Lively no more

In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off. <br /><br />That's why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. <a href="http://www.lively.com/html/landing.html">Lively.com</a> will be discontinued at the end of December, and everyone who has worked on the project will then move on to other teams.<br /><br />We'd encourage all Lively users to capture your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms. <br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by The Lively Team</span>

Lively no more

In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in...

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The Final Inch

<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >(Cross-posted from the <a href="http://blog.google.org/2008/11/final-inch.html">Google.org blog</a>)</span><br /><br />Early readers of the Google.org blog may recall us embarking on a film project portraying public health heroes working in the field to eradicate polio. Gone from the modern world, <a href="http://www.polioeradication.org/casecount.asp">new cases of polio</a> continue to afflict mostly children under age 3 in the poorest regions of just a few countries — India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. When we <a href="http://blog.google.org/2007/07/two-introductions_02.html">first announced this project</a> and the collaboration between Google.org and <a href="http://www.vermilionpictures.com/">Vermilion Films</a>, filming was underway <a href="http://blog.google.org/2007/07/two-introductions.html">primarily in India and Afghanistan</a>, documenting the front lines of public health in some forgotten corners of our world.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.who.int/dg/adg/heymann/en/index.html">David Heymann</a> of the World Health Organization reminds us, "When you haven't seen a disease for quite a while, which is the case in the industrialized countries, you forget about the terrible disease that it really is." Polio is such a disease, as it can ruin the lives of children even before they are old enough to understand how to prevent it.<br /><br />We're proud to announce <span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span>, a 38-minute film about the historic global effort to eradicate polio. Here, the story told is as much about the messengers as the message. You'll meet Munzareen Fatima, one of the thousands of community "foot soldiers" across India working to sway reluctant families to vaccinate their children, and Dr. Ashfaq Bhat, who travels into the backwaters of India's Ganges Basin by boat and foot to detect emerging cases of polio. Martha Mason and Mikail Davenport bring us into their lives and describe the paralyzing challenges of childhood polio, reminding us how endemic polio once was in the United States.<br /><br />Filmed in high-definition (HD) in cinematic style — wide open shots to give a strong sense of place — <span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span> captures their stories, and we hope it is both a tribute and an inspiration of hope. With a final push, this is a disease that can, and should, be eradicated finally.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span> will air nationally on <a href="http://www.hbo.com/docs/">HBO</a> in 2009. We invite you to check out <a href="http://www.thefinalinch.org/">TheFinalInch.org</a>, where you can view clips from the film and learn more about the people and the organizations tirelessly working on this global effort. You can also check out the film trailer here:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update</span> on 1/22: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span> received an <a href="http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=The%20Final%20Inch%20-%20Documentary%20Short%20Subject%20Nominee">Oscar nomination</a> in the category of Best Documentary (Short Film). Check out <a href="http://blog.google.org/2009/01/final-inch-is-nominated-for-oscar.html">our post</a> on the Google.org blog for more information.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update</span> on 3/31: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span> is coming to a TV screen near you. You can tune into HBO2 on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00pm ET/PT to see our film. It will re-air on April 7 at 7:15pm ET/PT and is available on HBO on demand. You can check out the full schedule on <a href="http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&FOCUS_ID=662109">HBO's website</a>.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Gregory Miller, Managing Director, Google.org, and Irene Taylor Brodsky, Vermilion Films, Producer and Director of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Final Inch</span></span>

The Final Inch

(Cross-posted from the Google.org blog ) Early readers of the Google.org blog may recall us embarking on a film project portraying public he...

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LIFE Photo Archive available on Google Image Search

The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the 1880s; and the entire works left to the collection from LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili, and Nina Leen. These are just some of the things you'll see in Google Image Search today.<br /><br />We're excited to announce the availability of never-before-seen images from the LIFE photo archive. This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. <a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life">This collection</a> of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.<br /><br />Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.<br /><br /><center><table style="width: 450px;"><tbody><tr style="padding-bottom: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=33353daeb4125490"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSxKRZn6Qt8SJfdDSpEJosuKxc-mszx7ByhzS9fxXpIb1GcVrZRaQkVWcaGes-tjwpTROd4FhhrKWVd2Pd5XRUokykGi-R-h7eX-sbiVRWyUpyFDh97ogxV6Gn_y6lK-E62uY7mxQWeufc/s1600/life1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=f62da6e8f8f1584b"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWppoQXGhOy71svuv543YE62JHbj0zQBGh_S0LK2lqifBuPsuPlobCTAvyqsXEqe0ypQccQLX0eEMtP2-QMnUGFIZ_mFZ4o2EqbKooGhMuCfWnKTD_zvLh9UePhaccg8VsLeeIT8b7_cP/s1600/life2.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=21dc050d9c3aa4f5"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrAnUa_hxDa9aEf7z5rCGZtFaHE9N66GBjOx13EejuAbCE5UbXZETfVTmmhEBerg6ljIvhsgb5HSJD4_ew2Qv7DL4ckHsT0IFHX9hq6AEUCjXnVn85kNymKM_yiIraAlBKqQHK_8hoN0W/s1600/life3.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td></tr><tr style="padding-top: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=480429200960b288"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSxHUCMt4xc_RGL3pXHs0zwW6dsXA05p6JuhCFnoHLd84AqiBSDNSYYatp-ME6Kn-MqzK1Hu1zV3Jsl0H-W3G-E_EPrlhqlRLeL3L51395Wzl2kakmjSn8ptZ63BbDtJ6Ay_xGaYYU6nPk/s1600/life4.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=e42125b0169ca3e6"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7mDu8q_qQHqqwbu6Lx8MCfDemK63Oq1Fx0F24YM5KzoNUJ4tB9_nDbwZvKp73Jp_Rx3D99K0luQXX78BtdIQuu1odVzjNSwttbmJrO52Jgan9fzONAJxW-T5u4mjSMVPecPIJ2CSuhpd/s1600/life5.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td><td><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=a7e667276e5b0404"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC1jJVmBHIkQNsCIkNO3LXx3hnc2uKddS6TIcXh4wtgQbSRAzHsb6M03kpK7DE_RkeQKkWOeoj07fkCF_ANoB_jFWoub7Z7KZKdg4ysVlkON5LzKcgQ72ebr0xSjisuJKgkIsa0QE4a6h/s1600/life6.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></center><br />It has been a thrill for us to explore this archive, filled with images captured by LIFE's famous photographers. See masters like <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=Alfred+Eisenstaedt+source%3Alife">Alfred Eisenstaedt</a> and <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=Margaret+Bourke-White+source%3Alife">Margaret Bourke-White</a> documenting pivotal world events, capturing the evolution of lifestyles and fashions, and opening windows into the lives of celebrities and everyday people.<br /><br />One of our favorites is this classic Eisenstaedt image of children watching a puppet show.<br /><center><br /><a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=50648a4805a15763"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNE-4khijai0nwgDppfq5GrHzIx0fUYZaMfvCbyCwtsFYIJcD318aWdoPYxP8sYcuZEI-3VJySK21x6-AYrtMBj_RfG1uv114IGuPIfz6SBCg9PqrOs3KYEsRQTCZ9oiPjFfffbgwwkqPo/s320/life_big.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" /></a><br /></center><br /><!-- END BIG IMAGE -->Alfred snapped this in 1963, at the climax of Guignol's "Saint George and the Dragon" in the Tuileries Garden in Paris. Just as the dragon is slain, some children cry out in a combination of horror and delight, while others are taken aback in shock. Every child is consumed with emotion, masterfully captured by Eisenstaedt's camera. These amazing photos are now blended into our Image Search results along with other images from across the web.<br /><br />Once you are in the archive, you'll also notice that you can access a rich full-size, full-screen version of each image simply by clicking on the picture itself in the landing page. If you decide you really like one of these images, high-quality framed prints can be purchased from LIFE at the click of a button. Think of the holiday gift possibilities! It doesn't get much easier than that.<br /><br />So please take a look for yourself and experience these great photos. Your exploration will be limited only by your imagination and your desire to keep on clicking. Be sure to check back often as more photos from the LIFE archive will be added regularly to Google Image Search. We hope that you enjoy them as much as we do!<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Paco Galanes, Software Engineer</span>

LIFE Photo Archive available on Google Image Search

The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the...

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Now you can speak to Google Mobile App on your iPhone

Have you ever been in a hurry and really needed to find an answer to something, but there was no one to ask? Like when you're grocery shopping and looking for the last item on your list, the kids are running around you in circles, you're holding a basket in one hand, and you have no idea what "fennel bulbs" look like.<br /><br />That's why we've added voice search to Google Mobile App for the iPhone — and made it super easy to use. Once the app is running, you don't have to tap any buttons. Just hold the iPhone to your ear, wait for the beep, and say what you're looking for. For instance, last week when I was arm wrestling with fellow product manager Robert Hamilton, I said, "official arm wrestling rules" to Google Mobile App to settle a little dispute about his elbow placement. (After all, the middle of an arm-wrestling match is no time to be typing.) Turns out we were both disqualified because we were not using elbow pads.<br /><br />Our passion for making search faster and easier goes further. When you do local searches, Google Mobile App can now automatically use your location to make results more relevant to where you are. That was really useful when I was in San Francisco last weekend and my daughter got a paper cut. Having no familiarity with the neighborhood I was in, I just searched for "pharmacies" and I was quickly on my way to the nearest place to buy a bandage. The day was saved.<br /><br />Check out this video to see what other Googlers from Chicago, London, New York, and Mountain View are searching for.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uZapF6fqz8M&hl=en&fs=1"><!-- param--><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uZapF6fqz8M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />To get the latest Google Mobile App for iPhone, go to the App Store on your iPhone and search for "Google Mobile App." (Note that voice search will be enabled by default for U.S. English users only.) Then, if you have a great voice search query to share, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/login?next=/video_response_upload%3Fv%3DuZapF6fqz8M">send us a video response</a> to our video. <br /><br />Learn more about the new Google Mobile App for iPhone on the <a href="http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/11/google-mobile-app-for-iphone-now-with.html">Google Mobile Blog</a> and by watching this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3z7Tw1K17A">overview video</a>.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Gummi Hafsteinsson, Product Manager and disqualified arm wrestler, Google Mobile team</span>

Now you can speak to Google Mobile App on your iPhone

Have you ever been in a hurry and really needed to find an answer to something, but there was no one to ask? Like when you're grocery sh...

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Ads in new places

At Google we're great supporters of experimentation because it's only by trying new things (even if some of them don't work out) that you discover better, more creative ways to operate. We've been testing different advertising formats for years (some have been more successful than others), and over the next few months, you'll see us continuing to experiment with new ads in new places.<br /><br />If you're based in the U.S. you may already have spotted or clicked on the different text and image ads we’re testing on the results pages of <a href="http://images.google.com/">Google Image Search</a>. And last week you may have noticed we launched Sponsored Videos on YouTube — a great example of matching ads to content.<br /><br />In addition, we are today launching text ads on <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance">Google Finance</a> in the United States. We're also looking at how best to show display ads on Google Finance. And later, in the very near future, we will start testing text ads on a small number of news refinements within Google Search — so if, for example, you type "iPod" into Google.com and then click on the news link on the upper left-hand side, you might see text ads alongside those results.<br /><br />Whenever we make changes like these, we carefully evaluate users' reactions to ensure we're holding true to our basic principles: that ads by Google should always be relevant and useful. Of course, these experiments benefit Google because they generate revenue from new sources — but by ensuring that we show the right ads at the right time to the right people, we'll add value for users too.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Nick Fox, Director, Business Product Management</span>

Ads in new places

At Google we're great supporters of experimentation because it's only by trying new things (even if some of them don't work out)...

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Introducing SketchUp 7

We're very excited to announce the new release of <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/" id="p-w9" target="_blank" title="Google SketchUp 7">Google SketchUp 7</a>. If you don't already know about the fun you can have with SketchUp, here's a quick recap:<br /><br />SketchUp is software you can use to build 3D models of anything: your house, killer robots, furniture, trees, <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=d64f9fd934a566437fff1e42c246688a&ct=mdcc&prevstart=0" id="wb8c" target="_blank" title="abstract art">abstract art</a> — anything. Architects and engineers use it to design buildings and other structures. Woodworkers use it to plan their projects. And lots of people use it to figure out where to put their furniture. SketchUp is easy to learn, it comes in <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsu.html" id="un:7" target="_blank" title="free">free</a> and <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsup.html" id="y7yt" target="_blank" title="Pro">Pro</a> versions, and it's more fun than a houseful of clowns. Oh, and you can use it to <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/sketchup/3dwh/index.html" id="d0.i" target="_blank" title="build models for Google Earth">build models for Google Earth</a>, too.<br /><br />So what's new in SketchUp 7? There's too much to list here, but we focused on three major areas for this release:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Making it even easier to get started –</span> We've created a new class of "smart" objects called <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/product/dcs.html" id="xqhe" target="_blank" title="Dynamic Components">Dynamic Components</a>, which are simpler to work with for new modelers. Take a look at this video to see what I mean:</li></ul><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4aVW5X-tb8s&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4aVW5X-tb8s&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Making it easier to share what you make and collaborate with other people –</span> We built a better link between SketchUp and the rest of the 3D world, made it possible to "sign" your models, and added Google Docs–style <a href="http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-model-is-your-model-this-model-is.html" id="py.e" target="_blank" title="collaboration and sharing">collaboration and sharing</a> to our <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse" id="pw.:" target="_blank" title="Google 3D Warehouse">3D Warehouse</a>.</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Adding powerful features for experienced SketchUp Pro users – </span>SketchUp is only half of the SketchUp Pro suite; the other half is all about sharing your work with your clients. <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/product/layout.html" id="o3mi" target="_blank" title="LayOut 2">LayOut 2</a> (which is now officially out of beta and rarin' to go) lets you create multi-page documents and presentations. Your models are linked to your LayOut file so that changing the former automatically updates the latter.</li></ul>Take a look at the <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/product/newin7.html" id="pdb2" target="_blank" title="What's New in 7 page">What's New in 7 page</a> on the SketchUp website to get the whole scoop. There's a great video to watch, and it stars some of the more prone-to-sunlight members of our engineering team — in lab coats, no less. Don't miss it.<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Product Evangelist<br /></span>

Introducing SketchUp 7

We're very excited to announce the new release of Google SketchUp 7 . If you don't already know about the fun you can have with Sket...

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It's Jam time

Today we hosted the <a href="http://code.google.com/codejam/">Google Code Jam</a> finals, inviting 100 of the world's top programmers to flex their brains in a grand coding showdown. This is our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-code-jam-is-back.html">fifth annual</a> Global Code Jam competition, and thanks to a new platform created by a 20%-time team that includes previous Code Jam winners, more than 11,000 contestants tackled complex algorithmic challenges, programming in the language of their choice. After a series of online rounds in July and August, the top 500 semi-finalists competed in regional semifinals at 15 offices across Europe, Asia and the Americas to determine the final 100.<br /><br />We're pleased to announce that after three hours of furious typing, debugging and problem-solving at the onsite finals in Mountain View. this afternoon, Tiancheng Lou of China took home the $10,000 Grand Prize. Zeyuan Zhu from China won second place, Bruce Merry from the UK came in third, and cash prizes went to the other finalists. Overall, the 100 finalists represented 23 different countries.<br /><br />Congratulations to all the Code Jammers. We hope to see you at the next Jam. It's never too early to start practicing!<br /><br /><span class="byline-author">Posted by Jeanne Williams, Google Code Jam Program Manager<br /></span>

It's Jam time

Today we hosted the Google Code Jam finals, inviting 100 of the world's top programmers to flex their brains in a grand coding showdown...

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