Wiki-ing, Goggling and more

Look how the world has changed! I still remember around the time I was in 8^th grade and so, every time I ran into something interesting, finding out more about it was an uphill and upbeat task, you had the reference books, then there was occasional newspaper write-ups, the not so frequent shows in the discovery channel or the National geographic and then there may be the library, a teacher who could help me out and many a times a really good dictionary. Those were my close friends’ every time I found myself fascinated by something or the other. But that’s all history now!

Goggling the World

I don’t even bother opening the dictionary these days and the last time I touched it was to dust it! Every time I see something I go to that fabulous website that can be termed nothing short of a window into the world outside. I Google! The refreshingly clean and no fizz home page of mine that gives me an answer to all my awkward questions even the ones to which my mother’s answer would be “stop asking such stupid questions”.

Simply enough Google has literally revolutionized the world and the rise of Google has been nothing short of a revolution in itself. But of all things it revolutionized it revolutionized the education sector most, free and open information was now freely available and any person who had a question in his mind had a place to ask it and hope to get an answer to it. You could follow anything you want you could study all that you can and want; there were no longer any restrictions. And the education was becoming more fun as it is meant to be. The single most important factor that made it possible is the ability to select and study any subject you want without the walls of a curriculum closing on you or any pressure being put on you. For the first time you were free! But what Google did was simple enough, it put everything there was on the internet and put it in a shelf so that we could find it easily, it opened the way to a hoard of services.

Wikipedia : Creating a world with Free Knowledge

Then the next revolution in the world of world education ought to be the Wikipedia, a site so simple yet so powerful that it just changed the way we learn things altogether, the very definition and purpose of an encyclopedia is rewritten with Wikipedia. There is practically nothing under the sun that the Wikipedia doesn’t have an article about. Even the organizational hierarchy is worth the praise, an encyclopedia anyone can be part of the making. Whenever I want to know something, a place, a thing a concept, whatever it may be it’s a one stop place for information.

The internet has just realized its potential and is coming up with innovative ways to enrich the experience of education; the days when education was confined to the walls of the classroom and monochromatic black board are history. The education today is more an holistic approach and when its powers are truly extracted education can be real fun and an experience worth experiencing.

The New Blogger Interface !

It’s been time, it’s like the breath of fresh air, and So long we have been stuck to the old and rusty interface that it really needed a change. Ever Since Google rolled out its new interface for G mail, I have been waiting for such a change to happen to the blogger interface as well. And now, it’s here. Blogger finally got a new interface for itself after all. There been rumors and speculation but lately I have been worried it would never happen but it’s here and it’s a cause for celebration.

A makeover just like G mail

Looks like Google been following a trend around its new interfaces, It showcases the same styles and gradients and colors quite like its recently rolled out G mail interface and its feed burner interface and of course not  to forget the trend setter, Google Plus. Google's been trying to strike up a similarity between its various services, talk about getting it all under the same umbrella. The Orange and cream theme style that popped up with the Google plus, which then has been extended to G mail provides a clutter free interface to work on.

The old way of too much things in too little space has been changed to a well-organized yet feature rich interface. The primal lack of the interface as pointed out during its implementation in the G mail is the lack of interface customization which is it still suffers from. Google though makes the new look available does not gives users any more control than it has been in its previous interfaces.

Dashboard and Page overview

The new dashboard is cleaner and much better thought of than the previous one. They have managed to lose all the extra buttons and have ended up grouped together in a single drop down menu reduced to a small cleanly placed along with the page link.

Every page now has a little overview tab that is by default the greeting window for any page and shows all the recent facts about the particular blog. Especially the new page view and the associated features that have been added under the Stats have been fairly useful. These have managed to provide the power of Google’s analytical skill ones solely provided through the Feed Burner now easily accessible.

Greater Control

The main pop out thing about the new interface is its ability to provide greater control and flexibility to any blogger. Any person who has been using Blogger from time to time for some time might most probably find the new interface refreshing and very easy to use. The well organized and carefully placed into a sleek tab set. There nothing catchy around the new interface just old school elegance.

The new user offers greater control in the sense provides a bigger and well sorted tool set especially for Layout planning and Template management. Comment moderation and Stats has been updated. Stats have been a newly added feature into Blogger which has undergone tremendous improvement over its former versions.

Simpler Writing Area

The writing area now features a more text editor look that the previously cramped space provided. The new Blogger provides a cleaner and faster multimedia upload tool and has undergone a revolutionary change in terms of touch and feel. It has been much more properly put with the writing area extending to the full screen size but no significant improvement has come over the tool set, sadly it’s the same.

Earnings and AdSense

The Earnings and AdSense column has been cleaned up along with the blog. It now offers a seamless interface. It also connects better with your AdSense account and collates the data better than in its previous avatar. Its ability to have more access to features once limited to Feed Burner service increases the user experience a notch up.

Same Old Story in a new Box

The same old story in a new box that’s all about the new Blogger interface in its totality. The new interface has managed to do what it did to G mail to Blogger as well. It has managed to de clutter the interface and makes the overall experience great. But that to the limit the innovations has been limited to. Other than greater cross feature support with Google’s Feed Burner service nothing new has been released along with the theme release. No new gadgets, No new features and absolutely no new anything worth noticing at all, just a shiny new interface.

Google’s janitors has managed to listen to the user’s long term needs and cleaned up the Bloggers former interface which was in use for quite a lot of time now and was crying for a change. But sadly Google has only managed to clean up the surface, the contents have managed to stay the same irrespective of the upgrade. May be sooner Google will be able to give us a nice little upgrade over the old tools.

Google have done a great job with the new interfaces and deserves the praise for that never the less. Hail Google !

Google Plus : First look

Google Plus is Here !

                              Quite a surprise Google has for the world this summer and that was Google Plus. Google to have come up with something to counter Facebook was not surprising, Nobody expects Google to quietly lose their space on the web. But for sometime Google was quite and now everybody knows why!. Google was secretly working on its very own social networking platform and that platform is Google +.

                              Google + is the super cute social networking site from Google. Something too cute and cuddly to be designed by Google. A nice and cozy notification area and a super serine nav-bar, something that is certain to make people go back for Google again and again. Unlike Facebook with its awfully crowded and poorly place objects Google has managed place everything and anything its its super simple interface.

                              Google has so far announced five of its main features namely: Circles, Hangouts, Sparks, Instant Upload and Huddles. 

Circles : 

                              Circles are Google's answer to your privacy concerns you want to say " hi " to your close friends and no one else just post in your circle, something that Facebook seems unable to provide as conveniently as Google does. This feature incorporates the real life " Social Circles" on the web. Quite groovy! You can be parts of circles and each circle can hangout together do stuff together and everything else together. Something like a group of friends hanging out.

                              One thing that stands out in the Google circles is how effortlessly one can add delete switch and move people in and around their circles. Its so smooth the drag and drop is exceptional. One can literally drag and drop anything anywhere.


Hangouts : 
                              

                              Hang out are yet another social concept that Google has introduced and this features its top notch video conferencing ability. Anyone in a circle can hang out with anyone else and when new members come they automatically gets added up to your hangout area so you all can have a lovely interactive time together. It even showcases a feature where the person who is the loudest and most active gets noticed and highlighted automatically.

Sparks : 

                              Sparks is a service that eats ion your interests, your regular searches , your online trends to find out things that you may like. Like music you may like, pictures you may like, videos articles, blogs and even things you might be interested in buying. All this delivered to you.

Instant Upload : 

                              This one is for the phone lover in you , This lets you automatically share your photos and videos as soon as you take them with you close circles. This eliminates any need for you to manually do anything. Google says ... just click, click and click away...

Huddles :

                              Ever wanted to huddle together, Google things you need to and things webs a good place to do so. The final one of the many featured tricks are the huddle. Huddle is a something between a group chat and your regular chats. If you are trying to decide in something with many of your friends. Google sums it all up into  a single group chat. Now this one I need to try it out a lot to tell more.  

Closed Tests :

                              Currently Google is offering its social services to a very small set of users withe each able to get a maximum of 15 users to the service, Google has promised to open up its platform for the wider audience soon. But they have set upo a very cool intro site for Google plus here. 

The big Buzz :

                              The big buzz now is how Google is going take out Facebook. Google has made it clear that they will not be in anyway competing with the social network giant. But, the actions seems to tell a different story. The buzz and the wave didn't make it out alive but the new kid in the block is no kid at all, he is a warrior and Google is here for the fight. Who ever wins the global internet users stands to.

Go sign up for an alert here. Google will let you know as soon as you can use Google plus.