News April 24, 2009

New Google Toolbar Labs!

Gear Diary New Google Toolbar Labs! photo

Following the Google Labs and Gmail Labs, the people behind the Google Toolbar Team has chosen to free their imagination and build and deliver fast improvements to the Google Toolbar.

Here are the first two creatures of the Google Toolbar Labs.

The first one is called “Google Toolbar with My Location”:

With Toolbar with My Location, both Google Maps and the included Maps gadget automatically center on your current location. Similarly, you can just do a search like [thai food], and you will receive a list of nearby restaurants and more local Google search results. This feature is similar to IP-based local search results announced earlier this month, except Google Toolbar with My Location can determine a more accurate location by using nearby Wi-Fi access points. This is done without associating location information with a user’s Google Account. Google Toolbar with My Location is only available in the U.S.

Gear Diary New Google Toolbar Labs! photo

The second one is the “Google Simplified Chinese Toolbar”:

We recognize that due to differences in local language structures, users who speak other languages may have specific needs for browsing the web. To address this, our team in China developed a slightly different Toolbar concept called the Google Simplified Chinese Toolbar. We updated the user interface to use the space more effectively, and users will be able to translate pages with a single click and manage bookmarks with a new sidebar. This toolbar is only available in Simplified Chinese.

Gear Diary New Google Toolbar Labs! photo

While I can’t directly comment on the Chinese Tolbar, the one with My Location can come really handy, even if only U.S. users will be able to benefit of it for now.

Keep in mind that the labs outcome are considered experimental material and are not as well-tested as beta versions. Moreover, Google Toolbar Labs is currently available for Internet Explorer only.

Link: Google Toolbar Labs

Tags: Firefox, Google, Microsoft

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About Adrian Leibas

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Adrian is 28 years old and lives in Newark, Ohio with his wife Katie, 14-month old son Cooper, and two cats Tyson & Samar. He is a claims adjuster for State Farm Auto Insurance, and he has also worked in their systems department. He was a computer science major at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, where he also played baseball. He quickly realized that he did not like writing code or script, which is why he changed both majors and schools, graduating from Franklin University with a BS in Business and minor in HR Management. Adrian has been a gadget enthusiast as far back as he can remember, and his wife might say that he spends more time in Best Buy than he does with her. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his new little family, reading, watching baseball, and assistant coaching on his high school varsity baseball team. He is also in the process of deciding if he is ready for the transition from PC to Mac, as he's sure many of you can relate.