Google is like a mean lean upgrading machine. A day never passes without us hearing about some kind of update from Google. This time it’s the Google bar. The Google bar is that black, think toolbar you can see on top of every Google page you’re on. This includes Google search, Gmail, Google+, Google Reader, etc. This bar keeps changing, bit by bit – sometimes a link is added or removed, sometimes a word turns into an icon – many times we don’t even notice the changes.

But this time, Google decided it’s time for a big change. In the next few days, you will notice that the black bar is gone, and instead of a getting a new bar, all the bar’s components will be integrated into the already existing grey search bar. This includes a Google navigation menu on the left side:

And the usual account settings and notifications links on the right:

The new bar provides a much easier and quicker way to access all of Google’s services. To start, there are many more of them included in the new dropdown menu. It also makes the services much more visible and easy to find. The best part about it is the room it saves. The black toolbar is completely gone, and all it’s components are now sitting in a space that was used up anyway. This also helps all of Google’s services look the same, since the bar never changes when you switch between services.

If you can’t see the bar yet, and you simply cannot wait several days to see what it’s all about, you can use a simple cookie hack to get it. You’d need a cookie editor for your browser, such as Edit This Cookie for Chrome or Cookies Manager+ for Firefox. Install the add-on and head over to google.com. Right click anywhere on the page and choose to edit cookies. Fine the “PREF” cookie, delete its current value field and instead, paste in:

ID=03fd476a699d6487:U=88e8716486ff1e5d:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1322688084:LM=1322688085:S=McEsyvcXKMiVfGds

Thank you, +Maximilian Majewski, for this tip. Let us know what you think of the new Google bar!

Source: Official Google Blog