Googleholic for April 4, 2008

Filed under: Internet, Features, Google, Googleholic, Search

Googleholic for April 4, 2008

by Christina Warren Apr 4th 2008

Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! In this edition:

Google Gears gets some updates
YouTube introduces Living Legends
Google Analytics adds new graphing options
Google to lay off ~300 DoubleClick employees and sell Performics Search Marketing

Google Gears gets some updates

Google Gears, an open source browser plugin that allows web applications to work offline, has received some considerable updates this week. In addition to enabling offline usage of Google Docs, Google launched their first mobile applications based in Gears -- Picasa Mobile -- on Wednesday. For more information about Google Gears and what the potential benefits this plugin can offer developers and end users, take a look at the Google TechTalk from March.

[via Gears API Blog]

YouTube introduces Living Legends

YouTube has just launched a new program aimed at connecting high profile filmmakers, musicians, sports figures, politicians and more with the YouTube community. The monthly series, Living Legends, will provide a venue for these figures to answer questions submitted by the community and connect in a more personal way. The first legend on the list? Well, it's a group: The Rolling Stones. The Stones have contributed a video asking for viewer questions and provided some behind the scenes footage, as well as a mash-up of great "Start Me Up" covers.

[via YouTube Blog]

Google Analytics adds new graphing options

Google Analytics has just added a new way for users to graph and compare their metrics: by week and by month. This can make pinpointing trends (or perhaps spikes) even easier. Week and monthly options have been added to the comparison viewer too, which can be really helpful in finding trends for a specific day or a period of high/low activity.

[via The Official Google Analytics Blog]

Google to lay off ~300 DoubleClick employees and sell Performics Search Marketing

About three weeks after acquiring DoubleClick, Google has announced some personnel and market sector changes. According the New York Times, about 300 -- or 25% of the DoubleClick workforce -- will be let go, the remaining employees merging into similar roles within Google's existing advertising group. Additionally, DoubleClick's Performics Search Marketing sector is on the auction block, because it represents a conflict on interest to Google's objectivity and core mission. The unit will be run as a separate entity until it is sold.

[via Google Blogoscoped via the New York Times]

Tags: doubleclick, google, google analytics, google gears, GoogleAnalytics, GoogleGears, googleholic, living legends, LivingLegends

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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