Google Friends Newsletter - January 2011

POWER TIP

Port your existing number to Google Voice

Google Voice helps you manage your communications by giving you more control over your phones and voicemail, but until this week, you had to get a new Google phone number in order use all of Google Voice's features. With Number Porting, existing Google Voice users can now use their mobile numbers as their Google Voice numbers. This means you can now use all of Google Voice's features, like ringing multiple phones at once, without having to change your number. To get started with Number Porting, log in to your Google Voice account, visit the Settings page and click on "Change / Port" next to your Google Voice number. Be sure to read our blog post for more info about Number Porting.
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html
http://www.google.com/voice

NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Google Places with Hotpot App for the iPhone

Our local recommendation engine for Google Places, powered by you and your friends, is now available for the iPhone. The Places with Hotpot app makes it easy to rate places on the go and help you find places near you, plus it personalizes your search results to give you the best places for you. The more you rate, the more you're sharing about your tastes and the more we can give you personally tailored recommendations. Find the Google Places app with Hotpot by searching for Google Places in the App Store.
http://hotpot.blogspot.com/2011/01/now-available-google-places-with-hotpot.html

Doodle 4 Google: 2011

The 2011 Doodle 4 Google contest is now open for K-12 students in the U.S. to redesign Google's logo around the theme "What I'd like to do someday...". The winning student, chosen by Google employees and a panel of guest judges, will have their design displayed on Google.com for millions to see, and take home a $15,000 scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school or after-school program. We'll also choose 40 regional finalists, whose artwork will be featured in a special exhibition in partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art. This year, the contest is open to parents to register their
school-age children directly, and we're working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Girls Scouts of the USA so kids in those organizations can participate too. Educators at public, private and home schools can also register their students.
http://www.google.com/doodle4google

Updated Google Translate Android app and Conversation Mode

The Google Translate Android app now features better dropdown boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into, an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout. You can also try out Conversation Mode, a new, experimental interface in alpha within Google Translate that's optimized to allow you to communicate fluidly with a nearby person in another language. Conversation Mode is only available for English and Spanish at the moment. To use it, press the microphone for your language in the app and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech and read the translation out loud. Your conversation partner can then respond in their language, and you'll hear the translation spoken back to you.
http://googletranslate.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-look-for-google-translate-for.html

New YouTube homepage

We gave a preview of a redesigned YouTube homepage in late 2010, and now all logged-in users will see the new version when they visit YouTube. The new homepage is designed to answer the question "What should I watch today?" so there's more focus on videos that matter to you—including subscriptions, friends' sharing and recommendations. You can also filter your homepage to show only the latest uploads from your subscriptions and get quick access to the inbox when you have new messages or comments. If you've already watched a video, it will be grayed out on your homepage—and you can remove any video with a simple click.
http://www.youtube.com