Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Folder and tag renaming

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 05:27 PM PDT

Official Google Reader Blog: Folder and tag renaming

Post by Wiktor Gworek, 20% task force (Krakow, Poland)



Last year we announced that we wanted to hear your wish list for features in Google Reader, and one of most highly requested features was the ability to rename folders and tags. Today we are rolling out this feature with a little bit of Polish help from Krakow.



You can rename folders and tags on the settings page:




Renaming on the settings page



And you can also edit these names right from the contextual menu in your subscription list.




Renaming from contextual menu



Also, as we announced last week, today we've disabled offline access through Gears, and phased out support for older browsers.



As always, if you have any questions or comments, please head over to our help forums, or send us a message on Twitter.

URL: http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2010/06/folder-and-tag-renaming.html

[G] AdSense Facts & Fiction Part I: Placement targeting

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 03:15 PM PDT

Inside AdSense: AdSense Facts & Fiction Part I: Placement targeting

Fiction: Targetable placements are difficult to set up and don't do anything for my site

Fact: It only takes seconds to convert your custom channels into targetable placements. This simple change can help increase your visibility to advertisers, and boost your revenue.

Advertisers already take advantage of contextual targeting to have their ads appear next to your content. They also have the option to selectively target sites they know are relevant to their ads -- when you've created targetable placements, advertisers can dig even deeper and find the most relevant sections of your site to place their ads.

If you're not familiar with channels, check out our Help Center for steps on how to change your custom channels into targetable placements.

When writing the description of your channel, keep in mind things an advertiser might like to know. For example:
  • What kind of content does this channel reflect?
  • Is the channel on a specific section of your site (e.g. a forum section, blog section, etc.)?
  • Are your ads above-the-fold (ATF)? In other words, can a user see them without needing to scroll down the page?
  • Who is your target audience (gender, interests, income level, etc)?
Your description may resemble something along the lines of: "This is a 300x250 ATF ad unit on the football section of a sports blog. My audience is 75% male, age 18-35, earning between $50,000-$80,000 per year."

To see the impact that placement targeting has on your site, check out this YouTube video on generating reports that break out your contextual and placement targeted revenue.

You can further increase your visibility to advertisers by taking full advantage of DoubleClick AdPlanner, a media planning tool that allowed advertisers to find their audiences across the web. Take a look at our earlier blog post to find out more.

With these small changes, you make it easier for advertisers to find your site, increase your placement targeting potential, and open the door to generating more revenue.

Posted by Rishan Mohamed - Inside AdSense team
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/06/adsense-facts-fiction-part-i-placement.html

[G] Google Affiliate Network Releases New "Browse Links"

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 02:39 PM PDT

Google Affiliate Network: Google Affiliate Network Releases New "Browse Links"

We are pleased to announce the release of a new links interface for Google Affiliate Network publishers. With the new "Browse Links" update publishers can view all available links for current relationships, quickly find high-potential ads and join new advertiser programs.


We've added advanced filter options like expiration date, promotional and creative specs, as well as advertiser Earnings per Click performance data alongside the links for your reference. Publishers will also see a dramatic improvement in the creative preview features and. in addition to accessing the links live, can export links as .csv or .txt files.


All publishers have access to the beta but still can access the legacy links interface and toggle back and forth if needed (although we don't think you'll want to!). We will continue to iterate on the beta and we invite you to provide your feedback in our Help Forum.

On behalf of the Google Affiliate Network team.

posted by
Sheila Parker
Product Manager
URL: http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/google-affiliate-network-releases-new.html

[G] Open sourcing Thoughtsite - A discussion forum designed for Google App Engine

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 01:08 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Open sourcing Thoughtsite - A discussion forum designed for Google App Engine

Google App Engine is a powerful system, designed to take all the pain of infrastructure management and performance scaling out of web application programming. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow.

While there are a lot of open source projects available to learn how to use App Engine, there have been few open sourced, comprehensive web applications built on App Engine to help you learn how best to use the advanced features that App Engine provides.

Enter... Thoughtsite!
Thoughtsite is a discussions/forum web app designed for Google App Engine. The main features of the app are:
  • a flexible system that could be used for any kind of discussion forum.
  • voting, tagging, comments and a reputation point system for users.
  • full text search on App Engine with Apache Lucene.
  • search for threads by tags or by keywords. Threads can also be linked to from user profiles.
  • users gain reputation points based on community votes for their contributions.
  • full-fledged user profiles with info, points, contributions, user's personal tag cloud, etc.
  • basic duplication detection filters to detect similar threads so posters can avoid creating a new thread if one already exists.
  • basic spam and gaming filters (self-voting, cross-voting, etc.).
  • comprehensive admin section that allows moderation of individual posts and users. Users can flag objectionable content or trolls.
Best of all, Thoughtsite is completely open source using an Apache 2 license and the code is available for download.

We hope you download the source, take it apart and play with it. Thoughtsite will work as a complete app if you want to use it to host a discussion forum on your own domain, but its real value is in taking it apart to understand how it uses App Engine under the hood.

By Swapneel Kshetramade, Developer Relations Team
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/05/open-sourcing-thoughtsite-discussion.html

[G] Florida modernizes campaign laws to reflect new technology

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 01:04 PM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Florida modernizes campaign laws to reflect new technology

Posted by John Burchett, Public Policy Director of US State and Local, Latin America and Canada

The Florida laws governing political advertising were first written in 1951. Back then phones looked like this and the Internet hadn't even been invented.

Last week Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill into law that helps bring Florida election law into the Internet age. The bill includes a provision, authored by Representative Eric Eisnaugle (R-Orlando) and Senator Victor Crist (R-Tampa), that will make it possible for candidates to make full use of online advertising, social networking, and text messages in campaigns.

The use of those tools to reach potential voters has been in question ever since a complaint was filed last year against a St. Petersburg mayoral candidate who had placed advertisements on Google that did not contain the disclaimer required under the prior Florida law. The problem was that the disclaimers just didn't fit on short Internet search ads.

The new law strikes a good balance, respecting both the medium and need for transparency. As long as the message is no longer than 200 characters and links to a website that clearly discloses who is running the ad or sending the message, the actual message does not need to contain a disclaimer. The new law also provides safe harbors on disclaimer requirements for candidates using text messaging, social networking sites, downloadable apps, blogs and message board postings.

It's a good common sense approach to lawmaking and puts Florida ahead of the pack when it comes to modernizing laws that were written when a tweet was just a sound a bird made.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/06/florida-modernizes-campaign-laws-to.html

[G] Celebrating Internet Safety Month

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 11:58 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Celebrating Internet Safety Month

Millions of people view, upload, share, and comment on YouTube videos every day. The vast majority of these people have good intentions, but as with any community, a few don't. This month, we're celebrating the 3rd Annual Internet Safety Month by spotlighting videos that educate families on how to stay safe online. From making smart decisions about posting personal information, to dealing with rude comments and cyberbullies, these straightforward tips will enable you to have the best possible experience on YouTube and across the Web. Be sure to check them out and also take a moment to brush up on some of the tools YouTube offers to help you stay safe on our site:

  • Community Guidelines: This is our description of what is and isn't allowed on the site. You should read these Guidelines before you post content, or if you see something that you think maybe shouldn't be on YouTube.

  • Flagging: If you see something that you think violates our Community Guidelines, flag it! The flag icon is located below the video player. When flagging a video be sure to let us know which of our policies you think the video violates and we'll review it.

  • Safety Mode: A setting that you can opt in to that will filter out content that may be inappropriate for sensitive users and teens. This setting reduces your chances of stumbling across content that you may not want to see. 

  • Unlisted Videos: These videos don't appear in search results and only people who have the video's link can view them. Unlike private sharing, there's no limit to the number of people who can view unlisted videos.

  • Help & Safety Tool: A tool that allows you to report privacy violations, block users and report harassment and bullying anonymously.

The more our community treats each other with respect, keeps personal information private, and reports inappropriate content, the better the YouTube community experience as a whole will be. Please do your part!



Mandy Albanese, YouTube policy & communications, recently watched "Digital Citizenshop - Who Will You Be?"


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/Owo4M0iPjBY/celebrating-internet-safety-month.html

[G] Introducing the Go Google cloud calculator

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 10:44 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Introducing the Go Google cloud calculator

People often ask us what it really means to go Google – how it will impact their business and productivity? What are the actual savings? To answer some of those questions, we've built a little tool we're calling the Go Google cloud calculator that lets you explore your potential savings in an easy-to-understand way.

Once you find out your results, the tool can also create a custom URL, presentation PDF, spreadsheet or even a poster that you can share with other decision makers within your business as you discuss going Google.

Find out more in today's Official Google Blog post, and check out the cloud calculator at www.gonegoogle.com.

Posted by Vivian Leung, the Google Apps team
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-go-google-cloud-calculator.html

[G] Take a test drive into the cloud

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 09:28 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Take a test drive into the cloud

We've talked about the power of cloud computing and how millions of businesses have already gone Google by switching to Apps. But sometimes it's hard to imagine what working in the cloud would really mean, and frequently, people ask us how they can better understand the benefits of Google Apps specifically for their business. How would online collaboration really affect your workplace? And how could increased email storage or integrated IM and video chat actually impact your company's productivity?

To answer some of these questions, we've created the Go Google cloud calculator to let you take a test drive into the cloud. Whether your company is big or small, brand new or been around for a while, this tool will give you a sense of the benefits of going Google in an easy-to-understand way. Here's a quick demo:



Once you take a spin and learn about the potential cost and time savings, the tool will create a custom URL, presentation PDF, spreadsheet or even a poster that you can share with other decision makers within your business as you discuss going Google.

To show you a real-life example, we asked one our customers, Smart Furniture (you may remember them from their recent guest post), to test-drive the tool for us. And here's their poster:


So if you've been thinking about moving your business to the cloud, take a couple minutes and see what it would be like to go Google. Be sure to tweet and share your results. The Go Google cloud calculator can be found at www.gonegoogle.com.

Posted by Vivian Leung, Google Enterprise team
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/take-test-drive-into-cloud.html
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