Rome – As the browser war rages on (remember the brilliant Pac-Man collaboration with Internet Explorer 9 we reviewed a couple of weeks ago?), Google Chrome is giving a fantastic fight with ROME. This whimsical and fabulous film by Chris Milk -works only on Chrome, of course- is a “hardware-accelerated 3D graphics” built onto the Chrome browser and requires no download or install of any software. Don’t forget to move your mouse sideways while the film is playing.
This Google Chrome Experiment is a whimsical film with a beautiful soundtrack by Danger Mouse, who have a new album out called -you guesses it- Rome.
If you wish, you can add your own dreamy additions to this project by clicking ‘add to the dream’ and see how others have already contributed. ROME is an amazing collaborative adventure of creativity, 3D technology, great music and a powerful browser showing off for a good reason. Enjoy.
A Google a Day – Google has done it again with this brilliant trivia game. To help its vast community of users in learning how to search better and faster, Google came up with A Google a Day, a daily trivia question for which the answer lies in the proper search, via Google search, naturally.
Each day a new question will be waiting for you, and it’s your job to go ahead and find the answer. Clciking “Answer” won’t give you the bottom line answer, but will rather give you clues of what to look for, and by the end of that process you will discover the answer yourself. Since this trivia game is both fun and didactic, it gets an A plus from me. Why don’t you challenge your friends to a Google duel? Should be fun and interesting!
Here’s an example of a question and the answer of Google a Day’s question from April 16.
What Was There – If cement could talk. It’s hard to believe, but today’s streets of America’s metropolises hold countless stories and moments of history. To us the streets of major cities have always been there, but What Was There shows what the streets that are so familiar to us today looked like in the past.
Based on Google Maps technology and user-submitted data and photos, What Was There is “a virtual time machine of sorts that allows users to navigate familiar streets as they appeared in the past.” The result is nothing short of astonishing and fascinating. Here are a couple of examples:
Not only you can see photos of what the streets looked like decades, even 100 years ago, you can use the magnifying glass feature on any zoomed in photo to see more details (simply roll over the photo). It’s just like going back in time.
In front of Tiffany’s, CA 1899
If you have an old street photo of anywhere in the world, and you wish to submit it to this formidable project, sign in and upload your photos. Help in perpetuating the human experience of past places and moments.
Google Crisis Response – Google.org initiated this blessed project back in 2005 (following Hurricane Katrina) to help hard-hit locations worldwide cope with the aftermath of natural disasters by making relevant information readily available for everyone, everywhere.
The recent earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan forced the island country to come to terms with its worst natural disaster on record. The Google Crisis Response project gives you all you could possibly need in one easy page; comprehensive coverage along with real-time updates and latest news on the sitatuion in Japan; direct donations to the Japanese Red Cross using Google Checkout; detailed maps of the affected area; emergency phone numbers; people finder; current status (transportation, government warnings, blackout info) and much more.
Google’s Crisis Response project makes helping out fast and easy. Just imagine how helpful this could have been back in 2005 when New Orleans was in dire need of fast assistance. Please visit this project and help where you can. You would appreciate the same, God forbid you should find yourself under the circumstances Northern Japan communities are currently dealing with.
Red Bull Street Art View – Another fantastic manipulation of Google Street View, the Red Bull Street Art View takes you to the otherwise hidden gems of street art and graffiti all over the world. Start with the ‘world map’ view (see below) and click on any red circle to zoom in to an area with a variety of street artworks.
Here’s an amazing Street View picture of a wall graffiti in Mexico City, Mexico:
Don’t see your city here int his art project? Add a street art work of your town!
Map Your Valentine – Apparently Google can get cute. Really cute. Using the company’s maps and street view technology, Google offers an original way to send a lovely greeting card to the one you love. How does it work? Fill out the email addresses of receiver and sender, type a location that is special to the two of you (i.e. the restaurant where the marriage proposal took place, the street corner where the two of you first met, etc) and add a personal note in the text box. You can choose between a map and a street view image for that romantic location.
The end result is a sweet “I Love You” letter showing two little Google Maps location icons, forming a small heart shape, showing the exact place of your choice. What a unique way to cherish those magical moments of love, especially on St. Valentine’s Day!
Google Art Project – See this video to get a behind the scenes look at the Google Art Project – Another amazing feature by Google, this Art Project by the communication giant brings art right into your face, in an experience no other technology has been able to produce until now. Pick out one of the many globally acclaimed museums from the list, and then choose between walking through the museum’s galleries or looking at specific masterpieces so close you can see each brush stroke in super high quality resolution.
The museum tour, as you will see for yourself, is a smart adaptation of Google’s Street View technology, and it feels as if you are right there in London, Berlin and NYC, admiring the art of famous virtuosos. Below is an image of the ‘museum stroll view’ at the National Gallery in London.
The next image is of an ultra-zoomed image of a famous piece by a well-known European painter. Guess who? Click the image to find out.
See this video to learn how Google’s Art Project came into being. It’s amazing.
Boutiques.com – Visual power has penetrated the fashion realm and now online apparel shopping is more accurate and individualized than ever. Take Boutiques.com for example, brought to us by Google, which “lets you find and discover fashion goods through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers — celebrities, stylists, designers, and fashion bloggers.” This ‘make-it-your-own’ apparel store uses visual technology that ‘learns’ your taste and style, and offers specific items that you, the users, will likely appreciate and hopefully purchase.
How does Boutiques learn what your style is, and what items to offer you accordingly? Click the Create Your Boutique button on the upper right corner, and start selecting your best outfits out of the ones the system offers you (actual celebrities’ styles). I did this for about 5 minutes, and Boutiques.com informed me my style is ‘casual chic.’
To finish off your own Boutique and have ‘it’s all you’ item recommendations, you will need to go through five more steps, but these are filled with fun and glamor you will enjoy every second of it. These include choosing your favorite (and least favorite) silhouettes, colors and patterns for a variety of clothing categories, and when you’re done, you go to your ‘Storefront’ and check out a huge catalog of clothing and accessories all suiting your personal style. Plus, you can follow other users who have created their storefront, and others can follow you for some added inspiration. I totally understand why Google bought this company. They KNOW style!
MapCrunch – Google is the undisputed expert when it comes to maps and street view. We already know that. And here is a nice website that uses Google’s wonderful geo-visualizations to create an exciting platform for exploring the world’s mainstream as well as less obvious locations.
MapCrunch neatly presents the world to you in various options to choose from: either hop from one location to the next at random (simply click on Go!), or choose a more specified location (by selecting continent or country). This site is simple and entertaining, which is why we loved it so much. By the way, if you’re wondering why some European countries are saying no to Google Street View, check out the MapCrunch’s sidekick site, StreetViewFunny.com and you’ll see why.
Google Demo Slam – Here’s yet another proof that Google is so different from any other corporate in history; they created an amazing platform for all the people around the world who want to show how creative they can get with using Google products. Each week, the Google Demo Slam will display two videos of individuals and groups of people who took a Google product or service to the next level. Users watch the two videos, choose the best one, and these votes determine the winner of that week’s demo slam.
This week both videos are creative and inspiring, but only one will be the winner. My personal favorite is shown below. Create your own Demo Slam with your friends, and maybe you will make it to the slam as well!
At the moment of writing this, Google Chrome is all the hype around the net. Though, at the same day that Google Chrome launched, Google also launched a new version of their popular Picasa and PicasaWebAlbums. Which is considered as one of the top destination for image uploading on the Internet. I don’t believe that the launch of this two services together happened by a chance. Google knew that all the hype will be around the new Google browser. No one seems to mention anything thoughtful regarding the new face recognition that they launched.
First, I would like to introduce you to the new service. When you login to your Picasa web account. You get an option at the right bar of the screen to perform name tagging. Which at first seems to be harmless. We all know the face tagging done on Facebook. In which you personally recognize your friends and tag them with a name, thus, an algorithm isn’t used to scan additional pictures.
Google Picasa is different. When selecting the name tag option, you receive a message stating that you have to wait for about half an hour until all your pictures are processed. Once processed, you will be able to view all your loved ones grouped together in a beautiful way which only Google can provide. So slick and simple.
(Click image to enlarge)
So what scares me… You’re asking? Well, Google’s main business model is through advertising. Google controls most of the Internet advertising market, it’s their main business and frankly they perform it unexceptionally. In addition, Google is also trying to infiltrate the old-school media TV and Newspapers. (You can read more about it here and here).
Did you ever stop and think what will happen if Google will find a way to show us ads on our daily routine. On our way to work, while shopping or just hanging out with friends at a local bar.
I think that the day which Google will shows us ads on the streets is closer than we think. Now, that they are able to recognize our faces. All they need is a camera to recognize us on the street. Oh, guess what!? They already have it!
What will happen when Google will have all the information about us? Isn’t that too much power for one company?
When Gmail started reading our mail and showing us relevant ads. There was a big privacy fuss around the issue. Now, when it comes to recognizing us in person, it seems as if no one is raising up these issues.
At first, Tagging yourself on Picasa seems harmless, but think about what will happen ten years from today. Privacy won’t exist when stepping out of your home.
I am a big Google fanboy. I even believe that I will try their new tagging option because I am way too curious. I also believe in Google’s moto – “Don’t be evil”. Though, we have to raise these issues before it is too late. We should have control over our privacy.
Am I just being paranoid or is this our future?