Friday, February 2, 2007
Personally speaking
Google's goal has always been to give you exactly the information you want right when you want it. With the growth of the Internet and all the new information coming online every day, this might sound hard.
We're constantly trying to improve the quality of your search results. One of the ways we're tackling this is by personalizing your search experience. After all, you're the only one who actually knows what you're really looking for.
We have two main ways of personalizing your Google experience. First, you can customize products and services like the Google Personalized Homepage. Personalizing your homepage gives you the at-a-glance information that you care about—such as your latest Gmail messages, news headlines, or to-do list—right at your fingertips, just the way you want it.
Second, we offer automatic personalization through things like personalized search and recommendations. Our goal with these types of technologies is to make your Google search experience better based on what we know about your preferences, without you having to do any extra work.
Today, we're taking another step toward making personalization more available to you by combining these two into a single signed-in experience. Now, when you're signed in, you'll have access to a personalized Google—one that combines personalized search results and a personalized homepage.
Keep in mind that personalization is subtle—at first you may not notice any difference. But over time, as the search engine learns your preferences, you'll see it. For example, I (Sep) am an avid Miami Dolphins fan (no joke). Searching for [dolphins] gives me info about my favorite football team, while a marine biologist colleague gets more information about her salt-water friends.
If you don't want to see personalized results, just sign out of your Google Account. After all, the goal is to give you what you want when you want it. So give it a whirl and let us know what you think.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Office of the apes
Yesterday was National Gorilla Suit Day (NGSD). No, I'm not making this up--MAD Magazine cartoonist Don Martin did, back in 1964. Naturally, there's a full story behind this holiday, and it's been chronicled by my friend, writer Mark Evanier. If you've visited the right websites over the last week or so, you'll have seen various banners promoting National Gorilla Suit Day, which were provided by Mark.
One particular result of Mark's promotion of this wonderful holiday is that a New York City-based singing telegram service, The Furrier Courier, offered free singing telegrams, delivered by someone in a gorilla suit on NGSD, to the first five responders.
Why, yes...yes, it would. Especially if they didn't know about it in advance.
So Wednesday morning our gorilla-suited singer serenaded a weekly meeting of Googlers, including ones videoconferencing in from Mountain View, Kirkland, and Dublin.
Mark also celebrated the day appropriately--by having Furrier Courier serenade the MAD Magazine offices.
Now if only I can manage to talk the powers that be into a National Gorilla Suit Day Google doodle--oh well, next year.
So, I asked myself: Wouldn't it be Googley to have a gorilla-suited singing telegram delivered to some New York City Googlers?
Why, yes...yes, it would. Especially if they didn't know about it in advance.
So Wednesday morning our gorilla-suited singer serenaded a weekly meeting of Googlers, including ones videoconferencing in from Mountain View, Kirkland, and Dublin.Mark also celebrated the day appropriately--by having Furrier Courier serenade the MAD Magazine offices.
Now if only I can manage to talk the powers that be into a National Gorilla Suit Day Google doodle--oh well, next year.
Action! Roll orkut videos!
We've all been obsessed lately with watching videos on the web. And when we come across something that strikes our fancy, we can't wait to share it with our friends. That got us thinking: rather than sending multiple emails and IMs to share the video URL, wouldn't it be nice to have a feature for sharing videos on orkut?
From now on, when you see that crazy video you feel is a must see for all your friends, now you can create your own video playlist on orkut to share with anyone who visits your profile. Just copy the video URL from your favorite YouTube or Google Video hosted videos, and your friends can enjoy watching your top videos through orkut. And because we know your friends will love your videos as much as you do, we've added an "Add to my favorites" button that lets you easily make your friend's favorite videos appear on your list.
So next time you log into orkut, sit back, relax, and break out the popcorn.
More real-time data on the way
A few weeks ago we were delighted to support the New York Stock Exchange's proposal which would allow Google, including Google Finance, to display streaming real-time last sale prices to everyone. Today we're equally pleased that NASDAQ has a similar filing which would include both real-time last sale prices and volume. We think these proposals are steps in the right direction, and encourage the SEC to give them a big thumbs up so we can start giving you the data you want, when you need it.
Real-world testing
User feedback is always an important part of our product development process, and for our latest version of Google Maps for mobile, we decided to put ourselves in the driver's seat. Hailing from London, I recently hopped across the pond with my fellow software engineer Jonathan Dixon to help test out the new features on the Windows MobileTM edition of Google Maps for mobile while visiting the Mountain View campus. I focused on staying on the right side of the road while Jonathan, oblivious to the sights around him, focused on trying out the satellite imagery on his mobile phone.
Like other versions of Google Maps for mobile, with this Windows Mobile version you can find businesses and see real-time traffic updates, along with unique features like contacts integration, GPS support, draggable maps, and tap and hold menus. The business search function proved particularly useful to find delicious Italian food in Half Moon Bay to sate our jet-lagged stomachs. You can download the application here and ActiveSync, or visit google.com/gmm for more information.
And remember -- you can see traffic delays, but don't cause them. Please don't use Google Maps while driving. Instead, give your passengers something fun to do.
Beautiful Model Reagan Yun
Reagan Yun (of Sedalia, Missouri) was Play boy's Coed of the Month for December 2006. This American/ Korean babe is an accomplished pianist who specializes in ragtime and classical styles of music and once played in her high school and church choirs.
Reagan was originally featured in the October 2006 issue of the popular men's magazine representing the University of Missouri in the Girls of the Big 12 issue.
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