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Called Smileage, the app syncs with Google+ so others can monitor particular trips, and draw in data, comments on photos from all the phones which are synced with the car during any given journey. Users are awarded Smileage points for completing certain tasks, such as uploading photos. Even passing other VW's count, as the app creates a little 'punch' every one is passed on the road.

Here's a video about Smileage: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/volkswagen-smileage-social-road-trips-powered-by-google/

google + 

The first trailer for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln will debut in a Google+ Hangout on Thursday, Sep. 13. This will be the first time that a film trailer has launched in a Google+ Hangout. In addition to the trailer, director Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will partake in a live chat about the film.

"Google Play presents: Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in their first ever Hangout On Air where they will be exclusively premiering the trailer for their upcoming movie, Lincoln. If you want to be one of the lucky fans to join the hangout please: -Let us know how we can contact you here http://goo.gl/ApTvq. -Upload a short video to your YouTube channel with the #lincolnhangout tag explaining who you are, why you are interested in "Lincoln" and what you would like to ask Spielberg and Gordon-Levitt -Reshare this G+ event"

"Unsurprisingly, Google is still at the top of the pile: it will account for 56% of all mobile ad sales. Perhaps more surprisingly, Twitter is doing better than Facebook in driving revenues where mobile ads are concerned: the world's biggest social network will make half as much as Twitter in mobile ads this year: $72.7 million versus $129.7 million, the analysts say. However that is bound to be reversed over time: eMarketer predicts that by 2014, Facebook will be making $629.4 million in mobile ads, compared to $444 million for Twitter, putting Facebook at a distant second to Google. Longer term, eMarketer predicts that U.S. mobile advertising will generate sales of $12 billion by 2016."

The new features, styled Search plus Your World, were announced on a blog post today and come in three prongs. The first is the inclusion of "personal results" in the return to search queries. These results are based on what a user has shared through pictures on Picasa and on Google+ posts.  The second item in Google's new bag of tricks is a new type of search results that can flush out friends who have common names.  The final new feature is called People and Places and aspires to offer a sense of community by returning a list of new connections in response to generic queries like "music" or "baseball." 

Assistant will be instantly compared to Apple's Siri, but the plan is to 'go beyond' Apple's iPhone 4S offering, by helping you make decisions, rather than simply serving-up information. TechCrunch sources say the voice-powered "do engine" is being developed by the Android team and will be powered by Google's own search engine, Google +1 and the Google+ social network.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, lays out his vision for a new ad platform for Google. The interactive video ads would be mini-websites that could be embedded in videos, etc., enabling users to post comments and see realtime updates within the ad. Similar to the interactivity of the iAd platform, but an idea backed by Google.

Google teaming up with Citigroup and Mastercard to roll out NFC payment capabilities- involves syncing up the credit card companies apps. will give google access to consumers digital shopping cart information (something that PayPal doesnt get. Google will play a similar role to what PayPal does now- it will be a third party entity)

Google is launching "A Google a Day", an upside-down quiz game, in the New York Times - quarter page ads that prompt users to Google for the answer.

Daily 4.12

Gamification - Google adding Google News Badges

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) expanded its Google Wallet push Monday, adding new coupon and loyalty card services to its mobile payments product as well as a few new retailers hoping to make it easier for customers to spend money.

Google phone. Create enough Wifi islands and Google can rent the cellular network to bridge the gaps.

"While the Google deal will help expand the appeal of purchasing Disney, Pixar and Marvel-branded movies, it will also boost the profile of the Google Play store, which has recently made a more aggressive push to increase sales and rentals primarily through partnerships with Hollywood studios."

""With YouTube external annotations, we're trying to make it a very seamless process," said Lisa Green, industry director at Google. "If while you're watching it, you see something you really want, you can click... We've allowed the user to make the decision to make the purchase" in the video. The beta feature is available to all existing clients, although Google won't disclose how many advertisers have shown interest or signed up thus far. Juicy Couture, one of the first brands to adopt the shoppable feature, released a new video directed by Terry Richardson featuring Candice Swanepoel at the famed Chateau Marmont hotel. The fashion label features nineteen different products in the second video. YouTube's shoppable video ads will display a shaded rectangle in the middle of the screen whenever a product appears. When a user rolls over that embedded video link, the product name is displayed with a link to the purchase page. Google's product and sales teams are working with advertisers to bring these new ads into their videos on YouTube, Green said."

Oooooh Google.

Google is spearheading efforts into more connectivity globally. It will be interesting to follow what implications arise.

adding nutrition info to google searches

"Facebook just allowed search retargeting firm Chango into its ad exchange, which means that advertisers can now use Chango's trove of search data -- including info it's collected from Google users -- to target Facebook users with ads."

To come up with the numbers, the analysts compared internet users in 31 markets who have used or contributed to a social network in the past month. In December 2012, Google+ grew by 27 percent to 343 million active users, accounting for 25 percent of the global internet population.