Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] The votes are in for the Google Science Fair Finalists and People’s Choice Award Winner

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: The votes are in for the Google Science Fair Finalists and People's Choice Award Winner

(Cross-posted from the Google Science Fair Blog and on the Google Students Blog)

From winged keels to water turbines, from prosthetic limbs to programming in pure English, it's been a fascinating two weeks for our Google Science Fair judges. It was no easy task to select 15 finalists out of the 60 semi-finalists—all of the students' projects asked interesting questions, many focused on real-world problems and some produced groundbreaking science that challenged current conventions.

After much deliberation we're happy to announce the 15 finalists:

Age 13 - 14
Anand Srinivasan, USA
Daniel Arnold, USA
Lauren Hodge, USA
Luke Taylor, South Africa
Michelle Guo, USA

Age 15 - 16
Dora Chen, USA
Gavin Ovsak, USA
Harine Ravichandran, India
Naomi Shah, USA
Skanda Koppula, USA

Age 17 - 18
Christopher Neilsen, Canada
Matthew Morris, USA
Shaun Lim Hsien Yang, Singapore
Shree Bose, USA
Vighnesh Leonardo Shiv, USA

In July, these finalists will come to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to present their projects to our panel of finalist judges, including science luminaries, technology innovators and one Nobel laureate. They'll compete for prizes that include $100,000 in scholarship funds, real-life experiences at CERN, Google, LEGO and Scientific American, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands courtesy of National Geographic Expeditions. The winners will be announced at our celebration gala that same evening, beginning at 6:00 p.m. PDT July 11. The event will be streamed live on our YouTube channel so make sure to tune in.

In addition, over the past two weeks people around the world have had the opportunity to vote for their favorite projects in our online voting gallery. We've had more than 100,000 votes and the competition was really tight, but we're happy to announce that Nimal Subramanian is the People's Choice Award winner. Nimal will receive a $10,000 scholarship. Congratulations Nimal—the public really loved your project!

Congratulations to all the finalists and the People's Choice Award winner. We look forward to meeting the finalists at Google in July.

Posted by Samantha Peter, Education Team
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/votes-are-in-for-google-science-fair.html

[G] Bringing tech knowledge to nonprofits through the HandsOn Tech Corps

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Bringing tech knowledge to nonprofits through the HandsOn Tech Corps

Community service has always been important to us. When thinking of ways we can give back, we often focus on where our strengths lie—namely, in technical knowledge. More and more frequently, Googlers who volunteer note that many incredible nonprofits around the U.S. lack the tech knowledge or resources that could immensely help their operations and their cause.

With this in mind, we got together with the HandsOn Network, the volunteer arm of Points of Light Institute, to create the HandsOn Tech Corps, an initiative designed to help nonprofits effectively use technology to further their missions. Our funds will create 24 new AmeriCorps*VISTA positions, which you can apply for online now at HandsOnNetwork.org.

These AmeriCorps*VISTA members will work full-time for one year developing introductory seminars and involved in-person trainings for smaller nonprofits that are working to lift people out of poverty. The Tech Corps will start in September with a one-week training at our campus in Mountain View, learning about both our nonprofit tools and cloud-based offerings from other technology companies like Salesforce.com and LinkedIn. Once they are armed with tech know-how, they'll spend the rest of the year in three-person teams serving nonprofits in the Bay Area, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Pittsburgh and Seattle.

Placing AmeriCorps members around the country for in-person support provides a much-needed complement to programs like Google for Nonprofits, which makes it easy for nonprofits to take advantage of offers like $10,000 a month in advertising on Google AdWords to reach more donors and free or discounted Google Apps to cut IT costs.

If you're passionate about both technology and giving back, then we hope you'll apply to be part of the HandsOn Tech Corps.

Posted by Matt Dunne, Head of Community Affairs
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/bringing-tech-knowledge-to-nonprofits.html

[G] Pomp and Circumstance....and speeches!

Posted: 23 May 2011 09:25 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Pomp and Circumstance....and speeches!

Across the country, students are throwing on caps and gowns and marching across graduation stages to collect well-deserved diplomas. As important to a graduation ceremony as "Pomp and Circumstance", commencement addresses have become a central component of the big day. From celebrities to humanitarians to heads of state, colleges and universities are putting a big focus on speakers that will inspire and entertain those gathered for the occasion.

Before online video, you would have to be a graduate or guest to receive these pearls of wisdom. Even then, you'd probably only be able to see a handful of commencement addresses in your lifetime. Now with YouTube, these speeches are available any day and to anyone seeking inspiration. With more than 5,000 videos for 'commencement speech', YouTube houses a vast repository of commencement addresses. Through YouTube EDU, colleges and universities have uploaded over 1,600 videos to their own channels.

You can hear J.K. Rowling share with Harvard University the impact failing early in her career had on ultimately achieving her life's dream. You can join Ellen DeGeneres as she celebrates Tulane University's graduating "Katrina Class" in her native New Orleans. For all history buffs out there, you can hear Sir Winston Churchill deliver his famous "Never Give In" speech at the Harrow School in London and John F. Kennedy discuss the importance of world peace in the context of the Cold War at American University. Try not to laugh watching Conan O'Brien's address at Harvard University or Stephen Colbert's at Knox College.



Here's a small sampling of the speeches available on YouTube:
Hats off to the graduating classes of 2011 from YouTube!

Angela Lin, YouTube EDU Manager, recently watched "Bill Cosby's Keynote Speech".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/d-k61SPZAh4/pomp-and-circumstanceand-speeches.html
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