healthy4u

The linguasphere at large

Posted by Enrique Muñoz Torres, International Product Manager Since part of our <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/">mission</a> is making the world's information universally accessible and useful, we strive to offer our services in as many languages as we can. Today we're happy to announce the launch of Google in <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/km/">Cambodian</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/co/">Corsican</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/kk/">Kazakh</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/ln/">Lingala</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/ps/">Pashto</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/qu/">Quechua</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/sn/">Shona</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/tg/">Tajik</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/tt/">Tatar</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/to/">Tonga</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/yo/">Yoruba</a>. This launch raises the count of <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en">Google languages</a> to 116. We would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who have translated Google into these languages. If you can't find it yet in your own lingua franca (please note: we do already offer <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/xx-bork/">Swedish Chef</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/">Hacker</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon/">Klingon</a>) consider becoming a volunteer translator through the <a href="http://services.google.com/tcbin/tc.py">Google in Your Language</a> program.

The linguasphere at large

Posted by Enrique Muñoz Torres, International Product Manager Since part of our mission is making the world's information universally a...

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That's so random

That's so random

Posted by Matthew Vosburgh, Google Video Software Engineer The cool thing about Google Video is that anyone, anywhere can send us their vide...

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Courts signal that Google's keyword policy is lawful

Posted by David Drummond, VP and General Counsel There have been a few erroneous reports suggesting that a judge ruled against Google in a case involving GEICO. It's actually the reverse of that, so we thought we'd clarify a few things about that decision. Last December, the judge in the case ruled decisively in our favor on the issue of keywords. In her oral ruling, she stated that GEICO had failed to prove that using "GEICO" as a keyword to trigger ads was likely to confuse consumers. Then, earlier this month, she issued a written ruling explaining the reasoning behind the December ruling. In her written ruling, she stated that GEICO's own evidence "refutes the allegation that the use of the trademark as a keyword, without more, causes a likelihood of confusion." That is a clear signal that Google's policy on trademarks and keywords is lawful. What has generated the confusion is another part of the ruling, of little significance to Google, that relates to the use of "GEICO" in ad text. Google already has a policy that prohibits advertisers from using someone else's trademark in their ad text when the trademark owner objects. Our policy on that is <a href="http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html">here</a>. It's been our longstanding policy -- dating back to well before GEICO filed its lawsuit against us -- to block use of a trademark in ad text when the trademark owner objects. GEICO said that there were instances when their trademark appeared in competitors' ads even after GEICO objected. In her December oral ruling, the judge called this a "narrow issue," and said that Google and GEICO should "see whether or not there can be a resolution of what is left in the case." In the recent written decision, she reiterated these points, and explained that while she thought that the ads with "GEICO" in the ad text were confusing, she hadn't decided whether Google was liable for that. Judge Brinkema's decision is consistent with several other court opinions. A court in Austria recently ruled in our favor, concluding that the use of a trademark to trigger ads isn't likely to confuse consumers. A German court has also ruled in our favor on this issue. And in a case not involving Google, a federal appeals court in the United States recently reached the same result in a keyword-triggered ad case. We're very pleased with Judge Brinkema's decision, which tracks our AdWords trademark policy. The decision is a victory for consumers. Finally, even though we believe our current policy strikes a good balance between advertisers, users and trademark owners, don't be surprised if our policy evolves over time. We believe it is possible for an advertiser to create an ad that uses a trademark in a legal and non-confusing way - after all that is what comparative advertising is all about.

Courts signal that Google's keyword policy is lawful

Posted by David Drummond, VP and General Counsel There have been a few erroneous reports suggesting that a judge ruled against Google in a c...

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Attention, Froogle shoppers...

Attention, Froogle shoppers...

Posted by Josh Redstone, Software Engineer I'm excited to tell you about the enhanced version of Froogle Mobile , a handy service for ch...

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This was posted from Microsoft Word

This was posted from Microsoft Word

Posted by Jason Shellen, Product Manager Last July, a few of us visited the Democratic National Convention to see political bloggers in acti...

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We get letters …

Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog team The Google mailbag is filled with stories like this one, demonstrating the reach of Google across countries and between people. Occasionally we'll feature such a story here and hope you enjoy reading them. If you have a noteworthy tale about how you've used Google, write to testimonial@google.com. Laura Escobosa is the executive director of <a href="http://www.operationrainbow.org/">Operation Rainbow</a>, an all-volunteer organization which organizes medical missions to poor countries for American doctors and nurses specializing in orthopedic and plastic surgery. The people on these missions are affiliated with Stanford University's <a href="http://www.lpch.org/">Lucile Packard Children's Hospital</a>, and one regular stop for them has been <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=esteli+nicaragua&spn=0.109600,0.114318&t=k&hl=en">Esteli, Nicaragua</a>. Among those mentioning his Operation Rainbow experience is Dr. Elliot Krane, who cites it <a href="http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/frdActionServlet?choiceId=showComm&commId=344&fid=4216">on his CV</a>. Just two weeks ago, this year's team was preparing for its annual trip to Esteli. At the same time, a quite unrelated journey was underway. A young American woman, Alice Orman, was visiting Esteli en route to her new year-long role as an English teacher in Honduras. While in Esteli, she had an accident that led to a leg break in two places. Though local doctors wanted to help, they lacked good facilities or equipment for setting a complicated break properly. Someone at the hospital remembered the Stanford doctors. The staff knew they were coming soon, but who, and when? Alice called her parents in Nashville for help. They went to Google and typed in [Esteli Stanford] and up came Dr. Krane's reference. They emailed him late that night, and by morning he had replied from his office in Palo Alto. He told them about <a href="http://www.corronline.com/pt/re/corr/abstract.00003086-200203000-00015.htm;jsessionid=C8t2R6Ojpn5HIGBkik6rleSi63lIEpMjHZL0yITxzDjAMYwCrKUt%21250931426%21-949856145%219001%21-1">Dr. Larry Rinsky</a>, an orthopedic surgeon who was packing his bags right then for Esteli. With a copy of Dr. Krane's email reply in hand, Dr. Rinsky called Alice's parents and assured them he would see Alice, and that the team would do what it could for her. So Alice rested and waited another day, hoping that the arriving team would treat her in addition to their Nicaraguan patients. Ms Escobosa says the team of Stanford doctors and nurses treated her right away, gave her crutches and some TLC too. Within a short time she was able to continue on to Honduras for her year of teaching. And she's there now. Back in Nashville, Scott and Mindy Orman were very relieved: "When we received the call from Alice," writes Mindy, "we were very worried and didn't know how we could help, being so far away. But the miraculous timing of the Stanford doctors' annual mission trip to Esteli, and the Google search that led us to them, assured us that Alice would be in good hands. We are so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement of so many folks and the excellent care she received from the Stanford team." Ms. Escobosa wrote us to marvel at the coincidences that led to this happy ending. We're glad we could be part of it.

We get letters …

Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog team The Google mailbag is filled with stories like this one, demonstrating the reach of Google across c...

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Making books easier to find

Posted by Adam M. Smith, Google Print Product Manager (Updated 8/12/05, 1:31 p.m. PDT*) In October 2004 we announced a program called <a href="http://print.google.com/">Google Print</a>, a way for publishers to make their books discoverable by the millions of people who search on Google every day. Shortly thereafter, we added a complementary program to help find all books more easily by partnering with libraries to index their collections too. The goal of Google Print is ambitious: to make the full text of all the world's books searchable by anyone. These books are hard to find now, and for most of them, no full-text search exists. We think that making books easier to find will have a positive impact on the world, and we welcome the challenge. As with many ambitious ideas, Google Print has sparked a healthy amount of discussion. And we've been listening. Over the last few months, we’ve been talking with numerous publishers, publishing industry organizations and authors about our <a href="http://print.google.com/googleprint/publisher.html">Google Print Publisher Program</a> and <a href="http://print.google.com/googleprint/library.html">Google Print Library Project</a>. Today I’d like to mention <a href="http://print.google.com/googleprint/publisher_library.html">two new features</a> that reflect these discussions and which we feel will considerably improve both programs. If you’re in the Publisher Program (or you <a href="http://print.google.com/googleprint/publisher.html">decide to join it</a>), you can now give us a list of the books that, if we scan them at a library, you’d like to have added immediately to your account. This way you can have your books in Google Print, which will put them into Google.com search results, direct potential buyers to your website, provide ongoing reports about user interest in your books, and your books will also earn revenue from contextual advertising – even if they are out of print. We think most publishers and authors will choose to participate in the publisher program in order to introduce their work to countless readers around the world. But we know that not everyone agrees, and we want to do our best to respect their views too. So now, any and all copyright holders – both Google Print partners and non-partners – can tell us which books they’d prefer that we not scan if we find them in a library. To allow plenty of time to review these new options, we won’t scan any in-copyright books from now until this November. We're going to continue talking about Google Print with our partners and the publishing industry. These discussions have been crucial in helping to build a program that benefits the industry and, most important, the millions of users who'll be able to discover new books. Stay tuned. *Update: People have been asking us how we came to this new policy for the Google Print Library Project. We consulted with a variety of constituencies and ultimately decided that this new approach would best balance the rights and needs of users and publishers while remaining consistent with our web search policy. Google automatically indexes content across the web. Most web publishers find this service convenient and useful, but we gladly offer those who prefer that we not index their site a way of telling us not to do so via a robots.txt file. Similarly, the Library Project aims to make it convenient and useful for publishers to get their books into Google Print, but those publishers who don't want to take advantage of this service can now simply tell us which books they'd like us to exclude.

Making books easier to find

Posted by Adam M. Smith, Google Print Product Manager (Updated 8/12/05, 1:31 p.m. PDT*) In October 2004 we announced a program called Google...

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