“Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers,” says Google software engineer Robin Schriebman. “But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?’”

Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in just 24 hours! Thanks to everyone using this new feature http://bit.ly/aRgNtc

Google tested the feature internally before releasing it to the public (in the U.S. so far). When users with Google Voice numbers call people, that number will display as the caller ID.

Along with the launch, the company showed off some phone booths it will be setting up in universities and airports. Danny Sullivan got to peek inside one:

The phone booths should go a long way in showing off this feature and familiarizing people with Google Voice in general, which seems to be the company’s real goal.

Clearly there is an interest in making phone calls from Gmail, as the numbers from the first day indicate.

“Where is that presentation? Was it attached to an email? Or in Google Docs? If you’re not sure, you may end up searching several places with the same query in order to find it. With the new ‘Apps Search’ lab, we just made that all a bit simpler,” writes Google software engineer Bram Moolenaar.

“You may notice that mail results show up just as fast as before while non-mail results may take a tiny bit longer. That way, if you’re just looking for an email, having this lab enabled won’t slow you down,” adds Moolenaar.

The feature also comes with “did you mean?” suggestions.

Given that the feature is a Gmail Labs experiment, it is subject to bugs, so keep this in mind if you turn it on. The feature can be turned on by going to Gmail settings, and clicking the “labs” tab. From there find “Apps Search”.

Skype mobile lets users make free calls to landlines and mobile phones internationally, as well as send IMS to other Skype users. Skype-to-Skype calls are free and don’t count towards Verizon Wireless minutes.

Calls o other mobile or landline numbers in the U.S. do count toward Verizon’s minutes. Calls to international mobile or landline numbers can be paid for using Skype Credit or other subscriptions.

Skype mobile for these devices can be found at the Verizon Media Store. Users can also text SKYPE to 2255 to get a download link. The service is also available for Android and Blackberry (on some devices) on Verizon.

Google software engineer James Hawkins talks about a couple of the other new features on the Chrome Blog. “One of my favorite features, Autofill, helps you fill in web forms automatically with information that you specify, such as your name, address, phone number, and the credit card number you use for shopping online,” he says. “Autofill builds up and saves this information for you over time, so that you can fill in long web forms with just a few clicks without typing in the same information over again. For your security, any personal information stored in Chrome is safely stored and kept private until a user chooses to share the information with a website. Additionally, your credit card information is never saved without first asking you explicitly.”

“We also continue to bring more synchronization capabilities to Chrome,” he adds. “In addition to syncing bookmarks, preferences, and themes, you can now choose to sync your Chrome extensions as well as your Autofill data (excluding credit card numbers) through your Google Account. With Chrome’s sync features, you can personalize your Chrome experience and access your painstakingly curated set of bookmarks, preferences, themes, extensions, and Autofill data from any computer you choose, as long as you’re signed in to your Google Account on Chrome for that computer. To start syncing, go to the the ‘Sync’ section of the “Personal Stuff” tab in Chrome’s options.”

In addition to the new interface and these features, the new beta is faster. Google has always placed a great deal of emphasis on speed with Chrome, and they continue to do so. Hawkins says its 15% faster on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks. You can see the progressions on these visually here.

“Engaging with the people who have shared their thoughts about your business is a great way to get to know your customers and find out more,” says John Maguire of the Google Place Page team. “Both positive and negative feedback can be good for your business and help it grow (even though it’s sometimes hard to hear). By responding, you can build stronger relationships with existing and prospective customers.”

“For example, a thoughtful response acknowledging a problem and offering a solution can often turn a customer who had an initially negative experience into a raving supporter,” he continues. “A simple thank you or a personal message can further reinforce a positive experience. Ultimately, business owner responses give you the opportunity to learn what you do well, what you can do better, and show your customers that you’re listening.”

Google actually has a user guide with some tips on how to handle your responses, just in case customer service isn’t your strong point.

You must have your listing verified before you are able to respond to reviews.

That’ll provide director Kevin Macdonald, whose job it is to piece together a documentary showing what the world was like on July 24th, plenty of material even if some people included copyrighted content or lots of foul language (the final product probably isn’t meant to be R-rated).

It’ll hardly matter if a few folks forgot to take off the lens cap or did something silly like point their camera at a goldfish bowl, either.

So it seems the Ridley Scott-backed “cinematic experiment” that was announced about a month ago is going quite well so far.  As for the next steps, Macdonald and a number of assistants will presumably begin the mind-boggling task of sorting through the 80,000 videos.

YouTube promised in the same tweet it used to announce the submission stats that it will launch a video gallery in early September, too.

Then, although there should be some intermediary developments, the final “Life in a Day” documentary is still due to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Update: Microsoft announced that the “King of Bing Maps” contest is now closed. They will determine the winner soon.

Original Article: Bing has announced that it’s searching for “someone to worship.” By this, they mean lead the way in Bing Map App development. So naturally, they’ve launched a contest.

The contest is called the “King of Bing Maps Challenge,” and the winner gets a $1,000 Bing Travel gift card. 2nd prize gets a $500 card and 3rd gets a $250 card.

Winners, selected by a panel of industry experts, will be announced August 20.

Bing requires applicants submit their map app by July 25th. The official rules can be found here. Bing’s Chris Pendelton cites the following steps:

1. Read about the King of Bing Maps contest at www.KingOfBingMaps.com.
2. Download the Bing Map App SDK (Live ID required). If you don’t know anything about it or if you haven’t read my blog post, read my post about the launch of the Bing Map App SDK – “Announcing the Bing Map App SDK…and 3 New Bing Map Apps”.
3. Start with the template provided in the SDK. The template is our Hello World for Bing Map Apps. Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4 SDK required.
4. Build a sick ass application. I mean disgusting.
5. Submit your application to the Bing Maps Portal.
6. Wait for the judges to determine your fate.

The contest is no doubt designed to generate more interest in the creation of Bing Maps Apps, one feature that sets it apart from other search engine maps.

“With more than a hundred million users on Twitter, there are sure to be at least dozens of accounts out there that will reflect your interests. The trouble is finding all of them,” the company says.

Twitter’s suggestions utilize algorithms based on factors like people you follow and the people they follow. The suggestions can be found on Twitter.com and the “Find People” section. Of course you can click “follow” to follow those Twitter suggests for you. If you’re not interested, you can click “hide” and they won’t show you that suggestion again.

Twitter is also launching a feature that shows you “similar” users when you view other people’s accounts. Both new features will be available in third-party apps, as Twitter is launching an API.

Now, according to Google Operating System, Google is testing a feature that will let users log in to multiple Google accounts in the same web browser. Personally, I have at least four different Gmail accounts open at all times, and this feature is very high on my wish list.

Google services that are currently being tested include Gmail, Reader, Sites, Calendar, Code and Docs. There is one limitation: if you turn on multiple sign-in, you cannot access Gmail in offline mode.

Multiple sign-in will let you open Gmail in multiple tabs, log in using different accounts and read the messages from all your accounts without opening another browser. Right now, you have to log out before logging in to a different account.

Search Engine Optimisation

“Yahoo! Mail and Messenger are available as separate streamlined apps, however they offer common features that will give you a better mobile communications experience that’s easy to use and immediately familiar,” says Yahoo Mail Product Manager Lee Parry. “Both apps let you compose messages with rich text, express yourself through our many Yahoo! emoticons, access Yahoo! Address Book and phone contacts, as well as share photos that you’ve taken on your phone.”

“The Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger Android apps offer many of the core features that you find in their PC counterparts,” adds Perry. “In the Yahoo! Mail Android app, you can search for important messages with our Full Search and Smart Folders features and organize messages into the same personal folders you use on the PC. In Messenger you can set your Yahoo! Messenger status message, view the status messages of your buddy list contacts and chat with your MSN/Windows Live Messenger friends.”