Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Gnucash accounts for a successful summer

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:34 AM PDT

Google Open Source Blog: Gnucash accounts for a successful summer

Gnucash, a free accounting program for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Macintosh OSX, had its second opportunity to mentor students in the Google Summer of Code program this summer. Two of our three students successfully completed their projects.

Muslim Chochlov wrote unit tests for several critical modules of Gnucash's core Query Object Framework. This is an important first step to some necessary refactoring of the framework so that Gnucash can move from an in-memory processing model to a transactional database model allowing simultaneous multiple user access.

Nitish Dodagetta extended the experimental Qt GUI "Cutecash" (Gnucash's primary GUI is Gtk+) by writing a unified accounting transaction entry window. The Gnucash development team is investigating Qt and C++ as a future direction for Gnucash, and this struck a chord for Google Summer of Code students: half of the proposals we received from the student applicants prior to the start of the program were for Cutecash projects.

Overall we were pleased with the progress we made this summer; we found that the successful students leveraged the work of their mentors and moved forward some important aspects of the project. We're continuing to work with the students this fall, integrating them into the regular development team. Mentoring up-and-coming programmers is very rewarding, and we enjoy encouraging them to use their skills for altruistic goals.

By John Ralls, Gnucash.org


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleOpenSourceBlog/~3/29waca74AIs/gnucash-accounts-for-successful-summer.html

[G] Webmaster Tools in Google Analytics for everyone

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 03:51 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Webmaster Tools in Google Analytics for everyone

Back in June, we announced a pilot program to allow users to surface Google Search data in Google Analytics by linking their Webmaster Tools accounts. We've been busy making some improvements and tweaks based on user feedback, and today we're excited to make this set of reports available to all users.



The Webmaster Tools section contains three reports based on the Webmaster Tools data that we hope will give you a better sense of how your site performs in search results. We've created a new section for these reports called Search Engine Optimization that will live under the Traffic Sources section. The reports you'll find there are:

  • Queries: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily queries

  • Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily landing pages

  • Geographical Summary: impressions, clicks, and CTR by country




Queries report
To start using the reports you first need to link your Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools accounts. You can get step by step instructions and additional information on the reports in this Help Center article. If you're not already using Webmaster Tools, we highly recommend you start. It's a free tool that helps you understand how Google sees your site. Sign up on the Google Webmaster Tools homepage. Enjoy the new reports, and let us know how they're helping your analysis.





Posted by Kate Cushing, Associate Product Manager, Google Analytics team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/jtbE99FkYn8/webmaster-tools-in-google-analytics-for.html

[G] Digital due process for e-book readers

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 03:51 PM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Digital due process for e-book readers

Posted by Leslie Miller, State Policy Manager

E-book sales are booming, creating new opportunity for authors and publishers. E-books have also fundamentally changed the way that readers discover and access books, opening vast libraries and making them available in the cloud via Google Books and other providers.

But the laws governing your rights as a reader haven't evolved nearly as quickly. Forty-eight states have special "books laws" that limit when the government can compel disclosure of records regarding your book buying and reading. It's not always clear, however, to what extent such laws apply to booksellers, including online stores.

It's important that our laws reflect the way people live their lives today. That's why we're pleased to see that California signed into law the Reader Privacy Act, which clarifies the law and ensures that there are high standards before booksellers -- whether they're selling print or digital books -- can be compelled to turn over reading records. This law takes a careful, balanced approach, protecting readers' privacy while allowing for legitimate law enforcement access with a warrant or under specific, narrow exceptions. This bill was sponsored by Sen. Leland Yee, championed by the ACLU of Northern California and Electronic Frontier Foundation, and supported by a number of others, including Google.

We believe that our laws should protect individuals from unwarranted government intrusion in the online world no less than they do in the home, library, or bookstore, even as information and computing technology continue to advance. This is why we already invoke existing "books laws" when necessary to protect readers' privacy, and why we've backed laws at the federal level to update the rules that protect your data stored in the cloud.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/10/digital-due-process-for-e-book-readers.html

[G] Google Apps Adventures: Explorers film climate change in action

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:07 AM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Google Apps Adventures: Explorers film climate change in action

Posted by: Ashley Chandler, Google Apps team

Editor's note: The Google Apps Adventures series features stories from the people and organizations that use Google Apps to explore, discover and push the boundaries. These businesses truly embody the freedom enabled by the cloud.

Back in January we shared the story of Berlin-based multimedia agency Traffic Konzept + Film, and award-winning polar explorer Børge Ousland as they set out to film a record-setting expedition to document global warming in the Arctic. Ousland's goal was to be the first to sail through both Passages of the North Pole in a single voyage, and the first to circumnavigate the Arctic in a single season – a feat other explorers have tried and failed to do for 500 years. Unfortunately, due to global warming, such a journey is now possible.

To stay connected and coordinate the expedition, the explorers and Traffic relied on Google Apps and YouTube. They also outfitted their boat with a special GPS tracker, so everyone could follow the voyage in real time via Google Maps.

To capture the adventure, Traffic created a short documentary that combines exclusive footage from the expedition with the first post-voyage interviews of Børge Ousland and co-captain Thorlief Thorliefsson. While the film will be aired at the 2011 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival today, you can enjoy a preview right here.

Google technology helped bring the journey to life as it happened. Børge Ousland tells us, "The film allows viewers to look back and get a real sense of the climate change effects that everyone witnessed and documented."

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/10/google-apps-adventures-explorers-film.html

[G] Music Tuesday: Wilco, an introduction to juking, and more

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:07 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: Music Tuesday: Wilco, an introduction to juking, and more

What's happening on youtube.com/music this week? We dig into two facets of Chicago's music scene, starting with Wilco's indie-Americana explorations and then exploring the future-forward sound of juke. And then we go even farther afield...come with us!




Wilco curation


The iconic Chicago band Wilco have just released one of the most acclaimed albums of their career -- and possibly of 2011 (time will tell) -- in The Whole Love. The hook-filled album also stretches at its sonic space, artfully scarring its easy beauty with shards of noise and the occasional extended guitar jam. And yes, they've made some pretty lovely videos to go along with it. We invited the band to take over the YouTube homepage today, and they flood it with music you might not ordinarily see there. Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The inimitable Bill Withers. They gravitate to music that endures...not unlike their own.









Chicago Juke


While Wilco reps one aspect of Chi-town (its indie-Americana side), we turned to a completely different set of musicians to explore another facet of the city's music scene. Maybe you've heard about juking. It's a dance scene; it's a musical style. It was born in Chicago, and it takes house music and hip-hop and strips them down, cranking up the BPMs and muddying the production values so it feels as if it could have come out of any corner of the world. People get wild to it; the footwork style has become hugely inspirational to dancers around the country. Even overseas dubstep producers have been influenced by the scene in recent years. Check out our introduction to this vibrant musical subculture.









Dakha Brakha "Vesna"
Speaking of going local, you can't get much more local than Dakha Brakha -- it's just that the locale is a bit farther afield. (The Ukraine, to be exact.) Dakha Brakha play Ukranian folk music, but they do it with such art-house panache that it feels avant-garde instead of old. In "Vesna," the band's most recent video, they emerge from Ukraine's forests in full traditional garb, setting up and performing in modern-day Kiev. The video builds slowly, but by the time it ends, modern life feels as if it's been briefly transformed.









Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched "Yo Yo Ma - Attaboy."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/KTlUbnJHUKs/music-tuesday-wilco-introduction-to.html
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