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Google Play Music has always had a big focus on the cloud. In fact, it was basically completely build around this very concept when it launched as “Google Music” more than five years ago, with the main feature being that users could upload their entire personal music library for free and then stream and listen to it from anywhere (and since the desktop music player was nothing but a lightweight website, anywhere really meant on any thinkable device just with a web browser!).

And until today - countless new iterations, a new name, several complete overhauls and the introduction of a new main feature with music subscriptions later -, this core concept and type of cloud integration is still what defines the service and sets it apart from the competition.

But though a cloud service at its very core, one thing that has not progressed, and which makes Google Play Music feel strangely unconnected today, is the still local-only listening experience. Instead of a unified, cloud-based implementation, every device still has it’s own local music queue and, even worse, own local music history and often thereof based suggestions, leading to many small, divided experiences in all the different places that a user is interacting with the service.

That one of Google’s self-driving cars was responsible for an accident on public roads for the very first time also didn’t go unnoticed to the news and social media last week, and one thing that I’ve thereby noticed is that many people appear to not yet understand the whole deeper relevance of autonomous cars. Focusing on the fact that they can drive by themselves and that there are taxicabs and trains as an alternative if they couldn’t, many don’t understand why the industry is investing so much in those projects.

Thus, I’ve decided to create this list with some less obvious aspects that self-driving cars could fundamentally change, also beyond the usual stuff like that they are way more secure than we human drivers. Of course the majority of people certainly understands that it’s about more than just ‘who is driving’, but I think it’s interesting anyway for everyone to try and think on the one hand side more openly about this rising technology, as well as about a few more concrete ideas what changes might come with it, perhaps even touching science fiction to a certain degree.

Synced Tabs have always been a defining feature of Google Chrome. They’ve already been part right from the beginning when the browser launched in 2008, a highlight when Chrome went mobile in 2012 and they’re still one of the main reasons for Google Chrome’s success on Mac OS and even on iOS, despite all restrictions.

Today however, this big strength appears to be rather underutilized. On the desktop, Synced Tabs have been downgraded to being just a part of Chrome’s “recent tabs” menu, which also includes 2-3 recent links from other connected devices. Of course it can still be very useful that way, but in first place, Google is making Synced Tabs a niche feature, and this despite the ever increasing role of smartphones, mobility and cross-device browsing.

To take full use and fully accelerate the growing potential of this feature, this concept imagines how Synced Tabs could be implemented in a better way. Considering just how few Chrome’s UI has changed over all the years, the idea presented in this concept might actually display the biggest shift in user experience ever for Chrome, though I’m convinced that this would be the right step and pay off.

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!

YouTube is one of those services that can already drive tons of users just with their name. Nevertheless, it’s apps are in no way simply relying on this, but offer an unique user experience far superior to competition, for instance thinking about video multitasking. And most recently, YouTube’s Android app has just received a big visual refresh, moving it in line with Google’s new Material Design approach.

Nonetheless, the app is of course still far from perfect, with plenty else left to be improved. And while a previous concept of mine dealt mainly with the app’s visual appearance, this concept tries to focus on user experience and functionality, especially aiming to move more attention and importance to channels. YouTube has lately done a lot for it’s content creators, including new dedicated apps, the implementation of much requested features (and promises of more to follow), a more transparent communication, and not at least an extensive ad campaign. There’s no doubt that this company really cares about it’s creators, or at least fears to lose them. Thus, I think it apparently also suits YouTube’s current strategy to move more focus on it’s individual channels.

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.