beta culture 2.0

Part 1 here: An Introduction to Beta Culture.
Below are seven services and products that Google is currently field testing. Feel free to ask me any questions or share something else in the comments below - with all these new features popping up, it's hard to keep track of them all!

1) The New Gmail Layout

Click to enlarge.

This feature's probably going to rolled out soon, following the remodelling of Google's home page. The layout appears more spacious, features the-red and-black text side bar, and the new look to their buttons. Two interesting things to note: the function bar (Archive / Spam / Delete) floats, so it is always on the page even when you skim downwards. Also, the ads are now floating on the bottom. How do you enable the new layout? Well, you might see a link at the top right corner ("Preview Gmail's New Look"), but if you don't, simply go to Gmail Settings, click on the themes tab, and pick Preview or Preview (dense). Personally, I prefer the latter.

2) Google+
Google's "social layer", which has been described as a rather competent alternative to Facebook. It's centered around circles, a method of grouping your friends and mimicking the communities of real life interactions. Notable features include Hangouts, featuring video chat for up to 10 people, Sparks, to keep track of topics of interest, and a Following feature very similar to Twitter. The layout is very clean, and it's notifications are integrated with other Google services. Google seems to be making it easier and easier to get signed up - sometimes you can simply sign in with your account at plus.google.com, but you can still ask for an invite from your friends or from me, at ay.savethetigers@gmail.com.

Screenshot, with most personal data removed =). 

Google stays up to date with memes.

3) Youtube's Cosmic Panda
Cosmic Panda is the revamp for Youtube's site, although it doesn't seem as streamlined with the other Google sites. Like Google+, the page layout is very clean, and they've opted for a darker background to help the video stand out more. It's not hard to try this one out, just go to www.youtube.com/cosmicpanda.

4) Google Music Beta

This service is the Chocolate Factory's response to cloud music - hosting your music files on the web. There are some conveniences to this: you can access your playlists anywhere with an internet connection, i.e. at work or at a school computer, and also on your phone, so you don't have to physically transfer any files or even occupy your disk space. Unfortunately, this could drain your internet usage if you've got a cap (like, for almost all Canadians), but services like this are bound to become more popular in the future. Google's Music Player is completely web based, allows you to upload 20 000 files, and also has the feature of auto-generating playlists to match a specific song. You can request an invitation at music.google.com and (from my experience) you'll get in invite in days, but there's a big limit on this one: you must be in the United States. 

5) Blogger (Draft mode)

In keeping a blogging theme, Google has placed their upcoming version of Blogger at draft.blogger.com. Again, the layout is a lot cleaner, featuring the light gray header bar and a white background with spaced out links. The now familiar side bar with links in red and black text streamlines all of the Blogger tabs, and the post editor is much nicer as well. A downside: it's not perfect yet, and after running into a few display issues, I'm back on the old version of blogger (Update: problem found - there were some glitches with draft blogger and chrome canary). You can easily switch between the two depending on whether you log in through draft.blogger.com or blogger.com.

6) Google Chrome Canary
Hopefully, you're familiar with Google Chrome, Google's internet browser. The browser maintains speedy automatic updates, with larger updates every six weeks. Currently, the public release is Version 12, but you can fast track by trying other versions which are freely available for download. Chrome Beta allows you to use a pre-release version (currently Version 13), while Chrome Canary, intended for developers, is at Version 14. You'll get more test features on the about:flags page, and you'll try out key features earlier than other Chrome users. As you can see from the screenshots, you can even hide the url bar (not always ideal, of course). If you're really intense, you can try Chromium, but I'll leave that for the real developers.

7) Chrome OS

This last section is more of an update on my previous post on the Cr-48 prototype from Google, a notebook (or "chromebook") with an operating system based on Google Chrome. It's very easy to use and has become my primary computer for regular 'net surfing. The fast start up, speedy shut down, and frequent updates are comforting, and I've also noticed that it stays relatively cool. Minor problems include a rather weak processor (though it's better in the final models than the prototype), not-so-great speakers, and no delete key (alt+backspace does the trick), but hey - there's no complaining when you're given a free computer. Unfortunately, there aren't really any more opportunities to find a Cr-48, but Samsung and Acer have already started selling Chromebooks in the United States and in select countries in Europe, though a bit pricy. You can expect to have more models in more countries in the coming months, and hopefully with a lower pricetag.

Final word: if you're in for a fun read, see the Chromebook's Safety Guidelines, via Gizmodo since I'm too lazy to scan it myself.