Click to call in Google Maps

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Min Zeng, Google Maps team</span><br /><br />Last week, I was trying to buy blue lightbulbs for a party at my house, and I ended up calling ten different stores before I found one that carried them. Now with the new calling feature on <a href="http://maps.google.com/">Google Maps</a>, I can do this quickly and easily, and never have to lift a finger to dial.<br /><br />Here's how it works: Search for a business, like a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hardware+store+in+seattle">hardware store</a>, on Google Maps, and click the 'call' link next to its phone number. Then, enter your phone number and click 'Connect For free.' Google calls your phone number and automatically connects you to the hardware store.<br /><br />There are two things that I really like about this. The business's phone number is automatically stored in your caller ID so you can easily call back in the future. And by checking the box to remember your phone number, you can make future calls from Google Maps with just two mouse clicks (and picking up your phone, of course).<br /><br />We're providing the 'call' link as a free service to all businesses. These aren't ads and don't influence the ranking of businesses in the search results. We foot the bill for calls (local and long distance), but airtime fees or other mobile fees will still apply if you use a mobile phone number. Currently, the calling feature works if you live in the U.S. and are looking for a business located in the U.S.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=52512&topic=1467">Learn more</a> about this, and also our <a href="http://www.google.com/help/privacy_clicktocall.html">privacy policy.</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Update: </span></span>Added link to "hardware store" example.

Click to call in Google Maps

Posted by Min Zeng, Google Maps team Last week, I was trying to buy blue lightbulbs for a party at my house, and I ended up calling ten diff...

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Search engines united

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Grace Kwak, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Last year we published the Sitemap 0.84 XML protocol as a free and easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about URLs on their web sites so that search engines can more effectively crawl them. We released it under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">Attribution/Share Alike Creative Commons license</a> in the hopes that other search engines would adopt the protocol too. And today, we're excited to announce that Yahoo! and Microsoft are joining us in <a href="http://www.sitemaps.org/">officially supporting the Sitemap protocol</a>.<br /><br />As the web becomes more dynamic, Sitemaps will enable better and fresher search results for everyone who uses the web. For site owners, Sitemaps will help improve website visibility in search results. You can read more about this on our <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/11/joint-support-for-sitemap-protocol.html" title="Webmaster Central blog">Webmaster Central blog</a>.

Search engines united

Posted by Grace Kwak, Product Manager Last year we published the Sitemap 0.84 XML protocol as a free and easy way for webmasters to inform s...

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Google News in Scandinavia

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Petter Wedum and Håvard Husevåg Garnes, Google interns</span><br /><br />After months of hard work, the day is finally here: we've released Google News in <a href="http://news.google.no/">Norway</a> and <a href="http://news.google.se/">Sweden</a>.<br /><br />At Google News, we cut to the bone -- er, to the core -- searching to get you the freshest takes. We gather the latest news headlines in your language and present a summary of links to you in one single page, freshly ranked by relevance and popularity. Then you just dash off to the sites to read the news stories that take your fancy.<br /><br />The two of us worked as summer interns with Google in Trondheim earlier this year, with plenty of help from our Swedish colleague Jonas Yngvesson, who's based in Google's Zurich office. Now after some months of public silence, we can finally tell our friends and you all about our work on Google News Scandinavia. It has kind of become our baby. We've cared for it, looked after it, yelled at it and corrected it, and we've come to love it. We hope you will appreciate it as much as we do.<br /><br />In addition to taming the news, we've enjoyed free lunches and had a chance to learn from some of the best engineers Trondheim and the rest of the world have to offer. Perhaps best of all, we were trusted to work on release-level code for Norway and Sweden. If like us you want to have a say in the inner workings of the world's biggest search company -- to discuss algorithm problems with the guy who wrote your algorithm textbook at college -- you should know that Google wants interns all over the world. Check out the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=studentseu.html">Google Interns site</a>.<br /><br />Before we go, we would like to thank all the Googlers who have helped us and encouraged us and cared for us throughout our internship. Bosses, colleagues, recruiters and caterers, thank you! Our summer would not have been the same without your help.

Google News in Scandinavia

Posted by Petter Wedum and Håvard Husevåg Garnes, Google interns After months of hard work, the day is finally here: we've released Goog...

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Search Public Events in Google Calendar

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Nikhil Chandhok, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Today we launched a new feature of <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar" target="_blank">Google Calendar</a>: "Search public events." It lets you search over public events added by others using Calendar and also events we've added by working with partners to provide movie listings, concerts, and all sorts of other fun events.<br /><br />There are many reasons we wanted to build this feature, but mainly because some of us on the team moved to New York last year to work in our office there. Needless to say, we wanted to experience everything that the city had to offer but had trouble finding all the fun and fascination that New York has to offer. After Google Calendar launched in April, we saw a surge in the number of public calendars being shared. We thought if we made public events searchable, we could find interesting events with little effort by encouraging people to share interesting events.<br /><br />So whether you're interested in <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%25253Dweek%25252C7%252526date%25253D20061113&filter=0&q=broadway&btnG=Search+Public+Events&amp;ql=new+york&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">broadway</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&filter=0&q=movies&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=san+francisco&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">movies</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&q=art&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=new+york&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">art</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&filter=0&q=music&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=denver&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">music</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&amp;filter=0&q=photography&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=chicago&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">photography</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%2C7%2526date%253D20061113&q=farmers+market&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">farmer's markets</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&q=knicks+basketball&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">Knicks basketball</a> (we love 'em in NY) or even good old <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/events?state=mode%253Dweek%252C7%2526date%253D20061113&q=dumpster+diving&btnG=Search+Public+Events&ql=&qt=&qtd=" target="_blank">dumpster diving</a>, we hope you find this new feature useful. If you don't see your favorite event, add it to a public calendar and share it with the world. And while you're finding new and interesting things to do, please <a href="http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/request.py">send us feedback</a> on other ways we can improve the service.

Search Public Events in Google Calendar

Posted by Nikhil Chandhok, Product Manager Today we launched a new feature of Google Calendar : "Search public events." It lets yo...

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Desktop refreshed

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />Every once in a while, our products go through a change that we just can't wait to get out to you. That's the case with <a href="http://desktop.google.com/" title="Google Desktop">Google Desktop 4.5</a>, which introduces a visual refresh of the Sidebar and some Google Gadgets. The cleaner and now transparent Sidebar integrates more seamlessly into your desktop environment while still providing convenient, at-a-glance access to all sorts of personalized information. This version is also compatible with the latest software such as Microsoft Vista, Office 2007, and Mozilla Firefox 2.0. There are more details on the <a href="http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/2006/11/check-out-new-sidebar.html" title="Google Desktop Blog">Google Desktop Blog</a>.

Desktop refreshed

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager Every once in a while, our products go through a change that we just can't wait to ge...

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World Usability Day

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rick Boardman, User Experience Team</span><br /><br />When was the last time you visited a website where you couldn't find what you wanted? Happens way too often, doesn't it? Or perhaps you've recently had a bad experience with another piece of technology -- a mobile phone, DVD player, or household appliance that you just couldn't figure out how to use. Well, there is a whole group of people called "user experience professionals" who sit up late at night thinking about naughty technology and how to make it better for you -- and there's even a whole day dedicated to improving technology.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/1600/WUD_logo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/320/WUD_logo.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/">World Usability Day</a> is an annual event that highlights the fact that millions of people around the world encounter technology problems every day, and so promotes the work that user experience professionals do to make technology easier to use. The day starts at midday NZST in New Zealand and ends 32 hours later at 11PM PST in California, with events on every continent (except maybe Antarctica!).<br /><br />Events focus on a wide range of technologies and users: Not only do we work on travel websites, search engines, and email programs, but we also study how to best support people with special needs (from jet pilots to people with visual impairments) and improve the usability of everything from ATMs to operating rooms.<br /><br />Google has a sizable team of user experience professionals who are constantly working to improve the usability of our products. We test them in lots of ways, like doing statistical analyses of which of two versions of a webpage gets more clicks and usage. Another one of our favorite techniques is inviting people to come into our labs to give us feedback in person. Sometimes, we ask them to sit in front of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_tracking">an eye tracker</a> so we can follow where they are looking on the screen. We continually take the results of all these study types and make changes in the way our software behaves. For instance, we recently made changes to <a href="http://googlebase.blogspot.com/2006/09/redesign-of-google-base-homepage_19.html">Google Base</a> and <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-groups-experience.html">Google Groups</a> specifically to make those products easier to use. But while we pride ourselves on the usability of our products, we know that there's always more to be done. Whenever you have a question or complaint about the usability of one of Google's products, we want to hear about it! Use the "contact us" feedback link within a product's <a href="http://www.google.com/support/">help center</a>, and send us the details.<br /><br />If you're a user experience professional or student interested in working here, please check out our <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/topic.py?dep_id=1091&loc_id=1100" title="jobs">jobs</a> page and get in touch. And lastly, here are some World Usability Day events which caught our eye:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/184">MakingLifeEasy.Org and Red Balloons on the Streets of Auckland & Wellington</a> (New Zealand)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/174">Navigation in the operating room. An example of a successful design process</a> (Switzerland)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/143">Usability Make-over for Nonprofit Websites</a> (USA)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/65">Access to Books for People with Print Disabilities</a> (USA)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/110">Dia Mundial da Usabilidade em Brasília</a> (Brazil)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldusabilityday.org/event/show/102">Exploring methods for promoting usability testing with elderly people and people with disabilities</a> (Japan)

World Usability Day

Posted by Rick Boardman, User Experience Team When was the last time you visited a website where you couldn't find what you wanted? Ha...

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Start your day off right

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Horowitz, Product Manager, Google Apps for Your Domain</span><br /><br />How do people in your company, school or organization start their day after their morning cup of coffee? It would be pretty great if they could fire up their browser and go to a page where they have everything they need to get their day going -- a summary of their inbox and calendar, company or school news, important links, plus a Google search box. It'd be even better if this page was highly customizable -- by your organization and by your people -- and didn't cost buckets of money to build and maintain.<br /><br />I've thought a lot about this challenge, and I'm excited to finally tell everyone about what I've been working on: a brand new feature of <a href="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/overview.html">Google Apps for Your Domain</a> called the "start page." With this, organizations can provide a dynamic and unique-to-you central access point for essential information. Setting it up is quick and easy -- much like setting up a Google Personalized Homepage -- but with custom logos, colors and your organization's own content, in addition to modules from our <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open">gadget library</a>. Then each of your users can take your organization's default page and change it up so it's just right for them.<br /><br />To create a start page for your organization for free, sign up for Google Apps for Your Domain or log in to your existing account. If you think this would be useful but don't make these kinds of decisions for your school, business or organization, point your IT administrators to <a href="http://www.google.com/a"><span style="font-weight:bold;">http://www.google.com/a</span></a>.

Start your day off right

Posted by Mike Horowitz, Product Manager, Google Apps for Your Domain How do people in your company, school or organization start their day ...

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