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Holiday savings with Google Checkout
November 26, 2007
Posted by Shoaib Makani, Google Checkout team
The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and Google Checkout can help you shop fast, stay organized, and save money. Starting today Checkout buyers can take advantage of exclusive discounts and free shipping at more then 100 Google Checkout stores, and earn frequent flyer miles on holiday shopping.
Learn more about Google Checkout holiday offers.
A taste of fall
November 21, 2007
Posted by Todd Koenigsberg
, Executive Chef, San Francisco
For an ambitious addition to your holiday feast, try my buttercup squash soufflé. The flavors are simple enough that you can serve it as an appetizer, plate it up with a small salad, or just present it to the crowd family style.
Happy cooking, and happy Thanksgiving!
Buttercup Squash Soufflé
with aged balsamic, hazelnuts, and Parmesan
What you'll need:
2 buttercup squash (2 1/2 lbs.)
(I prefer buttercup for its creaminess, but you can substitute butternut squash)
1 egg yolk
3 whole eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan, freshly grated
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 egg whites
1 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1 cup Parmesan, freshly shaved
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
8-10 ceramic soufflé cups
1 baking pan (large enough to hold the soufflé cups)
parchment paper
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Halve each squash through the stem to create 2 identical pieces. Coat each piece with olive oil and place face down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake for about an hour or until the flesh of the squash is completely soft. Allow to cool. (This step can be done a day in advance.)
3. Peel the cooled squash and dice the flesh. Place the skinless squash in a food processor and puree until smooth.
4. In a large bowl, combine the squash, whole eggs, egg yolk, mascarpone, salt, nutmeg and grated Parmesan. Stir until the mixture is completely combined and smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to medium or soft peaks. Gently fold egg whites into squash mixture, taking care not to over mix and deflate the whites.
5. Spray soufflé cups with cooking spray. Carefully divide mixture into 8 to 10 ceramic soufflé cups (number of cups depends on the size of the squash), but don't fill the cup over halfway. Place filled cups in the baking pan and fill the pan with warm water, taking care not to drip any water in the filled cups. The water level should be about halfway up the cups. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly.
6. Place the soufflé upside down on plate and remove ceramic cup. It should pop out cleanly. Garnish with shaved Parmesan, aged balsamic and toasted hazelnuts.
7. Enjoy!
Never a dull moment
November 20, 2007
Posted by Susan Straccia, Google Blog Team
We see a lot of exciting projects come to fruition around here, but two Googlers recently added delivering a baby to their on-the-job experience, giving a whole new meaning to working well under pressure.
One day last month, Matthew, a software engineer in our
Seattle/Kirkland office
, arrived at work as usual. As he got to his desk, he learned that his expectant colleague Min was home sick. He thought this was strange, since she seemed fine the day before and her baby wasn't due for another 17 days. He sent her an email to make sure everything was okay. Min responded that she thought she might be experiencing contractions, but that everything was fine. Fifteen minutes later, he got a second message: Please come help me get to the hospital right away. Matthew rushed over and had barely backed out of the driveway when Min managed to say, "The baby's out." He picked up the little bundle in his right hand and declared, "It's a boy," and gave him to her to hold. An ambulance arrived on the scene seconds later. And just like that, Min and her husband became the proud parents of Andy.
Min and Andy
Meanwhile, Jessica, one of our
Mountain View
tech writers, was recently on her way to the office from San Francisco. Running late, her thoughts were on her list of to-dos, until she noticed a peculiar sight in the car next to her. A family in an SUV had stopped in the left-turn lane with a woman in the front passenger seat reaching over into the backseat. Then she noticed a man standing outside of the car screaming and waving his hands for help. She immediately pulled over, turned off her ignition and went to see what was the matter. While the mom was stretched out in the backseat, a grandmotherly sort had a panic-stricken look on her face and her hands out to catch the baby.
Thinking back to her own experience when she gave birth, Jessica tried to calm the family and answer their questions as best she could. She was on hand for less than 10 minutes before the police arrived and took over, but during that time, the baby was born.
We're happy to report everyone in both locations is doing well.
Custom Search goes global
November 20, 2007
Posted by Nitin Mangtani, Lead Product Manager, Enterprise Search and Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Search
In our Mountain View, California lobby, there's an image of a globe radiating colo(u)red beams of light, representing searches in different languages in countries all over the world. It's quite mesmerizing to watch. (You should check it out if you visit.)
Today, we're pleased to tell you that the Google Custom Search platform is available in 40 languages, in close to 80 countries worldwide. And now you can search your Custom Search engine (CSE) in the language of your choice. We hope to see more people creating useful CSEs -- we want to see more colo(u)red beams on the globe!
The Custom Search platform brings the relevance, reliability, speed and power of Google search to webmasters and developers worldwide. Webmasters can use CSE to create tailored search experiences on community web sites; businesses can add hosted site search to their web sites; users can add search to their
blogs
and web pages; and developers can build search right into their applications with the
Custom Search APIs
. There's no software to install or hardware to maintain. CSEs can be built in minutes and are easy to customize and manage. You can also control the appearance of the search results to match the look and feel of your web site. Now, you can administer your favo(u)rite CSE in the language of your choice.
There's a free, ads-supported version, and there's also the
Custom Search Business Edition
(CSBE), in which further customization of search results is possible using an XML API, and ads are optional. CSBE also offers options for email and phone support.
Our international launch of the Custom Search platform now brings CSBE to your country. Millions of businesses all over the world have a web presence but offer users no ability to search their site. Users are left on their own to navigate content once they land on a site. Now, organizations and businesses everywhere can enable Google-hosted site search to help users find what they need.
The
UK Parliament
uses CSBE on its website to make nine million documents easily accessible to the public.
Monarch Airlines
is using CSBE to help manage the growing number of customer enquiries about hand baggage regulations and the increased focus on airline security. Since adding CSBE they have seen a 30% reduction in inbound email as more customers now find what they need online. A leading Serbian media system B92, which includes both a TV and radio station and a leading web portal,
B92.net
, offers Custom Search on various sections of its site, such as
sport
,
business
,
culture
and
technology
. B92.net also uses several unique features, including
linked CSEs
, search refinements, and the capability to exclude certain sections of their sites from search results.
Belfabriek
, a provider of 0800 and 0900 service numbers in The Netherlands, wanted to offer customers the speed and quality of searching with Google. Since using CSBE, the number of callers has decreased substantially as people find the information they need and register their numbers directly through their website. Indian cricket site
Cricbuzz
uses a CSE to provide cricket fans relevant cricket content for any search related to cricket, using search refinements for drilling down into scores, player profiles, records, blogs and news.
We'd like to hear from you about your CSE too. Please
keep that feedback coming
.
Getting to know the candidates
November 15, 2007
Posted by Ginny Hunt, Public Policy Communications Team
Yesterday Senator Obama became the latest U.S. presidential candidate to visit Google headquarters in Mountain View for
a talk and then Q&A
. We're heartened to see how most every candidate is taking full advantage of the Internet, by making good use of YouTube together with their own websites, blogs and social networks to inform voters of their positions and share more of their thinking than traditional campaigns ever allowed.
The next big event we're looking forward to is the November 28
CNN/YouTube Republican debate
. Stay tuned for that, and if you'd like to watch the talks other candidates have given at Google,
here they are
.
Google Checkout badges for non-profits
November 15, 2007
Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager
You may have heard about the recently launched
Google Checkout for Non-Profits
, which is a fast and easy way to make online donations to your favorite non-profits. Now we'll begin displaying the
Google Checkout badge
on the AdWords ads of non-profits, which will help connect donors with the organizations they'd like to support. Visit our
Checkout Blog
for more details.
Australia's election map redrawn
November 14, 2007
Posted by Rob Shilkin and Julian Sonego, Google Australia
Australia's federal election is on 24 November 2007, and the campaign is well and truly in its final stages. Prime Minister Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd are adding
final details to their policies
and making their
final appeal for votes
.
You may recall that we
launched an election site
in September to help Australians stay informed. We've now updated the "Australian 2007 Election"
feature in Google Maps
so that, for all 150 House of Representatives seats, you can click on any candidate's name to see all their Google search results, or their YouTube channel. And with one click, you can now find an incredible array of information from across the Internet -- news stories, videos, personal websites, party websites, blogs, and all the rest -- about all 1,054 candidates for all 150 seats.
We've also added in all polling booth locations based on information from the
Australian Electoral Commission
, so voters can easily find their nearest polling booth on the map, together with opening hours and wheelchair accessibility. Voting in Australia is compulsory, so there's now no excuse not to turn up and have your say next Saturday.
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