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Is Europe really emerging from the financial crisis? What’s going to happen to Europe’s 5 million unemployed young people? Does the rise of euro-sceptic politics spell the end of the EU as we know it? Will Europe act on Syria?

Now’s your chance to put these questions and others to the man in charge of the European Commission, President José Manuel Barroso, in a special, live State of the European Union Hangout interview, hosted by the euronews Global Conversation team, but driven by you.

The Hangout on Air takes place on Thursday, September 12 at 20:50 CET / 11:50 PDT, one day after President Barroso’s 2013 State of the European Union address.

euronews is soliciting questions, comments and ideas for the interview until 12:00 CET / 03:00 PDT on Wednesday, September 11. No topic is too big or too small—all you need to do is submit your question (text or video) on Google+, Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #askbarroso. The authors of the best questions—as chosen by euronews editors—will be invited to interview the President in person, live, in the Google+ Hangout.

To tune in, visit the European Commission’s Google+ page Thursday, September 12 at 20:50 CET / 11:50 PDT. And of course, you can keep commenting up to and after the interview using the hashtags #askbarroso and #SOTEU.

Posted by Al Verney, Communications Manager, Google Brussels

Posted by Diana Smetters, Software Engineer

This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

Strong passwords help protect your accounts and information on the web. But forgetting your password is like losing your keys—you can end up locked out of your own home. It gets worse if your password gets compromised or stolen. Sometimes the thief will change your password so you can’t get back into your own account—kind of like someone stealing your keys and then changing the lock.

If you’ve lost your Google password, you need a way to get back into your Google Account—and back to all of your stuff in Gmail, Maps, Google+ and YouTube. To help you, Google needs to be able to tell that you’re the rightful account owner even if you don’t have the right password. There are a few easy steps you can take right now to make it easy for you—and no one else—to get into your Google Account if you forget or don’t know the password.

1. Add a recovery email address. By registering an alternate email address with your Google Account settings, you’re giving Google another way to reach you. If you forget your password, Google can send a link to that recovery email address so you can reset your password. Google can also use that email address to let you know if we detect something suspicious happening with your account.

2. Add a phone number to your Google Account. Your mobile phone is the best way to regain access to your account if you forget your password. It’s like the “fast lane” for account recovery: we text a code to the phone number you’ve registered with us, and you’re back in business in no time. Your phone is more secure and reliable than other means of recovering your account. Methods like “secret” questions (asking your mother’s maiden name or city where you were born) may have answers that are easy to remember, but they are also possible for bad guys to uncover. And we’ve consistently seen that people who register a recovery phone are faster and more successful at getting their accounts back than those recovering their accounts via email.

You can also get a text message if Google detects that something suspicious is going on with your account. Giving a recovery phone number to Google won’t result in you being signed up for marketing lists or getting more calls from telemarketers. 3. Keep your recovery options up to date. It’s a good idea to check your recovery options every so often. For example, if you change your phone number after setting up your recovery options, take just a minute to update your recovery settings to match. We’ll remind you of your current settings every so often to make it easier for you to keep them up to date.

That’s it! You can either update your recovery options next time you’re prompted, or you can take two minutes to do it right now on our Account recovery options page. For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, or check out some of the other posts in our series on staying safe and secure.

This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

Strong passwords help protect your accounts and information on the web. But forgetting your password is like losing your keys—you can end up locked out of your own home. It gets worse if your password gets compromised or stolen. Sometimes the thief will change your password so you can’t get back into your own account—kind of like someone stealing your keys and then changing the lock.

If you’ve lost your Google password, you need a way to get back into your Google Account—and back to all of your stuff in Gmail, Maps, Google+ and YouTube. To help you, Google needs to be able to tell that you’re the rightful account owner even if you don’t have the right password. There are a few easy steps you can take right now to make it easy for you—and no one else—to get into your Google Account if you forget or don’t know the password.

1. Add a recovery email address. By registering an alternate email address with your Google Account settings, you’re giving Google another way to reach you. If you forget your password, Google can send a link to that recovery email address so you can reset your password. Google can also use that email address to let you know if we detect something suspicious happening with your account.

2. Add a phone number to your Google Account. Your mobile phone is the best way to regain access to your account if you forget your password. It’s like the “fast lane” for account recovery: we text a code to the phone number you’ve registered with us, and you’re back in business in no time. Your phone is more secure and reliable than other means of recovering your account. Methods like “secret” questions (asking your mother’s maiden name or city where you were born) may have answers that are easy to remember, but they are also possible for bad guys to uncover. And we’ve consistently seen that people who register a recovery phone are faster and more successful at getting their accounts back than those recovering their accounts via email.

You can also get a text message if Google detects that something suspicious is going on with your account. Giving a recovery phone number to Google won’t result in you being signed up for marketing lists or getting more calls from telemarketers.

3. Keep your recovery options up to date. It’s a good idea to check your recovery options every so often. For example, if you change your phone number after setting up your recovery options, take just a minute to update your recovery settings to match. We’ll remind you of your current settings every so often to make it easier for you to keep them up to date.

That’s it! You can either update your recovery options next time you’re prompted, or you can take two minutes to do it right now on our Account recovery options page. For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, or check out some of the other posts in our series on staying safe and secure.

Posted by Diana Smetters, Software Engineer

Posted by Richard Salgado, Director, Law Enforcement & Information Security and Pablo Chavez, Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs

Today we filed an amended petition [PDF] in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This petition mirrors the requests made to Congress and the President by our industry and civil liberties groups in a letter earlier this year. Namely, that Google be allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702. Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It’s time for more transparency.

In addition, along with a number of other companies and trade associations, we are also meeting the President’s Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies today. We’ll reiterate the same message there: that the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society.

Today we filed an amended petition (PDF) in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This petition mirrors the requests made to Congress and the President by our industry and civil liberties groups in a letter (PDF) earlier this year. Namely, that Google be allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702. Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It’s time for more transparency.

In addition, along with a number of other companies and trade associations, we are meeting the President’s Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies today. We’ll reiterate the same message there: that the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society.

Posted by Richard Salgado, Director, Law Enforcement & Information Security and Pablo Chavez, Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs

(Cross-posted on the Public Policy Blog)

We’ve spent a lot of time watching students of all ages take to SketchUp. Fearlessly, they dive right in, texturing polygons until they’ve created imaginatively robust landscapes, or even autofolding simple geometric structures into mind-bending helixes. Clearly, discerning kids aren’t waiting for permission to explore and design in 3D. We’ve also seen insightful teachers recognize SketchUp’s potential as a teaching platform, but for them jumping into a whole new way of learning isn’t as straightforward.

This fall, longtime SketchUp author Bonnie Roskes has introduced a comprehensive (and rather large) guidebook for teaching in 3D. For middle and high school teachers as well as college and university instructors, SketchUp 2013 Hands-On: Student Coursebook bundles basic and advanced exercises, along with step-by-step modeling guides and over 50 “DIY” projects that can be assigned as homework or classwork. Bonnie’s book also includes an Instructor Guide with all the solutions to these projects (so teachers can become 3D experts in step with their students).

SketchUp 2013 Hands-on — a teacher’s handbook/encyclopedia for teaching in 3D.

SketchUp 2013 Hands-on covers all of SketchUp’s tools and features with illustrated, step-by-step instructions. Need to challenge the more advanced modelers in class? Bonnie also provides an add-on guide to 35 popular SketchUp extensions.

SketchUp 2013 Hands-on clocks in at 505 pages, so there is a handy PDF version (that is much less expensive) and a better choice for students using the book on laptops or tablets. Bonnie can set you up with an evaluation PDF, or help coordinate discounts for bookstore or group orders: just send her a note. Bonnie has been writing about SketchUp for about a decade now, so we can vouch for both her books and her enthusiasm for helping teachers use 3D to connect and engage with students.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education

It’s intern season at Google! Interns are located in offices all across the globe, and represent a broad diversity of backgrounds, concentrations and interests. Inspired by Stephen Colbert’s Better Know a District, we’re bringing to you “Better Know an Intern!” The series will introduce you to our interns across the globe, and will get you the scoop on the impactful projects they work on, their interests and passions, and what it’s really like to intern at Google straight from the source.

For our next post, meet Lamar Gary, an intern on the Online Partnerships Group team.

Lamar Gary
Senior, Class of 2014
University of Southern California – Business Administration
Returning BOLD Intern

Fun fact: After moving into my humble abode in San Francisco near Chinatown, I named it the Castle of Shaolin. I’m fascinated with the intersection of Black and Chinese culture (i.e. blaxploitation and kung fu films, hip hop, and the idolatry of Bruce Lee). The name stems from the film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which inspired the title and most of the samples on the Wu-Tang Clan’s album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers. It was almost a no-brainer to don my self-proclaimed castle with the name.

1. Of all the companies to apply for, why did you want to work at Google?
I chose Google because of its amazing company culture and innovative approach to solving problems through technology. Working in a fast-paced environment, where people are constantly thinking of ways to solve big problems differently and efficiently (e.g. bringing Internet access to more people around the world through a network of high-altitude balloons), is inspiring. I wanted to work at a company that wasn’t afraid to tackle big challenges and do the unimaginable.

2. In what way(s) has Google impacted you, and how have you left an impact at Google?
Google has taught me the importance of being able to balance a challenging workload while pursuing causes and activities that help me grow outside of the scope of my job. I believe your personal experiences are contributors to your success, which is why having fun outside of work is important. You learn so much from your experiences, especially since many of them require you to step outside of your comfort zone and try new things.

For instance, I started to adventure through the Bay Area to find small mom-and-pop restaurants that serve up some of the best ethnic cuisine. Somehow I always end up in a conversation with my waiter, who’s typically an immigrant or a first-generation American, about their story, their history, and how they landed in the U.S. and the Bay Area. Those conversations help me better understand the diversity around me and make me a better global citizen. Google values that perspective. It allows you to bring a fresh point of view to the table and makes you more Googley. At Google, I bring my perspective into the conversation and apply my analytical skills to solve big problems and influence business strategy.

In addition to my core work duties, I cleaned up Emma Prusch Park with other Googlers for GoogleServe and I represent BOLD interns at multiple University Programs events, such as BOLD Immersion for Freshmen.

3. What is the most interesting/exciting thing that you have been able to do as a Google intern? Your “Magic Moment”?
Midway into my internship, I demoed one of my deliverables, which was a risk assessment tool, for my manager’s manager. He was in awe with the impact it could have on the entire organization. He told me my work could help grow 10% of the global business. All of a sudden I realized my internship wasn’t just about completing a project. I had an opportunity to drive impact that will continue after I leave.

4. Aside from working for Google, what kinds of organizations/clubs/activities are you involved with in your community / around your school’s campus?
Executive Director of the USC Black Student Assembly, Undergraduate Student Government, USC Honorary Degrees Committee, Google Student Ambassador.

5. What types of lessons/skills have you learned at Google that you will take back to school after this summer ends?
This summer has been all about navigating ambiguity and synthesizing data for actionable decision making. At times it can be daunting with so much uncertainty and loads of information. In the end, you learn a ton. I’m taking my learnings from this summer back to school and beyond.

6. Any advice for students interested in being a Google intern?
Get involved with projects that challenge you to solve problems and take action. The experience will help you achieve success as a Google intern.

7. Favorite micro-kitchen snack?
That’s easy! Blueberries and chocolate. NorCal’s blueberry season begins in June. Micro-kitchens are always stocked with fresh blueberries during the summer. To satisfy my sweet tooth, I grab a bowl of blueberries and a chocolate square.

Posted by Tony Nelli, Tech University Programs

For our final post in the Google Summer of Code blog series highlighting new open source organizations participating in this year’s program, we have organization administrators from TimVideos.us and lmonade discussing their student’s projects.

TimVideos.us is a group of projects which together create a system for doing both recording and live event streaming for conferences, meetings, user groups and other presentations. The project combines both software (gst-switch, streaming website and tools, speaker tracking, etc.) and hardware projects (HDMI2USB – A HDMI/DVI Capturing Solution). Parts of the system have been been used at large open source conferences such as Linux.conf.au, PyCon US and others.

Google Summer of Code 2013 has generously funded three students to work on the following TimVideos.us projects:

• EDID Database Website – Code  Extended display identification data (EDID) is a data structure provided by a digital display to describe its capabilities to a video source. Many devices ship with bad or misleading EDID information. The goal of this project is to develop a website to list EDID information, allowing users to browse, search and update them. 

• Developing Python API for gst-switch – Code  gst-switch aims to do interactive live mixing of incoming video streams, designed to meet the needs of conference recording. Designed as a flexible replacement for DVSwitch, and based around GStreamer, this project aims to develop a Python API for controlling and testing gst-switch. 

• Porting Flumotion to the Gstreamer-1.0 API – Code  Flumotion is a streaming media server which uses Gstreamer at its core. GStreamer recently released it’s 1.0 API which is not compatible with the old 0.10 Flumotion. 

We hope that through our projects, the costs and expertise currently required to produce live streaming events will be reduced to near zero. We wish to develop a system where everyone has the ability to record presentations and host live remote participants across the globe.  

By Tim Ansell, TimVideos.us Google Summer of Code Organization Administrator and Mentor

—–

lmonade is a scientific software distribution that can be installed without administrative rights on Unix based systems. Building on the Gentoo packaging system, we hope to solve the dependency nightmare experienced by all sufficiently complex scientific software packages which have release schedules that do not fit the restrictions of packagers for large GNU/Linux distributions.

We are thrilled to be a part of Google Summer of Code as a new organization this year. As an umbrella organization, lmonade promotes ideas to improve various open source/free mathematical software, especially computational algebra projects. After the midterm evaluations, we are continuing the Google Summer of Code with 4 projects:

• Tom Bachmann – C++ wrapper for FLINT – FLINT is a highly optimized library for performing computations in number theory, written in C. This project aims to create C++ wrappers using expression templates, which compile down to code which achieves performance as close to native C as possible. 

• Remus Barbatei – Continuous integration platform for lmonade – This project is about improving the existing CI infrastructure used by lmonade to take advantage of the build instructions and dependency information stored in its package repository and easily set up nightly testing facilities for more scientific software packages. 

• Verónica Suaste – New decoding algorithms for error correcting codes in Sage – The main goal of this work is to implement decoding algorithms based on Gröbner bases methods in Sage. While improving the coding theory module of Sage, this will provide the opportunity to compare performance of this new algorithm with implementations in computer algebra systems. 

• Ioana Tamas – Binary decision diagrams for Boolean polynomial rings – Zero-suppressed binary decision diagrams are used by Polybori for efficiently representing Boolean polynomials. At the moment, they are manipulated via CUDD, which is not specialized on these types of diagrams and only uses C in the implementation. The goal of this project is to implement an independent library in C++ that is specialized on zero-suppressed binary decision diagrams. 

We wish all our students continuing success in their projects. 

By Burcin Erocal, lmonade Organization Administrator 

It’s hard to believe the student coding for Google Summer of Code 2013 will conclude in less than three weeks! To view a complete list of the projects students are working on this summer, visit the Google Summer of Code program site.

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs

Posted by Julia Wilkowski, Senior Instructional Designer

Google has taught five open online courses in the past year, reaching nearly 400,000 interested students. In this post I will share observations from experiments with a year’s worth of these courses. We were particularly surprised by how the size of our courses evolved during the year; how students responded to a non-linear, problem-based MOOC; and the value that many students got out of the courses, even after the courses ended.

Observation #1: Course size
We have seen varying numbers of registered students in the courses. Our first two courses (Power Searching versions one and two) garnered significant interest with over 100,000 students registering for each course. Our more recent courses have attracted closer to 40,000 students each. It’s likely that this is a result of initial interest in MOOCs starting to decline as well as students realizing that online courses require significant commitment of time and effort. We’d like other MOOC content aggregators to share their results so that we can identify overall MOOC patterns.

*based on surveys sent only to course completers. Other satisfaction scores represent aggregate survey results sent to all registrants.

Observation #2: Completion rates
Comparing these five two-week courses, we notice that most of them illustrate a completion rate (measured by the number of students who meet the course criteria for completion divided by the total number of registrants) of between 11-16%. Advanced Power Searching was an outlier at only 4%. Why? A possible answer can be found by comparing the culminating projects for each course: Power Searching consisted of students completing a multiple choice test; Advanced Power Searching students completed case studies of applying skills to research problems. After grading their work, students also had to solve a final search challenge.

Advanced Power Searching also differed from all of the other courses in the way it presented content and activities. Power Searching offered videos and activities in a highly structured, linear path; Advanced Power Searching presented students with a selection of challenges followed by supporting lessons. We observed a decreasing number of views on each challenge page similar to the pattern in the linear course (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Unique page views for Power Searching and Advanced Power Searching

Students who did complete Advanced Power Searching expressed satisfaction with the course (95% of course completing students would recommend the course to others, compared with 94% of survey respondents from Power Searching). We surmise that the lower completion rate for Advanced Power Searching compared to Power Searching could be a result of the relative difficulty of this course (it assumed significantly more foundational knowledge than Power Searching), the unstructured nature of the course, or a combination of these and other factors.

Even though completion rates seem low when compared with traditional courses, we are excited about the sheer number of students we’ve reached through our courses (over 51,000 earning certificates of completion). If we offered the same content to classrooms of 30 students, it would take over four and a half years of daily classes to teach the same information!

Observation #3: Students have varied goals
We would also like to move the discussion beyond completion rates. We’ve noticed that students register for online courses for many different reasons. In Mapping with Google, we asked students to select a goal during registration. We discovered that

• 52% of registrants intended to complete the course
• 48% merely wanted to learn a few new things about Google’s mapping tools

Post-course surveys revealed that

• 78% of students achieved the goal they defined at registration
• 89% of students learned new features of Google Maps
• 76% reported learning new features of Google Earth

Though a much smaller percentage of students completed course requirements, these statistics show that many of the students attained their learning goals.

Observation #4: Continued interest in post-course access
After each course ended, we kept many of the course materials (videos, activities) available. Though we removed access to the forums, final projects/assessments, and teaching assistants, we have seen significant interest in the content as measured by Google and YouTube Analytics. The Power Searching course pages have generated nearly three million page views after the courses finished; viewers have watched over 160,000 hours (18 years!) of course videos. In the two months since Mapping with Google finished, we have seen over 70,000 unique visitors to the course pages.

In all of our courses, we saw a high number of students interested in learning online: 96% of Power Searching participants agreed or strongly agreed that they would take a course in a similar format. We have succeeded in teaching tens of thousands of students to be more savvy users of Google tools. Future posts will take an in-depth look at our experiments with self-graded assessments, community elements that enhance learning, and design elements that influence student success.

Editor’s note: Today marks the 5th birthday of Chrome, a project we started to push the web platform forward. From a humble beginning of static text, images and links, the web has grown into a rich platform teeming with interactive content and powerful applications. We’ve been astounded by how far the web has come and are very excited to see what developers around the world will be able to do with the new generation of Chrome Apps. 

Today we’re unveiling a new kind of Chrome App, which brings together the speed, security and flexibility of the modern web with the powerful functionality previously only available with software installed on your devices. (Think apps designed for your desktop or laptop, just like the ones for your phone and tablet.) These apps are more powerful than before, and can help you get work done, play games in full-screen and create cool content all from the web. If you’re using Windows or a Chromebook, you can check them out in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store (Mac & Linux coming soon). 

Here’s what you can expect with new Chrome Apps:

• Work offline: Keep working or playing, even when you don’t have an internet connection.
• More app, less Chrome: No tabs, buttons or text boxes mean you can get into the app without being distracted by the rest of the web.
• Connect to the cloud: Access and save the documents, photos and videos on your hard drive as well as on Google Drive and other web services.
• Stay up-to-speed: With desktop notifications, you can get reminders, updates and even take action, right from the notification center.
• Play nice with your connected devices: Interact with your USB, Bluetooth and other devices connected to your desktop, including digital cameras.
• Keep updated automatically: Apps update silently, so you always get all the latest features and security fixes (unless permissions change).
• Pick up where you left off: Chrome syncs your apps to any desktop device you sign in to, so you can keep working.
• Sleep easier: Chrome apps take advantage of Chrome’s built-in security features such as Sandboxing. They also auto-update to make sure you have all the latest security fixes. No extra software (or worrying) required.
• Launch apps directly from your desktop: To make it quicker and easier to get to your favorite apps, we’re also introducing the Chrome App Launcher for Windows, which will appear when you install your first new Chrome App. It lives in your taskbar and launches your apps into their own windows, outside of Chrome, just like your desktop apps. Have lots of apps? Navigate to your favorite apps using the search box.

The new Chrome app launcher

Of course, even with all this great stuff happening behind-the-scenes, the apps are what really matter. We know many of you doing enjoy things like photo editing, checking off your to-do’s or unwinding with games, so here are a few Chrome apps to get you started: 

Explore and create

Pixlr Touch Up lets you quickly touch up, crop, resize and adjust photos from your computer or Google Drive. If you’re feeling dramatic, you can also choose from a variety of film-inspired effects to apply. And it works offline, so you can get a head start polishing up your vacation photos on your flight home.

Other creativity apps worth checking out: 

Until.AM, The Economist, Pocket, 500px and more

Get stuff done 

Wunderlist is a beautiful and simple to-do list, which features voice dictation and desktop notifications, which remind you of timely tasks and team updates. And for those on the move, you can take your tasks with you from computer to computer, and manage them even if you’re offline.

Other productivity apps worth checking out:

UberConference, Gliffy, Lucid Chart, Google Keep and more

Be entertained

Cracking Sands is an action-packed racing game that lets you speed your way past your online or computer opponents through beautiful 3D courses. And for those looking for more precise control, you can even connect your Xbox controller via USB.

Other games worth checking out: 

Tank Riders, Spelunky, They Need to be Fed and more

We hope you enjoy what you see in the Chrome Web Store. And please share your favorite new Chrome Apps in the comments below.

Posted by Erik Kay, Engineering Director and Chrome App-ologist