This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label "Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed. Over the last couple of weeks we introduced several new features to Google Docs, and made updates to Gmail, Buzz and Blogger. The Google Apps Marketplace expanded, and we brought many new businesses and schools onboard. Here's the scoop: New Google Docs editors rolling out to everyone Just a couple months ago we started previewing Google Docs' new editors for documents and spreadsheets, and on Monday we began turning on these faster, more feature-rich editors for everyone. In new documents, you'll see character-by-character real-time collaboration, a ruler for custom margins and tab stops, and the files you import from your computer will be much higher quality. The new version of spreadsheets is faster, and includes a formula editing bar, cell auto-complete and much more. If your university, employer or organization provides you with a Google Docs account, you'll start seeing the new editors by default in the coming weeks, too. New sharing settings in Google Docs Just yesterday we launched a streamlined way to share your files more easily in Google Docs. You can set a document, spreadsheet, presentation or drawing to be "Private," available to "Anyone with the link," or "Public on the web," and then customize who has access by inviting specific collaborators. If you're using Google Docs at work or at school, you'll also see options that make it easy to share your files just with other people within your organization. Learn more about the new sharing options on the Google Docs blog. New features for drawings in Google Docs We introduced several new features for the drawings editor in Google Docs, too. Now you can center objects on the page, resize your entire canvas, view thumbnails of your drawings in your doc list, search across your drawings by text contained within and quickly view a list of handy editing keyboard shortcuts. We also added the ability for you to share drawings in the Google Docs template gallery, so other people around the world can use your creations.  Blogger Template Designer available to all Back in March we introduced Blogger Template Designer in Blogger in Draft, and last week we made it available to everyone. You can choose from more than 19 stock templates and further customize your design with hundreds of free, professional background images, custom color schemes and pixel-perfect layout manipulation. Customizing your blog and making it "your own" is now much easier. Google Maps previews in Gmail and Buzz Last week, we added a new Labs feature in Gmail that automatically displays a Google Map below messages that contain street addresses—saving you the trouble of copying and pasting of addresses from Gmail to Google Maps. You can enable this feature and many others from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings. Google Buzz also integrates Google Maps now too; when your buzz includes a Google Maps link, you'll automatically see an image of the map that you can choose to include in your post.  Apps Marketplace For the businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps, cloud-based functionality continues to expand through the Google Apps Marketplace. There, developers around the world can offer business- and process-enhancing apps that seamlessly integrate with Google Apps. The Marketplace has everything from accounting applications and CRM solutions to marketing automation and project workflow tools. Last week we added five new applications, and this Tuesday we tacked on over a dozen more. Who's gone Google? We're thrilled to welcome Brady Corporation, a globally distributed safety and security products company with more than 7,000 employees and 90 globally distributed business locations, to Google Apps. Cost savings were a factor in the decision, but Brady's IT team chose Google Apps to simplify their worldwide IT operations, to streamline the integration of future acquisitions and to offer employees advanced sharing features like real-time collaboration. In addition to the big guys, tens of thousands more small and medium size businesses have also gone Google since our last update, including Hiatus Spa + Retreat, Goble & Associates and Método DeRose Matosinhos. Welcome! And school's out for summer, but many colleges and universities are using the quiet months to reinvigorate their student technology. Sonoma State University, Meharry Medical College, Tokyo Keizai University (translated), Santa Fe Community College, Great Basin College and Colby College are all going Google. Whether your company or school has already gone Google or if you're just starting to contemplate the move, tune into our live webcast next Tuesday, June 22 at 9:00 am PDT to hear more about the improvements and new features we've added to Google Apps during the first half of 2010. For more details and updates from the Apps team, head on over to the Google Apps Blog.      |
Posted: 18 Jun 2010 10:27 AM PDT This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed. Our latest Search Story, Father and Daughter, is a tribute to all the wonderful relationships dads have with their daughters. While working on the story we came across a comment posted to Paul Simon's Father and Daughter video on YouTube. Maybe it's because I'm a father of two little girls, but this almost made me cry. One day, I hope that my daughters will feel compelled to write something like this.  To Cullenlvr961: we don't know if you'll read this or see the video, but we just wanted to put it out there and let you know you really touched us and we're dedicating this Search Story to you and your dad. We'll be proud if our video evokes even a small piece of the emotion your note did.    |
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
New Google Docs editors rolling out
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Google Commerce Search 2.0
School is out for the summer, and that means it's time for some swimsuit shopping, travel purchases and—before we know it—buying back-to-school supplies. To help retail sites get ready for the summer shopping season, today we're launching Google Commerce Search 2.0 for retailers in the United States and United Kingdom. The new version of Google Commerce Search provides a better experience online for shoppers and greater control—with immediate ROI—for retailers. Google Commerce Search, first launched a little over six months ago, is an enterprise-grade website search solution hosted in Google's cloud and designed specifically for online retailers. This second release includes a number of improvements:
As more consumers turn to online channels to purchase and research products, it's important for your site to keep up with them using the best technology out there. So with summer just around the corner, make sure your sunscreen's on, your beach blanket is ready and your e-commerce site is optimized with Google Commerce Search.     |
Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:13 PM PDT With software installations and complicated instructions, editing video can be a hassle—but we think it should be easy. Today, we're introducing YouTube's new online video editor, which makes editing your video a cinch. It's available in TestTube, where YouTube engineers and developers test out new tools and get feedback on how they're doing. With this new editor, you can:
Check out the YouTube Blog for more details. And once you've given the editor a whirl, let us know what you think by leaving a comment on the YouTube Blog.     |
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Search is more fun when it's personalized
| This is one of a regular series of posts on search experience updates. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed. We work hard to consistently develop new tools, features and algorithmic changes to help us better understand what you mean when you enter a query into the Google search box—and we ultimately use that understanding to get you the information you're looking for as fast as possible. Understanding is core to our mission—particularly as we strive to be as useful in your everyday tasks. For example, if you search for a local sports team, and there's been a recent game, we'll show you scores. If you're visiting Boston and looking for a restaurant, you'll find tailored search suggestions based on the best Beantown spots. It's these features that enhance the experience of searching and help you find exactly what you're looking for. This week, we've made a few changes that we hope will make Google search even better for you. Spelling Corrections in Suggest Since we first launched Google Suggest, we've offered spell-corrected search completions to provide you with similar search queries from other users. With this feature, not only does Suggest help you rest your fingers because you don't have to type out a full query—you can also catch a mistake quickly and easily.  An example of old spelling correction in Google Suggest This week we launched an update that makes Google Suggest even more intuitive and simple. If you're typing a query for which there are no search completions to offer, and yet some of your search terms do seem to be misspelled, Google Suggest will now offer a "Did you mean" suggestion for your query—giving you an option to correct your spelling right away and get on with your search. These spelling suggestions already exist on the results page, but by moving them to an earlier point in the search process, we hope we've made it faster and easier to get to the results you're looking for. Right now, this feature is offered only for google.com in English, but we're working to roll this out internationally in the near future.  Google Suggest with the new spelling corrections feature Mobile app results in mobile search With tens of thousands of apps available for both Android and iPhone phone, there are plenty of options to choose from when you're looking for new apps. And it makes sense that if you hear about a great new app while you're out and about, you'll want to download it then and there. In an effort to make apps even easier to find, this week we launched a new feature for mobile search that helps users on Android-powered devices and iPhones find and download mobile apps. So the next time you're looking for the latest action game, multimedia app or travel tool on your phone, we'll show you a special result at the top of your mobile search results showing basic information about the app you're looking for, including title, price and publisher. You'll also find a link that will take you directly to the app's installation page in the Android Market or Apple's App Store. Example mobile searches on your iPhone or Android device: [download pandora] or [bank of america app] A new look for the Google homepage Search is more fun when it's personalized. That's why I was delighted to announce our new feature that allows you to personalize your Google homepage with a favorite photo. Whether you choose a picture from your computer, your own Picasa Web Album or a public gallery of photos hosted by Picasa, Google is now yours to personalize. To get started, head to google.com and look for the "Change background image" link in the lower left-hand side of the page. Keep an eye out for more fun announcements with this feature! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more next week.     |
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