All About Google

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All about Google

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New Google Earth 5.0 Takes You To Mars & The Bottom of the Ocean

Had a few minutes to play with the new Google Earth 5.0. It's very impressive. I don't have an application or a real purpose for anything I do on it but I think its a fascinating program.

New Google Earth 5.0 Takes You 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
By Scott Gilbertson
via Wired.com

Google has rolled out a major upgrade for Google Earth, the company’s desktop, geo-mapping browser. Google Earth 5 beta offers a host of new features, including interactive underwater details, historical maps, Mars togopography and the ability to easily record your Google Earth journeys.

The most exciting of the new features are the oceanography details. Google Earth has long offered minor, 2D topographical sketches of the Earth’s oceans, but the latest version adds the sort of details that Jacques Cousteau would have flipped for — you can now dive under the ocean and fly over undersea landmarks — mountains, trenches, shipwrecks and more.

The coverage isn’t complete, but it’s pretty easy to see where the details are and from there just simply keep zooming to dive underwater and swim around.

To go along with the new oceanography features, Google Earth has a few new data layers, including content from National Geographic and Cousteau Ocean World. Highlighted features include shipwrecks, maps of global chlorophyll levels, animal tracking data and more.

Article Continues HERE

What's New in Google Earth 5.0


Explore the Ocean in Google Earth 5.0

LIFE Photo Archives

So this is really cool. Google is now hosting the entire LIFE photo archive.

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.

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. This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.

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. [Google Blog via RantsofaModernDayElitist]

Flu Trends

There's been a few cases going around our office the last couple weeks. Luckily I'm smarter than the average bear and got my flu vaccine weeks ago.

Like many Googlers, we're fascinated by trends in online search queries. Whether you're interested in U.S. elections, today's hot trends, or each year's Zeitgeist, patterns in Google search queries can be very informative. Last year, a small team of software engineers began to explore if we could go beyond simple trends and accurately model real-world phenomena using patterns in search queries. After meeting with the public health gurus on Google.org's Predict and Prevent team, we decided to focus on outbreaks of infectious disease, which are responsible for millions of deaths around the world each year. You've probably heard of one such disease: influenza, commonly known as "the flu," which is responsible for up to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year. If you or your kids have ever caught the flu, you know just how awful it can be.

Our team found that certain aggregated search queries tend to be very common during flu season each year. We compared these aggregated queries against data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and we found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week. As a result, if we tally each day's flu-related search queries, we can estimate how many people have a flu-like illness. Based on this discovery, we have launched Google Flu Trends, where you can find up-to-date influenza-related activity estimates for each of the 50 states in the U.S. [Google Blog]

GOOGLE FLU TRENDS

Random I know but it came up when I did a Google Image search for "Google"

Google Is Watching

From Wired,

This bird's-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.

The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 cm -- close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing.

Since around the late 70s, the military has used high-resolution spy satellites capable of reading newspaper headlines in Red Square. But only in recent years the technology became available to the public and businesses while concurrently making dramatic strides in coverage and resolution. For example, when Google Earth launched in 2004, its imagery was low-res and spotty. But by March 2006, a third of the world population could get a bird's-eye view of their own homes in high resolution.

There's one catch for Google: While the GeoEye-1 will provide imagery to the NGA at the maximum resolution of 43 cm, Google will only receive images at a 50-cm resolution because of a government restriction, Brender explained. However, Google's partnership with GeoEye is exclusive, meaning the search-engine giant will be the only online mapping site using the satellite's photos.

A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25 cm, company representatives promised. However, Google's satellite imagery will not likely get more detailed because of the 50-cm regulation.

The two interesting things I took from this:
1. What the hell does Google not have it's hands in and what do they do that doesn't work?
2. So the government has had and been using these high resolution satellites for almost 40 years, what kind of crazy technology do they have now in 2008?

....this provides me with somewhat of a segue to a post to come, check back soon.

"Nine Things...That Made Me Think Twice" by Jim Nichols

The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Jim Nichols is blogging for iMedia and has a very interesting recent post I'd like to share with you.

I want to thank iMedia for the opportunity to offer a blog here. I’ll be blogging here on Wednesdays. And in my view, days of the week have different reading karma. Monday is a day for long investigative pieces. Friday is a day for opinion and humor. Wednesday is a day for snippets. And that is what Nine Things is about.

9. Google Growth So Slow It May Begin Advertising

From Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider: Google “has recently held discussions with several Madison Avenue agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy and the boutique firm Taxi New York, about new efforts to promote some products, according to people familiar with the matter.In August, Google launched an advertising effort in Japan that included outdoor and online ads created by Wieden + Kennedy, which is best known for its Nike "Just do it" campaign...” MORE

Yes, the word is that the company that has built one of the largest brands on earth without advertising itself may be pondering a significant ad effort. I wonder…is it slowing growth or the declining luster of the brand that promised to “do no evil.”

8. Lots of Bloggers Are ACTUALLY Making Money

Michael Estrin reports “Half of all bloggers run ads, and of that group, 70 percent use self-service contextual ad platforms such as Google's AdSense, according to Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere" report. The report, which Technorati has compiled since 2004, also found that 23 percent of bloggers use three or more ad platform MORE

We’ve all seen blog ads for years, but frankly I always thought that people were tilting at windmills with all those ads. But the recent Technorati report shows that both lots of bloggers are making SOME money, and a lot more people than you think are making a living at it. Democratizing content has led to democratized profit!

7. Microsoft’s Ads Go Viral, And Prove That Any Publicity Is Good Publicity

Mario Sgambelluri reports, “Microsoft’s bizarre Gates/Seinfeld ads racked up 3.2 million online views during the 10 days following their launch, while the latest Mac “I’m a PC” ads netted less than half that, reports online video measurement company Visible Measures.” MORE

I hated this new MSFT campaign and blogged about it in a rather negative way. But maybe the joke's on me. When you’re trying to restage a brand in a world where talk is more important than GRPs, maybe producing an ad campaign explicitly designed to drive digital discussion is the best way to dig a brand image out of a hole. One thing for sure, a LOT of people are talking about Redmond!

6. Online Video Penetration Doubled in 12 Months

Michael Estrin reported that There are twice as many Americans watching video on their computers than there were this time last year, according to a recent study from ABI Research, which surveyed nearly 1,000 users. In 2007, ABI found that 32 percent of users were watching video online, but that figure has spiked to 63 percent of those surveyed in 2008. MORE

I would imagine that no one is surprised at massive growth in video. But penetration doubling in a year? Fantastic! I guess I should have known something was up when my Mom sent me a link to an embedded video a couple of weeks ago. If you’re a brand that uses TV and isn’t using online video, what ON EARTH are you waiting for?

5. Doritos Stakes $1 Million On the Power of Consumers to Out Do DDB

Michael Estrin writes “The marketing team at Anheuser-Busch may not know it, but there's a $1 million bounty on their heads courtesy of PepsiCo's Doritos brand. Doritos, which has garnered a fair amount of attention with its user generated Super Bowl ads, is taking the format to a new level this year, promising $1 million dollars to the winner if the ad ranks No. 1 on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. Anheuser-Busch has placed No. 1 for the past 10 years running. MORE

Bud has been on top of the Super Bowl ad stakes for years upon years. And Doritos is sick of it. So their new contest asks Doritos eaters to come up with an ad that can beat some of the greatest creative minds in the biz. Do I hear a tremble in Mad Ave’s voice? I’m betting the public can do it!

4. The Politics, They Have a Changed.

I got reminded of this video, which shows us all how much the digital revolution has changed the world, including politics. Now, if you're in your early 20s this may seem like politics as usual to you. But lemme tell you, we’re a long way from the campaigns of yesteryear!


3. Time to Tighten The Belts?

Steve McClellan of AdWeek reports: “But privately, some industry executives now believe this year's ad spend might actually end up in negative territory, and might not improve at all in 2009. They point to figures just released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus that show a first-half U.S. ad spend decline of 1.4 percent, compared with the same period in 2007, to $67.6 billion, with significant drops in spending in major ad categories including automotive (down 8 percent to $5.3 billion), pharmaceutical (down 5 percent to $2.6 billion) and movie studios (down 5 percent to $1.7 billion).” MORE

No surprise that the recession will be affecting the biz, but two years of declines is a pretty sobering prediction. Those on the digital side should find it less painful, but it appears that times are going to get kind of tough.

2. Twitter Continues To Grow By Leaps And Bounds

Michael Estrin reports: “Apparently micro-blogging your way through American politics has an enormous appeal. Twitter reported a 23 percent jump in signups from the previous week, and the company cited last week's presidential debates as the primary source for the increase.” MORE

I never really liked Twitter, well, that’s not true. I hated it. I keep thinking the whole thing will collapse like a house of cards when people wake up to the maddening annoyance of 140 characters. But apparently I am the one who doesn’t get it. More than 20% growth in a week? On an already large base? Good Lord. Resolved, I will hold my nose and try it again.

1. Widgets Most Assuredly NOT Dead

Michael Estrin reports “Coming soon to a Facebook page within your network: video content from your favorite big media companies. At least, that's the plan under the terms of a new deal that Slide has inked with CBS Interactive, Comcast's E! Entertainment channel and Time Warner's Warner Brothers, as well as News Corp. and NBC Universal's jointly owned video site Hulu, among other companies. MORE

Last fall the CW was that widgets were hotter than lava. Last spring they were virtually DOA. But the pendulum seems to have swung into the black again, with companies that actually have reasons to have widgets and content in widgets offering widgets. Imagine that.

Well, that’s Nine Things this week. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.

Can Google's G1 Smart Phone Be More Than an Apple Knockoff?

From AdAge.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With a touch screen, a 3G high-speed network and an application store full of third-party-developed tools, the new "Google phone" has elicited numerous comparisons to Apple's iPhone. But for Google's Android mobile-operating system to be successful, it needs its phones to be much more than the first viable iPhone competitor.

Google, T-Mobile and Taiwan-based handset manufacturer HTC today announced the first phone created with Google's Android operating system. The HTC Dream -- which goes on sale Oct. 22 in the U.S. through T-Mobile under the name G1 -- generally got high marks from bloggers and analysts, who praised the high-resolution screen (like the iPhone, web pages can be viewed horizontally or vertically), tight integration with Google products such as Gmail and Maps, and a flip-out keyboard for those who never got used to the iPhone's virtual type pad.

Simplifying the mobile market
Google's real goal with Android is to simplify the mobile market and allow handset makers and developers to more easily create great devices with useful applications -- in turn persuading some of the 82% of mobile subscribers who don't use smart phones to buy such devices and use the internet. Google sees mobile devices as being far more ubiquitous than computers, and the more consumers it can get to go online via their phones, the better, arguably, for companies who make money via online advertising. (Google CEO Eric Schmidt is so bullish on this he called mobile "the re-creation of the internet.")

Such phones are also good for marketers, explained Dean McRobie, exec director of technology at Organic. Mobile today, he said, is "not easy to work with. We have a huge, multifaceted community of devices. ... Where Android starts to become interesting is in bringing together this community and saying it's in everyone's benefit to have open standards and capabilities for mobile device."

But the phone is still relatively expensive for the average Joe, at $179 plus a voice and data plan. That's a scant $20 cheaper than the iPhone and, by adding on iPhone-comparable memory, for instance, could actually make the G1 more expensive than the iPhone and leads to questions of just how much impact Google's move into mobile will have.

As Google Mobile Product Manager Sumit Agarwal explained Android earlier to Ad Age: "Google's interest is in getting people to use the net more. We want people to have access to our services. We want the world to have access to the world's information. There are 3 billion mobile phones out there, far more than the number of PCs. ... We view it not as a 'nice to have' but as a survival imperative to provide our services to users via whatever device they want."

What others have done
Other big web players have gone different routes: Microsoft offers a mobile version of its popular Windows operating system, while Yahoo has shunned the OS model, instead creating a development language that can modify websites and applications to fit the device on which they're being used. And AOL last year bought a third-party mobile ad network.

Research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that Google's Android smart phones would reach 400,000 units in the quarter, for a 4% market share. According to ComScore M:Metrics, 19.9 million Americans have a smart phone, up 121% since July 2007, led by Apple's iPhone. Of course, the focus for Google is not just the G1 but the many other Android phones that Google hopes will come after it.

That's also the focus for early Android developers.

"We're big fans of the open nature of Android and the ability it gives us to know our application will work anywhere," said Alexander Muse, CEO of Big in Japan, which created a comparison-shopping Android app called Shop Savvy. "This particular device from HTC is nice and we like it. But at end of day we're programming for Android, not for a particular phone or handset."

Here Comes Google Chrome....

Google Chrome is an open source web browser developed by Google. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or "chrome", of web browsers. The open source project behind Google Chrome is known as Chromium.

A beta version for Microsoft Windows was released on 2 September 2008 in 43 languages. Mac OS X and Linux versions are under development and are scheduled to be released after the Windows version.

The release announcement was originally scheduled for 3 September 2008, and a comic by Scott McCloud was to be sent to journalists and bloggers explaining the features of and motivations for the new browser. Copies intended for Europe were shipped early and German blogger Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped made a scanned copy of the 38-page comic available on his website after receiving it on 1 September 2008. Google subsequently made the comic available on Google Books and their site and referenced it on its official blog along with an explanation for the early release.

Articles & Press About Google Chrome
TechCrunch
CrunchBase
CNet

Joga Bonito "Play Beautifully"

Here are some of the Joga Bonito ads from 2 years ago that aired during the 2006 World Cup. The ads were created by Nike and apparently Joga Bontio is also a social networking site made in partnership with Google. The commercials hosted by legendary French star Eric Cantona and are filmed as if they are broadcast on an underground channel aimed to show the true beauty of football (soccer). The commercials feature some of the biggest names in international football, including: Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry to name a few.

Google Street View Captures Drunk

After the death of a friend, Bill went out to drink his sorrows away at a local bar. After sleeping it off on the sidewalk that night, little did Bill know he had his picture taken.
A few days later, Bill wasn't too pleased when he saw himself on Google Street View which launched in Australia last week.

Bill said he accepted he could not expect to have complete privacy in a public street, but he questioned whether his embarrassing moment should be broadcast over the internet.

Street View was launched in Australia last week and since then there have been a number of complaints about what has been captured on the video camera.


SEE THE ARTICLE ***HERE***

iPhone has Competition: GPhone, Android, LG Dare

With the new iPhone 3G out on the streets, and iPhone 2.0 dazzling people with applications and what not, it brings to mind questions like, "Is this the only thing we can come up with?" or "is iPhone the only phone that I will like?" or "which phone is really the best phone? is it really iPhone"...AND..."when will someone make a phone that has all the same features?"

Well, as of now, iPhone has a few competitors like the LG Shine and Dare, the Voyager, the Prada, etc...





But all of these phones aren't nearly as popular as the iPhone, and can't really compete.

However, when we look forward through the next 6-12 months, we can expect some true competitors to come at the iPhone... hopefully, for competition and capitalism's sake.

iPhone Killer possibilities include Google's GPhone, Samsung's F700, and anything else people can come up with, including phones that could run Windows Mobile. The interesting background fight going on right now is the software war. While Apple's Mac OS is dominating with the iPhone, Google is busy developing Android, its open source mobile platform, and Microsoft the software veteran has confirmed that it's main focus is Windows Mobile and not a Zune Phone or any device of it's own. As with the PC market, Microsoft is hoping device manufacturers will create competing phones that will run Windows Mobile. It could be a mistake on their part, but that's how Microsoft works.

Many people have qualms about the iPhone even after its 2.0 update. It would be nice to see some competitors take advantage of these issues and ramp up their devices to grapple with the iPhone monster. Sooner or later someone is going to make the ultimate device: computer, phone, digital communication device, video camera, digital camera, 3G mobile broadband powerhouse. The ultimate device in your hands. Personally, I'd like to see a phone with 100GB of storage, 3G super connection, wi-fi to the max, infra-red keyboard, 5mp camera with video capture (a good one to replace my digital camera), laser projector, ipod, complete email and address sync capabilities, the works. And it has to fit in the pocket of my wranglers haha.. jk I don't wear wranglers, but some people do.

http://www.mobilewhack.com/top-ten-list-of-iphone-competitors/