Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

Google seems to be dishin’ out new products and services, left and right. Some of them make the cut, other’s don’t! There’s quite the list of services that haven’t been as fortunate as others, like the original Google Video. What happened to it anyways? I’m talking about the one released into beta back in January of 2005 which was to enable users to “search the content of television programs from leading TV content providers including PBS, the NBA, Fox News, and C-Span.” It’s been replaced by the Google Video as you know it today, where you are able to watch actual videos, instead of searching the transcripts and content as the initial version offered.

Back in January 2005, the product manager for Google Video wrote up a short snippet on the Google Blog giving his compelling reason as to why Google Video was needed. He talked about being stuck in a hotel room for a few days in Wisconsin for a wedding, trying to find something to do, and flipping through channels, “idly watching some travel show when a thought hit me: surely someone, somewhere must have produced a travel show episode about Wisconsin, maybe even about that cheese factory. But of course there was no way to find it.” Thus Google Video came along. Above is a screenshot that shows a listing of television shows that matched what you were searching for.

In their press release, Google talked about all of the cool features it was going to have, like:

• Preview page: Displays up to five still video images and five short text segments from the closed captioning of each program.
• Upcoming episodes: Shows when the program will be aired next.
• Search within the show: Enables searching for specific words within a given program.
• Program details: Offers program and episode information including channel, date and time.
• Change location: Finds the next time and channel where a program will air locally according to zip code.

After searching for a program, you could click on the results and get more detailed information.  The screenshot above is an example of a result for Nightline with short snippets available at different time increments.  From there, it let you know when the show would be coming on next, and the time it would air based upon your zip code. These screenshots came from an archive from what used to be the “Help” page for the original Google Video. Unfortunately or fortunately, this service didn’t last too long.

The Google Operating System blog has put together a more detailed list that includes other Google services that just couldn’t make it… like:

• Google Answers- Recently closed in November, they just couldn’t compete with the well established Yahoo! Answers.
• Google X – It was designed to look similar to OS X, kinda cool.. .but Google didn’t want to risk a law suit from Apple. The link is a mirror of what Google X actually looked like.
• Google Compute – Yes, this one put your computer to work for other people when you weren’t using it! Using the Google Toolbar, Google Compute used your computer to help with calculations and research projects. Google was going to carefully select “worthwhile endeavors” to help, but Google Compute didn’t last long enough to do this.
• Google Viewer – This one displayed your Google search results as a Slide Show.

So long, farewell Google services….

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We’d be lying if we said we hadn’t been waiting on this feature since the service’s debut. As one reader just notified us (and verified by a number of staffers), Google Voice now lets you port your own phone number into its system — as in, that 10-digit hometown relic you’ve been holding onto as long as you’ve carried a handset can now live in the cloud and grant you freedom to start afresh / forward to your many on-hand devices. Check under phone setting to see if “change / port” is now an option. The cost of porting is $20 and, as you may guess, it’ll terminate your current service plan and probably prompt the carrier in question to charge applicable early termination fees, but that’s pittance for saving your old line for the indefinite future. You know, just in case your seventh grade crush gets the nerve to call and say, “sorry.” Of course he / she will, just give it time.

Update: Google just pinged us to note this feature is still being tested and may not be available to everyone. “We’re continually testing new features to enhance the user experience. For a limited amount of time, we’re making the Google Voice number porting process available to users. We don’t have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future.”

Update 2: Ninja vanish! Looks like the option to port is gone — for now, at least. Just keep an eye on your settings pane, it’s bound to resurface sooner or later.

Google Voice now lets you port your own phone number (update: option disappears) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on December 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Despite the fact that Google hasn’t made an official announcement that a special interface for iPhone users has launched, it has. TechCrunch initially reported yesterday that an anonymous tipster informed them that it had launched, and sure enough, it had. The image to the right shows you what this interface will look like on the iPhone. It has links to Gmail, the Google Calendar, Google Reader, and there’s also a “more” link that will direct you to more Google services. Those services include Docs, GOOG-411, SMS, News, Photos, Blogger, or Google Notebook.

For those who use Google services regularly, this will be great because everything is nicely integrated into one interface that suites the iPhone perfectly. According to a sample of people who have used it, everything actually loads pretty fast too. The nice navigation bar at the top means users will be able to quickly jump from Gmail to their Calendar, to the Reader, and back to Google’s homepage again without extra clicks. The navigation bar will always be at the top, no matter where you’ve navigated to on the google.com/m site.

As I was browsing around the web today, I came across people who were pouting and saying “it’s not fair! Why does the iPhone get special attention from Google and get their own page?” I can see why people are a bit annoyed, but really, it’s not hard to understand why Google is doing this.  Given the popularity of the iPhone since it launched and its continued popularity, sites are going to want to cater to it.  On the other hand, I find it ironic that the iPhone was supposed to be better than any other phone for browsing the Internet and viewing web pages as they are, yet many sites like Google and Facebook feel that it’s necessary to create something special for it.

Source: jkOnTheRun

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This article was written on June 10, 2006 by CyberNet.

Google has added some new features to Google Videos that are definitely nice to have: Movers and Shakers, recently uploaded videos, search history, and the homepage got a little refresh.

The Movers and Shakers is probably the best feature that they added. It reminds me of Alexa’s Movers and Shakers list except Google did it with videos and Alexa did it with Web Sites. This will definitely make it easy to find those videos that are about to become popular.

The recently uploaded section will show you videos that have been added recently. This doesn’t show you the most recently added, instead it randomly shows you videos that were added over the last week or so.

Lastly, Google Video is now incorporated into your Search History. The search history keeps track of searches you have done on Google, Google Images, etc… and now also Google Video. I have used this feature on Google countless times because Google saves your searches and remembers what videos/Web Sites you click on when you perform the search. This makes it a ton easier when you are trying to find something that you had searched for last week.

It looks like YouTube might need to put on some sunglasses before they get Googly eyes from seeing all of these new features!

Google Videos Homepage
News Source: Googling Google

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After spending the last two and a half years helping Microsoft develop Kinect (and spending countless hours hacking Wiimotes before that), the illustrious Johnny Chung Lee has decided to take his talents to Mountain View and work for Google. Mr. Lee didn’t say exactly what he’ll be doing for Google, but we do know that he’s joining a special projects team, and his title is “Rapid Evaluator.” It’s curious that Johnny has seemingly left his gaming roots to work for the search giant, but regardless we look forward to seeing what he’s up to at El Goog and wish him the best in his new job. Here’s hoping his new duties won’t quell his penchant for at-home tinkering.

The (geek) decision: Kinect developer Johnny Chung Lee leaves Microsoft for Google originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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