From Android to desktop: Google Now feature coming to browsers

**Taipei:**Internet major Google is adding newfeatures to its popular services like search page, maps andyoutube to provide more personalised information especiallyrelated to day to day lives of its users.

Weather updates at the start of the day of or trafficmovement during the office hours are some of the informationthat most of the users look for daily, Kentaro Tokusei,Product Management Director (Japan) said at the company eventhere yesterday.

Now a user will not have to look for these pieces ofinformation separately. The new feature Google Now providesall these updates on the user’s home page, he said.

“Providing right information at right time is the mainaim of this feature,” he said.

When asked about the privacy concerns of users, he saidthe features will not include storing of such specificinformation if a user does not opt for it. " It would be offby default and a user will have to first ask for suchfeature," he said. Google will soon roll out these updates, headded.

Google has also brushed up the design of its anotherpopular service ‘maps’ by making it simpler. It is introducinga dedicated map design for tablets.

Moreover it is adding a ’explore’ feature to maps whichhelps a user find popular places to eat, drink, sleep, playand shop without typing a word.
On video service YouTube, David Macdonald, the head ofYoutube Content Operations (APAC), said that it is addingchannels like cookery show and workouts indoors, and providingregular updates to subscribers about latest content.

It is also helping small entrepreneurs to createlocalised content like comedy, short films and music videos,he said.

It is also educating the content creators on how to getbest from its service.Knowledge graph, offline language translator and new bookstore 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 ProductManager (Chrome OS), Google, said during the presentation onnew features.

PTI