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Smartbox by Inbox: the mailbox of tomorrow, today
March 31, 2015
Mail is a wondrous thing. From the early days of the
homing pigeon
to the herculean efforts of the
Pony Express
, mail has connected us for generations. The advent of email brought the world even closer together. And yet, despite this leap forward, physical mail still just sits there. In a box. All day.
So today we’re excited to introduce Smartbox—a better, smarter mailbox that fuses physical mail with everything you love about the electronic kind:
Smartbox is currently in field trial—stuck in the ground, in a field—for
Inbox by Gmail
customers. If you’re not yet using Inbox, simply email
inbox@google.com
anytime before April 2 to be invited, and to reserve your spot on the Smartbox waitlist.
Posted by Merrill Anovick, Project Manager
(Cross-posted from the
Gmail Blog
)
Through the Google lens: Search trends March 20-26
March 27, 2015
Searches for March Madness are
still
surviving
and
advancing
, but this week brought with it a host of other stories to spur your search questions. Here’s a look at what people were searching for this week:
Germanwings Flight 9525
On Tuesday, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people who were onboard. In the wake of the tragedy, people around the world have turned to search to learn more about the
crash
and
subsequent investigation
. Early searches included questions about Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, and about the type of plane that had crashed; search interest in the Airbus A320 family spiked 100x in the first four hours. But after investigations revealed that co-pilot
Andreas Lubitz
appears to have deliberately locked himself in the cockpit and flown the plane into a mountain, the questions got more specific. People asked questions like “How do you access the plane’s cockpit?” and worried: “Is it safe to fly after the Germanwings crash?” and “Is flying becoming more dangerous?”
Presidential politics
Election Day 2016 is more than a year-and-a-half away, but the presidential race is already underway. On Monday, Senator Ted Cruz announced his candidacy. The Texas Republican is known for his fervent opposition to the Affordable Care Act, in particular a 21-hour filibuster-style speech on the floor of the Senate in 2013 (at one point, he read aloud from Dr. Seuss’
Green Eggs and Ham
). Searchers turned to the web to answer all kinds of questions about Cruz and his beliefs, sending searches for [cruz liberty], [cruz obamacare] and [cruz wiki] to spike
more than a thousand percent
in the last 30 days. The top questions, though, were around whether Cruz is eligible to become President because he was born in Canada. (The answer is yes, BTW.)
Pop culture mania
This week Zayn Malik confirmed he is leaving boy band One Direction, sending
teens
worldwide into a
tailspin
as they asked (and searched): “Why is Zayn leaving One Direction?” The British star said that he is leaving to “be a normal 22-year-old...out of the spotlight,” which may be tough given there were more than
a million searches for him
on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the rest of the band will go on without him—in fact, search interest in One Direction tours spiked 5x in the U.S. the day of the announcement.
If freaking out about Zayn isn’t your thing, maybe freaking out about “A” is? The mysterious villain of the ABC Family show
Pretty Little Liars
was revealed—sorta—on Tuesday night, leading to
hundreds of thousands of searches
for the show. We won’t spoil it here, even though it was frankly a little hard to miss amidst the outcry. Let’s just say,
the truth is out there
. ;)
Finally, it’s barely spring but it’s already time to start thinking about your summer festival agenda. The line-ups of both San Francisco’s
Outside Lands
and Chicago’s
Lollapalooza
music festivals were announced this week. The top festival searched in each state breaks down almost exclusively along geographic lines and leaves us wondering: Are Massachusetts residents big
Elton John
fans?
Taking charge of your health
In a New York Times op-ed, Angelina Jolie revealed that she had undergone surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes to prevent cancer. This was the second preventative surgery for Jolie (she wrote about her double mastectomy in 2013), who made this decision because she carries a mutation in her BRCA1 gene, putting her at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. There were more than 100,000 searches for
Angelina Jolie
on Tuesday, and people turned to the web to ask related questions about women’s health and cancer prevention.
Tip of the week
Who says
National Puppy Day
has to be just once a year? When you’re need of a furry pick-me-up, just ask the
Google app
“Ok Google, show me pictures of puppies.” Smiles are practically guaranteed.
Posted by Emily Wood, Managing Editor, who searched this week for [rural studio] and [izombie]
It's time to put America’s small businesses on the map
March 25, 2015
If you searched for “Dependable Care near Garland, TX” a few months ago, you would have seen a lot of search results—but not the one that mattered to Marieshia Hicks. Marieshia runs
Dependable Care Health Service
in Garland, and it was her business that was missing. But that all changed last month when she attended a workshop at the Garland Chamber of Commerce called Let’s Put Garland on the Map.
The workshop, run by our Get Your Business Online team, showed her how to use Google My Business—a tool that allows business owners to control the info listed about their business on Google Search and Maps—to help more people find Dependable. Marieshia added an updated phone number, hours of operation, and a description to her business listing. Within a few months, she had more customers come through the door and referrals from doctors who could reach her. This one simple adjustment made a difference. In Marieshia’s words: “It’s huge.”
Huge might be an understatement.
Four out of five people
use search engines to find local information, like business hours and addresses, and research shows that businesses with complete listings are t
wice as likely
(PDF) to be considered reputable by customers. Consumers are
38 percent more likely to visit and 29 percent more likely to consider purchasing
from businesses with complete listings. Yet
only 37 percent of businesses
(PDF) have claimed a local business listing on a search engine. That’s a lot of missed opportunities for small businesses.
With this in mind, our Get Your Business Online team set out in 2011 to help businesses like Marieshia’s get found online. We’ve gone to every state in the U.S. and worked with thousands of business owners to create free websites and update their Google Search and Maps listings. But there’s a lot more work to do to help businesses take advantage of the vast opportunities yielded by the web. So today, we’re introducing
Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map
, a new program to help 30,000 cities get their local businesses online.
If we want to help every business in the U.S., we need to reach businesses where they are. So this tailor-made program provides each city with a custom website where local businesses can find helpful resources, including a new diagnostic tool that shows businesses how they appear on Search and Maps, a step-by-step guide for getting online with Google My Business, and a free website and domain name for one year with our partner, Startlogic.
We’re also forming partnerships with local organizations—like chambers and small business development centers—and equipping them with free trainings and customized city materials to run workshops just like the one Marieshia attended in Garland. These local partners know the challenges for local businesses more than anyone—and they recognize the value of getting businesses online. After all, getting Dependable’s information online not only means the world for Marieshia, it means even more for the city of Garland. Complete business info can help generate economic value
up to $300,000 a year for a small city or up to $7 million for a large one
(PDF). So when our local businesses are online, our local economies benefit.
If you have a favorite local business—a day care, a dentist, a dry cleaner—show your support by helping them get their info online and on the map. Visit your city’s website at
www.gybo.com
to find out how you can get involved.
Let’s put our cities on the map!
Posted by Soo Young Kim, Head of Marketing, Get Your Business Online
Through the Google lens: Search trends March 13-19
March 20, 2015
Whether you’re glued to the small screen or you’ve got your eyes on the sky this week, search is there to answer your questions. Here’s a look at this week in search:
TV gold
FOX’s “
Empire
” has
built a kingdom of fans
during its first season on the air. This week’s finale not only brought the TV show its highest number of viewers—it also had its largest spike in search interest to date with 200,000+ searches Wednesday night. The two-hour finale delivered a king-sized serving of soap opera-esque surprises, ending in a cliffhanger that had fans eager for more (“When does ‘Empire’ season 2 air?” was trending question this week). And “Empire” is making waves in the real-life music industry too: its soundtrack
debuted at number one
on Billboard’s Top 200 list this week. Here’s a look at the top searched songs:
Moving from TV fiction to fact, news broke last Saturday that real estate scion
Robert Durst
had been arrested in connection to several unsolved murders. Durst was the subject of “The Jinx,” the HBO documentary that aired its final episode Sunday night—in which Durst appears to confess to the crimes. Needless to say, though the police said
the arrest was not connected to the show
, the timing was
great
for HBO. Search interest in Robert Durst increased by 1,700 percent in the U.S.
Spring fever
March Madness
tipped off this week, with fans across the nation rushing to fill out their brackets and come up with excuses to be out of the office. Ten of the top 20 searches yesterday were related to college basketball, and people are turning to search to ask important questions like “Who can beat Kentucky?” (They’re undefeated this season.) And everyone wants to know who President Obama is rooting for: his is the
most searched celebrity bracket
so far.
If your bracket is already busted, you’ve got something else to be happy about: today marks the first day of spring, and the vernal equinox. Even though it’s still cold or even snowy in some spots today, the arrival of spring has people very excited. There were more than 2 million searches for [
vernal equinox
] yesterday—even more than searches for [march madness live].
Still, the sun’s position over the Equator isn’t the only celestial event that’s got people searching. On Friday, we’ll see both a Supermoon as well as the only total solar eclipse of the year—the first since 2013. Searches for [
solar eclipse glasses
] are up more than 2,000 percent as people figure out how to catch a glimpse. And an intense solar storm brought the aurora borealis south on Tuesday night, making the Northern Lights visible as far south as Oregon and as far out as
outer space
. The green lights lit up search as well as the skies: search interest went up more than 1,250 percent this week!
Good eats
Who says it needs to be hot out to eat ice cream?
Dairy Queen
kicked off its 75th anniversary celebrations on Monday by treating everyone to a free cone, and more than 200,000 searches followed. And it turns out that when it comes to comfort food, ice cream was a better choice this week than the good ol’ blue box. Kraft announced a recall of more than 6 million boxes its classic macaroni and cheese after metal was found in some boxes. There were more than 100,000+ searches for [
kraft mac and cheese recall
] as people tried to determine whether their pantries were affected.
Tip of the week
Keep up with the
NCAA tournament with the Google app
. Just say “Ok Google, show me the latest on March Madness” to get real-time scores, in-game and recap videos, and live streams for each game.
Posted by Emily Wood, Managing Editor, who searched this week for [heisler beer tv] and [little women reboot]
Bringing street art to your daily life
March 17, 2015
For more than 20 years, New Yorkers and street art lovers worldwide made the pilgrimage to 5Pointz, a building in Long Island City called the "Graffiti Mecca" because of its brightly colored, ever-changing walls. Artists from around the world covered every inch of the 200,000-square foot exterior with more than 350 technicolor murals. But last summer, this building on Davis Street was whitewashed over by developers, then demolished.
Street art like that at 5Pointz transforms public spaces into open-air galleries, adding vibrancy to urban landscapes. But using the city as a canvas often means these artworks are here today, gone tomorrow. With the Google Art Project, we’re working to preserve this ephemeral art form and make it available to fans around the world, anywhere and anytime.
Last June,
we added
street art from all over the globe—
including 5Pointz
—to the Google Art Project. Today, we’re
doubling
the number of public artworks to more than 10,000 high-resolution images. Eighty-five art organizations from 34 countries are sharing pieces, ranging from Sweden’s most famous
street festival
, to
water tanks wrapped with art
among New York city’s rooftops, to the abandoned walls of
Buenos Aires
that are a source of inspiration for street artists from all over the world.
A water tank in New York City. Photo by TF Cornerstone
You don’t need to be tied to your desktop to enjoy these fantastic collections. All these images are now available on a device near you with Chrome, Chromecast, Android Wear and your mobile devices. Turn your TV screen into a vibrant backdrop and add some color to your smartwatch with our new
Street Art Watch Faces
. On your phone or tablet, browse through
our partners' new apps
to take a tour of Melbourne's famous
laneways
or visit the multicolored murals in
Delhi
,
Lima
and
Honolulu
.
Wall by Brendan Monroe and Candybird. Photo by Pow! Wow! Hawaii
Street artists have also been using technology to play with their medium. Our collection includes animated “GIF-iti” images by artists like
INSA and Cheko
. The walls come to life with murals that are painted, filmed, and re-painted to create captivating moving images.
GIF-iti by Cheko
So much goes into making a piece of street art. Yet its transient nature puts it at risk of being scrubbed out and lost forever. The Google Art Project allows these works of art to transcend the walls, be transported to your screen and live on. Follow
@googleart
to discover more.
Posted by Lucy Schwartz, Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Celebrating 30 years of .COM and the future of .DOMAINS
March 17, 2015
When you visited Google today, we’re pretty sure you didn’t type 173.194.113.18 into your browser. This string of numbers separated by periods—an IP address—isn’t nearly as easy or memorable as typing google.com. Domain names ending in things like .COM, .NET and .EDU make browsing the web and telling people where to find you online easier. Since this month marks the 30-year anniversary of .COM and several other domain endings, we’re taking a minute to celebrate these often-overlooked suffixes that have changed the way we use the web.
Though they were introduced in 1985, domain names didn’t gain much awareness and use amongst the public until the
World Wide Web became available to all
during the ‘90s and it became clear they were an important part in unlocking its power. Using these online addresses, people began to
spread messages
,
start businesses
and
access information
that otherwise would have been nearly impossible to find. Popularity and demand for these names grew so much that people were soon
willing to pay millions of dollars
for the perfect one.
Today there are 270+ million registered domain names; in fact,
about 17 million were added just last year
. To create more naming options for people online, hundreds of new top-level domains are being added, and many, like .TODAY, .NINJA and .BIKE are already available. We
wrote about this back in 2012
, and since then we’ve launched three of our own:
.HOW
,
.SOY
and
.みんな
.
As .COM turns 30, we’re looking back on the history of domain endings and all they’ve made possible. Today there are more choices than ever before for people to find the perfect name for their businesses, projects and ideas on the web. If you’re interested in learning more about this history, or you’d like to register your own piece of the web, head over to
Google Domains
to claim your .DOMAINS from a .COM to a .GURU.
Here’s to .COM’s 30th, and all that’s yet to come in how we name destinations on the Internet.
Posted by Ben Fried, CIO
Through the Google lens: Search trends March 6 - 12
March 13, 2015
This week, runways, verdicts and diapers were the the talk of the town on search. Read on to learn more.
Preachin' papas
“Dude, where’s my baby changing table?” That’s what actor Ashton Kutcher was wondering on
social media
after he observed a lack of diaper-changing facilities in men’s restrooms. Kutcher offered to give a shout-out on his Facebook page to the the first business he could find with diaper-friendly bathrooms. While the actor’s call to arms might not move the needle in terms of shifting societal perceptions on parenting, it did get the celebrity
trending
on the search charts.
Runways and sun tans
Peering into our search crystal ball, we think we see a little more breakdance fighting in our future. This past Tuesday, actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson surprised fans and fashionistas everywhere when they unexpectedly
took to the catwalk
during Valentino's display for Paris Fashion Week—all just to announce
the sequel
to their cult classic Zoolander. The news cracked the top 10 on trends for that day as searchers looked for videos of Stiller and Wilson strutting their stuff in full Zoolander and Hansel persona. One thing is clear: Blue steel is back in season.
You know who else is excited right now? College kids, thanks to a little annual tradition called spring break. Students are all packed up and ready to hit the sun-drenched beaches of Panama City and South Padre Island, and searches for last-minute destinations and travel suggestions are heating up.
Boiling over
Ferguson
, Mo., is in the headlines again, and the reasons aren’t getting any better. First, the city’s police chief resigned following an investigation into his department that found evidence of racism. Then, two police officers were shot and injured during a demonstration at the Ferguson Police Department. Both officers are out of the hospital, but no arrests have been made, and
protests
are erupting in a city still traumatized by recent events—stirring people to get on the web to find the latest updates and causing
sustained interest
in the small city.
Imitation is the sincerest form of payment
Musicians Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were found guilty of plagiarism after a jury determined that the duo infringed on soul singer Marvin Gaye’s track “Got to Give it Up” in 2013’s summer jam “
Blurred Lines
.” The artists were hit with a whopping $7.4 million fine and generated 200,000+ searches. Some are already deriding the decision as a vote against
creative expression
and a terrible precedent to set for the music industry. But the fight is far from over as both Thicke and Williams plan to
appeal
the verdict.
Tip of the week
This spring break, skip the overpriced frozen pina coladas and jello shots and make your own cocktails with help from Google. Just say, “Okay Google, how do I make a Snakebite?” and you’ll be making tips in no time.
Posted by Jenise Araujo, Communications Associate, who searched for [there’s a lot more to life than being good looking] and [spring breakers]
Protecting people across the web with Google Safe Browsing
March 12, 2015
Online security is
on everybody's minds these days
, so we want to give you updates about various ways Google keeps you safe online. Today, on the web’s birthday, we’re highlighting recent improvements to Safe Browsing, technology that protects more than 1.1 billion people all over the world.
-Ed.
As the web continues to evolve, it’s important that user protections develop in lockstep so that people stay safe online. Our Safe Browsing technology may not be
quite
as old as the web—which celebrates its
26th birthday
today—but ever since Safe Browsing
launched
nearly eight years ago, it’s continually adapted to protect web users, everywhere.
Safe Browsing gives users—both on Google and across on the web—information they need to steer clear of danger. The dangerous sites detected by Safe Browsing generally fall into two categories: sites that attack users
intentionally
with either
malware
,
phishing
, or
unwanted software
that is deceptive or hard to uninstall, or sites that attack users
unintentionally
because they have been compromised, often without the site’s owner realizing this has happened.
Once we detect these sites, Safe Browsing warns people about them in a variety of ways. You’ve probably come across a warning like this in Chrome, Firefox or Safari; it’s powered by Safe Browsing:
Today, Safe Browsing shows people more than 5 million warnings per day for all sorts of malicious sites and unwanted software, and discovers more than 50,000 malware sites and more than 90,000 phishing sites every month. If you’re interested, you can see information about the dangerous sites that are detected by this technology anytime in our
Safe Browsing Transparency Report
.
We also use Safe Browsing technology to warn website owners or operators about issues with their sites so they can quickly fix them. We provide basic site maintenance tips, as well as specific Safe Browsing notifications in Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. Often site owners don’t realize there are issues with their sites until they get these notifications.
Recent developments
Since its earliest days, Safe Browsing has been widely available, and free—for users, site owners, and other companies—to use and integrate into their own products. In the early days, we focused on detecting dangerous sites and then showing people warnings:
An early Safe Browsing notification, c. 2007. These would appear in the top right corner of people’s web browsers when they visited a site that had been flagged by Safe Browsing as potentially dangerous.
But, just as attacks become more sophisticated, we’ve made sure our own technologies have kept up. Over the years, we’ve built Safe Browsing into other Google products to help protect people in more places:
Safe Browsing API:
We already make Safe Browsing data available for free to developers. This week we’re adding information about sites that host unwanted software, allowing developers to better protect their users as well.
Chrome:
Before people
visit
a site delivering
unwanted software
, or try to
download
some of it, we show them a clear warning.
Google Analytics:
We recently
integrated
Safe Browsing notifications into Google Analytics, so site owners can quickly take action to protect their users if there are issues with their websites. Previously, we’d only provided these warnings via our Webmaster Tools service.
Ads:
We’ve also
recently
begun to identify ads that target people with unwanted software.
As the web grows up, Safe Browsing technology will, too. We’re looking forward to protecting the web, and its users, for many birthdays to come.
Posted by Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Safe Browsing Team
Meet the updated Chromebook Pixel and the new Google Store
March 11, 2015
Two years ago, we
introduced
the first Chromebook Pixel. The idea was to bring together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks. It's been exciting to see how the entire range of Chromebooks—from classroom-proof to high-end—has made a difference to people
at school
,
at home
, and
at work
. Today, we’re introducing
an updated and more powerful Pixel
to fuel the imaginations of another wave of Chromebook enthusiasts. Plus, we’ve created a new, online
Google Store
where you can get the Pixel and other devices made with Google, all in one place.
One charger for all your stuff
These days, packing for a trip means remembering to bring all your different chargers—for your phone, laptop, tablet, watch, etc. We think you should be able to use just one charger for all your electronics. So for the new Pixel, we’ve joined forces with some of the biggest names in the industry to create a new standard for charging, called
USB Type C
. The Pixel is one of the first products to launch with this new standard, with more Chromebooks and Android devices following suit soon.
Not only does Type-C enable multi-device charging, but it also allows high-speed data and display over the same connector and cable. It’s small enough to work with smartphones, powerful enough to charge computers, and conveniently symmetrical (no more guessing which side is up!). Speaking of symmetry, the new Pixel doesn’t just have one Type C port—it has two, one on each side, so you can plug in wherever is convenient.
Thoughtful design
Like the original Pixel, the new Chromebook has a high-resolution touchscreen, a sleek aluminum body, and smooth glass trackpad. We’ve also made a few other enhancements, including a new wide-angle camera lens.
Of course, the Pixel is also great on the inside. It’s got a powerful Intel® Core™ i5 with 8GB RAM and a 32GB SSD. If that’s not enough for you, we’re making an LS (yup, that stands for "Ludicrous Speed") version that's even faster. And even with the new charger, you probably won’t be carrying it around much, since the new Pixel has 12 hours of battery life.* When you do need to top up, it’s fast—you’ll get up to two hours of battery life with just 15 minutes of charging.*
Shop for the Pixel and more at the Google Store
We’ve been selling our devices on Google Play for years, but as we’ve added more products to the family, we thought it was time to make it easier for you to learn more about them. So today we’re also launching the Google Store, the new home for the latest devices made with Google.
At
store.google.com
, you can shop Nexus phones and tablets, Chromecast and Chromebooks, learn more about newer technology like Android Wear, Nexus Player and Nest, and stock up on accessories like cases, keyboards and chargers. You’ll see how the Google apps you already know—like Search, Maps and YouTube—work seamlessly with all these products. The Google Store is available on your phone, tablet, or laptop, and right now you’ll get free shipping on everything** (consider it our way of saying hello).
Once you’ve found the right device at the Google Store, you can still head to Google Play to find apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and more. If you recently bought a device on Google Play, don’t worry—your order info will automatically be transferred to the Google Store.
See our Help Center
for more information.
The Chromebook Pixel is available for purchase starting today in the U.S. on the new Google Store for $999 and $1299 for the LS version. Come
check it out
, and see what else is in
store
.
Posted by Andrew Bowers, Director of Consumer Hardware
*Battery life tested using Chromium standard PowerLoadTest at default brightness. The PowerLoadTest was created to emulate average user behavior and measure the resultant battery life. Charge time testing is measured by battery capacity increase with lid closed divided by average energy usage during PowerLoadtest. Battery life and charge time may vary depending on usage and other conditions.
**Free shipping applies to the lowest cost shipping option. Free shipping promotion may be modified or discontinued at any time.
Connect. Create. Celebrate women in technology.
March 7, 2015
Ask Liz Liao what accomplishment she’s most proud of, and she’ll tell you it’s not her master’s degree in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, her numerous published articles, or even the autonomous industrial robot she helped develop as a senior software engineer at Seegrid. Nope—according to Liz, her greatest achievement is co-founding
Girl Develop It Minneapolis
, a chapter in the national non-profit
Girl Develop It
, which provides hands-on programs and a network of support to women interested in learning web and software development.
3D imaging from the industrial robot, designed and built by Liz and her team
Source:
“Seegrid Vision Guided Vehicle: Pallet Truck”
Liz often remembers being the only woman engineer on her team, but it wasn’t until she moved to a new city and spent more time working remotely that she began to feel isolated—and realized how important it was for her to have a community of like-minded people to connect with. She started volunteering with a few local organizations and started the local Girl Develop It chapter in 2014. In just seven months, her chapter has more than 500 members and Liz has found a network of people she can connect to.
There are many women like Liz who never find that sense of community and instead end up leaving tech permanently. Not only does that mean our industry is less diverse than it should be, but it also leads to less innovative products. That’s why it’s so important for Google to do our part in creating environments, programs and policies that help women in technology thrive. We’ve partnered with organizations like
Girl Develop It
,
Women Who Code
,
Anita Borg Institute
and the
National Center for Women & Information Technology
to create a more supportive environment for women in tech. And this International Women’s Day, we’re building on our efforts to empower women to become makers of technology. Here’s a look at what we’re up to:
Women Techmakers
Last year, Google started our Women Techmakers program to provide visibility, resources and a community for women in technology worldwide. This month we kicked off our second annual
Women Techmakers Global Event Series
, and we encourage you to attend an event to meet incredible women from around the world who are leading the technology industry. Create the future of wearables at a summit or from home with a brand new
Android Wear Watch Face Codelab
, and engage with the community using our hashtag #WTM15. For event highlights, photos and more check out Women Techmakers on
Twitter
and
YouTube
.
Share your wisdom with a #DearMe video letter
For many young girls, the path to finding themselves is filled with uncertainty. It’s hard to figure out what you want to do or who you want to be when you’re dealing with gossip, self-doubt and pressure from all sides. As part of our International Women’s Day celebration, we’re encouraging you to think back on the advice you wish you’d gotten when you were a young, and to share those words of wisdom with today’s teenage girls. Submit a video letter on YouTube tagged with #DearMe telling your younger self what you wish someone had told you. We’re looking forward to what you have to say.
A Doodle honoring women who transform the world
Finally, we couldn’t let International Women’s Day pass without a Doodle. So our homepage today celebrates the many ways women scientists, engineers, athletes, doctors, artists, explorers and more are changing the world.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Posted by Pavni Diwanji, VP of Engineering
Through the Google lens: Search trends February 27- March 5
March 6, 2015
This week we saw troll hunting, email drama and flying weasels top the trends charts. Read on to learn the details.
Yes, you did just see that
What’s furry, has wings and hits the trends charts with 50,000+ searches? A
weasel woodpecker
...or more accurately a weasel riding a woodpecker. Nature’s most unlikely pair was a top search on Monday after amateur photographer Martin Le-May snapped an incredible
photo
which went viral. Like most online phenomena, this one has its dissenters: many are speculating that the photo is a
fake
.
That wasn’t this week’s only unusual sight. Actor
Jared Leto
stepped out without his trademark
flowing locks
, instead sporting
platinum blond
short hair for his role in the new movie Suicide Squad. Leto’s new look leaves behind strands of ombre hair, the tears of thousands of fans, and 100,000+ searches.
Email: more trouble than it’s worth?
There was a
spike
in searches for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after news broke that she used her private email rather than an official government account while she was in office. The potential Democratic presidential candidate’s actions are drawing criticism from the media, although Republicans have remained
surprisingly silent
on the issue. To quell fears that she’s got something to hide, Clinton tweeted: “
I want the public to see my email
”—guess there aren’t any skeletons in this inbox.
Trolls exit here
Karma, meet Internet trolls. This week several prominent figures struck back at their online harassers, starting with baseball player
Curt Schilling
, who called out on his personal blog cyber bullies who had made offensive comments about his daughter on Twitter. Two of the commenters have already lost their
jobs
due to Schilling’s response, leading some people to dub him an “
Internet Vigilante
.” The situation has certainly raised Shilling’s profile: Searches for the former Red Sox player have hit their
highest
in years.
American Idol winner
Kelly Clarkson
was next to take a swing at the haters. When British TV personality Katie Hopkins tweeted multiple derogatory remarks about Clarkson’s weight, the singer stood up for herself and against body shaming. Clarkson responded saying, “
I’m awesome
,” and that she doesn’t seek acceptance from others. The social media universe gave the singer a collective “You go girl,” and pushed Clarkson to the top of the search charts.
Tip of the week
Daylight Savings Time
is upon us! If you have a tendency to forget to change your (analog) clocks, just tell Google, “Remind me to change my clock,” and handle the issue while it’s still fresh in your memory.
Posted by Jenise Araujo, Communications Associate, who searched for [how to bleach] and [texts from hillary]
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