Google Makes Apps Script More Widely Available

Google has launched the Google Apps Script in Google Apps Standard Edition, meaning that it is much more broadly available now. Previously, it was only available in Google Apps Premier and Education editions. It was released back in the summer.

Google Apps Script starts in the spreadsheets of Google Docs. It lets you create sheets to read and change formulas, formats and cell contents, and lets you create custom functions so you can automate repetitive tasks.

"Google Apps Script provides the ability to automate a variety of tasks such as modifying Spreadsheets, creating Calendar appointments, checking stock prices, sending email, looking up Contacts and much, much more," says Google Apps Product Manager Evin Levey. More details can be found in the video below:

Google Apps Script provides interaction with different Google products and capabilities using JavaScript APIs. It lets you use standard JavaScript, Google's online Web Script Editor, other desktop development tools, and provides for basic collaboration and sharing.

"Users write scripts in JavaScript using libraries designed to provide a powerful interface with Google products," says Google. "If you already are a JavaScript developer, a key difference is that scripts run on Google Servers instead of user browsers. As a result, direct operations on the client-side DOM are not supported, although some restricted functionality is provided. Your code executes server-side, and operates on the Google products you've coded for."

Execution and hosting of scripts takes place on the Google cloud, and basic support for event handling can run when users are offline.
 

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Respected Fund Manager Backs Away From Google

With any luck, Thanksgiving and the long weekend have put you in a good mood.  Perhaps the always-insane Black Friday crowds have given you some confidence in the American economy, too.  But if you're thinking of putting more money into the stock market, it may interest you to know that the manager of a first-rate mutual fund has parted ways with Google. Google's one-month, six-month, and one-year gains are, respectively, 5.71 percent, 48.74 percent, and 107.51 percent.  Which isn't at all bad, of course.  But those figures might represent the source of a problem, according to Jerry Jordan. "Jerry Jordan . . . says he's sold all his holdings of Apple and Google because their stock prices had gotten too expensive," Aaron Pressman recently reported.  Jordan's looking at smallish Chinese companies instead. The Jordan Opportunity Fund has a long history of outperforming the rest of the stock market, so he could be onto something.  And even if he isn't, a significant number of other investors might follow his lead, selling their stakes in Google. Jordan might wind up looking at Google again in the future, though.  He told Pressman, "We're believers that nothing goes up in a straight line.  Things get oversold.  Things get overbought.  We may take some money off the table." It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Yahoo Suggests Searchers Use Other Yahoo Properties

Yahoo has started rolling out some new Search Assist features for its web search boxes. They are present in the search boxes of most Yahoo properties. For example, you can find them on Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News, or Yahoo Finance.

"These new features can take you directly to the information you need, whether it is real-time stock quotes or movie trailers," explains Yahoo Search Senior Product Manager Linda Wang. "You can also get enhanced search suggestions and easily navigate to the Yahoo! property that fits your needs the most."

The features allow you to quickly get more info about movies, sports, travel destinations, stock prices, etc. For instance, you can type a stock symbol and the Search Assist layer will display real-time stock quotes, links to stock charts, and news about the company. Or you can type an athlete's name and quickly get news, game log info, scores, schedules, etc.

In addition to these features, Yahoo has also launched the ability for Search Assist to help you navigate to different Yahoo properties, depending on your query. Let's say you type "mail" in the search box. You will get a link to Yahoo Mail - specifically, your inbox, right in the Search Assist layer. Or you can type "news" or "U.S. News" and get a link to Yahoo News or specifically the U.S. section of Yahoo News.
 

Finally, Yahoo has added a "smart detection system" to Search Assist, which will take you to Yahoo Image Search or Yahoo News Search for different queries. So if you searched for "obama," you would get quick links to an "obama" image query and an "obama" news query.

It's hard to say how long these features will be around if Yahoo's deal with Microsoft goes through. Bing should be replacing Yahoo search on the back-end. This might be considered a front-end frill that Yahoo keeps around though.

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