Entries Tagged 'Google' ↓

Two weeks ago, Google had given a sneak peek of better ad management in Adsense accounts. Today the feature has started rolling out. And now I have got that Simplified ad management enabled in my account.

What does Simplified Ad Management mean ?

Using the new ad management feature, you generate the same Adsense code but now you will give your ad unit an unique name. So the next time you need to change the colors, you just go to your Adsense account —> Manage Ads and change the ad unit from there. The changes will automatically be reflected in your blog / website.

No more editing your blog’s template files. Simple isn’t it ?

Do I need to update my existing Adsense code ?

Any ad code you’ve generated in the past will continue to work as normal. However, the old ad code will not be automatically updated to include this feature.

Is this new ad management thing useful ?

Now that this thing is enabled in my Adsense account, I have got a taste of it. And from what I have seen it is not going to much useful. The only thing you can change for your ad units is the colors, or the channel. You cannot change the size or the type of the ad unit (text / images / link ).

Anyways if you have a Wordpress blog and do not like to edit the template files every time you need to change the ad code then I would recommend Google Adsense Deluxe. It does a much better job as an ad management system.

What do you think ? Is this new Ad Management thing useful ?

Inside Adsense - Simplified ad management is rolling out now

Puzzled ? Google Reader has just announced a new feature which will enable you to read your RSS feeds in Google Reader even when you are not connected to the internet.

This feature enables you to read your 2000 most recent items even when your computer is not connected to the internet.To use the offline features of Google Reader, you will first need to install the Google Gears plug-in for your browser.

An offline version of Google Reader which could be used without the internet, was at the top of the feature requests for most of the Google Reader users. And Google has now done this without creating a standalone software. Instead you can now use the same old Google Reader interface offline and read the latest 2000 items of your RSS feeds.

And this is just the beginning. These offline features are enabled by Google Gears, an application that lets web sites store their data on your local computer using only your web browser and Google Reader is the first to be supported. GMail & Google Docs offline version may also be coming soon.

I am still trying to enable the new offline feature in my Windows XP Firefox browser and I have had no luck yet. And it looks like others are also having problems enabling offline access for Google Reader on the Windows platform. Gina Trapani of LifeHacker was also unable to use Google Gears on the Windows box. But she got it to work on the Mac Firefox instead. Damn! I wish I had a Mac.

And here is the official announcement at last.

Users of Google Analytics have often complained that Google Analytics is too cumbersome to navigate and use than other metrics packages such as Statcounter and Sitemeter. But this may change now. Google Analytics has gone in for a completely new user interface with the launch of its next version (v2).

The Google Analytics blog sums the new UI as :

The new version presents data more clearly and in context, so you can look at a single report to gain insights rather than having to pull up several reports to understand what action to take.

The new UI will feature :

• Email reports and improved clarity of graphs allow users to explore and discover new insights.
• Customizable dashboards ensure the right data gets to the right people at the right time.
• Plain language descriptions of the data allow users to take action to improve their web site.

The Google Analytics service is integrated with Google AdWords. Starting today, new users who sign up will get immediate access to the new version. Also starting today, the new version of Google Analytics will be rolled out automatically to existing users over the coming weeks. Current users will still be able to access the previous version as well as the new version for a minimum of 30 days in order to ensure a smooth transition.

In short it looks like finally the masses will be able to understand Google Analytics. My account still does not have the new UI activated but from what I have seen from the screenshots it sure looks like Google Analytics has changed for good.

New Google Analytics Features Tour

New Google Analytics Screenshots

Official Announcement on Google Analytics blog 

YouTube is a phenomenon nowadays and the ultimate place to find every kind of online video (copyrighted videos too ). Here are 3 useful sites / tools which will give you the ultimate YouTube experience.

1. SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube

Tired of the YouTube videos getting stuck in the middle while playing them ? Use the SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube, from the developers of DAP. SpeedBit Video Accelerator for YouTube makes your videos stream faster and play smoother by reducing buffering problems and video interruptions or “hiccups”.

The software also includes a nifty search feature for searching YouTube videos.

2. Download YouTube videos without any 3rd party tool

Want to download a YouTube video ? No need to fire up any software on your computer or go to a site to enter the YouTube video address. While watching the YouTube video, just go to the address bar and prepend kiss to the URL of the YouTube video you are watching. For example if the URL of the video you want to download is http://www.kissyoutube.com/watch?v=2ghtvYTdtJA, then go to the address bar and prepend kiss to make the URL to make it http://www.kissyoutube.com/watch?v=2ghtvYTdtJA. You will then get the link to download the file on the page that follows.

3. View Videos Deleted From YouTube

A copyrighted video being removed on YouTube.com is now a common sight. But did you know you can watch the videos even if YouTube has deleted them.
Try Delutube. It plays videos that have been deleted from YouTube.

This is possible because Youtube maintains a copy of the video on their servers even when the video has been removed from the main website. To retrieve the YouTube video just provide the video id on Delutube and it will play the video file provided it is on YouTube servers.

This just can’t get any better. A Mac OS X theme / skin for the web based feed reader Google Reader. Jon from HicksDesign has come up with this excellent idea to make Mac users feel at home while using Google Reader.

This theme works even better for people (like me) who like to emulate Mac OS X on their operating systems. Here is a screenshot of the Mac OS X skin for Google Reader with Firefox theme MacFox and Tiger Visual Style by kol.

You can use this skin on almost all major browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Camino, Safari and Opera). You just need to install the Stylish extension for Firefox and add the code given on the site. Head over to Hicks Design to find how you can use this theme.

A must have skin if you are both a Mac OS X fan and also want to have a cool new look for Google Reader.

Google Reader Mac OS X skin