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Searching right to left

Posted by Josh Daniel, Software Engineer Many of us in the English-searching world don't realize that a large portion of the world's population writes (and types) right-to-left. For the Arabic, Hebrew, and other right-to-left searchers of the world, searching just got a little easier. If you're searching from a supported local interface (e.g. <a href="http://www.google.co.il/" target="_blank">google.co.il/</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com.eg/" target="_blank">google.com.eg/</a>) we now dynamically detect the direction of your query. Enter a query like [<a href="http://www.google.com.eg/webhp?hl=ar&q=%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B6+%D9%85%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A2">افرض مثلآ</a>] or [<a href="http://www.google.co.il/webhp?hl=iw&q=%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%91%D7%99+%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%94">מכבי חיפה</a>] and your query will align right so you can type to the left. Enter a query like [<a href="http://www.google.co.il/webhp?hl=iw&q=2008+world+cup+soccer">2008 world cup soccer</a>] or [<a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=fa&q=%285+-+3%29+*+32">(5 - 3) * 32</a>] and it will align left so you can type to the right. Enter a mixed query like [<a href="http://www.google.co.il/webhp?hl=iw&q=%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%97+SMS">SMS משלוח</a>] and we'll set the alignment and overall direction based (roughly) on the first word. We've enjoyed learning about bidirectional issues. Enabling applications for bidirectionality is especially tricky because any sentence or phrase may contain a mix of left-to-right text (e.g. English, numbers), right-to-left text (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew), and neutral text (e.g. punctuation). The rules for displaying the direction of characters in individual words are different from the rules for displaying the direction of words in a phrase. Things are further complicated due to widely varying limitations across web browsers. We hope you'll enjoy the improved search experience!

Searching right to left

Posted by Josh Daniel, Software Engineer Many of us in the English-searching world don't realize that a large portion of the world's...

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A renewed wish for open document standards

Posted by Zaheda Bhorat, Open Source Programs Manager The subject of open document standards grows in importance not only for the technically- minded, but for anyone who uses a computer to work on editable documents. Across the board, standards are crucial. They ensure that the devices and technology you use today will continue to work tomorrow, that your DVDs will play in your player, that your calls will go through to any network, and that your documents will be accessible from whichever system you choose today and in the future. Google supports open document standards and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument" id="iz::" title="Open Document Format (ODF)">Open Document Format - ODF</a>, the recognized international standard (<a href="http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=43485" id="f7.y" title="ISO 26300">ISO 26300</a>). ODF is <a href="http://www.odfalliance.org/memberlist.php" id="nxof" title="supported">supported</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_applications_supporting_OpenDocument" id="kxwh" title="implemented">implemented</a> across the globe, and its communal <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office" id="dwn4" title="creation and iteration">creation and iteration</a> has helped ensure the transparency, consistency and interoperability necessary in a workable standard. Currently, the technology industry is evaluating a proposed <a href="http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm" id="g9lu" title="ISO">ISO</a> standard for document formats. Given the importance of a workable standard, Microsoft's submission of Office Open XML (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML" id="fdv5" title="OOXML">OOXML</a> ) as an additional international standard has caught the attention of many. In September 2007, the original request to ISO was <a href="http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/09/google-welcomes-iso-decision-on-ooxml.html" id="iiaq" title="defeated">defeated</a>. After further technical analysis of the specification along with all the additional data available on OOXML, Google believes OOXML would be an insufficient and unnecessary standard, designed purely around the needs of Microsoft Office. We join the <a href="http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/Disposition%20of%20Comments.pdf">ODF Alliance</a> and <a href="http://consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/">many</a> other <a href="http://www.robweir.com/blog/">experts</a> in our belief that OOXML doesn't meet the criteria required for a globally-accepted standard. (An <a href="http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/google-response.pdf">overview of our findings</a> and <a href="http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/google-sample-responses.pdf">sample technical issues unresolved</a> are posted <a href="http://www.odfalliance.org/ooxml.php">here</a>.) As <a href="http://www.iso.org/iso/about/iso_members.htm" id="ve6." title="ISO Member bodies">ISO Member bodies</a> around the world work on possible revisions of their vote <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML_Ballot_Results" id="yfrv" title="previously submitted">previously submitted</a>, the deadline of March 30th approaches fast. I invite you to pay close attention, and heed the call of many for <a href="http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/date/2007/08" id="oa98" title="unification">unification</a> of OOXML into ODF. A document standards decision may not matter to you today, but as someone who relies on constant access to editable documents, spreadsheets and presentations, it may matter immensely in the near future.

A renewed wish for open document standards

Posted by Zaheda Bhorat, Open Source Programs Manager The subject of open document standards grows in importance not only for the technicall...

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About the Unity bandwidth consortium

Posted by Francois Sterin, Manager, Network Acquisitions As more and more people conduct online searches and interact with applications like Gmail, Google Earth and YouTube, we've had to think outside the box to create a more scalable, affordable and easy to manage network that meets our users' needs worldwide. One of the biggest challenges we face is staying ahead of our broadband capacity needs, especially across Asia. One of the ways we are addressing this is by working with five other international companies to create a consortium. Collectively we just signed an agreement to build a new high-bandwidth subsea cable system linking the U.S. and Japan (more detail in the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20080225_newcablesystem.html">press release</a>). This cable system, named Unity, will address increasing broadband demand by providing more capacity to sustain the unprecedented growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the U.S. Our participation in building Unity ultimately helps provide our users with faster and more reliable connectivity. If you're wondering whether we're going into the undersea cable business, the answer is no. We're not competing with telecom providers, but the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we've exceeded the ability traditional players can offer. Our partnership with these companies is just another step in ensuring that we're delivering the best possible experience to people around the world.

About the Unity bandwidth consortium

Posted by Francois Sterin, Manager, Network Acquisitions As more and more people conduct online searches and interact with applications like...

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Searching for the Wisconsin primaries

Posted by Robert Snedegar, Technical Solutions Engineer and Chief Election Tracker We're in the midst of a big election season, and of course that means pollsters and pundits have lots to say about where it will all end. I've been curious to see if their predictions match up with trends in online searches. So as my 20% project, I devised a method to track the number of searches for each candidate's name. I wanted to visually represent the trends I found, so I plotted them onto Google Maps to see where the searches were concentrated. It's fascinating to see how people in a region have turned to the Internet to engage in the primaries. Last Tuesday during the Wisconsin primary, the maps for Democratic queries (blue) and Republican queries (red) in Wisconsin turned out slightly different than each other. The circles are proportional to the amounts of search terms that contained the name of a Democratic or Republican candidate. Of course, the data includes queries for both positive and negative keywords for each. From the data, we can see that Democratic candidates were searched more often in Madison, while Republican candidate queries were more widely dispersed throughout the state: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQDkqyzPewGxQHLr3nyEmrApkhi5dKXTNPO6db0beoSimcWSmGbCmWZ291Abd0ZIhhWKF7D_aRelBBbldJXezZ28hglqg5_DaGar7-d3PhBC9VKlfwR60FGthi11zZWnUF6RnjBFvdKUK/s1600-h/wisconsin+dem.PNG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171072170453415138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQDkqyzPewGxQHLr3nyEmrApkhi5dKXTNPO6db0beoSimcWSmGbCmWZ291Abd0ZIhhWKF7D_aRelBBbldJXezZ28hglqg5_DaGar7-d3PhBC9VKlfwR60FGthi11zZWnUF6RnjBFvdKUK/s320/wisconsin+dem.PNG" style="cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 217px;" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"> </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aHbKkP13JU0NQmkmfHBkVnG3i15bbLzd3pr9VY-zb0Gkn43HSCmg65Aiq9CbH8d4vAkWf-GT1yzPjvJoLk1wJRE_zd2jOjGIe-lcnkYKMNx_Fg_rc9qa8Cpa2GtwgPkaBZ0EpZVNGsW3/s1600-h/wisconsin_repub.PNG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171073905620202738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aHbKkP13JU0NQmkmfHBkVnG3i15bbLzd3pr9VY-zb0Gkn43HSCmg65Aiq9CbH8d4vAkWf-GT1yzPjvJoLk1wJRE_zd2jOjGIe-lcnkYKMNx_Fg_rc9qa8Cpa2GtwgPkaBZ0EpZVNGsW3/s320/wisconsin_repub.PNG" style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 217px;" /></a> We'll continue to study interesting search trends as they apply to election queries and share other findings with you. Update: Corrected title.

Searching for the Wisconsin primaries

Posted by Robert Snedegar, Technical Solutions Engineer and Chief Election Tracker We're in the midst of a big election season, and of c...

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Supporting cluster computing in the research community

Posted by Christophe Bisciglia, Senior Software Engineer, Google Research and James French, Program Director, National Science Foundation Research and development is the foundation of innovation in the technology industry, and both Google and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are committed to making substantial investments in computer science research and education to ensure that our students, faculty and scientists remain on the leading edge of computing and have the tools necessary to make significant advances. As the technology industry moves into an exciting new phase of massively scaled, highly distributed computing, academic users have expressed a need for resources to engage and explore this emerging model, which is already responsible for many "internet-scale" applications that we now take for granted. That's why we're excited to announce that the NSF will use resources made available via Google and IBM's Academic Cluster Computing Initiative (ACCI) to reach the broader research community and explore new applications for massively scaled, highly distributed computing. In October of 2007, Google and IBM <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/let-thousand-servers-bloom.html">announced</a> the first pilot phase of the ACCI, which granted several prominent U.S. universities access to a cluster of thousands of processors running Apache's Hadoop, an open source distributed computing platform inspired by Google's file system and MapReduce programming model. (There's a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBrDPRlplyo">YouTube video</a> showing how students and faculty at the University of Washington have made use of the cluster.) Encouraged by these results, we sought out ways to extend the reach of this technology, and given its prominence in national research funding, the NSF emerged as a natural partner. For decades, the NSF has engaged the U.S. research community by setting research agendas and encouraging the development and adoption of disruptive technology, and this partnership will encourage a broader range of academic researchers to develop innovative new methods of data analysis using the unique advantages of massively parallel systems architecture - without the massive infrastructure costs usually associated with large-scale computer clusters. Starting this year, the NSF will work to evaluate project proposals from academic researchers across many disciplines and select some of the most interesting and promising projects to receive ACCI computational grants. More details, including information on how to apply for access to these resources via the NSF's Cluster Exploratory (CluE) program, will be posted soon on the <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/">NSF site</a>.

Supporting cluster computing in the research community

Posted by Christophe Bisciglia, Senior Software Engineer, Google Research and James French, Program Director, National Science Foundation Re...

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Our secret sauce

Posted by Hal Varian, Chief Economist I was recently a guest columnist on the <a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/bring-your-questions-for-google-economist-hal-varian/">Freakonomics Blog</a>. There were several interesting questions from the readers, but one was quite striking: <div style="margin-left: 40px;">"How can we explain the fairly entrenched position of Google, even though the differences in search algorithms are now only recognizable at the margins? Is there some hidden network effect that makes it better for all of us to use the same search engine?" </div> It seems that a lot of people are trying to figure out why Google has done so well. The difficulty is that the typical economic forces at work in many technology businesses that lead to entrenchment don't seem to explain our success. Let's take a look at the usual culprits. Supply side economies of scale. This refers to the fact that a larger business may enjoy a cost advantage. The problem is that though there probably are some scale advantages, they get played out at a reasonably small scale. There are plenty of data centers out there and plenty of people that know how to run them efficiently. Lock-in. The idea here is that when users have a high cost of switching to an alternative provider, they can be charged high prices that reflect the fact that they are effectively locked in to a single provider. But if you look at Google's business, the competition is only a click away. Users can trivially switch search engines. Most of our large customers also advertise on other search engines. And most publishers get their ads from a variety of providers, including their own sales force. So there are very small costs of switching to an alternative search engine for users, advertisers, and publishers. Network effects. This refers to a phenomenon where the amount that people are willing to pay for a service depends on the number of people that have already adopted a service. The classic example is a fax machine: the amount that I am willing to pay for a fax machine depends on how many of my correspondents already have one. But this doesn't fit the Google case either: my decision to use Google is irrelevant to other users. It's true that advertisers want to advertise where there are lot of users but that doesn't affect the amount that they are willing to pay on a per user basis. The value of a user to an advertiser depends on how likely he or she is to buy, not how many users there are. A small website about knitting could be a great place to advertise yarn and could charge rates far higher for such ads than a much larger site. If it isn't economies of scale, lock-in, or network effects, what is it that explains Google's success? The answer, at least in my opinion, is a much older economic concept called "learning by doing" that was first formalized by Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow back in 1962. It refers to the widely-observed phenomenon that the longer a company has been doing something, the better it gets at doing it. Google has been searching the web for nearly 10 years, which is far longer than our major competitors. It's not surprising that we've learned a lot about how to do this well. We're constantly experimenting with new algorithms. Those that offer an improvement get rolled into the production version; the others go back to the drawing board for refinement. So I would argue that Google really does have a better product than the competition -- not because we have more or better ingredients, but because we have better recipes. And we are continuously improving those recipes precisely because we know the competition is only a click away. We can't fall back on economies of scale, or switching costs, or network effects, to isolate us from the competition. The only thing we can do is work as hard as we can to keep our search quality better than that of the other engines.

Our secret sauce

Posted by Hal Varian, Chief Economist I was recently a guest columnist on the Freakonomics Blog . There were several interesting questions f...

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The art of science and engineering

Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, Software Engineer (Cross-posted on the <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/02/art-of-science-and-engineering.html">Google Lat Long Blog</a>.) <a title="Google Moon" href="http://moon.google.com/" id="x_-6">Google Moon</a> and <a title="Google Mars" href="http://mars.google.com/" id="qvro">Google Mars</a> are great examples of products that required much more than pure software engineering to produce. There was quite a bit of science, and even a little bit of artistry, that went into <a title="their" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/mars-attracts.html" id="av9n">their</a> <a title="creation" href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-moon.html" id="l_-t">creation</a>. They both expose large volumes of imagery and information in simple and accessible designs, and it turns out that I'm not the only one who thinks that they qualify as art in this regard. New York's <a title="Museum of Modern Art" href="http://www.moma.org/" id="h6rf">Museum of Modern Art</a> has honored both products by including them in their exhibition <a title="Design and the Elastic Mind" href="http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/exhibitions.php?id=5632&ref=calendar" id="qq3y">Design and the Elastic Mind</a>, which opens to the public on February 24th. The exhibit showcases objects and systems that pair modern design with innovations in science and engineering in creative ways. Google Moon's Apollo landing <a title="interactive 360-degree panoramas" href="http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=0.656869&lon=23.470613&zoom=19&apollo=a11/10" id="d8y7">panoramas</a> and Google Mars' imagery of the largest <a title="canyons" href="http://www.google.com/mars/#lat=-10.487811&lon=-71.103515&zoom=4&q=valles%20marineris" id="j7yx">canyons</a> and <a title="volcanoes" href="http://www.google.com/mars/#lat=17.811456&lon=-133.242187&zoom=4&map=visible&q=olympus%20mons" id="gv5:">volcanoes</a> in the solar system were intended to do exactly that, by applying Google Maps technology to places that are out of this world. <div> </div>We're delighted that MOMA saw fit to include us in their lineup, and recommend the show to anyone living in or visiting the New York area. It runs through May 12th.

The art of science and engineering

Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, Software Engineer (Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog .) Google Moon and Google Mars are great exampl...

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