When you have a question, finding the answer should be effortless—wherever you are and whatever device you’re using. The new Google Search app for iPhone and iPad helps you to do just that with enhanced voice search that answers any question with the comprehensive Google search results you know and love.
Fast and accurate voice recognition technology enables Google to understand exactly what you’re saying. Getting an answer is as simple as tapping on the microphone icon and asking a question like, “Is United Airlines flight 318 on time?” Your words appear as you speak, you get your answer immediately and—if it’s short and quick, like the status and departure time of your flight—Google tells you the answer aloud.
You can get answers to an increasingly wide variety of questions thanks to Knowledge Graph, which gives our search technology an understanding of people, places and things in the real world. Here are a few of the questions that Google can answer:
“What does Yankee Stadium look like?” Google will show you hundreds of pictures instantly.
“Play me a trailer of the upcoming James Bond movie.” The trailer starts playing immediately right within Google Search.
“When does daylight savings time end?” The answer will appear above the search results, so you can set your clock without having to click on a link.
“Who’s in the cast of The Office?” See a complete cast list and find out who made you crack up last night.
Download the Google Search App on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and find out how much wood a woodchuck would chuck (if a woodchuck could chuck wood).
2. Many Hacks Claimed, Few Confirmed on Anon's Day of Mayhem
Anonymous has been celebrating Guy Fawkes Day by engaging in various acts of mayhem online and turning out in person at sites across the globe to protest. Some of the reported hacks and other acts have turned out to be unsubstantiated. The attack claims include Symantec and ImageShack. PayPal also was reported to have been hacked, but a spokesperson says that's not true. Anonymous has also announced that it's going to launch phase two of Operation maZynga, an attack it launched against Zynga last week.
3. Facebook Welcomes Newbies With Privacy Grand Tour
Facebook has rolled out a round of security features intended to better educate new users about what information they can keep private and how. Now, when new users sign up for the site, they will have the option to take an online privacy tour to get information on its privacy policies. It will include descriptions of how third-party applications and games access user data and suggestions on how to keep certain information as private as possible.
4. Canada Aims to Unmask Rioters When Protests Go Awry
The hacker group Anonymous has announced plans for worldwide protests against government surveillance for Monday, Guy Fawkes Day. Canada, however, has a plan of its own. It has imposed a ban on wearing masks during riots -- including, of course, Anonymous' famed Guy Fawkes masks. People will be allowed to wear masks during peaceful demonstrations, however. Canadians do have a riot streak, evidenced by the scary scene after the Vancouver Canucks' 2011 Stanley Cup Finals defeat.
5. Remains of the Day: Chrome Update Brings Better Battery Life, Do Not Track
Google Chrome gets another update, you can now Skype with your Live Messenger contacts, Apple's Lightning-to-micro USB adapter goes on sale, and Send to Kindle comes to Firefox. More »
6. Google releases Chrome 23 -- get it NOW!
Google has announced the release of Chrome 23 to the stable channel, and it’s an interesting update, with some welcome developments.
New support for GPU-accelerated video decoding will reduce the load on your system’s CPU, for instance. And as GPU’s use less power than your primary processor, this can notably extend your battery life (Google’s own testing suggests you could see up to a 25-percent improvement).
Website permissions are now far more accessible, too. There’s no longer any need to go searching through the Settings dialog; just click the page icon in the address bar to see the current permission, then change them as you like.
And Chrome 23 also includes a new “do not track” option, although perhaps the more interesting issue here is that Google acknowledges that this isn’t always effective, and says the company is “working with others on a common way to respond to these requests in the future”.
Elsewhere, Chrome’s Dev channel has been updated to 24.0.1312.5 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome Frame.
This release is less interesting (at the moment, anyway), consisting mostly of bug fixes and minor optimisations. But if you’re interested in the fine details then the SVN revision log has more.
As usual, auto-updating should ensure you get the new releases as they appear, but if you don’t have the browser installed at the moment then full builds of Chrome 23 final and Chrome 24 Dev are also available now.
7. Instagrammers, you can now also use the browser
Instagram is known as a smartphone and tablet-only affair, but not anymore. The Facebook-owned company announced that it will roll out Instagram profiles on the web. Soon all users will have the chance to stare at filtered pictures on a larger screen.
Instagram follows the new parent company's design philosophy with web profiles. There is an uncanny resemblance to Facebook Profiles, though it is made to sport a similar look to the mobile apps that Instagram users are accustomed to. Since photo-sharing is the trademark signature, web profiles as you might expect show bio and a selection of pictures, neatly sorted based on month. Users can also follow other Instagrammers, comment and like photos, and obviously make changes to their profile straight from the browser.
Instagram keeps the URL address in line with the username. For instance the @nike profile is now available at instagram.com/nike, making it easier for users to check one's web profile if the username is already known. The roll-out is still ongoing, meaning not all users have a web profile at the moment.
Private photos will be accessible only to Instagram users that are allowed to follow the respective user, but by default all pictures can be viewed from the web profile. Moving the cursor over any photo reveals the date when it was uploaded, number of comments as well as likes received. At the moment, users cannot upload pictures from the browser.
If users need to make due with visiting the popular photo-sharing social network solely on mobile devices, web profiles will allow Instagram to possibly reach a wider market audience thanks to a larger platform availability. Just as well it could "hook" users into spending more time following various activities on the website.
Instagram follows the new parent company's design philosophy with web profiles. There is an uncanny resemblance to Facebook Profiles, though it is made to sport a similar look to the mobile apps that Instagram users are accustomed to. Since photo-sharing is the trademark signature, web profiles as you might expect show bio and a selection of pictures, neatly sorted based on month. Users can also follow other Instagrammers, comment and like photos, and obviously make changes to their profile straight from the browser.
Instagram keeps the URL address in line with the username. For instance the @nike profile is now available at instagram.com/nike, making it easier for users to check one's web profile if the username is already known. The roll-out is still ongoing, meaning not all users have a web profile at the moment.
Private photos will be accessible only to Instagram users that are allowed to follow the respective user, but by default all pictures can be viewed from the web profile. Moving the cursor over any photo reveals the date when it was uploaded, number of comments as well as likes received. At the moment, users cannot upload pictures from the browser.
If users need to make due with visiting the popular photo-sharing social network solely on mobile devices, web profiles will allow Instagram to possibly reach a wider market audience thanks to a larger platform availability. Just as well it could "hook" users into spending more time following various activities on the website.
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