Google Friends Newsletter – November 2007Autumnal greetings to our Google friends everywhere. We hope you enjoy
this month’s update on our products and services.
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POWER TIP
Google Tip of the Day Gadget
Various updates to Google products are sometimes released at such a
pace that even we Googlers have a hard time keeping up — and some of
the best aspects can be lost in the shuffle. The Google Tip of the Day
gadget highlights some of the lesser-known or recently-added members
of the Google family, with short, easily-digested descriptions and
examples. We serve up a new tip every weekday and you can scroll
through the archive to see earlier tips as well. Just add this gadget
to your iGoogle homepage or embed it on your own website or blog.
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?url=google_tips.xml
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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES
Updates to Google Notebook
This month we’ve unveiled a number of updates to Google Notebook, most
notably a mobile version so you can access your notebooks from your
cell phone or other handheld Internet device. In addition, we’ve also
improved and simplified the interface, added labeling functionality
for improved organization, and integrated Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/notebook
Google products optimized for the iPhone
Those already in possession of an iPhone will notice we’ve recently
optimized Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, Reader, and Docs to
work better than ever. The iPhone-optimized properties take advantage
of the Safari browser to render touchpad-friendly pages along with the
high processing power of the iPhone to offer a seamless browsing
experience.
http://www.google.com
Updates to Google Maps
Over the past month Google Maps has made a number of improvements,
including adding a Terrain overlay that displays physical features
such as mountains, valleys, and forestation as well as elevation
shading, river rapids, and hiking trails. By clicking the Terrain
overlay for New York, for instance, you can see 3D models of buildings
in Manhattan. There’s also the new Editable Maps, to help correct data
on Google Maps, such as the exact location of your house — just like
a wiki database.
http://maps.google.com
Five new iGoogle themes
Those of you who use iGoogle now have five additional theme choices to
personalize your homepages. These include: the solar system, showing a
new scene for each day of the week; the Hong Kong skyline (it changes
in light and texture based on time of day); a family of raccoons
playing in a leaf pile; a tiger on Jeju Island, South Korea; and JR,
the lovable monster who grapples with life in a city for which he is
entirely too big.
http://www.google.com/ig
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MISCELLANY
+ Voters go online +
The 2004 presidential contest was the first major campaign that
featured a notable amount of online activity – fundraising, blogging,
petition-gathering. Since then, it’s only heated up, as even more
people are conducting their business, and spending their leisure time,
online. During this run-up period to the 2008 election, YouTube has
broken new ground by collaborating with CNN to organize major
candidate debates for both parties featuring video questions submitted
by thousands of voters. YouTube also launched a meta-election site
called YouChoose, so that folks can track the candidates on the issues
they care most about. The Internet is a powerful tool for sharing
information quickly, presenting all sides of the issues, candidate
positions, and much more. We are planning for a busy campaign season
leading up to November 2008, and we encourage everyone to get informed
and stay current as the candidates, the polls, and the issues continue
to play out next year.
YouChoose: http://www.youtube.com/youchoose
CNN-YouTube Republican debate: http://www.youtube.com/republicandebate
CNN-YouTube Democratic debate: http://www.youtube.com/democraticdebate
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