Google unveils a more beautiful, reliable, and faster image search with inline results and metadata

Google on Wednesday announced a redesign of its image search feature on Google.com that the company claims is faster, more beautiful, and more reliable. Google says you will see the new look “in the next few days” but wouldn’t get any more specific beyond that.

The new design displays images in an inline panel and lets you quickly flip through a set of images by using the keyboard (we assume this will also work on touchscreens eventually with gestures):

Google says that going back to browsing other search results is as simple as just scrolling down and picking up right where you left off. Yet this is more than just a visual update: the company is finally going to show useful information about the images it is surfacing.

Google’s images section will soon display detailed information (the metadata) right underneath it in the search results; more specifically, key information will be shown much more prominently next each image: the title of the page hosting it, the domain name it comes from, and its size. The company also says the source page will no longer load up in an iframe in the background of the image detail view, significantly speeding up the experience for users.

Do you know what that means? It means no more annoying redirects and landing pages.

All those extra clicks just to get basic data about an image has always been one of my biggest pet peeves about the company’s image search so I’m rather excited about it. Google and Bing have played around with including more details by default (but this required a setting to be turned on), hovering over images, and so on, but I’ve still found all of this to be rather unnecessary. We’ll see soon enough if Google has figured out how to address all these shortcomings.

This is great news for users, but Google is also saying it will be a boon for webmasters. With image search ditching iframes that show the image’s original site in the background, Google says it will reduce the load on the source website’s servers and also improve the accuracy of metrics such as pageviews.

This might seem like a bad idea since image search often leads to a lot of click-throughs for many sites. To compensate, Google is making the domain name for each image clickable and is also adding a new button to visit the page the image is hosted on.

With these changes, Google has effectively doubled the number of clickable targets to the source page from two to four. The company says its tests have revealed a net increase in the average click-through rate to the hosting site, but only time will tell if the same holds true once users become accustomed to the new image search.

We’ll keep you posted as Google rolls out the new image search design.

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images

FTC slams Google for seeking ban of Apple iPhones, iPads

“The Federal Trade Commission is backing Apple in the company's battle with Google over standard-essential patents (SEP), arguing that any attempt to ban a product for allegedly infringing an SEP ‘risks harming competition, innovation, and consumers,’” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD.

“The patents Motorola had attempted to assert against Apple were SEPs, which it is obligated to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms,” Paczkowski reports. “And in the FTC's eyes, using the threat of SEP-based injunctions to demand higher royalties or other favorable licensing terms is bad business. It's a ‘patent hold-up,’ to quote the agency's term.”

Paczkowski reports, “It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the FTC has sounded off on SEP-driven lawsuits and Google's efforts to use them to enhance its negotiating stance. Back in June, the agency told the Federal Trade Commission that Google's request for import bans against Microsoft's Xbox and Apple's iPhone for their alleged infringement of its SEPs could hurt competition.”

Read more in the full article here.

Google Africa teams up with businesses accelerator 88mph to light up the South African startup scene

Back in July, we reported that Kenyan startup accelerator 88mph was hoping that a $200k cash injection would help it “accelerate” up to fifteen startups. This endeavor was no doubt boosted by its subsequent partnership with Google geared towards “filling the gaps” of the nascent startup ecosystem' on the continent.

With that in mind, Google Africa and the Umbono program have announced an initiative to roll out 88mph in Cape Town, South Africa.

Just to recap, the Umbono program is a six-month long investment and development initiative from Google, focusing on building prototypes, usability, and iteration for the first three months. During the final three months, firms craft their go-to-market strategy and attempt to lure users to their product.

While the 88mph accelerator program originally launched in Nairobi, Kenya, now that it’s available in South Africa too, startups across the Cape Town conurbation will be better placed to access funding, mentoring, and – ultimately – gain visibility. Google’s specific input will include mentoring, speaker programs and workshops.

“Our goal was always to help kick-start the South African start-up community and bring the pieces of the ecosystem together,” explains Johanna Kollar, Program Manager, Google South Africa. “We've achieved that and the start-up community (‘Silicon Cape’) has proven to be filled with talent, and more active investors are now involved.

“Our new partnership will provide even more resources to entrepreneurs in South Africa,” she continues. “Google for Entrepreneurs is supporting tech accelerators and hubs across Africa, and the new program to support 88mph in Cape Town is an exciting addition.”

The link-up with 88mph is comparable with the Internet giant’s partnerships with the likes of Eleven in Bulgaria and Le Camping in France.

“The Umbono program brought together a community of talent and angel investors, and helped seven startups get their feet off the ground,” continues Kollar. “Many of our teams have won international competitions and already received follow-on investments. We will continue to build on their great momentum to help grow the wider tech entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern Africa.”

The official launch event took place in Cape Town last month and, in practical terms, startups are able to apply now to enter the 88mph program. The deadline for entry is December 15, 2012.

People buy more Android phone units and do less with them vs. Apple’s revolutionary iPhone

“It’s been a little over four years since the first Android phone went on sale. Despite Apple’s one-year lead, devices running Google’s mobile operating system now regularly beat Apple’s iPhone in sales figures,” Owen Thomas writes for The Business Insider.

“But when it comes to what people actually do with those phones, studies show an unintuitive result: iOS users simply use their devices more,” Thomas writes. “They surf the Web more. They buy more apps, and developers write more apps for them. They generate more advertising revenue per person. They spend more on e-commerce sites. They even watch more video, which must be frustrating for Google, considering that it owns YouTube and has heavily backed Android in part to contest Apple’s mobile hegemony. Apple’s mobile devices-iPhones, iPads, and iPods-accounted for 60 percent of non-PC video views in the third quarter, according to FreeWheel. Android devices had 30 percent.”

Thomas writes, “Content purchasing is one thing. [But] the gap in content consumption-especially the free, advertising-supported kind, where Google thrives-is more worrisome. That speaks to some ineffable human factor that Google’s algorithms, for all their mechanistic glory, just can’t get right.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If the only goal was to move handset units, Android’s “winning.” Giving away free phones by the boatload accomplishes nothing, however, when all it results in is second-class status among developers and advertisers, a markedly lower online presence than iOS, and, perhaps most importantly, in a mere sliver of the available profit share which, of course, Apple utterly dominates (See: Apple utterly dominates mobile device market with 6% market share - and 77% of the profits).

After years of knocking off Apple’s patented innovations, all that the so-called geniuses at Google have succeeded in accomplishing is cobbling together the worst collection of cheapskates and/or tech illiterates the world has ever seen this side of Windows PC sufferers.

Just like Mac users, iOS users are the cream of the crop.

So, what was your ultimate goal, Google, selling targeted ads for check cashing outfits, cigarettes, food stamps, and Hee Haw on VHS?

Congrats on your market share “win,” dummies!

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "JES42" for the heads up.]

Apple Maps and the danger of overestimating your company’s strengths

“As everyone now knows, iOS 6's developers replaced Google's Maps application with Apple's proprietary mapping utility, developed through company acquisitions and with help from TomTom,” Liz Larsen reports for Fast Company. “Initial reviews noted the lack of integrated transit directions (a default in Google's Maps), location inaccuracies, missing landmark information, and imperfect (even melted!) 3-D views.”

“While the critical backlash hasn't dented sales of the fifth-generation iPhone, we can apply this misstep to a larger enterprise issue: How should companies evaluate which functions are better outsourced and which should be maintained in-house? These often mission-critical decisions–when made out of haste or hubris–can be enough to put brand reputation and loyalty at stake,” Larsen reports. “When it came time to execute on the strategy of bringing a previously open-sourced application in-house, it would appear that Apple's product development team had neither the time nor skill set to be successful, thus propelling the brand into an unwanted spotlight.”

Larsen reports, “Choosing to bring a new capability in-house is an exercise in honesty and objectivity, in terms of evaluating your own corporate identity and value proposition. And it is a decision that is best executed by taking personal pride (and even impatience) out of the formula. While some strategic moves may seem like a quick way to win a battle, presenting the best offering will ultimately win the war.”

Much more in the full article here.

Related article:
Tim Cook open letter: We fell short with new Maps app; we are extremely sorry – September 28, 2012

Google Nexus 7 tablet newly official & set for July

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Facebook changes default user emails without consent!

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