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The reaction from many tech blogs was overly positive when an update to Chrome’s bookmark manager fully leaked months ahead it’s official release. They figured Google was “trying to revive” bookmarks after a decade without any innovation and seemed genuinely excited.

However, following a big backlash from beta users, Google Stars appears to be dead. Besides many small flaws, the biggest problem with Google Stars was in my opinion that it had the same fundamental problems as it's predecessor.

As someone who always wanted to, but never really got into bookmarks, I was very disappointed and asked myself what Google Stars maybe should have done different, and what might had been able to revive bookmarks. And I'm convinced that the solution presented in this concept, which focuses on a reworked favorites bar, is actually capable to do this and to finally carry browser bookmarks into 2015!

Even though driving already a lot of users just because of it's name, YouTube's apps are in no way relying on this aspect, but offer a unique user experience. Nonetheless, there's of course a lot that could be improved, and while a previous concept focused on the app's design, this concept focuses on functionality and especially on giving the service's individual channel's a far bigger meaning, and thus shooting YouTube as a platform to a whole new level.

There are many situations where you don't want to leave a page but just quickly get to know what's behind a link. While it’s an easy task to quickly open (and close) a link in a new tab on PCs today, it’s a totally different experience on mobile devices.

Using Google Chrome on Android, you could either simply open it and then awkwardly navigate back once you’re done, forcing the previous site to load anew and losing your position. Or you could alternatively open it in a new tab, which however on mobile requires many manual actions and thus is a similar uncomfortable experience.

Even if opening links in new tabs worked more stable on mobile devices, it would most likely often still not fit that well after all. The reason for this is that people are browsing different on their mobile phones. Whereas it’s easy to keep track of many tabs on a PC, users are more ‘focused’ on mobile devices.

The option to open links in “windows” aims to fill this gap of quickly getting to know what’s behind a link and is specifically made for the way people are browsing on mobile phones.

One of the great aspects of your PC’s keyboard is that it’s just always there and directly accessible when needed, but at the same time also never in your way when you don’t need it. Virtual and hardware keyboards both completely break down at this, having to be plugged in first when needed, and in the meantime always be carried around by you.

Instead of coming up with a better solution, manufacturers are currently trying to temporarily transform your tablet into a laptop. Of course new software solution will still be far away from the typing experience offered by a hardware keyboard, but at least the gap between the two could be significantly smaller.

Iit’s totally clear that Google+ Photos service will become an independent service very soon. So while losing it’s most anticipated and praised feature, Google+ should become what Google always claimed it isn’t: simply a social network.

Thanks to Android, hundred millions of users all over the world already have Google+ pre-installed, and Google should finally take real use of this. Currently, if someone opens the Google+ app - maybe per accident or because of curiosity - he is halted by a characterless screen-filling sign in page. Google+ already has a bad reputation because of all this login stuff, and for a new user this login screen might just be a verification and the reason to leave the app again.

Instead, Google+ could act more like YouTube, giving the user the possibility to discover it’s advantages and greatness without the direct need to sign up first. Of course Google+ and YouTube are very different services, but the concept could certainly be applied anyway. While this might not work for most social networks, Google+ is a very underestimated service, with an overwhelming user experience, that could be capable to convince users to voluntarily sign up permanently after testing it for a while.

It’s probably rather hard to come up with great changes to an interface that hasn't changed much since decades and that you might even think of as perfect. Nevertheless, Microsoft did an overwhelming job with Windows 7. A lot of small enhancements, add-ons and adjustments to old elements made it a great evolution of the desktop and a big step forward for Microsoft. The feature I presented within this article - the so-called Pin-feature - is also just one small update. This concept is really not about guessing what Windows 9 will actually be like, but only about explaining this one idea and discussing its impact and advantages. The feature could work as well next to all the more likely changes coming to Windows. It might not even be specifically restricted to Windows 9, but would be a great addition to any desktop OS.