Thursday, December 10, 2009

Googland

Googland

[G] Google Teacher Academy comes to D.C.

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 06:48 PM PST

Google Public Policy Blog: Google Teacher Academy comes to D.C.

Posted by Galen Panger, Global Communications and Public Affairs

Google D.C. hosted over 50 teachers in our office today for the 2009 Google Teacher Academy. Google for Educators head and Senior Product Marketing Manager Cristin Frodella explains what it was all about:

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/12/google-teacher-academy-comes-to-dc.html

[G] 2009: The Year in Spotlights

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:36 PM PST

YouTube Blog: 2009: The Year in Spotlights

You might notice a periodic module on the homepage called Spotlight Videos (if you don't, add it to your homepage). These run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme. We'll often give you advance notice of upcoming spotlights in the Creator's Corner, our hub for videographers. Subscribe to the Creator's Corner blog and look for posts titled "Creators Call-Outs" to find out about opportunities to appear on our homepage.

As we plan the spotlight calendar for 2010, feel free to drop a comment below with suggestions for themes, milestones, holidays, events, and community stories that need to be told. Though some of our most popular spotlights in '09 centered around newsy themes or celebrities that gripped the whole world (see list below), we are equally interested in highlighting the lesser-told stories of how individuals can use YouTube to catalyze movements, memes, and new forms of creativity.

And with that, 2009's most popular homepage spotlights were:

1. Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits
2. Michael Jackson Tribute
3. Reality TV (at the height of the Jon & Kate Plus 8 frenzy)
4. Susan Boyle / Britain's Got Talent
5. Iran Protests
6. Mythbusters: YouTube Edition
7. Hannah Montana Concert and Vlog
8. Twilight-Inspired Parodies and Rant
9. World Oceans Day
10. Before They Were Stars, featuring Adrian Grenier, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Catherine Zeta Jones in early roles

Surprised? What was your favorite spotlight? What should we do more or less of? Looking forward to hearing your feedback and ideas for 2010. Please leave a comment below.

Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently favorited "PostSecret: Fifty People One Question."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/ONGkUdfWcrw/2009-year-in-spotlights.html

[G] New version of Google Mobile App for iPhone in the App Store

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:36 PM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: New version of Google Mobile App for iPhone in the App Store

Hello, iPhone users! We have just received the good news that our new version of Google Mobile App for iPhone was approved and is now available on in the App Store everywhere.

In this version, we have a redesigned search results display that shows more results at once and, more importantly, opens web pages from the results within the app. This will get you to what you need faster, which is always our goal at Google.


For those less utilitarian and more flamboyant, we've exposed our visual tweaks settings called "Bells and Whistles" - some of our users had discovered this already in previous versions. You can style your Google Mobile App in any shade: red, taupe, or even heliotrope. If you're on a faster iPhone, like the iPhone 3GS, you may want to try the live waveform setting which turns on, as the name suggests, a moving waveform when you search by voice.

On the subject of searching by voice, you can now choose your spoken language or accent. For example, if you're Australian but live in London, you can improve the recognition accuracy by selecting Australian in the Voice Search settings. And now both Mandarin and Japanese are supported languages as well.

If you don't have Google Mobile App yet, download it from the App Store or read more about it. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to join in on our support forums or suggest ideas in our Mobile Products Ideas page. You can also follow us on Twitter @googlemobileapp.

Posted by Alastair Tse, Software Engineer
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-version-of-google-mobile-app-for.html

[G] One-click Blogging with BlogThis! Chrome Extension

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:36 PM PST

Blogger Buzz: One-click Blogging with BlogThis! Chrome Extension

by Chang Kim, Product Manager, Blogger

More and more of you are using Google Chrome (more than 30 million active users now!), and we want to let you know that a Blogger extension is included in the Chrome Extensions gallery. The BlogThis! Chrome extension is available now, one of several hundred extensions to be found in the Chrome extensions gallery.

Using the BlogThis! Chrome extension, you can start writing a blog post in one click. Whenever you are inspired by a web page you are looking at and want to blog about it, just click on the BlogThis! button on your Chrome toolbar, and the Blogger post editor opens up with a pre-populated link to the web page you were on. If you want to include any text in your post, simply highlight it before clicking on the BlogThis! button. Edit the post as you'd like, and publish it instantly or save it as a draft for future posting.


To try out the BlogThis! Chrome extension, first switch to Google Chrome BETA (if you are not already on that version), and install the BlogThis! extension by clicking on "Extensions" on your browser toolbar or visiting the BlogThis! extension homepage. Note: Extensions are only available for Chrome on the PC and Linux; Extension support on Chrome for Mac is under development.
URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/12/one-click-blogging-with-blogthis-chrome.html

[G] Moms Give Up High Heeled Shoes and Lipstick For Search

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 02:35 PM PST

Official Google CPG Blog: Moms Give Up High Heeled Shoes and Lipstick For Search



Moms are a hot target audience for many marketers, given that they are often the primary household decision maker.

Moms make choices involving their family's health, well-being and livelihood and this transcends across various different categories including health, grocery needs, mealtime choices, auto, apparel and even travel.

According to BabyCenter's 21st Century Moms Report, a new mom is born every 7 seconds!

It's no wonder, then, that this year, we saw a flurry of research reports including The Rise of the Real Mom published by AdAge, Power Moms by Nielsen, and eMarketer's Moms Online: More Influential Than Ever. These new reports speak to the powerful influence of Moms and the growing importance of the internet and social media in their lives.

As a search expert with Mom on the brain, Google was curious to learn more specifically about Moms and Search. To accomplish this, we partnered with BabyCenter, a Moms expert, on a joint research study designed to take a look into the mindset and motivations behind decision-making Moms.

Just days ago, we released the findings from our new study, conducted with OTX Research and Sterling Brands, titled, "The Four Truths About Moms and Search". Here are some highlights:

Truth 1 of 4: The Stork Delivers Search
  • Mothers conduct nearly twice as many searches as non-mothers: the study showed that before becoming a Mother, participants averaged 11 searches per week -- while Mothers averaged 21 searches per week.
  • Searching is now the number one activity conducted by Moms online, surpassing e-mail.

Truth 2 of 4: Moms Become Black Belts in Search
  • 3 out of 4 Moms believe that they have become better at searching versus a year ago.
  • More than 1/3 of Moms don't make it past the top section of the first page of search results, which includes both paid and organic results.
  • More than half of Moms actually search via full sentence queries, such as, "What should baby poop look like?" to zoom in on more specific results.

Truth 3 of 4: Search is Mom's GPS to Store
  • Moms use search engines throughout their purchase decision making process; half of the Mothers surveyed use search during the awareness, familiarity and consideration stage of this process.
  • Expecting Moms and Moms with Teens are even more likely than the average mom to use Search Engines during the loyalty stage: to stay in touch with a brand and keep up to date with new offers and products.
  • 53% of Moms say they have every expectation of seeing well-known brands highlighted within a sponsored link, and 59% of Moms say they would click on a coupon noted in a sponsored search result.
  • 55% of Moms can link a purchase in a physical store back to a search conducted via a search engine.
Truth 4 of 4: Search is Mom's Back Up Brain
  • Moms most often delegate activities like finding recipes, reviews of products/services and finding coupons/deal to search engines.
  • Moms are passionate about search. In fact, 56% of Moms say they would give up high heeled shoes for search, and 53% would give up lipstick!
  • When we asked Moms to choose if Google was a family member, friend, colleague, manager or acquaintance, 65% of Moms consider Google a close friend or a family member.
These truths reveal to marketers that motherhood creates a unique search window during which a valuable connection can be made. To make sure that messaging is getting through to Moms, marketers need to make sure they appear prominently on the first page of results when Moms enter both broad and specific queries into a Search Engine. Finally, marketers should not underestimate the power of search to drive upper purchase funnel activities and to connect with Moms on an emotional level.

Posted by Jenny Liu, Industry Marketing Manager, CPG
URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2009/12/moms-give-up-high-heeled-shoes-and.html

[G] PBS NewsHour comes to YouTube

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 01:26 PM PST

YouTube Blog: PBS NewsHour comes to YouTube

After nearly 35 years on air, PBS NewsHour recently re-launched its broadcast program and website in an effort to provide viewers with NewsHour content wherever, whenever and however they want to access it. As part of this transformation, the nightly news program is starting a major new initiative with YouTube.

The PBS NewsHour channel on YouTube (http://youtube.com/pbsnewshour) will host nightly reports from the NewsHour television broadcast, posted the same night the broadcast airs on PBS. The NewsHour will also post web-original videos featuring its new online correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. These news segments will be archived on the NewsHour YouTube channel, ensuring that those looking for video of past news events will easily be able to find it.

The launch of the PBS NewsHour channel is the latest in a series of PBS and NewsHour projects with YouTube, including last year's Video Your Vote project that encouraged voters to film and post their experience at the polls during Election Day 2008. The project attracted more than 2,500 videos from across the country, which PBS was able to incorporate into its Election Night coverage.

While the new NewsHour program, website and YouTube channel represent the evolution of how we consume the news in the twenty-first century, the journalism within will continue to engage, inform and enlighten Americans about the issues and events that directly affect their everyday lives — just as it has from the very beginning.




Jim Lehrer, anchor of NewsHour, and Obadiah Greenberg, YouTube Strategic Partner Manager


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/pDcJDstvgLQ/pbs-newshour-comes-to-youtube.html

[G] PBS NewsHour comes to YouTube

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 01:26 PM PST

Official Google Blog: PBS NewsHour comes to YouTube

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

After nearly 35 years on air, PBS NewsHour recently re-launched its broadcast program and website in an effort to provide viewers with NewsHour content wherever, whenever and however they want to access it. As part of this transformation, the nightly news program is starting a major new initiative with YouTube.

The PBS NewsHour channel on YouTube (http://youtube.com/pbsnewshour) will host nightly reports from the NewsHour television broadcast, posted the same night the broadcast airs on PBS. The NewsHour will also post web-original videos featuring its new online correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. These news segments will be archived on the NewsHour YouTube channel, ensuring that those looking for video of past news events will easily be able to find it.

The launch of the PBS NewsHour channel is the latest in a series of PBS and NewsHour projects with YouTube, including last year's Video Your Vote project that encouraged voters to film and post their experience at the polls during Election Day 2008. The project attracted more than 2,500 videos from across the country, which PBS was able to incorporate into its Election Night coverage.

While the new NewsHour program, website and YouTube channel represent the evolution of how we consume the news in the twenty-first century, the journalism within will continue to engage, inform and enlighten Americans about the issues and events that directly affect their everyday lives — just as it has from the very beginning.



Posted by Jim Lehrer, anchor of NewsHour, and Obadiah Greenberg, YouTube Strategic Partner Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/pbs-newshour-comes-to-youtube.html

[G] Sharing emails get a facelift

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 01:26 PM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Sharing emails get a facelift

Starting today, more colorful emails might be waiting in your friends' and colleagues' inboxes if you've shared Google documents with them. Check out the difference:

Old Email
New Email
In addition to the visual update, the new emails showcase your custom message rather than placing it at the bottom. Your buddy won't miss that important note about your shared document being a work of fiction (sound familiar?), because it's now prominently featured.

No more hunting for links either, just click the header:

Or, if multiple docs are shared, peruse a simple list:

The email's color and icon indicate the type of document at-a-glance:

Spreadsheets
Presentations
We know you're mighty busy, so we're always looking for ways to make Google Docs quicker and easier to use and share. Let us know what you think on the forums.

Posted by: Vance Vagell, User Interface Software Engineer
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/12/sharing-emails-get-facelift.html

[G] Introducing VEVO: A New Music Video Destination Powered by YouTube

Posted: 09 Dec 2009 11:35 AM PST

YouTube Blog: Introducing VEVO: A New Music Video Destination Powered by YouTube

Every day millions of people come to YouTube to watch some of the biggest names in music; stars like Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and U2. Today we are happy to launch VEVO, a video site devoted exclusively to music and powered by YouTube. This new destination hopes to redefine the way people watch and engage with music online, as well as change the way the digital and music industries do business with each other. The partnership blends Google and YouTube's leading technology with material from a broad catalog of top artists from Universal Music Group, Sony Music and EMI. Check it out at VEVO.com and at YouTube.com/vevo, and listen to Rihanna's welcome message:



Chris Maxcy, Director of Content Partnerships


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/fIdu3kyQ7hE/introducing-vevo-new-music-video.html
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