Friday, December 23, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Academic Successes in Cluster Computing

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 07:55 PM PST

Google Research Blog: Academic Successes in Cluster Computing

Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research



Access to massive computing resources is foundational to Research and Development. Fifteen awardees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Cluster Exploratory Service (CLuE) program have been applying large scale computational resources donated by Google and IBM.



Overall, 1,328 researchers have used the cluster to perform over 120 million computing tasks on the cluster and in the process, have published 49 scientific publications, educated thousands of students on parallel computing and supported numerous post-doctoral candidates in their academic careers. Researchers have used the program for such diverse fields as astronomy, oceanography and linguistics. Besides validating MapReduce as a useful tool in academic research, the program has also generated significant scientific knowledge.



Three years later, there are many viable, affordable alternatives to the Academic Cloud Computing Initiative, so we have decided to bring our part of the program to a close. It has been a great opportunity to collaborate with IBM, the NSF and the many universities on this program. It was state-of-the-art four years ago when it was started; now, Academic Cloud Computing is a worldwide phenomena and there are many low-cost cloud computing options that provide viable alternatives to the Academic Cloud Computing Initiative.


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/gJZg/~3/ZwCMlAETwMY/academic-successes-in-cluster-computing.html

[G] Ads Worth Spreading 2.0 - get your entries in!

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 07:55 PM PST

YouTube Blog: Ads Worth Spreading 2.0 - get your entries in!

With only two weeks left for submissions to Ads Worth Spreading 2.0, TED is asking for your support in their search for innovation, ingenuity and intelligence in advertising. The dream behind the initiative is to find companies that want to communicate ideas to their consumers in the same way that TED wants to communicate with its audience.



What makes ideas powerful is that they have a life of their own; an idea can reset someone's worldview and even begin a domino effect as they pass it on to friends. Ads Worth Spreading is TED's initiative to recognize and reward innovation, ingenuity and intelligence in advertising -- the ads that people want to see, and share with their friends.



One of our favorite entries so far has been Chipotle's "Back to the Start" campaign, which champions the idea of a return to small, sustainable farming.







Another lighthearted piece we love comes from UK brand Cravendale. "Cats With Thumbs" has the kind of creativity and humor that inspires people to share an ad with friends.







YouTube has been helping to promote and showcase the Ads Worth Spreading entries online with a dedicated channel at http://www.youtube.com/adsworthspreading. Visit the channel and upload your video, or simply add your existing YouTube video to the channel before December 31, 2011. Agencies, brands, producers and individuals are invited to submit their best work of 2011. There is no fee to enter work. Submissions must be: less than five (5) minutes in length, created and aired between January 2011 and December 2011, and entered by an authorized agency, brand or producer. We look forward to seeing the submissions continue to come in!



Ronda Carnegie, Head of Global Partnerships at TED, recently watched, "Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/YzjKOMDkNYI/ads-worth-spreading-20-get-your-entries.html

[G] How the world was open sourced

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 07:55 PM PST

Google Open Source Blog: How the world was open sourced


Once in awhile at Google our illustrators get excited about lasers, Morse code, H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds – and then come up with beautiful Google doodles that find their way onto our homepage. Sometimes our programmers also get excited and team up with the illustrators, and that's how we found ourselves with Google doodles celebrating Les Paul's guitar, Pac-Man, Jules Verne's bathyscaphe, and even your own customized turkey that you could then share on Google+.

I'm one of those people who is more comfortable with 80 monospaced characters endlessly repeated than with a paintbrush. Earlier this year I worked with Sophia Foster-Dimino from the Google doodle team on a doodle celebrating Stanisław Lem, my favorite sci-fi writer and philosopher.

 

Just like picking the right paintbrush and palette is important for all our doodles, so is figuring out the right technologies and proper user interface for those we want to make interactive. That's something I'm personally really excited about and that's why today I wanted to share that excitement and the entire source code of the Stanisław Lem doodle with you – accompanied with an article explaining HTML5 technologies that we used… or didn't use:


Please note: We are sharing the code of the doodle under the Apache 2.0 License, but the images and animations accompanying the doodle under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 License. The big difference between those two is that the first one allows commercial re-use, whereas the second one forbids it.

So take it for a spin, play with it, and if you do something interesting, find a flaw, or have a comment – let us know at stanislaw-lem-google-doodle@googlegroups.com. Thanks!

By Marcin Wichary, Senior user experience designer, Chrome
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-world-was-open-sourced.html

[G] Season’s Greetings

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 07:55 PM PST

Inside AdSense: Season's Greetings




Happy holidays from the Google AdSense team! Wishing you a season full of laughter, love and peace.




(Sending you holiday cheer from our Japan Team)



Posted by Jamie Firkus - Inside AdSense Team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tuAm/~3/RyG9RvMfbDY/seasons-greetings.html

[G] Google Docs and Sites 2011: A Year in Review

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST

The Google Apps Blog: Google Docs and Sites 2011: A Year in Review

This year, we introduced over 100 new features to Google Docs to make creating, sharing, and collaborating in the cloud an even better experience.

In addition to the features you asked for the most, like page numbers and vertical merge, here are our team's favorite improvements of 2011:


Our team also loved hearing from you throughout the year: We had you ask us anything in a Reddit AMA, met our Docs and Sites Top Contributors, and held our first Docs Office Hours Google+ Hangout. Our interactions with you were constant reminders of why we build these products.

Let us know in the comments what your favorite features of 2011 were -- and what you're wishing for in the new year. Thanks for following along -- we look forward to bringing you more in 2012.

Happy holidays from the Google Docs team!

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Management Director
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/wcPO6I-6bAo/google-docs-and-sites-2011-year-in.html
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