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Google Apps highlights 11/6/2009

This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label "Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed. Individuals, businesses and schools are switching to Google Apps to communicate more efficiently from anywhere, collaborate without the hassle of attachments, save money, and get continuous innovation. Because you use Google Apps in your browser, improvements like <a href="http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-features-in-forms.html">new features in Google forms</a> show up automatically. Starting today, we'll post a recap every couple of weeks highlighting significant improvements we've made in Google Apps, and major milestones in this area, similar to our weekly <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/This%20Week%20in%20Search">series on Search</a>. We hope this helps you experience what's new for yourself! More interface consistency across Google Docs We heard your feedback about design inconsistencies in the user interfaces for documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and we agree; having a more consistent user interface is a better experience. Last week we rolled out a <a href="http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-docs-now-more-consistent.html">batch of changes</a> making the links, title area, menus, menu terminology and toolbar more uniform. We think this will make it easier to find commonly used functions, speed up your experience with Google Docs and make you more productive in these browser-based applications. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5s-YmO40giyXjfG5qLIx_hjIzR374cCqH-suzgufnriqnhJ4wD1I0fkULRSh_veYb_I15r3dwGMiLroKbXLRc_EABS_ZToXf68Hi1tHKPaAjD-8GqXX3TvxcGMtoZVLHlJVVctG01aMk/s1600-h/docs_consistency.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5s-YmO40giyXjfG5qLIx_hjIzR374cCqH-suzgufnriqnhJ4wD1I0fkULRSh_veYb_I15r3dwGMiLroKbXLRc_EABS_ZToXf68Hi1tHKPaAjD-8GqXX3TvxcGMtoZVLHlJVVctG01aMk/s400/docs_consistency.png" /></a> </div> Customizable options for Gmail offline Gmail offline lets you work with your email from the browser even when you don't have an internet connection, but until now, you couldn't specify how much old mail you wanted to cache for offline access. On Wednesday we launched <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/choose-which-messages-get-downloaded.html">new options for Gmail offline</a>, and now you can configure how much of your old email is available when you don't have a connection. Once you enable Offline Gmail from the Labs tab in Settings, go to the Offline settings tab to customize which labels are synchronized, how far back messages are included, and which attachments you'll be able to access offline in your browser. Google Docs bulk export We firmly believe it should be easy to move files saved on your computer into the cloud, and that you should be able to move your data out of Google Apps whenever you want. After all, it's your data, and you should be able to do what you want with it. In the spirit of <a href="http://www.dataliberation.org/">Data Liberation</a>, last week we made it even easier for you to pull your documents, spreadsheets, forms, presentations and PDFs out of Google Docs with "<a href="http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/10/data-liberation-mark-as-viewed-and-new.html">Convert, Zip and Download</a>". Just select the files in Google Docs that you want to save, go to 'More Actions' > 'Export', then choose your preferred output file formats. Your items will be saved to your computer in a tidy zip file. Visual indicators for edited and all-new items in Google Docs The shared items in your Google Docs account evolve as the people you collaborate with make edits and share new items with you. This is fundamentally different from how it works with files saved on your computer. Last week we started showing <a href="http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/10/data-liberation-mark-as-viewed-and-new.html">visual indicators</a> in Google Docs to make it easier to spot what's changed and what's been newly shared with you. The names of files that have been edited since you lasted opened them are in bold, and shared files that you haven't opened yet have a red 'New!' tag. Administrator controls for Chat Companies and schools using Google Apps sometimes want to limit how their users communicate with Google Talk and Gmail Chat. For example, some K12 schools don't want outsiders instant messaging with their students. To meet this need, we now let IT administrators select if their users should only be able to chat with each other, and not with external users. This new option is found in the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60767">Chat service settings</a> area of the Premier and Education Edition control panels. Over two million businesses have gone Google Companies around the world are moving to the cloud with Google Apps, and we just crossed the <a href="http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/gogoogle.html#utm_medium=redirect&utm_source=en-redirect-na-us-gogoogle_appsatwork&utm_campaign=gogoogle">two million customers milestone</a>. To hear how Google Apps is bringing faster innovation to employees, eliminating major hassles for IT managers and saving companies big bucks, <a href="http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/customers.html">read some of their quotes</a> or visit out our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/googleapps#p/c/5D03DA3C38B5AA78/0/SpQN2TXM9PQ">YouTube customer channel</a>. We hope these updates help you get even more from Google Apps. For details and the latest news in this area, check out the <a href="http://googleapps.blogspot.com/">Google Apps Blog</a>. Posted by Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management and Dave Girouard, President of Google Enterprise

Google Apps highlights 11/6/2009

This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label "Google Apps highlights...

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This week in search 11/6/09

This is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs on Fridays. Look for the label <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/This%20Week%20in%20Search">"This week in search"</a> and subscribe to the series. - Ed. This week we brought out some new search tools for the phone and for the web. We also enhanced our universal search with a better interface for product results. Multiple pictures of products in Universal Search We've added multiple images to product results in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/universal-search-best-answer-is-still.html">Universal Search</a>. On broader queries, this helps you get a sense of the range of products available to you for the query. Here's what it looks like: <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiJZnNYm2Z00G-4PdcNpBWLB-7_dEM2UMXqdwGhXKaMp6i_lKNL68RzSGtXVSHCs9sYLMA-NfWwu7iBitKh797XdOb1ck3pkLEkdw1VcHHy-hajIaoDiEEIfdQAZ8lnFe4_xwvvqjBlw/s1600-h/agjgj9ggz6_30chbqh5cc_b.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiJZnNYm2Z00G-4PdcNpBWLB-7_dEM2UMXqdwGhXKaMp6i_lKNL68RzSGtXVSHCs9sYLMA-NfWwu7iBitKh797XdOb1ck3pkLEkdw1VcHHy-hajIaoDiEEIfdQAZ8lnFe4_xwvvqjBlw/s400/agjgj9ggz6_30chbqh5cc_b.bmp" /></a> </div> Example searches: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=digital+cameras">digital cameras</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=pin+nailer">pin nailer</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&source=hp&q=glider&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=&fp=db658cc5049dc510">glider</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bouncy+house">bouncy house</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=outdoor+dining+set">outdoor dining set</a> Search Options panel now has page previews and is live in more languages We have added a new tool to the Search Options panel called page previews, currently available in English, Japanese and Korean. Page previews allow you to see additional text as well as an image preview of the page. This is a new way to summarize web pages that show up in the search results list. In the interest of keeping the Search Options panel interface simple, we've combined page previews with the earlier tool for longer snippets — both serve a very similar purpose and, we feel, work well together. Here you can see a screenshot of the new feature at work: <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAWAdODjq-aLeoj8OP6F0WWw-1Ffs7p3RWBrt1fiLoTnIvoFpovfgqMMmz21qyXsR8kybXOjWhBVr1XLeHJltTmVF37BDB7UquChdn9ass0CiTAIUYfOPSjI5wo4AATGNyS_1NEgNEvc/s1600-h/agjgj9ggz6_31hqt36jfv_b.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAWAdODjq-aLeoj8OP6F0WWw-1Ffs7p3RWBrt1fiLoTnIvoFpovfgqMMmz21qyXsR8kybXOjWhBVr1XLeHJltTmVF37BDB7UquChdn9ass0CiTAIUYfOPSjI5wo4AATGNyS_1NEgNEvc/s400/agjgj9ggz6_31hqt36jfv_b.bmp" width="400" /></a> </div> The Search Options panel is also now available in 11 new languages: Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai and Turkish. Google search by voice for Nokia S60 phones in English and Mandarin Chinese On Monday we announced that <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-search-by-voice-travels-world.html">Google search by voice is available for Nokia S60 phones in English and Mandarin Chinese</a>. The new version of <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/mobile/default/app.html">Google Mobile App</a> places a shortcut to Google search on your Nokia phone's home screen, allowing you to search using your voice or by typing. You can search for anything — from "movie times" to "fish 'n chips" to "masala dosa." And Google Mobile App shows search results in the application, so you don't have to wait for a web browser to launch to get an answer. This feature is available in both English and Mandarin Chinese. Sesame Street doodle In honor of <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/la-peanut-butter-sandwiches.html">Sesame Street's 40th anniversary on November 10th</a>, the Google homepage has had a daily sequence of doodles created in partnership with Sesame Street around the favorite characters on the show — starting, of course, with Big Bird. Hope you enjoyed this week's new features. Stay tuned for next week! Posted by Ben Gomes, Distinguished Engineer

This week in search 11/6/09

This is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs on Fridays. Look for the label "This week in search...

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Even more music for you to find with Google search

Last week, we launched a new <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/making-search-more-musical.html">music search feature</a>, which helps you search and discover millions of songs with a simple Google search. When you search for an artist, song, album or even a few lyrics, you'll find links to our partner sites — putting you just one click away from listening to and purchasing the music you're looking for. To celebrate our launch, MySpace and Lala are hosting exclusive, never-before-heard tracks from a variety of artists — and we're helping people to find those tracks through a simple Google search. So if you're a <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Lady+Gaga">Lady Gaga</a> fan looking for a new remix, in love with the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Arctic+Monkeys+Catapult">Arctic Monkeys</a> and looking for something extra or hunting for a new acoustic track from YouTube sensation <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Zee+Avi">Zee Avi</a>, just search for it. You'll find links to these tracks right in your regular search results. And when you click the links, you'll be able to hear the songs directly from MySpace and Lala. We know how much you care about music, and we're excited to partner with Lala and MySpace to help you discover more music from artists you love, using Google. To see the full list of tracks and read more, check out the blogposts on <a href="http://www.lala.com/#blog/349">Lala</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/pressroom?url=/article_display.cfm?article_id=1110">MySpace</a>. We hope you enjoy the music. Posted by R.J. Pittman, Director, Product Management

Even more music for you to find with Google search

Last week, we launched a new music search feature , which helps you search and discover millions of songs with a simple Google search. When ...

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Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: An Update

At the post "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/academic-freedom-curtailed-down-under.html">Academic Freedom Curtailed?</a>" I wrote: <blockquote>The essay on Emergency Department electronic health record (EHR) problems in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) by medical informatics professor Dr. Jon Patrick, Health Information Technologies Research Laboratory (HITRL), University of Sydney, that I referenced in my posts "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/from-down-under-story-of-deployment-of.html">The Story of the Deployment of an ED Clinical Information System ‐ Systemic Failure or Bad Luck</a>" and "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/nsw-nightmare-and-overuse-of-computers.html">NSW Nightmare and Overuse of Computers</a>" appears to have been censored. This apparently occurred at the level of the the government.</blockquote> Professor Patrick has updated his <a href="http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/%7Ehitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146">web page</a> that formerly contained a link to his essay on problems with EHR's in that state's EDs. He advises: <blockquote>... This document has been temporarily withdrawn by the university following a complaint from NSWHealth. I think the University has acted appropriately by investigating the complaint and I do not yet consider it an act of censorship. I am working through the issues with the University and expect that the essay will be re-published. I would like to thank all the people who have written to me to offer support and I would encourage you to write to me if you are interested in the matter so that i can demonstrate to the university the importance of this issue to both the Australian and international communities. I do not wish for people to write to anyone else but me. I have no wish to run a public campaign and I am not available for statements to the press about this particular matter. This matter has brought to light many interesting and illuminating things that i will be happy to share in the next version of the Critical Essay. Jon Patrick 27th October 2009 0930 Eastern Australian Summer time</blockquote> He then follows up with this: <blockquote>Update on the withdrawal of "Essay No.6" It is now two weeks since the original essay was withdrawn. In that time I have been able to establish confidently that NSWHealth phoned my Head of Department and asked him to remove the article without giving a specific complaint. He refused. Subsequently a person from another faculty took up the cause and succeeded in persuading an appropriate person to order withdrawal of the essay. To this time i have not received a specific complaint let alone a written complaint. The Univeristy's Office of General Counsel has studied the essay at my request through my Dean, and found that it is "consistent with the University's Public Comment Policy". I am awaiting further investigations by the University. Subsequently I have received many messages of support from around the world, and importantly much more information to be included in the essay. I am preparing a much enhanced version. 5th November 2009 1150 Eastern Australian Summer time </blockquote> I sincerely hope this matter will be resolved in favor of dissemination of the enhanced and updated piece. I think it contains information that is quite valuable to a worldwide audience of clinicians, IT vendors and patients. I also note that those who aim to suppress a document such as this in the age of informational computing, one product of which is the Internet, should be confined to using only the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET">Commodore PET</a> due to their technological and sociological ineptitude: <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0bGvOD7gFP0nD7_IxTfnqFZ4R_UFExPHfHOpz-CqoGReSVYFNa55ZN0VeNzN8x5j7aCJWLUiCetXZz27vFcRHe8U9NBcOlWkmsClyhove5d-trkir2WFLOeabRMA7_Gqxja8_bxm3YiH/s1600-h/pet.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401003480085761234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0bGvOD7gFP0nD7_IxTfnqFZ4R_UFExPHfHOpz-CqoGReSVYFNa55ZN0VeNzN8x5j7aCJWLUiCetXZz27vFcRHe8U9NBcOlWkmsClyhove5d-trkir2WFLOeabRMA7_Gqxja8_bxm3YiH/s320/pet.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 166px;" /></a>State-of-the-art computing for the would-be Health IT article police </div> -- SS Addendum Nov. 10, 2009, evening EST: The essay in version 5 is once again available as Item 6 at <a href="http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/%7Ehitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146">http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~hitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146</a> . -- SS

Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: An Update

At the post " Academic Freedom Curtailed? " I wrote: The essay on Emergency Department electronic health record (EHR) problems in ...

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Is Someone at Jefferson Regional Medical Center Lying About EHR Safety?

This curious story appeared about apparent clinician health IT safety concerns at <a href="http://www.jeffersonregional.com/">Jefferson Regional Medical Center</a> near Pittsburgh: <div class="headline"></div><blockquote><div class="headline"><a href="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_650606.html">Switch to electronic records alarms Jefferson Regional physicians</a> By Walter F. Roche Jr. PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, October 30, 2009 Jefferson Regional Medical Center's attempts to convert to electronic medical records have some doctors concerned about patient safety. </div> In a memo issued this month, the hospital's Health Information Technology Committee announced the 373-bed facility in Jefferson Hills would revert to printed versions of patients' consultant reports "due to patient safety concerns from the majority of physicians." Jefferson executives downplayed the memo and said they found no evidence that patient safety has been impacted, arguing a small group of physicians expressed concerns and not a majority, as the memo claimed. "It was a very small number that were concerned. It wasn't the majority," said Dr. Richard F. Collins, Jefferson's vice president for medical affairs. "To this point, we haven't identified any issue of patient safety."</blockquote> Now, one or the other must be true. Either a majority of physicians expressed concerns, or a small number did. Both cannot be true. Assuming the account in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review is accurate, someone is lying. I should point out that the numbers ultimately do not matter - patient safety issues should never be determined via a headcount, and in fact hospital governance obligations under the Joint Commission and their own fiduciary responsibilities mandate the utmost conservatism and due diligence on safety concerns. Perhaps the executives did find "no evidence" of safety issues. Regardless, I raise the following questions: <ul><li>How was such a study performed, how were physicians and other clinicians involved in the study, and was it a rigorous study using validated methodologies, or cursory?</li></ul><ul><li>Who is most motivated to find an HIT system "safe", the HIT Committee and clinicians, or the administration?</li></ul> I have served on HIT Committees; led them, in fact. Those committees "have the pulse" of clinician sentiment, even when they do not conduct formal surveys. In hospitals, the walls have ears, and the clinicians on HIT Committees understand what their colleagues are feeling - usually via direct and sometimes confrontational conversations. HIT Committees charged with making HIT successful do not generally pull back from HIT projects without very good reason. On the other hand, hospital executives who have signed off on investments of millions or tens of millions of dollars in IT investments do have a strong motive to ensure all goes well - either in reality or in the narrative they proffer. This is especially true when conflicts of interest exist. <blockquote>According to [VP for Medical Affairs] Collins and James Witenske, Jefferson's chief information officer, the transition [to EHR] began about a year ago and was completed in May. The hospital uses a system developed by Siemens, Collins said. He declined to disclose the cost.</blockquote> I find this an interesting finding. After a short Google search, the following appeared: <blockquote>Western Pennsylvania Hospital News<a href="http://www.wpahospitalnews.com/archives/default.asp?page=18&articleID=486">20 Years of Hospital Information Technology</a> by John Fries (December 2005) ... James Witenske is chief information officer at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, having left Arthur Andersen four years ago to accept the position. Before working at the Big Eight firm, he served as chief information officer at UPMC Health System. At Jefferson, IT takes place a bit differently that at other healthcare institutions. Where most hospitals have an IT department with staff, Witenske works almost exclusively with outside experts, one of whom is Ron Forys, a Siemens site executive who is based at Jefferson. It’s a complementary relationship – Witenske’s role is strategic and Forys’ is operational. Both are longtime technology professionals who have seen huge changes take place during the past two decades. </blockquote> The hospital had/has its own vendor representative in a front line role, and apparently shied away from having its own IT staff. A person who comes from a consulting firm uses consultants whose loyalty is to the vendor, not the hospital, one of them as his operations guy. This raises a number of questions: <ul><li>Who paid/pays the Siemens Site Executive? The hospital, the vendor, or both?</li><li>Who did/does the Site Executive report to?</li><li>Did/does not the Site Executive have a conflict of interest with regard to physician opposition to the vendor's system?</li><li>What was/is the financial relationship between hospital executive leadership and the Site Executive? Between hospital executive leadership and the vendor?</li></ul> These type of arrangements do raise my eyebrows, and the discrepancy between the HIT Committee's memo and the hospital executive's account, both of which cannot be true, could certainly be a symptom of conflicts of interest. I have noted that a <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/washington-post-emrs-no-cure-all-sen.html">Congressional investigation of the health IT industry</a> is now underway. This would not be a good time for hospital governance to downplay physician concerns about HIT, overruling their own HIT committee. For if a patient is injured or dies as a result of physician HIT concerns that were ignored, the executives could likely find themselves in a very unpleasant situation - and not just from malpractice attorneys. <blockquote> Collins and other hospital officials who support the conversion say that once adopted and accepted, electronic records will increase patient safety and efficiency, and eliminate "piles of paper."</blockquote> He apparently forgot the word "perfected." HIT in an experimental medical device. This VP for Medical Affairs makes no mention of the unintended consequences of poorly designed or implemented HIT. He either doesn't know about them (i.e., is dyscompetent regarding HIT) or is suffering the syndrome of inappropriate overconfidence in computers in the face of what seems like his own staff's concerns. This is typical of the Wild West environment of Health IT. -- SS

Is Someone at Jefferson Regional Medical Center Lying About EHR Safety?

This curious story appeared about apparent clinician health IT safety concerns at Jefferson Regional Medical Center near Pittsburgh: Switch...

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Transparency, choice and control — now complete with a Dashboard!

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your account — easily and concisely in one location. Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data. In the past, we've taken numerous steps in this area, investing in educating our users with our <a href="http://www.google.com/privacy.html">Privacy Center</a>, making it easier to move data in and out of Google with our <a href="http://www.dataliberation.org/">Data Liberation Front</a>, and allowing you to control the ads you see with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUkm_gKgdQc">interest-based advertising</a>. Transparency, choice and control have become a key part of Google's philosophy, and today, we're happy to announce that we're doing even more. In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over your own data, we've built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we're delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard. Watch this quick video to learn more and then try it out for yourself at <a href="http://www.google.com/dashboard">www.google.com/dashboard</a>. <object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZPaJPxhPq_g&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZPaJPxhPq_g&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Posted by Alma Whitten, Software Engineer, Yariv Adan, Product Manager, and Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products and User Experience

Transparency, choice and control — now complete with a Dashboard!

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The G...

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Introducing Google Commerce Search: Finding holiday gifts faster

The holiday season is right around the corner, so online retailers are gearing up for spikes in traffic. When people go to shop online, search is big part of finding the right product, whether they're looking for a gift or just something for themselves. Today we're aiming to make e-commerce searching as easy as using Google.com with a new enterprise product, <a href="http://google.com/commercesearch">Google Commerce Search</a>. <object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gj7qrotOmVY&hl=en&fs=1&"><paramname="allowfullscreen" value="true"><paramname="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gj7qrotOmVY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></paramname="allowscriptaccess"></paramname="allowfullscreen"></object> Search quality is a big factor in changing visitors to buyers online, and in making customers happy too. Visitors spend <a href="https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=29929">an average of just eight seconds</a> before deciding whether or not to remain on a website, so having a good search tool is important for turning visitors into buyers. Google Commerce Search is hosted by and uses Google search technology to make online retail searching both fast and customizable — visitors to your online store can sort by category, price, brand or any other attribute. E-store administrators can highlight special products or connect related ones so searching is easier for their customers. Google Commerce Search includes a built-in spellchecker and synonyms so if visitors can't remember exactly how to spell the particular toy or perfume or anything else they're hunting for, Google Commerce Search will make some suggestions. Choosing the right one is up to them, though. Google Commerce Search is hosted in the cloud, meaning it lives online, so e-commerce sites can get up and running quickly. Using a cloud search tool will also help site owners meet the rise in demand from the holiday rush without having to devote extra time or resources to worrying about their capacity or infrastructure. Online retailers are free to focus on their business, while Google focuses on search, and shoppers can find what they need faster. For more information check out <a href="http://google.com/commercesearch">google.com/commercesearch</a>. Posted by Alex Dovlecel and Nicholas Weininger, Engineers, Google Commerce Search

Introducing Google Commerce Search: Finding holiday gifts faster

The holiday season is right around the corner, so online retailers are gearing up for spikes in traffic. When people go to shop online, sear...

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