Urchin Public Beta Now Available
Google acquired Urchin for their web analytics technology, and quickly re-released the web-based statistics software as Google Analytics. Urchin also offered a server-based analytics software, which was enterprise-level and pricing can get to be thousands of dollars per server.
Since the acquisition, Google has not released a new version of Urchin, even though the last released version (a minor release) was in 2005 with Urchin 5.7. Urchin 5.0 was released in 2003. Even though Urchin was hard at work developing 6.0, and issued a press release that it would be released in 2004.
Finally, Google has released a public beta of Urchin 6. You can download it from Urchin’s website. According to Google, Urchin will come with a 3-month trial.
Google Releases google.com/ig for iPhone
There is now an optimized version of www.google.com/ig, the customizeable Google home page, for the iPhone. I tried it out on my iPhone and most widgets, including Google Maps, Gmail, Weather and my calendar worked. Google Notebook does not support the iPhone Safari browser. Google Docs gave a “Page not found” error.
The interface shows a single column of widgets (compared to the three-column layout on a typical web browser). The widgets are clear and easy to read, and it doesn’t seem like any of the information was forced to fit in the layout - it works very well as a mobile page.
New Mobile Gmail 1.5
Google released an update to Gmail Mobile today, now at version 1.5. Visit gmail.com/app in your cell phone’s web browser to install.
Some new features include (from Google’s website):
- Faster, more Gmail-like user experience
Gmail for mobile devices is easy to use and now even faster than before, with the same functions and look and feel as Gmail on the web. Once installed on your mobile device, you’re just a click or two away from the messages in your Gmail inbox.- Web and mobile in sync
Your Gmail account stays in sync whether you access it from your PC or your phone. Send an email from your mobile device and you’ll find it in the ‘Sent Mail’ folder on your PC.- Searching
Gmail for mobile devices allows you to search through your entire Gmail archive in seconds. Simply click on the search menu option and input your query.