Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Googland

Googland

[G] Hear from Google at SMX West

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 01:56 AM PST

Inside AdWords: Hear from Google at SMX West

SMX West kicks off in San Jose, CA on Tuesday, February 28th, and Google will be there. We'll have presenters covering both paid and organic search topics. Here are some highlights for our AdWords blog readers:

Day one, 2/28/12 - Customized search results and customer-friendly mobile sites
Product Management Director Jack Menzel will speak in a two-part series called "Getting Personal," which will discuss how social, geographical and search signals are used to deliver better search results for users. In addition, Senior Product Marketing Manager Masha Fisch will be part of a session on how to create effective mobile landing pages.

Day two, 2/29/12 - A keynote and a session with DoubleClick Search
Day two kicks off with a keynote from Susan Wojcicki, SVP Advertising. She'll sit down with SMX West co-chairs Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman to discuss the growth of search advertising, integrating search into your overall marketing strategy and a peek at upcoming Google product releases. Later in the day, join DoubleClick Search to hear about magic moments in search and to learn how you can use this product to manage your large search campaigns more efficiently.

Day three, 3/1/12 - Paid search and mobile ads expertise
Hear from Dai Pham on the Mobile Ads team, who will speak in a session on how to play in the exploding mobile ads universe. Later, stop into the "Ask the Paid Search Reps" Q&A Forum and ask Product Manager Tarun Jain your burning Google paid search ads questions.

A complete event agenda is available here. Still need to register? Enter discount code smx10doubleclick (case sensitive) and save 10%.

See you in San Jose!

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/02/hear-from-google-at-smx-west.html

[G] Open email links directly in Gmail using Chrome

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 01:56 AM PST

The Google Apps Blog: Open email links directly in Gmail using Chrome

Posted by Michael Davidson, Software Engineer

I used to avoid clicking on email links on the web because an application on my computer that I never used would pop up and interrupt me. Instead, I would copy the email address, switch to Gmail, click compose and paste it in.

Starting today, thanks to the magic of HTML5 things are getting simpler. Now, when you go to Gmail in Chrome, you will be asked if you want Gmail to open all email links. Say yes, and clicking on email links in any application on your computer will open a fresh Gmail compose window.


You can set Gmail as your default mail client in Firefox and Internet Explorer, too.
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleAppsBlog/~3/sd9Z7M0N9uQ/open-email-links-directly-in-gmail.html

[G] Making Google Analytics even speedier

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:41 PM PST

Google Analytics Blog: Making Google Analytics even speedier

We are excited to announce three new features that we hope will improve your experience and make crunching even massive quantities of data easier. These updated reports will be available to everyone by later this week.



Watch your reports load

Nothing is more frustrating than waiting, especially when you don't know how long the wait will be. To ease that pain on Google Analytics we are adding a visual indicator that will report the progress of loading your report.







Load reports only once

When navigating through Google Analytics, each report takes some time to calculate. Today, we're turning that loading time on its head. Now, the data behind most of your reports will cache on your computer as long as you have the Google Analytics interface open. If your most recent data does update, we'll keep you in sync. Look for this at the bottom of your reports to know if they've been cached:







Control your report calculation

One way we speed up the serving of data is through what we call "fast-access mode", which applies to reports generated from large data sets. In the coming weeks, we will be peeling back the curtain on how "fast-access mode" works and letting you control the number of visits used to calculate reports.



Out with the old: fast-access mode

If a report requires calculation on more than 250,000 visits, we select a statistically random sample of 250,000 visits and estimate the report results based on that data. This makes reports faster to load, and our testing indicates that the data returned is highly accurate.



In with the new: control your report calculation

Now you will have the ability to control the number of visits used to calculate your reports, and we inform you of exactly how many visits are used in report calculation.





To use the new report calculation control, click the new icon (square cube graphic) in the upper right of your report when you see a message that your report was generated with a percentage of your visits. Then you can drag the slider to your desired number of visits: we will automatically recalculate your report and remember this number for all reports until you log out.



Try experimenting with the control to find the number of visits that is right for your data - you might be surprised with how few you need.



 


Additionally, we are reducing the number of visits at which we begin to statistically sample reports from 500,000 to 250,000. This change will increase overall speed, particularly if your account has large amounts of data. Anyone who hits this limit will experience faster load times, even if they were not previously entering fast-access mode. If you wish to use the old visit limit, simply drag the slider to the appropriate level.



We hope these changes allows you greater insight into your data and a faster experience inside Google Analytics. Please reach out to us with questions and comments as these features roll out to everyone.



- Chris Anderson, Google Analytics team


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tRaA/~3/HRFyUQxLAR4/making-google-analytics-even-speedier.html

[G] Open email links directly in Gmail using Chrome

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:41 PM PST

Official Gmail Blog: Open email links directly in Gmail using Chrome

Posted by Michael Davidson, Software Engineer

I used to avoid clicking on email links on the web because an application on my computer that I never used would pop up and interrupt me. Instead, I would copy the email address, switch to Gmail, click compose and paste it in.

Starting today, thanks to the magic of HTML5 things are getting simpler. Now, when you go to Gmail in Chrome, you will be asked if you want Gmail to open all email links. Say yes, and clicking on email links in any application on your computer will open a fresh Gmail compose window.


You can set Gmail as your default mail client in Firefox and Internet Explorer, too.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/open-email-links-directly-in-gmail.html

[G] On stage at IAB: Daring to get the most out of online advertising for publishers, advertisers

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 03:38 PM PST

DoubleClick Publisher Blog: On stage at IAB: Daring to get the most out of online advertising for publishers, advertisers


The evolution of technology is creating new opportunities in online advertising, in some cases helping improve publishers' returns; in other cases, allowing them to manage their inventory more efficiently across multiple formats. And this past December, we announced our acquisition of Admeld, and made a commitment to work towards building the next generation of tools to help publishers make more informed decisions about their ad space and grow their businesses.

But there is still much to do, as the industry works together to grow display from the $25-30 billion industry it is today, to the $200 billion industry we believe it could be. Today, at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, Google Vice President Karim Temsamani played a game of truth and dare with the audience and shared some thoughts on how we might get there, as well as how publishers and advertisers can get the most out of the evolving online marketplace.

Truth #1: It's a Connected World...for Users. There are now more mobile devices than people in the US, and some predict that devices will exceed the global population by end of year.

Dare: It's not enough that people are mobile, we, as an industry, also need to get the websites, ads, and operations mobilized too. We think, collectively, we can work to mobilize 80% of the largest 2000 websites by end of this year. This means ensuring that content is optimized for mobile, ditto for ads, and that ad transactions are seamlessly connected to the rest of the plumbing. Towards this end, we are launching GoMo for Publishers, where publishers can test their mobile site performance, get a personalized report with recommended actions, and find vendors to assist with implementations.  Publishers who've optimized their sites are already seeing substantial increases in mobile ad revenue and mobile page visits.  

Truth #2: Technology is fundamental. As an industry, we've made great strides in using technology to create operational efficiencies.

Dare: Let's pair high-tech with high-touch. Karim announced that in April we'll launch the Ad Exchange Direct Deals Marketplace--an interface that enables publishers and buyers to solicit direct deal offers, negotiate, and execute them without sending an email or picking up the phone.  However, to complement this automation we're bringing high-touch consulting expertise through our integration of the Admeld team.  Admeld supports private exchanges to complement automation, giving clients a model as a more holistic, customized, and technically savvy vision for their display business.

Truth #3: This industry traditionally thinks of 'audience' as bits and bytes.

Dare: Let's think of audience as people, looking to engage and interact. We can do more to give people what they want. For example, TrueView ads on YouTube let viewers choose which ads they watch. Advertisers only pay for engaged views, meaning their campaigns are more effective. And we've found that nine out of ten viewers prefer TrueView ads.

In putting these principles into practice, we believe we can further a growing and thriving online ecosystem, where publishers see improved returns, advertisers reach an engaged audience, and people get the ads and content they want, in the way they want it. Now that's a dare worth taking on.

Posted by Maureen Bradford, Head of Publisher Marketing
URL: http://doubleclickpublishers.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-stage-at-iab-daring-to-get-most-out.html

[G] Mentoring Organization Applications Now Being Accepted for Google Summer of Code 2012!

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 03:38 PM PST

Google Open Source Blog: Mentoring Organization Applications Now Being Accepted for Google Summer of Code 2012!



Interested in finding bright, enthusiastic new contributors to your open source project? Apply to be a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code program. We are now accepting applications from open source projects interested in acting as mentoring organizations.

Now in its eighth year, Google Summer of Code is a program designed to pair university students from around the world with mentors at open source projects in such varied fields as academic research, language translations, content management systems, games, and operating systems. Since 2005, over 6,000 students from 90 countries have completed the Google Summer of Code program with the support of over 350 mentoring organizations. Students gain exposure to real-world software development while earning a stipend for their work and an opportunity to explore areas related to their academic pursuits, thus "flipping bits, not burgers" during their school break. In return, mentoring organizations have the opportunity to identify and attract new developers to their projects as these students often continue their work with the organizations after Google Summer of Code concludes.

This year we are again encouraging experienced Google Summer of Code mentoring organizations to refer newer, smaller organizations they think could benefit from the program to apply. Last year we had 49 of these small organizations join the program and we hope the referral program will again bring many more new organizations to the Google Summer of Code program.

The deadline for applying to be a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code is Friday, March 9th at 23:00 UTC (3pm PST). The list of accepted organizations will be posted on the Google Summer of Code site on Friday, March 16th. Students will then have 10 days to reach out to the accepted organizations to discuss their project ideas before we begin accepting student applications on March 26th.

Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for more details. For more information you can check out the Mentor Manual and timeline for and join the discussion group. Good luck to all of our mentoring organization applicants!

By Carol Smith, Open Source Team

URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2012/02/mentoring-organization-applications-now.html

[G] Is your site ready for your mobile users?

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 03:38 PM PST

Inside AdSense: Is your site ready for your mobile users?

Last December, we posted about the massive shift to mobile we've seen in your users over the past two years.  Still, 4 out of 5 online publishers don't have a mobile-optimized website, and they risk losing their fastest-growing audience.  Today, we're launching a new suite of tools at howtogomo.com to help publishers build mobile-friendly websites.

To help demonstrate the potential of creating a mobile-friendly site, we'd like to share the story of AdSense publisher Baby Gaga.  Two weeks after launching their mobile-friendly website they saw a 64% increase in mobile visits. This leading destination for educational materials and social support for pregnant women also saw an 82% increase in mobile page views and a 50% increase in revenue from mobile (full case study).
Today Baby Gaga's mobile users don't need to squint and they view more pages per visit.

Visit howtogomo.com today to:
  1. See how you rate.  Use the GoMoMeter to analyze your site's mobile user experience.
  2. Start planning.  Download the GoMo Publisher Guide for mobile best practices.
  3. Find a partner.  Learn about vendors who can help with implementation.
As mobile continues to take off, we believe it's important for publishers to develop a strong mobile strategy now and make the most of this new opportunity. Baby Gaga's decision to go mobile allowed them to improve the user experience for their mobile visitors and also make more money.  We want to help you do the same.  In the coming weeks, we'll be releasing additional materials to assist you in this process, so stay tuned to Inside AdSense for further announcements!

Posted by Chris LaSala, Director, Strategic Partner Development, Mobile
URL: http://adsense.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-your-site-ready-for-your-mobile.html

[G] Webinar tomorrow - Getting Your Business on Google+

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 03:38 PM PST

Inside AdWords: Webinar tomorrow - Getting Your Business on Google+

Are you interested in connecting with your customers in new ways? Join our live webinar on Tuesday, February 28th at 10am EST (3pm GMT) to learn more about how you can bring your business and your customers closer together using Google+.

Key topics that'll be covered in the presentation by Google+ experts include:
  • Setting up a Google+ Page for your business
  • Best practices and great example cases for using Google+
  • Promoting your Google+ Page
  • Improving the performance of your online marketing with +1
Register now!

For more live AdWords webinars visit the AdWords Online Classroom.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/02/webinar-tomorrow-getting-your-business.html

[G] Android@Mobile World Congress: It’s all about the ecosystem.

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 10:50 AM PST

Official Google Mobile Blog: Android@Mobile World Congress: It's all about the ecosystem.

Each and every day, we are humbled by the trajectory of Android and our partners.

With a year-on-year growth rate of more than 250%, 850,000 new Android devices are activated each day, jetting the total number of Android devices around the world past 300 million. These numbers are a testament to the break-neck speed of innovation that defines the Android ecosystem.

Last year at Mobile World Congress (MWC), we announced that there were more than 150,000 apps in Android Market. That number tripled to more than 450,000 apps today, with over one billion app downloads happening every month. Think about the astonishing number of songs Shazam'ed, places Qype'ed and foursquare mayorships! To celebrate the hard work and success of our developer community, we've built special "app pods" into our Android stand at MWC. Many of these featured apps demonstrate the latest Android innovations, such as Android Beam, which lets you share content like web pages, videos, directions, and apps—just by touching two Android phones back to back.

The Android Stand on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2012

If you walk around the Android stand, it's also evident that our hardware partners are thriving. There are 100+ devices on display at the conveyor belt bar, which is just a small portion of the 800+ Android devices that have launched to date. And what better sign of innovation than the Bling Bot—powered by the Android ADK—which can bedazzle your Galaxy Nexus backplate with perfect precision.

We're just getting started at Mobile World Congress, so keep checking android.com/mwc and the +Android page on Google+ for updates.

Posted by Andy Rubin, SVP, Mobile and Digital Content

URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2012/02/androidmobile-world-congress-its-all.html
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