Free @font-face fonts.

And now for something not iPad related, Google is no longer supporting the decrepit browser known as Internet Explorer 6 in certain applications. It's a small step forward and long overdue. The battle against IE 6 is nearing completion.

A useful counter-perspective on the iPad from Mark Pilgrim. Sanctioned hackability is one way Google can steal developers and users from Apple.

Kind of a big deal. And more proof Google is betting the company (if that were possible) on advancing open web technologies.

Big ups to Google for boldly eliminating everything but the essentials on their new homepage. Take note, clients.

Don't forget to replace 'UA-XXXXX-X' with your account info.

«It's official: Google is ditching its homegrown Gears offline web app API in favor of backing HTML5 for the win.»

"And while each of these disruptions are impressive in their own right, when I read this week that Google was including free turn-by-turn navigation directions with each and every Android mobile OS, I had an immediate feeling that I was witnessing a disruptive play of a magnitude heretofore unseen."

"And while each of these disruptions are impressive in their own right, when I read this week that Google was including free turn-by-turn navigation directions with each and every Android mobile OS, I had an immediate feeling that I was witnessing a disruptive play of a magnitude heretofore unseen."

«Android 2.0 just got its first killer app: Google Maps Navigation. Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 will be available for free and will be part of the default Google Maps app on Android 2.0 phones. The service offers all the features that users expect from a modern GPS app, including traffic data, 3D view and turn-by-turn voice guidance. Because it's connected to the Google cloud, the app can also display street view images, satellite imagery and real-time traffic data. Google also implemented a voice recognition feature.» # Jealous for the first time since getting an iPhone.

«As far as I'm concerned, Google Groups is dead.»

«Google Website Optimizer, a powerful tool that allows website owners to split traffic and test the effectiveness and conversion rates for an array of variables, has traditionally required a lot of back-and-forth between any given site and the Website Optimizer interface. With the release of a new API, announced today, Google is allowing site owners to conduct multivariate and A/B testing from their own platforms. Part of Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer (GWO) is a free tool that "handles splitting a website's traffic, serving different variations and crunching the numbers to find statistical significance."»

«Wouldn't it be great if you could keep an eye on your other Google apps - like Calendar and Docs - without having to open multiple tabs or traverse from window to window? Now, thanks to the latest feature releases from Google Labs, you can. Introducing Google Labs Calendar and Doc gadgets for Gmail.»

«The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who’ve handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint.» # When my contract with AT&T is up in another 18 months, I should have a few great options. I could be swayed from the iPhone by the right combination of features.

«I believe this is partly Google’s fault: they released Wave to geeks and hackers and social media folks first. But Wave is not a geek/hacker tool, or a social media tool, it’s a corporate tool that solves work problems (more on that later). On the other hand, they never claimed it would be a Facebook replacement or a Twitter killer. Google calls wave an “online tool for real-time communication and collaboration”. The way Google should have advertised Wave is: “it solves the problems with email”.» # I thought this was obvious. Apparently it wasn't.

«Google Wave is - in its current form - “next generation wiki”, not “next generation email”. That’s way unsexy as a marketing slogan, but would emphasize collaboration instead of communication.» # And that is why I need a Wave invite. Working in separate locations would be infinitely easier for Jay and I if I could get one.

"Make something intended not for your own use, but for use by dummies, and you’ll usually wind up creating something dumb."

"People already have a lot questions about the Chrome OS and the answers may ultimately determine how well it succeeds as a true competitor to both Microsoft and Apple, as is being widely speculated. We'll explore some of those questions in this post."

"Page Speed is a tool we've been using internally to improve the performance of our web pages -- it's a Firefox Add-on integrated with Firebug. When you run Page Speed, you get immediate suggestions on how you can change your web pages to improve their speed. For example, Page Speed automatically optimizes images for you, giving you a compressed image that you can use immediately on your web site. It also identifies issues such as JavaScript and CSS loaded by your page that wasn't actually used to display the page, which can help reduce time your users spend waiting for the page to download and display."

"Google Wave is an attempt to replace not one but all of these methods, rolling threaded conversations, real-time chat, nested comments, media sharing, link sharing and wiki-style collaboration into a familiar interface that looks and behaves like an e-mail inbox, complete with folders for keeping things organized and a search box for digging up older threads."

"During the Google I/O conference this week, one of the presentations from Day 1 was on the subject of Google Chrome's extension system. The long-awaited feature will finally deliver what Firefox and IE users have had for ages: a way to add more tools, services, and additional features to the browser."

"It’s exciting to see Google betting the bank on HTML 5, but not entirely surprising. The company is in the web app business, so any technology that makes web apps faster, better and more useful is going to be supported — even more so if that technology is based on open standards and doesn’t require plug-ins or proprietary code like Flash and Silverlight."

"We recently had the opportunity to test the new Microsoft Office plugin from OffiSync, which integrates Google Docs and Office. We can sum up our findings with one word: WOW. Although still in beta format, the plugin worked extremely well, providing that one missing aspect to the Microsoft Office software suite - an online component for storage, sharing, and collaboration."

"It may not be a co-incidence that the new Google Public Data search option was announced on the same day that the much-anticipated Wolfram|Alpha data-centric "expert knowledge" engine was first demonstrated to the public."

"Google has put a new spin on the CAPTCHA, a way of helping Web sites distinguish between human visitors and bots: It wants people to tell it which way is up in a series of randomly rotated images, a task that humans find easy and computers difficult."

Another perspective on the Google design process

"For as much as I make fun of them, I’m in fact a believer in online ads. They’re largely a mess right now, but this will change. In contemplating the future, three factors need to be considered: First, AdSense has completely buggered the market. Second, the death of mainstream media will create a vacuum of content. Third, this shortcoming will result in real revenue for quality content providers, regardless of delivery device."

Great idea, but it slowed my Google.

"Google APIs are an incredible resource and today's announcement should further their adoption."

Finally some real competition for Amazon.

Is YouTube the new App Store? Maybe. I'm not entirely sold people will pay for digital media unless it makes their lives dramatically better. It's going to take a high degree of execution to make that happen.

Google's search dominance