Spotlight on Seattle

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Steve Yegge, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Our Seattle/Kirkland engineering office just celebrated its third birthday! And like our friends in New York <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/if-you-build-it-they-will-eat-it.html">who recently commemorated an anniversary</a>, we too had a very special cake to mark the occasion, as you can see here.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSvNlaoG0FyfTGigOmcBh4Dt0P8OnIPkdBSAZsV71sstRAlaCQ6e_ml_9-S7rJpAHTNzKvgP37coFYhD8Eh96NydnJIrFxR8dF0LNb0ASMBWDopt6SD8d8jXj6UNKddOPSDPfBxOvi363/s1600-h/kirkcake2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123149370840820434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSvNlaoG0FyfTGigOmcBh4Dt0P8OnIPkdBSAZsV71sstRAlaCQ6e_ml_9-S7rJpAHTNzKvgP37coFYhD8Eh96NydnJIrFxR8dF0LNb0ASMBWDopt6SD8d8jXj6UNKddOPSDPfBxOvi363/s320/kirkcake2.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />This is the home of many great products, including Google Talk, Google Pack, Sitemaps, Site Optimizer, and Google Toolbar for Firefox. If we do say so ourselves, we have also made major contributions to the core search engine, Google Maps, Google's advertising technology, Video Search and Video Ads. There's all kinds of work going on in Google Seattle/Kirkland, and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-wa.html">we're always looking</a> for great people to help us out. So to celebrate our birthday, we're excited to announce that we just opened <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a </span><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=651+N.+34th+Street+Seattle+Washington+98103&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.149289,76.992187&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1">Fremont office</a> (just north of downtown) as the latest addition to our family of Seattle-area locations.<br /><br />We don't like to brag here in the Pacific Northwest, but unlike Mountain View headquarters, we actually have a view of the mountains. <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=kirkland+washington&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=1">Kirkland</a> is a lovely city nestled on Lake Washington, with views of the water, the Seattle skyline, and of course <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=mount+rainier&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi">Mount Rainier</a>, which is by far the area's most impressive (and hopefully most dormant) volcano.<br /><br />Kirkland features numerous great local restaurants, shops, sports bars, nightclubs, spas and salons. And we're just minutes from <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Seattle+washington&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1">Seattle</a> -- a beautiful city with a great music scene, two side-by-side stadiums, and a famous miniature replica of Toronto's space needle. Plus we have no state tax. Not that we would make a big deal out of something like that, but it's *definitely* not 8.75% like our neighbors to the south ...<br /><br />What else can we tell you? We have three lovely <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=ski+resorts+seattle&ie=UTF8&z=10&om=1">ski resorts</a> within an hour's drive, including Snoqualmie Pass, the nation's largest night-skiing facility. And the world-famous Whistler/Blackcomb resort is just a few hours' drive across the Canadian border. We're proud of our great football team and our great baseball team. Oh, and if you'd like to buy the Sonics, please contact Clayton Bennett.

Spotlight on Seattle

Posted by Steve Yegge, Software Engineer Our Seattle/Kirkland engineering office just celebrated its third birthday! And like our friends in...

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Helping law enforcement to combat online child exploitation

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Marc Crandall, Product Counsel</span><br /><br />To support law enforcement work in combating Internet-related crimes against children, last week we participated in the <a href="http://www.icactraining.org/ICAC_Conf.htm" id="g35h" title="6th Annual Internet Crimes Against Children">6th Annual Internet Crimes Against Children</a> (ICAC) National Conference in San Jose, California. Each year, the ICAC National Conference brings together hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement investigators, forensic experts and prosecutors to participate in workshops and lectures that provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to investigate and prosecute online crimes against children.<br /><br />My conference session, entitled “Google: Combating the Online Exploitation of Children,” gave the attendees an overview of our products and tips for law enforcement agencies on how to work effectively with Google on child exploitation investigations.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.icactraining.org/default.htm" id="na1z" title="ICAC Task Forces">ICAC Task Forces</a> across the country are doing invaluable work in investigating and pursuing online child exploitation cases, and we're pleased to be sharing technical knowledge and resources with people working on the front lines in this battle. Government and industry interaction through the ICAC National Conference is critical to online child protection, and we plan to remain engaged with law enforcement in an effort to protect children on the Internet.

Helping law enforcement to combat online child exploitation

Posted by Marc Crandall, Product Counsel To support law enforcement work in combating Internet-related crimes against children, last week we...

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Get your iGoogle in 42 languages

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jessica Gray, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Earlier this week, iGoogle launched in 13 new languages, bringing the total number of supported languages to 42 and the total number of country domains supported to over 70. For those of you who don't know, <a href="http://www.google.com/ig?source=igbp">iGoogle</a> is a personalized version of the Google homepage that lets you select the content that matters to you most from across the web and arrange it in a way that you find useful and fun. People rely on iGoogle to save time by putting all the information and services they need in one place. They also use it to discover new content through the <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory">iGoogle gadget directory</a>.<br /><br />With this launch, more than 99% of Internet users can take advantage of these features in their native language, which is really exciting for us. We're particularly curious to see what iGoogle ends up looking like in these new languages. For example, who would have guessed that 'Tu Nombre en Japonés' (Your name in Japanese) would be among the top 20 gadgets in Chile and Spain? (Mine is Jえすしか, by the way.) Because users and developers ultimately decide what iGoogle will look like in each of these new domains, we can't be sure what will be popular, which is part of the fun.<br /><br />If you're a developer who speaks one of the languages below, now is a great opportunity to get your cool gadget idea out to a fresh audience. For more information, visit our <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/">Gadget APIs page</a>. Who knows, maybe it'll be the next 'Tu Nombre en Japonés.'<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tb_hbaoDRB92hppZGJ4zNkeb7mxUpNIWKe6iokZFO8wdCeCA0QJqefSra1yr7Tcba5MsjIpJ0NhhpUtTdMNDl1EA4rtpDGDiCHVVvyWplPELwPrhMdBgIh9AgkBvYEy5FlSRNFv1gII2/s1600-h/spain_large+copy.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122453547484162738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tb_hbaoDRB92hppZGJ4zNkeb7mxUpNIWKe6iokZFO8wdCeCA0QJqefSra1yr7Tcba5MsjIpJ0NhhpUtTdMNDl1EA4rtpDGDiCHVVvyWplPELwPrhMdBgIh9AgkBvYEy5FlSRNFv1gII2/s320/spain_large+copy.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br /><br />Here's a list of the new languages available:<br /><br /> * Arabic<br /> * Bulgarian<br /> * Catalan<br /> * Croatian<br /> * Icelandic<br /> * Indonesian<br /> * Latvian<br /> * Lithuanian<br /> * Malay<br /> * Serbian<br /> * Slovak<br /> * Slovenian<br /> * Tagalog

Get your iGoogle in 42 languages

Posted by Jessica Gray, Software Engineer Earlier this week, iGoogle launched in 13 new languages, bringing the total number of supported la...

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Helpful suggestions around the globe

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Edmond Lau, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />In addition to constantly improving our search algorithms to provide the best answer to your queries, we also look for ways to help when you don't know what exactly to type into the search box to get to the perfect result. When you are looking for information on a specific topic, we offer query suggestions on the search results page that you can click on to find information faster. Sometimes, the suggestions enable you to quickly narrow down the search. Sometimes, we present interesting related concepts that encourage you to explore further.<br /><br />You won't see these suggestions all the time; we only present them when we think they are relevant and useful.<br /><br />We launched search suggestions in a set of countries a while ago, and even wrote about them in <a href="http://google-au.blogspot.com/2007/06/may-i-offer-you-suggestion.html" id="d0zk" title="Australia">Australia</a>, <a href="http://googlebrasilblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/posso-te-dar-uma-sugesto.html" id="uaxh" title="Brazil">Brazil</a> and <a href="http://googlemexicoblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/por-abhinandan-das-ingeniero-de.html" id="zve6" title="Mexico">Mexico</a>. Now, we've expanded our coverage to a much larger set of languages. Now, when you're searching on Google you're likely to see suggestions in your local language.<br /><br />For help with local travel, Hungarians can get some great suggestions on <a href="http://www.google.hu/search?hl=hu&q=budapest" id="drdj" title="Budapest">Budapest</a>, Slovaks may want to go to <a href="http://www.google.sk/search?hl=sk&q=bratislava" id="e6g8" title="bratislava">Bratislava</a>, and Romanians can find helpful information on <a href="http://www.google.ro/search?hl=ro&q=bucuresti" id="r5px" title="bucuresti">bucuresti</a>. In Thailand, you're probably interested in relaxing on a beach in <a href="http://www.google.co.th/search?hl=th&q=phuket" id="hxpo" title="phuket">Phuket</a>. If you are in Vietnam, you might search the popular tourist destinations <a href="http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=nha+trang%20" id="n97v" title="Nha Trang">Nha Trang</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=hoi+an%20" id="aqqk" title="Hoi An">Hoi An</a>.<br /><br />If you are in soccer-crazed (read, <span style="font-style: italic;">football</span> crazed) Europe, you can look up your favorite football topics on Google. Check out how your local Moscow <a href="http://www.google.ru/search?complete=1&hl=ru&newwindow=1&q=%D1%84%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB" id="sd1j" title="футбол">футбол</a> team, <a href="http://www.google.ru/search?complete=1&hl=ru&q=%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA" id="dnao" title="спартак">спартак</a> is doing. Turkish fans can also search local stars from <a href="http://www.google.com.tr/search?hl=tr&q=galatasaray" id="idb7" title="galatasaray">galatasaray</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com.tr/search?hl=tr&q=be%C5%9Fikta%C5%9F" id="xfwt" title="beşiktaş">beşiktaş</a>.<br /><br />Looking for a local entertainment update? Look up your favorite singers <a href="http://www.google.co.il/search?hl=iw&q=%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%94+%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%99+" id="i-d7" title="שלמה ארצי">שלמה ארצי</a> in Israel, and <a href="http://www.google.com.tr/search?hl=tr&q=ibrahim+tatlises" id="hg_x" title="ibrahim tatlises">Ibrahim Tatlises</a> in Turkey. Russians, you could be interested in the popular Russian TV series <a href="http://www.google.ru/search?complete=1&hl=ru&q=%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE" id="t4dt" title="Кадетство">Кадетство</a>.<br /><br />Query suggestions are now available in about 40 languages worldwide. If you don't see them in your country, we're working on getting them to you soon.<br /><br />When you don't know quite what you're looking for, let us help you with suggestions.

Helpful suggestions around the globe

Posted by Edmond Lau, Software Engineer In addition to constantly improving our search algorithms to provide the best answer to your queries...

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Latest content ID tool for YouTube

<span class="byline-author">Posted by David King, YouTube Product Manager</span><br /><br />A few months ago, we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/state-of-our-video-id-tools.html">announced</a> the initial development of a highly complicated technology platform -- content identification tools for YouTube. Today, we are pleased to launch, in beta form, YouTube Video Identification.<br /><br />Video Identification is the next step in a long list of content policies and tools that we have provided copyright owners so that they can more easily identify their content and manage how it is made available on YouTube.<br /><br />Video Identification joins the following policies and tools:<p></p> <ul type="circle"><li>Our strict repeat-infringer policy, which has been in place since our launch, terminates accounts of repeat infringers based on DMCA notices. </li><li>We take a unique "hash" of every video removed for copyright infringement and block re-upload of that exact video file prospectively. </li><li>We require a 10-minute limit on the length of content uploaded to the site. </li><li>We provide content owners with an electronic notification and takedown tool, to help them more easily identify their material and notify us to take it down with the click of a mouse. </li><li>We also publish copyright tips for users in plain English and clear, prominent messaging at the time of user upload. </li></ul> <p>Like many of these other policies and tools, Video Identification goes above and beyond our legal responsibilities. It will help copyright holders identify their works on YouTube, and choose what they want done with their videos: whether to block, promote, or even—if a copyright holder chooses to license their content to appear on the site—monetize their videos. In implementing this technology, we are committed to supporting new forms of original creativity, protecting fair use, and providing a seamless user experience—all while we help rights owners easily manage their content. Stay tuned … and for more information, check out our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/video_id_about">Video Identification page</a>.</p>

Latest content ID tool for YouTube

Posted by David King, YouTube Product Manager A few months ago, we announced the initial development of a highly complicated technology pla...

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Today is Blog Action Day

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog team</span><br /><br />Around Google we know firsthand the value that small changes, aggregated on a large scale, can bring to people everywhere. It's how our <a href="http://www.google.com/technology/">search engine</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/ads/" id="k6qk" title="advertising system">advertising system</a> work: every click counts. Similar thinking — local action, global impact — is what made Cyan Ta'eed, her husband Collis Ta'eed, and Leo Babauta create <a href="http://blogactionday.org/" id="lzqx" title="Blog Action Day">Blog Action Day</a>, a worldwide initiative to get blogs posting about a common cause: the environment. As Cyan has said of bloggers and readers around the world, "If they all make a very small change it could be very effective, and a small step but an important step" on the road to addressing climate change and other environmental challenges.<br /><br />In this first year, more than 10,000 bloggers are participating in Blog Action Day around the world. We're pleased to be among them. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fifteen of our corporate blogs are posting today, on topics varying from this weekend's <a href="http://googlejapan.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_15.html" id="yfmr" title="International Clean-up Day">International Clean-up Day</a> to this year's <a href="http://blog.google.org/2007/10/nobel-peace-prize-for-climate-change_15.html" id="cw8v" title="Nobel Peace Prize recipient">Nobel Peace Prize recipients</a>. Other blogs covered a <a href="http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2007/10/green-design-in-sketchup-for-blog.html" id="y3j." title="competition for the best sustainable designs">competition for the best sustainable designs</a> using SketchUp, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=rTY-L7_0nwM" id="ws:t" title="Green programs on YouTube.">green programs on YouTube</a> and the efforts of the <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/" id="z6g4" title="Bioneer's">Bioneers</a> to bring together thinkers from many disciplines to tackle environmental issues. We also enjoy various company-wide green initiatives, from offering employees shared <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/clean-energy-update.html" id="y3-7" title="plug-in cars">hybrid cars</a> on-site to serving organic food to installing <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home" id="ej5a" title="solar panels">solar panels</a>.<br /><br />We look forward to seeing the momentum of Blog Action Day, and we encourage you to join the many bloggers and citizens who are making their voices heard about environmental concerns.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update: </span>Check out posts on more participating Google Blogs: <a href="http://buzz.blogger.com/2007/10/environmental-blog-roundup.html">Blogger Buzz</a>, <a href="http://buzz-es.blogspot.com/2007/10/un-da-una-cuestin-miles-de-voces.html">Blogger Buzz - ES</a>, <a href="http://googlecheckout.blogspot.com/2007/10/taking-action-and-going-green.html">Checkout Blog</a>, <a href="http://googlefinanceblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/green-with-envy.html">Finance Blog</a>, <a href="http://googlebase-de.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day.html">Google Base Blog - DE</a>, <a href="http://adsense.blogspot.com/2007/10/celebrating-blog-action-day-with.html">Inside AdSense</a>, <a href="http://adwords.blogspot.com/2007/10/vegging-out-with-google-adwords.html">Inside AdWords</a>, <a href="http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/think-globally-eat-locally.html">Inside Google Book Search Blog</a>, the <a href="http://googleitalia.blogspot.com/2007/10/think-globally-clean-locally.html">Google Italy Blog</a> and Blogs of Note - <a href="http://blogsofnote.blogspot.com/">EN</a> and <a href="http://blogsofnote-es.blogspot.com/">ES</a>.<br /></span>

Today is Blog Action Day

Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog team Around Google we know firsthand the value that small changes, aggregated on a large scale, can brin...

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Our Zurich hackathon

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Douwe Osinga, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Among the many perks Googlers get, I like the 20% time rule the best. You can spend it on an existing project you'd like to learn more about or especially care about, or you can use it to start a new project. Among other things, Gmail, AdSense, Google News and Google Trends famously started life as 20% projects. But even with 20% time, there are always so many other interesting things to do that it's sometimes hard to focus on this great idea you had the other day at the coffee machine.<br /><br />I work for the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Freigutstrasse+12,+8002+Z%C3%BCrich,+Switzerland&sll=46.597264,9.592213&sspn=0.009908,0.017638&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1" id="g3m.">Zurich office</a>, which incidentally was our first engineering office in Europe. As you must know, Switzerland has lots of mountains. Where better to be alone with your thoughts and ideas than the mountains? Well, when I started talking about the idea, a lot of people liked it and wanted to go, too. So never mind being alone with my thoughts: instead, over a four-day weekend, 16 engineers spent most of their waking hours coding up the ideas that had been plaguing us for a while.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDv6hyphenhyphentYhPcvaHd5qoPpoMZIrIuVc4sT7t3P4WdFL6tGLXBf10Htdzg1ipokfHxDUKWKihcuokqrDLxD5fJ9fxxuanW3Xm2EuYVsrjoHbs8CZHOo-cgErXNLmVALrdH0HJCWlNvk53YS4/s1600-h/Zurich_hackathon.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120884455103262866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDv6hyphenhyphentYhPcvaHd5qoPpoMZIrIuVc4sT7t3P4WdFL6tGLXBf10Htdzg1ipokfHxDUKWKihcuokqrDLxD5fJ9fxxuanW3Xm2EuYVsrjoHbs8CZHOo-cgErXNLmVALrdH0HJCWlNvk53YS4/s320/Zurich_hackathon.gif" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>In small groups and individually, we looked at things like how we can do a better job at personalization, experimented with different ways to render search results, and since we have quite a few maps engineers in Zurich, tried out some new ideas in that area too. Though we did get some nice demos out, they're not quite ready to launch, but keep an eye out on <a href="http://labs.google.com/" id="onwz">Google Labs</a> and something will show up soon.<br /><br />Sadly, we were almost completely oblivious to the extreme natural beauty surrounding our hackathon headquarters at the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Veia+Sandeilas+12,+switzerland&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.495626,72.246094&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=16&iwloc=addr" id="c_zi">cube hotel in Savognin</a>. Some of us did go up the mountain for some extra inspiration.<br /><br />Another interesting accomplishment was the furniture tower we built after a long session of hacking. They had this stackable furniture in the lobby of the hotel and we had a beer or two, and just started to play around. Around 6am just before breakfast we reached the ceiling.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9JafFOdof-ldnKiWMPjE_DbG50jply66Z5zMsMbz5Isl6mWu-nPT6wDhzM3tb7DXaSVW5N6K3VZgcS8rSLur7OxFU2GW71VcV6Sv1PhVsUi0kcuTWCGGNlVILxlhd-L8yVEM6UkSFH6Cr/s1600-h/Zurich_redcubes.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120884712801300642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9JafFOdof-ldnKiWMPjE_DbG50jply66Z5zMsMbz5Isl6mWu-nPT6wDhzM3tb7DXaSVW5N6K3VZgcS8rSLur7OxFU2GW71VcV6Sv1PhVsUi0kcuTWCGGNlVILxlhd-L8yVEM6UkSFH6Cr/s320/Zurich_redcubes.gif" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>It was really great to see people work all out driven by nothing more than the will to create something new and cool and it was for me a great reminder in so many ways as to why I work for Google. If you want to join us on our next hackathon, you're in luck -- <a href="http://www.google.ch/jobs">we're hiring in Zurich</a>.

Our Zurich hackathon

Posted by Douwe Osinga, Software Engineer Among the many perks Googlers get, I like the 20% time rule the best. You can spend it on an exist...

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