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Google just launched a page for Google+ developers. It will post news updates and info about events, conferences and hackathons. host weekly video hangouts to share updates, tips and tricks about the platform. Office hours are on Wednesdays between 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Pacific. Hopefully, this is a sign of upcoming API releases, so Google+ developers can start, you know, developing.The Google+ Platform Blog has been pretty quiet. Google SVP Vic Gundotra said in October that Google+ doesn't "want to make the same mistakes of others," - referring to Twitter - by opening the API too quickly to developers and then having to clamp down later. He said to look ahead to Google I/0 (since rescheduled for June 27-29) for major platform announcements.SponsorVic Gundotra at Google I/O 2011Google made some of the Google+ API available last year, but the capabilities are still extremely limited. Applications can currently read the main stream as well as search, +1s and comments. This has allowed aggregator apps like news readers to start pulling content from the Google+ stream. There are also basic ways to extend video hangouts with applications.But because developers don't yet have write access, Google+ is fairly isolated from the Web outside. The +1 button has become commonplace for sharing, but third-party applications that share easily to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more still can't post to Google+. Once Google opens up more write access to other clients, third-party contributions to the Google+ ecosystem will start to get interesting.Add Google+ Developers to your circles.See also: What Google Plus Needs to Do to Win Developers' HeartsDiscuss

Pictures users have deleted from Facebook months or even years ago may still exist, it has been revealed. Facebook says it’s workin…

Linux is the world's largest collaborative software development project. People from all over the world have influenced the Linux kernel code, and it runs on everything from mainframe computers to wristwatches. Linux, and free software development in general, provides some tremendous insights into what makes a successful project. Can today's startups learn anything from the history of Linux?The history of Linux proves that collaborative development speeds true innovation. If Linus Torvalds were left to work on Linux alone, there's no way it would be the success it is today. A great many of the things that Linux does today are a direct result of people scratching their own itches, and then contributing their work back upstream to Linus. Many people focusing on their own little (and not-so-little) problems have made Linux the powerhouse that it is today.

I used to scowl when I saw people walking down the street with eyes locked on their phones, but necessity has gotten me in the habit of doing it too. Thanks to a new app called Transparent Screen though, now I can do it free from the fear of falling into an open manhole or into a large fountain.No, that’s not a hastily Photoshopped image you see here, that's more or less exactly what you’ll see when the app is running. I say “more or less” because while all of the Android UI goes translucent upon launch, you’re afforded with quite a bit of a control over how dramatic the effect is. It’s in your best interest to get familiar with the settings if you plan on using Transparent Screen for a while too, because you'll soon have some choices to make.

Israeli startup Appoxee has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from early-stage investment firm Cyhawk Ventures. The company offers a service that helps app developers and publishers increase user engagement through rich push notifications and helps them with things like audience segmentation, targeting, analytics and reporting.Read more over at TechCrunch Europe.

If you don't know a resistor from a Mister Mister, this is the app for you. Built by Adafruit, creators of DIY Arduino gear, Circuit Playground is a $2.99 app designed to help you identify and understand various electronic components. For example, the app includes a resistor identification system based on the colored bands painted on the casing as well as a field guide to many electrical components.

The Giants may have won the Super Bowl, but Madonna won the Google search competition.The 53-year-old halftime performer was Google&#8217…

My own views about SOPA and the need to protect online intellectual property are well-known. But even I acknowledge that SOPA was a flawed bill that didn't represent a viable solution to policing the Internet against intellectual property theft. So is there life after SOPA? How can the technology and content communities carve out a compromise which will simultaneously protect innovation and the rights of the creative community?In the spirit of compromise, I invited Larry Downes, one of SOPA's most articulate critics, into our San Francisco studio to talk about what comes next.

Some of the best experiences in my life are trips that I took with my closest friends. These memories could be even better if I had not been forced to wait so long to get paid back after fronting the hotel bill. Sometimes friends have different ideas on what is an acceptable timeline for recompense. Now, thanks to Splitable, we can all avoid setting ourselves up for a let down by leveling the playing field. Splitable is an easy-to-integrate payment solution that lets customers split the cost of products and services with their friends. The simple online interface provides a forum for discussing plans and then facilitates payment. The company offers the Splitable API that gives store owners the ability to allow their customers to split the cost of a product or service.

Google is ready to start stringing fiber for its gigabit network in Kansas City. The news is a welcome update to the project after the local newspaper reported that Google fiber was delayed over a dispute on hanging its fiber on utility poles.

According to GoodEReader, Amazon is planning to open a retail store in Seattle this year where they will sell Amazon-exclusive books and, more importantly, Kindles of all kinds. While this looks to be more of a pop-up retail presence than a fully-fledged store, if I were in publishing I'd be circling the wagons right now.To be fair, Amazon's own publishing offerings are pretty wonky so far. There haven't been many runaway successes coming out of the house although Clay Shirkey and Tim Ferris will soon be bringing their own brand of publishing success and there are some interesting cross-cultural titles coming out. But that's not why publishing has to worry.

Need a new jawbone? Now you can print one.An 83-year-old British woman recently underwent the first-ever custom transplant of a lower jaw made by a…

Want to win some extra visibility for your brand on Facebook? Post about current events. Brands grabbed 99.7% higher engagement on their Page posts by talking about the Super Bowl yesterday, and 60% higher engagement over the past 6 weeks compared to the average post. The data from a Buddy Media study of 1,400 of the world's largest brands indicates they should make sure to post about holidays, sporting events, breaking news, and other trending topics. Here's how this strategy works:

There has been much debate about what the post-PC era is, when it will arrive, or whether it's already here. But key pieces of new data, emerging last week, are making the case that we crossed the imaginary line from the "PC" era to the "post-PC" era at the end of 2011. According to analysts at Canalys, two major computing milestones were achieved at the end of this year: smartphone shipments outpaced PCs for the first time ever, and Apple became the world's largest PC maker, if you count iPads as PCs (as well you should).Combined, what these numbers tell us is that the post-PC era is happening now. Right now. And maybe we need to think about how we define "PC."

According to GoodEReader, Amazon is planning to open a retail store in Seattle this year where they will sell Amazon-exclusive books and, more importantly, Kindles of all kinds. While this looks to be more of a pop-up retail presence than a fully-fledged store, if I were in publishing I'd be circling the wagons right now.To be fair, Amazon's own publishing offerings are pretty wonky so far. There haven't been many runaway successes coming out of the house although Clay Shirkey and Tim Ferris will soon be bringing their own brand of publishing success and there are some interesting cross-cultural titles coming out. But that's not why publishing has to worry.

Now that the final Super Bowl touchdown has been scored, the dip bowl wiped clean and the last of the chicken wings devoured, we’re taking a look at some game-day search trends to see what football fans were searching for this year.

As the Giants and Patriots battled it out on the field yesterday, U.S. viewers multi-tasked, watching the game on television and also going online more than ever before, turning to their smartphones and tablets to look up players, halftime show performers and their favorite Super Bowl commercials. In fact, around 41% of searches related to [Super Bowl ads] that were made during the game came from mobile devices, up from 25% for the same time the day prior.

Overall, the top trending searches on Google during the game were:

1. Madonna
2. Halftime show
3. Patriots
4. Tom Brady
5. Giants

This was the first year that the Super Bowl was live streamed, and there was a significant spike in searches related to Super Bowl live streaming on game day. Searches peaked at kickoff, and were made predominantly on desktop, followed by mobile phones and then tablets. Searches for the Spanish language version of the live stream made the list of top trending queries, and while it may have been after midnight on the other side of the Atlantic, we still saw searches for [Super Bowl 2012 übertragung] and [w9 streaming] in Germany and France, respectively.


The Giants claimed the game in a down-to-the-wire nail biter; however, the Patriots edged them out in searches. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady not only broke Joe Montana’s record for the most consecutive completions at a Super Bowl, he also scored the most searches out of all the players. Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, Aaron Hernandez and Danny Woodhead rounded out the top five players trending during the game.


The Material Girl Madonna took the honor of being the most-searched for term during the game, but other celebrities that caught viewers’ eyes included Super Bowl performers LMFAO, Kelly Clarkson and Nicki Minaj. Searches for Katherine McPhee’s soon-to-premiere NBC show [Smash] beat out searches for David Beckham’s H&M ad campaign.


Finally, no Super Bowl wrap-up would be complete without talking about the commercials. 2012 saw a pre-Super Bowl ad bonanza, with many of the top commercials either being teased or posted in full well in advance of the game. Super Bowl ads or ad teasers were watched more than 30 million times on YouTube before the big weekend this year (you can read more on the top rising Super Bowl searches on YouTube here).

Game day searches for [super bowl ads] were 122 times higher than the same time last week. The most popular commercials in terms of Google searches were ads from Acura, GoDaddy and M&M’s. Searches for The Avengers movie trailer were also trending, along with Chrysler’s spot featuring Clint Eastwood.

Now that you’ve seen them all, vote for your favorite commercial of the game on the YouTube Ad Blitz channel. The winning ads will be showcased on the YouTube homepage on February 18.

To download the full infographic above, visit Think Insights, our website for marketers. Our final Ad Blitz infographic (coming soon) will include new facts and stats about Super Bowl ads, and you can follow Think with Google on Google+ to be the first to know when it's released.

That’s it for the NFL 2012 season, but luckily, major league baseball is just around the corner...

Posted by Jeffrey Oldham, Software Engineer

Update 10:09am: Earlier, this post incorrectly stated that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady broke Joe Montana’s record for the most touchdown passes at a Super Bowl, instead of most consecutive completions. This post has been updated to correct the error.

YouTube has come to define the era of online video, so let's take a look at its most popular videos of all time. Our latest update has Justin Bieber still at number 1 with Baby, which was the first video to earn a half a billion views! Currently, Bieber and Eminem between them make almost half of the top 10. Also of note is a music video by Jennifer Lopez called On The Floor ft. Pitbull, which has risen to number 2 with almost 500 million views in only 10 months.We first did this list in August 2007, at which point Evolution of Dance by comedian Judson Laipply was number 1 with nearly 56 million views (it's now outside the top 10). The next update was September 2008, when Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend pop music video was number 1 with 103 million views. In January 2010, Charlie bit my finger - again ! was number 1, with 148 million views. By the beginning of January 2011, Justin Bieber was at number 1 with over 400 million views for Baby. Here is the top 10, as of February 2012:Sponsor1. Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris; 684,597,595 views2. Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor ft. Pitbull; 463,245,100 views3. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance; 438,181,560 views4. Shakira - Waka Waka(This Time for Africa); 435,406,537 views5. Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna; 419,238,359 views6. Charlie bit my finger - again !; 403,885,492 views7. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock; 338,476,990 views8. Parto in un letto; 324,131,517 views9. Eminem - Not Afraid; 305,724,343 views10. Justin Bieber - Never Say Never ft. Jaden Smith; 290,917,758 viewsThis post is regularly updated by Deane RimermanDiscuss

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Today alone, Tumblr has already seen nearly 62 million posts — overall, the site just surpassed 17 billion posts total.For a network that…

So in the interest of supporting unique publishing methods and ideas, I thought it might be interesting to talk about Verdant Books and something they're calling an "interactive novel." Now my idea of an interactive novel is Choose Your Own Adventure, but this is something fairly unique.Ok. Here's the premise:Hiram and Sibyl Eisenberg have fallen head over heels in love with Leif and Laura Wrightson. Leif and Laura return all the same passion for Sibyl and Hiram, yet all four remain committed to their spouses. What to do? The year is 1971, the place is California, and what never before seemed possible is suddenly irresistible. Camping on the shores of Fallen Lake in the high Sierra, one night they begin a new direction in their lives and those of their children, turning two marriages into one.