Following the first wave of its “Explorer Program,” Google has shared that winning #ifihadglass applicants will start receiving invitations to try Glass “over the next few weeks.”

Sadly, if you are not among the lucky few selected by Google, it doesn’t look like you’ll get your hands on Glass any time soon — the company has shared that it isn’t “taking any more applications right now.”

For successful #ifihadglass applicants, this announcement should be satisfying to read; Google had previously been unclear as to when the winners would receive their Glass. Last we heard, the company simply said “we’ll start reaching out to [winners] later on” back in April.

Google ambiguously stated that it is “thrilled to be moving into the next phase of our Explorer Program and we hope to expand in the future.”

Now over a year old, the Explorer Program is still limited to a very small group of users. Whether you’re excited to try Google Glass or can’t help but rip on them, it looks like these futuristic specs are rather far from being ready for a public release.

For more on Google Glass, you can read about the product’s new software update cycle and Google’s vision of its mainstream potential.

Just a day after releasing Chrome 27 on the desktop, Google on Wednesday announced the release of Chrome 27 for Android, adding fullscreen support on phones and a tab history option on tablets. You can download the latest version now directly from Google Play.

The device-type features are fairly straightforward. To access the new fullscreen function on an Android phone, just scroll down the page and the toolbar will disappear (sidenote: full screen support for iOS arrived Chrome 26 stable). When you scroll back up, the toolbar returns automatically.

To use the new tab history on tablets, long press the browser back button to view what you’ve been browsing. This is one of those features that should have been in Chrome from the start, but as Android tablets become more popular, Google has finally been forced to add it.

Next up, we have “simpler searching.” Google is referring to a change regarding how its search engine (and possibly other search engines) work in Chrome. The company has been experimenting with leaving the search query in the omnibox, removing the need for a second search box on the results page, since December 2012.

So far, however, only beta and other test versions of Chrome have seen the change. Chrome for Android is thus the first stable release of Google’s browser to get the feature.

The full Chrome 27.0.1453.90 for Android changelog is as follows:

• Fullscreen on phones – Scroll down the page and the toolbar will disappear.
• Simpler searching – Searching from the omnibox will keep your search query visible in the omnibox, making it easier to edit, and show more on your search result page.
• Client-side certificate support – You can now access sites that require you to use a certificate and Chrome will allow you to select an installed certificate.
• Tab history on tablets – Long press the browser back button to view your tab history.
• And a ton of stability and performance fixes.

As you can see, Chrome also now has client-side certificate support. Most users won’t be using it on mobile but its addition does show Google’s dedication to having a full-blown browser on its mobile platform.

Top Image Credit: Half Cut

Google on Wednesday announced the release of a revamped Drive app for Android to make creating and accessing files on-the-go easier, via a new card-style grid view and added features such as document scanning. You can grab the new version now directly from Google Play.

First and foremost, Drive files in the Android app are now displayed in a card-style grid view. You can swipe between files as well as glance at large previews to quickly check out their contents.

Here’s a screenshot of the swiping in action on an Android tablet:

While Drive is still very much a cloud storage service, the app now lets you download a copy of your files for offline access (check the actions menu inside settings). This feature is only available on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and up, in addition to the desktop version of course.

Next up is the addition of a way to keep track of your paper documents like receipts, letters, and billing statements. The app has gained a scanning option (Add New => Scan), which lets you snap a photo of your document, have Drive run its Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology on it so you can search for it later, and turn it into a PDF for safekeeping.

Here’s the feature in action on an Android phone:

Last but not least, the editing experience in Google Sheets has been improved: you can now adjust font types and sizes for a spreadsheet and tweak the cell text colors and cell alignment right from the app.

The full Google Drive 1.2.182.25 for Android changelog is as follows:

• New grid view makes it easier to find your files.
• New quick preview lets you view photos and other files from within the app.
• Scan documents, receipts and letters for safe keeping in Drive; then search by contents once uploaded.
• Download a copy of files to your local device (Honeycomb+).
• Spreadsheet editor now supports changing fonts, colors and cell alignment.
• View properties of files from within the editors.
• Bug fixes and visual improvements.

This is a big update both in terms of design and new features. We’ll be looking closely to see if similar changes are made for Google Drive’s iOS app as well.

Top Image Credit: Pawel Kryj

Google Search trends is arguably the most effective way of learning what the world is thinking about, and Google Trends, with Google’s annual Zeitgeist, has always done a fairly decent job of illustrating this.

The World Ranked

Today, Google releases a new and improved version of the product with new charts, updated monthly, of the most-searched people, places and things in more than 40 categories with the ability to filter by 11 countries. PR companies and their customers now have another metric to be highly aware of. Everything from business people through to cars are ranked for the world to see. Each category goes back to 2004.

How is Michael Jordan still the most searched for athlete month-on-month in 2013?

Built on top of Knowledge Graph, the data is accurate beyond simply keywords. Google understands the difference between “The Next Web”, “TNW” and “TNW Conference” for example, and therefore the charts are an accurate representation of what is being searched for in both broad and specific terms.

Trending Searches Visualised

In addition to Top Charts, Google has added a neat customizable visual way to illustrate trending searches *as they happen*. You can view an example below which illustrates current trending searches in the US. What’s not clear is how anyone can embed these in their own site or blog post. We’ve had to copy and paste the html itself from the announcement post to include this in our own. What’s more, there doesn’t appear to be much scope for customization here. For better customization and embedding options visit here where you can embed lists of current hot search trends.

Image Credit: DANIEL ROLAND/Stringer / Getty

Google has quietly rolled out its new conversational search feature in the latest version of its Chrome browser for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Users that hit up the Google homepage will now see a small microphone symbol in the right-hand side of the search field, as well as at the top of any page containing search results; it will ask for permissions to access a connected microphone, before enabling conversational search queries.

The update means that users can now search the Internet and ask Google questions from the desktop using only their voice. The idea is that people should be able to use words and phrases used in everyday conversation, rather than the strict keywords that have been embedded in our brains over the last decade or so.

The user could ask, for instance, ‘How do I get to Wembley Stadium?’, and Google will interpret the question and then serve up relevant route information via Google Maps. As with Google Now, the service also draws on information stored through other Google products and services. If the user asks when their flight is supposed to leave, or if they’re free later this afternoon, the service will automatically dig into Google Calendar to check.

Subsequent queries can then be initiated using the phrase “Okay Google”, similar to that found in its upcoming Google Glass hardware. Google is clearly developing these new search products as a context-sensitive personal assistant. Voice input might feel jarring for some, but the ability to discover new information on the Web and apply that to users’ own daily routine and information is a powerful concept.

As with Google Now, conversational search should help to provide users with information at the right time, when they need it. Bringing the feature to all major desktop operating systems should give all Google users access to the service, regardless of what device they’re using.

Image Credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images

Google on Tuesday announced a redesign of its Google+ social network for the mobile Web. The revamp is meant to bring the mobile version of Google+ in line with the last redesign of the service.

Here’s what’s new:

• Posts now appear as “cards” in the stream, making it easier to read, +1 and re-share them.
• We’ve also redesigned the Profile and Page experiences to include cover photos, larger tap targets, and much more.

More importantly, here’s how all that looks:

As you can see, posts are now shown as cards, just like on Google+ for the desktop. Furthermore, the right-most screenshot above shows the addition of cover photos, which both profiles and pages now utilize. Larger tap targets are only really noticeable if you’re using the social network on a touchscreen device.

Last week at Google I/O 2013, the company announced 41 new features that affect the Stream, Hangouts, and Photos sections of the service. An Android app update followed yesterday and the mobile Web version has been updated today.

Many have noted that the emphasis on cards makes the service look like Pinterest. Whether you agree with that or not, Google+ is now more consistent across desktop, apps, and the mobile Web, although the iOS app has yet to join the fray (though it has had cards for a while now).

Personally, I find the new design to be worse than what Google+ offered before. On my low-resolution monitor, there is simply less content displayed, which results in a lot more scrolling.

On a mobile screen that is usually held vertically, this may be okay. Still, just because something works on mobile doesn’t mean it should be forced on the desktop.

See also – Google targets mobile Web publishers with content recommendation tool built on Google+ activity

Top Image Credit: Kimihiro Hoshino / Getty Images

Google on Tuesday released Chrome version 27 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new version features a big boost to page loads (now 5 percent faster on average) as well as significant updates for developers. You can update to the latest release now using the browser’s built-in silent updater, or download it directly from google.com/chrome.

The speed improvement is thanks to the introduction of “smarter behind-the-scenes resource scheduling,” according to Google. At first, Web content appearing on the screen 5 percent faster on average may not seem like a huge difference, but when you realize how quickly pages load on Chrome already, it’s a big jump. Starting with this release, the scheduler more aggressively uses an idle connection and demotes the priority of preloaded resources so that they don’t interfere with critical assets.

The Sync FileSystem API is a new offline storage application programming interface for Chrome packaged apps which automatically synchronizes stored data across clients via Google Drive. The files are stored in private sandboxes and can be manipulated with the HTML5 File API and FileSystem API (sample app).

Google also notes a few other enhancements in this release: improved ranking of predictions, improved spell correction, and numerous fundamental improvements for Omnibox predictions. If you’re worried about the company tracking your information, you’ll want to read Logging policies for Chrome Instant.

As in previous releases, Google also included the usual bug fixes, a new version of V8, and so on in Chrome version 27.0.1453.93. For more details, you can check out the full SVN revision log.

Last but certainly not least, Chrome 27 also addresses 14 security holes (11 rated High, two marked Medium, and one considered Low):

• [$1000] [235638] High CVE-2013-2837: Use-after-free in SVG. Credit to Sławomir Błażek.
• [$500] [235311] Medium CVE-2013-2838: Out-of-bounds read in v8. Credit to Christian Holler.
• [$1500] [230176] High CVE-2013-2839: Bad cast in clipboard handling. Credit to Jon of MWR InfoSecurity.
• [$1000] [230117] High CVE-2013-2840: Use-after-free in media loader. Credit to Nils of MWR InfoSecurity.
• [$1000] [227350] High CVE-2013-2841: Use-after-free in Pepper resource handling. Credit to Chamal de Silva.
• [$2000] [226696] High CVE-2013-2842: Use-after-free in widget handling. Credit to Cyril Cattiaux.
• [$1000] [222000] High CVE-2013-2843: Use-after-free in speech handling. Credit to Khalil Zhani.
• [$1000] [196393] High CVE-2013-2844: Use-after-free in style resolution. Credit to Sachin Shinde (@cons0ul).
• [$3133.7] [188092] [179522] [222136] [188092] High CVE-2013-2845: Memory safety issues in Web Audio. Credit to Atte Kettunen of OUSPG.
• [$1000] [177620] High CVE-2013-2846: Use-after-free in media loader. Credit to Chamal de Silva.
• [$1000] [176692] High CVE-2013-2847: Use-after-free race condition with workers. Credit to Collin Payne.
• [$500] [176137] Medium CVE-2013-2848: Possible data extraction with XSS Auditor. Credit to Egor Homakov.
• [171392] Low CVE-2013-2849: Possible XSS with drag+drop or copy+paste. Credit to Mario Heiderich.
• [241595] High CVE-2013-2836: Various fixes from internal audits, fuzzing and other initiatives.

Google thus spent a whopping $14,633.70 in bug bounties this release and fixed three more security bugs compared to the previous Chrome release. These fixes alone should push Chrome users to upgrade as soon as possible.

Top Image credit: casasroger/Flickr

Google on Monday announced it is killing Google Checkout, its online payment processing service, on November 20, 2013. The company is offering merchants a six-month warning to figure out where to go next.

Google officially replaced Checkout with Wallet back in September 2011. The company has been building out the successor recently, and now claims the new platform “enables merchants to meet the demands of a multi-screen world where consumers shop in-stores, at their desks and on their mobile devices.”

Google is giving its users the following information to before the aforementioned kill date, depending on which camp they fall into:

• Merchants without their own payment processing will need to transition to a third-party alternative solution within six months.
• US merchants with payment processing can apply for Google Wallet Instant Buy.
• Merchants selling through Google-hosted marketplaces (such as Google Play, Chrome Web Store, and Offers Marketplace) will be unaffected.

For those in the first group, Google is not offering a replacement processing solution for physical goods and services. The company has, however, partnered with Braintree, Shopify, and Freshbooks; neither of these are ideal as they all still require a transition, but at least Google has negotiated discounted migration options for its Checkout users.

“We recognize this transition may be difficult; it impacts you and your business,” Google says. “We’re committed to helping you with a smooth transition. While we are unable to offer a direct replacement for Google Checkout, we are continuing to invest in a variety of exciting new payments products to meet real world needs for both buyers and sellers.”

Those who find themselves in the second group should know about both the Google Wallet API and the Instant Buy Android API. While the former has been around for a while and works for mobile sites, the latter was just launched last week at Google I/O 2013 and lets developers integrate payment features into Android apps.

Those in the last group will continue to be supported. Google plans to automatically transition them to the Google Wallet Merchant Center in the next few weeks.

Google has been doing quite a bit of spring cleaning recently, though this particular axing appears to have been delayed and slightly more thought out. The company likely wanted to get some of its alternatives together and give users a lot of time to transition. Both of those are critical when it comes to people’s livelihoods.

See also – Google to shut down Calendar features, Google Sync, Google Calendar Sync, Issue Tracker Data API, and Punchd and Google to axe Google Reader on July 1 as part of larger round of app closures

Top Image Credit: Dimitris Petridis

Over the last few months, Google has been working on porting its Chrome OS app launcher to Chrome for the desktop. The majority of the progress has been on Windows, but now it looks like Google is readying the OS X version, at least in Chromium, meaning Apple’s platform will likely get it next, followed by Linux.

The addition was first noted by developer and Google open-source Chromium evangelist François Beaufort. He points to a Chromium code review that changes how long titles for the Mac are being displayed.

Here’s how the feature looks on the Mac:

To see the feature for yourself, you’ll need to get Chromium for Mac. You can turn it on by using the –show-app-list switch.

Google has previously explained the feature is meant to be “the same experience as the app launcher on Chromebooks, but for other platforms.” If you’ve never used a Chromebook, the app launcher is a little window that lists all your apps in one place.

The app launcher will show up only after you install a Chrome packaged app from the Chrome Web Store. For those who don’t know, Chrome packaged apps are written in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, but launch outside the browser, work offline by default, and access certain APIs not available to Web apps.

The app launcher first showed up in the Chrome dev channel on Windows back in February, though Google said Mac and Linux versions were coming soon. The feature then made it into Chrome 26 beta, again only on Windows, but didn’t make it into the final version 26 release of the browser in March, presumably because the Mac and Linux ports weren’t yet ready.

Chromium is the open source Web browser project that shares much of the same code as Google Chrome, and new features are often added there first. We expect it to show up on the Mac side soon, either at the same time or followed closely by the Linux flavor. Google is likely planning to push the app launcher for all three platforms with Chrome 28 or Chrome 29, both of which will be out in the next few months.

Top Image Credit: m4tik

Just days after Google’s I/O developer conference ended, the company is rolling out an update to its Google+ app for Android which adds new photo and location features, as well as related hashtags to the stream.

The new photos section now includes automatic back-ups, which will save users’ photos safely and privately as they’re taken. This has been available on iOS for sometime, although users had to keep the app running in order to send the images to the cloud.

Google is also bringing over many of its new photo-editing features from the desktop version of Google+, including Auto Enhance, which makes subtle improvements automatically. There’s also Auto Highlight, which creates a selection of shots for the user to look over and share as a separate album. It’s an intriguing solution; most users will be sceptical about trusting Google’s algorithm, but it drastically speeds up the process of creating a respectable album from hundreds of holiday snaps.

Auto Awesome is the final addition, adding the ability to create new, light-hearted versions of existing images – such as animations or panoramas – based on photos in users’ existing libraries.

Location sharing has also been overhauled in the Google+ app to give users a quicker way of seeing where their friends, family and colleagues are. Until now, users’ current whereabouts were only visible from their profile page, provided they had chosen to share it with other people through specific Google+ circles.

This has now been updated with a new ‘Locations’ section, available from the side-menu, which shows the location of users’ friends on a rather handy map. It might be a small feature, but the idea of monitoring where other people are in order to make plans and arrange meet ups sounds awfully similar to Foursquare’s playbook.

In the stream, the Google+ app has also been tweaked to include the new automated hashtags found on the desktop version. They appear at the top-right hand corner of individual posts and tapping on them will produce new streams of related content. Neat.

Bradley Horowitz, Vice President of Product, Google+, said today: “Photos, location and the stream are only some of the things we’ve improved in today’s update. Notifications are nicer to look at and easier to use. You can edit additional profile fields on the go. And there’s one-tap access to the all new Hangouts app — just to name a few.”

The new Google+ app for Android is rolling out today in the Google Play store.

➤ Google+ | Android

Image Credit: KIMIHIRO HOSHINO for AFP / Getty Images