Orangeinks

Google Reader Play: SlideShow the Web

Google recently released an interesting new way for you to browse the web. Branded as Google Reader Play, the new reader will allow you to browse the web, slide-show style, with some level of control. It displays a stream of video, images and text content. You can simply press the next button if you don’t like a particular item and share or star it if you do.

The service uses a somewhat similar algorithm as StumbleUpon, when it comes to recommending content. Google will keep track of the stuff that you star, like or share and they will show you similar content the next time you use Reader Play. In short, the more you use Reader Play, the more personalized your content gets.

This new version of Google reader seems to be formatted for TV viewing and with its passive approach on providing content, I wouldn’t be surprised if I see it on future televisions or if it gets included in future TV software updates.

Tags: Google, Google Reader, Google Reader Play, slideshow

Tw2Buzz: A Twitter to Google Buzz Migration Tool

Tw2Buzz is a tool that lets you import Twitter contacts into Google Buzz with ease. If you’re fond of the Google Buzz and want to increase your contacts through Twitter, you can use the service to locate people from your Twitter contacts who use Google Buzz and connect with them.

The migration process will only take you 3 easy steps. The first step is to allow Tw2Buzz access your Twitter account. Like most Twitter apps that use your Twitter user/pass to login, Tw2Buzz promises not to store your password. This procedure will only be used in the importing process.

Once logged in, the service will retrieve your contact list and scan the web, looking for their Google account which will bring us to the third step. You will be given a list of Google Buzz users and select from them which ones you wish to follow.

This tool is not really a must for Buzz users but if you wish to make your life easier in importing Twitter contacts to Google Buzz, it’s definitely worth the three easy steps. This is not really an alternative because this is the first of its kind, there’s still the old fashion way of adding contacts for those who do not wish to hand out their Twitter username and password.

Tags: Google, Google Buzz, Tw2Buzz, twitter

Google Image Swirl Finds Similar Images and Organizes them for You

Google Image Swirl is an experimental feature of Google for image search. This new feature combines technology and visualization to organize image search results based on their visual and semantic similarities. They are presented in an intuitive explanatory interface.

This tool can easily resolve an ambiguous query visually. For example, if you do a search and used the keyword “Jaguar,” the results page may return images of a cat combined with images of a popular car brand. This is also true for the beetle and apple keywords. You can also explore a concept from different visual perspectives like viewing certain structures on different point of views in an organized manner.

What Google Image Swirl does is combine a variety of image similarity features with additional metadata about the images to build a hierarchy of clusters of image search results. This is pretty much the explanation on how it works. But it really looks and feels better when you’re trying it out for yourself rather than reading about it. The interface is very self explanatory and user friendly.

This tool/feature has a true potential to make Google image search better and a lot easier. Instead of browsing pages after pages of image search results, you can easily find what you are looking for by just viewing the top image on a particular cluster or group of images.

Tags: Google, Google Labs, Image Search, Image Swirl

Google Building Maker: Create 3D Buildings for Google Earth

Building Maker is a 3D modeling tool that allows you to create and add buildings to Google Earth. The tool also works with Google Sketchup (Google’s 3D Modeling Software) so you can edit and modify your 3D building. You can setup a building in matter of minutes by using the building blocks and images that are provided by Google.

In order to create your three-dimensional model, you’ll need to get the Google earth plugin for your browser. The plugin is needed in order to run the builder engine. You can start by selecting location or a city from around the world. You can choose the location available for editing or you can let Google choose for you. Simply position building blocks on top of aerial images to quickly create realistic looking buildings. You’ll also need to have a Google account in order to save your 3D project for inclusion in Google Earth. It will be reviewed by Google, and once approved – your creation will be included on Google Earth for everyone to see.

Google Building is a way of sharing your 3D modeling talents to the whole world and get credit for it. If you’re looking for something to do on your free time, you can try making a 3D building using the app and see your creation appear on Google Earth. The app works on your browser and once you’ve downloaded the required plugin, you can immediately start playing Sim City – Google Style.

Watch the demo video below

Tags: 3D Building, 3D Models, Google, google earth, Google Sketchup

Monopoly City Streets: A Google Powered Online Monopoly Game

Monopoly  City Streets is a live global game of MONOPOLY that turns the world’s cities into a giant Monopoly City game board using Google Maps. You can virtually own any street across the world and play to become the richest property magnate in the world.

Unlike the traditional board game edition, there are no playing pieces or movements. Rent is paid out by the game itself each day, which are based on the properties you buy for the site, and not by other players. You get to earn rent from your properties every day, even if you don’t play. Your rent is calculated automatically by the game so that you can focus more on your property buying rather than being good at math.

You’ll start with a bank balance of 3 Million Monopoly Dollars. You can start by buying and owning the very street you live in. Then follow it up by buying friend’s streets, your neighborhood, your town, cities, and the world. You can own virtually any street across the globe.

The game will be live and open until January 31, 2010.

We want to watch the popularity of the site in the coming months and see how consumers react. But at the present time, we are planning on closing the application on Jan. 31, 2010. We can’t speculate on what we may decide to do at that point.

Play against the world and enjoy a live and global game of MONOPOLY.

Tags: Google, google maps, monopoly, Monopoly Streets

TwoQuick: Real-Time Search Meets Traditional Search

TwoQuick is a search engine that provides search results from both Google and Twitter. You can view the results from the search engine giant and the most popular micro blogging slash social networking site side by side. The search engine offers nothing too flashy, just simple and direct to the point results from two great sources of information that is presented in a single page.

The search engine displays simple Google results which are similar to how the search engine giant used to do it in older times. There’s no images and video recommendations, just the link and the short description of the page is included. The Twitter search results are presented in a manner which includes the Tweet and URL (if included) along with the avatar and Twitter user who published the tweet. It also displays the duration of the tweet’s existence which comes in very handy when you’re tracking the time of release of the information that you’re looking for.

Combining traditional search and real time search side by side using one search engine comes in handy when you are researching for fresh topics. You can view the most recent discussions that are found on Twitter and compare them with older articles that can be found using Google. Twitter is becoming more popular as a source of real-time information. Combining Tweeter data and Google search results in a single, simple and easy-to-use search engine is not a bad idea.

Tags: Google, search-engine, twitter, Twitter Plus Google Search, TwoQuick