Flying high with Google SMS

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Deepak Sethi, Software Engineer, Mobile Team</span><br /><br />Ever spent 15 minutes on the phone shouting answers at the automated airline attendant while rushing to the airport? How cool would it be to get real-time flight info just by sending a quick text message? Well, now you can, using <a href="http://www.google.com/sms/">Google SMS</a>.<br /><br />Simply text your flight number to 466453 (‘GOOGLE’ on most mobile devices), and the status information will be sent back to you. Or text a specific airline name, and Google will send back the main phone number to call.<br /><br />Google SMS is available for flights departing or arriving in the U.S., and all of the information is provided by flightstats.com. And as always, it’s free. Give it a try, and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/request.py">let us know what you think</a>.

Flying high with Google SMS

Posted by Deepak Sethi, Software Engineer, Mobile Team Ever spent 15 minutes on the phone shouting answers at the automated airline attendan...

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The wisdom of orkut

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Natalie Schwartz, orkut product team</span><br /><br />Wish you could use the wisdom of crowds to help make decisions and get all your<br />questions answered? Well, starting today you can post polls and discover the<br />wisdom of <a href="http://www.orkut.com/" title="orkut">orkut</a>!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQGiG0Ga4yMHwKafJQmMhVRrOgItuB0ZHgFhMPqN1CKqEeAOsB7jxXmzAs-_Gs8i0yRIcWgMYEjmBseAkG5u69yaag1_Zta0Sak56CpPfV2f16mhfgV6SW_Qd_kiKxUYcvA5iPT5yYEI/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046387070201516402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQGiG0Ga4yMHwKafJQmMhVRrOgItuB0ZHgFhMPqN1CKqEeAOsB7jxXmzAs-_Gs8i0yRIcWgMYEjmBseAkG5u69yaag1_Zta0Sak56CpPfV2f16mhfgV6SW_Qd_kiKxUYcvA5iPT5yYEI/s320/Picture+1.png" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />Now all you orkut users can create and post polls in any community that you are a member of. Just click a button in your favorite community, type in your question, and add pictures (if you like), and voila!—community members can<br />vote and leave comments on your question of choice.<br /><br />Having trouble deciding where to go to spend your holiday weekend, who to vote for in the next election, or how to solve a tough brain teaser? Login to orkut and see what your orkut friends think! You might not see this right away in your favorite communities, but the feature will be rolling out to everyone soon.

The wisdom of orkut

Posted by Natalie Schwartz, orkut product team Wish you could use the wisdom of crowds to help make decisions and get all your questions ans...

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Dog Day at Kirkland

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Tiffany Timmons-Regan, Facilities Service Manager</span><br /><br />A <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHflwgnF38CMGRz-BluvluOb9ruUBV4U5zXkiQWcmTAMwAli_tIDQUqJWvrw5Uk7gizGjwbX54ZWA0dioBwuBNEpQDBsz4PuT-4JDa4PiJ_7nf0BCeqdbwRS8Y9_ghEwIVUMEeuII2bwc/s1600-h/Dog+Day+012.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045211069501165858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHflwgnF38CMGRz-BluvluOb9ruUBV4U5zXkiQWcmTAMwAli_tIDQUqJWvrw5Uk7gizGjwbX54ZWA0dioBwuBNEpQDBsz4PuT-4JDa4PiJ_7nf0BCeqdbwRS8Y9_ghEwIVUMEeuII2bwc/s320/Dog+Day+012.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 165px;" /></a>big round of paws to our Kirkland, Washington, office for hosting the First Annual Dog Day today. The local landlord does not allow dogs in the co-tenant building, so we planned a special day and received approval for the first ever dog party in Kirkland. Eighteen Dooglers—ranging from the smallest a Shih Tzu named Cino and a Lhasa Apso named Pooh, to the largest, Ronin, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Squirt, a Bernese Mountain Dog—showed up to enjoy a day of activities and meeting other canine pals.<br /><br />They celebrated the day with doggie massage and acupressure (woof, woof), were pampered by a mobile grooming team, experienced a dog whisperer, and survived a dog training lesson. Of course, we held a "Best in Show" contest to recognize the smallest dog, largest dog, and best trick. No AKC (American Kennel Club) rules here, just some minor Google-imposed rules.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuHNA-x6Doy5YJOEpqBSaEbPdmS1LjfhGt3Bvyj6DcEOEkUo7eb7rD3hK_XFmj0FBZZifg_fpVj-tUphRNhnurxCI_xNqNcS_LfxWPduiYiWUDHXU97ezbVzzrjJOEb0nxM1YfipiUow/s1600-h/Dog+Day+005.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045211348674040114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuHNA-x6Doy5YJOEpqBSaEbPdmS1LjfhGt3Bvyj6DcEOEkUo7eb7rD3hK_XFmj0FBZZifg_fpVj-tUphRNhnurxCI_xNqNcS_LfxWPduiYiWUDHXU97ezbVzzrjJOEb0nxM1YfipiUow/s320/Dog+Day+005.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 126px;" /></a><br />Each Doogler received a welcome bag filled with their very own Google security badge, fresh organic treats, Bully Sticks, tennis ball, travel poop bag kit, emergency pet evacuation sign (for home), and flyers for area service providers (grooming, day camps, natural foods, etc). It was a great day for Kirkland Dooglers, and we look forward to another day for the dogs.

Dog Day at Kirkland

Posted by Tiffany Timmons-Regan, Facilities Service Manager A big round of paws to our Kirkland, Washington, office for hosting the First An...

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Searching for HR innovation and community

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Judy Gilbert, Director, People Programs and Systems</span><br /><br />You might say that innovation is in Google's DNA, and we on the People Operations team strive to keep up with the high standards set by our technical colleagues -- we're always looking for new ideas. So last week, we rounded up<span> some of the most creative and successful people in human resources (HR) for an evening of brainstorming.<br /><br />Our panelists were leaders from Adobe, Cisco, Genentech, Intuit, Network Appliance, and Yahoo! -- the Bay Area companies featured in Fortune Magazine's <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/full_list/">list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For</a>. In the audience were <span>hundreds of HR professionals representing more than 100 companies. The group touched on everything from performance management to diversity to corporate culture.<br /><br />Before the last appetizer was consumed, people were asking, "When can we all get together again?" We're starting to plan the next event, but to expand the conversation, we've started a Google Group for HR professionals for those who want to seek kindred spirits to explore new topics. If you're interested, you can sign up for the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/hr-networkBayArea">SF Bay Area group</a> or the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/hr-networkUS">US group</a>.</span></span>

Searching for HR innovation and community

Posted by Judy Gilbert, Director, People Programs and Systems You might say that innovation is in Google's DNA, and we on the People Ope...

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To watch a guide-dog fly

<span class="byline-author">Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From time to time, our own <a href="http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/">T.V. Raman</a> shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as a technologist who cannot see—tips that sighted people, among others, may also find useful. - Ed.</span><br /><br />You might well wonder what interest I might have in image search given that I cannot see. You might be even more surprised to learn that I own a digital camera. :-) I acquired one a few years ago because the cost of taking photos with a digital camera is zero. It only took a couple of weeks before I could take relatively good pictures of my <a href="http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/hubbell-labrador/Hubble-shaking-hands-with-Raman.jpg">handsome guide dog</a>. I post many of these pictures to my website -- obviously not for viewing by me, but all my friends.<br /><br />But how do you easily tell friends how to find that special picture? Here Google Image search comes to the rescue. Whenever I'm surrounded by Hubbell's fan club, I want to tell people how they can view specific pictures of her on the web. Universal Resource Locators (URLs) -- those long address strings that make the web work -- are nice, but they have one major disadvantage: they're unspeakable! Thanks to search, I've not had to speak a URL in a long, long time. Instead I usually tell friends to search for [Hubbell Labrador flying] to locate pictures of <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=hubbell+labrador+flying">her sitting on the pilot seat of an aircraft</a> that I posted many years ago to the web.<br /><br />One can think of such focused search queries as "conversational bookmarks" -- the spoken equivalent of bookmarks one saves within a traditional web browser. Notice that such conversational bookmarks are not specific to image search. I often tell people that they can find me on the web by searching Google for [raman labrador] and clicking the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=raman+labrador&num=25&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky">I'm Feeling Lucky</a> button.

To watch a guide-dog fly

Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist From time to time, our own T.V. Raman shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as...

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More than meets the eye

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Ardan Arac, Associate Product Manager, Search Quality</span><br /><br />We're very excited to unveil Plus Box, a new search feature that lets you see more information about individual search results. Whenever you see the plus box icon - <img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044082300556169442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7DbE3wBi_GG-iXsSikaeEixzFPvtYEu842U7H1Bqz-d6RbE45YZd7iMjiMUtDGb5NFDJ3vJ4mk6Hg-Fu9mKtfBoE2BHSip2KQmjPZxEzZrvqRgNCH-AnFV2Z0_NxdLVpEug0uRp9ruI/s200/plus_sm.gif" /> - click on it to see the additional rich data expand below the original search result. <span><span>With Plus Box, you'll get a visual snapshot of related information, so it is faster and easier to find exactly what you're looking for</span></span>.<br /><br />Right now, we're showing two types of Plus Box results: stock information and maps. You can find a plus box next to the home pages of companies listed on NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX. Clicking the plus box icon for any of these companies displays the latest stock price, chart, and company information. Searching for stock prices on Google becomes much easier—for example, look up <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=apple&btnG=Search">Apple</a> to find their stock information next to Apple's corporate home page. If you want to see a more detailed company profile, click on "More information" to go to <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AAPL">Google Finance</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03xK7nvOjXASXr-OivIGSkaaIuudIZ4n-e2aNtOVGq2sQHq_ICTu8x2ko1dfi5bbLdWqVWE4Imm7oozxTeuyVGHH8sVRycn068QqXUF3xM_RuQHkzcCdg5_Z6ypWEZMh5S6fDBRF7gXY/s1600-h/apple.jpg"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044083417247666434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03xK7nvOjXASXr-OivIGSkaaIuudIZ4n-e2aNtOVGq2sQHq_ICTu8x2ko1dfi5bbLdWqVWE4Imm7oozxTeuyVGHH8sVRycn068QqXUF3xM_RuQHkzcCdg5_Z6ypWEZMh5S6fDBRF7gXY/s400/apple.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />You'll also find Plus Box results when a business comes up in search results and we are able to map its address. The Plus Box link tells you the address of the business and clicking the icon or the link shows you the address on a map. To see this at work, search for <a href="http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=babbo&btnG=Google+Search">Babbo</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKTPfpBrdNZsYSa698SV-TtaO1rArU3lXCXej1D6pYilQbzJSXZKrPuiEySyKf_EvugT8iEwXPUL_6O6u7c5Vwjg29aiUOnGviM-BVKckxA9bezdclMgQMyJ305_oIHH-k_nopZyITaQ/s1600-h/babbo+copy.jpg"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044083640585965842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKTPfpBrdNZsYSa698SV-TtaO1rArU3lXCXej1D6pYilQbzJSXZKrPuiEySyKf_EvugT8iEwXPUL_6O6u7c5Vwjg29aiUOnGviM-BVKckxA9bezdclMgQMyJ305_oIHH-k_nopZyITaQ/s400/babbo+copy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />You won't see this feature yet for all businesses, but we're working hard to increase its availability. If you're a business owner and would like to see something like this associated with your website, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=52171&ctx=sibling">here's how</a> to get your information to us.<br /><br />We'll be using Plus Box for other kinds of information in the future, so stay tuned and keep an eye out for the <img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044082300556169442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7DbE3wBi_GG-iXsSikaeEixzFPvtYEu842U7H1Bqz-d6RbE45YZd7iMjiMUtDGb5NFDJ3vJ4mk6Hg-Fu9mKtfBoE2BHSip2KQmjPZxEzZrvqRgNCH-AnFV2Z0_NxdLVpEug0uRp9ruI/s200/plus_sm.gif" />.

More than meets the eye

Posted by Ardan Arac, Associate Product Manager, Search Quality We're very excited to unveil Plus Box, a new search feature that lets yo...

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Personality goes a long way

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jessica Ewing, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Whenever I get a new cell phone, the first thing I do is change the background theme. It seems like such a small thing, but for whatever reason adding a beach or a dancing pig or something else makes me feel like it's my own.<br /><br />We wanted to offer you a way to add some personality to your Google homepage, too, but we had to ask ourselves some tough questions. How do we add personality without taking away from the information? How do we make sure people don't get sick of looking at the same theme every day?<br /><br />Today we're releasing six themes for the <a href="http://www.google.com/ig">personalized homepage</a> <personalized> that try to solve these challenges: a city, a teahouse (super cute -- this one is my favorite), a winter scene, a sky, a beach and a bus stop. All of our themes are dynamic: they change with your own local time of day, current weather conditions or season. If you add the beach theme, for example (changes with time of day), it will ask you for your Zip code and adjust itself to match your local sunrise and sunset times. So if you happen to be stuck in a <windowless><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space">windowless office</a>, you can at least crack open a cold one and watch the sun set over your desktop.<br /><br />You can add a theme by first setting up a personalized homepage. One your homepage is set up, click the "Select Theme" link on the right-hand side of the page. From there you can choose between the classic theme and the six new themes we've designed. We hope this feature makes the Google homepage feel a little more like, well, home.<br /><br />We implemented our themes using a CSS framework so we can scale, and plan to push out many new themes beyond these six. So <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Web_Search_Help-Personalizing/topics">tell us</a><tell> what themes you want to see.</tell></windowless></personalized>

Personality goes a long way

Posted by Jessica Ewing, Product Manager Whenever I get a new cell phone, the first thing I do is change the background theme. It seems like...

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