The two new features are Automatic-Captions and Automatic-Timings. These features let the video uploaders add captions automatically or simply upload the transcript of the video and let Youtube figure which text goes were in the video.

Automatic-Captions: Once the video is uploaded choose “Transcribe Audio” from the captions menu, that’s it! This will add captions to your video automatically. Not just that but once the automatic-captions are created for the video, these captions can later be translated to other languages.

Imagine how great it would be if the browser detects the default language and delivers captions on the video in the same language as default. I am quite certain we will see that feature on Youtube soon.

Automatic-Timing: If you don’t want to go with the Automatic-Captions feature because you are not getting the best results, you can also upload a transcript file to make sure the subtitles on the video are perfect.

With the Automatic-Timing feature in action the users just have to upload the transcript file with the text in it and Youtube will automatically figure out which word was said when in the video and add the appropriate subtitle at the appropriate time unlike earlier where users had to time their transcript manually.

The features are currently being rolled out so if you don’t see them yet, don’t worry, you should see it by the end of the week.

Both the features are great for uploaders and viewers; however, they might not get you the best of results every time you use them. Google always relies on machine learning techniques to improve its language based services and features. So, if not now, these features will work great in the time to come.

If you are looking to achieve great results using softwares, here are two free ones that can help you get the results you are looking for.

• http://www.urusoft.net/products.php?cat=sw
• http://www.synchrimedia.com/ (Mac Only)

Also, watch the following video to see these features in action.

I was taken to Supreme Camera (http://www.supremecamera.com). The site looked nicely designed has all the features an authentic site would have.

Then I noticed most of the gadgets and other things available there are unbelievably priced cheaper than any other site on the internet. For example EOS 5D Mark II is offered at $1909 (body only). The suggested retail price on Canon.com is $2699 and Amazon is selling it for $2629.

Following images give you a good idea of the deals available on this website.

Sony HDR-XR520V $1399 and Canon XH-A1S 3CCD $3759 on Amazon.

At this point the offer and the site looked really fishy. I called the number on the site and told them I am interested in knowing more about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II deal mentioned on the website and I might as well write about it.

The moment I said, I might write about it on my site the call got dropped or he hung-up maybe. I tried calling them again but was put in queue for more than 8 minutes after which I hung-up. This was suspicious again because the first time I called I got through to a sales guy almost immediately.

In no sense of the word I am suggesting that the business does not exist or it’s a trap but it certainly looks suspicious to me. Googled them and found this (Do read the comments on that post).

Now this brings us to a very important question! Should Google be responsible for the authenticity of its advertisers?

Google is an active participant in identifying phishing sites and alerting Firefox and Chrome users against them. In my opinion these sites fall under the same category.

I strongly believe, by publishing ads on its network Google is endorsing a brand, company, product, etc.. in an indirect way so it’s Google’s responsibility to make sure we are not spending our money to lose it, especially when we go to a site through its advertiser network.

Another reason for Google to avoid such sites is because the company is indirectly making money through advertiser that are scamming us.

Following information is from the Adwords policy page which clearly talks about “False claims” which in this case stands true. The site in question is known to sell refurbished goods which is not mentioned anywhere on the site, in fact it lures you into believing that all the goods are brand new.

“Scams/Phishing for Personal Information

Don’t use phishing or other scamming tactics.

Advertising is not permitted for sites collecting sensitive personal information or money with fake forms, false claims, or unauthorized use of Google Trademarks. Examples of personal information include email addresses, user names, passwords, and/or payment information. In addition, advertising is not permitted for ‘run your car on water’ programs or content.“[link]

What do you think? Should companies like Google own more responsibility of who they let into their advertising network?

Update: Just before publishing the article I called them again to confirm my thoughts. This time I called thrice, 1) Was in the queue for some time, 2) Got hung-up on and 3) Got shouted at saying “We are OUT of stock” when I asked about 3-4 cameras.

I wrote this article to share my experience with supremecamera.com. I hope people who are planning to buy from this site find it helpful.

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Image credit: teamaguilar.com

If you don’t see the colored balls on the search page, go back to the settings page and verify the lock. Enabling this feature not only filters Google search and Image results but it also applies the filter across all Google properties.

Watch the following video to see how it really works.

This feature comes in really handy; however, it won’t stop the tech savvy kids from seeing the unfiltered results.

This safe search locking can be bypassed if not applied in all user profiles and on all browsers. It can also be bypassed by simply deleting cookies stored on the profile.

Nonetheless it’s a good feature to have as the video states, Technology cannot replace parents supervision.

Related links, the name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a widget that shows all the related links/articles/content that’s published on a particular domain.

WordPress and other CMS package plugins have been offering this plugin since ages now. The only difference is that Googles gadget as expected queries Google search instead of quering the blogs database.

This tools is not available publically yet its only available for invited users. You can send an e-mail to relatedlinks@google.com with the following information to get an invite.

• Domain URL:
• Invite e-mail address:
• Page Views Per Day:

The management area of the tool lets you black list URLs, Filter prefixes and suffixes, etc. Following image shows what the widget looks like..

Notice the link “Document Search” which is a tag URL. One feature that’s missing is that it does not let you blacklist wildcards but it lets you filter a specific URL only. Blacklisting is not that helpful if you have about 2k tags.

Script Converter lets you convert the language script of any English site to one of the 9 Indian languages or the other way round.

9 Indian languages include Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali and Tamil.

The following image shows Tnerd converted to Tamil. For some reason all the ads on the site are converted to Chinese script.

Click here to try Related Links and here to Script Converter.

The post carries several lists based on US, UK & Canada. There’s also a list for most Movie related queries, Dog related queries, Vampire and Kid related queries.

Following list shows the queries from the overall top US query list.

1. Lady Gaga Costume
2. Halloween Costumes 2009
3. Michael jackson Costume
4. Zombie Costume
5. Kids Halloween Costumes
6. Couples Halloween costumes
7. Couple Costume Ideas
8. Vampire Costume
9. Mario Costume
10. Group Costume Ideas

Now thats quite a list, it does give you a good idea of what to expect from the party tonight. Click here to see the rest of the lists published on Google blog.

Early this month Google had already started hiring in several locations including its centers in India and California. This was a clear indication of a strong quarter and powerful earnings.

The call simply echoed the optimism towards the future and emphasized the fact that the hardest part of the recession was over.

In Eric’s words “We’re going to continue to invest in long-term growth,” he said. “We’re going to invest in people. We’re already stepping up our hiring.” This is a clear indication that Google putting recession in its past and moving forward achieve new goals.

Google stock fell 1% towards the closing bell and rose 3.2% at $547 so far after the earnings were announced.

Click here to download the earnings presentation and here for the press release

Today’s newly launched tool “Building Maker” is the best example I can quote. With such tools Google takes advantage of the loyal and tech savvy user base which helps the company localize the product once it is developed.

Google building maker is based on web version of Sketchup, a company Google acquired couple of years ago. Although, the web-based plugin does not offer as many features and tools, the tools offered are enough to make a decently detailed structure.

The secret of making a structure which closely resembles the reality is refining the layout as much as possible. Go over as many images as you can under the “Image views” column on the left, if you are done with the existing images, click on “Load next 2 images” and add more details to it.

Here is what downtown Chicago looks like and the one building that I am currently working on is the University of Chicago (marked with a red arrow).

It’s a fun tool to play with, I remember marking an entire area down when Google Earth was first release and I’ll probably do the same with the building maker!

For those of you who want to do the same.. watch the video below to see how the tool works..

After all these years, though the charm is still there the excitement has somewhat subsided. Now I always imagined Google earth’s technology to me much more advanced than it is now.

For example what if the image repository is updated as frequently as a page is updated in Googles index or what if Google actually displays date and time for the next setallite capture of that particular area.

None of those things have happened yet but 4 students from Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a model “Augmenting Aerial Earth Maps with Dynamic Information” which makes watching map in real-time possible.

This is done using digital video cameras which capture the video and transmit it to the users on Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. This means you can see people walking on the road or see or a beach vollyball match sitting in the comfor of your geeky computer chair!

Now, waving at your girlfriend while stuck in the rushhour traffic is not impossible. Though there are huge privacy and security issues attached to such technology coming into existence it does bring all the spice back to earth surfing.

The research is partly funded by Google Research Award and the research paper will be presented at ISMAR-2009, Orlando Florida USA.

For more information on the project click here or watch the video below to see this technology in action..

I Personally think this technology is ahead of its time. A lot of people are having a tough time explaining the Why’s and What’s of Twitter or Why should one enable Google’s Latitude! A real-time map in the middle of all this? NO WAY!!

This certainly improves the performance and helps users accelerate through the searches on their mobile phones.  Also, the advantage of having your searches sync is that you can sometimes start where you left off on the PC or simply run through the search history.

The suggestions shown on the phone interface are personalized based on your search history. See the image below to know what I mean…

Users should be logged into their Google accounts to be able to take advantage of this feature and understandably logins should be the same on the phone and PC to see the correct information in terms of Search History and Personalized Suggestions!

Such small, yet intelligent features keep Google ahead of its competition and thats what I love about Google!

I got my Google Voice number today and have been playing around with the service for a while now. It does offer interesting features but I will take some time before I share this number with others.

The company recently launched its mobile version of Voice service for Blackberry and Android but not for iPhone yet! I wonder if AT&T will let users use this service over its 3G network, well, Skype wasn’t so lucky.

By the way.. making international calls over Google voice is cheaper than Skype calling rates which is why lot of VOIP services are closely watching every move Google is making. Compare calling rates here … Google Voice Calling Rates – Skype Calling Rates

Here are a few screenshots from the service…

This is the verification screen you will see every time you link an existing telephone number with the Google number.

This is what the Google Voice console looks like.. and yea as you see in the screenshot.. Google gives you a 10cents credit with every account.. just enough to test the quality of the call before you buy more credits. (click on the image to see a bigger version)

The service also lets you call any number, mobile or land line for absolutely free. Just get online and punch in the number you’d like to call, Google calls you and then connects you with the number you punched in. This should get a little easier with the mobile apps.

Service also lets you maintain an online voice mailing service which alerts you by SMS and E-mail every time someone leaves a voice mail. These voice mails are converted to transcripts before being sent as SMS. The transcription is pretty accurate as you can see in the image below.

These voice mails can also be downloaded and saved as MP3 files or simply embedded on your site or blog….

Overall I think the service is good, however, users will certainly take some time before they trust this service and start sharing the numbers with others.

Google Voice is not open for registrations yet but you can register for an invite and get one an a week or two! Click here to register for an invite.