Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Expand your business - Chrome fast

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 02:02 AM PST

Inside AdWords: Expand your business - Chrome fast

Editors note: This is a guest blog post from the Chrome Web Store team, presenting you a new opportunity to grow your business on the web.

Growing revenue and traffic are important goals for most online businesses. The Chrome Web Store that we made available a few days ago can help you with both.

By distributing your web content and applications through the store, you can connect with more than 120 million people who use Chrome regularly. You can also earn revenue both by selling your apps to Chrome users and by showing ads within them. And the best part? Creating an app is quick and easy.

To learn more about how to take advantage of this opportunity and how you can build your app, check out our new website at www.google.com/chrome/CreateAnApp or watch the video below.



Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/12/expand-your-business-chrome-fast.html

[G] Learn more about Quality Score from our live online course

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 02:02 AM PST

Inside AdWords: Learn more about Quality Score from our live online course

To help you understand more about Quality Score, we'll be hosting a free, live course in the AdWords Online Classroom (UK) on Wednesday, December 15. The key to a successful AdWords account is the relevancy of your ads, keywords, and website. Having a better understanding of Quality Score can help you improve your AdWords performance.

The interactive course will be delivered by two AdWords Specialists and will take approximately one hour including some time for Q&A. It will take place on Wednesday, December 15 from 3pm - 4pm BST / GMT+1 (London), 10am-11am EST (New York), 7am-8am PST (San Francisco).

If you're interested, make sure to sign up now!

To learn more about Quality Score you can also visit our Help Center.

Posted by Jason Shafton, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/12/learn-more-about-quality-score-from-our.html

[G] General Category Blocking extended

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 06:50 PM PST

Inside AdSense: General Category Blocking extended

Following up on our announcement that we've been beta-testing a new category blocking feature, we're delighted to release the feature to all publishers in English-speaking countries. General category blocking is an important update to the new AdSense interface that offers you more controls over the ads that appear on your website. It helps you scalably prevent competitors' ads and ads that you might not find suitable for your audience from appearing on your site. With this new control, you can opt out of receiving ads from across 170 specific categories, including finance, travel, job, and automotive.

We show the percentage of total revenue and total impressions for each category to give you insight into the categories of ads that appear on your site and the relative spend in those categories. Keep in mind that blocking categories may have a negative impact on your potential revenue so it's important to review the % of total revenue and total impressions carefully before deciding to block a certain category.



This feature is now available to all publishers in English-speaking countries in the new AdSense interface. General category blocking will initially apply only to ads in English, regardless of the language of the site. We are working on expanding it to other languages in the future.

We hope this feature will address the feedback we've heard from many publishers who want a way to quickly and easily control the ads appearing on their site.

Please leave us comments on how you find the feature.

Posted by Atul Bhandari - AdSense Product Manager
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/12/general-category-blocking-extended.html

[G] Custom Variables For Your Android Applications

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 04:25 PM PST

Google Analytics Blog: Custom Variables For Your Android Applications

With the power of the Google Analytics Mobile SDK, you can track activity within your mobile applications the same way you track activity on websites. In fact, this SDK turns Google Analytics into a great tool for analyzing mobile application usage, with the option to use many of the same great features like advanced segments, goals, and custom reporting. However, you could not apply custom variables to the pageviews and events you sent from your mobile application to Analytics... until now. Get ready for a holiday present.

We're pleased to announce the addition of custom variables to the Mobile Analytics SDK for Android. Using the same simple interface, you can now apply custom variables to your mobile usage data, making for dead-easy segmenting of that data when it comes time to analyze usage and optimize your mobile application.

How, you ask, can custom variables be used to optimize an Android application? The same way they help you optimize web applications: by providing actionable context. Some starter ideas for how to segment your Android application users:
  • Free vs Paid users: What percentage of users went from demo to full version? How long did it take them?
  • Application Version: What version of your app gained the most users? Which version lost some users? Look at where things went wrong and fix them. Fast.
  • Platform version: Would bumping up the minimum version of your application cost you some percentage of your user base? Should you stay backwards compatible with cupcake, or focus on the juicy new features?
You can also use custom variables to tell how users interact with your application:
  • Modes of interaction: UI-wise, do your users use menu-items or long-presses more often?
  • Help/Tutorial: How many features of your application are explored by users who finished the built-in tutorial? How many get used by those who didn't? What's the conversion rate to paid users?
  • Portrait vs landscape: What mode are people in during most of their interaction with your application?
Thanks to the flexibility of the Google Analytics platform, this information is now available to include in your Android applications. And because it's Google Analytics, you still have the advantage of analyzing all this data with our web interface, as well as all the data analysis and visualization tools provided by our ridiculously awesome community.

From all of us on the Google Analytics team, we hope you enjoy!

Posted by Alexander Lucas, Google Analytics API Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/12/custom-variables-for-your-android.html

[G] Join your favorite YouTube stars and charities for an “awesome” live event on Saturday, December 18

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 03:54 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Join your favorite YouTube stars and charities for an "awesome" live event on Saturday, December 18

Three years ago, the vlogbrothers Hank and John kick-started an initiative called Project for Awesome, which called for YouTube users across the world to "take over YouTube" by creating videos that promote their favorite charities and causes. Project for Awesome built on its initial success again in 2008, resulting in thousands of user submissions and a homepage takeover, as people around YouTube took to the web to make the world more awesome for the holidays. Hank and John upped the ante last year by increasing community participation, making Project for Awesome (#p4a) one of the top trending topics on Twitter in December 2009.



Project for Awesome 2010 officially begins on December 17 at 12:01 AM, when users are encouraged to upload videos for their favorite causes and charities. To celebrate the end of Project for Awesome on Saturday, December 18, join us for a live show on YouTube at www.youtube.com/p4a. We're teaming up with the vlogbrothers, some of YouTube's biggest stars like daneboe of Annoying Orange, Michelle Phan, Phil DeFranco, Michael Buckley, Shay Carl, and iJustine, and prominent nonprofit organizations to broadcast a four hour live show from 4 - 8pm PST. The live show involves a wide array of entertainment: from musical performances to user-generated games to and special moments that only YouTube can bring. Moreover, this year, Project for Awesome will focus on raising awareness and encouraging action in four areas: innovation in education, health, poverty, and children's wish-giving.

Representatives from eight charities will be in attendance at this next-generation telethon: including Beatbullying, DonorsChoose, Make a Wish Foundation, Marine Toys For Tots Foundation, Open University, Partners in Health, Save The Children, and Water.org.

And, as in past years, we're encouraging the global YouTube community to create videos on behalf of these charities and the causes you're most passionate about. Post them to your site, tweet them, put them on Facebook - do whatever you can to spread the awesome this holiday season. We look forward to seeing what you create, and hope you join us online next Saturday for a ton of awesomeness!

Margaret Healy, Strategic Partner Manager, recently watched "Zeitgeist 2010".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/xE-EeboQ0Dw/join-your-favorite-youtube-stars-and.html

[G] Email delegation: Granting access to your Gmail account

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 02:11 PM PST

Official Gmail Blog: Email delegation: Granting access to your Gmail account

Posted by Hari Nidumolu, Software Engineer

I use two Gmail accounts: one is my personal account and the other I share with my family (we use it to subscribe to groups like my children's classroom mailing list). Checking these two different accounts used to mean I had to sign out and back in to Gmail all the time. Not anymore. Instead, I can grant my personal account access to my shared family account and view, organize and send mail on behalf of our shared account.

We've offered email delegation for Google Apps accounts for a while — it's super useful for people who want their assistants to have access to read or respond to mail on their behalf. Now this functionality is available for anyone using Gmail. To grant access to another account, click the Settings link in the top right corner of Gmail. On the "Accounts" tab, you'll see a new section where you can "Grant access to your account." For example, below we've given hikingfan@gmail.com access to the hikingfanfamily@gmail.com account.


The account you add will get a verification email with links to accept or deny access. Once the account accepts, a small down arrow will appear beside the email address at the top right corner of Gmail which can be used to toggle between accounts — in this case hikingfan@gmail.com and hikingfanfamily@gmail.com.


Each account will open in a different browser tab or window so you can view both accounts simultaneously, all while signed into your primary account. When you send a message from hikingfanfamily@gmail.com while signed in as hikingfan@gmail.com, it will appear as being sent by hikingfan@gmail.com on behalf of hikingfanfamily@gmail.com.


Signing out of any one of the accounts will sign you out of all the accounts you're currently viewing, and, of course, you can revoke access at any time.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/email-delegation-granting-access-to.html

[G] Machinima says bite me

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 01:58 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Machinima says bite me

Machinima.com programs and produces some of the most popular video channels on YouTube, including Machinima, Machinima Respawn, Machinima Sports, Machinima Realm, and Machinima Trailer Vault. They recently launched Bite Me, a five episode live-action series, that features three video gamers in the midst of a real-life zombie outbreak. We asked Andy Shapiro, VP of Development at Machinima, a few questions…

Tell us about Bite Me. What can the YouTube Community expect from the series?
With Bite Me, viewers will get a high-end premium live-action series that is designed to engage Machinima.com's video gamer community, and appeal to a broader audience too. The initial run is five episodes that are structured to play both independently as well as a whole piece. Essentially, we are airing a pilot that, with success, we can continue producing as a regular series.

Bite Me was first conceived to tell the story of three habitual gamers that find themselves in a very real world situation. We didn't want this to be just another zombie show, and wanted to creatively set it apart from the zombie movies and series that have come before. By setting the story during the actual zombie outbreak, we had fun writing about three under-estimated characters, who had to rise up after realizing that something terrible was happening. Ultimately this is an aspirational story, featuring unlikely heroes.

How have the fans reacted to the first episodes, and when do Episodes 3, 4, and 5 debut?
We are amazed by how the community has reacted to the series. The videos have had more than two million views so far, and we've loved reading the comments from the viewers. The response has been phenomenal, and people are responding well to the characters. We will debut the remaining episodes on December 11, December 17, and December 31 - exclusively on Machinima's YouTube Channel. You can check out the series and watch it from Episode 1 continuously here:



Why a zombie series, and why are people so passionate about zombies?
Zombies are the natural fit with our audience because zombies appear in their favorite movies, video games and comic books. It's a genre with a deep history, that we intend to both honor and have fun with. There was a natural opportunity for integration with Capcom and their Dead Rising 2 title because our audience is not only fans of the game, but by including the title, we added more credibility to the characters as gamers and zombie experts.

You've had a lot of success with your YouTube Channels, Machinima, Respawn, Sports, Realm, and Trailer Vault? Can we expect more live-action series from Bite Me from Machinima.com?
We're thrilled about the initial success the series. We're learning a lot about digital story-telling, and are fortunate to have a very interactive audience who enjoys seeing us play with gaming culture. We look forward to growing our entertainment series, and people can check-out our channel for more of these types of projects.

Kenji Arai, Strategic Partner Manager, recently watched "Kev Jumba vs Globetrotters".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/nZYi0YOUYP0/machinima-says-bite-me.html

[G] Deep sea exploration with the joint Indonesia-USA Ocean Expedition

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:11 PM PST

Google LatLong: Deep sea exploration with the joint Indonesia-USA Ocean Expedition


Come on a tour to never-before explored Indonesian waters. The INDEX-SATAL 2010 Expedition is the first-ever joint ocean research voyage by the Republic of Indonesian and the United States. To experience it yourself, watch a Google Earth YouTube video tour here or explore the area more interactively with the Google Earth plug-in on our Ocean Showcase.


The colored surface areas seen in the video represent underwater terrain data collected during the expedition. The data, highlight photos and videos have been incorporated into Google Earth so you can now explore them on your own by diving under the surface.

Much of the Coral Triangle remains unexplored, and this partnership aims to help reverse the decline of coral reefs in the area and to protect natural resources. The expedition began in the SATAL region around two island chains stretching north of Sulawesi. It was undertaken by scientists from the USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, and the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

"Telepresence" was used to send data in real time to scientists who stood watch at Exploration Command Centers in Jakarta and Seattle. This same technology brought the excitement of the expedition to visitors at the Exploratorium in San Francisco as well.

Little Hercules, a remotely operated exploration vehicle, descended 6000 feet under the sea to capture images and videos of exciting sights like hydrothermal vents and creatures like the deep sea octopus seen below:


Mapping and discovery data from expeditions like this will help all organizations involved better understand ocean resources and how to protect them. More information about the still mysterious ocean will ultimately further economic and environmental initiatives such as the management of sustainable fisheries, the conservation of the marine environment and the preservation of fragile corals.

Dive deeper at Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

By Jenifer Austin Foulkes, Product Manager, Ocean in Google Earth and Maps

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/12/deep-sea-exploration-with-joint.html

[G] Introducing the Google Latitude app for iPhone

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:11 PM PST

Google LatLong: Introducing the Google Latitude app for iPhone

[Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog]

"Where are you?"


Starting today, you'll never again have to answer (or ask) that question when you're on the go with your iPhone. With the new Google Latitude app for iPhone, you can see where your friends are and now, continuously share where you are – even in the background once you've closed the app.


Since launching last year, Latitude's focus has always been on one goal: make it simple to stay in touch with friends and family by sharing where you are with each other. Simple setup. Simple sharing without fumbling for your phone. Now, you can use Latitude on your iPhone just like the more than 9 million people actively using it from Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile smartphones. Use the app to:
  • See where your friends are
  • Share your location continuously with whomever you choose
  • Contact friends by phone, text message, or email
  • Control your location and privacy



Watch the Latitude app for iPhone in action

You still get simple control over your privacy. Remember, Latitude is 100% opt-in. You must install the app and add friends (or accept requests) to start sharing your location. You can turn off background updating if you'd like and control the same privacy settings: share only city-level location, hide your location, or sign out of Latitude at any time. Learn more in the privacy tips video.

Though we released Latitude as a web application before the iPhone supported third party background applications, today's Latitude app was built from the ground up using iOS 4's new multitasking capability to support background updating. You'll need iOS 4 and above on an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 to use the app.

Download Google Latitude now from the App Store in over 15 languages and 45 countries. It will be appearing in the App Store over the next day, but you can also find it directly now. Learn more in the Help Center or ask questions in the Help Forum.

Posted by Chris Lambert, Software Engineer, Google Latitude Team

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/12/introducing-google-latitude-app-for.html

[G] Directions, the way you want them

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:11 PM PST

Google LatLong: Directions, the way you want them


We recently released advanced options for getting public transit directions on Google Maps, helping you customize your route based on your personal preferences.

We work hard to provide the right results to get from A to B, but sometimes riders have their own preferences. For example, you might not mind a longer journey if it means fewer transfers; or you may prefer traveling by bus or train, rather than subway, to have views of your route. You can now specify these preferences and alter your route results by clicking the "Show options" link below your destination:


We hope that this new feature makes it easier for you to find your way! To get started, please visit maps.google.com/transit.

Posted by Noam Ben-Haim, Product Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/12/directions-way-you-want-them.html

[G] How to find directions online (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:11 PM PST

Google LatLong: How to find directions online (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)


Everything really is bigger in Texas, as my parents found out when they moved to Houston from Kansas in early November. Since moving, my mom - who openly admits that navigation isn't her strongest suit - was getting lost quite often as she settled into her new hometown. She found herself spending just as much time trying to find the grocery store as doing the actual shopping. So when I headed home for Thanksgiving, I gave her a quick lesson on how easy it is to find directions online using Google Maps.

With millions of people travelling across county and state lines for the holidays, my mom probably isn't the only one who could use a quick tutorial on how to get simple, easy to understand, and accurate turn-by-turn directions.

That's why a bunch of Googlers got together to create a website - TeachParentsTech.org - that enables kids to send basic how-to videos to mom, dad, or even grandma. Check out this video in which I show just how easy it is to get from Point A to Point B with the help of Google Maps.



To see more videos, or to send someone a tech support care package of your own, make sure to visit TeachParentsTech.org.

Posted by Preston Hershorn, Product Marketing Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-find-directions-online-and-50.html

[G] How to share videos on YouTube (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 11:53 AM PST

YouTube Blog: How to share videos on YouTube (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

My mom recently purchased a new camcorder and she's having a blast capturing just about everything on video. She often calls me to describe what incredible event she's just documented and suggests that we watch it together the next time I visit. Unfortunately, now that I've moved across the country, my trips back home are rather infrequent. If only she knew how to share videos online, I'd be able to view them with her no matter where I am.

I've already set aside time to teach my mom how to share videos when I visit for the holidays, but I'm sure many others could also benefit from such a tutorial. In fact, thoughts like this inspired a handful of us at Google to create TeachParentsTech.org, a place where "kids" of any age can send basic how-to videos to their moms, dads, uncles--whomever. Here's the one I created about sharing videos on YouTube.



To see more videos or to send someone a tech support "care package" of your own, visit TeachParentsTech.org.

Rita Chen, Associate Product Manager, recently watched "YouTube 2010: Year in Rewind".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/XiBNsHOK5Es/how-to-share-videos-on-youtube-and-50.html

[G] Voice Search gets personal

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 09:40 AM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Voice Search gets personal

When we launched Voice Search more than two years ago, we wanted it to "just work" right out of the box, without an initial setup process. And so, we built speech models broad enough to accommodate a wide variety of people, regardless of gender, age, and accents, or variations in pitch, pace, and other factors. But we always knew we could build a more accurate model by listening to your voice, and learning how you -- as a unique individual -- speak. So today we're launching personalized recognition.

If you opt into personalized recognition, we begin to associate the recordings of the words that you ask us to recognize with your Google account. We then automatically use these words to build a speech model specifically for you. This speech model enables us to deliver greater recognition accuracy. Although subtle, accuracy improvements begin fairly quickly and will build over time.

The first time you use Voice Search, you'll be presented with a dialog to turn on personalized recognition. Google takes your privacy seriously, so you can enable or disable personalized recognition at any time through the Google voice recognition settings on your phone. If you'd like to disassociate your voice recordings from your Google Account, you can do so through the Google Dashboard in the Speech section.

The personalized recognition functionality is currently available for English in the United States. We plan to support other countries and languages in the near future. To enable it, you must have Android 2.2 or higher, and download the latest version of the Voice Search app from Android Market. The new app also includes some improvements to name recognition and speed, especially over 3G and EDGE connections.

So go ahead and download the latest Voice Search app, and let's get personal!

Scan this QR code to download:
Posted by Amir Mané, Product Manager and Glen Shires, Member of Technical Staff
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/voice-search-gets-personal.html

[G] Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 09:40 AM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

(cross-posted from the Google Voice Blog)

Since we launched Google Voice for iPhone a few weeks ago, we've been hard at work to add a few improvements that didn't make it into the first release.

At the top of the list was adding support for iPod Touch and iPad. Starting today, you can download a new version of Google Voice that lets you use all the features of the app on these devices, such as sending and receiving free text messages - except, of course, make cellular calls.

While you can't use your iPod or iPad as a phone, you can use it to initiate Google Voice calls with your phones. We call this feature Click2Call. Simply click any 'Call' button in the Google Voice app on your iPod or iPad and then select which of your phones you want to ring. Google Voice will call your phone and then connect your call.


While we were at it, we also made a few other improvements to the app:
  • When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won't receive multiple notifications.
  • Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
  • We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
  • Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don't need to press the OK button anymore.
Bonus Tip: Tap and hold messages in your inbox to archive or delete them.

The Google Voice app is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You'll need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-voice-app-now-supports-ipad-ipod.html

[G] How to send chats (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 09:32 AM PST

Google Talkabout: How to send chats (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

When I first saw a green dot by my dad's name in the chat box, I was excited to finally be able to chat with him rather than pick up the phone or send an email. I messaged him a few times, but never got a response. It wasn't until I went home for the holidays and asked him why he never answered that I found out that he always saw my messages, but really had no idea how to go about sending or responding to chat messages them.

With a bit of tutoring and practice, my dad has become quite the master chatter, messaging me at all hours of the day, telling me to go to bed at night and asking me if I've gotten enough sleep in the morning.

We at Google love using technology in our daily lives and want to share that with our loved ones so we can connect whether we're right next door or hundred of miles apart. TeachParentsTech.org is a site we've created to send basic how-to videos to our families. Here's a video I created on how to use chat:



For more videos or to send videos to your loved ones, visit TeachParentsTech.org. Have a safe and happy holidays!

Posted By Allen Huang, Associate Product Manager
URL: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-send-chats-and-50-other-things.html

[G] Tips & Tricks: Building Organizational Charts in Google drawings

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 09:31 AM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Tips & Tricks: Building Organizational Charts in Google drawings

With the new addition of connectors in Google drawings, it's easier than ever to build anything from a family tree to a flowchart in just a few minutes.

In honor of the holidays, we thought we'd create a bracket-style showdown between our favorite types of pie.

Select Shape from the Insert menu, and you'll see a variety of bubbles, arrows, and symbols to choose from. I used the rounded rectangle shape for this example, but you can select the shape that's best for your flowchart.


From there, you can double-click on individual bubbles to enter text.


When you select and drag a particular object, the snap to guides will help you line it up with other objects.


Hold Shift and click to select multiple objects at once. This allows you to move these objects around as a group.



Next, use our newly launched connector tool to attach lines to your shapes. Even if you move or rotate your shapes, they'll stay connected.


In just a few steps, you'll have created an organizational chart that you can share, download, or embed into another Google doc. Try it out for yourself.


Want to know what else you can do in Google drawings? Check out our template gallery for more inspiration.

Posted by: Teresa Wu, Consumer Operations Associate
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/12/tips-tricks-building-organizational.html

[G] Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 08:29 AM PST

Google Voice Blog: Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

Since we launched Google Voice for iPhone a few weeks ago, we've been hard at work to add a few improvements that didn't make it into the first release.

At the top of the list was adding support for iPod Touch and iPad. Starting today, you can download a new version of Google Voice that lets you use all the features of the app on these devices, such as sending and receiving free text messages - except, of course, make cellular calls.

While you can't use your iPod or iPad as a phone, you can use it to initiate Google Voice calls with your phones. We call this feature Click2Call. Simply click any 'Call' button in the Google Voice app on your iPod or iPad and then select which of your phones you want to ring. Google Voice will call your phone and then connect your call.


While we were at it, we also made a few other improvements to the app:
  • When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won't receive multiple notifications.
  • Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
  • We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
  • Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don't need to press the OK button anymore.
Bonus Tip: Tap and hold messages in your inbox to archive or delete them.

The Google Voice app is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You'll need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager

URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-voice-app-now-supports-ipad-ipod.html

[G] Restore your contacts

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 08:11 AM PST

Official Gmail Blog: Restore your contacts

Posted by Amanda Camp, Software Engineer

There are many times in life when a do-over can come in handy. Perhaps you clicked "Send" on an email that was better left unsaid, or "Delete" on a contact before realizing you still needed it. Just like Gmail lets you unsend a message, you can now have a second chance with your contacts too.

We've added a new feature to Google Contacts that allows you to revert your contact list and undo any mistakes made up to 30 days in the past. Let's say you accidentally deleted a bunch of contacts or wiped the contact data from your Gmail account by mistake while syncing to another device. Visit Gmail's Contacts section, select "Restore contacts" in the "More actions" menu, and choose the time you would like to revert to.


Your contacts will be restored to exactly the same state they were in at that time — any contacts that didn't exist then will be deleted and any that have since been added will be deleted. Don't worry, you can always undo this change by restoring again if you didn't get the time right.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/restore-your-contacts.html

[G] 你好, नमस्ते and bonjour to better mobile web Gmail

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 07:41 AM PST

Official Google Blog: 你好, नमस्ते and bonjour to better mobile web Gmail

(Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog)

There are many ways to get your Gmail on your phone. The mobile webapp version of Gmail (which you can get to by going to gmail.com in your browser) is the best way to get the most Gmail features on your iPhone or Android-powered device. Features such as search, stars, labels and threaded conversations all work in the mobile webapp just as they do in the desktop Gmail experience. Today, we're bringing the latest version of our HTML5 webapp to 44 new languages.



Before today, this new version was only available for U.S. English, but we're now expanding to Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (UK and American), Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian (Bokmal), Polish, Portuguese (for both Portugal and Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish (for both Spain and South America), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, Urdu and Vietnamese.

If your phone's default language is one of those listed, go to gmail.com in your phone's browser and the new interface will appear in your language automatically. We've been rolling these changes out, so some of you may have already seen them. You'll get a bunch of new goodies including offline support, smart links (titles will appear in links for Google Maps, YouTube and Google Docs), the ability to add and remove labels, layout improvements and more—in addition to the existing features like starring, better threaded conversations and search.

This new version works for iPhones running iOS 2.2.1 and above, and all versions of Android. Go to gmail.com in the browser of your iPhone or Android-powered device to try it out, and if you have any feedback, let us know in our forum.

Posted by Scott Eblen, Product Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/and-bonjour-to-better-mobile-web-gmail.html

[G] TeachParentsTech.org: keeping tech support a family business

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 07:41 AM PST

Official Google Blog: TeachParentsTech.org: keeping tech support a family business

Every December for as long as I can remember, I've come home to something like this:


If you couldn't already tell, that's a list of things my dad wants me to teach him how to do. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching my dad how to do stuff on his computer—and he's fairly tech-savvy as far as dads go—but sometimes trudging through that to-do list gets tedious.

Talking to fellow Googlers, I learned that I wasn't alone in my role as the one-man family tech support team. In fact, I was hard pressed to find anyone who didn't have a similar story about getting their parents up to speed.

This got a few of us thinking. Why isn't there a site designed to help "kids" teach their parents about computer basics? So we put our heads together and built a new site: TeachParentsTech.org.



TeachParentsTech.org lets you select from more than 50 basic how-to videos to send to mom, dad, your old college roommate, your neighbor or anyone else who could use a little help with tech tasks—whether it's how to copy & paste to how to share a big file. Wrap up your video with a custom email and off it goes! The recipient will receive your message and a link to the video(s) you selected.


As an added treat, the first 10,000 people who send tech support care packages will also be able to send a real tech support care package in the (snail) mail to the recipient of their choice (U.S. only)—on us.


I hope this shaves off an hour or two of your family tech support duties this December—and beyond!

Update 6:04 PM: Whoa, that was fast! We're now out of snail mail care packages.

Posted by Jason Toff, Toff Family Tech Support
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/teachparentstechorg-keeping-tech.html
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