Thursday, June 10, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] The art of a homepage

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 09:56 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: The art of a homepage

Last week, we announced a new feature that lets you add a favorite photo or image to the background of your Google.com homepage.

To provide you with an extra bit of inspiration, we've collaborated with several well-known artists, sculptors and photographers to create a gallery of background images you can use to personalize your Google homepage. Included in the collection are photographs of the works of Dale Chihuly, Jeff Koons, Tom Otterness, Polly Apfelbaum, Kengo Kuma (隈研吾), Kwon, Ki-soo (권기수) and Tord Boontje, as well as some incredible photos from Yann Arthus-Bertrand and National Geographic. We'll be featuring these images as backgrounds on the Google homepage over the next 24 hours.

Of course, since we want your Google homepage to be personal to you, you can still choose an image or photo from your computer or your own Picasa Web Album. Whether you select an image from our new artist collection or prefer to have a more personal touch on your homepage, you'll still enjoy the speed and ease of use that you've come to expect from Google.

Niijima Floats, Dale Chihuly

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, GoodPlanet Foundation

We're also excited to announce that this feature is now available internationally. We hope you enjoy the new artist collection and making Google feel more like your own!

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/art-of-homepage.html

[G] AdWords system maintenance on June 12th

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 06:42 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: AdWords system maintenance on June 12th

On Saturday, June 12th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT due to our regularly scheduled system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month during the above times. We'll continue to update you here as we always have, but you may want to take note of our intended dates and times to help you plan for any scheduled downtimes further down the road.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/adwords-system-maintenance-on-june-12th.html

[G] Working with AdWords Conversion Products

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 05:28 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Working with AdWords Conversion Products

Hot on the heels of the launch of the new and improved AdWords reports in Google Analytics, we wanted to let you know about a few upcoming events which will help you take better advantage of conversion tools in AdWords.

Tomorrow, July 10, 9am PDT / 12pm EDT: attend a free one hour webinar on AdWords Conversion Products, including Conversion Tracking, Conversion Optimizer and Search Funnels. We'll do an overview of each feature, and do a walkthrough of the new Search Funnels reports. Read more about is on the AdWords blog post, and register here. We'll also go over importing Analytics goals into AdWords.

And then, jump into Summer with a fun and beneficial contest: the Conversion Champion Challenge! Implement AdWords Conversion Tracking (which you also can do by importing Google Analytics goals into AdWords) and then use Conversion Optimizer and/or Search Funnels and let us know how they're working for you, and you might win a trip to Google HQ, including a flight, hotel stay, lunch at Google, and an optimization, a blog post about your story on the AdWords blog, and also that summer beach body you've always wanted.

OK, maybe that last one is all you, but at least your conversion rates will look fantastic!

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/06/working-with-adwords-conversion.html

[G] Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 03:25 PM PDT

Google LatLong: Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

[Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog]

There's nothing quite like driving through Europe in the summer. In the past week, I've seen the beautiful Val d'Aosta, the Swiss Alps, the Cathedral in Chartres, and travelled through the Channel Tunnel as I road-tripped from Milan to Geneva, Zürich to Stuttgart, and on through Paris to London. Why the burst of mileage? Well, I've been testing Google Maps Navigationversion 4.2. Yes, road-testing it around Europe was a grueling process, but somebody had to do it :)

Today we're launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or 'satnav' system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.


On my test trip, I found a number of Navigation features useful:
  • While driving through the Loire Valley, I put my French language skills to the test by finding my destination with Search by voice (now launched in French, German, Italian, and Spanish for Android 2.0 and higher);
  • I previewed a typical British roundabout with Street View to see exactly where I'd need to exit before getting there in person;
  • I satisfied my craving for moules frites by searching for it along my route;
  • I kept the gas stations layer on to ensure I'd always know where the nearest petrol station was, just in case;
  • And, of course, the turn-by-turn voice guidance kept me on-track to my destination -- despite my sometimes spotty connection in mountain tunnels -- thanks to the way Maps Navigation saves the route on your device when you start.
Google Maps Navigation (beta) with Search by voice is available in version 4.2 of Google Maps, on Android devices 1.6 and higher. To download Google Maps version 4.2, search for Google Maps in Android Market.

Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today -- and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!

Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/06/fun-on-autobahn-google-maps-navigation.html

[G] Seeing new sights with photo overlays

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 02:13 PM PDT

Google LatLong: Seeing new sights with photo overlays


Sometimes you want to explore a place for yourself, and sometimes you want to get a sense of how other people experience it. With our newest update to User Photos available within Street View, you can seamlessly do both. Now when you're browsing a location in Street View, you can see user-contributed photographs directly overlaid within the panorama.


The new feature places thumbnails of relevant photos on top of the Street View imagery when you click the "Photos" option at the top right of the panorama. When you move your mouse cursor over one of these thumbnails, a photo appears which matches the content of the panoramic view. Using the overlays you can quickly preview several photos without changing your viewpoint or losing track of where you were. And if you click on the photo, you enter our interactive photo browser to explore additional pictures taken by the community.

It is now even easier to inspect architectural details and close-up quirks, or see what is happening at a place at more than one time of the day. Start to explore this new world through the eyes of other travelers with some of these locations:

See how Bundesplatz in Bern comes alive during the summer

Explore Ponte Vecchio in Florence from a new perspective

See the sun rise over Notre Dame

Posted by Daniel Cotting, Computer Vision Team, Google Zurich
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/06/seeing-new-sights-with-photo-overlays.html

[G] WWDC 2010 Journal, Day 2

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 11:34 AM PDT

Official Google Mac Blog: WWDC 2010 Journal, Day 2

By Mike Morton, Google Mac Team

Google engineer Mike Morton somehow finds time to blog from Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco while also learning, socializing, eating, and occasionally sleeping. Read today's entry for more.

Day 2 had barely begun, and I felt like I'd been here a week. The constant time-juggling is a challenge: attend a session, ask questions in a lab, eat, sleep, work, schmooze? Before heading to Moscone West, I chatted in the hotel lobby with other attendees about the time challenge. One first-timer told me his friends simply suggested he get to as many parties as possible.

I spotted an attendee wearing a "hi, i make macintosh software" t-shirt. I noticed later that "macintosh" is an anagram of "Hm, iOS can't".

Breakfast at Moscone featured uninspiring food, but inspiring conversation. A friend and I sat at a table with four folks we didn't know, all with different interests. One was a grad student, doing systems for kids with various disabilities. He asked the accessories engineer if one could build a simple device with just two buttons, for simple apps for his students with motor coordination problems. The accessories guy reached into a bag: "Like this one?". He showed us Pong running on his iPhone, using the extra hardware to control it!



Last year, the show had a huge display of app icons, each one jiggling each time it was downloaded. This year's display was different: app icons fell from the top like meteors, one for each download. Popular apps showed their icons over and over. That made it a lot easier to find Google Earth, which I never did spot last year — and Google Mobile seems to be "selling" like hotcakes.



The wifi and cell networks continue to struggle with the load, sometimes failing but usually somewhat usable. Apple staffers did better under load, staying quite pleasant. Some have boring jobs like using a clicker to count attendees entering each session, but they still manage to stay cheerful. I teased one clicker dude: "Don't you have an app to do that?" He replied he did have a phone app, but that the cheap clicker was easier to use. Low tech sometimes wins.

The Apple Design Awards were noticeably different this year. They didn't list nominees, but instead just announced each winner. That takes some of the fun out of it, in my humble opinion. More significantly, all the awards were for iPhone or iPad apps — nothing for Mac OS X at all. A bunch of hardworking iPhone developers took home beautiful cubes with a glowing Apple logo and a bunch of hardware, and had their conference costs reimbursed.

As in past years, John Geleynse from Apple demoed each app. This is fun because some apps involve musical skill, artistic ability, game-playing reflexes, and so on. He did pretty well, but joked that the awards committee might be picking apps that he'll find challenging. And, as in past years, I feel like I should try each of the winning apps, even though there are so many apps, so little time. Perhaps Apple could offer a package deal on the App Store: all the winning apps together, at a discount?

I'm sure the annual Stump The Experts was great [Editor's note: yeah, it was!], but the combined siren song of email backlog and sleep backlog was too great.
URL: http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2010/06/wwdc-2010-journal-day-2.html

[G] Map Makers respond to the Pakistan landslides

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 11:20 AM PDT

Google LatLong: Map Makers respond to the Pakistan landslides


In January 2010, a series of landslides hit Atta Abad, in the Gilgit-Baltistan semi-autonomous region of Pakistan, causing loss of lives and blocking the Hunza River. Since then, the region and its 500 000 people are under continual threat from the rising height of the lake formed due to the landslide. Lake waters have already displaced about 20,000 residents with some villages completely submerged while downstream communities are at risk from flood waves.

This event took the work of Omer Sheikh and Jabran Rafique -- dedicated individuals, exceptional Google Map Maker users & advocates -- to another level.

Omer currently lives in Lahore while Jabran resides in London -- they live thousands of kilometers apart but have equals commitment to map their country and assist their people as they cope with this disaster situation.

"From the onset of the disaster, the international community seemed to be hardly aware of the situation. Worst...I was unable to locate on a map where Atta Abad was! As a mapper, my first appeal went out to the Google Map Maker team, and Google Maps Pakistan," recalled Omer.

Together, Jabran and Omer created this website -- http://www.local.com.pk/hunza/ that uses the Map Maker API -- for raising awareness about the importance of this emergency and making disaster data more accessible and useful. The publishing of post-disaster imagery, made available by Google, is also allowing Map Maker users to provide unique mapping contributions (i.e. shelters, health centers, flood prone areas etc.), all to be brought online in near-realtime. The website is now recognized as a primary source of information for the Hunza disaster, and as such is being listed on the UN-Spider knowledge portal.

Jabran describes their mapping process: "The gap in information available to the public was obvious. After getting the latest imagery, we started mapping the area. We used Map Maker as our baseline data and started adding other feature of interested such as locations of towns, the extent of the lake, submerged bridges & highway sections."


When asked about his motivations for becoming so involved in this effort, Omer explains: "We hope that our effort to make reliable information more widely available will help disaster relief managers and decision makers save lives and prevent more damage to the fragile economy of this remote region. In contributing to Map Maker, my desire is to establish a basic framework around which we can document, understand and bring transparency to the events taking place around me. We, as a mapping community, need to better demonstrate the benefits of online collaboration and the utility of tools such as Map Maker for rapid dissemination of information."

This is the journey of two mappers who have used the Map Maker community as a basis to connect the ideas & skills of dedicated individuals -- for the better good of their own community. To contribute to the Hunza Landslide Relief Support please visit this website.

Posted by France Lamy, Google.org

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/06/map-makers-respond-to-pakistan.html

[G] Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group poised for launch

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 08:05 AM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group poised for launch

Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel
For some time now, we've been advocating for the formation of a group of technical experts to put forward their best thinking on how to manage broadband networks in ways that still preserve and promote an open Internet. We've worked closely with Verizon and others in the Internet sector to further develop the concept, and we're excited by today's announcement that the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group , or BITAG, has begun the process of formally launching.

To be clear, the BITAG is still very much a work in progress, and we welcome the involvement of other interested entities, especially those representing the Internet user community. Further, the purpose of the BITAG is not to replace the oversight and enforcement authority of the FCC or any other government body. Rather, we hope the BITAG can bring together some of the smartest technical minds in this space to provide some useful guidance to policymakers and Internet stakeholders alike.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/06/broadband-internet-technical-advisory.html
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