In this video, see baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. speak at Google as part of its Authors@Google series.
Google Earth To Get Google Ocean
Google plans on adding a tool, either within Google Earth or as its own thing, that will allow for users to explore 3D underwater topography. The “tool” being discussed in this article is basically Google adding the sea floor, letting users see the contour of the ocean floor in detail and allow Google to add data above it about the ocean.
Cinco De Mayo Search Logos Ask.com ran a nice homepage design for Cinco De Mayo. Sadly, they misspelled the name of the day:
Here’s the original image, good for a desktop background:
Also, here’s Yahoo’s logo:
Google Shuts Down Hello Google is shuttering Hello, the IM-style photo sharing service it received in the acquisition of Picasa four years ago. Hello was an unsung product with exciting potential, so much so that my article calling it “Google’s Most Underrated Product” in October 2004 was the first ever article on InsideGoogle to get widely noticed, thanks to links from CNet and other major sites. The thing about underrated things is that you’re supposed to realize that you can benefit a lot from recognizing them, and Google never did.
What will happen to hello.com, possibly the best domain name Google owns?
Google Presentations Embeds Change Sizes
Now, if you want to embed a Google Docs presentation in your blog or website, you can change its size to have it match the layout of your site, making it fit in much better.
YouTube Running Playboy Casting Call Playboy magazine is running a contest to give one “lucky” woman a trip to Hollywood and a chance to be featured in Playboy. Just upload a video audition to YouTube, but keep in mind that YouTube won’t let you show all the reasons Playboy should choose you.
Google Docs Gets Lots of Updates Google Docs added lots of new stuff, including saved searches, offline Google Gears access for spreadsheets and presentations, custom document stylesheets (using CSS), speaker notes in presentations, and embedded YouTube videos in presentations.
Move Your Life To Gmail With Gmail Uploader Google released last month the Gmail Uploader, a free application that moves your email and contacts from Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird (on Windows XP and Vista only) to a Google Apps Gmail account. Considering the huge number of limitations (only three email programs, two operating systems, and one very specific and less popular edition of Gmail), you may never get the chance to use it, which is a shame, because most new Gmail users would love the easy migration method.
Google Charts Now Does QR Codes
Google has been trying out QR Codes (a type of 2D bar codes) in its print ads, and now they’re making it easier to generate them on the web. Before, you’d have to use a web app or software to create a QR Code, then save the image to use on your website, but now the Google Chart API can be queried to get them automatically. Right now, all you get are website URLs, though hopefully Google will extend the API to handle more complex data.
Here’s an API-generated image for this site, using the URL http://chartserver.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300&chl=http://google.blognewschannel.com/:
Blogger Adds Future Posts
Google’s Blogger has added the ability to schedule posts to be published in the future by specifying a date yet to come for your post. This feature was tested in Blogger In Draft, and is yet another feature to make its way into the ever improving Blogger.
Google Invests In New Clearwire Google entered into an agreement with Sprint and others (Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners), investing half a billion dollars in a new formation of wireless ISP Clearwire. The new company will be 51% Sprint-owned, taking Sprint’s Xohm WiMax business. Google’s a wireless provider of sorts, now, and will help get open devices, including Android devices, on the network, and provide search and applications for the network.
Google Me - A Documentary About Search
This documentary features a guy searching for others with this same name as him. A concept we’ve heard before, though it seems to have resulted in an interest project.
Google’s Head of PR Goes to Facebook
Elliot Schrage leaves for Facebook, costing Google its vice president of global communications and public affairs. Of course, Google’s corporate PR policies haven’t been that smart the last few years, so maybe this isn’t great news for Facebook.
Google Maps Interface Slimmed Down
Google has finally trimmed some of the cruft building on Google Maps, combining and simplifying an interface that was getting too complicated and cluttered.
Blogger Gets Integrated Analytics
Google has integrated Google Analytics into Blogger for Blogger users that are interested, giving access to stats inside the Blogger Dashboard along with special stats tracking relevant to blogs. They’re also letting Measure Map users roll over their accounts into Google Analytics now.
