Saturday, October 2, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Going Google across the 50 States: Pharmacy Development Services communicating from Florida and beyond

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:39 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Going Google across the 50 States: Pharmacy Development Services communicating from Florida and beyond

Editor's note: Over 3 million businesses have adopted Google Apps. To share their stories, we've talked to businesses across the United States. Today we'll hear from Mat Silverstein, Research and Development Officer for Pharmacy Development Services based in Florida. To learn more about other organizations that have gone Google and share your story, visit our community map or test drive life in the cloud with the Go Google cloud calculator.



Based in Florida, Pharmacy Development Services (PDS) is a business coaching company that works specifically with independent pharmacies. Over the last 12 years, we've helped hundreds of pharmacy owners build solid business plans and achieve success.

As a small business with employees spread across the country, internal communications have always been a challenge. In the home office, we make hundreds of decisions a week that affect our customers and employees, and this, combined with rapidly changing information, makes it tough to keep up. Information is constantly flying back and forth between members of our team, so it only made sense to give it a home in the cloud. Life before Google Apps went something like this:

Me: Did you get my email?
Co-worker: No
Me: Check your spam folder.
Co-worker: There it is. Wait. This is the old version of the document. I updated the document and sent it to you yesterday.
Me: I know, but I couldn't open it. I have an older version of the software you used.

This scenario was typical, and it wasn't until we moved to Google Apps that our team saw a huge boost in productivity. Right now, we have a team of on-site and off-site employees planning the biggest event in the history of our company; they're using Google Docs to share the latest conference plans, instant messaging, integrated in Gmail, for quick communication, and Google Calendar to schedule all their meetings.

The Gmail interface is light-years better than our old email system and we can access it anywhere. Some of us travel a lot, and accessing email from our iPhones, Android-powered phones, and Blackberry devices is essential — we couldn't imagine it any other way. Information is ubiquitous; it shouldn't be bound to a particular device.

As a company that is closely tied to the health industry, I can best put how Google Apps has helped us into medical terms — we've been cured of spam-itis, old-versions-of-documents-osis, and most importantly, missing-documents syndrome. We can spend less time searching for files and fixing scheduling mishaps, and more time helping our customers."

Posted by Michelle Lisowski, Google Apps team
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/10/going-google-across-50-states-pharmacy.html

[G] Embracing exploration: being a filmmaker today

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 05:33 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Embracing exploration: being a filmmaker today

Digital filmmaking has evolved quite a bit since the first affordable "prosumer" mini DV cameras were introduced in the early '90s. Not only have options, opportunities, practices, and standards for filmmakers changed, they continue to expand almost every day. Welcome to a Modern 101 for Emerging Digital Filmmakers: a semester's worth of tips and tricks for today's video creators navigating these changes.



Starting today and wrapping up on December 17, we -- the producers and filmmakers from Howcast's Emerging Filmmakers Program -- will be sharing our experiences, advice, and ideas right here with YouTube's creative community. We've got some unique insights that come from a blend of traditional filmmaking backgrounds with lots of experience producing, distributing, and promoting web video. And after three years working with filmmakers from all over the world, we've learned a lot about their concerns and questions.



It seems that just when you have a handle on what works, something new pops up. What format of HD should you shoot on? What's the best way to export for the web? What's a codec? What are other filmmakers doing to build a community of viewers and collaborators online? And where are trusted sources for information? Is it possible to find success as a filmmaker in this changing landscape? How do you know if you've hit your target, when that target seems to be always be moving?



In April 2005, the first video was uploaded to YouTube and in July 2010, the first short film was shot and edited entirely on an iPhone. When I went to film school in 1993 we shot on 16mm and edited on Steenbecks. Today I get to work with lots of film students and recent grads and I occasionally catch myself envying them. Every short I made back then cost at least $1,500. I could never set up a Steenbeck in my dorm the way filmmakers are running iMovie or Final Cut on their laptops. And, if I wanted anyone to see my film, my options were pretty much limited by the festivals I was accepted by. Sure, many filmmakers bemoan the poor picture quality of popular pocket cameras or the lack of certainty around earning money from online video, but, at the same time, it's never been cheaper to create your own work or easier to find an audience.



You can make a new video almost every day and get feedback on your work practically instantaneously by hitting "Upload." Filmmaking is no longer for the privileged few and access to audiences is not guarded by select gatekeepers. It's really become more of a practice, in the way that playing an instrument can be. What does that really mean for us?


  • We have easier access to the tools we need to refine our skills.

  • We get to know more about what's working because we can see audiences responding to our work immediately.

  • We can find collaborators with common interests because we have instant access to other filmmakers.

  • We have more chances to learn from each other because we can watch filmmakers' videos or even tutorials from all over the world.


Your definition of success should depend on the stage of your career, your project, and what you're looking to get out of it. For me, just out of school, success was getting my shorts into festivals. Today, success might be garnering 100,000 views on YouTube or raising $15,000 on Kickstarter. One of our filmmakers recently blogged about how she tweeted and posted her way to over 1,500 views in just 4 days and coverage in a local paper for her Howcast video. I'd call that -- and the fact that she discovered how to use the web to launch her first marketing campaign -- a new kind of success.



Of course, most filmmakers know launching a successful filmmaking career, no matter how it's defined, is and always will be risky. On top of that, today's seemingly endless possibilities, although exciting and empowering, are naturally, a little bewildering. So, stay tuned for some of our insight, tips and tricks for your journey. We want to hear from you -- send us your biggest fears and burning questions about being a filmmaker in the digital age. Articles, videos, and live events will be posted every Friday and every couple weeks, we'll schedule a session to answer your questions.



Heather Menicucci, Director, Howcast Filmmakers Program, recently watched "Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Nokia N8."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/5FiIiwiHcaA/embracing-exploration-being-filmmaker.html

[G] Car Home for Android Gets Personal

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 04:45 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Car Home for Android Gets Personal

Car Home for Android turns your Android phone into a better driving companion by providing you with quick access to key applications on the go: GPS navigation, voice-activated commands, contacts, and more. Today, we're releasing a new version of Car Home for Android which makes it easier to customize Car Home to get the information you need faster.

Now, you can also quickly customize the shortcuts to personalize Car Home with one-touch access to apps and information on your phone. Just select one of the icons marked "Add shortcut" to start creating your own shortcuts. You can also drag-and-drop or remove shortcuts by long pressing any of them.


You can launch Car Home by opening the app directly from your phone or docking your phone in a car dock, and now you can automatically switch to Car Home when your phone pairs with any Bluetooth™ device. Simply select "Settings" from the Car Home screen and select which of your paired Bluetooth™ devices you want to automatically trigger Car Home.

Want to customize Car Home even more? You can now set your own wallpaper for Car Home. Just select "Settings" in Car Home and choose a wallpaper that fits your tastes. You can also customize the color of the shortcut icons to really make the Car Home experience your own.


We've also made it simpler for Android developers to modify their existing applications to be compatible with Car Mode. Apps which support Car Mode will show up in a "Car applications" category so they can easily be identified by you and added as a shortcut.

The new version of Car Home for Android is available for Android 2.2. You can get the update from Android Market by searching for "Car Home" in Android Market or tap here on your Android device.

Don't forget, while your Android-powered companion can assist you while you drive, please keep your eyes on the road and drive safely at all times!

Update 10/1/10 10:28 PST: The new Car Home is available for Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Visit our Help Center to learn more or send us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum.

Posted by Markus Mühlbauer, Manager Engineering & Product, Google Automotive
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/10/car-home-for-android-gets-personal.html

[G] Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 04:40 PM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010

Posted by Bob Boorstin, Director, Public Policy
(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

It's not often that we get to step out of our everyday jobs and spend extended time engaging in global conversations about one of our fundamental values at Google: ensuring access to information. For three days last week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, we had that chance when more than 300 bloggers, activists, academics, government officials and representatives of non-profits and business convened for "Internet at Liberty 2010." The conference, which we co-hosted with the Central European University, focused on "the promise and peril of online free expression" and the role of individuals, corporations and government in protecting free expression online.

The conference drew participants from 74 countries, including many from places where free expression is constantly under threat—such as Kazakhstan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. It drew a large contingent of bloggers and activists from the Middle East and representatives from both the Iranian and Chinese diasporas. Our liveblog of the conference was followed by more than 3.3 million people around the world.

The issues at the heart of the gathering—and the challenges faced by free expression advocates the world over, were highlighted by our senior vice president, David Drummond, when in his opening remarks to the conference he quoted an email from an activist who could not obtain permission to attend "Internet at Liberty." The activist wrote:
Everywhere I turned, I was only talking to a repetition of the same monomaniac mind where all the keywords around the conference were defined as dangerous and forbidden: 'liberty,' 'access,' 'Internet,' 'Google,' and even such simple words as 'university,' 'conference' and 'Europe.' Upon a second investigation, I realized that they are not afraid of these things because of their intrinsic identity, but because they can transform me from a passive and obedient member of the mass to a free, critical, creative and active citizen.
Also at the conference, we introduced Google Transparency Report, an interactive online site that allows users to see where governments are demanding that we remove content and where Google services are being blocked. (Read more in our blog post.) Other sessions included a debate on the question, "Is the potential of the Internet as a force for positive political change being oversold?" and workshops offering practical education and tools for lobbying governments on key issues.

Visit our website for the conference, which we plan to turn into a discussion and action forum for those who attended the conference and—we hope—thousands more. Our aim is to bring together people who share the common goal of promoting free expression on the Internet. We want to build constituencies behind key initiatives including helping individuals protect themselves online; promoting corporate and government transparency; finding the right balance between privacy and free expression; and making sure that platforms like Google aren't held liable for content they host.

We're committed to reaching far beyond the results of the Budapest conference and the banks of the Danube to help ensure that online free expression, like the Internet itself, knows no borders.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/10/discussing-free-expression-at-internet.html

[G] Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 10:00 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010

It's not often that we get to step out of our everyday jobs and spend extended time engaging in global conversations about one of our fundamental values at Google: ensuring access to information. For three days last week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, we had that chance when more than 300 bloggers, activists, academics, government officials and representatives of non-profits and business convened for "Internet at Liberty 2010." The conference, which we co-hosted with the Central European University, focused on "the promise and peril of online free expression" and the role of individuals, corporations and government in protecting free expression online.

The conference drew participants from 74 countries, including many from places where free expression is constantly under threat—such as Kazakhstan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. It drew a large contingent of bloggers and activists from the Middle East and representatives from both the Iranian and Chinese diasporas. Our liveblog of the conference was followed by more than 3.3 million people around the world.

The issues at the heart of the gathering—and the challenges faced by free expression advocates the world over, were highlighted by our senior vice president, David Drummond, when in his opening remarks to the conference he quoted an email from an activist who could not obtain permission to attend "Internet at Liberty." The activist wrote:
Everywhere I turned, I was only talking to a repetition of the same monomaniac mind where all the keywords around the conference were defined as dangerous and forbidden: 'liberty,' 'access,' 'Internet,' 'Google,' and even such simple words as 'university,' 'conference' and 'Europe.' Upon a second investigation, I realized that they are not afraid of these things because of their intrinsic identity, but because they can transform me from a passive and obedient member of the mass to a free, critical, creative and active citizen.
Also at the conference, we introduced Google Transparency Report, an interactive online site that allows users to see where governments are demanding that we remove content and where Google services are being blocked. (Read more in our blog post.) Other sessions included a debate on the question, "Is the potential of the Internet as a force for positive political change being oversold?" and workshops offering practical education and tools for lobbying governments on key issues.

Visit our website for the conference, which we plan to turn into a discussion and action forum for those who attended the conference and—we hope—thousands more. Our aim is to bring together people who share the common goal of promoting free expression on the Internet. We want to build constituencies behind key initiatives including helping individuals protect themselves online; promoting corporate and government transparency; finding the right balance between privacy and free expression; and making sure that platforms like Google aren't held liable for content they host.

We're committed to reaching far beyond the results of the Budapest conference and the banks of the Danube to help ensure that online free expression, like the Internet itself, knows no borders.

Posted by Bob Boorstin, Director, Public Policy
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/discussing-free-expression-at-internet.html

[G] Peek inside our Friday afternoon mini “film fests”

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:21 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Peek inside our Friday afternoon mini "film fests"

When you work here, one of the most frequently asked questions from friends and acquaintances is, "So, do you get to watch YouTube videos all day at work?"



Unfortunately, the answer's no, but we do gobble up latest memes and must-see videos just as much as anyone else in the YouTube community. And every couple weeks, we do this gobbling (nom nom nom!) together, during our mini "YouTube Film Fest."



We start with a fresh Google Moderator to collect and rank staff submissions. Employees add and vote on all their favorite videos until the date of the next film fest. As with YouTube itself, our fests draw from a diverse array of tastes and experiences. At any given showing, you might expect to see weird science, feats of endurance, shocking optical illusions and, of course, adorable pets.



If it's a busy couple weeks and the Moderator's looking slim, no problem. I just search company Buzz to find out what people are watching, liking and sharing. I curate these YouTube videos to create the Film Fest playlist. Then, come Friday afternoon, I cook up some popcorn, fill a cooler with drinks, draw the shades and hit "Play All." The new playlist bar streamlines the viewing experience, so videos play continuously and/or we can quickly and easily jump ahead to the next clip.



What about you? Do you ever host YouTube viewing parties? How do they work? What tools do you use, and where do you archive your playlists? Tell us in the comments below (though please note comments are moderated due to spam).



John McCallen, User Experience, recently watched "Curious Stroboscopic Effect."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/P1XbifWgsu8/peek-inside-our-friday-afternoon-mini.html
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