Monday, February 22, 2010

On Google technologies

This is record of some interesting technologies by Google.



Google BigQuery 
Note: Currently, BigQuery is available by invitation only and users must be added to the service before they can interact with the BigQuery API, the browser tool, or the command-line tool. If you are interested in signing up for BigQuery, please fill out this form.


Google BigQuery Service allows you to run SQL-like queries against very large datasets, with potentially billions of rows. This can be your own data, or data that someone else has shared for you. BigQuery works best for interactive analysis of very large datasets, typically using a small number of very large, append-only tables. For more traditional relational database scenarios, you might consider using Google Cloud SQL instead. You can use BigQuery through the bigquery browser tool, the bq command-line tool, or by making direct calls to the REST API. Learn more.



Google Cloud SQL 
Google Cloud SQL is web service that allows you to create, configure, and use relational databases with your App Engine applications. It is a fully-managed service that maintains, manages, and administers your databases, allowing you to focus on your applications and services.


By offering the capabilities of a MySQL database, the service enables you to easily move your data, applications, and services into and out of the cloud. This allows for high data portability and helps in faster time-to-market because you can quickly leverage your existing database (using JDBC and/or DB-API) in your App Engine application. 


To ensure that your critical applications and services are always running, Google Cloud SQL replicates data to multiple geographic regions to provide high data availability.


The service is currently in limited preview. We will publish pricing soon





Why Google+ will become Google's only productOr: How Google+ will crush everyone with 'featurization'
By Mike Elgan

"Computerworld - I finally understand Google's überstrategy for dominating the future of online everything.
Here it is: Coalesce all of its best products into a single super product that marginalizes smaller rivals to the point of irrelevance and clobbers Facebook with total superiority.
That single super product is Google+.
Why features beat products
The most important distinction in Silicon Valley is this: Is it a product or a feature?"


.................
"And that's how Google plans to dominate the future of the Internet. Many of the product categories for online services will be marginalized as Google makes these technologies mere features of Google+."





Google Fusion Tables
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/public/tour/index.html



Stumbled upon this less publicised technology called Fusion Tables. I was looking for some online database where I can store numbers that can be accessed and used by a web page. Basically, I was looking for something to replace MySQL or similar databases. I'm trying to avoid DB administration like having to create DB, Tables, fields or logging into a DB to update data etc. I was looking for a simple table interface with the power of a DB. And it looks like Google Fusion Tables is just that and more.


In particular, Fusion Tables can visualise the data and integrate with maps and so on.
https://sites.google.com/site/fusiontablestalks/stories




Here is an extract from Google:
"How is Fusion Tables different from spreadsheets? The goal of Fusion Tables, as with other database systems, is to manage larger amounts of data than spreadsheets typically do. This size difference leads to a focus on a different set of functionalities.


For example, Fusion Tables focuses more on bulk operations on the data (filtering, aggregation, merges). These operations are typically not necessary for smaller collections of data stored in spreadsheets.


In contrast, spreadsheets preserve complete flexibility in managing data -- you can put any value you want in any cell and work carefully to format your spreadsheet to make it look nice. Fusion Tables requires that the data be tabular with column headers and types for each column.


Sometimes there are more effective ways to look at your data than rows in a table. For example, when your data contains geographical locations, viewing the data on a map or as an intensity map (where each country is colored according to some attributes) may reveal patterns in the data that are otherwise very hard to see. Fusion Tables offers several visualizations that will help you explore your data more effectively. You will see them in the "Visualize" menu.


Finally, Fusion Tables allows you to combine data owned by different parties to make a new table. The visualizations and queries on that table can incorporate any or all of the data seamlessly."









Google Plus or Google+ 
https://plus.google.com/


The Facebook challenger has finally arrived! This is quite an exclusive club at the moment so it is by invitation only that you can get a Google+ access.


So what is it? It is Facebook and much more. The Google+ site will explain much more. 



But as a quick summary:
  • Google+ Circles - like Facebook friends, but you can control which group of friends can see which content you publish.
  • Google+ Streams - like Facebook wall, where you can publish your comments, pictures, videos
  • Google+ Hangout - like online group chat. You can invite people from different Circles.
  • Google+ Sparks - this will collect content from the web including articles and videos that you like and let you read or watch whenever you want.
Also here is a YouTube clip on Google+ 


10 ways Google+ can boost your brand
http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-tech/10-ways-google-can-boost-your-brand-20110831-1jkz4.html


Links to 63 Google+ Google Plus resources


 

Google TV
http://www.google.com/tv/




Getting Started With Google Voice

The basics: Google Voice gives you a local number with tons of rich features that becomes the one number you’ll use. You configure Google Voice with all your other phones — smart or dumb cell phones and landlines, at home or work – and, based on who’s calling, have Google Voice route the call directly to voicemail or any of your phones. If you don’t know where you’ll be — say, work, home, or mobile — Google Voice can ring all your numbers; you pick up the one that’s handiest.





Five Really Handy Google Command Line Tricks
"With the right commands, you can turn your favorite command-line text editor into a distraction-free Google Docs app, add new events to Google Calendar, upload images to Picasa or video to YouTube, backup your Google data, and more. Here's how it works.

On Friday, Google released GoogleCL, a saucy command line program that interacts with Google services from any *nix-friendly command-line prompt (on Windows, Mac, or Linux). We spent the weekend playing around with it, and now we're sharing a few of the coolest ways we've been putting it to use." ............





Tips on using Google Attachments


The link above contain tips on how to use some neat features in  Google Gmail regarding Attachments. In summary the tips are:
1) Drag and Drop attachments when writing email using Gmail. Currently works with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browser.
2) Multiple selection of attachments is possible
3) Forget to attach a file to your email? If the contents of the email has any words like "attachment" or "attached", then Gmail will pop-up a prompt to remind you about adding the attachment.
4) Attachments can be downloaded or viewed online, eg in PDF format.
5) Find attachments in old email. In the "Search Mail" text box, type:
   has: attachment.pdf  or filename:file.txt










Google offers encrypted search with 'https' site








Google promises private browsing via SSL page.
Google has launched an encrypted version of its web site which it said will offer users more control over their online activities. The 'https' URL has not yet gone live in the UK, but is expected to do so shortly.


Evan Roseman, a software engineer at Google, said in a blog post that https://www.google.com/ will let web users surf in a "secure channel".







Google leaps language barrier with translator phone

"GOOGLE is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly — like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
By building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hopes to have a basic system ready within a couple of years. If it works, it could eventually transform communication among speakers of the world’s 6,000-plus languages." ..............


Google Web Search
Tips on using Google Search


Here's a summary of the 10 tips:









  1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site. 
  2. Use Google as a spelling aid. 
  3. Use Google as a calculator. 
  4. Find out what time it is anywhere in the world. 
  5. Get quick currency conversions. 
  6. Use the OR operator. 
  7. Exclude specific terms with the – operator. 
  8. Search for specific document types. 
  9. Search within numerical ranges using the .. operator. 
  10. Area code lookup.

Another 9 tips from the same source above:
http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/05/03/9-more-simple-google-search-tricks/


  1. Use quote marks to search for exact phrases. 
  2. Use the wildcard operator to fill in the blanks.
  3. Track a package. 
  4. Track a flight. 
  5. Get a stock quote. 
  6. Get quick conversions of pretty much anything. 
  7. Find out what movies are showing in your city. 
  8. Use Google’s cache to retrieve the previous version of a page. 
  9. Get the weather forecast.

Various things  you can do via Google Search

Here is a summary of the features:









• Cached Links
View a snapshot of each page as it looked when we indexed it.
• Calculator
Use Google to evaluate mathematical expressions.
• Currency Conversion
Easily perform any currency conversion.
• Definitions
Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.
• File Types
Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others.
• I'm Feeling Lucky
Bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.
• Images
See relevant images in your regular web search results.
• News Headlines
Enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.
• PhoneBook
Look up U.S. street address and phone number information.
• Product Search
To find a product for sale online, use Google Product Search.
• Q&A - New!
Use Google to get quick answers to straightforward questions.
• Search By Number
Use Google to access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.
• Similar Pages
Display pages that are related to a particular result.
• Site Search
Restrict your search to a specific site.
• Spell Checker
Offers alternative spelling for queries.
• Stock Quotes
Use Google to get stock and mutual fund information.
• Street Maps
Use Google to find U.S. street maps.
• Travel Information
Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.
• Weather - New!
Check the current weather conditions and forecast for any location in the U.S.
• Web Page Translation 
Provides English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages.
• Who Links To You?
Find pages that point to a specific URL.


GoogleSharing
GoogleSharing is a special kind of anonymizing proxy service, designed for a very specific threat. It ultimately aims to provide a level of anonymity that will prevent Google from tracking your searches, movements, and what websites you visit. GoogleSharing is not a full proxy service designed to anonymize all your traffic, but rather something designed exclusively for your communication with Google. Our system is totally transparent, with no special "alternative" websites to visit. Your normal work flow should be exactly the same.











Announcing Google TV: TV meets web. Web meets TV.

5/20/2010 10:00:00 AM
"If there’s one entertainment device that people know and love, it’s the television. In fact, 4 billion people across the world watch TV and the average American spends five hours per day in front of one*. Recently, however, an increasing amount of our entertainment experience is coming from our phones and computers. One reason is that these devices have something that the TV lacks: the web. With the web, finding and accessing interesting content is fast and often as easy as a search. But the web still lacks many of the great features and the high-quality viewing experience that the TV offers. ....................."


http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/announcing-google-tv-tv-meets-web-web.html



No comments: