Google keeps on slimming down its product line to focus on what CEO Larry Page calls its "big bets." Today it offered updates on five products that will be going dark this year. The photo editor Picnik, which Google acquired in 2010, will be closed down, and the team will work on Google's other photo products. Google is also shutting down its Social Graph API as its Google+ API slowly trickles out.
Google will also open-source its Sky Map this year in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon university. The Google Message Continuity service, which backs up email for enterprise customers, will be retired in favor of Google Apps. The Needlebase data management platform will be integrated into other services. Finally, Urchin, whose product ultimately became Google Analytics, still had a standalone client-hosted version, which will be closed in March.
New users who sign up for a Google account now have no choice but to join Google+. The sign-up form now requires a first and last name and a gender ('other' is allowed). It also asks for a phone number. At the bottom of the sign-in form, there's a checkbox allowing Google to use +1s to personalize content on non-Google websites. It's checked by default.
"Your Google Account is more than just Search," the first box on the sign-up page now says. No kidding. When you click to the next page, you are instructed that you have joined Google+. Yesterday, Google trumpeted that it has 90 million Google+ users, but it made clear that it can count basically anyone with a Google account. Google has been saying it all along, but now we'd better believe it: Google is Google+ now.
Facebook has finally surpassed Google's Orkut in Brazil. Launched in 2004, Orkut quickly caught on in Brazil and remained the number one network until the end of 2011. Facebook was Brazil's number three most popular social network in 2010. A recent ComScore report showed Facebook's steady increase throughout 2011. It only took the lead in December 2011, edging out Orkut with 36.1 million visitors.
Google just announced its Q4 earnings, and CEO Larry Page is "super excited." Revenue for the full year was up 29%. The quarter missed Wall Street's expectations, but Page has no reservations. It was a big quarter for Google+, and Page says that's a key to the company's strategy. "By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+," he says, "we will create amazing experiences across our services."
Page says Google+ "now has 90 million users globally," which is more than double what he announced three months ago. This quarter, Google integrated Google+ into search, so now it's a part of life for anyone who uses Google (unless they opt out). Page says that 60% of Google+ users "engage daily," and 80% are active weekly. That either means Google+ has 54 million daily active users, or, as Forbes points out, it might be sleight of hand, saying only that 54 Google+ users use Google services daily. But since Google+ is built into most of Google now, including search, that distinction is pretty moot.
Last May Geeks Are Sexy reported that anyone with access to your computer could access passwords stored in Google's Chrome browser with just a few mouse clicks. When the story inexplicably resurfaced in several Twitter posts this morning, it was time to call Google and find out why they hadn't fixed the perceived glitch.
The Geeks Are Sexy post showed how users could find passwords that are saved to for websites that require a log-in in the "Manage Passwords Section" of the "Personal Stuff" tab under " Preferences" in Chrome. The passwords initially appear to be blocked out but can be revealed by clicking on the account and then clicking a "Show" button.
Google+ just got a feature that takes a bite out of YouTube. Google+ users can now post video recordings as updates to their circles. In the video sharing menu, there's now a 'Record video' option that turns on the webcam. After recording, the video can be shared as an attachment to a post.
This kind of personal broadcasting is something YouTube is known for, but now informal video updates can be shared straight to Google+ circles. The Google+ stream allows all kinds of in-your-face content, including animated GIFs and Google Music players, and now it adds impromptu video updates to the mix.
One of Google's earliest YouTube employees is now leading a new charge at the company: Trying to figure out how to make YouTube a better service for social good - focusing on nonprofits, education, and free expression/activism.
YouTube has long worked with nonprofit-types to help them spread their causes and raise money. About 16,000 organizations are currently in its program for nonprofits, which gives them access to special YouTube features and support, Google says. And YouTube, the video service, is already a tremendous mouthpiece for activists.
But a new team, led by former YouTube product head Hunter Walk, is designed to integrate the notion of "doing good" into everything YouTube develops, from product features to support to broader vision. With the extra support, there's no reason YouTube shouldn't have 100,000 organizations in the program, Walk says.
Google and Twitter couldn't make a deal to renew their real-time search partnership, and now Google+ is plowing ahead on its own. A new Google+ feature makes searches on the network more timely, social and shareable. Google+ users can now post updates to their streams directly from search results.
If you search for a topic or hashtag, such as "SOPA," a post box at the top promps the user to "join the discussion." Posts from this box include the note "Shared from the Google+ SOPA stream." The topic name links back to the search results page.
Google+ has added two new features to the mobile Web version that will be coming to the native apps soon. The What's Hot section, which highlights trending and popular posts, now has its own stream. Swipe to the right of the Circles tab to find it. The update also enables users to see who +1'd a post by clicking on the +1 count.
Google+ added What's Hot last October. It's one of several ways to discover new content on Google+. On the desktop, it appears periodically in the main news stream as well as on the left sidebar, under the user's circles.
National Geographic Maps has partnered with AllTrails, an online network for outdoor enthusiasts, to launch a co-branded service at alltrails.com. The site aims to be a comprehensive destination for people planning hikes or other backcountry outings. Its 200,000 users can browse nearby or search for trails, post reviews and photos and share trails with friends. Users who have completed a trail are listed on its page.
Trail profiles give time and distance measurements, weather forecasts and routes overlaid on topographic maps. AllTrails initially used Google Maps data but found it to be too inaccurate for safe planning of wilderness trips. After Google began to charge for access to the Google Maps SDK, AllTrails began to explore other partnerships. Today's announcement with National Geographic is the beginning of an integration that will move AllTrails away from Google.
