Chromecast Screensaver

If you don't cast music, videos or photos, Google's Chromecast starts to display a slideshow with some beautiful photos. It's a screensaver you can't customize, but the photos are constantly updated by Google.

The Chromecast screensaver is actually a web page you can access from any device, just in case you want to see some great photos or to save them. It's interesting that Google doesn't use Media RSS feeds and the image URLs are hardcoded.

To find the URL of the image that's displayed, right click the page and select "inspect element". Find the code that starts with <div id="container" picture-url= and double click the URL that follows, so you can copy it. I only tested this in Chrome and Firefox.

{ via Chromebook Central }

Google Maps Easter Egg for Christmas

The Pegman icon from the new Google Maps looks different: it now has a Santa hat. The classic Google Maps still shows the standard icon.

Check this Google+ album to see almost 200 outfits created when Pegman was added to the new Google Maps.

{ Thanks, Mukil. }

Google Music to Add Upload Feature

To upload audio files to Google Play Music, you need to use Music Manager. It's only available as a native app for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, so you can't use it if you have a Chromebook or a mobile device.

What if you need to upload a few songs and you don't want to wait until Music Manager syncs your files? What if you're using someone else's computer and you can't install Music Manager?

Google Play Music's source code includes a message which suggests that you'll be able to upload songs from your browser: "Drag songs or folders here to add music to your library. Or, if you prefer, select from your computer."

Update (March 2014): the feature is now available in Chrome.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

Sound Search Playlist in Google Music

Google's Sound Search widget for Android has a history page which shows all the songs that have been recognized by the application. You can also find this list inside Google Play Music if you go to this playlist. This is especially useful if you subscribe to the All Access feature and you can play all the songs.

A Google screenshot shows the Sound Search playlist in the sidebar:

"Hear a song you like while you're out and about? Touch the microphone on the home screen of your Android phone or tablet. Google Play identifies the song and adds it to the Song Match playlist. You can also use the Sound Search for Google Play app," mentions the page.

The first feature doesn't work for me, but maybe it will be added in the future.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

Google Zeitgeist 2013

Google's Zeitgeist site redirects to Google Trends, which shows the year in review lists and some clever visualizations. "This year marks our most global Zeitgeist to date - with 1,000+ top 10 lists across categories like Trending People, Most-Searched Events and Top Trending Searches from 72 countries," mentions Google.

The search topics with the largest increase in search volume are: Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker, iPhone 5S, Cory Monteith, Harlem Shake, Boston Marathon, Royal Baby, Samsung Galaxy S4, PlayStation 4 and North Korea. Other popular gadgets: Xbox One, Nexus 5, HTC One, iPad Air, Blackberry 10 phones, Galaxy Note 3 and Nokia Lumia 1020. The most popular movie is Man of Steel and the most popular TV show is Under the Dome.

Google also shows a list of popular Google+ hashtags (#Boston, #BreakingBad, #TyphoonHaiyan) and YouTube videos (The Fox, Harlem Shake Army Edition, How Animals Eat Their Food).

You can select different countries and find the trending topics from other places. For example, the hottest technology topic in South Africa was BBM for Android, the hottest search in Spain was Outlook and the second most popular phone in India was Nokia Lumia 520.

There's also a globe that "visualizes the hottest daily Google searches in 2013 in over 150 cities. Explore what mattered to people by turning the globe, selecting a city, and sliding the date slider to any day of the year."

This video highlights some of the most important events from 2013 (some Google features too):

Google Zeitgeist Quiz

Update: The site is no longer available, but I'm sure it will be back.

Google Zeitgeist Quiz [update: the link doesn't work] is a site that tests how well you know the most important events that happened in 2013, the most popular news topics and the top Google searches. You'll answers questions about Prince George of Cambridge, Pope Benedict, Paul Higgs, Malala Yousafzai, Harlem Shake, Serge the Llama, the synthetic burger and more. After answering a question, Google shows a funny animated GIF.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

Google's Christmas Carols Easter Egg

Google has a new Easter Egg for Christmas, but this time it's only for mobile devices. Search for [let's go caroling] using an Android or iOS device or use voice search and say "let's go caroling" and you'll see a list of 5 carols you can play: "Jingle Bells", "Up on the House Top", "Deck the Halls", "O Christmas Tree" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Tap one of the carols and Google will start playing the karaoke version of the carol, while also displaying the lyrics.

Maybe this Easter Egg will actually be useful.