Stress: the holiday Grinch

<span style="font-style: italic;">From time to time, the resident physician at Google headquarters weighs in with her thoughts on healthy living. This is not medical advice, and you should check with your own doctor before pursuing any particular course of action. </span><br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Dr. Taraneh Razavi, M.D., Staff Doctor</span><br /><br />Watching scenes of fists flying over an LCD monitor during a holiday sale made me wonder about stress, and how one can maintain a holiday spirit at a stressful time of year. According to Stedman's Medical Dictionary, it's stress, not the holidays, that make the body react to "forces of a deleterious nature that disturb its normal physiologic equilibrium." That sounds bad.<br /><br />There is extensive research that confirms the harmful effects of stress when it occurs continuously with out the relaxation phase. In the international <a href="http://www.procor.org/story.asp?storyid=Web170223139procor2420051601&pn=1§ion=S46&sitecode=procor&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lang=L1&parentsec=S46">INTERHEART study</a>, patients with a first heart attack reported significantly more stress in financial, home and work-related situations than the control studies. In <a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2002/APRIL/020421.htm">another study</a> of 1055 medical students who were followed for 36 years, it was found that those who had a higher anger response to stress had higher risk of developing premature heart disease (before age 55). Even exposure to traffic has been implicated. (<a href="http://patients.uptodate.com/atoz.asp">Uptodate.com</a> has more references if you are interested.)<br /><br />Stress can also adversely impact high blood pressure, cholesterol, immune response, skin disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, intestinal motility, diabetes, cancer survival, and other conditions. It is now considered to be as much a risk factor as obesity, smoking, and sedentary life style so learning to counteract this response is important.<br /><br />Although the external stress factors (irritating co-workers, hurricanes) are hard to control, there are several ways to reduce the internal stress response. Here's a short list - check it twice:<br /><ul><li>Make a list and prioritize. It's OK if the holiday cards don't go out until 1/2...07.</li> <li>Exercise. No, it's not the answer to everything, but it has been shown to decrease the stress hormones.</li> <li>Take a vacation (break with tradition! A year-end getaway might help limit stress). If not a vacation, at least take a stroll, or take deep breaths while counting to 10.</li> <li>Hugging for 20 seconds has been shown to reduce blood pressure.</li> </ul>Beyond these immediate steps, you can find many resources via the University of Massachusetts' Stress Reduction Program and <a href="http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/srp/">Center for Mindfulness in Medicine</a>, including local referrals. Or check the nonprofit <a href="http://www.eomega.com/">Omega Institute</a> for a vacation centered around stress reduction.<br /><br />If you still feel you're under severe stress, or you're not improving with any of the above measures, then please do consult your doctor. And here's my advice: if the turkey is rubbery, use it as an exercise ball. Happy holidays, everyone.

Stress: the holiday Grinch

From time to time, the resident physician at Google headquarters weighs in with her thoughts on healthy living. This is not medical advice, ...

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'Tis the season

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Johanna Wright, Product Manager</span><br /><br />We've done a bit of seasonal decorating -- even put up some holiday lights. Have you seen them yet? If you search on the names of, say, some special days in December, you just might.

'Tis the season

Posted by Johanna Wright, Product Manager We've done a bit of seasonal decorating -- even put up some holiday lights. Have you seen them...

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In the material world

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Andy Ku, International Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />Next time you’re at the airport, scan the waiting area and see what people are doing. You’ll be shocked by the number who are doing absolutely nothing -- other than staring glassy-eyed at other people who are doing absolutely nothing. Naturally, these people had rushed in a mad frenzy an hour prior in order to get to the airport on time, only to sit and stare.<br /><br />This observation is what spawned <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/googlespace/">Google Space</a>. We thought it would be useful to set up an area to give travellers unfettered Internet access so they might make use of that otherwise wasted time. Plus Googlers would get to talk to Google users, and hear what they like and don’t like about our products. Kind of like <a href="http://labs.google.com/">Google Labs</a>, but with face to face feedback. Google Labs goes material.<br /><br />We've been testing this concept for nearly a month at <a href="http://www.heathrowairport.com/">Heathrow Airport</a> in London.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Google_Space-705825.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Google_Space-796993.JPG" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a>The response has thus far been enlightening and unexpected. Enlightening in that we’ve been learning tons about how to make our products more useful. Unexpected in the ways that people are using Google. One sales guy, David MacDonald, emailed this to the entire UK office:<br /><br /><blockquote>“Yesterday whilst on the Google Space stand at Heathrow T1 I was approached by somebody who asked me if I worked for Google, as soon as I confirmed he smiled. He went on to explain that he had been in Pakistan as part of an International Disaster Response Team to help in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. They had been desperate to use what resources / maps they could find and that Google had been invaluable in helping. It turned out they had used Google Earth to trace the geography of the landscape, locate villages and roads.<br /><br />He was so happy to see me and to show his appreciation, I really felt humbled and proud.”</blockquote>This may be the best part of doing experimental projects. You think you’re onto a good idea, but then something unexpected like this makes it even better.<br /><br />If people find Google Space useful, we might do this in other areas, or perhaps in other airports. Who knows? <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/googlespace/">Let us know</a> where you waste time – and you might see us there.

In the material world

Posted by Andy Ku, International Product Marketing Manager Next time you’re at the airport, scan the waiting area and see what people are do...

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Searching for music

<span class="byline-author">Posted by David Alpert, Search Quality Product Manager</span><br /><br />It may come as no surprise, but I like to search for things on Google. Yep, when I'm looking for something, I always try it on Google first. And sometimes, that thing I'm looking for is music. Many of our users feel the same way, and we get a lot of search traffic on music terms like popular artists and albums.<br /><br />A few of us decided to try to make the information you get for these searches even better, so we created a music search feature. Now you can search for a popular artist name, like <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=the+beatles">the Beatles</a> or the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=pixies">Pixies</a>, and often Google will show some information about that artist, like cover art, reviews, and links to stores where you can download the track or buy a CD via a link at the top of your web search results page.<br /><br />We do this sort of thing a lot -- adding a bit of special information to results for important searches. For example, we have <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=king+kong++movie&btnG=Search">movie showtimes</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=goog&btnG=Search">stock quotes</a>. The more information we can make easily accessible with a simple search, the better.<br /><br />Right now the music search feature mostly works for artists popular in the U.S. and a more limited number of artists from other countries, but we plan to expand it to classical music, worldwide artists, and lesser-known performers. Our list of music stores will also grow over time. If you’re a music store (selling downloads, music by subscription, or physical CDs) and would like to be listed, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py">please get in touch</a>.<br /><br />You might be thinking,"why can't I just type in an album name or a song name and get the same music search results?” There are many album names and songs which are also plain English words. Sometimes users are looking for music information related to those words, and sometimes they aren’t. As we get better at knowing when our users want music information, we hope to expand this feature to include more queries. So keep searching, and we hope you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. We always welcome <a href="http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py">your feedback</a>.

Searching for music

Posted by David Alpert, Search Quality Product Manager It may come as no surprise, but I like to search for things on Google. Yep, when I...

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New Firefox extensions

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Glen Murphy, Software Engineer, Firefox Team</span><br /><br />It wasn't that long ago that I was eating Vegemite on toast back in my homeland of Australia, idly wondering what my future employer Google might have in store for me. Now, five weeks after arriving in the country and being exposed to the Firefox codebase for the first time, and thanks to the array of geniuses sitting around me, it gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of my first project, <a href="http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/webcomments/">Blogger Web Comments</a> to Google Labs.<br /><br />Originally conceived by my friend and mentor, <a href="http://youngpup.net/">Aaron Boodman</a>, this Firefox extension shows you what bloggers around the world are saying about the websites you are viewing. If that doesn't satisfy, you can easily start or join one of these conversations using your <a href="http://www.blogger.com">Blogger </a>blog. We've had plenty of fun reading what people have had to say about our own sites and the sites we visit every day, but best of all is when we discover new groups of people interested in the same niche sites we have been visiting for years.<br /><br />Today we're also introducing a test release of <a href="http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing/">Google Safe Browsing for Firefox</a>, which should help protect you from phishing sites.<br /><br />Check them both out on <a href="http://labs.google.com/">Google Labs</a>.

New Firefox extensions

Posted by Glen Murphy, Software Engineer, Firefox Team It wasn't that long ago that I was eating Vegemite on toast back in my homeland o...

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Google Holiday Helper

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Hunter Walk, Google Product Manager</span><br /><br />First add 1/2 cup water and <a href="http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/prod_hamburgerhelper.asp">seasoning packet</a> to 1 lb. ground beef... uh, wait -- this is the HOLIDAY Helper. Ooops. Okay, let's start over.<br /><br />Holiday season can be a trying time -- shopping stress, end of year deadlines and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/">A Christmas Story</a> broadcast a thousand times on TV. We've got some quick tips to help you make sense of the madness.<br /><br />1) Organize Your Wish List<br />Making a list and checking it twice is so much easier with <a href="http://froogle.google.com/shoppinglist">Froogle's Shopping List</a>, which lets you search for the items you want to buy, and then with just a click, save them for later. You can keep your list private or share it with friends who might just take the hint and buy you something you want this year instead of the <a href="http://www.forcounsel.com/productDetails_c.asp?productid=1549">"World's Ugliest Tie"</a>.<br /><br />2) Track Packages<br />Will your package arrive in time? Entering a UPS, USPS or Federal Express <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#number">tracking number</a> into a Google search box will give you an update on your shipment before you can say "overnight shipping."<br /><br />3) Find Toll-Free Numbers<br />OK, here's a secret "the man" doesn't want you to know. Some companies have a toll-free number that's buried deep on their website -- but it would take like a thousand clicks to find it, and these days, who has the time? One way to get to it more quickly is to search Google for the company name and the phrase "customer support." Like this: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2005-09%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=tivo+customer+support&btnG=Search ">TiVo Customer Support</a>.<br /><br />An even trickier way to get at hard-to-reach customer support phone numbers is to search for the company name and the standard toll-free prefixes. That'll dig up some real gems. For example, "[company name] 800 OR 877 OR 888 OR 866". Give it a whirl -- and here's to less holiday stress.

Google Holiday Helper

Posted by Hunter Walk, Google Product Manager First add 1/2 cup water and seasoning packet to 1 lb. ground beef... uh, wait -- this is the ...

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Build your own Google homepage

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Adam Sah, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.google.com/ig">personalized homepage</a> was created to bring together the stuff that interests you from across the web. From an engineering perspective, this became an opportunity to create a framework for all types of content and information. Supporting RSS and Atom feeds was one step in that direction, and today we're excited to start supporting richer web apps as well. With the <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/homepage">Google Homepage API</a>, developers can now create modules for the personalized homepage. It's designed to be flexible and easy to use, and you don't need to download anything to create a module. To get the ball rolling, the team's created a few modules to add to <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory">the directory</a>. So check these out and get started <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/homepage">creating your own</a>.

Build your own Google homepage

Posted by Adam Sah, Software Engineer The personalized homepage was created to bring together the stuff that interests you from across the ...

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