It’s all about the photos

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Adrian Graham, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Reading feedback from Picasa users is one of the best parts of my job. And lately the feedback has been especially clear and direct: please offer an easy way to share photos online. Today, we’re delighted to begin testing a new Picasa feature that does just that. It’s called <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/">Picasa Web Albums</a>.<br /><br />In case you’re not familiar with Picasa, it’s Google’s free desktop photo management software. Picasa is a quick download that makes it easy for people to organize and edit their pictures using something that’s simple and clutter-free. It’s all about the photos. And now we’ve tried to bring that same experience to online photo sharing with Picasa Web Albums. Just pick a bunch of your photos from Picasa and upload them into a web album in a couple of clicks. Once they’re online, it’s super-easy to share them – click the “Share” button from anywhere on the site or, just email friends the URL for your public gallery.<br /><br />Take a look at the photos that our tester <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/tester">wants to share</a>: Try flipping through photos using the arrow keys (we pre-fetch photos so they load quickly). Zoom in and out to check out details or see the whole photo. Or maximize them on a large monitor. We focused on the photos, not ads or archiving, because we know how important your photos are to you especially when you want to share them. Of course, there's a lot we want to add and improve — which is why for the moment, we're only testing this feature by invitation. If you’re interested in making your own Picasa Web Albums (and helping us make it better), give us your Gmail address <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/">here</a>. We’ll be sending out invitations first come, first served.<br /><br />Once you have an invitation, you’ll be able to download the latest version of Picasa with the web uploading feature. And actually, it’s not just about web uploading -- there’s also <i style="">downloading</i>. We wanted to make sure you can keep enjoying the photos your friends have shared with you. With this in mind, when viewing others’ galleries, you can download an entire album of photos directly into Picasa with just a couple of clicks. For uploading and downloading to and from Picasa Web Albums, you’ll need the new version of Picasa – again, it’s only available to invited users for the time being.<br /><br />Finally, you may be wondering if this costs anything. No, and no hidden fees either. Picasa is free as always, and Picasa Web Albums comes with 250MB of free storage space. That’s enough for approximately 1,000 wallpaper-sized photos at 1600 pixels each. We also offer an easy-to-understand <a href="http://picasa.google.com/web/help.html#facts">storage upgrade option</a> if you have a whole lot more pictures to share.<br /><br />We’re working hard to make both Picasa and Picasa Web Albums better. And we’re excited to start making our most commonly-requested feature available to more people. Try it out and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/support/bin/request.py">tell us what you think</a>. We’d love to hear from you.

It’s all about the photos

Posted by Adrian Graham, Product Manager Reading feedback from Picasa users is one of the best parts of my job. And lately the feedback has ...

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The Bard's the thing

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jen Grant, Google Book Search team</span><br /><br />Summer in New York: kids running through fountains, steamy subways, P. Diddy's White Party in the Hamptons, and ... Shakespeare. Today, <a href="http://www.publictheater.org/view.php?mode=eventdisplay&parentid=210&eventid=788&returnURL=%2Fview.php%3Fmode%3Deventdisplay%26eventid%3D210">Shakespeare in the Park</a> kicks off its 50th year with free performances of <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Macbeth </span></i>in Central Park. To help celebrate (and because we love a good excuse to delve into old books), we've created a place to find and search the complete plays of Shakespeare. <a href="http://books.google.com/googlebooks/shakespeare/?utm_source=googleblog&utm_campaign=shakespeare&utm_medium=et">Here</a>, book lovers and theater fans alike can explore popular favorites and lesser-known gems right from their desktops with <a href="http://books.google.com" title="http://books.google.com/">Google Book Search</a>. (Note that some print versions of Shakespeare's plays may not be in the public domain everywhere in the world. Where copyright status is in question, we protect the publisher by showing the <a title="http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/screenshots.html" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/screenshots.html" target="_blank">Snippet View</a>. As always, we encourage you to let us know if you believe a publication should be in <a href="http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/screenshots.html#bookpage" target="_blank">Full Book View</a>, and we hope you bear with us as we confirm the status and, whenever appropriate, change the display.)<br /><br />Finally, if you want to learn more about how Book Search is helping people around the world browse and discover books of all kinds, be sure to check out our <a href="http://booksearch.blogspot.com/?utm_source=googleblog&utm_campaign=shakespeare&utm_medium=et">new blog</a> too.

The Bard's the thing

Posted by Jen Grant, Google Book Search team Summer in New York: kids running through fountains, steamy subways, P. Diddy's White Party ...

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More gadgets, more places

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Sophia Brueckner, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />We've released the Personalized Homepage feature in <a href="http://www.google.fi/ig">Finland</a>, <a href="http://www.google.no/ig">Norway</a>, <a href="http://www.google.se/ig">Sweden</a>, <a href="http://www.google.dk/ig">Denmark</a>, <a href="http://www.google.ie/ig">Ireland</a> and <a href="http://www.google.co.nz/ig">New Zealand</a>, so that more of you around the world can put the information you want on your Google homepage.<br /><br />And given the football frenzy now underway, we've included the <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?num=24&url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/world_cup.xml&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;q=&start=24">gadget for the World Cup</a> in these new editions to make live scores, standings and schedules available. So hop to it now for soccer updates or other info (like news, weather, recent Gmail messages, and feeds from your favorite sites).

More gadgets, more places

Posted by Sophia Brueckner, Software Engineer We've released the Personalized Homepage feature in Finland , Norway , Sweden , Denmark , ...

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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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