Google+ Auto Backup for Desktop

Google launches Google+ Auto Backup for Desktops. 

Once you Sign In to Google+ Auto Backup, you will be able to choose folders and devices from which photos and videos to be backed up automatically. Just like Auto Backup for Android and iOS, your photos and videos backed up to Auto Backup for Windows are defaulted to private and are visible only for you until you choose to share them on Google+. 

You can choose whether or not to automatically back-up photos and videos from SD cards/devices you plug into your computer. Also you can keep a copy of photos/videos from your storage device to a local folder on your computer.

Google+ Auto Backup for Desktop is available by updating your Picasa to version 137.69

Post to Google+ Page Directly from Blogger

Blogger now integrates deeper with Google+.

You can now directly share a blog post to a Google+ page that you own, immediately after you post a blog post. 

To associate the Google+ page, to blogger simply login to your blogger account and click on the Google+ link on the left panel. See below.

Select the Google+ page that you want to link with your blog. You can continue with your individual G+ profile also. 

Next time when you post a new blog, blogger will prompt you to share it on Google+

YouTube - Google+ Integration

Google integrates YouTube with Google+. All users can switch their YouTube names to Google+ profile name. 

Next time when you sign in to YouTube (Sign in directly to YouTube, not just clicking YouTube link from Gmail or any other Google product that you are logged in) it will prompt you to use your full name on the site. This feature will not change the link to your channel, and you can use your current username for login.

If you dont like to switch, you can continue with your current YouTube name also. 

Once you complete switching process, you YouTube account will start showing Google+ notification, and Share options on the top, just like Google and Gmail. You can directly share the current playing video to Google+ just by clicking the G+ Share button in YouTube.

Google Drive vs SkyDrive

Google’s online storage service, Google Drive is finally available after years of rumors. It has certain advantages over Microsoft's SkyDrive. 

• Google Drive requires only a Google account. 

• Installing Google Drive on your computer creates a Google Drive folder, files in there sync automatically to the cloud. Google Drive also uses tiny indicators atop your icons to indicate whether files are still syncing or fully backed up onto Google's servers, unlike SkyDrive's.

• Google Drive allows you to choose files and folders to sync selectively.

• Google Drive also syncs hard copies of your Google Docs documents to your desktop.

• Search is a pain with SkyDrive as it only peers into documents in Office file formats. Google Drive’s search is far more advanced: in addition to Office formats, search works in any format Google Docs can save to (ODF, PDF, TXT). 

• Character recognition makes scanned content -- like newspaper clippings -- just as searchable.  

• Google Drive comes with Google Goggles image search technology built-in, and image search results were pretty impressive. 

• In order to view media files from SkyDrive, you will have to download them first. Google Drive has a great feature that generates a preview any time a video is uploaded.

• Google Drive users are given a variety of capacity options to suit their needs. The cheapest is 25 GB for $2.49 per month. Additional storage options are available to 16 TB, although that sets you back $800 each month.

Apps for Instant Information

You can use the following apps for instant information

1. Google Translate

Google's free language translation service instantly translates text and web pages. It translate words between 60 languages. You can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations.

Download from Android Market

Download from App Store

2. Dictionary.com

The Dictionary.com app delivers trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. The app includes nearly 2,000,000 words, definitions, synonyms and antonyms. It also features audio pronunciation and voice-to-text search

Download from Android Market

Download from App Store

3. Wikipanion

Its designed for easy search, navigation and display of Wikipedia entries. Wikipanion provides fastest access to Wikipedia.

Download from App Store

Some Wikipedia Alternatives

Wikipedia is a massive source of resources for students and others. Wikipedia has blacked out its English-language site for 24 hours. Wikipedia gone offline for 24hrs to protest against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) in US Senate. So how will its regular readers get information? Here's some alternatives for Wikipedia.

1. Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles.

2. Wolfram|Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha is a "computational knowledge engine" that uses specific algorithms based on specific assumptions to answer questions, rather than just give search results. The results also come back with sources and references that the site used for your computation. Wolfram|Alpha is more than a search engine. It gives you access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics, including science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music

3. HARO 

Reporters in need of a source can use this forum to have their queries answered. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) claims to "deliver the sources that match your exact needs directly to your inbox."

4. Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica is written and continuously updated by approximately 100 editors and more than 4,000 contributors. It's regarded as one of the most scholarly encyclopedias and it is available online.

5. Quora

Quora connects you to everything you want to know about. Quora aims to be the easiest place to write new content and share content from the web.

6. Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg has 36000 free ebooks for Kindle, Android, iPad, iPhone. 

7. IMDb

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) provides information about entertainment world - movies, television shows, celebrities and more. 

8. eHow

eHow is an online how-to guide with instructional articles and videos, created by freelancers. Any eHow user can leave comments or responses, but only contracted writers can contribute changes to articles.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Google and Samsung revealed the much awaited Galaxy Nexus, the first phone that use latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). 

Galaxy Nexus has a curved, contoured glass display. The idea is that the phone better fits the shape of the user's hand, making for improved ergonomics. Display is rather large at 4.65 inches, with a 1280-by-720-pixel resolution. Galaxy Nexus is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. 

Some of the important features are:

Android 4.0

Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. The lock screen, widgets, notifications, multi-tasking and everything in between has been rethought and refined to make Android simple, beautiful, and beyond smart.

Face Unlock

Face Unlock is the facial recognition system that is used to unlock Nexus.

Android Beam

Android Beam allows to share files to other people by holding two Android phones closely to each other.

Voice Typing

Voice Typing converts your speech into voice input.

Camera

Galaxy Nexus has a high-end camera with zero shutter-lag, automatic focus, top notch low-light performance and a simple, intuitive way to take pictures.

High Definition Display

Galaxy Nexus is the world's first phone with a 4.65" high-definition sAMOLED display making text, videos & games look crisp, vibrant and rich. With an edge-to-edge 720p screen high-definition, videos look amazing and the unique Contour Display curves nicely to the shape of your face and makes it easier to hold.

Slim & Curved Design

Galaxy Nexus features a Contour Display that sits perfectly within the device’s slim, curved and no button design. At just 8.84mm thick and with a minimal 4.29mm bezel, Galaxy Nexus provides superb portability alongside an expansive screen.

Fast & 4G

Galaxy Nexus runs at 4G speeds. With the 1.2 GHz dual core processor you can quickly switch between apps and and enjoy high-definition gaming and a lightning fast web browser.

Posted by : Sree

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

Microsoft's Windows Phone Mango finally hits Indian shores in the form of the Samsung Omnia W. Microsoft would have us believe that the Mango build will rectify the deficiencies of Windows Phone 7.

Not Dual Core:

Windows Phone Mango devices does not support dual-core hardware. It just means Windows Phone devices don't need them! Windows Phone Mango include a minimum of 384 MB RAM, a minimum 4 GB flash drive, minimum resolution of 800x480 and Qualcomm CPUs. This means Microsoft's platform will not face the type of fragmentation Android goes through by being present in multiple price segments and also ensure that user experience will be consistent across all devices. Dual-core architecture has to be supported because the buzzwords are the ones that attract consumers.

Metro world:

The new operating system brings forth the Metro UI which has now been further enhanced in the Mango build.

The main screen is flooded with Tiles and a Scrolled selection of all apps. Tiles are basically large geometric icons, which also offer a bit of information. The Tiles offer a middle ground between Apple's icon heavy interface and Android's widget friendly homescreens.  

Smart Multitasker:

One has to do a long press the back key and a webOS style card menu pops up enabling us to scroll through the various open apps.

Microsoft follows the Apple path and opts to suspend apps rather than keeping them open which is the implementation followed by Android. This ensures better battery life and app switching was very smooth.

Mango is Socialite:

From being the worst OS for social networking, Mango becomes the best by far. Even with iOS 5 and its built in Twitter integration, Windows Phone will reign supreme for some time to come (Unless Google pulls something mind-blowing in Ice Cream Sandwich).

It includes integration with Facebook, Twitter, E-mail and Windows Live, the highlight is the "People Hub". It's your one stop to all social information. It's just like the Friends Stream on HTC devices.

Everything is very neatly organized, but we would have preferred better Twitter integration.  

Twitter is not perfect but Facebook comes very close.  All the functionalities we are used to in a Facebook app can be had through Microsoft's integrated solution. 

The People Hub also manages to organize our contacts very neatly. It automatically configures groups such as co-workers, family and so on; it even rearranges information in our news feed accordingly.

Google+ is conspicuous by its absence and that's just not going to change until Google comes up with an app on its own.

Email and Messenger:

We can have a conversation with someone on Facebook and seamlessly switch to Windows Messenger or SMS all on the same thread.

Bing:

Windows Phone Mango is all about Bing! It includes Bing Maps, Bing Search, Bing Vision or the Bing powered Local Scout feature, there's no doubt who's the star on Windows Phone Mango.

Bing Maps is not better than Google Maps. But it is a much improved product. In the US it might be a decent competitor to Google Maps but in India it still needs some catching up to do, but one can't blame Microsoft for pushing its own solution.

Bing Vision is basically Microsoft's answer to Google's Goggles. Need more information about a book, no problem just scan the barcode using Bing Vision. It's not as extensive or exhaustive as Goggles. 

Local Scout focuses your queries on the neighborhood you're in, providing location-specific results that highlight important information about establishments and events in your immediate area.

The search key takes us to Bing Search and it is closely tied in within each and every app.

Internet Explorer 9:

With Mango, we get a new version of IE which features GPU acceleration, sandboxing of tabs, support for HTML5, CSS3, SV, XHTML, DOM and more along with a faster java script.

Microsoft Office: 
Microsoft Office makes a strong comeback in Mango, which includes tight Office 365 and SkyDrive implementation. 

New to Mango is the sublime integration of Office 365 with SkyDrive. Mango allows us to save Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as gives us access to Sharepoint. Google Docs are good for personal use, but for enterprise Microsoft is good.

Marketplace:

Marketplace offers more than 30,000 apps which in itself is quite a substantial number, but iPhone have 450,000 and Android have 300,000 apps.

Web Marketplace behaves just like the Android Market place. It's always connected to our Windows Live account.

and...

Mango also brings features like Internet Sharing, Visual VoiceMail, and an updated Zune player and music controls for homescreen.

Posted by : Sree

Google Planning an MP3 Store

Five months after it introduced a cloud music service with limited capabilities, Google is about to expand that service and open an MP3 store that would compete with Apple and Amazon.

Google is eager to open the store in the next several weeks. It would most likely be connected to Google’s existing cloud service, Music Beta, which lets people back up their songs on remote servers and stream them to mobile phones and other devices.

Google may be hoping to announce its store before Apple opens its latest cloud music program, iTunes Match. But it is not clear whether Google would be able to close the necessary deals with labels and music publishers in time to open a full-service store.

Music Beta was announced five weeks after Amazon opened a similar unlicensed service, Cloud Drive.

Apple got licenses for iTunes Match, which will instantly link a user’s songs to Apple’s master collection. With an unlicensed service, users must upload each song individually, a process that can take hours or even days.

Posted by : Sree