Google blogging in 2008

Every year right about now we round up our blogging activity across Google. Ready? Here goes.

This is our 368th post of the year on the main Google blog, which is 23% more than in 2007. In addition to more posts, we are thrilled to know that we have many more readers now — 78% more, to be exact. The number of unique visitors jumped from 6,738,830 last year to more than 12 million (12,000,723) in 2008. And readers are coming from all over: the UK, Canada, India, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Japan and beyond. The top non-Google referrers are Yahoo, Digg, Reddit, Lifehacker and Slashdot.

We posted quite a bit about new products (10) and new product features (56), but nothing caused as much excitement as our earlier-than-planned unveiling of Google Chrome. This post alone had 1,735,093 unique visitors and generated 12% of our total-year pageviews on the blog! There was also the much-anticipated announcement of the first Android-powered phone. And people enjoyed reading about our design philosophies. Who knew a little change to a favicon would generate such interest?

But it wasn't all just product news; there was much else to cover in 2008. To mark Google's 10th birthday, we took a moment to reflect on the enormous impact the Internet has had on people's lives since our founding. Some of our in-house experts shared their thoughts on how various technologies will evolve in the next 10 years.

Like many of you, we were on the edge of seats watching all of the U.S. election action. We posted 27 times about political subjects, providing information about voting tools, how the political process works, and what was top of mind on Election Day. It's clear that technology will be playing an even bigger role in politics in years to come.

Of course, we had some fun too: We kept our long-standing April Fools' Day tradition going with the announcement of Project Virgle; we covered new ways to get around the Googleplex and the masterminding of a giant Ferris wheel; and we raised our glass to a couple who got married with Google.

And the Google blog network keeps on growing: 44 new blogs launched this year, for a total of 127 active company blogs. A few highlights: eight new developer blogs (the Open Source blog is shining star, with 370,000 unique visitors since its start in February), and 22 new ads-related blogs, nearly half of which are in languages other than English (there are AdSense blogs in Traditional Chinese and Russian; and AdWords blogs in Danish, German, Turkish, French, Russian, Korean, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Spanish). There's even an Analytics blog in French. And we also welcomed three new regional blogs, for India, Africa, and the Ukraine. Sharing information with people wherever they are in whatever language they speak is a priority for us, and each of these new blogs helps us get a little bit closer to this goal. If the total number of Google blogs makes your head spin, don't worry. We've developed a new blog directory and gadget to help you more easily track news and updates from us.

We're looking forward to another robust year of keeping you informed of all the goings-on at Google. In the meantime, we wish you and yours a very happy New Year.

Source: Click Here

Google Mistakes Own Blog for Spam, Deletes it

Readers of Google Custom Search Blog were surprised when the Web site was temporarily removed from the blogosphere.

Readers of Google Inc.'s Custom Search Blog were handed a bit of a surprise Tuesday when the Web site was temporarily removed from the blogosphere and hijacked by someone unaffiliated with the company.

The problem? Google had mistakenly identified its own blog as a spammer's site and handed it over to another person.

The change was first noticed by the Google Blogoscoped Web site, which noticed that posts on the Custom Search Blog had been deleted and replaced by a strange comment from someone identifying himself as Srikanth.

"Google Custom Search, is the wonderful product from Google which many webmasters have been looking and dream for," Srikanth wrote. " Also Google Custom Search is integrated with Ad-sense, which means make money while keeping users on your site for longer time with custom search engine.... Good Luck for all the Custom Search customers(??)."

This blog typically offers tips and tricks for users of Google's Custom Search Engine software, which can be used to build customized Web sites that search specific Web sites or pages.

Srikanth's tone was obviously out of character for an official Google blog, prompting Google Blogoscoped to speculate that the site may have been hacked.

The answer turned out to be less sinister, according to Sean Carlson, a Google spokesman.

"Blogger's spam classifier misidentified the Custom Search Blog as spam," he said via e-mail on Wednesday. Typically Google notifies blog owners when it has spotted content associated with spam on their Web sites to give them a chance to clear up any misunderstandings.

However, that didn't work out in this case. "The Custom Search Blog bloggers overlooked their notification, and after a period of time passed, the blog was disabled."

When blogs are disabled like this, their URL becomes available to the general public. That's when Srikanth swooped in and wrote the joke post.

"It was a case of "URL squatting" and not a security issue or any kind of hack," Carlson said.

Google quickly realized its mistake and the Custom Search Blog is now back in action.

Source:www.pcworld.com

Google to rescue Linux from Microsoft lawyers

Google has joined the fight to save Linux from an army of patent-waving Microsoft lawyers.

With Redmond threatening to collect royalties from Linux users and distributors across the industry, claiming that the open-source operating system violates 235 of its patents, Google has thrown its considerable weight behind the Open Invention Network (OIN), a consortium of companies bent on protecting open-source software from legal attack.

All OIN members - including big names such as IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony, as well as Google - agree not to use their Linux-related patents against each other, and all have free access to a collection of additional open-source-related patents purchased by the consortium as a whole.

"Patent issues...become a much smaller concern inside the community, and OIN members can focus their energy on writing and releasing software rather than vetting their code for intellectual property issues," wrote Google open source programs manager Chris DiBona on The Official Google Blog. "It's the legal equivalent of taking a long, deep breath."

As more names join the OIN, pooling more and more Linux-related patents, it becomes increasingly difficult for a company like Microsoft launch an attack on the OS. "We are very open about our patents," OIN chief executive officer Jerry Rosenthal told The Reg. "We list them on our website, so that people who might want to do Linux harm understand why it would not be in their interest to bring litigation."

Knowing they're protected by the OIN, Google's DiBona argues, open source developers are more likely to drive the industry forward: "We believe Linux innovation moves fastest when developers can share their knowledge with full peace of mind. We're proud to participate in an organization that's making that possible, and we look forward to seeing OIN grow and thrive."

Google is OIN's first "end-user licensee," which means it's the only member who doesn't sell, distribute, or develop Linux code. It only uses the OS within the company.

"Google is such a well-recognized and well-thought-of name, we'll now see other end-users become licensees," said Rosenthal. "We want to continue to grow this ecosystem of patents, so that ultimately a vast majority of [Linux-related] patents will be available to the community for free."

According to DiBona, Google's in-house open-source gurus are fond of saying "Every time you use Google, you're using Linux...Check a Google engineer's workstation, and you'll probably find it's running Linux," he explained. "Do a search on Google.com, and a Linux server will return your results. Ever since Google got its start, Linux has given us the power and flexibility we need to serve millions of users around the world."

That puts the company squarely in the sights of Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith and licensing chief Horacio Gutierrez, who recently told Fortune that Redmond plans to use 235 of its OS patents to collect royalties from Linux users and distributors alike.

To date, the OIN has purchased more than 100 worldwide patents and patent applications involving Linux - and that doesn't include the patents individually owned by its members. The difference, Rosenthal says, is that unlike Microsoft, the OIN is completely open about its patents and uses them strictly for defensive purposes. "Microsoft says they have 200 some Linux patents, but they won't tell us what they are," he told us. "That's just an attempt to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It they tell us what the patents are, then we can deal with it, but they won't. It makes you wonder they really have."

Source:www.channelregister.co.uk

Google Maps Launches Mashups, Becoming Facebook for Maps

If Google’s launch of MyMaps killed independent mashups, then their latest move may be a saving race - or a nail in the coffin, depending on how you look at it.

While MyMaps allowed users to personalize and share maps, Google will go one step further on Wednesday: new features will allow the mashing of data from external sites like Zvents and ChicagoCrime.org. Like Facebook, they’re bringing mashups into a platform on the site itself, rather than having hundreds of independent sites using the API elsewhere (actually, in addition to).

Adding data to maps is done via Maplets, which are like gadgets placed on maps (Mapplets were previewed at Where 2.0). If you’ve already built something on the Google API, it’s very easily to create a maplet and thus get your app into the gallery. For users, meanwhile, the possibilities are endless: map crime data, real estate listings, events and more without any coding skills.

I expect data-based startups will rush at the opportunity, much like they’ve embraced the Facebook Platform. For many, it means more exposure, but mashup makers may also have a harder time getting pageviews on their own sites.

Source: www.mashable.com

Google Launches Gmail Blog

Google’s got blogs for everything - have you even heard of CPG, Checkout API, and Librarian Central? Yet there’s a new blog to which almost all of our readers should be able to relate: the Official Gmail Blog.
As described by Bill Kee, Google’s Associate Product Marketing Manager, this blog will function pretty much as you’d expect; it’s “where we’ll keep you up to date on latest from the Gmail team,” he states.
It just occurred to me that we haven’t seen any fresh Gmail developments in a while; perhaps Kee has something specific in mind.

“We’ll post feature updates, productivity tips, and some insights into the people and the technology behind Gmail,” he continues. “And since Gmail works even better with Google Calendar and Docs & Spreadsheets, you’ll find posts from folks on these teams as well.”

I should inform you that, at the moment, you won’t find posts from anyone - Kee’s message is the only one that’s been published. That’ll change, though, and Kee writes, “[W]e look forward to sharing some of the fun and crazy things we’re up to around the office.”

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a soon-to-come announcement and upgrade (whatever it might be), and that’s a likely scenario. The last post on the Google Gears API Blog dates to June 11, however, so - just to be safe - don’t hold your breath.

Source:www.webpronews.com