Google's Define Operator, No Longer Useful

Last month, Google added a new search options in the sidebar: dictionary. It's a new interface for Google Dictionary that combines definitions from a reputable dictionary with definitions from the Web, usage examples and other useful information.

At the same time, some users reported that Google's define: operator no longer works. The operator was useful to find definitions obtained from Web pages, so you could type [define:iffy] and find a list of definitions. Now the operator is no longer broken, but it only shows the definition from Google Dictionary and links to the dictionary page. You could type [define iffy] and get similar results.


Maybe Google should send users to the dictionary page when they use the define: operator. It's an advanced feature that's not used by many people, but it's very useful.

Here's how it looked:


{ Thanks, Henry. }

Playlists in YouTube's Drop Down Menu

YouTube's drop down menu at the top of the page now includes a list of all your playlists and makes it easier to access your favorite videos, your liked videos and the videos added to the "Watch later" playlist.


"You will now see a different set up when you click on your username in the upper right hand corner of any page. In addition to showing the same links to access your Account, My Videos, etc. you will be able to click on thumbnails to automatically load your playlists, Liked, Favorites, and Watch Later lists. The songs in your playlists will be accessible in the strip across the bottom of your screen -- so you can easily navigate to different videos in the playlist you are watching," explained a Google employee.

Another way to access your playlists is to expand the small bar displayed at the bottom of the page, click "Options" and select "Load a different playlist".

{ Thanks, Andrew. }

Google Promotes Google Accounts

Google created a new Web page that explains users why it's a good idea to create a Google account. "One name, one password. That's all you need. Its free. Take a look at how you can personalize and optimize your experience across all Google products and services."


Using a Google account, you can share photos, track your favorite stocks, get more storage for your email, share your schedule, create web pages and collaborate on documents, make free phone calls and chat face to face, get personalized search results and personalized news, create custom maps and get the same experience on multiple devices. There's a lot you can do if you have a Google account.

While most of the new Google services and features require an account, back in January 2005 Google didn't have many services that required authentication. As the Wayback Machine shows, the initial services available with a Google account were Google Groups, Google Alerts, Google Answers and Google Web APIs, but Google promised that "in the future, your Google account will provide access to all Google programs requiring sign in including: Google AdWords, Google Store and more." One year later, Google already offered Froogle, Personalized Search and a Personalized Homepage and it was preparing to launch Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheets, Google Writely and to acquire YouTube.

Angry Birds as a Web App

Angry Birds, the most popular game for smartphones, has a Web interface. You can install it as a Chrome app or play it from chrome.angrybirds.com using the latest versions of the most important browsers.


Nelson Minar says that "calling it Chrome Angry Birds is missing the point because what's really interesting is that it's a real-time multimedia cross-platform HTML 5 app" and he's right. Angry Birds works well in Internet Explorer 9 and even in Firefox 3.6, but there are some upcoming features that will only work if you install the Chrome app: for example, in-app payments.

CNet reports that "Rovio has built some special levels available only for the Chrome browser and the game includes some Chrome-specific tidbits like Chrome rocks, flowers, and clouds. Rovio will use the new in-app payments from Google to allow users to get to premium levels." Unfortunately for Rovio, a Web developer found a way to unlock all the levels injecting a very simple JavaScript code.

The game caches most of the resources, so you can play it offline.

Chromebooks

Fast, simple, secure, built for the Web, doesn't require administration. It's a Chromebook, a Chrome OS notebook that will be available starting from next month.

"Chromebooks will be available online June 15 in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. More countries will follow in the coming months. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available from Amazon and Best Buy and internationally from leading retailers," informs Google.

Google's simplified computing model puts the browser at the core and creates an operating system that revolves around Google Chrome. Samsung and Acer are the launch partners. Samsung's notebooks have 12.1" displays, Atom Dual-Core processors, 16 GB solid state drives, weigh 1.48 kg and get 8.5 hours of continuous usage. They're similar to the Acer notebooks, which have 11.6" displays, a higher resolution, but only get 6 hours of usage. Some of the notebooks include 3G support, while other notebooks are Wi-Fi only. "The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 in the U.S. for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349," reports CNet.

Here's one of the Samsung Chromebooks:


While Chromebooks don't require administration, businesses and schools need a way to manage hundreds or thousands of notebooks, so Google decided to offer a service that includes a cloud management console, support, device warranties and regular hardware refreshes for only $20/user (schools) or $28/user (businesses).

Chromebooks are actually the real netbooks, lightweight and inexpensive computers built for simple tasks like browsing the Web. Unfortunately, netbooks are no longer very popular and users replace them with tablets like the iPad, which have better displays, better battery and are easier to use. For now, Chromebooks will compete with Windows netbooks and it won't be easy to convince people to buy a Chrome netbook when they could run Chrome on a regular netbook. The good news is that Chromebooks will force Google to improve its web applications, to offer more advanced features, more free storage and all Google users will benefit even if they don't buy a Chromebook.

Google Tasks API

Just when you thought that Google Tasks was abandoned, Google releases an API for Google Tasks. "The Google Tasks API provides developers with a powerful set of API endpoints for searching, reading, and updating Google Tasks content and metadata." Developers will be able to create applications for mobile devices, software that integrates Google Tasks with Outlook and other apps using an official API and a proper authentication mechanism.

Google Tasks has a lot to improve before becoming as powerful as Remember the Milk and it's surprising that the missing features aren't added faster. In January, Google listed some of the most common feature requests: repeating tasks, notifications, task sharing, tasks API, synchronization, visual distinction for overdue tasks. The Tasks API is the first feature that's now available.


{ via Kristian. }

Android: Past, Present and Future

Google I/O's first keynote was all about Android and there were many impressive announcements.

Android stats continue to be surprising: 100 million activated Android devices, 400,000 Android devices activated every day, 200,000 apps in the Android Market, 4.5 billion apps downloaded from the Android Market, 310 Android devices.

The next major Android release is called Ice Cream Sandwich and the goal is to create a unified operating system that runs on phones, tablets and TVs. Ice Cream Sandwich will be released later this year, but there's a Honeycomb 3.1 update that adds support for USB accessories and for Google TV. This summer, people who bought Google TV devices will be able to install Android 3.1 and run apps from the Android Market.


Android users from the US can now rent movies from the Android Market. "You can choose to rent from thousands of movies starting at $1.99 and have them available across your Android devices — rent a movie on your home computer, and it'll be available for viewing on your tablet or phone. You can rent from Android Market on the web today, and we'll be rolling out an update to Verizon XOOM customers beginning today. We'll start rolling out the update to Android 2.2 and above devices in the coming weeks," informs Google.


There's no music subscription service, but Google launched an invitation-only service that stores all your music on Google's servers and lets you stream it from almost any computer and Android device.

iPhone/iPod/iPad users can install the latest software updates for at least two years, but that's not always the case when it comes to Android devices. Some Android phones run outdated software at launch and not all of them are updated to the latest version because phone manufacturers and carriers don't think that's really important. Google and some of the other members of the Open Handset Alliance (Verizon, HTC, Samsung, Sprint, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Motorola and AT&T) started to develop some guidelines for updating firmware. "To start, we're jointly announcing that new devices from participating partners will receive the latest Android platform upgrades for 18 months after the device is first released, as long as the hardware allows," informs Google.

Google also developed Android Open Accessory, "which allows external USB hardware (an Android USB accessory) to interact with an Android-powered device in a special accessory mode. (...) Many previously released Android-powered devices are only capable of acting as a USB device and cannot initiate connections with external USB devices. Android Open Accessory support overcomes this limitation and allows you to build accessories that can interact with an assortment of Android-powered devices by allowing the accessory initiate the connection."

Probably the most interesting announcement is Android@Home, a framework that allows Android devices to communicate with home appliances and other devices. It's an ambitious project that could make home automation part of everyday life. That's also one of the main reasons why Google bought Android: bringing Google's software to new devices, finding new ways to use Google's information in everyday life, creating an ecosystem of smart devices with standard features and APIs that make "the world's information" more useful.