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Coming soon: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Grand Finale live
March 17, 2011
(Cross-posted from the
YouTube Blog
)
What began with
auditions from around the world
uploaded to YouTube, millions of video views, and hours of rehearsals, finally comes to life this Sunday, March 20. It has been an extraordinary experience for the 101 winning musicians of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and in just a couple of days their collaborative experience will come to life at Sydney Opera House.
Here’s a preview of what’s to come:
The week-long YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 festival includes
musical collaboration
between orchestra members and
world-class mentors
,
outdoor performances
, local
Aussie experiences
, ensemble concerts and more. In just a few days, the creativity and technology that have powered this journey will literally light up Sydney Opera House—with animated visuals on the interior and exterior projections on the iconic sails, all synchronised to the music of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011’s performance.
You’re invited to experience this wonderful event, whether you’re inside Sydney Opera House, out around Sydney Harbour, or watching from your computer elsewhere in the world. The Grand Finale will be live-streamed on
youtube.com/symphony
beginning at 8:00pm
Australian Eastern Standard time
, and rebroadcast until the concert performance is uploaded in full, so tune in on Sunday, March 20.
Posted by Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia
More resources for those affected by the Japan earthquake and tsunami
March 17, 2011
(Cross-posted from the
Google.org Blog
)
Like the rest of the world, we’ve been transfixed by the images and news coming out of the northeastern part of Japan over the past six days. Our hearts go out to those who have been affected by this devastation and we’re deeply grateful to those who are working to keep us safe. In the meantime, Googlers in Japan and elsewhere around the world have been working around the clock to try and help improve the flow of information. Here are some of the recent developments we’ve been working on:
Centralized information
Our
Crisis Response page
—now in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean—organizes all of Google’s efforts, with links to valuable resources such as emergency hotlines, Person Finder, blackout schedules, maps and links to relief organizations receiving donations.
Ninety-three percent
of mobile users in Japan don’t have top-of-the-line smartphones, so we’ve recently
optimized this Crisis Response page
to make it more readable for a wider range of devices. You can also access that version by scanning this QR code:
Person Finder
Within the first two hours of the earthquake, we launched
Person Finder
so people can enter the names of those they’re looking for or have found. You can now also search by
entering mobile phone numbers
to see if they match any listings. And as with the Crisis Response page, Person Finder has also been
optimized for those without smartphones
. There are currently more than 250,000 records in the database (including names shared with us by NHK, the national broadcaster in Japan) and we’ve heard
several reports
of people who have found their loved ones safe.
To help the many people in shelters get word of their whereabouts to loved ones, we’re also asking people in shelters to take photos of the handwritten lists of names of current residents and
email them to us
. Those photos are automatically uploaded to a public
Picasa Web Album
. We use scanning technology to help us manually add these names to Person Finder; but it’s a big job that can’t be done automatically by computers alone, so
we welcome volunteers
with Japanese language skills who want to help out.
Satellite images
We’re also working with our satellite partners GeoEye and DigitalGlobe to provide frequent updates to our imagery of the hardest-hit areas to first responders as well as the general public. You can view this imagery in this
Google Earth KML
, browse it
online through Google Maps
or look through our
Picasa album
of before-and-after images of such places as
Minamisanriku
and
Kesennuma
.
Mapping
You can follow developments on the ground by looking at several maps that track changing developments. We’ve
mapped rolling blackouts
for areas that are affected by power outages. With data given to us by Honda, you can now see which roads have been recently passable on
this map
or this user-made
Google Earth mashup
with new satellite imagery. We’re also constantly updating a master map (in
Japanese
and
English
) with other data such as epicenter locations and evacuation shelters. And with information from the newspaper Mainichi, we’ve published a
partial list of shelters
.
Translation
Use
Google Translate
for Japanese and 56 other languages. You can paste in any text, or enter the address of any web page for automatic translation. We also just released an early experimental version of
Google Translate for Android
to help non-Japanese speakers in affected areas.
Donations
Visit our
Crisis Response resource page
to find opportunities to donate. When you donate to Japan relief efforts through Google Checkout, we absorb processing fees—so 100% of your money goes to the organizations. Google has also donated $250,000 to help the people of Japan recover.
To keep up with the latest developments on our efforts in Japan, follow
@googlejapan
(tweets are mostly in Japanese) or
@earthoutreach
(for our mapping and imagery efforts) on Twitter.
Posted by Nobu Makida, Product Manager, on behalf of the Google Japan and international Crisis Response teams
You’re changing the world. We want to help.
March 16, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Google for Nonprofits Blog
and
Public Policy Blog
)
One of the greatest things about my job is hearing how terrific organizations are using technology to help their cause. Today I've had a chance to talk with Direct Relief International
who raised more than $1 million
using Google AdWords, Samasource
who saved tens of thousands of dollars
using Google Apps and the Natural Resource Defense Council
who earned 100,000 views
from one video on their YouTube channel with no paid advertising. Listening to these stories and several like them, we realized that we had an opportunity to greatly increase the number of nonprofits we could assist. With today’s launch of the
Google for Nonprofits
program, which provides exclusive
product offerings
and enhanced online resources, we’ll be able to help U.S.-based nonprofits reach more donors, improve operations and raise awareness for their cause.
If you work for a nonprofit, this program provides you with several new benefits. Instead of applying to each Google product individually, you can sign up through a
one-stop shop application process
. If approved, you can access our suite of product offerings designed for nonprofits: up to $10,000 a month in advertising on
Google AdWords
to reach more donors, free or discounted
Google Apps
to cut IT costs and operate more efficiently, and premium features for
YouTube
and
our mapping technologies
to raise awareness of your cause. We’ve also developed other online resources such as
educational videos
,
case studies
and better ways for you
to connect
with other nonprofits.
Over time, we’ve learned that many nonprofits require hands-on assistance to optimize the use of Google tools. So we’re also introducing the
Google for Nonprofits Marketplace
, which connects nonprofits with professional service providers who have agreed to offer their services for a free or discounted rate. These firms are already certified partners from existing Google marketplaces—like
AdWords Authorized Resellers
,
Analytics Certified Partners
,
Google Apps Marketplace
and the
Google Earth Outreach Developer Marketplace
.
We’re inspired and humbled by the amazing ways
nonprofits make positive changes
to our world and look forward to supporting their work. If you work for a nonprofit,
apply today
to see how Google can help your organization grow and expand your impact.
Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives
Ooh la la—ask Gaga a question!
March 16, 2011
(Cross-posted from the
YouTube Blog
)
Attention little monsters! Channel your inner Oprah, because now is your chance to
ask Lady Gaga
everything you’ve always wanted to know. What’s life like on tour? What’s her favorite YouTube video? Was the meat dress really made of meat?
In Gaga’s own words:
You have until midnight PT on March 18 to submit a video or text question, so just head to
Gaga's channel
to submit your query or vote on the ones you want us to ask. You can also tweet your question with the hashtag #GoogleGoesGaga. We’ll share the interview with you shortly after it’s uploaded to YouTube.
So,
what are you waiting for
?
Posted by Andrew Schulte, Associate Product Marketing Manager
Great documents come from great discussions
March 16, 2011
(Cross posted on the
Google Enterprise Blog
)
The discussion about a document is as important as the document itself, but until now, there hasn’t been a great medium for this discussion to happen. Creating comments in documents is a start—but comments can be overwhelming and at times feel one-sided with no resolution.
So today we’re introducing a better way to provide document feedback—discussions in Google Docs. With this feature, we want to encourage rapid and seamless discussions, help the right people participate, as well as integrate discussions with email in an intuitive way. For a look into the way discussions work in Google Docs, watch our video:
Now you can easily tell who made a comment and when—with timestamps and profile pictures—and you can keep track of the conversation with email notifications and reply to comments directly from your email. Your discussions will be better and so will your documents. And all of this is possible because Google Docs lives in the cloud.
Discussions is rolling out now to everyone with personal Google Accounts as well as to Google Apps customers on the
Rapid Release track
.
You can read more about the new features on our
Google Docs blog
.
Posted by Scott Johnston, Group Product Manager, Google Docs
Supporting accessibility at CSUN
March 15, 2011
This week we’ll be at the 26th annual
CSUN International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference
to talk with users and accessibility experts about how to make our products more accessible to people with disabilities. We’ll also give a
talk
on the current state of accessibility for our products.
We’ve been working in this space for a while, launching features such as
captions
on YouTube, applications such as
WalkyTalky
and
Intersection Explorer
on Android (so people can use Google Maps eyes-free) and building easy-to-navigate, accessible
Google search
pages to work smoothly with adaptive technologies.
We have more to do. At CSUN 2011, we’re looking forward to more insights about how to make Android, Chrome and Google Apps better enabled for people who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers. If you’re attending and are interested in participating in our focus groups there, please fill out our
survey
by 9pm PST today, Tuesday, March 15.
To see an overview of the accessibility features of our products today, visit
google.com/accessibility
. We're launching an updated version of this site later today to make it easier for visitors to find information on using our products, and for developers and publishers to learn how to develop accessible products on our platforms. While you’re there, please give us
feedback
on what we can do better to make our products more accessible.
Posted by Naomi Black, Engineering Program Manager for Accessibility
Baseline to baseline, we’ve got the basketball games covered
March 14, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
LatLong
and
Student
blogs)
Do you hear the dribble on the court and the chanting of the fans? Following an action-packed week of
buzzer beaters
, the 2011 NCAA® Championship here in the U.S. promises to be as exciting as ever.
As a college hoops fan, I often wish I could experience the games sitting in the arenas—and I’m sure I’m not alone. This year, our
college basketball tournament map
lets you get as close as you can to the games without leaving your desk thanks to 3D models of the tournament’s 14 arenas. Take a virtual tour of the venues by watching the
video
below, or
download this tour
and open it in
Google Earth
.
Plus, we’ve created a
special page
for you to keep track of all the excitement during the next few weeks. You can see an up-to-date tournament schedule, explore the college campuses in Street View and click through to watch the actual games on NCAA® March Madness on Demand®. You can also create a bracket using Google Docs, read Google News articles on the games and download basketball apps from the
Chrome Web Store
. It’s all here (along with a fun surprise) at
www.google.com/collegebasketball2011
.
And since there’s been a
long-running debate
over whether teams playing closer to their home court have an advantage, we added a “Distance Tool” on the
map
to make it easier to measure how far schools have to travel from game to game. We’ll see how things play out, but the defending champion Duke Blue Devils may have to travel more than 2,000 miles to Anaheim if they win their first two games.
As my friends always say when we can’t wait for the tournament to begin, “
Send it in, Jerome!
” May your favorite school reach the finals and we hope you enjoy all the basketball fun at
www.google.com/collegebasketball2011
.
Posted by Aaron Weissman, Google Maps Marketing (
San Francisco King of the Rock winner
)
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