Friday, August 20, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Use Linux? Now you can video chat too

Posted: 20 Aug 2010 04:04 AM PDT

Google Talkabout: Use Linux? Now you can video chat too

(Cross-posted from the Gmail Blog)

If you've been wanting to use voice and video chat on Linux (our top video chat request), then we have good news for you: it's now available! Visit gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin and get started. Voice and video chat for Linux supports Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions, and RPM support will be coming soon.

Posted by Tristan Schmelcher, Software Engineer
URL: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2010/08/use-linux-now-you-can-video-chat-too.html

[G] AdWords system maintenance on August 21st

Posted: 20 Aug 2010 03:33 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: AdWords system maintenance on August 21st

On Saturday, August 21st, 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 account 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 Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/08/adwords-system-maintenance-on-august.html

[G] New Google Blog For SMBs

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 11:39 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: New Google Blog For SMBs

Most every business, including Google's, starts small. These days, technology is giving businesses even more ways to grow bigger, faster.

In a recent series on the Official Google Blog focused on small businesses, a handful of real-life entrepreneurs shared their experiences building companies from scratch and embracing internet tools that have taken their businesses to the next level. The team received fantastic feedback about these posts, and realized that there's a healthy appetite among small- and medium-sized business owners who want to know all about the latest web tools and tricks. And obviously, Google Analytics is one of the best, in our humble opinion. :-)

That's why we're giving an introductory shout out to the new Google Small Business Blog here on our blog. It's a central hub that brings together all the information about Google products, features and projects of specific interest to the small business community. Rather than having to sleuth around in many different locations for details about templates for creating video ads on YouTube, tips for your employees using Gmail or how to respond to the business reviews on your Place Page, you can find all of this helpful information right here in one place. And we'll be contributing content on Google Analytics there as well.

They already have a few great posts, with more to come, and we're confident their audience will continue to grow, much like a small successful business.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-google-blog-for-smbs.html

[G] Ready, Set, Go

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 10:11 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Ready, Set, Go

Rob Pike, Google Distinguished Engineer and co-creator of the Go programming language, presented an OSCON keynote last month about his motivations for creating Go. For those of you who weren't able to catch Rob in person, you can now watch the video of his talk.



If you've been curious about an open source programming language that offers, in the Go team's words, "the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++," check out the video and then get Going!

by Ellen Ko, Open Source Team
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/08/ready-set-go.html

[G] More ways to find the right Chrome Extension for you

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 09:50 PM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: More ways to find the right Chrome Extension for you

A few months ago, we launched several categories of featured Chrome extensions to help you find the right one. Today, in addition to updating these pages with new extensions, we are also launching more categories to enhance your web experiences in News and weather, Photos, Productivity, Search tools and Social.



If you have a busy life online and offline, extensions in the Productivity category can help you be more efficient and productive on the web. With Start! or Incredible Start Page, you can customize your New Tab page to quickly access your favorite sites. Extensions like StayFocusd and Time Tracker can help you keep track of your time spent on various web sites.

Chrome extensions can also help you view, edit and share photos and images easily. You can take screenshots of web pages using Awesome Screenshot and Webpage Screenshot. You can also transform your favorite photo sites into slideshows with iSlide or scroll through images on an infinite 3D wall with Cooliris.

For those who use social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz, there are extensions to help you stay connected with your family and friends. With Shareaholic for Google Chrome or AddThis, you can share web pages to your social networks, email and blogs. For Twitter users, TweetMeme to retweet any article you find on the web. There are also full-featured Twitter extensions like Chromed Bird or Chrowety that allows you to follow and send tweets, retweets and direct messages from your Google Chrome browser.

I hope you enjoy these new categories of extensions. We are working to make the categories in the gallery more dynamic so you can easily find the Chrome extensions you want.

Posted by Koh Kim, Associate Product Marketing Manager
URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-ways-to-find-right-chrome.html

[G] To 100 million and beyond with Google Maps for mobile

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 07:22 PM PDT

Google LatLong: To 100 million and beyond with Google Maps for mobile

[Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog]

Almost five years ago, we launched Google Maps for mobile to help you get where you needed to go from your phone instead of a paper map. Today, more than 100 million people a month are now using Google Maps for mobile to get from point A to point B, find nearby places, and more.

Over the past five years, Maps for mobile has changed quite a bit, adding more ways to help you explore the world around you. With My Location, you can quickly find where you are on the map with or without GPS. You can put your friends on the map with Latitude. Navigation even turns your phone into a free internet-connected navigation system with voice guidance and Street View imagery.



Lately, we've been especially focused on helping you find the right place at the right time. With recent additions such as Place Pages, you can now pick a nearby place by browsing information such as opening hours and review snippets for the places around you. It's easier than ever to find those places with Search by voice or the new Places icon on Android. With this latest Android version, we're happy to see that you're now searching for places almost three times as often, doubling how many Place Pages are seen a day.



Search result page for Java-enabled phones in 2005 (left) and Place Page for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).




Search experience in 2005 (left) and Places for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).

We hope this is just the start of how Google Maps for mobile will continue to evolve and let you explore the world right from your phone. We're always inspired by how you're using Maps, and we'd love to hear about a time when you found the nearest mechanic for a flat tire or discovered that hidden gem of a burger joint. If you have a Google story about when Maps for mobile has helped you, please tell us about it. You can also share quick stories on Twitter @googlemobile, and we'll share our favorite ones. From all of us here on the Google Maps for mobile team, 100 million thank yous for getting your Google Maps to go!

If you're a business owner, help millions of people find you by claiming your free Place Page available in Google Maps and our most used mobile "app" -- Google Search. Get started at places.google.com/businesses.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-100-million-and-beyond-with-google.html

[G] Heroic Defenders of Wildlife organization maps oil spill cleanup efforts

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 07:22 PM PDT

Google LatLong: Heroic Defenders of Wildlife organization maps oil spill cleanup efforts


For a period of several months, 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil per day flowed from the site of the Deepwater Horizon well straight into the Gulf of Mexico. After the initial explosion on April 20th, the first reports of oil sightings on the coastlines began on June 1st. People living and working along the shoreline spanning Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida saw clumps of crude oil on their local beaches. That was followed by reports of birds, dolphins, fish and sea turtles covered in slick black oil.

In the aftermath of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, environmental groups across the country have been rallying in support of both immediate coastal reparation and long-term solutions for the damage the Gulf Oil Spill has wreaked on the ecosystem. With those goals in mind, Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to protecting species and the habitats on which they depend, is doing everything it can to raise awareness and action for greater cleanup and conservation.

The organization is working to educate policymakers about the importance of protecting wildlife and securing a moratorium on further offshore drilling. In addition, Defenders of Wildlife has been issuing ongoing reports on the number of birds, sea turtles and marine mammals found covered in oil along the coast. As many as 400 different species of animals are projected to be impacted by the environmental nightmare. Since massive cleanup activities are being led by a number of environmental groups, Defenders of Wildlife also decided to use their powerful mapping platform called the Conservation Registry to track the collective efforts of all the various groups into one comprehensive map.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster – Oiled Wildlife: *The numbers above reflect only wildlife that has been recovered dead; actual numbers of dead wildlife are likely to be much higher.

Oiled Wildlife Ticker, updated each day to track the numbers of animals that have been impacted by the spill

This Gulf Oil Spill Recovery map was created using the Google Maps API and the Google Earth API. It allows any users, whether they're part of a non-profit group or concerned citizens who want to report what they observe in their backyards, to upload stories, photos and video to the common shared map. The result is an impressive illustration of all the projects - from beach cleanups to air monitoring surveys to sediment sampling - going on in the region to help rescue and restore affected species and their habitats. The map also shows numerous steps that the Obama Administration is taking to mitigate the near- and long-term impacts of the spill. As the map evolves, you'll be able to see how the marine environment and coastlines recuperate from collaborative efforts by average people, non-profit organizations and government agencies.


Through this video, our most recent Google Earth Hero, Defenders of Wildlife, shares more about the creation of the Gulf Oil Spill Recovery application. Their hope is that it will not only help people visually understand the scope of the spill and recovery work, but also spur volunteers into taking action and getting involved themselves. Additional data contributed by Defenders of Wildlife, news and user videos can also be found on the Google Crisis Response oil spill recovery site.



Posted by Tanya Keen, Google Earth Outreach Program Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/08/heroic-defenders-of-wildlife.html

[G] Use Linux? Now you can video chat too

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:30 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Use Linux? Now you can video chat too

Posted by Tristan Schmelcher, Software Engineer

If you've been wanting to use voice and video chat on Linux (our top video chat request), then we have good news for you: it's now available! Visit gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin and get started. Voice and video chat for Linux supports Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions, and RPM support will be coming soon.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/use-linux-now-you-can-video-chat-too.html

[G] Our latest search story: run on

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:22 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Our latest search story: run on

This is part of our summer series of new Search Stories. Look for the label Search Stories and subscribe to the series. -Ed.

Recently, a group of Google product managers challenged one another to run 100 miles over 30 days in the interest of encouraging summer fitness. I grew up in Huntsville, AL, where I always loved exercising and experiencing the great outdoors, so I took to the challenge immediately. One hundred and thirty-three miles and a few pairs of new running shoes later, it was an incredible opportunity to push myself further than I'd ever imagined. But, I must admit—it wasn't easy.

I'm delighted to help introduce our latest Search Story, Healthy Habits. This is a story of one woman's journey to get back into shape. It shows the difficulties of sticking to a workout routine, and the empowerment that comes with reaching—and even exceeding your goals. It highlights the many tools and tricks that make Google a great workout companion, and I hope it inspires you to incorporate new healthy habits into your own lifestyle.



Enjoy this week's video, and don't forget to check out the other videos if you haven't already. Search (and run) on!

Posted by Avni Shah, Group Product Manager, Geo
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/our-latest-search-story-run-on.html

[G] Chains to trains: BART provides bike-friendly directions with Google Maps API Premier

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:10 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Chains to trains: BART provides bike-friendly directions with Google Maps API Premier

Editor's note: Today's guest writer is Timothy Moore, Website Manager for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Here he discusses how they use Google Maps API Premier v3 to power searches and biking directions on BART.gov. BART serves the San Francisco Bay Area covering 4 counties, 43 stations, 104 miles (167 km) of track, and has an average weekday ridership of 335,000 passengers. It is the 5th busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the U.S.

Recently the BART website (www.bart.gov) launched some cool new trip planning services, including bicycle directions and station area points of interest, using the Google Maps API. The BART QuickPlanner is one of the most popular features on our website. If you live in the Bay Area, chances are you've used it. The QuickPlanner has traditionally offered a mix of BART trip plans, directions for walking and driving to the station, connecting transit information, carbon savings and more.

We're always looking for ways to improve the QuickPlanner, so when Google Maps started offering bicycle directions we were green with envy. Our latest research shows that only 4% of BART customers ride a bicycle from their home to a station. With ongoing cuts to connecting transit services and many BART station parking lots filled to the brim, adding bicycling directions to the QuickPlanner will help us promote the option to more than a million website visitors every month.



Frankly we've struggled with the integration of other mapping products into our custom-built BART scheduling application; weak documentation, limited real-world examples, and cumbersome programming requirements. Developing with the Google Maps API was a whole different world. As our lead programmer, Robert Falconer, noted, "It was easy to learn and quick to implement. And the ability to use free-form input terms for addresses, locations and points of interest was a major plus."

If you've ever had to trap address or landmark input errors you know what he's talking about. For example, if a user enters in "Frrey Blding" to the QuickPlanner, Google's geocoding service can recognize the user's intent and return the proper term "Ferry Building" with the correct corresponding address. All of this is done seamlessly behind the scenes so that all user sees is the address they are looking for when their trip is mapped out.



Again, using the Google Maps API, we're able to provide more information about points of interest near BART stations, including directions. If you visit the neighborhood map section you can now use freeform search for station area destinations, and we're no longer limiting you to searches based on standard address formats or a preset pull down menu. We also use the Google Maps API for services like "Find Closest Station" and for the map images presented on our station landing pages.

Overall this was a really fun project for us. I hope our use of the Google Maps API on bart.gov will encourage more bicycling to BART and I also hope people will use it to discover all of the awesome things that BART station area neighborhoods have to offer.

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Earth and Maps Team
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/08/chains-to-trains-bart-provides-bike.html

[G] New features in Google Docs and Google Sites

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:10 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: New features in Google Docs and Google Sites

Google's multi-tenant infrastructure allows us to launch new features to our customers seamlessly, and with over 50 launches in first half of this year alone, the pace of innovation in Google Apps continues to accelerate.

Today we keep up the innovation with several new updates in Google Sites and Google Docs. We've improved Google Sites with several highly-requested features including horizontal navigation, global footers, and a new section for deleted items.

Horizontal navigation enables site owners to easily add links across the top of their sites.



Site owners can also add a global footer that displays across all pages on a site, and we added a new section for deleted items in sites, making it easier to get to deleted pages and attachments.

We've also added quick links to open Google Docs that are embedded in a site, making it easier for collaborators to open embedded documents.



For more information on these new features in Google Sites, check out the Google Docs blog.

In addition to these updates to Google Sites, this week we also launched several improvements in Google Docs:
  • Typing links just got a little faster in Google documents. Now when you type something that we recognize as a web address, it will automatically become a link.
  • We've also added a few more page sizes for your documents. So if you've been craving an Executive sized page (7.25" x 10.5"), you're in luck. For more information on autolinks and page sizes, head to the Google Docs blog.

  • Correct spelling is an essential part of document creation, and to that end we've added spellcheck to Google spreadsheets. For more information on spelling checker in spreadsheets, visit the Google Docs blog.


As with all updates on Google Apps, users can get new features just by refreshing their browsers, and improvements roll out to customers with no need for administrators to manage patches or install software.

Stay tuned for more updates to Google Docs and Google Sites.

Posted by Scott Johnston, Google Apps Product Manager
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-features-in-google-docs-and-google.html

[G] City of Westerville, Ohio has Gone Google

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:10 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: City of Westerville, Ohio has Gone Google

Editor's Note: We are pleased to welcome guest bloggers Todd Jackson, Director of Information Services and CIO, and Bryan Mundy, Network Operations Manager, for the City of Westerville, Ohio – a city that has recently Gone Google. Westerville is nationally recognized as one of "America's Best Places to Live" by Money Magazine. The city features over 46 parks, a community recreation center, and 26 miles of leisure paths for residents, visitors, and businesses. Now one of America's best places to live has an email system to match – Google Apps. Mundy and Jackson use Google Apps to support nearly 500 users. Westerville has also invested in fiber infrastructure (52 linear miles) as well as a community data center/carrier neutral hotel that will serve as a launch pad for local businesses and community partners who need access to cloud-based technology to grow.




Please join Todd & Bryan for a live webcast on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT / 6:00 p.m. GMT. Register today.

The City of Westerville has a workforce of about 500 people who rely heavily on email. For many users, email is mission-critical. Police officers, for example, need to send reports by email 24 hours a day. Until recently, we relied on Novell GroupWise, and despite the fact that we were on the latest version, we were suffering constant outages. At last count, we had over 100 known issues, and it was taking its toll. As an IT team, we worked late nights and holidays. We were chasing issues versus adding value.

Adding to the challenge, we were having trouble scaling email. Users were unhappy because they couldn't effectively store important email due to limited inbox quotas.

We also have users on Windows, Mac and Linux – and we want to support them all equally well. Besides reducing IT complexity (and allowing us to have holidays off), we wanted to drive innovation by providing services like document sharing, mobile access, SMS functionality, and the ability for our users to build their own intranet sites. Finally, by freeing up our time from minding servers, we could dedicate time and resources to new projects and drive innovation within the community.

When we decided that GroupWise was no longer feasible for our city, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation that included the top hosted solutions, including Microsoft's hosted BPOS. We came away impressed with Google Apps' value and features. Google's solution was platform-agnostic, so we could easily support users on a variety of platforms. It was also less costly and came with capabilities like document sharing and Google Sites for building intranets. We felt that we could accomplish more with Google Apps for less money.

Our migration of all city departments – which included bringing over every single email, as well as calendar events and contacts – took just six weeks. We didn't lose data and we never had a major issue.

Our move into the cloud has freed IT staff time to focus on projects that provide more value to the city, departments, and the residents. We now have time to invest in new IT initiatives to help us grow our economic base. For example, we are working to build a newly-approved community data center – or 'community cloud' as we call it – which will provide access to services for small and medium business owners that typically only larger corporations enjoy. As far as we know, it is the first community data center in the country.

Today, IT makes jokes internally about how hard we work to "release new features." With Google Apps, we've received a constant stream of innovations that our users love and has allowed us to finally enjoy late nights at home.



Posted by Dan Israel, Google Apps for Government team
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/08/city-of-westerville-ohio-has-gone.html

[G] To 100 million and beyond with Google Maps for mobile

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 05:04 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: To 100 million and beyond with Google Maps for mobile

Almost five years ago, we launched Google Maps for mobile to help you get where you needed to go from your phone instead of a paper map. Today, more than 100 million people a month are now using Google Maps for mobile to get from point A to point B, find nearby places, and more.

Over the past five years, Maps for mobile has changed quite a bit, adding more ways to help you explore the world around you. With My Location, you can quickly find where you are on the map with or without GPS. You can put your friends on the map with Latitude. Navigation even turns your phone into a free internet-connected navigation system with voice guidance and Street View imagery.


Google Maps for mobile through the years (click to see larger image).

Lately, we've been especially focused on helping you find the right place at the right time. With recent additions such as Place Pages, you can now pick a nearby place by browsing information such as opening hours and review snippets for the places around you. It's easier than ever to find those places with Search by voice or the new Places icon on Android. With this latest Android version, we're happy to see that you're now searching for places almost three times as often, doubling how many Place Pages are seen a day.



Search result page for Java-enabled phones in 2005 (left) and Place Page for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).



Search experience in 2005 (left) and Places for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).


We hope this is just the start of how Google Maps for mobile will continue to evolve and let you explore the world right from your phone. We're always inspired by how you're using Maps, and we'd love to hear about a time when you found the nearest mechanic for a flat tire or discovered that hidden gem of a burger joint. If you have a Google story about when Maps for mobile has helped you, please tell us about it. You can also share quick stories on Twitter @googlemobile, and we'll share our favorite ones. From all of us here on the Google Maps for mobile team, 100 million thank yous for getting your Google Maps to go!

If you're a business owner, help millions of people find you by claiming your free Place Page available in Google Maps and our most used mobile "app" -- Google Search. Get started at places.google.com/businesses.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-100-million-and-beyond-with-google.html

[G] Horizontal navigation, site footer, and more in Google Sites

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 04:31 PM PDT

Official Google Docs Blog: Horizontal navigation, site footer, and more in Google Sites

One of the most requested Google Sites features is horizontal navigation, which is why we're happy to announce that it's finally here along with a few other cool features.

Horizontal navigation
You can now add horizontal navigation to your site's layout in one of three different flavors: boxes, tabs, and links.





If you want to customize the look and feel of the horizontal navigation, you can set the background, link and hover properties via More actions > Manage site >Colors and Fonts.

If you've been craving horizontal navigation, you can get started by going to More actions > Manage site > Site layout > Change site layout.

Global footer
You can now set your site to have a global footer that displays across all pages on the site via More actions > Manage site > Site layout > Change site layout. Use this to add additional navigation and more.

Open embedded Google Docs faster
We've added quick links to Google Docs embedded to Google Sites making it easier for collaborators to open embedded documents.


Deleted items
We also added a "Deleted items" section to site management making it easier to get to deleted pages and attachments. Deleted items can be recovered up to 30 days after they have been deleted, after which they will be permanently removed. You can recover items directly from this page, or choose to permanently delete them manually.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with these new features!

Posted by: Jennifer King, Software Engineering Intern, Google Sites
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/08/horizontal-navigation-site-footer-and.html

[G] Introducing the AdWords Small Business Corner, a new forum discussion category for SMBs

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 03:40 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Introducing the AdWords Small Business Corner, a new forum discussion category for SMBs

We've heard from many of you that you'd like to be able to easily share tips for developing a successful AdWords strategy with others like you. To help you do that, we've created a new category in the AdWords Help Forum: the Small Business Corner. The Small Business Corner is designed to give those of you who are running your own AdWords accounts the opportunity to share best practices in discussions with your peers so that you can make sure your AdWords account is doing all it can to support your business goals.

This new category is not about troubleshooting specific account issues, but rather about sharing and learning from the experiences of others. To give you a preview of the kinds of topics that we hope to discuss, here are a few conversation starters that we had in mind:
  • Choosing the right tools to measure results
  • How to write great ads
  • Finding the right frequency to sign in to AdWords
Of course, this category is about your interests and needs, so we hope you'll suggest the small business-related topics that you'd like to cover. For any other topics, please consider the other existing forum categories available to you.

Getting started
To join the conversation now, just visit the Small Business Corner. If you're new to the AdWords Help Forum, you may want to create a Google Profile (while signed in to your AdWords account), introducing yourself and your business before jumping in. In the meantime, you can check out the introductory discussion thread here.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/08/introducing-adwords-small-business.html

[G] FFmpeg VP8 Decoder Implementation

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 02:16 PM PDT

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: FFmpeg VP8 Decoder Implementation

When we started the WebM project, one of our goals was to promote rapid innovation in video technology through open development. Just two months after WebM debuted, Jason Garret Glaser, Ronald Bultje and David Conrad created a VP8 video decoder implementation for FFmpeg called ffvp8.

The ffvp8 implementation decodes even faster than the WebM Project reference implementation (libvpx), and we congratulate the FFmpeg team on their achievement. It illustrates why we open-sourced VP8, and why we believe the pace of innovation in open web video technology will accelerate.
URL: http://webmproject.blogspot.com/2010/08/ffmpeg-vp8-decoder-implementation.html

[G] YouTube Homepage: Promoted Videos advertisers can get it while it's hot

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 12:21 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: YouTube Homepage: Promoted Videos advertisers can get it while it's hot

This is the third post in the "BizBlog Series," which was formally its own blog. Check back each week to see articles about partners and advertisers on YouTube, or search under the label 'BizBlog'. 





For big advertisers on YouTube, the YouTube homepage is often seen as the holy grail. It's the highest-profile placement on YouTube, providing marketers with the ability to deliver a big impact and drive attention to content, trailers or advertising. To give you an idea of the scale we're talking about, the homepage has been delivering nearly 45M impressions per day and 18 million unique visitors a day in the U.S. — that's the equivalent to the ratings of several top-rated prime-time television shows combined. While impressions and unique visitors are never guaranteed, users who visit the homepage are actively looking for the next video to watch, so advertisers naturally want to be part of the action.



A little known fact is that a few days each quarter, we open up the YouTube homepage to Promoted Video advertisers. These companies end up getting a bit of extra exposure from their campaigns. There are a couple of ways to make sure your ads show up on the Homepage, should the opportunity arise. First, log into your AdWords account, and under 'Campaign Settings', consider the following:

  • In order for Promoted Videos ads to appear on YouTube browse pages, watch pages, and on the homepage, select "Display Network"

  • To appear *only* on YouTube placements, select "Relevant pages only on the placements I manage" and add youtube.com as a managed placement.

  • To appear *only* on the homepage, select "Relevant pages only on the placements I manage" and add youtube.com::pyv-top-right-homepage as a managed placement

  • Set a specific bid for the homepage and keep in mind that it is a more competitive placement

  • *Please note: this feature is only available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and The U.S.

Because the dates we run Promoted Videos on the YouTube homepage vary, we unfortunately don't have a set schedule to provide to our advertisers. However, we typically know about 48 hours in advance. If you have a managed account, you can ask your Google representative to let you know when these opportunities arise so that you can increase your bids to improve your chances of showing up.

Several advertisers--large and small--have found great success showing Promoted Videos on the homepage. One YouTube advertiser, Dynomighty Design, grew their entire business by using Promoted Videos and getting placements on the YouTube homepage. Founder Terrence Kelleman says: "YouTube helps us sell our product, learn about our audience and build a strong brand image. And as a small company with a limited advertising budget, YouTube has become our main advertising strategy. Not only are costs low with Promoted Videos, but healthy conversions also make YouTube our #1 referring site in terms of traffic and revenue." To read more about Dynomighty's story, check out their original YouTube video and their feature on the Official Google Blog.



The YouTube homepage has a captive, engaged audience and it's our goal to let advertisers understand how best to reach customers that would be interested in hearing from them. For more information about advertising on YouTube, visit youtube.com/advertising, and for more information on Promoted Videos, check out ads.youtube.com.



 Mark Sabec, Product Marketing Manager, recently checked out YouTube Show & Tell, home of the best creative marketing examples on YouTube


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/F0VEeFecM1Q/youtube-homepage-promoted-videos.html

[G] Democracy Photo Challenge: Voting begins today

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 11:42 AM PDT

Google Photos Blog: Democracy Photo Challenge: Voting begins today

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

In the few weeks that have passed since we announced the first ever Picasa Web Albums powered contest, the Democracy Photo Challenge, nearly 3,000 photos from 131 countries were submitted.



A jury has narrowed down the field of democracy themed photos to 36 finalists and now it's up to the general public to vote for the 12 winning photos, by clicking the "like" button under any photo in the finalist Picasa Web Album.

The winners will be announced on the United Nations' (UN) International Day of Democracy, September 15, with the winning photographs exhibited at the UN in New York.

Vote now
URL: http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2010/08/democracy-photo-challenge-voting-begins.html

[G] WebM Semantic Video Demo

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 06:46 AM PDT

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: WebM Semantic Video Demo

Brett Gaylor at WebMadeMovies has posted an HTML5 demo of popcorn.js, "a javascript library for manipulating open video on the web." The demo plays a video while using semantic data in the video to trigger machine-translated subtitles, map lookups, Twitter feeds and other elements on the page. If you're using a WebM-enabled browser the page serves a WebM video, otherwise it serves an Ogg or MP4 video depending on the browser's capabilities.

See Brett's post or the popcorn.js wiki page for more info. You can also download the source from the Mozilla github repo.
URL: http://webmproject.blogspot.com/2010/08/webm-semantic-video-demo.html
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