Gmail gets New Look, How you can get it Too

It seems that Gmail, Google's free email service, is taking on the new look that Google.com got recently. It seems that this new red/grey look that Google.com, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and now Gmail, are all getting, is in celebration of Google's newly announced social network, Google+ (Google Plus).

Although Google+ is in an invite only stage, it is not a secretive project, and so we do know that Plus was the first service to receive the new Google look, so we can assume that Plus was the origin of the new theme.

So know that you know why Gmail looks different, you probably are wondering why it doesn't look different. Any change can scare users, so, at least for now, the new Gmail theme is a choice. In my opinion, a good choice, which is why I'm going to give you the simple steps to make this choice.

1. Log on to your Gmail account at mail.google.com. 
2. Look in the top right corner of the screen, where you will see a gear logo. Click on that.
3. A few options will come down. Click on Mail settings. 
4. A settings page with many tabs will appear, close to the right of the page, you will see Themes. Click on that.
5. The bottom row of themes will have Preview and Preview (Dense) in them. Dense is more compact, but both of them will give you the new look. Choose one, and click.
6. Viola! You are now seeing the Gmail's new look. Enjoy!

(To undo, follow these same steps, but instead of clicking on Preview or Preview (Dense), choose another theme.)

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Google Revamps it's Universal Web-App Look

The new Google.com Interface

Are you tired of that simple looking Google homepage? Do you wish Google would get rid of it's simplistic design, and make it more exciting. Well, thanks to the new Google web-app revamp, you are still out of luck.

The new Google.com design also applies to all of the other Google web-apps, and basically makes Google look simpler, although the Google experience hasn't changed much.

The new update puts the links Google.com all at either the top or bottom of the page, making it easier to see the blankness of the rest of the page. The Google logo is now slightly smaller, and this also makes is easier to see the blankness of the page.

It seems that the new Google color scheme is red and black. Although the actual Google logo hasn't changed, the bar of links to various Google services that hovers above most Google websites has gone from a light grey to a dark black. The site you are currently visiting is overlined nicely in red, and when you mouse over a link, the boxed area around it becomes a dark grey.

This red/black color scheme is more obvious on the actual page of search results. When searching for a word or phrase, the updated Google, like the older version, shows search results in the main area, and has a sidebar on the left side which allows you to search exclusively for images, videos, blogs, ect. This sidebar has changed in a few ways, most of them, in my opinion, for the better. As pictured below, the sidebar's few default search refining options are now spaced slightly further apart, and, while remaining the same font as the previous interface, are now dark grey. Instead of becoming bold when selected, the options now change to the nice shade of red used throughout the site. The icons are now grey instead of colored, and are changed slightly from the previous versions. When mousing over an option, the area around it becomes a shade of light grey.

The search-box area is also slightly changed in this new interface, as it is now boxed in grey and the search button is now a nice, rounded blue button, with a magnifying glass icon instead of the actual word "search". The Google logo on the left of the search box is now slightly smaller.

The new red/black theme makes the Google experience feel much more elegant, as well as simple, but it also makes it feel that the Google logo shouldn't be that colorful. Google has been using it's red, green, yellow, and blue color scheme as a base for it's new services, but some of the latest additions have seen a slightly different color scheme.

The new search interface

Overall, the new Google interface brings a cleaner interface, a simpler experience, and ultimately, more eye candy, something that was not in the early search engines, and has kind of become a new thing. Google was earned a +1 for this one.

It seems that the bar of links on top of most Google websites appears updated for everyone, but the newly designed home and search pages have not yet rolled out to all users.

Read Google's blog post here.


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Sony PlayStation Network Finally Back Up, Gamers Rejoice.

Map Showing Where PlayStation Network is Back Up.

     

     Sony's PlayStation Network, Sony's service that allows PlayStation 3 users to play over the internet against each other, had a data breach around April 20th, were an unknown hacker got access to users information, such as address, email address, phone number, username, and possibly passwords. Regarding credit card numbers, Sony said that the data was encrypted, and they do not think that data was stolen. However, Sony has no way of conforming that data was not stolen.

     This serious data breach led Sony to take the PlayStation Network, as well as it's media-streaming counterpart Qriocity, offline, so that they could completely revamp the system and ensure complete security.

     When Sony first announced the fact that PlayStation Network was going offline, they said it would be down for "A full day or two". That day turned into weeks, and now, about 25 days later, the PlayStation Network goes back online (Along with the new job position at Sony, the Chief Information Security Officer.)

     Many gamers are probably rejoicing right now, as there were a few new gaming titles that came out that weren't even playable yet, because they had to be registered with the PlayStation Network. However, gamers in more than %70 percent of the United States are still left out in the cold, because, as of press time, the only states with the PlayStation Network back up are Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and California. 

     It is nice to know that the PlayStation Network is back online somewhere, even if not in your particular part of the world. Users can now rest peacefully knowing that they will be able to play soon again, and that any identity theft will be covered, free of charge, by Sony, with their free year of identity theft protection to all PlayStaton Network users. (Note to hacker: Wait a year before using all of those credit cards.)

UPDATE: Sony has posted a new map showing that the PlayStation Network is online everywhere, at least in North America. To access the PlayStation Network, you must upgrade the firmware on your PlayStation 3 to 3.6.1, as well as change your password. The PlayStation Store features will be down until the end of the month. The PlayStation Network is still down in Europe and Asia.