Google Tests Movie Ratings

Google's knowledge graph card tests a feature that lets you like or dislike movies and TV shows. For example, when you search for "It's a Wonderful Life", you can click like or dislike and check the percentage of Google users who liked it.

The same buttons show up when you search for a TV show like "Saturday Night Live".

Search Engine Land reports that Google confirmed this experiment, which was first spotted last month.

Google's Holiday Decorations

When you search Google for [Christmas], [Hanukkah], [Kwanzaa], [Festivus] or other related queries, you'll see some special decorations related to each holiday. Festivus is "a holiday celebrated by those seeking an alternative to the commercialism and pressures of the Christmas holiday season."

Christmas trees, Santa Claus, the Christmas star adorn the Google search page and bring the hoiday spirit.

The Hanukkah menorah and Kwanzaa's Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles) are lighting up Google's search pages.

Here are the decorations from 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011.

New Interface for Google Search

Google's desktop search pages have a new interface for navigating between search results. The search box is bigger, there's a new search icon and Google now only shows 2 or 3 specialized search engines next to "all", down from 4. Apps and shopping seem to be missing from the list of search engines, so you can only pick from image search, video search, Google News, Google Maps, Google Flights and Google Books.

The settings dropdown is now placed below the search box and it includes the option that lets you hide private results. You can still change search settings, languages, turn on or turn off SafeSearch, use advanced search options, open Web History or go to the help center.

Search tools are now simply called tools and they include the same options: search by date and verbatim.

Image search lets you quickly go to the saved images page and change SafeSearch setting.

Google Shopping is broken. While the homepage still loads, when you click a product image or search for something, Google shows an empty page.

Here's the old Google Search interface, via Wikipedia:

Make a Bookmark to Quickly Restart Google Chrome

Google Chrome, most would agree, is a memory hog. Open a few website tabs in Chrome and your system slows down to a crawl. The most recommended solution is that you uninstall the non-essential Chrome add-ons and restart your browser to release some RAM.

How do you restart Chrome? Close the browser and double-click the application icon on the desktop to launch it again. That’s the usual way but Chrome also offers a special URL that makes it easy to restart Chrome from the address bar.

Go to the browser address bar, type chrome://restart and hit the Enter key. Voila! The browser restarts itself.

Make a Chrome Restart Bookmark

If you restart Chrome frequently, it may be a good idea to create a bookmark that will help you restart with a click. Here’s how.

Press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Cmd+D (Mac) to bookmark this page in your browser. Now click the Edit button on the bookmark screen, put chrome://restart in the URL input field and click save to create the restart bookmark.

That’s it. Type chrome://chrome-urls in your browser address bar to see other internal pages of Chrome that can be accessed via special URLs.

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The story, Make a Bookmark to Quickly Restart Google Chrome, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 16/11/2016 under Google Chrome, Internet.

How to Make Someone Else’s YouTube Playlist Your Own

Millions of YouTube users are working diligently to organize this ever-growing database of videos into playlists that make the YouTube experience even more enjoyable.

Looking for inspiring Steve Jobs speeches on YouTube? Classic nursery rhymes for kids? Popular music videos of Adele? Well, chances are that some YouTube user may have already curated the best videos for a topic into playlists that you can watch on any device with a click. You can even download YouTube playlists on your Android or iPhone for offline viewing.

Meet YouTube Copier, a web app that lets you copy YouTube Playlists of another user to your own account. https://t.co/T295US6vJ8 http://pic.twitter.com/a2CEtD7RH1

— Amit Agarwal (@labnol) November 16, 2016

Save Playlists vs Copy Playlists

When you open any video playlist on YouTube, you have the option to save that playlist. This is like creating a bookmark that you can revisit later to watch that playlist again. However, it is a read-only playlist and you have absolutely no control over the content of that playlist.

Also, like everything else on the web, your saved YouTube playlists may disappear without warning. This can happen if the playlist creator deletes the playlist or if their YouTube account is suspended for, say, copyright infringement. When the YouTube account is gone, the user’s playlists are removed too.

The solution is simple. If you would like to save a YouTube playlist permanently, you should  clone that playlist into your own YouTube account. You’ll become the owner of the copied playlist and thus, if the original disappears, you aren’t affected.

How to Copy YouTube Playlists of Another User

Introducing YouTube Copier, a web app that lets you easily copy any public video playlist to your own YouTube account.

To get started, sign-in with your YouTube account and allow the app to access your Youtube account. Now enter the YouTube playlist URL (like this one) and choose the privacy of your new  playlist – it can be either public (visible to all), private (only visible to you) or unlisted (visible to people who know the link). That’s it.

Click the “Copy Playlist” button and a copy should be ready in your YouTube channel within a minute. Also, you can copy playlists of any size – they can have 20 video or 800 – the tool will copy them all.

How to Merge Multiple YouTube Playlists

The YouTube Copier offers another handy feature – you can input any video playlist (it could be yours or someone else’s) and merge it with an existing playlist in your YouTube account. So if you have discovered 3 different playlists of your favorite music, you can save them all in a single playlist rather than having to create multiple playlists.

The tool uses the official YouTube API and the source code is available on ctrlq.org. Download the YouTube video to get started.

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The story, How to Make Someone Else’s YouTube Playlist Your Own, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 15/11/2016 under YouTube, Internet.

How to Embed Images from Google Photos into your Website

Google Photos is the best service for backing up your digital photos to the cloud. They have no storage restrictions, your can upload images as well as videos, and visual search helps you find photos by people or things in them. There’s one feature though that’s still missing in Google Photos.

You can easily share your photos with anyone using a simple link but Google Photos offers no option for you to embed an existing image into a website. That is, if you have already uploaded an image onto Google Photos, you can’t directly embed it into your website through Google Photos.

I wrote an app to help you embed #GooglePhotos in your website https://t.co/cDt4NorvWi http://pic.twitter.com/mq7J4h4qzj

— Amit Agarwal (@labnol) October 25, 2016

Google Photos as an Image Host

Embed Google Photos is a new web app that, as the name suggests, makes it extremely easy for you to pick any image hosted on Google Photos and place it on a web page using simple HTML code.

Here’re the steps involved:

• Go to photos.google.com and open any image that you wish to embed in your website.
• Tap the Share Icon (video tutorial) and then choose Get Link to generate a shareable link for that image.
• Go to http://j.mp/EmbedGooglePhotos, paste that link and it will instantly generate the embed code for that picture.

Open your website template, paste the generated code and save (see sample). The image will now serve directly from your Google Photos account. This technique can also be used for embedding images in HTML Mail without having to use an external image hosting service.

Embed Google Photos – How it works?

When you share a single photo via a link inside Google Photos, it creates an unlisted link that is accessible to anyone including those who are not logged into their Google Accounts. Internally, the app downloads the page behind this link and extracts the Open Graph tags to determine the direct link of the image and the underlying photo album.

Also see: Google Photos – The Good Parts

The embed app only works for single images and not albums. One more thing. I am not aware of any bandwidth limitations for images shared via Google Photos. If have a very popular site, this may not be the way to go.

 

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The story, How to Embed Images from Google Photos into your Website, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 25/10/2016 under Embed, Image, Internet.

How to Capture Screenshots in Google Chrome without using Extensions

There are umpteen ways to capture screenshots of web pages in your Google Chrome browser. You can use the good-old Print Screen key (or Cmd+Shift+4 on a Mac), get a snapshot utility like SnagIt or the Windows Snipping Tool, or even better, get a dedicated Google Chrome extension like Smartshot that lets you capture the screen and annotate it.

What some may not know is that the newer versions of Google Chrome have a built-in screenshot capabilities allowing to perform screen captures without install any extensions. The more interesting part is that you can even add device frames to your captured images for more realistic mobile screenshots.

Did you know you can take screenshots of web pages inside Google Chrome without any extension. https://t.co/jR2O8JMXJv http://pic.twitter.com/UqEM7O96lU

— Amit Agarwal (@labnol) October 18, 2016

How to Screen Capture in Google Chrome

To get started, open any web page inside Google Chrome and choose Settings -> Tools -> Developer Tools. Alternatively, press F12 on Windows or Cmd+Opt+I on a Mac to directly open the Chrome Dev Tools window.

Next, toggle the Device Toolbar button so that it turns blue. Now select any mobile device from the built-in list of device presets. Set the zoom to 100% and click the Rotate icon to change the orientation (default is portrait mode).

The stage is set. Click the 3-dot menu in the right and enable device frame. Next, choose Capture Screenshot from the same menu to save a device screenshot in PNG format.

Capture Screenshots in Firefox

You can capture screenshots of web pages in Firefox as well without installing any add-ons. Unlike Chrome which can only capture visible region, Firefox developer tools can take a snapshot of the entire web page and automatically saves it in your default downloads folder.

Open Web Developer tools inside Firefox and, under Settings, enable the option – Take a screenshot of the entire page. Firefox will add a camera icon to the developer toolbar letting you capture screenshots with one-click.

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The story, How to Capture Screenshots in Google Chrome without using Extensions, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 18/10/2016 under Google Chrome, Screen Capture, Internet.

Random Facts About Animals in Google Search

Did you know that "male lions defend the pride's territory while females do most of the hunting"? Did you know that "the name humpback whale describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive"? What about this one: "ostriches have the largest eyes of any land living animal and they measure 50 mm (2 inches) in diameter"?

Google now shows random facts about animals in the "did you know" section of the Knowledge Graph card. They're extracted from various sites and Google actually links to the source.

Some example of queries that return random facts: [cat], [lion], [alpaca], [giraffe], [ostrich], [duck], [elk], [raccoon]. It's worth pointing out that you can get another random fact by reloading the page or searching again for the same animal.

Check iPhone Stock in nearby Apple Stores with a Google Sheet

You are planning to buy a new iPhone 7 but the model you want to have, the premium jet black finish with 128GB, is neither available at Apple stores in your area nor at any of the online shopping sites. Now the Apple website does have a simple tool to help you check the availability of iPhone, or iPad or any other Apple product, at their retail stores but you still need to perform these inventory checks manually.

Wouldn’t it be easier if these checks could be automated? You specify the iPhone model you wish to own, your preferred color, capacity, your area zip code, your desired carrier and the tool would send you an email alert when iPhone is back in stock at any of the Apple retail stores in your area. It’s like having someone check the Apple website for iPhone availability every few hours.

Check iPhone Availability by Zip Code

What we have here simple Google Spreadsheet, that resides in your Google Drive, and it will monitor the Apple store in the background for iPhone availability.  When any of the iPhone models in your watchlist are back in stock at any of the nearby Apple Stores, you’ll get an email alert.

The email alerts (see sample alert) will also include a directly reservation link to help you book the device online for in-store pickup rather than having to drive down to the store.

Monitor iPhone Stock with Google Sheets

Here’s how you can use the Google Script based Apple Tracker tool for automatically tracking iPhone inventory at Apple Stores in your locality:

1. Click here to make a copy of the Apple Tracker sheet in your Google Drive.
2. The sheet has a list of every possible iPhone variant available at Apple Stores. Put your ZIP code, or your locality, against any iPhone model that you wish to monitor for availability.
3. Go to the Apple Store menu (near Help menu), choose Start Tracker and authorize the script. You only need to do this once, the script is open-source and none of your data ever leaves your Google account.

That’s it.

Check iPhone availability in nearby Apple Stores with a Google Spreadsheet, get email alerts when stock is back https://t.co/lQLL8TWH1x http://pic.twitter.com/0ZNFTa5b2T

— Amit Agarwal (@labnol) October 17, 2016

The Google Script will check the inventory of all Apple Stores in the specified zip code and will send email alerts if it finds a store where your favorite Apple iPhone model is available for pick up. The email alert will also include the Apple store’s address and phone number.

Later, if you need to completely disable tracking, open your Google sheet and choose Uninstall from the Apple menu. If you need to remove tracking from certain iPhone models, just clear the corresponding ZIP column for that row.

Also see: Amazon Price Tracker made with Google Sheets

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The story, Check iPhone Stock in nearby Apple Stores with a Google Sheet, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 17/10/2016 under IPad, IPhone, Internet.

Found in Related Searches

Google Knowledge Graph has more than one billion entities and more than 70 billion facts about these entities (people, places, things). It's huge and it brings a different dimension to search: understanding concepts and the relation between them.

Mobile Google Search now has a section called "found in related search", which shows a few entities frequently mentioned in other related searches. For example, I searched for [ethanol molar mass] and Google showed 2 lists of organic and inorganic compounds: one of them was found in the related search [properties of alkanes] and the other was for [polar solvents]. Ethanol is a polar solvent which can be obtained from alkenes, while alkenes can be derived from alkanes, so Google's suggestions are somewhat useful.

This feature is not limited to chemistry, it also works for other topics. Here's a different query: [tour eiffel design], which shows other "towers of the world" and "tourist attractions in France".

Google Converts Queries Into Questions

I noticed an interesting Google Search experiment in the mobile/tablet interface. When searching for [alcohol with the highest boiling], Google converted my query into a question: "Which alcohol has the highest boiling point?", then it tried to answer the question using a snippet from a web page and then it added a "more results" link. Google's link sent to me to the search results page for the question inferred by Google.

Google's Card for Directions

When you search Google for [directions] or [get directions], you get an error message: "No results for that place. Try entering it below to get suggestions." Google shows a special card for directions with cool features like autocomplete, but the error message is out of place because you haven't typed a location.

Suggestions aren't very smart. For example, I typed "Brisbane, Australia" as the starting point and then I started to type "Mel" as the destination. Google suggested 3 places from California, strictly based on my location, while ignoring that Melbourne is a much better suggestion.

Google shows directions inside the card and you can pick between driving, walking, cycling or using public transportation. To see the directions, just click the text that describes your favorite route.

Add Home Screen Shortcuts to Google Maps Directions

I'm not sure if this is a new feature, but it must be pretty recent. Google Maps for Android lets you add home screen shortcuts to directions directly from the app. Just search for directions, tap the menu icon and pick "add route to Home screen". This works best when you select the current location, but it's not a requirement.

You may also see this message: "Go here often? Add this route. Tap here to add a Home screen shortcut to this route."

Another option is to add the directions widget, which lets you pick the shortcut name, whether to start turn-by-turn navigation and more.

Google Color Converter

Google has a special card that's both a color picker and a color converter. For example, you can search for HEX color codes like #123456 and Google shows the color and converts it to other formats: RGB, HSV, HSL, CMYK.  Google's card also shows up when you search for RGB values like rgb(255,0,255). The most interesting feature of the card lets you pick a color interactively.

Other queries that trigger Google's card: RGB to HEX, color picker.

This is not a new feature, but it's worth pointing out that Chrome has its own color picker and converter in the developer tools. Click a color in the styles tab to open the color picker and shift-click a color to convert it to a different format.

{ via Android Police }