Did we ever need themes for Gmail? Nope

Gmail had launched themes yesterday. By now everyone might have noticed the themes tab under settings. For months , avid users devised firefox addons that would change the look of your inbox. I am particularly a fan of Better Gmail addon which works with the help of Greasemonkey in Firefox. This does not change the looks of Gmail but adds small but useful features.

I always thought why Gmail did not have themes like other web based mail clients like yahoo, msn,etc. But finally when they launched themes, I did not get excited. Why?

I used to use yahoo mail for everything. Then I recieved a mail from my friend inviting me to join Gmail. I aprehensive at first, as creating a new mail id means going through the drill of entering your details again. ButI decided to give it a try after all the Giant of Search was offering this product. Also they were offering 2gb+ space which was unheard of at that time.

I was surprised that the information required to create an email account was minimal. I logged in. My first thought after looking at the interface was that it didn't look much advanced as the design was just minimalistic. I created this Blogger as well as Orkut account using this Gmail account. Due to this I used to check my Gmail inbox everyday. I realised that even though the designs where minimalistic it had powerful features.

Later, I starting using Gmail instead of yahoo mail as I liked Gmail's clean design. With keyboard shortcuts and clean interface reading 100 mails a day (most of them newsletters) was a easy task. I used to get headache using classic Yahoo mail reading so much mail. Even the ads were not distracting. It hardly bothers you as it is text ads on the right side of the page. Even if you do notice it you usually will find it useful as it is contextual.

But the themes which gmail has launched makes it almost like other web based mail making it look cluttered. One thing I like about Google is that they have a policy of keeping their pages whether search or any other clean, clutter-free and user friendly. The themes might get casual users of Gmail excited but avid users like me will stick to the classic look.

Block ads in Chrome

Those complaining about not having adblock plus in chrome here is a trick from Google Blogoscoped by Philipp Lenssen

How can I install an ad blocker for Chrome?

I received the following small tutorial on how to do this, but I can't guarantee it works and I don't know about potential side-effects... please use with care (quote HTML'ified):

1. Install free software Proxomitron. It stays in your system tray and only eats 3MBs of RAM.

2. In Google Chrome go to Options -> Under the Hood and click on "Change Proxy Settings".

3. A new window will open. Click on "LAN Settings", tick "Use a proxy server for your LAN". In the Address field enter "localhost" and for Port enter "8080". Also tick "Bypass proxy server for local addresses"

That's it really. It's not as effective as the Firefox Adblock extension but it works well nonetheless.

Will Google Chrome be a hit in browser market?

Google announced that the launch of it's browser or OS for the internet Chrome. This is a direct shot at Microsoft's IE as well as desktop dominance. However, surprisingly, this decision shocks me as it's partnership with Mozilla's Firefox was going well. Maybe the top brass at Google did not like the idea of depending on other company to extend it's Internet dominance.

What does this mean for Firefox long term? Google is one of the biggest supporters of Firefox. It has contributed financially and in terms of development talent. According to PaidContent, "just last week Google extended its support of the Mozilla foundation until 2011".

At CNET, Matt Asay writes

Nor can I imagine web developers getting excited about developing for yet another browser. It took years for anyone to start developing for Firefox, and no one got excited about developing for Flock or other spin-offs of Firefox. Google has the brand equity to make people pay attention to Chrome in the way start-up Flock never did, but could Chrome be Google's Zune moment?

In the media player world, the iPod reined despite Microsoft coming out with a good-but-not-good-enough alternative. Firefox has managed to gain a 20 percent market share after years of fighting: 72 percent of web users still slum with Internet Explorer. Are these magically going to dump Internet Explorer just because Google showed up to the party? Unlikely.

Google had many failures in the past. Google desktop, Videos,etc. Hope this does not becomes the same. However, Google has created enough buzz to ensure considerable amount of downloads on the first day.

I don't think the web developers of websites will be happy as they have to create websites suitable for several browsers and their several versions.

UPDATE: Download Chrome Here(windows XP and Vista only. No version for mac and Linux yet)
Chrome Features
Chrome's Code

India to sue Google, Yahoo & Microsoft for sex selection ads

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre, Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft Corporation on a petition seeking a ban on popular online search engines promoting sex selection techniques.

A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal issued notice on a writ petition filed by Dr. Sabu Mathew George highlighting the violation of Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act by the websites.

Counsel Sanjay Parikh submitted that despite bringing the websites to the notice of the departments concerned, no steps were taken to block them. He said the petition was filed for full and effective implementation of the Act.

He sought a direction to the Centre to block all websites, including those of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, that violated the Act.

Dr. George wanted a direction to the Centre to take punitive and deterrent action against these three companies.

It is funny that even though Google's adwords policy does not allows this
advertising when ads are targeted to India, it still shows up.

It is banned because of selective abortion for past centuries have resulted in dip in girl population. The sex ratio in many parts is almost 900 to 1000 men.

Difference between diferent video related Adsense product

AdSense for video
AdSense for video allows publishers with video content to earn revenue using relevant, non-intrusive ad placements from Google's extensive advertiser network. Video content will display both InVideo overlay and text overlay ads.

At this time, AdSense for video is in Beta may only be implemented for pages and videos that are in English with traffic primarily from the United States. If you're interested in participating, learn about the requirements, then fill out our interest form.

Adsense video ads
Click-to-play video ads are a new type of ad available for sites in the Google network, including AdSense sites. They're available in several ad formats and will be shown only if a publisher is opted in to image ads for one of the supported ad formats.

When a video ad is served to a page, it will be displayed as a static opening image. Once the user clicks the play button or the opening image, the video will begin playing within the ad space. If the user clicks the display URL at the bottom of the ad, or clicks the ad while it's playing, the user will automatically be taken to the advertiser's website. Users can control the volume and can replay the video if they choose; the video will not automatically replay.

Adsense Video units
Video units are a new way to enrich your site content -- and earn more -- with relevant video from YouTube partners on an embedded, customizable video player. When you place a video unit on your site, you can choose the video content in several ways: by picking content categories, by select individual content providers, or by having video automatically targeted to your site content.

The videos you display will be monetized with relevant ads, too. The video unit displays companion and text overlay ads that are highly targeted and non-intrusive. Plus, to help integrate video units into your site further, you can also customize the color scheme and layout of the video unit.

Google docs down

When I login to Google docs I am unable click on top navigation bar which contains "new", "upload",etc and sidebar which has "all items",etc. Due to this I am unable to create new docs.

What irritates me about Google Docs

Google Docs is great. It is typical Google-easy, clean and free. You can share your documents with your friends. Publish them on your blog or website. It is searchable using Google. Everything is great, except that Google thinks that the users want everything that they click on to open in a new tab or window. I just landed up opening 7 tabs. I hope Google Docs removes the new window tag in the links.

Google will be expiring some older pagerank penalities

Google’s Matt Cutts announced that a new Google Toolbar PageRank update is on the way and will be visible over the next few days. Google will be expiring some older pagerank penalities on websites. This will create a flutter in the web world especially the blogosphere. It will be interesting to see who gains and who loses pagerank.

I hope I regain my own.

Google Wikipedia rival Knol is live

Google's Wikipedia competitor, Knol, was opened to the public on Wednesday morning.

So-called knols are articles about specific topics written by experts on that subject.

Google is partnering with The New Yorker magazine to allow any author to add a cartoon from the magazine to their knol. Knol authors can run ads with them, as well, and receive a cut of the revenue from Google.

What makes Knol different from Wikipedia is that every knol will have an author, or group of authors, whose name is prominent.

Google wants to rank entries by popularity to encourage competition. For example, the first knol on "Type 1 Diabetes" is by Anne Peters, director of the University of Southern California's Clinical Diabetes Programs.

As other writers publish on diabetes, Google plans to rank related pages according to user ratings, reviews and how often people refer to specific pages, DuPont said.

Knol focuses on individual authors or groups of authors in contrast to Wikipedia's subject entries, which are updated by users and edited behind the scenes.

Google PageRank Patent May Go

New criteria for restricting the scope of what the US Patent Office considers patent-worthy poses a threat to numerous software patents, including Google's famed PageRank.

Google climbed past a morass of ineffective search engines when it arrived on the Internet. Its devotion to the most relevant possible solution for a given query quickly made it the de facto search choice as millions of people shifted their browsing habits from walled garden content to the broader World Wide Web.

The essential and much-discussed PageRank technology holds a patent, a common legal protection sought by software developers small and large. Some have claimed software patents affect far too broad a scope of potential innovation, leading to lawsuits where a patent owner claims damages by multiple companies.

Those on the losing end of such suits end up paying for what they argue are obvious and non-original concepts. That could change with a shift in the way the USPTO looks at software patents, the Patently-O blog on patent law said.

A series of cases may remake the software industry, all the way to the top where Google and other companies reside:

In the most recent of these three (cases)—the currently pending en banc Bilski appeal—the Office takes the position that process inventions generally are unpatentable unless they "result in a physical transformation of an article" or are "tied to a particular machine."

Patently-O sees Google's PageRank, the patent for which is owned by Stanford University, as failing the first part of the test, as generating scores isn't a physical transformation. The second part proves troubling given recent decisions made by the USPTO in a couple of other cases, not only for PageRank but other Google patents too.

"Google might have thought that the patent system would surely protect new technological developments that are highly creative and socially valuable. The PTO’s new position proves that view mistaken," Patently-O said.

Super blogging tips blocked by Firefox on Google Advisory

Here is the warning:

What is the current listing status for superbloggingtips.com/?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 3 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 1 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 07/12/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 07/12/2008.
Malicious software includes 1 trojan(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 2 new processes on the target machine.
Malicious software is hosted on 1 domain(s), including 61.155.8.0.

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, superbloggingtips.com/ did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

My Adsense application rejected HELP !!!!

I got this email from Adsense:

Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. While reviewing your
application, we found your account to be closely related to an account
disabled for invalid click activity. Because we strive to protect the
interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers,
we're unable to approve your application.

In addition, please note that you will not be eligible to participate
in the AdSense program in the future. We realize the inconvenience this
may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and
cooperation.

If you have any questions about your account or the actions we've
taken, please do not reply to this email. You can find more information
by visiting
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153&hl=en_US.

To which I replied (everything is true):

I have been informed that I have not been approved for adsense account because "it is closely related to an account disabled for invalid click activity"

I think that account was that of my uncle who was staying with us, but, now has moved out.

I had myself signed up for adsense, but, later I realised that it was necessary to be 18 years of age , I emailed you and had my account disabled. I don't remember the email ID maybe this  one or withheld@yahoo.co.in. You can check your logs.

I am, currently, monetizing my site through adsense in my mother's name. And that account is being operated in good way with NO invalid clicks,etc. Now that I have turned 18 I want to start adsense account in my name, AGAIN.

In the link you have sent me in email https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153&hl=en_US you mention that "If we determine that a related publisher's account may pose a risk to our AdWords advertisers, we may disable it in order to protect our advertisers' interests. "

As I have stated above I have and will not do anything to pose threat to your advertisers . My actions shows that I am following your Program Policies.

Hoping that you will reconsider your decision. 

Can you please help me. email me(displayed on my Blogger profile page) or comment me..

Google learns to crawl Flash

Google blog reports Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we've improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe's Flash Player technology.

In the past, web designers faced challenges if they chose to develop a site in Flash because the content they included was not indexable by search engines. They needed to make extra effort to ensure that their content was also presented in another way that search engines could find.

Now that we've launched our Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results and snippets. There's more info on the Webmaster Central blog about the Searchable SWF integration.

Cavalcade Adsense ad for "typically young men"

Google Content Network will soon launch, debuting with short webisodes of a show called “Cavalcade” developed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane

The web sites where Cavalcade will be shown are being selected by Google’s existing contextual algorithms. That means that Google will be able to display the show only to those likely to be interested – in Cavalcade’s case “typically young men” according to the Times.

The potential for this type of system is pretty massive because everyone wins. Publishers serve something way more interesting than a typical banner or text ad, advertisers get to reach their target audience with video, and Google gets more data based on how the shows perform on different web sites. Also, video ads traditionally have much higher CPMs than text or display ads, meaning it’s potentially a lot more money that can be pumped through the AdSense ecosystem if the format proves successful
.
As for Cavalcade, the show will have 50 different two-minute episodes. Presumably, short enough so people will watch the whole thing, but long enough to squeeze in a few ads. It will certainly be an interesting experiment to watch

Does adding Google Search box to blog help adsense publisher.

These days every one using any browser have Google toolbar. Firefox has Google search box on its navigation bar. You don't actually have to visit Google search pages for searching for any information.

So if add Google search box in you site or blog is it of any use? It will only occupy your site's real estate. No one will search using it except if your site provides tips, etc. and the user wants to search your site.

I have added search box yesterday,but no search has been conducted using it and so obviously no ad click.

Create Desktop Wallpapers from Google Maps Satellite Images

Visit this blog to know how.

How does Google auction ads

There are several steps in the process.

1) Each advertiser enters a list of keywords, ads, and bids.

2) When a user enters a query, Google compiles a list of all the ads whose keywords match that query.

3) The list of ads is then ordered based on the bids and the Ad Quality Scores, which measure the relevance of the ad to the user.

4) The highest ranked ad is displayed in the most prominent position, the second highest ranked ad gets the second most prominent position, and so on.

5) If the user clicks on an ad, the advertiser is charged a price that depends on the bid and Quality Score of the advertiser below it. The price charged is the minimum necessary to retain the advertiser's position in the list.

A simple example is when all ads have the same Quality Score. In this case, the ads will be ranked by bids and the price an advertiser pays per click will just be the bid of advertiser below it in the ranking. Hence the amount that advertisers pay is no more than what they bid and typically less.

In the general case, where ad qualities differ, the price an advertiser pays for a click will depend on its Quality Score relative to the quality of the ad below it in the auction. Roughly speaking, an ad that has twice the quality of another ad will tend to get about twice as many clicks, and will only have to pay half as much per click as the competing ad.

From the Google's official blog.

Google to show ads in image-search and Youtube

Bloomberg reports Google is seeking new sources of revenue as growth slows for the four-line text ads that generate almost all of its sales. The Mountain View, California-based company's revenue grew 56 percent last year to $16.6 billion, down from 73 percent growth in 2006.

"We haven't found a proper way to monetize image search to date,'' said Mayer, who oversees search products. ``You may see us roll out an ads-image search in the future, but when we do you'll know that's because we found a way that ultimately enhances user happiness with the product.''

Google calculated in 2006 that it was giving up as much as $200 million a year by not including text advertisements with its image search results, and that figure has probably increased since, Mayer said. Trials showed that text ads drove people away from conducting image searches, and Google dropped that idea.

Display ads may work better with image searches because they seem more natural to people looking for pictures, Mayer said. While the company has done mock-ups of how it might present the ads, it hasn't tested them on users, she said.

CNET reports YouTube users soon will see some new advertisements around their online videos.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the company is working on new ads for the video site in a meeting here with reporters before Google's shareholder meeting, but he was cagey with details.

"We have new ad products that are not pre-roll and post-roll," he said, referring to ads that show up before and after videos. "We have new approaches. Think of them as ads that are in the context of YouTube. They use the page around YouTube in interesting ways."

The new ads will launch "over the next few months," Schmidt added.

Schmidt has made no secret of his desire to make more money from YouTube, the dominant video site on the Internet; Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. In an interview last week with CNBC, he said about YouTube, "We're working but have not yet in my view gotten a breakthrough around monetization...We're working on that. That's our highest priority this year."

Google is banking on the $3.1 billion acquisition DoubleClick. As they are not market leaders in Display advertising even doubleclick would like such reach among millions of users. This move will help youtube, image search and Doubleclick turn gold mine for g

Google to provide internet protection to your employees

Protecting employees from Internet threats is tough enough when they're at work, much less when they're on the road. Off-network users are particularly vulnerable to web threats because they must remember to connect via VPN for protection when they're away from the office.

Today we're making Internet security easier for people, wherever they may be working. Google Web Security for Enterprise, powered by Postini, provides real-time malware protection and URL filtering with policy enforcement and reporting. An additional feature extends the same protections to users working remotely on laptops in hotels, cafes, and even guest networks without requiring any action on their part.

Read more

Google is moving to Unicode 5.1

Google has just begun supporting Unicode 5.1, less than one month after it was released. It's now available in search, so people speaking languages such as Malayalam can now search for words containing the new characters in Unicode 5.1.

Web pages can use a variety of different character encodings, like ASCII, Latin-1, or Windows 1252, or Unicode. Most encodings can only represent a few languages, but Unicode will handle anything from Chinese to French to Arabic. We have long used Unicode as the internal format for all the text we search: any other encoding is first converted to Unicode for processing. So we regularly update to each new version of Unicode (and relevant related standards like CLDR and BCP 47) to make sure we are current. Thus Unicode plays a key role in google's mission.

Just last December there was an interesting milestone on the web. For the first time, we found that Unicode was the most frequent encoding found on web pages, overtaking both ASCII and Western European encodings—and by coincidence, within 10 days of one another. What's more impressive than simply overtaking them is the speed with which this happened; take a look at the blue line in this graph.


You can see a long-term decline in pages encoded in ASCII (unaccented letters A through Z). More recently, there's been a significant drop in the use of encodings covering only Western European letters (ASCII and a few accented letters like Ä, Ç, and Ø). We're seeing similar declines in other language-specific encodings. Unicode, on the other hand, is showing a sharp increase in usage.

This is based on our indexing of web pages, and thus may vary somewhat from what other search engines find. However, the trends are pretty clear, and the continued rise in use of Unicode makes it even easier to do the processing for the many languages that we cover.