Google Acquires DocVerse

Another week day, another Google acquisition. This time, Google bought DocVerse, a company founded by two former Microsoft employees which built a plug-in for Microsoft Office that lets you collaborate with other people in real-time.

"DocVerse combines the benefits of web-based collaboration tools like Google Docs and Zoho with the power and familiarity of the world's most popular productivity application, Microsoft Office. DocVerse offers the first ever product to truly enable real-time sharing and editing of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. Its key advantage is that it does not require you to learn a new way to work by seamlessly plugging into Microsoft Office."

DocVerse doesn't use Google Docs as a back-end for real-time collaboration, but Google will probably integrate with Google Docs.


Google says that many people "are still accustomed to desktop software", so the acquisition will help these users to try cloud computing services while still using their favorite software.

DocVerse's blog offers an interesting perspective of a two former Microsoft employees: "We fundamentally believe that Google is one of the best positioned companies to truly disrupt the world of productivity software. We're looking forward to the opportunity to scale our vision at Google. Our first step will be to combine DocVerse with Google Apps to create a bridge between Microsoft Office and Google Apps."

Google says that you can no longer create a new DocVerse account, but there's a simple way to try the Microsoft Office plug-in. Download the setup and create a new account when DocVerse asks you to log in.

Google's Integrated Services

Google has released a lot of new services that live inside other Google applications, without having a standalone interface. It's an interesting approach that facilitates the adoption of a new service, but makes it difficult to find a new service.

Google Tasks is available inside Gmail, Google Calendar, as an iGoogle gadget and as a mobile app, but there's no standalone desktop interface. Google Buzz integrates with Gmail, Google Maps, but you won't find a separate desktop interface.


Google Social Search and Google Real-time Search are two filters in the "search options" sidebar, but they don't have homepages like Google Blog Search or even Google Patent Search.

Maybe Google decided that it's a better idea to offer new features for the existing Google services, instead of releasing disparate services.

Gesture Search for Android

There's a new Android app in Google Labs: Gesture Search. Google's applications offers an alternative input method: drawing letters.

"Gesture Search from Google Labs lets you search your Android-powered device by drawing alphabet gestures on the touch screen. It allows you to quickly find a contact, a bookmark, an application, or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items, all in one place. It is fast and fun to use."

In the screenshot below, you can see Gesture Search in action: after drawing letter "a" in the Contacts app, the user draws the letter "n" to quickly find Andy.


Gesture Search shows two important things about Google's mobile operating system. If you use an Android phone, you'll be able to try a lot of great apps developed by Google. Another important thing is that Android apps can integrate with built-in applications, so you're able to find applications, contacts, songs and bookmarks using a third-party app.

Unfortunately, Gesture Search is only available for Android 2.0 and not many people can upgrade to this version without buying a Droid or a Nexus One. At least for now.

Google Replaces SearchWiki with Starred Results

Google removed SearchWiki, the feature that allowed you to customize search results by promoting them, removing them or adding comments below search snippets. SearchWiki cluttered search results and the aggregated results from public SearchWiki pages were rarely useful.

SearchWiki has been replaced with a simple feature that lets you star search results. Click on a star next to a search results and you'll see it in a "starred items" OneBox at the top of the page. Another side effect is that the starred search results are added to Google Bookmarks, so you can quickly find them later. The "starred items" OneBox shows the most relevant bookmarks that match your query and it's the easiest way to search Google Bookmarks.


Those who used SearchWiki to remove search results or to add comments won't lose their changes. "If you previously removed a result, it will remain hidden whenever you do the same search in the future. These hidden results will be listed in a "removed results" section at the bottom of the page," explains Google. There's also a SearchWiki page that lists all your notes.

Even if I didn't like SearchWiki at the beginning, I ended up using this feature a lot. Adding web pages to search results pages and improving the snippets with custom annotations were a great way to refind web pages.

10 Ways to Use Google Chrome's Content Settings

Google Chrome 4.1 Beta for Windows added a new option for managing cookies, images, scripts and how they interact with your browser. To find the new dialog, click on the wrench menu, select "Options", go to "Under the hood" and click on "Content settings".


Here are some frequently requested features that are now available if you use the content settings dialog:

1. Disable images - go to the "Images" tab and select "do not show any images". It's a good idea to use this option if you have a slow Internet connection.


2. Disable JavaScript - go to the "JavaScript" tab and select "do not allow any site to run JavaScript". You won't be able to use most web applications, but at least you'll be safer and you won't download unnecessary JavaScript files.

3. Block images from a domain. Make sure that the option "show all images" is enabled, click on "Exceptions" and add a list of domains that aren't allowed to serve images. You might use this option to block ads to or to block images from adult sites.

4. Block scripts from a domain. Make sure that the option "allow all sites to run JavaScript" is enabled, click on "Exceptions" and add a list of domains that aren't allowed to serve scripts. You might use this option to block ads to or to block tracking scripts.

5. Pop-up whitelisting. The default option for pop-ups is to block them, but you can define a list of safe domains that are allowed to show pop-ups. Go to the "Pop-up" tab, click on "Exceptions" and add domains.

6. Block third-party cookies. Now you can block all third-party cookies by enabling the option "Block all third-party cookies without exception" from the "Cookies" tab.

7. Clear cookies when you close the browser. This is a great way to remove tracking cookies, but Chrome's implementation doesn't let you define a list of exceptions. Select "clear cookies and other site data when I close my browser" from the "Cookies" tab to automatically remove cookies and local storage data. Unfortunately, combining cookies and local storage is not a great idea because they're used in different ways.

8. Disable plug-ins. You can disable all plug-ins, including Flash, Java, Windows Media Player or QuickTime if they slow down or crash your browser. Go to the "Plug-ins" tab and select "do not allow any site to use plug-ins". Please note that this feature doesn't disable Chrome extensions.

9. JavaScript whitelisting. It's not as easy to use as the NoScript extension for Firefox, but you can disable JavaScript and only allow a list of trusted domains to use cookies. Go to the "JavaScript" tab, disable JavaScript and a list of exceptions: google.com, yahoo.com and other domains that require cookies to authenticate.

10. Detect blocked content. If you disable images or scripts, Chrome shows some icons inside the address bar which inform you that Chrome blocked content from a page. In most cases, you can add the current site to the list of exceptions and show content from the site. After adding the exception, you need to reload the page to see the changes.




Some missing features that would be useful: defining exceptions for removing cookies when closing the browser, disabling certain plug-ins and disabling animated images.

You can download Chrome 4.1 Beta for Windows from this page. "Content settings" is also available for Linux in the dev channel version of Chrome, but this version is buggier and less polished.

On Android's Fragmentation

Many Android users complained that Google products like the mobile version of Google Buzz or Google Earth require Android 2.0 or Android 2.1, even if most people can't upgrade to the latest Android version without buying a new phone.

Robin, a Google employee that answers questions in the Google Mobile Forum, posted an interesting response:

"Keep in mind that part of the impetus for the Android foray in the first place was to get mobile OS development moving more rapidly. So here we are, with rapid iterations (multiple OS upgrades in under a year!) and yes, some growing pains. As devices gain more and more capability, I'd imagine we'll continue to develop features that take advantage of the latest and greatest. As much as we can, we'll adapt for older OS versions as well - which is why we're also pushing web apps that can cross platforms (and yes, I agree that it's awkward that this web app [Google Buzz for mobile] doesn't work seamlessly across all Android-powered devices, but we're working on it asap! I swear!)."

While it's a good idea to take advantage of the "latest and greatest" features, users that bought a phone six months ago should be able to use an application released last month, even if not all the features are available. Everyone should be able to update to the latest version of the operating system, especially if Android releases multiple major upgrades in a few months.

Mkibrick posted a wise comment when Google announced that Google Earth is available for Android: "Don't say something is available for "Android" when it is only available for a single phone. You'll just confuse and anger your customers." Google Earth is available for Android, but it requires Android 2.1, which is limited to Nexus One, at least for now.

While carriers and hardware manufactures could be blamed for the slow migration to the latest Android versions, Google could update important software components like the browser independently from the operating system.

Photo licensed as Creative Commons by scorche.

Google Buys Picnik

It's difficult to understand why Google didn't develop an online photo editor: it would've integrated with Picasa Web Albums, Google Docs and other Google services. Right now, Picasa Web Albums is just an online extension of Picasa, a popular software that lets you manage your photos. Unlike Picasa Web Albums, most Google services work online and don't require additional applications.

Instead of migrating Picasa online, Google acquired Picnik, an online photo editor that already integrates with Picasa Web Albums and many other photo services.

"Today, we're excited to announce that Google has acquired Picnik, one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud. Using Picnik, you can crop, do touch-ups and add cool effects to your photos, all without leaving your web browser," mentions Google's blog.


Picnik will not be discontinued and Google promises that the service will continue to support all the existing partners, but I suspect that Flickr will no longer use it as the default photo editor.

"When Bitnik, Inc was created, our founders envisioned making great software for real people and giving users the power to edit digital photos in their browser, without having to purchase or download complicated software. While our first office in 2005 only had two desks, today we've grown to 20 employees and have become the world's most fun online photo editor, with millions of visitors every month," says Virginia from Picnik.

Google will have to rethink its strategy and no longer build online extensions for software, even if they own a popular application like Picasa. Google Photos should be a standalone service that doesn't require Picasa to upload more than 5 photos, to download photo albums or to quickly retouch a photo.