Plug-ins converge on Washington

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Michael Terrell, Program Manager, Google.org</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjk2qjMUcrl8egifNHK5se0mOHcslO0icdwIQ7lFRtOWecLRf3YmxGa0ybp9EIGDakDhZJXbnDlBMWn8WfGp8643ycuSSgAWpx-WW0gPDj9mVOT2wxhKZf41u7HW0d_7WoBLDWJcVBa2t/s1600-h/Brookings+panel+photo.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5212598260249501170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdjk2qjMUcrl8egifNHK5se0mOHcslO0icdwIQ7lFRtOWecLRf3YmxGa0ybp9EIGDakDhZJXbnDlBMWn8WfGp8643ycuSSgAWpx-WW0gPDj9mVOT2wxhKZf41u7HW0d_7WoBLDWJcVBa2t/s400/Brookings+panel+photo.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Last week Google.org and the Brookings Institution hosted a two-day <a title="conference" href="http://www.google.org/recharge/dcpluginsconference/index.html" id="pmd-">conference</a> in Washington to showcase plug-in electric vehicles and examine how the government can support their widespread adoption. An impressive lineup of Members of Congress, auto and utility executives, and technology experts spoke to a packed house about the potential of plug-ins to reduce oil dependence, lower the cost of driving, and fight global warming. Between panels, participants were treated to a <a title="display" href="http://blog.google.org/2008/06/participants-plug-in.html" id="j:df">display</a> of the latest plug-in cars, including one of Google.org's <a title="RechargeIT" href="http://www.google.org/recharge/" id="lclg">RechargeIT cars</a>, an <a title="electric sportscar" href="http://www.teslamotors.com/" id="oufb">electric sportscar</a>, and <a title="Detroit's answer" href="http://gm-volt.com/" id="xibs">Detroit's answer</a> to high gas prices.<br /><br />There appeared to be overwhelming agreement that government <a title="leadership" href="http://blog.google.org/2008/06/plug-in-conference-highlights-day-2.html" id="jo32">leadership</a> is necessary to make this industry transformation a reality. (A recent <a title="poll" href="http://blog.google.org/2008/06/survey-says-plug-in-washington.html" id="az43">poll</a> commissioned by Google.org shows that voters agree.) A second theme was the need to modernize and green the power grid as the country moves toward electrifying transportation. But with gas prices at record highs and enthusiasm for the promise of electric cars growing, the feeling in Washington last week was that plug-ins' time has come.

Plug-ins converge on Washington

Posted by Michael Terrell, Program Manager, Google.orgLast week Google.org and the Brookings Institution hosted a two-day conference in Washington to showcase plug-in electric vehicles and examine how…

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Our agreement to provide ad technology to Yahoo!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Omid Kordestani, Senior VP, Global Sales and Business Development</span><br /><br />Today, <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20080612_yahoo.html">we announced</a> a non-exclusive advertising agreement that will provide Yahoo! with access to our AdSense for search and AdSense for content advertising programs on their U.S. and Canadian web properties. In addition, we will work to enable interoperability between our respective instant messaging services allowing users better, broader communication online.<br /><br />We are proud of the advertising technologies we have built, which show users a relevant ad whether they are searching for a specific item or browsing the internet. This arrangement extends those benefits to Yahoo! and its many users, advertisers and publisher partners. We currently provide similar services to sites like AOL and Ask.com as well as many other partners, and we work closely with all of our partners to ensure that our partnership drives their long term success.<br /><br />Why did we make this agreement? Quite simply, we think it is good for users, advertisers and publishers. By offering Google's industry-leading technology to Yahoo!, the whole system becomes more efficient, and everyone benefits:<br /><ul id="bqhv1"><li id="bqhv2"> Consumers will see more relevant ads when they are looking for information and browsing the web. And with interoperability between IM services, users will have easier access to even more of their contacts.<br /></li></ul><ul id="bqhv1"><li id="bqhv2">Publishers currently in the Yahoo! Publisher Network will benefit from Google's advertising technology, potentially increasing the revenue they earn from their sites.</li></ul><ul id="bqhv1"><li id="bqhv2"> Advertisers will have new ways to reach their target customers online more efficiently.<br /></li></ul> We also think this is good for competition. The truth is, this kind of arrangement is commonplace in many industries, and it doesn't foreclose robust competition. Toyota sells its hybrid technology to General Motors, even though they are the number one and number two car manufacturers globally. Canon provides laser printer engines for HP, despite also competing in the broader laser printer market. Google and Yahoo will continue to be vigorous competitors, and that competition will help fuel innovation that is good for users.<br /><br />It is important to say what this agreement is not:<br /><ul id="ebqz4"><li id="ebqz5"> <b id="njzc0">This is not a merger. </b> Rather, we are merely providing access to our advertising technology to Yahoo! through our AdSense program.<br /><br /> </li><li id="ebqz5"> <b id="njzc1">This does not remove a competitor from the playing field. </b>Yahoo! will remain in the business of search and content advertising, which gives the company a continued incentive to keep improving and innovating. Even during this agreement, Yahoo! can use our technology as much or as little as it chooses.<br /> <b id="njzc2"><br /> </b> </li><li id="ebqz5"> <b id="njzc3">This does not prevent Yahoo! from making similar arrangements with others. </b>This arrangement is not exclusive, meaning that Yahoo! could enter into similar arrangements with other companies.<br /><br /> </li><li id="ebqz6"> <b id="k11g0">This does not increase Google's share of search traffic. </b>Yahoo! will continue to run its own search engine and advertising programs, and the agreement will not increase Google's share of search traffic.<br /><br /> </li><li id="ebqz6"> <b id="qeq-0">This does not let Google raise prices for advertisers. </b>Google <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-auctions-set-ad-prices.html" id="c..s" title="does not set the prices manually for ads">does not set the prices manually for ads</a>; rather, advertisers themselves determine prices through an ongoing competitive auction. We have found over years of research that an auction is by far the most efficient way to price search advertising and have no intention of changing that. <b id="sofq0"><br /> </b> </li></ul> We have been in contact with regulators about this arrangement, and we expect to work closely with them to answer their questions about the transaction. Ultimately we believe that the efficiencies of this agreement will help preserve competition.<br /><br />The Internet is a healthy, competitive environment where content creators, advertisers and users come together to access information, communicate and create new business opportunities. We think this deal extends these benefits -- it's good for users, advertisers and publishers and good for the industry.

Our agreement to provide ad technology to Yahoo!

Posted by Omid Kordestani, Senior VP, Global Sales and Business DevelopmentToday, we announced a non-exclusive advertising agreement that will provide Yahoo! with access to our AdSense for search and …

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Fresher related search suggestions

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Search and Adam Westall, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />When you search on Google, we often offer you "related" search suggestions to help you find what you're looking for more quickly. We identify related search queries by evaluating data from multiple sources. Our algorithms try to ensure that we offer suggestions when they are most likely to help users. These algorithms also determine how many related search queries to display, and their location on the search results page. Therefore, you won't see related search suggestions for every query, and while they are usually shown below the search results, the algorithm sometimes causes them to display above the search results.<br /><br />Further, we have teams that help evaluate the quality of these related search suggestions, and the enhancements to the user experience. We're constantly running experiments in order to get data that will help improve the user experience.<br /><br />Recently, we improved our algorithms to process <span style="font-style: italic;">new</span> information faster, and the result is quite tangible -- you should now see <span style="font-style: italic;">fresher</span> suggestions for queries on current topics of interest.<br /><br />Because information on the web is constantly changing, we think this improvement will help you find relevant information faster. To give this a test drive, try searching for <a title="iphone" href="http://www.google.com/search?q=iphone" id="cb5y">iphone</a>. You should see related queries around the brand new 3G iPhone announced earlier this week.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv1G2J4WfkXXVAV_zGHqUznL3j_2TOLGmovYNOc7DqG8qMtGFEBrOVNWTL1o_5uc4WOuOJ_7BvOVm5hyaXyBzaMrLY9ERrgUrJ3GmFkYxGGt98G7FJT5scRI0D0ws8zfOETRQlsadfSxf/s1600-h/iPhone.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211078184863758018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv1G2J4WfkXXVAV_zGHqUznL3j_2TOLGmovYNOc7DqG8qMtGFEBrOVNWTL1o_5uc4WOuOJ_7BvOVm5hyaXyBzaMrLY9ERrgUrJ3GmFkYxGGt98G7FJT5scRI0D0ws8zfOETRQlsadfSxf/s400/iPhone.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>If you search for <a title="tomatoes" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tomatoes&btnG=Search" id="mbmx">tomatoes</a>, you'll see suggestions around the recent salmonella outbreak.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnTLbl-lxRoh1eeJIzvr6A9dua99zH0idgWJhJjSaL7Xpd4nDREwOFUWe9hqxYUz0opZkYb4BN_3zIFvrDqnEtOthqQgyIstci3iTN73ePbeBIghyphenhyphenwmbCOUrI_NG1tJNMpdj2KvLVBR1X/s1600-h/tomatoes.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211081124771779346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnTLbl-lxRoh1eeJIzvr6A9dua99zH0idgWJhJjSaL7Xpd4nDREwOFUWe9hqxYUz0opZkYb4BN_3zIFvrDqnEtOthqQgyIstci3iTN73ePbeBIghyphenhyphenwmbCOUrI_NG1tJNMpdj2KvLVBR1X/s400/tomatoes.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>If you search for <a title="us open" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=us+open&btnG=Search" id="ip78">us open</a>, you'll get a direct lead to the ongoing U.S. Open golf tournament.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq68KYgj7jg2OhqNPV-Cu-pZ9pLUo3QogQYDa35kvz0-7xm_1JK-KQZhoNHbWe91Ix6HE-rxnaf1m564NCyFpFXP7P7FpmZ52N1-Zod2fcJu5pk9qTokKoXjCOocXaMjeAB0BV1LaHMkJV/s1600-h/Golf.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211081619191757906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq68KYgj7jg2OhqNPV-Cu-pZ9pLUo3QogQYDa35kvz0-7xm_1JK-KQZhoNHbWe91Ix6HE-rxnaf1m564NCyFpFXP7P7FpmZ52N1-Zod2fcJu5pk9qTokKoXjCOocXaMjeAB0BV1LaHMkJV/s400/Golf.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>If you're interested in <a title="kung fu" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kung+fu&btnG=Search" id="jv0c">kung fu</a>, you will be told of the new Kung Fu Panda movie!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJ0yW6BF1hRQUGlgMxeHiYdmAiDD7NqFS_EJdCbHji1zC-CUAesO_G2HoBW0aJePsfdxK7Eas9_GgoSm8zwmlkxWIYwu5-YNhIj-HAU2Exq-Bul4Jx3uxbvvb26WesysYyJSrHrDTxdIA/s1600-h/kung+fu.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211083183819722114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJ0yW6BF1hRQUGlgMxeHiYdmAiDD7NqFS_EJdCbHji1zC-CUAesO_G2HoBW0aJePsfdxK7Eas9_GgoSm8zwmlkxWIYwu5-YNhIj-HAU2Exq-Bul4Jx3uxbvvb26WesysYyJSrHrDTxdIA/s400/kung+fu.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />The query <a title="big brown" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=big+brown&btnG=Search" id="zwf4">big brown</a> suggests queries around the mystifying performance of the horse at the Belmont stakes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQkRNdQ885uSAd72b0QwyUa9dN1Br9GcictJVnKwMwxi11PdGlwbQA3FFGRXF5uAE3N6fqbispSOjbiEymeaOYwgpyQo2RncCpp35WcYkp6prUNiZ10sEtNMl-vMSnz0lf8Xf3uuRFpQr/s1600-h/big+brown.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211082142117007778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQkRNdQ885uSAd72b0QwyUa9dN1Br9GcictJVnKwMwxi11PdGlwbQA3FFGRXF5uAE3N6fqbispSOjbiEymeaOYwgpyQo2RncCpp35WcYkp6prUNiZ10sEtNMl-vMSnz0lf8Xf3uuRFpQr/s400/big+brown.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Try other queries that are relevant to current events you're interested in. You'll know when you trigger fresh suggestions!<span id="c3hj0" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span> Some of these search suggestions are very timely, but could have a short shelf life as new information on a topic is processed, and other related queries may be considered more relevant. The examples in this post could "expire" soon as this feature is very dynamic, so we've included screenshots. Note that you will not see related searches if you enable <a title="strict SafeSearch filtering" href="http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=searchguides.html&ctx=preferences&hl=en" id="e:be">strict SafeSearch</a> filtering. We've currently launched this in the U.S. for English queries, and are working on enabling this for other languages as well.<br /><br />As always, we'd be <a href="http://www.google.com/quality_form?q=&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=yIN" id="qvh5" title="interested to know what you think">interested to know what you think</a>.

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Fresher related search suggestions

Posted by Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager, Search and Adam Westall, Software EngineerWhen you search on Google, we often offer you "related" search suggestions to help you find what you're look…

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A new flavor of Google Trends

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Heej Hwang, Google Trends team</span><br /><br />The latest version of <a title="Google Trends" href="http://www.google.com/trends" id="np-q">Google Trends</a> is now live! If you've used it in the past, you know that Google Trends can be used to see how popular certain search terms are across geographic regions, cities, and languages. With our latest update, you can now see numbers on the graph download to a spreadsheet. (Note: Both these functions are available after you've signed in to your <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login" id="t7:_">Google Account</a>.)<br /><br />Let's walk through an example of how these nifty new features come into play. With the hot summer months rapidly approaching in many parts of the world, many of us turn to the frosty treat of ice cream to cool off. But have you ever wondered which flavor people search for more frequently: vanilla or chocolate?<br /><br />First, let's take a look at the searches for vanilla ice cream and chocolate ice cream separately. Here's what vanilla looks like on its own:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzA1iXv0jWTDmPwaDiEnGZ3IiFVlRPNpO3IC6DhVuXhjY7nflw1aOn-3ttdYLtDPcTr9U_LY6dIdZBijTDxp9Q5N2pWoh2dFUf4NSOoT_dm-Qpk4qA__2h1yWQM6OuVCmQncdoAWII4Zb/s1600-h/Trends_vanilla.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210336708738705570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzA1iXv0jWTDmPwaDiEnGZ3IiFVlRPNpO3IC6DhVuXhjY7nflw1aOn-3ttdYLtDPcTr9U_LY6dIdZBijTDxp9Q5N2pWoh2dFUf4NSOoT_dm-Qpk4qA__2h1yWQM6OuVCmQncdoAWII4Zb/s320/Trends_vanilla.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div><br />You'll notice a number at the top of the graph as well as on the y-axis of the graph itself. These numbers don't refer to exact search-volume figures. Instead, in the same way that a map might “scale” to a certain size, Google Trends scales the first term you've entered so that its average search volume is 1.00 in the chosen time period. So in the example above, 1.00 is the average search volume of vanilla ice cream from 2004 to present. We can then see a spike in mid-2006 which crosses the 3.00 line, indicating that search traffic is approximately 3 times the average for all years. Read more about <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/trends/about.html#7">how we scale </a> the data.<br /><br />Here's what chocolate looks like on its own:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSaZD0uinbNgXIfEDOuGUUDfmo6vJAvFMF4Ng8k7Rxbw23FGggxcIy_jdSbgRR0CSiryi3y46rktEyeF-x-lcCaD_jh3LUJfSPAmhqL2Rl66nleTym39BzWH6udbPR22pij7HyQLB2byV/s1600-h/Trends_chocolate.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210336884832364722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSaZD0uinbNgXIfEDOuGUUDfmo6vJAvFMF4Ng8k7Rxbw23FGggxcIy_jdSbgRR0CSiryi3y46rktEyeF-x-lcCaD_jh3LUJfSPAmhqL2Rl66nleTym39BzWH6udbPR22pij7HyQLB2byV/s320/Trends_chocolate.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div><br />Let's look at how vanilla compares with chocolate. Keep in mind that when you compare multiple terms, they'll all be scaled relative to the first term you've entered.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-TnFOUUtbNn_13hl3Q8II6toM2Z13uO0w9kgePQt5GfeiiVnG9M8BqIfDJ6DHDBcMoPXPZ1iI9y2oQLJKDIhwCSf00GGKDWyioTVM4_WmmAzkiw52A3ZETuCgMxo2ApsKOwevDPEUk6X/s1600-h/Trends_combo.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210337043746154690" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-TnFOUUtbNn_13hl3Q8II6toM2Z13uO0w9kgePQt5GfeiiVnG9M8BqIfDJ6DHDBcMoPXPZ1iI9y2oQLJKDIhwCSf00GGKDWyioTVM4_WmmAzkiw52A3ZETuCgMxo2ApsKOwevDPEUk6X/s320/Trends_combo.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div>As the numbers on the top of the graph indicate, vanilla ice cream has about 30 percent less search traffic than chocolate ice cream (and it's no surprise that both flavors are more popular during the summer months!) You can also see that the data has been ranked by vanilla, because it was the first search term we entered. However, you can use the drop-down menu beneath the graph to change the ranking to chocolate instead.<br /><br />Google Trends is not only a fun tool; it also offers some practical uses as well. Suppose you own an ice cream shop and don't know which flavors to serve, or suppose you're responsible for stocking supermarkets across the country; Trends can help you explore the popularity and seasonality of your products. To conduct your own, more detailed analyses, you can now easily export Trends data to a .csv file (a common format to import/export data), which can be opened in most spreadsheet applications. When you use the export function, you'll also have the choice of using either relative scaling (what we've shown here) or fixed scaling (scaled to a specific time range).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRs7rRFAoiGtZMzvltb4jzxTsXhlzn6qcUKmd8gldyLZmH4RCU1zbhz6JV9oEFksL-WIxFyZi_cI7xqZBjvMPQAybl2trLkH8UL1puvHz9U8liZOeB4RHUPQ8umi0VG6N1N4yfO28rOoh/s1600-h/Trends_savefile.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210337438883145938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRs7rRFAoiGtZMzvltb4jzxTsXhlzn6qcUKmd8gldyLZmH4RCU1zbhz6JV9oEFksL-WIxFyZi_cI7xqZBjvMPQAybl2trLkH8UL1puvHz9U8liZOeB4RHUPQ8umi0VG6N1N4yfO28rOoh/s320/Trends_savefile.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div><br />We hope you enjoy this new flavor of Google Trends. And of course, we want to know: which flavor of ice cream do you like best?

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A new flavor of Google Trends

Posted by Heej Hwang, Google Trends teamThe latest version of Google Trends is now live! If you've used it in the past, you know that Google Trends can be used to see how popular certain search terms …

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New third parties for the Google content network

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rajas Moonka, Senior Business Product Manager</span><br /><br />About a month ago, we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/opening-our-content-network-to-third.html">announced</a> that we certified a number of third-party ad servers, rich media ad agencies, and research firms to serve and track display ads on the Google content network. Today, we're adding Atlas and Tumri to our list of <a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94149">certified third parties</a>.<br /><br />Atlas and Tumri customers can now save time by managing their Google content network campaigns and their other online campaigns through the same application. They can take advantage of more efficient planning, management, and measurement around their ad buy.<br /><br /><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/opening-our-content-network-to-third.html">Learn more</a> about third-party ad tags on the Google content network.

New third parties for the Google content network

Posted by Rajas Moonka, Senior Business Product ManagerAbout a month ago, we announced that we certified a number of third-party ad servers, rich media ad agencies, and research firms to serve and tra…

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One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, and Micheal Lopez, Web Designer</span><br /><br />You may have noticed that Google has a new favicon, the small icon you see in your browser next to the URL or in your bookmarks list. Some people have wondered why we changed our favicon -- after all, we hadn't in 8.5 years(!). The reason is that we wanted to develop a set of icons that would scale better to some new platforms like the iPhone and other mobile devices. So the new favicon is one of those, but we've also developed a group of logo-based icons that all hang together as a unified set. Here's the full set:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-f4r7ujC8ZMszjECZ3oSW9OFP3Qr8o6cArjnSAnqyiRLqHGtt8jDYzHI97HoBAeTZjvAQUds5xO22O-DBxf-sGxn5c-byLc2xsF9VIcSl_Z3qhTBpGD226FSLuxMCrg8-zod-gjKR1LKE/s1600-h/favicon_family.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208917079739346658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-f4r7ujC8ZMszjECZ3oSW9OFP3Qr8o6cArjnSAnqyiRLqHGtt8jDYzHI97HoBAeTZjvAQUds5xO22O-DBxf-sGxn5c-byLc2xsF9VIcSl_Z3qhTBpGD226FSLuxMCrg8-zod-gjKR1LKE/s400/favicon_family.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />The design process we went through was rigorous and interesting, so we thought we would share more of it here. We tried in total more than 300 permutations. It was much harder than we thought at first. We wanted something distinctive and noticeable, so we aimed toward transparency or semi-transparency, so the image would have a more distinctive noticeable shape than just a block. We wanted something that embraced the colorfulness of the logo, yet wouldn't date itself. Since we don't really have a symbol that means Google, we felt it best to work with the logo and letters within it. Our design team tried literally hundreds of approaches. You can see some of our explorations here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXnp3PaJqkPY5Z_gfxkBUtDxsQtnR5XlZNMUrim5OnWA769w3t-US3ot8N4pH4xBbQas7HGcQPEnCX2NrX_isTJ-j4aA4EWHf8mFJi6M6GrEWbee_ANBsiV6QfKfKVatnulrHnMz8ba3E/s1600-h/favicon_iterations.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208917506280602722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXnp3PaJqkPY5Z_gfxkBUtDxsQtnR5XlZNMUrim5OnWA769w3t-US3ot8N4pH4xBbQas7HGcQPEnCX2NrX_isTJ-j4aA4EWHf8mFJi6M6GrEWbee_ANBsiV6QfKfKVatnulrHnMz8ba3E/s400/favicon_iterations.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />By no means is the one you're seeing our favicon final; it was a first step to a more<br />unified set of icons. However, we really value feedback from users and want to hear your ideas that we may have missed. If you have your own notions about the Google favicon, <a href="http://www.google.com/faviconideas/">please send them to us</a>. We'll do our best to work them in, and maybe your idea will be the one that people see billions of times per day.

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One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, and Micheal Lopez, Web DesignerYou may have noticed that Google has a new favicon, the small icon you see in your browser next to the URL…

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Opening our doors in Lenoir

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Kendra Intihar, Administrative Assistant, Google Lenoir</span><br /><br />Whether you're shopping for shoes, planning a trip or watching a funny video, you probably don't think much about where that website you're on actually "lives." Though they seem just to exist in some "cloud" out there in "cyberspace," all websites are actually hosted on computers, similar to the one you have at home or work. But millions of websites processing terabytes of data every day -- all of those shopping and video queries -- require much more than a single machine, and they need to be housed somewhere. While some webmasters may run their website off of a small server in their basement, more commonly websites are run off of a stack of computers (a server rack), which lives in a warehouse-type building called a data center. Almost any company that stores or processes information either owns data centers or leases space in them, including banks, insurers, airlines and of course, technology companies. To process the millions of searches, emails, documents and more that come across our servers every day, and to keep all of our services both fast and reliable for our users, we require significant computing power, and have invested heavily in servers and data centers across the world.<br /><br />On May 21st, an official ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the opening of our newest data center in <a title="Lenoir, North Carolina" href="http://www.ci.lenoir.nc.us/" id="yi9t">Lenoir, North Carolina</a>. The Lenoir facility has set a precedent for Google community involvement: hundreds of our closest friends -- the citizens of Caldwell County -- came on site for what we called a "Googley BBQ." Along with pulled pork from the locally-acclaimed <a id="hi69" title="Hannah's BBQ" href="http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=449">Hannah's</a>, attractions included Google-colored snow cones, cotton candy, a local cover band, Google demo stations, a "Meet-a-Googler" tent, and a kiddie area with face painting, stickers, crafts, and (of course) a bouncy house in Google colors.<br /><br />Lenoir sits in the heart of <a id="nt-b" title="Caldwell County, North Carolina" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=caldwell+county,+nc&layer=c&ie=UTF8&z=10&iwloc=addr">Caldwell County</a>, which is known for its spectacular views of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, its close-knit communities, and its hard-working citizens, and is along the famous "20 miles of furniture" on N.C. highway 321. Though many furniture industry jobs in the area have been lost in recent years, now technology companies are moving to the region, and a focus on technology education is helping to usher Caldwell into the 21st century.<br /><br />Several speakers at the ribbon-cutting, including the Mayor of Lenoir, David Barlow; County Commissioner Herb Greene; and the Governor of North Carolina, Mike Easley, voiced this sentiment, each hopeful that other technology companies will consider Google's presence and set up shop as well. What's not to love about an area with a beautiful landscape, a home-town feel, and such a wonderful and welcoming community? Yeah, we couldn't find anything either.<br /><br />Lenoir Googlers are still floating on at least cloud seven or eight about playing host at our new site. We couldn't have done it without the local firefighters, police, Chamber of Commerce and government representatives who went out of their way to make sure everyone had fun that day -- helped, of course, by the hundreds of folks who joined us in celebrating. But what's more, we are excited that we will soon be bringing this newest data center online, as another step to ensure that our services remain lightning fast and nearly 100% reliable, no matter where on the planet you may be.<br /><br />Here's a photo album from the day:<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%2Fgoogpics1%2Falbumid%2F5208215491613664289%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed>

Opening our doors in Lenoir

Posted by Kendra Intihar, Administrative Assistant, Google LenoirWhether you're shopping for shoes, planning a trip or watching a funny video, you probably don't think much about where that website yo…

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