Google Now lands on your desktop through Chrome Canary

Google has finally unveiled the Google Now personal assistant service on the desktop through the experimental version of the desktop browser Chrome Canary. Users can access the service by enabling the correct flag (chrome://flags/#enable-google-now) and then relaunching the browser. You will then receive a notice on the Windows system tray or Mac Notification Center once the service has been successfully integrated.

According to the support page, you can see weather, current traffic for commuting, event reminders, and sport scores cards. The other cards like public alerts and nearby photo spots will hopefully be integrated into the desktop version in the future.

Source: The Next Web

BBC now uses Instagram to disseminate news

BBC is turning to Instagram to disseminate 10-second news clips and they are hoping to get follower feedback from the new project they dubbed as #Instafax. There are so far two Instafax clips mixed in with over 200 posts from the news service’s account.

BBC is following in the footsteps of startup NowThis News and other tech sites who use Instagram videos to help present information in a different way and reach out to people.

Achvr to help Schemer users fulfill plans

With Google set to shut down Schemer next month, free iOS app and gamified site Achvr will help you keep your schemes. Schemer users can send their CSV/HTML archive from the service to AchieveYourSchemes@achvr.co to have the Achvr team migrate the data to an Achvr account and let you continue crossing off items on your bucket list.

Achvr is designed to provide a game-like environment to encourage users to try new things and have a record of all the cool things you’ve done.

Google Drive now helps you track activity on shared documents

Google seeks to help you track changes to your documents on Drive with a newly integrated activity stream. You can view what edits or comments have been made, who the file has been shared with, or if the document has been renamed. You just need to click on the info button located at the top navigation bar to see the activity stream. Google says the feature will be released in the next week.