If you did a Google search between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST this morning, you likely saw that the message "This site may harm your computer" accompanied each and every search result. This was clearly an error, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our users.
What happened? Very simply, human error. Google flags search results with the message "This site may harm your computer" if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously. We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We maintain a list of such sites through both manual and automated methods. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to come up with criteria for maintaining this list, and to provide simple processes for webmasters to remove their site from the list.
We periodically update that list and released one such update to the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here's the human error), the URL of '/' was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and '/' expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.
Thanks to our team for their quick work in finding this. And again, our apologies to any of you who were inconvenienced this morning, and to site owners whose pages were incorrectly labelled. We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again.
Thanks for your understanding.
Update at 10:29 am PST: This post was revised as more precise information became available (changes are in blue). Here's StopBadware's explanation.
Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience
Google Toolbar in Firefox: a personalized new tab page
Those of you who use Google Toolbar on Firefox are probably pretty familiar with the many features Toolbar 5 (beta) has to offer — from bookmarks to buttons and search box to "send to." We've added a couple more features to the Firefox Toolbar, so feel free to download this "second beta" to get all the latest and greatest Google Toolbar has to offer.
One of the features I'm really excited about is the new tab page. Now, when you open up a new tab, instead of the blank white page you see by default in Firefox, you will instead see small thumbnails of your favorite sites (up to 9), as well as recently-closed and bookmarked pages based on your browser history. You can edit the thumbnails, and all this data remains locally on your browser, which means none of the information about your most viewed sites or recently closed pages will be sent back to Google. If for whatever reason you don't like this updated new tab page, you can always change it back to a blank page or to the website of your choice through either your Toolbar or Firefox settings. Some tab extensions may conflict with this feature, and it currently isn't compatible with Firefox 2, so make sure you check your settings or visit the Google Toolbar help center if you are having any problems.
Next time you want to go to your favorite site more quickly or restore an accidentally closed tab, you don't need to type out the URL. Typing Ctrl + T or double-clicking to the right of your open tabs will open up the new tab page with all your favorite sites right at your finger tips.
In addition, this release now provides the ability for Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking users to access Toolbar 5 with robust right-to-left text support. We've also fixed some of the most reported bugs to give you a faster and more stable experience with this update.
We're always working on improvements and new features to Google Toolbar based on your feedback, so keep those suggestions coming.
Update on 4/1: Yesterday, Firefox Toolbar 5 came out of beta.
One of the features I'm really excited about is the new tab page. Now, when you open up a new tab, instead of the blank white page you see by default in Firefox, you will instead see small thumbnails of your favorite sites (up to 9), as well as recently-closed and bookmarked pages based on your browser history. You can edit the thumbnails, and all this data remains locally on your browser, which means none of the information about your most viewed sites or recently closed pages will be sent back to Google. If for whatever reason you don't like this updated new tab page, you can always change it back to a blank page or to the website of your choice through either your Toolbar or Firefox settings. Some tab extensions may conflict with this feature, and it currently isn't compatible with Firefox 2, so make sure you check your settings or visit the Google Toolbar help center if you are having any problems.
Next time you want to go to your favorite site more quickly or restore an accidentally closed tab, you don't need to type out the URL. Typing Ctrl + T or double-clicking to the right of your open tabs will open up the new tab page with all your favorite sites right at your finger tips.
In addition, this release now provides the ability for Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking users to access Toolbar 5 with robust right-to-left text support. We've also fixed some of the most reported bugs to give you a faster and more stable experience with this update.
We're always working on improvements and new features to Google Toolbar based on your feedback, so keep those suggestions coming.
Update on 4/1: Yesterday, Firefox Toolbar 5 came out of beta.
Sonam Kapoor at Filmfare Awards
The award season has begun and it's time for the 54th Filmfare Awards. The prestigious awards, according to.......
8 Images
Biggest Aircraft
Designed by World War I aviator Konstantin Kalinin with a wingspan greater than a B-52's and a much greater wing area, the K-7 was one of the biggest aircraft built before the jet age. It was only one engine short of the B-52 as well, having the curious arrangement of six pulling on the wing leading edge and one pushing at the rear. The K-7's very brief first flight showed up instability and serious vibration caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to this 'flutter' was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their response to vibration. On the 11th flight, during a speed test, the port tailboom vibrated, fractured, jammed the elevator and caused the giant aircraft to plough into the ground, killing 15. Undaunted by this disaster, Kalinin's team began construction of two further K-7s in a new factory, but the vicissitudes of Stalin's Russia saw the project abandoned, and in 1938 the arrest and execution of Kalinin on trumped up espionage and sabotage charges. More images after the break...
Source - Link
Hillary Duff Rocking in LA
Hillary Duff Rocking The Short Shorts, Hilary Duff is at it again! Proving that she wants to be .......
9 Images
February... Oh My!
And do you know what that means....
In 18 days, I'll see my dream, literally a wake up and know that you were being lead to do this, dream, come true!
In 18 days, some of the most talented bakers from North Carolina to the Florida Keys and everywhere inbetween will be showing off their works for this amazing cause!
In 18 days, I'll get to meet Kerry Vincent!!!!!!!
In 18 days, we'll be working our butts off and have {hopefully} hundreds of people tasting tons of cake!!!
In 18 days... 18 days!!!!
A new year, a new traffic model for Ad Planner
If you are looking for more site information to help plan your display advertising campaigns and understand audiences on the web, Google Ad Planner can help. Our goal is to provide you with the most accurate site information for better planning and decision-making, and we're excited to kick off the new year with an improved traffic estimation model as well as several other features.
The new traffic estimation model should help reduce some of the confusion that often surrounds tracking the number of unique visitors to your site. When creating campaigns, many advertisers use media planning tools, including Ad Planner, to look at unique visitors based on estimates of real world users. However, publishers typically rely on web server logs or web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to measure unique visitors based on cookie counts. Discrepancies arise when these two types of unique visitors are compared. You can learn more about this topic by reading the IAB guidelines on Audience Measurement.
To address the various ways of measuring site traffic, we:
We've also added country demographics for Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland, which brings our demographics total to ten countries, with more coming in the future. In select countries we've also added a new demographics category, Children in Household, which can be used to research sites.
You've told us that defining an audience to fit your intended customers can be difficult. In response, we've created Pre-defined Audiences that represent commonly used audiences. Now you can experiment with different criteria without having to choose them manually.
This release represents only a fraction of what we're planning for 2009. Stay tuned for more Google Ad Planner announcements soon.
The new traffic estimation model should help reduce some of the confusion that often surrounds tracking the number of unique visitors to your site. When creating campaigns, many advertisers use media planning tools, including Ad Planner, to look at unique visitors based on estimates of real world users. However, publishers typically rely on web server logs or web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to measure unique visitors based on cookie counts. Discrepancies arise when these two types of unique visitors are compared. You can learn more about this topic by reading the IAB guidelines on Audience Measurement.
To address the various ways of measuring site traffic, we:
- Added Unique Visitors (cookies), a new cookie-based metric, to help you cross-check and compare metrics, similar to Google Analytics unique visitor metrics.
- Changed Unique Visitors to Unique Visitors (users) so it's clearer that you're reviewing estimated numbers of real world users.
- Placed the Unique Visitors (cookies) and Unique Visitors (users) metrics on a site's profile page so you'll have a more comprehensive view of how a specific site can support your media planning. Learn how to make the most of these two metrics.
(Click image for a full-size version)
We've also added country demographics for Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland, which brings our demographics total to ten countries, with more coming in the future. In select countries we've also added a new demographics category, Children in Household, which can be used to research sites.
You've told us that defining an audience to fit your intended customers can be difficult. In response, we've created Pre-defined Audiences that represent commonly used audiences. Now you can experiment with different criteria without having to choose them manually.
This release represents only a fraction of what we're planning for 2009. Stay tuned for more Google Ad Planner announcements soon.
A new year, a new traffic model for Ad Planner
If you are looking for more site information to help plan your display advertising campaigns and understand audiences on the web, Google Ad Planner can help. Our goal is to provide you with the most accurate site information for better planning and decision-making, and we're excited to kick off the new year with an improved traffic estimation model as well as several other features.
(Click image for a full-size version)
The new traffic estimation model should help reduce some of the confusion that often surrounds tracking the number of unique visitors to your site. When creating campaigns, many advertisers use media planning tools, including Ad Planner, to look at unique visitors based on estimates of real world users. However, publishers typically rely on web server logs or web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to measure unique visitors based on cookie counts. Discrepencies arise when these two types of unique visitors are compared. You can learn more about this topic by reading the IAB guidelines on Audience Measurement.
To address the various ways of measuring site traffic, we:
- Added Unique Visitors (cookies), a new cookie-based metric, to help you cross-check and compare metrics, similar to Google Analytics unique visitor metrics.
- Changed Unique Visitors to Unique Visitors (users) so it's clearer that you're reviewing estimated numbers of real world users.
- Placed the Unique Visitors (cookies) and Unique Visitors (users) metrics on a site's profile page so you'll have a more comprehensive view of how a specific site can support your media planning. Learn how to make the most of these two metrics.
In addition, our new model improves our traffic estimates. You'll notice our page view estimates are now more accurate and consistent with web server measurements.
(Click image for a full-size version)We've also added country demographics for Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland, which brings our demographics total to ten countries, with more coming in the future. In select countries we've also added a new demographics category, Children in Household, which can be used to research sites.
You've told us that defining an audience to fit your intended customers can be difficult. In response, we've created Pre-defined Audiences that represent commonly used audiences. Now you can experiment with different criteria without having to choose them manually.
This release represents only a fraction of what we're planning for 2009. Stay tuned for more Google Ad Planner announcements soon.
Valentine's Day & President's Day ad templates now available
Last week, we gave you a sneak preview of our seasonal display ad templates for Valentine's Day and President's Day. We're excited to let you know that these new templates are now available for you to use in your campaigns -- just visit the "Seasonal" section of the Display Ad Builder gallery in AdWords to get started.
We're always interested in your feedback and ideas for more template themes, so let us know if you're looking for something special. One of our advertisers, Jason Barnes of Superb Internet Corporation, helped us come up with the idea for easier, more timely display ad promotions. Jason and his team wanted a way to bring more relevancy to display ads, without the cost or lead time it would otherwise require, so he got in touch with us. Here's what Jason had to say:
If you're new to Display Ads, you can get started by clicking "Display Ad Builder" on the "Create an ad page" within a new or existing campaign. To learn more about creating and running display ads, visit our Display Ads 101 tutorial site.
We're always interested in your feedback and ideas for more template themes, so let us know if you're looking for something special. One of our advertisers, Jason Barnes of Superb Internet Corporation, helped us come up with the idea for easier, more timely display ad promotions. Jason and his team wanted a way to bring more relevancy to display ads, without the cost or lead time it would otherwise require, so he got in touch with us. Here's what Jason had to say:
Using Google's display ad builder is just a smoother process. Say we wanted to do a one-day holiday sale of 50% off, and the rest of the week, 30% off. That can be a hassle with standard image ad directories, but with the Display Ad Builder, we can easily swap in text if we have an image. It's a great time saver, and we'll definitely continue to use it that way.You can adopt Jason's strategy of making quick text changes to your image ads in the Display Ad Builder, whether or not you decide to use one of our new seasonal templates.
If you're new to Display Ads, you can get started by clicking "Display Ad Builder" on the "Create an ad page" within a new or existing campaign. To learn more about creating and running display ads, visit our Display Ads 101 tutorial site.
Seating Schmeating!
Soooo, do you do this?
Or this?
Why? What's the difference? Does it matter?
First you have to ask yourself a series of questions, and the answers will help you determine which to do, if at all.
seating chart
place cards
- Are you serving a plated meal with various selections for your guests to choose from?
- If so, you might steer clear of the seating chart, because you'll need to distinqish their selections some how to the servers or catering staff.
- Do you have limited seating, or the exact number of tables you'll need for your guests?
- If so, you'll need to consider some kind of table chart or seating cards, because you're guests will usually leave a seat or two open at their tables and that can't happen if you are limited.
- Are you only reserving a few tables for your guests?
- For instance, it's open seating, but you want to make sure your parents and grandparents sit closest to you - then you'll need to have a few reserved signs at those tables in advance.
seating chart
place cards
New ideas for working with the display ad builder
Since launching our display ad builder a few months back, we've updated you on several new features, such as our seasonal templates which are now available. We're focusing on building this product primarily for advertisers with limited display experience on our network but we'd also like to highlight ways in which agencies can use our tool to improve efficiency for their clients and themselves.
As has been our goal, our "long tail" of users are expanding their knowledge of effective text-based advertising into display: over 80 percent of active users of the display ad builder have never before used display ads on Google's content network. And of the other 20 percent, many are display "dabblers," having commissioned the production of a few display ads but never fully devoting much time or resources to the effort. Even of those with extensive display experience, very few work with agencies that provide creative services on a regular basis.
Although the primary users are these small- and medium-sized businesses, here are some ways that various types of agencies can use the display ad builder to their advantage:
As has been our goal, our "long tail" of users are expanding their knowledge of effective text-based advertising into display: over 80 percent of active users of the display ad builder have never before used display ads on Google's content network. And of the other 20 percent, many are display "dabblers," having commissioned the production of a few display ads but never fully devoting much time or resources to the effort. Even of those with extensive display experience, very few work with agencies that provide creative services on a regular basis.
Although the primary users are these small- and medium-sized businesses, here are some ways that various types of agencies can use the display ad builder to their advantage:
- Use it to test early concepts and messaging. Try one of our templates to test out various calls to action, headlines, images, or color schemes. Gathering test campaign data, you'll have the insights to prove that the final creatives your teams produce have the highest impact. You can also use this data to help positively persuade clients who are on the fence about investing in a display campaign.
- Smaller agencies can use it as a mock-up tool for simple creatives. In just a few minutes, you can create a mock and grab a screenshot to show prospects the potential for display advertising.
- SEMs and interactive agencies without display creative teams can use the display ad builder to apply their knowledge about optimizing performance for text ads on Google's network to the creation of simple display ads that get results.
Introducing Measurement Lab
When an Internet application doesn't work as expected or your connection seems flaky, how can you tell whether there is a problem caused by your broadband ISP, the application, your PC, or something else? It can be difficult for experts, let alone average Internet users, to address this sort of question today.
Last year we asked a small group of academics about ways to advance network research and provide users with tools to test their broadband connections. Today Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers are taking the wraps off of Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools.
Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and attempt to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications. These tools generate and send some data back-and-forth between the user's computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately, researchers lack widely-distributed servers with ample connectivity. This poses a barrier to the accuracy and scalability of these tools. Researchers also have trouble sharing data with one another.
M-Lab aims to address these problems. Over the course of early 2009, Google will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe. All data collected via M-Lab will be made publicly available for other researchers to build on. M-Lab is intended to be a truly community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies, institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools, or other resources that can help the platform flourish.
Today, M-Lab is at the beginning of its development. To start, three tools running on servers near Google's headquarters are available to help users attempt to diagnose common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs. These tools were created by the individual researchers who helped found M-Lab. By running these tools, users will get information about their connection and provide researchers with valuable aggregate data. Like M-Lab itself these tools are still in development, and they will only support a limited number of simultaneous users at this initial stage.
At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet.
You can learn more at the M-Lab website. If you're a researcher who'd like to deploy a tool, or a company or institution that is interested in providing technical resources, we invite you to get involved.
Last year we asked a small group of academics about ways to advance network research and provide users with tools to test their broadband connections. Today Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers are taking the wraps off of Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools.
Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and attempt to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications. These tools generate and send some data back-and-forth between the user's computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately, researchers lack widely-distributed servers with ample connectivity. This poses a barrier to the accuracy and scalability of these tools. Researchers also have trouble sharing data with one another.
M-Lab aims to address these problems. Over the course of early 2009, Google will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe. All data collected via M-Lab will be made publicly available for other researchers to build on. M-Lab is intended to be a truly community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies, institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools, or other resources that can help the platform flourish.
Today, M-Lab is at the beginning of its development. To start, three tools running on servers near Google's headquarters are available to help users attempt to diagnose common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs. These tools were created by the individual researchers who helped found M-Lab. By running these tools, users will get information about their connection and provide researchers with valuable aggregate data. Like M-Lab itself these tools are still in development, and they will only support a limited number of simultaneous users at this initial stage.
At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet.
You can learn more at the M-Lab website. If you're a researcher who'd like to deploy a tool, or a company or institution that is interested in providing technical resources, we invite you to get involved.
Do more with less -- Part 2 of 3
Last week we talked about how Website Optimizer can help you convert a higher percentage of your website visitors (getting you more conversions with the same amount of clicks). This week we'll see how you can get more conversions from your existing AdWords campaigns and keywords with the Conversion Optimizer. We're also happy to announce that the Conversion Optimizer is now available to all campaigns using AdWords' free Conversion Tracking tool that also have at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days. So, if you were previously unable to use the Conversion Optimizer in AdWords, you may now be eligible to use it.
Whether you want visitors to fill out a form, sign up for an account, or buy a product, you want the people who click on your AdWords ad to complete some action on your site. The Conversion Optimizer, a free AdWords feature, helps you get the most conversions for your ad spend by using your conversion tracking data to improve your advertising efficiency. It does this by optimizing the placement of your ads in each auction based on the likelihood of a conversion. This process helps to avoid unprofitable clicks and to get you conversions without requiring you to spend as much time managing your bids - thus saving you money and time (which is particularly useful during a down economy).
For example, say you advertise on the keywords 'shoes' and 'brown leather shoes'. If the Conversion Optimizer determines that people who search for 'brown leather shoes' buy more shoes on your website than people who search for 'shoes', it will adjust your bids so you can appear higher on the page for the more profitable term and lower for the less profitable term.
You might already adjust your keyword bids with the goal of increasing your conversions or decreasing your costs, but the Conversion Optimizer is able to adjust bids using additional factors that are otherwise unavailable. This includes varying bids by broad match query, user location, and the particular search or content partner sites where the ad is appearing. These extra adjustments enable many advertisers to achieve double-digit percentage increases in conversions while paying the same price or less for each conversion.
To learn more or to get started, check out the Conversion Optimizer page. And remember to visit www.google.com/domorewithless to find a list of other Google resources that can help you achieve your advertising goals -- even in a downturn.
Whether you want visitors to fill out a form, sign up for an account, or buy a product, you want the people who click on your AdWords ad to complete some action on your site. The Conversion Optimizer, a free AdWords feature, helps you get the most conversions for your ad spend by using your conversion tracking data to improve your advertising efficiency. It does this by optimizing the placement of your ads in each auction based on the likelihood of a conversion. This process helps to avoid unprofitable clicks and to get you conversions without requiring you to spend as much time managing your bids - thus saving you money and time (which is particularly useful during a down economy).
For example, say you advertise on the keywords 'shoes' and 'brown leather shoes'. If the Conversion Optimizer determines that people who search for 'brown leather shoes' buy more shoes on your website than people who search for 'shoes', it will adjust your bids so you can appear higher on the page for the more profitable term and lower for the less profitable term.
You might already adjust your keyword bids with the goal of increasing your conversions or decreasing your costs, but the Conversion Optimizer is able to adjust bids using additional factors that are otherwise unavailable. This includes varying bids by broad match query, user location, and the particular search or content partner sites where the ad is appearing. These extra adjustments enable many advertisers to achieve double-digit percentage increases in conversions while paying the same price or less for each conversion.
To learn more or to get started, check out the Conversion Optimizer page. And remember to visit www.google.com/domorewithless to find a list of other Google resources that can help you achieve your advertising goals -- even in a downturn.
Drink it Up!
Brides are looking for ways to cut back, but don't want to look stingie or cheap while doing so - so do you NEED to have an open bar at your wedding, I mean a full-all-out open bar?
Why not just do beer and wine, do 3 different kinds of beer, and a White and Red wine - and one signature drink... that will limit what your guests can drink - and your can even come up with a fun name for your drink. You can color coordinate your drink to your colors, come up with a theme....or pre mix the drink so that your bar tender doesn't have to mix it individually.
We've also have done His and Her's for cocktails as well. So it'd be two signature drinks instead of just one...more variety and still super fun!
Photo Source
Raising data privacy awareness
For the second year, the U.S. and Canada are joining 27 European countries to celebrate Data Privacy Day today. As we explained last year, the lack of understanding about online data protection is a global issue. As increasing amounts of data get uploaded to the Internet every day, it becomes more and more important for people to understand the benefits and risks of online communications and to learn how to use available tools to control and manage the information they share online.
To mark this special day of awareness, we are supporting an event hosted by the Information Technology Association of America called "Data Privacy Day: Increasing Privacy Awareness and Trust." We'll join U.S. and European government officials and key members of the privacy community on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to discuss how to increase public awareness about data privacy. This event is a part of our ongoing constructive dialogue with regulators and legislators, consumer and industry groups, and think tanks and privacy advocates to discuss how to protect user information.
Our efforts to raise data privacy awareness extend beyond the public policy arena; we aim to connect directly with our users, too. We're committed to protecting users' online privacy by following the principles of transparency and choice. We're transparent about the data we collect, and we design products that give people control over the information they share. Earlier this year, we revamped our Privacy Center, where we offer information, tips, and videos that explain Google's privacy practices and show people how they can control what data they share. The Privacy Center also includes a link to a series of blog posts about how we use data to improve our products and services for our users. We recently translated the Privacy Center into multiple languages so that we can better serve people all around the world. We're also continuously working on innovative services and features that make information available to people in new ways, but with built-in privacy controls. For example, we introduced privacy-protective face-blurring for Street View earlier this year. And the launch of our browser, Google Chrome, included a feature for surfing the Internet in "incognito mode."
For the coming year, we want to improve our privacy practices even more by engaging in further dialogue with people who use our products and services, offering up easier-to-understand policies, and providing more privacy tools and controls. We hope that you'll take a few minutes on Data Privacy Day to explore our Privacy Center and learn about our commitment to this important issue.
To mark this special day of awareness, we are supporting an event hosted by the Information Technology Association of America called "Data Privacy Day: Increasing Privacy Awareness and Trust." We'll join U.S. and European government officials and key members of the privacy community on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to discuss how to increase public awareness about data privacy. This event is a part of our ongoing constructive dialogue with regulators and legislators, consumer and industry groups, and think tanks and privacy advocates to discuss how to protect user information.
Our efforts to raise data privacy awareness extend beyond the public policy arena; we aim to connect directly with our users, too. We're committed to protecting users' online privacy by following the principles of transparency and choice. We're transparent about the data we collect, and we design products that give people control over the information they share. Earlier this year, we revamped our Privacy Center, where we offer information, tips, and videos that explain Google's privacy practices and show people how they can control what data they share. The Privacy Center also includes a link to a series of blog posts about how we use data to improve our products and services for our users. We recently translated the Privacy Center into multiple languages so that we can better serve people all around the world. We're also continuously working on innovative services and features that make information available to people in new ways, but with built-in privacy controls. For example, we introduced privacy-protective face-blurring for Street View earlier this year. And the launch of our browser, Google Chrome, included a feature for surfing the Internet in "incognito mode."
For the coming year, we want to improve our privacy practices even more by engaging in further dialogue with people who use our products and services, offering up easier-to-understand policies, and providing more privacy tools and controls. We hope that you'll take a few minutes on Data Privacy Day to explore our Privacy Center and learn about our commitment to this important issue.
More computing, less power
In the fall we posted information about the efficiency of Google data centers and promised to update this information every quarter. We've now collected data for the fourth quarter of 2008 and published them to our sustainable computing website. Specifically, we're keeping track of the efficiency of any Google-designed data center with an IT load of at least 5 MW and a time-in-operation of at least 6 months. In Q4 our average power and cooling overhead in these facilities was 16%, bringing the overhead for the trailing 12 months to 19% (down from 21% a quarter earlier). For comparison, a recent EPA report put the overhead of the average enterprise data center at 100% or higher. We're very happy to have further improved our efficiency, and a number of factors contributed to that result.
First, efficiency is affected by seasonal weather patterns — cooler weather is better than hot weather, and several of our facilities benefited from that in Q4. Also, we continually review our efficiency metrics so that we notice, for example, that one of our data centers is not performing consistently with others of similar size and locale. So we'll take a closer look at optimizing that facility. Are we using fans to cool spaces that don't need to be cooled? Is the thermostat at the right set-point? Can we reduce the time the chillers need to run while keeping the machines operational? So we apply lessons we've learned from better-performing data centers to other facilities, and several such improvements took place in Q4. For the nitty-gritty technical details, visit our data center efficiency page.
While we've made a lot of progress in data center efficiency, we're still learning. As we continue to explore ways to use the least amount of power to do the most amount of computing, we'll continue to share our data and best practices with you. In early March we will participate in the CeBIT conference where we plan to disclose more details on our sustainability efforts as part of this year's theme of "Green IT." Stay tuned.
First, efficiency is affected by seasonal weather patterns — cooler weather is better than hot weather, and several of our facilities benefited from that in Q4. Also, we continually review our efficiency metrics so that we notice, for example, that one of our data centers is not performing consistently with others of similar size and locale. So we'll take a closer look at optimizing that facility. Are we using fans to cool spaces that don't need to be cooled? Is the thermostat at the right set-point? Can we reduce the time the chillers need to run while keeping the machines operational? So we apply lessons we've learned from better-performing data centers to other facilities, and several such improvements took place in Q4. For the nitty-gritty technical details, visit our data center efficiency page.
While we've made a lot of progress in data center efficiency, we're still learning. As we continue to explore ways to use the least amount of power to do the most amount of computing, we'll continue to share our data and best practices with you. In early March we will participate in the CeBIT conference where we plan to disclose more details on our sustainability efforts as part of this year's theme of "Green IT." Stay tuned.
New AdWords Help Videos
We'd like to share with you seven new help videos on popular AdWords topics. In each video you'll find the exact steps you can follow to use different features within your account. The videos cover the following topics:
You can find all seven videos, and more, on the AdWords Help Center YouTube Channel.
- Entering billing information
- Adjusting your budget
- Using the Ad Preview tool
- Applying a Promotional Credit to an existing account
- Viewing Cost and Payment history
- Using the Ads Diagnostic tool
You can find all seven videos, and more, on the AdWords Help Center YouTube Channel.
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Domino Day 2008
On 14 November 2008, Weijers Domino Productions celebrated the tenth anniversary of the TV show Domino Day by breaking more Guinness World Records on the programme than ever before! On the latest edition of Domino Day, which was broadcast live in more than eight countries, a grand total of 4,345,027 dominoes were toppled – a record for the most dominoes toppled by a ........... More after a Jump.
On 14 November 2008, Weijers Domino Productions celebrated the tenth anniversary of the TV show Domino Day by breaking more Guinness World Records on the programme than ever before!
On the latest edition of Domino Day, which was broadcast live in more than eight countries, a grand total of 4,345,027 dominoes were toppled – a record for the most dominoes toppled by a group.
Finnish circus artist Salima Peippo set the show going in spectacular fashion by toppling the first domino while suspended from ropes.
On the latest edition of Domino Day, which was broadcast live in more than eight countries, a grand total of 4,345,027 dominoes were toppled – a record for the most dominoes toppled by a group.
Finnish circus artist Salima Peippo set the show going in spectacular fashion by toppling the first domino while suspended from ropes.
Apart from the overall record for the most dominoes toppled, there were nine other records set, each with outstanding results:
- Most dominoes toppled in a spiral – 1,200.
- Most dominoes stacked on one single piece – 727.
- Highest toppling domino climb – 11.52 m (37 ft 10 in).
- Largest toppling domino stones – 4.8 m (15 ft 9 high, 2.4 m (7ft 10 in) wide and 72 cm (2 ft 4 in) deep.
- Longest domino wall – 15.86 m (52 ft) long.
- Tallest domino structure – 2 m (6 ft 6 in) high.
- Largest domino mosaic – 500 m² (5,382 ft²).
- Fastest toppling domino setting – average speed of 7.13 m/s.
- Most dominoes toppled by a group – 4,345,027.
- Most mini dominoes toppled – 1,114.
All records were observed and ratified by Guinness World Records adjudicator, Andrea Banfi.The 4,345,027 dominoes of Domino Day 2008 were set up during eight weeks of intense building by 85 builders from 13 countries and the expert team of Weijers Domino Productions, in a studio of 10,000 m². The toppling of the dominoes lasted for about two hours and created a unique and creative live television show.
Source : Link
To Blush!
To Blusher or Not to Blusher - that is the question.
When I was at the Bridal Salon last weekend, I noticed that brides didn't know what certain terms meant...one being - a blusher.
When I was at the Bridal Salon last weekend, I noticed that brides didn't know what certain terms meant...one being - a blusher.
The Blusher is the piece of the veil that you typically wear in front of your face, to keep evil spirits away. At least that is what they used to think it was for.
Now it's used as a tradition. You don't have to wear one, or a veil at all for that matter. But it's definately an option.
Most bride's take off the veil for the reception it gives you some fun flexibility with your hair too, up for the ceremony - down for the party!
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