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Top 10: Changes Google introduced in 2011

Revamping spree: The year 2011 seems to be a big year for Google as the company has come up with two new projects - Google Plus and Online music store and has also given a facelift to its gamut of services. From YouTube to Gmail, all its key services have undergone a major facelift. Here are some key changes introduced by Google this year.



YouTube has reprogrammed its website to make it easier for viewers to find and watch their favourite channels. The facelift is the latest step in YouTube's attempt to make the Internet's most popular video site as easy to navigate. It has been reorganised to display three main vertical columns instead of scattering clips in horizontal rows.


Google's black bar has undergone a facelift and the company has come up with a new bar. Instead of the horizontal black bar at the top of the page, users can now find links to services in a new drop-down Google menu nested under the Google logo. The new grey bar has three main regions. On the left, the Google logo contains a drop-down menu with links to Google services that displays when a user hovers over or clicks on it. The central area contains a search box for the Google service the user is currently using. The right side features a share box and notifications to participate on Google+ from any Google page.


Gmail gets a new look. Google has also released the refereshed interface for its popular email service Gmail. Users can move to the new look by clicking on Switch to the new look in the bottom-right of Gmail. The new features on Gmail include redesigned email threads that now display profile pictures of contacts. Users can also choose the density of conversations displayed by choosing between three displays: Confortable, cozy and compact. Google had first announced its plans for a Gmail makeover in July this year.


Google's mapping technology has been upgraded by including indoor maping. Google's next frontier in digital mapping will span the world's shopping malls and airports. An upgrade of Google's mobile mapping service has been released that includes directions within stores, malls, airports and transit centers in the US and Japan.


Google has released its latest version of the Android operating system - Android 4.0, codenamed 'Ice Cream Sandwich'. Google has not only refined the already existing applications and functionalities, but has also introduced a number of new features.

In a bid to counter Facebook's popularity, Google came up with a new social networking site Google Plus in late June. Earlier, Google Plus was open only to individuals, but it opend the service for businesses also in the month of November. Meanwhile, the company added a social layer to Gmail by adding integration with its new social service, Google plus.

Since the beginning, Chrome has been designed to allow apps to do more faster. But Google also made changes in Chrome to make it even easier to access favorite apps and discover new favorites. In the latest stable release of Chrome, the company completely redesigned the New Tab page. The company claims it to be more streamlined now and hence it becomes easier to access and organise apps in different sections on the page.

Google's blog-publishing service Blogger has also been given a new look. The company has rewritten the entire editing and management experience from scratch so that it becomes faster and more efficient for users to update and improve over time. Whether the user is on a dashboard or settings page of blogger.com, he can always create or edit posts with just one click at the top of the screen. The post editor has also been expanded and simplified to give users a larger canvas for drafting and previewing their work.

Opening a new front in its battle with Apple's iTunes, Google has come up with its much-anticipated digital music store in the US. Some songs are free, while others have been priced at 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 - the same prices as on Apple's iTunes. Artists whose work is available right away include Adele, Jay-Z and Pearl Jam. The store will feature dozens of free tracks from artists like Coldplay, Rolling Stones and Busta Rhymes.


Google is in the process of killing a number of its initiatives, which have failed to make the impact as the company had hoped. Google is calling it an out-of-season spring cleaning session. The services which the company has planned to shut down include Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Knol, Google Friend Connect, Google Bookmarks Lists and Google Gears.

The Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m).















Innovative Interior Design - 24 Rooms in just 344 sqft

Gary Chang, an architect, designed his 344 square foot apartment in Hong Kong to be able to change into 24 different designs, all by just sliding panels and walls. The future seems to be modular homes like this, a solution to space problems!






World's Craziest Roller Coasters

Top Thrill Dragster is a steel, hydraulically-launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. It was the first "Strata Coaster," loosely defined as a complete circuit coaster that is 400 to 499 feet tall.





Cedar Point

When Top Thrill Dragster opened, it set several new records:


    * First continuous-circuit roller coaster to top 400 feet
    * First roller coaster to reach 120 mph
    * Highest drop of any coaster
    * Fastest roller coaster in the world
    * Tallest roller Coaster in the world




Eejanaika, Japan - most inversions, perhaps loudest screams. This roller coaster not only whirls through the loops, but each cart additionally rotates 360 degrees, guaranteed to scramble even veteran coaster riders. Eejanaika is the fastest and longest, with the most inversions, 14 in total.




Life And Times Of Prince Philip In Pictures

The Duke of Edinburgh at 90: the life and times of Prince Philip in pictures

Prince Philip was born on 10 June 1921. He is pictured above in July 1922


Prince Philip of Greece, dressed in Greek national costume, is seen in this undated photo, when he attended the MacJannet American School in the Paris suburb of St Cloud. This picture was signed and presented to Donald R MacJannet, by Prince Philip on his ninth birthday in 1930.
July 1947: A picture taken after the announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip
20 November 1947: Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip leave Westminster Abbey in London after their wedding ceremony
1947: Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip pose during their honeymoon in Malta, where he was stationed with the Royal Navy
1 December 1948: The Queen holds Prince Charles in his christening gown, while her husband the Duke Of Edinburgh looks on
2 June 1953: The Duke of Edinburgh with Queen Elizabeth II on her Coronation
31 July 1955: The Duke of Edinburgh and Sir William Becher toss as rival captains before a cricket match at Badminton, in aid of the National Playing Fields Association
5 June 1961: American President John Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline with Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace
9 April 1968: The Queen and Duke Of Edinburgh with sons, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Prince Edward and daughter Princess Anne in the garden at Frogmore Estate, Berkshire
September 1972: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh pose at Balmoral to celebrate their Silver Wedding anniversary
20 November 1972: Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh pose with their children for a Silver Wedding Anniversary group photo in the Belgian suite at Buckingham Palace
7 June 1977: Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Silver Jubilee procession
9 September 1979: The Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh attend the funeral of Earl Louis Mountbatten (1900 - 1979) in full Naval regalia
29 July 1981: The Queen, the Prince of Wales, Princess Diana and the Duke Edinburgh stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the wedding of Charles and Diana
4 August 1982: Diana, Princess of Wales holds her son Prince William, while her husband the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen and the Queen Mother look on at Buckingham Palace after Prince William's christening ceremony
18 September 1982: Prince Andrew talks to his parents aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, as he is welcomed home on his return from the Falklands war, where he served as a helicopter pilot
26 October 1982: The Queen takes a photo of her husband during their visit to the South Sea Islands of Tuvalu
14 October 1986: The Queen and Prince Philip visit the Great Wall of China
6 September 1997: The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, to Westminster Abbey during her funeral
5 April 2002: Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Prince Phillip, Princess Anne and Prince Edward follow the Queen Mother's coffin as her funeral procession heads for Westminster Hall 
 4 December 2002: The Duke of Edinburgh looks at a cartoon of Queen Elizabeth II standing behind the bar in the Old Vic pub from TV show EastEnders drawn by Trogg for the Golden Jubilee

13 May 2005: The Duke of Edinburgh rides on a mini motorbike during the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Home Park, Windsor Castle

22 October 2006: The Duke of Edinburgh talks to members of the Queen's Royal Hussars during a surprise visit to Iraq to see British troops serving in Basra

18 November 2007: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh pose at Broadlands, before their Diamond Anniversary

24 May 2011: Queen Elizabeth II poses with US President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle Obama and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace ahead of a State Banquet