My Surmise

Once again, Google has rolled out a new layout across all searches (pictured above).

The newest layout is actually a step backwards. Three weeks ago, Google revised its classic search layout by moving navigational links from above the search bar to the top left corner and by replacing the blue bar between the search bar and the results with a silver bar.

This new layout keeps the navigational links in the top left corner but removes the silver bar and reverts back to the classic blue bar.

I guess Google got a lot of negative feedback.

Image © Google. All rights reserved.

Labels: Google

Over the past few weeks, Google has been relentlessly testing various new layouts for their search results. It began to appear that every new search brought a different layout. Well, finally, Google has rolled out a new uniform layout for all searches. I think this layout was an excellent choice. Its clean and web 2.0 like. Google gets my approval on this one.

[Via Google Operating System]

Labels: Google

When I first started using Google Desktop I was still using Microsoft Word. My favorite feature of GD was its ability to search inside my DOCs. However, somewhere down the road I switched to OpenOffice.org and was disappointed to find that Google Desktop does not have native support for ODTs. I installed Larry's OpenOffice and StarOffice Indexer, but its behavior is less than desirable. Larry's plugin only works on the original system index and does not allow Google Desktop to index newly created ODT files, or at least thats how it behave for me. A few weeks ago I went to suggest ODT support on GD's suggestion page and gladly found this as a predefined feature to vote for. When I saw that Google released a new version of GD today, I thought for sure I would be able to use GD to its fullest extent once again. But I was disappointed. Native ODT support has still not been implemented. As a matter a fact, I am pretty surprised by this delay. Google is usually quick to support open source projects. For example Firefox was always natively supported by GD and Google Docs currently supports importing and exporting ODTs. I guess I will just have to wait for the next version :(.

Labels: Google, Google Desktop, Open Source, OpenOffice.org

After roomers spilled around the web last week about Google offering $1.65 Billion to buy YouTube, this offer had been confirmed and YouTube has accepted. This announcement makes me wonder what will become of Google's own video hosting service. YouTube clearly has more users than Google Video, which would make me think that Google would want to merge its service into YouTube's. However, I personally prefer Google's flash video player and site interface over YouTube's. I think it would be best for the company to maintain both services separate, much like Yahoo did when they acquired Flickr. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some features, such as the ability to download videos, found their way onto YouTub. I am eagerly awaiting a post to Google's blog based on this subject. Update: Interestingly, no Google blog post on this topic, however they have released a press release on this topic and it appears that Google will handle this acquisition as I anticipated. Both YouTube and Google Video will continue to run independently.

Labels: Google, Google Video, YouTube

Yesterday, google announced a new product called Google Browser Sync. This is a Firefox extension that will upload your bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and cookies to Google's server and then sync them with all computers that you link. Normally I love Google products, but this time I'm gona have to pass. There are a number of things wrong with this extension: First of all, I already allow Google access to my emails, searches, web page statistics and I'm sure much more. When I tried Google Desktop I was concerned about Google phoning home and my entire hard drive to the list of things that Google collects, but I was able to put my fears at ease by simply blocking Google Desktop access to the internet via my firewall. Do we really need Google to know every single web site I have visited? Why should Google know my password for my PayPal account? Also, Google Syncing your passwords does not seem very secure to me. First of all, although these passwords may be semi secure, they are not going to be transmitted over a secure server, therefore these passwords could be at a potential risk of being stolen. Additionally, if they are not picked up via transition someone could possibly capture all of your passwords by cracking your Google account. Lastly, there is already an alternative for syncing your Bookmarks, which I currently use. It is much more basic than Google Browser Sync, whereas it only syncs Bookmarks but it does have a nice feature that allows you to view your books marks via a web page instead of having to sync them onto a browser. Also, if someone has to have my personal information, I would rather it be kept by separate companies, instead of Google compiling a massive database of me. Update: Upon further investigation it looks like there is an option to encrypt the data that is sent to Google, which I guess would make it more secure. Google claims that "By encrypting your information...without the PIN, not even Google, will be able to read your data" but I'm not sure that I believe that, not that I have any reason not to. Also this is an option that is not on by default and I am sure that the majority of users will no turn this on. Google even discourages users from turning this feature on asserting "..encrypting all of your browser settings may affect the performance of Google Browser Sync and Firefox." Clearly this extension was developed with the intention of gathering user information.

Labels: Firefox, Google

Wow its been a while since my last post. Well I'm back. I recently received an invitation to try out the new Google Page Creator and as any dedicated (obsessed) google user would do, I registered. My feelings on their new product are mixed. First of all I thought it was really easy to use. The tool is perfect for a novice web designer. If you chose their WYSIWYG editor, you just need to chose a template and type. The WYSIWYG editor allows you to change the font, font face and font size, it also allows you to add links and images (image hosting included). The template is also pre-formated with a title, subtitle, body and footer. One important feature I found missing was a spell check, but I am sure that will be implemented in the future. In the end you are left with a clean professional editor Another plus was that there are no ads. I remember the first web host I used put these huge flashing, obtrusive ads on the top of the page, not with google! On the negative side, you get a subdomain that matches your google user ID (userID.googlepages.com). In most cases your google account is linked to a gmail account and I can see this leading to a lot of spam. This is the reason I chose not to publish a sample page and also the reason I will not be using this tool. Once Google works out the kinks I think this will be an excellent tool which will make web publishing much more accessible tot the general public.

Labels: Google

Well how big this change is, might vary by personal opinion but none the less...Google has changed their next page arrow. Old arrow... New arrow... See the difference? I approve. Keep up the good work. Please note that much of this post is sarcastic.

Labels: Google

Google recently posted to their official blog:

"As the number of Google services has increased, we've continued to build on our core payment features and migrate to a standard process for people to buy our services with a Google Account. Examples of this migration include enabling users to buy Google Video content, Google Earth licenses, and Google Store items with their Google Accounts. We also just began offering similar functionality on Google Base. Looking ahead, we want to continue building payment services that meet the needs of Google users and advertisers. We expect to add payment functionality to Google services where our users need a way to buy online. For us, it's all about bringing our users a better online experience whether they're searching or buying."

Frankly, I am a little aggravated by this post. For months there has been much excitement amongst the blogosphere about a new Google Payment's system. A new service to finally bring an end to PayPal's monopoly over small volume online payments. And when Google finally makes an announcement about this new program that there has been much speculation about, they tell us nothing. Is this service going to be offered to the general public or just Google Base users? Is it going to be ad supported and fee free (I would like that!)? How about some answers Google.

Labels: Google