Dynamic Views: seven new ways to share your blog with the world

As we said a few weeks ago when we launched a completely rebuilt, streamlined authoring and editing experience, we’re in the process of bringing you a much improved and modernized Blogger. The next phase of these updates starts today with seven new ways to display your blog, called Dynamic Views.

Built with the latest in web technology (AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3), Dynamic Views is a unique browsing experience that will inspire your readers to explore your blog in new ways. The interactive layouts make it easier for readers to enjoy and discover your posts, loading 40 percent faster than traditional templates and bringing older entries to the surface so they seem fresh again.

Dynamic Views is much more than just new templates. With just a couple clicks, you’ll get infinite scrolling (say goodbye to the “Older posts” link), images that load as you browse, integrated search, sorting by date, label and author, lightbox-style posts for easy viewing, keyboard shortcuts for quickly flipping through posts, and one-click sharing to Google+ and other social sites on every post.

No two blogs are the same, so you can choose from seven different views that display text and photos differently. For example, if you have lots of photos on your blog, you may prefer Flipcard or Snapshot. If your blog is more text-heavy, then Classic, Sidebar (what you’re seeing now on Blogger Buzz) or Timeslide may be preferable. Here’s a quick description of each of the new views, along with links to some of our favorite blogs where you can check each of them out in action.

• Classic (Gmail): A modern twist on a traditional template, with infinite scrolling and images that load as you go
• Flipcard (M loves M) - Your photos are tiled across the page and flip to reveal the post title
• Magazine (Advanced Style) - A clean, elegant editorial style layout 
• Mosaic (Crosby’s Kitchen) - A mosaic mix of different sized images and text
• Sidebar (Blogger Buzz Blog) - An email inbox-like view with a reading page for quick scrolling and browsing
• Snapshot (Canelle et Vanille) - An interactive pinboard of your posts 
• Timeslide (The Bleary-Eyed Father) - A horizontal view of your posts by time period

Enter the name of your favorite Blogger blog below and click Preview to check it out with Dynamic Views.
.blogspot.com

Adding a Dynamic View to your blog is as easy as changing your template. Log in to Blogger, click on the Template tab on your dashboard, and select whichever view you want to set as your default. Note that readers can still choose to navigate your blog in a different view by selecting from the pulldown in the upper left of the screen.

If you want to add your own touch to any of these new views, you can upload a header image and customize the background colors. We’ll be adding more ways to customize Dynamic Views in the coming weeks.

We hope you enjoy the latest update to Blogger, and that, as always, you tell us what you think by completing this short survey.

Note: In addition to Blogger Buzz, several other official Google blogs will be featuring Dynamic Views through the weeks and months ahead, including the Gmail Blog, Google Voice Blog, and Docs Blog. We’re excited to bring Dynamic Views into the fold and we'll be looking at how to incorporate this new technology across Google’s blog network in the long term.

Update: Dynamic Views are now customizable! Add a custom header, change the background, colors, fonts, and more.

Posted by Antin Harasymiv, Software Engineer

Tips for New Bloggers

Editor’s Note: Rebecca is one of the bloggers we’ve featured on Blogs of Note. After she was Noted, Rebecca received many new followers and emails asking her about her tips for blogging, so she’s graciously written up this blog post for anyone looking for tips on how to get started. 

Hi everyone! I'm Rebecca Brown, a blogger and personal stylist in the Seattle area. When I started my blog nearly 2 years ago, it was to document my attempt to wear a different dress for every day of December (sounds super interesting, right? It proves you can write a blog about anything).

I had no idea that a blog about my clothing choices would grow and become such a fun hobby! And even though I’ve been blogging for a little while, I still feel like I have so much to learn, which is what keeps blogging interesting! So, while I'm definitely far from being an expert, here are a few things that have worked for me:

1) Find a community of bloggers with similar interests. Do you like to write about video games, fashion, cooking? There are lots of great blogs on those topics already. A quick Google search for “fashion blogs” helped me round out my reading list. I always check out the blog rolls of people whose blogs I enjoy, and I also visit the blogs of folks who comment on my blog. Bottom line: interact with bloggers whose blogs you enjoy. You'll learn so much, I promise. This leads me to my next point...

2) Leave insightful comments on blogs that you enjoy - especially blogs that are in the same niche as you. Instead of just saying, "hey, nice blog, follow me please”, call out something specific that you liked about the post. Pure "followback" requests don’t really make people want to follow you.

3) Don't underestimate the importance of good pictures on your posts. The basics: Use a tripod or get a friend to photograph you if the pictures are of you. Take pictures outdoors if possible because natural light always makes pictures look better. Use post-processing (I use Picnik) to adjust the exposure, add effects, and crop to keep the focus on what you want. You don’t need a fancy camera - I use my cell phone most of the time! I wrote about this in more depth here.

4) Think about quality, rather than quantity of posts. Readers would rather see an insightful (and spell-checked!) post with original content and good pictures 2-4 times a week than hastily-written thoughts on a daily basis. Most avid blog readers follow so many blogs that if you post too often, and especially if your posts aren't high quality, you'll get passed over in favor of the other blogs on their blogroll. Plus, a great, high-quality post can continue to get you traffic for a few days - don't truncate its effectiveness by posting again the very next day.

5) Schedule your posts. I typically have a chunk of time on the weekend where I can plan out and write my 2-4 posts for the week, or at least get a rough draft in place. Blogger allows you to schedule your posts and they will automatically publish at the date/time you specify. I typically set my posts to publish around 2am to capture folks in other time zones.

6) Lastly, don't apologize for not posting more often. A blog is a fun hobby - but once you start feeling beholden to it, it stops being fun! Plus, your readers will likely not notice if you don't post for a week unless you write a post about how sorry you are for not posting!

There are so many great resources out there for bloggers looking to hone their craft. Here are a few of my favorites: - 10 Things About Your Blog That Drive Me Crazy (via B at Beautifully Invisible) - Don't Be A Savage Blogger (Jamillah via Beautifully Invisible): - Build a Better Blog (via Vahni at Grit and Glamour).

I hope these tips are helpful! Blogging has been such a great part of my life - allowing me to express myself, build a community and make lifelong friends. And the great thing about it is that nearly anyone can do it. So have fun with it, don’t take yourself too seriously, and you’ll be a great blogger in no time!

Google+: 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107...

We started the Google+ project to help make online sharing more like real-world sharing. Of course, in life we increasingly share on the go, so over the past ~90 days we’ve developed Google+ apps for Android, iOS and the mobile web.

During this time we've made lots of improvements to the project, and in fact, the team just announced its 100th new feature overall (open signups). But our work is far from done, and today we're bringing seven additional Google+ features to your mobile device.

Hangouts on your mobile (a.k.a. feature #92) 

Seeing someone face-to-face is one of the most important ways you can connect with them. Unfortunately we're often too busy, too far away, or too unpredictable to make meetups a regular occurrence. That's why we're making Hangouts available on phones with Android 2.3+ and front-facing cameras (iOS support coming soon). Just find an active hangout in the Stream, and you can join your friends face-to-face-to-face:

Hangouts on your phone: Stream View (left), Green Room (center), Portrait View (right) 

101, 102, 103. You asked for it 

We take your feedback very seriously, and we do our best to deliver your most-requested features as quickly as possible. So today we're launching three more things you've been asking for in Google+ mobile:

• Improved SMS support. Users in the US and India can now post to Google+, receive notifications, and respond to group messages via SMS (with more countries on the way). To start texting, just verify your phone number in Google+ settings. 
• Improved +mentions support. To add someone in your circles to a conversation (or simply get their attention), you can now +[their name] inside a post or comment. 
• +1’ing comments. When you read a great comment in the Stream, you can now +1 it directly from your iOS device (with Android coming soon). 

SMS (left), +mentions (center), +1’ing comments (right)

104, 105, 106. Giving you more choices 

The most important part of Google+ is you, so we want to make sure you have meaningful ways to personalize your experience -- from selecting just the right people to share with, to switching between the app, the web, and SMS as you see fit. Today we're excited to bring three new options to mobile users:

• Edit your profile photo. You can now put your best face forward, from where you happen to be. Just visit your profile, click edit, and you can choose or take a new picture. 
• Customize your notifications. Some notifications may be more important than others, especially when you’re on the go. Now you can decide which ones you see (or not) on your phone. 
• Make some room. If you’re taking lots of photos, or installing lots of apps, then internal storage can sometimes shrink. That’s why you can now move the Google+ app to SD storage on Android devices. 

 Edit your profile photo (left), Notification settings (center), Move to USB (right) 

107. So long Huddle, hello Messenger (and hi there, photos) 

As we move from limited field trial to open beta, we’re renaming Huddle to Messenger. More importantly, we’re adding new functionality to Messenger that makes group communication even more fun: photo sharing. So now when you’re sitting down for a meal, or kicking back on vacation, you can show your circles what’s happening, right this second:

Messenger: Homescreen (left), Choosing a Photo (center), Posting a Photo (right)  

We hope you enjoy today’s round of Google+ mobile features. There’s plenty left for us to do, so we’ll keep listening, and working to make your mobile experience that much better. In the meantime, you can try the new app (on Android and the mobile web today, and on iOS soon), and let us know what you think.

 Posted by Punit Soni, Google+ Mobile PM

Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and Working with Visa, American Express and Discover

(cross-posted on Official Google Blog and Google Commerce Blog)

In May we announced Google Wallet—an app that makes your phone your wallet—with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data. With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC).

We’ve been testing it extensively, and today we’re releasing the first version of the app to Sprint. That means we’re beginning to roll out Google Wallet to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over-the-air update—just look for the “Wallet” app. Here’s a demo of Google Wallet in action:



Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi MasterCard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic credit cards. As a thanks to early adopters, we’re adding a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card if you set it up in Google Wallet before the end of the year.

When we announced Google Wallet, we pledged a commitment to an open commerce ecosystem. We appreciate Citi and MasterCard for being our launch partners. And today, Visa, Discover and American Express have made available their NFC specifications that could enable their cards to be added to future versions of Google Wallet.

Our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets. In fact, we’ve got a video of our first customer, someone who is ready to replace his famously over-stuffed wallet. We hope Google Wallet gives him “serenity now.”

This is still just the beginning and while we’re excited about this first step, we look forward to bringing Google Wallet to more phones in the future. You can learn more about Google Wallet at google.com/wallet.

Posted by Osama Bedier, Vice President of Payments

Your images never looked so good

Posted by Marcos Almeida, Software Engineer

Updated 09/21/11: After listening to your feedback we've decided to roll back and make improvements to the Lightbox feature. We will update this blog as soon as the feature relaunches.

Introducing Lightbox, the latest in a series of Blogger updates aimed at giving you an improved and modernized blogging experience. Lightbox is a whole new way to interact with photos. When clicked, images now expand into a shiny new overlay that displays them at their full size for optimal viewing.

Once an image is opened in the lightbox view, any other images from the same post will now appear as thumbnails along the bottom, which can be easily browsed by clicking the arrow keys on the left or right side of the lightbox.

If you’ve custom-coded your image HTML so that images function as hyperlinks, then the lightbox view will not display and your original image hyperlink will work as expected.

Your images never looked so good!

Introducing Voice Actions for Android in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain

Last year in the US, we introduced Voice Actions, a series of spoken commands that let you control your Android phone or tablet with your voice. You can call businesses and contacts, send texts, browse the web and complete other common tasks, all just by speaking into your phone.

Today, we’re pleased to announce that users in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain can now use Voice Actions in British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search box on your home screen, open the Voice Search app, or press down for a few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to activate the “Speak Now” screen. You can see how it works in this video.

Speak any of these commands to perform a Voice Action on your phone:

• send text to [contact] [message]
• call [business]
• call [contact]
• go to [website]
• navigate to [location/business name]
• directions to [location/business name]
• map of [location]

And of course, you can still conduct a Google search using your voice.

Use Voice Actions to get directions, or send a text using just your voice

Voice Actions is available on phones and tablets running Android 2.2 and higher. If you don't have Voice Search on your phone yet, you can download it from Android Market - if you do have Voice Search, you can just start using Voice Actions.

We think Voice Actions helps you get things done on your phone faster and easier. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Posted by Bertrand Damiba, Product Manager

Your smartphone camera is now smarter with Goggles 1.6

Today, we launched a new version of Google Goggles that enhances the camera on your Android-powered phone. With this new opt-in feature in Goggles, you can simply photograph an image using your phone’s camera, and Goggles will work in the background to analyze your image. If your photo contains items that Goggles can recognize, the app will notify you.

Let’s say that I’m going on vacation, and I decide to use my Android-powered phone as my primary camera. Goggles would identify landmarks, paintings and other interesting objects in my photos. I can share these facts about my vacation with my friends right from my Goggles search history.

(l-r) Goggles has found a search result for this popular landmark; Find out more about this item in your photo within Google Goggles

Photos you take with your phone’s camera will only be seen by Goggles if you enable the Search from Camera feature. Here’s how:

• launch Google Goggles
• tap Menu > Settings > Search from Camera

Manage your opt-in status from the settings menu

Google Goggles 1.6 is available for Android 2.1 and newer devices. Download by clicking here or by scanning the QR code below:

Posted by Pavel Vodenski, Software Engineer

Leila Lopes won Miss Universe 2011

Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011

Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011 today September 12 at the CrediCard Hall in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Leila Lopes was on February 26, 1986, in Benguela, Angola. She stands 1.79 m. Lopes is a business management student in Great Britain,where she was crowned Miss Angola UK on October 8, 2010.

The 1st runner-up is Miss Ukraine – Olesya Stefanko

The 2nd runner-up is Miss Brazil – Priscila Machado

The 3rd runner-up is Miss Philippines – Shamcey Supsup
The 4th runner-up is Miss China – Zilin Luo

top 10 of Miss Universe 2011

The 4th runner-up Miss China

Announcing the Blogger app for iOS

(Cross-posted from the Blogger Buzz blog)

Today we’re excited to announce the new Blogger app for iOS. With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you've been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you're on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you’ll always have access to the latest version.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and the Blogger app makes it easy to add photos either by choosing from the gallery or taking a new photo right within the app. You can also add labels and location to provide more details about the post.

Download the Blogger app today for iOS versions 3.2 and above in the App Store. Although the user interface is only available in English at this time, the app supports blog posts written in all languages. If you’re using an Android-powered device, you can download the Blogger app for Android from the Android Market.


Posted by Chang Kim, Product Manager

Announcing the Blogger app for iOS

Today we’re excited to announce the new Blogger app for iOS. With the Blogger app, you can write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. You can also open a blog post you've been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you're on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you’ll always have access to the latest version.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and the Blogger app makes it easy to add photos either by choosing from the gallery or taking a new photo right within the app. You can also add labels and location to provide more details about the post.

Download the Blogger app today for iOS versions 3.2 and above in the App Store. Although the user interface is only available in English at this time, the app supports blog posts written in all languages. If you’re using an Android-powered device, you can download the Blogger app for Android from the Android Market.

Posted by Chang Kim, Product Manager

Miss Universe 2011 Fashion Show at Gay Nightclub

Miss Universe 2011:

Miss Universe 2011 Contestants participated in a Fashion Show held at The Week International nightclub, the biggest gay nightclub in Sao Paulo. The Week is one of the premier nightclubs in São Paulo and Latin America and opened to the public in 2004. It was the first opportunity to get a glimpse of Miss Universe 2011 Contestants’ stage presence and command of the catwalk.

Photos Courtesy of Guilherme Lara Campos/ Fotoarena, Global Beauties.

Miss Universe 2011 at Buddha Bar

Miss Universe 2011:

After 12 hours of the first day of rehearsals, all 89 Miss Universe 2011 Contestants were taken to the great Buddha Bar, where they had dinner and had fun together. 12 hours of practicing was exhausting, however, look at the beauties: they seem always full of energy.

Photos Courtesy of Guilherme Lara Campos / Fotoarena, Global Beauties.

Miss World Sweden 2011, Nicoline Artursson

Miss World Sweden 2011:

 

Nicoline Artursson was crowned Miss World Sweden 2011 at the National pageant held at the Winter Garden -Vinterträdgården- of the Grand Hôtel Stockholm on September 3, 2011. Nicoline of Halmstad is 18 year old. She will represent Sweden in Miss World 2011 Pageant, to be held in London, England on November 6, 2011. The first runner-up was Malin Brattström and the second runner-up was Maxime Calington. The top five includes Sara Bolay and Helen Beyto. Miss World 2010, Alexandria Mills, crowned the new Miss World Sweden 2011. Julia Morley was also present at the the big final.

Photos and information Courtesy of the MISSOSOLOGY Times of Beauty.

Miss Côte d’Ivoire 2011, Betty Kouadio

Miss Côte d’Ivoire 2011:

Betty Kouadio was crowned Miss Côte d’Ivoire 2011 at the Amphitheater of the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny Foundation in Yamoussoukro. Betty from Gagnoa is 18 year old and stands 1.76 m. She will represent Côte d’Ivoire in Miss World 2011 Pageant. The first runner-up was Jessica Nguessan and the second runner-up was Valerie Angoua.

Info Courtesy of the Times of Beauty.

Photos Courtesy of http://news.abidjan.net/

Miss Bikini Belgium 2011, Madina Hamidi

Miss Bikini Belgium 2011:

Name : Madina Hamidi

Age : 24

Height : 170

Weight : 50

Vital Stat (cm) : 75-58-92






Source: Miss Bikini International

Miss Bikini Hungary 2011, Dorottya Farsang

Miss Bikini Hungary 2011:


Name : Dorottya Farsang

Age : 20

Height : 172

Weight : 48

Vital Stat (cm) : 88-58-88

Source: Miss Bikini International

Miss International China 2011, Baixue Yuting

Miss International China 2011:

Baixue Yuting was crowned Miss International China 2011 on August 24 in Beijing. Baixue Yuting from Henan is 19 year old and stands 1.72m. She will represent China in Miss International 2011 on Chengdu, China next November. The 1st Runner-up was Tu Yajun and the 2nd Runner-up was Gao Liyuan.

Courtesy of Misossology.

Yu Weiwei won the Beach Beauty Award of Miss World China 2011

Miss World China 2011:

Yu Weiwei of Shaanxi won the Beach Beauty Award of Miss World China 2011.
Her Hobbies/Strengths: Art, music, ocarina, piano, ethnic minority-style singing, operatic singing, drums, calligraphy, runway modeling. School: Xi’an University of Arts and Science. Statement: There’s only the unthinkable, nothing is undoable.

Reference: Beauty Pageant news

Miss Universe 2011 contestants practice

Miss Universe 2011:

Miss Universe candidates took part in a rehearsal open for the media held at the hotel Hilton Sao Paulo on Friday. Present at the rehearsal were Miss Universe choreographer Michael Schwandt, and local choreographer Paula Peixoto.  The beauties will keep on learning the choreographies they will show on stage during the live telecast on September 12th.

[gallery]

Fotoarena

Source: Global Beauties

Photos of Miss Universe 2011 contestants -Museum Tour

Miss Universe 2011:



The contestants visited some of Sao Paulo´s most significant museums, such as the museum of modern art and the museum of sculpture.
Fotoarena

Source: Global Beauties

Photos of Miss Universe 2011 contestants at Buddha Spa

Miss Universe 2011:

The contestants from Japan, Argentina, Spain and Colombia were invited to spend an afternoon at Sao Paulo´s premier Buddha Spa, where they received pampering treatments.

Source: Global Beauties