15 September 2013

New Google Trends Interface



Google Trends has a new interface that changes how you add search terms and how you compare search volumes. There's still a search box at the top of the page, but its role has been deemphasized. The old interface placed search terms in the left sidebar, while the new UI shows some big building blocks above the chart. Filters have also been moved to the top of the page.












The "Top Charts" page now includes trending charts, not just lists of the most searched topics. There charts for actors, animals, authors, books, cars, chemical elements, cities, colleges and universities, countries, drinks, games, medications, movies, people, scientists, software technologies, space objects, sports teams, TV shows, and more.






The "Hot Searches" section has a calendar view that shows the hottest topics from the past 30 days. It looks nice. "Click the new calendar icon at the top of the Hot Searches page for any of our thirteen supported countries. Hover on a topic for some quick information and a link to see more search trends from the day," informs Google.






{ via Inside Search }

How To Disable Auto Brightness In Windows 8.1



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Automatic brightness or adaptive brightness is one of the features introduced with Windows 8 to automatically adjust the screen brightness in real time on computers that ship with ambient light sensor. In simple words, this feature automatically updates the display brightness as ambient light changes. Even though this is a fantastic feature for users who […]

Faster Google Maps Navigation



The new version of the Google Maps app for Android made turn-by-turn navigation more cumbersome. Google removed the navigation icon and integrated the navigation feature in the Maps app, instead of using a separate app. The new interface is more difficult to use because it requires more taps and the directions button is really small.



Fortunately, Google addressed some of the issues and you can start the navigation mode a lot faster. "Select a place, then tap and hold on the transportation icon. This will automatically open voice guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation and you'll be ready to go," informs Google.






It's not an obvious feature, but it lets you skip 2 screens. You first had to pick a route, see the list of directions and then tap "Start".



This tip also works in the Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad, so it's not limited to Android.

Google Keep to Integrate With Google Drive



Google Keep was supposed to integrate with Google Drive, but it's still a distinct app. Google Keep is a pretty basic app and doesn't have a lot of features, so you can't expect that it will improve.



Right now, you can only insert images and save audio files when using the dictation feature from the mobile app. Google Keep's code includes multiple references to an upcoming feature that lets you upload any file to Google Drive and add it to a note, preview the file using the Google Drive Viewer or open it using various apps. You'll also be able to add videos (YouTube URLs or videos uploaded to Google Drive) and play them inside Google Keep.












While this isn't the Drive integration I expected, it's still a cool feature. Hopefully, Keep will become a Google Drive app and you'll be able to open and edit your notes from Google Drive.