Google doodles especially for your phone

While we’ve had oodles of Google doodles on our desktop homepage since Larry and Sergey created our very first in 1998, doodles on our mobile homepage have been few and far between. Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re bringing more doodles to your phone, beginning with Android 2.0+ and iOS 3+ devices worldwide. In fact, almost all of the doodles we show on our desktop homepage will now have corresponding mobile versions on these phones. When the doodles are available, just go to google.com in your mobile browser to see them.



Source: Google Blog

Optional attendees in Google Calendar

Time is one of our most precious resources. Despite their necessity, meetings tend to vary in importance for different attendees. John might be really interested in his team’s weekly meeting, whereas Jane, who is working on a unrelated project, may want to skip it.

Guests’ roles in meetings tend to vary as well. Some people have to be there to lead the meeting or help make decisions, whereas others are gathering information they may be able to digest just as well via the notes. Without knowing which attendees are crucial and which are optional, it can be difficult to know which meetings you really need to attend.

That’s where Google Calendar’s new “Optional attendees” feature comes in. With a couple clicks, you can openly communicate the importance of a meeting for each attendee. Click on the “Make some attendees optional link” above the guest list and then toggle the role of each attendee by clicking the icon next to his or her name. So far, this feature has helped us more effectively manage our own time on the Calendar team — we hope it does the same for you.



Source: Gmail Blog

New in Labs: Recently used emoji

When we added emoticons in Gmail, you responded with a nice big smile , but then you asked for more. So we added hundreds more emoticons through Gmail Labs. “But alas!” you cried. “How can I ever keep up with so many different choices? I am overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of emotion , amusement , and cute animals that Gmail has to offer." Well, don’t despair, fine purveyor of emoticons. There is now a solution: “Recently Used Emoji” in Gmail Labs, which keeps track of the ten most recent emoticons you’ve used, and saves them for easy access. To turn it on, just visit the Labs tab of Gmail Settings.



No more searching through dozens of cat faces for the one that says, “I miss you, but I’m still ambivalent about our weekend plans.” You can now triumph over the plethora of emoticons, and easily add a pile of emotion to any email that you choose — let us know how it goes.

Source: Gmail Blog

Introducing Google Earth Engine

A planetary-scale platform for environmental data & analysis.

Google Earth Engine brings together the world's satellite imagery—trillions of scientific measurements dating back more than 25 years—and makes it available online with tools for scientists, independent researchers, and nations to mine this massive warehouse of data to detect changes, map trends and quantify differences to the earth's surface.

Using this new tool, we've already begun helping scientists develop applications for detecting deforestation and mapping land use trends, and have started working with individual countries to develop their own applications.

View product videos or our Map Gallery to learn more or visit the Data Catalog to get started. Certain features, such as data download, are restricted to members of our trusted tester program.



Source:
Google Earth Engine
Google Blog

Send a Call From Santa

Growing up, December was always a favorite month of mine. School would let out for two weeks, snowflakes would start falling and I’d write my letter to Santa to remind him that I’d been especially good that year (and ask if he’d mind bringing me a few Ninja Turtles). He never answered those letters—he’s a busy guy, after all—but what if he could pick up the phone and call me instead? What if Santa had Google Voice and could easily call all the kids on his list?

Well, this year he can—with your help. If you know a kid (of any age) who’d like to hear from Santa, create and send a personalized phone call from the jolly man in the red suit himself at sendacallfromsanta.com.

There are hundreds of options to choose from, so you can send unique, customized phone calls to anyone you know, from your nieces and nephews to old college friends, over the phone (to U.S. numbers only) or via email, Facebook or Twitter.

If you or your kids have a special request or message for Santa, you can leave him a message at his Google Voice number: 855-34-SANTA. Although he’s too busy to return messages himself, you can always create one on his behalf at the Send a Call From Santa site.

Ready to spread some holiday cheer? Listen to a sample message, and visit sendacallfromsanta.com to send a message of your own.

And don’t forget—if you want to keep up with Santa as he travels around the globe delivering presents on Christmas Eve, you can track his journey on Google Maps, on Google Earth with the plug-in and on your mobile phone, too.

Source:
Google Blog
Send a Call From Santa

Google Voice

Teach your phone new tricks
Google Voice enhances the existing capabilities of your phone, regardless of which phone or carrier you have - for free. It also gives you:

• One Number
Use a single number that rings you anywhere.


• Online voicemail
Get transcribed messages delivered to your inbox.


• Cheap calls
Free calls & text messages to the U.S. & Canada. Super low rates everywhere else.


Google Voice is a telecommunications service by Google launched on March 11, 2009. A mistakenly-filed FCC report from October 2009 indicated that Google Voice had some 1.4 million users, 570,000 of which used the service 7 days a week. This has been confirmed by Google.

The service is configured and maintained by the user in a web-based application, styled after Google's e-mail service, Gmail. Google Voice currently provides free PC to PC voice (and, optionally, also video) calling worldwide. In addition, free PC to phone calls are currently available into North America (this service will remain free at least until the end of 2010).

Source:

• Google Voice


• Wikipedia

Kinect for Xbox 360

Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect (originally known by the code name Project Natal), is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform, and may later be supported by PCs via Windows 8. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typical gamer base. Kinect competes with the Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus and PlayStation Move & PlayStation Eye motion control systems for the Wii and PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively.

Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010, in Europe on November 10, 2010, and in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore on November 18, 2010. It was released in Japan on November 20, 2010. Purchase options for the sensor peripheral will include a bundle with the game Kinect Adventures and console bundles with either a 4 GB or 250 GB Xbox 360 console and Kinect Adventures.



Source:
Wikipedia
Xbox.com

Manned mission to Mars

Concept for NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009)

A manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, engineering, and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. The plans comprise proposals not only to land on, but eventually also settle the planet Mars, its moons, Phobos & Deimos and terraform the planet.

Preliminary work for missions has been undertaken since the 1950s, with planned missions typically taking place 10 to 30 years in the future. The list of manned Mars mission plans in the 20th century shows the various mission proposals that have been put forth by multiple organizations and space agencies in this field of space exploration.

In 2004 the U.S. administration announced a new Vision for Space Exploration naming a manned Mars mission as one of its milestones. No concrete plan has been decided upon, and the proposal is currently being discussed between politicians, scientists, space advocates and in the public. In 2010, a new bill was signed allowing for a manned Mars mission by the 2030s.

Source:
Wikipedia
NASA - Mars Exploration Program
NASA - Manned mssion to Mars in 2019

Windows 8

A roadmap timeline slide shown by Microsoft at the 2009 Professional Developers Conference shows that a product code-named Windows 8 is scheduled to be released sometime between 2011 (Beta) and 2012. Development and other aspects of Windows 8 have not been detailed in public, although job listings have mentioned improved functionality for file access in branch offices.

A Microsoft KB article confirmed that Windows 8 is the next version of Windows. The article has now been changed to remove references to Windows 8.

A leaked document from Microsoft indicates that Windows 8 might feature faster startup, an App Store, integrated web applications, improved digital media support (including AVC HD and 3D video), faster resumes from low-power states, and USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0 support.[16][17] Windows 8 is likely to include facial recognition (due to the increase of webcams that are integrated into computers and its latest add-on to its Xbox 360 console, Kinect).

A Dutch representative posted on the company's blog that Microsoft is working on the next edition of Windows and that "it will take about two years before Windows 8 will be on the market".

Steve Ballmer hinted at UK Tech Days that Windows 8 will feature major improvements for touch usage.

On October 22, 2010, Ballmer stated that "the next generation of Windows, would be the riskiest product Microsoft ever made" but he did not add any details on why Windows 8 will be the "riskiest product". Also, some articles claim that Windows 8 has been renamed Windows Next. However, this has not been confirmed yet.




Source:
Wikipedia
Windows 8 Beta
Windows 8 News

Google over IPv6

Access Google services over IPv6

At Google, we believe that IPv6 is essential to the continued health and openness of the Internet – and that by allowing all devices on a network to talk to each other directly, IPv6 will enable innovation and allow the Internet's continued growth. Typical Google users do not need to do anything to prepare for IPv6, but we are working with network operators to support the transition.

In March 2008, we began offering Google search over IPv6 on IPv6-only websites like ipv6.google.com (IPv6 connection required), but other Google products were not generally available over IPv6.

That's why we created Google over IPv6. If you operate a network that supports IPv6, we may be able to enable Google over IPv6, letting you give users seamless access to most Google services over IPv6 simply by going to the same websites they usually use, such as www.google.com.

How it works

Google over IPv6 uses the IPv4 address of your DNS resolver to determine whether a network is IPv6-capable. If you enable Google over IPv6 for your resolver, IPv6 users of that resolver will receive AAAA records for IPv6-enabled Google services.

Normally, if a DNS resolver requests an IPv6 address for a Google web site, it will not receive one… …but a DNS resolver with Google over IPv6 will receive an IPv6 address, and its users will be able to connect to Google web sites using IPv6.

How to get started using Google over IPv6

To qualify for Google over IPv6, your network must meet a number of requirements. These include:

• Low latency, redundant paths to Google using direct peering or reliable transit


• Production-quality IPv6 support and reliability


• Separate DNS servers for your IPv6 users (not shared with IPv4-only users)


• Users who have opted in to IPv6 services and know how to opt out if they experience problems with Google services

If your network meets these requirements and you'd like to receive Google over IPv6, please see our FAQ for how to request access.
Source: Google

IPv6 - Internet Protocol Version 6

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is a version of the Internet Protocol that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). IPv4 was the first publicly used Internet Protocol and has been in operation since 1981.

IPv6 is an Internet Layer protocol for packet-switched internetworking and provides an end-to-end datagram delivery service. The main driving force for the redesign of Internet Protocol was the foreseeable IPv4 address exhaustion. IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and is described in Internet standard document RFC 2460, published in December 1998.

IPv6 uses a 128-bit address, whereas IPv4 uses only 32 bits (2^32 addresses). The new address space supports 2^128 (about 3.4×10^38) addresses. This expansion provides considerable flexibility in allocating addresses and routing traffic. It also eliminates the primary need for network address translation (NAT), which gained widespread deployment as an effort to alleviate IPv4 address exhaustion.
Source: Wikipedia

Introducing the Nokia N8

The Nokia N8 is the Nokia's first camera phone to have a 12 megapixel sensor and Nokia's first smartphone to run on the Symbian^3 operating system.

The Nokia N8 smartphone was made available at the official Nokia Online Store on September 23, 2010 and was released in select markets on October 1, 2010. The N8 became the product with the most amount of customer pre-orders in Nokia's history up to the point of its release.



Source:
Nokia N8
Wikipedia

View Thumbnails on Google search results - Xmarks Thumbnails

Xmarks Thumbnails adds preview images to your Google and Bing search results. See a thumbnail preview for each web site before you click. Works on Google and Bing search results in all countries. You'll also notice that Thumbnails adds more info to the search results, showing you what a site is about and how it ranks in its category.

Xmarks Thumbnails add-on is available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Source: Xmarks Thumbnails

Joomla

Joomla is a free and open source content management system (CMS) for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. It comprises a model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework that can also be used independently.

Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques and software design patterns, stores data in a MySQL database, and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and support for language internationalization.

Within its first year of release, Joomla had been downloaded 2.5 million times. There are over 6,000 free and commercial plug-ins available from the official Joomla! Extension Directory and more available from other sources.

Source:
Joomla.org
About Joomla
Wikipedia

G.hn Technology - ITU-T Home networking

G.hn is the common name for a home network technology standard being developed under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) and promoted by the HomeGrid Forum and several other organizations. It supports networking over power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables with data rates up to 1 Gbit/s.

ITU Recommendation G.9960, which received Approval on Oct 9th 2009, specifies the Physical Layer and the architecture of G.hn. The Data Link Layer (Recommendation G.9961) was approved on June 11, 2010. The work was done in the ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Sector, Study Group 15, Question 4. Over 20 companies participated regularly, representing a broad cross section of the communications industry including some of the world's largest telephone companies, major communication equipment companies, and some of the leading home networking technology companies.

Source:
Wikipedia
G.hn Technology

Google Applications

As customers begin to recognize large productivity gains with Gmail, Google Docs and the rest of Google Apps, they frequently ask when they’ll be able to use services like Google Voice, Reader, Blogger and AdWords with their Google Apps accounts. We’ve steadily added new functionality to Google Apps and recently added support for third-party apps, but we’re thrilled to swing the floodgates of new functionality wide open now. Starting today, customers worldwide can access a full spectrum of services from Google—including more than 60 productivity-boosting applications that extend far beyond any traditional software suite.

Coupled with the ability for administrators to provide different sets of applications to different groups of users, the possibilities for empowering workers in new ways are remarkable. For example, you could equip your marketing team with Picasa Web Albums so they can collect and share photos from customer appreciation events, and let that team publish your company’s blog with Blogger. Services like iGoogle and Alerts, on the other hand, may be broadly useful, and could be enabled for your whole organization.
Source: Google Blog

Google Instant - Search Result Instant Preview

Quickly compare results. Pinpoint relevant content. Interact with the results page.

With Google Instant you get results as fast as you type, but your search doesn’t stop there. Once you get results back, you choose a site to visit based on the information in each result—like the title, a snippet of text and the URL. Over time we’ve made steady improvements to our search results and snippets to help you pick a great page. Now we’re making a leap to image-based snapshots—a new kind of visual search result we call “Instant Previews” which makes it even faster to choose the right result.

Instant Previews provides a graphic overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections, making finding the right page as quick and easy as flipping through a magazine. To use it, click once on the magnifying glass next to the title of any search result and a visual overview of the page will appear on the right. From there, hover your cursor over any other result to see a preview. For those of you who’ve recently stopped using your mouse to search, now you can navigate to a result, hit the right arrow key to see the preview, and hit the down arrow key to keep browsing. Here’s a video showing Instant Previews in action:
Source: Google Blog

Google Code-in: Contest is Open!

We’re pleased to announce that today marks the start of the Google Code-in contest. Students who are at least 13 years old and not more than 18 years old and are currently enrolled in a pre-university school on November 22, 2010 are eligible to participate. Start claiming tasks to work on for our participating mentor organizations right now.

Tasks are sorted according to organization, difficulty level, type of task, and point value. If you are considering participating, take a look at the tasks list and see what you’re interested in claiming. You can comment on the task if you have questions about the task for the organization.

For successful completion of just one task you will receive a t-shirt and certificate of participation. For every three tasks you complete you’ll receive $100, up to a maximum of $500. Our 10 contestants with the most points at the end of the contest win the Grand Prize: an all-expenses paid trip with a family member to Google’s Headquarters in Mountain View, California!

The contest ends on January 10, 2011. So don’t delay, claim a task today!

If you have questions, please review our Frequently Asked Questions and the Rules page, or take a look at the video above. You can also join our discussion list and ask your question there.

Have fun, and meet you on the list or in Mountain View!

Source: Google Open Source Blog

Google Refine

Google Refine 2.0 - a power tool for data wranglers


Our acquisition of Metaweb back in July also brought along Freebase Gridworks, an open source software project for cleaning and enhancing entire data sets. Today we’re announcing that the project has been renamed to Google Refine and version 2.0 is now available.

Google Refine is a power tool for working with messy data sets, including cleaning up inconsistencies, transforming them from one format into another, and extending them with new data from external web services or other databases. Version 2.0 introduces a new extensions architecture, a reconciliation framework for linking records to other databases (like Freebase), and a ton of new transformation commands and expressions.

Freebase Gridworks 1.0 has already been well received by the data journalism and open government data communities (you can read how the Chicago Tribune, ProPublica and data.gov.uk have used it) and we are very excited by what they and others will be able to do with this new release. To learn more about what you can do with Google Refine 2.0, watch the following screencasts:





Source: Google Open Source Blog

Pacifica Online - Facebook Game

Pacifica Online: MMORPG for the Facebook Platform.



Pacifica Online - supports free and open source software.

A Free and Fun High Quality MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) for Facebook. No downloads, long waiting time or extra plugins required. Just play it directly from your browser!

Pacifica Online is made by Nexus Pixels - Free High Quality Multiplayer Online Games Independent Development Team in the Philippines.

Team Members
Galileo Lajara - Game Designer / Lead Programmer
Jeremiah Torevillas - Art Director / 3D Artist
Justine Aaron Torrevillas - Graphic Artist / Map Designer
Donnie Ray Gianchand - Game Programmer / Music Composer

Mission
Develop High Quality Free Real-time Multiplayer Online Games using Open Source Software


Source:
Nexus Pixels
Nexus Pixels on Facebook
Pacifica Online MMORPG
Software Freedom Day 2010

Preserving Alan Turing’s papers at Bletchley Park

As you may have seen, some key papers from British computer scientist and wartime codebreaker Alan Turing are up for auction today at Christie’s in London. Dr Turing is a hero to many of us at Google for his pioneering work on algorithms and the development of computer science. (He’s also an important figure for many across the world who face homophobic attacks and bullying, an issue that we have spoken about elsewhere.)

Why are these papers so important? Dr Sue Black, a computer scientist at University College London and a key campaigner for Bletchley Park, where Dr Turing worked, explains: “The lot includes codebreaker Max Newman's copies of many of Turing's papers. Some of the papers have on them comments from Newman, a friend of Turing’s who testified in his defence at his trial. These papers belong at Bletchley Park, home of the codebreakers, and where these two codebreakers worked together side by side, helping to save millions of lives during World War II.”

There’s still a long way to go to raise all the money required; we hope that others will be able to come forward too. The deadline for contributions to the bid has been extended until 2pm GMT today. Anyone interested in supporting it should contact Sue directly, or go to http://www.justgiving.com/turing-papers/.

Source: Google Blog

Apply for a 2011 Google Policy Fellowship

Last summer Google Fellow Gwen Glazer at the American Library Association focused on digitization, specifically on for content from small or mid-sized public libraries and other cultural heritage institutions. Rare materials, like local history collections and historic photographs and maps, present significant challenges to digitization, and Gwen’s proposal encouraged the creation of a national program that would digitize these archival materials and collect them in a free online interface to make them available to the public.

Ramtin Amtin at the Citizen Lab examined the recent changes to Google in China to study free expression as a human rights issue, and explored Internet censorship as a potential violation of world trade laws.

At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Carolyn Homer wrote a legal paper on the meaning of online privacy policies, and published two op-eds on privacy on AOL News and in AdAge.

What will Google fellows do summer 2011? That’s up to you. Students of all levels and disciplines interested in Internet policy issues can apply starting today. The deadline for applications is January 17, 2011.

Selected students will spend ten weeks this summer working on issues as varied as free expression, privacy, security, and intellectual property with thought leaders at a diverse range of organizations, including: American Library Association, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, Cato Institute, Center for Democracy and Technology, The Citizen Lab, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Creative Commons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Future of Music Coalition, Internet Education Foundation, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Media Access Project, National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, TechFreedom, and the Technology Policy Institute.

You can learn about the program and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.

Google Public Policy Blog

Google Person Finder

Be Part of Improving Google Person Finder

Google Person Finder has become a useful tool in responding to natural disasters by reconnecting people with their family and friends. We’ve been looking at the next phase of Google Person Finder and decided to begin hosting the open source project at Google Code. We’re inviting the developer community to help improve Google Person Finder and the PFIF data format.

Google Person Finder provides a common place to search for, comment on, and connect records from many missing person registries. After the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, a team of Googlers worked with the U.S. Department of State to quickly create a site that helped people who were affected by the disaster. The site was used heavily after the Chile earthquake in February and put in action again in April after the Qinghai earthquake in China and in August for the Pakistan floods.

The software powering Google Person Finder is open source so we’re listing the open issues and feature requests we’ve received over the past few months in hopes the community can help us improve the code. We’ve created a Developer Guide to help developers get started. As always, we invite those interested to post questions on our public Person Finder discussion group. Those who are interested in improving the PFIF data format can also join the PFIF discussion group.
Google Blog
Person Finder: Test Instance

Google Checkout

Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout.

Google Checkout is an online payment processing service provided by Google aimed at simplifying the process of paying for online purchases. Users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google Account, so that they can purchase at participating stores at the click of a button. Google Checkout also offers fraud protection, as well a unified page for tracking purchases and their status.

Google Checkout service was first made available in the United States on June 28, 2006, and later became available in the UK on April 13, 2007. It was free for merchants until February 1, 2008. Between that date and May 5, 2009 Google charged merchants 2.0% plus $0.20 per transaction (1.4% + £0.20 for UK merchants). Since that date Google has moved to a tiered cost structure, identical to that of PayPal. Also since this date, Google have discontinued their offer whereby merchants who advertised with an AdWords account were not charged fees on monthly transactions totaling less than ten times their monthly AdWords expenditure. Google Checkout Tour. Wikipedia.

Google Instant

Faster Searches. Smarter Predictions. Instant Results.
Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way. Google Instant.

Google Translate

Translate the world with new Google Translate.

Google Translate is a free statistically-based machine translation service provided by Google Inc. to translate a section of text, document or webpage, into another language.

The service was introduced in 2007. Prior to that Google used a SYSTRAN based translator which is used by other translation services such as Babel Fish, AOL, and Yahoo. Wikipedia.

Google Mp3 Player in Gmail

A new GMail feature lets you play MP3 files right inside the GMail homepage without having to download the MP3 song or open an external media player.



When you receive an MP3 audio file as an email attachment, click the play button and Google will play the audio file for you in a Gmail popup window.



You can also embed this player in your website so your visitors can listen to an audio clip right from any page.

What is Google Chrome OS?

Google Chrome OS is a forthcoming Linux-based, open source operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications. First announced on July 7, 2009, Chrome OS will be publicly available as a stable release by the northern hemisphere "late fall" of 2010 according to Google.

Chrome OS will not be available as a download to run and install. Instead, the operating system will only ship on specific hardware from Google's manufacturing partners. The user interface takes a minimalist approach, resembling that of the Chrome web browser. Because the only application on the device will be a browser incorporating a media player, Google Chrome OS is aimed at users who spend most of their computer time on the Internet. Wikidepia.

Latest on Youtube

35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute

Remember in March when we shared that more than 24 hours of video was being uploaded to YouTube every minute? Well, our users continue to amaze us, and as of last week, 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. If we were to measure that in movie terms (assuming the average Hollywood film is around 120 minutes long), it’s the equivalent of more than 176,000 full-length Hollywood releases every week.

Give YouTube Topics on Search a whirl
We know that sometimes people come to YouTube looking for a specific video, but at other times, they have only a rough idea of the kind of videos they want. We’ve been there too, and have been thinking for a while about this challenge of searching when you don’t yet know exactly what you’re looking for. Here’s our take on how discovery for videos could work on YouTube in the not-too-distant future. Find out what happens when we search for [LOL] and [cat] to find funny cat videos.



Google Blog

Gmail's New Look

Gmail homepage makeover
Monday, November 15, 2010 | 6:25 PM

If you visited the Gmail log-in page recently, you may have noticed that things looked a wee bit different. They decided to give this page a bit of a facelift and updated a few of Gmail’s other pages while we were at it. Their goal was to keep a familiar look while freshening up the graphics and trimming down the text (they cut out over 250 words in the process).
Here’s a before & after of the log-in page:

They also updated the Gmail logo, brightening the colors and making it more in line with the latest Google logo:

Google Blog.

Gmail 5 New Themes

Felling unhappy and bored with your current Gmail theme?..
Try one of the new five Gmail themes now.

• Basic Black and Basic White Theme

Google has stripped the Gmail interface to its barebones offering us something “dead simple” in either black or white color options.



• Android Theme

If you love your Android smartphone then this is the theme for you, using the same color scheme as the mobile operating system.


• Tree Tops Theme

This is a theme for those of you who want to relax and look at some trees, some relaxing tree tops in fact.

• Marker Theme

Finally there’s the marker theme which gives Gmail a handmade look. Not to everyone’s tastes, but Google needs to cater for its millions of users so I’m sure some will welcome this one.

Google Adsense - New Look

Introducing the new AdSense interface, now available globally.
Google has just released a new interface for its AdSense platform and it is being rolled out to all publishers globally.

Almost exactly a year ago, Google started testing its new AdSense interface with a select group of AdSense publishers. The new design is a reflection on both the feedback from that group and requests for features from the existing userbase.

The new AdSense looks strikingly similar to the new Feedburner interface released last month. We expect that more and more Google Webmaster products will begin to take on cues from these two interface updates.

The new interface has been redesigned to make managing tasks more efficient, has placed controls all in one place and provides more insights into analytical data. Google Adsense. Google Adsense Blog.

Take a tour on New look of Google Adsense now.

Google Vulnerability Reward Program

Rewarding web application security research.
Monday, November 1, 2010 12:30 PM
Back in January of this year, the Chromium open source project launched a well-received vulnerability reward program. In the months since launch, researchers reporting a wide range of great bugs have received rewards — a small summary of which can be found in the Hall of Fame. We've seen a sustained increase in the number of high quality reports from researchers, and their combined efforts are contributing to a more secure Chromium browser for millions of users.

Today, we are announcing an experimental new vulnerability reward program that applies to Google web properties. We already enjoy working with an array of researchers to improve Google security, and some individuals who have provided high caliber reports are listed on our credits page. As well as enabling us to thank regular contributors in a new way, we hope our new program will attract new researchers and the types of reports that help make our users safer. More information at: Google Online Security. Vulnerability Reward Program.

Google Chrome - Free Wi-Fi for the holidays

Passengers enjoy free Wi-Fi for the holidays.

This holiday season, Google Chrome has teamed up with AirTran Airways, Delta, and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every domestic flight from November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011. These participating airlines have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi, and we expect more connected passengers this holiday season than ever before!

Just bring a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device and stay connected to family and friends while you travel. Free Wifi from Google Chrome.

Google Docs - Moving Your Files To The Cloud

Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Google Docs combines the features of Writely and Spreadsheets with a presentation program incorporating technology designed by Tonic Systems. Data storage of any files up to 1GB each in size was introduced on January 13, 2010. Wikipedia.

Google Map - Street View

Explore the world at street level.
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world. It was launched on May 25, 2007, originally only in several cities in the United States, and has since gradually expanded to include more cities and rural areas worldwide.

Google Street View displays images taken from a fleet of specially adapted cars. Areas not accessible by car, like pedestrian areas, narrow streets, alleys and ski resorts, are sometimes covered by Google Trikes (tricycles) or a snowmobile. On each of these vehicles there are nine directional cameras for 360° views at a height of about 2.5 meters, GPS units for positioning and three laser range scanners for the measuring of up to 50 meters 180° in the front of the vehicle. There are also 3G/GSM/Wi-Fi antennas for scanning 3G/GSM and Wi-Fi hotspots. Recently, 'high quality' images are based on open source hardware cameras from Elphel. Wikipedia.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended - Top 5 New Features

Complex selections made easy.

Easily select intricate image elements, such as hair, for refinements, compositing, or placing in layout. Eliminate background color around selection edges, and automatically vary selection edges and perfect masks using new refinement tools.

Content-Aware Fill.
Remove any image detail or object and watch as Content-Aware Fill magically fills in the space left behind. This breakthrough technology matches lighting, tone, and noise so it looks as if the removed content never existed.


Puppet Warp.
Precisely warp or stretch graphics, text, or image elements to create unique new looks for your designs.




State-of-the-art raw image processing.
Use the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 6 plug-in to nondestructively remove image noise while preserving color and detail; add grain to make digital photos look more organic; enjoy more control when performing post-crop vignetting; and more.


Superior HDR imaging.
Create photo-realistic or surreal HDR images with unprecedented speed, control, and accuracy. Get better-than-ever results thanks to automatic ghost removal and greater control with tone mapping and adjustments, and even give single-exposure photos the look of HDR.

More on Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended.
Download a free trial of Photoshop CS5 Extended.


Podcast.

Google's Self-Driving Car

Google's project was kept secret until now. Seven cars were equipped with the system outlined above. Cars have gone about 1600 km without any help from man, and about 384000 km with minimum intervention. Even if the project itself was secret, tests were conducted in public on the streets of California.

Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.
-GoogleBlog

Software Freedom Day 2010

Bluepoint Linux Users Elite (BLUE) in cooperation with the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) and Bluepoint Foundation will celebrate Software Freedom Day with the rest of the world on September 18, 2010 at the Leong Hall Auditorium, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Registration is FREE.

Difference between Core 2 Duo and Core Duo

Dual core is simply a generic term referring to any processor package with two physical CPUs in one. The Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo and Athlon X2 are all current CPUs that have dual cores in one package.

The Pentium D is simply two Pentium 4 Prescott cpus inefficiently paired together and ran as dual core.

The Core Duo is Intel's first generation dual core processor based upon the Pentium M (a Pentium III-4 hybrid) made mostly for laptops (though a few motherboard manufacturers have released desktop boards supporting the Core Duo CPU), and is much more efficiently than Pentium D.

The Core 2 Duo is Intel's second generation (hence, Core 2) processor made for desktops and laptops designed from the ground up to be fast while not consuming nearly as much power as previous CPUs.


Note - Intel has dropped the Pentium name in favor of the Core architecture as Intel is restructuring and refocusing it's efforts to become number one again (and are doing a fine job, might I add).

The AMD Athlon X2 CPUs have two revisions, the first one is essentially very similiar to the Pentium Ds in that they are simply two Athlon 64 chips fused together, making power requirements quite steep (around 89 watts). The second revision is made more efficiently, like the Core Duos, with much less power consumption (around 65 watts).


There are, of course, other differences, but that is the gist of dual cores as it relates to Intel and AMD.

Difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW

There’s DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So what’s the difference between all of these different names, aren’t all DVDs the same? Well, it’s not quite that simple.

Let’s first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The “R” stands for recordable, while the “W” stands for rewriteable.

The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.

“R” discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. “RW” discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but you’ll have to decide if the trade offs are worth the money.

Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As I just described above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what’s the difference between the plus and minus?

In order to explain this we must take a trip back in time. When DVDs were first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of the future.

The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:

• The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by Apple and Pioneer. These “minus“ discs can only be written to in one layer on the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the “plus” format.
  
  
• The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Microsoft. These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better and more disc storage than the “minus“ format. Because of this additional capacity, they are slightly more expensive than “minus“ discs.

A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to DVDs.

And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the “DVD” or “CD” prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD’s capacity. While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much greater.

Differences between an Ethernet hub or switch and a broadband router

Most broadband routers (“routers” for short) are a combination Ethernet switch (or hub) and Network Address Translator (NAT; see below). They usually include a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, Domain Name Service (DNS) proxy server (see below), and a hardware firewall to protect the Local Area Network (LAN) from malicious intrusion from the Internet.

All routers have a Wide Area Network (WAN) Port. This port connects to the to a DSL or cable MODEM for broadband service (e.g., the Internet) and is usually a 10 MHz 10BASET Ethernet port. A 10 MHz WAN port is sufficient for cable and DSL MODEMs as these devices transfer data at rate that is a fraction of 10 MHz. I have seen no broadband routers with a USB WAN port to connect to a USB cable or DSL MODEM.

Many recent broadband routers are combination routers/Ethernet switch (or hub) that have multiple Ethernet ports to connect more than one PC to form a LAN. These ports allow the PCs to share the WAN port/broadband Internet connection and perform LAN functions, such as Windows file and printer sharing. The LAN ports are usually 100 MHz 100 BASE-TX Ethernet.

Some routers have a single WAN port and a single LAN port and are designed to connect to an existing LAN hub or switch to a WAN.

Ethernet switches and hubs can be connected to router with multiple PC ports to expand a LAN. Depending on the capabilities (kinds of available ports) of the router and the switches or hubs, the connection between the router and switches/hubs may require straight-thru or crossover cables

In short, a hub glues together an Ethernet network segment, a switch can connect multiple Ethernet segments, and a router can do those functions plus route TCP/IP packets between multiple PCs on LAN and a WAN, and much more.

Difference between an Ethernet hub and switch.

Although hubs and switches both glue the PCs in a network together, a switch is more expensive and a network built with switches is generally considered faster than one built with hubs


When a hub receives a packet (chunk) of data (a frame in Ethernet lingo) at one of its ports from a PC on the network, it transmits (repeats) the packet to all of its ports and, thus, to all of the other PCs on the network. If two or more PCs on the network try to send packets at the same time a collision is said to occur. When that happens all of the PCs have to go though a routine to resolve the conflict. The process is prescribed in the Ethernet Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol. Each Ethernet Adapter has both a receiver and a transmitter. If the adapters didn't have to listen with their receivers for collisions they would be able to send data at the same time they are receiving it (full duplex). Because they have to operate at half duplex (data flows one way at a time) and a hub retransmits data from one PC to all of the PCs, the maximum bandwidth is 100 Mhz and that bandwidth is shared by all of the PC's connected to the hub. The result is when a person using a computer on a hub downloads a large file or group of files from another computer the network becomes congested. In a 10 Mhz 10Base-T network the affect is to slow the network to nearly a crawl. The affect on a small, 100 Mbps (million bits per scond), 5-port network is not as significant.



Two computers can be connected directly together in an Ethernet with a crossover cable. A crossover cable doesn't have a collision problem. It hardwires the Ethernet transmitter on one computer to the receiver on the other. Most 100BASE-TX Ethernet Adapters can detect when listening for collisions is not required with a process known as auto-negotiation and will operate in a full duplex mode when it is permitted. The result is a crossover cable doesn't have delays caused by collisions, data can be sent in both directions simultaneously, the maximum available bandwidth is 200 Mbps, 100 Mbps each way, and there are no other PC's with which the bandwidth must be shared.

An Ethernet switch automatically divides the network into multiple segments, acts as a high-speed, selective bridge between the segments, and supports simultaneous connections of multiple pairs of computers which don't compete with other pairs of computers for network bandwidth. It accomplishes this by maintaining a table of each destination address and its port. When the switch receives a packet, it reads the destination address from the header information in the packet, establishes a temporary connection between the source and destination ports, sends the packet on its way, and then terminates the connection.

Picture a switch as making multiple temporary crossover cable connections between pairs of computers (the cables are actually straight-thru cables; the crossover function is done inside the switch). High-speed electronics in the switch automatically connect the end of one cable (source port) from a sending computer to the end of another cable (destination port) going to the receiving computer on a per packet basis. Multiple connections like this can occur simultaneously. It's as simple as that. And like a crossover cable between two PCs, PC's on an Ethernet switch do not share the transmission media, do not experience collisions or have to listen for them, can operate in a full-duplex mode, have bandwidth as high as 200 Mbps, 100 Mbps each way, and do not share this bandwidth with other PCs on the switch. In short, a switch is "more better."

How to Install IIS on Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000

Follow these steps to install IIS on Windows Vista:
Internet Information Services (IIS)

1.Open the Control Panel from the Start menu
2.Double-click Programs and Features
3.Click "Turn Windows features on or off" (a link to the left)
4.Select the check box for Internet Information Services (IIS), and click OK
After you have installed IIS, make sure you install all patches for bugs and security problems. (Run Windows Update).


Follow these steps to install IIS on Windows XP and Windows 2000:

1.On the Start menu, click Settings and select Control Panel
2.Double-click Add or Remove Programs
3.Click Add/Remove Windows Components
4.Click Internet Information Services (IIS)
5.Click Details
6.Select the check box for World Wide Web Service, and click OK
7.In Windows Component selection, click Next to install IIS
After you have installed IIS, make sure you install all patches for bugs and security problems. (Run Windows Update).

Test Your Web
After you have installed IIS, follow these steps:

1.Look for a new folder called Inetpub on your hard drive
2.Open the Inetpub folder, and find a folder named wwwroot
3.Create a new folder, like "MyWeb", under wwwroot
4.Write some ASP code and save the file as "test1.asp" in the new folder
5.Make sure your Web server is running (see below)
6.Open your browser and type "http://localhost/MyWeb/test1.asp", to view your first web page
Note: Look for the IIS (or PWS) symbol in your start menu or task bar. The program has functions for starting and stopping the web server, disable and enable ASP, and much more.

Add a Slideshow of Picasa Photos to Your Blog

Picasa is a free photo management product by Google that I actually use for all my photos. The software organizes and can adjust your photo albums on your computer and then easily uploads them to your Picasa account. I love the ability to quickly upload pictures from my trips, etc and just send the url to my friends and family.

So if you already have a Picasa account and have pictures you’d like to include on your blog, you should check out this widget. If you don’t have Picasa yet, I highly recommend you download it for free by clicking on the link below.

After you select the photo album and settings you want to use, it gives you some code to paste into your site. You can either paste it into your post or add it to your sidebar by creating an html/javascript widget. Then just paste the code into the widget and save.

Here’s a screenshot of the widget being setup:

Notice how easy the setup process is. It provides the code to paste into your blog and then you’ll have a flash slideshow rotating through all your photos! Pretty cool. I was going to include a working demo but once you login to your account and start building a slideshow, it shows you real-time how it works. It’s worth checking out….enjoy!

File Sharing between Windows 7 and XP

Sharing folders between two Windows 7 machines with the new HomeGroup feature is an easy process, but the HomeGroup feature is not compatible with Vista or XP. For this tutorial we are using Windows 7 x64 RC1 and XP Professional SP3 connected through a basic Linksys home wireless router.

First make sure both machines are members of the same Workgroup which by default is named Workgroup.

On the Windows 7 machine go into Control Panel \ All Control Panel Items \ Network and Sharing Center then click on Change advanced sharing settings.


You will want to verify the following settings under Advanced Sharing Settings for the Home or Work and Public profile


If you want any user to have access the public shares turn off password protection. This is located in Advanced Sharing Settings toward the bottom of the list.

If you want to keep it enabled make sure there is a log in account for the other XP machines and they have a password.

Now if you go into Network in Windows 7 you should see your XP machine and the Windows 7 as well which in this case is Mysticgeek-PC.


That's it.

Installing Japanese Keyboards on Windows XP

Instruction for Windows XP with Service Pack 2.

1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Keyboard
2. On the Hardware tab, click Properties (note that the current driver is probably "Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard")
3. On the Driver tab, click Update Driver...
4. The Hardware Update Wizard launches. When it asks if Windows can connect to Windows Update to search for software, select "No, not this time" and click Next
5. Select "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)" and click Next
6. Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install" and click Next
7. Uncheck "Show compatible hardware"
8. Select "Japanese PS/2 Keyboard (106/109 Key)" from the manufacturer "(Standard keyboards)" and click Next
9. Click Yes to continue with the installation when the warning about installing incompatible device drivers appears
10. Click Yes to continue with the installation when the warning about replacing PS/2 mouse port drivers appears
11. Click Finish and reboot

Instruction for Windows XP Pro

This assumes you are using a PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse. Other types will have to make a different selection from the list of standard keyboards.

1. Go to Control Panel->Printers and Other Hardware->Keyboards
2. Click on the "Hardware" tab and the keyboard connected to the system will show.
3. Click on the "Properties" button and another window displays the keyboard properties
4. Click on the "Driver" tab
5. Click on the "Update Driver" button on the Driver screen
6. The "Update Driver Wizard" will run.
7. Click the "Install From a Specific Location" button (NOT AUTOMATIC) and the "Next" button.
8. Click the "Don't seach. I will choose the driver to install" option and the "Next" button.
9. On the next screen, uncheck the "Show compatible hardware" checkbox and choose the Japanese PS/2 Keyboard (106/109 Key) from the list of "(Standard keyboards)".
10. Ignore warnings and reboot.