November 24, 2010

New interface for Google AdSense: pay a visit

To help you learn more about the new interface for Google AdSense, we've created a series of videos that highlight the different features and benefits available. In the upcoming weeks, we will post new videos on the blog to ensure you meet the control, efficiency and improved information that are within your reach.

Today, we invite you to visit the new interface for Google AdSense. Check out an overview of the improvements made and new features added:
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AdSense

AdSense is the advertising service offered by Google. The website owners can enroll in the program to display text, image and, more recently, video ads. The ad display ia administered by Google and generates profit based on the amount of clicks or views. A method based on actions taken by the user is in testing phase.

Ads are chosen according to the site's content, the user's geographic location and other factors, and ends up creating a less intrusive ad than most banners, and according to the page content, which became a popular method for offering announcements.

Advertisers sign up through the AdWords service.

Google image search

The image search was incorporated in 2001 and since then, no major change was prompted in the session. In contrast, the numbers have increased at a considerable speed. In the first year of operation, the service had 250 million images cataloged - today there are more than 10 billion. In nine years, an increase of 4000%.
What makes this search engine, like others, is tracing and indexing thousands of images that are linked to web pages, to, then, offer them to users.
When someone enters the search engine and enters a particular word, this application gives you back images associated with that term, either by having the file name, or because it is related to that word in the contents of the webpage. What Google does is to analyze the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image itself and many other factors to deduce the image content.
This service provides the web's most extensive image search, with millions of images indexed and available to be viewed. To use this image search, just have to go to advanced search page or enter the url http://images.google.com search box to search for images, and then click on "Search". On the results page, simply click on the thumbnails to see the original version, as well as the web page where it is located.
Google has introduced a new type of image search now, the user can choose between the image size options: large, medium, icon, greater than, and exactly, where you can place the exact size of the image you are looking for. The user can also choose the type of image: Any type, face, picture, clip art or line drawing. You still have the option of different colors, bringing a palette of colors.
In this new model, the images are all arranged on the same page where the search was made, we do not need to go down there changing the page number to go farther, just use the scroll bar, on top of that, now the images do not come with information about the image you need to click on it.

Blogger

Blogger was started by a tiny company in San Francisco called Pyra Labs in August of 1999. This was in the midst of the dot-com boom. But we were not exactly a VC-funded, party-throwing, football-in-the-lobby-playing, free-beer-drinking outfit. (Unless it was other people's free beer.)

We were three friends, funded by doing annoying contract web projects for big companies, trying to make our own grand entrance onto the Internet landscape. What we were originally trying to do does not matter so much now. But while doing it, we created Blogger, more or less on a whim and thought — Hmmm...this is interesting.

Blogger took off, in a small way, and eventually a bigger way, over a couple years. We raised a little money (but stayed small). And then the bust happened, and we ran out of money, and our fun little journey got less fun. We narrowly survived, not all in one piece, but kept the service going the whole time (most days) and started building it back up.

Things were going well again in 2002. We had hundreds of thousands of users, though still just a few people. And then something no one expected happened: Google wanted to buy us. Yes, that Google.

We liked Google a lot. And they liked blogs. So we were amenable to the idea. And it worked out nicely.

Now we are a small (but slightly bigger than before) team in Google focusing on helping people have their own voice on the web and organising the world's information from the personal perspective. Which has pretty much always been our whole deal.

For more on Google, check google.com. (Also good for searching.)

Orkut

orkut is an online community designed to make your social life more active and stimulating. orkut's social network can help you maintain existing relationships with pictures and messages and establish new ones by reaching out to people that you have never met before.

orkut makes it easy to find people who share your hobbies and interests, look for romantic connections or establish new business contacts. You can also create and join a wide variety of online communities to discuss current events, reconnect with old school mates or even exchange your favourite recipes.

Who you interact with is entirely up to you. Before getting to know an orkut member, you can read his/her profile and even see how he/she is connected to you through the friends network.

To join orkut, simply sign in with your Google Account and you can begin to create your own profile right away. If you do not have a Google Account yet, we will help you create one in minutes.

It is our mission to help you create a closer, more intimate network of friends. We hope to put you on the path to social bliss soon.

Gmail

Top 10 reasons to use Gmail

Gmail makes email easy and efficient. And maybe even fun.

  • 1. Less spam

    You don't like spam. Neither do we. Gmail blocks spam before it gets to your inbox. Learn more

  • 6. Lots of space

    Over 7498.027128 MBs of free storage space – and tons more to purchase if you need it. Learn more

  • 2. Search

    Search instantly within Gmail to find the exact message you want. Learn more

  • 7. Call phones

    Call any phone in the U.S. and Canada for free and get low rates to other countries. Learn more

  • 3. Conversation view

    Messages are grouped with the relevant responses -- so you can always see messages in context. Learn more

  • 8. Priority InboxBeta

    Automatically separate important email from everything else and focus on what really matters. Learn more

  • 4. Built-in chat

    With just one click, you can chat in Gmail or talk face to face with voice and video chat. Learn more

  • 9. Secure

    Just like bank websites, Gmail uses HTTPS encryption to keep your mail secure. Learn more

  • 5. On the go

    Access Gmail from your phone – regardless of which device you use. Learn more

  • 10. Free!

    All this for free? You betcha.

November 23, 2010

Picasa - the most powerful image organizing software

This is how it works. You install the Picasa software on your computer and configure the photo folders that should be monitored. Picasa automatically creates albums and allows you to organize the photographs in various manners, using all of Google's search experience and classification. On top of that, Picasa recognizes the facesof all the people in the photos, allowing an even more precise classification. That solves the forst problem.
But there are still many GBs of photos that we need to store in a safe place. Picasa helps with that, too. Is there a safer place for a file than the Google servers? Each album created inside Picasa installed on your computer can be sent to Picasa Web Albums automatically, and you'll have your online copy of your photos and videos without having to worry about scheduling periodic backups.
Picasa Web Albums also allows photos to be shared with the people you choose, or even public. On top of that, the changes you make to your photos on your computer are also reflected on your album online. Picasa my needs in terms of image and video backup. I don't need to worry about copies of my photos on my weekly image and video backup anymore, which has gotten much smaller and faster.
Picasa Web Albums allows up to 1GB of free online photos. But the price for 20GB is derisive, almost symbolic: only 5 dollars a year to keep 20GB of safe and well-catalogued photos. The payment must be made through Google Checkout.
One tip: when sending your photos to the web, fine-comb them, revising, erasing repetitions and rotating photos to the right position. Choose also the photo which shall be the cover of the albums, dragging the photo and putting them in the album's first place. It's faster to do this locally. After everything is tidy, choose each album and click on "Upload". This part can take a long time, depending on the number of photos you have. My 15 GBs of images and videos were almost 10 days in the background being sent do the server, in the moments I used the computer.