Now that we're a decade old, we figured we're long overdue for some spring cleaning. We started digging around our basement and found all kinds of junk: old Swedish fish, pigeon poop, Klingon translation books. Amazingly enough, hidden in a corner beneath Larry's and Sergey's original lab coats, we found a vintage search index in mint condition. We dusted it off and took it for a spin, gobsmacked to see how different the web was in early 2001. "iPod" did not refer to a music player, "youtube" was nonsense, and if you were looking for "Michael Phelps," chances are you meant the scientist, not the swimmer. "Wikipedia" was brand new. Remember "hanging chads"? (And speaking of that election-specific reference -- if you're a U.S. citizen, it's not too late: please register to vote.)
We had so much fun searching that we wanted to put this old index online for everyone to play with. We thought it'd be even cooler if we could actually see the full versions of the old web pages, so we worked with the Internet Archive to link to their cache of these pages from 2001. Step into the time machine and try a 2001 Google search.
For more information on this search, please read our FAQ.
Posted by Shirin Oskooi, Product Manager
Your YouTube video: Hot or Not?
YouTube Insight has helped millions of you learn more about your YouTube videos and figure out when, where, and why your videos are popular. But what if you could learn not just which of your videos are hot on the site, but which specific parts of those videos are hotter than others? What if you could know exactly when viewers tend to leave your videos, or which scenes within a video they watch again and again?
This information is now available to all YouTube video uploaders with an innovative new feature for Insight called "Hot Spots." The Hot Spots tab in Insight plays your video alongside a graph that shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video. We determine "hot" and "cold" spots by comparing your video's abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards. So what does that mean? Well, when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content's gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.
Here's an example of Hot Spots in action:
You can see that many viewers are not impressed with the dance moves of Michael Rucker, Associate Product Marketing Manager at YouTube; they're leaving the video at a faster than average rate almost immediately after the video begins. But the longer the video goes on, the more people tend to stay, generating a hot spot at the end of the video. Better late than never -- kudos, Rucker!
We think you'll find Hot Spots useful in several ways. For example, users can figure out which scenes in their videos are the "hottest" and edit those videos, or include well-timed annotations, to keep their audience more engaged. Partners might similarly create better content -- like more exciting promotional trailers -- for use on and off YouTube, and advertisers and agencies can study the effectiveness of their creative, to make sure they keep viewers' attention throughout an ad. Now that Insight shows what parts of videos viewers are watching and skipping, creators no longer have to play guessing games. YouTube, the world's largest focus group, provides them with answers. You can find this new feature under the "Hot Spots" tab within the Insight Dashboard.
As with all of Insight's features, we learn about the most creative examples from you. We can't wait to see what you come up with next.
This information is now available to all YouTube video uploaders with an innovative new feature for Insight called "Hot Spots." The Hot Spots tab in Insight plays your video alongside a graph that shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video. We determine "hot" and "cold" spots by comparing your video's abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards. So what does that mean? Well, when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content's gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.
Here's an example of Hot Spots in action:
You can see that many viewers are not impressed with the dance moves of Michael Rucker, Associate Product Marketing Manager at YouTube; they're leaving the video at a faster than average rate almost immediately after the video begins. But the longer the video goes on, the more people tend to stay, generating a hot spot at the end of the video. Better late than never -- kudos, Rucker!
We think you'll find Hot Spots useful in several ways. For example, users can figure out which scenes in their videos are the "hottest" and edit those videos, or include well-timed annotations, to keep their audience more engaged. Partners might similarly create better content -- like more exciting promotional trailers -- for use on and off YouTube, and advertisers and agencies can study the effectiveness of their creative, to make sure they keep viewers' attention throughout an ad. Now that Insight shows what parts of videos viewers are watching and skipping, creators no longer have to play guessing games. YouTube, the world's largest focus group, provides them with answers. You can find this new feature under the "Hot Spots" tab within the Insight Dashboard.
As with all of Insight's features, we learn about the most creative examples from you. We can't wait to see what you come up with next.
The ONE News YouTube Election Debate in New Zealand
Over the course of the long U.S. Presidential election campaign, millions of people have checked out the candidates' YouTube Channels on our You Choose '08 platform, and communicated directly with all those running for President. Thousands more submitted questions for candidates in the CNN/YouTube debates, participated in our You Choose '08 Spotlight, or made videos for the Democratic and Republican conventions. Outside the U.S., YouTube has also become an important part of leveling the political playing field. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, the 2008 New Zealand general elections were called, with Kiwis going to the polls in early November.
Now, we're thrilled to announce the ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key, a history-making initiative with New Zealand's public broadcaster, TVNZ. This marks the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate. The debate will be broadcast live on TV ONE on October 14.
If you're a Kiwi, head on over to the YouTube New Zealand blog for details on how to submit your own questions.
Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News & Politics
Now, we're thrilled to announce the ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key, a history-making initiative with New Zealand's public broadcaster, TVNZ. This marks the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate. The debate will be broadcast live on TV ONE on October 14.
If you're a Kiwi, head on over to the YouTube New Zealand blog for details on how to submit your own questions.
Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News & Politics
Blogging Brides!
MasterPiece Weddings, Blogging Brides, is so excited to have Michelle back! Michelle and I have been chatting back and forth about her wedding, and she was telling me about her Water Ceremony - I was really interested, I love new takes on different traditions. So without further ado, let's welcome Michelle back to Blogging Brides!
I think a unity candle is a beautiful symbol. I used to think that this must be a tradition from way back when bridesmaids dressed like the bride to confuse evil spirits. At my tirade at a church not allowing candles and denying the age old tradition, my mother (my fulmination audience of 1) looked very confused and set me straight that its actually just from the 1970s... not the 1790s. Talk about letting the air out of the argument! Since then, while still a beautiful concept and symbol, its been a little tainted in my little world. (And by my little world, I mean in my head.) Well, now I am planning my wedding. I still love the symbol of the unity candle, but it now comes with the risk of me crack up laughing at a serious point in the ceremony. Oh yeah - I am that person who falls out laughing while everyone else is having a serene moment. Oops. The other issue, is that we will be on a beach for our ceremony. Candle + wind = another opportunity for me to fall out laughing! WAIT! Before you start suggesting the Unity Sand ceremony... let me say that in my head there is a VERY large tourist factor I associate with it (I grew up in touristy Panama City). There is also a logistics problem; I am marrying a Coast Guard officer and we will be moving every 4 years. Ever seen one of those sand things once its been shaken up? Let's just say it looses something.
So by now, I have discovered the wonderful world o' bridal blog stalking! Mrs. Penguin from Weddingbee had a Water Ceremony that I thought beautiful, elegant, and romantic... but we aren't Thai so that seemed a little odd to include. Mrs. Gingerbread included a Ring Blessing that was heartwarming... but we will have many guests so this could take a really long time. So my mental cuisinart popped out a new idea! (And by new, I mean that I have never heard of it. If you have, please correct me.) We will do a water blending ring blessing ceremony! Oh dear world o' bridal blog I need a better name for that!!! We will take water from places of significance to us as individuals, and pour them together, then drop the rings in and bless them in it. Beautiful right? (If you disagree, be nice, this is my first blog away from my blog home!) Hard part will be writing the ceremony right? HA!
As I said before, I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, so there is my first water. My second being something unique to me in my adult life, is from the Big Island of Hawaii. I moved there on my own, having never even been there, and knowing no one there. It was a very "I can do this on my own" few years for me where I really grew into the woman I am today, and hope to be for the rest of my life. I know people in Hawaii, so getting that water is simple. Adam grew up in Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River, so there's his first water. His second gets a bit trickier. Its Antarctica. Oh yeah, you read that right. His first Coast Guard station was on a polar ice breaker that spent 6 months our of the year in Antarctica!!! And, it was on the way back from Antarctica that he stopped in Hawaii and came to visit me for a week...bu that's a whole other story!
Enter the wonderful world of community bridal boards.
I had no idea how I was to find Antarctic water! I thought I remembered someone posting they were going on an Antarctic cruise for their honeymoon. I started posting on any board I could find asking if anyone happened to know who could bottle up some water! Many brought up the fact that water is circulated around the globe so really, any water could technically be Antarctic. I just really didn't want to start off our marriage with a fib or technicality! And then, someone chimed in with the knowledge that many researchers who go to Antarctica are based out of Colorado. So I started searching and found someone selling Polar sunglasses because they were upgrading for their next trip to Antarctica! So I emailed him and lo and behold, a colleague of his was headed down there in just a few months. So now I am patiently (read: anxiously awaiting to pounce on the UPS guy) for my Antarctic water!! I couldn't be more thankful for this wonderful world of brides and wedding professionals.
Now to the "hard" part; writing a ceremony to go with it.... Any ideas? How about a name for the ceremony? So, far, I've got "Water Blending Ring Blessing Ceremony"... doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
Melissa's Note: Does anyone have any ideas?
Photos of Adam and I courtesy of us! Water ceremony courtesy of Mrs. Penguin of Weddingbee.
Tiffani Amber Thiessen
Fotos:Hollywood Press
Otras fotos:
Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Topless)
Videoclips:
Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Videos)
Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Videos)
AdWords API update: Local Database Sync available
Our AdWords API team just announced the AdWords API Local Database Sync project. The AdWords API provides developers a way to manage large accounts quickly and easily by connecting directly to the AdWords platform, and this project is aimed at helping to improve that efficiency.
The scripts that make up the project can be used to schedule reports using the AdWords API, store the results in a local database (using SQLite), and then run queries against the database. Since keeping your AdWords account information in a local database that's updated by calls to the API can be faster and more cost-effective than calling the API directly multiple times, the API Local Database Sync will help developers who don't yet have a way to synchronize their local database.
For more information on this project and lots of technical details, visit the AdWords API blog and the project's home on the Google Code site.
The scripts that make up the project can be used to schedule reports using the AdWords API, store the results in a local database (using SQLite), and then run queries against the database. Since keeping your AdWords account information in a local database that's updated by calls to the API can be faster and more cost-effective than calling the API directly multiple times, the API Local Database Sync will help developers who don't yet have a way to synchronize their local database.
For more information on this project and lots of technical details, visit the AdWords API blog and the project's home on the Google Code site.
Riddle Winner!
The only items we recently used at a wedding!
Explaination:
Our BBQ Lighter wouldn't work so I had to borrow a candle from the offering at the church, and the sunglasses - goodness knows why I have 2 pair of sunglasses, but I do, we needed them so the Bride and Bridesmaids could take a super swank picture of themselves outside near the lake with an 8' Alligator (okay near the Gator)!!!!
Winner: No one, but you guys had some great, funny and sarcastic answers... it was fun!
I still have this great prize to give away, anyone had any idea's for another contest?
Ten years and counting
The Google doodle tradition started a long time ago (in summer 1999, in fact) when Larry and Sergey put a stick figure on the homepage to signify that they were out of the office at Burning Man. Nothing against stick figures, but our logo designs have become rather more varied since then. Today you'll see a special design that commemorates our 10th birthday. We've incorporated a little bit of history by using the original Google logo from 1998. And since everyone keeps asking what we'd like for our birthday (besides cake and party hats) -- the first thing we thought of was a nice new server rack.
Update: Added image.
Update: Added image.
What would you ask Senators McCain and Obama?
Millions of Americans will be tuning in tonight for the first Presidential debate between Senator Obama and Senator McCain. Historically, the debates are led by a moderator from a prestigious news organization, asking questions to each candidate and leaving time for a rebuttal from the other. Tonight is no different, with the well-respected Jim Lehrer from PBS serving as the debate moderator.
While tonight's event will be exciting, many have argued that we should consider new ways for the candidates to debate. Technology has enabled a historic number of voters to learn from and participate in the election process -- something that was well illustrated by the CNN/YouTube debates.
While we're not officially part of the Commission of Presidential Debates, a few days ago we launched Google Moderator. It's a free tool which enables communities to submit and vote on questions for debates, presentations and events. This way, the best and most representative questions rise to the top.
One of the featured series on Google Moderator is U.S. Presidential Debates 2008 which, at the time of this writing, has 730 people already contributing 230 questions that have over 11,000 votes. Top questions submitted so far include:
While tonight's event will be exciting, many have argued that we should consider new ways for the candidates to debate. Technology has enabled a historic number of voters to learn from and participate in the election process -- something that was well illustrated by the CNN/YouTube debates.
While we're not officially part of the Commission of Presidential Debates, a few days ago we launched Google Moderator. It's a free tool which enables communities to submit and vote on questions for debates, presentations and events. This way, the best and most representative questions rise to the top.
One of the featured series on Google Moderator is U.S. Presidential Debates 2008 which, at the time of this writing, has 730 people already contributing 230 questions that have over 11,000 votes. Top questions submitted so far include:
Do these questions represent your concerns? What would you ask the Presidential candidates? Who knows, maybe NBC legend Tom Brokaw will have a look at what you're asking before he moderates the next Presidential debate on October 7th in Nashville!
- Many Americans feel it's unfair to saddle taxpayers with the bailout of irresponsible Wall Street firms. What caused this mess and what is a fair solution which benefits the average American, not the executives who got us here in the first place? - Suggested by Doug H, Los Angeles, CA
- What will be your single, top priority for your first 100 days in office? - Suggested by Shira, Pensacola, FL
- What will you do to reduce the size or increase the efficiency of the US government? - Suggested by Dave M, Philadelphia, PA
Our position on California's No on 8 campaign
As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.
However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
Google Toolbar 5 now available in Firefox
A few months ago we launched several new features for Google Toolbar in Internet Explorer. Since then, we've received many emails asking us when we plan to support all our new features in Firefox.
Guess what: Starting today, you can download the latest version of Google Toolbar for Firefox, available in 29 languages. This new version is the first Toolbar launched out of our St. Petersburg, Russia office. It includes all the Toolbar features you know and love, such as Search, Bookmarks and Translate. When you install it, you can try out some of our newest features.
We don't like to play favorites among Toolbar's features, but it's hard not be wowed by Autofill. You can create several profiles with personal or business information including different addresses, email addresses and credit card details. So anytime you want to fill an online form, just click on Autofill and the right information will appear in the form automatically. All your information is safely stored only in your own computer, with your credit card numbers encrypted and protected by a password.
Guess what: Starting today, you can download the latest version of Google Toolbar for Firefox, available in 29 languages. This new version is the first Toolbar launched out of our St. Petersburg, Russia office. It includes all the Toolbar features you know and love, such as Search, Bookmarks and Translate. When you install it, you can try out some of our newest features.
We don't like to play favorites among Toolbar's features, but it's hard not be wowed by Autofill. You can create several profiles with personal or business information including different addresses, email addresses and credit card details. So anytime you want to fill an online form, just click on Autofill and the right information will appear in the form automatically. All your information is safely stored only in your own computer, with your credit card numbers encrypted and protected by a password.
We also love Google Gadgets in Toolbar. Gadgets bring information from your favorite websites closer to you. For example, you can add the YouTube gadget to your Toolbar. When you want to have a quick break from work, click on the YouTube icon and search or view videos in a box that pops down from the Toolbar, without leaving the web page you are on. Close that box when you're done with it (or when your manager starts walking towards your cube). You can find the YouTube gadget and thousands of others in our gallery.
We look forward to get your feedback, or to hear your stories about the exciting ways you are using Toolbar's features. We hope that you enjoy the new Google Toolbar as much as our team enjoyed building it!
If you're interested in learning more about Google Toolbar, visit us at http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/FT5 or check out our video:
Posted by Vladislav Kaznacheev, Head, St. Petersburg Engineering Office, and Igor Bazarny, Software Engineer, Toolbar team
We look forward to get your feedback, or to hear your stories about the exciting ways you are using Toolbar's features. We hope that you enjoy the new Google Toolbar as much as our team enjoyed building it!
If you're interested in learning more about Google Toolbar, visit us at http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/FT5 or check out our video:
Posted by Vladislav Kaznacheev, Head, St. Petersburg Engineering Office, and Igor Bazarny, Software Engineer, Toolbar team
Submitting your content to Google
We've talked a lot about our mission to organize the world's information and make it readily available to all, but we haven't spent as much time as we could helping others understand how they can participate in this endeavor. Last week we took two steps to address this: we updated the Submit Your Content site and we launched our Content Central blog. The goal of both of these resources is to inform and help the many organizations that distribute various types of content via Google Web Search, Maps, Product Search, Book Search, YouTube, iGoogle and more.
So whether you're a plumber, a map data provider, a local government, a major media company or a museum, we have a wealth of information available to help you reach your audience through Google. Comments are open on the blog -- we look forward to hearing from you.
So whether you're a plumber, a map data provider, a local government, a major media company or a museum, we have a wealth of information available to help you reach your audience through Google. Comments are open on the blog -- we look forward to hearing from you.
Huge Thank You!
I can’t be in two places at the same time. It’s impossible. Trust me, I’ve tried!
But I prayed, and prayed – and I was sent Kristin. She has become invaluable to me, and I trust her implicitly! She has worked so hard for us, pulling 15 hour days, and 40 hour weekends – we had a rough couple of weekends. And I want her to know how much I truly appreciate her hard work, and her friendship! I don’t know that I would have made it through the past few weekends without her. I absolutely feel as if I can be in two places at the same time with her by my side.
I also wanted to thank Amanda at Blissful Bride – she worked her first wedding with us this past weekend, and really did a fantastic job! Thank you!!!
And last, but certainly not least, my husband – he picked up so much slack while we had back-to-back bridal shows, and weddings, and my inability to move for 24 hours, John you are amazing, Thank you!!
Enough mushy stuff… back to our regularly scheduled Wedding Stuff!
Shama Sikander pretty smile
Shama Sikander's journey to the small screen was not a bed of roses. After acting in a few forgettable flicks and ....
6 Images
The next Internet
The Internet has had an enormous impact on people's lives around the world in the ten years since Google's founding. It has changed politics, entertainment, culture, business, health care, the environment and just about every other topic you can think of. Which got us to thinking, what's going to happen in the next ten years? How will this phenomenal technology evolve, how will we adapt, and (more importantly) how will it adapt to us? We asked ten of our top experts this very question, and during September (our 10th anniversary month) we are presenting their responses. As computer scientist Alan Kay has famously observed, the best way to predict the future is to invent it, so we will be doing our best to make good on our experts' words every day. - Karen Wickre and Alan Eagle, series editors
Historically, the Internet has been all about connectivity between computers and among people. The World Wide Web opened enormous opportunities and motivations for the injection of content into the Internet, and search engines, such as Google's, provided a way for people to find the right content for their interests. Of course, the Internet continues to develop: new devices will find their way onto the net and new ways to access it will evolve.
In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically. As you enter a hotel room, your mobile will be told its precise location including room number. When you turn your laptop on, it will learn this information as well--either from the mobile or from the room itself. It will be normal for devices, when activated, to discover what other devices are in the neighborhood, so your mobile will discover that it has a high resolution display available in what was once called a television set. If you wish, your mobile will remember where you have been and will keep track of RFID-labeled objects such as your briefcase, car keys and glasses. "Where are my glasses?" you will ask. "You were last within RFID reach of them while in the living room," your mobile or laptop will say.
The Internet will transform the video medium as well. From its largely programmed, scheduled and streamed delivery today, video will become an interactive medium in which the choice of content and advertising will be under consumer control. Product placement will become an opportunity for viewers to click on items of interest in the field of view to learn more about them including but not limited to commercial information. Hyperlinks will associate the racing scene in Star Wars I with the chariot race in Ben Hur. Conventional videoconferencing will be augmented by remotely controlled robots with an ability to move around, focus cameras and microphones, and perhaps even directly interact with the local environment under user control.
The Internet will also become more closely integrated with other parts of our daily lives, and it will change them accordingly. Power distribution grids, for example, will become a part of the Internet's information universe. We will be able to track and manage electrical power demand and our automobiles will participate in the generation as well as the consumption of electricity. By sharing information through the Internet about energy-consuming and energy-producing devices and systems, we will be able to make them more efficient.
A box of washing machine soap will become part of a service as Internet-enabled washing machines are managed by Web-based services that can configure and activate your washing machine. Scientific measurements and experimental results will be blogged and automatically entered into common data archives to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reproduction of experimental results. One might even imagine that scientific instruments could generate their own data blogs.
These are but a few examples of the way in which the Internet will continue to surround and serve us in the future. The flexibility we have seen in the Internet is a consequence of one simple observation: the Internet is essentially a software artifact. As we have learned in the past several decades, software is an endless frontier. There is no limit to what can be programmed. If we can imagine it, there's a good chance it can be programmed. The Internet of the future will be suffused with software, information, data archives, and populated with devices, appliances, and people who are interacting with and through this rich fabric.
And Google will be there, helping to make sense of it all, helping to organize and make everything accessible and useful.
Historically, the Internet has been all about connectivity between computers and among people. The World Wide Web opened enormous opportunities and motivations for the injection of content into the Internet, and search engines, such as Google's, provided a way for people to find the right content for their interests. Of course, the Internet continues to develop: new devices will find their way onto the net and new ways to access it will evolve.
In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically. As you enter a hotel room, your mobile will be told its precise location including room number. When you turn your laptop on, it will learn this information as well--either from the mobile or from the room itself. It will be normal for devices, when activated, to discover what other devices are in the neighborhood, so your mobile will discover that it has a high resolution display available in what was once called a television set. If you wish, your mobile will remember where you have been and will keep track of RFID-labeled objects such as your briefcase, car keys and glasses. "Where are my glasses?" you will ask. "You were last within RFID reach of them while in the living room," your mobile or laptop will say.
The Internet will transform the video medium as well. From its largely programmed, scheduled and streamed delivery today, video will become an interactive medium in which the choice of content and advertising will be under consumer control. Product placement will become an opportunity for viewers to click on items of interest in the field of view to learn more about them including but not limited to commercial information. Hyperlinks will associate the racing scene in Star Wars I with the chariot race in Ben Hur. Conventional videoconferencing will be augmented by remotely controlled robots with an ability to move around, focus cameras and microphones, and perhaps even directly interact with the local environment under user control.
The Internet will also become more closely integrated with other parts of our daily lives, and it will change them accordingly. Power distribution grids, for example, will become a part of the Internet's information universe. We will be able to track and manage electrical power demand and our automobiles will participate in the generation as well as the consumption of electricity. By sharing information through the Internet about energy-consuming and energy-producing devices and systems, we will be able to make them more efficient.
A box of washing machine soap will become part of a service as Internet-enabled washing machines are managed by Web-based services that can configure and activate your washing machine. Scientific measurements and experimental results will be blogged and automatically entered into common data archives to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reproduction of experimental results. One might even imagine that scientific instruments could generate their own data blogs.
These are but a few examples of the way in which the Internet will continue to surround and serve us in the future. The flexibility we have seen in the Internet is a consequence of one simple observation: the Internet is essentially a software artifact. As we have learned in the past several decades, software is an endless frontier. There is no limit to what can be programmed. If we can imagine it, there's a good chance it can be programmed. The Internet of the future will be suffused with software, information, data archives, and populated with devices, appliances, and people who are interacting with and through this rich fabric.
And Google will be there, helping to make sense of it all, helping to organize and make everything accessible and useful.
Facts about our deal with Yahoo!
Some people have questions about our advertising agreement with Yahoo! and there are some misconceptions about it. So today we are putting facts about the deal on a new website to provide more information on the agreement and why it is good for consumers, advertisers and publishers. We'll be updating the site regularly, so check back when you have additional questions.
Google TV Ads partnering with Bloomberg TV
Today, we announced that we're partnering with Bloomberg TV to offer their national inventory to advertisers through the Google TV Ads platform. Bloomberg TV is a 24-hour business and financial news channel, reaching over 54 million households in the US.
This builds on our partnership with NBCU, announced earlier this month, and will provide advertisers with broader audience reach and access to desirable viewer demographics. Starting later this year, Google TV Ads advertisers will have access to premium inventory on Bloomberg TV, so stay tuned for further announcements. Currently, advertisers can target Bloomberg TV through our DISH Network inventory available on the Google TV Ads platform. Our partnership with Bloomberg TV means that advertisers will be able to reach all Bloomberg TV viewers in the US.
For more details on our partnership with Bloomberg TV, please see the announcement on on our Traditional Media blog.
This builds on our partnership with NBCU, announced earlier this month, and will provide advertisers with broader audience reach and access to desirable viewer demographics. Starting later this year, Google TV Ads advertisers will have access to premium inventory on Bloomberg TV, so stay tuned for further announcements. Currently, advertisers can target Bloomberg TV through our DISH Network inventory available on the Google TV Ads platform. Our partnership with Bloomberg TV means that advertisers will be able to reach all Bloomberg TV viewers in the US.
For more details on our partnership with Bloomberg TV, please see the announcement on on our Traditional Media blog.
Riddle...
What do two pair of Sunglasses and a Taper Candle have in Common?
{Leave the answer in the comments to see who wins what!} I'll let you know who wins on Monday!
And the guess is totally worth it!!!
Adobe users get help with Google Site Search
"No man is an island," the old saying goes. The same could be said of software: in an always-online world, even traditional desktop applications can become richer, faster, and easier to use by connecting people to information and to each other, right within the apps themselves.
That's one of the things we thought about this week when we launched the Adobe Creative Suite 4, and why it seemed natural to work with Google to help customers search and find the information online they need to fully take advantage of the rich features Creative Suite offers.
Now for the first time, Creative Suite applications tap directly into the new Adobe Community Help powered by Google Site Search. Site Search enables us to selectively index only the most relevant information from the highest-quality community sites online. Our Google Site Search index includes content such as product help, TechNotes, Developer Connection articles, and Design Center tutorials, as well as the best online content from the Adobe
community.
What's the upshot? We've plugged the whole community brain trust right into the Suite and used the power of Google Site Search to do it. Creative Suite 4 customers can find fast, relevant information from our online communities, without ever having to leave their desktop work environments, making design faster and more fun. And because we've built the Adobe Flash Platform into the whole Suite, other developers can take these concepts even farther. This is just the start of great online integration to come.
Find out more about how Adobe is connecting customers to Adobe Community Help online from within Creative Suite 4.
That's one of the things we thought about this week when we launched the Adobe Creative Suite 4, and why it seemed natural to work with Google to help customers search and find the information online they need to fully take advantage of the rich features Creative Suite offers.
Now for the first time, Creative Suite applications tap directly into the new Adobe Community Help powered by Google Site Search. Site Search enables us to selectively index only the most relevant information from the highest-quality community sites online. Our Google Site Search index includes content such as product help, TechNotes, Developer Connection articles, and Design Center tutorials, as well as the best online content from the Adobe
community.
What's the upshot? We've plugged the whole community brain trust right into the Suite and used the power of Google Site Search to do it. Creative Suite 4 customers can find fast, relevant information from our online communities, without ever having to leave their desktop work environments, making design faster and more fun. And because we've built the Adobe Flash Platform into the whole Suite, other developers can take these concepts even farther. This is just the start of great online integration to come.
Find out more about how Adobe is connecting customers to Adobe Community Help online from within Creative Suite 4.
Online safety tips from Google and AARP
Now more than ever before, older Americans are logging on and surfing the web to stay in touch with family and friends, read websites and blogs, share photos, watch videos, and run online businesses. Like all Internet users, they're sometimes faced with unsafe activity online, such as viruses and malware, and they're looking for resources to learn how to keep their information on the web safe, private, and under their control.
So we teamed up with AARP to launch a new video series that provides AARP members with helpful, easy-to-understand tips on how to stay safe online. It includes pointers on how to set privacy controls in online photo-sharing sites, configure firewalls to protect your computer, select safe and secure passwords for your online accounts, shop safely online, and avoid phishing scams. You can find the videos on AARP's online safety page, as well as on our Privacy Channel on YouTube.
Here's a look at the first video, Safe Starts:
Our team gave a sneak peek of the videos from our booth at the annual AARP member event, Life@50+, earlier this month. We received lots of great feedback from AARP members. Even the most computer-savvy members found the videos helpful, and most folks who stopped by were eager to share them with friends and family members who are just getting started online.
Check out the rest of the online safety video series. We hope the tips in these videos raise awareness among Internet users of all ages about how to stay safe online.
Update (12:06 p.m.): Nancy LeaMonde, AARP's Executive VP of Social Impact, just posted tips from the video series on AARP's blog.
So we teamed up with AARP to launch a new video series that provides AARP members with helpful, easy-to-understand tips on how to stay safe online. It includes pointers on how to set privacy controls in online photo-sharing sites, configure firewalls to protect your computer, select safe and secure passwords for your online accounts, shop safely online, and avoid phishing scams. You can find the videos on AARP's online safety page, as well as on our Privacy Channel on YouTube.
Here's a look at the first video, Safe Starts:
Our team gave a sneak peek of the videos from our booth at the annual AARP member event, Life@50+, earlier this month. We received lots of great feedback from AARP members. Even the most computer-savvy members found the videos helpful, and most folks who stopped by were eager to share them with friends and family members who are just getting started online.
Check out the rest of the online safety video series. We hope the tips in these videos raise awareness among Internet users of all ages about how to stay safe online.
Update (12:06 p.m.): Nancy LeaMonde, AARP's Executive VP of Social Impact, just posted tips from the video series on AARP's blog.
Project 10^100
If you could suggest a unique idea that would help as many people as possible, what would it be?
It's a question worth considering. Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time so many people (in all walks of life) could use some help, in small ways and big. In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the timeless wisdom that beyond a basic level of material wealth, the only thing that seems to increase individual happiness is... helping other people. In other words, help helps everybody.
But what would help, and what would be most helpful? We don't believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company, or a university -- or maybe not. Maybe the answer that helps somebody is in your head, in something you've observed, some notion that you've been fiddling with, some small connection you've noticed, some old way of doing something that you've seen with new eyes.
To mark our 10th birthday and celebrate the spirit of our users and the web, we're launching Project 10^100 (that's "ten to the hundredth") a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life. CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world. For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.
Ideas are due by October 20, 2008. Get started submitting your own ideas, and come back on January 27th to vote on ideas from others. We hope you feel inspired enough to try. Good luck, and may the ones who help the most win.
It's a question worth considering. Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time so many people (in all walks of life) could use some help, in small ways and big. In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the timeless wisdom that beyond a basic level of material wealth, the only thing that seems to increase individual happiness is... helping other people. In other words, help helps everybody.
But what would help, and what would be most helpful? We don't believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company, or a university -- or maybe not. Maybe the answer that helps somebody is in your head, in something you've observed, some notion that you've been fiddling with, some small connection you've noticed, some old way of doing something that you've seen with new eyes.
To mark our 10th birthday and celebrate the spirit of our users and the web, we're launching Project 10^100 (that's "ten to the hundredth") a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life. CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world. For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.
Ideas are due by October 20, 2008. Get started submitting your own ideas, and come back on January 27th to vote on ideas from others. We hope you feel inspired enough to try. Good luck, and may the ones who help the most win.
Shoe Fete' ish!
I must find a client to live vicariously through me... new mission.
This year's Faculty Summit
Recently we hosted more than 90 distinguished faculty members from roughly 60 North American universities to the Googleplex for the 4th Annual North American Faculty Summit.
This annual event is both an opportunity for us to showcase our latest research and products, and a chance to deepen our relationship with the academic community. Faculty have the chance to network with colleagues and students-turned-Googlers, and to learn about opportunities for collaboration with Google.
Some of this year's highlights:
This annual event is both an opportunity for us to showcase our latest research and products, and a chance to deepen our relationship with the academic community. Faculty have the chance to network with colleagues and students-turned-Googlers, and to learn about opportunities for collaboration with Google.
Some of this year's highlights:
- Roundtables - small group discussions with senior engineers
- API demos - introducing applications of our most popular APIs: Google Data, Open Social, Geo, and Android
- A technical panel I hosted, "Computing at Scale: Challenges and Opportunities" - comprised of Googlers Rob Pike and Urs Hoelzle as well as Jeanette Wing, Assistant Director for Computer & Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at the National Science Foundation, and Ed Lazowska, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Washington
- Visits from our CEO, Eric Schmidt, who dropped by the opening cocktail reception, plus founders Larry & Sergey, who mingled at the reception and conducted the closing Q&A
Wiping out the next smallpox
The Internet has had an enormous impact on people's lives around the world in the ten years since Google's founding. It has changed politics, entertainment, culture, business, health care, the environment and just about every other topic you can think of. Which got us to thinking, what's going to happen in the next ten years? How will this phenomenal technology evolve, how will we adapt, and (more importantly) how will it adapt to us? We asked ten of our top experts this very question, and during September (our 10th anniversary month) we are presenting their responses. As computer scientist Alan Kay has famously observed, the best way to predict the future is to invent it, so we will be doing our best to make good on our experts' words every day. - Karen Wickre and Alan Eagle, series editors
It took more than a village: it took the entire world -- people of all races, countries and religions -- to eradicate smallpox. The final naturally occurring cases of "Variola major" in Bangladesh in 1978 and "Variola minor" in Somalia in 1977 marked the end to a chain of suffering and early death dating back to the Biblical plagues, and to Pharoah Ramses, who died from the very same disease. Since then we have continued to face countless pandemics -- the Black Death, cholera, and now bird flu, SARS, HIV/AIDS and a new generation of zoonotic diseases -- diseases that, often because of changes in population or climate, jump from animals to humans. We can't be sure where the next smallpox will emerge, but we can be sure that it will take an effort larger than any single person or organization to defeat it.
Today there are some real heroes working to check off two more diseases from the list. The World Health Organization has led the charge against the highly infectious disease of polio. Along with UNICEF and dozens of NGOs, and millions of national and local health workers, members of Rotary International and volunteers from moms to Mullahs have stepped up to the plate and contained polio so that hundreds, not millions, of kids are paralyzed annually, but we cannot consider the case closed until we erase the last case, in the last country. The Carter Center has also accomplished a tremendous feat by leading the effort to shrink the cases of Guinea worm to the tens of thousands from the millions. Just as it took 150,000 health workers -- the world's unsung heroes -- to make one billion house calls in India searching for hidden cases of smallpox, it will take collaboration on a global scale to track and eliminate the next pandemic.
There is no Nobel Prize for "Preventing a Pandemic," and the hardest part about working in this field is imagining the unimaginable. What will be the next SARS, the next ebola, the next H5N1 bird flu? Epidemiologists try to "out think" the massive numbers of permutations and combinations that may give rise to the newest threat to our lives. Chances are a microbe capable of sweeping the globe will emerge in the next decade or two, and chances are it will cross to humans from an animal host (as did SARS, the Spanish flu, and HIV/AIDS). We need new ways to find these emerging threats earlier in the process, before thousands are infected and the epidemic spirals out of control.
Google.org's Predict and Prevent initiative is working with partners to use digital, genomic and IT technology to identify "hot spots" of emerging threats and provide early warning before they become global crises. When you're fighting a pandemic, early detection and early response can be the difference between dozens and hundreds of millions infected. What better birthday present could we offer the world after our 20th year, than to say we joined hands with a global movement and helped prevent the next smallpox?
It took more than a village: it took the entire world -- people of all races, countries and religions -- to eradicate smallpox. The final naturally occurring cases of "Variola major" in Bangladesh in 1978 and "Variola minor" in Somalia in 1977 marked the end to a chain of suffering and early death dating back to the Biblical plagues, and to Pharoah Ramses, who died from the very same disease. Since then we have continued to face countless pandemics -- the Black Death, cholera, and now bird flu, SARS, HIV/AIDS and a new generation of zoonotic diseases -- diseases that, often because of changes in population or climate, jump from animals to humans. We can't be sure where the next smallpox will emerge, but we can be sure that it will take an effort larger than any single person or organization to defeat it.
Today there are some real heroes working to check off two more diseases from the list. The World Health Organization has led the charge against the highly infectious disease of polio. Along with UNICEF and dozens of NGOs, and millions of national and local health workers, members of Rotary International and volunteers from moms to Mullahs have stepped up to the plate and contained polio so that hundreds, not millions, of kids are paralyzed annually, but we cannot consider the case closed until we erase the last case, in the last country. The Carter Center has also accomplished a tremendous feat by leading the effort to shrink the cases of Guinea worm to the tens of thousands from the millions. Just as it took 150,000 health workers -- the world's unsung heroes -- to make one billion house calls in India searching for hidden cases of smallpox, it will take collaboration on a global scale to track and eliminate the next pandemic.
There is no Nobel Prize for "Preventing a Pandemic," and the hardest part about working in this field is imagining the unimaginable. What will be the next SARS, the next ebola, the next H5N1 bird flu? Epidemiologists try to "out think" the massive numbers of permutations and combinations that may give rise to the newest threat to our lives. Chances are a microbe capable of sweeping the globe will emerge in the next decade or two, and chances are it will cross to humans from an animal host (as did SARS, the Spanish flu, and HIV/AIDS). We need new ways to find these emerging threats earlier in the process, before thousands are infected and the epidemic spirals out of control.
Google.org's Predict and Prevent initiative is working with partners to use digital, genomic and IT technology to identify "hot spots" of emerging threats and provide early warning before they become global crises. When you're fighting a pandemic, early detection and early response can be the difference between dozens and hundreds of millions infected. What better birthday present could we offer the world after our 20th year, than to say we joined hands with a global movement and helped prevent the next smallpox?
Using Google Analytics reports in AdWords
Make your Google Analytics reports work double-time for you: first, use them to make decisions about how to optimize your client's site, then use the data to create successful AdWords campaigns.
Import the referring sites from Analytics into a placement targeted campaign in AdWords. That way, you'll target your client's ads to users who will find them most relevant. For details on how to do import the referring sites from Google Analytics into AdWords, check out the short video below.
The Referring Sites report in Google Analytics is where you'll find details on web pages that are driving traffic to your client's site. By looking at this report, you can identify relevant sites that attract users interested in your client's offerings. These are the perfect sites on which to place your client's ads.
With This Ring....
In case you missed it, one of my favorite Blogging Bride's got married this past weekend, and while she's away, I got to play.
Check our our super fabulous Guest Post, at With This Ring...
The first Android-powered phone
Today, T-Mobile announced the world's first Android-powered phone. This marks an important milestone in the young history of Android. It was less than a year ago, on November 5, that the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, announced plans to create a complete mobile platform that would facilitate the development of advanced mobile applications and give users the best the web has to offer on a mobile device.
Software developers are key to driving innovation on the web, and also for mobile. That's why, over the past year, we've released several early versions of the Software Developer Kit (SDK) and worked with developers from around the world to make it better and more complete. This has culminated in today's release of the Android 1.0 SDK R1. Through the SDK, developers have unprecedented access to the hardware and software capabilities of the device, enabling them to innovate freely. More than 1,700 applications were developed as part of the Android Developer Challenge. Google engineers have also been busy developing Android applications. Many of our products (Search, Gmail, and Maps, among others) are available on a wide range of phones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile devices, and many more. Today, they're also available on Android, and you can check out the Google Mobile blog for more details.
But there's more to the Android story. Not only does it allow all applications open access to the phone's functionality; the platform itself will also be open. The Open Handset Alliance has announced its intention to open source the entire Android platform by the end of the year. Along with the other members of the Alliance, we hope that Android can provide a meaningful contribution to all players in the mobile ecosystem: the developers, the wireless carriers, the handset manufacturers, etc. Everyone will be free to adopt and adapt the technology as they see fit. By doing so, we hope that users will get better, more capable phones with powerful web browsers and access to a rich catalogue of innovative mobile applications.
Developers will soon be able to distribute their applications to real handsets through the beta version of Android Market. Handset manufacturers and wireless carriers will be able to incorporate Android innovations into their own new handsets and service offerings. And users will get better handsets and more choice. We think it's another step towards realizing the full potential of the mobile phone.
Software developers are key to driving innovation on the web, and also for mobile. That's why, over the past year, we've released several early versions of the Software Developer Kit (SDK) and worked with developers from around the world to make it better and more complete. This has culminated in today's release of the Android 1.0 SDK R1. Through the SDK, developers have unprecedented access to the hardware and software capabilities of the device, enabling them to innovate freely. More than 1,700 applications were developed as part of the Android Developer Challenge. Google engineers have also been busy developing Android applications. Many of our products (Search, Gmail, and Maps, among others) are available on a wide range of phones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile devices, and many more. Today, they're also available on Android, and you can check out the Google Mobile blog for more details.
But there's more to the Android story. Not only does it allow all applications open access to the phone's functionality; the platform itself will also be open. The Open Handset Alliance has announced its intention to open source the entire Android platform by the end of the year. Along with the other members of the Alliance, we hope that Android can provide a meaningful contribution to all players in the mobile ecosystem: the developers, the wireless carriers, the handset manufacturers, etc. Everyone will be free to adopt and adapt the technology as they see fit. By doing so, we hope that users will get better, more capable phones with powerful web browsers and access to a rich catalogue of innovative mobile applications.
Developers will soon be able to distribute their applications to real handsets through the beta version of Android Market. Handset manufacturers and wireless carriers will be able to incorporate Android innovations into their own new handsets and service offerings. And users will get better handsets and more choice. We think it's another step towards realizing the full potential of the mobile phone.
NYC transit directions have arrived
Today I'm happy to report we've taken a giant step in bringing public transit information to Google Maps. We've just added comprehensive transit info for the entire New York metro region, encompassing subway, commuter rail, bus and ferry services from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New Jersey Transit and the City of New York. That means this information is now at the fingertips of the more than 20 million people who live in and around New York (not to mention the millions of people who visit the region every year). The MTA is the largest transportation agency in the U.S., serving one in every three users of mass transit in the country.
Transit is a vital part of the infrastructure that makes cities run efficiently, and can help mitigate congestion, environmental concerns, and increasing energy costs. But until recently, access to that information has been more difficult than it needs to be. Even very prominent train and subway stations were often omitted entirely from maps in many cases. And as for bus lines, well, forget about it! This lead us to the fundamental goal of the Google Transit project: make public transit information as easy to find as any other geographic information.
We can only achieve this goal if we work closely with transit agencies around the globe to bring accurate and comprehensive transit information to everyone. Our role in this partnership is to bring all of this information together and make it easy to search and browse in interfaces that are simple, consistent and readily available.
Thinking about the magnitude of today's launch, I can't help but think about how far we've come towards reaching our goal. It's been nearly two years to the day since I posted about the expansion of the Google Transit trip planner (we added five more cities to our initial single-city launch in Portland, Oregon). And in that post I included some statistics about how many people lived in a city covered by our product. At the time, our coverage was 6 U.S. cities. Now we cover more than 170 cities and countries across the globe, including about 70 cities in North America and 81 in China, plus cities in Europe and Australia and national coverage of Japan, Switzerland and Austria. And the number of people served annually by agencies was at about 6 million. Now it's hard to count precisely, but the number is at least at several hundred million (wow!).
I would like to personally thank everyone at the agencies for their incredible level of enthusiasm for and commitment to the best interests of their riders.
And to the riders: have fun! I hope you like the product as much as I do, and that it helps you get out and explore the world. To learn more about transit info in New York, head to maps.google.com/nyc.
Transit is a vital part of the infrastructure that makes cities run efficiently, and can help mitigate congestion, environmental concerns, and increasing energy costs. But until recently, access to that information has been more difficult than it needs to be. Even very prominent train and subway stations were often omitted entirely from maps in many cases. And as for bus lines, well, forget about it! This lead us to the fundamental goal of the Google Transit project: make public transit information as easy to find as any other geographic information.
We can only achieve this goal if we work closely with transit agencies around the globe to bring accurate and comprehensive transit information to everyone. Our role in this partnership is to bring all of this information together and make it easy to search and browse in interfaces that are simple, consistent and readily available.
Thinking about the magnitude of today's launch, I can't help but think about how far we've come towards reaching our goal. It's been nearly two years to the day since I posted about the expansion of the Google Transit trip planner (we added five more cities to our initial single-city launch in Portland, Oregon). And in that post I included some statistics about how many people lived in a city covered by our product. At the time, our coverage was 6 U.S. cities. Now we cover more than 170 cities and countries across the globe, including about 70 cities in North America and 81 in China, plus cities in Europe and Australia and national coverage of Japan, Switzerland and Austria. And the number of people served annually by agencies was at about 6 million. Now it's hard to count precisely, but the number is at least at several hundred million (wow!).
I would like to personally thank everyone at the agencies for their incredible level of enthusiasm for and commitment to the best interests of their riders.
And to the riders: have fun! I hope you like the product as much as I do, and that it helps you get out and explore the world. To learn more about transit info in New York, head to maps.google.com/nyc.
Blogging Brides!
Name: Michelle
Location: Currently in Pensacola, Florida, but this winter I'll be headed west to Los Angeles!
Wedding Date: April 4, 2009
What do you do in real life?
My background is in astrophysics, but I currently work at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). I know, its a mouthful. I work on a project called Sensory Substitution for Wounded Servicemembers (SSWS). It sounds complicated, but its a simple concept with amazing moments. I have literally had my spelling corrected by a Marine with 2 glass eyes... and no, it wasn't braille, he was reading what wrote.
Favorite Part about Planning your Wedding?
Honestly? Its peoples reactions to the crazy ideas and unique touches we are adding to the wedding. We are a little....odd... at best; and in very different ways. We are really focusing on making the whole shindig represent "us"; both who we are individually, as well as who we are together. This means there is a lot of ironies that make people raise an eyebrow. It just makes me laugh and keeps me VERY thankful that my fiance is as weird as me and loves me in all my bizarre quirks! Happy, and thankful - the two best things for wedding planning!
Least Favorite Part about Planning your Wedding?
Quick disclaimer. I love my family. My parents are great parents and (in my humble opinion) did a damn fine job raising me. That being said, my least favorite part has to do with dealing with my family. Sometimes is just major differences in taste. (My mother is an interior decorator, and I love things with glitter. Need I say more? Just like the preachers boy is normally the terror of the town, the things I like makes my mother cringe and if I never see a polka dot or paisley pattern again it'll be too soon!) Sometimes its a difference of values. (My Dad thinks only serving beer, wine, and champagne is unacceptable! There will be a FULL open bar. ugh.) But the things that get me are when it's like we speak a different language. There are definitely moments when I can very much empathize with Lorelei from Gilmore Girls. Those moments just kill me when I think I'm being clear and she doesn't seem to hear me at all. Its a roller coaster of carefully planning moments that will stamp a memory on their hearts forever, to being in a screaming match over the tiniest things because we can't seem to connect.
What is the best piece of wedding advice you've ever received?
At the end of the day, all you really need is an officiant, a witness, and your fiance; everything else is just for fun - keep it that way.
How fun to have Michelle as our first Blogging Bride! If you'd like to get involved in our Blogging Brides Series, please drop me an email - and be on the lookout next Tuesday for Michelle's story....
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