google

Google Plus is the new social network from Google. This post looks into the real reasons it has come about, and outlines exactly what it does – analysing some of it’s main features and comparing them to existing social networks. Why has it come about? Vic Gundotra, Google’s engineering boss believes “online sharing is broken. ...

I’m sure it’s every product owners dream to actually become ‘the norm’ for a certain activity, use or channel. For example, “Do the Hoovering”, “Just Google it“, and even “Facebook them“. So, with this notion in mind the article I read last week about Standard Chartered adopting the iPhone for corporate use really struck a ...

When I first saw the news that Google Maps’ Street View had gone 3D I thought it was an April Fools’ Day gag. But low and behold it’s actually a reality — and a pretty well executed reality at that. The above image is of Oxford Circus, London and shows off the effect pretty well. ...

I had the pleasure of heading over to Area 15 in NoDa on Oct 17th for the second edition of BarCamp Charlotte. BarCamp is a user-generated conference, which encourages attendees to pitch for their chance to present a session on a topic of their choice. “The name ‘BarCamp’ is a playful allusion to the event’s ...

The rapid rise of Facebook cannot be ignored and reminds me of the speed at which Google rose to prominence a few years ago. At face value, the offerings of both companies seem different (search engine vs social application) but they essentially comprise of many similar elements; personal user data, email, IM, advertising revenue, social ...

Today, Google is going to release their stab at a web browser. It’s called Chrome and it’s based on Webkit, the same engine that runs Apple’s Safari browser (which, in theory, should mean that testing sites doesn’t get any more complicated). It also includes bits of Mozilla’s Firefox. God bless open source! The question is, ...

OK, so you’ve got the minimal approach to search typified by Google, but what if you’re after something a little more exciting. Well PicLens can offer you a full-screen, 3D, visual solution to searching and browsing images and video. PicLens is a plug-in for Firefox, Safari1 and Internet Explorer which integrates right into the pages ...

Web Directions North 08 wrapped up a few weeks ago and I have finally found time to write up my notes. As with dConstruct 2007, all of the speakers were excellent and although I didn’t get to see all of the presentations, here are my notes on most of them.

Google’s Android is a Linux-based, open operating system for the mobile phone which will support Google’s applications. It will be free for manufacturers to adopt and developers to write and design cool programmes for the system.

No surprise here with Google announcing another new product. Google Gears is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline. Gears allows users to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) locally. There is also functionality to store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database. I’ve ...

So why does Google really want to buy Feedburner? I think the main and most obvious reason is because Google has realised that most of us are now getting and speed reading our content via a RSS Reader, instead of reading the originating websites/blogs that display Google AdSense or Rich Media adverts.

Google has finally brought their e-payment system to the UK. Google Checkout is a simple way to add e-commerce capabilities to your web site. Previously Checkout was only available in the US. For more information on the UK version visit the Google Checkout tours for buyers and sellers.

In order to develop useful web applications it’s a good idea to analyse some stats to see what users are doing. If you love data…Have a read of these Hitwise stats

It seems that the future of search engines is to get personal. Personalised search engine startups like Rollyo and Eurekster have big competition with Google’s Search History and Yahoo’s Search Builder.

Google is announcing a new service, My Maps, that allows anyone to create their own Google Maps-based mashups. Essentially, anyone can go in and plot all the great Thai restaurants in San Francisco, and save it as SF Thai Food Maps. You can also attach YouTube videos to these maps. Think map mashups for dummies!