The multilingual Desktop

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />No matter what language you speak, you shouldn't have to hunt around for stuff on your computer. That's why there's <a href="http://desktop.google.com">Google Desktop 4</a>, now out of beta in -- count 'em -- 26 languages (hello, Romanian), plus a Japanese beta version.<br /><br />Thanks also to everyone who submitted a gadget for the contest. We'll announce the winners on September 5th. Read more about this on the <a href="http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/2006/08/personalizing-desktops-everywhere.html"> Google Desktop Blog</a>.

The multilingual Desktop

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager No matter what language you speak, you shouldn't have to hunt around for stuff on you...

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Stardate 0817.06

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Tom Galloway, Technical Writer</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Starbase 24 Commander's personal log.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I find myself looking forward to my upcoming trip to Earth, specifically Las Vegas...</span><br /><br />Did you ever realize that among many other things, Star Trek predicted blogs? Think about it -- all those "Captain's log" and "personal log" entries that Kirk would make. He was definitely a blogger. And of course the communicator-inspired cell phone design. And the crew was constantly asking the ship's computer for information...sort of like Google.<br /><br />Of course, Scotty and Spock, the engineer and the scientist, certainly were childhood inspirations to many Googlers. Now we've (somewhat) grown up, and often work on things that seem right out of the show: Being able to ask a computer to research a topic and present <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=star+trek&btnG=Google+Search">relevant results</a>. Putting maps, both human-drawn and photos taken from space, on a <a href="http://www.google.com/gmm/tour.html">personal communicator</a> (OK, cell phone). <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=scifi&tags=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;uq=&ctyp=&scoring=d">Creating 3-D structures and objects</a> and putting them in a shared warehouse for everyone to use (we're still working on making them into solid holograms for a Holodeck). And I'm convinced we've got replicators that restock the snacks in our micro-kitchens.<br /><br />So it all stands to reason that we're hosting a booth at the <a href="http://www.creationent.com/cal/stlv.htm">5th annual Official Star Trek Convention</a> (which celebrates 40 years of the whole enterprise) in Las Vegas. It starts today and runs through Sunday. If you're at the con, please stop by for demos of some of our latest product releases, including a few new ones, often with a particular sci-fi spin. We're also looking for <a href="http://www.google.com/jobs/">applicants</a> to "Google Academy," so please speak up if you'd like to work here. After all -- <a href="http://www.google.com/trekfan">today is a good day to code.</a>

Stardate 0817.06

Posted by Tom Galloway, Technical Writer Starbase 24 Commander's personal log. I find myself looking forward to my upcoming trip to Eart...

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More ways to connect and share with Google Talk

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk Product Manager</span><br /><br />Millions of you use Google Talk every day to connect with friends, family, and colleagues via chat and calls. Today we're <a href="http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/its-finally-here.html">releasing a new version</a> of Google Talk that introduces several more ways to share and connect. You can download it <a href="http://www.google.com/talk/">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">File transfer</span> - This has consistently been the top <a href="https://services.google.com/inquiry/talk_suggest">requested feature</a>, and we've worked hard to make the experience simple, fast, and fun. You can share any type of file, several at a time if you like. We think the photo sharing experience is especially fun.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Voicemail</span> - The name of this feature doesn't do it justice. Yes, you can now leave voicemails for any of your Google Talk contacts when they don't answer a call, but I think the coolest thing is that you can easily record voice notes and send them to anyone you know by just adding their email address to your contact list -- they don't even have to be running Google Talk. This is a fun and easy way to just say hello, send someone a reminder, or even sing your mom happy birthday! Also, our friends on the Gmail team have added a slick <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=45756&topic=1565&hl=en">voicemail playback experience</a> within Gmail.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Music status sharing</span> - Show your friends what music you listen to and discover new music that your friends are into (or discover that they spend their entire day listening to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=barry+manilow&btnG=Google+Search">Barry Manilow</a>... hmm). We also thought it would be fun for you to see the musical tastes of the broader community. So you now have the option of sharing your music listening history with Google, to be included in the rankings of our new Google Labs project called <a href="http://www.google.com/trends/music">Music Trends</a>.<br /><br />Finally, we have some updates targeted at developers such as support for a new voice codec which we'll talk about in an upcoming post. And now, I'm off to record that message for my mom...

More ways to connect and share with Google Talk

Posted by Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk Product Manager Millions of you use Google Talk every day to connect with friends, family, and colleagu...

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Free citywide WiFi in Mountain View

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Minnie Ingersoll, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Today, Google launched a WiFi network in our hometown of Mountain View. Radios hanging on lampposts throughout the city are now broadcasting a "GoogleWiFi" wireless (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11">802.11b/g</a>) signal that brings wireless Internet access to the city's residents, businesses, and visitors. All anyone needs is a laptop or other wireless-enabled device and a web browser to get online. Then Mountain View users can select the "GoogleWiFi" signal, open their web browser and sign in with a free Google Account. To learn more about the network's coverage area and the location of the WiFi radios, we've published a <a href="http://wifi.google.com/city/mv/apmap.html">map</a>.<br /><br />This network is a way for us to give back to and engage with the community where our headquarters are. As the product manager for Google WiFi, it has been has been tremendously rewarding to partner with the local government, the schools, the library, the neighborhood associations, and all of our trusted testers to introduce the power of free, wireless Internet connectivity to the city. I look forward to meeting with more members of the community at upcoming training sessions and ice cream socials :-).<br /><br />Another goal of this network is to promote alternative access technologies by using Mountain View as an example for organizations considering investments in the WiFi arena. We think successful mesh wireless deployments will promote competition, create cheaper access alternatives, and (if done correctly) foster open, standards-compliant platforms for content and service providers to showcase their applications without the hassle of the traditional walled-garden approach.<br /><br />For additional information about Google WiFi, please see our <a href="http://wifi.google.com/support" title="Frequently Asked Questions">Frequently Asked Questions</a>. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and give the network a try, or <a href="mailto:mvwifi-support@google.com">RSVP </a>to attend our community training session on August 23. Finally, our special thanks to the city of Mountain View for being such a great partner.

Free citywide WiFi in Mountain View

Posted by Minnie Ingersoll, Product Manager Today, Google launched a WiFi network in our hometown of Mountain View. Radios hanging on lamppo...

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Map Search gadget for the homepage

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Tom Stocky, Product Manager</span><br /><br />We just released a <a href="http://google.com/ig/directory?url=mapsearch.xml">Google Map Search gadget</a> for the personalized homepage -- an easy way do local searches and then quickly scroll through the results on a map. You programmers might like to know that this makes use of three Google APIs at the same time: the Google <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/">AJAX Search API</a>, the <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/">Google Maps API</a>, and the <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/homepage/">Google Gadgets API</a>. The next challenge? Let's go for four...

Map Search gadget for the homepage

Posted by Tom Stocky, Product Manager We just released a Google Map Search gadget for the personalized homepage -- an easy way do local sea...

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A better way to organize photos?

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Adrian Graham, Picasa Product Manager</span><br /><br />It's not always easy to search through your personal photos, and it's certainly a lot harder than searching the web. Unless you take the time to label and organize all your pictures (and I'll freely admit that I don't), chances are it can be pretty hard to find that photo you just know is hidden somewhere deep inside your computer.<br /><br />We've been working to make Picasa (Google's free photo-organizing software) even better when it comes to searching for your own photos—to make finding them be as easy as finding stuff on the web. Luckily we've found some people who share this goal, and are excited that the Neven Vision team is now part of Google.<br /><br />Neven Vision comes to Google with deep technology and expertise around automatically extracting information from a photo. It could be as simple as detecting whether or not a photo contains a person, or, one day, as complex as recognizing people, places, and objects. This technology just may make it a lot easier for you to organize and find the photos you care about. We don't have any specific features to show off today, but we're looking forward to having more to share with you soon.

A better way to organize photos?

Posted by Adrian Graham, Picasa Product Manager It's not always easy to search through your personal photos, and it's certainly a lo...

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Code your way to Gotham

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Craig Nevill-Manning, Engineering Director</span><br /><br />New York, New York -- A place so nice, we're holding the Google Code Jam finals here! I'm excited to tell you about our fourth annual competition, the <a href="http://www.google.com/codejam2006">2006 Google International Code Jam</a>. This year the last round will be held at our second-largest development center, right in downtown Manhattan. The best coders in the world (and that includes you, if you're up for the challenge) compete on speed and accuracy to solve challenging problems with only their brains, fingers, and a computer. If this is your idea of fun, then sign up -- registration opens today. We'll fly the best 100 coders to New York in October, all expenses paid, for the final competition, to meet Google software engineers and to experience Manhattan. First prize is $10,000; all finalists are guaranteed a minimum prize of $750. <br /><br />Of course, we'll be on the lookout for future Googlers -- those who love solving tricky coding challenges, and are excited about solving the Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal of organizing the world's information.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.topcoder.com/pl/?&module=Static&d1=google06&d2=overview">Registration opens today</a>, so sign up, test your mettle, and we'll save you a place in New York!<a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Codejam_logo-743766.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Codejam_logo-742264.gif" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a>

Code your way to Gotham

Posted by Craig Nevill-Manning, Engineering Director New York, New York -- A place so nice, we're holding the Google Code Jam finals her...

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