Posts tagged Google at Switched

Posts with tag google

Voice and Video Chat Comes to Gmail

by Tim Stevens, posted Nov 12th 2008 at 10:47AM

Gmail is great (when it's working), offering top-notch spam filtering, gigabytes of storage, and a slick user interface all for free. It also offers integrated instant chatting for those who are into such things, and, as of a few weeks ago, text messaging too. Now Gmail is growing again, offering you the ability to chat with voice and video without having to leave the page.

You'll need to start by downloading a browser plugin, which installs in a few seconds and, after you restart your browser, should let you get going. Naturally, you'll need to ask whoever you want to chat with to install the same, but once that's done you can just click on their name in your contacts list to get a voice or video chat going. From there, you click on the "Video & more" link in the lower-left, and, in just a few seconds, their (hopefully) smiling mug will appear! You also have the option of popping the video out into a separate window from Gmail, and can make it full-screen if you want.

As of now, not many people will have the plugin installed, but from playing around with it a little this morning it seems a heck of a lot easier to use than most other video chat apps, especially since you don't have to configure anything. Just a few clicks and you're chatting. The video above shows exactly how it all works and, if you don't have a Web cam, Logitech certainly has an array of offerings that should suit your needs, so keep an eye out for Black Friday sales. [From: Official Gmail Blog]

Best Election Resources on the Web

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 4th 2008 at 12:10PM

Regardless of your political affiliation, there's no denying the historic nature of today's presidential race. Turnout for the U.S. election is expected to reach record numbers. So how do you keep up with the election and gather relevant information without succumbing to the noise and theatrics of the 24-hour-cable news channels? Well, the Internet (and NPR) are here to help offer you more options, if not more substance, than either Fox News or CNN possibly could.

Information about the candidates: If you are one of those confounding people who still hasn't made up their mind, this is your last chance to pick a candidate. You can find out information about each of the candidates' positions and records at Project Vote Smart and OnTheIssues.org. However, if that's too much reading for you, you can also find out which nominee is closest to your positions by answering a few questions over at Glassbooth.
Where the money is coming from: Funding of presidential campaigns is always a major concern, but it's especially timely this year with Obama's groundbreaking and record-breaking fundraising efforts. You can see where the money is coming from at OpenSecrets.org and Follow the Money.
Fact-checking the candidates: Political campaigns are filled with questionable claims and attacks, and this year is no exception. FactCheck.org and PolitiFact evaluate claims and commercials to tell you who is stretching the truth and who is outright lying.
Where to vote: If you're not sure where you're supposed to vote, Google Maps and Vote411.org can help you locate your polling place.
Share your voting experience: PBS and YouTube have partnered to present Video Your Vote, which asks people to document their voting experience in hopes of protecting people against voting irregularities and suppression. You can also share your experiences via Twitter which is running it's own dedicated election-themed channel. Check with the Citizen Media Law Project's 'Documenting Your Vote' guide to see what the laws are in your state.
Get live election results: RealClearPolitics offers not just poll-watching, but election results, too, and serves to aggregate political news and commentary from various sources. You can also catch live results from AOL News (part of AOL, Switched's parent company), Google Maps and CNN, which offer an incredible amount of detail about exit polls and precinct-by-precinct results via their election maps for the truly obsessive.
Have a laugh: As serious as the election and its impact on America are, it's important to not get all frazzled, sweating over the live results. Check out the Indecision2008 blog from the 'Daily Show' and the Onion's War for the White House for a more lighthearted take on political news.

Now get out there and vote! If you should encounter any issues or difficulties, don't hesitate to report them to Election Protection (a non-partisan voter advocacy group) at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Text Messaging Launches on Gmail and Google Chat, Finally

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 31st 2008 at 1:45PM

We love Google's Gmail service, with its gigabytes (GB) of free storage and clean interface, and we also love keeping up with friends using the Google Talk chat service. The two have long been integrated, enabling you to chat in real-time from within the Gmail page, but now Google is adding another dimension: the ability to send SMS text messages to phones as you would to another person on Google Chat.

You can now send a chat message to a mobile phone number and Google will send that message as an SMS to the recipient's phone, all without charging you a dime. The only catch is that the text will appear to come from some random number in the 406 area code, but Google is indicating it will associate that number with you uniquely, so that your friends can reply to that number and you'll get the text as a chat response. Google is currently rolling out the feature to Gmail users, and by the end of the day you should be able to enable it by clicking on "Settings" and then on "Labs" if you're so inclined. Of course, this is nothing new to AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger users, who have been able to send text messages to cell phones for several years now. [From: Webmonkey]

T-Mobile G1 Coming to Wal-Mart for $148.88

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 28th 2008 at 2:49PM

Well, now isn't this something? Best Buy has its fancy little iPhone 3G, but it'll be Wally World offering up the G1 outside of official T-Mobile outlets. As we'd heard yesterday, 550 Wal-Mart stores across the country will begin selling the Android-powered handset beginning tomorrow, and folks who opt to pick one up here versus a traditional T-Mob store will save $31.11. Yep -- according to company spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien, the new / upgrade-eligible customer price for a Wal-Mart-sourced G1 will be just $148.88 with a 2-year agreement.

Wait, what? You already purchased your G1 at the full price? They always said the early bird pays the premium... or something along those lines.

Popular Online? Google Wants Your Adspace

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 6th 2008 at 11:37AM

Google has of course made a name for itself through its search-based technical innovations. But, many of its most impressive tricks reside behind the scenes in the way it sells and delivers advertising, funding its future growth. A recently revealed patent application has shed a little light on what could be a tie-in to social networks, making people who are popular online more valuable ad recipients than everyone else.

The idea is simple: Those who have lots of friends in MySpace, Facebook, or the like, or who are particularly active on large forums, will have advertising space that's more valuable than your average, isolated Internet-izen. The patent was applied for 18 months ago, and for its part Google is downplaying the application, saying that it gets dozens of patents each year to protect its interests but that many don't go anywhere. We just hope those heavily-networked types get something of a kickback -- not just pages and pages full of ads. [From: NEWS.com.au]

Tech Stocks Hammered Hard

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 30th 2008 at 2:18PM

Yes, it was a rough day all-round for the markets yesterday, and with the repercussions spanning the globe overnight, we're not too optimistic that it'll be a much better day today. But, while bank- and investment-related stocks were the story of the day, tech stocks were some of the biggest losers, with Apple, Google, and Yahoo all getting hit particularly hard.

Apple was the worst, dropping almost 18-percent in a single day, erasing over a year's worth of gains. Google meanwhile, which was already getting beaten up by traders, dropped another 12-percent, while Yahoo was down 10-percent to just under $16 per-share. That last one is particularly painful for the company that recently fought off a $30+ per-share buyout from Microsoft, believing that the offer significantly undervalued its holdings. We're thinking that was a really, really bad move. [From: Venturebeat]

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler Files Suit Against Online Impersonators

by Lee Bains, posted Sep 25th 2008 at 6:02PM

Earlier today, Steven Tyler -- lead singer and founding member of Aerosmith -- filed suit against individuals on Google's Blogger site, which Tyler claims is full of bloggers that have been impersonating him in their online postings, News.com.au reports.

The lawsuit alleges that these anonymous bloggers have caused harm to Tyler and his girlfriend Erin Brady by revealing private facts about the couple's lives, using his image without permission, and spreading falsehoods. Blogs written on the subject of Tyler's recently deceased mother were, according to the suit, particularly hurtful.

The blogs in question were taken down by Google earlier today and are under review to assess any breach of Blogger's terms of service.

While we believe anybody who says anything about anybody's mama deserves to have their butt whooped, one question does remain: Who, having seen any recent picture of Steven Tyler, would want to impersonate him? [From: News.com.au]

World's Most Expensive (and Profitable) Typos

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 25th 2008 at 4:26PM

You'd think that fixing a typo would be an easy thing in these days easily-editable digital content. But surprisingly, this is not always the case. And sometimes, it's just too late to do anything about the consequences that result from a particularly bad mistake. In case you don't believe us, check out the list of the worst typos ever, compiled by Typo Buddy, a site dedicated to saving you money by finding misspelled eBay listings.
,
Our favorites include a misspelling of a word in a New York City Department of Education accounting system that resulted in only half the costs being tracked. The City had to pick up an additional $1.4 million in unexpected expenses! Also, a Japanese trader accidentally sold 610,000 shares of a company at just 1 yen each, instead of 1 share at 610,000 yen, resulting in a loss of $340 million.

There are plenty of others, including how Google got its name -- though hopefully no typos in this post! [From: Typo Buddy]

Google Maps Incorporates New York City Transit Maps

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted Sep 24th 2008 at 6:47PM

Google is finally mapping something that matters (with all due respect to the earth and oceans): subway routes in New York City.

Yes, Google has decided to add New York City Transit to its infinite list of things already mapped (you'll find other transit systems mapped here). Now, when someone searches for a location in the city, they will be supplied with a list of accompanying mass transit options, driving directions, and for those of us feeling extra-healthy, walking directions. The ever popular Street View will be joined by other features like restaurant view and we assume creepy voyeur view (we made that last one up).

We are sure this new technology will come as a relief to some of the 8.5 million people that use NYC mass transit every weekday. [From: USA Today]

Meet the T-Mobile G1

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 8:53AM

Uh, c'mon guys -- this is a little ridiculous. Now typically, you want to keep this sort of thing under wraps until the day of your event, but it seems like the cats and kittens at T-Mobile can't contain themselves. Yes, you're looking at the first official product shot of the G1 Android phone ever. Enjoy it.

Update: TmoNews has just uncovered new specs and info on the phone. Here's what they've got so far: the phone is 4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 inches, weighs 5.6 ounces, features a 480 x 320 HVGA display, sports 3G (obviously), GPS, has a 3.1-megapixel camera, supports up to 8GB of memory (though no format is mentioned), and will feature 5 hours of talktime with 130 hours of standby. Strangely, the phone won't do video capture (what?), won't have stereo Bluetooth, will require a Gmail account, and won't be sold at stores outside of a 2-5 mile radius of T-Mobile's 3G coverage areas. That last bit sounds a little odd to us, but we're guessing a lot of the functionality of this device will be shot in non-3G regions.

Head on over to Engadget for a gallery.

[Thanks, Luis; Via, TmoNews]

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