Google Now Comes Online Now

Google Now, the smart personal search assistant announced yesterday at Google I/O, has now come online. Well, the landing page for the service has come online, that is. The new site introduces the key aspects to Google Now, which arrives in Google’s next mobile operating system, Android 4.1 (aka Jelly Bean), including its ability to track flights, keep an eye on traffic and your calendar, check sports scores and weather, see suggested places nearby, and more.
The feature, accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the homescreen has already been referred to as a “Siri killer” by some Android fans because of its ability to not just assist you, but to proactively alert you to new information based on your needs. One example which Google showed off in its demo yesterday was a flight search, which would later pop up a card that appeared with flight alerts and delays as they occurred in real-time. In another example, Google learned what sports teams you liked based on your search history and could then alert you to upcoming games and scores. In another, you could see suggested places to eat or shop as you walked down the street.
However, the biggest piece to Google Now is that the information comes and finds you – not the other way around. This is a key difference between how Siri operates today and what Google is promising. Of course, you as the user are in control of the experience and can enable or disable which cards and alerts you would see. It’s opt-in, which goes a long way to dispel the potential “creepy” factor here. It’s not as if Skynet has just come online. (I think).
The idea for this type of search-without-the-search technology, if you will, has been in development for some time. In 2010, then CEO, now Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke of a “serendipity engine” as the future of Google search. “We want to give you your time back,” Schmidt said at the time. Google Instant was the first step towards that goal, but Google Now takes a giant leap. At the IFA conference in Berlin, Schmidt described the experience that is today’s Google Now, talking about how phones could spout off random facts as you walked around town, or how they could inform you of the weather, understanding the natural language of human speech. He called this idea a new age of “augmented reality,” where computers work for us.
Unfortunately, for the time being, that new age will only be available to a precious few – those who buy or can upgrade their Android-based devices to Jelly Bean. But much of what Google Now offers could be bundled into an Android or even iOS (!) app using the platforms’ push notifications feature. Hopefully that is in the works, too.

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What to Expect form Google I/O Which Starts from Tomorrow:

Google‘s annual developer conference kicks off tomorrow, and Mashable will be on the scene covering it live. It’s bound to be packed with news about Google products — from Google+ to Android — and there will be lots in store for consumers.
Although this looks to be an eventful conference, company CEO Larry Page is likely to be a no-show. It’s rumored that Page lost his voice late last week and won’t be in shape to appear at I/O. He says there’s “nothing seriously wrong” with him, so there’s no reason to be nervous about the overall health of the Google CEO.
Google I/O begins with a keynote at 9:30 a.m. PT tomorrow (watch for our live blog). A host of Google executives will take the stage, going through Google’s products and strategy, one by one. But since Page has taken over as chief executive in 2011, the company has shown better focus, and we’ll probably see more about how Google’s myriad products integrate with each other in this year’s show, from cloud to search to mobile and beyond.

Google+

It’s been almost exactly a year since Google launched its in-house social network, Google+. The timing of I/O might be a coincidence — it was in May last year — but it could also mean Google has some plans for Google+’s anniversary.
Google’s made a lot of tweaks to Google+ recently, launching new apps for iOS and Android and integrating the network with local search results. It’s also available as a channel on Flipboard. At I/O, Google may release more extensive APIs for Google+ so developers can start integrating its content into more apps.
In any case, we’ll certainly get updated stats on the network, hopefully getting an idea if it will ever be as pervasive as Facebook.

Android Jelly Bean

Google’s next major Android update will be “Jelly Bean,” which will be either version 4.1 or 5.0.
While we’re not expecting any major visual changes to Jelly Bean, we do expect that Google will continue to refine the experience on both the smartphone and the tablet. It’s taken a while, but we’re finally seeing Ice Cream Sandwich handsets ship — including the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III. With Ice Cream Sandwich penetration still below 10%, it will be interesting to see if handset makers decide to jump directly to Jelly Bean (assuming the hardware is compatible).
The Jelly Bean upgrade could bring with it a final version of Chrome for Android, which has been in beta for a while. That could mean the standard Android browser is about to be replaced, or it could remain as a separate download but that seems more than a little redundant.
The final version of Chrome for Android could mean a more definitive plan for how Google’s mobile platform will interact with Chrome OS. Google recently launched a revamped Chrome OS along with new devices. The company is still clearly betting some money on Chromebooks, but exactly what hand Google’s playing with them is still a little unclear. Perhaps more focus for Chrome OS will be on tap.

Nexus Tablet

A Google tablet has been rumored to be in the works for a while. It makes a great deal of sense — even more in the wake of Microsoft’s Surface announcement. With the Google tablet, it’ll mean almost all of the major platform providers — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google — will have a “reference” tablet product. The only exception will be Facebook, which so far doesn’t make hardware of any kind.
However, let’s be clear: If Google introduces a Nexus tablet, one of its hardware partners will actually build the device, most likely Asus. The tablet is also rumored to represent an expansion of the Nexus line of Google-endorsed devices running stock Android — Google is said to be planning several more Nexus phones and devices.

Google Maps

Earlier this month, Google unveiled what it dubbed “the future of Google Maps” at a special event in San Francisco. The latest features include offline mapping for Android devices, updated Street View options and 3D Google Earth maps.
The bigger story with Google Maps — and with mobile mapping in general — is the disruption taking place in the space. When Apple officially announced that it was dropping Google Maps in iOS 6, it raised some interesting questions about the future of Google Apps in iOS.
It is very likely that Google will announce its own Google Maps app for iOS, much like it offers apps for Google Voice, Gmail, Google Earth and Google+.
As for disruption, Google is facing a lot of it — and not just from Apple. OpenStreetMap is becoming an increasingly popular mapping API for mobile app developers.
In February, Foursquare announced that it was dropping Google Maps for OpenStreetMap, in part because of Google’s pricing. Earlier this week, Google announced big price cuts to its Google Maps API, perhaps as a bid to keep developers from moving away from the platform.

Cloud Platform and Google Drive

Because I/O is a developer conference, some of the most future-facing — and important — announcements and sessions might also be the most unsexy. Still, we think it’s worth paying attention to what Google announces and unveils about its Cloud Platform and Google Drive products.
With its Cloud Platform, Google offers cloud solutions for application developers and service vendors. It also faces stiff competition from Amazon, Rackspace, Heroku (Salesforce) and Joyent. At I/O, we expect Google to announce its latest cloud initiatives, perhaps with a focus at helping existing businesses and services migrate to the cloud.
As for Google Drive, looking at some of the session descriptions, it’s clear the emphasis is on adding Google Drive support to apps and services.
As we’ve argued in the past, it’s this kind of integration that could make Google Drive a real contender against the likes of Box, Dropbox and SharePoint.

Google TV and Google Play

The biggest advantage that Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have over Google in the mobile and media space is access to commercial content. Google has tried to mitigate the situation with its rebranded Google Play store. Google Play offers users a one-stop shop for apps, movies, music and books. At least, in theory.
In practice, Google is still having a hard time signing major commercial media partners to its services. It’s also not seeing the adoption on its own platform.
At Google I/O, we expect Google to focus on integrating the Google Play ecosystem across services and devices — putting more emphasis on building a viable content platform.
The living room is a crucial part of any content platform.
Let’s face it, Google has not found success with Google TV. More than two years after the platform was announced at Google I/O 2010, neither consumers nor device makers have flocked to the service. Still, with the living room largely considered to be the “next” battleground, Google has to do something — especially if it wants to compete with Microsoft and Apple.
We expect that Google will discuss the ways it is going to help developers port their Android or web content directly to the television. We also expect to see Google make good on some of the promises it made last year in regards to controlling the living room.
Christina Warren contributed to the reporting in this story.

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GOOGLE+ is still the BEST

Things changed since than , but GOOGLE+ is still the BEST...What do You think about differences between these platforms for communication?Http://devbpo.com

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GOOGLE+ is still the BEST

Things changed since than , but GOOGLE+ is still the BEST...What do You think about differences between these platforms for communication?Http://devbpo.com

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Google Drive aesomeness instant OCR

Google Drive awesomeness, instant OCR http://devbpo.com

You want to digitize a print document? You have Google Drive and an Android device? You are all set!

1- Take a very clear picture of the paper document
2- Send it to Google Drive
3- (Re)name the uploaded document and check the "transform as a Google document" box. Go!
4- Wait for upload and process. Done! :)

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Google Adds a ‘Share’ Button for Google+

Lost amid the hysteria over Google‘s powerful new Drive cloud-storage service was another product introduced by the Mountain View tech giant on Tuesday — a Google+ “Share” button.

The new button enables website operators to more easily encourage visitors to spread content among connections on Google’s social network. It’s the latest step in integrating the social network with content across the web. The Share button joins the already existing +1 button, which enables Google+ members to indicate that they — for lack of a better term — like a page or an article.

“When your visitors come across something interesting on your site, sometimes you want to encourage a simple endorsement (like +1),” Google+ product manager Rick Borovoy wrote in a blog post introducing the new feature. “Other times, however, you want to help visitors share with their friends, right away. Today’s new Google+ Share button lets you do just that.”

When visitors click the button, they have the option of sharing a page with specific people or Circles in their network. Like with the +1 feature, the new button switches from red font on a light background to light font on a red background after being clicked. Users can click the button multiple times, however, to share repeatedly or in different contexts with different segments of their network.

The Share button is now available globally. How do you add it to your site? Visit the Google Developers’ site to get the code here.

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By The Numbers: Larry Page’s First Year as Google’s CEO

Google has historically been paranoid about any numbers it publicly releases. For many years even after it was publicly traded, the management triumvirate including Larry Page had to personally approve any numbers the company issued to the public, a policy I believe still stands.

So it’s worth pointing out all the figures the company has decided to share in a letter to investors that caps off Page’s first year at CEO:

30: The number of products Google has shut down this year, including Knol and Sidewiki.

120: The number of Google+ integrations, which unsurprisingly mostly involve Google products.

100 million: The number of active Google+ users. Is this a sign of health? Or that Page is out of touch with reality and perhaps should be using a different engagement metric? Discuss.

850,000: Android devices activated per day. (It’s an old number from Mobile World Congress in February.)

55: The number of Android manufacturing partners.

300: The number of Android carrier partners.

200 million: The number of Chrome users. (Also an old number.)

350 million: Number of Gmail users.

5,000: The number of enterprise and educational customers that sign up for Gmail every day.

800 million: The number of monthly YouTube users.

$2.5 billion: The run-rate for the mobile advertising business in the third quarter of 2011.

2.5x: Growth over mobile advertising revenue in the same time period two years earlier.

$30 billion: Amount that Google has cumulatively paid out to content publishers on the web through the AdSense program.

64: Number of languages supported in Google Translate.

4,032: Language pairs supported by Google Translate.

200,000: The number of miles Google’s self-driven cars have driven.

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Google’s Search for Clean Energy

Google once brashly believed its engineers could invent a solution to the world’s energy problems. These days, the company has a new strategy: finance less risky clean-energy projects where it can actually make an impact.

Last year, Google invested more than ever in renewable power, spending $880 million to underwrite conventional clean energy projects such as solar panels on California rooftops. But that isn’t the role Google envisioned for itself in 2007 when co-founder and current CEO Larry Page declared the search company would get into energy research directly to “rapidly” invent cheap ways to generate “renewable electricity at globally significant scale.”

Google believed its creativity and innovation would make the difference. It created an in-house plan for how to wean the United States off fossil fuel in 22 years. It posted jobs for engineers who could speed-up design of renewable energy projects, and put a team to work improving the heliostat, a mirrored device that focuses the sun’s rays to make thermal energy. Its philanthropy arm, Google.org, began investing in start-ups with far out ideas.

Google’s founders were directly involved. One startup, Makani Power, originally planned to move boats using kites, but Page and co-founder Sergey Brin convinced it to pursued high-altitude flying wind turbines, instead. “They were pretty fearless. They said ‘This is a risky thing, we don’t know yet if it’s going to work out, but we think this has promise,’” says Makani CEO Corwin Hardham.

The company’s speedy ways wowed energy experts, as did its goal of producing a gigawatt of renewable electricity at prices competitive with fossil fuels. “Being at Google, it was fascinating to see how rapidly things could scale. I was enthralled by it,” says Dan Reicher, Google’s former director of climate change and energy initiatives, who left the company in 2010 to head Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. “That struck me as a very fundamental difference—the software world measures time frames in months.” In comparison, he notes, solar panels have been available for 30 years but account for less than one percent of total U.S. electricity production.

Last November, however, Google killed the program, known as RE

The truth was Google’s eclectic bets on potentially disruptive energy innovations never got very far. Take PowerMeter, another canceled project. The software was meant to help homeowners monitor their energy use. Energy entrepreneur Kurt Brown said it had a major flaw: “Their interface was for nerds. It was something mostly a smart Googler would be intrigued by.”

The cancelled plans show the hazard of believing that success in computing—where products can take days to prototype—can carry over to energy. “The IT attitude is great when combined with humility with what is possible,” says Jonathan Koomey, an expert on the environmental effects of computing at Stanford University. “But if you think you are going to overhaul the whole energy industry overnight, just cause you did it in software, that is false, that is hubris.”

Some people involved directly with the projects said it proved challenging for Google to guide energy research either directly or through startups. “We were aiming for some home runs. I think we got some doubles,” said one senior manager who has since left Google. “It’s difficult for a company whose sole focus is not innovating in energy to drive really substantial innovation in energy systems.”

Google hasn’t given up on green energy. The company actually spends far more now than it ever did on the engineering projects. In 2011, Google disclosed $880 million in investments in renewables. That was about ten times the level it spent in 2010, and puts the search giant among the companies that spend most in the area (BP, by contrast, invested around $1.6 billion).

Unlike its earlier engineer-led work that aimed to push forward new technology, Google’s strategy now is largely focused on financing the deployment of commercial solar panels and wind turbines through so-called “tax equity” investments. Such investments, typically used by banks or large energy companies, provide a financial return as well as federal tax breaks that can be as much as 30 percent of what’s invested.

The funding also isn’t coming any longer from Google’s philanthropic arm, but from its treasury, which is sitting on $44 billion in cash. Google’s energy and sustainability director Rick Needham, is careful to balance how he explains the company’s motivations. As an investor, he says Google is looking to make money. But it also still wants to have a transformational impact on “the great American challenge” of securing carbon-free energy, as Google chairman Eric Schmidt once put it.

Google’s largest single investment to date is the $280 million it agreed provide to SolarCity, a company based in San Mateo, California that installs residential solar arrays. Lyndon Rive, SolarCity’s CEO, says the money is important because his customers only pay small monthly fees. Google’s financing – in effect a loan to the project – is what pays for the initial cost of installing the solar panels on homes.

Google still works with new energy technology. A number of outside companies pilot or test their technologies at its facilities, and Google continues to invest in some early-stage companies through Google Ventures. It also buys renewable power for its own use. At its Mountain View headquarters, Google has installed one of the world’s largest corporate solar installations and even obtained an energy-trading license from federal regulators so it could directly buy 20-year power contracts with wind farms to power its data centers.

“They tried a bunch of things. Some things worked and some things didn’t,” says Stanford’s Koomey. While being a silent partner in a residential solar panel business isn’t quite as exciting as solving the world’s problems, it’s progress. Says Koomey: “What works is the most cost effective way to deliver the end result, which is reduced emissions.”

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