Android KitKat

Android KitKat is the first new major Android release since Jelly Bean 4.1. There are so many changes and new features that it's hard to list all of them. It's a release focused on optimizations, immersive interfaces and support for new hardware. There's also a new device that showcases the new features: Nexus 5.RAM is always an important issue when it comes to mobile devices, especially if they run Android. High-end phones and tablets now have 2GB...

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Google Community Translation

You might remember "Google in Your Language", the Google feature that allowed you to translate Google services. It was a great way to help Google support new languages, but you could also use it to find new Google features.It looks like the translation console will be back. There's a Google Community Translation page that links to a Chrome extension which is not available.I searched for the extension ID and found a Chrome log with information...

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Gmail Landing Page

For some reason, when you go to gmail.com and you're not logged in, Google now redirects you to this landing page. It shows a huge carousel that advertises features like Hangouts, tabs and the mobile Gmail app. There are also links to other pages about Gmail features, mobile Gmail, Google Apps and the help center. Stuck in a corner, you can also find a link that lets you sign in and a button that lets you create an account.When you click "sign in",...

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New Features in Google+ for Android

Mobile apps for social services are strange. Until now, the Google+ mobile app didn't allow you to copy the text of a post. You had to get the URL of the post, open the browser and copy the text there. I thought this must be a bug until I checked the Facebook app and noticed that you can't copy text.The latest version of the Google+ app for Android lets you copy the text of a post, copy comments, quickly reply to comments, translate posts and comments.While...

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Custom Google+ URLs

Until now, vanity Google+ URLs were only for popular business, famous people, Google employees and some other special users. Now anyone can get a custom URL and replace the long Google+ URL with something more memorable. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose the URL: you can only pick from Google's preapproved URLs."If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can get a custom URL for your Google+ account or page. This means you can choose one...

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540 Million Google+ Users, 300 Million Core Users

Google+ continues to grow and the growth rate is impressive, according to Google's stats. Back in December, Google announced that "235 million [people] are active across Google (+1'ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search), and 135 million are active in just the stream." Now Google says that 540 million people are active across Google each month and 300 million people are active in the Google+ stream.The number...

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Auto Awesome Action, Eraser and Movie

Auto Awesome is a collection of features that create new images which use the photos you upload: panoramas, animations, HDR, better group photos. They're created automatically and Google now even sends notifications when they're ready.There are 3 new Auto Awesome features: 2 of them are only for photos (action, eraser) and the third one is for both photos and videos. Action is great for action photos. "Take a series of photos of someone moving (dancing,...

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Google+ Photo Search Detects More Than 1,000 Objects

Back in May, Google announced an impressive search feature that allows to find photos even if they don't include any useful metadata. "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." Here are more details: "This is powered by computer vision and machine learning technology, which uses the visual content...

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Yahoo Image Search's Fullscreen Slideshow

One of the features I've always wanted to see in Google Image Search is slideshows. Google lets you quickly go to the next image result using the right arrow shortcut, but a slideshow button would make things even easier. Picasa Web search used to have this feature. I know that webmasters will say that this wastes their bandwidth, so let's get past this.It turns out that Yahoo already has this feature. Yahoo's search results are powered by Microsoft...

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Google Takeout's New Interface

A few weeks ago, Google updated the Takeout interface and it's now much easier to download all your data. The service supports 17 products: Google Drive, YouTube, Blogger, Google+ Photos, Contacts, Hangouts, Location History and more.When you click "create an archive", Google selects all the products that are available and shows the size of the ZIP archive you can download. Archives larger than 2GB will be split into multiple ZIP files. You can switch...

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Google WiFi Passport

Google found a new way to get people online: a service called WiFi Passport that's currently tested in Jakarta (Indonesia) and allows people to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots for free or at affordable rates."WiFi Passport powered by Google is a fast, easy and affordable way to get online when you're out and about in Jakarta. To use it, just get a voucher, sign into your Google account, enter the code then head to the nearest participating hotspot. It's...

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YouTube Drops Support for 1080p Streams in the Regular HTML5 Player

I've mentioned in the previous post about Media Source Extensions and YouTube's HTML5 player. For now, only Chrome, Opera and IE11 for Windows 8 support Media Source Extensions. If you're using Firefox, Safari or an old version of IE, you're out of luck.Why is this important? YouTube switched to adaptive streams in the Flash player and now does the same thing for the HTML5 player, but this requires Media Source Extensions. The adaptive DASH player...

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YouTube Shows if Your Browser Supports Media Source Extensions

YouTube has recently updated the HTML5 player's page and now shows if your browser supports Media Source Extensions for H.264 or WebM VP9. I loaded the page in various browsers and Chrome is the only browser that supports both containers and Media Source Extensions. Internet Explorer 11 also supports Media Source Extensions, but you need to install a Google software to play WebM videos in IE.The W3C draft explains that this "extends HTMLMediaElement...

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Google Tests Image Ads for Top Search Results

Back in 2010, Google launched a feature that allowed local businesses to add yellow markers to the map and promote their websites. Tags were actually ads that were placed inside local search results. It was a weird way to mix organic search results with ads and this feature was discontinued in 2011.Now Google tests a similar feature for web search results. Instead of adding links and markers, advertisers can add huge banners above their search listings,...

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Google Maps Easter Egg for Philadelphia

Here's a cool Easter Egg: search for Philadelphia, click the map thumbnail from the right sidebar and notice that your query is replaced by "city of brotherly love", one of the nicknames of the city. "Popular nicknames for Philadelphia are Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek," informs Wikipedia.{ Thanks, Emanuele....

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No More Saved Searches in Google+

Google+ had a cool feature that allowed you to save searches. It's no longer available and all your saved searches will be removed in a few weeks.Google shows this message when you click one of the saved searches: "Saved searches are going away. Bookmark this page on your browser to save your Google+ search for later."There's even an article that explains how to bookmark a search results page. "Browser bookmarks replace the earlier 'Save this search'...

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