Auto Awesome Year in Review

Auto Awesome brings more and more reasons to upload your photos to Google+. There's a new Auto Awesome gift: a video that highlights some of the best photos and videos you've taken in 2013. It's the year in review, a short video with nice music and cool transitions. You'll receive a notification in the Google bar when your video is ready.



"This time of year we reconnect with loved ones, and we reflect on the moments that really matter. Photos and videos help preserve these moments, and when you save them to Google+, #AutoAwesome can bring your story to life in meaningful, magical ways," says Google's Anil Sabharwal.

You can check the "year in review" videos shared by other Google+ users by searching for #year2013.

{ Thanks, Mukil. }

Google+ Easter Egg for Christmas

Mr. Jingles has a special Christmas costume. You can find it in the Google+ notification box: in Google+ and most Google services and in the Google+ app for iOS and Android.

Here's the animation that's displayed when you click the icon. This is the "retina" double-sized version:

There's also a "reindeer" version:

{ Thanks, Mukil. }

More Holiday Decorations in Google Search

Google's mobile search interface shows some special decorations when you search for [Christmas], [Kwanzaa] or some queries that include them.

They're not animated like the desktop decorations, but they fill the entire search results page.

{ Thanks, Sterling. }

Goodbye, Skype: 4 Alternative VOIP Services You Can Record Calls With

New changes to Skype and the support of third party apps have left many users frustrated, particularly where call recording is concerned. With suggestions that the service isn’t as secure as once thought, could now be the time to start looking for an alternative VoIP call recording service? Quit Skype? Are You Mad?! Had you told me 12 months ago that Microsoft was going to disable the Skype desktop API, thus rendering many third-party call recorders useless, I’d have suspected you (or they) were mad. Although a temporary delay has been announced, the writing is clearly on the wall. Like...

Read the full article: Goodbye, Skype: 4 Alternative VOIP Services You Can Record Calls With