Google News Israel

Posted by Marisa Bauer, Google News team

We're launching Google News in Hebrew! Google News Israel aggregates articles across Hebrew-language newspapers and presents them side by side so you can read what all of them are saying in one view. It's been fun and challenging to create this edition, having to accommodate text that reads right to left, and adjusting our algorithms to work with a whole new set of papers. It's also a pleasure to be launching Google News for a whole new audience, and we look forward to bringing it to even more people around the world. Meanwhile, with the recent opening of our Israeli office, we look forward to offering many more products to our friends there.

Tiara Lestari's fight against conservative crackdown

The famous Indonesian centrefold model is leading the charge against her homeland's conservative crackdown.

As the push to ban exposing flesh and a host of other changes gains momentum, Tiara Lestari has become an unlikely activist against the changes, which could see tourists forced to cover-up on the beaches.

The 25-year-old is almost unknown in her Indonesian homeland, despite a portfolio of racy international magazine covers for Play boy, Penthse and FHM under her belt. She is returning home to stage a photo exhibition in Bali next month called "From Sensual to Elegance" in a bid to launch herself back in to South-East Asia's biggest market.

But as Lestari strives to re-mould her centrefold status, she is trying to steer clear of the debate in a bid to avoid provoking fundamentalists.

"I don't know what will happen if the bill becomes law," she said.

"I must believe that the best and the brightest minds in Indonesia will continue their debate to form a law that protects its children from the danger of pornography while protecting the rights of its citizens to speak and exercise their creative wisdom without fear of censorship or prosecution."

Pick of the week: Popular Japanese Idol Reon Kadena

This beautiful Japanese Idol needs no introduction... Reon Kadena is the pick of the week! Beautiful Newsmakers previously featured Reon as Girl of the month. Urgh... I love her lips!

Robots and writers and Googlers, oh my!

Posted by Jon Steinback, Product Marketing Manager, Google Video

One of the great things about working at Google is, well, not always working at Google. Is launch planning stressing you out? Are you obsessing about bugs? Can't find your favorite obscure beverage at the mini-kitchen? Every day, and usually more than once a day, the Googleplex offers talks that serve as excellent (and educational) distractions from the daily grind. These talks can help us learn more about the things we're doing, or help stoke our interest in something new.

Now, with Google Video, we finally have the opportunity to share many of these "from the Googleplex" presentations with the world. They include our Authors@Google talks (don't miss "How to survive a robot uprising" author Daniel Wilson) and the regular engEDU tech talks. Grab coffee and get comfy for this one on "Scalable Learning and Inference in Hierarchical Models of the Neocortex," for example.

Of course, you can access them all on your own schedule. And if you want to see them in person, feel free to check out our recruiting video.

Malaysian TV Host / Actress Cheryl Samad

Cheryl Samad’s youth belies a wealth of experience, stretching all the way back to her appearance in a TV commercial for an ice-cream commercial at the tender age of 4.

An accomplished presenter, the 25 year-old cut her teeth as a VJ on music programs MTV No Limits and MTV Pulse, before moving on to acting, securing lead roles on dramas like Astana Idaman and Table for Two.

She is currently best known as a host on the popular Malaysian Idol, as well as lending her bubbly and energetic style to 8TV's reality program Nescafe Kickstart.

The littlest Mini

Posted by Kevin Gough, Enterprise Team

The Google Mini search appliance continues to proliferate for different customer segments. The newest and least expensive Mini is geared towards people who need to search up to 50,000 documents on their websites or corporate networks. Does that include you? Read more here.

Sexiest woman in showbiz: Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba has been voted the sexiest woman in showbiz. The olive-skinned beauty - who shot to fame in TV show Dark Angel took the top slot in the Play boy magazine poll.

The poll said: "Her performances in last year's Sin City and Into The Blue made it all too clear: This little angel is all grown up!" Second place went to My Name Is Earl star Jaime Pressly, while sexy Jenny McCarthy came third.