We believe that the new network will provide wireless consumers with real choices for the software applications, content and handsets that they desire. Such freedom will mirror the openness principles underlying the Internet and enable users to get the most out of their wireless broadband experience. As we've supported open standards for spectrum and wireless handsets, we're especially excited that Clearwire intends to build and maintain a network that will embrace important openness features. In particular, the network will: (1) expand advanced high speed wireless Internet access in the U.S., (2) allow consumers to utilize any lawful applications, content and devices without blocking, degrading or impairing Internet traffic and (3) engage in reasonable and competitively-neutral network management.
We're looking forward to seeing the Clearwire network take shape and begin to deliver benefits to users, and we will continue to look for new partners to promote openness and bring compelling applications and services to end users. There's more information on Clearwire and the transaction on Clearwire's site.
Helping victims of Cyclone Nargis
5/06/2008 07:20:00 PM
Over the past few days, we've followed the devastation left in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma). News reports have tallied more than 22,000 dead with another 41,000 missing. We're extremely saddened by the loss of life due to this cyclone, and hope you'd like to help assist with the relief effort.
As we did after last fall's wildfires in Southern California, we've created a Checkout Donations page so you can easily donate to UNICEF or Direct Relief International. Both organizations are working to directly assist the victims on the ground in Myanmar.
To help visualize the damage, there are Google Earth layers showing an animation of the cyclone's path (using satellite imagery from the Naval Research Laboratory) and the extent of the flooding using data from the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). We'll keep posting information to the Lat-Long Blog as more data comes available.
There are also several Google Grants non-profits working to provide relief to those affected. Save the Children currently has a 500-person staff in the area, while Oxfam America has committed $800,000 to help NGOs meet the immediate needs of people. World Vision and Doctors Without Borders are also taking action with two of the most vulnerable populations in the crisis: children and the injured. We are pleased to be working with and supporting these organizations that are contributing directly to cyclone relief. We encourage you to visit them and consider lending them your support, too. For more details on these organizations and other non-profits providing support for the victims of the disaster, visit the Google Grants blog.
Building the Indic web
5/06/2008 11:19:00 AM
We have come a long way from our first Indic transliteration release to our current support for transliteration in 5 languages -- Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu -- for a broader set of Google products. We are also happy to release our very first English to Hindi translation service. Read on to understand how you can use these services to create, communicate and search in your language, and more.
- Type in your language easily on our Indic Transliteration Labs page.
- Add the transliteration gadget to your iGoogle page.
- Express your views and create more content: Blogger.
- Scrap your friends in your language: orkut.
- Find information: Google Suggest in your language.
You can now also try out our brand new English to Hindi translation service, and the translated search feature that lets you query in Hindi, obtain search results for the translated query in English, and then see the Hindi translations of these results.
Celebrating National Teacher Day
5/06/2008 09:32:00 AM
Thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt, who in the 1950s persuaded Congress to recognize the importance of teachers with a celebratory day, today is set aside in the U.S. to honor our educators and acknowledge the contributions they make. I know that I speak for everyone at Google when I say that none of us would be where we are today without our teachers. On National Teacher Day, we salute you, the dedicated men and women who taught us much of what we know.
And we invite you to join us, too, at the next installment of the Google Teacher Academy at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California on June 25th. Back by popular demand, the GTA is an intensive one-day professional development event designed to help K-12 teachers get immersed in innovative technologies. Teachers near and far are invited to apply to spend the day with us getting your hands on tools like Google Earth, Google Docs and the entire Google Apps suite. Come, sit in classes, learn some new stuff, and rub elbows with some of your most creative contemporaries who, like you, are changing the world one student and one classroom at a time.
Today, Google for Educators is also pleased to announce the launch of the new Geo Education website, where you'll find oodles of information about Google Earth, Maps, Sky and SketchUp. In addition to spotlighting inspiring lessons from some pioneering teachers, we are also sharing quick tips and ideas for easy ways get started using geo tools in your classroom. Among other things, you'll learn how to take flyover tours of peaks, valleys and gorges, how to view constellations - even in the daytime - and how to make a 3D model of your very own school.
And last but not least, awhile back, we asked teachers to share stories about using Google Docs in the classroom. You told us about your students' collaborative writing projects, about class presentations where kids were engaged in dialog using the "chat" box throughout, and you mentioned being able to be involved in the creative process early on, instead of only seeing the final product. While we were reading, we realized that Docs can be somewhat intimidating to the uninitiated, so we created a getting started document specifically educators -- with tips for signing up, logging in, and working your way through a document -- both in-class and outside.
So happy Teacher Day! We hope you have an enjoyable day during which you get a hundred shiny apples and maybe even a hug from a kid who knows how much you do every day. And we hope to see you at the Googleplex in June, too.
Moving to Unicode 5.1
5/05/2008 09:38:00 AM
Google has just begun supporting Unicode 5.1, less than one month after it was released. It's now available in search, so people speaking languages such as Malayalam can now search for words containing the new characters in Unicode 5.1.
Web pages can use a variety of different character encodings, like ASCII, Latin-1, or Windows 1252, or Unicode. Most encodings can only represent a few languages, but Unicode will handle anything from Chinese to French to Arabic. We have long used Unicode as the internal format for all the text we search: any other encoding is first converted to Unicode for processing. So we regularly update to each new version of Unicode (and relevant related standards like CLDR and BCP 47) to make sure we are current. Thus Unicode plays a key role in our mission.
Uptick in native Unicode webpages
Just last December there was an interesting milestone on the web. For the first time, we found that Unicode was the most frequent encoding found on web pages, overtaking both ASCII and Western European encodings—and by coincidence, within 10 days of one another. What's more impressive than simply overtaking them is the speed with which this happened; take a look at the blue line in this graph.
You can see a long-term decline in pages encoded in ASCII (unaccented letters A through Z). More recently, there's been a significant drop in the use of encodings covering only Western European letters (ASCII and a few accented letters like Ä, Ç, and Ø). We're seeing similar declines in other language-specific encodings. Unicode, on the other hand, is showing a sharp increase in usage.
This is based on our indexing of web pages, and thus may vary somewhat from what other search engines find. However, the trends are pretty clear, and the continued rise in use of Unicode makes it even easier to do the processing for the many languages that we cover.
Tell the Tale: Holocaust Remembrance Day
5/02/2008 02:44:00 PM
This week Israel observed Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day, a holiday inaugurated in 1959 to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. This is an especially important day to Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem-based center for remembering the Holocaust's victims and survivors. I was fortunate to tour Yad Vashem's New Museum with my family last summer, and was moved and inspired by the experience. Our guide told us an anecdote about a visitor, a survivor of the camps, who recognized an item in one exhibit and was able to explain its context to museum curators and fellow visitors. This is why Yad Vashem is so important: it's a place that preserves the horrible history of the Holocaust and puts it in context for all of us.
But a lot of people, including many survivors, aren't able to visit Yad Vashem. How can they discover and share stories? How can they see an artifact or a photo and say, I recognize that item or person because I was there? The answer, of course, is the Internet.
We're proud to report that Yad Vashem has just launched two new YouTube channels, one in English, the other in Arabic. They feature testimonies from Holocaust survivors, historians' lectures on key issues related to the Holocaust, and footage of events big and small (Pope John Paul II's visit in 2000, a touching family reunion). More importantly, they are a way for Yad Vashem to surpass its physical boundaries and reach out to an audience worldwide. This is the promise the Internet holds: to inform and connect the globe, to remember stories, to teach us. As Elie Wiesel said in his speech at the opening of the museum: "If we decided to tell the tale, it is because we wanted the world to be a better world, just a better world, and learn and remember."
Congratulations to our U.S. and Canadian Anita Borg Scholars
4/30/2008 07:12:00 AM
In 2003 we established the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship to honor the work of Dr. Anita Borg, a computer scientist who dedicated her professional career to increasing the participation of women and other under-represented minorities in the field of technology. In her memory, we're pleased to announce the fifth class of Anita Borg Scholars in the U.S., and our first class of scholars in Canada.
The U.S. program awards $10,000 academic scholarships to 23 outstanding female leaders in technology, and $1,000 scholarships to 32 finalists. In Canada, 4 women will receive $5,000 scholarship awards, and 13 finalists will receive $1,000 scholarships. These undergraduate and graduate women are completing degrees in computer science and related fields. Each of these award recipients has demonstrated a commitment to advancing women in technology. We congratulate these leaders on their accomplishments.
The U.S. scholars and finalists recently visited the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA as part of the annual all-expenses-paid Google Scholars' Retreat. Students attended technical workshops and discussions with Google engineers and executives, and heard first-hand about the life and work of Anita Borg from Telle Whitney, President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology. The retreat enables these scholars to meet each other and create a network of future leaders in computer science. The 2008 recipients of the Google United Negro College Fund Scholarship and Hispanic College Fund Scholarship also attended.
The 17 Canada Anita Borg Scholars and Finalists will attend a Scholars' Retreat for their inaugural class this Thursday and Friday at our engineering office in New York.
Visit our scholarships page to learn more about our programs. The Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship is also available to female computer science students in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The 2008 U.S. Anita Borg Scholars ($10,000 winners)
- Allison Park Heath - Rice University, PhD Computer Science
- Amy Hurst - Carnegie Mellon University, Ph Human Computer Interaction
- Betsy Nora DiSalvo - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Diane Marie Budzik - University of California, Los Angeles, PhD Electrical Engineering
- Elizabeth Arrowsmith Bales - University of California, San Diego, PhD Computer Science
- Emily Anne Fortuna -Rice University, B.S. Computer Science
- Erika Shehan Poole - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Gabriela Marcu - University of California, Irvine, B.S. Informatics
- Ghinwa Fakhri Choueiter - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
- Gina-Maria Pomann - The College of New Jersey, B.A. Math
- Jennifer C. Stoll - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Jennifer Denise Tam - Carnegie Mellon University, PhD Computer Science
- Jill Patrice Dimond - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Julie Maureen Letchner - University of Washington, PhD Computer Science
- Katherine Mary Everitt - University of Washington, PhD Computer Science
- Nancy Dougherty - Stanford University, B.S. Electrical Engineering Raluca Ada Popa - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S. Computer Science
- Sally Kadry Wahba - Clemson University, PhD Computer Science
- Sarita Ann Yardi - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Silvia Lindtner - University of California, Irvine, PhD Information & Computer Science
- Svetlana Yarosh - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Tammara Massey - University of California, Los Angeles, PhD Computer Science
- Yvon Hall Feaster - Clemson University, B.S. Computer Information Systems
- Aditi Suhas Pendharkar - Carnegie Mellon University, M.S. Information Networking
- Alokika Dash - Univeristy of California, Irvine, PhD Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
- Ashley Leonora Podhradsky
- Dakota State University, PhD Information Systems
- Carla Mae Webb - Western Illinois University, B.S. Computer Science & Math
- Christina Marie Williams - Colorado State University, B.S. Computer Science
- Devorah Gurwitz - Touro College, B.S. Computer Science
- Eakta Jain - Carnegie Mellon University, PhD Robotics
- Elena Jocelyn Jakubiak - Tufts University, PhD Computer Science
- Geeta Sharad Shroff - Carnegie Mellon University, B.S. Computer Science
- Jessica Lee Heier - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Industrial & Systems Engineering
- Karen Edwards Works - Worcester Polytechnic Institute, PhD Computer Science
- Kathy Tran Pham - Georgia Institute of Technology, M.S.Computer Science
- Kimber Diane Lockhart - Stanford University, B.Eng. Computer Science
- Kriti Rameshlal Puniyani - Carnegie Mellon University, PhD Computer Science
- Liangrong Yi - University of Kentucky, PhD Computer Science
- Lisa Deanne Brown - Carnegie Mellon University, M.A. Entertainment Technology
- Lisa Marie White - University of Notre Dame, B.Eng. Computer Science
- Lisa Minerva Tolentino - Arizona State University, PhD Media Arts & Computer Science
- Meghan Katheleen Revelle - The College of William and Mary, PhD Computer Science
- Nahid Mahfuza Alam - Clemson University, PhD Computer Engineering
- Ramya Raghavendra - University of California, Santa Barbara, PhD Computer Science
- Rashida Zalika Davis - University of Delaware, PhD Computer & Information Sciences
- Renuka Ajay Apte - Georgia Institute of Technology, M.S. Computer Science
- Ruth Lorraine Wylie - Carnegie Mellon University, PhD Human-Computer Interaction
- Sara Gatmir Motahari - New Jersey Institute of Technology, PhD Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Sofia Jeon - Drexel University, PhD Computer Science
- Sonya Stoyanova Nikolova - Princeton University, PhD Computer Science
- Stiliyana Boycheva Stamenova - Macalester College, B.A. Math & Computer Science
- Tasneem Kaochar - University of Arizona, B.S. Computer Science
- Valerie Henderson Summet - Georgia Institute of Technology, PhD Human Centered Computing
- Vibha Laljani - California Institute of Technology, B.S. Computer Science
- Yi Mao - Purdue University, PhD Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Angelica Lim - Simon Fraser University, BSc Computer Science
- Celina Gibbs - University of Victoria, MSc Computer Science
- Christina Boucher - University of Waterloo, PhD Computer Science
- Mireille Gomes - Queens University, BCompH Biomedical Computing
- Alma Juarez-Domiguez - University of Waterloo, PhD Computer Science
- April Khademi - University of Toronto, PhD Electrical Engineering
- Carrie Demmans - University of Saskatchewan, MSc Computer Science
- Cristina Ribeiro - University of Guelph, MSc Computer Science
- Gail Carmichael - Carleton University, MSc Computer Science
- Georgia Kastidou - University of Waterloo, PhD Computer Science
- Jocelyn Simmonds - University of Toronto, PhD Computer Science
- Katelyn Kent - University of New Brunswick, BSc Computer Engineering
- Ming Hua - Simon Fraser University, PhD Computer Science
- Pooja Viswanathan - University of British Columbia, PhD Computer Science
- Terri Oda - Carleton University, PhD in Computer Science
- Thuy Vu - University of Toronto, BSc Computer Science
- Viann Chan - University of British Columbia, PhD Computer Science
Where art thou?
4/30/2008 06:27:00 AM
Did you notice the chrome tulips on Google's homepage today? They are part of a special Google doodle done by renowned artist Jeff Koons. And that isn't the only art appearing anew on Google today. As part of our iGoogle Artists project, we have collaborated with almost 70 artists in 17 countries on 6 continents to create special iGoogle themes -- works of art that appeal to all ages and interests. Artists, designers and other notables involved include Jeff Koons, Dale Chihuly, Coldplay, Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Michael Graves, Philippe Starck, Robert Mankoff, Mark Morris, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Geddes and Tory Burch. While the list of those who have contributed themes is impressive (I've only listed 1/5th(!) of the artists here), even more impressive is the art itself -- it's spectacularly beautiful!
Until now, iGoogle has been about getting the content you want on your homepage. The iGoogle artist themes take personalization to the next level -- allowing you to select world-class art that really reflects your personality for your pages. It's what happens when great art meets technology.
As part of our launch, we will be holding an outdoor art gallery this weekend in New York's Meatpacking District, where on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights the art from the iGoogle artists project will be projected on the buildings, sidewalks, and streets. This is a map of where you can find the display. We will post video of the event on YouTube.
Check it out. The art speaks for itself. Select your iGoogle artist theme today at www.google.com/artistthemes!
How to avoid getting hooked
4/29/2008 11:27:00 AM
This post is one of a series devoted to online security. - Ed.
Millions of people have gotten "urgent" emails asking them to take immediate action to prevent some impending disaster. "Our bank has a new security system. Update your information now or you won't be able to access your account," or "We couldn't verify your information; click here to update your account." Sometimes the email claims that something awful will happen to the sender (or a third party), as in "The sum of $30,000,000 is going to go to the Government unless you help me transfer it to your bank account."
People who click on the links in these emails may see a web page that looks like a legitimate site they've visited before. Because the page looks familiar, these people enter their username, password, or other private information on the site. What they've actually done is given an unknown third party all the information needed to hijack their account, steal their money, or open up new lines of credit in their name. They just fell for a phishing attack.
The concept behind such an attack is pretty simple: Someone masquerades as someone else in an effort to fool you into sharing personal or other sensitive information with them. Phishers can masquerade as just about anyone, including banks, email and application providers, online merchants, online payment services, and even governments. And while some of these attacks are crude and easy to spot, many of them are sophisticated and well constructed. That fake email from "your bank" can look very real; the bogus "login page" you're redirected to can seem completely legitimate.
The good news is there are things you can do to steer clear of phishing attacks:
- Be careful about responding to emails that ask you for sensitive information. You should be wary of clicking on links in emails or responding to emails that are asking for things like account numbers, user names and passwords, or other personal information such as social security numbers. Most legitimate businesses will never ask for this information via email. Google doesn't.
- Go to the site yourself, rather than clicking on links in suspicious emails. If you receive a communication asking for sensitive information but think it could be legitimate, open a new browser window and go to the organization's website as you normally would (for instance, by using a bookmark or by typing out the address of the organization's website). This will improve the chances that you're dealing with the organization's website rather than with a phisher's website, and if there's actually something you need to do, there will usually be a notification on the site. Also, if you're not sure about a request you've received, don't be afraid to contact the organization directly to ask. It takes just a few minutes to go to the organization's website, find an email address or phone number for customer support, and reach out to confirm whether the request is legitimate.
- If you're on a site that's asking you to enter sensitive information, check for signs of anything suspicious. If you're on a site that's asking for sensitive information -- no matter how you got there -- check for the signs that it's really the official website for the organization. For example, check the URL to make sure the page is actually part of the organization's website, and not a fraudulent page on a different domain (such as mybankk.com or g00gle.com.) If you're on a page that should be secured (like one asking you to enter in your credit card information) look for "https" at the beginning of the URL and the padlock icon in the browser. (In Firefox and Internet Explorer 6, the padlock appears in the bottom right-hand corner, while in Internet Explorer 7 the padlock appears on the right-hand side of the address bar.) These signs aren't infallible, but they're a good place to start.
- Be wary of the "fabulous offers" and "fantastic prizes" that you'll sometimes come across on the web. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is, and it could be a phisher trying to steal your information. Whenever you come across an offer online that requires you to share personal or other sensitive information to take advantage of it, be sure to ask lots of questions and check the site asking for your information for signs of anything suspicious.
- Use a browser that has a phishing filter. The latest versions of most browsers -- including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera -- include phishing filters that can help you spot potential phishing attacks.
New: Google Finance China, new Finance homepage
4/24/2008 02:03:00 PM
The Chinese stock market has caught people's attention in recent years. People all over the country started investing, and [stock information] has become one of the most popular search keywords in China. After adding Shanghai/Shenzhen market data into Google Finance and launching the Chinese finance onebox last year, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Finance China. Now it's easier to get Chinese stock and mutual fund data through our easy-to-use and familiar interface in Chinese.
This was a joint effort across continents with engineers from New York and Shanghai. We hope Google Finance China will become a practical tool for Chinese investors to get up-to-date and comprehensive financial information. The site includes popular features such as Google Suggest for stock codes, whether you enter the stock code or name in Chinese or pinyin, and a display of financial information from Chinese sources on the stock price chart.
At the same time we have launched a newly redesigned home page for all our Google Finance sites (U.S., Canada, U.K., China). It's now easier to follow the latest news affecting the market as well as those that are relevant to your portfolio. We hope you enjoy this new look. The simultaneous launch of the new homepage across countries is just one of the new features and updates to come.
As usual, we encourage you to provide us with your ideas and comments through the Help Center. Your feedback is very important for us to continuously improve Google Finance.
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