Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Googland

Googland

[G] Gulliver powers Lonely Planet’s Trippy travel planning apps

Posted: 01 Dec 2010 12:32 AM PST

Google Open Source Blog: Gulliver powers Lonely Planet's Trippy travel planning apps

Gulliver is an open source platform from Google that helps users plan trips in real time with their friends. Using Gulliver, you can create applications for mobile, iGoogle, and mobile web platforms that make it easy to build and share itineraries using Google Maps resources and Lonely Planet recommended itinerary items.

You can use Gulliver to:
• Create, share, and sync trips between the AppEngine web application, iGoogle, and the Android application
• Create scheduled and unscheduled trips
• See Lonely Planet recommendations for hotels, activities, sights, restaurants, and more for top destinations
• Seamlessly show parallel Google results when there are no Lonely Planet results
• Rate and comment on items
• Create custom items
• On iGoogle, drag and drop items from the map into the itinerary list
• On Android phones, take photos from within the app
A fully functional consumer app has been built on the Gulliver code base: Lonely Planet's Trippy. Trippy combines the travel expertise of Lonely Planet with the power of Google web search and Google Maps.

Trippy for iGoogle (click image to enlarge)

Trippy for mobile web (click image to enlarge)

Guilliver was created as a 20% time project, a well-known part of our philosophy and company culture which enables engineers to spend one day a week working on projects that aren't necessarily in our job descriptions. We can use the time to develop something new, or if we see something that's broken, we can use the time to fix it. And now you can take these open source apps and run with them! We're making that possible by rolling them out to the open source community under the Apache license.

Want to get involved with Gulliver and help us make it an even better application? Join the Gulliver team! To get started, just visit our project page, join the community, and download the code.

By David Yu Chen and Alex Cuthbert, Google Gulliver 20% time team
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/11/gulliver-powers-lonely-planets-trippy.html

[G] Measure how customers interact with your ads

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:41 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Measure how customers interact with your ads

New AdWords features such as Product ads, Sitelinks and Click-to-call allow you to create more interactive ads. Product ads and Sitelinks help customers find the most relevant pages on your website and Click-to-call allows customers to call your business directly from the search results.

As ads become more interactive, you might want to know how they'll impact your business's key metrics like clicks, click-through-rates and, most importantly, conversions.

To help answer this question, we've added a new report to your AdWords account that allows you to measure the performance of each click type you're using. You can think of a click type as how your customers interact with your ads. Did they click on the headline, a sitelink, or some other aspect of your ad?

You can access the new click type report in the Campaign, Ad groups or Keywords tabs. Select "Segment" then "Click type."




With this added data, you'll now have the ability to compare performance of each click type side by side. If certain click types perform well for your business, you may want to consider expanding them to other campaigns. Comparing click types by campaign, ad group or keyword will also highlight areas that need work.

Given the success we've seen searchers and businesses have with more interactive features in ads, you can expect to see more of these types of features in the future. With the new click type report in AdWords you can measure the impact of these new features and continue to get the most out of your ads.

Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-adwords-features-such-as-product.html

[G] Welcome, Google Apps users!

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:41 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Welcome, Google Apps users!

Google Apps recently launched an improvement that made dozens of Google services available to Google Apps users for the first time. As part of this launch, Google AdWords is now available to our Google Apps users with their Apps accounts.

Google Apps is Google's suite of cloud-based messaging and collaboration apps used by over 30 million users in small businesses, large enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations around the world. If your organization hasn't gone Google yet you can learn more about how to lower IT costs and improve productivity and collaboration with Google Apps.

For those current AdWords users who have a Google Apps account, we're currently in the process of wrapping up some necessary infrastructure work to ensure that the transition for those users will be a seamless process. For new users without data to transition, if your administrator has enabled this service you can begin using AdWords with your existing Apps account at adwords.google.com today.

For more details, read the complete post on the Google Enterprise blog and follow all the updates on other newly available services for Google Apps users.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/welcome-google-apps-users.html

[G] Learn about media planning in a live course in the AdWords Online Classroom

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:41 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Learn about media planning in a live course in the AdWords Online Classroom

This Wednesday December 1st, we'll be hosting a live course on media planning in the AdWords Online Classroom. The course will highlight the best practices of media planning and break down the planning process into 5 simple stages. We'll also give an overview of a number of Google tools that you can use to achieve high ROI, relevance and reach for your Google Display Network campaigns.

The course will be delivered by an Online Media Specialist and will last for approximately 1 hour, including time for Q&A. It will take place on Wednesday December 1st, 2010 3pm - 4pm BST / GMT+1 (London), 10am-11am EDT (New York), 7am-8am PDT (San Francisco).

Make sure to sign up now if you're interested!

Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/11/learn-about-media-planning-in-live.html

[G] A whole new world of Street View

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:38 PM PST

Google LatLong: A whole new world of Street View


Google Earth has always enabled you virtually fly around the world from the comfort of your home, but there are a lot of great places to explore on the ground as well. So when we sat down to enhance the Street View experience for version 6, we focused on improving not only how you fly around but also how you land and explore the world at street level. Although Street View is technically a big collection of photos, we want you to feel like you're actually walking down the street instead of jumping from photo to photo. Today, we're proud to show off this concept in the new version of Street View in Google Earth 6.


To do this, we took the ideas that were developed for Smart Navigation in Google Maps and pushed them even further. Using the panoramic images and 3D depth data from our Street View vehicles, we built 3D street scenes and integrated them into Google Earth. As you move along the street, we blend together different panoramas to create the illusion of one continuous 3D scene.

To help you navigate, we've also added new controls for ground-level viewing: use the scroll-wheel to move forward and backward, double-click to move towards a point, and click-and-drag to look around. Since we don't have images for every viewpoint in the world, moving away from the spot where a photo was taken can look weird at times. So using the double-click and scroll wheel features will navigate you to the clearest view. For the more adventurous, the keyboard arrows also enable you move freely through the environment but with some distortion.

Because Street View is now fully integrated into Google Earth, your place in Street View matches your location in 3D. This means that you can easily see 3D buildings, terrain, and now 3D trees by toggling from Street View to ground-level view — simply click on the building icon in the navigation controls. Take a look at these two different images of the same location, one in Street View and one in ground-level view.


The easiest way to enter the new Street View experience is by grabbing the Pegman from the navigation controls, and dropping him wherever there is a blue highlighted road. You can also enter Street View by zooming in close to the ground. And of course, you can exit at any time by clicking on the "Exit" button.

So head out and explore the world from the streets! Here's a tutorial video to demonstrate how to use the new Street View in Google Earth 6:



Posted by Greg Coombe, Google Earth Engineer
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/whole-new-world-of-street-view.html

[G] Video: How To Hotpot

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:38 PM PST

Google LatLong: Video: How To Hotpot

[Cross-posted from the Hotpot Community Blog]

As you know, we recently announced the launch of Hotpot, our new local recommendation engine for Google Places, powered by you and your friends. In the following video, Mat Balez, a Google product manager, talks more about how to find the places you'll love using Hotpot.



Posted by Vanessa Schneider, Hotpot Team
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/video-how-to-hotpot.html

[G] Learn about the human side of climate change with Kofi Annan

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:38 PM PST

Google LatLong: Learn about the human side of climate change with Kofi Annan

[Cross-posted on the Google.org and Official Google Blog]

Climate change is too often misunderstood to be simply an environmental issue, rather than a human issue. For our children and grandchildren, climate change is an issue of public health, economics, global security and social equity. This human side of climate change is explained in a new Google Earth tour narrated by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Within these stories, you'll find data and tools to explore this topic in more depth, and meet some of the people who are actively working on managing the risks of climate variability and change. We encourage you to take the tour to learn more about these human issues and the inspiring work of groups like the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) that are helping farmers cope with climate change. We hope this video will serve as a useful tool as educators help students around the world understand the complexity of this issue.



This is the latest in our series of climate change tours that we're releasing leading up to the global U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) talks in Cancun, Mexico this week.

As part of the Google Earth for Educators Community, we've also created a special Climate Change Educators Resources page that teachers can use in their classrooms. Here, teachers can find the tools they need to create lesson plans about climate change, including all the individual Google Earth KML layers available for download. Teachers and students can overlay multiple data layers that help illustrate climate change, and discuss and analyze them as part of K-12 and higher education curriculum. We're also looking for lessons plans for any school grade that use this narrated tour or these Google Earth KML layers, so if you're a teacher or instructor, please submit your lesson plan for review now.


Visit google.com/landing/cop16/climatetours.html or the Climate Change Educators Resources page to learn more about climate change today.

Posted by Dr. Amy Luers, Google.org
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/learn-about-human-side-of-climate.html

[G] Mapplets to transition out of Google Maps

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 05:38 PM PST

Google LatLong: Mapplets to transition out of Google Maps

[Cross-posted from the Google Geo Developers Blog]

Earlier this year we announced the deprecation of Google Mapplets. As part of the deprecation plan for Mapplets we will shortly be switching from rendering Mapplets within Google Maps, to rendering them on a dedicated Mapplets page:

http://maps.google.com/maps/mapplets?moduleurl=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/geoscratchpad.xml

In conjunction with this transition the Google Maps Directory will be closed, and links to Mapplets will be removed from the My Maps tab in Google Maps.

Bookmarks for existing Mapplets will continue to work. They will be automatically redirected to the new Mapplets page for the relevant Mapplet. The Mapplets page also has the minimum necessary UI elements so that it is better suited to embedding in third party sites using an iframe.

However because the Mapplets page is not part of the Google Maps application, Mapplets will no longer have access to Google Maps user profiles, which means that User Preferences will no longer be stored between sessions. Users accessing Mapplets will now always see the default behaviour when the Mapplet first loads.

The above changes will be made on or shortly after Wednesday December 8th 2010. If your web site recommends one or more Mapplets by linking to the Directory we recommend that you update your site to link directly to the Mapplets page, or embed the relevant Mapplets page in your site, as soon as possible.

Posted by Thor Mitchell, Google Maps API Product Manager

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/mapplets-to-transition-out-of-google.html

[G] Tips and Tricks: Images in cells

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 01:29 PM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Tips and Tricks: Images in cells

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, you can now insert images into a cell. With the image() formula you can link to a publicly accessible image and control how it will look with optional parameters. This is useful for bringing a visual element to your spreadsheets for things such as a product catalog listing.

For example the formula
=image("http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/srpr/logo1w.png", 1) will scale the image down in the current cell. With other parameters you can choose from a variety of sizing options including size to fit, stretch, original size, and even specify a custom size.


Try them all out using this template and let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted by: Li-Wei Lee, Senior Software Engineer
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/11/tips-and-tricks-images-in-cells.html

[G] New in Labs: Recently used emoji

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 01:03 PM PST

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Recently used emoji

Posted by Darren Lewis, Software Engineer

When we added emoticons in Gmail, you responded with a nice big smile , but then you asked for more. So we added hundreds more emoticons through Gmail Labs. "But alas!" you cried. "How can I ever keep up with so many different choices? I am overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of emotion , amusement , and cute animals that Gmail has to offer." Well, don't despair, fine purveyor of emoticons. There is now a solution: "Recently Used Emoji" in Gmail Labs, which keeps track of the ten most recent emoticons you've used, and saves them for easy access. To turn it on, just visit the Labs tab of Gmail Settings.


No more searching through dozens of cat faces for the one that says, "I miss you, but I'm still ambivalent about our weekend plans." You can now triumph over the plethora of emoticons, and easily add a pile of emotion to any email that you choose — let us know how it goes.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-in-labs-recently-used-emoji.html

[G] Deck the halls with smarter shopping

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 11:48 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Deck the halls with smarter shopping

To paraphrase an old adage, 'tis the season to go shopping—and this year, 'tis the season for shopping smart. Beginning en masse on Thanksgiving, when a significant number of major retailers opened their doors to allow bargain detectives to take advantage of early deals, people have been showing their shopping savvy, with no signs of stopping.

Using Insights for Search and research data from a Google/OTX study, we took a look at some trends we're seeing from consumers in the U.S.—a new kind of shopper, the rise of mobile and a near-seamless online-to-store connection—and then satisfied our inner cool-seeker by taking a look at some of the most searched-for holiday gifts.

The new shopper
This year's holiday shoppers are the smartest searchers in history. They're searching for more specific terms and looking for more information than ever—from printable coupons to take into their local store, to the location of said stores; some people are even scanning barcodes to get more information about a product.

For example, searches for [black friday ads], [thanksgiving coupons], [black friday shipping code] and [buy one get one free] skyrocketed this year, as super-smart shoppers did their research before heading online or to the stores. They also made sure to get ahead of the Cyber Monday game: searches for things like [cyber monday deals] and [cyber monday sales] rose much quicker and earlier this year than last.


Shoppers didn't stop looking for information once Cyber Monday arrived: [best cyber monday deals 2010] was the second-fastest rising search in the U.S. yesterday. Other top searches related to Cyber Monday included:


Mobile matters
For years, we've heard that it's "the year of mobile." This year it's actually true, and people are embracing access to information on the go. Anyone who has a smartphone has a personal assistant now—and in their pocket, no less! People are using their mobile phones to compare prices, look for store locations and inventory in stock locally, and find deals.

According to research we conducted with OTX, 52% of U.S. smartphone users plan to use their phone to compare prices during the holiday shopping season and 40% plan to use their phones to read product reviews. We've seen evidence of this trend through the increased use of Google Shopper, a mobile shopping app that helps shoppers on the go research items and find the best place to buy them—whether online or in a nearby store.

Online meets offline
This year, both consumers and retailers are thinking about shopping differently. Gone is the wall between online and offline research and purchasing; consumers think about online and offline behavior relatively seamlessly these days—and retailers do too. Retailers are integrating things like inventory data across channels so that people can find what they're looking for easily, online and off. Search queries show this crystal clear connection between information-hunting online and purchasing offline.

Searches for [black friday store hours], [printable coupons], and specific store names and hours have risen dramatically in the last year, as consumers do their homework prior to leaving home to shop.


Hot holiday gifts
Each holiday shopping season brings with it a number of buzzworthy toys. While we can't be sure which toys will be on that list this year, searches for a number of items have risen significantly in recent weeks and months.

Those looking for toys for all ages have recently looked for information related to [squinkies], [lalaloopsy], [educational toys] and [ereaders]; searches for all of the above have risen dramatically in the past 30 days, as have searches for classic toys such as [legos] and [cabbage patch kids].

For lovers of a different kind of gift, a royal engagement may have prompted a rush on sapphire rings; searches for the same have risen dramatically in the past 30 days.


If you'd like to learn more about this year's holiday shopping season, including some tidbits on what retailers are thinking, check out the Google Retail Blog for useful information.

In the meantime, happy (smart) shopping—and we hope you had a fruitful Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Posted by Dan Schock, Google Retail Industry Director
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/deck-halls-with-smarter-shopping.html

[G] Learn about the human side of climate change with Kofi Annan

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 11:48 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Learn about the human side of climate change with Kofi Annan

(Cross-posted on the Google.org and LatLong Blogs)

Climate change is too often misunderstood to be simply an environmental issue, rather than a human issue. For our children and grandchildren, climate change is an issue of public health, economics, global security and social equity. This human side of climate change is explained in a new Google Earth tour narrated by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Within these stories, you'll find data and tools to explore this topic in more depth, and meet some of the people who are actively working on managing the risks of climate variability and change. We encourage you to take the tour to learn more about these human issues and the inspiring work of groups like the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) that are helping farmers cope with climate change. We hope this video will serve as a useful tool as educators help students around the world understand the complexity of this issue.



This is the latest in our series of climate change tours that we're releasing leading up to the global U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) talks in Cancun, Mexico this week.

As part of the Google Earth for Educators Community, we've also created a special Climate Change Educators Resources page that teachers can use in their classrooms. Here, teachers can find the tools they need to create lesson plans about climate change, including all the individual Google Earth KML layers available for download. Teachers and students can overlay multiple data layers that help illustrate climate change, and discuss and analyze them as part of K-12 and higher education curriculum. We're also looking for lessons plans for any school grade that use this narrated tour or these Google Earth KML layers, so if you're a teacher or instructor, please submit your lesson plan for review now.


Visit google.com/landing/cop16/climatetours.html or the Climate Change Educators Resources page to learn more about climate change today.

Posted by Dr. Amy Luers, Google.org
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/learn-about-human-side-of-climate.html

[G] Improving team collaboration and productivity with Google Sites

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 10:58 AM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Improving team collaboration and productivity with Google Sites

If you're interested in learning more about Google Sites, this cross post from the Google Enterprise Blog might interest you.

Effective collaboration has become a key driver to improve team productivity. Project teams, often located across disparate locations and time zones, produce and distribute content in different formats and platforms. Teams need to consolidate relevant information in one place that's easy to navigate and retrieve. Contributors and reviewers have specific needs to manage the creative process, maintain the project plan and keep all stakeholders informed.

With Google Sites, you can easily manage projects and create, share, find, and publish content across your organization. Easy to use features such as site and page templates and embedded documents make it easy for any user to create useful sites. Google Sites can be used for company intranets, portals, team project and more. Furthermore, the Google Sites API gives third-party developers a way to access, integrate with, and extend the platform. The To-Do gadget is an example of extending a Google Site with a tool that can enable teams to track and manage tasks.

Join Scott Johnston, Group Product Manager of Google Sites, and me for a live webinar on Tuesday, December 7th to learn more about improving collaboration and team productivity. I'll start with an overview of Google Sites and highlight features that can help teams be more productive. We will be featuring a live demo.

Register to attend the live webinar on 12/7 @ 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6 pm GMT.

We hope to see you there.

Posted by Lisa Ding, Google Sites Team
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/11/improving-team-collaboration-and.html
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