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Experience stunning new heights with Street View in Dubai
June 24, 2013
What does it feel like to stand on top of the tallest building in the world? To give you a better sense of how that may feel, we took
Street View
to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, our first-ever collection in the Arab World. Described as a “vertical city,” the
Burj Khalifa
is the world’s tallest manmade structure, towering over the Dubai skyline at 828 meters (2,717 ft).
This is the first time we’ve captured a skyscraper on Street View—making Google Maps even more comprehensive and useful for you. The imagery was collected over three days using the
Street View Trekker and Trolley
, capturing high-resolution 360-degree panoramic imagery of several indoor and outdoor locations of the building.
In addition to the breathtaking views from the world’s tallest observation deck on the 124th floor, you can also see what it feels like to hang off one of the building’s maintenance units on the 80th floor, normally used for cleaning windows!
Visit the highest occupied floor in the world on the 163rd floor, experience being in the fastest-moving elevators in the world (at 22 mph) and check out the highest swimming pool in the world on the 76th floor.
Even if you’re afraid of heights, we hope you enjoy the view from the top! To see highlights from the Burj Khalifa Street View collection, visit
www.google.ae/streetview
.
Posted by Tarek Abdalla, Head of Marketing - Middle East & North Africa, Google
“You’ve come a long way, Baby”: remembering the world’s first stored program computer
June 21, 2013
Sixty-five years ago today, the
Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine
—nicknamed “Baby”—became the earliest computer in the world to run a program electronically stored in its memory. This was a flagship moment: the first implementation of the
stored program concept
that underpins modern computing.
Earlier computers had their instructions hardwired into their physical design or held externally on
punched paper tape
or
cards
. Reprogramming them to do a different task entailed internal rewiring or altering the physical storage media. The Baby marked a new computing era, described by some as the “
birth of software
,” in which swapping programs was far simpler—requiring only an update to the electronic memory. Both instructions and data were held in the Baby’s memory and the contents could be altered automatically at electronic speeds during the course of computation.
Developed at Manchester University by
“Freddie” Williams
,
Tom Kilburn
and
Geoff Tootill
, in size the Baby was anything but:
more than 5m long and weighing a tonne
(PDF). Its moniker was due to its role as a testbed for the experimental
Williams-Kilburn tube
, a means of storing binary digits (“bits”) using a cathode ray tube. This was a big deal because up until this point, computers had no cost-effective means of storing and flexibly accessing information in electronic form.
In technical terms, the Williams-Kilburn tube was the earliest form of
random access memory
, or RAM. The Baby’s memory consisted of one of these tubes, able to store up to
1,024 bits
—equivalent to just 128 bytes. In contrast, the average computer today has RAM in multiples of gigabytes, more than a billion times bigger.
The Baby was only ever intended to be a proof-of-concept rather than to serve as a useful calculation tool. So once it had shown the new memory was reliable, attention shifted to building a more powerful and practical machine using the same concepts. This resulted in the
Manchester Mark 1
, which in turn was the model for the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s
first computer to be sold commercially
, in February 1951.
While today nothing remains of the original Baby, a
working replica is on display
at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. It’s well worth a visit to reflect on just how far computing has come.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
America’s businesses are growing. The web is helping.
June 20, 2013
Michael Edlavitch was a middle school math teacher in Minnesota when he started a website with free math games to engage his students. With free online tools, a passion for math and an initial investment of just $10 to register his domain,
www.hoodamath.com
was born. Eventually Michael’s website became popular with more than just his students. So Michael gave
Google AdSense
a try as a way to earn money by placing ads next to his content. As word spread and traffic grew, the revenue generated from his site allowed Michael to devote himself full time to Hooda Math. Today, www.hoodamath.com has more than 350 educational games and has had more than 100 million unique visitors to the site. Beyond building a business for himself, Michael is helping students everywhere learn math while having fun.
Over in New York, Roberto Gil designs and builds children’s furniture—loft beds, bunk beds and entire custom rooms.
Casa Kids
’ furniture is custom designed for the family to grow along with the child. Roberto works out of his Brooklyn workshop and doesn’t sell to large furniture stores, which means the Casa Kids website is an essential tool for him to connect with potential customers. To grow even further, Roberto began using
AdWords
in 2010. In the first few months traffic to his site went up 30 percent. Today, two-thirds of his new customers come from Google. Meet Roberto and learn more about how he’s making the web work for Casa Kids:
These are just two examples of how the web is working for American businesses. According to a
McKinsey study
, small businesses that make use of the web are growing twice as fast as those that aren’t on the web. That’s because the web is where we go for information and inspiration—from math games to practice over the summer to someone to design and build that perfect bunk bed for your kids. Ninety-seven percent of American Internet users look online for local products and services. Whether we’re on our smartphones, tablets or computers, the web helps us find what we’re looking for.
Here at Google, we see firsthand how the web is helping American businesses grow and thrive. Through our search and advertising programs, businesses like Casa Kids find customers, publishers like Hooda Math earn money from their content, and nonprofits solicit donations and volunteers. These tools are how we make money, and they’re how millions of other U.S. businesses do, too.
In 2012, Google's search and advertising tools helped provide
$94 billion of economic activity for more than 1.9 million American businesses
—advertisers, publishers and nonprofits. This represents a 17 percent increase from 2011. Check out the impact made in
each state
, along with stories of local businesses using the web to grow.
Whether it’s building skills or building furniture, Google helps to build businesses. We’re thrilled to be part of such a vibrant industry and are committed to continuing to help make the web work for people and businesses everywhere.
Posted by Allan Thygesen, Vice President, Global SMB Sales
Google scholarships recognize 84 computer science scholars in Europe, Middle East, and Africa
June 19, 2013
We’d like to recognize and congratulate the 84 recipients and finalists of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship and Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The full list of the 2013 scholars and finalists and the universities they attend can be found in this
PDF
.
Both scholarships aim to encourage underrepresented students to enter the computing field. The
Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship
honours the memory of
Dr. Anita Borg
who devoted her life to encouraging the presence of women in computing; we recently announced the
U.S. recipients
of this scholarship. The
Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities
aims to help dismantle barriers for students with disabilities as well as encourage them to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders in creating technology.
All of the students receiving the scholarships are pursuing degrees in computer science or related fields at universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This summer, they’ll attend the annual Google EMEA Scholarships Retreat in Zurich, where they’ll have the opportunity to attend tech talks on Google products, participate in developmental sessions, network with Googlers and attend social activities. Notable speakers at the 2013 retreat include Alan Eustace, SVP of Knowledge, Megan Smith, VP of Google [x], and Caroline Casey, Founder of
Kanchi.org
.
Applications for the scholarships will be open again in just a few short months. Learn more about how the scholarships impacted the lives of previous recipients:
For more information on all of our scholarships and programs, please visit the
Google Students
site.
Posted by Efrat Aghassy, EMEA scholarships program manager
Celebrating 10 years of shared success
June 18, 2013
Ten years ago we
launched AdSense
to help publishers earn money by placing relevant ads on their websites. I can still remember the excitement and anticipation as AdSense went live that first day. Our small team huddled together in a cramped conference room, and right away we saw that publishers were as excited about AdSense as we were.
Fast-forward 10 years, and AdSense has become a core part of Google’s advertising business. The AdSense community has grown to include more than 2 million publishers, and last year alone, publishers earned more than $7 billion from AdSense. AdSense is a community that thrives because of all the content creators we are so fortunate to partner with. Their stories inspire us to do our part to make AdSense great.
On this occasion, it’s especially inspiring to hear the stories of partners who have been with us since the very beginning—like
a retiree in New Zealand
who was able to pursue her dream of writing about her garden,
a tech support expert
in Colorado who can spend more time with his kids, and
a theme park reviewer
who now sends employees around the world to test and review rides—all thanks to money earned from AdSense.
As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, we hope you’ll tune into our live
Hangout on Air
today at 10 a.m. PDT (5 p.m. GMT) on the AdSense Google+ page. I look forward to joining several of our partners to share stories from the early days of AdSense, talk about how we’ve all grown since then, and discuss the future for publishers and online advertising. And if you want even more 10th anniversary celebration, just visit our
AdSense 10th anniversary page
at any time.
Posted by Susan Wojcicki, SVP, Ads and Commerce
Chromebooks: coming to more stores near you
June 17, 2013
In Northern California where I live, summer is here, which means family vacations, kids’ camps, BBQs and hopefully some relaxation. But it also means back-to-school shopping is just around the corner. So in case you’re on the hunt for a laptop in addition to pens, paper, and stylish new outfits, your search just got a whole lot easier. Chromebooks—a fast, simple, secure laptop that won't break the bank—will now be carried in over 3 times more stores than before, or more than 6,600 stores around the world.
In addition to Best Buy and Amazon.com, we’re excited to welcome several new retailers to the family. Starting today, Walmart will be making the newest
Acer Chromebook
, which has a 16GB Solid State Drive (SSD), available in approximately 2,800 stores across the U.S., for just $199. Look for Chromebooks coming to the laptop sections of a Walmart near you this summer.
And beginning this weekend, Staples will bring a mix of Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung to every store in the U.S.—more than 1,500 in total. You can also purchase via Staples
online
, while businesses can purchase through the Staples Advantage B2B program. In the coming months select Office Depot, OfficeMax, and regional chains Fry’s and TigerDirect locations will begin selling Chromebooks.
In the 10 other markets worldwide where Chromebooks are sold, availability in national retailers continues to expand. In addition to Dixons in the UK, now 116 Tesco stores are selling Chromebooks, as well as all Media Markt and Saturn stores in the Netherlands, FNAC stores in France and Elgiganten stores in Sweden. In Australia, all JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman stores will be carrying Chromebooks for their customers as well. We’re working hard to bring Chromebooks to even more countries later this year.
Chromebooks make great computers for everyone in the family—and now you shouldn’t have to look very far to find one. Happy summer!
Posted by David Shapiro, Director of Chromebook Marketing
Happy Small Business Week.
June 17, 2013
Our first AdWords customer was a small business selling live mail-order lobsters. It’s been a long time since then, but a majority of our customers are still small businesses, who play a vital role not only for Google, but for the American economy. More than 60 percent of new jobs each year come from small businesses.
This Small Business Week, we want to celebrate you. We’re grateful to you for everything you do for us and our communities. Whether you fix people’s cars, offer music lessons to aspiring musicians, or make the world’s best homemade ice cream—when you do what you love, our lives get better.
As part of the celebration, we’ll be highlighting some amazing small businesses across the country, so keep an eye on the
Google+ Your Business page
. And in the meantime, check out some of the
Google tools
that are designed to help you take care of business.
Happy Small Business Week.
Posted by Lisa Gevelber, VP Marketing, Americas
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