Tag: Google (11-20 of 41)

Apr 1 2013 11:10 AM ET

Everyone on the Internet forgot what day it is. Just fooling!

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Ah, April Fools’: The one day when you can’t believe everything you read online.

A Google product that leverages “photo-auditory-olfactory sensory convergence,” a Twitter initiative that asks users to pay for vowels, and bacon-flavored mouthwash are just the tip of the jocular iceberg this year. Read on for a list of some of the best gags we’ve come across so far; we’ll be updating it throughout the day.

Google
The search giant/omnipotent Internet god’s next big project? Searchable smells. Somehow, this still doesn’t sound as ridiculous as Google Glass.

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Mar 19 2013 05:07 PM ET

Google launches 'The Peanut Gallery' or a new thing for you to do instead of working

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THE-LOST-WORLD_510x317.jpg

Image Credit: Everett Collection

Remember when the Google Doodle was that soccer game for the Olympics and you didn’t get any work done all day? Well Google’s The Peanut Gallery may give that a run for its money.

Google’s new Web Speech API is a voice recognition tool that writes out what you say. To show off this technology, Google released “The Peanut Gallery,” which lets you add intertitles to classic silent films like The Kid and The Lost World by just talking to your screen.

Plus we get this great comedy sketch/commercial. If you’re yelling like this young girl, your accuracy has to go up.

Read more:
Google Reader shutting down
Google unveils ‘talking shoe’ at SXSW Interactive
Google Glass video reveals that Google’s RoboCop glasses will let you take pictures and skydive and whatever

Mar 14 2013 01:25 PM ET

Google Reader shutting down

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google-readerStarting July 1, you’re going to need a different RSS feed: Google Reader will be no more.

Google announced the news yesterday, writing on their blog, “We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too. There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.To ensure a smooth transition, we’re providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative feed-reading solution. If you want to retain your Reader data, including subscriptions, you can do so through Google Takeout.”

While the numbers may be declining, fans took to social media last night to express their outrage. A Change.org petition asking Google to reconsider the decision has already garnered over 51,000 signatures — although Google is unlikely to change their minds. According to NextWeb, Google is pulling the plug to concentrate resources on the still-floundering Google+.

What are your favorite Reader alternatives — or, thanks to social media, do you not use an RSS program at all?

Read more:
SXSW: Reading The New York Times on Google Glass
Google unveils ‘talking shoe’ at SXSW Interactive
Google Doodle celebrates Douglas Adams and ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’

Mar 8 2013 12:07 PM ET

Google Doodle celebrates International Women's Day

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google-doodle-international-womens-dayWho runs the world? Girls!

Beyoncé may be exaggerating, but if there is any day worth busting out her ode to female empowerment, it’s International Women’s Day. Google Doodle took a break from celebrating the birthdays of athletes and artists to highlight the over-100-year-old holiday on its homepage.

Today’s celebration was originally meant to acknowledge and champion the advancement of women in the working world – particularly to draw attention to poor working conditions and low wages among women working in factories. The International Women’s Day website has a pretty great timeline of the causes the group has championed over the years. Today, the day has more international appeal with women joining together to spotlight issues of inequality and access to opportunity all over the world. International Women’s Day isn’t just celebrated in the U.S. — it’s also an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 4 2013 11:45 AM ET

Google Doodle celebrates singer/activist Miriam Makeba

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google-doodle-miriam-makebaToday’s Google Doodle wants to get you ready to dance while celebrating what would have been the 81st birthday of singer and activist Miriam Makeba.

Known as “Mama Africa,” the South African popularized African music in the West over the course of her decades-long career. The Grammy winner also regularly spoke out against apartheid, leading South Africa to revoke her citizenship in 1960 for the next 30 years. In 1966 she became the first African to win a Grammy Award for her album with Harry Belafonte, An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. She also notably – and controversially —  joined Paul Simon on his Graceland Tour in 1985. She passed away in 2008 while on her own farewell tour.

Sadly, Google missed an opportunity to add some sound to today’s drawing (when you click anywhere on the screen, Google takes you to the search results for “Miriam Makeba”). Listen to “Pata Pata,” which hit No. 12 on the U.S. Billboard charts in 1967, below: READ FULL STORY »

Feb 22 2013 11:47 AM ET

Today's Google Doodle celebrates illustrator Edward Gorey

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google-doodle-edward-gorey_510x256E is for Edward Gorey.

The famed illustrator was well-known for his delightfully macabre style, which is on display in today’s Google Doodle illustration. Gorey himself appears to sit behind the ‘G’ as some of his most popular illustrations support each letter in the soundless Doodle. Click anywhere on the image, and Google takes you to the search results for Gorey.

Gorey’s best-known and certainly most notorious work is probably The Gashlycrumb Tinies, which, letter by letter, depicts the death of 26 children (sample: “A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs.”) But his distinctive style wasn’t limited to books: The author also won a Tony for the costumes in the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula and was responsible for the animated intro to the classic PBS show, Mystery.

Gorey passed away in 2000, at age 75. Below you can check out an animated video for The Gashleycrumb Tinies. Try not to choke on a peach or get mauled by bears, okay?  READ FULL STORY »

Feb 19 2013 11:55 AM ET

New Google Doodle celebrates Renaissance man Nicolaus Copernicus

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google-doodle-copernicusEarly adopters of heliocentrism, today is for you.

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish Renaissance man who first floated the theory that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe.  According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “sometime between 1510 and 1514 [Copernicus] wrote an essay that has come to be known as the ‘Commentariolus,’ [which] introduced his new cosmological idea, the heliocentric universe.” The piece also included seven now-popular axioms such as, “the center of the universe is near the sun” and “the distance from the Earth to the sun is imperceptible compared with the distance to the stars.” The theory was published in 1543, shortly before he died. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 14 2013 06:16 PM ET

President Obama talks policy, baby names on Google+ hangout

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This afternoon, President Obama participated in a Google-sponsored, Google-approved video roundtable with a range of normal folk who moonlight as bloggers, entrepreneurs, and authors (including a certain one named John Green). READ FULL STORY »

Feb 14 2013 11:39 AM ET

Google Doodle celebrates Valentine's Day and Ferris wheels

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google-doodleIt’s a two-for-one Valentine’s Day treat. Google’s latest homepage Doodle pays homage to both Valentine’s Day and the 154th birthday of George Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris wheel.

The interactive Doodle features two Ferris wheels. When you click on the heart button, the wheels spin and cartoon pictures of two different animals appear. After the love connection between the animals is made, you get a second picture of the two animals on a date – whether that be a goofy elephant and a monkey at a dance or a frog and bird on a canoe trip just like in The Notebook. Romance!

It seems fitting that the inventor of Ferris wheels — easily the most romantic of carnival attractions — was born on Feb. 14. Ferris was an engineer who invented the ride in 1893 and debuted it at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Today, one of the most popular Ferris wheels in the world is the London Eye, which welcomes over 10,000 riders a day. Unfortunately, those riders aren’t elephants and monkeys à la the Doodle.

Read more:
Tropfest 2013: Have a happy Valentine’s Day with these short films from down under!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Who’s your fictional valentine this year?
Google posts new Doodle in honor of archaeologist Mary Leakey

Feb 12 2013 05:37 PM ET

Author John Green is going to (Google) hangout with President Obama -- VIDEO

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Tonight may be President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address of his second term (important!), but Thursday he’ll follow it up with a Google+ hangout featuring author, vlogger, and Hank-brother, John Green.

This we learned the usual way: because Green announced it on his YouTube channel.

“Wait, did you just say I was gonna be in a Google+ hangout with the President of the United States of America?” he asks himself while narrating “the sound of his anxiety.” (Watch the video below.)

The hangout’s other guests include “a group of people who regularly discuss important issues of the day online,” according to a post on Google’s blog. This means that Green is one of those important issue-discussing people. This makes Green nervous, according to the vlog, compounding the fact that his brother and fellow vlogger Hank had already stolen some mutual footage which derailed John’s vlogging plans for the day which might be causing him a cold sore. (Again, watch the video.)

All of that worry so that we can learn this: Green will be asking the President some questions, although he hasn’t nailed them all down yet…although one of them might be, “Would you rather fight 10 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?”

And also: You, too, can participate in the hangout and submit questions. Congratulations, America. (John Green, calm down.)

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