Dictation – Speech Recognition in the Browser

Ever noticed that microphone icon on some web pages?

The newer versions of Google Chrome include an impressive speech recognition engine that even works offline but with one limitation – the feature is only available to text input fields (like the Google search box) and you can’t use Chrome’s speech recognition to write longer pieces of text (say a message inside Gmail).

Meet Dictation, a speech recognition app powered by Chrome itself but one that is not limited to text boxes. Here’s a quick getting started guide:

1. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + . (period) or click the big microphone icon to activate dictation mode and talk.
2. If you make a mistake, or if Chrome makes an error in transcription, simple click the incorrect word and edit it inline.
3. You can say “new line” to insert a new line or “delete everything” to make a fresh start.

Dictation requires the Google Chrome browser. The full source code is available at ctrlq.org and what follows is a brief video demo.

Google Makes Some Changes to the I’m Feeling Lucky Button

The I’m Feeling Lucky button on the Google homepage, which has been sitting there since day one, takes you directly to the first search result completely bypassing Google’s search results pages. It’s a convenient option for consumers though it does cost Google a lot of money since the company miss an opportunity to serve you ads.

Google won’t mind you spending a little more time on their own properties and thus, after nearly 15 years, they have made one little change to the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

Google wants you to spend more time on their own properties

You’ve Got Mail – A New Notifier for Gmail

Back in the days of dial-up Internet, America Online (AoL) subscribers would hear a sound alert saying “You’ve got mail” every time a new email landed in their AOL mailbox.

Voice-over artist Elwood Edwards initially recorded these three words on a cassette tape to sell them as a .wav file, AOL decided to use the sound into their mail program and the line became such a hit that it even inspired Warner Bros. to create a movie with the same name - “You’ve got mail.”

How to Block Useless Websites from your Google Search Results

Google has been getting better at identifying and removing spam websites from their search results pages but sometimes not-so-useful sites do manage to slip through the Google filters. What can you do to prevent such sites from appearing in your Google results?

Approach #1: Block Sites at the Browser Level 

Google offers an easy-to-use Chrome add-on called Personal Blocklist that lets you block entire web domains from showing up in your Google search results. If you spot any irrelevant website in search results pages, just click the block link (screenshot below) and all pages from that website will be hidden from your Google results forever.

Prevent Google Chrome from Hijacking RSS Feeds

If you happen to click an RSS or Atom feed inside the latest version of Google Chrome, the browser won’t display the actual content of the XML file but will instead offer you to open the feed in either Google Reader or one of the Chrome apps.

XML Feeds are ‘greek’ to most users but for the rest of us, Chrome offers no built-in option to turn off this default behavior. Also, if you using an RSS feed reader that is not available as a Chrome app, like FeedDemon or Microsoft Outlook, there isn’t an easy way to set that external program as the default handler for RSS feeds in Chrome.

Tips for Buying Domains through Google Apps

When you buy a web domain through Google Docs, you get personalized email addresses (like me@mydomain.com instead of me@gmail.com) plus you can setup a quick website on Google Sites without having to pay for web hosting. The domains are registered privately meaning others cannot see your contact information in the public WHOIS database.

Google Apps comes in two flavors – the free edition (where you just pay for the domain name) and the business edition (where you pay for the domain and the number of users).

Tip #1: How to Sign-up for Google Apps Free Edition

For business reasons, the Google Apps homepage includes no mention of the free edition but you can use this secret link to  go straight to the sign-up form. The link  is otherwise hidden under the “Pricing” section of the Google Apps website.

Google+ debuts 'sliders' to help users de-clog their streams

Let's face it, some people's posts are more important than others -- now, Google's social network has a feature that lets users control what they see and share in their Circles stream.

Google+'s new "sliders" lets users control what they most want to see on the social network.(Credit: Google)

 

Google Plus launched a new feature today called "sliders" that lets users decide how and when they want to tone down information from their Circles that may be clogging up their stream.

Google Maps explores the faraway Arctic with Street View

The tech giant's mapping team goes further north than it's ever been to add in roads, rivers, and lakes in the beautiful Canadian Arctic, which is only accessible by plane or boat.

The Street View Trike collecting imagery of Cambridge Bay.

(Credit: Google)

       

Far beyond the Arctic Circle -- nearing the North Pole, where tundra, snow, and glaciers are commonplace year-round -- is an area called Cambridge Bay in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It sits in the Canadian Arctic and is only accessible by plane or boat. 

This is the newest location to hit Google Maps Street View.