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After so many posts about Google's new navigation menu, it looks like this feature will roll out to everyone in the coming weeks. It's time to say goodbye to the black navigation bar, which didn't look that great, but it was always at the top of almost any Google service, so you could quickly navigate to other Google sites.

"We'll be rolling out this new feature in the next few weeks...stay tuned," says Justine Rivero, from Google. "The new design has been under testing for over half a year, with reports coming in as early as February 2013 regarding the new grid menu," informs Google+ Daily.


The new grid icon shows a list of 9 popular Google services (Google+, Web Search, YouTube, Maps, Play, News, Gmail, Drive, Calendar) and you can click "more" or scroll down to see 8 other services (Translate, Books, Offers, Wallet, Shopping, Blogger, Finance and Google+ Photos). The services that are missing: Google Image Search, Google Mobile and Google Video Search (they are available in the black navigation bar). The homepage only includes links to Gmail and Image Search next to the grid icon.



Here's the old navbar:


The new navigation menu looks just like the Chrome app launcher or the apps section of the Google Search app for iOS. It includes icons for each Google service, so that they look more like real apps.

For the first time, YouTube will have a Google navigation menu and the interface will be more consistent.

It will be interesting to see if the app launcher will be more successful than a similar interface launched in 2011 and removed after a few months. You had to click a small arrow next to the Google logo to see a huge menu that included a lot of Google services. The menu was hidden by default, so it wasn't easy to find (Google's homepage expanded it, but that didn't save the short-lived menu).


Update: here's how you can enable the new interface.

Update 2: Google's search blog announces the changes. "We're introducing an updated Google bar that streamlines your experience across products and devices. Your Google products are now accessible under a new app launcher, located at the top right of the screen. Just click on the familiar 'Apps' grid, also present on Android devices and Chromebooks. As part of this design, we've also refined the color palette and letter shapes of the Google logo. We'll be rolling out this update across most Google products over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out and let us know your thoughts."

{ via Google+ Daily }

The YouTube Creator blog announced that YouTube's mobile apps will add a feature that lets you download videos so you can watch them offline.

"Later this year we'll launch a new feature on YouTube's mobile apps that will help you reach fans -- even when they're not connected to the Internet. This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable."

AllThingsD reports that this feature will be available next month and that the downloaded videos will be available for 48 hours. "Next month, Google's video site will let viewers save clips on their phones and other mobile devices for up to 48 hours, so they can watch them when they're not online. The videos will still be free, and Google will run ads on the clips, which will be available via its mobile apps."

YouTube's Android app already has a preloading feature for subscriptions and the "watch later" playlist, but this feature has a catch: you need to be online when starting to play a video. This makes the feature less useful.


A few years ago, YouTube experimented with downloads for some partner channels. Now it only lets you download your videos. There are a lot of third-party applications and extensions for downloading YouTube videos, but you won't find them in the Play Store or the Chrome Web Store because they break YouTube's terms of use.

Chrome will replace the new tab page with a simplified version of the Google homepage. Sure, it doesn't have the search button and the footer, but it's the Google homepage. You'll see the app launcher grid, which replaces the black bar, you'll see the Google+ notification and share buttons, you'll see Google doodles.

Most of the features of the new tab page have been removed and replaced by a huge Google logo. Chrome apps are in the app launcher, recent tabs are in the Chrome menu.

I've never liked browser homepages, but Chrome's new tab page was really useful. It loaded quickly and had a lot of links to pages you were likely to open. Now it only shows 8 of your frequently visited pages and a fake search box that sends you to the omnibox.


When Google shows an animated doodle, the new tab page shows same the animation and you're forced to see it each and every time you open a new tab. Sometimes the doodle uses a lot of resources:


There are some great extensions that replace the new tab page, but you shouldn't have to use an extension for this. The new tab page should be fast, simple and useful.

Here's a quote from Chromium's site:

"The new tab page is the default starting point for all tabs - it is designed to get the user where they want to go, and is not meant to be an information resource like the user's home page; that is, the new tab page is not intended to be a destination, but rather a jumping-off point to other destinations - we strongly want to avoid cognitive load and distractions for the user, especially those creating new tabs for other purposes."

So it shouldn't include distractions. That's exactly what the Google homepage does and the new tab shouldn't do. Animated doodles, Google+ notifications - all of them are distractions that don't belong in a page you open so often.

For now, I'll switch to the empty new tab page.

Now that many of the YouTube experiments are publicly available, it's time for something new. YouTube tests a new version of the center-aligned layout. The sidebar looks better, but it's still hidden by default. The YouTube homepage has two tabs for "What to watch" and "My subscriptions", while the header is now persistent.





Here's a video that shows a slightly different version of the experiment:


Here's how you can enable the experimental feature. If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer 8+:

1. open youtube.com in a new tab

2. load your browser's developer console:

* Chrome or Opera 15+ - press Ctrl+Shift+J for Windows/Linux/ChromeOS or Command-Option-J for Mac

* Firefox - press Ctrl+Shift+K for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-K for Mac

* Opera 12 - press Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-I for Mac, then click "Console"

* Safari - check this article

* Internet Explorer - press F12 and select the "Console" tab.

3. paste the following code which changes a YouTube cookie:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=Gapj9bz_H8M; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

4. press Enter and close the console.

To go back to the regular interface, use the same instructions, but replace the code from step 3 with this one:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

{ Thanks, Sushubh and Rubén. }

Google Wallet's Android app was available in the Play Store, but not many people could install it. The app was limited to Sprint and a few small US carriers, Nexus devices and a few other phones. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile blocked the app because they work on a competing payment system called Isis.

Google announced that the app is now available for any Android device in the US running Gingerbread or a more recent Android version. "The updated app helps you easily send money on the go, store all your loyalty cards, save money through offers, and view all your Google Wallet activity - all in one place."

The Google Wallet added the feature that was available in Gmail: sending money to other people in the US using their email addresses. The Gmail feature is gradually rolling out, but you can manually enable it by using the Wallet app to send money. You can also add your loyalty cards by scanning the barcode or by entering the card number.

"In addition to your loyalty cards, you can easily carry and use your offers with the Google Wallet app. No matter where you've found your offer - in the Google Maps app, Google Search, Google+ or Google Offers, they're visible and redeemable in your Wallet app at checkout. And later this week, you'll also be able to save offers on select merchant and couponing sites such as Valpak."


While you can install the app on any Android 2.3+ device in the US, you need an eligible device that supports NFC to tap and pay in of the many Wallet-enabled US stores. There are only 29 devices that support this feature and they're still limited to Sprint and small carriers like MetroPCS, US Cellular, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile.

So not much has changed: the main functionality of the app is not available if you use 3 of the biggest US carriers, but there are some new features that don't require NFC and work on any device.

This will probably increase Google Wallet's adoption. Until now, the app has been installed less than 10 million times.

A few weeks ago, I posted about a YouTube experiment that adds bigger cards for music artists. Search for Röyksopp, Daft Punk or any other popular artist and you'll see a Knowledge Graph-like sidebar with a list of top tracks, albums and related artists. Click any track and you'll start a playlist with a lot of other songs from the same artist. Click an album and you'll be able to listen to all the songs from the album.


What else is there? You can also click "top tracks" to start the playlist automatically generated by YouTube. Click the artist's name to visit the topic channel created by YouTube (there's no topic channel for Röyksopp, but there's one for Daft Punk).