.:[Double Click To][Close]:.

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.

A Special Thank You!

I wanted to send out a special huge-ginormous-tremendous Thank You to our clients, for without you, there would be no us!

MasterPiece Weddings had a terrific year! Our Studio turned One, and you all love it here! And we love you!



We have been to some beautiful places in 2008 - and we look forward to spending more wedding days with you in 2009!



Thank You especially for entrusting your special day to us, and we thank you for the honor of working with you!



You are the best!  Happy New Year!

Happy New 2009!

As we all reflect on what 2008 as brought us, and reigning in 2009, I am reminded that 2008, although not an easy year, and brings lots of hope and for what is to come. has brought me closer to my family and friends.





This year has been a fantastic year for MasterPiece Weddings, and I am so, oh so, grateful for that.



I am thankful for my business associates, especially for Kristin, for without her, I promise you I wouldn’t have half the hair on my head that is there now.



I am so grateful for my husband that has been there for me without question, and backed me in every crazy endeavor that I have dove head first into.



I am thankful for my heath, and for God giving me the vision to do Let’s Eat Cake! {which is coming up in less than 2 months!!!!!} I am so excited for 2009, and the hope and joy that it has already given me!



And especially, a BIG HUGE thank you to all of YOU that read this blog, and contribute in the comments and email, you are always a ginormous inspiration to me!!!



Happy New Year!!

Yadira Gianola (Nikki Clan)










Fotos:
Maxim y TVyNovelas

Amrita Rao's charming Sister

Bollywood beauty Amrita Rao’s charming sister Preeta Rao has decided to step into the world of movies. This model and qualified.....

7 Images

Continue Reading...

7 Ways to Make a Good Impression

Impressions are important: They leave an initial taste in people's mouths that can remain prevalent for the entire relationship. If you are paranoid about what kind of impression you make, run through these seven list items and see if you are consistent with them; if you are, then you will probably expose the best of yourself. If not, then work to meet these standards.

1. Dress: The absolute first impression you will make on someone will be through your clothing, because that is what is seen from a distance, and cannot change throughout your meeting. Make sure to dress according to the situation-don't over or under dress-and maintain within the limits of good taste. If you aren't sure if what you're wearing looks good, ask people for an honest opinion. One last thought: always, and I mean always, pull up your pants.
2. Hygiene: Take a shower! Shave! Brush your teeth! You must be fully bathed and groomed before you meet with someone for the first time, because scruffy looking people generally don't seem as neat and mature. Pay attention to the little elements like breath: keep a pack of mint gum with you wherever you go, and periodically check to make sure you aren't killing bugs every time you breathe out. If you sweat heavily, keep a small stick of deodorant/anti-perspirant close, and if you notice you're stinking you can freshen up. People notice the minutiae!
3. Manners: At the table and with other people be civilized, polite and respectful: keep your elbows off of the table, open doors for people and address everyone-initially, at least-by their formal title. This will make an especially good impression on senior citizens, because you will prove that you aren't one of those "new fangled punks."
4. Speech: Have clean, clear diction and speak sans "like" or "you know." It is important to be articulate because that inspires a feeling of intelligence and education in the person you are meeting with. Always leave out profanity, and whatever you do, make sure to speak loud enough for all to hear, because conversationalists are easily agitated if you force them say "excuse me?" more than a few times.
5. Discretion: Choose what to share about yourself: forget to tell everyone about that time you went camping and ruptured your appendix, then fell face first into a pile of bug infested leaves-it is rude and will alienate you from the group. Try to withhold from conversations on personal subjects like religion or more disgusting topics like personal medical care. Before you speak, think about the possible impact of what you might say, then imagine its implications in the long run.
6. Humor: Humor can be your most powerful tool or your doom, because everyone has a slightly different sense of humor. What might be hilarious to you might seem disgusting to another, or vice versa. Try to withhold from any jokes that aren't family or dinner table friendly; you can tell those later.
7. Start and End with a Bang: I am a classical musician, and in my orchestra, among other messages, the conductor tells us that the "audience remembers mostly the first and last notes of a symphony." This is the same in a personal encounter: whoever you are meeting with will remember how you greet them, and then in what manner you left them. If you feel you have trouble with this, practice a few different phrases in the mirror, and introduce elements like: "pleased to meet you," or "honored to make your acquaintance." Ignore the antiquity of these phrases; it often makes them more memorable.

Making a good impression will set any relationship off on a good foot. If you are in a situation where you need to be judged at face value-such as a job interview or date-then make sure to go through this list and make sure you are within bounds of reason and good taste on all of your decisions.

Best Car Ad Ever - Video

Winter Inspiration

In Florida, the weather has been un-seasonable warm. Unlike the rest of the United States. Two weeks ago we were in the 20s and 30s, this week it's been in the 70s - it's difficult to get into the spirit of the holidays... so we inspire ourselves.







Bride with Bouquet,White Cosmo, Pearls, Cake, Square Fabric, Ring Bearer, White Tux, White Centerpiece, Table Setting, Pillow- Cake2, Pearl Candle, Shells, White Tent-

Cleaning up for 2009

With the new year just around the corner, it's a good idea to tidy up your clients' accounts for success in 2009. Locating keywords and campaigns that have a high bounce rate, meaning users left after visiting just one page of the site, is a good first step when optimizing AdWords accounts to be more successful.

But time is of the essence, so check out this quick video tip on how to use Google Analytics reports to identify poor performing keywords and campaigns in your clients' AdWords accounts. For more details on Google Analytics reporting, visit the Analytics Help Center. Happy New Year!

A grateful season

The holidays are a time for giving, and Googlers across the globe have found some creative ways to give back to their communities this season. From raising money and crafting greeting cards to building gingerbread houses and giving blood, Googlers from east to west have been busy spreading good cheer. We've highlighted just a few of these efforts here, and we're looking forward to many more opportunities to give back in the new year.

London
The UK engineering recruitment team started to plan its annual Secret Santa gift exchange. But as they began thinking about last year, they realized that hardly anyone on the team could remember what they'd received, let alone given. Instead of spending 10 pounds on gag gifts, they decided to use the money to make a difference. After discovering that a local children's hospital was in desperate need of gifts, they quickly raised enough money to buy a Nintendo Wii gaming console for one of the wards.


Mexico City
In the past, Google has held a "Doodle 4 Google" contest in the US, the UK, and Australia, inviting kids K-12 to submit a homepage doodle inspired by a particular theme. This year Mexico held its first such contest (theme: "the Mexico we want"). For each doodle submitted, Google donated to a non-profit that works to eradicate childhood malnutrition in Mexico. In total, more than 70,000 kilos (154,000 pounds) of food and aid were donated. Winner, Ana Karen Villagómez, was recently recognized in a ceremony in Mexico City; her doodle (pictured below) will appear on the Google homepage on January 6.


Boston and beyond
Boston Googlers delivered gifts to some very grateful students at a local school and spent the morning reading and playing with the children. The Chicago office held its first-ever holiday blood drive, donating 36 units of blood. And the Ann Arbor office held a "CANstruction" competition, creating sculptures out of canned food, personal items and baby items, which were all later donated.



We hope that your holiday season is filled with plenty of time to slow down and reflect on what's important to you, and that you too feel inspired to find ways to give back to your own community in the new year.

After The Holidays!

We have gotten a number of emails asking what the protocol is after the holidays. To write a thank you note, or to not write a note- that is the question.





Well, this can be gone back and forth on - personally, I think that you should write a thank you note, regardless. Someone went out of their way to find something for you that they thought you’d like…regardless of the cost, they were thinking of you.



On the other hand… if your neighbor dropped off a plate of cookies, I don’t know that it necessarily deserves a long drawn out note, but if it was out of the blue… tradition shows that it deserves a mention of some kind.



So all in all- when in doubt, write a note.



Image Source

Lenovo Dual Screen Laptop

Wow ho, two screens lappie. This is the Thinkpad W700ds, it comes with choice of Intel Core 2 Quad processors and combined with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M GPU. It support up to .....
3 Images

Asin Keeping Her Fingers Crossed

Asin is keeping her fingers crossed. The verdict will be out in a few days from now. Asin states, “I would not say I am nervous. But I am anxious to know how the audiences react to the movie and also to my performance. I have not watched the movie yet I .........

6 Images

Continue Reading...

Tiny Horse

The horse, currently only a little taller than this book, is expected to grow to about 24 inches
Toy horses are usually pink and plastic – and aimed at young girls. But this little pony is 100 per cent natural – and ready to make friends with anyone her size. More images after the break...


The miniature horse snuggles up to mummy as local people try to come up with a name for her
Born ten days ago at a stud in the southern state of Victoria, Australia, the 15in miniature horse – which is yet to be named – has already formed a bond with Sam Leith, 12. Silver dun tovero in colour, she was given a clean bill of health – and should reach 24in when grown.The birth has generated such excitement in the community that local people are entering a competition to give the horse a name in time for Christmas.

Tight squeeze: The horse is so small it can fit underneath her mother
Owner Lee Scown said she wanted a name that reflected the tiny, unique nature of the horse.'It’s the smallest horse I’ve ever had and she’s so gorgeous,' Ms Scown said. 'It’s amazing to see a horse so tiny, and she’s about the size of a week-old lamb.'The horse is the smallest born at Riverdance and its arrival surprised even its breeder.'We got told the mare wasn't due for another four weeks but on Sunday morning I walked outside and called her, and out ran the little foal behind her.'

Going for a walk: Sam leads the way, followed by Bliss and her tiny new daughter
Seeing eye to eye: The little horse has already formed a bond with youngster Sam Leith

Via : Link

Brooke Hogan in Miami

Brooke Hogan ventured out with unknown male companion for a shopping stroll down Lincoln Road in Miami on......
6 Images

Weight Loss Just By Drinking Water

Make A Successful Weight Loss Just By Drinking Water - Maybe The Easiest Weight Loss Method
Well, you may have heard it before - you can lose weight just by drinking pure plain water. Do you think it is like that? Yes, it is, you can lose weight just by drinking water. I will explain why it is .......

Happy Holidays!!

From all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a super fabulous Happy New Year!



Our offices will be closed from December 24th through January 5th - except for Audrey and Nate's Wedding!



Have a Happy Holiday season, and I'll see you after the Seven Fishes Dinner!

Tracking Santa: the backstory

When I look back on four years of tracking Old St. Nick on Christmas Eve, I can't help but smile. The Santa tracker has really come a long way. I always thought NORAD's Santa Tracker was a great holiday tradition, but I felt like it could have been even better if people could visualize exactly where Santa was on Christmas Eve. So in 2004, shortly after Keyhole was acquired by Google, we followed Santa in the "Keyhole Earth Viewer" — Google Earth's original name — and we called it the "Keyhole Santa Radar." The audience was relatively small since Keyhole was still a for-pay service at that point, and we hosted everything on a single machine shared with the Keyhole Community BBS server. We probably should have had three separate servers to host the Santa tracker — that first year, we had only a portion of a single machine. That night, about 25,000 people kept tabs on Santa and, needless to say, wreaked some havoc on our servers!

Over the next two years, our Santa-tracking efforts improved dramatically. By December 2005, Keyhole had become Google Earth and our audience had become much, much larger. Our "Santa Radar" team also grew: we used greatly improved icons from Dennis Hwang, the Google Doodler, and set up 20 machines to serve the tracking information. My colleague Michael Ashbridge took over the software and more than 250,000 people tracked Santa on Google Earth that Christmas Eve. In 2006, Google acquired SketchUp, a 3D modeling software that enabled us to include models of Santa's North Pole workshop and sleigh. We also incorporated a tracking feed directly from NORAD's headquarters, and we were now displaying NORAD's information in Google Earth. That year, more than a million people tracked Santa.

In 2007, Google became NORAD's official Santa Tracking technology partner and hosted www.noradsanta.org. In addition to tracking Santa in Google Earth, we added a Google Maps tracker and integrated YouTube videos into the journey as well. Now, we had Santa on the map and on "Santa Cam" arriving in several different locations around the world, with commentary in six different languages. The heavy traffic — several millions of users — put Google's infrastructure to the test, but with some heroic work by our system reliability engineers, the Santa Tracker worked continuously.

This year, Googler Bruno Bowden is in charge of the Santa software, and we have further upgraded our server capacity. We're hoping this version of the tracker will be the best yet. In addition to our "Santa Cam" footage, geo-located photos from Panoramio will be viewable in Google Maps for each of Santa's stops that don't include video. We've also included a few new ways to track Santa. With Google Maps for mobile, anyone can keep tabs on him from their mobile phones (just activate GMM and search for "norad santa"). You can also receive updates from "Bitz the Elf" on Twitter by following @noradsanta. And of course, be sure to visit www.noradsanta.org tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 am EST when Santa's journey begins. Enjoy, and see you in 2009!

Tie-Bow!

During this time of year we all tie lots of bows! But do you know how to tie the perfect bow? At Papersource.com I found a great step by step on how to tie, just the perfect bow!





1. Measure ribbon by wrapping the ribbon around the box twice. It is helpful to use a sharp pair of scissors when trimming your edges. Make sure to leave enough ribbon so you can trim the edges again, if necessary, after your bow is tied.
2. Tighten the ribbon around the box and with your right hand pull the length of ribbon on the left over and under to create a single tie, as you would when tying your shoe.
3. Place your thumb on your left hand to hold the tightness and pull the ribbon length of the right side up to create a loop.
4. Pull the loop over to the right as you use your left hand to take the ribbon length around the loop.
5. Pull ribbon through and under. Then pull up to create a second loop over the first loop.
6. Pull the two loop ends to create a even bow.
7. Tighten the bow to your desired length.
8. To create even edges, take both ribbon lengths on left and right, pull together to measure them at the same place which ensures they will be cut at the same length, and then cut at any angle you please.


Happy Holidays!!

Our Top 10 for 2008

2008 is coming to a close, and we want to leave you with our favorite posts for 2008. The posts were chosen based on FrankRank, and represent the team's favorites over the last year.
  1. Introducing Google Ad Planner
    There was a ton of interest in the tool, and the post announcing it was the most read post here on Inside AdWords for the whole year.
  2. Improvements to Ads Quality
    This year, we made two big changes to how we calculate Quality Score and rank ads. This post explained the new changes in detail.
  3. Build your own display ads in minutes
    We liked this post as it showed off a new tool that helps you broaden your advertising campaigns easily.
  4. Keyword tool updated with search volume
    A theme for this year's top posts is providing our advertisers with more information to make their advertising decisions. The keyword tool updates definitely fit in with this theme.
  5. Announcing Google Insights for Search
    Like the keyword tool, Insights for Search is another useful tool for your business.
  6. Tie: New ways to look at Search & Content Network statistics and Separate metrics for Google and search partners now available
    Both these posts announced improvements to AdWords reporting that had been heavily requested by advertisers.
  7. New features in Website Optimizer
    The new features addressed some of the top requests for Website Optimizer.
  8. Use keywords and placements together on the content network
    This new feature gave advertisers better control over their advertising on the content network.
  9. Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends
    A fun post looking at how you could use Google Trends to plan your campaigns around seasonal traffic patterns.
  10. Announcing the Search-based Keyword Tool
    Another tool we released this year. The Search-based Keyword Tool helps you locate missed opportunities for advertising campaigns.
That's it for our top 10 for this year. We'll be off celebrating the holidays for the next two weeks, so you won't see any posts from us. We'll be back here blogging in January. Have a great holiday!

Quality Score fact of the day

We're back with the fourth fact in our series to help clear the air about Quality Score and help you run more effective campaigns for your clients. Today's fact is:

A few bad days of test performance will not ruin your Quality Scores. In order to optimize your clients' accounts, we encourage you to run targeted tests on your bids, creatives, and keywords. These small tests are a useful way to measure the impact of changes before applying them more widely. You should carefully track the performance of your experiments. If you find that the changes you've made don't perform well after a few days, you can revise your experiment or delete those changes and the short term impact on your Quality Score will soon be outweighed by the positive performance you have accrued in the rest of your client's account.

We'll bring you our next fact in the new year. Wishing you Happy Holidays until then!

The Story of the 15 Foot Christmas Tree!

It all started with an idea. The idea that I wanted to put up and ginormously tall Christmas Tree. My husband was out of town, so I asked his best friend Chris to help. {with the promise I would make him a delicious Salmon dinner as a Thank You!} 2 Christmas Tree stands, a bunch of money and a bird nest… the tree was up.





So as I stood there at the grocery store {where they sold Christmas Trees and gave the profits to Charity} I fell in love with the biggest, largest, most beautiful tree E.V.E.R! It was a 15 Foot Tree… and the proceeds were going to charity, so what-the-hey!



6:30PM – I went to Publix got this HUGE tree, I had spotted it at lunchtime and knew that if they still had it after work, that I was going to buy it and surprise John when he came home from his business trip. The nice man loaded it up on top of the Wedding Mobile, and I proceeded to drive 2 miles an hour home



7:00PM- With the tree bottom bobbin’ up and down the top of the tree can be seen from the rearview mirror of the car – I am telling you it was huge!!! I get home and Chris and I roll it off the car, and then roll it into the back yard.



Chris gets out the chain saw and cuts at good 6 inches off the bottom. So that this huge tree can suck up all the water it wants.



7:30PM- Then we trim some of those pesky bottom branches, I run up into the attic get the handy tree stand down. And then we attempt to get the bottom of the tree into the plastic stand. Of course I was worried that it is not going to fit in the stand, and viola it fits!!!



Horary! Then we bring it in the house through the back, and attempt to get it upright, and then as we are heeving and hooeing all of a sudden the tree stand, bends in half!!! CRAP!



8:30PM- Okay, so dinner at 9:00… right! WRONG! Then Chris and I leave for Wal-Mart and buy a handy dandy new stand made for large trees, since we measured the base of the tree at about 5 3/4 inches we knew that it would fit, and it said it was made for a large trees up to 12' tall {what’s 3 feet amongst tree-friends}, okay, so we get it home and this time I go over to our neighbors house, and ask if he can help us get the heavy tree into the stand.



9:00PM - No dinner yet, Shane and Chris get the tree into the stand and up it goes and it all looks good, and we hear a settling noise, like the tree is settling into the stand, and then a loud crack-bam-craacckkkkk and then again a loud crack, the plastic stand, broke, cracked in half!!!!



Okay, so now I am frustrated and a bit peeved! I am going to get this dag gom tree up tonight if it is the death of me... We leave and go to the Christmas Tree place on the side of the road, and there is a sign that says "No Fall tree stand, the last stand you will ever have to buy, guarteed to be straight every time, takes 30 second to put up", okay so I ask the guy about it, and he says that he is closed. And started to walk away.



I proceed to say, “PUHLEASE All I need is a Christmas Tree stand! And He makes a face and says that everything is put away!” And I start working on the tears! Here they come, and then he pulls out this stand, that looks like the one my parents used in 1954 or maybe 1979, either way I was desperate!!



I said okay, what ever it costs no problem, I buy the stand, and then we bring it back to the house, and then Chris cannot find John's drill bits.{Remember, John is out of town and I wanted to suprise him with this glorious tree}



9:30PM- I am knocking on other neighbors doors asking if they have drill bits that will fit this tree, 5/8" drill bits, he did…, and then tada we had to bang it in with a hammer for about 5 minutes, okay it went in and then we put up the tree and then take down the twine that it holding it together, and then the tree is up!!



Well sort of, it is too wide now for the part of the living room we put it in, so I get the hedge trimmers and start tearing away at the back of tree so that the branches are not hitting the windows



10:30PM - We ate dinner, then I got enough energy to finishing trimming the bottom so that I could vacuum the carpet, because you know half the pine needles in the world were on the floor!


Then what do I see….a bird's nest in the tree, honestly, we just left it there, all Christmas!



So that is the story of the 15’ Christmas Tree, bigger isn’t always better.



PS- That stand - well the plastic dish underneath it broke, and then all of the water slowly leaked out and molded up our carpet... we had to replace all of our carpet in that room. All thanks to my dream of having a tall tree.



I wish you and yours and easy, relaxing, stress free Holiday Season!

JoJo Joanna Levesque (Galeria 1)








Fotos:
Jojo-Online.net
Glamorous-Jojo.com

Otras fotos:

Website: