Reality Bites
There have been whispers that Facebook wanted to buy Instagram, but as that never went anywhere, Facebook now wants to kill Instagram. They’re adding photo filters to their Facebook app. More »
Sadly, summer’s ending and it’s time again to get back to those studies. But these kids were treated to one last bit of excitement. After their first day back, their bus exploded. Party! More »
In June we launched the +1 button for websites, making it easier to recommend content across the web. In July, the +1 button crossed 2 billion daily views, and we also made it a lot faster. Today the +1 button appears on more than a million sites, with over 4 billion daily views, and we’re extremely excited about this momentum.
It’s just the beginning, however, and today we’re launching two more features that make +1 buttons more useful for users and publishers alike.
Sharing with your circles on Google+
Clicking the +1 button is a great way to highlight content for others when they search on Google. But sometimes you want to start a conversation right away—at least with certain groups of friends. So beginning today, we’re making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new “Share on Google+” option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.
+Snippets
When you share content from the +1 button, you’ll notice that we automatically include a link, an image and a description in the sharebox. We call these “+snippets,” and they’re a great way to jumpstart conversations with the people you care about.
Of course: publishers can benefit from +snippets as well. With just a few changes to their webpages, publishers can actually customize their +snippets and encourage more sharing of their content on Google+. More details are available on the Google Webmaster blog.
We’re rolling out sharing and +snippets globally over the next week, but if you’d like to try the new +1 button now, you can join our Google+ Platform Preview. Once you’re part of the Preview, just visit a site with the +1 button (like Rotten Tomatoes) and +1 the page. Thanks for all of your feedback so far, and stay tuned for more features in the weeks and months ahead!
Posted by Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering
In April, we introduced the Google Docs app for Android, which allows you to access and create new docs on the go, directly from an app on your Android phone. Since then, we’ve continued to work on ways to improve your mobile experience, and I’m excited to share a couple of new updates that we hope will do just that.
Starting today, you can easily take pictures with your Android phone and insert them into a Google document, using the new Web Clipboard feature. Here’s how:
1. From the Docs widget on your phone, tap the camera icon.
2. Snap a photo then select Send to Web Clipboard and press OK.
3. Open any Google document from your computer. Click the Web Clipboard icon and select the item to paste into your doc.
A couple of other new features for the Android app include improved open and send options. You can open your documents with any compatible viewer application or send a doc as an attachment through email or another app on your phone.
Last but certainly not least, we’re making the Docs app available in 45 additional languages so more users around the world can access, share and edit on the go. Here’s an example of what the app looks like in German:
You can grab the app from Android Market and learn more by visiting the help center. As always, let us know what you think in the comments or on the forum.
Posted by: Tobias Thierer, Software Engineer
The BlackBerry PlayBook officially launched on April 19th, over 500,000 people jumped on the opportunity to own RIM’s first tablet. However, many users were wondering why they had to bridge their BlackBerry smartphone to get their email. During BlackBerry World 2011 RIM came through and gave us all a quick taste of what the email client will look like, basically exactly like it operates on BlackBerry smartphones. Execs said that the OS update will be available sometime this Summer (the Summer officially ends on September 22nd).
In the same report as Android coming to QNX-based BlackBerry devices, Bloomberg reports that “RIM plans to issue a PlayBook software upgrade in September that adds a dedicated e-mail program and BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging applications, one of the people said. A PlayBook upgrade for the Android player may come later on in the year, two of the people said.”
Only a few more weeks!
Source: Bloomberg
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A new study estimates that Earth has almost 8.8 million species, but we’ve only discovered about a quarter of them.
A new, longer trailer for the fourth season of Fringe has been released, showing off a bit of new dialogue. More »
America’s most prized and famous phallic architectural achievement was indeed damaged by yesterday’s quake. It’s not leaning, but a helicopter inspection revealed something else: broken stones. The obelisk is now shut down indefinitely, Politico reports. More »
In case there was any doubt, here is another proof of the courage of firefighters: watch as this man stands with his hose right next to a blazing car and the car explodes literally on his face. More »
A package of four new specialty movie channels may hit Canada’s airwaves this winter and give cable and satellite companies more fodder to compete against Netflix online.
An Alaska woman who squirted hot sauce into the mouth of her adopted Russian son for lying about getting in trouble in school has been convicted of misdemeanour child abuse in what prosecutors said was a ploy to get on TV.
Android: If you missed the boat on the new version of the Swype Beta, either because you don’t have a Nexus S on Sprint or because you didn’t get in on the download at XDA Developers before it was taken down, now is your chance. The latest beta of Swype is live and available to download now, and can be installed on any Android phone (as long as Swype didn’t come pre-installed with your phone,) rooted or no. More »
Why isn’t Chrome a part of Android? It’s a question as old as time itself. Or at least a few years old. But given that the same company, Google, makes both products, it never made much sense. Now they’re finally taking steps to resolve this. A bit. Maybe.
We all love Windows 7, but who doesn’t want to find out more information about the upcoming version of Windows? Today Microsoft released some information about the new copy/move/delete dialogs.
The primary changes are that all the copy/move actions are in a single dialog window, where you can pause or resume copy jobs if you want, or even check out some really detailed information. The rename dialogs have been changed to be much more useful… but why are you reading this? Click the link to read the entire post over at MSDN.
Improving our file management basics: copy, move, rename, and delete [MSDN]
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Today’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake was felt throughout the Mid-Atlantic, but its epicenter—a small town in Virginia—took the brunt of its wrath. What if it had started in NYC instead? We may find out sooner than you think. More »
The Portal series is of exceedingly high quality, so it’s unsurprising that the game is inspiring some terrifically snazzy fan movies. In Dan Trachtenberg’s Portal: No Escape, a prisoner uses her Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to escape from her captors. More »
If this doesn’t tug at your heart strings then you’re not human (or a liberal).
(Blaze) — Petty Officer Jon T. Tumilson was laid to rest Friday in Rockford, Iowa, where an estimated 1,500 mourners came to pay respects for the fallen Navy SEAL, including his dog Hawkeye. In fact, Hakeye’s loyalty to his owner at the funeral was visible, creating a heart-wrenching image as he laid down by the casket of his owner during the entire service.
The 35-year-old Tumilson died Aug. 6, when a rocket-propelled grenade disabled the helicopter he was in. It crashed, killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans. Fellow Navy SEALS told KIMT-TVthat Jon was someone with unmatched work ethic and character.
Here’s another view:
Remember Places, the Facebook Foursquare clone feature you probably didn’t use? I say probably, because Facebook just axed it entirely, BI reports, admitting inevitable defeat in the check-in war. It’s about time! More »
Just within minutes after the Earthquake hit the Eastern seaboard videos are popping all over. Here’s a gallery. Updating: This video from Virginia shows some real destruction. More »
