Growing our connection to food

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Diane McClamroch, Food Services Team</span><br /><br />Today at our Mountain View headquarters we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of an important project: our organic garden. Not only does it provide a stunning centerpiece for the central campus; it yields produce and herbs that are used daily in the cafes on campus. Although many Googlers would like to think of themselves as <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/googlers%20and%20culture">Renaissance men and women</a>, a green thumb didn't exactly come as easily to some as <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/topic.py?loc_id=1116&dep_id=1056">C++ development might</a>. Fortunately, the garden wasn't just an ambitious 20% project but rather, an initiative that we took on with the partnership of <a href="http://www.thegrowingconnection.org/">The Growing Connection</a>.<br /><br />The Growing Connection is a grassroots project of the <a href="http://www.fao.org/">UN's Food and Agriculture Organization</a> (FAO). The work of the Growing Connection originates with a humble <a href="http://www.earthbox.com/">earth box</a>, a patented growing system that helps growers to cultivate produce with limited space and water. The project really has two parts: teaching people around the world, especially kids, how to cultivate their own food, and giving them a hands-on lesson in nutrition. The latter entails connecting growers so that kids growing corn on rooftops in Harlem can share their experiences with students planting earth boxes in Ghana.<br /><br />To earmark today's anniversary, we had a little get-together at the Googleplex, complete with cucumber and lemon verbena infused waters, organic snacks and a few words from Robert Patterson, Senior Liaison Officer at FAO. "Like Google, Growing Connections combines growth and information," he observes. "So coming to Google has been a natural fit. We work from kids from all over--Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. They learn to like each other through food and realize that they're part of an actual solution for hunger and poverty."<br /><br />Check out today's photo album:<br /><br /><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%2Fdmcclamroch%2Falbumid%2F5198498502072372369%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="192" width="288"></embed>

Growing our connection to food

Posted by Diane McClamroch, Food Services Team Today at our Mountain View headquarters we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of an ...

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OSO conference takes the cake

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Katie Hotchkiss, Online Sales and Operations Manager</span><br /><br />Last week at the annual meeting of our Online Sales and Operations (OSO) organization, a group of us (1,211 Googlers from around the world, to be exact) made an attempt to set a new <a title="Guinness World Record" href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/default.aspx" id="qy40">Guinness World Record</a> for the "largest cake decorating lesson." This isn't the first time we've <a title="taken our culinary talents to great heights" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/if-you-build-it-they-will-eat-it.html" id="xz-s">taken our culinary talents to great heights</a>, but it <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> the first time we've attempted to bake our way to a new record.<br /><br />The event brought our teams together, united around something we all love: good food. We decorated a total of 171 cakes, using 800 pounds of butter cream and 500 pounds of fondant along the way. In addition to this fun foray into the sugar arts, the two-day conference featured a keynote speech by Al Gore, workshops with faculty from the Harvard Business School, and several panels on industry trends, including one on bloggers moderated by <a href="http://allthingsd.com/about/kara-swisher"><span id="s7eq0"></span></a><span id="s7eq0"><a href="http://allthingsd.com/about/kara-swisher">Kara Swisher</a></span>.<br /><br />Check out this video of the day:<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cIyx2o2Hgds&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cIyx2o2Hgds&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />We'll report back if (and hopefully when) we hear the news from Guinness.

OSO conference takes the cake

Posted by Katie Hotchkiss, Online Sales and Operations Manager Last week at the annual meeting of our Online Sales and Operations (OSO) orga...

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Internet protection on the go

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Matthew O'Connor, Product Manager</span><br /><br />Protecting employees from Internet threats is tough enough when they're at work, much less when they're on the road. Off-network users are particularly vulnerable to web threats because they must remember to connect via VPN for protection when they're away from the office.<br /><br />Today we're making Internet security easier for people, wherever they may be working. Google Web Security for Enterprise, powered by Postini, provides real-time malware protection and URL filtering with policy enforcement and reporting. An additional feature extends the same protections to users working remotely on laptops in hotels, cafes, and even guest networks without requiring any action on their part.<br /><br />Read more on the <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2008/05/google-web-security-for-enterprise-now.html">Enterprise Blog</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/security/web.html">get protected now</a>.

Internet protection on the go

Posted by Matthew O'Connor, Product Manager Protecting employees from Internet threats is tough enough when they're at work, much le...

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Investing in the future of the open Internet

<span class="byline-author">Posted By Larry Alder, Product Manager</span><br /><br />As <a href="http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1141088">you may have read</a>, Google, Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners have entered into an agreement to invest $3.2 billion in a new wireless broadband company. The new company will combine Clearwire's existing consumer WiMAX business with Sprint's broadband infrastructure and 2.5 GHz spectrum to create a new nationwide wireless broadband network. In addition to our $500 million contribution as part of the investment group, we will provide search and applications to the network's users, and will work with Clearwire to offer additional services and applications. This will include jointly creating an open Internet protocol to work with mobile broadband devices (including <a href="http://code.google.com/android/" id="e_d:" title="Android">Android</a>-powered devices) and implementing other open network practices and policies.<br /><br />We believe that the new network will provide wireless consumers with real choices for the software applications, content and handsets that they desire. Such freedom will mirror the openness principles underlying the Internet and enable users to get the most out of their wireless broadband experience. As we've supported open standards for spectrum and wireless handsets, we're especially excited that Clearwire intends to build and maintain a network that will embrace important openness features. In particular, the network will: (1) expand advanced high speed wireless Internet access in the U.S., (2) allow consumers to utilize any lawful applications, content and devices without blocking, degrading or impairing Internet traffic and (3) engage in reasonable and competitively-neutral network management.<br /><br /> We're looking forward to seeing the Clearwire network take shape and begin to deliver benefits to users, and we will continue to look for new partners to promote openness and bring compelling applications and services to end users. There's more information on Clearwire and the transaction on <a href="http://www.clearwire.com/transaction/">Clearwire's site</a>.

Investing in the future of the open Internet

Posted By Larry Alder, Product Manager As you may have read , Google, Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and T...

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Helping victims of Cyclone Nargis

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Josh Mendelsohn, Program Manager</span><br /><br />Over the past few days, we've followed the devastation left in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma). News reports have tallied more than 22,000 dead with another 41,000 missing. We're extremely saddened by the loss of life due to this cyclone, and hope you'd like to help assist with the relief effort.<br /><br />As we did after <a title="last fall's wildfires" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/wildfire-relief-donations.html" id="j9np">last fall's wildfires</a> in Southern California, we've created a <a title="Checkout Donations page" href="http://www.google.com/myanmarcyclone/" id="gyvr">Checkout Donations page</a> so you can easily donate to <a href="http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/myanmar_43788.html" id="c4jh" title="UNICEF">UNICEF</a> or <a href="http://www.directrelief.org/EmergencyResponse/2008/CycloneNargisMyanmar/CycloneNargisMyanmar.aspx" id="eiu0" title="Direct Relief">Direct Relief International</a>. Both organizations are working to directly assist the victims on the ground in Myanmar.<br /><br />To help visualize the damage, there are Google Earth layers showing an <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/05/tracking-path-of-cyclone-nargis.html" id="x2oi" title="animation of the cyclone's path">animation of the cyclone's path</a> (using satellite imagery from the Naval Research Laboratory) and <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/05/unosat-layer-of-myanmar-cyclone-data.html" id="nzjs" title="the extent of the flooding">the extent of the flooding</a> using data from the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). We'll keep posting information to the <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/" id="m3i_" title="Lat-Long blog">Lat-Long Blog</a> as more data comes available.<br /><br />There are also several Google Grants non-profits working to provide relief to those affected. <a href="https://secure.ga4.org/01/cyclone_nargis" id="cedv" title="Save the Children">Save the Children</a> currently has a 500-person staff in the area, while <a href="https://donate.oxfamamerica.org/02/myanmar" id="eu.h" title="Oxfam America">Oxfam America</a> has committed $800,000 to help NGOs meet the immediate needs of people. <a href="http://www.worldvision.org/news.nsf/news/myanmar-cyclone-20080505?open&lid=20225&lpos=fea_txt_ReadMore" id="mi.s" title="World Vision">World Vision</a> and <a href="http://doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2656" id="b4h7" title="Doctors Without Borders">Doctors Without Borders</a> are also taking action with two of the most vulnerable populations in the crisis: children and the injured. We are pleased to be working with and supporting these organizations that are contributing directly to cyclone relief. We encourage you to visit them and consider lending them your support, too. For more details on these organizations and other non-profits providing support for the victims of the disaster, visit the <a title="Google Grants blog" href="http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/2008/05/grant-recipients-helping-victims-of.html" id="b:qu">Google Grants blog</a>.<br /><br />In addition to the Google Grants non-profits, we want to highlight a few additional organizations we've gotten to know through Google.org's <a title="Predict and Prevent" href="http://google.org/predict.html" id="chd-">Predict and Prevent</a> initiative, which supports a regional disease surveillance network with six Mekong Basin countries, including Myanmar. These on-the-ground organizations are working around the clock to deliver resources to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. <a href="https://www.care.org/myanmarg" id="cp2r" title="CARE">CARE</a> has more than 14 years’ experience in Myanmar and will assist hundreds of thousands of people in the coming days with their immediate needs (including water, food and shelter), as well as providing long term recovery solutions over the next few years. <a href="https://secure2.convio.net/imc/site/Donation2?df_id=1852&1852.donation=form1" id="ovzg" title="International Medical Corps">International Medical Corps</a> is deploying an emergency response team that will help address urgent health needs in addition to distributing medical supplies in the hardest hit areas, and <a href="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=10514" id="s.3p" title="NetHope">NetHope</a> is working to provide technology and satellite communication solutions for many responding organizations. <br /> <br /> The Google Earth and Maps team continues to make <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/05/imagery-for-myanmar-burma.html" id="c2f9" title="new imagery">new imagery</a> and relevant data available. The <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/05/using-google-earth-to-inform-cyclone.html" id="a.n9" title="latest Lat Long Blog post">latest Lat Long Blog post</a> shows how Direct Relief International is using Google Earth to plan its work, including a KML layer of health facilities in Myanmar. We continue to follow the political situation with concern and hope aid can flow rapidly to the people of Myanmar who need it so desperately.<span id="gau40" style="font-size:85%;"><span id="gau41"><br /> </span></span><span id="gau40" style="font-size:85%;"><span id="gau41" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update:</span> Added two new paragraphs at the end.

Helping victims of Cyclone Nargis

Posted by Josh Mendelsohn, Program Manager Over the past few days, we've followed the devastation left in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in ...

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Building the Indic web

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Naren Manappa, Software Engineer, and Melchi Sundararaj, Member of Technical Team</span><br /><br />We have come a long way from our <a title="first Indic transliteration release" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/now-you-can-blog-in-hindi.html" id="kb.v">first Indic transliteration release</a> to our current support for transliteration in 5 languages -- Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu -- for a broader set of Google products. We are also happy to release our very first <a title="English to Hindi translation service" href="http://www.google.com/translate_t?langpair=en%7Chi" id="v92_">English to Hindi translation service</a>. Read on to understand how you can use these services to create, communicate and search in your language, and more.<br /><ul><li>Type in your language easily on our <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a title="Google Indic Transliteration Labs page" href="http://www.google.co.in/transliterate/indic" id="vsjs">Indic Transliteration Labs page</a>.</li><li>Add the <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=www.google.com/ig/modules/indic_transliteration.xml">transliteration gadget</a> to your iGoogle page.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHnEqYte5nIY-IuQMiMN2A9Gv8wViWBNTSUTAsVWUBRzzdFT-Dem-2Ql-7pqW_iE0Aulw00nshr9Ag3_onvcm_VF8tBTlXV7rCsdzgj6wmceRIjCoDNaeR6uJEnRdyxIExOOuI1ohkaMhS/s1600-h/Indic1.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197320745484496514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHnEqYte5nIY-IuQMiMN2A9Gv8wViWBNTSUTAsVWUBRzzdFT-Dem-2Ql-7pqW_iE0Aulw00nshr9Ag3_onvcm_VF8tBTlXV7rCsdzgj6wmceRIjCoDNaeR6uJEnRdyxIExOOuI1ohkaMhS/s320/Indic1.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a></div><ul><li> Express your views and create more content: <a title="Blogger" href="http://www.blogger.com/indic/hi" id="oy3z">Blogger</a>.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoej7yLGsbfdcRWBi1kQPc-G_VVb8pbENQnzLglvhuZeq6ouK0YQIClJiyQS9dSYWgmyyWUdEoIDR23__7Jdf22Cr479dx5OuZOJrXopo9BJo_hYmYNM8cX8xjr0uEaorGwEDPND5xg5-i/s1600-h/Indic2.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197323090536640146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoej7yLGsbfdcRWBi1kQPc-G_VVb8pbENQnzLglvhuZeq6ouK0YQIClJiyQS9dSYWgmyyWUdEoIDR23__7Jdf22Cr479dx5OuZOJrXopo9BJo_hYmYNM8cX8xjr0uEaorGwEDPND5xg5-i/s320/Indic2.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li> Scrap your friends in your language: <a title="orkut" href="http://www.orkut.com/scrapbook.aspx" id="q4ef">orkut</a>.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ0qgdz8-fc70StIxAraKlzWHbTczDpbWcY2d0YQgqAJtf6M3lfOQuK0hYIYivyFx1BjKfvpFzUhQykzIrh6NpuoQ6o78ZkBALGTrHHR4_yJmwthMBUVu8DvA3YHi0-f0buZlV9d2YqEs/s1600-h/Indic3.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197323434134023842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ0qgdz8-fc70StIxAraKlzWHbTczDpbWcY2d0YQgqAJtf6M3lfOQuK0hYIYivyFx1BjKfvpFzUhQykzIrh6NpuoQ6o78ZkBALGTrHHR4_yJmwthMBUVu8DvA3YHi0-f0buZlV9d2YqEs/s320/Indic3.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li> Find information: <a title="Google Suggest" href="http://www.google.co.in/hi" id="m0nc">Google Suggest</a> in your language.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmDEKe4lWFpXR6OvdrvwFBHO7uJJWuUbkwy-o9Vjwr2Tv6MehhUhdCKT6G7ldxles3f2HhxMIoxSQP0k9ysnnwqOJDTkv1D3us8L_FUuOr2mCUZ4fMNE2DMyIeBrqVzh1VXjS04-7Qn__0/s1600-h/Indic4.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197323820681080498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmDEKe4lWFpXR6OvdrvwFBHO7uJJWuUbkwy-o9Vjwr2Tv6MehhUhdCKT6G7ldxles3f2HhxMIoxSQP0k9ysnnwqOJDTkv1D3us8L_FUuOr2mCUZ4fMNE2DMyIeBrqVzh1VXjS04-7Qn__0/s320/Indic4.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> You can now also try out our brand new <a title="English to Hindi translation" href="http://www.google.com/translate_t?langpair=en%7Chi" id="js74">English to Hindi translation</a> service, and the <a title="translated search" href="http://www.google.com/translate_s" id="wcru">translated search</a> <span id="jv8x0">feature that lets you query</span> in Hindi, obtain search results for the translated query in English, and then see the Hindi translations of these results.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0k44iIRLr6dOMHHU8CFWsC5JsndynGHdgdBOA7PMcrmY1xB96vjCrzAY_1PR3pXQKythZ8RfcDRw2mQKxw6sgUzv9VhxX3Eqc_-1nzyQ-GtgS-qgenwyuhciUHyrVM109JzB1cQHpuu9/s1600-h/Indic5.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197324220113039042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0k44iIRLr6dOMHHU8CFWsC5JsndynGHdgdBOA7PMcrmY1xB96vjCrzAY_1PR3pXQKythZ8RfcDRw2mQKxw6sgUzv9VhxX3Eqc_-1nzyQ-GtgS-qgenwyuhciUHyrVM109JzB1cQHpuu9/s320/Indic5.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> For more information on all of these, read <a title="our press release" href="http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/press/pressrel/20080505_googletranslate_hindi.html" id="ytl0">our press release</a>.<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

Building the Indic web

Posted by Naren Manappa, Software Engineer, and Melchi Sundararaj, Member of Technical Team We have come a long way from our first Indic tra...

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Celebrating National Teacher Day

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Cristin Frodella, Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />Thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt, who in the 1950s persuaded Congress to recognize the importance of teachers with a celebratory day, today is set aside in the U.S. to honor our educators and acknowledge the contributions they make. I know that I speak for everyone at Google when I say that none of us would be where we are today without our teachers. On <a href="http://www.nea.org/teacherday/index.html" target="_blank">National Teacher Day</a>, we salute you, the dedicated men and women who taught us much of what we know.<br /><br />And we invite you to join us, too, at the next installment of the <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html" target="_blank">Google Teacher Academy</a> at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California on June 25th. Back by popular demand, the GTA is an intensive one-day professional development event designed to help K-12 teachers get immersed in innovative technologies. Teachers near and far are invited to apply to spend the day with us getting your hands on tools like Google Earth, Google Docs and the entire Google Apps suite. Come, sit in classes, learn some new stuff, and rub elbows with some of your most creative contemporaries who, like you, are changing the world one student and one classroom at a time.<br /><br />Today, <a href="http://www.google.com/educators" target="_blank">Google for Educators</a> is also pleased to announce the launch of the new <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/geoeducation" target="_blank">Geo Education</a> website, where you'll find oodles of information about Google Earth, Maps, Sky and SketchUp. In addition to spotlighting inspiring lessons from some pioneering teachers, we are also sharing quick tips and ideas for easy ways get started using geo tools in your classroom. Among other things, you'll learn how to take flyover tours of peaks, valleys and gorges, how to view constellations - even in the daytime - and how to make a 3D model of your very own school.<br /><br />And last but not least, awhile back, we asked teachers to share stories about using Google Docs in the classroom. You <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html" target="_blank">told us</a> about your students' collaborative writing projects, about class presentations where kids were engaged in dialog using the "chat" box throughout, and you mentioned being able to be involved in the creative process early on, instead of only seeing the final product. While we were reading, we realized that Docs can be somewhat intimidating to the uninitiated, so we created a <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcdn7mjg_72nh25vq">getting started</a> document specifically educators -- with tips for signing up, logging in, and working your way through a document -- both in-class and outside.<br /><br />So happy Teacher Day! We hope you have an enjoyable day during which you get a hundred shiny apples and maybe even a hug from a kid who knows how much you do every day. And we hope to see you at the Googleplex in June, too.

Celebrating National Teacher Day

Posted by Cristin Frodella, Product Marketing Manager Thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt, who in the 1950s persuaded Congress to recognize the impo...

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