Friday, October 21, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Upcoming changes to Reader: a new look, new Google+ features, and some clean-up

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Reader Blog: Upcoming changes to Reader: a new look, new Google+ features, and some clean-up

Posted by Alan Green, Software Engineer



In the next week, we'll be making some highly requested changes to Google Reader. First, we're going to introduce a brand new design (like many of Google's other products) that we hope you love. Second, we're going to bring Reader and Google+ closer together, so you can share the best of your feeds with just the right circles.



As a result of these changes, we also think it's important to clean things up a bit. Many of Reader's social features will soon be available via Google+, so in a week's time we'll be retiring things like friending, following and shared link blogs inside of Reader.



We think the end result is better than what's available today, and you can sign up for Google+ right now to start prepping Reader-specific circles. We recognize, however, that some of you may feel like the product is no longer for you. That's why we will also be extending Reader's subscription export feature to include the following items. Your data belongs to you, after all, and we want to make sure you can take it with you.


  • Your subscriptions

  • Your shared items

  • Your friends

  • Your likes

  • Your starred items


Like always, the new Google Reader will be a great place to read and share your feeds. And in addition to Google+, you'll still be able to share to almost any service using Send To. We're looking forward to launching the new features very soon.
URL: http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcoming-changes-to-reader-new-look-new.html

[G] Google Catalogs presents the coveted Neiman Marcus Christmas Book and debuts the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective--for free on your tablet

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Mobile Blog: Google Catalogs presents the coveted Neiman Marcus Christmas Book and debuts the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective--for free on your tablet

(Cross-posted from the Google Commerce blog)

Neiman Marcus is known for the outrageously beautiful and unique merchandise showcased in their annual Christmas Book. Think of the most amazing gifts you can imagine -- a beautiful Chanel handbag, a Orefici watch, or perhaps your very own tailored mermaid suit or customizable cupcake car.

For this holiday season, Google Catalogs has collaborated with Neiman Marcus to offer you a free, browsable copy of this year's Christmas Book. We've also created the very first historic compilation of Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gifts from the past ten years. It's called the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective and you'll only find it on the Google Catalogs app for iPad, available for free in the App Store.

To celebrate the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective, we've picked out our favorite gifts from the past 10 years! Sadly, gifts from prior years are no longer for sale, but we trust you'll enjoy the 2011 gifts and the walk down memory lane.





Posted by Madhu Punjabi, Strategic Partner Manager Associate, Google Catalogs Team
URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/10/google-catalogs-presents-coveted-neiman.html

[G] YouTube Release Notes: Updated Video End-Screen, WeVideo added to YouTube.com/Create and More...

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: YouTube Release Notes: Updated Video End-Screen, WeVideo added to YouTube.com/Create and More...

It's been a while since we published our last Release Notes post, sharing the latest changes to YouTube however big or small. Our scrappy engineers have still been hard at work to make your experience on YouTube even better, so we decided to resurrect this series and share a bunch of our recent changes.

Updated Video End-Screen: We've redesigned the end-screen that appears directly after a video finishes playing to make it even easier for you to find the next great video to watch.



Enhanced Playlist Bar: To make the experience of watching videos in a playlist better, we've updated the interface for video playlists, making the individual video details more visible from within the playlist and making the next, previous, auto-play and shuffle buttons more distinct.



Updated YouTube.com/Charts page: If you want to keep track of the latest and greatest videos on YouTube or know which videos have had true staying power, check out our updated YouTube Charts page. You can browse through the most viewed (standard and HD), most liked, and top favorited videos of today, this week, this month and of all time. Pulling from our 'As Seen On' feature, you'll also be able to see what videos are being shared and discussed across the web. For those of you with truly niche interests, you can view charts by categories like "How to & Style" and "Pets & Animals," and also see the most subscribed channels.



WeVideo Now on YouTube: To give you even more options to edit and touch up your videos, we've added the cloud-based video editing platform WeVideo as a partner to YouTube.com/Create.

YouTube Localized in More Countries and Languages: We recently added Kenya, the Philippines and Singapore to the list of countries where YouTube is localized, bringing this total number to 35. You can check out what's popular in these countries by changing your location setting, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of YouTube.com and clicking on Location. To further support content creators in these countries, we also launched the YouTube Partner Program here as well. Want to practice your Estonian, Icelandic, Basque, Galician, or Udu? We've added these new languages, making the YouTube interface available in the vernacular in 51 languages.



Smart Subscribe button: We've added a "smart" subscribe button on the video watch page, that will let you know if you're already subscribed to the channel of the video you're watching. If you so, it'll say "Subscribed!". If not, you'll see the standard "Subscribe" button allowing you to do so.

Nathalie Arbel, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched "K'Naan NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/6VXJF2tbn5Y/youtube-release-notes-updated-video-end.html

[G] To pitch a perfect game, teach yourself online

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: To pitch a perfect game, teach yourself online

(Cross-posted on the Inside Search blog)

Searches can become stories. Some are inspiring, some change the way we see the world and some just put a smile on our face. This is a story of how people can use Google to do something extraordinary. If you have a story, share it. - Ed.

My major league pitching career was anything but perfect. The closest I ever came was a seven-inning outing against Milwaukee while playing for the Cincinnati Reds, in which I gave up only four runs and earned the victory. In baseball, you can be successful without coming close to perfect. Just think about batting average: a .400 average is insanely good, but that means you strike out or get out in some other way more than half the time you're at bat. Hall of Fame pitchers give up an average of more than two runs per game. Seldom does a pitcher throw a shutout. A perfect game—in which a pitcher does not allow a single player on base—is incredibly rare.

In the majors, setting your team up to win involves daily physical workouts, hours of practice and in-depth analysis of the opposing teams' traits and tendencies. The idea that someone without this training and background could instead go online, gather and process the necessary information and use it to throw a perfect game is unfathomable. Yet that's exactly what happened to Brian Kingrey.

Brian is a high school music teacher from Hammond, La. and not much of a sports fan. As one of his students put it, "I've never heard him say the word baseball." But Brian is a gamer—so naturally, he was intrigued by the $1 million prize he saw in a TV commercial for a new baseball video game called MLB 2K11. He knew nothing about baseball, had never even played the real game in his life, but encouraged by his wife, he went out, bought the game and started playing. A few weeks later, Brian won the $1 million prize for pitching the first perfect game in MLB 2K11. And he learned how to do it entirely online.



"I had to figure out what baseball was, not just what a perfect game was," Brian said. He found that everything he needed to know was online: he was able to search about batters, batting averages, the different kinds of pitches. He combined the information to figure out that he had the best odds in a match-up between the Phillies -- with star pitcher Roy Halladay on the mound -- and the Houston Astros. He also researched the weak spots of each player—for instance, the toughest batter Halladay would face was going to be Astro's infielder Bill Hall. After that, Brian was ready to play.

And play he did. On his third try, Brian pitched the perfect game and became a millionaire. "Once I got past Bill Hall, I knew I had it," he said. "Without online search, I would've been in deep trouble. If I had played like it was in my head, I would've done it all wrong." Perhaps if I'd known that search was the answer when I was playing in the major leagues, I might have come a little closer to perfection more often.

Posted by Jeff Austin, Google Apps channel manager and former Major League Pitcher
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-pitch-perfect-game-teach-yourself.html

[G] Street View hits the stunning Swiss Alps railways

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Street View hits the stunning Swiss Alps railways

(Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog)

From the Amazon to the ancient ruins of Pompeii, Street View technology has put imagery of some of the world's most interesting and significant sites online for everyone to enjoy. Now, for the first time in Google Maps, we're hitting the train tracks to capture the majesty of the famous railway lines of the Swiss Alps and the surrounding scenery.



In cooperation with Rhaetian Railway, our Street View team has collected images from one of the world's most scenic railway routes—the Albula-Bernina line in Switzerland—that will soon be live on Google Maps. The picturesque route through the Swiss Alps is one of most famous in the world, winding its way through wild mountain scenery from Thusis, Switzerland; past the resort town of St. Moritz; to its final stop just over the border in Tirano, Italy.


View Albula-Bernina Line in a larger map

A complex system of tunnels, viaducts and galleries allow the railway line to pass through the narrow valleys and climb almost 2,000 meters in altitude. It's unique to see technology and architecture like this in a natural landscape, and the route is a popular tourist destination offering amazing photography opportunities.

To capture the stunning scenery for Street View, we mounted our trike—a three-wheel pedicab with a camera system on top—to a flatbed at the front of a train. As the train travelled along the line, cameras facing nine different directions captured still photos of the surrounding areas that we're now stitching together into 360-degree panoramic views. Soon, we'll publish the imagery on Google Maps for people around the globe to enjoy and experience themselves. The imagery will provide admirers of this route with completely new perspectives, and also help document and preserve this UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos from imagery collection day:



To get the latest on Street View go to maps.google.com/streetview.

Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager, Europe
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/street-view-hits-stunning-swiss-alps.html

[G] Google Analytics User Conference in Spain - October 27

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: Google Analytics User Conference in Spain - October 27

We are excited to announce our first Google Analytics User Conference in Spain, which will be held on October 27 in Madrid.



At the conference, you'll learn from national and international Google Analytics specialists, who will discuss their vision for maximizing Google Analytics performance for different online business areas. You'll also have the chance to meet some of the most influential Google Analytics professionals in Spain, including Enric Quintero from Metriplica, Pere Rovira from Web Analytics, and Jaum Clotet & Andrés Flores from Watt. They are all Google Analytics Partners, and they've worked together closely to develop this exciting event.



This event will be an ideal opportunity to share your own analytics knowledge and talk with other Google Analytics users, experts, and members of the Google Analytics team.



Key benefits of attending the Google Analytics User Conference:

  • Meet members of the Google Analytics team, experts, and other users like you

  • Improve your skills with Google Analytics through hands-on workshops

  • Ask your business questions at the Google Analytics Help Desk

  • Discover new features in Google Analytics

You can find further information, such as the agenda and speakers, on the Google Analytics User Conference Website. Please visit the site today and and buy your tickets to attend.



We look forward to seeing you there!



Posted by Timo Josten, Google Analytics team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/itKR8C4EH74/google-analytics-user-conference-in.html

[G] A New Approach To Video Advertising For Publishers Of All Sizes

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: A New Approach To Video Advertising For Publishers Of All Sizes

Watching a funny video ad is one of the special pleasures of life. Trafficking that same video ad is considerably less amusing. In fact, it can take publishers longer to traffic a video ad than it takes to get a root canal. And that's often the least painful part of growing a video advertising business. We decided to embark on an ambitious project: to build an entirely new video ad server that is both powerful and simple to use. We listened carefully to feedback from over a hundred video publishers and designed our solution around the complex needs of broadcasters, video portals and the world's largest sports, entertainment and news sites. They told us about the need to traffic a variety of video ad formats, across all devices, governed by complicated syndication agreements and changing business rules.




From the start, we focused on clean design, efficient workflow and scalability to meet the needs of large video publishers, such as YouTube. We then spent hundreds of hours carrying out usability studies with publishers as we refined the user experience, meticulously reducing clicks, eye movement and manual inputs. We also took advantage of Google's infrastructure to offer the scalability and reliability that publishers expect. Finally, we made sure that every feature has a direct impact on revenue or cost savings, so that publishers would immediately see the impact on profitability.




DFP Video



Today, we're happy to announce that DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Video is available to publishers globally. By offering a truly video-centric approach to ad serving in DFP, publishers can now manage their entire display advertising business with video at its core through one platform. No longer do publishers need to deal with the operational complexity of splitting off their video inventory into a separate ad server. We've signed up dozens of beta publishers for DFP Video and our impression volume has grown 55% month-over-month for most of this year. The feedback we've received has been encouraging: the simplicity and power of DFP Video has reduced costs and increased revenue. For Alex Boyce, GM of The Hollywood Reporter, DFP Video has improved the efficiency of his ad operations team by 25%. Peter Slaughter, Director Advertisement Operations of the Financial Times has told us, "We expect the new system to drive significant improvements to our ad operations workflow, and believe that this may prove to be an effective tool with which to deliver incremental revenue benefit from our video offering."




Here are some more reasons why publishers have made DFP Video the cornerstone of their video advertising business:




Video Content at the Center


By synching to video Content Management Systems (CMS), fresh content automatically appears in DFP for targeting, providing real-time insight into video inventory. We've made the process of connecting to a CMS so turn-key, that The Hollywood Reporter was able to ingest their extensive library in a matter of minutes, without any custom set-up or coding.












Trafficking in Minutes


We've made trafficking as simple as sending an email attachment: Set the targeting, drag and drop the video ad creative into the browser, and watch it get transcoded in real-time into outputs that work on iOS, Android and other platforms. All in just a few minutes. We're also getting a hand from YouTube's massive infrastructure for hosting and transcoding the creatives, which means that ads are delivered as fast and reliably as the billions of daily YouTube video views.



Syndication Simplified

The majority of videos are consumed on distribution sites, and DFP offers a comprehensive partner and financial terms module to manage syndication relationships. Whether publishers are syndicating their content to distribution sites such as YouTube or monetizing videos that belong to different content owner, DFP allows them to set revenue shares and takes care of all the accounting.



Business Rule Flexibility

DFP Video allows publishers to define the ad experience for any section of their inventory. For example, ad rules can set pre-rolls for clips, define pods and bumpers for long-form content, and turn off monetization entirely for subscribers - without making a single player change.



To learn more about DFP Video, contact your account manager or drop us a note.




DFP Small Business Video (Beta)



We also learned a lot from publishers that are just starting off with video, and we're thrilled to announce a set of beta video features in DFP Small Business that make it easy to get started with video ads.




Turn-key and Free

First, we've lowered the barrier to entry by partnering with the folks at Brightcove and LongTail to provide a turn-key video player and CMS integration with DFP Small Business. Publishers can get up and running with a video player, a CMS, hosting and ad serving in about 20 minutes. No SDK integration, no custom coding, no extensive testing. Best of all, ad serving is free (including hosting!) up to a certain volume of impressions, and we've negotiated great deals for video player and hosting packages with our partners that range from free to a low monthly fee.



Designed Around the Essentials

Next, DFP SB publishers get all of the reliability and scalability of DFP through an interface that exposes only the video features they need. Whether it's booking a campaign or using AdSense to fill unsold inventory, publishers can set up line items in a matter of minutes. The path to the full-featured version of DFP Video is seamless and publishers can continue to manage their entire display advertising business in one platform.



We think video ad serving has never been this easy. As we open up this feature to more publishers, we'll be reaching out to those who have filled out their details here.




Our commitment to learn from every publisher, every conversation and every use-case will continue as we develop DFP Video and add video functionality to DFP Small Business. In just a few years, video advertising spend is expected to reach $10B globally and we're excited to partner with publishers as they make this happen. Here's to more enjoyable video ads.



Posted by Payam Shodjai, Lead Product Manager, Video Monetization
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DoubleclickPublisherBlog/~3/jmAgXIetohc/new-approach-to-video-advertising-for.html

[G] GeoEye Using Google Earth Builder for Commercial Distribution of their Data

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: GeoEye Using Google Earth Builder for Commercial Distribution of their Data

Posted by Dylan Lorimer, Google Earth and Maps for Business Product Manager

Since 2008, Google has worked with GeoEye to publish millions of square kilometers of satellite imagery to Google Earth and Maps users. In addition to the imagery the company shares with Google, GeoEye also collects satellite imagery for licensing by numerous governments and business customers around the world.

Google Earth Builder is designed to make it easy for a geospatial data provider to securely publish its data to specific users or developers. For example, during a crisis response effort such as a forest fire, a government agency might need a particular group of employees to be able to access recent satellite images of the forest on their tablets or smartphones in real time.

Today we're delighted to announce that GeoEye is the first commercial satellite imagery provider to adopt the Google Earth Builder platform. By using Google Earth Builder, GeoEye will rely on Google's cloud infrastructure to process, host, and securely publish their satellite imagery and mapping layers. Doing so will make it easy for their customers to access GeoEye's geospatial data from their computers, tablets and other internet-connected devices.

This also means GeoEye will be able to create new business models around hosted, subscription access to their data, and will be able to provide Google Enterprise customers with the option to license additional imagery from GeoEye for use within Google Maps, Google Earth and APIs.

We're really excited to have GeoEye using Google Earth Builder and looking forward to them publishing a host of new subscription imagery layers to our Google Enterprise Maps and Earth customers. Learn more about GeoEye's plans to create subscription imagery services with Google Earth Builder here.
URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/10/geoeye-using-google-earth-builder-for.html

[G] A fresh start for Google presentations

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Official Google Enterprise Blog: A fresh start for Google presentations

Posted by: Steven Saviano, Software Engineer

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

A year and a half ago, we released completely new document, spreadsheet and drawing editors. Google Docs has been picking up speed ever since with more than 60 new features and millions of new users. Today we're rounding out the suite by previewing a new version of presentations with faster collaboration and more features.


A collaborative approach
Presentations are made to be shared—whether it's presenting your thesis to your professors or inspiring colleagues at a conference. And the best presentations are made together, collaborating with others to build a compelling story that captivates your audience. Creating presentations together is easy because you can:
  • See exactly what others are working on with colorful presence markers
  • Edit with your team members simultaneously from different locations
  • Use revision history to see who made changes or to revert to earlier versions
  • Say hello, start a conversation or share new ideas using built-in chat


More than 50 new features
In the new presentations, we've added many of your most requested features, including:
  • Transitions to move between slides with simple fades or spicier 3D effects
  • Animations to add emphasis or to make your slides more playful
  • New themes to create beautiful presentations with distinct visual styles
  • Drawings to build new designs, layouts, and flowcharts within a presentation
  • Rich tables with merged cells and more options for adding style to your data



What's next
We're gradually rolling out the new presentations. To get an early start, click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the editing tab, check the box to "Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor." Learn more about getting started with the new presentation editor over at our Help Center.

Many of the new features were built using technologies that are only available in modern browsers. If you're using an older browser you'll be able to view, but not edit, the new presentations.

With today's launch, the Google Docs suite is now built on a single, solid foundation. Now that the groundwork is in place, you can expect more useful and collaborative features, delivered faster than ever before.

URL: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/10/fresh-start-for-google-presentations.html

[G] Another nonprofit shares its Google Sites story

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Docs Blog: Another nonprofit shares its Google Sites story

Last week we told you about Children's Radio Foundation using Google Docs to act like a file server for their organization. This week, we're talking about another nonprofit, Grassroot Soccer, that uses Google Sites to host files for their organization. Learn more on the Google's Nonprofit blog.

Posted by: Carolyn Wendell, Consumer Experience Specialist
URL: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/10/another-nonprofit-shares-its-google.html

[G] Making search more secure

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Google Public Policy Blog: Making search more secure

Posted by Evelyn Kao, Product Manager

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

We've worked hard over the past few years to increase our services' use of an encryption protocol called SSL, as well as encouraging the industry to adopt stronger security standards. For example, we made SSL the default setting in Gmail in January 2010 and introduced an encrypted search service located at https://encrypted.google.com four months later. Other prominent web companies have also added SSL support in recent months.

As search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver. As a result, we're enhancing our default search experience for signed-in users. Over the next few weeks, many of you will find yourselves redirected to https://www.google.com (note the extra "s") when you're signed in to your Google Account. This change encrypts your search queries and Google's results page. This is especially important when you're using an unsecured Internet connection, such as a WiFi hotspot in an Internet cafe. You can also navigate to https://www.google.com directly if you're signed out or if you don't have a Google Account.

What does this mean for sites that receive clicks from Google search results? When you search from https://www.google.com, websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools. This information helps webmasters keep more accurate statistics about their user traffic. If you choose to click on an ad appearing on our search results page, your browser will continue to send the relevant query over the network to enable advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and to improve the ads and offers they present to you.

As we continue to add more support for SSL across our products and services, we hope to see similar action from other websites. That's why our researchers publish information about SSL and provide advice to help facilitate broader use of the protocol. We hope that today's move to increase the privacy and security of your web searches is only the next step in a broader industry effort to employ SSL encryption more widely and effectively.
URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-search-more-secure.html
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