Happy Birthday, Google Earth

<span class="byline-author">Posted by John Hanke, Director, Google Earth and Google Maps </span><br /><br />We got so excited around here about the first anniversary of Google Earth that we decided to celebrate a bit early. Beginning today, you can <a href="http://earth.google.com/downloads.html">download a brand new version</a>, Google Earth 4. Running on OS X? Feel the love. Prefer Linux? Ditto. Yes, we're releasing simultaneously for PC, Mac (universal binary for full performance on both Intel and PowerPC based Macs) and for the first time ever, native support for popular Linux distributions. And we should say "salut," "ciao," "hallo," and "hola" to our French, Italian, German and Spanish users, because Google Earth is now fully localized for those languages in addition to English. This includes a UI localized to French, Italian, German, and Spanish, as well as local search, driving directions, geo-coding, and unique local information layers for those countries.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Got data?</span><br />The streamlined new UI is bound to make you crave new places to explore, so we put together a little update to our database — we increased our global coverage by about 4X. Google Earth now covers more than 20 percent of the landmass of the entire globe with high-resolution satellite imagery (soon <a href="http://maps.google.com">Google Maps</a> will too). When we say "high resolution," we mean the good stuff: you can see cars, houses, buildings in more than 200 countries and territories. Not every house is covered, only about two billion of them. That's our best estimate, anyway — that about 1/3 of the population of the Earth can now see their homes in high-resolution. Google Earth has had medium resolution global satellite coverage since the beginning. But that was at 15 meters per pixel. This new global coverage was produced in conjunction with our exclusive satellite partner, Digital Globe, and is at approximately 70 cm per pixel. We have even better data for many countries, up to 10 cm per pixel.<br /><br />What global insights can this new data produce? Google Earth has already helped save tsunami, hurricane, and earthquake victims, not to mention find a <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050912/full/050912-6.html">lost Roman villa</a>, track <a href="http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/05/near_realtime_s.html">severe storms</a>, discover <a href="http://www.astroseti.org/impacts.php">new meteor craters</a>, track the <a href="http://declanbutler.info/blog/?p=16">outbreak of avian flu</a>, visually index <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/illuminated-continent.html">magazine articles and photos</a>, host <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/videogalleries/nationalparks/nationalparks.html">travel videos</a>, redefine the<a href="http://www2.prupref.com/announce/google-earth.php"> house-shopping process</a>, track <a href="http://www.fboweb.com/antest/ge/intro.aspx">airplanes in flight</a>, recognize every <a href="http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/05/memorial_day_me.html">Medal of Honor recipient</a>, and many other uses we never expected. Only time will tell what it will bring, and it will only be fully realized when energetic and creative people use powerful tools like KML to exploit the new data and features.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why not KML in Maps?</span><br />We asked that too. <a href="http://earth.google.com/kml/kml_overview.html">KML</a> is such an amazingly flexible way to create and share geographic information - whether it's <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://kml.lover.googlepages.com/my-vacation-photos.kml">sharing vacation photos</a> with your friends or publishing important data like the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/catalogs/eqs7day-age.kmz">realtime earthquake feed</a> from the U.S. Geological Survey — we thought it would be useful to be able to view KML in Google Maps. So here it is! You can now view KML in Maps by entering the URL for your KML file. To browse hundreds of thousands of interesting KML files, see what the half million members of the <a href="http://bbs.keyhole.com/">Google Earth Community</a> have created.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feeling inspired?</span><br />Google SketchUp and <a href="http://www.sketchup.com/?id=1468">Google 3D Warehouse</a> have enabled creative individuals around the world to model their world in 3D. A <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/download.html">new version of SketchUp</a> is available today that enables the export of fully-textured 3D models to 3D Warehouse and Google Earth. This will bring even more realism to the collectively-authored 3D world SketchUp users are creating.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ready to mashup?</span><br />Our legion of Maps API developers asked us to support <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/index.html#Geocoding_Examples">geocoding</a>. So we decided to push that out today too. Street-level geocoding is now available for the U.S., Canada, <strike>Japan</strike>, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Let the mashing begin.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Correction:</span> Street-level geocoding is not available in Japan. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Are you enterprising?</span><br />Finally, now there's <a href="http://www.google.com/enterprise/maps/">Google Maps for Enterprise</a>, offering a fee-based service and support for businesses that want to embed a Google Maps experience in their websites or internal applications. It leverages the <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/">Google Maps API</a> to enable businesses to map customer locations, track shipments, manage facilities or view any other data source in a geographic context.<br /><br />Whew. I'm exhausted from writing all of that. Our first year has been a busy one. We hope you enjoy these latest efforts in our mission to geographically organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Happy Birthday, Google Earth

Posted by John Hanke, Director, Google Earth and Google Maps We got so excited around here about the first anniversary of Google Earth tha...

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Movers, shakers and hoops on video

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jon Steinback, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />There are so many videos available on Google Video that we don't always know where to start, so we turned to you viewers to help us decide what to watch. We use algorithms to identify videos that are suddenly becoming popular, and then rank them based on how popular they are -- and how suddenly they became popular. We've been using this list internally, and now it's ready to share with you, so <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers">check it out</a>. Right now this feature highlights videos from close to 40 countries, including <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/arg">Argentina</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/aus">Australia</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/bel">Belgium</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/bra">Brazil</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/can">Canada</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/est">Estonia</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/fin">Finland</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/grc">Greece</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/hkg">Hong Kong</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/ind">India</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/isr">Israel</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/jpn">Japan</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/kor">South Korea</a>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/mex">Mexico</a>, and <a href="http://video.google.com/videomovers/nzl">New Zealand</a>, to name a few.<br /><br />And by the way, we're guessing there might be some interest in the NBA Finals, too. We're not going to miss a minute -- and now, <a href="http://googlevideo.blogspot.com/2006/06/highlight-nba-finals.html">neither will you</a>.

Movers, shakers and hoops on video

Posted by Jon Steinback, Product Marketing Manager There are so many videos available on Google Video that we don't always know where to...

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Being a good sport

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Manu Rekhi, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />Summer’s that time of year when a lot of Googlers channel our inner Tiger, Ronaldinho, Venus, Shaq or Albert. Admittedly, most of us are weekend warriors and couch potatoes, not to mention keyboard jockeys — and we tend to fall into a few other categories, too. Fortunately Google can help us all out: we’ve got some new sports-related products and search features launching. When it comes to sports information, do you recognize your type here?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hometown Hero.</span> Whether across continents or across branches of the family tree, you’re fiercely loyal to that team that stirred your childhood passions. But time zones, TV broadcast schedules, and the demands of, say, work or dinner may not always cooperate. Now Google can deliver up-to-the-minute scores, stats, and schedules 24x7. Check out:<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.google.com">Google.com</a> — Fire it up on the browser of either your PC or mobile device to search for your favorite World Cup group or team to view real-time scores and schedules<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?num=24&cat=sports">Sports Gadgets</a> — Add these to your personalized Google homepage, including a new one with <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/worldcup?source=wcb">World Cup</a> info<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.google.com/sms/">Google SMS</a> — Text-message a team name to 46645 (GOOGL) in the U.S. for World Cup scores and schedules. Fans in <a href="http://google.de/sms/">Germany</a>, <a href="http://www.google.co.jp/mobile/km/">Japan</a> and <a href="http://www.google.ca/sms/">Canada</a> can also give it a whirl.<br /><br />- <a href="http://desktop.google.com">Google Desktop</a> - Get live World Cup scores right on your desktop with this <a href="http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/gd_soccergadget.html">Soccer Scores gadget</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sports-Commentator-In-Training.</span> Forget “le mot juste” — you’re about “le stat juste” or “le uplifting personal story juste.” You color commentator-wannabes have to have the latest data in hand and want to connect with others just like you, since your significant other has probably long since tuned you out). Check out:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.joga.com">Joga.com</a> — Football (a.k.a. “soccer” in the U.S.) fans, build your own groups and clubs, share all kinds of football-related info, upload photos and video, and get updates on matches and events<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Google Alerts</a> — Get current news and website changes as they happen by creating Alerts for your favorite teams and players<br /><br /><a href="http://video.google.com/worldcup.html">Google Video </a> — If you can't be in Germany this month, feed your football fever at this special section of Google Video<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Intellectual.</span> You look underneath the sweat and adrenaline to explore the cultural and psychological underpinnings of sports and sporting events. Big questions like football vs. soccer, or perhaps basketball vs. ice hockey as a preferred winter sport. Or maybe the impact of major sports events on worker productivity. To further indulge your curiosity, there’s <a href="http://www.google.com/trends">Google Trends</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The One with Team Pajamas.</span> Enough said. If you're a fan of both football and <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox">Firefox</a>, soon you can grab this Joga.com <a href="http://www.joga.com/jogacompanion.aspx">extension</a> built in collaboration with Firefox to show support for your team (or all 32 of them) while you're surfing the web. You'll have a constant pulse on games, players, and stats.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Update</span>:</span> Google.com results currently support group or team search only. Added Google Video link; added link to Google Desktop Soccer Scores gadget.

Being a good sport

Posted by Manu Rekhi, Product Marketing Manager Summer’s that time of year when a lot of Googlers channel our inner Tiger, Ronaldinho, Venus...

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The Debate over Net Neutrality

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Andrew McLaughlin, Senior Policy Counsel</span><br /><br />The debate over "net neutrality" is coming to a boil in the next week as the House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill that could determine the future of the Internet. The big phone and cable TV companies want Congress’s permission to create a new, unprecedented regulatory bureaucracy on the Internet – a private bureaucracy of broadband monopolists with the power to determine what content gets to you first and fastest. Google believes that forcing people and companies to get permission from, and pay special fees to, the phone and cable companies to connect with one another online is fundamentally counter to the freedom and innovation that have defined the Internet.<br /><br />Our CEO Eric Schmidt believes this situation is so important that he has written an open letter to Google users asking them to speak out on this issue. We urge all of you to <a href="http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html">read his letter</a> and call <a href="http://www.house.gov/">your representative in Congress</a> at 202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be heard, visit <a href="http://itsournet.org/">It'sOurNet.org</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Update:</span> </span>For those following this debate closely, the key House vote is happening Thursday night or Friday morning on the Markey-Boucher-Eshoo-Inslee Amendment, which would add meaningful net neutrality provisions to <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h5252rh.txt.pdf">H.R. 5252</a>, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act. We believe anything less that this amendment would be a loss for freedom and innovation on the Internet.

The Debate over Net Neutrality

Posted by Andrew McLaughlin, Senior Policy Counsel The debate over "net neutrality" is coming to a boil in the next week as the Ho...

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Get in sync

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Brian Rakowski, Product Manager</span><br /><br />What could be worse than forgetting to bookmark the obscure page you found that maps out the perfect walking tour of Venice? Having bookmarked it on the computer sitting on your desk back at home, 6000 miles away, instead of on the laptop you brought along. Or how about the frustration of being on a new computer and not remembering your passwords because your browser on your old computer automatically filled them in for you?<br /><br />These sorts of frustrations inspired us to build a Firefox extension that keeps your browser settings for all your computers in sync. <a href="http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/browsersync/index.html">Google Browser Sync</a> unifies your bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and persistent cookies across all the computers where you install it. It also remembers which tabs and windows you had open when you last closed any of your browsers and gives you a chance to reopen them. We think you'll enjoy how it handles sync conflicts and "just works," enabling you to bring your browser with you everywhere.<br /><br />Meanwhile, we've also been improving version 2 of the <a href="http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/" title="Google Toolbar for Firefox">Google Toolbar for Firefox</a>. We've fixed a bunch of bugs and made it more stable, so we're stripping off the "beta" tag. We'll be updating all Toolbar users to this new version in the next couple of weeks.

Get in sync

Posted by Brian Rakowski, Product Manager What could be worse than forgetting to bookmark the obscure page you found that maps out the perfe...

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Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a Mac Video Player.

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Matthew Vosburgh, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />We just released the Mac version of the <a href="http://video.google.com/playerdownload_mac.html">Google Video Player</a>. Now Mac users can buy and download the premium shows on <a href="http://video.google.com/">Google Video</a>. Go on, grab an <a title="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4726927286690536458" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4726927286690536458">episode of CSI</a> you forgot to TiVo, or perhaps an old favorite <a title="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6731259469500773393" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6731259469500773393">episode of Star Trek Voyager</a>.<br /><br />For added coolness, the Mac Google Video Player is a Universal binary, so it runs natively on both Intel and PowerPC Macs. Our new player will also play the free videos from our site, so you can download and keep movies like <a title="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1744809380070014467" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1744809380070014467">Cat on Ice</a>, this <a title="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6461191325491326013" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6461191325491326013">very cute wombat</a> or my personal favorite, <a title="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7199158973758073420" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7199158973758073420">Talking Cats</a>. This is the perfect excuse to run out and get one of those cute new black MacBooks...

Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a Mac Video Player.

Posted by Matthew Vosburgh, Software Engineer We just released the Mac version of the Google Video Player . Now Mac users can buy and downlo...

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It's nice to share

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Many of you must be wondering, “Whatever happened to 2Web Technologies?" Um - no? Anybody? Well, if you're wondering, we joined Google's New York City office last year to come up with a solution to a problem we understood all too well: how to quickly and easily share information in real time. Spreadsheets were a clear target. They can have real power, but there are equally real drawbacks to collaborating and sharing them. This fact led our little team to explore making spreadsheet software, and the spreadsheets themselves, available on the web. And now, Google Spreadsheets is available as a limited test on <a href="http://labs.google.com">Google Labs</a>. Even when it was only partly developed, we used Google Spreadsheets (alpha!) to manage our task lists, our feature lists, our bandwidth estimates, our storage estimates, even our complex team event voting ;). We now know the true meaning of "share."<br /><br />Now when I say “share,” I don’t mean “send group email,” and I certainly don't mean "time-share". (That’s actually the root of the problem we are trying to solve: multiple out-of-sync versions that are email attachments.) I <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> mean “use and update the same spreadsheet.” When I use Google Spreadsheets to organize events with the other parents at my kids' school, we’ll be looking at the same details at the same time. If I change the agenda of next Friday’s teacher’s meeting, the other parents will see that change immediately. When my brother-in-law’s bike club uses Google Spreadsheets to track rides, they’ll be in sync -- and if I change the time of next week's ride, the other riders may actually show up.<br /><br />So don’t be surprised if you are soon invited by someone to share a spreadsheet. (We're rolling this out as a <a href="http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html">limited test</a>.) Your kid's sports coach, your aunt in Omaha trying to organize a major family reunion, your friend who promised to compile a list of all your favorite hiking trails (and now wants you to help), or your project team which now has a way to keep tasks and status in one place for all to see.

It's nice to share

Posted by Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager Many of you must be wondering, “Whatever happened to 2Web Technologies?" Um - no? Anybody?...

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