google labs
Work
4:00AM Kevin Purdy | Besides a killer algorithm and brand-name recognition, Google’s greatest strength is its speed at releasing new products. We get to play with new, cool and ever-improving tools for free. Recently, though, we’ve seen that being unwitting lab subjects can kind of stink. More »
When It Doesn’t Pay To Be Google’s Guinea Pig
4:00AM Kevin Purdy | Besides a killer algorithm and brand-name recognition, Google’s greatest strength is its speed at releasing new products. We get to play with new, cool and ever-improving tools for free. Recently, though, we’ve seen that being unwitting lab subjects can kind of stink. More » 
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Google Squared Goes Live, Formats Searches Into Spreadsheet
8:00AM Adam Pash | Google Labs today released Google Squared, which, according to the search giant, “constructs a table of facts about any search category you specify”—though some searches produce distinctly better results than others. More »
Communicate
4:32PM Angus Kidman | Well, that was quick. Google has killed off Lively, the 3D avatar environment it launched with some fanfare back in June. The service will be switched off by the end of the year, a post on Google’s blog confirmed. It’s useful proof that even the Google branding can’t make a 3-legged dog — which is how most 3D online environments still come across — an attractive proposition. More »
Google Lively Bites The Dust
4:32PM Angus Kidman | Well, that was quick. Google has killed off Lively, the 3D avatar environment it launched with some fanfare back in June. The service will be switched off by the end of the year, a post on Google’s blog confirmed. It’s useful proof that even the Google branding can’t make a 3-legged dog — which is how most 3D online environments still come across — an attractive proposition. More »
Organise
Google Upgrades Accessible Search
9:27AM Lifehacker US Edition | Google has upgraded the optional Accessible Search feature available from Google Labs. Now, individual results pop up in bright, blue boxes with large text you can choose to make larger. You can navigate results with the keyboard, with alert sounds, and a screenreader will read back the highlighted entry. Just visit the Experimental Search page, scroll down to Accessible View and click the Join this Experiment button. Anyone else find it quicker to scan and less cluttered than the regular search results page? [via] More »
Communicate
8:28AM Angus Kidman | Windows only: Google Labs has just launched Lively, the latest in a long line of attempts to make 3D avatars an appealing part of social networking. Embedding a Lively ‘room’ in your own site allows people to chat and interact using their own avatar. Of course, concentrating on the visual aspects of social networking isn’t necessarily going to make them a more useful productivity tool, but if you find current systems lacking in design panache, Lively might be worth a spin. Lively is freeware for Windows XP and Vista only, requires a Google account. We found sign-in to be troublesome to say the least; if you’ve had a positive experience with Lively, share it in the comments. [Lively via Official Google Blog]
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Google gets Lively with 3D social networks
8:28AM Angus Kidman | Windows only: Google Labs has just launched Lively, the latest in a long line of attempts to make 3D avatars an appealing part of social networking. Embedding a Lively ‘room’ in your own site allows people to chat and interact using their own avatar. Of course, concentrating on the visual aspects of social networking isn’t necessarily going to make them a more useful productivity tool, but if you find current systems lacking in design panache, Lively might be worth a spin. Lively is freeware for Windows XP and Vista only, requires a Google account. We found sign-in to be troublesome to say the least; if you’ve had a positive experience with Lively, share it in the comments. [Lively via Official Google Blog]
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