While logged into my Google account today, I visited the Google Page Creator product where I found the following message:

Google Sites

After receiving the above message, I searched for more information about the impending closure of the Google Pages product and found it has apparently been in the works for some time.

Google Page Creator Migration

Google Pages accounts will either be migrated automatically to a Google Sites URL with visits to googlepages.com redirected or page owners can download their content, opt out of the move and have their GooglePages address redirected to a new address of their choice.

More about the Page Creator shut from Google:

Google Page Creator will be shut down in June, 2009. To make the transition to Sites as smooth and easy as possible for Page Creator users, we will be doing an automatic import of Page Creator pages to Google Sites, which will include moving pages to Google Sites and redirecting visits to googlepages.com URLs to their new location on Google Sites. From now until this import begins June 1, Page Creator users who don’t want to be moved to Google Sites have the option to download their content, host it on another service, and redirect their existing URL. Please note that Google Sites does not support JavaScript, some forms of HTML, or web hosting.

What is Google Sites?

What is Google Sites?

Google Sites is an online application that makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document. With Google Sites, people can quickly gather a variety of information in one place — including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text — and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, their entire organization, or the world.

* Customize your site’s interface to resemble your group or project’s look and feel
* Create a new sub-page with the click of a button
* Choose from a growing list of page types: webpage, announcements, file cabinet
* Centralize shared information: Embed rich content (video, Google Docs documents, spreadsheets, presentations, Picasa photo slide shows, iGoogle gadgets) into any page, and upload file attachments
* Manage permissions settings to keep your site as private or widely editable and viewable as you’d like
* Search across your Google Sites content with Google search technology

Quick question: What are the differences between Google Sites and the upcoming new Google Wave product?

Google Wave

La hegemonía de Google sobre el resto de los buscadores ha hecho que cada vez más, este buscador y muchos de sus servicios sean imprescindibles en nuestro día a día. Y que nadie se engañe…lo que inicialmente nos ofrecía Google nada tiene que ver con la cantidad de productos, aplicaciones o add-ons que consumimos. Casi me atrevería a decir que el buscador ya es lo de menos…pero he dicho casi.

Pues bien, después de meterse en nuestras vidas de esta manera ahora toca preguntarse: ¿Qué sabe realmente Google de nosotros?

¿Cuánta información ha llegado a recabar de nuestros hábitos, caprichos, y preferencias? Ya os lo digo yo; “CASI NADA”…y si no veamos:

 * Conoce todo lo que miramos y los sitios/URLs que monitoreamos

* De algún modo podemos decir que podría saber qué almacenamos dentro de nuestro ordenador

* Nos ayuda a encontrar todo aquello que buscamos y por lo tanto sabe qué queremos encontrar…

* Tiene información de dónde vivimos, de nuestros lugares preferidos e incluso de nuestros viajes o destinos pendientes o realizados… 

* Puede saber en qué gastamos nuestro dinero y dónde nos gusta comprar. 

* Administra nuestra agenda y sabe en qué ocupamos nuestro tiempo

* Administra y controla nuestros trabajos y/o documentos. Y sabe cuales son las noticias o temas que más despiertan nuestro interés e incluso los libros que nos interesan.

* Sabe con quién nos escribimos y de qué le hablamos.

* Y por último, sabe cuáles son nuestras inquietudes, quiénes y cómo son nuestros amigos, e incluso qué videos almacenamos o consultamos! (BLOGGER + GOOGLE PAGE CREATOR + ORKUT + PICASA ALBUMS + YOUTUBE…)

¿Acaso vuestra madre o pareja sabe tanto de vosotros…? Seguro que no… Aún así, a mi de momento no me preocupa en exceso…Quizás soy un inconsciente pero por el momento me aporta más ventajas que inconvenientes…y a ti?

As per the announcement, Google Page Creator will be closed and all the linked web pages will be migrated to Google Sites.

Google Page Creator :

Already you might have noticed Google Page Creator, which has been launched in 2006 as an experimental service. It is a testbed for a rich text editor that is to be added to other Google services. Moreover, this page creator is a free tool available for creating web pages right in your browser and you can publish them to the web in one click.

Want to translate your Word document in MS Office itself ?

If you are going to use this feature, you don’t need any software to download and no web designer to hire, “Google has described the service at the launch. For each page creator site, you can have 100MB of file storage, 41 predefined themes, a basic image editor and the option to insert Google Gadgets. The service has been released two weeks before Google acquired Writely, which later became a part of Google Docs.

[ More ]

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Today, the New York Times is redefining “Extra” as stories written by others. It is turning on a new feature on its homepage called Times Extra that will start adding links from elsewhere underneath the headlines of its own articles. The related links are from other news sites and blogs (even the Wall Street Journal), with the source highlighted in green to differentiate them from the New York Times’ own stories. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/the-new-york-times-clutters-up-its-homepage-with-links-from-elsewhere-in-beta 12/4)

The College football game of the year is going to be available on multiple platforms. As part of its new deal with SEC, CBSSports.com and CBS Sports Mobile will provide live streaming video of the CBS Sports broadcast of the 2008 SEC Championship game between No. 1-ranked Alabama and No. 2-ranked Florida on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 4:00 PM, ET. MediaFLO subscribers can also view the game live and for free on CBS Sports Mobile. (Cynopsis 12/4)

You know times are tough when Google is forced to cut back. This is precisely the case on the Google campus according to The WSJ, as CEO Eric Schmidt and new budgeting czar Francois Delepine continue to meet with executives to decide which programs to let go. (SearchMash, virtual world Lively and Google Page Creator have already been eliminated or merged into other products.) Despite its generous funding of pet projects, Google continues to receive 97% of its revenue from search advertising. (Cynopsis 12/4)

Conde Nast is shutting down teen social networking service Flip.com on Dec. 16, according to an email sent out to users this week. The site was built as a place to come and share “flipbooks” of photos, videos and other content. (Cynopsis 12/4)

Yah, I didn’t know it was there either.  Step one.  Don’t make users sign in to use your site.  Coercion will get you no where my dear. . .  Being that I could use a kick ass slideshow tool like Animoto (even though, yes, I have to sign in), I would have little reason to use this one.  Have I mentioned I heart Animoto lately?

Comedy Central relaunched Jokes.com with a treasure trove of 12,000 text-based jokes and 5,000 standup performances from the network’s 10-year-old programming vault. It’s look is a bit pedestrian but the MTV Entertainment Digital team deserves points for building in as many touch points as humanly possible. Search the routines of comedians such as Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham and Jim Gaffigan or sort by most popular clips, comedian’s name, TV show or most recently added video. Look for jokes from 72 different categories. There are 770 jokes tagged in the pop culture category alone. The site will also function as the central hub for all Comedy Central stand-up events, tours, shows and live comedy entertainment. UGC content and more social tools are needed to make it a truly vibrant comedy portal but the depth of professional content on the site provides a terrific base to start with. (Cynopsis 12/4)

Amazon released its previously announced Public Data Sets web service this evening. The project encourages developers, researchers, universities and businesses to upload large (non-confidential) data sets to Amazon – things like census data, genomes, etc. – and then let others integrated that data into their own AWS applications. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/amazon-launches-public-data-sets-to-ease-research 12/4)

Also on the Hispanic front Cablevision has launched Optimum Latino, a new web channel delivering high-quality Spanish-language content exclusively for Optimum Online customers.  The service, which features news, entertainment, sports, and the 15-channel Terra TV platform, is accessible through Optimum Online’s consumer web portal, Optimum.net. (Cynopsis 12/4)

Widget syndication platform iWidgets rolled out a new version of its widgets publishing system, simplifying the process of creating content widgets to distribute out to Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, and iGoogle. iWidgets’ Social Syndication Platform offers drag-and-drop customization of widgets as well as native deployment into social networks. CBS was an early client, allowing social network users watch clips of CBS programming. (Cynopsis 12/4)

Logo’s campy new online and on air film series “Graveyard Shift” should be worth a few laughs. The weekly series, which celebrates that curious intersection between the gay and horror film genres, kicks off tonight at midnight ET/PT with The Gay Bed & Breakfast of Terror, which tells the story of five gay couples vacationing at the quaint but deadly Sahara Salvation Inn. Logo’s is also hosting a dance-themed webcast Unbuttoned Live this Saturday live from Ultra Suede in West Hollywood, hosted by Noah’s Arc star Wilson Cruz. (Cynopsis 12/4)

(Below) Perhaps I could provide Comcast with a “your customer service sucks” meter for all of the moments when customers are unhappy?  That way, they can keep tabs on their customer’s usage in yet another way.

Comcast, possibly by the beginning of January, will start providing its high-speed Internet customers with bandwidth meters so that they can keep tabs on their own online usage. Charlie Douglas, a Comcast spokesman, said that after being tested by employees, the meters would be deployed free of charge and enable users “to very easily keep track of their aggregate data usage each month.” CNET (12/3)

It is really a shocking news that Google is going to collapse it’s Google Page Creator (GPC). Instead of GPC they are introducing Google Sites (GS). I’ve noticed it recently. I couldn’t resist my surprise at this news. GPC is a simple way to create web pages without knowing HTML. GPC’s rich text editor is now included in many other Google services, but Google decided to focus on the more powerful GS. Google doesn’t allow new users to sign up for GPC. While current users are still able to use the services of GPC, new users are being directed to its sister site, Google Sites. Google is expected to move all Page Creator content to Google Pages later in the year.

Google Sites is almost similar to GPC. I said ‘almost’ because it doesn’t allow users to upload any HTML file. Which means users have to pick the websites’ look from GS’s default template; users don’t have any privilege to set their own HTML pages. It is a bad news for me, because all of my GPC sites are using their own HTML files not GPC’s default one. Though Google said that they will shift all the files, images and web pages stored in GPC  to Google Sites later this year, this may be a concern for some as it will lead to broken links because GS and GPC follows a different URL structure. More over as GS doesn’t support any uploaded HTML pages, the transition may permanently delete all of those unsupported files. To me, GPC is far far better than GS.

I actually have no idea why Google is closing their one of the most popular web services. Google Sites is nothing more than a wiki. Do the people need a website or a wiki for their personal or business homepage? Google is saying that GS is more powerful than GPC as GS uses the contents management. Well… this is the only thing the GPC is lacking of. Wouldn’t it be better if the feature is added in GPC? Wiki is obviously an important feature in today’s internet, but people will not like it as their home page. So, what if both GPC and GS are staying side by side? I don’t any necessity of closing either one for surviving the other.

Users of GPC is already depressed hearing this news. They still believe that GPC will not be closed at all some how. They have also taken an initiative to save the GPC by a petition. The same debate is going on Google Page Creator Discussion Group. I recommend every GPC user to sign the petition. And above all I still believe that the world really still needs Google Page Creator. So a request to Google, “Can’t you please save the Google Page Creator from it’s termination!“

Terlalu besar atau banyaknya sesuatu hal, bisa menimbulkan banyak hal-hal kecil yang sebetulnya bermanfaat menjadi hilang di tengah keramaian atau kebesaran. Hal ini pun berlaku pada Google. Coba anda sebutkan sebanyak mungkin produk-produk dari Google! Pasti banyak hal yang akan terlewatkan oleh anda. Di bawah ini terdapat 10 produk Google yang sudah banyak dilupakan oleh orang. Mari kita simak bersama-sama.

1. SketchUp
Sebuah program 3D untuk membuat model desain.

2. Flight Simulator in Google Earth
Google memang tidak membuat Flight Simulator, ia hanya menyembunyikannya saja pada versi terbaru Google earth. Untuk mendownload Google Earth 4.2.

3. Keyboard Shortcuts Experimental Web Search
Fitur yang bisa membuat mouse anda benar-benar tidak perlu disentuh untuk melakukan pencarian pada situs.

4. Google notebook
Ketika kita menemukan berbagai halaman situs, kutipan, dan gambar pada bermacam-macam situs yang ingin kita simpan atau kopi ke dalam personal library, Google Notebook merupakan jawaban utamanya.

5. Google page cretor
Ketika kakek atau nenek anda bertanya bagaimana membuat sebuat situs, tunjukkan mereka Google Page Creator, yaitu sebuah situs yang berisikan alat-alat standar untuk membuat sebuah situs.

6. Google book search
Menampilkan fitur virtual book yang bisa anda baca langsung.

7. Google alert
Membuat hasil pencarian situs anda datang kepada anda melalui pemberitahuan email yang memberikan daftar alamat-alamat situs yang memunculkan istilah yang anda cari secara real time

8. Google Trends
Bandingkan “ketertarikan seluruh dunia” tentang kata atau topik tertentu pada Google Trends, di mana fitur ini menggrafikkan banyaknya sebuah kata atau kosa kata yang muncul pada sebuah situs sepanjang waktu. Sangat baik untuk mengecek sejarah dari kata atau merek yang popular.

9. Google Base
Tempat termudah untuk melakukan pencarian resep, tempat penyewaan, tempat berlibur, dan mencari lowongan kerja.

10. Google Code Search
Produk ini memang hanya untuk kalangan terbatas, yaitu programmer. Google Code Search merupakan sebuah mekanisme yang cukup hebat untuk mencari berbagai sumber proyek-proyek open-source.

sumber disini, dengan perubahan secukupnya..

mungkin teman teman ada produk google laennya yang blom tercatat disini??tulis linknya di comment, ntar Q review.

En esta clase hemos realizado dos actividades relacionadas con las publicaciones de web y webquest.

Webquest.

Mediante la dirección www.isabelperez.com hemos explorado y comprobado como funciona un editor de páginas. lo primero que hay que hacer es utilizar el navegador Mozilla, porque a través de él (en el menú Archivo, editar página) podremos modificar cambios en nuestra webquest.

Es interesante que investiguéis acerca de las “anclas” que son enlaces interiores que te llevan a otras páginas. Son aconsejables porque ayudan en la organización, manejo y acceso al contenido de una página:

1º insertar el enlace interno

2º seleccionar la palabra que crea el vínculo (enlace y desplegar el ancla creado)

3º guardar y navegar

Viendo los distintos modelos de plantillas, investigamos uno sin marco y otro con marco. Este segundo va en formato (.zip) para descargarlo creamos primero una carpeta en el escritorio y guardamos la plantilla ahí. Luego extraemos y buscamos la carpeta creada y clik en extraer (la página de la portada tiene un archivo index. Botón derecho, abrimos con mozilla, archivo editar página y… a elaborar la WQ!!!

Web

En esta segunda actividad, hemos utilizado el editor de páginas web: google page creator (hay también otras como la de Edutic.ua.es).

Es necesario crearse una cuenta con Gmail y la publicación es gratuita. Es bastante fácil de utilizar, sólo hace falta “trastearla” durante un rato y te haces con ella. Los comandos son muy parecidos al blog.

La práctica de estas dos sesiones ha consistido en editar páginas web:

• En la primera sesión hemos editado páginas web que no tienen copyright, mediante el navegador Mozilla, el cual nos da la posibilidad desde su menú “Archivo”.

• En la segunda sesión hemos editado nuestra página web a partir de Google Page Creator. Es muy intuitivo, por lo que es muy fácil de utilizar. Lo único que tienes que hacer es hacerte una cuenta de correo en Gmail… y ya está! Pero lo mejor de todo es que ¡te publica la página gratuitamente! ¿Qué más se puede pedir? Un ejemplo de ello lo encontrarás en el link de ¿Carne o pescado? del post que hay más arriba sobre el software libre.
  

Day Three
1. Make Your Content Look Good
Learn to create bolds, italics, change fonts and more to make your content look great, just the way you want it.

2. Change the Look of Your Homepage

Choose the right colors and look for your home page. Do you like certain colors? do you like backgrounds? Choose a background and style you like and make it part of your home page.

3. Change the Layout of Your Homepage

Decide how many columns you want for your homepage and whether you want the small column on the left or right. Then make it happen.

4. If You Make a Mistake

Google Page Creator gives you an Undo and a Redo button. If you make any mistakes while you are creating your page just click the Undo button.

5. Preview and Publish

hen you have your page looking the way you want it to look click the Preview button to see how it will look live. If you like it click Publish. Everytime you make changes to your page you need to Publish again.

Google Page Creator是Google实验室在2006年2月23日推出的一个在线网页编辑工具。它的主页是 http://pages.google.com 。使用Google Page Creator需要擁有一個GMail帳戶，並且需使用Internet Explorer6.0或Firefox 1.0以上的浏览器

Google网页上表示这个服务“Create your own web pages, quickly and easily.”（快速、简单地创造属于你自己的网页）。它的特点如下：

• 不需要专业技术知识
• 所见即所得编辑
• 为每个用户免费提供100MB空间
• 提供多种模板
• 可以上传文件
• 支持用HTML语言创建和修改网页
• 自动保存

此外同一帳戶可以在已有的網頁空間裡開啟另外四個網頁空間，而這四個網頁空間的網址都是不同的，網頁空間和流量也是獨立計算的。

软件测试：http://ecolonomics.googlepages.com