Adsense Integrates with Google Accounts

posted at 09:34:18
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Google

Google have finally started allowing users to use their existing Google Accounts login to access their Adsense reports (why it took so long I have no idea). It's always been a pain having to log in to different Google areas with two different account names but now they should be slowly combining everything.

Whilst they're at it, they've also redesigned the Adsense homepage:

Not much of a change but a bit more exciting than it was before. One thing to note though is that they've failed to set a background colour on the page - here it is the way I see it:

Adsense without background

Is it really that difficult to set a background colour?? Come on guys that's the first thing web developers learn to do!

Dec

12th
2006

Be Afraid... Be very Afraid

posted at 06:14:06
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Google

I'm huge fan of privacy, both online and off so when I noticed the following for the first time today I was slightly perturbed:

I know that they're doing it to bring me more relevant search results, but the fact that they're "recording" what I search for is worrying in itself. It's not that I search for anything dodgy (in fact the weird crap I search for will probably dilute any decent results), it's the fact I had no real say in the matter, it just popped up.

Now, you could argue that as I use their toolbar, email, analytics and adsense I'm talking out of my flipping backside and in a way I am.

But hey, wouldn't it have been nice to have been given an option first? Or is it just me?

Jun

28th
2006

Google Notebook Launches

posted at 09:37:09
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Google

Google have launched their new "Notebook" which allows you to store images, web clippings and notes.

You need a Google account to register. Get your Google Notebook here.

You can also view more at the "Google Notebook Overview" page.

From Google:

Google Notebook makes web research of all kinds - from planning a vacation to researching a school paper to buying a car - easier and more efficient by enabling you to clip and gather information even while you're browsing the web.

And since Google Notebook lives in your browser, you won't be left with a scattered collection of notes, Word docs, and browser bookmarks to sort through; all your web findings will be gathering into one organized, easy accessible location that you can access from any computer.

May

23rd
2006

Google Notebook Review

posted at 10:30:46
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Google

I think I'm going to find Google Notebook quite handy. What I've tended to do when I've wanted to keep a website to read later I've either emailed the link to myself (where it usually gets deleted in one of my weekly home-inbox purges) or added them to my del.icio.us with a "ToRead" tag, 90% of which are currently unread.

Google Notebook allows you to "clip" only the relevant information from a page that you need and store it in a handy silo for use later on.

After signing up for the Notebook with your Google Account, if you're using Firefox you are prompted to download the "Notebook Extension" - which I'd recommend as it saves you having to log into your account all the time. Once the extension is installed, an small icon sits at the bottom of your browser status bar. This has two functions. Firstly it enables you to login/view your Notebook and saved entries by left clicking, right clicking however asks you if you want to "Enable 'Note This' button". The "Note This" button places a small [+] at the end of a highlighted sentance in your browser enabling you to add clippings to your Notebook instantly.

View Full Entry

May

18th
2006

Google Talk/Chat Review

posted at 13:45:29
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
Google

Wow, two posts about Google in one day - and before you ask, no my new job doesn't involve me working for them!

I lied when I said I had no-one to talk to earlier this week, I sent

an invite to Gmail (after about 30 minutes of searching for the "Invite" box - GreaseMonkey for FireFox users take note, Adding the Google Calendar and Bloglines Scripts removes the invite box!). I really like the interface of GMail, especially the conversation threading functionality (which is very useful with the number of News Groups I subscibe to), and I can't wait for all the services (such as Calendar and Notebook) to become more fully integrated.

Anyway, Google Talk or Chat (depending on what you read) is pretty nifty. Of course it doesn't (yet) have the functionality of MSN Messagenger or AIM for example but as a quick little communication tool it's excellent.

As with other Instant Messenger you are invited to talk and a small window pops up on the screen: