Googland

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• [G] Web Analytics TV #8 with Avinash and Nick
• [G] The Webby People's Voice Awards on YouTube
• [G] Brits search for a leader
• [G] Satellite imagery of Icelandic volcano ash plume
• [G] The goats are baaaahk!
• [G] Response to China Earthquake
• [G] Go Mobile! Series: iPad Device Targeting Now Available
• [G] The world just became smaller: driving directions in 111 new countries
• [G] Drag and drop attachments onto messages
• [G] Create your AdSense account within your hosting control panel
• [G] A rebuilt, more real time Google documents
• [G] Insert a calendar invitation
• [G] Google services now available at your hosting control panel
• [G] The 2010 tax season story, as told by Google search

[G] Web Analytics TV #8 with Avinash and Nick Posted: 16 Apr 2010 02:04 AM PDT Google Analytics Blog: Web Analytics TV #8 with Avinash and Nick This is the 8th edition of Web Analytics TV with Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski where you ask questions via the Google Analytics Google Moderator site and we answer them. Here is the list of last week's questions. In this episode we discuss: How to create Advanced Segments for many sites (or other parameters) AdSense in $index calculations Tracking affiliates in Google Analytics Using an Event as a goal like tracking people who watch videos to conversion Measuring embedded Flash with Google Analytics Should you use two analytics packages like Google Analytics and Urchin? Using custom reporting to display landing pages and page titles Breaking down paid vs organic search by landing page How site overlay currently works and reasons why it could not work The difference between unique visitors and absolute unique visitors How to get the / and /index.html pages to be the same Properly setting up Advanced Segments for time on site Here are links to resources we discussed in the video: Google Analytics Campaign Tracking help center article Avinash discussed calculating visitor lifetime value Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics Using Advanced Table Filtering Google Analytics in 60 seconds video Avinash discusses Daily, Weekly and Monthly unique visitors Configuring the server default page in Google Analytics If you found this post helpful, we'd love to hear your comments below. If you have a question you would like us to answer, please submit a question or vote for your favorite question in our public Google Moderator site. Avinash and I will answer your latest questions in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video. Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/04/web-analytics-tv-8-with-avinash-and.html

[G] The Webby People's Voice Awards on YouTube Posted: 16 Apr 2010 01:45 AM PDT YouTube Blog: The Webby People's Voice Awards on YouTube The Webby Awards announced its 24 nominees this week, and many of them originated right here on YouTube, including "The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody," "David After Dentist" and "The Pizza Slap." While Academy judges such as Martha Stewart, David Bowie, and Arianna Huffington select the actual Webby Awards winners, millions of people around the world will also help decide who takes home a Webby by voting in The Webby People's Voice Awards. Fans have until April 29 to vote at youtube.com/thewebbyawards. There are a number of categories, from public service and activism to video remixes and viral. Then, on June 14, we'll be teaming up with the Webbys once again to create a front-row experience on the Webbys' customized YouTube channel, which will contain the winners' five-word acceptance speeches, celebrity interviews and show highlights. Here's a sample from last year, an acceptance speech from Jimmy Fallon that elicited loud laughs: So what what are you waiting for? Vote for your favorites now at youtube.com/thewebbyawards. Deeksha Hebbar, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched "Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/0N-Cie9cMis/webby-peoples-voice-awards-on-youtube.html

[G] Brits search for a leader Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:59 PM PDT Official Google Blog: Brits search for a leader Today, leaders of the three largest British parties took part in the U.K's first live televised debate in the run up to the May 6 general election. Alastair Stewart of ITN hosted Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, Conservative Party leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as they discussed domestic affairs before a Manchester T.V. studio audience. Nick Clegg, his Liberal Democrat Party, and its manifesto generated many queries as people searched for Lib Dems and Liberal Democrat manifesto 2010. Searches for David Cameron and the Conservatives beat out the well-known incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour, but the two parties' manifestos generated about the same number of searches. Many Brits sought to watch the debate, searching for ITV election debate and live political debate, while others sought real-time polling information with queries such as debate polls, leaders debate poll and who is winning the debate. Gordon Brown told David Cameron, "I'm grateful, by the way, David, for you putting up these posters about me and about crime and about everything else. You know, there's no newspaper editor done as much for me in the last two years, because my face is smiling on these posters, and I'm very grateful to you and Lord Ashcroft for funding that", generating queries for Gordon Brown poster and Lord Ashcroft. David Cameron's statement, "We're going to get rid of some of these quangos" sent users scurrying to determine what a quango is. Nick Clegg's repeated railing against renewing the Trident missile and David Cameron's repeated railing against the jobs tax, a one percent increase in National Insurance contributions, were the other issues generating queries. Overwhelming these debate-related queries was the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano and the closure of British air space. During the three weeks, follow the run-up to the May 6 British general election by watching debate highlights on YouTube and searching web trends using Google Insights for Search. Posted by Jeffrey D. Oldham, Software Engineer URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/brits-search-for-leader.html

[G] Satellite imagery of Icelandic volcano ash plume Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:24 PM PDT Google LatLong: Satellite imagery of Icelandic volcano ash plume Today, the skies above my home in England are noticeably empty. The UK air traffic authorities and many others across Europe have closed the airspace due to safety fears from an enormous ash cloud originating from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland - around 1000 miles from London. No flights are allowed in or out and this will remain the case until at least Friday afternoon. Friends elsewhere around the world were asking me to describe what it was like, but conditions are relatively clear where I am so even I couldn't fully understand or explain the scope. Of course, I naturally turned to satellite imagery to get a better sense of the situation. The NASA MODIS Rapid Response system collected an image earlier this afternoon showing the eruption site sending a huge plume of ash up into the atmosphere towards Europe - and major airways used by thousands of aircraft each day. This image has been made available for download in Google Earth, which you can see by clicking on this KML file. Courtesy of NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response Our partners at GeoEye have also added high-resolution imagery from March 31st of the actual eruption site at Eyjafjallajoekull to the GeoEye Featured Imagery layer. To access it, open Google Earth, open the More category in the Layers panel, and turn on GeoEye Featured Imagery. Then search for Iceland, click on the GeoEye logo at the south end of the island, and then click "View Full Resolution Image in Google Earth" in the window that pops up: click to see full-size We're also closely following the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Qinghai, China and are currently working to acquire and publish imagery. We will share it on this blog as soon as it becomes available; in the meantime please visit our Crisis Response page for the earthquake. Posted by Phil Verney, Geo Data Specialist URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/04/satellite-imagery-of-icelandic-volcano.html

[G] The goats are baaaahk! Posted: 15 Apr 2010 04:50 PM PDT Official Google Blog: The goats are baaaahk! Last year, in our quest to minimize our carbon footprint (and keep people on their toes), we turned to an unlikely solution for mowing an overgrown field: goats. More than 200 goats from California Grazing have once again arrived at our Mountain View headquarters where they'll stay for over a week chomping away on grassy goodness. The cost of bringing in the goats is comparable to hiring lawn mowers for the same job and the green benefits are clear: the goats eliminate mower emissions, reduce noise pollution, restore plant species and fertilize while grazing. Don't worry, we're not going to be in the business of chèvre anytime soon, but in the meantime we're having a lot of fun watching our new colleagues. Posted by Dan Hoffman, Director of Real Estate and Workplace Services for NorCal, and Chief Goat Herder URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/goats-are-baaaahk.html

[G] Response to China Earthquake Posted: 15 Apr 2010 04:50 PM PDT Google Public Policy Blog: Response to China Earthquake (cross-posted from the Official Google.org blog) Yesterday, when a powerful earthquake struck the Qinghai province in Western China, Googlers within China and internationally mobilized to see how we could help with disaster response. We are working on several tools to help people on the ground find out more information about the earthquake, connect with loved ones, as well as help with recovery efforts. For those concerned about loved ones in Qinghai, the China Person Finder tool can be used to submit or search for information about individuals who may have been affected. The tool is available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English. We encourage organizations and media sites to embed the gadget on their sites and help spread the word. In addition, users can access earthquake information on Google News and Google Maps from a link on our homepages on google.com.hk, and google.com.tw. The site also includes links to real-time search information, which includes people's posts to Twitter and other sources. We will keep posting updates to the Google China blog as more information and tools become available. Please visit this page for updated resources. URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/04/response-to-china-earthquake.html

[G] Go Mobile! Series: iPad Device Targeting Now Available Posted: 15 Apr 2010 04:50 PM PDT Inside AdWords: Go Mobile! Series: iPad Device Targeting Now Available As we announced earlier this month, we've included the iPad in our list of mobile devices with full internet browsers, making it easy for you to run your campaigns on it. Now that we've finished our rigorous iPad testing, we feel confident adding the iPad to the list of mobile devices that you can target specifically. To do this, simply edit the "Devices" section in your Campaign Settings, and select the iPad under 'Advanced device and carrier options: (click for full size image) A few things to keep in mind: If your device settings are set for desktop and laptop computers only, your ads won't show on the iPad. If you're already targeting selected mobile devices (such as iPhone or Android), your ads won't show on the iPad. Make sure to select the iPad as well if you want to include it in your device-targeted campaign. Also, remember that you can promote your iPhone/iPad or Android apps directly by linking to the download URL in your ads. This way people can download your app straight from your ads. To make things easier, we'll handle the device targeting automatically when these ads show on mobile devices. We're excited to see the iPad and other innovative devices come to market and will continue to improve AdWords to help you reach and connect with your audience and your customers! Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/04/go-mobile-series-ipad-device-targeting.html

[G] The world just became smaller: driving directions in 111 new countries Posted: 15 Apr 2010 02:01 PM PDT Google LatLong: The world just became smaller: driving directions in 111 new countries Members of our Google Map Maker community have always told us that the biggest milestone after launching maps for their countries is adding driving directions. A few months ago we launched driving directions in 18 countries in Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific. We have now enabled directions in 111 new countries across the globe. So, whether you find yourself in Lima, Peru or visiting Iceland or driving from Johannesburg to Nairobi, you can now use Google Maps to find out how to get around. Driving directions on Google Maps are now available for: Algeria, American Samoa, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, Iran, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Reunion, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Do give it a try and tell us what you think on Map Your World Community. If you find something that is missing or not otherwise quite right, you can always map it at www.google.com/mapmaker. Posted by Vishwajith Krishnamurthy, Software Engineer; Zareer K'Maneck, Program Manager; and Manik Gupta, Product Manager URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/04/world-just-became-smaller-driving.html

[G] Drag and drop attachments onto messages Posted: 15 Apr 2010 02:01 PM PDT Official Gmail Blog: Drag and drop attachments onto messages Posted by Adam de Boor, Software Engineer I'm always looking for ways to save time. Suppose I want to attach some files to an email, and I already have a folder open containing those files. I used to have to click "Attach a file," find the photos, click them, etc. Starting today, if I'm using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox 3.6, I can just drag and drop the files to attach them — easy as pie. We'll enable this for other browsers as soon as they support this feature. For now, you can drag and drop attachments in Chrome and Firefox only. URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/drag-and-drop-attachments-onto-messages.html

[G] Create your AdSense account within your hosting control panel Posted: 15 Apr 2010 02:01 PM PDT Inside AdSense: Create your AdSense account within your hosting control panel Website owners who use Plesk, a commercial web hosting automation program, to manage their hosting and website services can now easily configure AdSense. As announced on the Google Blog, Parallels Plesk Panel now offers out-of-box integration with Google Services for Websites. If you use Plesk Panel to manage your website, you can now create a new AdSense account from Plesk to help monetize your website content. Also, your AdSense account is automatically associated with every Custom Search engine you configure, so that relevant ads are displayed above your search results. When users click on these ads, you earn revenue. If you already have an AdSense account, there's no need to create a new one - just configure your existing account within Plesk. Posted by Ryan Rennaker, Account Strategist - AdSense API URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/04/create-your-adsense-account-within-your.html

[G] A rebuilt, more real time Google documents Posted: 15 Apr 2010 02:01 PM PDT Official Google Docs Blog: A rebuilt, more real time Google documents It's been almost 4 years since we launched Google Docs. Back then people were excited about being able to access their documents from anywhere and edit those documents collaboratively online. But as Google documents became more mainstream, we started to hear more and more of you asking for features like margins, tabs, and floating images that were only available in desktop word processors. To make these features possible, we started working on a complete rewrite of Google documents over a year ago. This week we released a preview of that new document editor for anyone who wants to try it out. This version supports a brand new ruler, alignment features, per-paragraph line spacing and more. You'll also notice a huge improvement in the import quality when uploading and importing documents from desktop word processors into Google Docs. But we didn't want to just bring you traditional word processing features. We also wanted to extend collaboration capabilities in documents. We added a sidebar that lets you see who else is editing at the same time, and, if you click the sidebar, you can chat with collaborators right next to the document. And when other editors type, you can now see their edits as they happen character-by-character. You'll notice that some features, like drawings, the web clipboard, and table of contents, aren't in the new editor yet. We'll be adding them really soon, before we turn on the new editor for everyone. Other features like offline will take longer to get working again but are a high priority. If you want to try out the new editor, visit the Editing tab in the Google docs list settings. Check the box next next to "New version of Google documents," and all new and uploaded documents will be created in the new editor. For now, old documents will remain in the old editor. Let us know what you think in the forums. Posted by: Olga Belomestnykh, Software Engineer URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/04/rebuilt-more-real-time-google-documents.html

[G] Insert a calendar invitation Posted: 15 Apr 2010 10:36 AM PDT Official Gmail Blog: Insert a calendar invitation Posted by Oana Florescu, Software Engineer Since my friends share their schedules with me in Google Calendar, when I want to see a movie with them, I can check to see which nights they're free before sending out an email about it. However, I need to switch between Gmail and Calendar in order to check their availability and send an email invitation. Today, we're launching a new feature that brings tighter integration between Gmail and Calendar, making it easier to create Calendar events from within Gmail. When you compose an email message, there's now an "Insert: Invitation" link right under the subject line. When you click it, a small window appears that displays your availability as well as that of the people you're emailing provided you have permission to see their calendars. You can check your friends' availability and choose an appropriate time for the event you're setting up right from there. When you've settled on the details of the event, click the "Insert Invitation" button and a preview of the invitation will appear in your email message: When you send the email, the event gets added to your calendar as well as to your friends' calendars. URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/insert-calendar-invitation.html

[G] Google services now available at your hosting control panel Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:49 AM PDT Official Google Blog: Google services now available at your hosting control panel Last year, we announced the program that enabled hosting companies to integrate Google services into their platforms for easy access to their customers. Several hosting companies have adopted the program since then, and thousands of websites have benefited from configuring services like AdSense, Custom Search and Webmaster Tools. Today, we've taken an additional step to improve access to these tools. Parallels, a leading provider of control panel software for hosting companies, has integrated Google Services for Websites into Parallels Plesk Panel, used by millions of website owners globally to manage their sites. Any hosting provider using Plesk 9.5 can now enable Google Services for Websites for their customers. Website owners generate more traffic to their websites by optimizing them using Webmaster Tools. They can engage their users with inline Web Elements, including maps, news, videos and conversations. Custom Search and Site Search provide Google-quality search on their websites for better user retention. AdSense helps website owners monetize their sites with relevant advertising. And besides providing these valuable services to millions of customers, hosting companies can also generate additional revenues through referral programs. More information is on the Google Services for Websites page. If you are a hoster using Plesk, please contact Parallels for more information. Posted by Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Search URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/google-services-now-available-at-your.html

[G] The 2010 tax season story, as told by Google search Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:49 AM PDT Official Google Blog: The 2010 tax season story, as told by Google search Today, April 15, is the due date for federal tax returns in the U.S. Now that everyone's submitted their taxes in on time (we hope!) we wanted to take a look back at the last few months and tell the story of this year's tax season through Google search. Spoiler alert — we're starting our tax season search story at the end. As the filing deadline has approached over the last few days and weeks, we've seen a flurry of search interest about taxes and tax related topics. Compared to search volume from the final week of the 2009 tax season, we've seen significant increases in searches for terms like [file taxes] and [tax filing extension]. As of late last week, searches for [file taxes] had increased by 16% from last year. This spike in search interest leading up to April 15 prolongs a pattern of search trends that we've seen for the last several years; from 2006 to 2009, searches for [file taxes] rose an average of more than 51% between April 8 and April 15. Perhaps less expected than this final peak is the sizable spike in search volume that we see several months before April 15, around the time that W-2 forms become available. This occurs in early February and, as you can see below, there's a noticeable increase in searches such as [get W2 form] that are related to the beginning of the tax-filing. In general, tax season search trends look pretty similar each year, but if we dive deeper, there are lots of mini-trends to explore, often triggered by unforeseen and/or unique world events. For example, we saw a flurry of search interest following the passage of the healthcare reform bill in March. The sharp increase in searches for terms like [taxes healthcare] and [healthcare tax increase] likely reflected curiosity about the implications of the new law on tax filings. We saw a similar trend following the tragic earthquake in Haiti. The outpouring of support for victims in Haiti generated increased interest in the details of charitable donations as they related to taxes; searches queries like [haiti donation tax] were noticeably high in January. Unfortunately, the implications of heightened unemployment levels were also top of mind this year, and we saw an interest in the effects of joblessness on tax payments and tax filing. Queries like [unemployed taxes] and [unemployment tax refund] were noticeably elevated compared to 2009 search volume, in particular around the season's first spike. Hopefully, we've shed some light on what your fellow taxpayers were interested in over the course of tax season and, via search trends, provided a sense of the different types of events that might affect taxes and tax filing. Until next year! Posted by Jon Kaplan, Director, Financial Services URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/2010-tax-season-story-as-told-by-google.html

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