National Geographic Magazine January 2012

In this issue:
Twins
Panama Gold
Dogsled Patrol
Land Mines
Afar Depression
Montana

Google Friends Newsletter - January 2011

POWER TIP

Port your existing number to Google Voice

Google Voice helps you manage your communications by giving you more control over your phones and voicemail, but until this week, you had to get a new Google phone number in order use all of Google Voice's features. With Number Porting, existing Google Voice users can now use their mobile numbers as their Google Voice numbers. This means you can now use all of Google Voice's features, like ringing multiple phones at once, without having to change your number. To get started with Number Porting, log in to your Google Voice account, visit the Settings page and click on "Change / Port" next to your Google Voice number. Be sure to read our blog post for more info about Number Porting.
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html
http://www.google.com/voice

NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Google Places with Hotpot App for the iPhone

Our local recommendation engine for Google Places, powered by you and your friends, is now available for the iPhone. The Places with Hotpot app makes it easy to rate places on the go and help you find places near you, plus it personalizes your search results to give you the best places for you. The more you rate, the more you're sharing about your tastes and the more we can give you personally tailored recommendations. Find the Google Places app with Hotpot by searching for Google Places in the App Store.
http://hotpot.blogspot.com/2011/01/now-available-google-places-with-hotpot.html

Doodle 4 Google: 2011

The 2011 Doodle 4 Google contest is now open for K-12 students in the U.S. to redesign Google's logo around the theme "What I'd like to do someday...". The winning student, chosen by Google employees and a panel of guest judges, will have their design displayed on Google.com for millions to see, and take home a $15,000 scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school or after-school program. We'll also choose 40 regional finalists, whose artwork will be featured in a special exhibition in partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art. This year, the contest is open to parents to register their
school-age children directly, and we're working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Girls Scouts of the USA so kids in those organizations can participate too. Educators at public, private and home schools can also register their students.
http://www.google.com/doodle4google

Updated Google Translate Android app and Conversation Mode

The Google Translate Android app now features better dropdown boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into, an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout. You can also try out Conversation Mode, a new, experimental interface in alpha within Google Translate that's optimized to allow you to communicate fluidly with a nearby person in another language. Conversation Mode is only available for English and Spanish at the moment. To use it, press the microphone for your language in the app and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech and read the translation out loud. Your conversation partner can then respond in their language, and you'll hear the translation spoken back to you.
http://googletranslate.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-look-for-google-translate-for.html

New YouTube homepage

We gave a preview of a redesigned YouTube homepage in late 2010, and now all logged-in users will see the new version when they visit YouTube. The new homepage is designed to answer the question "What should I watch today?" so there's more focus on videos that matter to you—including subscriptions, friends' sharing and recommendations. You can also filter your homepage to show only the latest uploads from your subscriptions and get quick access to the inbox when you have new messages or comments. If you've already watched a video, it will be grayed out on your homepage—and you can remove any video with a simple click.
http://www.youtube.com

February 2011 iPhone wallpaper

As requested.

January 2011 iPhone wallpaper

Akhirnya siap jugak setelah bertungkus lumus menyiapkannya, asalnya nak buat sblm masuk tahun baru, tp terdrag sampai semalam baru siap. Biasa la byk keje yg lebih official perlu dibuat.

Wallpaper ni utk iPhone 3G & 3GS mungkin 2G pun sama kut. iPhone 4 dah lain resolusinya.

Ni gambar wallpaper yg sku buat in action. Comment & critics are welcome.

Design mock-up #2

See previous Design mock-up #1.

Google Friends Newsletter - January 2009

POWER TIP

Google Hot Trends gadget

Google Hot Trends is a fascinating real-time tool for seeing what people are searching for right now. Add the Google Hot Trends gadget (from the gadget directory) to your iGoogle page to see search queries that have sudden surges of popularity in the U.S., Japan, India, Korea, Hong Kong/Taiwan and Singapore.
http://www.google.com/ig

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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Explore New York City with Google

We joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a press conference to announce nycgo.com and the brand new Official NYC Information Center located in midtown, both of which use Google tools and technology to help visitors and residents explore all there is to see and do around New York City. Plan a trip there using the Google Maps features available on nycgo.com, navigate using Google Maps for mobile, and stop by the Information Center to create a personal itinerary using the interactive map tables.
http://m.google.com/nyc

Google Maps Transit layer for 50 cities

The Transit layer is a visual overlay of public transit options on Google Maps, which offer an alternative to driving directions wherever possible. The next time you visit London and want to visit the Tate Modern, you can simply search for [Tate Modern] on Google Maps, and then click on "More" and activate "Transit" to see nearby tube stations and which lines serve them. You can even click on a station and see which transit lines are passing through right now. The layer is available for 50 cities around the world, including Chicago, Dallas, London, Madrid, Paris, San Francisco and Seattle, and you can find schedule data and itineraries for any transportation agencies that are part of Google Transit.
http://maps.google.com

Picasa for Mac

We recently rolled out our photo organizing software, Picasa, for the Macintosh, bringing all of the advanced sharing and sync features of Picasa to the millions of Mac OS X users who use Picasa Web Albums. Now sharing your photos with friends and family is as easy as pressing a button. Picasa for Mac also includes all of the key editing and photo-management features from Picasa 3 on Windows, ranging from basic fixes like automatic red-eye correction to creative tools such as photo collages.
http://picasa.google.com/mac

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MISCELLANY

On January 28, the U.S. and Canada joined 27 European countries to celebrate Data Privacy Day. As the volume of data uploaded to the Internet every day grows exponentially, it becomes more and more important to understand the benefits and risks of online communications -- and to learn how to use tools to control and manage information you share online. To mark this special day of awareness, we joined U.S. and European government officials and key members of the privacy community on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to increase public awareness about data privacy. In addition to these efforts, we work to connect directly with everyone who uses our products too. Our Privacy Center offers information, tips and videos that explain how we're committed to protecting your online privacy and how you can control what data you share. If you haven't been there yet, we encourage you to visit. And, we'll continue to add new information, so check back often.
http://www.google.com/privacy

Google Friends Newsletter - January 2008

POWER TIP

Create your own theme for iGoogle

Whether you like cartoons, dogs, sock puppets, or another amusing thing, you can now create dynamic themes for the iGoogle homepage with the iGoogle Themes API. You can even set your theme to update automatically based on the time of day or weather. This makes it easy to create a narrative that unfolds throughout the day, a landscape that changes as the sun rises and sets, or a morphing piece of digital art.
http://code.google.com/apis/themes

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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

YouTube for Mobile

The YouTube and mobile teams have just released a new YouTube for Mobile application. It's the best way to put YouTube on your phone and watch millions of videos wherever you are. Key features include access to your YouTube account, your Favorites, your own uploaded Videos and your favorite Channels; you can also share, rate, and comment directly on videos from your phone.
http://www.youtube.com/mobile

Local Search integration with Google Maps

Now you can get directions from or to any location you can search for on Google Maps. If the match for your query isn't exact, we'll offer you some choices without forcing you to start over. The next time friends in Mountain View are looking for a meal after work, try Google Maps for [Google Mountain View to pizza]. Or if you visit our driving directions team in Seattle, just search for [SEA Airport to Andra
Hotel Seattle] to get directions to your hotel.
http://maps.google.com

iTunes Grammys Gadget

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Grammy Awards, which will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 10. To mark the occasion, Apple has launched a contest on iGoogle: Through February 8, you can add the iTunes Grammy Contest gadget to your iGoogle page and submit your predictions on who will win Grammy Awards in 10 categories. The gadget also offers daily trivia giveaways, Grammys history, and many links to iTunes clips. The contest is open to U.S. residents 13 and up; the winner gets 10,000 songs from iTunes.
http://tinyurl.com/2w36r5

Google Friends Newsletter - January 2007

POWER TIP

If you were lucky enough to get a new PC over the holidays, you may be wondering what kind of interesting things you can do with it. Might we suggest the Google Pack? It's a free collection of essential software for your Windows PC. With the programs in Google Pack, you can explore the world in 3D, organize your photos, removespyware and viruses, and more. You can download and install the whole Google Pack in just a few clicks, and the Google Updater (included) helps you discover new programs and keep your current software up to date.
http://pack.google.com

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NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Google Video + YouTube
Recently, we've added YouTube videos to the Google Video search index. Now you can search Google Video to find content hosted on both Google Video and on YouTube. This is part of our overall goal to give you the highest quality search results possible. Give it a try: search for [Labradoodle] on Google Video to watch some incredibly cute puppy footage from YouTube.
http://video.google.com

Google Groups out of beta
Google Groups doesn't just have a new look; now there are additional features that make it easier to manage and share activities and ideas online with your friends, family, colleagues and teammates. You can create and edit web pages with other group members, customize the look of your group, upload and share files and photos, and view member profiles. The next time you need to organize your soccer team, family reunion, knitting club or pretty much anything else, look to Google Groups for online collaboration.
http://groups.google.com

Google Earth 4
Six months after it was first introduced as a beta product, Google Earth 4 is now out. Along with a new interface, we've added tons of multimedia content that's been created by online communities plus content from such established sources as Discovery Networks and National Geographic. Be it photo-sharing through Panaramio, hiking trails from Tracks4Africa, Wikipedia articles, or restaurant reviews from Yelp, you can explore all this information in Google Earth's 3D view. And it now also includes the highest-quality textured 3D models of buildings from the 3D Warehouse as a layer ("Best of 3D Warehouse"). For example, check out Canary Wharf in London, landmarks in Manhattan, or the entire Denver downtown.
http://earth.google.com/

Google SkectchUp 6:
Design enthusiasts take note: there's a new version of Google SketchUp. This 3D modeling software tool is easy to learn, simple to use, and lets you place your models in Google Earth. One of the cool new features is Photo Match, with which you can trace a photo to create a 3D model of the photographed object or match an existing model with a background photo. To stylize your models, there are features for adding fog, creating sketched effects, watermarks, 3D text, and more. And now the integration between Google Earth, 3D Warehouse and SketchUp is seamless, so that you can easily share and reuse models from other 3D Warehouse users. And as noted above, Google Earth now has the "Best of 3D Warehouse" layer that showcases the highest quality models from SketchUp users.
http://sketchup.google.com/

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MISCELLANY

+ The Best Place to Work +
What makes a job somewhere you want to go day in and day out -- or not? The pay and the benefits should be good, however you define those; the culture should fit well with you and each of the employees, so that you (all) feel like doing your best. At the end of the day, though, it's the ineffable chemistry of the people, along with whatever the specific perks are, that seems to be the right combination. Recently Google was honored to be recognized as #1 in the annual 100 Best Companies to Work For, an annual survey published by Fortune Magazine. This time, 446 companies applied for consideration, and 100,000 workers evaluated their employers. Of course we're very pleased to have been chosen. But even more, we appreciate being in the company of many great businesses (all of them older than Google) that know the way to be successful is to pay attention to the people first.

Related post: google, friends, newsletter, january, 2007