Goosh – the Google Shell

It’s an ever-continuing debate: what is better, a graphical user interface, or a command-line interface? Graphical user interfaces may be easier to learn, but complicated operations may require a lot more user input than with a command line interface, which can perform several complicated operations by using a short sequence of words and characters. However, a CLI has a much steeper learning curve than a GUI. Google has always had a certain CLI-quality to it, and Stefan Grothkopp decided to take this a few steps further: say hello to Goosh.

Goosh, the Google Shell, is a command-line interface of the many functions Google provides, allowing you to do all sorts of cool things. For instance, translate nl en “lang leve de CLI!” will translate said sentence from Dutch (Netherlandic, “nl”) to English. See the image below to get an idea.
goosh. It’s essentially a browser-oriented, shell-like interface that allows you to quickly search Google (and images and news) and Wikipedia and get information in a text-only format. This is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen in a good while.”

Quick look at goosh

What happens if Microsoft buys Yahoo?

A good article which describes the impact of this tie up on Open Source community.

Read here

Picasa for Linux

Google’s photo organizer, Picasa, makes it easy to find, edit, and share digital photos on your computer. Now you can harness the power of Picasa on your Linux machine. Linux release includes the same functionality as Picasa for Windows with the exception of just a few items.

So, how does it work? Picasa for Linux runs the current Windows version of Picasa using a carefully tested version of Wine, an open-source implementation of the Windows application-programming interface (API). Wine runs on top of the X Window System and Linux or Unix. But it’s not a Windows emulator; instead, it provides a Windows API middleware layer that enables Windows programs to run on Linux without the slowing effects of OS emulation or a virtual machine.

Google India Women Engineering Award.

As part of google’s ongoing commitment to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, the India team has taken their first steps: in December google launched the Google India “Women in Engineering Award” to recognize women in the field of computer science and engineering.

In its inception year, google have extended this award to recognized engineering schools across India; it is open to any woman student in computer science engineering who meets the application criteria . This initiative has been received positively, as has been indicated by the inundating queries and subsequent applications. The last date for applying is January 31st and google is looking forward to hearing from even more applicants.

How to Type in hindi (Devnagari) with Google Indic Transliteration.

If you’re interested in writing in Hindi, Google have brought out the transliteration feature from Blogger into an independent product of its own: Google Indic Transliteration. This tool will let you type in Hindi, using an English keyboard. Type out words phonetically, and let Google convert them into the correct Hindi word. For example, type “Bharat” to see “भारत”. You’ll soon discover that Google’s sophisticated transliteration technology makes it really easy to compose in Hindi. Google’s algorithm might get the occasional word wrong, but it is always willing to learn. You can teach it by clicking on the wrong word and correcting it.

How to Use It?

Android Google’s entry in Phone Market.

Android — Google’s answer to phone market monopoly.

Google, the word which changed the way people look at internet. It’s really hard to find someone who haven’t came across Google. Google always comes up with something innovative and something which becomes a part of everybody’s life. My internet usage starts with Google and ends with Google. Gmail, Orkut, Google Apps, Google reader to name a few are part of my daily life.

The purpose of this post is to introduce Android i.e. Google’s entry in Mobile market.

Google has announced a new platform for mobile phones, called Android, which is based on Linux.