Google does Grimsby, Gateshead and Glasgow

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Richard Boardman, Usability Analyst<br /><br /></span>Sometimes it's hard being a Brit in Silicon Valley. Have you tried to find a decent pint, authentic fish and chips or well-made bowler hats in northern California lately? (Okay, the last one isn't a priority.) There's also that feeling of being left out when new technology gets launched in the U.S. before it reaches the rest of the world.<br /><br />Take <a href="http://local.google.com">Google Local</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com">Google Maps</a>, for example - innovative local business search and beautiful interactive maps. However, as per the barrage of emails I got from mates back home: New Orleans, Anchorage and Beverly Hills are all very well, but what about London, Cardiff, and Belfast?<br /><br />I guess my colleagues got tired of my moaning, so I'm delighted to introduce <a href="http://local.google.co.uk/">Google Local UK</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/">Google Maps UK</a>. The Google UK office and a few of us homesick Brits in California have been helping out with the development.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">Engineer</span>: Why are the streets in the UK such a mess?<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">Me:</span> Sadly, the ancient Britons, Romans and Vikings had a different idea of urban planning than do we moderns.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">Product Manager:</span> Manchester's not that important, is it?<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">Me:</span> It is if you're a Mancunian! (So watch it, lad.)<br /><br />Give it a go: your <a href="http://local.google.co.uk/local?q=fish+and+chips&near=Plymouth">fish and chips in Plymouth</a>, <a href="http://local.google.co.uk/local?q=theatres&near=Piccadilly+Circus">theatres near Piccadilly Circus</a>, and <a href="http://local.google.co.uk/local?q=haggis&near=Inverness">haggis in Inverness</a> await.<br /><br />P.S. We Brits also love our text messaging, so all this info (and more) can be found on the go by texting your (UK) queries via <a href="http://sms.google.co.uk/">Google SMS</a>.

Google does Grimsby, Gateshead and Glasgow

Posted by Richard Boardman, Usability Analyst Sometimes it's hard being a Brit in Silicon Valley. Have you tried to find a decent pint, ...

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Bird view

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Michael Krantz, Google Blog team </span><br /><br />Okay, we know we're always saying that this product and that product are cool, but seriously: <a href="http://maps.google.com/">Google Maps</a> are cool. And in the few weeks since we added <a href="http://www.keyhole.com/">Keyhole</a> satellite imagery, we've enjoyed watching netizens inventing ingenious ways to play with Maps, and thought we'd share a few of our favorites.<br /><br />We'll begin with a sampling of our favorite views. The <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1600+Pennsylvania+Avenue,Washington+DC&t=k&amp;hl=en">Photoshopped White House roof</a> is soooo last week, but the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.151264,-110.825057&spn=0,0&amp;t=k">airplane graveyard</a> may never get old. We're impressed by <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bunker+hill,IL&ll=39.014329,-89.979132&amp;spn=0.004462,0.003749&t=k&amp;hl=en">Dave's work</a> -- but even more so by <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.081682205200195,-97.14098453521729&spn=0.034117698669433594,0.034332275390625&amp;t=k&hl=en">Luecke's</a>. And of course, people are always finding a few <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,67190,00.html">surprises</a>.<br /><br />But the real jewels are the various Google Maps collections. This is <a href="http://perljam.net/notes/interesting-google-satellite-maps/">a nice aggregation</a> of views, and the <a href="http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/">Google Sightseeing blog</a> might eventually be even better. This guy's <a href="http://www.paulrademacher.com/housing/%20">marriage of Google Maps and Craig's List real estate ads</a> had our engineers saying "Wow." Speaking of engineers, our own Nelson Minar came up with <a href="http://www.google.com/googleblog/googlemaps-locations.jpg">this visualization</a> of where people did the most Maps searching on April 6th. And on the high art front, the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/memorymap">Memory Mappers</a> are creating nothing less than a new literary form. Cool.<br /><br />P.S. Go <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.346233,-71.097894&amp;spn=0.004517,0.007596&t=k&amp;hl=en">Sox</a>!

Bird view

Posted by Michael Krantz, Google Blog team Okay, we know we're always saying that this product and that product are cool, but seriously:...

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Mom says so, that's why

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Tom Stocky, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />As my mom's unofficial tech support hotline, I got a call from her today with a problem: She had a tracking number for a package, but didn't know who the shipper was.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me:</span> "Just plug it into Google."<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mom:</span> "But Tom, I don't know what company shipped it."<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me:</span> "Just plug in the number itself, Mom. It's cool. See what happens."<br /><br />Google didn't let me down. She got a link to the USPS website with her tracking info - the one she hadn't checked. Next time you have a mystery package en route, try it yourself.<br /><br />Mom: "We need to tell people about this." Yes, Mom. <a href="http://www.google.com/help/features.html#number" title="http://www.google.com/help/features.html#number">Google Search By Number. </a>

Mom says so, that's why

Posted by Tom Stocky, Product Marketing Manager As my mom's unofficial tech support hotline, I got a call from her today with a problem:...

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Google wants your video

<span class="byline-author">Posted by the Google Video Team</span><br /><br />You worked hard making your video; you deserve an easy way to put it in front of millions of potential viewers. That's the idea behind today's announcement of the <a href="https://upload.video.google.com">Google Video Upload Program</a>, which lets you upload your video to Google for free. Eventually your work will be included in <a href="http://video.google.com/">Google Video</a>, where users will be able to search, preview, play and purchase it. We're accepting digital video files of any length and size. So if you have a video - or hundreds of videos - that you want the world to see, <a href="https://upload.video.google.com">show us what you've got</a>, and stay tuned.

Google wants your video

Posted by the Google Video Team You worked hard making your video; you deserve an easy way to put it in front of millions of potential viewe...

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Mobile? Get Local

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Abhijit Kalamkar, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />It's so irritating when I leave the driving directions behind, or have to find another restaurant to try when my favorite is booked. I may be forgetful, but now at least there's <a href="http://mobile.google.com/loc_search.html">Google Local for mobile</a>. If your phone/device supports XHTML, you'll get the same results for search terms plus maps and driving directions. Here's your bookmark: <a href="http://mobile.google.com/local">http://mobile.google.com/local</a>.<br /><br />And on the <a href="http://sms.google.com/">Google SMS</a> front, there's now access to driving directions. Send a text message query with your start address, the word 'to' followed by your end address to 46645 ('GOOGL' on most phones) to get step-by-step directions from point A to point B. (An example: to get directions from Newark Airport to the Empire State Building, send 'ewr to 350 5th ave ny'.)

Mobile? Get Local

Posted by Abhijit Kalamkar, Software Engineer It's so irritating when I leave the driving directions behind, or have to find another res...

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Women and engineering

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jen Fitzpatrick, Engineering Director </span><br /><br />I've represented Google at many events for women in engineering, and I'm always asked the same thing: "What's it like to work there?" I certainly don't mind discussing the subject, but I often think it would be great if more people could see it for themselves. Well, now you can. We invite you to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsnSBhWEyK4">take a sneak </a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsnSBhWEyK4">peek</a> inside Google and hear straight from some of our female engineers what life here is really like.<br /><br />Of course, our goal of recruiting as many gifted female engineers as we can also means encouraging young women who are still in school. So I'd like to issue a hearty congrats to the winners of this year's <a href="http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/anitaborg.html">Anita Borg scholarships</a>.

Women and engineering

Posted by Jen Fitzpatrick, Engineering Director I've represented Google at many events for women in engineering, and I'm always aske...

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Just the facts, fast

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jonathan Betz, Google Q&A Tech Lead</span><br /><br />Have you ever needed a piece of info right now? Today we're excited to introduce Google Q&A. We've pulled together facts from all over the Web to help give you the fastest possible access to the quick bits of information you need every day; just type a query into the search box, and you'll get back the answer at the top of your search results. Q&A knows about a lot of areas: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=who+is+bono">celebrities</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=gambia+capital">countries of the world</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=how+many+moons+does+jupiter+have%3F+">the planets</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=who+discovered+radium%3F+">the elements</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=sony+psp+release+date">electronics</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=braveheart+running+time">movies</a>, and anything else we've thought of so far (including enabling you to <a href="http://www.google.com/sms/howtouse.html#qna">get answers on your mobile device</a>). Try it out, and keep checking back. This is only the beginning.

Just the facts, fast

Posted by Jonathan Betz, Google Q&A Tech Lead Have you ever needed a piece of info right now? Today we're excited to introduce Googl...

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