Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Changes to reporting in My Client Center

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 11:44 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Changes to reporting in My Client Center

For those of you who use My Client Center (MCC) to manage your client accounts, we're introducing a new interface for the Client Reporting tab. Over the last few months, we've developed a new reporting interface to help you get your reports faster, easier, and more securely.

These changes will only affect reporting for MCC users. If you use the AdWords Reports Center in an individual AdWords account, see our earlier post to learn about the reports that have moved to the Campaigns tab.

Key features of the new interface
  • No more templates: We've removed templates. Each report today can be the basis for a different report. Just click 'Create Similar' next to the report, and you'll create a new report based on the one you just selected.
  • Faster report generation: We've built new infrastructure that allows you to create complex reports more quickly and easily.
  • More reports: We've increased the number of reports you can store from 15 to 100. Now you can build many customized reports to meet your unique needs.
  • Increased security: To allow you to better control who receives your reports, we've changed the level of access for emailed reports. With the new interface, only email addresses that were invited to the account can receive emailed reports. You can modify the access levels by clicking 'Account Access' in the My Account tab. Learn more.
To learn more about all of the new features, visit the Help Center.

Migrating from the old interface:
Over the coming weeks, you'll see a message in the old interface inviting you to switch over and experiment with the new interface. The old interface will still be completely functional, and all of your previous reports will continue to work.

When we start migrating your reports, you'll be redirected to the new reporting interface when you click on the Client Reporting tab. Once this happens, you'll be able to see your reports in the old interface, but you won't be able to create new reports or modify scheduled reports. You'll also notice that your scheduled reports will be generated twice – in both the old and new interface. You can delete reports from the old interface to stop seeing duplicate reports.

If you send scheduled reports to email recipients, we've introduced a way to give you more control over who receives your new reports via email. Only email address invited to the account will be able to receive emailed reports.

At the end of the transition to the new reporting interface we'll remove the link to the old interface, reports scheduled through the old interface will no longer run, and you'll need to schedule emailed reports using the new interface.

How to prepare
We recommend experimenting with the new reports available in the Campaigns tab of any individual AdWords account. You can also take a tour of these new reporting tools in the AdWords Online Classroom. Once the new reporting interface is available in your MCC, you can try out the new features and start creating reports. To learn more, visit the Help Center.

To let us know what you think of these changes, click the 'Send feedback' link in your account.

Posted by Omry Pruzan, Product Manager, My Client Center
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/09/changes-to-reporting-in-my-client.html

[G] Thousand Parsec HackWeek at the Googleplex

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 11:31 PM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Thousand Parsec HackWeek at the Googleplex

On the 7th of August, the Thousand Parsec core developers congregated for the first time at the Googleplex. We arrived in Mountain View, CA from six locations around the world for a week long hackathon including coding, frivolity and fun!

The Thousand Parsec project was started in January 2002 and is a framework for creating a specific group of games, often called 4X games (from the main phases of gameplay that arise: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate). You might be familiar with some of the games that Thousand Parsec draws ideas from such as Reach for the Stars, Stars!, VGA Planets, Master of Orion and Galactic Civilizations. The ultimate goal of Thousand Parsec is to allow multiple different 4X games be playable in a single client.

A primary focus of the week was to increase the playability of the "rulesets" (different game implementations). We spent plenty of time playing games, especially the Risk and Minisec games. While tempted to spend a week just playing games, we also fixed numerous bugs, cleaned up obsolete code, made lots of client improvements and reviewed Google Summer of Code students' work.

By having many of the core developers in one location, changes could be made significantly quicker. An example is the new "Who is ready?" feature, which lets players know who is holding up the game and hence they are now able to guilt them into hurrying up! You can check out all the improvements that we made during the hack week by cloning out our latest git repositories and following setup instructions on our wiki.

Thousand Parsec still has a long way to go before it is as polished as the games which it draws ideas from, but hopefully with the continuing work by the contributors on line and in person at additional meetups, we have a bright future ahead.

Google Summer of Code was instrumental in making the hackfest happen. The event was primarily funded though the mentor payments, and the majority of the developers consisted of former Google Summer of Code students. Stay tuned to this blog for a wrap up of our 2010 Google Summer of Code student projects coming soon!

In the above photo you can see,

• Alan 'alanp' Laudicina (from Canada), a Google Summer of Code student in 2009, working on MTSec ruleset.
• Lee 'llnz' Begg (from New Zealand), project co-founder who wrote majority of the C++ Code.
• Kornel 'Epyon' Kisielewicz (from Poland), a Google Summer of Code student in 2009 and again this year. Working on refactoring the C++ server.
• Tim 'mithro' Ansell (me, from Australia), project founder who wrote the majority of the Python Code.
• Vincent 'Iwanowitch' Verhoeven, (from Belgium), a Google Summer of Code student in 2008, created our premier AI, daneel-ai.
• Eugene 'jmtan' Tan Jie Ming (from Singapore), a Google Summer of Code student in 2008, working on 3d client.

By Tim Ansell, Technical Solutions Engineering Team
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/09/thousand-parsec-hackweek-at-googleplex.html

[G] Meet the Rauch Brothers, StoryCorps animators

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 11:31 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Meet the Rauch Brothers, StoryCorps animators

Today on our homepage, we're featuring a new batch of StoryCorps videos animated by the Rauch Brothers. If you want to be moved by the human experience, watch them now.

StoryCorps is a massive oral history project during which 50,000 everyday people have already interviewed friends and family. A handful of these are transformed by the Rauch Brothers, who look to animate universal stories that capture the joys, struggles and extraordinary lives of regular people. Here, in our ongoing series of Creator's Corner posts, the animators take you along their creative journey and name the YouTube users who in turn inspire them.


1) What is your process? 

We receive an edited voice track from StoryCorps' Peabody Award-winning production team, which we then research. Time, place and personality of the main characters are all important. After digesting what we've learned, we determine which details to leave in, and which to take out in order to tell the story in a clear, engaging, and honest way.


After the initial research, we create character designs, a storyboard, and rough background layouts. When those stages are complete, we move on to animation and final background layouts. The last step is to paint everything and pull it all together in the computer.

2) Sounds like "Danny & Annie" was the first time you met your subjects in person. Was that unusual?

Whenever possible, it's very important to us to meet the storytellers in our animation. It gives us a chance to get input from them, and helps add authenticity to the final piece. "Danny & Annie" wasn't the first time we met one of our storytellers — we met the Littmans while working on "Q&A." Seeing them interact was important for Tim (who draws all the animated characters), because it helped him capture some of their mannerisms in animation.


"Danny & Annie" was the first time we had the opportunity to actually visit the home of one of our subjects. It was particularly important to get good reference photos of their Brooklyn apartment because the majority of the story takes place there. We also referenced some of their wedding photos in the final animation. Through that process, we were able to add authenticity that reflects the documentary nature of the original recording.



3) How close do you try to get to the person's true likeness?
We use photos for reference as we work on character designs, but we find that people are more than just the face one sees on the surface. They have a personality and a spirit that isn't necessarily captured in a photograph. Luckily, StoryCorps' terrific recordings of these voices and stories help tell us a lot about what we can't see in a photo. As StoryCorps founder Dave Isay says, the voice is like a window to the soul. Focusing on that aspect of the people in these stories has been the most effective way for us to capture something that feels honest and real.

4) What do you hope your work conveys?
We would like this work to serve as a reminder and a celebration of our shared humanity.

5) Who on YouTube is making great animation?
Pes - Pes uses everyday objects in unique and unexpected ways to tell short, funny stories that leave you wanting more.
Blu - Animated graffiti takes over the world!
Fran Krause - The quirky characters and stories that Fran develops with his brother, Will, are always fun.
Nina Paley - Nina tells entertaining stories and makes them freely available to watch, download, and remix. She is an animator perfectly suited for the age of YouTube.
Bill Plympton - The King of Indie Animation still reigns supreme.


Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched "'Germans in the Woods' from StoryCorps."




URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/RMQmQeW4LRQ/meet-rauch-brothers-storycorps.html

[G] Simpler sign-ups for Yahoo! users with OpenID

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 06:54 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Simpler sign-ups for Yahoo! users with OpenID

How many times have you created a new account at a website and seen a message that said: "Thank you for creating an account. To activate your new account, please access your email and click the verification URL provided."

Even though you just want to start using the website, this lengthy process requires you to manually perform a whole bunch of steps—including switching to your mailbox, trying to find the message the website sent you (which might be in your Spam folder), opening the message, clicking the link, etc. Until recently, we also required people to follow these steps if they wanted to sign up for a Google Account using their existing email address, such as a @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, or other address.

To make this process simpler, we're now using an Internet standard called OpenID which is supported by several email providers, including Yahoo!. Instead of the process above, Yahoo! users who sign up with Google see the page below with a button that sends them to Yahoo! for verification.


Once you click that button, Yahoo! shows you a page to get your consent to share your email address with Google.


After you agree, you're done and can start using any Google service, such as Google Groups, Docs, Reader, AdWords, etc. We have found that a much larger number of people complete the email verification process when this method is used.

In the future we hope to expand this feature to other email providers, and we also hope other website operators will read more on the Google Code Blog about how they can implement a similar feature.

Posted by Eric Sachs, Senior Product Manager, Google Security
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/simpler-sign-ups-for-yahoo-users-with.html

[G] New Book: Conversions For Dummies

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 01:10 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: New Book: Conversions For Dummies

Are you eager to optimize your conversion rate, but feel a little bit overwhelmed by all of the tools available to help you? Introducing 'Improving Online Conversions for Dummies'!

We have just released a simple, easy to follow mini book, in conjunction with John Wiley Publications, to help you get a better grasp of the conversion improvement tools offered by Google. Improving Online Conversions for Dummies explains how you can make sure your ads show on searches that are most likely to convert into sales. Understand which ad clicks and impressions lead to conversions, better apportion your marketing spend and even develop your own conversion attribution model. Discover the secrets to getting more bang for your buck with this ebook!



For more information, visit www.google.com/conversion/fordummies


Posted by Alan Wrafter, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-book-conversions-for-dummies.html

[G] Easier site organization with drag and drop

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 01:04 PM PDT

Official Google Docs Blog: Easier site organization with drag and drop

Page organization is an important part of using Google Sites, especially when you want to make a lot of changes to your Site's structure. To make it easier and save you time, we just enabled drag and drop functionality in the Pages area of site management. Site owners and collaborators can try it out on via Manage site > Pages in the tree view.

We hope you like this little time-saver.

Posted by: Santos Cordon, Software Engineer
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/09/easier-site-organization-with-drag-and.html

[G] New VP8 Test Vectors Available

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 12:50 PM PDT

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: New VP8 Test Vectors Available

Our collection of VP8 test vectors has grown from 17 to 56. You can download the complete set from our Downloads page or clone our git repository:

git clone git://review.webmproject.org/vp8-test-vectors.git
URL: http://webmproject.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-vp8-test-vectors-available.html

[G] A few updates on reporting in AdWords

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 11:41 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: A few updates on reporting in AdWords


If you think AdWords reporting is looking a bit different these days, you're right! Since we announced some important changes to reporting in late June, we've been regularly adding statistics and features into the Campaigns tab that were previously only accessible through the Report Center (with many more additions to come).

At the same time, we've begun to move reports out of the Report Center entirely. In fact, new Account, Campaign, and Ad Group reports can no longer be created from the Reports tab. Now that the transition is in full swing, we thought it would be a good time to address the feedback we've gotten so far, point out available help resources, and highlight a few new features we've recently released.

What we've heard from you

We believe that reports can be faster and more powerful in the Campaigns tab. You get the flexibility to quickly switch views when you want to dig deeper into performance trends, and to act on the insights you discover by making changes on the same pages where you run your reports.

That being said, we've heard that the changes have created issues for some of you. We've gotten feedback that it's been difficult to find all the reporting features you used to access through the Report Center, and that some statistics and segmentation options aren't available in every place you'd like to use them.

Your input on this first set of changes has been incredibly helpful, and we're acting on the feedback we receive. For example, in the next few weeks we plan to add "Total" rows to every report you download from the Campaigns tab, and new options to view overall search network traffic (Google search + search partners). We'll keep making changes based on your requests, so please continue to send us your thoughts.

Help resources

If you're having trouble finding a specific statistic or reporting feature in AdWords, we've created materials that we think will help you out.
  • Download our PDF guide for a handy and comprehensive resource you can consult if you're wondering where to find particular metrics.
  • We also have a recorded webinar and extensive FAQs available on a regularly updated page in the AdWords Help Center.
New features

While we've focused most of our energies adding Report Center options to the Campaigns tab, we've also added some new reporting features to campaign management. In fact, some advanced reporting options are only available in the Campaigns tab, such as segmenting statistics by device and click type. Additionally, you can now use the Dimensions tab to view and segment performance by the dimension of your choice.



This new reporting feature lets you quickly see reports such as:
  • Your campaign statistics segmented by hour of day (answer questions like "how much shopping do my customers do on their lunch break?")
  • Your account statistics segmented by quarter (get an executive summary of how your performance has changed since your account started running)
  • Your account statistics segmented by Destination URL (see which pages on your site are getting the most AdWords traffic, or which pages are the most profitable)
Over the coming weeks we'll add even more reporting functionality to AdWords, and we also plan to continue removing reports from the Report Center as they become supported on the Campaigns tab.

Thank you for all the work you've put into the transition already, and for bearing with us throughout this ambitious set of changes. We think you'll find the new integrated reporting even more valuable once you've had a chance to get used to the changes and the full transition from the Report Center is complete. Until then, please keep letting us know how we're doing by submitting feedback as any issues arise.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/09/few-updates-on-reporting-in-adwords.html

[G] Missed call notifications delivered to your inbox

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 08:47 AM PDT

Google Voice Blog: Missed call notifications delivered to your inbox

Google Voice lets you take charge of your telephony experience, giving you one number that rings all your phones. But what if you're not around to answer any of them?

Starting today, whenever you miss a call, you can see a notification in your Google Voice inbox, or receive an email notification, or both.








This setting can be turned on and off from the Calls tab in the Settings menu.







We're excited to add this new feature that's been a common request from Google Voice users. So keep those suggestions coming, we're listening!

Posted by Brian Peterson, Google Voice Software Engineer
URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/missed-call-notifications-delivered-to.html

[G] Introducing our most monstrous YouTube interview yet

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 05:27 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Introducing our most monstrous YouTube interview yet

We've had a lot of famous folks sit down for interviews in the past year, like President Obama, Shakira and Katy Perry, but our next subject, with his tony address and instant name recognition, may have celebrity status that tops all the rest.



Through a partnership with Sesame Street, Elmo will answer your burning questions right here on YouTube. So, moms and dads, if your family has ever wondered, "How exactly do you get, do you get, to Sesame Street?" or whether Oscar's really as grouchy as he seems, here's your chance to ask. More details from Elmo himself here:







And if you need some extra inspiration thinking up questions, take a spin through some of these Elmo classics:







Upload your video question to the Moderator gadget on Sesame Street's YouTube channel and vote on the ones you think Elmo should answer by September 15. He'll answer the top-voted ones in a few weeks.





Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits Manager, recently watched "Monster in the Mirror"


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/wm2NvR01aeI/introducing-our-most-monstrous-youtube.html
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