Feeling Lucky in Google Flight Search

A few days ago, Google Flight Search added some really cool features that help you find destinations you may enjoy. Pick one or more airports and Google shows a list of recommendations.

You can expand the map and "enter a full-screen exploring experience".

There's an "I'm feeling lucky" button that picks a destination for you. You can restrict the results, depending on your preferences. Choose the number of stops, a price range, an airline, times and duration. Click "I'm feeling lucky" again to see a different destination that matches your filters. Google shows photos for each city and helps you find the best dates for your trip.

Google Flight Search now lets you enter the name of a continent (South America) or a region (Central Africa) and shows a list of popular destinations.

Startup Tips From a Former Googler

Thomas Korte worked at Google for almost 9 years and he's now running AngelPad, a startup incubator. Thomas shared some of the things he learned at Google and could be useful for a startup:

* hire great people
* hire for the company, not for the job
* ask "why not?" instead of "why?"
* use data, not opinions
* put users first, money last
* share company information with employees
* build a culture that lasts
* give a license to dream (Google's 20% time - the permission from the company
to do things that are outside the normal scope of what you are doing)
* ask for forgiveness, not for permission (Google Books started as a service for scanning catalogs and Google didn't ask for permission to scan them).

Google Contacts Shortcut

If you want to quickly open Gmail's address book, you can bookmark google.com/contacts or type the URL in the address bar. Another option is to add a shortcut to the standalone Google Contacts page in Google's app launcher:

1. go to google.com/contacts and sign in

2. click the app launcher icon

3. click "add a shortcut" next to the Contacts icon

4. you can move the icon using drag and drop

You can add similar shortcuts for other Google services: Google Keep, Google Sites, Google Groups, Google Play Music, Webmaster Tools, Patent Search, Google Voice.

Gay Google (2014)

Just like last year, the year before and in fact every year since 2008, Google shows some special decorations when searching for [gay], [lgbt], [lesbian], [transgender], [queer] and other queries that include these words. It's the LGBT Pride Month and Google made the search navigation menu more colorful.

You can also check the colorful decorations from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

{ via Search Engine Roundtable }

Google Shows Step-by-Step Instructions

I mentioned a few months ago that Google now answers complicated questions. Depending on your query, you might see a long answer obtained from a web page.

Google's answers also include lists. Here are some examples from a Gmail support page and an Apple support page:

When searching for [gmail export contacts], Google now lists the steps right on the search results page, so you don't have to click the search result and find the answer.

Here's a similar example for [icloud restore]. Notice how Google removes some of the text from the article to keep it brief.

The answers aren't limited to tech-related queries. You can also find [how to remove a popcorn ceiling], [how to install a toilet], [how to change a tire], [how to boil eggs] and more.

Easter Eggs for Google Maps UK Directions

Google Maps has a few funny Easter Eggs for UK directions:

* a dragon can get you from Snowdon to Brecon Beacons in only 21 minutes

* the Loch Ness Monster can get you from Fort Augustus to Urquhart Castle

* you can use the Royal Carriage between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle

* "If you've ever ventured to Oxford or Cambridge, you'll know that punting – steering a flat-bottomed boat on a narrow or shallow river – is a defining characteristic of both cities. If you want travel between Magdalene College and Mathematical Bridge (Cambridge) or Magdalen College and Wolfson College (Oxford) by water, Google Maps has got you covered," found The Next Web.

{ via The Next Web }

64-Bit Chrome for Windows

After many years of waiting, the 64-bit version of Chrome for Windows is almost ready to be released. For now, it's limited to Canary and Dev Channel and you need to install it manually. 64-bit Chrome is only available for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

"The new version replaces the existing version while preserving all your settings and bookmarks, so there's no need to uninstall a current installation of Chrome. The majority of our users on Windows 7 or higher now have systems capable of running 64-bit applications, and this version of Chrome can take full advantage of these newer capabilities. This includes several improvements that align perfectly with Chrome's core principles of speed, security and stability," informs Google.

Google says there's about 25% improvement in performance and crash rates for the renderer process are almost half that of 32-bit Chrome. Despite all these advantages, 64-bit Chrome has been a low-priority task for Google, especially when it comes to Windows and Mac. Chrome for Linux is a 64-bit app since 2009.

Chrome Web Store Links to Android Apps

Chrome Web Store now shows links to Google Play for apps and extensions that are also available for Android. For example, Pocket's page includes this message next to the number of users: "Available for Android. Get it".

You can also find Chrome apps and extensions that are available for Android:

Google Play doesn't show links to Chrome Web Store apps, at least not yet. It will be interesting to see if Google plans to keep a separate store for Chrome or merge it with Google Play. When Google rebranded Android Market, I speculated that Google Play will become Google's unified store for digital content.

{ via Chrome Story }

A Google Translate Experiment Shows Definitions

Google Translate experiments with displaying definitions for the words you're translating. Jérémy Heleine noticed the new feature, which shows a list of definitions, synonyms, examples and related words and snippets. Google also suggests a related translation ("see also").

Definitions and synonyms are also displayed in Google Search, but they're useful in Google Translate too. In addition to using Google Translate as a dictionary, you could improve your translation by picking a better synonym, a context or a more appropriate expression. For example, instead of using "Hello", you could translate "Hi" or "Howdy" and you'll get different translations.

Google Search even lets you translate words when searching for definitions. Search for [define hello], expand the dictionary card and you'll see a section called "translation hello to". Another option is to search for [translate hello into french].

{ Thanks, Frédéric Pereira. }

Google Home IQ

Christopher Bettig, Art Director at Google, posted some images from a Google mobile app called Google Home IQ.

"These are some illustrations and some screens of exploratory UI for a mobile app for Android and iOS, which is now a deprecated project. The app was to control a smart thermostat and had a very visual UI which needed to account and meet accessibility standards while also illustrating four main states and varying weather conditions outside the home. Each state was given a unique shape and a corresponding unique shaped UI icon for use in the app. Each of the four states (awake, away, home, and sleep) is illustrated with all the variable weather conditions."

Google now owns Nest, so that's probably one of the reasons why this app wasn't released. EnergySense was rumored to be the name of a Google service that lets you monitor and adjust energy use.

{ Thanks, Francisco Marujo. }