Google is always announcing some small tweak or update to its software and services. In the last few days, it has created a new mobile phone tricks channel on YouTube, shown us how to set up shortcuts in our navigation toolbars, and enabled real-time stock quotes.

Mobile Tricks

Google loves mobile phones so much that is has set up a dedicated channel on YouTube expressly so people can send in videos of the tricks they've learned on their mobile phones. We're not talking about magic tricks here, but other shortcuts and usability enhancements or just plain old fun stuff that the creative-minded have crafted to make using mobile phones day in and day out more enjoyable. Essentially, Google is asking us, "What can you do with your mobile phone?" and wants us to show, not tell. The Official Mobile Blog says, "Upload your best tip or trick to YouTube on our brand new Mobile Tricks channel. We'll post all the ones we like to our playlists for the world to see in one centralized space, and will be blogging about our favorites here every so often. Be it a useful tip on how to use your phone to get Internet access on your computer or a fun trick like juggling a phone and two rubber chickens, we want to see what you've got!"

Nav Bar Shortcuts

If you're like me, you've populated your navigation bar with as many shortcuts as will fit across the screen. These are the sites I use most often and visit every day. Well, little did I know you could put a link to an application in there. According to The Official Google Docs Blog, designers are creating new Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations so often, they were getting tired of taking the steps to create a new document within the Google Docs pages. So they created a shortcut that you can place in your navigation toolbar that automatically creates a new Doc, Spreadsheet, or Presentation for you. Nifty! Simply drag the links found on this page into your nav bar and you're all set.

Quotes

Just today, Google announced that it has added new functionality to Google Finance in the form of real-time, last sale prices from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), along with those from Nasdaq. Rather than deal with a stock quote that may be up to 20 minutes old, the new quotes will be as close to real time as today's systems allow. According to The Official Google Blog, "If you use iGoogle, add the Google Finance portfolio gadget to your homepage, and monitor all your NYSE and Nasdaq traded stocks in real time throughout the day."