December 13th, 2013 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Enterprise
Posted by Elliot Sanchez, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, mSchool
Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Elliot Sanchez, founder and chief executive officer of mSchool, a benefit corporation (B Corp.) that helps community centers and schools in the United States open “microschools” to connect children with structured online learning opportunities. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.
At mSchool, we want to see every student receive an incredible, personalized education and make it easy for schools to provide that type of learning experience. We also believe in the thoughtful integration of technology into education.
There are many powerful, fantastic tools available today to help students learn, but using them in the right way to get the right results can be a complicated, and often costly, process. We work directly with local community centers and schools to open – in two weeks’ time and for about $5,000 – accredited one-classroom “microschools” staffed with academic coaches from the local area. Through our adaptive learning program, mSchool gathers over 250,000 data points on student learning in each classroom. That data allows us to individualize our curricula to a student’s needs and adjust based on each student’s performance.
We offer a technology-rich education option for students, grades 3 through 12, to deepen their math understanding and prepare for Algebra I. This includes multimedia content, interactive animations, tools for creating digital graphs and charts, and formative assessments. Chromebooks are now a big part of that experience. In our pilot classrooms, students used a range of devices – mostly donated equipment – including laptops, PCs, Macs, and tablet computers. But when we were ready to expand our program this year from 30 students to more than 200, we needed to find technology that could grow with us. We considered several different options, but Chromebooks really stood out.
First, we liked the web-based management console for managing Chromebooks and user access. We needed the ability to manage the student experience in a quickly growing number of classrooms across the country– from around the corner in New Orleans to rural South Dakota. We can remotely control which sites students can access which allows us to help them stay on track with their learning. With Chromebooks, students are spending more “time on task.”
Cost was another primary factor in our decision to use Chromebooks throughout our classrooms. We were able to put a Chromebook into the hands of every student we’re working with this year. The low cost of replacement of the Chromebooks also means we can leave them with the community centers at the end of the academic year.
We never want technology to be a barrier to learning. And with Chromebooks, it isn’t. Students are able to access our cloud based adaptive curriculum and work at their own pace. Chromebooks are allowing our students to engage in ways they weren’t able to with pen and paper and static content like printed books. They also help us to instruct students in a personalized way. And they enable collaboration: students can work through problems independently, but when they get stuck, remote teachers can see exactly what they’re working on and help to guide them.
In 2014, mSchool will expand into five states using grant funding we received this year as part of the Teach for America Social Innovation award. And it’s the reliable rollout and scalability of Chromebooks that will help to ensure we can open all the classrooms that we’ve planned.
December 13th, 2013 | by Aditi Rajaram | published in Google Analytics
The following is a guest post by Benjamin Mangold, Director of Digital & Analytics at Loves Data, a Google Analytics Certified Partner.
Universal Analytics includes new JavaScript tracking code for websites and new mobile SDKs. But Universal Analytics is a lot more than that – it also gives us the Measurement Protocol, which allows us to send data to Google Analytics without the need to use the tracking code or SDKs.
Earlier this year, the team at Loves Data used Universal Analytics and the Measurement Protocol to
measure their caffeine consumption and tie it to the team’s productivity. Our next challenge: measuring our team’s movement into Google Analytics. With the help of an Xbox Kinect, movement recognition software, and of course the Measurement Protocol, we started getting creative!
Business Applications and Analysis Opportunities
So measuring movement is fun and although we can measure total and unique dance moves you might be wondering about the business applications. This is where the power of measuring offline interactions can really start to be seen. The Measurement Protocol enables business applications such as:
- Measuring in-store purchases and tying purchases to your online data
- Understanding behaviour across any connected device, including gaming consoles
- Comparing offline billboard impressions to online display ad impressions
- Getting insights into your audience’s online to offline journey
Once you have tied your online and offline data together you can begin to analyze the full impact of your different touch points. For example, if you are collecting contact details online, you can use Google Analytics to then understand who actually converts offline, whether this conversion is attending an information session or making a purchase at a cash register. The analysis possibilities made available by the Measurement Protocol are truly amazing.
December 13th, 2013 | by John A.Smith | published in Google Adsense
We’ve been talking a lot recently about why you should have a multi-screen strategy in place for your site. Today we’re happy to share some product updates to complement and strengthen your strategy, with new features for our responsive ad units and a multi-screen optimization score now available in your publisher scorecard.
New features for responsive ad units
Earlier this year, we launched responsive ad units to help you enhance the user experience on your site across devices. You’ve shared a lot of positive feedback on our responsive ad units and also made some great suggestions on new features you’d like to see. We’ve incorporated these suggestions into our next iteration of responsive ads with the following changes:
-
Ad refresh for screen orientation changes: If your responsive page changes its layout following a screen orientation change (e.g., when a tablet or phone goes from portrait to landscape), we’ll request and load a new ad to fit the new page layout.
-
Smart sizing based on the space available: Our ad code will now automatically adapt all newly created responsive ad units to fit your page layout. All existing responsive ad units that have their width and height explicitly specified via CSS will continue to function as before. Please see our Help Center for information on switching to the smart sizing mode.
-
Reporting by ad size served: To better understand the mix of ad sizes served by your responsive ad units, your ad unit reports can now be broken out by the size of the ad served.
More information on responsive ad units can be found in our Help Center.
Multi-screen optimization score in publisher scorecard
To help you understand how well your site is optimized for the many screen sizes of your users, we’re introducing a new multi-screen category in our publisher scorecard. For example, if users need to zoom and/or scroll often, this may negatively impact their experience. Your score in the multi-screen category will measure what percentage of your pages are multi-screen optimized and compare this percentage to that of other AdSense publishers. Please note that you may not see this category in your scorecard if you have a low percentage of mobile traffic on your site.
This new score will be visible in the scorecard on your AdSense home page. Don’t forget to follow the ‘Learn more’ link displayed in the scorecard to learn how you can optimize your site for multiple screen sizes.
More information on your scorecard can be found in our Help Center.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these new features. Feel free to share your feedback on our AdSense +page.
Posted by Nick Radicevic – AdSense Product Manager
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December 12th, 2013 | by Emily Wood | published in Google Blog
Nelson Mandela devoted his life to promoting democracy and equality, and he leaves behind a legacy of peaceful change. In advance of Mandela’s funeral service on Sunday in Qunu, South Africa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Mpho Tutu, the first female Irish president, Mary Robinson, and Sir Richard Branson will come together for a digital eulogy using Google+ Hangouts.
Join them tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. EST. The conversation will be hosted by PeaceJam and The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, and moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Share your questions for the participants with #MandelaTribute. Tune in to celebrate the life of an individual who changed the world.
Posted by the Google Blog Team
December 12th, 2013 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Enterprise
Posted by Ryan Falor, Google Groups Product Manager
Google Groups makes communicating with a group of people easy through online and email-based communities. Some groups are in high demand and have many active members or receive a lot of messages from external senders. Google Apps customers have told us that it’s time-consuming for group leaders to respond to every message individually. So based on your feedback, we’re launching a new auto-reply feature for Google Groups for Business to help streamline communications.
If you’re the creator or administrator of a Google Group, the auto-reply feature allows you to create up to four different, customized responses for different recipients:
- Group members from inside your company
-
Non-members from inside your company
- Group members from outside your company
-
Non-members from outside your company
Imagine your company has a Google Group set up for customer support, and the address is published on your website. If the office will be closed during the holidays, setting up automatic replies could be helpful. For company employees who email the group, you can provide the CEO’s cell phone number in case of emergencies. For non-members, you can add a note instructing them to join the group for updates. And for external customers, your automatic reply can say the company is closed for the holidays but will respond to inquiries after January 2.
To get started using auto replies in Google Groups for Business, go to Email Options under your group Settings.
December 12th, 2013 | by Android Developers | published in Google Android
Posted by Trevor Johns, Android Developer Relations team
In order to encrypt data, you need two things: some data to encrypt and an encryption key. The encryption key is typically a 128- or 256-bit integer. However, most people would rather use a short passphrase instead of a remembering a 78-digit number, so Android provides a way to generate an encryption key from ASCII text inside of javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory
.
Beginning with Android 4.4 KitKat, we’ve made a subtle change to the behavior of SecretKeyFactory
. This change may break some applications that use symmetric encryption and meet all of the following conditions:
- Use
SecretKeyFactory
to generate symmetric keys, and
- Use PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1 as their key generation algorithm for
SecretKeyFactory
, and
- Allow Unicode input for passphrases
Specifically, PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1 only looks at the lower 8 bits of Java characters in passphrases on devices running Android 4.3 or below. Beginning with Android 4.4, we have changed this implementation to use all available bits in Unicode characters, in compliance with recommendations in PCKS #5.
Users using only ASCII characters in passphrases will see no difference. However, passphrases using higher-order Unicode characters will result in a different key being generated on devices running Android 4.4 and later.
For backward compatibility, we have added a new key generation algorithm which preserves the old behavior: PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1And8bit
. Applications that need to preserve compatibility with older platform versions (pre API 19) and meet the conditions above can make use of this code:
import android.os.Build;
SecretKeyFactory factory;
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
// Use compatibility key factory -- only uses lower 8-bits of passphrase chars
factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1And8bit");
} else {
// Traditional key factory. Will use lower 8-bits of passphrase chars on
// older Android versions (API level 18 and lower) and all available bits
// on KitKat and newer (API level 19 and higher).
factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1");
}
Join the discussion on
+Android Developers
December 12th, 2013 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Apps
Vault admins have had the ability to put an entire user account on hold to preserve messages in that account. Next week we will roll out a new feature that will allow admins to also have the option to target specific messages—for example, by date or with certain terms—for indefinite preservation in Vault.
Update: In order to ensure the success of this improvement to legal holds and to give customers more time to understand the changes, the feature will launch in January 2014.
Editions included:
Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government
For more information:
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/4409170
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/4409174
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December 12th, 2013 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Enterprise
Posted by John Rae-Grant, Gmail Product Manager
(Cross-posted on the Gmail Blog.)
Have you ever wondered why Gmail asks you before showing images in emails? We did this to protect you from unknown senders who might try to use images to compromise the security of your computer or mobile device.
But thanks to new improvements in how Gmail handles images, you’ll soon see all images displayed in your messages automatically across desktop, iOS and Android. Instead of serving images directly from their original external host servers, Gmail will now serve all images through Google’s own secure proxy servers.
So what does this mean for you? Simple: your messages are more safe and secure, your images are checked for known viruses or malware, and you’ll never have to press that pesky “display images below” link again. With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever.
Of course, those who prefer to authorize image display on a per message basis can choose the option “Ask before displaying external images” under the General tab in Settings. That option will also be the default for users who previously selected “Ask before displaying external content”.
Similar to existing features like default https access, suspicious activity detection, and free two-step verification, image proxying is another way your email is protected. This new improvement will be rolling out on desktop starting today and to your Gmail mobile apps in early 2014.
December 12th, 2013 | by John A.Smith | published in Google Adsense
Many of you are already using the Google Publisher Toolbar to view your AdSense performance and control your ads. If you also use DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business, we’re pleased to let you know that your DFP account can now also be directly integrated with the Google Publisher Toolbar.
The Toolbar is a Chrome extension that gives you a clear overview of which ads are serving on your site and why, through an overlay for each ad showing which line item and creative was served. You can get more information by clicking on any overlay. When you sign in to the Toolbar, you’ll see complete information on each ad — regardless of whether AdSense or DFP served the ad.
Please visit our Toolbar Help Center article for further information and support.
Download the Toolbar and start using it with DFP Small Business today. We’re continuing to improve support for DFP in the Toolbar, and are always happy to hear your feedback.
Posted by Ilia Malkovitch – DFP Product Manager
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December 12th, 2013 | by The Gmail Team | published in Gmail (Google Mail)
Posted by John Rae-Grant, Product Manager
Have you ever wondered why Gmail asks you before showing images in emails? We did this to protect you from unknown senders who might try to use images to compromise the security of your computer or mobile device.
But thanks to new improvements in how Gmail handles images, you’ll soon see all images displayed in your messages automatically across desktop, iOS and Android. Instead of serving images directly from their original external host servers, Gmail will now serve all images through Google’s own secure proxy servers.
So what does this mean for you? Simple: your messages are more safe and secure, your images are checked for known viruses or malware, and you’ll never have to press that pesky “display images below” link again. With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever.
Of course, those who prefer to authorize image display on a per message basis can choose the option “Ask before displaying external images” under the General tab in Settings. That option will also be the default for users who previously selected “Ask before displaying external content”.
Similar to existing features like default https access, suspicious activity detection, and free two-step verification, image proxying is another way your email is protected. This new improvement will be rolling out on desktop starting today and to your Gmail mobile apps in early 2014.
December 12th, 2013 | by Emily Wood | published in Google Blog, Google.org
The holidays are here, and that means eggnog lattes, festive lights and spending time with the people you love. It’s also the season to give back and help make the world brighter for those in need. Today we’re unveiling six new Global Impact Awards—totaling $11.5 million in grants—to innovators using technology to tackle the world’s toughest challenges.
This year, we’re inviting you to get in the giving groove with 12 Days of Giving—an interactive holiday calendar where you can explore a Google-backed cause, donate to what inspires you and unwrap a surprise each day—such as meeting Pamela the polar bear or experiencing how far people walk to reach clean water. To spread cheer throughout the year, download OneToday for a daily reminder to give back.
The 12 Days of Giving include our six newest Global Impact Awardees. Join me in celebrating these tech-fueled initiatives:
- Zooniverse: Advanced crowdsourced research hub that allows anyone, anywhere to help create scientific breakthroughs as a citizen scientist.
- Kiva: Finance lab that enables anyone to provide affordable loans to entrepreneurs, students and farmers in poor countries, to support people left out of traditional finance.
- Landesa and FrontlineSMS: Mobile system that transforms the inefficient and confusing process to establish land rights into an accessible, efficient way for poor farmers to get title to their land.
- Get Schooled: Online platform that provides free college prep for underserved students by aggregating resources on scholarships, tests and applications, and setting personal reminders for staying on track.
- Samasource: Platform to train data workers in developing countries and provide jobs.
- DoSomething.org: Comprehensive data initiative to empower more young people to lead and share powerful and effective social impact campaigns.
In 2013, we donated more than $100 million in grants, $1 billion in free ads and apps and 60,000 volunteer hours to nonprofits around the globe.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org
December 12th, 2013 | by Emily Wood | published in Google Blog
In “The Hobbit,” a company of Dwarves tries to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Terrible, a fire-breathing Dragon. While the Dwarves’ quest is fraught with danger, your journey to Erebor is just a click away in “A Journey Through Middle-earth,” the Chrome Experiment released a few weeks ago from Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).
You can now follow the Dwarves’ journey to Erebor and try to outsmart Smaug on your desktop, mobile phone or tablet. But it might be wise to first pay a little visit to the folks who live in nearby Thranduil’s Hall and Lake-town—locations that recently became accessible in this Chrome Experiment—just in case you need their help against the mighty Dragon.
To best equip you on your journey, you may want to stop by Google Play. There you’ll find all sorts of Hobbit-related apps, games, books, music and films*. Together with the recent recording of a Google+ Hangout with director Peter Jackson and actors Evangeline Lilly and Richard Armitage, these can also help you get up to speed for the upcoming release in theaters of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
And for those of you more interested in web development than Dragon-slaying, check out the second technical case study on “A Journey Through Middle-earth” (the first one is already available on HTML5 Rocks). You can also watch a Hangout with North Kingdom, the team of designers and hackers who built it, on December 18. We’ll be posting more updates for the developer community on +Google Chrome Developers.
Posted by Adrian Soghoian, Product Marketing Manager & a Fool of a Took
*Available content and promotions vary by country.
December 12th, 2013 | by Google Chrome Blog | published in Google Chrome
In “The Hobbit,” a company of Dwarves tries to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Terrible, a fire-breathing Dragon. While the Dwarves’ quest is fraught with danger, your journey to Erebor is just a click away in “A Journey Through Middle-earth,” the Chrome Experiment released a few weeks ago from Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).
You can now follow the Dwarves’ journey to Erebor and try to outsmart Smaug on your desktop, mobile phone or tablet. But it might be wise to first pay a little visit to the folks who live in nearby Thranduil’s Hall and Lake-town—locations that recently became accessible in this Chrome Experiment—just in case you need their help against the mighty Dragon.
To get ready for your journey you may want to stop by Google Play. There you’ll find all sorts of Hobbit-related apps, games, books, music and films*. Together with the recent recording of a Google+ Hangout with director Peter Jackson and actors Evangeline Lilly and Richard Armitage, these can also help you get up to speed for the upcoming release in theaters of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
And for those of you more interested in web development than Dragon-slaying, check out the second technical case study on “A Journey Through Middle-earth” (the first one is already available on HTML5 Rocks). You can also watch a Hangout with North Kingdom, the team of designers and hackers who built it, on December 18. We’ll be posting more updates for the developer community on +Google Chrome Developers.
Adrian Soghoian, Product Marketing Manager & a Fool of a Took
* Available content and promotions vary by country.
December 12th, 2013 | by Rob Newton | published in Google Adwords
Even the jingliest, jolliest ad of the season can’t work its magic unless it gets seen. That has been the driving force behind a number of investments we’ve been making over the past year to make viewability (or whether an ad is actually visible on a page) a core part of our products. Offering improved insights, transparency and actionability, viewability is key for brand advertisers to get the most out of the web.
Today, we’re taking an important step towards this goal by making it possible to buy based on viewability — in real time — across the more than two million sites in the Google Display Network. Viewability was already available for reservations buys on the Google Display Network, now this solution is available in the auction on a CPM basis globally as well, across desktop, mobile and tablet. In other words, you can now choose to pay for ONLY those impressions where your ad has a chance to be seen.
This new buying option is based on Active View, our MRC-accredited viewability measurement solution. Through an algorithmic review of publisher sites, our systems will show ads only in ad slots most likely to be viewable, and you only pay for the ones measured as viewable according to the IAB/3MS standard: 50% of the ad visible on the page for one second or longer. You will also see a report of how many viewable impressions you received for any given campaign, which can help make future campaigns even more effective.
As we’ve said before, making viewability a basis for buying, selling and measuring media can help transform the digital marketplace. With access to more meaningful metrics, brand advertisers can unleash their most creative campaigns, knowing they’ll have a chance to shine. And publishers will be able to more fairly value all of their inventory, not just those spots considered “above-the-fold.” We’ll continue to work with our partners in the months to come to make this a reality, and to ensure that every ad has a chance for its holiday wish to come true.
For more information, check out the help center to get started.
Posted by James Beser, Group Product Manager
December 11th, 2013 | by Google Chrome Blog | published in Google Chrome
Dell has a long history of serving schools’ education technology needs. Today, they join the Google for Education family, announcing the new Dell Chromebook 11.
The new Dell Chromebook 11
The Dell Chromebook 11 was designed with schools in mind. The battery lasts up to 10 hours — enough for a full school day plus homework — and boots up in 8.4 seconds. It is light and highly portable, making it ideal for student use at home or on the go. And like all Chromebooks, it includes the cutting edge in security features, keeping schools protected from online threats. The device will be available in two versions – 4GB in January 2014 and 2GB in Q1 2014 – both for under $300.
“Dell asked for and listened to feedback about what our district needs in a laptop so we can ensure the best teaching and learning experiences across our schools. Simplicity in rolling out and managing the Chromebooks was really important to us because we only have a crew of six IT team members to manage 13,000 students. We also know that students can be tough on the technology, so we really appreciate the durable screen and robust power supply the Dell Chromebook 11 offers.”
–Bryan Phillips, Chief Technology Officer, Hoover City School District, Alabama
Verified for 2014 Assessments
The new Dell Chromebook 11 joins a family of 5 other Chromebooks that are verified for the latest education assessments. Both Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) verified that all Chromebooks meet their requirements for standardized assessments in the 2014-2015 school year. With the shift toward online assessments and the Common Core State Standards, Chromebooks are helping schools achieve their goals.
To learn more about Chromebooks for Education, please visit our website and fill out our contact form to speak with a member of our team.
Posted by Caesar Sengupta, VP, Product Management