News Picks: Google Fiber, Picasa & Picnik, Outlook & Facebook
An overview of some of today’s ad/tech news.
Google is in the news again.
The search behemoth said in a blog post it has launched its Google Fiber for Communities website dedicated to educate and inform people about fiber networks as well as “keep up-to-date” interested communities on the Google Fiber project. Initially announced in February. The plan for Google Fiber was to provide low-cost ultra high-speed broadband access “to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people,” starting with a few locations across the U.S. In the end, as 1 100 communities and 200 000 individuals have already expressed interested in the trial, Google is brushing up its PR by launching the website first and even putting together a “Thank you” video for the prospective users.
Here is the video:
Picasa & Picnik
Remaining in the visual field, Google has also enhanced its Picasa offer by finally integrating the online photos edition services of Picnik, which it has bought in March. Now Picasa users can edit their photos without having to leave the platform.
Microsoft Outlook & Facebook (Plus LinkedIn, MySpace, Windows Live Messenger)
On the topic of pictures (and more), Microsoft’s Outlook is now integrating Facebook through its Social Connector, Neowin reported first. With the Outlook Social Connector (OSC), users can synch their contacts with their Facebook profiles to get their friends’ pictures, contact details and also status updates. According to Mashable, Windows Live Messenger is supported too and the OSC also synchs to LinkedIn and MySpace. The Social connector is available for download with both the Outlook 2003 and 2007 plugins. Microsoft has released the following video to explain the news: