From Android to desktop: Google Now feature coming to browsers

Taipei: Internet major Google is adding new features to its popular services like search page, maps and youtube to provide more personalised information especially related to day to day lives of its users. Weather updates at the start of the day of or traffic movement during the office hours are some of the information that most of the users look for daily, Kentaro Tokusei, Product Management Director (Japan) said at the company event here yesterday. Now a user will not have to look for these pieces of information separately. The new feature Google Now provides all these updates on the user’s home page, he said. [caption id=“attachment_1239725” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Google logo. Reuters image[/caption] “Providing right information at right time is the main aim of this feature,” he said. When asked about the privacy concerns of users, he said the features will not include storing of such specific information if a user does not opt for it. " It would be off by default and a user will have to first ask for such feature," he said. Google will soon roll out these updates, he added. Google has also brushed up the design of its another popular service ‘maps’ by making it simpler. It is introducing a dedicated map design for tablets. Moreover it is adding a ’explore’ feature to maps which helps a user find popular places to eat, drink, sleep, play and shop without typing a word. On video service YouTube, David Macdonald, the head of Youtube Content Operations (APAC), said that it is adding channels like cookery show and workouts indoors, and providing regular updates to subscribers about latest content. It is also helping small entrepreneurs to create localised content like comedy, short films and music videos, he said. It is also educating the content creators on how to get best from its service. Knowledge graph, offline language translator and new book store are among the other new features that have been added. All these features aims to provide more personalised, accurate and hassle free information, Vince Wu, Senior Product Manager (Chrome OS), Google, said during the presentation on new features. PTI