Google Maps saves the most recent 100 locations typed in the search box so you can easily retrieve them. If you want to migrate to a different Google account or you'd like to view the locations in Google Earth, Bing Maps or another mapping service, you can now export the saved locations to a KML file.
In addition to exporting the locations, Google Maps also lets you import a KML file that includes a list of placemarks. 
This is just one of the many Google features that prevent data "lock-in". Google has a Data Liberation team"whose singular goal is to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products". It's a great initiative from a company that has always encouraged competition. If Blogger is no longer your platform of choice, you can migrate your data to WordPress or a different service. If Gmail is frequently down, has a poor spam filter or it's no longer your favorite webmail service, you can auto-forward your mail to a different service and fetch the existing messages using POP or IMAP.
"Many web services make it difficult to leave their services - you have to pay them for exporting your data, or jump through all sorts of technical hoops -- for example, exporting your photos one by one, versus all at once. We believe that users - not products - own their data, and should be able to quickly and easily take that data out of any product without a hassle," explains Google's public policy blog.
Export the Locations Saved in Google Maps
Bing Visual Search
Gone are the days when search engines provided mostly textual information, a list of 10 blue links that invite you to find the answers on your own. Search engines are now focused on extracting useful information from web pages and surfacing data in interesting ways.
In June, Google launched Squared, a Labs project that generates lists of entities related to your query and finds values for the associated attributes. Search for [dog breeds] and you'll find a list of breeds, suggestive images, information about the average weight and the country of origin.
Bing, Microsoft's search engine, has just launched a similar feature: visual search. It's just an early demo and it requires Siverlight, but it looks more impressive than Google Squared. Probably because Microsoft built the interface around images and used the attributes to refine the results.
"Visual Search allows you to quickly scroll through the galleries or do a one-click refinement using the quick tabs on the left, which are specifically relevant to the type of results you are browsing through," mentions Bing's blog. 
Bing's visual galleries are more polished than the results generated by Google Squared, but Bing only shows galleries for a small number of queries like "popular TV shows" or "world leaders" and the information is obtained from structured data sources.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft manages to extend the visual search engine and dynamically generate results for any query. For now, you can play with the demo galleries. 
Google Calendar makes it easier to root for your teams
Born into a lineage of former UCLA Bruins, I was born wearing baby blue and gold, and thrilled to become a part of the tradition when, as a student, I trekked out to the Rose Bowl to support my favorite football team. I still like to keep up with the games -- even if I'm no longer sitting in the student section -- which is why the recently launched Sports Calendar is my new favorite feature in Google Calendar.
In addition to pro sports, there is now a way an easy to keep up with NCAA game schedules. For all you Bruins fans like me, this schedule really comes in handy.
Even better, the Calendar team has also launched a trend chart indicating the popularity of team calendars, which might help ignite some of that competitive spirit. (I, for one, cannot bear to see the Trojans ranked above my Bruins!)
To subscribe to your team's calendar - or other teams you'd like to keep up with - log in to your Calendar and Click "Add" to browse some of the interesting calendars that you can follow. And make sure to spread the word on campus so that your school team has a better ranking than your rival's, regardless of the scoreboard.
Upload Multiple Files to Google Docs
If you want to upload a lot of documents to Google Docs, it's difficult to upload them one by one. You can send the documents by email, but this option is not very reliable and not all the formats are supported.
Google Docs has an API that lets you upload, download and edit documents, but there aren't many applications that use it. One of these applications is Google Docs Batch Upload, developed by Anton Beloglazov. It's a command-line Java application, so it should work in Windows, Mac, Linux, as long as you have JRE 1.6.
Google Docs Batch Upload lets you upload all the files supported by Google Docs from one of your folders. Use the following command to upload all the files from a folder and all its subfolders (unfortunately, the application doesn't recreate the folder structure in Google Docs):
java -jar google-docs-upload-1.0.jar <path> --recursive
(replace <path> with the path to the folder you want to upload) 
In other news, documents will not be editable from 12:00 to 1:30 pm PST, according to the Google Apps Status Dashboard.
New Features in Forms
Grid question type
You can now quickly gather responses for a group of similar questions in a new, compact grid format. The new grid question type allows you to label a few columns and create as many rows as you like.
Each row result appears in its own spreadsheet column, with its own summary chart, which brings us to...
Improved results summary charts
We've polished up our results summary charts, with clearer formatting of statistics and better formatting of charts for each question type.
Bi-directional language support
The form editor now supports right-to-left (RTL) text input. When you enter RTL text in the form editor, it will automatically switch the directionality of the form editor and rendered forms (similar to Gmail and other Google Apps). This means your text and questions will flip directionality, making it easier for RTL users to create and use forms.
Sign-in to view form
If you are a Google Apps customer, there are now two options to help you use forms within your organization. In addition to the being able to automatically collect respondent's usernames, we now offer the ability to require sign-in to view a form. This provides an additional layer of security for sensitive forms.
Pre-populate a form with parameters
For developers who would like to integrate forms with their own applications, we now provide an easy way to pre-populate a form with data. Simply append an entry string for each response field you'd like to pre-populate. As an example, this URL...
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=12345&entry_0=Barack&entry_1=Obama&entry_2=1600+Pennsylvania+Ave&entry_3=pistachios|spinach|broccoli&entry_4=8/4/1967... pre-populates the form below....
Swine flu near you?
Today Google.org grantee HealthMap launched a new iPhone application called "Outbreaks Near Me" available for free download.
Curious about what disease outbreaks have been reported in your neighborhood? Or maybe in that city you're headed to for work or vacation? "Outbreaks Near Me" empowers users to track and report outbreaks of infectious disease near them in real-time. In addition to following the reports near you with an automatic alerting function, you can even become a disease detective yourself by reporting on outbreaks happening around you. It's the latest and greatest in grassroots disease surveillance. 
Outbreaks Near Me pinpoints a user’s location and maps local outbreak reports.
HealthMap co-founder Clark Freifeld explains, "In releasing this app we aim to empower citizens in the cause of public health, not only by providing ready access to real-time information, but also by encouraging them to contribute their own knowledge, expertise and observations. In enabling participation in surveillance, we also expect to increase global coverage and identify outbreaks earlier."
HealthMap is based at Children's Hospital Boston. They launched this new application in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab.
You're Already Running Google Chrome OS
If you use Google Chrome and Google's web applications, then you're already running Google Chrome OS. Just maximize Google Chrome's window and imagine that each tab is an instance of an application. Gmail is your mail client, Google Calendar is the calendaring application, Google Docs is the office suite and the file explorer. Google Chrome's new tab page is the desktop, the dashboard that lists frequently used applications and lets you add widgets.
Chrome loads fast, is spiffy and always up-to-date, so you don't have to deal with managing updates or synchronizing data. Some of your applications store data locally and you can use them even when you don't have an Internet connection. You're running 3D applications, portable software, music players, photo editors, devlopment environments inside your browser. Google Chrome OS is a challenge: are browsers and web applications mature enough to replace traditional software?
By the time the operating system is released, Chrome will integrate plug-ins like Native Client and o3d, while Google Docs will already become the place that gathers all the files stored in Google's services. Chrome OS won't bring anything that's not yet possible on your current operating system, it will force you to change your mindset and make the operating system irrelevant.
Google Chrome OS won't be a traditional operating system, it will just be a wrapper for the cloud. 
Now let's re-read Google's announcement from July:
"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. (...) The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. (...) People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files."