[G] If the green jacket fits...

Official Google Blog: If the green jacket fits...

For golf enthusiasts like me, a trip to Augusta, Ga. in early April is as close as one can get to golf nirvana. The excitement begins the moment you drive down [magnolia lane] and approach the [augusta national] Clubhouse. In fact, there’s probably no golf event that captures the world’s attention quite like The Masters does every spring. The Masters is unique among golf tournaments since it’s held in the same location each year, and after 75 years the rituals and legends have taken on a life of their own. The competitors teed off today in the opening round, so we thought it would be a good time to take a look at what people have searched for on Google about the tournament, the players and the traditions.

With a relatively small field of 93 professionals and six amateurs hailing from 22 countries, The Masters is a global event that draws interest from all over the world. We can see that each year, worldwide searches for [masters golf] peak the weekend of the tournament. The chart below shows how the trend is set to take off again this year and will likely hit its peak over the weekend.

The winner of The Masters gets to walk away with a unique prize: the prestigious green jacket—given to the lowest score in the tournament—and the game’s defining garment. Every April, The Masters [green jacket] becomes one of the most sought-after article of clothing on the web as searchers turn to Google to discover the history of the jacket, seek out past winners and learn the protocols for receiving and wearing the special sport coat. Searches for [green jacket masters] have grown every year since 2004, with the highest mark occurring last year. Indeed, for a brief time in April every year, we all seem to embrace our inner couch-potato, searching for the [green jacket] more than we do for [exercise shorts]!

With some of the greatest players in the game competing, The Masters is always a thrill to watch for real golf fanatics and weekend golfers alike. The tournament is also home to some of the most memorable upset stories in sports, with lesser-known, but very skilled golfers coming out of nowhere to post the lowest score and win the tournament. Interest in these underdog stories is reflected in search query patterns across the globe. Searches for past unexpected winners like American [zach johnson] (‘07), South African [trevor immelman] (‘08) and Argentine [angel cabrera] (‘09) all peaked globally the week of their Masters win.

So whether you’re a golf fanatic, a sucker for an underdog story or—like some of my colleagues across Google—you just find the television broadcast and the golf analysts’ voices the perfect background noise for an afternoon nap, there’s something in the tournament for you. I’ll likely be tuned into The Masters via my GoogleTV and will watch along with the rest of the world to see which golfer comes out of Sunday’s trip through [amen corner] to capture the famous green jacket.

Posted by Ryan Hall, Director of Business Development, JAPAC, member of the University of Virgina Men’s Golf Team (‘98) and former Zimbabwean National Team golfer

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/if-green-jacket-fits.html

[G] 1 billion computing core-hours for researchers to tackle huge scientific challenges

Official Google Blog: 1 billion computing core-hours for researchers to tackle huge scientific challenges

Computing is an invaluable resource for advancement of scientific breakthroughs. Today we’re announcing an academic research grant program called Google Exacycle for Visiting Faculty, which provides 1 billion hours of computational core capacity to researchers. That’s orders of magnitude larger than the computational resources most scientists normally have access to.

This program is focused on large-scale, batch computations in research areas such as biomedicine, energy, weather and climate, earth sciences and astronomy. For example, scientists could use massive amounts of computation to simulate how pharmaceuticals interact with proteins in the human body to develop new medicines. Other uses could include simulations to predict weather patterns and analysis of telescope images to understand how the universe changes over time.

Exacycle for Visiting Faculty is part of our University Relations team’s larger efforts to stimulate advances in science and engineering research. If you're a full-time faculty member, we encourage you to apply by May 31, 2011.

In the future, we think this service could also be useful for businesses in various industries, like biotech, financial services, manufacturing and energy. If your business can benefit from hundreds of millions of core-hours to solve complex technical challenges and you want to discuss potential applications, please contact us.

Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/1-billion-computing-core-hours-for.html

[G] Bringing Google I/O direct to you with I/O Live

Official Google Blog: Bringing Google I/O direct to you with I/O Live

(Cross-posted from the Google Code Blog)

After Google I/O sold out in 59 minutes, we gave ourselves a challenge: bring I/O 2011 to as many developers as we could, even those that didn't have tickets to Moscone Center. So for those of you not joining us in San Francisco or at one of our I/O Extended viewing parties, visit www.google.com/io on May 10-11 from the comforts of your own home, office or anywhere you have a reliable Internet connection for I/O Live.

I/O Live will bring all of the excitement at Moscone Center to our online website, where the keynotes, sessions and Developer Sandbox will come to life for audiences all over the world. Starting on May 10, the Google I/O homepage will become the I/O Live dashboard, where you can:

• Watch livestream video feeds from our two largest session rooms from 9:00 a.m PST to 6:00 p.m. PST during both days of the conference. This will include streaming of the keynotes, as in years past, as well as—new for 2011—the addition of sessions from Android and Chrome. We’ll also aim to post HD video recordings from sessions that are not livestreamed within 24 hours.
• Read captions from the livestreamed sessions in real-time. Plus, to make sure all our content is accessible, all remaining videos will also be captioned. For international developers, captions will be machine translated to all languages that are supported by Google Translate.
• Be one of the first to know by getting your news direct from the source. The latest announcements and news will be added to our I/O Live dashboard in real-time.
• Submit your questions to our Sandbox developers. We'll post answers for the questions with the most votes.

In the coming weeks, we’ll update our Sessions and Sandbox pages with all the relevant information you’ll need to participate in I/O Live. In the meantime, visit our temporary I/O Live page, where you can get our new HTML5 badge to display on your website and let us know that you’ll be watching on May 10 and 11.

This year is slated to be our largest Google I/O event to date. So whether you’re joining us in San Francisco, from an I/O Extended event, or even the comforts of your own Shangri-la, we’re looking forward to seeing you at 9 a.m. PDT on May 10 as we count down to 00:00:00:00 and I/O Live.

Posted by Monica Tran, Google I/O Team

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/bringing-google-io-direct-to-you-with.html

[G] The DigiTour: Live from Google HQ!

YouTube Blog: The DigiTour: Live from Google HQ!

You’ve subscribed to them by the millions, commented thousands of times on their videos, and “liked” them over and over - and now you can see them live, in a city near you. The stars of the YouTube music world are hitting the road for The DigiTour, presented by YouTube. It’s the most comprehensive concert series yet featuring exclusively the stars of the YouTube music world - performers with one billion combined views and more than six million subscriptions.



The DigiTour will run for six weeks across 27 cities in North America, bringing together talented artists who got their big break on YouTube. Artists like Dave Days, The Gregory Brothers, David Choi, DeStorm, MysteryGuitarMan and Ricky Ficarelli will bring their unique sounds and high energy acts to the big stage - and you might also get to discover some new YouTube acts. To give you a taste of what’s to come, the nationwide tour will be previewed with a special live-streamed concert from Google HQ on Friday, April 8, from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. PT. Tune in to www.youtube.com/youtube to watch the event.



After their first official stop in LA, the tour will hit Phoenix, Oakland, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Washington D.C, New York City, Detroit, Chicago and many other cities. Tickets are on sale now at www.thedigitour.com.



Here’s a taste of what to expect:





If you’re a YouTube Partner in any of the concert cities, stay tuned for more information on YouTube’s new Creator Clubs initiative that we’re starting to roll out across the country. To make it easier for YouTube Partners to stay in touch and collaborate, we’re helping Partners to organize their own Creator Clubs events to share information and ideas, and the club will kick off in each of these towns as The DigiTour visits. We hope some of our newer Partners will be inspired by seeing their YouTube heroes on the big stage.



For more information on The DigiTour lineup, updates and ticket information, visit www.thedigitour.com or follow them on Twitter here. Buy your ticket today!



Margaret Healy, Strategic Partner Manager, recently watched “The DigiTour Announcement!!!”

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/jn0ZKBXWeOg/digitour-live-from-google-hq.html

[G] Dynamic Views, the Chrome Extension

Blogger Buzz: Dynamic Views, the Chrome Extension

Posted by Mike Lawther, Chrome Engineer

Last week we announced five exciting new ways to view your blog content, which take advantage of the latest web technologies to provide a richer experience for your readers. You can already see these views in action by appending /view to the end of any Blogger URL, but today we’re happy to announce another way to experience these views via the Blogger Dynamic Views Chrome extension.

Once installed, the extension will automatically detect when you are viewing a Blogger blog, and then display a Blogger icon (the orange ‘B’!) in your address bar which lets you select and view the blog in one of the five new dynamic views. It’s that simple.

Of course, you can always disable the extension whenever you want from the Extensions section of the Tools menu. Try it out today, and please feel free to leave a rating or review on the extension page.

URL: http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/04/dynamic-views-chrome-extension.html

[G] See your location history dashboard and more with Google Maps 5.3 for Android

Official Google Mobile Blog: See your location history dashboard and more with Google Maps 5.3 for Android

Today, we’re happy to announce Google Maps 5.3 for Android, which lets you see your Google Location History dashboard, check in at “home,” and add your own aspects for places when rating them.

Location History dashboard
If you’ve enabled Location History for Google Latitude, you’ve been able to visualize interesting trends in your location history with a personal dashboard at google.com/latitude on your computer. Now, you can also see your dashboard on your phone by tapping View location history from your Latitude profile. You’ll be able to see right on your phone how far you’ve travelled as well as an estimate of how much time you’ve spent at home, at work, or out.

If you haven’t yet, you can enable Location History from your computer or from Latitude’s Settings menu on your phone. Location History is 100% opt-in and is private to you and nobody else. You can always delete any of your location history from the Manage History tab or correct the estimated work and home locations from the dashboard on your computer.

View your location history dashboard from your Latitude profile on your phone and see estimates of where you’ve spent your time.

Check in at home
Now that you can see how much time you spend at “home”, you might want to let friends know when you’re there. Checking in at places using Latitude is another way to keep a history of places you’ve been and also lets you share when you’re there. I love letting friends and family know when I’m at a cafe or park, but sometimes I want them to know that I’m relaxing at home or made it back safely from a road trip. So now, I can start checking in at “home” in Latitude:

1. Check in from Latitude and tap “Home - Tap to set your location” at the bottom of the nearby places list if you don’t have one yet.
2. Use the estimated current address or enter in your home address yourself.
3. Once you’ve checked in at home once, “Home” will appear at the top of the list when you’re checking in near there.

Like Latitude and other check-ins, checking in at home is entirely opt-in. Your set “home” location is not searchable and only you can check in there. Just like any other check-in, you can choose with whom to share your home check-ins (along with your name and address info).

Add your own aspects for places
When you’re rating places on the go in Maps using Google Places with Hotpot, you could always quickly leave feedback on a specific aspect or characteristic of a place, such as the food or ambiance. Before, we’d automatically include aspects about places that were commonly mentioned in reviews. Now, you can add your own aspects for each place. So if you think a place has a beautiful view or great music, you can add it yourself and quickly share it with the world.

When rating places, you can add your own aspects like “music” for places and leave quick feedback.

To get started, update Google Maps from Android Market on devices with Android OS 1.6+ anywhere Google Maps and Latitude are already available.

Posted by Kenneth Leftin, Software Engineer, Google Maps for mobile team

URL: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/04/see-your-location-history-dashboard-and.html

[G] The New Google Analytics: Events Goals

Google Analytics Blog: The New Google Analytics: Events Goals

This is part of our series of posts highlighting the new Google Analytics. The new version of Google Analytics is currently available in beta to a number of Analytics users. We’ll be giving access to even more users soon. Sign up for early access. And follow Google Analytics on Twitter for the latest updates.

Real Analytics ninjas use goals. Google Analytics has always had URL Goals (when a visitor reaches a specific page). In 2009, we added Engagement Goals to track success metrics around visit depth and time on site. With the new version of Google Analytics, we’ve added one more: Event Goals. This was one of our most requested features, and it gives you even more reason to use event tracking.

A brief intro to Event Tracking

You can use Event Tracking in Google Analytics to track visitor actions that don't correspond directly to pageviews. It's a great fit for tracking things like:

• Downloads of a PDF or other file
• Interaction with dynamic or AJAX sites
• Interaction with Adobe Flash objects, embedded videos, and other media
• Number of errors users get when attempting to checkout
• How long a video was watched on your site

Events are defined using a set of Categories, Actions, Labels, and Values. Here’s how you might set up event tracking for tracking downloads of whitepapers and presentations.

These interactions all have potential business impact, but until now you couldn’t track them as goals in Google Analytics. Let’s look at three ways you might use Event Goals on your site.

Tracking Downloads

Suppose you run a business to business (B2B) website and offer whitepapers (as a PDF download) in order to attract leads. You drive traffic to this page through advertising. You can track the number of downloads using event tracking. For example, we can use the category to designate the click was of type “download”. We can use the action to designate the download was a “whitepaper” and we can use the label to identify the actual whitepaper that was downloaded.

With the new Google Analytics, configuring this as a goal is easy. We simply match any event with the category of “download” and the action of “whitepaper”. Finally we set the goal value as 20.

Tracking Time Spent

Event tracking is powerful because you can track values, along with the category, action, and label. Going back to our B2B website, suppose you have a embedded product demo video on your page. With a little JavaScript, you can track the time a user spends watching the video and send that number back to Google Analytics as an event value.

With Event Goals, you can now set up a goal based on this value. In this example, we’ve configured a goal when a user spends over 180 seconds watching the product demo.

Using The Event Value As The Conversion Value

Traditionally, the only way to set goal values was when creating the goal in Google Analytics, or from the tracking code using ecommerce tracking. With Event Goals, you have another option: using the event value as the goal value.

Again putting yourself in the shoes of a B2B website owner, you realize not all your whitepapers bring in the same quality of lead. The lead value associated with downloading a certain whitepaper is $20, but the lead value from a different whitepaper is $35. Rather than creating a separate goal for each, you can pass the values 20 and 35 as the Event Value, and then set up the goal to use the actual Event Value:

Now when a goal is matched, the value passed in the event will be used as the goal value.

These are just a few examples of how you can take advantage of Event Goals in the new Google Analytics. You can read more on how to implement Event Tracking on Google Code and how to set up goals in the new Analytics. We’re constantly giving more of you access to the new version. If you don’t have the new version yet, you can sign up for earlier access.

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-google-analytics-events-goals.html

[G] Leading The Industry with Tracking Code Improvements

Google Analytics Blog: Leading The Industry with Tracking Code Improvements

Last year, Google Analytics launched asynchronous JavaScript tracking. This was a vast improvement over conventional JavaScript, since it reduced interference with other site scripting and allowed HTML pages to fully load even if the tracking code hasn’t yet loaded.

Today we’re announcing another ground-breaking web analytics feature: client side POST support. This new feature further improves the accuracy of Google Analytics, especially for sites with very long URLs and long event tracking parameters.

Traditionally, client-side tracking code beacons have been sent via HTTP GET requests, which are limited to 2048 bytes by some browsers and proxies. Requests sent to Analytics that exceeded this limit were dropped, and the data never reached Google Analytics. Starting with this release, requests longer than 2048 bytes will be sent via HTTP POST, which has no such limit. The tracking code will now support beacons up to 8192 bytes!

This feature requires no user configuration and has been pushed in the latest version of the JavaScript tracking code. With this new capability we hope to bring you even more innovative features in the coming months.

Posted by Brian Kuhn, Jim Wogulis, & Jonathan Owen, Tracking Code Team

URL: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/04/leading-industry-with-tracking-code.html

[G] Fixing the little things

Official Gmail Blog: Fixing the little things

Posted by Sara Goetz, Consumer Experience Specialist

Ever since I joined the Gmail team, my friends have been eager to tell me, "I love Gmail! Except for this one thing..." And every day, Gmail users share their "one thing" that would make Gmail better for them through our suggestions page. While we enjoy creating new solutions to old problems with features like Priority Inbox, those little annoyances and missing pieces are important, too. Recently, we've rolled out several small tweaks to Gmail to show it a little extra love.


Here’s a rundown:

• Auto-save contacts setting: Most people like that Gmail automatically saves every email address you send messages to; it can help recover forgotten addresses of former teachers, bosses, and people you contacted once but never thought you'd need to contact again. For some people, though, this feature can cause too much contacts clutter. Today, we're rolling out a new setting to let you turn off the auto-save option. You’ll see it on the General tab of Gmail Settings.


• Better warnings for typos in email addresses: We all make typos, even when addressing email. In the old days, when you accidentally left out the "." in your ".com", Gmail would tell you there was an error but not point it out. Now, it’ll let you know which address has the problem -- much easier when sorting through a long “To:” list.


• Fewer annoying error pop-ups: Gmail's filters are really useful for organizing your messages automatically, but sometimes those filters can have unintended consequences, like sending mail you'd like to keep to the trash. When you replied to a message in the Trash, Gmail would show an error message you'd have to click through to continue working. Now, you’ll still see the error, but it's no longer a pop up and it gives you an easy way to move the conversation out of Trash right from there.


• Easier transitions between certain actions: You can create filters quickly from the "Filter messages like this" option that shows up on some messages. Now, after you've saved your filter, Gmail will send you right back to the message you were reading so you can go right back to what you were doing before.


• Keyboard shortcut guide for everyone: Keyboard shortcuts can be a huge productivity boosters. If you've never tried them, try hitting Shift+? -- that's one keyboard shortcut that's now automatically turned on and gives you a peek into the rest of them and a quick link to enable from there.


• Refresh button: For a long time, people have pointed out the inconsistency of having "Refresh" as a link in the menu bar, next to all of the buttons. We changed it to a button to match.

If any of these small fixes were your "one thing," we hope you've noticed the changes as they rolled out. When you find the next little tweak that would make you love Gmail even more, let us know.

URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/fixing-little-things.html

[G] Think with Google: Search Ads Affect Offline Sales Too

Inside AdWords: Think with Google: Search Ads Affect Offline Sales Too

Do online search campaigns lead to in-store sales? Controlled studies we call ‘Online-to-Store’ experiments prove time and again that they do! Check out this video for results from large advertisers that tested the effects of using keywords targeted to products and categories, generic keywords and online coupons. Highlights include in-store sales lift, return on ad spend (15:1 in some cases) and halo effects on overall sales. Understanding the effect of search ads on offline sales is a large part of accurately defining the full value of search campaigns, beyond direct conversion.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/think-with-google-search-ads-affect.html

[G] Ladies and gentlemen, start your editors! Registration now open for Google Code Jam 2011

Official Google Blog: Ladies and gentlemen, start your editors! Registration now open for Google Code Jam 2011

Imagine you’re a ninja, trying to master your deadly grappling hook. Or perhaps you’re a chess grand master, outsmarting your opponent’s every move. Or even a Taoist philosopher, explaining the deep truths of the world to your followers.

It’s situations like these that you’ll face in Google Code Jam, our annual coding contest in which some of the best coders from around the world write programs to solve tough algorithmic problems. We believe that one of the best ways to sharpen your coding skills and stretch them creatively is through healthy competition. The intense experience of confronting a problem, conveying your solution to your computer and seeing the results emerge is a thrill unlike any other.

Today we’re opening registration for Google Code Jam 2011. Coding will begin on May 6 with our qualification round, where competitors will have as much as a day to plan their approach to our first few problems. From there, the contest heats up quickly: the remaining contestants will engage in several two-and-a-half hour rounds, wrangling each time with three to four algorithmic problems that range in difficulty from simple to fiendish. For each problem, you’ll wield the programming language of your choice, crafting the perfect algorithm to pit against the gauntlet of our test data. Construct your code flawlessly and you’ll be on to the next problem; solve enough problems, and you’ll make your way to the next round. If you continue to succeed, you might find yourself sitting on a flight to the finals.

The challenge begins in just over a month. If you’re a killer coder and you’re ready to compete, sign up on our website; while you’re there, make sure to check out the puzzles of the past few years to get a sense of what’s to come, and to hone your skills. If you’re one of the top 25 competitors, we’ll bring you to our Tokyo office to spar against your fellow coders. In the end, only one person will bring home the $10,000 top prize—and the title of Code Jam Champion.

Posted by Bartholomew Furrow, Software Engineer, Google Code Jam

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/ladies-and-gentlemen-start-your-editors.html

[G] Protecting users from malicious downloads

Google Online Security Blog: Protecting users from malicious downloads

Posted by Moheeb Abu Rajab, Google Security Team

For the past five years Google has been offering protection to users against websites that attempt to distribute malware via drive-by downloads — that is, infections that harm users’ computers when they simply visit a vulnerable site. The data produced by our systems and published via the Safe Browsing API is used by Google search and browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari to warn users who may attempt to visit these dangerous webpages.

Safe Browsing has done a lot of good for the web, yet the Internet remains rife with deceptive and harmful content. It’s easy to find sites hosting free downloads that promise one thing but actually behave quite differently. These downloads may even perform actions without the user’s consent, such as displaying spam ads, performing click fraud, or stealing other users’ passwords. Such sites usually don’t attempt to exploit vulnerabilities on the user’s computer system. Instead, they use social engineering to entice users to download and run the malicious content.

Today we’re pleased to announce a new feature that aims to protect users against these kinds of downloads, starting with malicious Windows executables. The new feature will be integrated with Google Chrome and will display a warning if a user attempts to download a suspected malicious executable file:

Download warning

This warning will be displayed for any download URL that matches the latest list of malicious websites published by the Safe Browsing API. The new feature follows the same privacy policy currently in use by the Safe Browsing feature. For example, this feature does not enable Google to determine the URLs you are visiting.

We’re starting with a small-scale experimental phase for a subset of our users who subscribe to the Chrome development release channel, and we hope to make this feature available to all users in the next stable release of Google Chrome. We hope that the feature will improve our users’ online experience and help make the Internet a safer place.

For webmasters, you can continue to use the same interface provided by Google Webmaster Tools to learn about malware issues with your sites. These tools include binaries that have been identified by this new feature, and the same review process will apply.

URL: http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2011/04/protecting-users-from-malicious.html

[G] Our House testimony on combating copyright infringement

Google Public Policy Blog: Our House testimony on combating copyright infringement

Posted by Pablo Chavez, Director of Public Policy

This morning the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet will take up an issue of critical importance to Google and the entire information economy: how to combat copyright infringement online and the sale of counterfeit goods.

Kent Walker, our senior vice president and general counsel, will testify before the subcommittee and will offer recommendations for how to punish rogue foreign websites that violate copyright while protecting legitimate technologies and businesses. He’ll also share several ways Google combats infringement including our Content ID system on YouTube, our efforts to make copyright work better online, and our work to keep counterfeiters our of our ads system.

The hearing will be live-streamed on the committee’s website at 10:45 am EDT. You can read Kent’s full testimony here.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/04/our-house-testimony-on-combating.html

[G] Real-time traffic graphs for the Transparency Report

Google Public Policy Blog: Real-time traffic graphs for the Transparency Report

Posted by Matt Braithwaite, Transparency Engineering Team Lead

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)

When we introduced the Transparency Report last year, we promised to keep looking for new and useful ways to display data about traffic to our services. In response to your requests, today we’re adding graphs for each region that show traffic patterns for all products in aggregate. These graphs will show data with a five-minute delay.

In this graph, for example, you’ll see that all of our services in Egypt were down from January 27 to February 1:

Starting today, you won’t have to sift through every single product graph to figure out if one or more services are inaccessible. You’ll get a snapshot up front. We’ve also added annotations for historical anomalies that we’ve seen in the traffic to our services. To see the graph for each cited incident, just click on the corresponding link.

As the Transparency Engineering team lead, part of my job is to ensure that we find, uncover and visualize datasets within Google that can help inform research and analysis on important topics. We believe that providing the facts can spark useful debate about the scope and authority of policy decisions around the globe.

We’ll continue to iterate, and we hope that the Report will help shed light on the accessibility and patterns of traffic to our services around the world.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/04/real-time-traffic-graphs-for.html

[G] Think with Google: Search Ads Affect Offline Sales, too

Official Google CPG Blog: Think with Google: Search Ads Affect Offline Sales, too

As featured on the Google Business YouTube Channel

Do online search campaigns lead to in-store sales? Controlled studies we call ‘Online to Store’ experiments prove time and again that they do! Check out this video for results from large advertisers that tested the effects of keyword targeted products and categories, generic keywords and online coupons. Highlights include in-store sales lift, return on ad spend (15:1 in some cases) and halo effects on overall sales. Understanding the effect of search ads on offline sales is a large part of accurately defining the full value of search campaigns, beyond direct conversion. Consider these results and your own online to store testing.

Embed:

URL: http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/2011/04/think-with-google-search-ads-affect.html

[G] Supporting our beloved science museums

Official Google Blog: Supporting our beloved science museums

I touched the moon. President Kennedy, NASA, and a museum put the rock that inspired my boyhood imagination into my hands and made me a “museumophile.” Since then, I’ve savored Wenninger’s polyhedra and the evolution of the astrolabe in London, analyzed Konrad Zuse’s pioneering computers in Munich, seen the original Earth globe in Vienna, toured a coal mine in Chicago, learned the secret of Samurai swords and measured a 50-foot tapeworm in Tokyo, learned the origins of oceanography in Monte-Carlo, studied Tycho Brahe’s astronomical apparatus in Beijing, loved a Foucault pendulum and Ames window in San Diego, viewed a remote-control fly in Langley, winced at the Siamese twins’ conjoined liver in Philadelphia and admired Cleopatra’s eyeliner bottle in San Jose. What an amazing journey through human creativity—all thanks to museums!

Museums do more than entertain and teach. I’ve spoken with many Googlers who cite their own experiences in science museums as a positive influence on their decision to become engineers. By transforming the curious learners of today into the innovators of tomorrow, museums perpetuate both creativity and accomplishment. That’s why I’m thrilled that Google is supporting science museums with a total of $12 million in grants to the Museum of Mathematics in New York, the New York Hall of Science, the Science Museum London (via the Friends of Science Museums), the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago and the Museum of Science in Boston.

When looking to support these beloved institutions, we naturally gravitated towards museums in communities where Googlers volunteer and have ties. Our funds are going to meet diverse needs of the museums, from the construction of new facilities to the development of new exhibitions to new curricula that will extend their work outside of the museum walls.

Many of these museums have operated in our communities for quite some time, but another wave of science museums was built mid-century during the space race when the National Science Foundation realized the importance of getting the general public excited about scientific pursuits. The need for science and math museums is no less important today, as the U.S. has made research and development in biomedical research, information technology and clean energy technology a national priority. As leading destinations for school field trips, museums are touchpoints where students come into contact with science and math.

Our collaboration with the museums won’t end by signing a check. With so many Googlers already working with these museums, we’re excited to find additional ways Google can help these museums educate adults and spark a love of science in children.

Besides, how else can we all touch the moon?

Posted by Michael T. Jones, Chief Technology Advocate

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/supporting-our-beloved-science-museums.html

[G] AdWords Position Preference feature is being retired

Inside AdWords: AdWords Position Preference feature is being retired

In early May, we’ll be retiring the position preference bidding feature in AdWords. If you’re using position preference, we recommend that you disable the feature in your campaigns prior to that date to ensure a smooth transition for your bids. For instructions on how to disable position preference, please see our Help Center.

More specifically, you can expect to see the following changes in your account:

• As of today, April 5th, position preference can no longer be enabled for campaigns through either the AdWords web interface or the API. Campaigns already using position preference will still have it enabled, but if you turn position preference off in one of your campaigns, you won't be able to turn it back on.
• Starting in early May, we'll begin disabling position preference for any campaigns still using it.
• After you disable position preference (either manually or when the feature is retired starting in early May), the manual maximum CPC bids for those campaigns will be the bids position preference used most recently. Position preference tries to raise or lower your bids to target the positions you specify. So using the most recent position preference bid as your manual maximum CPC should minimize disruption to your traffic.

Before you disable position preference, we recommend that you export your manual bids by downloading a keyword report to back up any bids you set before you turned on position preference. This report will include keyword-level maximum CPC bids.

What are my alternatives to position preference?

If you’d like to target specific ad positions, we recommend that you first read this blog post from our Chief Economist, Hal Varian, on some of the pitfalls around targeting average position.

After reading the blog post, if you’d still like to target specific ad positions, we recommend that you try using automated rules. Using this feature, you can set an automated rule for your campaign that will change your bid if your average position differs from your target. For more information on how to use this feature, please see this article.

We appreciate your understanding and your continued support of AdWords.

Posted by Lisa Shieh, Inside AdWords crew

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/adwords-position-preference-feature-is.html

[G] Introducing free phone support for AdWords advertisers

Inside AdWords: Introducing free phone support for AdWords advertisers

We’ve worked hard to keep in touch with our AdWords customers and we’re always looking for new ways to support you. Currently we offer email and online support, and today we’re launching free phone support for all of our U.S. and Canada-based AdWords customers. When you have a question about your account or advertising campaigns, you can now call an AdWords specialist if you prefer.

We’re adding phone support for a simple reason: you asked for it! You told us that while you appreciate online resources like our AdWords Help Center, you also want the option to get live, expert support when you need it. We heard you, and got to work assembling a team of AdWords experts to answer your calls.

The new phone option is one of many tools that can help you succeed with AdWords—and (most importantly!) find even more customers. You can also email us, or learn from other advertisers in the AdWords Help Forum. Our AdWords Online Classroom offers free online courses on a wide variety of AdWords topics, from the basics to great tips to take your account to the next level.

To speak to one of our specialists, give us a call at 1-866-2-Google between Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm Eastern Time. This number is for current AdWords advertisers only, so please make sure you have your customer ID ready. We look forward to speaking to you and learning more about your business.

We will roll phone support out to international advertisers in the coming months.


Posted by Francoise Brougher, VP, Global Advertising and Product Operations

URL: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/introducing-free-phone-support-for.html

[G] Music Tuesday: YouTube’s budding music stars and more

YouTube Blog: Music Tuesday: YouTube’s budding music stars and more

It’s no secret that YouTube is home to a burgeoning number of musicians who nurture their talent with the help of the online community. Over the years, we’ve developed ways for musicians to get more engaged -- with us and with the community. But often, at the end of the day, it’s the musicians themselves who create their own opportunities. Sometimes the most interesting work comes from people who sharpen their chops by covering the big names...until that fateful day when they branch out and start writing their own songs.

This month, we’re featuring four music partners who embody that spirit. Some, like garrethdavis and rosafrancescamusic, are young musicians honing their craft in the public eye. Rosa came to our attention for her subtle renderings of Joanna Newsom songs; we were thrilled to discover she also writes her own. The Dublin-based Garreth snagged our attention with his Everything Series, which sees him regularly uploading songs-in-progress about everything from love to the Irish elections.

The ceaselessly charismatic Todrick Hall seems to be most inspired when he’s paying homage to the chain stores that are ubiquitous in our lives -- and he delights in choreographing real-life Glee moments in which people break out into song in the middle of Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, Joseph Raciti is proving to be as talented at his choral audio quilts as he is with his piano-driven pop songs. (Joseph’s currently at work on his second musical, which he plans to release on YouTube.)

All of them are adding their voices to the cacophonous chorus that is YouTube -- and we treasure them for it. We think you will, too.



If that’s not enough music for you, check out our other features this week: a playlist from French electro-pop sensation Yelle (flanked by android bodyguards from outer space, apparently) and an amazing new video from Israeli phenomenon Kutiman, the artist who crafts songs using YouTube videos as his source material. Prepare to be stunned.



Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Learn how to audition for the Tupac online casting call with DJ Skee.”

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/Nu4H0NWa3BA/music-tuesday-youtubes-budding-music.html

[G] Real-time traffic graphs for the Transparency Report

Official Google Blog: Real-time traffic graphs for the Transparency Report

When we introduced the Transparency Report last year, we promised to keep looking for new and useful ways to display data about traffic to our services. In response to your requests, today we’re adding graphs for each region that show traffic patterns for all products in aggregate. These graphs will show data with a five-minute delay.

In this graph, for example, you’ll see that all of our services in Egypt were down from January 27 to February 1:

Starting today, you won’t have to sift through every single product graph to figure out if one or more services are inaccessible. You’ll get a snapshot up front. We’ve also added annotations for historical anomalies that we’ve seen in the traffic to our services. To see the graph for each cited incident, just click on the corresponding link.

As the Transparency Engineering team lead, part of my job is to ensure that we find, uncover and visualize datasets within Google that can help inform research and analysis on important topics. We believe that providing the facts can spark useful debate about the scope and authority of policy decisions around the globe.

We’ll continue to iterate, and we hope that the Report will help shed light on the accessibility and patterns of traffic to our services around the world.

Posted by Matt Braithwaite, Transparency Engineering Team Lead

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/real-time-traffic-graphs-for.html

[G] There’s no place like home for math education

Official Google Blog: There’s no place like home for math education

Last month, we mobilized a small but enthusiastic band of Google engineers to visit schools across the county as part of National Engineers Week. Googlers talked to kids about their career experiences and how they became engineers. The school visits also provided Googlers with an opportunity to get away from their desks and connect with a classroom of students. One group traveled right down the road from our headquarters to visit our local schools in Mountain View, Calif.

This volunteering program is part of our broader effort to help develop and inspire the next generation of engineers and computer scientists. And we want to make sure we’re helping that happen not only around the world, but also in our own neighborhood.

In that spirit, we’re awarding a $1 million grant to the Mountain View Whisman School District (K-8) to help improve math achievement for its students. Math education is critical not only to computer science and engineering careers, but to academic success overall.

My daughter and I have a bedtime routine where we read a story and also make up mathematical word problems that we solve together. I believe it’s important to teach her math and problem-solving skills that she can apply broadly. And developing these skills early on is crucial. In fact, a recent education report noted that understanding math concepts in early school years may be a more important predictor of future achievement than reading skills. We want to help level the playing field and ensure all students in our community are getting a strong foundation in math, so this grant will help deliver resources and strategies to support students who are struggling in the subject.

As a Googler and the proud parent of a child in the Mountain View Whisman School District, I’m thrilled about this news. Mountain View has been a great home for Google and we’re pleased to be able to support our hometown.

Posted by Roni Zeiger, Chief Health Strategist and parent

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/theres-no-place-like-home-for-math.html

[G] Free phone support for AdWords advertisers

Official Google Blog: Free phone support for AdWords advertisers

We’ve worked hard to keep in touch with our AdWords customers and we’re always looking for new ways to support you. Currently we offer email and online support, and today we’re introducing free phone support for all of our U.S.- and Canada-based AdWords customers. When you have a question about your account or advertising campaigns, you can now call an AdWords specialist if you prefer.

We’re adding phone support for a simple reason: you asked for it! You told us that while you appreciate online resources like our AdWords Help Center, you also want the option to get live, expert support when you need it. We heard you, and got to work assembling a team of AdWords experts to answer your calls.

The new phone option is one of many tools that can help you succeed with AdWords—and (most importantly!) find even more customers. You can also email us, or learn from other advertisers in the AdWords Help Forum. Our AdWords Online Classroom offers free online courses on a wide variety of AdWords topics, from the basics to great tips to take your account to the next level.

To speak to one of our specialists, give us a call at 1-866-2Google between Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm Eastern Time. This number is for current AdWords advertisers only, so please make sure you have your customer ID ready. We look forward to speaking to you and learning more about your business.

We'll roll phone support out to advertisers in other countries in the coming months.

Posted by Francoise Brougher, VP, Global Advertising and Product Operations

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-phone-support-for-adwords.html

[G] Google Crisis Response: a small team tackling big problems

Official Google Blog: Google Crisis Response: a small team tackling big problems

This is the latest post in our series profiling entrepreneurial Googlers working on products across the company and around the world. Speed in execution is important for any Google product team, but as we learned after the recent earthquakes in both Japan and New Zealand, it’s even more critical in crisis response. This post is an inside look at the efforts of our year-old Crisis Response team, and what they’re doing to make preparedness tools available to anyone at the click of a button. - Ed.

The Google Crisis Response Team came together in 2010 after a few engineers and I realized that we needed a scalable way to make disaster-related information immediately available and useful in a crisis. Until a little over a year ago, we responded to crises with scattered 20 percent time projects, but after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010 we saw the opportunity to create a full-time team that would make critical information more accessible during disaster situations.

For us to help during a crisis, it’s vital to get things done really quickly, and we’ve been able to do that as a small team within Google. Working from a standard already developed by one of the Google engineers, Person Finder was built and launched in 72 hours after the Haitian earthquake, and it launched within three hours after the New Zealand earthquake in February. Unfortunately, there have been an unusually high number of disasters over the last year, forcing us to learn and get even faster.

Within minutes of hearing about the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan in March, Googlers around the world—from engineers to webmasters to product managers—immediately started organizing a Google Crisis Response resource page with disaster-related information such as maps and satellite imagery, Person Finder and news updates and citizen videos on YouTube. In Japan, Person Finder went live within an hour of the earthquake. More than 600,000 contact entries have been made since then—more than all other disasters combined—and there have been several reports of people finding their loved ones safe. I was inspired by my colleagues’ ability to launch tools about an hour after the earthquake struck; the Tokyo office, in particular, has really been helping to drive the rapid response and provided real-time information to teams across the globe, even while aftershocks were rocking the city and buildings were still swaying.

But we’re eager to find other ways of helping. In addition to these efforts focused on specific situations, we’ve worked hard this past year to more broadly organize the information most helpful during crisis situations and make it possible for people to use that data in near real-time. If people are asking for information, then in our view, it’s already too late. In these situations, it’s incredibly important that things happen fast.

So in addition to building products, we collaborate with many incredible organizations to make technology useful for responding to a crisis. For example, Random Hacks of Kindness is a collaboration between technology companies and government organizations which encourages teams around the world to create software solutions to problems that arise during a crisis. Recent “RHoKstars” have created all sorts of useful tools—from HeightCatcher, which helps identify malnourishment of children in relief camps by accurately assessing height and weight through a mobile device, to new features for Person Finder, such as email notifications, automatic translation and phonetic name matching—which have all been extremely useful in Japan. These projects present a real opportunity to improve lives by employing crowd-sourcing technology and real-time data during a crisis.

The sheer number of major natural disasters in 2010 and early 2011 demonstrates just how important it is for those involved in relief efforts to have real-time access to information no matter where they are. The Google Crisis Response team has worked over the past year to develop open source initiatives that encourage collaboration with larger crisis response efforts, including relief organizations, NGOs and individual volunteers. And although we’re a small team and still relatively new to the crisis response ecosystem, we hope the resources and support we receive from Google and our community partners around the world will make a difference in preparedness efforts.

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager, Google Crisis Response Team

URL: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/google-crisis-response-small-team.html

[G] See your location history dashboard and more with Google Maps 5.3 for Android

Google LatLong: See your location history dashboard and more with Google Maps 5.3 for Android

[Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog]

Today, we’re happy to announce Google Maps 5.3 for Android, which lets you see your Google Location History dashboard, check in at “home,” and add your own aspects for places when rating them.

Location History dashboard
If you’ve enabled Location History for Google Latitude, you’ve been able to visualize interesting trends in your location history with a personal dashboard at google.com/latitude on your computer. Now, you can also see your dashboard on your phone by tapping View location history from your Latitude profile. You’ll be able to see right on your phone how far you’ve travelled as well as an estimate of how much time you’ve spent at home, at work, or out.

If you haven’t yet, you can enable Location History from your computer or from Latitude’s Settings menu on your phone. Location History is 100% opt-in and is private to you and nobody else. You can always delete any of your location history from the Manage History tab or correct the estimated work and home locations from the dashboard on your computer.

View your location history dashboard from your Latitude profile on your phone and see estimates of where you’ve spent your time.

Check in at home
Now that you can see how much time you spend at “home”, you might want to let friends know when you’re there. Checking in at places using Latitude is another way to keep a history of places you’ve been and also lets you share when you’re there. I love letting friends and family know when I’m at a cafe or park, but sometimes I want them to know that I’m relaxing at home or made it back safely from a road trip. So now, I can start checking in at “home” in Latitude:

1. Check in from Latitude and tap “Home - Tap to set your location” at the bottom of the nearby places list if you don’t have one yet.
2. Use the estimated current address or enter in your home address yourself.
3. Once you’ve checked in at home once, “Home” will appear at the top of the list when you’re checking in near there.

Like Latitude and other check-ins, checking in at home is entirely opt-in. Your set “home” location is not searchable and only you can check in there. Just like any other check-in, you can choose with whom to share your home check-ins (along with your name and address info).

Add your own aspects for places
When you’re rating places on the go in Maps using Google Places with Hotpot, you could always quickly leave feedback on a specific aspect or characteristic of a place, such as the food or ambiance. Before, we’d automatically include aspects about places that were commonly mentioned in reviews. Now, you can add your own aspects for each place. So if you think a place has a beautiful view or great music, you can add it yourself and quickly share it with the world.

When rating places, you can add your own aspects like “music” for places and leave quick feedback.

To get started, update Google Maps from Android Market on devices with Android OS 1.6+ anywhere Google Maps and Latitude are already available.

Posted by Kenneth Leftin, Software Engineer, Google Maps for mobile team

URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/04/see-your-location-history-dashboard-and.html