Happy Earth Day!
April 21st, 2010 | by A Googler | published in Google Orkut
What’s large, covered in water, and constantly spinning? Hint: it’s not a washing machine or synchronized swimmers (but we applaud your imagination!). It’s Planet Earth, a space we all share no matter how old we are, or where we’re from.
Today is Earth Day, a global event dedicated to celebrating our planet and pointing out things that each of us can do to help make our planet a better place. Whether picking up trash or planting and saving trees, people everywhere are working on projects to improve the world we live in.
If you’d like to do your part, try searching for activities going on in your town or city. If you can’t find anything, or have your own ideas about ways in which to contribute, why not start your own project? You can use an orkut community as your home base and orkut promote to help spread the word.
You can also check out other free Google products that can help you easily organize a social club. You might be surprised by how many people want to get involved!
Posted by Ariel, orkut operations team
Search by Voice Comes to Google Maps 4.1 for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones
April 21st, 2010 | by Chris Nguyen | published in Google Maps, Google Mobile
We understand that typing on phones isn’t as easy or fast as talking into them. As a result, we’re big fans of letting you search in Google Maps for mobile in the most natural way possible — with your voice! Not wanting the BlackBerry and Android…
5 years ago today: Google acquired Urchin; Urchin became Google Analytics
April 21st, 2010 | by Jeff Gillis | published in Google Analytics
It’s been an amazing journey. Five years ago today, Google acquired Urchin Software Corporation. At the time, we had no idea how popular Google Analytics would become. To a great extent, Google Analytics’ popularity is a reflection of the phenomenal a…
Google Buzz Layer Now Available for Google Maps On Your Computer
April 21st, 2010 | by Chris Nguyen | published in Google Maps, Google Mobile
(Cross-posted from Google LatLong)With Google Buzz for mobile, you can choose to post publicly and include your location, providing context for your followers and allowing others to see what you have to say about a place on a map. We’ve received a lo…
See what’s in store
April 21st, 2010 | by Elaine Filadelfo | published in Google Earth
Just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t always judge a business by its exterior appearance. Yesterday we introduced Google Places and mentioned that we’re now starting a pilot project in select cities worldwide to take photographs of b…
A little help from your friends
April 21st, 2010 | by A Googler | published in Google Orkut
So, you’ve got a hot date, and want the perfect place for that special dinner? Online review sites may be helpful, but they don’t know your likes and dislikes very well. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get tips from those who know you best — your friends?
With Ask Friends, a great and simple orkut app, you can ask your pals for their opinions and recommendations. Now, you can ask those you trust most to give you their thoughts on just about anything, from how to pick a wine to where to shop for camping gear.
This is how Ask Friends works: Just ask a question, and it will be sent to your orkut friends (you can even choose to send the question to only certain friends on your list). You can make the question publicly available so that others can provide their input as well, and categorize your questions by topic.
When someone contributes an answer, you’ll receive a notification. If you’re not satisfied with the answers you get, you can reply to the thread and ask for more details.
Ask Friends also monitors your own performance when answering other people’s questions — it gives you a rating, and as you provide great information to others, you’ll earn points toward achieving a higher-level rating as a trusted source.
Many of you already know and love this application. We think our existing users will enjoy some of the latest updates as well — a new look, an easier navigation, updated notifications and invitations to friends.
So go ahead, be curious and ask away!
Posted by Huanjun Bao, software engineer
April 21st, 2010 | by Inside AdSense Team | published in Google Adsense
I sell the Google Content Network, Google’s ad network of over one million publishers to advertisers of all sizes, as a great way to reach customers in all stages of the buying cycle. Content advertising is great for demand generation, for getting the …
Message your subscribers with bulletins
April 21st, 2010 | by Mia | published in Youtube
Bulletins are a great way to communicate with your subscribers on YouTube. Just go to your channel, type an update, paste a video link, and click “Post Bulletin.” Your bulletin will show up on your subscribers’ homepage, in their Recent Activity feed.T…
Video of Power in Numbers: Unleashing Innovation in Home Energy
April 21st, 2010 | by Google Public Policy Blog | published in Google Public Policy
Posted by David Green, Global Communications and Public AffairsAccess to information about our home energy use can teach us all sorts of things about the appliances in our homes and how they interact with the electric grid. At an event we recently co-h…
April 21st, 2010 | by Google Data | published in Google Merchant
The web has made it easy to make decisions: when I’m going out to eat, I can easily check to see what people thought of that hot new restaurant, and when I’m about to buy a new digital camera for my upcoming trip to Portugal, I can read through doz…
April 21st, 2010 | by The App Engine Team | published in Google App Engine
Today we released version 1.3.3 of the App Engine SDK for both Java and Python. This is a minor release that includes changes and a few issue fixes for the datastore, administration console, and when deploying applications. For more information on all…
New version of Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook released and new Global Address List functionality
April 21st, 2010 | by Google Apps Team | published in Google Apps
Version 1.8 of the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook plugin has been released with the following new features:- New sync-status interface. This new interface provides progress indicators for address book, contacts, calendar, and email- Support for…
Explore the UK and Ireland with Google Maps Navigation
April 21st, 2010 | by effie | published in Google Mobile
Despite recent travel disruption due to Eyjafjallajökull, those of us marooned in the UK and Ireland have enjoyed lovely sunny weather. It’s the perfect excuse to take a road trip, wouldn’t you agree?With Google Maps Navigation (beta), now availab…
SCaLE, Google, and Open Source
April 21st, 2010 | by Ellen Ko | published in Google Open Source
Photo Credit: Solange MaffiMy name is Bruno Albuquerque, and I’m both a Googler and an open source contributor. This past February I left Brazil and went to Los Angeles to attend the 8th edition of the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 8x). SC…
Keep up to date on the AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative
April 21st, 2010 | by Inside AdWords crew | published in Google Adwords
Late last year we introduced you to the AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative. At the time, we explained that new formats would be a major focus for us in 2010 and gave you a sneak peak into the types of new ad formats heading your way.With the introductio…