Download Squad

Hello says 'goodbye'

Google is discontinuing Hello, the instant messenger included with Picasa. Basically, Hello was designed as a way to share photos instantly, in a secure fashion.

The program has gone without updates for nearly three and a half years. In that time, Google has launched Google Talk, Picasa Web Albums and the ability to post pictures from Picasa directly into Blogger.

Hello will formally shut down on May 15, 2008.

[via: Google Operating System]

Protect roaming users with Google Web Security for Enterprise

After acquiring Postini last year, Google created Google Web Security for Enterprise as a hosted security offering aimed at businesses, and designed to protect systems from malware and web attacks in real time.

Today, Google announced an add-on feature that will extend that same protection to users even when they are off network. Once enabled, all off-network traffic for a particular computer is directed at Google's scanning infrastructure, with on-the-fly filtering in place. System administrators can do audit reporting for those systems and enforce access policies as well. The best part? It is all done without the use of a VPN, so the end user doesn't have to change the way they login to use their system off-network.

Google Web Security for Enterprise is available in Europe and North America and is integrated with the professional version of Google Apps.

[via: Official Google Blog]

New features added to Custom Search Engine

Google has just announced the addition of AdSense for Search to CSE (Custom Search Engine). Google's CSE allows users to create their own custom search engine based around one or several sites, and to host that engine on their own website or blog.

In addition to AdSense for Search, Google has also enhanced the way Sitemaps work with CSE. After submitting a Sitemap through Google Webmaster Tools, Google will automatically detect any pages not indexed by Google.com and add them to your customized search engine.

[via:Matt Cutts]

Cannes comes to YouTube

The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival kicks off next week, but just because you can't make it to France doesn't mean you can't enjoy some of the short films, thanks to YouTube and the National Film Board of Canada. Now in its fourth year, the National Film Board of Canada's Online Film Competition Cannes 2008 highlights ten short films, selected from hundreds of submissions from over 40 countries.

This year, the ten finalists are available for viewing via the NFB's YouTube channel. The winner will be chosen by YouTubers, using the standard one-to-five rating scale.

Who says YouTube can't embrace artistry?

[via: YouTube Blog]

Selective magnification added to Google Reader

The guys over at Google Reader have integrated a pretty cool accessibility option to allow selective magnification to a particular article.

Using CSS and AxsJAX, the team was able to build a magnification tool that works on the selected article, rather than the entire screen (as most magnification tools do), which makes for a better use of screen real estate.

The lens feature has been integrated into Google Reader and pressing = or - will enlarge or shrink the font for the article you are reading.

[via: Official Google Reader Blog]