The link to the full story is here
At the CSUN International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference this week, Google announced that it has added a number of accessibility features to Chrome, Chrome OS, Gmail and Google Drive that should make using Google suites of web apps a bit easier to use for blind and low-vision users. In addition, Google also launched a new sign language interpreter app and keyboard shortcuts for Hangouts for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as those who can’t or don’t want to use a mouse while using Hangouts.
ChromeOS, Google writes, now features a new “high-quality text-to-speech voice” (only available in English right now), as well as screen magnification and a high-contrast mode. Gmail now features a new navigation interface and keyboard shortcuts that use the HTML5 ARIA standard that is meant to make rich Internet applications more accessible.
According to Google, Drive is also now much easier to access using a keyboard. In Docs, Google writes, “you can access features using the keyboard, with a new way to search menu and toolbar options. New keyboard shortcuts and verbalization improvements also make it easier to use Docs, Sheets and Slides with a screenreader.”
The stable version of Chrome, Google also notes, now includes support for the Web Speech API, so developers can integrate speech recognition in their apps. The accessible online library Bookshare demonstrated a version of its ReadNow ebook reader at the CSUN conference that already uses the Speech API.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Google Muscles Further Into Paid Discovery Of Apps With New Focus On Click-To-Download Mobile Ads
The link to the full story is here
The app stores are overrun, and there’s little way to get noticed until you break into the charts. So Google just announced it’s making it easier to buy an AdWords unit called “Click-To-Download” mobile ads that lead directly to iTunes and Google Play. With a similar design to Facebook’s app ads, Google is reaching out its hand for a cut of the paid discovery market emerging as every company in the world goes mobile.
How are the big ad platforms going to stay afloat as users shift from the full-sized web to the small screen? Less room to show ads and reluctance to tap in payment information to make purchases mean traditional advertising models fail on mobile.
But there’s one type of conversion that’s much easier on the go and that advertisers are willing to pay for: app installs.
As most smartphone users already have their credit card information stored with Apple or Google, ads that instantly open their app stores can quickly show a return on investment. Either people buy a paid app with a simple touch and perhaps an entry of their password, seamlessly make in-app physical or digital purchases later, or view more ads in the app that pay out to the developer. Advertisers love obvious ROI, and that’s what they get from paid app discovery.
The app stores are overrun, and there’s little way to get noticed until you break into the charts. So Google just announced it’s making it easier to buy an AdWords unit called “Click-To-Download” mobile ads that lead directly to iTunes and Google Play. With a similar design to Facebook’s app ads, Google is reaching out its hand for a cut of the paid discovery market emerging as every company in the world goes mobile.
How are the big ad platforms going to stay afloat as users shift from the full-sized web to the small screen? Less room to show ads and reluctance to tap in payment information to make purchases mean traditional advertising models fail on mobile.
But there’s one type of conversion that’s much easier on the go and that advertisers are willing to pay for: app installs.
As most smartphone users already have their credit card information stored with Apple or Google, ads that instantly open their app stores can quickly show a return on investment. Either people buy a paid app with a simple touch and perhaps an entry of their password, seamlessly make in-app physical or digital purchases later, or view more ads in the app that pay out to the developer. Advertisers love obvious ROI, and that’s what they get from paid app discovery.
Google Explains How Search Works, Complete With Live Spam Slideshow
The link to the full story is here
Google today updated its Inside Search site, its homepage for all things search, with a handful of educational and interactive features that explain in layman’s terms how Google’s Search works. Did you know the web had over 30 trillion pages, by the way? Or that Google supports over 100 billion searches every month? Or that Google’s index is over 100 million gigabytes? If you find factoids like that interesting, you’ll probably enjoying a scroll through the new “How Search Works” live infographic, which also contains a few clickable links to charts and graphs showing things like the rise of spam, and milestones in Google’s spam-fighting techniques, among other things.
The update is something of a follow-up to last year’s detailed look into how Gmail works called The Story of Send. For the most part, it’s really high-level stuff here, designed to make the details of technology approachable and understandable to a more mainstream audience looking to gain a better understanding of what happens after they type into the search box.
The new sections of the site include not only the graphical explanation of Google Search’s inner workings, but also details about Google’s major algorithms and features, a list of Google policies, plus a 43-page document that explains how Google evaluates its results. (OK, that part might be a little more in-depth, I’ll admit.)
But the best part? The live spam slideshow. Here, you can see screenshots of spam Google has removed from its search results only minutes ago. Dozens upon dozens of them, in fact. It’s almost like getting a real-time view into Google itself, which is actually pretty fascinating.
Google today updated its Inside Search site, its homepage for all things search, with a handful of educational and interactive features that explain in layman’s terms how Google’s Search works. Did you know the web had over 30 trillion pages, by the way? Or that Google supports over 100 billion searches every month? Or that Google’s index is over 100 million gigabytes? If you find factoids like that interesting, you’ll probably enjoying a scroll through the new “How Search Works” live infographic, which also contains a few clickable links to charts and graphs showing things like the rise of spam, and milestones in Google’s spam-fighting techniques, among other things.
The update is something of a follow-up to last year’s detailed look into how Gmail works called The Story of Send. For the most part, it’s really high-level stuff here, designed to make the details of technology approachable and understandable to a more mainstream audience looking to gain a better understanding of what happens after they type into the search box.
The new sections of the site include not only the graphical explanation of Google Search’s inner workings, but also details about Google’s major algorithms and features, a list of Google policies, plus a 43-page document that explains how Google evaluates its results. (OK, that part might be a little more in-depth, I’ll admit.)
But the best part? The live spam slideshow. Here, you can see screenshots of spam Google has removed from its search results only minutes ago. Dozens upon dozens of them, in fact. It’s almost like getting a real-time view into Google itself, which is actually pretty fascinating.
What I See In Your Future, Vine (Voiceover, Android, And Front-Facing Camera)
The link to the full story is here
Dear Vine,
We’ve grown close over the last month. We’ve had so many great times together. You’ve helped me break news, have some LOLs, get creative, and even crowdsource information thanks to your awesome integration with Twitter.
But this isn’t about your parent, it’s about us. I want us to be better, and there are some things I need from you that I’m just not getting. I know that somewhere in there, deep in the code, lie the answers to my prayers. I even saw a Voiceover feature (something I’m desperate for) slide up as a button alongside the “Cancel” button after some sort of glitch, so I know you have it in you.
All that said, I’m writing you this letter, hoping it appeals to your sensitive side, so that we can move forward with an even stronger, more loving relationship than before.
Here’s what I want:
ANDROID
As an avid iPhone user, I’m not one to complain about iOS exclusives. But Vine is about connecting with friends, and considering Instagram’s growth after migrating to Android, I’d expect to see a lot more of my friends pop up on Vine once you guys build out an Android app.
I know it’s on the way, considering that Vine recently announced it was hiring a handful of developers, one of whom must be an Android engineer. It’s only a matter of time, but if I had to prioritize, I’d say an Android app should be on the top of the to-do list.
FRONT-FACING CAMERA
This seems obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: Vine needs a front-facing camera option. I’m not the only one who feels this way — this seems to be the most popular request in Vine’s iTunes reviews section. And it makes sense.
Vine is aimed at creative mobile video creation, which often means filming things other than yourself. This isn’t Snapchat, after all. However, creativity can only increase when you give users the option to switch between front and rear-facing cameras. The best case scenario would be the ability to switch back and forth while recording, but even if you had to choose between front or rear cameras for each Vine, it would be better than no option at all.
ADDING VOICEOVER
Hello!?! How am I supposed to make a Harlem Shake video on Vine if there’s no Voiceover feature?
Voiceover is when you add new audio to existing video. This could be music, a different voice, or other canned audio, but it’s value lies in the fact that it creates a more professional end-product and gives the creator more control.
Voiceover has always seemed like an attractive feature for Vine, but the other day, I realized that I’m probably not the only one thinking that. Vine has plenty of glitches and bugs right now, and somehow (I can’t seem to replicate it) I landed myself on a new menu, featuring “Voiceover” and “Edit” buttons.
(If you’d like to try to replicate, here’s what I did: I opened the app, which was not currently running, and clicked the camera/record button. I then decided I didn’t want to Vine, so I pressed the top right X button to cancel. Along with the usual big, red Cancel button, I also saw two grey buttons above it labeled “Voiceover” and “Edit.” If you see this happen, please email me at Jordan@techcrunch.com.)
After speaking with various iOS dev friends, I’ve learned that it’s absolutely plausible for Vine to have features already residing within the code that we just can’t see yet. Twitter does not comment on upcoming features, whether real or imagined, but I know what I saw.
Given this information, a voiceover feature makes perfect sense. Imagine being able to shoot your vine, and then go around once more adding a voiceover (music, your own voice, or whatever). It has to happen.
Dear Vine,
We’ve grown close over the last month. We’ve had so many great times together. You’ve helped me break news, have some LOLs, get creative, and even crowdsource information thanks to your awesome integration with Twitter.
But this isn’t about your parent, it’s about us. I want us to be better, and there are some things I need from you that I’m just not getting. I know that somewhere in there, deep in the code, lie the answers to my prayers. I even saw a Voiceover feature (something I’m desperate for) slide up as a button alongside the “Cancel” button after some sort of glitch, so I know you have it in you.
All that said, I’m writing you this letter, hoping it appeals to your sensitive side, so that we can move forward with an even stronger, more loving relationship than before.
Here’s what I want:
ANDROID
As an avid iPhone user, I’m not one to complain about iOS exclusives. But Vine is about connecting with friends, and considering Instagram’s growth after migrating to Android, I’d expect to see a lot more of my friends pop up on Vine once you guys build out an Android app.
I know it’s on the way, considering that Vine recently announced it was hiring a handful of developers, one of whom must be an Android engineer. It’s only a matter of time, but if I had to prioritize, I’d say an Android app should be on the top of the to-do list.
FRONT-FACING CAMERA
This seems obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: Vine needs a front-facing camera option. I’m not the only one who feels this way — this seems to be the most popular request in Vine’s iTunes reviews section. And it makes sense.
Vine is aimed at creative mobile video creation, which often means filming things other than yourself. This isn’t Snapchat, after all. However, creativity can only increase when you give users the option to switch between front and rear-facing cameras. The best case scenario would be the ability to switch back and forth while recording, but even if you had to choose between front or rear cameras for each Vine, it would be better than no option at all.
ADDING VOICEOVER
Hello!?! How am I supposed to make a Harlem Shake video on Vine if there’s no Voiceover feature?
Voiceover is when you add new audio to existing video. This could be music, a different voice, or other canned audio, but it’s value lies in the fact that it creates a more professional end-product and gives the creator more control.
Voiceover has always seemed like an attractive feature for Vine, but the other day, I realized that I’m probably not the only one thinking that. Vine has plenty of glitches and bugs right now, and somehow (I can’t seem to replicate it) I landed myself on a new menu, featuring “Voiceover” and “Edit” buttons.
(If you’d like to try to replicate, here’s what I did: I opened the app, which was not currently running, and clicked the camera/record button. I then decided I didn’t want to Vine, so I pressed the top right X button to cancel. Along with the usual big, red Cancel button, I also saw two grey buttons above it labeled “Voiceover” and “Edit.” If you see this happen, please email me at Jordan@techcrunch.com.)
After speaking with various iOS dev friends, I’ve learned that it’s absolutely plausible for Vine to have features already residing within the code that we just can’t see yet. Twitter does not comment on upcoming features, whether real or imagined, but I know what I saw.
Given this information, a voiceover feature makes perfect sense. Imagine being able to shoot your vine, and then go around once more adding a voiceover (music, your own voice, or whatever). It has to happen.
Facebook Gives Examples To Jumpstart Usage Of Graph Search, Which It May Have Spent Too Long Building
The link to the full story is here
.Photos and the news feed are where people spend their time on Facebook. Yet its last two big products were relatively niche features, Timeline and the new Graph Search. Facebook today published examples of how to use Graph Search, which merely highlight that it’s not part of day-to-day life. Yes, Facebook needed to fix search, but it may have prioritized an engineering wank over the user experience.
As Facebook told me last week, Graph Search now has hundreds of thousands of users, up from the approximately 100,000 who first got the rollout (those without it can sign up for earlier access). But it seems Facebook thinks people aren’t using it enough or exploring its full potential. So to encourage usage, it wrote a blog post of “some favorite searches,” despite the fact that less than one in one thousand people have access to Graph Search.
The suggested queries include searching for videos or old photos of friends, who you know that’s engaged, and photos from popular news sources. There are also location and interest-discovery examples like hotels near a landmark, ski resorts friends have been to, places you’ve visited, apps and videos your friends Like, hobbies of people with prestigious professions, and what people with similar interests to you Like.
.Photos and the news feed are where people spend their time on Facebook. Yet its last two big products were relatively niche features, Timeline and the new Graph Search. Facebook today published examples of how to use Graph Search, which merely highlight that it’s not part of day-to-day life. Yes, Facebook needed to fix search, but it may have prioritized an engineering wank over the user experience.
As Facebook told me last week, Graph Search now has hundreds of thousands of users, up from the approximately 100,000 who first got the rollout (those without it can sign up for earlier access). But it seems Facebook thinks people aren’t using it enough or exploring its full potential. So to encourage usage, it wrote a blog post of “some favorite searches,” despite the fact that less than one in one thousand people have access to Graph Search.
The suggested queries include searching for videos or old photos of friends, who you know that’s engaged, and photos from popular news sources. There are also location and interest-discovery examples like hotels near a landmark, ski resorts friends have been to, places you’ve visited, apps and videos your friends Like, hobbies of people with prestigious professions, and what people with similar interests to you Like.
Facebook Gifts Sales And Revenue Off To A Slow Start
The link to the full story is here
A billion-dollar business? Maybe not. Despite lofty projections for Facebook Gifts from analysts, reporters and myself, a new report picks apart public statements from the company to suggest it sold a maximum of 667,000 gifts in Q4 2012, and maybe a lot less. Sure, it’s early days, but it may take Facebook a while to build Gifts into a game changer.
Correction: The original version of this article was predicated on an incorrect third-party report by Aggregift. It suggested Facebook earned a maximum of $1 million in revenue and sold 267,000 Gifts in Q4 2012 by working back from the fact that Facebook collected $5 million in revenue in Q4 2012 between Page Promoted Posts and Gifts. In reality, the $5 million announced on the earnings call was from Gifts and the more nascent User Promoted Posts product, about which less sales data is available, which prevents the type of analysis shown in the report. Facebook was given a chance to dispute the original report but declined to comment, despite the flawed methodology. This article has been heavily edited to improve accuracy.
Facebook launched the ability for friends to buy each other real-world Gifts in September, though it wasn’t rolled out to all U.S. users until December. That means it certainly didn’t get all of Q4 to rake in e-commerce cash. Still, it was the Christmas season, and Facebook hawked Gifts in the Birthdays sidebar and at the top of the mobile feed, plus a big call-out to buy last-minute holiday presents.
The social network has kept the performance of Gifts close to the chest, and tried to calm hype about it. On the Q4 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:
“I do want to temper near-term expectations a little bit on revenue coming from other areas like Gifts or Graph Search…Payments and other revenue also included around $5 million from sources outside of games primarily user promoted posts and to a lesser extent from our new Gifts product. While we remain excited about the long-term potential of commerce on Facebook, current revenue from user promoted posts and Gifts is very small, and we expect 2013 contributions from these initiatives to remain very small given current run rates.”
A billion-dollar business? Maybe not. Despite lofty projections for Facebook Gifts from analysts, reporters and myself, a new report picks apart public statements from the company to suggest it sold a maximum of 667,000 gifts in Q4 2012, and maybe a lot less. Sure, it’s early days, but it may take Facebook a while to build Gifts into a game changer.
Correction: The original version of this article was predicated on an incorrect third-party report by Aggregift. It suggested Facebook earned a maximum of $1 million in revenue and sold 267,000 Gifts in Q4 2012 by working back from the fact that Facebook collected $5 million in revenue in Q4 2012 between Page Promoted Posts and Gifts. In reality, the $5 million announced on the earnings call was from Gifts and the more nascent User Promoted Posts product, about which less sales data is available, which prevents the type of analysis shown in the report. Facebook was given a chance to dispute the original report but declined to comment, despite the flawed methodology. This article has been heavily edited to improve accuracy.
Facebook launched the ability for friends to buy each other real-world Gifts in September, though it wasn’t rolled out to all U.S. users until December. That means it certainly didn’t get all of Q4 to rake in e-commerce cash. Still, it was the Christmas season, and Facebook hawked Gifts in the Birthdays sidebar and at the top of the mobile feed, plus a big call-out to buy last-minute holiday presents.
The social network has kept the performance of Gifts close to the chest, and tried to calm hype about it. On the Q4 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:
“I do want to temper near-term expectations a little bit on revenue coming from other areas like Gifts or Graph Search…Payments and other revenue also included around $5 million from sources outside of games primarily user promoted posts and to a lesser extent from our new Gifts product. While we remain excited about the long-term potential of commerce on Facebook, current revenue from user promoted posts and Gifts is very small, and we expect 2013 contributions from these initiatives to remain very small given current run rates.”
Facebook’s News Feed, A Skittish Gift Horse
The link to the full story is here
Remember Facebook Questions? Checkins? Spotify listens? They had their time at the top of the news feed because Facebook favors new products, but their prominence diminished as they matured. This and competition for space between posts may explain why New York Times writer Nick Bilton gets fewer Likes on shares to his public followers than a year ago. The news feed is a bumpy ride.
According to Zuckerberg’s Law Of Sharing, we post twice as much each year, but we’re not doubling how long we spend reading our social streams. On Twitter’s unfiltered feed, that means we read tweets from a shorter period each time we browse. The last 100 tweets may now come from the last hour, when perhaps it took those we follow two hours to conjure up as many quips and cat memes a year ago.
On Facebook’s filtered feed, though, push comes to shove, as Hunter Walk mentions in his response to Bilton. Facebook shows a digest of the most “relevant” posts from the last few hours or since we last logged in. As we share more, the bar climbs, and only the posts with the most likes and comments and those from our closest friends show up.
Facebook also sidesteps its news feed sorting algorithm, unofficially known as EdgeRank, to inject certain pieces of content. For example, ads. Whether they’re posts by Pages we Like that could have appeared but probably wouldn’t make the cut, or non-social ads that are completely artificial, Facebook makes money by sticking them high in the news feed. The volume of advertising in the feed has increased dramatically this year, which Bilton says means “free posts will disappear from people’s feeds as sponsored ads float to the top.”
It’s a balancing act, and Facebook may be tipping too far towards advertisers’ interests right now. I agree with Bilton. Facebook risks alienating users if the feed’s meritocracy is poisoned with paid marketing and users feel like they’re not seeing what they want.
Remember Facebook Questions? Checkins? Spotify listens? They had their time at the top of the news feed because Facebook favors new products, but their prominence diminished as they matured. This and competition for space between posts may explain why New York Times writer Nick Bilton gets fewer Likes on shares to his public followers than a year ago. The news feed is a bumpy ride.
According to Zuckerberg’s Law Of Sharing, we post twice as much each year, but we’re not doubling how long we spend reading our social streams. On Twitter’s unfiltered feed, that means we read tweets from a shorter period each time we browse. The last 100 tweets may now come from the last hour, when perhaps it took those we follow two hours to conjure up as many quips and cat memes a year ago.
On Facebook’s filtered feed, though, push comes to shove, as Hunter Walk mentions in his response to Bilton. Facebook shows a digest of the most “relevant” posts from the last few hours or since we last logged in. As we share more, the bar climbs, and only the posts with the most likes and comments and those from our closest friends show up.
Facebook also sidesteps its news feed sorting algorithm, unofficially known as EdgeRank, to inject certain pieces of content. For example, ads. Whether they’re posts by Pages we Like that could have appeared but probably wouldn’t make the cut, or non-social ads that are completely artificial, Facebook makes money by sticking them high in the news feed. The volume of advertising in the feed has increased dramatically this year, which Bilton says means “free posts will disappear from people’s feeds as sponsored ads float to the top.”
It’s a balancing act, and Facebook may be tipping too far towards advertisers’ interests right now. I agree with Bilton. Facebook risks alienating users if the feed’s meritocracy is poisoned with paid marketing and users feel like they’re not seeing what they want.
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