healthy4u

Helping others go green

Posted by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar Happy Earth Day! I'm sure some of you are wondering how Google is celebrating, and we want to know <a href="http://www.google.com/earthday08/" id="oame" title="what you're doing">what you're doing</a> too. We work to make our business more environmentally sustainable throughout the year, but this month, we want to support the hard work you're doing to fight climate change. Last week we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/we-cant-wait-for-earth-day.html" id="op16" title="outlined">blogged</a> about some of Google's new green tools, and now we have even more ways to help you observe Earth Day 2008: <ul id="o1ru16" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" id="o1ru17"> Today we're launching the largest batch of new <a href="http://www.google.com/transit" id="st6p" title="Google Transit">Google Transit</a> cities yet. Travelers in San Francisco, Denver, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Rhode Island and <a id="r6v72" href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-transits-earth-day-challenge.html">other locations across the country</a> can now use Google Maps to plan trips using public transportation. </li></ul> <ul id="o1ru5" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" id="o1ru6"> <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sierra&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fcheckout.google.com%2F%3Fupgrade%3Dtrue&hl=en_US&nui=1&ltmpl=default&gsessionid=gNP_delS0_s" id="utli" title="Google Checkout">Google Checkout</a> continues to help you and your friends and family team up and donate to environmental organizations. We have a new video to help you <a href="http://checkout.google.com/earthday/" id="a_eb" title="learn how to donate">learn how to donate</a> and see how easy it is to map your network of generosity. </li></ul> <object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4PEj3HHWhDU&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4PEj3HHWhDU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object> <ul id="o1ru27" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" id="o1ru28"> The <a href="http://desktop.google.com/" id="u_7e" title="Google Desktop">Google Desktop</a> team has developed a <a id="r6v712" href="http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-energy-saver-gadget.html">handy little gadget</a> that will help those of you making Earth Day pledges to reduce your energy consumption. Install the <a href="http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/energysaver.html?hl=en" id="mz7b" title="Energy Saver gadget">Energy Saver gadget</a> to enable and optimize your computer’s power management settings, putting it to sleep when you're not using it. </li><li class="MsoNormal" id="o1ru28"> <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/" id="tpcf" title="Google SketchUp">Google SketchUp</a> has created a <a href="http://www.google.com/sketchup/green/index.html" id="bomb" title="new site">new site</a> for green design professionals, and <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/index.html" id="n6dz" title="Google for Educators">Google for Educators</a> has put together some [recommendations] for teachers who want to use <a href="http://earth.google.com/" id="x9l9" title="Google Earth">Google Earth</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/" id="bo9y" title="Maps">Maps</a> to teach about environmental issues in the classroom. </li><li class="MsoNormal" id="o1ru28"> Several more Google blogs are celebrating Earth Day as well, so be sure to read about the <a id="r6v717" href="http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-docs-makes-being-green-easy.html">teacher who has cut his paper use</a> by using Docs and Spreadsheets, <a id="r6v718" href="http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/2008/04/your-best-earth-day.html">advertising best-practices</a> for environmental organizations, <a id="r6v719" href="http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=C6n3BO2Yd7g">eco-trendspotting</a> on YouTube and Google.org's tribute to the <a id="r6v720" href="http://blog.google.org/2008/04/green-collar-economy.html">green collar economy</a>. </li></ul> Finally, I'll leave you with some photos of our team's trip to Washington, D.C. for this past Sunday’s Earth Day concert on the National Mall. It got a bit soggy, but we had a blast showing attendees how the Google Checkout donation campaign works. We're especially proud of our booth, which was made of sustainable materials and powered by energy from clean hydrogen fuel cells. <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fkatehurowitz%2Falbumid%2F5191854109811605521%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="192" width="288"></embed>

Helping others go green

Posted by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar Happy Earth Day! I'm sure some of you are wondering how Google is celebrating, and we want to kn...

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A new look for Google Video

A new look for Google Video

Posted by Bindu Reddy, Group Product Manager Last year, we shared our vision for Google Video and announced a renewed focus on organizing a...

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Here's to Tom Lehrer, elemental geek

Posted by Jonathan J. Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management We live in a world focused on celebrity, but there are also luminaries -- those guiding lights who actually inspire celebrities along with the rest of us. Today there's a luminary we'd like to call out: <a title="Tom Lehrer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer" id="p_iz">Tom Lehrer</a>. It hasn't escaped our attention that Mr. Lehrer turned 80 last week. (We have it on good authority that his view of numbers is such that 80 is not so different than 79, so he probably won't mind this belated note.) We think he's great. We're fans. Mr. Lehrer is the Harvard mathematician turned parodist songwriter-performer whose sense of humor, intelligence and rhythm created a cult following that, weirdly enough, anticipated a lot of what Google's culture tries to be about. His work is clever, playful and fun and connects things in ways that surprises, delights and inspires. (Consider <a title="The Element Song" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfx0FO4hzs" id="zs_0">"The Element Song</a>", his ode to the periodic table, or his lesson on <a title="New Math" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81YvrV7Vv8" id="zp:h">"New Math"</a>.) How could we not be inspired by someone who can craft a good laugh, a great tune, and an elegant equation? From <a title="The Masochism Tango" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE" id="h9_z">"The Masochism Tango</a>" to <a title="Who's Next" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FgMTAj4f_o" id="djxr">"Who's Next"</a> to <a title="Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-DHBiYnrc" id="cjub">"Poisoning Pigeons in the Park</a>" (trust us, you have to hear it), Mr. Lehrer's unique music carved out a distinctive place in popular music in the 1950s and '60s. He made his fans feel smart. An entrepreneur -- and we like entrepreneurs -- he self-produced and sold his songs via mail order. And for all the edginess in his humor, he ended up writing some ten clever songs for the '70s public television children's program The Electric Company, including a <a title="tune about the letter 'e.'" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6gjvAYDZ6M" id="wdnx">tune about the letter 'e.'</a> Although Wikipedia notes that he performed only 109 shows and wrote just 37 songs over 20 years, we think his impact and influence goes well beyond those numbers. He was the best kind of "geek" before the word made its way into pop culture. He's the kind of character as comfortable teaching a university course on the history of the musical -- which he did -- as running a seminar on the nature of mathematics -- which he did. We hope that in retirement Mr. Lehrer is enjoying himself even a fraction as much as we've enjoyed his work. We're grateful that he's such a great example of how science, humor, music and mathematics can be combined to create such wonderful things.

Here's to Tom Lehrer, elemental geek

Posted by Jonathan J. Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management We live in a world focused on celebrity, but there are also luminaries -- tho...

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Working together to fight malware

Posted by Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Google Security Team We recently began a series of posts related to online security that focus on how we secure information (with posts <a title="like" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-google-keeps-your-information.html" id="qyc5">like</a> <a title="these" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/using-log-data-to-help-keep-you-safe.html" id="kb5c">these</a>) and how you can protect yourself online. Here's the latest in the series.- Ed. As part of this ongoing security series, we'd like to talk a little about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware" id="lase" title="malware">malware</a>. The term malware, derived from "malicious software," refers to any software specifically designed to harm your computer or the software it's running. Malware can be added to your computer, with or without your knowledge, in a number of ways -- usually when you visit a website containing malware or when you download seemingly innocent software. It can then slow down your system, send fake emails from your email account, steal sensitive information like credit card numbers or passwords from your computer, and more. The conventional wisdom was that you could avoid malware by learning to spot sites that were created with the sole purpose of spreading it, and by staying away from other sites that might be risky. But <a href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2008/02/all-your-iframe-are-point-to-us.html" id="jddj" title="recent research">recent research</a> from Google suggests that an increasing number of malware attacks are taking place on sites you'd normally regard as safe or legitimate, but have actually been compromised. Google works closely with the <a href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2007/11/help-us-fill-in-gaps.html" id="kxrj" title="security community">security community</a> to <a href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2007/05/introducing-googles-anti-malware.html" id="oe4q" title="identify">identify</a> malware on the web and then <a href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2007/06/phishers-and-malware-authors-beware.html" id="qn3p" title="share">share</a> that information more broadly. We've set up a number of automated systems to scour our index for potentially dangerous sites, and we <a title="add a label" href="http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=45449&topic=360&hl=en&sa=X&oi=malwarewarninglink&resnum=1&ct=help" id="v9:q">add a label</a> to those that appear to be a vehicle for malware. If you're searching on Google and click on a link that we've flagged, a warning page will appear before you move forward. We also <a href="http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=45432" id="am_8" title="notify webmasters">notify webmasters</a> if we discover that a site is no longer secure and provide a method for webmasters that <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-sites-been-hacked-now-what.html" id="ubgi" title="clean up their sites">clean up their sites</a> to <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/08/malware-reviews-via-webmaster-tools.html" id="bkdz" title="request a review">request a review</a>. And starting soon, we'll be providing more detail on sites that appear to be spreading malware, so users have a better sense of why we have flagged a given site and webmasters can more easily identify and correct issues on their sites. All this stems directly from our security philosophy: We believe that if we all work together to identify threats and stamp them out, we can make the web a safer place for everyone. Of course, we can't catch everything, so our users play a <a title="crucial part" href="http://www.google.com/contact/security.html" id="kp-b">crucial part</a> of this effort too. Below are a few tips that can help you reduce your chances of being affected by malware: <ul><li>Use anti-virus software. Most anti-virus software is specifically designed to find and remove harmful software on your computer. Be sure you have anti-virus software installed on your computer (you can get a free trial through <a href="http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html?hl=en&gl=us" id="a:vx" title="Google Pack">Google Pack</a> if you don't), keep it current, and use it to run frequent full-system checks.</li></ul><ul><li>Make sure your operating system and browser are up to date. Attackers typically target vulnerabilities in your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system" id="neqc" title="operating system">operating system</a> (OS) and your browser to install malware on your computer. OS and browser providers frequently release updates to close those vulnerabilities. Enable automatic updates for both your browser and your OS, and check for alerts to ensure you have the latest and greatest protection.</li></ul><ul><li>Be careful about what you download. While Google and everyone else in the online community is working hard to identify harmful sites, new sources of malware are emerging all the time. Whenever you're prompted to download an email attachment, install a plug-in, or download an unfamiliar piece of software, take a moment to think it through. You won't always be able to identify a risky download, but if you practice some reasonable caution, you'll be able to reduce that risk.</li></ul>If you come across a potentially dangerous site that hasn't already been flagged, please <a href="http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/report_badware/">report it</a>. To learn more about malware and how to protect yourself, check out StopBadware.org's <a href="http://www.stopbadware.org/home/help" id="b5qc" title="tips page">help page</a>.

Working together to fight malware

Posted by Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Google Security Team We recently began a series of posts related to online security that focus on how we s...

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We can't wait for Earth Day

Posted by David Bercovich, Google Green Team On April 22nd, millions of people around the world will come together to celebrate <a href="http://ww2.earthday.net/">Earth Day</a> -- a commitment to taking care of our planet, and to fighting climate change. In anticipation of Earth Day, Googlers from many of our offices have been looking for ways to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability. We also want you to have more ways to support the goals of Earth Day, and to share ideas on reducing your own environmental impact. Here are a few to get you started: <ul><li>If you use Google Checkout to donate to a non-profit environmental organization on behalf of anyone you know, we'll generate a personal view of Google Maps that includes a marker representing your donation. The people you donate on behalf of will get an email about your contribution, and if they follow your example, their donation will be marked on your map as well. We'll connect the markers, so that you can watch how your generosity spreads as more and more people donate. Visit Checkout's <a title="Earth Day page" href="http://checkout.google.com/earthday/" id="uwke">Earth Day page</a> to learn more.</li></ul><ul><li>Hot on the heels of last week's <a href="http://www.google.com/transit" id="f:50" title="Google Transit">Google Transit</a> launch in <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-transit-arrives-in-chicago.html" id="r::k" title="Chicago">Chicago</a>, a whole <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-transits-early-bird-earth-day.html">new batch</a> of transit agencies have made their data available on Google Maps. From Lubbock, Texas to Walla Walla, Washington, people in communities across the country will now find it easier than ever to leave their cars at home.</li></ul><ul><li>I hope you'll take a moment to download the newest version of <a title="Google Earth" href="http://earth.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Earth</a>, which <a title="launched earlier today" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/whole-new-world-to-explore.html" target="_blank">launched earlier today</a>. While you're exploring its <a title="new features" href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-google-earth-43.html" target="_blank">fancy new features</a>, be sure to check out some of the latest Global Awareness layers (found in the left-side "Layers" panel) that celebrate the beauty and biodiversity on Earth, like <a href="http://www.arkive.org/" target="_blank">ARKive's</a> Endangered Species and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/" target="_blank">Greenpeace's</a> Stop Climate Change. And I encourage you to visit the <a title="Google Earth Outreach Showcase" href="http://earth.google.com/outreach/showcase.html" target="_blank">Google Earth Outreach Showcase</a>, which features a number of environmentally-focused KMLs that can be downloaded and viewed in Google Earth.</li></ul>Tell the world what you're doing for Earth Day (and beyond) by uploading a message to our<a href="http://www.google.com/earthday08"> Earth Day '08</a> site. Get together with friends, family or coworkers, grab a camera, and take five minutes to put yourselves on the map. From the everyday to the extraordinary, we want to hear about your plans to take on climate change and make our planet a greener place. <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.google.com/earthday08/"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.google.com/earthday08"><img alt="Earth Day 2008" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189901037981795602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEgc1sxacoSHUs_cW2etu0D326Cu2m-64kzdhGuVyWqVrd5aBS55HKlB1p1eS1XALNCfq-EXNIF1EVBvQElva-H8NbxDk5UoPM4kELHQt517Mna0gynT8Cvm6HXhGQhcxtUI73w86_Au_q/s320/EarthDay.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a> </div>

We can't wait for Earth Day

Posted by David Bercovich, Google Green Team On April 22nd, millions of people around the world will come together to celebrate Earth Day -...

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A whole new world to explore

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth On the Google Earth team, we're big fans of Earth Day, so much so that we couldn't hold out until it arrives next week to release our latest labor of love: <a href="http://earth.google.com/" id="v0rt" title="Google Earth 4.3">Google Earth 4.3</a>. With this version, we have completely rethought how you might interact with the 3D world. We've redesigned the navigation to make it much easier to fly from the heavens down to the streets of your town. And with all of the great user-created buildings in the <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=bd89a6376cd5d61bc8513927f8b58de3&ct=hpr1" id="ge4z" title="3d Warehouse">3D Warehouse</a>, we wanted to make it easy for you to get right up close to see the rich detail. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AZVMEC2m4AQIWhJ-c_JmitSp7erOnB9h1efwtK8vaQi4F1aqykySMUtMdi4zbWew-fUsugC2YzbiIe-LxPZnydvn42ZgAcV13YHnxIiBRWKL_kTpb3sXwZ3xxXKcnUbKI1T4D8swyk42/s1600-h/4.3image.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189706304386602210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AZVMEC2m4AQIWhJ-c_JmitSp7erOnB9h1efwtK8vaQi4F1aqykySMUtMdi4zbWew-fUsugC2YzbiIe-LxPZnydvn42ZgAcV13YHnxIiBRWKL_kTpb3sXwZ3xxXKcnUbKI1T4D8swyk42/s320/4.3image.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a> Here's a sample of what you'll find in this release: <ul><li>New navigation - We've improved the zoom control so you can swoop down from outer space to street level in a single seamless motion. And with the addition of the "look" joystick, you can look up at buildings or across a mountain range. </li></ul><ul><li>More, faster 3D buildings - It's more fun to navigate through a lot of new 3D content. Besides adding thousands of buildings contributed by people around the world, we've added dozens of photo-textured cities and towns in the U.S. and elsewhere. </li></ul><ul><li>Street View - The popular Google Maps feature makes its Google Earth debut.</li></ul><ul><li>Sunlight feature - Never seen the sunrise over the Alps? Now you can.</li></ul><ul><li>New languages - There are 12 new languages, including Danish, English (UK), Spanish (Latin American), Finnish, Hebrew, Indonesian, Norwegian, Portuguese (PT), Romanian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.</li></ul>Check out the <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-google-earth-43.html">Lat Long blog</a> for all the details, or head over to our website at <a href="http://earth.google.com/">earth.google.com</a>. And stay tuned for more details about <a href="http://ww2.earthday.net/">Earth Day</a> coming soon.

A whole new world to explore

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth On the Google Earth team, we're big fans of Earth Day, so much so that we couldn...

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KML, the HTML of geographic content

Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, KML Product Manager HTML has completely transformed our world. Through the web, a previously inconceivable amount of information is now just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks away. What makes this possible is the fact that web browsers, web servers, and many other pieces of Internet infrastructure all speak the same language. Because of Internet standards like HTML, any web browser can view any web page. Internet standards are what makes the web a flourishing marketplace. Today, a new standard was born: The <a title="Open Geospatial Consortium" href="http://www.opengeospatial.org/" id="pi6e">Open Geospatial Consortium</a> has announced its acceptance of KML 2.2 as an official OGC Standard. <a title="KML" href="http://code.google.com/apis/kml/" id="pj:f">KML</a> started as a file format for <a title="Google Earth" href="http://earth.google.com/" id="gh5v">Google Earth</a>, a way to save out the list of restaurants or parks or hiking trails that you might have drawn as a custom map. It's since matured into something much larger, and is supported on a wide variety of mapping platforms produced by a range of companies. You can even view KML on your <a title="cell phone" href="http://services.google.com/marketing/links/trekfan2006/" id="mxzf">cell phone</a>! There are tens of millions of KML files available online -- a testament to just how much user-generated content is now map-based information. Mapping has come a long way from the origami paper creations of the past. Our choice to give KML to the OGC is part of our strong commitment to open standards. It's our belief that KML's standardization will do much to make more geographic-based content accessible online. There's more on KML's standardization on the <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/kml-new-standard-for-sharing-maps.html">Lat Long blog</a>.

KML, the HTML of geographic content

Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, KML Product Manager HTML has completely transformed our world. Through the web, a previously inconceivable am...

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