Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Cloud Connect

How to access what’s new:
Go to the Cloud Connect menu in Microsoft Office and click ‘Open from Google Docs’. All documents that can be opened with the application you’re running will appear in a pop-up dialog.

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-files-more-easily-in-google-cloud.html

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Gmail has emerged as the best free email alternative and all of my business emails are hosted on Google apps

Some of the new Gadgest you can try are listed here

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-gmail-gadgets-to-try.html

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Interest category marketing has been in beta for over a year, but Google announced today that this feature is now available to all AdWords advertisers. These categories allow advertisers to better target audiences across the display network based on their interests and demographics. You can choose from a list of categories that match the type of user you want to target, and Google will show ads to the people it thinks are interested in those categories.

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Scheduling ads
Turning on/off special ads for a promotional event
Turning on/off certain ads on a repeating basis (e.g., every weekend)
Turning on/off a special ad campaign for a promotional event
Pausing low-performing ads or keywords
Pausing low-performing keywords based on success metrics (e.g., high cost per conversion)
Pausing low-performing ads based on success metrics (e.g., low CTR)
Bids and bid scheduling
Adjusting bids for keywords based on cost per conversion
Changing bids to reach a desired average position
Raising bids to ensure ads show on the first page
Bid scheduling (e.g., a higher bid during certain hours of the day)
Controlling budgets and cost
Increasing budget for campaigns that convert well (using cost per conversion)
Budget scheduling (e.g., higher budget on certain days of the week)
Pausing campaigns that have spent a certain amount partway through the month
Pausing campaigns that have received a certain number of clicks partway through the day
General examples
Understanding how to make a rule work on one, several or all campaigns
Excluding keywords from a rule

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Thanks to Chrome’s new prerendering technology, some Google.com search results will appear to load almost instantly after you click on them.

Although Google.com is the most high-profile site to use this new prerendering technology, it can be used by other sites since it’s been designed as a web standard. Web developers interested in learning more can see our post in the Chromium blog.

This is innovation at its best and Google keeps pushing the bar!

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MockupTiger is a very powerful Prototyping and Wireframing application. It is web based and can be run on your desktop or you can host it on your own domain. Please visit Mockups website for more details

http://www.mockuptiger.com

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Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html

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MockupTiger is a web based application and it is built heavily with Javascript. In fact the whole front end is jquery. Even right now on our internal test the application is lightning fast and with more browser performance boost this should all good for web based applications such as Mockup Tiger.

Can’t wait when browsers start using hardware acceleration for rendering html5 canvas tag. That would be a giant leap forward.

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“The good news is that Internet users don’t need to do anything special to prepare for World IPv6 Day. Our current measurements suggest that the vast majority (99.95%) of users will be unaffected,” says Google network engineer Lorenzo Colitti. “However, in rare cases, users may experience connectivity problems, often due to misconfigured or misbehaving home network devices. Over the coming months we will be working with application developers, operating system vendors and network device manufacturers to further minimize the impact and provide testing tools and advice for users.”

More

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Jim Zemlin is the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, and earlier this month he sat down with the Open Source Programs Office’s Jeremy Allison for a chat about the future of Linux. In addition to talking about the future, Jim shares insights on the history and significance of Linux. Some highlights:
Jim explains the role of the Linux Foundation in Linux kernel development, including the work of Linus Torvalds. (0:18)
Jeremy and Jim talk about the organizations that support the Linux Foundation, and their reasons for doing so. (2:21)

http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2011/02/geek-time-with-jim-zemlin.html

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If you have not checked it yet,

“IT Dashboard” is a new, one-stop clearinghouse of information that allows anyone with a web browser to track federal IT initiatives and hold the government accountable for progress and results. A part of USASpending.gov, the dashboard allows you to see what IT projects are working and on-schedule (and which are not), offer alternative approaches, and provide direct feedback to the chief information officers at federal agencies – in effect, keeping tabs on the people who are responsible for taxpayer dollars for technology.”

IT Dashboard tracks government spending and you can check it online at http://usaspending.gov

There is way to get your own customized version of the dashboard at

http://it.usaspending.gov/?q=content/data-feeds

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Most business intelligence initiatives start with the purpose of delivering the right information at the right time. This gives the correct priority to timeliness and accuracy of information, but does not indicate where said information should go. Though a real time BI software solution may deliver up to date information via dashboards or traditional reports, it may not be enough for employees who barely have time to log into their laptops when off visiting major customers. For such people, this information is not “real time” in the truest sense unless it is also readily accessible at the right place.

Another myth about business intelligence is that it provides analytical reporting while core transactional applications supply operational information. In actuality, a standard business intelligence software solution must meet both informational needs equally. Because information from both of these areas satisfies a diverse set of requirements, the most important ingredient for successful business intelligence implementation is getting the various parts of the organization properly aligned. It is critical that business analysts, in the early stages of implementation, interview all key stakeholders and document and reconcile critical business requirements from operational experts, analytical experts, line management, and staff management at multiple levels of the organization. Failure to understand internal customer requirements is one of the top reasons for failed business intelligence implementations.

Once requirements have been elicited and rationalized with each other, the proposed solution must be vetted with all stakeholders to ensure correctness and, even more importantly, drive buy-in so that all stakeholders will support and work towards a successful implementation rather than ignoring or, worse, actively resisting it. Once the initial requirements phase is complete, the next important step in an implementation is architecting a proposed solution and then piloting the solution on a small scale with key users to reduce any risks and prove out the implementation. During this phase, training plans can be created. A strategy for rolling out the implementation incrementally can be initiated and kinks in the implementation can be worked out.

Post-implementation, it is advisable to follow up with users to reinforce training and ensure that the full benefits of the business intelligence software solution are being realized. Any deferred features or capabilities can be addressed in the form of a small post-implementation revision project which takes an evolutionary approach towards continually improving the solution

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