Model Amber Chia caught in controversy

Malaysian model Amber Chia said she is proud to appear in the inaugural edition of Play boy in Indonesia, even though her mother thinks she looked sexier in photos featured by other magazines, a local newspaper reported.

The Star daily said Chia was slightly bemused at the controversy and protests following the release in early April of a toned-down edition of Play boy. Although it contained no nude pictures, the protesters said the publication was a form of moral terrorsm.

"I didn't think it would generate that much interest. In fact, I am so proud to appear in the first issue as the eight pages of photos were tasteful, stylish and sensuous, but not pornog raphic," Chia was quoted as saying.

Chia, the current Guess International ambassador, was not the cover girl but was featured in the "Celebrity" pages, in which she wore six outfits including low cut jeans and a black bra.

"When I showed my parents the proposed pictures, my mum laughed and said I had looked sexier in other magazines while my dad merely asked why they needed so many photos," Chia said.

"My boyfriend said if I believed this is good for my career, then go ahead," she said.

She said Play boy got in touch with her three months ago when she was in Jakarta to promote a fitness center. Initially, she turned down the offer.

"I assumed it would be a typical Play boy issue where I had to bare my bre asts or expose my private parts," Chia said.

But after seeing the sample pictures, "I was surprised ... I secretly laughed as I had posed in sexier clothes before," she said.

MARINA MORA SE CASA

La ex miss Perú y modelo Marina Mora, violando las leyes de Dios, desea casarse por la Iglesia con su primo Gustavo Mora en su ciudad natal, Guadalupe – La libertad. Sin embargo el prelado de la mencionada cuidad, José Ortiz Alvarado ha señalado a un importante medio de comunicación que él no los casará, aduciendo que “las leyes sagradas de la Iglesia se lo impiden". Foto: www.marinamora.com

Weekend Babe: Hot x2 Morishita Chisato

ahh.. the all in one weekend babe, Chisato Morishita. She's a race queen, singer and an actress! Have a nice weekend!

News + Suggest join forces

Posted by Jon McAlister, Software Engineer

I've always been a big fan of both Google News and Google Suggest. So in my 20% time, I've worked on a way to bring them together, and I'm now happy to report the launch of Google Suggest on Google News, which provides you with search suggestions specific to news in your country, in real time, while you type. If you're already a Suggest user, you'll see this right away, but it's not on by default. Although Suggest + News is currently English-only, the suggestions will reflect the English-language regional edition you're viewing.

I find that this helps me save time while doing frequent searches (e.g. [google]. And seeing the Suggest list gives me a sense of the most common news queries. Enjoy!

ANA LUCIA DOMÍNGUEZ

Ana Lucia Dominguez es actriz y modelo colombiana de 23 añitos. Saltó a la popularidad por la telenovela “Pasión de Gavilanes”. Ha sido portada de la revista Interviu, con unas fotos muy sensuales en las que aparece desnuda. Tiene una estatura de un metro 65cm. En su haber cuenta con el Premio Mara de Oro de Venezuela como Mejor Actriz Extranjera por su participación en la telenovela "Pasión de Gavilanes". Más fotos

Fotos Ana Lucia Dominguez

A great day for 3D

Posted by Brad Schell, Product Management Director, Google SketchUp

Last month we told you that @Last Software had joined the Google fold. Today we’re releasing Google SketchUp, a free version of our 3D modeling software, which makes our long-time vision of making 3D accessible to everyone a reality.

We’re still offering SketchUp Pro 5 for design professionals like architects, designers, builders, art directors and game developers. Both Google SketchUp and SketchUp Pro 5 enable you to place models in Google Earth; Pro users get some additional features.

The new Google SketchUp is for the do-it-yourselfer, the hobbyist — really anyone who wants to build 3D models for use in Google Earth. Go ahead and model that new kitchen, or deck, landscape your virtual garden, or impress your teacher with a roller coaster or medieval castle. When you’re finished, place your model in Google Earth. There! The beginning of a virtual world. Warning: don’t start messing with this stuff after dinner because your first experience could be an all-nighter… making an idea come to life in 3D can be very addicting.

And what could be better than that? Well, sharing your work with everyone else through the 3D Warehouse. Accessible through both versions of SketchUp, 3D Warehouse enables you to upload, search, browse, view, and download SketchUp models. Just as you do with Google search, enter some keywords and the 3D Warehouse shows you all your options. Grab the one you want and import it into your model. (Note that the Warehouse is not stocked up yet — so model something yourself and upload it for all the world to see.)

Visionaries, utopians, virtual world builders: your time has come.

Sexy Japanese Rio Kitajima

Rio KitaJima was born on 18 July 1985 in Tokyo, Japan. This 155cm Japanese beauty is famous in Japan for her umm... videos. She broke into the scene in 2004 and her fan base seem to be exponantially increasing. Rio loves to go clubbing and dancing.

Google Maps in Europe

Posted by Steven Crossan, Product Manager, Google Maps Europe

We're excited to announce that we have just launched beta versions of Google Maps for France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. These sites include the full suite of interactive street maps, driving directions, and integrated local business search. This has been a global effort with Google teams in Paris, Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, New York, Mountain View, Kirkland, Sydney, London, Dublin, and Zurich working together for much of the past year to build a truly "local" product.

Accompanying this release, we have greatly improved high resolution imagery coverage for Europe in both Google Maps and Google Earth. Check out the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Olympiastadion in Berlin, and the Grand Canal in Venice.

To give you a preview of what's to come, we've also rendered street maps for many other countries in Europe. Developers, you can incorporate these maps and imagery into your own websites using the free Google Maps API Version 2.

ANGIE CEPEDA EN "AMOR EN ALQUILER"

La guapa actriz, que protagonizó “Pantaleón y las Visitadoras”, Angie Cepeda llegó a Perú para estar presente en el estreno de la cinta que protagoniza: Amor en alquiler. Angie, dejó de lado los rulos para lucir el cabello lacio. Declaró a la prensa que se sentía feliz al regresar otra vez a nuestro país. Más fotos.

Hot Polish Model / Actress Joanna Krupa

Joanna Krupa was born April 23, 1981 in Warsaw, Poland. Joanna was brought up in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is the oldest of three sisters.

In July 2005, the 5'7" beauty was featured in a pictorial of Play boy Magazine. Joanna was voted German "Maxim's" Model of the Year 2004/2005. She has also appeared on various magazine covers: FHM, Inside Sport, Stuff, Teeze, etc. In addition she has appeared in numerous TV commericals & TV shows.

You may have spotted her on billboards and in magazine ads all over the world, most notably for Skechers, IZOD and Le Coup. Joanna has also been seen in various spreads for magazines, and graced the cover of Maxim Holland.

Her past TV work includes appearances on Just Shoot Me, The Man Show and Splatter Factor.

MAJU Y CICARELLI

Este 29 de abril se presentarán más de sesenta modelos en el reconocido desfile Abtao Fashion 2006, en el Callao-Lima. Como invitadas especiales están la ex Miss Mundo, María Julia Mantilla y la modelo brasileña más cotizada del momento, Daniella Cicarelli, de 27 años.

ZHANG ZIYI

Zhang Ziyi, reconocida actriz oriental, natural de China. Nació el 09 de febrero de 1979. Tiene una estatura de un metro 65 cm. En su época de adolescente estudió en la academia de drama “China Central”. Hija de padre economista y madre profesora. Su primera película fue "El Camino a Casa". Saltó a la Fama cuando participó en la exitosa película "El Tigre y Dragón", ganadora de 4 Oscares. Más tarde, trabajó con el actor Jackie Chan en la película "Hora Punta 2". Recientemente protagoniza la película “Memorias de una Geisha”. Más fotos

This is a test. This is only a test.

Posted by Ambar Pansari, Product Manager, Search User Experience, and Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products and User Experience

From time to time, we run live experiments on Google — tests visible to a relatively few people -- to discover better ways to search. We do this because there’s no good substitute for understanding how real people, in real-world situations, actually operate. Theories are fine, but “improving the user experience” really happens best when we understand what people do online.

So to learn more, we sometimes randomly select a group of people to see a possible improvement to search options. Or we may select a group of people and try out a new element while they're searching. If you ever wonder why your Google site looks slightly different from that of the person sitting next to you, this is why.

We are currently testing new ways to refine searches so that, for example, a search for jobs might offer a choice of job location or function, rather than forcing you to continually narrow the terms you type in to a standard Google search.



We’ve run another test to learn more about how people navigate to find the information most relevant to them: how you might find image search or information in Froogle, for example, when that might be just the thing you want. Here’s how that one looks.



And we test ways to enrich web results, such as by offering a "Remove Result" option that would omit particular results from future searches if you decide they’re not useful. You'll see this feature if you're already signed in to a Google service when you perform your web search.



There's no set schedule when we'll roll out these sorts of new ideas (if at all), but these tests help us to improve your search experience.

p.s.: Google is also active in CHI, the major organization on user experience and usability. We're participating in the annual conference this week in Montreal. More here.

Singapore Actress Jacelyn Tay

Jacelyn Tay was born on 12 June 1975 in Singapore. The 170cm beauty is a popular actress in Singapore. Her journey as an actress began while in her freshman year at the National University of Singapore. she entered the 4th bi-annual Star Search Competition organised by MediaCorp and won the female category.

Upon winning a contract with MediaCorp, she discovered that she enjoyed acting and decided to quit her studies. However, she was disappointed in her first few years with MediaCorp as she was given only minor roles and therefore unable to showcase her amazing talent.

Jacelyn's first major role would not come until 1998, when she was cast in the role of He Xiangu in the Singapore TV series "Legends of the Eight Immortals" where she receive her first Star Award.

She then acted in various roles ranging from a girl-next-door, a member of a hotel staff to a psychiatrist. Jacelyn's unforgettable screen performances in period dramas were so well-received that she won the coveted award of Taiwan's Most Popular MediaCorp Female Artiste in Star Awards 1999.

Another surprise is... Jacelyn loves singing and she recorded a few songs for some of the drama she starred in. Amongst other thing, Jacelyn produced a magazine show, wrote 2 books and is currently hosting a health and beauty show entitled A New You.

NATALIE PORTMAN

Actriz que aporta una atemporal belleza y gracia. Ha conseguido el estatus de una de las actrices jóvenes con más talento y más requeridas de Hollywood. Natalie Portman nació en Jerusalén (Israel), 1981. A los 12 años debutó en el mundo cinematográfico en la película León, El Profesional. Con el estreno de la película Closer en el 2004, confirmó su profesionalismo como gran actriz, recibiendo el Globo de Oro a la Mejor Actriz de Reparto, así como una nominación al Oscar. Recientemente terminó de rodar la producción de Los fantasmas de Goya, la película está situada en 1792 cuando Francisco Goya era el pintor más famoso de España. Este largometraje será estrenado en Estados Unidos en Noviembre o Diciembre de este año.

NATALIE PORTMAN Para Felipe, de Santigo de Chile.

Celebrating Earth Day

Posted by Cristin Frodella, Product Marketing Manager

To help spread the word about keeping our planet green this Earth Day, Google has joined forces with Scholastic – the folks who brought us Clifford the Big Red Dog – to distribute lesson plans (and a contest) to middle-schoolers across the U.S.

Using Google Earth, teachers can fly their students around the world to talk to them about issues like climate change and how it has affected places like Glacier National Park, the Chesapeake Bay and Los Angeles. And they can introduce students to community initiatives across the country where volunteers are cleaning up their cities, planting trees and beautifying. Using Google Earth, teachers can show their students placemarks of the towns where outreach projects are taking place and students can get involved in cleaning up their own environment.

As for the contest, students write their own environmental stories by researching a topic of interest and illustrating it with Google Earth images. Following detailed instructions, they can create their own Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files which they will send to us for review. The top three environmental story creators will win prizes for themselves, their class and their teachers, including a week at Earth Camp, technology grants and Lenovo laptops for the classrooms.

This Earth Day project goes to 30,000 middle school teachers across the country in poster form (with placemarks on the front and lesson plan suggestions on the back), and it’s also being emailed to 100,000 more teachers. There’s a Scholastic website for teachers and a special Google Earth page too.

KATIE HOLMES

Comenzó su carrera de actriz con apenas diez meses de edad en la película "Al final de la escalera". A los nueve años, empezó a grabar anuncios de televisión.
Dos años más tarde debutó en el cine con "Crooked Hearts; secretos de familia"(1991), donde le dieron su primer beso cinematográfico, y a continuación apareció en el film "Somos los mejores" (1992). Acaba de concebir una nena con el actor Tom Crouise.

Avoiding RSI

Posted by Dr. Taraneh Razavi, M.D., Staff Doctor

From time to time, a resident physician at Google headquarters weighs in with her thoughts on healthy living. This is not medical advice, and you should check with your own doctor before pursuing any particular course of action.

There is a Chinese saying that "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short." In other words, how long can you tap on that keyboard or sit in that chair before you hurt yourself. We’re not designed to remain as sedentary or perform the fine motor movements for the long uninterrupted hours that we have to do in so many of our jobs. Evidence suggests that prolonged abnormal posture and repetitive movements contribute to neck, limb and back pain. These conditions are collectively known as overuse syndromes, or repetitive stress injury (RSI).

RSI is no small matter. It accounts for 34% of all lost-workday injury and illness — and costs almost $20 billion annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The National Academy of Sciences has concluded that an estimated $50 billion is lost by businesses every year from sick leave, decreased productivity and medical costs linked to repetitive stress disorders. The Academy has published two reports since 1998 which directly link repetitive motion to workplace injury.

The damage sustained from RSI is due to structural changes in the muscle fiber as well as due to decreased blood flow. Nerves can also be involved. The immobile tissue and surrounding inflammation compress the nerve which can cause numbness or tingling and eventually weakness if the nerve is damaged severely.

For those of you who need evidence, see this study on "Overuse Syndrome." In this study, biopsies were taken from hand muscles of injured and normal subjects, which demonstrated the structural damage in the muscle fibers and correlated the damage with the severity of the injury. In another study, biopsies were taken from neck muscles, and reduced local blood flow was found in the injured areas. The greater the pain difference, the greater the reduction in blood flow.

Some of the most common RSI injuries are tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Work-related carpal tunnel syndrome now accounts for more than 41% of all repetitive motion disorders in the United States, says this study. And here's a telling title: "Hard work never hurt anyone: or did it?" -- it's a review of occupational associations with soft tissue musculoskeletal disorders of the neck and upper limb.

So what should you do? The key to treatment is prevention. Research shows that injuries decrease and productivity increases when employers encourage stretch breaks and stress the importance of ergonomics. See for example this one at at Ergonomics Now.

Here are a few tips:

-- Breaks should be taken every 30-45 minutes for at least 5 minutes. If you need assistance there are free downloadable timers that will help remind you to do so.
-- Stretch your arms, hands, neck, and back during breaks. This yoga site demonstrates some exercises. Other sites are listed below.
-- Maintain posture alignment. Don't slouch on the couch with the laptop.
-- Work stations should be reviewed initially and with each office move. Adjust your chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse, laptop. Alternate keyboards and mice periodically.
--Shift your gaze from the computer screen to the distance. And don't forget to blink!
--Limit non-essential computer use. This may be heresy -- but do give the surfing, gaming, emailing, and text messaging a rest.
-- If pain occurs or persists, see your doctor, who may recommend wrist brace, ice packs, anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen, cortisone injections, physical therapy, and most importantly, rest to allow healing. Don't procrastinate in addressing your symptoms -- the sooner you tend to them, the better off you are.

And finally, here are more sites that may be helpful:
Safe Computing Tips
Alternative Pointing Devices
Alternative and Ergonomic Keyboards
Harvard RSI Action
RSI exercises
RSI Page

Update: One more: Boston U.'s Ergonomics Self-Help Guide (Flash)

This year's India Code Jam

Posted by Posted by Arvind Jain, Google Bangalore

On April 6 and 7, Google India celebrated the coding community in Southeast Asia by hosting the second Code Jam competition. At nearly 15,000 entrants, this year’s registrations topped last year’s. The annual software coding fest consists of two online rounds, in which participants competed to solve three coding problems more quickly and accurately than their competitors. The top 50, who came from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Singapore (and included one female finalist, by the way), were invited to compete in the onsite finals. (We made a video about the finals.)

Though it was incredibly close, last year's winner, Ardian Kristanto Poernomo, from Indonesia, snagged the grand prize once again. Abishek Kumarasubramanian from Chennai, India was less than 3/100ths of a point behind him.

The two-day event also featured of team building activities and Google engineering presentations. We’re especially delighted that over half of the finalists expressed their interest in working for Google. And if you’re one of those, go here.

Back on the map

Posted by Thai Tran, Product Manager, Google Maps and Local Search

Last October, we merged our local search site with Google Maps. At that time, we thought it was most appropriate to name the integrated product "Google Local" to emphasize the broad searching capabilities of the site and that it was much more than an ordinary mapping site. But we underestimated how much people loved Google Maps. Many have continued to refer to the site by the previous name, and many have explicitly asked us to "bring back Google Maps." Since it's most important to us to give our users what they want, we've decided to change the name officially to Google Maps.

Does this mean that local search is no longer important to Google? Absolutely not! Google Maps continues to have the killer combination of maps, driving directions, and local business search. And local search has become a fundamental part of the Google search experience; it's now embedded within a number of our products, including Google web search, Google Earth, Google SMS, and Google Mobile.

Weekend babe: Cute Sayuki Matsumoto

ahh.. It's the weekend again! As always, here's Sayuki Matsumoto - your weekend babe this week. I just love how she fills the swimwear. Have a good one. :)

Easier web page creation

Posted by Justin Rosenstein, Product Manager, Google Page Creator

My mother wanted a site for her law practice that potential clients would find when they Googled her. My professor needed a place on the web where he could post assignments and readings for Psych 131. My friend Casey was excited about creating an online encyclopedia of Big Lebowski trivia.

All of them wanted simple web pages that looked great, but none of them wanted to take the time to learn HTML, wrangle with complex tools or shell out cash for a designer. They managed to cajole me, their nerdy technically-savvy friend, into becoming the neighborhood techie -- but what if you don't know one? Why isn't making a web page as fast and easy as using a word processor?

These frustrations stayed with me when I started working at a California company full of friendly neighborhood techies that encourages its employees to devote 20% of their time to scratching their intellectual itches. So I gathered a team of engineers and designers passionate about using their 20% time to make it easy to publish useful, attractive web pages.

After many months of focusing on designing a product that our friends and families would enjoy, and politely coaxing web browsers into doing things they were never meant to do, we're happy that "Google Page Creator" is now part of the Google Labs family. Labs is Google's technology playground, a place where we can experiment with new services that have us excited, but that aren't all grown up yet. We rely on constructive feedback from early users to help us nurture these experiments from intriguing ideas into mature products.

Google Page Creator is just a small step in helping people get their words, pictures and ideas on to the web. But it's nice to know that when my friends want to share their experiences from a Venetian monastery, or coworkers feel compelled to give their appropriately-named bowling team a web presence, I know where to point them.

Keeping up with recent research

Posted by Dejan Perkovic, Software Engineer

As a graduate student at the University of Maryland years ago, I took an interesting course on quantum computing. The topic intrigued me and, from time to time, I like to go back and and see what is new in the area (for all I know, Google may some day need quantum computers to extend search into the intergalactic domain :-) ).

Today we're launching a feature of Google Scholar which will make it easier for researchers to keep up with recent research. From quantum computing to copper binding in prion protein. It's not just a plain sort by date, but rather we try to rank recent papers the way researchers do, by looking at the prominence of the author's and journal's previous papers, how many citations it already has, when it was written, and so on. Look for the new link on the upper right for "Recent articles" -- or switch to "All articles" for the full list.

Scholarly endeavors are about learning what has already been done and building on it. We hope this feature will help researchers worldwide learn from and build on the latest advances.

Update: Clarified new feature by adding new sentence to end of second paragraph.

Google Calendar data API

Posted by Kyle Marvin, Software Engineer

Last week, there was Google Calendar. This week, developers can start writing code that uses it. Enter the Google Calendar data API, which can be used to write external applications that query, create, and update Google Calendar events, so they're available to Google Calendar users or other API-enabled applications.

Find more details here.

Sexy Japanese Idol Ami Ayukawa

Ami Ayukawa (Ayukawa Ami) was born on 18 February, 1981 in the vicinity of the border between Western Tokyo and the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. The 162cm babe is a popular Japanese AV Idol. She loves going to the beach and enjoys body-boarding.

OneBox for all your corporate information

Posted by Dave Girouard, VP, Enterprise

We added OneBox functionality to our Google Search Appliance today, which means you can now find just about anything through your friendly Google search box. Lots of folks have been asking us - is this going to kill the corporate portal market? For the record, we have no desire or plans to kill anything. But it's clear to us that people prefer search to having every possible piece of information thrust at them willy-nilly. And they like having search front and center on their screens, not buried, as it is all too often inside company intranets. As industry-watcher John Battelle explains, search is so powerful because it responds to an expressed intent by the user. Shouldn't corporate portals do the same?

Google OneBox for Enterprise is cool because it takes a completely understood and tested design metaphor and extends it to another domain. Um, what I meant to say was, employees already know how to get movie listings, weather forecasts, and flight information through simple Google queries. So it won't surprise them (in fact it may delight them) to learn that they can get real-time contact info, sales forecasts, and customer information the very same way. We launched an initial set of OneBox modules with Oracle, Cognos, SAS and Salesforce.com; some of these partners talk about that here.

And there’s one more thing. We're also introducing an all-new Mini that's 25 times faster and half the size of its predecessor!

Japanese Idol, Elegant Yuka Kosaka

I was doing my usual research and I stumbled across a beautiful Japanese babe, Yuka Kosaka. I think she's really beautiful and elegant at the same time! Hence, I can't resist posting her photo here.

Here a little about Yuka. She was born on 27 June 1985 in the Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. The 168cm beauty shot to fame when her photo was included into the Grand Prix magazine by mistake. During her free time, Yuka enjoys cooking.

ANGIE CEPEDA

Angie Cepeda es una guapa actriz colombiana. Es una chica cariñosa, amable, de carácter extrovertido y muy sencilla. Le gusta tener su propio espacio y disfruta de su soledad. Ama el mar y no le gusta vivir lejos de el. Inicialmente hizo algunos anuncios publicitarios, depués ha protagonizado algunas telenovelas como Las Juanas - (1997), Luz María - (1998), Pobre Diabla - (2000), entre otras. Y en el cine: Pantaleón y las Visitadoras - (1999), Leyendas de Fuego - (1999), El destino no tiene favoritos - (2000)... Si desas ver su pechonalidad haz click aquí.

FOTOS ANGIE CEPEDA
RECOMIENDO: WWW.YOUTUBECUERAZOS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Latin Supermodel Vanessa Lorenzo

Vanessa Lorenzo was born on 7 December 1976 in Barcelona, Spain. As early as 6 years old, she wanted to be a model.

While other teenagers were preoccupied with acne and dating, Vanessa was pouring her heart into her modeling career. At 15, she was absolutely sure that modeling was her calling. Following that, Vanessa quit high school and made modeling the focus of her life.

In the early '90s, Vanessa Lorenzo entered the Elite Look of the Year modeling competition. This was her chance to introduce herself to the rest of the fashion universe, and she finished second.

Shortly after, Vanessa then 17, left Spain for Paris. Even though she didn't speak any French or English, she was rushed to London to work on the Pepe Jeans campaign the day after she arrived. This started her international career.

Vanessa relocated to New York City where she signed with the International Management Group (IMG) agency where she modeled for labels like Giorgio Armani, L'Oreal, Escada, Laura Biagiotti, Pantene, Christian Dior, Gap, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, and Victoria's Secret.

In magazines, she has been seen in Elle, Vogue, Marie Claire, and the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Even better, she has made the covers of Cosmopolitan, Self, Glamour, Lucky, Elle, Vogue, Amica, Woman, and Neo.

SHARON STONE

Nació en Pensilvania, 1958. A los 17 años Sharon Stone ganó el concurso de belleza Miss Pennsylvania. El modelaje le trajo muchas satisfacciones. Después comenzó a tomar pequeños papeles como actriz y su primera película fue “Stardust Memories” (1980). En 1992, protagonizó "Instinto Básico", con Michael Douglas. Y hoy nos sorprende con “Basic Instinct 2”, donde a pesar de sus 48 años, se muestra sexy y despierta los bajos instintos.

SHARON STONE

Weekend babe: Beautiful Hannah Sarah Tan

Yowza! Isn't she hot? Hannah Sarah Tan is this week's weekend babe. Hope you enjoy your easter weekend!

Can you crack the code?

Posted by Wei-Hwa Huang, Software engineer and 4-time World Puzzle Championship Individual Winner

Back in college, I had this idea of an Internet-based puzzle extravaganza. It would have one thousand puzzles of various types, more than anyone could ever expect to solve in the time limit provided. It was all going to tie into a central theme and an intricate story.

I got to about two hundred before I got exhausted (in both senses of the word).

Almost a decade later, that dream has come true: a small group of us at Google, in cooperation with Sony Pictures, have managed to create 12,358 original puzzles for The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google.

That's right, 12,358 (I'd make a joke about Fibonacci numbers, but that would be too obvious), all designed to honor both a fanatical puzzler’s sheer love of a mental challenge and the labyrinthine spirit of The Da Vinci Code itself. They'll be released over the next 24 days, in the form of six different challenges at four difficulty levels, with enough variety that I think everyone will be able to find something they like and play it over and over -- although if you're in the U.S., you'll want to try to complete all 24 and make it to the Final Challenge, where I hear there's a pretty nice prize package awaiting the winner.

I'm rather pleased with how this project fulfilled my youthful dream, and very proud of how well our team's creative synergies were able to mesh with the world of The Da Vinci Code, the cinematic version of which will premiere just as the Quest wraps up. Yes, we'll have to turn the puzzles off then -- after all, how else are we going to get you all offline to join the rest of us in the multiplexes?

Good luck, and more importantly, have fun!

P. S. Okay, this wouldn’t be a Da Vinci-related post if I didn’t give you a clue: if you really want a mental workout, try solving the Chess Challenges by looking only at the board, without using the multiple choices to help you. The training you get may very well prove helpful should you turn out to be one of the elite few who reach the Final Challenge.

Sexy Dutch VJ Renate Verbaan

Renate Verbaan was born in Rotterdam on 27 October 1979. Renate is a popular VJ in Netherlands. She was discovered in 2004 when TMF held an audition for a new VJ. Renate took part managed to finish top three (selected by the public). That was a surprise to Renate as she was a part-time model and had no related experience. The station then selected programmes for her to host and the rest was history...

She's also made appearences in movies such as Boys and Girls and grace the cover of FHM in 2004.

LUCIANA SALAZAR

Luciana Salazar es una bomba Argentina. Nació el 07 de noviembre de 1980. Es del signo Escorpio. Sus medidas: 100 - 54 – 90. Altura: 1.64 cm. Saltó a la fama por su belleza y erotismo. Comenzó su carrera de modelo y muy pronto se le abrieron las puertas al mundo del espectáculo. Tiene una figura escultural. Posa con sus pechos prácticamente al descubierto generando más de un suspiro en la platea. Luciana Salazar Sitio Oficial.

Luciana Salazar

It's about time

Posted by Carl Sjogreen, Product Manager

We're all busy people. Whether it's work or play, school or family, every day is filled with stuff that takes time. Keeping track of schedules isn't easy, and frankly we haven't been too happy with the tools available. So we invite you to try Google Calendar -- a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments -- whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you.

First, we tried to make it fast and easy. You can add events just by clicking and entering one line of simple event information. No muss, no fuss, no cumbersome forms to fill out. And it’s integrated with Gmail so you can add events mentioned in messages to your calendar with just one click.

Second, we wanted to make sure you could use it to see all the events in your world. It’s drop-dead simple to see calendars from your friends and family, or calendars you find with the built-in calendar search tool, right next to your own calendar. You can choose to share as much or as little of your own calendar, too.

Third, we focused on helping events come alive. You can turn any event on your calendar into an invitation just by adding the email addresses of your guests. They can see and respond to your invitation, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves. Event reminders by email and text message to your mobile phone help you remember what’s on your agenda.

Finally, we kept it open. Google Calendar supports the iCal standard so it cooperates with many other calendar applications, enabling you to easily get event data in and out. Also, webmasters can add customized Google Calendar event reminder buttons to their pages, letting visitors quickly add copies of events to their calendars.

We thought it was about time to let you take a look.

Popular Korean Singer Hyori

Lee Hyori or more commonly known as Lee Hyo-Ri & Lee Hyo-lee was born on 10 May, 1979. She is a popular South Korean singer and was a member of the Korean pop group Fin. K.L. before enbarking on her solo career in 2003.

Hyori launched her solo career by being an emcee of Time Machine and Happy Together and then with the release of her first album, Stylish E. Lee Hyori swept the 2003 Daesangs, the most prestigious of Korean music awards, winning more than seven 'artist of the year' awards. Stylish E sold more than 170,000 copies in Korea alone.

Lee Hyori has also appeared as the lead female actress in the SBS drama Three Leaf Clover co-starring opposite Ryu Jin, Kim Jung Hwa, Kim Kang Woo and Lee Hoon. Hyori's popularity in her various activities eventually came to be dubbed as "Hyori Syndrome" in South Korea, and the Korean Media nicknamed 2003 "The Year of Hyori" as she was rarely out of the news all year. Recently, Hyori release her second solo album, Dark Angel.

Apart from being a singer, Hyori is also well-known as a model and spokesperson, She models for Samsung, FR Jeans, GGPX New York, Biotherm Korea, G-Market, Dove, Delmonte and Samsachun. She has also grace the cover of magazines' such as AnAn, Ceci, Ecole, InStyle, Khaki Girl, Luxury Wedding, Seventeen, Stylish Fashion Message, Travel & Leisure, Women We Love and Harper's Bazaar.

MARINA MORA

Marina Mora es Guadalupana de nacimiento -La Libertad- y Ex Miss Perú. Marina fue una de las mujeres más bellas del mundo. Actualmente es modelo profesional. Tiene su propio negocio de modelaje en Lima. Destaca siempre en importantes desfiles de modas. FOTOS: Daniel Quintanilla


MARINA MORA

Day off for Dennis

Posted by Rupert van Millingen, Google UK

From time to time, we like to reflect the world we live in through the logo designs on our home page. These Google 'doodles' are designed exclusively by the original Doodler, Dennis Hwang. Here in the UK, we wanted to let Dennis have the day off and give someone local the chance to get their artwork in front of millions. After a successful pilot competition in 2005, we're pleased to tell you that our 2006 "Doodle 4 Google - My Britain" competition is now open and accepting doodles from pupils ages 4-18 in all schools across the UK.

A panel of experts will judge, narrowing the submissions down to a Top 30 and the public will vote for their favorites. The winning doodle will be hosted on the Google.co.uk home page for a day, and also bag the artist a trip for four to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. To get your (again, UK) school involved, please check out Doodle 4 Google - My Britain.

Thai Model / Actress Tangmo Pattaratida

Pattaratida Patcharaveerapong or Tangmo for short, which means Watermelon in Thai, was born on 14 September 1984 in Bangkok, Thailand. Tangmo is a TV drama actress and a model in Thailand.

This 5' 6" babe loves to go shopping (who doesn't?), going out for dinner, walking down the beach, traveling, hanging out with friends and family, and just having fun.

She has appeared in popular Thai magazine such as in Magazine, FHM and Priew Magazine.

This year's Anita Borg Scholarship winners

Posted by April Yu and Jennifer Bostrom, University Programs

It's that time of year when we happily announce the winners of the 2006 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. We're awarding 19 $10,000 scholarships to these outstanding young women -- graduate and undergraduate students who are completing degrees in computer science and related fields -- with our congratulations:

• Brianna Bethel, University of Colorado - Boulder
• G. Ayorkor Mills - Tettey, Carnegie Mellon University
• Gillian Rachael Hayes, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Himabindu Pucha, Purdue University
• Karen Fullam, University of Texas at Austin
• Kristen Walcott, University of Virginia
• Kristina Chodorow, New York University
• Laura Rouse, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Marta Magdalena Luczynska, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Megan Olsen, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Michele Banko, University of Washington
• Neven Abou Gazala, University of Pittsburgh
• Parisa Michelle Tabriz, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Rebecca Nancy Nesson, Harvard University
• Shana Kay Watters, University of Minnesota
• Sharmishtaa Seshamani, Johns Hopkins University
• Soumi Sinha, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Tracy Westeyn, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Vinithra Varadharajan, Carnegie Mellon University

And we also recognize these 28 highly qualified finalists, who will receive $1,000 awards from us:

• Alicia Avelon Permell, Michigan Tech University
• Anagha Mudigonda, Polytechnic University New York
• Anna Tikhonova, University of California, Davis
• Annie (Hsin-Wen) Liu, University of Washington
• Ashima Kapur, Carnegie Mellon University
• Cindy Rubio Gonzalez, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Delphine Nain, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Divya Arora, Princeton University
• Emily Grace Christiansen, University of Minnesota-Morris
• Emily Shen, Stanford University
• Erika Chin, University of Virginia
• Eva Mok, University of California, Berkeley
• Evelyn Mintarno, Stanford University
• Gina Upperman, Rice University
• Hayley Nicole Iben, University of California, Berkeley
• Jiayue He, Princeton University
• Jing Chen, University of Pennsylvania
• Laureen Lam, San Jose State University
• Lingyun Zhang, University of California, San Diego
• Lu Xiao, Pennsylvania State University
• Meeta Sharma Gupta, Harvard University
• Moushumi Sharmin, Marquette University
• Neha Rungta, Brigham Young University
• Rachel Weinstein, Stanford University
• Sunny Consolvo, University of Washington
• Tanya Lee Ann Crenshaw, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Valerie Hajdik, Texas A&M University
• Xiaonan Zhao, Northwestern University

Weekend Babe: Exotic Asian Tiara Lestari

Here's something that will cheer your dull weekend... Exotic Tiara Lestari! Can't get enough of her... love her beautiful body!

MARIA JULIA MANTILLA

Maria Julia Mantilla, modelo trujillana. Ex Miss Mundo. Dejó sus estudios de Inglés en la Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, para dedicarse al modelaje en la ciudad de Lima. Maju como todos los Peruanos la conocen es simplemente hermosa...


MARIA JULIA MANTILLA

Out of the Wi-Fi wilderness

Posted by Chris Sacca, Special Initiatives

In Wi-Fi terms, I can go just 19 steps from my front door and still get coverage. The nearest coffee shop seems within reach -- but signal strength-wise, there's not enough power to pick it up. And the signal def­in­itely isn't strong enough to get to the res­taur­ant kitty-­corner from my place. Frankly, my home Wi-Fi connection works just enough to let me use it in the middle of oncoming traffic (especially dangerous considering that I live on a Muni line). As soon as I take that 20th step, I either lose signal altogether, or have to pay some crazy amount of dough to jump onto the Internet at a paid hotspot.

So when I'm out and about, how am I supposed to stay current on the filming of M.C. Hammer's latest videos in downtown San Francisco? Of course, I also need constant connectivity to keep tabs on the inventory of pirate supplies at 826 Valencia. And without Wi-Fi, how else can I check in on craigslist missed connections in real time?

This is why I am especially excited to hear that the City and County of San Francisco just chose the bid from EarthLink and Google to offer citywide Wi-Fi access. If all goes well, construction will commence this year on a network that would provide it for free to virtually the entire city at speeds up to six times dial-up.

I can't wait for Wi-Fi everywhere. Who knows? Pretty soon I might even be able to wirelessly place an order with the Tamale Lady. But first, I need to dodge this streetcar bearing down on me -- yikes!

Update: Revised first 3 sentences for clarity.

Toolbar v2 for Firefox fans

Posted by Justin Voskuhl, Software Engineer

Here in the Kirkland, we've had one of the rainiest winters in a long time, giving me extra time to work on the latest release of the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Today, we're happy to release the beta version of Google Toolbar 2 for Firefox. If you were wondering what we were doing with that extra time indoors, Toolbar for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux -- and in 16 languages.

This new release includes feed integration with the Google Personalized Homepage and a number of other feed readers. We've made searching better by including previous queries, spelling corrections, and suggestions for popular choices. Gmail fans might appreciate having the mailto: links in Firefox open a compose window in Gmail -– no more copying and pasting email addresses. And to combat the ever-increasing threat of phishing, we've integrated the Safe Browsing extension into Toolbar to alert you when a page is trying to steal sensitive information. Check out everything in the new Toolbar here.

As a dedicated Firefox user, I think that the latest version enhances an already innovative browser. Meanwhile, you IE Toolbar 4 fans may notice that the feature sets aren't identical. That's because Firefox and IE users have different needs. Rest assured that we're working to get the most popular features in both versions.

Here's my new customized Firefox Toolbar, showing my Google Personalized Homepage (built from feeds I discovered using the feed feature). It also gives me history, popular queries, and query corrections in my search box, which I moved to the upper right with the new custom layout.

Japanese Race Queen Sayuki Matsumoto

Pick of the week is Sayuki Matsumoto! Sayuki was born on 9 December 1985. This 170cm cutie was born in Mie prefecture and made her name as a race queen in the GT circuit in Japan. Her hobby includes watching football.

ANGIE JIBAJA

Angie Jibaja es una modelo y actriz peruana. Protagonizó, con dos actrices más, la película "Mañana te Cuento". No hay nada que decir, desborda sensualidad y desenfado (foto Angie Jibaja : Edward Alba)


ANGIE JIBAJA

Beautiful Japanese Swimsuit Model Haruna Yabuki

Haruna Yabuki was born on 18 December 1984. The 22 year old made a splash in 2004 as a swimsuit model for Parco, a department store chain out of the fashion district of Shibuya. The ads featured the slender bodied Haruna in giant posters that many Tokyo shoppers couldn't easily forget. Combining a hard body with one of the most classically beautiful faces seen on a gravure model, Haruna become a star virtually overnight.

The 162cm beauty enjoys watching American movies, loves drawing and playing badminton.

More feeds for speed

Posted by Adam Sah, Software Engineer

The personalized homepage has a new directory with more content and more ways to browse, search and add it to your Google homepage. A lot of content owners have been asking for ways to drive adoption of their feeds and modules. One option is the "Add to Google" button you can add to your website as a way to quickly connect fans to your content. Enjoy all the new stuff and as always, feel free to discuss.

Cute Japanese Actress / Singer Yui Ichikawa

Yui Ichikawa was born on 10 February 1986 in Tokyo, Japan. The popular gravure idol debuted when she was 15. After high demand from fans, her singing career began in 2003 with a cover of Moritaka Chisato's Ame. Yui continued to release albums until late 2004, when her last works were a mini-album in December and a DVD of PVs in March 2005.

The 158cm cutie does mostly acting now, appearing in the popular J-Drama Hotman, and in the thriller Ju'on, which inspired the American thriller The Grudge.

Although she is rarely seen as the centerfold in pin-up magazines anymore, her annual calendars still feature her wearing sexy bikinis. Oh... she enjoys swimming as well.

Cupid's algorithms

Posted by Michael Krantz, Product Manager, Google Romance

Ever been on a date and wondered "What on Earth am I doing with this person?" Or perhaps you wished there was a way that you could instantly find your perfect match, and then go on a date during which everything just went right?

Wish no more: Google Romance, a beta product currently incubating in Google Labs, uses cutting-edge personal search algorithms to help you find your soulmate, then sponsors your first Contextual Date with said soulmate-to-be in exchange for showing you highly relevant advertising that just might help Cupid's arrow find its mark. Does it really work? Ask our internal beta testers -- if you can find them, that is. Not a single one has shown up for work in days.

So why not give it a try yourself? You've got true love to gain, and only your faith in psychographic and contextual advertising software to lose.