Google BlogoscopedGoogle, the World, and the World Wide Web, WebloggedGoogle Static Maps Now With Satellite Images (and Planet Paint)- September 11, 2008 Google's Static Maps API now supports satellite (and hybrid terrain) images, Google announced. As opposed to the JavaScript Maps API, this API delivers static GIF files to be used in non-JS contexts -- all you need to do is create a URL with special parameters like the zoom level, the layer type, and the coordinates. Using this new API method, I've created a small app called Planet Paint. It displays a random location (from 300 available cached random locations that were calculated) with...http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-11-n34.html Google Docs Thesaurus and More Live- September 11, 2008 Traces of these were spotted before but now the feature is official: in the latest update of Google documents, you can select a word and then pick Tools -> "Look up word" to retrieve a definition, synonyms, or an encyclopedic entry. The definitions and synonyms come from Merriam-Webster (including character encoding errors when I tried) and the encyclopedia is Brittanica.com. Also new is the menu entry Tools -> "Search the web for word", which allows you to trigger a web page and an image.http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-11-n68.html Google Presentations Redesign- September 11, 2008 Google Presentations underwent a redesign, making it look more like recent versions of the Google Docs text editor. Thanks Hebbet for news and screens!http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-11-n39.html New Gmail Lab Experiments- September 10, 2008 Google added three new opt-in features to the Gmail Labs, they announced. To activate these experiments in Gmail in case, switch to the Settings and click the Labs tab. The new experiments are: "Custom label colors": If you like to use label colors, then opting in to this feature lets you click "Add custom color" from the label color menu. In the dialog which will open, you can choose from a variety of colors for the label's foreground and background. "Navbar drag and drop": Allows you..http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-10-n77.html Web-based Google Earth Driving Simulator- September 10, 2008 The Google Earth API is a way to bring Google Earth into the browser, via a plug-in. If you have the plug-in installed, you can now view a demo gallery... including a little app called Driving Simulator, which lets you view a milk truck make its way through 3D cities (where available, as in San Francisco, pictured).http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-10-n18.html |