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New: Google Finance China, new Finance homepage

Posted by Feng Hong, Product Manager The Chinese stock market has caught people's attention in recent years. People all over the country started investing, and [stock information] has become one of the most popular search keywords in China. After adding Shanghai/Shenzhen market data into Google Finance and launching the Chinese finance onebox last year, we are excited to announce the launch of <a title="Google Finance in China" href="http://finance.google.cn/" id="tfv8">Google Finance China</a>. Now it's easier to get Chinese stock and mutual fund data through our easy-to-use and familiar interface in Chinese. This was a joint effort across continents with engineers from New York and Shanghai. We hope Google Finance China will become a practical tool for Chinese investors to get up-to-date and comprehensive financial information. The site includes popular features such as Google Suggest for stock codes, whether you enter the stock code or name in Chinese or pinyin, and a display of financial information from Chinese sources on the stock price chart. At the same time we have launched a newly redesigned home page for all our Google Finance sites (<a title="U.S." href="http://finance.google.com/" id="wg.n">U.S.</a>, <a title="Canada" href="http://finance.google.ca/" id="o5hb">Canada</a>, <a title="U.K" href="http://finance.google.co.uk/" id="wy0m">U.K</a>., <a title="China" href="http://finance.google.cn/" id="dw2y">China</a>). It's now easier to follow the latest news affecting the market as well as those that are relevant to your portfolio. We hope you enjoy this new look. The simultaneous launch of the new homepage across countries is just one of the new features and updates to come. As usual, we encourage you to provide us with your ideas and comments through the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/finance/">Help Center</a>. Your feedback is very important for us to continuously improve Google Finance.

New: Google Finance China, new Finance homepage

Posted by Feng Hong, Product Manager The Chinese stock market has caught people's attention in recent years. People all over the country...

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What makes a design "Googley"?

Posted by Sue Factor, Writer, User Experience Group Late in 2007, our User Experience (UX) group—which does user interface design, visual design, user research, web development, and user interface writing—set out to articulate the principles that ought to guide Google designs worldwide. What are the fundamentals that all Google designers and researchers accept? Which approaches to design are particularly "Googley"? How can we encourage teams throughout Google to dream big and make smart design decisions? A small team gathered to discuss these questions and define the Googley <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/ux.html">Design Principles</a>: <blockquote>1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams. 2. Every millisecond counts. 3. Simplicity is powerful. 4. Engage beginners and attract experts. 5. Dare to innovate. 6. Design for the world. 7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business. 8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind. 9. Be worthy of people's trust. 10. Add a human touch.</blockquote>These UX principles flow naturally from the <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html" id="kg-w" target="_blank" title="Ten things Google has found to be true">Ten things Google has found to be true</a> and the UX group's stated mission: to design products that satisfy and delight our users. We described the principles as "Our Aspirations" for two reasons: <ul><li>We have a lot of work to do when it comes to implementation.</li><li>Every real-world product will have to strike a balance between all ten principles.</li></ul>Still, we don't want to waffle too much. These principles represent the User Experience group's declaration of beliefs. With "Satisfy and Delight" stitched on our leotards, we're determined to get up on the tightrope and start juggling principles. Please applaud or boo, as appropriate, so that we can make the next act even better.

What makes a design "Googley"?

Posted by Sue Factor, Writer, User Experience Group Late in 2007, our User Experience (UX) group—which does user interface design, visual de...

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Celebrate World Book Day with The Literacy Project

Posted by Anne Meyer, Chief of Education Design, CAST According to UNESCO, one in five adults is illiterate, with the majority living in the developing world—where access to books, libraries, and education is often limited. But the barrier to literacy isn’t simply a question of access, nor is it limited to the developing world. It’s a problem we see in the U.S. as well. People may struggle to read for lots of reasons. Some of these have to do with basic literacy skills, such as inadequate vocabulary. Sometimes readers have trouble "decoding" what that string of letters on a page really means--they might have reading disabilities, for example. Readers may not have enough background knowledge about a story’s characters, geography, or culture. At the <a href="http://www.cast.org/">Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)</a>, an educational nonprofit near Boston, we have spent the past two decades working to leverage the potential of personal, digital technologies to customize educational media to meet individual needs. In celebration of World Book Day, CAST has created a powerful new tool, <a href="http://udleditions.cast.org/" target="_blank" id="b1_635">UDL Editions</a>, that showcases how classic and sometimes difficult texts—such as Shakespeare’s 18th Sonnet and Jack London’s Call of the Wild—can be rendered in smart, reader-friendly ways to provide a whole host of learning supports—such as multimedia glossaries, chapter summaries, and read-aloud features, links to Google Maps to place settings in contemporary contexts. The books are one of the <a href="http://www.google.com/literacy/projects.html">many projects</a> being featured starting today on <a id="j9jc" href="http://google.com/literacy" target="_blank" title="The Literacy Project">The Literacy Project</a>, a joint effort by Google, LitCam, and UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning. The project encourages literacy and reading organisations from around the globe to connect and share materials and best practice—from a searchable maps database to e-learning tools—like PlanetRead’s same-language subtitling videos—that can be used in the classroom. We’re really excited to be participating in the project. Come join us on the site and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/literacy/bin/request.py">share your thoughts</a>!

Celebrate World Book Day with The Literacy Project

Posted by Anne Meyer, Chief of Education Design, CAST According to UNESCO, one in five adults is illiterate, with the majority living in the...

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Five factors to look for in Pennsylvania

Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Google Elections Team As you know, the Democratic primary is coming down to the wire, and American voters are following <a title="each set of state results" href="http://maps.google.com/decision2008" id="rh-b">each set of state results</a> more closely than ever before. We wondered what would make the difference in the tight Pennsylvania primary—and what those results might indicate about the rest of the primary process and the general election. So we turned to numbers-cruncher Jim Barnes from the <a style="font-style: italic;" title="National Journal" href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/" id="uqw8">National Journal</a> and asked him to weigh in on different sets of demographic data. Jim helped us set up an <a title="embeddable Google Map" href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?synd=open&url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gadget.xml" id="vh8f">embeddable Google Map</a> comparing different essential factors for the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. As you’re watching the results from this race on April 22, Jim says there are five things to look for—and they have interesting implications for the general election in November: Age. Barack Obama has generally drawn more support from younger voters while Hillary Clinton’s base has come from older voters. With 15.2 percent of its overall population aged 65 or older, Pennsylvania has the third biggest population of seniors in the country after Florida and West Virginia. The candidate who does a better job turning out this core age group could take a big step towards winning the primary. Take a look at the percentages of <a href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/map-proto.xml&up_sidebarwidth=350&up_state=pa&up_stateselector=1&up_party=&up_partyselector=1&synd=open&w=900&h=500&title=Election+Map+from+Google&nocache=1&border=%23ffff" id="dqnr">registered Democrats by age bracket.</a> Democratic primary in the 2002 gubernatorial race. In 2002, then-Pennsylvania State Auditor General Bob Casey Jr. lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to then-Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, who went on to capture the statehouse. Casey carried 57 of the state’s 67 counties in that primary, but Rendell won the contest because of his strength in the southeastern part of the state, specifically the four suburban and exurban counties outside of Philadelphia—Bucks, Delaware, Chester and Montgomery—where he carried more that 80 percent of the vote. In the Democratic presidential race, Rendell has endorsed Clinton, and Casey is backing Obama. Whether Rendell can help Clinton hold down Obama’s margins in the Philadelphia area, where he is still popular, or Casey can give Obama a boost among his political base in western, central and northeastern Pennsylvania could be pivotal in this primary’s outcome. Here are <a title="county-by-county results" href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/map-proto.xml&up_sidebarwidth=350&up_state=pa&up_stateselector=1&up_party=&up_partyselector=1&synd=open&w=900&h=500&title=Election+Map+from+Google&nocache=1&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999" id="vm4e">county-by-county results</a> for the 2002 Democratic primary for governor. Geography and growth. Based on the results seven weeks ago for the primary next door in Ohio, Clinton should be favored in the Keystone State, but Pennsylvania is more diverse state in terms of its patterns of growth. It has rural and metropolitan areas that are losing population, and fast-growing exurbs. For Obama to do well, he must win not only in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but also in some of the faster-growing parts of the state. Track the <a title="rate of population growth" href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/map-proto.xml&up_sidebarwidth=350&up_state=pa&up_stateselector=1&up_party=&up_partyselector=1&synd=open&w=900&h=500&title=Election+Map+from+Google&nocache=1&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999" id="kc1f">rate of population growth</a> in Pennsylvania counties from 2000-2007. Race. Obama has had some difficulty winning a significant share of support from white voters in most of the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, but at the same time he has dominated Clinton in regard to the African-American vote in these contests. Here is the <a title="racial breakdown" href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/map-proto.xml&up_sidebarwidth=350&up_state=pa&up_stateselector=1&up_party=&up_partyselector=1&synd=open&w=900&h=500&title=Election+Map+from+Google&nocache=1&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999" id="cxvf">racial breakdown</a> of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Religion. Obama and Clinton recently participated in a forum on issues of faith that was held at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. So far in this primary season, Sen. Obama has done well among Democratic primary voters who identify as Protestants and other denominations, but lagged among Catholics. Review the data on <a title="religious adherence by county" href="http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http://primary-maps-2008.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/map-proto.xml&up_sidebarwidth=350&up_state=pa&up_stateselector=1&up_party=&up_partyselector=1&synd=open&w=900&h=500&title=Election+Map+from+Google&nocache=1&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999" id="aavb">religious adherence by county</a>. As technology continues to be an influential part of this race for President, we hope you can use this map to gain a better understanding about which factors are causing Pennsylvania citizens to cast their vote. Try using the data to make your own predictions for the Pennsylvania outcome, then check if you're right by following live results tonight on <a title="Google Maps" href="http://maps.google.com/decision2008" id="z-19">Google Maps</a>.

Five factors to look for in Pennsylvania

Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Google Elections Team As you know, the Democratic primary is coming down to the wire, and American voters are fol...

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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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