The Spelman College CS Olympiad

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Marcus Mitchell, Engineering Director</span><br /><br />We're always interested in supporting computer science education, and in encouraging top talent from diverse backgrounds. Which is why we've just sponsored the Sixth Annual <a id="g.n9" href="http://www.spelman.edu/%7Esccso/" target="_blank">Spelman College Computer Science Olympiad</a> for the second consecutive year. In all, 16 teams from eight Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), or Association of Computer/Information Sciences and Engineering Departments at Minority Institutions (ADMI) participated.<br /><br />These teams competed in five computer science-related events. One of these was a <a id="jy-g" href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/gadgets/" target="_blank">Google Gadgets</a> competition, where the assignment was to build an interactive, creative and useful Google Gadget. Students brought their semi-completed gadgets and got troubleshooting advice and tips at a hack session, where Googlers and students worked together into the night to perfect them. The following day, each team presented their gadget to our panel of three judges (myself and 2 other Googlers).<br /><br />We chose first, second and third place winners, whose gadgets will be uploaded to the <a id="djo:" href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open" target="_blank">iGoogle Directory</a> soon: <p></p><ul><li>First place: Morehouse College Team 2 (Lawrence Forrester, Kevin Walton, Mark Slade, Michael Davis) <a href="http://kevin.ultinets.net/gadget/hopstop/hopstop.xml" target="_blank"></a></li><li>Second place: Old Dominion University Monarchs (Duc Nguyen, Cesar Barbieri, Darrin Lee, Nicole Jackson)</li><li>Third place: Spelman College YOMamaBoards (Jonecia Keels, Jazmine Miller, Paige McReynolds, Arielle Baine)</li></ul>It was inspiring to see the energy, enthusiasm, and skill of these future computer scientists -- our congratulations to all the teams that participated.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPM_bvTMHQ6zdMvCoQDJ_ktwEuz_KgZ7v67TSC52DVp-YHWL_AlRUkhm36f58NmLd00wldn5Mepyd5F_fBDTDqCwoVk7oEEfW0AMeY-VANH3CVsDUW1LeMxiKlFSrln1o0bE6BH3bjj0uM/s1600-h/Hopstop+Gadget.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188143586822690706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPM_bvTMHQ6zdMvCoQDJ_ktwEuz_KgZ7v67TSC52DVp-YHWL_AlRUkhm36f58NmLd00wldn5Mepyd5F_fBDTDqCwoVk7oEEfW0AMeY-VANH3CVsDUW1LeMxiKlFSrln1o0bE6BH3bjj0uM/s320/Hopstop+Gadget.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 256px;" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >First-place winner.</span><br /></div>

The Spelman College CS Olympiad

Posted by Marcus Mitchell, Engineering Director We're always interested in supporting computer science education, and in encouraging top...

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Sharing gadgets just got better

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jeff Regan, Engineer</span><br /><br />Have you ever wanted to tell a friend about a really great game gadget on <a title="iGoogle" href="http://www.google.com/ig?source=igbp" id="fpt0">iGoogle</a> or help someone set up a gadget exactly the way you have it? You can do those things on iGoogle using the Share menu, but what you couldn't do before today was share a gadget and collaborate with your friends on <span style="font-style: italic;">the same gadget data</span>. This means you can now view and edit gadgets just like <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&ltmpl=homepage&nui=1&rm=false" id="fe1r" title="Google Docs">Google Docs</a>.<br /><br />A simple gadget to share is one for <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?hl=en&url=www.google.com/ig/modules/sticky.xml" id="cl_j" title="Sticky Note">sticky notes</a>. Enter a grocery list, share it with family members, and everyone can see and edit the same list. If you like crosswords, but like me need plenty of help, just share your <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?q=crossword&hl=en&url=www.nytimes.com/ads/crosswords/gadget/puzzle.xml" id="mfr_" title="crossword gadget">crossword</a> with a friend and they can work on it with you.<br /><br />Here's how in three steps:<br /><br />Step 1: Click the triangle on the gadget you want to share and click "Share this gadget."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRcvz2AK_X6C6tmnrzNFSkyGeTYoAADLgsWq9aurekKBdyzbZQqHcJWvHJyrU7vZzyRodR0NsKQfQdEGMVBHtXLZHiy8N9P2EnGiYfCl5tLIqwg38Nw7dTdRgZWb112_oIzOc7X3PCGL1/s1600-h/screenshot.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182423496747215970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRcvz2AK_X6C6tmnrzNFSkyGeTYoAADLgsWq9aurekKBdyzbZQqHcJWvHJyrU7vZzyRodR0NsKQfQdEGMVBHtXLZHiy8N9P2EnGiYfCl5tLIqwg38Nw7dTdRgZWb112_oIzOc7X3PCGL1/s320/screenshot.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Step 2: If you're a Gmail user, just pick the friends you want to share with or type in their email addresses.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58p_SFLRDxW-c3W06MYk2dR0ASHlyxZfgaIijakYeosY0IXyVwqU-Usnuq-3lSaT6ziQBsB3xHP5Sr42INMmY7Wf5yREzZly7t2zbbS0Cmh55f3QYCo-aKRI3LMSl7OuS4Tx7xP9b2WiA/s1600-h/screenshot2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182424591963876482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58p_SFLRDxW-c3W06MYk2dR0ASHlyxZfgaIijakYeosY0IXyVwqU-Usnuq-3lSaT6ziQBsB3xHP5Sr42INMmY7Wf5yREzZly7t2zbbS0Cmh55f3QYCo-aKRI3LMSl7OuS4Tx7xP9b2WiA/s320/screenshot2.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Step 3: Decide whether you want to let your friends edit your gadget content or just view it on their iGoogle page and click "Send invites." Your friends will get an email from you and they will be able to see a preview of the gadget in the email and add it to their own iGoogle page.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrfrdrIf8h125n0RTOxhrnSML3L0ZFP42vEv3CDD8N-rlsh_lXrnxUu2dSuXtZUVmsAr1I468gY23uk4itGHHLaGrJyCzkLqky-S7BiEQ_mKfAeEf-UAI_JaV-NIjLNukFEyl0U9kyE4Eh/s1600-h/screenshot3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182425025755573394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrfrdrIf8h125n0RTOxhrnSML3L0ZFP42vEv3CDD8N-rlsh_lXrnxUu2dSuXtZUVmsAr1I468gY23uk4itGHHLaGrJyCzkLqky-S7BiEQ_mKfAeEf-UAI_JaV-NIjLNukFEyl0U9kyE4Eh/s320/screenshot3.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />So go ahead, check out the <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?hl=en&root=/ig&dpos=top&cat=shareable&sort=popular" id="p14v" title="full list of gadgets">full list of gadgets</a> with this feature and give it a try. We've enabled this feature for some of our more popular gadgets to encourage collaboration, but of course it doesn't make sense for every gadget. For example, you can share a weather or movie listings gadget with a friend, but data sharing is not enabled - your friend gets an independent copy of the gadget, as before.<br /><br />Developers, check out the <a href="http://googlegadgetsapi.blogspot.com/2008/04/write-collaborative-gadget-with-one.html" id="wo.c" title="Gadget API Blog">Gadgets API Blog</a> to learn how to incorporate this feature in your gadget with one line of code.<br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Web_Search_Help" id="dsaz" title="We would love to know what you think.">We would love to know what you think.</a>

Sharing gadgets just got better

Posted by Jeff Regan, Engineer Have you ever wanted to tell a friend about a really great game gadget on iGoogle or help someone set up a g...

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Last call for scalability papers

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Andrew Schwerin, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />As an engineer in Seattle, I can't wait for summer to arrive. This year, I'm not just looking forward to the beautiful weather, but also the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/seattle-conference-on-scalability-2008.html" id="xbg0" title="Seattle Scalability Conference">Seattle Scalability Conference</a>. It takes place on Saturday, June 14th.<br /><br />Conference planning is underway, and the deadline for our call for papers is this Friday, April 11th! If you have an interesting approach for building and maintaining scalable systems, this is the perfect gathering to share it. Send a 500-word abstract of your 30-minute presentation to scalabilityconf at google.com -- and plan on enjoying the long-awaited Seattle sunshine with me this June.<br /><br />Here are some of the topics that interest me (but I'm open to more ideas):<br /><br />Scalable algorithms:<br /><ul><li> Parallelization techniques (fully automatic or programmer-assisted)</li></ul><ul><li> Algorithms that are robust in the face of system failures (flaky hardware, OS bugs, network failures)</li></ul>Scalable systems:<br /><ul><li> Managing large, evolving data stores</li></ul><ul><li> Languages and tools for organizing high-throughput data processing systems</li></ul><ul><li> Handling partial failure (automatic failure detection/diagnosis/repair)</li></ul>We'll be posting more information for conference attendees soon.

Last call for scalability papers

Posted by Andrew Schwerin, Software Engineer As an engineer in Seattle, I can't wait for summer to arrive. This year, I'm not just l...

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Gadgets for a cause

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Samantha Crow, Product Marketing Manager, iGoogle</span><br /><br />With Americans spending the same amount of time online as they do watching television (so says this <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp" id="o6z1" title="Pew Internet">Pew/Internet study</a>), organizations and campaigns have the opportunity to build awareness of election issues broadly through Google tools that make it easy for users to access information.<br /><br />Gadgets -- which are basically interactive and dynamic mini-billboards -- are one of the fastest growing applications at Google. They're the foundation for iGoogle, the personalized version of the Google homepage that has tens of millions of users. They can also be included on most any page on the web with some simple copy-and-paste. Our top gadget developers include a database specialist from the University of Southern Maine, a stay-at-home mom from Utah, and a computer science major from Puerto Rico. <br /><br />Now any campaign or organization with a live website can use the <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/gadgets/promo/election.html#utm_source=en-et-mar08blog&utm_medium=et&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=mar08blog" id="t9ba">Gadget Builder for organizations</a> to quickly create a gadget. You can drive traffic from your gadget on iGoogle to your website and help your organization be seen and heard on this new platform. Your gadget could feature news from your organization, blog updates, a YouTube video channel, polls, trends, speeches, and more. You can <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/add.html" id="pe-m" title="submit your gadget">submit your gadget</a> to the iGoogle directory and drive additional usage of your gadget from your website. <br /><br />By making content accessible on iGoogle, organizations can engage supporters, reach undecided voters, and provide information to the uninformed. All you need to get started is access to a publicly available server where you can host your gadget files. If you already have a gadget, make sure it's in the <a href="http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=55132&topic=12391" id="ntfx" title="appropriate category">appropriate category</a>, for instance <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?root=/ig&dpos=top&cat=politics&sort=popular" id="dagt">Politics</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?root=/ig&dpos=top&cat=news&sort=popular" id="xtn1" title="News category">News</a>. If you don't have a gadget yet, it only takes a few minutes to get started.<br /><br />For more details on gadget creation, visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/gadgets/about/#utm_source=en-et-blog0308&utm_medium=et&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=blog0308" id="upix" title="Google Gadget Center">Google Gadget Center</a>.

Gadgets for a cause

Posted by Samantha Crow, Product Marketing Manager, iGoogle With Americans spending the same amount of time online as they do watching telev...

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Developers, start your engines

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Kevin Gibbs, Tech Lead, Google App Engine</span><br /><br />We just launched a preview release of <a href="http://appengine.google.com/">Google App Engine</a>, a way for developers to run their web applications on Google's infrastructure. In the same way that Blogger made it easy to create a blog, Google App Engine is designed from the ground up to make it easy to create and run web applications.<br /><br />With Google App Engine, developers can write web applications based on the same building blocks that Google uses, like <a href="http://labs.google.com/papers/gfs.html">GFS</a> and <a href="http://labs.google.com/papers/bigtable.html">Bigtable</a>. Google App Engine packages those building blocks and provides access to scalable infrastructure that we hope will make it easier for developers to scale their applications automatically as they grow. This means they can spend less time dealing with system administration and maintenance, and more time building and improving their applications. (There's <a href="http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-google-app-engine-our-new.html">more detail</a> on the new App Engine Blog.)<br /><br />Google App Engine is free to use during the preview release, but the amount of computing resources any app can use is limited. In the future, developers will be able to purchase additional computing resources as needed, but Google App Engine will always be free to get started.<br /><br />Today's launch is a preview release. We've got a lot left to do, and there are a lot of features we still want to add to the system. What we'd really like is to get your feedback on it, so we know which features are most important to you. We'll use your suggestions to keep improving the system.<br /><br />This preview of Google App Engine is available for the first 10,000 developers who sign up; we will increase that number in near future. So, developers, please <a href="http://appengine.google.com/">sign up</a>, <a href="http://code.google.com/appengine">download the SDK</a>, and start your engines.

Developers, start your engines

Posted by Kevin Gibbs, Tech Lead, Google App Engine We just launched a preview release of Google App Engine , a way for developers to run th...

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New C-SPAN channel on YouTube

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube</span><br /><br />As the 2008 election progresses, more and more voters are tuning into YouTube to stay on top of the action. Our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/youchoose">You Choose '08</a> platform now features content from candidates, news organizations, and voters, and we've made it easier than ever to see where the candidates stand on each of the major issues in this election. The next big stop on the campaign trail is Pennsylvania, so we're partnering with C-SPAN to collect videos from voters across the country who will answer the question, "What is the most important issue to you in this election?"<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QPZr6EPIXxI&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QPZr6EPIXxI&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />This is our fourth voter video program. We started in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/iowacaucuses">Iowa</a>, went on to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/nhprimaries">New Hampshire</a>, and then went national on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/supertuesday">Super Tuesday</a>. With C-SPAN, we're adding a new twist: in the week leading up to the Pennsylvania primaries on April 22, we'll be on the C-SPAN election bus throughout the state, collecting videos straight from the campaign trail.<br /><br />We think C-SPAN is the perfect partner for this program. Started in 1979, C-SPAN is a private nonprofit whose mission is to "provide public access to the political process." That mission is closely aligned with our own: to connect voters and candidates through the power of online video. In a way, YouTube politics has given voters everywhere the opportunity to create their own "C-SPANs" and make the election all the more transparent and accessible to voters everywhere. And that's a fundamentally good thing. So tune into <a href="http://www.youtube.com/cspan">C-SPAN's YouTube channel</a> in the coming days to check out the videos we're getting from voters -- and to submit your own.

New C-SPAN channel on YouTube

Posted by Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube As the 2008 election progresses, more and more voters are tuning into YouTube to s...

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Happy birthday, Google Grants

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Cynthia Schroeder, Google Grants team</span><br /><br />This week marks the fifth year of Google Grants. We're pleased to report that more than 4,000 grantees to date have benefited from approximately $273.3 million in free AdWords advertising -- and that's something to celebrate. Learn more about the history of this in-kind advertising program on the <a title="Google Grants Blog" href="http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-grants-turns-5.html" id="b8dc">Google Grants Blog</a>, and find out how your favorite not-for-profit group can apply by visiting the <a title="Google Grants page" href="http://www.google.com/grants/" id="muxe">Google Grants page</a>.

Happy birthday, Google Grants

Posted by Cynthia Schroeder, Google Grants team This week marks the fifth year of Google Grants. We're pleased to report that more than ...

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