I tried other special characters also (almost every) and I really got amazed to see how Google Search has been improving. Characters that I have personally tested-

• ~ (tilde)
• ! (exclamation mark)
• @ (at the rate sign)
• # (hash sign)
• $ (dollar sign)
• % (percent sign)
• ^ (caret sign)
• & (ampersand sign)
• ( ) { } [ ] (parentheses)
• - (minus sign)
• _ (underscore)
• = (equals sign)
• + (plus sign)

All the above special characters you will find just below the function keys. One important thing here to not is * (asterisk) is still not included in this addition. If words like ‘databases, queries, mysql, oracle’ sounds familiar to you, you know why asterisk cannot be a part of search. Later on I found more symbols that are working on Google Search, here they are-

• . (full stop)
• , (comma)
• : (colon)
• ; (semicolon)
• | (vertical bar)
• “ (quotation marks)
• < (less-than sign)
• > (greater-than sign)
• ‘ (apostrophe)
• \ (backslash)
• / (slash)
• ? (question mark not working same as *)

I like this addition very much, love to see Google evolving so dynamically. If you find something strange or new with these symbols, do let us know.

This article Google Search now allows special characters was originally published on Techonzo

Some of the great features of Google Galaxy Nexus

Screen
4.65″ HD(1280 x 720) Super AMOLED
Contour Display (curved glass)

Size
67.94 x 135.5 x 9.47 (LTE)

Data
LTE/CDMA
WIFI
BLUETOOTH

Memory
Storage: 32GB
Memory: 1GB RAM

Camera
5MP continuous auto focus
1.3MP Front
LED Flash
Zero shutter lag
Video recording in 1080p

Other Features
BATTERY: 1850mAh
OS: Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0)
CPU: 1.2 GHZ dual core processor
NOTIFICATION: 3 color LED
MICS: 2 Mics

USB
Micro USB

Since the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is now in stores, there is the possibility that some stores might accidentally sell the Galaxy Nexus. There are few reports, but that has happened. Even a Best Buy sold one and the proof has been provided. It is expected that it will start selling out from US, UK, Canada and Australia and then rest of the world gradually.

This article Google Galaxy Nexus to release on 15 Dec was originally published on Techonzo

Google Currents feature-

So far more than 150 publishers have agreed to provide material to Currents

Add your favorite content

From leading publications, to blogs you follow, you can browse, read, and share favorite content, presented in a swipable magazine format.

Follow trending stories

Let the breaking stories find you. Personalized “trends” pulls articles, photos and videos into living editions, surfacing new stories as they unfold.

Designed for all your devices

Whether sitting on your couch, riding a train or plane, your Currents content is ready for highspeed reading on your Android or Apple phone or tablet.

To roll out Google Current is only available in US as of now, you can download it from market or app store.

If you are non-US user, Download Google Currents for Android here.

See this introductory Video Also

This article Download Google Currents for android was originally published on Techonzo

Free YouTube Download is one of the most usable programs on the web to download YouTube videos, single videos as well as whole channel, playlist. It combines simplicity of usage as well as advanced downloading features which you can set as you like:

• videos from Movies Category, Music Category, personal playlists, users’ channels
• download videos in original YouTube quality or convert them to AVI, MP4, WMV
• enjoy multi-stream downloading
• customize output name easily
• save and load links from external text files
• save download history
• import videos to iTunes automatically
• download videos which require YouTube authorization via Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome
• enable compatibility with screen reading software.

Free YouTube Download contains no spyware or adware. It’s clearly free and absolutely safe to install and run.

Requirements

• It runs only on Windows platform (Win XP SP2, Vista, 7)
• .Net Framework

Download Free Youtube Download here

Its just a 3 step process-

1. Copy all Youtube links you want to download and paste them as shown in the screen-shot below-

2. Select the file format you want to download, as shown below-

3. Shoot Download and just wait for all videos going green.

Wasn’t that so easy? I mean for me it was so-so helpful. I really liked the tool, How about you?

This article Download all Youtube videos from a channel or playlist was originally published on Techonzo

He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

He lacked financial acumen, and, though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers he eventually overcame his financial troubles.

On his 176th Birthday lets have a look at some of his best quotes-

• A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
• Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
• By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity — another man’s I mean.
• Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
• Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.
• Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
• Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.
• I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.
• I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.
• I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

And here is the Today’s Google Doodle

Some images of Mark Twain

image credit : image 1 | image 2 | image 3 | image 4 | image 5

This article Google Doodle celebrates Mark Twain’s 176th Birthday was originally published on Techonzo

The very first thing you  need to do after creating a Google+ Page is link your website to your Google+ Page and that you can do simply by adding a ‘link’ tag in <head> section of your website, here is the code you need to add-

<link href="your_G+_page_url" rel="publisher" />

Now as you have linked your website to your page, now its the time to make it easy for your visitors to reach your Google+ Page and for that you can add a Google+ Page badge to your website. See the image below-

Click here to get a badge for your website. you can also choose style of the badge based on the layout of your website. The available options are – Standard Badge, Small Badge, Small icon, Medium icon, Large icon and no badge at all.

Choose what suits you and have fun.

This article How to add a Google+ Page badge on your website was originally published on Techonzo

Today on Google home page when you click ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ it takes you to the Google Doodle’s page and the moment i start typing something on search bar it takes me to default search page as shown below-

My only concern is - Google took this step being known that this feature is not used by major of the internet mass or they did it unknowingly? I think they did it for reason, what you say?

This article Is Google unknowingly killing I’m feeling lucky feature? was originally published on Techonzo

The service is only available in US right now but if you still want to experience it, here is a way with which users outside US can also install the Google Music app to their android devices.

All you need to do is click on the below link and put the file in your android device and install it there. Cheers!!

Download Google Music to your Android device right now.

Also check : Google Music shortcut keys

This article Download Google Music for your Android device was originally published on Techonzo

Google Music will allow the Web search leader to do the same by letting consumers access music from various Internet-connected devices and easily share tracks with friends.

Its also in news that Google will also integrating its Google Music with Google+, users will be able to share songs with their Circles contacts who can listen to the full length of the tracks one time without making a purchase.

Songs range in price from 69 cents (44p) to $1.29 and come without DRM copy-protection. The search giant is also offering a different track free for download every day.

Here are few of the Shortcut keys that you can use to enhance your productivity on Google Music.

• / : Search
• = : Increase the player volume
• - : Decrease the player volume
• = : Rate the current song thumbs up
• – : Rate the current song thumbs down
• p : Create a new playlist
• l : Create a new Instant mix from the selected song
• s : Toggle shuffle on or off
• r : Toggle repeat between off, all, and one
• e : Edits the currently selected songs
• Space bar : Play or pause music
• Right arrow : Go to the next song
• Left arrow : Go to the previous song
• Right arrow : Seek forward In the current song
• Left arrow : Seek backward In the current song
• Up arrow : Select the item above the current selection
• Down arrow : Select the item below the current selection

This article Google Music shortcut keys was originally published on Techonzo

Pandit Nehru was very fond of children and because of his love for them, November 14 came to be celebrated as Children’s Day in India. Pandit Nehru spoke about children being the future pillars of the nation. He believed that children should be provided with a safe and loving environment and they deserve to be given equal opportunities so they can contribute to the growth of the nation.

Most schools hold cultural performances on this day, run by the children themselves, and teachers also get involved to make it a day to enjoy and remember. Nehru emphasized the importance of giving love and affection to children, who he saw as the bright future of India, and this ideal is celebrated on this day.

State and Central governments also make it a point to showcase Children’s films as part of Film festivals organized in many parts of the country on this date.

Here are Children’s Day Google Doodles from previous years

Children's Day 2010

Children's Day 2009

Children's Day 2008

This article Google Doodle celebrates Children’s Day was originally published on Techonzo

So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.

I am here not to discuss how a multinational or global brand can get benefits from Google+ Pages, but we will talk about How a Startup can use it to boost its activities. Infact, I think Google+ Pages so far are more beneficial for a startup than a big shot like Pepsi, The Muppets, Toyota etc. Let me share some couple of points to answer “How can you say that?” kinda question in your mind.

The Beta factor

Google+Pages as of now are in beta phase, that typically means this is the first time this service is available outside of the organization that developed it. That gives you the benefit of engaging with early adopters, all you see there are them only. The actual purpose of releasing a service in ‘beta’ phase is getting a usability test and that is where a startup can jump in. So my only point here is a startup can take a risk to experiment things right now, while a global brand needs to think twice or may be thrice.

The Admin Control

Being a Startup how many resources in terms of human resources can you dedicate only for this activity which is still in beta phase. We are not talking about the success or failure of Google+ Pages here, we are talking about the resources. I think hardly ‘one’ while a multinational brand can outsource this social campaign to a Digital Media company which makes minimum 2-3 people who will be involved in analyses of this campaign. And you know what? Google+ Pages so far only allows one admin, so who has an edge?

You better Hangout

Discussions, Ahh!! that is what we do most of the time and Google+ Hangouts have given it an entirely new bend. With Google+ Hangouts video conferencing has become very easy and more than that you can also control whether to keep it public or private. That gives you more flexibility to talk to your customers very easily. Apart from all we just discussed Startups can use Hangouts for training, online seminars, casual meetings etc which is not scalable for a Brand.

Be more Customized

Being a startup, I am sure you must be emphasizing more on personal interactions and engagements; actually that is practical also as compared to a Brand. I remember in one of my previous article about Is Google+ falling apart? one of my friend Pat said “Google+ is about content curation and conversation with leanings toward the intellectual, Comparing it with Facebook is like comparing bananas and kiwi“. I agree to this statement, and this is where Startups can take advantage of Google+. Interact, engage and act as per your customers.

There are few more points that I have in my mind, but the major ones I have already mentioned above. A Global Brand has a lot more worries and issues to report to Google+ Pages like adding more than one website, getting a personal+short url for their page, custom themes as per their color or logo, etc. And I am sure Google+ team must be working hard on it, but by the time they do a boom boom, startups can go ahead and start building their platform right this moment.

I am sure you also hold an opinion about this, please share with us.

This article How Startups can use Google+ Pages efficiently was originally published on Techonzo

That means the most popular features are now not hidden behind the “More” button, rather now they are one touch feature. And three buttons on right side of navigation has been replaced by one single button, that now will do the work of all. Related searches remains at the same position.

Here is the existing Google Search for Tablets

New interface of Google Search

So isn’t that very cool, I am loving it. Let us know what do you think.

This article New Google Search Interface for Tablets was originally published on Techonzo

I know several people who never signed in for a Google plus account because they don’t have a Gmail account, they used yahoo mail for personal use and Google apps in their company. Creating one more account and then going to Google+ was a headache for them. So see Google has made it easy for you. Now you can access G+ from your existing Google apps account.

This was very much expected as when I was researching for my previous article on Google+ titled “Is Google+ falling apart?“. One of my friend said they are yet to open for Google apps and also coming up with Business pages.

So from now on more Hangouts, more sharing and more plus ones on Google+. Hangouts will be useful for casual conference calls and screen sharing working jointly in Google Docs.

Shoot people!! here you go.. plus.google.com

This article Google+ now open to Google apps users was originally published on Techonzo

Suppose you are searching for “Siri itunes” on Google Search, you will get results something like what you see below (results may vary) -

Now look at the second link, it says its from itunes.apple.com and that image written with “Siri” attracts too. I was damn sure that Siri’s logo noway gonna look like this, but I don’t know I just clicked on that link. It took me to a fraud app page on apple’s site. I was like “I knew it, this a fraud app”; and I pressed just pressed back button to come back to google search page to know how come this fraud app ranking so good on Google Search.

And I forgot the  ranking part when I saw this -

That says, you can now block all results from a domain or website. Isn’t that smart, if you coming back to Google Search after visiting a site means either your are known to what all is written there or  may be you are not satisfied with that link or may be it is completely a crap. If it is a crap you can save your time for next searches.

Man, I loved this move from google this gives them an instant feedback on sites. I am not very sure whether they are keeping a record of most blocked websites or not, but this feature itself is cool. I will definitely try to drill down the motive behind this and if something concrete came up, will share with you too. Let me know how you find this new move from Google?

This article Blocking domains on Google Search now more easy was originally published on Techonzo

The applications, written in the markup language used for the World Wide Web, HTML, will also be able to use code native to the Chrome web browser. The store hosts free and paid applications. Examples of applications available in the store include the games Plants vs. Zombiesand Angry Birds.

Here we have shared the screen shots of both new and old Chrome Web Store.

New Google Chrome Web Store

Old Google Chrome Web Store

Share with us, how did you find the new look of Google Chrome Web Store.

This article Google Chrome Web Store got a new look was originally published on Techonzo

Here are top 5 users of Google+

And here is his past 7 days follower graph

Thanks to www.socialstatistics.com for all the above graphs and stats. Figures also indicate that Snoop Dogg is one of the top 5 movers rising towards the top list. Do you think Snoop or Mark can beat Larry Page ?

This article Larry Page is now the most circled person on Google+ was originally published on Techonzo

To demonstrate the recent change see the example below-

If you see in the above example when I use “techonzo+harsh” without any space it gives me a normal search results, but when I add a space after the first word and then add the second one followed by a + operator – as u can see above “techonzo +harsh”.

I am still not sure what they are targeting through this change. If you have any idea about this please share and enlighten us.

This article Google Search replaced the + operator was originally published on Techonzo

How to download Ice Cream Sandwich font Roboto

• If you have a rooted android phone then you simply download the font link given below and install it.
• But if your phone is not rooted, then also you can install this font. All you need to do is install a app called Font changer first and then install Roboto.

Font Changer App | Roboto Font

This article Get Ice Cream Sandwich font on your Android device was originally published on Techonzo

Mary was recognized with a posthumous Disney Legend award. Also posthumously, she received the Winsor McCay award from ASIFA-Hollywood.

Below you can see today’s Google Doodle and pics that relate to Mary Blair.

image credit : flickr and wikipedia

This article Google Doodle Celebrates Mary Blair’s Birthday was originally published on Techonzo

Ice Cream Sandwich updates in a nutshell

• Revamped UI with the new ‘Roboto’ font throughout the OS
• One Operating System for both smartphones and tablets
• Virtual Navigation buttons instead of physical keys
• Default resolution of 16:9 1280×720
• Face Unlock, where the device will only unlock if it recognizes your face as the owner of the device
• All new Web Browser that syncs with your Google Chrome on the desktop
• Built in Screenshot taking
• Built in Photo Editing App
• Data Usage Management so you don’t cross your monthly limit
• Improved Notifications, Music Controls
• Improved keyboard with in-line spell and grammar check
• Android Beam: Send files, web pages, apps etc  just by touching the devices together
• Hardware Acceleration of the UI promises to greatly smoothen the experience.

UI changes

The UI has been revamped extensively, with that clean, futuristic look carrying over from Honeycomb — although its Tron roots have been toned down just a tad, with more similarity to the recent facelift Google’s web apps have gotten. Google also built its own font for the interface, dubbed “Roboto.” Instead of hardware buttons, the OS now provides its own software back, home, and recent apps buttons right on the screen. The recent apps button brings up a scrolling list of screen captures of your recent exploits, but while you can swipe away clutter, that doesn’t actual kill the process. Swiping also works to get rid of incoming alerts, and you can even swipe up when getting a phone call to select from a list of canned text message responses if you don’t feel like picking up. Google has tweaked the keyboard to add better error correction, and there’s also an in-line spell checker. The whole experience is apparently specifically designed for 720p screens, with the software buttons disappearing when you watch a movie for a full-in widescreen experience.

Other Features

It’s not just UI tweaks, however, 4.0′s added features are numerous. For starters, you can unlock the phone with your face now (through face recognition, not a nose mash), syncing bookmarks with Chrome is now default functionality, and Google is using the Galaxy Nexus’s built-in NFC for the new Android Beam app, which lets you share content, maps, contacts, apps, and more by tapping the back of your phone to another NFC Android phone. The browser has also been tweaked with an option for a desktop view of sites, and you can save a full page for offline browsing as well. Tabbed browsing works just like the app switcher. Gmail has been significantly tweaked to work within the OS’s new UI paradigms. Even better, Google is adding offline email search, with 30 days of mail stored by default and longer periods available if you’re feeling nostalgic. Deeper in the phone there’s a visualizer that offers a useful chart of your data usage, which should help you toe that 2GB line.

New Apps

There’s a new Google+ app along for the ride, along with a new People app that pulls photos from Google+ to flesh out your contacts. Google is also offering a phone-friendly version of its Movie Studio app that originally debuted with Honeycomb on the tablet (a nice pair with the Galaxy Nexus’s 1080p video). The camera app has added a panorama mode, “silly faces,” and a background replacement mode, but there’s also a whole photo editor built-in if you need to do some serious work on your photos or run some Instagram-style filters before uploading to your sharing service of choice.

Release of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Android 4.0 will be released worldwide in November, but the SDK is available now for developers to start building apps. We’re still waiting on details of exactly how 4.0 will roll out to phones that aren’t the Galaxy Nexus, when the source code becomes available, and where tablets fit into all this, but at least developers can start getting their apps ready for when those inevitable launches happen. Video and screenshots are after the break.

Photo Gallery

Stay tuned for more updates on Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

This article Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich revealed was originally published on Techonzo