Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Googland

Googland

[G] Compete & YouTube Present: Driving Brand Engagement among Social Media Users

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 12:32 AM PST

Official Google CPG Blog: Compete & YouTube Present: Driving Brand Engagement among Social Media Users

Join Compete and YouTube for a webcast that will provide insights into how advertisers are using paid media on YouTube to drive engagement with their brand.

For the first time, Compete and YouTube will share benchmark data from over 100 advertisers and case studies that sheds light on best practices for using paid media to foster brand engagement. They will take a deeper look at the online habits of the YouTube audience, explore scalable success metrics, and provide examples of campaigns that have successfully sparked users' engagement with brands.

During this webinar you will come away with:

- Campaign best practices to yield greater lift
- Vertical specific benchmarks
- A better understanding of the YouTube audience

Compete and YouTube will address questions such as:

- Are visitors on YouTube valuable for marketers?
- How effective are campaigns on YouTube at driving brand engagement?
- What are the common qualities of successful homepage ads on YouTube?

The webinar will feature several examples of recent successful campaigns, including those for a movie studio, a major automotive brand and a major CPG manufacturer.

The webinar will run approximately 45 minutes, followed by a 15-minute question and answer session. Webinar details
Date: Tuesday, December 8th 2009
Presenters:
Jessica Ong, Director, Online Media and Search, Compete
Leah Spalding, Market Insights Manager at Google, Inc.

Register at this link here.


URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2009/12/compete-youtube-present-driving-brand.html

[G] Count Down Memorable Videos of the Year

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:40 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Count Down Memorable Videos of the Year

We'd give you chocolates with it if we could: This week marks the launch of our advent-style calendar counting down some of the most memorable videos of the year on YouTube. This sponsored collection, presented by Samsung U10, will reveal one new popular video each day throughout the month of December.

Without giving too much away, you can expect to see some well-known YouTube videographers on the countdown, along with breakout viral videos and a selection of the year's biggest pop-culture phenoms and memes.

During December, we'll be adding playlists to the channel to dig a little deeper into YouTube's content categories -- because we know that a video doesn't have to have millions of views to make an impact.

So check out the countdown as it unfolds, and see if your favorite clips or personalities are featured. Definitely let us know in the comments what your video of the year would be, whether it's a blockbuster clip or one that simply made an impression on you. With a limit of 31 videos in the countdown, we know it only just scratches the surface of this incredible time on YouTube.

Mark Day, Marketing Programs Manager, recently watched "Beatles 3000."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/8pdjK07ZvqU/count-down-memorable-videos-of-year.html

[G] New in Labs: Default text styling

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:54 PM PST

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Default text styling

Posted by Darren Lewis, Software Engineer and Jon Kotker, former Software Engineering Intern

In the early days of email, messages were simple text meant to be read on a terminal. But with the growth of the web came the advent of HTML email, and overnight people began expressing themselves through bold and italics, colors and images, and whatever else their creativity inspired.

If you like to use a specific text style for your messages, you've had to change the font every time you're about to start typing out an email. Now, you can turn on default text styling from the Labs tab, then go to Settings and set your preferences just once.


Try it out and tell us what you think. If you live and breathe code, now you can set your default text style to a monospace font. If your life is purple, your email can be, too. But remember: whatever you see is what your recipients will see, so be nice to them and try not to clog the intertubes with ginormous bold italicized red script. ;)
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-in-labs-default-text-styling.html

[G] Show Your Vote for COP15

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 07:55 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Show Your Vote for COP15

(Cross-posted from the Google Australia Blog) 

One of the benefits working at Google is the ability to spend 20% of your time on projects you are passionate about. Recently I was lucky enough to attend the Australian Conservation Foundation's Climate Project Summit, where I met Al Gore, and was trained as a Climate Project Presenter. This led me to devote my 20% time to develop Show Your Vote. Built as an open-source platform, Show Your Vote enables people around the world to tell the world's leaders to seal a fair and effective deal for climate change.

Some major environmental campaigns (including Earth Hour) as well as UNFCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, are now using Show Your Vote to help visualize public support of next week's COP 15, the Climate Change Conference taking place in Copenhagen.

No matter where you are in the world, see all the ways in which you can engage in the COP15 on this Virtual participation in COP15 page.

One of the big challenges in activating people on the issue of climate change is that there are a myriad of campaigns - big ones, small and local ones - taking place all over the world. I really wanted to provide a single platform that all campaigns and websites can use to collectively show the vote. So I developed a "web element" similar in function to Google Web Elements, which anyone can insert into a site so that people can vote and see the collective vote. They can also get educational tools on their own website by simply filling out the publisher form, and copying and pasting a single line of HTML code.

Google App Engine provides the hosting solution that makes this all possible. And I'd like to thank fellow Googlers Pamela Fox, Bob Aman, Rupert Breheny and Benjamin Kott for volunteering their time to make Show Your Vote possible.

Show Your Vote has three tabs: Vote, Explore, and Learn. The Vote tab allows individuals and organizations to show their vote.



The Explore tab displays individual votes aggregated by post code, and organizations by their own custom icons. The voting map is powered by the Google Maps API. Additionally, social networking tools powered by Google Friend Connect help people within the global community to share their messages of support. Individual votes are aggregated into postal codes, and organizations can upload their own icon to the map.



Finally, the Learn tab contains rich educational pieces, narrated by some of the top names in science, NGOs and the political world. These tours were created by the Google Earth Outreach team using Google Earth's new touring capabilities.



In the countdown to COP15, I'm hoping that we can collect enough of a global public show of support to amplify the need to change climate change, drive collective action, and reinforce the need for our world leaders to act now. Please join me in helping to show the vote!

Posted by Justin Baird, Innovationist, Google Australia
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/show-your-vote-for-cop15.html

[G] Show me the pictures: better format for image results

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 06:08 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Show me the pictures: better format for image results

I love when I get images back in my Google search results. There's no better way to quickly understand the difference between an ocelot and a clouded leopard. But sometimes I want to see more images to really make sure I've identified the right jungle cat.

Over the next twenty-four hours we're rolling out a new format for image universal results. When we're confident that we have great image results, we'll now show a larger image and additional smaller images alongside. With this new layout we're able to show you more pictures than before, so you have more to choose from. As always, you can click on an image to see it full size in the original webpage.


We hope this new layout makes finding the images that you're searching for even easier.

Posted by Alex Petcherski, Software Engineer
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/show-me-pictures-better-format-for.html

[G] Now even easier: use Google Docs & Checkout to sell online

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 05:11 PM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Now even easier: use Google Docs & Checkout to sell online

As you may recall, the Google Checkout store gadget, available in Google Labs, allows you to create an online store with inventory managed from a Google spreadsheet and payments accepted through Google Checkout. Today, using Google Docs and Checkout to sell online became easier with the introduction of a new store gadget wizard.


Interesting in learning more about the store gadget wizard? Check out the post on the Google Checkout Blog.

Posted by: Mike Giardina, Strategist, Google Checkout
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/12/now-even-easier-use-google-docs.html

[G] Now even easier: Use Google Docs & Checkout to sell online

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 05:11 PM PST

Official Google Checkout Blog: Now even easier: Use Google Docs & Checkout to sell online

As you may have seen, the Google Docs blog announced a preview of the Google Checkout store gadget back in July. The Google Checkout store gadget, available in Google Labs, allows you to create an online store with inventory managed from a Google spreadsheet and payments accepted through Google Checkout.

Since then, our engineers have been exploring ways to simplify store creation. Today, we're excited to introduce a new feature for the store gadget: a wizard that streamlines the store creation process. By automating the manual steps in the original instruction guide, the new store gadget wizard should leave you with even more time to focus on your business.

As with the original release, no complicated coding or technical tasks are required, and you can get your first online store up-and-running in under five minutes. The new wizard helps you embed the store on Blogger, Google Sites, iGoogle, and other websites. We hope you'll find the new version more intuitive and enjoyable to use. To illustrate the difference:

We've heard from small businesses who believe the store gadget offers an easy e-commerce solution without the complicated coding. For example, a husband and wife are using the store gadget to start a stationery store. Read more feedback at Google Labs.

Remember that the store gadget is just one tool in your commerce toolbox. We invite you to learn more about Google commerce solutions:

Apps: Host your website.
AdWords: Advertise your business.
Product Search: Upload product offers to increase sales.
Commerce Search: Help shoppers find the right product on your site.
Checkout: Accept payments and protect against fraud.

For even more detailed information about the store gadget, please visit the Google Checkout Developer Guide.

Posted by Mike Giardina, Google Checkout Strategist
URL: http://googlecheckout.blogspot.com/2009/12/now-even-easier-use-google-docs.html

[G] Think2010: Innovate to better connect

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 03:22 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Think2010: Innovate to better connect

As you plan your marketing approach for 2010, think of 'innovation' in a broad sense. You don't need to be the first to venture into uncharted territory or the one to make the biggest splash. You just need to think openly and differently about your customer connections. Strive to be nimble, current, and ever-more relevant as you create them.

In today's marketing world, this often means making use of insights and Analytics tools to continually tweak your approach. It means finding the right mix of social media to engage your customers in a compelling and authentic way, and it means making use of new mediums and targeting methods so you can connect your message to a consumer at the right time.

Here are a few ways you can innovate in 2010:

1) Become a more nimble marketer by crafting your campaigns around current trends. You can stay abreast of the trends related to your brand and business by using Insights for Search.

2) Converse with consumers on 'their turf,' but don't force it. For example, promote your message on YouTube, and then monitor its appeal and virality. Make use of what you learn and keep revising the conversation accordingly.

3) Adapt your strategy to connect with consumers on-the-go. You can try out high-end mobile device targeting to show your text and image ads on mobile devices with full Internet browsers. This means you'll be able to connect with mobile consumers with the same richness as you would via a desktop computer.

Posted by Emily Williams, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2009/12/think2010-innovate-to-better-connect.html

[G] The AdSense Product Ideas page: Now accepting your submissions and votes

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 01:27 PM PST

Inside AdSense: The AdSense Product Ideas page: Now accepting your submissions and votes


This past year, we've been working on building features based on your feedback, and we'd like to offer you the opportunity to tell us what's on your AdSense wishlist for 2010. What features or product updates would you like to see? Whether it's an idea for a brand new feature or just a small tweak that would simplify your workflow, we'd like to hear it. 

With that in mind, we've created a Product Ideas page just for AdSense, and invite you to sign in with your Google Account and submit your suggestions during the next two weeks. You can also look through all submitted ideas and vote on the ones you like.

While we aren't able to guarantee that all the ideas on this page will be implemented, we can guarantee that we'll take the top ideas (as voted by you), and bring them to the AdSense Product Management team for review. By submitting an idea, you agree that Google may use the idea to develop and enhance Google's products and services.

This Ideas page will be open until December 15th, so be sure to add your ideas and vote soon!

Posted by Arlene Lee - Inside AdSense Team
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/12/adsense-product-ideas-page-now.html

[G] Google and paid content

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:28 PM PST

Google News Blog: Google and paid content

Posted by Josh Cohen, Senior Business Product Manager

As newspapers consider charging for access to their online content, some publishers have asked: Should we put up pay walls or keep our articles in Google News and Google Search? In fact, they can do both - the two aren't mutually exclusive. There are a few ways we work with publishers to make their subscription content discoverable. Today we're updating one of them, so we thought it would be a good time to remind publishers about some of their options.

Google has strict policies against what's known as cloaking: showing one web page to the crawler that indexes it but then a different page to a user. We do this so that users aren't deceived into clicking through to a site that's not what they were expecting. While the anti-cloaking policies are important for users, they do create some challenges for publishers who charge for content. Our crawlers can't fill out a registration or payment form to see what's behind a site's paywall, but they need access to the information in order to index it.

One way we overcome this is through a program called First Click Free. Participating publishers allow the crawler to index their subscription content, then allow users who find one of those articles through Google News or Google Search to see the full page without requiring them to register or subscribe. The user's first click to the content is free, but when a user clicks on additional links on the site, the publisher can show a payment or registration request. First Click Free is a great way for publishers to promote their content and for users to check out a news source before deciding whether to pay. Previously, each click from a user would be treated as free. Now, we've updated the program so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing. If you're a Google user, this means that you may start to see a registration page after you've clicked through to more than five articles on the website of a publisher using First Click Free in a day. We think this approach still protects the typical user from cloaking, while allowing publishers to focus on potential subscribers who are accessing a lot of their content on a regular basis.

In addition to First Click Free, we offer another solution: We will crawl, index and treat as "free" any preview pages - generally the headline and first few paragraphs of a story - that they make available to us. This means that our crawlers see the exact same content that will be shown for free to a user. Because the preview page is identical for both users and the crawlers, it's not cloaking. We will then label such stories as "subscription" in Google News. The ranking of these articles will be subject to the same criteria as all sites in Google, whether paid or free. Paid content may not do as well as free options, but that is not a decision we make based on whether or not it's free. It's simply based on the popularity of the content with users and other sites that link to it.

These are two of the ways we allow publishers to make their subscription content discoverable, and we're going to keep talking with publishers to refine these methods. After all, whether you're offering your content for free or selling it, it's crucial that people find it. Google can help with that.
URL: http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/update-to-first-click-free.html

[G] Google Analytics launches asynchronous tracking

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:28 PM PST

Google Analytics Blog: Google Analytics launches asynchronous tracking

Google Analytics now provides a new Asynchronous Tracking Code snippet as an alternate way to track your website!

Think of the asynchronous tracking code snippet as a script that uses a "separate lane" to handle part of the processing of your webpage. As the number of cars (or in this case, scripts on your webpage) increases, the asynchronous tracker uses this lane to reduce webpage load time. Websites that use many scripts or rely on rich media content will especially benefit from this new method, but even lightweight sites will see improvements.

The new tracking snippet offers the following benefits:
  • Faster tracking code load times for your web pages due to improved browser execution
  • Enhanced data collection and accuracy
  • Elimination of tracking errors from dependencies when the JavaScript hasn't fully loaded
The asynchronous tracking code is now in Beta and available to all Google Analytics users. Using the new tracking code is optional: your existing Google Analytics code will continue to work as-is. But if you want to improve your webpage load times and fine-tune the accuracy of your Analytics data, then we think you'll love this new option.

Learn more about this new tracking code on our Analytics Help Center and get started on Google Code.

Posted by Jesse Savage, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2009/12/google-analytics-launches-asynchronous.html

[G] Introducing the Google Model Your Town Competition

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:28 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Model Your Town Competition

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the bigger cities in Google Earth have photo-realistic 3D buildings in them? (See Valencia, for example.) Have you ever wondered when someone's going to get around to modeling the world's smaller towns and villages? Today, we're giving you the chance to add your own town to the map.

We're pleased to announce the first-ever, international Google Model Your Town Competition. You're invited to use our free tools — SketchUp and Building Maker — to make sure your community is represented on the world's biggest 3D stage. Every town that participates has the chance to be included in Google Earth's 3D Buildings layer where millions of people can see it. The winning town (as decided by a popular vote) will win money for its schools, a Google-sponsored party for its modelers and plenty more.

Check out this video; it highlights some of the 3D towns and cities already in Google Earth:



Visit the competition website for more information about prizes, judging and rules. You'll also find a helpful FAQ and a list of steps that should help you get started. The deadline for submission is three months away — it's not too early to form a team, take pictures and start building. Good luck!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education Program Manager and Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/introducing-google-model-your-town.html

[G] Put your town on the 3D map: Google Model Your Town Competition

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 12:28 PM PST

Google LatLong: Put your town on the 3D map: Google Model Your Town Competition

[Cross-posted from the Official Google SketchUp Blog]

People build 3D models for all sorts of reasons. One of them is geo-modeling – making photo-textured models of real-life buildings that appear in Google Earth. For some, geo-modeling is a hobby; they get a kick out of building something that provides a real benefit to the people in their community. Local geo-modelers are the unsung heroes of the virtual world - no longer.

Our first-ever Google Model Your Town Competition is by far the biggest 3D modeling challenge we've ever launched. It's open to just about everyone (not just students), just about everywhere in the world. Form a team, model buildings (using SketchUp or Building Maker) and upload them by the end of February 2010.



You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town. You can even include links to videos and photo albums in your entry; this is really more of a 3D portrait contest for communities.

If your town wins, a bunch of us from the SketchUp team will visit, throw you a party and do our best to make you look like the local hero that you are. There are other prizes, too – check out the competition website for details, and start rounding up teammates!

Here's some inspiration (just to get your creative juices flowing):



Posted by Allyson McDuffie and Aidan Chopra, Google Geo Team
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/12/put-your-town-on-3d-map-google-model.html

[G] A Live Stream to Save Lives: Alicia Keys and YouTube Team Up to Fight AIDS

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 10:40 AM PST

YouTube Blog: A Live Stream to Save Lives: Alicia Keys and YouTube Team Up to Fight AIDS

It's no secret that AIDS is one of the deadliest diseases facing our world today. Since the beginning of the epidemic, almost 60 million people have been infected with HIV and 25 million people have died of HIV-related causes. But did you know that some of those hardest hit by AIDS are children? The disease has killed over 2 million children, and in sub-Saharan Africa it has orphaned close to 15 million.

That's why, today, on World AIDS Day, we're partnering with Alicia Keys and her organization, Keep a Child Alive, to present a live-streamed benefit concert at 8 p.m. (ET). We're also encouraging everyone to donate $5 to provide the life-saving medication, support, and orphan care to keep these children alive. Learn more from Alicia herself about this important effort:



You can make a difference today. Please tune in here at 8 p.m (ET) to watch Alicia Keys and donate to help save the lives of millions of children living with HIV/AIDS.

Michele Flannery, Music Manager, and Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits Manager, recently watched "The Lazarus Effect."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/x38U-1_k2rY/live-stream-to-save-lives-alicia-keys.html

[G] FTC looks at the future of news

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:35 AM PST

Google Public Policy Blog: FTC looks at the future of news

Posted by Josh Cohen, Senior Business Product Manager

For the next two days, the Federal Trade Commission will explore a subject that's central to democracy: the future of news. I'll be representing Google at the event, which the commission is calling "From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Digital Age?" We're an optimistic company, so maybe it's no surprise that we believe journalism will not only survive, but thrive on the Internet. And we think we can help.

Why does Google care about the future of the news? Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, and journalism is an important source of the high-quality information for which our users search. It also serves a vital public service. So, as the industry goes through a wrenching period of transition, we're working with newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, web-only outlets and other news organizations that publish online to find solutions. We applaud the experiments that many publishers are trying and want to work with them to help drive even more innovation. We're focusing on helping news publishers in three key areas:

Traffic: Google makes it easy for people to find the news they're looking for and discover new sources of information. Google sends about 4 billion clicks each month, or 100,000 per minute, to news publishers via Google News, web search and other services. Each click is an opportunity for publishers to show ads, win loyal readers and register users. They can also sell online subscriptions: news publishers can charge for their work and ensure that it's discovered through Google -- these two are not mutually exclusive. Of course, news publishers have control over whether their content is made discoverable through Google.

Audience engagement: Google offers news publishers free tools to better engage with their audiences. Examples include YouTube Direct, which helps news outlets solicit and manage online video submissions from citizen reporters, and Google Maps, which publishers use to create and embed custom maps to augment their coverage. You'll see us try experiments like Google Fast Flip, which we launched in Google Labs with more than three dozen publishing partners to provide online news consumers with a "magazine-like" experience.

Revenue: Google provides a variety of advertising solutions to help publishers maximize their revenue. Two of the best-known are AdSense, for serving relevant ads on a publisher's web pages, and DoubleClick tools, for managing, serving and measuring display ads. There's still a big gap between the amount of time people spend online and the amount of advertising dollars spent online, so we're investing in interest-based advertising and other ways to make ads even more relevant (and as a result, more valuable) to publications' readers. Google is also exploring technology solutions to make paid content systems more seamless for publishers and users, such as subscription services and billing platforms.

Just as there's no single cause for the news industry's current struggles, there's no single solution. We would love your thoughts on additional ways we can help journalism thrive on the Internet. Feel free to tune in the webcast of today's proceedings on the FTC's website and share your ideas with us in the comments below.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/12/ftc-looks-at-future-of-news.html

[G] Four Googlers elected ACM Fellows

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:30 AM PST

Official Google Research Blog: Four Googlers elected ACM Fellows

Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research

I'm excited to share that the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has just announced that four Googlers have been elected ACM Fellows in its class of 2009. Jeff Dean, Tom Dean, Urs Hoelzle and Yossi Matias were chosen for their achievements in computer science and information technology and for their significant contributions to the mission of the ACM. Here at Google, we take great pride in having a tremendously talented workforce, and the talent of our team is exemplified by the addition of Jeff, Tom, Urs and Yossi to the six other ACM Fellows already at Google.

All of these Googlers are being recognized for successes both inside and outside Google. Urs' and Jeff's achievements are most directly related to innovations made while at Google, specifically in our large data centers and in harnessing their inherent parallel computation and vast storage. Tom and Yossi, on the other hand, were elected more for work done prior to Google — respectively, on how to use prediction in planning, control, and decision-making where there is both uncertainty and time constraints, and on theoretically and practically interesting techniques for analyzing and managing large data sets and data streams.

We at Google congratulate our colleagues. They serve as an inspiration to us and to our colleagues in computer science globally and remind us to continue to push the limits of computing, which has enormous benefits to our field and to society at large.

You can read more about Jeff, Tom, Urs and Yossi's achievements and the reasons for this recognition by the ACM below. The citations are the official ones from the ACM.

Jeff Dean, Google Fellow
For contributions to the science and engineering of large-scale distributed computer systems

Dr. Jeff Dean has made great contributions to the programming and use of loosely-coupled multiprocessing systems and cloud computing. Jeff is probably best known for his work (with Sanjay Ghemawat) on the parallel/distribution computing infrastructure called MapReduce, a tremendously influential programming model for batch jobs on loosely coupled multiprocessing systems. Working with others, Jeff has also been a leading contributor to many other Google systems: the BigTable record storage system, which reliably stores diverse record data records (via portioning and replication) in vast quantities, at least two production real-time indexing systems, and several versions of Google's web serving system. The breadth of Jeff's work is quite amazing: At Digital, he co-developed a leading Java compiler and the Continuous Profiling Infrastructure (DCPI). Beyond this core systems work, Jeff has had exceedingly diverse additional activities; for example, he co-designed Google's first ads serving system, made significant quality improvements to the search system, and even has been involved in user-visible efforts such as the first production version of Google News and the production implementation of Google's machine translation system. Despite his primary accomplishments as a designer and implementer of innovative systems that solve hard problems in a practical way, Jeff also has over 20 publications in peer-reviewed publications, more than 25 patents, and is one of Google's most sought-after public speakers.

Thomas L. Dean, Staff Research Scientist
For the development of dynamic Bayes networks and anytime algorithms

Dr. Tom Dean is known in AI for his work on the role of prediction in planning, control and decision-making where uncertainty and the limited time available for deliberation complicate the problem, particularly his work on temporal graphical models and their application in solving robotics and decision-support problems. His temporal Bayesian networks, later called dynamic Bayes networks, made it possible to factor very large state spaces and their corresponding transition probabilities into compact representations, using the tools and theory of graphical models. He was the first to apply factored Markov decision processes to robotics and, in particular, to the problem of simultaneous localization and map building (SLAM). Faced with the need to solve what were essentially intractable problems in real-time, Dean coined the name "anytime algorithm" to describe a class of approximate inference algorithms and the associated (meta) decision problem of deliberation scheduling to address the challenges of bounded-time decision making. These have been applied to large-scale problems at NASA, Honeywell, and elsewhere. At Google, Tom has worked on extracting stable spatiotemporal features from video and developed new, improved features for video understanding, categorization and ranking. During his twenty-year career as a professor at Brown University, he published four books and over 100 technical articles, while serving terms as department chair, acting vice president for computing and information services, and deputy provost.

Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President of Engineering
For the design, engineering and operation of large scale cloud computing systems

Dr. Urs Hoelzle has made significant contributions to the literature, theory, and practice in many areas of computer science. His publications are found in areas such as compilers, software and hardware architecture, dynamic dispatch in processing systems, software engineering and garbage collection. Much of this work took place during his time at Stanford and later at UC Santa Barbara as a member of the faculty. Urs' most significant contribution to computer science and its application is found in his work and leadership at Google. Since 1999 he has had responsibility for leading engineering and operations of one of the largest systems of data centers and networks on the planet. That it has been able to scale up to meet the demands of more than a billion users during the past 10 years is an indication of his leadership ability and remarkable design talent. Urs works best in collaborative environments, as evidenced by his publications and in his work at Google. While it would be incorrect to credit Urs alone for the success of the Google computing and communications infrastructure, his ability to lead a large number of contributors to a coherent and scalable result is strong evidence of his qualification for advancement to ACM Fellow. The philosophy behind Google's system of clustered, distributed computing systems reflects a powerful pragmatic: assume things will break; use replication, not gold-plating, for resilience; reduce power requirements where ever possible; create general platforms that can be harnessed in myriad ways; eschew specialization except where vitally necessary (e.g., no commercial products fit the requirement). Much of this perspective can be attributed to Urs Hoelzle.

Yossi Matias, Director of R&D Center in Israel
For contributions to the analysis of large data sets and data streams

Dr. Yossi Matias has made significant contributions to the analysis of large data sets and data streams. He pioneered (with Phillip Gibbons) a new research direction into the study of small-space (probabilistic) "synopses" of large data sets, motivating their study and making key contributions in this area. Yossi's 1996 paper (with Noga Alon and Mario Szegedy) won the 2005 Gödel Prize, the top ACM prize in Theoretical Computer Science, awarded annually. The award citation describes the paper as having "laid the foundations of the analysis of data streams using limited memory." Further, "It demonstrated the design of small randomized linear projections, subsequently referred to as 'sketches,' that summarize large amounts of data and allow quantities of interest to be approximated to user-specified precision." Additionally, Yossi has made several key contributions to lossless data compression of large data sets, including a "flexible parsing" technique that improves upon the Lempel-Ziv dictionary-based compression algorithm, and novel compression schemes for images and for network packets. Large scale data analysis requires effective use of multi-core processors. For example, his JACM paper (with Guy Blelloch and Phillip Gibbons) provided the first provably memory- and cache-efficient thread scheduler for fine-grained parallelism. In addition to his academic and scientific impact, Yossi has been heavily involved in the high tech industry and in technology and product development, pushing the commercial frontiers for analyzing large data sets and data streams. He is also the inventor on 23 U.S. patents. Yossi joined Google in 2006 to establish the Tel-Aviv R&D Center, and to be responsible for its strategy and operation. Yossi has overall responsibility for Google R&D and technology innovation in Israel.
URL: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2009/12/four-googlers-elected-acm-fellows.html

[G] Santa, Santa, when will you be here?

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 08:30 AM PST

Google LatLong: Santa, Santa, when will you be here?


As I slowly emerge from my tryptophan-induced coma, I find my thoughts drifting merrily toward the next holiday on the calendar. And, like any kid trapped in an adult's body, I have to admit that I'm no more immune to the heady anticipation of Santa's arrival than I was as a wide-eyed eight-year-old lad.

I remember putting up the tree, stringing the lights, and wrapping the presents, the smell of freshly-baked pies tickling my nose and the sound of Christmas carols floating through cinnamon air. My dad would hang a wreath on the front door. My mom would tie a big red bow on the dog. And, in a small digression from this Rockwellian scene, we would call NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, to track Santa.

Times have changed. Now, in addition to taking phone calls, NORAD shows Santa's location online at www.noradsanta.org. There you can view a collection of video snippets from Santa's journey last year, play holiday games (a new one released each day), receive updates from Santa's Village, and read a special tribute to Colonel Harry Shoup, the father of the program, who passed away this year. 

Bookmark the site so you can visit often. And be sure to come back on Christmas Eve. That's when NORAD actively tracks Santa's journey in its entirety, from take-off to touch-down.  You'll be able to view his position on a Google Map, in your browser with the Google Earth plug-in, and on most phones.

Happy holidays to all! (And to Santa... a good flight!)



Posted by Jeffery Martin, Business Product Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/12/santa-santa-when-will-you-be-here.html

[G] Zeitgeist 2009: the collective consciousness

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 06:34 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Zeitgeist 2009: the collective consciousness

At Google we're all about curiosity, and clearly, so are all of you. Everyone, it seems, searches the web to fulfill that innate curiosity to find something of interest. Whether searching for the latest news, a popular holiday gift, a website you've heard about, the latest singing sensation, or the trailer to a blockbuster film, you come to the Google search box with something on your mind. And since 2001, we're always excited to look back at the year for fastest-rising Google search queries (those that had the greatest surge in the past year) and most popular (those that are consistently searched in large volume, like [weather]). Together, these searches ultimately reflect "the spirit of the times" — the global zeitgeist. By exploring 2009's popular and fastest rising search terms, we're able to share a glimpse of what's gained the interest of the global community over the past year.

So what has captivated the minds of searchers from almost 50 countries throughout this year? As millions of fans said goodbye to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson led the list of our top 10 fastest rising queries across the globe. And a new star was born, too, as quirky pop singer Lady Gaga became a search sensation the world over. In addition to appearing on many regional fastest-rising search term lists, from the Czech Republic to Switzerland and Kenya to the United Kingdom, Lady Gaga also landed in the #9 spot on the global fastest rising list.

In a sweeping confirmation that global searchers are intent on being social on the web, both Facebook and the Spanish social-networking site Tuenti each moved up from 2008, to #2 and #3 respectively. Twitter also made our global list for the first time at #5 — undoubtedly propelled by celebrity tweeters from Ashton Kutcher to Miley Cyrus.

With the global community closely watching the swine flu epidemic, [schweinegrippe], [gripe porcina], [豬流感], [h1n1], [świńskiej grypy] and [sikainfluenssa] were heavily queried the world over. In fact, in the U.S., swine flu was searched even more than another major event of the year: the inauguration of President Obama.

In the U.S., 2009 also saw many people express their thrifty consciousness in response to the sour economy. The most popular made by hand searches including everything from baby food (#2) to laundry detergent (#6). And as more and more turned to comfort foods and recipes to make at home, [chili] became the most popular recipe searched for across the country.

It's because of curious searchers like you, and the aggregation of billions of queries throughout the year, that our annual Zeitgeist has become an insightful look into a global mindset. So please explore the year to date on our Zeitgeist site, which showcases many of these interesting trends across various categories and countries, and more about how we came up with our lists. We're already anticipating what searches in 2010 will illuminate!

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/zeitgeist-2009-collective-consciousness.html
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