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Follow Team HTC-Columbia on Google Maps
July 6, 2010
As a former professional cyclist, nothing beats the thrill of being in the peloton and racing towards the finish line. Although I’ve traded in my cycling career for life as a Googler, I’m still a fan and enjoy watching my former teammates and friends battle in races like the
Tour de France
, which started on Saturday. While the cyclists were preparing to tackle the pave of Arrenberg and the Cols in the Alps, I got to thinking about ways that we can bring that experience to the hundreds of millions of fans who will be following the Tour de France over the next few weeks. Google is home to
many other cycling enthusiasts
, so we got together to work on ways to build a My Tracks-based gadget that will allow all the other fans to follow the action like never before.
The
My Tracks application
for Android phones lets you record and share your own outdoor activities, and now
Team HTC-Columbia
will use a special version of the app with
SRM
to transmit their telemetry and location in real-time as they make their way through the 3,642 kilometers of the Tour de France. The nine riders (sadly, now eight, as Adam Hanson was injured on Sunday) on Team HTC-Columbia are carrying HTC Legend phones with
ANT+
that use My Tracks to capture their location along with their power, heart rate, cadence and speed. On
www.google.com/mytrackstour
, you’ll see a Google Map showing the team members’ location on the course and a detailed
telemetry
report. You can observe how Michael Rogers’ heart rate spikes as he attacks the climbs in the Alps on Stage 9, see how many watts Mark Cavendish puts out in the sprint on the famous sprinters’ stage into Bordeaux, and see just how fast riders climb the famous
Col du Tourmalet
.
From the image above, you can see how Maxime Monfort took the lead during Stage 2 between Bruxelles and Spa yesterday. Right now, the riders are racing in Stage 3, which takes them across the border into France and you can follow all the latest action on
our website
or directly on
your own iGoogle page
.
The team also built a map gadget that is available for you to embed on your own website or blog. We’re also publishing an API that any web developer or broadcaster can use to build their own custom application or use to enhance the live television coverage. I'm excited about the potential for web developers and broadcasters to make use of the API and data in creative ways to help all the Tour de France followers (myself included!) get even closer to the action.
This project was the work of many Googlers in their 20% time, and as cycling fans ourselves, we’re happy to be able to share it with the world. We hope you enjoy this unique way of following Team HTC-Columbia over the next few weeks.
Posted by Dylan Casey, Product Manager
Google Apps highlights – 7/2/2010
July 2, 2010
This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “
Google Apps highlights
" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.
In the last couple of weeks, we added a set of new features to help you handle various file types more efficiently in Google Docs and Gmail, and new capabilities to help large complex organizations manage Google Apps. We also have some exciting news about new customers in the education sector.
Google Voice available for more users
Last week we were happy to open up
Google Voice for everyone in the U.S.
Now millions more people can get a phone number that rings all their phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, low-priced international calls and more. Google Voice isn’t ready for businesses and schools quite yet, but we’re exploring additional functionality for organizations.
View more file types right in your browser
Gmail already lets you view .pdf, .ppt and .tiff attachments in your browser without downloading these files to your computer, and last week we added support for
viewing .doc and .docx files
. Just click the “View” link next to the attachment in Gmail to see the file.
On Monday we also added the ability to view .pdf, .ppt, .doc and .docx files that you have in Google Docs
on mobile devices
. From your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you can quickly flip from page to page and pan/zoom within a page.
Optical character recognition (OCR) in Google Docs
You were already able to upload and share images and PDF files with Google Docs, and last week we launched a feature that
converts images of text into editable text
. JPEG, GIF, PNG and PDF files can be uploaded as editable Google documents with this feature. Supported languages include English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages and character sets on their way.
Support for Google Apps customers with multiple domains
Until last Wednesday, Google Apps customers with users at more than one domain (like bob@domain1.com and sue@domain2.com) had to manage Google Apps separately for each domain. Last week we added the ability for customers to
administer two or more domains together
. This feature also makes it much easier for employees to share information through Google Docs, Calendar and Sites with their counterparts in different divisions. For example, Brady Corporation is using this feature to streamline the use and administration of Google Apps across 88 domains!
Google Apps Innovation in the first half of 2010
Businesses using Google Apps not only
save money
, but also their employees get access to new features and functionality at a much faster pace than with conventional business technologies. We've launched over 50 improvements to Google Apps in the last six months, and last week we hosted a webcast to recap noteworthy recent updates for businesses, including more powerful search in Gmail, next-generation editors in Google Docs, Google Wave, the Apps Marketplace and more. If you missed the webcast, you can
watch it on YouTube
.
Who’s gone Google?
We’re thrilled about the news from
Colorado and Iowa
, both of which have opened the doors to Google Apps for teachers and students at schools state-wide, right on the heels of
Oregon’s decision
to use Google Apps at their schools, too.
We also wanted to shine the spotlight on a couple other new customers:
Brown University
and
Imagination
, an 500-employee marketing and communications agency based in the U.K. You can watch their stories here:
I hope you're making the most of these new features, whether you're using Google Apps with friends, family, coworkers or classmates. For more details and updates from the Apps team, head on over to the
Google Apps Blog
.
Update
on 7/7/2010
: Corrected information about Imagination.
Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager
CS4HS: helping high school teachers reach their potential
July 2, 2010
Computer science is a tough field to teach, especially at the high school level. Not only do you need to persuade teenagers that coding isn’t too geeky to attempt, but since CS is a growing field, it’s hard for teachers to keep up with all the latest techniques and computing tools. To help teachers face these challenges, we’re funding a program called Computer Science for High School (
CS4HS
). CS4HS is a workshop for high school and middle school computer science teachers that introduces new and exciting concepts in computing and how to teach them. The ultimate goals are to “train the trainer,” develop a thriving community of high school CS teachers, and spread the word about the awe and beauty of computing.
This summer, we’re funding 20 workshops at colleges across the U.S. and will sponsor another 14 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. If each workshop in the U.S. has an average of 20 teachers in attendance, and each of them teaches 90 students in a year*, that means that the workshops have the potential to make a difference for 36,000 students—an important start.
We had the chance to attend a CS4HS workshop in our own backyard this week.
UC Berkeley’s CS4HS
highlighted hands-on skills that teachers can take directly back to the classroom. Twenty local math and CS teachers had a chance to share tips and best practices around teaching CS, and created a solid foundation for a community. One of the most popular sessions over the two days was a demo of
Scratch
, a popular programming language geared towards K-12 students that makes it easy to create interactive stories, animations, games, music and art. Attendees also had the opportunity to form the Golden Gate chapter of the
Computer Science Teacher Association
(CSTA).
Although the summer workshops are just getting started, they're already making a difference for teachers. Emmanuel Onyeador, who teaches AP CS at Oakland Technical High School, told us: “CS4HS is the missing link—as computer science teachers, you find yourself isolated in your classroom. When I sit here I find that we’re all talking about the same issues and the same type of students. What I bring back to my classroom will make a big difference.”
You can view a list of all 20 U.S. CS4HS workshops and find more information about the program at
www.cs4hs.com
.
UC Berkeley CS4HS participant
s
*according to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education
Posted by Mary Radomile, Education Program Manager
Finding soccer stats with the Google Search Appliance
July 1, 2010
For the past few weeks, many football fans have been living and breathing just one thing: the World Cup. When they’re not watching on the matches, many people have flocked to FIFA.com, the source for the latest info on players, standings and scores.
With all these people looking for the latest and greatest on their favorite sport, we’re pleased that FIFA has chosen the
Google Search Appliance
to power search on their website. With the GSA, FIFA.com can provide universal search across all types of content. Try searching for “Messi” from FIFA.com’s search box, and you’ll see all kinds of data: statistics, news results, images and videos—all pertaining to Messi.
For more on the Google Search Appliance and how FIFA is putting it to work, check out our post on the
Enterprise blog
.
Posted by Vijay Koduri, Product Marketing Manager, Enterprise Search
Taking off with ITA
July 1, 2010
Today, almost half of all airline tickets are sold online. But for many people, finding the right flight at the best price is a frustrating experience; pricing and availability change constantly, and even a simple two city itinerary involves literally thousands of different options. We’d like to make that search much easier, which is why I’m pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement to
acquire ITA
, a Boston-based software company specializing in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.
While online flight search is rapidly evolving, we think there is room for more competition and greater innovation. Google has already come up with new ways to organize hard-to-find information like images, newspaper archives, scholarly papers, books and geographic data. Once we’ve completed our acquisition of ITA, we’ll work on creating new flight search tools that will make it easier for you to search for flights, compare flight options and prices and get you quickly to a site where you can buy your ticket.
We’re confident that by combining ITA’s expertise as the leading developer of flight information software with Google’s technology we’ll be able to create great user innovations in flight search. ITA has built a very successful QPX business, and we're looking forward to working with their current and future customers. Google will honor all existing agreements, and we're also enthusiastic about adding new partners. You can read more about this deal
here
, and we’ll keep everybody up to date as we work to close this exciting acquisition.
Posted by Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience
Grandmother’s guide to video chat
July 1, 2010
(Cross-posted from the
Gmail Blog
)
Often when I tell people that I work on
Google video chat
, I hear stories about how they’ve used it to give a video tour of a new home to friends, introduce a baby to relatives, keep in touch with traveling loved ones... the list goes on. This got me thinking about how convenient—and sometimes even magical—the experience of video chatting is.
So when I saw that my grandma—who loves keeping in touch with family more than anyone—wasn’t set up to use video chat, I decided to help her get started. While doing so, it occurred to me how many people there must be out there in similar situations. If only there were a simple way that any grandmother could use to get started on her own...
Introducing the Grandmother’s Guide to Video Chat:
This video, along with a
printable guide
, can be accessed at
google.com/chat/grandma
. Feel free to share this link with your grandma—or grandpa—or, well, anyone who wants to video chat to help get them up and running.
And after your grandma is all set up, take a screenshot of you video chatting with her and email it to grammy324@gmail.com to share it with us. The first 100 people to do so will get a t-shirt, printable guide and VHS of the video (because if your grandma’s like mine, she’s still a cassette kind of girl).
In a few weeks, we’ll feature the best photos submitted on the
Gmail blog
.
Posted by Jason Toff, Grandson of Evelyn & Ida
Celebrating Pride 2010
July 1, 2010
Googlers came out en masse this year to celebrate Pride around the world, in cities ranging from Dublin to Pittsburgh. Pride celebrations are a time for family, friends and members of the LGBT* community to reiterate their commitment to equality and honor the trailblazers whose efforts made it possible for us to stand out and proud today.
Nearly 300 Googlers marched with colorful balloons down Market Street for San Francisco's 40th annual Pride parade. We braved the rain in Boston, enjoyed the sun in New York, rode a trolley in Chicago and marched with the
Israel Gay Youth Organization
in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Googlers will be participating in
EuroPride
, held in Poland this year, as well as many other parades, including Tokyo for the first time. And we'll be celebrating Pride season in Singapore too.
This year, we have another reason to celebrate. Google will be
grossing-up imputed taxes
on health insurance benefits for all same-sex domestic partners in the United States, retroactive to January 1, 2010. Starting July 1, we'll also be providing the
equivalent of the Family and Medical Leave Act
for all same-sex domestic partners. And we've worked with our carriers to update their definition of infertility—it's now defined as the inability to conceive a child with no stipulations on trying for one year.
Google supports its LGBT employees in many ways:
raising its voice
in
matters of policy
, taking a moment to
remember
the plight of transgender people around the world and going the extra mile to ensure that its employees are treated fairly.
There's a lot be proud of this year but we know the best is yet to come. We look forward to many more years of Pride celebrations. Take a glimpse at the global festivities below.
*
LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered but, without letting the acronym get too unwieldy, is also intended to include people who identify as queer, asexual or intersexed, amongst others.
Posted by Cynthia Yeung, Strategic Partner Development Team
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