A Video Uploader for the rest of us

<span class="byline-author">Posted by R.P. Hughes, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />As a Mac user, my heart sank a little when I first saw the <a href="http://www.google.com/googleblog/2005/04/google-wants-your-video.html">post</a> about the Google Video Upload Program. Clearly, the concept is cool. It was just that all-too-ubiquitous .exe file you must run to upload your videos. Of course I know that something like 90% of the desktop/notebook computers sold today run Windows. But in my circle of friends (admittedly a small one -- I blame the caffeine), almost everyone uses a Mac, and the rest use Linux or some other UNIX-like substance. Anyhow, this Video announcement inevitably led to a lot of flak (again) from my friends about how Google was shipping yet another Windows-only application. "I thought Google has lots of smart developers." "Doesn't Google know how to write platform independent software?" Blah, blah, blah.<br /><br />But this time, I took it as a personal challenge. I shoot a lot of video, and I edit it on my Mac. How hard could it be to write a compatible video uploader that would run everywhere? As I soon discovered, not very hard at all. After all, I have access to the C++ source code for the existing Windows-specific uploader, and I can spend my <a href="http://www.google.com/googleblog/2004/12/ive-got-suggestion.html">20% time</a> working on whatever I want. And I have plenty of experience writing portable code, given that I program in Java.<br /><br />Java comes pre-installed on the vast majority of operating systems in use today, or it's available as a <a href="http://www.java.com/en/download">free download</a> from Sun. And software written in Java really, really does work across all those platforms, as a decade of work by software developers can attest. The Java mantra "Write once, run anywhere" is a reality -- it just works. Java programs also tend to be less buggy than their C/C++ counterparts, and programmers working in Java are a lot more productive - but these are topics for another post.<br /><br />Anyway, now you can sign up for the <a href="https://upload.video.google.com/">Google Video Uploader for Macintosh, and ditto for Linux </a>(and UNIX and Solaris and HP-UX and AIX and lots of other platforms). The same sign-up page goes to to the Windows version too. So now I can ponder a different problem - namely, which of my videos I want to share with the world.

A Video Uploader for the rest of us

Posted by R.P. Hughes, Software Engineer As a Mac user, my heart sank a little when I first saw the post about the Google Video Upload Prog...

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Feed me

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Shuman Ghosemajumder, Product Manager, AdSense for Feeds</span><br /><br />If you're like many savvy web users, you may be reading this via a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregators">feed reader</a>, along with all the other blogs, newspapers, and other content that interests you. Whether a feed is <a href="http://www.atomenabled.org/">Atom-enabled</a> or <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss#whatIsRss">RSS</a>, it offers great flexibility for users and additional distribution for publishers. As with many promising technologies feeds haven't quite hit the mainstream yet, nor are the business models entirely sorted out.<br /><br />Enter <a href="https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=20012">AdSense for feeds</a>, launching today in beta. The idea is simple: advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising - and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from. Given the great flexibility that feeds can offer, it's essential to get the model right, especially so that readers are satisfied. Towards this end we have outlined what we believe are some <a href="http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=20134">best practices</a> for advertising in feeds. Publishers who want to participate in the public beta can <a href="http://services.google.com/ads_inquiry/aff">apply here</a>.

Feed me

Posted by Shuman Ghosemajumder, Product Manager, AdSense for Feeds If you're like many savvy web users, you may be reading this via a fe...

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A Bay to Breakers break

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Nat Criou, "We're Feeling Lucky" Team</span><br /><br />The Bay to Breakers 12k run is a hallowed (if irreverent) <a href="http://www.baytobreakers.com/history/index.html">Bay Area tradition</a> that starts at San Francisco's Embarcadero (the Bay), and ends in Golden Gate Park (sort of close to the breakers of the Pacific - ok, it's a bit of poetic license). Though serious runners compete, the streets are clogged with up to 70,000 hardy souls —<br /><br /><img height="300" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/media/btb-crowd.jpg" width="400" /><br /><br />— a mix of halfway decent and annual runners, often in costume (or not; there's a band of nude runners too).<br /><br />Today's 94th race included more than 40 Googlers running as the "We're Feeling Lucky" team. We ran for fun and to raise money for the <a href="http://www.baytobreakers.com/benefits/llsociety.html">Leukemia and Lymphoma Society</a>. Our "Lucky" Team "donned special T-shirts emblazoned with the <a href="http://www.google.com/doodle8.html"> hurdles doodle from the 2004 Summer Olympics</a> on the front, and individual letters that collectively spell GOOOOOOOGLE on the back. Faster runners got the G-O tees, and well, the rest of us got O-O-G-L-E.<br /><br /><img height="300" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/media/btb-ogl.jpg" width="400" /><br /><br />Of course, we did a little advertising. This was a good crowd to inform that as always, we're <a href="http://google.com/jobs/">hiring</a>.<br /><br /><img src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/media/btb-recruiting.jpg" />

A Bay to Breakers break

Posted by Nat Criou, "We're Feeling Lucky" Team The Bay to Breakers 12k run is a hallowed (if irreverent) Bay Area tradition ...

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Q&A: the world tour

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jonathan Betz, Q&A Tech Lead</span><br /><br />When we launched Google Q&A, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/just-facts-fast.html">we told you</a> it was just the beginning. Today marks the start of the Google Q&A world tour -- we're kicking off with <span style="font-weight: bold;">the UK</span> (<a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=prime+minister+of+the+ united+kingdom">who's the prime minister</a> again?), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ireland</span> (<a href="http://www.google.ie/search?q=what+is+the+population+of+dublin">what's the population of Dublin?</a>), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Canada</span> (<a href="http://www.google.ca/search?q=Canada+population">how many people live there?</a>), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Australia</span> (<a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Australia+capital">what's the capital?</a>), and <span style="font-weight: bold;">New Zealand</span> (<a href="http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=new+zealand+area">how big is it, </a> anyway?). So now I can't say it's still just the beginning, but it's still very early. We're putting together a lot of new information like this to help you get the quickest possible answers to all your questions, so keep checking back for more.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(updated with a new link)</span>

Q&A: the world tour

Posted by Jonathan Betz, Q&A Tech Lead When we launched Google Q&A, we told you it was just the beginning. Today marks the start of...

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Mini goes Euro

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rajen Sheth, Google Mini Product Manager</span><br /><br />Turns out that businesses in London, Madrid and Dusseldorf have the same headaches as those in Chicago or Vancouver: they can't find that sales presentation on the company intranet. Or customers fill up the support line with calls for info that's actually on the website. <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/enterprise/">Google Mini</a> to the rescue. So now it's <a href="http://www.google-store.com/appliance/product_info.php?products_id=1">for sale in the UK and throughout the EU</a>.

Mini goes Euro

Posted by Rajen Sheth, Google Mini Product Manager Turns out that businesses in London, Madrid and Dusseldorf have the same headaches as tho...

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Library access

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Alex Verstak, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />As a graduate student at Virginia Tech, I spent many an hour reading volumes of <span style="font-style: italic;">Machine Learning Journal</span> on the fourth floor of Newman Library. Libraries are known for their vast print collections, but that's not the end of the story. I often found interesting citations on the web and wished I could read the articles right then on my computer screen, saving a trip to the library.<br /><br />My wish is now becoming a reality: most academic libraries these days subscribe to electronic versions of journals that authorized patrons can read on their own computers. And today we're launching a feature in <a href="http://scholar.google.com/">Google Scholar</a> that lets people read their academic library's subscriptions directly from their Google Scholar search results. Students at more than 100 participating universities will see links to such library resources as electronic delivery, print catalogs, and interlibrary loan.<br /><br />We are deeply grateful to libraries and library software vendors who worked with us to define and implement library access in Google Scholar. Thirty organizations have participated in the pilot project that led to this launch, and many more have offered their help. We hope that library access in Google Scholar will help researchers like myself discover relevant information so they can build on the work of others and 'stand on the shoulders of giants.'

Library access

Posted by Alex Verstak, Software Engineer As a graduate student at Virginia Tech, I spent many an hour reading volumes of Machine Learning J...

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One more way to access Local UK

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Abhijit Kalamkar, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />We were on a roll after we launched <a href="http://local.google.co.uk/">Google Local UK</a> last month, and went on to build a mobile web browser version of Google Local for our UK users. Users can now access Local on their mobile by going straight to the <a href="http://mobile.google.co.uk/local">Local </a>home page (that's <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">http://mobile.google.co.uk/local</span>) or the <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/">Google UK</a> home page (a.k.a. <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">http://www.google.co.uk/xhtml</span>). So we say: step away from that computer. Click a few buttons on your keypad and head to that new Thai restaurant near Piccadilly Circus. If you're slightly disoriented once away from the screen, Local gives you Google Maps and driving directions too.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Updated with visible URLs.</span>

One more way to access Local UK

Posted by Abhijit Kalamkar, Software Engineer We were on a roll after we launched Google Local UK last month, and went on to build a mobile...

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