Friday, January 7, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] A Sneak Peek of Android 3.0, Honeycomb

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 08:47 PM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: A Sneak Peek of Android 3.0, Honeycomb

The past few weeks have been exciting ones for the Android team: we recently released Nexus S and Android 2.3, Gingerbread, and we've even had some of our most popular team members take a trip to space. But we haven't stopped buzzing with excitement: today at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, we previewed Android 3.0, Honeycomb.

Honeycomb is the next version of the Android platform, designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. We've spent a lot of time refining the user experience in Honeycomb, and we've developed a brand new, truly virtual and holographic user interface. Many of Android's existing features will really shine on Honeycomb: refined multi-tasking, elegant notifications, access to over 100,000 apps on Android Market, home screen customization with a new 3D experience and redesigned widgets that are richer and more interactive. We've also made some powerful upgrades to the web browser, including tabbed browsing, form auto-fill, syncing with your Google Chrome bookmarks, and incognito mode for private browsing.

Honeycomb also features the latest Google Mobile innovations including Google Maps 5 with 3D interactions and offline reliability, access to over 3 million Google eBooks, and Google Talk, which now allows you to video and voice chat with any other Google Talk enabled device (PC, tablet, etc).

Please stay tuned for more Honeycomb news from the Android team. For now, you can get a taste of Honeycomb by checking out this video.


Posted by Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/sneak-peak-of-android-30-honeycomb.html

[G] YouTube Highlights 1/6/2011

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 07:55 PM PST

Official Google Blog: YouTube Highlights 1/6/2011

This is the latest in our series of YouTube highlights. Every couple of weeks, we bring you regular updates on new product features, interesting programs to watch and tips you can use to grow your audience on YouTube. Just look for the label "YouTube Highlights" and subscribe to the series. – Ed.

Happy New Year! Since our last update, we've rolled out some new programs and features to help you share and discover great video content on YouTube. We've also got advice and tips on how to succeed as a videomaker, content publisher or advertiser on YouTube.

Sports favorites on YouTube and ESPN
More than 2,000 YouTubers submitted sports videos to "Play of the Year," vying to make it onto ESPN's SportsCenter. After closely reviewing thousands of entries, we'd like to congratulate the winner of the latest YouTube | ESPN Your Highlight Presented by AT&T, Jay Fleming of Nashville, TN. In this video, shot by his father, the one-armed swimmer won his heat in the 25m fly at the 2010 Nashville city swim meet. See the runners-up here.



YouTube Trends feature helps you find your favorite content
With 35 hours of video now being uploaded to YouTube every minute, keeping up can be a challenge. With YouTube Trends, you can watch the hottest local videos in your area and see how to stay on top of the latest popular videos and content overall on YouTube. Tune in so you don't miss YouTube's best content.

New capabilities for YouTube
We've been working to make it easier customize your YouTube experience so you can both discover and share great content.
  • Personalize your own YouTube homepage. Opt in to try enhancements such as recommended videos based on your viewing history, what your friends are up to, a single place to view all the videos you've subscribed to and more.
  • Send a personal video greeting. We've made it easier for friends and families to stay in touch through video greetings. Try the "Unlisted" feature to share videos with a specific URL so only those people you want to view a video will see it.
  • Customize your personal video greeting using background themes and other bells and whistles. You can quickly make original videos starting with video templates from third-party tools from Animoto, Stupeflix and Xtranormal.
New $1,000+ partner grants
Whether you're a filmmaker, musician or other content provider, you can continue to build the next generation of media companies as a YouTube partner. To help spur our partners' success, 500 of our top 2010 partners worldwide received new grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to help fund the necessary tools (cameras, sound equipment, etc.) to produce even higher-quality videos and garner bigger audiences.

Useful advice and tips for filmmakers
The web and YouTube continue to change filmmaking and online video publishing, and you can take part.
Ads Worth Spreading with TED
TED and YouTube have issued a challenge called Ads Worth Spreading, and you're invited to submit an entry. TED's mission is to spread worthy ideas around the world—and why should advertising be different? We believe that advertising should make you think, respond and want to share—whether it's a great idea, a product that makes the world better or an initiative that might change the world. So create an ad that makes a difference—see the submission rules here.

We'll update you again in a few weeks. In the meantime, get more info from us on the YouTube Blog.

Posted by Serena Satyasai, Marketing Manager, The YouTube Team
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/youtube-highlights-162011.html

[G] Fresh year, fresh start

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 05:10 PM PST

Inside AdSense: Fresh year, fresh start

Welcome to 2011! Though it may be hard to stick to all of your New Year's resolutions (we can't say no to donuts either) we want to help keep you on track by giving you ten quick and easy AdSense resolutions you can be sure to keep:
  • Enable text and image ads so all available advertisers can bid to appear on your site.
  • Use wider ad units which are more reader-friendly and used by more advertisers
  • Use channels to measure the outcome of any tests you run by grouping and tracking ad units as you choose.
  • Turn those channels into ad placements so advertisers can pick specific groups of ad units on your site that they want to target.
  • Go through the AdSense checklist to learn about new AdSense features and brush up on your program knowledge.
  • Follow us on Twitter to get quick updates on the latest features, AdSense tips, and Google highlights.
  • Join the conversation in the Help Forum to connect with other publishers and get your questions answered.
  • Bookmark our troubleshooter so you can quickly diagnose and fix the issue should ads stop showing on your site.
Over here in AdSense, we have some resolutions of our own to keep. Our top priority is to focus on growing and strengthening our relationships with all of you, our valued publishers. We're working on ways to make Google's publisher solutions more seamless and integrated, so you don't miss any opportunities to maximize revenue and enhance your online content. The recent launch of the new AdSense interface is just the start of what the new year holds for future improvements. We're constantly innovating and we encourage you to do the same.

We hope these tips help you start the year off with a bang. And treat yourself to a donut with the extra revenue you earn -- we promise not to tell.

Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSense team
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2011/01/fresh-year-fresh-start.html

[G] This week in Docs: Video player in the document list

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 12:35 PM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: This week in Docs: Video player in the document list

Happy New Year! We're starting this year by making it easier to view memories from 2010 that you've uploaded to your document list directly in your browser. Just click on a video in a supported format and press play.

Please note that some videos uploaded earlier last year might not have been processed yet and will be available soon. Also, newly uploaded videos may take some time to process before they are available for viewing.

So what are you waiting for? Press play!

Posted by: Patrick Lacz, Software Engineer
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-week-in-docs-video-player-in.html

[G] How a Google Voice text saved Christmas

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 12:26 PM PST

Google Voice Blog: How a Google Voice text saved Christmas

My boyfriend and I traveled from San Francisco to NYC to visit my family for Christmas and meet my newborn niece for the first time. About an hour after takeoff, he started frantically checking his pockets, and jacket and bags, only to discover that he had left his driver's license at the airport.

This presented us with what could have been a major headache when trying to get through security on our way home.

Thankfully, his sister was staying at his apartment and had access to his passport. But she was leaving to drive to their mother's house that morning, so contacting her couldn't wait until we landed five hours later.

That's where Google Voice came in.

We fired up his laptop, connected to in-flight wi-fi (which happened to be free), logged into his Google Voice account, and sent her a text message. Thankfully she hadn't left his place yet, so we texted her my parents' address and she headed to the UPS store to have it shipped overnight—and it arrived on our NY doorstep in no time.

Crisis averted thanks to a text from 35,000 feet in the sky.

If you would like to send free text messages from the sky (or comfortably on the ground), log in to your Google Voice account and click the Text button. You can enter a phone number or start typing a name from your Contacts to auto-populate the name and number of the person you are trying to text.



Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager
URL: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-google-voice-text-saved-christmas.html

[G] A sneak peek at “Life in a Day”

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:56 AM PST

Official Google Blog: A sneak peek at "Life in a Day"

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

In December, we announced that "Life in a Day," a documentary film directed by Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald, produced by Ridley Scott, and filmed on July 24, 2010 by thousands of YouTube users around the world, was finished—and would have its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival on January 27.

Today we'd like to share with you the first in a series of clips we'll release between now and the world premiere. In this clip, beautifully shot by Toniu Xou and Patricia Marinez del Hoyoa of Spain, a young girl climbs a human castle in the small town of San Jaume dels Domenys in the Spanish province of Tarragona.



If watching this clip gets you excited for more, subscribe to the Life in a Day channel to be automatically updated when new clips are released.

And, most importantly, don't forget to tune into the world premiere of "Life in a Day" at 5pm PT on Thursday, January 27, to see the 1,125 clips—out of more than 80,000 submitted—that made it into the final film.

Live in an incompatible time zone? Not to worry. The film will be re-broadcast at 7pm on Friday, January 28, in your local time zone, whatever that may be. This will be your only chance to see "Life in a Day" before it is released later in 2011, so don't miss out!

And for those of you who want to experience Sundance even more intimately, check out the Life in a Day channel daily from January 24 to January 27 to see on-the-ground updates from Kevin Macdonald and a group of contributors to the "Life in a Day" project whom Kevin has invited to join him for the world premiere. You can also submit questions on the channel during that time for a chance to take part in a live Q&A with Kevin and the 20 contributors following the world premiere.

Posted by Tim Partridge, Product Marketing Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/sneak-peek-at-life-in-day.html

[G] Spam takes another hit: email authentication now available to millions of Google Apps customers

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:19 AM PST

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Spam takes another hit: email authentication now available to millions of Google Apps customers

Google has been an early and consistent supporter of email authentication technologies, which help ensure senders are who they say they are, and in turn help to curb spam. Since we launched Gmail in 2004, we have supported email-signing standards such as DomainKeys and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to help validate outbound mail with digital signatures. On the inbound side, to help our users identify email from verified senders, in 2008 we worked with eBay and PayPal to authenticate their mail with DKIM and block all unsigned messages purportedly from those companies destined for Gmail users.

But the spam and phishing epidemics aren't letting up – every day Gmail filters out billions of unwanted messages from our users' inboxes – so we've been focused on creating helpful tools and working with the email industry to bring solutions that will help our customers. Email authentication is an important mechanism to verify senders' identities, giving users a tool to recognize potential spam messages. In addition, many mail systems can display whether a received message is DKIM-verified, which helps spam filters verify and assess the overall reputation of the sender's domain: messages from untrusted senders are treated more skeptically than those from good senders.

Today, we mark another notch in the spam-fighting belt: we're making it possible for all Google Apps customers to sign their outgoing messages with DKIM, so their sent mail is less likely to get caught up in recipients' spam filters. Google Apps is the first major email platform – including on-premises providers – to offer simple DKIM signing at no extra cost. Once again, the power of the cloud has made it possible for us to bring this feature to millions of customers quickly and affordably.


"We help the most-phished brands on the Internet manage their mail authentication programs, and the Google Apps solution is the simplest that we've encountered. Configuring DKIM for in-house systems requires plug-ins or additional gateway servers, making a company's mail environment more complex and difficult to manage. As a Google Apps customer, this feature took us only a few clicks in the control panel and an update of our DNS," said Kelly Wanser, CEO of eCert Systems, an industry leader in providing critical protection against email fraud.

Starting today, all Google Apps administrators can enable DKIM signing in the "Advanced Tools" tab of the control panel. As more email providers around the world support DKIM signing, spam fighters will have an even more reliable signal to separate unwanted mail from good mail. We're pleased to let millions more organizations use DKIM with this improvement.

Posted by Adam Dawes, Google Enterprise Product Manager
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/01/spam-takes-another-hit-email.html

[G] Creating a safer email environment

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:18 AM PST

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Creating a safer email environment

While most organizations using Google Apps provide unrestricted email access to their users, some schools and businesses need to maintain a safer and more secure environment by allowing certain users to only send and receive email within the organization. This "walled garden" approach has been a popular feature request for K-12 schools looking to provide additional safeguards for student email. It can also help businesses where the email access of particular contractors and other groups should be limited.

Today, Google Apps administrators can create policies specifying who their users can communicate with over email, and administrators can tailor these policies for different groups of users. For example, school faculty and staff can have unrestricted email access while students have the freedom to send and receive emails within the school community but are protected from unwanted email interactions with outsiders.

"Using these new controls finally gives us the ability to provide email to our 40,000 high school students. We are confident that this will help protect our children from inappropriate communications and excited about new class activities and collaboration that email will bring. Not all kids are comfortable speaking up in class and this gives many of them another avenue to approach their teachers," said Laurie Tranmer, Email Services Manager at Prince George's County Public Schools.

This feature will be rolling out over the next couple of days to Google Apps for Business, Education and Government customers. Administrators can configure their policies in the "Advanced Tools" section of the control panel.

Posted by Adam Dawes, Google Apps Product Manager
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/01/set-limits-on-email-use-within-your.html

[G] Meet Your Google Affiliate Network Team at Affiliate Summit West

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:17 AM PST

Google Affiliate Network: Meet Your Google Affiliate Network Team at Affiliate Summit West

The Google Affiliate Network team will join our fellow affiliate marketers at Affiliate Summit West January 9-11 at  the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. 

We are looking forward to this annual industry gathering and the opportunity to start the new year by spending some time with our valued advertisers and publishers.  Stop by the Google booth to meet your team and get ready for the playoffs with a Google Affiliate Network rocket football.

Affiliate Summit West
Google Affiliate Network 
Booth #235 

See you soon!

Posted by: Kristin Hall, Manager, Network Development 
URL: http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2011/01/meet-your-google-affiliate-network-team.html
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