Google Reader, Replaced by Google Sites in the Navigation Bar
Google Reader users probably noticed that the feed reader has been replaced by Google Sites in the main navigation bar. To visit Google Reader, they need to click “More” and then click “Reader” in the list of Google services.
Unlike the last time when Reader was replaced by Google Sites, this time is not an accident. A Google employee explained that this is a permanent change.
While the link to Reader has moved, you can continue to access Google Reader under the “More” dropdown. Or, you can also set a specific bookmark to reader.google.com for one-click access. Depending your browser, try dragging http://reader.google.com right from this post onto the bookmark bar on your browser (usually below the URL bar).
Google has usually made changes in the navigation based on the popularity of the services and it’s likely that Reader’s popularity is declining, while Google Sites gains more users. According to Google Trends, the queries [google reader] and [google sites] have almost the same search volume in the US.
Like Picasa Web Albums, Google Reader doesn’t have a new interface based on Google+. The latest features added to Google Reader were comment moderation and integration with Google Buzz, a service that will soon disappear.
{ Thanks, Cougar. }
How to Save Offline Google Docs
As promised, Google started to roll out the offline version of Google Docs, but don’t expect too much. Much like the offline Gmail and offline Google Calendar, Google Docs works offline only if you use Chrome and install an app from the Chrome Web Store.
When you’re offline, Google Docs shows a simplified interface that only lists the documents and spreadsheets that are cached. You can only view them, so most of the features from Google Docs menus are disabled.
Just like the offline Gmail, Google Docs uses a different interface that can also be accessed when you’re online if you go to: https://docs.google.com/offline/. “Offline access is available only for documents and spreadsheets. When you have Google Docs open and have an Internet connection, your most recently opened documents and spreadsheets will sync and become available offline. Presentations, drawings and other items are not currently available offline,” explains Google.
Another downside is that you can’t edit your documents and spreadsheets, a feature that was available in the Gears implementation.
Right now, offline Google Docs is very limited and can only be used to access some of your documents and spreadsheets. It’s interesting to notice that the apps powered by Gears were a lot more powerful and worked in other browsers: Firefox, Safari, IE. Maybe Google shouldn’t have deprecated Gears and disabled the features that used Gears until the HTML5 implementations were good enough.
Tutorial : How to Get 3D Content on YouTube
- WebM with the StereoMode setting set to
STEREOMODE_TYPE_LEFT_RIGHT. Note that other modes, including alternate track, are not supported. - H264 AVC with Supplementary Enhancement Information, Frame Packing Arrangement set. If you are usingx264, the argument
--frame-packing=3will set this correctly. In Handbrake you can set this in “x264 Advanced Option String”.
Be sure to get the squashing and positioning exactly correct. 3D content won’t look right if video formatting is off by even a pixel or two.
Google Redirects Some Chrome Users to the Encrypted Search Interface
Google’s encrypted version has all the features of the standard version and Google could redirect users to the more secure interface. You can now search images, use Google Instant, Instant Preview and other features that were missing from Google SSL. The navigation links are still missing and Google Maps doesn’t support SSL yet.
A Google employee says that Google is “running an experiment with some percentage of Chrome 14 users where we send them to SSL search. The experience is meant to be completely comparable feature-wise to non-SSL search. It is independent of the Chrome 14 installation.” So if you’re using Chrome 14 Beta, you might be redirected to Google SSL.
“With Google search over SSL, you can have an end-to-end encrypted search solution between your computer and Google. This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party. This provides you with a more secure and private search experience,” explains Google. An important downside is the loss of performance, but Chrome uses SPDY for all Google URLs, so SSL pages load a lot faster.
{ Thanks, Libran Lover. }
New Customize Google Docs Interface
If you switched to the new Google Docs interface and wondered why there’s so much whitespace, I have a good news for you: Google Docs has two new options for adjusting display density. Click the new settings drop-down and select one of the three options: comfortable (the default option), cozy and compact (similar to the old interface). My favorite option is “cozy”, which is both clean and compact.
Another change is that the details pane is no longer a sidebar. If you want to find more information about a document, select it and click “Details”. Google Docs will display an overlay that includes a large thumbnail, sharing information, the list of collections where you placed the document and some other information.
There’s also a button for sharing the selected documents and some new icons for documents, spreadsheets, drawings, presentation and other files.
{ Thanks, Tom. }
iGoogle’s New Interface
Google’s personalized homepage has a new interface inspired by Google+. There’s a prominent button for adding gadgets, a unified menu for gadgets that’s hidden until you mouse over a gadget, an option to hide the sidebar and a bigger search box that supports voice search if you use Chrome. The links to the advanced search page and language tools page have been removed, while the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button is only displayed below the list of suggestions,
{ Thanks, Tim. }
Fusion Tables: a New Google Docs App
Aaron, a reader of this blog, spotted a new option in Google Docs: creating tables. It seems that Google Docs started to integrate with Fusion Tables, a little-known Google service that lets you manage large data sets.
I don’t see “table (beta)” in Google Docs, so this could be a slow rollout or just a limited experiment. Fusion Tables already has a Google+ interface:
“Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online.” You can find some examples in the gallery. There are also many tutorials that help you create tables and turn them into maps.
{ Thanks, Aaron. }
New iPhone App for Blogger
Blogger has an app for iPhone and it’s better than the corresponding Android app, which has improved a lot in the past months. Both apps let you edit your existing posts and create new posts, add images to your posts, include labels and geolocate your posts.
They’re pretty basic, but the iPhone app has a better interface, it’s easier to use and pays attention to detail. For example, the iPhone app includes the URL of the blog next to the name when you switch to a different blog, so that it’s easier to identify a blog. The Android app only shows the names. To publish a post in the iPhone app, you need to tap the “Publish” button, which is always displayed at the top of the screen. In the Android app you need to scroll to the bottom of the post to find the “publish” button.
“With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you’ve been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you’re on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you’ll always have access to the latest version,” informs Google.
New Advanced Google Image Search Page
Google updated the interface of the advanced image search page to look just like the corresponding Web search page. The redesigned page is easier to use, it groups the search options and includes some of the options that were only available in the sidebar.
Here’s the old UI:
Why use the advanced search page instead of using the sidebar? Some of the options aren’t available in the sidebar: restricting the results to a filetype, finding Creative Commons images, finding images from a domain or from a country.
There’s one feature that’s no longer available in the new interface. Can you find it?
Offline Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs
As promised, Google brought back the offline mode for Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs. The updated apps use HTML5 features and no longer require the Gears plugin.
For Gmail, Google chose the easy way out and tweaked the tablet interface. You can only use it in Google Chrome after installing this app from the Chrome Web Store. The app lets you archive and label email, compose new messages and read the messages you’ve received, but it doesn’t have all the features from the standard version. The interface is more suitable for tablets, so this is more like a temporary workaround instead of a definitive solution.
Offline Google Calendar and offline Google Docs aren’t yet available to everyone and will be rolled out in the coming days. Google says that the offline mode is built into the apps, just like the Gears version. “Google Calendar and Google Docs let you seamlessly transition between on- and offline modes. When you’re offline in Google Calendar, you can view events from your calendars and RSVP to appointments. With Google Docs you can view documents and spreadsheets when you don’t have a connection. Offline editing isn’t ready yet, but we know it’s important to many of you, and we’re working hard to make it a reality. To get started using Google Calendar or Google Docs offline, just click the gear icon at the top right corner of the web app and select the option for offline access,” explains Google.
I don’t see the offline settings for Google Calendar and Google Docs in my account, but offline Gmail is disappointing. It only works in Chrome, it has a different URL (https://mail.google.com/mail/mu/), the interface is optimized for iPad and Android tablets and it’s very limited. Hopefully, Google will add support for offline access to the regular interface.
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