Google and The Associated Press announced a new scholarship program for the U.S. student journalists. The program is aimed to foster digital and new media skills in young professionals. A key goal is the promotion of geographic, gender and ethnic diversity, with an emphasis on rural and urban areas. The Online News Association, the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, will administer the program.
Almost a year after Google Gmail calls to mobile and landline phone were introduced, the web giant is offering its users in more countries («in new 38 languages») an opportunity to call directly from the e-mail box to people on off-line phones. In addition to this, Google has lowered the cost of the service to over 150 countries around the globe.
On June 7, Google announced its new experiment for YouTube called ‘Cosmic Panda’. Activating the Cosmic Panda with one click give users a new video-watching and playlist experience, extra page designs and editing tools to customise channels. Another feature: the ability to keep watching a video while moving between videos, playlists and channels only works in Google’s own Chrome browser.
Facebook‘s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new video call feature to be rolled out in a couple of weeks. Users will be able to make free video calls to their friends through the site as a result of Facebook’s partnership with the web telephony service Skype. So, now two of the web’s most popular consumer services will be available all in one and with one click.
Google Takeout is a newly launched Google program that helps to rip various types of data from Buzz, Circles, Picasa, Contacts, and your Google Profile, and quickly bundles them in a zip file for download. By clicking ‘Data Liberation’ in settings you are given the option to download all of your profile data, stream data, photos.