Download Squad

Docs spreadsheet is getting a facelift

Today, the Google Docs Blog announced that as of next week, the spreadsheet component of Google Docs will be receiving an interface update. This update will bring the spreadsheet tool to be more visually in-line with the word processor and presentations tools. The screenshot makes it clear that the new interface is much more akin to Excel. Take a a look at the head to head below.

Old Spreadsheet

New Spreadsheet

[via Official Google Docs Blog]

More admin controls for Google Apps Gmail

If you use, or are considering using, Google Apps in a large corporate or educational environment, but have concerns about the scalability of user-by-user account settings, Google's newest API might be for you. On Wednesday, Google released the Google Email Settings API for Google Apps Premier and Education administrators. This tool allows admins to update Gmail settings of users in bulk, making requests and changes to the GData feed. So stuff like labels, filters, signatures, vacation responders, send aliases, forwarding and POP or IMAP settings can all be done in bulk, based on what parameters the admin sets forth.

This could be really cool, especially for mass configuring departmental mail settings, so that they are different for each group (without having to manually set the signature or filters). Imagine being able to get an output of vacation requests for the month of October, and automatically set those accounts up to have automatic start and stop days for vacation responders.

[via Official Google Enterprise Blog]

Project 10^100

In honor of Google's 10th birthday, the company is launching Project 10^100 (that is, ten to the hundredth), calling on the community to submit ideas that can help as many people as possible. The best of those ideas will be brought to life.

The project home page has all the details, but the idea deadline is October 20, 2008.

[via Official Google Blog]

Map Maker launches in 17 more countries

Google's Map Maker is now available in seventeen more countries, including parts of Asia like Mongolia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Iran. Since the initial launch in June, users from Pakistan, Cyprus, Iceland and Vietnam have started mapping entire cities and expanding local neighborhood coverage, often from scratch.

[via Google LatLong]

Google and perpetual beta

NetworkWorld posted a pretty intriguing article this week, asking why so many Google products are still in beta, and what effect that ultimately has on the term. This is something Download Squad has covered before (and you can read Lee's response to the topic later today), but it is always an interesting point to discuss. Google's response is that they have very high metrics that must be met before they can call a product "final." I personally understand this position, but still think that the stability and advanced state of programs like Gmail ultimately dilute the meaning of beta, and spread misconceptions to users who might not know any better. The adage, beta at your own risk, just isn't true anymore for everything -- but it is still true for some things.

[via NetworkWorld]

Google Grab-bag

A round-up of some other Google stories and tidbits, including a few we've already covered:

• Google launches mass transit directions for NYC - Former NYC resident Brad breaks it all down.
• Iron: Chrome for privacy fanatics - German software company SRWare stripped Chrome of its identifiable bits and released it to the community.
• Google introduces Google Moderator on App Engine - Google releases its crowdsourcing question approval question, that they use at Google Tech Talks in Mountain View.
• Google Contacts get some updates - The Google Contact Manager is now more robust than ever before. I still think it sucks, but it sucks less!