Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:37 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

Your votes are in. The professionals have had their say. And now, 101 people from more than 30 countries around the world are heading to Sydney Opera House to perform together in March as the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011.



These final 101 outstanding musicians—who range in age from 14 to 49, and hail from five different continents—have emerged from the 336 finalists selected last month by partner orchestras worldwide (including London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and Sydney Symphony). Your votes on those finalists then helped artistic advisor Tilson Thomas and composer Mason Bates settle on the final line-up.

Among the final group is a vuvuzela-fixated trombonist from Germany, an Arizona-based clarinetist who has never left the U.S. and a Guzheng player from China, whose instrument is one a lot of the world has never seen or heard before. They'll come together from March 14 to prepare for a final performance on Sunday, March 20, which will be streamed live to the world on YouTube.



We want to open up every stage of the orchestra process. We called for auditions from around the world on YouTube and were blown away by the amazing videos we received in response; the YouTube community voted on their favorites and visited the channel in their millions; and now we're inviting you to join the winning musicians as they begin their creative journey to Sydney. We'll post their videos and behind-the-scenes footage of the orchestra—from rehearsal and master classes to performance—to the YouTube Symphony channel, and to our mobile apps (which you can download on the Android Market by searching for [youtube symphony orchestra] or Apple App Store). In March we'll start broadcasting from Sydney, so tune in!

Next stop: Sydney.

Posted by Jamie Dolling, Marketing Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/meet-youtube-symphony-orchestra-2011.html

[G] Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 09:29 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

Your votes are in. The professionals have had their say. And now, 101 people from more than 30 countries around the world are heading to Sydney Opera House to perform together in March as the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011.







These final 101 outstanding musicians — who range in age from 14 to 49, and hail from five different continents — have emerged from the 336 finalists selected last month by partner orchestras worldwide (including London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and Sydney Symphony). Your votes on those finalists then helped artistic advisor Michael Tilson Thomas and composer Mason Bates settle on the final line-up.



Among the final group is a vuvuzela-fixated trombonist from Germany, an Arizona-based clarinetist who has never left the U.S. and a Guzheng player from China, whose instrument is one a lot of the world has never seen or heard before. They'll come together from March 14 to prepare for a final performance on Sunday, March 20, which will be streamed live to the world on YouTube.










We want to open up every stage of the orchestra process. We called for auditions from around the world on YouTube and were blown away by the amazing videos we received in response; the YouTube community voted on their favorites and visited the channel in their millions; and now we're inviting you to join the winning musicians as they begin their creative journey to Sydney. We'll post their videos and behind-the-scenes footage of the orchestra — from rehearsal and master classes to performance — to the YouTube Symphony channel, and to our mobile apps (which you can download on the Android Market or Apple App Store). In March we'll start broadcasting from Sydney, so tune in!



Next stop: Sydney.



Jamie Dolling, Marketing Manager, recently watched "Synergy: Unsung Heroes".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/K2TMmkgJgLY/meet-youtube-symphony-orchestra-2011_10.html

[G] Google Goggles gets faster, smarter and solves Sudoku

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 06:45 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Google Goggles gets faster, smarter and solves Sudoku

(Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog)

Today we're launching a new version of Google Goggles that's faster and smarter than ever before. The new Goggles 1.3 client for Android can scan barcodes almost instantly. All versions of Goggles can now recognize print ads in popular magazines and newspapers. Finally, Goggles has also learned a fun new trick for Sudoku fans.

Barcodes
When shopping offline, it's helpful to be able to learn more about a product by scanning its barcode. With the new Android version of Google Goggles, scanning barcodes is much faster. Open Goggles and hover over the barcode or QR code. Within a second the phone gently vibrates and presents results, without requiring a button press. Simply tap on the result to read product reviews, check in-store availability and compare prices.



Print ads in magazines and newspapers
We're excited to take another step in our vision of connecting offline media to online media. The next time you're flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine, try taking a picture of an ad with Goggles. Goggles will recognize print ad and return web search results about the product or brand. This new feature of Goggles is enabled for print ads appearing in major U.S. magazines and newspapers from August 2010 onwards.


This feature is different from the marketing experiment that we announced in November. We're now recognizing a much broader range of ads than we initially included in our marketing experiment. And when we recognize a print ad, we return web search results. While in the experiment, we return a specific link to an external website.

Sudoku
Our favorite weekend distraction is a quiet 15 minutes spent solving a Sudoku puzzle. But even that can be an frustrating experience if (like us) you make a mistake and are unable to solve the puzzle. Now, Goggles on Android and iPhone can recognize puzzles and provide answers to help make you faster than a Sudoku champ. So if you ever get stuck, take a clear picture of the entire puzzle with Goggles and we'll tell you the correct solution. Check out this video to see how it works.


Google Goggles 1.3 with improved barcode scanning is available for download in Android Market. Recognition of print ads and Sudoku solver is now enabled for the Google Goggles app on Android, as well as the Goggles component of the Google Mobile App on iPhone.

Posted by Leon Palm and Jiayong Zhang, Software Engineers
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-goggles-gets-faster-smarter-and.html

[G] Custom Search integrated into Go Daddy websites

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 06:45 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Custom Search integrated into Go Daddy websites

Go Daddy, the world's largest domain name registrar and top web hosting provider, has made it easy for website owners to integrate Google Custom Search into their websites through its WebSite Tonight product.

WebSite Tonight is a do-it-yourself service that lets users create, design, update and publish websites without requiring any knowledge of HTML. The product offers 1,500+ design templates and enables you to very easily add widgets to your web pages. WebSite Tonight was named for its ease of use—you can create a website as quickly as one night.

Now, you have the option to add high-quality search across your website using Google Custom Search, simply by dragging and dropping a search box widget into your template. You can select from a set of predefined search themes, so the search results can be in harmony with the website's design. The screenshot below shows Custom Search integrated into an example website.


As a part of implementing Google Services for Websites, Go Daddy has also integrated Google Webmaster Tools. This enables Google to automatically receive Sitemaps for better discovery and indexing of a website—improving search quality both on the website and on Google.com.

We hope this drag-and-drop search box integration will help website owners easily provide a valuable service to their visitors, while also improving user retention and conversion on their sites.

To see step-by-step instructions for adding search to your GoDaddy website, visit the CSE blog.

Posted by Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/custom-search-integrated-into-go-daddy.html

[G] Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 03:29 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Meet the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011

Your votes are in. The professionals have had their say. And now, 101 people from more than 30 countries around the world are heading to Sydney Opera House to perform together in March as the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011.



These final 101 outstanding musicians — who range in age from 14 to 49, and hail from five different continents — have emerged from the 336 finalists selected last month by partner orchestras worldwide (including London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and Sydney Symphony). Your votes on those finalists then helped artistic advisor Michael Tilson Thomas and composer Mason Bates settle on the final line-up.

Among the final group is a vuvuzela-fixated trombonist from Germany, an Arizona-based clarinetist who has never left the U.S., and a Guzheng player from China whose instrument is one a lot of the world has never seen, or heard before. They'll come together from March 14 to prepare for a final performance on Sunday, March 20, which will be streamed live to the world on YouTube.



We want to open up every stage of the orchestra process. We called for auditions from around the world on YouTube and we were blown away by the amazing videos we received in response, the YouTube community voted on their favorites and visited the channel in their millions, and now we're inviting you to join the winning musicians as they begin their creative journey to Sydney. We'll post their videos and behind-the-scenes footage of the orchestra, from rehearsal and master classes to performance, to the YouTube Symphony channel, and to our mobile apps (which you can download on the Android Market or Apple App Store and in March we'll start broadcasting from Sydney, so tune in!

Next stop: Sydney.

Jamie Dolling, Marketing Manager, recently watched "Synergy: Unsung Heroes".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/NGN7txTfdCs/meet-youtube-symphony-orchestra-2011.html

[G] Positive news for negative keywords

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 02:10 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Positive news for negative keywords

Negative keywords are a great way to refine your keyword lists and filter out unwanted impressions for your campaigns. By excluding specific terms that aren't relevant to the services you offer, you can improve the relevance of your ads and make your campaigns more effective.

In addition to filtering out specific terms in the context of a single ad group or campaign, many advertisers maintain a set of core negative keywords across several campaigns. Examples of these terms might be free or trial -- search terms that aren't promising if you're looking to sell products on your website. Negative keywords like these don't require granular management on the campaign level, and we've heard from many of you that you'd like a more scalable way to manage these broadly-applicable sets of terms.

Now, we're happy to introduce a new way to manage negative keywords across multiple campaigns: negative keyword lists. With these lists, you'll be able to manage a group of negative keywords in your account's Control Panel and Library and associate them with multiple campaigns.


For example, say you have a set of negative keywords you always add to any campaign running on the Search Network. Previously, you'd need to copy that set to every new search campaign you created in your account. Now, with shared lists, you can simply create a single negative keyword list and associate it with each search campaign. If there's a new negative keyword you'd like to add to all of those campaigns, just add it to your list and it will automatically update across each campaign. Similarly, if you create a new campaign, you can add your negative keyword list to exclude all of the necessary terms with just a few clicks.

Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to get started with negative keyword lists.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/positive-news-for-negative-keywords.html

[G] Kick off the year with updates from Picasa Web Albums

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 01:57 PM PST

Google Photos Blog: Kick off the year with updates from Picasa Web Albums

Posted by Lisa Conquergood, Photos Team Marketing

We are starting off the year with a few new features in Picasa Web Albums. From metadata, to security, to a new way to zoom, there is a little bit for everyone.

More metadata
For those of you who can't get enough of the technical side, we expanded the EXIF metadata (information stored inside of your image file) you can view for each photo. You can now get over 200 EXIF tags that are available from your photos including Metering Mode, White Space and Color Balance. From the individual photo page -- where you currently view 'Photo Information' like Camera, ISO, Aperture and Exposure -- click on "full details page" to view this new metadata information.

More security
Picasa Web Albums now supports https access. The https protocol encrypts your data as it travels between your web browser and our servers. Using https helps protect data from being snooped by third parties, such as in public wifi hotspots like a library or a coffee shop. We are working to make https the default but for now, to access Picasa Web Albums using this secure protocol, type "https" into your browser instead of "http," so "https://picasaweb.google.com instead of "http://picasaweb.google.com."


More oohs and ahhs
Now, you can view images in their full resolution splendor by clicking on the magnifying glass on the photos page. This will bring up your image in a lightbox view, from which you can zoom into the image, up to its full resolution. You will need flash to take advantage of this new feature. This works great for panoramas too.



Thank you to Mike Wiacek this beautiful image.
URL: http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2011/01/kick-off-year-with-updates-from-picasa.html

[G] Introducing the Google Science Fair!

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 12:12 PM PST

Official Google Docs Blog: Introducing the Google Science Fair!

Cross-posted on the Google Student Blog

Are you a 13-18 year old who loves science? If you are or know someone who is, you'll be psyched to know that Google is announcing the first ever global online science competition, the Google Science Fair, tomorrow, Tuesday January 11th.

To celebrate our launch, we're hosting a live event on youtube.com/googlesciencefair tomorrow, on January 11th at 9am EST. Tune in to get details about how you can submit your own project online and be inspired by some famous scientists so you'll be ready to prove you're the next Albert Einstein, Marie Curie or Dean Kamen.

Posted by: Cristin Frodella, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Education
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/01/introducing-google-science-fair.html

[G] Google Goggles gets faster, smarter and solves Sudoku

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 11:11 AM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Goggles gets faster, smarter and solves Sudoku

Today we're launching a new version of Google Goggles that's faster and smarter than ever before. The new Goggles 1.3 client for Android can scan barcodes almost instantly. All versions of Goggles can now recognize print ads in popular magazines and newspapers. Finally, Goggles has also learned a fun new trick for Sudoku fans.

Barcodes
When shopping offline, it's helpful to be able to learn more about a product by scanning its barcode. With the new Android version of Google Goggles, scanning barcodes is much faster. Open Goggles and hover over the barcode or QR code. Within a second the phone gently vibrates and presents results, without requiring a button press. Simply tap on the result to read product reviews, check in-store availability and compare prices.




Print ads in magazines and newspapers
We're excited to take another step in our vision of connecting offline media to online media. The next time you're flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine, try taking a picture of an ad with Goggles. Goggles will recognize print ad and return web search results about the product or brand. This new feature of Goggles is enabled for print ads appearing in major U.S. magazines and newspapers from August 2010 onwards.



This feature is different from the marketing experiment that we announced in November. We're now recognizing a much broader range of ads than we initially included in our marketing experiment. And when we recognize a print ad, we return web search results. While in the experiment, we return a specific link to an external website.

Sudoku
Our favorite weekend distraction is a quiet 15 minutes spent solving a Sudoku puzzle. But even that can be an frustrating experience if (like us) you make a mistake and are unable to solve the puzzle. Now, Goggles on Android and iPhone can recognize puzzles and provide answers to help make you faster than a Sudoku champ. So if you ever get stuck, take a clear picture of the entire puzzle with Goggles and we'll tell you the correct solution. Check out this video to see how it works.


Google Goggles 1.3 with improved barcode scanning is available for download in Android Market. Recognition of print ads and Sudoku solver is now enabled for the Google Goggles app on Android, as well as the Goggles component of the Google Mobile App on iPhone.

Posted by Leon Palm and Jiayong Zhang, Software Engineers
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-goggles-gets-faster-smarter-and.html

[G] Availability of WebM (VP8) Video Hardware IP Designs

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 10:55 AM PST

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: Availability of WebM (VP8) Video Hardware IP Designs

Hello from the frigid city of Oulu, in the far north of Finland. Our WebM hardware development team, formerly part of On2 Technologies, is now up-to-speed and working hard on a number of video efforts for WebM.
  • VP8 (the video codec used in WebM) hardware decoder IP is available from Google for semiconductor companies who want to support high-quality WebM playback in their chipsets.
  • The Oulu team will release the first VP8 video hardware encoder IP in the first quarter of 2011. We have the IP running in an FPGA environment, and rigorous testing is underway. Once all features have been tested and implemented, the encoder will be launched as well.
WebM video hardware IPs are implemented and delivered as RTL (VHDL/Verilog) source code, which is a register-level hardware description language for creating digital circuit designs. The code is based on the Hantro brand video IP from On2, which has been successfully deployed by numerous chipset companies around the world. Our designs support VP8 up to 1080p resolution and can run 30 or 60fps, depending on the foundry process and hardware clock frequency.

The WebM/VP8 hardware decoder implementation has already been licensed to over twenty partners and is proven in silicon. We expect the first commercial chips to integrate our VP8 decoder IP to be available in the first quarter of 2011. For example, Chinese semiconductor maker Rockchip last week demonstrated full WebM hardware playback on their new RK29xx series processor at CES in Las Vegas (video below).



Hardware implementations of the VP8 encoder also bring exciting possibilities for WebM in portable devices. Not only can hardware-accelerated devices play high-quality WebM content, but hardware encoding also enables high-resolution, real-time video communications apps on the same devices. For example, when VP8 video encoding is fully off-loaded to a hardware accelerator, you can run 720p or even 1080p video conferencing at full framerate on a portable device with minimal battery use.

The WebM hardware video IP team will be focusing on further developing the VP8 hardware designs while also helping our semiconductor partners to implement WebM video compression in their chipsets. If you have any questions, please write to hardware@webmproject.org.

Happy New Year to the WebM community!

Jani Huoponen, Product Manager
Aki Kuusela, Engineering Manager
URL: http://blog.webmproject.org/2011/01/availability-of-webm-vp8-video-hardware.html
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