Google innovation
If you’re a social networking fan and don’t think you’re following enough people yet then this is for you. Put in your Twitter username and Google suggests people you may want to follow, based on your current lists and interests. It also shows you people with similar follow lists to your own, presumably so that you can either follow them or take a look at the people they follow. Follow Finder is okay, but not the most compelling of tools.
Something for data geeks. The Fusion Tables are a set of tools to manage and visualise data in the cloud. Data can be drawn from the pre-existing public data or uploaded by the user. Some of it is just fun – like mapping the timeline of goals in the 2010 world cup – while some, like climate change data, can be viewed from every imaginable perspective which makes it a powerful analytical tool.
Coder fun. This project allows coders to search publicly available source code. Users can search specific packages for pieces of code and even pare down the results based on other criteria, including the licence and language used. Developers can now also search the source code for Chromium, Google’s browser.
Designing websites is always a challenge. Half the users that visit a website use a monitor too small to view most of it, while others are on giant monitors that make a website seem painfully small. Browser Size visualises the relative viewing area of different browser setups so one can position key elements in just the right place to attract attention.
Google’s Android App Inventor is an easy-to-use application creator that can be used by almost anyone to create an Android application. The visual interface makes it easy to drag and drop application elements into sequence to create just about any imaginable application. Users need to have a free App Inventor account to create their own application, but it does lower the barrier to entry to mobile phone development significantly.
Another for data geeks. The Public Data Explorer provides a growing range of publicly-available data that can be visualised. The pre-loaded data can be graphed and manipulated in a range of ways. Data includes that contained in the World Development Indicators which make for fascinating exploring.
Providing a peek into the future of web applications, Chrome Experiments is a showcase for HTML5 and Javascript applications that make the web more interactive. Many of these are designed specifically for Chrome, Google’s browser, but will also work on many other modern browsers. Among these is the Arcade Fire music video which includes Google Maps to personalise the video for the user.
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