Be Invisible in Gmail Chat

Finally, there is a way for you to hide from your friends when you are checking your Gmail. You can now be 'invisible' in Gmail Chat, the built in IM tool in Gmail. Just like the invisible (or some like to call it Appear Offline) in other IM, you can see others status while you will be shown as offline to your contacts. You can still be able to initiate a conversation. However, if you are using Google Talk, the desktop application, at the same time, you would see this error message:
The invisible function only works for Gmail. And there is no official word from Google yet.

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Google Vespa

Taken in Macworld 2008

[Image Credit: Scott]

Google AdWords Ads in Netherlands

Henk spotted this pretty cool billboard advertisement in Netherlands featuring two case studies about a restaurant owner and an automobile part retailer. They also offer €50 AdWords promotional credit.

Image credit: Henk shared under CC 2.5 License

Video Ads Test in Google Search Results

According to New York Times, Google is testing videos ads in its search results. Google is also testing ads that uses images, interactive maps and other more elaborate features.

At first, users will barely notice the change because the videos will not be immediately obvious. Ads with accompanying videos will have a small button with a plus sign. Google has increasingly used the plus icon to indicate that certain information — such as a map — can pop up on a search results page. Users that click the plus button on an ad will see a small video player that shows a commercial, movie trailer or other clip.

For now, advertisers will not pay extra to put video in the ads. They enter a price they will pay for a click in Google’s regular text-ad auction. But in the video ads, the advertiser pays when users click to see the video, even if they never click through to the advertiser’s site.

“People who advertise a movie want to show a trailer. Why shouldn’t they have the same format we use for search results and have a little plus box that says watch the trailer?” said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products and user experience.

There is no official word from Google at the moment.

New Android SDK Releases

Google released an updated version of Android SDK. It includes a new user interface, layout animations, geo-coding and more. Here are some mock-ups of the new user interface: