Know where you are

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Terry Garcia, Executive VP Mission Programs, National Geographic</span><br /><br />Welcome to <a href="http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/gaw.html">Geography Awareness Week 2006</a>.<br /><br />National Geographic has been exploring and inspiring people to care about the planet for more than a century. But today -- with new geo-technologies such as <a href="http://earth.google.com">Google Earth</a>, <a href="http://maps.google.com">Google Maps</a> and the National Geographic-ESRI <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine">MapMachine</a> — anyone hooked into the web can explore any place on Earth at the click of a mouse. Caring begins with seeing, and there’s no better way to see a place than to be there. So we know these new geographic tools mean better stewardship of our world’s extraordinary places, animals, and cultures.<br /><br />This year we’re celebrating Africa. <a href="http://www.mywonderfulworld.org">My Wonderful World</a> — the National Geographic-led campaign for geographic literacy — has teamed up with Google to create a new <a href="http://www.google.com/educators/gaw.html">Geography Awareness Quiz on Google Earth</a> that lets you test your global IQ as you tour the continent.<br /><br />All week, we’ll also highlight innovative projects that bring Africa to the rest of the world, such as Michael Fay’s <a href="http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/megaflyover/">Megaflyover</a>, <i>National</i> <i>Geographic</i> magazine’s coverage of Africa on Google Earth, and the <a href="http://www.kfrp.com">Koobi Fora Research Project</a> -- on our My Wonderful World <a href="http://mywonderfulworld.typepad.com/">blog</a>. We hope you’ll join us!

Know where you are

Posted by Terry Garcia, Executive VP Mission Programs, National Geographic Welcome to Geography Awareness Week 2006 . National Geographic ha...

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Keep track of your Maps searches, too

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Vlad Adzic, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Google Personalized Search now includes Google Maps, which means you'll no longer have to remember searches you do for addresses, businesses, or directions on Maps. Instead, you'll be able to browse, search for, and bookmark them directly from <a href="http://www.google.com/searchhistory">your search history</a>, just as you already can with your web, images, news, Froogle, and video history.<br /><br />If you already have Personalized Search enabled, you can access your history through the "Search History" link in the upper right corner of Google Maps. Otherwise, you can sign up for <a href="http://www.google.com/psearch">Personalized Search</a>, and make sure you're signed in to your Google Account when searching.

Keep track of your Maps searches, too

Posted by Vlad Adzic, Software Engineer Google Personalized Search now includes Google Maps, which means you'll no longer have to rememb...

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It's all about location

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Ethan Russell, Product Manager</span><br /><br />We've had lots of <a href="http://base.google.com/base/testimonials.html">success</a> working with the real estate industry to make home listings more easily discoverable on Google. And we're constantly attending real estate industry events and working daily with partners to help connect them with potential home buyers by adding more and more of their listings to Google web search. Over and over again, we hear from you: keep it free and keep it simple and keep it free.<br /><br />So today, on our first day at the <a href="http://www.realtor.org/convhome.nsf/pages/confhome?OpenDocument">NAR event in New Orleans</a>, we're happy to let you know that we've further simplified the process for real estate providers looking to <a href="http://www.google.com/base/search?ui=g&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_o0=&gl=us&hl=en&nd=&showrefine=0&q=&btnG=Search+Housing&a_n2=listing+type&a_y2=1&a_o2=0&a_v2=&a_v2=&a_n363=property+type&a_y363=1&a_o363=0&a_v363=&a_v363=&sl=true&a_n152=location&a_y152=6&a_o152=0&a_t152=30&a_v152=columbus%2C+oh&a_n303=price&a_u303=usd&a_y303=8&a_o303=4&a_v303=&a_f303=&a_t303=&a_n650=bedrooms&a_y650=2&a_o650=4&a_v650=&a_f650=&a_t650=&scoring=aa_152&us=0">make listings searchable on Google</a> (and it's free, of course). Regardless of what kind of real estate professional you are, now you can easily go to <a href="http://base.google.com/base/help/realestate.html">one page</a> to upload your listings to Google Base so that people can find them through Google. There are even dedicated pages for you --whether you're <a href="http://base.google.com/base/broker.html">brokers</a>, <a href="https://services.google.com/inquiry/base_agents">agents</a>, <a href="http://base.google.com/base/mls.html">MLS</a> , or <a href="http://base.google.com/base/idx.html">IDX vendors</a>.<br /><br />If you're tech-savvy, you can of course continue to send listings to <a href="http://base.google.com/base/overview.html">Google Base</a> yourself. But in any case we hope you find the many upload options available to you friendly and easy to use. If you're interested in Google and real estate, do check out all of the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/events/realestatetools/index.html">tools available to you</a>. And if you happen to be in New Orleans this weekend, stop by our NAR booth.

It's all about location

Posted by Ethan Russell, Product Manager We've had lots of success working with the real estate industry to make home listings more eas...

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Get lost!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Alex Medina, Technical Account Manager</span><br /><br />Ever get lost, or turned around? Found yourself in unfamiliar territory? Or worse, awakened with just one shoe on? Well, we have something for you. No, not a shoe -- we mean <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System" title="GPS-Enabled">GPS-Enabled</a> Google Maps on the <a href="http://www.helio.com/">Helio Drift</a>.<br /><br />In a very short time, <a href="http://google.com/gmm/index.html" title="Google Maps for Mobile">Google Maps for Mobile</a> has taken a lead in mobile mapping and is available on more than <a href="http://www.google.com/gmm/devices.html">300 phone models</a>. Now we've taken it to a new level: we're partnering with Helio to bring you GPS integration with Google Maps.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2855/3883/1600/Helio_location_features_02.0.png"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2855/3883/320/Helio_location_features_02.0.png" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> It's hard to enter a starting point if you don't know where you're starting from. We think that integrating GPS capabilities into Google Maps for Mobile will make our phones much smarter -- and you've told us that too. <br /><br />When you use Google Maps on the Helio Drift you always know where you are. Start Google Maps and a blue dot is placed on the map at your current location. You can even see yourself move on the map as you change location. Say goodbye to sore thumbs from having to constantly type in your location.<br /><br />Of course, you still get all of the popular Google Maps functionality: real-time traffic, detailed directions, integrated search results, easily movable maps, and satellite imagery. So get yourself a Drift and just get lost! No matter where you end up, we'll show you the quickest way out.

Get lost!

Posted by Alex Medina, Technical Account Manager Ever get lost, or turned around? Found yourself in unfamiliar territory? Or worse, awakened...

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Talking with orkut

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Patrick Barry and Reza Behforooz, Software Engineers</span><br /><br />You talkin' to me? I sure hope so. At Google, we like it when people talk with each other. So we figured we should make life a little easier for our friends on <a href="http://www.orkut.com">orkut</a>, where getting in touch and staying in touch is the name of the game. We noticed that a lot of orkut users have been using a separate instant messaging program to chat, which just seems like unnecessary work -- clicking around, keeping separate buddy lists, etc. This is why we've built <a href="http://www.google.com/talk/">Google Talk</a> into orkut, so you can see your friends' availability and chat with them more easily. And, as a special Google Talk bonus, if you want to do more than text chat, you can make voice calls, leave voicemail, and transfer files.<br /><br />Here's what to look for. If your friends are online and using Google Talk, you'll see a brightly-colored ball by their name. Green means they're available; orange means they're away from their computer; and red means they're busy. But no matter which color, if you see that ball, it means you can chat with or call your friends in just a couple of clicks.<br /><br />We've put some orkut features into Google Talk too. In addition to chatting, calling, and sending files to your Google Talk buddies, you can also scrap them, receive instant notice when others scrap you, and quickly jump to any of their orkut profiles.<br /><br />It's easy to enable these features -- <a href="http://www.orkut.com/">sign in to talkify your orkut account</a> and we'll get you going. Haven't been invited to join orkut yet? <a href="http://www.orkut.com">No problem.</a>

Talking with orkut

Posted by Patrick Barry and Reza Behforooz, Software Engineers You talkin' to me? I sure hope so. At Google, we like it when people talk...

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Checkout offers free holiday season processing

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Gavin Chan, Google Checkout team</span><br /><br />To celebrate the holidays, we're offering merchants free transaction processing using Google Checkout through the end of 2006. Read more <a href="http://googlecheckout.blogspot.com/2006/11/free-processing-for-holidays.html">here</a>.

Checkout offers free holiday season processing

Posted by Gavin Chan, Google Checkout team To celebrate the holidays, we're offering merchants free transaction processing using Google ...

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History is cool for school

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Oliver Rickman, UK Corporate Communications Team, and Kate Hammond, UK Product Marketing Team</span><br /><br />You might be thinking most kids are only interested in celebrities and the next cool thing -- but not 15,000 British kids. This lot, between the ages of 4 and 18, ditched celebrity-watching in favour of good old-fashioned historical figures when they sent in their drawings to our <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/doodle4google">Doodle 4 Google competition</a>. (You may recall our informal name for this contest was <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/day-off-for-dennis.html">"Day Off for Dennis."</a>) Given the theme of ‘My Britain’ as their inspiration, school children up and down the UK got creative with the Google logo, hoping to see their entry on the Google homepage. Nearly half (45%) of their entries included monuments and historical figures from Big Ben to the Blackpool tower, and from the Queen to Shakespeare. Everyone at the London Googleplex was really impressed with how passionate the kids were about Britain, not to mention their talent. <br /><br />And though some of you may laugh about British food, we were proud to see that a quarter of entries featured <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=fish+and+chips&btnG=Search+Images">fish and chips</a>, proving what we all already knew – that you can’t beat traditional British grub!<br /><br />On Monday and Tuesday, we met thousands of children whose entries made it into the finals at the Science Museum in London. The wrapup gave them a chance to check out each others' designs and talk about their Doodles -- and of course it gave us the exciting job of announcing and congratulating the fantastic winner, 13-year-old Katherine Chisnall, from the South West of England. Aside from her day of fame on the Google.co.uk homepage, Katherine and her family will be soon be visiting our <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=&btnG=Search+Images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il">world headquarters</a> in Mountain View, California. The whole event was great fun, and who knows? Maybe we've identified some rising stars for Dennis' crew. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/1600/UK_doodle_winner.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7609/900/320/UK_doodle_winner.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a>

History is cool for school

Posted by Oliver Rickman, UK Corporate Communications Team, and Kate Hammond, UK Product Marketing Team You might be thinking most kids are ...

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