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Stories by Googlers

I recently had the chance to interview several long-time Googlers about the early days. To commemorate our 10th birthday, we've been <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/2001-search-odyssey.html" id="hmi4" title="revisiting old memories">revisiting our memories</a> by digging into company lore. As fun as it has been to look back, of course we've also got our sights firmly set on what lies ahead. <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#vint" id="r1x5" title="Vint Cerf">Vint Cerf</a> has some predictions about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet" id="rewt" title="interplanetary Internet">interplanetary Internet</a>, while <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#kaifu" id="mf6g" title="Kai-Fu Lee">Kai-Fu Lee</a> talks about the growing ubiquity of cloud computing. Also featured are stories from early Googlers, like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkWmYUwhH8" id="s_a6" title="Craig Silverstein">Craig Silverstein</a>'s memories of a certain <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2007-07-04-google-wojcicki_N.htm" id="cqy7" title="most famous garages">famous garage</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#marissa" id="sp1r" title="Marissa Mayer">Marissa Mayer</a>'s reflections on the spirit that has carried over from our formative years. So take a few minutes to watch this blended tale of startup quirkiness and big dreams. And if you like, feel free to comment on YouTube. <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QmjCtu2L_5A&hl=de&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QmjCtu2L_5A&hl=de&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Posted by Joscelin Cooper, Google Blog Team

Stories by Googlers

I recently had the chance to interview several long-time Googlers about the early days. To commemorate our 10th birthday, we've been rev...

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Getting around your neighborhood with Google Maps

When I moved to the Bay Area last year, everything was new to me. I didn't know Los Altos from Los Gatos, good eateries in my neighborhood, or how to get to where I wanted to go. Whether you're moving to a new area, traveling to a new place, or simply exploring a new part of town, this may sound familiar to a lot of people. There's a simple solution: turn to <a href="http://maps.google.com/">Google Maps </a> to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/local_search/mapplet.html&mapclient=google&f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.76108,-122.435589&spn=0.111961,0.175095&z=12&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=et&utm_source=en-et-na-us-gns-ls&utm_term=googleblog">find local information</a>. We've gathered a lot of useful info about local businesses so you can find everything you need in one place. You can find neighborhoods and see if they're close to downtown, parks or other places of interest. If you're moving into a new home, you can look for nearby supermarkets, hardware stores, restaurants and other places that will help you settle in. Almost every business listing includes the phone number, website, store hours, price and more. Most also have user reviews and photos. And it turns out I wasn't the only one who turned to Google Maps to learn more about my town. Watch this video to see how Google Maps helped Ryan, a fellow newcomer to the Bay Area: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fg-Inf3xvio&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fg-Inf3xvio&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Even if you know your hometown like the back of your hand, odds are you'll want to go somewhere new at some point. Not only can you find out the address of a specific location and get directions to it before even heading out the door, but you can virtually explore the neighborhood with Street View (available in many cities in the U.S., Japan, and Australia), or check out live traffic conditions. You can also use the "Send" feature of Google Maps to text the address to your phone or email directions to friends. Watch this video to see all the things you can do: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yOTO1eia7DY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yOTO1eia7DY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> And don't forget, with <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/default/maps/index.html">Google Maps for mobile</a>, you can access all of this great information on the go. Posted by Cathy Tang, Google Maps and Earth

Getting around your neighborhood with Google Maps

When I moved to the Bay Area last year, everything was new to me. I didn't know Los Altos from Los Gatos, good eateries in my neighborho...

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The Presidential debate: Expanding the town hall

As we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/vp-debate-candidates-questions-and.html">promised</a>, here's an update on the search patterns we observed during <a href="http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2008c.html" id="q1ih" title="last night's presidential debate">last night's presidential debate</a>. While a few lucky citizens were able to ask the candidates questions directly, millions of others used Google to find their answers. Similar to last Thursday, people sought to understand the meaning of several words mentioned in the debate: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:morass" id="dqcp" title="morass">morass</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:commodity" id="p58s" title="commodity">commodity</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:junket" id="vrdx" title="junket">junket</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:cynicism" id="k3gs" title="cynicism">cynicism</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:cronyism" id="fgrb" title="cronyism">cronyism</a> to name a few. In the chart below you can see four of the most popular queries during the debate. People were quite interested in both <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=meg+whitman" id="m9.g" title="Meg Whitman">Meg Whitman</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=warren+buffett" id="dxul" title="Warren Buffett">Warren Buffett</a>, who were mentioned as potential candidates for the Secretary of Treasury, but the biggest rising query was Senator McCain's paraphrasing of Theodore Roosevelt's <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=walk+softly" id="zgyo" title="motto">motto</a>. Both candidates spoke against <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=genocide&btnG=Search" id="we:m" title="genocide">genocide</a> while discussing the role of the United States as a peacekeeper, and as we saw in the vice presidential debate, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&q=nuclear&btnG=Search" id="mgt4" title="nuclear">nuclear</a> energy and weapons were prominent topics. <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK1nLWJ9uIAz-MQ9ZcPaDl1T28UScEn8fdD9lg_KMgPjHhT9JAFp7x-QQ1Xw3xOdEznfrDn6Y-85ny7t-Gyc6_JD6nRAVyUnKE_eA0Qlvf7YngPStyMl916t33ceZonmdQG3kj0dx7Doe/s1600-h/DEBATE2_queries-in-debate-1.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254702423707880866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK1nLWJ9uIAz-MQ9ZcPaDl1T28UScEn8fdD9lg_KMgPjHhT9JAFp7x-QQ1Xw3xOdEznfrDn6Y-85ny7t-Gyc6_JD6nRAVyUnKE_eA0Qlvf7YngPStyMl916t33ceZonmdQG3kj0dx7Doe/s320/DEBATE2_queries-in-debate-1.PNG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Queries occurred as the candidates talked, but the query volume dropped after 90-minute debate ended. </div> <div style="text-align: left;">Here's an additional view on queries for each of the candidates, charting queries from swing states (which had no more than a 5% gap between votes for George Bush and John Kerry in the 2004 election) and non-swing states. Swing states generated proportionally more queries for the candidates than non-swing states. Both candidates peaked at the end of the debate, with McCain showing a larger spike while Obama has a larger overall volume. </div> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOP6ybsBYlcp2LGIXMhcHgOjg0He3ziKuhkoRPf2jdFFQWwP3C7NQoDG3Z5zzAIK0JK9p16kTLgO3ygpnUexFiyMRLJhvot6fb574ek2jypXOBu3ME-eHkiRTiakbQd1LeiHV0AOuZvygD/s1600-h/DEBATE2_mccain-obama-swing-in-debate-2.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254703228552992354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOP6ybsBYlcp2LGIXMhcHgOjg0He3ziKuhkoRPf2jdFFQWwP3C7NQoDG3Z5zzAIK0JK9p16kTLgO3ygpnUexFiyMRLJhvot6fb574ek2jypXOBu3ME-eHkiRTiakbQd1LeiHV0AOuZvygD/s320/DEBATE2_mccain-obama-swing-in-debate-2.PNG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Queries for the presidential candidates form a higher fraction of all queries in swing states.</div> We also were curious how queries for Senator Biden and Governor Palin during their debate compared to queries for Senators McCain and Obama last night. As you see here, searches on the candidates during the VP debate came out on top: <div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRCxq63UH9rHiF5zDYO1DlBEjuZC3LF3bSp92Lm4xfEDl2PD6orDy3tyVlrYb7eVvubHMQR2Lbe1MBkFNEBmMJmawV5QmXPx9JJEEgRKpHBkReQ3X_OJ-7NeOD6l1P4GpTGaMnl5lI-15/s1600-h/DEBATE2_pres-vp-in-debate-3.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254706009590672162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRCxq63UH9rHiF5zDYO1DlBEjuZC3LF3bSp92Lm4xfEDl2PD6orDy3tyVlrYb7eVvubHMQR2Lbe1MBkFNEBmMJmawV5QmXPx9JJEEgRKpHBkReQ3X_OJ-7NeOD6l1P4GpTGaMnl5lI-15/s320/DEBATE2_pres-vp-in-debate-3.PNG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Queries containing "Biden" and "Palin" had higher peaks during last week's debate than did "McCain" and "Obama" queries last night. </div> Using <a href="http://www.google.com/trends" id="of7w" title="Google Hot Trends">Google Hot Trends</a> you can see some of the more interesting things people were researching during this debate. Visit <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/trends/elections/" id="v-wi" title="Google Election Trends">Google Election Trends</a> to learn about longer-term election-related Google search queries, and read our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/vp-debate-candidates-questions-and.html" id="k48q" title="previous post">previous post</a> for the earlier VP debate queries. Posted by Jeffrey D. Oldham, Software Engineer, and Fred Leach, Customer Labs Analyst</div>

The Presidential debate: Expanding the town hall

As we promised , here's an update on the search patterns we observed during last night's presidential debate . While a few lucky cit...

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I clicked to buy and I liked it

When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where they can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it. Today, we're taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding "click-to-buy" links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos. Click-to-buy links are non-obtrusive retail links, placed on the watch page beneath the video with the other community features. Just as YouTube users can share, favorite, comment on, and respond to videos quickly and easily, now users can click-to-buy products -- like songs and video games -- related to the content they're watching on the site. We're getting started by embedding iTunes and Amazon.com links on videos from companies like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs">EMI Music</a>, and providing Amazon.com product links to the newly-released video game Spore(TM) on videos from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG1Q5LhqpsM">Electronic Arts</a>. This is just the beginning of building a broad, viable e-commerce platform for users and partners on YouTube. Our vision is to help partners across all industries -- from music, to film, to print, to TV -- offer useful and relevant products to a large, yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos. And those partners who use our content identification and management system can also enable these links on user-generated content, by using Content ID to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha5R2dljCQQ" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank" title="Electronic Arts">claim videos</a> and choose to leave them up on the site. These retail links are being gradually added to our library of music videos and are currently only available to users in the United States, but our goal is to slowly but surely expand the program to additional content and product partners, as well as our international users. We'll be experimenting with the UI over time to make sure this works for our community, and we'll continue to innovate based on your feedback. We're just getting started, so stay tuned for other innovative new features and product options soon. YouTube partners interested in this program should contact their partner manager. Posted by Glenn Brown, YouTube Strategic Partner Development Manager, and Thai Tran, YouTube Product Manager

I clicked to buy and I liked it

When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where...

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Knol debates: See both sides, get involved

As the election season builds to a climax, the candidates have been engaging in a number of debates. With all the excitement, we wanted to get involved, so we've started our own set of debates on our new tool <a href="http://knol.google.com/" id="tq0v" title="Knol">Knol</a>. The debates on Knol are meant to offer a variety of in-depth opinions from experts so you can really understand all sides of an issue. Our first debate focuses on the economy. Economists from the <a href="http://www.cato.org/" id="jqp9" title="the Cato Institute">Cato Institute</a> and the <a href="http://www.epi.org/" id="e5-s" title="the Economic Policy Institute">Economic Policy Institute</a> (EPI) have offered opening arguments on what should come next now that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is law. <a href="http://knol.google.com/k/knol-debates/-/1zs871mejtqiw/5" id="fw8u" title="Take a look">Take a look</a> to see what they think -- but don't stop there. As with most articles in Knol, these are open to collaboration, so you can rate what you read, submit comments, write full responses (i.e. reviews),  or even suggest edits to the author by making changes right in the knol itself. These experts are using Knol because they want to collaborate with readers, and they are committed to updating the articles based on your input. In addition, there's a <a href="http://moderator.appspot.com/#e=agltb2RlcmF0b3JyDgsSBlNlcmllcxj4vAEM" id="xaq8" title="forum where you can suggest additional topics">forum</a> where you can suggest additional topics that you'd like to see debated in our new tool <a href="http://moderator.appspot.com/" id="fm15" title="Moderator">Google Moderator</a>.  As we prepare for the election, experts from leading think-tanks including Cato, EPI, the <a href="http://www.heritage.org/" id="rxr5" title="the Heritage Foundation">Heritage Foundation</a>, and the <a href="http://www.americanprogressaction.org/" id="zi7t" title="the Center for American Progress Action Fund">Center for American Progress Action Fund</a> will conduct similar debates on the issues you find the most important. We hope these knols help inform your decision on election day, and we encourage you to voice your opinion. Posted by Matt Ghering, Product Marketing Manager

Knol debates: See both sides, get involved

As the election season builds to a climax, the candidates have been engaging in a number of debates. With all the excitement, we wanted to g...

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New Technology Roundtable series

We've just posted the first three videos in the <a href="http://research.google.com/roundtable/" id="icld" title="Google Technology RoundTable series">Google Technology Roundtable Series</a>. Each one is a discussion with senior Google researchers and technologists about one of our most significant achievements. We use a talk show format, where I lead a discussion on the technology. While the videos are intended for a reasonably technical audience, I think they may be interesting to many as an overview of the key challenges and ideas underlying Google's systems. And of course they offer a glimpse into the people behind Google. The first one we made is "<a href="http://research.google.com/roundtable/LSS.html" id="gzhc" title="Large-Scale Search System Infrastructure and Search Quality.">Large-Scale Search System Infrastructure and Search Quality</a>." I interview Google Fellows <a href="http://research.google.com/people/jeff/index.html">Jeff Dean</a> and <a href="http://singhal.info/">Amit Singhal</a> on their insights in how search works at Google. The next title is "<a href="http://research.google.com/roundtable/MR.html" title="Map Reduce">Map Reduce</a>," a discussion of this key technology (first, at Google, and now having a great impact across the field) for harnessing parallelism provided by very large-scale clusters computers, while mitigating the component failures that inevitably occur in such big systems. My discussion is with four of our Map Reduce expert engineers: Sanjay Ghemawat and Jeff Dean again, plus Software Engineers <a href="http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/%7Ezhao/">Jerry Zhao</a> and <a href="http://lafstern.org/matt/">Matt Austern</a> who discuss the origin, evolution and future of Map Reduce. By the way, this type of infrastructure underlies the infrastructure concepts in our recent post on "<a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/intelligent-cloud.html">The Intelligent Cloud</a>." The third video, "<a href="http://research.google.com/roundtable/HLT.html" title="Applications of Human Language Technology">Applications of Human Language Technology</a>," is a discussion of our enormous progress in large-scale automated translation of languages and speech recognition. Both of these technology domains are coming of age with capabilities that will truly impact what we expect of computers on a day-to-day basis. I discuss these technologies with human language technology experts <a href="http://www.fjoch.com/">Franz Josef Och</a>, an expert in the automated translation of languages, and Mike Cohen, an expert in speech processing. We hope to produce more of these, so please leave feedback at YouTube (in the comments field for each video), and we will incorporate your ideas into our future efforts. [Cross-posted on the <a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-technology-roundtable-series.html" style="font-style: italic;">Google Research Blog</a>.] Posted by Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives

New Technology Roundtable series

We've just posted the first three videos in the Google Technology Roundtable Series . Each one is a discussion with senior Google resear...

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The VP debate: Candidates, questions, and queries

If information is the currency of democracy, as Thomas Jefferson allegedly said, then during last Thursday's vice-presidential debate between Senator Biden and Governor Palin a lot of people used <a href="http://www.google.com/" id="j7vg" title="Google Search">Google Search</a> to get a bit wealthier, metaphorically speaking. Using <a href="http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends" id="wltu" title="Google Trends">Google Hot Trends</a>, we can see some of the more interesting things that people were researching, and you can do the same to follow along yourself during tomorrow night's second presidential debate (9 PM ET). But first, here's what people were curious about during the <a href="http://debates.org/pages/trans2008b.html" id="ypcz" title="VP match">VP match</a>. Many people were simply interested in understanding the meaning of particular terms. Governor Palin called Senator McCain a "maverick" several times, sending many viewers to Google to query <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=definition+of+maverick&btnG=Google+Search" id="ixbn" title="definition of maverick">definition of maverick</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=what+is+a+maverick&btnG=Search" id="vogk" title="what is a maverick">what is a maverick</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=define%3Amaverick&btnG=Search" id="m05t" title="define:maverick">define:maverick</a>. <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VAZb-PSWTstYH-Qe7feoP-4y-56GORTBQdExdsnTNwb4P7qPDSYEkDI359DmhSLInyWnZ9bnllHysJSmjmMPe5dz1_wnE2u98tJkyalIhC_tknjhNe9EneTT1Wf9tPFucROZf0REkuGk/s1600-h/debate_2_election_topics.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253905684780428146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VAZb-PSWTstYH-Qe7feoP-4y-56GORTBQdExdsnTNwb4P7qPDSYEkDI359DmhSLInyWnZ9bnllHysJSmjmMPe5dz1_wnE2u98tJkyalIhC_tknjhNe9EneTT1Wf9tPFucROZf0REkuGk/s320/debate_2_election_topics.PNG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>As the debaters spoke, voters queried for more information. </div> When Biden mentioned that the "theocracy controls the security apparatus" in Iran, users searched for the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=define:theocracy" id="ftz8" title="its meaning">meaning of theocracy</a> — as they did when he spoke of the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=windfall+profits+tax&btnG=Search" id="s1b1" title="windfall profits tax">windfall profits tax</a>. Getting these definitions got a bit tougher when the candidates couldn't even agree on pronunciation. Discussion about a certain type of energy caused a flurry of queries: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=nucular+vs+nuclear&btnG=Search" id="ehv_" title="nucular vs nuclear">nucular vs nuclear</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=nuclear+pronunciation&btnG=Search" id="t90e" title="nuclear pronunciation">nuclear pronunciation</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=palin+nucular&btnG=Search" id="xpdd" title="palin nucular">palin nucular</a>, and even <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=nukular&btnG=Search" id="plzw" title="nukular">nukular</a>. And when Senator Biden talked about the "7,000 madrasses built along [the Pakistani-Afghan] border", the queries ranged from <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=madrass&btnG=Search" id="hm9h" title="madrass">madrass</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=madrases&btnG=Search" id="y1mf" title="madrases">madrases</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=madrasa&btnG=Search" id="sua3" title="madrasa">madrasa</a>, and even <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=madras&btnG=Search" id="ny2t" title="madras">madras</a>, a major city in India that's most definitely not on the Pakistani-Afghan border. Governor Palin's claim that "Israel is in jeopardy of course when we're dealing with Ahmadinejad as a leader of Iran" led viewers to try to learn more about this leader even if they could not spell his name. They searched for [Achmadinijad], [Akmadinijad], [Akmadinajad], and the correct <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=ahmadinejad&btnG=Search" id="qte-" title="ahmadinejad">Ahmadinejad</a>. Some did not even try, instead looking for [president Iran] and [Iran leader]. The Governor also referred to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=General+McKiernan&btnG=Search" id="tg03" title="General McKiernan">General McKiernan</a>, the U.S. military leader in Afghanistan, as "McClellan", sending viewers in search of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=McClellan&btnG=Search" id="lq0t" title="McClellan">McClellan</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=general+in+Afghanistan&btnG=Search" id="y_5i" title="general in Afghanistan">general in Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=General+McClellan+Afghanistan&btnG=Search" id="y546" title="General McClellan Afghanistan">General McClellan Afghanistan</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=general+Afghanistan+surge&btnG=Search" id="nmap" title="general Afghanistan surge">general Afghanistan surge</a>. Some searchers eventually did find the correct general, but not that many. Historical references abounded. When Senator Biden claimed "This is the most important election you will ever, ever have voted in, any of you, since 1932", some people wanted to know what it was about the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=1932+presidential+election&btnG=Search" id="ga4l" title="1932 presidential campaign">1932 presidential campaign</a> between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt that was so special. And twice as many them wanted to know about that "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=that+shining+city+on+a+hill">shining city on a hill</a>", a phrase from <a href="http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/farewell.asp" id="g411" title="Ronald Reagan's farewall address">Ronald Reagan's farewell address</a> that was originally coined in 1630 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_hill" id="w4yl" title="John Winthrop in 1630">by John Winthrop</a>. When Senator Biden offered a civics lesson ("Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch") many people checked, and learned that <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html" id="nx95" title="Article I of the Constitution">Article I of the Constitution</a> describes the legislative branch of the U.S. government. The executive branch is described in <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleii.html" id="jwm6" title="Article II">Article II</a>. Others just searched directly for the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=role+of+vice+president&btnG=Google+Search" id="ogz1" title="role of vice president">role of vice president</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=vice+president+duties&btnG=Search" id="h6z:" title="vice president duties">vice president duties</a>. People searched on <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=clean+coal&btnG=Search" id="o-o-" title="clean coal">clean coal</a> and took a look at Senator Biden's position (as the candidate asked them to) with queries like <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suggon=0&safe=active&q=biden+clean+coal&btnG=Search" id="hvu7" title="biden clean coal">Biden clean coal</a>. These are some of the more interesting queries, but which were the most popular ones? Among the candidates, Senator Biden was a big winner. Searches on him soared more than 70-fold, compared to a week earlier. Governor Palin, much more of a search favorite in the weeks leading up to the debate, only saw a 6x jump, but her volume outpaced Senator Biden's. <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAXd9TYhq_VmyJFdMHTMEAJ9GyV3Io07imZdY-oPQnc2SlNaJu5s_RJivrOIttViEn3sYFAHqhgL4DB_EdS-5hujtv1J75uNWP8TLRCeIEYeZpsvutzlOAiiLUsdtrOhQ6Uws5w60-VH6q/s1600-h/debate_1_minutesin.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253905100953917698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAXd9TYhq_VmyJFdMHTMEAJ9GyV3Io07imZdY-oPQnc2SlNaJu5s_RJivrOIttViEn3sYFAHqhgL4DB_EdS-5hujtv1J75uNWP8TLRCeIEYeZpsvutzlOAiiLUsdtrOhQ6Uws5w60-VH6q/s320/debate_1_minutesin.PNG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Searches for the VP candidates peaked near the debate's end. </div>Beyond names, two search terms which triggered the most searches were [nuclear] (a 130x spike compared to a week earlier) and [maverick] (70x). [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=register+to+vote" id="vzge" title="Register to vote">Register to vote</a>] was also quite popular; we even have a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/2008/us-voter-info/us-voter-info.xml" id="orei" title="special site">special site</a> for that. The <a href="http://debates.org/">Commission on Presidential Debates</a>, which hosts the debates, has stated its objective as providing "the best possible information to viewers and listeners". From Google's perspective — the little search box on viewers' and listeners' computers and mobile phones — the vice presidential debate did a pretty darn good job. We'll give you an update on tomorrow night's debate later this week. In the meantime, keep an eye on the most recent queries yourself on <a href="http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends" id="nhro" title="Google Hot Trends">Google Hot Trends</a>; they change frequently and will start to reflect the debate's talking points soon after it finishes. Posted by Jeffrey D. Oldham, Software Engineer; Fred Leach, Customer Labs Analyst; and Betsy Masiello, Economics Analyst

The VP debate: Candidates, questions, and queries

If information is the currency of democracy, as Thomas Jefferson allegedly said, then during last Thursday's vice-presidential debate be...

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