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Insights from Googlers into our products, technology, and the Google culture
Teaming up with Adobe and the Open Screen Project
October 4, 2009
At Google, we've been working closely with the folks at Adobe for years. Some of our most exciting projects such as YouTube, Android,
Google Site Search
, Google Chrome and even
Google web search
require close integration with Adobe's technologies. Our engineering teams regularly exchange ideas, tips and bugs as we build upon each others' efforts.
Along these lines, we're excited to be
joining
Adobe's
Open Screen Project
, an initiative established a year and a half ago to help developers more easily design content for the web across multiple screens using the Flash Platform. We've always believed that open platforms lead to greater innovation on the web and we see participating in the Open Screen Project as another step in that direction. We're excited to continue working with the teams at Adobe on pushing the web forward and to see where the next generation of web development will take us.
Posted by Bill Coughran, Senior Vice President of Engineering
Helping the victims of Tropical Storm Ketsana
October 2, 2009
Last weekend, Tropical Storm Ketsana (local name "Ondoy") pounded Manila and nearby areas of the Philippines with a month's worth of rain in just a few hours, resulting in floods that covered 80% of the city with as much as 20 feet of water. The typhoon left in its wake nearly 300 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
We're very saddened by the losses the Filipino people have sustained during this calamity. To help you stay up to date on the disaster and contribute to the relief efforts, we've put up a
Help for Typhoon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines page
that contains the latest news from local media outlets, lists of verified donation sites and emergency hotlines, and a volunteer-maintained map of persons needing rescue.
Filipinos have been
posting videos of the flooding and its aftermath
on YouTube. You can also visualize the overflows along main rivers and bays in Google Earth with
this kmz file
.
If you're familiar with Google Maps and would like to get involved in the effort to map
missing persons
,
relief centers
and
road conditions
, you can email the volunteer team at typhoonondoy@googlegroups.com. We will continue to update the page with the latest information and imagery, and keep your eye on the
Lat Long blog
for updates about disaster relief efforts.
Posted by Therese Lim, Google Southeast Asia Team
This week in search 10/2/09
October 2, 2009
This is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs on Fridays. Look for the label "This week in search" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.
At Google, we're completely committed to the needs of our users. This is one reason we make constant changes to the
user experience
— so you have a better search experience. Some of the changes are larger features like our
Search Options
; some are small visual refinements, like our
larger search box
. Starting today, we'll post a story each Friday that showcases some of the user experience updates we've made to our search in the past week, complete with example searches, and how and where to see the improvements. This way, loyal search aficionados can see and experiment with all of updates in one easy-to-access place.
Hot Trends highlighted on results page
Have you ever wondered how many people query [tsunami] or [samoa] right after they read about it in the news, or are you the only one looking? For years,
Google Trends
has let you search an aggregation of what other people are searching for. Now we're taking that concept to the results page and showcasing fast-rising terms with a graph at the bottom of the page. To see it, try one of these searches and scroll to the bottom:
Example search: [
olympic bid
]
The queries here are rather fleeting by nature — one minute they're hot; the next, cold. (Apologies if [olympic bid] no longer shows this off.) The easiest way to be sure to see this feature is try one of the searches from our
Hot Trends
page. You'll see the hot trend featured at the bottom of the search results page, highlighted with a graph.
New tools in Search Options
We've just added a host of new tools in our Search Options panel. To view the Search Options, do a search, find "Web" in the top blue bar, and click on the "+ Search Options" link to the right of it. A navigation bar on the left side of the screen will appear. We launched Search Options back in May, but this week we're adding a
set of new and exciting features
. Among them:
Better way to shop and research products
Have you ever found that your search sometimes feels too commercial when you're just starting to think of buying? Or maybe you've experienced the opposite, where you can't find an online store to buy something despite your best attempts. We've just introduced a way for you to control the number of stores you see in your results.
Example search: [
flip camera
]
Click on the link in Search Options that says "Fewer shopping sites" and you'll see mostly reviews and technical specifications. When you're ready to buy, click on the link in Search Options that says "More shopping sites." You'll see mostly stores listed, and the results even note the prices and specific products right on that page.
Learning from history
If you use personalized search and web history, it's now easier for you to see which of the search results you have visited already and which you haven't.
Example search: [
youtube
]
With the Search Options panel open and while you're signed in to Google (look for your user name in the upper righthand corner), click on the "Visited Pages" tool. Your results will then show only pages you've visited that contain the term 'YouTube.' Now, click on the tool "Not yet visited" where you will see only pages you haven't yet seen that contain 'YouTube.'
Keeping up with time
The Search Options panel has always helped users search over time, but now there are two new features that help you do this even more flexibly: "Past hour" and "Specific date range."
Example search: [
obama
]
Click on the "Past hour" link and you'll see all the recent news and web pages published in the past hour on [obama].
Example search: [
michael jordan
]
Now click on "Specific date range" and try the period surrounding Jordan's last championship (5/1/98 through 7/31/98), and you'll see all the press from the Chicago Bulls' win and various articles covering him that summer.
Personalized Suggest now on Mobile
Finally, here's a fun tidbit that bridges web search on the desktop to web search on mobile. New this week, Google Suggest (the suggested queries that appear below the search box as you type) on your mobile phone is personalized, based on searches from your desktop. This feature only applies when you are signed in to your Google account, and only for searches done while you are signed in. We think this small feature is significant because it enables you to easily migrate your search tasks from the desktop to your phone. It's also one of the first instances in which your desktop search usage can improve your mobile search experience, and vice versa.
Hope you enjoyed this week's features. Stay tuned for what's next!
Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience
Searching for the next Olympics host city
October 1, 2009
Tomorrow morning, the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) will decide the host for the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games. Competing for the honor are four bid cities: Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.
In past years, in addition to seeing a surge in searches during the Games, we typically see a significant swell in searches leading up to the announcement about which will be the next IOC host city. Just two years ago, people from across the world
turned to Google
to learn more about Sochi, Russia — the newly announced host of the 2014 winter games. Similar patterns
emerged
across the United Kingdom as citizens searched to learn more about the London 2012 bid.
At Google we've always shared the world's interest in the Olympics, and have expressed that interest through dozens of Google doodles both while the games are occurring (last August, the Beijing Games inspired
many doodles
) as well as celebrating the naming of host cities (
Sochi in 2007
). Also, last summer the world followed along at home using our Beijing 2008 Summer Games
medal tracker
on their iGoogle page or through the Olympic Games onebox on Google.com.
As decision day for 2016 approaches, we have Googlers in our offices in Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo (and in Sao Paulo cheering on Rio) who are watching and cheering on their cities along with the rest of the world. With the decision tomorrow, we thought it would be interesting to see what people from the host cities and countries are searching for. We've shared some of the coolest tidbits below.
Searches from around the globe for [2016] have reached an
all-time high
. Search volume from Spain dwarfs Brazil, the United States and Japan:
In Chicago, searchers are
looking more for info on Rio's bid
than Madrid's or Tokyo's, possibly indicating that Chicago residents view Rio's bid as the most competitive:
Across Tokyo, people are
searching more frequently
for information about the Olympics and their city's chances of landing the 2016 games:
Searches translate to [olympics] and [olympics tokyo], in blue and red, respectively
Although Oprah is widely viewed as the most popular full-time Chicago resident in the world, Chicagoans today are
searching more
for the Olympics than their favorite talk show host:
In Brazil,
searches
for [jogos olimpicos] (olympic games) have risen 650% over the course of the year. And when looking at Brazilians' interest in [rio 2016] as a search term,
the top related search
was for [roda rio] (a 36-meter tall ferris wheel, capable of holding 144 passengers with a gondola for the disabled). The ferris wheel, located on Copacabana, was completed in January of this year as part of the city's Olympic bid campaign.
In Spain, search volume for [juegos olímpicos] (olympic games) has
more than doubled
in the last month alone.
On Google Trends, [2016 olympic decision] has been
steadily moving up all day
, with the largest volume of searches coming from Chicago and Atlanta:
Ultimately, it comes down to the votes of the
106 IOC members
. Around the world, hundreds of Googlers, along with many millions of Google users, eagerly await their decision. Whichever city wins, we can't wait for the Games to begin.
Posted by Jim Lecinski, Managing Director, U.S. Sales (and proud Chicagoan)
Now in Google Toolbar for Firefox: advanced in-page translation
October 1, 2009
Last week was a big one for Google Toolbar: we released the new
Google Toolbar with Sidewiki
for Internet Explorer and Firefox allowing you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage. But there's more: with the new version of Google Toolbar, our
advanced in-page translation
also became available for Firefox, making it easy to read a webpage in another language with the click of a button.
The new version of Google Toolbar for Firefox has several other new features . You can find (almost) everything about the toolbar in our
help center
so we'll just mention two new things. As in Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, we're now experimenting with displaying high-quality website suggestions and sponsored links as you type your query. Clicking on these will take you directly to the website (try typing "cnn" in the toolbar to see an example).
Also, Firefox version 3.5 introduced
Private Browsing mode
in which in which Firefox will stop recording your browsing history. The new version of Toolbar in Firefox will follow suit and not record your
searchbox history
while in Private Browsing mode. It will also turn off PageRank, Web History and Sidewiki. This means that you can confidently surf in private when you prefer. Note that Firefox's Private Browsing mode does not mean complete anonymity; we highly recommend reading
Mozilla's support page
before using Private Browsing mode.
We continue to work on new features to improve your web experience.
Download the latest version of Google Toolbar
and try out these new features.
Posted by Christian Stefansen, Product Manager, Toolbar Team
Celebrating National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2009
October 1, 2009
Internet security and online safety are topics that leave many people scratching their heads. While many companies and organizations work to make the Internet a safer place, it can be difficult to know what to do as an Internet user beyond creating numerous passwords for your various online accounts and steering clear of that email from a "long lost relative" who wants you to immediately wire thousands of dollars to him. Here's the good news: even though security can become quite technical and complicated, there are simple steps you can take that can make a big difference in helping to keep your information safe.
This month, Google joins the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), governmental agencies, corporations, schools and non-profit organizations in recognizing
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
. Throughout October, we'll be raising awareness of important Internet security and safety issues that will teach you how to be an informed web user. Keep an eye on our various
product blogs
, as we'll be sharing tips that are tailored to users of Google products and services. To kick off the series, visit our newly created
Google Cyber Security Awareness Channel
on YouTube to watch a variety of online safety videos created by individuals and groups with an interest in cyber security.
The web is a great platform for all kinds of things — finding information, interacting with others and even running your business. Practicing good cyber security habits can help keep it that way. Join us this month by brushing up on your cyber security awareness and sharing the tips you like with others.
Update on 10/22/2009
: We're excited to hear that the U.S. House of Representatives today
unanimously passed a resolution
formally supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2009. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke’s resolution signals the government's willingness and commitment to help better protect the nation's online and information security.
Posted by Eric Davis, Head of Anti-Malvertising
Refine your search results with new Search Options
October 1, 2009
In May, we launched
Search Options
, a side panel that lets you filter, refine and generate different views of your search results. We've received lots of positive feedback, and we're seeing more and more people using Search Options every day.
Today, we're announcing nine new Search Options tools: past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news. These features have been rolling out gradually and will be available globally in English by the end of the day. You can try them yourself by searching Google and clicking "Show options" in the blue bar just under the logo.
Past hour
and
Specific date range
: With these tools you can choose to see only the most recent results in our index, or see results from a specific time period. This can be particularly helpful when you're looking for the freshest information, or if you have some idea of when the information you're looking for may have been published to the web.
Click on the image for a larger version
More shopping sites
and
Fewer shopping sites
: Now you can choose "More shopping sites" to show additional commercial pages and display prices from those pages right in the search results. If you're doing product research and are not quite ready to make a purchase, you can choose to see "Fewer shopping sites" to filter out many of the commercial sites.
Visited pages
and
Not yet visited
: Rediscover pages you've visited before by clicking "Visited pages," or filter out the websites you've seen by clicking "Not yet visited." This can be particularly helpful when you're researching something you've already explored and you want to return right where you left off. To use this option you'll need to be signed in to your Google Account and have
Web History
enabled.
Books, Blogs
and
News
: Click on these filters to see results only from these sources. Putting these filters together, along with videos, forums, and reviews, allows you to quickly switch between different source types right on the search results page.
We hope you get a chance to try out these powerful new ways to refine your search results. Please visit our
help center
to learn more about Search Options and leave us feedback. And stay tuned for more!
Posted by Nundu Janakiram, Product Manager, and Patrick Riley, Software Engineer
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