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almost of the early deliver Google software uses live installers that download the required files from Google’s servers and enable an auto-updater. Whether you want to install Chrome, Gears, Lively or Google Earth’s plug-in, Google first upload a tiny setup file that requires an Internet connection to obtain the software.
One of the simplet ways to find definitions for words and idioms was to do a Google search and then click on the words from Google’s blue bar. Google linked to dictionary.com until 2005, when it switched to the more large scope answers.com. Unfortunately, the feature is no longer accessible and users will have to find other ways to receive definitions.
google-definitions
Here are some other ways to find definitions using Google:
1. search for [define word] and you’ll get a short definition for your word, most likely from WordNet. To get other definitions from different glossaries and dictionaries, click on “web definitions for…”. Example: define cup.
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2. a shortcut for finding a list of definitions from the web is to use the define: operator. Just search for define:cup and you’ll get a lot of definitions from a variety of source, but not all of them are having autority
3. subscribe to the Merriam-Webster OneBox to add a special search result with definitions.
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According to Search Engine Land, Answers.com got 20 to 25% of its traffic from the Google definition links in 2007 and there wasn’t any paid deal between Google and Answers.com. The only other important search engine that shows definition links is Yahoo, but it doesn’t use a third-party service.
{ via Google Blogoscoped }
TechCrunch reports that Google started to experiment with displaying ads next to image search results. This isn’t a surprise, since Google announced in May that it intends to test display ads.
There are different formats and positions for the ads, which combine a small image with a standard text ad. Steve Poland spotted a blended ad that looked deceivingly similar to an image result.
“The big insight of Google wasn’t text ads; it was that the ads should be conducive to the format. We were doing text-based search that was all textual. Visual ads don’t work in that format,” explained Marissa Mayer in February, when Google started to test video ads next to web search results.
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Google Image Search prepares to become more useful by adding options to find similar images, recognize faces and objects. The new features will increase the site’s popularity and will attract more commercial queries that could be monetized using display ads.
Google Knol tests a cool feature that automatically converts articles to audio files, which can be played or downloaded. For now, the option is available for a small number of knols, like this one about multiple sclerosis.
“We are experimenting with Audio Playback as an option for some knols, starting with a handful of English language featured knols. If this experiment is successful, we may make Audio Playback available to more knols in additional languages, and additional features,” mentions a Knol help page.
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Hopefully, Google will add support for text-to-speech conversions to other services like Google Docs, Google Reader or Google Book Search.
Google has finally made the right decision and it removed that were created when you clicked on a result from Google Video. Instead of directly linking to the original site, Google used frames to show both the external site and a list of related videos from Google Video. This duplicated the functionality from video sites like YouTube, while making it difficult to navigate and to share a URL.
Here’s the first version of the frame, from June 2007:
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… and a screenshot from April 2008, when Google Video has been redesigned:
google-video-frame-apr08
Google Image Search uses a similar frame, but it’s more useful as it provides information about search results. If you don’t like the frame from Google Image Search, you can use Greasemonkey scripts like Google Image Relinker or Google Image direct links to bypass it.
Google Webmaster Tools is a valuable source of information if you have a website: Google lists crawl errors, popular searches that lead to your site, backlinks and SEO tips. Until now, Google listed the URLs from your site that returned the 404 (page not found) error, without mentioning how GoogleBot found those addresses. This has been fixed and you can find the list of pages that link to broken URLs from your site in the “Linked From” column of the “Diagnostics > Web crawl > Not found” report.
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“If we report crawl errors for your website, you can use crawl error sources to quickly determine if the cause is from your site or someone else’s. You’ll have the information you need to contact them to get it fixed, and if needed, you can still put in place redirects on your own site to the appropriate URL,” suggests Google Webmaster Central blog.
While it’s difficult to estimate your number of searches, Google Web History shows the total number of searches performed when you were logged in. The service was launched in April 2005, but my account shows data from December 2005.
Google Web History is enabled by default when you create a Google account and it records your searches, the search results you click on and your browsing history, but the last feature is opt-in.
total-google-searches
In 2003, Google tested a counter that displayed the number of searches, but that feature didn’t go live. “The counter is displayed at the bottom of Google’s home page, and shows both a numeric count and a color bar to represent the frequency of your searching. (…) Beyond being an interesting gimmick, what’s the purpose of the counter? Though Google has removed the counter FAQ page, its answer to the question What do I win was the zen-like There is no winning. There is only self-awareness. The search is endless.“
After including Tour de France’s routes in Street View, Google expands the coverage for France, by adding Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Lille and Toulouse. The French blog Zorgloob links to a video prepared for the launch:
If you’ve never visited Paris, Street View is a great way to explore Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Basilique du Sacré-Cœuror or Jardin du Luxembourg.
Here’s a “flipbook” created using still images from Paris:
After months of painful testing, the new version of iGoogle has been launched for everyone in the US. iGoogle 2.0 moves the tabs to the left, brings a persistent Google Chat widget and it adds a canvas view that allows gadgets to become full-fledged applications.
“Canvas view allows developers to deliver richer content, games, and UI to users on iGoogle as well as the opportunity to monetize,” explains Google. Not all the gadgets take advantage of the canvas view, but this page highlights some gadgets that can be maximized and the list includes: Google Reader, Google Calendar, Gmail, weather, Wall Street Journal and regular feeds. For example, the new Gmail gadget lets you read your messages and send replies directly from iGoogle, but it lacks some features that would’ve made it a good replacement for the full-featured Gmail: links and attachments are stripped from messages.
Google has been testing the new version of iGoogle for the past three months on a small sample of users and many of them complained about the new navigation interface.
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igoogle-canvas
“We’re very excited about these changes because it makes iGoogle a more useful homepage and a better platform for developers. And this is just the beginning: expect to see more canvas gadgets created by developers and more new features on iGoogle soon. Not in the U.S.? Don’t worry. We’ll also be rolling out this updated version in other countries very soon,” mentions Google’s blog.
The next big thing for iGoogle is the support for OpenSocial that will make Google’s personalized homepage more social.
Google Docs added footnotes, a feature that would’ve been useful for those who write academic papers or books if it were implemented properly. You can insert a footnote by clicking on the Insert menu and selecting Footnote.
“Footnotes appear on-screen in the document margin and at the bottom of the page when printed. You’ll be able to see how the footnotes will appear when printed by selecting Print (Ctrl+P) or Download file as… PDF from the File menu. There will also be a footnote marker within the actual document designated by a pound sign (#). You can drag and drop a footnote anywhere you’d like in the document by simply clicking on this pound sign and dragging,” notes Google’s help page.
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Google did a good job at integrating footnotes in the interface, but they should be displayed at the bottom of the page and they should be numbered. Unfortunately, Google Docs still doesn’t support pagination.
Another compatibility issue is that word processors will display footnotes as endnotes, at the end of your document.