Google Tutor

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PST

Google Maps added a cool new feature just in time for summer: you can now get directions for bike trips around US cities. Unfortunately, this feature has yet to come to Canada, but once it does I’ll be an avid user. The coolest part is that Google maps will show you which roads are perfect for biking (trails without motor vehicles), good for biking (roads with bike lanes), and which are recommended for biking (regular roads, but still bike-friendly).

This video explains it all:

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Reader Play: A Cool New Feature from Google Reader

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 10:05 AM PST

Don’t worry, Google Reader is not going to be replaced, but the Google Reader team did come up with a cool new feature. It’s called Google Reader Play and is an experiment in Google Labs.

Google Reader Play is all about the visual experience. It uses the same technology as recommended items to find content you might be interested in. By indicating when you enjoy a particular item, Google Reader Play will automatically pull up more content like it. Over time, it learns what you like to read and view, and more content will be customized to your taste.

Reader Play brings together content related to items you’ve liked, starred, or shared during a previous visit, but it will also pull up items shared by the people you are following.

Give Google Reader Play a Spin

To give Google Reader Play a spin, sign into your Google Reader account.
Visit Google Reader Play.
Wait for your content to load.
Use the Star button to star items for later viewing, the like button to see more related content.
Click on the content link to view the original publication.
You can click the TV icon to start a slide show of the content items in Reader Play, and sit back to watch them one by one.
Hide the thumbnails at the bottom by clicking the thumbnail icon in the bottom left.

It looks like Reader Play is a quick and fun way to browse content. You can refine what you’re looking at by selecting particular topic categories. The stream settings button (bottom, third from the left) contains a link to ‘choose categories’:

When you click it you can select the topics you are interested in:

Reader Play is still in labs, so as it develops, and perhaps as it gets to know my tastes it will adapt to provide more content. When I tried it out today, the line-up of material for me to view was still not very extensive. Perhaps users with more active Reader accounts will see more material, and I’ll definitely keep using Reader Play to scan new articles.

What do you think of Google Reader Play? Easy way to browse new content, or just another gadget? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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