Google Voice makes it easier for people to reach you by only having to call one number that rings all your phones. But sometimes you don’t want to be reached -- like if you’re in a meeting or watching a movie. To help you in these situations, you can enable the Do Not Disturb setting to send all callers straight to voicemail.
This setting can be toggled on or off from the Settings menu or by calling your Google Voice number. And starting this week, you can set a timer so that it only remains active for a set period of time.
We’re excited to continue to give you more control over your communications. As always, if you have suggestions for future improvements, please tell us!
As we announced yesterday, we just launched a new tool for making drawings in Google Docs. You can use Google Docs drawings to make charts, diagrams, designs, and more. We’ve been using this tool at Google to create everything from project timelines to launch plans. Here are some examples of what you could make:
Many of you previously tried the Insert Drawing feature in Google Docs and said you wanted to be able to collaborate on drawings. We heard you, and collaboration is what this launch is about. The new drawing editor lets you share drawings just like you share spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. You can also simultaneously edit drawings with your friends and chat with them right in the editor. Here’s what we mean:
With drawings, you can insert text, shapes, arrows, scribbles, and add images from your hard drive or from the Web. You can also use alignment guides, snap to grid, and auto distribution to lay out drawings with precision.
Once you’ve perfected your drawing, use it pretty much anywhere -- copy and paste your drawings into other document types using the web clipboard and then make edits with the embedded drawing editor, publish them as images hosted by Google, insert them into other web pages, or download them as PNGs, JPGs, PDFs, and SVG. Note: the new Google documents editor doesn’t have support for drawings yet, but we’re working on it.
Already have a drawing in another Google doc that you want to share with others? Just use the web clipboard to copy and paste it into the new drawing editor.
Please note that if you want to edit your drawings in the new editor, you need a browser that supports the SVG standard, like the latest versions of Safari, Firefox, or Chrome, or to install Chrome Frame if you are using Internet Explorer. You can learn more about browser requirements here.
We’re excited to hear how you and your friends use Google Docs drawings. If you have a cool drawing, share the publish URLs in comments or tell us what you think in the forums.
We've seen lots of people using Google Buzz to share interesting links from around the web. To do so, you had to copy and paste the link from one browser window to another — there weren't buttons that made it easy to post to Google Buzz without leaving the site you're on. Savvy sites like Mashable and TechCrunch quickly got creative and implemented their own Buzz buttons, using Google Reader as the backend. But not every site owner should have to hack together their own version of these buttons (and not everyone who uses Buzz also uses Reader), so this morning we're making copy-and-paste Buzz buttons available for anyone to use.
Starting today, you'll see these buttons around the web on participating sites including: The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Glamour, YouTube, Blogger, MySpace, GigaOM, PBS Parents, PBS NewsHour, The Next Web, TweetDeck, SocialWok, Disqus, Vinehub, and Buzzzy. Mashable and TechCrunch have updated their sites to use these new buttons too.
A number of sharing platforms, including ShareThis (pictured below), Meebo, Shareholic, AddThis and AddtoAny have also incorporated the Google Buzz button into their sharing functionality, so you'll see Buzz listed as a choice when you go to share something on many other sites around the web as well.
If you want to add Google Buzz buttons to your site, just go to buzz.google.com/stuff, configure your buttons with a couple clicks and copy a few lines of JavaScript. Paste this code where you'd like the Buzz buttons to appear and you're all set.
And if you'd like to promote your own Google Buzz account, we have a button for you, which allows people to follow you on Buzz right from your blog or website. Here's an example using the Google Buzz team's own Buzz account (clicking it will take you to the Buzz team's profile page and from there you can easily follow our team's posts):
[From time to time we invite guests to blog about initiatives of interest, and are very pleased to have George Fertitta, Chief Executive Officer of NYC & Company join us here. – Ed.]
In January 2009, NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization of New York City, launchednycgo.com and opened an information center that makes it easier for visitors and residents to explore all the vibrancy, excitement and diversity of New York City's five boroughs.
Mirroring the integrated Google Maps on the website, our highly interactive Official NYC Information Center in Midtown Manhattan includes Google Maps–based Interactive Map Tables where you can plan your visit and a beautiful Video Wall featuring 3D imagery of New York City in Google Earth that lets you “fly” through your selected itinerary. Since we opened our doors, thousands of tourists have virtually explored New York in our center before venturing out on their own.
When Google let us know that they would be releasing new, high-quality 3D imagery of New York City, we were excited to help spread the word. The new imagery will be an amazing improvement to our already-stunning Video Wall and will help us to reach our goals in making New York City more accessible to visitors and residents alike. The detail at the street level, as you’ll see in the video below, makes it easier than ever to virtually experience our variety of cultural institutions, storefronts and residential and commercial buildings.
We invite you to come by the Information Center to see for yourself, or to power up Google Earth and explore the Big Apple from your desktop or phone.
George Fertitta, Chief Executive Officer of NYC & Company
Back in February we ran our "Parisian Love" ad during the Super Bowl – created from a few Google searches and a little music. We heard from many people that it would be great if there was a way that anyone could tell their own story and share it with the world.
So today, we're happy to release the Search Stories Video Creator tool that allows you to quickly and easily create your own search story. Give the number of adventures that students have to tell stories about, we think you'll have some winners to share. We've been excited to see some of the ones that have already come in from students, like this one:
