google

Google Trends API coming soon

Google is planning to release an application programming interface for its Google Trends program, according to Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google.

During the question and answer portion of a Webcast demonstration of Google Trends on Tuesday, Mayer said the company would eventually release a Google Trends API. She also said the company would make it possible to download data from Google Trends into spreadsheets. Mayer said she couldn't provide a time frame for either action.

Google Trends allows people to see trends in searches. You can compare specific searches, see how the … Read more

Gmail integrates AIM, adds colored labels

Update 2:50 p.m. This article has been updated with user experience information on AIM integration into Gmail.

Gmail and Google Talk users can now chat with their AOL Instant Messenger buddies through the Gmail interface, Google announced today. Rolling out to all English-based users by the end of the day, the new feature will let you seamlessly jump from chatting with a Google contact to an AIM buddy without having to use two separate chat clients.

Verizon Wireless warms up to Google's Android

It's been an interesting week for America's second-largest cell phone carrier. First, Verizon Wireless announces it would support unlocked handsets and third-party applications on its CDMA network, and yesterday the company's CEO said the carrier may support Google's new Android platform. "We're planning on using Android," said Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in an interview with Business Week. "Android is an enabler of what we do."

McAdam didn't say when, or if, Verizon would release handsets that use Android, and a Verizon spokeswoman also declined to elaborate in an e-mail. "… Read more

Deadline passes for 700MHz spectrum applications

Monday was the deadline to submit applications for a chance to bid on the 700MHz spectrum auction scheduled for January, and the lineup is taking shape.

Google, Cox Communications, Frontline Wireless, and AT&T all appear to have submitted an application Monday for a chance to bid on the spectrum, which is set to be freed up with the Federal Communication Commission's decision to move everyone to digital television in 2009. The 700MHz band is sought by companies that wish to build wireless voice and data networks, and is probably the last time for a while that such … Read more

Episode 615: Tase me, bro

Google Apps in 2008: More and more like the offline world they left behind

Reading about Google's plans for Google Apps in 2008, I'm struck by how much the new world of online applications is having to mimic the old world of offline applications to thrive. As much as we may want to leave our desktops behind, they clatter along after us, tethered to us by our need to have a physical location.

Google will enable the offline functionality through its Gears technology, which will enable some very interesting things:

Will users be able to edit docs, spreadsheets and presentation offline? [Google's] answer was yes, and that the Google Gears plugin would handle the offline work. In addition, Google Gears support is in the works for Gmail and Google Calendar.… Read more

Photobucket, Picasa bring photo-sharing to TiVo

Apparently, fast-forwarding through commercials just isn't enough. TiVo announced on Monday that users of select photo-sharing services are now able to access their image collections through its set-top boxes.

The digital video recorder manufacturer has partnered with two photo-sharing services--the Google-owned Picasa Web Albums and Fox Interactive Media-owned Photobucket--in order to enable users to surf through their photo albums as well as their friends' and family members', provided that their TiVo boxes are broadband-connected.

A release from the company emphasized the fact that photos are viewable in the highest resolution possible, which on the TiVo Series 3 and … Read more

Google's plans for 2008 and mobile application updates

At this point resistance is futile, so I just try my best to limit the amount of personal information Google knows about me. The updates to my BlackBerry are actually pretty useful, eliminating the need for several clicks into Google properties I would likely go to anyway. I would beg for mercy, but they would just slap an ad on my screams.

On to the mobile apps... One interesting new item is a Google Mobile Updater app that updates the various Google properties that now launch standalone from the BB (the majority were already available through the browser.) The items that were new to me were a unique "Search" icon, an icon for Picasa, and a Google News icon. This must be part of the bigger mobile strategy.

Some new info on the updates and additions to Google Apps coming in 2008.… Read more

What Facebook can learn from Google

The New York Times has some great advice for Facebook: be patient, just as Google has been.

There is something astoundingly tone deaf about how Facebook has handled its recent advertising initiatives. Mr. Zuckerberg is right: there are lots of people who would find it cool to tell the world what movies they just rented and even what color socks they just bought. But [Facebook has] got to know that others would find this intrusive....

So the challenge to Facebook is clear: If you want to be as ambitious as Google, you may need to be as patient as Google … Read more