Hey—we've moved. Visit
The Keyword
for all the latest news and stories from Google
Official Blog
Insights from Googlers into our products, technology, and the Google culture
Give back with the first-ever donatable Hangout-a-thon on Google+
December 2, 2013
As the holidays approach and our calendars become full, it can be hard to find time to give back to the causes you care about most. Tomorrow, on
Giving Tuesday
—an annual one-day event that encourages people to make donations to their favorite charities—we’re making it easier for you to connect with a worthy cause through the first-ever “Hangout-a-thon” on Google+.
Starting at 9 a.m. EST tomorrow on the Giving Tuesday
Google+ page
, you can join nonprofit organizations working to improve clean water access, eliminate bullying, and provide disaster relief in the Philippines. Learn more about their work, ask questions and connect directly to the people they’re helping. Celebrities such as Jennifer Garner, Chris Daughtry and Sophia Bush will stop by to join in on the fun, and you can also donate to the charity of your choice while watching the Hangout.
Here’s a preview of what you can do:
Connect with people engaging in relief efforts on the ground in the Philippines through Save the Children and UNICEF
Join conversations with the founders of Warby Parker and TOMS about gifts that give back, moderated by our partner Mashable
Get inspired during a morning yoga tutorial with the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya
Hear how the Malala Fund is working to promote education as a peace-building tool in developing nations
Participate in a quick coding lesson from Code.org, Girls Who Code and Code2040 and learn what you can do to support digital literacy
We hope you’ll participate by
watching the Hangout-a-thon
, donating to a cause you care about and posting about the event with #givingtuesday on Google+. And to keep the giving going throughout the holiday season, download
One Today
, our Android app that lets you donate to a different nonprofit every day.
Posted by Ramya Raghavan, Head of Politics and Causes for Google+
Solve for X: Help us work towards a radically better future
November 22, 2013
If we’re going to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, we need more people and teams to take on "moonshots"—audacious projects that create
10x improvement, not 10 percent
. Part of that involves encouraging and
celebrating
the audacity of the
attempt
. So last week we partnered with Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer to run a special session of
Solve for X
on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to discuss and debate audacious science and
technology moonshots
that could transform the world.
Neil Gershenfeld holding up a "Pop FabLab" with Nadya Peek as an example of how 21st century manufacturing won’t just happen in large factories, but out of portable briefcases like this one.
Solve for X is a community of individuals and organizations that work together to accelerate progress on moonshots—and what better group of people to work with than those already thinking about our country’s future? As Susan Molinari, our VP of public policy and government affairs, said at the event: "Policymakers are trying to solve big, intractable problems—and so are engineers. Engineers are tackling challenges that have no answers to date, and so are our policymakers.”
The D.C. event brought together a group of exceptional technologists, entrepreneurs, polymaths-at-large,
AAAS fellows
, Members of Congress and their staff. Pioneers in their respective fields proposed moonshots in manufacturing, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, and access to natural resources:
Neil Gershenfeld and Nadya Peek from the
MIT Center for Bits and Atoms
proposed setting up FabLabs to bring manufacturing back to America—and in a way appropriate to the 21st century
Theresa Condor from
NanoSatisfi
proposed an inexpensive way to give all students direct access to personal satellites to conduct their own science experiments and to transform adoption of STEM
Chris Lewicki from
Planetary Resources
proposed mining asteroids for natural resources
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (above) said in his opening remarks: “We work in a world of problems, that frankly, any given day somebody could tell you we’ve got a solution for—it’s just about summoning the will to try and actually accomplish it.”
Following the moonshot proposals, we broke into small groups to brainstorm resources, technology and people that could help make the ideas better and happen faster. At Solve for X, brainstorming means two-thirds "yes and"—creating stepping stones to build on an idea—and one-third "yes but—providing critical feedback on blind spots or suggesting alternate implementations.
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told us: “You have a psychology of creation. A psychology of ‘what can we imagine?’ And then make it be reality. And that of course is the kind of thinking we need.”
Solve for X co-creators Astro Teller and Megan Smith closed out the event reminding us that moonshots can come from anywhere—people of all ages and places, companies, academia, government, inspired experts, enthusiastic newcomers, even accidental discoveries. So join our 160 moonshot pioneers by
submitting
your own moonshot video, and contribute to our conversations on
Google+
and
Twitter
—we'd love to hear from you.
Posted by Puneet Ahira, Moonshot Evangelist and Project Lead, Solve for X
Check off your holiday gift list with Google Shopping
November 21, 2013
Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and if you’re like us, you still have loads of stuff to buy on your expanding holiday gift list. If you can’t imagine braving the crowds to get everything picked and purchased, don’t worry: our elves have made some improvements to
Google Shopping
in time for the holidays.
Find the hottest toys and get inspired with our holiday shortlists
We’ve curated holiday shortlists for top gift categories including
Hot Toys
,
Electronics
,
Google & Android Gadgets
,
Gifts for the Home
,
Gifts for Her
and
Gifts for Him
. For those of you looking for something to delight the kids in your life, here are some of the top trending toy searches on Google Shopping this month:
Rainbow Loom
Minecraft Legos
Monster High Sets
Doc McStuffins Playsets
Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker Bow Blaster
And for those of us wanting to relive our childhoods, we’re also seeing many nostalgic toys making a comeback this year:
My Little Pony
Barbie Dreamhouse
Furby
Ninja Turtles
Easy-Bake Oven
Browse more quickly and easily
A new
shopping experience
on desktop, tablet and mobile makes it easier than ever to browse and hone in on items you want to buy, whether it’s a
camera
, a
ski jacket
or an
ice cream maker
. Click on a product to preview details like sizes, colors and description, and find out if it’s available at a nearby local store. If you see an item that’s almost perfect but not quite, click to view “visually similar” items.
Make your shortlist and check it twice
Shortlists help you keep track of products that catch your eye, compare them at a glance, and share ideas with friends and family. Your shortlist now also stays with you at the top of each page while you browse Google Shopping, so you can keep track of items as you go.
Check out the product from all angles
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what an item actually looks like from the online picture. Now, for many items on Google Shopping, you can see a 360° view of the products. These interactive images bring you the in-store feeling of holding and touching a product.
Once you’ve got something for everyone on your shopping list, we encourage you to buy something for yourself. You’ve earned it.
Posted by Karen Corby, Senior Product Manager, Google Shopping
Bringing hobbits, dwarves and dragons to screens everywhere
November 20, 2013
You don’t need to be besties with a Wizard to share an adventure in Middle-earth—just point your favorite browser to
goo.gl/TheHobbit
on your laptop, phone or tablet to check out “
Journey through Middle-earth
,” the latest
Chrome Experiment
.
Inspired by the upcoming motion picture "
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
,” “Journey through Middle-earth” brings the locations and characters from the movie trilogy to life with a mix of modern web technologies. It was developed by North Kingdom in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
Your adventure
starts
on a beautiful, interactive map of Middle-earth. Zoom in to explore Trollshaw Forest, Rivendell and Dol Guldur (with more locations to come in the next few weeks). Click on each one to learn its history and meet the characters who inhabit it, or dive further to test your wits on a unique survival challenge.
The immersive 3D graphics in “Journey through Middle-earth” were built with CSS3 and WebGL, which you might recognize from
previous Chrome Experiments
. But “Journey through Middle-earth” is the first Chrome Experiment designed to bring this beautiful, 3D experience to mobile, thanks to
support for WebGL in Chrome for Android
on devices with high-end graphics cards.
The rich audio effects and sound manipulation are delivered through the Web Audio API, which is
now supported
on both Chrome for Android and Chrome for iPhone and iPad. Although WebGL isn’t supported on iOS, Chrome users can still experience most of “Journey through Middle-earth” on their iPhones and iPads. We can’t wait to see what sort of rich experiences developers will build as modern web technologies become available on more types of devices.
Circle
+Google Chrome
to stay updated as more Middle-earth locations get released in the coming weeks. You can also check out the
Chromium Blog
and read the team’s
technical case study
if you feel like geeking out a bit more.
Adventure is
a click away
. Just watch out for the trolls!
Posted by
Posted by Christos Apartoglou, Product Marketing Manager & Part-time Dragon-slayer
See all five copies of Lincoln’s handwritten Gettysburg Address on the Google Cultural Institute
November 18, 2013
Not quite four score and seven years ago, I was an elementary school student, staring at a classroom map, gripped by the (mistaken) deduction that since Los Angeles was in the southern half of the country, Civil War battles must have clattered on the ground outside my home. While a teacher eventually helped me understand that California wasn’t in the Confederacy, the moment led me to understand the weight of history and that it has shaped the world into what it is today.
Today, on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, we’re helping make the past come a little bit more alive.
Three new exhibits
now available on the Google Cultural Institute focus on President Lincoln and the 272 words that shaped a nation’s understanding of its identity. Thanks to our friends at the White House, the Lincoln Library, Cornell University, Dickinson College and the Library of Congress, you can browse high-resolution digital versions of all five Lincoln-handwritten copies of the address. You can also:
Learn why there are five different versions, and
explore how they differ
See
the copy
that hangs in the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom
Enjoy multimedia exhibits
written by Lincoln experts for interpretation of and context around the speech
Read the 272-word reflections of our contemporaries like former President
Jimmy Carter
, former chairman of the NAACP
Julian Bond
, and our very own
Eric Schmidt
on the legacy of Lincoln and his address
Comparing two copies,
side by side
You can also contribute your own version of the Gettysburg Address to
Learn the Address
, a project by documentarian Ken Burns, who has also been reaching schoolchildren across the U.S. with
Google+ Connected Classrooms
.
Most of us will never stand in the Lincoln Bedroom and see the handwritten draft exhibited there. But now anyone with access to an Internet connection can explore all these artifacts from this defining moment in history—perhaps a bit more accurately than when I gazed at that map.
Posted by Amrit Dhir, Partner Development Manager
From your CS class to the real world: a deep dive into open source
November 18, 2013
Today marks the start of
Google Code-in
, a global online contest for pre-university students (13-17 years old) interested in learning more about open source software. Participating students have an opportunity to work on real world software projects and earn cool prizes for their effort.
For the next seven weeks students from around the world will be able to choose from an extensive list of tasks created by
10 open source projects
. Some tasks require coding in a variety of programming languages, creating documentation, doing marketing outreach or working on user interfaces.
Participants earn points for each task they successfully complete to win T-shirts and certificates. At the end of the contest, 20 students will be selected as grand prize winners and flown to Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters. Winners will receive a trip to San Francisco, a tour of the Googleplex and a chance to meet with Google engineers.
Google Code-in 2012 grand prize winners at the Googleplex with a self driving car
More than 1,200 students from 71 countries and 730 schools have participated in Google Code-in over the past three years. Last year, our 20 grand prize winners came from 12 countries on five continents!
We hope this year’s participants will enjoy learning about open source development while building their technical skills and making an impact on these organizations. Please review our
program site
for contest rules, frequently asked questions and to get started.
Posted by Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs
Solar in California and Arizona: More of a good thing
November 14, 2013
You’d think the thrill might wear off this whole
renewable energy investing thing
after a while. Nope—we’re still as into it as ever, which is why we’re so pleased to announce our 14th investment: We’re partnering with global investment firm KKR to invest in six utility-scale solar facilities in California and Arizona. Developed by leading solar developer Recurrent Energy, the projects have a combined capacity of 106MW and will generate enough electricity to power over 17,000 U.S. homes. Google will make an approximately $80 million investment into these facilities.
The 17.5 MWac/22 MWp Victor Phelan project (pictured), located in San Bernardino, Calif., is part of six Recurrent Energy developed projects acquired by Google and KKR. The six-project portfolio is expected to operational by early 2014 and will generate enough clean electricity to power more than 17,000 U.S. homes.
This investment is similar to one we made
back in 2011
, when we teamed up with KKR and invested $94 million in four solar facilities developed by Recurrent. Those facilities have since started generating electricity, and we’ve committed hundreds of millions more—more than $1 billion in total—to renewable energy projects around the world.
These investments are all part of our drive toward a clean energy future—where renewable energy is abundant, accessible and affordable. By
continuing to invest
in renewable energy projects,
purchasing
clean energy for our operations and
working with our utility partners
to create new options for ourselves and for other companies interest in buying renewable energy, we’re working hard to make that future a reality.
Posted by Kojo Ako-Asare, Head of Corporate Finance
Labels
accessibility
41
acquisition
26
ads
131
Africa
19
Android
58
apps
419
April 1
4
Asia
39
books + book search
48
commerce
12
computing history
7
crisis response
33
culture
12
developers
120
diversity
35
doodles
68
education and research
144
entrepreneurs at Google
14
Europe
46
faster web
16
free expression
61
google.org
73
googleplus
50
googlers and culture
202
green
102
Latin America
18
maps and earth
194
mobile
124
online safety
19
open source
19
photos
39
policy and issues
139
politics
71
privacy
66
recruiting and hiring
32
scholarships
31
search
505
search quality
24
search trends
118
security
36
small business
31
user experience and usability
41
youtube and video
140
Archive
2016
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2006
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2005
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2004
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Feed
Google
on
Follow @google
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
