Sunday, April 1, 2012

Googland

Googland

[G] Introducing Gmail Tap

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Tap

Posted by Reed Morse, Software Engineer

The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1874 and yet it is still used today, largely unchanged. Today we're excited to introduce a new input method designed for the future: Gmail Tap for Android and iOS. Watch the video for an overview:

Gmail Tap takes the keyboard from 26 keys to just two. Every letter of the alphabet is represented by a simple pattern of dots and dashes, and once you know them you can type without even looking at your screen. This makes it ideal for situations where you need to discreetly send emails, such as when you're on a date or in a meeting with your boss.


We're also introducing a new mode, multi-email. Double your productivity by typing multiple emails at once:


To get started with Gmail Tap, head over to our informational page and watch our video. Then let us know what you think on Google+.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-gmail-tap.html

[G] Introducing Click-to-Teleport Ad Extensions

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Inside AdWords: Introducing Click-to-Teleport Ad Extensions

Exactly one year ago we rolled out Teleport Search in select markets, expanding the Google Search results beyond providing links and allowing users to travel through time and space. Today, we're rolling out this functionality to AdWords and DoubleClick with a new ad extension: Click-To-Teleport (beta)*.

While features like call extensions and location extensions have aimed at solving the "online to store" marketing objective for multichannel advertisers, Click-to-Teleport shortens the offline conversion funnel by allowing a user to teleport directly to your business location by clicking on your search ad.


You'll additionally be able to tailor Click-to-Teleport extensions to your business goals by choosing to either:
  • Optimize for closest location: Least disorienting for visitors, and helps you maintain a local feeling.
  • Optimize for conversions: Teleports visitors to locations where your customers are most likely to convert.
  • Rotate evenly: Teleports visitor to a random business location and helpful for avoiding overcrowded business locations.
Please be aware that while Click-to-Teleport is in beta, there is no "teleport back home" option for users. You are responsible for providing return transportation or calling a taxi for any teleport customer. At this time, Click-to-Teleport extensions are available in all countries and languages on Earth but are not compatible with our recently launched planetary targeting options.

To learn more, visit the Click-to-Teleport site.

Posted by David Kaufman, Teleportation & Time Travel Marketing Manager

*IMPORTANT: Though we have worked out most of the kinks with Click-to-Teleport, the technology is still in beta. Google will not be held responsible for any teleporting related injuries, unexpected time travel or any other teleporting risks, such as those demonstrated in The Fly.
URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/introducing-click-to-teleport-ad.html

[G] The YouTube Collection: hold ALL the magic of YouTube in your hands

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

YouTube Blog: The YouTube Collection: hold ALL the magic of YouTube in your hands

Loved a video so much that liking it, favoriting it, sharing it and even subscribing to the channel wasn't enough? Just had to hold it in your grasp and never ever let it go?



We know the feeling, so today we're making The YouTube Collection available for you in a new holdable version: DVD. A direct result of your feedback and demand, The YouTube Collection is a first of its kind offering in web video.



Here's a video outlining the details:










Want to try before you order? Take The YouTube Collection for a test drive with a simulator button we installed on a select group of YouTube videos. Just head "home."



The future of YouTube is waiting. You can find out more at this link: YouTube.com/TheYouTubeCollection.



And please remember it. Look for our other links soon!



Chet Flanagan, director of DVD product management, YouTube Global, recently watched "Toshiba HD- A2 HD-DVD Player - Unboxing."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/FJkBlDHKPbM/youtube-collection-hold-all-magic-of.html

[G] Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Official Google Blog: Bringing self-driving cars to NASCAR

Ever since mankind could go fast, we have longed to go faster. And ever since we've done work, we have longed to have someone else, or something else, do that work for us. You might already be familiar with our self-driving car project. We've spent years working on a tough engineering problem—how to create a hardware and software system capable of gathering and interpreting massive amounts of real-time data and acting on that knowledge swiftly and surely enough to navigate innumerable varieties of crowded thoroughfares without ever once (among other human frailties) exploding in a fit of road rage at the guy who just cut hard left across your lane without even bothering to flash his blinker.

Well, our autonomous cars have now been test-driven (or rather, test-ridden) for more than 200,000 miles without a single machine-caused mishap. And today we're moving the project one great leap forward with Google Racing, a groundbreaking partnership with NASCAR to help self-driving vehicles compete in the world of stock car racing. We think the most important thing computers can do in the next decade is to drive cars—and that the most important thing Google Racing can do in the next decade is drive them, if possible, more quickly than anyone else. Or anything else.

Find more photos on our Google+ page

The program remains in its infancy; we'll surely face numerous testing and competitive hurdles before our first car peels out into a NASCAR race. But I couldn't be more excited about the possibilities. NASCAR's ambitious technology investments—from driver safety to green initiatives—and the sport's spirit of challenge, effort and execution all beautifully embody our most deeply held values as a company. Having skidded around a parking lot last week myself, I'm pretty sure that none of those test miles were as hard as it will be for one of our cars to hold its own in a field of 43 jacked-up, 800-horsepower beasts screaming down a straightaway within inches of each other at upwards of 200 miles per hour. I can't imagine a more exciting challenge for our team than to race our autonomous vehicles against their carbon-based competitors.

Find more photos on our Google+ page

Larry and I have always believed in tackling big problems that matter, and we're surer than ever that self-driving cars are one of them, capable of changing the world in all kinds of truly important ways, like reducing traffic and accidents by driving more efficiently, making correct split-second decisions and never shifting their focus off the road to check a map, text a friend, apply rear-view mirror mascara or dip a piece of tekka maki into a lid of soy sauce jostling over on the passenger seat. I hope that today's announcement of Google Racing will mark another step along this path, and spur innovations that improve the daily lives of people all over the world. Or at the very least offer us a few cool new thrills on hot weekend afternoons.

Posted by Sergey Brin, Co-founder
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/bringing-self-driving-cars-to-nascar.html

[G] A new way to multitask

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 10:22 PM PDT

Google Chrome Blog: A new way to multitask

On December 9, 1968, Douglas Engelbart rocked the computing world with The Mother of All Demos. One of the many advancements Engelbart discussed was the creation of a simple, intuitive pointing device that would allow you to manipulate a cursor on a screen with the movement of your hand. The world met the mouse.

Before the mouse, the primary way to interact with a computer was to type a command, wait for a response, and type a second command. The ability to coordinate between the movement of a marker on the screen and a flick of the wrist was truly revolutionary, and has transformed the way we interface with our machines today.

However, for decades, the full power of the mouse has been limited. While we've been mousing away with one hand, our other hand has often been idle. As information has moved faster and faster, our mousing capacity has stayed the same.

On the Chrome team, we've been working to address this problem. Today, we'd like to announce a new way to get twice as much web from your browser. We call it Multitask Mode.



Multitask Mode lets you have access to multiple mice at the same time, so you can make a chess move while you watch a dance move, or draw a horse while you draw on a friend for relationship advice.

Chrome can handle as many mice, touchpads, styli, joysticks, trackballs, and other pointing devices as you can plug into your computer, so you and your friends can browse dozens of sites at the same time.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Posted by Glen Murphy, Designer and Stylus Stylist
URL: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-way-to-multitask.html

[G] A red pin to mark a dream: Competing in the National Geographic Bee

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: A red pin to mark a dream: Competing in the National Geographic Bee


Editor's Note: Today's guest author is Luke Hellum. Luke is an 9th grader who has been studying geography since he was in kindergarten, making it to Arizona's state geographic bee three times, placing in the National Geographic Bee finals last year, and returning to the National Geographic Bee this year as a youth correspondent. Google is excited to sponsor this year's event and we wish all participants the best of luck.

Today, thousands of grade-school and middle-school students will compete in state-level Geographic Bees, thanks in part to Google's sponsorship of the competitions. State and U.S. territory bee winners will advance to the national bee prelims in Washington, D.C. on May 22, and ten will be part of the final broadcast on the National Geographic Channel. Like many of these young "mapheads," starting at the age of five, I dreamed of participating in the bee and one day making it to the finals.

As a sixth grader, I reached the Arizona state competition for the first time, finishing fourth. The following year, I placed second, and although it was an improvement, I was disappointed and committed to ramping up my preparation efforts in 2011 for my final year of eligibility. I began studying rigorously again in the summer, averaging about 20 hours a week.

During the fall, my mom went to Washington D.C. for an Online News Association conference and met Jesse Friedman, a Product Marketing Manager from Google. She shared with Jesse her appreciation for Google's sponsorship of the bee, and told him that I'd been heartened by the fact that former bee competitors were now Google employees, demonstrating through their work on Google Earth and other projects that geography can have a place in my future career. I realized that the value of my knowledge wouldn't end with the bee. Jesse wished me luck and gave my mom two stickers of the Google Maps red pin to pass along to me and my brother (who will be competing for the first time in this year's Arizona bee).

One of my study resources was a 12' x 6' map that covered the wall of our office. When I got the iconic pin, I decided to put it on Washington, D.C., representing my goal to reach the national bee. At times, eagerness, anxiety and restlessness would plague my study efforts. Glancing across the room at that pin would help me press on, remind me why I was working so hard, and ultimately pushed me to study harder. After many months of preparation, I won the state bee, achieved my goal of getting to Washington D.C. and placed 7th in the finals. I even got to meet Brian McClendon, Engineering VP of Google Earth and Maps.


The red pin has remained a fixture on the map. It's still on Washington D.C., as I will be returning to the bee this year as National Geographic's youth correspondent for the bee broadcast. After that, I plan to move it around on the map as my goals shift to places I want to go in the future: New York City, where I'm moving in June and Palo Alto, where I hope to attend Stanford University someday before founding my own startup.

Wherever the red pin may end up, it will continue to symbolize the confluence of my passions: geography, technology, and discovering the world.

Are you similarly looking to be inspired by what you can do with geography? Watch the video below to see how individuals from a variety of fields use their geography education to pursue their passions.



Posted by Luke Hellum, 2011 Arizona National Geographic state bee champion and finalist in the 2011 National Geographic Bee
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/red-pin-to-mark-dream-competing-in.html

[G] Why maps matter: Using digital cartography tools to change the world

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Lat Long: Why maps matter: Using digital cartography tools to change the world


People have created maps since early civilization, but only recently have digital mapping tools like Google Earth and Maps made it easy to build sophisticated and interactive maps that can be disseminated to hundreds of millions of people online. Non-profits have taken advantage of these tools to create maps that matter, and that are truly initiating change around the world. That's why my team, Google Earth Outreach, exists: to help public benefit organizations use Google's mapping tools for good.


Find out how non-profits are changing the world with maps.

There's no better inspiration for creating your own map than the stories of accomplishment from organizations like the ones featured in the video above. We invite you to check out the new Success Stories section of the Google Earth Outreach website. Along with a completely new look and feel, our website now allows you to learn all about a variety of organizations that are using maps for good.

Get started by reading about how the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation partnered with Google to collect Street View imagery for the Amazon. It's now possible to virtually float down the Rio Negro and its tributaries, see ground-level images of riverside communities, and trek down a trail into the Amazon rainforest, all without leaving the comfort of home. You'll also learn about Architecture for Humanity, an organization using Google SketchUp to design architectural solutions for communities in need.

Collecting Street View imagery in the Amazon

Once you've read through the stories and have an idea of what you might like to create, you can browse through our tutorials or request a software grant for our enterprise-level products like Google Earth Pro. Or, if you're interested in an overview of all the tools available to you from Google, feel free to check out our Explore Tools page, where you'll find information about the many Google mapping tools (both free and Pro) that are available to non-profits.

If you're looking for additional training beyond the tutorials, check out our new Events page, where you can see where Google Earth Outreach will be next and where we've been in the past, including rich resources from past workshops.

If you want to change the world, we hope these new tools help. Happy mapping!

Posted by Raleigh Seamster, Google Earth Outreach
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-maps-matter-using-digital.html

[G] The Big Tent, and big ideas, arrive stateside

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Official Google Blog: The Big Tent, and big ideas, arrive stateside

The Internet has transformed society in so many ways, and that's bound to continue. The aim of our Big Tent events is to bring together people with diverse views to debate some of the hot-button issues that transformation raises.

This week we hosted our first Big Tent event stateside at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. The theme was Digital Citizenship, and over the course of the day we discussed child safety online, the most effective ways to incorporate technology with education and what governments and civil society can do to maintain a responsible and innovative web.

The policymakers, commentators and industry members who attended heard from a variety of speakers, from child prodigy and literacy evangelist Adora Svitak to filmmaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain. Wendy Kopp, the CEO and founder of Teach for America, gave a keynote about the need to integrate technology into education thoughtfully, not as a panacea, but rather within a greater context that supports critical thinking and other crucial curriculum goals. In a fireside chat with David Drummond, Jennifer Pahlka, the founder and executive director of Code for America (which takes the idea of skilled service from Teach for America and applies it to programmers) laid out her vision for a growing corps of young coder volunteers with an "agile, maker-and-doer mentality" that can help local governments better serve their citizens, and help citizens better participate in their democracy. "Instead of a chorus of voices," she said, "I'd like to see a chorus of hands."

We also launched a new Big Tent YouTube channel with a collection of content from past Big Tents and information about upcoming events around the world. Visit the channel to watch speaker videos, participate in the debate via the comments, get more information on the presenters and see how different communities approach many of the same issues. Stay tuned for future Big Tents, both here and abroad.

Posted by Katharine Wang, Policy Analyst
URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/big-tent-and-big-ideas-arrive-stateside.html

[G] An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users

Posted: 31 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT

Google Online Security Blog: An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users

Posted by Sara "Scout" Sinclair, Associate Product Manager, Google Security Team

Since we first made 2-step verification available to all Google users in February of 2011, millions of people around the world have chosen to use this extra layer of security to protect their Google Accounts. Thousands more are signing up every day. And recently, we updated the feature's companion smartphone app, Google Authenticator, for Android users.

2-step verification works by requiring users to enter a verification code when signing in using a computer they haven't previously marked as "trusted." Many users choose to receive their codes via SMS or voice call, but smartphone users also have the option to generate codes on their phone by installing the Google Authenticator app — an option that is particularly useful while traveling, or where cellular coverage is unreliable. You can use Google Authenticator to generate a valid code even when your phone isn't connected to a cellular or data network.

We want 2-step verification to be simple to use, and therefore we are working continually to make it easier for users to sign up, manage their settings, and maintain easy access to their verification codes at any time and from anywhere. Our updated Google Authenticator app has an improved look-and-feel, as well as fundamental upgrades to the back-end security and infrastructure that necessitated the migration to a new app. Future improvements, however, will use the familiar Android update procedure.

Current Google Authenticator users will be prompted to upgrade to the new version when they launch the app. We've worked hard to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible, but if you have questions please refer to the Help Center article for more information. And, if you aren't already a 2-step verification user, we encourage you to give it a try.
URL: http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2012/03/improved-google-authenticator-app-to.html
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