Google+ Local Unlocks the Power of Zagat

Google+ rolled out on Wednesday a new ‘Local’ tool that allows users to share and find information about nearby places — from museums and spas to restaurants and hotels. In addition to tapping a user’s network or “Circles,” the new service also incorporates information from Zagat, which Google bought last year.
The new “Local” tab, located on the right-hand side of Google+, encourages users to learn more about the places around them. For example, by searching for a restaurant or store through the tab, a Google+ page will appear with photos, as well as Zagat scores and summaries, reviews from people you know and other information such as addresses and hours of business.

Google is leveraging its acquisition of Zagat in September 2011 to bring more than 35,000 reviews and scores across 100 countries to the Google+ community. The latest “Local” effort is a year in the making, according to Google.
“This takes any place that your friends have touched and provides you with interesting and relevant search results,” Avni Shah, director of product management at Google, told Mashable. “You can also filter based on aspects that might be important, such as ‘People Like You’ and really give you the information you need from the people you trust.”


When logged in to Google+, this information will appear in Google searches and via Google Maps and mobile. The capability is only available for Android phones now, but Google said it will roll out to iOS devices soon.
Those not signed in to Google+ will still see Zagat reviews and recommendations pop up while doing a search, but only users who are signed in will gain a deeper look at where their friends like to dine or restaurants that might be a best match for your taste.
“Since your friends haven’t always been to the places you want to go, if you are going to London or Bangkok, Google+ Local will look at places you have rated highly before and make similar recommendations,” Shah said.
Want to make a reservation after oogling your friends’ favorite spots? You can do that too, thanks to Google+ Local’s integration with Open Table.
“We want to build a community based on a sense of trust, and we will continue to roll out new features and tools that reinforce that that concept,” Shan said.

10:33 by Robert dawne · 1

Google Brings Location Search History to Mobile Browsers

We've talked before about some of the tools Google has made available in order to help bridge the gap between the time you spend working on your computer and time spent on your smartphone. There's stuff like Chrome to Phone, for example, which lets you access information your pulled-up while browsing from your PC while later on a mobile device. Today the company has a tweak along those lines to introduce to its mobile site, letting you easily access information on places you've researched from your smartphone.

If you've got Google's Web History enabled, letting it keep track of your queries, it's now going to pay special attention to the details on any physical places you end up searching for. Later on, when you pull up Google on your phone's browser, you'll be able to review those locations through a new "Recent" icon. Unlike Chrome to Phone, there's no special software to install on either side of this equation; you just need to be logged-in to Google on your phone with the same credentials you use on your PC.

For now, the new feature works on Google's Android browser and with Mobile Safari on iOS.

15:14 by Robert dawne · 0

Google Updates Trio of Apps: Wallet, Authenticator, Google+

Google is celebrating Leap Day with a few minor updates to some of its Android apps, delivering new versions of Wallet, Google+, and Authenticator to the Android Market today.

Google Wallet finds itself getting the most significant updates of the trio, but we're still mainly in bugfix territory here. A couple changes have been introduced to how the app handles address input, letting you using a longer address or a PO Box when setting up a prepaid card. Reward cards linked to the app should now see improvements with keeping their data synced-up. Most of us struggle to find one smartphone on which we can run Wallet, but for those of you with multiple NFC-capable phones, this release will better handle sharing your account on more than one handset.

Google Authenticator, letting your use your phone to securely log in to your Google account on public terminals, gets some unspecified bug fixes, but seeing as the whole point of this app is security, we'd treat this release with a little more seriousness than your standard bugfix update. To that end, Google+ also gets some minor, unspecified bug fixes, along with improvements to app stability.

All three Google apps are currently available in the Android Market.

06:14 by Robert dawne · 0