10/15/12
Find your stuff faster in Gmail and Search
(Cross-posted on the Official Gmail Blog)
When you’re looking for something, you should be able to find what you need quickly and easily without needing to think about where it might be, whether it's in your email or out on the public web. That’s why this past August we opened a field trial allowing you to sign up to get information from Gmail right from the Google search box.
We’ve gotten very positive feedback from those of you testing it out -- such as this note: “The Gmail results feature is awesome! The fact that it's all integrated into one screen is huge.” Many testers have requested being able to find Drive files as well -- as one of you put it, “It would be awesome if I could search my google drive from google search as well :)”.
So starting today, you can sign up for a new and expanded field trial that makes it easier to find your stuff across Google, whether you’re searching on Google.com or searching in Gmail.
In Gmail, as you begin to type into the search box, you'll instantly start seeing relevant emails from Gmail as well as results from Google Drive, Google Calendar, and more:
Similarly, when you search on Google.com, your results will include relevant information and messages from Gmail (something familiar to those who joined the original field trial) and now -- new in this field trial -- also files, documents, spreadsheets and more from Google Drive:
To give this a try, please visit the updated field trial page and select Join the field trial. Please note that this trial is only accessible in English and for @gmail.com addresses (not available on Google Apps accounts). And keep the feedback coming!
Posted by Bram Moolenaar, Software Engineer
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
FB again.
As the social media company prepares to influence policy, Facebook's political action committee has raised a sizable amount of money. It has doled out more to Republicans, $140,000, compared with $127,000 to Democrats through the end of September, according to a CNNMoney review of federal records released Monday.
Many companies, much like special interest groups such as trade unions, form PACs to collect funds that they contribute to election campaigns of political candidates.
Some technology companies like Microsoft stayed away from influencing Washington politics in the early days of their formation. But Facebook (FB) has shown a desire to be a political player by creating a PAC last year, even before it became a publicly traded company in May.
It's a recognition on Facebook's part of the influence that Washington politics could play on its business. Any new legislation that could restrict Internet companies from collecting and using members' information would hurt Facebook's ability to turn a profit from its 1 billion-plus users.
"Part of Facebook's value is the information it collects on users,"
said Alex Daley, chief technology investment strategist at Casey Research, an investing research group. "Privacy is the number one concern."
Facebook isn't alone among top technology companies that are giving more to Republicans this election.
For the first time since 2006, the technology industry's corporate giving has doled out more to GOP candidates, $2.78 million, compared with $2.45 million to Democrats, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) and eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) have all given more to Republicans, according to monthly filings through the end of August.
Google has given out a total of $652,000 almost equally to both parties, with Republicans edging out Democrats by $500.
Facebook's corporate PAC gave entirely to congressional candidates and did not weigh in on the presidential race.
One reason for heavier Republican giving could be that GOP House members outnumber Democrats.
Facebook would not discuss the company's corporate political giving. Spokesman Andrew Noyes said the PAC supports "candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
The company's employees, however, are heavily favoring Democrats. Personal contributions from Facebook employees have totaled $116,300 for Democrats and $53,700 for Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg alone has given $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee and $5,000 to President Obama, and dozens of smaller contributions to congressional Democrats. Sandberg was a top adviser to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers during the Clinton administration.
Many companies, much like special interest groups such as trade unions, form PACs to collect funds that they contribute to election campaigns of political candidates.
Some technology companies like Microsoft stayed away from influencing Washington politics in the early days of their formation. But Facebook (FB) has shown a desire to be a political player by creating a PAC last year, even before it became a publicly traded company in May.
It's a recognition on Facebook's part of the influence that Washington politics could play on its business. Any new legislation that could restrict Internet companies from collecting and using members' information would hurt Facebook's ability to turn a profit from its 1 billion-plus users.
"Part of Facebook's value is the information it collects on users,"
said Alex Daley, chief technology investment strategist at Casey Research, an investing research group. "Privacy is the number one concern."
Facebook isn't alone among top technology companies that are giving more to Republicans this election.
For the first time since 2006, the technology industry's corporate giving has doled out more to GOP candidates, $2.78 million, compared with $2.45 million to Democrats, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) and eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) have all given more to Republicans, according to monthly filings through the end of August.
Google has given out a total of $652,000 almost equally to both parties, with Republicans edging out Democrats by $500.
Facebook's corporate PAC gave entirely to congressional candidates and did not weigh in on the presidential race.
One reason for heavier Republican giving could be that GOP House members outnumber Democrats.
Facebook would not discuss the company's corporate political giving. Spokesman Andrew Noyes said the PAC supports "candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
The company's employees, however, are heavily favoring Democrats. Personal contributions from Facebook employees have totaled $116,300 for Democrats and $53,700 for Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg alone has given $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee and $5,000 to President Obama, and dozens of smaller contributions to congressional Democrats. Sandberg was a top adviser to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers during the Clinton administration.
FB gets sued for want.
FLINT, MI -- Facebook is being sued by a Michigan company that claims the social networking giant ripped off one of its ideas.
Farmington Hills-based company CVG-SAB is suing Facebook in Flint federal court over its new "Want" button.
Users who click Facebook's want button are taken to non-Facebook sites where they can purchase merchandise.
CVG-SAB claims the feature closely resembles a service it already markets through its website, wantbutton.com, and that it is already causing confusion in the digital marketplace.
CVG-SAB claims it began marketing its own want button in September 2010 to allow consumers to keep a universal list of desired products and services, according to the lawsuit.
Tommy Bahama, Burlington Coat Factory and various other high-profile companies are current customers of CVG-SAB, which claims more than 160 million want-button views.
The lawsuit claims CVG-SAB has received multiple inquires into whether the new Facebook platform has any relationship with its own want button since the trial launch of Facebook's new platform earlier this month.
Farmington Hills-based company CVG-SAB is suing Facebook in Flint federal court over its new "Want" button.
Users who click Facebook's want button are taken to non-Facebook sites where they can purchase merchandise.
CVG-SAB claims the feature closely resembles a service it already markets through its website, wantbutton.com, and that it is already causing confusion in the digital marketplace.
CVG-SAB claims it began marketing its own want button in September 2010 to allow consumers to keep a universal list of desired products and services, according to the lawsuit.
Tommy Bahama, Burlington Coat Factory and various other high-profile companies are current customers of CVG-SAB, which claims more than 160 million want-button views.
The lawsuit claims CVG-SAB has received multiple inquires into whether the new Facebook platform has any relationship with its own want button since the trial launch of Facebook's new platform earlier this month.
Monday, October 15, 2012
A new 911 GT3?
Spy Shots Confirm that New Porsche 991 GT3 will get a PDK Dual Clutch Transmission
We had heard the rumors that Porsche was evaluating a PDK dual clutch transmission for the new 991-generation of its hardcore 911 GT3 in place of the traditional manual gearbox that has been around ever since the series was introduced in 1999, but now we have the first photographic proof of it.
A member of the Gearstage forums spotted prototypes of both the Porsche 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 somewhere in San Francisco, USA, and was able to get close enough to nab some pictures of the 991-series GT3's interior.
Positioned between the leather and Alcantara sport seats on the center console is Porsche's PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission (see more photos in the links below), which sources state will have seven gears.
We still do not know for sure if the German company will offer both a manual gearbox and a PDK transmission, but for better or for worse, the grapevine says it will only be the latter.
As a reminder, the new 911 GT3 will continue to be sport a rev-happy, normally aspirated flat six, though this time, instead of the current model's 4.0-liter engine, it will use the 991's newer 3.8-liter unit tweaked by Porsche Motorsport's division to produce somewhere between 450 and 500 horses.
We expect the 991 GT3 to launch sometime next year.
We had heard the rumors that Porsche was evaluating a PDK dual clutch transmission for the new 991-generation of its hardcore 911 GT3 in place of the traditional manual gearbox that has been around ever since the series was introduced in 1999, but now we have the first photographic proof of it.
A member of the Gearstage forums spotted prototypes of both the Porsche 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 somewhere in San Francisco, USA, and was able to get close enough to nab some pictures of the 991-series GT3's interior.
Positioned between the leather and Alcantara sport seats on the center console is Porsche's PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission (see more photos in the links below), which sources state will have seven gears.
We still do not know for sure if the German company will offer both a manual gearbox and a PDK transmission, but for better or for worse, the grapevine says it will only be the latter.
As a reminder, the new 911 GT3 will continue to be sport a rev-happy, normally aspirated flat six, though this time, instead of the current model's 4.0-liter engine, it will use the 991's newer 3.8-liter unit tweaked by Porsche Motorsport's division to produce somewhere between 450 and 500 horses.
We expect the 991 GT3 to launch sometime next year.
Raspberry PI.
@Raspberry_Pi: Today's 512MB announcement means the Raspberry Pi has the same amount of RAM as a PS3 or the XBOX360.
Perhaps people don't want to give their money away.
We've all heard the story: Electric cars are a flop despite efforts from the government to help.
But new sales data suggests this may not be true after all.
Electric and hybrid cars are now the second-best-selling vehicle class in America behind the Ford (NYSE: F) F-Series. Year to date, a whopping 351,703 hybrid and electric cars have been sold. That's significantly more than the 229,521 Toyota (NYSE: TM) Camry's that have been sold. And the Camry is practically in the dictionary under "sales king." Fortunately for Toyota it also makes up 67% of the hybrid and electric market, so it shouldn't lose sleep over this development.
In addition hybrid and electric cars are the fastest-growing segment of the car market. That 351,703 figure is 73% bigger than a year ago. That's almost a doubling within a year in a large segment!
Yes, all these numbers include hybrids. But the line between electric and hybrid cars has gotten harder to define. The Chevrolet Volt is generally seen as the poster child of "electric car" despite its gasoline range extender. The new plug-in Toyota Prius, on the other hand, is generally touted as a hybrid despite it's ability to go 11 miles on electricity (versus 38 for the Volt). Both these classifications seem somewhat arbitrary and heavily influenced by marketing.
But even unequivocally pure EVs are doing OK. The Nissan LEAF -- which has no gasoline component at all -- has sold 5,212 units this year. That doesn't sound like much, but that's actually better than both of Honda's (NYSE: HMC) hybrid models (the Prius-fighting Honda Insight and the CR-Z), as well as iconic gasoline cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Porsche Boxster, and the Audi TT.
Despite its success, however, LEAF sales are lagging behind a year ago (down 28%).
Fortunately General Motor's (NYSE: GM) Chevy Volt is more than picking up the slack. Sales of Volts are up 328% to 16,348 units. That's better than the somewhat similarly priced BMW 1-Series or Lexus GS. That's also better than more pedestrian cars like the MINI Countryman, the GMC Yukon XL, or the Nissan Quest. As well as significantly better than the Nissan LEAF and the cars it beats.
The market seems to be saying it will tolerate electric cars, but that it prefers ones with gasoline assistance (like the Volt) to alleviate the much ballyhooed "range anxiety." It will be interesting to see if that preference disappears as very long range EVs -- I'm thinking of the Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Model S -- become more affordable. Based on what we've seen so far my bet would be yes.
But new sales data suggests this may not be true after all.
Electric and hybrid cars are now the second-best-selling vehicle class in America behind the Ford (NYSE: F) F-Series. Year to date, a whopping 351,703 hybrid and electric cars have been sold. That's significantly more than the 229,521 Toyota (NYSE: TM) Camry's that have been sold. And the Camry is practically in the dictionary under "sales king." Fortunately for Toyota it also makes up 67% of the hybrid and electric market, so it shouldn't lose sleep over this development.
In addition hybrid and electric cars are the fastest-growing segment of the car market. That 351,703 figure is 73% bigger than a year ago. That's almost a doubling within a year in a large segment!
Yes, all these numbers include hybrids. But the line between electric and hybrid cars has gotten harder to define. The Chevrolet Volt is generally seen as the poster child of "electric car" despite its gasoline range extender. The new plug-in Toyota Prius, on the other hand, is generally touted as a hybrid despite it's ability to go 11 miles on electricity (versus 38 for the Volt). Both these classifications seem somewhat arbitrary and heavily influenced by marketing.
But even unequivocally pure EVs are doing OK. The Nissan LEAF -- which has no gasoline component at all -- has sold 5,212 units this year. That doesn't sound like much, but that's actually better than both of Honda's (NYSE: HMC) hybrid models (the Prius-fighting Honda Insight and the CR-Z), as well as iconic gasoline cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Porsche Boxster, and the Audi TT.
Despite its success, however, LEAF sales are lagging behind a year ago (down 28%).
Fortunately General Motor's (NYSE: GM) Chevy Volt is more than picking up the slack. Sales of Volts are up 328% to 16,348 units. That's better than the somewhat similarly priced BMW 1-Series or Lexus GS. That's also better than more pedestrian cars like the MINI Countryman, the GMC Yukon XL, or the Nissan Quest. As well as significantly better than the Nissan LEAF and the cars it beats.
The market seems to be saying it will tolerate electric cars, but that it prefers ones with gasoline assistance (like the Volt) to alleviate the much ballyhooed "range anxiety." It will be interesting to see if that preference disappears as very long range EVs -- I'm thinking of the Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Model S -- become more affordable. Based on what we've seen so far my bet would be yes.
FB how to...
Six Simple Tips For Better Facebook Page Success
If your brand’s Facebook page isn’t exactly the life of the social media party, there’s still hope. Digital marketing agency iCrossing studied the brand pages of Fortune 500 companies for one year and came up with some ways that engagement can be fostered. Although most page administrators don’t have the big bucks to spend on campaigns, the six steps from iCrossing apply to any budget.
Include a call to action
If people aren’t commenting, liking, or sharing posts, maybe it’s because you haven’t told them to. Of the pages that iCrossing analyzed, the company found that posts that contain the word “like” gained 240 percent more likes than posts that did not. Additionally, posts that asked for some kind of input from users garnered 70 percent more comments.
Get to the point
The agency found that to really get through to users, prose or long-winded posts didn’t work. Success was found in shorter, more succinct postings. Questions that were fewer than 144 characters gained 129 percent more comments than longer posts. The iCrossing study explained:
If your question won’t fit in a tweet, it doesn’t belong on Facebook, either. Posts with more than one question generate 37 percent fewer comments than single questions. Questions followed by a link get normal response rates, but links followed by a question seem to confuse people and get 60 percent fewer comments.
Ask for short responses
Just as users don’t want to read long posts, they don’t want to get too technical with their comments. The researchers found that simple, fill-in-the-blank prompts, such as, “My favorite flower is _____,” received 370 percent more comments than when a company posted an open-ended question — “What is your favorite flower?” When pages gave users choices, such as “Paper or plastic?,” posts received a slight bump compared with open-ended queries, with 18 percent more responses. However, iCrossing noted that pages shouldn’t patronize their audiences by delivering specific instructions for replies.
Pin the important posts
Facebook allows page administrators to pin one post, giving it higher prominence on the page. The folks at iCrossing don’t have statistics regarding pinned posts, but they believe that doing so boosts likes and comments. Facebook marketers should include pinned posts in their social media strategies.
Keep a casual, yet appropriate tone
If you’re a bank or an investment firm, you’re probably not going to post happy-go-lucky status updates and viral photos of kittens. However, it’s still important to have a conversational tone on Facebook, iCrossing notes:
After visually reviewing thousands of successful posts, we noticed that a casual, conversational tone was much more engaging than a formal tone. We call it the “water cooler” principle, meaning that there are some tones of voice and topic that will encourage conversation at the office water cooler and others that will drive coworkers away. Hard-sell, condescending, or overtly business-oriented posts consistently performed poorly. Facebook users expect to interact with friends; brands that don’t act like friends will be defriended.
Picture your success
This one is a bit of a no-brainer. People love to look at (and engage with) photos on Facebook. Brands should make sure to post interesting images that will make users click on the post, like it, share it, or comment on it. The agency believes that the old adage of a picture being worth 1,000 words definitely rings true on Facebook. People are more likely to stop and examine a post if there’s a striking image attached to it.
Readers: How have you managed to boost engagement on your Facebook page?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Posted by Justin Lafferty on October 12, 2012.
If your brand’s Facebook page isn’t exactly the life of the social media party, there’s still hope. Digital marketing agency iCrossing studied the brand pages of Fortune 500 companies for one year and came up with some ways that engagement can be fostered. Although most page administrators don’t have the big bucks to spend on campaigns, the six steps from iCrossing apply to any budget.
Include a call to action
If people aren’t commenting, liking, or sharing posts, maybe it’s because you haven’t told them to. Of the pages that iCrossing analyzed, the company found that posts that contain the word “like” gained 240 percent more likes than posts that did not. Additionally, posts that asked for some kind of input from users garnered 70 percent more comments.
Get to the point
The agency found that to really get through to users, prose or long-winded posts didn’t work. Success was found in shorter, more succinct postings. Questions that were fewer than 144 characters gained 129 percent more comments than longer posts. The iCrossing study explained:
If your question won’t fit in a tweet, it doesn’t belong on Facebook, either. Posts with more than one question generate 37 percent fewer comments than single questions. Questions followed by a link get normal response rates, but links followed by a question seem to confuse people and get 60 percent fewer comments.
Ask for short responses
Just as users don’t want to read long posts, they don’t want to get too technical with their comments. The researchers found that simple, fill-in-the-blank prompts, such as, “My favorite flower is _____,” received 370 percent more comments than when a company posted an open-ended question — “What is your favorite flower?” When pages gave users choices, such as “Paper or plastic?,” posts received a slight bump compared with open-ended queries, with 18 percent more responses. However, iCrossing noted that pages shouldn’t patronize their audiences by delivering specific instructions for replies.
Pin the important posts
Facebook allows page administrators to pin one post, giving it higher prominence on the page. The folks at iCrossing don’t have statistics regarding pinned posts, but they believe that doing so boosts likes and comments. Facebook marketers should include pinned posts in their social media strategies.
Keep a casual, yet appropriate tone
If you’re a bank or an investment firm, you’re probably not going to post happy-go-lucky status updates and viral photos of kittens. However, it’s still important to have a conversational tone on Facebook, iCrossing notes:
After visually reviewing thousands of successful posts, we noticed that a casual, conversational tone was much more engaging than a formal tone. We call it the “water cooler” principle, meaning that there are some tones of voice and topic that will encourage conversation at the office water cooler and others that will drive coworkers away. Hard-sell, condescending, or overtly business-oriented posts consistently performed poorly. Facebook users expect to interact with friends; brands that don’t act like friends will be defriended.
Picture your success
This one is a bit of a no-brainer. People love to look at (and engage with) photos on Facebook. Brands should make sure to post interesting images that will make users click on the post, like it, share it, or comment on it. The agency believes that the old adage of a picture being worth 1,000 words definitely rings true on Facebook. People are more likely to stop and examine a post if there’s a striking image attached to it.
Readers: How have you managed to boost engagement on your Facebook page?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Posted by Justin Lafferty on October 12, 2012.
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