Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps

Internet search giant Google is providing current weather information and cloud data from across the world on its Google Maps application, a move that will hopefully make travel and activity planning easier. "We're adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temperatures and conditions around the globe," Google User Experience Designer Jonah Jones said in a blog post yesterday. The company is providing this facility through an arrangement with weather.com and the US Naval Research Laboratory. The information about weather is visible through a widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps. Clicking on the weather icon for a particular city opens a window with data like current humidity and wind conditions, as well as a forecast for the next four days.

Facebook Strikes Back Against Google Games (GOOG)

Facing a serious challenge from the introduction of games on Google+, Facebook is striking back with some changes that will let developers make their apps more engaging -- and more in your face.

The goal is to keep developers excited about building games for Facebook, even though Google will offer advantages, like taking a much smaller cut of in-game payments.

Facebook says it's the biggest set of changes to the canvas -- the main Facebook Web page -- since Facebook started. The changes were announced on Facebook's developer blog a few minutes ago, and include the following:

Bigger apps -- developers will be able to make their apps take up the full height and width of the user's Web browser.

Real-time updates -- apps will be able to send a stream of real-time notifications in the form of a scrolling ticker to keep friends alerted to your every move.

Game stories -- apps will be able to publish alerts related to scores and achievements -- for instance, whenever you pass your friend's high score, the game could let the world know.

More prominent bookmarks -- links to apps will be available in a new pane that appears on the upper-right hand side of every page on Facebook, so users will be able to start and resume play more easily.

This could be really annoying for users who don't care about what their friends are doing with games.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-hits-back-against-googles-game-announcement-2011-8#ixzz1UnQDKfwK

Google AdSense Founder Raises Cash From Lerer Ventures And Others For Stealth Startup Scopely

Google AdSense co-founder Eytan Elbaz is announcing a round of funding from a group of all-star investors for his stealthy startup Scopely. Investors in the round (the amount of which was not disclosed) include Lerer Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Howard Lindzon, Terri Semel’s Windsor Media, David Cohen, Dave Tisch, Gil Elbaz, and Evan Rifkin.

For background, Elbaz co-founded Applied Semantics, which he sold to Google for $100 million in 2003. Applied Semantics ended up becoming Google AdSense, and Eytan stayed on as Head of Domain Channel for Google. He left Google in 2007 to pursue other projects.

Eytan declined to reveal exact details on what Scopely will focus on, but said that the startup will disrupt the social space that is “ripe for innovation.” He says that social networks have grown up quickly and Scopely’s product, which is being programmed in Node.js, will play in this arena. He adds that online advertising will play a part inScopely as well.



via http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/13/google-adsense-founder-raises-cash-from-lerer-ventures-and-others-for-stealth-startup-scopely/

Google AdSense Founder Raises Cash From Lerer Ventures And Others For Stealth Startup Scopely

Google AdSense co-founder Eytan Elbaz is announcing a round of funding from a group of all-star investors for his stealthy startup Scopely. Investors in the round (the amount of which was not disclosed) include Lerer Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Howard Lindzon, Terri Semel’s Windsor Media, David Cohen, Dave Tisch, Gil Elbaz, and Evan Rifkin.

For background, Elbaz co-founded Applied Semantics, which he sold to Google for $100 million in 2003. Applied Semantics ended up becoming Google AdSense, and Eytan stayed on as Head of Domain Channel for Google. He left Googlein 2007 to pursue other projects.

Eytan declined to reveal exact details on what Scopely will focus on, but said that the startup will disrupt the social space that is “ripe for innovation.” He says that social networks have grown up quickly and Scopely’s product, which is being programmed in Node.js, will play in this arena. He adds that online advertising will play a part in Scopely as well.

The angel investment will be used for product development and expanding the engineering team. Currently, the Scopely team includes 12 senior engineers and product managers from companies including Playdom, MindJolt, Warner Brothers, and Saatchi and Saatchi. The startup is even offering some lucrative referral incentives in case you are interested.



Read more at http://www.crunchbase.com/company/scopely

Google's playable Les Paul guitar doodle cost businesses around the world £166m in lost productivity

The Google guitar doodle marking Les Paul's birthday last week cost the world £166million in lost productivity.



The late guitar pioneer was celebrated on what would have been his 96th birthday with his own playable doodle.



Anyone logging onto the Google homepage on June 9 and 10 would have seen the authentic-sounding doodle above the search box and could have strummed away using either their mouse or keyboard.



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The company spent just £9,300 on the design but, according to website Extreme Tech, this small investment ended up costing a staggering £166million as office workers took time off to play the interactive 'guitar'.

Workers spent a total of 10.7million hours distracted by the doodle, the weblog said.

Google's Guitar Logo Plays An Encore

Feature Lets Visitors Record 30-Second Songs By Strumming Chords



(CNN) -- Internet procrastinators got a second day to improvise virtual guitar tunes, thanks to the popularity of Google's homepage guitar logo.

The "doodle," as Google refers to its one-off logo designs, featured a six-string guitar, which let visitors record 30-second songs by strumming chords with a flick of the mouse.

Google posted the widget in honor of electric-guitar guru Les Paul's 96th birthday Thursday. Paul died in 2009 at age 94.

"Due to popular demand, we're leaving the Les Paul doodle up in the U.S. for an extra day," Google wrote via Twitter. "Thanks for jamming with us!"

Remember the interactive Pac-Man doodle from last year? It was such a hit that Google gave it a permanent site. It's unclear whether the Les Paul tribute will get the same treatment.

Whether it was 30 seconds of random strumming or a complicated cover, Google users have come up with a catalog of original songs since Thursday.

Baidu and Google Celebrate Duanwu Festival With Doodles

Call it Duanwu, Dragon Boat or Dumpling festival: Both search giants, Baidu and Google are celebrating the festival today with doodles on their front pages.



Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China are having public holidays today. Sadly, there is no day off here in Singapore. But as Chinese, we do still celebrate the festival with our families, mostly by just eating dumplings together.



The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based.





Besides eating dumplings, the festival is also a day for dragon boat races. The video below, with more than 400,000 views, provides a good overview on the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. If you’re interested to learn more, check out the Dragon Boat Festival page on Wikipedia.





Have a great Dumpling Day! 端午快乐!