| Google Friend Connect speaks more languages |
[14 Jul 2009|08:05am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/RqMqA3Y9MIs/google-friend-connect-speaks-more.html We know that there are millions of sites using Google Friend Connect to build a community around their content and they come in a variety of languages. With site owners and visitors from all over the world, the integration of services like Netlog and orkut and the worldwide adoption of OpenSocial, supporting additional languages has been a priority for the team. Today, we're happy to announce that Friend Connect is now available in 47 new languages.
 This means you'll start seeing Friend Connect gadgets in languages such as French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and Portuguese. Site owners simply set the language of their site and Friend Connect will automatically render the gadgets in that language.
To learn more about this and other recent improvements to Friend Connect, visit our Social Web Blog.
Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager, Google Friend Connect
|
|
| skating rink |
[14 Jul 2009|07:52pm] |
Anyone know of a skating rink near Cooke Town ?
(The one in Coles Park is apparently for children under 12 years.)
|
|
| sun in the fun |
[11 Jul 2009|10:46pm] |
The exam countdown has begun. I am actually on pace to complete 80% of the studying I had hoped to complete prior to said test. Meanwhile, I have been going to the beach more often than an anti-beach bum like myself would otherwise care to admit, but I have been loving it. Oddly enough, my uneven tan and peeling nose have elevated my mood, reminding me of bygone carefree summer days of yesteryear. Or perhaps that's just the melatonin/serotonin talking through rose colored glasses.
In other news, I wore shorts in public this weekend for the first time in over 5 years. Interestingly, it appears that in that time I lost a good deal of shame and self-consciousness.
|
|
| Google accounts on Twitter |
[14 Jul 2009|06:09am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/NryvumBfEO0/google-accounts-on-twitter.html Like lots of you, we've been drawn into Twitter this year. After all, we're all about frequent updates ourselves, and there's lots happening around here that we want to share with you. Of course, we enjoy watching, and contributing to, the tweetstream (we hope you find our tweets useful, too). Because there are many programs and initiatives across the company, we've got a number of active accounts. Here's a list of the current ones. We'll update this list from time to time.
twitter.com/Google - our central account
twitter.com/Blogger - for Blogger fans
twitter.com/GoogleCalendar - user tips & updates
twitter.com/GoogleImages - news, tips, tricks on our visual image search
twitter.com/GoogleNews - latest headlines via Google News
twitter.com/GoogleReader - from our feed reader team
twitter.com/GoogleVoice - updates & info on Google Voice*
twitter.com/iGoogle - news & notes from Google's personalized homepage
twitter.com/GoogleStudents - news of interest to students using Google
twitter.com/YouTube - for YouTube fans
twitter.com/YouTubeES - en Espanol
twitter.com/GoogleAtWork - solutions for IT and workplace productivity
Geo-related
twitter.com/SketchUp - Google SketchUp news
twitter.com/3DWH - SketchUp's 3D Warehouse
twitter.com/Modelyourtown - 3D modeling to build your favorite places
twitter.com/EarthOutreach - Earth & Maps tools for nonprofits & orgs
twitter.com/GoogleEarth - updates from the Google Earth team*
twitter.com/GoogleMaps - uses, tips, mashups
twitter.com/GoogleSkyMap -Android app for the night sky
Ads-related
twitter.com/AdSense - for online publishers
twitter.com/AdWordsHelper - looking out for AdWords questions and tech issues
twitter.com/AdWordsProSarah - Google Guide for AdWords Help Forum
twitter.com/GoogleAnalytics - insights for website effectiveness
twitter.com/GoogleAdBuilder - re building display ads
twitter.com/GoogleAffiliate - info for publishers from Google network advertisers*
twitter.com/GoogleRetail - for retail advertisers
twitter.com/GoogleTVAds - info on our digital system for more measurable TV advertising*
twitter.com/TechnologyUK - for U.K. tech advertisers
twitter.com/UKretail - for U.K. retail advertisers
twitter.com/creativesandbox - for advertising agencies*
twitter.com/InsideAdWordsDE - for German AdWords customers
twitter.com/GoogleAgencyDE - for German ad agencies
twitter.com/AdSensePT - info for Portuguese-language publishers
twitter.com/AdWordsRussia - AdWords news & tips in Russian
twitter.com/DentroDeAdWords - Spanish updates from the Inside AdWords blog
twitter.com/AdWordsAPI - AdWords API tips
Developer & technical
twitter.com/GoogleResearch - from our research scientists
twitter.com/GoogleWMC - Google Webmaster Central
twitter.com/GoogleCode - latest updates for Google developer products
twitter.com/GoogleData - Data APIs provide a standard protocol for reading and writing web data
twitter.com/app_engine - web apps run on Google infrastructure
twitter.com/DataLiberation - our initiative for complete import/export of all data
twitter.com/GoogleMapsAPI - about using Google Maps embedded in websites
twitter.com/GoogleIO - Google's largest annual developer event
Culture, People
twitter.com/googletalks - notes from our @Google speaker series
twitter.com/googlejobs - the voice of Google recruiters
Country or Region
twitter.com/googlearabia - news from the Google Arabia Blog*
Update: Additions indicated by *
Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog & Twitter Team
|
|
| 7/11 |
[11 Jul 2009|11:11am] |
|
Its been 3 years since the Mumbai train blasts. We have had many other terror acts in between to blur the images of the innocent victims caught on that fateful evening. Most politicians wouldn't even remember it. If having to contend with such acts wasn't enough, we have a new war front opened up in Mysore. The initial clash was just the triggering incident. After that, thousands of people have been brought in from the various other districts in Karnataka and also from Kerala. Various battles are being fought between these protesters and the cops on a daily basis. It is really hard to imagine such a scene in Mysore, where people respect each other and live a peaceful life. Our system is not dumb enough to not identify the people masterminding such plots. What they lack is the political will to act against those who disrupt an innocent Indian's life and its not the same anymore.
|
|
| Update |
[11 Jul 2009|11:45am] |
Last week I attended 'Assertiveness and Influential Skills'. The bottom line is,
(a) You should be the person of substance. Deep, thoughtful and concerned about others.
(b) Keep you data straight.
Usually, such classes are time pass but this was some thing worth and I'd recommend for freshers as well as for professionals to go through this one.
|
|
| How to steer clear of money scams |
[10 Jul 2009|11:07am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/L0xhhpHvNoo/how-to-steer-clear-of-money-scams.html This post is the latest in an ongoing series on how to stay safe online. - Ed.
As the designated tech support person for my immediate family, I'm used to getting calls about issues like browser crashes and confusing websites. But recently my mom called to ask about something she saw online that said Google would pay her thousands of dollars to work from home with no experience required. She didn't buy it, but she did want to ask — is this for real?
My mom was right to be skeptical. In the current economic downturn, a lot of people are looking for ways to make extra money. Unfortunately, some unsavory characters see this trend as an opportunity to trick unsuspecting people with scams and elaborate get-rich-quick schemes. We're seeing disturbing cases in which websites, emails and advertisements claim that you can make large amounts of money from home with very little effort using Google products and services. They're designed to look like they were written by a regular person, just like you, who stumbled across an amazing opportunity to make their monetary dreams come true. What they don't tell you clearly is that Google is not affiliated with these sites and that they may add extra charges to your credit card or misuse your personal information.
To be clear, we are proud to say that many companies and individuals do legitimately make money placing ads on their websites with Google AdSense or participating in programs like the Google Affiliate Network. Creating a successful website is hard work — successful sites earn their money by writing compelling content, developing useful applications and maintaining vibrant user communities. Any claim that you can skip all of that and make just as much money by posting links, using a secret system, or running a kit to generate websites should be treated with a heavy dose of skepticism.
Spammers attempt to reach users by generating hundreds of webpages and sending out a flood of spam emails, sometimes even buying advertisements on reputable websites. Their sites also target other popular Internet companies. They may include family photos pilfered from another site or a picture of a check they supposedly received. Spammers use a wide range of techniques that try to slip past automatic filters to get to you. At Google, we work hard to protect users from these schemes by using a combination of automated and manual tools that remove them from our search index and ad network. However, scams target many companies and appear in various places around the web, so we all need to work cooperatively. Google collaborates with various government and non-governmental consumer protection agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, that are investigating these types of schemes further.
How to identify scams and other schemes
In general, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Here are some pointers on what to look out for:
- Before you fill out a form or give someone a credit card, do a web search to see what other people are saying about the company and its practices.
- Be wary of companies that ask for upfront charges for services that Google actually offers for free. Check out our business solutions page before writing a check.
- Always read the fine print. Watch out for get-rich-quick schemes that charge a very low initial fee before sneaking in large reoccurring charges on your credit card or bank account.
- Google never guarantees top placement in search results or AdWords — beware of companies that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a special relationship with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or through the Sitemaps program — you can do these tasks yourself at no cost whatsoever.
- Be wary of anything resembling a pyramid scheme, where you make commissions by recruiting more participants.
- Some sales pitches use the word "Google" or other trademarks right in their name with targeted phrases like "cash," "pay day," "money," "secrets," "home business," etc. If you can't find it on our list of Google products or on the business solutions page, don't trust it.
- Look for third party verification. Scammers can easily cut-and-paste images to plaster a site with "as seen on TV," "five-star reviews" and the logos of well-known news channels. Products that have really been recommended by experts and fellow users typically contain links from legitimate news sites and multiple user review sites.
- Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about making money with Google AdWords as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators. In general, be wary of offers from firms that email you out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
"I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."
- Google is not running a lottery, and we have not picked your email address to win millions of dollars. Don't give out your bank account details via email in anticipation of a big jackpot.
What you can do
- If you come across many sites with duplicate content or common templates intended to direct users to the same product or scheme, please let us know with a spam report.
- If you've been contacted to place suspicious links on your site for money, let us know with the paid link report form. If you have your own website or are in charge of advertising on a site, think carefully before accepting ads or entering into affiliate programs that will lead your users to schemes like those mentioned above.
- If your site's forums or comment sections have been spammed with fake offers of fabulous financial gain, you may need to take steps to fight comment spam. Spammers will take advantage of any user-generated content sections of your site, and will even generate thousands of fake user profiles to try to slip under the radar.
Posted by Jason Morrison, Search Quality Team
|
|
| Find Creative Commons images with Image Search |
[09 Jul 2009|11:00am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/g_Ec7GflX40/find-creative-commons-images-with-image.html Let's say you're a blogger. You've just returned from a trip to New York City, and you're writing a post on New York landmarks. You want to illustrate your travel guide with an image — as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. It's easy to find images of New York online. But you want to make sure that you don't use images without the permission of their owners, and you can't afford licensing fees for professional photographers.
Today, we're launching a feature on Image Search to help you find images that you can use for free, while respecting the wishes of artists and creators. This feature allows you to restrict your Image Search results to images that have been tagged with licenses like Creative Commons, making it easier to discover images from across the web that you can share, use and even modify. Your search will also include works that have been tagged with other licenses, like GNU Free Documentation license, or are in the public domain.
 
This feature also helps artists who want their images to be discovered and reused across the web — on their own terms. Creative Commons licenses allow artists to specify the ways others may use their work. Artists can license their images for general reuse, or for noncommercial reuse only. They can also decide whether or not to grant people the right to modify or remix their images. Once they've chosen to make their work available online under these terms, Google Images helps people start to find and use it.
To enable this feature, go to our advanced image search page. Under the "Usage rights" section, you can select the type of license you'd like to search for, such as those marked for reuse or even for commercial reuse with modification. Your results will be restricted to images marked with CC or other licenses. Once you confirm the license of the image and make sure that your use will comply with the terms of the license (such as proper attribution to the image's owner), you can reuse the image. Some of you may already see these options, and we'll be rolling this feature out to everyone throughout the day.
 "Red squirrel with pronounced winter ear tufts in the Dusseldorf Hofgarten", Ray Eye, Wikimedia Commons 
There's some fine print, of course. This feature identifies images that are tagged with licenses that authorize reuse. You'll still have to verify that the licensing information is accurate. We can help you take the first step towards finding these images, but we can't guarantee that the content we linked to is actually in the public domain, or available under the license.
We believe that we've made it easier for people to find images they can use while helping artists who've made their images available under these licenses to gain exposure for their work. So try it out, and let us know what you think.
Posted by Lance Huang and George Ruban, Software Engineers
|
|
| Designing useful mobile services for Africa |
[08 Jul 2009|11:18am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/e_NCgVaBNtk/designing-useful-mobile-services-for.html Last week, we announced a suite of SMS services in Uganda, a country where someone's first experience of the Internet is far more likely to be on a mobile device rather than a PC. We are really excited about this project in part because it is the result of more than a year of true user-centered research and design. We knew we wanted to build useful mobile services tailored to the needs of people in sub-Saharan Africa, but how could we find out what people want from the Internet when they don't have access to it already? What would people who had never used search before want to search for if we gave them a mobile phone and said "Ask any question you like"?
In early 2008 we set out with colleagues from Google.org, Grameen Applab and MTN (a network carrier in Uganda) with this challenge in mind. Our research needed to be able to assess the feasibility of delivering information via mobile in Uganda as well as evaluate the content "appetites" of local people. Since no search engine existed for testing, we did the next best thing: We decided to mimic the experience of using a search engine using human experts.
First, we trained a multilingual team to act as user researchers in 17 carefully selected locations across the country. In each place, they introduced themselves to a cross section of people they met and invited them to participate in a free study that would help create useful services for Ugandans. If the person agreed, the researcher handed them a mobile phone and encouraged them to write a text message containing a question they wanted to know the answer to. (If people had their own phone, we reimbursed them with phone credit.) The text message was then routed to a control room we'd set up in Kampala where a human expert read the text message, typed a response, and sent it back via SMS to the person who asked the question. In the meantime, the interviewer observed and recorded the participant's user experience. This allowed us to record rich qualitative data from hundreds of interviews in just a few days, and to collect quantitative data from hundreds of search queries.
 Trying mobile search for the first time
Last week's launch of SMS services in Uganda is the direct result of this research — it's based on listening to what people want and finding a way to get it to them. Our research enabled us to observe first-hand how people instinctively wanted to interact with a mobile phone. We let people select the language they wanted to use. We gained deep insights into the way people formulate their questions and what questions really matter to them. On top of that, we saw the excitement on people's faces when they got their first-ever search results, and we realized that some of the information we could deliver to these users, such as health information, has the power to truly change lives. These new services in Uganda are just one step on the path to providing information to people who have little or no access to the web. This research will help us as we continue to develop more services to increase access to information all around the world.
Posted by Sian Townsend, Mobile User Experience Researcher, and Charles Warren, Mobile User Experience Design Manager
|
|
| Sunny Summer Teevee |
[08 Jul 2009|11:56am] |
There's a new sitcom based on the teen movie Ten Things I Hate About You, and from the pilot episode it's strangely neutral. It's not bad, not stupid, not distasteful--but it's also not particularly intelligent or funny. As the AV Club's review says, it seems like most high-school based shows these days are all about navigating tricky social terrain, figuring out who's allowed to be popular and who is exiled to the unpopular. At least this show skips the typical cafeteria scene where the New Kid is informed of which tables represent which social faction. Or maybe they're saving that for next week.
The casting puzzled me in this show. The role of Kat, tomboy/liberal activist, is played by Lindsey Shaw, who is good, but I can't get her last role out of my mind: Claire, the snobbish popular sister in Aliens in America. The bad-boy role of Patrick, a breakout role for Heath Ledger in the movie, is played by Ethan Peck, riding a motorcycle and brooding in the corner. And I know this might not sound right in comparison with Heath Ledger, but Peck is just so pretty that the other characters' whispering about his bad reputation seem implausible. (Though I was half suspecting that he'd eventually tell her he wanted to drink her blood.)
Basically, there were three main female roles and three main male roles (for teens): the feminist shrew, the queen bee, the aspiring popular girl; the ruffian, the quarterback, and the geek. I couldn't help but get the feeling that any one of the actors could have worked in any one of the roles, with just a little help from styling.
My reaction to this depends on whether I trust the show. Like when Dollhouse premiered, when there were some questionable decisions, I trusted them, because I believe that Joss Whedon does what he does on purpose. If this is purposeful--if we're supposed to realize that our cliques and reputations are just roles that we play, and that for all the drama and world-ending importance teens feel, in the end, teens are just teens--then it could be cool. But I have no clue how they'd ever verify that yes, it's intentional. I did notice some casting decisions that seemed deliberately motivated: an African-American as the popular cheerleader (Dana Davis, who played "As Seen on TV" on Heroes), and, perhaps into responses that all the teens on TV are skinny, skinny girls, Jolene Purdy as a goth-chick friend of Kat's.
The other show I've gotten into this summer has one example of absolutely perfect casting. The show: Better Off Ted. The actor in question: Portia de Rossi. The show follows employees of Veridian Dynamics, a vaguely sinister corporation. Each episode features a commercial for Veridian, in the vein of those spots for GE or 3M, proclaiming a bright future with Veridian Dynamics products. de Rossi plays Ted's boss, Veronica, with a steely sociopathy that never fails to surprise.
It's by the creator of Andy Richter Controls the Universe. I can't be the only person watching Better Off Ted, can I?
|
|
| Introducing the Google Chrome OS |
[08 Jul 2009|02:23pm] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/kVjpwpEelWE/introducing-google-chrome-os.html It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.
Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.
We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.
Update on 7/8/2009: We have posted an FAQ on the Google Chrome Blog.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director 
|
|
| frak |
[08 Jul 2009|12:07am] |
I'm starting to freak out a little with one week and twelve hours left to go before the MAT. Actually, I'm just starting to plan my retake and how I will fit that in with the start of the new semester, which is starting to stress me already. I should have been preparing more these last few months, beyond just doing practice tests; I should have been actually studying material. Blah. Why do I torture myself so?
In other news, the new season of Californication is coming out next month. I've had it on pre-order via Amazon since the second I got the notification email that it was available. The minute it gets here I'm gonna do as I did with the first season and pull an all-nighter watching every episode in a row. Hope it comes on a Friday afternoon.
In other other news, I love summer thunderstorms. Keep 'em coming.
|
|
| Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really) |
[07 Jul 2009|08:06am] |
|
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/y2nsCN5cXZA/google-apps-is-out-of-beta-yes-really.html We're often asked why so many Google applications seem to be perpetually in beta. For example, Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years. We realize this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of "beta" software as not being yet ready for prime time.
Ever since we launched the Google Apps suite for businesses two years ago, it's had a service level agreement, 24/7 support, and has met or exceeded all the other standards of non-beta software. More than 1.75 million companies around the world run their business on Google Apps, including Google. We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase. So we've focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.
Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk — both enterprise and consumer versions — are now out of beta. "Beta" will be removed from the product logos today, but we'll continue to innovate and improve upon the applications whether or not there's a small "beta" beneath the logo. Indeed, today we're also announcing some other Google Apps features that we think will appeal to large enterprises: mail delegation, mail retention and ongoing enhancements to Apps reliability.
We have much more in store, and IT managers can read more about how to make the switch to Apps in our Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes resource centers. One more thing — for those who still like the look of "beta", we've made it easy to re-enable the beta label for Gmail from the Labs tab under Settings.
.png)
Posted by Matthew Glotzbach, Director, Product Management, Google Enterprise
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
chirag's Friends Page
.png)
