Google's What's New - Take a tour of iGoogle's new features

 

 A note on the recent changes to iGoogle

Recently we rolled out some new iGoogle features, including full-screen gadgets and a left-side navigation bar. We've gotten a lot of feedback since then, not all of it positive, and we've been listening. We appreciate how passionate many of you are about your iGoogle homepage, and your opinions matter a lot. So we'd like to explain more fully what changes we've made, why we've made them, and why we hope that over time most of you will agree that they improve the iGoogle experience.

Full-screen gadgets

Up until now, iGoogle has been focused on quick, at-a-glance access to the information you care about, and smaller gadgets fit that philosophy. But we recognize that sometimes quick updates aren't all you're looking for, so we've created a feature that lets you expand all your gadgets to full screen, or "canvas view," and thus experience much more, and much richer, content.

Now, for instance, you can do a quick email check in your Gmail gadget, or open it to canvas view to write and respond to emails from within iGoogle. You can check the temperature in your weather gadget or expand it to get a detailed forecast for a weekend trip. You can watch videos, play games and use countless more rich applications, all in full screen, and all from inside iGoogle. (Here are some examples of gadgets you might want to check out.)

Expanding and minimizing your gadgets

Expand your gadget to full-screen by clicking its name on the left-side navigation bar or the maximize button on the gadget itself. Click the button or gadget name to return to your regular iGoogle view.

Similarly, your RSS gadgets now offer both a quick glance at a given topic and a full-screen multimedia view of material you want to explore more fully, including inline videos and photos. If you have Google Reader, you can also keep track of what you've read and star your favorite feeds.

Left navigation bar

All this new gadget functionality made it important to look more closely at how we help you find and use content on iGoogle. Based on your feedback, it's clear that the new left-hand navigation bar is the most controversial change we've made.

The new left nav shows you all your subject tabs (for Sports, News, Music, etc), neatly organized with the gadgets for each tab listed underneath. We think this new format makes it much easier to find specific gadgets (especially as your number of collected gadgets grows) and quickly click them in and out of canvas view.

But this new navigation also reflects our belief that, over time, the web in general and iGoogle in particular will become more personalized but also more social -- more focused on connecting us with our friends through shared online activities. We're working on a number of new features that address this mission. For instance, we're planning on integrating a chat feature into iGoogle, and we think you'll want to have easy, persistent access to it, just like you have on your Gmail page today.

In short, we want iGoogle to grow right along with the web. The newest iteration of this evolution may seem jarring to some people today, but we believe that over time, a better-organized and more socially connected iGoogle homepage will be essential to helping us all make the most of all that the web has to offer.

We hope this page has helped to explain the thinking behind iGoogle's new features and offered some useful ideas on how to make the most of your web content. Thanks again for your feedback; it's a crucial aspect of our product development process, and we'll always take your views into account as we continue to work to improve iGoogle as much as possible.

Cheers,

The iGoogle Team

©2008 Google

Serious security flaw found in IE

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.

Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it.

Internet Explorer is used by the vast majority of the world's computer users.

"Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer," said the firm in a security advisory alert about the flaw.

Microsoft says it has detected attacks against IE 7.0 but said the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser.

Other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, are not vulnerable to the flaw Microsoft has identified.

Browser bait

"In this case, hackers found the hole before Microsoft did," said Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro. "This is never a good thing."

As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since the vulnerability was discovered, he said.

"What we've seen from the exploit so far is it stealing game passwords, but it's inevitable that it will be adapted by criminals," he said. "It's just a question of modifying the payload the trojan installs."

Said Mr Ferguson: "If users can find an alternative browser, then that's good mitigation against the threat."

But Microsoft counselled against taking such action.

"I cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw," said John Curran, head of Microsoft UK's Windows group.

He added: "We're trying to get this resolved as soon as possible.

"At present, this exploit only seems to affect 0.02% of internet sites," said Mr Curran. "In terms of vulnerability, it only seems to be affecting IE7 users at the moment, but could well encompass other versions in time."

Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security, echoed Trend Micro's warning.

"It won't be long before someone reverse engineers this exploit for more fraudulent purposes. Trend Mico's advice [of switching to an alternative web browser] is very sensible," he said.

PC Pro magazine's security editor, Darien Graham-Smith, said that there was a virtual arms race going on, with hackers always on the look out for new vulnerabilities.

"The message needs to get out that this malicious code can be planted on any web site, so simple careful browsing isn't enough."

"It's a shame Microsoft have not been able to fix this more quickly, but letting people know about this flaw was the right thing to do. If you keep flaws like this quiet, people are put at risk without knowing it."

"Every browser is susceptible to vulnerabilities from time to time. It's fine to say 'don't use Internet Explorer' for now, but other browsers may well find themselves in a similar situation," he added.

Magnetic-Shield Cracks Found; Big Solar Storms Expected

An unexpected, thick layer of solar particles inside Earth's magnetic field suggests there are huge breaches in our planet's solar defenses, scientists said.

These breaches indicate that during the next period of high solar activity, due to start in 2012, Earth will experience some of the worst solar storms seen in decades.

Solar winds—charged particles from the sun—help create auroras, the brightly colored lights that sometimes appear above the Earth's poles.

But the winds also trigger storms that can interfere with satellites' power sources, endanger spacewalkers, and even knock out power grids on Earth.

"The sequence we're expecting … is just right to put particles in and energize them to create the biggest geomagnetic storms, the brightest auroras, the biggest disturbances in Earth's radiation belts," said David Sibeck, a space-weather expert at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"So if all of this is true, it should be that we're in for a tough time in the next 11 years."

Into the Breach

Data from NASA's THEMIS satellite showed that a 4,000-mile-thick (6,437-kilometer-thick) layer of solar particles has gathered and is rapidly growing within the outermost part of the magnetosphere, a protective bubble created by Earth's magnetic field.

Normally the magnetosphere blocks most of the solar wind, flowing outward from the sun at about a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) an hour.

"The solar wind is constantly changing, and the Earth's magnetic field is buffeted like a wind sock in gale-force winds, fluttering back and forth in response to the solar wind," Sibeck said this week during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Earth's magnetic field lines align themselves in different directions over various regions of the planet.

Courtesy : NGC, For More News

Yahoo should stop trying to take on Google, and instead go after Microsoft by joining forces with Adobe to create online desktop applications

Microsoft is no longer interested in buying Yahoo but remains open to acquiring the company's search business, according to press reports and statements from Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer.

Too bad—at least for Microsoft (MSFT) shareholders. Buying Yahoo (YHOO) would block the company from attacking Microsoft's desktop franchise.

Yahoo? Attack Microsoft? That's right. The prospect of Yahoo trying to erode Microsoft's lead in applications for the desktop is a lot less far-fetched than either company beating Google (GOOG) in the search/advertising market (much of the reason Microsoft went after Yahoo in the first place).

Get faster Gmail with a faster browser

Browsers are getting faster and better at running web applications like Google Mail that use browser technology to its limits. In order to get the best experience possible and make Google Mail run an average of twice as fast, we suggest that you upgrade your browser to one of the fastest Google Mail supported browsers that work on Windows.

Download Firefox 3 Download Google Chrome

Note: A faster version of Internet Explorer, IE8, is in development and available in a beta release

Google's 2008 top 10 Searches

Here is a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the Indian users on the web. We retrieved the most frequently-searched terms for the period across many categories like Bollywood Celebrities, Holiday destinations etc. In addition we also looked at the top 10 fastest rising search words in India "Katrina Kaif is not only the most searched for Bollywood celebrity, she is also the fastest rising search item across categories in India." said Google country head Vinay Goel, "She is more popular in Pakistan than In India. So if she's ended up in the Top Ten list in India, she's in the top two or three list in Pakistan."

Fastest Rising:

1)youtube, 2) orkut, 3)katrina kaif, 4) cricket, 5)irctc, 6)facebook, 7)genelia d'souza, 8) beijing 2008 olympic games, 9) sixth pay commission, 10) ipl

Most Popular:

1) orkut, 2)gmail, 3)yahoo, 4)google, 5)youtube, 6)yahoomail, 7)indian railways, 8)rediff, 9)cricket, 10)katrina kaif

Top searches on Mobile:

1)orkut, 2)yahoo, 3)waptrick4)gmail, 5)games, 6)katrina kaif, 7)rediffmail, 8)yahoomail, 9)namitha, 10)google

Top Bollywood Celebrities:

1)katrina kaif, 2)aishwarya rai, 3)salman khan, 4)hrithik roshan, 5)kareena kapoor, 6)shahid
kapur, 7)deepika padukone, 8)shahrukh khan, 9)mallika sherawat, 10)genelia d'souza

Top holiday destinations:

1)goa, 2)kerala, 3)kashmir, 4)dubai, 5)singapore, 6)australia, 7)london, 8)shimla,9)switzerland, 10)manali

Top 'how to' searches:

1)how to reduce weight, 2)how to kiss, 3)how to earn money, 4)how to get pregnant, 5)how to learn english, 6)how to gain weight, 7)how to play guitar, 8)how to create a website, 9)how to impress a girl, 10)how to tie a tie

 

 

Google Top 10 searches from India

Google has announced its India Zeitgeist, a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the Indian users on the web. The 2008 year-end India Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on searches conducted by users in India.

“Different people find different things to do on the web, so these lists are a good representation of the unique ways in which Indian users mine the Internet. Given the popularity of mobiles, this year we also looked at what people searched for while on the move through their mobile phones.” said Vinay Goel, Head of Products, Google India.

Surprisingly, not even a single BJP leader’s name figures among top ten political celebrities during 2008. Mahatama Gandhi is still the number one  politician followed by Raj Thakeray , Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi , Rahul Gandhi , Abdul Kalam , Manmohan Singh and Mayawati.

instead of searching for Atal Behari Bajpayee and L.K.Advani Indians searched for  Sarah Palin  and Barack Obama. Raj Thakeray who earned hatred and ire of North Indians is the second most searched political figure during 2008. Gandhis still rule Indian minds as three of the Nehru’s family and Mahatma Gandhi have been listed as top most searched  Indian political figures.

Katrina Kaif  is the most searched Bollywood celebrity during 2008 followed by Aishwarya Rai , Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur, Deepika Padukone ,Shahrukh Khan ,Mallika Sherawat and Genelia D’souza.

“Actresses hold the spotlight this year. The interest around Katrina, Aishwarya and Salman is still going strong.  Shahid makes his debut on our list, while Salman Khan maintains his ‘online’ popularity over King Khan ,” Vinay Goel said.

The Internet seems to be the one stop shop for all personal searches be it the beauty , love, money or romance. Among top 10 popular ‘how to do stuff’ queries are about weight reduction , kiss , earn money, get pregnant, learn English, gain weight, play guitar, create a website, impress a girl and how to ties a tie.

YouTube becomes the fastest rising search term in 2008; Orkut and Gmail remain the most popular networking and communication properties for Indian users . Mobile optimized websites like Waptrick and mobile games are becoming very popular.

Indian users , says Vinay Goyal are also sticking to government websites for information. Among the most popular government websites are irctc.co.in, indianrail.gov.in ,cbseresults.nic.in , incometaxindia.gov.in ,mca.gov.in ,incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in , passport.nic.in  ,tn.gov.in , cbse.nic.in , sebi.gov.in  and indiapost.gov.in .

“Google analyzed various aspects of the search queries to understand what was on the minds of Internet users in India. We retrieved the most frequently-searched terms for the period across many categories like Bollywood Celebrities, Holiday destinations etc. In addition we also looked at the top 10 fastest rising search words in India. This was done by reviewing several thousands of 2008's most popular searches and ranking them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2007. Taken together, we believe that all these lists define the true Zeitgeist or the "spirit of the times."  Vinay Goel said .