The Roundup: Google's New Advertising Standard, YouTube Audio Editor And More

Google's certainly been keeping busy the last few days. It's introduced a new way to measure advertising through a Brand Activate Initiative. They've also released an update to Google TV's "TV and Movies" app, added FedEx to Cloud Print, unveiled YouTube audio editor, and quietly introduced a complicated but useful way to track our Gmail usage.

Brand Activate Initiative

This is currently a combination of two new services. Active GRP is a new metric similar to what is used on television. Active View measures how long an ad was on the screen and how much of it is viewed. If at least 50% of the ad is visible for at least 1 second, it counts as viewed.

TV & Movies App Update

The TV & Movies app for Google TV has been refreshed with greater personalization options. Users can now rate movies on a 1-5 star scale. The update also allows you to easily add videos to favorites and introduces a "Trending this week" section, in case you're wondering what other Google TVers fancy.

Cloud Print Partners With FedEx

That header just about says it all. Google's Cloud Print service, which is integrated into Chrome and allows you to print from any computer using any cloud-connected printer without having to install any drivers, now also lets you send your print jobs to your nearest FedEx office. The job will stay in the cloud for 10 days, just in case you can't pick it up right away.

YouTube Audio Editor

This enhancement expands YouTube's ever-growing video editing capabilities by allowing you to choose from a list of over 150,000 songs to serve as background music for your videos.

Gmail Meter

This new tool called Gmail Meter helps you meter your Gmail activity by offering lots of cool metrics about your Gmail so that your Gmail will never go unmetered again. The tool is a bit complicated to set up, It's clearly not a high profile Google app released for the general public. More likely, it's a side project by the Google engineer featured in the video below (which also explains how to set it up). Once enabled, the tool will give you stats on how many emails you've sent and received and what percentage you've starred or replied to. It'll also give you nifty charts and graphics showing off your usage, just in case you're into that sort of thing. Now go meter your Gmail!