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‘Google News’ Category
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Google TV To Leave Out Android’s OHA Partners
Google has enlisted the help of Intel, Logitech and Sony to target Apple as the two parties, amongst a slew of others, vie for the control of the lounge, a move that squarely aims at competing with Apple TV set top box device.
Although more details have yet to be disclosed, the fact that the New York Times is mentioning one hardware behemoth, one consumer electronics giant and one peripheral firm means that a number of web-enabled products are likely to be released.
The New York Times, which broke the story, did not mention any time frame for the release although it did say that this could happen by this summer, which is only a few months away. This could also mean that the four protagonists have been working on this project for quite some time.
Intel joined Google’s Open Handset Alliance which regulates the Android ecosystem back in November 2007 but neither Sony nor Logitech are OHA members; also the fact that the project is known as Google TV rather than GLIS (based on their initials) means that the search giant is firmly in control.
That said, we can’t help but wonder whether Google has taken the right partners onboard. All three Google partners are well known, household names but whether the platform will be opened to other manufacturers remain to be seen.
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Google Launches Apps Migration Tool For Microsoft Exchange Users
In an attempt to siphon users from Microsoft’s Exchange enterprise software, Google has unleashed the Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool, which is designed to allow Exchange users to migrate to the cloud-based Google Apps for business in four easy steps.
As of now, Microsoft Exchange is being used by the majority of enterprise users, big and small, who use the software to send internal emails and emails. Exchange is also used extensively within the organisations to store and share contact.
Ever since Google came out with its Google Apps for Business, the company has been challenging Microsoft and every other enterprise software vendor with its set of sophisticated cloud based enterprise applications.
Earlier Google Apps users were able to sync with Microsoft exchange tools, which was later followed by a migration tool for Lotus Notes. But this time, Google has really stepped on some toes by launching an outright migration tool for Exchange software.
Interestingly, the search engine giant has had the migration tool in testing for a while now and has reported a positive response from its enterprise testers of the software.
The migration is available for free for users of Google Apps for Business or Education but not for the users of the Google Apps standard edition.
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Google Set To Launch TV Set Venture?
After having an apparently successful run in the smartphone domain with its Nexus One, Google is planning to further extend its influence in the living room with a new collaborative project, codenamed as ‘Google TV’, which aims at providing native web access via next generation televisions and set-top boxes.
The New York Times is reporting that the search engine giant is striking partnerships with the chip mogul Intel, Japanese consumer electronics major Sony, and Logitech to kick off its ambitious project in the guise of Google TV.
The partnership would presumably help Google and Intel to take their computing dominance to an entirely new sphere, i.e. televisions, where the two have little influence.
Furthermore, it would also provide a lucrative opportunity to Sony, which has perceptibly been struggling to maintain technological edge while keeping the best-suited price tags in this highly competitive TV hardware market.
The collaboration foresees a novel breakthrough technology that would make accessing slew of web applications, such as Twitter and Facebook, as easy as hopping through TV channels.
However, Google, along with its partners, is seeking to explore the opportunity exists in the arena, by opening its new TV platform, which is based on its signature Android mobile operating system.
The search giant is expected to deliver a SDK for the outside programmers in the next few months and products sporting the technology could be shipped as early as this summer, the NYT reported.
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XML Co-Founder Joins Google As Developer Advocate
Tim Bray, a former Sun Microsystems employee and the co-founder of XML language, has announced on his blog that he has secured the post of ‘Developer Advocate’ in Google, with his role being focused around the Android mobile phone operating system.
In the blog post titled “Now A No-Evil Zone”, Bray expressed his enthusiasm in working with Google Inc. to assure a continuous growth of the Android platform, as he believes in the open-source capabilities of the platform.
Bray wrote an the blog post that Google was seriously working towards building the Android OS as the ultimate user and developer friendly platform.
He also pointed out the reasons due to which he decided to work with the search engine giant. Bray believes that he and Google have a lot in common, with ‘Web-centric’, ‘Search’ and ‘Open Source’ being some key similarities.
Bray, explaining the functionalities offered by the Android platform, wrote on the blog that “It’s developer-friendly; the barriers to entry are very low for the several million people on the planet who are comfy with the java programming language.”
However, the new Google employee went out of his way to criticise iPod maker Apple about its closeness when it comes to the iPhone OS platform.
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Google Introduces Reader Play Browsing Feature
Google Inc. has rolled out Reader Play beta web based service which is designed to allow users to browse and read web content related to Google Reader news feeds.
According to a post on the official Google Reader blog, the experimental tool will allow users to browse through Google Reader contents and other online content in a slideshow mode, with content including photos and videos, being displayed in an enlarged form.
The users can navigate forward and backwards with the help of two arrow keys.
The blog post, which was made by Google Reader engineer Garrett Wu, also reported that when a user will click on the content, they will be automatically be redirected to the website containing the content.
Apart from the enlarged viewing functions, Google Reader Play is designed to play videos automatically. Unlike all the other Google services, signing in to the service is not compulsory in order to use the service.
However, when users do log into their Google accounts, the search engine giant will show a list of shared items of people a user is following on Google reader and will also provide a list of items starred, liked or shared by the users.
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Google Offers Stock Updates In Mobile Product Search Service
Search engine giant Google has announced that users of its mobile product search service will now be able to see if a desired product is available in a store near them or not. This new feature will not only allow users to expand their search preferences, it will also help Google to tighten its hold on the mobile search market. In a blog posted on the official Google Retail Blog, the company explained that if a user is searching for a product that is sold by participating retailers, including Sears, BestBuy, Pottery Barn, William-Sonoma or West-Elm, a blue dot will appear with the search results if the product is available in a local store, if the user has specified his location or has activated the My Location option. The post, which was writte by Paul Lee and Yury Pinsky, the Product Management Team, also added that when the ‘In stock nearby’ link, which is next to the blue dot, is clicked, users will be redirected to the sellers website, where the availability status of the product will be revealed along with distance of the store from the users current location. Further explaining the functions of the new service, the product managers wrote on the blogpost that “If you have an iPhone, Palm WebOS phone, or any Android-powered device, and you’re in the US, just go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on the “more” link, and then select “Shopping.”
Search engine giant Google has announced that users of its mobile product search service will now be able to see if a desired product is available in a store near them or not.
This new feature will not only allow users to expand their search preferences, it will also help Google to tighten its hold on the mobile search market.
In a blog posted on the official Google Retail Blog, the company explained that if a user is searching for a product that is sold by participating retailers, including Sears, BestBuy, Pottery Barn, William-Sonoma or West-Elm, a blue dot will appear with the search results if the product is available in a local store, if the user has specified his location or has activated the My Location option.
The post, which was writte by Paul Lee and Yury Pinsky, the Product Management Team, also added that when the ‘In stock nearby’ link, which is next to the blue dot, is clicked, users will be redirected to the sellers website, where the availability status of the product will be revealed along with distance of the store from the users current location.
Further explaining the functions of the new service, the product managers wrote on the blogpost that “If you have an iPhone, Palm WebOS phone, or any Android-powered device, and you’re in the US, just go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on the “more” link, and then select “Shopping.”
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Google Launches Corporate Apps Marketplace
Search engine mogul Google has unveiled its brand new Google Apps Marketplace, which will offer applications developed by other vendors for enterprise use and will be integrated with Google Apps and Google’s cloud storage service.
The new Google Apps Marketplace, which was rolled out on Tuesday, is designed to take on Microsoft which offers similar business enterprise offerings and online collaboration tools.
According to the Google Apps Marketplace website, the online store will offer web based online collaboration and communication tools to businesses, in order to increase their productivity and efficiency.
Interestingly, Google Apps has become quite popular with enterprise users, who use Google Apps like Gmail, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Calender, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation.
The new Marketplace will be offering web based enterprise software that integrates nicely with Google Apps and the cloud service offered by the company.
As of now, the Apps Marketplace features applications developed by 50 companies that are designed to work with Google’s cloud based software services.
The Google Apps Marketplace, which has an estimated 25 million users, features popular Software-as a-service apps including Manymoon, a social productivity and task management tool, Aviary Design Suite and Tripit travel organiser.
You can find more about the service here and you will need to be a Google Apps customer (even the free version) to be able to test them.
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Google Partners With Dish Network Over TV Search
According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, search engine giant Google is testing a new TV search service in partnership with Dish Network, which will be capable of allowing users to search for TV programs and online videos right from their internet enabled TV sets.
Users will be able to search for their favorite TV programs thanks to the soon-to-be-launched internet friendly set top boxes which will have Google software installed in them.
The TV search technology will also allow Dish TV users to create their own video playlists with the help of a keyboard.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that people familiar with the matter had revealed that the new Google TV search service has been in testing phase for the past one year and is being used by some Google employees and their families.
It seems that Google is planning to bring online advertising based on keywords and searches to TV users and expand its already massive online presence.
Interestingly, the Dish set top boxes will come with Google’s Android operating system, allowing the platform to grow beyond the smartphone and mobile phone markets.
According to a study conducted back in 2008, almost half the people purchasing television sets had showed enthusiasm at the prospect of internet enabled TV sets.
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Google Accounts For 9 Percent Of Mobile Pageviews Says Opera
While Google has been the search engine of choice for an umpteen number of users in the traditional search market domain, it hasn’t been a slack in the rather unexplored mobile search domain, a recent has study claimed.
A study carried out by Opera Software, dubbed as the “Opera State of the Mobile Report”, has revealed that the search engine giant accounts for an impressive nine percent of all page views on the mobile web.
Yahoo rested at the distant second spot with 4.3 percent share, whereas Microsoft’s latest venture into the search market, Bing, with a mere 0.03 percent, was not so popular among the mobile web searchers yet, the study noted.
Although this nine percent page views figure doesn’t indicate that Google has completely swept the search market altogether, as the study claimed that a number of local search engines have had their say in the mobile search market.
Quoting the same, Jon Von Tetzchner, one of Opera’s co-founders, said: “While Google performs well globally, we also see several local search engines, such as Yandex in Russia and Ukraine, and Baidu in China, have impressive results in their key markets”.
Incidentally, Opera has managed to get a perceptive insight into the web users’ behaviour on mobiles due to the fact that all page requests made through Opera’s browser have to pass through its servers for compressing the content to make it compatible for mobile view.
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Google Defends Search Strategy Against EU Accusations
Search engine giant Google has come up on Thursday with rather strong-worded defence in order to tackle the looming queries to be made by EU officials.
This comes amidst the incessant buzz over the blogosphere about Google being probed by EU authorities for the antitrust accusations made by its three other rivals in the region.
Google’s search ranking pundit Amit Singhal attempted to undermine the charges by claiming that Google has a well-defined search ranking system that dishes up the most relevant and better results to the web searchers.
In a Thursday post on the company’s policy blog, Singhal asserted that Google employs the most apt algorithm for presenting better results, though he accepted that the method is still not anywhere closer to be called perfect.
However, the post doesn’t reveal anything about the ranking algorithm, and has apparently been written to answer its critics.
Pointing differences between Google’s ranking algorithms and that of others, Singhal wrote: “Other search engines approach this differently, selecting some results one at a time, manually curating what you see on the page.”
He further suggested that unlike other’s ranking algorithm, which heavily relies upon users’ choices and tastes, Google’s algorithm is far different from those and thus produces most pertinent results.
Additionally, he also maintained that Google works on its ranking algorithm almost every day to prevent “lousy” results from being displayed, which perceptibly adds to the search giant’s efficacy in producing useful results.
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