17 June 2013

Ads in Gmail's Promotions Tab



Remember Gmail's sponsored promotions, the feature that combined ads with email? Google found an intrusive way to display these ads in the new inbox interface: they're added to the promotions tab and look almost like regular messages. Sure, they have a different background color and there's an "ad" label, but inbox tabs should only include your messages, not ads disguised as email.









"It's a new type of ad which you can forward to a friend, or star to save it to your inbox. If you dismiss this ad, you won't see it again," informs Google. You can click "dismiss" or use the "x" icon to remove an ad.






If you want to see all the sponsored promotions for your account, go to this page.


Google Announces Balloon-Powered Internet With Project Loon [Updates]



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Google announced on Friday that it will release a new product that incorporates balloons and wireless Internet. Dubbed Project Loon, Google explained most of the details in its company blog, but some questions are still left unanswered.

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Top 10 Google Play Services Reviews



I don't know why Google Play Services is an app in Google Play, but some of the reviews are great. It's hard to review a system component that adds support for new APIs, so some of the reviewers got creative.






Here are my favorite reviews:



1. "I was given a Nexus 7 by an old shaman in a yellow poncho. He told me to install this package and sacrifice a living watermelon to Utanapishti, singing the Bollywood rendition of 'Love Train' as an offering of my adulation. Upon completion, all the disease and sickness in my village was cured, and we knew no more sadness. Also, Mark Wahlberg came to visit and gave us all Nexus 7s before he returned to the 8th dimension of Kajiik Masunraht."



2. "After i installed this my screen went from 4.6 inches to 5! I say it was well worth it. But the best part was using my phones NFC as a key for my mustang. I bet it would work on a mercedes, just put it up to the steering wheel and tap it to turn the car on. Don't forget to activate your free netflix subscription!!"



3. "I got a pony, and a car, and unicorn, and a pony, and a leprechaun, and a pot of gold, and a reindeer, and a computer, and a slave, and a Santa, and a genie, and a unlimited wishes voucher, and a pony."



4. "This app has taken over my life. I'm addicted so bad that my wife took the kids and left me! Ooh well, its well worth it woooooooooo"



5. "This game is amazing, if you collect all the frogs, beat the mini game and unlock Knights of the Round once you beat Level 10, (God Mode) there is a bonus level. I beat the bonus boss and my phone suddenly started vibrating and transformed into only what I can imagine is a Samsung Galaxy S 6!"



6. "This app give me an extra Maps to Mordor! And i can take pictures of Nàzgul while in 3D Panoramic Mode. And I can control Curiosity on Mars too! Thank you Google!"



7. "Cannot recommend this enough. Seamless integration with my Atari 2600 and immersive soundtrack. Inspired!"



8. "This is without a doubt the best game on the entire play store. the graphics are beyond console quality and the storyline is better than mo's movies these days. Level 8 is quite impossible though... Anyway, props to Google for a job well done!"



9. "This service of play is the best there is. Beats Apple 5 services which don't play well with anything. Google plays well...very well. So well, they even have this nifty service. All my friends with Android devices use it too. How my life has gotten better with Google Play services ?? Well, for one thing, I don't have to think any more. Google Services reads my mind, and does stuff for me...WELL in advance of when I would have probably done it.... Sends emails, sets reminders, ANSWERS emails before they even arrive! It is so awesome... Actually, this is Google service writing this so my owner didn't have to...... I'm awesome."



10. "Reunited me with my dad 26 years after he said he was going to the store to buy milk and cigarettes."



Another app with many funny reviews is Samsung Push Service. Here's an example: "After 2 months of staring at the divorce papers, I picked up the pen preparing to flush 10 years down the drain. At that moment, the app download it. Screeching tires in my driveway and my wife came running in the house and ripped up the papers. Thank you Samsung, you saved my life."



Any other Google Play apps with funny reviews?


16 June 2013

Google Promotes Map Maker



Google Maps shows a clever promo for Map Maker in the classic interface: "Is something missing? Edit Google Maps." It's probably an experiment, but the message always shows up when using this URL.









"Google Map Maker is a Google Maps service that allows you add or edit features, such as roads, businesses, parks, schools and more. Using Google Map Maker tools, you can visually mark locations and add detailed information about these locations," informed a Google post back in 2008, when Map Maker was launched. At that time, Map Maker was only available for 17 countries, including Cyprus, Iceland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bahamas and Vietnam. Google continued to add new countries and the service now supports over 200 countries. "More than 40,000 people around the world are making contributions and improving Google Maps through Google Map Maker each month," announced Google in April, when the UK was added to Map Maker.



You'll usually see an option to "Edit in Google Map Maker" at the bottom of the map, next to the copyright message.


Knowledge Graph and Google Bombs



Google bombing has a new meaning, with the introduction of the Knowledge Graph. From [more evil than Satan himself] to [miserable failure], Google bombs were created by getting many web pages to link to the target homepage and use the same anchor text. For example, Microsoft haters linked to Microsoft's homepage and used this anchor text back in 1999: [more evil than Satan himself]. After a few months, Google's top result for [more evil than Satan himself] was Microsoft's homepage. Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button made Google bombs more popular, many people thinking that Google modified search results pages.



Here's a screenshot from 1999 well preserved by bedope.com:






Google started to use some algorithms to defuse bombs, but there are still ways to artificially inflate Google rankings for a page to show your opinion. For example, when you search for [completely wrong], Google shows pictures of Mitt Romney, the Republican Nominee for the US Presidential Election in 2012.



Knowledge Graph brings a new meaning to Google bombs. If you search for [kłamca], you'll get a Knowledge Graph for Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland. "Kłamca" is a Polish word that means "liar". In fact, many of the top results for [kłamca] are about Donald Tusk, who is no longer popular in Poland.









Apparently, this Google bomb has been reported back in 2010 by Polish news sites. Back then, the top search result for [kłamca] was the Wikipedia page for Donald Tusk. Now Google shows an entire sidebar with information about the Prime Minister of Poland.



{ Thanks, Jerzy. }


Google's Unified Storage, Now Available



It took awhile, but Google's unified storage is finally here for everyone (some people got the new feature earlier, it was gradually rolled out). As previously mentioned, the 25GB plan is no longer available and the most affordable plan offers 100GB for $4.99/month.



You get 15GB of free storage for Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos and you can buy additional storage (100GB, 200GB, 400GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 16TB). Until now, the storage was only shared between Google Drive and Google+ Photos and you got 15GB of bonus storage for Gmail. Now the entire storage is shared between Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos.









Here's what happens after upgrading to the 100GB plan:






You'll get this message: "Thanks for purchasing a Google Drive storage plan. (...) Starting today, you'll have this storage shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos. To manage this plan, visit google.com/settings/storage. Remember that with the purchase of this plan, you have priority access to phone, email, and chat support from one of our specialists. Contact us. Thanks for buying Google Drive storage, and welcome to the cloud!"






If you have an old plan, you may see some extra storage called "early adopter bonus".






Cool Websites and Tools [June 15th 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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Are You Taking Advantage Of All The Money Saving Deals On Amazon?



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I'm such a big fan of Amazon, and if you're someone who shops online then you have almost no choice but to be. You can get anything and everything on Amazon. It's trusted and reliable. It should be the first thing that comes to your mind when you turn to the internet to purchase something. Another thing that Amazon does quite well is offer some really great deals.

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Foursquare Developers Release New Time Machine Feature With Samsung [Updates]



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Foursquare developers introduced a new feature on Friday: the Foursquare Time Machine. The Foursquare Time Machine is an in-browser app to play an animation that artistically depicts the entirety of a user's check-ins in their most-visited city.

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15 June 2013

Cool Websites and Tools [June 14th 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 post: Cool Websites and Tools [June 14th 2013]



So You Lost Your Best Friend? These Websites Can Help Locate Your Lost Pet



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Having a pet, specifically a dog or a cat, can bring so much joy in your life. Something soft that you can cuddle with. Something you can share your thoughts with. Something that will love you back no matter what. But what happens when your best friend gets lost or runs away?What can you do to get them back as quickly as possible?

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Get More Out Of Pocket With These 6 Tips To Enhance Your Reading Experience



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While Pocket is simple and easy-to-use, there are a few ways you can make the experience of using the service even better. Whether it's finding interesting ways to save content to your Pocket account, or to share that content with others, or even ways that improve how you can consume that content through Pocket, we've got you covered.

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IFTTT Introduces Support For Gmail Attachments [Updates]



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The automation giant IFTTT has just announced that their users can now make their Gmail automations much more powerful and effective by deciding how their email attachments are handled. Now included in the automation list is the ability to have your attachments automatically saved to cloud storage, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive, Box, and Evernote. One recipe will even automate sending attachments to a "backup Gmail account".

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Save Yourself The Lines And Buy Great Digital Gifts With These Services



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If a friend's big event has crept up on you, you may have just found yourself in the market for buying a last-minute digital gift, which you know will arrive in time for their celebrations. But what present will you get? And how? These days, buying virtual gifts for your friends and family is actually more common than you might think.

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Read full post: Save Yourself The Lines And Buy Great Digital Gifts With These Services



Google No Longer Mentions Data Sources



There's an entertaining video that shows 2 Google employees (Mike LeBeau and Amanda Rosenberg) finding answers to various questions using Google Glass.







One of the questions is: "who sings that song where the guy goes 'How Bizarre'?" Google Glass provides the right answer (OMC) and lists a few sites that mention this answer. I asked a similar question using the mobile Google Search app and Google displayed the following message below the answer: "mentioned in results below".






It's nice to see that Google understands verbose questions. Unfortunately, Google no longer mentions the sources that provide the answer. For example, a query like [everest height] used to return an answer, followed by a list of sources.






Here's how it looks today, after the upgrade to the Knowledge Graph:






Google extracts facts from various web pages, so listing some of the sources is appropriate and helps users find reputable sources of information. If the answer is wrong or it's no longer accurate, Google can always point to the sources. As Wikipedia says, "verifiability means that people reading and editing the encyclopedia can check that the information comes from a reliable source".



Google mentions that the "Knowledge Graph isn't just rooted in public sources such as Freebase, Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook. It's also augmented at a much larger scale because we're focused on comprehensive breadth and depth. It currently contains more than 500 million objects, as well as more than 3.5 billion facts about and relationships between these different objects. And it's tuned based on what people search for, and what we find out on the web."