Googland |
- [G] The most World Cup-crazy countries
- [G] Will Using Google Analytics Have A Negative Effect On My Ranking?
- [G] Imagery Update - Week of July 12
- [G] Tailored and Effective “Third Way”
- [G] Our op-ed: Regulating what is “best” in search?
- [G] Google News changes reflect your feedback
- [G] Google PhD Fellowships go international
- [G] Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise
- [G] Use Chrome like a pro
- [G] Our 2010 EMEA CS4HS Awardees
- [G] Google PhD Fellowships go international
- [G] Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise
| [G] The most World Cup-crazy countries Posted: 16 Jul 2010 01:26 AM PDT Official Google Blog: The most World Cup-crazy countriesLast weekend, Spain won the 2010 World Cup. For the month leading up to the final, Googlers joined the world in cheering for their favorite teams. Around our campus, games were watched on computer screens and on cafe video screens. Code went unwritten. Emails went unanswered.Throughout the world, real life also slowed during World Cup matches. Which teams had the most loyal fans? Which game captured the attention of world the most? To answer these questions, we looked at counts of queries using Google. People search using Google day and night—except for football fans when a game is on. These graphs show the volume of Google queries for some of the World Cup matches:  On June 15, as Brazil played its first game against North Korea, the volume of queries from Brazil, shown using a red line, plummeted when the match began, spiked during halftime, fell again and then quickly rose after the match finished.  Queries from Spain during its June 25 game against Chile also decreased during the game, except during halftime. After some post-game querying, Spaniards went to sleep and queries dropped again. To measure which country has the most loyal fans, we computed the proportional drop in queries during each of its team's matches compared with normal query volume. Brazil topped the charts with queries from that country dropping by half during its football games. Football powerhouse and third-place winner Germany came in second, followed by the Netherlands and South Korea.  In fourth place, South Koreans were remarkably loyal even though some games began at 3:30am Seoul time. Japan, Australia and New Zealand, also affected by time-zone differences, expressed much less interest. A few countries searched more, not less. But only Honduras and North Korea increased significantly. During the knockout rounds, each match's losing team is eliminated from the tournament. As fewer and fewer teams remain, we expected increased worldwide interest in each remaining game. Unsurprisingly, worldwide queries slowed the most during the final game between the Netherlands and Spain, but the round-of-16 Germany v. England game had the second largest query decrease. Semi-finals and quarter-finals were all popular except for semi-final Uruguay v. Netherlands, during which queries actually increased.  In Latin American countries, search volume dropped more steeply leading into and out of matches while, in Europe, searches ramped down and up more gradually. Of course, for games that went into extra time and penalty shootouts the drops deepened the longer the match went on, including Paraguay v. Japan, Netherlands v. Spain, and Uruguay v. Ghana as seen here:  Finally, no blog post about the World Cup would be complete without a look at what did drive people to search—after the final match, of course. Although he won neither the Golden Boot (for the most World Cup goals) nor the Golden Ball (for best player) last weekend, Spain's David Villa is winning in search compared to the recipients of those two honors—Germany's Thomas Müller and Uruguay's Diego Forlán—and Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder. All of these men competed for the Golden Boot with five goals apiece. Similar to when Carlos Puyol headed in the single goal that put Spain in the final, people flocked to the web to search for information on Andres Iniesta, the "quiet man" who scored the one goal that led his country to its first World Cup championships. They were also interested in Dani Jarque, a Spanish footballer who died last fall and whose name was emblazoned on Iniesta's undershirt, which he displayed after his goal. And after the match, searches for keeper Iker Casillas skyrocketed to a higher peak than any other popular footballer—including household names like Ronaldo, Villa and Messi—reached during the Cup. Sometimes, it seems, goalies get the last word. We hope you enjoyed our series of posts on World Cup search trends and we'll see you in Brazil in 2014! Posted by Jeffrey D. Oldham, Software Engineer and Robert Snedegar, Technical Solutions Engineer  URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/most-world-cup-crazy-countries.html       |
| [G] Will Using Google Analytics Have A Negative Effect On My Ranking? Posted: 16 Jul 2010 12:30 AM PDT Google Analytics Blog: Will Using Google Analytics Have A Negative Effect On My Ranking?Good news from the horse's mouth. We don't mean to call Matt Cutts a horse, but, well, if you know him, you know what we mean. Matt heads the webspam team here at Google and also speaks on behalf of Google answering questions about ranking and results on Google's search engine. When people have questions about things Google-search-related, Matt is the one who answers.He posts regular video blogs to the Google Webmaster Help channel answering your questions. So we were very pleased when he recently answered the question, "Will using Google Analytics have a negative effect on my ranking?" In short, the answer is no, especially now that we've launched the asynch tracking code . Take a look at the short video: Thanks Matt! Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team  URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/07/will-using-google-analytics-have.html   |
| [G] Imagery Update - Week of July 12 Posted: 16 Jul 2010 12:28 AM PDT Google LatLong: Imagery Update - Week of July 12Hot off the heals of early July's imagery update, we've got another batch of new images ready for people to dive into this summer. Have fun exploring the world from Queens, NY to the Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Egypt.  Queens, New York  Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Egypt High Resolution Aerial Updates: USA: Salt Lake City, Fort Worth, Abilene, Cleveland, New Jersey, and the New York boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx New Zealand: Otaki Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates: Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Norway, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, The Philippines, and Australia Countries receiving Medium Resolution Satellite Updates: Brazil, Sweden, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Tajikistan, and Laos For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth. Posted by Matt Manolides, Senior Geo Data Strategist  URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/07/imagery-update-week-of-july-12.html   |
| [G] Tailored and Effective “Third Way” Posted: 15 Jul 2010 10:38 PM PDT Google Public Policy Blog: Tailored and Effective "Third Way"Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media CounselToday we submitted comments supporting the FCC's proposed Third Way. In a letter to the agency two months ago, Google along with other technology companies expressed the view that the Third Way framework "will create a legally sound, light-touch regulatory framework that benefits consumers, technology companies and broadband Internet access providers." We still believe this is a true statement. The recent Comcast decision re-opened some fundamental questions about the FCC's jurisdiction over broadband Internet services. On balance the Third Way framework -- which would apply only in a limited manner to only the transmission component of broadband Internet service -- presents a predictable, effective, and tailored approach.  URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/07/tailored-and-effective-third-way.html   |
| [G] Our op-ed: Regulating what is “best” in search? Posted: 15 Jul 2010 10:38 PM PDT Google Public Policy Blog: Our op-ed: Regulating what is "best" in search?Posted by Adam Kovacevich, Senior Manager, Public Policy CommunicationsGoogle's Marissa Mayer wrote in the Financial Times today about the impact for consumers of governments potentially regulating search results. Because the article is behind the FT's paywall, we thought we'd share the complete text here (also, check out search analyst Danny Sullivan's take on this issue). Do not neutralise the web's endless search By Marissa Mayer Published: July 14 2010 Think about the word "jaguar" – what comes to mind? The animal? The car? A sports team? Now ask yourself: what is the best piece of literature ever written about jaguars? What about the best piece of literature ever written containing the word jaguar? How do you define what is best? What characteristics and attributes should be taken into account? Which should not? There is a debate brewing, reported in the Financial Times this week, about whether standards are needed to ensure fairness – or what is "best" – in internet search results. Search engines use algorithms and equations to produce order and organisation online where manual effort cannot. These algorithms embody rules that decide which information is "best", and how to measure it. Clearly defining which of any product or service is best is subjective. Yet in our view, the notion of "search neutrality" threatens innovation, competition and, fundamentally,your ability as a user to improve how you find information. When Google was launched in 1998, its fundamental innovation was the PageRank algorithm. It was a new and helpful tool in helping users decide which was the best information available – and one of many hundreds that have since been deployed by search engines to improve the ranking and relevance of their results. Yet searching the web has never been more complex. Type "World Cup" into Google today and you will see millions of returns, ranging from recent news articles to images of players. Often the answer is not a web page: sports scores, news, pictures and tweets about matches are included. Such results stem from an upgrade in Google's technology launched in 2007, which made it possible to include media such as maps, books, or videos on a results page. Our goal is to provide our users with the best and most effective answer. Consider the search "how to tie a bowtie". Answers to these types of searches benefit from the inclusion of different media (diagrams, videos), sometimes from a Google service (books, maps). To make matters more difficult, a quarter of all daily searches on Google have never been seen before. Each presents a new challenge, so our engineers need constantly to improve and update our algorithms. On average, we make one or two changes every day. But even then they sometimes require a more hands-on approach. For example, we occasionally have to flag malicious programmes manually, removing links to child pornography or spam sites. The world of search has developed a system in which each search engine uses different algorithms, and with many search engines to choose from users elect to use the engine whose algorithm approximates to their personal notion of what is best for the task at hand. The proponents of "search neutrality" want to put an end to this system, introducing a new set of rules in which governments would regulate search results to ensure they are fair or neutral. Here the practical challenges would be formidable. What is fair in terms of ordering? An alphabetical listing? Equally, new results will need to be incorporated – new web pages, but also new media types such as tweets or audio streams. Without competition and experimentation between companies, how could the rules keep up? There is no doubt that this will stifle the advance of the science around search engines. Abuse would be a further problem. If search engines were forced to disclose their algorithms and not just the signals they use, or, worse, if they had to use a standardised algorithm, spammers would certainly use that knowledge to game the system, making the results suspect. But the strongest arguments against rules for "neutral search" is that they would make the ranking of results on each search engine similar, creating a strong disincentive for each company to find new, innovative ways to seek out the best answers on an increasingly complex web. What if a better answer for your search, say, on the World Cup or "jaguar" were to appear on the web tomorrow? Also, what if a new technology were to be developed as powerful as PageRank that transforms the way search engines work? Neutrality forcing standardised results removes the potential for innovation and turns search into a commodity. We know that Google plays an important role in accessing information. We also welcome scrutiny and want to ensure everyone understands how we work. Yet we believe the best answer for a particular search changes constantly. It changes because the web changes, because users' expectations and tastes evolve and because the media never stay still. Yet proponents of search neutrality are effectively saying that they know what is "best" for you. We think consumers should be able to decide for themselves – with an array of internet search engines to choose from, each providing their very best. The writer is vice-president of search product and user experience at Google.  URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-op-ed-regulating-what-is-best-in.html   |
| [G] Google News changes reflect your feedback Posted: 15 Jul 2010 09:59 PM PDT Google News Blog: Google News changes reflect your feedbackPosted by Chris Beckmann, Product ManagerTwo weeks ago we gave the Google News homepage a new look and feel with enhanced customization, discovery and sharing. This redesign was our biggest since Google News launched in beta in 2002. Some of you told us that you really liked it, especially how the "News for you" section lets you see a stream of articles tailored to the interests you specify. The positive usage data we saw during our months-long tests of the redesign has continued since we introduced it to all users of the U.S. English edition, and hundreds of thousands of you have already customized your Google News homepages. But some of you wrote in to say you missed certain aspects of the previous design, such as the ability to see results grouped by section (U.S., Business, etc.) in two columns. At Google, we're all about launching and iterating, so we've been making improvements to the design in response to your feedback. For example, we're now showing the entire cluster of articles for each story, rather than expanding the cluster when you hover your mouse over it. We've given you the ability to hide the weather forecast from your local news section. We made the option to switch between List view and Section view more obvious. And today we're adding a third option in "News for you": Two-column view, which shows the three top stories from each section and looks like this:  A key goal of the redesign was to give you more ways to personalize your Google News, and these changes add even more choices. A heartfelt thanks to all of you who have shared your thoughts with us. Please keep letting us know what you think, and we'll keep working to make Google News even better.  URL: http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-news-changes-reflect-your.html   |
| [G] Google PhD Fellowships go international Posted: 15 Jul 2010 06:32 PM PDT Official Google Research Blog: Google PhD Fellowships go internationalPosted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog) We introduced the Google Fellowship program last year in the United States to broaden our support of university research. The students who were awarded the 2009 fellowships were a truly impressive group, many having high profile internships this past summer and even a few with faculty appointments in the upcoming year. Universities continue to be the source of some of the most innovative research in computer science, and in particular it's the students that they foster who are the future of our field. This year, we're going global and extending the fellowship program to Europe, Israel, China and Canada. We're very happy to be continuing our support of excellence in graduate studies and offer our sincere congratulations to the following PhD students for receiving Google Fellowships in 2010: Google European Doctoral Fellowships
 URL: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-phd-fellowships-go-international.html   |
| [G] Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise Posted: 15 Jul 2010 06:21 PM PDT Official Google Enterprise Blog: Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth EnterpriseEditor's Note: Brant Mitchell is Associate Deputy Director of the State of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security. The state of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security is a Google Earth Enterprise customer that leverages Google Earth Enterprise for emergency preparedness and now becomes the first Google Earth Enterprise customer to create a Google Earth Enterprise globe specifically for the public. For the last three years the State of Louisiana has provided our first responder community a secured access to Federal, State and local geospatial data and high resolution imagery of Louisiana through a Google Earth Enterprise client. In preparation of hurricane season, Louisiana is pleased to announce that we have launched the first public version of a Google Earth Enterprise platform. Louisiana Earth was released as part of the state's "Get a Game Plan" campaign, to assist citizens in creating evacuation plans by providing access to all of the states evacuation routes, sheltering points historical hazard data and other information that is essential during an evacuation such as locations of and available occupancy of hotels, gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, veterinary clinics and banks. Louisiana Earth will also serve as a mechanism to relay critical data during disasters to help inform the public on the status of response and recovery efforts. Using the Deepwater Horizon Rig incident as an example, there is existing data that Louisiana is making available which includes the latest oil sightings from aerial observations, oyster bed closures, as well as critical environmental data such as bird nesting areas. During hurricanes and other natural disasters, Louisiana will be able to provide information such as the location of points of distribution (PODs), food stamp offices, unemployment claims offices, disaster recovery centers as well as the status of parishes' power outages as an example. Finally, while the primary purpose is to utilize Louisiana Earth as a mechanism to provide critical data during emergencies, it will also be utilized to promote Louisiana. We will constantly be adding data that the public can use to take advantage of the many activities and events, such as festivals, that are available in Louisiana. Louisiana Earth already has information on all of the state parks which consists of lodging accommodations, hiking trails, and camping sites. Historical data and cultural events will also be included and will continue to be updated. To access Louisiana Earth, go to laearth.la.gov. Posted by Natasha Wyatt, Google Earth and Maps team  URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/07/preparing-for-emergencies-with-google.html   |
| Posted: 15 Jul 2010 03:35 PM PDT Official Google Blog: Use Chrome like a proThis week I sent a note to Googlers about some of the Chrome team's favorite extensions. So many of them asked if they could share the note with people outside the company that I thought I would just do it for them, so here it is.We're proud of the Chrome browser and the great extensions that its developer community has created, and we hope you enjoy them! They can all be found at chrome.google.com/extensions.
 URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/use-chrome-like-pro.html   |
| [G] Our 2010 EMEA CS4HS Awardees Posted: 15 Jul 2010 03:35 PM PDT Official Google Blog: Our 2010 EMEA CS4HS AwardeesWe recently told you about CS4HS, our workshop program for high school and middle school computer science teachers in the U.S. We now have some additional news to share: our 2010 EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) CS4HS awardees have been selected! The CS4HS program provides funding to European, Middle Eastern and African universities which work in tandem with local high schools and middle schools to engage pre-university students in computer science. Awardees meet strict requirements: the projects must be scalable, impact a wide cross-section of students from all backgrounds, conform to a "train the trainer" model and, most importantly, interest and inspire the next generation of computer scientists.The application review team said that many of the projects receiving funding directly address the training of computer science teachers in secondary schools. They were particularly excited by the Makerere University and University of Cape Town projects, both of which propose to spread best practice amongst educators in Africa—a new region for CS4HS. You can find a list of all 14 awardees and their projects on the EMEA section of the CS4HS site. Posted by Caitlin Pantos, University Programmes Specialist  URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-2010-emea-cs4hs-awardees.html   |
| [G] Google PhD Fellowships go international Posted: 15 Jul 2010 03:35 PM PDT Official Google Blog: Google PhD Fellowships go internationalWe introduced the Google Fellowship program last year in the United States to broaden our support of university research. The students who were awarded the 2009 fellowships were a truly impressive group, many having high profile internships this past summer and even a few with faculty appointments in the upcoming year.Universities continue to be the source of some of the most innovative research in computer science, and in particular it's the students that they foster who are the future of our field. This year, we're going global and extending the fellowship program to Europe, Israel, China and Canada. We're very happy to be continuing our support of excellence in graduate studies and offer our sincere congratulations to the following PhD students for receiving Google Fellowships in 2010: Google European Doctoral Fellowships
Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives  URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-phd-fellowships-go-international.html   |
| [G] Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise Posted: 15 Jul 2010 12:22 PM PDT Google LatLong: Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise(Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)Editor's Note: Brant Mitchell is Associate Deputy Director of the State of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security. The state of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security is a Google Earth Enterprise customer that leverages Google Earth Enterprise for emergency preparedness and now becomes the first Google Earth Enterprise customer to create a Google Earth Enterprise globe specifically for the public. For the last three years the State of Louisiana has provided our first responder community a secured access to Federal, State and local geospatial data and high resolution imagery of Louisiana through a Google Earth Enterprise client. In preparation of hurricane season, Louisiana is pleased to announce that we have launched the first public version of a Google Earth Enterprise platform. Louisiana Earth was released as part of the state's "Get a Game Plan" campaign, to assist citizens in creating evacuation plans by providing access to all of the states evacuation routes, sheltering points historical hazard data and other information that is essential during an evacuation such as locations of and available occupancy of hotels, gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, veterinary clinics and banks. Louisiana Earth will also serve as a mechanism to relay critical data during disasters to help inform the public on the status of response and recovery efforts. Using the Deepwater Horizon Rig incident as an example, there is existing data that Louisiana is making available which includes the latest oil sightings from aerial observations, oyster bed closures, as well as critical environmental data such as bird nesting areas. During hurricanes and other natural disasters, Louisiana will be able to provide information such as the location of points of distribution (PODs), food stamp offices, unemployment claims offices, disaster recovery centers as well as the status of parishes' power outages as an example. Finally, while the primary purpose is to utilize Louisiana Earth as a mechanism to provide critical data during emergencies, it will also be utilized to promote Louisiana. We will constantly be adding data that the public can use to take advantage of the many activities and events, such as festivals, that are available in Louisiana. Louisiana Earth already has information on all of the state parks which consists of lodging accommodations, hiking trails, and camping sites. Historical data and cultural events will also be included and will continue to be updated. To access Louisiana Earth, go to laearth.la.gov. Posted by Natasha Wyatt, Google Earth and Maps team  URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/07/cross-posted-from-google-enterprise.html   |
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