Friday, March 18, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Dominion Enterprises goes Google

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Dominion Enterprises goes Google

Editor's Note: We're pleased to welcome guest blogger, Joe Fuller, CIO of Dominion Enterprises. Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving many industries including real estate, apartments, specialty vehicles, employment, automotive and travel. Dominion is one of the largest providers of targeted classified advertising reaching over 34 million consumers monthly. Learn more about other organizations that have gone Google on our community map or test drive life in the cloud with the Go Google Cloud Calculator.

If you had asked me six months ago, I wouldn't have classified my company as a technology first-mover. Dominion has 4,000 employees with about 800 in our home office and 3,200 in field offices- the result of several companies being brought together over the years through acquisitions. As a result, we have more than 200 email domains and our email was hosted in 24 different locations. Prior to moving to Google Apps, we had been using a variety of different email systems. Some business units were using Microsoft ® Exchange and Outlook, and the rest were using various other applications. We had no shared calendars, no corporate address book and weren't able to easily access our information from outside the office. The truth is, IT wasn't serving our employees very well in the area of email and collaboration tools.

So our move to Google Apps was in large part an employee-driven initiative. One of our key IT managers at Boats.com thought it would be valuable for our company to adopt Google Apps so he started his own 5-person test drive. At about the same time, I attended Google's Atmosphere event at its headquarters in California, and had a chance to talk to other CIOs that had either decided to "go Google" or were seriously contemplating a move. My biggest reservations involved security and privacy in the cloud. At the event, I learned how Google was addressing those concerns and listened to other CIO's who had overcome similar concerns. I began to see the opportunities we were missing by not having email and our collaboration tools hosted in the cloud. When I got back to Virginia, we set to work doing our due diligence on competitive offerings and we expanded our Google Apps test drive to a full blown pilot.

We visited Redmond and though I am convinced they are committed to the cloud, their collaboration suite offering was not as seamlessly integrated as Google's and their pricing model was complicated. Over the 6 months of the pilot, we found a groundswell of support for Google Apps. Our employees were familiar with Gmail, and they wanted to access email from their phones and their tablets. The Apps pilot grew to 150 users and we got to the point where we had to turn people away. Folks were extremely happy that they could schedule meetings with coworkers from any office (remember most of them were on separate email systems before, so this was revolutionary), host video chats and access their email from any device. Many pilot employees either had an iPhone® or Android smartphone. Once I migrated to an Android phone and discovered how easy email and calendar syncing was with Google Apps, I was sold.

By then the original Boats.com Google Apps champion had been joined by a small army of enthusiasts. I pitched the idea to the CEO, CFO and Legal Counsel and told them we wanted to move the entire company to Google Apps. For us this is really about the value and benefits we know we're giving our employees.

We're looking forward to discovering the new ways our employees will use Google Apps as we continue to roll it out across the company. So far, about 95% of employees say they prefer Google Apps mail to Outlook. I suspect a year from now we're going to be wondering how in the world we ever lived without Google Apps - and even better, now I tell folks that at Dominion we're a technology-forward company.

Posted by Joe Fuller, CIO, Dominion Enterprises
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/dominion-enterprises-goes-google.html

[G] College Basketball 2011: Over 50% of the bracket has gone Google

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: College Basketball 2011: Over 50% of the bracket has gone Google

[Cross-posted from the Google Student Blog]

March is a special time for college basketball enthusiasts as the NCAA® Championship games heat up. This season is especially exciting for us on the Apps for Education team to watch, as more than half of the teams in this year's tournament have Gone Google – meaning they're using Google Apps for Education on campus.

With more than 11 million students, faculty and staff who are already part of the Google Apps "squad" – providing their campus community with collaboration and communication tools – we'd like to congratulate the 37 Apps schools who are vying for the championship and wish them luck with the rest of the tournament, including:
  • Alabama State University
  • Belmont University
  • Bucknell University
  • Clemson University
  • Gonzaga University
  • Notre Dame
  • Old Dominion University
  • San Diego State University
  • Temple University
  • University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
  • University of Kentucky
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • University of Texas at San Antonio
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Washington
  • Utah State University
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Villanova University
For information about how to become a 100% web campus, please visit google.com/apps/edu. While we're sorry to say we can't promise any success on the basketball court, you can at least make your own bracket a "slam dunk" with the Google Docs bracket template!

Posted by Steven Butschi, Google Apps for Education team (and college hoops enthusiast)
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/college-basketball-2011-over-50-of.html

[G] Great documents come from great discussions

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Great documents come from great discussions

Cross posted on the Official Google Blog

The discussion about a document is as important as the document itself, but until now, there hasn't been a great medium for this discussion to happen. Creating comments in documents is a start—but comments can be overwhelming and at times feel one-sided with no resolution.

So today we're introducing a better way to provide document feedback—discussions in Google Docs. With this feature, we want to encourage rapid and seamless discussions, help the right people participate, as well as integrate discussions with email in an intuitive way. For a look into the way discussions work in Google Docs, watch our video:



Now you can easily tell who made a comment and when—with timestamps and profile pictures—and you can keep track of the conversation with email notifications and reply to comments directly from your email. Your discussions will be better and so will your documents. And all of this is possible because Google Docs lives in the cloud.

Discussions is rolling out now to everyone with personal Google Accounts as well as to Google Apps customers on the Rapid Release track.

You can read more about the new features on our Google Docs blog.

Posted by Scott Johnston, Group Product Manager, Google Docs
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/great-documents-come-from-great.html

[G] New Google Apps feature release process

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: New Google Apps feature release process

100% web applications have many advantages over legacy and single tenant hosted technologies, and you consistently tell us that the ability to access improvements as they become available is one of the most important. With Google Apps, new features are available with a refresh of the web browser. There's no need to wait years for the next big software release or manage a complex set of installers, software patches, and hardware upgrades.

We're always excited to bring you the newest features as soon as they're ready, but we've heard from some customers with complex IT environments that they'd like more notice before new features are deployed to their users. To address these requests, we're happy to announce a new feature release process aimed at helping you balance the benefits of accessing improvements as soon as they're ready with the task of integrating the changes into your organization.

Our new process has two release tracks that Google Apps administrators can choose from:
  • Rapid Release: Customers on the Rapid Release track have access to new features as soon as the features have completed testing and quality assurance, and are ready to roll out.
  • Scheduled Release: Customers on the Scheduled Release track gain access to new features on a regular, weekly release schedule following the initial release of those features. This delay allows time for administrators to familiarize themselves with new features using a test domain, educate support staff, and communicate any changes to their users. New features will be released on the Scheduled Release track each Tuesday, with at least a one-week notice following the initial feature launch.


New features for Gmail, Contacts, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites will be following this new release process going forward. If your organization previously had "Pre-release features" enabled in the Google Apps control panel, then you will be placed on the Rapid Release track and continue to gain access to new features as soon as they're ready. Otherwise, your organization will be placed on the Scheduled Release track. You can always change your selection by choosing how you would like to receive new features in the Google Apps control panel. If you're considering a switch to Scheduled Release, note that you may currently be using some features that are only available in Rapid Release.

To support this new process, we've also developed a new launch communication tool for all users that brings together all the information you need to track Google Apps releases. This portal can be found at whatsnew.googleapps.com, and is a great place to learn about recent and upcoming features, and find training resources for your users.


Google Apps customers are already on the cutting edge with 100% web technology - they simply refresh their browser for the latest innovation. Now we're giving customers the choice to balance innovation with predictability. As always, we look forward to your feedback - please leave us a comment below!


Posted by Anna Mongayt, Enterprise Operations
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-google-apps-feature-release-process.html

[G] Macomb County Circuit Court and Clerk go Google to improve service and control costs

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Macomb County Circuit Court and Clerk go Google to improve service and control costs

Editor's Note: Today our guest bloggers are Mark Switalski, Macomb County Circuit Court Chief Judge and Carmella Sabaugh, Macomb County Clerk / Register of Deeds. The Macomb County Court and Clerk/Register of Deeds Office has gone Google to control costs, improve service, and keep innovating.

The Macomb County Circuit Court and Clerk / Register of Deeds border Detroit ("Motown") to the northeast. Nestled on 31-miles of Lake St. Clair shoreline, and home to nearly 830,000 residents and growing, Macomb is Michigan's third most populated county. Near Michigan's two Big Ten universities, workforce training is also provided by Macomb County Community College, Michigan's largest grantor of associate degrees with over 22,000 students. The county boasts three regional hospitals, expansive parkland, nearly 100 miles of hike/bike trails, and more than 1,900 retail establishments. Waterways hold 52,000 registered boats, and toll-free expressways provide quick access to two international airports and two international bridges to neighboring Canada. Brimming with engineers and skilled workers, the county accounts for 61 percent of Defense Department contracts awarded in Michigan.

Macomb County judges are among the most efficient at meeting State Court Administrative guidelines despite having the highest caseloads per circuit court judge across the state. Last year, we had to cut over $1.4 million from our budgets and downsize our workforce. We needed tools to meet the challenge of increasing caseloads and decreasing staff.

308 county court users recently joined 68 clerk staff on Google Apps for Government. Google Apps provides a way for judges and staff to access information anytime, anywhere and find things fast, while keeping costs down. Google lets us do more, despite budget cuts.

Google Apps for Government gives our employees great collaboration tools we never had before. County staff use Google Talk to communicate with clerks while they are in court or on the phone for quick answers. Jury staff use Google Docs to post juror Web updates without Web publishing software, even when working from home during bad weather. We can even send text messages from a computer to attorneys' phones when their cases are being called. This is helpful when attorneys have cases in multiple courts and a judge wants to speed the docket along.

Our county has over 80,000 immigrants, speaking 40 languages, which is one reason staff appreciate the option to use Google Translate in Gmail. Viewing e-mail attachments in different formats is easy. Check out our short videos and information about our experience using Google Apps.

Besides the enhanced productivity, we know that when a disaster happens, our system will not go down and because our data is in the cloud, it is protected and accessible from anywhere. After a rare tornado hit last summer, briefly disrupting power and some network services, the clerk's Google service remained accessible via cell phone and other networks until the county's network and e-mail were restored.

The biggest draw for us to go Google is the cost control that comes with cloud computing. For a fixed per employee cost, the county gets Google Apps for Government and Google Message Discovery for archiving and e-discovery. There is no additional cost for servers, backup, antivirus or antispam protection, or disaster recovery. When new enhancements are available, there is no need for extra investment. Savings are also realized because Google Apps for Government has zero scheduled downtime! Maintenance is performed while the system is running. Our IT Department staff who have become proficient with Google Apps for Government are making themselves more valuable to the taxpayers.

We in Macomb County are pleased so far with the decision to improve service and control technology costs by switching to Google Apps for Government. Instead of spending time and resources to administer computer hardware and software, we can better focus on administering justice.



Posted by Mark Switalski, Macomb County Circuit Court Chief Judge, and Carmella Sabaugh, Macomb County Clerk / Register of Deeds, who are pointing to where Macomb County is located in Michigan.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/macomb-county-circuit-court-and-clerk.html

[G] Google Apps joins The Small Business Web

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Google Apps joins The Small Business Web

Google is a supporter of small businesses around the world. We have a number of services, including Adwords, Google Places, and Google Apps, that help small businesses find and engage customers and run their businesses more efficiently.

The good news for small businesses is we're not alone. There are thousands of companies and organizations worldwide dedicated to helping them, and today we're proud to formally join one such organization who's focus is helping small businesses get more out of web apps: The Small Business Web.

The Small Business Web is a group of web app vendors rallying together around a couple simple ideas:
  • the belief that web apps are more valuable when they integrate and work together
  • the belief that open web APIs are the best way to integrate web apps
We share these beliefs -- they're some of the same principles behind our Google Apps Marketplace and our belief in 100% web.

In fact 30 of the 300+ web apps available in the Apps Marketplace are also members of The Small Business Web, including:


We are excited to join The Small Business Web, and look forward to collaboratively pushing the envelope with fellow vendors on making web apps as good as they can be as we move to a world that's 100% web.

Posted by Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead, Google Enterprise
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/google-apps-joins-small-business-web.html

[G] Google Search app for iPhone—a new name and a new look

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:23 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Search app for iPhone—a new name and a new look

If you need to do a Google search on your iPhone or iPod touch it's now faster and easier when you use our redesigned Google Search app, formerly Google Mobile App. If you've been using Google Mobile App for a while, you'll notice that things look different.

The redesigned home screen of Google Search app.


First, you'll see that there are now more ways to interact with the app. When browsing through search results or looking at a webpage, you can swipe down to see the search bar or change your settings. For those who use other Google apps, there's an Apps button at the bottom of the screen for rapid access to the mobile versions of our products.

We also included a new toolbar that will make it easier for you to filter your results. You can open this toolbar by swiping from left to right — either before you search or once you've got your results. If you only want images, just tap "Images," and the results will update as shown:


The toolbar helps you to get to the right kind of results.

Second, we've made it easier to pick up searching where you left off. If you leave the app and come back later, you'll be able either to start a new search right away (just tap in the search box to type, hit the microphone button to do a voice search or tap on the camera icon to use Google Goggles) or get back to exactly where you were by tapping on the lower part of the page.

Finally, there are a number of improvements we've made to everything else you love in the app, including Google Goggles, Voice Search, Search with My Location, Gmail unread counts and more. There's a lot in the app, so we've added a simple help feature to let you explore it. Access this by tapping the question mark above the Google logo.

The help screen can be accessed from anywhere in Google Search app.




Download and try Google Search app today; it's available free from the iTunes App Store. You can also scan the QR code below.


Posted by Alastair Tse, Software Engineer and Robert Hamilton, Product Manager
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/03/google-search-app-for-iphonea-new-name.html

[G] Coming soon: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Grand Finale live

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:58 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Coming soon: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Grand Finale live

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

What began with auditions from around the world uploaded to YouTube, millions of video views, and hours of rehearsals, finally comes to life this Sunday, March 20. It has been an extraordinary experience for the 101 winning musicians of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and in just a couple of days their collaborative experience will come to life at Sydney Opera House.

Here's a preview of what's to come:



The week-long YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 festival includes musical collaboration between orchestra members and world-class mentors, outdoor performances, local Aussie experiences, ensemble concerts and more. In just a few days, the creativity and technology that have powered this journey will literally light up Sydney Opera House—with animated visuals on the interior and exterior projections on the iconic sails, all synchronised to the music of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011's performance.

You're invited to experience this wonderful event, whether you're inside Sydney Opera House, out around Sydney Harbour, or watching from your computer elsewhere in the world. The Grand Finale will be live-streamed on youtube.com/symphony beginning at 8:00pm Australian Eastern Standard time, and rebroadcast until the concert performance is uploaded in full, so tune in on Sunday, March 20.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/coming-soon-youtube-symphony-orchestra.html

[G] Coming soon: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Grand Finale live

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:00 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Coming soon: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Grand Finale live

What began with auditions from around the world uploaded to YouTube, millions of video views, and hours of rehearsals, finally comes to life this Sunday, March 20. It has been an extraordinary experience for the 101 winning musicians of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and in just a couple of days their collaborative experience will come to life at Sydney Opera House.

Here's a preview of what's to come:


The week-long YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 festival includes musical collaboration between orchestra members and world-class mentors, outdoor performances, local Aussie experiences, ensemble concerts and more. In just a few days, the creativity and technology that have powered this journey will literally light up Sydney Opera House—with animated visuals on the interior and exterior projections on the iconic sails, all synchronised to the music of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011's performance.

You're invited to experience this wonderful event, whether you're inside Sydney Opera House, out around Sydney Harbour, or watching from your computer elsewhere in the world. The Grand Finale will be live-streamed on youtube.com/symphony beginning at 8:00pm Australian Eastern Standard time, and rebroadcast until the concert performance is uploaded in full, so tune in on Sunday, March 20.

Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, recently watched "YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Day 4 Highlights."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/YEuYtJVzvHk/coming-soon-youtube-symphony-orchestra.html

[G] Engage your audience with Follow by Email

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 03:02 PM PDT

Blogger Buzz: Engage your audience with Follow by Email

Posted by Ben Eitzen, Software Engineer

Fresh content is the fuel that drives the blogosphere; it keeps readers coming back to your blog. Our team is always thinking of new ways to connect users with the freshest content across Blogger, and today we're happy to offer a new, powerful way to do just that with Follow by Email.


The Follow by Email gadget provides blog authors a simple way for their readers to subscribe to the latest hot-off-the-press updates, which are delivered directly to the reader's inbox. When new blog content is published, all subscribed readers will receive a daily email notification of the new published posts, which includes a copy of the new content as well as links back to the actual posts.

To enable Follow by Email, click the Add a Gadget link from the Design | Page Elements tab, and then select the Follow by Email gadget which should be at the top of the list. Once you add the gadget, readers visiting your blog can then just enter their email address and click Submit.


Taking advantage of Feedburner technology, Follow by Email will also track your subscription information, such as the number of subscribers and daily views. To view these stats, log into Feedburner.com, and select the appropriate blog feed from your list.

URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/03/engage-your-audience-with-follow-by.html

[G] VP8 "Constrained Quality" (CQ) Encoding Explained

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 11:20 AM PDT

The WebM Open Media Project Blog: VP8 "Constrained Quality" (CQ) Encoding Explained

In the Bali release post, we mentioned a that we've added a new encoding mode called "constrained quality" (CQ) to the VP8 Codec SDK (libvpx).

The idea for CQ mode arose as we began testing approaches for encoding WebM versions, in multiple resolutions, of every file in the YouTube corpus. Approaching video encoding on such an immense scale sets one to thinking very carefully about how every bit is used; wasting even small amounts of data across many millions of files adds up very quickly, translating to higher storage and bandwidth costs.

After trying a few approaches it became apparent that we needed not a better way to allocate bits within each WebM file, but rather a better way to distribute them across all the WebM files. The result was CQ mode.

I presented the slides below at the February WebM Summit to explain CQ in general terms and summarize its benefits to content publishers when applied across large collections of WebM files. I hope you find it informative and welcome your feedback in the comments.

Paul Wilkins is a Senior Software Engineer for the WebM Project.

URL: http://blog.webmproject.org/2011/03/vp8-constrained-quality-cq-encoding.html

[G] More resources for those affected by the Japan earthquake and tsunami

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: More resources for those affected by the Japan earthquake and tsunami

(Cross-posted from the Google.org Blog)

Like the rest of the world, we've been transfixed by the images and news coming out of the northeastern part of Japan over the past six days. Our hearts go out to those who have been affected by this devastation and we're deeply grateful to those who are working to keep us safe. In the meantime, Googlers in Japan and elsewhere around the world have been working around the clock to try and help improve the flow of information. Here are some of the recent developments we've been working on:

Centralized information
Our Crisis Response page—now in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean—organizes all of Google's efforts, with links to valuable resources such as emergency hotlines, Person Finder, blackout schedules, maps and links to relief organizations receiving donations. Ninety-three percent of mobile users in Japan don't have top-of-the-line smartphones, so we've recently optimized this Crisis Response page to make it more readable for a wider range of devices. You can also access that version by scanning this QR code:

Person Finder
Within the first two hours of the earthquake, we launched Person Finder so people can enter the names of those they're looking for or have found. You can now also search by entering mobile phone numbers to see if they match any listings. And as with the Crisis Response page, Person Finder has also been optimized for those without smartphones. There are currently more than 250,000 records in the database (including names shared with us by NHK, the national broadcaster in Japan) and we've heard several reports of people who have found their loved ones safe.

To help the many people in shelters get word of their whereabouts to loved ones, we're also asking people in shelters to take photos of the handwritten lists of names of current residents and email them to us. Those photos are automatically uploaded to a public Picasa Web Album. We use scanning technology to help us manually add these names to Person Finder; but it's a big job that can't be done automatically by computers alone, so we welcome volunteers with Japanese language skills who want to help out.

Satellite images
We're also working with our satellite partners GeoEye and DigitalGlobe to provide frequent updates to our imagery of the hardest-hit areas to first responders as well as the general public. You can view this imagery in this Google Earth KML, browse it online through Google Maps or look through our Picasa album of before-and-after images of such places as Minamisanriku and Kesennuma.

Mapping
You can follow developments on the ground by looking at several maps that track changing developments. We've mapped rolling blackouts for areas that are affected by power outages. With data given to us by Honda, you can now see which roads have been recently passable on this map or this user-made Google Earth mashup with new satellite imagery. We're also constantly updating a master map (in Japanese and English) with other data such as epicenter locations and evacuation shelters. And with information from the newspaper Mainichi, we've published a partial list of shelters.

Translation
Use Google Translate for Japanese and 56 other languages. You can paste in any text, or enter the address of any web page for automatic translation. We also just released an early experimental version of Google Translate for Android to help non-Japanese speakers in affected areas.

Donations
Visit our Crisis Response resource page to find opportunities to donate. When you donate to Japan relief efforts through Google Checkout, we absorb processing fees—so 100% of your money goes to the organizations. Google has also donated $250,000 to help the people of Japan recover.

To keep up with the latest developments on our efforts in Japan, follow @googlejapan (tweets are mostly in Japanese) or @earthoutreach (for our mapping and imagery efforts) on Twitter.

Posted by Nobu Makida, Product Manager, on behalf of the Google Japan and international Crisis Response teams
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-resources-for-those-affected-by.html

[G] You’re changing the world. We want to help.

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: You're changing the world. We want to help.

(Cross-posted on the Google for Nonprofits Blog and Public Policy Blog)

One of the greatest things about my job is hearing how terrific organizations are using technology to help their cause. Today I've had a chance to talk with Direct Relief International who raised more than $1 million using Google AdWords, Samasource who saved tens of thousands of dollars using Google Apps and the Natural Resource Defense Council who earned 100,000 views from one video on their YouTube channel with no paid advertising. Listening to these stories and several like them, we realized that we had an opportunity to greatly increase the number of nonprofits we could assist. With today's launch of the Google for Nonprofits program, which provides exclusive product offerings and enhanced online resources, we'll be able to help U.S.-based nonprofits reach more donors, improve operations and raise awareness for their cause.



If you work for a nonprofit, this program provides you with several new benefits. Instead of applying to each Google product individually, you can sign up through a one-stop shop application process. If approved, you can access our suite of product offerings designed for nonprofits: up to $10,000 a month in advertising on Google AdWords to reach more donors, free or discounted Google Apps to cut IT costs and operate more efficiently, and premium features for YouTube and our mapping technologies to raise awareness of your cause. We've also developed other online resources such as educational videos, case studies and better ways for you to connect with other nonprofits.

Over time, we've learned that many nonprofits require hands-on assistance to optimize the use of Google tools. So we're also introducing the Google for Nonprofits Marketplace, which connects nonprofits with professional service providers who have agreed to offer their services for a free or discounted rate. These firms are already certified partners from existing Google marketplaces—like AdWords Authorized Resellers, Analytics Certified Partners, Google Apps Marketplace and the Google Earth Outreach Developer Marketplace.

We're inspired and humbled by the amazing ways nonprofits make positive changes to our world and look forward to supporting their work. If you work for a nonprofit, apply today to see how Google can help your organization grow and expand your impact.

Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/youre-changing-world-we-want-to-help.html

[G] Ooh la la—ask Gaga a question!

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Ooh la la—ask Gaga a question!

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

Attention little monsters! Channel your inner Oprah, because now is your chance to ask Lady Gaga everything you've always wanted to know. What's life like on tour? What's her favorite YouTube video? Was the meat dress really made of meat?

In Gaga's own words:



You have until midnight PT on March 18 to submit a video or text question, so just head to Gaga's channel to submit your query or vote on the ones you want us to ask. You can also tweet your question with the hashtag #GoogleGoesGaga. We'll share the interview with you shortly after it's uploaded to YouTube.

So, what are you waiting for?

Posted by Andrew Schulte, Associate Product Marketing Manager
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ooh-la-laask-gaga-question.html

[G] Great documents come from great discussions

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Great documents come from great discussions

(Cross posted on the Google Enterprise Blog)

The discussion about a document is as important as the document itself, but until now, there hasn't been a great medium for this discussion to happen. Creating comments in documents is a start—but comments can be overwhelming and at times feel one-sided with no resolution.

So today we're introducing a better way to provide document feedback—discussions in Google Docs. With this feature, we want to encourage rapid and seamless discussions, help the right people participate, as well as integrate discussions with email in an intuitive way. For a look into the way discussions work in Google Docs, watch our video:



Now you can easily tell who made a comment and when—with timestamps and profile pictures—and you can keep track of the conversation with email notifications and reply to comments directly from your email. Your discussions will be better and so will your documents. And all of this is possible because Google Docs lives in the cloud.

Discussions is rolling out now to everyone with personal Google Accounts as well as to Google Apps customers on the Rapid Release track.

You can read more about the new features on our Google Docs blog.

Posted by Scott Johnston, Group Product Manager, Google Docs
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/great-documents-come-from-great.html

[G] Supporting accessibility at CSUN

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 08:50 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Supporting accessibility at CSUN

This week we'll be at the 26th annual CSUN International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference to talk with users and accessibility experts about how to make our products more accessible to people with disabilities. We'll also give a talk on the current state of accessibility for our products.

We've been working in this space for a while, launching features such as captions on YouTube, applications such as WalkyTalky and Intersection Explorer on Android (so people can use Google Maps eyes-free) and building easy-to-navigate, accessible Google search pages to work smoothly with adaptive technologies.

We have more to do. At CSUN 2011, we're looking forward to more insights about how to make Android, Chrome and Google Apps better enabled for people who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers. If you're attending and are interested in participating in our focus groups there, please fill out our survey by 9pm PST today, Tuesday, March 15.

To see an overview of the accessibility features of our products today, visit google.com/accessibility. We're launching an updated version of this site later today to make it easier for visitors to find information on using our products, and for developers and publishers to learn how to develop accessible products on our platforms. While you're there, please give us feedback on what we can do better to make our products more accessible.

Posted by Naomi Black, Engineering Program Manager for Accessibility
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/supporting-accessibility-at-csun.html
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