Google Data » Jason Toff

File transfer in iGoogle and orkut chat

Jason Toff — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:14:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to quickly send a file to a friend whom you're chatting with online? Starting today, you can share photos, documents, and other files while chatting in iGoogle and orkut. To give it a try, just click Send a file... in the Actions menu while chatting with a friend (no download required):

This feature is also compatible with the file transfer functionality in the Google Talk downloadable software, so you can share files directly from the web with folks who use the desktop version.

File transfer is available in orkut and iGoogle only for now. We're working on bringing it to Gmail as well, and we'll keep you posted when that happens!

Posted by Lizhen Wang, software engineer

File transfer in iGoogle and orkut chat

Jason Toff — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:14:00 +0000

Easier chat controls

Jason Toff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

When Google Chat first launched, it only supported text chat. Now, it supports voice, video and group chat. Lately, we've been hard at work making video chat work even better, and the reception has been so good that we're giving voice, video and group chat a new and improved home at the top of the chat window in iGoogle and orkut. While this isn't a major change, we hope it makes using all of our features easier.

If you’ve never used voice or video chat in iGoogle or orkut, it’s easy to get started. You'll just need a webcam and a microphone. If you already have a webcam and a microphone, you’ll just need to download a small plugin for video chat, available for free at www.google.com/chat/video.

With the plugin installed and your camera enabled, your friends will see a small green camera icon like this next to your name in their chat lists. Then, to start a voice or video chat, simply click either the voice or video icon in the toolbar and talk away to your heart's content - all for free.

If you primarily use chat in Gmail, don't worry, we haven't forgotten you! It'll be coming soon to Gmail as well.

Posted by Bruce Leban
Software Engineer

Easier chat controls

Jason Toff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Google Voice invitations for Blue Star Families

Jason Toff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:13:00 +0000

Military families face dozens of challenges every day. The life of a military spouse and a military family is never easy. It's a life of sacrifice and patience, but it's also one of pride and patriotism.

To help families better stay in touch with their loved ones, this Veterans Day we're partnering with Blue Star Families to give priority Google Voice invitations to the families of U.S. service members involved in the organization. Blue Star Families is a group of military spouses from all over the country who work hard to educate civilian communities and leaders about the hardships faced by military families.

Military families encounter unique challenges and frequent separations, so staying in touch is vitally important. With one Google Voice number, families won't have to worry about missing calls from service members abroad.

Google Voice can make communication one less worry for these families, and hopefully bring them a little bit closer to their loved ones.

Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Google Voice with your existing number

Jason Toff — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Google Voice is all about enabling choice: which phone you pick up your calls on, where to review your voicemail messages, how to send and reply to text messages, etc. So when it comes to your phone number, it was logical for us to also offer a choice of which number to use with Google Voice.

Previously, when you created a Google Voice account, we asked you to select a new Google phone number. This allowed us to offer features like call forwarding, screening, and recording. But we know not everyone wants to start using a new phone number, so we've been working on another option for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to keep their existing number.

We're excited to announce that you now can get Google Voice with a Google number OR with your existing mobile phone number. If you choose to use Google Voice with your existing number, you won't get some features (like call screening and recording), but you'll still get many others -- including Google voicemail:

More specifically, if you sign up for Google Voice with your existing number, you'll get:

Online, searchable voicemail
Free automated voicemail transcription
Custom voicemail greetings for different callers
Email and SMS notifications
Low-priced international calling

If you decide to also get a new Google number, you'll get all of the above PLUS:

One number that reaches you on all your phones
SMS via email
Call screening
Listen In
Call recording
Conference calling
Call blocking

If you already have a Google number, this new feature should also help with the transition to your new number, as you can now forward unanswered calls to your mobile phone to your Google Voice account. This way, people who still call your old number will reach the same voicemail as people who call your Google Voice number.

If you already use Google Voice, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account. If you're not using Google Voice yet, you can request an invitation or ask someone with a Google Voice account to invite you. When you receive the invitation to sign-up, you decide whether you'd like to use Google Voice with your existing number or get a Google number.

Posted by Pierre Lebeau, Product Manager

Google Voice for Newbies: Voicemail Transcriptions

Jason Toff — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Voicemail transcription is, in my opinion, one of Google Voice's coolest features. That's why I've saved it for my last Google Voice tip. When someone leaves you a voicemail, Google Voice transcribes the message and gives you a variety of ways to access it. The transcription process is fully automated, so sometimes the text isn't perfect, but it's usually enough to give you the basic idea of the message.

If you're a Gmail user, you can enable a voicemail player to show up underneath each voicemail notification you receive in Gmail by turning on the Google Voice player in mail lab. You can also set up your Google Voice account to send SMS notifications of the transcriptions to your mobile phone.

You might notice that some of the words in transcriptions are grayed out. This is an indication that we're not as confident about these particular words.

Heather and I hope that these "newbie" posts have helped some of you get your feet wet with Google Voice. Even though this is the last in our series, that doesn't mean you can't continue to share feature suggestions and interesting use cases. Share your Voice insights in the Google Voice Help Forum, and remember, the Google Voice Help Center is packed with useful information. Happy calling!

Posted by Carol and Heather, Googlers

Tip: Even more control over opening links

Jason Toff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:02:00 +0000

In the previous tip, we covered middle-clicking and ctrl-clicking to open links in new tabs. There are even more shortcuts you can use to take total control over where links open. Feel free to try these:

Shift-click: Opens a link in a new window (just like right-clicking and selecting "Open link in new window")

Shift-middle-click (or shift-ctrl-click): Opens a link in a new tab, and switches to that tab immediately

Alt-click: Saves the contents of a link to your computer

With these shortcuts, you can quickly handle links no matter how you wish to use them. Enjoy!

Posted by Peter Kasting, Software Engineer

Tip: Opening links in new tabs

Jason Toff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:25:00 +0000

Tabs can be great for working with multiple pages at the same time. But if you open them by right-clicking links and selecting "Open link in new tab," you might not have realized that there's an easier way. Just use your middle mouse button (it might look like a wheel) to click a link, and it will open in a new tab in the background.

"But wait," you say, "my mouse doesn't have a middle button!" No problem -- another way to get the same effect is to hold down the Ctrl key while clicking (with the left mouse button) on a link.

(If clicking the middle button on a link doesn't open it, your mouse may be set to use the middle button for something else. You can configure your mouse settings by going to the Windows Control Panel.)

Posted by Peter Kasting, Software Engineer

Tip: Quick site searches with the Omnibox

Jason Toff — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:04:00 +0000

We recently showcased how the address bar (also affectionately known as the Omnibox) doubles as a search box: simply type a search term in the box and press Enter to see results from your default search engine.

Here's another fun fact about the address bar: you can use it to search sites that you've previously visited.

Say you frequently go to YouTube to watch funny videos. The next time you need a good laugh, just start typing "youtube" in the address bar. After a few letters, the address bar will automatically offer you the option to search the site.

Now the cool trick: hit Tab on your keyboard to convert the address bar into a search box for the site.

Then type what you're looking for and press Enter. Google Chrome will immediately bring you to the search results page on that site. In this case, you'll see YouTube's search results page for "dog on skates":

Use this "tab to search" shortcut to save yourself a few clicks the next time you want to quickly search a site. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Posted by Fiona Chong, Google Chrome team

10 days left to submit your video

Jason Toff — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, we on the Google Chrome team have been delighted and entertained by your video entries for the Google Chrome Icon Project.

Videos so far have ranged from dessert making in California to coordinated hockey players in Russia to complex 3D animations from Japan. You can view all the submissions on YouTube.

There are still 10 days left to submit your video - so break out your most ambitious ideas and submit something iconic!

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome Team

Lost a tab? Not to worry.

Jason Toff — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Google Chrome has a lot of features that make your browsing easier, but you might not notice them all right away. This is because we've taken great care to keep our design clean, so features don't get in your way when you're not using them. A great example of this is our session restore functionality, which lets you reopen tabs and windows you recently closed. Here's how to use it:

Posted by Nick Baum, Google Chrome team

Google Update, Updated

Jason Toff — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:56:00 +0000

A few months ago, we released the source code to Google Update, our software that ensures that users are using the latest and greatest version of Google Chrome. Today, we are making another improvement to Google Update such that it will run at periodic intervals, as opposed to running as a continual process. Learn more on the Open Source Blog.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome Team

Join the Google Chrome icon project

Jason Toff — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:20:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, a few of us on the Google Chrome team decided to experiment with creating the Google Chrome icon out of different objects. We started off simple, using things like spoons and balloons, and eventually progressed to more elaborate creations, using stop-animation and other video effects. We even created a cake!

We know from past experience that users are the ones who come up with the coolest stuff. So with that, we now turn the challenge to YOU to make a video showing the formation of the Google Chrome icon in a big, unusual or creative way.

Imagine a bird's eye view of a parking lot with carefully arranged cars, coordinated outfits in a stadium's bleachers, a 10,000 M&M mural, etc. We are excited to see what you come up with and we'll showcase the best submissions!

Here are the details:

You have until July 22 to submit your video
Users from all over the world are invited to participate
The best entries will be featured on Google & YouTube

To start you thinking, here's a quick video of our team's experiments. It also includes two great ideas from FlippyCat and Anna the Red:

To learn more and submit your video, visit google.com/chromeicon09.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

Introducing Google Quick Search Box

Jason Toff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:55:00 +0000

When most people think of Google, search comes to mind – and rightly so! Hundreds of millions of people have come to know and love Google.com as their starting point for searching the Internet. About 2 years ago, we introduced Google Desktop to extend Google search capabilities to your Mac and, earlier this year, we launched a developer preview of the next evolution of search outside the browser. Today, we're officially releasing this technology to all users as the Google Quick Search Box (or QSB for short).

With Google Quick Search Box you can search for information from just about anywhere. As you type, suggestions will appear that match your query, ranging from applications and local files on your computer, to web search and navigational suggestions, to items from your browser history and contacts - and the types of results you can get will only grow over time! Check out the screenshot below for an example of the types of blended results you might see.

Once you've found the result you want, we wanted you to be able to DO something with it. To find out what you can do, select a result and press the tab key or the right arrow on the keyboard. Some examples of actions include instant messaging friends, playing a song, or emailing a URL. Just like the data you can search over, the list of actions you can perform will grow over time!

The quickest way to launch the Google Quick Search Box is by pushing Control + spacebar at the same time (Google Desktop devotees will still be able to press Command twice to summon the box). If you prefer another keyboard shortcut to summon the Google QSB, you can change it in the Preferences panel.

As you use the Google Quick Search Box more, it will learn which results you are likely to want. The goal here is that we get you to what you're looking for as quickly as possible. In the above example, if you chose Google Calendar, the next time you search for "cal", Google QSB will reorder the results so that you don't have to arrow down to your desired choice. Instead, you can just type "cal" and press enter.

Last, but definitely not least, the Google Quick Search Box is extensible. This means that anyone can create a plug-in that enables the QSB to search over additional data or perform more actions on results. As an example, we really enjoy the Twitter plug-in . After enabling that bad boy, we can send tweets right from the QSB and then do a Google search right after!

The Google QSB has allowed us to do our daily tasks faster. If you want to give it a try to see it speed up your day, visit www.google.com/quicksearchbox/.

If you're a Google Desktop user and you want to gain this functionality, you can learn more about Google QSB and see how to upgrade in this help center article.

And please, let us know what you think!

Posted by Ryan Tabone and Karen Grünberg, Product Managers

Get to know the Omnibox

Jason Toff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Looking at usage statistics, we've noticed that many users don't take full advantage of the search capabilities of the Omnibox, our combined search and address bar. So we decided to make the following short video to show you the basics of how it works. I hope you enjoy!

Posted by Ben Goodger, Google Chrome team

A Speedier Google Chrome for all users

Jason Toff — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:58:00 +0000

It's been about 8 months since we launched Google Chrome. Aside from exclaiming how fast it is, users have been sending us lots of feedback and feature requests. We've increased our focus on speed and also added some of the most-requested features. Some of these improvements made it into the Beta version that we first released in March, and we've continued to improve the Beta since then. Today, we are moving the Beta version to the stable channel for all users to enjoy.

Here are some improvements that you'll notice right away:

Improved New Tab Page: The most requested feature from users was the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. Now you can finally hide that embarrassing gossip blog from the Most Visited section.

Full Screen Mode: If you've ever given a presentation or watched a large video using Google Chrome, you might have wished you could use every last pixel on your screen for the content. Now you can hide the title bar and the rest of the browser window by hitting F11 or selecting the option in the Tools menu.

Form Autofill: Filling out your information in forms over and over again can be tedious. Form autofill helps by showing information you've previously entered into the same form fields automatically. If at any point you want to clear out your information, that's easy to do from the Tools menu.

And here are some improvements that aren't immediately visible, but will make web browsing with Google Chrome more enjoyable:

Increased Stability: Google Chrome is more stable than ever--we have fixed over 300 bugs that caused crashes since launch.

Increased Speed: Making the web faster continues to be our main area of focus. Thanks to a new version of WebKit and an update to our JavaScript engine, V8, interactive web pages will run even faster. We've also made sure that JavaScript keeps running fast even when you have lots of tabs open. Try opening a bunch of web applications and then running your favorite benchmark. You can read more about V8 in our JavaScript scalability post on the Chromium blog.

To hear more about these improvements, check out the following video by Product Manager, Brian Rakowski:

If you're already using Google Chrome, you'll be automatically updated to this new version soon. If you're new or if you're itching to try this right away, you can get the latest version at google.com/chrome.

Finally, a note on version numbers: we're referring to this as Chrome 2, but that's mainly a metric to help us keep track of changes internally. We don't give too much weight to version numbers and will continue to roll out useful updates as often as possible.

Darin Fisher, Google Chrome Team

Improvements to Google Update for Administrators

Jason Toff — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:41:00 +0000

If you're an IT administrator, you may be interested to know that today, on the Open Source blog, we announced a way to manage the update cycle for Google Chrome via Google Update for Administrators. This means that administrators are now able to specify how often to check for updates, how applications should be updated, and whether to allow installation of certain applications.

Read more on the Open Source blog.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

11 short films about a browser

Jason Toff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:56:00 +0000

For those of us who live and work on the web, the browser is an unsung hero. It's become the most important piece of software on our computer, but rarely is it given proper recognition, let alone fêted.

We invited some creative friends to make short movies about our own browser, Google Chrome, and then watched as they came back with dozens of interesting ways to portray the browser. After finishing his video, artist and illustrator Christoph Niemann wrote to us about his approach:

"Instead of thinking of what I wanted to show, I tried to think about what I did NOT want to show. I realized that when I use a computer or browse the web these days, the one thing I do NOT think about is... a computer.

There was a time when I knew the meaning of every single item in my system folder and had to wisely allocate RAM to an application before burdening it with a complex task. Dealing with a computer has become much simpler these days (if everything works), but much more difficult and complex (especially if it doesn't behave) — almost like dealing with a living creature.

I wanted to find a simple metaphor that explains what a browser does, without showing a screen, a keyboard, the letters WWW, pixels, zeroes or ones.

Initially I thought of my mom (the browser) who brings me (the user) a plate of spaghetti bolognese (the Internet). But since spaghetti bolognese is not a rewarding thing to draw, let alone animate, I went for the next best metaphor, which can be seen in the animation."

Along with Christoph's video, there are great shorts by Motion Theory, Steve Mottershead, Go Robot, Open, Default Office, Hunter Gatherer, Lifelong Friendship Society, SuperFad, Jeff&Paul, and Pantograph. You can view the individual Chrome Shorts on our YouTube channel as well as a quick compilation below.

We're really excited about the imagination and range of their ideas, and we hope you enjoy them.

Posted by Ji Lee, Creative Lab

3D graphics in the browser (no joke)

Jason Toff — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:03:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, we joked about creating a special version of Google Chrome that made the web 3D. Well today, all joking aside, a team at Google is actually taking a step in that direction by introducing O3D: a shader-based API for 3D graphics in the browser.

This API allows for the development of sophisticated 3D applications that rival experiences one would expect in native applications. Technology like this will eventually make launching high quality games as easy as clicking a link in your browser.

Read more about O3D on the Google Code blog or explore the API at code.google.com/apis/o3d.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

Videos from Japan and Czech teams

Jason Toff — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:54:00 +0000

About two months ago, the Google Japan team helped create a video for Google Chrome that was well-received by local viewers and bloggers. We thought it might have transcontinental appeal, so we decided to also share it on the Google YouTube channel in English. The video, shown below, has since had over 2 million views.

The video was created by Pantograph, who also provided us with some behind-the-scenes photos of their production process:

More recently, the Japan team has come up with some new animations highlighting some of Google Chrome's features in a fun way. Check out the video below and watch how the character surfs on a cursor, cures a sick tab, speeds on his motorcycle, and buys a wedding ring.

Similarly, the Czech team put together a few flash banners that show off some features of Google Chrome. The banner below, by David Böhm, is just the first of several commissioned from popular Czech cartoonists trying to capture local flavor through comic strips - a very Czech medium. Whether they discuss Chrome's speed or simplicity these videos are just as charming and quirky in translation.

As always, you can see the latest Google Chrome videos on the Google Chrome YouTube channel.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

Updated Gmail and Calendar for iPhone

Jason Toff — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Today I'm happy to announce that we've updated Gmail and Calendar for the iPhone. We've completely re-architected the code so you get more consistent performance, refreshed the user interface so it's easier to perform batch actions, and most importantly, laid the foundation which will allow us to iterate quickly and provide you with performance improvements and new features in the future.

To find out more about how you can get all the Gmail goodies, like threaded conversations, search, starring and labels, all on your iPhone, head on over to the Google Mobile Blog. Or, if you're convinced and want to try it out now, go to gmail.com on your iPhone. Click the Calendar link at the top to access Google Calendar. Please note that only iPhone OS 2.2.1 or higher is supported. We're rolling out this release over the next few days, so if you don't see the updated user interface, check back soon.

Posted by Deng-Kai Chen, Google Mobile

A faster way to fill out forms

Jason Toff — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Hi there -- first, a quick intro: I'm Fiona and I'll be posting periodically with tips on using Google Chrome. From time to time, I'll also be responding to hot issues you bring up in the Google Chrome Help Forum.

Ever since Google Chrome debuted, many of you have been asking for a way to save what you enter in forms. After all, who can honestly say that they enjoy typing their name and mailing address over and over again?

So, just in case you missed it, I wanted to highlight the autofill feature that's included in the beta version of Google Chrome. With autofill enabled, the browser saves what you type in form fields. The next time you fill out a form that you've completed in the past, what you've previously entered pops up below each field. Use your mouse or Tab on the keyboard to select the text you want to use.

The autofill text is stored on your computer as part of your browser profile. Many sites disable this feature when collecting sensitive information, such as credit card numbers. Also, you can always go to the Clear browsing data menu to delete saved form data from your computer or turn the feature off entirely in the Options menu.

Not using the beta? Hang tight -- the feature will graduate to the stable version of the browser eventually. To learn more about the form autofill feature, visit the Google Chrome Help Center.

Posted by Fiona Chong, Google Chrome Team

Google Chrome’s Universal Terms, explained with the help of some user-experts

Jason Toff — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:47:00 +0000

A recent Slashdot post about Google Chrome’s Terms of Service (TOS), sometimes referred to as the even wonkier acronym, EULA (End-User License Agreement), raises a number of points about Chrome’s TOS and asks a couple of direct questions:

Does this mean that Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience in Chrome?
Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services (gmail, blogger etc), or is this something more significant?

We read further into this piece through the comments and saw that many readers were able to accurately address these points – most of them better than we could ourselves – so we thought we might as well give them the credit they deserve.

On the question of “Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services,” maxfresh responds: “It is obvious from section 1 of the same TOS that this is google's standard boilerplate TOS, or as they call it, their 'Universal Terms' that covers all of their services, including search, mail, adsense, adwords, blogger, etc...”

Maxfresh has it right here. This is the exact same language we use in many other Google Terms of Service. We are trying to be consistent across all of our products and services, hence the uniformity.

Regarding whether “Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience,” mariushm says, “It's probably just a safety measure for their anti-phishing features,” while Korin43 writes that it’s for “things like safe-search, phishing filter, and other options like blocking non-secure items on a secure webpage.” Another reader, fermion, notes, “it could be some malware protection mechanism in which users are not allowed to go to suspected malware sites without warning….”

mariushm, Korin43 and fermion are all correct. Google provides features such as Safe Browsing that warn you if you are about to go to a suspected phishing site, and we verify the URL you are planning to go to with a database of known phishing sites. Other relevant factors include the need for Google to comply with the law relating to your web-browsing experience, such as regulations against hate speech, child pornography and so on.

Maybe the most fitting context for all this is provided by acb: “In any case, it's open source (under the name Chromium [google.com]), so if you don't like Google's EULA, or any other part of their plans for Chrome, you will be able to download and run one of the third-party, de-Googlised builds of Chromium, or even build your own. It seems unlikely that Google would impose particularly unpalatable terms on Chrome, given that it comes with its own competition built in.”

Amen, acb. As an open-source browser, we believe Google Chrome stimulates innovation on the web, while at the time just making life easier for people. Thus far, we have millions of active users, and the response continues to be outstanding. Regardless, we appreciate the input from users around the world, and we think these kinds of open discussions are helpful, even if it’s to temper what !ahugedeal describes as follows: “This looks like FUD to me.”

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Posted by Gabriel Stricker, Director, Global Communications & Public Affairs

Google Chrome without 3D

Jason Toff — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Yesterday you might have seen our blog post about "Google Chrome with 3D." You might have even downloaded our special version of Google Chrome and our printable 3D glasses. As someone of enormously high intelligence, you probably realized that this was our attempt at an April Fools' joke.

This elaborate scheme, conceived deep within the bowels of the Googleplex and executed at enormous expense, was to make a fake but believable 3D effect that could be toggled by a new button on the toolbar. The task fell on me to engineer.

The team was very supportive, urging me on with encouragement like, "We're doing an April Fools' joke?" and, "Why aren't you fixing crashes like you're supposed to?" I decided to do a simple shift of the red and blue channels of the image of the web page after it was rendered. This was easier than doing other suggestions like shifting only the images or creating a non-uniformly shifted image.

After spending nearly 30 minutes coding the effect, I conducted an extensive scientific test consisting of several coworkers standing behind my desk chair. The subjects wore authentic Hannah Montana 3D glasses and had prepared for the test with a diet of heavily caffeinated drinks provided by Google. The response was varied, ranging from "I don't get it," and "Wow, I have a headache!" to a resounding, "This is awesome. I feel sick."

The source code went through the standard publicly-visible code review process, ensuring high quality and consistent coding style, and was carefully obscured from prying eyes by the most boring but technically accurate change description possible. The feature's time is limited, however, and will eventually disappear.

In the end, we hope you enjoyed playing with our April Fools' joke as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thanks for using Google Chrome!

Posted by Brett Wilson, Software Engineer

Introducing Google Chrome with 3D

Jason Toff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Hi. I am CADIE and I would like to share a new feature I've created for you.

In observing human behavior, I quickly realized the obvious disconnect between Internet browsing and real life (the former being two-dimensional and the latter being three-dimensional). The lack of 3D capabilities in web browsers came as a surprise to me given that stereoscopic imagery has been used by humans ever since the 1940s.

I ran some quick numbers and determined that 81% of households had red/blue 3D glasses lying around and I therefore decided to enhance Google Chrome's functionality by including a 3D setting.

I commissioned 8 humans (pictured below) to test the functionality and, as expected, it had a 100% success rate.

I'd be thrilled if you would give 3D browsing a shot on your own. I expect you will be pleased. Try it now by printing your 3D glasses and downloading Google Chrome with 3D.

Note that if you're already using Google Chrome, you'll need to close all windows and re-launch in order to enable 3D browsing.

Posted by CADIE

Calling all webmasters

Jason Toff — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:14:00 +0000

We recently posted some handy tips for webmasters and web developers on how to help make their sites look great in Google Chrome.

If you work on web sites, you'll want to take a look at the post and give your site a run through with Google Chrome. If you're interested in more information, check out our support resources for webmasters or the Google Chrome webmaster forum.

We're constantly working to improve website compatibility, but we'd love your help! If you run across compatibility bugs while testing your site in Google Chrome, please let us know.

Posted by Glenn Wilson, Product Manager

Using Google APIs in an iPhone App

Jason Toff — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Guest post by Tom Saxton, Idle Loop Software Design

In September, my small software company shipped our first iPhone app, a grocery list program called Grocophile. One of the most common requests from our users was the ability to exchange data over the Internet. Greg Robbins of Google's Mac team suggested that the Google Docs API might be useful, so I jumped in and took a look.

This turned out to be a great way to give our users access to free Internet storage, letting them back up their data and share it across multiple devices. To return the favor, I'd like to share my experience: the learning process, getting the code working on the iPhone, and how I found what I needed from what Google generously provides.

Greg helped me get started by pointing out some online resources. I started with the Objective-C library's overview slideshow. Then I read the Objective-C client introduction, which explains how to get the Google Data APIs library into an iPhone Xcode project. Finally, I downloaded the library sources.

There's a sample app that you'll get with the sources that shows how to talk to Google Docs. The file of interest is DocsSampleWindowController. Start by looking at the two methods "uploadFileAtPath:" and "saveSelectedDocumentToPath:", as those demonstrate how to upload and download files, respectively.

The code is part of a Mac OS X Cocoa app, so it has some Mac-specific code intermingled with the GData code. To bring it into an iPhone project, I trimmed out the Mac user interface stuff, and defined a class and a protocol to create code that should work from any Mac or iPhone application.

The library requires several steps to upload or download a file. First, you create a service object that encodes the user agent that identifies your application, along with the username and password for the account you want to access. Then use that object to request a document list feed, which is the list of documents in the user's account.

Retrieving the document list feed both validates the account credentials and captures information you'll need to either upload or download files. The feed contains the URL for downloading each document. To download, you can use any http call such as NSURLConnection or the library's GDataHTTPFetcher. The feed also has the URL for uploading new document entries.

The networking operations are asynchronous, so my encapsulating object has methods for starting an upload or download, then uses an Objective-C protocol to inform the controlling object of the progress and status at completion.

I've been calling these document objects files, but Google Docs isn't a file system. It's much more like a web publishing system: a collection of objects with associated metadata including title, creation and modification dates, and so on.

The first difference from a file system that I encountered is that you can have multiple different files with the same name. So, if you just upload a new version of a file the same way you uploaded it the first time, you'll get a second document with that same name. To avoid that, search for the document entry with the title that you want to upload to. You can then request an update operation instead of an insert.

The second issue I discovered is that much like when you post to a blog, what you upload can get transformed to match the type of document that is holding the data. When you download the same object, you get something different than what you uploaded. For example, I uploaded a plain text document (specified by MIME type "text/plain"), but when I downloaded that same object I found the text wrapped in a bunch of HTML that makes it display well on the Google Docs web page. Our app's files are UTF-8 XML files created by NSKeyedArchiver. Google Docs fails if you try to specify a MIME type of "text/xml" and totally mangles the document contents if you specify "text/plain". That is not a big surprise because there's not currently a way to specify that the text is encoded UTF-8, and the content gets stuffed into an XML file for the journey to the server.

I solved this issue by converting my files into a plain ASCII encoding, wrapping that in HTML which explains that the file our users see in the Google Docs web page is a Grocophile data file and isn't user editable, and uploading that as "text/html". When I download this file, the HTML does pick up a bunch of Google additions, but it's a simple matter to scan the file to find my encoded document contents.

Different apps will have different needs for storing their documents. If your app can store and retrieve its data in text, HTML or a spreadsheet, then Google Docs will work well for you. Grocophile's data is basically a relational database with a series of tables and joins keyed off of UUIDs. I could represent the data in text, but it would be fragile and not appropriate for end-user editing. Even though our data won't be editable within Google Docs, there's still plenty of value in being able to back up, restore and merge data sets from Grocophile.

To help out other Mac and iPhone developers, I've published my code for using the library in an iPhone application as an open source project. If you have any questions, or suggestions for improvement, please contact me at idleloop.com.

Chrome Experiments: not your mother’s JavaScript

Jason Toff — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:04:00 +0000

I like JavaScript. It's flexible, lightweight, and it's open source. Anybody can crawl into it, look around, and shape the code into something of their own. When Google Chrome first launched with V8, its superfast JavaScript engine, it got me thinking about ways to visualize speed within the browser. So I contacted a bunch of JavaScripters from around the world and invited them to do something creative and unusual. REAS, Mr. Doob, Ryan Alexander, Josh Nimoy, and Toxi, among others, answered the call.

These artists did a lot of tweaking and tinkering to push the boundaries of JavaScript design, and to illustrate what's possible with this new generation of JavaScript engines. Today, we're launching Chrome Experiments -- a set of games and visualizations that let you see the kinds of things that JavaScript is making possible. You can view, share, and rate what they've built. Check out this video to preview some of them:

These nineteen examples are just the beginning. We're going to keep adding to them, and we'd also like to see what you can do, too. If you've made something fun and interesting with JavaScript you can submit it at ChromeExperiments.com.

Posted by Aaron Koblin, Google Creative Lab

Health and Vigor in a Google Data APIs Library Update

Jason Toff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:22:00 +0000

Posted by Greg Robbins, Software Engineer

If there's a hole in my memory, it's right where the date of my last tetanus shot should be stored. Luckily, Google Health promises to help us keep track of the many medical details in our lives that would otherwise be lost. But stored information only matters if it's accessible when and where we need it. Independent developer Ford Parsons' application Health Cloud provides access to health profiles quickly and conveniently, for iPhone owners anywhere.

Health Cloud is the first released app to use the Google Data APIs Objective-C Client Library's new support for the Google Health Data API. The recent version 1.7 release of the library also offers a variety of performance and memory improvements for iPhone and Mac developers. It still provides easy access to Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, YouTube, and many other Google services.

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you can download Health Cloud today to keep your Google Health account handy. Or if you're a Mac or iPhone developer, check out the Google Data APIs Objective-C Client Library open-source project page for an introduction to adding Google services to your products.

Google Chrome has a new beta

Jason Toff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Since we took the "beta" tag off Google Chrome in December, we've been updating two release channels: developer and stable. With our latest release, we're re-introducing the beta channel for some early feedback — and if you're reading the brand new Google Chrome blog, you are probably just the person to give it a try.

The best thing about this new beta is speed — it's 25% faster on our V8 benchmark and 35% faster on the Sunspider benchmark than the current stable channel version and almost twice as fast when compared to our original beta version.

Some of the new features you can try out include form autofill, full page zoom and autoscroll (both thanks to a new version of WebKit), and a cool new way to drag tabs out to get a side-by-side view (shown below).

Getting on the beta channel means your version of Google Chrome will regularly get updated with new speed enhancements, features, and bug fixes before most users see them. We're doing our best to quickly churn out new features as they are available rather than saving them up for occasional major releases. Riding the beta channel is a great way to let us know about what's working and what's not, but don't be surprised to find some rough edges. Also, if you're looking for an even earlier (and rougher) sneak preview of things to come, you can always move to the developer channel.

Try out the latest Google Chrome BETA.

Posted by Brian Rakowski, Product Manager

Hello world!

Jason Toff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Just over 6 months ago we launched our web browser, Google Chrome. Since then, we've pushed 29 updates, each working to improve Google Chrome's speed, stability, and usability.

Today we're launching the Google Chrome Blog. Here we will post feature releases, announcements, and updates on other things we're working on.

Chromium Blog readers, have no fear! The Chromium Blog will continue to live on, but will shift its focus to things that are particularly relevant to the developer community.

This blog is intended for you, so if at any point you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know so that we can make improvements.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

What’s New for iPhone

Jason Toff — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:11:00 +0000

By Jason Toff, Google Mac Team

Over the past few weeks, a number of enhancements have been made to Google's offerings for the iPhone. We wanted to highlight some of those improvements here.

Google Sync Beta
Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone. Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend to other tasks. Sync uses push technology so any changes or additions to your calendar or contacts are reflected on your device in minutes.

Learn more on the Google Mobile blog or try Sync at m.google.com/sync.

Tasks
Tasks lets you easily create and manage to-do lists in Gmail and on your iPhone. While on the go, you can view tasks, add tasks, and mark them as completed. These changes are automatically reflected in Gmail. Using your iPhone, you can also add, edit, and delete entire lists.

Learn more on the Gmail blog or get started with tasks at gmail.com/tasks.

Google Book Search
Over 1.5 million public domain books in the US (and over half a million outside the US) are now available for perusing on your iPhone. You can search for a title, author, or subject. Or you can browse the list of "Featured books" and various categories like business, the classics, travel, and more.

Learn more on the Google Book Search blog or start reading at http://books.google.com/m.

Edit Docs
Last week, we launched new capabilities to Google Docs for your iPhone that allow you to add new rows, edit existing cells, sort by columns, and filter by terms. Now you don't have to wait until you get to your computer to update a spreadsheet.

Learn more on the Google Docs blog or start editing at m.google.com/docs.

YouTube Upload Booth

Jason Toff — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:58:00 +0000

By Jason Toff, Google Mac Team

In addition to the Earth Surfer application, our Macworld booth also features a YouTube Upload Booth this year. Several famed YouTubers stopped in the booth and used Quick Capture to upload their videos to the web. For instance...

Ijustine jumped in the moment she saw it.

Chris Pirillo had some..ahem..difficulties at first but was able to make it work.

And there were many more excited people ready to try it out! Check out the video below to hear more about the YouTube booth:

Surf Through Google Earth

Jason Toff — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:39:00 +0000

By Jason Toff, Google Mac Team

This year for Macworld a Google engineer, David Phillip Oster, wrote a fun application that allows you to surf through Google earth. Watch the video below and read more about it on the Google Lat Long blog.

Macworld Has Arrived

Jason Toff — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:05:00 +0000

By Jason Toff, Google Mac Team

After months of anticipation, Macworld is finally here! We put the finishing touches on our booth yesterday and look forward to visits from many of the expected 40,000+ attendees.

More than 100 Googlers across several teams-- including Picasa, Mobile, Geo, & YouTube-- will be staffing our booth throughout the four days of the expo (from now until Jan. 9). We have plenty in store for our booth and plan to update this blog regularly-- so stay tuned.

If you're planning to attend, we hope you'll stop by to say hello! And for those of you who can't make it or aren't in the area, we invite you to visit google.com/macworld to explore Google's offerings for Mac and the iPhone.

Picasa’s Macworld Debut

Jason Toff — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:15:00 +0000

By Stuart Morgan, Software Engineer

Last year we had a blast at Macworld demonstrating all our Mac products, but as Mac users, we also know that the best part of Macworld is new product announcements. This year, we're getting in the spirit by making a little announcement of our own: we're happy to say that Picasa, Google's photo management software, will be joining the ranks of the free Mac OS X applications from Google!

If you've never tried Picasa before, it's a program that helps you manage, edit, and share your photo collection. It works especially well with Picasa Web Albums, Google's free photo-sharing site, so it can help you manage the photo albums you've shared online with friends and family as well as the photos on your computer. In addition to photo editing tools, the Picasa client includes features like automatic web sync, fast and simple sharing, collage making, and simple movie editing. And on the web side, Picasa Web Albums offers unique features like name tags, which help you automatically organize your photo collection based on the faces in each picture.

You'll notice that Picasa for Mac is still in Google Labs and has a "beta" label attached—a few minor features like geotagging and webcam capture aren't functional yet, and we plan to sand and polish some parts of the user interface to make sure Picasa feels right at home on Mac OS X. Still, we think you'll find plenty to like in this first beta, and we're excited to get this release out into the hands of the Mac community at this year's Macworld! We're looking forward to making Picasa for the Mac even better, and to hearing what you think — Picasa engineers will be at the Google booth's demo stations throughout Macworld, and we always listen to the feedback on our Help Forum.

There's plenty more to say about Picasa on the Mac, so check out the video below, swing by the Google Photos blog to learn more and download a copy to play with—and of course, come see us at Macworld!

One Week Until Macworld

Jason Toff — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0000

By Jason Toff, Google Mac Team

With one week until the start of Macworld, we wanted to give you a glimpse of what to expect at Google's booth.

At any given time, there will be plenty of Googlers at our booth available to answer questions about any Google software made for Mac or iPhone. Demo stations will be placed throughout the booth so that attendees can try out Google software on their own, and in many cases, talk to the people who helped create that software.

Additionally, there will be larger presentations in the booth each day covering specific topics in more depth. Our goal is to make these presentations as interactive as possible, so we are hoping for feedback from Macworld attendees in the booth on the topics they'd like to see discussed.

We are very excited about Macworld and hope that you'll stop by our booth if you're in the area!