Gmail’s jukebox

I tend to email myself a lot of MP3s. Today, I did it for the first time using my Gmail account, and was pleasantly surprised to find an embedded play button directly in the mail item. Clicking on it brings up a Google Video style player that streams your MP3 from Gmail’s server.

I always love finding these small feature nuggets that Google embeds into its applications.

via http://www.buzzshout.com/

Using Google to organise your life

Google have launched an online outlook-esque calendar system for googlemail (gmail) users. The system will allow you to store appointments, receiver reminders and share schedules, importing information directly into emails. While Yahoo have been running a calendar service for 8 years now, they are now claiming they will update their system in direct response to Google’s launch.

What makes Google’s calendar more interesting than your usual planning service is it uses ‘natural language processing technology’….which means that you can enter something like ‘lunch on Monday at 12pm’ and it will automatically add it in the correct slot on your calendar. You can also create multiple calendars.

The good news is (and the reason I can write about this on Jill’s Corner) is that Google plan to synchronise the calendar service with Outlook and make it mobile device friendly within the next few months. As always, I’ll let you know if I hear any more.

[via Jill]

Top Ten Web 2.0 Games

1. Chihuahua

A Boggle type game in which the player has to make as many words as possible out of the given letters. Each game is open for 24 hours. Most activity is seen around midnight (GMT) when new games begin and players frantically try to get to the top of the leaderboard.

2. WeBoggle

WeBoggle is Boggle as you online. The fun is enhanced by seeing how high you can make it on the leaderboard. Each game lasts for 2 and a half minutes.

3. Linez

Linez is an intriguing game in which the player has to place coloured cubes in a line to remove them from the board. The problem is more cubes keep appearing. The game features a high score table and a weekly competition.

4. Sudoku Craving

Sudoku Craving offers a new Sudoku challenge everyday. Players are invited to rate each finished game which gives the site a nice community feel.

5. Alexadex

Alexadex is an on-line trading game in which players buy and sell imaginary shares in web sites. Shares rise and fall based on the site's Alexa rating.

6. Trendio

Similar in concept to Alexadex this is a trading game in which players bet on the popularity of politicians, sporting teams or events, ideas, stars, natural catastrophies, etc. However whereas Alexadex is based on Alexa rankings Trendio rates words according to the number of times they appear in 3000 anglophone media web sites from around the world.

7. TagMan

TagMan is the classic game of hangman but using tags from Web 2.0 sites such as Technorati, del.icio.us and Flickr.

8. Solitaire Craving

Each day a new solitaire card challenge is set for players to solve. Again it is rated by the players and the comment box under the game often includes clues submitted by other players.

9. MorfikChess

MorfikChess is an AJAX chess game. The game features single-player and multi-player options, with a chat utility so that you can attempt to psyche out/distract your opponent.

10. SinkMyShip

SinkMyShip is an AJAX driven battleship game. The game sports a chat room so you can communicate with fellow players as you play.

55 Ways to Have Fun with Google in chinese

《55 Ways to Have Fun with Google》中文翻译

作者：Philipp Lenssen

ISBN：1411693418

Released under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike 2.0 License
网站：http://www.55fun.com/

英文原版下载：PDF | DOC

《55 Ways to Have Fun with Google》 in chinese

Philipp Lenssen:55 Ways to Have Fun With Google

It's time for a little guest post from Germany -- thanks, Google, for inviting me over! I'm the author of a blog on Google (Google Blogoscoped), and this year I've written a book called 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google. In it, I present Google-related riddles, games, cartoons, search tips, stories, and miscellaneous insights (no programming skills needed -- and most of the time, you don't need to be close to a computer, either).

[via http://googleblog.blogspot.com/]

Adsense tips for the future

Here are the Adsense Tips for the future form Inside Adsense Blog. The top three tips to

ensure you make the most of measuring your results and gain a deeper understanding of

what happening with Adsense on your site.

• Get accustomed to custom channels.
• Be analytical in your approach --use Google Analytics.
• Make yourself available, your reports are now emailable.

[via Inside Adsense]

　　　　　　　

Google Tips and Secrets

The Google Web Directory combines Google's search technology with the Netscape Open Directory Project to search the Internet.

• Sites are ranked based on their importance. Horizontal bars displayed next to each webpage indicate the importance of the page.
  
• Google searches all the content of each site within a category, not just the titles and descriptions. This capability allows deeper searching within categories and produces more relevant results than any other directory search.
  
• The classification technique allows users one-click access from regular Google search results to the most relevant hand-selected webpages.

1. Feeling lucky?
   Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" search button automatically returns the highest ranked webpage for a particular search. To use, type a query into the search box and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.
   
   For example, to find the homepage for the Smithsonian Institute:
   
   
   
   1. Type "Smithsonian Institute" into the search field.
   2. Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky button."
   
   
   The result is http://www.si.edu, the official homepage of the Smithsonian Institute.
   
   
2. Google toolbar
   
   This is a powerful information search and retrieval companion. It can quickly highlight and jump to selected search terms on any webpage. It can also enable users to search for information on websites that may not have extensive search capabilities.
   
   Download the Google Toolbar.
   
   
3. Think within the box
   
   
   
   
   • Find maps: To find US street maps, enter any US street address, including the zip code. (No need to worry about city, state, or commas.)
     
     For example, type in "2400 Bayshore Parkway 94043" in the Google search box. Google recognizes the query as a map request and returns links to high-quality map providers.
     
     
   • Get stock quotes: Use Google to get the latest stocks quotes traded on the NYSE, Nasdaq, or AMEX. Type the company ticker symbol and Google will show relevant stock and mutual fund information from multiple high-quality financial information providers.
     
   
   
   
4. Take a shortcut
   
   Adding Google Browser Buttons to a Web browser toolbar enables access to Google's search technology, without taking up extra screen space.
   
   
   
   
   • Search the Internet with browser buttons by highlighting a word (or phrase) on any webpage and clicking the Google Search button.
     
   • The GoogleScout button finds webpages that are similar to the page you're on. For example, clicking the GoogleScout button while on a company's homepage will often show the company's competitors.
   
   
   Download the buttons.
   
   
5. Cache and cache can
   
   Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines as it crawls the Web and stores or caches the snapshot as a backup in case the original page is unavailable. The cached link displays the page exactly as it was indexed.
   
   The cached content is the content Google uses to determine whether the page is a good match for the query. When the cached page is displayed, it will have a header at the top, which serves as a reminder that this is a cached version of the page and not the page itself.

How do you begin to search the Web efficiently and effectively for the right information? Start with these dos and don'ts for scouring the Web.

• Do use the most common words that describe your search.
• Don't be afraid to type in keywords that come to mind.
  

Here are five tips to maximize your searches with Google.

1. Try it, you'll like it
   
   
   
   • Do what seems obvious first.
   • Don't be intimidated. Type in single or multiple keywords.
   • Don't bother with advanced search techniques, such as +, -, quotes, and so on, unless the most obvious keywords don't work.
   
   
   
2. Search for keywords
   
   
   
   • Do provide several keywords that you think will appear in the search result.
   • Don't format a query in the form of a question. For example, if you want to see Internet pages about parachuting safety tips, type in the words "parachuting safety" without including the words "pages" or "about."
   
   
   
3. Use quotes
   
   
   
   • Do use quotation marks to perform a phrase search. For example, to search for the book Wuthering Heights, use quotation marks around the entire title.
   
   
   
4. Read all about it
   
   
   
   • Do read the snippets. Most search engines offer summary text with each search result. Google calls the summary text a snippet. The snippets will help you save time and provide an idea of what the webpage is about.
   • Do save time by picking out the best results from there.
   
   
   
5. Looks like, sounds like
   
   
   
   • Do try the Web Directory to search for a general topic and not a keyword.
   • Do try Similar Pages to find other pages related to your search.

[Thanks Sergey Brin.]

Google Apps For Domains, Mocked By A Hosting Company

Intermedia.NET, the US leader in Microsoft Exchange hosting for small and medium businesses (SMBs), today praised the innovative new service, Google Apps for Your Domain. By offering 24x0 support, no wireless access and scanning of company email and documents, Google has bucked the trend of what companies expect from a business email provider. The Apps for your Domain key features:

* 24x0 support.

* No wireless access.

* Private data read by others.

* Ads inside applications.

* No uptime guarantee.
[Via Google System.]

What is about Google Tips Blog

Google Tips Blog will be write about the skills of using Google productors. I hope it will be useful for you.

Google Search Tips 2005

Here are some search syntax basics and advanced tricks for Google.com. You might know most of these, but if you spot a new one, it may come in handy in future searches.

• A quote/ phrase search can be written with both quotations ["like this"] as well as a minus in-between words, [like-this].
• Google didn’t always understand certain special characters like [#], but now they do; a search for [C#], for example, yields meaningful results (a few years ago, it didn’t). This doesn’t mean you can use just any character; e.g. entering [t.] and [t-] and [t^] will always return the same results.
• more

FORM http://blog.outer-court.com/