If you’re an iOS 6 user, here’s a big reason to cheer – Google Maps are back! Google just released the Google Maps app on the Apple App Store, giving iPhone users their favourite navigation service back. With iOS 6, Apple ditched Google Maps in favour of it’s own mapping system. While the maps gave users turn-by-turn navigation, the half-baked offering left users frustrated. The availability of Google Maps for iOS will also come as a surpise to many as there were reports of Google denying the development of the maps app for iOS.

The Google Maps app for iOS has all the features you’d expect – turn-by-turn navigation, Street View service, public transit directions. The major addition this time is the voice-based, turn-by-turn navigation, which Google has never provided on the iOS. Now you will also be able to access live traffic information from across the world.

With this update, Google has also released its own Maps SDK. This is a very interesting development since it will allow iOS developers to feature Google Maps in their apps instead of the default Apple maps. Developers can also link their apps to the Google Maps iOS app.

I used the maps briefly and they sure look pretty. With voice guided navigation, Street View and most importantly, the Google Maps precision, a lot of iOS 6 users would be happy to switch over from the crappy Apple maps, unless Apple quickly addresses the issues present in its own service.

The new Google Maps app is now available on the App Store for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd 4th and 5th generation) and iPad.

Excited much? Download the Google Maps app now.

Here’s what Google has to say about the Maps app –

Navigate your world with Google Maps, now available for iPhone. Get comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps with built-in Google local search, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, public transit directions, Street View and more. Use Google Maps to discover great places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and reviews from people you trust. Sign in to save your favorite places and quickly access all your past searches and directions from your computer, right on your phone.

Search

* Find addresses, places and businesses around the world with Google local search.

* Discover places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and local reviews.

* Sign in to sync your searches, directions, and favorite places between your computer and your phone.

Directions

* Get voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions.

* Find your way by train, bus, subway or walking directions.

* Access live traffic information in cities across the world.

Street View and imagery

* View 360-degree panoramas of places around the globe with Street View.

* See inside more than 100,000 businesses worldwide.

* View high resolution satellite imagery of locations around the world.

Simple and easy to use

* An entirely new Google Maps experience on your iPhone.

* Newly designed and streamlined interface for even easier navigation of your world.

* Use gestures to explore the map and browse results.

As you know Facebook is one of the popular social networking sites and Google is a reputed search engine. Both these companies strive to sustain in this web world. You cannot deny the fact that Google and Facebook are the two epochs of the technical era. While Facebook is current social era, Google is rapidly receding to the past. In the technical era, it is often seen that one leader doesn’t lead to the next.

But Google is a toast in this regard. It is not at all stagnant rather the core business is developing every moment. Its core products are improving and successfully entering the new market. Take a quick glimpse at the variety of arenas where both Google and Facebook are struggling for future of the technology.

Social Activity

When it comes to social activities, Facebook takes a higher strand than Google. Hours after hours are spent on Facebook in comparison to Google. People spend around 2 hours a month on Google and consider that to be enough. Google understood the importance of social networking and hence launched Google+ recently. This social system has a better design than Facebook, especially in its way of handling the variable privacy with the aid of its Circles.

What Google+ lacks is globally connected user base of the Facebook. Google might not unseat Facebook in the social field but can effectively drive the users from Facebook.

Search

As all of us know that the web is a huge store house of information and Google shows you the way how to extract the contents of the web. Google is not just concerned with collecting of the information, it also shows how it collects information for the users and the ranking of the result in the Google page. Social interconnection is the core essence of Facebook and social data is conducive in building socially-aware search.

Google is making effort to stay ahead of the social networking site, Facebook both traditionally and socially. Social signals are integrated into Google search by the feature of “Search Plus Your World”. Google though lacks the intensity of social data like Facebook, incorporate extremely private social data in its search results.

The current scenario is – Facebook is entering the realm of general search and Google is entering the realm of social search. In this regard, Google is said to acquire the upper strand.

Identity

Identify solution is present in both Google and Facebook and they are perfect for owning social index. Facebook’s identity solution is enormous – it collects data as to on which system you and your friends are signing up and everyone is getting connected. Google’s identity solution is not as same as the Facebook. Signing into Facebook makes sense as you get the chance to interact with one another. If you are planning to sign up for new services, Facebook is the ultimate solution. Google has to buck up in this regard.

Google and Facebook have their own aspect and features important to the web world. You need to make the choice according to your need.

Author’s Bio: Charles Malcolm  is a prominent desktop support expert. You can know about the social networking sites from him.

“Google loves being creative.” The best example of this would be Google Doodles. See that logo when you visit the Google homepage? Yes, that is what’s referred to as a Google Doodle. Google keeps adding new images to mark various occasions. The latest one is based on the ongoing London Olympics 2012 and yes, it’s in the form of a game.

As you can see in the image above, there’s a red play button used as an ‘O’. Upon clicking this button, a game will begin. What you have to do is make the athlete run by using the arrow keys and then make him jump over the hurdles when they appear. Pressing the spacebar key will make him jump.

It’s nothing but Google’s way of celebrating the ongoing London Olympics 2012. Check out the Google homepage for yourself.

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Google,
Google Doodle

Do you know that Google keeps a track of all your searches? It maintains a Web History wherein your everyday search queries are saved, but this happens only if you are logged into your Google account, that is if you are/were using any of Google’s services (GMail, G+, Feedburner etc) and haven’t logged out yet. Since many of us keep a GMail or G+ tab open in the background, chances are that all your searches are being saved. Luckily, you can view all that has been saved and even remove it.

How do I view my Web History?

Go to www.Google.com/history. You’ll need to sign into your Google account, if you haven’t already. Once you sign in, you’ll come across a page detailing all your Web History. All your searches on different days will be listed there. On the right hand side, there will be a Calendar of your searches. Clicking on a day will show you all the search queries for that day. Your Total Google Searches are also shown at the bottom of the Calendar. On the left hand side of the page, you can view your past seach queries on different Google services like Web, Images, Shopping, Videos, Maps and more.

How do I stop Google from keeping a record of my searches?

You’ll notice “Web History is on” being displayed on the top, meaning all that you search is being archived. To stop this process, click on Pause and Google won’t maintain a Web History of your account. You can also choose to Remove specific items or even Remove all Web History.

Though some may find it a violation of their privacy, Google says they use it to personalize the search results. It’s actually fun to view all your searches over the past years. I myself have come across some very silly searches I made when I was a kid. Check out what all you have searched, but caution: you might also come across some of your dirty searches.

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Google

At times you may have searched for something on Google but instead Google showed you something unexpected. Chances are you stumbled upon an Easter Egg. Basically Google Easter Eggs are surprise features and games which show up when you search for some specific terms or when you press some special keys in other Google products. Google has added many Easter eggs to its products and services. Mostly the results are hilarious and cool. Here is a list of Easter Eggs in Google Search, ie. some Google search terms which produce unexpected results.

1. Do a barrel roll: Searching for “do a barrel roll” or even “Z or R twice” will cause your search results page to rotate a full 360 degrees.

PS: The “Do a barrel roll” will also work on upcoming Android Jelly Bean 4.1.

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Google

Google’s beloved Gmail has always been an attractive choice for third-party customizations. For people wanting to change the design, Gmail Redesigned skin has been a cool choice but now Google is officially looking after the interface customization part. You can now spice up your inbox with around 30 new themes.

To select a theme, click on the ‘Settings’ option and then go to the ‘Themes’ tab and choose a desired theme.

Let us know which theme you like the most through your comments.

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Gmail,
Google,
Themes

Google has added support for video and voice capabilities for the chat function embedded in the Gmailinterface. It’s a simple service and is easy to install and use and appears to be a very good addition to Gmail.

Unlike Skype’s paid service, Gmail Video and Voice cannot connect to the plain phone network. Some more optional features like a voice call recorder are also missing.

Gmail Video and Voice is a bit different from many current video chat products and uses a proprietary plug-in, not Flash. The small (2MB) download supports Firefox, IE, and Chrome on the PC, and Firefox on the Mac.

The existing Google Talk application which currently supports voice chat may get the video capability later.

Google has got the first release of its videophone pretty much right. It works, it’s easy, and if you’re a Gmail user, the service is right where you want it.

Tagged as:
Gmail,
Google

Gmail is surely one of the best e-mail services. Personally I love Gmail for it’s simplicity and features. The Gmail interface is pretty neat and clean. Despite this, you might get bored looking at the same interface day after day.

Well you can change the look of your account, thanks to Google Redesigned. Basically, Google Redesigned is a Firefox extension developed by Globex Designs. It skins your Gmail account and gives it a complete makeover just like the one shown above.

To change your Gmail account’s look, follow these steps:

Note: Google Redesigned is built for Mozilla based browsers (Firefox, Flock, IceWeasel, and such). The extension will not work with any other browser.

1. Download and install the Google Redesigned extension.

2. After the installation finishes, restart your browser.

3. Thats it! Everything has been set up. Just open Gmail and you’ll see the difference.

This extension also changes the interface of another Google service ie. Google Calendar.

After the install, you will also notice a small Google Redesigned icon in the bottom right corner of your screen. To check for new updates to styles manually you can click on the icon and press the “Check for Style Updates” button. From the menu you can also enable and disable the individual styles which are available.

This extension gives Gmail a pretty cool look. There is no harm in trying it as it’ll just be visible on the browser which has this extension installed. Hope you like it!

Google Lively is an online 3D social arena just like the popular Second Life virtual world. With Lively, you can set up your own online spaces: rooms, desert islands, grassy meadows and much more. You can change the clothing or form of your avatar. And of course you can chat, do backflips, shake hands, and give high-fives.

Just like Second Life, Lively also requires users to download and install a separate “client” software package that connects you to the online world but there’s a major difference between the two. For Lively, people can use Internet Explorer or Firefox to enter the virtual world. It’s integration with the ordinary Internet proves to be quite beneficial. You can bring in content like photos or videos hosted elsewhere on the Web. You can even embed your Lively world into your blog or on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace using the widgets Google has written.

Lively is different from Second Life in a number of ways. It doesn’t have any money and is designed to be easier to use, with a drag-and-drop interface. For now, it’s not programmable. Thus you can select clothes, furniture, hairstyles etc. only from the ones Google supplies to you.

Currently, Lively is available only on the Windows platform. A Mac OS X client is one thing that Google would surely bring out. Money and programmability are also the items the company is seriously considering.

Enter the Google Lively virtual world ..