Google Tutor

Put on Google Goggles: a New Way to Search

Posted: 10 Dec 2009 04:00 AM PST

Google just came out with a new way to search information: Google Goggles.

This is a new search application for android phones, where you do not have to use your fingers to type in a search, and you do not use your voice for a voice-activated search either. Google Goggles is based on the principle of taking a picture of the object you want more information about, and submitting it to the search. The results will then give you information about the object you photographed.

Goggles is still in its infancy, and currently lives in Google Labs. It works well with books, art work, places, wines, logos, and famous landmarks. It doesn’t work well yet on some other types of objects, like foods or animals. The goal for Google is to perfect Google Goggles to the point where you can take a picture of anything, and receive information about it. To the point of detail where Goggles will be able to identify an organism, such as a plant, using a partial picture (for example a picture of the plan leaf).

Google explains it all in this neat video:

Would you use Google Goggles? I could see myself using it if I am in a hurry and want some quick information on art work, books, or wines. I doubt I would use it for many other types of searches, but who knows… what will you put on your Google Goggles for?

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1. Change owner of a Google Docs Spreadsheet

The first change in Google docs relates to ownership of spreadsheets. Previously, it was already quite easy to change the owner of a Google document or presentation, but now this feature is also available for spreadsheets. So, if you are working on a spreadsheet and suddenly a friend or co-worker takes over the project, you can just switch ownership on the spreadsheet, instead of having to send the actual document back and forth.

To change ownership of a documents you just follow three simple steps:

Click on the “Share” button on the top right hand side of the screen in your open spreadsheet.
Now, just click on “See who has access”
A new window will open, in which you can select which users of the document is registered as an owner. Of course, first you need to invite the new owner as a user to the document before you can reassign ownership.

2. Sort by Relevance in Google Docs Search

Previously, any documents showing up in your search results were sorted by the date on which they were modified. Now your search results are automatically set to sort documents by relevance. There is also a new menu added to the right side of the toolbar, which lets you opt to sort your documents by relevance, starred, or last modified. So if you liked that documents were ordered by last modified so far, you can keep everything the same.

3. Google made sharing documents prettier

The last change to Google Docs was announced just today on the Google Docs blog. It’s purely a cosmetic change in how your shared documents are presented to your friends and co-workers. Now, when you share a document, the way your sharing request is presented in the email is much more colorful.

The background color of the sharing invite indicates the type of document being shared: blue for text documents, green for spreadsheets, and orange for presentations.

What do you think, will these changes be useful, or will you barely notice the difference? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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