[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - A little snoop at games, Questions in Search and Shared Circles

Ok, now back to you guys :) I found some interesting bits and pieces between all the already known sprites...
Well Google Questions seems to be in final testing as they already added this little question-mark to the sprites-collection of Google Search :D

source

But you might say: "Flo, these are the boring old ones. That doesn't give me a what i need!"

Hah!

source

Oh, look! What do we have here? Lots and lots of shiny buttons and stuff. I guess you all are creative enough to figure out what serves which purpose.
Yeah, questions and stuff.

But, what are those two couples there? o.O
Maaaaaybe it is a Social Search, where you can look up a ton of posts in your Google Social Graph... That either focuses on Google+ or, what I assume, will provide a search for all your Tweeps (or however you people call that) and your posts and the posts of your Tweeps and the Tweets of your peeps and the posts on Google+ and the posts on Buzz and maybe Orkut and maybe whatever.. Possibly even Quora and all that connected stuff in your Account.

That's probably where the lost Content-Search function in Google+ went missing. Or such.

That is just speculation. But it's true. No it's actually not, but it's likely that Google will add a function like that for awesome people like us. or me. hopefully not for Engadget.
It could be something else too. And if it is. I don't care.

Ok, let's move on then:
I've no idea if that actually is already implemented and I'm too tired and too lazy to check if it is already there or not or whatever. I don't care at all, I'll just dump it here:

source

source

source

source

I present to you (Engadget "journalists" please look the other way now) shared circles. Yeah these are different state images of a shared circle thingy.
What this means for you: You can create a circle and share it with someone else, either public or private, so he doesn't have to create the circle again to follow the same Activity-Stream. Every authorized participant can (probably) add contacts to the circle himself. It is basically an option to create "interest groups" like reading circles, poetry enthusiasts, photographer talks... you can create shared circles that post cute kittenvideos that shoot frickin' lasers (yeah the videos shoot fricken' lasers!) all day long! The options are limitless!

I guess that's what a lot of people were waiting for.

And last but not least:

source

Games! Well.. Sort of. Kind of. Chess. Or something.
Yeah, I know, not the big bang, but actually a itty-bitty-proof.

Discuss on Buzz

Ok, now back to you guys :) I found some interesting bits and pieces between all the already known sprites...
Well Google Questions seems to be in final testing as they already added this little question-mark to the sprites-collection of Google Search :D

source

But you might say: "Flo, these are the boring old ones. That doesn't give me a what i need!"

Hah!

source

Oh, look! What do we have here? Lots and lots of shiny buttons and stuff. I guess you all are creative enough to figure out what serves which purpose.
Yeah, questions and stuff.

But, what are those two couples there? o.O
Maaaaaybe it is a Social Search, where you can look up a ton of posts in your Google Social Graph... That either focuses on Google+ or, what I assume, will provide a search for all your Tweeps (or however you people call that) and your posts and the posts of your Tweeps and the Tweets of your peeps and the posts on Google+ and the posts on Buzz and maybe Orkut and maybe whatever.. Possibly even Quora and all that connected stuff in your Account.

That's probably where the lost Content-Search function in Google+ went missing. Or such.

That is just speculation. But it's true. No it's actually not, but it's likely that Google will add a function like that for awesome people like us. or me. hopefully not for Engadget.
It could be something else too. And if it is. I don't care.

Ok, let's move on then:
I've no idea if that actually is already implemented and I'm too tired and too lazy to check if it is already there or not or whatever. I don't care at all, I'll just dump it here:

source

source

source

source

I present to you (Engadget "journalists" please look the other way now) shared circles. Yeah these are different state images of a shared circle thingy.
What this means for you: You can create a circle and share it with someone else, either public or private, so he doesn't have to create the circle again to follow the same Activity-Stream. Every authorized participant can (probably) add contacts to the circle himself. It is basically an option to create "interest groups" like reading circles, poetry enthusiasts, photographer talks... you can create shared circles that post cute kittenvideos that shoot frickin' lasers (yeah the videos shoot fricken' lasers!) all day long! The options are limitless!

I guess that's what a lot of people were waiting for.

And last but not least:

source

Games! Well.. Sort of. Kind of. Chess. Or something.
Yeah, I know, not the big bang, but actually a itty-bitty-proof.

Discuss on Buzz

[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - A little snoop at games, Questions in Search and Shared Circles

[UPDATED] HOW TO: Replace/Repair the hardware keyboard of your Motorola Droid / Milestone

EDIT: Awesome Sergio Mooh was so kind to translate it to espaniol :D -> go HERE!

Hey guys, long time no hear!

Since I can't sleep, because I'm worried about my friends in Japan and can't sleep, I decided to put together a little tutorial on how to replace your hardware keyboard of your Motorola Droid or Milestone.

As we all know, these things are not built to last forever (yeah, still waiting for Godot... uhm Froyo here) Software wise, but also the hardware likes to show it's weaknesses over time. My personal nemesis is the hardware keyboard... As I'm a bit of a bulk-email-on-the-go-typer, my keyboard (the rubber-bubble-plastic-thingie) showed "slight" signs of exhaustion...

crap.

As you can see, I've got the terrible bubble-version and I bet, it is the most awful variant ever. Yeah, you can better distinguish the keys from each other, but you also "shift" the keyboard around while typing and when the phone gets warm due to high usage, the glue softens and you get these wrinkles in the keyboard. It is not pretty but the worst thing is the "sucking" sound you hear each time you push a button. Annoying as hell...

EDIT: Awesome Sergio Mooh was so kind to translate it to espaniol :D -> go HERE!

Hey guys, long time no hear!

Since I can't sleep, because I'm worried about my friends in Japan and can't sleep, I decided to put together a little tutorial on how to replace your hardware keyboard of your Motorola Droid or Milestone.

As we all know, these things are not built to last forever (yeah, still waiting for Godot... uhm Froyo here) Software wise, but also the hardware likes to show it's weaknesses over time. My personal nemesis is the hardware keyboard... As I'm a bit of a bulk-email-on-the-go-typer, my keyboard (the rubber-bubble-plastic-thingie) showed "slight" signs of exhaustion...

crap.

As you can see, I've got the terrible bubble-version and I bet, it is the most awful variant ever. Yeah, you can better distinguish the keys from each other, but you also "shift" the keyboard around while typing and when the phone gets warm due to high usage, the glue softens and you get these wrinkles in the keyboard. It is not pretty but the worst thing is the "sucking" sound you hear each time you push a button. Annoying as hell...

[UPDATED] HOW TO: Replace/Repair the hardware keyboard of your Motorola Droid / Milestone

[I'M SORRY] A sneak peek at the +1 promobox for Orkut

Yeah, Orkut gains +1 and Google is serious about that.
See my articles:
[PREDICTIONS] Future Orkut features
[PREDICTIONS] Orkut won't get killed by Google

And now I stumbled over 2 nice graphics that were created to promote Google +1 in a promobox on Orkut. I like the fact that they matched the styles to fit Orkut's look and feel :)

source

source

The first png is called "help_people.png" and fo' sure will carry some nice text to introduce people to the benefits of +1. Probably it will ask the users to +1 Orkut to give it a try.

<div style="margin: 20px 40px 0px 290px;font-size: 20px;font-weight: normal;">Help people find the stuff you love on Google search<\/div>

The second one is called "thanks_for_plusoneing.png" haha. I like that :D It will be displayed after.. you might have guessed it... plusoneing Orkut ^^

<div style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px;font: 22px normal; color: #fff;">Thanks for +1\'ing Orkut!<\/div>

So, dear doubters: Google loves Orkut.

cheers :D

Discuss on Buzz

Yeah, Orkut gains +1 and Google is serious about that.
See my articles:
[PREDICTIONS] Future Orkut features
[PREDICTIONS] Orkut won't get killed by Google

And now I stumbled over 2 nice graphics that were created to promote Google +1 in a promobox on Orkut. I like the fact that they matched the styles to fit Orkut's look and feel :)

source

source

The first png is called "help_people.png" and fo' sure will carry some nice text to introduce people to the benefits of +1. Probably it will ask the users to +1 Orkut to give it a try.

<div style="margin: 20px 40px 0px 290px;font-size: 20px;font-weight: normal;">Help people find the stuff you love on Google search<\/div>

The second one is called "thanks_for_plusoneing.png" haha. I like that :D It will be displayed after.. you might have guessed it... plusoneing Orkut ^^

<div style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px;font: 22px normal; color: #fff;">Thanks for +1\'ing Orkut!<\/div>

So, dear doubters: Google loves Orkut.

cheers :D

Discuss on Buzz

[I'M SORRY] A sneak peek at the +1 promobox for Orkut

[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - Uhm. Connecting the dots.

Ok. Magic trick:

function ay(b,a){var c=a||new M;c.a("Google Experts");
----------------------------snip------------------------------
new M;f="Welcome to "+(ay(m,m,c)+("! "+(ay(m,m,c)+(" has just been turned on for "+(R(b.Ab.DOMAIN)+(". You can get answers from the "+(R(b.Ab.DOMAIN)+" community in about 5 minutes!"))

Pretty flexible definition :D
Google Experts or not Experts, that's the question.
Rebranded or not rebranded, who will know and who will decide? :-O

Seems like Google Questions could be Google Experts could be Google+ Questions (my favorite) could be something completely else!

Ok. Magic trick:

function ay(b,a){var c=a||new M;c.a("Google Experts");
----------------------------snip------------------------------
new M;f="Welcome to "+(ay(m,m,c)+("! "+(ay(m,m,c)+(" has just been turned on for "+(R(b.Ab.DOMAIN)+(". You can get answers from the "+(R(b.Ab.DOMAIN)+" community in about 5 minutes!"))

Pretty flexible definition :D
Google Experts or not Experts, that's the question.
Rebranded or not rebranded, who will know and who will decide? :-O

Seems like Google Questions could be Google Experts could be Google+ Questions (my favorite) could be something completely else!

[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - Uhm. Connecting the dots.

[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - Games and Gifts and Questions and stuff

Ok.. I feel so bad about this.. And I sincerely apologize for what I'm about to do now, but.. It's an illness. Yeah my obsession for Google's growing awesomeness hasn't been stopped. 8-I

Shall we get it over with? :-/

Ok, I recently suggested that it might be possible that Google jumps into social gaming and stuff based on the job description somewhere that I don't want to dig up right now because I'm way too excited about things and sh*t. (maybe later).
I also found out a while ago that there is an activity source called Gadgets, where I thought it might be a source for 3rd party scripts/apps that can post updates into the activity stream:

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

So. So code-druggie me... of course... started poking around in the code (sorrrryyyyy X-I I can't help it!) and found the following stuff:

f={ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga,Cf:b.Ab.GADGET_NAME},g=e||new M,f=Vx(f,m,c)+(" sent you a gift from "+(R(f.Cf)+"."));

and:

f={ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga,Cf:b.Ab.GADGET_NAME},g=e||new M,f=Vx(f,m,c)+(" invites you to play "+(R(f.Cf)+"."));

" have sent you Game invites and more from Google+ Games}=4{"

X-I

As it seems, Google is currently toying with integrating games and 3rd party apps thingies...
Google+ Games is a nice name.. Google+ is genius for the whole thingy as you can combine anything.

So: Google+ Games is very real...

And it gets better. Remember my theory about Google Questions and that it might get integrated in Google Social/Google+ and that it might be pushed into the activity stream?

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

new M;c=Vx({ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga},m,c)+(" thinks you can answer a "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+"."))));


c="We haven't received an answer to your "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+".")));


(" commented on your answer to her "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+"."))))


"You might try rephrasing or tagging your question to make it easier for someone to answer."


 "shared a question with you" "reshared your question}=4{" " +1'd your question}=2{"


", and # others shared a question with you}}"


Yeah, exactly that. And note the gaps in the phrases? Maybe you can ask multiple questions too in a whole pack... or something.

Another interesting find:

"People in this Google Group."

Google Groups addon?

Ok.. I'll stop now, even there is many many more in there.. I'll just check if Google will hate me or not X-I

Sorrryyyyyy sorryyyyyyyyyyy!

Discuss on Buzz

Ok.. I feel so bad about this.. And I sincerely apologize for what I'm about to do now, but.. It's an illness. Yeah my obsession for Google's growing awesomeness hasn't been stopped. 8-I

Shall we get it over with? :-/

Ok, I recently suggested that it might be possible that Google jumps into social gaming and stuff based on the job description somewhere that I don't want to dig up right now because I'm way too excited about things and sh*t. (maybe later).
I also found out a while ago that there is an activity source called Gadgets, where I thought it might be a source for 3rd party scripts/apps that can post updates into the activity stream:

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

So. So code-druggie me... of course... started poking around in the code (sorrrryyyyy X-I I can't help it!) and found the following stuff:

f={ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga,Cf:b.Ab.GADGET_NAME},g=e||new M,f=Vx(f,m,c)+(" sent you a gift from "+(R(f.Cf)+"."));

and:

f={ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga,Cf:b.Ab.GADGET_NAME},g=e||new M,f=Vx(f,m,c)+(" invites you to play "+(R(f.Cf)+"."));

" have sent you Game invites and more from Google+ Games}=4{"

X-I

As it seems, Google is currently toying with integrating games and 3rd party apps thingies...
Google+ Games is a nice name.. Google+ is genius for the whole thingy as you can combine anything.

So: Google+ Games is very real...

And it gets better. Remember my theory about Google Questions and that it might get integrated in Google Social/Google+ and that it might be pushed into the activity stream?

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

new M;c=Vx({ia:b.item.ia,sa:b.sa,ga:b.ga},m,c)+(" thinks you can answer a "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+"."))));


c="We haven't received an answer to your "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+".")));


(" commented on your answer to her "+(cy(b,m,c)+(" about "+(by(b,m,c)+"."))))


"You might try rephrasing or tagging your question to make it easier for someone to answer."


 "shared a question with you" "reshared your question}=4{" " +1'd your question}=2{"


", and # others shared a question with you}}"


Yeah, exactly that. And note the gaps in the phrases? Maybe you can ask multiple questions too in a whole pack... or something.

Another interesting find:

"People in this Google Group."

Google Groups addon?

Ok.. I'll stop now, even there is many many more in there.. I'll just check if Google will hate me or not X-I

Sorrryyyyyy sorryyyyyyyyyyy!

Discuss on Buzz

[I'M SORRY] In the gutts of Google+ - Games and Gifts and Questions and stuff

My work is done. I present to you Google+.

https://plus.google.com

It was a wild ride.

https://plus.google.com

It was a wild ride.

My work is done. I present to you Google+.

New news or no news? Google Talk shenanigans.

Do you know what's interesting?
This is interesting:

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_DIALPAD,.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_ON,.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_OFF,

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_MIC{background-color:#f7f7f7;background-position:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;margin:1px;float:right;height:30px;width:30px}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_DIALPAD{background-image:url(images/voice/dialpad-grid.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_OFF{background-image:url(images/record-off.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_ON{background-image:url(images/record-on.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_MIC{background-image:url(images/mic.png)}

.CSS_HIDDEN_FOR_MEASUREMENT{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;visibility:hidden;display:block}

Either way someone was not concerned about a misleading CSS definition, or Google Talk might gain video recording functionality. Note the dialpad though... it is Google Voice. However, the recording icons are not explicitly Google Voice. Still, I believe it is just a... unclean naming convention in that case...

Ah yeah... btw: Google Voice would in theory work everywhere, where gTalk can be loaded as gadget. I'm just sayin'.

Did you know that Google Voice actually supports SIP as a forwarding phone?
Google Voice accepts (in theory) your VOIP number as a forwarding phone

Discuss on Buzz

Do you know what's interesting?
This is interesting:

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_DIALPAD,.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_ON,.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_OFF,

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_MIC{background-color:#f7f7f7;background-position:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;margin:1px;float:right;height:30px;width:30px}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_DIALPAD{background-image:url(images/voice/dialpad-grid.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_OFF{background-image:url(images/record-off.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_RECORD_ON{background-image:url(images/record-on.png)}

.CSS_VIDEO_CONTROLS_MIC{background-image:url(images/mic.png)}

.CSS_HIDDEN_FOR_MEASUREMENT{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;visibility:hidden;display:block}

Either way someone was not concerned about a misleading CSS definition, or Google Talk might gain video recording functionality. Note the dialpad though... it is Google Voice. However, the recording icons are not explicitly Google Voice. Still, I believe it is just a... unclean naming convention in that case...

Ah yeah... btw: Google Voice would in theory work everywhere, where gTalk can be loaded as gadget. I'm just sayin'.

Did you know that Google Voice actually supports SIP as a forwarding phone?
Google Voice accepts (in theory) your VOIP number as a forwarding phone

Discuss on Buzz

New news or no news? Google Talk shenanigans.

[BREAKING] Latitude gets an update! (maybe)

Ok, this day is ridiculous!
I won't be able to get a minute sleep.. ugh!
My dear Buzz colleague Gerwin Sturm noticed something interesting today: The Google Latitude Check-Ins have been renamed to Google Check-Ins.

So, of course I headed over to Latitude to check for changes.. and there I found a few icons that are loaded but they are actually not new:

source

source

source

source

source

source

source

It is the fancy icon stuff for the instructions and blah :)
But... might there be more? You can bet your ass there is more!
set("createBtn","Create Location Link",!1,!1);
You can create a location link to your position to share it with others..

and you might say: OMG then everyone will always know where I am and read my mind and sh*t!

But don't fear:
{Wb:"How long do you want URL to be active",duration:"Temporary",yd:"30",Cd:"minutes",Bd:"hours",xd:"days",Dd:"weeks",zd:"Forever",Ad:"This link wont expire"});
You can set a due-date(/time) for these links, so they will expire and your privacy is as private as ever and such :D
{Nd:"Your location link is ready!",Rd:"Anyone with the link can see your location --No login required",Md:"The link auto expires: "
Hd:"With your location url, your friends can locate where you are.",Id:"You tightly control how long the url is active -- next 2 hours or forever?",Jd:"Stop your location urls from the Public Links tab, or from latitude on your mobile phone.",
This is great for temporarily telling your pal's where you're currently hunting at Friday night...
"http://Edit",Pd:"Edit",Qd:"Paste Link in email or IM to share"
And with some rocketscience.. yes WITH SCIENCE!... you can also send it to others via instant-messenger.

Here's some old stuff that you won't know if you don't use Latitude:
case 0:i="You are now sharing with "+Sg(c);break;case 1:i="You are now sharing with "+(Sg(c)+", but your location is hidden");break;case 2:i="You have not accepted "+(Sg(c)+"'s sharing request"
You can hide your location from certain people that you are Friends with too.
(And remember: This service is OPT-IN! It is switched off by default, so no need to worry! And except if you are posting your location explicitly public on the web or put a public location badge somewhere, NO ONE will know where you are except the people you want to know it.)

You can also set your position manually on the map: (also old info, but you should know)
T("Drag your photo to the location where you want yourself to be at","info")
Touchscreen-support incoming:
E(this.U,b,["touchmove","mousemove"],this.qd,d)
There will be a Tab to manage your public links and deactivate theme before they'd expire if necessary
d("publicTab"));U(document.getElementById("publicLinkDiv")
You can also lookup the address you want to check-in manually in latitude:
document.getElementById("addr").value)+" not found, please check the address you entered","warning")}):T("Please enter an address","warning"
Of course it can also make use of chrome's beta-geolocation functions (also OPT-IN)
create("beta.geolocation")
"Google Latitude",Lg+"fvlogo.png","Google Latitude would like to detect your location."

So, that's it for now... I want to catch some sleep -.-

Let me know if it is old stuff (the public link and such)
Discuss on Buzz

Ok, this day is ridiculous!
I won't be able to get a minute sleep.. ugh!
My dear Buzz colleague Gerwin Sturm noticed something interesting today: The Google Latitude Check-Ins have been renamed to Google Check-Ins.

So, of course I headed over to Latitude to check for changes.. and there I found a few icons that are loaded but they are actually not new:

source

source

source

source

source

source

source

It is the fancy icon stuff for the instructions and blah :)
But... might there be more? You can bet your ass there is more!
set("createBtn","Create Location Link",!1,!1);
You can create a location link to your position to share it with others..

and you might say: OMG then everyone will always know where I am and read my mind and sh*t!

But don't fear:
{Wb:"How long do you want URL to be active",duration:"Temporary",yd:"30",Cd:"minutes",Bd:"hours",xd:"days",Dd:"weeks",zd:"Forever",Ad:"This link wont expire"});
You can set a due-date(/time) for these links, so they will expire and your privacy is as private as ever and such :D
{Nd:"Your location link is ready!",Rd:"Anyone with the link can see your location --No login required",Md:"The link auto expires: "
Hd:"With your location url, your friends can locate where you are.",Id:"You tightly control how long the url is active -- next 2 hours or forever?",Jd:"Stop your location urls from the Public Links tab, or from latitude on your mobile phone.",
This is great for temporarily telling your pal's where you're currently hunting at Friday night...
"http://Edit",Pd:"Edit",Qd:"Paste Link in email or IM to share"
And with some rocketscience.. yes WITH SCIENCE!... you can also send it to others via instant-messenger.

Here's some old stuff that you won't know if you don't use Latitude:
case 0:i="You are now sharing with "+Sg(c);break;case 1:i="You are now sharing with "+(Sg(c)+", but your location is hidden");break;case 2:i="You have not accepted "+(Sg(c)+"'s sharing request"
You can hide your location from certain people that you are Friends with too.
(And remember: This service is OPT-IN! It is switched off by default, so no need to worry! And except if you are posting your location explicitly public on the web or put a public location badge somewhere, NO ONE will know where you are except the people you want to know it.)

You can also set your position manually on the map: (also old info, but you should know)
T("Drag your photo to the location where you want yourself to be at","info")
Touchscreen-support incoming:
E(this.U,b,["touchmove","mousemove"],this.qd,d)
There will be a Tab to manage your public links and deactivate theme before they'd expire if necessary
d("publicTab"));U(document.getElementById("publicLinkDiv")
You can also lookup the address you want to check-in manually in latitude:
document.getElementById("addr").value)+" not found, please check the address you entered","warning")}):T("Please enter an address","warning"
Of course it can also make use of chrome's beta-geolocation functions (also OPT-IN)
create("beta.geolocation")
"Google Latitude",Lg+"fvlogo.png","Google Latitude would like to detect your location."

So, that's it for now... I want to catch some sleep -.-

Let me know if it is old stuff (the public link and such)
Discuss on Buzz

[BREAKING] Latitude gets an update! (maybe)

[BREAKING] A Google Product unveiled: Say hello to Google Questions

Today is an exciting day... Not only that I found GooglePlus and Google Circles in the stylesheets of Profiles (and GooglePlus in the picker), I also found the final proof for Google Questions. (I already stumbled over it here and here.)

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

You might already know that Google started (or... acquired) various attempts to "answer questions".
We have here:

• Aardvark
• Guru
• Google Answers

To be honest... I never used one of them. Ever. So I don't know anything about them. But I know, that I found today some interesting clues in the stylesheet of the Google Talk Gadget.

Let's have a look, shall we?

To keep you somewhat focused, I'll post some neat pictures first:

source

source

source

source

source

Shiny.
But the buttons themselves aren't as conclusive as their name and their context, so we'll have to jump right into the CSS code.

.questions-howitworks-ask{background:url('images/questions/howitworks1_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

.questions-howitworks-find{background:url('images/questions/howitworks2_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

.questions-howitworks-connect{background:url('images/questions/howitworks3_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

Here we have the fist three icons. As you can see they are basically some fancy icon thingy for showing off how the stuff works. You ask a question, someone sees your question and gives you the answer. Simple as that.

Now we get to the part, where it becomes interesting:

.questions-share-circles-ui{margin-top:10px}

.questions-share-fake-circles-button{margin-left:7px;vertical-align:middle;background-image:url('images/questions/share_circle_btn.png');width:104px;height:22px;display:inline-block}

That is the green Google button. Notice the circles in the name definition? I'd assume that you can ask a question just within your Google Circles.... circle... Uhm, however, you might also be able to share the answer you got via permalink:
.questions-mole-toolbar-permalink-image{background-image:url('images/questions/arrow_permalink.png');float:left;height:10px;width:10px;margin:3px 5px 0 0}
You can also tag your questions and set a topic:

.questions-topic{font-weight:bold}

.questions-chat-followup .questions-chat-bottom-bar-followup{display:block}
And there is also the info about your chatpartner, though I've no idea how that will look like

.questions-chat-contact-image{float:left;width:30px;height:30px;overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #ccc}

.questions-chat-contact-details{margin-left:40px}

.questions-chat-contact-name{font-weight:bold}

.questions-chat-contact-name-link{color:#00681c!important;text-decoration:none}

.questions-chat-transcript{font-size:12px;word-wrap:break-word;height:113px;padding-left:1px;overflow-y:auto}

It might even be possible to browse open questions in a small floating window.. kinda the style of tasks and standard gTalk chatwindows
.questions-mole-bb-newanswer .questions-mole-bb-newanswer-link{font-weight:normal}

.questions-previous-link,.questions-next-link{font-size:80%}

.questions-previous-link{float:left;margin-left:4px}

Custom share buttons.. maybe for sharing on twitter or something?
.questions-share-buttons .goog-custom-button{font-size:13px;margin:10px 10px 0 0}
Of course you can report abuse too

.questions-abuse-message{font-size:12px;word-wrap:break-word;padding:9px;padding-left:8px}

.questions-abuse-form-reasons{padding-left:10px}

.questions-abuse-form-reasons-label{display:block;margin-bottom:6px;font-weight:bold}

.questions-abuse-form-item{margin-top:2px;margin-bottom:2px;vertical-align:middle}

.questions-abuse-form-item-label{padding-left:2px}.questions-abuse-form{padding-top:1em}

.questions-abuse-confirmation-message{padding-top:1em}

You can directly ask questions in the box

.questions-ask-question{padding:10px 8px}

.questions-ask-box{border-top:1px solid #efefef;padding:5px 7px 9px 7px}

.questions-ask-box-instructions{font-size:80%;text-align:center;padding-bottom:5px}

And here are some visual markers like checkmarks (possibly for answered questions), exclamation marks, ignoring questions or notices and locked questions.

.questions-mole-bb-checkmark{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_checkmark.png');float:left;height:38px;margin:2px 5px;width:38px;display:none}

.questions-mole-bb-exclamation{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_exclamation.png');float:left;height:32px;margin:7px;width:32px;display:none}

.questions-mole-bb-dismiss-link{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_x.png');float:right;height:10px;margin:5px 5px 5px 10px;width:9px}
.questions-status-message{background:transparent url('images/questions/lock.gif') no-repeat left;font-size:12px;padding:4px 2px 2px 16px;margin:0}

Ok, conclusion:
Google questions might be something that is in internal testing.
It is a tool that allows you to ask and answer questions. You can share questions with others (or their solution with others). It seems to be integrated with Google Circles and Google Buzz.
It uses Google Talk for communication, but unlike Aardvark it has a dedicated interface for that. It seems that you are possible to review, answer and manage questions directly in the interface.
If it will be ever released... I don't know... If it's old stuff: I don't know. But it seems neat and I'd like to take it out for a ride :)

cheers!

Discuss on Buzz

Today is an exciting day... Not only that I found GooglePlus and Google Circles in the stylesheets of Profiles (and GooglePlus in the picker), I also found the final proof for Google Questions. (I already stumbled over it here and here.)

WXb=["d:flickr.com","s:lh2:activity","s:lh2:standalone","s:questions:activity","s:feedreader:activity","s:talk:status","d:twitter.com","s:updates:emailupload","s:gadgets:rca","s:friendview:checkins"];

You might already know that Google started (or... acquired) various attempts to "answer questions".
We have here:

• Aardvark
• Guru
• Google Answers

To be honest... I never used one of them. Ever. So I don't know anything about them. But I know, that I found today some interesting clues in the stylesheet of the Google Talk Gadget.

Let's have a look, shall we?

To keep you somewhat focused, I'll post some neat pictures first:

source

source

source

source

source

Shiny.
But the buttons themselves aren't as conclusive as their name and their context, so we'll have to jump right into the CSS code.

.questions-howitworks-ask{background:url('images/questions/howitworks1_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

.questions-howitworks-find{background:url('images/questions/howitworks2_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

.questions-howitworks-connect{background:url('images/questions/howitworks3_sm.png') no-repeat 0% 50%}

Here we have the fist three icons. As you can see they are basically some fancy icon thingy for showing off how the stuff works. You ask a question, someone sees your question and gives you the answer. Simple as that.

Now we get to the part, where it becomes interesting:

.questions-share-circles-ui{margin-top:10px}

.questions-share-fake-circles-button{margin-left:7px;vertical-align:middle;background-image:url('images/questions/share_circle_btn.png');width:104px;height:22px;display:inline-block}

That is the green Google button. Notice the circles in the name definition? I'd assume that you can ask a question just within your Google Circles.... circle... Uhm, however, you might also be able to share the answer you got via permalink:
.questions-mole-toolbar-permalink-image{background-image:url('images/questions/arrow_permalink.png');float:left;height:10px;width:10px;margin:3px 5px 0 0}
You can also tag your questions and set a topic:

.questions-topic{font-weight:bold}

.questions-chat-followup .questions-chat-bottom-bar-followup{display:block}
And there is also the info about your chatpartner, though I've no idea how that will look like

.questions-chat-contact-image{float:left;width:30px;height:30px;overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #ccc}

.questions-chat-contact-details{margin-left:40px}

.questions-chat-contact-name{font-weight:bold}

.questions-chat-contact-name-link{color:#00681c!important;text-decoration:none}

.questions-chat-transcript{font-size:12px;word-wrap:break-word;height:113px;padding-left:1px;overflow-y:auto}

It might even be possible to browse open questions in a small floating window.. kinda the style of tasks and standard gTalk chatwindows
.questions-mole-bb-newanswer .questions-mole-bb-newanswer-link{font-weight:normal}

.questions-previous-link,.questions-next-link{font-size:80%}

.questions-previous-link{float:left;margin-left:4px}

Custom share buttons.. maybe for sharing on twitter or something?
.questions-share-buttons .goog-custom-button{font-size:13px;margin:10px 10px 0 0}
Of course you can report abuse too

.questions-abuse-message{font-size:12px;word-wrap:break-word;padding:9px;padding-left:8px}

.questions-abuse-form-reasons{padding-left:10px}

.questions-abuse-form-reasons-label{display:block;margin-bottom:6px;font-weight:bold}

.questions-abuse-form-item{margin-top:2px;margin-bottom:2px;vertical-align:middle}

.questions-abuse-form-item-label{padding-left:2px}.questions-abuse-form{padding-top:1em}

.questions-abuse-confirmation-message{padding-top:1em}

You can directly ask questions in the box

.questions-ask-question{padding:10px 8px}

.questions-ask-box{border-top:1px solid #efefef;padding:5px 7px 9px 7px}

.questions-ask-box-instructions{font-size:80%;text-align:center;padding-bottom:5px}

And here are some visual markers like checkmarks (possibly for answered questions), exclamation marks, ignoring questions or notices and locked questions.

.questions-mole-bb-checkmark{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_checkmark.png');float:left;height:38px;margin:2px 5px;width:38px;display:none}

.questions-mole-bb-exclamation{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_exclamation.png');float:left;height:32px;margin:7px;width:32px;display:none}

.questions-mole-bb-dismiss-link{background-image:url('images/questions/confirmation_x.png');float:right;height:10px;margin:5px 5px 5px 10px;width:9px}
.questions-status-message{background:transparent url('images/questions/lock.gif') no-repeat left;font-size:12px;padding:4px 2px 2px 16px;margin:0}

Ok, conclusion:
Google questions might be something that is in internal testing.
It is a tool that allows you to ask and answer questions. You can share questions with others (or their solution with others). It seems to be integrated with Google Circles and Google Buzz.
It uses Google Talk for communication, but unlike Aardvark it has a dedicated interface for that. It seems that you are possible to review, answer and manage questions directly in the interface.
If it will be ever released... I don't know... If it's old stuff: I don't know. But it seems neat and I'd like to take it out for a ride :)

cheers!

Discuss on Buzz

[BREAKING] A Google Product unveiled: Say hello to Google Questions