27 Haziran 2012 Çarşamba

Google Music Trash

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Google Music now has a trash page that includes all the songs you've deleted. You can find the page by clicking the "options" icon and selecting "Music trash" from the menu. The songs are permanently deleted after 28 days (why not 30 days like in Gmail?), but you can also manually do that. There's also an "undelete" button for restoring music files.



It's interesting to notice that the deleted music files are no longer synced with Google Music Manager. As Google explains, "once you permanently delete [a song], the content and related data (e.g., stored play counts) will be disassociated from your account. There may be some delay before our systems fully process your removal request. In addition, if this content was purchased from Google Play, the only way to retrieve it is to repurchase the content."

Google Maps App for iOS?

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Now that Apple's iOS 6 has a maps app that no longer uses Google Maps, many people wonder if Google will release its own app. After all, the built-in maps app has been developed by Apple and it didn't include many Google Maps features. Maybe Google wanted to keep features like navigation Android-only, maybe Apple focused on the new app and ignored the old app. One thing is clear: the Android app for Google Maps was a lot better than Apple's app.

The Next Web reports that Jeff Huber, Senior VP at Google, said that Google "looks forward to providing amazing Google Maps experiences on iOS." Google will compete with the built-in maps app so it will have to include features that used to be limited to Android like vectorial maps, offline maps, navigation, integration with Google Places and new features like the "fly-over" maps. Google says that it will add "3D models to entire metropolitan areas to Google Earth on mobile devices," but an app that combines Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Local would be more useful. Upgrading the Google Earth app is much easier than building a new app and the existing users won't have to install another application. Google Earth is the second most popular Google app for iOS, after Google Search.

Better Notifications in Gmail's iOS App

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When Google released an iOS app for Gmail, many users complained that the app didn't integrate with the notification center from iOS 5. The Gmail app didn't support banner notifications and the messages weren't included in the notification center or in the lock screen.

The latest update fixed these issues and the Gmail app finally has proper notifications. "Plus, notifications are now incredibly fast - up to 5x faster than in the previous version," informs Google.


Another improvement is that you can choose an alternate address when you're composing a message, just like in the desktop interface. If you've configured Gmail to allow you to send messages from other email addresses, you can just click the "from" box and pick a different address. The same feature is also available in the mobile Gmail site.

The app no longer requires you to enter your credentials periodically. "You can still choose to sign out of your account, but you won't be automatically logged out after a certain period of time has elapsed."

Unlike the Gmail app for Android, the iOS app uses a custom version of the mobile Gmail site and adds features like notifications and image upload. It makes sense to use this approach because Google can improve the app without releasing new versions, but the app is less responsive than a native application and doesn't include the standard iOS controls.

Download link: Gmail for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.

Android Jelly Bean, Nexus 7 and Nexus Q

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If Android ICS (4.0) was about a completely new user interface, Jelly Bean (4.1) is about refining that interface, improving the performance and adding more features.

Google's Project Butter made Android 4.1 more responsive. The interface is smoother, scrolling feels faster, transitions and animations look better. "Android 4.1 reduces touch latency not only by synchronizing touch to vsync timing, but also by actually anticipating where your finger will be at the time of the screen refresh. This results in a more reactive and uniform touch response. In addition, after periods of inactivity, Android applies a CPU input boost at the next touch event, to make sure there's no latency," explains Google.

Jelly Bean comes with rich notifications that can include more content and buttons. Notifications can be expanded and turn into powerful widgets so you can preview photos, share news articles, snooze alerts without opening an app.


Android's keyboard now predicts what you are about to type. "The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time, and the keyboard even guesses what the next word will be before you've started typing it." The nice thing is that you don't need an Internet connection to see the suggestions. Google even made Android's text-to-speech feature work offline, but only for English.

Google's search app has a new interface that does a better job at handling simple questions. Instead of displaying a list of search results, Google only shows the Knowledge Graph OneBox that includes an answer, a thumbnail and a link to the source. Voice Search has also improved: you no longer need to use predefined commands, it understands natural language and it speaks back to you, just like Siri.


Sometimes you don't need to type a query to find relevant information. Your Android phone knows a lot about you and can help you solve problems without even asking it. Google Now is a new app that offers a lot of useful information depending on your location, your calendar events, your Google queries and more. It shows weather reports, "how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you're standing on the platform, or your favorite team's score while they’re playing".


Android 4.1 also adds support for Google Cloud Messaging, encryption for all paid apps, smart app updates (only what's changed is downloaded), multicast DNS-based service discovery (applications can easily find other wireless devices), USB audio, multichannel audio (including native AAC 5.1), audio chaining, as well as an interface for choosing where to play media.

There are many audio-related improvements and one of the main reasons for that is a new Android device called Nexus Q. It's a streaming player that costs $299, is made in the US and bridges services like Google Play and YouTube with your speakers and your TV. It comes with a 25W amplifier, it has a dual-core ARM CPU, it runs Android 4.0 and it has a lot of ports (micro HDMI, optical audio, Ethernet, jack speaker, micro USB). It's pretty heavy (2 pounds/923 grams), looks like a sphere and has LEDs that change their color when you're playing music. It's a combination of Apple TV, Boxee Box and Sonos players, but it's rather expensive and limited.


Google also launched Nexus 7, a 7-inch Android tablet manufactured by Asus that will compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire. It has a 1280x800 IPS display with Gorilla glass, a Tegra 3 CPU, 8/16 GB of internal storage, 1 GB of RAM, a front-facing camera and it weighs 340 grams, but the device is not about specs. Nexus 7 integrates with Google Play, which now also offers magazine subscriptions, TV shows and movie purchases. Nexus 7 costs $199 (the 8 GB version) or $249 (the 16 GB version), it's Wi-Fi only and it doesn't support SD cards. Nexus 7 looks like a strong contender for the most popular 7-inch tablet and it's probably the cheapest off-contract Android device that's worth buying.


Both devices will ship in mid-July, but you can pre-order them from the Nexus store, assuming that they're available in your country. Nexus Q is only available in the US, while Nexus 7 can be purchased if you are in the US, Canada, UK or Australia. "Nexus 7 comes preloaded with some great entertainment, including the movie 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon,' the book 'The Bourne Dominion,' magazines like Condé Nast Traveler and Popular Science, and songs from bands like Coldplay and the Rolling Stones. We've also included a $25 credit to purchase your favorite movies, books and more from Google Play, for a limited time," mentions Google.

When will Jelly Bean be available? "Starting in mid-July, we'll start rolling out over-the-air updates to Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom and Nexus S, and we'll also release Jelly Bean to open source," explains Google. Another good news is that, starting with Android 4.1, there's a PDK (platform development kit) that's shared with OEMs a few months before each Android release so that they have more information about the new features and start updating their software early.

There are now more than 400 million Android devices and 1 million devices are activated every day. Google Plays hosts more than 600,000 apps.

Google+ Events

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Google+ has a new feature: support for creating and managing events. Instead of copying Facebook's similar feature, Google decided to release a cutting-edge feature that's miles ahead everything else.

Google+ Events integrates with Google Calendar, has support for beautiful themes and it's not just about creating events. The most interesting feature is called "party mode" and it automatically brings together all the photos taken by the guests. "Once you've enabled Party Mode on your mobile device, all of your new photos get added to the event in real-time. And as more guests turn on Party Mode, more pictures will instantly appear to fellow invitees. In this way Google+ Events gives your party a visual pulse; we've even added a 'live slideshow' you can proudly project during the event," explains Google.


When the event ends, you can see everyone's photos in one place and filter them by popularity, the photographer or the tag. It's a great way to manage your photos, but the guests need to have Android phones and install the Google+ app.

Speaking of the Google+ app, it's now available for tablets. Right now, you can only install it if you have an Android 3.0+ tablet, but the app will also be available for the iPad soon.


Google says that more than 250 million people have upgraded to Google+ and the number of active users is 150 million. The active users spend about an hour per day at google.com and 12 minutes in the Google+ stream. Launched one year ago, Google+ seems to be pretty successful.

25 Haziran 2012 Pazartesi

Finding a home for new technology with Google Apps

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Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Mike Mercurio, CEO the San Diego Association of REALTORS®, California’s largest local branch of REALTORS®. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

People have been buying and selling property for centuries, often with the help of a professional who understands the complexities of real estate transactions. The San Diego Association of REALTORS® (SDAR) was created more than 100 years ago to give these professionals the opportunity to connect and discuss issues on a local level.

Our goal as an association is to give our 12,000 members the education and tools they need to be successful. It’s no secret that the real estate market has been challenging recently, so we are constantly looking for ways to help our members reduce their costs, streamline their operations, and find better ways to communicate with their buyers and sellers. We’ve been using Google Apps at our association main office and 5 service centers and have found the tools to be particularly useful in the real estate industry, so we decided to announce that we will be offering Google Apps to our members at our annual REALTOR® Expo and Conference.

We believe that Google Apps will transform the way our members do business. With Google Sites, they’re able to create websites for buyers with new listings and open houses, information on neighborhoods and schools, as well as directions and maps to each property. They can also create sites for properties on the market. Instead of calling or emailing clients, our REALTORS® can just update their sites, so buyers and sellers always have one place to go.

The most important aspect for members, however, has been the mobility of Google Apps. Since email, documents, and sites now live in the cloud, they can access this information from anywhere with an Internet connection -- at a property, from the office, or from home. Speed is of the essence in this business, and since REALTORS® are always on the go, being able to see new emails and respond right away is incredibly helpful.

With the uncertainty of the economy, we’re very happy to have found a way to significantly help our members’ businesses.

Google Apps receives ISO 27001 certification

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In the early days of the cloud, security concerns were often at the top of business minds as they considered moving to Google Apps. More recently, though, security has become a major reason businesses are moving to the cloud. The reason for this shift is that businesses are beginning to realize that companies like Google can invest in security at a scale that's difficult for many businesses to achieve on their own. This investment has produced an infrastructure and a set of services with robust data protections for our customers.

Today we are proud to announce that Google Apps for Business has earned ISO 27001 certification. ISO 27001 is one of the most widely recognized, internationally accepted independent security standards and we have earned it for the systems, technology, processes and data centers serving Google Apps for Business. Our compliance with the ISO standard was certified by Ernst & Young CertifyPoint, an ISO certification body accredited by the Dutch Accreditation Council, a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). Certificates issued by Ernst & Young CertifyPoint are recognized as valid certificates in all countries with an IAF member.

“As a multi-billion dollar, global provider of packaging and packaging solutions, MWV understands the value of international standards. Many of our own processes are ISO certified. So, I am thrilled that Google Apps, our core communications platform, is also now ISO certified with its recent ISO 27001 certification. This certification validates what I already knew, through due diligence, about Google Apps - that the technology, process and infrastructure offers good security and protection for the data that I store in Google Apps. I think it's important, find it assuring and am very pleased that Google Apps will be audited and certified to this Information Security Management System ISO standard on an ongoing basis”

- Chet Loveland, CISO and Global Compliance Officer, MWV
This new certification, along with our existing SSAE 16 / ISAE 3402 audits and FISMA certification for Google Apps for Government, help assure our customers that Google is committed to ongoing development and maintenance of a robust Information Security Management System (ISMS) that an independent, third-party auditor will regularly audit and certify.For more information on the security audits and certifications for Google Apps, please review our certification 1-pager.

Next step in the Chrome OS journey for businesses and schools

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Posted by: Glenn Wilson, Product Manager, Chrome for Business

A year ago we introduced a new model of computing with the launch of Chromebooks. Since then we’ve seen hundreds of schools across the U.S. and Europe adopt Chromebooks and use them to reshape learning as we know it. We’ve also seen a lot of interest from businesses, with organizations across a variety of industries using Chromebooks in a number of compelling ways.

Today we announced some exciting developments — new hardware, a major software update and many more robust apps — as we continue on our journey to make computers much better. For businesses and schools, we’re introducing zero-touch deployment, more affordable desktop virtualization, and a simplified pricing model.


Zero-touch deployment
Today, most businesses and schools require a very manual and often cumbersome process to deploy computers. In contrast, you can remotely set up Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, and manage users, apps and policies across a fleet of devices via a web-based console. This ease of setup and deployment results in a total cost of ownership for Chromebooks that’s less than half of that of traditional PCs.

With the latest OS release, you can also push network settings and auto-enroll a device for management when a user first logs in, creating a zero-touch deployment experience where you can ship a device directly to an end user. Once a user is logged in, the Chromebox or Chromebook is automatically configured with the designated apps, networks and settings without any manual IT intervention. Thereafter, you can now control the frequency of OS updates and receive reports on device usage.

Works seamlessly with all apps
For those who still require access to specific Windows software, we’ve teamed up with nGenx to launch a hosted virtualization solution where you can access any desktop app through the web—at a fraction of the price of current virtualization offerings.

New customers, compelling use cases
One of the things we’ve learned from businesses is that Chromebooks and Chromeboxes make great tools for a variety of uses such as retail stores, call centers, mobile or distributed workforces, and library lending. Here are four great examples:
  • Retail and distributed offices: Dillard's Inc., one of the largest fashion, apparel, and home furnishing retailers in the U.S., will deploy Chromeboxes in hundreds of their retail locations across the U.S. to give employees access to Google Apps and various internal apps.
  • Call centers: Kaplan, an educational test prep and training provider, is moving their New York call center to Genesys’ HTML5-based customer service solution running on Chromeboxes.
  • Mobile workforces: Mollen Clinics is rolling out 4,500 Chromebooks with 3G connectivity to support Walmart & Sam’s Club flu clinics.
  • Device lending: The California State Library is making 1,000 Chromebooks available for checkout in public libraries across the state, based on successful Chromebook lending programs at the Palo Alto and Santa Clara City Libraries.

Simplified pricing
Finally, we’re simplifying business and education pricing for the devices, as well as for management and support. Management and support is now a one-time cost of $150 per device for businesses and $30 per device for schools, and lasts for the supported life of the device. You can purchase devices, and management and support directly from Google or our authorized resellers. And you can add management and support to any device that you currently own. For more information, check out our website.

Introducing Google Maps Coordinate: Organize teams on the move

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Cross-posted on the Google LatLong Blog.

Imagine you are a call center operator at an electric utility company. A call comes in reporting a downed powerline in one of the northern suburbs of your city, and an entire neighborhood is without power. You need to quickly dispatch one of your line repairers to the site, which is almost an hour away. To save time and get the power back up quickly, you want to know which line repairers are already in the area and send them the relevant information about the job.

That’s where Google Maps Coordinate comes in, a new tool designed to improve communication between businesses and their employees in the field. As the number of mobile employees continues to grow, so does the need for a location sharing solution that works in real-time. Research firm IDC estimates that there will be over 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015 (37.2% of the total workforce) 1. Google Maps Coordinate combines the power of Google’s mapping technologies with modern smartphones to help organizations assign jobs and deploy staff more efficiently.


When a business signs up for Google Maps Coordinate, they get access to the Google Maps Coordinate web and mobile apps.

Employees in the field download the mobile app to their phone and then can:
  • Share real-time location. Google Maps Coordinate is built on Google’s mapping and geolocation infrastructure so the app will send an accurate location, even if you’re indoors (Google Maps Coordinate integrates with Google Indoor Maps).
  • Record data. Mobile teams often need to collect information while out in the field. Google Maps Coordinate allows the admin to customize the fields that the mobile team needs to capture and collect – from measurements to client contact details – directly in the app.

Meanwhile, a designated dispatcher back in the office can:
  • Create teams. Add team members to a Google Maps Coordinate team and see their locations in the Google Maps Coordinate web and mobile app. For example, our electric utility company might create a special team for home electricians and another for line repairers.
  • Manage jobs. Easily create jobs, precisely locate the job, assign the job to the nearest team member and notify them instantly. The next time there is a downed powerline, the operator at the utility company will have no problem identifying the closest team member and assigning them to investigate the issue.
  • View past jobs and locations. Get the hard data you need to make strong business decisions. With Google Maps Coordinate, businesses can easily visualize the locations of all their jobs and teams, including current and past jobs. Businesses can assess where they should be assigning or hiring more workers and how to optimally place their teams.



Any business can sign up for Google Maps Coordinate. Google Maps Coordinate is built to work seamlessly with the entire Google Enterprise Maps and Earth experience, and it comes with an API that can integrate with any of your existing systems.

Contact our sales team or a Google Enterprise Maps and Earth reseller if you’re interested in signing up for Google Maps Coordinate. Share your Google Maps Coordinate use cases and feedback on our Enterprise Google+ page.

1 IDC, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast, Doc #232073, December 2011

In schools, all you need is web

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(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)

While students in the northern hemisphere say goodbye to each other and another school year, we’re in sunny San Diego meeting with thousands of educators and administrators at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. While on break from teaching, these folks are here to teach others how they’re bringing innovation into their classrooms—a lot of which centers around the web.

While the web was developed well before today’s students were born, it’s come a long way even since a year ago. Today you can access the web on any device, use the web offline and take advantage of amazing graphics. For example, you can get a powerful graphing calculator on the web today, for free.

It’s been really amazing to see how the web is impacting schools. We’ve heard great real-world stories about Google Apps for Education, but lately we’re hearing more and more about schools extending the functionality of Google Apps with educational apps available on the Chrome Web Store. There are tens of thousands of apps in the Chrome Web Store, and today we’re adding some new ones: ST Math, VoiceThread and Acheive3000.

To give you an idea of what’s possible on the web: Leyden High School District from Illinois is rolling out Chromebooks to their 3,500 students and are using apps like WeVideo, EasyBib, Vernier Labquest2, SlideRocket, Geogebra and Pearson’s OpenClass as part of their 1-to-1 learning initiative.

Students at East Leyden High School work together on their Chromebooks. Photo credit: East Leyden Art Teacher Anna Reed. 
Chromebooks as a tool for 1-to-1 learning
It’s great to see that many schools are choosing Chromebooks as an effective and affordable 1-to-1 education tool. There are more than 500 districts in the U.S. and Europe actively using Chromebooks, and today we’re pleased to welcome a few more to the community, including Rockingham Country Schools, N.C., Transylvania County Schools, N.C., and Fond du Lac School District, Wis.

Chromebooks are always new—just last month we announced new devices, an updated, app-centric user interface and new pricing for schools. Chromebooks also make it just as easy for administrators to distribute 10, 100 or 1,000 Chromebooks, saving precious summer vacation time previously spent installing software and policies on computers. And great news for schools looking to make hardware purchases: the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia confirmed Chromebooks meet hardware and operating system requirements for student assessments in the 2014-2015 school year.

Applications for education
Today at ISTE, we are introducing some new features for schools using Chromebooks that make it even easier to find, use, install and manage web apps for your entire school:
  • Grade-level application packs are groups of Chrome Web Store apps that integrate tightly with Google’s suite of Apps for Education, divided by grade levels to meet different classroom needs. These packs are installable from the Chromebook management console. Many of them are free and we’ve worked with the app makers to offer discounts for bulk purchases.
  • Organization-specific web app collections in the Chrome Web Store give administrators the ability to recommend apps to students, teachers and staff. The collection is visible only to the school, and admins can curate apps from the Chrome Web Store, application packs and web apps purchased elsewhere or private apps developed by the school. (This feature is also available to Chromebooks for Business customers from the control panel.)


We’ve enjoyed being a part of ISTE the past several years, and always look forward to hearing about new ways that students and teachers are using the web to do amazing things. (If you’re at the conference, come see us at booth 2603 and listen to or share a story!)

24 Haziran 2012 Pazar

Scheduled Release track features update 6/12/12

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The following features are now available to domains following the Scheduled Release track:
- Gmail: End-users will be able to select Welsh and Latin American Spanish as the default language in Gmail Settings.

The following features are intended for release to these domains on June 19th:
No new features to announce.


Release track:
Scheduled*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/gmail-now-available-in-welsh-and-latin.html

*Scheduled Release track: Domains with ‘Scheduled Release’ option enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more.

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Accidentally deleted a user? Undelete user now available!

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Our customers have frequently requested the ability to restore recently deleted users. Starting today, admins can do so in the control panel. The process will recover most if not all data.

- You must have super administrator privileges.
- You can only restore users that have been deleted in the past five days.
- The deleted user name must not match an existing group name or another active user's email address or alias. If it does, you'll see a 'username already exists' error message.
- You can't exceed your maximum number of user licenses. If you try to restore a deleted user when you don't have an available license, you'll see a 'domain is over user limit' error message.
- The option to undelete users is only visible in the top-level organization even if the deleted user was in a sub organization.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported

For more information:
http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1397578

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Custom themes in Gmail

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In addition to the default HD themes already included in Gmail, users now have the ability to create their own custom themes. They can upload their own images directly, select from their Google+ photos or simply paste any image URL.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages included

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/custom-themes-in-gmail.html

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Scheduled Release track features update 6/19/12

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No new features have launched this week.

The following features are intended for release to these domains on June 26th:
- Docs: Users will have the ability to add comments to any file that is uploaded to Google Docs or Drive and that can be opened with Google Docs Viewer. Such files can also be shared with other users with commenter permissions.

Release track:
Scheduled*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages included

For more information:
http://support.google.com/docs/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1738646

*Scheduled Release track: Domains with ‘Scheduled Release’ option enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more.

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Ability to enforce 2-step verification for users

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Domain admins now have the ability to enforce 2-step verification for users in their domain through the control panel. This can be enforced for all users in the domain or a subset of users in an organizational unit.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
US English only (Next Generation release only)

For more information:

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2548882
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/06/posted-by-rishi-dhand-product-manager.html

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23 Haziran 2012 Cumartesi

Introducing Google Play: All your entertainment, anywhere you go

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(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite—moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires…lots of wires. Today we’re eliminating all that hassle with Google Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet. Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again.



With Google Play you can:
  • Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
  • Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
  • Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
  • Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles
Starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play. On your Android phone or tablet, we’ll be upgrading the Android Market app to the Google Play Store app over the coming days. Your videos, books and music apps (in countries where they are available) will also be upgraded to Google Play Movies, Google Play Books and Google Play Music apps. The music, movies, books and apps you’ve purchased will continue to be available to you through Google Play—simply log in with your Google account like always.

To celebrate, we’ll be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week in our “7 Days to Play” sale. In the U.S., today’s titles include the collection of top 40 hits Now That's What I Call Music 41, the popular game Where's My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each. In addition, you'll find great collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, some of our editorial team's favorite movies from 99 cents, and our favorite apps from 49 cents.

In the U.S., music, movies, books and Android apps are available in Google Play. In Canada and the U.K., we’ll offer movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; and in Japan, movies and apps. Everywhere else, Google Play will be the new home for Android apps. Our long-term goal is to roll out as many different types of content as possible to people around the world, and we’ll keep adding new content to keep it fresh.

To learn more, head over to play.google.com/about or keep up with the latest on our Google+ page. If you’re headed to Austin later this week for South by Southwest, come to the Google Village to see Google Play in action. We can’t wait for you to try Google Play and experience a simpler way to manage your entertainment.

A completely redesigned Google Search App for Windows 7.5 phones

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(Cross posted on the Inside Search Blog)
Windows Phone owners can now get easy access to the Google Search App, available in the
Windows Phone Marketplace. Check out these features which help you get useful results fast:
  • Google Autocomplete: As you type in your search, our autocomplete feature offers search predictions that often match your intended search term making search entry easier and faster.

  • Voice Search: With our voice feature, you can avoid typing all together. Simply press the microphone and begin speaking your query.

  • My Location: With your permission, Google can use your device location to provide nearby results easily and accurately. For instance, a search for “coffee shops” quickly displays the nearest places you can go to for a cup of coffee.

The new Google Search app now has Voice Search (left) as well as Google Autocomplete (right)
You can download the app from the Windows Marketplace and try it for yourself. It’s available worldwide in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.

Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

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(Cross posted on the Google Voice Blog)
Since we launched Google Voice back in 2009, we’ve supported visual voicemail so you could open the Google Voice app, see all your voicemails with text transcripts, and play them on-demand. But sometimes when I get a missed call, I don’t want to jump between my call log and the Google Voice app to see who has called me and what message they left.

So, today, we’re updating our mobile app so you can view and listen to your voicemails on demand directly from the call log on your Android phone. Your voicemails will appear alongside your outgoing, incoming, and missed calls in your phone’s call log and you can just simply touch them to play them. You can slow down the playback of the message which is great for when someone is telling you their callback number, or you even speed playback up, so you can quickly listen to longer messages.



To turn this feature on, download the latest app from Google Play and check “Voicemail display” under settings. This new feature requires Android 4.0+.

Posted by Yong-Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

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(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:



A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones

In today’s release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we’ve redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android


Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices

If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you’ll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android


Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you’ll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.

You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.

Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option

Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.



To start using Google Maps 6.5 for Android, download the update from Google Play. Learn more about how to use other great features of Google Maps for Android on the redesigned Google Maps YouTube channel that has 12 new videos available today.

Google Offers app now available on iPhone

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Today we’re announcing the new Google Offers app for iPhone. Now, iPhone users can discover, buy and redeem Google Offers, as well as deals from our partners, on-the-go. Some of the features of the new Google Offers app for iPhone include:
  • Instant savings, just around the corner: Quickly discover offers near you in map view or search for deals by category to easily find the right deal for you.
  • See & use the deals you want, when you want them: All of your purchased and saved offers are tracked in "My Offers,” for easy access from your iPhone or online.
  • Savings made simple: Instantly redeem most offers with your iPhone, without having to print vouchers.
  • Never miss a great deal: Get notifications when new deals are available or when a deal that you’ve purchased or saved is about to expire.
Browse deals near you in map view/Purchase offers directly from the app/Get instant access to all of your deals in “My Offers”
Browse deals near you in map view, purchase offers directly from the app, and get instant access to all of your deals in “My Offers”
Download the Google Offers app for iPhone today from The App Store. This app is only available in the U.S.

Posted by Robert Kim, Product Manager, Google Offers

21 Haziran 2012 Perşembe

New ways to share and manage your contacts

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Today we’re adding a couple of new ways to share your contacts: Contacts Delegation and an enhanced shared Directory. Both of these features were inspired by feedback from customers who wanted more ways to manage shared contacts.

Contacts Delegation
Google Apps users can now delegate their contacts to other people at their organization. Many of you might already have someone help manage your inbox or schedule with our email and calendar delegation features. Now, you can delegate management of your contacts without granting access to your entire email inbox. While this feature is great for support staff, it can also be used by anyone who wants to share their contacts with a colleague at their organization.

Shared Directory
We’ve also improved the Directory shared across your organization to make it a more functional collection of shared contacts for everyone in your domain. Now, the Directory can display all of the domain's users, all of the domain's shared contacts, or both. As before, individual users may also be selectively hidden from the Directory.

We’re always adding new enhancements to Apps. On the Contacts front, we plan to continue improving access to fresh, relevant and appropriate contact information to keep you more connected.

Motivating people with MapMyFITNESS and Google Maps API for Business

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Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog.

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger is Robin Thurston, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of MapMyFITNESS.

Being fit means moving and moving means going someplace. We created the MapMyFITNESS applications because we are passionate about living active lifestyles and we wanted a way to both track our progress and explore new activities. We wanted to help people experience this passion for themselves. As our community of MapMyFITNESS users has grown to over 9 million people, we have continually worked to make the applications easier to use and more effective at motivating people to keep moving, whether they’re elite athletes or people just getting started.



A key component to that mission has been our integration with Google Maps, which has made it easy for our users to find new routes or make their own, then share them with the rest of the MapMyFITNESS community. As one of the earliest Google Maps API developers, we noticed it was easy to incorporate the mapping functionality into our product. As we set about to completely rebuild our platform that launched earlier this month, our goal was to expand the ways users could take advantage of Google Maps’ latest API functionality. We've gone from tracking and sharing routes in our old platform to providing "Courses" in our new platform. Courses provide our users with real-time data like traffic patterns and temperature, and include "check-in" technology that helps them track workouts, share their progress, and compete in our new leaderboard against specific groups of people. They can compete with local clubs, friends, and most importantly against themselves and their own progress.

The Google Maps API allowed us to show the important information to our users in an easy to read format. Users can visit our site to find new cycling, running or walking routes by searching for the route while viewing it on the map. By using the Google Maps API were we able to incorporate the Street View API to create virtual tours of routes and the Elevation API to calculate how many feet you climb - and descend - during your workout. That familiarity, in addition to fantastic technology and features, makes the user experience both easier and more powerful.

Clover Stornetta Farms Mooooooves to Google Apps

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Editors note: Clover Stornetta Farms is a family-owned and operated dairy processor that distributes a wide range of dairy products consumed by millions of families throughout the western United States under the Clover Stornetta and Clover Organic Farms brands.

Since the 1970’s, we’ve worked hard to do right by our customers and the environment, reducing our water consumption by 10 million gallons a year, converting our sales fleet to Hybrid vehicles, and always sourcing our milk from local farmers committed to the sustainability of their land, welfare of their cows and producing the highest quality milk pool in the country. These are the things we care about. So, when our IT infrastructure began to limit our ability to work together as we grew, we knew we had to find a new solution that allowed us to focus on making great dairy products, not running a complex IT system.

Google Apps provides us with a platform that can help the Clover business grow without a heavy investment from our IT team. The move to Google Apps went very smoothly and our IT team now spends 25% less time supporting email than they did with our old infrastructure.

We’ve always been very team-oriented, and Google Apps has made it easier for us to work even more closely and collaboratively. Since Google Apps is delivered via the cloud, our employees love that they can access their email, calendar and files from any computer or mobile device. Instead of waiting until we can meet face-to-face, we save time by working together in Google Docs and video chatting in Gmail. Google Apps has been a huge time saver.

The dairy industry is very traditional, but that doesn’t mean our IT has to be. We love that Google is constantly innovating and we can benefit from the new features and products available to us. With Google Apps, we know that we can continue to work together and communicate as if we’re a small company, even as we grow.

School of Rock tops the charts with Google Apps for Business and Chromebooks

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Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Evan Trent, Vice President of Digital Strategy and Technology at School of Rock, a national music program headquartered in Burr Ridge, Illinois. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.



For more than a decade, School of Rock has been inspiring kids to rock on stage and in life. We offer music lessons on guitar, bass, piano, vocals and drums in a performance-based environment at over 90 company-owned and franchised schools in the U.S. and Mexico. Our goal is to inspire our students to learn, motivate them to excel, and, as a result, help them to gain confidence.

We’ve been growing rapidly in recent years, primarily been through franchising. We ran Microsoft® Exchange for years, but as the number of franchise schools continued to grow, we found it more and more difficult to offer a simple start-up process and manage and deliver remote support. We needed to move to a web-based solution that didn’t require multiple installations, software updates, and desktop support. After researching a few different options, we found Google Apps for Business had the tools we needed to rock on. We also found that many of our franchisees were already big fans of Google products and were using them outside of School of Rock.

We began the transition to Google Apps in January 2012 through our implementation partner, Cloud Sherpas. The migration was straightforward, and Cloud Sherpas offered training sessions for our employees and franchise partners to ensure a seamless transition. Google Apps completely transformed how we work with our franchisees and how each location works together as a team. Sharing information with students, faculty and parents has become much easier with Google Docs and Google Groups. We also find Google’s mobile-friendly approach in tune with our younger and more mobile employees.

Since we struck an amazing chord with Google Apps, we also decided to rethink our PC-based culture. We no longer wanted to deal with the administrative overhead and the security and reliability issues that came with traditional PCs. So in March, we deployed Google Chromebooks to about one quarter of our locations, and we’ve been rolling them out to increasingly more schools. We use them for just about everything, from accounting to video conferencing to putting on shows. The Chromebooks are extremely fast, require zero support, are easy to manage across multiple remote locations, and they cost only a few hundred dollars each. They’ve also been incredibly helpful for those of us who travel often since the battery life often lasts much longer than our previous PCs and they have built-in 3G access.

Google Apps for Business and Chromebooks have greatly reduced the time, money and energy our franchisees need to invest in technology, and that’s music to our ears.

When the economy gets tough, the tough get innovative

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Editors note: In March 2011, we announced the Macomb County Circuit Court and Clerk/Register of Deeds have gone Google. Almost a year later, we’re honored to recognize Macomb County Clerk / Register of Deeds Carmella Sabaugh as one of our Government Transformers.

Like others hit hard by the recession, the Macomb County Clerk’s office in Michigan was forced to make tough decisions. But when faced with setbacks, we respond boldly. To borrow Theodore Roosevelt’s words, “We refuse to be among those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Macomb County is now one of only 67 counties nationwide to earn a AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor’s. 'AAA' is the highest issuer credit rating assigned by Standard & Poor's, recognizing that a county has extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.

One way we innovate is to use Google Apps for Government to improve service and save money. In the past it could be disruptive for court clerks to receive phone calls while court was in session since they’d be helping judges work through their dockets. But some matters require immediate attention. Google Chat makes it easy for court clerks to instantly get information without disrupting the docket flow, and it reduces incoming phone calls and walk-up requests. Clerks can work from any courtroom or back office without requiring a complicated workstation setup or changes.

The circuit court clerk also uses a Google spreadsheet to maintain a dashboard for the office. Everyday the attendance data of all job duties gets automatically populated and color coded with a progress chart. This allows the chief court clerk to allocate staff efficiently to keep the office running smoothly and efficiently. The clerk’s office uses Google Docs to create county commission meetings minutes which allows real-time collaboration among the commissioners. The public can watch it as it’s being created and learn about voting results right away.

Our staff is able to improve citizen services with the latest technology tools. We are a government of the people by the people and for the people. We are the Macomb County Clerk’s office. And we’ve gone Google.

20 Haziran 2012 Çarşamba

Know Your Gmail Stats using Gmail Meter

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One day I was looking at how many messages I have in my sent mail, and realized there are a lot of things I wanted to know about my email habits. How much of my emails do I read, and do I reply fast enough? As luck would have it, Romain Vialard, a Google Apps Script Top Contributor, developed a tool called Gmail Meter powered by Google Apps Script.

Gmail Meter is an Apps Script which runs on the first day of every month and sends you an email containing different statistics about your Inbox. In a similar way to how recently introduced Google Account Activity gives key stats about how you’ve used your Google Account, Gmail Meter gives you different types of statistics that will help you analyze your Gmail habits.
  • Volume Statistics show you the number of important and starred messages, the number of people who sent you emails, and more. Volume statistics can be very useful in determining how you are using email efficiency tools like Priority Inbox.
  • Daily Traffic gives you an estimate of when you receive messages and when you send them during a given month. For example, in the graph below you can see how the peaks in my “Sent” curve indicates that I write emails in spurts.
  • Traffic Pattern lets you get a sense of your overall email activity over the past week.
  • Email Categories tells you how you are managing your Inbox. In the pie chart below, you can see that the majority of my emails are labeled. My Inbox is tiny compared to other labels which indicates that I keep a lean and mean Inbox.
  • Time Before First Response shows you how long it takes you to reply, and how long it takes others to reply to you. By looking at this chart, I can infer that I reply faster than others I communicate with.
  • Word Count tells you whether you are writing long emails. The example below shows that most of my emails are shorter than 200 words.
  • Thread Lengths help you understand whether you participate in long conversations resulting in long threads. Top Senders and Top Recipients help you identify who you communicate with more frequently.
How to Setup Gmail Meter


It is easy to set up Gmail Meter. First, go to Google Docs and open a Spreadsheet. Click on Tools > Script Gallery. Search for “Gmail Meter” and click Install. You will now see a new menu item called Gmail Meter on your spreadsheet. Click on Gmail Meter > Get a Report. You can then choose the type of report. Preparing a report may take some time and you will get an email once the report is ready. If you would like to know more about how this script works, be sure to check this tutorial.
Learning about my email habits has helped me become more email efficient. So, before you read that next article on "Writing Effective Emails," be sure to learn more about your own email habits using Gmail Meter.

Update 4/26/12: To clear up some confusion, Gmail Meter is not developed by Google.  Although we're highlighting it here, as with any third-party scripts, we can't guarantee security.