Thursday, June 2, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Ensuring your information is safe online

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 02:44 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Ensuring your information is safe online

The Internet has been an amazing force for good in the world—opening up communications, boosting economic growth and promoting free expression. But like all technologies, it can also be used for bad things. Today, despite the efforts of Internet companies and the security community, identity theft, fraud and the hijacking of people's email accounts are common problems online.

Bad actors take advantage of the fact that most people aren't that tech savvy—hijacking accounts by using malware and phishing scams that trick users into sharing their passwords, or by using passwords obtained by hacking other websites. Most account hijackings are not very targeted; they are designed to steal identities, acquire financial data or send spam. But some attacks are targeted at specific individuals.

Through the strength of our cloud-based security and abuse detection systems*, we recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing. This campaign, which appears to originate from Jinan, China, affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users including, among others, senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists.

The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples' forwarding and delegation settings. (Gmail enables you to forward your emails automatically, as well as grant others access to your account.)

Google detected and has disrupted this campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails. We have notified victims and secured their accounts. In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities.

It's important to stress that our internal systems have not been affected—these account hijackings were not the result of a security problem with Gmail itself. But we believe that being open about these security issues helps users better protect their information online.

Here are some ways to improve your security when using Google products:
  • Enable 2-step verification. This Gmail feature uses a phone and second password on sign-in, and it protected some accounts from this attack. So check out this video on setting up 2-step verification.
Fig. 1

 Fig. 2
Please spend ten minutes today taking steps to improve your online security so that you can experience all that the Internet offers—while also protecting your data.

*We also relied on user reports and this external report to uncover the campaign described.

Posted by Eric Grosse, Engineering Director, Google Security Team
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ensuring-your-information-is-safe.html

[G] The Making of Google Analytics v5

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:10 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: The Making of Google Analytics v5

This is part of our series of posts highlighting the new Google Analytics. The new version of Google Analytics is currently available in beta to all Analytics users. And follow Google Analytics on Twitter for the latest updates. This week we're sharing a few new features in our Intelligence reports.

Since we launched the new Google Analytics, we've been talking to many of you about the new version, and getting your feedback. One question we got was about our goals for the new version and why we made the changes we did. So, we got a few members of the Google Analytics team together to share their stories of how the new version began, our approach, and our goals in building it. Along the way, they also share a bit about what you can expect in the future from Google Analytics.

The Making of Google Analytics v5


We also put together a second video where the team runs through a few of the many new features in Google Analytics v5:

What's New in Google Analytics v5


You can find more information on many of these in the New Google Analytics blog series including a few that aren't mentioned in the video like Site Speed and new overview reports. And like Sagnik says at the end of the video, there's much more to come in Google Analytics. Stay tuned!

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-of-google-analytics-v5.html

[G] What’s new about Analytics Intelligence?

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:10 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: What's new about Analytics Intelligence?

This is part of our series of posts highlighting the new Google Analytics. The new version of Google Analytics is currently available in beta to all Analytics users. And follow Google Analytics on Twitter for the latest updates. This week we're sharing a few new features in our Intelligence reports.

In 2009, we debuted the first iteration of our Intelligence reports. Since then, we have been enhancing these reports with more insightful information such as explanations, SMS alerts and improved alert quality.

In the past month, we have released a few enhancements to these reports. First, there is a new overview report that surface significant events for a given date range in a sortable table.

With this flexible table overview, users can perform full-text search, event sort, as well as drilling into details of each event. For example, clicking on the "Details" for row 2 above,

In this detail view, users can explore the event further, add an annotation, or drill in by clicking on Go to Report, which allows users to jump to a full report related to the dimension of interest.

Additional improvements include the ability to create and edit custom alerts without leaving the Intelligence reports:

We've also made significant improvements to the quality of automatic alerts by filtering similar alerts and more comprehensive measurements of importance.

As we continue to improve the Intelligence reports, we hope to surface more actionable insights to you. If you have suggestions for our effort here, we greatly appreciate your comments.

Posted by Phil Mui, Google Analytics Team
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/05/whats-new-about-analytics-intelligence.html

[G] Shoes of Prey - Using Custom Reports to identify influential pages

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:10 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Shoes of Prey - Using Custom Reports to identify influential pages

One of the most effective ways for startups and small businesses to generate more sales on their e-commerce sites is to optimize their site for conversions. With no large marketing budgets to play with, this is one of the most cost-effective means of driving more sales.

The Shoes of Prey team, an e-commerce startup specializing in custom women's shoes, are constantly tweaking their site in order to maximize sales. A component of their strategy is to provide visitors with useful content and to make the purchase process as straightforward as possible.

Michael Fox, co-Founder and Director of Operations, Shoes of Prey, shares with us how he uses Google Analytics custom reports to identify content that influences sales. Based on their learnings, Shoes of Prey now have a good idea of what content and messaging to utilize on their site to encourage more visitors to make a purchase. Read more on the Conversion Room Asia-Pacific blog.

Posted by Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar, Senior Conversion Specialist, Google Southeast Asia
URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/05/shoes-of-prey-using-custom-reports-to.html

[G] The inaugural YouTube U.S. NextUp class gives their commencement address

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 02:56 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: The inaugural YouTube U.S. NextUp class gives their commencement address

Editor's note: We just wrapped up the first ever Creator Camp as part of the YouTube NextUp program in the U.S., and we felt like we should hand it over to the class itself to tell you all how the week went - in (mostly) their own words. The class filled in the blanks for this blog post - you can follow each link to see who contributed that phrase. Huge congratulations to the first ever YouTube NextUp class!



We're a group of 25 YouTube Partners who were bodacious enough to be selected for the first ever YouTube NextUp program. We received $35,000 from YouTube to take our career to the next level, and were invited to attend a special Creator Camp in New York to perfect our skills.



That first ever YouTube Creator Camp wrapped up last Friday, and it can best be described as stinkin awesome. The week started with a group of alien individuals getting to know each other, and by the end of it, we were our own YouTube wolf pack.



New York city provided a frenetic backdrop to our experience. For some of us, it was our first trip to the Big Apple, and it was common to hear people saying "this isn't anything like Dallas". Or sometimes "do you smell that?"



It's hard to pick out highlights in a week that was so overwhelmingly intense, but they have to include the time when Luke Conard wore a full face of makeup and also the moment when I held back tears after being handed the biggest check I have ever received as an independent filmmaker.



We worked hard during the week and learned a lot. One of the most important lessons we came away with was to bring along Chescaleigh if you want someone to eat a fish eye at a Chinese restuarant, and also that it's a marathon, not a sprint. And we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that humping the air on occasion was really important too.  (Ok, ok, the main thing we all learned was the importance of collaboration!)



During the final presentation, we learned that our videos have collectively been viewed more than 30 million times this year alone - which made us feel like rock stars.



Shooting the collaborative videos was a crazy and amazing experience. You can see some a sneak preview of our projects below - we think you'll agree it's pretty epic, with dashes of sentimental mushiness.





What will the future hold for us, as the first YouTube NextUp class? We're sure it's going to involve tons of amazing video collaborations and probably a little bit of sweet sweet YouTube money. (Editor's note: Each of our YouTube NextUp participants received $35,000 to take their YouTube channel to the next level).



So tune in - watch our videos as they progress towards respectability, and we'll do our best to keep producing the same genuine, creative and fun-filled videos that you've grown used to. The YouTube community is full of awesome and creative people, and we really want to make sure we continue to rock it out in future. Here's to ever-growing view counts and a happy YouTube future.



YouTube NextUp Class of 2011, recently watched "25 winners, 25 videos, countless memories - YouTube NextUp NYC 2011 Recap."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/TaDQno28pH4/inaugural-youtube-us-nextup-class-gives.html

[G] The +1 button for websites: recommend content across the web

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: The +1 button for websites: recommend content across the web

Since we started rolling out the +1 button in March, you've been able to recommend content to your friends and contacts directly from Google search results and ads.

But sometimes you want to +1 a page while you're on it. After all, how do you know you want to suggest that recipe for chocolate flan if you haven't tried it out yet?

Today, we're releasing +1 buttons to the whole web. As a result, you might start seeing +1 appear on sites large and small across the Internet. We've partnered with a few sites where you'll see +1 buttons in the near future:

Partner LogosAddThisMashableHuffington PostRotten TomatoesNordstromO'ReillyReutersWashington PostBest BuyTechCrunchBloomberg

You'll also start to see +1 buttons on other Google properties such as Android Market, Blogger, Product Search and YouTube.

+1 is as simple on the rest of the web as it is on Google search. With a single click you can recommend that raincoat, news article or favorite sci-fi movie to friends, contacts and the rest of the world. The next time your connections search, they could see your +1's directly in their search results, helping them find your recommendations when they're most useful.


In the meantime, we're continuing to roll out the +1 button for English-language searches on Google.com. If you want to +1 search results and search ads earlier, you can opt in through our experimental search site. To see recommendations from your friends and contacts in Google search, make sure you're signed into your Google Account.

If you're a webmaster, you can get the +1 button code and learn more about implementation on our +1 webmaster site.

We hope you'll agree that +1 buttons across the web make it even easier for you to recommend content to your friends and contacts, and make search results even more helpful and relevant.

Posted by Evan Gilbert, Software Engineer, +1 Button
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/1-button-for-websites-recommend-content.html

[G] Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:25 AM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps

Posted by Venkat Panchapakesan, Vice President of Engineering

(Cross-posted on the Google Enterprise Blog and the Google Docs Blog.)

For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers. For example, desktop notifications for Gmail and drag-and-drop file upload in Google Docs require advanced browsers that support HTML5. Older browsers just don't have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience.

For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we'll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we'll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

As of August 1st, we will discontinue support for the following browsers and their predecessors: Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3. In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, and eventually these apps may stop working entirely.

So if it's been a a while since your last update, we encourage you to get the latest version of your favorite browser. There are many to choose from:
As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/our-plans-to-support-modern-browsers.html

[G] Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:08 AM PDT

Docs Blog: Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps

(Cross-posted on the Google Enterprise Blog and the Gmail Blog)

For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers. For example, desktop notifications for Gmail and drag-and-drop file upload in Google Docs require advanced browsers that support HTML5. Older browsers just don't have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience.

For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we'll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we'll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

As of August 1st, we will discontinue support for the following browsers and their predecessors: Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3. In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, and eventually these apps may stop working entirely.

So if it's been a a while since your last update, we encourage you to get the latest version of your favorite browser. There are many to choose from:
As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds.

Posted by Venkat Panchapakesan, Vice President of Engineering
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/06/our-plans-to-support-modern-browsers.html

[G] The +1 Button on YouTube

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:45 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: The +1 Button on YouTube

Today, as announced on the Google Blog, we're excited to roll out the Google +1 button on YouTube. The +1 button will be available to everyone on the YouTube watch page under the Share feature. If you're signed in, you'll also be able to see +1 annotations from your Google contacts on YouTube search results. We believe letting users see videos recommended by people they are connected to will be incredibly valuable in helping you find and watch the videos that matter to you.

Rick Klau, YouTube Product Manager, recently watched "NBA Finals: Karmin 'Take it Away'".


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/8BTcsNlKvP8/1-button-on-youtube.html

[G] Change Google Calendar’s default meeting length and more print options

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 08:54 AM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Change Google Calendar's default meeting length and more print options

Posted by Grace Kwak, Product Manager

Today we're adding two features that make it easier to customize Google Calendar. First, you can now change your default event length from the standard 30 minute slot. If you frequently create 15 minute meetings, for example, you can now make 15 minutes the default length for all your events. This way, you don't need to click into the event page to change the duration every time.



You can change the default length of your events from the Calendar settings page. Next to the "Default meeting length" option, choose the length you'd like from the drop-down menu on the right. From there, you can also enable "Speedy meetings," which automatically shortens events that are 30 minutes or longer to allow you to prep for your next meeting or get to your next appointment if you have a packed schedule.



Second, for those of you who still prefer paper and print your calendar, you can now select a specific date range in the print dialog box. Google Calendar will automatically format your printout for the date range you choose.



We hope you find these new customization options useful. Let us know what you think on Twitter (@googlecalendar) or in the Google Calendar Help Forum.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/change-google-calendars-default-meeting.html
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