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Strike up the band: over 10 million have gone Google with Apps for Education
14 Oktober 2010
(Cross-posted on the
Google Enterprise Blog
)
It was four years ago this month that Google Apps for Education first
touched down
, right before a pivotal football game between ASU and USC—fatefully enough, two schools that were among the first to move to
Google Apps
and pave the way for other schools to adopt this “
alien technology
.”
This week at
EDUCAUSE
we’re celebrating with these schools and the thousands of others that make up more than 10 million students, staff, faculty and alumni that are actively using Apps for Education on campus. We figured that nothing was more fitting than
a tailgate celebration
to toast the colleges and universities that have “gone Google.” And of course, it’s not really a party without inviting the
marching band
.
In the last four years we’ve seen a lot of changes, both to
our tools
and the general landscape of cloud computing in higher education. According to the
2010 Campus Computing project
, nearly 85% of four-year colleges and universities are already using or considering moving to the cloud by offering hosted email to their students. Of those schools that have already made the move, more than 56% of them have gone Google.
As part of this sustained momentum, we’ve seen the number of active Google Apps for Education users double since last fall, with more than two million new users coming on board since May alone; not to mention the
emerging growth
we’re now seeing in the K-12 space.
Hundreds of schools have made the move to Google Apps just this year, including Gonzaga University, Barnard,
Brown University
, William and Mary, Villanova University, Georgetown School of Business,
Case Western Reserve University
, Hawai’i Pacific University, Brandeis University,
more than half
of the 23 campuses in the California State University system, Morehouse College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Texas A&M Alumni, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, 13 of the SUNY schools, Pace University and Wilfrid Laurier—to name just a few.
The USC Trojan Marching Band helped us give a spirited cheer to the schools who have gone Google and the progress we’ve seen in the last four years. But like any good commencement address will tell you, this is only the beginning.
Posted by Miriam Schneider, Apps for Education team
The world as the eagle and the wild goose see it
13 Oktober 2010
One-hundred and fifty years ago today, on October 13, 1860,
James Wallace Black
shot the earliest still-existing aerial photograph in the U.S. He took the picture from a hot air balloon suspended above Boston Common, and the result, titled "Boston as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It," is truly beautiful. The photo is part of the archive at the venerable
Boston Public Library
, along with other important historical images of the Boston area, and is particularly significant because most of the area visible in the photo was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1872.
James Wallace Black, Balloon View of Boston, 1860.
From the collections of the Boston Public Library, Print Department, Boston Pictorial Archive.
Flash forward 150 years: Aerial imagery is widely available and used in countless professions, from
archaeology
to
conceptual art
. The folks who created Google Earth devised a way to stitch aerial and satellite imagery together into a seamless, searchable map of the world and make it available to anyone with a computer. On top of that basemap of imagery, Google Earth users have contributed to the creation of a 3D, photo-realistic virtual world by using tools like
Google Building Maker
, which makes it easy for anyone to use aerial imagery to model 3D buildings for display in Google Earth.
We at Google owe James Wallace Black a debt of gratitude; without his early experimentation with aerial imagery, Google Earth may never have come to be.
In a happy coincidence, October 13 is also the first anniversary of Building Maker, and we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of a dedicated community of 3D modelers in the 101 cities around the world where Building Maker is available. Here’s a look at two of our top modelers and their creations:
Peter Sih (aka
PeterX
), lives in San Jose, Calif., but has created models all over the world. He tells us: “Modeling with Building Maker you get almost instant gratification. I learn a lot by modeling places I don't know as well as places I know well. Modeling for GE ties together my lifelong fascination with geography, architecture, travel, photography and computers."
Pavilhão Carlos Lopes - Lisbon, Portugal
Grant Firl (aka
Grant F
) lives in Fort Collins, Colo., but concentrates most of his modeling efforts on Albuquerque, N.M. He tells us: “I choose to model with 3D Building Maker for many reasons. Principally, I think that the 3D buildings layer is a very worthwhile tool and I view it as both a privilege and a kind of duty to help fill in content. Secondly, it is both fun and rewarding to create models of physical buildings, especially given the opportunity to share them to Google's users for their use and enjoyment. Thirdly, the 3D buildings layer provides a unique way to preserve and share the hard work and inspiration of actual builders and architects.”
Albuquerque Plaza - Albuquerque, N.M.
If you haven’t tried Building Maker yet, it’s very easy and fun. You pick a building and construct a model of it using aerial photos and simple 3D shapes—both of which we provide. When you're done, we take a look at your model. If it looks right, and if a better model doesn't already exist, we add it to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. You can make a whole building in a few minutes.
Technology has come a long way since James Wallace Black took his photo of Boston, and glass-plate-negative box cameras in hot air balloons have given way to airplanes with mounted camera arrays. But what hasn’t changed is how technology gives us new ways to look at out world. Check out
Google Building Maker
and build the picture of your world.
Posted by Nicole Drobeck, Building Maker Community Advocate
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra returns!
12 Oktober 2010
(Cross-posted from the
YouTube Blog
)
The world’s first online collaborative orchestra is back, and this time a new round of performers will be playing their part onstage at the iconic Sydney Opera House.
It seems like just yesterday that Carnegie Hall was abuzz with a sold-out performance that made
headlines
around
the globe
. Ninety-six musicians arrived in New York City, from over 30 countries, to perform together after uploading an audition video and then being chosen by the YouTube community to be a part of the exciting event. We are thrilled to invite you to audition for the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011
.
In addition to the new locale, this “second act” includes another new element: “Mothership,” a musical work from composer
Mason Bates
. Right now, it’s still missing something: an improvisation provided by you. Take a listen to it here and start planning your contribution.
This time there are two ways to audition, for the classical audition perform the pieces listed on the channel according to instrument. For the opportunity to contribute your own creation, choose the solo improviser—it doesn’t matter if you play trumpet, viola or didgeridoo. If you proceed to the final stages, you will join musicians from around the world in a week-long music summit with Grammy-award-winning conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas
, who returns to guide the orchestra.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 is a collaboration with partners the Sydney Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and many other leading institutions of the classical music world. This event is being made possible by Hyundai.
Posted by Michele Flannery, Music Manager, YouTube
Be the next Gone Google ad
12 Oktober 2010
A little over a year ago, we began the "
Go Google" campaign
with just a single billboard in four U.S. cities. In the past year, we've grown from two to three million businesses and more than 30 million users on Google Apps; through the campaign, thousands have shared their Gone Google stories via
tweets
,
photos
and submissions to our
community map
. We've heard from companies across the country and around the world; from large enterprises such as
Konica Minolta
and leading global food retailer
Ahold
, to small businesses like
Bowery Lane Bicycles
in New York and
Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss
in Oregon, we're excited to hear how Google Apps has helped your business increase productivity, reduce costs and innovate.
As we kick off the next wave of our global campaign this week in airports and train stations in 11 major cities in nine countries around the globe, we want to use this opportunity to invite the millions of companies and schools using Google Apps to tell us why your organization would like to be featured in our next global Gone Google ad campaign. For this contest, we'll pick up to five companies/schools in each of the following regions: the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. The winners will be featured in an upcoming outdoor ad campaign in each region early next year.
To participate, tell us your organization's Gone Google story, and create a "sample ad" using our template:
We encourage you to be creative and have fun with your ad! (You may want to check out some of our previous ads for some
inspiration
.) Once you create your ad, be sure to publish and share it with us. (Bonus points for
tweeting it
with the #gonegoogle hashtag.) For complete
rules
and details, visit our
contest site
. We can't wait to see your ads, and look forwarding to putting your organization's name in lights!
And if you are still thinking about going Google, we encourage you to check out the
Go Google cloud calculator
to learn more about the benefits of switching to Google Apps.
Posted by Vivian Leung, Google Apps Team
App Tuesday welcomes apps from around the world to the Google Apps Marketplace
12 Oktober 2010
Since our Google Apps Marketplace has been around, we’ve been working hard to bring you apps from all around the world. This App Tuesday, four apps launching in the Apps Marketplace are from companies that are not solely in the United States.
Brightpearl
joins us from the U.K.,
SprinxCRM
is headquartered in the Czech Republic, and
Clio
calls Canada home. And even though
Producteev
is based out of New York, their founders are all from France. These apps join other international apps in our Marketplace, including apps from Australia, Bulgaria, Japan, Germany and 17 other countries.
We’re also excited to welcome our second education-focused app,
PlanbookEdu
, as well as our first legal-focused app, Clio. The apps launching this App Tuesday sport a number of advanced integrations that will make your business run much more smoothly. For example, Producteev, offers a
Gmail contextual gadget
that allows users to use its features right from the Gmail inbox.
Check out the
Google Enterprise Blog
for more information or go shop the
Google Apps Marketplace
.
Posted by Harrison Shih, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Apps Marketplace Team
The wind cries transmission
11 Oktober 2010
We just signed an agreement to invest in the development of a backbone transmission project off the Mid-Atlantic coast that offers a solid financial return while helping to accelerate offshore wind development—so it’s both good business and good for the environment. The new project can enable the creation of thousands of jobs, improve consumer access to clean energy sources and increase the reliability of the Mid-Atlantic region's existing power grid.
When built out, the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) backbone will stretch 350 miles off the coast from New Jersey to Virginia and will be able to connect 6,000MW of offshore wind turbines. That’s equivalent to 60% of the wind energy that was installed in the entire country last year and enough to serve approximately 1.9 million households.
The AWC backbone will be built around offshore power hubs that will collect the power from multiple offshore wind farms and deliver it efficiently via sub-sea cables to the strongest, highest capacity parts of the land-based transmission system. This system will act as a superhighway for clean energy. By putting strong, secure transmission in place, the project removes a major barrier to scaling up offshore wind, an industry that despite its potential, only had its
first federal lease signed last week
and still has no operating projects in the U.S.
Why offshore wind and why the Mid-Atlantic? Many coastal areas in the United States have large population centers on an overstretched grid but limited access to a high-quality land-based wind resource. These coastal states can take advantage of their most promising renewable resource by using larger wind farms with larger turbines that can take advantage of stronger and steadier winds offshore.
The Mid-Atlantic region is ideally suited for offshore wind. It offers more than 60,000 MW of offshore wind potential in relatively shallow waters that extend miles out to sea. These shallow waters make it easier to install turbines 10-15 miles offshore, meaning wind projects can take advantage of stronger winds and are virtually out-of-sight from land. With few other renewable energy options ideally suited for the Atlantic coast, the AWC backbone helps states meet their
renewable energy goals and standards
(PDF) by enabling a local offshore wind industry to deploy thousands of megawatts of clean, cost-effective wind energy.
The AWC backbone is critical to more rapidly scaling up offshore wind because without it, offshore wind developers would be forced to build individual radial transmission lines from each offshore wind project to the shore, requiring additional time consuming permitting and environmental studies and making balancing the grid more difficult. As those in the Northeast remember from the
2003 blackout
, transmission is severely overstretched on the east coast. The AWC project relieves grid congestion in one of two
National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors
which were deemed to have significant network congestion and need speedy creation of transmission capacity.
The AWC project is led by independent transmission company
Trans-Elect
and is financed by Google,
Good Energies
and
Marubeni Corporation
. We are investing 37.5% of the equity in this initial development stage, with the goal of obtaining all the necessary approvals to finance and begin constructing the line. Although the development stage requires only a small part of the total estimated project budget, it represents a critical stage for the project.
We believe in investing in projects that make good business sense and further the development of renewable energy. We’re willing to take calculated risks on early stage ideas and projects that can have dramatic impacts while offering attractive returns. This willingness to be ahead of the industry and invest in large scale innovative projects is core to our success as a company.
From the Great Plains to the waters off the coast of Northern Europe, windmills churn out clean power that lights our homes and powers our economies. We are pleased to support this investment that will ultimately enable the Mid Atlantic to benefit from the tremendous wind resource off its coast.
Posted by Rick Needham, Green Business Operations Director
What we’re driving at
9 Oktober 2010
Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use.
So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.
Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.
To develop this technology, we gathered some of the very best engineers from the DARPA Challenges, a series of autonomous vehicle races organized by the U.S. Government. Chris Urmson was the technical team leader of the CMU team that won the 2007 Urban Challenge. Mike Montemerlo was the software lead for the Stanford team that won the 2005 Grand Challenge. Also on the team is Anthony Levandowski, who built the world’s first autonomous motorcycle that participated in a DARPA Grand Challenge, and who also built a modified Prius that delivered pizza without a person inside. The work of these and other engineers on the team is on display in the National Museum of American History.
Safety has been our first priority in this project. Our cars are never unmanned. We always have a trained safety driver behind the wheel who can take over as easily as one disengages cruise control. And we also have a trained software operator in the passenger seat to monitor the software. Any test begins by sending out a driver in a conventionally driven car to map the route and road conditions. By mapping features like lane markers and traffic signs, the software in the car becomes familiar with the environment and its characteristics in advance. And we’ve briefed local police on our work.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half. We’re also confident that self-driving cars will transform car sharing, significantly reducing car usage, as well as help create the new “highway trains of tomorrow." These highway trains should cut energy consumption while also increasing the number of people that can be transported on our major roads. In terms of time efficiency, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that people spend on average 52 minutes each working day commuting. Imagine being able to spend that time more productively.
We’ve always been optimistic about technology’s ability to advance society, which is why we have pushed so hard to improve the capabilities of self-driving cars beyond where they are today. While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science. And that future is very exciting.
Posted by Sebastian Thrun, Distinguished Software Engineer
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