Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Making Chrome even more app-ealing

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 03:05 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: Making Chrome even more app-ealing


From sharing photos, to collaborating on documents, to enjoying online games, web apps make the web fun, useful and entertaining. Since the beginning, Chrome has been designed to allow apps to do more, faster. Today, changes in Chrome make it even easier to access your favorite apps and discover new favorites.

In the latest stable release of Chrome, we've completely redesigned the New Tab page. It's more streamlined, so it's easier to access and organize your apps in different sections on the page. Watch the video below for a quick tour.



To add more apps to your New Tab page, click the Chrome Web Store icon. The Web Store also has a new look:


Apps and extensions are now presented in a wall of images that's updated every time you visit the store. We hope this will help you quickly scan the store and find interesting things to try out. In addition, apps and extensions are easier to install—just hover over an image on the grid and click "Add to Chrome."


Getting additional information about an app or an extension is just a click away. When you click on an app, extension or theme, you'll see a panel featuring screenshots, videos and other relevant information neatly organized into separate tabs. The store also includes a brand new reviews interface that links to the Google+ profile of each reviewer. (To protect your privacy, we made sure to anonymize any reviews that you previously submitted.)

Along with the new look, a bunch of new apps have joined the store. I'm personally excited about My Robot Nation™, an app that lets you design your own robot and bring it to life with a 3D printer. There are plenty of new games to play, including The Godfather: Five Families and Fieldrunners. And for those of you still looking for a Halloween costume, check out the brand-new eBay shopping app.

We have many more features on deck, and we're looking forward to making the app experience in Chrome even better soon.

Posted by Shannon Guymon, Product Manager

(Cross-posted from the Chrome Blog)
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-chrome-even-more-app-ealing.html

[G] Music Tuesday: Ryan Adams goes goth, haunted music and more

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 01:45 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: Music Tuesday: Ryan Adams goes goth, haunted music and more

As Halloween approaches, youtube.com/music is getting overtaken by a succession of demons, vampires, ghosts and ghouls. (Oh my!) We launch our creepy tunes today with a comical video and playlist from singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, who unveils his love for all things black metal, and then we explore a musical movement that bases itself on the notion of being haunted.



Ryan Adams Goes Goth

The alt-country crooner returned earlier this month with a lovely album that re-establishes him as a roots musician worth listening to. While the singer-songwriter loves him some acoustic guitars and heartfelt songs, when Halloween approaches, Adams cranks up the death metal and consorts with demons from other dimensions. F'reals.







Introducing Hauntology

We thought it was time to explore a genre that's based on, as some have said, the logic of the ghost, and the uneasy coexistence of the past and the present. "Hauntology" is music that flickers at the edge of your vision and jostles lost memories. Named for a concept first introduced by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, hauntological music is what it sounds like: music that's haunted by the past, invaded by spectres even as it strives to live in the present. There's no easy definition, nor is it a neatly defined musical movement. That said, many artists (particularly British electronic artists) fit into its wavering confines. Check out some of the best, spookiest videos this genre-that's-not-a-genre has to offer.







The Goat Rodeo Sessions

This week's featured video has no overdubs and no Auto-Tune...and we can guarantee you nobody's taking their shirt off. But don't let that dissuade you from watching the debut video from this bluegrass/classical supergroup. Yes, you read that right. The great cellist Yo-Yo Ma teams with Chris Thile of Nickel Creek and the Punch Brothers; Edgar Meyer, who is easily one of the world's greatest bass players; and fiddler Stuart Duncan for an album. "Attaboy" captures the group's synergy live, as well as the beautiful home it finds between the artists' respective genres. Because sometimes all you need is good music. Here it is.







Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched "Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Senator."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/pdgsMNVEQ9c/music-tuesday-ryan-adams-goes-goth.html

[G] BCIT increases visitor satisfaction with 4Q Suite and the Google Analytics API

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 01:45 PM PDT

Google Analytics Blog: BCIT increases visitor satisfaction with 4Q Suite and the Google Analytics API

One of the great aspects of being part of the Developer Relations team for Google Analytics is that I get to work with a lot of awesome partners that build cool and successful apps using the Google Analytics API. We've decided to share these successes as a series of mini case studies highlighting a variety of Google Analytics Apps. And to start off with we have iPerceptions' 4Q Suite.

Objective: Improve the visitor experience
British Columbia Institute of Technology wanted their website to be both functional and satisfying. But, behavioral data alone wasn't telling them what key audiences thought about the site. BCIT knew what visitors were doing on the site but wanted to learn more about why they behave the way they do. The overall objective for BCIT was to gain a better understanding of which content and processes were most effective for various audiences.

The Solution: 4Q Suite and the Google Analytics API
To meet this objective, BCIT chose 4Q Suite, an online survey tool built by iPerceptions. 4Q uses the Google Analytics API to link 4Q Suite survey responses with the corresponding Google Analytics session data. An analyst can then use this data to answer questions related to visitor intention and satisfaction. 4Q tracks six "Voice of Customer" events within Google Analytics. These events are related to survey completion, task completion, purpose of visit, and overall satisfaction. With 4Q survey data available in Google Analytics, marketers can better prioritize site enhancements, monitor the effectiveness of ad campaigns and marketing events more closely, and quickly identify changes in conversion. The Google Analytics API also makes it possible for 4Q to export GA data into the 4Q Suite dashboard, enabling analysis of the integrated dataset and open-ended feedback. And, users can view or receive automated alerts of significant changes based on the combination of 4Q Suite and Google Analytics data.





Result: Increased visitor satisfaction
Alan Etkin, Project and Web Analytics Manager at British Columbia Institute of Technology uses Google Analytics and 4Q Suite to segment site visitors by key audiences (students, prospective students, and faculty & staff), and see the differences in task completion and satisfaction. When BCIT redesigned their site with a strategic focus on prospective students, they saw a 15% increase in satisfaction among these visitors. Their behavioral analytics data also showed a 279% increase in a key conversion event for prospective students. From a strategic standpoint, 4Q Suite has given BCIT a clearer understanding of key audiences and has helped them report their results to the leadership team with easy to understand metrics. This, in turn, has helped them secure additional resources and the support to move forward with new projects.

About 4Q Suite and Google Analytics
4Q Suite was built by iPerceptions. According to Claude Guay, President & CEO, "The response has been tremendously positive. Many of our clients insist that the integration between 4Q Suite and Google Analytics is the most valuable feature that iPerceptions has to offer because it connects what visitors are doing on their website with why they are doing it and how satisfied they are. 4Q Suite has rounded out our Voice of Customer analytics offering. Now companies of all sizes can hear what their website visitors are saying, connect the what with the why, and react to the issues that affect satisfaction and conversion. In the space of a few weeks since launching, hundreds of 4Q Suite customers have already enabled Google Analytics integration."

4Q Suite can be found through the Google Analytics App Gallery or directly from the 4Q Suite website.

If you're interested in developing applications for the Google Analytics platform visit Google Analytics for Developers.

Posted by Pete Frisella, Google Analytics API team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/Ws5JDxBC3bs/bcit-increases-visitor-satisfaction.html

[G] More data, more transparency around government requests

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 09:43 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: More data, more transparency around government requests

How do governments affect access to information on the Internet? To help shed some light on that very question, last year we launched an online, interactive Transparency Report. All too often, policy that affects how information flows on the Internet is created in the absence of empirical data. But by showing traffic patterns and disruptions to our services, and by sharing how many government requests for content removal and user data we receive from around the world, we hope to offer up some metrics to contribute to a public conversation about the laws that influence how people communicate online.

Today we're updating the Government Requests tool with numbers for requests that we received from January to June 2011. For the first time, we're not only disclosing the number of requests for user data, but we're showing the number of users or accounts that are specified in those requests too. We also recently released the raw data behind the requests. Interested developers and researchers can now take this data and revisualize it in different ways, or mash it up with information from other organizations to test and draw up new hypotheses about government behaviors online.

We believe that providing this level of detail highlights the need to modernize laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which regulates government access to user information and was written 25 years ago—long before the average person had ever heard of email. Yet at the end of the day, the information that we're disclosing offers only a limited snapshot. We hope others join us in the effort to provide more transparency, so we'll be better able to see the bigger picture of how regulatory environments affect the entire web.

Posted by Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-data-more-transparency-around.html

[G] Introducing bid-per-call in AdWords

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 06:34 AM PDT

Inside AdWords: Introducing bid-per-call in AdWords

Over the next few weeks in the US and UK, we'll be rolling out the ability for advertisers to bid for phone calls -- in addition to bidding for clicks -- when they show Google search ads on computers and tablets.

Potential for more calls

Let's say your business sees phone calls as a valuable lead source. You're willing to pay up to $5 for a phone call and up to $1 for a click from a prospective customer who searched for "caribbean cruise" on Google search.



Today, a combination of your ad's Quality Score and max cost-per-click (CPC) bid determine your Ad Rank, which influences your ad's position. But with bid-per-call, your bid for phone calls and phone call Quality Score can directly factor into your Ad Rank, too. Higher ranked ads are more likely to be seen and can therefore generate more phone calls (and clicks, too).

Setup and reporting 

To take advantage of bid-per-call, select the option to use a Google forwarding number when you set up Call Extensions so that our systems can measure when a call to your business occurs. With bid-per-call, you'll also get the benefit of detailed call reporting right in AdWords, which includes:
  • Summaries of completed calls, phone-through rate (PTR), and phone call cost on the Ad Group and Campaign tabs. 
  • Details for each call, including call time, duration, caller area code, and the ad group that drove the call on the Dimensions tab. 
Eligibility requirements 

At this time, bid-per-call is available only in the US and UK. Max CPP bids are set at the ad group level. And each ad group must meet certain minimum click and call thresholds. If you're already using Call Metrics, you must enter a Max CPP bid in order to activate bid-per-call.

More details 

In the AdWords Help Center, you can find details on how bid-per-call works with Ad Rank and the AdWords auction, and general FAQs about call extensions. For the latest updates on bid-per-call and other useful features, please visit Google Ad Innovations.

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Product Manager
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/introducing-bid-per-call-in-adwords.html
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