Public transit via Google

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Avichal Garg, Product Manager, Transit Team</span><br /><br />One of the best things about working at Google is a policy known as "20 percent time," which you can read about on our<a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=about.html"> jobs page</a> or in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/12/ive-got-suggestion.html">this post</a>. Having the freedom to pursue projects during 20 percent of our work week means engineers can pursue a breadth of unique and interesting ideas without having to wait for anyone else.<br /><br />So not too long ago, a few engineers from San Francisco, New York, and Zurich -- all of whom regularly use public transportation -- decided that being able to plan local trips without having to go to multiple websites, and done in an easy, intuitive way would be a useful product. So they devoted their 20 percent time to building it. As it happens, a lot of people thought this was a great idea, and our small team quickly grew with "twenty-percenters" from across Google.<br /><br />Today, we are happy and proud to tell you that their efforts have resulted in a new <a href="http://labs.google.com/">Google Labs</a> experiment: <a href="http://www.google.com/transit">Google Transit Trip Planner</a>. With it, commuters will be able to easily access public transit schedules, routes, and plan trips using their local public transportation options. This first release covers only the Portland, Oregon metro area, but we are working to expand our coverage very soon. (If you're from a local transit agency interested in being included in Google Transit, we would love to speak with you. <a href="mailto:labs-transit_content@google.com">Just write to us</a>.)<br /><br />We chose to launch with the Portland metro area for a couple of reasons. TriMet, Portland's transit authority, is a technological leader in public transportation. The team at TriMet is a group of tremendously passionate people dedicated to serving their community. And TriMet has a wealth of data readily available that they were eager to share with us for this project. This combination of great people and great data made TriMet the ideal partner.<br /><br />Public transportation offers a unique type of data that people use in very different ways than most of the data Google has worked with before. We really want to understand how people use Google Transit and the challenges we'll face as we cover additional cities. To that end, we'd love to <a href="mailto:labs-transit_feedback@google.com">hear your feedback!</a><br /><br />Try some of the queries you can do in Portland on Google Transit:<br /><br />Leave now<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/transit?q=pdx+to+100+nw+couch+st,+portland,+oregon&hl=en">pdx to 100 ne couch st, portland, oregon</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/transit?q=4412+se+17th+ave+portland,+oregon+to+hillsboro,+oregon&hl=en">4412 se 17th ave portland, oregon to hillsboro, oregon</a><br /><br />Choose a specific time<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/transit?q=pdx+to+portland,+oregon+at+7pm&hl=en">pdx to portland, oregon at 7pm</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/transit?q=100+nw+couch+st,+portland+to+hillsboro,+oregon+by+8pm&hl=en">100 nw couch st, portland to hillsboro, oregon by 8pm</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/transit?q=portland+to+pdx+at+7pm+on+12%2F8&hl=en">portland to pdx at 7pm on 12/09/05</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">[Updated with links to results]</span>

Public transit via Google

Posted by Avichal Garg, Product Manager, Transit Team One of the best things about working at Google is a policy known as "20 percent t...

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Acumen visits Google

<span style="font-style: italic;">The <a href="http://www.google.org/">Google Foundation</a> supports select organizations whose work addresses the challenge of global poverty in ways that are effective, sustainable, and scalable. From time to time we will invite guest bloggers from grantee organizations to tell their story. Here's the first of this occasional series.</span><br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen Fund</span><br /><br />Arriving at Google, we somehow found a spot in the overflowing lot and emerged onto a sprawling campus reminiscent of my days at Stanford. At the front desk, our team commented on the simple yet impressive display we spotted on a monitor depicting the volume of searches originating from every point on the globe with colored dots. Interconnectedness: <a href="http://www.acumenfund.org/">Acumen Fund</a> is building a global community of like-minded individuals committed to solving problems of poverty through market-based approaches and enabling poor individuals to make their own choices.<br /><br />We followed the yellow brick road to Building 40, past the packed beach volleyball courts and an outdoor café. More than 100 people came to our talk. I was introduced by Sheryl Sandberg, who is Google’s VP of Global Online Sales and Operations and the current acting director of <a href="http://google.org/">Google.org</a>. Sheryl emphasized Google.org's aim: to work with ventures that are sustainable, collaborative, and able to achieve scale. (To that end, the Google Foundation already supports Acumen Fund; <a title="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/about-googleorg.html" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/about-googleorg.html">read more here</a>.)<br /><br />My <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8365776977948043743">talk</a> (it was taped) focused on Acumen Fund's mission: to build blueprints for delivering critical goods and services to people earning less than $4 a day. If we can determine better ways for making water, health, housing, and energy available to the poor – and make them affordable and accessible – I believe we'll go a long way toward ending poverty. I spoke about some of Acumen Fund’s key investments: For example, our <a title="http://www.acumenfund.org/Work/HealthTechnology/Investments.asp" href="http://www.acumenfund.org/Work/HealthTechnology/Investments.asp">malaria bednet investment</a> in Tanzania. It employs more than 2,000 women to produce more than 3 million long-lasting bednets per year, impregnated with insecticide to stop mosquitoes. We're hoping to manufacture 6 million of these by the end of 2006, which will mean another 12 million people protected from malaria. This is a good start in teaching us critical lessons about how sustainable enterprises can make an enduring contribution toward solving pressing social problems.<br /><br />Even more important, our work teaches us what the poor want as consumers. And this is where Acumen Fund will see the greatest returns: the more we understand who poor people are, the better solutions we can develop based on their choices and needs. Indeed, finding iterative – or possibly revolutionary – improvements to delivery systems is where the partnership between Google and Acumen Fund could have great impact. Larry and Sergey believe that scale is key, as is sustainability, and these are the core concepts driving all of Acumen Fund's work.<br /><br />As a first step, we hope to collaborate with interested Googlers to find better ways to learn what works around the world. Identifying powerful solutions to poverty that are useful to people in different settings, and that are market-driven, scalable, and sustainable, is our greatest challenge. Second, we're hoping to strengthen how the world measures both social and financial returns to investments in delivering critical goods and services to the poor. Like Google, we hold a deep belief in the power of <a title="http://www.acumenfund.org/Work/Metrics/" href="http://www.acumenfund.org/Work/Metrics/">measuring everything</a> we can.<br /><br />This unique partnership will enable us to do this work in a more powerful way, and to share lessons more broadly. At the end of the day, both Google and Acumen Fund are trying to bring solutions to the world that enable people to make their own choices, solve their own problems. This is the only way we will really be able to end poverty.

Acumen visits Google

The Google Foundation supports select organizations whose work addresses the challenge of global poverty in ways that are effective, sustai...

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How I Got to Google, Ch. 2: Tale of a T-shirt

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/trishagoogletee-754815.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/trishagoogletee-752599.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Trisha Weir, Hardware Operations </span><br /><br />On Wednesday, April 30th, 2003, I was swimming towards the shore as fast as I could paddle my surfboard. I was in the ocean near <a href="http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&q=todo+santos%2C+mexico+&btnG=Search">Todos Santos, Mexico</a>; a storm had come up, the waves were crashing huge, the wind was blowing like crazy, and I realized I'd gotten in rather over my head.<br /><br />On Wednesday, May 7th, 2003, I was standing in a room filled floor-to-ceiling with more computers than I'd ever seen in my life. My fingers were shaking as I played surgeon to a webserver, pushing tiny jumpers onto pins on the motherboard, cold blasts of air conditioning whipping my hair into my face like some tense scene from an Arctic action movie, and once again it occurred to me that I had quite possibly gotten in over my head.<br /><br />How I went from being a recent college grad on a travel kick to a Google datacenter technician in one week is a whirlwind (and windblown) story. I'd seen the <a href="http://google.com/jobs">job posting</a> a few days before I left for Mexico, but I figured it was a long shot; I had the skills, but didn't have much work experience.<br /><br />So I sent Google a love letter. I told them that yes, I could fix computers, and yes, I'd been running Linux at home for two years. And I told them the truth: they'd get a hundred job seekers with those skills, but I had something those applicants didn't: a <a href="http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&q=%22google+t-shirt%22&btnG=Search">Google T-shirt</a>.<br /><br />I talked about how I didn't normally wear the logos of companies I had no affiliation with, but that I wore my Google shirt with pride, because I admired Google so much -- they were smart, they treated people well (users and employees alike), and they made good products. But beyond that, I could tell Google was special, that all that innovation was going to lead to something extraordinary. And I wanted to be part of it. Also, I wanted another T-shirt.<br /><br />I got both. After I staggered up onto the beach that first Wednesday, I went into town in search of Internet access and, in a net cafe with a thatched roof and a 56k modem connection, found waiting for me an email from a Google recruiter who had plucked my application from a pool of dozens because of my T-shirt-themed cover letter. On Thursday I flew back to the U.S. On Friday I had a phone screen. On Monday I endured three hours of onsite interviews. And on Tuesday, the recruiter called back and said, "Welcome to Google. Can you start tomorrow?"<br /><br />I survived the surf at Todos Santos, and I managed to get through my first day in the Googleplex without crashing that datacenter. And the message I have for all my recent college grad peers is simple: Don't underestimate the power of your favorite T-shirt, and don't neglect your email while on vacation. Either one may hold the key to your future.

How I Got to Google, Ch. 2: Tale of a T-shirt

Posted by Trisha Weir, Hardware Operations On Wednesday, April 30th, 2003, I was swimming towards the shore as fast as I could paddle my sur...

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Lots to Talk about!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk Product Manager</span><br /><br />The rainy season and short days are back in full swing in the Pacific Northwest and the Google Talk team, based here in Kirkland, Washington, has been making the best use of all this time indoors. Thanks to their hard work, there are a lot of exciting things in store for <a href="http://www.google.com/talk">Google Talk</a> in the coming months, and we thought the best way to tell you about them was to create <a href="http://googletalk.blogspot.com/">a blog</a> (powered by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>, of course!). We'll keep you posted on new features, happenings in the community, and progress toward our goal of <a href="http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html">enabling customer choice</a> in Internet communications through open standards and interoperability. From time to time we might even tell you about some of our favorite Seattle hangouts and traditions, too.

Lots to Talk about!

Posted by Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk Product Manager The rainy season and short days are back in full swing in the Pacific Northwest and th...

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Thanks Victoria doodlers!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Dennis Hwang, Webmaster and <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/06/oodles-of-doodles.html">Google Doodler</a>.</span><br /><br />Last week Google opened our new office in the Victoria area of London, and to mark the occasion we invited students from nearby schools to create their own Google Doodles from our logo. My fellow judges and I were basically considering three qualities: the originality of the doodle idea or topic; integration of the design with the Google logo; and sheer creativity. We received hundreds of entries with all sorts of themes, ranging from serious topics like the Asian tsunami and the Battle of Trafalgar to an entire logo transformed into a bunch of eyes staring at each other. In the end, we chose <a href="http://www.google.com/events/doodle4google.html">these five finalists</a>. And our winner, which graced our <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/">U.K. home page</a> for a full day, was this charming doodle from 11-year-old Lisa Waiwaina:<br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/uk_doodle4google-772374.gif" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left;" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the end, I was simply blown away by the amazing quality of the work, especially from younger artists up to around age 11 (the bunnies drawn by 5-year-olds were simply awesome). It was a good reminder that staying in touch with one’s inner child can be a key to creativity. Now, back to my secret agenda of searching for a young apprentice...

Thanks Victoria doodlers!

Posted by Dennis Hwang, Webmaster and Google Doodler . Last week Google opened our new office in the Victoria area of London, and to mark th...

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Don't drop while you shop

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jessica Lee, Associate Product Manager</span><br /><br />There's bravery, and then there's hitting the mall the day after Thanksgiving, also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29">Black Friday</a>. Which is one reason we just launched a feature on Froogle that helps you to shop locally -- and that in turn might help you through the upcoming shopping ordeal(s). Now you can search over the product inventory of brick & mortar stores in your neighborhood to compare online deals and local sales all at the same time. Instead of wandering aimlessly through crowded malls looking for that elusive perfect gift (not to mention a parking spot), just find it on Froogle, call the store to reserve it and go pick it up.<br /><br />Froogle local shopping is also useful for finding items that you want to try before you buy (<a href="http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=+dress&addr=san+francisco%2C+ca&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown">clothing</a>), or where shipping is expensive (heavy things like <a href="http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=sofa&addr=new+york&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown">sofas</a> or <a href="http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=ford+mustang&addr=oklahoma+city&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown">cars</a>). Just add a location to your Froogle query and we'll look for products in your area.<br /><br />Right now we have local content from hundreds of merchants across the U.S., but we encourage any merchant with a website to upload their own inventory (did we mention that it's free?) via Google Base. Get started by going to <a href="http://www.google.com/sellonfroogle">www.google.com/sellonfroogle</a>.<br /><br />Besides finding stuff closer to home, Froogle now offers more options for refining your searches, including brand names and related search suggestions. If you search for <a href="http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=home+theater+system&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown"> [home theater system]</a>, we suggest brands like Bose and Kenwood, as well as queries that will help narrow your results, like [wireless home theater system].<br /><br />Hope you find these features useful during this holiday shopping season. And have a happy Turkey Day!

Don't drop while you shop

Posted by Jessica Lee, Associate Product Manager There's bravery, and then there's hitting the mall the day after Thanksgiving, also...

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Wi-Fi in Mountain View

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Minnie Ingersoll, Google WiFi Product Manager </span><br /><br />There have been <a href="http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1093558,00.html">reports</a> that Google plans to unwire the world with free Wi-Fi. In fact, though, our plan is a lot simpler: to provide free Wi-Fi to the city of Mountain View, where we're headquartered. Inside Google, people think this is a plot to make sure our Mountain View employees never stop working -- but it's actually a community outreach program.<br /><br />To this end, I am proud to be working with the City Council, the city librarian, the police department, numerous neighborhood associations, both of the school superintendents, and (of course) the bookmobile driver. And huge thanks in particular to Ellis Burns at the City of Mountain View.<br /><br />We plan to build something exciting here now that the city has <a href="http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/11/17/googlewifi/index.php">approved our proposal</a>. As I wrote in my <a href="http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2005/11/10/more_on_googles_mountain_view_wifi_proposal.html">letter</a> to the City Council, wireless broadband has huge potential to provide inexpensive access to the Internet. Instead of trenching fiber, wireless broadband requires a bucket truck, a lamppost, and 5 minutes of installation. So look for me in a bucket truck soon!

Wi-Fi in Mountain View

Posted by Minnie Ingersoll, Google WiFi Product Manager There have been reports that Google plans to unwire the world with free Wi-Fi. In f...

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