healthy4u

Fuzzy Math Indeed: Rising Costs in Government's Digital Health Stimulus

Seen in the blog of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund: <blockquote><a href="http://huffpostfund.org/stories/2009/10/fuzzy-math-rising-costs-governments-digital-health-stimulus">Fuzzy Math? Rising Costs in Government's Digital Health Stimulus</a>  <div id="node-880" class="node odd full-node node-type-article"> <div class="subtitle">Spending Could Be Double The Obama Administration's Public Estimate of $19 Billion </div></div> <div class="author">By <a href="http://huffpostfund.org/users/fred-schulte" title="View user profile.">Fred Schulte</a> Huffington Post Investigative Fund </div> <div class="post-date">15 Oct 2009</div> Creating digital medical records for every American within the next five years – a key provision of President Obama’s stimulus package -- could cost more than twice the $19.5 billion figure that has been cited by federal officials. Federal budget documents show that actual spending for the plan, which will use stimulus money to help doctors and hospitals defray the cost of installing high-tech records systems, could hit nearly $47 billion. The discrepancy between the Obama administration’s <a href="http://huffpostfund.org/stories/2009/10/fuzzy-math-rising-costs-governments-digital-health-stimulus#cost">$19.5 billion public estimate</a> and the entry in the budget of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mostly arises from the government’s calculation that it will recoup some of the cost of subsidizing digital systems through billions of dollars in reduced federal health spending. But many health analysts are highly skeptical that such savings can be accurately predicted.</blockquote><div id="TixyyLink" style="border: medium none ; overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> </div>It's worse. Far worse. I believe the government is underestimating EHR costs by a factor of 5 to 10, due to implementation failure and remediation costs. I'm a long term optimist on health IT, but a short term realist. I believe we will be having an avalanche of failed/stalled projects such as this one in years to come: "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-major-hit-project-setback.html">Another Major HIT Project Setback at UCSF</a>". The incompetence in this industry is worse than I imagined when I started writing about HIT dysfunction a decade ago. Worse are the coverups of problems that occur in implementation and in use. At least in the U.S. military, there is transparency about health IT problems (e.g., see <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-military-cant-get-electronic-health.html">here</a>). In the private sector, forget about publicity of what actually goes on in the U.S. (The U.K. has increased its own transparency to <a href="http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/failurecases/?loc=cases&sloc=UK">some extent</a>.) <blockquote>A spokesman for the department [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services], Nicholas Papas, said that the $47 billion figure is “undergoing revision and we anticipate it will decrease.” He said the agency expects to generate a “firmer figure” by the end of the year, but declined to say how much it would be. Papas said there was no attempt to lowball the number for public consumption. Calculating both cost and benefits in the government’s estimate is a sound way to explain the price of the plan, he said.</blockquote> Unfortunately, these calculations do not factor in the cost of dyscompetence, incompetence and failures created by lack of essential cross disciplinary expertise and talent in the HIT industry. <blockquote>Many health policy experts agree that electronic health records can cut costs by reducing harmful medical errors and wasteful spending.</blockquote> I would bet these "policy experts" have never tried to implement clinical IT. <blockquote>The $19 billion figure has appeared in numerous news articles and been widely picked up and repeated by many bloggers covering the fast-growing health information technology industry. Earlier this month President Obama’s chief technology officer, Aneesh Chopra, mentioned the $19 billion figure twice in a live video cast from the White House. But it’s “totally hypothetical,” said Sharona Hoffman, a professor of law and ethic at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She said it counts on savings “with no concrete evidence they will occur.”</blockquote><div id="TixyyLink" style="border: medium none ; overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> </div>It's worse than "totally hypothetical." A major confounding variable is simply missing - the cost of HIT failures, false starts, delays, and remediation. More can be read about those risks <a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/hit-misadventure">here</a>. That site has been online for a decade now, and ironically is nearly the only relevant "hit" on a search engine query on "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=healthcare+IT+failure&btnG=Google+Search">healthcare IT failure</a>" or similar concept. Has anyone in government been paying attention? A slide deck I recently presented entitled "Health IT Promises and Threats" provides a dose of reality on supposed cybernetic miracles. It is at <a href="http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/EHR_benefit_peril_final.ppt">this link</a> (PPT). -- SS

Fuzzy Math Indeed: Rising Costs in Government's Digital Health Stimulus

Seen in the blog of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund: Fuzzy Math? Rising Costs in Government's Digital Health Stimulus ...

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Data Malpractice on T-Mobile Sidekick: But Don't Worry, Your Medical Data is Safe

One of the promises made about healthcare IT is that your medical data is "safer" in electronic form than in paper form. The Hurricane Katrina example of paper records being destroyed is often used as a poster example of the dangers of paper records. However, the risk of electronic storage of information, especially the talk of national EMR's stored on the "cloud" (an amorphous term meaning distributed storage "out there" whose physical sites and boundaries are supposedly irrelevant from the user's perspective) has also been under-reported. Excluding frequent reports of data confidentiality breaches, we also have this: <blockquote>Wall Street Journal, Oct. 15, 2009 <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574475032328975504.html">Microsoft Recovers Lost Sidekick Data</a> By ROGER CHENG Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that it has been able to recover the personal customer data lost from many of T-Mobile USA's Sidekick devices. The Redmond, Wash., software giant said that most, if not all, customer data was recovered, and that the company would begin restoring data as soon as it has validated it. The company said it will start with personal contacts, and move on to the lost calendar, notes, tasks and pictures as quickly as possible. The fix comes as Microsoft suffers through a public backlash after mishandling the information found on the Sidekick line of messaging phones, which are popular with teenagers ... Over the weekend, T-Mobile and Microsoft initially warned that the recovery of data would be unlikely, but upgraded their prospects on Tuesday.</blockquote> They got lucky. <blockquote> Microsoft blamed a system failure [i.e., an IT system - ed.] for the data loss in the core database and backup system. Microsoft said it had taken steps to strengthen the stability of the Sidekick service and started a more resilient backup process. [More resilient compared to ... what? - ed.]</blockquote> In IT it's always an apersonal "system failure", not "data malpractice." When medical malpractice occurs, it's the doctor's fault, even if that malpractice occurred secondary to the failure or misdesign of an EMR or other clinical IT by dyscompetent software engineers. When data malpractice occurs, the motto is "We always blame the computer." How about some names of those responsible for this debacle? <blockquote>... The Sidekick service, run by Microsoft unit Danger [talk about ironic names - ed.], is supposed to be more secure in storing data because it is kept in the "cloud," which involves storing information on the Internet and not one physically vulnerable location, making the temporary loss of data striking.</blockquote> "Cloud" is a new buzzword du jour to make more appealing a basically bad idea for many fields. Distributing data also distributes risk that some incompetent or careless person or person(s) will cause data corruption or loss (yes, computers are run by people, and either they're in control of their systems, or their systems are in control of them). It also puts organizations storing data on the "internet cloud" at risk of being victims of a network "rainy day" when internet connections might prove unreliable (accidents, sabotage, natural disasters all come to mind). In healthcare, using the "cloud" for data storage seems to be a bad idea, especially in an era of $99 (retail) terabyte hard drive storage, and corresponding economies in mission critical-grade local mass storage, backup, business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. In summary, is electronic medical data more secure when stored electronically than on paper? Only if the underlying CIO's, information stewards, technicians and system administrators are at least as competent and careful as the trained health information management (HIM) personnel in hospital medical records departments and doctors' offices. Time will tell if that is the case. One mistake, and thousands or millions of records can go *POOF*. Microsoft and T-Mobile were lucky ... this time. -- SS 10/26 addendum: Sometimes, EHR data simply disappears too. At this link is a story of a Canadian clinic that lost two years of electronic health records: <blockquote> <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Clinic+medical+files+vanish/2127101/story.html">Clinic's medical files vanish</a> By Ryan Cormier, Edmonton Journal October 21, 2009During a recent investigation into whether a patient's confidentiality had been breached at the Fairview Medical Clinic, an investigator asked for a log of who had accessed the complainant's file. When the clinic responded that it had automated his records in 2004 but only had files from 2006 on, alarm bells rang."That raised a lot of questions," said Leahann McElveen, an investigator with the office of the information and privacy commissioner.The clinic had permanently lost two years worth of health files that include patient information on visits, prescriptions, lab reports, doctor's notes and other information. The loss happened when the clinic switched from one electronic medical records system to another."They were two similar systems intended to do the same thing," McElveen said. "However, they weren't coded the same way behind the scenes. It's not that the records fall into the wrong hands, they just don't exist anymore."</blockquote> *POOF* again. -- SS

Data Malpractice on T-Mobile Sidekick: But Don't Worry, Your Medical Data is Safe

One of the promises made about healthcare IT is that your medical data is "safer" in electronic form than in paper form. The Hurr...

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Street View: We can trike wherever you like

With Street View on <a href="http://maps.google.com/">Google Maps</a>, you can take a virtual drive over the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Golden+Gate+Bridge&sll=37.81973,-122.479025&sspn=0.001725,0.002733&ie=UTF8&radius=0.07&rq=1&ev=zi&hq=Golden+Gate+Bridge&hnear=&ll=37.81973,-122.479025&spn=0,359.997267&z=19&layer=c&cbll=37.819772,-122.478565&panoid=U9_6P97bDfQmlIINE_R-Vg&cbp=12,350.7,,0,9.59">Golden Gate Bridge</a> or see the bustle of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Times+Square,+New+York,+NY&sll=37.817717,-122.478247&sspn=0.053497,0.087461&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Theater+District+-+Times+Square,+New+York&ll=40.756242,-73.986263&spn=0.001654,0.002733&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.756344,-73.98623&panoid=YKzjs_hAkQam2a6nDKtYGw&cbp=12,21.59,,0,3.94">Times Square</a> from the comfort of your own home. But some of the country's most interesting and fun places aren't accessible with our Street View car. What if you want to tour the campuses of prospective universities, scout a new running trial, or plan the most efficient route to your favorite roller coasters in a theme park? I first started thinking about this question around two years ago. My day job is working as a mechanical engineer on the Street View team, but I do a lot of mountain biking in my spare time. One day, while exploring some roads less traveled, I realized that I could combine these two pursuits and build a bicycle-based camera system for Street View. The result? The Street View trike: <object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hr-4Aln1Il8&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hr-4Aln1Il8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> I've already had a chance to take the Street View trike out to photograph some hard-to-reach places for Google Maps, like the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Arastradero+Preserve&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=65.645551,135.263672&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=37.388961,-122.17177&panoid=NIRehIo_5KZdObaDCK8QCA&cbp=11,181.98,,0,-0.44&hq=Arastradero+Preserve&hnear=&ll=37.389629,-122.173634&spn=0.00329,0.016512&z=17?utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=et&utm_source=en-et-na-us-gns-svn">Arastradero Open Preserve</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=legoland+california&sll=40.752508,-73.98159&sspn=0.011525,0.021865&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=33.12585,-117.311392&panoid=JXjE_5SG502bLVp6jAzmEQ&hq=Legoland+California&hnear=Legoland+California&ll=33.12585,-117.311392&spn=0,359.997267&z=19&cbp=12,355.67,,0,5.44">LEGOLAND California</a>. When I'm out riding — and once people understand what exactly I'm up to — I'm often asked if we can come to their alma mater, local bike trail or favorite beach boardwalk. Now, we're giving everyone a chance to tell us exactly where in the U.S. they'd like the trike to go next. At <a href="http://maps.google.com/trike">www.google.com/trike</a>, you can suggest interesting and unique spots in six categories: <ul><li>Parks & Trails</li><li>University Campuses</li><li>Pedestrian Malls (e.g., outdoor shopping areas, boardwalks)</li><li>Theme Parks & Zoos</li><li>Landmarks </li><li>Sports Venues (e.g., golf courses, racing tracks, stadium grounds)</li></ul>Nominations will be open until October 28. We'll then comb through all of the suggestions and let all of you cast your final votes on a winner from each category for the Street View trike to visit. For any privately-owned or operated location, like a campus or theme park, we'll work directly with the relevant organization prior to collecting the imagery. When we unveiled the Street View trike in the U.K., we received more than 10,000 nominations and 35,000 votes; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO8l8hL0cuw">Stonehenge</a> and <a href="http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/misc/press-view.aspx?id=19">Warwick Castle</a> were two of the top vote-getters. We can't wait to see what you'll come up with in the U.S. — head to <a href="http://maps.google.com/trike">www.google.com/trike</a> to submit your most inspired ideas. <iframe src="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/mini?mid=d05847768a494474ae682533f3f1d4dd&etyp=sw&width=400&height=300" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" width="400" height="300"></iframe> Posted by Dan Ratner, Senior Mechanical Engineer

Street View: We can trike wherever you like

With Street View on Google Maps , you can take a virtual drive over the Golden Gate Bridge or see the bustle of Times Square from the comf...

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Managing your reputation through search results

<div>(Cross-posted on the <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html">Webmaster Central Blog</a>)</div><div> </div>A few years ago I couldn't wait to get married. Because I was in love, yeah, but more importantly, so that I could take my husband's name and people would stop getting that ridiculous picture from college as a top result when they searched for me on Google. After a few years of working here, though, I've learned that you don't have to change your name just because it brings up some embarrassing search results. Below are some tips for "reputation management": influencing how you're perceived online, and what information is available relating to you. Think twice The first step in reputation management is preemptive: Think twice before putting your personal information online. Remember that although something might be appropriate for the context in which you're publishing it, search engines can make it very easy to find that information later, out of context, including by people who don't normally visit the site where you originally posted it. Translation: don't assume that just because your mom doesn't read your blog, she'll never see that post about the new tattoo you're hiding from her. Tackle it at the source If something you dislike has already been published, the next step is to try to remove it from the site where it's appearing. Rather than immediately contacting Google, it's important to first remove it from the site where it's being published. Google doesn't own the Internet; our search results simply reflect what's already out there on the web. Whether or not the content appears in Google's search results, people are still going to be able to access it — on the original site, through other search engines, through social networking sites, etc. — if you don't remove it from the original site. You need to tackle this at the source. <ul><li>If the content in question is on a site you own, easy — just remove it. It will naturally drop out of search results after we recrawl the page and discover the change. </li><li>It's also often easy to remove content from sites you don't own if you put it there, such as photos you've uploaded, or content on your profile page.</li><li>If you can't remove something yourself, you can <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=9109">contact the site's webmaster</a> and ask them to remove the content or the page in question.</li></ul>After you or the site's webmaster has removed or edited the page, you can expedite the removal of that content from Google using <a href="http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=92865">our URL removal tool</a>. Proactively publish information Sometimes, however, you may not be able to get in touch with a site's webmaster, or they may refuse to take down the content in question. For example, if someone posts a negative review of your business on a restaurant review or consumer complaint site, that site might not be willing to remove the review. If you can't get the content removed from the original site, you probably won't be able to completely remove it from Google's search results, either. Instead, you can try to reduce its visibility in the search results by proactively publishing useful, positive information about yourself or your business. If you can get stuff that you want people to see to outperform the stuff you don't want them to see, you'll be able to reduce the amount of harm that that negative or embarrassing content can do to your reputation. You can publish or encourage positive content in a variety of ways: <ul><li>Create a <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles">Google profile</a>. When people search for your name, Google can display a link to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-for-me-on-google.html">your Google profile in our search results</a> and people can click through to see whatever information you choose to publish in your profile.</li><li>If a customer writes a negative review of your business, you could ask some of your other customers who are happy with your company to give a fuller picture of your business.</li><li>If a blogger is publishing unflattering photos of you, take some pictures you prefer and publish them in a blog post or two.</li><li>If a newspaper wrote an article about a court case that put you in a negative light, but which was subsequently ruled in your favor, you can ask them to update the article or publish a follow-up article about your exoneration. (This last one may seem far-fetched, but believe it or not, we've gotten multiple requests from people in this situation.)</li></ul>Hope these tips have been helpful! Feel free to stop by our Web Search Forum and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Web+Search/thread?tid=31539c32bdd9eebf&hl=en">share your own advice or stories</a> about how you manage your reputation online. Posted by Susan Moskwa, Webmaster Trends Analyst

Managing your reputation through search results

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central Blog ) A few years ago I couldn't wait to get married. Because I was in love, yeah, but more impo...

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Google Translator Toolkit and minority languages

Today, we've added 285 new languages to <a href="http://translate.google.com/toolkit">Google Translator Toolkit</a>, bringing the total number of languages supported by this product to <a href="http://translate.google.com/support/toolkit/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=147837">345</a> — and making it possible to translate between 10,664 language pairs. Google Translator Toolkit is a language translation service for professional and amateur translators that builds on <a href="http://translate.google.com/">Google Translate</a> and makes translation <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/translating-worlds-information-with.html">faster and easier</a>. In addition, we've made the Translator Toolkit interface available in <a href="http://translate.google.com/support/toolkit/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=147837">35 languages</a>, so that more people can access the service in their own language. At Google, we're focusing on how Translator Toolkit can help preserve and revitalize small and minority languages. Minority languages, also called regional, indigenous, heritage or threatened languages, are languages spoken by the minority people in one locale in a sovereign state or country. Were these endangered languages to become extinct, it would mean an immeasurable loss of knowledge, culture and way of life to minority people worldwide. For this project we worked with Dr. Te Taka Keegan, a Māori language activist and senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Waikato who spent much of his career on how technology can assist in minority language revitalization. At Google, Dr. Keegan researched how computer-aided translation tools can help preserve minority languages. To support his research, we released an alpha version of the Translator Toolkit to various members of Māori translation community in Aotearoa (New Zealand). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori">Māori</a>, an Eastern Polynesian language spoken predominately in Aotearoa (New Zealand), is a good starting point because it is one world's 7,000 languages under threat of extinction. According to the <a href="http://www.stats.govt.nz/%7E/media/Statistics/Publications/Census/2006-Census-reports/QuickStats-About-A-Subject/Maori/qstats-about-maori-2006-census.ashx">2006 census</a>, 132,000 people can hold a conversation in Māori. That's roughly 24% of Māori or 4% of New Zealanders. Dr. Keegan found that tools such as Translator Toolkit can help minority languages in several ways: <ul><li>Translation memories and glossaries, when shared across members of a language community, can help unify the language’s written form, increasing translation speed and quality of documents published in that language and preserving the language in the long run.</li><li>Because computer-aided translation can improve translation speed and quality, translators become more productive. When automatic translation is available, as it is for 87 of Google Translator Toolkit's 345 languages, it increases speed further by producing instant translations that people can use as a starting point for their work. And at Google, we use these human translations to improve the translation algorithm of Google Translate over time, creating a virtuous cycle that benefits both human translators and machine translation.</li><li>Online presence of small languages keeps languages relevant in the age of the Internet and globalization, encouraging minority language use by children, who are ultimately responsible for bringing the language to future generations.</li></ul>Languages provide identity, pride, a sense of belonging and spiritual guidance to minority language communities. We hope that by giving both majority and minority language speakers around the world the tools to make online content accessible in their language, we will enable more people to share their culture and knowledge with others worldwide. Ko te reo te hā te mauri o te Māoritanga Language is the very life-breath of being Māori. <div>(Māori) Mak-muwekma mak-noono ya roote 'innutka, mak-'uyyaki_, Nuhu, mak pekre ne tuuxi, 'At mak roote 'innutka hu_i_tak. Our culture and our language are the way to our past, From it we embrace the present, And follow the road to the future. (Muwekma Ohlone Indian tribe, original residents of San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties, California, the home of Google) Posted by Michael Galvez, Product Manager, and Sanjay Bhansali, Engineering Manager</div>

Google Translator Toolkit and minority languages

Today, we've added 285 new languages to Google Translator Toolkit , bringing the total number of languages supported by this product to ...

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Introducing this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalists as iGoogle artists!

We're always delighted to introduce new design flair to our user experience, especially through the personal expression of iGoogle themes. As a canvas for artists to express themselves and reach Google users around the world, we've shared more than 125 iGoogle Artist themes since May 2008. Today, I'm excited to announce ten new artist themes, all from talented up-and-coming fashion designers you may not have already heard of. Each year, <a href="http://www.style.com/vogue/">Vogue</a> and <a href="http://www.cfda.com/">CFDA</a> sponsor a fashion fund, created to support emerging designers. Through inspiration drawn from Google, our colors and our products, this year's ten finalists have created both incredible fashions and corresponding iGoogle themes. From the high-tech and contemporary designs of <a href="http://www.waynenyc.com/">Wayne</a> to the Google Maps-inspired work of <a href="http://www.sophietheallet.com/">Sophie Theallet</a>, each of these ten new themes is a unique way to refresh your homepage's fall wardrobe. Artist themes are one of many ways we invite talented artists and innovators to share their designs, whether world-renowned or emerging. So check out the <a href="http://www.google.com/help/ig/art/gallery.html">latest Artist themes</a> and pick one that appeals to you. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfLSWfx7ySH2-fjcCWNqwTYr6432ZWJhBEXCJCI4IFAkOPy_QZnzAw30iHi7qDTd-tPDGf8a48L_AFYetXeGpy5ld2YvlCZM_xminTPpJTcs712d503TY6xkEcb11Vavbok9hyX0V2z_w/s1600-h/vogue.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392881709487962466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfLSWfx7ySH2-fjcCWNqwTYr6432ZWJhBEXCJCI4IFAkOPy_QZnzAw30iHi7qDTd-tPDGf8a48L_AFYetXeGpy5ld2YvlCZM_xminTPpJTcs712d503TY6xkEcb11Vavbok9hyX0V2z_w/s400/vogue.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 291px;" /></a> Finally, we'd like to offer our congratulations to this year's Fashion Fund finalists. We're proud to be showcasing them in our iGoogle artist themes. Based on their iGoogle themes and design entries, their talents are obvious and we're happy to see them recognized! Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience, and Michaela Prescott, Senior Product Marketing Manager

Introducing this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalists as iGoogle artists!

We're always delighted to introduce new design flair to our user experience, especially through the personal expression of iGoogle theme...

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A green tour of the Google campus

We care about a clean energy future and that's a commitment that starts at home. In honor of <a href="http://www.blogactionday.org/">Blog Action Day 2009</a> and this year's climate change theme, we wanted to walk you through some of the green features of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=google+mountain+view&fb=1&gl=us&hq=google&hnear=mountain+view&cid=0,0,11972054812773967638&ei=YVzWSsfpEoOysgOq0JXZAg&ved=0CAoQnwIwAA&ll=37.423293,-122.084305&spn=0.008691,0.022724&z=16&iwloc=A">our global headquarters</a> here in sunny Mountain View, California. <ul><li>Getting to work: We've got a shuttle service that brings employees from around the Bay Area to the Googleplex every day. These shuttles are outfitted with wi-fi and fueled by B20 biodiesel. And employees who <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/bike-to-work-day-2009.html">bike</a>, walk, skip, hop or otherwise self-power to work can earn points that translate into a donation from Google to their charity of choice.</li></ul><ul><li>Turning on the lights: The rooftops at our headquarters are covered in 9,212 photovoltaic <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home">solar panels</a> that produce 1.6 MW of electricity — enough energy to power about 1,000 California homes.</li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBX3pwJNa0O4RMeS4A75P8WGV_ARPSiawMDPqyUJd3UCZcZqgtRt08s1OzqCYJyz0eCrRHOMXAB4mkRgBFe41OPDeAR9sVQeQ0BpUEn_Wg2_hi5cpENJOhxPScfe3D1y1Peoy_Qydu_PZN/s1600-h/green1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392610287411292450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBX3pwJNa0O4RMeS4A75P8WGV_ARPSiawMDPqyUJd3UCZcZqgtRt08s1OzqCYJyz0eCrRHOMXAB4mkRgBFe41OPDeAR9sVQeQ0BpUEn_Wg2_hi5cpENJOhxPScfe3D1y1Peoy_Qydu_PZN/s400/green1.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><ul><li>Healthy buildings: The facilities at our main campus use sustainable building materials that are environmentally friendly and healthier, such as "cradle-to-cradle" certified products designed to never end up in landfills, fresh air ventilation, daylighting, and whenever possible, PVC- and formaldehyde-free materials.</li></ul><ul><li>No, we're not kidding: We've been known to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mowing-with-goats.html">use goats</a> instead of lawn mowers to graze the fields surrounding our campus.</li></ul><ul><li>Getting around town: We have a fleet of 8 plug-in vehicles that Google employees can use free of charge to run errands during the day. (In the summer of 2008 our Google.org <a href="http://www.rechargeit.org/">RechargeIT initiative</a> launched a controlled driving experiment, and our plug-in hybrids achieved more than 90 MPG!) Shared bicycles are also scattered among our buildings for Googlers to use for short trips around campus, reducing the need for cars during the work day.</li></ul><ul><li>Waste not, want not: Waste from our Mountain View cafes is separated and the organic component is composted. As a result, we've reduced waste sent to landfills, reduced greenhouse gases and recycled nutrients leading to improved soil quality without chemicals. And any disposable plateware and cutlery we continue to use in the cafés is now compostable.</li></ul>Check out <a href="http://www.google.com/green">this website</a> to learn more about Google's green initiatives, and thank you to Blog Action Day for orchestrating the " largest-ever social change event on the web" yet again. Posted by Anthony Ravitz, Real Estate & Workplace Services

A green tour of the Google campus

We care about a clean energy future and that's a commitment that starts at home. In honor of Blog Action Day 2009 and this year's c...

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