and feel really good? I bet you would.
Well here I am not talking about just your feel good factor but about the Google Search Feature, “I’m Feeling Lucky”. This feature has been a part of the clean and minimalistic Google Homepage for a long time. Yup, I am talking about the button right next to “Google Search” button. If you have not noticed it yet (u use Google right? 
) which is a little surprising, head to www.google.com now and have a look.
Now, there may be quite a few a few of you who are aware of this feature and know what it does but I am sure there will be a big gang of ones who have no clue! Well, for the clueless start feeling lucky!
When you enter a search keyword in the textbox on Google Homepage and click on the “I’m feeling lucky” button, Google will simply take to the link Rank 1 i.e. top-most link in their search results. This means you do not have to view the Google Search results.
This can be very handy if you know exactly what you are looking for and you are sure that your keyword will generate the desired result as the top-most one.
Many of a times we do not remember correct URLs of websites, or we are simply too tired to type the whole thing. Google being homepage, we simply type the name of the website and click on Search. Next time, instead of click search, click on I’m feeling lucky. I am sure you will start feeling so..
Fun Fact: Google co-founder Sergey Brin told public radio’s Marketplace that around one percent of all Google searches goes through the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. This means that 1% of Google’s traffic doesn’t get to see Google’s advertisements, which costs the company roughly $110 million each year, which is about £67 million.
Google exec Marissa Mayer explained the reason for keeping such an expensive button:
“It’s possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what’s delightful about ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ is that it reminds you there are real people here.”
So, keep in mind now when making a Google search, there are ways you can feel lucky.
Block Google Buzz Updates from Inbox : eWebBuddy Tricks
From the moment Google Buzz was launched, it has created quite a BUZZ.. Have you jumped the bandwagon yet? To me it seemed initial stages of how wave will be integrated with GMail. And frankly I wasn’t much impressed but that could be just me. What did you think about Google Buzz?
Well, coming back to the agenda of this post…if you have been using buzz and connecting to several of your friends one thing that must have irritated you are the Google Buzz Updates that you receive in your Inbox. Well if you have been looking for a work-around, here’s a trick that will come handy.
Block Google Buzz Updates From Inbox Trick
- Login to your gmail account and goto Settings(top-right corner)
- Click on the tab “Filters” and then “Create a new Filter”
- By default Google Buzz is associated with “label:buzz”, so simply in the ‘Has the words:’ textbox enter “label:buzz”.
- Click on “Next Steps”. You may get a popup, click OK.
- Then check/select the option “Skip the Inbox” and click “Create Filter”
That’s all, from the moment you do this, you will stop getting Google Buzz updates in your Inbox and this way it will be un-cluttered.
Turn off Buzz / Stop Using Buzz
You can also stop using buzz totally with the help of a small link at the footer/bottom of your gmail account. It says, “Turn off Buzz”. Get rid of Buzz totally!
Hope this post was helpful, do leave a comment on what you think. That would mean a lot to me. Also, popularize this post by tweeting it, or sharing on facebook or stumbling or whatever you like.
Subscribe to the RSS feed if you haven’t yet and get more such useful tips and tricks in future.
Google to end IE6 support – R.I.P. IE6
Well…it’s another installment to the IE6 story. You may ask…what is the story? Obviously I have never told the story on eWebBuddy yet. But instead of going in the details for now, I will keep it simple and direct.
Story of IE6 – Simple & Short
IE6 or Internet Explorer 6 was one of most popular internet browsers which made Netscape Navigator history! Microsoft’s strategy of making browser a part of their OS was among the main reason of this success. But with growing times and as the web evolved IE6 came off as full of bugs and with very limited support. As Firefox gained popularity, CSS became the webdesign phenomena, IE6 lost its popularity among the developers and designers because of its limitations and requirement of going that many extra miles to make sure webpages worked properly on IE6 without any cross-browser issues.
Microsoft realized of IE6 shortcomings and resolved quite a few of them in the next versions IE8 being the latest. But since IE6 was available for free with OS, it was still popular among users and thus developers had to support it. They made sure their websites are compatible with the browser…but how long could they tolerate that. 
Gradually as people started using better browsers, developers started letting go IE6 support. Though IE6 still shares 18% browser usage, it is decreasing gradually for good. Check out ripie6 to learn more about this.
If you are reading this blog on IE6, I request you to upgrade to better browsers. I will soon post about the browsers you can opt for. My preference though is Firefox.
Google’s decision
Coming back to the main agenda of this post, now google has also decided to do-away with their support for IE6. They have officially announced that starting March they will not be supporting IE6.
This change will start with Google Docs and Google Sites. According to Rajen Sheth, Google Apps senior product manager’s blog, a lot of crucial functionalities will not work on IE6.
It seems this decision is a result of the chinese hacking activity that happened over Google Servers a couple of months ago due to glitch in IE6.
And I support google in this decision. Because we need to evolve and like Google and many others who are evolving, we will also follow them. Upgrade to a better browser today.
What do you think about IE6? Like it or trash it? Also, tell us if you have upgraded, that will encourage others to follow suit.
Google Analytics gets 7 new features
Yup, this one is official and I received a mail from the Google Analytics tool this morning. Google Analytics, which is a online traffic analyzing tool with a lot more to offer and that too free, has been updated with not 1, not 2 but 7 new features.
As a regular user of Google Analytics, I was very happy to get the mail. Analytics helps me a lot in all my client projects to monitor traffic, performance and search engine penetration. The seven features added by Google as according to the mail are:
Analytics Intelligence with Custom Alerts
Using an algorithmic driven Intelligence engine, Analytics Intelligence monitors data patterns over daily, weekly and monthly periods. Significant changes in data trends and insights you may not have noticed are surfaced directly in your account. You can also create your own Custom Alerts that monitor your selection of dimensions and metrics that can be sent by email or displayed in the Intelligence reports.Expanded Goals and New Engagement Goals
You can now track even more conversions by creating up to 20 goals per profile. Measure user engagement and branding success on your site with Time on Site and Pages per Visit goals. Set up your first Engagement goal in minutes.Expanded Mobile Reporting
Google Analytics has expanded support for mobile websites and tracking for iPhone and Android mobile applications tracking. Adding server side code to your PHP, JSP, PERL, or ASPX mobile websites enables you to track non-Java-Script enabled phones. For mobile application developers, access the SDK and technical implementation details here. You’ll also be able to see breakout data on mobile devices and carriers in the new Mobile reports in the Visitors section.Unique Visitors Metric
Include the Unique Visitors metric in your Custom Report or Advanced Segments to see how many actual visitors (unique cookies) visit your website. You can select Unique Visitors as a metric against any dimensions in Google Analytics.Advanced Analysis Features
Dive deeper into your data with Pivoting, Secondary Dimensions, and Advanced Table Filtering. These combined features enable you to perform in-depth, on the fly data analysis within your account.Share Advanced Segments and Custom Report Templates
Share the URL link for an Advanced Segment or Custom Report with anyone who has an Analytics account. Sharing the link will automatically import the pre-formatted template into the person’s account. Also available now is the ability to share or hide your Advanced Segments and Custom Reports by profile.Multiple Custom Variables
Custom variables provide the power and flexibility to customize Google Analytics to collect the unique site usage data most important to your business. Define and track visitors according to visitor attributes (member vs. non-member), session attributes (signed in or signed out), and by page-level attributes (viewed Sports section). Use custom variables to classify any number of interactions and behaviors on your site. Start learning more about them now.
So, doesn’t all of these look great? Will soon give you a report on how helpful and good these features are. Go ahead, and see if these features are accessible to you too. Have fun, you can thank me later to keep you updated.
Translate your website in 51 languages with Google Translate
Hellooooo friends, now this is one good news for all the web developers out there like me. I have been waiting for something like this for a long time and finally google has made it. Google always ends up making lives so simple!
So what is it this time? Imagine you owning a website with information useful to everyone around the world. But how can you reach out to everyone when there are so many different languages all around. Neither can you hire a translator and create different versions of the website, that would be cumbersome and time taking. Here is where Google Translator come in picture.
What is Google Translator for website?
Its pretty simple and ingenious. Once you enable google translator on your website, if the user’s language is not as same as your website’s, they will get a bar on the top where they can select the language they want the website to be translated in. And then voila, google will translate the website there itself. So you will be able to widen your reach and userbase. How cool is that?!
How is it implemented?
Well Google Website Translator Gadget is powered by Google Translate, will enable your website to be translated into 51 languages. This is what the Google Blog says,
Now, when people visit your page, if their language (as determined by their browser settings) is different than the language of your page, they’ll be prompted to automatically translate the page into their own language. If the visitor’s language is the same as the language of your page, no translation banner will appear.
So try it out today, add the feature to your websites and go global.
Google Wave Invites – How to get them?
Well, Google Wave which has been causing raves and great ripples in the past few months is about to open its doors to just a lucky 100,000 users today, 30th September. Its driving people nuts and has a lot of anticipation and expectations attached. The Next BIG Thing in short!!
According to Google, Wave is help one “communicate and collaborate in real time”. If we go by google’s words Wave is surely something you cannot afford to miss on!!
But similar to how Gmail was launched, on an invite only basis which made people go crazy, it won’t be so easy to get hold of a Google Wave account. Following are the few ways you can get your invite:
- Having an account on the developers Sandbox preview of Wave – If you have been one of those developers who have been helping in developing Google Wave over the past months, nothing to worry, you will be among the first one to get an account for sure.
- You signed up early for a Google wave account – If you had signed up early when google wave was announced for an invite, then you have high chances of getting hold of an account. Registrations happened through this link.
- Schools and some paying users of Google Apps – Some paying users of Google Apps will get accounts of Google Wave along with some schools operating on the same.
- Invites from existing Wave users – So you are lucky enough to know someone having a Wave account? Great! Have him send you an invite. Wave users will be able to send invites to their friends and families else how else will one communicate and collaborate?
I am also working on getting an invite from somewhere. When I get one, do not worry will surely invite all my friends here at ewebbuddy.
Do keep a tab on the updates so that you do not miss out. Subscribe to RSS and follow me on twitter!!
Now read NEWS online fast – Google Fast Flip
Hello friends, here’s another one from Google. Like always they are out with something to make the web more interesting and life easy, all this at the cost of nothing(read as free). No wonder, I update about Google so often on ewebbuddy.com.
So whats New?
Well, new is Google Labs latest offering to make reading NEWS easier, faster and fun! Its called Google Fast Flip. Fast Flip is the latest experiment happening at Google Labs and I found it quite cool.
Whats Fast Flip all about?
Fast Flip displays NEWS from all around the world from various publications under different categories and sections, sorted based on popularity, age, etc as screenshots. You can simply click on the screenshots to read the news posts, once done flip to the next. This is a great relief to the otherwise slow and boring way of reading NEWS, dont you think so?? You can even rate articles you liked and mail them to anybody. This is what folks at Google Blog say about it,
Fast Flip is a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles. Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers. As the name suggests, flipping through content is very fast, so you can quickly look through a lot of pages until you find something interesting. At the same time, we provide aggregation and search over many top newspapers and magazines, and the ability to share content with your friends and community. Fast Flip also personalizes the experience for you, by taking cues from selections you make to show you more content from sources, topics and journalists that you seem to like. In short, you get fast browsing, natural magazine-style navigation, recommendations from friends and other members of the community and a selection of content that is serendipitous and personalized.
So what are you folks waiting for, go check out the product and do tell me what you think of it by commenting here on the blog. See ya guys around and don’t worry I will keep you updated, afterall thats what buddies are for…
Download free eBooks more than 1 million from Google Books
Hey people this is just in and its great news, specially for folks who love reading. Google Books which has been around for quite a long time and has been helping people read books which have been out of print, gone rare, etc is here with a bang. They have added to their collection more than 1 million books which were available in the public domain. And these books will be available as free download in the pdf/epub format.
This is what the google blog says,
I’m excited to announce that starting today, Google Books will offer free downloads of these and more than one million more public domain books in an additional format, EPUB. By adding support for EPUB downloads, we’re hoping to make these books more accessible by helping people around the world to find and read them in more places.
So what does this exactly means?
Rare, old, expensive books available in the public domain is now just a click away. You can search, download and enjoy them. Knowledge is meant to share and grow and google books is what making it easier bu digitizing all of it.
What is EPUB format?
EPUB format is a light weight and free format compared to the heavy image based pdf format. For your desktops and lappy’s, PDF format still works out great but for people who are used to reading on portable devices like palmtops, ebook readers, iphones, etc EPUB format is the best way to read these books. EPUB is a free, open source format so you can be sure that it will be supported by most of the document readers available today.
How to download from Google Books?
Well its quite simple:
- Goto Google Books and search for that book you have on your mind
- The book should be in the public domain for you to be able to download
- Click on the download button and choose the desired format.
- And Voilaaa you have the book in your hands (literally)
Download ebooks from Google Books
So, as always google is upto great things to make our life easier. If you would like to know how a book is converted into a digital format, read it on the Google Blog.
Also, today is the last day for eWebBuddy’s Giveaway sponsored by Invoicera. Participate and who knows you maybe one of the 3 lucky winners!! Contest is over, winner will be announced soon. Good Day…