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Search and replace
November 8, 2005
Posted by David Bercovich, Product Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise Team
We’re hearing a fair number of stories from customers using our enterprise search products about how pleased their users are when they replace another search engine with a
Google Search Appliance
or a
Google Mini
. Customers like
National Semiconductor
, which saw search volume increase by 8-10x, and the
National Park Service
, where website complaints declined by a factor of 20.
These good results have inspired us to launch a search replacement program: any company that replaces their legacy search engine with a Google Search Appliance will receive a free Google Mini. Read more at
www.google.com/switch
.
Get lost and found on your phone
November 6, 2005
Posted by Matt Waddell, Google Mobile Team
You know that saying, "Wherever you go, there you are"? Now it makes sense to me, thanks to the new
Google Local for mobile
. In fact, it inspired me to write this song. Enjoy, and happy trails. (You'll need Macromedia's
Flash Player
to hear it.)
You can also
save the music file
to your computer. (Right-click in Windows, or control-click on a Mac, and save.)
Get lost and found on your phone.
Walkin' 'round a new town,
looking for a way around.
Askin' locals for their thoughts
'bout nearby Chinese restaurants...
they tell you to get lost --
get lost and found on your phone.
Take Google Local on the go,
get listings, maps and aerial views.
Call directly from your search results
and even keep search history too.
Download from Google today.
Wrestlin' with a paper map,
tryin' to figure out just where you're at,
how to get from point A to point B,
better leave the directions to
J2ME
.
So you can get lost --
get lost and found on your phone.
Zoom in, zoom out,
drag maps up down left right and you'll see...
where you want to go on your mobile phone,
in lucid satellite imagery.
Download from Google today.
Place Google Local in your hand --
first, you need a data plan.
Your phone must handle Java too.
It helps if it is somewhat new.
To download, here is what you do:
Browse Google dot com slash g-l-m on your desktop.
Tell us 'bout your phone,
and we'll show you a link to the file in a blink
and you're ready to start...
Gettin' lost on your phone.
Get lost and found on your phone.
Download from Google today.
Get lost and found on your phone...
Standing on the shoulders of this giant
November 4, 2005
Posted by Alan Eustace, VP of Engineering
The
Presidential Medal of Freedom
is the highest civilian award given in the United States, and our own
Vint Cerf
has been recognized with this honor. He and
Robert Kahn
will be recognized in a White House ceremony next Wednesday.
Together, Vint and Bob designed the architecture and protocols 30+ years ago that are used today to implement and operate the Internet. The White House statement puts it succinctly: "Dr. Cerf and Dr. Kahn have been at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment."
Vint and Bob join an impressive list of winners, including Alan Greenspan, Muhammad Ali, Aretha Franklin, Frank Robinson and Paul Rusesabagina. The official release is
here
.
We couldn't be more pleased for this recognition Vint is receiving on behalf of the vast Internet community that has realized the aspirations that he and Bob had so long ago.
Desktop grows up
November 3, 2005
Posted by Satish Sampath, Google Desktop Team
We always get a bit misty-eyed when a youngster graduates, so today we're dabbing back a few tears for
Google Desktop
, which leaves beta status behind with several powerful new features under its belt.
Fans of
Google Maps
will want to check out Sidebar's new maps panel, which lets you do all the usual cool maps stuff -- local business info, directions, sightseeing -- plus a new one: finding new locations relevant to the web pages and emails you're reading and showing them in your maps panel.
Like this:
Geeks, meanwhile, are invited to pore over our
script support
for writing plug-ins, which makes it far easier to create home-brewed Sidebar panels. And Sidebar has a bunch of new
third- party panels
, most notably GDTunes, which cycles through your iTunes collection (and even shows album covers).
Finally, let me invite developers and anyone else who's interested to check out our new
Google Desktop blog
for the latest news and info.
We've worked hard raising Desktop over the past two years. It's great to see it growing up so nicely.
Preserving public domain books
November 3, 2005
Posted by Adam Mathes, Associate Product Manager
The world's libraries are a tremendous source of knowledge, much of which has never been available online. One of our goals for Google Print is to change that, and today we've taken an exciting step toward meeting it: making available a number of public domain books that were never subject to copyright or whose copyright has expired. We can show every page because these books are in the public domain. (For books not in the public domain we only show
small snippets of the work
unless the publisher or copyright holder has given us permission to show more.)
Our partner libraries –- the University of Michigan, Stanford, Harvard, the New York Public Library, and Oxford –- have preserved and nurtured these books through decades of wear and tear, and we're excited to play a part in ensuring that they, and the knowledge they contain, will be more accessible than ever for decades to come.
Every page of these books is fully available online, so you can study, for instance, an illustrated version of Henry James'
Daisy Miller
(the opening illustration on page one is pictured here) from Harvard's Henry James collection, or read
how Private Joseph Taylor got his medal of honor
in style, in
The Seventh Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers in the Civil War, 1862-1865
, from the University of Michigan.
And since every word is searchable, as you are browsing
The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York
-- from the New York Public Library's collection -- you can find that there were more
grocers
than
bankers
listed in 1855.
From Stanford's collection, there are government documents detailing what the Fiftieth
U.S. Congress spent money on in 1888
, or the results of investigations into the
fur-seal and other fisheries in Alaska
.
See for yourself what some of these libraries have -- using the date operator, and searching for the phrase [steam engine], you'll find different results in
books no longer under copyright in the U.S.
and
books in the public domain internationally
. And all that you can find today is still just a small taste -- call it part 1 -- of what you'll be able to find tomorrow, as Google Print helps users discover, search and access the world's rich literary history in ways that were previously impossible.
p.s. If you're interested in other projects that make public domain books available, check out the Million Book Project's The Universal Library
in the U.S.
and
in China
, and their
Digital Library of India
as well as
Project Gutenberg
's public domain catalog of books.
Updated with p.s.
O, Canada (among others)
November 2, 2005
Posted by Dylan Parker, Software Engineer
I've been working on the personalized homepage from Victoria, B.C., and I've never been psyched to have to sign in to the U.S. version every morning. While Seattle's pretty close, I'd prefer to have the actual weather for Victoria -- and have it in Celsius. Now I can, because today we expanded the personalized homepage to 16 new regions:
Australia
,
Brazil
,
China
,
France
,
Germany
,
India
,
Italy
,
Japan
,
Korea
,
Mexico
,
Netherlands
,
Russia
,
Spain
,
Switzerland
,
UK
, and ahem,
Canada
.
Now I can enjoy my morning
Timbits
with a Google homepage -- Canadian-style.
Flu season is upon us
November 2, 2005
Dr. Taraneh Ravazi, M.D., Staff Doctor
It's official: flu season -- in the northern hemisphere, where flu hits between October to May -- has begun. (In the southern hemisphere, of course, it's the other half of the year, and in the tropics, one can catch the flu year-round.) Today I'll focus on the northern hemisphere, but the same ideas apply at different times in other locales.
Please note that this is general information, and not a substitute for medical advice; contact your own doctor with questions about your health.
The sources for the information below are:
Medical Letter
,
Up To Date
, the
NIH's MedLine Plus
, the
Centers for Disease Control
, and
Lung USA
.
Who should get a flu shot?
Generally, those wanting to reduce their chance of getting sick. It's especially recommended for the following high-risk groups:
- People aged 50 and older
- Women who are or will be pregnant during the flu season
- Adults and children 6 months and older with chronic heart, or lung conditions including asthma, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or weakened immune system such as with HIV or with medications, and any kind of brain or spinal cord disorders
- Children 6 months to 18 years who are on long term aspirin therapy
- All children 6-23 months of age
- All the contacts of people in these high-risk groups
Other than your doctor's office, try
Flu Clinic Locator
to see where you might be able to get a shot.
Who shouldn't get one?
- People with severe allergy to eggs
- People who currently have a fever
- Children less than 6 months old
- People who have had Guillane Barre syndrome (a paralytic condition) within 6 weeks of getting a flu shot in the past
When's best to get one?
It's optimal to get a shot in October or November (especially for the high-risk groups noted above), but you can also benefit in December or later.
Types of vaccines
- A flu shot, made from an inactivated vaccine, which contrary to popular belief cannot give you the flu.
- A flu nasal spray, an attenuated live vaccine. Because this can at least theoretically cause transmission, it should only be given to healthy people ages 5-49 who are not pregnant, not healthcare workers, or contacts of anyone who is immuno-suppressed.
Effectiveness
Within about 2 weeks, the shot is fully effective, and usually the effect lasts for 6 months or longer. A protection rate of 50-80 percent is the norm.
Recognizable flu symptoms
These are usually more severe than cold symptoms, and include sudden onset of high fever (101 or higher), severe muscle aches, headache, cough, sore throat, and a general miserable feeling. Symptoms may last 2-7 days, but if complications such as pnuemonia occur, the course may be longer.
How to treat the flu
Treatment is mainly designed to reduce the symptoms with
- rest
- fluids
- acetominophen (like Tylenol) -- not aspirin, especially in those under 18, to avoid Reyes Syndrome, which is a serious neurological disease
- antiviral medications (most effective if started within the first 2 days of onset of symptoms)
Unless there is a secondary complication (e.g. ear infection, sinusitis), antibiotics are not typically prescribed. And the jury is out on alternatives such as Vitamin C or herbal products. (Recently, echinacea was shown to be ineffective for cold treatment.)
Here's hoping you can stay healthy this winter!
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