Google

Your One Stop For Tech Stuff

Google Develops Siri like Application to Control TV

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online on March 9, 2012 · 14 comments

Google TV

Google, the search engine giant has many products to its credit. Google+ is being expanded in recent weeks, and many products are being strengthened. Google TV which was conceived by Google by taking support from Intel, Sony and Logitech, is a versatile product.

Google TV is integrated with Android based operating systems and comes with Linux version of Google Chrome browser. Google has developed an interface to control television features on Android based mobile phones.

The interface resembles Apple’s voice recognition interface, Siri. Google went ahead to file a patent to this new technology. Even though the development is in beta stage, it has created ripples in tech circles. Let us find more about this project.

Google TV is a smart TV program introduced by Google in the year, 2010. It is to be differentiated from other kinds of TVs. Smart TV is the integration of internet connectivity and web 2.0 standards with modern television sets and set-top boxes.

Google TV has its focus to present media retrieved from the internet. Before the introduction of Smart TV system, the data is usually captured from PC and then presented on High-definition Television by connecting PC with a cable. With Google TV, it is possible to view movies, videos and photos directly on your television screens.

Google Develops Voice Controlled TV

Google has developed the voice interface by incorporating intelligent voice and data capturing features. You will be able to turn on and off the TV. You can change channels and many more things can be achieved by simply issuing voice commands.

Users will be able to issue commands from more than 400 meters from the television screen. Google’s application uses cloud based mechanism to process the command. It is possible to control set-top box, Smart TV and DVR, etc.

This new development creates interest in entertainment industry. As a matter of fact, Lenovo and Samsung have already experimented to control TV by issuing voice commands. Lenovo had introduced voice enabled television while Samsung achieved success by delivering remote control that can process voice commands.

The new interface presented by Google TV will let users to set reminder as well. In this way, you will not miss a program of your choice. You can configure settings to record a movie when you are not able to view at the telecasted time.

Although Samsung has made some progress in deploying touch based screen, Google TV has more user-friendly controls to enjoy your television in a more romantic way.

The Future of Voice Controlled Televisions

The big players in the market, Samsung, LG and Sony are likely to support Google TV project by incorporating necessary features to take advantage of new enhancements made by Google.

It is true that Google TV is improving a lot and in future many more value-added services are likely to be clubbed along-with voice recognition features.

Even though the voice based features are in the testing phase, Google would like to take advantage of the future prospects. It is also another way of complimenting its dedicated and innovative associates who are the driving force behind the huge success of Google as number one technology service provider in the world.

Google TV Is For Geeks

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online on January 20, 2012 · 14 comments

The Logitech Revue which is the new Google TV gadget must carry a label along with it that states “Only for Geeks”. It is really admirable that Google TV tries to a lot of stuffs, but it really doesn`t fulfill all its promises.

Actually, this is not a device; it’s a software that supports DLNA and many popular video and audio formats, but it does have some hardware (A set-top box and a remote). Google TV can be brought to your home in three ways.

Buy a set-top box called Logitech Revue that costs $300
Buy a special Sony Blu-ray player which costs $400
Buy a Sony TV with a built-in internet which starts from the price range of $600

Hardship In Installing Google TV

Connecting the 1GB/Sec wired Ethernet port is very easy, but the next 12 steps to configure the Revue makes ones nerves go high as missing a step would make you to lose some of the functions.

For instance, there was a user who stumbled when he missed the step to connect wifi. And when he thought of going back to the step to connect wifi, he couldn’t do it as he was not connected to the internet.

Also, the need of using a virtual or a physical keyboard still makes the browsing through Google a difficult task. Moreover, the search results are very much disappointing. It’s like searching on your computer. When you start searching for a particular video, all the irrelevant videos pop-up in the results page.

Logitech’s keyboard is more complex than the normal keyboard and using it as a remote to control TV makes it even worse. Even Sony’s box has a complex controller. Based on Android’s operating system with a chrome browser, Google TV is not promising when it comes to quality.

Complicated Interface

I found a user commenting, “Usability sucks on Google TV. I opened the chrome on it and there was no search bar to type website. It took me about 10 min and clicking through all buttons on keyboard to figure out how to get textbox to type website address. Not a user friendly device for a regular user.”

The price is also high when compared to other devices that have Internet TV capability. It’s more difficult to find your regular TV shows. The interface on the TV is more complicated and it is indeed a difficult task when it comes to customizing the home page.

For instance, the home screen has a queue which holds some of your favorite podcasts, sites and a bookmark for others. The application menu will take you to the specially designed apps while there is also a spotlight category where you can just find the name of the app but not the content.

Google TV Is Not Yet Ready

Almost every major network has blocked has blocked Google TV from showing its free-to-the-web content. Though it has Netflix and Amazon, which works great, you still can’t record your content.

And finally we can say that it’s not ready yet. The idea seems to be very good, but the time has not come yet for regular people to use it.

Google Social Search Includes Your Personal World

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online on January 16, 2012 · 3 comments

Over the years Google has been faithful friend of millions of people across the globe. Google loves to present information in a unique way every day. Highly talented Google tech engineers work round the clock to meet the aspirations of people as per changing needs.

With the raise in usage of social networking sites, the necessity has aroused to search memorable comments and greetings received from family members, friends and other acquaintances.

Searching from the web was and is traditional way and the need of the hour is the ability to search private information that you and I have piled up all through our contacts. Google is the first to make a move in this direction. Let us find more about these features.

Google’s New Search Extension

In addition to web content, web links, images, videos and other stuff, now you will be able to search in private. All the information that pertains to you and your relationships is searchable now by using Google’s ‘Social Search’ textbox. This is really a big step from Google. You can search personal results, profiles in search and people and pages.

Personal Search Advantage

This new feature helps you retrieve information that you had shared through Google+ posts and photos. When you search for a specific word or a phrase, Google+ will search from all your conversations for the words that either you had shared or others shared with you.

In addition to the results from your own private interactions, you can find information from the web pages as well. If your friends had watched a particular movie or read a book, you will be able to get an opinion from them.

Thus you will be motivated to purchase the same and enjoy yourself. There are many instances in life that you would like to take opinion from your friends who had already gone through those circumstances.

You will be able to enjoy those photos and reviews done by them after holidaying which will definitely be useful to you to be encouraged and to go ahead with your plans.

Google Personalized Profile Search

Now, you can search for a profile of your old classmate or ex-co-employee using the search text box. You will be able to find names and photos. Thus, your search is made easy. You can straightaway add the person into your circle and start conversation.

You can find people who are present in Google plus and also from the web. If you are singed in to Google plus, you can add profile instantly. Google Instant will help you achieve this function making you connect with new people quite easily.

Find People & Pages

You can search for people and pages on Google+ based on a particular hobby or profession. This is a great opportunity to start conversation with prominent people. You can search for communities which discuss on a particular topic.

This is a great way to learn more facts on your favorite subject. You can go deep into the subject by joining experts in the line.

Security & Transparency

All the searches and results have the same security privileges as you enjoy when you access your mails through Gmail. You are protected from Secured Socket Layer (SSL) when you sign in and search through Google plus.

You have complete control and transparency on the features that you are utilizing though Google plus. The search can be limited to public, limited or only you. A new toggle switch will be introduced in the coming days so that you can compare the results from personal search to non-personal search.

When you click on non-personal mode, your personal preferences will be set off. The toggle button will be available for every individual session. This can be made as your default option by changing in Settings. You will be able to exercise control based on location and language also.

Repercussions

The new feature, ‘Search plus Your World’ will be made available by Google in the coming days. Google is trying its level best by offering unique features on its social networking site, Google+ and it is trying to woo customers by offering innovative features to make them hanged on Google for various reasons.

It is really a plus for Google+ as it is backed by a strong backbone of search engine’s database. Twitter promptly objects the new feature from Google, as Search plus is ignoring searches from other social networking sites including Twitter.

Even though it is objected by social networking sites and a section of tech blogging community, Google has every right to enhance their products. Google+ as a social networking site is offering private search for its social network users and is also giving option to search from the general web and display the results side by side.

Instead of searching in two separate locations, Google+ users will be able to search both personalized search and unpersonalized search from the same location.

Google Music takes on iTunes Match

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online on November 26, 2011 · 9 comments

Google music has footprints of Apple and iTunes Match. In fact, Google music fares much better than iTunes Match. It is been claimed by competitors that Google has the tradition of stealing ideas from others and implement them in large scale.

This can be substantiated in implementation of cloud storage and Android Operating System by Google. There are compelling stories on the advent of GMusic with a capability to overthrow iMatch.

Interestingly, GMusic is available free of cost. There are more than 20,000 free songs available on Google music and it is expanding its music base by including more popular music albums as never before.

These songs can be enjoyed through Android powered devices, iOS enabled devices and through a web browser. These free songs will definitely attract music lovers who are accustomed to YouTube and Spotify where they can listen to a song before then can purchase the same.

It will be a strong bet for other competitors like iTunes, Spotify and Napster. In future, GMusic stands as a strong alternative to Amazon and iTunes and in the long run people may shift into multi-service provider, the technology giant – Google.

Google is expanding its existing services and offering quite a few new products. In recent past, there has been noteworthy developments in Google+ by launching circles, hubs and ripples.

Let us check the comparison between iTunes and GMusic. iTunes is available at a premium. You have to pay $25 per year to access music on computer which has iTunes desktop application on it. The total number of devices than can access music from this subscription is 10. To access music through mobiles, they should be iOS enabled.

These are the stipulations that pertain to access of music through iTunes. On the other hand, Google music is available absolutely free of cost. There is no restriction on the number of devices that can access GMusic. If you want to play music on your mobile phone, you can download the free application and access the music instantly.us

Google music for smartphones

The Google music app is available for download and can be used on Android powered smartphones. In the coming days it will be available through iOS enabled devices also if Google gets permission for the same from Apple.

The other alternative to access music through mobile phones is the ability to access Google music through a web browser. As all the high end current generation mobile phones are featured with a web browser, it will be a plus point for Google Music.

iTunes’ edge over Google music

Coming to the benefits associated with iTunes, it has a fast track new album upload rate compared to GMusic. iTunes Match will play all music files at high quality 256 kbps AAC while GMusic plays songs of all kinds of formats.

ITunes Match offers 25000 songs whereas Google music is offering only 20000 songs. And, of course the difference comes in the form of monthly subscription. Unless, you are in need of those specific category of songs, i.e., the difference between 25000 and 20000, you can enjoy with Google music where there is no need of any payment.

With the advent of Google music, there will be pressure on iTunes Match as it will be forced to select one out of three options. First option is to reduce the subscription per month, the second option is going for a ‘pay as you go’ option and the third option is opening doors wide like Google with a free banner.

The coming days will decide the success or fate or future of Google music in toppling other competitors and standing as a conqueror.

Gmail App For BlackBerry To Be Discontinued

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online

Gmail App service stopped for BlackBerry

The maker of Android software, Google Inc, said in an “end-of-life announcement” that it will no longer support the Gmail App to its rival Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry smart phones. Google said “Beginning on November 22 2011, we will end the support for Gmail App for BlackBerry (installed native app). Over the past year [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Page Speed Service By Google

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online

Google has always come up with new and improved service options that have made web experience with Google all the more convenient. The new “page speed” service is definitely an instance of such a worthy option. It is very important that your website pages load on fast. Your visitors will have many options for the [...]

27 comments Read the full article →

Definitions On Fly With New Google Dictionary Chrome Extension

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online

Have you ever thought of selection of a word will display the meaning of the word by displaying a balloon pointing the selected word. This new feature is presented by newly launched Google Dictionary Chrome Extension. The extension is available free of cost.

0 comments Read the full article →

Google’s swing on Facebook with Angry Bird

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online

Google – the leader in search engine technologies has launched many new products and features over the past few months to attract different segments of customers. In its ever increasing fold of new products, Google+ was added to its portfolio in recent past. Having had shared its social networking facet, Google+ to limited users, [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

Google Chrome Launched With Built-in Native Client

by Jane | Tech Buzz Online

Google, the search engine giant which has revolutionized the internet usage experience of millions of people around the world, always strives to mark foot prints into untouched areas. Off late, Google has launched Google+, the social networking facet of Google, has created hype in media as well as from a set of privileged users who have had firsthand experience of it.

0 comments Read the full article →