Google Launches 2 New Mobile Features for Maps

Last week, Google introduced personalized suggestions for Google Maps. This lets signed in users who have web history enabled find places faster as Google suggests places based on past searches. Now they have launched the feature for Google Maps for Mobile on Android.

"If you often use both a computer and a mobile phone in your daily routine, it can seem like a hassle when they don't stay in sync," the Google Maps team says. "You might spend time on your computer looking for a great used bookstore, only to forget the name of the place when you are ready to get directions from your phone. Sure, you could print directions in advance, but we believe smartphones are 'smart' because they save you time."

In addition to the personalized suggestions, Google has introduced starring in Google Maps for Mobile on Android. This provides users with a way to save places to access later.

"So whether you're standing at Amoeba Music with your phone or making plans to go there on your computer, you can star it so it appears on the map next time you're on either device," the team says. "When viewing place details, just press the star icon next to the place name; these starred places are automatically synchronized between desktop and mobile, and can be accessed from both the 'More' menu on your phone and from the My Maps tab on your computer."

Google actually just introduced a starring feature for Google News as well. As I mentioned with reference to that, this gives users another reason to have a Google account, which could just be one of Google's motives for offering this feature.

Both starring and personalized suggestions in Google Maps require you to be signed in with you Google account. The suggestions require you to have web history enabled.

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Amazon Launches Same-Day Delivery Option

Amazon, one of the biggest names in online retail, is preparing for a big holiday season. The company announced today that it is adding a new shipping option for customers, called "Local Express Delivery." What this equates to is same-day delivery.

"We want to make online shopping as convenient as possible," said Girish Lakshman, vice president of Transportation at Amazon. "We’re continuously working to speed up delivery times and customers receiving items on the same day as ordered is an exciting step. Now, if a customer needs a last-minute present for a birthday or wants a copy of their book club book before the weekend starts, they can order from Amazon instead of the hassle of a last-minute trip to the mall."

The catch for the shipping option is that it is only available in a handful of select cities. These are major US cities, however, and the option is bound to bring Amazon a great deal of extra business for the holidays, particularly from the procrastinators, who don't have time to wait on typical shipping times, yet don't want to brave the holiday traffic of the outside world. 

The cities where the new shipping option is available include:

- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Boston
- Washington D.C.
- Baltimore
- Las Vegas
- Seattle

Perhaps the option will be available for more areas in the future. It is certainly an attractive one, making the online shopping process much more convenient for customers if they are willing to pay for it, although members of Amazon Prime only have to pay $5.99 per item for the service. More details about shipping costs can be found here.

Amazon has also expanded its Saturday delivery options. Items ordered before the cut-off time on Thursdays (using Two-day shipping), will be delivered on Saturdays instead of Monday. Saturday is also available for those who order stuff before the cut-off on Fridays for an additional charge. The option while more costly, may also prove to be helpful to holiday shoppers.

Google Gives Webmasters Way to Display PDFs, PPTs, and TIFFs

Google has released a new product called the Google Docs Viewer. This is a way to display PDFs, Powerpoints and TIFF documents directly in a web browser without requiring a download.

"Last year, we added PDF upload and view to Google Docs, and the 'View' link for PDF attachments in Gmail," says Google software engineer Jesse Kinkead. "We also added support for viewing PowerPoint and TIFF files in Gmail this April. Feedback on these features has been very positive - viewing files right in your browser is fast, and it keeps your downloads folder clean. Plus, it spares you the hassle of saving your files to the machine you're using, which could be a shared or public computer."

To use the Google Docs Viewer, simply go to the site and provide Google with the URL to your file. You can also include optional link text.



You can also generate code for an embedded viewer like the one below.

Box.net users can use the service to view documents stored within their Boxes, by adding the Google Docs Viewer OpenBox Service to their account.

Google Wants You to Be Able to Leave if You Want

Some members of Google's team have gotten together and formed the Data Liberation Front, a group that is dedicated to making Google's products easier to get data in and out of. The group has also launched a website at DataLiberation.org, where users of Google products can find information about how to import and export data.

"Many web services make it difficult to leave their services - you have to pay them for exporting your data, or jump through all sorts of technical hoops -- for example, exporting your photos one by one, versus all at once," says Brian Fitzpatrick, Data Liberation engineering manager. "We believe that users - not products - own their data, and should be able to quickly and easily take that data out of any product without a hassle. We'd rather have loyal users who use Google products because they're innovative - not because they lock users in."

The group's mission statement goes:

Users own the data they store in any of Google's products. Our team's goal is to give users greater control by making it easier for them to move data in and out.

At DataLiberation.org, users can simply browse through Google's list of products and see detailed instructions for each one about how to "escape" to or from any of them. This list includes: AdWords, Alerts, Analytics, App Engine, Apps for Businesses, Blogger, Bookmarks, Calendar, Chrome Boomarks, Contacts, Docs, Finance, Gmail, Health, iGoogle, Maps, Notebook, Orkut, Picasa, Reader, Voice, Web History, and YouTube.

The company says it will be working on adding import/export features to more of its products like Google Sites, and Google Docs (batch-export) in the coming months.

"We think open is better than closed -- not because closed is inherently bad, but because when it's easy for users to leave your product, there's a sense of urgency to improve and innovate in order to keep your users," says Fitzpatrick. "When your users are locked in, there's a strong temptation to be complacent and focus less on making your product better."

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