Thursday, September 22, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] A 67-year reunion of wartime survivors, inspired by Google Books

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 10:59 PM PDT

Inside Google Books: A 67-year reunion of wartime survivors, inspired by Google Books

Guest post by James H. Keeffe, III, author of Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Editor's Note: From time to time, we invite guests to post about items of interest. We're pleased to have James Keeffe, III -- author of the award-winning Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW -- tell us an amazing story about how Google Books helped reunite a Holocaust survivor and a World War II veteran.

Last year, my distributor Epicenter Press uploaded my book, Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW, to Google Books. The book is a memoir of the WWII experiences of my father, James H. Keeffe, Jr., as told to me. He was an American B-24 bomber pilot who, on his fourth mission during the war, was shot down over Southern Holland and taken in by the Dutch Underground. He spent the next five months evading capture by staying in several safe houses in Rotterdam. In one of the homes, owned by a Dr. Jappe-Alberts, a Jewish family—father, mother and eight-year-old daughter—hid up in the attic.

About six months ago, I received an email that sent shivers up my spine. It was from the same Jewish family's daughter, now called Helen Cohen-Berman:

Dear Sir,

I've found this book a few day ago at the internet. I am the little girl from the Cohen family who was hidden together with Jim at the Jappe-Alberts family. I was 8 years old. I've read a part of the book already on the net and my son in the USA ordered it. It's unbelievable to find all this after so many years... We are now living in Israel since 1978. I would like to leave a note with these information for the writer and his father as a sign of life. Can you give me an email-address? Forwarding is another possibility!

With regards,
Helen Cohen-Berman
Imagine my surprise! All my dad knew about the Cohens at this point was that they had eventually been captured by the Nazis, who also shot Dr. Jappe-Alberts and sent his family to prison.

Left: Photo of 19-year-old James from October 1942, Right: Photo of 9-year-old Helen from 1945

Helen, my father and I began emailing each other quite often. Helen, now 76 years old, told us that after all these decades, it had been time for her to come to grips with her memories of the war. Her daughter suggested that she search for the name "Jappe-Alberts" and the place "Rotterdam" on Google. Two results of import came up. The first was a memorial to 10 men shot by the Nazis on a country road south of Rotterdam, including Dr. Jappe-Alberts. The second was the portion of my book on Google Books that had the name Jappe-Alberts in it. Helen began to read that part of the book and, lo and behold, realized she was reading about herself as a young girl and her family.

She told us that, though her family had been sent to Westerbork, a transit/concentration camp in North Holland, after being captured, they survived the war. The rail system in the Netherlands by that time was so damaged that the Nazis could not move any more people from transit camps like Westerbork to the death camps of Germany and Poland. Westerbork—along with the Cohens—was eventually liberated by the Canadians.

Six months after Helen's email to me, after much planning, Helen flew to Seattle and was reunited with my father on September 13, 2011. Sixty-seven years had passed since last they saw each other. It was a very moving experience—all possible because of Google Books.

After 67 years, Helen and James were reunited in James' Seattle home

I was greatly honored to have been able to bring my father and Helen together again. Helen said the reunion was a "closing of a circle" and a healing time for her as she was finally able to talk about some of the events she had endured. For my father, the reunion was a joyful occasion. Meeting Helen allowed him to fill in some gaps, and find out the details of her family's capture and imprisonment. He was very happy to see Helen and quite sad when it was time to say goodbye.

At their reunion, I kept looking at them both, now in their later years, trying unsuccessfully to imagine what it must have been like when they were young and living under the fist of the Nazi occupation. Always the threat of instant and often cruel death weighed heavily on them, yet they both survived—and 67 years later were standing side by side, telling each other, and us, their stories.

Photo taken at the VFW Hall in Redmond, Washington, where James attends POW meetings. Credit: Book It Northwest
URL: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2011/09/67-year-reunion-of-wartime-survivors.html

[G] Additional Creator Tools from YouTube

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Additional Creator Tools from YouTube

As part of our ongoing goal to foster the creation of great video content, we are announcing the release of three new features we hope will empower you to become even more imaginative with your video production.

1. Convert your 2D videos into 3D with a single click. (beta!)
Creating 3D videos was pretty tough before. You had to set up two cameras, combine the footage from each, and use special software to make the effect look just right. Today we're launching 2D to 3D conversion. Once you've uploaded your 2D videos to YouTube, you can convert them to 3D with the click of a button. Converted videos will be viewable by everyone in 3D. You'll still get best results with a 3D camera, but it's a great new way to let people enjoy your finest moments. You'll find this feature by selecting "Edit Info", then "3D Video" on a video you've uploaded. (Note, you'll still need glasses to watch on most devices.)

2. All verified users in good standing can now upload long-form videos.
YouTubers are some of the most innovative, entertaining and inspirational people in the world, and their creativity often needs more than the current upload limit of 15 minutes. Today, we're improving upon our previous launch by enabling long uploads for users with a clean track record who complete an account verification and continue to follow the copyright rules set forth in our Community Guidelines. Check out some of the original full-length videos that can now shine on YouTube, such as student-film: "Spirit's Revenge."

.

To help you get those longer videos online, we also recently launched resumable uploads, which ensures that you won't lose any of the minutes you've uploaded if your internet fails or your computer dies during the upload process. You can resume uploading right where you left off once you're back online. (Note: Advanced uploader is no longer required to upload large files.)

3. Shoot, edit and share your videos easily with vlix and Magisto, now on youtube.com/create.
We're adding two additional video creation platforms for you to make your videos even better: Vlix and Magisto. Vlix lets you spice up your videos by adding cool effects and text to the video intro and closing. Magisto takes your unedited video and automatically edits it into short, fun clips.

With so many tools at your fingertips, what are you waiting for? Get Ready...Set...Create!

Shenaz Zack Mistry, Product Manager, recently watched "Home."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/kC6pwoQx3nI/additional-creator-tools-from-youtube.html

[G] +1: Now making Display ads more relevant

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: +1: Now making Display ads more relevant

Yesterday, we announced several exciting new additions to Google+, including open signups. We'd like to announce one more addition for our DoubleClick Ad Exchange publishers, +1 on display ads from AdWords.

Starting in October, the +1 button and social annotations will begin to appear on display ads from AdWords that win in the Ad Exchange auction. With a single click, people will now be able to endorse specific ads and make them more likely to appear to their social connections. We believe that these recommendations could lead your audience to notice ads on your site more, leading to more clicks and higher returns for you over time.

For example, take Susan, who sees an ad for a good deal on flights. She +1's the ad, thinking her friends might value this deal. Now, when Susan's friends and contacts are signed in to their Google accounts, they'll be able to see Susan's picture across the bottom of the ad, with a note saying she +1'd it.


The +1 button and recommendations will appear at the bottom of display ads.

Susan's friends and contacts will also be more likely to see the ad. While the dynamics of the AdWords and Ad Exchange auctions aren't changing, the +1'd ad will now be included in AdWord's bid on the Ad Exchange for the pages Susan's friends visit, as we know that recommendations from friends can be a strong signal of an ad's relevance.

All eligible ads from AdWords and other networks will continue to compete in the ad exchange auction, and we'll continue to show the ones that have the highest CPM. +1 button clicks are not counted as clicks on ads. Although you won't receive any revenue for +1 button clicks, +1's will help Ad Exchange to deliver more useful AdWords ads to your users.



On mobile, the +1 button will replace the existing 'g' logo and recommendations will appear for several seconds, then fade out.

If you'd prefer not to see the +1 button on ads that AdWords delivers, you can opt out by contacting your account manager.

Display ads become much more powerful when people can see which of their social connections have chosen to endorse them, leading to a better advertising experience and higher returns for you.

If you'd like to learn more about the +1 button on AdWords display ads served via the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, please visit the Ad Exchange Help Center.

Posted by Christian Oestlien, Product Manager
URL: http://doubleclickpublishers.blogspot.com/2011/09/1-now-making-display-ads-more-relevant.html

[G] Better Support for Non-English Characters in DFP

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: Better Support for Non-English Characters in DFP

Publishers from hundreds of countries use DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) to help them manage and deliver their advertising across their content.

The DFP interface is fully localized into 32 languages so whether you speak Français, Español, or Português, publishers have been able to traffic and report on their campaigns in their native tongue.

Today, we're happy to announce that we're expanding our international character support to ad tags, ad unit, and custom targeting naming, enabling publishers to now use all aspects of DFP in any language.


We hope our expanded support for international characters makes managing your inventory and tagging even easier for our global publishers.

Posted by Hennadiy Leontyev and Harish Pratapani, Software Engineers
URL: http://doubleclickpublishers.blogspot.com/2011/09/better-support-for-non-english.html

[G] Introducing multiple sign-in and preferences on Gmail for mobile

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

The Google Apps Blog: Introducing multiple sign-in and preferences on Gmail for mobile

Posted by Posted by Dominic Leung, Mobile Software Engineer

The Gmail for mobile team works hard to bring you features that make you more productive on the go. Today, we will highlight some new features for Gmail in your mobile browser.

Multiple sign-in support

Just like on your desktop, you can now to sign into multiple accounts simultaneously. To sign into an additional account, click on the account switcher at the bottom of the threadlist, then click "Sign into an another account." You can quickly switch between accounts by selecting the desired account from the Accounts menu.


Mobile-specific signature

We know that autocorrect and other mobile spell-checks can be frustrating as you are typing on the go. Let your friends know that you are responding via your mobile phone so that they understand why you might have sent a message that you are meeting for "monitors" and not "mojitos". It's an easy way to make them understand why your message might be short or have a few typos. To create a mobile signature, from the menu view, press the new settings icon, choose your signature, and then check the box that tells us you want to activate it. If you ever want to disable the mobile signature, you can uncheck the box and we will use your desktop signature instead.


Vacation Auto-Responder

Ever forgotten to set your out-of-office auto-reply in Gmail before going on a trip? You don't have to worry about that anymore, since you can now set your auto-reply using the mobile interface. Simply choose a start and end date and specify your message, just like on the desktop interface.


As part of added multiple sign-in support, we've updated URLs so that each account can have a separate bookmark. For those who have previously bookmarked Gmail for Mobile, please update your bookmark. If you haven't, now is a great time to head to mail.google.com on your smartphone or tablet browser and add a bookmark to your home screen.
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/0L7bVNJucp8/introducing-multiple-sign-in-and.html

[G] Testifying before the U.S. Senate on competition

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Testifying before the U.S. Senate on competition

Posted by Pablo Chavez, Director of Public Policy

This afternoon at 2 PM E.T., Eric Schmidt will testify before the U.S. Senate to talk about Google's approach to competition. He will deliver a simple message: we welcome competition. It makes us better. It makes our competitors better. Most importantly, it means better products for our users.

The hearing will be webcast and you can read his written and his oral testimony.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/09/testifying-before-us-senate-on.html

[G] Our commitment to the Safe Harbor privacy framework

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Our commitment to the Safe Harbor privacy framework

Posted by Patrick Ryan, Policy Counsel, Open Internet

As a global cloud provider, we're often asked by our customers how we protect customer data within the frameworks of local privacy laws, and in particular in the EU. Our approach, just like over 2,500 other US companies that offer services in Europe, is guided by the US - EU Safe Harbor Agreement, which is designed to ensure that transatlantic data transfers remain protected according to seven core EU-like privacy principles. In practice, for Google, Safe Harbor means our users in both Europe and the US can be sure they're getting not just the same level of service, but also the same level of privacy protection.

You can learn more about our commitment to this legal framework from our recent European Public Policy Blog post and find additional information on what this means to your business on our data protection page.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-commitment-to-safe-harbor-privacy.html

[G] Announcing Google Earth Pro 6.1: New Features and Easier to Use!

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Announcing Google Earth Pro 6.1: New Features and Easier to Use!

Posted by Coleman Rusnock and Dan Cohen, Google Earth Pro team

We are pleased to announce the newest release of Google Earth Pro! Version 6.1 focuses on user experience improvements that empower professionals to make faster geographic-related business decisions.

Google Earth Pro is a simple yet powerful tool used by industry professionals all over the world. Businesses in retail, construction and insurance save travel time by inspecting, measuring and profiling land parcels before visiting the site. Many companies use Google Earth Pro's high resolution prints for client meetings and presentations. Other companies use the Google Earth Pro import tool to overlay spreadsheet or GIS data on a map. You can read about other use cases on our customer stories page.


Real estate and insurance professionals can analyze distances more effectively with the combined Ruler and Elevation Profile tool, as shown in this measurement of San Francisco, above.


Print high-resolution screenshots with scale bar and north arrow for client meetings and presentations.

Key feature enhancements in version 6.1 include:

  • Enhanced Print Layout: Print maps and overlays in premium resolution for tactile collaboration with key stakeholders. Improved output and paper handling allow fine controls for professional-looking deliverables.

  • Simplified Movie Maker: Create professional video presentations to share with your target audience. Render saved tours as videos, or take the director's seat and record live actions from the 3D viewer.

  • Consolidated Measurement Tool: View path length and elevation profile in one window to better understand the 3D environment surrounding your area of interest.

  • Expanded Data Styling: With 64 unique styling attributes available for each imported dataset (compared with eight in previous versions), users have greater control over the look and feel of their data.

  • Improved Networking Infrastructure: Earth Pro 6.1 offers better support for network proxies and SSL certificates commonly found in corporate networking environments, making it easier for business to use Google Earth Pro within their network security guidelines.

Click here to download the latest version of Google Earth Pro for your organization today.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/09/announcing-google-earth-pro-61-new.html

[G] A 67-year reunion of wartime survivors, inspired by Google Books

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: A 67-year reunion of wartime survivors, inspired by Google Books

(Cross-posted on the Inside Google Books blog)

From time to time, we invite guests to post about items of interest. We're pleased to have James Keeffe, III, author of the award-winning Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW, tell us an amazing story about how Google Books helped reunite a Holocaust survivor and a World War II veteran. -Ed.

Last year, my distributor Epicenter Press uploaded my book, Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW, to Google Books. The book is a memoir of the WWII experiences of my father, James H. Keeffe, Jr., as told to me. He was an American B-24 bomber pilot who, on his fourth mission during the war, was shot down over Southern Holland and taken in by the Dutch Underground. He spent the next five months evading capture by staying in several safe houses in Rotterdam. In one of the homes, owned by a Dr. Jappe-Alberts, a Jewish family—father, mother and eight-year-old daughter—hid up in the attic.

About six months ago, I received an email that sent shivers up my spine. It was from the same Jewish family's daughter, now called Helen Cohen-Berman:

Dear Sir,

I've found this book a few day ago at the internet. I am the little girl from the Cohen family who was hidden together with Jim at the Jappe-Alberts family. I was 8 years old. I've read a part of the book already on the net and my son in the USA ordered it. It's unbelievable to find all this after so many years... We are now living in Israel since 1978. I would like to leave a note with these information for the writer and his father as a sign of life. Can you give me an email-address? Forwarding is another possibility!

With regards,
Helen Cohen-Berman
Imagine my surprise! All my dad knew about the Cohens at this point was that they had eventually been captured by the Nazis, who also shot Dr. Jappe-Alberts and sent his family to prison.

Left: Photo of 19-year-old James from October 1942, Right: Photo of 9-year-old Helen from 1945

Helen, my father and I began emailing each other quite often. Helen, now 76 years old, told us that after all these decades, it had been time for her to come to grips with her memories of the war. Her daughter suggested that she search for the name "Jappe-Alberts" and the place "Rotterdam" on Google. Two results of import came up. The first was a memorial to 10 men shot by the Nazis on a country road south of Rotterdam, including Dr. Jappe-Alberts. The second was the portion of my book on Google Books that had the name Jappe-Alberts in it. Helen began to read that part of the book and, lo and behold, realized she was reading about herself as a young girl and her family.

She told us that, though her family had been sent to Westerbork, a transit/concentration camp in North Holland, after being captured, they survived the war. The rail system in the Netherlands by that time was so damaged that the Nazis could not move any more people from transit camps like Westerbork to the death camps of Germany and Poland. Westerbork—along with the Cohens—was eventually liberated by the Canadians.

Six months after Helen's email to me, after much planning, Helen flew to Seattle and was reunited with my father on September 13, 2011. Sixty-seven years had passed since last they saw each other. It was a very moving experience—all possible because of Google Books.

After 67 years, Helen and James were reunited in James' Seattle home

I was greatly honored to have been able to bring my father and Helen together again. Helen said the reunion was a "closing of a circle" and a healing time for her as she was finally able to talk about some of the events she had endured. For my father, the reunion was a joyful occasion. Meeting Helen allowed him to fill in some gaps, and find out the details of her family's capture and imprisonment. He was very happy to see Helen and quite sad when it was time to say goodbye.

At their reunion, I kept looking at them both, now in their later years, trying unsuccessfully to imagine what it must have been like when they were young and living under the fist of the Nazi occupation. Always the threat of instant and often cruel death weighed heavily on them, yet they both survived—and 67 years later were standing side by side, telling each other, and us, their stories.

Photo taken at the VFW Hall in Redmond, Washington, where James attends POW meetings. Credit: Book It Northwest

Posted by James H. Keeffe, III, author of Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/67-year-reunion-of-wartime-survivors.html

[G] Introducing multiple sign-in and preferences on Gmail for mobile

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing multiple sign-in and preferences on Gmail for mobile

Posted by Posted by Dominic Leung, Mobile Software Engineer

The Gmail for mobile team works hard to bring you features that make you more productive on the go. Today, we will highlight some new features for Gmail in your mobile browser.

Multiple sign-in support

Just like on your desktop, you can now to sign into multiple accounts simultaneously. To sign into an additional account, click on the account switcher at the bottom of the threadlist, then click "Sign into an another account." You can quickly switch between accounts by selecting the desired account from the Accounts menu.


Mobile-specific signature

We know that autocorrect and other mobile spell-checks can be frustrating as you are typing on the go. Let your friends know that you are responding via your mobile phone so that they understand why you might have sent a message that you are meeting for "monitors" and not "mojitos". It's an easy way to make them understand why your message might be short or have a few typos. To create a mobile signature, from the menu view, press the new settings icon, choose your signature, and then check the box that tells us you want to activate it. If you ever want to disable the mobile signature, you can uncheck the box and we will use your desktop signature instead.


Vacation Auto-Responder

Ever forgotten to set your out-of-office auto-reply in Gmail before going on a trip? You don't have to worry about that anymore, since you can now set your auto-reply using the mobile interface. Simply choose a start and end date and specify your message, just like on the desktop interface.


As part of added multiple sign-in support, we've updated URLs so that each account can have a separate bookmark. For those who have previously bookmarked Gmail for Mobile, please update your bookmark. If you haven't, now is a great time to head to mail.google.com on your smartphone or tablet browser and add a bookmark to your home screen.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/introducing-multiple-sign-in-and.html

[G] Rock in Rio 2011 live on YouTube

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Rock in Rio 2011 live on YouTube

With live streams of concerts like Coachella and Lollapalooza, and performances from bands like U2, YouTube is no stranger to hosting the planet's big rock fests. So we're adding another to the list: Rock in Rio 2011.



From September 23 to October 2, some of the biggest bands in the world will be live on YouTube performing at the world's next mega-concert, Rock in Rio 2011 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rock in Rio YouTube channel already has an early look at some of the bands in the lineup, including Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Katy Perry, Elton John, Rihanna and more.







We'll be live around the world in 24 different languages, so if you can't attend in Brazil, clear your schedule and get ready to rock!



Flavia Simon, Marketing Manager, recently watched "Cidade do rock 3D."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/utx3YM641qs/rock-in-rio-2011-live-on-youtube.html

[G] Merge cells vertically in Google spreadsheets

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Docs Blog: Merge cells vertically in Google spreadsheets

There are many times when you want to format your spreadsheets in a certain way to make your data easier to read and understand. Starting today, we've extended the merge functionality to let you create vertical merges across several rows of data.

In the spirit of the NFL season, let's say you want to host a football tournament for your friends. To make it easier for them to cast their votes on the winning team, you organize the NFL teams by conference and division in a Google spreadsheet. Using vertical merges, you can assign headers to sets of rows. Simply select the set of cells you'd like to merge, then click on the down arrow next to the merge icon, and select Merge vertically.


In the NFL spreadsheet, you'll see that some of the team names don't fit on one line in the width of the cells of Column C.

To improve the formatting, select the cells across all the rows of teams in the AFC (rows 2-17) and 2 columns (C and D) and click Merge horizontally. You'll have 16 merged cells that span 2 columns for better formatting.


After applying vertical merges to all of the conference and division headers and horizontal merges across the team names in each conference, you're ready to share with your friends for the tournament!


To undo a merge action, select a merged cell and click Unmerge in the drop-down menu.

We hope you enjoy customizing the formatting of your spreadsheets with this feature. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted by: Jakov Krolo, Software Engineer Intern
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/merge-cells-vertically-in-google.html

[G] YouTube.com/Teachers: Helping teachers use YouTube to engage and educate their students

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:43 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: YouTube.com/Teachers: Helping teachers use YouTube to engage and educate their students

We're excited to welcome James Sanders, middle school history teacher at KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy, to the YouTube blog. In his classroom, James uses technology to engage and educate his students more effectively. Today James shares the impact YouTube has had on his students and helps us announce an exciting new resource for educators worldwide.



When I started teaching in Los Angeles five years ago I was surprised by how little the classroom experience had changed since I was a middle schooler myself eighteen years prior. The world around us had gone through a dramatic technological boom but classrooms had stayed nearly the same. In my classroom, I made a commitment to incorporate technology. I started a class blog and participated in an experiment with Chromebooks. What was the one tool I found most useful as a teacher and most engaging for my students? YouTube.



I've used YouTube in my classroom in countless different ways. I use videos to spark classroom discussions, increase instructional time by assigning videos as homework, and create playlists for each lesson so students can dive deeper into specific areas that interest them. I also found countless educational videos on YouTube that energize and excite my students about a number of topics, such as medieval history.



This summer I was delighted to join the YouTube team to help develop resources for teachers. This past July we organized the first-ever YouTube Teacher's Studio, a workshop for teachers from around the world to train them on using YouTube in the classroom. Award-winning teacher trainers Jim Sill and Ramsey Musallam led workshops on "Finding your inner Spielberg" and "FlipTeaching," and I taught about using YouTube as a powerful educational tool.



While it was an amazing experience for those gathered, YouTube is all about its global reach and universal access to great content. In that vein, we've worked to build these trainings (and more) into a site we're launching today: YouTube.com/Teachers.



This site is a resource for educators everywhere to learn how to use YouTube as an educational tool. There are lesson plan suggestions, highlights of great educational content on YouTube, and training on how to film your own educational videos.



This site was written by teachers for teachers, and we want to continue that spirit of community-involvement. We're creating a new YouTube newsletter for teachers (sign up here!) and are asking teachers to submit their favorite YouTube playlists for us to highlight on YouTube EDU.



Finally, I know that not every teacher is lucky enough to have access to YouTube in their school. The YouTube EDU team is hard at work on a solution that will make educational content more easily discoverable for teachers and the site more easily integrated within schools, so stay tuned!



James Sanders, a middle school history teacher at KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy, recently watched "A Brief History of Techonology in Classrooms," and can be found posting tips and tricks on Google+. Will Houghteling, YouTube EDU, recently watched "Monster Foam Science Experiment."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/edHdVXkCy7U/youtubecomteachers-helping-teachers-use.html

[G] Google+: 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107...

Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:42 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google+: 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107...

We started the Google+ project to help make online sharing more like real-world sharing. Of course, in life we increasingly share on the go, so over the past ~90 days we've developed Google+ apps for Android, iOS and the mobile web.

During this time we've made lots of improvements to the project, and in fact, the team just announced its 100th new feature overall (open signups). But our work is far from done, and today we're bringing seven additional Google+ features to your mobile device.

Hangouts on your mobile (a.k.a. feature #92) 

Seeing someone face-to-face is one of the most important ways you can connect with them. Unfortunately we're often too busy, too far away, or too unpredictable to make meetups a regular occurrence. That's why we're making Hangouts available on phones with Android 2.3+ and front-facing cameras (iOS support coming soon). Just find an active hangout in the Stream, and you can join your friends face-to-face-to-face:

Hangouts on your phone: Stream View (left), Green Room (center), Portrait View (right) 


101, 102, 103. You asked for it 

We take your feedback very seriously, and we do our best to deliver your most-requested features as quickly as possible. So today we're launching three more things you've been asking for in Google+ mobile:


  • Improved SMS support. Users in the US and India can now post to Google+, receive notifications, and respond to group messages via SMS (with more countries on the way). To start texting, just verify your phone number in Google+ settings. 
  • Improved +mentions support. To add someone in your circles to a conversation (or simply get their attention), you can now +[their name] inside a post or comment. 
  • +1'ing comments. When you read a great comment in the Stream, you can now +1 it directly from your iOS device (with Android coming soon). 
    SMS (left), +mentions (center), +1'ing comments (right)

104, 105, 106. Giving you more choices 

The most important part of Google+ is you, so we want to make sure you have meaningful ways to personalize your experience -- from selecting just the right people to share with, to switching between the app, the web, and SMS as you see fit. Today we're excited to bring three new options to mobile users:

  • Edit your profile photo. You can now put your best face forward, from where you happen to be. Just visit your profile, click edit, and you can choose or take a new picture. 
  • Customize your notifications. Some notifications may be more important than others, especially when you're on the go. Now you can decide which ones you see (or not) on your phone. 
  • Make some room. If you're taking lots of photos, or installing lots of apps, then internal storage can sometimes shrink. That's why you can now move the Google+ app to SD storage on Android devices. 
 Edit your profile photo (left), Notification settings (center), Move to USB (right) 



107. So long Huddle, hello Messenger (and hi there, photos) 

As we move from limited field trial to open beta, we're renaming Huddle to Messenger. More importantly, we're adding new functionality to Messenger that makes group communication even more fun: photo sharing. So now when you're sitting down for a meal, or kicking back on vacation, you can show your circles what's happening, right this second:


Messenger: Homescreen (left), Choosing a Photo (center), Posting a Photo (right)  

We hope you enjoy today's round of Google+ mobile features. There's plenty left for us to do, so we'll keep listening, and working to make your mobile experience that much better. In the meantime, you can try the new app (on Android and the mobile web today, and on iOS soon), and let us know what you think.

 Posted by Punit Soni, Google+ Mobile PM
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-101-102-103-104-105-106-107.html
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