Google offering free WiFi to access Google+ in India [Desperation?]
Looks like Google is desperate to get Indians to start using Google+ as their primary social network. Google India has partnered with O-Zone to offer free access to Google+ wherever O-Zone has their hotspots (list includes CCDs, McDonalds, Costa Coffee etc. Complete List).
Although anything free is good for customers, this move sounds more like a desperate attempt by Google. India is one of the top users of Facebook and it looks like Google wants a share of that pie. This is probably the perfect time to refresh the College Humor’s hilarious video on Google Plus:
[via PluggdIn]
Google and Samsung announce the Galaxy Nexus
With probably the lamest concatenated name ever, Google and Samsung have announced the (duh) Galaxy Nexus, the next pure Google phone from Samsung. With Google’s latest Android version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus features a lot of cool features and an improved UI. Check out the video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_ke3rxopc&feature=player_embedded
You can check out the phone on the official Google site here. Here is how the phone looks like:
Dear Google, Please Fix This Chrome Issue
Ever since Google Chrome came out, I liked it for being minimalist and snappy. But once I switched to Mac, it became essential. No browser comes close to Chrome’s performance on the Mac. No matter how much I like the Full Screen feature on Safari, it just isn’t enough to make me switch. But this bookmarks related issue has been driving me crazy.
Searching bookmarks using Chrome’s Omnibar does not work. They say it does but it doesn’t.
Apparently, there are some things you can’t Google
Here something weird. Try Googling “9999999..99999999999999999999999″. It tries to load for sometime and then redirects to this strange error page.
Microsoft Tells You Why Gmail Is Bad [Video]
People have always had wondered whether letting Google read your personal email so they can show ads based on the content is a good idea. If you have had similar doubts Microsoft is hoping to escalate them to new levels using their new Office 365 campaign.
The catch phrase is kinda true, “Your email is your business. Google makes it theirs.”
If you don’t have any clue about what this is all about, you definitely need to see this video.
Google Plus – First Look – What we Love and Hate
Google plus is the new and much-awaited social network from the search giant. This was also termed as a Facebook-Killer etc. Let’s look inside and see what Google Plus offers.
Circles – You can add a group of friends into a circle like a Family, Work etc. Having circles would let you select and share selectively. If you’re a school teacher, you should create a different group for your students for your party friends. This way you can share your “Drunken Night” photos with the appropriate audience.
Stream – Like your regular Facebook or Twitter Timeline, where you can see what your friends shared with you and comment/re-share them too. You can also post pictures/videos/links and also your location.
Google India’s Street View project under police scanner
It looks like the Bangalore Police has some objection to Google’s Street View project in India. Just a few days after starting the ambitious project to enable street view imagery in India, Google had to suspend the project as the Bangalore police has some objections. The project has not been shut down, but will remain suspended until Google and the authorities kiss and make up.
“We can confirm that we received a letter from the Commissioner of Police regarding Street View. We are reviewing it and have stopped our cars until we have a chance to answer any questions or concerns the Police have” – said a Google spokesperson.
Gmail now lets you paste images from clipboard
Gmail now lets you paste images from your clipboard directly in the compose window in the browser. They previously enabled dragging and dropping of images in the compose window, but with this new feature, you can just take a snapshot of your screen and then paste it in the email message without the need of saving it in a file. Pretty neat.
The feature currently works only in Chrome, but they are probably working on to enable it in other browsers too.
[via Official Gmail Blog]
YouTube India to show one movie every month in Full HD for free
YouTube India has launched a boxoffice channel which will showcase one popular bollywood movie every month in Full HD. The movie will be free to watch but will contain ads after every 10 minutes. Anyone with a good broadband connection and a browser which supports flash will be able to watch the movie for free. Obviously, for watching the HD versions (720p and 1080p), you will need a super fast connection (4 Mbps or above). However, there are low res versions (480p, 360p & 240p) also available for you to enjoy in case you do not have that kind of connection.
Head over to youtube.com/boxoffice to start watching.
Currently, the channel is showing Band Baaja Baaraat. The channel also has many other blockbusters available under “More Videos” tab.
[via Digital Inspiration]
Google Street View Soon In India, First in Bangalore
So the cars we spotted earlier across India may not really be the "Street View" cars, they could have been just collecting WiFi triangulation data only.
As reported on the Google India blog today, starting today tomorrow (27th May 2011), the Google Street View cars and a few Google Trikes (modified indian rickshaw with a StreetView Camera on the top) would be collecting pictures of select locations of roads in Bangalore. This will probably be done for other major cities too soon.
In case you pass by these cars on the roads of Bangalore, do let us know in the comments.
[Via Gaurish]
