| [G] Forty-Eight Hours to Submit Your Question for the President Posted: 29 Jan 2010 08:06 PM PST On Monday afternoon, as a follow-up to his State of the Union address, President Obama will give a live interview to YouTube from the White House -- and every single question will come from you. You can submit your questions in video or in text, and you can vote on which questions you think should be asked on CitizenTube. Your votes will determine the top questions posed during the discussion with the President. The deadline for submission is Sunday night at 8 p.m. EST.What makes a good question? That's entirely up to you. We would love to see as many video questions as possible, so if you can, record your question on camera and upload it to YouTube. Be sure to keep it under 20 seconds, and make sure the video and audio quality is crisp and clear. The Moderator platform allows for text questions, too - so if you don't have time to post a video, feel free to simply type your question. We'll use a mixture of both in the interview. If you're considering what your question should be, but missed the President's State of the Union speech, here it is: Don't be afraid to ask tough questions - this is your opportunity to have direct access to the President. Though we obviously won't get to each of the thousands of questions that have been submitted, you'll have a say in which questions are asked by voting on your favorites - so come back to CitizenTube and vote often. Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, recently watched "GOP Response to State of the Union"
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| [G] Google Analytics Even More Global Posted: 29 Jan 2010 06:48 PM PST  Today, Google Analytics is available in 6 more languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Greek, Lithuanian, Slovak and Vietnamese, bringing the total to 31 languages. It's a large cross-functional effort to localize the product, and we're so proud to welcome these new languages and users! We also now have over 150 Google Analytics Authorized Consultants (GAACs), from every major region (US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific) and over 35 countries! Chances are, there's one near you. GAACs are our partners; each has been vetted by an internal team here at Google. They are experienced Google Analytics experts (and often, also SEM, SEO and testing specialists) who are available for anything from hourly consultations to training to advanced implementation and analysis. It's been amazing to see the growth in the analytics industry over the past few years, and as usage and the analytics dialogue scales internationally, our product, team and ecosystem are scaling right along with it. Posted by Dai Pham and Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team |
| [G] Live Tomorrow: The YouTube Panel at Davos on Female Genital Mutilation Posted: 29 Jan 2010 04:10 PM PST This year's iteration of The Davos Debates culminates tomorrow as Julia Lalla-Maharajh, the winner of the "Your Pitch to the World" contest, joins Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, Kathy Bushkin Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation, and Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, on a special panel moderated by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. The session will delve into the issue Julia pledged to address with world leaders at the World Economic Forum: female genital mutilation (FGM). A difficult topic in just about every way, FGM affects an estimated 130 million women around the world, and tomorrow's panel will be the first time it's been brought to the table at Davos, not to mention the first time someone chosen by the YouTube community has had a seat at that table. You can participate, too, for the first time. Nicholas Kristof will incorporate the questions you've contributed and voted up using the Google Moderator tool on the Davos YouTube channel into the panel discussion. We'll be streaming the panel live on youtube.com/davos at 3:30 pm CET (9:30 am EST) on Saturday, January 30, 2010. As your watch, please continue to add your thoughts to the discussion using the Moderator tool. Also, be sure to watch Julia's video diary of her time here at Davos. She's spent every waking minute talking with the influential world leaders, corporate executives, and global movers-and-shakers at the World Economic Forum, raising awareness about FGM and spreading her message about the importance of ending it now. We'll see you at youtube.com/davos tomorrow to watch Julia represent the YouTube community! Olivia Ma, News & Politics Manager, recently watched "Bill Clinton talks to Julia Lalla-Maharajh"  |
| [G] Web browser support for Docs and Sites Posted: 29 Jan 2010 03:11 PM PST The web continues to evolve at lightning speed, and using an up to date browser enables you to use the very latest web apps. If you're having problems, it could well be because you're using a very old browser. So we'd like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to update their browsers as soon as possible. There are many choices: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+Mozilla Firefox 3.0+Google Chrome 4.0+Safari 3.0+ Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We're also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites on March 1st. So while you'll still be able to access these Google applications, newer features may not be available and some features may even stop working. You can learn more about web browsers and check what version you're currently using at http://www.WhatBrowser.org, a site created by Google. Posted by: Rajen Sheth, Google Apps Senior Product Manager  |
| [G] Modern browsers for modern applications Posted: 29 Jan 2010 03:11 PM PST The web has evolved in the last ten years, from simple text pages to rich, interactive applications including video and voice. Unfortunately, very old browsers cannot run many of these new features effectively. So to help ensure your business can use the latest, most advanced web apps, we encourage you to update your browsers as soon as possible. There are many choices: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+Mozilla Firefox 3.0+Google Chrome 4.0+Safari 3.0+ Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We're also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products -- as well as new Docs and Sites features -- won't work properly in older browsers. 2010 is going to be a great year for Google Apps and we want to ensure that everyone can make the most of what we are developing. Please take the time to switch your organization to the most up-to-date browsers available. Posted by Rajen Sheth, Google Apps Senior Product Manager  |
| [G] Launched: Google Apps Script for Google Apps Standard Edition Posted: 29 Jan 2010 11:22 AM PST Back in August we released Google Apps Script to Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers. Today we're excited to extend the availability of Apps Script to Google Apps Standard Edition, used by millions of groups, families, clubs and other organizations around the world.
Google Apps Script provides the ability to automate a variety of tasks such as modifying Spreadsheets, creating Calendar appointments, checking stock prices, sending email, looking up Contacts and much, much more. For a more detailed overview, check out the video below:
Getting started is easy. You can take a look at the Apps Script Welcome Page, and then work through some of the Tutorials. Before long you'll be writing scripts to automate all kinds of repetitive tasks like keeping track of group expenses and sending out automated reminders triggered by values in a spreadsheet.
In this example, we're using a Google Docs spreadsheet to keep track of our soccer team's weekly dues. Each player owes $5 per game towards shared expenses. Unfortunately the players can be an absentminded bunch that need frequent payment reminders. In the spreadsheet, every amount entered updates a player's column to indicate which weeks are PAID (in green), and how much is DUE (in red). We've also used Apps Script to add a custom menu:- 'Refresh' recalculates and colors cells to indicate which weeks are PAID and which are DUE
- 'Send Reminders' emails a polite message reminding players in debt to pay up
Go ahead and take a look at the sample code in this template. After choosing Use This Template, select Scripts... from the Spreadsheet's Tools menu. It's a very basic script, but it gets the job done!
Check it out, and let us know what you think!
Posted by Evin Levey, Product Manager, Google Apps team |
| [G] Madrid in 3D! Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:09 AM PST (cross-posted from the Official Google SketchUp Blog)Madrid, Spain is the latest city to be introduced to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. The City of Madrid contains scores of beautiful structures ranging from art museums and classical monuments to palatial government buildings. The prevalence of architectural wonders may explain why passionate geo-modelers have created thousands of models there (using both Google SketchUp and Google Building Maker) -- the largest concentration of 3D models anywhere the world! To start your virtual tour, I recommend you fly-to El Palacio real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid), the official residence of the King of Spain. From there I'd fly over to the Puerta de Alcalá, a famous classical monument located in the Plaza de la Independencia (Independence Square), and then over to the Monumento a Alfonso XII en el Parque del Buen Retiro, a beautiful monument that is among the greatest in Europe.  And don't miss the Plaza de Cibeles where the famous statue Fuente de Cibeles is surrounded by trees and beautiful buildings, including the stunning Palacio de Comunicaciones (Madrid City Hall) and Banco de España (Bank of Spain) buildings. If I were to visit Madrid for real, I think I'd want to stay at the Palace Hotel, which is a short walk to the famous Prado Museum (one of my all-time favorite models in Google Earth) where you can fly inside and experience the great works of art. Fútbol (American soccer) fan? Madrid is the home to Real Madrid, who play in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Olé! 
Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager |
