Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Introducing Google Drive... yes, really!!





Just like the Loch Ness Monster, you may have heard the rumors about Google Drive. It turns out, one of the two actually does exist.

Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancĂ© or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond. 


With Google Drive, you can:
  • Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
  • Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just... there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. We’re also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
  • Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.
You can get started with 5GB of storage for free—that’s enough to store the high-res photos of your trip to the Mt. Everest, scanned copies of your grandparents’ love letters or a career’s worth of business proposals, and still have space for the novel you’re working on. You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.



Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxesedit videos andcreate website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future.

This is just the beginning for Google Drive; there’s a lot more to come.

Get started with Drive today at drive.google.com/start—and keep looking for Nessie...

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Chrome for Android Beta update now available in 31 new languages and more countries for your device running ICS


Since we launched Chrome for Android Beta in February, we’ve been listening closely to all of your feedback (thank you!). It’s great to hear how so many of you love having the Chrome experience on your Android 4.0 phone or tablet.

With today’s update, Chrome for Android Beta is now available in 31 more languages and in all countries where Google Play is available. We’ve also added many much-requested features, including:
  • You can now request the desktop version of a website, in case you would rather not view the mobile version.
  • You can now add bookmarks as shortcuts on your home screen, so you can get to your favorite sites faster.
  • Choose your favorite apps to handle links opened in Chrome.
  • Have a proxy setup for Wi-Fi access? You can now use Chrome with the system proxy configured in Android settings.
If you build websites, you may want to take note of a change in the User-Agent specification for Chrome for Android.

If you haven’t already, you can install Chrome for Android Beta from Google Play on your Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) phone or tablet. As we're still in Beta, we look forward to your feedback so we can continue to improve Chrome for Android.