Making terms of service clearer

Last week's <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html" target="_blank" title="launch of Google Chrome">launch of Google Chrome</a> generated some discussion over the legal language in our new browser's terms of service (TOS). As we noted in a <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/update-to-google-chromes-terms-of.html" target="_blank" title="we noted in this post">subsequent post</a> on Google Chrome's terms of service:<br /><blockquote>"... Under copyright law, Google needs what's called a "license" to display or transmit content. So to show a blog, we ask the user to give us a license to the blog's content. (The same goes for any other service where users can create content.) But in all these cases, the license is limited to providing the service."</blockquote>We've also seen some discussion on a few blogs about how our universal terms of service apply to other products, with some users worried that Google is trying to claim ownership of the content they generate. To be clear: our terms do not claim ownership of your content -- what you create is yours and remains yours. But in lawyer-speak, we need to ask for a 'license' (which basically means your permission) to display this content to the wider world when that's what you intend. This issue is not unique to Google; it applies to lots of other Internet companies that display and transmit user content. You can see some other terms of service here from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html" target="_blank" title="eBay">eBay</a>, and <a href="http://www.new.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf" target="_blank" title="Facebook">Facebook</a><a href="http://www.new.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf" target="_blank" title="Facebook">.</a><br /><br />In some of our products, such as <a href="http://www.google.com/mail/help/terms_of_use.html" id="f0ru" title="Gmail">Gmail</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/google-d-s/addlterms.html" id="oy_e" title="Google Docs">Google Docs</a>, we have included additional terms to make it clear that we do not claim ownership of the content. But even without those additional clarifications, we still wouldn't be claiming ownership of your content -- just a license that gives us your permission to use the content to provide the service. The additional terms are there to reassure our users that they still own their own content, even after giving us the permission we need to help them share and collaborate with others, whether via Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Google Docs, or other services.<br /><br />Because, in the end, that's what's most important: making sure you're comfortable using our services to share, publish, and store your stuff. We'll continue to look at our terms of service to make them as clear and user-friendly as possible, because at the end of the day if you're not comfortable, our products won't succeed -- and we know it.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Yang, Senior Product Counsel</span>

Making terms of service clearer

Last week's launch of Google Chrome generated some discussion over the legal language in our new browser's terms of service (TOS). ...

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Running Hood to Coast

When I woke up at 4:00 AM in a dark field, after just a half hour of sleep, I wondered if I was crazy. When I put on my headlamp and running shoes for a six-mile run—my second of three runs that day—I <i>knew</i> that I was crazy. But I was happy about it because I knew that my teammates were just as crazy. <br /><br />I was running Hood to Coast with the Google relay team. That's a 197-mile Oregon race that starts at Mount Hood, travels through Portland, and finishes on the beach in the town of Seaside. More than 1000 teams participate in the race, with 12 runners on each team running three legs each. <br /><br />The 12 runners on our team were all Googlers from different parts of the company: AdSense, AdWords, Google.org, Engineering, Search and Analytics, Search Quality, and more. We had runners from a number of offices: <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-ma-cam.html" target="_blank"> Cambridge</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/topic.py?loc_id=1120&dep_id=1173" target="_blank"> Chicago</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-ca-mv.html" target="_blank"> Mountain View</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-ny-ny.html" target="_blank">New York</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-ca-sfo.html" target="_blank">San Francisco</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=why-wa.html" target="_blank">Seattle </a>. Many of us had <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/powered-by-google.html" target="_blank">run Hood to Coast</a> before and even <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/running-relay-del-sol.html" target="_blank">won similar races</a> for Google; some of us were rookies to all-night relay races. What brought us all together was a love of running and a desire to get Team Google to the finish line as fast as possible — even if that meant that we wouldn't get much sleep. <br /><br />We started last Friday night with fresh legs, fresh clothes, and lots of enthusiasm. Over the next 197 miles we wore out our legs, made our running clothes and vans smell terrible, and generated even more enthusiasm by coming together as a team and cheering each other on. <br /><br />We had a lot to cheer about, because everyone contributed great performances and because we ran faster than we expected. We finished in 19 hours and 45 minutes, which meant that we averaged 10 miles per hour for the race. That was good enough to finish in <a href="http://www.racecenter.com/results/2008/htc08.htm" target="_blank">9th place overall</a> and in 3rd place in the corporate division—behind a couple of running shoe companies that you might have heard about. <br /><br />We were more than happy with the result. As we gathered on the beach near the finish line, we enjoyed the sun, the sense of accomplishment, and the camaraderie of our teammates. I smiled and thought back to when I woke up at 4:00 AM in that dark field. Considering all that we had accomplished, maybe I wasn't so crazy after all. <br /><br />Here's a picture of the Team Google runners and drivers, enjoying the beach at the finish. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeU8ZjD0awzb2iyzFa7IBeTW2gpxzKFQpgHhGKP6IECjqJjBJ5CegzRwFeUHZ4VbA3fGhbZJOgqXIh0jDIjmW42qt1WNsT9ZGsMgYrvYBM134lBnjslb_Q4DEhqYsgtASB8UxyzKahsSsf/s1600-h/Hood+to+Coast.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241531579562690626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeU8ZjD0awzb2iyzFa7IBeTW2gpxzKFQpgHhGKP6IECjqJjBJ5CegzRwFeUHZ4VbA3fGhbZJOgqXIh0jDIjmW42qt1WNsT9ZGsMgYrvYBM134lBnjslb_Q4DEhqYsgtASB8UxyzKahsSsf/s320/Hood+to+Coast.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;"></a><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Chris Holstrom, Technical Writer</span>

Running Hood to Coast

When I woke up at 4:00 AM in a dark field, after just a half hour of sleep, I wondered if I was crazy. When I put on my headlamp and running...

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Update to Google Chrome's terms of service

Whenever we release a product in beta as we just did with <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome" target="_blank" title="Google Chrome">Google Chrome</a>, we can always count on our users to come up with ways to improve it. This week's example: several eagle-eyed <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10030522-56.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0" target="_blank" title="users">users</a> and <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/does_google_have_rights_to_all.php" target="_blank" title="bloggers">bloggers</a> have expressed concern that Section 11 of <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html" target="_blank" title="Google Chrome's terms of service">Google Chrome's terms of service</a> attempts to give us rights to any user-generated content "submitted, posted or displayed on or through" the browser.<br /><br />You'll notice if you look at our other products that many of them are governed by Section 11 of our <a href="http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS" target="_blank" title="Universal Terms of Service">Universal Terms of Service</a>. This section is included because, under copyright law, Google needs what's called a "license" to display or transmit content. So to show a blog, we ask the user to give us a license to the blog's content. (The same goes for any other service where users can create content.) But in all these cases, the license is limited to providing the service. In Gmail, for example, the terms specifically disclaim our ownership right to Gmail content.<br /><br />So for Google Chrome, only the first sentence of Section 11 should have applied. We're sorry we overlooked this, but we've fixed it now, and you can read the <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html" id="so6v" target="_blank" title="updated Google Chrome terms of service">updated</a> Google Chrome terms of service. If you're into the fine print, here's the revised text of Section 11:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. Content license from you</span><br />11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.</blockquote>And that's all. Period. End of section.<br /><br />It will take a little time to propagate this change through the 40+ languages in which Google Chrome is available, and to remove the language in the download versions. But rest assured that we're working quickly to fix this. The new terms will of course be retroactive, and will cover everyone who has downloaded Google Chrome since it was launched.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Mike Yang, Senior Product Counsel</span>

Update to Google Chrome's terms of service

Whenever we release a product in beta as we just did with Google Chrome , we can always count on our users to come up with ways to improve i...

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Introducing Picasa 3.0 (and big changes for Picasa Web Albums)

A little over two years ago, we launched <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/home">Picasa Web Albums</a> to make publishing photos online easy. Now Picasa Web Albums hosts billions of online photos from around the globe, with users adding millions of new snapshots every day. Each of these photos records a different moment, or a different perspective, but one thing they all have in common is that in each case, the person behind the camera wanted <span style="border-collapse: collapse;" id="aamx">to share their experience with a friend, their extended family, or maybe the world.<br /><br />Today, we're rolling out major technology upgrades to both Picasa and Picasa Web Albums. As you might have guessed, these are largely focused on how we share and enjoy our photos with others.<br /><br />For starters, there's a brand-new feature called "<a href="http://picasa.google.com/features-nametags.html">name tags</a>" in Picasa Web Albums that helps you quickly label all the people in your photos, so you can organize and share your photos based on who's in the picture. Name tags uses advanced technology to automatically group similar faces together. That way, you can quickly label all the people you care about in your photo collection. Once you've labeled your photos, it's then a snap to do things like create a slideshow with every picture of you and your best friend, or easily share party photos with everybody who appears in that photo album. This demo video shows you what you can do with name tags: </span><span style="border-collapse: collapse;" id="aamx"><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/teeGF-w5Cpw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/teeGF-w5Cpw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />There's more to Picasa Web Albums. The site now has a fresh, clean look that makes photos look great, and a new "<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/explore">Explore</a>" page that allows you to browse some of the most interesting public content on our site, including "Recent Photos," a near-real-time view of public photos uploaded to Picasa Web Albums. You can now also email photos directly to Picasa Web Albums.<br /><br />Of course, Picasa Web Albums is only half the story. The great advantage of Picasa Web Albums has always been its integration with Picasa, Google's free photo management software for your PC. And today we're making public the <a href="http://picasa.google.com/intl/en_us/"><u id="a4jk2">beta version of Picasa 3</u></a> at <span style="font-weight: bold;">picasa.google.com</span>.<br /><br />Sharing photos with Picasa has always been remarkably simple, but in Picasa 3, we've made sharing so simple you don't even have to lift a finger. A new 'sync to web' button allows you to sync specified albums on your PC to the web. If you edit or add photos to the album on your PC, those changes will be automatically reflected on Picasa Web Albums. You can even specify who you'd like to share your web albums with from the Picasa software itself.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUA6ud3TwD-q2hG3XcFY6mnVBiALf-XUHdyeqDSrUy_xoRKXStXUhW8QkTQWGLEGLGuifTUkwln1QPS7KbnbXB_1AKVMte0bWEbSrOBFMRwlX8byPC1vpYCYBWhNJ4dUe5kcP5klHriHG/s1600-h/collage_and_text.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241115188595986562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUA6ud3TwD-q2hG3XcFY6mnVBiALf-XUHdyeqDSrUy_xoRKXStXUhW8QkTQWGLEGLGuifTUkwln1QPS7KbnbXB_1AKVMte0bWEbSrOBFMRwlX8byPC1vpYCYBWhNJ4dUe5kcP5klHriHG/s400/collage_and_text.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0zmhkCIZJq4B3UZEVKO7cPDHacu6Wc5KPulUGgQlxMwB9jbBa2Oj4RhR-W9T0DUNFoRPwEgi9981DXNHFNiy3-3JPe6EiFQm7Lt1gVrKLg-sxnjHaUb2GlU7nLnsd7xb0lAzE_zb6O9WI/s1600-h/picasa_blog_movie_tool.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241115455753872594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0zmhkCIZJq4B3UZEVKO7cPDHacu6Wc5KPulUGgQlxMwB9jbBa2Oj4RhR-W9T0DUNFoRPwEgi9981DXNHFNiy3-3JPe6EiFQm7Lt1gVrKLg-sxnjHaUb2GlU7nLnsd7xb0lAzE_zb6O9WI/s400/picasa_blog_movie_tool.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />We've <a href="http://www.google.com/support/photos/bin/answer.py?answer=93773">packed many other new features</a> into Picasa 3. There's a slew of powerful new editing tools to retouch and restore photos, automatically detect and fix red-eye, or attractively add text to your images. Plus, there's plenty of the fun stuff -- we completely overhauled things like photo collages and slideshows, giving you more creative freedom over composition and layout. Not to mention a brand-new movie maker that can blend photos, video, webcam capture, and music to create customized movies that you can easily share on YouTube.<br /><br />You can learn more about Picasa 3 and the new Picasa Web Albums on the <a href="http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2008/09/announcing-picasa-30-and-new-version-of.html"><u id="a4jk3">Google Photos blog</u></a>, or by watching the overview video below. Please give both a try -- and give us <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/picasa">feedback</a>!<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rskC6c_5L1M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rskC6c_5L1M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Posted by Mike Horowitz, Product Manager</span>

Introducing Picasa 3.0 (and big changes for Picasa Web Albums)

A little over two years ago, we launched Picasa Web Albums to make publishing photos online easy. Now Picasa Web Albums hosts billions of o...

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Google Chrome now live

In <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html" id="wjao" title="yesterday's post">yesterday's post</a> on Google Chrome, we promised to let you know when it would be available for everyone to try -- and that time is now. Visit <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-blog-ogb&utm_medium=blog&brand=CHMP" id="ye7j" title="http://www.google.com/chrome">http://www.google.com/chrome</a> to download and start exploring. (For the moment, it's available only for Windows users, but you can sign up on the download page to learn when the Mac and Linux versions are available.)<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Brian Rakowski, Product Manager</span>

Google Chrome now live

In yesterday's post on Google Chrome, we promised to let you know when it would be available for everyone to try -- and that time is no...

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Denver recap and St. Paul update

The general election season officially kicked off last week as delegates gathered in Denver for the Democratic National Convention - and Google and YouTube were there to enable and promote the use of the Internet to bring voters and candidates closer than ever before. People across the U.S. were able to keep up with the latest convention news and action using YouTube, Picasa and Election News - centralized and featured on our <a href="http://www.google.com/2008election/convention.html" id="zh9f" title="Conventions page">Conventions site</a>.<br /><br />On the ground, delegates and attendees got a taste of Google at our Google Retreat in the <a href="http://www.thebigtentdenver.org/" id="i2oh" title="Big Tent">Big Tent</a>, where they could drink refreshing smoothies, enjoy free massages and sample our newest election products, including the <a href="http://www.google.com/2008election" id="bu3x" title="2008 U.S. Elections site">2008 U.S. Elections site</a>, the <a href="http://maps.google.com/elections" id="pdpk" title="Google Maps Election Gallery">Google Maps Election Gallery</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/powerreaders" id="p1xs" title="Power Readers in Politics">Power Readers in Politics</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVjb0SZkAu0moFqDbeViAT1m1GVt8dXO8Lmfqy7EmduL9Ob-4z6dcTg7e4IeXSx6lqcDlHGMA-60x2JCBLFGkwlM0Ky-29F7YWLJnEQhKicRN9Kqvd9clteoKf7ZHDabjexFYao6itpGc/s1600-h/Denver_booth1.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241451802790619266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVjb0SZkAu0moFqDbeViAT1m1GVt8dXO8Lmfqy7EmduL9Ob-4z6dcTg7e4IeXSx6lqcDlHGMA-60x2JCBLFGkwlM0Ky-29F7YWLJnEQhKicRN9Kqvd9clteoKf7ZHDabjexFYao6itpGc/s320/Denver_booth1.gif" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Many of our Democratic guests took the time to post video nominations of Senator Barack Obama at YouTube booths in the Google Retreat and inside the Pepsi Center. Our goal was to allow those in attendance to express their enthusiasm for the Party on video - and allow voters at home a more robust and diverse view of the proceedings in Denver than ever before. We collected over <a href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D453870BDA2C7DF5" id="ccas" title="500">500</a> such videos from delegates on hand. In addition, party and political leaders – among them <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3qWHc5fXlk">Governor Mark Warner</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAy4xvvkxi4">Senator Harry Reid</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRkxrUKAynM">Governor Bill Richardson</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5CsauW0cXw">Governor Brian Schweitzer</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDhKjj5-FWc">Mayor Gavin Newsom</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmrx2MUeHaE">Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin</a> – and celebrities like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b59S70kTynY">John Legend</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSngF6jL8m8">Charles Barkley</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q1o_x1vAMw">Louis Gossett Jr.</a> took the opportunity to speak directly to the YouTube community and/or to talk about why they are nominating Obama (as did Congressman Dennis Kucinich, pictured here). Their videos, and a whole lot more, including <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQGsP8mnHsg">Senator Obama's acceptance speech</a>, are available on our 2008 Conventions <a href="http://youtube.com/2008conventions" id="qb38" title="YouTube channel">YouTube channel</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgvdOOW7IYNKHISprSYCI7gl7svemYfkt7R-_52H1U_nkZgRLG50kfpGcy8Rz8IXYtRYK4DDtGG4nn1rhJNNG7eb159GegmYS_ebdbPwwp8CnwOkb3zsX4TG9YzJsNbg8IikDC1BaPB4t/s1600-h/Denver_Kucinich_YT.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241452521632585042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgvdOOW7IYNKHISprSYCI7gl7svemYfkt7R-_52H1U_nkZgRLG50kfpGcy8Rz8IXYtRYK4DDtGG4nn1rhJNNG7eb159GegmYS_ebdbPwwp8CnwOkb3zsX4TG9YzJsNbg8IikDC1BaPB4t/s320/Denver_Kucinich_YT.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Along the 16th Street Mall, visitors stepped into our Google Maps voting booths to find how to register and where to cast their ballots with our <a href="http://maps.google.com/vote" id="el:c" title="US Voter Guide">US Voter Info Guide</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOaqmKAgkrNXyF1v55491gsvG_bD7R8MqPb24uqjt476xAnHwEAHsg4GHSz3yZkvQsVNUA4oFVY4O23aAYKJLbuDFfBKhEblOk9heQkQnSQChn0IL4PoX9zTrKjrjFmjbrfemKWhv0CnK/s1600-h/Denver_booth3.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241453045779044578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOaqmKAgkrNXyF1v55491gsvG_bD7R8MqPb24uqjt476xAnHwEAHsg4GHSz3yZkvQsVNUA4oFVY4O23aAYKJLbuDFfBKhEblOk9heQkQnSQChn0IL4PoX9zTrKjrjFmjbrfemKWhv0CnK/s320/Denver_booth3.gif" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Our CEO, Eric Schmidt, participated in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYzBVRUrBD0" id="x8yo" title="townhall discussion">townhall discussion</a> moderated by Rachel Maddow on technology's role in modern politics, from the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081400589.html" id="susw" title="Macaca incident">Macaca incident</a> to the next administration.<br /><br />Video Embed:<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tYzBVRUrBD0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tYzBVRUrBD0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />We even showcased Google Maps on a Jumbotron before Barack Obama's stadium speech in an effort to illustrate Americans' top concerns for 2008; Google App Engine helped us host the mashup and manage thousands of incoming text messages. See the live map on the <a href="http://www.demconvention.com/sms-map/">DNC website</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHVYomC96rayY4mKkUVyGolEJLsCQOxWSRYDdjPoxndxVkdiOWiyiYQtiHlobSZwDQhrUU8iEwqAr86qR5XOtkBIYFCVrotIRguFSg67fVQXOh61g5wFGlbE1rr88EbgjxgKh39Wop9ZF/s1600-h/Denver_booth4.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241453304369219330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHVYomC96rayY4mKkUVyGolEJLsCQOxWSRYDdjPoxndxVkdiOWiyiYQtiHlobSZwDQhrUU8iEwqAr86qR5XOtkBIYFCVrotIRguFSg67fVQXOh61g5wFGlbE1rr88EbgjxgKh39Wop9ZF/s320/Denver_booth4.gif" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>And to celebrate the closing night of the convention, we partnered with Vanity Fair to throw a party for press, celebrities, political leaders and executives in attendance. Our guests challenged each other to tennis matches in the "hallway of Wiis" and performed their favorite hits in the Rock Band room.<br /><br />This week we're in St. Paul for the Republican National Convention, which of course has taken a muted tone in the face of Hurricane Gustav. Thankfully, so far the damage has been less than predicted and the convention proceedings may be able to resume. In the meantime, delegates are using YouTube to upload messages of support via video, Google Earth to <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/08/tracking-hurricane-gustav-in-google.html" id="ixep" title="Google Earth to track Gustav's progress">track Gustav's progress</a>, and Google Maps to <a href="http://www.google.com/gustav_sept08.html" id="r.p2" title="display evacuation sites and hurricane forecasts">display evacuation sites and hurricane forecasts</a>. And this week we're excited to be able to stream the convention live each night on <a href="http://news.google.com/nwshp?topic=el" id="dgqo" title="Google News">Google News</a>, thanks to Ustream, the official streaming provider of the RNC. When we're not showing live coverage, we'll have highlights from the previous day's activities.<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D- 11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="320" id="utv35359" width="400"><param name="flashvars" value="viewcount=true&autoplay=false&brand=embed"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/272800"><embed flashvars="viewcount=true&autoplay=false&brand=embed" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="utv35359" name="utv_n_124013" src="http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/272800" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="320"></embed></object><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" style="padding: 2px 0px 4px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; width: 400px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; display: block; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Live Streaming by Ustream</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update: </span>Added reference to Google App Engine mashups.<br /><br />Posted by Rick Klau, Brittany Bohnet, and Steve Grove, Google Elections Team

Denver recap and St. Paul update

The general election season officially kicked off last week as delegates gathered in Denver for the Democratic National Convention - and Goo...

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Video-sharing goes to work

It was a mere three years ago that YouTube streamed its first video, forever changing the way we share experiences with people regardless of time and distance. At home, equipped with ubiquitous technology like a digital camcorder, a computer webcam or even a mobile phone, we can easily create video clips and share them with our friends and family. Technology is no longer a barrier on either end. All you need is a browser and a fast Internet connection.<br /><br />The same has not been true for this rich form of information-sharing in the office. Companies readily recognize the power of video as a medium for communication and collaboration, for reaching out to employees in remote offices and for knowledge transfer. Unfortunately, there hasn't been an easy way to distribute video content to an increasingly distributed workforce. Custom video sharing solutions have been prohibitively resource-intensive for businesses, and public video sharing sites don't give businesses the right level of security and privacy for internal-only content. <br /><br />Enter Google Video for businesses, available today as part of Google Apps Premier Edition. Imagine YouTube's ease of sharing and watching videos, but in a secure, private environment made for content like internal corporate announcements, team member status updates, employee training materials and informal information-sharing. Videos can be easily shared with everyone in the company or with specific individuals. People can comment on, rate and tag videos that they watch, bringing even more useful information to subsequent viewers. When we started using Google Video for business inside Google, we were surprised at how quickly Googlers in 20+ countries took to the app. Many of our most popular internal videos were created of their own accord by individuals and teams for sharing with colleagues, a testament to how video has taken horizontal collaboration to the next level.<br /><br />Watch this to learn how we've been using video inside Google:<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iWzwLGJ0BIo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iWzwLGJ0BIo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />You can learn more about video sharing and other innovative collaboration apps for businesses at <a href="http://www.google.com/apps/collaboration" title="www.google.com/apps/collaboration">www.google.com/apps/collaboration</a>. And stay tuned for info about Google Video for schools and universities. It'll be available as part of Google Apps Education Edition on September 8.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iWzwLGJ0BIo&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></object><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Pavni Diwanji, Engineering Director</span>

Video-sharing goes to work

It was a mere three years ago that YouTube streamed its first video, forever changing the way we share experiences with people regardless of...

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