Find Editor's Picks in Google News

Google News which has been around from 2002 has something new to offer and this time it has nothing to do with Robots. when they launched Google News said that the service was entirely based on algorithms  and no human was involved. In fact the page was entirely free from human intervention and it was a mix of computer algorithms without humans deciding which pages make it to the top of Google News. Human curation was not a factor but things are set to change with Google launching an entire section in the US edition of Google News called 'Editor's Picks'. Human Curation of news is actual very popular and a classic example of this is the Drudge Report run by Matt Drudge who sends more people to newspapers than Facebook and Twitter combined. Even Google has had to accept this fact - human editors are needed and that is because they can feel the pulse that machines can't.

How to search for Editor's Picks using Google News.
If you are based in the US then when you visit Google News it is found on the right-hand side column. If you live outside of the US you will need to click on go to Google.com found at the bottom of Google's homepage and then click on news. Once you reach the news section Editor's Picks are found on the right-hand side of the page.

Google says about editor's picks

Editors’ Picks is a feature that showcases original, innovative news content that a news publisher has on their site at any given time. This content may include long-form narrative articles, slideshows, interactive graphics, or video stories, just to name a few possibilities.

The links you see in Editors’ Picks are hand-picked by the news organization whose logo is displayed above the links. Google News does not select the articles.

The video below helps you adjust your personalized news settings on Google News.

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Sociolatte

You can now use background images on your Google Homepage

We all know our good old Google Home page plain white without any color and drama. Well that is now set to change and you can add color to your Google homepage and add some instant personalization to the whole thing. 


We saw this first on Bing where as soon as you open bing you are greeted with very colorful images. Google now has something similar. Except you get to choose what image you set as the background. 


Google has this to say about how to set it up

How to add a background image

1. 
   Sign in to your Google Account in the top right corner of the Google homepage. Don't have one? It's easy to create a Google Account.
   


2. 
   Click Change background image in the bottom left corner of the Google homepage.
   


3. 
   Choose where to select your background image:
   
   
   • 
     From my computer: Select an image saved on your computer.
     
   
   
   • 
     My Picasa Web photos: Select an image from your Picasa Web Albums.
     
   
   
   • 
     Public gallery: Select from public photos featured in Picasa Web Albums.
     
   
   
   • 
     Editor's picks: Select from a set of Google recommended images.
     
   
   
   
   


4. 
   Once you've chosen your image, click Select at the bottom of the window. It may take a moment before your new Google homepage background appears.
   

You can remove your background image at any time by clicking Remove background image in the bottom left corner of the homepage.

Image requirements

When you upload a photo, it is saved as a photo in a new unlisted album in your Picasa Web Albums.
We recommend that you use images that are wider than they are tall (landscape orientation). Images must be at least 800 x 600 pixels and in one of the following formats: .jpeg, .tif, .tiff, .bmp, .gif, .psd (Photoshop), .png, .tga, and selected RAW formats. In Picasa, you can resize photos.


So you can add an image from your PC , Picasa Web Photos, Public Gallery or use one of the editors picks. Have fun.. Njoy

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Sociolatte

Google offers option to block analytics for privacy

Google Analytics is a piece of code that web site owners place within their websites to track their visitors. This piece of code will tell them where visitors came from, how they found the site, which country they belong to and an the average time they spend on the site. These statistics are analyzed by website owners to see how their websites are doing. 


This is achieved by a small cookie that is placed on a person's computer. Which in turn collects data and sends it back to Google. 


Google has this to say about the new Add-on.


"To provide website visitors with more choice about how their data is collected by Google Analytics, we have developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.

If you want to opt out, download and install the add-on for your current web browser. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on is available for Internet Explorer (versions 7 and 8), Google Chrome (4.x and higher), and Mozilla Firefox (3.5 and higher).

So if you would like to opt out of this and not have websites getting your information you would need to install this add-on. What it does is that it will interact with the cookies and tell them not to send back your information. 

All this added privacy comes in the middle of the battle Google is having with US and European regulators. Who are increasingly worried with the power and presence of Google on the web

To Install the new Google Opt-out Browser add-on please click here. To read more please visit the Google Analytics Blog. 

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Sociolatte

How to follow Google Annual Developer Conference Updates.

Google's annual developer conference has started and yes there are many of us who would like to know what's happening and what's the latest scoop. We know now that Google has apologized for the Google Wave confusion. They are also building an App store for web applications. 

The conference has 5,000 developers and over 100 developers will be showcasing their technologies. 

Google's largest developer conference of the year will feature technical content featuring Android, Google Chrome, Google APIs, GWT, App Engine, open web technologies, and more.

Follow @googleio or Buzz for the latest updates on I/O. (official hashtag: #io2010)

Watch the I/O keynotes live on the GoogleDevelopers YouTube channel. To view the schedule for the keynotes, check out the Agenda page.

I/O stands for according to Google innovation out in the open


@googleio on Twitter (#io2010)
Google I/O on Buzz

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Sociolatte

Video: Google Speeds up Chrome

These speed tests were filmed at actual web page rendering times. If you're interested in the technical details, read on!

Equipment used:

- Computer: MacBook Pro laptop with Windows installed
- Monitor - 24" Asus: We had to replace the standard fluorescent backlight with very large tungsten fixtures to funnel in more light to capture the screen. In addition, we flipped the monitor 180 degrees to eliminate a shadow from the driver board and set the system preferences on the computer to rotate 180 degrees. No special software was used in this process.
- 15Mbps Internet connection.
- Camera: Phantom v640 High Speed Camera at 1920 x 1080, films up to 2700 fps


"Why does allrecipes.com in the potato gun sequence appear at once, and not the text first and images second? And why does it appear to render from bottom of the screen to the top?"

Chrome sends the rendered page to the video card buffer all at once, which is why allrecipes.com appears at once, and not with the text first and images second. Chrome actually paints the page from top to bottom, but to eliminate a shadow from the driver board, we had to flip the monitor upside down and set the system preferences in Windows to rotate everything 180 degrees, resulting in the page appearing to render from bottom to top.

"Why does the top one third of the page appear first on the weather.com page load?"

Sometimes only half the buffer gets filled before the video card sends its buffer over to the LCD panel. This is because Chrome on Windows uses GDI to draw, which does not do v-sync.

"The screen wipes are so smooth - how was that achieved?"

The screen wipes up in a gradated wipe because LCD pixels take around 10ms to flip and gradually change color.

We'll be releasing the results of these speed tests:
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2010/05/pe...

http://www.google.com/chrome

Source [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oarMXGq3gI ]

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Sociolatte

Google TV Ads as simple as 123

For advertisers in the US running a TV Ad is as simple as getting connected to the internet and placing your Ad for as little as $20 per TV spot.

All you would need to do is to use an internet connected computer, upload a video file to your Adwords account and as usual set a daily spending budget (The amount you are willing to spend per day) pick the time of day you would like your Ad to run. Select specific keywords and the TV show you would like your Ad to appear on.

Google TV Ads currently runs only in the US and you can only target US based cable networks. This is a boon for small businesses with a limited budget and key target audiences. 

Always affordable

Create an affordable TV commercial and run it for as little as $20 per TV spot.

Reach the right audience

Use our targeting tools to find the networks and programs for the audience you want to reach.

See immediate results

View TV impressions and resulting web site traffic data to see how TV drives real results for your business.

Seth Stevenson of slate magazine says he ran a TV ad using the Google TV on the national Fox News channel for as little as a 100 bucks. 

Whatever be your business webpage designer, running a discount ebay store you can use Google TV ads which will not really pinch your pocket.

Signup now to use Google TV Ads

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Sociolatte