Google Docs users could make use of GoogleLookup to display data like the population of a country, the birth day of people or company employees or CEOs.

Google has created a help page that offers further information about the effect on existing spreadsheet cells making use of GoogleLookup:

As of November 2011, the GoogleLookup function will no longer be supported. This function relies on technology from Google Squared, a Google Lab that’s been deprioritized.

To save your data, copy the selection that contains GoogleLookup functions. Then, go to the Edit menu, navigate to Paste special, and select Paste values only. When the function is no longer supported, cells containing GoogleLookup functions will return #NAME? errors.

Google is not providing users with an alternative to replace GoogleLookup with other data. The Google Operating System blog has a replacement suggestion:

Here’s a way to use the ImportXML function to extract facts from Google Search (the mobile interface):

=RegExExtract(ImportXML(“http://www.google.com/m/search?q=sri+lanka+capital”, “//span[@class='waa4kx']“), “-(.*)”)

Have you been using GoogleLookup or another Google Labs technology? Let us know if you will be missing the service and if you have found a replacement for the discontinued service.

The Google labs service Google Scribe analyses the text that has been written by the user to give real-time word and phrase auto-suggestions. Scribe displays suggestions as soon as you start typing the first letter of a new word or phrase. Fast typing users won’t see Scribe suggestions when they use the provided bookmarklet, which outlines that not everyone is necessarily benefiting from Google’s new service.

Slow typers on the other hand, and users who use the Scribe online editor or Chrome extension, may very well benefit from Google Scribe, as it is sometimes possible to complete words faster, provided that the right suggestions are displayed in the Scribe interface or on the page.

Scribe comes with several keyboard shortcuts to speed up the workflow. Suggestions can be selected with the space or right arrow key and the mouse. A tap on Escape hides the suggestion window, and tab displays it again. The up and down keys can be used to navigate the suggestions. Google Scribe can be enabled and disabled at anytime with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-J.

But where do you get Google Scribe? The software is provided as a Google Chrome extension, as a bookmarklet that is compatible with several web browsers and as a online text editor on the Google Scribe website.

It is probably easiest to try the service on the official website to see if it is something that you can work with and benefit from. Scribe is for instance not of real use for me since I’m typing to fast. The suggestion window barely opens, and when it opens it is usually at the end of a sentence or if I make a spelling mistake and have to stop writing to correct it.

The bookmarklet does not display a default suggestion directly on the page, at least not when I tried the service with the Firefox 4 browser. Only the overlay box with five word and phrase suggestions was displayed during tests. The Google Scribe online editor on the other hand displays only a default suggestion and not a suggestion’s box.

The Chrome extension finally combines default suggestions with the box of additional suggestions.

Google Scribe gets bonus points for having Ghacks and related terms in the dictionary.

The new version of Google Scribe supports additional languages, namely: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. (via)

Update: Google Scribe is no longer available as Google retired Google Labs.

My guess is that they monitor usage and other metrics to aid them in the decision whether to add the feature to the Google service.

Google Experimental Search, that’s the name of the labs-like feature for Search, is currently offering three different features of which only one can be active at any time.

You need to be logged in to your Google account and visit the Google Experimental Search page afterwards to add one of the features to your account.

You can add a feature to your account with a click on the Join this experiment button next to the feature title.

Available for selection are the following three features:

+1 button: The +1 feature was revealed yesterday, and you can take a look at our initial coverage of the Google +1 button here. The feature will be enabled shortly on google.com, and later this year on other localized Google Search properties. Users who join the search experiment can use the +1 button right away.

+1 is basically a social recommendation service that will be used by Google as one of their search engine ranking signals. Your Google Contacts will furthermore see your recommendations if they make related or the same searches.

Why do not you +1 Ghacks if you enable that feature by following this link: http://www.google.com/search?q=ghacks&pws=0

Keyboard shortcuts: The second experimental feature adds six keyboard shortcuts to Google Search.

The j and k keys select the next or previous result, o or enter open the selected result, / puts the cursor in the search box and Esc removes the cursor from the search box.

You basically go up and down with the j and k keys and press enter or o to load a search result. You can append the parameter esrch=BetaShortcuts to search results to enable keyboard shortcuts on that page, for instance:
http://www.google.comjjk/search?q=rattlesnake&esrch=BetaShortcuts

Accessible View: The third and final experimental feature combines keyboard shortcuts with improved accessibility of search results. It offers a similar set of keys to navigate the search results, plus additional shortcuts. This includes i or h to move between categories, = and- to magnify and shrink items, a to switch to Accessible search results and w to switch back to the standard results view.

This feature is only compatible with the Firefox web browser for now, according to Google’s experimental search page.

You can test drive the feature by visiting this link.

Have you tried any of the experimental search features? If so, what is your impression of the ones you tried?

The Google Calendar features can easily be activated in the labs section and Google just announced the addition of three new Calendar Labs applications that users can activate in their account.

Event Flair is the first Google Calendar Labs app. It can be used to add specific icons to individual Calendar events, like a cake for a birthday or a plane for traveling. Users who are invited to the events do see the icons as well.

The second addition, Gentle Reminders, is currently only available if the Google Chrome web browser is used as the Internet browser. It changes the way event reminders are shown to the user. Instead of browser alerts, which can interrupt the users workflow tab and title reminders are shown. They will start blinking.

It is furthermore possible to configure the reminders as floating desktop notifications instead. An option that can be configured in the extension’s settings.

The third and final Calendar lab application is Automatically Declining Events which can be used to define periods in time when all event invitations will automatically be declined. This can be very useful during holidays or work related travels so that other users are informed immediately about a person’s absence.

Google Calendar users find the new features in their Calendar application.

Today Google made the announcement that they have retired five and graduated six Gmail Labs applications.

That’s the biggest change in the history of Gmail Labs which in the past has only seen single graduations or retirements of applications.

The six applications that have been added to Gmail permanently are:

• Search Autocomplete – Start typing in the Gmail search box (English only for now), and Gmail suggests terms that might help you find what you’re looking for — from contact names to labels and advanced search operators.
  
• Go To Label – We’ve integrated Go To Label into this search box as well. If you have keyboard shortcuts turned on, type “g” then “l” and instead of getting the old “Go to label” pop-up, you’ll be in the search box with the “label:” operator filled in for you
• Forgotten Attachment Detector – Gmail looks for phrases in your email that suggest you meant to attach a file and alerts you if it looks like you forgot an attachment.
• YouTube Previews – Instead of having to clicking on the link and wait for a new window to load before you can watch the video, Gmail now shows YouTube previews right below the message
• Custom Label Colors – Why settle for a restrictive palette when you can choose from over 4000 possible color combinations to help distinguish and organize your labels? Just click on “Add custom color” from the regular labels interface.
• Vacation Dates – If you specify which dates you’ll be away in advance, you won’t have to remember to turn on the vacation responder when when you’re actually on vacation. Set your dates in advance, and let Gmail do the rest.

The five Gmail Labs add-ons that have been disabled are

• Muzzle
• Fixed Width Font
• Email Addict
• Location in Signature
• Random Signature

Retiring features is always a tough decision — we invest in building and maintaining them and we realize some of you are probably fans of some of Gmail’s lesser-used features. But Labs are experimental features, and from time to time they may break (that’s why there’s a quick way to disable them), or even disappear. Over the next few days, you’ll see Muzzle, Fixed Width Font, Email Addict, Location in Signature, and Random Signature stop working and disappear from the Labs tab.

Fast Flip combines the paged accessibility of print magazines with the near real-time refresh period of online magazines. The number of sources that have been added to Google Page Flip reads like a who is who of the most popular online news portals including the New York Times, BBC, Business Week or the Washington Post.

Several categories are available on the Google Fast Flip website including Science and Technology, Politics, Business and Sports.

A click on any individual article that is being displayed on the Google Fast Flip website is loading the interface for the individual news source. It is furthermore possible to access the categories directly which will combine the news of all news sources in that category.

Google Fast Flip basically embeds the article that has been published on the website of the news portal in their interface with options to “flip” to the next article in line just like in any print magazine. A side menu on the right displays thumbnails of the articles next in line with the option to open one of them with a mouse click.

The only other options currently provided next to the ones described are to email articles and to “like” the article which requires a Google account.

Google Fast Flip could be an interesting option for users who access the Internet from devices with smaller screens, e.g. tablet PCs, netbooks or smart phones.

Interested users can head over to the Google Labs website to take Google Fast Flip for a test drive.

Update: Google Fast Flip has been discontinued by Google. The service is no longer available.

Up to five examples can be entered by the user to define the topic of the set. A few examples are provided on the website including colors, newspapers, movies, locations and many more.

Another interesting use is to explore new websites with it. Many different websites are for instance provided in the set if you enter a handful of popular ones. The user can select between a small and large set. A small set will provide up to 15 results while a large set can easily provide 30 or more results.

Each set links to a Google search which might not be the best way of presenting the results especially for names that can be associated with one website.

Not everyone might find Google Sets that useful. It does have its applications on the other hand and those that would like to explore sets can use the tool to create them easily.

Update: Google Sets has been discontinued. The service is no longer available.