For some reason, Google's caching feature is more and more difficult to use. The "cached" link is hidden inside the Instant Preview box and it's no longer available in the mobile interface.
Now the keywords from cached pages aren't highlighted if you are logged in. Search pages use encrypted connections (HTTPS) when you're logged in and this disables referrals, so that's probably the reason why Google no longer includes the query in the cached pages URLs. Google suggests to sign out and you can also use a different browser or the private browsing mode, but there's another way to bring back keyword highlighting:
- click the "similar" link in the Instant Preview box instead of clicking "cached"
- replace "related" with "cache" in the URL and press Enter.
If there's no "similar" link, you can copy the query, go to the cached page and paste the query in the address bar between "+" and "&cd=".
There's also a cool Chrome extension called MultiHighlighter, but you need to copy the query, visit the page, press Ctrl+Shift+A and paste the query. If you use Internet Explorer, Google Toolbar has a cool highlighting feature.
Google announced the launch of a new service called Google Play, "a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps". Google Play is the new name for the Android Market, an all-encompassing brand that also integrates Google Music and Google eBook Store. It's just like iTunes, except that it's born on the Web and you don't need special software to play music or read books.
"Our goal with Google Play is to bring together all your favorite content in one place that you can access across your devices. Specifically, digital content is fundamental to the mobile experience, so bringing all of this content together in one place for users makes the Android platform even more compelling. We're also simplifying digital content for Google users - you can go to the Google Play website on your desktop and purchase and experience the latest movies, music and books," explains Google.
The Android Market app will have a new name (Google Play Store) and this may confuse a lot of people. After all, Android Market is one of the few apps that are bundled with most Android devices. Google Play brings the same features that were available in Android Market and it's still targeted to the Android users, but the new brand no longer includes "Android". This allows Google to create a single destination for multiple platforms: iOS, Windows Phone, Google TV, Chrome / Chrome OS.
"On your Android phone or tablet, we'll be upgrading the Android Market app to the Google Play Store app over the coming days. Your videos, books and music apps (in countries where they are available) will also be upgraded to Google Play Movies, Google Play Books and Google Play Music apps," informs the Google Blog.
Google Play Music is only available in the US, Google Play Movies is available in the US, UK, Canada, and Japan, while Google Play Books only works in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. That means most Google Play users will only be able to install Android apps.
Google Play is a catchy name, it's platform-agnostic, flexible and could encourage more people to buy music and books even if they don't have an Android device. Android users will have to get used to the new name and the new visual identity.
A few months after Google Calendar added support for handling webcal: links in Chrome, Gmail can now become the default handler for mailto: links. If you open Gmail in Google Chrome, you'll see an infobar at the top of the page that asks if you "allow Gmail to open all email links". Just click "use Gmail" and all the mailto: links (like admin@google.com) will open using Gmail, instead of a native mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird.
"Chrome allows web services to ask if you'd like to use them to open certain links. While most links generally take you to another page, some links can open programs and perform other actions. For example, mailto: links can open your email program and webcal: links can add events to your calendar program. These links are referred to as protocols and the programs they use are called handlers. Many web services these days, including Gmail and Google Calendar, can act as handlers," explains Google.
To edit protocol handlers in Chrome, open the settings page, click "Show advanced settings" at the bottom of the page, click "Content settings", then "Manage handlers" and select "Gmail" from the site dropdown. Another option is to open a new tab and paste this in the address bar: chrome://settings/handlers. By default, you'll see an almost empty page with no active handler. You can add protocol handlers from the sites that support this feature: Gmail, Google Calendar (and other services in the future).
Chrome is a little late to the party: Mozilla added support for protocol handlers in Firefox 3, back in 2008 and you can set Gmail as default handler for mailto: from the options dialog.
Chrome is clearly the most Apple-like Google product. Many of its features are copied by other browsers: from the simple interface to automatic updates, powerful JavaScript engines, unified address bar and search box, shorter release cycles and much more. When it was released, Chrome's team had a clear vision and no feature was there by accident. While there are many feature requests, Chrome's team only implements them if they make sense and fit the project.
In an interesting response to Kevin Fox's question about the updated "new tab" button, Chrome's Peter Kasting said that "good design involves hav[ing] a clear and consistent vision for the product which is then informed by user input, not enslaved to it. I think Chrome as a whole shows a remarkable design consistency and focus that Google products as a whole have not always had. I don't think that's an accident. It's a direct result of a process that uses a small group of consistent leaders, rather than endless end-user trials of everything, to make decisions."
Glen Murphy, Chrome's design lead, makes it more obvious: "We're trying to sculpt Chrome down to the perfect browser, and sometimes that means making painful consistency changes in aid of that long-term vision. While we want to minimize disruption for existing users, most people on earth haven't used Chrome, and we have to make the best and most awesome browser possible for them."
Chrome is the browser that has great default options, few settings and an interface that hasn't changed all that much over the years because it was carefully thought out and reduced to the essence. Just like the iPhone and its OS.
Sometimes it's difficult to understand Google. A few weeks after dropping the non-obvious navigation menu from the desktop UI, Google tests a new mobile interface that uses the same menu.
Cascading menus on a mobile device? They're too large and many Google services are missing (Reader, Blog Search, iGoogle, Product Search, Google Finance, Picasa Web, Google Talk, Google Tasks), not to mention that there's no room for displaying Google+ notifications.
Back in November 2010, a comment from the Google Docs source code revealed some new features that will be available: third party apps, Cloud Print integration and sync.
It turns out that the upcoming Google Drive release will add support for third party apps and Google will also include a SDK for developers. This way, you'll be able to open the files stored in Google Drive using non-Google apps. The Google Docs source code mentions "SDK" several times in connection with Google Drive and the "open with" feature.
There's also an interesting message that suggests Google Drive will integrate even more with Gmail: "Say goodbye [to] email attachments and hello to real time collaboration. Drag anything shared with you to My Drive for easy access."
In a recent article, Wall Street Journal reported that GDrive "is expected to launch in the coming weeks or months and will be free for most consumers and businesses. Google will charge a fee to those who want to store a large amount of files."
Most likely, Google Drive is an important upgrade to Google Docs that will detach the online storage service from the Google Docs apps and will make it more useful by offering more free storage, syncing apps and integration with web apps developed by other companies.
When Google released the Android app for Google Docs, the application didn't include many features that weren't available from the browser. The latest updates made the app more useful: there's a better tablet interface, offline access to your documents and now you can edit documents collaboratively.
The most powerful Google Docs feature (real-time collaboration) is now available on Android devices and you don't have to switch to the desktop interface. You can see the changes in real-time and all you edits are saved almost instantly. While the Android editor lacks many features that are available in the desktop version, you can use rich text formatting: bold the text, change the color, create lists, indent paragraphs, undo and redo the changes.
"We've brought the collaborative experience from Google Docs on the desktop to your Android device. You'll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in. We also updated the interface to make it easier to work with your documents on the go. For example, you can pinch to zoom and focus on a specific paragraph or see the whole document at a glance," informs Google.
Suddenly, the mobile web app pales when compared to the native app and that's probably the reason why the Google Docs mobile site promotes the app every time you go there.
