We've moved!
Check out News from Google
for all the latest updates.
Official Blog
Insights from Googlers into our products, technology, and the Google culture
Helping Haiti respond to the earthquake
January 14, 2010
(Cross-posted on the
Google.org blog
)
These recent satellite images of Port-au-Prince, Haiti before and after Tuesday's earthquake dramatically show the devastation caused by magnitude 7.0 trembler. Here are before-and-after screenshots of the National Palace and an area of Port-au-Prince:
Click to see full-size
In order to help the people of Haiti respond to this catastrophe, Google is donating $1 million to organizations on the ground that are rescuing those still trapped and providing clean water, food, medical care, shelter and support to those affected. We'd like to make it easy for anyone moved by the tragedy to respond as well, so we've included a link on our homepage to
information, resources and ways you can help
, including information on how to donate to organizations including:
Direct Relief
,
Yele Haiti
,
Partners in Health
,
Red Cross
,
World Food Program
,
Mercy Corps
,
Save the Children
,
Lambi Fund
,
Doctors Without Borders
,
The International Rescue Committee
.
You can also use the below buttons to donate to
UNICEF
or
CARE
.
Donate to CARE
$
Donate to UNICEF
$
In addition, Map Maker data has been made available to U.N. organizations and the team is working with the
Map Your World Community
to encourage Map Maker users with on the ground knowledge to
help update the map of Haiti
with disaster response data. We've received requests from relief organizations and our users to publish recent satellite imagery of the country. One of our imagery partners, GeoEye, has provided us with
post-earthquake imagery
from Haiti. You can check our
Lat Long blog
for further updates.
We've also reached out to the YouTube community for help. A Spotlight on the
homepage
drives traffic to
videos
from
Oxfam
and the
American Red Cross
, where you can make donations to relief efforts. We're also keeping a running playlist of the video footage coming out of Haiti on
Citizentube
; you can find a broad collection of citizen reports, news wire clips and
personal stories
of some of the victims.
Update
at 1:11
: Details regarding YouTube involvement corrected.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller and Prem Ramaswami for the Google Crisis Response Team
A new approach to China
January 12, 2010
Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.
First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.
Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.
Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.
We have already used information gained from this attack to make infrastructure and architectural improvements that enhance security for Google and for our users. In terms of individual users, we would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords online. You can read more
here
about our cyber-security recommendations. People wanting to learn more about these kinds of attacks can read this
Report to Congress
(PDF)
by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see p. 163-), as well as a related
analysis
(PDF)
prepared for the Commission,
Nart Villeneuve's blog
and
this
presentation on the GhostNet spying incident.
We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech. In the last two decades, China's economic reform programs and its citizens' entrepreneurial flair have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty. Indeed, this great nation is at the heart of much economic progress and development in the world today.
We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time
we made clear
that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.
The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.
Update:
Added a link to another referenced report in paragraph 5.
Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer
Google Flu Trends in 121 U.S. cities
January 12, 2010
In contrast to the unusually early spike of flu activity we saw this October,
Google Flu Trends
is currently showing a low level of activity in the United States. Since the strain of influenza that is active (H1N1) is novel, no one knows exactly what will happen next. However, the CDC is
warning
that one possibility is a second spike of flu activity, which is
what occured in 1957
when another novel strain of influenza spread in the United States.
We've been chatting with public health officials about new ways we can help people understand the spread of flu during this unusual time and today we're excited to bring city level flu estimates to
121 cities in the United States
.
By tracking the popularity of certain Google search queries, we're able to estimate the level of flu in near real-time. Google Flu Trends is updated daily and may provide early detection of flu activity, since traditional flu surveillance systems often take days or weeks to collect and release data. These city level estimates are "experimental," meaning they haven't been validated against official data. However, the estimates are made in a similar manner to our U.S. national estimates, which have been validated. Check out our
YouTube video
for a quick introduction to this system.
We're pleased to be announcing this addition to Google Flu Trends during
National Influenza Vaccination Week
. If you're looking for a flu vaccine location near you, please visit th
e flu shot finder
.
Posted by Matt Mohebbi, Software Engineer
Upload your files and access them anywhere with Google Docs
January 12, 2010
Over the next few weeks, we’re rolling out the ability to upload all file types to the cloud through Google Docs, giving you one place where you can upload and access your key files online. Because Google Docs now supports files up to 250 MB in size, which is larger than the attachment limit on most email applications, you’ll be able to backup large graphics files, RAW photos, ZIP archives and much more to the cloud. More importantly, instead of carrying a USB drive, you can now use Google Docs as a more convenient option for accessing your files on different computers.
This feature can also help you work with teams to organize and collaborate on information online. For example, an architect can share large schematic files with her construction firm, while a P.T.A. member can share large graphic files for posters with other members. You can even add these files to the same
shared project folder
your team has already been using to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets.
In addition to uploading any file into Google Docs, our
Google Apps Premier Edition
customers will be able to seamlessly upload many files at once and sync them with their desktop in real time using third party applications. You can read more about how the ability to upload any file will help businesses on the
Google Enterprise blog
.
This feature will be enabled for your account over the next couple of weeks — look for the bubble notification when you sign in to Google Docs. For more information, check out our post on the
Google Docs blog
.
Posted by Vijay Bangaru, Product Manager, Google Docs
Google I/O 2010: Now open for registration
January 12, 2010
(Cross-posted with the
Google Code Blog
)
I'm excited to announce that registration for Google I/O is now open at
code.google.com/io
. Our third annual developer conference will return to Moscone West in San Francisco on May 19-20, 2010. We expect thousands of web, mobile and enterprise developers to be in attendance.
I/O 2010 will be focused on building the next generation of applications in the cloud and will feature the latest on Google products and technologies like Android, Google Chrome, App Engine, Google Web Toolkit, Google APIs and more. Members of our engineering teams and other web development experts will lead more than 80 technical sessions. We'll also bring back the
Developer Sandbox
, which we introduced at I/O 2009, where developers from more than 100 companies will be on hand to demo their apps, answer questions and exchange ideas.
We'll be regularly adding more sessions, speakers and companies on the
event website
, and today we're happy to give you a preview of what's to come.
Over half of all sessions
are already listed, covering a range of products and technologies, as well as
speaker bios
. We've also included a short list of companies that will be participating in the
Developer Sandbox
. For the latest I/O updates,
follow us (@googleio) on Twitter
.
Today's registration opens with an early bird rate of $400, which applies through April 16 ($500 after April 16). Faculty and students can register at the discounted Academia rate of $100 (this discounted rate is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis).
Last year's I/O
sold out before the start of the conference, so we encourage you to sign up in advance.
Google I/O
May 19-20, 2010
Moscone West, San Francisco
To learn more and sign up, visit
code.google.com/io
.
We hope to see you in May!
Posted by David Glazer, Engineering Director
This week in search 1/8/10
January 8, 2010
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
.
In honor of the first full week of the new year, it seems the perfect opportunity to take a look back at 2009. Just as with our year-end Zeitgeist in early December, it's always fascinating to glimpse the collective consciousness of Google users. Beyond search queries rising for Michael Jackson, swine flu, Twitter and Lady Gaga, what else did Google searches reveal last year?
Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than one query per day:
7 out of 10
Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than 10 queries per day:
1 out of 7
Fraction of Google queries, duplicates excluded, never seen before: More than 1/3
Fraction of Google queries, duplicates included, never seen before: More than 1/5
Country with the greatest increase in Google web search traffic in 2009 vs. 2008: Indonesia*
Approximate percentage of Internet users in Indonesia: 11.1%*
Average amount of time it takes a user to finish entering a query: 9 seconds
Average amount of time it takes Google to answer a query: Less than 1/4 second
Number of search quality improvements made by Google in 2009: 540, ~1.5 each day
Proportion of Google result pages that show a map in search results: 1 in 13
Average increase in driving distance on weekends vs. weekdays on Google Maps: 11km
Median distance from a user's location to ice skating rinks found on Google Maps: 30km
Median distance from a user's location to ski resorts found on Google Maps: 300km
*
World Bank, World Development Indicators
Unless otherwise noted, most of these statistics are based on our U.S. weekday traffic. We hope you enjoyed this week — and year — in search, and we're looking forward to an exciting 2010!
Posted by the Google Search Team
Google Apps highlights – 1/8/2010
January 8, 2010
This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label "
Google Apps highlights
" and subscribe to the series. - E
d.
Over the holidays, clever elves left us some nice improvements to Google Apps for individuals, companies and schools using our web-based services.
Co-editor presence in presentations
When you're co-editing in real-time, knowing where collaborators are making changes helps you avoid stepping on each other's toes. We already have visual indicators for co-editor presence in documents and spreadsheets, and
now presentations sports this feature
, too. You can see which slides others are working on, and if you're editing the same slide together, colored indicators make it clear which text box, shape or other element they're modifying.
Easier duplicate contact merging
Over time, as friends and coworkers send you messages from different email addresses, your Gmail contact list can accumulate duplicate contacts. We recently made it easier to
find and merge
these duplicates. To get started, just just click the 'Find duplicates' button in the contact manager. Cleaning up your contact list is especially helpful if you
sync your Gmail contacts with your phone
.
Google Apps on Nexus One
Speaking of mobile phones, the new
Nexus One
Android device is a great way to take Google Apps with you everywhere. Nexus One not only syncs with multiple Gmail accounts, but it also syncs your contacts, with Google Calendar and with Picasa Web Albums. Nexus One lets you instant message using Google Talk and access voicemail — including handy message transcriptions — with the Google Voice app.
Automatic page translation in Google Sites
Building the same website in multiple languages is lots of work, even if you're multi-lingual. With
automatic translation in Google Sites
, sharing information with people who don't speak your language is much easier. Just create your site in your native language, and visitors can instantly translate your site into any one of 51 languages that they're more familiar with.
Who's gone Google?
MWV is famous the world 'round among students and parents for Five Star notebooks and Trapper Keepers, but they make a wide array of other
products and packaging
that you probably see every day. We're thrilled that they've migrated over 12,000 employees to Google Apps, unifying their globally distributed workforce on a single email solution to address the complexity and frustrations of running multiple instances of Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. You can
find more on MWV's story
on the Google Enterprise Blog.
We hope these updates help you get even more from Google Apps. For details and the latest news in this area, check out the
Google Apps Blog
.
Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager
Labels
Africa
19
Android
58
April 1
4
Asia
39
Europe
46
Latin America
18
accessibility
41
acquisition
26
ads
131
apps
418
books + book search
48
commerce
12
computing history
7
crisis response
33
culture
12
developers
120
diversity
35
doodles
68
education and research
144
entrepreneurs at Google
14
faster web
16
free expression
61
google.org
73
googleplus
50
googlers and culture
202
green
102
maps and earth
194
mobile
124
online safety
19
open source
19
photos
39
policy and issues
139
politics
71
privacy
66
recruiting and hiring
32
scholarships
31
search
505
search quality
24
search trends
118
security
36
small business
31
user experience and usability
41
youtube and video
140
Archive
2016
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2006
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2005
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2004
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Feed
Google
on
Follow @google
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
