28 June 2013

2 Years of Google+



Google+ was launched 2 years ago to fix online sharing. "We'd like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. We want to make Google better by including you, your relationships, and your interests. And so begins the Google+ project," announced Google.



2 years later, Google+ grows faster than anticipated, brings cool new features, enables vibrant discussions, makes your photos look better and redefines the word "hangout".



There's a special Google +2 logo:






... and the jingle is now festive:






Here's the animated version:






Is Google+ an upgraded Google? Google+ brought a new consistent design for Google's services, made sharing more straightforward and search more social and personal. Google+ was a necessary tectonic shift for Google. It's now a different Google Labs, where the experiments turn into features that are used by hundreds of millions of people. From auto-enhanced photos to auto-tagged content, from video conferencing to event management, from social games to surfacing useful content, from object recognition to photo editing, Google+ is the place where you can use some of the most advanced features released by Google in the past 2 years.

YouTube's Subscription Reminder



If you watch a few videos from a channel, YouTube's homepage shows a message that recommends you to subscribe to that channel.



"Subscribe to see more videos from this channel. You've recently watched videos from [channel's name]. Subscribe to see their next videos right here on your YouTube homepage."






You can subscribe to the channel or hide the message by clicking the small "x" icon.



Now that you've subscribed to the channel, you can change your subscription preferences when you watch a video from that channel. There's a wheel icon next to the "subscribed" button that lets you enable email notifications and restrict the subscription to new uploads.






If you need more suggestions, check the "recommended channels" sidebar from YouTube's homepage or visit this page. Remove the channels you don't like to improve YouTube's future recommendations.

How to Quickly Compose a New Email Message



Learn how to quickly compose a new mail message in your default email program directly from the address bar of any web browser.



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Digital Inspiration @labnol This story, How to Quickly Compose a New Email Message, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 28/06/2013 under GMail, Mailto, Internet.



Office Document Editor for Chromebooks



Google works on creating a Native Client app for Quickoffice, a software acquired last year. There's an Office Viewer extension for Chrome, which is bundled with Chrome OS.



Now Google experiments with adding editing features to the Office Viewer. If you have a Chromebook, you've switched to the Dev Channel and have the latest Chrome OS version (29.0.1547.2), you can enable these features:



1. open a new tab



2. type this in the address bar: chrome://flags/ and then press Enter



3. use Ctrl+F to search for "document editing"



4. click "Enable" next to "Enable document editing"






5. click the "Restart Now" button to restart your computer and use the new flag.



The editor is pretty basic and it only works for Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. For some reason, the document editor only saves documents in the Office 2007 format.









{ via François Beaufort }

How to Embed Instagram Videos on your Website



Learn how to embed any Instagram video or photograph into your website with a click. You may also use the tool for downloading Instagram videos.



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Digital Inspiration @labnol This story, How to Embed Instagram Videos on your Website, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 28/06/2013 under Embed, Html5, Instagram, Internet.



Cool Websites and Tools [June 27th 2013]



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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool websites round-ups delivered to your email daily email subscribe here....

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Read full article: Cool Websites and Tools [June 27th 2013]



Discover The World Through Food With Cookening: The Airbnb Of Meals



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Introducing the Airbnb of food! Cookening doesn't actually have anything to do with Airbnb, but being an Airbnb veteran guest myself, I couldn't help but notice the resemblance between the two services. The only difference is that with Cookening, you don't get a place to stay, you get a home-cooked meal from a local. Or, if you're the local, you get to cook and host tourists in your house.

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Read full article: Discover The World Through Food With Cookening: The Airbnb Of Meals



4 More YouTube Channels Worth Your Attention



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A little over a year ago, I hit MUO readers with a short list of lesser-known YouTube series and personalities worth checking out . This list featured video game commentary, a guy who spends his time eating cat litter and shoes, an attempt at putting an iPhone through a blender, and more. It’s about that time to come up with another batch, this time of four!

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Read full article: 4 More YouTube Channels Worth Your Attention



Generate Disposable Email Addresses That Do Not Expire



With Maildrop, you can instantly create disposable email addresses that do not expire and the service requires no logins or passwords.



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Digital Inspiration @labnol This story, Generate Disposable Email Addresses That Do Not Expire, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 27/06/2013 under Email, Spam, Websites, Internet.



So You Think You Own The Books and Games You Paid For? [Opinion]



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I've got a shelf full of books. I love them. I read them. I even use them as a backdrop for my wife's science videos. And sometimes, I lend them to friends. It's not complicated, lending out books – you just hand your friend the book. If you're lucky, your friend brings it back (and you get to share a great conversation). If not, your friend has a book – and you no longer do. Since the dawn of human civilization, this is how lending worked.

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Read full article: So You Think You Own The Books and Games You Paid For? [Opinion]