Improved sharing via Google+

A few weeks ago Larry mentioned that we’d start shipping the Google part of Google+. The Android team then launched Ice Cream Sandwich, with a focus on improved sharing via Google+. And today we’re rolling out two more Google+ features that integrate with two more Google products: YouTube and Chrome.

YouTube

It’s no secret that YouTube is filled with tons of great content (from inspiring speeches to music videos to honey badgers). We wanted to bring YouTube directly into Google+—as well as make it easier to watch and share your favorites—so we’re launching a YouTube “slider” in the stream. Here’s how it works:

  • Mouse over the new YouTube icon at the top right of Google+
  • It’ll slide out and ask, “What would you like to play”?
  • Enter whatever you’re in the mood for (like a topic or a musical artist)

Sharing YouTube videos with your circles also works (of course), but there’s a nice little twist: the people you share with can open a related playlist directly from your post! Last but not least, we’re starting to include YouTube playlists in Google+ search results.

YouTube video in the stream (left), YouTube playlist in Google+ search results (right)

Chrome

We’re also rolling out two new Google+ Chrome extensions:

  • +1 button: +1 any webpage and share it with your circles
  • Notifications: check your Google+ notifications while you browse the web

Of course, if you don’t use Chrome, then you can use Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The new version—also rolling out today—includes these same sharing and notification features.

Google+ Chrome extensions: +1 button (left), notifications (right)

We’ve got lots more planned for Google+, YouTube and Chrome (and all the other Google products you already use). But we hope you enjoy today’s small taste of shipping the Google in Google+.

Success with the Chrome Web Store

By Alexandra Levich, Product Manager

Cross-posted from the Chromium Blog

We recently expanded the reach of the Chrome Web Store from the U.S. to 24 more countries. Developers from around the world have already launched successful apps in the Chrome Web Store to US users. Now all developers can reach a global user base.

What makes this global reach even more interesting is the global payments infrastructure that goes along with it. The store allows developers from 20 countries to sell apps in the store, and users to buy apps in their local currency. We also recently launched the In-App Payments API, which allows developers (U.S.-only for now; international soon) to sell virtual goods in their apps. Integration is easy and transaction fees are only 5%. Graphicly, an early user of in-app payments, saw its net revenues double after starting to use the API and experienced an even bigger rise in profit margins due to increased conversions and lower transaction fees.

In keeping with our international theme, we’d like to highlight a few developers from different parts of the world who have utilized Chrome’s global reach to find success in the store:

  • Audiotool is an online music production app that was built by a team of German developers. They saw the Chrome Web Store as a way to present their app to an international audience. Audiotool’s traffic increased by 20% after launching in the store, and this motivated the team to release another app in the store.
  • Psykopaint is the brainchild of French developer Mathieu Gosselin. The Chrome Web Store provided Mathieu an opportunity to get his photo painting app noticed outside of France. Traffic to Psykopaint has jumped by 700% since it launched in the store and Mathieu has found that Chrome Web Store users tend to be more engaged than other users.
  • Finally, Nulab, a Japanese company, launched its online diagramming app, Cacoo, in the store to expand its user base outside Japan. In just a few months after Cacoo was released in multiple languages in the Chrome Web Store, the app already accounts for 20% of Cacoo’s user base.

The experience of Audiotool, Psykopaint and Nulab shows that no matter where you’re located, you can always find a global audience for your applications in the Chrome Web Store. To learn more about the stories of these and other successful Chrome Web Store developers, read our case studies. And if you want to find out more about posting your app in the store, visit our documentation at code.google.com/chrome/webstore.

Alex Levich is a product manager working on Chrome Web Store.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor

Chrome’s file browser handler

During the day 2 keynote of Google I/O, I was excited to see Box’s integration with the Chromebook’s file browser handler getting demoed on the big stage. The integration makes local files and files you encounter on the web easily accessible to cloud services inside Chrome OS.

Chrome’s file browser handler utilizes the new HTML5 file system API, designed to enable web applications to interact with local files. This API lets web applications read files, edit files, and create new files within a designated local space on a user’s machine. This includes creating binary files for application data, and in Box’s case, accessing user-created files to let people easily move their content to the cloud.

As mentioned during the Google I/O keynote, the integration between Box and the Chrome OS file browser handler only took our team a weekend to build. We were able to build the integration quickly because of the simplicity of both Chrome’s file browser platform and Box’s API, both of which were designed to make content integrations like this easy for developers to implement.

In this case, the Quick Importer tool from the Box API made the entire development process just a few steps:

1. We created a Chrome extension manifest to work with Box.
[php]{
"name”: "Box Uploader",

"file_browser_handlers": [
{
"id”: "upload",
"default_title": "Save to Gallery", // What the button will display
"file_filters": [
]
}
],[/php]

2. In the Chrome manifest, we specified the relevant file types to which the service applies. In our case, that’s most file types, as seen below. Specialized services may just want certain types, such as images for Picasa.
[php]"file_browser_handlers": [
{
"id": "upload",
"default_title": "Save to Box",
"file_filters": [
"filesystem:*.*"
]
}
],[/php]

3. With some JavaScript code connecting to the file browser handler, we set up a way to upload files through Box’s Quick Importer.
[php]<strong>var</strong> fm = <strong>new</strong> FileManager<strong>()</strong>;
fm.uploadServer = ‘https://www.box.net/&lt;…&gt;’;

<strong>if</strong> <strong>(</strong>bgPage <strong>&amp;&amp;</strong> bgPage.filesToUpload.length<strong>)</strong> <strong>{</strong>
<strong>var</strong> entry;
<strong>while(</strong>entry = bgPage.filesToUpload.pop<strong>())</strong> <strong>{</strong>
entry.file<strong>(function(</strong>file<strong>)</strong> <strong>{</strong>
fm.uploadFile<strong>(</strong>file<strong>)</strong>;
<strong>})</strong>;
<strong>}</strong>
<strong>}</strong>[/php]

That’s actually all there was to the integration.

Once the file is uploaded to the Box API’s Quick Import URL, our page is displayed to authenticate the user, to let the user select a Box folder to save the file, and then to upload the file.

While such an integration can be customized through our API, our Quick Import provided an easy and fast means to connect the platforms. Developers can customize the integration by using direct calls to our API, and take advantage of additional features such as automatic sharing, if they prefer.

Thanks to the simplicity of Chrome’s file browser handler and some extra tools in the Box API, our development time was very short (just a weekend), but it could have actually been even quicker. We had a couple of unusual complications that weekend:

1. The Google Chrome team was still experimenting with the file browser, so development from both sides was happening in parallel, which can be a bit tricky. Now that the file browser has been thoroughly tested, you should have an even easier time.

2. I took my girlfriend out a couple times, since her final exams were coming up soon afterward. I love you, Hayley!

Once the content has been uploaded to Box, it’s accessible to many Google services, including Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, through additional integrations on our site with Google Apps. Ah, the wonders of open platforms.