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A clean energy update

Posted by Dan Reicher, Director, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Google.org Today <a href="http://google.org/">Google.org</a> is launching an exciting project that offers a glimpse of a smarter energy future: cars that plug into an electric grid powered by solar energy. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“plug-in hybrids”) can achieve 70 -100 miles per gallon, quadrupling the fuel economy of the average car on the road today (~20 mpg). As we demonstrated at today’s event, plug-in hybrids can sell power back to the electric grid when it's needed most through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology As you may know, one of Google.org's core missions is to address climate change. In the U.S., transportation contributes about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions –- with more than 60 percent of those emissions coming from personal vehicles. By accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrids and vehicle-to-grid ("V2G") technologies, this new project, <a href="http://www.google.org/recharge/">RechargeIT.org</a>, aims to reduce emissions and dependence on oil while promoting clean energy technologies and increasing consumer choice. Linking the U.S. transportation system to the electricity grid maximizes the efficiency of our energy system. From these efforts, we believe the environment will benefit -- and consumers will have more choices to fuel their cars. We've been working with Google engineers and <a href="http://www.hymotion.com/">Hymotion</a>/<a href="http://www.a123systems.com/">A123Systems</a> to build a small fleet of plug-in hybrids, adding an external plug and additional batteries to a regular hybrid car so that it runs on electricity with gasoline (or even better, biofuels) to extend the driving range for longer trips. Here's what it looks like: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjws2EsrJ9Ek-BIy5wRgkOejneFArfwUaCI4lMdca0sPNOoxz1zOky50elzpOUL8t3eIcL4ZJfOKDAaHajvZx4W6BGxp9Gg_nYoh-uTb2OKsQdj5z6xBDysTAPv41F7blP3PwONJvAzHOJK/s1600-h/PHEV_car.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077457709546282210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjws2EsrJ9Ek-BIy5wRgkOejneFArfwUaCI4lMdca0sPNOoxz1zOky50elzpOUL8t3eIcL4ZJfOKDAaHajvZx4W6BGxp9Gg_nYoh-uTb2OKsQdj5z6xBDysTAPv41F7blP3PwONJvAzHOJK/s320/PHEV_car.png" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a> Since most Americans drive less than 35 miles per day, you easily could drive mostly on electricity with the gas tank as a "safety net." Our goal is to demonstrate the plug-in hybrid and V2G technology, get people excited about having their own plug-in hybrid, and encourage car companies to start building them soon. In the preliminary results from our test fleet, on average the plug-in hybrid gas mileage was 30+ mpg higher than that of the regular hybrids. In conjunction with Pacific Gas and Electric, we also demonstrated the bidirectional flow of electricity through V2G technology, and have awarded $1 million in grants and announced plans for a $10 million request for proposals (RFP) to fund development, adoption and commercialization of plug-ins, fully electric cars and related vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. (Here's the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/rechargeit_20070618.html">full release</a>.) As for Google Inc., today the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/corporate-solar-is-coming.html">solar panel installation</a> we announced last October is now producing clean, renewable electricity for our Mountain View, CA headquarters. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5k5Xxf5k_EAwD4VFj-ZhDLf6eUIunv5Od50i7uRu3oTDEorcDo-LH7YKJPRFa52uxc06c7GBvVwvyct3eocabxykqBuX9cTeqW1lV6R7N44ff5YI-HBu_Yj16pQ8MzMM1Bumr3nrzkng/s1600-h/Solarpanels_patio.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077462773312724226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5k5Xxf5k_EAwD4VFj-ZhDLf6eUIunv5Od50i7uRu3oTDEorcDo-LH7YKJPRFa52uxc06c7GBvVwvyct3eocabxykqBuX9cTeqW1lV6R7N44ff5YI-HBu_Yj16pQ8MzMM1Bumr3nrzkng/s320/Solarpanels_patio.png" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a> The system will offset peak electricity consumption at the solar powered offices and the newly constructed solar carports have charging stations for the plug-in hybrids. At 1.6 megawatts -- with an electricity output capable of powering approximately 1,000 average California homes -- the Google project is the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S. to date, and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world. To see how much electricity these panels are producing right now, visit our new <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels">performance monitoring site</a>. To learn more about the initiative, we encourage you to explore the rest of <a href="http://www.google.org/recharge/">RechargeIT.org</a>. And to see what others are saying about plug-in hybrids and V2G technology, be sure to watch this video. <object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oDjSbWTJbdo"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oDjSbWTJbdo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object>

A clean energy update

Posted by Dan Reicher, Director, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Google.org Today Google.org is launching an exciting project that offers a...

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This blog's M.O.

Posted by Elliot Schrage and Karen Wickre, Global Communications & Public Affairs Just about 3 years ago, we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/05/is-this-thing-on.html">launched</a> this blog as a fast and direct way to reach Google users, friends and anyone else interested in our goings-on. Even though it's a blog from Google, it's by Googlers, not from a single executive (or founder). We've encouraged hundreds of people to write about news and ideas from all their respective corners of the company. A lot of the posts you read are news and updates about products, because that's what the bulk of Googlers work on. But with an eye towards transparency, we also share our positions on issues -- for example, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/google-in-china.html">role in China</a>, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/point-of-google-print.html">perspective on digitizing books</a>, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/update-lanes-gifts-v-google.html">comment</a> on a lawsuit. And occasionally we're keen to share snippets of our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/snakes-in-plain-old-office-building.html">culture</a> or highlight <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/health-care-information-matters.html">industry developments</a> we find noteworthy. Our communications team manages the blog, but consistent with our grassroots way of doing things, it's Googlers who propose content and write the posts (and likewise, develop new blogs). When it comes to editing copy, we aim for a very light touch -- focusing mainly on clarity of information, not sanitizing style. Since this blog first appeared, another 52 Google blogs have also launched. At present, 18 of them are not in English, and we expect that number to grow as we expand around the world. All of these other Google blogs (the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com">full list</a> is on the righthand side of the main blog) have smaller readership because they are more tightly focused on the details of a specific product (like <a href="http://adwords.blogspot.com/">AdWords</a> or <a href="http://adsense.blogspot.com/">AdSense</a> or they represent Google in a country (including <a href="http://googlepolska.blogspot.com/">Poland</a> and <a href="http://adwords-br.blogspot.com/">Brazil</a>), or they speak to a niche audience, like <a href="http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/">librarians</a> or <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/">webmasters</a>. Typically they don't feature the same topical expanse we think will be of interest to most Google users. In short, we're relying as always on the power of the Internet -- in this case, the incredibly easy-to-use publishing platform known as the blog -- to help interested folks understand how we work, and what we do. As new resources and media tools come into being, we want to make use of those too. One of these is the <a href="http://youtube.com/google">Google Channel on YouTube</a>, where it's a priority to post videos and presentations by Googlers, including our executives, as quickly as we can following public events. Through all of these means and others -- podcasting, video blogs, forums -- we plan to continue being as direct as possible with you concerning our news and views. So thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

This blog's M.O.

Posted by Elliot Schrage and Karen Wickre, Global Communications & Public Affairs Just about 3 years ago, we launched this blog as a fa...

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The state of our video ID tools

Posted by Steve Chen, YouTube co-founder Recent speculation and stories like this <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118161295626932114.html">Wall Street Journal article</a> or this <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSWEN871820070612">Reuters report</a> on YouTube's use of video identification tools made us think it would be useful to clarify what we’re doing. We’ve been developing improved content identification for months, and we’re confident that in the not-too-distant future, we’ll unveil an innovative solution that will work for users and content creators alike. This is one of the most technologically complicated tasks that we have ever undertaken. But YouTube has always been committed to developing sustainable and scalable tools that work for all content owners. Even though we haven’t given too many details, we’ve been hard at work. Earlier this year we implemented audio fingerprinting technology from Audible Magic, to help identify the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_main">audio content</a> of music partners like Warner Music, Sony BMG, and Universal. Today we're experimenting with video identification tools, and will share with you a few core principles driving our technology development, past and present. We are beginning tests on an automated system to identify and match specific videos. The technology extracts key visual aspects of uploaded videos and compares that information against reference material provided by copyright holders. Achieving the accuracy to drive automated policy decisions is difficult, and requires a highly tuned system. Once accuracy is achieved, the challenge becomes speed and scale to support the millions of people who use YouTube every day. We are working with some of the major media companies to test what we have developed. We’re excited about the progress so far, and we’re dedicated to making these tests successful, but as always with cutting-edge technologies, there’s no guarantee of success. Now, when it comes to spotting pornography and graphic violence, and other content prohibited by our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/terms">terms of use</a>, nothing beats our community flagging. Once a user flags a video, we immediately review it and remove it if we find a violation. But our community can’t identify infringing content. We all know pornography and violence when we see them. But <a href="http://youtube.com/t/howto_copyright">copyright</a> status can only be determined by the copyright holder. That is because almost anyone who creates an original video has the copyright for that work, and such a wide range of copyright holders' preferences vary widely. Some copyright holders want control over every use of their creation. Many professional artists and media companies post their latest videos without telling us, while some home video-makers don't want their stuff online. Some legal departments take down a video one day and the marketing department puts it up the next. Which is their right, but our community can’t predict those things, and neither can we. The same is true for technology. No matter how good our video identification technology gets, it will never be able to read copyright-holders’ minds. If a content owner identifies material that she doesn’t want on YouTube, she can request its removal with the click of a mouse. If particular users repeatedly infringe copyrights, we terminate their accounts. We have long made a practice of creating a unique "hash" of every video removed for alleged copyright infringement and blocking re-uploads of the hash. We <a href="http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines">educate users</a> on what is and isn’t permissible under the law. Our upcoming video identification system will be our latest way of empowering copyright holders, going above and beyond legal requirements. We’ll continue our focus on delivering a great user experience. YouTube's no-fuss upload lets video artists collapse the gap between the creative moment and its worldwide publication. It helps our hundreds of media partners - as well as marketers and advertisers - spread their hottest work while it's still hot. And it enables presidential candidates participating in our YouChoose 2008 program to engage in a direct, open dialogue with voters, bringing transparency, access and authenticity to the political process. We’re carefully designing our new identification technologies to not impede those free and fast forms of expression. In conclusion, a content management system has to have technology that provides high quality matching and detection, but it also has to apply business rules in ways that support the business objectives of partners while providing high quality user experiences. With the introduction of our video identification tools, YouTube will continue to be the leader in online video, and the premier destination for watching and sharing original videos worldwide. Now, back to <a href="http://youtube.com/testtube">work…</a> Update: Added direct link to Wall Street Journal story.

The state of our video ID tools

Posted by Steve Chen, YouTube co-founder Recent speculation and stories like this Wall Street Journal article or this Reuters report on Y...

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Is there a doctor in the family?

Posted by Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager, Google Before joining Google, I was a full-time primary care doctor. My time working with patients every day, hearing their stories and trying to help make them better, is an experience I will cherish forever. And about once a week, I still practice as an urgent care doctor at a county hospital. Based on these experiences, I have witnessed the problems patients face. One of the biggest ones I see is the difficulty patients have getting answers to the most basic questions, such as 'What tests and treatments should I know about if I have type 2 diabetes? Is the care I am getting on par with what most experts recommend?' Many patients are comfortable letting their doctors worry about these questions for them. But I think patients get better care when they are more informed about generally accepted standards of care, and know more when talking to their doctors. Of course, I don't recommend that patients treat themselves. They can't simply do searches on the Internet, self-diagnose and treat. While there is an endless amount of information available online, it's difficult to know what is quality information and what is not. Patients need to see their doctors to get the right medical care. But better-informed patients recover faster, manage chronic illnesses better and may even avoid some illnesses altogether. And patients should feel in control of their situation. I was recently reminded of these issues when I was hospitalized. I wanted to know more about the best treatment options for my situation, so I called a few doctor friends and got all the information I needed. Because of that, I think I recovered faster, and I certainly felt better as a more active participant in my own care. But most people don't have this kind of access to medical expertise. In addition to my medical training, I studied medical informatics before coming to Google. I learned about computer systems that are designed to remind doctors about tests and treatments that their patients should have. I can say from personal experience that it is difficult to remember everything I should be doing for my patients, or to read every new article on the latest test or drug. These systems help doctors get the information they need to deliver quality care. I believe patients should also have access to these kinds of systems so that they can help make sure they are getting the best care. If you search online to learn more about diabetes, it should be easy to find out what the generally recommended treatments and tests are. Now I'm part of the team here working on health and we're trying to do something about this problem. Adam Bosworth, who is leading our team, has alluded to this in previous posts such as <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-do-you-know-youre-getting-best-care.html">this one</a> as well as in some speeches he has made at healthcare conferences. We have been talking to many medical experts to understand what the best guidelines are, and how we can determine which ones apply in different circumstances. If such guidelines were more available to patients, they might be able to, by inputting information such as age, gender or medications, learn about recommended screening tests and other preventive measures, or about harmful drug interactions. (The problem of drug interactions is reason enough to work on this: in the U.S. alone, it is estimated that over 770,000 people are injured or die each year in hospitals from adverse drug events. Many of these medical errors could be prevented if patients or doctors checked for drug interactions.) As we work on this project, we are of course paying very close attention to privacy. If such a tool were available, you should be able to enter as much or as little information as you want -- and it's important that you be allowed to access this kind of information without entering your name, insurance number or other personal information. We also think that if you want to save this information, you should have that choice so you can access it later or share it with your doctor. When I help my loved ones navigate an illness or get up to date with screening tests, I wonder how those who don't have a doctor in the family manage their health. When a patient comes to see me with a pretty good understanding of their treatment options, I find that refreshing. But really, I wish it were just easier for patients to get the information they're looking for. While we don't expect to develop the perfect solution, I hope that some day we'll be able to offer something that is a step in the right direction.

Is there a doctor in the family?

Posted by Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager, Google Before joining Google, I was a full-time primary care doctor. My time working with pati...

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The CNN/YouTube debates

Posted by Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube Back in March we kicked off our <a href="http://youtube.com/members?s=po&t=w&g=-1">You Choose '08</a> program, a hub of political channels on YouTube designed to educate, empower, and connect voters and presidential candidates through the power of online video. Since then, millions of people have checked out the candidates' YouTube Channels, and thousands have communicated directly with those running for President via ratings, comments and video responses. Today we're announcing another way that YouTube is leveling the political playing field: The CNN/YouTube debates. For the first time in history, the questions asked in both a Democratic and a Republican primary debate will come straight from YouTube videos. More info here: <object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B5mDCDAkOlQ"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B5mDCDAkOlQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object> Needless to say we're really excited about this, but we'll be even more excited when the video questions start to roll in. So here's your official call to action: Create your own video debate questions for the presidential candidates and upload your submissions at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/debates">www.youtube.com/debates</a>. Then tune in to CNN on July 23 for the Democratic debate to see if your question is asked. Also keep your eyes on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=M83AulSOu4k">YouTube Blog</a> and on this one, as we'll have much more to share with you in both places between now and the election. Debate video guidelines: • Keep it quick—your question should be less than 30 seconds. • Make it look good—we're looking for high audio and video quality. • Choose your focus—you can address one or all of the candidates on a single issue. • Be creative—we'll appreciate unique settings and approaches. • Be personal—we want your perspective and general relevance. • Please note—all videos are subject to the <a href="http://youtube.com/t/terms">YouTube Terms of Use</a>.

The CNN/YouTube debates

Posted by Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube Back in March we kicked off our You Choose '08 program, a hub of political ch...

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Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Posted by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar Last fall we talked about <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/towards-more-efficient-computing.html">our work on efficient power supplies</a> in the capable hands of Ben Jai, Ken Krieger and the rest of our power supply team. Since then, we've become involved in several projects focused on environmental stewardship. Today, for example, together with Intel, Dell, EDS, the EPA, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, the World Wildlife Fund, and more than 20 other companies, we <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/climate_savers_20070612.html">announced</a> the <a href="http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/">Climate Savers Computing Initiative</a>. After working on this initiative over the last few months, we're delighted to join with so many organizations to form this new group. In particular this project should speak to every business with computers. Believe it or not, a typical desktop PC wastes over half the power delivered to it — and, when turned on, most desktops waste power — even when they're not in use. Through some very simple measures, there is an opportunity to save 70-80% of the power currently consumed by desktop computers. With a more efficient power supply, more efficient DC-to-DC converters, and power-management features turned on, that same desktop PC would save as much as 80% of the energy currently consumed! That energy savings means dollars, of course; it also prevents emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. This initiative is one example of ways we as a company can work to reduce our environmental impact. A few others we've undertaken: - our fuel-efficient vehicle incentive project - our corporate shuttle program for commuting to work - organic, locally-sourced food in our café - <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/corporate-solar-is-coming.html">our corporate solar panel installation</a><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/corporate-solar-is-coming.html"></a> There are always more measures to take, of course. Through <a href="http://www.google.org/">Google.org</a>, for example, we are exploring innovative technologies that promise to reduce our collective impact on the environment. And as with Climate Savers, we hope to set an example as well as use the convening power of Google to further more environmental initiatives. All of these sorts of programs, and more, are what's needed. As ecologist <a href="http://www.rachelcarson.org/">Rachel Carson</a> put it, "Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species — man — acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world." Let's work together now to alter things for the good of the planet.

Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Posted by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar Last fall we talked about our work on efficient power supplies in the capable hands of Ben Jai, Ken...

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How long should Google remember searches?

Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel Over the years we’ve taken many steps to protect our users' data and privacy. For example, we have resisted <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html">overly-broad government subpoenas</a>; we've designed our services to give users a choice between <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/personally-speaking.html">personalized services</a> and general services; and we've engineered our services to allow users <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?hl=en&continue=http://www.google.com/history/%3Fzx%3D8TejGP12Uv4&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nui=1<mpl=%20reauth&service=hist&srr=1">to see and control</a> how much data they wish to share with us. Recently, we took another important step to improve our privacy practices by announcing <a title="a new policy" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/taking-steps-to-further-improve-our.html">a new policy</a> to anonymize our server logs after 18 to 24 months, becoming the first leading search company to publish a data retention policy. We also posted here to <a title="explain the factors" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-does-google-remember-information.html">explain the factors</a> that guided our decision to retain server log data for 18 to 24 months. The Article 29 Working Party, an advisory panel composed of representatives from all of the E.U.'s national data protection authorities, has sent us a <a title="letter" href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/news/docs/pr_google_16_05_07_en.pdf">letter</a> in response to our commitment to anonymize server logs. In it, they're asking us to provide further information about our new policy, and to explain why we feel that the time period of 18 to 24 months is “proportionate” under European data protection principles. For some time, we've discussed many things with the Working Party, ranging from issues raised by Google products like Gmail and Google Desktop to industry-wide concerns, such as the challenges of protecting privacy in the Web 2.0 era. We’re pleased that this most recent letter from the Working Party acknowledges our ongoing engagement with the data protection community and, in particular, our "readiness to consult with it [the Working Party] in contrast with a relative lack of engagement by some of the other leading players in the search engine community”. In the spirit of transparency, we're publishing <a href="http://64.233.179.110/blog_resources/Google_response_Working_Party_06_2007.pdf">our response</a> to the Working Party's letter. The Internet is a global medium, and the principles at stake -- privacy, security, innovation and legal obligations to retain data -- have an impact beyond Europe, and outside of the realm of privacy. These principles sometimes conflict: while shorter retention periods are good for privacy, longer retention periods are needed for security, innovation and compliance reasons. We believe we’ve struck a reasonable balance between these various factors. Our policies are consistent with EU data protection laws, which acknowledge the need to set data retention periods that are proportionate and that enable companies like Google to comply with legal requirements. We have a legitimate interest in retaining search server logs for a number of reasons: <ul><li>to improve our search algorithms for the benefit of users</li><li>to defend our systems from malicious access and exploitation attempts</li><li>to maintain the integrity of our systems by fighting click fraud and web spam</li><li>to protect our users from threats like spam and phishing</li><li>to respond to valid legal orders from law enforcement as they investigate and prosecute serious crimes like child exploitation; and</li><li>to comply with data retention legal obligations. </li></ul>After considering the Working Party's concerns, we are announcing a new policy: to anonymize our search server logs after 18 months, rather than the previously-established period of 18 to 24 months. We believe that we can still address our legitimate interests in security, innovation and anti-fraud efforts with this shorter period. However, we must point out that future data retention laws may obligate us to raise the retention period to 24 months. We also firmly reject any suggestions that we could meet our legitimate interests in security, innovation and anti-fraud efforts with any retention period shorter than 18 months. We are considering the Working Party's concerns regarding cookie expiration periods, and we are exploring ways to redesign cookies and to reduce their expiration without artificially forcing users to re-enter basic preferences such as language preference. We plan to make an announcement about privacy improvements for our cookies in the coming months. As we build new products and services, we look forward to continuing our discussion with the Article 29 Working Party and with privacy stakeholders around the world. Our common goal is to improve privacy protections for our users.

How long should Google remember searches?

Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel Over the years we’ve taken many steps to protect our users' data and privacy. For exam...

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