Everyone was excited about it. Tech geeks touted it as “The Facebook Killer.” The blogosphere was abuzz about a better chat system, a better interface, and Google Hangouts. Now, it’s all but forgotten in the minds of many. Though one hundred million may have Google + accounts…how many of them are actually active? When’s the last...

The Google+ service has – unofficially – recently passed the 62 million user mark; that’s impressive given how new it still is. Granted, that figure is nowhere near Facebook’s 800 million strong user base, but then again Facebook has been around significantly longer. It’s been said (even by Google themselves) that G+ is not a social...

I’ve been a YouTube user and content-maker since 2006, and have seen every design they’ve ever used. For "YouTubers" that have been using the site a long time like I have, it’s generally agreed upon that the first design (a.k.a. pre-Google’zied) was the best one, and since that point has been flop after flop after flop –...

The 7 services the Goog is killing off are Google Bookmark Lists, Google Friend Connect, Google Gears, Google Search Timeline, Google Wave, Knol, Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE<C). Rather than go through each of these one by one, I’m only going to concentrate on the ones I actually used, even if only very briefly. Friend Connect admittedly had...

A complaint I’ve had for a good long time concerning any web site where you post anything be it status updates, photos or the like is that there is no way to go to a specific part of the site, hit a button and download a copy of everything in your account for archive purposes. Fortunately, Google has stepped up to the plate and truly does have a 1-click...

Something that’s somewhat annoying about Google Maps is that when using the Street View feature there’s no way to preview whether an area has street views or not without actually engaging it. If you use Google Earth on the other hand, you can preview. Confused? See the quick video below for an...

Google just did a big changeup with their Google Reader product, and it’s ticked off a lot of people. Arguably, Reader was one of Goog’s most successful products. People who use it loved it, it worked without complaint, it was fast and there was literally nothing wrong with it. Well, of course, things must “progress”, and that’s...

Google Dashboard is the ‘catch-all’ so to speak concerning everything to do with your Google account. There are specific areas of the Dashboard which everyone who uses a Goog account should know. 1. Search alerts Google Alerts can be accessed direct from the Dashboard under the heading Me on the Web, and by clicking "Set up search alerts for...

The Goog is at it again in an attempt to be social with Google Plus. Can I tell you about it? No, because at the time of this writing it’s in "limited field trial" mode: Note at the bottom that even if you do have an invitation, sorry! Losing horns for you! Anyone who’s been following Goog’s attempts at social knows that every time...

Google Voice is one of those services that for some is a dream come true, especially for those that feel the phone isn’t for talking. While true the word phone is literally defined as a device for the transmittal of sound across distances in real time, there’s a growing number of people that given the choice elect not to talk on them – at...

Watch this, and if you rage a little (or a lot) inside, don’t be surprised:For many of you, your first reaction is going to be, "Hey, Apple advertises the same way!" No. Not at all, actually. With Apple, as annoying as they are, they at least show their products being used. At no point in this advertisement do you see Chromebook being used at...

Well, I can’t say I didn’t see this one coming. On the official Google Enterprise Blog, this post states: "Starting on May 10, new organizations (excluding schools and non-profits) with more than 10 users will need to sign up for our paid service, Google Apps for Business" It’s important to note the word new here, meaning if...

I read an interesting article the other day on Gizmo’s Freeware regarding the undocumented Google search function, AROUND. This function allows you to specify a tolerance of words in between keywords. Usage is simple, just add this function in between your search terms: AROUND(x) [where X is the maximum number of words which can appear between your two...

For those of you who design websites or like to tweak your HTML source to be optimized for Google’s search engine, you can test your knowledge using this Google SEO Quiz. This brief quiz covers questions much more deep than the "what is the most important tag" variety. If you find yourself in need of some studying, then you can check out...

It isn’t news to anyone here that Google has a lot of products and services it offers. But while most people only really know about their end user products (i.e. search, Adwords, Chrome, Analytics, etc.), Google also features loads of API’s (application programming interfaces) which developers can use to incorporate Google technology into their...

How does Google know everything about you? They don’t. Google only knows your public information (are you listed in the phone book?), what you put out there on the internet publicly, and what you tell Google directly via means of using one of Google’s products (YouTube, Panoramio, Gmail, etc.) This means that for whatever you put out there on the...

Google has a new notebook on pilot program stages with the super-sexy name of Cr-48. Yes, that’s sarcasm. Yes, I did sign up for the pilot program in the hopes the guys and gals in Mountain View will send a free notebook to me for testing purposes. Would I use it? Absolutely I would. I use my existing Dell mini 10v now on a daily basis, so yes, that...

Any of you reading this have been here before: You’re in the middle of an important project whether it be personal or business, and you encounter an error or an unexpected problem getting something done on your computer. Murphy’s Law seems to dictate that the more important the project is to you, the more complex or trying the problem seems to be. If...

It is no secret that Google makes their money by tracking your activity online and targeting ads to you based on your browsing habits. This is accomplished through a comprehensive data mining algorithm, but it is ultimately driven by the data Google has on you. That said, if you want to opt out of Google’s tracking of your browsing habits for the purposes...

Google Realtime is something new from Google where you type in what you’re searching for, and the result page shows you the most recent results. The twist is that the results page auto-updates itself as new results become present, hence "realtime". As soon as it happens, it will appear. I tested this using a popular site used often by many,...