Research Google

Googland

2012-04-17T19:25:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Celebrating the Google Photography Prize Finalists
[G] Save the date! Announcing Geo Teachers Institutes for Ireland and England
[G] A bird’s eye view of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee procession
[G] Mobile Mondays: Setting goals for mobile monetization
[G] Get A Free Mobile Site With GoMo ...And Measure It With Google Analytics
[G] Celestica embraces Google Apps to improve global collaboration
[G] MGM Titles Roar onto YouTube and Google Play

[G] Celebrating the Google Photography Prize Finalists

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 06:42 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Celebrating the Google Photography Prize Finalists

Back in November we announced the Google Photography Prize 2012, a competition offering student photographers a chance to share their best photographs with the world.

Groundbreaking photographer Ansel Adams once said, "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs," so we left the themes for submission suitably broad, with 10 categories that combined classic photography genres with online photography trends including "Night," "Travel," "Sound/Silence" and "Me."

We were thrilled by the interest in the contest: nearly 20,000 students from 146 countries took part, of which 100 were shortlisted. You can see these in the gallery on our website.

Our judging panel of seven leading photography experts chose the 10 finalists whose work will be shown in our exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery. Today we're announcing the finalists: Collin Avery (U.S.), Viktor Johansson (Sweden), Kyrre Lien (Norway), Alexandra Claudia Manta (Romania), Balázs Maté (Hungary), Adi Sason (Israel), Oliver Seary (UK), Dana Stirling (Israel), Sasha Tamarin (Israel), Zhao Yi (China). Here are examples of the finalists' work—you can see their full albums on their Google+ profiles.

If you're in London, come to the Saatchi Gallery to see the work of our finalists displayed alongside a new exhibition of international photography, Out of Focus, starting April 25. The overall winner of the Google Photography Prize will be announced on April 24, and will go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a location of their choice with a professional photographer as their mentor.

We hope you enjoy these fantastic photos as much as we did.

Posted by Obi Felten, Director of Consumer Marketing EMEA

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/celebrating-google-photography-prize.html

[G] Save the date! Announcing Geo Teachers Institutes for Ireland and England

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 02:41 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Save the date! Announcing Geo Teachers Institutes for Ireland and England

Educators all over the world have used Google's geo products to help students conceptualize, visualize, share and communicate information about the world around them.

This summer, we will host two Google Geo Teachers Institutes: June 13 and 14, 2012 in Dublin, Ireland and June 20 and 21, 2012 in London, England. Both events will be held at the local Google office.

This two-day event is a free professional development experience designed to help educators get the most from Google's geography-related products and technologies. Participants receive hands-on experience and learn best practices and tips for using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp, including a focus on features like Ocean, Mars, Moon and Sky in Google Earth.

Attendees will also learn about innovative instructional strategies, theoretical foundations, and receive resources to share with colleagues. Speakers will share real life examples of how they are using these tools in their classrooms across all subjects. We hope this event will empower educators to bring the world's geographic information to students in a compelling, fresh, and fun way.

Educators at the 2011 Google Teachers Institute
If you are interested in joining us, please complete this application by April 30, 2012. We will send out invitations based on availability by May 11, 2012. Even if you can't make it to this event, we have many online resources available on the Google Earth for Educators and SketchUp for Education websites. Check back often for updates!

Posted by Tina Ornduff, Geo Education Program Manager

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/save-date-announcing-geo-teachers.html

[G] A bird’s eye view of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee procession

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 02:41 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: A bird's eye view of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee procession

Following the royal wedding in 2011, the eyes of the world will again be on London as we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. As part of her Jubilee celebrations, The Queen will take part in a procession along some of London's most famous landmarks. We've created a 3D aerial view video of the procession route, providing a virtual tour of the landmarks that The Queen will pass.

The procession starts with a view of New Palace Yard, leading up through Whitehall, past the Cenotaph war memorial, a focal point for Remembrance Sunday. It then moves on to pass Downing Street, home of the British Prime Minister and around Trafalgar Square. The route then goes through Admiralty Arch before heading up the Mall and ending at Buckingham Palace.

The summer of 2012 is set to draw in millions of visitors to the UK. With this massive influx of people unfamiliar with the area, many would need to find their bearings. Both Google Earth and Google Maps can help people to plan their trips and learn about the places they are visiting, whether they're on a mobile or a desktop computer. In addition to the Diamond Jubilee procession route, you can view thousands of buildings, landmarks and areas across London with the 3D buildings feature in Google Earth.

To explore London landmarks in Google Earth, check the 3D buildings box in the left-hand panel under "Layers," then type "London" in the search bar on the top left and use the navigation controls in the upper right to zoom in, spin around and tilt the view. Alternatively, you can go to Earth View on Google Maps in your browser.

Whether you're hoping to catch a real glimpse of The Queen celebrating 60 years on the throne from one of London's vantage points, or you're viewing this on a television, we know that seeing the procession route in 3D will bring the Diamond Jubilee to life.

This video and further information about the Diamond Jubilee is available on the official website.

Posted by Phil Verney, Google Earth Program Manager

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/birds-eye-view-of-queens-diamond.html

[G] Mobile Mondays: Setting goals for mobile monetization

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 02:41 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Mobile Mondays: Setting goals for mobile monetization

This is the first post in our 'Mobile Mondays' series. Throughout the next couple of months we'll highlight best practices to help you get the most from your mobile content. From time to time, we'll also share stories directly from publishers who have recently gone mobile.

We recently announced our 11 billionth app download from Android Play. Given the consumer movement towards the small screen, it's important to consider how much of this consumed media was created specifically for mobile. Once you've successfully taken your business mobile, you can capitalize on this with some key optimization steps. Below, we'll outline ways you can get the most out of your mobile content. Before any optimization can take place, you'll need a clear view of your business goals on mobile.

The importance of goals

There are no rules around mobile strategies, but mobile businesses need clearly defined goals in order to be successful. If you're an online-only publisher, your goals might revolve around engagement and visits. If you have location-specific content, you may want to incorporate local elements into your mobile offering. Your business goals should align with the needs of your users.

Prioritization is a key element in goal-setting. You might think that all publishers have acquisition goals around new users prioritized most highly -- after all, who wouldn't want to reach new audiences? Consider a mobile forum and message board website. They'll want new users discovering and using their online discussion site, but this should occur organically if their existing user base creates discussions with sufficient breadth and depth. In this instance, it could be beneficial for the forum owners to focus on website optimization (driving engagement), rather than new user acquisition.

With these possible goals in mind, here are some tips to help you optimize your content for a mobile audience:

Goal #1: Drive traffic and new customer acquisition

Cross-promotion: This is an easy and cost-effective way to leverage your existing user base to drive users to your mobile site.

Advertising: Mobile website optimization now factors into mobile search ads quality. To find out more about advertising on mobile devices, visit our Mobile Ads site.

Localize: China, Korea, Japan, and the U.S. represent some of the biggest markets for mobile media consumption. Track your usage in regions and consider building out a localized app for regions where it's most popular.

Create new, unique mobile content for new mobile audiences. Men's Health understood that their target audience used smartphones in the gym to listen to music. As a result, they created a mobile app with workout exercises -- handy for when their users have the phone with them in the gym.

Goal #2: Drive engagement

Website optimization: If one of your goals is to retain users who want access to content on-the-go, use Google Analytics to help you choose the most effective content for your site. A recent survey (Omniture, 2010) found that Mobile- friendly web experiences have produced an average 75% higher rate of engagement (revenue, page views, etc.) per visit for mobile users, than desktop websites viewed through a mobile device.

Brand engagement: Make use of the extended functionality of a mobile device (GPS, Camera, SMS).

Goal #3: Maximize revenue

When designing a mobile-optimized site, it's key to focus on the overall user experience and what you want to achieve as a publisher. This is especially true if your core business model is built around advertising revenue or if it's a strong contributor of profit. Consider the type of ad units and formats that you plan to incorporate, which will help you make the most of monetization opportunities without compromising content. To find out more, download our publisher guide or our Android app to explore the range of our mobile ad formats.

We've placed "publisher goals" into three categories using broad brush strokes above. In reality, it's unlikely your ambitions will be as narrow in scope. We hope you'll be able to pick an optimization step (or a combination of steps) tailored to your particular site.

Posted by Robbie Wetherell, Mobile Publisher Advocate

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/zfpVol8Ina8/mobile-mondays-setting-goals-for-mobile.html

[G] Get A Free Mobile Site With GoMo ...And Measure It With Google Analytics

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 02:41 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Get A Free Mobile Site With GoMo ...And Measure It With Google Analytics

According to a survey from Limelight Networks, 80% of customers abandon a mobile site if they have a bad user experience. You might be seeing this yourself if you look at your mobile reports within Google Analytics and notice a high bounce rate from visitors using mobile devices. Here at Google, we're very conscious of the shift to mobile and want to make it easy for you to provide a great mobile experience to customers, and of course measure the results.

That's why we're pleased to announce that GoMo (a Google-led initiative dedicated to helping businesses "Go Mobile") and DudaMobile have joined forces to make it easy for small businesses to create a mobile-friendly website at howtogomo.com. This do-it-yourself site builder, customized specifically for GoMo users, easily converts regular websites into mobile-friendly sites in five simple steps. And it allows you to add features like a click-to-call button, mobile maps and Google AdSense. Sites that are created with the GoMo-DudaMobile tool will be hosted free for one year.

And of course, your mobile site traffic will be measured for you to analyze in Google Analytics. If you sign up for the DudaMobile service offered on the GoMo site, you can easily add your existing GA tracking code via "site settings" option.

Please note that DudaMobile's technology is best for converting simple sites. If your site uses a lot of Flash content, framesets or e-commerce, we suggest that you Go Mobile by talking to your agency or working with one of the developers here.

Many people think mobile is the future of computing. It's actually the present. We live in a multi-platform, multi-device world and continue to be trending to an "always on" society where users expect to be able to access information, websites and apps wherever they go. Ready to get started? Find out more by visiting the GoMo website.

Posted by Adam Singer, Google Analytics team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/2OdKCGk0oUM/get-free-mobile-site-with-gomo-and.html

[G] Celestica embraces Google Apps to improve global collaboration

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 09:34 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Celestica embraces Google Apps to improve global collaboration

Posted by Mary Gendron, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, at Celestica

Editors note: Today's guest blogger is Mary Gendron, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, at Celestica, a Toronto-based innovative supply chain solutions company that provides end-to-end product lifecycle solutions from design and manufacturing through to delivery and after-market support.

Our talented global team is dedicated to delivering innovative supply chain solutions to our customers – helping them to stand out in their markets. This requires our employees to work together effectively and increase the sharing of knowledge and ideas across functions and geographies.

After piloting Google Apps, we quickly realized it would enable our global workforce to work more collaboratively, and as a result, we have recently decided to move 19,000 of our employees to Google Apps. Now my team can meet spontaneously using the video chat feature in Gmail or draft our team strategy simultaneously in a Google Doc. That type of collaboration allows us to build on everyone's ideas to develop better solutions. Also, by sharing a document where all team members have the opportunity to contribute, everyone is invested in the project because we did it together.

Because we're no longer tied to different time zones or other people's schedules, we can work together where we want, when we want, and we can all edit a document together in real time. With Google Apps, the stress of compiling edits in time for a meeting or ensuring you are presenting the final version of a deck are gone. Recently, I was working on a strategy document with my team. I could close my laptop in the evening and know that, when I woke up, those in a different time zone or who preferred to work at night would have added their comments and input directly in the document. Overall, we're accomplishing more together and faster than before.

We're in the early stages, but I believe Google Apps will help us achieve our objectives faster, more efficiently and with greater success.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/celestica-embraces-google-apps-to.html

[G] MGM Titles Roar onto YouTube and Google Play

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 09:34 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: MGM Titles Roar onto YouTube and Google Play

If there's one consistent opening image moviegoers around the world know and equate with great cinema, it's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Roaring Lion (a clip that has over 1 million views on YouTube). For nearly 90 years, MGM has brought some of the best and most memorable films to the silver screen. Today, through a new partnership with MGM, we've started adding more than 600 titles for rent to YouTube and Google Play users in the U.S. and Canada. MGM joins five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios, currently offering movies for rent on YouTube and Google Play.

According to a recent IHS Screen Digest study, online movie watching in the U.S. will double this year and will make up the majority of people's home entertainment viewing. Thanks to MGM, you'll be able to join in this trend and grab its movies online and on the go. From timeless love stories like West Side Story and Moonstruck, to sci-fi action films like The Terminator and Robocop, to modern classics like Rain Man and Rocky, you can now rediscover MGM's moviemaking magic on Google Play and YouTube.

Thanks to our new partnership, you can now discover, share and watch MGM's classic films on YouTube and Google Play. And keep checking back as more MGM titles will be added in the weeks ahead.

Jonathan Zepp, Manager of TV/Film Content Partnerships, recently rented "Hoosiers"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/f5AAZcO_XZk/mgm-titles-roar-onto-youtube-and-google.html

Googland

2012-04-15T19:09:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Remembering the Titanic

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 08:24 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Remembering the Titanic

One hundred years ago, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank, along with three-quarters of the 2,200 passengers and the entire crew on board. It was her maiden voyage from England to New York City and has gone down in history as one of the deadliest maritime tragedies.

The story of the Titanic has remained with us through the decades. It has inspired books and movies and is memorialized around the world in museums and monuments. Now, despite its depth on the sea floor, you can explore this ill-fated ship from the comfort of your home using Google Earth.

Using imagery from National Geographic, we've created an updated 3D model of the Titanic. Explore different parts of the ship, from prow to stern by simply searching for "Titanic" in the Google Earth search box.

3D model of the RMS Titanic, as seen in Google Earth

You can also join a guided expedition by diving into the new Titanic KML tour along featured in our Earth Gallery. This tour showcases images and video of the Titanic provided by NOAA and the National Geographic. Watch the video below to dive down to the Titanic in Google Earth, written in collaboration with Jim Delgado, Director of Maritime Heritage with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

Explore more stunning photos of the shipwreck taken by NOAA in Panoramio. From vestiges of passengers long gone to its famous bridge, the legacy of the Titanic continues to grow a century after her fateful encounter.

Posted by Jenifer Austin Foulkes, Oceans Manager at Google

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/remembering-titanic.html

Googland

2012-04-14T19:16:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Zimmerman charged with murder, Earthquake in Indonesia, F-18 crashes into Virginia Beach apartment

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:24 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Zimmerman charged with murder, Earthquake in Indonesia, F-18 crashes into Virginia Beach apartment

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

We watched the world's attention turn to Florida as George Zimmerman was charged with the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin.

We saw the ground in Indonesia shake as the country was rocked by a powerful earthquake, sparking tsunami fears.

We witnessed dramatic scenes in Virginia Beach as an F-18 fighter jet crashed into an apartment block, starting a large fire.

We observed tension and doubts surrounding the first days of a Syrian ceasefire, especially after attacks on a refugee camp across the Turkish border.

We followed another twist on the US campaign trail as Rick Santorum bowed out of the race.

We were on the edge of our seats as the final day of 76th US Masters golf tournament entered a playoff, with Bubba Watson eventually donning the fabled green jacket.

We viewed Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, erupt for the 24th time this year.

We saw unrest in Bahrain as police fired tear gas on crowds during protests, both in support of a hunger-striker, and against the F1 Grand Prix race.

We paid tribute to legendary 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, who died this week aged 93, with a compilation of some of his classic interviews.

We watched the classic London Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge fall to pieces as a swimmer interrupted the race.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Sandstorm."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/S0tiH6Ew5qI/zimmerman-charged-with-murder.html

[G] Introducing the AdWords Community Top Contributors Program

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:19 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Introducing the AdWords Community Top Contributors Program

You may have noticed that some members of our AdWords Community are true AdWords experts. Not only do they participate actively in discussions, but they're eager to help other members, which provides a huge benefit to the community. That's why we've created the AdWords Top Contributors Program to reward them for their efforts.

Members who qualify for the program receive the title of Top Contributor in the Community, which helps show the world that they're truly AdWords experts. Other perks include:
A profile on our AdWords Top Contributors page.
Access to private forums with Google team members.
Inclusion in the Trusted Testers program to test out cool new features before anyone else.
Product updates directly from the AdWords team.
Hangouts with AdWords Community Leads on Google+.
Trainings given by the AdWords team.

In addition to these perks, in 2011, we invited our Top Contributors (TCs) to the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California, for the Top Contributor Summit. It was an opportunity for TCs to talk with Google executives and AdWords Product Managers, and offer their valuable feedback to the teams.

Top Contributors are also eligible to get the annual AdWords Top Contributor badge to put on their websites. It's another way for them to show their AdWords expertise, and it's only granted to those TCs that go above and beyond in their contribution to the Community.

This year's recipients for the annual AdWords Top Contributor badge have just been announced! Congratulations to:

And congratulations to all our AdWords Top Contributors globally!

Visit the AdWords Community to learn more about the AdWords Top Contributor program and get to know our Top Contributors.

Posted by Lauren Barbato, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-adwords-community-top.html

Googland

2012-04-13T19:12:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Coachella 2012 - Live on YouTube
[G] Technologists and muckrakers pursuing a more perfect union
[G] Working with your Data: Easier and More Fun
[G] A message from an AdSense publisher: How to balance conflicting interests

[G] Coachella 2012 - Live on YouTube

Posted: 12 Apr 2012 06:28 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Coachella 2012 - Live on YouTube

One of the best line-ups in music? Three days of live concerts? In the desert? Say yes to Coachella 2012, coming to you all weekend on YouTube!

Since 2001, the the Coachella Music and Arts festival has brought thousands of fans to southern California to kick off the music festival season in style. For the second year, YouTube will be live streaming the action, with a three day broadcast of the festival, presented by State Farm.

We're not sure if it's the promise of a weekend in Palm Springs, but Coachella always manages to pull together one the most impressive and diverse festival line-ups. YouTube will be streaming more than 60 artists over the weekend, including The Black Keys, Swedish House Mafia, Miike Snow, Andrew Bird, Florence + The Machine, and one of this year's biggest breakthrough acts, Gotye.

It all begins at 3:50pm PT / 6:50pm ET this Friday, and you can check Coachella's YouTube channel for the latest schedule.

Tim Partridge, music marketing manager, recently watched tUnE-yArDs - 'My Country'

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/hSCfGhZte7Q/coachella-2012-live-on-youtube.html

[G] Technologists and muckrakers pursuing a more perfect union

Posted: 12 Apr 2012 06:28 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Technologists and muckrakers pursuing a more perfect union

Today, roughly 200 reporters, editors and technologists are gathering at the Googleplex in Mountain View for our first TechRaking summit. Co-hosted with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the oldest nonprofit investigative reporting organization in the United States, this gathering is meant to inspire muckraking by exploring tools that help reporters tell stories with greater interactivity, opportunities for long-form journalism to thrive in new mediums, best practices for verifying information and fact-checking online and much more throughout the course of the day. Think of it as the intersection of science and art when it comes to converting information into knowledge.

Here are a few of the highlights in store:

The Center for Investigative Reporting will discuss its new Knight Foundation-funded investigative news channel on YouTube that will be a hub of investigative journalism. Expected to launch in July, the channel will feature videos from major broadcasters and independent producers globally—both nonprofit and for-profit—and is an example of the power of collaborations that can serve the public.
The Google Fusion Tables team will discuss tips and tricks for data-driven journalists with Wendy Levy and Jeremy Rue during an afternoon breakout discussion. In another step toward making it easier for people in any industry to discover, manage and visualize data, this morning we announced a new interface for Fusion Tables, which helps you better explore and collaborate on data, includes more visualizations under the "experimental" tab and has a new Fusion Tables API for developers.
Richard Gingras, head of news product at Google, is kickstarting the day with a series of questions for journalists, newsrooms and technologists to consider. Mary Himinkool, who leads global entrepreneurship, is delivering a rapid-fire seven-minute look at lessons learned from entrepreneurs around the world, and Brian Rakowski from Chrome is sharing the process involved in rethinking the modern browser.

We wish we could have welcomed an even larger crowd, but for those who weren't able to join us in person, tune in to the Center for Investigative Reporting's Google+ page for updates from the day and highlights afterward. At 1:30pm PT we'll broadcast a Hangout with Krishna Bharat (distinguished research scientist at Google and founder of Google News), Amna Nawaz (Pakistan bureau chief/correspondent at NBC News), Nic Robertson (senior international correspondent at CNN), Sarah Hill (news anchor at KOMU) and Sree Sreenivasan (dean of student affairs and professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism). You can also follow #techraking and participate on Twitter.

TechRaking was born out of a lunchtime conversation at NewsFoo, another unconventional conference focused on moving forward the future of journalism and technology. We look forward to seeing the ideas and outcomes that emerge and develop from today.

Posted by Sean Carlson, Global Communications & Public Affairs

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/technologists-and-muckrakers-pursuing.html

[G] Working with your Data: Easier and More Fun

Posted: 12 Apr 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Google Research Blog: Working with your Data: Easier and More Fun

Posted by Rebecca Shapley, Fusion Tables Team

The Fusion Tables team has been a little quiet lately, but that's just because we've been working hard on a whole bunch of new stuff that makes it easier to discover, manage and visualize data.

A new way to look at your Fusion Table - Try the "Experimental" version of our Fusion Tables web application. The new design helps you explore and collaborate better on data. Faceted search make it easier to dive into a big data set and specify what you want to see. Multiple tabs let you experiment, trying different views of a table. And the new card layout lets you give a row of data your own custom layout. Give it a spin.

More visualizations on lots of data - People love using Fusion Tables to put data on a map, but there are new visualizations available in our Experiment menu.Try the Zoomable Line chart. Playing with social network data? Try out the Network Graph visualization.

New Fusion Tables API works great with javascript - Our new API, currently available to trusted testers, is more powerful and easier to use. The API can now return data in JSON so it's easy to get data and manipulate it with javascript, right from the browser. You can now also RESTfully modify tables, templates and map styles. Want to try it out early and give your feedback? We're looking for Trusted Testers... just join this group to become one.

New open-source tools library welcomes your contributions - Fond of Fusion Tables Layer wizard? Just recently discovered the chart creator? These great point-n-click tools and more for working with Fusion Tables are now available in the Fusion Tables open source library. Please contribute your tools and enhancements!

You'll notice a bunch of our new things are "Experimental"....that's because we need you to use them and tell us what you love and what could be better. But we didn't want to keep them secret any longer! On behalf of the Fusion Table team, thanks for all you do with Fusion Tables, and we're looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/gJZg/~3/4PA2O6ntU8g/working-with-your-data-easier-and-more.html

[G] A message from an AdSense publisher: How to balance conflicting interests

Posted: 12 Apr 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: A message from an AdSense publisher: How to balance conflicting interests

Editor's Note: Today we'd like to share some tips from AdSense publisher Dave Taylor, owner and author of askdavetaylor.com. Dave Taylor has been online for over thirty years and has been producing helpful tech content for just about all of that time. You can find him online at http://www.davetayloronline.com/.

It's a tricky balancing act being an AdSense publisher because once you start seeing your earnings increase, there's a natural desire to shift your attention to your revenue. The problem with focusing on your revenue is that you're taking attention away from producing the most useful content for your readers. And without readers, you have no audience to run ads for in the first place.

I know, because it's a challenge I face as an AdSense publisher too. I run a popular tech support site called Ask Dave Taylor and my focus since 2003 has been on answering tech questions in a simple, free, and easily obtainable manner. I had over 18 million visitors to the site last year -- but it's also a business, not a hobby, so maximizing my per-visitor revenue is important.

I'm sure you've heard that "it's all about content," and that the best sites have high quality content that's regularly updated and provide a value to their customers. That's still true, and it's important to have your primary focus be the experience you offer to your reader.

But there's that tension. It's the lure of the dark side, in Star Wars terminology. What is the perfect middle ground along the content/revenue continuum?

Here's how I try to balance things…

The first place I stop every week is Google Analytics. The data gives me food for thought, like how many visitors are using mobile devices. This helped me decide how much money to invest in a mobile-friendly version of the site (and when it made sense for me to add AdSense for Mobile Content to my advertising mix). Analytics also shows the most popular pages on my site, which offers great insight into what my readers visit most frequently. Since I categorize all my content, it helps me understand if tutorials about the Sony PSP are garnering more traffic than those about the Apple iPod, for example.

Hook Analytics to AdSense (and yes, I have an article about how to do that on my site) and you can also produce a report of your most profitable pages, a cross-correlation between traffic and AdSense revenue. You'll gain a reliable way to figure out if that blog entry you wrote three months ago is actually now generating 11% of your overall site revenue.

But there's the ugly head of profiteering rearing up again.

Let's look at this a different way. There's a name for a restaurateur who focuses exclusively on per-customer revenue and keeps raising prices: out of business. On the other hand, a restaurant that doesn't pay attention to what items are popular, what daily specials get people excited, and the fluctuations in supply cost runs the risk of ending up with a menu that's completely out of touch with customer desires and they too go out of business.

I spend the majority of my time and attention on producing the best possible content and use my desire to maximize revenue as a secondary goal, something for me to keep in mind as I proceed. It doesn't launch my ship, but it helps me build it most efficiently.

If you're a long-time AdSense publisher, you've hopefully also found that sweet spot between being completely content driven and ignoring the business side of your publishing business. If not, here's a suggestion based on my years of participation: Once a month, really dig into your AdSense reports to understand what categories, what topics and what pages on your site are performing well. Set a goal of producing more of the same in the following 30 days, then put revenue out of your mind and focus completely on what you can contribute to your customer community. Rinse, wash, repeat.

-------

Posted by Raina Rathi, Strategic Partner Manager, AdSense

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/ppFr5eicgk0/message-from-adsense-publisher-how-to.html

Googland

2012-04-12T19:09:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Golf Town tees off collaboration with help from Google Apps
[G] Google Currents goes international
[G] Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google

[G] Golf Town tees off collaboration with help from Google Apps

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:38 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Golf Town tees off collaboration with help from Google Apps

Editors note: Today's guest blogger is John Hur, Director of Information Technology at Golf Town, a destination for everything golf headquartered in Ontario, Canada. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

At Golf Town, we're all about the game. From footwear and apparel to clubs, bags and balls, we supply everything golfers need to play their best. Since we opened our doors in 1999, we've grown to over 60 stores and over 1000 employees across the U.S. and Canada.

We've grown quickly, adding up to seven stores a year, and it became increasingly difficult to keep our employees connected to each other and the company. We needed to give our team a better way to communicate and collaborate across multiple stores so things didn't start to slip through the cracks. In 2009 we started to look at moving our email, documents and calendar to a better platform. We looked at Microsoft® Exchange and Google Apps, and found that Google Apps was more affordable and provided us with the best set of tools to improve communication and collaboration.

Now that we've switched to Google Apps, we're able to see each other's availability through Google Calendar and keep each other in sync with group calendars. For example, The marketing team has implemented a calendar that shows which advertisements are running at each store location and their duration. The calendar is shared with floor managers so they can be prepared to answer customer questions and honor any promotions.

Docs also helps regional managers streamline important daily processes. Each day, our regional managers compile sales reports from all of their individual store managers. Instead of compiling attachments sent from each store manager, regional managers can use one Google document to collect information quickly and easily. Plus, since Google Apps is web-based, employees can access this information from their Android mobile devices. This saves hours of time and energy each week, and it's just one of many processes that are simpler and easier with Google Docs.

For us, Google Apps has been a hole in one. My IT team no longer needs to focus on supporting e-mail because everything is accessible via the web and Gmail is so intuitive. In fact, our support requests for email have gone down by over 95 percent. And, employees are happy because they can get to their information from anywhere and easily collaborate with their co-workers. Google Apps provides the tools that help our growing business run more efficiently. We're excited to have Google help us prepare for our next 60 stores.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/golf-town-tees-off-collaboration-with.html

[G] Google Currents goes international

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:38 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Currents goes international

In December we launched Google Currents, an app for Android and iOS devices that lets you explore online magazines and other content with the swipe of a finger. We're thrilled by how many readers and publishers are using the app in the U.S. -- nearly 400 publisher editions and over 14,000 self-produced editions are now available.

After the U.S. launch, the top features readers requested were to make the app available internationally and to allow content to sync quickly. We've heard you, and today we're making Google Currents 1.1 available around the world. Hundreds of U.S. editions are now readable in your preferred language with a new publisher-selected translation feature, and local publishers can begin adding their content to the catalog through Google Currents Producer. Plus, a new dynamic sync feature improves your reading experience with fresh content wherever you are.

Whatever you're interested in -- whether it's science (Popular Science, Scientific American, Space.com), sports (Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Surfer), business (Harvard Business Review, Inc.), celebrities (Celebuzz, HollywoodLife, Now magazine, TMZ), health & wellness (Men's Health, Yoga Journal), design (Colossal, Dwell) or news (The Atlantic, PRI, Slate) -- it's easy to find a great edition to read in Google Currents.

Read in more places

With this update, we've made Google Currents available globally, wherever apps are available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. International publishers, using Google Currents Producer, can now begin adding local content for an international audience, choosing where to make it available globally and whether to enable auto-translation. For example The Guardian in the UK, LaStampa in Italy, Financial Times Deutschland in Germany, ABC News in Australia, Neue Zürcher Zeitung in Switzerland and Hindustan Times in India have already started publishing editions with local content. Readers can also add their favorite local blogs which are instantly converted into Currents editions.

Read in your favorite language

To help you enjoy content in your preferred language, we've integrated Google Translate into Google Currents. Just press the globe icon while reading an edition, and you can automatically translate that edition to one of 38 supported languages. So it's easier than ever to keep up with Italian and German sports (Corriere dello Sport, kicker.de), or read Scientific American, in your preferred language.

Read fresh content, automatically

With our new dynamic sync feature, you'll always have fresh content to read. As you open each edition, new content is dynamically delivered, using a minimum of your phone or tablet's battery, bandwidth and storage. Those of you who travel on planes and trains can choose which editions you would like fully packaged for offline reading, including images.

Learn more about what's new in Currents here.

Google Currents is now available for download on Google Play and in the Apple App Store, wherever apps are available. Whether you're a reader or a publisher, we hope that Google Currents helps you easily experience the best content on the web, now in even more languages.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager

URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-currents-goes-international.html

[G] Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:38 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Toward a simpler, more beautiful Google

More than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+, enjoying new ways to share in Search, Gmail, YouTube and lots of other places. It's still early days, and there's plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google.

A critical piece of this social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations. So today we're introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google+. We think you'll find it easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google.

Navigation you can make your own
One of the first things you'll notice is a new way to get around the stream. Instead of static icons at the top, there's a dynamic ribbon of applications on the left. This approach comes with lots of perks, but some of our favorites include:

You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of "More"

Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time. We've also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That. So stay tuned.

Conversations you'll really care about
Once you've upgraded to Google+, it's easy to share with your circles from just about anywhere. We're dreaming bigger, though. We're aiming for an experience that fuses utility with beauty—one that inspires you to connect with others, and cherish the conversations that unfold. Today's update is an important step in this direction, including:

Full bleed photos and videos that'll make you really proud to post
A stream of conversation "cards" that make it easier to scan and join discussions
An activity drawer that highlights the community around your content

Simply put, we're hoping to make sharing more awesome by making it more evocative. You know that feeling you get when a piece of art takes your breath away, or when a friend stops by with unexpected gifts? We want sharing to feel like that, every single time.

A new home for hanging out
Google+ Hangouts uses live video to bring people together, and the results range from heartwarming to breathtaking to music-making. Today we're adding a dedicated Hangouts page that creates even more opportunities to connect in person, including:

An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles
Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast
A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don't want to miss

By highlighting all the hangouts you can join, all over the world, it's now easier to spend time together—even be there for each other. And with efforts like hangout apps already underway, you can expect more hangouts in more places in the future.

Getting there from here
Today's Google+ update extends beyond navigation, the stream and hangouts. For instance: there's a new Explore page that shows what's interesting and trending across the network. And a new profile with much bigger photos. And a new chat list that puts your friends front and center. And a whole lot more.

We're rolling out all of these improvements over the next few days, so please check back if you don't see them yet. In the meantime, you can visit this overview to learn more.

By focusing on you, the people you care about, and the stuff you're into, we're going to continue upgrading all the features you already know and love—from Search and Maps to Gmail and YouTube. With today's foundational changes we can move even faster—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/toward-simpler-more-beautiful-google.html

Googland

2012-04-11T19:25:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API
[G] All your tabs, accessible everywhere
[G] Real time quotes from Canada and Taiwan
[G] A Universal Language for Video Ads
[G] Siblings on YouTube: Cooler than a polar bear's toenails
[G] Edmonton is the first major Canadian city to pick Google Apps

[G] Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:03 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers blog)

Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API
Why we like it: This Google Maps API implementation really speaks to the versatility of the API and breadth of the Google Maps API developer ecosystem! From small personal projects to exciting start-ups and high-performance cars, the Google Maps API can be used by everyone.

As you would expect, this top of the line Mercedes-Benz is loaded with all the bells and whistles. The vehicle's integrated navigation system will be enhanced in certain regions by a fully functional JavaScript Maps API v3 implementation using Styled Maps, Google Places API, Places Autocomplete API, traffic layer, and the Panoramio layer as an Android App for the AMG Performance Media option. This provides the user with a familiar Google Maps interface in addition to the onboard maps from the navigation system.

(Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing Coupe at the O'Reilly Where Conference - April 2012)

For night time driving the SLS AMG takes advantage of Styled Maps to create a map that's easier to view in low-light situations and does not impede a driver's night vision.

Chances are, if you're driving this around all day, you're going to get very hungry. That's where the Places API integration with Places Autocomplete API comes in handy. Drivers can enter in what they're looking for it, be it Thai food or pizza and the vehicle will return a list of nearby places along with address, distance, and rating.

Once the Places API has helped you decide what to eat and where you need to go, you can view the destination in Google Street View. In the image below, the system is displaying Street View imagery directly in front of the hotel in San Francisco where the vehicle was located for the 2012 O'Reilly Where Conference. From there you can enter directions that are displayed on a Google Map along with the option to display current traffic.

The engineers at Daimler have done an amazing job of taking Google Maps and combining it with one of the most-loved automobiles. There are many different types of developers in the Google Maps API ecosystem and great implementations like this remind us that the possibilities are almost endless!

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/map-of-week-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-with.html

[G] All your tabs, accessible everywhere

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:03 AM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: All your tabs, accessible everywhere

Imagine you've looked up directions to a cool new restaurant on your home computer. Later, when you're leaving work, you realize you can't quite remember how to get there. If only you could quickly pull up the same directions on your office computer with one click!

Well, with the latest Chrome Beta, you can. When you're signed in to Chrome, the tabs you have open on one device are available on all your other devices—just click the "Other devices" menu on the New Tab page.

With a click, you can find and open the tab with your directions and be on your way. The tab's back and forward navigation history is also included, so you can pick up browsing right where you left off. If you use Chrome for Android Beta, the tab will also be available on your phone, right there in your pocket when you hit the road.

We'll be gradually rolling out the "Other devices" menu to Beta channel users over the coming week. To give it a try, download the latest Chrome Beta and sign in to Chrome. Happy browsing!

Posted by Nicolas Zea and Patrick Dubroy, Software Engineers and Tab Teleportation Technicians

URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/04/all-your-tabs-accessible-everywhere.html

[G] Real time quotes from Canada and Taiwan

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:51 PM PDT

Google Finance Blog: Real time quotes from Canada and Taiwan

Posted by Mark Schmit, Engineer

Here at Google, we get excited by bringing our users relevant information at blazing speeds. So, why would we want to make users wait 15 minutes to see what trades are being made?

Instead, we're continuing to expand our real-time coverage and are very pleased to announce the launch of two more real-time exchanges:

Taiwan Stock Exchange (TPE)
Canadian National Stock Exchange (CNSX)

As always, though, we won't just rest on these laurels. We're eyeing more opportunities down the road, and are eager to bring you more information, so check back soon.

Happy searching,
The Google Finance Team

URL: http://googlefinanceblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/real-time-quotes-from-canada-and-taiwan.html

[G] A Universal Language for Video Ads

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:51 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: A Universal Language for Video Ads

Like many New Yorkers, I can't imagine life in this city without the subway - it's essential to how the city operates, creates millions in economic value, and even features great mariachi bands. But the subway wasn't always this efficient. In the early 1900s, there were multiple subway systems, with different size train cars, running on different track configurations - even one propelled by air! Today, after the unification of these subway systems, everything works seamlessly together.

So what does the subway system have to do with video advertising? Well, the two dominant video advertising guidelines -- VAST and VPAID -- are like the unified transportation system for video advertising. VAST and VPAID define a common language that unifies the diversity of the video advertising industry: Flash and HTML video players, ad networks and exchanges, mobile devices and connected TVs, 30 second spots and interactive overlays.

At Google, we've been longtime supporters of video advertising standards. We're happy to announce our support for the latest set of guidelines announced at the IAB's Digital Video Marketplace Event today. This means that we'll be implementing VAST 3.0, VPAID 2.0 and VMAP 1.0 across our video advertising products. Together, these three guidelines strengthen the video advertising infrastructure already adopted by most participants in the video ecosystem. The Video Suite also adds support for skippable ads, podding, in-ads privacy notices and ad sequencing, while offering greater clarity around compliance and mobile scenarios.

What benefits can you expect from VAST 3.0, VPAID 2.0 and VMAP 1.0?

If you're a publisher, interoperability will improve and you'll be able to accept a wider set of video ad formats with less technical work. The new error codes will also help with troubleshooting of third party served ads.

If you're an advertiser, the Video Suite allows you to create more engaging brand stories that reach a wider audience across all devices. You'll be able to take greater advantage of skippable ads, which offer new pricing models focused on performance.

If you're a vendor, the technical details of these specs really matter, and we've provided much more clarity around the compliance requirements for video players and ad servers.

So much has changed in the online video space in just ten years, that we thought we'd take a trip down memory line with this infographic:

Click through for the full infographic

As an industry, we've started to take VAST and VPAID for granted, much like New Yorkers and their subway system. That's a good thing, because it means they've become an essential part of powering our economy.

Posted by Payam Shodjai, Product Manager, Publisher Video

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DoubleclickPublisherBlog/~3/iKF1NE9R_9M/universal-language-for-video-ads.html

[G] Siblings on YouTube: Cooler than a polar bear's toenails

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 12:16 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Siblings on YouTube: Cooler than a polar bear's toenails

Imagine a world where Charlie did not have his brother Harry's finger to gnaw on. Or picture a world where twin babies did not have one another to chat with. Well that is what this world would be like without siblings.

Today is National Siblings Day in the United States, a whole day set aside to appreciate, honor, and cherish your brothers and sisters (even if they do occasionally bite your finger). We decided to recognize this special day by sharing some great sibling teams working together on their YouTube Channels.

Brothers John and Hank Green, also known as the Vlogbrothers have been vlogging together for five years. Their brotherly bond runs so deep they've even recently launched another Channel together, Crash Course, with fun and interesting biology and history videos.

Nashville natives, and sisters, Elle and Blair Fowler began uploading simple makeup tutorials and haul videos from their bedrooms years ago. Hundreds of millions of views later this sister team is working together even more closely on a new YouTube Channel u look haute and are even hosting a reality series together, training the next generation of beauty vloggers.

Sister and brother Rebecca and Max Lando teamed up to help food lovers feed themselves in a gourmet way while on a budget. Their Channel, Working Class Foodies (part of Hungry Nation), is full of recipes and great food ideas from holiday ideas to great burger tricks.

So, if you're lucky enough to have one...or even a few, let your siblings know how much you appreciate them today by sharing a video or even making one together.

Jessica Mason, communications associate, recently watched "TEDxAsheville - Jeff Kluger - The hidden power of siblings."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/Mpv1P0t2MeA/siblings-on-youtube-cooler-than-polar.html

[G] Edmonton is the first major Canadian city to pick Google Apps

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 12:16 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Edmonton is the first major Canadian city to pick Google Apps

Posted by by Michael Lock, VP Google Enterprise

Earlier in 2012, I became a United States citizen, more than 14 years after moving to the U.S. from my native Canada. Don't get me wrong, I'll continue to root for Team Canada when it comes to hockey and Canada will always have a special place in my heart. That's why I'm particularly proud that the City of Edmonton announced today its plans to move 9,000 city employees to Google Apps. In keeping with its reputation as a forward-thinking local government, Edmonton will become the first major Canadian city to go Google.

Edmonton, the capital city of the province of Alberta, is the northernmost North American city with a metropolitan population over one million. Its decision to move to Google Apps for email, calendar and other collaboration tools supports Edmonton's strategic plan, which calls for "finding new ways to become even more collaborative, open, responsive and innovative."

Google Apps will provide a unified communications platform for all municipal employees, bringing email to roughly 3,000 "deskless" city employees for the first time while providing additional tools to help all employees work together. As a result, the City of Edmonton's employees will have a more inclusive, collaborative work environment while giving the city more value for its technology investments.

While Edmonton may be the first city in Canada to go Google, it's in great company with other city governments in North America─like Pittsburgh, Orlando and Zapopan, Mexico─that have already made the move. And personally, I'm grateful to Edmonton for giving me a good reason to visit Canada later this year to check on their progress!

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/edmonton-is-first-major-canadian-city.html

Googland

2012-04-10T19:16:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] One desk chair—hold the formaldehyde
[G] Google+ Hangout with the UN Secretary-General
[G] Watch the recorded GoMo for Publishers videos to learn how to mobilize your site

[G] One desk chair—hold the formaldehyde

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:27 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: One desk chair—hold the formaldehyde

Formaldehyde. Lead. Pesticides. Mercury. If building materials had nutrition labels, would you buy a product containing these toxic ingredients? There are more than 80,000 chemicals in the world, and we don't fully know how they impact our health. And a surprising number of hazardous chemicals still make their way into everyday products we use, including furniture, paints, carpets and flooring. Whether it's in the home or office, we shouldn't have to worry that the chair we're sitting in or the air we breathe contains harmful chemicals (PDF).

On my first day on the job at Google over six years ago, a co-worker asked me to sniff a carpet sample. I didn't smell anything and was told, "That's good!" We want to build a greener future and create the healthiest work environments imaginable for Googlers, which means we only use paints, sealants, adhesives, carpets, furniture and building materials with the lowest levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) possible.

A straw-hut style huddle room made with sustainably forested wood from Pescadero Willow Farm, bound by a saline-based, toxin-free solution

Unfortunately, the lack of clear and widely-available product ingredient information makes progress in this area challenging, so we're asking the market to provide toxin-free products and make its contents an open book. We put all our products through a rigorous screening process to make sure they meet our healthy materials standards, and request full transparency from our vendors by asking them to share comprehensive product ingredient information.

This movement is also gaining momentum outside of Google. Recently, 30 leading building product manufacturers signed on to pilot the Health Product Declaration (HPD) Open Standard, the industry's first common reporting standard for transparency around health impacts of building materials. Google is a founding endorser of the HPD, and we applaud these manufacturers for taking this important step. Continued leadership like this is needed for the product transparency revolution to gain real traction—not just for building materials but all types of products we consume or use.

So whether you're at the restaurant or hardware store, ask tough questions so you can make better-informed choices about products to help keep yourself and your families healthy. Your collective voice and purchasing power can make a huge difference.

As for Google, by setting high standards, asking difficult questions and encouraging transparency from our partners, we hope to show how other organizations can create their own healthy and sustainable work environments.

Posted by Anthony Ravitz, Green Team Lead, Real Estate and Workplace Services Team

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/one-desk-chairhold-formaldehyde.html

[G] Google+ Hangout with the UN Secretary-General

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:27 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Google+ Hangout with the UN Secretary-General

We're passionate about changing the world. But there's another organization that's equally passionate—and has been doing it a lot longer. For more than 60 years, the United Nations has worked to advance a global agenda on ending war and poverty, promoting human rights, protecting the environment and dealing with humanitarian crises—critical issues that will determine the quality of life for future generations to come.

So we're delighted that on Tuesday, April 10, some of the voices of the next generation will have the chance to participate in an exclusive global conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon via a Google+ Hangout from the United Nations headquarters in New York. Six young people, selected in consultation with partners in civil society, academia and United Nations offices in the field, will join from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and have the opportunity to ask questions on the issues that matter to them.

The Google+ Hangout with the UN Secretary-General will be streamed live at 3:30pm ET on April 10 at youtube.com/unitednations. David C. Drummond, Google's SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, will moderate.

Technology has given us the chance to advance the important work of the UN, while ensuring that global politics is made more accountable to citizens. We're thrilled that Google can help play a small part in this.

Posted by Dex Torricke-Barton, Global Communications & Public Affairs

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-hangout-with-un-secretary.html

[G] Watch the recorded GoMo for Publishers videos to learn how to mobilize your site

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:27 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: Watch the recorded GoMo for Publishers videos to learn how to mobilize your site

As part of Google's ongoing GoMo initiative, we hosted a live webinar a few weeks ago to help publishers learn the benefits of creating mobile-friendly sites, hear tips and case studies, and tap into new resources to get started. If you missed it, no problem! You can watch the recorded video or download the slides below.

Watch this webinar to learn:

1. Why go mobile?

Your users have gone mobile in a big way, hear why you must follow suit.

2. Tips for building mobile sites

Mobile is different. Learn 10 practical tips for building engaging, uniquely mobile experiences.

3. Best practices in action

Hear from web publisher FindTheBest about the success they've seen from going mobile.

4. How to get started

Google is here to help. Learn about tools we've created to get you started on the path to delighting

your users and maximizing your mobile revenue.

Interested in learning more? Watch the recorded webinar and download the slides.

Posted by Tuyen Nguyen - Mobile Publisher Advocate

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/7fo7xxAv4HI/watch-recorded-gomo-for-publishers.html

Googland

2012-04-08T19:07:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Record number of student applications for Google Summer of Code
[G] Travel businesses on YouTube make it easier to get outta town
[G] Get Local with AdWords
[G] More clarity and control with location targeting improvements

[G] Record number of student applications for Google Summer of Code

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 06:46 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Record number of student applications for Google Summer of Code

Earlier today the application deadline for students wishing to participate in Google Summer of Code 2012 came to a close. Thank you to all the students who applied to be a part of this year's program. We had a record 6,685 student proposals from 4,258 students submitted to this year's 180 participating mentoring organizations.

The mentoring organizations will now take the next couple of weeks to read through all of their student proposals and decide which students their organization will mentor this summer.

Students: stay tuned to the Google Summer of Code site where we will announce all of this year's accepted Google Summer of Code students on April 23 at 19:00 UTC. For additional important information about the program check out our timeline and read our Frequently Asked Questions.

You can always stay up to date on all things Google Summer of Code on this blog, our mailing lists or on our IRC channel #gsoc on Freenode.

Good luck, students! May the odds be ever in your favor.

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/BwTchR0jOfc/record-number-of-student-applications.html

[G] Travel businesses on YouTube make it easier to get outta town

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 03:43 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Travel businesses on YouTube make it easier to get outta town

Planning to get away this spring? Want to see your destination--rather than just read about it? You're not alone. According to our research, nearly half of all travelers watch a travel video online when planning a trip.

YouTube is full of travel-related information from how to ride the Metro in Paris on the GeoBeats Channel to packing tips from travel guru Rick Steves. For businesses looking to reach future travelers video can help visualize destinations and services. Check out a few travel businesses already turning video views into reservations.

Take, for example, Airbnb, a travel business connecting hosts (property managers and owners willing to open their homes to guests) with travelers looking for a home away from home. Their YouTube Channel has gained a large following and millions of video views. By clearly illustrating what they offer and how their service works through how-to videos, such as "How to Airbnb," they've gained credibility and established trust with an active community of intrepid travelers.

As Virgin America announces more U.S. routes they're using their YouTube Channel to get the word out. Their videos are full of their characteristic quirky humor, like when the infamous Greenman character from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" made an appearance in their video announcing Virgin America's new Philadelphia route.

With white sandy beaches and sparkling blue waters, the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board seems like an obvious fit for online video. But they use video to do more than tempt dreamers looking to escape winter weather. The board uses ads on YouTube to quickly spread relevant news. For example, when an airline recently added new nonstop flights from New York to Nassau, the board was able to show ads about this route to viewers in the New York area - ensuring that they reached the right people with relevant news.

We hope your business can use some of these tips to make your next video campaign take flight! You can learn more about promoting your business, content or cause with online video by joining our conversation on Google+ and adding the YouTube for marketers Google+ page to your circles.

Baljeet Singh, group product manager on video monetization at Google, recently watched "DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/L_rwRvpLpaw/travel-businesses-on-youtube-make-it.html

[G] Get Local with AdWords

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google CPG Blog: Get Local with AdWords

Get organized this spring with new location features in AdWords and share your stories

Over the past 30 years, California Closet Company has grown from the brainchild of a college student organizing his dorm room closet to a successful business with more than 77 franchise locations. To reach customers across the U.S. and internationally, the company centered their digital marketing strategy on creating locally relevant campaigns.

It's no surprise that local campaigns are a focus for many businesses--from finding directions to looking up a phone number, more people are going online to find local information. In fact, more than 20% of searches on Google are related to location, and people often act quickly on local searches. Research shows that using smartphones, 88% of people who search for local information take action within a day.

To help you organize your local ad campaigns this spring, we're introducing three new features in AdWords to help you create ads that are more relevant to local customers.

Target customers by zip code

If you customize your direct mail, outdoor ads, or newspaper ads at a postal code level, you now can easily do the same in AdWords in the US. We are introducing the ability to target more than 30,000 US ZIP Codes with your AdWords campaigns.

You will be able to add up to 1,000 postal codes at a time to your search ad campaigns with AdWords Location Targeting. Plus, you can get feedback on the performance of your local campaigns by viewing campaign performance statistics at the postal code level.

"Location targeting within AdWords helped us double lead volume and cut the cost to acquire new customers in half," said Lois Erbay, Director of Marketing, California Closet Company. "We plan on building on that success by using ZIP Code targeting to create even more locally relevant campaigns for our customers."

More locally relevant ads in less time

To help you easily create a custom ad title, text, display URL, and/or destination URL for all of your locations at scale, we've developed location insertion for location extensions. You'll no longer need to create multiple ads for multiple locations--this new feature automatically inserts the city, phone number, or zip code of your local business into your ad text.

For example, if your ad text says: "Find a {lb.city:Local} Store or Shop Online," a user viewing your ad in Chicago would see: "Find a Chicago Store or Shop Online." This new feature cuts out all the work to building out ad text featuring local information for all your locations.

Ad with location insertion in the text and display URL

"We've had amazing success manually customizing our creative with local information for our top markets, which shows us that customers want locally-relevant results when it comes to a service like storage," said Chris Laczi, Advertising Director, Uncle Bob's Self Storage. "That's why we're very excited about location insertion. It will simplify the task of creating locally customized ads for our 400+ locations, and we expect it will greatly enhance conversion rate of our ads."

You must have location extensions set up and running in order to enable location insertion. Location insertion will work even if your location extensions don't show because of other extensions. We detect location based on where your customer is physically located or by the geographic locations she may have shown interest in.

Find out more about location insertion and location extensions.

Better clarity and control

When we launched advanced location targeting in March 2011, we provided you with more control over how you geographically target your ads. Based on advertiser feedback, we're implementing four additional enhancements that will make location targeting options clearer and more powerful. Read more about these enhancements in the Help Center and in this blog post.

There is significant opportunity for businesses to reach local customers online and win moments that matter by delivering the right ad in the right context. Stay tuned for more information on how ZIP Code targeting can help you grow your business.

We want to hear from you about your success in getting local with AdWords--share your story here and we might reach out to you to participate in our upcoming blog posts.

Posted by Richard Holden, Product Management Director

URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2012/04/get-local-with-adwords.html

[G] More clarity and control with location targeting improvements

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google CPG Blog: More clarity and control with location targeting improvements

Location targeting is now easier to understand.

First, we've reworded the options to help make them clearer. Here is what the options for advanced location targeting used to look like:

Here is what we're unveiling today:

Show ads to people in a physical location, without exception.

Previously, if you had selected "Target using physical location," your ad would show to people in your targeted location as long as they were not searching for something related to a different location. Now, when you select "People in my targeted location," your ad shows to people in your targeted location, without exception.

Let's say you are an airline using physical location targeting to reach customers in Atlanta, GA looking to fly to Hawaii. You have the keyword "flights to hawaii" in your ad group. Previously, your ad wouldn't appear for any prospective customers in Atlanta that were searching for "flights to hawaii" because the search term indicated that they were interested in Hawaii. With the new setting "People in my targeted location," the airline can now reach the customers in Atlanta searching for "flights to hawaii."

This enhancement has been beneficial in increasing VEGAS.com's ability to target offers to users based on where they are located at the time of the search. "As a leading destination travel site, our goal is to send the right message to a user as they plan their travel well ahead of time from their home market. Advanced Location Targeting has given us that ability," said Dan Hippler, Vice-President of Marketing, Vegas.com.

Greater control over location targeting on the Display Network

Previously, the only location targeting signal applicable to ads on the Google Display Network was the likely physical location of the user. Now, both the location extracted from the content of the page and the likely physical location can be used, making advanced location targeting applicable for the Display Network for the first time. The default setting is to show to people "in" or "viewing pages about" your targeted location, but you can edit this option at any time.

Let's say a customer in Atlanta is planning a trip to Hawaii and she's looking at websites about fun things to do in Hawaii. A coffee plantation tour service from Hawaii would like to show ads about its offers to such a user. Similarly, an airline would like to advertise flight services to this user. The new targeting enhancements give the tour service and airline such capabilities, as both an ad targeted to Hawaii for a coffee plantation tour and an ad targeted to Atlanta for flights from Atlanta may now both show on the same page.

There are several situations in which we will not use location to target an ad. For example, a user reading about news in Hawaii may not be interested in "Hawaii tours". For this reason, we currently only consider the location signal on a limited set of pages when we believe it may be useful. You can gain insight into the sites on which your ads are showing on the placement report, and into the locations on the geographic report.

Note that all campaigns targeting the Display Network will automatically be opted into the default option, which is to reach people in, searching for, or viewing pages about your targeted location. If you wish to exclude campaign traffic from people viewing pages about your location, you can choose "People in my targeted location" in advanced location options.

More easily avoid getting impressions for excluded areas

We have also changed the advanced location exclusion methods. Previously, the less restrictive option, "Exclude by physical location only," was the default. Based on feedback from advertisers, we have re-worded the exclusion options and made the more restrictive option, "People in, searching for, or viewing pages about my excluded location," the default. This way you avoid getting impressions for excluded areas regardless of whether your customers are located or interested in those areas.

What it looked like before:

What we're launching today:

For example, now by default excluding Chicago means your ad won't show for customers in Chicago or those outside Chicago who included "Chicago" in their searches.

This change will only impact newly created campaigns and will not affect existing campaigns.

Remember, advanced location targeting may limit the exposure of your ads, so it isn't suited for all advertising goals.

To find out more about advanced location targeting or to change your settings, visit our help center. If you use AdWords Editor, details on how these changes will impact you can be found in the AdWords Editor help center.

Posted by Smita Hashim, Group Product Manager Local Ads

URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2012/04/more-clarity-and-control-with-location.html

Googland

2012-04-07T19:06:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Help improve the “blue dot” for people visiting your venue
[G] Tornadoes in Texas, Storms in Japan, Final Four riots
[G] A Change to Our Retailer Partner Program: eBooks Resellers to Wind Down Next Year
[G] Final Hours to Submit Student Proposals for Google Summer of Code
[G] Check out the nominees for April’s “On The Rise” spotlight!
[G] Get Local with AdWords
[G] More clarity and control with location targeting improvements
[G] Display Campaign Optimizer Available to All
[G] Get inspired with Think Quarterly’s creativity issue
[G] Building Display Creatives for Your Audience

[G] Help improve the “blue dot” for people visiting your venue

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Help improve the "blue dot" for people visiting your venue

When we announced the availability of indoor maps for Android last November, we also introduced Google Maps Floor Plans as a tool for business owners to upload the floor plans for their venue and have them appear in Google Maps for Android. Today we're releasing the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker app, which enables those who've uploaded floor plans to improve the indoor location accuracy their visitors experience when using indoor maps within their venue. The app is available for people in the United States through Google Play.

If you've uploaded a floor plan through the Google Maps Floor Plans tool, once you install the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker app, you'll be guided through the process of walking around the entire surface area of your place of interest. Using the app, you collect data from sources such as GPS, cell tower, and publicly broadcast WiFi information that can help us make the My Location feature's familiar "blue dot" icon accessible for Android users when they're inside the venue. The time it takes to complete this process depends on the size of the venue, but you can pause and resume a marking task at any time if you want to take breaks.

The information you choose to submit will ultimately help visitors and customers more quickly and easily orient themselves, see where they are and what's around them. Customers will even be able to see which floor they're on in buildings with multiple floors, and the map will automatically update to the right floor if they go up or down a level!

To get started, download the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker app from Google Play. The app is currently only available in English for people in United States.

Posted by Cedric Dupont, Product Manager

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/help-improve-blue-dot-for-people.html

[G] Tornadoes in Texas, Storms in Japan, Final Four riots

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Tornadoes in Texas, Storms in Japan, Final Four riots

We watched hellish scenes in Texas as a number of tornadoes were recorded tearing through the Dallas area.
We saw the most powerful storms in 50 years claim the lives of two people in Japan, and injure 160.
We were shocked at the behavior of some University of Kentucky Wildcats fans as they rioted on Saturday night after a 'Final Four' victory over Louisville.
We witnessed a plane crash shortly after take off in Siberia, leading to the deaths of 32 passengers.
We followed the GOP candidates on the US campaign trail, as Mitt Romney took another decisive step towards the Republican nomination with a hat-trick of wins on Tuesday.
We marked a historic day in Myanmar as voters celebrated the election of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament.
We observed riot police and Greek protesters clashing after angry demonstrations that followed a pensioner's public suicide.
We viewed protests and concern for detained Bahraini hunger striker Abdulhadi Al Khawaja as his hunger strike headed towards 60 days.
We felt the sense anticipation build in London as many test events got underway during final preparations for the London 2012 Olympics.
We witnessed the Mega Millions lottery jackpot hitting $640 million, with the first winning ticket confirmed as being sold in Maryland.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "First Video:F-18 Navy Jet Crashes into Virginia Beach Apartment".

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/pV3AE8JCjk4/tornadoes-in-texas-storms-in-japan.html

[G] A Change to Our Retailer Partner Program: eBooks Resellers to Wind Down Next Year

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT

Inside Google Books: A Change to Our Retailer Partner Program: eBooks Resellers to Wind Down Next Year

Posted by Scott Dougall, director, product management, digital publishing

With the launch of Google eBooks in 2010, we introduced a multi-faceted approach to selling ebooks: online, on devices, through affiliates and through resellers. One part of that effort -- the reseller program -- has not gained the traction that we hoped it would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it by the end of January next year.

This change will help us focus on building the best ebooks experience we can across hundreds of devices with millions of books. Books will continue to be a major content pillar alongside apps, music and movies in the Google Play store. And -- regardless of where they bought them -- customers will still be able to access and read their ebooks on the web, phones, tablets and compatible eReaders.

We will work closely with our sixteen reseller partners as they transition in the coming months. Also, booksellers will still be highlighted in the "Buy this book" section of Google Book search, supported with our affiliate program and have access to free Books APIs.

Looking at the results to-date, it's clear that the reseller program has not met the needs of many readers or booksellers. While our role as an ebooks wholesaler to booksellers will be coming to a close next year, we remain as committed as ever to making the eBooks experience from Google the best it can be for readers around the world.

URL: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2012/04/change-to-our-retailer-partner-program.html

[G] Final Hours to Submit Student Proposals for Google Summer of Code

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 01:17 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Final Hours to Submit Student Proposals for Google Summer of Code

Students, the deadline for submitting your proposal for Google Summer of Code is only hours away. Be sure to submit your proposal to the program site by this Friday, April 6th at 19:00 UTC (Noon PST) to be considered for this year's program.

For tips on writing a quality proposal that will grab the attention of the mentoring organizations check out the student manual. This is a highly competitive program and the quality of your proposal is what will set you apart from the rest of the applicants.

For more tips, see a list of some helpful dos and don'ts for successful student participation written by a group of experienced Google Summer of Code administrators, our user's guide for the program site, Frequently Asked Questions and timeline. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Google Summer of Code on our Google Open Source blog, mailing lists or on IRC at #gsoc on Freenode.

Don't miss out on an exciting summer full of open source coding by waiting until the last minute and missing the deadline. All proposals must be submitted before Friday, April 6th at 19:00 UTC.

By Stephanie Taylor, Google Open Source Programs

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/D4s1BxI9mvU/final-hours-to-submit-student-proposals.html

[G] Check out the nominees for April’s “On The Rise” spotlight!

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 09:44 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Check out the nominees for April's "On The Rise" spotlight!

Each month, we identify four YouTube partners whose Channels have experienced significant growth and are on the cusp of really taking off for our On The Rise program. In April, we're showcasing partners in the performance, beauty, sports and film industries. None of them have hit the 100,000 subscriber mark just yet, but they've already built significant followings on YouTube.

You can help them get closer though, starting with the opportunity for one of these partners to be featured on the YouTube homepage. Check out the videos below and vote for your favorite in the top right corner of this blog. In addition to your votes, each Channel will be evaluated (by YouTube) on criteria such as viewer engagement and Channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on the homepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.

In past months On The Rise nominees, partners like marydoodles and AnyoneButMeWebSeries have gained many subscribers thanks to your support. The poll will be open until April 13 at 5pm PT, so don't forget to vote for your favorite Channel. Check back to see who secured the homepage feature on April 26th.

anaheimballet

The resident ballet company of Anaheim, CA, since 1997, the Anaheim Ballet hosts classical ballet performances and provides dance education. The school and company are non-profit organizations, and they produce weekly videos for their YouTube Channel.

nurberxo

Want makeup and styling inspiration, or advice about how to present yourself effectively? Nur's beauty channel is worth browsing for both, giving you holistic beauty advice.

strskillschool

Steve Roberts has been coaching sports in the UK for over 12 years. His passion is soccer (or football, if you'd like), and his sports coaching company's channel provides excellent tips for how to improve your techniques.

ultraslo

The Ultraslo production company and channel were founded by a two-time Emmy Award winner Alan Teitel. As the name suggests, these videos showcase slow-motion subjects ranging from action sports to insects.

If you're interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise Channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.

Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched "Improv Everywhere: Quadruplets."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/adMv5EI2XNo/check-out-nominees-for-aprils-on-rise.html

[G] Get Local with AdWords

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Get Local with AdWords

Get organized this spring with new location features in AdWords and share your stories

To help you organize your local ad campaigns this spring, we're introducing three new features in AdWords to help you create ads that are more relevant to local customers.

Target customers by zip code

More locally relevant ads in less time

Ad with location insertion in the text and display URL

Find out more about location insertion and location extensions.

Better clarity and control

We want to hear from you about your success in getting local with AdWords--share your story here and we might reach out to you to participate in our upcoming blog posts.

Posted by Richard Holden, Product Management Director

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/get-local-with-adwords.html

[G] More clarity and control with location targeting improvements

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: More clarity and control with location targeting improvements

Location targeting is now easier to understand.

First, we've reworded the options to help make them clearer. Here is what the options for advanced location targeting used to look like:

Here is what we're unveiling today:

Show ads to people in a physical location, without exception.

Greater control over location targeting on the Display Network

More easily avoid getting impressions for excluded areas

What it looked like before:

What we're launching today:

For example, now by default excluding Chicago means your ad won't show for customers in Chicago or those outside Chicago who included "Chicago" in their searches.

This change will only impact newly created campaigns and will not affect existing campaigns.

Remember, advanced location targeting may limit the exposure of your ads, so it isn't suited for all advertising goals.

Posted by Smita Hashim, Group Product Manager Local Ads

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/more-clarity-and-control-with-location.html

[G] Display Campaign Optimizer Available to All

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Display Campaign Optimizer Available to All

Recently we announced the most significant enhancement to our contextual engine ever: the ability to optimize Google Display Network campaigns down to the keyword level using Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting. These new controls will help advertisers fine-tune their campaign performance on a completely new level - like upgrading from a standard engine to a 6-speed manual gear-shift race car. For advertisers that prefer to put their campaigns on cruise-control and let Google technology do the heavy lifting, our suite of automatic optimization tools maximize the performance of your Google Display Network campaigns while saving you valuable time and resources. From adjusting bids with Conversion Optimizer and Enhanced CPC, to automatically finding optimal placements around the network with Display Campaign Optimizer - these features help advertisers achieve their ROI goals, with a fraction of the effort.

Display's Self-Driving Car - Display Campaign Optimizer

The Display Campaign Optimizer was launched in 2010 as a limited beta, and since has become one of our most popular automation tools for large advertisers managing high volume campaigns. In addition to fully automating your targeting and bidding, it uses a variety of signals like context, demographics and interest categories to find additional conversions across our vast AdSense publisher network - all at your desired CPA.

Watch how it works

As we highlighted last fall, advertisers have had great success using Display Campaign Optimizer. Recently it helped Dale Carnegie Training expand their online reach to more than 85 countries in the world without a lot of hands-on effort. After implementing the Display Campaign Optimizer on two campaigns, they increased conversions by 308% and 101% in only six months while maintaining a steady cost-per-lead.

Dale Carnagie Wins Friends and Influences Buyers with Display Campaign Optimizer

Now Open to All

With greater adoption and a significantly improved engine, we're excited to announce that Display Campaign Optimizer is exiting "beta" and available to all advertisers through AdWords. Previously only large advertisers with very high conversion volumes (150/month) could take advantage of this powerful tool. The new and improved Display Campaign Optimizer now has the same low conversion requirement (15/month) as Conversion Optimizer. This means you can simply opt-into DCO on any campaign running on Conversion Optimizer and take advantage of the added benefit of more conversions!

Get Started!

Starting today you can easily set-up Display Campaign Optimizer campaigns in AdWords. For more information on how to set up your Display Campaign Optimizer campaigns, review our step-by - step guide on our AdWords Help Center.

Posted by David Mitby, Product Manager Display Campaign Optimizer, and Abhinay Sharma Sr Engineering Manager

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/display-campaign-optimizer-available-to.html

[G] Get inspired with Think Quarterly’s creativity issue

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Get inspired with Think Quarterly's creativity issue

What does creativity look like in a digital context? What does it mean for your business, your campaigns, and your customers? This issue of Google's Think Quarterly explores these fundamental questions and more -- a must read for digital marketers!

(Editor's note, April 4, 2:58pm: the below post is cross-posted from the Google Agency blog.)

As the internet comes of age, technology is catching up with our wildest imaginations. We can realize ideas that simply weren't possible merely five years ago. And you don't need to be a technologist or have "Creative" in your title to utilize technology in new ways; millions of people around the world are making, remixing, and sharing every day.

Case in point: There are over 800 exabytes of digital information in the world -- words, videos, photos, music. To put that in context, a volume of the complete works of Shakespeare is about five megabytes. It would take one billion book-filled pickup trucks to make just one exabyte. This is our creative output -- the sheer volume is equally inspiring and overwhelming.

Where to begin? Right here. The Creativity issue of Think Quarterly, launching today, documents this far-reaching transformation, cutting through the noise to focus on what it all means.

In "The Curious Case of Creativity," Google VP of Global Marketing Lorraine Twohill sees creativity through an engineer's eyes as a way to solve problems, big and small. Interviews with the founders of two award-winning global agencies, Sir John Hegarty of BBH and Ajaz Ahmed of AKQA, discuss what creativity means in a digital context and how you can encourage it, even at a big company. Creative minds from Mullen, Wieden and Kennedy, Barbarian Group, AKQA, and Anomaly pick their most envy-inducing digital campaigns. And "Lean Communications" looks at how technology is forcing the traditional creative process to get faster, smarter, and more efficient.

We also explore how the web is inspiring entirely new forms of creativity, like YouTube remixes, 3D models, data art and infographics, that are reshaping how we see the world. (And if you want to see how the web shapes your brand in particular, try our new "Brand Impressions" tool on Think Quarterly and Think Insights.)

Take some time to check it out and let us know what you think on +Think With Google.

Posted by Allison Mooney, Think Quarterly Editor

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/get-inspired-with-think-quarterlys.html

[G] Building Display Creatives for Your Audience

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Building Display Creatives for Your Audience

If you're audience targeting (or considering it), customizing your ads for your audience can yield better performance. Here are the top tips for audience targeted creatives learned through the collective experience of hundreds of Google AdWords account teams.

1. Make your ads a helpful step in the user experience

Make audience specific recommendations, differentiate yourself from the competition, and provide new information. For example remarketing ads could show complementary products that an existing customer may need. If you're targeting new users, feature positive testimonials and reviews to highlight your good reputation.

Make better use of audience targeting by addressing different stages in the buying cycle within your ad.

click to view larger image

2. Be Transparent

This is particularly important if you're using remarketing. Your audience may wonder how you knew they were on your site or interested in specific products. Be upfront; link to a description of why they're seeing your ads and how they work from your landing page. Showing a variety of ads helps minimize overly-specific targeting and repetition.

3. Tailor ads to your user

To drive better performance: personalize ads based on the product or service your audience would be interested in. If you're remarketing to a user who browsed your site, match your ads to content they viewed. For example, if a user viewed a variety of smart phones, you could show ads promoting individual phones, phone plans, or phone accessories.

click to view larger image

4. Landing Page Relevance

Seamlessly link your audience-relevant creative message to a landing page on your website with content pertinent to the product or service the audience is interested in.

To improve your audience campaign performance, ensure that your landing page is optimized for conversions. Tools like Website Optimizer or Google Analytics can make optimizing your landing pages much easier.

Creative and its relevant landing page

5. Call-to-Action

A compelling call-to-action is crucial for any targeting type or advertising goal. Use your knowledge of your audience to match your call-to-action to the user in both content and style.

Phrases like 'See Offers' perform double duty by communicating next steps and highlighting a promotion or benefit in clicking.

click to view larger image

6. Use All Ad Formats & Sizes

Not every site will offer every ad size and format – if you're missing ad sizes you could be missing out on thousands of impressions. Remember, you want to reach your audience wherever they are online. Maximize your opportunity to reach your audience anywhere on a network and increase volume by utilizing all ad formats, text ads, and display ad sizes available.

We'd love your feedback. Let us know if this was helpful or how it can be improved at better-ads@google.com.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/building-display-creatives-for-your.html

Googland

2012-04-06T19:14:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Celebrating six students receiving the AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholarship
[G] Google Ads - now on Google+
[G] Enjoying opening day with Google tools
[G] Admiral Pest Control switches to Google Apps to eliminate communication bugs
[G] Introducing UK promotions and deals from Google Affiliate Network
[G] How we’re making even more 3D video available on YouTube

[G] Celebrating six students receiving the AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholarship

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:22 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Celebrating six students receiving the AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholarship

Last summer, we announced a joint scholarship program for aspiring journalists with the Associated Press, administered by the Online News Association. Congratulations to the six students who will each be receiving $20,000 to pursue degrees that lie at the intersection of journalism, computer science and new media:

Emily Eggleston, 24, graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studying journalism and geography.
Reginald James, 30, undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying political science and African American studies.
Katie Zhu, 20, undergraduate at Northwestern University, studying computer science and journalism.
Rebecca Rolfe, 25, graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, studying digital media.
Kevin Schaul, 20, undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, studying journalism and computer science.
John Osborn, 29, graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying journalism.

These students have big plans that range from producing hyperlocal data-driven stories, to developing open-source apps that allow for democratic news gathering and greater collaboration, to data visualization for current events and entertainment, to producing political news games and teaching journalists how to code.

We hope these scholarship winners, and their future projects, inspire the broader journalism community to keep rethinking how to report and share stories through new technologies.

For all undergraduate and graduate students already brainstorming ideas for next year, read more about the application process and eligibility on the scholarship program's website. Thank you to the Associated Press and the Online News Association for making this scholarship program possible, and we look forward to seeing the impact these students have in their communities and in journalism.

Posted by Sean Carlson, Global Communications & Public Affairs

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/celebrating-six-students-receiving-ap.html

[G] Google Ads - now on Google+

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 08:01 PM PDT

Official Google CPG Blog: Google Ads - now on Google+

When we launched Google+ Pages last November, we aimed to provide you with a way to post updates and news about your business, have engaging conversations with customers, and send tailored messages to specific groups of people.

We're now excited to share that Google Ads will be joining Google+ Pages to provide you, our advertising partners, with the latest Google advertising product news, training, tips and Hangouts that can help make the web work for you. We hope it will become a useful resource for growing your business, reaching customers in the moments that matter, and making smarter decisions.

Click to view page

Here's a quick peek at what you can expect from the Google Ads page on Google+:

Stay ahead of the curve with the latest launches and updates for Google's advertising solutions, including search, display, mobile, social, YouTube and Google Analytics
Receive how-to information, best practices, and recommendations
Learn about upcoming trainings and events
Attend Hangouts with product experts

Add Google Ads to your circles here. We look forward to connecting with you on Google+.

Posted by: Christina Park and Katie Miller, Ads Product Marketing

URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-ads-now-on-google.html

[G] Enjoying opening day with Google tools

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Enjoying opening day with Google tools

Spring is finally here and with it, the beginning of the 2012 baseball season! For die hard fans, this means the beginning of another fabulous year of Cracker Jacks and days at the ballpark.

To celebrate the start of the 2012 season of America's pastime, we've created a special Google Earth video featuring aerial imagery and 3D models of the country's most legendary stadiums. Fly to Fenway in Boston, soar over Chicago's Wrigley Field and check out San Francisco Bay and AT&T Park, all from a bird's eye view. What a way to take a virtual journey with your team as they travel across the country!

For the lucky fans that get to attend their favorite team's games in person, we've put together a few tips to make the most of each match-up. Batter up!

Our first tip aims to keep you warm and dry on game day. Nothing ruins a day at the park like unexpected weather. Make sure you dress appropriately for the game and don't miss a minute of the action. On Google Maps, just select the weather layer from the drop down in the upper right hand corner of the map and zoom to specific cities to see the current and expected conditions.

The weather layer in Google Maps shows that it's going to be a pretty chilly day at AT&T Park.
Now that you've got your jacket packed, where to go pre-game for a light snack? Enter a ballpark or stadium name in Google Maps and use the "Search Nearby" feature to find sports bars, hotels, public transportation stops and more in the same neighborhood. If you are already at the ballpark, use the same feature on Google Maps for mobile and get directions on the go.

Are you planning on meeting friends at the game? Scope out the area around the ballpark with Street View in Google Maps to pick a spot to meet up before finding your seats (and maybe a couple of hot dogs along the way).

Street View of At&T Park in San Francisco
For many fans, this might be the year to do that baseball road trip you've always talked about. Create a Custom Map with your itinerary and mark the surrounding restaurants or local sites you visit along the way. Share your map with friends and family and add text, videos and photos to create an archive of your travels to enjoy during the off-season and for years to come.

We hope you find these tips useful on opening day and beyond. Best of luck to each and every team. Play ball!

Posted by Vicky Homan, Product Marketing Manager, Google Earth

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/enjoying-opening-day-with-google-tools.html

[G] Admiral Pest Control switches to Google Apps to eliminate communication bugs

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Admiral Pest Control switches to Google Apps to eliminate communication bugs

Posted by: Jeff Jones, Vice President, Admiral Pest Control

Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jeff Jones, Vice President of Admiral Pest Control, a pest control and extermination business with two locations in Los Angeles and Orange County, California.

Admiral Pest Control is a fourth generation family-owned business. The company was started by my grandfather in 1947, and with every generation there have been new ideas on how to run more efficiently. We handle everything from termite inspections, to pigeon control for residences and businesses throughout the Long Beach area. With a team of 40 people, we're big enough to accommodate the needs of our clients, but small enough to have a personal relationship with them too.

For many years, we had a Microsoft Exchange server and when it came time to upgrade, we realized we needed a change. The price to upgrade was costly and we had experienced frequent outages. So, we decided to switch to Google Apps for Business which offered a far more reliable and cost-effective way for our employees to communicate from their desks or the field.

Our staff spends a lot of time at customer locations and can now easily check their email and schedules from their mobile phones. They can see where their next customer visit is or whether there's been a cancellation without making a trip back to the office.

We've also improved how we communicate with our customers using Google Forms. We embedded a form on our website where customers can fill in their contact information and describe the problem they're experiencing. Incoming inquiries are centralized in a single spreadsheet that gets updated in real time as a form is submitted. We're able to better manage requests and reply quickly, and our customers appreciate that we make it so easy to contact us. Customers can also provide feedback on our services through a separate form on the website.

Google Apps has helped us to better communicate as a team and better communicate with our customers at a price that fits our family business. We're excited to have Google take us into the next 65 years.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/admiral-pest-control-switches-to-google.html

[G] Introducing UK promotions and deals from Google Affiliate Network

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Introducing UK promotions and deals from Google Affiliate Network

We've blogged before about Google Affiliate Network, which helps you earn more from your site with ads that pay based on conversions. While all AdSense publishers around the world are eligible to join Google Affiliate Network, we're happy to let you know that this network has just expanded to more UK advertisers -- meaning that if you're located in the UK or have UK-based readers, the promotions available in Google Affiliate Network will soon become more relevant and interesting.

We've brought aboard UK affiliate programs like Blue Nile, Onlineticketexpress.com, Orvis UK, Shoes.com and Skechers, and will continue to add advertisers in verticals like retail, financial services, travel and electronics. Publisher payments are now available in over 40 currencies in 80 countries, and we're working to continue developing additional enhancements.

To get started with Google Affiliate Network in the UK, simply sign up using your existing AdSense login details and you'll hear back within a few days about your application. Once you're a publisher with Google Affiliate Network, follow the steps below to to get started:

Visit the Advertiser tab

Change Relationship Status to 'Available', then click 'Apply'

On the left-hand navigation, click 'Countries' and choose United Kingdom

Apply to programs

For more information about Google Affiliate Network, visit our Help Center.

Posted by Erica Sievert -- Google Affiliate Network Marketing Manager

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/s9kdbJ48Qik/introducing-uk-promotions-and-deals.html

[G] How we’re making even more 3D video available on YouTube

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: How we're making even more 3D video available on YouTube

Last year we kicked off a beta feature that let creators convert YouTube videos into 3D with a click, and since then you've converted hundreds of thousands of your videos to 3D. Today we're expanding the beta to all of you by adding automatic 3D conversion for short-form videos uploaded in 1080p. Meaning, you can select 3D viewing in the Quality settings (click on the gear icon) on the YouTube player, then pop on your 3D glasses and see YouTube in another dimension. Here's one of our favorites:

How it works

To give you more dimension on 3D, here's some background how the conversion technology works at YouTube. Since last September we've been constantly improving the underlying technology, which now uses several techniques:

We use a combination of video characteristics such as color, spatial layout and motion to estimate a depth map for each frame of a monoscopic video sequence

We use machine learning from the growing number of true 3D videos on YouTube to learn video depth characteristics and apply them in depth estimation

The generated depth map and the original monoscopic frame create a stereo 3D left-right pair, that a stereo display system needs to display a video as 3D

With this broader knowledge of 3D conversion, we then apply cloud computing scalability to make conversion possible across even more videos on YouTube. Breaking up a video into tiny chunks of data and processing them in parallel on Google's cloud infrastructure lets us process these videos, while still producing the quality you expect.

We'd love to hear your feedback and other 3D features you'd like to see. With 4D, 5D and 6D around the corner there's lots more we can do!

Deb Mukherjee, technical staff, and Chen Wu, software engineer, recently watched "YouTube Rewind 2011" in 3D!

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/5aULYciw1C0/how-were-making-even-more-3d-video.html

Googland

2012-04-05T19:18:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Google Summer of Code meetup
[G] Visualize U.S. demographics using Google Maps API for Business
[G] March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates
[G] Adding a new ad unit helps Concertboom boost revenue 400% while maintaining site quality
[G] Build better maps with Analytics for Google Maps API for Business
[G] March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates
[G] Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures
[G] Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures
[G] Google Affiliate Network expanding in the UK
[G] Bringing the Halls of Museums Into Classrooms Everywhere
[G] What's new in DoubleClick for Publishers
[G] Two new gadgets to make your blog better with Google+
[G] Moving to the New Blogger Interface
[G] Zap! Finding the right app and extension just got easier
[G] Opening up the world of art with Street View
[G] Now see service alerts for the London Underground in Maps
[G] Get typical traffic for roads, not just highways

[G] Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Google Summer of Code meetup

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Google Summer of Code meetup

We held our fifth Google Summer of Code meetup in the Moratuwa, Sri Lanka area on March 17th. We had enormous support from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering staff at the University of Moratuwa to make it a full scale session covering many of the aspects of the program that are important to students. We had almost 150 students (a record high) in the morning introductory sessions and around 40 students during the afternoon sessions that were geared more toward second and third year university students.

Kathiravelu Pradeeban delivered an excellent 80 minute Google Summer of Code information presentation focusing on general open source fundamentals from how to communicate within open source communities to proper email/IRC etiquette to open source culture. He also discussed general information about Google Summer of Code such as important dates for the program, how to apply, guidelines on how to write project proposals, and some ideas to think about when deciding if a project is a good fit for you. In later sessions there was more of a focus on open source technologies with demos on how to effectively use these technologies for open source development work.

The students were very excited about the program, and asked many questions both publicly and to us individually after the session ended. We tried to clear up doubts students had about their own ability levels and encouraged them to participate by showing some of the great opportunities of working on a real-life project rather than the fake projects that they do at university most of the time. We also explained about the value of having connections all around the world and the spiritual happiness open source projects bring in general. Those of us that had participated as students with Google Summer of Code shared our experiences including one participant whose Google Summer of Code project caught the eye of a well known IT company who hired him.

Good luck to those students currently applying for Google Summer of Code!

By Kasun Gajasinghe, former Google Summer of Code student for DocBook Project and Gentoo Linux, 2012 DocBook Project mentor

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/PkhppUgax8g/moratuwa-sri-lanka-google-summer-of.html

[G] Visualize U.S. demographics using Google Maps API for Business

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Visualize U.S. demographics using Google Maps API for Business

Posted by Thor Mitchell, Product Manager, Google Maps API

In April 2010, 89 million U.S. households returned a census form in which they answered ten basic questions. Once collected, aggregated, and published, the 2010 U.S. census provided rich insights into the makeup and distribution of the U.S. population. However the resulting demographics, which cover all 50 states, over 3,000 counties, over 70,000 census tracts, and over 200,000 block groups, are extremely challenging to obtain and visualize on a map.

Today we are making U.S. demographics visualization accessible and easy for our Google Maps API for Business customers with the launch of the new Demographics Layer in Maps API v3. The Demographics Layer enables Google Maps API for Business developers to add visualization of U.S. demographics provided by Nielsen to their Maps API applications.

Developers can select from 34 statistics to display on the map at state, county, census tract or block group granularity, including:

population
age
race
marital status
housing status

Data is available for 2010 and 2011, in addition to projected data for 2015 and 2016.

Google Maps API for Business applications using the Demographics Layer can control how the data is styled, such as defining color thresholds or gradients, and also define style rules based on expressions across statistics that are evaluated in real time. For example, by defining a gradient style based on the expression "population / area" you can visualize population density on the map.

The Demographics Layer is now available to all Google Maps API for Business customers for use in internal applications. For more information on how to add the Demographics Layer to your applications please see the documentation. If you are not an existing Google Maps API for Business customer and are interested in using the Demographics Layer, please contact the sales team by filling in this form.

We hope the Demographics Layer provides your business with the intelligence you need to put your own data into context, and empowers you to make smarter business decisions going forward.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/visualize-us-demographics-using-google.html

[G] March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

The Google Apps Blog: March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates

Another month and another batch of improvements to Google Docs. We recently debuted a new spell checker that gets smarter and grows with the web, and we've also turned on a few features that let you do more with Docs.

New charting options
We've added a bunch of new ways to make richer charts in Google spreadsheets. You can now control the opacity of an area chart, set fonts to be bold or italic, and label sections of your charts along the axis.

These new features bring the number of charting improvements up to 30 since the beginning of the year, which is about 1 new feature every 3 days. Some of our favorite charts updates include annotations, error bars, a second Y axis, donut charts, and loads of formatting options.

OCR and spreadsheets support more languages
With Google Docs, you can upload PDFs and images of scanned text and have them automatically converted into Google documents using our Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Starting this week, this is available in four new languages: Hebrew, Hindi, Chinese Traditional, and Cherokee.

Language support got better in Google spreadsheets too. For Hebrew and Arabic speakers, sheets and cells now offer right-to-left support.

More ways to use Google Apps Script
Google Apps Script is a way for developers to customize Google Docs and other Google products. Over the past month, we've made some changes which developers may find helpful, including:

Support for adding your own HTML to your script's dialogues and pages. Let's say you wrote a script that prompts collaborators to play a game when they open a certain spreadsheet. It's now possible to include more sophisticated HTML, like a table in the dialog that you built.

The option to programmatically set sheet protection in Apps Script. If you're a teacher, you could add a script that automatically looked at all your spreadsheets and made sure that you're the only one allowed to edit any sheet named "Grades".
A redesign to the Apps Script menus. Sometimes when you're starting a new project you'll want to use scripts that you've already created. The menu changes make it easier for you to reuse scripts that you've already built and to share your scripts with other people .

Posted by Michael Schidlowsky, Software Engineer

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/wpU64WHpDhM/march-in-review-improved-charting.html

[G] Adding a new ad unit helps Concertboom boost revenue 400% while maintaining site quality

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Adding a new ad unit helps Concertboom boost revenue 400% while maintaining site quality

With a background in database and computer science, Internet marketing, and search engine optimization, Kooshiar Azimian is a self-described wearer of many hats. In early 2011, he channeled his diverse expertise to create Concertboom, a comprehensive concert database. Concertboom is monetized through ticket sales and Google AdSense, serving more than four million ad impressions monthly. "AdSense creates the least amount of ad waste — the advertiser gets the most value out of their ads, and the publisher gets the most money," says Kooshiar, recalling his decision to use AdSense. As traffic increased to one million unique visitors per month, Kooshiar was looking for new ways to increase revenue from AdSense.

A simple change brings booming revenue
Initially, Kooshiar showed just one 300x250 ad on some of his pages. A few months later, he received a personalized email from the Google AdSense team, who periodically share optimization tips to help publishers maximize revenue. The email suggested adding an ad unit or two, for a maximum of three units per page.

This surprised Kooshiar, who had previously thought one ad unit per page was the maximum allowed. "I was also a little skeptical about losing page quality, and I didn't want to have to change my interface to serve another ad. But I said, 'Let's give it a shot.' I added one unit and the result was shocking. My revenue more than quadrupled in the first week," he recalls.

Quality matters most
Given the benefits of this simple implementation, Kooshiar recommends other publishers give it a try, but not at the expense of site quality and user experience. "A quality site serves the right content, especially if your audience comes from search engines. Don't trick your audience into content you don't have. Provide content that is accurate, updated and served in a timely fashion with nice, clean graphics. Be sure to maintain page quality and a quick load time. Know your audience and consider which ad formats work best with your content. Also, make sure you're not compromising your site aesthetic, so your website doesn't just look like ad junk," he advises.

Kooshiar also points out that since he maintained his focus on quality, he did not experience any change in his search ranking after adding a new ad unit.

A solid venture
After witnessing his revenue quadruple, Kooshiar is seeing Concertboom in a new light. "Before, this site was just extra cash for me, and now it's a growing business. I can start hiring people to help me create more content," he says. "This AdSense optimization has changed the whole dynamic of Concertboom."

Posted by Caroline Halpin, AdSense Optimization Specialist

URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2012/04/adding-new-ad-unit-helps-concertboom.html

[G] Build better maps with Analytics for Google Maps API for Business

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Build better maps with Analytics for Google Maps API for Business

Posted by Daniel Schramm, Associate Product Manager Intern, Google Maps API

Every day people rely on maps to help them make purchasing decisions. Location matters for everything from choosing a restaurant for dinner, to picking the perfect home. It's important to understand how users view and interact with this information so you can create a map experience tailored specifically to your customers' needs. Today we make this possible with the release of Analytics for Google Maps API for Business:

Just as Google Analytics shows you how visitors interact with your website, Analytics for Google Maps API for Business provides detailed information on how customers interact with maps on your website. Do customers have to pan and zoom to find what they need? How often is 45 degree imagery used? Should you consider using a different map type? Now this information is at your fingertips.

Analytics for Google Maps API for Business delivers reports for map interactions, services, the Places, and Street View. Make changes to your map and immediately see how these enhance user behavior, allowing you to quickly customize your map to the needs of your customers.

Analytics for Google Maps is a feature included with your license of Google Maps API for Business. You can enable Analytics for Google Maps API for Business for your maps with the click of a button in the Google Enterprise Support Portal. All information recorded is anonymized and aggregated to protect the privacy of users.

For more information on how to enable and access Analytics for Maps API for Business, please see the Maps API for Business Developer Guide. If you need further assistance, or have ideas for additional features you would love to see in Analytics for Maps API for Business, please contact the Google Enterprise Support team.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/build-better-maps-with-analytics-for.html

[G] March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

Docs Blog: March in Review: Improved charting, expanded language support, and Apps Script updates

Support for adding your own HTML to your script's dialogues and pages. Let's say you wrote a script that prompts collaborators to play a game when they open a certain spreadsheet. It's now possible to include more sophisticated HTML, like a table in the dialog that you built.

The option to programmatically set sheet protection in Apps Script. If you're a teacher, you could add a script that automatically looked at all your spreadsheets and made sure that you're the only one allowed to edit any sheet named "Grades".
A redesign to the Apps Script menus. Sometimes when you're starting a new project you'll want to use scripts that you've already created. The menu changes make it easier for you to reuse scripts that you've already built and to share your scripts with other people .

Posted by Michael Schidlowsky, Software Engineer

URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2012/04/march-in-review-improved-charting.html

[G] Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures

When it comes to movie rentals, we've been focused on adding as many of your favorite movies as possible. Today we're pleased to announce a new licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures which will bring nearly 500 new movie titles to YouTube and Google Play over the next few weeks to people in the U.S. and Canada.

Whether you're a fan of a five-time Oscar winning movie about a boy's adventures in Paris, everyday vehicles that change into terrifying robots, a charming high school slacker who takes a day off from school, or the most perfect mafia trilogy ever made, YouTube and Google Play will have what you're looking for thanks to Paramount.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Paramount has been responsible for some of the most memorable films in cinema history. With the addition of Paramount, we now have five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios offering nearly 9,000 movies for rent to millions of people around the world. It's still early days for us, and we'll continue adding new titles and expanding our service to more countries this year.

Many of these movies are available today, and the rest will be added to YouTube and Google Play over the next few months. So grab your popcorn, sit back and press play.

Malik Ducard, Director of Content Partnerships at YouTube, recently rented, "Coming to America"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/vJbBOanDcMA/coming-soon-to-youtube-and-google-play.html

[G] Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:57 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/vJbBOanDcMA/coming-soon-to-youtube-and-google-play.html

[G] Google Affiliate Network expanding in the UK

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Affiliate Network: Google Affiliate Network expanding in the UK

After testing Google Affiliate Network in beta throughout the UK, we're excited to announce that we're expanding to more UK advertisers and agencies. This means more relevant deals and promotions will be available to publishers with UK audiences. We've worked hard to enhance our international product offering and now have a team based in the Google London office actively supporting UK users.

Key benefits for UK users:

Market-leading insights and reporting available in local timezone, language and currency
Publisher payments available in over 40 currencies in 80 countries
Product feed integration via Google Merchant Centre
Ability to create accounts with different payouts, advertiser-specific terms and local market presence

Custom recruiting for select advertisers

For UK publishers:
UK publishers can now apply for UK affiliate programmes including Blue Nile, Onlineticketexpress.com, Orvis UK, Shoes.com, Skechers and more. Follow the steps below to to get started:

1.) Log in to your account (or apply to join our network)
2.) Go to the Advertisers tab
3.) On the left-hand navigation, click 'Countries' and choose United Kingdom
4.) Apply to programmes

For UK advertisers:
If you're an advertiser interested in starting an affiliate programme with Google Affiliate Network, please contact us and a member of our team can provide more information.

We look forward to helping advertisers, publishers and agencies achieve their goals in the UK, and doing our part to grow the UK affiliate market! For more information, please visit our website.

Posted by: Tony Nelan, Head of Google Affiliate Network for Europe

URL: http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-affiliate-network-expanding-in.html

[G] Bringing the Halls of Museums Into Classrooms Everywhere

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Bringing the Halls of Museums Into Classrooms Everywhere

Posted by Piotr Adamczyk, Google Art Project Team

The last known photo portrait of Abraham Lincoln. A masterpiece made up of thousands of tiny painted dots. Scenes of the American West that will leave you breathless. Some of our nation's greatest treasures -- all at your fingertips.

In a few hours I will join art enthusiasts, students, and local leaders at the Art Institute of Chicago to announce a major expansion of the Google Art Project. We are thrilled to have partnered with 151 museums in 40 countries including 29 American institutions in 16 cities.

Now anyone with an Internet connection can take a virtual field trip to see some of the finest art around the world and right here in America. No permission slip, sack lunch or bus fare needed! All before lunch, from their desk, a student could walk through the East Room of the White House, visit one of the greatest collections of the American West in the world at the Denver Art Museum, and take a quick trip to Massachusetts to see some of the great illustrations at the Norman Rockwell Museum. They could, of course, also go see South African rock art, street graffiti from Brazil or Australian aboriginal art.

All told, the Art Project puts over 30,000 works of art at your fingertips and allows you to:

Explore inside museums: We've adapted mapping technology to take 360-degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. You can also explore the gallery interiors directly from within Street View in Google Maps.
Discover history: Our partners have provided the backstory of many of the works in the Art Project and the artists that created these pieces. The Art Project is a fantastic classroom tool with hundreds of short educational videos created by SmartHistory presented by Khan Academy.
Get up close: We now have 46 artworks available with our "gigapixel" photo capturing technology, photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution so you can study details of the brushwork and patina that would be impossible to see with the naked eye.
Curate your own collection - build a personalized collection, provide your own commentary, and share it with your friends and family.

To learn even more about the Google Art Project and today's announcement read this post on the Official Google Blog.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2012/04/bringing-halls-of-museums-into.html

[G] What's new in DoubleClick for Publishers

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: What's new in DoubleClick for Publishers

Spring is here and so are a couple of new features in DFP! For a complete list, please visit the DFP or DFP Small Business Help Centers.

Available in DFP and DFP Small Business:

Integrated Change History: To help you keep a closer eye on your ad operations, we've integrated our change history feature into the orders page in addition to its home in the Admin tab. The change history can help you quickly identify and review all changes made to your orders and line items, including: what has changed (e.g., line item), what change occurred (e.g., from "Paused" to "Ready"), who made the change, and the date and time the change was made.

Creative Preview Links: "What will my creative look like on your site?" You've told us that this is one of the most common requests that you hear from advertisers. With our creative preview tool, you've been able to create an internal test page for QA purposes, and send screenshots to advertisers to see how their ad would appear, but advertisers could not interact with their creative on your site unitl it went live. We've changed that with the release of external creative preview links. You can now send your advertisers a link to a test page that displays their creative on your site so they can easily preview and interact with their creative on your site before it's live.

Bulk Creative Upload: We've designed DFP so there are less steps, clicks, and screens throughout the trafficking process to help you save time when trafficking your campaigns. In efforts to help you streamline your workflows even further, we've introduced the ability to bulk upload multiple creatives. With this tool, you can easily drag and drop multiple image, Flash, or text creatives from your desktop directly into your line item with a single gesture rather than uploading multiple individual creatives, helping you save time and minimizing clicks.

Available in DFP:

DFP Optimization: Publishers can now supercharge ad performance with DFP Optimization - an advanced optimization system that supercharges ad performance to help publishers increase the value of their premium inventory, and boost yield for non-premium inventory. DFP Optimization leverages Google's infrastructure and processing capabilities to automatically deliver the best ad, to the best user, at the best time. Read more.

First-party audience segmentation: Publishers are increasingly taking control of their audience data as one of the key assets of their digital businesses. To help you manage and control this data, we've introduced the ability to define and manage audience segments directly in DFP to help you increase the value of their inventory while gaining insights on how different audience segments engage with your content. Read more.

Available in DFP Mobile:

Click-To-[Action] Creative: As mobile advertising becomes a greater emphasis for your advertisers, it's important to recognize that their campaign objectives may differ from their web-based campaigns. On mobile, advertisers may define success as driving downloads of a mobile application, calling a telephone number, or opening a map versus visiting a website. To provide your advertisers with uniquely mobile experiences, we've released a new mobile creative type that enables you to specify an action (ie. download) as the destination. This new creative type will help you differentiate your mobile offering and provide your advertisers with the latest mobile formats and functionality.

Available in DFP Video:

VPAID Linear SWF Creatives: Creative agencies are building more VPAID compliant video ads than ever before. DFP Video now supports the VPAID standard as defined by the IAB, allowing you to accept more video ad campaigns without needing extra technical development. VPAID introduces a common language between ad servers and video players for handling interactive video ads for Flash and HTML5 environments.

Posted by Alex Strittmatter, DFP Product Specialist

URL: http://doubleclickpublishers.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-new-in-doubleclick-for-publishers.html

[G] Two new gadgets to make your blog better with Google+

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Blogger Buzz: Two new gadgets to make your blog better with Google+

Imagine being able to share your blog with like-minded people across the web. Today we've made doing that easier with the introduction of two Google+ gadgets, the +1 button and Google+ Badge.

Unlike the +1 button that can appear below a post, this gadget is specific to your blog. Displaying it on your blog will allow visitors to endorse your blog and share it with their friends.

+1 button for blog

If you're wondering what a +1 means, think of it as a public stamp of approval from your readers. As soon as someone clicks on the +1 button next to your blog, they'll also have the option to share it with their friends, contacts, or the rest of the web.

+1s from your readers will appear to people in their circles whenever your blog shows up in Google search results.Here's an example:

We're also introducing the Google+ badge gadget, which allows you to connect your blog to your personal profile or your Google+ page on Google+. Adding the badge to your blog helps you connect with friends, fans, and customers. It enables your readers to add you, or your blog to their circles and follow your blog posts on Google+.

If you are happy to blog under your real name, people can follow your stream on Google+. If you prefer to blog under a nickname or an established pseudonym, you can create a Google+ Page to represent your blog. Bloggers who wish to remain anonymous should continue to blog as usual.

To add these gadgets to your blog, select "Add a Gadget" from the "Layout" tab of Blogger, and select them from the list of gadgets under "Basics". You'll need to copy your Google+ ID (personal or Page) to configure the brand badge gadget for your blog.

Add the +1 and Google+ brand badge gadgets to your blog today to grow and engage your audience.

Bora Toska, Product Marketing Manager

URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2012/04/two-new-gadgets-to-make-your-blog.html

[G] Moving to the New Blogger Interface

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Blogger Buzz: Moving to the New Blogger Interface

Last September, we introduced a new user interface that makes it easier to find what you need and focus on writing great blog posts. Since then, we've implemented a number of updates and improvements based on your feedback.

In the coming weeks, we will change the default interface for those of you still using the old version, and bring the advantages of Blogger's improved interface to everyone. If you are already on the new interface, there will be no change.

If you have been using the old interface, give the new look a try today by clicking "Upgrade Now" at the top of the page. This is, of course, a free upgrade and all major features are present in the new interface. You can still temporarily switch back to the old interface by clicking the "Old Blogger interface" link located in settings, but not for much longer.

We recommend that anyone currently using the old interface switch to the new one, as all accounts will be permanently upgraded very soon.

When you switch to the new interface, you'll find a number of new features that we've released recently, including:

To help you get a better sense of what's changed and how to navigate the new interface, check out the short video below or read the friendly guide "Using our upgraded interface".

We hope you enjoy the new interface and welcome your thoughts about the new look. If you have suggestions or feedback, sign in to Blogger and click "Send Feedback" at the bottom right of the screen.

URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2012/04/moving-to-new-blogger-interface.html

[G] Zap! Finding the right app and extension just got easier

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: Zap! Finding the right app and extension just got easier

Over the past few weeks, we've introduced several new features to make it easier to discover new apps and extensions. These can be especially helpful, as the number of apps and extensions in the Chrome Web Store has grown to the tens of thousands.

Starting today, Chrome Web Store users can try out an early version of the new "Trending" view. Ranging from "warm" to "on fire", this view shows which apps and extensions are currently growing fastest in the store.

App subcategories were also recently introduced into the store. These allow you to dig deeper into each app category. For example, in the "Entertainment" category you can click on the "Music & Radio" subcategory to only view music related apps.

Searching for a particular app has also improved. Our search box now sports autocomplete suggestions that guide you to the app or extension you are looking for, faster.

And for those of you looking for apps with a particular functionality - e.g. apps that work offline - our new app badges can be of help. Just look for them on the top section of an app's landing page in the store and click on them if you want to see other apps that have the same functionality. They now come in two flavors - playable on Google+ and offline - and more will follow.

All of these improvements will especially come in handy as more apps and extensions launch every day. In the last few weeks, almost all the Google+ games have become available in the store, like the new exclusive Kingdom Age. These add to a slate of new Native Client games like MiniNinjas and new productivity and entertainment apps and extensions like Share on Meebo, Hotmail, and Google's My Chrome Theme and Google Play Movies.

Posted by Shannon Guymon, Product Manager

URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/04/zap-finding-right-app-and-extension.html

[G] Opening up the world of art with Street View

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Opening up the world of art with Street View

As a continuation of our global efforts to expand Street View to the world's most interesting and unique places, we're pleased to announce a major expansion of the Google Art Project.

Since we introduced the Art Project last year, curators, artists and viewers from all over the globe have offered exciting ideas about how to enhance the experience of collecting, sharing and discovering art. Institutions worldwide asked to join the project, urging us to increase the diversity of artworks displayed. We listened.

Our global team has worked hard to expand the project to many more museums spanning the globe. Today, the Art Project includes over 30,000 high resolution artworks. Using a combination of various Google technologies and expert information provided by our partners, we have created a unique online art experience. Users can explore a wide range of artworks at brushstroke level detail, take a virtual tour of a museum and even build their own collections to share. And high resolution Street View images now cover 51 of our partner locations, with more on the way.

A wide range of institutions, large and small, traditional art museums as well as less traditional settings for great art, are represented in the expanded Art Project. Click here and take a look at the White House in Washington D.C. Explore the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. Continue the journey in India, exploring the Santiniketan Triptych in the halls of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi.

White House: Portrait of John F. Kennedy by Aaron Shikler: View Street View

Here are a few other new things in the expanded Art Project that you might enjoy:

Street View images are now displayed in higher resolution and better dynamic range than the original version and include a greater number of images for improved navigation. Our specially designed Street View 'Trolley' took 360 degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together. The result is a truly immersive experience for art lovers and art newbies alike. The gallery interiors can also be explored directly from within Street View in Google Maps.

In addition to Street View, more than 30,000 artworks are featured in high resolution. Some have been photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution or 'gigapixel' photo capturing technology, enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye.

Each museum also features annotations that link you from Street View directly into the high resolution imagery for the artwork. So now as you navigate your favorite collections you can jump in to a specific piece and learn more about it and the artist. In total we have more than 4000 links of paintings, statues and artifacts to be explored.

The Art Project illustrates Google's commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible the widest possible audience. Under the auspices of the Google Cultural Institute, we're producing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.

Together with the fantastic input from our partners from around the world, we're delighted to have created a convenient, fun way to interact with art - a platform that we hope appeals to everyone.

To take a look visit the Art Project or the Street View gallery.

Posted by Posted by Ryan Falor, Product Manager Street View Special Collects and James Davis, Program Manager Art Project

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/opening-up-world-of-art-with-street.html

[G] Now see service alerts for the London Underground in Maps

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Now see service alerts for the London Underground in Maps

Ahead of a busy summer in London, we are bringing real time service alerts for the London Underground to Google Maps. We'll let you know of any disruptions on the Underground that are happening at the time you need them most. To see these alerts, click on a station in a timetable or in the public transport directions results.

Last summer we announced live transit updates, providing travelers with up-to-date information when planning their trips. We are excited about adding real time alerts for the 1 billion passengers that use the Underground every year.

In addition to the service alerts in real time, we've included planned engineering works for the weekends in our journey planner as well. When planning a trip for the coming weekend, we will show you the relevant subway alerts as part of the directions results. You can plan a trip for the weekend by changing the departure time in the 'Get directions' tab. Should there be planned engineering works for your route, you won't run into any surprises on the day of travel.

As usual, this information is available on maps.google.co.uk for desktop and mobile, but also on Google Maps for Android. So even when you're on the go, you'll always be informed of the latest status of the Underground. Just tap on a station to see if there are any alerts active, or get directions to your destination to see if an alert affects your travels.

Public transport directions in Britain are available for all national train routes, London Underground, Overground, DLR and bus routes, and many local bus routes.

Whether you call London home or you're one of the expected 31 million tourists visiting the city this year, we know that the addition of service alerts to Google Maps will make your travels across the city easier, faster and more convenient.

Posted by Thijs van As, Associate Product Manager, Google Transit

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/now-see-service-alerts-for-london.html

[G] Get typical traffic for roads, not just highways

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Get typical traffic for roads, not just highways

Have you ever been stuck in traffic during the heavy morning commute, or found yourself late for dinner plans because you left work right in the middle of the Friday night traffic? In addition to using Google Maps to find alternate routes and reach your destination faster, you may have also found the feature that shows typical traffic patterns on highways to be useful. Knowing the usual highway conditions during certain times of the day, like rush hour, can help you avoid traffic. And if you plan to avoid these highways, it's also helpful to know the typical traffic patterns on the surrounding arterial roads as well.

Starting today, if you're planning a trip for which you anticipate traffic, you can find out what typical traffic is like on these arterial roads, rather than just on highways. Simply type in your starting and ending points to get directions in Google Maps, enable the traffic layer on the upper right hand side of the viewport, and then click "change" in the legend to switch from live traffic to Typical Traffic for these roads.

Click traffic layer and then select day and time

You can now access this data for important arterials in cities around the world to help you get where you want to go, and on time! To illustrate the improved comprehensiveness of the traffic data now available, below are the before and after traffic screenshots for London:

London traffic for both highways and major roads

And of course, you can always help your fellow drivers and improve traffic data about road conditions and speeds by turning on the My Location feature on Google Maps for Android.

We wish you safe and happy driving!

Posted by Szabolcs Payrits, Software Engineer, Google Maps

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/get-typical-traffic-for-roads-not-just.html

Googland

2012-04-04T19:16:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape
[G] Google Ads - now on Google+
[G] Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape
[G] Going global in search of great art

[G] Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:19 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape

Originally posted on the Google Analytics blog

Today, we're sharing some research on marketing attribution that we conducted in partnership with Econsultancy, a leading digital market research firm. The insights -- Marketing Attribution: Valuing the Customer Journey -- provide a snapshot of how marketers and agencies are conducting attribution, the impact it has, and the barriers holding them back.

If you're not familiar with digital attribution, it's about distributing credit to all of the elements of your digital marketing program, so you can gauge the impact of customer marketing interactions on your sales results and make more accurate investment decisions. Here are a few snippets from the report that we found interesting:

It's still a new craft, but early results show positive impact
Although digital attribution is still relatively new -- 83% of practitioners we surveyed have been using it for less than 2 years -- it clearly has a positive impact on businesses that employ it. 72% agree that it leads to better budget allocations, 63% gained a better understanding of how digital channels work together, and 58% had clearer insights into their audience:

Attribution leads to improved ROI, better budgeting

Last click attribution dominates; agencies are leading the way in experimentation
Most digital marketers run multiple campaigns, each with different strategies and objectives. For instance, display campaigns that are designed to generate awareness will have a different impact on sales than paid search campaigns designed to bring in buyers. Yet most marketers today still use attribution models that do not account for these differences in strategy. Although only 14% of respondents consider "last click" attribution to be "very effective," it remains common; most likely because marketers haven't yet found or mastered the right attribution tools. Digital marketing agencies have done more with sophisticated attribution methods and technologies:

Robust attribution leads to confident digital decisions
For organizations that use attribution, it often leads to greater confidence in marketing choices: if you know the impact of your programs, it's easier to budget for them. As one online retailer commented, "Attribution was the missing piece to our campaign analysis. Now we don't run a campaign without learning something about how our marketing affects the buying cycle, and then testing to see whether it applies in the long run."

Performing marketing attribution with Google
Here at Google we spend our time building intuitive tools to make measurement easier, so that you can really use your data to make smarter decisions. That's why we provide several important tools for marketing attribution, including Search Funnels in AdWords and Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics. And check out our Attribution Modeling tool in Google Analytics Premium, which includes five standard attribution models plus a custom model builder, so you can create and customize attribution models in minutes, and see data instantly. Learn more in our Attribution Playbook.

Join us for an Attribution Hangout
If you're available this Friday, April 6, at 9:00am PDT, please join Bill Kee, Product Manager for Attribution, and Justin Cutroni, Analytics Advocate, for a Google+ Hangout. Bill will talk about the research and give a demo of the Attribution tool in Google Analytics Premium, as well as discussing Multi-Channel Funnels and AdWords Search Funnels, two complementary features.

To watch the Hangout on Air, tune into Justin's Google+ Page on Friday. If you have a question that you would like us to discuss, please enter it in this this form -- and we'll invite five of you to join the Hangout live to ask your questions.

We look forward to seeing you at the Hangout on Friday!

Posted by Sara Jablon Moked, Product Marketing Manager, Conversion and Attribution

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/better-results-still-early-adoption.html

[G] Google Ads - now on Google+

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:19 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Google Ads - now on Google+

Click to view page

Here's a quick peek at what you can expect from the Google Ads page on Google+:

Stay ahead of the curve with the latest launches and updates for Google's advertising solutions, including search, display, mobile, social, YouTube and Google Analytics
Receive how-to information, best practices, and recommendations
Learn about upcoming trainings and events
Attend Hangouts with product experts

Add Google Ads to your circles here. We look forward to connecting with you on Google+.

Posted by: Christina Park and Katie Miller, Ads Product Marketing

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-ads-now-on-google.html

[G] Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 12:22 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Better results, (still) early adoption: Marketing attribution in a complex digital landscape

Today, we're sharing some research on marketing attribution that we conducted in partnership with Econsultancy, a leading digital market research firm. The insights -- Marketing Attribution: Valuing the Customer Journey -- provide a snapshot of how marketers and agencies are conducting attribution, the impact it has, and the barriers holding them back.

If you're not familiar with digital attribution, it's about distributing credit to all of the elements of your digital marketing program, so you can gauge the impact of customer marketing interactions on your sales results and make more accurate investment decisions. Here are a few snippets from the report that we found interesting:

It's still a new craft, but early results show positive impact

Although digital attribution is still relatively new -- 83% of practitioners we surveyed have been using it for less than 2 years -- it clearly has a positive impact on businesses that employ it. 72% agree that it leads to better budget allocations, 63% gained a better understanding of how digital channels work together, and 58% had clearer insights into their audience:

Attribution leads to improved ROI, better budgeting

Last click attribution dominates; agencies are leading the way in experimentation

Most digital marketers run multiple campaigns, each with different strategies and objectives. For instance, display campaigns that are designed to generate awareness will have a different impact on sales than paid search campaigns designed to bring in buyers. Yet most marketers today still use attribution models that do not account for these differences in strategy. Although only 14% of respondents consider "last click" attribution to be "very effective," it remains common; most likely because marketers haven't yet found or mastered the right attribution tools. Digital marketing agencies have done more with sophisticated attribution methods and technologies:

Robust attribution leads to confident digital decisions

For organizations that use attribution, it often leads to greater confidence in marketing choices: if you know the impact of your programs, it's easier to budget for them. As one online retailer commented, "Attribution was the missing piece to our campaign analysis. Now we don't run a campaign without learning something about how our marketing affects the buying cycle, and then testing to see whether it applies in the long run."

Performing marketing attribution with Google

Here at Google we spend our time building intuitive tools to make measurement easier, so that you can really use your data to make smarter decisions. That's why we provide several important tools for marketing attribution, including Search Funnels in AdWords and Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics. And check out our Attribution Modeling tool in Google Analytics Premium, which includes five standard attribution models plus a custom model builder, so you can create and customize attribution models in minutes, and see data instantly. Learn more in our Attribution Playbook.

Join us for an Attribution Hangout

If you're available this Friday, April 6, at 9:00am PDT, please join Bill Kee, Product Manager for Attribution, and Justin Cutroni, Analytics Advocate, for a Google+ Hangout. Bill will talk about the research and give a demo of the Attribution tool in Google Analytics Premium, as well as discussing Multi-Channel Funnels and AdWords Search Funnels, two complementary features.

To watch the Hangout on Air, tune into Justin's Google+ Page on Friday. If you have a question that you would like us to discuss, please enter it in this this form -- and we'll invite five of you to join the Hangout live to ask your questions.

We look forward to seeing you at the Hangout on Friday!

Posted by Sara Jablon Moked, Product Marketing Manager, Conversion and Attribution

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/T3vLgDbuC3U/better-results-still-early-adoption.html

[G] Going global in search of great art

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 07:32 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Going global in search of great art

South African rock designs. Brazilian street graffiti. Australian aboriginal art. Today we're announcing a major expansion of the Google Art Project. From now on, with a few simple clicks of a finger, art lovers around the world will be able to discover not just paintings, but also sculpture, street art and photographs from 151 museums in 40 countries.

Since we introduced the Art Project last year, curators, artists and viewers from all over the globe have offered exciting ideas about how to enhance the experience of collecting, sharing and discovering art. Institutions worldwide asked to join the project, urging us to increase the diversity of artworks displayed. We listened.

The original Art Project counted 17 museums in nine countries and 1,000 images, almost all paintings from Western masters. Today, the Art Project includes more than 30,000 high-resolution artworks, with Street View images for 46 museums, with more on the way. In other words, the Art Project is no longer just about the Indian student wanting to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.

The expanded Art Project embraces all sizes of institutions, specializing in art or in other types of culture. For example, you can take a look at the White House in Washington, D.C., explore the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, and continue the journey to the Santiniketan Triptych in the halls of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. In the United States alone, some 29 partners in 16 cities are participating, ranging from excellent regional museums like the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina to top notch university galleries such as the SCAD museum of art in Savannah, Georgia.

Here are a few other new things in the expanded Art Project that you might enjoy:

Using completely new tools, called Explore and Discover, you can find artworks by period, artist or type of artwork, displaying works from different museums around the world.
Google+ and Hangouts are integrated on the site, enabling you to create even more engaging personal galleries.
Street View images are now displayed in finer quality. A specially designed Street View "trolley" took 360-degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. You can also explore the gallery interiors directly from within Street View in Google Maps.
We now have 46 artworks available with our "gigapixel" photo capturing technology, photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution so you can study details of the brushwork and patina that would be impossible to see with the naked eye.
An enhanced My Gallery feature lets you select any of the 30,000 artworks—along with your favorite details—to build your own personalized gallery. You can add comments to each painting and share the whole collection with friends and family. (It's an ideal tool for students.)

The Art Project is part of our efforts to bringing culture online and making it accessible the widest possible audience. Under the auspices of the Google Cultural Institute, we're presenting high-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.

For more information and future developments, follow the Art Project on Google+. Together with the fantastic input from our partners from around the world, we're delighted to have created a convenient, fun way to interact with art—a platform that we hope appeals to students, aspiring artists and connoisseurs alike.

Posted by Amit Sood, Head of Google Art Project

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/going-global-in-search-of-great-art.html

Googland

2012-04-03T19:21:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Share reports by email and export to PDF: now live in the new Google Analytics
[G] Monetize online videos and games with AdSense
[G] Google Model Your Town 2012: Vote for the winner!
[G] A behind-the-scenes look at Gmail Tap
[G] Introducing MusicBeautyLife, Next Beauty Guru Contest winner

[G] Share reports by email and export to PDF: now live in the new Google Analytics

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 05:47 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Share reports by email and export to PDF: now live in the new Google Analytics

The new Google Analytics has come a long way since it was first unveiled last March. Between multi-channel funnels, real time, flow visualization, premium, and a whole host of other incredible features, it is hard to believe that only a year has gone by.

We are excited to announce that Analytics reports can now be automatically sent to yourself or other members of your team from within the new Google Analytics. These reports can be set up to email at a variety of regularly scheduled times, including daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Reports can also be exported to PDF allowing you to save or share the insights you've found using Google Analytics.

Where to find Email and PDF export

Look in the newly-redesigned Utility Bar located at the top of your favorite reports for Email and PDF Export options:

In order to provide maximum flexibility, this functionality is available on standard reports, custom reports, and dashboards. Clicking on the "Email" button on a dashboard pulls up the same email scheduling dialog as in standard reports and offers the same feature set:

Why "beta"?

For those who have used the email scheduler in the old interface, this new emailer system operates independently and has enhancements in reliability and ease of use. We are putting the finishing touches on the look and feel of exported reports, and anticipate that these will be finalized soon.

Part of the transition to the new emailing system is an opportunity to "reset" your scheduled emails. Consider which scheduled emails have been most helpful and be sure to recreate those in the new interface. The new Google Analytics has some reporting differences and additional metrics that you may want to take advantage of when drafting new scheduled emails. We will provide ample notice before scheduled emails from the old Google Analytics are sunset later this year.

We would love to hear how the release of these features helps you to be efficient and derive valuable insights. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Happy exporting!

- Chris Anderson, Google Analytics team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/1BYhjoXEJ6s/share-reports-by-email-and-export-to.html

[G] Monetize online videos and games with AdSense

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 01:06 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Monetize online videos and games with AdSense

It seems that everyone these days is spending more time watching their favorite shows online, or playing the newest online game. eMarketer predicts that in 2015, 76% of total U.S. internet users will be regularly watching videos online, and that 40% will be playing online games. These audiences are becoming increasingly attractive to advertisers, and spend on video ads and ads within games is growing each year.

If you're one of the many video publishers or games producers who can benefit from this growth, you might be interested to know that Google has two solutions to monetize this type of content: AdSense for video and AdSense for games. With AdSense, you're able to deliver relevant and non-intrusive ads on your video content and browser-based games. Over the last year, we've seen these products take off. We're particularly excited about the TrueView video ad format that gives viewers choice and control over the ads they watch, while delivering better returns for our publishers.

If you're interested in monetizing your video content or games, please visit our AdSense for video or AdSense for games Help Center sections. We've changed our application process so that you can start to implement straight away. Follow our guidelines and once we review your integration for policy compliance, you're ready to go.

The network of video and games publishers gets bigger every day, and we hope you can join us!

Posted by Daniela Bruno, Product Specialist, Video and Games, AdSense Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/Ycq7l3g-efc/monetize-online-videos-and-games-with.html

[G] Google Model Your Town 2012: Vote for the winner!

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 01:06 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Google Model Your Town 2012: Vote for the winner!

Cross-posted from the SketchUp Blog

The 212 teams that participated in this year's Google Model Your Town Competition produced thousands of models, the vast majority of which were jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly, mind-bogglingly gorgeous. Narrowing down the field to six finalists was a gut wrenching affair, but it had to be done. In alphabetical order, the finalist teams for 2012 are:

Evansville, Indiana, United States | Evansville's collection of models
Modeler: Randall Crane

Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Spain | Getaria's collection of models
Modelers: Josetxo Perez Fernandez, Pedro Domecq Aguirre

Leominster, Herefordshire, United Kingdom | Leominster's collection of models
Modeler: Tom Harvey

Lowell, Massachusetts, United States | Lowell's collection of models
Modeler: Beryl Reid

Toruń, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland | Toruń's collection of models
Modelers: Arkadiusz Pawlowski, Górniak Grzegorz

Zielona Góra, Lubuskie, Poland | Zielona Góra's collection of models
Modeler: Tomasz Szular
This video provides an aerial, musical tour of each of the six finalists' models in situ. Make some popcorn and enjoy.

It's voting time!

It's up to you (and the rest of the world) to pick an overall winner. We've created separate one-minute video tours for each town, as well as KML files that you can download to see the models in Google Earth. Peruse the entries, then vote for your favorite. You have until May 1st, 2012 to cast your ballot.

Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered—this year's models were truly amazing.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google SketchUp Team

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-model-your-town-2012-vote-for.html

[G] A behind-the-scenes look at Gmail Tap

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 01:06 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: A behind-the-scenes look at Gmail Tap

Posted by Reed Morse, Software Engineer

Yesterday, we announced the introduction of Gmail Tap. People wanted some more information, so we're sharing an in-depth interview with our product lead.

URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/behind-scenes-look-at-gmail-tap.html

[G] Introducing MusicBeautyLife, Next Beauty Guru Contest winner

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 01:06 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Introducing MusicBeautyLife, Next Beauty Guru Contest winner

Back in January, we kicked off The Next Beauty Guru Contest on YouTube Destination Beauty, a chance for one YouTube creator to take the next step in their beauty career.

Today we want to introduce you to Dianna Hampton, MusicBeautyLife on YouTube, who's the winner of the Next Beauty Guru contest sponsored by L'Oréal USA. Dianna's technique and easy-to-follow tutorial helped us learn how to go from bare face to glamour and grace. Here's her video:

While Dianna is off to NYC for pampering at L'Oréal USA and a receiving a year's supply of L'Oréal Paris products, you can expect to see much more from MusicBeautyLife on YouTube.

Thank you to all of the talented experts who applied to be The Next Beauty Guru, and for more beauty goodness, subscribe to YouTube Destination Beauty.

Jamie Reichstein, lifestyle program manager, recently watched "A Heartwarming Military Reunion."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/c_jkTbotXMs/introducing-musicbeautylife-next-beauty.html

Googland

2012-04-02T19:08:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Interplanetary Reporting Comes To Google Analytics
[G] Begin your quest with Google Maps 8-bit for NES
[G] Introducing Jargon-Bot for Google Apps: translating business jargon into plain English
[G] Google Voice expands to new markets
[G] Introducing Gmail Tap

[G] Interplanetary Reporting Comes To Google Analytics

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Interplanetary Reporting Comes To Google Analytics

At Google we like to create solutions for the future. And we imagine a future where web use won't be restricted simply to Earth. Rather, people will want to visit their favorite sites while cruising around the rings of Saturn with friends or relaxing at the (inevitable) Mercury tanning facility.

When the galaxy is our playground, marketers, analysts and webmasters will want to understand location use beyond Earth. For example, if you had a chain of taco stands and noticed many users visiting your website from the Mars outpost, well, that might help you make a business case to begin expanding your business to serve Mars colonists.

That's why today we're announcing a sneak preview of our new Interplanetary Reports. While currently you only get a partial picture of website visitor location, we want to expand beyond Earth to help you understand visitor activities from neighboring stars and planets. You'll also be able to drill down on each planet to see greater detail. For example, which colony or outpost your visitors came from similar to the city drill down available for Earth today.

In order to help you improve slow interplanetary site speed we're also adding an average page load time to this report to help you understand latency issues caused by distances between planets.

When you slice and dice the data from these new reports, you might discover some interesting things. For example, we noticed a direct correlation between gravity and site bounce rate. Visitors coming from the moon bounced 6 times higher than those from earth.

We figured you might have questions. So, following is a quick FAQ for current Google Analytics users:

When will the new reports be released?

The new reports are scheduled to be released to all users starting in the year 2030, when we anticipate local space travel becomes widespread.

How far across space will the new reports track?

We'll start by tracking location from as far away as the Andromeda Galaxy, however as light speed travel becomes more widespread we'll be integrating new (patent-pending) technologies to track visitors from greater locations.

Does Google Analytics plan to also segment traffic by species?

Non-human traffic is something we've been thinking about. As we work together with our space-faring friends, we'll be introducing a new section within demographics to take into account any new species discovered.

We hope you're as excited as we are to explore the galaxy and also keep connected to the web. After all, updating your space logs (slogs) should be a social activity that users from across the galaxy can comment on, share, and of course measure.

- The Google Analytics team

photo courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

...and yes, this is our April Fools' Day joke.

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/04/interplanetary-reporting-comes-to.html

[G] Begin your quest with Google Maps 8-bit for NES

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Begin your quest with Google Maps 8-bit for NES

We're constantly making improvements to Google Maps in order to take advantage of better hardware and web standards. For example, last October we launched MapsGL to capitalize on the improved graphics capabilities offered by WebGL.

In our pursuit of new digital frontiers, we realized that we may have left behind a large number of users who couldn't access Google Maps on their classic hardware. Surprisingly, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was unsupported, despite its tremendous popularity with over 60 million units sold worldwide.

Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google's immense data centers, and support from Nintendo and Square Enix, we were able to overcome the technical and design hurdles of developing 8-bit maps. Today, we're excited to announce the result: a version of Google Maps for NES, with beautiful low-res graphics, simple and intuitive controls, and a timeless soundtrack.

With Google Maps 8-bit, you can do all the things you already do on regular Google Maps. Search for famous landmarks and sites around the world. Take an epic journey with 8-bit Street View. Get detailed directions to avoid dangerous paths, and battle your way through a world of powerful monsters and mystic treasures.

Coming soon to the Google Store

As the first NES cartridge to be released in nearly 18 years, we're working hard to make Google Maps 8-bit for NES available in the Google Store as soon as possible. A mobile version for Game Boy is also under development.

For those who are eager to try Google Maps 8-bit now, we've made a limited trial available on desktop: just click the "Quest" box in the top right corner of Google Maps to get started. Please be mindful of dragons while playing. We wish you a safe and happy quest.

Posted by Tatsuo Nomura, Software Engineer, Google Maps

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/begin-your-quest-with-google-maps-8-bit.html

[G] Introducing Jargon-Bot for Google Apps: translating business jargon into plain English

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Introducing Jargon-Bot for Google Apps: translating business jargon into plain English

Posted by Adam Swidler, Google Apps Product Manager

Think back to your first day of work. Do you remember that blank look of sheer confusion you had throughout the day? Your coworker approached, "Hi! Great to meet you, welcome aboard! Can you calendar me in for a 1:1 to talk about our c-level action plan for the all hands?" That's when you learned it only got worse if you smiled in acknowledgement. Even after you've been at a company for years, business jargon continues to invade your day and ruin productivity. When your boss asks, "Can we take a step back for a second?" what he really means is, "Wow, you have completely gone in the wrong direction." These kind of interactions are not only annoying, but studies from the Foundation of Office Language show that such interactions also significantly reduce productivity and morale amongst employees.

Our engineers have worked tirelessly for the past two years to fight this epidemic that has plagued efficiency in the business world. Today, we are launching a new alpha feature in Google Apps for Business, Jargon-Bot. Jargon-Bot will automatically detect business jargon or business speak and provide you with real-time translation in plain English. Yes, simple, plain English. Jargon-Bot has been integrated across the entire suite of Google Apps so that next time you are on an IM chat with your manager, it will help you recognize and say no to unrealistic expectations. When you receive an e-mail from your supplier, Jargon-Bot won't let you get ripped off by demystifying the fine print. And even when you're on a Google+ Hangout with your accounting team, jargon-bot will be by your side, so you don't break your e-reader when you have to help "close the books."

We've been alpha testing Jargon-Bot internally for the past 6 months, and the results have been dramatic: a 10X increase in employee productivity, a 35.4% increase in worker productivity, and IM conversations that are 90% shorter. Best of all, meetings which are normally an hour long, now average just 17 minutes because people actually understand each other.

Turn on Jargon-Bot today and avoid making a fool of yourself.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-jargon-bot-for-google-apps.html

[G] Google Voice expands to new markets

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT

Google Voice Blog: Google Voice expands to new markets

When we asked our users what features they'd like to see in Google Voice, we heard a lot of different answers. And we listened very closely to all of them. A few themes stood out for us: you'd like to see us bring more awesome features to your phones, and you'd like to see Google Voice in other countries. But we asked ourselves: is this ambitious enough? Surely we can do something even better than that. And that's when the future became clear to us: Dogs and cats. Texting. Together.

Introducing Google Voice...For Pets.

You might ask yourself, "Google Voice? For my pets? How is that even possible? There's only a few bluetooth headsets that can fit my dog, and they're so expensive!" The secret is in our special Voice Communication Collars. The collars fit around your pet's neck and use a series of sensors to record audio directly from your dog or cat's vocal cords, using technology originally developed for NASA spacesuits. Using your WiFi network, audio messages are uploaded to your Google Voice account within seconds. Alternately, a tiny micro-LED emitter built into the collar can project a keyboard onto the floor, so your pet can tap their front paws to send text messages. With a little training, your beloved Fluffy will be able to let you know exactly what she wants every minute of every day. Wherever you go.

We didn't just stop there. Voicemails from your pet would be pretty silly if you haven't been trained how to understand cat or dog. Thankfully, we've solved that problem too. We took our voicemail transcription engine and combined it with millions of adorable pet videos from the Internet, training it to understand our furry friends. Now our transcription engine can now translate cat meows or dog growls into English!

Thanks to our mobile apps, you can always keep in touch with your pets, no matter how far away they are.

We're rolling out Google Voice for Pets in a limited beta. Click here to apply to be one of the first pet owners to try our special communication collars.

Posted by Alex Wiesen, Software Engineer

URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/google-voice-expands-to-new-markets.html

[G] Introducing Gmail Tap

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT

The Google Apps Blog: Introducing Gmail Tap

Posted by Reed Morse, Software Engineer

The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1874 and yet it is still used today, largely unchanged. Today we're excited to introduce a new input method designed for the future: Gmail Tap for Android and iOS. Watch the video for an overview:

Gmail Tap takes the keyboard from 26 keys to just two. Every letter of the alphabet is represented by a simple pattern of dots and dashes, and once you know them you can type without even looking at your screen. This makes it ideal for situations where you need to discreetly send emails, such as when you're on a date or in a meeting with your boss.

We're also introducing a new mode, multi-email. Double your productivity by typing multiple emails at once:

To get started with Gmail Tap, head over to our informational page and watch our video. Then let us know what you think on Google+.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/Tvt8adkVl8Y/introducing-gmail-tap.html

Googland

2012-04-01T19:21:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Introducing Gmail Tap
[G] Introducing Click-to-Teleport Ad Extensions
[G] The YouTube Collection: hold ALL the magic of YouTube in your hands
[G] Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR
[G] A new way to multitask
[G] A red pin to mark a dream: Competing in the National Geographic Bee
[G] Why maps matter: Using digital cartography tools to change the world
[G] The Big Tent, and big ideas, arrive stateside
[G] An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users

[G] Introducing Gmail Tap

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Tap

URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-gmail-tap.html

[G] Introducing Click-to-Teleport Ad Extensions

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Introducing Click-to-Teleport Ad Extensions

Exactly one year ago we rolled out Teleport Search in select markets, expanding the Google Search results beyond providing links and allowing users to travel through time and space. Today, we're rolling out this functionality to AdWords and DoubleClick with a new ad extension: Click-To-Teleport (beta)*.

While features like call extensions and location extensions have aimed at solving the "online to store" marketing objective for multichannel advertisers, Click-to-Teleport shortens the offline conversion funnel by allowing a user to teleport directly to your business location by clicking on your search ad.

You'll additionally be able to tailor Click-to-Teleport extensions to your business goals by choosing to either:

Optimize for closest location: Least disorienting for visitors, and helps you maintain a local feeling.
Optimize for conversions: Teleports visitors to locations where your customers are most likely to convert.
Rotate evenly: Teleports visitor to a random business location and helpful for avoiding overcrowded business locations.

Please be aware that while Click-to-Teleport is in beta, there is no "teleport back home" option for users. You are responsible for providing return transportation or calling a taxi for any teleport customer. At this time, Click-to-Teleport extensions are available in all countries and languages on Earth but are not compatible with our recently launched planetary targeting options.

To learn more, visit the Click-to-Teleport site.

Posted by David Kaufman, Teleportation & Time Travel Marketing Manager

*IMPORTANT: Though we have worked out most of the kinks with Click-to-Teleport, the technology is still in beta. Google will not be held responsible for any teleporting related injuries, unexpected time travel or any other teleporting risks, such as those demonstrated in The Fly.

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-click-to-teleport-ad.html

[G] The YouTube Collection: hold ALL the magic of YouTube in your hands

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: The YouTube Collection: hold ALL the magic of YouTube in your hands

Loved a video so much that liking it, favoriting it, sharing it and even subscribing to the channel wasn't enough? Just had to hold it in your grasp and never ever let it go?

We know the feeling, so today we're making The YouTube Collection available for you in a new holdable version: DVD. A direct result of your feedback and demand, The YouTube Collection is a first of its kind offering in web video.

Here's a video outlining the details:

Want to try before you order? Take The YouTube Collection for a test drive with a simulator button we installed on a select group of YouTube videos. Just head "home."

The future of YouTube is waiting. You can find out more at this link: YouTube.com/TheYouTubeCollection.

And please remember it. Look for our other links soon!

Chet Flanagan, director of DVD product management, YouTube Global, recently watched "Toshiba HD- A2 HD-DVD Player - Unboxing."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/FJkBlDHKPbM/youtube-collection-hold-all-magic-of.html

[G] Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR

Ever since mankind could go fast, we have longed to go faster. And ever since we've done work, we have longed to have someone else, or something else, do that work for us. You might already be familiar with our self-driving car project. We've spent years working on a tough engineering problem—how to create a hardware and software system capable of gathering and interpreting massive amounts of real-time data and acting on that knowledge swiftly and surely enough to navigate innumerable varieties of crowded thoroughfares without ever once (among other human frailties) exploding in a fit of road rage at the guy who just cut hard left across your lane without even bothering to flash his blinker.

Well, our autonomous cars have now been test-driven (or rather, test-ridden) for more than 200,000 miles without a single machine-caused mishap. And today we're moving the project one great leap forward with Google Racing, a groundbreaking partnership with NASCAR to help self-driving vehicles compete in the world of stock car racing. We think the most important thing computers can do in the next decade is to drive cars—and that the most important thing Google Racing can do in the next decade is drive them, if possible, more quickly than anyone else. Or anything else.

Find more photos on our Google+ page

The program remains in its infancy; we'll surely face numerous testing and competitive hurdles before our first car peels out into a NASCAR race. But I couldn't be more excited about the possibilities. NASCAR's ambitious technology investments—from driver safety to green initiatives—and the sport's spirit of challenge, effort and execution all beautifully embody our most deeply held values as a company. Having skidded around a parking lot last week myself, I'm pretty sure that none of those test miles were as hard as it will be for one of our cars to hold its own in a field of 43 jacked-up, 800-horsepower beasts screaming down a straightaway within inches of each other at upwards of 200 miles per hour. I can't imagine a more exciting challenge for our team than to race our autonomous vehicles against their carbon-based competitors.

Find more photos on our Google+ page

Larry and I have always believed in tackling big problems that matter, and we're surer than ever that self-driving cars are one of them, capable of changing the world in all kinds of truly important ways, like reducing traffic and accidents by driving more efficiently, making correct split-second decisions and never shifting their focus off the road to check a map, text a friend, apply rear-view mirror mascara or dip a piece of tekka maki into a lid of soy sauce jostling over on the passenger seat. I hope that today's announcement of Google Racing will mark another step along this path, and spur innovations that improve the daily lives of people all over the world. Or at the very least offer us a few cool new thrills on hot weekend afternoons.

Posted by Sergey Brin, Co-founder

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/bringing-self-driving-cars-to-nascar.html

[G] A new way to multitask

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: A new way to multitask

On December 9, 1968, Douglas Engelbart rocked the computing world with The Mother of All Demos. One of the many advancements Engelbart discussed was the creation of a simple, intuitive pointing device that would allow you to manipulate a cursor on a screen with the movement of your hand. The world met the mouse.

Before the mouse, the primary way to interact with a computer was to type a command, wait for a response, and type a second command. The ability to coordinate between the movement of a marker on the screen and a flick of the wrist was truly revolutionary, and has transformed the way we interface with our machines today.

However, for decades, the full power of the mouse has been limited. While we've been mousing away with one hand, our other hand has often been idle. As information has moved faster and faster, our mousing capacity has stayed the same.

On the Chrome team, we've been working to address this problem. Today, we'd like to announce a new way to get twice as much web from your browser. We call it Multitask Mode.

Multitask Mode lets you have access to multiple mice at the same time, so you can make a chess move while you watch a dance move, or draw a horse while you draw on a friend for relationship advice.

Chrome can handle as many mice, touchpads, styli, joysticks, trackballs, and other pointing devices as you can plug into your computer, so you and your friends can browse dozens of sites at the same time.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Posted by Glen Murphy, Designer and Stylus Stylist

URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-way-to-multitask.html

[G] A red pin to mark a dream: Competing in the National Geographic Bee

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: A red pin to mark a dream: Competing in the National Geographic Bee

Editor's Note: Today's guest author is Luke Hellum. Luke is an 9th grader who has been studying geography since he was in kindergarten, making it to Arizona's state geographic bee three times, placing in the National Geographic Bee finals last year, and returning to the National Geographic Bee this year as a youth correspondent. Google is excited to sponsor this year's event and we wish all participants the best of luck.

Today, thousands of grade-school and middle-school students will compete in state-level Geographic Bees, thanks in part to Google's sponsorship of the competitions. State and U.S. territory bee winners will advance to the national bee prelims in Washington, D.C. on May 22, and ten will be part of the final broadcast on the National Geographic Channel. Like many of these young "mapheads," starting at the age of five, I dreamed of participating in the bee and one day making it to the finals.

As a sixth grader, I reached the Arizona state competition for the first time, finishing fourth. The following year, I placed second, and although it was an improvement, I was disappointed and committed to ramping up my preparation efforts in 2011 for my final year of eligibility. I began studying rigorously again in the summer, averaging about 20 hours a week.

During the fall, my mom went to Washington D.C. for an Online News Association conference and met Jesse Friedman, a Product Marketing Manager from Google. She shared with Jesse her appreciation for Google's sponsorship of the bee, and told him that I'd been heartened by the fact that former bee competitors were now Google employees, demonstrating through their work on Google Earth and other projects that geography can have a place in my future career. I realized that the value of my knowledge wouldn't end with the bee. Jesse wished me luck and gave my mom two stickers of the Google Maps red pin to pass along to me and my brother (who will be competing for the first time in this year's Arizona bee).

One of my study resources was a 12' x 6' map that covered the wall of our office. When I got the iconic pin, I decided to put it on Washington, D.C., representing my goal to reach the national bee. At times, eagerness, anxiety and restlessness would plague my study efforts. Glancing across the room at that pin would help me press on, remind me why I was working so hard, and ultimately pushed me to study harder. After many months of preparation, I won the state bee, achieved my goal of getting to Washington D.C. and placed 7th in the finals. I even got to meet Brian McClendon, Engineering VP of Google Earth and Maps.

The red pin has remained a fixture on the map. It's still on Washington D.C., as I will be returning to the bee this year as National Geographic's youth correspondent for the bee broadcast. After that, I plan to move it around on the map as my goals shift to places I want to go in the future: New York City, where I'm moving in June and Palo Alto, where I hope to attend Stanford University someday before founding my own startup.

Wherever the red pin may end up, it will continue to symbolize the confluence of my passions: geography, technology, and discovering the world.

Are you similarly looking to be inspired by what you can do with geography? Watch the video below to see how individuals from a variety of fields use their geography education to pursue their passions.

Posted by Luke Hellum, 2011 Arizona National Geographic state bee champion and finalist in the 2011 National Geographic Bee

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/red-pin-to-mark-dream-competing-in.html

[G] Why maps matter: Using digital cartography tools to change the world

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Why maps matter: Using digital cartography tools to change the world

People have created maps since early civilization, but only recently have digital mapping tools like Google Earth and Maps made it easy to build sophisticated and interactive maps that can be disseminated to hundreds of millions of people online. Non-profits have taken advantage of these tools to create maps that matter, and that are truly initiating change around the world. That's why my team, Google Earth Outreach, exists: to help public benefit organizations use Google's mapping tools for good.

Find out how non-profits are changing the world with maps.
There's no better inspiration for creating your own map than the stories of accomplishment from organizations like the ones featured in the video above. We invite you to check out the new Success Stories section of the Google Earth Outreach website. Along with a completely new look and feel, our website now allows you to learn all about a variety of organizations that are using maps for good.

Get started by reading about how the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation partnered with Google to collect Street View imagery for the Amazon. It's now possible to virtually float down the Rio Negro and its tributaries, see ground-level images of riverside communities, and trek down a trail into the Amazon rainforest, all without leaving the comfort of home. You'll also learn about Architecture for Humanity, an organization using Google SketchUp to design architectural solutions for communities in need.

Collecting Street View imagery in the Amazon
Once you've read through the stories and have an idea of what you might like to create, you can browse through our tutorials or request a software grant for our enterprise-level products like Google Earth Pro. Or, if you're interested in an overview of all the tools available to you from Google, feel free to check out our Explore Tools page, where you'll find information about the many Google mapping tools (both free and Pro) that are available to non-profits.

If you're looking for additional training beyond the tutorials, check out our new Events page, where you can see where Google Earth Outreach will be next and where we've been in the past, including rich resources from past workshops.

If you want to change the world, we hope these new tools help. Happy mapping!

Posted by Raleigh Seamster, Google Earth Outreach

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-maps-matter-using-digital.html

[G] The Big Tent, and big ideas, arrive stateside

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: The Big Tent, and big ideas, arrive stateside

The Internet has transformed society in so many ways, and that's bound to continue. The aim of our Big Tent events is to bring together people with diverse views to debate some of the hot-button issues that transformation raises.

This week we hosted our first Big Tent event stateside at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. The theme was Digital Citizenship, and over the course of the day we discussed child safety online, the most effective ways to incorporate technology with education and what governments and civil society can do to maintain a responsible and innovative web.

The policymakers, commentators and industry members who attended heard from a variety of speakers, from child prodigy and literacy evangelist Adora Svitak to filmmaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain. Wendy Kopp, the CEO and founder of Teach for America, gave a keynote about the need to integrate technology into education thoughtfully, not as a panacea, but rather within a greater context that supports critical thinking and other crucial curriculum goals. In a fireside chat with David Drummond, Jennifer Pahlka, the founder and executive director of Code for America (which takes the idea of skilled service from Teach for America and applies it to programmers) laid out her vision for a growing corps of young coder volunteers with an "agile, maker-and-doer mentality" that can help local governments better serve their citizens, and help citizens better participate in their democracy. "Instead of a chorus of voices," she said, "I'd like to see a chorus of hands."

We also launched a new Big Tent YouTube channel with a collection of content from past Big Tents and information about upcoming events around the world. Visit the channel to watch speaker videos, participate in the debate via the comments, get more information on the presenters and see how different communities approach many of the same issues. Stay tuned for future Big Tents, both here and abroad.

Posted by Katharine Wang, Policy Analyst

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/big-tent-and-big-ideas-arrive-stateside.html

[G] An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Online Security Blog: An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users

Posted by Sara "Scout" Sinclair, Associate Product Manager, Google Security Team

Since we first made 2-step verification available to all Google users in February of 2011, millions of people around the world have chosen to use this extra layer of security to protect their Google Accounts. Thousands more are signing up every day. And recently, we updated the feature's companion smartphone app, Google Authenticator, for Android users.

2-step verification works by requiring users to enter a verification code when signing in using a computer they haven't previously marked as "trusted." Many users choose to receive their codes via SMS or voice call, but smartphone users also have the option to generate codes on their phone by installing the Google Authenticator app — an option that is particularly useful while traveling, or where cellular coverage is unreliable. You can use Google Authenticator to generate a valid code even when your phone isn't connected to a cellular or data network.

We want 2-step verification to be simple to use, and therefore we are working continually to make it easier for users to sign up, manage their settings, and maintain easy access to their verification codes at any time and from anywhere. Our updated Google Authenticator app has an improved look-and-feel, as well as fundamental upgrades to the back-end security and infrastructure that necessitated the migration to a new app. Future improvements, however, will use the familiar Android update procedure.

Current Google Authenticator users will be prompted to upgrade to the new version when they launch the app. We've worked hard to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible, but if you have questions please refer to the Help Center article for more information. And, if you aren't already a 2-step verification user, we encourage you to give it a try.

URL: http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2012/03/improved-google-authenticator-app-to.html

Googland

2012-03-31T19:16:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] JetBlue emergency landing, Pope visits Latin America, Wildfire devastates Colorado
[G] A new way to access quality content online
[G] Posted by: LeighAnn Montieth, General Manager, New York Yoga
[G] Upcoming Webinar: Measurement and optimization on the GDN
[G] Updates to Google Merchant Center Terms of Service
[G] A fast, accurate, and affordable way to do online market research
[G] Localize your apps and content more easily -- new formats in Translator Toolkit
[G] Create your own video duels with YouTube Slam
[G] Traffic and Transit Come to Google Maps in Malaysia
[G] Find out your trip duration based on current traffic

[G] JetBlue emergency landing, Pope visits Latin America, Wildfire devastates Colorado

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: JetBlue emergency landing, Pope visits Latin America, Wildfire devastates Colorado

We viewed appalling scenes in the air over America as a JetBlue flight was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot was restrained for "erratic behavior".
We saw the Pope endear himself to Latin America, donning a sombrero in Mexico and meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba.
We witnessed devastating wildfires in Colorado force the evacuation of hundreds of residents, with at least one death reported.
We observed a sense of 'petrol panic' as motorists in the UK and beyond were worried by rising oil prices and a potential fuel shortage because of strikes.
We followed the GOP candidates as the presidential race took yet another turn, with Rick Santorum winning his 11th state of the campaign in Louisiana.
We marked a successful run-off presidential election in Senegal, won by Macky Sall amid many economic challenges in the country.
We saw no let up in the controversy surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, as Trayvon's frustrated parents took their plea for justice to a Congressional forum on neighborhood watch groups and racial profiling.
We overheard US President Barack Obama talking about a future after the next presidential election during a 3-day tour in South Korea that focused on securing nuclear stability in the region.
And finally, we watched one man go where few have gone before, as Titanic director James Cameron plunged to the deepest point on Earth in his submarine: the Deepsea Challenger.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Suu Kyi set for parliament in key Myanmar vote".

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/b4yEDkIvsvs/jetblue-emergency-landing-pope-visits.html

[G] A new way to access quality content online

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Google News Blog: A new way to access quality content online

Posted by Paul McDonald, Product Manager

Whether we're getting the latest election news, making sense of the day's stock market activity or looking for an update on our favorite celebrities, we rely on publishers to inform and entertain us. Online publishers often fund the creation of this content through ads; sometimes they ask you to pay for content directly, by buying a subscription or purchasing a particular article.

Now, you may see a new option: the ability to access some of this content by responding to microsurveys, without having to pull out your wallet or sign in. When a site has implemented this option, you'll see a prompt that offers you a choice between answering a market research question or completing another action specified by the publisher (such as signing up for an account or purchasing access). All responses are completely anonymous -- they aren't tied to your identity or later used to target ads. The prompts look like this:

Publishers get paid for hosting surveys. A number of publishers, such as the The Texas Tribune, the Star Tribune and Adweek have already started running these microsurveys on their sites.

So what's the point of these questions? From international brands to local food trucks, every business owner wants to make important decisions with their customers' feedback in mind. That's why we've created Google Consumer Surveys, a new business-facing product that makes custom market research easy. It enables companies to ask questions (the ones you'll later see on your screen) and get back quantitative results quickly, accurately and cost-effectively. Companies have already been using it to research everything from online shopping behavior (Lucky Brand Jeans) to gluten-free baking mixes (King Arthur Flour), and to assess brand awareness (Timbuk2) and inform product development (479 Popcorn). Google shares the money these companies spend with our publisher partners.

The idea behind Google Consumer Surveys is to create a model that benefits everyone. You get to keep enjoying your favorite online content, publishers have an additional option for making money from that content, and businesses have a new way of finding out what their customers want.

If you're a publisher interested in running microsurveys on your site, let us know.

URL: http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-way-to-access-quality-content.html

[G] Posted by: LeighAnn Montieth, General Manager, New York Yoga

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Posted by: LeighAnn Montieth, General Manager, New York Yoga

Posted by: LeighAnn Montieth, General Manager, New York Yoga

Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is LeighAnn Montieth, General Manager of New York Yoga, a neighborhood Yoga studio with two locations in New York City.

New York Yoga is a neighborhood yoga studio that specializes in Vinyasa and Hot Yoga. It is also one of the first studios to offer On-Demand Yoga Internet videos, so that yogis can practice the discipline anytime, anywhere.

When I joined the studio staff five years ago, we were all using our personal email addresses and I didn't think that was the best way to present the business. There was also the challenge of staff scheduling. Between the two studios, we have eight full-time employees and over 50 teachers who work as part-time independent contractors. For many, yoga is not their primary focus so when their schedules are split or busy, scheduling can be tricky. Having dozens of teachers calling us each week to ask what time they were teaching, or scheduling substitutes on a paper calendar, wasn't a great use of our time, or theirs.

We needed one central place where all of our staff members and teachers could stay organized, and easily communicate. That's when we decided to transition to Google Apps for Business for our team. Now, all of our email addresses are at newyorkyoga.com, which helps us better brand our business and makes everyone feel like part of the team. And we use Google Docs to track substitute and other employee requests, as well as membership log-ins.

Having all of our information in one location has been extremely beneficial. It helps me save time fielding multiple phone calls and spend more time focusing on our clients. Even if I'm on vacation or working from home, I'm able to quickly log in, make sure all classes have an assigned teacher, and also stay up-to-speed with our client-base in real time. The ability to be mobile and access information from anywhere is something we've never had before, and it makes my job a lot easier.

Google Apps has given us the communication and organizational tools we need to succeed and maintain a healthy level of zen.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/03/posted-by-leighann-montieth-general.html

[G] Upcoming Webinar: Measurement and optimization on the GDN

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Upcoming Webinar: Measurement and optimization on the GDN

Looking to measure and optimize your GDN campaigns? We'll be hosting a webinar on April 2nd at 3:00pm GMT to discuss how to create successful GDN campaigns. You can use the GDN to target specific sites, categories, topics and audiences, and in this webinar we'll discuss best practices surrounding the creation and optimization of GDN campaigns. This webinar will be presented by a UK-based Google Display Specialist and more specialists will on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Posted by Lauren Barbato, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/upcoming-webinar-measurement-and.html

[G] Updates to Google Merchant Center Terms of Service

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Updates to Google Merchant Center Terms of Service

(Cross-posted from the Google Commerce blog)

Back in January, we announced our new Google Terms of Service to provide a more consistent experience for users across Google's products. Starting today, March 29, Google Merchant Center will be covered by the new Google Terms of Service along with a short set of additional terms and conditions specific to Merchant Center.

While the substance in the additional Merchant Center terms and conditions remains unchanged from the previous version, the new additional terms and conditions are shorter and reworded to be easier to understand. We encourage you to take the time to review the new Google Terms of Service along with the additional Merchant Center terms and conditions.

Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Senior Product Manager, Google Merchant Center team

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/updates-to-google-merchant-center-terms.html

[G] A fast, accurate, and affordable way to do online market research

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: A fast, accurate, and affordable way to do online market research

From international brands to local food trucks, every business wants to make important decisions with their customers' feedback in mind. Which version of your new logo will people like better? How much interest do dog owners have in organic dog food? Is your brand awareness growing over time?

We now have a new option for companies looking to answer these types of questions and more: Google Consumer Surveys. Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a local bike shop, Consumer Surveys makes market research fast, accurate, and affordable.

You can create an online survey in minutes, have responses within hours and fully analyzed results in days. We do all the heavy lifting for you, finding interesting nuggets of information (or "insights") and providing you with tools for digging deeper.

Here's how it works: people browsing the web come across your questions when they try to access high quality content like news articles or videos. Answering the question gives them near instant access to the page they want. All responses are anonymous; they aren't tied to users' identity or later used to target ads. This provides an alternative to the traditional paywall model: site visitors don't have to pull out a wallet or sign in, publishers get paid as their site visitors respond, and you gain insight into what people think -- for just $0.10 per response for the general US population or $0.50 per response for custom audiences.

We've already been working with a number of companies researching everything from online shopping behavior (Lucky Brand Jeans) to gluten-free baking mixes (King Arthur Flour), and using Consumer Surveys to track brand awareness (Timbuk2) and inform product development (479 Popcorn). Check out google.com/insights/consumersurveys to learn more.

Posted by Brett Slatkin, Software Engineer

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/fast-accurate-and-affordable-way-to-do.html

[G] Localize your apps and content more easily -- new formats in Translator Toolkit

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Localize your apps and content more easily -- new formats in Translator Toolkit

At Google, we put a lot of energy into helping localize the world's information to make it more useful to more people. It's not just about localizing our own products -- we want to provide tools that make it easy for translators and developers around the world to localize their own apps and content. Google Translator Toolkit is our online translation tool for amateur and professional translators -- it's built on Google Translate and supports more than 100,000 language pairs.

This week, the Translator Toolkit team has launched support for four new translation-related file formats:

• Android Resource (.xml)

• Application Resource Bundle (.arb)

• Chrome Extension (.json)

• GNU gettext-based (.po)

With these new file formats, you can use Translator Toolkit to localize your apps and other products and content much more quickly and easily.

For example, to translate your Android application, go into the res/values directory and upload strings.xml into Translator Toolkit -- Translator Toolkit will now automatically translate it. You can then share your translations with amateur or professional translators, who can localize the text using Translator Toolkit's WYSIWYG online editor.

When you're finished, you can export your translated application and store it in a locale-specific directory in Android. Voilà -- easy localization! 翻译起来太方便了!

In addition, we've made the Translator Toolkit interface more intuitive for these new file formats so users can translate faster and more accurately. For example, you can turn on 'Customized colors' so translators can annotate the edited segments, 'Number of characters in the segment' to make sure the text doesn't run too long (very important for mobile devices), and 'Synchronized scrolling' so you can scroll the original and translated text at the same time, which makes navigation much easier.

With these new file formats and UI features, along with the file formats we already support (.aea, .srt, .html), we hope Translator Toolkit can help you reach more users around the world.

When you're ready, give Google Translator Toolkit a try and suggest any improvements you'd like to see so we can work on making it even better.

Posted by Chris Yang, Product Manager and Haidong Shao, Software Engineer, Translator Toolkit

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/Fiiv3NhqYVc/localize-your-apps-and-content-more.html

[G] Create your own video duels with YouTube Slam

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Create your own video duels with YouTube Slam

Last year we started experimenting with the idea that you could find the next big thing on YouTube. YouTube Slam pits two videos against each other, where you get points for picking the crowd favorite. In just a few months, hundreds of thousands of you cast more than a million votes on Slams we created, and today we're turning the game controls over to you.

You can now turn any of your playlists into a YouTube Slam. Play solo, share the YouTube link with your friends or even play together in a Google+ Hangout. Here's how to do it:

Make a playlist with the videos you want to include in the Slam (you'll need at least two videos and they have to be public), or choose a playlist you have already

Go to www.youtube.com/slam/create

Click the "Create Slam" button next to one of your playlists. It'll look like this:

When you click "Play Slam" you'll be taken into your game, and we'll show the highest scoring videos and players on the leaderboard page of your Slam. Click "View the winners" at any time to check it out.

Want to get your friends involved? You can now play custom or existing Slams live with friends inside a Google+ Hangout by clicking the "Play Slam with your friends" link. You can also share the YouTube Slam link with friends directly to get more people playing. If you feel like the Slam has been settled, you can remove it at any time.

Slam is still a work in progress, and we want to hear your feedback. Let us know what you think in the comments below or by clicking the "Feedback" link on any Slam.

Interested in learning more about the research behind YouTube Slam? Check out our recent Google Research Blog post about gamification of search ranking, or find out about our work on finding funny videos and talented musicians.

Sanketh Shetty, software engineer, recently played a "Tree Cutting Fails" Slam.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/gFHdNrj9jFQ/create-your-own-video-duels-with.html

[G] Traffic and Transit Come to Google Maps in Malaysia

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Traffic and Transit Come to Google Maps in Malaysia

We originally launched Google Maps in Malaysia back in 2009, and since then, Malaysians have been avid users of the service on both their desktops and mobile devices. So today, we are happy to announce three new features for Malaysia that we hope will make the map even more useful — especially for a nation with a lot of commuters.

First up, we have implemented the Traffic layer, which provides data about real time road congestion right on the map. Users can quickly see whether roads are congested or flowing freely based on colour coding — red for choc-a-bloc, yellow for slow moving, and green for smooth flowing.

Traffic Layer in Kuala Lumpur

Second, Transit information is now available, meaning that Malaysian public transportation details can now be found on Google Maps. This means that train and bus stops are now listed on the map, but more importantly, when you go to the "Get Directions" tab, you will see a new option — designated with a bus icon — to plan your route via public transport. The results of your search will give you step-by-step public transportation directions on how to get from Place A to Place B via bus, LRT, monorail, and Komuter train.

Transit Information in Google Maps Mobile in Kuala Lumpur

Finally, Google Maps is now available in Bahasa Malaysia, giving Malay native speakers better accessibility and the option of interfacing and navigating with Google Maps. Since 60 percent of Malaysians use Bahasa Malaysia as their primary language with over 90 percent proficiency, this localisation should make it easier for Malaysians to get the most from Maps.

To plan your journey and and get ahead in your travels, go to maps.google.com.my.

To learn more about traffic in Google Maps you can watch this video tutorial:

Posted by Jing Lim, Software Engineer, Google Maps Malaysia

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/traffic-and-transit-come-to-google-maps.html

[G] Find out your trip duration based on current traffic

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Find out your trip duration based on current traffic

Should I take public transit or a taxi to the airport? What's the fastest way to get to my appointment on time: local streets or the expressway? Oftentimes, the answer to these questions depends on the current traffic conditions.

Now using both live and historic traffic data, Google Maps enables you to once again see the estimated length of time your journey might take. In areas where the information is available, this new and improved feature evaluates current traffic conditions and is constantly being refreshed to provide you with the most accurate, up-to-date estimate possible. To see this feature, simply access directions as you normally would on Google Maps. Below the time estimate for how long your trip might take without any traffic, you'll see the adjusted estimate that factors in current traffic data.

For example, if I'm trying to get to JFK Airport from Manhattan I can see it is quicker to take the train versus a taxi during rush hour.

Comparing Driving Time vs. Transit Time

If the roads you're traveling do not yet show the current traffic information, don't despair. You can help your fellow drivers and improve traffic data about road conditions and speeds by turning on the My Location feature on Google Maps for Android.

We hope being able to plan your travels based on current traffic information saves you time, and perhaps even prevents some road frustration. Happy driving!

To learn more about directions and navigation on your Android phone, start here.

Posted by Szabolcs Payrits, Software Engineer, Google Maps

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/find-out-your-trip-duration-based-on.html

Googland

2012-03-30T19:25:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] YouTube Shows comes to Korea
[G] Faster and fancier graphics
[G] Measuring app engagement across device & platforms
[G] Google App Engine Research Awards for scientific discovery
[G] Learning independence with Google Search features
[G] Let’s fill London with startups...
[G] WebM Gaining Momentum in Hardware
[G] AnyoneButMeWebSeries is March’s YouTube partner On The Rise
[G] Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity
[G] New 45° imagery available for 15 cities
[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look
[G] Google makes great films available in France
[G] Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube
[G] Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

[G] YouTube Shows comes to Korea

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: YouTube Shows comes to Korea

Over the last year Korean TV stations have been opening up YouTube channels and offering a wide variety and deep catalog of their shows—everything from weekly dramas to K-Pop musical programs. The main three terrestrial broadcasters all have multiple channels with their top shows — KBS (Main Channel, Drama, Entertainment, KBS Life, Documentary, KBS world), MBC (Kpop, Entertainment, Drama, MBC World), and SBS (Entertainment, Drama, FreeVOD, Culture). YouTube also has many top cable shows such as Pororo from Iconix animation studio and Sonbadak TV.

To help you find Korean TV on YouTube, viewers in Korea now have a new Shows page organizing all programs available. For the rest of the world, you can still find the shows through youtube.com/shows/other-languages, but note that not all programs are available in all countries.

On the Shows page in Korea, you'll find new programs like Infinite Challenge (무한도전) and classics like My Lovely Sam-Soon (내 이름은 김삼순), with subtitles in English, Spanish and other languages. The new Shows pages also gives you key information about the program, such as a cast list and credits.

In many cases, each episode is divided into clips, but there's no need to click on each video one at a time. The first video selected will automatically link to the next video and that one to the next. So once you start watching, you can easily flow to the end of the show.

If you have a favorite TV program, subscribe to the channel so that you'll be updated on your homepage whenever there's a new episode. We'll be adding more programs from more stations in the future, so check back frequently.

Brian Suh, head of YouTube partnerships, Google Korea, recently watched "Infinite Challenge (무한도전)."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/CUUaWvk3oNQ/youtube-shows-comes-to-korea.html

[G] Faster and fancier graphics

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: Faster and fancier graphics

Today's web brings beautiful, rich experiences right into your browser. With Chrome's most recent Stable channel release, we've sped up graphics and drawing performance for users on capable hardware, and enabled fancier 3D content for other users on older computers. Give Chrome a spin to see just how good the modern web can look. And if the nuts and bolts of graphics make your heart flutter, check out more technical details over on the Chromium blog.

Posted by Vangelis Kokkevis, Chrome Graphics Olympian

URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/03/faster-and-fancier-graphics.html

[G] Measuring app engagement across device & platforms

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Measuring app engagement across device & platforms

There are more ways now to consume your favorite television shows, movies, and on demand content than ever before. People are turning to their smartphones, tablets, and Internet connected TV's to watch what they want, when they want it. For broadcasters, agencies, and advertisers the question is how are users engaging with this media and how can it be monetized?

This measurement opportunity is what drove TV App Agency to be founded in 2011. The London-based software company designed a software application that works across a variety of viewing devices to help deliver on-demand media. They turned to Google Analytics as the platform to help them measure and analyze their data.

Why turn to Google Analytics?

TV App Agency opted to use Google Analytics' server side APIs, which were more easily compatible with the on-demand media environment than JavaScript APIs. They were able to use their own in-house knowledge from previous mobile development to come up with a tagging strategy that highlighted exactly the data that mattered most to their business model. Learn more by reading the full case study.

"We are now able to track which adverts are being played and get an idea of which functions in apps are being used. Plus, the real-time reports show when people are actually using these apps."

Bruno Pereira, co-founder of TV App Agency

Future Analytics goals

TV App Agency is working on expanding their Analytics to track more events, and understand more about viewer engagement from Analytics robust reports. By integrating Google Analytics they are able to offer richer data and analysis than other connected TV app developers, which gives them an incredible advantage in this exciting new space.

- The Google Analytics team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/kVJtXO9XQtY/measuring-app-engagement-across-device.html

[G] Google App Engine Research Awards for scientific discovery

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

Google Research Blog: Google App Engine Research Awards for scientific discovery

Posted by Maggie Johnson, Director of Education and University Relations and Andrea Held, University Relations Program Manager

Since its launch four years ago, Google App Engine has been the platform for innovative and diverse applications. Today, Google's University Relations team is inviting academic researchers to explore App Engine as a platform for their research activities through a new program: the Google App Engine Research Awards.

These research awards provide an opportunity for university faculty to experiment with App Engine, which provides services for building and hosting web applications on the same systems that power Google's products and services. App Engine offers fast development and deployment, simple administration and built-in scalability -- it's designed to adapt to large-scale data storage needs and sudden traffic spikes.

As part of Google's ongoing commitment to support cutting-edge scientific research across the board, this call for applications welcomes university faculty's proposals in all fields. Projects may focus on activities such as social or economic experiments, development of academic aids, analysis of gene sequence data, or using App Engine MapReduce to crunch large datasets, just to name a few.

This new award program will support up to 15 projects by providing App Engine credits in the amount of $60,000 to each project for one year. In its first year, the program is launched in a limited number of countries. Please see the RFP for details.

If your research has the potential to advance scientific discovery, generates heavy data loads, or needs a reliable platform for running large-scale apps, we encourage you to submit your proposal. Information on how to apply is available on the Google Research website. Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. PST, May 11, 2012.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/gJZg/~3/BbN6EwK0QEI/google-app-engine-research-awards-for.html

[G] Learning independence with Google Search features

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Learning independence with Google Search features

Searches can become stories. Some are inspiring, some change the way we see the world and some just put a smile on our face. This is a story of how people can use Google to do something extraordinary. If you have a story, share it. - Ed.

We all have memories of the great teachers who shaped our childhood. They found ways to make the lightbulb go off in our heads, instilled in us a passion for learning and helped us realize our potential. The very best teachers were creative with the tools at their disposal, whether it was teaching the fundamentals of addition with Cheerios or the properties of carbon dioxide with baking soda and vinegar. As the Internet has developed, so too have the resources available for teachers to educate their students.

One teacher who has taken advantage of the web as an educational tool is Cheryl Oakes, a resource room teacher in Wells, Maine. She's also been able to tailor the vast resources available on the web to each student's ability. This approach has proven invaluable for Cheryl's students, in particular 16-year-old Morgan, whose learning disability makes it daunting to sort through search results to find those webpages that she can comfortably read. Cheryl taught Morgan how to use the Search by Reading Level feature on Google Search, which enables Morgan to focus only on those results that are most understandable to her. To address the difficulty Morgan faces with typing, Cheryl introduced her to Voice Search, so Morgan can speak her queries into the computer. Morgan is succeeding in high school, and just registered to take her first college course this summer.

There's a practically limitless amount of information available on the web, and with search features, you can find the content that is most meaningful for you. For more information, visit google.com/insidesearch/features.html.

Posted by Glen Shires, Speech Technology

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-independence-with-google.html

[G] Let’s fill London with startups...

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:27 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Let's fill London with startups...

London has become one of the world's great digital capitals. The Internet accounts for eight percent of the U.K. economy and has become, in these days of tough public finances, a welcome engine of economic growth.

We believe there is even more potential for entrepreneurs to energize the Internet economy in the U.K., and to help spur growth, today we're opening Campus London , a seven story facility in the east London neighborhood known as Tech City. Google began as a startup in a garage. We want to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to be successful by building and supporting a vibrant startup community. Our goal with Campus is to catalyze the startup ecosystem and build Britain's single largest community of startups under one roof.

The U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP, launched Campus at this morning's official opening. The Chancellor toured the building, meeting some of the entrepreneurs currently making their home in Campus and learning more about their innovations, ranging from fashion trendsetting websites to personalized London leisure guides. He then flipped the switch on a commemorative graffiti plaque.

Campus is a collaboration between Google and partners Central Working, Tech Hub, Seedcamp and Springboard. It will provide startups with workspace in an energizing environment and will also host daily events for and with the community. We will run a regular speaker series, alongside lectures and programing, as well as provide mentorship and training from local Google teams.

Visitors will have access to a cafe and co-working space, complete with high speed wifi. We welcome members of the startup community: entrepreneurs, investors, developers, designers, lawyers, accountants, etc. and hope that this informal, highly concentrated space will lead to chance meetings and interactions that will generate the ideas and partnerships that will drive new, innovative businesses.

The buzz around Campus from within the startup community has meant that today, on day one, Campus is already at 90% capacity, with more than 100 people on site and an additional 4,500 who have signed up online to visit.

We are looking forward to getting to know the community. East London is emerging as a world-leading entrepreneurial hub, and we're excited to be a part of it. Take a photo tour of Campus here, and if you'd like to learn more, visit us at www.campuslondon.com.

Let's fill this town with startups!

Posted by Eze Vidra, Head of Campus London

(Cross-posted from the European Public Policy blog)

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/lets-fill-london-with-startups.html

[G] WebM Gaining Momentum in Hardware

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: WebM Gaining Momentum in Hardware

Hardware product cycles are very long, especially from the software developer's perspective. However, in just under two years after the launch of the WebM Project, the leading chip vendors are bringing to the market full hardware support for VP8 real time and streaming video decoding and encoding at 1080p resolution.

In addition to the K3V2 application processor from Huawei and the RK30xx application processor from Rockchip announced at the Mobile World Congress 2012, ST-Ericsson has also finished developing a new platform with full VP8 support. "Working with the WebM team, ST-Ericsson is proud to demonstrate the first prototype devices using the NovaThor L9540™, a complete LTE platform for smartphones and tablets equipped with a high-performance application processor," said Itai Dadon, Smartphone Business Development at ST-Ericsson. "The NovaThor L9540 incorporates a dual-core CPU, a powerful graphics engine and optimized multimedia accelerators in a high-performance, low-power solution which is fully geared for 1080p 30fps video playback of WebM on HTML5".

And this is just the beginning. Many more of the world's top semiconductor companies are also shipping 1080p VP8 capable mobile chipsets later this year.

In addition, Smart TVs with full HD WebM support are coming to the market from LG Electronics this spring, with other OEMs following soon after that. These will demonstrate in their big screens the HD quality of WebM videos by sites such as YouTube, which has been broadly supporting WebM in its html5 player since the launch of WebM in May 2010.

The overall goals of the WebM Project are broader than just getting hardware support for VP8. We've worked hard to make the usability of VP8 hardware accelerators in devices as straightforward as possible by leveraging widely adopted industry standard interfaces. Software developers can now easily take advantage of this extra horsepower, as we've achieved our goal of getting VP8 included in the recently released OpenMAX IL 1.2 specification. OpenMAX IL is used to access the video accelerators in some of the most popular operating systems today.

WebM hardware acceleration is now quickly emerging on chipsets and we expect to achieve rapid adoption of WebM acceleration on new devices in the coming year.

Aki Kuusela is Engineering Manager for the WebM Hardware Team.

URL: http://blog.webmproject.org/2012/03/webm-gaining-momentum-in-hardware.html

[G] AnyoneButMeWebSeries is March’s YouTube partner On The Rise

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: AnyoneButMeWebSeries is March's YouTube partner On The Rise

Congratulations to AnyoneButMeWebSeries! The award-winning web series is our featured "On The Rise" partner for March and takes the stage in the "Spotlight" section of the YouTube homepage today.

Shot on location in NYC and LA and written and produced by Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward, Anyone But Me centers around gay, straight and ethnically diverse teenagers who deal with all-too-common questions about identity and modern relationships. Throughout the series, viewers may identify with the emotional struggles of moving, relationship changes and being true to yourself. The third and final season just wrapped, and you can watch the complete series on their YouTube channel. Check out the video below for more background on the series and its history:

Here are a few words from the show's executives, Tina and Susan:

We love making drama. And we love making it on the web. It's as if the gods gave us a piece of this huge creative territory and said "Own it. Plant weird, wonderful new things. Do what you want here." As creators, we couldn't ask for more. Anyone But Me is a rare thing in the indie television world. For one thing, we don't have zombies. (Alas!) We get off on writing about real humans and their relationships. Anyone But Me launched in 2008. After our second season, we had a never been done before Webathon, and the fans funded us for Season 3. So many people had our back. We got press in Fast Company. Salon.com, The LA Times, Tubefilter, AfterEllen. And we collected a lot of cool awards along the way. But it's thanks to the passion of our fans that we're here! We're grateful to YouTube for this honor and the opportunity to connect with people we hope will become new fans. (Oh, and if you subscribe to our channel you not only get 26 episodes of our show & some fun video extras, we also link you to other shows we like. What could be bad about that?)

If you've enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise Channel. Keep an eye out for next month's blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Christine Wang and Devon Storbeck, YouTube partner support, recently watched "Elephant Plays with a Galaxy Note!"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/pWBKoyaLTB8/anyonebutmewebseries-is-marchs-youtube.html

[G] Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity

Posted by Andreas Tuerk, Product Manager

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Every day we aim to make technology so simple and intuitive that you stop thinking about it—we want Google to work so well, it just blends into your life. But sometimes it's helpful to step back and take stock of what you're doing online.

Today we're introducing Account Activity, a new feature in your Google Account. If you sign up, each month we'll send you a link to a password-protected report with insights into your signed-in use of Google services.

For example, my most recent Account Activity report told me that I sent 5 percent more email than the previous month and received 3 percent more. An Italian hotel was my top Gmail contact for the month. I conducted 12 percent more Google searches than in the previous month, and my top queries reflected the vacation I was planning: [rome] and [hotel].

Click the image for a larger version

Knowing more about your own account activity also can help you take steps to protect your Google Account. For example, if you notice sign-ins from countries where you haven't been or devices you've never owned, you can change your password immediately and sign up for the extra level of security provided by 2-step verification.

Give Account Activity a try, and tell us what you think by clicking on the "Send feedback" button in the lower right corner of your report. Over the next few months, we plan to incorporate more Google services. Meanwhile, we hope this feature helps you better understand and manage your information on Google.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2012/03/giving-you-more-insight-into-your.html

[G] New 45° imagery available for 15 cities

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: New 45° imagery available for 15 cities

Just in time for spring break, we're updating the 45° imagery coverage in Google Maps for several spots around the world. This time the new imagery includes 13 U.S. cities and 2 international locations.

Atlanta is a cultural and economic center the Southeastern United States. Growing from a settlement at the beginning of a railroad line, it's now the headquarters of global brands like Coca Cola, CNN and Delta Airlines. It's also a major transportation hub. Atlanta's international airport, Hartsfield-Jackson, is the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic, serving 89 million passengers per year.

View Larger Map
Founded 540 years ago, Córdoba, Argentina, is the second oldest Spanish colonial capital within Argentina. In 1613, the order of the Jesuits established Argentina's first university here. At the end of the 19th Century, a European immigration wave – mainly from Spain and Italy – contributed significantly to the city's industrialization. These days, due to the many churches, Córdoba is often referred to as la ciudad de las campanas, or "City of the Bells." The link below features the Córdoba Cathedral of the Jesuit Order.

View Larger Map
San Luis Obispo, California, developed as a city from the fifth mission of the Catholic Church, founded by Spanish Franciscan Junipero Serra in 1772. With the start of mass mobility, it became a popular stop on U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1. Some even say San Luis Obispo is the happiest city in the country. The link below will direct you to the historic mission buildings.

View Larger Map
Have fun exploring the new sites!

Below is the full list of updated cities:

US:
Atlanta, GA; Canyon Lake, TX; Charleston, SC; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Lakeland, FL; Lubbock, TX; Orlando, FL; Port Charlotte, FL; Roanoke, TX; San Luis Obispo, CA; Smyrna, TN; Walker, LA

International:
Adelaide, Australia; Cordoba, Argentina

Posted by Bernd Steinert, Geo Data Specialist

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-45-imagery-available-for-15-cities.html

[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones

In today's release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we've redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android

Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices

If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you'll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android
Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you'll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.

You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.

Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option

Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

To start using Google Maps 6.5 for Android, download the update from Google Play. Learn more about how to use other great features of Google Maps for Android on the redesigned Google Maps YouTube channel that has 12 new videos available today.

Posted by Harlan Hile, Software Engineer

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/crossing-50-billion-km-mark-giving.html

[G] Google makes great films available in France

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Google makes great films available in France

Cross-posted on the Google France Blog

Earlier this month, we introduced Google Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite apps on your Android phone or tablet in France. Today we're adding movies for rent to Google Play for people in France, including hundreds of full-length feature films from major Hollywood and French studios. These movies will also be available for rent on YouTube.

We've got some fantastic films to keep everyone entertained through the upcoming summer months and beyond. From blockbusters like Les Aventures de Tintin: Le Secret de la Licorne and Les Schtroumpfs, to new releases such as Twilight Chapitre 4 : Révélation 1ère partie, Le Stratege, The Thing, and Drive, and even French classics like Le Bal Des Actrices and La Grotte Des Rêves Perdus, you can find many of your favourite movies in high quality available to rent now on Google Play and YouTube. To make these films available, we've partnered with many independent French studios including Cinéma(s) à la Demande, EuropaCorp, M6 Video / SND, Under The Milky Way, UniversCiné and Wild Side as well as major film studios such as Disney Europe, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment France.

On Android phones and tablets, you can rent films from the Google Play Store and start watching them instantly in the Google Play Movies app. Movies can also be downloaded to the device so they're available for viewing during the rental period without an internet connection. On the web, you can rent and watch movies on the Google Play website (play.google.com/movies) or on YouTube (youtube.com/movies). Using your Google Account, you can rent the same movies across both Google Play and YouTube.

Movies are available at competitive pricing, with new releases starting at €3.99 for standard definition and €4.99 for high definition and library titles at €2.99 for standard definition and €3.99 for high definition. For most movies, viewers will have 30 days to begin watching their rental, and, once started, 48 hours to finish.

The concept of cinema was invented in France -- the Lumière brothers screened their film The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station in 1895. So it's exciting to be bringing this great content to our users in France through Google Play and YouTube.

Ben Serridge, Product Manager, recently watched "Cyrano De Bergerac."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/fAWGtqQu-kM/google-makes-great-films-available-in.html

[G] Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

On Sunday, April 1, millions of voters in Burma will cast a ballot in the parliamentary by-elections. This year, Burma is opening its doors to media and election observers alike to document the election proceedings in real-time. With support from Google Ideas, our friends at the J-School News Lab, a real-time reporting training program for Burmese journalists, will be curating a Burma Elections news channel on YouTube. Here, they will feature original reporting from J-School journalists on the ground, Burmese media outlets, and international broadcasters.

Until recently, Burma has been more or less closed to the outside world, making it difficult to find news and information about what was happening inside the country. We're pleased that people around the world will be able follow what's happening as Burmese voters head to the polls on election day.

Visit youtube.com/burmaelections for the latest news and developments.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Wine: 'I've Never Voted'".

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/aSFIh8KwgS4/follow-burma-elections-on-youtube_29.html

[G] Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/h45wSPZtUac/follow-burma-elections-on-youtube.html

Googland

2012-03-29T19:18:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark and giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look
[G] Sharing Personalized Dashboards using the Analytics API
[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look
[G] Put your business in fast forward with Google+
[G] New research: Organic search results and their impact on search ads
[G] Helping the right customers find your business with our Help Desk Hangouts On Air Series
[G] Do You Have What it Takes to be the ‘Next’ great YouTube Vlogger?
[G] Google Apps Vault Brings Information Governance to Google Apps
[G] The Go project reaches a major milestone: Go 1
[G] Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity
[G] Join us on our official Google+ AdSense Page
[G] Experience live music that matches your energy with The Switch

[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark and giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:39 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Crossing the 50 billion km mark and giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones
In today's release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we've redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android

Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices
If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you'll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android

Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you'll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming and twisting.

You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.

Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option
Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/crossing-50-billion-km-mark-and-giving.html

[G] Sharing Personalized Dashboards using the Analytics API

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:39 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Sharing Personalized Dashboards using the Analytics API

Web agencies often rely on Excel and Word to create analytics reports for clients. It's a manual process that involves a lot of copy and pasting. Yet an agency's main value-add isn't report creation, but analyzing data and providing key findings and recommendations to clients. And while Google Analytics provides the tools to slice and dice the data, many web agencies also want to present clients with personalized reports, complete with the agency's logo. And they want to be able to deliver and share reports without requiring users to log in, especially in large organizations where report distribution can become an onerous administrative process.

DashThis addresses these challenges with dashboards that combine simple automatic reporting with accessibility. Agencies spend less time creating reports and more time analyzing. Using the Google Analytics API, DashThis imports the client's data and updates a set of dashboards with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a specific job function or industry. The agency can also request a set of custom dashboards that meet exact specifications and requirements.

Alerts and warnings can be set to notify managers of changes in KPIs via email. All this is accomplished securely and without requiring the user to log in. There is also a white-label option for additional branding requirements demanded by agencies.

According to Kari Harju, CEO of SalesLion, an SEO and conversion agency in Helsinki, Finland. "Customers do not always understand how to read the results from web analytics products and see a tangible return on their investments. It's hard to show them without time consuming meetings. SalesLion opted for a custom dashboard to meet the needs of their clients. As a result of using DashThis, our clients now have a simple and easy way to understand what's going on with their web properties as it relates to their KPIs". SalesLion eliminated most of the reporting work, leaving more time to analyze, highlight key findings, and make actionable recommendations to clients.

DashThis was built by Trimali Technologies and uses the Google Analytics API. Stéphane Guérin, CEO describes DashThis' experience with the Google Analytics API and the response from customers, "The API is really simple to use but extremely powerful. It allows developers to add even more value on a great tool such as Google Analytics. We've been able to develop strong business relationships with agencies and we're proud to have made a tool that is useful for professionals. By opening the platform, Google Analytics allows smaller companies like ours to flourish in a rich eco-system."

DashThis can be found in the Google Analytics App Gallery and on the DashThis website.
If you're interested in developing solutions for the Google Analytics platform, visit Google Analytics Developers.

Posted by Pete Frisella, Google Analytics API Team

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/03/sharing-personalized-dashboards-using.html

[G] Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:39 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Every day, millions of people turn to Google Maps for Android for free, voice-guided GPS navigation to guide them to their destination. So far, Navigation on Google Maps for Android has provided 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, the equivalent of 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune or 0.005 light years! When getting to your destination matters most, Google Maps for Android will get you there:

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones

In today's release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we've redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android

Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you'll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.

You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.

Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option

Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2012/03/crossing-50-billion-km-mark-giving.html

[G] Put your business in fast forward with Google+

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Put your business in fast forward with Google+

Today, we're thrilled to share with you the story of musician and Google+ breakout star Daria Musk.

We often get asked for examples of how to use Google+ to engage with users. Lighting up Google+ with live concerts, as Daria's done, can seem a song apart from selling wares such as designer laptop cases, hotel rooms or even car insurance -- but the principles of building an engaged Google+ community ring true across industries. Daria's story is a shining example of what working with an active audience can look like.

Be authentic and committed
On March 13, Daria crossed the amazing milestone of having more than one million followers. That means more than one million Google+ users have added Daria to their circles, all in the space of about eight months.

Daria was looking for those listeners when she joined Google+. "I was dreaming maybe there's this wider world that I can sing for," she said. "Maybe my people are out there somewhere."

Through posts and Hangouts, Daria has kept her fans engaged. Keys to success, Daria said, include starting with enthusiasm and authenticity. "Right now if you get on Google+ and you show that you're doing something remarkable, they'll notice you," she said.

Being remarkable, Daria coached, includes being yourself and avoiding canned-message posts. Users can tell if you're trying to make a real connection. Be genuinely excited to connect with them and they'll connect back.

When users do notice you, make sure you commit enough time to connect back. Taking just 10 to 15 minutes to respond to comments can keep the conversation going.

Create a Hangout ritual

When it comes to connecting with Google+ users, Daria's found the perfect vehicle: Hangouts, which allow Google+ users to connect over video chat, in real time, for free. For Daria, that has meant instantaneous global concerts that have included a round-the-world New Year's Eve Hangout and a Hangout on stage at her TEDxTalk -- allowing her to share key moments with her "G+niuses, " her followers.

For a successful Hangout ritual, follow Daria's example and recommendations:

Announce the Hangout: Be excited! Hang a virtual poster on your stream and tell users what you'll be doing or discussing.
Encourage participants: If you've noticed great comments, invite those users directly to get a lively discussion going.
Follow up: After the Hangout, post a summary on your stream. What happened? What was discussed? What will you do with what you learned?

Get inputs -- and inspiration -- from your audience
For Daria, Google+ isn't just a way to promote her music. It's also a way to help shape it. The magic of Hangouts -- including watching a sunrise in Norway from her studio in the United States -- has inspired Daria to create additional "products" – her songs and music -- including tunes such as "+1 Me." She even cut audio from the live Hangouts into her live album, "L+VE." What could you learn from your own customers?

Google+ makes Daria feel like an innovator -- and it's open to anyone. All you have to do is sign up and start engaging. "We're … making our own party," she said, "and everyone's invited."

Join the party today. Create a Google+ page for your business at google.com/+/business.

Posted by Becky Bowman, Account Manager

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/put-your-business-in-fast-forward-with.html

[G] New research: Organic search results and their impact on search ads

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: New research: Organic search results and their impact on search ads

The Google Research team has a new study out today that examines how organic search results and ranking impact ad impressions and ad clicks. The team analyzed 390 Search Ads Pause studies and found, on average:

81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks occur in the absence of an associated organic result on the first page of search results. All ad clicks in these situations are incremental.
On average, for advertisers who appear in the top rank organic slot, 50% of ad clicks are incremental. This means that half of all ad clicks are not replaced by organic clicks when search ads are paused.
For advertisers whose organic search results are in the 2nd to 4th position, 81% of ad clicks are incremental. For advertisers appearing in organic position of 5 or lower, 96% of ad clicks are incremental.

The numbers reported here are averages. As always, we encourage advertisers to experiment with their own accounts to determine their individual incrementality rate. This rate should be factored into ROI calculations.

You can read more about it and see the infographic on the Google Research blog here.

Posted by Christina Park, Product Marketing Manager

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-research-organic-search-results-and.html

[G] Helping the right customers find your business with our Help Desk Hangouts On Air Series

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Helping the right customers find your business with our Help Desk Hangouts On Air Series

Join us every Wednesday at 11am PST on the Google+ Your Business page to learn about the tools that Google offers your business. This week, we're excited to bring current AdWords users a Hangout On Air about using AdWords to introduce your business to new, potential customers. AdWords is an amazing tool to help customers find you, so we want to make sure you make the most of it! We will cover topics around defining advertising goals, effective account structures, important metrics, and useful reports and features to help you get the most out of advertising with us.

Here's how you can participate: Sign into Google+ and add the Google+ Your Business page to your circles. Post questions ahead of time - just look for the post that we put up every Monday morning soliciting your questions. Then, on Wednesday, navigate to your Stream where you'll be able to view our Hangout live with just one click!

We're excited to see you, answer your questions, and teach you a little about AdWords!

Posted by Courtney Pannell and Dorian Storbeck, Global Online Advertising Associates

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/helping-right-customers-find-your_27.html

[G] Do You Have What it Takes to be the ‘Next’ great YouTube Vlogger?

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Do You Have What it Takes to be the 'Next' great YouTube Vlogger?

Vlogging, or video blogging, videos are some of the most popular on YouTube. And rightfully so--they're one of the few types of videos that literally anyone can create: all you have to do is sit in front of camera, share words of wisdom (okay, wisdom not always required), and upload the video. From accounts of political struggle in the Middle East to fan reactions of newly-released music videos to testaments of personal discovery, the intimate act of vlogging can take many shapes and resonate with audiences around the world.

A few weeks ago, we asked YouTube creators what form of content we should tackle as part of our Next Creator program, a development initiative to help promising creators find their voices, improve their skills, and build their audiences. You resoundingly responded with calls for YouTube Next Vlogger.

Starting later today through April 18, applications will be open for sixteen promising vloggers to take part in three months of intimate educational workshops held on Google+ Hangouts. Each vlogger will receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and more than $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Participants will also receive mentoring from industry experts, such as iJustine, one of the most successful vloggers and content creators on YouTube!

YouTube creators from Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States can learn more and apply to Next Vlogger on the Creator Hub. If previous Next Creator participants are any indication, the Next Vloggers will be an incredibly talented and engaging group. We can't wait to introduce them to you on April 30, but they need to apply first!

Vlog on!

Austin Lau & Bing Chen, Global YouTube Creator Program Managers, recently watched The Dominic Show's "Dating Tips: Break Ups"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/hVLg3InRk5Q/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-be-next.html

[G] Google Apps Vault Brings Information Governance to Google Apps

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Google Apps Vault Brings Information Governance to Google Apps

Posted by Jack Halprin, Head of eDiscovery, Google

Today we're announcing the availability of Google Apps Vault (Vault) for Google Apps for Business customers. Vault is an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution for managing information critical to your business and preserving important data. It can reduce the costs of litigation, regulatory investigation and compliance actions.

Businesses of all sizes need to be prepared for the unexpected. In today's environment, using Vault to manage, archive and preserve your data can help protect your business. Litigation costs can really take a toll on a business when minor lawsuits can run up to many thousands of dollars, and larger lawsuits can cost even more. Significant litigation costs come from having to search and find relevant data, which is also known as electronic discovery (eDiscovery).

E-discovery can be part of virtually any litigation and requires you to search, find and preserve your electronic information such as email. Vault helps protect your business with easy-to-use search so you can quickly find and preserve data to respond to unexpected customer claims, lawsuits or investigations. With an instant-on functionality and availability of your data a few clicks away, Vault provides access to all of your Gmail and on-the-record chats and can provide significant savings to your business over the traditional costs of litigation and eDiscovery.

Additionally, Vault gives Google Apps customers the extended management and information governance capabilities to proactively archive, retain and preserve Gmail and on-the-record chats. With the ability to search and manage data based on terms, dates, senders, recipients and labels, Vault helps you find the information you need, when you need it. Vault gives management, IT, legal and compliance users a systemized, repeatable and defensible platform that will reduce the costs and risks of doing business. With just a few clicks, the business can access a service designed for security and providing auditable access to critical information.

Vault is built on the same modern, 100% web-based architecture as Google Apps. Unlike traditional solutions, it does not require a complex and costly IT environment, and can be deployed in a matter of minutes. Vault brings the security, ease-of-use and reliability of Google Apps to information governance. It can help meet the sophisticated requirements of large organizations and makes these advanced capabilities available to business of all sizes.

Google Apps Vault can be added to your Google Apps account for an additional $5 per user per month starting today, so contact our sales team or a Google Apps reseller if you are interested in signing up for Google Apps and Vault.

We hope that Vault, together with Google Apps, will make a difference to your business and provide the right solution to reducing risk and cost so you can focus on growing your business.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/03/google-apps-vault-brings-information.html

[G] The Go project reaches a major milestone: Go 1

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 10:26 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: The Go project reaches a major milestone: Go 1

In November 2009 Google announced the Go project, a new open source programming language. Since then more than 200 outside contributors have made thousands of contributions to the code, tests, and documentation. The open source community has been essential to Go's success.

It is a great pleasure to announce today that the Go project has reached a stable point we are calling Go version 1, or Go 1 for short. Go 1 is the result of months of work refining the specification, improving the implementation, enhancing portability and re-working and adjusting the standards library. Go 1 offers compatibility for future growth: programs written to the Go 1 specification will work dependably for years to come even as Go continues to develop.

The benefits of Go 1 are also available to Google App Engine developers, as Go 1 is now the standard Go runtime on Google App Engine.

Go 1 is a consistent, portable, dependable base upon which to build programs, projects, and businesses. To learn more about Go 1, hear what the gophers have to say at the Go blog. For more information about Go in general, visit golang.org, which has documentation, references, articles, and even an interactive tour of the language.

By Andrew Gerrand, Go Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/Yl2qixYPJqc/go-project-reaches-major-milestone-go-1.html

[G] Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 10:26 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity

Every day we aim to make technology so simple and intuitive that you stop thinking about it—we want Google to work so well, it just blends into your life. But sometimes it's helpful to step back and take stock of what you're doing online.

Today we're introducing Account Activity, a new feature in your Google Account. If you sign up, each month we'll send you a link to a password-protected report with insights into your signed-in use of Google services.

For example, my most recent Account Activity report told me that I sent 5 percent more email than the previous month and received 3 percent more. An Italian hotel was my top Gmail contact for the month. I conducted 12 percent more Google searches than in the previous month, and my top queries reflected the vacation I was planning: [rome] and [hotel].

Click the image for a larger version

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/giving-you-more-insight-into-your.html

[G] Join us on our official Google+ AdSense Page

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 10:26 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: Join us on our official Google+ AdSense Page

We've just launched our official AdSense Google+ page, and we're excited to start connecting with you in new ways via Google+.

On our new page, you'll find AdSense updates and tips, and you'll have access to exclusive Hangouts with members of the AdSense team. These live video chat sessions will give you the opportunity to share your product feedback with our Product Managers, ask your questions to our optimization specialists, and get to know many others who work on AdSense. We hope that through these Hangouts on our page, you'll also have the chance to meet other AdSense publishers from around the world to share your experiences and best practices.

Be sure to follow us on Google+ today and join the conversation!

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/LKbEBWYjQYM/join-us-on-our-official-google-adsense.html

[G] Experience live music that matches your energy with The Switch

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 06:54 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Experience live music that matches your energy with The Switch

Audiophiles can choose a concert that matches their energy on March 28 at 6pm PT by visiting The Switch, an interactive music experience on YouTube, powered by 5 Gum.

During this intimate music experience, fans can enjoy two simultaneous live-streaming performances, curated by tastemakers La Blogotheque. Givers will bring their energetic sounds, while Theophilus London delivers relaxing grooves. At The Switch, you can pick the music that suits your mood.

The Switch experience continues with specially curated playlists that highlight La Blogotheque's signature Take Away Shows, presented with a visual twist. These performances from stars like Vampire Weekend and emerging artists like My Brightest Diamond are another way to lay back or liven up, and see music in a new light. Check out playlists selected by the artists or build one of your own.

Catch new sounds on YouTube and see where your moods take you on The Switch.

Charles Jang, YouTube marketing programs manager, recently watched "[AZIATIX] "Go" - FULL MV."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/sNgtuuVR-QY/experience-live-music-that-matches-your.html

Googland

2012-03-28T19:13:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View
[G] Explore Mandela’s archives online
[G] Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View
[G] EclipseCon ‘12 is Loaded with Googlers
[G] Impact of Organic Ranking on Ad Click Incrementality
[G] Introducing YouTube with a Peruvian flavor
[G] Google Israel for Businesses blog launches in Hebrew
[G] Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you
[G] Webinar tomorrow: Advanced audience targeting on the Google Display Network
[G] Explore Mandela’s archives online

[G] Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 03:12 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View

For the first time, you can ride a train on Street View. Through a partnership with UNESCO and Rhaetian Railways, we captured 75.8 miles/122 km of the famous UNESCO World Heritage Albula/Bernina railway line with Street View cameras. Starting today, in addition to accessing the imagery from directly within Google Maps, you can also find the collection in our new gallery.

See in Gallery

Like our trip to the Amazon, this Swiss mountain journey also began last year, when we attached the Street View trike to the wagon of a Rhaetian Railway train. From the very front of the train, the trike took 360-degree images along the expansive track.

See in Gallery

You can watch the video of how we did it here, and for more Street View collections around the world, visit our updated Street View gallery.

Enjoy the ride!

Posted by Raphael Leiteritz, Product Manager, Google Maps

(Cross-posted on the Lat Long blog)

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/take-train-through-swiss-alps-with.html

[G] Explore Mandela’s archives online

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 03:12 AM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Explore Mandela's archives online

Posted by Mark Yoshitake, Product Manager, Google's Cultural Institute

(Cross-posted from the Google Africa Blog)

Last year we announced a $1.25 million grant to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory to help preserve and digitize thousands of archival documents, photographs and videos about Nelson Mandela. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) is committed to documenting the life and times of one of the world's greatest statesmen and spreading his story to promote social justice throughout the world.

Today, the Mandela archive has become a reality. Along with historians, educationalists, researchers, activists and many others around the world, you can access a wealth of information and knowledge about the life and legacy of this extraordinary African leader. The new online multimedia archive includes Mandela's correspondence with family, comrades and friends, diaries written during his 27 years of imprisonment, and notes he made while leading the negotiations that ended apartheid in South Africa. The archive will also include the earliest-known photo of Mr. Mandela and never-before seen drafts of Mr. Mandela's manuscripts for the sequel to his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

We've worked closely with the NMCM to create an interactive online experience which we hope will inspire you as much as us. You can search and browse the archives to explore different parts of Mandela's life and work in depth: Early Life, Prison Years, Presidential Years, Retirement, Books for Mandela, Young People and My Moment with a Legend.

For example, you might be interested in Nelson Mandela's personal memories of the time he was incarcerated and click into the Prison Years exhibit. You can immediately see a curated set of materials threaded together into a broader narrative. These include handwritten notes on his desk calendars, which show, for example, that he met President F.W. De Klerk for the first time on December 13, 1989 for two and a half hours in prison; the Warrants of Committal issued by the Supreme Court which sent him to prison; the earliest known photo of Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island circa 1971; and a personal letter written from prison in 1963 to his daughters, Zeni and Zindzi, after their mother was arrested, complete with transcript.

From there, you might want to see all the letters held by the archive, and click "See more" in the letters category, where you can discover all personal letters or use the time filter to explore his diaries and calendars written between 1988 and 1998, where you can see that in the last page of the last diary, he met with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda to exchange ideas about the situation in northern Uganda. If you were a researcher, you can search through various fragments of Madiba's memory that relate to Ahmed Kathrada, his long-time comrade, politician and anti-apartheid activist, where you can find photos, videos, manuscripts and letters that relate to him.

Finally, by clicking into the exhibit, My Moment with a Legend, you can go beyond Madiba's personal materials to get a diverse perspective through photos, videos and stories, via the memories of people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, F.W. De Klerk and Nomfundo Walaza, a community worker.

The Nelson Mandela Digital Archive project is an initiative by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the Google Cultural Institute, which helps to preserve and promote our diverse cultural and historical heritage. Some of our other initiatives include the Art Project, digitizing the Dead Sea Scrolls and bringing the Yad Vashem Holocaust materials online.

You can start exploring the Nelson Mandela archive right now at archive.nelsonmandela.org. We hope you'll be inspired by this influential leader—the face of South Africa's transition to democracy.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2012/03/explore-mandelas-archives-online.html

[G] Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 03:12 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Take a train through the Swiss Alps with Street View

See in Gallery

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/take-train-through-swiss-alps-with.html

[G] EclipseCon ‘12 is Loaded with Googlers

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 03:12 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: EclipseCon '12 is Loaded with Googlers

EclipseCon 2012 begins today in Reston, Virginia with a veritable herd of Googlers on hand to teach, talk and generally hang out with the Eclipse community.

The information starts flowing at 9am on Tuesday when Googler Alex Russell delivers the opening keynote on "The Web Platform Is the Past, Present, and Future."

But wait, there's more:

Tuesday 3/27

Dan Rubel is speaking about Dart, a new open source programming language.

http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012/sessions/dart-action

Alex Ruiz will talk about Xtext 2.x and lessons learned while developing custom editors at Google.

http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012/sessions/xtext-success-story-google

Wednesday 3/28

Eric Clayberg will be talking about Building GUIs with WindowBuilder.

http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012/sessions/building-guis-windowbuilder

Shawn Pearce is speaking on Gerrit and peer code reviews.

http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012/sessions/harnessing-peer-code-reviews

Thursday 3/29

Last but not least, Sergey Prigogin is holding a session for beginners on C++ Refactoring.

http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012/sessions/c-refactoring-now-real

Hope to see you there!

By Cat Allman, Google Open Source Programs

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/3nUK3Ry43Js/eclipsecon-12-is-loaded-with-googlers.html

[G] Impact of Organic Ranking on Ad Click Incrementality

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 03:11 AM PDT

Google Research Blog: Impact of Organic Ranking on Ad Click Incrementality

Posted by David Chan, Statistician and Lizzy Van Alstine, Research Evangelist

In 2011, Google released a Search Ads Pause research study which showed that 89% of the clicks from search ads are incremental, i.e., 89% of the visits to the advertiser's site from ad-clicks are not replaced by organic clicks when the search ads are paused. In a follow up to the original study, we address two main questions: (1) how often is an ad impression accompanied by an associated organic result (i.e., organic result for the same advertiser)? and (2) how does the incrementality of the ad clicks vary with the rank of advertiser's organic results?

A meta-analysis of 390 Search Ads Pause studies highlighted the limited opportunity for clicks from organic search results to substitute for ad clicks when search ads are turned off. We found that on average, 81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks occur in the absence of an associated organic result on the first page of search results. In addition, we found that on average, 50% of the ad clicks that occur with a top rank organic result are incremental. The estimate for average incrementality of the ad clicks increases when the rank is lower; 82% of the ad clicks are incremental when the associated organic search result is between ranks 2 and 4, and 96% of the ad clicks are incremental when the advertiser's organic result ranked lower than 4 (i.e., 5 and below).

While these findings provide guidance on overall trends, results for individual advertisers may vary. It's also important to note that the study focuses on clicks rather than conversions. We recommend that advertisers employ randomized experiments (e.g., geo-based experiments) to better quantify the incremental traffic and lift in conversions from the search ad campaigns and that they use the value-per-click calculations in the original search ads pause study to determine the level of investment on their search ads.

For more information, find the full study here.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/gJZg/~3/WUPsaRl7JIk/impact-of-organic-ranking-on-ad-click.html

[G] Introducing YouTube with a Peruvian flavor

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:42 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Introducing YouTube with a Peruvian flavor

Peru is a multicultural and multilingual country, the result of the merger of different influences and customs throughout the centuries. It has a cultural abundance, from its literature, music and dance to its incredible cuisine, famous worldwide for its variety and originality. Taking all this into account, it's not surprising to find great examples of this culture's expressions on videos that anyone could enjoy at YouTube, such as Marca Perú, PerúTubers, Alicia and Sucedió en el Perú.

We want to share even more of the culture of Peru with you, so today we're kicking off a local version of YouTube in Peru: youtube.pe. The country becomes number 42 globally where a local YouTube version is available, and sixth in Latin America together with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

YouTube Peru will give more exposure to local talent, as well as make the experience of discovering, sharing and commenting on videos have a local flavor, making them more relevant with local tastes. Peruvians can now browse videos by category or by popularity and find local talent easily, without missing anything that also happens on a global scale.

We can't wait to see how YouTube Peru comes to life and acquires its own personality. So we invite you to start a channel to upload your best moments and talents to YouTube, and share those of others who are celebrating their world through video.

Gianfranco Polastri, country manager for Google Peru, recently watched "Experience Sundance: Meet the FIlmmakers #12."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/lAIJU7K8-HY/introducing-youtube-with-peruvian.html

[G] Google Israel for Businesses blog launches in Hebrew

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Google Israel for Businesses blog launches in Hebrew

We've heard from many of you that a blog in Hebrew would be very useful. With this in mind, we're excited to announce the launch of the Google Israel for Businesses blog. We have a lot of information to share, so we've decided to create this new blog format as a one-stop shop for all the information both publishers and advertisers need, including AdSense and AdWords information.

In order to subscribe to only AdSense topics simply visit the blog, and under "Subscribe to a label" on the left hand side, select the category "AdSense". Then, you'll only get alerts for posts categorized under that label. If you click "Subscribe via email" (also on the left hand side) you will subscribe to the entire blog (i.e. all labels).

Subscribe to the new blog today!

Posted by Maya Carmely - Inside AdSense Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/koIpwI2Yk1Q/google-israel-for-businesses-blog.html

[G] Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you

More users. More screens. More content. Same time. Same customers. Same goals.

As marketers, it's a challenge to stay up-to-date on the latest digital media innovations while continuing to manage effective, measurable campaigns. We at Google asked ourselves: how can we help you meet these challenges and move your customers from intent to action? How can we make the web work for you?

Next week at ad:tech SF we'll answer these questions through a 4-part "Think with Google" series.

Tuesday, April 3rd

Come hear from John Nicoletti, Director of Agency Development, on winning the moments that matter, making better decisions and operating more efficiently as you grow.
Dive deep with Bill Kee, Analytics Product Manager, on ways to approach marketing attribution and what Google Analytics is doing to make attribution modeling more accessible.
Learn about free tools available to help you plan for performance with Jordan Rost, Agency Lead.
Close the day with Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director, Mobile & Social Advertising, on how to use Google+ Pages to maximize your business' effectiveness and presence online.

Wednesday, April 4th

Global Google Analytics Lead Rachel Witalec will join the discussion on search tactics for making sure content gets found where and when you want it. If you're investing time in digital marketing you won't want to miss this.

The complete conference agenda is here. The sessions are open to ad:tech attendees.

Still haven't registered? Sign up here with discount code GOOGLESF12TB and save 30% off a full conference pass.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/think-with-google-comes-to-adtech-sf-to.html

[G] Webinar tomorrow: Advanced audience targeting on the Google Display Network

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Webinar tomorrow: Advanced audience targeting on the Google Display Network

This live webinar will outline how advertisers can use advanced audience targeting across the Google Display Network. We will discuss how to overlap and maximize AdWords products in order to reach specific target audience segments by using products such as remarketing, interest categories, topic targeting and more. This live webinar will be presented by a UK-based Google Display Specialist and more specialists will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

When: Tuesday 27th March at 3pm GMT (10am EST / 7amPST)

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/webinar-tomorrow-advanced-audience.html

[G] Explore Mandela’s archives online

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Explore Mandela's archives online

Last year we announced a $1.25 million grant to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory to help preserve and digitize thousands of archival documents, photographs and videos about Nelson Mandela. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) is committed to documenting the life and times of one of the world's greatest statesmen and spreading his story to promote social justice throughout the world.

Today, the Mandela archive has become a reality. Along with historians, educationalists, researchers, activists and many others around the world, you can access a wealth of information and knowledge about the life and legacy of this extraordinary African leader. The new online multimedia archive includes Mandela's correspondence with family, comrades and friends, diaries written during his 27 years of imprisonment, and notes he made while leading the negotiations that ended apartheid in South Africa. The archive will also include the earliest-known photo of Mr. Mandela and never-before seen drafts of Mr. Mandela's manuscripts for the sequel to his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

We've worked closely with the NMCM to create an interactive online experience which we hope will inspire you as much as us. You can search and browse the archives to explore different parts of Mandela's life and work in depth: Early Life, Prison Years, Presidential Years, Retirement, Books for Mandela, Young People and My Moments with a Legend.

For example, you might be interested in Nelson Mandela's personal memories of the time he was incarcerated and click into the Prison Years exhibit. You can immediately see a curated set of materials threaded together into a broader narrative. These include handwritten notes on his desk calendars, which show, for example, that he met President F.W. De Klerk for the first time on December 13, 1989 for two and a half hours in prison; the Warrants of Committal issued by the Supreme Court which sent him to prison; the earliest known photo of Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island circa 1971; and a personal letter written from prison in 1963 to his daughters, Zeni and Zindzi, after their mother was arrested, complete with transcript.

From there, you might want to see all the letters held by the archive, and click "See more" in the letters category, where you can discover all personal letters or use the time filter to explore his diaries and calendars written between 1988 and 1998, where you can see that in the last page of the last diary, he met with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda to exchange ideas about the situation in northern Uganda. If you were a researcher, you can search through various fragments of Madiba's memory that relate to Ahmed Kathrada, his long-time comrade, politician and anti-apartheid activist, where you can find photos, videos, manuscripts and letters that relate to him.

Finally, by clicking into the exhibit, My Moments with a Legend, you can go beyond Madiba's personal materials to get a diverse perspective through photos, videos and stories, via the memories of people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, F.W. De Klerk and Nomfundo Walaza, a community worker.

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/explore-mandelas-archives-online.html

Googland

2012-03-27T19:20:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code
[G] Street View Guide to Japan’s Cherry Blossom Season
[G] First-Party audience segments in the upgraded DFP service
[G] Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you
[G] A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code
[G] Announcing our upcoming North America AdSense in Your City events
[G] Measuring to improve: comprehensive, real-world data center efficiency numbers
[G] No fresh snow? No problem with The Ski Channel on YouTube

[G] A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 10:49 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code

It's only Spring Break for most college students, but summer vacation will be here before you know it. Instead of getting stuck babysitting your little sister or mowing your neighbor's lawn, apply for Google Summer of Code and spend the summer of 2012 earning money writing code for open source projects.

Google Summer of Code is a global program that gives university students a stipend to write code for open source projects over a three month period. Accepted students are paired with a mentor from the participating projects, gaining exposure to real-world software development and the opportunity for future employment in areas related to their academic pursuits. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.

For the past ten days, interested students have had the opportunity to review the ideas pages for this year's 180 accepted projects and research which projects they would like to contribute to this year. We hope all interested students will apply! Submit your proposal to the mentoring organizations via the Google Summer of Code program website from today through Friday, April 6 at 19:00 UTC.

Google Summer of Code is a highly competitive program with a limited number of spots. Students should consult the Google Summer of Code student manual for suggestions on how to write a quality proposal that will grab the attention of the mentoring organizations. Multiple proposals are allowed but we highly recommend focusing on quality over quantity. The mentoring organizations have many proposals to review, so it is important to follow each organization's specific guidelines or templates and we advise you to submit your proposal early so you can receive timely feedback.

For more tips, see a list of some helpful dos and don'ts for successful student participation written by a group of experienced Google Summer of Code administrators, our user's guide for the program site, Frequently Asked Questions and timeline. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Google Summer of Code on our Google Open Source blog, mailing lists or on Internet relay chat at #gsoc on Freenode.

To learn more about Google Summer of Code, tune in to the Google Students page on Google+ next Monday, April 2 at 3:30pm PT for a Hangout on Air with open source programs manager Chris DiBona. He'll be talking about Google Summer of Code with other members of the open source team at Google. Submit your questions about the program between now and next Monday using the hashtag #gsochangout, and Chris and the open source team will answer them live during the Hangout On Air.

Good luck to all the open source coders out there, and remember to submit your proposals early—you only have until April 6!

Posted by Carol Smith, Open Source Team

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-kind-of-summer-job-open-source.html

[G] Street View Guide to Japan’s Cherry Blossom Season

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 07:37 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Street View Guide to Japan's Cherry Blossom Season

One of the most popular times to travel to Japan is during the sakura season, when the nation's innumerable cherry blossoms erupt in full pink bloom. With the season starting soon, we launched a new visual travel guide this week that uses our Street View technology to help English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese speaking travelers plan hanami flower viewing trips to popular destinations across Japan.

Check out the new Street View Guide to Japan

Working with the Japan Tourism Agency and Japan National Tourism Organization, we figured out the most popular tourist spots for foreign travelers and listed them on our guide.

This edition covers eight distinct areas — Ginza, Asakusa, Akihabara, Tsukji, Kamakura, Fuji spots, Kyoto, and Osaka — and for each, we recommend spots for sightseeing, eating, and, shopping. We are able to offer interiors panoramic views of many of the guide's business locations, since many of the business owners participated in our Business Photos pilot program. In total, the guide offers 339 total locations, including 26 great cherry blossom viewing spots.

Visit the Toji Temple in Sakura Season

We encourage you to view the guide if you are traveling to Japan in the next few months or would like to virtually experience a few of Japan's most beautiful sites. So grab some sake and some friends — it's officially sakura season!

Posted by Kaori Negoro, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Google Japan

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/street-view-guide-to-japans-cherry.html

[G] First-Party audience segments in the upgraded DFP service

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: First-Party audience segments in the upgraded DFP service

Buying and selling ads based on audience has transformed the display industry in recent years. Buyers use new technologies to run highly relevant campaigns to users across ad networks and exchanges. This benefits publishers greatly, because it allows them to deliver more useful ads to their users ultimately helping increase RPMs on their indirectly sold inventory.

Publishers are increasingly taking control of their audience data as one of the key assets of their digital businesses. But publishers tell us they still want better tools to improve the integration, transparency, and control over their own audience data for both direct and indirect ad sales.

Today we're announcing the first in a series of features in the upgraded DFP service that help publishers manage and control audience data through one platform, integrated directly with their primary ad serving technology.

This first release is focused on first-party segments - as a publisher, you will have the ability to define your own user audience based on criteria that you define (e.g., sports enthusiasts, travel readers). First party audience segmentation was available in the existing DFP service, and is now integrated seamlessly with the upgraded DFP service.

First-party segmentation involves no implementation or integration effort by you. Simply define the criteria you want for your audience segments, in DFP and DoubleClick technology does the work of populating them directly from the ad tag. Once you've defined your audience you can use it to increase the direct sales value of undersold inventory, and gain insights on how different audience segments are engaging with content across your site. We have designed it to be seamless, easy to use and to put you in control of your data.

First party segmentation is a great tool for our publishers, but it's just the first step in the work of building out DFP's audience capabilities. In the coming months you'll see more information from us as we release a series of new features that are directly integrated with the upgraded DFP service.

Posted by Sean Harvey, Product Manager

URL: http://doubleclickpublishers.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-party-audience-segments-in.html

[G] Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you

More users. More screens. More content. Same time. Same customers. Same goals.

As marketers, it's a challenge to stay up-to-date on the latest digital media innovations while continuing to manage effective, measurable campaigns. We at Google asked ourselves: how can we help you meet these challenges and move your customers from intent to action? How can we make the web work for you?

Next week at ad:tech SF we'll answer these questions through a 4-part "Think with Google" series.

Tuesday, April 3rd

Come hear from John Nicoletti, Director of Agency Development, on winning the moments that matter, making better decisions and operating more efficiently as you grow.

Dive deep with Bill Kee, Analytics Product Manager, on ways to approach marketing attribution and what Google Analytics is doing to make attribution modeling more accessible.

Learn about free tools available to help you plan for performance with Jordan Rost, Agency Lead.

Close the day with Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director, Mobile & Social Advertising, on how to use Google+ Pages to maximize your business' effectiveness and presence online.

Wednesday, April 4th

Global Google Analytics Lead Rachel Witalec will join the discussion on search tactics for making sure content gets found where and when you want it. If you're investing time in digital marketing you won't want to miss this.

The complete conference agenda is here. The sessions are open to ad:tech attendees.

Still haven't registered? Sign up here with discount code GOOGLESF12TB and save 30% off a full conference pass.

Hope to see you there!

Posted by the Google Analytics team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/-3DCErIWDWE/think-with-google-comes-to-adtech-sf-to.html

[G] A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code

It's only Spring Break for most college students, but summer vacation will be here before you know it. Instead of getting stuck babysitting your little sister or mowing your neighbor's lawn, apply for Google Summer of Code and spend the summer of 2012 earning money writing code for open source projects.

Google Summer of Code is a global program that gives university students a stipend to write code for open source projects over a three month period. Accepted students are paired with a mentor from the participating projects, gaining exposure to real-world software development and the opportunity for future employment in areas related to their academic pursuits. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.

For the past ten days, interested students have had the opportunity to review the ideas pages for this year's 180 accepted projects and research which projects they would like to contribute to this year. We hope all interested students will apply! Submit your proposal to the mentoring organizations via the Google Summer of Code program website from today through Friday, April 6 at 19:00 UTC.

Google Summer of Code is a highly competitive program with a limited number of spots. Students should consult the Google Summer of Code student manual for suggestions on how to write a quality proposal that will grab the attention of the mentoring organizations. Multiple proposals are allowed but we highly recommend focusing on quality over quantity. The mentoring organizations have many proposals to review, so it is important to follow each organization's specific guidelines or templates and we advise you to submit your proposal early so you can receive timely feedback.

For more tips, see a list of some helpful dos and don'ts for successful student participation written by a group of experienced Google Summer of Code administrators, our user's guide for the program site, Frequently Asked Questions and timeline. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Google Summer of Code on our Google Open Source blog, mailing lists or on internet relay chat at #gsoc on Freenode.

Good luck to all the open source coders out there, and remember to submit your proposals early—you only have until April 6!

To learn more about Google Summer of Code, tune in to the Google Students page on Google+ next Monday, April 2nd at 3:30 pm PDT for a Hangout on Air with Open Source Programs Manager Chris DiBona. He'll be talking about Google Summer of Code with other members from the Open Source team at Google. Submit your questions about the program between now and next Monday using the hashtag #gsochangout, and Chris and the Open Source team will answer them live during the Hangout On Air.

By Carol Smith, Open Source Team

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/tVhdHM-hjKI/new-kind-of-summer-job-open-source.html

[G] Announcing our upcoming North America AdSense in Your City events

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 01:11 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Announcing our upcoming North America AdSense in Your City events

The AdSense in Your City team is excited to announce our next series of events. We'll be hitting the road and visiting 15 cities in April, May, and June and can't wait to work with more of our publishers. Our next series of events will be hosted in:

Sacramento, CA

Tuesday, April 10

San Diego, CA

Thursday, April 12

Los Angeles, CA

Friday, April 13

Montréal, QC, Canada

Tuesday, April 17

Philadelphia, PA

Thursday, April 19

Detroit, MI

Wednesday, May 2

Columbus, OH

Thursday, May 3

Washington DC

Wednesday, May 9

Boston, MA

Thursday, May 10

Oklahoma City, OK

Tuesday, May 22

San Antonio, TX

Wednesday, May 23

St. Louis, MO

Tuesday, June 5

Indianapolis, IN

Wednesday, June 6

Salt Lake City, UT

Tuesday, June 12

Denver, CO

Wednesday, June 13

AdSense in Your City began in the Summer of 2010 with the goal of allowing the AdSense Optimization team to meet with more of our AdSense publishers, offer customized tips and recommendations, and collect feedback. To date, we've worked with nearly 1500 publishers in more than 30 cities.

Each AdSense in Your City event includes presentations on optimization tips, DoubleClick for Publishers Small Business, and our mobile offering. Publishers who attend also receive a one-on-one consultation with a member of the AdSense team to review their site and offer customized recommendations. The events also provide a great opportunity for our attendees to meet and network with other AdSense publishers.

If you're interested in attending an AdSense in Your City event, let us know. We'll be sending out invitations soon so make sure your AdSense account is opted in to Special Offers so we can reach you. Also, if you're not near one of our North American cities, don't worry, AdSense in Your City is now global!

Posted by Courtney Yamada, AdSense in Your City team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/DHR7kh2jFjA/announcing-our-upcoming-north-america.html

[G] Measuring to improve: comprehensive, real-world data center efficiency numbers

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 09:41 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Measuring to improve: comprehensive, real-world data center efficiency numbers

To paraphrase Lord Kelvin, if you don't measure you can't improve. Our data center operations team lives by this credo, and we take every opportunity to measure the performance of our facilities. In the same way that you might examine your electricity bill and then tweak the thermostat, we constantly track our energy consumption and use that data to make improvements to our infrastructure. As a result, our data centers use 50 percent less energy than the typical data center.

One of the measurements we track is PUE, or power usage effectiveness. PUE is a ratio of the total power used to run a data center to the amount used to power the servers. For instance, if a data center has a PUE of 2.0, that means that for every watt of energy that powers the servers, another watt powers the cooling, lighting and other systems. An ideal PUE would be 1.0.

In 2011, our trailing 12-month average PUE was approximately 1.14—an improvement from 1.16 in 2010. In other words, our data centers use only 14 percent additional power for all sources of overhead combined. To calculate this number we include everything that contributes to energy consumption in our data centers. That means that in addition to the electricity used to power the servers and cooling systems, we incorporate the oil and natural gas that heat our offices. We also account for system inefficiencies like transformer, cable and UPS losses and generator parasitic energy draw.

If we chose to use a simpler calculation—for instance, if we included only the data center and the cooling equipment—we could report a PUE as low as 1.06 at our most efficient location. But we want to be as comprehensive as possible in our measurements. You can see the difference in this graphic:

We've been publishing our PUE quarterly since 2008—in fact, we were the first company to do so, and are still the only one. Our numbers are based on actual production data taken from hundreds of meters installed throughout our data centers, not design specs or best-case scenarios. One way to think of it is comparing a car manufacturer's mileage estimates for a new model car to the car's real-life miles per gallon. We're measuring real-world mileage so we can improve real-world efficiency.

Our 2011 numbers and more are available for closer examination on our data center site. We've learned a lot through building and operating our data centers, so we've also shared our best practices. These include steps like raising the temperature on the server floor and using the natural environment to cool the data center, whether it's outside air or recycled water.

We've seen dramatic improvements in efficiency throughout the industry in recent years, but there's still a lot we can do. Sharing comprehensive measurement data and ideas for improvement can help us all move forward.

Posted by Joe Kava, Senior Director, data center construction and operations

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/measuring-to-improve-comprehensive-real.html

[G] No fresh snow? No problem with The Ski Channel on YouTube

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 09:41 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: No fresh snow? No problem with The Ski Channel on YouTube

If you're a skier like me, you may have experienced some highs and lows this winter in your search for epic powder. Though spring has sprung, you can now get more of a downhill fix than ever by checking out The Ski Channel on YouTube.

The folks at The Ski Channel partnered with Epic Planks to create a new series called Germination. The series features some of the best young shredders around the world, doing what they do best on some of the coolest slopes and most creative urban environments. Here's the first episode, kicking off big from Norway:

There are many more adventures to come on The Ski Channel, and you can subscribe to get the first runs delivered right to your homepage. For even more channels where adrenaline meets snow, head to YouTube Sports to keep winter alive all year round.

Julie Kikla, YouTube Sports content partnership manager, recently watched "Yard Sale skiing ski crash free skiing extreme."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/9xuXsJW2s1c/no-fresh-snow-no-problem-with-ski.html

Googland

2012-03-24T19:15:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Street View on Google Maps comes to Thailand
[G] Measure your website’s performance with improved Site Speed reports
[G] Google Summer of Code 2012 Meetup held in Rome

[G] Street View on Google Maps comes to Thailand

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 06:18 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Street View on Google Maps comes to Thailand

Last September, we announced with the Tourism Authority of Thailand that we would collect street-level imagery of Thailand via our Street View cars. Just as we started driving, however, 65 of the country's 77 provinces experienced heavy flooding — resulting in one of the worst humanitarian and economic crises in the country's long history.

While flood waters affected our original driving schedule, the team was determined to keep the cars on the roads by driving up-country and focusing on un-affected areas. And if the weather wasn't enough of a challenge, how about carefully maneuvering Street View cars around curious elephants!

After six short months, it is with great pleasure that imagery of greater Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket is now available on Google Maps. We hope that locals in these areas find the panoramic views helpful for finding their way around their cities, discovering new restaurants and shops, and promoting their businesses online. Tourists can also get a preview of Thailand when planning vacations, figuring out travel logistics about the exact places to visit, or simply looking for more examples of the country's hidden beauty.

Below you can see Bangkok's Grand Palace, one of Thailand's great national treasures. The 360-degree imagery in Google Maps provides an immersive sense of what this spot is like in ways that a single, still photo wouldn't be able to encompass. For example, scroll around the panorama and you'll see Bangkok's bustling roads littered with brightly-painted tuk tuk auto rickshaws and hot pink taxis cruising down the streets.

Grand Palace, Bangkok - View Larger Map

The new imagery also includes breathtaking views from northern and southern Thailand, from sunny Laem Phrom Thep and Phang Nga Bay in Phuket, to famous temples like Wat Chiang Man or the mountain top monastery of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. We will continue driving in Thailand throughout the year, so stay tuned for more imagery updates in the future.

Laem Phrom Thep, Phuket - View Larger Map

In addition to today's announcement about adding Thailand imagery to Google Maps' Street View feature, we're also thrilled that the Google Trike has arrived in Thailand. Using this unique vehicle, sometimes mistaken for an ice cream vendor, we will begin collecting imagery of new spots that the Street View car cannot reach. Together with our local partner, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a poll has been opened at www.tourismthailand.org/mymiracle for Thais to decide where the Trike should go. Visit the site and let us know through photo, video, or text the Thai landmark you want to people all around the world to be able to virtually experience.

Despite the floods, Thailand had the highest-ever number of visitors in 2011 with 19 million guests. We hope that this new Street View imagery shows the world that Thailand is back — and ready for even more guests in 2012.

To check out a few Street View in Thailand and more collections around the world, including the Amazon Basin in Brazil, go to our new Street View gallery here.

Posted by Pornthip Kongchun, Head of Marketing, Thailand

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/street-view-on-google-maps-comes-to.html

[G] Measure your website’s performance with improved Site Speed reports

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 02:19 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Measure your website's performance with improved Site Speed reports

In our continued effort to improve your experience of Google Analytics, we are excited to release an updated Site Speed report that distills all the key metrics into a quick & easy to read Overview report.

Site Speed Overview Report
The Overview report provides an at-a-glance view of essential information for measuring your site's page loading metrics: Avg. Page Load Time by Browser, Country/Territory, and Page. Plus you can compare your site's average performance over time to forecast trends and view historical performance. All of these tools can help you identify where your pages may be underperforming and adjust so more visitors land on your site instead of waiting in frustration or leaving.

Example of updated reports

Previously there was only one Site Speed report, this has been renamed to "Page Timings". On the Page Timings report, you can view your site's load times in three ways: use the Explorer tab to explore average load time across dimensions, use the Performance tab to see how the load times break down by speed ranges, or use the Map Overlay tab to see how the load times breakdown by geography.

Previous report, now Page Timings

Speed metrics available in Intelligence Reports & API
The technical metrics included in the Page Timings report were launched a couple of months ago. So we've been working hard at making these metrics available in more of your favorite Analytics features. We've updated the Intelligence Reports to include the average site load times and all the Page Timings metrics. Now you can create custom alerts based on site speed metrics such as Avg. Page Load Time, Avg. Server Response Time. And view site speed metrics in the Analytics API and Custom Reports.

Site Speed Sample Rate
Small sites (<10K visits per day) can now increase the site speed sample rate up to 100% to get full samples for page load time. Note that the processing limit of up to 10K per day or 1% of pageview hits (whichever is greater) still applies.

- Mustafa M. Tikir, Google Analytics team

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/03/measure-your-websites-performance-with.html

[G] Google Summer of Code 2012 Meetup held in Rome

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 02:19 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Google Summer of Code 2012 Meetup held in Rome

On March 15th about 30 students participated in the Google Summer of Code info session held at Fusolab in Rome, Italy by Ninux.org. Some of the students were well known in the local community and have been participating in the development of open source software, while others were excited to start working on open source. There's always a first time to work on open source software development and we think Google Summer of Code is the best occasion to do it! A few of the students were slightly concerned about the overlap between the program and their exams in July but the mentors explained that with careful and realistic planning delivering a successful project is definitely achievable.

Photo taken by Federico Capoano

Ninux.org is an Italian wireless community whose primary goal is to build a community of skilled people that participate in building open and decentralized wireless networks in the Italian peninsula for experimental purposes. For us the Google Summer of Code has been a great way to attract new promising and talented minds in our community. Many of the students that participated in previous years are still contributing, hacking and experimenting with new technologies with us.

We hope to contribute in forming the new generation that will push forward the open source philosophy applied to real life in our country. We believe the open source philosophy is the best approach in solving many of the issues in our society, so we put effort in applying it not only to software, but also to all our other activities. Collaborate, teach, learn and share. The Future is Now!

By Saverio Proto Google Summer of Code mentor for Ninux.org

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/jyPYVjP-LK0/google-summer-of-code-2012-meetup-held.html

Googland

2012-03-23T19:11:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] A better way to buy display
[G] Excellent Papers for 2011
[G] Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration
[G] Better Insights with Flow Visualization Enhancements
[G] Explore Poland on Street View
[G] Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View
[G] Doubling Down on Publishers
[G] SIGCSE 2012 Was Inspiring!
[G] Customize your search preferences
[G] Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration
[G] Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners
[G] Bringing you a more powerful Ad review center
[G] Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners
[G] Selamat datang, YouTube Malaysia!

[G] A better way to buy display

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 08:23 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: A better way to buy display

Display advertising has undergone a bit of a fairytale-like transformation over the past several years, from the medium of "Click Here!" banner ads, to one that can be smart and sexy and help bring big ideas (even those from advertising's past) to life. Now that display has had its "Cinderella moment," we figured the "carriage" could use an upgrade as well. So today, we're unveiling some changes designed to simplify the way you buy and run display through AdWords.

Display's New Home in AdWords

For nine years, AdWords customers have been buying display campaigns through an interface designed for search. This is like trying to run in glass slippers -- it might work, but it'd be a lot more effective with the right running shoes. So we're giving display its own tab within AdWords. Rolling out over the next few weeks, the new Display Network Tab is an interface built from the ground up to run display campaigns, and will enable you to bid, target and optimize display campaigns all from a single place. Click the image below to see the different Display Network Tab targeting options.

Display Network Tab

click to view larger image

A Revved-Up Contextual Engine

The contextual engine, which matches ads to pages based on keywords, is at the heart of display-buying through AdWords. We've been hard at work behind-the-scenes to give this engine its biggest enhancement ever, the ability to combine the reach of display with the precision of search, using Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting. This means that you can fine-tune the performance of your contextual campaigns down to individual keyword level, which will help you take the performance of your marketing campaign to a completely new level. It's now easier for you to extend search campaigns to display and more efficient to run the two types of campaigns together.

For example, let's say you're running display campaigns for a Travel Agency who offers a vacation packages in several Caribbean islands. In the past, you would have created themed ad groups targeting vacations to Turks and Caicos and the Caribbean. Now, with this new keyword level transparency you might realize that the keyword "Turks and Caicos vacations" is 4 times more profitable than the keyword "caribbean vacations". You can optimize your campaigns to aggressively target these high performing keywords, and be more conservative on "caribbean vacations".

Giving a Visual Edge

And like the writers of the best fairytales know, sometimes pictures communicate better than words (or numbers). Along with the new Display Network Tab and contextual engine, we're introducing a way to visualize the reach of your campaigns, and see how that reach is impacted by combining multiple targeting types, such as keywords, placements, topics, interests or remarketing.

These changes are some of our biggest steps to date towards bringing together the science of search advertising with the art of display. We hope they give you some powerful new tools to connect with their customers and deliver engaging and relevant display ads.

Learn More

We're rolling out the new Display Network Tab to all advertisers in the upcoming coming weeks.

For more information on what's new on the Display Network Tab visit our help center article.

Please join Google in our upcoming webinar on May 15th to learn more about optimizing your targeting strategies for campaigns using the Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting. Check out our new webinar page to register.

Watch Brad Bender, Director of Product Management for Display talk about the new Display Network Tab and the Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting.

Posted by Alok Goel, Product Manager Next Gen-Keyword Contextual Targeting, Rebecca Illowsky, Product Manager Display Network Tab, and Claire Cui, Principal Engineer

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/better-way-to-buy-display.html

[G] Excellent Papers for 2011

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 04:52 PM PDT

Research Blog: Excellent Papers for 2011

Posted by Corinna Cortes and Alfred Spector, Google Research

Googlers across the company actively engage with the scientific community by publishing technical papers, contributing open-source packages, working on standards, introducing new APIs and tools, giving talks and presentations, participating in ongoing technical debates, and much more. Our publications offer technical and algorithmic advances, feature aspects we learn as we develop novel products and services, and shed light on some of the technical challenges we face at Google.

In an effort to highlight some of our work, we periodically select a number of publications to be featured on this blog. We first posted a set of papers on this blog in mid-2010 and subsequently discussed them in more detail in the following blog postings. In a second round, we highlighted new noteworthy papers from the later half of 2010. This time we honor the influential papers authored or co-authored by Googlers covering all of 2011 -- covering roughly 10% of our total publications. It's tough choosing, so we may have left out some important papers. So, do see the publications list to review the complete group.

In the coming weeks we will be offering a more in-depth look at these publications, but here are some summaries:

Audio processing

"Cascades of two-pole–two-zero asymmetric resonators are good models of peripheral auditory function", Richard F. Lyon, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 130 (2011), pp. 3893-3904.
Lyon's long title summarizes a result that he has been working toward over many years of modeling sound processing in the inner ear. This nonlinear cochlear model is shown to be "good" with respect to psychophysical data on masking, physiological data on mechanical and neural response, and computational efficiency. These properties derive from the close connection between wave propagation and filter cascades. This filter-cascade model of the ear is used as an efficient sound processor for several machine hearing projects at Google.

Electronic Commerce and Algorithms

"Online Vertex-Weighted Bipartite Matching and Single-bid Budgeted Allocations", Gagan Aggarwal, Gagan Goel, Chinmay Karande, Aranyak Mehta, SODA 2011.
The authors introduce an elegant and powerful algorithmic technique to the area of online ad allocation and matching: a hybrid of random perturbations and greedy choice to make decisions on the fly. Their technique sheds new light on classic matching algorithms, and can be used, for example, to pick one among a set of relevant ads, without knowing in advance the demand for ad slots on future web page views.

"Milgram-routing in social networks", Silvio Lattanzi, Alessandro Panconesi, D. Sivakumar, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on World Wide Web, WWW 2011, pp. 725-734.
Milgram's "six-degrees-of-separation experiment" and the fascinating small world hypothesis that follows from it, have generated a lot of interesting research in recent years. In this landmark experiment, Milgram showed that people unknown to each other are often connected by surprisingly short chains of acquaintances. In the paper we prove theoretically and experimentally how a recent model of social networks, "Affiliation Networks", offers an explanation to this phenomena and inspires interesting technique for local routing within social networks.

"Non-Price Equilibria in Markets of Discrete Goods", Avinatan Hassidim, Haim Kaplan, Yishay Mansour, Noam Nisan, EC, 2011.
We present a correspondence between markets of indivisible items, and a family of auction based n player games. We show that a market has a price based (Walrasian) equilibrium if and only if the corresponding game has a pure Nash equilibrium. We then turn to markets which do not have a Walrasian equilibrium (which is the interesting case), and study properties of the mixed Nash equilibria of the corresponding games.

HCI

"From Basecamp to Summit: Scaling Field Research Across 9 Locations", Jens Riegelsberger, Audrey Yang, Konstantin Samoylov, Elizabeth Nunge, Molly Stevens, Patrick Larvie, CHI 2011 Extended Abstracts.
The paper reports on our experience with a basecamp research hub to coordinate logistics and ongoing real-time analysis with research teams in the field. We also reflect on the implications for the meaning of research in a corporate context, where much of the value may be less in a final report, but more in the curated impressions and memories our colleagues take away from the the research trip.

"User-Defined Motion Gestures for Mobile Interaction", Jaime Ruiz, Yang Li, Edward Lank, CHI 2011: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 197-206.
Modern smartphones contain sophisticated sensors that can detect rich motion gestures — deliberate movements of the device by end-users to invoke commands. However, little is known about best-practices in motion gesture design for the mobile computing paradigm. We systematically studied the design space of motion gestures via a guessability study that elicits end-user motion gestures to invoke commands on a smartphone device. The study revealed consensus among our participants on parameters of movement and on mappings of motion gestures onto commands, by which we developed a taxonomy for motion gestures and compiled an end-user inspired motion gesture set. The work lays the foundation of motion gesture design—a new dimension for mobile interaction.

Information Retrieval

"Reputation Systems for Open Collaboration", B.T. Adler, L. de Alfaro, A. Kulshrestra, I. Pye, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54 No. 8 (2011), pp. 81-87.
This paper describes content based reputation algorithms, that rely on automated content analysis to derive user and content reputation, and their applications for Wikipedia and google Maps. The Wikipedia reputation system WikiTrust relies on a chronological analysis of user contributions to articles, metering positive or negative increments of reputation whenever new contributions are made. The Google Maps system Crowdsensus compares the information provided by users on map business listings and computes both a likely reconstruction of the correct listing and a reputation value for each user. Algorithmic-based user incentives ensure the trustworthiness of evaluations of Wikipedia entries and Google Maps business information.

Machine Learning and Data Mining

"Domain adaptation in regression", Corinna Cortes, Mehryar Mohri, Proceedings of The 22nd International Conference on Algorithmic Learning Theory, ALT 2011.
Domain adaptation is one of the most important and challenging problems in machine learning. This paper presents a series of theoretical guarantees for domain adaptation in regression, gives an adaptation algorithm based on that theory that can be cast as a semi-definite programming problem, derives an efficient solution for that problem by using results from smooth optimization, shows that the solution can scale to relatively large data sets, and reports extensive empirical results demonstrating the benefits of this new adaptation algorithm.

"On the necessity of irrelevant variables", David P. Helmbold, Philip M. Long, ICML, 2011
Relevant variables sometimes do much more good than irrelevant variables do harm, so that it is possible to learn a very accurate classifier using predominantly irrelevant variables. We show that this holds given an assumption that formalizes the intuitive idea that the variables are non-redundant. For problems like this it can be advantageous to add many additional variables, even if only a small fraction of them are relevant.

"Online Learning in the Manifold of Low-Rank Matrices", Gal Chechik, Daphna Weinshall, Uri Shalit, Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 23), 2011, pp. 2128-2136.
Learning measures of similarity from examples of similar and dissimilar pairs is a problem that is hard to scale. LORETA uses retractions, an operator from matrix optimization, to learn low-rank similarity matrices efficiently. This allows to learn similarities between objects like images or texts when represented using many more features than possible before.

Machine Translation

"Training a Parser for Machine Translation Reordering", Jason Katz-Brown, Slav Petrov, Ryan McDonald, Franz Och, David Talbot, Hiroshi Ichikawa, Masakazu Seno, Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP '11).
Machine translation systems often need to understand the syntactic structure of a sentence to translate it correctly. Traditionally, syntactic parsers are evaluated as standalone systems against reference data created by linguists. Instead, we show how to train a parser to optimize reordering accuracy in a machine translation system, resulting in measurable improvements in translation quality over a more traditionally trained parser.

"Watermarking the Outputs of Structured Prediction with an application in Statistical Machine Translation", Ashish Venugopal, Jakob Uszkoreit, David Talbot, Franz Och, Juri Ganitkevitch, Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP).
We propose a general method to watermark and probabilistically identify the structured results of machine learning algorithms with an application in statistical machine translation. Our approach does not rely on controlling or even knowing the inputs to the algorithm and provides probabilistic guarantees on the ability to identify collections of results from one's own algorithm, while being robust to limited editing operations.

"Inducing Sentence Structure from Parallel Corpora for Reordering", John DeNero, Jakob Uszkoreit, Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP).
Automatically discovering the full range of linguistic rules that govern the correct use of language is an appealing goal, but extremely challenging. Our paper describes a targeted method for discovering only those aspects of linguistic syntax necessary to explain how two different languages differ in their word ordering. By focusing on word order, we demonstrate an effective and practical application of unsupervised grammar induction that improves a Japanese to English machine translation system.

Multimedia and Computer Vision

"Kernelized Structural SVM Learning for Supervised Object Segmentation", Luca Bertelli, Tianli Yu, Diem Vu, Burak Gokturk,Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2011.
The paper proposes a principled way for computers to learn how to segment the foreground from the background of an image given a set of training examples. The technology is build upon a specially designed nonlinear segmentation kernel under the recently proposed structured SVM learning framework.

"Auto-Directed Video Stabilization with Robust L1 Optimal Camera Paths", Matthias Grundmann, Vivek Kwatra, Irfan Essa, IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2011).
Casually shot videos captured by handheld or mobile cameras suffer from significant amount of shake. Existing in-camera stabilization methods dampen high-frequency jitter but do not suppress low-frequency movements and bounces, such as those observed in videos captured by a walking person. On the other hand, most professionally shot videos usually consist of carefully designed camera configurations, using specialized equipment such as tripods or camera dollies, and employ ease-in and ease-out for transitions. Our stabilization technique automatically converts casual shaky footage into more pleasant and professional looking videos by mimicking these cinematographic principles. The original, shaky camera path is divided into a set of segments, each approximated by either constant, linear or parabolic motion, using an algorithm based on robust L1 optimization. The stabilizer has been part of the YouTube Editor (youtube.com/editor) since March 2011.

"The Power of Comparative Reasoning", Jay Yagnik, Dennis Strelow, David Ross, Ruei-Sung Lin, International Conference on Computer Vision (2011).
The paper describes a theory derived vector space transform that converts vectors into sparse binary vectors such that Euclidean space operations on the sparse binary vectors imply rank space operations in the original vector space. The transform a) does not need any data-driven supervised/unsupervised learning b) can be computed from polynomial expansions of the input space in linear time (in the degree of the polynomial) and c) can be implemented in 10-lines of code. We show competitive results on similarity search and sparse coding (for classification) tasks.

NLP

"Unsupervised Part-of-Speech Tagging with Bilingual Graph-Based Projections", Dipanjan Das, Slav Petrov, Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL '11), 2011, Best Paper Award.
We would like to have natural language processing systems for all languages, but obtaining labeled data for all languages and tasks is unrealistic and expensive. We present an approach which leverages existing resources in one language (for example English) to induce part-of-speech taggers for languages without any labeled training data. We use graph-based label propagation for cross-lingual knowledge transfer and use the projected labels as features in a hidden Markov model trained with the Expectation Maximization algorithm.

Networks

"TCP Fast Open", Sivasankar Radhakrishnan, Yuchung Cheng, Jerry Chu, Arvind Jain, Barath Raghavan, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (CoNEXT), 2011.
TCP Fast Open enables data exchange during TCP's initial handshake. It decreases application network latency by one full round-trip time, a significant speedup for today's short Web transfers. Our experiments on popular websites show that Fast Open reduces the whole-page load time over 10% on average, and in some cases up to 40%.

"Proportional Rate Reduction for TCP", Nandita Dukkipati, Matt Mathis, Yuchung Cheng, Monia Ghobadi, Proceedings of the 11th ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Internet Measurement 2011, Berlin, Germany - November 2-4, 2011.
Packet losses increase latency of Web transfers and negatively impact user experience. Proportional rate reduction (PRR) is designed to recover from losses quickly, smoothly and accurately by pacing out retransmissions across received ACKs during TCP's fast recovery. Experiments on Google Web and YouTube servers in U.S. and India demonstrate that PRR reduces the TCP latency of connections experiencing losses by 3-10% depending on response size.

Security and Privacy

"Automated Analysis of Security-Critical JavaScript APIs", Ankur Taly, Úlfar Erlingsson, John C. Mitchell, Mark S. Miller, Jasvir Nagra, IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy (SP), 2011.
As software is increasingly written in high-level, type-safe languages, attackers have fewer means to subvert system fundamentals, and attacks are more likely to exploit errors and vulnerabilities in application-level logic. This paper describes a generic, practical defense against such attacks, which can protect critical application resources even when those resources are partially exposed to attackers via software interfaces. In the context of carefully-crafted fragments of JavaScript, the paper applies formal methods and semantics to prove that these defenses can provide complete, non-circumventable mediation of resource access; the paper also shows how an implementation of the techniques can establish the properties of widely-used software, and find previously-unknown bugs.

"App Isolation: Get the Security of Multiple Browsers with Just One", Eric Y. Chen, Jason Bau, Charles Reis, Adam Barth, Collin Jackson, 18th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, 2011.
We find that anecdotal advice to use a separate web browser for sites like your bank is indeed effective at defeating most cross-origin web attacks. We also prove that a single web browser can provide the same key properties, for sites that fit within the compatibility constraints.

Speech

"Improving the speed of neural networks on CPUs", Vincent Vanhoucke, Andrew Senior, Mark Z. Mao, Deep Learning and Unsupervised Feature Learning Workshop, NIPS 2011.
As deep neural networks become state-of-the-art in real-time machine learning applications such as speech recognition, computational complexity is fast becoming a limiting factor in their adoption. We show how to best leverage modern CPU architectures to significantly speed-up their inference.

"Bayesian Language Model Interpolation for Mobile Speech Input", Cyril Allauzen, Michael Riley, Interspeech 2011.
Voice recognition on the Android platform must contend with many possible target domains - e.g. search, maps, SMS. For each of these, a domain-specific language model was built by linearly interpolating several n-gram LMs from a common set of Google corpora. The current work has found a way to efficiently compute a single n-gram language model with accuracy very close to the domain-specific LMs but with considerably less complexity at recognition time.

Statistics

"Large-Scale Parallel Statistical Forecasting Computations in R", Murray Stokely, Farzan Rohani, Eric Tassone, JSM Proceedings, Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2011.
This paper describes the implementation of a framework for utilizing distributed computational infrastructure from within the R interactive statistical computing environment, with applications to timeseries forecasting. This system is widely used by the statistical analyst community at Google for data analysis on very large data sets.

Structured Data

"Dremel: Interactive Analysis of Web-Scale Datasets", Sergey Melnik, Andrey Gubarev, Jing Jing Long, Geoffrey Romer, Shiva Shivakumar, Matt Tolton, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54 (2011), pp. 114-123.
Dremel is a scalable, interactive ad-hoc query system. By combining multi-level execution trees and columnar data layout, it is capable of running aggregation queries over trillion-row tables in seconds. Besides continued growth internally to Google, Dremel now also backs an increasing number of external customers including BigQuery and UIs such as AdExchange front-end.

"Representative Skylines using Threshold-based Preference Distributions", Atish Das Sarma, Ashwin Lall, Danupon Nanongkai, Richard J. Lipton, Jim Xu, International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE), 2011.
The paper adopts principled approach towards representative skylines and formalizes the problem of displaying k tuples such that the probability that a random user clicks on one of them is maximized. This requires mathematically modeling (a) the likelihood with which a user is interested in a tuple, as well as (b) how one negotiates the lack of knowledge of an explicit set of users. This work presents theoretical and experimental results showing that the suggested algorithm significantly outperforms previously suggested approaches.

"Hyper-local, directions-based ranking of places", Petros Venetis, Hector Gonzalez, Alon Y. Halevy, Christian S. Jensen, PVLDB, vol. 4(5) (2011), pp. 290-30.
Click through information is one of the strongest signals we have for ranking web pages. We propose an equivalent signal for raking real world places: The number of times that people ask for precise directions to the address of the place. We show that this signal is competitive in quality with human reviews while being much cheaper to collect, we also show that the signal can be incorporated efficiently into a location search system.

Systems

"Power Management of Online Data-Intensive Services", David Meisner, Christopher M. Sadler, Luiz André Barroso, Wolf-Dietrich Weber, Thomas F. Wenisch, Proceedings of the 38th ACM International Symposium on Computer Architecture, 2011.
Compute and data intensive Web services (such as Search) are a notoriously hard target for energy savings techniques. This article characterizes the statistical hardware activity behavior of servers running Web search and discusses the potential opportunities of existing and proposed energy savings techniques.

"The Impact of Memory Subsystem Resource Sharing on Datacenter Applications", Lingjia Tang, Jason Mars, Neil Vachharajani, Robert Hundt, Mary-Lou Soffa, ISCA, 2011.
In this work, the authors expose key characteristics of an emerging class of Google-style workloads and show how to enhance system software to take advantage of these characteristics to improve efficiency in data centers. The authors find that across datacenter applications, there is both a sizable benefit and a potential degradation from improperly sharing micro-architectural resources on a single machine (such as on-chip caches and bandwidth to memory). The impact of co-locating threads from multiple applications with diverse memory behavior changes the optimal mapping of thread to cores for each application. By employing an adaptive thread-to-core mapper, the authors improved the performance of the datacenter applications by up to 22% over status quo thread-to-core mapping, achieving performance within 3% of optimal.

"Language-Independent Sandboxing of Just-In-Time Compilation and Self-Modifying Code", Jason Ansel, Petr Marchenko, Úlfar Erlingsson, Elijah Taylor, Brad Chen, Derek Schuff, David Sehr, Cliff L. Biffle, Bennet S. Yee, ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), 2011.
Since its introduction in the early 90's, Software Fault Isolation, or SFI, has been a static code technique, commonly perceived as incompatible with dynamic libraries, runtime code generation, and other dynamic code. This paper describes how to address this limitation and explains how the SFI techniques in Google Native Client were extended to support modern language implementations based on just-in-time code generation and runtime instrumentation. This work is already deployed in Google Chrome, benefitting millions of users, and was developed over a summer collaboration with three Ph.D. interns; it exemplifies how Research at Google is focused on rapidly bringing significant benefits to our users through groundbreaking technology and real-world products.

"Thialfi: A Client Notification Service for Internet-Scale Applications", Atul Adya, Gregory Cooper, Daniel Myers, Michael Piatek,Proc. 23rd ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP), 2011, pp. 129-142.
This paper describes a notification service that scales to hundreds of millions of users, provides sub-second latency in the common case, and guarantees delivery even in the presence of a wide variety of failures. The service has been deployed in several popular Google applications including Chrome, Google Plus, and Contacts.

URL: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2012/03/excellent-papers-for-2011.html

[G] Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 04:52 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

(Cross posted on the Google Voice Blog)

Since we launched Google Voice back in 2009, we've supported visual voicemail so you could open the Google Voice app, see all your voicemails with text transcripts, and play them on-demand. But sometimes when I get a missed call, I don't want to jump between my call log and the Google Voice app to see who has called me and what message they left.

So, today, we're updating our mobile app so you can view and listen to your voicemails on demand directly from the call log on your Android phone. Your voicemails will appear alongside your outgoing, incoming, and missed calls in your phone's call log and you can just simply touch them to play them. You can slow down the playback of the message which is great for when someone is telling you their callback number, or you even speed playback up, so you can quickly listen to longer messages.

To turn this feature on, download the latest app from Google Play and check "Voicemail display" under settings. This new feature requires Android 4.0+.

Posted by Yong-Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2012/03/google-voice-for-android-now-with-ice.html

[G] Better Insights with Flow Visualization Enhancements

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 04:52 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Better Insights with Flow Visualization Enhancements

We've been listening to your feedback about Flow Visualization, and we're excited to announce a number of significant upgrades that are available to all our users starting today.

Events Flow
We've expanded the Flow Visualization family of reports to now include Events Flow! This new feature can be found in the Content->Events section:

What problem does Events Flow help solve?
Event-driven websites had a difficult time analyzing the impact from their visitors using flow visualization. These are websites that land users on one URL, where there are multiple elements on that page for a user to interact with (such as videos, roll over buttons, or games). These sites tend to have very few pages and get most of their value from visitor interactions with events. The Events Flow report addresses this issue by showing the order of events in which your visitors engaged.

For those who have used Visitors Flow before, the feel of the Events Flow report will be familiar - it includes all the same interactions of hovering, clicking, and adding additional steps. You can also analyze the flow of events by grouping the nodes in any of the following 3 options: Category, Category/Action, or Category/Action/Label. For more information about using the Events Flow report, view our help center or this how to video to see how we analyzed the events that occurred in our very own Flow Visualization reports!

Flow Visualization Date Comparison
You can now compare two date ranges for the entire family of Flow Visualization reports: Visitors Flow, Goal Flow, and even the new Events Flow. This feature will help you to gain insights on how your visitor engagement changes over different periods of time.

Example of Goal Flow Date Comparison

Now you can analyze and measure how changes to your pages and/or goal steps affect your visitors behavior. It optimizes your workflow by removing the need to perform manual calculations and open two browsers to view two flow visualizations side-by-side. You can now do them all in one screen.

Plus, you can also highlight connections and instantly update all the comparison numbers for that particular traffic. Below is a real-life example from our Google Store. We compared two time periods (where we have removed a particular goal step) and discovered that pageviews from Firefox went down 15%.

From an initial impression, one might have concluded that the removal of the goal step could have potentially lower the traffic. However by highlighting that flow we were able to isolate that traffic to see how many orders were successfully completed. That was how we learned the number of orders actually went up 67%, and the removal of the goal step helped increased our conversion rates!

This feature can be extremely powerful for gaining additional insights on how to optimize conversions and the website experience for your visitors. Learn more in our help center.

Additional Goal Types in Goal Flow
Are you interested in seeing how users convert on non-URL goals? Now you can, we've added support for additional types of goals including time on site and engagement in the Goal Flow report. Head on over to the Goal Flow report to choose the goal(s) you're interested in.

Here are links that will help you easily find these reports in your Google Analytics account.

We hope these enhancements make Flow Visualization even more comprehensive and allow you to gain deeper insights. Please reach out to us with questions and comments, and we are always happy to take additional feature requests.

- Jerry Hong, Google Analytics team

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/03/better-insights-with-flow-visualization.html

[G] Explore Poland on Street View

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Explore Poland on Street View

This June, the eyes of soccer fans from around the world will be on Poland and Ukraine as they host the 2012 European Football Championship. In addition to the more than one million tourists expected to visit Poland alone, now everyone can explore this beautiful country that just became available via the Street View feature in Google Maps today.

Located in the heart of Europe, Poland has a great history and many fascinating sites. Street View now allows you to take a virtual walk around Cracow, named one of the most interesting cities to visit in Europe. Cracow's Main Square dates back to 13th century and is one of the largest market squares in Europe.

Cracow, Main Market Square - View in Larger Map

In Warsaw, the capital of Poland, you can explore the Old Town, part of the city which was completely destroyed during World War II and now is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Warsaw, Old Town Market Place - View in Larger Map

Poland also has some great places to spend free time and relax. On the seaside you can have walk on the longest European wooden pier, which is located in Sopot. Travel 700km south and you'll be in the Tatra mountains, where you can have a beautiful view of Dolina Chochołowska, or have a walk on Krupówki street in Zakopane.

Sopot, wooden pier - View in Larger Map

Whether you are planning your visit for the European Football Championships in June or you simply want to explore our country at the heart of Europe, we hope you enjoy this special view of Poland.

To view other collections around the globe, including the Amazon, you can visit our new Street View gallery here.

Posted by Joanna Borowska-Perek, Google Poland

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/explore-poland-on-street-view.html

[G] Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View

(Cross Posted on Official Google Blog)

Last August, a few members of our Brazil and U.S. Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams were invited to the Amazon Basin to collect ground-level images of the rivers, forest and communities in the Rio Negro Reserve. Today, on World Forest Day, we're making those images available through the Street View feature on Google Maps. Now anyone can experience the beauty and diversity of the Amazon.

Tributary of the Rio Negro - View Larger Map

Take a virtual boat ride down the main section of the Rio Negro, and float up into the smaller tributaries where the forest is flooded. Stroll along the paths of Tumbira, the largest community in the Reserve, or visit some of the other communities who invited us to share their lives and cultures. Enjoy a hike along an Amazon forest trail and see where Brazil nuts are harvested. You can even see a forest critter if you look hard enough!

Amazon Rainforest - View Larger Map

This project was made possible in partnership with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), the local nonprofit conservation organization that invited us to the area. We used the Street View trike and a tripod camera with a fisheye lens—typically used to capture imagery of business interiors—to capture both the natural landscape and the local communities. In all, more than 50,000 still photos were stitched together to create these immersive, 360-degree panoramic views:

Many areas of the Amazon, including Rio Negro Reserve, are under the protection of the Brazilian government with restricted access to the public, so we hope that this Street View collection provides access to this special corner of the planet that many of us otherwise wouldn't have the chance to experience. Together with FAS, we're thrilled to help everyone from researchers and scientists to armchair explorers around the world learn more about the Amazon, and better understand how local communities there are working to preserve this unique environment for future generations.

To do this directly from maps you can go to Brazil map and drag Pegman to the Rio Negro River

Start exploring this portion of the Amazon and other collections around the world on the updated Street View site and gallery.

Posted by Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Project Lead for Google Street View in the Amazon

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/visit-amazon-on-world-forest-day-with.html

[G] Doubling Down on Publishers

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: Doubling Down on Publishers

This morning, I had the pleasure of addressing the third-annual Admeld Partner Forum in New York. When we completed our acquisition of Admeld this past December, we said that we'd be looking at how to bring the best of their products and ours together to help us achieve our shared vision: helping our publisher partners make the web work for them, and get the most out of what online advertising has to offer.

Over the past couple of months our teams have been hard at work figuring out exactly how this might happen. Today, we'd like to put our cards on the table and share what we've done and where we're headed.

Investing in the team: We realize that helping our partners succeed requires not just the right products, but the right people. So we're investing in the team, bringing together our sales and services teams from across the DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Admeld. This enables a continued focus on high-touch service for Admeld's publisher partners, and also boosts Admeld's presence across the globe.<

Tapping new pools of demand: Next quarter, we'll start offering AdX Connect, a way for Admeld clients to start getting access to demand from the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. We'll also be enhancing the advertiser, buyer, and bid transparency levels in the exchange, so that they are comparable with those currently provided to Admeld publishers.

Connecting the dots with DFP: We're taking two big steps towards tying together Admeld and DoubleClick for Publishers: making it much easier for publishers to leverage SSP-style ad network optimization functionality directly within the DFP platform, and building an API so that Admeld's mobile optimization capabilities will be more fluidly integrated with DFP mobile.

While we're excited about these changes, they are just the initial steps. Our long term goal is to create a single, seamless platform for publishers that allows them to manage all their inventory -- across desktop, video and mobile -- with the control and flexibility their businesses require. Our publisher partners make the web the wonderful place that it is today, and by empowering their continued growth and success, we all come away winners.

Posted by Neal Mohan, Vice President, Display Advertising

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DoubleclickPublisherBlog/~3/d11MjwA-H2U/doubling-down-on-publishers.html

[G] SIGCSE 2012 Was Inspiring!

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: SIGCSE 2012 Was Inspiring!

Earlier this month I was honored to attend the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) conference held in Raleigh, North Carolina with 1,300 other attendees. The conference attracts a dynamic and diverse group of students, educators, academics, and industry professionals who are all working toward stronger computer science education. This year's theme "Teaching, Learning, and Collaborating" drove the discussions to topics such as classroom presentation technologies, on-line collaboration tools, new educational techniques, as well as acquiring hands-on experience with new hardware and software (including software development environments).

On Thursday evening I hosted a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on Google Summer of Code and Google Code-in where we talked about both programs in depth and gave everyone in attendance more information in the form of flyers as well as directing them to our website. I encouraged everyone to either apply to be a student in Google Summer of Code or spread the word to students they knew that might be interested in open source software development. People streamed in and out during our session so we were able to get the word out to quite a few people at the conference.

Below is a picture of a few of our attendees at the end of the session.

All the people I met or spoke to were inspiring: they all were very interested in participating and spreading the word about our programs and about technology and computer science. We may have encouraged some of the students to apply to the programs, especially the Google Summer of Code which starts in a couple of weeks!

By Carol Smith, Open Source Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/6prnXl0rCY8/sigcse-2012-was-inspiring.html

[G] Customize your search preferences

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Blogger Buzz: Customize your search preferences

Hi Bloggers.

Ensuring that your blog, posts, and images are accurately indexed so they appear correctly in search results is valuable. Today we introduced a suite of new features that enable you to more effectively customize your search preferences. Managing how your blog is viewed by search engines is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy blog, regardless of whether you're new to blogging, or a seasoned veteran.

Here's an overview of what we added:

The first thing you'll notice is a new "Search preferences" option under the "Settings" tab.

Clicking it will display three sub-sections: Meta Tags, Errors and Redirections, and Crawlers and Indexing. When enabled, some of these features, such as Search Description and Custom robots header tags will also appear in the "Post settings" area of Blogger's post editor as well. For example, if you elect to create a Search Description, you may do so for your blog, and/or individual posts.

Also available is the ability to add a custom "Page Not Found" (eg. a "404") message, and Custom Redirects for pages on your blog.

While most of the new features are located in the Settings tab, a few others can be found in the post editor. For example, we've introduced the ability to incorporate "alt" and "title" tags to images in your post.

Last but not least, you'll also find a "rel=nofollow" link attribute in the link tool. Checking this box means that you don't want this link to be considered when web crawlers are searching for information they'll use to index your page.

While most of these features are easy to understand and use, others, such as custom robots header tags are geared toward advanced users only, hence the warning message:

Before diving in, I would encourage a quick read through the Help Center articles. They're comprehensive, and do a great job translating some technical concepts to the layperson.

We hope you enjoy the new features. It's all part of our effort to bring you a much improved and modernized Blogger. Next week, we'll be holding a Hangout on our Google+ page to talk with you about your experience with these features and answer your questions. Follow us on +Blogger for details.

Happy blogging!

Bruce Polderman, Product Manager

URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2012/03/customize-your-search-preferences.html

[G] Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Google Voice Blog: Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

To turn this feature on, download the latest app from Google Play and check "Voicemail display" under settings. This new feature requires Android 4.0+.

Posted by Yong-Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/google-voice-for-android-now-with-ice.html

[G] Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners

Can you teach an old spider new tricks? Could better understanding alien superbugs cure diseases on Earth? These are the questions that will be asked by the two winning experiments of YouTube Space Lab, the science competition that challenged students from 14 to 18 years old to design a science experiment that could be performed in space. Your votes and our expert judges chose the winners from thousands of entries from around the world. Experiments submitted by Dorothy and Sara, from Troy, Mich., U.S. (winners in the 14-16-year-old age group) and Amr from Alexandria, Egypt (winner in the 17-18-year-old age group) will be performed aboard the International Space Station and live streamed to the world on YouTube.

Meet Amr from Alexandria, Egypt

Global Winner, 17-18-year-old age group:

Watch his entry: "Can you teach an old spider new tricks?"

Meet Dorothy and Sara from Troy, Mich., U.S.

Global Winners, 14-16-year-old age group:

Watch their entry: "Could alien superbugs cure diseases on Earth?"

Sunita Williams—the NASA astronaut who'll fly to the International Space Station later this year and perform the winning experiments live on YouTube—announced the global winners at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C., where the six regional winning teams were gathered. While in Washington, all the teams also took a ZERO-G weightless flight and a private tour of the the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum.

In addition to having their experiments performed in space, Amr, Dorothy and Sara get to choose between one of two awesome space adventures: a trip to Japan to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS or, once they're 18 years old, a week-long astronaut course in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts.

Subscribe to the YouTube Space Lab channel for all the best space playlists and to check out video of the winners on their ZERO-G flight. Stay tuned for the live stream from space, which will take place later this year.

Posted by Zahaan Bharmal, head of marketing operations in EMEA

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/ideas-worthy-of-space-travel-youtube.html

[G] Bringing you a more powerful Ad review center

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 09:27 AM PDT

Inside AdSense: Bringing you a more powerful Ad review center

Whether it's via blog comments, forum threads, or in-person events, we've heard your feedback about AdSense ad controls and the enhancements you'd like to see. With that in mind, today we're thrilled to announce that we're rolling out an entirely new version of the Ad review center. It'll give you more control over your ads and make it easier than ever to manage the ads showing on your pages.

New controls
The new Ad review center will show you ads of all targeting types (contextual, interest-based, and placement) that have appeared on your pages, and allow you to review them. With placement-targeted ads, you can still review them before they show up on your site. And now, rather than grouping ads together, you can make decisions on individual ads to control what appears on your site at a granular level.

If you regularly review and block ads, we hope you'll also love our new predictions feature. To help ensure that you don't miss any ads you may want to block, we'll highlight ads for you to review based on the types of ads that you typically block.

Improved efficiency
We've also made the Ad review center easier to use. When you're reviewing ads, we'll now first show you the ads that are getting the highest number of impressions on your pages -- or, if you're holding placement-targeted ads for review, we'll first show you those that are likely to get the highest number of impressions on your pages. Ads that don't receive or likely won't receive any impressions on your sites won't appear in the tool. As a result, you'll save time and be able to focus your efforts on reviewing only the ads that your users may see.

In the new Ad review center, you can simply click on an ad to block it. To block multiple ads, highlight and drag the ads to block them all at once. We've also provided a magnified view when you hover your mouse over an ad, as well as the option to see an ad in full size, as we know that it can be difficult to see details in ad thumbnails.

Ready to use the new Ad review center?
If you've used the Ad review center in the past, the new version will be available in your account in the next few days. If you haven't yet enabled this feature yet, visit the Allow & block ads tab to get started. Please note that this feature isn't compatible with Internet Explorer 7 or earlier -- visit our supported browsers page for more information.

For placement-targeted ads, we recommend keeping your review preference set to the default of 'Run ads immediately' and then reviewing them after they've started running. This is because ads don't participate in the auction while they're held for review, which could potentially lower the winning bids and as a result, your overall AdSense earnings.

For more information, visit our Help Center. Over the next few weeks, we'll be bringing you more updates to the Ad review center -- so stay tuned! Feel free to leave us a comment with your thoughts and feedback in the meantime.

Posted by Dan Stokeley - Product Manager

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/8vgich3CtLM/bringing-you-more-powerful-ad-review.html

[G] Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 09:27 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Ideas worthy of space travel: The YouTube Space Lab global winners

"Can you teach an old spider new tricks?"

Meet Dorothy and Sara from Troy, Mich., U.S.
Global Winners, 14-16-year-old age group:

"Could alien superbugs cure diseases on Earth?"

Sunita Williams—the NASA astronaut who'll fly to the International Space Station later this year and perform the winning experiments live on YouTube—announced the global winners at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C., where the six regional winning teams were gathered. While in Washington, all the teams also took a ZERO-G weightless flight and a private tour of the the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum.

In addition to having their experiments performed in space, Amr, Dorothy and Sara get to choose between one of two awesome space adventures: a trip to Japan to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS or, once they're 18 years old, a week-long astronaut course in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts.

Subscribe to the YouTube Space Lab channel for all the best space playlists and to check out video of the winners on their ZERO-G flight. Stay tuned for the live stream from space, which will take place later this year.

Zahaan Bharmal, head of marketing operations in EMEA, recently watched "Meet the Space Lab Winners"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/PnnYG9_mG5g/ideas-worthy-of-space-travel-youtube.html

[G] Selamat datang, YouTube Malaysia!

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 09:27 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Selamat datang, YouTube Malaysia!

Today in Kuala Lumpur we announced the opening of a brand new localized domain for Malaysia at www.youtube.com.my. This is our 42nd country with an official local site.

While YouTube has already been available in Malaysia's most widely spoken languages — Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, and English — having a Malaysia-specific homepage can now deliver the most relevant videos for Malaysians as well as make it easier to highlight great content from our local partners such as KRU Studios. If you're in Malaysia, the site will automatically detect your location and send you to the Malaysia page. Anyone else interested in Malaysian content but outside the country can just as easily get to the homepage by just selecting "Malaysia" in the Location section at the bottom of the page.

At the YouTube launch event, we had amazing performances from some of Malaysia's top musicians, such as silky voiced singer Yuna, pop princess and Flo Rida collaborator Mizz Nina, hip-hopper Joe Flizzow, and warm and fuzzy electro-poppers Tenderfist. You can see them here plus some top K-Pop stars like 2NE1, Miss A, Beast, Jang Keun Suk, Sistar and Infinite, sending some congrats to YouTube Malaysia.

In the last few years, Malaysians have shown a gift for creating video hits. You may have seen the guy who proposed to his girlfriend using Internet memes. Then there's singer and ukelele player Zee Avi, who posted a few videos on YouTube in 2007 and ended up signing to Jack Johnson's Brushfire label. Meanwhile school teacher Cikgu Shida has mimed her way across tons of popular songs to become a sudden Internet star in her homeland.

With YouTube now open in Malaysia, we are excited to see more and more Malaysians join the YouTube community. And hopefully this will also mean the world can more easily discover the amazing culture and talent that exists in Malaysia today.

Adam Smith, director of product management, YouTube Asia-Pacific, recently watched "Tenderfist - Everything's Gone"

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/5mdWV7KGdpo/selamat-datang-youtube-malaysia.html

Googland

2012-03-22T19:20:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Smart school: Cartoon program uses Google Apps
[G] Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View
[G] Drupal Usability Test Conclusions: A Missing Conceptual Foundation
[G] Improving video awesomeness with one click
[G] Imagery Update: Week of March 19th
[G] Spell checking powered by the web
[G] Google at INFOCOM 2012

[G] Smart school: Cartoon program uses Google Apps

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:27 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Smart school: Cartoon program uses Google Apps

Editors note: Today's guest blogger is Michele Ollie, co-founder and President of The Center for Cartoon Studies, based in White River Junction, Vermont. The Center for Cartoon Studies is America's premiere cartooning school and studio.

I founded the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) in 2005 on a very simple belief: the medium of comics was as potent and deserving of serious exploration as painting, sculpture, and poetry. Most of our students see comics as a calling as much as a career, a vehicle for personal expression. Although there is a deep reverence for the printed page, it would be wrong to assume we don't embrace new technologies. In the school's production lab, the old school screen-printing shares the same space as wireless state-of-the-art color laser printers and digital tablets. Students still dip steel nibs into inkwells while laying out their comics in Adobe InDesign.

In only six years, CCS has become one of the premiere cartooning schools in the world. A lot of things came together to make this happen: the right people, the right place, the right timing and, of course, the right technology. To put it bluntly, Google tools help make CCS possible. Our school is built around collaboration, and Google Apps for Education makes it easy for our artists and students to work together. As an example, Google Sites help faculty manage core courses, keeping students on task and informed. It goes without saying Google Calendar is the glue to our school. With over 30 visiting artists on campus annually, a dozen exhibitions and events, Google Calendar is the 24 hour source for what's happening on campus and off.

We also rely heavily on Smartsheet, a cloud based project management application available in the Google Apps Marketplace, to keep our comics on track. Smartsheet lets us share key documents with many collaborators, track progress, facilitate online discussions, send automatic email updates and reminders, and generate Gantt charts (for those of us who work better with visuals timelines). Schools can spend a fortune on IT, but these free and low-cost cloud applications help our school thrive on a very modest budget.

With a growing network of alumni and visiting artists, CCS has a number of new and exciting projects under way: an expanded summer program, a community planning grant, and an online comics delivery system to bring comics to Vermont libraries and beyond, to mention a few. Whether it's creating elegant and powerful comic strips or growing a school, Google Apps and Smartsheet allow everyone in the CCS community to pursue a vision.

Illustrations from The Center for Cartoon Studies brochure by Kevin Huizenga. Download the brochure here.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/03/smart-school-cartoon-program-uses.html

[G] Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 06:41 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Visit the Amazon on World Forest Day with Street View

Last August, a few members of our Brazil and U.S. Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams were invited to the Amazon Basin to collect ground-level images of the rivers, forest and communities in the Rio Negro Reserve. Today, on World Forest Day, we're making those images available through the Street View feature on Google Maps. Now anyone can experience the beauty and diversity of the Amazon.

Tributary of the Rio Negro - View Larger Map

Amazon Rainforest - View Larger Map

To do this directly from maps you can go to Brazil map and drag Pegman to the Rio Negro River

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/visit-amazon-on-world-forest-day-with.html

[G] Drupal Usability Test Conclusions: A Missing Conceptual Foundation

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 02:54 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Drupal Usability Test Conclusions: A Missing Conceptual Foundation

Earlier this year we announced that we would be conducting a Drupal usability study that we would live stream so viewers could watch as participants worked with Drupal 7. Becky Gessler and I are excited to announce our analysis of the results that we will also present at DrupalCon Denver to the Drupal community in a "core conversation" session with Jen Lampton called "User eXperience for Open Source: How to Galvanize a Community."

After the study concluded we posted a YouTube playlist with each participant's session. We went through each video and wrote down problems that each participant faced along with direct quotes, then consolidated and grouped these together by issue area. This document was posted on Drupal.org and members of the Drupal community have been filing issue reports to work on fixing specific problems.

While we learned about a lot of specific interface-level problems, we also saw broad trends that called for a higher-level analysis. We witnessed new users feeling confused, overwhelmed, uncertain and unaware of Drupal's capabilities. Becky and I set to work preparing a summary of our findings. Out of the data, four layers of usability issues emerged:

Conceptual: Most problems that new users encounter boil down to a missing understanding of how Drupal works, particularly the interaction between content, content types, and fields.

Flow: While trying to complete tasks, new users frequently felt lost inside Drupal because they couldn't tell what they were looking at, how they got there, or where they were supposed to go next.

Terminology: Drupal is filled with terminology that just doesn't make sense to new users.

Interface: New users don't trust Drupal because many interfaces are not intuitive.

We are excited for discussion in the Drupal community about how to best tackle the problems outlined in these layers. You can find our complete analysis in this report.

New users from our study did have some positive impressions of Drupal as well. Once they understood how it works, they were impressed by the power and extensibility that Drupal offers. This study also demonstrated that Drupal 7 brought significant usability improvements over Drupal 6, particularly with the ease of user interaction with administrative tools and the Views creation wizard.

We are excited by the success of this study. We look forward to engaging the Drupal community in discussion at DrupalCon Denver during our core conversation, and we are confident that by working together as a community, we can shape Drupal to be more supportive and helpful for new users.

By Garen Checkley, Google Search Quality Team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/KA1cJPhI650/drupal-usability-test-conclusions.html

[G] Improving video awesomeness with one click

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 02:54 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Improving video awesomeness with one click

Whether you're perfecting your double backflip at the park, capturing a flash mob on your phone, or enjoying singing in a subway, it's not easy to get your video quality perfect. Sometimes videos suffer from symptoms like "shaky-camera-itis" or "augmented-darkness-levels" that keep viewers from seeing just how awesome your video really is. We made a big step last year with the YouTube Video Editor, and now we're adding a feature that does the work of curing these symptoms for you.

If you upload a video that's shaky or dark, we'll automatically offer to fix it for you, creating an updated version of your video on YouTube.

When you upload a video that could use a fixup, you'll see a notification bar on the Upload page and in your Video Manager. Click the button to fix it, and you'll see a side by side preview to decide if you want to accept the edits.

Select "Okay" if you'd like us to update your video to the preview version (you can always undo this later). Even if you're uploading a video from your mobile device, the Video Manager on the desktop will give you a notice if this video can be cured as well. Here's an overview:

This breakthrough in video awesomeness is possible thanks to our research team who expanded on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button launched last year, automatically detecting if stabilization or color correction would be helpful for you. The result is a one-click option rolling out over the next few days that cures these two symptoms now, and more planned in the future.

So you keep capturing those awesome moments, and we'll keep on developing ways to help you make those videos even more awesome.

John Gregg, software engineer, recently watched "Panda," and then watched "Panda (stabilized)."

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/HtykXd3HFXo/improving-video-awesomeness-with-one.html

[G] Imagery Update: Week of March 19th

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Imagery Update: Week of March 19th

The Google Earth and Maps Imagery team recently published another batch of satellite imagery. In this post, we'll explore a few well-known locations from across the globe.

The azaleas are in full bloom, which means it's almost time for The Masters. If you're planning a trip to see the tournament in person, or even if you're just watching it on TV, check out the refreshed imagery of this world class golf course.

Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
Speaking of upcoming sporting events, we also have updates for Weymouth and Portland in the United Kingdom, where this summer's Olympic sailing events will take place. In the image below, you can see the newly constructed facilities on Osprey Quay.

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, Portland, United Kingdom
Making the transition from sporting maritime to commercial maritime, we're also bringing you fresh updates of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port. This massive port facility located off Shanghai continues to grow at an astounding scale. The below before and after images show the port in 2007 and then in 2011, during which time the port nearly doubled in size.

Yangshan Deep-Water Port in 2007 (left) and 2011 (right)
We end our journey with a much smaller and older aquatic destination. As amazing as it sounds, the ancient temple you see below is actually not in its original location. In the 1960's when the Philae Temple was threatened by the slowly rising waters of the Nile, a UNESCO project was started to physically de-construct the entire site and then re-assemble it on a nearby island. If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate to visit this remarkable complex.

Philae Temple Complex, Aswan, Egypt
To receive email notifications when the Google Earth and Maps Imagery team updates your favorite area(s), we encourage you to use the Follow Your World tool!

These are only a few examples of the sites that can be seen and discovered in our latest batch of published imagery. Happy exploring!

Countries/regions receiving high resolution satellite updates:
Canada, United States, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Greenland, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Liberia, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Madagascar, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Cyprus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, The Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Antarctica

These updates are now available in Google Earth and will be live in Google Maps in the coming days. For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.

Posted by Matt Manolides, Google Earth Imagery team

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/imagery-update-week-of-march-19th.html

[G] Spell checking powered by the web

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Docs Blog: Spell checking powered by the web

One of my early projects at Google was to improve the suggestions that are made when a query is misspelled in Google Search. The neat thing about that system is that it's adaptive: our suggestions get smarter and smarter based on the words Googlebot sees as it explores the web.

But search isn't the only place where I make spelling mistakes! And that got me wondering: could we take this adaptive technology and use it to make spell checking better in other places?

The answer is yes. To prove it, today we're launching an update to spell checking in documents and presentations that grows and adapts with the web, instead of relying on a fixed dictionary. This update has a few big advantages over traditional spell checkers:

Suggestions are contextual. For example, the spell checker is now smart enough to know what you mean if you type "Icland is an icland."

Contextual suggestions are made even if the misspelled word is in the dictionary. If you write "Let's meat tomorrow morning for coffee" you'll see a suggestion to change "meat" to "meet."
Suggestions are constantly evolving. As Google crawls the web, we see new words, and if those new words become popular enough they'll automatically be included in our spell checker—even pop culture terms, like Skrillex.

This new spell checker is available for English documents and presentations, but we plan to bring it to more languages soon. We're really excited to give you a spelling system that continuously gets better. We hope it will make writing more efficient and enjoyable for you.

Posted by Yew Jin Lim, Software Engineer

URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2012/03/spell-checking-powered-by-web.html

[G] Google at INFOCOM 2012

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Research Blog: Google at INFOCOM 2012

Posted by Emilie Danna, Google Research & Michal Segalov,Networking Software

The computer networking community will get together in Orlando, Florida the week of March 25th for INFOCOM 2012, the Annual IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications.

At the conference, we will discuss topics such as traffic engineering, traffic anomaly detection, and random walk algorithms for topology-aware networks. We serve so much internet traffic to Google users and exchange so much data between our data centers that computer networking is naturally something we care about. As traffic grows with richer content (photos, video, ...), new modes of engagement (cloud computing, social networking, ...) and an increasing number of users, engineering and research efforts are necessary to help networks scale.

The following papers were co-authored by Googlers from offices around the world:

Near-optimal random walk sampling in distributed networks by Atish Das Sarma, Anisur Molla, and Gopal Pandurangan
How to split a flow by Tzvika Hartman, Avinatan Hassidim, Haim Kaplan, Danny Raz, and Michal Segalov
Upward max-min fairness by Emilie Danna, Avinatan Hassidim, Haim Kaplan, Alok Kumar, Yishay Mansour, Danny Raz, and Michal Segalov (runner up for best paper)
A practical algorithm for balancing the max-min fairness and throughput objectives in traffic engineering by Emilie Danna, Subhasree Mandal, and Arjun Singh
Traffic anomaly detection based on the IP size distribution by Fabio Soldo and Ahmed Metwally

If you are attending, stop by and say hi!

URL: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2012/03/google-at-infocom-2012.html

Googland

2012-03-21T19:20:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Introducing more detailed 3D landmarks on Google Maps
[G] A New Home for Google Maps API Developers
[G] Start a love affair with Google Map Maker; now available in France and Monaco
[G] Learn about other Google products with our new Help Desk Hangouts on Air series
[G] Diagnose ads faster with new status insights icon
[G] Test your Web Apps on Chrome with ChromeDriver
[G] Capturing The Value Of Social Media Using Google Analytics

[G] Introducing more detailed 3D landmarks on Google Maps

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Introducing more detailed 3D landmarks on Google Maps

Landmarks have often served as one of the most useful ways to help navigate an unknown area. For example, a Parisian might tell a tourist, "the cafe you're looking for is just north of the Eiffel tower" because the Eiffel tower is easy to spot and everyone knows how to get there.

In our ongoing effort to make Google Maps as accurate and useful as possible, we've significantly enhanced the quality of more than a thousand 3D landmarks around the world, making it easier to compare the digital map to the physical landscape.

For example, take a look below at the enhanced detail for the 3D model for Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

Before

After: Note the smooth curves on the dome
Say, you're looking out your hotel room window in Florence for the first time; it's much easier to get a sense of your location by simply comparing the shapes of buildings on the map to what you see out your window. By combining 3D buildings with other Google Maps features like Street View and driving directions, you'll have the most advanced "tourist map" on the planet.

Here are some additional examples of the beautiful 3D landmarks we've recently updated. This will be available soon on Google MapsGL as well.

View Larger Map
Burj Khalifa

View Larger Map
Sydney Opera House

View Larger Map
The White House

View Larger Map
Petronas Towers
There are several more 3D landmarks to see, so start exploring!

Posted by Paul Messmer, Google Maps software engineer

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-more-detailed-3d-landmarks.html

[G] A New Home for Google Maps API Developers

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: A New Home for Google Maps API Developers

(Cross-posted from Google Geo Developer Blog)

When we first launched the Google Maps API, it was all about a map, a pin, and a dream. Back then our technical documentation was relatively simple, consisting of a couple of developer docs and some code samples. Since then the Google Maps API has expanded far beyond our expectations, due in large part to the diverse and innovative developer ecosystem that has grown with us.

With the continuing evolution of the Google Maps API, it became clear that we needed more than just code documentation to convey what's possible with the Google Maps API. Thus, developers.google.com/maps was born.

In addition to having all the same developer content that was previously available on code.google.com, the site is designed to highlight and illustrate new features of the Google Maps API through fun and interactive demos. Our goal with developers.google.com/maps is to inspire the next wave of innovation on the Google Maps API, and to connect developers and decision makers with the tools and services that can make their products better.

One of the features of the Google Developers site we're most excited about is the 3rd party developer showcase, which allows us to celebrate a selection of innovative sites in the Google Maps API ecosystem. Showcase content is carefully curated by the Google Maps API team.

In order to help users discover relevant apps and topics in the showcase, we've devised a tagging system that allows you to filter examples both by theme, and by Google Maps API features used.

We hope that the showcase and the interactive examples on the new Google Maps API Developers capture your imagination and inspire you with what's possible using the platform. The imagination of Google Maps API developers has always been what makes the product great and we're looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Product Marketing Manager, Google Maps Developer

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-home-for-google-maps-api-developers.html

[G] Start a love affair with Google Map Maker; now available in France and Monaco

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Google Lat Long: Start a love affair with Google Map Maker; now available in France and Monaco

Spring is in the air, carrying with it that special kind of love one feels when taking a romantic stroll along the Seine, visiting a countryside chateau, or finding an exotic garden by the sea. What better way to celebrate the season than by adding the places you love to Google Maps for the whole world to discover.

With Google Map Maker for France and Monaco, you can add your favorite places to the map. Start with your local bakeries, cinemas, parks, and museums. Once approved your contributions will appear on Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Maps for mobile for all the world to see. Now the French map can embody the rich culture and spirit unique to France, reflecting the heart of your neighborhood as you add details to the map.

Claude Monet's house and studio, where he painted his water lilies, brought to life in Google Maps with Google Map Maker.
Parts of your neighborhood may already be mapped on Google Maps. If your favorite park is on the map, why not add the lake, football pitch and market to add that joie de vivre. Mark the best bicycle route through and edit road attributions so visitors can find their way around town. Join with other local mappers by bringing your local expertise to review their contributions to the map.

Google Map Maker proudly welcomes France to join citizen cartographers from across the globe as they create a more complete map of the world around us. To learn more, subscribe to the Map Maker YouTube Channel, and get started mapping. C'est génial!

Posted by Lakshminath Bhuvanagiri, Software Engineer

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/start-love-affair-with-google-map-maker.html

[G] Learn about other Google products with our new Help Desk Hangouts on Air series

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Learn about other Google products with our new Help Desk Hangouts on Air series

You're looking to grow your business, and we offer a ton of tools to help you do just that. But sometimes, you might need a little help learning all the options and getting started. That's why this week on the Google+ Your Business page, we've launched a new series of Help Desk Hangouts On Air to put you in touch with teams who can help you get the most out of our products and features.

To kick things off, we asked +Justin Cutroni of the Google Analytics team (and author of the blog Analytics Talk) to show us how business owners like you can use Analytics to track your website performance and see how users are getting to your site (email, social media, referrals). If you missed it, you can watch the full hour-long Hangout on the Google Business YouTube channel:

Here are a few of the questions Justin addressed in the Hangout:

Is there a threat in respect to data privacy?

We take privacy very seriously at Google. The only person who has access to your Google Analytics data is you. You can also grant other people access to your Analytics data, but that's up to you.

Is there a plan to update the administration part of GA? We need more levels: creator, administrator, manager, reader.

Excellent feature request, and it relates to the question above. We get this question often and know that the current model is limiting. We are working hard to figure out the best user model for Analytics.

Is there a good WordPress plug-in for adding GA code to a blog?

Plug-ins! Justin's favorite, we learned yesterday in the Hangout. There are some great ones out there, especially for WordPress. Check out Google Analytics for WordPress.

Can you tell us more about the benefits of using Analytics for tracking mobile apps?

Great question. You can absolutely track apps with Google Analytics. We have two SDKs, one for Android and one for iOS, that make it easy to track how people use an app. If you're going to use GA to track apps you should also understand Event Tracking and Custom Variables. These two features are very useful when tracking apps.

Justin shows us a feature that tells you how often you show up in Google's organic search results and the number of clickthroughs that you get.

To learn more about how to get started with Google Analytics, visit our Help Center. And remember to tune in to the live stream of our next Hangout at 11 a.m. PDT Wednesday, as we discuss how to use Hangouts (something a bunch of you have asked us to talk about!). We'll be collecting your Hangout questions today on the Google+ Your Business page.

Posted by Vanessa Schneider, Google Places community manager

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/I1-q2uvA5bA/learn-about-other-google-products-with.html

[G] Diagnose ads faster with new status insights icon

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Diagnose ads faster with new status insights icon

This week we're introducing a status insights icon in the Ads tab that provides visibility into the approval status and potential policy limitations for each individual ad creative. The new icon will be particularly valuable if you're advertising products or services that are restricted by our advertising policies to show only in specific countries or with certain keywords.

To use the new status icon, simply hover over the speech bubble in the Status column of the Ads tab next to the ad of interest:

We'll tell you if the individual ad is showing for the default keyword and location displayed in the hover. If you would like to re-diagnose the ad with with a different targeted location or keyword, you can edit the parameters from right within the hover:

This new icon complements the existing ad diagnosis tools, which include the status hover on the Keywords tab, a batch option to diagnose many keywords at once, and the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/diagnose-ads-faster-with-new-status.html

[G] Test your Web Apps on Chrome with ChromeDriver

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 09:08 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Test your Web Apps on Chrome with ChromeDriver

ChromeDriver is a tool for testing websites with Google Chrome that implements the open source WebDriver wire protocol so it can easily be integrated with an existing WebDriver test suite. For those who aren't familiar with WebDriver, you may want to refer to our initial post about the project. Simply put, WebDriver presents an object-based API for automating the web from a real users perspective, such as clicking elements on a page and typing into text fields.

The WebDriver API is available for many popular browsers. Each browser has its own driver, with ChromeDriver, of course, supporting the WebDriver API for Google Chrome. Unlike other drivers which are maintained by the open source Selenium/WebDriver team, ChromeDriver is developed by Chromium, the open source project that Google Chrome is based on.

Besides a new ChromeDriver release this past week, we wanted to share info about a new website dedicated to the project: http://code.google.com/p/chromedriver. This site will serve as the central location for all things relating to ChromeDriver. You can use the new site to:

Download ChromeDriver

Find information on getting started with and using ChromeDriver

Submit ChromeDriver-specific bugs and feature requests

ChromeDriver works with the current stable, beta, and dev versions of Google Chrome. Older versions of Google Chrome are not supported and are not guaranteed to be compatible with ChromeDriver. Consult the release wiki for more information on our release and support policy.

Thanks for testing with Google Chrome!

By Ken Kania, Chromium Developer

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/6y5WcaFeP98/test-your-web-apps-on-chrome-with.html

[G] Capturing The Value Of Social Media Using Google Analytics

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 07:47 AM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Capturing The Value Of Social Media Using Google Analytics

Measuring the value of social media has been a challenge for marketers. And with good reason: it's hard to understand exactly what is happening in an environment where activity occurs both on and off your website. Since social media is often an upper funnel player in a shopper's journey, it's not always easy to determine which social channels actually drive value for your business and which tactics are most effective.

But as the social industry matures, marketers and web analysts need true outcome-oriented reports. After all, although social is growing in popularity, brand websites - not social networks - remain the place where people most often purchase or convert.

That's why we're releasing a new set of Social reports within Google Analytics. The new reports bridge the gap between social media and the business metrics you care about - allowing you to better measure the full value of the social channel for your business. We wanted to help you with 3 things:

Identify the full value of traffic coming from social sites and measure how they lead to direct conversions or assist in future conversions

Understand social activities happening both on and off of your site to help you optimize user engagement and increase social key performance indicators (KPIs)

Make better, more efficient data-driven decisions in your social media marketing programs

The Social reports allow you to analyze all of this information together and see a more complete picture of social impact than often used today. Here are a couple of the things you can do with our new reports:

Overview Report: see social performance at a glance and its impact on conversions

The Overview report allows you to see at a glance how much conversion value is generated from your social channels. The Social Value visualization compares the number and monetary value of all your goal completions against those that resulted from social referrals - both as last interaction, and assisted.

A visit from a social referral may result in conversion immediately or it may assist in a conversion that occurs later on. Referrals that lead to conversions immediately are labeled as Last Interaction Social Conversion. If a referral from a social source doesn't immediately generate a conversion, but the visitor returns later and converts, the referral is included as an Assisted Social Conversion.

Conversions Report: which goals are being impacted by social media

With the Conversions report, marketers can now measure the value of each individual social channel by seeing the conversion rates of each social network and the monetary value they drive to your business.

For example, you can see the effect that social content (i.e. a new video you created) had on conversions. Look at the time graph to see whether Goal Completions via Social Referral peaked after the content was published. Remember that you need to define goals and goal values in order to see data in this report, so tailor it to the things that matter to your business. Networks with a higher assisted / last interaction conversions ratio provide greater assisted conversions.

Social Sources - find out how visitors from different sources behave

The Social Sources report shows engagement and conversion metrics for each social network so you can see how people are interacting with your content and whether it's leading to a desired outcome.

For example, if you run social campaigns that promote specific products, you can see via the Social Visitor Flow whether visitors from each social network entered your site through these product pages and whether they continued on to other parts of the site or whether they exited.

Social Plugins: find the content that's good enough to share

If you publish content, you'll want to know which articles are most commonly shared or recommended, and on which social networks they're being shared. The Social Plugin report shows which articles on your site are receiving the most engagement and which social buttons - for example, Google +1 - are being clicked to share them.

You can use this information to create more of the type of content that's popular with your visitors, and test different layouts of social sharing buttons to improve use by your community.

Activity Stream: what's happening outside of your website

While the other reports show you the impact that social engagement is having on your site, the Activities Stream tab (located within the sources report) shows how people are engaging socially with your content off your site across the social web.

For content that was shared publicly, you can see the URLs they shared, how and where they shared (via a "reshare" on Google+ for example), and what they said. Currently, activities are reported for Google+ and across a growing list of our Social Data Hub partners including recently signed brands Badoo, Disqus, Echo, Hatena and Meetup.

These new social reports will be available for all users over the next few weeks under the Standard Reporting Tab - please take a look and tell us what you think.

Posted by Phil Mui, Group Product Manager

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/SJfaeoeb-4s/capturing-value-of-social-media-using.html

Googland

2012-03-20T19:14:00.001+07:00

Googland

[G] Get Traffic Conditions in Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong
[G] Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder
[G] Gamification for Improved Search Ranking for YouTube Topics
[G] Hear from Google this week at SES NY
[G] Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder
[G] Recapping our recent North American AdSense in Your City events
[G] FreedroidRPG Google Summer of Code Students Stand Up to the Bots

[G] Get Traffic Conditions in Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:58 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Get Traffic Conditions in Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong

We have expanded our live traffic coverage to Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Traffic in Google Maps was introduced in 2008, and since then our team has been working hard to bring this popular feature to more and more countries. Today, you can now get traffic conditions for major cities and highways in Norway, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.

Desktop View: Traffic conditions in Oslo, Norway

To do so, simply go to maps.google.com and click on the traffic layer in the widget you can find on the upper right hand side of the screen. This useful traffic information is also available on Google Maps for Mobile devices and Google Maps Navigation.

Mobile View: Traffic in Auckland, New Zealand and Hong Kong

If the roads you are traveling do not yet show traffic information, don't despair. You can help your fellow drivers and improve traffic data by using Google Navigation or Google Maps for Mobile while traveling.

Posted by Håvard Kvålen, Software Engineer, Google Maps

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/get-traffic-conditions-in-norway-new.html

[G] Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:58 AM PDT

The Google Apps Blog: Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder

Posted by Ela Czajka, Software Engineer

Many of our users say the accuracy of our spam filter is one of the key reasons they love Gmail. And while we think you should never have to look in your spam folder, we know some of you may want to know why the messages there were marked as spam.

So starting today, we'll be showing a brief explanation at the top of each of your spam messages. Simply look at any message in your spam folder and now you can find out why it was put there and learn about any potentially harmful content within the message.
We hope that this is not only interesting, but also helps you learn about scams and other harmful messages that Gmail filters out. Whether you prefer to leave your spam folder untouched or do some educational digging, the information will be there for you. And if you're interested in learning more, check out our new series of spam articles in the Gmail help center.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/5_FYOpt-RqM/learn-why-message-ended-up-in-your-spam.html

[G] Gamification for Improved Search Ranking for YouTube Topics

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:58 AM PDT

Research Blog: Gamification for Improved Search Ranking for YouTube Topics

Posted by Charles DuHadway and Sanketh Shetty, Google Research

In earlier posts we discussed automatic ways to find the most talented emerging singers and the funniest videos using the YouTube Slam experiment. We created five "house" slams -- music, dance, comedy, bizarre, and cute -- which produce a weekly leaderboard not just of videos but also of YouTubers who are great at predicting what the masses will like. For example, last week's cute slam winning video claims to be the cutest kitten in the world, beating out four other kittens, two puppies, three toddlers and an amazing duck who feeds the fish. With a whopping 620 slam points, YouTube user emoatali99 was our best connoisseur of cute this week. On the music side, it is no surprise that many of music slam's top 10 videos were Adele covers. A Whitney Houston cover came out at the top this week, and music slam's resident expert on talent had more than a thousand slam points. Well done! Check out the rest of the leaderboards for cute slam and music slam.

Can slam-style game mechanics incentivize our users to help improve the ranking of videos -- not just for these five house slams -- but for millions of other search queries and topics on YouTube? Gamification has previously been used to incentivize users to participate in non-game tasks such as image labeling and music tagging. How many votes and voters would we need for slam to do better than the existing ranking algorithm for topic search on YouTube?

As an experiment, we created new slams for a small number of YouTube topics (such as Latte Art Slam and Speed Painting Slam) using existing top 20 videos for these topics as the candidate pool. As we accumulated user votes, we evaluated the resulting YouTube Slam leaderboard for that topic vs the existing ranking on youtube.com/topics (baseline). Note that both the slam leaderboard and the baseline had the same set of videos, just in a different order.

What did we discover? It was no surprise that slam ranking performance had a high variance in the beginning and gradually improved as votes accumulated. We are happy to report that four of five topic slams converged within 1000 votes with a better leaderboard ranking than the existing YouTube topic search. In spite of small number of voters, Slam achieves better ranking partly because of gamification incentives and partly because it is based on machine learning, using:

Preference judgement over a pair, not absolute judgement on a single video, and,

Active solicitation of user opinion as opposed to passive observation. Due to what is called a "cold start" problem in data modeling, conventional (passive observation) techniques don't work well on new items with little prior information. For any given topic, Slam's improvement over the baseline in ranking of the "recent 20" set of videos was in fact better than the improvement in ranking of the "top 20" set.

Demographics and interests of the voters do affect slam leaderboard ranking, especially when the voter pool is small. An example is a Romantic Proposals Slam we featured on Valentine's day last month. Men thought this proposal during a Kansas City Royals game was the most romantic, although this one where the man pretends to fall off a building came close. On the other hand, women rated this meme proposal in a restaurant as the best, followed by this movie theater proposal.

Encouraged by these results, we will soon be exploring slams for a few thousand topics to evaluate the utility of gamification techniques to YouTube topic search. Here are some of them: Chocolate Brownie, Paper Plane, Bush Flying, Stealth Technology, Stencil Graffiti, Yosemite National Park, and Stealth Technology.

Have fun slamming!

URL: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2012/03/gamification-for-improved-search.html

[G] Hear from Google this week at SES NY

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:58 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Hear from Google this week at SES NY

If you're at SES New York this week for three action-filled days of education, new ideas, and networking, be sure to include Google in your plans. Avinash Kaushik, Digital Marketing Evangelist, will be on hand to kick off the event with a Tuesday morning keynote on "Business Optimization in the Digital Age." Later that morning, hear how to tie the influence of the social web to the metrics you care about using in Google Analytics, or listen in to the discussion on making the leap from search to display marketing. Here's a summary of the sessions:

Business Optimization in a Digital Age

Tuesday, March 20 from 9:00-10:00am

We were promised that Marketing one day would become rocket science. Well, we are almost there! Search continues to become more complicated, and more exciting. Then there's Social and Email and Display and Video and... so many more things. It is hard to understand how to do one thing right, much less try to do all of them right. In his exciting keynote Avinash will share his unique perspective on balancing multiple media channels, leveraging super awesome metrics, grounding your digital existence in driving economic value, and leveraging the Clear Line of Sight model to ensure you are optimizing across all four of the most important business drivers (come to the keynote to learn which four!).

Keynote Speaker:

Avinash Kaushik, Digital Marketing Evangelist, Google

Social Media as a Performance Channel with Google Analytics

Tuesday, March 20 from 11:00am-12:00pm

Social media has changed the way we shop and interact with brands, but marketers still lack a clear way to measure how their social investments lead to more sales. According to MarketingSherpa, only 20% of CMOs think social media marketing produces measurable ROI, while 62% consider it to be a promising tactic that will eventually yield ROI.

The good news is that better measurement can help marketers make smarter decisions about their investments in social. Vanity counters, such as friend counts and reshares, can be augmented with bottom line metrics like conversions and purchases, allowing marketers to measure true social ROI of each campaign and compare the effectiveness with other channels.

Join Phil Mui, Group Product Manager and Ilya Grigorik, Lead Engineer to learn how to tie the influence of the social web to the metrics you care about using in Google Analytics.

Speakers:

Phil Mui, Group Product Manager, Google Analytics

Ilya Grigorik, Lead Engineer, Google Analytics

Crossing the Digital Divide: The Leap from Search to Display

Tuesday, March 20 from 11:00am-12:00pm

Many advertisers who embrace the highly measurable, highly efficient world of search engine marketing remain on the sidelines in display. Historically, display advertising has lacked the precision in pricing, placement, and ROI of search. The advent of new display optimization technologies and next-generation ad exchanges, however, is offering a radically fresh take on an evolving media model. In this session you will hear:

An Introduction to DSPs and ad exchanges
An overview of the new display optimization technologies
Sage advice for experienced search advertisers who want to take a first foray into exchange-traded display

Google speaker:

Julie MaGill, Head of Agency Business Development, Google

We hope to see you at the event.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/hear-from-google-this-week-at-ses-ny.html

[G] Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:58 AM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Learn why a message ended up in your spam folder

URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/learn-why-message-ended-up-in-your-spam.html

[G] Recapping our recent North American AdSense in Your City events

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 03:01 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: Recapping our recent North American AdSense in Your City events

Recent months have been busy and exciting for the AdSense in Your City team! Since January, we've met with over 500 publishers across the U.S. and Canada. To date, the AdSense in Your City team has met with close to 1500 publishers in more than 30 cities and we can't wait to host more events.

We've had a great time working with our AdSense publishers and sharing our optimization tips and best practices for AdSense, DoubleClick for Publishers Small Business (DFP SB) and Mobile. It's also great to see so many of our publishers networking with one another and making friendships. One publisher in Albuquerque excitedly told me, "This is the first time I've been in a room where everyone knows what AdSense is!" We hope that we can continue to provide forums for our publishers to get together and share their stories and insights.

From snowy days in Portland, OR and Victoria, BC to a visit to the "Music City" in Nashville, TN, the team has brought back wonderful AdSense success stories and feedback.

A publisher from Oregon, who attended our Las Vegas event in November, was snowed in during the Portland event but came to Albuquerque to meet with us again. After implementing our tips from Las Vegas, the publisher saw a revenue increase by 40%.

We appreciate all of our publishers who have taken the time to attend our events, especially those who have traveled great distances to meet with us. Our team is looking forward to continuing to meet with even more of our amazing publishers. We'll be announcing our next 15 cities soon, so stay on the lookout for our next update. If you want the AdSense in Your City team to come to your city, let us know by adding your North American city in the comments section below.

Courtney Yamada, the North American AdSense in Your City team

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/xDFpr1AomOw/recapping-our-recent-north-american.html

[G] FreedroidRPG Google Summer of Code Students Stand Up to the Bots

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 10:48 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: FreedroidRPG Google Summer of Code Students Stand Up to the Bots

FreedroidRPG is an open-source role playing game that has been around for a few years, written by a dedicated small team. The project participated in the Google Summer of Code program in both 2010 and 2011 with a total of 7 students over the two years, and we set out to offer the best possible learning experience for our students. Our goals were twofold: we wanted to acquire new, regular contributors, and we wanted to share our passion for writing a free software game. Our participation in Google Summer of Code was quite a success and taught us a lot about how to make newcomers feel welcome and encourage them to speak their mind and contribute.

Mentoring students requires a lot of time and patience, therefore it requires your project so your project participants have to be ready to invest a significant amount of time. As with all investments, it may or may not turn out to be "profitable" - many people are attracted to game development but after they've taken part they realize that it's not as easy as they thought. As a result, it is to be expected that not every student will be a good match for your project - not all students will stay after the program ends. Our advice to mentors is to define precisely what the goals of the project's participation in Google Summer of Code are. Only when you know what you want can you accurately drive your project in the right direction.

This year, we made the decision not to apply to Google Summer of Code for a couple of reasons. The first is that we feel that other organizations deserve their turn and after two summers and a presentation at FOSDEM'12, FreedroidRPG appears to be quite a relevant open source game, and others should be given a chance to acquire the kind of success that we've had. The second is that the mentors have spent the last two years investing their time mentoring students and did not have much chance to actually write any computer code. We like free software a lot which is why we don't wish to stop writing code and spend all of our time mentoring students. So in 2012 we will be taking care of our own passion for code, hopefully coming back in future years to Google Summer of Code with exciting new project ideas and top-level mentors!

We believe that video games are a great way to discover the world of computer programming because it is appealing to so many of us. At FOSDEM'12, I made a presentation in the games developer room aimed at showing a few of the technical problems that we face every day when writing FreedroidRPG. Hopefully the video can help the readers understand why I love writing games so much.

By Arthur Huillet, FreedroidRPG lead developer and Google Summer of Code mentor/org admin

Below is the testimony from Alexander Solovets, one of our students from Google Summer of Code 2010. He worked on a project called "random dungeon generation", and I'll let him explain what it was and how he feels about Google Summer of Code.

I heard about Google Summer of Code for the first time two years ago. I was finishing my senior year at university and was looking for a summer occupation. After reading the announcement of Google Summer of Code I thought it would be great: there was no need to relocate, I could work on open-source projects and solve real problems all in the same role. I started reading articles describing the experience that students had in previous years. There was a lot to read, but the most helpful advice I learned was that the odds of being selected and successfully completing your project is much higher if you are really interested in the project and organization as a whole. That is how I met Freedroid.

This organization had an ideal combination of algorithms and game development, two things I like a lot. I took a brief look at other organizations and when the time came I applied to FreedroidRPG. Several months earlier a classmate of mine had shown me the NetHack game, which carried me away for a long period (and I still play it from time to time today). The most exciting feature in NetHack was the randomness of all kinds: you would never know what to expect after the next door. I was amazed to see that FreedroidRPG proposed a project called "random dungeon generation" and right then and there I decided that no one but I would work on this project!

I began collaborating with the organization while working on my application document. I tried to elaborate on several parts: project decomposition on sub-tasks, time schedule, algorithms description. My would-be mentor asked potential participants to complete small tasks of their choice in order to confirm their ability to work with the code, a common practise among free software organizations. There was also a technical interview over IRC which is a bit unusual for Google Summer of Code and is not strictly required, but it was very interesting for me and very helpful as it turned out. Generally speaking, the student selection process varies a lot and depends on the organization.

When I started to work on my project random levels where quite simple, as you can see in the screenshot below.

It was tedious for players to roam within the dungeons so the aim of my project was to make it more clear and I used various techniques in order to do this. First, I split some of the dungeon rooms with a bit of empty space so they did not look adjacent anymore. Next, I made themed rooms that contained various types of objects. Finally, I turned some rooms into corridors so the level did not just look like a bunch of cells. The final look is illustrated below.

The last part of my project was devoted to the brand new random level types - random open areas. Though I initially marked it as an extra project in my plan (a "bonus" project), I managed to complete it before the summer was over. Along with dungeons there are open levels in the game mostly containing natural objects: why can't we have those be random as well? For generating these levels types I used a fractals-based approach yielding natural looking areas based on an initial shape that is preserved. On the following screenshot you can see how a random level can be generated with a shape describing a path:

Apart from the priceless experience in learning how to write free software, there was another positive element in my participation to Google Summer of Code: I significantly improved my English. The reason was my strict mentor who was adamant on having me correct the grammar mistakes in my code comments as well as in regular chat conversations. I believe I do not have to insist on the importance of English in the field of software development. Finally, I think that the experience and the title of Google Summer of Code student substantially helped me find a full-time job after graduation. I had two on-site interviews with one of the world's most famous corporations and finally got a great offer from a local company. I wish every student developer had the opportunity to be a Google Summer of Code student at least once.

By Alexander Solovets, Google Summer of Code 2010 student