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Toolbar

Toolbar

It seems that many larger websites now offer toolbars for quick access to their features, so it was a nobrainer when Google, the most popular search engine out there, released their own toolbar with more than just searching built in

Google’s toolbar installer is pretty standard, but a bit longer than some programs. You have to accept standard terms followed by deciding whether to enable advanced features or not. Google’s sense of humor is slipped in here by asking that you read it carefully because it’s not the usual “Yada Yada”. It is explained the these advanced features can tell you more about the sites you are visiting and explains that it does need to send data back to see what sites your looking at. We will look into this more shortly. You can then choose to set your default search engine. Naturally, they are all Google sites like google.com, google.au, google.es and so on. It also offers to close any Internet Explorer windows that are open before continuing the install. Following installing, Internet Explorer is opened back up for you complete with a start page explaining how to get started and more detailed help on using its features.





The Google toolbar is pretty easy to use and understand. An option button is clearly placed so that you can customize the look as well as edit or disable other features. It offers a search box to type in searches and quick access to some of its features, adding around 8 icons to the toolbar, including Google news, highlight search words on current page and shortcuts to various different ways to search Google. These can be easily removed in the options if you do not use or want to see them. It also adds an icon for blogger.com. Blogs are weblogs people write, the easiest way to explain it is similar to a personal webpage. Often times, they are free and very easy to use.

The Google toolbar adds in quite a few features to Internet Explorer that should already be included. The first and most noticeable one is the pop-up blocker. The toolbar is worth the download simply for the free pop-up blocker alone. On the first pop-up Google toolbar blocks, a window opens noting that a pop-up has been blocked and fully explains how it works, including how to allow or disallow pop-ups on websites. An icon is on the toolbar counting blocked pop-ups.





Some of the other options include saving form data to speed up filling in the same information on forms over and over. This information includes your name, address, phone number, country and even credit card information. I prefer to type a lot of that data in myself personally. Once again, a window pops up the first time you can use form filling and explains it thoroughly. One of the other features is page rank, which shows how popular a website is. It’s simply a green bar and does not seem very exact. You can also find similar pages, one of my favorite features. It is not perfect, and often times finds websites that are not similar, or even different pages on the same website you’re on, but it’s considered experimental and usually finds quite a few similar websites.

The Google toolbar is a must have tool for those who insist on using Internet Explorer as is. The download is very small, taking minutes even on dial-up, and it can be easily disabled or uninstalled without causing any problems. If you looked at a few of the screenshots in this review, you already could have downloaded it. I have installed it on countless computers just for the pop-up blocker alone. The additional features added in simply make your web surfing simpler and more enjoyable.

Gears

Gears

Barely over a week ago, Google unleashed Google Gears, an API and browser extension that help Web developers make their online applications work offline, too--so you can use 'em even when you're disconnected.

Google's proof-of-concept implementation of Gears was with its Google Reader feed reader--which can now download RSS feeds for offline browsing. It does what it says it does, and does it well. But it also serves as a good example of how truly Webby apps may not work very well offline: Any RSS feed that includes just a snippet of text, with a link back to the originating site, is useless when you aren't able to connect to that site. (And that's true of a lot of feeds these days, including ours.)

Yesterday, I happened to visit Remember the Milk--an extremely nifty browser-based to-do list--and saw that it had a new offline mode, implemented with Gears. (The clever Australians behind Gears work fast!) It works well, too. It doesn't replicate all of RTM's features--for instance, you can't add contacts--but you can add, delete, and organize tasks, exactly as you can when online. Once you're connected again, it synchronizes any changes you've made back to the server. Accomplishing useful work in my browser when I was disconnected--I'd intentionally removed my Ethernet cable and shut off Wi-Fi in order to test offline RTM--was kind of a thrill, actually. I felt like I'd just witnessed a sea change in what a Web browser is capable of doing.

Remember the Milk's offline mode has whetted my appetite for more offline stuff in online apps. Thanks to Gears, I suspect we'll see a lot of it--surely Google itself is working furiously on offline capabilities for Gmail and Google Docs and Spreadsheets. If anyone's compiling a definitive list of services that are using Gears, though, I haven't found it--the official Gears blog hasn't been updated this month...


Desktop extensions

Desktop extensions

Google Desktop searches the contents of a user's computer, including files, email messages, viewed web pages, instant messages, images, music, video, and more. Users install Google Desktop from desktop.google.com, and they configure it for themselves. In contrast, Google Desktop for Enterprise is designed for an enterprise environment. A Windows administrator configures Google Desktop for Enterprise and distributes it from a central corporate resource. Google Desktop for Enterprise provides all the user features of Google Desktop, and also indexes Lotus Notes email.

This guide contains information about setting up Google Desktop at an enterprise level and is written for Windows administrators. Any domain administrator can take advantage of the centralized configuration and control features of Google Desktop for Enterprise.

If the enterprise uses a search appliance (Google Search Appliance or Google Mini) for internal search, you can provide an integrated search experience. From one search interface, Google Desktop provides information from the user's desktop, the search appliance provides information from the corporate intranet, and Google.com harnesses the Internet.

Technical Overview

Google Desktop for Enterprise makes use of Microsoft Group Policy and Active Directory, a services infrastructure that delivers and applies configurations to users and computers. If you are unfamiliar with Group Policy technology, see the Microsoft Group Policy documentation.

The package for Google Desktop for Enterprise includes an administrative template that defines policies for Google Desktop. You import the administrative template into the Group Policy Management Console or into your Group Policy editor of choice, and then edit the policy settings. Next, you use Active Directory to apply the template to client machines. This action creates and sets the value of the Google Desktop keys in each targeted machine's registry. Alternatively, you can use other administration mechanisms, such as logon scripts, to directly modify the registry settings of user machines.

The rest of this document tells you how to download and configure Google Desktop for Enterprise, and then how to push out the installation to users. For information on how to create an integrated search experience with Google Search Appliance or Google Mini, see Integrating Google Desktop with Google Search Appliance or Google Mini.

Back to top

Downloading the Software

The administrative template and the installer are available for download from http://desktop.google.com/enterprise. Download the template and the installer to your domain controller.

Back to top

Configuring the Group Policies

To view and modify the Google Desktop Group Policy, open your Group Policy editor. Import the Google Desktop administrative template (.adm) file. Under Administrative Templates|Google|Google Desktop, you'll see the following categories:

  • Preferences define the settings of Google Desktop options. Preference policies make user functions unavailable. If a policy is set to Disabled or Not Configured, a user's own settings generally control the feature.
  • Indexing and Capture Control policies define the type of information that is added to your index, how long it is kept, and so on.
  • Enterprise integration specifies the integration between Google Desktop and Google Search Appliance or Google Mini.

The next sections list and describe each policy, by category. For each policy, the "Since" column lists the first Google Desktop version to support the policy.

Google Indic Input Method

Google Indic Input Method

Google Transliteration IME is an input method editor which allows users to enter text in one of the supported languages using a roman keyboard. Users can type a word the way it sounds using Latin characters and Google Transliteration IME will convert the word to its native script. Note that this is not the same as translation -- it is the sound of the words that is converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning. Converted content will always be in Unicode.


Google Transliteration IME is currently available for 22 different languages - Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Farsi (Persian), Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Tigrinya and Urdu.

Japanese Input

Japanese Input

Google released a Japanese input system beta ver.
When you input Japanese words, you first input them in hiragana, and transform them to kanji, katakana, or mixed of kanji and hiragana.

If you use MS-IME, you may often transform the words to wrong kanji.
To avoid that, you have to transform them in a kind of technical way or make new rule to transform.
Also, you can buy and install ATOK.

Google helps us transform words correctly for free (<-Important!).

After I return home, I'm going to install it and review how good the performance is.

Pinyin Input Method

Pinyin Input Method

Google PinYin Input Method

It is a free download for Windows users. Although Windows XP and Vista have built-in Chinese input method from Microsoft, Google PinYin Input Method has some unique features:

  • Smart sentence building – Google PinYin Input Method builds sentences for you, reduce the time to choose the correct words.
  • Popular words – Powered by Google database, Google PinYin Input Method automatically updates the latest buzz words in Internet.
  • Sync – You can sync your input habit and personalized words with Google account and apply it on other computer.
  • One-click search – It is Google. You can search any word directly from the Google PinYin Input Method toolbar
  • English input – Google PinYin Input Method gives English words suggestion when you type english characters. No need to switch input method.

Visigami

Visigami





I've always enjoyed searching for images on the web, but then it occurred to me that it would be really fun to be able to present the images in a more interesting way than typically seen in a web page. So, I decided to write Visigami, which is both an image search application and screen saver. We're making it open source (Apache license) on code.google.com and I hope you'll have as much fun playing around with it as I did writing it.

Right now Visigami can search from three different image sources: Google Images, Picasa, and Flickr. In the application, there's a search field where you can type a query. Images matching the query will then start animating on the screen. You can animate the images in several ways: fan, carousel, and grid. And there are a few different camera views: fixed, autopan, and mouse pan. There are sliders for adjusting settings such as display speed and zoom. The screen-saver uses exactly the same settings you choose in the application. Although the options panel for the screen-saver works, it's easier to tweak the settings in the application than to run the screen-saver.

Here are some tips on using the application:

* Use your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
* While in "mouse-pan" mode, click in the image view and hold the Option key down to move the images with the mouse.

Talk

Talk

Google is a company that is a leader in many different areas on the Internet. The company is most well known for their search engine, and they offer many applications as an extension of that. VoIP is one of the newer areas Google has developed and it offers integration with the Google Chat function and Gmail e-mail system as well. Google seeks out opportunities to provide a lot of value and innovation with their companies and this acquisition will delight many users who prefer Google to other web-based applications.

Installation and Interface

Google Talk is integrated with the popular Gmail system as well as Google’s other web applications. New users will find that it is easy to sign up for a new Google account. The application can then be downloaded to the user’s Window’s desktop. Users who do not have a broadband Internet connection can still use Google Talk as long as there is a 5k dial-up connection.

When Google Talk is on one’s desktop he/she will need a headset or at least a microphone in order to make use of the phone. Otherwise it is a simple and user-friendly system that does not require any major installation or hassle. Since this is not a full-fledged VoIP there is no need to do so.

Features

Google Talk works well with Google’s Instant messaging system. It also has the ability to do PC-to-PC phone calls, as well as file transfers from one computer to another. Gmail notifications are also integrated into the system. The PC-to-PC function is free so long as the other user also has Google Talk.

Voicemail is a feature that many users enjoy having and the Google Talk client integrates it into their system. There is an option to leave a voicemail as well as receive them from other users. Group chat is another function where the user can chat with more than one person at a time. Google Talk can also be used with iGoogle as well as media previews.

One of the most innovative Google Talk features is that it can be embedded into a website or blog with a snippet of code that can be found in the user’s account. This makes it easy for webmasters to communicate.

Performance

Google Talk is meant to be an easy to use way to chat on the Internet. It is not meant to be a replacement for a regular household or business phone like other VoIP systems. Google Talk will work well for those who enjoy using the rest of the Google suite of applications.

Google Talk must be used on a Windows machine with at least a 56k dialup connection. Google recommends using a broadband connection instead in order to get the best performance. A headset is also recommended in order to get the best call quality.

Service and Support

Google offers support online with a knowledgebase of information for users. If there is a technical problem Google support can be reached online.

List of Features Available on Google Talk

Support: Online
Guarantee: No
Residential Plan: Yes
Small Business Plan: Some Functions
411 Service: No
911 Service: No
Call Return (*69): No
Call Waiting: No
Caller ID: No
Click-to-Call: Yes
Fax Line (FoIP): No
International Calling: Yes-to other users
IP PBX Solution: No
Keep Your Number: No
PC-to-PC Calling: Yes
PC-to-Phone Calling: No
Virtual Phone Numbers: No

SketchUp

SketchUp


SketchUp is a unique program designed to bridge the gap between 2D drawing and 3D modeling. At its heart is a brilliantly simple “inference” system that constantly checks the line you are drawing on the 2D screen against the scene’s underlying 3D geometry to enable you to simply draw true 3D objects. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the complexities of traditional modeling and CAD - as the company slogan puts it, it’s “3D for the rest of us”.

SketchUp’s working environment has also always been comparatively friendly and intuitive for what is by its nature a complex field - but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. In this latest release the menus have been rationalized, splitting the main drawing and manipulating tools for example, while new improved onscreen indicators highlight inference locking, squares and golden sections. Viewing and navigation has also been improved with new options for changing the camera’s field of view, zooming to objects and quick panning. The program’s palettes have also been revamped with the Components palette now providing thumbnail previews and the addition of an Entity Info palette to give feedback on the currently selected object(s). Generally it’s a smoother working experience all round.

So what new power is there? As well as its main drawing tools, SketchUp has always prided itself on its innovative and intuitive manipulation tools such as the excellent Push-Pull tool for painlessly managing extrusions. New in version 4 is the much-trumpeted Follow Me tool which allows users to push or pull a surface along a path. This is ideal for jobs such as adding mouldings to a fire surround or, when used with a circular path, for producing rotated shapes such as bottles and vases. The Follow Me tool is certainly powerful, effectively adding both sweep and lathe-style modeling to SketchUp’s functionality but it’s certainly not child’s play to get to grips with.

SketchUp 4 is designed to bridge the gap between 2D drawing and 3D modeling.

The second major advance in SketchUp 4’s modeling capabilities is much more low-key but proves even more powerful. Now when you have two overlapping objects you can right-click on one and select the Intersect with Model command to automatically create edges where the objects intersect. You can then delete those portions that you don’t want to keep and go on to manipulate the new subdivided faces. Essentially the new intersection capability provides the benefits of traditional Boolean-style operations for quickly creating complex shapes and is especially effective when used with groups which effectively act as cookie-cutters. Again though to make the most of it takes some understanding and effort.

Once you’re happy with your 3D objects, you’re ready to format them. SketchUp doesn’t provide the typical procedural materials of 3D apps but instead concentrates on excellent support for tiled bitmaps including real-time recolouring. In version 4 this bitmap control is taken to a new level. To begin with, you can now quickly and interactively scale the texture tile when you apply it. You can also fine-tune the positioning, scale, rotation, and shear of the tiled pattern after it has been applied, though this is surprisingly awkward involving entering “fixed pin mode” and then manipulating coloured corner pins. You can also switch to “free pin mode” in which you can stretch the bitmap like a skin over a drum which is especially useful when using a photo as the basis for a model.

Textures are usually applied to flat surfaces, which is how SketchUp builds up its models, but for objects with apparently curved surfaces such as cylinders - which are actually made up of numerous smaller flat planes - this can cause problems. Version 4 provides a solution involving placing the sized bitmap in front of the object and then turning it into a material to wrap around the surface. Alternatively, rather than wrapping the texture around a complex surface you can import your bitmap and then directly project it onto your model. Even better, you can continue to edit your model and the projected texture automatically follows the new contours. An obvious use is to convert a scan of a contoured map into a projection slide which you can then quickly build up into an accurate and ready-textured 3D terrain using the Freehand Pencil, Push-Pull and Move tools.

The new texture controls are complex but powerful.

The power is impressive and again opens up whole new areas of functionality. This is typical of the release as a whole. With its new sweeping, lathing and Boolean-style modeling and its texture wrapping and projection, SketchUp 4 is increasingly encroaching on traditional high-end 3D territory. It’s a feeling reinforced by other new professional features such as the ability to check your model for invalid geometry, to purge materials and layers, improved AutoCAD import (including support for solids and splines) and especially the new Ruby API which allows users to automate their work.

The downside to version 4’s new power is that you really need to be an expert user to fully benefit from it and I can’t help feeling that some of the spontaneity and sheer fun of working in SketchUp is being sacrificed. At least version 4 does add one new feature “for the rest of us”. A new “Face Me” option has been added to components which makes them always face the camera – ideal for making the most of 2D objects such as people and objects by ensuring that they look as 3-dimensional as possible. It’s a useful reminder of SketchUp at its best: easily and effectively bridging the 2D to 3D divide.

Quick Search box

Quick Search box

Google released a new product for the Mac called Quick Search Box. Essentially what Quick Search Box does is search your computer and the web seamlessly through one application. Think QuickSilver but on steroids.

Google QSB (Quick Search Box) allows users to quickly search their computer for files, applications, documents, etc or the web for content. Currently Google QSB is Mac only, but perhaps a Windows version is in the works.

So what makes QSB so special? Well, for one, it will learn as you search with it more and more. For example, if you launch a particular application through it all the time, it will move it up in the list of results to make it more easily accessible. Additionally, you can add your Google and even Twitter accounts into QSB to allow for further searching functionality such as your Google Docs.

Google QSB also provides the ability to easily search YouTube, Google News, Google Images, and a number of other Google services (along with your local files and applications) right from within the program itself. The built in application shortcuts (hot keys) make it super simple to open the application and change your searching preferences.

Google Quick Search Box is still in the experimental stages so it’s by no means a full featured (though it seems like it is!) or a bug free application, it is still in development. Nonetheless, I highly recommend you try it out – it’s very nice!


Picasa Web Albums Uploader

Picasa Web Albums Uploader

If you're using Picasa to manage your digital photos, the easiest way to get your photos to the Web is by using Picasa Web Albums.

You need to register for Picasa Web Albums at picasaweb.google.com, but registration is free. You must also have Picasa installed on your computer. You can download your free copy from picasa.google.com.

Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Depending on your Internet connection, this should take less than five minutes.
Here's How:
  1. Open Picasa and select any photo or photos you'd like to upload to Picasa Web Albums.
  2. Click on the Picasa Web Albums button in Picasa, on the bottom of the screen.
  3. A dialog box will appear. You can use this to specify the picture settings and location. The top of the dialog box asks you if you'd like to upload your photos to an existing album, or if you'd like to create a new album. If this is your first time uploading files, select Create a new web album.
  4. The next section of the dialog box asks you to give your album a title. If you're uploading to an existing album, you'd select it. Otherwise, specify a new name. The default name is "Picture."
  5. Give your pictures a description, such as "Holiday Dinner at the Smiths." The description applies to all the photos you're uploading, so it should be fairly general, unless you're only uploading one picture at a time. This is optional, and you can change this later in Picasa Web Albums.
  6. Fill out a place where the photos were taken. This is also optional, but if you've ever tried to sort through a shoe box of family photos, you know why it might be a good idea to keep track of this.
  7. Choose an upload setting. You can specify one of three settings, "Optimized Large," medium, and largest file.

    Use the largest file size if you want other people to be able to print your photos, and you're not worried about storage space. Use the medium size if you have very little space.

    In most cases, however, you should leave this at the default, Optimized Large. This gives you a nice, large image without taking up too much file space.

  8. Set your visibility. Choose Public for any photos you want to make visible to everyone and Unlisted for photos you only want to share with selected people.

    Keep in mind that unlisted photos are not password protected, so don't upload any photos you would regret if they were discovered.

  9. If you are running out of storage space, you can press the Upgrade Storage button and pay $25 per year for extra space. However, in most cases you should just skip this. Google lets you know how much space you have left right next to this button.
  10. Once you've filled out the dialog box, press OK. Picasa will show you a progress bar and let you know when your photos have been uploaded. You'll also receive an alert if there are any problems uploading your pictures.
  11. To see your completed album, go to picasaweb.google.com, and log in to your Google Account.

What You Need:
  • You must have an account with Picasa Web Albums
  • You must have Picasa installed on your computer.

Picasa

Picasa

Picasa is a free digital photo organizer and editor which has improved considerably since its first release. Although I expect better organization and search capabilities from a Google product, Picasa is excellent for beginners and casual digital shooters who want to find all their pictures, sort them into albums, do quick edits, and share with friends and family. Folks with very large photo collections and advanced editing needs should look elsewhere. Picasa 3.5 no longer bears the "beta" designation, adds excellent people recognition technology, and improves the geotagging, import, and keyword tagging features.

Pros
  • Picasa is free and runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.
  • Provides good red-eye removal, quick fixes and effects, and online sharing options.
  • Editing info is stored in INI files, making all edits reversible without saving multiple versions.
  • Designed for non-techies and casual digital photographers.
  • Offers excellent people recognition technology.
Cons
  • Tied to your computer's folder-based system of organization.
  • Limited organization and search capabilities.
  • Only 1 GB of free online storage falls short of the competition.
  • Litters your computer's folders with Picasa.ini files.
Description
  • Picasa scans your computer for pictures and organizes them into albums based on folders and dates.
  • Automatic import from USB cameras, scanners, memory card readers, and CD drives. Supports RAW files.
  • Monitor selected folders for new pictures (including network drives).
  • Organize with virtual folders called Albums. Add keywords & search by keyword, caption, and album information.
  • Remove red-eye, crop, rotate, one-click enhance, auto and manual tuning, add text, and retouch . All edits can be reversed.
  • One-click effects: sharpen, B&W, sepia, warm, tint, film grain, soft focus, glow, saturation, etc.
  • Export photos as Web pages, movies, collages, and posters; Create Gift CDs for sharing.
  • Email pictures or share online with Google Web Albums, Blogger, YouTube, and Google Earth.
  • Order prints through online photo labs, or print photo layouts and contact sheets yourself.
  • For Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac, and Linux. Older Picasa versions are available for Windows 2000/Me/98.
Guide Review - Picasa Digital Photo Software from Google
When you first run Picasa, it finds and sorts all your pictures into albums based on existing folder names. This may sound good in theory, but it's not very useful if you don't already have descriptive folder names. If you're just starting with digital photography, it's fine, but if you have a lot of pictures already, you may need to make adjustments.

In addition to the folders list, you can create custom photo groupings using "Albums." Pictures can also be annotated with keywords and captions which are written to the photo files. Picasa does not offer a system for rating photos, but you can apply a star to photos you wish to mark as favorites.

As a Google property, you'd expect superior search capabilities in Picasa, but the lack of any kind of advanced search in a time when photo collections are becoming increasingly large is a major downfall in Picasa.

Picasa now provides full online synchronization with web albums. I'd really like to see them increase the free storage, however. With Microsoft offering free 25 GB, Photoshop.com at 2 GB, and Gmail is up to 8 GB, the 1 GB you get for Picasa Web Albums feels rather skimpy.

But there is little else negative I can say about Picasa. The newest feature of people recognition performs amazingly well, blowing away the competition for its debut appearance in Picasa 3.5. In addition, the keyword tagging feature has been improved further and is now quite useful. Picasa 3.5 includes date editing, which is desirable for scanned images and those inevitable situations when you camera loses its date settings. Photo import is improved as well, so you can mark your favorites for upload and sharing during the import stage.

Picasa has just about everything home users will need for working with and sharing their personal digital photos. Version 3.5 is a great step forward for what was already an excellent photo manager for beginners. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and best of all, it's free!

Photos Screensaver

Photos Screensaver

The Google Photos Screensaver from Google, Inc. is a free photo screensaver that easy to use. This Software allows their users to create their own customized screen saver.

Click Here to go to Google Photos Screensaver website. Then click link download to start the installation process.

When you install the Google Screensaver on your personal computer, you are adding a whole new set of functions to your screensaver. With Google Photos Screensaver you can create a personal screen saver composed of your favorite digital pictures. The Google Photos Screensaver also offers the ability to display photos from your favorite photo feeds and your Picasa Web Albums.

The Google Photos Screensaver is designed to be used with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and above and Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and above. The Google Photos Screensaver is currently incompatible with other browsers like Opera or Netscape. The minimum system requirements for running the Google Screensaver are Microsoft Windows XP and Vista.

Google Photos Screensaver will displays photos from different locations. The photos screensaver acts like a slideshow so you can move to the next or previous photo using your mouse. The title and the author of that photo is always visible and you can go to the source of the photo by clicking to one of the links from the bottom of the window.

With this Google Photos Scrensaver you can configure the visual effects (collage, wipe, pan and zoom, cross fade) and how often the photos appears.

Your computer. You select a list of folders that contain photos and Google Screensaver monitors the JPEGs from these folders.

Picasa Web Albums. If you use Google's photo sharing site, you can view pictures from the most recently modified albums and from your contacts. It's probably the most interesting feature of Picasa Web Albums: you can monitor all the photos uploaded to your contacts' albums.

Web feeds. You can find them in photo sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa Web Albums or at this page. Some nice feeds: Flickr (Vista wallpapers, nature, architecture, landscape, Google food), Yahoo search (autumn, Dali, sunset) . To add a new source, right-click a link to a feed in IE and Firefox and select "Add to Google Photos Screensaver".


Add Photos Methode:

You can add photos to your Google Photos Screensaver from a variety of sources, including photo feeds, Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and folders on your hard drive. To add photos, please follow these steps:
  1. Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “Control Panel”
  2. Double-click “Display” to open the “Display Properties” window.
  3. Select the “Screen Saver” tab.
  4. Make sure “Google Photos Screensaver” is selected, and click “Settings.”
  5. Check the box beside the source you want to add, and click “Configure…”
  6. Once configured, click “Done.”
  7. Click “OK” to exit the “Google Photos Screensaver” window.
  8. Click “OK” once more to exit the “Display Properties” window.
Additionally, you can add photo feeds by right-clicking a link to the feed and selecting “Add to Google Photos Screensaver” from the context menu in your browser.

If you’d like to prevent all photos from a particular source from being displayed, please un-check the box next to that source. Click “OK” when you’re done.

To remove a feed from Google Photos Screensaver, please follow the instructions below:
  1. Go to “Start” > “Settings” > “Control Panel” > “Display”
  2. Double-click “Display” to open the “Display Properties” window.
  3. Select the “Screen Saver” tab.
  4. Make sure “Google Photos Screensaver” is selected, and click “Settings.”
  5. Click the “Configure…” button next to “Photo feeds.”
  6. Select the feed you’d like to remove, and click “Remove.”
  7. Click “Done.”
  8. Click “OK” to exit the “Display Properties” window.

If you’d like to temporarily disable a feed, un-check the box next to that feed. When you want to display the feed again, simply check the box.


Download Google Screensaver Without Installing Google Pack

The screensaver is a part of Google Pack, but if you get it from this page you can install only the screensaver. Then you can uninstall Google Updater and keep the screensaver.

You can download Google Screensaver without installing Google Pack, but this link may change in the future. The link is :
http://gpdl.google.com/installers/ci_ss/en/2.2007.0323.1359/gpscrsav.msi (4.5 MB)


Photo Feeds for Google Photos Screensaver


Photo feeds are streams of images that can be viewed in Google Photos Screensaver. For example, if you are viewing an album in Picasa Web Albums, you can right-click the "RSS" link at the bottom of the page and select "Add to Google Photos Screensaver" to add those images to your screensaver.

Remember, photographs are the creative work of photographers, and you should ask for their permission before displaying their photos in your screensaver. Some photographers have already given permission to use their photos under a Creative Commons license, including the Google employees who donated their photos to the default feed of the Google Photos Screensaver. A great example of a Creative Commons photo feed is the Creative Commons Photo Pool on Flickr.

Google Pack

Google Pack

Google Pack was released in early 2006 as a pack of programs that Google deemed as essential for the PC.

At the original writing of this article, Google Pack came with Adaware, Firefox, and other great tools. But for whatever reason, Google has removed them from the Google Pack download.

Google Earth

Have you ever wanted to instantly view anywhere in the world? Well with Google Earth you can. Google Earth allows you to view satelite images of the world up close. A better description of it is Google Maps times a million.

The program is for broadband users (do to the endless number of images you’ll be instantly downloading as you view the world), so if you’ve got dial up you might want to think twice about use this program.

The program comes in three versions: Free, Plus, and Pro.

Google Desktop

Using things called “Gadgets” you can add hundreds of features and tools to your desktop using a sidebar.

The sidebar can be set to display above everything, under everything, or a few other positions.

With this sidebar thing comes something Windows XP users have been needing for a while. A fast (just as fast as Google’s search engine most of the time) search for your computer.

The search is restricted to documents (word, text, images, html files, etc.), but its still a very helpful thing to have. More information on GDS can be found here.

This is comparable to Vista’s Sidebar. In fact, when I bought my Vista computer, it came with Google Desktop loaded instead of Sidebar and for a few hours I couldn’t tell the difference.

Picasa

If you’re a photographer, or just a person with a gazillion (or something like that) images, Picasa is for you.

In just a few moments after being started, Picasa hunts down and finds all of the images on your computer. But that’s not all it does.

Picasa organizes your images by year, allows you to further organize your images without leaving Picasa, lets you password project photo collections, and much more.

Google Toolbar

Using Google Toolbar, you can easily search using Google no matter what web site you’re on.

It is available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. There’s really not much to say about this, since its pretty self explanatory. It works well with Firefox, because a lot of Firefox theme developers make it so the search bar blends in with their theme.

Photo Screensaver

If you’ve got yourself a bunch of awesome pictures and you’ve always wanted to make your own screensaver, then this is the program for you! Using Photo Screensaver, you can take pictures from your computer (or the internet) and turn them into a working screenaver.

Adobe Reader

Adobe reader is a free reader for Adobe’s PDF format. It’s like Adobe Acrobat without the editing/creating functions.

This is definitely a must have for those in the business world, as well as those that like to read the 500mbs worth of Star Wars books you downloaded (and by “those” I mean me).

Norton Security Scan/Spyware Doctor Starter Edition

Norton is a virus remover and Spyware Doctor SE takes care of trojans, adware, spyware, etc. These two don’t really require much explanation.

Personally, I would exclude these two from your download and pick up Adaware instead.

Google Talk

Google Talk is a simple and easy to use IMing software that lets you chat with GMail users around the world. GMail comes with this program built into their inboxes, but you can also download it and run it like you would AIM, MSN, etc. Google Talk also lets you do voice conversations.

Skype

Skype is basically the same thing as Google Talk, but without the GMail aspect. Its interface is no where near as simple or easy to use as Google Talk’s, but its still a great IMing program that I use everyday.

Gmail notifier

Gmail notifier

Emails are a great tool to deliver messages and electronic attachments. Actually, when email began to spread more aggressively, all the post offices in the world registered a profit decrease as people gave up the traditional way of sending their letters.

All there was needed was creating an account, selecting a user ID and a password and that was it. You had instant access (well it very much depended on your Internet connection) to your email box and you could check all the messages, including the sent ones. One nagging limitation was the maximum storage room that was pretty limited (I remember that you could at one moment store only 8MB of messages on the mail servers).

However, given the traffic of email on the servers it was more than enough for some of the users (my friends and I used to joggle with five or six email accounts to make up for the necessary space). Nowadays, competition pushed the great players on the email market (Microsoft, Yahoo and Google) to suddenly increase the size of the mail box. My Gmail account is currently 2796MB large, which is pretty much for me, as only 40% of this size is occupied.

Together with the expansion of email messaging, it was time for a more real time communication and the IM (Instant Messaging) was born. This allowed users all over the world to communicate almost instantly. Of course, the link between the two messaging services was only logical and all users could check their mail box through their IM software. Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk, they all give you access to your mail box via the IM application.

Google Talk - although a great application - failed to take the market and has the fewest users. So Google took another way to gain users. They created GMail Notifier, a free application that allows you to check your Google email account instantly. Of course, the basic condition is to have a Google Mail account.

The little program integrates perfectly in your Windows shell and after installation it will nest in the system tray and wait for your inbox to fill up. As its name suggests, all it does is notify the users about the incoming emails in the GMail account.

During the installation, the user can choose the type of the install and select the optional components you want to be added: Run on startup and Use for outgoing mail (use GMail to send mail from mailto: links on the web).

Immediately after the installation, the user will have to provide the necessary information to authenticate and pinpoint the account on the server. The ease of use and the low complexity level will require typing in the username and the password of your account.

I was supposed to talk about the interface now, but due to the fact that there is not such a thing in this case, I will skip directly to the options. The only option available is choosing the web browser you want the account to be opened into. The application automatically detects some of the browsers installed and will present the choices. In my case, the web browsers displayed are Internet Explorer, Maxthon Browser and Mozilla Firefox. I also had Avant browser installed on my machine, but GMail Notifier failed to detect it.

Right clicking the little blue icon in the system tray will display a context menu that enables the user to go to the mail account on the spot (it will be opened in the browser selected in the options menu) or check the mail right away. "Tell me again" option will re-list the emails in your inbox.

The received emails will be displayed in the right side of your desktop and will contain some information about the currently shown message. Thus, the subject is displayed together with the reference number of the email in your inbox section of the account. If the email has been received on the current day then the hour will also be shown.

In case of Internet connection failure the little icon will have a blue exclamation mark on it and an error message will also be displayed, saying that an error is preventing GMail Notifier from retrieving the emails in your account.

The Good

Small, easy to use and to configure. The icon will be shown in the system tray and the messages will be shown in the right corner of your desktop.

The Bad

Some of my friends said that the missing feature is the sound notification changing. Others that it does not store the messages on the computer like Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. I say that these observations are not solid and that the only disturbing activity of the application is the RAM usage (8MB). But even this is not such a big baddie nowadays.

The Truth

It is a notifier and this is what it does. It works nice and smooth and does a great job.

Gmail

Gmail

Gmail includes excellent spam protection, phishing warnings and virus scanning; ultimate organization, conversation view, POP3 access and 8 GB of inbox storage that continues to grow every day.

Additionally with Gmail you can chat, post documents and spreadsheets online, customize your homepage, get mobile access, check your RSS feeds, be notified every time you receive a new message and your account never expires. However, Gmail is like an exclusive club, you have to be invited to join.

Security:

Gmail’s security includes spam, virus and phishing protection. All spam is filtered into a spam folder that allows you to separate the good from the bad, all incoming and outgoing messages are scanned for known viruses, and suspicious messages that look like phishing scams are flagged with a big red banner across the top of the message. Additionally, you can report both spam and phishing attempts to Google.

Although we found Gmail’s spam protection to be top–notch we are slightly disappointed that we could not adjust the strength of the spam filters from low, medium or exclusive.

Features Set:

Gmail provides some of the best email organization on the Internet. Their pride and joy feature is the “conversation” interface. Instead of having a list of back and forth emails between you and a friend or co–worker all replies and sent messages are filtered into one line of inbox with a corresponding number of messages in that conversation. For example if you have recently gotten in touch with an old friend and have continued to correspond for several weeks, your inbox might look like this, “me, Marcus (9) How have you been?” The first person on the list in this case “me” indicates the person who initiated the conversation.

Additionally, you can create custom filters and have all your messages sorted by, “from”, “to”, “subject,” “has the words” and “doesn’t have.” Messages can be places into labels (folders), stared, deleted or forwarded

Gmail does not include graphic ads on their pages, however they do place subtle ads based on the text of your emails on the right hand side of the page. Computer bots scan your messages and place ads that might relevant to you. Google insists human eyes never see your messages; however, if you feel uncomfortable with this arrangement see the #2 free email service, Windows live Hotmail.

Extras:

Gmail leads the pack when it comes to additional features and extras. Gmail was the only service we reviewed that included an instant messenger program without an additional download. If one of your contacts is signed into their account, you can chat with them. If you both have webcams, Gmail is equipped with video chat software too. With Gmail’s mobile access, you can send and receive emails through your BlackBerry or other mobile device. Gmail also offers a downloadable notifier for your PC.

Gmail possesses two unique features. You can customize your homepage and post documents and spreadsheets online. To customize your homepage you can choose from a list of several RSS feeds provided by Google, or you can import your own RSS feed from your favorite websites and arrange them on your homepage. Gmail’s docs and spreadsheet feature allows you to post an editable document or spreadsheet online and access it from anywhere, similar to online storage. This feature is great for group projects at school or work, where all members of the team can access the same material. Gmail is also available in dozens of languages from Arabic to Vietnamese.

Gmail provides a plethora of extras. We particularly love Picasa for photos, the calendar for scheduling and the iGoogle customizable homepage.

Support/ Ease of Use:

Email can’t get much easier. However, in order to join Gmail you must be invited by a friend. All new accounts come with 50 invites and you are free to pass them out as you please.

Gmail’s help section includes online help, tutorial, FAQs and message boards. All of our questions were easily answered using the search feature. However, there is no email contact if you can’t find your answer with the provided materials.

Summary:

Gmail is already the undisputed leader in the web based email arena. It’s a secure, easy–to–use program that places the world at your fingertips. Gmail is one of the few free services we reviewed that has implemented strong anti–phishing protection. Additionally, this was the only service to offer the docs and spreadsheet feature with multiple person access. While we would have liked free online storage besides the docs and spreadsheet feature, Google integrates so many useful extras that our only real complaint about Gmail is simply that we end up using it too much.

Earth

Earth

If you’ve ever wanted to be Superman—soaring above our globe, diving deep in the ocean, or launching into outer space—Google Earth 5 can grant your wish. In exchange, you’ll have to put up with a few bugs, an inelegant interface, and a controversial update system. Still, the delight of a superhero’s-eye view of Earth is almost too much fun to pass up.

Up, up, and away

Google Earth applies satellite imagery and topographical data to a 3-D globe. In some major cities, you’ll even see fully textured 3-D buildings and landmarks. You can enhance these maps with a smorgasbord of relevant data, including photographs, Wikipedia entries, and YouTube videos. (Google Earth downloads data on the fly, so the graphics occasionally stuttered as I traveled the globe, even on a speedy aluminum MacBook.) Learning the program’s basics is easy, but for anything more complex, you’ll need to brave Google’s sprawling online user guide.

Bored with Earth? Google Sky offers a map of the heavens packed with Hubble Space Telescope imagery, and Google Mars lets you explore the Red Planet. The latter feature is particularly fun; you can follow the paths of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, or converse with a Martian chatbot near the famous “Face on Mars.” All these features are available in Google Earth’s free regular version. For $400, you can upgrade to Google Earth Pro, which I didn’t review. According to Google’s Web site, the Pro version includes faster performance, the ability to make movies of your virtual travels, support for GIS (geographical information system) and GPS data, and higher-resolution image printing, among other features.

Newly arrived on Earth

The major features that are new in the latest version of Google Earth include ocean views, historical imagery, and tours. The Ocean layer lets you dive beneath the water to explore the ocean floor, and adds various nautical layers, including shipwreck sites and YouTube videos from National Geographic, the BBC, and Jacques Cousteau. The videos are entertaining, but the ocean floor looks surprisingly boring and flat. Searching for subsea sites is hit or miss, too. I typed in “Titanic” and was whisked to landlocked Titanic, Oklahoma. (Google says it was unable to add many well-known underwater locations in time for the initial launch, but will work to include them in future updates.)

Historical imagery lets you slide back and forth on a timeline of available aerial and satellite photography. Older images can be impressive, but for now, they’re often scarce. I rarely found photos more than a decade old, and many of those were understandably less detailed than the latest images.

Tours let you share journeys with other Google Earth users, either by automatically following a predetermined route, or recording what you see as you zip around in real time. You can add audio, text, and images to explain different landmarks. Tours worked fine for me, except for audio. Google Earth consistently cut off the first few seconds of sound after I hit the record button; according to Google, the program needs a few seconds to load audio drivers before it can actually begin capturing sound.

You get what you pay for

Google Earth 5 is a lot of fun, and the price—free—is definitely right. But it’s often so eager to be useful that it can be unusable. With so many data layers, it’s hard to decide where to begin. You can switch individual layers on and off, but it’s sometimes hard to tell from layer names alone whether they will be useful or interesting.


Limited topographical data makes Google Earth’s underwater views—like this, supposedly the Mariana Trench—less than impressive.

The interface felt cramped on a 13-inch laptop screen, squeezing Fly To, Places, and Layers panes into a sidebar to the left of the main window. It took a lot of scrolling to see each pane’s entire contents; expanding one pane only made the others smaller.

The program also has a surprising number of bugs. Descriptions in the Places window sometimes illegibly displayed text atop other text. When I created a new placemark, Google Earth wouldn’t save location names more than one word long unless I also added a description. Google says it’s aware of both issues and working on fixes, though programmers couldn’t consistently replicate the latter problem. In addition, when I attempted to share a placemark with other users, I was taken to a bare-bones Web page saying that feature had been temporarily disabled. According to Google, it’s upgrading the Web site tied to this feature and will restore service soon.

Privacy buffs may also object to Google’s Update Engine, which installs with Google Earth and can’t be deactivated or removed on its own. The Mac version checks for updates once every day, rather than when Google Earth is opened. It also invisibly activates every two hours to see if a day has passed since its last check, whether Google Earth is running or not. Google Earth lets you know about the updater before you install, but if you’re not wild about an invisible program under your computer’s hood talking to Google every day, you might prefer some way to turn it off. Google says it’s heard users’ concerns about the updater, and it’s working on a better solution.


Historical imagery lets you travel back in time to see some areas as they appeared years or decades past.

google desktop

Google Desktop

The Google Desktop allows you to customize your desktop the way you like, add gadgets like Gmail, YouTube, Google reader, RSS readers, and much more.

This is an amazing application for those who have a lot of contacts, files, folders, and emails. The sidebar has a nice built-in to-do list and notepad, and integrating other gadgets is simply an effortless process.

Ease of Installation & Use
Rating Good

Installing the Google Desktop is a cake-walk. All you need to do is to visit desktop.google.com, click on the install button, and leave the rest to the application.

Using the Google Desktop is also fairly simple, and you don't really have to break your head to understand how to install gadgets, and work with its basic functionalities.

It has cool features, and if you're a tech geek, or someone who deals with hundreds of emails, contacts, and feeds, it is an ideal solution to integrate all your stuff and manage them from a common place.

Utility and Performance
Rating Excellent

When you take a look at the features of Google Desktop, you'll find almost everything useful right from the Quick Search Box. Smart Indexing is the way you get the most relevant search results, down to the provision to recover files with cached copies and regular updates.

Smart Indexing

Soon after the installation is over, Google Desktop starts indexing everything from the local files on your computer down to the web history and emails. When your PC is left idle for thirty seconds, the app indexes everything, ensuring that the process of indexing doesn’t slow down your PC. However, the process continues for several hours, though again without affecting the performance of your PC.

Don’t Miss a Thing!

The application keeps updating the index every time you modify a file, receive a new mail, or delete something.

Recovering Accidentally Deleted Files With Cached Copies

Furthermore, it also keeps cached version of deleted files, and hence you may use these cached version to retrieve info from accidentally deleted files.

Customizing Sidebar and Plug-ins

To keep your Google Gadgets organized in your sidebar, you also have a control panel, which allows you to drag-and-drop your favorite gadgets, and hide/show the sidebar along with other application screens. So, the choice is totally yours; customize things the way you like!

What's New in Google Desktop 5.9.911.3589 Version?

The Google Desktop 5.9.911.3589 adds support to latest version of Mozilla Firefox browser, and the Windows XP SP3 OS version, apart from full compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows 7. You can also see a new option to add preferences to display the deskbar towards the left of the taskbar.

What's more, working with Outlook has been never so easy, and the most-noteworthy update in the Google Desktop version 5 is the Preview Window for search results, which saves your time on unnecessarily clicking the results, opening, and closing the unwanted stuff over and again.

The Bottom Line

The Google Desktop is one of the cool apps offered by Google, which allows you to index your hard drive, more like Google does it for the web pages. However, it slows down your PC operation by a considerable extent, and it can eat up lot of resources on the low-configuration machines.




chrome

chrome

Google has joined the Internet browser competition full force with a very impressive entry, Chrome. Google Chrome takes a unique approach to browsing the web, combining top notch features with speed, compatibility, and simplicity.

Chrome uses complex features but makes them very simple to use. Chrome is an open source project using the WebKit rendering engine. We like what we’ve seen in Chrome so far, and look forward to seeing more innovation and simple usability from the browser in the future.

Features Set:

Google Chrome has a load of easy-to-use features and tools. Chrome takes the traditional toolbar and turns it on end, placing the tabs on top. Google further develops the tab-centric focus with several unique tab features. You can drag tabs from the browser to make new windows, rearrange tabs, and even duplicate tabs. And because each tab is run independently in the browser, if one tab crashes it won’t ruin your whole session.

Chrome features an Incognito mode, so you can browse in private. This stealth browsing mode allows you to open sites and even download files without affecting your histories. Additionally, cookies and passwords are deleted after you close the incognito window. You can even have one browser window open in normal mode and another in incognito mode.

The download manager of Chrome is inconspicuous, integrated at the bottom of the tab where the downloading is occurring. Chrome also has an integrated find on page feature, which appears near the top right corner.

Another nice feature is the anywhere drag and drop, which allows you to drag text or a link from anywhere on a web page and put it directly into your search bar. The smart toolbar gives helpful suggestions while you are typing in it, and makes it easy to revisit a previously viewed site that you’ve forgotten because the toolbar searches through titles as well as actual in-page text.

Ease of Use:

Google Chrome is well organized and fairly intuitive. The simple interface is anything but cluttered, but gives users the tools they need at hand. Google Chrome features are powerful and effective, yet simple to use. The frame is thin, and Google Chrome even allows users to launch certain web apps in their own window, without the toolbar and url box, taking fullscreen views to a new level.

Google Chrome adds a whole new level of simplicity to web applications. You can run a web application in a designated window and have it feel more like distinct software. You can create desktop shortcuts that when opened, reveal your desired web application without tabs, address bars, or even buttons. You can even use the “Google Gears” to create shortcuts (desktop, start menu, and quick launch bar) for your newly created application window. Google Chrome helps bridge the gap between your desktop and online applications.

The tabs in Google Chrome are designed to be simple and help you utilize tabbed browsing in a whole new way. Like other browsers, you can easily rearrange tabs, create new ones, and even transfer tabs from one window to another very easily. But the dynamic tabs in Google Chrome can also be pulled out from the browser to create a whole new window. Furthermore, the visual tabs in Chrome simply get smaller and still display all of them rather than in a side-scrolling fashion like other browsers.

Another unique tab feature that simplifies your browsing is related tabs. When a new tab is created from an existing tab, the new tab is placed next to the originating or parent tab, rather than at the end of your list of tabs. This makes it much easier to keep related tabs organized and grouped together, as they naturally should be.

Chrome does a good job with providing the essential tools (and more) easily at hand, but not bombarding users with extra toolbars and extra buttons. The interface is simple and intuitive, but doesn't draw your attention away from the actual web content. In these regards, less browser is more.

Security:

Chrome is safe and secure, protecting from phishing schemes, malware, pop-ups, and viruses. Chrome warns you if you’re about to access an unsafe website. You can have Chrome remember your passwords or opt not to.

Google Chrome uses “sandboxing”, which makes every tab run independently in the browser. This is great because if a certain application crashes, it will stay isolated to the tab it’s in, not affecting any other tabs. Different processes run separately in their own tab. This technique helps prevent malware from installing itself on your computer and also stops one tab from taking control of all others. Once you close a tab, that process is completely terminated.

Another innovative feature that Google takes from traditional operating systems and applies to internet browsing is a task manager. Users can open the online task manager and see which websites and applications are running and how much computer memory they are using. Users can even check out the "stats for nerds" section and see detailed information about browser memory usage and the processes running.

Speed & Compatibility:

Google Chrome is fast. We had no problems downloading or installing Chrome. Initializing Chrome for the first time of the day is very fast, as is the average time it takes to open subsequent times. Navigation time is remarkably fast as well. See how we timed browser speeds .

Google has taken initiative in making Chrome very compatible with the Internet. Chrome was specifically designed to quickly and efficiently load, display, and interact with the huge variety of applications on the web.

Help/Support:

Google Chrome has an in-depth help center with help in a variety of categories. The knowledge center has resources to help get new users started, and help advanced users customize their experience. Users can also check on known problems and add comments or suggestions online.

Google Chrome has an online Help Group where users can post issues and interact with other users and an official Google Guide.

Summary:

Chrome is a great Internet browser, and certainly worth looking into. The user interface manages to look no-frills while still containing all the bells and whistles. Google Chrome has some tremendous features and is very usable. With Google just recently launching the browser and it being developed through open source, we look forward to what Google Chrome will offer in the future. For now, it’s a great browser, definitely worth downloading and trying.

AdWords Editor

AdWords Editor


If you are advertise with Google™, you cannot afford not to use Google Adwords Editor, a free tool designed to help Adwords advertisers.

Why is it so unique?

It is unique because you can make multiple changes offline and upload all the changes at once to your account. In other words, you can add or edit campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads while you stay offline. Then, upload all these changes to your account with the click of a button.

In addition, you can also manage multiple Adwords account. You may be managing Adwords campaigns for others. You can open different accounts, review your campaigns and make changes as needed.

The changes don’t go live immediately. After you are satisfied with the changes you have made, upload them to your Adwords account. In addition, you can review individual keywords in any campaign or ad groups based on their performance. You can view match type, status (active/paused), first page bid estimate, quality score, Max CPC, placement details and the like.

In one window, you can find first page bid estimate of individual keywords, quality score, max CPC, destination URL (if one is set for the particular keyword), clicks, impressions, CTR, average CPC, average CPM and cost. An individual ad campaign has different tabs for keywords, placements, negatives, Ads and ad groups.

In addition to text ads, you can also ad image ads, local business ads and mobile ads. The coolest thing is you can create whole campaigns before uploading the complete campaign – complete with keywords, multiple ads (for split testing) and ad groups (for multiple products).

After you are done creating/editing your campaigns, you can click the Post Changes button in the toolbar or press Ctrl + S on the keyboard. You can also locate duplicate keywords by selecting the ‘view duplicate keywords’ from dropdown menu next to ‘View’.

Only gripe I have is, you can’t change ‘match type’ of multiple keywords. You have change the type ‘Broad’, ‘Phrase’ or ‘Exact’ one by one. This is a mess while pasting keywords from a text file. Otherwise, it is a great time saver while managing ads for a lot of pages or sites.