Saturday, January 16, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Staying connected in post-earthquake Haiti

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 06:12 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Staying connected in post-earthquake Haiti

With relief efforts underway, many displaced Haitians and their friends and families around the world are deeply concerned about the safety and whereabouts of loved ones. In response to the Haitian earthquake, a team of Googlers worked with the U.S. Department of State to create an online People Finder gadget so that people can submit information about missing persons and to search the database.



You'll find this gadget on our Haiti earthquake response website as well as on the State Department website. In order to prevent the proliferation of multiple missing persons databases (a big problem during Hurricane Katrina), we've made the People Finder gadget standards-based and easily embeddable on any website (see here for instructions). The gadget is currently available in English, French and Creole.

We're also helping families in the U.S. stay connected with their loved ones in Haiti by offering free calls to Haiti for the next two weeks via Google Voice. If you don't have a Google Voice account already, request an invitation at www.google.com/voice.

For anyone interested in viewing updated imagery in Google Earth, we've now included GeoEye's shots from Wednesday in the Historical Imagery feature. Now you can view the imagery without downloading the KML file and can use the time slider to easily compare the stark before-and-after images, such as those below. To help relief organizations, GeoEye has made professional-quality files of their recent satellite imagery of Haiti downloadable via our earthquake response website. We hope the imagery in this format will be valuable to GIS organizations and aid workers.

(Click to see full-size)

We have also made Haiti Map Maker data publicly available for download for non-commercial use and attribution. Data can be used by relief workers to do things such as create offline maps, combine data sets and run analysis, all of which we hope will help with their efforts on the ground. Please help improve Haiti maps with Google Map Maker.

News and user footage continues to roll into YouTube. Oxfam and the American Red Cross are even responding to donations by uploading videos that show viewers exactly where their contributions are making a difference.

Posted by Jacquelline Fuller and Prem Ramaswami for the Google Crisis Response Team
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/staying-connected-in-post-earthquake.html

[G] Cincinnati now in 3D

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 06:12 PM PST

Google LatLong: Cincinnati now in 3D

[Cross-posted from the SketchUp Blog]

We're pleased to announce that we added Cincinnati, Ohio to Google Earth in 3D today. Start exploring by opening Google Earth and searching for "Cincinnati, OH"; make sure the "3D Buildings" layer is turned on.


This city is a great example of how multiple sources have been used to populate Google Earth with 3D buildings. The city contains a large number of user-generated models (made with SketchUp), Google-generated models, and untextured 3D models contributed via theCities in 3D Program. Have fun exploring Cincinnati in 3D!

Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/01/cincinnati-now-in-3d.html

[G] Gripping Videos, Calls for Help, Dominate YouTube in Wake of Haitian Tragedy

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 03:12 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Gripping Videos, Calls for Help, Dominate YouTube in Wake of Haitian Tragedy

In the three days since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, we've continued to see hundreds of thousands of people using YouTube to share information and donate money to help those suffering in one of the worst tragedies in recent memory. Since Tuesday, the American Red Cross has been featured on our homepage, collecting donations through videos like this one, which encourages people to give via a Google Checkout link next to the video. The International Red Cross just posted an update to YouTube (embedded below), detailing the situation on the ground. Their message? Goods are on the way, but more money is needed. Oxfam, Concern Worldwide and UNICEF have uploaded similar pleas.


Others have come to YouTube with personal appeals. First Lady Michelle Obama, Jimmy Buffett and Lenny Kravitz are just a few of the figures who are rallying support on YouTube. And people on the ground continue to put a very personal face on the tragedy, filming their experiences with shaky hand-held cameras.

Journalists are also uploading videos that bear witness to the devastation. Reporters like Dave Price at CBS and Rich Matthews of the AP are uploading individual vlogs from the streets of Port-au-Prince, and clips like this one from the AP give a bird's eye view of the damage (warning: this is difficult to watch):


On the ground, videos like this one give us just a glimpse into what life is like right now for Haitian citizens -- through the eyes of a person struggling to make sense of the destruction:


We're keeping CitizenTube updated with the latest clips and are contributing videos to Google's Earthquake Relief landing page as well. Though it could never match the resolve of Haitian citizens struggling to survive in the streets of Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, the outpouring of support on YouTube and elsewhere is encouraging in this time of great crisis.

Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched "Haiti: Essential staff and good are on their way."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/FqpgwCLUq-E/gripping-videos-calls-for-help-dominate.html

[G] Doing our share to help Haiti

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 03:12 PM PST

Google Voice Blog: Doing our share to help Haiti

It's impossible to watch the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake without wondering how one can contribute in helping the thousands of families who lost everything in this disaster.

Google set up a disaster relief page, which includes information and resources for anyone interested in helping out, and the Google Voice team also wanted to respond in our own way.

Particularly in the wake of such a catastrophe, for people in the US who have family in Haiti, it is critical to stay in constant contact with your loved ones, provide moral comfort, and offer daily updates to friends and family in Haiti.

To help those families, we're offering free calling to Haiti through Google Voice for the next two weeks. To place a call using Google Voice, use the Click2Call button on the website, the Google Voice mobile app, or dial your own Google Voice number and press 2 to place an outbound call.

Posted by the Google Voice team.
URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/doing-our-share-to-help-haiti.html

[G] Linux.conf.au: We're in Wellington!

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 03:12 PM PST

Google Open Source Blog: Linux.conf.au: We're in Wellington!

This year's linux.conf.au is in Wellington, New Zealand. It's starting this weekend, Sunday January 17th, and runs all week, through Saturday, January 23rd. We'll have members of the Open Source Team at the conference all week. And we're especially excited about giving a talk next Saturday at Open Day!

Stop by to visit us at our Open Day table if you're in the area: it's free and open to the public (not just for conference-goers). Ask questions, meet people in the open source space, or just hang out and hack with us. We'll be giving a talk called "Open Source for Newbies" and we'd love to get your questions about the open source community, what you can do for open source, or how to get started in open source even if you don't know anything about it. It should be a fun day with activities for kids, lots of speakers and booths, and a hackfest going on. There's even going to be some electric cars there!

Check out the Open Day wiki on the Linux.conf.au website to learn some more. It's being held at the Wellington Town Hall. Here's the details:

Where: Wellington Town Hall
Date: Saturday January 23, 2010

Time: Doors open at 11.00 am and close at 2.00 pm

For those of you attending the conference, members of our team Leslie Hawthorn, Cat Allman, and Jeremy Allison will all be giving talks on Thursday (schedule here). Come listen to them speak on a variety of topics for the open source community today. Finally, we're having a miniconf on Google Wave™ on Monday, January 18, that is also available to all conference attendees.

Hope to see you there!

by Carol Smith, Open Source Team
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/01/linuxconfau-were-in-wellington.html

[G] This week in search 1/15/10

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 03:12 PM PST

Official Google Blog: This week in search 1/15/10

This is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs on Fridays. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed.

From mobile search to books, the first days of 2010 have brought some exciting new innovations. But most importantly, the global community rallied online to help support victims of the tragic earthquake in Haiti.

Searching to support Haiti
On January 12th, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, causing massive devastation. Throughout the week, we saw queries from Google users searching for information, resources and ways they could help. In fact, on January 12th, 4 of our 5 fastest rising queries were related to the earthquake. And it's not too late to help join in on the recovery efforts mobilizing around the world — a donation can help rebuild lives and communities. For more information on ways you can help, visit Google's Crisis Response page. Google has also pledged to help organizations provide relief with a donation of $1 million. Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti and their families.

Flu Trends
Back in 2008, we launched Google Flu Trends, which uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity. Over time, we've found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. This week we were excited to announce that we're taking flu trends one step further, with city level flu estimates in 121 cities in the U.S. With flu season upon us, Flu Trends is now an even greater resource that can help provide early detection of flu activity. Find out more about our announcement here.

Near Me Now for mobile
Need to find a nearby restaurant, coffee shop or bar on the fly — or maybe an ATM or bank? This past week, we launched "Near Me Now" on Google.com in the U.S. for Android-powered devices and iPhone. By using your phone's location information, searching for nearby places is now easier and faster. With just a few clicks you can easily check out customer reviews, quickly jump to a map to help you get there or call the business. For more information about this exciting launch, check out this post from the mobile team.

Optimized search suggestions using your location
Typing your query into a search box on a phone can sometimes be slow and difficult. Now, when using your Android-powered device or iPhone in the U.S., searching with Google just got a whole lot better. You'll now see customized search suggestions based on your current or last location. For example, if you are in Boston, a query beginning with "R-E" will return a suggestion for "Red Sox" among others. For more information on how to ensure that this new feature is enabled on your phone, check out the mobile team's announcement.

Samsung E-Reader
At last week's annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, hundreds of exciting products were announced. In partnership with Google, Samsung launched two e-reader devices that make it very easy to read any of Google's million-plus public domain books. Two models were launched: the E6, with a six-inch screen, and the E101, with a 10-inch display.

Thanks for reading, and as always, we'll see you back here next week.

Posted by Gabriel Stricker, Director Global Communications & Public Affairs
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/this-week-in-search-11510.html

[G] Release Notes: Subscription News, Product Ideas Page, youtu.be Links for One-Off Sharing...

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 03:12 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Release Notes: Subscription News, Product Ideas Page, youtu.be Links for One-Off Sharing...

Happy new year! Our holiday "less-atorium" is long over -- we put a freeze on all but essential site pushes during Christmas and New Year -- and we're back in the business of enhancing the site and launching new features. There's lots in store for 2010, including these things which went live this week:




More subscription news: Last week, we made multiple subscription-related announcements and we have another to add to the list: now, shortly after you subscribe to someone, their older videos will start showing up in your subscriptions feed. (Previously, you had to wait until they started uploading videos after you subscribed to them.) Conversely, when you unsubscribe from a channel, the person's videos will promptly disappear from your subscription feed, making more room for the clips you actually want to watch.




Product Ideas for YouTube: A YouTube mantra is "launch and iterate." What this means is that we push out new features, see how the marketplace (you!) responds to them, and then make adjustments as necessary. None of this would be possible without your feedback, which we gather from how you use the site as well as from what you say in places like this blog, the forums, and Twitter. In order to help streamline the feedback-gathering process a bit (if that's possible!), we just launched a "Product Ideas" page where you can share your thoughts about how to make the site better and vote on ideas others have had. Right now, we're especially interested in learning what you think should be removed from the site in our fit of pre-spring cleaning. Click here to participate.




youtu.be links for one-off sharing: We announced youtu.be links before the holidays, and people who've connected their YouTube account to their Twitter, Facebook or other social media profiles via Autoshare have already been disseminating these shortened links around the Web. What is new is that now, any video distributed using the "Share to Twitter" link on the playback page will contain this shortened link. Here's what it looks like when syndicated to Twitter:










YouTube Partner Program opens to users in the Netherlands and Italy: Our partnership program, which recently celebrated its second birthday, just launched in the Netherlands and Italy, so if you are a talented videomaker living in those countries, we encourage you to apply to become a partner and turn your hobby into a full-fledged career. Click here for more info.




The YouTube Team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/y5yMbnG8zFU/release-notes-subscription-news-product.html

[G] FriendFeed Subscriber counts not reported for January 14th

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 12:12 PM PST

The FeedBurner Status Blog: FriendFeed Subscriber counts not reported for January 14th

Issue: There is a gap in FeedBurner's FriendFeed subscriber count tally for January 14th, 2010. As with the just-resolved Google Reader issue, this event is confined to reporting only. No feed distribution or consumption was affected.

We are actively developing an update to our stats reporting service that will allow us to more effectively detect when a feed reader or aggregator does not appear in a given day's results and adjust reported stats appropriately.


URL: http://feedburnerstatus.blogspot.com/2010/01/friendfeed-subscriber-counts-not.html

[G] Use your extra storage to store any file online

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 09:12 AM PST

Google Photos Blog: Use your extra storage to store any file online

​Posted by Peter Harbison, Product Marketing Manager, Google Docs
​
If you missed the announcement earlier this week, the good news is that Google Docs is rolling out the ability to upload, store and organize any type of file. This new feature means that you now have an easy way to backup more of your key files online, from large graphics to unedited home videos taken on your smartphone. You might even be able to replace the USB drive you reserved for files that are too big to send over email.

Each account will get 1 GB of free storage in Google Docs (in addition to the 1 GB of free storage in Picasa Web Albums and over 7 GB of free storage in Gmail) and will be able to upload any file up to 250 MB. If you've already purchased additional storage for Picasa Web Albums and Gmail, that storage is now shared with Google Docs as well, giving you more ways to use your online storage space. As we announced in November, additional storage is only $0.25 per GB per year. And because of the enthusiastic response, the Google Photos team has extended the special offer with Eye-Fi: users in the US or Canada who purchase 200 GB of extra storage for $50 will receive a free wifi-enabled SD card from Eye-Fi.

The any file upload feature will be enabled over the next couple of weeks — look for the bubble notification when you sign in to Google Docs.
URL: http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2010/01/use-your-extra-storage-to-store-any.html

[G] YouTube: No Place for Bullies

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 09:12 AM PST

YouTube Blog: YouTube: No Place for Bullies

OceanKing97 is a 14-year-old using video to raise awareness about the plight of dolphins. His videos are earnest...and a little awkward (but who wasn't at 14, right?). Unfortunately, some people have picked up on his awkwardness and have posted negative, even hateful, comments on his videos.

Ever seen a situation like this, or been involved in one yourself? We thought we'd take a moment to share a few tips on what you can do if people post negative comments on your YouTube videos.

1. Delete harsh comments and think about blocking the user who posted them so they can't view your other videos or leave more comments. It's easy -- just use our Help & Safety Tool.

2. Report comments that insult your race, gender or a disability you might have by clicking on the "hate speech" button.

3. If specific threats are made against you and you feel unsafe (for example, if the person might know personal information about you like your name and location), tell your parents or teacher and consider whether you should call 911.

4. Avoid making negative comments and encourage your friends to keep their comments respectful too.

Thankfully, OceanKing97 isn't a real user -- he was invented by the National Crime Prevention Council to help teach YouTube users about cyberbullying. Check out his video and do your part to keep YouTube safe and fun for everyone.

Victoria Grand, Head of Community Policy, recently watched "Haiti at Risk"



URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/lOyQ2YgSAD0/youtube-no-place-for-bullies.html

[G] Our common ground on the open Internet

Posted: 15 Jan 2010 09:12 AM PST

Google Public Policy Blog: Our common ground on the open Internet

Posted by Tom Tauke, Verizon's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy and Communications and Alan Davidson, Google's Director of Americas' Public Policy

(Cross-posted on Verizon Policy Blog)

Last night Google and Verizon filed a joint submission in response to the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Preserving the Open Internet. This submission, which is in addition to the separate comments that each company filed today, expands on our October joint blog post. In that post, we endorsed a principled approach to finding common ground with respect to an open Internet. We expand on that common ground in our joint submission today.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-common-ground-on-open-internet.html
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