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Google’s Zeitgeist 2010: Year in Review

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Zeitgeist2010
Live curious. That’s what National Geographic kept telling me all day yesterday when the TV was on to serve as background noise. One practical application of that piece of advice is this: take a look at what people have been searching for the most in the past 11 months. I guess the guys at Google have been watching Nat Geo as well!

So they just released Zeitgeist 2010, which showcases the most popular searches in the past year.

Search – that is such a cold term that does not convey much emotion. If you think about it, though, what people from all over the world search for is indicative of what is happening in real life. Indeed, a line from the blog post yesterday says it all: “…most popular and fastest rising queries from the year to capture the joys, sorrows and curiosity that many of us felt—capturing the spirit of 2010.”

Call me sentimental, but I find 2010 to be one of those years that one doesn’t just put in the memory shelves to gather dust. Watch the video below, and most likely, you will experience similar emotions. Oh, and is it just me, or did Google try uber hard to include its vast array of services in the video? (I wouldn’t be surprised if advertising was part of their agenda.)

There is also a dedicated site for Zeitgeist 2010, wherein users can interactively discover more about the searches that shaped 2010 (or searches that were shaped by 2010, depends on how you want to look at it).

Google’s right. As we near the end of the year, one can’t help but wonder what 2011 will bring. I don’t know about you, but I feel optimistic. 🙂

Will You Be on Cloud 9 Thanks to Google eBooks?

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I read about the launch of Google eBooks yesterday when they posted the announcement in The Official Google Blog. I did find myself chewing on the idea for longer than I should have been, so I decided to take a look at some other topic. Needless to say, the bookworm in me just can’t ignore the supposedly more than 3 million books that Google eBooks is supposed to have on offer.

So what makes Google eBooks worthy to read/write/think about?

To be honest, I am not sure. Aside from the fact that it is Google who is behind the new product, I am not clear as to how the “new” concept is beneficial to me (or the average consumer for that matter). Aside from the fact that there are millions of books available on demand – some free, some for a fee, of course – what else has Google eBooks to offer? (Also consider the fact that Amazon, B&N, etc. have lots on their roster anyway.)

One distinct feature of Google eBooks is the fact that all the books are going to be stored in the cloud. This offers convenience above all – that is, if you are located in a country where Internet connection is not an issue. Yes, there are countries where Internet access is still sluggish and not omnipresent. With the cloud as storage, though, readers can pick up where they left off in a book using whatever device they feel like using. The video below showcases this and more.

That’s a pretty cute video, you have to admit. It reminds me of the e-book that Google recently release – 20 Things I Learned. Still, one cannot deny that Google is not offering something revolutionary here, can you? As great as Google is, I don’t think this development is a Cloud 9-instigating one.

Getting More Realistic With Google Earth 6

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I don’t know if you this, but Google Earth wasn’t always called as such. It was actually first called EarthViewer 3D and was created by a company called Keyhole, Inc. That first release was in 2001, and it was only in 2004 that Google acquired the smaller company. In 2005, Google Earth 3.0 was released, triggering a huge interest in the digital atlas.

Yesterday, Google announced the sixth version of the program, highlighting the fact that the Google Earth 6 is more realistic than ever. In the entry posted on the Official Google Blog yesterday, three new things were featured.

Integrated Street View

Basically, with the enhanced Street View, you can “journey from outer space right to your doorstep in one seamless flight.” You can also explore the streets as if you were merely taking a stroll in real life (with your fingers doing the walking, of course).

3D Trees

Trees make everything better, don’t they? The guys at Google seem to think the same thing, and they incorporated 3D models of various kinds of trees. Of course, to add to the realism, they paid close attention to details, enhancing the whole Google Earth experience. (I have to admit that as I was reading the post and looking at the images, I couldn’t help but think of SimCity.)

Historical Imagery Made Easier

Historical Imagery allowed users of Google Earth 5 to take a stroll down memory lane when viewing particular location. For example, one can see what Port-au-Prince in Haiti looked like before it got hit by the devastating earthquake. In the latest version of Google Earth, it is even easier for users to go back in time.

Whether or not you have plans of trying out Google Earth 6, take a look at the video below to see it in action.

To experience this for yourself, visit the Google Earth 6 download page.

Boutiques.com: Where Fashionista and Nerd Collide

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Nerds are not exactly known for being fashionable, are they? Then again, thinking about the recent trend featuring geeky t-shirts and all the merchandise that the Nerd Herd is selling, that statement may not be 100 per cent accurate. Still, fashionistas and nerds do not normally “go together” – I think we can all agree on that.

If there is one company that can break the boundaries, though, I think it is Google; and I think that most of you will agree. This is exactly what the Internet giant is doing with one of its newest projects: Boutiques.com. From the Official Google Blog:

“…a personalized shopping experience that lets you find and discover fashion goods, by creating your own curated boutique or through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers—celebrities, stylists, designers and fashion bloggers. Boutiques uses computer vision and machine learning technology to visually analyze your taste and match it to items you would like.”

It’s really a shopaholic’s dream come true. Take a look at the image below to give you an idea how you can search for items on the site. Search is Google’s main strength, and hey, they are putting it to good use with online shopping!

Filters, photos, visual searches, and iPad applications – this is where the Google brains come into the pictures. Some of the people who work there may not exactly care what they wear to work, but they surely can come up with one heck of a site that might very well change the face of online shopping.

With only a little over a month left before Christmas, you will certainly have a blast playing around at Boutiques.com!

New Android Phones to Replace Credit Cards?

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It’s the stuff that sci-fi is made of. How many stories have you read or heard or even watched about being able to use your mobile phone for practically everything? For sure, this idea is nothing new. However, the actual implementation of this idea is something else.

With the recent announcement from Google, though, it seems that we just might be able to use our mobile phones in lieu of credit cards in the future. At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Google head honcho Eric Schmidt talked about – and showed off – the new mobile operating system that they are working on. While the mobile phone was a mere prototype, the new version of Android – dubbed “gingerbread” for now – seemed to be ready for release. It won’t however, be released till the next several weeks or so.

What is really interesting about Schmidt’s demo is the fact that he talked about “near-field technology.” What’s it all about? In the future, mobile phones will have a chip that will serve as a way to conduct transactions the way credit cards do right now. While has was quite excited about the potential of the technology, he added a word of caution about credit card-like transactions not being available in the immediate future.

What got the attention of the people present at the demo was the mobile phone which ran the new version of Android. As is to be expected, rumors are flying around that the phone is a prototype of the Nexus S (S for Samsung), Nexus One‘s successor. While that phone is “dead,” there is still hope for a successor, something which a some people are looking forward to.

In the meantime, hold on to your credit cards.

Slash the Web with Blekko, the New Search Engine

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Contrary to what some people think, there is a search engine world outside of Google. And, on the first of November, another contender has joined the fray: Blekko.

The newest search engine on the block has been described as the offspring of an imaginary union between Google and Wikipedia. There is no such union (at this point), but Blekko exists in beta version, and it seems to hold a lot of promise.

The idea behind Blekko is that users are given the responsibility of tagging web pages (through the use of slashtags) that are indexed by the search engine. According to the founders, this makes the search engine results more relevant as humans weed out the unnecessary or irrelevant results which computer algorithms come up with. Other advantages that Blekko offers:

  • Designed to weed out spam
  • Does not include results from content farms
  • Will offer better results as more and more pages are tagged by users

Of course, the search engine also has features similar to what Google has, such as the ability to apply filters to one’s searches.

Blekko did not come out of nowhere, even if this might be the first time you are hearing about it. It is the brainchild of Rich Skrenta, who has been working on the search engine since 2007. He is also known for being the driving force behind the Open Directory Project. Blekko has caught the attention of venture capitalists and has received $24 million in funding from various sources (e.g., U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital, and Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame).

Watch the video below to find out more about Blekko from Skrenta himself.

blekko: how to slash the web from blekko on Vimeo.

That was a pretty convincing demo, although I am not sure if the average search engine user will take to slashtags. What do you think? Will Blekko be a serious player in the world of search engines?