Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Happy birthday from 20,000 leagues under the sea

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:37 PM PST

Official Google Blog: Happy birthday from 20,000 leagues under the sea

It wasn't very difficult for something to spark my imagination when I was a child—whether it was a pile of leaves or a couch of stackable cushions, just about anything could jump-start my creativity. My first encounter with Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, however, sent my imagination into hyper drive.

I first found the novel while browsing through a random aisle in my local library. The cover was dark, murky and a little worn—but it was the most spectacular thing I'd ever seen. A pair of old-fashioned divers drag their feet over the ocean floor, watching a school of fish drift by. They don't seem to notice the twisting silhouette of a monster inching toward them.

The cover alone pulled me in, but I didn't want to spoil all of the possible story lines by actually reading the book. Looking back, I realize that what fascinated me most was the unknown: a creative spark and the imaginative exploration that followed. Since then, I've become more familiar with his work and still believe that exploration is the essence of Verne's novels. His stories pull the readers into a world filled with infinite potential—be it in the clouds, on land or under the sea.

Today's doodle, celebrating Verne's 183rd birthday, tries to capture that sense of adventure and exploration. Using CSS3 (and with help from our resident tech wizards Marcin Wichary and Kris Hom), the doodle enables anyone to navigate the Nautilus down (nearly) 20,000 leagues with the simple pull of a lever. And for those using devices with built-in accelerometers and the latest versions of Google Chrome or Firefox, it's even simpler—just tilt your device in the direction you want to explore and the Nautilus will follow.

So voyage below (and above) the waves to see what you can discover... just make sure to keep an eye out for the giant squid.

Posted by Jennifer Hom, Google Doodler
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-birthday-from-20000-leagues-under.html

[G] Live Stream: Think Mobile event for mobile marketers

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 08:07 PM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Live Stream: Think Mobile event for mobile marketers

Looking to reach out to your customers on mobile? Join us for our live streamed discussion on February 10th, 1:05pm EST with Mary Meeker, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, Google's Dennis Woodside, SVP of Americas Operations, and Jason Spero, Head of Americas Mobile Advertising on the future of mobile and mobile marketing. To learn more about the event and live stream, please visit the Google Mobile Ads blog.

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-stream-think-mobile-event-for.html

[G] Priority Inbox in Gmail for mobile

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 08:07 PM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Priority Inbox in Gmail for mobile

If you've ever cursed a phone's tiny screen as utterly inadequate for sifting through an overflowing inbox you'll be pleased to hear that the Gmail mobile web app now supports Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox helps combat information overload by automatically identifying your important messages so you can focus on those first. Until today it was only available on the desktop and on Android devices.

Now, once you set up Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail, you'll see Priority Inbox sections when you visit gmail.com from your phone's browser and click on the 'Menu' screen. You'll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important.



This feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 1.5+ and iOS 3+. Currently, you can't set up Priority Inbox or mark messages as important or unimportant from here. If you have suggestions or want to learn more, visit our Help Center and forum.

Posted by Nathan Bullock, Software Engineer
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/02/priority-inbox-in-gmail-for-mobile.html

[G] Simian: Mac OS X package deployment via App Engine

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 12:05 PM PST

Official Google Mac Blog: Simian: Mac OS X package deployment via App Engine

Administration of software packages on the Mac platform can often be daunting. Google's Mac Operations and Security teams evaluated several solutions for OS X package deployment, but unfortunately none of them met all of our required features. We decided to build our own solution to do the following:

  • Deploy new or updated software by targeting a single Mac or tens of thousands.
  • Push security patches, whether the Mac is on an internal network/VPN or not.
  • Force mandatory installation of some packages, while allowing others to be optional.
  • Tightly manage Apple-provided updates.
  • Scale without deploying and maintaining additional server infrastructure.
  • Obtain reports on all of this and the fleet overall.
Today we are open-sourcing Simian, our solution to enterprise-class Mac OS X package deployment. Simian uses App Engine-based hosting to scale with the needs of your growing enterprise, and a Munki-based client which will continue to evolve through the outstanding work of Greg Neagle and the Munki community. We hope this to be the first of many announcements in sharing Google's unique IT approach with the larger community.

For more information, please visit our Simian project page, join the discussion list, and download the code. For more information about Munki, please visit its project page.

By John Randolph and Justin McWilliams, Google Corporate Platforms Engineering Team

(Cross-posted from the Google Open Source blog.)

URL: http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2011/01/simian-mac-os-x-package-deployment-via.html

[G] Take your photos with you anywhere

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 11:57 AM PST

Google Photos Blog: Take your photos with you anywhere

Posted by Tammy McLeod, Software engineer

Picasa Web for mobile lets you view and share your photos, browse photos from people you follow, or search public photos from our Picasa Web community. All on the go. Until now, there was a limit to how many photos you could view, but that limit has lifted and you can view all your photos right from your phone. Browse multiple pages of albums and photos by clicking Next and Prev. Just visit https://picasaweb.google.com from the browser on your smartphone and enjoy photos anywhere.


We'd love to hear what you think. Please share your feedback in our forum.
URL: http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2011/02/take-your-photos-with-you-anywhere.html

[G] Priority Inbox in Gmail for mobile

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 11:22 AM PST

Official Gmail Blog: Priority Inbox in Gmail for mobile

Posted by Nathan Bullock, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted from the Mobile blog)

If you've ever cursed a phone's tiny screen as utterly inadequate for sifting through an overflowing inbox you'll be pleased to hear that the Gmail mobile web app now supports Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox helps combat information overload by automatically identifying your important messages so you can focus on those first. Until today it was only available on the desktop and Android devices.

Now, once you set up Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail, you'll see Priority Inbox sections when you visit gmail.com from your phone's browser and click on the 'Menu' screen. You'll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important.


This feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 1.5+ and iOS 3+. If you have suggestions or want to learn more, visit our Help Center and forum.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/priority-inbox-in-gmail-for-mobile.html

[G] Register for Google I/O 2011

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:46 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Register for Google I/O 2011



We've been counting down the days until Google I/O 2011 and hope that you have been, too. With 91 days, 22 hours and 45 minutes to go, we're excited to announce that registration is now open at www.google.com/io. Our largest annual developer conference will take place on May 10-11, 2011 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.

The focus of I/O 2011 will be all about the cloud, and feature the latest Google products and technologies including Android, Google Chrome, App Engine, Google Web Toolkit and Google APIs. There will be many opportunities to meet members of Google's engineering teams and take deep dives into the technologies with more than 100 technical sessions, roundtables and more. The Developer Sandbox, which we introduced at I/O 2009, will be back, featuring developers from more than 100 companies to demo their apps, share their experiences and exchange ideas.

If you liked our HTML5 countdown, stay tuned for more surprises. We'll keep you posted on the latest developments for Google I/O 2011 at the website, on Twitter (@Googleio) and Google Buzz. Get your tickets early—last year we sold out in record time!

Registration opens with an Early Bird rate of $450, which applies through April 16 ($550 after April 16). Faculty and students can register at the discounted Academia rate of $150, which will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Learn more and register today at www.google.com/io.

We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco!

Posted by Vic Gundotra, VP Engineering
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/register-for-google-io-2011.html

[G] Mobile now! Helping businesses succeed in the mobile era

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:46 AM PST

Official Google Blog: Mobile now! Helping businesses succeed in the mobile era

(Cross-posted on the Mobile Ads Blog)

By the end of 2011, an estimated one billion people around the world will be connected to the mobile web and 50% of all Americans will own a smartphone. Because of the explosion of web-enabled mobile devices, mobile usage is now on a hockey-stick trajectory: searches on smartphones and tablets have increased by 4x in the last year, and the world of mobile apps continues to engage mobile users—125 years' worth of Angry Birds are played every day!

For people everywhere, the mobile era has begun.

Yet most businesses haven't adapted their online strategies—advertising, webpage design, commerce—to mobile. The opportunity for these businesses is huge and we want everyone to be able to take part. On February 10, we're hosting an event at our New York office called "ThinkMobile": Mary Meeker, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, and our own Dennis Woodside, SVP, Americas Operations and Jason Spero, Head of Mobile, Americas, will explore some of the most significant trends in mobile and explain why it's "not too late for businesses to still be early" in this space. We invite you to livestream these talks at 1pm ET/10am PT this Thursday on desktop, or—for the first time from a Google event in the U.S.—on both Android and iOS mobile devices as well. In other words, you can Think Mobile....on mobile!

Right now, advertisers engaging on mobile are increasing brand awareness, purchase intent and sales with effective mobile search and display campaigns. Mobile developers and publishers are supporting very profitable businesses with advertising revenue. And consumers are benefiting from relevant and useful ads on their mobile devices.

To help all businesses take advantage of the opportunities that mobile advertising presents, we're focusing on three core principles with our mobile ads business:
  • Seamless: We're bringing the best characteristics of desktop advertising to mobile devices. We want to help marketers and developers extend the benefits of their desktop advertising to people on mobile devices, while effectively managing their campaigns and ad space across many channels.

  • Inclusive: It's clear that mobile is about more than just one device, one type of ad format or one style of ad campaign. Our ad solutions span across search, text, display, video, commerce and more, on a wide variety of devices, and enable businesses and consumers to connect in newly relevant and useful ways.



  • Made for mobile: Mobile devices have unique characteristics like location awareness and touch screens (and the ability to make phone calls!) that make it easy for people to engage with information conveniently, and create unique opportunities for businesses as well. Our ad solutions are built to help marketers, developers and publishers take advantage of these mobile-specific characteristics.



The power of constant connectivity on mobile is a thrilling new reality, and has already transformed the way people engage with information, businesses and certainly with each other. We're just now scratching the surface of what's possible on mobile. This is an exciting time, and there's much more to come.

Posted by Karim Temsamani, Global Head of Mobile
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/mobile-now-helping-businesses-succeed.html
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